Japan executes first three prisoners since 2010

Japan has hanged three death row inmates in its first executions since July 2010.

Reports said the unnamed prisoners, hanged in separate prisons, had all been convicted of multiple murders.
Japan is one of the few advanced industrialised nations to retain the death penalty. It is usually reserved for multiple murders. Though the majority support the death penalty, rights groups say Japan's death row is particularly harsh.
"Today, three executions were carried out," Justice Minister Toshio Ogawa said. "I have carried out my duty as a justice minister as stipulated by law."
There are currently more than 100 people on death row, including Shoko Asahara, the mastermind behind the 1995 sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway. No executions were carried out in 2011.

Official figures in Japan as of 2011 put support for capital punishment at over 80%.  
But rights groups like Amnesty International have called for it to be abolished, saying the condemned have few visits, little exercise and are forced to spend almost all of their time sitting down in their cells.

Sometimes held for decades, they are not warned in advance of when they will be put to death, meaning they fear every day is their last, the BBC's Roland Buerk reports.
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Worlds Tiniest Puppy

Beyonce, a Dachshund mix female puppy, is seen here being hand fed in this March 10, 2012 handout photo. Beyonce, who weighed just 1 ounce and could fit into a teaspoon when found, could be the world's smallest dog, according to animal rescuers in Northern California who found her abandoned in San Bernardino, California. The rescuers have submitted an application to Guinness World Records for Beyonce to be considered the world's smallest dog. ...

the world’s most dangerous border
Korean Demilitarized Zone, a 250-mile long thin sliver of land that separates North and South Korea, is one of the most dangerous places on the planet. Soldiers from both the nations bristle at the sight of each other: the air is so thick with tension one can almost touch it. Battle-ready and trigger-happy, the heavily armed troops are primed to go into battle at the drop of a hat even as nuclear-powered North bares its fangs at South even as the latter hosts the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul.

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2 Israeli Leaders Make the Iran Issue Their Own

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have turned into the odd couple of Israeli politics in whose hands sits the prospect of an attack on Iran. From opposite political traditions with distinct experiences and worldviews, the two have forged a tight bond, often excluding the rest of the Israeli leadership.
For Mr. Netanyahu, an Iranian nuclear weapon would be the 21st-century equivalent of the Nazi war machine and the Spanish Inquisition — the latest attempt to destroy the Jews. Preventing that is the mission of his life. For Mr. Barak, who spurns talk of a second Holocaust and fear for Israel’s existence, it is a challenge about strategy: “zones of immunity” and “red lines,” the operational details of an assault on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“All leaders have kitchen cabinets, but Netanyahu and Barak have established a kitchenette of two,” remarked Nahum Barnea, a columnist for the Yediot Aharonot newspaper, in an interview. “They haven’t discussed Iran with the rest of the government in weeks and have convinced themselves there is only one way to deal with Iran — their way.”

A top Israeli official who works closely with both leaders and spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed that the cabinet had not talked lately about Iran, but noted that detailed and long-standing preparation had gone into the possibility of a military strike. Of the two men, he said: “One views himself as a savior, the other lives for a good operation. They’re a strange pair who have come to appreciate each other. Together they control this issue.”

Mr. Netanyahu is the leader of the right-wing Likud Party and grew up in the revisionist Zionist tradition of maximizing territory, standing up aggressively to Israel’s opponents and rejecting the quasi socialism of David Ben-Gurion, the founding prime minister. Mr. Barak grew up on a collective farm deep within the heart of Labor Zionism, and after a long and decorated military career became chairman of the Labor Party. He served briefly as prime minister before losing popular support and an election to Ariel Sharon in 2001.

“On the surface they appear very different,” commented Daniel Ben-Simon, a left-leaning Labor Party member of Parliament who worked with Mr. Barak. “Netanyahu cannot disconnect Israel from the Holocaust. He sees himself as the prime minister of the Jewish people. Barak is the ultimate Israeli, the prince of Zionism. Many thought Barak would rein in Netanyahu on Iran. Instead he joined with him into a two-man show.”

While many here fear a catastrophe if Israel strikes at Iran, Mr. Barak and Mr. Netanyahu increasingly argue that there may be no other option. Their view is that given a choice between an Iran with nuclear weapons — which they say could use them against Israel directly or through proxies, as well as spur a regional arms race — and the consequences of an attack on Iran before it can go nuclear, the latter is far preferable. There will be a counterattack, they say; people will lose their lives and property will be destroyed. But they say it is the lesser of two evils.       

Chocolate 'may help keep people slim'

People who eat chocolate regularly tend to be thinner, new research suggests.

The findings come from a study of nearly 1,000 US people that looked at diet, calorie intake and body mass index (BMI) - a measure of obesity.
It found those who ate chocolate a few times a week were, on average, slimmer than those who ate it occasionally.

Even though chocolate is loaded with calories, it contains ingredients that may favour weight loss rather than fat synthesis, scientists believe.
Despite boosting calorie intake, regular chocolate consumption was related to lower BMI in the study, which is published in Archives of Internal Medicine.
The link remained even when other factors, like how much exercise individuals did, were taken into account.
And it appears it is how often you eat chocolate that is important, rather than how much of it you eat. The study found no link with quantity consumed.
According to the researchers, there is only one chance in a hundred that their findings could be explained by chance alone.
Lead author Dr Beatrice Golomb, from the University of California at San Diego, said: "Our findings appear to add to a body of information suggesting that the composition of calories, not just the number of them, matters for determining their ultimate impact on weight."
This is not the first time scientists have suggested that chocolate may be healthy for us.
Other studies have claimed chocolate may be good for the heart.

Consumption of certain types of chocolate has been linked to some favourable changes in blood pressure, insulin sensitivity and cholesterol level.
And chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, does contain antioxidants which can help to mop up harmful free radicals - unstable chemicals that can damage our cells.

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Sudan and South Sudan in fierce oil border clashes

Clashes have broken out in oil-rich border areas between Sudan and South Sudan in what has been called the biggest confrontation since the countries split last July.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir said his forces seized Heglig, a key oil field partially claimed by both sides.
Sudan state radio says President Omar al-Bashir has put off next week's visit to South Sudan for a summit.
The countries fought a long civil war before the South seceded from Sudan.
The nations disagree over several issues, of which the biggest is oil.
Mr Bashir had been due to hold talks with Mr Kiir at the summit, which had been billed as sign of improved relations.A spokesman for the South Sudan army said the clashes were the biggest confrontation since independence.The clashes prompted President Kiir to warn of war.
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He said: "This morning the [Sudanese] air force came and bombed... areas in Unity state.

"After this intensive bombardment our forces.... were attacked by the [Sudan Armed Forces] and militia."

Mr Kiir added: "It is a war that has been imposed on us again, but it is [Sudanese] who are looking for it."
The South also reported Khartoum had attacked the disputed areas of Jau and Pan Akuach, and Teshwin inside South Sudan.
Sudan's army spokesman, Sawarmi Khalid Saad, confirmed fighting in the border area of Sudan's South Kordofan state and the southern Unity state, without giving the exact locations.

"The clashes there are still ongoing," he said.When the South seceded, it took most of the former Sudan's oil fields but all the pipelines still flow north, to the export terminal in Port Sudan.In January, South Sudan shut down all of its oil fields in a row over the fees Sudan demands to transit the oil.South Sudan depends on oil sales for 98% of state revenues, but pledged not to restart production until a deal was reached.Parts of the countries' common border also remain in dispute.
In February, the two states agreed to demarcate most of the border within three months, although this would exclude five disputed areas.
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World leaders: Nuclear terrorism a 'grave threat'

World leaders have called for closer co-operation to tackle the threat of nuclear terrorism at a summit on nuclear security in Seoul.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said nuclear terrorism remained a "grave threat", while US President Barack Obama said action was key.
Chinese President Hu Jintao urged the group to work together on the issue.
Chinese President Hu Jintao urged the group to work together on the issue.
The meeting has so far been dominated by North Korea's plan to launch a rocket next month.
North Korea says the long-range rocket will carry a satellite. The US says any launch would violate UN resolutions and constitute a missile test.
Iran's nuclear programme was also on the minds of the summit participants, with Mr Obama pledging to meet the leaders of Russia and China on the sidelines to work towards a resolution
At the meeting, world leaders are discussing measures to fight the threat of nuclear terrorism, including the protection of nuclear materials and facilities, as well as the prevention of trafficking of nuclear materials

There are currently no binding international agreements on how to protect nuclear material stored peacefully inside its home country, says the BBC's correspondent in Seoul, Lucy Williamson. An amendment seeking to do that is still unratified after seven years.

Addressing the summit, Mr Obama warned there were still "too many bad actors'' who were threatening to stockpile and use ''dangerous'' nuclear material.
"It would not take much, just a handful or so of these materials, to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people and that's not an exaggeration, that's the reality that we face," he said.

Rocket launch
Meetings on Monday were overshadowed by North Korea's planned launch, scheduled to take place between 12 and 16 April.
Pyongyang says it is intended to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korea's founding leader Kim Il-sung.On Tuesday, a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said that the launch will go ahead as planned and criticised Mr Obama's stance as ''confrontational''.
North Korea ''will never give up the launch of a satellite for peaceful purposes''', the spokesman said in a statement in the official KCNA news agency.
"The security of the world depends on the actions that we take."
"The security of the world depends on the actions that we take."
Mr Hu called for "an international environment conducive to boosting nuclear security" to be created and Mr Lee called for concrete action to tackle a threat that posed "a grave challenge" to peace.
The summit, attending by almost 60 leaders from around the world, is due to issue a communique later in the day.

Mexico Supreme Court rejects Florence Cassez release

Mexico's Supreme Court has said a Frenchwoman jailed for 60 years for kidnap should not be freed immediately.

But the court allowed for the possibility of a retrial of Florence Cassez, 37, saying there were violations in the case.
Ms Cassez was arrested in 2005 at a ranch near Mexico City where several victims were being held, but denies knowledge of the abductions.

The French government says it regrets the court's decision.
The review was requested by a Supreme Court judge, Arturo Zaldivar, who says Ms Cassez was denied her consular rights and the right to be presumed innocent after her arrest.In a motion presented to the court, he said police violated her rights by failing to notify the French consulate and failing to present her to investigative officials.
Judge Zaldivar said the irregularities included the fact that Mexican police made Ms Cassez take part in a televised staging of the raid.
In its decision, the Supreme Court review panel decided not to release Ms Cassez immediately.
But it accepted that there had been police misconduct and violations of Ms Cassez's rights after her detention, leaving open the possibility that the case could need to be reheard.

Jeb Bush endorses Mitt Romney's presidential campaign

Mitt Romney has secured a key endorsement for his presidential bid from former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

Mr Bush, whose support comes the day after Mr Romney secured a clear victory in Illinois, called on Republicans to "unite" behind the Romney campaign.

Correspondents say the backing of the respected Republican suggests the party establishment could be coalescing around Mr Romney.
The eventual nominee will challenge Barack Obama in November's election.
The next primary will be held in Louisiana on Saturday, with more votes due in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia on 3 April.
"Primary elections have been held in 34 states, and now is the time for Republicans to unite behind Governor Romney and take our message of fiscal conservatism and job creation to all voters this fall," Mr Bush said in a statement.

"I am endorsing Mitt Romney for our party's nomination.

"We face huge challenges, and we need a leader who understands the economy, recognises more government regulation is not the answer, believes in entrepreneurial capitalism and works to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to succeed."

Mr Bush had been courted as a possible presidential candidate himself, and his father, former President George H W Bush, has also effectively endorsed Mr Romney's candidacy.
In another boost, FreedomWorks, an organisation that supports the Tea Party movement, dropped its opposition to Mr Romney's candidacy.

"It is a statistical fact that the numbers favour Mitt Romney," Russ Walker, vice-president of FreedomWorks told the Washington Times.
"We are dedicated to defeating Obama and electing a conservative Senate that will help Romney repeal Obamacare [healthcare reform] and address the nation's economic and spending challenges."

Mr Romney has consistently had difficulty winning over the Republican base, who have questioned his conservative credentials.
His senior advisor Eric Fehrnstrom told CNN on Wednesday that Mr Santorum and Mr Gingrich should now step aside.
"Ultimately I'm confident they'll make a decision that's not only right for their party but right for them," he told CNN.

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'Competing every state'

On Tuesday, Mr Romney secured 47% of the Illinois vote, with a comfortable lead of 12 points over Rick Santorum, his closest rival.
Ron Paul polled 9% in Illinois and Newt Gingrich was on 8%; neither candidate campaigned extensively in the state.
"I'm running for president because I have the experience and the vision to get us out of this mess," said Mr Romney, as his victory became evident.

However, addressing supporters on Tuesday evening, Mr Santorum said he had polled well in Illinois in areas "that conservatives and Republicans populate".

Toulouse siege enters second day

The police siege of a building in Toulouse where a man suspected of killing seven people is holed up has entered a second day.

Late on Wednesday gunfire and at least one explosion were heard at the block of flats in north of the city.
Earlier, three more blasts were heard, accompanied by flashes of orange light.
Mohammed Merah, 23, is suspected of killing four people at a Jewish school last Monday and three soldiers in two attacks last week.The earlier blasts sent shockwaves around the quiet residential streets around the building, reports the BBC's Christian Fraser in Toulouse.
After the first explosions, deputy mayor Jean-Pierre Havrin told local media that "negotiations have finished and the assault has begun".
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However, sources from the French interior ministry have since been quoted as saying said this was beginning of an operation to put pressure on Merah.

"They [the blasts] were moves to intimidate the gunman who seems to have changed his mind and does not want to surrender," interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told Reuters.

Police had been negotiating with Merah but had not convinced him to surrender.
Police surrounded Merah's block after two officers were shot at when they tried to get into his flat early on Wednesday morning.

Officials say he is heavily armed with a Kalashnikov high-velocity rifle, a mini-Uzi 9mm machine pistol, several handguns and possibly grenades.
Street lights had been switched off in the vicinity of the building on Wednesday evening.
The five-storey block of flats has been evacuated, and police also moved residents from nearby buildings.
Elsewhere in the city, police are hunting for accomplices and have detained several members of Merah's family.

His mother was taken to the scene on Wednesday in the hope that she could persuade him to surrender, but she told police that she had no influence over her son.

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Israeli burial for French shooting victims

An El Al plane has left Paris for Israel with the bodies of three Jewish children and a rabbi gunned down in southern France, amid fears that a suspected serial killer will strike again.
The Israeli flag-carrier, early on Wednesday, also flew French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe to Tel Aviv along with 50 relatives and friends of the victims who were shot dead in a cold-blooded attack at a Toulouse school.
Jonathan Sandler, a 30-year-old Frenchman, his two sons Arieh, 5, and Gabriel, 4 as well as seven-year-old Myriam Monsonego will be buried later on Wednesday morning at the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem, according to the Israeli embassy in France.
President Nicolas Sarkozy paid silent homage to the victims on Tuesday at a school in Paris close to the city's Holocaust memorial, and afterwards admitted that authorities had as yet no clue as to the identity of the killer.
"Anti-Semitism is obvious. The Jewish school attack was an anti-Semitic crime," Sarkozy told reporters at the Paris school after meeting children.
French investigators fear the same gunman also killed three soldiers in two recent separate attacks and may strike again.
The soldiers were French citizens of North African origin, while another who was critically wounded in the attack was black and from the French West Indies.
French police on Monday launched a huge manhunt after the shooting and the region was put on its highest level of security alert.
More than 100 officers were dispatched to the area to search for the gunman, who is also a prime suspect in the killing of three soldiers in two separate shootings last week.
Police said that the same weapon and the same stolen scooter appeared to have been used in all three attacks.

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All three attacks were carried out by the rider using a .45-calibre weapon, who witnesses described as calmly shooting his victims.
The gunman may also have recorded the attack with an extreme sports video camera strapped to his chest, Claude Gueant, the French interior minister, said.
"A witness saw a small video camera around the killer's neck," Gueant told Europe 1 radio on Tuesday.
A witness saw a small video camera around the killer's neck," Gueant told Europe 1 radio on Tuesday.
"It's a video camera worn in a harness on the chest and indeed he was seen, a witness said so, with this device," Gueant said. "I don't know if he filmed everything

Victims shot in the headAll seven people slain in three attacks were shot in the head at point blank range, the prosecutor leading the investigation said on Tuesday.
Francois Molins, who as Paris' chief prosecutor oversees counter-terrorism inquiries, said the unidentified gunman knew that he was being hunted and warned that he was therefore "likely to act again".
Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland, reporting from Toulouse, said authorities believed the gunman may have recorded the killings to raise his profile.

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"Police have been searching the internet for any video trace of those images that the gunman may have potentially been recording."
Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik, who last July went on a shooting spree that killed 77 people, mostly children, advised anyone wanting to carry out copycat killings to film their attack using such a camera

Police in pre-dawn raid on Toulouse shooting suspect

French police searching for a gunman who shot dead four people at a Jewish school in Toulouse have launched a raid in the north of the city.Two police officers have been injured in the operation, which is reported to have begun before dawn and is ongoing.A 24-year-old man is reported to be holed up inside the bungalow where the operation is taking place.French Interior Minister Claude Gueant is reported to be at the scene of the raid in the Croix-Daurade district.A huge manhunt has been under way in France amid fears the killer may strike again.

The funerals of the rabbi and three children killed in Monday's attack are due in Jerusalem in the coming hours.Israeli police said they expected thousands of people to attend.Also on Wednesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to attend a memorial service for three soldiers killed in two attacks last week which police have linked to the Toulouse shootings.
The same gun and the same scooter were used in all the attacks. All three soldiers killed were of North African descent. Another soldier from the French overseas region of Guadeloupe was left critically ill.
The attacker gunned down Jonathan Sandler, a 30-year-old rabbi and teacher of religion, his two young sons Arieh and Gabriel and then - at point blank range - the head teacher's daughter, seven-year-old Myriam Monsonego, in Monday's attack at a Jewish school in Toulouse.
Their bodies were carried out of Ozar Hatorah school on Tuesday in two black hearses and taken to a nearby airport, reported the Agence France-Presse news agency.
A military jet then flew them to Paris, from where they were placed on a commercial flight to Tel Aviv, AFP said. They have now arrived in Israel.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe was to accompany the relatives of the dead to the funerals in Jerusalem.

Mr Sarkozy and the Socialist presidential candidate Francois Hollande will attend the memorial service in Montauban for the three soldiers killed in last week's attacks.
Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right Front National, will also be at the service. She is often associated with the more controversial debates on immigration and her presence will be closely observed in light of recent events, reports the BBC's Christian Fraser in Toulouse.

Germany elects pastor Joachim Gauck as president

A former Lutheran pastor and civil rights activist has been elected as Germany's new president.

Joachim Gauck, from the former East Germany, won 991 votes out of 1,232 at a special assembly of MPs.
The 72-year-old has no party affiliation, but has gained a reputation as an eloquent speaker not afraid to address controversial issues.
He will replace Christian Wulff, who resigned last month in a scandal over financial favours.
Chancellor Angela Merkel had supported Mr Wulff, her ally, against Mr Gauck when they ran against each other for the largely ceremonial role of president in 2010.
This time round she has backed Mr Gauck, although observers say her hand was forced by the liberal Free Democrats, whose support she needs in the coalition government.
By all accounts, Mrs Merkel likes him as a person, the BBC's Stephen Evans in Berlin reports.
The question is, he says, whether Mr Gauck will be too outspoken for her political needs - say during a visit by a dignitary from an oppressive regime.
Our correspondent says the appointment means that the political leader and the head of state of a united Germany both grew up in the old East Germany - something few would once have imagined.

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Lagarde says China must reform economy and yuan

International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Christine Lagarde has said that China must stop its economy being too dependent on exports and investment.

She also said the yuan could become a global reserve currency if China implemented market-oriented changes.
Ms Lagarde is on a visit to China and India that began over the weekend.
Speaking to politicians and business leaders in Beijing she said there were signs the global economy was stabilising.

Ms Lagarde stressed that at the highest levels, China leadership appears to be willing to make the changes needed to ensure that the world's second-largest economy remains a main driver of global growth.

However, she said that as well as financial reforms, authorities needed to boost household incomes and make sure that the benefits of growth were reaching more people.

She backed, in principle, China's hope of turning into its currency, the renminbi, into a global reserve currency.

The global economy may be on the path to recovery, but with not a great deal of room for manoeuvre, and certainly no room for policy mistakes”

End Quote Christine Lagarde Director, IMF

However, she said that would only happen if certain conditions were met.

"What is needed is a roadmap with a stronger and more flexible exchange rate, more effective liquidity and monetary management, with higher quality supervision and regulation, with a more well-developed financial market, with flexible deposit and lending rates, and finally with the opening up of the capital account," Ms Lagarde said.

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"If all that happens, there is no reason why the renminbi will not reach the status of a reserve currency occupying a position on par with China's economic status."
The IMF and others have said in the past that China keeps its currency undervalued, giving its exporters an unfair advantage.

Cuban opposition activists arrested in Havana

Cuban police have arrested dozens of opposition activists, a week ahead of a visit by Pope Benedict XVI.Most of those detained are members of the protest group Ladies in White, who are demanding the release of political prisoners.Many were stopped as they staged their silent weekly protest march along an avenue in the capital, Havana.The group says the country's Communist authorities have increased pressure on them in recent days. The government says they are paid by the US to undermine Cuba's revolution.The Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco) usually attend Mass together and then stage a protest march outside calling for the release of all political prisoners.

A group spokeswoman said that 19 of its members had been detained on Saturday evening while trying to stage a march in central Havana. Three have since been released without charge.
On Sunday morning, police detained another 36 members of the group - including leader Bertha Soler - as they made their way to attend Mass together in Havana.
After the church service, 22 women and two men were arrested as they marched to the city centre, trying to go beyond a route that has recently been tolerated by the authorities.

Witnesses said they were bundled into an unmarked bus by plain-clothed police officers. That group was also released without charge after several hours.

The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Havana says that ahead of the Pope's visit protesters have become more vocal and the government seems to have reacted accordingly.
Elizardo Sanchez, of the banned but tolerated Cuban Human Rights Commission, condemned the arrests.
"This weekend has been another one full of political repression by the totalitarian government," he said. "The worst part of it is that the victims of the repression have been, basically, women."

U.S. Identifies Army Sergeant in Killing of 16 in Afghanistan

The military on Friday identified the soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers earlier this week as Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, a 38-year-old father of two who had been injured twice in combat over the course of four deployments and had, his lawyer said, an exemplary military record.       
The release of Sergeant Bales’s name, first reported by Fox News, ended an extraordinary six-day blackout of public information about him from the Pentagon, which said it withheld his identity for so long because of concerns about his and his family’s security.

An official said on Friday that Sergeant Bales had been transferred from Kuwait to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where he had a cell to himself in the medium-security prison there. His wife and children were moved from their home in Lake Tapps, Wash., east of Tacoma, onto Joint Base Lewis-McChord, his home base, earlier this week.

Military officials say Sergeant Bales, who has yet to be formally charged, left his small combat outpost in the volatile Panjwai district of Kandahar Province early in the morning last Sunday, walked into two nearby villages and there shot or stabbed 16 people, 9 of them children.

Little more than the outlines of Sergeant Bales’s life are publicly known. His family lived in Lake Tapps, a community about 20 miles northeast of his Army post. NBC News reported that he was from Ohio, and he may have lived there until he joined the Army at 27. Sergeant Bales’s Seattle-based lawyer, John Henry Browne, said several members of the sergeant’s family moved to Washington after he was assigned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord.  

Mr. Browne said the sergeant joined the Army right after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2011, and then spent almost all of his career at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, where he was part of the Third Stryker Brigade in the Second Infantry Division, named after the armored Stryker vehicles.

The killings have severely undermined longstanding NATO efforts to win support from villages in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban, and have shaken relations with the government of President Hamid Karzai, who this week told Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, who was on a visit to Afghanistan, that he wanted American forces out of villages by next year. 



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Hornet-killing honeybees’ brain activity measured

Japanese honeybees' response to a hive-invading giant hornet is efficient and dramatic; they form a "bee ball" around it, serving to cook and asphyxiate it.

Now, researchers in Japan have measured the brain activity of honeybees when they form this killer ball.
One highly active area of the bees' brains, they believe, allows them to generate the constant heat which is deadly for the hornet.
Prof Takeo Kubo from the University of Tokyo explained that "higher centres" of the bee's brain, known as the mushroom bodies, were more active in the brains of Japanese honeybees when they were a part of the "hot defensive bee ball".
To find this out, the team lured the bees to form their ball by attaching a hornet to the end of a wire and inserting the predator into the hive.

This simulated invasion caused the bees to swarm around the hornet. The researchers then plucked a few of the bees from the ball and measured, throughout each of their tiny brains, the relative amount of a chemical that is known to be a "marker" of brain activity.

We found that similar [brain] activity is evoked when the Japanese honeybees are simply exposed to high temperature (46C) in the laboratory," the researcher told BBC Nature.

Honeybees' brain activity may help them maintain the 46C temperature on the inside of the ball

This suggests that this area of the brain is important for processing temperature information.

The team thinks that the mushroom bodies allow the bees to precisely control the temperature they generate inside the bee ball. The same researchers previously discovered that this remains at 46C until the hornet is successfully killed.

Prof Kubo said that this brain region might "modulate the vibration of the flight muscle", which is what generates this heat.
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UN to send humanitarian mission to Syria

The UN has said it will send a humanitarian mission to Syria this weekend to assess the situation there.

Its team will be part of a delegation led by the Syrian government, which will also include staff from the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation.
The group will visit key opposition towns including Homs, Hama and Deraa.
The announcement comes on the first anniversary of the uprising against the Syrian regime, which to date has claimed more than 8,000 lives.
In a statement, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos stressed the importance of "unhindered access to identify urgent needs and provide emergency care and basic supplies".
"There is no time to waste," she said.
The UN's announcement came after a coalition of 200 aid and rights groups called on Russia and China to support United Nations' attempts to end the violence in Syria.
At the political level, Russia and China have both blocked UN Security Council resolutions on Syria.
On the ground on Wednesday, the Syrian authorities began shelling the southern city of Deraa - the birthplace of the protests - after retaking Idlib, on the Turkish border in the north-west, earlier this week.
Turkey says it has seen a sharp increase in the flow of refugees across its border in recent days."The number of Syrian refugees currently staying in Turkey boomed by 1,000 in a single day and climbed to 14,700 total," foreign ministry spokesperson Selcuk Unal told reporters in Ankara, adding that he expected the numbers to continue rising.
Meanwhile, thousands of people joined a pro-government rally in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Thursday to denounce the "year-old conspiracy" against the regime.Mr Assad has always insisted his troops are fighting "armed gangs" who are seeking to destabilise Syria.
In a statement, the aid groups from 27 countries - including Human Rights Watch, Christian Aid, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Civicus and International Federation of Human Rights - called on the Security Council to unite in passing a resolution condemning the Syrian government's use of violence, torture and arbitrary detention against civilians

The BBC's Jonathan Head says thousands of Syrian refugees are arriving in Hatay in Turkey

Souher Belhassen, president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), said Syrians had "survived with outstanding courage one year of systematic and widespread crimes and bloodshed as the world stood by and watched".

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"The international community must unite and help Syrians bring an end to the horror."
They said the international community must give its full support to Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general who is acting as the UN and Arab League's envoy to Syria.
Mr Annan visited Syria last week to deliver a proposed peace plan to Mr Assad, which includes demands for an immediate ceasefire by both sides, access for humanitarian aid, and the beginning of political dialogue.A spokesman said he had received a response from Mr Assad but had questions about it and "and was seeking answers".
Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad al-Maqdisi told the BBC that Mr Assad's response had been positive because he wanted Mr Annan's mission to succeed.

Afghan massacre US soldier 'reluctant to serve'

The US soldier accused of shooting dead 16 Afghans had received body and brain injuries while serving in Iraq and was unhappy about going for another tour of duty, a lawyer has said.John Henry Browne said the soldier - who has not been named - had already completed three tours in Iraq.He also said the accused had witnessed his friend's leg blown off the day before the killings.
Sunday's shootings have placed new strains on the US in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, a Nato helicopter carrying Turkish troops has crashed into a house on the outskirts of the capital Kabul killing at least 12 soldiers and two children on the ground. The death toll is the heaviest single loss of life so far for Turkish troops in Afghanistan, of whom there are currently more than 1,800.Police told the BBC atechnical fault was to blame.
Taliban called off peace talks in the wake of the deadly rampage - in which men, women and children were shot and killed at close range - although they made no mention of the massacre in the statement.

However, the US later stressed it remained committed to Afghan reconciliation despite the move by the Taliban.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has also told the US that it must pull back its troops from village areas and allow Afghan security forces to take the lead in an effort to reduce civilian deaths.

Speaking in Seattle, where the accused soldier is based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Mr Browne said his new client was a "mild-mannered" man who bore no antipathy towards Muslims.He described him as "a decorated soldier" with an exemplary record before the shooting. The lawyer also suggested the soldier was not fit to serve in Afghanistan because of injuries he had suffered on previous tours of duty.
"I think it's of interest that we have a soldier who has an exemplary record, a decorated soldier who was injured in Iraq, to his brain and to his body and then despite that was sent back," he said.
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Meet the silent thief of eyesight

A person with glaucoma remains asymptomatic until much of the sight is lost

Recently while I was waiting for my appointment with the ophthalmologist, my eyes fell on the photograph of the Taj Mahal. Below the photograph that was darkened in the centre was printed ‘Don't worry'. Next to it was another photograph with the Taj in all its glory, viewed presumably after treatment.

Now, if you went to your ophthalmologist with a complaint that you could not see the peripheral movements and that you have to turn your head around, or that you have tunnel like vision your doctor would probably not say “Don't worry.” Instead, you might be told that you have glaucoma. And it is worrisome. For, glaucoma is a group of eye diseases which lead to gradual loss of sight.

Glaucoma is known as the ‘silent thief of sight'. A person with glaucoma remains asymptomatic until much of the sight is lost. When the tear gland doesn't drain as it should, it presses on the optic nerve. The nerve is behind the eye and transmits information to the brain about the objects in front of us. The loss of sight is very gradual. Most people do not realise it until much of the sight is lost. By then it is too late.

We can only preserve what is left of the optic nerve,” said Ronnie George, director of research at Sankara Nethralaya. His team studied around 3,800 patients in and around Chennai for a period of 10 years between 2001 and 2011 and found that about five percent of them had glaucoma. Of this, five percent were blind in at least one eye. Less than 10 percent of the population screened had been diagnosed and only 12 percent of those screened knew about the disease.

If you think this is a small sample study, Dr. George dispels any misconceptions you might have. The findings of the study can be extrapolated to the population. “The findings in any city would be similar,” Dr. George told me. “One in eight persons over the age of 40 in the population is at risk for the disease,” he said.

Given the nature of the disease, for which there is no cure yet, the week March 11 to 17 was dedicated to raising awareness about glaucoma, the second leading cause of blindness.

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Marginal raise in I-T exemption limit, sops in Pranab's Budget

In a mix of sops and imposts, the General Budget on Friday proposed a marginal raise in income tax exemption limit of Rs. 20,000 but hiked service tax and standard excise duty by 2 per cent across the board to net an additional Rs. 41,440 crore a year.

The Budget for 2012-13 presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha, however, left corporate tax rate and peak customs duty unchanged while the import duty on gold bars and platinum and excise duty on cigarettes, bidis, pan masala and chewing tobacco were raised.

Customs duty on completely built large cars, SUVs and MUVs, of value exceeding USD 40,000 (Rs 20 lakhs) was also raised.

While the direct tax proposals in the Budget will result in a revenue loss of Rs. 4,500 crore, indirect tax proposals would result in a revenue gain of Rs. 45,940 crore. Thus the tax proposals lead to a net gain of Rs. 41,440 crore.

The Budget makes a provision of Rs. 1,93,407 crore for defence services including Rs. 79,579 crore for capital expenditure. The allocation is based on present needs and any further requirement would be met, Mr. Mukherjee said.

Proposals on individual income

Under the budget proposals, individual income up to Rs. 2 lakh will be free from income tax as against Rs. 1.80 lakh currently.

Income between Rs 2 lakh and 5 lakh will be taxed at the rate of 10 per cent while that above Rs. 5 lakh but less than Rs 10 lakh would attract 20 per cent, and above Rs 10 lakh it would be 30 per cent.

The Budget also allows individual tax payers a deduction of up to Rs. 10,000 for interest from savings bank account which would help a large number of small tax payers with salary income up to Rs. 5 lakh and interest from saving banks accounts up to Rs. 10,000 as they would not be required to file income tax returns.

For health insurance, the Minister proposed to allow a deduction of Rs. 5,000 for preventive health check-up.

Senior citizens who do not have any income from business are proposed to be exempted from payment of advance tax, reducing their compliance burden.

While not proposing any change in the tax rate, the Budget proposes certain measures to allow corporates to access lower cost funds and to promote higher level of investments in several sectors.
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Europe's latest weather eye set for launch

It's hard to overstate the importance of a weather forecast.

To most of us, most of the time, it's just a bit of information that influences which piece of clothing we grab as we leave the house. But every day, all over the world, weather forecasts will also be driving much more significant decision-making.
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Some of these decisions will have a lot of money attached to them, like altering the routes of container ships and airliners to take advantage of favourable winds; or changing the volumes of certain produce despatched to supermarket stores because consumer purchases are influenced by temperature.
And then there will be what are literally life or death decisions, such as choosing not to take a particular journey because there's a violent storm coming.
All depend on solid meteorological data and the skill of the people who interpret it to provide our forecasts.

In Europe, this is a really big year for our weather agencies because they get two new satellites that will be absolutely crucial to their work.

One is another polar-orbiting spacecraft called Metop-B, due for launch in May (see previous posting). The other is the latest model in the long-running Meteosat series, which will sit in a "stationary" position 36,000km (22,369 miles) above the equator.

The Meteosats have been providing data since the late 1970s and we are now on the "second generation" (MSG) of spacecraft that were introduced in 2002 to substantially increase the flow and quality of information coming from orbit.

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UK warned again about possible credit rating downgrade

The Fitch credit ratings agency has joined Moody's and put the UK's top AAA rating on "negative outlook".

Fitch Ratings warned on Wednesday that it could downgrade the UK in the next few years if the government does not contain the level of public debt.
The warning comes as Chancellor George Osborne puts the finishing touches to this year's Budget, which will be delivered next week.A credit rating in theory determines a country's borrowing costs.
Fitch said that while the UK had a strong commitment to reducing the budget deficit and had an economy that was underpinned by a "high-income, diversified and flexible economy", it had "very limited fiscal space to absorb further adverse economic shocks".

"In light of the considerable uncertainty around the economic and fiscal outlook, including the risks posed to economic recovery by ongoing financial tensions in the eurozone and against the backdrop of a still large structural budget deficit and high and rising government debt, the Negative Outlook indicates a slightly greater than 50% chance of a downgrade over a two-year horizon," Fitch said.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said the move underlined the need for the government to stick to its deficit reduction plans: "This is a salutary reminder as to why Britain needs to deal with the enormous debts and deficits we inherited, why we have got to stick to those plans.
He said there would be no unfunded giveaways in next week's Budget.

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls told the BBC's Newsnight programme Fitch's announcement showed things were moving in a difficult direction for the economy.
"It shows that there's a growing worry that our economy's not growing, that unemployment's rising, that our borrowing's not coming down as George Osborne had planned.
"Now, I've said to George Osborne always, don't set your policies by the credit rating agencies, but they are a weathervane and they say the wind is blowing in a difficult direction for the British economy."

Fitch currently expects the country's public debt to stabilise at around 94% of its gross domestic product (GDP) by 2014-15.If it does, Fitch will reaffirm the UK's rating as AAA. It emerged this week that Mr Osborne was considering using the UK's top rating status to tap into cheap, very long-term borrowing.
One month ago, Fitch's rival agency Moody's sparked debate about the UK's rating after it said it was watching the UK's credit worthiness.
The other leading agency, Standard and Poor's, still has the UK on AAA, with no warning of a possible future downgrade.
It emerged this week that Mr Osborne was considering using the UK's top rating status to tap into cheap, very long-term borrowing.

One month ago, Fitch's rival agency Moody's sparked debate about the UK's rating after it said it was watching the UK's credit worthiness.

The other leading agency, Standard and Poor's, still has the UK on AAA, with no warning of a possible future downgrade.

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Afghan shootings: US soldier suspect flown to Kuwait

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The US soldier accused of killing 16 civilians, including women and children, in Afghanistan on Sunday has been flown to Kuwait, US officials say.They say legal proceedings against the unnamed staff sergeant will now be conducted in another country. The victims were shot in their homes, causing outrage across Afghanistan.The transfer coincides with a visit by US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta. His arrival in Afghanistan was marred by an incident involving a vehicle.

A stolen pick-up truck was driven at high speed onto the runway where Mr Panetta's plane was intended to stop at the British base in Helmand province, Camp Bastion.

The vehicle ended crashing into a ditch and bursting into flames. The Afghan driver suffered burns and has been arrested.

A Nato serviceman was injured when the vehicle was stolen. Neither Mr Panetta nor anyone on board the plane was at risk at any time, officials said.

The defence secretary was in Helmand to address US troops, as fears mount that they could be the target of a backlash against foreign forces.

He has since left the province for the capital, Kabul.

The Pentagon says no-one on board Mr Panetta's plane was at risk

His visit comes amid growing anger in Afghanistan over the role of foreign forces - especially the killing of civilians.
The staff sergeant, who has not been named or charged, allegedly left his base in southern Afghanistan before dawn on Sunday, entered several houses in a village and shot men, women and children at close range.
The soldier was held by the US military in Kandahar until Wednesday evening, when he was flown out of the country "based on legal recommendation", Pentagon spokesman Capt John Kirby said.
"We do not have appropriate detention facilities in Afghanistan," Capt Kirby said.
A Nato official later confirmed to the BBC that the suspect had been flown to Kuwait.
Members of the Afghan parliament had demanded that he should be put on trial in their country.
But the BBC's Paul Adams in Washington says this was never going to happen. The US has always insisted that charges of wrongdoing by its soldiers be dealt with within the American military legal system.
US officials say the soldier handed himself in. Mr Panetta has said that if found guilty, he could face the death penalty.
Officials said the soldier had completed several tours in Iraq but was on his first tour of duty in Afghanistan.
The Taliban have promised revenge attacks.
Nato and the US administration have insisted that there will be no change of strategy in Afghanistan.
Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) plans to withdraw all of its combat forces by the end of 2014.American troops are also following that timetable.

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