Category: news

Authorities say the laptops are a “mine of information”

Experts in Colombia are trying to crack the codes to 15 computers and almost 100 memory sticks belonging to Colombia’s largest rebel group.

They were seized on Thursday after a massive raid on a Farc jungle camp.

One of the laptops is believed to have belonged to its military leader, Mono Jojoy, who was killed in the attack.

Police are hoping to find information which could reveal the whereabouts of 20 members of the security forces held captive by the Farc.

The computers are being examined by 40 experts from the police criminal investigation unit in the capital, Bogota.

Police officials said the 15 laptops, 94 memory sticks and 14 hard discs contained 11 times more information than that seized from Raul Reyes, a senior Farc leader killed in a raid in 2008.

They believe one of the 15 laptops seized was Mono Jojoy’s personal computer. Its screen was reportedly shattered by bullets, but its hard disc was still intact.

They also said the large number of memory sticks seized at the jungle camp and the fact that not a single two-way radio or mobile phone was found suggests the rebels relay information through couriers rather than risk having their electronic communication tapped or traced.

The investigators said they hoped to retrieve clues to the location of Farc camps which would help them mount future attacks and allow them to free the group’s remaining hostages, which official numbers put at 79.

But the head of the Colombian police, General Oscar Naranjo, warned it could take months to retrieve all the information from the computers.

Military officials also revealed more information about the operation in which the Farc’s number two, Mono Jojoy, was killed.

They said Operation Sodom, as it has been dubbed, started on Tuesday 21 September, when the heads of all three branches of the Colombian military, the police and the Ministry of Defence met in Bogota to finalise details of the attack.

In the early hours of Wednesday 22 September, 78 aircraft headed for the area known as La Escalera in the Macarena mountain range in Meta province.

They dropped dozens of bombs on Mono Jojoy’s camp, which Defence Minister Rodrigo Rivera has described as “the mother of all lairs” for its size and the number of hidden tunnels it had.

About 400 members of the Colombian special forces then abseiled from helicopters and surrounded the camp.

After hours of fighting, another 400 soldiers and police moved in on the camp, taking it in the early hours of Thursday morning.

General Javier Florez, the commander of the joint task force leading the attack, said his men were able to identify Mono Jojoy by his scars, eye colour and the fact he carried insulin for his diabetes. His identity was verified by experts on Friday.

Police sources told the BBC they suspected a number of other senior Farc leaders were killed alongside Mono Jojoy, including the men known as Mad Ivan, Mauricio the Medic and Romana, although their bodies have not yet been identified.

The Colombian military said a total of between 20 and 30 guerrillas died in the initial attack. Thirteen members of the security forces were injured, most of them when they abseiled into the jungle.

Fighting continues in the area around Mono Jojoy’s camp, which commanding officer Gen Miguel Perez described as “a rugged area of very difficult access”.

About 10,000 extra police officers have been deployed to Colombia’s main cities to prevent retaliatory attacks by the Farc.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

A choir has rehearsed at the Molineux stadium ahead of Saturday’s concert at St Peter’s church in Wolverhampton

A song by Sir Edward Elgar, which is believed to be one of the first football anthems, is being performed at a concert.

The composer, born in 1857, was a Wolverhampton Wanderers fan and cycled more than 40 miles (64km) from Malvern, Worcestershire, to see them play.

Wolves said he wrote He Banged The Leather For Goal, which was in honour of an 1890s striker, Billy Malpass.

The concert is being held at St Peter’s Collegiate Church in Wolverhampton.

An Evening with Elgar, on Saturday evening, is taking place in association with Wolves as St Peter’s church seeks to raise £300,000 to restore an organ dating back to 1860.

Club mascot Wolfie conducted a choir in a rehearsal at the Molineux stadium.

Members of the choir have been wearing Wolves scarves in rehearsals for the event, in which well-known numbers by Elgar will be performed.

The club said He Banged The Leather For Goal was believed to be the first ever football anthem and was written in honour of the striker.

Land of Hope and Glory, which is among Elgar’s best-known scores, has inspired football fans over the years to sing their own words.

The concert was organised ahead of Sunday afternoon’s Premier League game against Aston Villa at Molineux. Both clubs were founder members of the Football League in 1888.

The Reverend David Wright said he would “love to think” that Elgar came into the church

Wolverhampton Wanderers FC historian Graham Hughes said Elgar “loved coming” to the area.

“He used to watch the crowd going down to the match,” he said.

“Then one Saturday he said he’d like to go down to the match, so he went and that’s how it started.”

Wolves said Elgar’s support for the club stemmed from his admiration for Dora Penney, daughter of the Rector of Wolverhampton.

The current St Peter’s rector, the Reverend David Wright, who is also the club chaplain at Wolves, said: “[I’d] love to think that at some point Elgar came into this church and heard this organ played.”

Elgar, who was born in Broadheath, a village three miles from Worcester, is famous for a string of symphonies and concertos.

He was largely a self-taught composer and grew up surrounded by music – his father owned a music shop and was a piano tuner.

Elgar, who also taught the violin and played the organ, married one of his pupils, Caroline Alice Roberts, in 1889.

He died in 1934 – the same year as two other English composers – Gustav Holst and Frederick Delius.

An Evening with Elgar was scheduled to start at 1930 BST on Saturday.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

President Obama insisted he was “obviously concerned about the Iranian people”

Interviewing US President Barack Obama, I felt a weight of responsibility.

This was the first time an Iranian reporter had interviewed President Obama, and our audience in Iran has a wide range of questions and concerns about the policies of United States government.

My challenge was to try to address those questions and concerns in just 20 minutes, the time I was given to interview the most powerful man in the world.

When we sat down for our interview, I thought President Obama had two basic points that he wanted to get across to our audience: his outrage at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s conspiratorial comments regarding the tragic events of 9/11, and a message of peace and friendship to the people of Iran.

He wanted to convey that what he felt could be a good, productive relationship between the US and Iran was limited and curtailed by the fact that he had to deal with a belligerent and antagonistic regime in Tehran.

On the question of the latest economic sanctions against Iran, he insisted his policy remained consistent with his initial promise of more diplomacy and less hostile gestures compared with the previous US administration. He was quick to point to what he termed a global consensus over the imposition of these sanctions.

“That’s not just my judgment,” Mr Obama said. “That’s the judgment of the international community, including countries like Russia and China that generally are very hesitant to impose sanctions on other countries. But they have consistently seen a behaviour on the part of the Iranian government that indicates that it has a nuclear programme that does not abide by international rules and that potentially poses a threat to the region as well as the world.”

So far as the collateral cost of these sanctions are concerned, President Obama expressed regret for any hardship this might cause ordinary Iranians but insisted that their own country’s ruling regime was to blame for this hardship.

“I am obviously concerned about the Iranian people,” he said, before adding: “The question is: Can the Iranian regime take a different approach that would help its people as opposed to harm its people?”

As for the possibility of a military strike against Iran, the president insisted that he did not take war lightly, and that he had had the full backing of the international community behind him in all his foreign policies so far. He also said he recognised that Iran was entitled to a peaceful nuclear programme.

He was keen to emphasise that his focus on the Iranian nuclear issue was not at the cost of pressing for improved human rights in Iran.

“Not just my administration, but I think all of America sees human rights, basic freedoms, the freedom to speak… freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom to choose your own government, freedom from fear and abuse from government, as central to who we are, central to our values, central to our foreign policy,” he said. “And that applies around the world and it certainly applies in Iran.”

On the Iranian opposition “green” movement, President Obama made supportive noises but tried to avoid appearing to be interfering in Iranian internal affairs.

On Afghanistan, President Obama repeated his stated position that US forces will stay there “until the job is done”. The question is: Do Afghans agree with his definition of “the job”? The president defined it as “to provide Afghans themselves the capacity to secure their own country”.

Altogether, President Obama’s message was one of pragmatism and an expression of solidarity with the people of Iran and Afghanistan, but also an attempt to portray his deep concern with the nature of the obstacles – the ruling regime in Iran and the Taliban in Afghanistan – facing his policies.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The BBC’s Tim Wilcox gives a tour of the makeshift village that has sprung up around the Chilean mine where 33 men are trapped.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Ed Miliband: “You have put your trust in me and I am determined to repay that trust”

Ed Miliband is the new Labour leader, it has been announced at a special conference in Manchester.

He beat brother David by the wafer thin margin of 50.65% to 49.35% after second, third and fourth preference votes came into play.

Ed Balls was third, Andy Burnham fourth and Diane Abbott last in the ballot of MPs, members and trade unionists.

Mr Miliband, 40, replaces acting leader Harriet Harman in the contest triggered by the resignation of Gordon Brown.

He paid tribute to each of his fellow candidates in turn and told the conference: “Today we draw a line under this contest and move forward united as a team.”

The former energy secretary appears to have benefited from a last-minute surge of support before voting in the postal ballot closed on Wednesday.

Older brother David won a majority of support from Labour’s MPs at Westminster and party members, but Ed was ahead among members of trade unions and affiliated organisation in Labour’s electoral college voting system.

BBC political editor Nick Robinson said in the first three rounds of voting David Miliband was ahead – it was only when votes were reallocated as the other candidates were knocked out that his younger brother was pushed over the winning line.

Mr Miliband hugged David after the result was announced.

In his victory speech, he vowed to unify the party, telling delegates: “The Labour Party in the future must be a vehicle that doesn’t just attract thousands of young people but tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of young people who see us as their voice in British politics today.”

He paid tribute to his predecessors Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, but added: “We lost the election and we lost it badly. My message to the country is this: I know we lost trust, I know we lost touch, I know we need to change.

“Today a new generation has taken charge of Labour, a new generation that understands the call of change.”

Mr Miliband received a standing ovation from delegates as he made his way from the hall, with his brother David at his side.

Former minister Tessa Jowell told BBC News David Miliband’s defeat will be a “moment of tremendous pain and disappointment” for him. She thinks Ed had a “very particular appeal to young people” and that was what swung it for him.

Mr Miliband, who has been MP for Doncaster North since 2005, is a former aide to Gordon Brown at the Treasury, who joined the Labour Party at the age of 17.