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Lockerbie case: new accusations of manipulation of key forensic evidence
On 4 August 2007 Dr. Hans Koechler received from Mr. Edwin Bollier, head of the Swiss-based company MEBO AG, a copy of the German original of an Affidavit, dated 18 July 2007 and signed by Mr. Ulrich Lumpert, former employee (electronics engineer) of MEBO AG, Zurich, related to the Lockerbie case. In a statement released today, Dr. Hans Koechler, who has followed the Lockerbie proceedings since the beginning of the trial in the Netherlands in May 2000, highlighted basic aspects and questions of this new revelation that appear to be of relevance not only in connection with the upcoming second appeal of the convicted Libyan national, but also for new prosecutorial action ex officio by the Scottish authorities. In his affidavit Mr. Lumpert implicitly admits having committed perjury as witness No. 550 before the Scottish Court in the Netherlands.

Leaked Red Cross report sets up Bush team for international war-crimes trial
If and when there's the equivalent of an international Nuremberg trial for the American perpetrators of crimes against humanity in Guantánamo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the CIA's secret prisons, there will be mounds of evidence available from documented international reports by human-rights organizations, including an arm of the European parliament - as well as such deeply footnoted books as Stephen Grey's Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program and Charlie Savage's just-published Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy. While the Democratic Congress has yet to begin a serious investigation into what many European legislators already know about American war crimes, a particularly telling report by the International Committee of the Red Cross has been leaked that would surely figure prominently in such a potential Nuremberg trial.

French troops 'raped girls during Rwanda genocide'
French soldiers stationed in Rwanda during the genocide in 1994 have been accused of 'widespread rape' by a Rwandan commission investigating France's role during the conflict. The commission, which is due to publish its final report in October, will also provide fresh evidence that French soldiers trained the Interahamwe, the extremist Hutu militia responsible for most of the killing, and even provided them with weapons. The allegations threaten to plunge relations between Rwanda and its former colonial master to a new low. It could also lead to Rwanda seeking reparations from France at the International Court of Justice. 'That is something we are considering,' said one government official.

Plea to parents to take up jabs amid measles surge
Public health officials last night issued an appeal for parents to vaccinate their children against measles, amid fears of an outbreak during the new school term. The move follows a surge in children diagnosed with the disease over the summer, with cases more than trebling in the past 11 weeks. There have been 480 confirmed cases of measles in the UK so far this year, compared with 756 cases during all of 2006 (the most recorded in a single year), according to the Health Protection Agency. The agency said there had been nearly 350 cases confirmed over the summer, when infections were usually at their lowest. The outbreaks were in the geographical areas with the lowest take-up of the MMR jab, which vaccinates against measles, mumps and rubella. Public confidence in the jab had fallen over concerns about its safety.

Barclays needs central bank loan
Barclays says that a 'technical breakdown' in the UK's clearing system forced it to borrow £1.6bn from the Bank of England. It is the second time this month that the bank has tapped into the central bank's emergency credit line, sparking fears it is facing a cash crisis. But the UK bank insisted it was 'flush with liquidity'. At the end of every day, banks such as Barclays have to settle their trades through the market settlement system. Typically, if borrowings are greater than their reserves at the end of the trading session, banks can borrow money from other banks to make up the difference. But a malfunction in an electronic trading system on Thursday afternoon meant that Barclays discovered it had a shortfall too late to borrow from another high street bank.

Cholera spreads in Iraq as health services collapse
Lack of clean drinking water and poor sanitation has led to 5,000 people in northern Iraq contracting cholera. The outbreak is among the most serious signs yet that Iraqi health and social services are breaking down as the number of those living in camps and poor housing increases after people flee their homes. 'The disease is spreading very fast,' Dr Juan Abdallah, a senior official in Kurdistan's health ministry, told a UN agency. 'It is the first outbreak of its kind here in the past few decades.' Doctors in Sulaimaiyah in Iraqi Kurdistan have appealed for help because of the rapidly increasing number of cases, saying there is a shortage of medicines. Although the city has been less affected by fighting than almost anywhere in Iraq, Unicef says that mains water is only available for two hours a day and many people have dug shallow wells outside their homes.

MoD denies deal over withdrawal from Basra
British forces have released more than two dozen Iraqi prisoners over the last three months in the run-up to their now imminent withdrawal from the UK base at Saddam's Hussein's former palace compound in Basra, though the government denies doing a deal with Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army to stave off last-minute attacks. The Ministry of Defence yesterday would say only that 26 unnamed men had been routinely released into Iraq state custody since May 'because a significant criminal case was built against them'. What happened to them subsequently was 'a matter for the Iraq authorities'. Some of the 26 have been released on bail, some freed due to insufficient evidence and some are still in custody pending trial.

The looting of Kenya: Leak of secret report exposes corrupt web
The breathtaking extent of corruption perpetrated by the family of the former Kenyan leader Daniel Arap Moi was exposed last night in a secret report that laid bare a web of shell companies, secret trusts and frontmen that his entourage used to funnel hundreds of millions of pounds into nearly 30 countries including Britain. The 110-page report by the international risk consultancy Kroll, seen by the Guardian, alleges that relatives and associates of Mr Moi siphoned off more than £1bn of government money. If true, it would put the Mois on a par with Africa's other great kleptocrats, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) and Nigeria's Sani Abacha.

Porter ties U.S. withdrawal from Iraq to $9 gasoline
Gasoline prices could rise to about $9 per gallon if the United States withdraws troops from Iraq prematurely, Rep. Jon Porter said he was told on a trip to Iraq that ended this week. The Nevada Republican, who returned Tuesday from his fourth trip to Iraq, met with U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Iraqi Deputy President Tariq al-Hashimi and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh. 'To a person, they said there would be genocide, gas prices in the U.S. would rise to eight or nine dollars a gallon, al-Qaida would continue its expansion, and Iran would take over that portion of the world if we leave,' Porter said Wednesday in a phone interview from Las Vegas.

Germany Bans All Arms Exports to Iran
The German government has banned firms from importing goods to Iran that could be used for military purposes, thus reinforcing an earlier EU decision to tighten sanctions against Tehran in the ongoing nuclear row. In April this year, the European Union decided to step up sanctions against Iran amid growing concerns in the international community that the country was covertly enriching uranium to build a nuclear bomb. At the time, Tehran proclaimed 'industrial' enrichment capacity, a level starting with 3,000 centrifuges running at supersonic speed. Saying it was reacting to the EU's political decision to raise the stakes in the nuclear row with Iran, the German government on Thursday said it was imposing a general ban on all arms deals with Iran.

Mexico Prepares to Allow U.S. Trucks to Cross Border
Mexico set rules that would allow U.S. trucks to cross into Mexico under a one-year pilot program, matching a U.S. effort to open its doors to Mexican trucks. The rules require U.S. transportation companies to obtain a permit from the Mexican Transportation Ministry and limit participation to a maximum of 100 companies, the ministry said in a statement. The agreement would take effect tomorrow and end a year later, according to the statement. The U.S. and Mexican pilot programs would test cross-border trucking that was supposed to take effect in 1995 under the North American Free Trade Agreement. In 1995, then-President Bill Clinton decided to block Mexican trucks from carrying cargo beyond a border commercial zone of about 25 miles (42 kilometers) because of concern that unsafe Mexican trucks would become a hazard on U.S. highways.

The Pentagon says no to non-lethal ray-gun in struggle for Iraqi hearts
US military commanders in Iraq have repeatedly requested the deployment of a new non-lethal weapon to avoid civilian casualties - only to have their requests turned down by a Pentagon fearful that it might be seen as a torture device. Essentially a ray-gun that neither kills nor maims, it uses energy beams instead of bullets and lets soldiers break up angry crowds without firing a shot.Mounted on a Humvee or a flatbed truck, the Active Denial System gives people hit by the invisible beam the sense that their skin is on fire. They move out of the way quickly and without injury.

Bloggers battered by viral storm
Google's Blogger site is being used by malicious hackers who are posting fake entries to some blogs. The fake entries contain weblinks that lead to booby-trapped downloads that could infect a Windows PC. Infected computers are being hijacked by the gang behind the attacks and either mined for saleable data or used for other attacks. The Blogger attack is the latest in a series by a gang that has managed to hijack hundreds of thousands of PCs. Security researcher Alex Eckelberry from Sunbelt Software first noticed the booby-trapped links turning up on Blogger on 27 August. Now many hundreds of blogs on the site have been updated with a short entry containing the link.

Baptist minister bans 'unchristian' yoga class in church hall
It is meant to have a calming effect, as well as working wonders on flexibility. But yoga has actually become the source of tension for one community - because two church priests refuse to bend.The pair have banned yoga instructor Louise Woodcock from using their church halls for her children's classes. The Silver Street Baptist Church in Taunton, Somerset, where Miss Woodcock had wanted to lead her Yum Yum Yoga classw. They told her the ancient Hindu and Buddhist meditation method is a 'sham' and 'unChristian'.Miss Woodcock has described their position is 'ridiculous' - particularly as her Yum Yum Yoga classes involve music and movement, with no mention of spiritual teachings.She said: 'It's crazy because we're talking about kids pretending to be animals and doing exercise routines to rhymes.