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The building deemed to have made the greatest contribution to British architecture over the past year is to be named later on Saturday.
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The investigation kicked off when the FBI noticed a pattern of suspicious bank transactions in Omaha The FBI says it has cracked a major international cyber crime network after more than 90 suspected members of the ring were arrested in the US.
The suspects worked as so-called mules for fraudsters based in Eastern Europe who hacked into US computers to steal around $70m.
More people were detained in Ukraine and the UK, local police said.
The FBI said the arrests were part of “one of the largest cyber criminal cases we have ever investigated”.
Most of those arrested in the US were charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and money laundering, a US Attorney said.
They are suspected of acting as go-betweens or mules by providing bank accounts for an elaborate cyber crime scheme.
Hackers in Eastern Europe would use spam email to infect computers of small businesses and individuals in the US with a virus known as Zeus, the FBI said in a statement.
The unnamed hackers were then able to to access users’ online passwords and bank account details and used them to transfer money to the bank accounts provided by the go-betweens in the US.
The crime ring attempted to steal around $220m, the FBI added.
The arrests were the result of an international operation that kicked off in Omaha in May 2009 when FBI agents noticed a row of suspicious bank transactions.
Law enforcement agencies in the US, Ukraine, the Netherlands and the UK were also involved in the investigation.
Police in the UK arrested 19 people suspected members of the ring.
In Ukraine, police arrested five people suspected of directing the scheme, the FBI said.
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Naomi Campbell gave the diamonds to Jeremy Ractliffe in 1997 The former head of Nelson Mandela’s charity fund has been charged with illegally keeping uncut diamonds given to him by supermodel Naomi Campbell.
Mr Ractliffe admitted he had the gems only when Ms Campbell mentioned him at the war crimes trial of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor in August.
He then handed the gems to police and resigned as a trustee of the fund.
Prosecutors say the stones are “blood diamonds” which Mr Taylor gave to Ms Campbell at a dinner in 1997.
Ms Campbell gave evidence at Mr Taylor’s trial before a UN special court in The Hague in August.
South African prosecutors have now charged Mr Ractliffe, the former chief executive of the Nelson Mandela’s Children’s Fund (NMCF), under the Diamonds Act of 1956.
His case has been adjourned until 27 October.
At the trial, Ms Campbell said she was given some “dirty-looking stones” after a 1997 charity dinner hosted by South Africa’s former President Nelson Mandela where Mr Taylor was also a guest.
She said two unidentified men appeared at her room and gave her the stones.
She told the court she did not have proof they came from Mr Taylor and had given them to Mr Ractliffe because she wanted the stones to go to charity.
In a statement at the time of his resignation, Mr Ractliffe said he took the diamonds as he thought it might be illegal for her to take them out of the country.
However, he did not want to involve the NMCF in anything illegal, he said.
“In the end I decided I should just keep them,” he added.
Mr Taylor is accused of using illegally mined diamonds to secure weapons for Sierra Leone’s RUF rebels during the 1991-2001 civil war – a charge he denies.
He said he kept them to shield the reputations of Mr Mandela and his fund.
Prosecutors say that from his seat of power in Liberia, Mr Taylor also trained and commanded the rebels.
The rebels were notoriously brutal, frequently hacking off the hands and legs of civilians.
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The volunteer motorcyclists helping to save lives and money
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The video shows men in military uniform lining up men in civilian clothing before taking aim and shooting The Pakistani military says it is investigating a video purporting to show a firing squad of uniformed soldiers shooting dead young men who were blindfolded and bound.
Its authenticity cannot be verified. It is unclear when or where it was filmed.
Human rights groups say they have previously documented extra-judicial killings by Pakistani troops but cannot vouch for the video.
Pakistani military officials have dismissed it as fabricated.
“No Pakistani Army soldier or officer has been involved in activity of this sort,” army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told the BBC.
The individual who sent it to the BBC said many people in the Swat valley had the clip on their phones.
However journalists in Swat have told the BBC that the first they heard of the video was when it was reported in the New York Times two days ago.
It shows men in military clothing pushing a group of young men one by one through a forest.
“The army has a policy of zero tolerance on issues like this”
Maj Gen Athar Abbas Pakistani military spokesman
Eventually, six men – all in traditional civilian clothing – are lined up, blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their backs.
At least seven of the men in military clothing then form a line and raise their weapons. After what sounds like a sustained burst of gunfire, the men in civilian clothing then crumple to the forest floor.
In 2009, the Pakistani military mounted an offensive to drive Taliban militants out of the Swat valley.
Human rights organisations have accused them of carrying out extra-judicial killings during this time.
“We have previously documented executions in Swat that are similar to what is depicted in this video,” Ali Dayan Hasan, representative of Human Rights Watch in Pakistan told the BBC.
“Human Rights Watch cannot say anything about the authenticity of the video.”
“to date, there has been no action to hold military personnel accountable for well-documented abuses”
Ali Dayan Hasan Human Rights Watch Pakistan
The US State Department says it has raised the issue with the Pakistani government.
PJ Crowley said the US took allegations of human rights violations”very seriously”, and that the issue of extrajudicial killings had been a part of an “ongoing conversation” with Pakistan.
Pakistan has promised to take action if the video – which has also been circulating on YouTube – is authenticated.
“The army has a policy of zero tolerance on issues like this,” Maj Gen Abbas said. “At this stage I can’t comment about what action might be taken” if the video is real, he added.
Another military spokesman, Brigadier Syed Azmat Ali, said the video “could have been staged in five minutes”.
Army uniforms are widely available in local markets, he said.
But Human Rights Watch has called for a full investigation.
“We have had such formulaic responses,” Mr Hasan said. “But to date, there has been no action to hold military personnel accountable for well-documented abuses in counter-terrorism operations.”
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Ecuador’s military was put in charge of public order after a state of emergency was declared Peru and Colombia have reopened their borders with Ecuador, a day after President Rafael Correa accused police and the opposition of a coup attempt.
Ecuador’s neighbours closed crossings in a show of support for Mr Correa, who had to be rescued by soldiers from a hospital surrounded by angry police.
Afterwards, the president vowed in a TV address to punish those responsible.
The national police chief has resigned in the wake of the unrest, which left two people dead and dozens injured.
After General Freddy Martinez stepped down, President Correa appointed Patricio Franco as new police chief in his place, and ordered him to reform the country’s police.
The revolt was triggered by a new law cutting bonuses and benefits for public servants, including police and military personnel.
Mr Correa, a 47-year-old US-trained economist, took office in 2007 and won a second term in 2009 – despite a decision to default on $3.2bn of loans which caused widespread fiscal problems for his government.
On Friday, South American heads of state held an emergency meeting in Argentina and issued a resolution saying they “energetically condemn the attempted coup and subsequent kidnapping” of President Correa.
They also called for those responsible to be tried and convicted, and warned that in the event of new threats to order, they would immediately close frontiers and air traffic, suspend commerce and cut off energy supplies and other services to Ecuador.
“There were lots of infiltrators, dressed as civilians, and we know where they were from”
Rafael Correa President of Ecuador
But with the streets quiet in their neighbour’s main cities, and the military in charge of public order under a state of emergency, Colombia and Peru announced that they had reopened their frontiers.
It was still not clear whether Mr Correa was targeted in a coup attempt, as he has claimed, or whether it was simply a protest that spiralled out of control.
The president was trapped for more than 12 hours in a hospital, where he was being treated for the effects of tear gas fired at him by angry police and soldiers when he confronted them at an army barracks in the capital.
It was only after army special forces moved in under cover of darkness, that he was freed. Shots were fired outside the building and two people were killed, including at least one civilian, according to the Ecuadorean Red Cross.
Later, there were jubilant scenes at the presidential palace, where Mr Correa addressed supporters, telling them it “was the saddest day of my life”.
The BBC’s Will Grant explains how the siege unfolded
He alleged that the uprising was not just a dispute over benefits.
“There were lots of infiltrators, dressed as civilians, and we know where they were from,” the president said.
“The people of Lucio Gutierrez were there, provoking, inciting to violence,” he added, referring to the leader of the opposition Patriotic Society Party (PSP).
In a TV interview, Mr Gutierrez denied “the cowardly, false, reckless accusations”.
2005: President Lucio Gutierrez deposed after two years, following massive protests in response to his attempt to overhaul the Supreme Court2000: Jamil Mahuad, elected 1998, forced to step down as president after two years following indigenous protests led by Col Lucio Gutierrez1997: President Abdala Bucaram, nicknamed “El Loco” (“the crazy one”), declared mentally unfit to rule after a year in power1987: President Leon Febres Cordero kidnapped and beaten up by the army in protest at policies of privatisation and public expenditure cutsEcuador timeline
The president also said there would be “a deep cleansing of the national police”, and that he would “not forgive nor forget” what had happened.
“Those people made the institution look so bad by attacking their fellow citizens, abusing the weapons given to them by the society to which they belong, and dishonouring the police uniform.”
“All those who can be identified will be punished accordingly.”
Despite the apparent end of the crisis, Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said the government could not yet “claim total victory”.
“We have overcome the situation for now, but we can’t relax,” he told a news conference in Quito. “The coup attempt may have roots out there, we have to find them and pull them up.”
On Wednesday, one minister had said the president was considering disbanding Congress because members of his Country Alliance had threatened to block proposals to shrink the bureaucracy.
Ecuador’s two-year-old constitution allows the president to declare an impasse and rule by decree until new elections. However, such a move would have to be approved by the Constitutional Court.
The BBC’s Will Grant, in Venezuela, says Mr Correa could still choose to rule by decree in an effort to stay in control in the immediate future.
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Some 200,000 people live in private retirement developments in the UK Older people in some retirement developments are being financially exploited, says Age UK.
Following its first review of the industry, it told the BBC that it is concerned about the lack of regulation.
It claims many residents are being charged unjustified fees for service charges, insurance and even selling their properties.
The Association of Retirement Housing Managers, which represents the industry, also wants better regulation.
Stanley Hodges, aged 80, had been hoping for a quiet retirement, but instead he and his wife Anne were drawn into a legal battle over what they considered to be excessive management fees in their privately managed block in Newbury, Berkshire.
Like many people who live in similar accommodation, the Hodges own the leasehold to their flat but have to pay an annual service charge.
It costs £2,500 and covers maintenance, security, insurance and the rent for an onsite manager’s flat. But two years ago Stanley found the costs had been unfairly calculated.
“The charges were ridiculously excessive. When one compared the rent they wanted for a house manager’s flat here with charges for other two bedroomed flats in the town of Newbury, we discovered it was very overpriced,” he said.
Eventually the freeholder agreed with residents to reduce the charge, but Mr Hodges still had to go to court to get the refund of just under £500 for his share of the charge.
“If I was a lot younger this whole process would be a lot easier, but at our age it is traumatic and very frustrating,” he said.
About 200,000 people live in private retirement developments and for many the extra support and security provided is ideal.
“Some have had the experience of psychological pressure after they have made a complaint”
Joe Oldman Age UK
They are already very popular and demand is increasing as the population ages. In 30 years the number of people aged over 75 is set to double and that is why Age UK says the sector needs much better regulation now.
It says limits should be set on how much a landlord can charge for a manager’s flat.
There should be greater transparency for service charges such as insurance and maintenance and it says transfer fees, charged when residents sell up or sublet their flat, should be abolished.
Age UK claims that in other cases it has come across, people have been afraid to raise their concerns with their management.
“A number of people have contacted us who are intimidated about complaining, because they feel they will be unfairly treated,” said Joe Oldman, housing adviser at Age UK.
“Some have had the experience of psychological pressure after they have made a complaint. People who do come forward are very brave and we will support them in cases where we feel the complaints are justified.”
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is investigating the issue of transfer fees but a voluntary code of practice exists to advise managing agents on how to operate.
The Association of Retirement Housing Managers (ARHM) says this code should be given much greater weight.
“We believe there is a need to strike a balance between tenant rights and landlord responsibilities”
Department of Communities and Local Government
“There is no requirement for individual managing agents to abide by the code of practice unless they are a member of the ARHM so we think that all managing agents should be required to be a member of our body or some similar organisation,” said James McCarthy, who chairs the ARHM.
The government says it recognises the problems faced by leaseholders – including those in retirement properties – where service charges are concerned, and is determined to ensure that they are protected from unscrupulous landlords.
A spokesman from the department for communities and local government said: “Tenants have a legal right to challenge those charges that they believe to be unreasonable before an independent tribunal.
“There are two codes of management practice which set out the law and best practice, and these can be used in evidence at Court or tribunal proceedings where necessary.
“We believe there is a need to strike a balance between tenant rights and landlord responsibilities, and that the current legislative framework can deliver that balance, if matched by an increasingly pro-active and positive approach by the professionals in the sector.”
Some older people who believe they have been overcharged have taken on the freehold themselves and now manage their own blocks. But half of all residents have to agree.
For other residents, such as Mr Hodges and his wife, the only other option is through the courts. For many people that is a very daunting route to take.
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Malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes There is a 60% global shortfall in funds for malaria control, according to a report by UK and African experts.
Researchers found only 21 out of 93 countries where malaria is common have received enough money to implement effective control measures.
African countries have seen the biggest funding increases but billions are still needed elsewhere, the experts say in the Lancet medical journal.
The Roll Back Malaria Campaign warned $4.9bn (£3.1bn) was needed this year.
The researchers, led by Professor Bob Snow of Oxford University and Kenya’s Kenyatta National Hospital, found that annual international funding had increased by 166% – from $730m to $1.94bn – since 2007.
They said: “Any decline in malaria-funding commitments will run the risk of a resurgence of malaria in countries that have enjoyed the benefits of this funding to provide protection from malaria since 2002.
“Poor countries with inadequate donor assistance and large sectors of their population at risk of malaria must remain the focus of attention”
Professor Bob Snow
“Sustained funding in these countries is crucial or $9.9bn invested since 2002 will have been in vain.”
While financing for malaria control has increased as part of international efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals, the amount received from domestic sources varies greatly.
Twenty-one countries, 12 of them in Africa, now receive adequate donor money, according to the research.
But a further 50, including Niger and Sierra Leone, as detailed in the Lancet paper, do not get enough from the international community.
Professor Snow said: “Poor countries with inadequate donor assistance and large sectors of their population at risk of malaria must remain the focus of attention if global ambitions for malaria control are to be realised.
“The challenge will now be on finding more money, making sure funding is linked to performance and putting pressure on malaria-endemic countries with large domestic incomes to do more for themselves.
“A failure to maintain the momentum will mean money spent so far will have been for nothing.”
The authors also argue that some countries like China and India, which have their own space programmes, could perhaps contribute funds to help other countries rather than being recipients, thereby increasing the financial support available.
But the work only assesses external funding.
Commenting on the study, Professor Anne Mills, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK, said that external funding may be low because a country may be funding its own malaria programmes.
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Smartphones are increasingly using the Android operating system – and are increasingly subject to legal action Microsoft is suing Motorola alleging it has infringed nine patents in its Android phones.
The giant software maker said Motorola phones that use Google’s Android software are based on Microsoft technology.
The functions include synchronizing e-mail, calendars and contacts.
Microsoft filed its lawsuit in a federal court as well as filing one with the International Trade Commission.
Microsoft said Motorola licensed some of its mobile technology from 2003 to 2007 but continued to use the technology without renewing the license.
Its court filing specifically mentions the Motorola Droid 2 and the Motorola Charm smartphones, but Microsoft claims that the infringements were not limited to those devices.
It is the latest development in a web of legal actions in the smartphone business.
A Motorola spokeswoman said the company has not yet received a copy of the suit, but based on its strong intellectual property portfolio, plans to “vigorously defend itself”.
The suit is the latest in a complicated web of legal actions between various phone makers and software firms over who owns patents to the technology used in smartphones.
Nokia began by suing Apple last year, and Apple subsequently sued handset maker HTC.
Oracle has filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the search engine giant of infringing patents on its technology.
Oracle says Google infringed patents on its Java software while developing its Android operating system.
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The Ryder Cup will deliver a global television audience of many millions The Ryder Cup is ready to tee off at Newport’s Celtic Manor after years of planning and millions of pounds in investment.
A global television audience will focus on Wales for golf’s biggest event.
A host of celebrities and former US presidents are among the daily 45,000 spectators set to watch the European and USA teams battle for the trophy.
The three-day tournament alternates between Europe and America and is in Wales for the first time.
The event brings to fruition the dream of the Celtic Manor’s owner, 67-year-old Welsh-born billionaire Sir Terry Matthews.
He poured his own cash into Wales’ bid to land the Ryder Cup ahead of strong competition from Scotland.
The Welsh Assembly Government and Newport council have both helped with staging the 2010 contest, the 38th between the two sides.
Thousands of schoolchildren in Newport and Cardiff, some 12 miles (19km) away, have been given the day off, partly to ease traffic congestion.
About 600 Gwent Police officers are based at the location, which is expecting to host a number of celebrity guests and senior politicians.
The Welsh weather threatens to play its own part with heavy rain on Friday morning, although it is expected to clear in the afternoon.
Forecasters predict Saturday may be the best day of the weekend, with the wind and rain returning on Sunday.
Tiger Woods is one of the stars of the three-day tournament Both teams have already spent three days practising at the site, including in the rain.
The tournament was officially opened by Wales’ First Minister Carwyn Jones on Thursday.
European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso was among the guests as European team captain Colin Montgomerie and United States team captain Corey Pavin named their line-ups for the first day.
On Wednesday, Prince Charles helped to open the Welcome to Wales concert at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, starring Welsh stars Dame Shirley Bassey, Katherine Jenkins and 13-year-old Shaheen Jafargholi.
Swansea-born Hollywood actress and keen golfer Catherine Zeta Jones gave the opening address.
An estimated 600m homes in 185 countries will be able to watch the tournament on television.
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Firefighters on the isle of Mull have tackled a blaze at their own station.
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Syphilis can cause blindness, insanity and even death Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom has said the US committed “crimes against humanity” in a study that infected hundreds of Guatemalans with gonorrhoea and syphilis more than 60 years ago.
President Barack Obama has apologised for the medical tests, in which mentally ill patients and prisoners were infected without their consent.
Mr Obama told Mr Colom the 1940s-era experiments ran contrary to American values, Guatemala said.
The US has promised an investigation.
“We deeply regret that it happened, and we apologise to all the individuals who were affected by such abhorrent research practices”
Statement from secretaries of state and health
Syphilis can cause heart problems, blindness, mental illness and even death, and although the patients were treated it is not known how many recovered.
Evidence of the programme was unearthed by Prof Susan Reverby at Wellesley College. She says the Guatemalan government gave permission for the tests.
No offer of compensation has yet been made, but an investigation will be launched into the specifics of the study, which took place between 1946 and 1948.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Friday the news was “shocking, it’s tragic, it’s reprehensible”.
The joint statement from Mrs Clinton and Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said: “Although these events occurred more than 64 years ago, we are outraged that such reprehensible research could have occurred under the guise of public health.
“We deeply regret that it happened, and we apologise to all the individuals who were affected by such abhorrent research practices.”
In his phone call to President Colom, Barack Obama reaffirmed the United States’ unwavering commitment to ensure that all human medical studies conducted today meet exacting US and international legal and ethical standards, the White House.
President Obama also “underscored the United States’ deep respect for the people of Guatemala and the importance of our bilateral relationship”.
The study by Prof Reverby shows that US government medical researchers infected almost 700 people in Guatemala with two sexually transmitted diseases.
The patients – prisoners and people suffering mental health problems – were unaware they were being experimented upon.
The doctors used prostitutes with syphilis to infect them, or inoculation, as they tried to determine whether penicillin could prevent syphilis, not just cure it.
The patients were then treated for the disease, but it is unclear whether everyone was cured.
Prof Reverby has previously done research on the Tuskegee experiment, where the US authorities measured the progress of syphilis in African-American sharecroppers without telling them they had the disease or adequately treating it.
The experiment ran from 1932 to 1972, with President Bill Clinton eventually apologising for it.
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France raised the security presence in public areas around Paris US counter-terrorism officials have said they believe al-Qaeda leaders, including Osama Bin Laden, were involved in a recent plot against European cities.
The plan involved launching attacks in the UK, France and Germany, intelligence sources say.
Details of how the plan was directed or co-ordinated by al-Qaeda’s leaders are not yet clear.
Bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders are believed to be hiding in Pakistan.
“I think what we are facing here is a reprisal from the Haqqani network against the United States and Britain for the stepped-up aerial campaign in the tribal areas of Pakistan”
Robert Baer Former CIA officer
Western intelligence sources say militants planned to seize and murder hostages, similar to the attacks carried out in Mumbai in 2008.
In an effort to foil the attacks, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ramped up missile strikes from unmanned drones against militants in the Pakistani tribal regions, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier in the week, citing security officials.
US officials have been pushing Pakistan to increase their search for the militants, who are believed to be hiding in a mountainous border region in the country.
Speaking on Friday, a senior US official discounted any involvement in the terror plot by the North African arm of al-Qaeda.
The official was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that although al-Qaeda might want to bring terror operations to Europe, there were no signs that they were capable of exporting terror.
Counter-terrorism authorities have not said what has led them to believe al-Qaeda played a role in the recent terror plot.
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The United States government has apologised for infecting hundreds of people in Guatemala with gonorrhoea and syphilis as part of medical tests almost 60 years ago.
Many of the infected were mentally ill patients and prisoners who did not give their consent.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has condemned the research as unethical and reprehensible.
At the time, the US wanted to test vaccines against venereal diseases.
Many of the infected patients were never given adequate treatment.
Evidence of the programme was unearthed by Prof Surab Reverby at the Wellesley College. She says the Guatemalan government gave permission for the tests.
Experiments
No offer of compensation has been made yet but an investigation will be launched into the specifics of the study which took place over four years in the 1940s.
The study by Prof Reverby shows that US government medical researchers infected almost 700 people in Guatemala with two sexually transmitted diseases.
The patients, prisoners and mental heath patients, were unaware they were being experimented upon.
The doctors used prostitutes with syphilis to infect them, as they tried to determine whether penicillin could prevent syphillis, not just cure it.
The patients were then treated for the disease but it’s unclear whether everyone was cured.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
United States bounce back on a rain-hit first day of the Ryder Cup which finishes with no fourballs completed.
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