US soldier guilty of Iraq murder
 There have been a number of abuse allegations against US troops in Iraq |
An American military jury has found a US army officer guilty of the murder of an Iraqi detainee.
The jury in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, also convicted 1st Lt Michael Behenna of assaulting Ali Mansour Mohammed near Baiji, north of Baghdad, last May.
Behenna had argued that he was defending himself when he fatally shot Mr Mohammed during an interrogation.
He was found not guilty of the more serious offence of premeditated murder, the Associated Press reported.
The defence argued that Behenna had only intended to interrogate Mr Mohammed about a roadside bomb which had killed two members of his platoon.
Defence attorney Jack Zimmerman said Behenna was suffering from acute stress disorder at the time, and had acted in self defence when Mr Mohammed had reached for a gun.
But US military prosecutor Capt Jason Elbert said it was clear from Behenna's behaviour at the time and threats he made that he had intended to kill the detainee.
He said Behenna had "controlled the whole situation as an officer of the US Army, armed and protected and under no threat".
Last week another US soldier, Sgt Michael Leahy Jr, was found guilty of the murder of four Iraqi detainees who were shot and their bodies dumped in a canal.
The US has about 142,000 military personnel stationed in Iraq, but President Barack Obama has said that most troops will be withdrawn by August 2010.
New Bangladesh graves discovered
New Bangladesh graves discovered
Around 70 officers are still missing
A series of small graves have been found in Bangladesh at the scene of a mutiny by border guards this week which left scores of people dead and missing.
The army made the discovery in the border guards' headquarters in the capital, Dhaka, as they continued the search for dozens of missing officers.
It follows the discovery on Friday of a mass grave, thought to hold the bodies of 58 officers killed by the mutineers.
The government says there will be no amnesty for the perpetrators.
With about 70 officers still unaccounted for, the death toll is uncertain.
The bodies of nine military officers and one woman, believed to the wife of the border force's commanding officer, were found on Saturday in a series of shallow graves in a vegetable garden.
Many of the bodies had been badly burnt and were difficult to identify.
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Lt Gen MA Mubin, the army's second-in-command, said the killers would be punished.
"The BDR [Bangladesh Rifles] troops who took part in these barbaric and grisly acts cannot be pardoned and will not be pardoned," he said in a televised address, AFP reported.
"They will be given exemplary and quick punishment by a special tribunal. The martyrs will be buried with state honours."
Late on Friday, the head of Bangladesh's armed forces pledged support for the government, despite reports of discontent among the military about the way the government had handled the mutiny.
Gen Moin U Ahmed spoke after talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka.
Some officers have said the government should have quelled the mutiny by elements of the BDR by force, not talks, arguing this might have saved the lives of some of their colleagues.
Under arrest
They also said they were angry that the government had initially offered the mutineers an amnesty.
However, the government later declared that the men responsible for the deaths would be punished.
"No-one has the right to kill anyone," Sheikh Hasina was later reported as saying.
At least 200 suspected mutineers have been arrested. They were held while trying to escape dressed in civilian clothes from the barracks.
The mutiny was reportedly triggered by a spontaneous row over pay and conditions, although some officials say the revolt may have been planned.
Three days of official mourning began on Friday and will end at midnight on Sunday.
US may boycott racism conference
US may boycott racism conference
 The UN conference on racism is expected to open in Geneva in April |
The US is likely to boycott a UN racism conference, reports say, saying a text drawn up for the event criticises Israel and restricts free of speech.
An unnamed state department official said the draft document for April's forum in Geneva was "unsalvageable".
Canada and Israel have also said they plan to boycott the meeting.
In 2001, US and Israeli delegates walked out of a similar conference in Durban, South Africa, when a draft document likened Zionism to racism.
The 2001 draft expressed "deep concern" at the "increase of racist practices of Zionism and anti-Semitism".
It talked of the emergence of "movements based on racism and discriminatory ideas, in particular the Zionist movement, which is based on racial superiority".
'Unsalvageable'
A US delegation travelled to Geneva for negotiations earlier in February to try to agree the conference's final document.
"Unfortunately, the document being negotiated has gone from bad to worse," the unnamed state department official was quoted as saying by the Washington Post newspaper.
"The current text of the draft of the outcome document is, in the United States government's estimation, unsalvageable.
"As a result the United States will not participate in the forthcoming negotiations on this text, nor will we be able to participate in a conference that is based on this text," the official said.
Washington says the proposed text unfairly singles out Israel for criticism.
US officials say they are also concerned that some sections of the draft - which call for restrictions on the defamation of religions - could threaten free speech.
Police hunt 7m euro bank robbers
Police hunt 7m euro bank robbers
 The money was taken from the Bank of Ireland at College Green in Dublin |
Police in the Irish Republic are hunting an armed gang which has carried out the country's biggest ever robbery.
The gang forced a bank official to withdraw an estimated 7m euros (
Holocaust row bishop apologises
Holocaust row bishop apologises
 Richard Williamson has returned to the UK after being told to leave Argentina |
A Catholic bishop, whose readmission into the church sparked uproar, has apologised for offence he caused by denying the extent of the Holocaust.
Richard Williamson said if he had known the full harm his comments would cause, he would not have made them.
He said that his opinions had been formed "20 years ago on the basis of evidence then available".
However, Jewish leaders said the bishop failed to address the issue of whether he believed the Holocaust was a lie.
Renzo Gattegna, the president of Italy's Jewish Communities, described the apology as "absolutely ambiguous".
International row
The Vatican has been embroiled in an international row after Pope Benedict XVI lifted an excommunication order on the British bishop in January.
Church leaders said the Pope had not been aware at the time of an interview given by the bishop, a member of the traditionalist Society of St Pius X (SSPX), to a Swedish TV programme last November.
In it, he disputed that six million Jews had been killed by the Nazis, and said that none had died in gas chambers.
The Pope has since called on Bishop Williamson to recant his views.
|  The one thing he doesn't say, and the main thing, is that the Holocaust occurred, that it is not a fabrication, that it is not a lie  Rabbi Marvin Hier |
In a statement published on the SSPX website, the bishop says his superior, Bishop Bernard Fellay, and the Pope "requested that I reconsider the remarks I made on Swedish television four months ago, because their consequences have been so heavy".
"Observing these consequences I can truthfully say that I regret having made such remarks, and that if I had known beforehand the full harm and hurt to which they would give rise, especially to the Church, but also to survivors and relatives of victims of injustice under the Third Reich, I would not have made them."
He added: "On Swedish television I gave only the opinion
Friday, March 6, 2009
Crisis in the US newspaper industry
Crisis in the US newspaper industry
| By Max Deveson BBC News, Washington |
If the economic crisis goes on much longer, will there be any newspapers left in the US to write about it?
 The Chronicle's owners are set to decide whether to shut down the paper |
America's newspaper industry has been badly hit by the downturn, and a number of titles face closure.
The latest casualty is the venerable San Francisco Chronicle, whose owners on Wednesday announced they were planning to cut a "significant" number of jobs to meet cost-cutting targets, and that if the targets are not met, then the paper would be sold or closed down.
The Chronicle, which was founded in 1865, soon after the gold-rush hit California, lost more than $50m (
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
South East Asia woes as downturn bites
South East Asia woes as downturn bites
As South East Asia's leaders gather for a summit dominated by the global downturn, the BBC's Jonathan Head looks at how economies in the region are faring.
Sukanya Samang has never heard of the concept of "decoupling". But if she had, she would now know from bitter personal experience that it is a myth.
 Sukanya Samang has lost her job at a car parts factory |
The idea, put about in recent years, was that East Asia's economies were developing so well, with growing domestic demand and trade among themselves, that they would be much less vulnerable to an economic downturn in the rest of the world.
Unlike the 1997 Asian financial crisis, most banks in this region are reasonably healthy, with limited exposure to toxic sub-prime loans, and most countries have very healthy foreign currency reserves.
Sukanya Samang is one of the legions of poor Thais who have taken up the labouring jobs that have opened up as European, American, Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese manufacturers have built factories in the lower-wage economies of South East Asia.
Her husband is a security guard. And until January she worked in a warehouse packing car parts for Thailand's huge auto industry. She has an 18-month-old boy, and is heavily pregnant with her second child.
But when she and her fellow workers came back from their New Year break, they discovered they had been laid off.
| If the world economy fails to recover, then we, like everyone else here, will be in real trouble Korn ChatikavanijThai finance minister |
Their employer had craftily dismissed them just a day before they had worked a full year - meaning they get no compensation. She says she has no idea what she will do now. Her medical expenses are already a strain.
"It was unfair what they did to us," says fellow worker Sombat Doklam. "We got no warning, so we've had no chance to look for another job. And right now there are no jobs around."
Today, the dismissed workers sit around the bare dormitory that has been their home for the past year.
Most will return to their villages, many in the impoverished north-east, on their motorbikes, prized symbols of their new-found prosperity. They still owe payments on the bikes, and may not have them for long.
'Real trouble'
The myth of decoupling is shattered in Thailand with a simple statistic. Decades after this country embarked on an export-led drive for growth, the domestic economy is still surprisingly small.
Exports make up an astonishing two-thirds of GDP, compared to just one-third in China. Neighbouring Malaysia is even more dependent on overseas markets; Singapore even more so.
 Some of the region's economies are still heavily export-led |
There is no way, then, that South East Asia can avoid the pain caused by the sub-prime mess in its main markets in the West.
Exports from Singapore plunged by a record 35% in January. They fell 25% in Thailand - and that after a 15% drop in December.
The Thai economy shrank by an annualised rate of more than 6% in the last quarter of 2008. Singapore is predicting its economy will shrink by 5% this year.
So what can the governments in this region do to ease the pain? Not much.
The economy will dominate the ASEAN summit in Hua Hin in Thailand this weekend, but the 10 member states can do little else but hope, and pray for an early recovery in Europe and the US.
"We can keep the Thai engine probably for the next couple of years," said Korn Chatikavanij, the Thai finance minister, in an interview with the BBC, after pushing a record $11bn (