Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called for $50bn (£25bn) in aid to help rebuild his country, at a foreign donors conference in Paris.

The US has committed $10bn, but pledges are expected to fall well short of Mr Karzai's target.

Critics say Afghanistan has not got the capacity to spend the money it already has, let alone bid for more.

The conference comes as Mr Karzai faces growing international scrutiny ahead of elections next year.

Mr Karzai said his country needed "large amounts of aid", but stressed that how it was spent was "just as important", the Associated Press news agency reported.

Donors from about 80 countries are attending the one-day event, the fourth major conference on Afghanistan's future since the fall of the Taleban in 2001.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is jointly chairing the meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said France would "more than double" French aid, focusing on health and agriculture.

His aides said France would commit 107 euros ($165m) over the next two years.

US First Lady Laura Bush announced the $10.2bn US pledge, saying Afghanistan had "reached a decisive moment" and "we must not turn our backs on this opportunity".

Speaking on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US planned to spend the money over two years, roughly in line with current US aid levels, although some of it was funds already approved by Congress.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Britain was committing an extra $1.2bn over the next five years.

'Chicken-and-egg'

BBC International Development Correspondent David Loyn says that little progress has been made on the benchmarks set in the last major meeting in London, two years ago, where $10.5bn was pledged.

Thursday's meeting is not just about raising more money but trying to find a better way of improving the flow of aid, and building the capacity of the Afghan government to manage affairs for itself, our correspondent says.

A recent report by the World Bank was critical of the failure of donors to build the capacity of the Afghan government to manage its own affairs.

It found there was little to show for the estimated $1.6bn that has been spent on technical assistance in Afghanistan since 2002.

Almost 70% of development spending goes outside the government, it said, much of it straight back to donor countries in the pockets of consultants, which the report described as "a second civil service".

Mr Ban urged world donors to coordinate and intensify their aid efforts for Afghanistan, and called for better governance by the Afghans.

Ahead of the meeting, the UN's special envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, told the BBC it was necessary to reduce reliance on foreign contractors:

"That is difficult, but we have to start somewhere. It's a chicken-and-egg situation in a way: we do not dare to trust the Afghans because they do not have the capacity, but yet we need to develop that capacity."

Pressure on Karzai

In 2006-2007, Afghanistan received more than $4bn of aid, which equates to seven times Afghanistan's domestic revenues.

Nationwide, the country faces rising levels of criminal violence and government corruption fuelled by the largest opium harvests in the world, as well as the Taleban insurgency.

The country has also been hit hard in recent months by rising global food prices, with major wheat shortages as Pakistan has stopped exports.

The donor conference comes amid growing international pressure on Mr Karzai, who is expected to stand for re-election in 2009, over the lack of progress in bringing stability and improved living standards to the country since he came to power in December 2004.

Labels: World News

Libya's leader has strongly criticised US presidential candidate Barack Obama for saying Jerusalem should remain the undivided capital of Israel.

Col Muammar Gaddafi said he was either ignorant of the Middle East conflict or lying to boost his campaign.

Mr Obama was speaking to pro-Israel lobbyists in the US last week.

Referring to him as "our Kenyan brother", Col Gaddafi also said Mr Obama might suffer from an inferiority complex because of his African origins.

The issue of race could make Mr Obama's behaviour "more white than white people", Col Gaddafi suggested, rather than acting in solidarity with African and Arab nations.

The comments came during a speech to mark the 38th anniversary since the US evacuated Wheelus Air Force base in Tripoli.

Israel claims Jerusalem as its "eternal, undivided" capital, but the Palestinians want the eastern half - occupied by Israel in 1967 - as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

The Americans left Libya shortly after Col Gaddafi came into power in a bloodless coup in 1969.

'Campaign lie'

The BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli says the speech was a passionate critique of past US policies towards Libya but emphasised that current relations are not confrontational.

However, Col Gaddafi's defiant and famously politically incorrect rhetoric returned when talking about Mr Obama towards the end of the speech.

"The statements of our Kenyan brother of American nationality Obama on Jerusalem... show that he either ignores international politics and did not study the Middle East conflict or that it is a campaign lie," he said.

"We fear that Obama will feel that, because he is black with an inferiority complex, this will make him behave worse than the whites."

"This will be a tragedy," Gaddafi said. "We tell him to be proud of himself as a black and feel that all Africa is behind him."

Conspiracy theory

Mr Obama's epic primary campaign against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton ended in his victory early this month.

The presidential election will be in November.

Correspondents say he has largely avoided playing on past racial struggles in the US and has drawn support among black and white Americans.

In addition, Mr Gaddafi suggested Mr Obama's comments may have been informed by a fear of assassination by Israeli agents, "the same fate as [former US President John F] Kennedy when he promised to look into Israel's nuclear programme".

Conspiracy theories abound about Kennedy's assassination in 1963, which the US authorities say was carried out by a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald.

Labels: World News

People in the Irish Republic are voting in a referendum on whether to ratify the European Union reform treaty, in a poll anxiously watched across the EU.

All other 26 member states have left the issue to their parliaments, but Ireland is obliged to hold a popular vote on changes to its constitution.

All of the main Irish parties back the treaty but the No campaign has been putting up a strong challenge.

With many voters undecided, opinion polls suggest the result will be close.

The document, known as the Lisbon Treaty, replaces a more ambitious draft constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

It provides for a streamlining of the European Commission, the removal of the national veto in more policy areas, a new president of the European Council and a strengthened foreign affairs post.

The BBC's Jonny Dymond in Dublin says that a No vote would plunge the EU into crisis, and that all eyes will be on the turnout.

A figure below 40% would almost certainly sink the treaty, our correspondent says.

In 2001, Irish voters almost wrecked EU plans to expand eastwards when they rejected the Nice treaty. It was only passed in a much-criticised second vote.

Ireland's EU Minister, Dick Roche, predicted on the eve of polling that the Yes campaign would win but the result would be "very, very close".

Better deal?

Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, urged all EU states to back the treaty, which is due to come into force on 1 January 2009.

Speaking after Finland and Estonia became the latest EU members to ratify the treaty in their parliaments, he said the reforms would strengthen the EU to meet global challenges.

The No campaign is a broad coalition ranging from lobby group Libertas to Sinn Fein, the only party in parliament to oppose the treaty.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said a successful No vote would give Ireland's "government a strong mandate to negotiate a better deal for Ireland".

Ireland's PM Brian Cowen has accused opponents of the treaty of "sheer inaccuracy and absurdity" and said Ireland could not get a better deal than the one on offer.

Labels: World News

China and Taiwan have agreed to establish representative offices in each other's territory, according to Taiwanese officials.

The agreement came as delegations from both sides met in Beijing for the first formal talks for almost a decade.

They are also hoping to finalise agreements on direct passenger flights and tourism.

Bilateral relations have warmed since the election in March of Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou.

He favours closer ties with China and, when he took office in May, said maintaining regional stability was his priority.

Shortly after that, Chinese President Hu Jintao met the head of Taiwan's governing Kuomintang party in Beijing, the most senior meeting between the two sides since they split at the end of a civil war in 1949.

Tentative deal

Delegations from the two sides are holding discussions in Beijing's Diaoyutai guesthouse until 14 June.

They are the first formal talks since dialogue was suspended in 1999, when Taiwan's leaders angered Beijing by leaning towards formal independence.

TAIWAN-CHINA RELATIONS Ruled by separate governments since end of Chinese civil war in 1949 China considers the island part of its territory China has offered a "one country, two systems" solution, like Hong Kong Most people in Taiwan support status quo Taiwan flashpoint

The talks appeared to bear their first fruit on Thursday morning, with a tentative agreement to establish offices in each other's territory, Taiwanese officials were quoted as saying.

Earlier, Taiwan's top delegate, Chiang Pin-kung, said the main items on the agenda were direct weekend charter flights and letting more mainland Chinese tourists come to Taiwan.

At the moment direct flights between the two sides are restricted to major holidays and numbers of Chinese tourists limited.

But economic problems - including inflation and a growing wealth gap - are high on the list of public grievances in Taiwan at the moment, and so local businesses are keen for the income a new influx of tourists would bring.

'Mutual trust'

Beijing also has good reason to encourage smiling handshakes and headlines about cross-straits friendliness, analysts say.

Two months before the Olympics, the Chinese government is very sensitive to international criticism, and Beijing's long-standing threat to use force against Taiwan, if it takes steps towards independence, continues to be an obvious focus for concern.

The two sides hope that the negotiations will pave the way for regular meetings, helping to improve cross-strait relations after decades of tensions and mistrust.

"As long as we have mutual trust and understanding... these talks are going to become an important communication mechanism for cross-strait development," said China's chief negotiator Chen Yunlin.

But while economic growth and a reduction in cross-straits tension will certainly be welcome, an agreement on core political principles - including re-affirmation of the One China principle - may be harder to reach.

Labels: World News

Cuba is to abolish its system of equal pay for all and allow workers and managers to earn performance bonuses, a senior official has announced.

Vice-Minister for Labour Carlos Mateu said the current system - in place since the communist revolution in 1959 - was no longer "convenient".

He said wage differentiation should improve production and services.

President Raul Castro has introduced a series of reforms since succeeding his ailing brother Fidel in February.

Writing in the communist party newspaper Granma Mr Mateu said workers would receive a minimum 5% bonus for meeting targets but with no ceiling on salaries.

Managers could earn a 30% bonus if the team working under them increased production, he said.

The minister pointed out that the current wage system sapped employees' incentives to excel since everyone earned the same regardless of performance.

"It's harmful to give a worker less than he deserves, it's also harmful to give him what he doesn't deserve," the newspaper article said.

Challenging Marxist orthodoxy

But the impact in terms of purchasing power will be limited, the BBC's Michael Voss in Havana says.

The average wage in Cuba for everyone - from doctors to farm labourers - is about $20 (£10) a month.

Even before the recent sharp rise in oil and food prices Cuba was spending billions of dollars on imports, and that bill is likely to rise sharply, our correspondent says.

So far most of the reforms announced since Raul Castro took over the presidency have involved lifting restrictions such as the bans on mobile phones and computers.

Labels: World News

BT's trial of super-fast broadband is unlikely to put the UK back in the fast lane analysts have said.

The telecoms firm is offering fibre to the home to 300 newly built homes in Ebbsfleet, Kent.

Speeds will start at 2.5Mbps (megabits per second) with "bursts" of 100Mbps and the service could be free to consumers on the trial.

"These speeds make it the lowest fibre service in Europe", said Jupiter Research analyst Ian Fogg.

"I am surprised. This is a trial and I see no reason why they aren't trialling the highest speed the technology can deliver. What is the point of a trial if you don't really test things?" he said.

But a BT spokesman said that the speeds would be "very decent".

"Higher in fact that anyone currently needs," he added.

BT pointed out that while 10Mbps would be a baseline minumum for customers, download speeds would increase depending on what the user was doing, such as downloading a movie.

And while the capacity is shared, customers would still get speeds of more than 50Mbps when required, said BT.

It is also hoping to offer the service free for the first two years to all the 10,000 homes which will eventually be built at Ebbsfleet, in a bid to kick-start next-generation broadband.

This plan has yet to be approved by Ofcom.

Conservative company


BT's FIBRE TRIAL OPTIONS
2.5Mbps download speed/ 0.5Mbps upload speed
10Mbps down/2Mbps up
10Mbps down/2Mbps up, burst to 30Mbps for downloads
10Mbps down/2Mbps up, burst to 100Mbps
Source: BT Wholesale

The UK has been criticised for its slow adoption of super-fast broadband.

Cable provider Virgin Media is currently the only company offering speeds of up to 50Mbps while some other ISPs are rolling out service offering speeds up to 24Mbps.

BT pointed out network capacity using fibre affect all services across Europe.

Virgin customers with 20Mbps connections have it "throttled back" during certain times of a day.

The longest you can actually run your 20Mbps package at "top speed" before the throttles apply is seven minutes, said a BT spokesman.

In Europe a handful of operators are offering download speeds of between 20 and 100Mbps, with most also offering very fast upload speeds as well.

Ebbsfleet will have 10,000 homes connected via fibre, although building will not be complete until 2020.

BT has not yet announced any other new-build sites earmarked for fibre.

Part of the reason for BT's decision to market fibre trial speeds lower than they are techinically capable of could be natural caution.

"BT is historically a conservative company and has a tendency to suggest a lower performance than will be the case," said Andrew Ferguson, editor of ThinkBroadband, a broadband comparison and news site.

"How often people at Ebbsfleet will see 100Mbps speeds depends on how much capacity is available to link the site to broadband providers, and how much capacity they have out to the internet," he said.

Uploading speeds

In the first instance, with just 300 homes earmarked for the trial, speeds are likely to far exceed 10Mbps.

"But as more people sign up they may find that at peak times such as Friday and Sunday evenings they are only getting 10Mbps," said Mr Ferguson.

He said he was more disappointed by the upload speeds, which peaks at 2Mbps.

Having a fast upload speed makes it far quicker for people to put their own content online.

Services which allow people to upload voice, pictures and videos needed higher speeds, said Mr Ferguson.

"Uploading has been undersold but it offers the potential, for example, to bring about a sea-change in how media is produced," he said.

"The BBC has been criticised for its regional coverage but with decent speeds people in those areas could upload their own video clips," he said.

Labels: Technology, World News

Stomach bugs picked up during foreign travel may be prevented by wearing a patch impregnated by toxins produced by the E. coli bacterium.

US research published in the Lancet medical journal found the patch was 75% effective against diarrhoea attacks caused by E. coli among volunteers.

Patch-wearers who did fall ill recovered far more quickly, it said.

A UK travel medicine specialist stressed only 40% of diarrhoea cases were caused by E. coli.

Stomach upsets are commonplace among people travelling to certain parts of the world, and the symptoms - vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach cramps, can often leave people incapacitated or weak for days.

The study authors, who work a biotech company IOMAI in Maryland, estimated that they affect up to 27 million travellers each year.

Their patch contains the poisons produced by E.coli, with the idea that this primes the immune system to cope better when confronted with the real thing.

Their study involved 178 people who were given either a placebo 'dummy' patch, or one containing the toxin, then sent off to continue their journey through Mexico or Guatemala.

A fifth of those with the "dummy" patches developed moderate diarrhoea, four times more than in the treated group. The difference was even more pronounced in cases of severe diarrhoea.

Even when someone with an E.coli patch fell ill, they got better quicker - half a day compared with two days on average.

They wrote: "This study suggests that transcutaneous immunisation with LT in a patch could protect travellers against this common, debilitating ailment."

Worthwhile expense

Dr Richard Dawood, who runs a specialist travel health clinic in London, said the effects of the patch were similar to those produced by a vaccination against cholera, which, as a side effect, offers some protection against E. coli.

He said: "E.coli causes an estimated 40% of all travellers' diarrhoea, so this does not offer complete protection.

"However, if you are travelling abroad for commercial reasons, or with the military, it may be worthwhile paying for this sort of treatment.

"If you've paid several thousand pounds to take your family on holiday abroad, every day lost is worth hundreds of pounds, so it could be an advantage here, too."

Labels: World News

"Plutoid" is the word of the moment for astronomers.

It is the new classification that has been sanctioned for the object that was formerly known as the "ninth planet".

It is nearly two years since the International Astronomical Union (IAU) stripped Pluto of its former status as a "proper" planet.

Now an IAU committee, meeting in Oslo, has suggested that small, nearly spherical objects orbiting beyond Neptune should carry the "plutoid" tag.

As astronomy's official nomenclature organisation, the IAU must approve all new names and classifications.

Its decision at the 2006 General Assembly to demote Pluto from "planet" to "dwarf planet" caused an international furore.

Pluto's relegation was felt necessary because new telescope technologies had begun to reveal far-off objects that rivalled the world in size.

Without a new classification, these discoveries raised the prospect that textbooks could soon be talking about 50 or more "planets" in the Solar System.

That prospect proved too much for IAU members who took the historic decision to redefine the Solar System to have just eight major worlds - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

They relegated Pluto to a grouping that includes Ceres (the largest asteroid), and Eris, an object slightly larger than Pluto that orbits even further out from the Sun in an icy region known as the Kuiper Belt.

The IAU's Committee on Small Body Nomenclature has now decided that dwarf planets that move beyond Neptune should be placed in a new sub-category, the plutoid.

More plutoids

In a statement released on Tuesday, the IAU further explained the plutoid definition as celestial bodies that "have sufficient mass for their self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that they assume a hydrostatic equilibrium (near-spherical) shape, and that have not cleared [their orbits of debris].

"The two known and named plutoids are Pluto and Eris. It is expected that more plutoids will be named as science progresses and new discoveries are made."

The plutoids will also need to have a minimum brightness.

Ceres will not be considered a plutoid because of its position in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

The classification will not placate those incensed by Pluto's demotion.

Alan Stern, a former Nasa space sciences chief and principal investigator on a mission to Pluto, was scathing in his condemnation of the IAU.

"It's just some people in a smoke-filled room who dreamed it up," he told the Associated Press. "Plutoids or haemorrhoids, whatever they call it. This is irrelevant."

Labels: World News

On a wooded hillside above a village in north-west Cambodia, a man speaks into a radio.

Figures in body armour and visors head downhill to shelter from the sun under some trees.

A whistle sounds and then a siren. A few minutes later a loud crack echoes around the countryside. Grey smoke floats into the air.

The first landmine of the morning has been destroyed.

It was a Chinese-made type 72A - a small, green object that blows off the leg that treads on it or the arm that picks it up.

The team head back up the hill. There are many more mines to go.

This is a scene that is repeated day after day across Cambodia, one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.

Between four and six million landmines are thought to have been laid during the country's three decades of civil war.

Khmer Rouge fighters, Vietnamese troops and government forces all planted devices, but did not record where or how many. Huge areas of land were contaminated, particularly in western border regions where the fighting was fiercest.

Across the country, victims of landmine blasts are a strikingly visible presence. More than 40,000 people are thought to have lost limbs.

Work to remove the mines has been going on ever since the conflict ended, and a great deal of progress has been made. But there is a lot still to do.

"Cambodia still has a significant landmine problem," says Rupert Leighton, Cambodia country director of the Mines Advisory Group. "They are not starting to dry up yet."

Casualties have fallen significantly in recent years, from more than 2,000 annually in the early 1990s to less than a quarter of that in 2006.

This is because the movement of displaced people has subsided, people know more about landmines and more clearance has been carried out. There are also fewer people facing acute hunger, meaning fewer people foraging in the forests.

The key issue now, says Mr Leighton, is the fact that so much land still cannot be used - at a time when competition for it has become fierce.

Ten families

Boeung Prolite lies 6 km ( 4 miles) from the Thai border, not far from the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Pailin.

For more than two decades a guerrilla conflict raged in this area - and both sides laid mines extensively.
A landmine sign, next to a mine that will be destroyed in Boeung Prolite

People began settling in Boeung Prolite in the 1990s, when the fighting wound down.

About 30% of villagers are former Khmer Rouge fighters, the rest are new arrivals from other provinces. They live in simple wooden houses and grow crops for subsistence and sale.

On high ground above the village lies a mine field about the size of 19 football pitches.

This one was laid mainly by the Khmer Rouge and, as well as 72As, contains type 69s - small grey mines which spring upwards to explode at waist height.

Nine casualties have been recorded on this minefield over the years. The last was in 2002, a farmer who wanted to plant more crops.

Roeu Sokhom heads the team that is clearing the site. He, a deputy supervisor, a medic, a driver and 12 deminers began work there in early March after the initial site survey was complete.

Using metal detectors to examine every inch of ground, working in high heat and humidity, they have already destroyed dozens of mines. They expect to complete the job by the end of June.

When it is done, 10 local families, comprising a total of 59 people, will be able to farm there, Roeu Sokhom says.

Some have already moved in to plant up earth cleared only days before, such is their hunger for land.

'Finish line'

One of the mine clearers is 26 year-old Khoeun Sokhorn. She lives with her family in a village near Pailin and has been a deminer for two years.
Khoeun Sokhorn, demonstrating how she looks for mines

In 2002, she went into the forest to gather firewood. The area had been classified as "suspect", but people had been going there for years and everyone thought it was safe. A landmine blew off her right leg.

She wants to clear mines so that no-one else gets hurt the way she did, she says. She is proud that the number of casualties is continuing to fall.

But when she finds a mine, there is no flash of triumph - she just reports it to her supervisor and moves on to the next one.

She says she will clear mines as long as there is work for her. She does not need to look for another job yet.

"We will never clear all the mines out of Cambodia, but in 10 years we have a reasonable chance of saying that the worst areas have been cleared," says Mr Leighton.

"It depends on funding and also on how we define the finish line - are we talking about impact-free or casualty-free?"

"We could go on working in Cambodia forever, but the law of diminishing returns would mean that we become more and more expensive."

In Khoeun Sokhorn's village there are several mine fields that need to be cleared.

She is married and she has a three-year-old daughter.

The little girl does not know what a landmine is yet. But, Khoeun Sokhorn says, she is old enough to know that she must not go into certain parts of the forest.

Labels: World News

A US government aid agency has formed an alliance with a group headed by former UN chief Kofi Annan to try to boost African agriculture.

Mr Annan has called for a "green revolution" to solve the food crisis.

The new partnership aims to invest in Africa's inadequate infrastructure, as well as developing new seeds and fertilisers.

Mr Annan says that 40% of African crops are lost after being harvested - a problem which new roads could ease.

The alliance between the US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (Agra) focuses on small-scale farmers.

Akin Adesina, Agra's vice-president, said the partnership would focus on boosting production in three "breadbasket areas".

These were the Sahel region where millet and sorghum crops dominate; humid zones where root and tuber foods do well and the east and south of the continent where maize is the dominate crop.

"We believe that we can have a green revolution that allows farmers and households in the Sahel to be able to feed themselves while also allowing those who are eating maize, yams and cassava to be able to feed themselves," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

'Long-term solutions'

Mr Annan said there had been 30 years of silent hunger in Africa, where farmers exported food in the late 1960s but now only produced a quarter of the world average per acre.

"Collaborations such as ours are essential to putting in place long-term solutions to the food crisis," Mr Annan said after signing the deal.

"Today, the efforts of our farmers are thwarted by a lack of access to good seed, fertilisers, and financing.

"Some 95% of African agriculture is dependent on rain-fall; and farmers lose an average of 40% of their crops after harvest," he said.

"We need better technologies for efficient use of water; improved market infrastructure; and paved roads so farmers can get their harvest to market."

MCC head John Danilovich said that the deal was an "important day for African farmers".

"It combines the investments that MCC has made in many sub-Saharan African countries in agriculture and public infrastructure such as roads and irrigation to complement Agra's investments in providing the rural poor with seeds and fertilisers," he told the BBC.

The initial focus of the partnership will be on:

* Ghana, where a great and improved varieties of seeds will be made available to farmers
* Madagascar, where extremely poor rice yields will be the focus
* Mali, where the focus will be on irrigation and disease-resistant crops.

To date Agra has already invested $330m and MCC $1.7bn in African agricultural development.

Labels: World News

A month on from the Sichuan earthquake, Chinese officials have imposed tight security in some of the damaged areas, apparently to prevent protests.

Police in the city of Dujianyan stopped parents from holding a memorial ceremony at the rubble of a collapsed school where their children died.

Journalists were told they were banned from the city, and some were detained.

Parents have been demanding to know whether poorly-built schools played a part in the deaths of their children.

Thousands of schoolchildren were among the 87,000 people killed or missing after the massive 12 May earthquake.

Five million people also lost their homes, and officials estimate rebuilding work will take at least three years.

Looking for blame

The government's rapid response to the disaster has drawn widespread praise, but tensions are emerging as efforts shift to focus on reconstruction.

Parents who lost their children want to know why so many schools collapsed - something many blame on shoddy construction linked to local corruption.


Early on Thursday, a number of parents tried to get the remains of the Dujiangyan primary school to hold a small memorial, but a line of police stopped them from going inside.

The Chinese media had been instructed not to cover this kind of story, and a member of the BBC and five other journalists were detained for a short time for approaching the parents.

"This is not censorship," one policeman told the BBC's China correspondent James Reynolds.

Police also reportedly cordoned off a collapsed middle school in Juyuan after a 50-strong crowd gathered outside.

"All we want to do is remember them this day," Zhao Deqin, a mother whose 15-year-old twin daughters died in the disaster, told Reuters news agency.

In Beichuan, where about 1,300 children were killed, parents were able to gather around the remains of a school to grieve.

Mu Qibing, whose 17-year-old son was killed, told Reuters: "They said this building was strong and quake-proof, but when we saw it, the concrete was like talcum powder and the steel was as thin as noodles."

"None of us have seen our children yet, not even after one month."

Beichuan suffered such severe damage that the whole town will be rebuilt in a new location.

'What happens now?'

China is not holding any formal commemorations to mark the one month anniversary of the earthquake.


A woman looks at pictures of children killed when a school collapsed in Luoshui, 8 June 2008

The government has ordered its departments to cut spending so that funds can be allocated to reconstruction efforts.

"The government has done a good job so far but we need to know what is going to happen to us," Bai Tao, who lost his home and business, told AFP news agency.

"We business people have real problems. But all we've gotten is free water and instant noodles. We need to know about the future," he said.

The BBC's China analyst, Shirong Chen, says the earthquake has brought about unexpected political and social change that will directly affect the reconstruction effort.

The unprecedented openness in China's media coverage is likely to continue, he says, and there will be a demand for accountability in the way tens of millions of dollars of donations are used.

The earthquake has also injected a strong sense of national unity, he adds, with volunteers from all over the country pouring into disaster areas to work alongside soldiers and rescue teams.

Labels: World News

Reports from Iran say a boy aged 17 has been hanged, in violation of UN charters signed by Tehran and official pledges not to execute minors.

Mohammad Hassanzadeh is the second juvenile offender to be hanged in Iran this year. There were seven in 2007.

He was convicted of killing a 10-year-old boy two years ago.

Rights groups say Iran used to get round commitments not to execute minors by keeping them on death row until they turn 18, but now do not appear to wait.

Human rights activists say two other juvenile offenders due to be executed on Wednesday were given a one month reprieve.

Eight men were taken for execution at Evin prison near Tehran, however, bringing the total number of executions so far this year to 128 according to Amnesty International.

Failed reconciliation

Hassanzadeh was hanged in Sanandaj prison on Tuesday, Kargozaran newspaper reported on Thursday.

The paper said Iran's judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi had advised the local court to "settle the issue through reconciliation".

"None of our efforts to reach an agreement with the victim's family was successful and therefore the sentence was carried out," an unnamed judicial official was quoted as saying.

Under Islamic law, a victim's relatives can spare a murderer from execution by accepting blood money.

Convicted juveniles Mohammad Fadaie and Behnoud Shojaie were given another month to find an agreement with their victim's family.

Outlawed

A statement from the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran called executions of juveniles barbaric and tragic - saying Iran now accounts for two thirds of the under age executions in the world.

Iran is a signatory to international agreements such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which outlaw juvenile executions.

One human rights group says it knows of at least 106 offenders on death row in Iran who were juveniles when they committed their crimes.

One of those, Saeed Jazee, is due to be hanged later this month, reports say.

Murder, rape, armed robbery, kidnapping and drug trafficking are all punishable by death in Iran.

Labels: World News

Bangladeshi opposition leader Sheikh Hasina has left the country following her temporary release from prison to get medical treatment abroad.

The government has allowed the former prime minister - who is being held on corruption charges - to leave detention for eight weeks, officials say.

She left on a flight to London on her way to the US.

Her Awami League party officials will now hold talks with the government over the staging of the December elections.

The Awami League had been boycotting the talks, demanding that Sheikh Hasina be released first.

She is among scores of politicians detained by the army-backed government for alleged corruption .

She is due to have treatment for hearing, eyesight and blood problems.

'Worsening ailments'

The Awami League leader was released from her special jail on the grounds of parliament on Wednesday.

A senior party member told the BBC that her ailments had all worsened considerably since she was jailed nearly a year ago.

Her doctors insisted that she could not receive the right medical treatment in Bangladesh.

The BBC's Mark Dummett in Dhaka says it is not clear how serious her condition is or how long the treatment will take.

It is not certain that she will be in the country to contest the elections, our correspondent adds.

In April last year, the military-backed interim government tried to block Sheikh Hasina's return from a personal visit abroad.

It was forced to allow her back, although she was arrested soon afterwards.

The government also tried to force the other main opposition leader, Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, into exile.

But that plan also failed and she too was jailed.

Khaleda Zia has also been given the chance to go abroad for medical treatment but she has refused the government's offer.

Correspondents say the government believes its plans to reform Bangladesh's political institutions will not work as long as the two veteran leaders are still on the scene.

Both women deny all charges against them.

Labels: World News

Embryo chromosome screening should not be offered to women to improve their chances of an IVF baby, expert guidelines say.

The British Fertility Society says there is no evidence it improves the chance of success, or cuts the risk of miscarriage for older women.

However, a leading doctor offering the technique insisted it was worthwhile and could prevent miscarriages.

Embryo screening to prevent inherited diseases is unaffected by the guidance.


The technique involved - preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) - takes a single cell from the multiple embryos created outside the body as part of fertility treatment.

The cells are checked for abnormalities called aneuploidies, which involve missing or extra copies of chromosomes.

If found to have them, that embryo is not selected to be put back into the woman.

It is suggested that since an embryo with these abnormalities might be more likely to fail to implant or grow correctly, not using one could either make pregnancy more likely, or reduce the chances of a pregnancy failing within the first trimester.

Older women are more likely to produce embryos with aneuploidies.

The UK authority, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, currently allows clinics to use it to treat women who are aged 35 and over, those who have had several failed IVF cycles, or suffer from recurrent miscarriage.

It is not a cheap technique, adding well over £1,000 to the cost of every cycle of IVF.

'No compelling evidence'

However, the British Fertility Society said it had looked closely at studies, and found no evidence of any benefits in any of the patient groups allowed to be offered the treatment.


Its guidelines say that PGS should only be offered as part of further clinical trials.

Professor Richard Anderson, who wrote the guidelines, said that patients should be told by clinics that there was no evidence it worked.

"We want to ensure that all women receive the safest and most effective treatment when undergoing fertility procedures.

"It is clear there is no compelling evidence that PGS improves the clinical pregnancy rate, live birth rate, or that it reduces the miscarriage rate."

The guidelines do not discourage the use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), a technique which has allowed a parent suffering from or carrying the genes for serious hereditary diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, to conceive a child known to be free of the condition.

Professor Alan Handyside, from the Bridge Centre in London, which offers the technique to between 10% and 20% of the couples it treats, said he feared that the guidance would prompt the HFEA to stop licensing clinics to provide it.

He said that he was convinced that screening embryos was a worthwhile exercise for many couples.

"By selecting the normal embryos, you can reduce the chance of a miscarriage, which, for a woman in her 40s, can mean a wait of a year before she is ready to try again.

"It may not increase the live birth rate, but it could reduce the amount of cycles needed to produce a live birth."

He said that in some cases, screening could actually help couples decide not to implant any embryos, if all were found to be abnormal.

A spokesman for the HFEA said that it was already reviewing the efficacy of PGS, and that the guidance provided by the British Fertility Society would play a role in that process.

Labels: World News

The power generated by the proposed Severn Barrage could be produced more cheaply using other green technologies, a report says.

The £15bn dam across the Severn estuary from Cardiff to Weston-Super-Mare in Somerset could supply 5% of the UK's electricity within 14 years.

But an independent report commissioned by 10 environmental groups said it was not a good use of taxpayers' money.

Campaigners have also spelt out the damage to wildlife it could cause.

A feasibility study by the Welsh Assembly Government and the UK Government into the barrage, which could stretch from Lavernock Point, near Cardiff, to Brean Down, near Weston-Super-Mare, was announced in January.

It would harness the tidal power of the estuary using a hydro-electric dam, but filled by the incoming tide rather than by water flowing downstream.

The government previously said the scale of the 10-mile barrage and the impact it could have on securing energy supplies and tackling climate change was "breathtaking".

But a report published by Frontier Economics, an economic consultancy, said the barrage would be an expensive option compared to other renewable energy and the government's renewable energy target could probably be met using cheaper green technologies.

It said: "Considerable new evidence would be needed to make a large barrage in the Severn estuary an attractive option."

The research comes after a report in October by the Sustainable Development Commission which said if the barrage was built, it should be state-funded and state-run.

But Frontier said under existing Treasury rules this would mean it would not be eligible for special government subsidies or public investment.

Matthew Bell, author of the report, said: "Not only is the private sector more than able to finance a scheme of this scale but, even using the most conservative estimates of costs, the barrage is one of the most expensive options for clean energy there is."

It is not just the economic cost that environmentalists are concerned about.

They have also warned of the "ecological destruction" a barrage could bring.

Campaigners say some 14,000 hectares of saltmarsh and mudflats would be lost through the building of a large barrage, resulting in the loss of migratory birds that nest there.

It would also hit the fish populations of the Severn, Wye and Usk rivers, which all flow into the estuary above the point where the dam would be built.

Mark Lloyd, director of the Anglers' Conservation Association, said salmon in particular would be lost.

"The salmon population of the Wye and Usk is very important in maintaining a species but also economically, the Wye and Usk rely really heavily on salmon fishing for income," he said.

He added migratory fish would be playing "Russian roulette" with the barrage's turbines at every tide.

The Frontier Economics report was commissioned by the Anglers' Conservation Association, RSPB, Salmon & Trout Association, The National Trust, The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, The Wildlife Trusts, United Usk Fisherman's Association, WWF-UK, Wye Salmon Fishery Owners Group, Wye and Usk Foundation.

Labels: World News