New charges for Gambia missionary
 The Fultons are serving a one-year sentence with hard labour |
A British man serving a one-year prison sentence for sedition in the Gambia has appeared in court to face new charges.
David Fulton, 60, who was working as a missionary in the West African nation, has now been charged with forgery and impersonating an officer.
He could face an additional one-and-a-half years in prison if convicted.
Fulton was sentenced in December with his wife after they admitted sending e-mails critical of the country's government to friends back home.
Now prosecutors say that Fulton gave a false administration number "with intent to defraud" and falsely presented himself as a military officer by wearing a military uniform in 2007 and 2008.
The judge suspended the case until 3 March after Fulton - a former army major who worked as a chaplain to the Gambian army - asked for an adjournment to speak with his lawyer.
His wife Fiona, 46, looked after terminally ill people and visited women in their homes and in hospital.
The jailed couple, who had been in the Gambia since 1996, sent their two-year-old adopted daughter back to the UK earlier this month.
They have apologised publicly and pleaded for clemency from Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh.
Whilst the Gambia is a popular destination for British tourists, it has an appalling human rights record and criticism of the authorities is not tolerated, says our West Africa correspondent, Will Ross, in Ghana.
Tamil Tigers 'target civilians'
Tamil Tigers 'target civilians'
 Many Sri Lankan civilians have been fleeing the conflict zone |
The United Nations says it has received reports that Tamil Tiger rebels are actively preventing civilians from leaving Sri Lanka's war zone.
It says a growing number of those trying to leave have been shot at and some have been killed.
Tens of thousands of civilians are believed to be trapped after weeks of heavy fighting, mostly in a government "safe zone" along the north coast.
The Tigers have regularly denied claims they are using civilian human shields.
'Forcible recruitment'
A statement from the United Nations in Sri Lanka says its concern for the safety of civilians caught up in the fighting has been heightened by reports it has received over the past few days.
Many of the reports are based on testimony from people who have managed to come out of the conflict zone, it says.
It says there are credible reports to suggest that the Tamil Tigers are preventing civilians from leaving and a number of those trying to get away are being shot at and in some cases killed.
It says that reports on Sunday indicated that there was fighting inside the government-designated "safe zone".
The UN is calling on both sides to refrain from fighting in areas with large civilian concentrations.
UN spokesman Gordon Weiss also said the Tamil Tigers were trying to forcibly recruit people into their ranks, including children as young as 14.
 The army has continued to close in on rebel positions |
The UN said one staff member had been forcibly recruited into the rebels and demanded his immediate release.
There has been no response from the Tamil Tigers to the latest reports but in the past they have said civilians are frightened and are seeking shelter from the rebels.
They have denied trying to prevent civilians leaving or shooting at them and say the military is constantly firing artillery shells into civilian zones.
On Monday the pro-rebel TamilNet accused the military of using cluster and incendiary bombs on civilian positions.
The government has always denied targeting civilians.
No independent journalists can reach the conflict zone so claims by either side cannot be independently verified.
About 50,000 soldiers are pressing the Tamil Tigers into a patch of north-eastern jungle after taking the key areas of Kilinochchi, Elephant Pass and Mullaitivu.
The government has rejected international calls for a ceasefire, demanding the rebels lay down their arms.
The Tigers have said they will not do so until they have a "guarantee of living with freedom and dignity and sovereignty".
| MAP OF THE REGION   |
Holbrooke holds key India talks
Holbrooke holds key India talks
 India was keen to discuss the Mumbai attacks with Mr Holbrooke |
The new US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, has been holding talks with Indian leaders on the last leg of a regional tour.
Mr Holbrooke arrived in Delhi on Sunday after visiting Islamabad and Kabul.
He met Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee but said that he had carried "no message or guidance".
The talks were expected to focus on what India has described as "threats" from Pakistan-based militants in the wake of last November's Mumbai attacks.
After meeting Mr Mukherjee, Mr Holbrooke spoke a few words about the news that Pakistan had agreed to impose Sharia law in Swat district.
But he gave few clues of his Indian talks, beyond saying: "We also exchanged views; I carried no messages or guidance. I just wanted to hear the views of India on a wide range of issues and I am honoured to be back in this country which I have always been fascinated by and loved."
'Coming clean'
An unnamed Indian official was earlier quoted as saying by the AFP news agency that India would "share its perceptions, and terrorism emanating from Pakistan will be part of that" in talks with Mr Holbrooke.
"We think the Pakistan establishment is key when talking about terrorism".
Relations between the two neighbours have worsened considerably since the attacks by 10 gunmen, which claimed more than 170 lives.
 The Mumbai attacks have severely strained Pakistan-India ties |
But India has urged Islamabad to bring the Mumbai attackers to justice.
Mr Mukherjee has berated Pakistan for taking so much time in its admission, and said that Pakistan must work to prevent further such attacks.
Pakistan has said India must "come clean" about those on its own soil who were involved in the Mumbai attacks.
Analysts say it is significant that Pakistan's admission of the attacks being partly planned on his soil came when Mr Holbrooke was visiting the country.
Mr Holbrooke has visited Pakistan and Afghanistan as part of his tour - but has so far made only brief statements.
He said earlier he was in the region to "listen and learn".
Before his trip, Mr Holbrooke said Afghanistan would be "much tougher" than Iraq and he had not "seen anything like the mess we have inherited".
During talks with Pakistani leaders, reports say the envoy stressed Washington's financial commitments to the country but underlined the need to purge militant safe havens in the north-west region, along the Afghan border.
And in Afghanistan, Mr Holbrooke said he hoped at least one senior US official would be in Afghanistan every month "to find ways to improve our joint effort" against fighting terrorism.
Analysts say Mr Holbrooke will be a key player in a renewed effort to reverse the deteriorating security situation on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Nuclear subs 'collide in ocean'
Nuclear subs 'collide in ocean'
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A Royal Navy nuclear submarine was involved in a collision with a French nuclear sub in the middle of the Atlantic, it has been reported.
It is understood HMS Vanguard and Le Triomphant were badly damaged in the crash earlier this month.
Despite being equipped with sonar, it seems neither vessel spotted the other, the BBC's Caroline Wyatt said.
The UK's Ministry of Defence is not commenting on the reports, but insisted nuclear security had not been breached.
Our defence correspondent said the submarines were both "seriously-armed".
The alleged incident is being investigated on both sides of the Channel, she said.
The two submarines are key parts of each nation's nuclear deterrent, and would have been carrying missiles.
It is understood both submarines were damaged in the incident, though both the UK and France have insisted there was no danger of a nuclear incident.
The two 150m-long (492ft) submarines were carrying around 240 sailors between them. A French naval spokesman said the collision did not result in any injuries to the crew.
HMS Vanguard is now back at her home base at Faslane on the Firth of Clyde.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Israel puts terms on Gaza truce
Israel puts terms on Gaza truce
 Gilad Shalit - Egypt has been leading talks that could lead to his release |
Israel will not agree to a truce in Gaza unless an Israeli soldier held by Palestinian militants is freed, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said.
Gilad Shalit was captured by Palestinian militants in 2006.
There have been reports that Egypt was close to brokering a long-term truce between Hamas and Israel.
A punishing three-week Israeli assault on Gaza aimed at stopping militant rocket fire on Israel ended with separate ceasefires in January.
The uneasy calm has been punctuated by exchanges of fire between the two sides.
"The position of the prime minister is that Israel won't reach any arrangement on a truce before the release of Gilad Shalit," Mr Olmert's office said in a statement.
Prisoner swap talks
On Thursday, Hamas officials said they expected a truce with Israel to be announced within days.
Any truce is expected to see Israel gradually open the borders to Gaza, ending the blockade it has enforced since Hamas seized control of the territory in mid-2007.
In return, Israel wants to seen an end to weapons smuggling and attacks from Gaza.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, a deputy leader of Hamas, said his group had agreed to the terms of a 18-month ceasefire with Israel and that he expected it would be announced within 48 hours.
But Israel reportedly wants any ceasefire to be open-ended.
Separately, Egypt has also been leading negotiations on a prisoner swap that would see Cpl Gilad Shalit released in exchange for several hundred Palestinians held by Israel.
Hamas has refused to link the release of Cpl Shalit with the proposed ceasefire.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Fifteen die in India train crash
Fifteen die in India train crash
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At least 15 people were killed and dozens more injured when a passenger train was derailed in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, officials say.
Twelve carriages of the Cormandel Express came off the rails soon after the train left Jajpur Road station near the city of Bhubaneswar, they say.
A number of people may be still trapped in the train.
The cause of the accident is unclear, but reports say the train was travelling at a very high speed.
In a separate development, railway authorities have announced a 2% reduction in passenger rail fares.
The railways ministry has also unveiled plans to bring in more than 40 new trains.
Emergency lighting
The accident happened near the town of Jajpur, some 100km (62 miles) north of the city of Bhubaneswar, officials say.
"At least 15 deaths are confirmed," said JP Mishra, a senior spokesperson for East Coast Railway. "We do not know what caused the accident as yet."
Eyewitness said they feared passengers were trapped in two of the derailed carriages.
Rescue and medical teams from the Bhubaneswar headquarters of East Coast Railway were rushed to the accident site, officials said.
They have erected emergency lighting to speed up a rescue effort that was initially hampered because the accident took place in the dark.
Hundreds of local people are also helping the emergency services.
'Financial turnaround'
Meanwhile, Rail Minister Lalu Prasad has announced the interim rail budget for the financial year to March 2010.
He said that slow economic growth, higher wages and lower passenger revenues could reduce income but not investment.
"The same railways which faced a paucity of funds for replacement of over-aged assets in 2001... have now surprised the whole world with a historic financial turnaround," Mr Yadav said.
He predicted that the railways - one of the world's oldest and largest networks transporting about 18 million people a day - would carry 910 million tonnes of freight from 2009 to 2010, up 60 million tonnes from the previous year.
Investigators enter NY crash site
Investigators enter NY crash site
Daylight shows extent of plane crash damage
Investigators are moving onto the site of a passenger plane crash in New York state, after raging fires there were put out, say officials.
They will begin trying to identify the remains of some of the 50 people thought to have died, said state health commissioner Anthony Billittier.
Continental flight 3407 was five minutes from Buffalo airport when it crashed at 2210 local time (0310 GMT).
The cause of the plane's sudden crash remains a mystery, say investigators.
They were prevented from launching a full-scale investigation at the site because of the blaze there, but the two flight recorders have been retrieved and have been sent to Washington for analysis.
The dead are thought to include 44 passengers, four crew and one off-duty crew member on board, and one person on the ground.
But two people - believed to be a woman and child - who were also in the house are thought to have escaped with minor injuries.
Direct hit
Officials from a number of state and federal agencies appeared at a news conference to confirm that the investigation was finally able to proceed, following hours of delay caused by the intense heat at the site.
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The twin-prop Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 aircraft, operated by Colgan Air for Continental Airlines, was flying from Newark airport in New Jersey to Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
It was snowing at the time, and other pilots had reported ice forming on the wings of their planes.
The pilots did not tell air traffic controllers of any problems during the flight, and a recording of communications appears normal until shortly before the crash.
However, a minute after one response, the controller was unable to contact flight 3407 and asked other planes in the area if they could spot it.
One airport official said he had been told "the plane simply dropped off the radar screen".
Campaigner killed
Witnesses spoke of it diving steeply into a fiery explosion. The tail of the plane could be seen sticking out of the ground at the crash site.
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Alison Des Forges - a writer and expert on Rwanda - was also among those killed, said New York Governor David Patterson.
Mr Patterson said it was "hard to make sense" of the tragedy, but paid tribute to the "tremendous human effort and caring" shown by those who had responded to the emergency.
And he said it was "miraculous" that some of the occupants of the house hit had escaped. Another two people had missed the flight.
|  It sounded quite loud, and then the sound stopped. Then one or two seconds later, there was a thunderous explosion  Eyewitness David Luce |
"Our hearts go out to the families and friends of loved ones," he said, thanking the "brave first responders" who tried to save lives and make the area safe.
The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a full news conference on the accident at 1530 local time (2030 GMT).
'Sound stopped'
Eyewitnesses spoke of hearing unusual sounds coming from the plane before it crashed.
Amateur footage of the crash's immediate aftermath
"Then one or two seconds later, there was a thunderous explosion. I thought something hit our house. It shook our whole house."
He described going to the scene of the crash and seeing flames up to 50ft (15m) high.
"The house was already flattened. There was no house, just a pile of rubbish and still burning," he said.
Dave Bissonette, emergency control director in Clarence, said it was "remarkable" that only one house was hit, with neighbouring houses relatively unscathed.
| BOMBARDIER DASH 8 AIRCRAFT  The Canadian-made Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 was delivered new last year Q400 is newest member of the Dash 8 family Twin-engine turboprop, mainly for short-haul flights First flown in 1998, entered commercial service in 2000 |
Relatives of the victims have been offered counselling and support as they wait for news.
Chris Kausner, whose sister is believed to have been on the plane, was forced to break the news to his mother, holidaying in Florida.
"I heard my mother make a noise on the phone that I never heard her make before," he told reporters.
Meanwhile President Obama paid tribute to 9/11 widow Ms Eckert, calling her "an inspiration to me and so many others".
Continental Airlines expressed profound sadness over the crash and said it was working closely with Colgan Air to "provide as much support as possible for all concerned".
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