 Tony Blair is facing calls to make a full statement on how much he knew about the US using UK airports to transport terror suspects. Downing Street says all such cases have now been made public after a leaked memo said "there could be more". The memo advises ministers to avoid detailed questions on "rendition", and stress their anti-terrorist purpose. Critics claim the US routinely flies suspects to secret detention centres where they could be tortured. The memo at the centre of the row, written on 7 December last year and apparently designed to prepare Mr Blair for that day's prime minister's questions, said officials had discovered two cases from 1998 - one accepted and one denied - of US flight requests. It says: "We cannot say that we have received no such request for the use of UK territory. "The papers we have unearthed so far suggest there could be more such cases." ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk
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Editor - 11:09:00 01-19-06
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 France hints at nuclear riposte to terrorism attack |
France said on Thursday it would be ready to use nuclear weapons against any state that carried out a terrorist attack or used weapons of mass destruction against it. Reaffirming the need for its costly nuclear deterrent, President Jacques Chirac said security came at a price and France must be able to hit back hard at a hostile state's centers of power and its "capacity to act." Chirac's speech pointed to a change of emphasis to underline the growing threat France perceives from terrorism. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1522102
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Editor - 11:05:00 01-19-06
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| Public unrest increasing in China |
China has announced another rise in public disturbances in 2005, as rapid economic growth continued to spark social unrest. The Public Security Ministry said it handled 87,000 public disturbances last year, a rise of more than 6% on 2004. The figures come amid growing anger at official corruption and several high-profile land disputes between authorities and villagers. China's leaders see social unrest as the biggest threat to their rule. A ministry spokesman said the figure did not refer just to mass protests, but to all criminal cases linked to public disorder, including mob gatherings, obstruction of justice, fighting and trouble-making. Disputed accounts China's official statistics are unreliable. But a BBC correspondent in Beijing, Louisa Lim, says the trend suggests growing social instability in China, as an ever-widening wealth gap leaves many excluded from the country's economic boom. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4627602.stm
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Editor - 11:00:00 01-19-06
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| Dutch open 'Big Brother' jail |
Fail to pay traffic fines or commit a petty theft in the Netherlands and you could find yourself electronically tagged inside a Big Brother-style jail. The hi-tech jail in the central city of Lelystad opens, and locks, its doors to low-risk inmates this week. Electronic bracelets track their moves while emotion recognition software monitors tempers with good behaviour rewarded with privileges. The justice ministry says the concept is a new form of detention. It is hoped the prison will prove cheaper with fewer guards needed and help improve the behaviour of those inmates sentenced to less than four months. Justice ministry spokesman Hans Janssens says the treatment is focused on helping inmates take responsibility for their actions. "We say that the biggest punishment is that you are not free to do what you want you have to follow a daily programme, you can choose, but after five pm you are in the cell block and the doors are closed," he told the BBC News website. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4628186.stm
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Editor - 10:56:00 01-19-06
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| L.A. Scraps $11 Billion Airport Modernization Plan After Neighbors' Opposition |
The City Council has agreed to scrap an $11 billion plan to modernize Los Angeles International Airport as part of a settlement with neighboring communities that had opposed the project. The council's unanimous vote Wednesday paved the way for the city to draft a new plan to overhaul the outdated facility for the third time in 11 years. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa agreed to shelve the plan developed by former Mayor James Hahn. Municipalities including Inglewood, El Segundo, Culver City and Los Angeles County and a residents group alleged that Hahn understated the impact of renovations on noise, air pollution and traffic....
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1522085&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
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Editor - 10:50:00 01-19-06
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| Israelis Saying 20 People Wounded in Tel Aviv Suicide Bombing, a Week Before Palestinian Elections |
A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at a Tel Aviv fast-food stand Thursday, killing himself and wounding 20 people in an apparent attempt to destabilize the region just a week before the Palestinian parliament election. The militant Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility in a phone call to The Associated Press. Islamic Jihad has been responsible for all six suicide bombings in Israel in the past year, and is the only faction to boycott next Wednesday's parliament vote. The bomber, who witnesses said pretended to be a peddler selling disposable razors, walked into "The Mayor's Shwarma" in a crowded pedestrian mall near Tel Aviv's old central bus station on Thursday afternoon....
http://abcnews.go.com/International/Mideast/wireStory?id=1521890&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
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Editor - 10:41:00 01-19-06
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