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President Hu said China does not seek “hegemony” or to pursue an expansionist policy Chinese President Hu Jintao has said China has no interest in pursuing an arms race or exerting military dominance over other nations.
“We do not engage in arms races or pose a military threat to any country,” the Chinese leader said in a speech to US business leaders.
Mr Hu called for US co-operation on economic and security issues.
On the third day of his US state visit Mr Hu met leading US politicians and was quizzed on a number of issues.
“China will never seek hegemony or pursue an expansionist policy,” Mr Hu said during a speech at a lunch with senior US officials and business leaders.
The Chinese leader added that the US and China relationship had historically enjoyed a “smooth and steady growth” when the two nations considered each other’s interests.
Earlier on Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner, a leading Republican, said he raised the need for tougher intellectual property protections and improved human rights at a meeting with Mr Hu on Capitol Hill.
Mr Hu said on that China still needed to do “a lot” over human rights, following a meeting at the White House with US President Barack Obama.
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A boy has died and three others are in hospital after being stabbed in north London.
The victims, all thought to be aged about 14, were found with stab wounds near the junction of West Green Road and Black Boy Lane in Tottenham.
A Metropolitan Police (Met) spokesman said one boy died at the scene and the others were taken to hospital – one with minor injuries.
A man in his late 30s has been arrested and is in custody in north London.
The Met said officers were called to reports of an assault in West Green Road at 1545 GMT.
London Ambulance Service sent three crews and the air ambulance doctor in a car.
A statement said staff treated four patients, one of whom died and three were taken hospital, two as a priority.
It is understood one of the boys suffered minor injuries but the condition of the other two is not known.
West Green Road has been closed between Philip Lane and Vincent Road.
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Relations between North and South Korea nosedived during 2010 South Korea has agreed to hold high-level military talks with the North, officials say, in a move that could ease tension on the peninsula.
The North’s army minister proposed the talks earlier in a telegram to his southern counterpart.
It comes after months of tension over the sinking of a southern warship last March, and the North’s shelling of a southern island in November.
On Wednesday, the US and China urged the two sides to reopen talks.
Officials at the South’s defence ministry said the North had made its latest offer of talks in a telegram sent to southern Defence Minister Kim Kwan-jin, signed by the North’s Armed Forces Minister Kim Young-chun.
The North had made several offers of talks earlier this month, but they were all dismissed by Seoul.
The South’s Unification Ministry restated on Thursday that the North must “take responsible measures” over the shelling of Yeonpyeong island and the sinking of the Cheonan warship before talks could begin.
But Pyongyang has always denied torpedoing the warship, and says it was provoked into shelling the island.
On Wednesday, China’s President Hu Jintao and US President Barack Obama released a joint statement urging Korean dialogue after a meeting in Washington.
“The United States and China emphasised the importance of an improvement in North-South relations, and agreed that sincere and constructive inter-Korean dialogue is an essential step,” the two leaders said.
And the North’s state-run news agency KCNA called for the US to reopen talks with Pyongyang.
“The US would be well advised to re-examine its hostile policy towards the DPRK [North Korea] and make a U-turn towards dialogue and fence-mending,” its report said.
The US is among the countries involved in talks over the North’s nuclear programme.
Pyongyang pulled out of the talks in April 2009, shortly before conducting a nuclear test.
Southern defence officials said on Thursday that they would propose to Pyongyang reopening dialogue on denuclearisation.
Relations between the two Koreas plunged to new lows after the South’s Cheonan warship was sunk in March, with the loss of 46 lives.
An international report later blamed the North for the sinking – allegations denied by Pyongyang.
On 23 November, the North killed four people when it shelled Yeonpyeong island – its first attack on a civilian area since the 1950-53 war ended.
The South responded with a series of military exercises close to the border.
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Students are not always guaranteed a university place, as the number of successful applicants fall The number of Welsh applicants winning places at university has fallen, according to admissions service Ucas.
Overall 7.6% fewer Welsh applicants were accepted at universities across the UK in 2010 than the previous year.
This puts Wales bottom of the table compared to the rest of the UK although the assembly government said it follows an upward trend in recent years.
From September, the assembly government is introducing a cap on student numbers due to financial constraints.
In England there was no change in number of successful applicants, in Scotland it increased by 3.9% and in Northern Ireland there was a small decrease of 0.1%.
Ucas figures also show the number of Welsh students going to Welsh universities in 2010 dropped by 15.3%, compared to the previous year.
But the number of Welsh students attending university courses in England has increased by 12.6%.
BBC Wales education correspondent Ciaran Jenkins said in general, Welsh students like to stay in Wales.
“But if there are fewer places in Wales and more applicants from elsewhere coming here then there is a danger that Welsh students are going to get squeezed out.”
He said the number of English students winning places at Welsh universities increased by 8%, which also impacted on Welsh students, but that A-level results were a factor.
“In general, the number of ‘A’ grades that Welsh students got was simply less than the number of ‘A’ grades English students got so with an increase in candidates from England, universities in Wales have been giving the places to people from over the border.”
“Although acceptances of Welsh students to UK higher education institutions have decreased…the overall trend in recent years has been an increase”
Welsh Assembly Government
A Welsh Assembly Government spokesperson said: “Although acceptances of Welsh students to UK higher education institutions have decreased by 7.6% between 2009 and 2010, the overall trend in recent years has been an increase: up 0.4% on 2008 and 10.7% on 2005 (on a comparable basis).”
From September, the assembly government is introducing a cap on student numbers to save money, bringing Wales into line with the other UK nations.
In a statement announcing the cap last July, education minister Leighton Andrews said institutions were “fully aware” of the need for “prudence” when recruiting students.
He said the need for constraint at a time when public funding was tight “should not come as a surprise,” with limits on student numbers already in operation in the other three UK nations.
“Every new full-time undergraduate student recruited by HE institutions from 2010/11 will increase the demand on student finance budgets by around £9,500 a year in grants and loans.”
Mr Andrews said the student finance budget was increasing every year which was “partially the result of increased recruitment by HE institutions of full-time undergraduates eligible for statutory student support.
“In order to help alleviate this pressure we need to consider measures to manage the number of students who are recruited,” he added.
It is expected that there will be a rush on university places from English students this year as students try to beat increased tuition fees of up to £9,000 which start in from September 2012.
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The 11 authors were unveiled in central London on Thursday An ex-Holby City actress and the Daily Telegraph’s former literary editor are among debut authors tipped for success this year by book chain Waterstone’s.
Sarah Winman, who has also appeared in Silent Witness, and journalist Sam Leith are two of the writers on the first Waterstone’s 11 list.
Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman, the subject of offers from 12 leading publishers, is also cited.
All the books, chosen from a 100-strong longlist, are due out this year.
Dominic Myers, Waterstone’s managing director, said the list comprised “one of the most exciting and remarkable collections of debut novels I’ve seen in my career”.
Winman’s book, When God was a Rabbit, is described by its author as “a family saga about what keeps families together and about being able to start again”.
“I’ve always been writing, but it is in the last five years I started writing novels,” said the 46-year-old.
Writing, she added, came out of her experience as an actress. “I was surrounded by scripts and I was surrounded by words,” she said.
Authors on the list – unveiled at Waterstone’s Piccadilly store in central London on Thursday – hail from all around the world.
Shehan Karunatilaka is Sri Lankan, David Bezmozgis is Latvian, while Sophie Hardach’s The Registrar’s Manual for Detecting Forced Marriages is set in her native Germany.
Kelman’s novel, the story of a boy living on a deprived London estate who falls into crime, sparked a bidding war that earned him a six-figure advance and a two-book deal with Bloomsbury.
Extracts from the 11 works will be published in a limited edition book ahead of their individual release dates.
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Britain’s reputation will be “dead” and it will have told a “big lie” to get the Olympics if the stadium does not have an athletics legacy, warns the head of world athletics.
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Troops fired warning shots as protesters marched in central Tunis
Tunisia’s new government says it will recognise all banned political groups, including Islamists, and grant an amnesty to all political prisoners.
The announcement comes after the new cabinet held its first meeting – nearly a week after President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted amid mass protests.
The meeting had been postponed amid opposition calls not to give key posts to members of Mr Ben Ali’s RCD party.
All eight RCD ministers in the cabinet had earlier quit the party.
The party had also dissolved its central committee.
On Thursday, troops fired warning shots at crowds who had massed near RCD headquarters in the capital, Tunis.
Reports said some protesters had tried to scale a wall at the building.
Judges also staged a demonstration in Tunis demanding the resignation of all judges who worked for the ousted president.
There were also reports of demonstrations in the towns of Gafsa and Kef.
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“We are in complete agreement,” Youth Minister Mohamed Aloulou said after Thursday’s meeting of the cabinet – described by some of his colleagues as “historic”.
“We are not going back. We will recognise all the political movements.”
The government said the amnesty would also cover the banned Islamist Ennahda movement.
The announcement comes a day after two a cabinet minister and a former member both said that that the government had already freed all political prisoners.
Political wrangling had delayed the inaugural meeting of the cabinet. Hours before it was due to start, a minister who had belonged to the RCD announced he was pulling out of the government.
“I am stepping down for the higher interests of the country in this delicate situation to try to bring the country out of crisis and ensure a democratic transition,” the official Tap news agency quoted Zouheir M’Dhaffar, minister of state in the prime minister’s office, as saying.
Four opposition ministers quit the cabinet the day after it was formed, demanding the exclusion of RCD ministers.
Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi and interim President Fouad Mebazaa – former speaker of the lower house of parliament – have also quit the RCD to try to distance themselves from Mr Ben Ali.
The interim government must arrange a date for future elections Mr Ben Ali and his family fled to Saudi Arabia last week after mass street protests over unemployment, poverty and corruption.
Despite his departure, protests have continued, with demonstrators and opposition leaders demanding that all members of the RCD party be excluded from any future administration.
Although the situation across Tunisia remains tense, authorities have shortened the hours of curfew.
A state of emergency is still in place and the army is still deployed in the capital Tunis. Schools and universities remain closed.
The interim government has pledged free and fair elections within six months but has given no dates.
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The arrests are tied to charges of murder, extortion and narcotics trafficking US federal agents have charged 127 suspected mobsters in multiple investigations into New York’s organised crime families.
The arrests were made on Thursday morning throughout New York City, New Jersey, Rhode Island and other areas in the north-east US, FBI officials said.
The arrests are tied to charges of murder, extortion and narcotics.
Attorney General Eric Holder said the arrests amounted to the largest mafia crackdown in the history of the FBI.
“We are committed and determined to eradicating these criminals enterprises and bringing their members to justice,” Mr Holder said during a news conference in Brooklyn.
Mr Holder said mafia-controlled taxes, which can affect ports and small businesses, have a negative impact on the US economy.
“It [the mafia] is an ongoing threat to the economic well-being of this country,” he said.
Officials said alleged leaders of the Gambino, Genovese, Lucchese, Bonanno, Colombo and DeCavalcante families were among those who had been arrested.
The arrests were made as the result of information obtained through wiretaps, co-operatation from informants and other central intelligence, said Janice Fedarcyk, FBI’s New York division.
Former mob members, who recorded thousands of hours of conversations with mafia family bosses, also assisted in the investigation, authorities said.
Suspects arrested on Thursday are being charged with crimes that include arson, extortion, gambling, loan sharking and labor racketeering.
Mr Holder said the charges spawned from decades of offences, including murders within rivalling crime families, a killing during a botched robbery and even a double homicide after a argument in a pub.
The sweep began before dawn on Thursday with some 800 federal agents and police officers arresting a range of individuals being investigated, from suspected small-time bookers to senior family leaders.
Mr Holder said all five major crime families in the New York City area were targeted in the investigation, which led to the largest FBI-led mafia crackdown in US history.
Former mafia member Salvatore Vitale was sentenced to prison in October after federal officials and prosecutors praised his work in double-crossing his own crime syndacate.
Vitale, who was arrested in 2003, gave authorities information on at least 11 murders, which helped bring down the once prominent Bonanno family in the New York area.
John “Sonny” Franzese, a 93-year-old member of the Colombo crime family, was also sentenced in Brooklyn on Friday to eight years in prison for extorting strip clubs and a pizzeria in the New York Metro Area.
Mafia families in the US have seen a sharp decline in fortunes in the the past 10 years as the result of court testimony from informants, who have begun breaking their code of silence in recent years.
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A three year-old boy saved his mother by calling the emergency services when she collapsed at their home.
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The former MI6 boss denied he was “too close” to ministers The Iraq inquiry has published details of evidence given by former spy chief Sir Richard Dearlove.
Sir Richard, head of MI6 in the run-up to the 2003 invasion, said suggestions that he became too close to Tony Blair were “complete rubbish”.
Assessment of Iraq’s weapons threat was “incomplete”, he said, and there was a “convincing” case that Saddam Hussein had “weaponised” chemical agents.
Tony Blair is due to give evidence to the inquiry again on Friday.
The former prime minister is expected to be asked about private conversations he had with President Bush over Iraq when he is recalled to give evidence, as well as the legal basis for the 2003 war and intelligence about the threat posed by Iraq.
When he first appeared before the inquiry a year ago, Mr Blair said he had “no regrets” about taking the UK to war and believed the world was a safer place after Saddam – who he described as a “monster” – had been overthrown.
Ahead of Mr Blair’s second appearance, the inquiry has been releasing a number of declassified documents and details of evidence given in private.
In his evidence – given behind closed doors and substantial parts of which were redacted – Sir Richard denied that he had become “too close” to ministers in the run-up up to the Iraq invasion and that this had impaired his judgement.
“A lot of people were jealous of my position, and therefore, I think, motivated to talk about it, including the foreign secretary of the day”
Sir Richard Dearlove
“I’m well aware of the criticisms of me, that I had too close a relationship with the prime minister and all this. This is complete rubbish. The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) generally doesn’t “do ministers”,” he said.
He added: “I wasn’t sipping Chardonnay in the evenings with Tony Blair, or nipping off to have breakfast with him in Chequers.
“I was going to meetings, as the head of SIS, to discuss SIS business in relation to the development of national security policy. I think that the record shows that absolutely clearly.”
“A lot of people were jealous of my position, and therefore, I think, motivated to talk about it, including the foreign secretary of the day. You know, this was a very difficult and awkward period for me.”
As head of the Secret Intelligence Service – and known as “C” – he was a key figure in assessing intelligence about Iraq’s weapons capability.
Sir Richard said he did not believe there was a “complete picture” of what weapons Iraq had possessed. He said he “absolutely” believed that Iraq had VX nerve gas capable of being deployed and that this material had never been found.
“Had even we found one artillery rocket delivery system with VX, what we are talking about might be viewed very differently,” he said. “I think that the intelligence on VX, if you actually put it together — and no one has done this — is very compelling.”
No weapons of mass destruction were found after the Iraq conflict.
The inquiry has said it will only hold hearings in private when doing so in public would threaten national security and harm international relations.
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The apparent shooting took place on one of Nairobi’s main roads Kenyan authorities have suspended three policemen after a newspaper published a picture of an officer apparently shooting a man at point-blank range.
Three men are said to have been shot dead in the incident, which took place in central Nairobi.
The Daily Nation said the officers ordered the suspects out of a car, forced them to lie down and shot them.
The Kenyan police force has often been accused of carrying out extra-judicial killings.
The country’s internal security minister said he had ordered the police chief to suspend the accused officers “with immediate effect” to allow a full investigation to tale place.
The Daily Nation said that a witness to the killings, which happened on Wednesday on one of the main roads through the city, had taken the pictures.
The apparent killing has been condemned by human rights campaign group Amnesty, which said such cases were all too common in the country.
“Eyewitness reports of this incident depict a disturbing image of police officers who are accustomed to acting with complete impunity. These appear to be blatant and deliberate killings that amount to extrajudicial executions,” said Justus Nyang’aya.
The BBC’s Will Ross, in Nairobi, says that the Kenyan police force is frequently accused of carrying out executions but proper investigations are so rare that Kenyans are left feeling the police are above the law.
In 2009 a UN investigation concluded that in Kenya, executions by the police were systematic and widespread.
After the country’s disputed election three years ago, more than 1,200 people were killed, several hundred of them shot by the police.
The head of the force at the time, Major General Hussein Ali, is one of six men accused by the International Criminal Court of bearing the most responsibility for the post-election violence.
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Riven Vincent, who has three other children, met David Cameron during the election campaign last year
The prime minister has said he has “every sympathy” with the family of a disabled six-year-old after her mother accused him of not doing enough to help families in need of respite care.
Riven Vincent, of Staple Hill, near Bristol, said she could not cope and might put her daughter Celyn into care.
She had criticised David Cameron and said her family was “crumbling”.
Mr Cameron denied government austerity measures were preventing the family getting more help.
He said he would be looking into the case “very closely”.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said Mr Cameron had sent a letter to Ms Vincent.
Her daughter is blind, quadriplegic and has cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
Mr Cameron had visited Ms Vincent during the General Election campaign after an exchange on the mothers’ website Mumsnet.
Ms Vincent criticised Mr Cameron, saying she had hoped following his visit he “would have done more to protect families like ours”.
Mr Cameron said he did not believe that Riven Vincent’s case was related to the wider public service cuts
She added: “The money the government has allocated for short breaks and respite care – £800m over four years – is not enough and worse still it’s not going to be ring-fenced.”
Mr Cameron said he did not believe the case was connected to public service cuts.
On Wednesday Ms Vincent had posted on the website Mumsnet: “Have asked ss (social services) to take dd (dear daughter) into care.
“We get 6 hours respite a week. They have refused a link family. They have refused extra respite. I cant cope.”
At least 1,300 Mumsnet users have replied with messages of sympathy.
South Gloucestershire Council said it had now arranged a meeting with her.
A spokesman said it had been supporting Ms Vincent and her family since Celyn was a baby and there had been no reduction in the care the council provided.
The spokesman said: “This package of care is reviewed regularly and has increased according to need over the last six years. There have been no reductions in the care provided to Celyn and her family.”
They added: “We recognise that there are times when difficulties can appear overwhelming and we hope that we can resolve the present difficulties in the best interest of the family.”
Jack Lopresti, Conservative MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke, said he had visited Ms Vincent and Celyn at their home with a South Gloucestershire councillor in the summer following an email exchange.
He said the councillor had raised the issue at a council meeting and they had written to the Minister for Disabled People.
Mr Lopresti said a case worker had visited Ms Vincent’s house to see what support could be offered.
He said social workers had gone to the house on Thursday.
He said: “Tomorrow I am going to see the leader of the council to see what we can do to give the family the help they need.”
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