Obama shelves Europe missile plan

US President Barack Obama has shelved plans for controversial bases in Poland and the Czech Republic in a major overhaul of missile defence in Europe.

The bases are to be scrapped after a review of the threat from Iran.

Mr Obama said there would be a “proven, cost-effective” system using land- and sea-based interceptors against Iran’s short- and medium-range missile threat.

Russia, which saw the old shield as a threat, initially welcomed the news but there has been criticism in the US.

The US signed a deal in August 2008 with Poland to site 10 interceptors at a base near the Baltic Sea, and with the Czech Republic to build a radar station on its territory.

The US had said the missile shield would be fully operational by 2012.

But President Obama this year ordered a review of the defence system, which was strongly backed by his predecessor George W Bush.

‘Stronger and smarter’

On Thursday, President Obama said in a live TV address that the change was needed to “deploy a defence system that best responds to the threats we face”.

He said a review had shown the need to switch strategy to defending against the short- and medium-range missiles that Iran could use to target Europe.

Twice Mr Obama referred to the need for a system that was “proven and cost effective”.

He said the new approach would provide “a stronger, smarter and swifter defence” of US and allied forces in Europe.

Mr Obama said he had spoken to both the Czech Republic and Poland and stressed his commitments to their defence.

But he said again that Russia’s concerns about the old system were “entirely unfounded”.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs later stressed the overhaul was “not about Russia”.

Although the White House said the US “no longer planned to move forward” with the old shield scheme for Poland and the Czech Republic, Defence Secretary Robert Gates stressed the US was not abandoning missile defence of Europe.

He said negotiations were under way with both nations about deploying upgraded SM-3 interceptors from 2015.

The first phase of the new strategy, he said, would be to deploy “current and proven missile defence systems in the next two years”, including the sea-based Aegis and the current SM-3.

The overhaul marks a major US foreign policy shift but it has already drawn some criticism.

John Bolton, who was undersecretary of state for arms control and international security under President Bush, said the move was “unambiguously a bad decision”.

He said: “This gives away an important defensive mechanism against threats from countries like Iran and other rogue states, not only for the US but for Europe as well.

“It is a concession to the Russians with absolutely nothing in return.”

Iran says its missile development programme is solely for scientific, surveillance or defensive purposes, but there are concerns in the West and among Iran’s neighbours that the rockets could be used to carry nuclear weapons.

As part of long-running efforts to tackle the issue, Iran will hold talks on its nuclear programme on 1 October with the UK, China, France, Russia and the US – the five permanent UN Security Council members – and Germany.

‘Real work’

Russia had seen the old US missile plan as a direct threat, despite US assurances that it was aimed at “rogue” states, such as Iran.

When news of the overhaul broke, Russia’s ambassador to Nato, Dmitry Rogozin, said it was “a breakthrough” for US-Russian relations.

“This means we’re getting rid of one of those niggling problems which prevented us from doing the real work,” he said.

The two countries are currently in talks about reducing their nuclear weapons stockpiles, and the US move could influence Russia to be more co-operative, correspondents say.

Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the US move was “a positive step”, Associated Press reported.

Leaders axed after China rioting

A Communist Party leader and police chief in the troubled western Chinese region of Xinjiang have been sacked, the official Xinhua news agency says.

The moves follow days of ethnic unrest in the regional capital Urumqi in which at least five people have died.

No official reason has been given for the sackings.

Mass protests have followed a spate of stabbings with syringes blamed on Uighur Muslim separatists. Unrest in Urumqi in July left nearly 200 dead.

Xinhua first announced that Urumqi Communist Party chief Li Zhi was to be replaced by Zhu Hailun, the head of Xinjiang region’s law-and-order committee.

A later statement added that Liu Yaohua, director of the Xinjiang Autonomous Regional Public Security Department, had also been dismissed.

Correspondents say that protesters who have marched in their thousands through Urumqi in recent days have demanded Mr Li’s dismissal for failing to provide public safety.

The BBC’s Michael Bristow in Urumqi says the sacking is unusual as it shows the Chinese authorities believe they may have made mistakes in the handling of the unrest.

Tight security

Security in Urumqi has been tight this week, after thousands of Han Chinese demonstrated over the alleged hypodermic syringe stabbings.

In fresh unrest on Saturday, angry Han Chinese rushed to the city’s main square following reports that three Uighur men had attacked a child with needles.

Video of the incident showed police driving the boy away and the crowd being dispersed.

China’s top security official, Meng Jianzhu, arrived in the city on Friday to try to restore order.

He was quoted by Xinhua as saying the syringe attacks were a continuation of the July unrest in which 200 people – mostly Han Chinese – were killed in ethnic riots.

Xinjiang’s population is evenly split between Uighurs and Han Chinese – the country’s majority ethnic group. But Hans make up three-quarters of Urumqi’s population.

Tension between the Uighur and Han communities has been simmering for many years, but July’s ethnic unrest was the worst for decades.

It began when crowds of Uighurs took the streets to protest about mistreatment – but their rally spiralled out of control and days of violent clashes followed.

Macedonia boat sinking ‘kills 19′

At least 19 people have died after a sightseeing boat sank in Lake Ohrid in south-western Macedonia.

The Ilinden sank about 200m from the shore – reportedly within four minutes. About 50 passengers have been rescued.

Most of the passengers were said to be Bulgarian. It is alleged the vessel was over its maximum carrying capacity.

Police have described the incident as “an enormous tragedy” and expect casualty figures to rise. Lake Ohrid is Macedonia’s best known tourist resort.

Macedonia’s official news agency says at the time of the accident there were 73 passengers on board, mostly Bulgarian tourists, although the boat only had a permit for a maximum of 45.

Cries of help

The tourists had been on their way to the St Naum monastery complex when the 30m (98 feet) vessel broke in two and sank at about 1100 (0900 GMT), according to witnesses.

“We were in a speed boat and we saw the boat sinking. We just turned around and we saw people crying for help,” an eyewitness told the BBC Macedonian Service.

“When we got there, 10 were already dead. We took seven with us, we thought we could save more but it was too late.”

Another witness told the BBC: “Around 1030 I went to the beach, and all of a sudden, I heard cries of ‘Help! Help me, help me!’ and we saw how the forward part of the boat had sunk in the water.

“I have a small dinghy and with a friend we went towards the boat, then two more small boats came along.

“It was lucky that there were other small boats who came along, and threw life-saving vests and took the survivors on board.

Police divers are on the scene.

“We fear more people have drowned,” police spokesman Ivo Kotevski told the Associated Press news agency.

A BBC correspondent in the region says accidents like this on Lake Ohrid are extremely rare.

Macedonia’s president, prime minister and a number of cabinet ministers are on the scene.

The country’s transport minister had offered his resignation.

A government statement is expected later, our correspondent adds.

G20 pledges tougher bank action

Finance ministers from the world’s most powerful economies have agreed a series of measures to try to regulate the global banking system.

They want a system that rewards long-term performance rather than short-term risk-taking.

However the G20 meeting in London did not agree on specific limits on the amounts individual bankers get paid.

Britain, the US and Canada opposed the idea, agreeing to ask the Financial Stability Board to examine the issue.

It will report back to the summit of G20 leaders in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania later this month.

UK Chancellor Alistair Darling said all bankers were obliged “to make sure that their pay practices are responsible”.

He said that ministers were determined to stop banks and financial institutions getting themselves into positions where they could be brought down.

The chancellor added that every single banker had to realise they would not be here if it had not been for the efforts of countries and taxpayers.

The US Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, said there was broad agreement on the need for change.

He said: “Changing compensation practices fundamentally will be fundamental to future reform, and we’re going to move forward and do that.”

International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that governments now had to act.

“The problem is we need to go beyond agreement. We need to have concrete measures.”

Suu Kyi ‘guest’ freed from jail

The US man jailed for visiting Burma’s detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been handed to US embassy officials ahead of deportation.

The release of John Yettaw had been announced after talks between visiting US Senator Jim Webb and Burma’s military ruler Than Shwe on Saturday.

Senator Webb had also met pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Mr Yettaw was jailed for seven years over the visit and Ms Suu Kyi was given an additional 18 months’ house arrest.

Earlier, the US state department welcomed Mr Yettaw’s impending release.

Mr Yettaw’s wife, Betty, told the Associated Press that she had not received any official notice he would be returning home.

“If it’s true, of course I’m extremely happy, and we’re ecstatic,” she said by telephone from their home in Camdenton, central Missouri.

However, Burmese dissidents say Senator Webb’s trip could be seen as an endorsement of the poor treatment received by Ms Suu Kyi and more than 2,000 other political prisoners.

Senator Webb’s office said he would bring Mr Yettaw out of Burma on a military aircraft that was returning to Bangkok.

After his arrest, Mr Yettaw, said he had been sent by God to deliver a warning to Ms Suu Kyi that she would be assassinated.

Senator Webb, who also asked for the release of Ms Suu Kyi, was the most senior US official to meet the Burmese leader on Saturday, his office said.

He also met Ms Suu Kyi for talks lasting about 40 minutes. She was taken to a state guesthouse near her home to meet Senator Webb.

Deaths take UK Afghan toll to 201

Two more British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, taking the number of UK personnel killed since operations began in 2001 to 201.

One, from the 2nd Battalion the Royal Welsh, died in hospital from wounds suffered in a blast on Thursday.

The second, from 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, died after an explosion on Saturday while on foot patrol in Sangin, Helmand province.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown described the death as “deeply tragic news”.

“Today is a day of mourning, and also a day of reflection. I want to thank the entire armed forces and the families and communities which sustain them,” he said.

“We owe it to you all never to forget those who have died. But my commitment is clear: we must and will make Britain safer by making Afghanistan more stable.

“We will honour and support those who have been killed or wounded in the field of battle. And we will give those who fight on all the support that they need to succeed in this vital mission.”

The Royal Welsh soldier had been on vehicle patrol near Musa Qala in Helmand province on Thursday morning.

Lt Col Nick Richardson, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: “The death of any comrade brings much sadness to the Task Force but we take consolation from the fact that these deaths are not in vain.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends so affected by this tragic event”.

A total of 10 UK personnel have died this month as troops attempt to shore up security ahead of August elections.

The latest deaths follow those of three soldiers killed by roadside bombs while on foot patrol in Helmand on Thursday.

Two had been attempting to help a comrade who had been wounded by an earlier blast.

Rifleman Daniel Wild, 19, from County Durham, and Captain Mark Hale, both serving with the 2nd Battalion The Rifles, were carrying Lance Bombardier Matthew Hatton, 23, of 40 Regiment Royal Artillery, from North Yorkshire, when they were hit by a second explosion.

Their patrol had been part of an operation intended to provide security for a pre-election Shura, or meeting of elders.

‘Progress made’

Defence secretary Bob Ainsworth said news of the latest deaths made it a “grim day” and said Britain mourned every loss of life in the conflict.

But he insisted UK troops had been making “good progress” in their mission.

He accepted the recent offensive against the Taliban – Operation Panther’s Claw – was a “tough fight”, but said it had brought nearly 80,000 Afghans out from under the “tyranny of the Taliban”.

Mr Ainsworth also said he believed the second Afghan presidential elections, to be held later this week, would offer more Afghans “a stake in their own emerging democracy” and provide greater security for the UK.

“It is only by supporting the Afghan government and its security forces to bring stability can we ensure that we prevent Afghanistan becoming the haven for terrorists it once was, protecting Britain from attack and promoting peace across the region.

“We must not fail in this task, and we will not.”

Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said passing the 200th death mark served as a “stark reminder of the bravery and sacrifice of British troops in Helmand”.

Couch-potato lifestyle affects children’s sleep: study

PARIS, July 23, 2009 (AFP) – Young children take an extra three minutes to fall asleep for every hour of the day that was spent physically inactive, New Zealand researchers said on Thursday.

University of Auckland specialists investigated sleep patterns among 519 seven-year-olds, monitoring them with a gadget attached to their waist that can tell from a child’s movements whether it is asleep, awake but inactive, or active.

After hitting the sack, the children fell asleep 26 minutes later on average, in a range of 13 to 42 minutes, and slept for an average of 10.1 hours.

Those who had been inactive during the day took longer to nod off. Every sedentary hour during daytime added 3.1 minutes to the time it took to fall asleep.

The study, published in a specialist British journal, Archives of Disease in Childhood, also found that children who fall asleep faster also sleep for longer.

The findings are important because children who sleep badly or for short periods are likelier to do poorly at school or become obese.

Going to bed after 9:00 p.m., and the amount of television a child watched, did not make a difference to the time it took to fall asleep.

The researchers say the results provide statistical backing to what many parents already know instinctively — that tiring a child out before he or she goes to bed will help it to sleep.

“These findings emphasise the importance of physical activity for children, not only for fitness, cardiovascular health and weight control, but also for promoting good sleep,” they say.

New escalation in Mexico drug war

Ten Mexican police officers have been detained in connection with the torture and murder of 12 federal agents during a major escalation in the drug war.

The arrests come as more than 5,000 troops and federal police are deployed in the western state of Michoacan.

The troop surge, one of the biggest in the anti-drugs campaign, comes after a local drug gang launched co-ordinated attacks in 10 cities last week.

The state governor has protested against the “military occupation”.

The federal authorities say they are investigating links between the municipal police and drug traffickers in the murder of the agents, whose bodies were found bound and gagged and shot through the head next to a major highway.

In a statement, prosecutors said the detentions would enable them to strengthen evidence that the officers “undertook criminal acts” in support of the Michoacan drugs gang and to “determine their responsibility for the murder of federal agents”.

Earlier this year 10 mayors in the state were arrested by the federal authorities on suspicion they were working with the drug gangs.

Cocaine transit

Troops with automatic weapons and ski masks to shield their identity have set up roadblocks across Michoacan, President Felipe Calderon’s home state, in a major show of force.

Nineteen police were arrested in one small town, 10 of whom are still being held in custody while alleged links with drug gangs are investigated.

The federal government believes that local police and officials have long been in the pay of the drug gangs.

The Michoacan gang, known as the “Family”, announced itself as a terrifying new force three years ago when its hitmen tossed the severed heads of five victims onto a dancefloor in a city nightclub.

Despite the roadblocks, analysts say federal agents remain highly vulnerable in a region where drug gangs can easily get intelligence about their movements.

Fugitive linked to Jakarta blasts

Indonesian officials say there are “strong indications” a key wanted fugitive was behind Friday’s deadly attacks on two hotels in Jakarta.

Noordin Mohamed Top is wanted for plotting the Bali bombings of 2002 and 2005 and other Indonesian attacks.

At least nine people, including two suicide bombers, died in the attacks on the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott.

At least half of Friday’s victims are said to be foreigners but have not all been formally identified.

Police in the Indonesian capital are studying DNA and other evidence to try to identify those behind the attacks.

The anti-terror chief, Ansyaad Mbai, has told the BBC he believes there are strong indications that Noordin was the mastermind behind the blasts.

Noordin was said to be a key financier for the Jemaah Islamiah militant group but is now thought to have set up his own splinter group.

Jemaah Islamiah has links to al-Qaeda and has a long track record of bomb attacks in Indonesia including the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed more than 200 people.

Friday’s bombs contained nails, ball bearings and bolts, identical to ones used by Jemaah Islamiah, police said.

Mr Mbai said he believed the aim of the attacks was to embarrass Indonesia’s government at a time when the country was enjoying a greater degree of stability than it had in the past.

The BBC’s Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta says the Indonesian people have been truly shocked by these attacks as they thought they had put events like this behind them.

Investigators on Friday recovered an unexploded bomb and other explosives material from what they said was the “control centre” for the attacks – room 1808 in the Marriott.

The attackers paid to stay at the hotel and smuggled in the explosives before detonating them in two restaurants on Friday.

CCTV footage showed one attacker wearing a cap pulling a bag on wheels into the Marriott restaurant, followed by a flash and smoke.

Security has been tightened across Indonesia in the wake of the attacks, with 500 troops put on standby to support police in the capital.

‘Shoulder to shoulder’

A new Zealander, businessman Tim Mackay, has been confirmed killed.

Indonesian police say Australians Nathan Verity and Garth McEvoy also died.

Their countryman, diplomat Craig Senger, was at the same breakfast meeting and is missing feared dead.

A health ministry report said a Singaporean and an Indonesian were also confirmed dead.

At least 17 foreigners were among the wounded, including eight Americans.

Other foreign nationals wounded included visitors from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea and the UK.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono condemned the attacks as “cruel and inhuman”.

US President Barack Obama said: “I strongly condemn the attacks that occurred… in Jakarta and extend my deepest condolences to all of the victims and their loved ones.”

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith is due to arrive in Jakarta on Saturday.

He said he wanted to stand “shoulder to shoulder with Indonesia at this terrible time”.

The Manchester United football team had been booked to stay in the Ritz-Carlton next week ahead of a game in Jakarta.

The team has cancelled the Indonesian leg of their tour.

The attacks come just weeks after the peaceful presidential elections.

The country of 240 million people has been praised in recent years for maintaining a pluralist democracy while finding and punishing radical Islamists responsible for the series of bombings more than five years ago.

Clinton seeks goodwill in India

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has begun a five-day visit to India aimed at strengthening political and economic relations.

She is currently in Mumbai, where she attended a private ceremony to honour the victims of last November’s attacks which left more than 170 people dead.

She is staying in the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, where many of the victims died.

Mrs Clinton is also likely to press for better ties between India and Pakistan when she goes to Delhi on Sunday.

Observers say she will argue that the current US alliance with Pakistan is not at India’s expense.

BBC regional analyst Jill McGivering says that at present, the US focus is on Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the battle against Taliban insurgents in both countries.

But the Obama administration is keen to address concerns in India that Delhi’s interests are being neglected, our correspondent adds.

Drumming up business

BBC state department correspondent Kim Ghattas, who is travelling with Mrs Clinton, says the secretary of state is keen on people-to-people diplomacy and usually holds town hall events and meetings with civil society leaders on foreign visits.

Before the official part of the visit in Delhi on Monday, she will take time in Mumbai, the commercial capital, to meet business leaders and visit a women’s NGO that helps to provide poor women with employment.

In the afternoon she will spend an hour at a school talking to volunteers at the Teach India programme, promoting education for the poor.

As her first engagement, she attended a morning ceremony to mark the Mumbai attacks, held in private and without press coverage.

It was held in the Taj Palace hotel where she was staying.

The attacks, in November last year, have become a major source of tension between India and Pakistan.

India wants Pakistan to punish those responsible and take tough action against militant groups.

The US has been working to bring the sides back into dialogue.

If tensions along Pakistan’s border with India were reduced, the Pakistani military would be able to focus more fully on the north-west and dealing with its own insurgency there.

Pakistan is now promising to address the concerns about militants, but many in India are sceptical.

Our correspondent also says the visit is also partly about business.

The agreement which ended a three-decade ban on the sale of civilian nuclear technology to India was a centrepiece of the last Bush administration.

Now India is expected to name two sites where US companies can build nuclear power plants. It is business worth billions of dollars.