France boosts Lebanon peace force BBC News
President Jacques Chirac has pledged an additional 1,600 French troops to the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon.He announced the despatch of a further two battalions in a televised address in which he also said France was willing to continue leading the force. He described the ceasefire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas as "fragile". France was heavily criticised over its initial offer of just 200 extra troops for the UN force in its former colony. Along with the 200 troops who were already in the long-established UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), this latest move will bring the total French contingent in Lebanon to 2,000.Before Mr Chirac's announcement, Italy, which has pledged 3,000 troops, had offered to lead the augmented force. Pressure has grown for the expanded UN force - which should eventually include 15,000 troops - to be quickly deployed to southern Lebanon to monitor the fragile ceasefire, now in its 11th day. The UN had been disappointed by the response of European nations, which have expressed concern about the force's mandate, particularly on the issue of disarming Hezbollah guerrillas.

'Very good sign'
Mr Chirac said he had received the necessary assurances from the UN about the force's mandate and chain of command. His announcement was welcomed by the UN and US President George W Bush.Mr Chirac said: "Two extra battalions will deployed on the ground to extend our numbers within Unifil. "Two thousand French troops will therefore be placed under the control of the United Nations in Lebanon. "France is ready, if the United Nations wishes, to continue commanding this force." A special meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss Lebanon, which will be attended by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, will be held in Brussels on Friday. A UN spokesman said: "We very much welcome the French offer. We look forward to tomorrow's meeting with the Europeans, where we hope more offers will be forthcoming. "This is a very good sign of the commitment the international community is willing to make to the force. This is extremely positive." White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said: "The president welcomes the decision by the French. As he has said, an international force needs to be deployed urgently."

Cross-border raid
The ceasefire was brokered by the UN after weeks of fighting in southern Lebanon. The conflict was sparked by a cross-border raid by Hezbollah fighters in which they captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others. Throughout the military campaign against Lebanon, Israel's twin aims were the return of the captured Israeli soldiers and the removal of Hezbollah's influence from southern Lebanon.The Israeli army lost 116 soldiers. Forty-three civilians were also killed by more than 4,000 Hezbollah rocket attacks. About 1,200 Lebanese were killed in the conflict, mostly civilians in Israel's vast bombardment of the county and land invasion in the south. Relief workers are now able to reach most of those areas of southern Lebanon that were cut off during the conflict. Most of the one million people who fled the area have now returned, but many still have no proper access to basic utilities, UN emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland said. "Food is in general less of a problem than water and sanitation. We also have probably hundreds of thousands who come back and see that their housing is either destroyed or badly damaged," he told the BBC. Meanwhile, Israeli military chief of staff Lt Gen Dan Halutz has publicly admitted to failings in the conflict with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. In a letter to troops, he said it had exposed shortcomings in the military's logistics, operations and command. There would be a thorough and honest investigation, he promised.

Sudan rejects Darfur peace plan BBC News
Sudan's ruling party has rejected a draft United Nations resolution on sending peacekeepers to Darfur. The plan would "impose complete tutelage" on Sudan, said National Congress Party chairman Ghazi Salah Eldin Atabani. Shortly afterwards, it was announced a top US diplomat is to go to Khartoum to try to convince Sudan's government. The UN and the African Union (AU) agree that the UN should take over the peace mission from the cash-strapped AU. The US and the UK have circulated the draft, calling for 17,000 well-equipped peacekeepers, at the Security Council. On Sunday, two AU peacekeepers were shot and killed in Darfur, the AU says.

'Hostile'
"The draft resolution is worse than previous ones as it is an attempt to impose complete tutelage on the Sudan," Mr Atabani was quoted as saying after a meeting chaired by President Omar al-Bashir. "Any state that sponsors this draft resolution will be regarded as assuming a hostile attitude against the Sudan," he said. BBC Africa analyst David Bamford says as long as the Sudanese government opposes the plan for the UN to take charge, it is hard to see how the Security Council could bypass its objections. President Bashir has sent a letter to the Council, saying Sudan needs more time to sort out Darfur by itself. He has said he is sending in more Sudanese troops, but Darfur rebels say that government forces - far from pacifying the situation - have been operating in co-ordination with the Arab Janjaweed militia to prolong the war. On Wednesday, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said that incidents of rape near camps for those displaced by the fighting were becoming more common. The IRC called on the AU to increase patrols, although these have been scaled down. In Kalma - Darfur's biggest camp for internally displaced people - there used to be two to three reports of sexual violence a month, the IRC says. But in the past five weeks, the figures has spiralled to 200 women and young girls, some as young as 13.

Peace deal
It is yet further evidence, relief workers say, that security is worsening in one of the most troubled regions of the world. There has also been an escalation of attacks against humanitarian aid workers, some of whom have had to cease operations. A peace deal was signed last May between the government of Sudan and a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army rebels, yet the bloodshed continues to force tens of thousands of people to seek refuge in camps. Some two million people have fled their homes in the conflict, which began in February 2003, when Darfur rebels took up arms, accusing the government of ignoring the region.

Pluto loses status as a planet BBC News
Astronomers have voted to strip Pluto of its status as a planet. About 2,500 scientists meeting in Prague have adopted historic new guidelines that see the small, distant world demoted to a secondary category. The researchers said Pluto failed to dominate its orbit around the Sun in the same way as the other planets. The International Astronomical Union's (IAU) decision means textbooks will now have to describe a Solar System with just eight major planetary bodies. Pluto, which was discovered in 1930 by the American Clyde Tombaugh, will be referred to as a "dwarf planet". There is a recognition that the demotion is likely to upset the public, who have become accustomed to a particular view of the Solar System.

Teary-eyed
"I have a slight tear in my eye today, yes; but at the end of the day we have to describe the Solar System as it really is, not as we would like it to be," said Professor Iwan Williams, chair of the IAU panel that has been working over recent months to define the term "planet". The need for a strict definition was deemed necessary after new telescope technologies began to reveal far-off objects that rivalled Pluto in size. Without a new nomenclature, these discoveries raised the prospect that textbooks could soon be talking about 50 or more planets in the Solar System. Amid dramatic scenes in the Czech capital which saw astronomers waving yellow ballot papers in the air, the IAU voted to block this possibility - and in the process took the historic decision to relegate Pluto. The scientists agreed that for a celestial body to qualify as a planet:

• it must be in orbit around the Sun
• it must be large enough that it takes on a nearly round shape
• it has cleared its orbit of other objects

Pluto was automatically disqualified because its highly elliptical orbit overlaps with that of Neptune. It will now join a new category of dwarf planets.

Icy reaches
Pluto's status has been contested for many years. It is further away and considerably smaller than the eight other "traditional" planets in our Solar System. At just 2,360km (1,467 miles) across, Pluto is smaller even than some moons in the Solar System. Its orbit around the Sun is also highly tilted compared with the plane of the big planets. In addition, since the early 1990s, astronomers have found several objects of comparable size to Pluto in an outer region of the Solar System called the Kuiper Belt. Some astronomers have long argued that Pluto would be better categorised alongside this population of small, icy worlds. The critical blow for Pluto came with the discovery three years ago of an object currently designated 2003 UB313. After being measured with the Hubble Space Telescope, it was shown to be some 3,000km (1,864 miles) in diameter: it is bigger than Pluto. 2003 UB313 will now join Pluto in the dwarf category, along with Pluto's major moon, Charon, and the biggest asteroid in the Solar System, Ceres. Named after the god of the underworld in Roman mythology, Pluto orbits the Sun at an average distance of 5.9 billion kilometres (3.7 billion miles) taking 247.9 Earth years to complete a single circuit of the Sun. An unmanned US spacecraft, New Horizons, is due to fly by Pluto and the Kuiper Belt in 2015.

Jet alert suspects 'to be freed' BBC News
All 12 passengers arrested after a US airliner returned to Amsterdam will be released, Dutch prosecutors say. Northwest Airlines flight 42, bound for Mumbai (Bombay) in India, changed course over Germany and flew back to Schiphol airport on Wednesday. The 12 men, said to be of Asian appearance, reportedly aroused suspicion by fiddling with mobile phones and plastic bags. US air marshals apprehended them before the pilot diverted the flight. Two Dutch F-16 fighter jets escorted it back to Schiphol.

Explosives search
"From the statement of suspects and witnesses, no evidence could be brought forward that these men were about to commit an act of violence," a prosecution statement said. It added that police had searched for explosives on the aircraft, but had found none. The same flight departed for Mumbai, India's financial hub, on Thursday morning. Security levels at airports across the world were raised two weeks ago after British police said they had foiled a plot to blow up a number of transatlantic flights. Several security alerts since then have seen flights diverted, passengers removed or planes searched.

Austrian girl 'found' after years BBC News
More details have emerged in Austria suggesting that a woman found near Vienna on Wednesday is a schoolgirl who vanished eight years ago. The passport of Natascha Kampusch was found at the house where she was allegedly imprisoned and the woman had the same distinctive scar as the girl. DNA test results are due later on Thursday which Austrian police expect will confirm the woman's identity. The suspected kidnapper died after throwing himself in front of a train. The man, named in Austrian media as Wolfgang Priklopil, had been chased by police earlier on Wednesday evening and his red BMW car was later found abandoned. The schoolgirl's disappearance at the age of 10 had sparked a huge manhunt eight years ago.

Dungeon
The woman says she is Natascha Kampusch and relatives of the missing girl say they are confident she is telling the truth. The woman - said to be in good health - says she was abducted and held captive in a sealed garage at the house in Strasshof, in the Gaenserndorf area on Vienna's northeastern outskirts. Police were called when she was found staggering in a garden nearby. It is not clear what the kidnapper's motives were. Police say he had no connection to the girl's family and there had been no ransom demand. A police investigator told the BBC's PM programme that "he gave her food, he gave her all the supplies she needed". "He gave her books, even taught her how to read and how to write, and mathematics and all things like this, according to what she told us." Police have searched the garage, and say it looked like a dungeon. Austrian media report that the room had a cavity measuring four by three metres (yards), with an entrance measuring 50cm by 50cm. They believe it was blocked with a sound-proof safe whenever the kidnapper left the scene. A bed and bookshelf with children's books were reportedly also found there. "She is white-pale, looking as if she had been out of the light of day for a long time, but she articulated well and could read and write," the Austria Press Agency quoted a police investigator as saying.

'Stockholm Syndrome'
APA also reported that she burst into tears on Wednesday night when she met the man believed to be her father, Ludwig Koch, at the police station. Ms Kampusch's disappearance in 1998 shocked Austria and triggered a search that extended into Hungary and included the dredging of riverbeds. According to police, before committing suicide Wolfgang Priklopil had called a friend for help on Wednesday, saying he was being pursued by police for drink-driving. Psychologists quoted by Austrian media say they believe the woman suffered from "Stockholm Syndrome" - a psychological condition in which captives begin to sympathise with their kidnappers. Priklopil had been questioned by police in April 1998, as one of more than 1,000 owners of white vans. He was later released. A schoolfriend of Ms Kampusch had told police the girl had been abducted in a white van. Police are investigating whether the woman had been beaten or sexually abused by the kidnapper.

Thai court convicts North Koreans BBC News
A court in Bangkok has convicted 136 North Korean asylum seekers of illegal entry into Thailand. They were part of a group of 175 North Koreans found hiding in a house in the Thai capital on Tuesday. They were fined 6,000 baht ($160) each, but will serve 30 days in jail instead, as they were unable to pay. Once released, they are likely to be allowed to go to South Korea, which grants citizenship to North Korean defectors. Thailand is an increasingly popular transit destination for North Koreans, and this is the largest group ever intercepted in the country.

Thai dilemma
The group - most of them women and children - were discovered crammed into a two-storey house. A total of 45 males and 130 females were found inside the building in Bangkok's Huay Kwang district. Twenty-five of the group were children. They appear to be made up of several smaller groups, who had made their way to the Thai capital from China. Their discovery has presented Thailand with a dilemma. In the past, it has discreetly allowed all North Koreans to leave for South Korea, but it does not want to be seen as an easy haven for asylum-seekers. "If someone pays the fine and the North Koreans are released, they will be taken back to an immigration detention centre," the French news agency AFP quoted an immigration official as saying after the verdict. "After that, if any third country, which in this case is likely to be South Korea, wants to take these North Koreans, they have to make a proposal through UNHCR [UN refugee agency]." The children were not charged, and the UNHCR has already cleared 16 other members of the group for travel to South Korea, a spokeswoman for the refugee agency said. The United Nations views all North Korean defectors as "persons of concern", likely to face persecution if sent back.

Difficult journey
Tens of thousands of North Koreans have tried to leave their country in recent years, fleeing hunger and repression. Most travel across the border to a region of north-east China populated by ethnic Koreans, but they face repatriation if caught by the Chinese authorities. Some then manage to cross China to reach South-East Asia, where they have the chance of being sent on to South Korea. Most of these transfers are done outside the public gaze, to avoid confrontations with Pyongyang. But on rare occasions, these transfers become public knowledge. In July 2004, more than 460 refugees arrived in South Korea on a special flight from an unnamed third country, thought by analysts to be Vietnam. There have also been many cases of North Koreans targeting foreign embassies in China, in the hope of seeking asylum.

US 'lacks Iran arms intelligence' BBC News
The US lacks reliable intelligence on Iran's weapons capability, including its possible plans to develop a nuclear bomb, a US Congressional report says. The House Intelligence Committee report says more must be spent spying on Iran. Given the "significant gaps" in US intelligence, the report questions whether the US can engage in effective dialogue with Iran. Iran this week offered to discuss its nuclear work with world powers who suspect it is trying to build a bomb. Iran maintains its nuclear programme has a purely civilian purpose and has rejected a UN demand to immediately stop uranium enrichment. Iran's proposal for "serious talks" - made in response to a package of incentives offered in exchange for abandoning uranium enrichment - has drawn a cool response from Washington. The US has indicated it is considering the threat of sanctions against Iran because its response falls short of UN demands. Although the contents of Iran's 21-page response have not been made public, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tehran had not agreed to suspend its enrichment programme: "We are still checking this, but according to everything I've heard we cannot be satisfied with this. It is not at all what we expected - which is 'we suspend our uranium enrichment programme, come to the negotiating table and talk then about the opportunities of Iran'. "That did not happen, and we will advocate that this will still happen over the next couple of days. But the decisive sentence is missing in the statement and that has to be addressed."

Iraq echoes
The House Intelligence Committee report says: "Iran is a serious security threat on which the United States needs better intelligence." "There is a great deal about Iran that we do not know," it says, warning that "policymakers will need high-quality intelligence to assess Iranian intentions to prepare for any new round of negotiations". "A special concern is major gaps in our knowledge of Iranian nuclear, biological, and chemical programmes," the report says. The committee's report recommends the US strengthen its ability to gather information on Iran's nuclear capability by hiring more agents fluent in Farsi. According to the BBC's Jonathan Beale in Washington, the report contains worrying echoes of US intelligence failures over the weapons programme of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The report says Iran presents a serious security threat to the US and cites intelligence sources as saying it could have a nuclear weapon within a decade. However, the report says, Iran may equally be engaged in a campaign of denial and deception designed to make its nuclear programme appear more advanced than it is. A spokesman for the Bush administration said intelligence chiefs were "already taking steps along the lines the committee has recommended".

Iran nuclear project forges ahead BBC News
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has inaugurated a new phase of a heavy water reactor project despite Western fears about its nuclear programme.He said Iran posed no threat to other states, not even its "enemy" Israel. Heavy water made at Arak will be used to cool a reactor being built that will create a plutonium by-product that could be used to make atomic warheads. Observers say Iran's move aims to send a signal of defiance days ahead of a UN deadline to halt uranium enrichment. The US says Tehran is trying to build a nuclear weapon, while Iran says it is building a reactor to supply the country with nuclear power. The Iranian president toured the site at Arak, 190km (120 miles) south-west of Tehran. After inaugurating the heavy water plant, he again said Iran would never abandon its nuclear programme, but that nuclear weapons were not its goal. "Basically, there is no talk of nuclear weapons," he said. "There is no discussion of nuclear weapons. We are not a threat to anybody, even the Zionist regime which is a definite enemy of the people of the region."The ceremony comes amid mounting international pressure for Iran to suspend its nuclear programme. Earlier this week, Iran had offered "serious talks" in response to a package of incentives offered if, by 31 August, it halted uranium enrichment - another possible route to nuclear weapons. However, the US said suspension of research was required first, echoing French comments. China and Russia said earlier that talks were the only way forward. Iran could face sanctions if it does not suspend its nuclear programme.

'Bone of contention'
BBC regional analyst Pam O'Toole says the heavy water reactor project at Arak has long been a bone of contention between Iran and some Western governments. Arak was one of two Iranian nuclear facilities whose existence was revealed by an exiled Iranian opposition group four years ago. At that stage Iran had failed to declare its existence to the UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA. The IAEA later called on Iran to reconsider construction of its heavy water reactor project.

Uganda and LRA rebels sign truce BBC News
The Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army have signed a truce aimed at ending one of the most bitter wars in Africa. The agreement, reached during peace talks held in Juba, southern Sudan, is expected to take effect on Tuesday. A final peace deal will then be sought. Thousands have died during the 20-year conflict in northern Uganda, and more than one million have fled their homes. Lengthy efforts to end the war have culminated in the peace talks in Juba. Under the terms of the truce signed by both sides, the rebels will leave Uganda and their bases in Sudan and DR Congo to gather at two assembly points, where they will be protected by the government of southern Sudan. The Ugandan government has promised that, once the truce is in place, it will not try to attack the rebels. Talks on a comprehensive peace agreement will then get under way. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has set a 12 September deadline for a final peace deal.

Guarantees
The LRA had already called a ceasefire, but Uganda had insisted that a comprehensive agreement - with the rebels providing details of their forces and deployment - needed to be in place before a ceasefire could be agreed. The government also wanted a guarantee the LRA would not use the halt in fighting to reinforce its positions. The International Criminal Court (ICC) wants the LRA's top officials - among them leader Joseph Kony - to face charges including murder, rape and forcibly enlisting children. Against the wishes of the ICC, Uganda has offered amnesty to LRA leaders in exchange for the peace talks. The LRA has abducted thousands of children and forced them to fight since the conflict began.

Team vindicated, Pakistanis say BBC News
Pakistanis believe their cricket team are innocent of accusations of cheating amid controversy over umpire Darrell Hair's resignation offer. Pakistan were accused of tampering with the ball during a five-day test at the Oval in London last week. The row ended with the game being forfeited. Former Pakistan cricketers say the revelation Mr Hair offered to resign for cash has vindicated the team. Pakistan's team said on Friday they would play their remaining matches.

'Poor judgement'
Mr Hair sent an e-mail to the sport's governing body in which he asked for $500,000 to resign following the ball-tampering row. The BBC's Dan Isaacs in Islamabad said Pakistanis believed Mr Hair's "setting financial terms for his resignation simply proves that his judgement is as poor off the field as it is on it". Our correspondent said Pakistani fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz said it was for Mr Hair to come out and apologise not only to the team but to the whole Pakistani nation. He added that the Pakistan sports ministry had said if there was proof that the Pakistani team had tampered with the ball - an illegal method to alter the flight of the ball in order to assist the bowling side - then it needed to be made public. Pakistan reaffirmed their commitment to the one-day series with England following the publication of Darrell Hair's resignation offer, lifting an earlier threat of a boycott. Pakistan board chairman Shahriyar Khan said: "The team are committed to fulfilling their obligations." The team's captain, Inzamam ul-Haq, still faces an inquiry in late September from the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), over accusations of ball-tampering and bringing the game into disrepute. But a former head of the Pakistan cricket Board, Chishty Mujahid, told BBC Radio Five Live said the row over Mr Hair may effect the investigation. "This has put a new twist in the tail and now the ball tampering... the bringing the game into disrepute charges against Inzamam-ul-Haq are becoming irrelevant and I think Inzamam must be smiling to himself."

'Increasingly untenable'
Pakistan play their first one-day match, a 20-20 against England in Bristol, on Monday. The BBC's Sydney correspondent Phil Mercer said support from Australian media - which had been solid earlier in the week - was now looking less certain following the revelations of Mr Hair's financial offer. "One cricket commentator on the radio today, a very respected man, was saying that Darrell Hair's position looked increasingly untenable," our correspondent said. One of Mr Hair's friends defended Mr Hair's attitude, telling the BBC the money would have been tantamount to a superannuation package. "There's nothing that Darrell will do if he does retire ... he's a good bloke, he's an honest bloke, and he calls a spade a spade," he said. David Frith, the former editor of the cricketing magazine Wisden Monthly, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he believed the ICC had acted irresponsibly" by releasing details of Mr Hair's e-mail. "They've released for public delectation a series of confidential e-mails which were I think intended by Darrell Hair to offset any difficulties down the road. "He's given them an out if they want it, but he's standing by his decision at The Oval." He said any evidence of ball tampering lay with the ball Pakistan had been using, and said it was a mistake for the ICC to delay its investigation into the accusations.

UN welcomes Lebanon force pledges BBC News
A senior UN spokesman says it is now close to achieving firm promises of troops to make up the full peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon.Edward Mortimer told the BBC that significant offers had been received from several Asian countries. These are in addition to a commitment of up to 7,000 troops from European Union states. The UN has agreed to deploy a force of 15,000 soldiers to maintain the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Mr Mortimer said the UN was also hoping to get an offer of troops from Turkey, which he said would be very important given the country's history and geographical position. The UN hopes to have some of the troops on the ground within a week, although the foreign minister of Finland - which currently holds the EU presidency - has said it will be two to three months before the whole force is deployed.UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he had asked Italy to take over command of the force from France in February. There will also be a strategic cell created to help provide military guidance to the troops on the ground, which will be based at UN headquarters in New York and led by an Italian general. Israel has reiterated that it will not finally withdraw from southern Lebanon until the UN peacekeeping force is deployed. In the meantime, EU foreign and security affairs chief Javier Solana has asked Israel to lift its air and sea blockade of Lebanon.

'Backbone'
Speaking in Brussels on Friday, Mr Annan said that the plan would only work if the enlarged UN force, called Unifil 2, was "strong, credible and robust". "More than half the force has been pledged today. Not only troops on the ground but we also got naval assets as well as air assets and when you put it all together Europe is providing the backbone to the force," he said. Mr Annan said that the European force offered the possibility of a "durable ceasefire and long-term solution" to the Middle East crisis.But our correspondent in Beirut says that with Hezbollah still firmly established across the border region and in no mood to give up its weapons, there is some scepticism about what an international force can achieve however tough its mandate. The UN spokesman said that a political consensus was vital for the task. "Everybody understands that the disarmament of Hezbollah as a whole is not going to be done by force," said Edward Mortimer. "This is a matter which has to be agreed politically among the Lebanese."

Lacklustre response
French President Jacques Chirac, giving a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, told reporters that a force of 15,000 was unnecessary: "I don't know who mentioned this figure but it doesn't really make sense. "So what is the right number, 4,000, 5,000 or 6,000? I don't know."The UN was disappointed by the initial response of European nations to its calls for troops to enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended the conflict. France was criticised last week after offering just 200 extra troops to help bolster Unifil. The issue has been complicated by Israel's reluctance to accept troops from mainly Muslim states which do not have diplomatic relations with it.

Evacuation ferry still in Jaffna BBC News
The Red Cross has not yet been able to evacuate foreign nationals trapped by fighting from Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka, a spokesman has told the BBC. More than 150 people were due to be ferried to the town of Trincomalee. But a spokesman from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Colombo said local authorities had not allowed the ferry to leave Jaffna. The UN says more than 200,000 have been displaced after clashes between Tamil Tiger rebels and government troops.

'Not on the list'
The ICRC's Davide Vignati said: "It's still there, it's still stuck and I don't know when it's going to sail. The last update I got an hour ago was about a bureaucratic problem. "There are people who would like to be evacuated but who are not on the list. I don't know if they will be able to travel this evening." He said the original list totalled 150 evacuees, but a second list totalled 161. He said "governmental agencies" were preventing the boat from leaving. The boat has lights and equipment enabling it to travel at night, and has an understanding with both parties to allow it safe passage during night hours. The UN says more than 200,000 people have been displaced across the island following renewed clashes between Tamil Tiger rebels and government troops. In further violence, the army said six soldiers died when a booby-trap bunker abandoned by the rebels exploded.

Church sanctuary
On Friday the first aid shipment arrived for those stranded in Jaffna, which has been cut off for the past two weeks following the hostilities. Supplies on the northern peninsula are running low and thousands of people have fled to churches seeking refuge. The past month has witnessed the worst violence in Sri Lanka since the 2002 ceasefire between the government and rebels. Sri Lanka's undeclared war is being conducted on three fronts, with air raids, artillery strikes and mortar attacks. More than 60,000 people have died during two decades of conflict in Sri Lanka. The Tamil Tigers want autonomy for minority Tamils in the north and east.

Deadline passes for Gaza hostages BBC News
A deadline set by kidnappers in the Gaza Strip holding two foreign journalists has expired.Olaf Wiig and Steve Centanni of US channel Fox News were seized on 14 August in Gaza City. A video of the pair was shown on Wednesday. A previously unknown group says it is holding them and has demanded the release of "Muslim prisoners" in the US. The US rejected the demands. The Palestinian prime minister has decried abductions. Over the past two years, a number of foreigners have been kidnapped in Gaza. All have been freed unharmed.

'No word'
The deadline set by the kidnappers, who call themselves the Holy Jihad Brigades, for their demands to be met expired at midday (0900 GMT) on Saturday. Palestinian authorities and US diplomats said they had no word on the journalists' fate at that time, the AFP news agency reported. The pair were seized from their vehicle near the Palestinian security services' headquarters in Gaza City. In the video, the two men said they were fine and being treated well. Mr Wiig's wife has called for their release and met Mr Haniya to discuss the kidnappings.

Venezuela says US was smuggling BBC News
The authorities in Venezuela have accused the US embassy in Caracas of importing cargo illegally after halting lorries carrying diplomatic baggage.Cargo found arriving at Caracas airport included parts for military aircraft ejector seats and chicken meat, said Interior Minister Jesse Chacon. "Everything that doesn't pass through customs is contraband, we are talking about contraband here," he said. Denying wrongdoing, the US demanded to know why diplomatic cargo was searched. "The impounded cargo consisted of household effects of a US diplomat and a shipment of commissary goods," said US state department spokesman Edgar Vasquez. The search, he added, had violated long-established procedures. "We have requested an immediate explanation of the entire incident," he said. Relations between Washington and Caracas have long been strained with Venezuela accusing the Americans of not respecting its sovereignty and the US viewing the leftist government of President Hugo Chavez with growing suspicion.

'Customs ignored'
Displaying a photo of the lorries for journalists, Mr Chacon said that only four out of 20 packages were considered diplomatic baggage covered by international protocol. The US had bypassed customs and the necessary paperwork with the other 16 which included 80 kilos (176 pounds) of chicken, he said. "They brought in food goods without any health controls, they brought in armaments without any legal control," he told reporters. "It's not the Venezuelan government that is making violations - it's the US embassy that's making them." Washington officials said that the cargo, which was delivered by a US military plane, included replacement ejection seat parts for Venezuelan combat planes but no weapons or arms. Mr Chacon said the Venezuelan air force had requested ejection seat propulsion motors but the cargo contained items it had not asked for such as cartridge devices, detonator fuses, rocket motors and pliers.

Alarm at Spain's migrant children BBC News, Madrid
Authorities in Spain's Canary Islands have raised concerns over 700 unaccompanied children who have arrived by boat. The children have arrived among thousands of illegal immigrants. The Canaries have received 4,500 mainly African migrants this month - nearly as many as for the whole of last year. The Canary Islands says it does not have the resources to care properly for the children - and wants the rest of Spain and the European Union to help.

'Share responsibility'
The local authority says it now has more under-age migrants than Spaniards in custodial care. The regional president Adan Martin says with the Canaries overburdened by an immigration avalanche, it's dangerous for his administration to have responsibility for the upbringing of these minors. Under Spanish law, the Canary Islands is obliged to care for and educate these young arrivals until they reach the age of 18. The authorities in the Canaries have called on Spain's government and the European Union to share responsibility for these children. More than 18,000 illegal immigrants have arrived on the islands by boat this year. Detention centres in the Canaries only have capacity for about 5,500. To cope with the overflow, the national government has transferred thousands to the mainland. As a result, Red Cross shelters in Madrid are full. The Conservative Popular Party claims the government is washing its hands of the immigration problem by sending most of the migrants to regions administered by the opposition. But the leader of the Canary Islands, Mr Martin, says Spanish regions questioning this policy of redistribution do not understand. Mr Martin says these illegal arrivals are not the Canaries' migrants, they are Spain's and Europe's.
By Danny Wood

Schwarzenegger libel 'settled' BBC News
A libel action brought in London by a British TV presenter against Arnold Schwarzenegger and two of his aides has been settled, reports say. Anna Richardson was suing the California governor and two aides over comments they made about her claims that he groped her in December 2000. The parties' lawyers said in a joint statement that they were satisfied, the Associated Press reports. The Terminator star faces a re-election battle for governor in November. Details were not given of the settlement, which was confirmed for Reuters by one of the aides, former film publicist Sheryl Main. "Yes, it is true that it has been settled," she told the news agency by telephone. "I don't have any comment but it's settled and I think we're all very happy to put that behind us." No comment from Anna Richardson was immediately available.

'Tarnished reputation'
She had been suing Mr Schwarzenegger, his spokesman Sean Walsh and Ms Main for allegedly trying to ruin her reputation by dismissing her assertions that the Hollywood star had touched her breast during a press event at London's Dorchester Hotel in 2000. She alleged that the two aides had libelled her in a Los Angeles Times article which also appeared on the internet. Her libel action contended that Mr Schwarzenegger's staff said she had encouraged his behaviour - a statement she believed had tarnished her reputation as a professional interviewer. Mr Walsh made unsuccessful attempts to get the UK case thrown out, arguing that English courts had no jurisdiction. "The parties are content to put this matter behind them and are pleased that this legal dispute has now been settled," said the two-sentence joint statement quoted by AP.

US warns of 'build-up' in Darfur BBC News
A senior US envoy has said that Washington is "very concerned" about a "build-up of military forces" in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan. US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer is going to Khartoum to try to persuade the ruling party to accept a United Nations peacekeeping force. Washington has said urgent action must be taken to stop a "genocide". The African Union has agreed to the UN taking over from its own peacekeepers, but Khartoum rejects having a UN force.

'Foot-dragging'
Ms Frazer said before leaving Washington that she would deliver a letter to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on her visit this weekend. She said AU troops were stretched to "breaking point" and could not keep the peace in an area the size of France. "Darfur is on the verge of a dangerous downward spiral," Ms Frazer said. She stressed the US was not about to "fight its way in" and that any international peacekeeping force would need the backing of Sudan's government. But she insisted that "foot-dragging at the UN" must not be allowed. She also rejected a Sudanese proposal to send more government troops to Darfur. "Those forces are not considered neutral and so we don't feel that the people of Darfur will get any comfort," said Ms Frazer.

'Tutelage'
The US and the UK had circulated the draft, calling for 17,000 well-equipped peacekeepers, at the Security Council. However, Sudanese National Congress Party chairman Ghazi Salah Eldin Atabani said the plan would "impose complete tutelage" on Sudan. "Any state that sponsors this draft resolution will be regarded as assuming a hostile attitude against the Sudan," he said. On Sunday, two AU peacekeepers were shot and killed in Darfur, the AU says. On Wednesday, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said that incidents of rape near camps for those displaced by the fighting were becoming more common. It is yet further evidence, relief workers say, that security is worsening in one of the most troubled regions of the world. There has also been an escalation of attacks against humanitarian aid workers, some of whom have had to cease operations. A peace deal was signed last May between the government of Sudan and a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army rebels, yet the bloodshed continues to force tens of thousands of people to seek refuge in camps. Some two million people have fled their homes in the conflict, which began in February 2003 when Darfur rebels took up arms, accusing the government of ignoring the region.

Chad orders foreign oil firms out BBC News
Chad has ordered two major foreign oil firms to leave the country on Sunday, national radio reported.President Idriss Deby gave the order to ChevronTexaco and Petronas in a tax row, the report said. "Chad has decided that as of tomorrow ChevronTexaco and Petronas must leave Chad because they have refused to pay their taxes," Mr Deby said. There was no immediate comment from the two firms, which are responsible for handling 60% of Chad's production. President Deby said his government would take control of the reserves. Rows surrounding Chad's oil revenues have been simmering for months. Earlier this year, Chad threatened to stop oil production if it did not immediately receive several months' worth of oil revenues from a US-led consortium. And last December the government fell out with the World Bank, after it changed a law which controlled how oil revenues were spent. The World Bank, which financially backs the oil project, repeatedly asked Chad not to change the law but it went ahead anyway. In response, the bank froze all payments of oil revenues to the government. That row was settled with a deal in July, under which Chad agreed to spend 70% of its oil revenues on development schemes, with 30% going into its overall budget.

New UN peacekeepers for E Timor BBC News
The United Nations Security Council has established a new peacekeeping mission in East Timor with an initial mandate for six months. The new force will replace the current smaller mission and will include more than 1,500 police and up to 35 military liaison officers, but no troops. An Australian-led force sent to East Timor following an outbreak of violence three months ago will remain for now. Its status will be reviewed in two months' time. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had asked the Security Council to agree to a year-long extension of the UN mission in the wake of the violence. At least 25 people were killed and about 150,000 were left living in makeshift camps. Trouble erupted after then-Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri dismissed 600 soldiers - or nearly half of the tiny East Timorese army - when they protested over alleged discrimination against soldiers from the west of the country. He later resigned and was replaced by Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta, due to stay in office until elections in May next year. The resolution passed by the UN Security Council notes that the recent unrest was exacerbated by "poverty and its associated deprivations, including high urban unemployment, especially for youth".

Former Ukraine PM is jailed in US BBC News
A US court has sentenced a former prime minister of Ukraine to nine years in jail for extortion, money-laundering through American banks and fraud.Pavlo Lazarenko, 53, was also ordered to pay a $10m fine. Lazarenko stood accused of large-scale corruption during the chaotic years which followed the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. He was convicted of the charges in June 2004 and has been under house arrest in the US ever since. Several companies and banks based in countries including Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the US were involved in the case against him. Lazarenko, who was prime minister of Ukraine from 1996 to 1997, fled to America seeking asylum in 1999 but was arrested by immigration authorities for visa irregularities. US prosecutors later accused him of laundering through American banks $114m, which he allegedly stole while in office in Ukraine. A jury convicted Lazarenko of 29 counts but 15 counts were dropped. Most of the allegations of embezzlement of state funds and abuse of office against Lazarenko are related to the fight for gas revenues between rival political and business groupings in Ukraine in the 1990s.

Other charges
In June 2000, a court in Geneva found him guilty in absentia of laundering $6.6m (£3.5m) through Swiss banks. At the same time, Ukrainian prosecutors charged Lazarenko with ordering the 1996 killing of a prominent politician, Yevhen Shcherban, and two failed assassination attempts on high-ranking officials.

Austria girl 'describes kidnap' BBC News
An Austrian teenager held prisoner for eight years says her captor made her call him "master" for the first year, a newspaper report says.Natascha Kampusch, now 18, made the remarks to police after escaping on Wednesday, the mass-circulation Krone Zeitung said. DNA tests on Friday confirmed Ms Kampusch's claim to be the schoolgirl who disappeared eight years ago. Her captor, Wolfgang Priklopil, 44, killed himself after her escape. The communications technician is believed to have kept Ms Kampusch in a concealed, sound-proof chamber in his cellar. Ms Kampusch's parents have spoken of their joy at being re-united with her. "We fell into each other's arms... I recognised her from her way of being, her face... I always thought she was alive," her mother told Austrian TV.

'Keep still'
Austrian media says Ms Kampusch told police that she considered her abductor to be "criminal".The Krone Zeitung quoted her as saying: "Wolfgang was always kind to me." She also reportedly told police: "I had to call him master for the first year." On the day of her kidnapping, she was dragged into a vehicle and told: "Keep still, lie down or something is going to happen to you," the paper said. A policewoman who has interviewed Ms Kampusch told Austrian state TV that her captor had said he had singled her out. He apparently told her if he hadn't kidnapped her "that day, it would've been the next", Sabine Freudenberger said. Ms Freudenberger said Ms Kampusch did not know her captor's name at first but "he was a sort of father figure for her" who "taught her everything from the beginning, also hygiene". The police officer said she had been surprised by Ms Kampusch's "intelligence, her vocabulary" and that she had been "educated" by her captor, who gave her books and access to TV and radio. Ms Kampusch has told police she tried to escape several times but was threatened by Mr Priklopil.

'Mama'
Police spokesman Erich Zwettler said Natascha appeared to be coping well."In the morning, we were informed by our colleague who is taking care of her that she slept well, she had breakfast and she seems to be very calm," he said. "We assume that she is psychologically coping well with the situation." Psychologists interviewed by Austrian media say Ms Kampusch may have developed "Stockholm syndrome", whereby some abductees gradually begin to sympathise with their captors. Ms Kampusch's father, his eyes moist and voice faltering, said on Austrian TV that he had never thought he would live to see the day of Natascha's return. "Honestly, I didn't think that I'd still experience this," said Ludwig Koch. "She said: 'Dad, I love you.' And the next question was: 'Is my toy car still there?' It was Natascha's favourite toy, I never gave it away in all those years.

'Dash for freedom'
Few details have been released about how Natascha regained her freedom but state television quoted a police spokesman as saying she had escaped when the door to her hiding place was left open.Other reports quoted federal police official Gerhard Lang who said that while the girl was "locked up day and night" she was "let out for different chores in the house". She was apparently vacuuming the car on Wednesday when she saw her chance to get away, Mr Lang said. It is not clear what the alleged kidnapper's motives were and whether Natascha was sexually abused during her captivity. Police say he had no connection to the girl's family and there had been no ransom demand. Police on Thursday tracked down the van in which Ms Kampusch was kidnapped and are investigating if Mr Priklopil had an accomplice, Austrian TV reported.

US charges Hezbollah TV provider BBC News
A US businessman has been charged with offering broadcasts of Hezbollah's al-Manar satellite television station to customers in the New York-area. Javed Iqbal, originally from Pakistan, is accused by prosecutors of doing business with a terrorist entity. The Hezbollah Shia militia has been involved in a month-long conflict with Israeli forces in Lebanon and is seen as a terrorist group by the US. Mr Iqbal's lawyers say his arrest violates his right to free speech. "It's like the government of Iran saying we are going to ban the New York Times because we think of it as a terrorist outfit, or China saying we will ban CNN," a spokesman for the law firm representing Mr Iqbal told the Reuters news agency. "America would be hopping up and down crying freedom of speech and freedom of the press," the spokesman said. A lawyer representing Mr Iqbal said he knew of no other case where a person had been accused of breaking US law by offering access to news outlets via satellite dish.

'Hezbollah mouthpiece'
According to court papers and government documents, the authorities sent an agent posing as a potential customer after being informed that Mr Iqbal was offering al-Manar TV. Mr Iqbal reportedly offered the agent a television package that included access to al-Manar broadcasts. Mr Iqbal appeared in court on Thursday and was bailed for $250,000. Prosecutor Stephen A Miller had argued against granting him bail, indicating more charges were likely to be filed. "The charge lurking in the background is material support for terrorism," the Associated Press news agency quotes him as saying.

US probes Israel cluster bomb use BBC News
The US State Department has launched an inquiry into whether Israel misused US-made cluster bombs in Lebanon during the recent conflict.Cluster bombs spray large numbers of bomblets over a wide area - which can remain unexploded and endanger civilians long after they are fired. US-made weapons have been found at many of 300 sites in south Lebanon hit by cluster bombs, according to the UN. Israel says all its weapons usage conforms to international standards.

Secret agreements
"We are definitely looking into these allegations and we'll see where they lead," State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said on Friday. He said the investigation would look into what munitions were used and how they were deployed. A senior White House official told the BBC that the investigation will focus on whether US-made weapons were used against non-military targets. Washington has supplied Israel with cluster bombs since the 1970s, on the understanding that they would only be used against defined military targets.

'Balconies and roofs'
The UN's Mine Action Coordination Centre says it has found 318 sites in south Lebanon where cluster bombs have been used. "A lot of them are in civilian areas, on farmland and in people's homes, said spokeswoman Dalya Farran. "We're finding a lot at the entrances to houses, on balconies and roofs," she said. "Sometimes windows are broken and they get inside the houses." "Most of them are from America," Ms Farran said. According to the UN, eight Lebanese have been killed and at least 30 wounded by exploding ordnance left behind after the 14 August ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into force.

Hezbollah tactics
Although cluster bombs themselves are not illegal under international law, many human rights groups believe their use in populated areas violates the prohibition on indiscriminate attacks contained in the Geneva Conventions. The Israeli army said all weapons it uses were "legal under international law and their use conforms with international standards". A congressional investigation after Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982 found Israel guilty of intentionally dropping cluster bombs in civilian areas. A six year ban was imposed on further sales of the weapons to Israel. But a senior White House official told the BBC that the current investigation is unlikely to lead to any serious repercussions. Throughout the recent conflict, Israel argued that it tried to minimise civilian casualties. But it said that Hezbollah fighters had hidden rocket launchers in houses, blurring the distinction between civilian and military targets.

Many dead in Kentucky plane crash BBC News
A passenger plane carrying 50 people has crashed shortly after taking off from an airport in Kentucky, killing all but one on board.The Comair CRJ-100 jet, bound for Atlanta, Georgia, went down in woods about a mile (1.6km) from Lexington's airport at about 0610 (1010 GMT). One man is in a critical condition and is in surgery at the University of Kentucky Hospital. It is the worst US air accident since November 2001. There was no immediate word on what caused Comair Flight 5191 to crash, but aviation officials said there was no indication of terrorism. Comair have launched an investigation and search operations are under way at the site, where a temporary morgue has been set up.

'Clean record'
The plane was carrying 47 passengers and three crew members. One of the passengers was an off-duty crew member. US President George W Bush was "deeply saddened" by the crash, a White House spokeswoman said. Comair had bought the aircraft in 2001 and it had a clean maintenance record, Comair President Dan Bornhorst told reporters. He said the captain was very familiar with the aircraft, which he said had been operated by the crew on board the fatal flight for some time. Comair is a unit of Atlanta-based Delta airline. Family and friends have been gathering at the Atlanta airport to wait for news. Flights resumed at Lexington's airport about four hours after the crash. This is the worst US air accident since November 2001, when an American Airlines plane crashed in Queens, New York, shortly after takeoff from JFK airport, killing 265 people.

Seized journalists freed in Gaza BBC News
Two foreign journalists kidnapped in Gaza City have been released after nearly two weeks in captivity.American Steve Centanni and New Zealander Olaf Wiig of US organisation Fox News were dropped off at a Gaza City beach-front hotel. Mr Centanni said they were forced at gunpoint to convert to Islam. They stated their conversion in a video released before they were set free. The captors had called for the release of "Muslim prisoners" in the US. The US had rejected the demands. Their abduction was one of the longest of foreigners in Gaza in years.

'Fanning flames'
The pair were seized from their vehicle near the Palestinian security services' headquarters on 14 August, and held by a previously unknown group calling themselves the Holy Jihad Brigades.Speaking after their release, Mr Centanni told Fox News they had been forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint. "I have the highest respect for Islam... but it was something we felt we had to do because they had the guns and we didn't know what the hell was going on," he said by telephone from Gaza City. In the video released on Sunday, the journalists read haltingly from prepared statements, in which they criticised Western intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan. US President George W Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair were accused of fanning the flames of anger in the Muslim world.

'Story must be told'
First footage of the pair after they were dropped off at Gaza's Beach Hotel showed them hugging colleagues inside the hotel lobby before running up the stairs. The pair later appeared at a brief news conference alongside Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya in which they spoke of their joy at being free and concerns that their abduction might deter other foreign journalists from reporting in Gaza."I hope that this never scares a single journalist away from coming to Gaza to cover the story because the Palestinian people are very beautiful and kind-hearted," Mr Centanni said. "The world needs to know more about them. Don't be discouraged." Mr Wiig also urged journalists not to be put off, saying that "would be a great tragedy for the people of Gaza". Mr Wiig's wife, former BBC News presenter Anita McNaught, who was also at the news conference, thanked Palestinian officials and Fox News for their efforts in getting the men released. She had been prominent in calling for the men's release and met Mr Haniya to discuss the kidnappings. After the news conference the men travelled to the Erez border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip and crossed into Israel. A deadline set by the kidnappers for their demands to be met expired at midday (0900 GMT) on Saturday. Over the past two years, a number of foreigners have been kidnapped in Gaza. All have been freed unharmed.

Mother pleads to see kidnap girl BBC News
The mother of an Austrian teenager who was held captive for eight years before her escape last week has pleaded to be allowed to see her daughter.Natascha Kampusch, 18, is at a secure location with psychological carers, and police say she has not asked to see her parents again after a brief reunion. Her mother Brigitta Sirny asked in a newspaper interview on Sunday: "Why can I not see my child?" Ms Kampusch's captor Wolfgang Priklopil killed himself after her escape. She is reported to have wept inconsolably when she was told the man she had to call "master" was dead. Police suspect she may have been suffering from "Stockholm Syndrome" - a condition where some abductees gradually begin to sympathise with their captors.

'Sensible and eloquent'
The teenager is said to have asked for a quiet weekend, free from police questioning and visits from her family. Her parents, who separated after her abduction, have complained that they have not been told where she is staying.Brigitta Sirny told the Kurier daily newspaper: "Natascha is shut away once again. It's terrible for me. Psychologists and doctors - that's all good and important. But my daughter also needs her mother." Natascha Kampush's father Ludwig Koch was also reported to be upset in comments made to the Austrian Press Agency (APA)."Isn't it crazy that I don't even know where she is?" he said. He said he had received a letter from his daughter asking him for his understanding that she needed rest this weekend. "We will have all the time in the world," he said she wrote. Austrian police officer Gerhard Lang said the police were not banning contact with Ms Kampusch. "Natascha is an adult, 18-and-a-half years old. She is fully capable of making decisions for herself," he told the AFP news agency.He said she had voluntarily gone to a "safe place" to receive psychological care and protection. He said psychologists warned that care must be taken over her reintroduction to her past life. Children's lawyer Monica Pinterits, who has spent several hours with Ms Kampusch, described the teenager as "sensible and eloquent" who was following the media coverage with great interest. "It disturbs her that she is often portrayed as a special case. She [doesn't see herself as] as a poor victim, but a grown young woman," she told the APA.

Escape
Erich Zwettler of the Federal Criminal Investigations Bureau said they had agreed to stop the questioning until Monday at the earliest. "She urgently needs a break," he said. He confirmed reports that she had told a female investigator that she had "sexual contact" with her kidnapper. But DNA tests on Priklopil have ruled out the possibility he could have been a serial stalker of children, Gerhard Lang said. Ms Kampusch, said to be pale and to weigh less than she did as a 10-year-old, managed to flee her abductor on Wednesday after he moved away to take a phone call as she vacuumed his car, it has emerged. Priklopil threw himself under a train within hours of her escape. Photos released by police show the underground hiding place in his house, in Strasshof village outside Vienna, where he had purportedly kept her. The pictures show a small, cluttered, windowless room with wash basin, toilet, bed and cupboards and narrow concrete stairs leading up to a trapdoor.

Unrest after Pakistan rebel death BBC News
More than 450 people have been arrested in Quetta, Pakistan's Balochistan province, in unrest following the death of rebel leader Nawab Akbar Bugti. An indefinite curfew is in place but outbreaks of violence have also been reported in other parts of Pakistan. Bugti, 79, was killed in a gun battle near his mountain cave hideout, officials said. He was a key figure in the struggle for greater political autonomy and share of Balochistan's gas and mineral wealth. His death is a major blow to rebels operating in the region - but may risk inflaming opposition to the central government, say analysts.

Heavy fighting
As news of his death spread, several hundred students from the state-run Balochistan university took to the streets in protest. Police had to fire into the air to disperse the rioters who attacked and set fire to cars and smashed windows. Sporadic flare-ups of violence continued in Quetta on Sunday despite the imposition of an indefinite curfew. There were reports of similar outbreaks across the region. In Kalat, 150km (90 miles) south of Quetta, a government building was bombed and a telephone exchange set alight, police said. No casualties were reported. Elsewhere in Balochistan, vehicles were damaged and roads blocked by protesters, AFP news agency reported. And the violence spread to Pakistan's biggest city of Karachi, in neighbouring Sindh province, where ethnic Balochis burned tyres, another report said. Bugti died when his mountain cave hideout, near Dera Bugti district, was tracked down and attacked by Pakistani ground forces and from the air with missiles from helicopter gunships. More than two dozen of Bugti's supporters are believed to have died in the heavy fighting that followed, along with a similar number of security personnel. Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani confirmed to Reuters news agency that Nawab Akbar Bugti had been killed, although there is no official confirmation that the rebel leader's body has been found. Four provincial parties have vowed to continue the protests. "The government has pushed Balochistan into a never-ending war," said Hasil Bizinjo, leader of one of the parties.

Long-running clashes
Balochistan is Pakistan's biggest province, and is said to be the richest in mineral resources. It is a major supplier of natural gas to the country. But for decades, Baloch nationalists have accused the central government in Islamabad of depriving the province of its due. Nawab Akbar Bugti - known to many as the Tiger of Balochistan - played a major role in the politics of the province for more than five decades, the BBC's Steve Jackson writes. He was involved in earlier failed insurgencies in the 1950s, '60s and '70s but he also served in the federal government and was on occasion governor and chief minister of Balochistan. The latest fighting between government forces and Mr Bugti's followers began after attacks by separatists on the gas infrastructure in the region. In one of his last interviews - with the BBC's Urdu Service in July this year - Mr Bugti was asked why a peace deal between his tribes and the government had not been implemented. "They say that I am intransigent, I don't listen to them, I don't bow before them," he said. "They say that I should bow before them and salute them, and give up my weapons, and then everything will be all right." His vision for Balochistan has never been achieved but the insurgency he led has been one of the biggest headaches for President Pervez Musharraf in recent years, our reporter writes. The main question now is whether or not his death will provoke more violence from the separatists, he adds.

Hurricane alert in the Caribbean BBC News
Storm Ernesto became the first Atlantic hurricane of the season after it gained strength and began pushing sustained winds in excess of 120km/h (75 mph).The hurricane is expected to pass close to the south-western tip of Haiti on Sunday, then hit the coast of Cuba on Monday morning local time. Tourists have been ordered to leave the Florida Keys island chain. The hurricane, a Category 1 storm, comes a year after a strong Category 3 hurricane devastated New Orleans. More than 1,000 people died and hundreds of thousands were left homeless when Hurricane Katrina flooded the city and surrounding Gulf Coast areas one year ago on Tuesday. The city is still struggling to recover from the effects of Katrina, but New Orleans' emergency services say they are prepared for any new storms: "We have a solid plan. All we need to do is watch the storm and the timing," City homeland security chief Terry Ebbert said. Cuba, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands have gone on hurricane watch as the potentially damaging hurricane gathers strength over the Caribbean. At 1100 GMT on Sunday, the centre of Ernesto was some 192km (120 miles) south-south west of Port-au-Prince in Haiti , the US National Hurricane Center said. The hurricane centre also said it was advising the Dominican Republic to issue a storm warning. Last year's Atlantic-Caribbean hurricane season was the worst on record, producing 15 hurricanes.

Third of China 'hit by acid rain' BBC News
One third of China is suffering from acid rain caused by rapid industrial growth, an official report quoted by the state media says. Pollution levels have risen and air quality has deteriorated, the report found. This comes despite a pledge by the authorities to clean up the air. In the latest incident, a reservoir serving 100,000 people in north-west China was polluted by a chemical spill. China has some of the world's most polluted cities and rivers. The pollution inspection report to the standing committee of parliament found that 25.5 million tonnes of sulphur dioxide were spewed out, mainly from the country's coal-burning factories last year - up 27% from 2000. Emissions of sulphur dioxide - the chemical that causes acid rain - were double the safe level, the report said. In some areas, rainfall was 100% acid rain, it added. "Increased sulphur dioxide emissions meant that one-third of China's territory was affected by acid rain, posing a major threat to soil and food safety," Sheng Huaren of the standing committee, was quoted by state media as saying.

Caustic soda
Local governments were accused of overlooking environmental regulations in the rush for economic development. "It is especially worrying that most local governments base economic growth on energy consuming industries, disregarding the environment's capacity to sustain industrial expansion," Mr Sheng said. His report echoes the findings from the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) released earlier this month. In July, China announced it planned to spend 1.4 trillion yuan ($175bn) over the next five years on protecting its environment. The sum - equivalent to 1.5% of China's annual economic output - will be used to improve water quality, and cut air and land pollution and soil erosion. Meanwhile, water supplies to the city of Hancheng in Shaanxi province were due to resume on Sunday, following an emergency when a nearby reservoir was polluted with 25 tonnes of caustic soda. Officials brought in 10 tonnes of hydrochloric acid to neutralise the caustic soda, which was being carried by a tanker that fell into the Xuefeng reservoir on Friday, killing one person.

Annan to visit Iran amid dispute BBC News
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is to visit Iran next Saturday, the Iranian foreign ministry has confirmed. The visit will come two days after a UN deadline for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and amid fears it is trying to develop a nuclear bomb. On Sunday Iran repeated it would go ahead with uranium enrichment - but only to fuel a nuclear power programme. Iran's foreign minister again called for European powers to "return to talks without prejudgement". News of the visit comes amid fresh tension over Iran's nucelar ambitions. On Saturday Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated a facility producing coolant for nuclear reactors. And last Tuesday, Iran responded at length to a package of incentives offered in exchange for suspension of its uranium enrichment programme. The details of Iran's response to the offer were not made public, though the US said it "fell short" of the full and verifiable suspension of uranium enrichment demanded by the UN by 31 August - and that the "next steps" would have now to be considered. Those "next steps" will include the threat of sanctions, say correspondents. China and Russia have stressed their preference for a negotiated solution to the crisis.

Diplomatic moves
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi confirmed that Mr Annan would be visiting Tehran on 2 September. Mr Annan cancelled his last scheduled visit to Tehran in November, saying it would be "inappropriate" in the wake of comments by Mr Ahmadinejad which appeared to call for Israel to be "wiped off the map". Some specialists have since questioned the accuracy of that translation. Mr Asefi also said it was "about time for the European side to return to talks without any prejudgement. Serious talks can lead us to reach an understanding," he said. However, the country's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani again underlined Iran's commitment to continuing to develop its nuclear programme. "Production of nuclear fuel is one of Iran's strategic objectives," Mr Larijani told state radio. "Any action to limit or deprive Iran could not force Iran to give up this goal." State television also reported that Iran had successfully test-fired a long-range, radar-evading Sagheb missile in Gulf waters on Sunday.

'Not a threat'
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran would never abandon its nuclear programme, but insisted nuclear weapons were not its goal. "We are not a threat to anybody, even the Zionist regime which is a definite enemy of the people of the region," he said. Heavy water made at Arak, 190km (120 miles) south-west of Tehran, will be used to cool a reactor being built that will create a plutonium by-product that could be used to make atomic warheads. Iran points out that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) it is entitled to a nuclear power programme and says it has not broken any rules. But the Western powers accuse Iran of concealing an enrichment programme, and Washington has refused to rule out military action.

Baghdad blasts claim more lives BBC News
At least 12 people have been killed and more than 30 injured in bombings in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. At least five died and 14 were hurt when a vehicle exploded near a hotel. Five more were killed at an open-air market, and a car bomb explosion near the state-run newspaper claimed at least two lives and wounded 20 people. The attacks come as US-led forces have been carrying out a major operation to improve security following a recent rise in violence in the city. They say the situation is improving. The US military has said a joint force of Iraqi and US soldiers has searched 31,000 buildings and 25 mosques, detained 70 suspected terrorists and seized 529 weapons in the past two weeks.

Media targets
The explosion outside the al-Sabah offices was the second car bomb attack on the newspaper this year. Al-Sabah is state-owned, but financed by the US. Correspondents say insurgents in Iraq often target journalists working for the state media.

Veteran Bollywood director dies BBC News
Leading Indian film-maker Hrishikesh Mukherjee has died in hospital in the western Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay). The 84-year-old director, known for his simple stories about Indian middle class people and their relationships, had been ill for some time. The award-winning film-maker was best known for popular films like Anand, Chupke Chupke and Abhiman. In 2001, Mukherjee was awarded India's biggest film honour, the Dada Saheb Phalke award. Working in a film industry that has been often panned by critics as one churning out escapist, candy floss entertainment with stories set in foreign locales and actors togged out in outlandish costumes and dancing to Western tunes, Mukherjee was possibly the last of the truly rooted Bollywood directors. "He was a great director, he was like an elder brother to me. His films were essentially Indian in nature," said legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar. Actor Rajesh Khanna said the director was a "great man who made great films".

Popular films
Hrishikesh Mukherjee began his career in the late 1940s as a film editor in the rundown studios of the eastern city of Calcutta, then home to a flourishing regional film industry. He eventually moved to Mumbai, where he was an assistant director to legendary filmmaker Bimal Roy on his film Do Bigha Zamin (Two acres of land) in 1953. During a prolific career which spanned four decades, he directed almost 50 films and also wrote a number of his own films. Mukherjee will possibly be most remembered for his 1970 film Anand. Mukherjee made some of his most meaningful and popular cinema in the 1970s - Guddi, a sardonic insight into the film industry, and Chupke Chupke, a rip-roaring comedy about a professor and his brother-in-law. In the 1973 film Abhiman, a film which explored professional jealously between husband wife, he paired Bachchan with the star's wife, Jaya Bachchan. He directed his last film Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate in 1998, returning to the studios after nearly a decade.

Uganda and LRA rebels sign truce BBC News
The Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army have signed a truce aimed at ending one of the most bitter wars in Africa. The agreement, reached during peace talks held in Juba, southern Sudan, is expected to take effect on Tuesday. A final peace deal will then be sought. Thousands have died during the 20-year conflict in northern Uganda, and more than one million have fled their homes. Lengthy efforts to end the war have culminated in the peace talks in Juba. Under the terms of the truce signed by both sides, the rebels will leave Uganda and their bases in Sudan and DR Congo to gather at two assembly points, where they will be protected by the government of southern Sudan. The Ugandan government has promised that, once the truce is in place, it will not try to attack the rebels. Talks on a comprehensive peace agreement will then get under way. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has set a 12 September deadline for a final peace deal.

Guarantees
The LRA had already called a ceasefire, but Uganda had insisted that a comprehensive agreement - with the rebels providing details of their forces and deployment - needed to be in place before a ceasefire could be agreed. The government also wanted a guarantee the LRA would not use the halt in fighting to reinforce its positions. The International Criminal Court (ICC) wants the LRA's top officials - among them leader Joseph Kony - to face charges including murder, rape and forcibly enlisting children. Against the wishes of the ICC, Uganda has offered amnesty to LRA leaders in exchange for the peace talks. The LRA has abducted thousands of children and forced them to fight since the conflict began.

Mauritania finds migrant bodies BBC News
Police in Mauritania say at least eight people have died while trying to illegally enter the Spanish Canary Islands by boat from Senegal. One report said their bodies were found washed up on a beach and it was suggested scores more may have drowned. Mauritania said it had rescued more than 100 other African migrants before their boats sank on Saturday night. Spain is appealing for more European Union funding to curb the record numbers of migrants arriving illegally. A Mauritanian police official who requested anonymity told the AFP news agency that migrant boats usually carried 90 to 96 people and there were probably "more bodies in the ocean". The dead people found were certainly illegal immigrants, he added, because there were no reports of missing fishermen.

Record number
Spain's Deputy Prime Minister, Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, is due to travel to Finland on Tuesday to ask the EU presidency for greater aid in stopping uncontrolled migration. More than 18,000 migrants, mostly young men, have arrived on the Canary Islands in fishing boats this year. Nearly as many arrived in the first three weeks of August as in the whole of last year, according to official figures. "We need more political engagement and more resources," the minister told reporters on Friday.

US senator to visit Kenyan slums BBC News
US Senator Barack Obama is due to visit one of Africa's largest slums in the Kenyan capital on the fourth day of his trip to his late father's homeland.He will go to an HIV-prevention scheme during his visit to Nairobi's Kibera slums, which is home to 600,000 people. On Saturday the Illinois Democrat was reunited with family in western Kenya and took an HIV test in a nearby city to encourage locals to do the same. He is the only black US Senator and is seen as a rising star of the Democrats.

'No excuse'
Mr Obama was due to start Sunday with a visit to Wajir, a rural area in north-eastern Kenya which has been hit by a severe drought that has affected the Horn of Africa region.On Sunday afternoon, he planned to return to the capital and visit programmes in the notorious Kibera slums. Kibera lacks almost all government services, including water. One in five of the slum's population are HIV positive, disease prevention groups say. On Saturday Mr Obama and his wife Michelle took HIV/Aids tests at Kisumu, which has one of Kenya's highest rates of HIV prevalence. Among Kenya's 32 million people, some 1.2 million were infected with HIV as of 2004, according to the Associated Press. "I and my wife are personally taking HIV tests," the senator said. "And if someone all the way from America can come and do that, then you have no excuse." Tens of thousands of people had lined the streets of the city as he arrived to visit the hospital and a nearby village, where he saw his grandmother and father's grave. Mr Obama began his African tour in South Africa but has cancelled plans to visit Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan.

US journalist on Sudan spy charge BBC News
An American journalist, arrested earlier this month in the Darfur region of Sudan, has been charged with spying by the Sudanese authorities. Paul Salopek, a Pulitzer Prize winner from the Chicago Tribune, was detained along with his driver and interpreter. At the time he was on an assignment for the National Geographic Magazine on the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa. The magazine's editor, Chris Johns, has appealed for his release, saying Mr Salopek was simply there to report. A court in the town of El Fasher in Darfur charged Mr Salopek with criminal espionage, reporting false information and entering Sudan without a visa.

'Deeply worried'
But Mr Johns insisted that Mr Salopek "had no agenda other than to fairly and accurately report on the region". "He is a world-recognised journalist of the highest standing, with a deep knowledge and respect for the continent of Africa and its people." An earlier statement from the magazine, for whom Mr Salopek is working during a leave of absence from the Chicago Tribune, said: "National Geographic magazine vigorously protests this accusation and appeals to Sudan for his immediate release and the release of two Chadians assisting him." Ann Marie Lipinski, the editor of the Chicago Tribune, described Mr Salopek as "one of the most accomplished and admired journalists of our time," adding that "he is not a spy". "We are deeply worried about Paul and his well-being, and appeal to the government of Sudan to return him safely home," Me Lipinski added. A judge in El Fasher said Mr Salopek would face another hearing in September on the charges of entering Sudan without a visa. Earlier in August, a Sudanese court sentenced the Slovenian president's envoy to two years in jail for spying and entering the country illegally. Tomo Kriznar was involved in the peace process between Sudan's government and rebels in the troubled Darfur region. The envoy, a well known human rights activist in Slovenia, was also jailed for publishing false information.

New UN peacekeepers for E Timor BBC News
The United Nations Security Council has established a new peacekeeping mission in East Timor with an initial mandate for six months. The new force will replace the current smaller mission and will include more than 1,500 police and up to 35 military liaison officers, but no troops. An Australian-led force sent to East Timor following an outbreak of violence three months ago will remain for now. Its status will be reviewed in two months' time. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had asked the Security Council to agree to a year-long extension of the UN mission in the wake of the violence. At least 25 people were killed and about 150,000 were left living in makeshift camps. Trouble erupted after then-Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri dismissed 600 soldiers - or nearly half of the tiny East Timorese army - when they protested over alleged discrimination against soldiers from the west of the country. He later resigned and was replaced by Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta, due to stay in office until elections in May next year. The resolution passed by the UN Security Council notes that the recent unrest was exacerbated by "poverty and its associated deprivations, including high urban unemployment, especially for youth".

Seven die in south Russia battles BBC News
A day of fighting in parts of Russia's North Caucasus region close to Chechnya has left four suspected militants and three police officers dead. Security forces in Dagestan killed the suspected militants in a two-hour gun battle after besieging a house in the regional capital, Makhachkala. A policeman and a woman inside the building were also injured. In Ingushetia, gunmen killed three policemen and wounded one in an ambush near the North Ossetian border. Two Russian servicemen were wounded in a roadside bomb attack in Ingushetia late on Friday.

Hand grenade
In Makhachkala, one report said a number of children had been allowed to leave the house - in a residential part of the town - before the fighting began. Two women were arrested after the battle. Adilgerey Magomedtagirov, Dagestan's interior minister, told Russian TV that police had received information that the house contained "several armed militants intent on terrorist attacks". According to Russian TV, an appeal for the occupants to surrender was met with a hand grenade after which police bombarded the building. Mr Magomedtagirov described two women who left the house as "Wahhabi" - a term commonly used in Russia to describe radical Muslims.

Swiss film wins Sarajevo award BBC News
A screen drama by a Swiss director about the lives of women in exile has won the best film award at the Sarajevo Film Festival. Das Fraulein, written and directed by Andrea Staka, follows the lives of three women from different parts of the ex-Yugoslavia living in Zurich. The award for best actress went to one of the film's stars, Marija Skaricic. The festival began on a small scale 12 years ago during the siege of the city by Bosnian Serb forces. It now attracts international stars and around 100,000 people are estimated to have attended this year. Andrea Staka's film also won the Golden Leopard award at the Locarno film festival in Switzerland, earlier this month. Sarajevo's 2006 best actor award went to Rakan Rushaidat who starred in All For Free. The film is about a man who decides to spend his inheritance travelling to a new town every day and buying drinks for all of the inhabitants.

Israeli rocket hits Reuters car BBC News
An Israeli air strike on a car in Gaza City during a security operation has injured a Reuters news agency cameraman and a local journalist.At least one rocket hit the car as the cameraman was filming, knocking him unconscious, while the second man received serious leg wounds. The Reuters car was clearly marked all over as a media vehicle. The Israeli army said the car had not been identified as press and expressed regret that journalists had been hurt. The agency named its cameraman as Fadel Shana and the other man wounded as local website journalist Sabbah Hmaida. Two Palestinian bystanders were also injured in the attack. A Hamas militant was killed in a separate Israeli air strike on Gaza later on Saturday.

'English, Arabic and Hebrew'
Israeli ground forces backed by helicopters were conducting an operation inside the Gaza Strip on Saturday evening, near the Karni crossing."During the operation, there was an aerial attack on a suspicious vehicle that drove in a suspicious manner right by the forces and in between the Palestinian militant posts," Israeli army spokeswoman Capt Noa Meir said. "This car was not identified by the army as a press vehicle. If journalists were hurt, we regret it." The Reuters armoured car was clearly labelled as a media vehicle, with signs on all sides, including the roof. According to the Associated Press, the white sports utility vehicle was emblazoned with the Reuters logo and had "TV" and "Press" written on it in English, Arabic and Hebrew. The front seats of the car were covered in blood, much of the inside of the vehicle was torn by shrapnel and one of the bullet-proof windows was completely destroyed, the agency says. Mohammed Dawdi, head of the local journalists' union, described the attack as a "cold-blooded crime". The Israelis have been conducting operations against militants in the Gaza Strip for two months. The campaign was sparked by the capture of an Israeli soldier on 25 June.

Google to target software market BBC News
Search engine Google is launching a range of free software programmes for companies, to build on its existing communication services. The move places Google, whose focus has been searching and advertising, in direct competition with Microsoft, as it updates its Office package. Google says it is answering a demand from firms for entire software packages, over individual services. Later this year, Google will offer a paid-for version of the software. The price of such a version, which would not hold any advertisements, has yet to be set.

Simplicity
Google will host the software - a process that is often expensive and time-consuming for firms. "If we do it right, we get the best of both worlds - very consumer friendly software, but also low-cost business applications," said Dave Girouard, Google's general manager of applications. Analysts say one of the main virtues of Google over Microsoft has been its user friendly character. "For all the complexity of Microsoft software and how long Vista has taken, a lot of corporate executives are going to be wary," said Martin Pyykkonen, an analysts at Global Crown Capital. "Do you update to the complexity of Vista or would you be better off just using something simple like Google Apps (applications)." But Girouard stressed that Google's latest offering was "not by any means an alternative to Windows", and said the firm was not aiming to "eliminate any applications". The announcement comes as Google teams up with auction site eBay to offer exclusive advertising, on its international website. Both firms are planning on combining their so-called "click-to-call" services, which enables consumers to directly phone a firm through its advertisement, via eBay's Skype and Google Talk.
Google plans more services for business users Rediff
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Google and Ebay to forge alliance Financial Times
By Richard Waters in San Francisco. Google and Ebay are set to announce a ground-breaking partnership on Monday that links the fortunes of the online giants at a time when their strategies had threatened to put them increasingly on a collision course. The alliance, which echoes a deal reached in May between Yahoo! and Ebay, will further isolate Microsoft at a time when the software developer has sought partnerships of its own to accelerate its internet initiatives. By creating a more complex network of dependencies between the leading online companies, the deal could also serve to dampen speculation about mergers in the industry that has been rife in recent months. Ebay said it had given Google an exclusive contract to supply text-based advertising for its websites outside the US, echoing its earlier agreement to carry advertising from Yahoo in its home market. Also, the companies announced a non-exclusive worldwide “click-to-call” advertising agreement under which they will carry their respective voice services – Ebay’s Skype and Google Talk – on each other’s shopping and search pages. Click-to-call adverts create an online voice connection between a web user and advertiser. Concern that Google would expand into online commerce and payments has cast a shadow over Ebay recently and is frequently mentioned on Wall Street as one of the biggest reasons for underperformance in the online auction company’s shares over the past 18 months. The threat from Google was also seen as one of the main reasons for Ebay’s alliance with Yahoo. Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Google, said the latest alliance “underscores how much we value Ebay as a partner”. The two companies already have one close tie, in that Ebay, alongside Amazon.com, is thought to be one of the two biggest buyers of keyword advertising on Google’s search engine. Ebay’s deal with Google stops short of its Yahoo relationship in at least two significant ways. While Yahoo is to supply display as well as text advertising to Ebay, Google is not in the display business, though it has said it plans to enter it at some stage. Also, Yahoo has agreed to carry PayPal, Ebay’s online payment service, on its sites, while Google recently launched its own payment service. The agreement to supply ads to Ebay’s international sites is the latest in a string of important partnerships for Google, following similar deals with AOL and MySpace. Those deals have been won ahead of Microsoft, which is looking to win wider distribution for its own online advertising service, and which sealed an alliance with Facebook, a social networking site, last week. Ebay’s share price was up 3 per cent on Monday morning after the official announcement, while Google were up 1 per cent.
Google, eBay shares rise on ad deal MarketWatch
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Weather blog: Latest from the forecasters Florida Today
Here are updates of forecasts and statements as Ernesto nears Florida. Check back frequently for new posts.

Local hurricane statement from NWS/Melbourne
Ernesto becomes a threat to east central Florida...

... New information...
a Hurricane Watch has been extended north along the Atlantic Florida coast to New Smyrna Beach. An inland Hurricane Watch is also in effect for all east central Florida counties... except for Lake County where a tropical storm watch is in effect.

... Areas affected...
this statement is for residents of east central Florida... including Martin... Saint Lucie... Okeechobee... Indian River... Brevard... Osceola... Orange... Seminole... Volusia... and lake counties.

... Watches/warnings...
a Hurricane Watch is in effect along the Florida Atlantic coast from New Smyrna Beach southward... this affects Volusia... Brevard... Indian River... Saint Lucie... and Martin counties. Also... an inland Hurricane Watch is in effect for all east central Florida counties... except for Lake County where an inland Tropical Storm Warning is in effect.

... Storm information...
at 11 am... the center of Tropical Storm Ernesto was located near latitude 20.3 north... longitude 75.7 west... or about 35 miles west northwest of Guantanamo Cuba. This is also about 475 miles southeast of Miami. Ernesto was moving toward the northwest near 10 mph... with this general motion expected to continue for the next 24 hours.

... Precautionary/preparedness actions...
a Hurricane Watch means hurricane conditions are possible in the watch area within 36 hours. Based on experiences of the past two hurricane seasons... every home or business in east central Florida should have a comprehensive hurricane plan in place and be prepared to be self sufficient for 72 hours after a storm passes. There is much uncertainty in the future course and intensity of Ernesto. Now is the time to review hurricane plans and continue closely monitoring the progress of Ernesto. Be ready to implement your hurricane plans should warnings be issued by the National Weather Service for your County.

... Winds...
although Ernesto is likely to experience some further weakening today as it moves over land... some strengthening is forecast as it moves north of Cuba out over the water once again later tonight. Hurricane force winds are forecast to overspread Martin and Saint Lucie counties by Wednesday at 55 to 75 mph... with locally higher gusts especially along the coast. Hurricane force winds of similar intensity are forecast to move north through the watch area Wednesday and Wednesday night. The potential for sustained hurricane force winds is highest along the coast... but inland counties are still at risk given the uncertainty in the track and with at least
a potential for hurricane force wind gusts.

... Storm surge and storm tide...
the wind forecast results in strong onshore flow associated with the approach of Ernesto... with the potential for hurricane force winds to move out of South Florida increasing in Martin County first... then continuing northward toward Cape Canaveral. As a result... surge and tide waters may temporarily reach 4 to 5 feet bringing a moderate threat of coastal flooding to that area. North of Cape Canaveral... the threat is lower with the potential for surge and tide waters of 2 to 3 feet. Significant beach erosion is becoming a concern. Across Lake Okeechobee... the Current Lake level is 12.1 feet. On the current forecast track... a storm surge of 4 to 5 feet above Current Lake levels or a storm tide of 16 to 17 feet above mean sea level is possible. The surge would affect The Glades County shoreline Wednesday morning and gradually move along the South Shore of the lake from Moore Haven to Clewiston to Belle Glade as Ernesto moves north later on Wednesday. The surge would push toward the Eastern Shore from Belle Glade north to Port Mayaca once Ernesto is north of the lake Wednesday afternoon. If the center of Ernesto moves over the
lake the effect would be turbulent with high waves on top of the surge.

... Inland flooding...
at this point... a Flood Watch has not been issued due to the uncertainty in track. Forecast rainfall amounts are expected to be around 4 to 8 inches... with locally higher amounts possible. Much will depend on the actual track of Ernesto according to the potential trajectory of its rainbands and precipitation core. However... at this point... the heaviest rain is expect closer to the coast. A Flood Watch will likely be issued for some areas of east central Florida by Tuesday morning.

... Tornadoes...
historically speaking... the scenario associated with Ernesto prompts a moderate tornado threat mainly with the outer rainbands that rotate onshore. The greater threat will be in vicinity of the coast. The tornadoes are expected to be short-lived and likely the first hazard to arrive into the area.

... Marine...
a Hurricane Watch is in effect for the east central Florida coastal waters north to New Smyrna Beach. Tropical storm conditions are possible as early as Tuesday night from Jupiter Inlet to Cocoa Beach... spreading northward into Wednesday north of Cocoa. Then... hurricane conditions are possible into Wednesday continuing Wednesday night and exiting the area Thursday morning. Mariners should stay abreast of the progress of Ernesto and be prepared to move to safe Harbor well in advance.

Tropical storm force winds expected Wednesday morning
The Brevard County Emergency Management unit is expected rough conditions to start Wednesday morning and continue until Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Here is part of the press release: Based on the current forecast track, Brevard County is expecting tropical storm force winds at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, and hurricane force winds at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, with winds subsiding at midnight Wednesday night/Thursday morning. The Emergency Operations Center is currently at a Level 2 activation and is monitoring the storm situation. Residents are advised to review their family communications and evacuation plans, and to finalize their hurricane preparedness kits, making sure they have water, non-perishable food, batteries, flashlights and medical supplies to sustain them for 72 hours. They are also encouraged to begin clearing their property of lawn furniture, garbage cans, and other items that could potentially become hazards when picked up by the wind. This is not the time to trim trees and place yard waste at the curb for pickup.

Inland hurricane watch issued for area
The National Weather Service has issued an inland hurricane watch for east-central Florida, which includes Brevard County. Here is the text of a portion of the statement: The National Weather Service in Melbourne has issued an inland hurricane watch, which is in effect through Wednesday evening, as the center of Ernesto approaches east central Florida. Sustained tropical storm force winds, 40 mph or greater, are forecast to spread northward across the region late Tuesday nightand early Wednesday morning. The strongest winds