Category: news

Public transport in El Salvador has been severely disrupted for three days by a strike ordered by criminal street gangs.

The Mara 18 and Mara Salvatrucha gangs ordered a 72-hour shutdown on Monday in protest at a new law which would make gang membership a criminal offence.

Thousands of troops have been deployed to protect bus drivers and commuters.

The anti-gang law was introduced in July after gang members set fire to a bus, burning 17 people alive.

The BBC’s Eric Lemus in the capital San Salvador says most bus companies there and across the country appear to have heeded the strike call.

He said around 80% of public transport was suspended, although some private drivers in pick-up trucks had been carrying passengers for much higher fares.

Many businesses also shut down for fear of reprisals after the gangs circulated leaflets telling them to close or “face the consequences.”

Police and soldiers have been escorting the vehicles that have been carrying passengers, and the army has also been using trucks to help people get to work.

The street gangs – known as “Maras” – ordered the shutdown to put pressure on president Mauricio Funes not to sign a new law which would make membership of a gang a criminal offence.

The law, which has been approved by El Salvador’s parliament, makes the Mara 18 and Salvatrucha proscribed organizations, and describes them as “social extermination groups.”

But President Funes said his government would not be moved by intimidation and threats.

“I affirm that I will sign the law” he said on Wednesday.

“We saw this coming. As we close in on them, they are reacting.”

Mr Funes says the law is aimed at gang leaders and those who finance them.

Unlike previous anti-crime laws, it includes measures to stop young people joining the gangs and to help them escape from a life of crime.

The protest has extended to El Salvador’s prisons, where hundreds of jailed gang members have declared themselves in a “state of rebellion.”

Masked gang members interviewed on Salvadoran television said they had called the strike because they felt the government was excluding them from a national debate on how to reduce violent crime.

“We want to start a transparent process of dialogue aimed at finding a solution to the violence,” the Mara 18 gang member said.

The gangs also want improved conditions for prisoners.

El Salvador’s gangs have their roots in immigrant street gangs of the US.

Over the years they have grown to become powerful trans national criminal organizations with thousands of members.

They are heavily involved in drug trafficking and extortion, and have a reputation for ruthless violence.

El Salvador has one of the highest murder rates in the world, with around 10 killings a day in a country with a population of just over seven million.

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

The global economic recovery is slowing faster than forecast, but a return to recession is unlikely, a leading global economic group has said.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said the slowdown had been more “pronounced than anticipated”.

As a result, it lowered its growth forecast for 2010 for the G7 leading economies to 1.5%, down from 1.75%.

It added the economic outlook was characterised by “great uncertainty”.

“The uncertainty is caused by a combination of factors, but it is unlikely that we are heading into another downturn,” said the OECD’s chief economist Pier Carlo Padoan.

The group said consumer spending could remain weak, while concerns about high levels of government debt were also serving to constrain growth.

Against this, the group reported more stable financial conditions and strong corporate profits.

It forecast growth in the US at an annualised rate of 2% between August and October, then 1.2% in the final three months of the year.

In the second quarter of this year, the US economy grew at an annualised pace of 1.6%.

The group also forecast a sharp slowdown in leading European economies, with Germany, France and Italy together growing at an annualised rate of 0.4% in the third quarter and 0.6% in the fourth.

This would represent a sharp turnaround from the second quarter, when some leading European economies grew at a faster pace than the US.

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A light aircraft has crashed in a garden in Hampshire.

The Cessna plane came down in Woodlands Road, between Ashurst and Netley Marsh on Thursday afternoon.

It is believed two people who were on board the plane have been hurt. It is not yet known how serious their injuries are.

Hampshire police said Woodlands Road has been closed while officers attend the scene. The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch will be notified.

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The next generation of telescopes could reveal the presence of oceans on planets beyond our Solar System.

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Scottish ministers and opposition politicians have joined forces in an effort to secure the future of two new Royal Navy aircraft carriers.

Looming Ministry of Defence cuts led to speculation the carriers may not be constructed on the Clyde and at Rosyth.

First Minister Alex Salmond is to take part in a ministerial meeting on the issue, while Labour’s Iain Gray warned of the potential loss of many jobs.

The Conservatives stressed no decisions had been made.

Meanwhile, Scottish Secretary Michael Moore, a Lib Dem MP, has stressed the economic need for retaining the carriers to ministerial colleagues.

The Scottish government is now preparing a submission on the issue, and called on all parties to contribute.

Deputy Scottish Conservative leader Murdo Fraser described any budget reductions as “Labour cuts”, adding that a UK defence review would have gone ahead regardless of who won the General Election.

As the UK government seeks to cut the spending deficit, Defence Secretary Liam Fox aims to save money in procurement and administration while prioritising front-line operations.

His emphasis on the need for much closer working with key European allies has led to speculation that plans for two new aircraft carriers by 2018 – costing £5bn – could be scaled back.

The future of Scottish RAF bases at Lossiemouth and Kinloss, in Moray, could also be in doubt and the Scottish secretary has said he could give “no guarantees” about their fate.

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Iran is to free on Saturday one of three detained American hikers accused of espionage, reports say.

They say that Iran’s culture ministry informed reporters about the planned release in a text message.

Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27 were seized last July after entering Iran from Iraq.

Tehran accuses the Americans of entering Iran illegally and having links to US intelligence.

On Thursday, reporters were told by the text message from the Iranian ministry to come to a hotel on Saturday to witness the release – the same hotel where the parents of the Americans were allowed to meet them recently, the Associated Press news agency reports.

It was not immediately known which of the three hikers would be released.

The hikers’ mothers were allowed to meet their children in Tehran in May.

They insists their children were hiking in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region and unintentionally crossed an unmarked border.

The three have been held in Tehran’s Evin prison. They have not been publicly charged.

In December, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said they would stand trial, but he did not specify on what charges.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on Tehran to free the hikers, and said that any charges would be unfounded.

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A group of US soldiers murdered a number of Afghan civilians and took body parts as trophies, documents released by military officials allege.

The charging sheets relate to allegations that five US soldiers were involved in the murders of civilians in January, February and May of this year.

A further seven servicemen are accused of a conspiracy to cover up the crimes.

Lawyers for some of the accused have denied the accusations, while the army has yet to begin a review of the cases.

‘Appropriate engagements’

In charge sheets obtained from the US Army, Staff Sgt Calvin Gibbs, Cpl Jeremy Morlock, Pte First Class Andrew Holmes, Specialist Michael Wagnon and Specialist Adam Winfield are accused of murdering male Afghan civilians with grenades and firearms.

Other soldiers were accused of stabbing an Afghan corpse, taking or possessing photographs of casualties and beating other men in an effort to keep them from talking to investigators.

The soldiers were attached to the Army’s Fifth Stryker brigade, which deployed to Afghanistan last year and has seen heavy fighting around Kandahar. They were based in Washington state.

Army spokeswoman Major Kathleen Turner told the BBC the cases were in a preliminary phase of investigation and military prosecutors had yet to decide whether to move ahead with proceedings.

The BBC’s Kevin Connolly in Washington says the legal process is likely to be long and complex.

Among other charges, military prosecutors say Staff Sgt Gibbs possessed finger bones, leg bones and a tooth taken from Afghan corpses, and showed fingers to another soldier and threatened to kill him if he reported drug use to commanding officers.

Staff Sgt Gibbs’ lawyer Phillip Stackhouse told the Associated Press news agency his client said the shootings were “appropriate engagements”, and he denied any conspiracy to murder Afghans.

The case against the men is built largely around statements by Cpl Morlock, US media report.

But Cpl Morlock’s lawyer told the Seattle Times his client’s statements were made while he was suffering from concussion, was under the influence of prescription drugs, and was being evacuated.

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The government is planning to reduce the annual welfare bill by a further £4bn, Chancellor George Osborne has told the BBC.

He will give details of the savings, which follow an £11bn cut made in June, in October’s spending review.

The Treasury says the targets for the reductions are still being discussed.

But Mr Osborne told BBC political editor Nick Robinson that those making a “lifestyle choice to just sit on out-of-work benefits” would be affected.

He described the welfare budget as “completely out of control”.

The combined £4bn and £11bn cuts represent about 6% of total spending in the area.

The BBC understands that discussions are continuing in Whitehall about whether it is possible to limit pensioner benefits – such as the winter fuel allowance, bus pass and free TV licence – without breaking Prime Minister David Cameron’s election promise that he would preserve them.

The Conservatives have described as “lies” Labour’s warnings that those benefits would be scrapped.

The Treasury is currently holding meetings with individual ministers ahead of the October’s spending review, likely to be the toughest in a generation.

Most government departments have been told to prepare packages of cuts worth between 25% and 40%.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said there were “difficult decisions” ahead, but the savings would begin in April 2011 and be “spread evenly” over the next four years – equivalent to an annual 6% budget reduction.

For Labour, shadow business secretary Pat McFadden accused the coalition of taking a “gamble with growth and jobs” and said cuts would “hit the poorest areas hardest”.

BBC-commissioned research suggests industrial areas in the North East and Midlands are least resilient to such changes.

Middlesbrough is ranked as the most vulnerable to cuts, followed by Mansfield in Nottinghamshire and Stoke-on-Trent.

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A German banker at the centre of a row over comments he made about immigration and race has agreed to stand down, the country’s Central Bank has announced.

Thilo Sarrazin, a board member of the Bundesbank, will leave his post at the end of this month.

He has said that Jews “share a particular gene” and has accused Muslims of failing to integrate.

Chancellor Angela Merkel was among several leaders who called for his removal from the board.

Mr Sarrazin, in his book entitled Germany Abolishes Itself, says that Muslim immigrants are a drain on German society.

“Most of the cultural and economic problems are concentrated in a group of the five to six million immigrants from Muslim countries,” he stated in the book.

The issue has proved divisive in Germany, with right-wing groups claiming his views vindicate their own stances.

But advocates of improving integration say he has made it harder to hold an objective debate by polarising opinion and obscuring the facts.

Mrs Merkel’s office said his controversial remarks were damaging the reputation of the Bundesbank.

And in a brief statement on Thursday, the Central Bank said: “With a view to the public discussions, both sides agreed to end their work together at the end of the month.”

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An appeals court in the United States has suspended a ban imposed last month on federally-funded research involving embryonic stem cells.

The court in Washington placed a temporary stay on an earlier decision by US District Judge Royce Lamberth.

Judge Lamberth ruled that the research violated US law because it involved destroying human embryos.

President Obama lifted a ban on federal funding for stem cell research in March.

Critics say the ban, which was kept in place by Mr Obama’s predecessor, George W Bush, impeded the fight to find treatments for diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and diabetes.

The legal action, which was also backed by Christian groups including the Alliance Defense Fund, is against the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

But Judge Lamberth’s decision prompted a temporary injunction blocking plans by the Obama administration to increase funding for human embryonic stem cell research.

The appeals court said the purpose of its administrative stay was to give the judges opportunity to consider the merits of a Justice Department motion seeking to suspend Judge Lamberth’s ruling.

Thursday’s move “should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits” of the motion, the appeals judges said.

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An explosive EastEnders storyline which could see the end of Peggy Mitchell, played by Barbara Windsor, begins on Thursday.

Peggy will watch the famous Queen Vic pub go up in flames, marking the end of 16 years of brawls and bust-ups behind the bar during her tenure on the show.

Windsor, 73, announced she was leaving the show last October, so she could spend more time with her husband.

Soap bosses will not confirm whether Peggy perishes in the fire.

In a statement released last year, Windsor said: “I’ll be so sad to leave Peggy behind. EastEnders has been wonderful to me and it’s no secret that it changed my life all of those years ago.”

The inferno begins after her son Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), who has become a drug addict, sets fire to the pub.

Dramatic pictures released in advance of transmission show the moment Peggy realises he is trapped by the flames.

Stacey Branning (Lacey Turner) and her baby Lily are also stuck upstairs during the blaze.

But writers have refused to disclose whether any characters will perish in the fire.

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Stanislas Wawrinka and Mikhail Youzhny battle for a US Open semi-final spot, with Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco in action later.

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A social worker involved in a County Fermanagh child sex abuse case did not do anything wrong, her employer has said.

The chief executive of the Western Health Trust said the social worker had acted within the law in her dealings with James and Owen Roe McDermott.

Elaine Way made her comments to the Stormont health committee.

It is hearing evidence on how the men were allowed to return to live in the village where they had abused children.

In June, James and Owen Roe McDermott were found mentally unfit to stand trial for sexually abusing children in Donagh over a thirty year period.

They were given lifetime orders banning them from being with children but were allowed to return to their home in the village, close to children’s play areas and to the people they had abused.

They have since admitted themselves to hospital for treatment following pressure from concerned residents.

On Thursday, the Stormont health committee questioned why it took the Western Health Trust so long to be notified and then to react to the brothers being allowed to continue to live in the community.

Committee members also questioned officials from the Department of Health.

The judgement handed down in the McDermott case stipulated that the brothers were to reside at a residential address approved by their supervising officer.

Ms Way told the hearing that supervising officer, in this case a female social worker, could approve or disapprove an address but could not determine where the person should live, such as placing them in a hospital setting, for example.

The chief executive explained that had the social worker chosen to place the men in the care of health professionals, she would have been undermining the decision of the court.

She also told the committee that she is to meet members of the Donagh community next Tuesday to explain the process that led to the McDermott brothers being sent back home.

Last week the Justice Minister, David Ford, said a clerical error had no bearing in the decision to allow the McDermott brothers to return to Donagh.

A court official typed up a supervision and treatment order but left out the address where the brothers should live.

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Police are offering a reward of up to £10,000 in their search for a man wanted in connection with the murder of a 17-year-old boy in Cardiff.

Mohammed Ali Ege, 32, from Riverside, Cardiff, is wanted in connection with the murder of Aamir Siddiqi.

Aamir was attacked at his family home in Roath at about 1340 BST on 11 April and died of stab injuries.

His parents Iqbal, 68, and Parveen, 55, were also seriously injured.

South Wales Police first appealed for help in finding the man last month.

But now the force has renewed its call for any new information leading to any further arrests and subsequent convictions in relation to the Aamir Siddiqi murder.

The man police want to speak to is black, 5ft 10in (1.78m), slim, with black shaved or cropped hair, brown eyes. Police say he is of Middle Eastern heritage and has a Welsh accent.

He is known to have contacts across Cardiff, Pontypridd, and Barry.

An appeal for information on finding him was aired on the BBC Crimewatch programme on Wednesday and officers said they were following up lines of inquiry as a result.

Detectives say the public should not approach him directly but call police immediately if they have any information about where he is.

People should contact the major crime incident room at Cardiff central police station on 02920 527 303 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

For immediate sightings the public are asked to dial 999.

Two men, aged 36 and 37, have been remanded in custody charged with the murder of Aamir Siddiqi and the attempted murder of his parents.

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Parliament is to debate allegations that MPs had their mobile phones hacked into by News of the World journalists.

Tessa Jowell and Chris Bryant are among Labour MPs who say they were targeted.

The role of No 10 aide Andy Coulson, who has repeatedly denied he was aware of the practice when he was editor, dominated prime minister’s questions.

Nick Clegg, standing in for David Cameron, said the police should examine any fresh evidence but said Labour was being “pious” given its past scandals.

Commons Speaker John Bercow granted calls for a debate on the issue, which will take place on Thursday.

Labour’s shadow justice secretary Jack Straw, himself standing in for acting leader Harriet Harman, said there were serious questions to answer given Mr Coulson’s role at the “heart of government”.

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