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		<title>Ministers deny torture collusion</title>
		<link>http://www.bbcuk.info/2009/08/ministers-deny-torture-collusion.php</link>
		<comments>http://www.bbcuk.info/2009/08/ministers-deny-torture-collusion.php#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:02:38 +0000</pubDate>
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				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[collusion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[deny]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Ministers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[torture]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bbcuk.info/?p=32</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Two cabinet ministers have strongly denied allegations of collusion in the abuse of terrorist suspects overseas.
But Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Home Secretary Alan Johnson said it was impossible to remove all risk when using intelligence obtained overseas.
This came as a committee of MPs urged a probe into the transfer of terror suspects through UK [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Two cabinet ministers have strongly denied allegations of collusion in the abuse of terrorist suspects overseas.</strong></p>
<p>But Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Home Secretary Alan Johnson said it was impossible to remove all risk when using intelligence obtained overseas.</p>
<p>This came as a committee of MPs urged a probe into the transfer of terror suspects through UK territories.</p>
<p>Last week a committee of MPs and peers called for an independent inquiry into claims of UK complicity in torture.<span id="more-32"></span></p>
<p><!-- E SF -->The Joint Human Rights Committee said on Tuesday the government had not done enough to investigate these claims, because it had been unable to establish whether British officers were involved in mistreatment.</p>
<p>Now the Foreign Affairs Select Committee has also said it has grave concerns that British officers were complicit in torture.</p>
<p><strong>&#8216;Hard choices&#8217;</strong></p>
<p>But in a joint article in the Sunday Telegraph Mr Miliband and Mr Johnson said the UK &#8220;firmly opposed&#8221; torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.</p>
<p>They said there was &#8220;no truth&#8221; in suggestions it was official policy to &#8220;collude in, solicit, or directly participate in abuses of prisoners&#8221;.</p>
<p>But &#8220;difficult judgments and hard choices&#8221; had to be made, they added, and while anyone detained in the UK would be treated well, the same guarantee could not be made about those held by foreign authorities.</p>
<p>&#8220;Operations have been halted where the risk of mistreatment was too high. But it is not possible to eradicate all risk,&#8221; they wrote.</p>
<p>The pair, whose departments are responsible for Britain&#8217;s intelligence services, were responding to Tuesday&#8217;s report, but MPs on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee also want action to ensure Britain is not complicit in torture.</p>
<p>Its chairman Labour MP Mike Gapes said: &#8220;The government has a duty to use information that comes into its possession, from whatever source and however obtained, if it believes this will avert the loss of life.</p>
<p>&#8220;At the same time, we strongly recommend that the government should continue to exert as much persuasion and pressure as possible to try to ensure world-wide that torture is not employed as a method of interrogation.&#8221;</p>
<p>The committee also said there had been inadequate investigation into the transportation of two men through the American airbase on the small British Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia.</p>
<p>It said the government had a &#8220;moral and legal obligation&#8221; to ensure UK airspace and airports were not for rendition &#8211; which is the transfer of suspects to countries where torture is carried out.</p>
<p>And it urged ministers to pile pressure on the US to carry out a comprehensive check of its records to establish whether there have been other cases beyond two from 2002 it admitted last year.</p>
<p><strong>Agency concern</strong></p>
<p>The report warned of the dangers of turning a blind eye while using information obtained in countries known for their human rights abuses.</p>
<p>It said: &#8220;There is a risk that use of evidence which may have been obtained under torture on a regular basis&#8230; could be construed as complicity in such behaviour.&#8221;</p>
<p>The committee had particular worries over Britain&#8217;s relationship with Pakistan&#8217;s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, whose practices give &#8220;cause for great concern&#8221;.</p>
<p>It also accused the Foreign Office of &#8220;pulling its punches&#8221; over the &#8220;massive scale&#8221; of human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>Mr Gapes also called on the government to publish the previous guidelines given to intelligence officers on the questioning of detainees overseas.</p>
<p>The environment secretary, Hilary Benn, said the government&#8217;s position was &#8220;very clear.&#8221;</p>
<p>He added: &#8220;The government does not condone the use of torture, we are resolutely opposed to it, and that remains the case.</p>
<p>&#8220;Other countries, they&#8217;re responsible for what they do, but the position of the British government is absolutely clear.&#8221;</p>
<p>Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said a public inquiry was needed to &#8220;clear our name and remove the stain and the charge of hypocrisy&#8221;.</p>
<p>Scotland Yard is conducting a criminal investigation into claims MI5 was complicit in the abuse of Binyam Mohamed, a British resident who says he was tortured while being held at sites in Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Tom Porteous, from Human Rights Watch, said there should be a judicial inquiry.</p>
<p>&#8220;There are specific detailed and consistent allegations that have been made by my organisation, Human Rights Watch, by Amnesty International, by Reprieve, by other organisations and they need to be answered.</p>
<p>&#8220;Today again in the papers government ministers are here issuing blanket denials but not addressing the specific allegations and so there really is a need for a judicial inquiry.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Inquiry call</strong></p>
<p>Amnesty International UK campaigns director Tim Hancock described the Foreign Affairs Select Committee report as &#8220;yet another voice in a growing chorus demanding greater transparency over the UK&#8217;s involvement in &#8216;war on terror&#8217; human rights abuses&#8221;.</p>
<p>He also demanded a full, independent inquiry.</p>
<p>&#8220;The committee rightly asks some very pointed questions about the use of UK airspace and territory, particularly Diego Garcia, in US rendition operations,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Britain should stand firm in its opposition to torture, both through our words and our actions.&#8221;</p>
<p>Andrew Tyrie, the Tory MP who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition, said an inquiry should be held immediately.</p>
<p>&#8220;Neither the investigation by the police into the Binyam Mohamed case nor the other civil actions brought should stand in the way of getting to the bottom of this,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is the only way to give the public confidence that we have got to the bottom of all of this, to draw a line under it and to move on.&#8221;</p>
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		<title>Detained Nigeria sect leader dies</title>
		<link>http://www.bbcuk.info/2009/07/detained-nigeria-sect-leader-dies.php</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:15:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>informan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[nigeria]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bbcuk.info/?p=29</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The leader of an Islamic sect blamed for days of deadly violence in Nigeria has been killed in police custody, police officials have said.
Officials said Mohammed Yusuf was shot while trying to escape. They had announced his capture hours earlier.
Mr Yusuf led Boko Haram, which wants to overthrow the government and impose a strict version [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>The leader of an Islamic sect blamed for days of deadly violence in Nigeria has been killed in police custody, police officials have said.</strong></p>
<p>Officials said Mohammed Yusuf was shot while trying to escape. They had announced his capture hours earlier.</p>
<p>Mr Yusuf led Boko Haram, which wants to overthrow the government and impose a strict version of Islamic law.</p>
<p>Hundreds of people have died in five days of clashes between his followers and security forces.</p>
<p><!-- E SF -->Mr Yusuf was held and later shot in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri.</p>
<p>&#8220;Mohammed Yusuf was killed by security forces in a shootout while trying to escape,&#8221; the regional police assistant inspector-general, Moses Anegbode, told Nigerian television.</p>
<p>A spokesman for the state governor told the Associated Press news agency: &#8220;I saw his body at police headquarters. I believe he was shot while he was trying to escape.&#8221;</p>
<p>State television showed jubilant police celebrating round his body, AFP news agency reported.</p>
<p>Troops had stormed Boko Haram&#8217;s stronghold on Wednesday night, killing many of the militants and forcing others to flee.</p>
<p>Mr Yusuf was arrested earlier on Thursday, after reportedly being found hiding in a goat pen at his parents-in-law&#8217;s house.</p>
<p>BBC News website Africa editor Joseph Winter says Nigeria&#8217;s security forces have a terrible reputation for brutality and human rights groups accuse them of frequent extra-judicial killings.<span id="more-29"></span></p>
<p><strong>&#8216;Gun battles&#8217;</strong></p>
<p>The violence began on Sunday night in Bauchi state, before spreading to other towns and cities in the northeast of the west African nation</p>
<p>Crowds of militants tried to storm government buildings and the city&#8217;s police headquarters, but dozens of them were shot dead by security forces.</p>
<p>Several days of gun battles between militants and Nigerian security forces ensued, culminating in the assault on the militant&#8217;s stronghold.</p>
<p>It is thought more than 300 people have died in the violence &#8211; some estimates say 600, although there has been no official confirmation.</p>
<p>The Red Cross said about 3,500 people had fled the fighting and were being housed in their camp.</p>
<p>Witnesses and human rights groups have accused the military of excessive violence in quelling the militants, but the army says it used a minimal amount of force.</p>
<p>Police say Mr Yusuf was a 39-year-old preacher from Yobe state, who had four wives and 12 children.</p>
<p>They described him as a motivational character.</p>
<p>His sect, Boko Haram, is against Western education. It believes Nigeria&#8217;s government is being corrupted by Western ideas and wants to see Islamic law imposed across Nigeria.</p>
<p>Sharia law is in place across northern Nigeria, but there is no history of al-Qaeda-linked violence.</p>
<p>The country&#8217;s 150 million people are split almost equally between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south.</p>
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		<title>Fatal blasts hit Jakarta hotels</title>
		<link>http://www.bbcuk.info/2009/07/fatal-blasts-hit-jakarta-hotels.php</link>
		<comments>http://www.bbcuk.info/2009/07/fatal-blasts-hit-jakarta-hotels.php#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:40:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>informan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fatal blasts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hotels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jakarta]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bbcuk.info/?p=25</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At least nine people including some foreigners have been killed in two bomb blasts at luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, police say.
One explosion hit the Ritz-Carlton, ripping off its facade, and the other the Marriott Hotel. At least 48 people were injured.
A third blast went off almost three hours later in the north [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>At least nine people including some foreigners have been killed in two bomb blasts at luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, police say.</strong></p>
<p>One explosion hit the Ritz-Carlton, ripping off its facade, and the other the Marriott Hotel. At least 48 people were injured.</p>
<p>A third blast went off almost three hours later in the north of the city &#8211; no injuries have yet been reported.</p>
<p>It is not yet known who carried out the bomb attacks.</p>
<p>The BBC&#8217;s Karishma Vaswani says security is extremely tight around the hotels.</p>
<p>The blasts occurred at about 0730 local time (0030 GMT).</p>
<p>&#8220;I heard two sounds like &#8216;boom, boom&#8217; coming from the Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton. Then I saw people running out,&#8221; security guard Eko Susanto told AFP.</p>
<p>Myra Junor, who witnessed the blasts from a nearby building, told Reuters windows on the lower floors of the Ritz-Carlton had shattered.</p>
<p>Ambulances are on the scene and there is a heavy police presence, says our correspondent.<span id="more-25"></span></p>
<p><strong>Finding the victims</strong></p>
<p>The president director of PT Holcim Indonesia, Tim Mackay, was killed in the blast, the company&#8217;s marketing director Patrick Walser told Reuters news agency.</p>
<p>Unconfirmed reports say a New Zealander and a South Korean were injured.</p>
<p>Consular staff are trying to track their nationals, and Australia issued a warning against unnecessary travel to Indonesia.</p>
<p>An Australian man told local radio in Australia that his son had been hurt at the Marriott and was being taken to hospital.</p>
<p>The man, who identified himself only as Jim, said his son had telephoned him from Jakarta to say his leg was wounded and he had lost hearing in one ear in an explosion.</p>
<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s on his way to hospital. He&#8217;s OK,&#8221; Jim said.</p>
<p>Manchester United football team was due to arrive in Indonesia on Saturday and was booked to stay at the Ritz-Carlton. The blasts may raise doubts about the team&#8217;s tour, PA news agency reported.</p>
<p>The two hotels are in Jakarta&#8217;s central business district.</p>
<p>The explosions come two weeks after peaceful presidential elections in Indonesia.<!--more--></p>
<p><strong>Past tensions</strong></p>
<p>The attack comes just weeks after the country&#8217;s presidential elections, won by incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.</p>
<p>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 a series of bombings five years ago.</p>
<p>Officials say they have no idea what caused the latest explosions.</p>
<p>Church bombings in 2000 killed 19 people.</p>
<p>Bomb attacks on two nightclubs in Bali in October 2002 killed 202 people, most of them Australian.</p>
<p>The Marriott Hotel was the target of a bomb attack in August 2003 in which 13 people were killed. A bomb outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta in 2004 killed nine people.</p>
<p>Since then, a combination of new laws, anti-terror training, international cooperation and reintegration measures have kept Indonesia peaceful, analysts have said.</p>
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		<title>World powers accept warming limit</title>
		<link>http://www.bbcuk.info/2009/07/world-powers-accept-warming-limit.php</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:08:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>informan</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bbcuk.info/?p=21</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Developed and developing nations have agreed that global temperatures should not rise more than 2C above 1900 levels, a G8 summit declaration says.
That is the level above which, the UN says, the Earth&#8217;s climate system would become dangerously unstable.
US President Barack Obama said the countries had made important strides in dealing with climate change.
But the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Developed and developing nations have agreed that global temperatures should not rise more than 2C above 1900 levels, a G8 summit declaration says.</strong></p>
<p>That is the level above which, the UN says, the Earth&#8217;s climate system would become dangerously unstable.</p>
<p>US President Barack Obama said the countries had made important strides in dealing with climate change.</p>
<p>But the G8 failed to persuade developing countries to accept targets of cutting emissions by 50% by 2050.<span id="more-21"></span></p>
<p>On Wednesday, the G8 agreed its own members would work towards 80% cuts by the same date.</p>
<p>UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the G8 had not done enough and should also set 2020 targets.</p>
<p>He said that while the G8&#8217;s Wednesday agreement was welcome, its leaders also needed to establish a strong and ambitious mid-term target for emissions cuts.</p>
<p>See how global temperatures have risen</p>
<p>The second day of the summit, in the Italian city of L&#8217;Aquila, opened its discussions to take in the so-called G5 nations &#8211; Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa. Egypt is a special invitee.</p>
<p>In other developments:</p>
<p>* The world&#8217;s biggest economies have agreed to work to reach a global trade deal by 2010<br />
* Leaders of major developed and developing nations have agreed not to resort to competitive currency devaluations<br />
* In a joint statement, President Obama and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the detention of British embassy staff by the Iranian authorities was unacceptable</p>
<p>Significant step</p>
<p>The latest declaration was issued by the Major Economies Forum, of 16 developed and developing nations &#8211; the G8, G5, Australia, South Korea and Indonesia &#8211; plus the European Union.</p>
<p>The group accounts for about 80% of the world&#8217;s total greenhouse gas emissions.</p>
<p>&#8220;We recognise the scientific view that the increase in global average temperature above pre-industrial levels ought not to exceed 2C,&#8221; it said.</p>
<p>It added that the economies would work towards a global goal for substantially reducing emissions by 2050 between now and December, when the UN holds talks in Copenhagen on a successor to the Kyoto treaty.</p>
<p>President Obama, who chaired the meeting, said the countries had had a candid and open discussion about the growing threat of climate change and what must be done both individually and collectively to address it.</p>
<p>&#8220;I believe we&#8217;ve made some important strides forward as we move towards Copenhagen,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think I have to emphasise that climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time. The science is clear and conclusive and the impacts can no longer be ignored.&#8221;</p>
<p>Early agreement &#8216;unlikely&#8217;</p>
<p>RK Pachauri, who chairs the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, praised the declaration&#8217;s mention of the 2C limit but said more details were needed.</p>
<p>&#8220;It certainly doesn&#8217;t give you a roadmap on how you should get there but at least they&#8217;ve defined the destination,&#8221; he told the BBC World Service Newshour programme.</p>
<p>Mr Obama added that the United States, as a major polluter, had not met its responsibilities in the past, but those days were over.</p>
<p>But his scientific adviser, John Holdren, told the BBC it was unlikely that the US could come to any early agreement on tough reductions in emissions by 2020 proposed by the EU.</p>
<p>&#8220;If we had not wasted the last eight years, we could probably achieve that target,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;But we did waste the last eight years and in consequence, it doesn&#8217;t make a lot of sense for us to officially embrace a target that is not realistically within reach.&#8221;</p>
<p>BBC environment analyst Roger Harrabin says the declaration is a significant step, with all big countries rich and poor agreeing there is a scientific limit on the amount we should warm the climate.</p>
<p>But there is still a huge way to go, he says, as developing nations like India will not sign up to any 2050 targets unless rich nations show more determination and offer more cash.</p>
<p>The G8 summit began in L&#8217;Aquila on Wednesday, with the first day largely taken up with discussion of the fragile state of the global economy.</p>
<p>The leaders also issued a statement reaffirming that they were &#8220;deeply concerned&#8221; by Iran&#8217;s nuclear programme and condemning North Korea&#8217;s recent nuclear test and missile launches.</p>
<p>African leaders will join the summit on Friday to push for a new initiative to fund farming in the developing world and tackle global hunger.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbcuk.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/bbcuk.gif"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-22" title="bbcuk" src="http://www.bbcuk.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/bbcuk.gif" alt="bbcuk" width="459" height="318" /></a></p>
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		<title>US opens &#8216;major Afghan offensive&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://www.bbcuk.info/2009/07/us-opens-major-afghan-offensive.php</link>
		<comments>http://www.bbcuk.info/2009/07/us-opens-major-afghan-offensive.php#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:37:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>informan</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bbcuk.info/?p=18</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The United States army says it has launched a major offensive against the Taliban in the southern Afghan province of Helmand.
The US military says about 4,000 marines as well as 650 Afghan troops are involved, supported by Nato planes.
Brigadier General Larry Nicholson said the operation was different from previous ones because of the &#8220;massive size [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The United States army says it has launched a major offensive against the Taliban in the southern Afghan province of Helmand.</p>
<p>The US military says about 4,000 marines as well as 650 Afghan troops are involved, supported by Nato planes.</p>
<p>Brigadier General Larry Nicholson said the operation was different from previous ones because of the &#8220;massive size of the force&#8221; and its speed.</p>
<p>Officers on the ground said it was the largest marine offensive since Vietnam.</p>
<p>It is the first such operation under President Barack Obama&#8217;s presidency.</p>
<p>The operation began when units moved into the Helmand river valley in the early hours of Thursday.</p>
<p>Helicopters and heavy transport vehicles carried out the advance, with Nato planes providing air cover.</p>
<p>Security aim</p>
<p>Southern Afghanistan is considered a Taliban stronghold.</p>
<p>The security forces will build bases to provide security for the local people so that they can carry out every activity with this favourable background, and take their lives forward in peace</p>
<p>Gulab Mangal<br />
Helmand Governor</p>
<p>&#8220;Where we go we will stay, and where we stay, we will hold, build and work toward transition of all security responsibilities to Afghan forces,&#8221; said Brig Gen Nicholson in a statement.</p>
<p>At a briefing at the US military&#8217;s Camp Leatherneck last week, he told personnel and embedded reporters: &#8220;One of the most critical things is to tell people why we&#8217;re there, and we are going to have a limited opportunity to gain their trust.&#8221;</p>
<p>The operation would have an initial highly aggressive stage lasting 36 hours, AFP news agency reported.</p>
<p>It aims to improve security ahead of presidential elections on 20 August, allowing voter registration where before there was none, Gen Nicholson said.<span id="more-18"></span></p>
<p>US soldiers in Afghanistan, 27 June, 2009<br />
US troops are working to flush out Taliban from Helmand province</p>
<p>A US military spokesman, Captain William Pelletier, told the BBC there had been &#8220;no enemy contact&#8221; in the first hours of the operation, but one marine was slightly injured when an improvised explosive device detonated.</p>
<p>He said the US military was prepared for casualties, but stressed that &#8220;it is absolutely essential that no civilians be harmed&#8221;.</p>
<p>Helmand Governor Gulab Mangal predicted the operation would be &#8220;very effective&#8221;.</p>
<p>&#8220;The security forces will build bases to provide security for the local people so that they can carry out every activity with this favourable background, and take their lives forward in peace.&#8221;</p>
<p>Troop numbers</p>
<p>I am convinced that the addition of those [US] troops is going to improve the security situation<br />
General Jim Dutton<br />
Commander of UK forces</p>
<p>Helmand &#8216;not a losing campaign&#8217;</p>
<p>As of June 2009, Nato&#8217;s International Security Assistance Force had 61,130 personnel from 42 countries including the US, Canada, European countries, Australia, Jordan and New Zealand.</p>
<p>The US is the largest contributor, providing 28,850 soldiers.</p>
<p>It also has troops under Operation Enduring Freedom &#8211; mostly in the east of Afghanistan on the border with Pakistan &#8211; that are not under Isaf&#8217;s command.</p>
<p>In December 2008 they numbered 17,100.</p>
<p>President Obama has pledged to send an additional 21,000 extra soldiers to Afghanistan, many of them redeployed from operations in Iraq, to help with training Afghan security forces and to tackle the insurgency.</p>
<p>UK troops are also operating in Helmand, but there has been criticism that British forces have been overstretched and under-resourced.</p>
<p>Last week the commander of UK troops in Afghanistan, General Jim Dutton, denied that the battle against the Taliban was &#8220;a losing campaign&#8221;.</p>
<p>Gen Dutton welcomed the planned increase in US troop numbers.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am convinced that the addition of those [US] troops is going to improve the security situation,&#8221; he said.</p>
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		<title>BBC info</title>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:45:45 +0000</pubDate>
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		<description><![CDATA[The One Show and Watchdog&#8217;s Anita Rani is to turn the spotlight on skin-lightening treatments in a one-off documentary for BBC1.
Make Me White [working title] will look at the increasing pressure among Britain&#8217;s Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities to be pale and will ex-amine the booming trade in legal and illegal skin-lightening products.
Rani will also look [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>The One Show and Watchdog&#8217;s Anita Rani is to turn the spotlight on skin-lightening treatments in a one-off documentary for BBC1.</div>
<p>Make Me White [working title] will look at the increasing pressure among Britain&#8217;s Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities to be pale and will ex-amine the booming trade in legal and illegal skin-lightening products.</p>
<p>Rani will also look at the effectiveness and side-effects of the various treatments.</p>
<p>“Anita starts with her own mother&#8217;s obsession with light skin,” said the BBC. “She goes undercover to find illegal creams and exposes the use of harmful chemicals in legally available creams.”</p>
<p>The show is being produced in-house in Birmingham and was ordered by BBC1 controller Jay Hunt and Nick Shearman, Knowledge commissioning executive producer in Wales. TX is planned for a 10.35pm slot in the summer.</p>
<p>Jo Ball, who was recently appointed commissioning editor for BBC1 and BBC2 features, will oversee the project.</p>
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		<title>BBC UK Online Info</title>
		<link>http://www.bbcuk.info/2009/06/bbc-uk.php</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2009 05:20:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>informan</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bbcuk.info/?p=3</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[BBC Online (located at the  bbc.co.uk) is the brand name and home for the BBC&#8217;s UK online service. It is a large network of websites including such high profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on demand video and radio services co-branded BBC iPlayer, the pre-school site Cbeebies, and learning services such as Bitesize. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>BBC Online</strong> (located at the  <strong>bbc.co.uk</strong>) is the brand name and home for the BBC&#8217;s UK online service. It is a large network of websites including such high profile sites as <em>BBC News and Sport</em>, the on demand video and radio services co-branded <em>BBC iPlayer</em>, the pre-school site <em>Cbeebies</em>, and learning services such as Bitesize. The BBC has had an online presence supporting its TV and radio programmes and web only initiatives since 1994 but didn&#8217;t launch officially until December 1997, following government approval to fund it by TV licence fee revenue as a service in its own right. Throughout its short history, the online plans of the BBC have been subject to various public consultations and government reviews illustrating concerns from commercial rivals that its large presence and public funding distorts the UK market.</p>
<p>The website has gone through several branding changes since it was launched. Originally named BBC Online, it was then rebranded as BBCi (which itself was the brand name for interactive TV services) before being named bbc.co.uk. It was then branded BBC Online again in 2008. The Web-based service of the BBC is one of the world&#8217;s largest and most visited websites (forty-seventh most visited according to Alexa on 31 March 2009)  As of 2007, it contained over two million pages.</p>
<h3><span>BBC Networking Club</span></h3>
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<p>The BBC Networking club, 1994</p></div>
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<p>The service&#8217;s original home was <em><strong>www.bbcnc.org.uk</strong></em> (the &#8220;nc&#8221; standing for &#8220;networking club&#8221;) launched on 11 May 1994 as a paid subscription service. For a joining fee of £25 and a monthly subscription of £12, members of the club were given access to an early type of social networking site featuring a bulletin board for sharing information and real-time conversation, along with a dialup internet connection service.</p>
<p>Within 12 months, the BBC offered &#8220;auntie&#8221; on-line discussion groups; web pages for select web-related programs and BBC departments; free web pages for associate members; and an internet connection service <em><strong>www.bbc.co.uk</strong></em> was introduced in 1996 though the old address also remained active for some time afterwards.</p>
<h3><span> </span> <span>BBC Online</span></h3>
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<p>BBC website as it appeared in 1997</p></div>
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<p>The BBC Director General John Birt sought government approval to direct licence fee revenue into the service, describing planned BBC internet services as the “third medium” joining the BBC&#8217;s existing TV and Radio networks, achieving a change in the BBC Charter. This led to the official launch of <em>BBC Online</em> at the <em>www.bbc.co.uk</em> address in December 1997.</p>
<p>For a time, <em>www.bbc.co.uk</em> was used for the organisation&#8217;s corporate and educational site, while entertainment-based content appeared on <em><strong>www.beeb.com</strong></em>. The two sites were merged c.1998 to become BBC Online  at www.bbc.co.uk. In 1999, the BBC bought the www.bbc.com domain name for $375,000, previously owned by Boston Business Computing , but the price of this purchase was not revealed until 6 years later. As of 2005, <em>www.bbcnc.org.uk</em> no longer exists. The beeb.com address now redirects to the BBC Shop website run by BBC Worldwide, at <em><strong>www.bbcshop.com</strong></em>.</p>
<h3><span>BBCi</span></h3>
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<p>BBCi website navbar, 2004</p></div>
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<p>In 2001 BBC Online was rebranded as BBCi. The BBCi name was conceived as an umbrella brand for all the BBC&#8217;s digital interactive services across web, digital teletext, interactive TV and on mobile plaftorms. The use of letter &#8220;i&#8221; prefixes and suffixes to denote information technology or interactivity was very much in vogue at this time, notably with the launch of the iMac and the iPod by Apple Computer; according to the BBC, the &#8220;i&#8221; in BBCi stood for &#8220;interactivity&#8221; as well as &#8220;innovation&#8221;.</p>
<p>As part of the rebrand, BBC website pages all displayed a standard navigation bar across the top of the screen, offering a category-based navigation: Categories, TV, Radio, Communicate, Where I Live, A-Z Index and a search. The navbar was designed to offer a similar navigation system to the i-bar on BBCi interactive television.</p>
<h3><span>bbc.co.uk</span></h3>
<p>After three years of consistent use across different platforms, the BBC began to drop the BBCi brand gradually; on 6 May 2004, the BBC website was renamed bbc.co.uk, after the main URL used to access the site. Interactive TV services continued under the BBCi brand until it was dropped completely in 2008. The BBC&#8217;s online video player, the iPlayer has, however, retained an i-prefix in its branding.</p>
<p>On 14 December 2007, a beta version of a new bbc.co.uk homepage was launched, with the ability to customise the page by adding, removing and rearranging different categories, such as &#8216;News&#8217;, &#8216;Weather&#8217; and &#8216;Entertainment&#8217;. The widget-based design was inspired by sites such as Facebook and iGoogle. The new BBC homepage left beta stage on Wednesday, 27 February 2008 to serve as the new BBC Homepage under the same URL as the previous version did.</p>
<h2><span>Content</span></h2>
<p>The websites include news from the BBC News website, a sports section, music, science, technology and entertainment pages, amongst other things. As might be expected, the website has a British orientation, although the home page, news section and sports section each give the reader a choice between UK and &#8220;International&#8221; versions.</p>
<p>In February 2001, BBC Online incorporated Douglas Adams&#8217; previously independent h2g2 project into its group of web sites, and is now replacing all its existing message boards with the DNA software derived from that project. The site&#8217;s Collective magazine also uses the DNA software.</p>
<p>The website has extensive technical information available about its operation. The BBC also makes some of the content on bbc.co.uk and the BBC News Website available in XML format on its developer network backstage.bbc.co.uk. Also, through participation in the Creative Archive Licence group, bbc.co.uk allows legal downloads of selected material via the Internet.</p>
<h3><span>Children&#8217;s</span></h3>
<p>The BBC runs a comprehensive children&#8217;s website subsite. It includes information on all of CBBC&#8217;s shows along with several subsites covering art, sport, news, and other current events. Its message boards are especially popular with children who use them to communicate with each other about all of CBBC&#8217;s output among other salient topics for kids like bullying, books, and personal problems. The &#8220;Your Life&#8221;  page was especially geared to helping young people sort through their difficulties. &#8216;Your Life&#8217; was subsequently closed though a professional psychotherapist agony uncle called &#8220;Ask Aaron&#8221; still provides answers to questions online and on interactive television through CBBC eXtra.</p>
<p>The BBC also runs a message board for young people named onion street.</p>
<p>There is integration between television output and website content with aspects of children&#8217;s programming have followup information on their websites.</p>
<h3><span>Streaming media</span></h3>
<p>A service, called BBC iPlayer, was launched in December 2007, which allows users to download both radio and TV content for up to seven days after broadcast. The television version allows users to either stream programmes or to download them using peer-to-peer and DRM technology.</p>
<p>Initially streams were generally broadcast in the RealAudio and RealVideo formats controlled by RealNetworks and the BBC drew criticism with some for using those closed formats which, at the time, could only be played using RealPlayer. In response to such criticisms, the BBC negotiated a deal with RealNetworks a &#8216;cut-down&#8217; version of RealPlayer which did not contain as much advertising and marketing.</p>
<p>Windows Media has also been adopted and since Autumn 2006, a Windows Media stream of all national BBC radio stations has been available.</p>
<p>More recently, the BBC has been experimenting with MP3 downloads and podcasting facilities for an increasing number of radio shows, with a high level of success; a less publicised trial of Ogg Vorbis streams for certain programmes was less successful, and has now been discontinued.</p>
<h3><span>Tracking cookies and privacy policy</span></h3>
<p>bbc.co.uk uses several third-party companies to log information from users, by means of cookies. The BBC lists the companies it uses in its privacy policy:</p>
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<li>Nielsen/Net Ratings and SageMetrics</li>
<li>Nedstat</li>
<li>Websidestory</li>
<li>Doubleclick</li>
<li>Bango</li>
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<p>Users that block certain of these tracking domains will find certain parts of the BBC&#8217;s websites inaccessible. Doubleclick provides a partial optout mechanism, but it requires the user to accept another cookie, a DART cookie, from doubleclick.net. Users blocking doubleclick.net will be unable to do this.</p>
<h2><span>Funding</span></h2>
<p>The BBC&#8217;s site was initially entirely free from advertising, this was due to the BBC&#8217;s funding, derived primarily from compulsory television licence fees from UK viewers. BBC Worldwide who exploit BBC brands commercially have had several attempts at launching services online including Beeb.com in the late 90s.</p>
<p>In 2006, the BBC began making controversial plans to raise revenue by including advertising on BBC News pages served to non UK users. bbc.co.uk is currently freely available worldwide (via various URLs including BBCNews.com) but planned video services and a lower than expected licence fee settlement paid for by UK residents only has caused the BBC to consider ways of monetising its global popularity online. From November 2007, visitors from outside of the UK have seen banner advertisements on the site.</p>
<p>Prior to this there had been criticism from some, as web users outside the UK could use the services (including the entire BBC radio services) without having to pay for them. It has been suggested in the past that the BBC block users outside the UK. In addition, where rights to sporting events (such as certain football or cricket matches) do not include international online coverage, users from outside the UK are blocked from listening to commentaries.</p>
<p>In defence of its open policy, the BBC&#8217;s site is primarily hosted from two locations, New York and London. The London site is funded from the licence fee and the New York server is funded through a series of government grants (similar to the BBC World Service) and not directly by the licence fee.</p>
<h2><span>Graf report</span></h2>
<p>In early 2004, the site was made the focus of a government review, launched by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, led by Philip Graf. Sections of the UK internet industry had argued that the BBC site offered things that were available in the commercial sector, creating unnecessary competition.</p>
<p>The review was published in July 2004 and it was recommended that the BBC &#8220;prioritise news, current affairs, education and information which is of value to the citizen.&#8221; In response the BBC also shut down a small number of sections of the site, including the Soaps section.</p>
<p>In November 2004, the Governors of the BBC announced a newer, much more tightly drawn remit for bbc.co.uk as part of their response to the review. They also announced, as Graf had recommended, a new approach towards external providers which will see bbc.co.uk aiming to spend at least 25% of its eligible budget on content and services through independent commissions by the end of 2006/07.</p>
<p>The implementation of the Graf report has seen the popular messageboards in the BBC Sport section shut down, as the BBC tries to promote its 606 brand, but these changes have proved unpopular as the interface has proven unusable and large numbers of content providers have abandoned the BBC site.</p>
<h3><span>Cult TV</span></h3>
<p>From 1999 to 2005, the BBC ran a popular subsite called <em>Cult TV</em>. This subsite had news, star interviews, trivia, and other content popular with fans of the cult TV shows they covered. Examples of covered TV shows include <em>The X-Files</em>, <em>Doctor Who</em>, <em>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</em>, <em>Farscape</em> and <em>The Hitchhiker&#8217;s Guide to the Galaxy</em>.</p>
<p>On 15 July 2005, the BBC announced that the site was closing as of the end of the month, although the <em>Doctor Who</em> section would be unaffected as the series was an ongoing BBC concern. The announcement explained that this was &#8220;part of the restructuring of the BBC&#8217;s online activities&#8221;. It was promised that some of the content would be moved to new places on bbc.co.uk, although as of March 2008 it is currently still all online at the no-longer-updated Cult site.</p>
<h2><span>Vulnerabilities in the system</span></h2>
<p>In March 2007, a vulnerability was exposed in the BBC&#8217;s &#8220;Most Emailed&#8221; and &#8220;Most Read&#8221; news sections. This vulnerability continues to exist in the system as of January 2008.</p>
<h2><span>Plagiarism allegations</span></h2>
<p>The website of the Irish political party Fine Gael is modelled on that of the BBC. When confronted about allegations of plagiarism, the party spokesdog sheepishly admitted there were &#8220;grains of truth in this thing&#8221; Steph, a blogger from Dublin said &#8220;&#8221;A decent effort at a cover-up of blatant plagiarism but anyone who frequents the BBC website for their news fix would still spot the &#8216;inspiration&#8217; or at least start rubbing their chin and say &#8216;it looks familiar but I&#8217;m not sure why&#8217;.&#8221;</p>
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