Top Kenyans to face Hague trial

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 12:28 GMT Some 1,200 people were killed in violence after the 2007 elections Two presidential candidates in Kenya are to stand trial over crimes against humanity following post-poll violence in 2007, the International Criminal Court has ruled.

Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and former minister William Ruto will both face charges.

They are among four prominent Kenyans - all of whom deny the accusations - who will stand trial.

Charges against a further two officials were not confirmed by the Hague court.

Mr Kenyatta will stand trial with cabinet secretary Francis Mutaura.

The pair are accused of crimes against humanity, including murder and persecution.

Former Education Minister William Ruto and radio presenter Joshua arap Sang will stand trial in a separate case, as they were on opposite sides during the 2007 election.

More than 1,200 people were killed in weeks of unrest and some 600,000 people were forced to flee their homes. Many still remain homeless.

'Break with impunity'

The violence began as clashes between supporters of the two rival presidential candidates - Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki - but it snowballed into a bloody round of score-settling and communal violence.

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Kibaki allies in 2007

Uhuru Kenyatta, deputy PM and finance ministerFrancis Kirimi Muthaura, secretary to the cabinetMohammed Hussein Ali, former police chief - charges not confirmed

Odinga allies in 2007

William Ruto, former education ministerJoshua Arap Sang, radio executiveHenry Kosgey, former minister for industrialisation - charges not confirmed"It is our utmost desire that the decisions issued by this chamber today bring peace to the people of the Republic of Kenya and prevent any sort of hostilities," ICC presiding judge Ekaterina Trendafilova said.

Kenyans are due to head to the polls in fresh elections early next year.

Ms Trendafilova stressed that the decisions do not mean guilty verdicts against the suspects, only that there is sufficient evidence to send them to trial.

"We are not passing judgment on the guilt or innocence of the individuals," she said before a public hearing held in The Hague.

The news of the trials was welcomed by international campaign group Human Rights Watch.

"The ICC trials will break with decades of impunity in Kenya for political violence," the group said in a statement.

"But Kenya should act to widen accountability by carrying out prosecutions at home."

Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo had asked to bring two separate cases, reflecting the political and ethnic divisions behind Kenya's post-election violence.

Mr Kenyatta, a supporter of President Kibaki, is accused of organising a campaign of violence including murder and rape against Odinga supporters.

Prosecutors say he met members of a secretive criminal organisation known as Mungiki at a shopping centre in Nairobi before the election in 2007 to arrange some of the attacks.

Continue reading the main story December 2007: Violence explodes after disputed poll. 1,200 people killed, thousands displaced by fighting.April 2008: Power-sharing deal is signedNovember 2009: ICC chief prosecutor says will seek to investigate post-poll violenceAugust 2010: New Kenyan constitution agreedDecember 2010: ICC names suspectsMay 2011: ICC rejects Kenya's bid to halt election probe January 2012: ICC confirms charges against four suspectsHe denied the accusation at a preliminary hearing at the ICC last September.

Mr Kenyatta, son of the country's first President Jomo Kenyatta, is hoping to stand in next year's presidential poll, with analysts suggesting that he has a realistic chance of winning.

Mr Ruto, a former education minister, described the charges against him as "strange" and emphasised that he still intends to put himself forward for the presidency.

"I am firmly still in the presidential race, the charges confirmed against me will not affect it," Mr Ruto said from Nairobi.

He and Mr Sang backed Mr Odinga in 2007 and are accused of organising attacks on members of ethnic groups seen as Kibaki supporters.

Mr Sang said the news of the trial had come as a "big disappointment" but said he would contest the charges.

Kenya's government has been lobbying for the cases to be dropped - a position endorsed last year by the African Union.

Mr Kibaki was eventually declared the winner of the 2007 election, and is serving his second and final term as president.

Mr Odinga was installed as prime minister under a power-sharing deal brokered by Kofi Annan to end the violence.

Mr Ruto and Mr Odinga have since fallen out and are expected to face each in the elections.

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Lords bid for welfare concessions

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 13:19 GMT Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith: "Nobody will be made homeless"

Peers will press for changes to plans for a £26,000 cap on the benefits families can receive when the measure is debated in the House of Lords later.

Church of England bishops and some Liberal Democrats will push for child benefit to be excluded from the cap - so as not to penalise large families.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith says there are exemptions for some disabled people and those in work.

The annual cap would come into force in England, Scotland and Wales from 2013.

The government was defeated three times on votes on other parts of its flagship Welfare Reform Bill two weeks ago.

But Mr Duncan Smith has said he is determined his reforms will get through Parliament - and defeats will be overturned when the legislation returns to the Commons.

Continue reading the main story Gary O'Donoghue Political correspondent, BBC News

If implemented in its current form, the government's benefit cap will save £290m next year, with 67,000 families losing on average £83 a week.

It's not a vast amount of money in the context of a welfare budget that runs to tens of billions of pounds, but its significance goes wider for the government.

First, ministers believe that they are in the same place as a significant portion of public opinion.

Second it reinforces the government's central policy aim of getting more people off benefits and into work by, they would say, encouraging a change in behaviour.

Thirdly it puts pressure on Labour, who know they can't oppose the cap outright, but have ended up having to criticise the implementation, a much less clear-cut position.

For the Lib Dems, this is difficult.

They believe their role is to soften Tory zeal when it comes to the benefits system.

Picking a fight, along with the bishops, also helps to create the fabled "definition" the party needs to secure its identity.

But if no real concessions are wrung, then they could end up looking impotent.

There have been suggestions that some "transitional arrangements" could be introduced for the cap - which applies to working age benefits.

BBC News Channel chief political correspondent Norman Smith said it could mean giving families some leeway - possibly a period of grace to find a new home - when the cap is introduced in April 2013.

On Monday the government revised up its estimate of how many households would be affected - from 50,000 to 67,000, although the amount of money they would lose was revised down from £93-a-week to £83-a-week.

The cap would be £500 a week, equivalent to the average wage earned by working households, after tax.

Mr Duncan Smith said most of those affected were people who had never worked - and had no incentive to do so because they were living in expensive properties which they would have to move out of if they lost their housing benefit entitlement.

He rejected suggestions children could be pushed into poverty by the cap, saying that assumed families would not move house.

And he denied that some families would be left homeless, saying there was "no reason" why a family on £26,000 a year would not be able to find suitable accommodation.

Continue reading the main story Has completed its Commons stages and is now in the Report (penultimate) stage in the LordsMinisters have already said they they will overturn Lords defeats in Commons Unless and until agreement on differences is reached the bill is likely to "ping-pong" between the Lords and Commons The Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, the Rt Rev John Packer, has put down an amendment to the Welfare Reform Bill that would exclude child benefit from the overall cap.

He said: "Child benefit is a universal benefit. I believe that it's wrong to see it as being a welfare benefit. It's a benefit which is there for all children, for the bringing up of all children and to say that the only people who cannot have child benefit are those whose welfare benefits have been capped seems to me to be a quite extraordinary argument."

And the former Bishop of Hulme, the Right Reverend Stephen Lowe, told the BBC that some parents "perhaps are not particularly capable of working" but had large families.

"The fact that child benefit, which is meant to be attached to the number of children, is being discounted in relation to this particular £26,000 is actually going to damage those children's welfare and put potentially another 100,000 children into poverty."

But Mr Duncan Smith said excluding child benefit would make the cap "pointless" - as it would raise the amount families could receive to an average of about £50,000 a year. He said he wanted to be "fair" to taxpayers on low wages, who were supporting families in homes they themselves could not afford.

Continue reading the main story From April 2013, the total amount of benefit that working-age people can receive will be capped so that households on out-of-work benefits will not receive more than the average household weekly wage. Applies to combined income from the main out-of-work benefits - Jobseeker's Allowance, Income Support, and Employment Support Allowance - and other benefits such as Housing Benefit, Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit, Industrial Injuries Disablement BenefitExemptions for households in receipt of Working Tax Credit, Disability Living Allowance or its successor Personal Independence Payment, Constant Attendance Allowance and war widows and widowers.Forecast to save £290m in 2013-14 and £330m in 2014-15.He told the BBC: "We have a year before this comes in. We now know exactly which families [the cap will affect], what their size is, where they live.

"It's not about punishing them. It's about saying 'Look, if you live in a house that you couldn't afford if you were in work, then you're disincentivised from taking work'.

"We want people to find work. We want them to be in work."

Mr Duncan Smith also said the public was "overwhelmingly in favour" of the cap.

Former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown has said he will vote against the plans, unless there are measures to cushion the impact on those affected.

Labour has said it will not vote against the cap but it has put down an amendment proposing that those at risk of losing their homes should be exempt.

The Bishop of Leicester, Tim Stevens, said Child Benefit should be taken out of the calculation

Shadow employment minister Stephen Timms told the BBC: "We think that the cap is a good idea, we think the principle is right. But we are very worried about the way the government is going to introduce it, which we think is going to lead to a large number of people losing their homes and having to be rehoused by their local council, ending up costing more."

The housing charity Shelter disputed Mr Duncan Smith's claims about the way "homelessness" is defined by it and the government. The minister told the BBC earlier: "The definition inside government and places like Shelter is that children have to share rooms. For most people who are working, their children share rooms, they would find that a strange definition."

But Shelter chief executive Campbell Robb said that was "simply not true" and the comments were creating "unnecessary confusion".

"Shelter uses the same definition of homelessness as the government, as set out in the Housing Act 1996, passed by the last Conservative government."

The changes would affect England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland has its own social security legislation, but it is expected that what is approved at Westminster would be introduced there too.

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EU approves Iran oil imports ban

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 12:42 GMT EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton: "Tehran should come to the table"

European Union foreign ministers have formally adopted an oil embargo against Iran over its nuclear programme.

The sanctions involve an immediate ban on all new oil contracts with Iran, while existing contracts will be honoured until 1 July.

Tehran denies that it is trying to develop nuclear weapons and says talks and not sanctions are the only way to resolve the dispute.

The EU currently buys about 20% of Iran's oil exports.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon said the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, as well as a British Royal Navy frigate and a French warship, have passed through the Straits of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf without incident in the wake of Iranian threats to block the trade route.

'Substantial impact'

Under the new deal, EU governments are expected to stop signing new contracts with Iran when the ban comes into place - which could be as soon as this week, Reuters news agency reports.

All existing contracts will have to be phased out by 1 July.

Additional restrictions on Iran's central bank are also expected to be agreed by EU ministers, although no further details have been given.

BBC Europe Editor Gavin Hewitt says it is one of the toughest steps the EU has ever taken.

Continue reading the main story Jonathan Marcus BBC Diplomatic Correspondent

So once the new measures are in place how successful will they be? Even western diplomats are uncertain.

There is no doubting that the Iranian economy will suffer. But the nuclear programme is a matter of national pride and ultimately national security.

Iran has seen the demise of regimes in Iraq and Libya and noted the survival of that in North Korea - the one so-called "rogue state" that has nuclear weapons.

Iran's rulers may well believe that having at least the potential for a nuclear bomb is something that could secure the country against outside threat.

Seen in this light one can imagine the Iranian authorities being willing to absorb considerable economic pain to pursue their nuclear research effort.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said the embargo showed "the resolve of the European Union on this issue".

"It is absolutely right to do this when Iran is continuing to breach United Nations resolutions and refusing to come to meaningful negotiations on its nuclear programme," he added.

In response to the EU announcement, one senior Iranian politician said Tehran should halt all oil sales to European countries immediately.

Ali Fallahian was quoted by the semi-official Fars news agency as saying that Iran should stop the export of oil before the 1 July deadline "so that the price of oil soars and the Europeans... have trouble".

Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the aim of the sanctions was to "make sure that Iran takes seriously our request to come to the table and meet".

She said world powers had yet to receive a reply to an offer made to Iran in October to hold new talks.

Rising tensions

BBC Iran correspondent James Reynolds says oil is the country's most valuable asset and sales help to keep the Iranian government in money and power.

A decision by the EU to stop buying from Iran may damage the Iranian economy - but in itself it won't destroy it, our correspondent says.

The BBC's James Reynolds visits Dubai where many people export goods to Iran

Iran sells most of its oil to countries in Asia. The EU and the United States are now working to persuade Asian countries to reduce their purchases from Iran as well.

Iran has already threatened to retaliate over the sanctions by blocking the Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf, through which 20% of the world's oil exports pass.

The US has said it will keep the trade route open, raising the possibility of a confrontation.

Late last year Iran conducted 10 days of military exercises near the Strait of Hormuz, test-firing several missiles.

Oil prices have risen already because of the increasing tension and the expected impact of an EU ban on oil supplies to Europe.

A French warship also accompanied US and UK naval vessels through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday

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Eugenides up for US critics award

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 11:07 GMT Jeffrey Eugenides won the Pulitzer Prize for his previous novel, Middlesex Novelist Jeffrey Eugenides and the late historian Manning Marable are among the nominees for the US National Book Critics Circle awards.

Eugenides is nominated for The Marriage Plot, the tale of three students caught in a love triangle, which opens on the day of their graduation.

Marable, meanwhile, is shortlisted in the biography category for his revelatory history of Malcolm X.

The winners will be announced on 8 March. No cash prize is given.

The fiction shortlist also includes Edith Pearlman, whose Binocular Vision is a collection of 34 short stories, Dana Spiotta's Stone Arabia, a family story centred around a failed musician, and Teju Cole's debut novel Open City, a lyrical account of a solitary street-walker in New York.

British novelist Alan Hollinghurst also receives a nomination for The Stranger's Child, which traces the legacy of a war poet over 90 years.

The book was a controversial omission from the Booker prize shortlist last year, leading the Galaxy awards to name him author of the year as a mark of their "dismay".

Manning Marable, who was a professor of history at Columbia University, spent more than a decade working on his biography of Malcolm X.

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention cast doubts on the official account of the black civil rights leader's death - leading to calls for a fresh investigation.

Manning Marable died of complications of pneumonia shortly before his book was published

Also shortlisted in the biography category are accounts of Karl Marx, Ernest Hemmingway, Deng Xiaoping and George F. Kennan - a US diplomat who was a key influence on his country's policy towards the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Pulitzer Prize winner Yusef Komunyakaa received a poetry nomination The Chameleon Couch, pitching him against Pulitzer finalist Bruce Smith.

Other nominees included the late Ellen Willis, hired as the first popular music critic for The New Yorker in 1968, whose collection of essays Out Of The Vinyl Deep was shortlisted for the criticism prize.

As well as the main competitive prizes, the Critics Circle will also present two honorary awards.

Robert Silvers, who helped found The New York Review of Books, will receive the Ivan Sandrof lifetime achievement award.

Kathryn Schulz, who has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone and many other publications, will be presented with the Nona Balakian Citation for excellence in reviewing.

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UK woman crosses Antarctica solo

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 12:57 GMT Ms Aston tweeted that she had been promised red wine and a hot shower British explorer Felicity Aston has reached Antarctica's Hercules Inlet, becoming the first woman to cross the continent alone.

"Congratulations to the 1st female to traverse Antarctica SOLO.V proud," her UK support team tweeted late on Sunday.

AP news agency reported Ms Aston, 33, was also the first person to make the crossing using only her own strength to ski the 1,084 miles (1,744km).

An expedition spokeswoman confirmed she had crossed Antarctica.

The crossing took Ms Aston 59 days, beginning at Leverett Glacier.

The spokeswoman said Ms Aston arrived at Hercules Inlet at around 17:00 Chilean time on Sunday (20:00 GMT). Weather permitting she would be flown to Union Glacier base camp and from there to Chile, eventually returning to the UK on 31 January, she said.

Tweeting from her @felicity_aston account, Ms Aston, from Kent, said she was sitting in her tent waiting to be picked up.

"I've been promised red wine and a hot shower," she wrote. Later she added: "Foiled by bad weather yet again! No plane tonight but I have my last Beef and Ale Stew to enjoy for my final evening alone - yum!"

In a podcast, Ms Aston said her last day had been "amazing", with an icy eight miles to cross.

"It's all a little bit overwhelming after days and days of counting the time and the distance to get here. I seem to have got here all of a rush all of a sudden and I don't really feel prepared for it. I mean it feels amazing to be finished and yet overwhelmingly sad that it's over at the same time," she said.

Ms Aston said her journey had been "an amazing privilege".

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Shot politician Giffords to quit

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22 January 2012 Last updated at 20:18 GMT Ms Giffords said she wanted to concentrate on recovering - courtesy Office of Congresswoman Giffords

US politician Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head last year, has decided to resign her seat in Congress.

Ms Giffords said she needed to concentrate on recovering from her wounds, but promised to return to a career in public service.

She was attacked by a gunman during a political meeting in Tucson, Arizona on 8 January 2011. Six people died in the incident, including one of her aides.

Suspect Jared Loughner has been declared unfit to stand trial.

Ms Giffords said in a statement that she would resign this week, and that a special primary would be held to decide who will serve the rest of her term in office.

"I have more work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best for Arizona, I will step down this week," she said.

The statement added that Ms Giffords intended to complete the political meeting that was attacked by the gunman, and meet some of the people who attended.

Doctors have said Ms Giffords has made a remarkable recovery from her injuries.

She made her first public appearance since the shooting at a memorial service earlier this month commemorating one year since the attack.

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Jay Leno jibe sparks Sikh anger

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 07:31 GMT The Sikh community has launched an online petition against Leno India has condemned a comment by US comedian Jay Leno on the holiest Sikh shrine, the Golden Temple of Amritsar.

A Leno skit showed the temple as the summer home of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Mr Romney has faced taxation questions over his huge wealth and many Sikhs are angry the temple has been depicted as a place for the rich.

The Sikh community has launched an online petition and an Indian minister called the comments "objectionable".

Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi told reporters: "It is quite unfortunate and quite objectionable that such a comment has been made after showing the Golden Temple."

Mr Ravi said the Indian embassy would take up the matter with the US state department, the Press Trust of India reported.

He said: "The Golden Temple is the Sikh community's most sacred place... The American government should also look at this kind of thing.

The Golden Temple is the holiest Sikh shrine

"Freedom does not mean hurting the sentiments of others... This is not acceptable to us and we take a very strong objection for such a display."

The skit appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on NBC television on 19 January.

The online petition organised by members of the US Sikh community says Leno has been guilty of derogatory comments on Sikhs before. It adds that "Jay Leno's racist comments need to be stopped right here".

Petition signatory Simran Kaur says: "Jay Leno must apologise and promise not to make any direct or oblique references to Sikhs or their places of worship."

Leno has not yet commented on the matter.

Mr Romney has been criticised by rival presidential candidates over his reluctance to release taxation records, which will reveal his earnings and the taxes he pays.

On Sunday he agreed to release his income tax records for 2010 and estimates for 2011.

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German anti-Semitism 'widespread'

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 12:16 GMT Germany is seen as midway in the spread of anti-Semitism in Europe Anti-Jewish feeling is "significantly" entrenched in German society, according to a report by experts appointed by the Bundestag (parliament).

They say the internet has played a key role in spreading Holocaust denial, far-right and extreme Islamist views, according to the DPA news agency.

They also speak of "a wider acceptance in mainstream society of day-to-day anti-Jewish tirades and actions".

The expert group, set up in 2009, is to report regularly on anti-Semitism.

The findings of their report, due to be presented on Monday, were that anti-Jewish sentiment was "based on widespread prejudice, deeply-rooted cliches and also on plain ignorance of Jews and Judaism".

Continue reading the main story Stephen Evans BBC News, Berlin

Clearly, Germany is a particular case when it comes to anti-Semitism because of its history. Some Jewish groups, though, praise the government for what they see as its unambiguous, loud condemnation.

This month a new Jewish newspaper started publication in Germany with the words: "Today, the world's fastest growing Jewish community is in Germany. We have Jewish artists living here, writers and business people".

But anti-Semitism remains. One Jewish group in Germany greeted the latest report by saying: "We need new ways of dealing with the past. It is necessary for politicians and the education system in Germany to deal with the National Socialist past."

They added that far-right slogans at football matches were a regular occurrence.

The report's authors put Germany midway in their assessment of other European countries in relation to the spread of anti-Semitism.

They see extremely high levels of anti-Jewish sentiment in parts of Poland, Hungary and Portugal.

Germany's Jewish population has experienced something of a revival since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Before 1989, the population was below 30,000 but an influx of Jews, mainly from the former Soviet Union, has raised the number to 200,000.

Speaking on Friday to mark the anniversary of the 1942 Wannsee conference, when the Nazis' murder of millions of Jews was mapped out, President Christian Wulff pledged that Germany would keep the memory of the Holocaust alive and would never abandon the Jewish people.

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Paper hacked Milly phone - Police

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 13:20 GMT Milly Dowler was abducted and murdered by Levi Bellfield in 2002 The News of the World got Milly Dowler's mobile phone number from school friends, says Surrey Police.

In a letter to MPs, the force says that in 2002 its officers did not give the newspaper messages from the murdered schoolgirl's voicemail.

The allegation that the newspaper accessed the phone is at the heart of the hacking investigation.

The document for MPs does not say why the force did not investigate the paper after learning it had hacked the phone.

The letter does not cover what happened to the voicemails and who was responsible for deletions, an event that gave the 13-year-old's parents false hope that she was still alive.

Last year, Surrey Police confirmed the News of the World called the force in April 2002 revealing it had a recording obtained by accessing the then-missing schoolgirl's voicemail.

In a detailed 16-page letter published by MPs, the force sets out a series of conversations at the height of the hunt for Milly Dowler, between Surrey Police and the News of the World.

Tearful call

A journalist from the newspaper contacted the force almost a month after her disappearance, revealing information relating to a specific voicemail, later discovered to be a red herring caused by a hoaxer.

The journalist said they knew it was a recording from Milly's phone because some of her friends had confirmed both her number and pin.

The reporter also told the police that other voicemail messages on Milly's phone included a "tearful relative", a young boy and someone saying "It's America, take it or leave it".

The officer stressed to the reporter the NoW was probably being subjected to a hoax.

In the letter, the force says: "The information [in the voicemail] was not provided to the NoW by Surrey Police. The NoW obtained that information by accessing Milly Dowler's voicemail. The message [referred to by the journalist] was left after Surrey Police had last [legally] accessed Milly Dowler's voicemail."

Last year, Surrey's then chief constable Mark Rowley defended his force's decision not to investigate the newspaper at the time that the journalist had spoken to the police.

In a letter to MPs, Mr Rowley said: "At that time, the focus and priority of the investigation was to find Milly, who had then been missing for over three weeks and significant resources were deployed to achieve this objective.

"I can confirm that Surrey Police did not launch a criminal investigation into how the NoW came by the information it provided Operation Ruby with in April 2002 and that Surrey Police neither arrested nor charged anyone in relation to accessing Milly Dowler's voicemail."

But he also revealed in the letter the force did not pass on this information to the Metropolitan Police during its original 2006 phone hacking investigation that led to the jailing of a journalist and private investigator.

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Beckinsale movie tops film chart

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 10:49 GMT Beckinsale plays vampire warrior Selene in Underworld Awakening The fourth Underworld movie, which sees the return of Kate Beckinsale, has topped the US film chart on its debut.

Underworld Awakening made $25.4m (£16.3m) this weekend, according to official estimates.

Beckinsale starred in the first two vampire action movies in the franchise but bowed out of the third before making her comeback.

Sony's president of worldwide distribution, Rory Bruer, credited Beckinsale for the film's success.

"She is such a force. Her character - you just can't take your eyes off her. I know the character is very dear to her as well, and she just kills it," he said.

Red Tails, about the first black fighter pilots to serve in World War II - the Tuskegee Airman - entered the chart at number two.

The movie, executive produced by George Lucas, made an estimated $19.1m (£12.3m), well above expectations according to its studio, 20th Century Fox.

"I believe what George Lucas has stated all along - this is an important story and a story that must be told," said the studio's Chris Aronson.

Last week's number one, Contraband, starring Mark Wahlberg, dropped to number three with $12.2m (£7.8m).

September 11 drama, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, came in fourth with $10.5m (£6.8m).

Stephen Soderbergh's Haywire was fifth with takings of $9m (£5.8m).

Rounding out the top 10 were the Disney re-release of Beauty and the Beast at six, Joyful Noise at seven, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol at eight, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows at nine and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo at 10.

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Dr Who writer's new aliens series

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 12:29 GMT Russell T Davies began his writing career in children's TV Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies is returning to children's TV with an action adventure drama for the BBC.

Aliens Vs Wizards will be filmed for CBBC at the new BBC Wales drama studios in Cardiff Bay.

The Swansea-born dramatist said: "Writing for children is the biggest challenge of all."

It will be the first new series from Davies since he returned to the UK from Hollywood last year after his partner was diagnosed with brain cancer.

The new series has been created with Phil Ford, who worked with Davies on Doctor Who and children's spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Science and magic

Aliens Vs Wizards tells the story of two 16-year-old boys - a secret wizard and his scientist friend - who challenge the attempts of aliens to destroy the earth.

"Writing for children is the biggest challenge of all and I think CBBC stands right at the heart of broadcasting," said Davies.

"So I'm delighted to launch this show, a true nationwide collaboration - a Salford commission from a BBC Wales team.

"We're joining genres too - the show's a wild, funny, thrilling and sometimes scary collision of magic and science fiction."

Faith Penhale, head of drama at BBC Cymru Wales, said: "We're so excited to be working with Russell again on this ground-breaking and hugely ambitious drama for CBBC."

Davies began his career in children's TV, writing and producing dramas such as Dark Season for BBC One and Children's Ward for ITV, before moving onto a series of adult award-winning dramas including Queer as Folk and Casanova.

Davies created Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures, which starred the late Elisabeth Sladen

In 2005 he brought Doctor Who back to the BBC after a 16-year hiatus and, as executive producer, oversaw the production of spin-off series Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

The success of those series prompted Davies to move to Hollywood in 2009 to develop new projects.

But he returned to the UK in 2011 saying he was putting his career on hold after his partner Andrew Smith was diagnosed with brain cancer.

Aliens Vs Wizards will be a series of 12 half-hour programmes produced by BBC Wales in association with FremantleMedia Enterprises for broadcast on CBBC in autumn 2012.

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India minister abandons shoelaces

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 09:22 GMT An Indian minister has pledged to wear only slip-on shoes after a young man was shown tying his laces in public.

Gauri Shankar Bisen, a minister in Madhya Pradesh state, admitted he had made a mistake and apologised.

Mr Bisen, who was attending an event at Chhindwara, said doctors had advised him not to bend forwards and the son of a family friend had tied his laces.

Mr Bisen accused rival politicians of playing the caste card by wrongly saying the boy was of a local tribe.

Hernia

After television channels showed footage of the shoe-tying, Mr Bisen said two sons of a friend had accompanied him to the function.

"I was sitting on the dais with my shoelaces untied. The boys noticed it and one of them rushed to me and tied the laces.

"The boy knew that I have had a bypass surgery recently and another hernia operation. Doctors have advised me not to bend down too much."

He added: "I admit it was my mistake and I am sorry for it. I swear that from now onwards, I will not wear any shoes with laces.

"I have specially brought from Pune six pairs of shoes without laces."

He accused the state opposition Congress party of politicising the issue and "lying" that the boy belonged to a tribal community.

"He doesn't, he is... from the same caste as me. We have family relations," Mr Bisen said.

Congress minister Kamal Nath, who was at the event, said the shoe-tying was "the most obnoxious episode" he had seen in 31 years of representing his constituency.

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Croatia voters back EU membership

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22 January 2012 Last updated at 23:58 GMT President Ivo Josipovic said the referendum was a turning point in Croatia's history Near complete results from Croatia's referendum on European Union membership suggest that a large majority of people want to join the EU in 2013.

With nearly 99% of the votes counted, 66% of voters backed the membership. About 33% were against.

But officials expressed disappointment at the low turnout of about 44%.

Croatia signed an EU accession treaty last year and should join in July 2013, once all 27 existing members of the union have ratified the deal.

It would come more than 20 years after Croatia broke away from Yugoslavia, which triggered a 1991-95 war to secure its independence.

'Historic decision'

On Sunday, voters in Croatia were asked "Do you support the Republic of Croatia's membership of the European Union?"

A simple majority was required for membership to be approved. There was no minimum threshold in order for the poll to be valid.

All the major political parties in Croatia favour joining the EU, despite the financial crisis engulfing the organisation.

"It is a historic decision... possibly a turning point in our history," Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said after the vote.

EU supporters say membership is the best option for the country in the long term.

Opponents of the "yes" vote - non-parliamentary, nationalist and army veteran groups - earlier warned of a loss of sovereignty, just two decades after Croatia became an independent state.

"The turnout shows that Croatia has turned its back on the EU," said war veteran Zeljko Sacic, one of the leaders of the "no" campaign.

Croatia itself is currently suffering from high unemployment and other economic problems.

"Croatia will not lose its sovereignty or natural resources, nor will it be ruled by the EU," President Ivo Josipovic said in a written statement.

"Europe will not solve all our problems, but it's a great opportunity."

The EU described the result as good news for the Balkan region.

"The upcoming accession of Croatia sends a clear signal to the whole region of south-eastern Europe. It shows that through political courage and determined reforms, EU membership is within reach," the EU said in a statement.

National hero

Enthusiasm in Croatia for EU membership has waned from a high point several years ago, the BBC's Central Europe correspondent Nick Thorpe says.

However, not only do all the main parliamentary parties support the move, but most of the minority Serbs do too, he adds.

And in a surprise move, Croatia's wartime military commander Ante Gotovina - currently serving a long sentence abroad for war crimes against Serbs - earlier sent a message to his compatriots urging them to vote "yes" in the referendum.

Gotovina's flight from a war crimes indictment by The Hague - and Zagreb's perceived half-heartedness in tracking him and other war crimes suspects down - delayed Croatia's EU bid.

His conviction in 2011 sparked a surge of anti-European sentiment in Croatia, where he is viewed by many as a national hero.

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In pictures: Brazil police move in to evict squatters

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 08:14 GMT

24 hours of news photos: 24 January 2012

Brazilian officers storm an illegal settlement

Communities around the world celebrate

Photos from around the world this week

24 hours of news photos: 20 January

Readers pictures on the theme morning light

A look back at the hand-held camera

Drought continues to devastate communities

24 hours of news photos: 19 January 2012

Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster

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EU ministers lift Burma visa bans

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 12:50 GMT As reforms have gathered pace, Burma's President Thein Sein has met with several foreign dignitaries European foreign ministers have agreed to suspend visa bans on leading politicians in Burma, including the president and cabinet members.

EU ministers meeting in Brussels said the move followed Burma's "remarkable programme of political reform".

A statement said further reforms would lead to a further easing of sanctions.

Burma is due to hold by-elections in April which will be contested for the first time by the opposition party led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Reforms in Burma have been gathering pace in recent months. In mid-January, the government released a series of high-profile political dissidents from prison in an amnesty.

Those freed include veterans of the 1988 student protest movement, monks involved in the 2007 demonstrations and ethnic-minority activists.

The military-backed civilian government came to power in November 2010, after the country's first elections in 20 years. Before that Burma was governed by a military junta.

The new government freed Ms Suu Kyi and began dialogue with her and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

'Improved relations'

The EU statement said visa bans would be suspended for Burma's President Thein Sein, vice-presidents, cabinet members and parliamentary speakers.

"The Council welcomes the remarkable programme of political reform undertaken by the government and parliament," a statement said.

Continue reading the main story 7 Nov 2010: First polls in 20 years13 Nov: Aung San Suu Kyi freed from house arrest30 Mar 2011: Transfer of power to new government complete 19 Aug: Aung San Suu Kyi meets Burmese President Thein Sein12 Oct: More than 200 political prisoners freed13 Oct: New labour laws allowing unions passed17 Nov: Burma granted Asean chair in 201423 Dec: NLD registers as political party12 Jan: Karen ceasefire signed13 Jan: Highest-profile political prisoners freedIt added that the reform process had already led to improved relations with the EU and if such reforms continued, then restrictions could further be eased by the end of April.

"These changes are opening up important new prospects for developing the relationship between the European Union and Burma/Myanmar," the statement said.

The US has also begun the process of thawing diplomatic relations saying that it will start the process of exchanging ambassadors with Burma.

Although Western nations have welcomed the reform process, they have also called on the government to release all political prisoners and resolve ethnic conflicts in border regions.

And Burmese exiles and campaign groups say the real test will be how much freedom released prisoners will have to continue their activities.

Burma remains the subject of economic sanctions from the European Union, the United States and Canada, among others. Of the major economies, only China, India and South Korea have invested in the country.

But Western leaders have said they will match progress towards democracy in Burma with concessions and political incentives.

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Syria rejects power transfer call

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 12:31 GMT Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani says the Arab League wants to see stability and security

Syria has rejected an Arab League call for President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power to his deputy.

The league, meeting in Cairo, urged Syria to form a national unity government with the opposition within two months.

A government official called the plan "flagrant interference" in Syria's internal affairs, state TV said.

The UN says more than 5,000 people have died as a result of the crackdown on protests since they began last March.

The league called on both sides to end the bloodshed.

The government in Damascus says it is fighting "terrorists and armed gangs" and claims that some 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed.

Arab League split

"Syria rejects the decisions taken which are outside an Arab working plan, and considers them an attack on its national sovereignty and a flagrant interference in internal affairs," the unnamed Syrian official said.

Continue reading the main story Jeremy Bowen BBC Middle East editor, Homs

The Arab League is essentially asking President Assad to give up power, to just step aside.

Everything he has said since all this began suggests that is something he does not want to do.

Diplomatically speaking there isn't really a game at the moment.

It means that the various initiatives that have been tried over a period of months culminating in the one from the Arab League have got precisely nowhere.

The Arab League is increasingly split, disunited, rancorous about what exactly is to be done about Syria.

Its initiative that seemed to start with quite a lot of unanimity at the end of last year is looking in tatters.

On a government trip to the embattled city of Homs, we've been shown the burnt remains of bodies in a morgue after what soldiers described as an ambush on Sunday morning that killed 11 troops.

The official said the Arab League proposals were not in the interests of the Syrian people and would not prevent the country from "advancing its political reforms and bringing security and stability to its people".

Saudi Arabia said it was pulling out of the league's 165-strong monitoring mission in Syria because Damascus had broken promises on peace initiatives.

While the Arab League ministers said they were extending the controversial mission for another month, analysts say the Saudi decision has thrown its longer-term future into doubt.

Saudi Arabia is one of the key funders of the league's projects, but the monitors have been criticised for failing to stop the violence.

Speaking in Cairo on Monday, the head of the monitors, Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi, defended the mission.

He said the monitors were in Syria to observe implementation of an Arab League plan to end the violence, and indeed, despite some shootings and explosions they had seen the situation improve while they were there.

The Arab League is now increasingly split over what could be done to resolve the Syrian crisis, the BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen in Syria reports.

With the Syrians rejecting the conditions of the initiative, the Arab League's roadmap is effectively in tatters, our correspondent says.

Jeremy Bowen met pro-Assad supporters at a demo in Damascus

Meanwhile, violence has continued in Syria, with activists reporting battles between government troops and army defectors in the Damascus suburb of Douma on Sunday.

At least five people were killed there, according to Syria's Local Coordination Committees (LCC), as well as seven other people in other parts of the country.

Authorities in the city of Homs told our correspondent that 11 soldiers had been killed in an ambush on Sunday, while a doctor at a military hospital in the embattled city said five dead soldiers had been brought in on Monday.

Activists say almost 1,000 people have been killed since the monitoring mission began in December.

Continue reading the main story More than 5,000 civilians killed since March, says the UNUN denied access to SyriaInformation gathered from NGOs, sources in Syria and Syrians who have fledVast majority of casualties were unarmed, but the figure may include armed defectorsTally does not include serving members of the security forces

Source: UN's OHCHR

'No military intervention' At the Arab League meeting, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal urged the international community to step in and put pressure on Damascus.

The meeting of Arab League foreign ministers called on President Assad to delegate power to one of his vice-presidents and to engage in proper dialogue with the opposition within two weeks, and form a government of national unity in two months.

It was not clear which vice-president, Farouk al-Shara or Najah al-Attar, the Arab League had in mind to assume power.

The league said this should eventually lead to multi-party elections overseen by international observers.

Qatar's Prime Minister, who is also foreign minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, said the league would seek the support of the UN Security Council for the changes.

But he added: "We're not talking about military intervention."

Mohammed al-Dabi, Arab League monitoring mission: Events in Syria are 'unacceptable'

Speaking before an EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said a Security Council resolution on Syria was overdue and it had been a mistake for China and Russia to have blocked a previous attempt at one.

The EU foreign ministers called on President Assad to "step aside immediately to allow for a peaceful and democratic transition".

They also agreed on new sanctions against 22 Syrian officials accused of human rights abuses and eight companies that financially support the Assad regime, hitting them with travel bans and a freeze of assets.

Existing EU sanctions include an arms embargo, a ban on the import of Syrian crude oil and a ban on new investment in the Syrian petroleum sector.

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Kano prayers over Nigeria attacks

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 11:28 GMT President Jonathan (l) met the Emir of Kano (r) on Sunday Both Muslim and Christian residents of Kano, the northern Nigerian city where at least 160 people were killed in a series of attacks on Friday, have been urged to heed a day of prayer.

A special prayer session has been held near the palace of the Emir of Kano, asking Allah to help end the violence.

Islamist militant group Boko Haram says it carried out the attacks.

At least 12 locally made explosive devices have been found in abandoned vehicles in the city, police say.

Doctors say that more bodies are arriving in the morgues and so the number of people killed in the series of bombings and shoot-outs is expected to rise.

The BBC's Abdullahi Kaura Abubaker in the city says that some people are starting to resume normal activities in the city but that a heavy security presence remains. An overnight curfew is also in place.

'End the violence'

The call for prayers was issued by both the Kano state government and the Emirate council on local radio stations.

Both Muslims and non-Muslims were urged to gather at their respective places of worship.

Our reporter says about 200 people attended Kano's central mosque, while local mosques around the city also held prayers.

Continue reading the main story 2002: Founded2009: Hundreds killed when Maiduguri police stations stormed; leader Mohammed Yusuf captured and killedDec 2010: Bombed Jos, killing 80 people; blamed for New Year's Eve attack on Abuja barracksJun-Aug 2011: Bomb attacks on Abuja police HQ and UN buildingDec 2011: Multiple bomb attacks on Christmas Day kill dozens Jan 2012: Wave of violence across north-east NigeriaKano is the largest city in the mainly Muslim north but it has a sizeable Christian community.

Boko Haram targeted worshippers at several churches on Christmas Day and one faction has urged southerners, who are mostly Christian or follow traditional beliefs, to leave the north.

Hundreds of people have fled their homes but there have also been cases of members of the two communities supporting each other.

President Goodluck Jonathan visited Kano on Sunday to offer his condolences and vowed to defeat the "terrorists".

However, our reporter says many people are sceptical, having heard similar promises in the past.

The militants attacked several police stations and managed to free some suspected members of their group who had been detained.

Boko Haram, which wants an Islamic state, said it launched the attacks because the authorities refused to free some of its members from jail.

This is the deadliest attack the group has launched, although it has killed hundreds of people in recent years.

Its members have bombed churches, government buildings and police stations - mostly in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria.

One doctor told AFP news agency that the final toll from Friday's attacks was likely to be about 250.

"Although the bulk of the bodies were brought here [the main hospital], others were deposited at three other hospitals," the doctor said.

Boko Haram, which loosely translates from the local Hausa language as "Western education is forbidden", says it wants to overthrow the national government and impose Islamic law.

It first hit the headlines in 2009 when a series of attacks by its followers on police and government buildings in the city of Maiduguri led to a crackdown in which hundreds died.

Since then, a wave of bombings and shootings have killed police officers, government officials and both Muslim and Christian civilians.

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Cairn sells off Greenland stake

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 09:55 GMT Cairn Energy has so far failed to make a commercial discovery of oil or gas in the Arctic Oil explorer Cairn Energy has sold off a 30% stake in one of its Greenland exploration licences to Norwegian group Statoil.

It is part of Cairn's plan to bring in a partner in to share the costs of exploration in the Arctic.

The Edinburgh group has so far failed to make a commercial discovery of oil or gas in its Greenland campaign.

Under the agreement, Statoil will acquire a working interest of 30.6% in the Pitu licence.

Cairn announced at the end of last year that it was reviewing its two-year campaign and indicated it was in talks with potential partners to share the risk of future drilling.

The cost of exploration in 2011 alone has cost the company about £400m.

Cairn did not say how much it would be paid for the share of Pitu, although it will get an upfront payment from Statoil and the Norwegian company will also meet other costs.

Simon Thomson, chief executive of Cairn, said: "In Greenland, Statoil's extensive Arctic operating and development experience makes them the partner of choice for the Pitu block where we see significant potential."

The deal is subject to the approval of the Greenland government.

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The Greek cloud

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 10:00 GMT Austerity is taking a heavy toll on Greek living standards In October 2009 George Papandreou won the Greek election. Within days he discovered that the country's deficit was not 6.7% but 12.7%. So began a crisis that has spread to other countries and has come to dominate the EU and the eurozone.

It tells you something that in the third week of 2012 Greece is still not sorted. It will dominate both Monday's meeting of eurozone finance ministers and next week's European summit.

It is a story simply told. Austerity did not work, neither did the first bailout. The economy shrank and the debt mountain grew. The Germans insisted that if Greece was to have a second bailout then private investors had to take losses in order to slash the country's debts.

Talks over how to achieve that are on a knife edge. The target is to cut 100bn euros (£83bn) from Greece's debt mountain of 350bn euros. Only then might Greece be able to see its debt-to-GDP ratio fall to 120% by 2020.

So private investors are being asked to swap their current bond holdings for new ones worth half the value. That would involve them accepting losses of over 50%.

The sticking point is the interest paid on the new bonds, bearing in mind they will not mature for 30 years. If the rate is too low - say less than 3.8% - the investors will cry foul and insist the deal is no longer voluntary. If it isn't voluntary then Greece is in default.

The Germans and the IMF want a lower figure. Those talks will continue this week.

Use the dropdown for easy-to-understand explanations of key financial terms:AAA-rating The best credit rating that can be given to a borrower's debts, indicating that the risk of borrowing defaulting is minuscule.

The expectation has to be of a deal. The EU, IMF and Germany fear a default more than anything else and the investors know that they will blink first.

Now if there is an agreement some are saying a major part of the eurozone crisis would have been fixed.

Francesco Garzarelli from Goldman Sachs said that in the event of a massive write-down "a systemic danger in the eurozone which comes from the weak link that is Greece will be removed".

Germany has insisted that nearly a third of Greek debt be written off before agreeing to lend Greece more bailout money.

Sick man of Europe

That brings us back to the real economy. In Greece it is expected to shrink by 6% this year and 3% next. There are some green shoots. Tourism is up and so are exports, but mainly the economy is in free-fall. Last year it missed its target for reducing its deficit. So this year a further 7bn euros in savings will have to be found.

Once again there will be open resistance on the streets and sullen resentment in the community. Reforms to open up the labour market and perhaps boost growth have stalled. Greece increasingly resembles a patient on permanent life-support; it is not being cured.

And that brings us to Italy. When it comes to European leaders Mario Monti is the poster boy of the moment. He is applauded and praised wherever he goes.

He has set about reducing Italy's deficit with vigour. Taxes have been increased, pensions reformed and the sales tax has gone up to 23%. Like in Greece he is making budget cuts as the country is heading back into recession.

He knows none of this will work without growth. So he has gone to battle with those closed professions like taxi drivers and pharmacists and lawyers. Suddenly he is meeting resistance.

Mario Monti has warned the rest of Europe of a powerful backlash which could turn the Italian people against Europe and Germany, the main architect of austerity. It is by now a familiar story of a leader bound into a monetary union having to change the culture of his country in order to try and regain competitiveness.

Germany's deep pockets

Ultimately the Italian leader does not believe that austerity alone will work. The answers, in his view, do not lie in Italy but elsewhere in Europe. He has revived the call for common European debt, so called eurobonds. He also wants to increase the size of the European Stability Mechanism, the zone's permanent bailout fund which will be up and running later this year.

In the end it comes back to wanting Germany to take on Europe's debts and to bankroll further the rescue fund. For the moment Berlin is saying "no" to both ideas, but many of Europe's economies are flashing "warning signs".

What is providing a breathing space was the decision by the European Central Bank to lend half a trillion euros to Europe's banks at a rate of just 1% over three years.

Some banks have started using the money to buy up bonds of countries like Italy at around 6%. It's good business for the banks and it is lowering the borrowing costs of countries at risk. It buys time, but does not address the real problem of countries locked into years of grinding austerity.

Elections are often revealing. Politicians choose a narrative that will play well with the people. Sometimes the script is honest; sometimes less so.

Francois Hollande, the front-runner to become the next French president, set out his stall yesterday. He has chosen to run against the markets. "My true adversary does not have a name, a face or a party. He never puts forward his candidacy but nevertheless he governs. My true adversary is the world of finance."

Big ideas may follow, but Europe is facing profound questions beyond saving the euro: Why does Europe have such sluggish growth? Is Europe's welfare state sustainable? How will work be found for millions of young people unemployed? Is the EU over-regulated?

In the end Europe's real economy will have to be fixed.

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Sacked ANC youth leader appeals

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 11:56 GMT Julius Malema is a hugely divisive figure in South Africa after a series of controversial statements South Africa's suspended youth leader Julius Malema has appealed against the ruling party's decision to sack him.

He was suspended from the African National Congress (ANC) for five years for sowing division in the party.

Mr Malema's lawyers claim that the decision did not follow proper ANC procedure and want it overturned.

Once a close ally of President Jacob Zuma, Mr Malema is now accusing him of ignoring poor South Africans who voted him into power 2009.

Mr Malema's appeal before the party's Disciplinary Appeals Panel is largely based on the claim that the committee did not give him the opportunity to argue in mitigation of sentence at the end of the disciplinary process.

The ANC suspended him in November 2011 after he was found guilty of three of the charges against him - including bringing the party into disrepute by calling for regime change in democratic Botswana - a position which contravenes party and government policy.

Mr Malema, who once said he would kill for President Zuma is in a bitter contest to unseat him as head of the ANC and wants to replace him with deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, says the BBC's Milton Nkosi in Johannesburg.

The ANC leader automatically becomes the party's candidate - and therefore strong favourite - in the country's presidential elections in 2014.

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Rushdie angry over 'false' threat

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 05:52 GMT Salman Rushdie said he was outraged and very angry Author Salman Rushdie has accused authorities in the Indian state of Rajasthan of giving "false intelligence information" of a threat to his life.

Mr Rushdie withdrew from the Jaipur literature festival on Friday, saying that he been told by sources that paid assassins were planning to kill him.

But he later said he believed he had been lied to about the threat.

The Rajasthan government has denied the charge, saying it was "baseless".

Salman Rushdie sparked anger in the Muslim world with his book The Satanic Verses, which many see as blasphemous.

He lived in hiding for many years after Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his execution.

'Outraged'

The author had been scheduled to speak in Jaipur on Friday, on the opening day of the five-day event.

But Mr Rushdie pulled out of the festival, saying that he had been informed "by intelligence sources in Maharashtra and Rajasthan that paid assassins from the Mumbai underworld may be on their way to Jaipur to 'eliminate' me".

Influential Muslim clerics had protested against his participation in the run-up to the festival.

On Sunday, Mr Rushdie tweeted that he had investigated the information and believed "that I was indeed lied to".

"I am outraged and very angry," he said.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot told a newspaper that Mr Rushdie's allegation was "baseless".

Continue reading the main story

The failure of the state to secure Salman Rushdie's protection, many believe, is a shameful indictment of India's politicians and their opportunistic politics of least resistance”

End Quote "A confirmed information about a threat to Mr Rushdie's life was shared by the Intelligence Bureau with the organisers of the festival. Such inputs had started to come even before the beginning of the event," Mr Gehlot's government said in a statement.

However, the chief of the Maharashtra police has denied that his force had sent any intelligence related to threats to Mr Rushdie's life to counterparts in Rajasthan.

"When we had no information that gangsters or paid assassins from the Mumbai underworld had planned to eliminate Salman Rushdie, how could we have shared it with anybody?" K Subramaniam, director-general of Maharashtra police, said.

One newspaper reported that the festival organisers had been shown "an intelligence file about the threat to Mr Rushdie" a day before the festival opened, and they had informed the author accordingly.

Book readings

Mr Rushdie's latest remarks come amid a rising controversy over warnings of penal action against some authors who read passages from The Satanic Verses - which is banned in India - at the festival on Friday.

Writers Hari Kunzru, Amitava Kumar, Jeet Thayil and Ruchir Joshi read extracts from the book to protest against Mr Rushdie's withdrawal, leading the festival organisers to distance themselves from the readings.

The four writers left Jaipur over the weekend to avoid arrest, media reports say.

Muslim groups have protested against Mr Rushdie

Festival organiser and author William Dalrymple said that a lot of people "don't realise that even reading from a banned book is against the law".

Separately, a number of authors attending the festival have petitioned the government to reconsider the ban on The Satanic Verses.

The book was banned in India in 1988 for its "blasphemous content hurting the sentiments of Muslims".

Salman Rushdie was born in India but is a British citizen and has lived in the UK for most of his life. In recent years he has made many private visits to India and attended the Jaipur Literary Festival in 2007.

Correspondents say the protests against Mr Rushdie's participation at the festival this year were linked to crucial state elections due in Uttar Pradesh.

They say no political party wants to antagonise the Muslim community, which constitutes 18% of voters in the state, India's largest.

On 10 January, leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband - which is based in Uttar Pradesh - called on the government to block Salman Rushdie's visit as he "had annoyed the religious sentiments of Muslims in the past".

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Megaupload boss seeks bail in NZ

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 03:35 GMT Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom was arrested in New Zealand on Friday along with three others. The founder of file-sharing website Megaupload has appeared in a New Zealand court seeking bail.

German national Kim Dotcom - also known as Kim Schmitz - was arrested with three others in Auckland on Friday in a raid requested by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

He has been accused of internet piracy and money laundering.

Prosecutors say he is a flight risk. The court later delayed a decision on bail.

"Given the breadth of issues covered in this bail application and the seriousness of the issues, I am going to reserve my decision," said Judge David McNaughton.

US authorities want to extradite Mr Dotcom. Federal prosecutors have accused Megaupload - one of the internet's largest file-sharing sites - of costing copyright holders more than $500m (£320m) in lost revenue.

Megaupload, on the other hand, said it was diligent in responding to complaints about pirated material.

Mr Dotcom holds German and Finnish passports, and is a resident of Hong Kong and New Zealand.

"Mr Dotcom emphatically denies any criminal misconduct or wrongdoing," Mr Dotcom's lawyer, Paul Davison, said.

Prosecutor Anne Toohey, however, said that Mr Dotcom was a significant flight risk, citing his multiple passports, financial resources and previous criminal convictions for hacking and insider trading.

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Murray through as opponent quits

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Venue: Melbourne ParkDate: 16-29 JanuaryCoverage: Watch live on Eurosport; singles finals and one men's semi-final on BBC Two/Red Button/HD channel/website; listen on BBC Radio 5 live; text commentaries and reports on the BBC Sport website Kukushkin retires to send Murray through

Andy Murray reached the Australian Open quarter-finals for a third year running after Mikhail Kukushkin retired through injury while trailing 6-1 6-1 1-0.

Two five-set matches in rounds two and three took their toll on Kazakhstan's world number 92 Kukushkin, who pulled out with a left hip flexor problem.

"It was hot on the court and it is good for me that I have conserved energy," said British number one Murray.

Continue reading the main story

The fourth seed will play Kei Nishikori after he stunned Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Murray has a winning record against the 24th seed, the first Japanese man to reach the Australian quarter-finals for 80 years, and the Scot approaches that match on Wednesday feeling fresh.

He described the 49-minute win over Kukushkin, 24, as "boring" and stated his intention to return to Rod Laver Arena later on Monday for an extra practice session.

"I played him [Kukushkin] a few weeks ago at Brisbane and it was three tough sets and I expected another tough one today," said the Scot.

"I hadn't seen him play before Brisbane and he hit some huge shots early and made me work.

"It is tough for him for that to happen in the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time."

As in his third-round victory over Michael Llodra, Murray, 24, played closer to the baseline and attacked his groundstrokes with plenty of aggression.

Kukushkin beat Gael Monfils in five gruelling sets on Saturday and those exertions seemed to hinder him in the scorching Melbourne heat.

Three unforced errors in the first game handed Murray a break and the Scot struck again for a 3-0 lead.

Kukushkin finally displayed some fight to hit back in game four, only to relinquish his serve again after pushing two backhands wide.

Continue reading the main story Jonathan Overend,
BBC tennis correspondent

This was entirely predictable. Kukushkin, having played back-to-back five setters, looked off the pace from the start. It was going to be a thrashing or a retirement and Kukushkin chose the second option, having received treatment for a hip flexor injury. Murray looked sharp, as he has all tournament, and things are building nicely. What a bonus to only have to play for 49 minutes on the hottest day of the tournament so far. After the fun match against Llodra, now the half-day against Kukushkin, this could be the break he needs to make all the difference in the second week

The world number 92 gave an indication he was not 100% fit when he called for the trainer at the next change of ends, and Murray broke once more to wrap up the 22-minute first set.

A lapse in focus saw the world number four relinquish an early break in the second set with a poor backhand into the net.

But a struggling Kukushkin, who started rushing the net in a bid to shorten points, handed the momentum straight back.

Murray breached his defences with some clean hitting to go 5-1 up before serving out another 22-minute set to love.

Having required more treatment and then lost his serve for an eighth successive time, Kukushkin called it quits.

Next up for Murray is Nishikori, who stunned sixth seed and 2008 runner-up Tsonga 2-6 6-2 6-1 3-6 6-3 in three hours and 30 minutes.

"I'm feeling unbelievable," Nishikori said. "To reach my first quarter-final and beating Tsonga makes me really happy.

"Hopefully it's big in Japan. A lot of people messaged me when I got to last 16. Now I'm in the quarter-finals, it's really exciting."

In the mixed doubles, Britain's Colin Fleming reached the quarter-finals with his partner, the South African-born American Liezel Huber.

The duo defeated American Steve Lipsky and Vladimira Uhlirova of the Czech Republic 6-3 6-2.

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Trust in government 'breaks down'

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 05:19 GMT Governments have seen a dramatic decline in trust during 2011 Public trust in government has suffered a severe breakdown across the world, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer.

Governments have been blamed for the financial and political chaos of 2011.

In 17 of 25 countries surveyed governments are now trusted to do what is right by less than half those questioned.

Overall trust in government fell by nine percentage points to 43%.

Trust in business also fell, from 56% to 53%.

Although businesses saw less severe declines in trust, countries at the heart of the eurozone saw sharper decreases.

Businesses in Spain, France and Germany saw trust decline by 21, 20 and 18 percentage points respectively.

China was the only country to see a significant rise in trust in businesses, up from 61% to 71%.

Trusting 'me'

Richard Edelman, president and CEO of Edelman, said: "Business is now better placed than governments to lead the way out of the trust crisis".

"But the balance must change so that business is seen both as a force for good and an engine for profit."

Alongside these steep declines in trust in institutions such as governments or businesses, the survey highlights a dramatic switch in those whom people say they now trust.

A "person like me" is now one of the top three credible sources, said those surveyed, only trailing academics and technical experts.

Social networking, microblogging and content-sharing sites saw the most dramatic percentage rises as trusted sources of information, jumping by 88%, 86% and 75%.

Despite these gains, traditional media and online search engines are still the most trusted sources of information for general news and information, says the survey.

Edelman's 2012 trust Barometer was released in the run-up to this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, where it will be presented in more detail.

Edelman's online survey sampled 25,000 respondents among the general population, with an over-sample of 5,600 "informed" people from the upper end of society - college-educated, with household income in the top quarter - across 25 countries.

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The hidden graves of the Holocaust

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 00:19 GMT Any doubts about the existence of mass graves at the Treblinka death camp in Poland are being laid to rest by the first survey of the site using tools that see below the ground, writes forensic archaeologist Caroline Sturdy Colls.

When the Nazis left Treblinka in 1943 they thought they had destroyed it. They had knocked down the buildings and levelled the earth. They had built a farmhouse and installed a Ukrainian "farmer". They had planted trees, and - contemporary reports suggest - lupins.

But if they thought they had removed all evidence of their crime, they hadn't. For a forensic archaeologist, there is a vast amount to study.

The destruction of buildings rarely results in the complete removal of all traces of them. And even on the surface there are still artefacts and other subtle clues that point to the real purpose of the site.

A 1946 report by investigators into German crimes in Poland found "a cellar passage with the protruding remains of burnt posts, the foundations of the administration building and the old well" and here and there "the remains of burnt fence posts, pieces of barbed wire, and short sections of paved road".

They also discovered human remains as they dug into the ground, and on the surface "large quantities of ashes mixed with sand, among which are numerous human bones".

Despite this, in a later statement they said they had discovered no mass graves.

The existence of mass graves was known about from witness testimony, but the failure to provide persuasive physical evidence led some to question whether it could really be true that hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed here.

Although they lasted only a few days, those post-war investigations remained the most complete studies of the camp until I began my work at Treblinka in 2010.

This revealed the existence of a number of pits across the site.

Mapping the Treblinka death camp Continue reading the main story Some may be the result of post-war looting, prompted by myths of buried Jewish gold, but several larger pits were recorded in areas suggested by witnesses as the locations of mass graves and cremation sites.

One is 26m long, 17m wide and at least four metres deep, with a ramp at the west end and a vertical edge to the east.

Continue reading the main story Ground-penetrating radar (above) - sends pulses of radar into the earth and records the reflectionsResistance survey - electric current passed through the ground via probes, with solid features exhibiting higher resistance than water-rich onesElectrical imaging - like resistance survey, but with multiple (eg 20) probesAnother five pits of varying sizes and also at least this deep are located nearby. Given their size and location, there is a strong case for arguing that they represent burial areas.

My research has been designed to respect both the historical and scientific potential of the site as well as its religious and commemorative significance.

No excavation was carried out and the ground was not disturbed, which would be a violation of Jewish law and tradition, banning the exhumation of the dead.

Until relatively recently the technology has not been available to investigate the sites of the Holocaust in such a way.

Aerial photography from the 1940s can now be supplemented with satellite imagery, GPS and mapping software.

A range of geophysical surveying tools also exists, including ground penetrating radar, resistance survey and electrical imaging.

However, no geophysical methods will reveal conclusively what is below the soil - they do not detect human remains.

What each method does is to highlight contrasts between the physical properties of the soil and features within it, such as buried remains or ground disturbance.

Conclusions can then be drawn about the nature of these features by comparing historical and archaeological data, and drawing on knowledge about construction, demolition and burial processes.

As well as the pits, the survey has located features that appear to be structural, and two of these are likely to be the remains of the gas chambers.

According to witnesses, these were the only structures in the death camp made of brick.

Unlike at Auschwitz, there were no purpose-built crematoria at Treblinka.

The decision to burn the bodies of victims was made only after the camp had been operating for several months. The order to exhume and cremate those already buried came in 1943, after the German army had discovered the bodies of Polish officers massacred by the Soviets at Katyn three years earlier - demonstrating to the German leadership the importance of covering up its own crimes.

Witness reports indicate that the bodies were burned on improvised pyres made of railway lines and wood, and the ashes were often reburied in the same graves the bodies had been taken from.

Underground features detected here, coincide with variations in surface level

But recent work in forensic cremation demonstrates that total eradication of bone requires extremely high temperatures. In most crematoria today, bones remain intact and have to be ground down to produce ash.

At Treblinka it is clear that the ash contains many bones. Bone fragments can still be seen on the surface of the ground, especially after rain.

Considerable evidence also exists to suggest that not all of the bodies were exhumed and cremated. Photographs show bodies littering the landscape as late as the early 1960s.

But this work is just the beginning and further work is required to understand the complexity of the site.

This initial survey should be viewed as a start of what will hopefully be a long-term collaboration between myself and the Treblinka museum, aimed at providing new insights into the physical evidence, and allowing the victims of the Holocaust to be appropriately commemorated.

The Hidden Graves of the Holocaust will be broadcast on Monday 23 January at 20:00 GMT on BBC Radio 4

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Blackberry-maker's CEOs step down

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23 January 2012 Last updated at 06:10 GMT RIM has struggled to compete with rivals Apple and Google in recent years Blackberry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) has said its co-chief executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have stepped down in a shake-up.

Mr Lazaridis, who founded RIM in 1984, will become vice chairman. Mr Balsillie will continue to sit on the board but not have any operational role.

Chief operating officer Thorsten Heins will replace them on Monday.

Investors have called for a strategy change as the company struggles to compete with Apple and Google.

Management shuffle Continue reading the main story Tim Weber Business editor, BBC News website

The departure of RIM's co-chief executives was long overdue. Not even troubled computer giant Hewlett-Packard - which lost two CEOs in less than a year - was as bad a technology car crash as Research In Motion.

Here was a company that defined what smartphones were all about; that had cornered the oh-so-important corporate market; that had made serious inroads into the youth market with cheap entry-level smartphones. And then threw it all away in an orgy of poor executive decisions, lacklustre innovation, unkept promises in delivering new product and - the greatest sin of all - a total lack of understanding that its part of the tech industry was undergoing a fundamental shift.

First Apple, then Google managed to eat the Blackberry pie, and RIM did nothing to stop them. The company's new boss will have to work very hard to keep RIM in the smartphone game.

Mr Lazaridis, speaking after the announcement, said he recognized things needed to change at the company.

"There comes a time in the growth of every successful company when the founders recognize the need to pass the baton to new leadership," he said at a press conference at RIM's headquarters in Waterloo, Canada.

"Jim and I went to the board and told them that we thought that time was now."

Mr Heins started at RIM in 2007, having previously worked at Siemens Communications. He became the chief operating officer in August 2011, according to the company.

Mr Heins said: "As with any company that has grown as fast as we have, there have been inevitable growing pains".

"We have learned from those challenges and, I believe, we have and will become a stronger company as a result."

Barbara Stymiest, who has been on the board of RIM since 2007, has been made the new chairman, a post that Mr Balsillie and Mr Lazaridis also shared.

Sharp decline

Blackberry has suffered major setbacks in recent months.

Larry Magid from CBS News says the re-shuffle is "long overdue"

It had its worst service outage in 2011 and has been losing market share to its competitors in the smartphone markets.

Billions of dollars have been wiped from its market value as shares have tumbled 75% over the past 11 months and sales have dropped.

One of its latest offering the PlayBook tablet, a reply to Apple's iPad, has not proven as popular as the company had hoped.

Larry Magid, a technology analyst with CNET, told the BBC World Service that Mr Lazaridis and Mr Balsillie had to go.

"Research In Motion, which once dominated the smartphone market, has been steadily losing market share both to the iPhone and iPad and the tablet area and the various android devices," Mr Magid said.

"I think it was a matter of time before these two made the wise choice to step aside and see if anybody else can do better with the company."

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Jerry Seinfeld: I ' never felt great "on television success"

The experienced comedian reflected his complaints with the seinfelds rule over TV.

More than a decade after the final found Seinfeid remains one of America's most adored TV series, but he achieved fame a little irritating acknowledges the show namesake.

In the new series Star Jerry Seinfeld, why he resigned from after his departure from the mainstream television Spotlight explained in comedy, actor, and TV.

"Acceptance is a very dangerous thing for comedians," he told host David Steinberg. "Standup is a sheer despair." "People live quiet desperation, which is a life according to despair."

The "show about nothing" gained more than just a little attention. Jerry's pirate would be blouse or Elaine's dance moves the world without Festivus, where man hands? The Emmy and the globe-winning will be golden series to allow through in pop-culture dialogue and life sentenced his actors that hold some critics of the "Seinfeld curse." to fail

The comedian quite frankly he "never felt great" on the amount of the success of the show. Tells his Hollywood prospects close to the TV series, he, that he decided said on instead is "back in the middle to break." During his co-stars attempts to shed, Seinfeld standup comedy and behind the scenes their previous roles production, with the exception of cast and produce in the 2007 animated film Bee Movie. Seinfeld delighted fans, when the occupation appeared briefly on Seinfeld co-creator Larry David hit show, curb your enthusiasm, but at the moment was fleeting.

Seinfeld is, nevertheless, that he preferred a life of self-loathing celebrity status. "There is no comedy star, you either a star or you're a comic."

More:Taking Jerry Seinfeld "the marriage REF" for breaking up his marriage

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Report: Scammers claim that mother and daughter went missing on Costa Concordia

Costa Concordia cruise ship that ran off the West coast of Italy aground on the island of Giglio is located on the side, half under water and is in danger, slide into deeper waters.

Here, an idea is stellar, amounted to: pretend to be a grandmother, claimed that your daughter and granddaughter of missing wreckage from the Italian coast in the Costa Concordia. Then send a "friend" to a savvy New York lawyer, to tell the story, and then change the story as often as possible. Finally, you have a 5-year old blow your entire coverage.

This story is reported as the first officially falsely stating of the death of the disaster. Allegedly Peter Rónai, a personal - injury lawyer New York, the six Hungarian survivors from the liner represented was a Hungarian woman by e-Mail. The e-Mail claimed that the woman's missing daughter, Eva, and 5-year-old granddaughter of the nave. The emailer wanted Rónai meeting with Eve's friend, thing to do is to discuss. According to which New York Daily News had the Italian media accused the liner stowaways wear, so the fact that the mother and the daughter not on the list of the passengers were "manifest" not count off.

(Photos: save Italy affected Costa Concordia cruise ship)

RONAI, who met in Budapest, was with the supposed friend - and then the story kept changing. The friend is apparently called the next day to say the granddaughter was not missing, blamed a misunderstanding. If Rónai asked to speak the 5-year old girl said that she had seen her "Mama" on this day in the Park on the swing. Then Rónai told ABC News that the "missing MOM" showed up and their story changed. No longer she may was dead - it was just injured when jumping from the cruise ship, but showed no signs of pain.

RONAI says the couple said, pull the scam to make money. Police arrested them; RONAI told ABC that they were recorded in the prison, but they face now criminal indictments.

Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement one confirmed the incident. "On the basis of today officially confirmed information it has become clear that claims about the missing woman were unfounded," read the statement.

"People terrible things for money will do", said Rónai. And this can only be the first in the list of disturbing stories.

More: Ship cruise Captain pleaded not to Reboard

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