Seven Nato troops die in Afghanistan

4 May 2013 Last updated at 17:56 ET

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Isaf spokesman Brigadier General Günter Katz: "Every soldier who dies here... is one too many"

Seven soldiers serving with Nato's force in Afghanistan have been killed in two attacks, the alliance says.

An Afghan soldier turned his weapon on coalition troops in the western Farah province, reports said, killing two in the latest so-called insider attack.

Earlier, a roadside bomb killed five US soldiers in the southern Kandahar province.

The deaths came after three British troops were killed by a roadside bomb this week in southern Helmand province.

The Taliban launched its annual spring offensive last Sunday, saying it would target foreign military bases and diplomatic areas.

Some 100,000 soldiers are still serving with Isaf, but they are due to be withdrawn by the end of next year.

Nato is in the process of handing security operations to Afghan forces, and some areas have already been transferred.

'We stay committed'

The US-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) released a statement saying: "Two International Security Assistance Force service members were killed when an Afghan National Army soldier turned his weapon against Isaf service members in western Afghanistan today."

It did not disclose the nationalities of the victims, but unnamed American officials later said the victims were US soldiers, AP reported.

As the number of Nato troops killed by their Afghan counterparts continues to rise, analysts wonder how the breakdown of this relationship will have an impact on the scheduled departure of international forces from Afghanistan.

After the earlier roadside bomb in Kandahar, Isaf spokesman Brig Gen Gunter Katz said it had been a "difficult week" for the coalition, but added that the deaths would not change its commitment to the task in Afghanistan.

"Every soldier who dies here in Afghanistan is one too many," he said. "But again, this will not have an effect on our overall campaign. We stay committed and will stay committed in this country to support the Afghans also in the future."

Faisal Javi, a spokesman for Kandahar's governor, said the roadside bomb exploded in Mewand district, which has a strong Taliban presence, but he said the group had not yet claimed responsibility for planting the device.

Saturday's deaths bring the toll for coalition troops in 2013 to 49, including 37 Americans.

Most Nato troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014 - when all combat operations are due to finish - although a small number will remain in support roles.

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Brazilian team in 'Taliban' row

4 May 2013 Last updated at 18:46 ET

Top Brazilian football club Fluminense has asked its supporters and players to abandon an internet campaign encouraging them to pose as Taliban fighters and post the photos online.

The campaign began after the club was defeated in a match for the South American Copa Libertadores.

Supporters went on Twitter to ask players and other fans to "show their warrior spirit" and join the campaign.

In a statement, the club says the initiative glorifies terrorism.

Several players, including Brazilian international strike Fred, have posted photos with their faces partially covered by scarves with the club's colours.

Fluminense, who are the current Brazilian champions, are known by their fans as "a team of warriors".

Controversial chants

The club in a statement: "The intentions of those who began this movement and have joined it clash with the Taliban's image, who are terrorists and not healthy warriors. That is why Fluminense Football Club denounces this campaign."

The club described the "Be a Taliban warrior" campaign as a "call for violence".

Fluminense supporters were angry after their team's defeat in Ecuador on Sunday.

Local team Emelec won 2-1 thanks to a late penalty. The second leg of the tie will be played in Brazil on Wednesday.

Brazilian football chants are notoriously politically incorrect, with derogatory references to class, race, gender and homosexuality.

Some fans go to matches with flags depicting controversial figures such as Ayatollah Khomeini, Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden in the colours of their clubs.

But with Brazil preparing to host next year's World Cup, correspondents say football authorities are becoming more aware that the fans' attitude can damage the country's image.

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Iraqi PM coalition in election lead

4 May 2013 Last updated at 19:36 ET

The Shia-led coalition led by Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki has come first in seven of 12 provinces, including Baghdad, in elections held last month.

Its main rival, the Sunni-dominated Iraqiya bloc, suffered poor results.

Observers say the results give an indication of political support ahead of next year's parliamentary elections.

It was the first local council vote held since the departure of US troops in late 2011. Widespread violence marred the run-up to the election.

Tensions are high between Iraq's Sunni and Shia, amid claims by the majority Sunni Arab communities that they are being marginalised by Mr Maliki's government.

Dozens of people were killed in bombings targeting mainly Shia areas and 14 candidates, most of them Sunni, were murdered last month.

Polling stations were also attacked and the government was forced to postpone the vote in two Sunni-dominated provinces.

The UN described April as Iraq's deadliest month since 2008.

'Acts of terrorism'

Saturday's results showed Mr Maliki's State of Law coalition won crucial votes in Baghdad and the oil-rich Basra province.

It also led the polls in Karbala, Babil, Diwaniyah, Dhi Qar and Muthanna, and tied for first in Wasit province with its Shia rival, the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council.

Meanwhile the Iraqiya bloc, led by Ayad Allawi, picked up no more than three seats in any of the provinces, according to Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission.

Almost 14 million Iraqis were eligible to vote for more than 8,000 candidates competing for 378 seats in provincial councils on 20 April.

Election officials put the turnout at around 50%.

Iraqi forces took charge of security in an election for the first time since the 2003 invasion.

Although levels of violence have dropped since the heights of the insurgency in 2006 and 2007, unrest is currently more widespread than at any time since the US military withdrawal.

April was the country's deadliest month in five years, with a total of 712 people killed in "acts of terrorism and acts of violence", the UN mission in Iraq said.

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Sudan tribal leader killed in Abyei

5 May 2013 Last updated at 00:37 ET

A prominent tribal leader in the disputed Sudanese territory of Abyei has been shot dead in an incident involving a rival Arab militia.

Kual Deng Majok, the chief of the Dinka ethnic group, was killed during a stand-off between the Arab Misseriya militia and UN peacekeepers.

There were also reports of UN forces being wounded.

Oil-rich Abyei abuts both Sudan and South Sudan - which seceded in 2011 - and is claimed by the two countries.

The conflict is rooted in a dispute over land between farmers of the pro-South Sudan Dinka Ngok people and cattle-herding Misseriya Arab nomads in the north.

As a result, Abyei remains under the administration of an interim UN security force.

Saturday's incident began when a convoy of South Sudanese officials looking into the future of Abyei was surrounded by the Arab militia, and the UN tried to secure their release.

A Dinka official told AFP news agency: "The top Dinka leader, Kual Deng Majok, was killed... after he was attacked by Misseriya."

A Misseriya chief also confirmed the death.

"A group of Misseriya stopped the convoy and started negotiations. Then a clash happened when a [UN] soldier shot one of the Misseriya who was readying his weapon," the unnamed chief told AFP.

North and South Sudan have suffered decades of conflicts driven by religious and ethnic divides, with an estimated 1.5 million people killed in the civil war.

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Deadly blast hits Mogadishu convoy

5 May 2013 Last updated at 04:58 ET

A car bomb has exploded near a government convoy in the Somali capital Mogadishu, killing at least seven people, officials say.

A police spokesman told AFP news agency a suicide attacker had driven a car laden with explosives at an armoured government vehicle.

Eyewitnesses told the BBC a government vehicle carrying foreign aid workers had been targeted.

The attack comes days before a conference in London on Somalia.

No group said immediately it had carried out Sunday's attack.

The country's main Islamist group al-Shabab, which is part of al-Qaeda, has been forced out of the main cities in the south and centre but still controls smaller towns and many rural areas.

Motionless

Ten people were also injured by the explosion, BBC reporter Mohamed Ibrahim reports from the city.

Government forces had only re-opened the main roads in Mogadishu on Saturday after a four-day ban on vehicle traffic, he adds.

The ban had been aimed at preventing attacks by al-Shabab.

A Reuters news agency photographer said he could see three people lying motionless near the wreckage of four burning cars.

The London conference will discuss how best the international community can support Somalia's progress.

More than 50 countries and organisations are due to take part when it opens on Tuesday, co-hosted by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

The UK recently re-opened its embassy in Mogadishu.

The security situation in city was thought to have been improving after two decades of conflict, despite occasional attacks.

Masked gunmen shot dead the deputy chief prosecutor, Ahmad Shaykh Nur Maalin, last month in the city centre.

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Dhaka riot police battle Islamists

5 May 2013 Last updated at 06:43 ET

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Footage shows police using tear gas and rubber bullets against activists, as Jill McGivering reports

Police in Bangladesh have used tear gas and rubber bullets in a clash with conservative Islamist protesters in the capital Dhaka.

Thousands of activists from Hefajat-e-Islam blocked highways, isolating Dhaka from other parts of the country.

Demands included the death penalty for those who insult Islam and greater segregation of men and women.

Their opposition to a national development policy for women angered women's groups.

The movement draws its strength from the country's madrassahs or religious schools.

But the government, which describes Bangladesh as a secular democracy, has rejected its demands.

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Polls close in tight Malaysian vote

5 May 2013 Last updated at 07:05 ET

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Jonathan Head reports from a polling station queue in Kuala Lumpur, where he says there was an ''unprecedented turnout''

Voting has ended in Malaysia in what is widely expected to be the most closely contested general election in the country's history.

PM Najib Razak's Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition is up against Pakatan Rakyat, a three-party alliance headed by Anwar Ibrahim.

Voters were faced with returning the ruling party, in power for 56 years, or choosing an untested opposition.

Ahead of the polls, allegations of various forms of fraud emerged.

It will be several hours before the first results are known, the BBC's Jonathan Head reports from the capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

We hope for a change of government"

End Quote Karunamoorthy Malaysian voter

At polling stations in the city, there was a palpable sense of excitement among the many voters there who support the opposition coalition, he adds. Some said this was the first time they felt their votes had mattered.

But Barisan Nasional has been campaigning very hard to shore up its base among poorer ethnic Malay neighbourhoods and in rural areas, and opinion polls suggest a very close race.

'People do change'

Election officials said they expected voter turnout to be up to 80%.

Barisan Nasional, while credited with bringing economic development and political stability, has also been tainted by allegations of corruption.

But it remains to be seen whether Mr Anwar's coalition, comprising parties of different ethnicities and religions, can persuade voters to choose an alternative government.

Mr Najib, 59, said he was confident that Malaysians would retain his coalition and even return the two-thirds parliamentary majority Barisan Nasional lost in the 2008 polls.

During the last four years, he said during a campaign rally on Thursday, the coalition had proved it could "protect and benefit all Malaysians".

"The task of transformation is not over yet," he told supporters in his home state of Pahang on Saturday.

Mohamed Rafiq Idris, a car business owner waiting to vote in the central state of Selangor, told the Associated Press news agency the ruling coalition had made "some mistakes" but he believed it would do its best to take care of the people's welfare.

But first-time voter Bernie Lim, a banker, said: "I grew up recognising that my parents voted for the present coalition at almost every general election. This time, they voted for the opposition. People do change."

Ethnic Indian voter Karunamoorthy told BBC News in the capital: "We hope for a change of government. There needs to be a change because of abuse of power."

Mr Anwar, 65, has said people's clamour for change means that Pakatan Rakyat will emerge victorious.

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Malaysia 2013 polls

• Election is expected to be Malaysia's most keenly contested poll since independence
• PM Najib Razak leads the long-dominant coalition Barisan Nasional (National Front)
• Anwar Ibrahim leads the three-party opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat
• Key issues include corruption, race-based policies that favour Malays and the economy

"People have enough of this semi-authoritarian rule, of complete [government] control of the media, of strong arrogance, of power and endemic corruption," he told AP in an interview.

He advised supporters "to remain calm, not to be provoked, not to take the law into their own hands, support the process".

"Unless there's a major massive fraud tomorrow - that is our nightmare - we will win," he told AFP news agency.

Online drive

Allegations of election fraud surfaced before the election. Some of those who voted in advance told BBC News that indelible ink - supposed to last for days - easily washed off.

"The indelible ink can be washed off easily, with just water, in a few seconds," one voter, Lo, told BBC News from Skudai.

Another voter wrote: "Marked with "indelible ink" and voted at 10:00. Have already cleaned off the ink by 12:00. If I was also registered under a different name and ID number at a neighbouring constituency, I would be able to vote again before 17:00!"

The opposition has also accused the government of funding flights for supporters to key states, which the government denies.

Independent pollster Merdeka Center has received unconfirmed reports of foreign nationals being given IDs and allowed to vote.

The international organisation Human Rights Watch said there had been well-planned attacks against the country's independent media ahead of the polls.

Both sides actively engaged the electorate online, especially the country's 2.6 million new voters, the BBC's Jennifer Pak reports from Kuala Lumpur.

Visiting the social media unit for PKR, one of the opposition parties, she found activists posting messages to encourage people to vote despite heavy rain in some regions.

Most traditional media in Malaysia are linked to the governing parties so opposition parties rely almost exclusively on the internet to get their message out, she says.

"This is our only way to get our message out but, even then, we do struggle," said activist Praba Ganesan. "Our Facebook account this morning was attacked, we had to remove content, we had to fix it. There are fears that things are being compromised."

Officially, just 18 foreign electoral observers are in Malaysia. They are joined by 1,200 local observers from 17 non-governmental organisations.

The electoral commission said on Saturday that the foreign observers comprised six each from Indonesia and Thailand, and two each from Burma, Cambodia and the Asean secretariat.

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Damascus 'hit by Israeli strikes'

5 May 2013 Last updated at 07:16 ET

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Syrian journalist Alaa Ebrahim describes the attack as like 'a mild earthquake'

Syria has accused Israel of launching rocket attacks on Damascus, after a night of huge explosions near the city.

Syrian state media said the rockets hit the Jamraya research centre, which Western officials have suggested is involved in chemical weapons research.

Israeli radio quoted a senior security official confirming an attack, and sources said it targeted weapons bound for Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

It is the second suspected Israeli strike in Syria in two days.

On Friday Israeli aircraft hit a shipment of missiles near the Lebanon border, according to unnamed US and Israeli officials.

The BBC's Yolande Knell in Jerusalem says the latest developments are a significant escalation in Israel's involvement in the conflict.

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Analysis

Two air strikes in 48 hours does indeed start to look perilously like the involvement in Syria's internal crisis the Israelis have always said they want to avoid, especially when they are visibly taking out military targets on the very edge of Damascus.

Politically such attacks strengthen the Syrian regime in regional and domestic terms, and embarrass the rebels, who are cast as actors in a Western-directed plot to undermine resistance to Israel.

Israel has said that its only concern is to prevent advanced weapons being handed over to Hezbollah. Objectively it would be hard to see Israel's interest in helping trigger an uncontrolled collapse of the regime, leaving the field open to rebel groups among which Islamist radicals currently make the running.

But if the Friday and Sunday attacks herald a pattern of mounting Israeli involvement, it may be increasingly hard to keep the two strands separate.

She says Israel has already responded to fears of retaliation by locating two batteries of its Iron Dome missile defence system near Haifa, close to the Lebanese border.

'Mild earthquake'

Damascus was shaken by repeated explosions coming from the north-western suburbs.

Amateur video footage and eye witness testimony suggested rocket attacks had hit weapons dumps, triggering dramatic orange-flamed blasts.

The area houses numerous military facilities, including the Jamraya research centre, designated by Syria as a scientific research centre "in charge of raising our level of resistance and self-defence".

A state TV bulletin said: "The new Israeli attack is an attempt to raise the morale of the terrorist groups, which have been reeling from strikes by our noble army."

Damascus-based journalist Alaa Ebrahim told the BBC it was "the biggest explosion" the city had seen since the conflict began two years ago.

He said residents living near Jamraya reported feeling a "mild earthquake" just before the blast, indicating that the rockets may have hit an underground facility.

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Media reaction

• According to Syria's Sana state news agency: "The new Israeli aggression shows the direct involvement of the Zionist entity in the conspiracy against Syria and the relationship that links the armed terrorist groups with the Israeli hostile schemes backed by the Western, regional and some Gulf states."
• Iran's Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi is quoted by Fars news agency reacting to Friday's attack: "The inhuman acts and adventurism of the Zionist regime will strengthen the waves of anti-Zionism in the region and will shorten the life of this fake regime."
• A writer with Israel's Walla website notes that "common sense would seem to mandate" the attack on Syrian targets. However, he notes that admission of the attack from Syrian state media and the Lebanese militant group must raise fear about retaliation.

He added that the Syrian army was likely to have suffered major casualties in the attack.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights quoted eyewitnesses in the area as saying they saw jets in the sky at the time of the explosions.

The Jamraya facility was also apparently hit in an Israeli air strike in January.

Israeli officials confirmed the January strike, but insisted it had targeted trucks carrying missiles to Hezbollah.

After the latest attack, unnamed Western intelligence sources have again said the target was a weapons cache heading for Lebanon.

Israel has repeatedly said it would act if it felt advanced weapons were being transferred to militant groups in the region, especially Hezbollah.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Israeli military analysts are already warning of the danger of war, as what promises to be a long hot summer fast approaches"

End Quote

'Horrific reports'

Analysts say the air strikes are unlikely to have a major effect on the civil war in Syria.

The latest reports from coastal regions around the town of Baniyas suggest dozens of Sunnis have been massacred in a campaign of sectarian cleansing.

The government said it had pushed back "terrorist groups" and restored security to the area.

The US said it was "appalled by the horrific reports" but that it did not foresee sending US troops to Syria.

However, the US is no longer ruling out supplying weapons to the rebels.

More than 70,000 people are estimated to have been killed since the conflict erupted in March 2011.

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To Kill A Mockingbird author sues

3 May 2013 Last updated at 21:49 ET

The author of To Kill A Mockingbird has sued a literary agent she says tricked her into assigning him the copyright on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book.

Harper Lee, 87, says Samuel Pinkus took advantage of her failing hearing and eyesight to transfer the rights and has failed to respond to licence requests.

To Kill A Mockingbird was published in 1960 and is considered a classic. It has sold more than 30 million copies.

Lee is rarely seen in public and declines almost all interview requests.

The novel is the only published book by the author, who lives in Monroeville, Alabama.

'Irrevocable' interest

In the lawsuit, Lee alleges that when her long-time literary agent, Eugene Winick, became ill in 2002, his son-in-law, Mr Pinkus, switched several of Mr Winick's clients to his own company.

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Monroeville, Alabama, which inspired Harper Lee's classic novel

Mr Pinkus is alleged to have transferred the rights to secure himself "irrevocable" interest in the income derived from Lee's book.

He also sought to avoid paying legal obligations he owed to his father-in-law's company for royalties, according to the lawsuit.

It is further alleged that Mr Pinkus failed to respond to offers on e-book rights and a request for assistance related to the book's 50th anniversary.

The lawsuit bids the court to assign any rights in the book owned by Mr Pinkus to Lee and asks that she be returned any commission he took from 2007 onwards.

Mr Pinkus did not immediately respond to an email from Reuters news agency seeking comment.

Set in Depression-era, small-town Alabama, To Kill A Mockingbird tells the story of a lawyer who defends a black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman.

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Major wildfires spread in California

3 May 2013 Last updated at 22:01 ET

More than 3,000 firefighters are battling six major wildfires in California, the state fire agency says.

One of the fiercest blazes has shut the famous Pacific Coast Highway for the second time in as many days, with a 30-mile (50-km) stretch off-limits.

The so-called Springs fire has reached the coast north-west of Los Angeles, threatening thousands of homes.

Fire crews have tackled more than 680 wildfires so far this year, some 200 more than average for the period.

The Springs fire has tripled in size since Friday morning, burning 43 sq miles (69 sq km), a day after it broke out near Camarillo.

The blaze has damaged more than a dozen homes, with another 4,000 at risk. No injuries have been reported.

'Very strange weather'

On Friday, a change in wind direction fanned it through coastal wilderness to the beach, then sent it tearing back inland through canyons to neighbourhoods.

Continue reading the main story

We're seeing fires burning like we usually see in late summer"

End Quote Tom Kruschke Ventura County fire spokesman

Ventura County fire spokesman Bill Nash called it the "worst-case weather scenario".

"In the perfect scenario we'd just hope for the wind to go away, but what happened is the wind just turned around,'' he said.

More than 900 firefighters are combating that blaze, which is about 20% contained.

Firefighters dropped water and retardant on the flames from the air. The fire was fanned by the dry Santa Ana winds, which are occurring unseasonably late this year.

"This is a very, very strange weather pattern for this time of year," said another Ventura County fire spokesman, Tom Kruschke.

"We're seeing fires burning like we usually see in late summer, at the height of the fire season, and it's only May."

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Peter Bowes in Los Angeles: "A vast area of land is being turned into a charred wilderness"

On Friday afternoon, the National Weather Service predicted lighter onshore winds of 10-15 mph.

Calmer ocean air could raise humidity levels, helping fight the blaze and eventually bringing rain over the weekend, it is hoped.

The California State University at Channel Islands remained closed for a second day on Friday.

A US Naval air station on the coast has also advised all non-essential personnel to stay home for a second day as the fire edged towards a firing range at the western edge of the base.

Point Mugu spokeswoman Kimberly Gearhart said no ammunition was stored at the range.

North of the fire zone, evacuations of two neighbourhoods were lifted on Friday, but residents were required to show identification to return to their homes, police officials said.

About 200 homes remain under an evacuation order.

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