New Year revellers brave the cold

Partygoers started arriving early to get prime spots along the River Thames

Millions of revellers around the UK are braving freezing temperatures to welcome in the new year.

In London, crowds started lining the banks of the River Thames hours in advance of the fireworks display.

They were played a series of video messages, from the likes of London Mayor Boris Johnson, actress Dame Helen Mirren and Homer Simpson.

Some 100,000 party-goers in Edinburgh will need more than good cheer to keep warm with lows of minus 2C.

A range of New Year events are also underway in Cardiff, Manchester and Birmingham.

Thermos picnic

About 400,000 people are expected to attend London's fireworks, while Elton John is playing at the O2 Arena.

Supt Brian Pearce, of the Metropolitan Police, said the revellers appeared to have heeded warnings to arrive early to get a good view of the show.

He said: "The viewing areas started to fill up at about six o'clock this evening."

Partygoers waiting for the stroke of midnight were entertained by giant projections and light shows on the walls of the city's landmark buildings.

EVENTS AROUND THE UK London - Fireworks at the London Eye Edinburgh - Hogmanay street party Manchester - Fireworks in Exchange Square Birmingham - Fireworks in Centenary Square Cardiff - Ex-X Factor hopeful Andy Abraham at the Civic Centre What are your new year plans?

Many came equipped with wine glasses, thermos flasks and picnics.

The Hudson family, who had travelled from Nottingham for the event, sported flashing bunny ears.

Nurse Corinne Hudson, 47, explained that the family had planned the trip on New Year's Day last year when she was undergoing chemotherapy for ovarian cancer.

She said: "My hair started falling out on New Year's Eve last year. So we spent last year crying.

"Watching it on the television everybody seemed to be having a good time here whilst we just weren't. So that's why we're here tonight to put that behind us and move on."

'Insane Londoners'

The crowd were played a series of video messages, beginning with an address from London Mayor Boris Johnson, in which he urged the city to "go forward with enthusiasm" into 2009.

Actress Helen Mirren told the crowd that despite the fact she was on the other side of the world, her heart was with "insane Londoners".

"And you've got to be insane, because I bet it's freezing," she said.

Veteran actor Michael Caine said he would normally wish for a "prosperous" New Year.

Daniel Corbett on the New Year's weather

But instead he said: "This year I think what we really need is luck, so good luck everybody."

The party in Edinburgh - the self-styled Hogmanay capital - has been under way for a number of days already, to build up to the bringing in of the new year.

Events will include fireworks around Edinburgh Castle, live bands and a huge singalong of Auld Lang Syne, which organisers hope will break a world record.

In Cardiff revellers will be able to sleep off their partying in an inflatable tent staffed by medics at the Millennium Stadium.

The sleepover centre has been converted from an emergency chemical decontamination tent.

Persistent cold

Sub-zero temperatures were forecast for northern England and Wales, while many other areas could also see the mercury plunge.

BBC weather forecaster Rob McElwee said the coldest weather would be in north-west England and England-Wales border areas, with temperatures dropping as low as minus 7C.

Belfast would see temperatures on New Year's Eve of minus 2C, London around zero, and Cardiff just below zero, he added.

There is unlikely to be any let up in the cold weather for the first days of 2009.

On New Year's Day cold temperatures and lots of fog are set to persist, with thickening fog over north-west England and the West Midlands.

A little sunshine may break through in western Scotland, Wales and southern England. Spots of rain and snow may fall in north-east England and eastern Scotland, with a possibility of black ice.

By 2 January more sunshine is expected, but the cold weather will remain for the foreseeable future.

Pioneer of cyberspace honoured

Professor Hall works for gender equality in the technological arena

A professor who invented a forerunner of the world wide web has been made a dame in the New Year Honours.

Wendy Hall created the "open hypermedia system" Microcosm with colleagues after joining the University of Southampton computer science group in 1984.

And in 1994 she became the university's first female professor of engineering.

Professor Hall, 56, was made a CBE in 2000 for services to science and technology and is considered one of the best computer scientists in the world.

She was president of the British Computer Society from 2003 to 2004, and in 2005 became the first woman to be appointed senior vice president of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

More recently, Professor Hall co-founded the world's first interdisciplinary body to study the structure and sociology of the web, the Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI), with internet inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Southampton professor Nigel Shadbolt and Daniel Weitzner, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Throughout her career Professor Hall has championed the role of her female colleagues in computing and the sciences and worked to ensure developments in technology benefit women as well as men.

"I am thrilled to have been honoured in this way," she said.

"It is of course exciting for me personally and for my family, but it is also a tribute to all the people I have worked with in my career as a scientist and engineer both at Southampton and in the wider community."

Scramble for decisive Ghana votes

Opposition supporters remain confident of victory

Opposition candidate John Atta Mills is heading for the Ghanaian constituency which will decide the closely fought presidential run-off.

The remote western constituency of Tain will vote on Friday with the presidential contest on a knife-edge.

It has some 54,000 registered votes, with Mr Atta Mills leading his rival Nana Akufo-Addo by just 23,055 votes.

Both men's supporters have complained of fraud and the electoral commission is investigating these claims.

The announcement of the winner has been delayed until after results come in from Tain and the allegations of rigging have been examined.

RUN-OFF RESULTS John Atta Mills: 4,501,466 votes (50.13%) Nana Akufo-Addo: 4,478,411 votes (49.87%) 229 out of 230 constituencies Source: Electoral Commission of Ghana

Mr Atta Mills' spokesman Mohammed Ayariga told BBC News that there was unlikely to be a big rally in Tain, as it was such a remote area and there was not much time to organise one.

He said that former President Jerry Rawlings - under whom Mr Atta Mills served as vice-president - had already travelled to the constituency to lead the final campaign.

Mr Atta Mills won the area in the first round of voting on 7 December so his National Democratic Congress (NDC) is confident of victory.

But the governing New Patriotic Party says the outcome is still too close to call, especially with the possibility of some results being disqualified because of the fraud claims.

Oil stakes

Electoral commission chairman Kwadwo Afari-Gyan said Mr Atta Mills had won 50.13% of the vote, while Mr Akufo-Addo had taken 49.87%, with just the Tain result outstanding.

This means 23,055 votes divide the two candidates, out of a total cast of some 9m.

"Results are so close that the result of the Tain constituency could effect the eventual winner," Mr Afari-Gyan said.

Tain, in the Brong Ahafo region, was unable to vote on Sunday because of a problem with voting materials.

According to the Daily Guide newspaper, the ruling party had accused electoral officials in Tain of stealing about 1,820 ballot papers, which they claimed were given to the opposition.

Some 12.5 million people were eligible to vote in the election - the fifth since Ghana's return to democracy in 1992.

President John Kufuor is standing down having served two consecutive terms.

In the two previous elections he defeated Mr Atta Mills.

Monitors hope Ghana's poll can help salvage the tarnished image of constitutional democracy in Africa, after flawed elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe and military coups in Mauritania in August and in Guinea last week.

The stakes have been raised in these elections because Ghana has just found oil, which is expected to start generating revenue in 2010.

Argentine builders 'strike oil'

The galleon was discovered as workers dug the foundations of a block of flats

Construction workers in Argentina have struck oil - of the olive variety - as they unearthed a colonial-era Spanish ship believed to be 250 years old.

The galleon was discovered as workers dug the foundations of a block of flats in the old port area of Buenos Aires.

Two large jars found inside the ship seem to indicate that it had transported olive oil.

Experts believe the as-yet unidentified vessel was an 18th Century warship driven ashore by a storm.

It was subsequently buried under 7m (21ft) of mud.

No gold

Archaeologist Gonzalo Valenzuela said the vessel was likely to be from the 1700s.

"So far, it has yielded several cannons, a pair of jugs we think were used to carry olive oil, and timber from the ship," Mr Valenzuela told reporters at the digs in Puerto Madero, the AFP news agency reported.

While precious, the ship's contents are not thought to include gold

But he said there was unlikely to be any gold or other treasure on board as locals would have likely plundered the vessel after it ran aground near the shoreline.

Mayor Mauricio Macri of Buenos Aires said the only reason the ship had been found was through the cooperation of the construction workers with archaeologists, whose wishes to explore a building site might have been ignored in the past.

"What's important is that this wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for this new historic conscience, in this case the collaboration of the building company," said Mr Macri.

"In other construction sites in the past the archaeologists wouldn't even be allowed anywhere near the place. This company worked together with the archaeologists and we won this unexpected treasure."

He said the galleon and everything it contains belonged to the citizens of the Argentine capital.

Khaleda Zia rejects 'rigged' poll

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, defeated in Monday's parliamentary elections, has rejected the results saying the vote was rigged.

"We have confirmed reports of rigging and other irregularities in many polling stations across the country," the former prime minister said.

Election officials said earlier that Ms Zia's rival Sheikh Hasina's Awami League had won a landslide victory.

The poll was held after two years of army-backed rule in the country.

Medvedev approves presidency bill

Dmitry Medvedev says the move will strengthen democracy

A bill to extend the presidential term from four to six years has been signed into law by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the Kremlin says.

The bill has been fast-tracked through parliament and regional assemblies.

It will come into force only after Mr Medvedev's current term - by which time many expect Vladimir Putin to have returned to the presidency.

The fact that it was rushed through has prompted speculation that Mr Putin is planning that sooner rather than later.

He denies that, however, telling the BBC this month that "the next presidential election will take place in 2012" as scheduled.

Both Mr Putin and Mr Medvedev say the bill, which also extends the parliamentary term from four years to five, and provides for the government to report regularly to parliament, will strengthen democracy.

Private firms to haul ISS cargo

By Paul Rincon Science reporter, BBC News

The Dragon capsule is designed to carry cargo or crew

Cut off in the seclusion of space, crew members living aboard the International Space Station (ISS) depend on regular deliveries of air, water, food and fuel for their survival.

But when the ageing space shuttle fleet is retired in 2010, the US space agency (Nasa) will lose a principal means of ferrying crew and cargo to the ISS.

The shuttle's replacement - Ares-Orion - will not enter service until 2015 at the earliest.

And in April, Nasa told legislators it would stop asking for Congressional permission to buy cargo space on Russian Progress re-supply vehicles after 2011.

I don't think the market can support more than two companies. And it's going to be hard for it even to support two Antonio Elias, executive VP, Orbital

That leaves the US dependent on European and Japanese spacecraft for delivering supplies to the space station.

But Nasa has also been pursuing a commercial approach.

Three years ago, the space agency took the unprecedented step of fostering the development of private spacecraft designed to carry crew and cargo to the ISS.

It offered $500m (

South Africa seal Test series win

Second Test, Melbourne, day five: Australia 394 & 247 v South Africa 459 & 183-1Match scorecard

---

Smith smashed 10 fours on his way to an impressive 94-ball 75

South Africa have sealed an historic Test series victory in Australia, winning the second Test after reaching 183 for the loss of just one wicket.

Graeme Smith's side hugged on the team balcony at the Melbourne Cricket Ground as Hashim Amla stroked the winning runs shortly after lunch on the fifth day.

The emphatic victory came after the captain thumped an impressive 75 before losing his wicket shortly before lunch.

It is Australia's first defeat in a home series for 16 years.

---

The world's three leading news agencies are not covering the series due to a dispute with Cricket Australia.

Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Associated Press have suspended all coverage of the 2008-09 season.

Their photographers and reporters did not supply material from within the ground. As a result, we cannot use pictures from the current match.

Army phone links China and Russia

By Chris Hogg BBC News, Beijing

Communication is expected to improve between Beijing and Moscow

A new military hotline between Beijing and Moscow has been used for the first time, according to reports in the Chinese state media.

A senior Chinese officer discussed a range of topics with his Russian counterpart, Xinhua news agency said.

The phone link is designed for "timely communication on significant issues".

Efforts to set up a similar hotline, mainly for use during crises, between Beijing and Washington appear to have stalled, correspondents say.

In a world where emails and mobile devices mean you can always be in touch with the office, it seems strange that two of the world's most important military powers have only now started using a direct telephone link designed to make it easier for their senior officers to contact each other.

Crisis concerns

No doubt security concerns and diplomatic issues had to be resolved first.

But in huge bureaucracies it is not always easy to get to the man in charge in a hurry.

The hotline will now make that easier.

Put simply, the Chinese can now pick up the phone when there is a crisis and ask the Russians what is going on and what they are doing about it.

This first historic call was not so urgent, apparently.

The two soldiers exchanged views on the international and regional situation, bilateral relations and other issues of common concern.

There is still no hotline between China's armed forces and the Pentagon in Washington.

The two countries' presidents first agreed to set one up nearly three years ago.

A further deal was signed between the two defence departments in February but since then progress on establishing it appears to have stalled.

Gerrard arrested in assault probe

England and Liverpool footballer Steven Gerrard has been arrested following an alleged assault.

The incident happened at about 0230 GMT at a pub in Southport. Six men were detained later in a nearby street.

The men, four from Huyton, one from Formby and one from Litherland, remain in police custody.

A 34-year-old man from Southport was taken to hospital with facial injuries which are not believed to be life threatening.

The men from Huyton are aged 33, 31, 29 and 19. A 28-year-old from Formby and an 18-year-old from Litherland are also being questioned.

Gerrard, 28, is Liverpool captain and scored twice in his team's 5-1 victory over Newcastle on Sunday.

Serbia urged to free KLA suspects

Armed police could be seen escorting the detainees in Belgrade

The speaker of the Kosovan parliament has called on Serbia to free 10 suspected former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters it accuses of war crimes.

Police in the south Serbian region of Presevo seized them on Friday on suspicion of abductions, murders and rapes during the conflict in 1999.

They are said to include Kosovans visiting relatives in Presevo, which has a big ethnic Albanian population.

Serbia continues to regard Kosovo as part of its own territory.

Jakup Krasniqi, speaker of a parliament not recognised by Belgrade, said in a statement that the arrests were "intended to make Albanians and Serbs enemies and provoke Kosovo".

"We call upon the authorities of Belgrade to be responsible at these important historic moments the region and our two countries are going through," he said.

"In this regard we expect the release of the arrested citizens."

'Months of preparation'

The Serbian war crimes prosecutor's office said the suspects were part of a group which had sought to get rid of Serbs and other non-Albanians from Gnjilane (Gjilan in Albanian), 47km (30 miles) south-east of the Kosovan capital, Pristina.

"From June 1999 until October 1999, they were involved in at least 51 murders and 159 abductions in the town," said spokesman Bruno Vekaric.

The arrests were made in raids on 17 homes in Presevo after months of preparation because of the "extremely high risk as almost all the suspects were armed", the office added.

Nine suspects were transferred to custody in Belgrade while one remained under investigation in southern Serbia.

Ethnic Albanian militants in Presevo waged an insurgency against Belgrade in 2001 which was ended with the help of Nato and EU diplomacy.

Speaking on Saturday, Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said he accepted the arrests risked provoking a reaction "from those who were affected by the operation and who participated in war crimes against Serbs", Serbian TV reports.

But he stressed that the interior ministry had in the past arrested "a number of Serbs who held very important posts in the police because of crimes against Albanians", and appealed to ethnic Albanians in Presevo to co-operate with the police.

Festive goat up in flames again

Authorities in Gavle have tried to fireproof the goat

A giant straw goat erected each Christmas in a northern Swedish town has been burned down - yet again.

The 13m-high (43ft) animal in Gavle has been torched 23 times since it was first erected in 1966. It has also been hit by a car and had its legs cut off.

The vandals are rarely caught, though in 2001 a 51-year-old American tourist spent 18 days in jail after being convicted of setting it alight.

In 2007, the goat managed to make it through the festive season unscathed.

Goat committee spokeswoman Anna Ostman said this year's unlucky creature was set on fire early on Saturday morning.

The 7m-long (23ft), three tonne goat was originally designed to attract tourists to Gavle, which is 106 miles (170km) north of the Swedish capital.

GOAT HIGHLIGHTS 1966: The first goat is burned down - beginning the tradition 1970: It is set on fire six hours after being erected 1971: Tired of arson, the project is abandoned. Schoolchildren build a miniature. It is smashed to pieces. 1976: A car crashes into the goat 1979: The goat is burned down before it is finished 1987: The goat is treated with fireproofing - but still goes up in smoke

But in its first year it was burned down on New Year's Eve and since then has been attacked regularly.

In 2005, it was torched by two arsonists dressed as Father Christmas and the Gingerbread Man.

Authorities in Gavle have tried to protect the goat using fireproofing chemicals, security guards and a web camera.

But just 10 of the goats, which are built in the town's central square, have survived beyond Christmas since 1966.

Goats have a special place in Swedish tradition. According to folklore, they delivered festive gifts before Father Christmas took over.

Guinea buries ex-President Conte

The late President Lansana Conte seized power in a coup 24 years ago

Guinea is paying its last respects to the late President Lansana Conte, who ruled the West African state for almost quarter of a century.

His coffin was paraded around Conakry and is now at the parliament building where his body will lie in state.

The leader of a military coup, which was triggered hours after Mr Conte died on Monday, has been reaching out to international leaders.

Capt Moussa Camara will meet diplomats for talks in the capital on Friday.

Presidents from the neighbouring states of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast are attending the funeral ceremonies of Mr Conte, who died aged 74.

A service will be held in the country's national stadium before Mr Conte's body is laid to rest in his village of Lansanaya, some 120km (75 miles) north-west of the capital.

Popular move

The new military leaders declared Friday a national holiday to allow people to attend the funeral.

In a statement read on national radio, Capt Camara invited representatives from the UN, G8, European Union and African Union to a meeting this weekend.

The council has no ambitions to hold on to power Capt CamaraCoup leader In pictures: Guineans cheer coup Fear in Guinea at army takeover 'End of misrule' Guinea army statement in full

Despite condemnation from the international community, the coup appears to have been welcomed by many within the country.

Sick and tired of despotic rule under the former president and his hugely corrupt government, Guineans are pinning their hopes on the military, the BBC's West Africa correspondent Will Ross says.

The deposed Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare and many within his cabinet have also endorsed Capt Camara's move, as well as older sections of the military.

The rebels also said they would hold separate talks on Saturday with leaders of Guinea's political parties and civil society groups.

Capt Camara, a junior army officer, has declared himself Guinea's new president and head of the junta's new National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD).

On Thursday, he said the new 32-member ruling council replacing the government and other institutions would hold "free, credible and transparent elections" in December 2010, when Mr Conte's presidential term would have ended.

"The council has no ambitions to hold on to power. The only reason is the need to safeguard territorial integrity. That is the only reason. There is no ulterior motive," he said.

Capt Camara also said he had no intention of standing in the elections and that he wanted to restore order to the country and rid it of corruption.

HAVE YOUR SAY

We need a change, change that will benefit all Guineans. We pray for a good leader

Amara, Nzerekore

Send us your comments

The US embassy in Conakry called for an immediate return to civilian rule in Guinea, saying the junta's announcement that elections would not be held for two years was unacceptable.

France, which currently holds the EU presidency, also said a vote should be held soon.

"The presidency points out the importance of respecting time limits and within the first half of 2009 holding democratic and transparent elections," the office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement.

Guinea's two main opposition groups also urged the junta to stage elections in a year's time.

Crib mosques anger Italian party

By David Willey BBC News, Rome

The Northern League has been accused of xenophobia

Right-wing politicians have protested at the inclusion of Islamic symbols in nativity scenes in northern Italy.

Elaborate cribs with figurines enacting the nativity decorate most Catholic churches in Italy at this time of year.

A priest at a Genoa church put a mosque and minaret in his crib, while a crib at a Venice school also had a mosque.

The Genoa branch of the anti-immigrant Northern League reacted with fury. But a senior church figure said there are no firm rules on what can be included.

'Gesture of inclusivity'

At Our Lady of Divine Providence in Genoa, Father Prospero Bonanzi put a mosque and a minaret in his crib.

"The act of a fool," the local branch of the party called the priest's decision.

"The only thing he missed out was the suicide bomber ready to blow up Christ's manger," was the comment of the Northern League's European deputy Mario Borghezio.

In one Catholic school in Venice the mosque placed in the middle of a Christmas crib produced mixed reactions among pupils and teachers.

But Cardinal Angelo Scola, the Patriarch of Venice, was more cautious in his comment.

There are no rigid rules about what you can and cannot include in the nativity scene, he said.

The imam of Milan, Hamid Shari, said he thought the inclusion of the mosque was a good idea and a gesture of inclusivity.

Italians love to adapt new forms to ancient traditions and there is a new family in many of the Christmas cribs produced in Naples.

America's new President-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle figure in many crib scenes being sold there.

Guinea coup leaders order curfew

More soldiers were visible around the capital, Conakry, on Wednesday

Soldiers who say they seized power in Guinea after the death of the president on Monday have declared an overnight curfew throughout the country.

Junior officers leading the coup warned generals loyal to the government not to use mercenaries to regain power.

Guinea's prime minister has insisted the government is still in control, but the situation remains unclear.

Observers fear unrest in Guinea could spread in a region enjoying relative stability after years of conflict.

In other developments:

• Captain Moussa Dadis Camara has been named as president of the new junta, according to a statement on national radio
• The funeral of President Lansana Conte is to take place on Friday in his home village.

Seized Zimbabwe activist in court

Mukoko's disappearance prompted a nationwide search

Prominent Zimbabwean human rights activist Jestina Mukoko, missing for the past three weeks, has appeared in court in the capital, Harare.

The state-run Herald newspaper says Ms Mukoko is charged with attempting to recruit people for military training to try to overthrow the government.

It is unclear when or where the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project has been over the past few weeks.

The police denied opposition claims that they had been holding her.

The Herald said earlier today that Ms Mukoko would be one of a group of people facing the charges to appear in court in Harare.

The newspaper reported a police statement claiming one of the defendants had tried to recruit a police constable to undergo military training in Botswana.

The training would have been used to forcibly depose President Robert Mugabe's government and replace it with one led by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, said the statement.

Ms Mukoko is one of more than 40 human rights activists and opposition supporters who Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) say have been abducted in the past two months.

Appeal

On Wednesday morning, lawyers in Zimbabwe said they had confirmation that Ms Mukoko was being held at a police station in Harare.

Zimbabwe's Lawyers for Human Rights marched in protest at the abductions

Her whereabouts had remained a mystery since she was allegedly abducted from her home outside Harare on 3 December by 15 armed men.

In an unusual move, a High Court judge had ordered police to search for her and told the national Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation to run radio and television appeals for information.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Irene Petras of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said Ms Mukoko and others arrested had "fundamental rights and freedoms which are being violated with complete impunity".

Ms Petras claimed the detainees had been held at unknown locations and possibly subjected to torture and degrading treatment.

Members of the lawyers group took to the streets of Harare last week to highlight Ms Mukoko's plight, carrying banners banners protesting against other alleged abductions.

Ms Mukoko's court appearance comes as international pressure on Mr Mugabe is mounting.

The leader of the governing ANC party in neighbouring South Africa, Jacob Zuma, has described the situation in Zimbabwe as "utterly untenable".

Meanwhile Archbishop Desmond Tutu had said he is "very deeply disappointed" that South Africa has failed to stand up to Mr Mugabe.

---

Are you in Zimbabwe? What is your reaction? Send us your comments and stories using the form below:

In most cases a selection of your comments will be published, displaying your name and location unless you state otherwise in the box below.

Name

Your E-mail address

Town & Country

Phone number (optional):

Comments

The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide.

Terms & Conditions

Interpol 'not given Mumbai data'

More than 170 people died in the three days of attacks in Mumbai

The global police agency Interpol says India has not shared any information with it about last month's deadly attacks in Mumbai (Bombay).

Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble, who is in Islamabad, said its only knowledge of what happened had come from the media.

Pakistan also says it has had no firm information from Delhi.

India says Pakistani militants carried out the attacks, which left more than 170 people dead.

The information Interpol has about what happened in Mumbai is the same information that you have Interpol chief Ronald Noble

Only one of the 10 gunmen, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab, survived and he is in Indian custody.

On Monday India handed a letter to Pakistan it says was written by Mr Qasab, confirming he is Pakistani and asking for Islamabad's help.

The attacks have severely strained relations between the two countries.

But on Tuesday, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh dismissed talk of possible war with Pakistan.

"Nobody wants war," he told reporters. "The issue is terror - and territory in Pakistan being used to promote and abet terrorism."

Meanwhile, police in Indian-administered Kashmir say they have arrested three militants from Pakistan who were planning to launch suicide bomb attacks in the city of Jammu.

According to the police, one of those detained was a Pakistani army soldier and all were members of the Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group, which is violently opposed to India's presence in Kashmir.

There was no immediate response from the Pakistani army to the Indian allegation.

'Sovereign choice'

Mr Noble has been in Islamabad for talks with Rehman Malik, the adviser to the prime minister on interior affairs.

At the weekend he had met India's Minister of Home Affairs Palaniappan Chidambaram in Delhi.

Ronald Noble is heading an Interpol team to India and Pakistan

Mr Noble said in the Pakistani capital: "To date, India's government has not authorised India's police agencies to enter any data relating to the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai into Interpol's databases.

"The information Interpol has about what happened in Mumbai is the same information that you have - it's information that was read in journals, that was read on the internet or that was seen on TV."

Mr Noble has said Interpol is willing to pass on DNA profiles, photos and fingerprints of the suspects worldwide.

He said it was Delhi's "sovereign choice" on whether to pass on evidence, but was confident more would be forthcoming.

"We are hopeful that it will happen very quickly. We've deployed a team there for that reason."

Mr Malik reiterated Pakistan's line that it is willing to take part in an investigation but has had no data from India.

"We want to bring the culprits to justice... We are prepared to co-operate with India but they have to bring us evidence."

India says militants of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group carried out the attack, citing evidence provided by Mr Qasab.

Mumbai police have listed in full the names and apparent aliases of the men it said carried out the attack, along with photographs, and says all were from Pakistan.

India's foreign ministry said Mr Qasab's letter to the Pakistan High Commission "stated that he and the other terrorists killed in the attack were from Pakistan and [he] has sought a meeting with the Pakistan High Commission".

Islamabad says it is examining the letter but has made no official response.

'Regrettable'

Meanwhile, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm Mike Mullen, has urged Pakistan to work with India to combat extremism, a US embassy statement has said.

Pakistan has yet to respond to Mr Qasab's letter

Adm Mullen has been in Islamabad to meet the Pakistani army chief and head of the intelligence service.

The embassy said Adm Mullen urged Pakistan to "use this tragic event as an opportunity to forge more productive ties with India and to seek ways in which both nations can combat the common threat of extremism together".

Separately, Mr Chidambaram said comments by a minister that suggested there was another agenda to the killing of senior policemen in the Mumbai attacks were "wrong and deeply regrettable".

Minority Affairs Minister AR Antulay had questioned who sent anti-terrorism chief Hemant Karkare - who had been investigating suspected Hindu radical attacks - and others to their deaths at the scene of the attacks.

Mr Antulay said Mr Chidambaram had "clarified all doubts" and "the matter is settled".

US questions net overhaul plans

Icann oversees much of the basic functionality of the net

Plans to offer hundreds of new web addresses as alternatives to .com have been criticised by the US government.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which oversees net addresses has floated plans for the radical change to the existing system.

But the US Commerce department has questioned both the benefits and the costs of such a scheme.

Officials have also raised concerns about whether the plans will destabilise the current system.

Clear rationale

The US government's response includes two letters sent separately by officials raising concerns about the plans.

In a letter sent last week, Commerce Department official Meredith Baker questioned Icann's proposed pricings for the new addresses.

The net body planned to offer between 200 and 800 new addresses for sale at $185,000 (

Pope attacks blurring of gender

Pope Benedict has called for "an ecology of the human being"

Pope Benedict XVI has said that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour is just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.

He explained that defending God's creation was not limited to saving the environment, but also about protecting man from self-destruction.

The Pope was delivering his end-of-year address to senior Vatican staff.

His words, later released to the media, emphasised his rejection of gender theory.

Speaking on Monday, Pope Benedict XVI warned that gender theory blurred the distinction between male and female and could thus lead to the "self-destruction" of the human race.

Gender theory

Gender theory explores sexual orientation, the roles assigned by society to individuals according to their gender, and how people perceive their biological identity.

Rainforests deserve, yes, our protection, but the human being ... does not deserve it less Pope Benedict Papal address: Key extracts

Gay and transsexual groups, particularly in the United States, promote it as a key to understanding and tolerance, but the Pope disagreed.

When the Roman Catholic Church defends God's Creation, "it does not only defend the earth, water and the air... but (it) also protects man from his own destruction," he said.

"Rainforests deserve, yes, our protection, but the human being ... does not deserve it less," the pontiff said.

It is not "out-of-date metaphysics" to "speak of human nature as 'man' or woman'", he told scores of prelates gathered in the Vatican's sumptuous Clementine Hall.

"We need something like human ecology, meant in the right way."

The Catholic Church opposes gay marriage. It teaches that while homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are.

Rev Sharon Ferguson, chief executive of Britain's Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, described the Pope's remarks as "totally irresponsible and unacceptable".

"When you have religious leaders like that making that sort of statement then followers feel they are justified in behaving in an aggressive and violent way," she said.

'Rock festival'

The pope uses his traditional end-of-year speech to offer his Christmas greetings and say a few words about what he considers the important issues of the day.

This year, Pope Benedict also deplored the tendency to depict the Catholic church's World Youth Day, which he attended in Sydney earlier this year, as mere spectacle.

He stressed that the event should not be considered a "variant of modern youth culture, as a kind of ecclesiastical rock festival with the Pope as the star," but as the fruition of a "long exterior and interior path".

Major Israeli settlement 'unlawful'

By Tim Franks BBC News, Ofra

Judy Kramer has watched the settlement grow hugely since 1990

Israeli settlements on occupied territory are seen as illegal by the rest of the world. But now an Israeli human rights group is saying that even under Israeli law, one of the most significant and well-established settlements is unlawful.

The human rights group B'tselem has published a report in which it states that almost 60% of the settlement of Ofra has been built on land which remains in private Palestinian ownership.

The settlement was established in 1975, just to the north-east of Ramallah.

A history of the settlement recounts how about 20 Jewish settlers, with sleeping bags and jerry cans, came one Sunday to set up camp.

Ofra's population now numbers more than 4,000 people.

The settlement's streets are suburban. Around the neat, red-tiled houses there are cherry orchards. The ancient hills of the West Bank provide an impressive backdrop.

'Very peaceful'

From the kitchen of her tidy house, Judy Kramer, 61, sighs with pleasure as she looks at the view through her picture windows.

The documents purport to show Palestinian ownership of much of Ofra's land

"Orchards, mountains, fir tree... very peaceful, very peaceful," she says.

Judy Kramer moved here in 1990 from England, with her husband and five children.

She has seen the settlement grow hugely. And she believes that all this land belongs to the Jewish people.

Just half a mile away, the Palestinian villagers could not disagree more.

Ziad Abdul Rahman, 65, runs a grocery shop in the village of Ein Yabrud.

As we talk, I am shown photocopies of documents in Arabic, which purport to show how most of the land on which Ofra has been built is in fact still owned by the Palestinians here.

Ziad and his 60-year-old friend Walid Hussein insist that the only recourse now is for the settlers to go, and the land to be returned.

"There will be no peace," said Walid, "if you don't give me my right, my ownership." Ziad says that money is not the issue.

Walid chips in: "The true owner never will sell one metre of land in this country."

Israeli law

The research into land ownership in Ofra was carried out by the Israeli human rights group, B'tselem.

Sarit Michaeli, the spokeswoman for the group, says it is important to remember that under international law - at least in the eyes of the rest of the world - all Israeli settlements on occupied territory are illegal.

But she says that the new research removes any legal prop for Ofra to exist under Israeli law.

She argues that Israel has set certain legal criteria for what qualifies, in the country's terms, as a legal settlement.

"Ofra does not fulfil these criteria," contends Ms Michaeli.

"And the most important one - the fact that most of the land in Ofra is in fact privately owned by Palestinians - means that Ofra qualifies as the largest unlawful outpost in the West Bank."

Frontline

The authorities in the settlement dispute the findings; Meir Nahieli, the secretary of Ofra, told us that the land was indeed bought.

"But unlike B'tselem who wear the hat of the poor Palestinians, we handle this very discreetly, because it is a life and death issue."

Ziad Abdul Rahman says the settlers should go

His point: that some Palestinians who have been found to have sold land to Israelis have, in the past, been killed.

Back in her well-ordered living-room in Ofra, Judy Kramer goes further.

She says that arguments over bits of land miss the bigger point.

"The issue is that the Arabs don't want the Jews here," she says, over cups of English tea.

She says it is immaterial how much land is offered as part of a potential peace deal; she cites the failure of the talks at Camp David at the end of the Clinton presidency.

The Arabs, she says, are not after a particular area of territory. "That's not what they want. They want us out."

Ofra does not feel like a frontline. It is middle class, almost quaint.

But it lies at the sharpest point of the clash over territory, the battle over who this land belongs to.

Today it is the focus of a new, detailed report about ownership.

Its future - along with all the land around - remains as disputed as ever.