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Ukraine activist 'was tortured'

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 31 Januari 2014 | 19.15

31 January 2014 Last updated at 06:48 ET

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The BBC's Duncan Crawford reports how Bulatov claims he was beaten and hung up by his wrists

A leading activist in Ukraine's street opposition who vanished for eight days says he was abducted and tortured before being left to die in the cold.

Dmytro Bulatov, who organised car protests for the opposition camped out in Kiev, is being treated in hospital after being found near the capital.

Police have confirmed Mr Bulatov, 35, received an ear injury and bruising.

In another development, the army called on President Viktor Yanukovych to take "urgent steps" to ease the crisis.

Three protesters and three police officers have been killed, and scores injured on both sides, since the protests turned violent on 22 January.

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Dmytro Bulatov

One of the leaders of AutoMaidan, a group of drivers associated with the anti-government protests
The group have reportedly used their cars to pick up protesters, picket properties belonging to government officials and, allegedly, block streets to police
Mr Bulatov reportedly took to the stage in Independence Square, focus of the protests, on several occasions
He vanished on 22 January, only reappearing again on 30 January, injured and saying he had been kidnapped, tortured and finally dumped from a car near Kiev

Opposition to Mr Yanukovych spilled into the streets in November after he abandoned a trade deal with the EU in favour of closer economic ties with Russia.

Mr Yanukovych accused the opposition of seeking to "inflame" the situation on Thursday by continuing the protests despite moves by the government and parliament to ease the stand-off.

Parliament voted to annul a recently enacted law restricting protests and passed a law giving amnesty to detained protesters, under the condition that occupied buildings were vacated.

Anti-government demonstrators remain in their camp in Independence Square (Maidan) with no sign of the political crisis in the country coming to an end, the BBC's Duncan Crawford reports from Kiev.

Mr Yanukovych, 63, has gone on sick leave, with his staff reporting he has a respiratory illness and a high fever.

'Crucified'

Mr Bulatov says he was left to die by his captors after being kidnapped, repeatedly beaten and "crucified". He was, he said, hung up by his wrists.

"They crucified me, so there are holes in my hands now," he said.

"Other than that - they cut off my ear, cut up my face. My whole body is a mess. You can see everything. I am alive. Thank God for this."

The activist reportedly said he did not know who had abducted him but his abductors had spoken with Russian accents.

According to the Ukrainian news website Gazeta.ua, doctors found no damage to his internal organs or his skull.

Police in Kiev have confirmed Mr Bulatov was bruised and received a cut to one of his ears, Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainskaya Pravda reports.

They have opened an investigation and posted guards at the hospital where he is being treated.

According to the paper, they also expressed indignation that Mr Bulatov had not phoned them after his release.

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Ukraine unrest - key dates

21 Nov 2013: Ukraine announces it will not sign a deal aimed at strengthening ties with the EU

30 Nov: Riot police detain dozens of anti-government protesters in a violent crackdown in Kiev

17 Dec: Russia agrees to buy $15bn of Ukrainian government bonds and slash the price of gas it sells to the country

16 Jan 2014: Parliament passes law restricting the right to protest

22 Jan: Two protesters die from bullet wounds during clashes with police in Kiev; protests spread across many cities

25 Jan: President Yanukovych offers senior jobs to the opposition, including that of prime minister, but these are rejected

28 Jan: Parliament votes to annul protest law and President Yanukovych accepts resignation of PM and cabinet

29 Jan: Parliament passes amnesty law for detained protesters, under the condition occupied buildings are vacated

Mr Bulatov is a prominent anti-government activist as one of the leaders of the organisation Automaidan, a group that has patrolled streets around Independence Square, our correspondent says.

It has also driven in convoys to protest outside government ministers' homes.

Vitali Klitschko, one of the most prominent leaders of the protesters, visited Mr Bulatov in hospital.

Offers rejected

Ukraine's defence ministry put out a statement after Defence Minister Pavlo Lebedyev met staff in Kiev.

"Laying out their civil position, servicemen and employees of Ukraine's armed forces... called on the commander-in-chief to take urgent steps within the limits of existing legislation with a view to stabilising the situation in the country and reaching consent in society," it said.

Matthew Price at a protest camp in Kiev, Ukraine

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Matthew Price compares life inside the "protest zone" in Kiev with the rest of the city, where life continues as normal

Soldiers have not been deployed against the protesters during the crisis, which has seen government buildings occupied.

President Yanukovych accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and his cabinet this week, and offered senior jobs to the opposition - offers that were rejected.

Demonstrators accuse the security forces of being behind the abductions and brutality towards protesters.

Of the other two activists abducted this month, one was found dead in a forest near Kiev with his body reportedly showing signs of torture.

The activist, Yuri Verbitsky, was reportedly abducted along with fellow protester Igor Lutsenko, who was later released and spoke about his ordeal.

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CAR clashes 'kill 35' in Bangui

31 January 2014 Last updated at 06:58 ET

Fighting in the Central African Republic capital has left 35 people dead in three days, the country's Red Cross society says.

The violence in Bangui had also left 65 wounded, the country's Red Cross said.

There have been widespread reports of revenge attacks as mainly Muslim fighters withdraw from the city.

The violence has continued even though a new leader was inaugurated earlier this month as part of regional efforts to bring peace after months of anarchy.

France, the former colonial power, has 1,600 troops in CAR, working with some 4,000 from African countries to help end the violence which has seen about a million people - 20% of the population - flee their homes.

But earlier this week, the UN said it believed at least 10,000 troops may be required in any force sent to end the unrest, which began when Seleka rebels overthrew the president last March.

What started out as a conflict fuelled by ethnic rivalries has become religious in nature, with the emergence of Christian "anti-balaka" militias taking on the former rebels. Both sides have been accused of targeting civilians.

'Unprecedented levels of violence'

Antoine Mbao Bogo, head of the CAR's Red Cross, said that a total of 35 bodies had been recovered from the streets.

His colleague, Georgios Georgantas, leader of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation in the CAR, told the AFP news agency that "unprecedented level of violence" were being seen in the city.

Earlier this week, a human rights worker told the BBC how he had witnessed a mob of suspected "anti-balakas" mutilating the body of two Muslim men recently killed with machetes.

"It really was a scene of absolute horror. People were filming this on their cell phones and many were laughing," Peter Bouckaert, director of emergencies for Human Rights Watch, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

Mr Georgantas urged civilians to "to respect the emblem of the Red Cross", AFP reports.

"When we go through roadblocks to evacuate the wounded, each trip calls for long and difficult negotiations to move on. This endangers the lives of the wounded and causes a lot of stress to our personnel," he said.

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Thai protesters block ballot papers

31 January 2014 Last updated at 04:27 ET

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Three months of protests have been held in Bangkok

Thailand's anti-government protesters are blockading buildings where ballot papers are being stored, two days before the general election.

At least one office in Bangkok has been surrounded and several in southern Thailand in an attempt to prevent ballot papers being distributed.

The protesters oppose the poll, which is sure to be won by the ruling party.

They want the government replaced by an unelected "people's council" to reform the political system.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called the 2 February polls in response to the protests - but the opposition are boycotting them. Voting could well be disrupted and there are fears of violence.

Because of disruption to candidate registration, the elections will also not deliver enough MPs for a quorum in parliament, meaning that by-elections will be needed before a government can be approved, extending the instability.

Last week, there were chaotic scenes as protesters tried to stop advance voters from casting their ballots.

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, a former deputy prime minister under a previous opposition-led government, said election day polling would not be blocked.

"Those who want to vote should go and vote," he said on Thursday. "We won't block you from voting otherwise you'll turn around and say we violated your rights."

But some protesters are already surrounding post offices and other buildings where ballot papers are being kept, preventing them from being distributed to polling stations, reports the BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok.

One election commissioner has predicted that 10% of polling stations will not be able to open at all on Sunday, our correspondent says.

'Instigate violence'

The army says it will increase the number of troops deployed in Bangkok for the polls on Sunday. Some 10,000 police will also be on the streets.

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Sep 2006: Army ousts Thaksin Shinawatra
Dec 2007: Pro-Thaksin party wins election
Aug 2008: Thaksin flees Thailand
Dec 2008: Huge anti-Thaksin protests; court bans ruling party; Abhisit Vejjajiva comes to power
Mar-May 2010: Huge pro-Thaksin protests; dozens killed in army crackdown
Jul 2011: Yingluck Shinawatra, sister of Thaksin, elected PM
Nov 2013: Anti-government protests
Dec 2013: Ms Yingluck calls election
Jan 2014: Ms Yingluck declares state of emergency

"In addition to the 5,000 soldiers we have already deployed in and around Bangkok to help monitor security, we will be increasing troops around protest sites as there are people trying to instigate violence," army spokesman Winthai Suvaree told Reuters news agency earlier this week.

At least 10 people have been killed since the anti-government campaign began late last year. So far the government "red-shirt" supporters have mostly stayed off the streets, but observers fear a trigger that caused them to protest would spark more violence.

The protests began in November, after the lower house backed a controversial amnesty bill that critics said would allow Ms Yingluck's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, to return.

Mr Thaksin was ousted as prime minister by the military in a 2006 coup. He was convicted in absentia of corruption and lives overseas, but the protesters say he controls Ms Yingluck's government.

They also accuse her Pheu Thai party and its Thaksin-allied predecessors - which have won the last five elections - of misusing state funds on ill-judged schemes that win rural votes.

The protesters say they want Thailand's political system reformed and an end to money politics.

Ms Yingluck, however, who leads an elected government that enjoys strong support in rural areas, has asked protesters to respect Thailand's democratic principles.

Her brother, Mr Thaksin, is a deeply polarising figure loved by the rural poor but despised by the urban elite. The divisions between these sides have led to political instability in Thailand for almost a decade.

Correspondents have described it as a raw power struggle between the governing party, and the groups now allied with the protesters and Thailand's royalist establishment.

Each side fears the other will monopolise control of the state and marginalise its opponents, they say.

The election is seen as unlikely to resolve the crisis. The last election that was boycotted by the opposition was annulled.

Both Ms Yingluck and lawmakers from the ruling party also face investigations by Thailand's anti-corruption commission - paving the way for judicial moves against them. Pro-Thaksin governments have been forced from power by legal rulings in the past.

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Vodka blamed for Russian death rate

30 January 2014 Last updated at 20:47 ET By Tulip Mazumdar Global health reporter

The high number of early deaths in Russia is mainly due to people drinking too much alcohol, particularly vodka, research suggests.

The study, in The Lancet, says 25% of Russian men die before they are 55, and most of the deaths are down to alcohol. The comparable UK figure is 7%.

Causes of death include liver disease and alcohol poisoning. Many also die in accidents or after getting into fights.

The study is thought to be the largest of its kind in the country.

Researchers from the Russian Cancer Centre in Moscow, Oxford University in the UK and the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer, in France, tracked the drinking patterns of 151,000 adults in three Russian cities over up to 10 years.

During that time, 8,000 of them died. The researchers also drew on previous studies in which families of 49,000 people who had died were asked about their loved ones' drinking habits.

Study co-author Prof Sir Richard Peto, from the University of Oxford, said: "Russian death rates have fluctuated wildly over the last 30 years as alcohol restrictions and social stability varied under Presidents Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin, and the main thing driving these wild fluctuations in death was vodka."

Binge drinking

In 1985, the then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev drastically cut vodka production and did not allow it to be sold before lunch-time.

Researchers say alcohol consumption fell by around a quarter when the restrictions came in, and so did overall death rates. Then, when communism collapsed, people started drinking more again and the death rates also rose.

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Russians have always drunk a lot. They sometimes say it's because of the cold weather but this is just an excuse"

End Quote Prof David Zaridze Russian Cancer Research Centre

Sir Richard said: "When President Yeltsin took over from President Gorbachev, the overall death rates in young men more than doubled. This was as society collapsed and vodka became much more freely available.

"There was a huge increase in drinking and they were drinking in a destructive way. They were getting drunk on spirits and then buying and drinking more, producing a big risk of death."

The consumption rates for women also fluctuated according to political events, but they drank less so mortality rates were also lower.

Most drinkers were smokers as well which researchers say "aggravated" the death rates.

Russia brought in stricter alcohol control measures in 2006, including raising taxes and restricting sales.

Researchers say alcohol consumption has fallen by a third since then and the proportion of men dying before they reach 55 years old has fallen from 37% to 25%.

Half a litre of vodka costs around £3.00 (150 rubles). Heavy drinkers in this study were getting through at least a litre and a half of vodka a week.

In 2011, each Russian adult drank on average 13 litres of pure alcohol every year, of which eight litres was in spirits, mainly vodka.

In the UK the comparable figure is 10 litres per adult - but just less than two litres of that is in spirits.

Researchers say the key problem driving the high death rate is the way Russians drink alcohol.

Researcher Prof David Zaridze, from the Russian Cancer Research Centre, said: "They binge drink. That's the main problem. It's the pattern of drinking not the per-capita amount they are drinking."

"Russians have always drunk a lot. They sometimes say it's because of the cold weather but this is just an excuse. This is the nation's lifestyle that needs to change.

"Since the average life expectancy from birth for men in Russia is still only 64 years, ranking among the lowest 50 countries in the world, more effective alcohol and tobacco policy measures are urgently needed."

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Goldman investment sparks Danish row

31 January 2014 Last updated at 06:23 ET

Grassroots opposition has caused a political storm in Denmark over plans to sell part of a state-owned energy company to Goldman Sachs.

Opponents are continuing to sign an online petition, which has collected nearly 200,000 signatures.

The governing coalition of PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt has been undermined by the row over Dong Energy, with the Socialists leaving the government.

Recent events are being likened to the hit Danish political TV drama Borgen.

State-run Dong Energy has been struggling since plans for privatisation were aborted in 2008, and it needed an injection of capital.

The centre-left government is selling a 19% stake to a consortium including Danish pension funds and led by US investment bank Goldman Sachs.

But the plans, given the final seal of approval by parliament's finance committee on Thursday, led to mounting public opposition to what is seen as handing state assets to a private consortium.

The Socialist People's Party, one of three parties in Mrs Thorning-Schmidt's coalition, is split over the issue.

Its leader, Annette Vilhelmsen, backed the plans but quit as chairwoman and pulled the party out of the government on Thursday, in the face of internal opposition.

Many are concerned that Goldman Sachs will have too great a say over who controls Dong Energy and future mergers and acquisitions.

Despite leaving the government, the Socialists say they will continue to support it on other issues and the administration is expected to survive.

Mrs Thorning-Schmidt has said there will be a ministerial reshuffle soon.

"I expect that the Socialist People's Party and the government will continue to have a close and confidential co-operation," she said.

However, political commentators say the defection of the Socialists has weakened her administration, which came to power in 2011 and now consists of the Social Democrats and the Social Liberal Party.

The leader of the opposition, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, compared developments to the hugely successful Danish TV drama Borgen, which stars a female prime minister struggling to keep her coalition together.

Mr Rasmussen said that the government was in huge trouble and Borgen's scriptwriters could not have provided a more dramatic plot.

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Syria talks due to end in Geneva

31 January 2014 Last updated at 04:46 ET

The current round of peace negotiations on Syria is due to end in Switzerland later on Friday, with little or no progress expected on core issues.

After a week of talks at the UN headquarters in Geneva, the opposing sides are still stuck on the question of how to proceed.

UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has said he hopes for more progress in next week's second round of talks.

More than 100,000 people have died since the uprising began in March 2011.

In a rare gesture of harmony on Thursday, both sides stood together in silence to remember victims of the violence.

Aid delivered

Correspondents say Friday's closing session in Geneva is expected to be largely ceremonial, with government and opposition delegates expected to meet again on 10 February.

"I hope that in the next session, when we come back, we will be able to have a more structured discussion," Mr Brahimi said on Thursday.

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Geneva Communique

A UN-backed meeting in 2012 issued the document and urged Syria to:

Form transitional governing body
Start national dialogue
Review constitution and legal system
Hold free and fair elections

He said he was "very, very disappointed" that a UN aid convoy was still waiting to enter the rebel-held Old City of Homs, where the US says civilians are starving.

In a separate development, the UN relief agency UNRWA said it had delivered 720 food parcels to a besieged Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus on Thursday.

Yarmouk camp, which is held by the rebels, is suffering severe shortages of food and medical supplies, with activists reporting dozens of deaths there from starvation.

UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness described "chaotic scenes" as 700 of the total 900 food parcels brought into the camp were distributed to residents.

He said it was the first aid to reach the remaining 18,000 residents since 21 January, when UNRWA distributed 138 food parcels.

Diplomats have said that a top priority in Geneva is to keep the talks process going in the hope that hard-line positions can be modified over time.

The BBC's diplomatic correspondent James Robbins says there has been little or no progress on basic issues such as ending the violence, sharing political power or allowing humanitarian aid to get to besieged communities.

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"Start Quote

The hardship of the people in Syria is beyond words"

End Quote Angela Merkel German chancellor

Even the order in which these problems should be tackled is disputed, he says.

US and Russian officials - co-sponsors of the conference - are in Geneva advising the opposition and Syrian government delegations, their respective allies.

Both sides have agreed to use a 2012 document known as the Geneva Communique as a basis for discussions.

That agenda sets out stages to end the conflict, including a halt to fighting, delivery of aid and the setting up of a transitional government body.

While the opposition wants to start by addressing the question of a transitional government - which it believes would mean President Bashar al-Assad stepping down - the government insists the first step is to discuss "terrorism".

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday that the UN would "continue to explore every avenue for progress" in the Syria talks.

He told reporters at a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin that the negotiations were "proving to be very difficult, as we expected".

Mrs Merkel said she hoped progress would be made, but added that the talks themselves were "a first success".

"What we need now are humanitarian corridors, because the hardship of the people in Syria is beyond words, and everything should be done to achieve results," she said.

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Canada 'spied on airport travellers'

31 January 2014 Last updated at 06:25 ET

Canada's electronic spy agency collected data from travellers passing through a major airport, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reports.

The CSEC collected information captured from unsuspecting passengers' wireless devices by the airport's free wi-fi system over two-weeks, the report says.

The revelations come from documents leaked by Edward Snowden, CBC says.

The CSEC is prohibited by law from targeting Canadians or anyone in Canada without an appropriate warrant.

Its primary mission is to collect foreign intelligence by intercepting overseas phone and internet traffic.

The CSEC (Communications Security Establishment Canada), in a statement to CBC, reiterated that it is "mandated to collect foreign signals to protect Canada and Canadians.

"And in order to fulfil that key foreign intelligence role for the country, CSEC is legally authorised to collect and analyse metadata."

Metadata is the information about a communication - such as the date and location of a call or email - rather than the details of what was actually said or written.

'Hot spots'

The leaked document indicates the 2012 passenger tracking operation was a trial run of a powerful new software programme being developed jointly with the US's National Security Agency (NSA), CBC reports.

It is now fully operational, CBC News quotes sources as saying.

Experts told the broadcaster that information captured from travellers' devices would have enabled the agency to track them for a week or more as they showed up in other wi-fi "hot spots" around Canada, such as other airports, hotels or restaurants.

Such was the volume of data that CSEC could even track the travellers' movements back to the days before they arrived at the airport, the experts say.

The document does not specify which airport was targeted or explain how CSEC was able to access the data.

Two airports - Vancouver and Toronto - and Boingo, an independent supplier of wi-fi services at other Canadian airports, have denied any involvement in supplying wi-fi information.

Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, is currently living in Russia having fled the US in May 2013 after leaking thousands of documents that revealed extensive internet and phone surveillance by the US and other intelligence services.

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Kercher convict found near border

31 January 2014 Last updated at 06:58 ET

Italian police have found Raffaele Sollecito near the Austrian border after a court reinstated his guilty verdict for the murder of Briton Meredith Kercher in 2007.

Sollecito's passport was confiscated but his lawyer said his client had never thought of fleeing.

Sollecito was given 25 years and his US ex-girlfriend Amanda Knox 28 years and six months in Thursday's ruling.

The Kercher family lawyer said that justice had been done.

Miss Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon in south London, was stabbed to death in the flat she shared with Knox in the college city of Perugia.

'Flight danger'

The travel ban was part of the verdict handed down on Sollecito by the court in Florence on Thursday.

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1 Nov 07: Meredith Kercher found murdered in her shared flat in Perugia
28 Oct 08: Rudy Guede jailed after being found guilty of murder
4 Dec 09: Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito jailed after being found guilty of murder and sexual violence
3 Oct 11: Knox and Sollecito acquitted on appeal
26 March 13: Italy's top court overturns acquittals and severely criticises the appeal hearing
30 Sept 13: Re-trial of Knox and Sollecito. Guilty verdict returned on 31 January 2014

The court noted that there was a "real and actual the danger that Sollecito could escape Italian justice".

Sollecito is free to move within Italy until the verdict is confirmed, normally the task of the supreme Court of Cassation.

Lawyers for both Knox, who is in the United States, and Sollecito have said they will appeal to the Court of Cassation.

Sollecito had been in the courtroom in Florence earlier in the day on Thursday but was not there for the ruling.

His lawyer, Luca Maori, said his client had heard the verdict on TV and looked "annihilated".

Police reportedly found Sollecito with his girlfriend in a hotel in Venzone, about 40km (24 miles) from the border, in the early hours of Friday.

Venzone is 322km from Florence.

A police statement read: "Raffaele Sollecito... was notified of the cautionary measures of the travel ban and the confiscation of his passport."

He was taken voluntarily to a police station in Udine.

Mr Maori told the Ansa news agency that his client had "never thought of fleeing and had given up his passport spontaneously".

Mr Maori said his client was "stressed" on Thursday and had travelled to the Friuli area because his girlfriend lived there.

Ansa reported that investigators were considering whether Sollecito had shown the intention of fleeing, and if so could keep him in protective custody.

'Frightened'

Knox and Sollecito were jailed for Miss Kercher's murder in 2009 but the verdicts were overturned in 2011 and the pair were freed.

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Speaking before the verdicts emerged, Amanda Knox said she was "a marked person"

However, the acquittals were themselves overturned last year by the Court of Cassation, which returned the case to the Florence court.

The court on Thursday made no requests for limits on Knox's movements.

Legal experts say it is unlikely Italy will request Knox's extradition until the verdict is confirmed.

They say that if Italy puts in a request, the US would have to decide whether the case fell under their mutual extradition treaty. Political considerations could also come into play, they say.

In a statement issued after the verdict, Knox said: "I am frightened and saddened by this unjust verdict.

"Having been found innocent before, I expected better from the Italian justice system."

In a news conference on Friday, Miss Kercher's brother, Lyle, said he believed extradition would be appropriate "if someone has been found guilty and convicted of a murder, and if an extradition law exists between those two countries".

Meredith's sister, Stephanie, said: "I think we are still on a journey for the truth and it may be the fact that we don't ever really know what happened that night."

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Verdicts due in Kercher murder trial

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 30 Januari 2014 | 19.15

30 January 2014 Last updated at 07:03 ET

A court in Italy is due to announce new appeal verdicts for two people accused of the murder of UK student Meredith Kercher in 2007.

US citizen Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were acquitted of the crime on appeal in 2011, after four years in custody.

But that ruling was dismissed as flawed last year by the supreme court, and a new appeal ordered.

Ms Knox has not returned to Italy for the case. Both plead their innocence.

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If Amanda Knox is convicted again, Italy is likely to file an extradition request to bring her back to the country. Ms Knox has said "common sense" tells her not to return to Italy of her own accord, despite her innocence.

Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at American University in Washington DC, says whether or not Ms Knox is extradited to Italy is a question of the request's legal basis and America's political interest in the case.

Once Italy makes a request, the US will have to decide whether it falls under their extradition treaty. While there is "no reason to think the US has a specific interest" in blocking her extradition, Mr Vladeck says, countries can effectively stand in the way with a variety of "creative" interpretations of extradition treaties.

If the US does grant Italy's request, Ms Knox can fight her extradition in a US court.

But Mr Vladeck thinks the US protection against being tried twice for the same crime - known as double jeopardy - does not apply in this case: "There's nothing in the treaty that requires Italy to uphold the US legal system."

The court in Florence has been hearing from Ms Knox's defence team and the two judges and eight jurors are now deliberating on a verdict.

It is expected to be handed down some time after 16:00 GMT.

Summing up, Ms Knox's lawyer, Carlo Dalla Vedova, told the court her innocence was "rock-solid and it allows us to await the verdict with serenity".

If Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito are convicted again, they can lodge appeals with the Court of Cassation (as the supreme court is known formally), which will have the final say.

The Court of Cassation overturned their acquittals last March after an appeal by prosecutors, who argued that important DNA evidence had been disregarded.

Prosecutors are asking for 26-year prison terms for the pair on the murder charge.

But if Ms Knox is convicted, Italy may face a legal battle to extradite her from the US.

'DNA doubts'

Miss Kercher, from Coulsdon in south London and 21 at the time, was found with her throat cut in a flat she shared with Ms Knox in the college city of Perugia, in the central region of Umbria.

Rudy Guede from the Ivory Coast was convicted of her murder at a separate trial and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Prosecutors sought to prove Miss Kercher had died in a sex game involving Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito, that had gone wrong.

Arrested days after the murder, Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito were tried and convicted in November 2009.

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The Meredith Kercher murder retrial explained - in 60 seconds

In 2011, an eight-member jury cleared both defendants of Miss Kercher's murder after doubts were raised over procedures used to gather DNA evidence.

Ordering a retrial last year, the Court of Cassation moved proceedings from Umbria to Florence, in the northern region of Tuscany.

Mr Sollecito, 29, has been in the court room awaiting the verdict. If he is reconvicted, the court could ask for him to be arrested or placed under a travel ban pending the Court of Cassation's decision.

He told the court in November that it made "no real sense" for him to have committed "such an atrocious act".

Ms Kercher's brother Lyle and sister Stephanie were also expected to be present when the verdict is read out.

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Actress quits Oxfam in West Bank row

30 January 2014 Last updated at 05:51 ET

Actress Scarlett Johansson has quit as an ambassador for Oxfam amid a row over her support for an Israeli company that operates in the occupied West Bank.

A spokesman for the actress said she had a "fundamental difference of opinion" with the humanitarian group.

She will remain a brand ambassador for SodaStream, which has a factory in the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim.

Oxfam opposes trade from settlements, considered illegal under international law - something Israel disputes.

About 500,000 Jews currently live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

'Model for peace'

A statement from Ms Johansson's spokesman published on Wednesday announced that the Hollywood star had "respectfully decided to end her ambassador role with Oxfam after eight years", according to the Associated Press.

"She and Oxfam have a fundamental difference of opinion in regards to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. She is very proud of her accomplishments and fundraising efforts during her tenure with Oxfam," it added.

On Thursday, Oxfam issued a statement saying it had accepted Ms Johansson's decision to step down and was grateful for her many contributions.

"While Oxfam respects the independence of our ambassadors, Ms Johansson's role promoting the company SodaStream is incompatible with her role as an Oxfam Global Ambassador," it added.

"Oxfam believes that businesses, such as SodaStream, that operate in settlements further the ongoing poverty and denial of rights of the Palestinian communities that we work to support."

The Avengers star signed up to be a global brand ambassador with SodaStream International Ltd earlier this month, and is due to appear in an advertisement for the firm during Sunday's SuperBowl.

SodaStream - which makes products that allow people to produce carbonated soft drinks at home - operates one of the hundreds of factories constructed in some 20 Israeli-run industrial zones in the West Bank.

The company's chief executive, Daniel Birnbaum, said his Israeli and Palestinian staff were treated equally and received generous benefits, and called his factory "a model for peace".

"We're very proud to be here and contribute to the co-existence and hopefully the peace in this region," he told Reuters news agency.

However, away from the factory, Reuters quoted one unnamed Palestinian employee as saying "there's a lot of racism" at work.

"Most of the managers are Israeli, and West Bank employees feel they can't ask for pay rises or more benefits because they can be fired and easily replaced," he added.

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Justin Bieber charged with assault

30 January 2014 Last updated at 05:16 ET

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Justin Bieber was led by police through a crowd of reporters and fans

Canadian pop star Justin Bieber has been charged with assaulting a limousine driver in Toronto last month.

The 19-year-old handed himself in at a Toronto police station where he was mobbed by TV crews, news photographers and screaming teenage fans.

The charge comes a week after he was arrested and charged for a separate incident in Florida for driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

A lawyer for the singer said his client was innocent.

Toronto police say that Justin Bieber was one of six people picked up by a limousine outside a nightclub in the early hours of 30 December.

"While driving the group to a hotel, an altercation occurred between one of the passengers and the driver of the limousine," a police statement said.

"In the course of the altercation, a man struck the limousine driver on the back of the head several times.

"The driver stopped the limousine, exited the vehicle and called police. The man who struck him left the scene before police arrived."

After surrendering to police on Wednesday, the singer was charged with one count of assault and is scheduled to appear in court in Toronto on 10 March.

Howard Weitzman, Mr Bieber's lawyer in California, said the entertainer was innocent and that he expected the case to be treated as a summary offence, which is the equivalent of a misdemeanour in the United States.

Online petition

Earlier on Wednesday, a petition requesting Mr Bieber's expulsion from the US attained 100,000 signatures.

The petition was filed on a White House website by a member of the public.

The US president has no power to order an individual's deportation, and it is unclear whether the White House will respond to the petition.

Justin Bieber has had several run-ins with police over the past year.

In the early hours of last Thursday, he was arrested in Miami Beach after a police officer pulled him over on suspicion of racing a hired yellow Lamborghini on a public street.

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30 Jan 2014 - Charged with assaulting a limousine driver in Toronto in December
23 Jan - Charged with driving under influence of alcohol, marijuana and prescription drugs
15 Jan - LA police investigate claims he threw eggs at neighbour's house
Nov 2013 - Charged by Brazil police with illegally spraying graffiti in Rio de Janeiro

Suspecting he was intoxicated, the officer arrested him. The singer was also charged with resisting arrest and driving on an expired licence.

Mr Bieber was later released on bail of $2,500 (£1,500).

Earlier in January, police in California searched Mr Bieber's home after he allegedly threw eggs at his neighbour's house, causing thousands of dollars in damage.

The outcome of that search is still unclear but one of the singer's associates was arrested amid the search and charged with drug possession.

The singer's manager tweeted on Wednesday evening asking people "to be kind and hope for the best in people. not assume the worst. Thanks."

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Google sells Motorola unit to Lenovo

29 January 2014 Last updated at 23:29 ET

Google has sold struggling US mobile phone company Motorola Mobility to Chinese computer maker Lenovo for $2.91bn (£1.8bn), in a surprise move.

Google had paid $12.5bn for the company less than two years ago.

Lenovo plans to build up its smartphone unit through the Motorola purchase, which may help offset its slowing personal computer business.

However, Google will keep the majority of Motorola's lucrative patents, which include one for Android software.

In a statement, Google said the smartphone market was "super competitive" and that Motorola would "be better served by Lenovo".

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Leo Kelion Technology reporter

Google always said the motivation behind buying Motorola's mobile phone business was its patents. This deal sees it keep most of them. That will help it fight future legal battles to protect its Android operating system.

The search giant had always kept the division at arm's length, in part to tackle any perception that it would give its own hardware an unfair advantage against other phone sellers. The outcome was that third-party made Google Nexus-branded phones often stole the limelight.

Even when Google did invest in a reported $500m marketing blitz to promote Motorola's flagship - the Moto X - in the US, the brand only made slight gains in market share.

A sale to Lenovo means Google can stop worrying about Motorola clocking up further losses. It will now be interesting to see if owning the brand can help Lenovo to do what other Chinese smart device makers have struggled at: cracking western markets.

The purchase is set to make Lenovo the world's third-largest smartphone maker behind Samsung and Apple.

Market research firm Strategy Analytics said in a blog post that Lenovo had made "a good move" and would benefit from economies of scale.

"The Chinese vendor gets access to the valuable US smartphone market and the fast-growing Latin America region. This complements its existing global PC business.

"For Motorola, it gains access to an ambitious sugar daddy that has a strong presence in the huge China market. For Google, it divests a loss-making hardware division," it said.

Chinese deal-maker

This is the second major acquisition for Lenovo in the same number of weeks.

Last Thursday, the Thinkpad-maker announced it had acquired IBM's low-end server business for $2.3bn, in what was then China's biggest technology deal.

Shares of Lenovo being traded in Hong Kong fell by more than 8% following the announcement, which came after the US market had closed.

"Whether Lenovo can turn around the long-struggling Motorola business, and what happens to the Motorola brand long-term, remain key questions that will need to be answered in the coming months," Strategy Analytics said.

On a conference call following the deal's announcement, Lenovo chief financial officer Wong Waiming said they were not concerned that they may have overpaid for Motorola.

"Market prices go up and down and I would not take a one-day or half-day performance as a reflection of the market viewing it negatively," he said.

Mr Wong also said there was "no urgent need" for the company to tap the capital markets for money to fund the Motorola purchase given it had more than $3bn in cash available.

Acquisition spree

The purchase of Motorola was Google's largest acquisition and it signalled a growing effort by the search giant to enter the hardware business.

Motorola Mobility created the Moto X and Moto G phones.

Despite the sale, Google chief executive Larry Page insisted in a blog post: "This does not signal a larger shift for our other hardware efforts."

The deal with Lenovo comes on the heels of an acquisition spree for Google.

In January, it snapped up DeepMind, a UK firm focused on artificial intelligence, and bought military robot-maker Boston Dynamics in December.

Global ambitions

In announcing Wednesday's purchase, Lenovo cited the strength of Motorola's brand, which has been revived in recent years with Google's help.

"The acquisition of such an iconic brand, innovative product portfolio and incredibly talented global team will immediately make Lenovo a strong global competitor in smartphones," said Yang Yuanqing, chief executive of Lenovo, in a statement.

"We will immediately have the opportunity to become a strong global player in the fast-growing mobile space," he added.

He also noted the acquisition gives Lenovo an entry into the North American and Latin American markets, as well as a toehold in Western Europe.

The transaction must still be approved by US and Chinese regulators.

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Iraq troops 'free Baghdad hostages'

30 January 2014 Last updated at 05:31 ET

Iraqi security forces have freed all the hostages taken by gunmen at a building in Baghdad next the ministry of human rights, officials say.

Three of the eight attackers were killed in the operation, an interior ministry spokesman told the BBC.

Security forces were quick to seal off the surrounding area, also home to the interior and transport ministries.

No group has claimed responsibility, though Sunni militants linked to al-Qaeda have mounted similar attacks.

Violence has surged across Iraq in the past year, reaching levels not seen since the height of the sectarian insurgency in 2007.

The United Nations says 7,818 civilians and 1,050 members of the security forces died in 2013. December alone saw at least 759 killed.

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Homes 'deliberately razed' in Syria

30 January 2014 Last updated at 06:38 ET

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Unverified YouTube footage appears to show the deliberate demolition of homes with explosives in the Syrian capital, Damascus

The Syrian government has been "deliberately and unlawfully" demolishing thousands of homes, a new report by Human Rights Watch says.

Satellite images appear to show large-scale demolitions with explosives and bulldozers in opposition strongholds in Damascus and Hama in 2012 and 2013.

The report says the apparent wanton destruction of civilian property and collective punishment are war crimes.

It comes as government and opposition delegates attend peace talks in Geneva.

On Wednesday, UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi admitted he did not expect there to be any substantial progress during the current round of negotiations, which are scheduled to end on Friday.

'Wiped off the map'

Human Rights Watch's report, Razed to the Ground, documents seven cases of large-scale demolitions which it says took place between July 2012 and July 2013.

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Satellite images, online videos and eyewitness reports suggest they were carried out by government forces, it concludes.

The satellite images show seven districts of Damascus and Hama before and after the demolitions.

Continue reading the main story

The HRW report documents seven cases of mass demolitions between July 2012 and July 2013 in and around Damascus and at Hama, where the entire Masha al-Arbeen district appears to have been totally flattened.

The evidence produced by the report is hard to ignore. But it's not clear whether those were relatively isolated cases in time and location, or whether it is an ongoing process in different places amid massive destruction inflicted by the war itself.

The July 2012 start date could stem from the fact that this month was when the conflict finally engulfed Syria's two biggest cities, Damascus and Aleppo. HRW has called on the UN Security Council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court because of what it terms these "latest additions to a long list of crimes committed by the Syrian government".

That is certainly highly unlikely to happen. Syria is not a signatory to the relevant conventions, and could only be referred by a unanimous vote at the Security Council, where Russia and China have systematically defended Damascus.

In many of the images, buildings - many of them blocks of flats several stories high - have been reduced to rubble.

HRW said it had documented the destruction of at least 145 hectares of building land - a total area equivalent to about 200 football pitches.

Thousands of families had lost their homes as a result of these demolitions, it added.

"Wiping entire neighbourhoods off the map is not a legitimate tactic of war," said Ole Solvang, an HRW emergencies researcher. "These unlawful demolitions are the latest additions to a long list of crimes committed by the Syrian government."

He added: "This was collective punishment of communities suspected of supporting the rebellion."

HRW demanded the Syrian government immediately end the demolitions, saying they were in violation of international law, and provide compensation and alternative housing to the victims.

It also urged the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court.

'Illegal construction'

Government officials told HRW that the demolitions were carried out in order to remove illegally constructed buildings.

However, the New York-based group found that there had been no similar demolitions in pro-government districts.

The demolitions were also supervised by military personnel and often followed fighting in the areas between government and rebel forces, it said.

Several residents also told HRW that they had all the necessary documentation for their homes.

They added that government forces had given little or no warning of the impending demolitions, and that they had not been allowed to remove their belongings.

"No-one should be fooled by the government's claim that it is undertaking urban planning in the middle of a bloody conflict," Mr Solvang said.

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Ukraine protesters defy amnesty move

30 January 2014 Last updated at 06:47 ET

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Protesters on the front line have built a giant catapult to fire cobblestones with, as Matthew Price reports

Protesters in Ukraine have rejected the terms of a new amnesty law aimed at ending the country's recent unrest.

Parliament backed an amnesty for detainees if protesters vacated the government buildings they had occupied and unblocked streets and squares.

The opposition has rejected this and protesters remain camped out in central Kiev and still occupy key buildings.

The protests began in November after President Viktor Yanukovych reversed a decision to sign an EU trade deal.

The next month he signed a $15bn (£9.2bn; 10.9bn euros) bailout deal with Russia.

A statement on the presidential website on Thursday said Mr Yanukovych, 63, was on sick leave due to respiratory illness and high fever.

'Defend ourselves'

The new amnesty law will not come into effect unless protesters leave the local administration buildings they have occupied across Ukraine within 15 days.