US missile defence test 'success'

10 May 2012 Last updated at 10:53 GMT The interceptor was fired from the USS Lake Erie US forces have destroyed a target missile in their first successful test of a new Raytheon Co interceptor.

The Standard Missile-3 interceptor has been designed to play a central role in an anti-missile shield which is being built in Central Europe.

The system is intended to protect Nato allies against attacks from Iran or North Korea.

The test missile was launched from Hawaii, and the interceptor was fired from the USS Lake Erie.

The US Missile Defense Agency issued a statement saying: "Initial indications are that all components performed as designed."

It explained that the interceptor has a two-colour infrared seeker to improve sensitivity for longer-range targets and high-speed processing capabilities.

Two more tests are scheduled to take place later this year.

The question of an anti-missile shield in Central Europe has caused tension with Russia, which fears the interceptors will be a threat to its security.

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Posted in: defence,missile,success

Obama supports same-sex marriage

9 May 2012 Last updated at 20:57 GMT Obama: "Same sex couples should be able to get married"

US President Barack Obama has ended months of hedging on the issue of gay marriage by saying he thinks same-sex couples should be able to wed.

He has become the first sitting US president to back gay marriage.

Mitt Romney, the Republican who is set to challenge Mr Obama for the White House in November's elections, promptly said he was against gay marriage.

In recent days, Vice-President Joe Biden and cabinet member Arne Duncan had expressed support for gay unions.

A Gallup poll on Tuesday suggested that 50% of Americans were in favour of legalising gay marriage - a slightly lower proportion than last year - while 48% said they would oppose such a move.

Continue reading the main story

President Barack Obama has been forced out of the closet. Few doubted that he was in favour of gay marriage but "don't ask, don't tell" had worked well enough up until now.

The media didn't ask him. And he certainly wasn't going to tell.

I am told his campaign staff really thought they could get away with not touching this hot button issue, and go through until election night leaving his views draped with hazy protestations about the ongoing "evolution" of his views.

I have trouble believing that they thought he could avoid the question until November. But there is no doubt that the rapid evolution of his views into the limelight was not intelligent design.

Unless you see Vice-President Joe Biden as the creator of presidential frankness.

The interview with ABC News was apparently hastily arranged as Mr Obama came under mounting pressure to clarify his position on the issue.

"At a certain point, I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married," Mr Obama told ABC.

He pointed to his administration's commitment to increasing rights for gay citizens. He cited the repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy and said his administration had dropped support for the Defense of Marriage Act.

"I've stood on the side of broader equality for the LGBT community. I hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient," Mr Obama said.

He said he had changed his views after seeing gay members of his own staff who were in "incredibly committed monogamous relationships", and service personnel who felt constrained by not being able to wed.

Mr Obama also said discussions with his own family had helped the "evolution" of his views on the issue.

Romney: Position on marriage is the same position I had as governor

"There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and... Malia and Sasha, it wouldn't dawn on them that somehow their friends' parents would be treated differently," Mr Obama said.

"It doesn't make sense to them and frankly, that's the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective."

In 2010, Mr Obama said his views on the issue were "evolving", a stance that had frustrated gay rights supporters and donors.

His comments aired on Wednesday come a day after North Carolina approved a constitutional amendment effectively banning same-sex marriage or civil unions.

Continue reading the main story Same-sex marriage has been passed in New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Iowa, Vermont, Washington DC, Connecticut, Maryland and WashingtonThirty-one US states have banned same-sex marriage through law or constitutional amendmentThe Obama campaign had opposed that measure, which was passed with 61% in favour and 39% against.

In the US, 31 states have passed constitutional amendments or legislation against same-sex marriage.

Meanwhile, Mr Romney set the stage for an election year clash over the polarising social issue by saying he was against gay marriage.

The former Massachusetts governor told a Fox News affiliate: "I do not favour marriage between people of the same gender, and I do not favour civil unions if they are identical to marriage other than by name.

"My view is the domestic partnership benefits, hospital visitation rights, and the like are appropriate but that the others are not."

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Posted in: marriage,Obama,samesex,supports

Facebook launches its app store

10 May 2012 Last updated at 11:29 Facebook has admitted that growing mobile phone use could hurt future revenue Facebook has launched its own app store to promote mobile programs that operate using the social network.

The company said the App Center will become the "new, central place to find great apps like Draw Something" and other titles.

Developers will have the ability to charge a fee for apps sold in the store in the near future, Facebook said.

The announcement came as Facebook admitted growth in mobile use could hurt future advertising revenue.

Ahead of its initial public offering, Facebook told potential investors in a statement: "If users increasingly access Facebook mobile products as a substitute for access through personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetisation strategies for our mobile users, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our financial performance and ability to grow revenue would be negatively affected."

'Start preparing'

The App Center is expected to be rolled out globally in "the coming weeks", said Facebook's Aaron Brady in a post on the network's developer blog.

"All developers should start preparing today to make sure their app is included for the launch," he wrote.

However, Mr Brady said the store was not designed to compete head-on with the likes of Apple's App Store and Google Play.

"The App Center is designed to grow mobile apps that use Facebook - whether they're on iOS, Android or the mobile web," he wrote.

"From the mobile App Center, users can browse apps that are compatible with their device, and if a mobile app requires installation, they will be sent to download the app from the App Store or Google Play."

The store will follow the well-oiled app browsing format - and will be available on mobile

Only apps which make use of Facebook's log-in system Connect are eligible to be included in the store.

'Attract more ideas'

Saverio Romeo, an industry analyst from Frost & Sullivan, said the store announcement suggested an aggressive push by Facebook to become a bigger player in mobile.

He said Facebook needed to become "more significant, to attract more ideas and get more experience in the mobile space".

"I think the store is an important element - a community of developers is a fundamental element in the growth we have seen with Apple and Android," he told the BBC.

He also said he believed Facebook could position itself as the first major app store to be platform-agnostic - that is, not tied to a single platform such as iOS or Android.

"The type of applications that the Facebook community can develop can have an incredible open horizon.

"Facebook is ubiquitous - it does not have any preferential routes. The question is the monetisation of all this."

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Posted in: Facebook,launches,store

US opens up banking to China firm

10 May 2012 Last updated at 01:55 GMT State-owned ICBC is China's biggest lender and has been seeking to expand its global operations Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has been given the nod to take over a US bank, the first such US approval for a Chinese firm.

The US Federal Reserve approved state-owned ICBC's plans to acquire the US subsidiary of Bank of East Asia.

This comes just days after high-level economic talks between the US and China in Beijing.

The Fed also gave permission to two other Chinese banks to increase their presence in the US.

"It is a pretty significant step. There has been a lot of backlash about Chinese state-run companies acquiring overseas assets," Stephen Joske of Australia Super, an institutional investor in Beijing, told the BBC.

"The permission [given] to ICBC is a clear message that things may be returning to normal and that fears about Chinese state-run firms may be moderating."

High standards Continue reading the main story

There is no evidence that Chinese accounting methods or practices at the large Chinese banks, such as ICBC, are unreliable”

End Quote US Federal Reserve China's state-owned banks have played a key role in the country's growth in recent years as they lent record sums of money after the global financial crisis.

While that saw profits at Chinese banks soar, it has also led to concerns about the health of the Chinese banking sector amid concerns over bad debt levels.

At the same time, some critics in the US have also raised concerns about accounting practices used by Chinese firms.

However, the Federal Reserve said that it was satisfied with the operations of ICBC and also with the overall regulations in the Chinese banking sector.

"China's largest banks, such as ICBC, use the 'big four' accounting firms," the Fed said in a statement.

"There is no evidence that Chinese accounting methods or practices at the large Chinese banks, such as ICBC, are unreliable."

The US central bank added that the International Monetary Fund had concluded a financial system stability assessment (FSSA) of China , including a review of China's compliance with the Basel Core Principles.

It said the FSSA found that the rules set by the Chinese banking regulator "establish a benchmark of prudential standards that is of high quality and was drawn extensively from international standards and the [Basel Core Principles] themselves".

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Posted in: banking,China,opens

Michele Bachmann becomes Swiss

9 May 2012 Last updated at 17:09 GMT Michele Bachmann husband was born to Swiss parents who settled in the US after their wedding Minnesota congresswoman and former US presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is now a citizen of Switzerland.

Mrs Bachmann, 55, is eligible for dual citizenship through her husband, who is of Swiss descent, a spokeswoman said.

A three-term Republican, Mrs Bachmann went through the process with her family when some of her children wanted to become dual citizens.

Mrs Bachmann, who herself has Norwegian ancestry, is now eligible to hold office in Switzerland.

When asked about running a campaign in Switzerland by Swiss national television, Mrs Bachmann joked that the competition "would be very stiff", referring to the Swiss parliamentarians she was meeting with on Tuesday.

While Mrs Bachmann is now registered in the canton of Thurgau in northeast Switzerland, she told Swiss TV she enjoyed visiting all different parts of the country.

"It's tough to find a place not to like in Switzerland," she said.

The Minnesota congresswoman ran for the Republican presidential nomination, but dropped out early in 2012 when she came sixth in the Iowa caucus.

As a presidential candidate she was the outspoken favourite of the Tea Party movement. Her blend of evangelical Christian social conservatism and fierce anti-tax rhetoric propelled her to the top tier of the Republican primary race in the summer of 2011.

She is now campaigning for another term in Congress representing Minnesota.

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Posted in: Bachmann,becomes,Michele,Swiss

US missile defence test 'success'

10 May 2012 Last updated at 10:53 GMT The interceptor was fired from the USS Lake Erie US forces have destroyed a target missile in their first successful test of a new Raytheon Co interceptor.

The Standard Missile-3 interceptor has been designed to play a central role in an anti-missile shield which is being built in Central Europe.

The system is intended to protect Nato allies against attacks from Iran or North Korea.

The test missile was launched from Hawaii, and the interceptor was fired from the USS Lake Erie.

The US Missile Defense Agency issued a statement saying: "Initial indications are that all components performed as designed."

It explained that the interceptor has a two-colour infrared seeker to improve sensitivity for longer-range targets and high-speed processing capabilities.

Two more tests are scheduled to take place later this year.

The question of an anti-missile shield in Central Europe has caused tension with Russia, which fears the interceptors will be a threat to its security.

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Posted in: defence,missile,success

Pressure grows on head of Yahoo

8 May 2012 Last updated at 09:59 GMT Scott Thompson was an executive at Paypal before joining Yahoo this year A shareholder seeking the dismissal of Yahoo's chief executive has demanded the search firm allow access to documents relating to his recruitment.

In January, Yahoo named Scott Thompson, the president of online payments firm Paypal, as its new head.

But investment firm Third Point discovered that Mr Thompson did not hold a degree in computer science as had been claimed.

Third Point had set a Monday deadline for Yahoo to fire Mr Thompson.

The chief executive apologised to staff in a memo on Monday, but made no mention of why his biography had listed the degree he had not received.

"We have all been working very hard to move the company forward, and this has had the opposite effect," he wrote.

"For that, I take full responsibility, and I want to apologise to you."

'Debacle'

Mr Thompson graduated from Stonehill College and was said by Yahoo to hold a degree in accounting and computer science - though the college did not offer the latter subject at the time.

Continue reading the main story Chief executive Scott Thompson and director Patti Hart misrepresented their degrees to the investing public for yearsBoth Mr Thompson and Ms Hart appear to have violated Yahoo's code of ethicsWants Yahoo to publicly reveal the process by which it vetted Mr ThompsonWants the release of all minutes of any meeting at which Mr Thompson's candidacy was discussedWants to know if any board member knew of Mr Thompson's "deception" prior to Third Point alerting them to itWants the company to fire Mr Thompson immediately and accept Ms Hart's resignationYahoo has acknowledged the "inadvertent error" and has said it will conduct a review.

But after the Monday deadline passed without incident, Third Point demanded that Yahoo hand over documents and records related to Mr Thompson's recruitment.

"Third Point believes that Yahoo shareholders and employees will be best served if the board accepts responsibility quickly for this latest debacle," it said.

It wants to "investigate wrongdoing or possible mismanagement" by Mr Thompson and the board over the issue.

The Yahoo board met on Monday to discuss the mounting furore over the situation, Reuters reported.

Reuters quoted a source as saying the meeting was expected to address aspects of an internal review, including which board members would participate.

'Head scratcher'

Daniel Loeb, chief executive of Third Point, has been credited with sparking previous changes on Yahoo's board, namely the resignations of co-founder Jerry Yang and former chairman Roy Bostock.

But Adam Seessel, director of research at Martin Capital Management, which owns Yahoo shares, said Mr Loeb's attempt to oust Mr Thompson was a "head scratcher".

The Yahoo board has come under fire from investors recently for being slow to effect a turnaround and for delays to a deal to sell back all or part of its stake in Chinese internet company Alibaba

"If it were normal times, this would warrant a dismissal," Mr Seessel said of Mr Thompson's overstated qualifications. "But he's so new and the company is in such a sensitive spot.

"Sometimes in the heat of the battle, you can't get rid of your commander... and a battle is going on."

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Posted in: grows,Pressure,Yahoo

Senator Lugar loses Indiana poll

9 May 2012 Last updated at 13:37 GMT Richard Mourdock previously worked as a geologist for oil and coal companies A Tea Party-backed challenger has ousted a 35-year veteran of the US Senate in a Republican primary in his home state of Indiana.

Richard Lugar, 80, who has held his seat since 1976, was defeated by a margin of more than 20 points by state treasurer Richard Mourdock.

Correspondents say Mr Lugar's loss could increase Senate partisanship.

The upset is viewed as a sign that the anti-Washington, small government Tea Party movement is alive and well.

Mr Lugar, a six-term senator, had previously come under fire for not keeping his primary residence in Indiana.

Long-serving Utah Republican Orrin Hatch faces a similar threat in June.

Insurmountable differences?

In a statement on the Indiana senator's "retirement", President Barack Obama said he "deeply appreciated" Mr Lugar's three decades of service and praised him as someone "who was often willing to reach across the aisle and get things done".

Mr Lugar said in his concession speech: "We are experiencing deep political divisions in our society right now, and these divisions have stalemated progress in critical areas.

Continue reading the main story Elected in 1976, twice chairing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee 1991 Nunn-Lugar Act created a programme to dismantle and destroy nuclear and other weapons, resulting the destruction of as many as 7,600 warheads by 2011Co-sponsored the unsuccessful 2009 Dream Act, a path to citizenship programme for children of illegal immigrants"But these divisions are not insurmountable and I believe that people of good will, regardless of party, can work together for the benefit of our country."

Mr Lugar added that he would spend his remaining time in office working to pass an effective farm bill and focus on national security initiatives.

Later, in a 1,500-word statement distributed to reporters, Mr Lugar warned against reflexive partisanship from his opponent and in Congress.

"If Mr Mourdock is elected, I want him to be a good senator," Mr Lugar wrote. "But that will require him to revise his stated goal of bringing more partisanship to Washington.

"He and I share many positions, but his embrace of an unrelenting partisan mindset is irreconcilable with my philosophy of governance and my experience of what brings results for Hoosiers in the Senate."

Mr Mourdock began his victory speech with a round of applause for Mr Lugar, saying the long-serving senator was not his enemy but simply his opponent.

Mr Mourdock said his victory on Tuesday sent two messages: that Republicans in Indiana "want to see the Republicans inside the United States Senate taking a more conservative track", and that conservatives around America could achieve the "impossible".

Mr Mourdock goes on to face Democrat Joe Donnolly, currently serving as a representative in Congress, in November's election.

Indiana was one of three states, along with West Virginia and North Carolina, holding state and presidential primaries on Tuesday.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney won all three primary contests, bringing him about 100 delegates closer to the 1,144 he needs to secure the nomination.

In North Carolina, primary elections were overshadowed by a vote on whether a same-sex marriage ban should be added to the state's constitution.

During the competitive race, Mr Mourdock's backers had sought to portray the sitting senator as increasingly liberal, highlighting what they said were links to President Obama.

The top-ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr Lugar was known for his work on nuclear arms reduction in the 1990s.

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Posted in: Indiana,loses,Lugar,Senator

Puerto Rico profile

23 February 2012 Last updated at 11:36 GMT Hispanic, Afro-Caribbean and North American influences meld in Puerto Rico, a self-governing commonwealth that belongs to the United States.

The subtropical Caribbean territory is urbanised, industrialised and relatively prosperous.

The US invaded and occupied Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War of 1898, ending centuries of rule from Spain. The US saw the island as a strategic asset and ran it as a colonial protectorate.

Under American administration Puerto Rico saw growth and development. But nationalist sentiment sometimes spilled over into violence, notably in the 1930s and 1940s. Nationalists staged an armed attack in the US Congress in 1954.

A series of bombings and killings in the 1970s and 1980s were blamed on a pro-independence group, the Macheteros, or Cane Cutters. The group's fugitive leader was killed by federal agents in 2005.

Puerto Ricans are to vote on their island's political status in a referendum scheduled for August 2012. They will be asked whether they want a change in status or prefer to remain in a US commonwealth. In a second part of the referendum they will be asked to choose from three options: statehood, independence or sovereign free association. Regardless of what they decide, any change requires approval by the US Congress and president.

Puerto Rican voters, who elect a governor for the island, have tended to favour parties that support the union with the US. Puerto Ricans do not pay US income tax, and the island receives federal funds.

There is an established cycle of migration between Puerto Rico and the US; hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans have lived and worked in New York and other cities.

The once substantial US military presence has been scaled down with the closures of a major naval base and a bombing range. Rancour over the latter grew after a civilian employee was killed by a stray bomb.

Puerto Rico is vulnerable to hurricanes, like the one sweeping across the territory in this August 2011 satellite image

Explorer Christopher Columbus claimed Puerto Rico for Spain in 1493, heralding an influx of Spanish settlers. The newcomers, and the diseases they brought with them, decimated the territory's Taino indian population.

The main settlement, San Juan, became an important Spanish outpost. Slaves were brought to the island in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Puerto Rico's landscape is varied, and includes rainforests in the north-east. The territory is prone to hurricanes.

Tourism is an important money-earner; the island receives millions of visitors each year and is a port-of-call for cruise liners.

The San Felipe del Morro castle in San Juan is a UN World Heritage Site

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Posted in: profile,Puerto

'Ghost town' to test technology

9 May 2012 Last updated at 07:47 A 'ghost town' is being built in America to test out the latest technologies such as renewable energies and terrorism security systems.

It'll look just like a city with roads, houses and buildings - but no one will live there.

Scientists want to use it to see the effects of new technology in a 'real world' setting.

It's being built in Lea County, New Mexico, and will cost around £600 million.

Big tech company Pegasus Global Holdings is behind the project.

Anything from smart grids and next-generation wireless networks to self-flushing toilets could be tested in the new town.

"The only thing we won't be doing is destructive testing, blowing things up - I hope," said Robert Brumley from Pegasus.

Work is due to begin on the town at the end of June.

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Posted in: Ghost,technology

CIA waterboarding tapes revealed

9 May 2012 Last updated at 07:45 GMT By Peter Taylor BBC Newsnight Jose Rodriguez told Newsnight he was right to destroy the tapes

Secret CIA video tapes of the waterboarding of Osama Bin Laden's suspected jihadist travel arranger Abu Zubaydah show him vomiting and screaming, the BBC has learned.

The tapes were destroyed by the head of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, Jose Rodriguez.

In an exclusive interview for Newsnight, Rodriguez has defended the destruction of the tapes and denied waterboarding and other interrogation techniques amount to torture.

The CIA tapes are likely to become central to the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of 9/11, at Guantanamo Bay.

When Khalid Sheikh Mohammed appeared before a special military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay last Saturday, he refused to put on the headphones that would enable him to hear the translator.

His civilian attorney, David Nevin, said he could not wear them because of the torture he had suffered during his interrogation.

Waterboarding, which simulates drowning, was used in the interrogation of three al-Qaeda suspects

His "torture" at the hands of his CIA interrogators at a secret "black site" to which he had been rendered, included being deprived of sleep for over a week, standing naked, wearing only a nappy, and being waterboarded 183 times.

The CIA and the US Department of Justice that authorised the secret interrogation programme in the wake of 9/11, euphemistically referred to its content as "enhanced interrogation techniques".

Most people would probably call them "torture", but Jose Rodriguez disputes this term.

He has written a book, "Hard Measures" in which he defends the use of such techniques, and he told me there is no doubt they were effective.

"Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was probably the toughest detainee that we ever had and he was going to resist to the end of his strengths," he told me.

Waterboarding is simulated drowning. The detainee is stripped naked and strapped onto a board in a horizontal position with feet higher than his head.

Water is then dripped onto a cloth covering the nose and mouth which makes the detainee choke and temporarily stop breathing.

"It's not a pretty sight when you are waterboarding anybody or using any of these techniques, let's be perfectly honest," Rodriguez admitted.

Only three of the CIA's "high value targets" were waterboarded.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is currently on trial at a military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay

Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged architect of the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in which 17 sailors died, was waterboarded twice, and Abu Zubaydah, Osama Bin Laden's suspected travel agent for jihadis, 83 times.

And it is the waterboarding of Zubaydah that has now become the centre of fresh controversy triggered by Newsnight's investigation.

The CIA recorded Zubaydah's detention and interrogation - and that of other detainees - on 92 video tapes.

Twelve of them covered the application of the "enhanced interrogation techniques", including waterboarding.

On one or more of them, I understand Zubaydah is shown vomiting and screaming.

John Rizzo, the CIA's top legal counsel who oversaw the legalisation of the techniques in an exchange of memoranda with the Department of Justice, wanted to be certain that what was happening at the black site was in accordance with what had been legally agreed.

He had not anticipated that waterboarding would be used as often as it was. And he sent one of his most experienced colleagues to the black site, believed to be in Thailand, to find out.

Rizzo's colleague viewed all the 92 hours of video and concluded that the techniques were being legally applied, but he was uncomfortable about what he saw.

"He did say that portions of the tapes, particularly those of Zubaydah being waterboarded, were extraordinarily hard to watch," Rizzo told me.

"He [Zubaydah] was reacting visibly in a very disturbing way."

Continue reading the main story

It's not a pretty sight when you are waterboarding anybody or using any of these techniques, let's be perfectly honest”

End Quote Jose Rodriguez Former head of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center So was he being sick?

"He was experiencing some physical difficulties, I'll just leave it at that... 'tough to watch in places' was his term."

I asked Jose Rodriguez if he had seen the tapes. He said he had not. Was he aware that they showed Abu Zubaydah vomiting and screaming? He said he was not.

"I don't know where you got that from", he said. "I don't know about screaming and vomiting but it's not a pretty sight."

Rodriguez knew the tapes were potentially a ticking time bomb and wanted to destroy them. He waited for three years with increasing exasperation at the apparent unwillingness of anybody on high to take responsibility for authorising their destruction.

Then when news of the CIA's secret black sites leaked, Rodriguez's patience ran out.

Believing he had the authority to do so, he ordered the 92 tapes to be minced in an industrial shredder.

"Our lawyers said it was legal," he said.

But Rizzo was not happy.

"I was stunned and angry and honestly a bit hurt. I made it clear to him, as did two CIA directors, that he did not have the authority to make a decision to destroy those tapes."

So I asked, "He disobeyed orders?"

"He did."

But Rodriguez is adamant that he acted legally and says his motive in ordering their destruction was to protect the identities of his CIA interrogators lest they suffer reprisals.

But there was more to it than that. Three days after the tapes had been shredded, a CIA memorandum, since released under America's Freedom of Information Act, reported comments by Jose Rodriguez:

"As Jose said, the heat from destroying [the tapes] is nothing compared to what it would be if the tapes got into the public domain - he said that out of context they would make us look terrible - it would be devastating to us. All in the room agreed."

US Navy trainer: 'Waterboarding is drowning in a slow, controlled manner'

I put this to Rodriguez and he was typically upfront about it.

"I said that, yes. If you're waterboarding somebody and they're naked, of course that was a concern of mine."

Despite all the controversies around the CIA's black sites and its interrogation programme, Jose Rodriguez stands by all that he did.

"I was honoured to serve my country after the 9/11 attacks. I am proud of the decisions that I took including the destruction of the tapes to protect the people who worked for me. I have no regrets."

No doubt defence lawyers at Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's trial will try and get access to the written records that exist of what was on the tapes and seek to question the CIA lawyer who viewed them.

But under the rules of the military tribunal that restrict any discussion of torture, they are unlikely to succeed.

Watch Peter Taylor's full interview with Jose Rodriguez on Newsnight on Wednesday 9 April 2012 at 22:30 BST on BBC Two.

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Posted in: revealed,tapes,waterboarding

St Pierre and Miquelon profile

23 February 2012 Last updated at 17:03 GMT The sole remnant of France's once-extensive possessions in North America, the Atlantic islands of St Pierre and Miquelon lie off the Canadian island of Newfoundland.

With little agriculture and a troubled fishing industry, they depend on France for subsidies and on their near neighbour for goods and transport links.

Fish processing is the main economic activity, although tourism is increasingly important. The territory capitalises on its image as "France in North America".

A fisherman's cottage on the archipelago of St Pierre and Miquelon

The fishing industry was badly hit by disputes with Canada from the late 1970s over quotas and territorial waters, and by a later moratorium on cod fishing. In 1992 a tribunal awarded an economic zone to St Pierre and Miquelon that was less than 25% of the area claimed by France.

At its peak the fishery attracted hundreds of vessels from Europe every year, spawning a ship supply and repair industry.

After periods of French and British rule and frequent skirmishes between the two, the territory was restored to France in 1816. It became a French department in 1976. This was unpopular; many islanders said European integration did not take into account their remoteness.

The islands became a French "territorial collectivity" in 1985. The status - something between a department and an overseas territory - allowed French subsidies to continue and calmed Canadian fears about European exploitation of its fishing grounds.

The territory enjoyed a windfall in the prohibition era of the 1920s, when the US banned the production and sale of alcoholic drinks. It became a centre for shipping whisky, wine and rum to the US. But the end of prohibition in 1933 plunged the islands into economic depression.

Fish stocks in the seas around the islands attracted the first Europeans. A French fishing post was established in 1604. The descendants of the first settlers - including Bretons, Normans and Basques - make up much of the present population.

Rugged cliffs, hills, lakes and peat bogs characterise the mostly-barren landscape.

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Posted in: Miquelon,Pierre,profile

AOL to pass on patent proceeds

9 May 2012 Last updated at 14:44 GMT AOL has been wheeling and dealing its patents to raise cash US internet firm AOL has said it intends to hand to shareholders all of the proceeds from selling 800 patents for $1.06bn (£659m) to Microsoft.

The company also said that net income for the first quarter rose to $21m from $4.7m in the same period last year, beating expectations.

Shares in New York rose 4% on the results.

After AOL sold the patents, Microsoft turned around and sold some of them to Facebook for $550m.

When the sale was announced, AOL said it expected to turn over "a majority" of the proceeds to investors, but it has now confirmed that it will hand over all of the money raised.

'Off tune'

Overall, AOL said advertising revenues grew 5% year-on-year to $330.1m.

But display advertising - flashy web ads that command high prices - saw revenues fall 1% in the US.

AOL is making a big bet that display advertising will help it recover its formerly dominant position on the internet.

"I was not happy with the domestic display over the course of the first quarter," AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong said. "A lot of it was a sales strategy off tune."

Its profits include a $10.8m gain from acquiring a controlling stake in Ad.com Japan.

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Posted in: patent,proceeds

Santorum formally endorses Romney

8 May 2012 Last updated at 15:45 GMT Rick Santorum says he has been persuaded that Mitt Romney will represent his supporters' views Failed US Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has formally endorsed his former rival Mitt Romney.

In a late-night email, he urged his supporters to back the presumptive nominee in order to deny President Barack Obama a second term.

Mr Santorum said he was impressed by Mr Romney's "deep understanding" of economic and family issues, following a meeting with him last week.

His support may now help Mr Romney win over religious conservatives.

Rick Santorum ended his bid for the White House in April after Mr Romney achieved an unbeatable lead.

"Above all else, we both agree that President Obama must be defeated. The task will not be easy. It will require all hands on deck if our nominee is to be victorious," he said.

"Governor Romney will be that nominee and he has my endorsement and support to win this the most critical election of our lifetime," he added.

Family role

Mr Santorum clashed bitterly with Mr Romney during months of competitive primaries and caucuses. At one point, he called Mr Romney the worst Republican in the country to challenge Mr Obama.

But following "candid" discussions in Pittsburgh on Friday, which focused on the family and its "foundational role in America's economic success", Mr Santorum said they had found common ground.

He said they agreed "the need for lower taxes, smaller government, and a reduction in out-of-control spending".

"We certainly agree that abortion is wrong and marriage should be between one man and one woman," he added.

A series of negative campaign ads and videos attacking Mr Romney have now been removed from Mr Santorum's campaign YouTube account.

Last week, former challenger Newt Gingrich formally pulled out of the race and gave Mr Romney a lukewarm endorsement, saying he was a preferable conservative alternative to Mr Obama.

Texas Congressman Ron Paul remains in the race, but has no chance of defeating Mr Romney.

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Posted in: endorses,formally,Romney,Santorum

Google gets driverless licence

8 May 2012 Last updated at 11:27 Google has been experimenting with driverless Toyota Prius cars in the US Driverless cars will soon be a reality on the roads of Nevada after the state approved America's first self-driven vehicle licence.

The first to hit the highway will be a Toyota Prius modified by search firm Google, which is leading the way in driverless car technology.

Its first drive included a spin down Las Vegas's famous strip.

Other car companies are also seeking self-driven car licences in Nevada.

Accident

The car uses video cameras mounted on the roof, radar sensors and a laser range finder to "see" other traffic.

Engineers at Google have previously tested the car on the streets of California, including crossing San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge.

For those tests, the car remained manned at all times by a trained driver ready to take control if the software failed.

According to software engineer Sebastian Thrun, the car has covered 140,000 miles with no accidents, other than a bump at traffic lights from a car behind.

Human error

Bruce Breslow, director of Nevada's Department of Motor Vehicles, says he believes driverless vehicles are the "cars of the future".

Nevada changed its laws to allow self-driven cars in March. The long-term plan is to license members of the public to drive such cars.

Google's car has been issued with a red licence plate to make it recognisable. The plate features an infinity sign next to the number 001.

Other states, including California, are planning similar changes.

"The vast majority of vehicle accidents are due to human error," said California state Senator Alex Padilla, when he introduced the legislation.

"Through the use of computers, sensors and other systems, an autonomous vehicle is capable of analysing the driving environment more quickly and operating the vehicle more safely."

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Posted in: driverless,Google,licence

Travolta 'abused second masseur'

9 May 2012 Last updated at 08:11 GMT Travolta has been married to actress Kelly Preston since 1991 John Travolta faces fresh allegations of sexual assault after a second male masseur joined the $2 million (£1.23m) legal action against him.

In amended court documents filed on Tuesday, the unidentified man claimed the Grease star tried to initiate sex at a hotel in Atlanta on 28 January.

The new accusation follows allegations that he sexually assaulted a masseur at the Beverly Hills Hotel on 16 January.

Travolta's lawyer called the new claim "just as ridiculous as the first one".

"Our client will be fully vindicated in court on both of these absurd and fictional claims," said attorney Martin Singer.

The second man, a resident of Georgia, was referred to in court documents as John Doe No. 2. He claimed that Travolta rubbed his legs, touched his genitals and tried to initiate sex during a private appointment.

His claims echoed those of the first masseur, referred to as John Doe, who accused the 58-year-old of exposing himself and groping him.

Both legal actions were filed by Okorie Okorocha, a lawyer based in Pasadena just outside Los Angeles, and have been dismissed as "fabricated" by Travolta's legal representatives.

Best known for his roles in Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction, the actor has been married to Kelly Preston since 1991.

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Posted in: abused,masseur,second,Travolta

Twitter resists US court's demand

9 May 2012 Last updated at 10:47 Police arrested demonstrators after they attempted to cross the Brooklyn Bridge last year Twitter is contesting a US court order ordering it to hand over the message history of one of its users.

A New York state court has called on the firm to release tweets written by an activist who took part in the Occupy Wall Street protests last year.

The micro-blogging service disputes a judge's ruling that messages are owned by the firm rather than its users.

The American Civil Liberties Union commended the company for defending free speech rights.

Twitter's lawyer, Ben Lee, said: "Twitter's terms of service make absolutely clear that its users 'own' their own content. Our filing with the court reaffirms our steadfast commitment to defending those rights for our users."

Boston march

The case centres around Malcolm Harris, managing editor of the New Inquiry website.

He was arrested on 1 October along with hundreds of other campaigners during a march across Brooklyn Bridge.

Prosecutors claim tweets by Mr Harris would reveal that he was "well aware of police instructions" ordering protesters not to block traffic.

Mr Harris's lawyer had tried to block access to the postings, but a judge ruled that once the messages had been sent they became the property of Twitter, meaning the defendant was not protected by Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful search and seizure.

Twitter's lawyers argued that the judge had misunderstood how the service worked, noting that the Stored Communications Act gave its members the right to challenge requests for information on their user history.

Constitutional rights US authorities have sought to use social media postings as evidence against protesters

"This is a big deal," said the American Civil Liberties Union in a blog post.

"Law enforcement agencies... are becoming increasingly aggressive in their attempts to obtain information about what people are doing on the internet.

"If internet users cannot protect their own constitutional rights, the only hope is that internet companies do so."

One media analyst said Twitter's action also reflected its wider desire to avoid becoming caught up in litigation.

"Twitter, like any internet service provider, wants people who upload material to be responsible - it doesn't want to be in a position where it has to review all of the tweets," Benedict Evans from Enders Analysis told the BBC.

"It sees itself as being like an email provider and doesn't want to have to worry about issues of copyright (and) libel about other matters relating to what people post.

"That said, it can't totally avoid the issue. We have seen cases of US courts forcing email providers to hand over evidence, and Twitter has access to the data."

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Posted in: courts,demand,resists,Twitter

The snakes that took over an island

8 May 2012 Last updated at 23:13 GMT By Rebecca Morelle Science reporter, BBC News, Guam VIDEO: Rebecca Morelle joins biologist James Stanford on the trail of the brown tree snake

In the dense tropical forest, a slither of movement can just be made out in the glow of our head torches.

A snake is entwined in the undergrowth. It is about 1m long, mostly dull brown but with a vivid yellow underbelly.

We are face to face with Guam's "nemesis": the brown tree snake. And the forests here are dripping with them.

The US territory, in the western Pacific, is only 50km (30 miles) long and 10km wide, but it is packed with two million snakes.

This reptile arrived here only 60 years ago but has rapidly become one of the most successful invasive species ever.

Unhealthy appetite

Wildlife biologist James Stanford, from the US Geological Survey, says: "Our belief is that they came at the end of World War II.

"We've looked at their genetics and they are all extremely closely related, and it appears they came from the Island of Manus in Papua New Guinea."

He explains that military equipment used by the US in Papua New Guinea while the war raged in the Pacific was eventually sent back to Guam to be processed. A snake probably crept on to a ship or a plane destined for the island.

Cheryl Calaustro says the koko was easy prey for the snakes

"And from that handful, or maybe even one already impregnated female, we now have a population that is unbelievable in scale," he says.

The snakes, which are mildly venomous, have caused many problems. They get everywhere, and people have even woken up with them in their beds.

The island's power system is regularly shorted out by snakes crawling on the lines. It is so frequent the locals now call power cuts "brown outs".

But the biggest impact has been on the wildlife - it has been decimated. The forests here are eerily quiet. Now the only place where the Guam's native birds, such as the koko, can be seen on the island are in cages in a captive breeding centre.

"The brown tree snake has had a devastating impact. Ten out of 12 native forest bird species disappeared in 30 years," says Cheryl Calaustro from Guam's Department of Agriculture.

"The birds here evolved without predators. They were quite naive. And when the snake arrived on Guam it ate eggs, juveniles, adults. Whole generations disappeared."

Toxic mouse bombs

But the snakes did not stop there.

Dr Stanford explains: "We thought it would be limited: 'OK, if it wipes out the birds, it will decline.' It wasn't the case. It just switched what it was feeding on - rodents, lizards, small mammals - across the board."

Desperate measures in Guam's battle against the brown tree snake

Now the locals are fighting back. And they are unleashing some unusual weapons in their war against the snake.

One effort has involved air-dropping mice that have been laced with poison and fitted with parachutes out of helicopters. It provides a deadly dinner for any unsuspecting snakes below.

"Right now we are using acetaminophen (paracetamol). It commonly used as a pain reliever and fever reducer in humans, but it is 100% lethal to all brown tree snakes," explains Dan Vice of the US Department of Agriculture.

"If they eat that dead mouse containing acetaminophen, they will die."

But this is a battle on two fronts. Not only is the US government trying to clear the snakes, it is also trying to prevent the problem being passed to anyone else.

And to do this, it has enlisted the help of some small dogs.

Snakes on a plane

In a busy cargo depot close to the airport, Elmo the Jack Russell, kitted out in a smart, green uniform, is sniffing box upon box of goods waiting for export.

Elmo the Jack Russell is an expert at sniffing out snakes

He is on the hunt for any unwanted stowaways.

As he catches wind of an unusual scent, he begins to scrabble, alerting the government inspector to the presence of a snake - and is rewarded with a treat.

A small army of dogs check every single item of cargo before it leaves Guam.

"It is a monumental project. We're working 24 hours a day, seven days a week," says Mr Vice.

"Cargo doesn't stop, the airport doesn't shut down, so we have to be there to make sure the cargo going on the airplane has indeed been snake inspected."

Letting the snakes on a plane could have devastating consequences.

Mr Vice says: "Economics researchers have tried to apply the impact of snakes to Hawaii. They found it could cost $400m or more if the snake became established.

Getting rid of the snakes is going to be an enormous job for the US government

"The impacts are running across all kinds of parts of the economy. It includes healthcare for humans because the snakes bite people, damage to the power system, lost revenue associated with declines in tourism and ecotourism."

However, with so many snakes on the island, controlling the problem is an uphill battle.

And today, Guam serves as an example to the world of what happens when an invasive species takes hold.

The worry is that it may be too late to clear the infestation, but Mr Vice says this should not stop the islanders from trying.

"Our long-term goal is to eradicate the snake," he says.

"The problems here are so profound we don't want to let them go anywhere else, and the only way to achieve that is to get rid of them completely."

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Posted in: island,snakes

Disney profits up on theme parks

8 May 2012 Last updated at 21:20 GMT The movie John Carter has recorded one of the biggest losses in cinema history Walt Disney's quarterly profits have beaten analyst expectations, despite the losses sustained by the studio's epic flop John Carter.

Net income in the second quarter rose 21% to $1.1bn (£681m) from the same period last year.

Revenues at its parks and resorts jumped 10%, driven by the US parks as well as those in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

But revenues at its studio decreased 12% to $1.2bn "reflecting the performance of John Carter".

"We're incredibly optimistic about our future, given the strength of our core brands," said Disney chief executive Robert Iger.

He cited the record opening of the superhero film The Avengers, which has made more than $700m globally so far.

Revenues at its media networks jumped 9% to $4.7bn in the quarter due to growth at its sports cable network ESPN.

Last month, the head of Disney film-making studio, Rich Ross, resigned after John Carter's performance.

The media giant said that it will lose $200m on John Carter, about a military captain transported to Mars, making it one of the biggest flops in cinema history.

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Posted in: Disney,parks,profits,theme

United States country profile

27 January 2012 Last updated at 16:32 GMT The USA is the world's foremost economic and military power, with global interests and an unmatched global reach.

America's gross domestic product accounts for close to a quarter of the world total, and its military budget is reckoned to be almost as much as the rest of the world's defence spending put together.

The country is also a major source of entertainment: American TV, Hollywood films, jazz, blues, rock and rap music are primary ingredients in global popular culture.

The United States originated in a revolution which separated it from the British Crown. The constitution, drafted in 1787, established a federal system with a division of powers which has remained unchanged in form since its inception.

The US contains a highly diverse population, the product of numerous and sustained waves of immigration. Ethnic and racial diversity - the "melting pot" - is celebrated as a core element of the American ideology.

The 1964 Civil Rights Act outlawed racial and other discrimination, but race continues to be a live issue.

The election of Barack Obama as the country's first African-American president in November 2008 marked a defining moment in the country's chequered history of race relations.

Continue reading the main story

A replica of the Dutch ship Half Moon sails into New York Harbour to commemorate navigator Henry Hudson's arrival there in 1609.

The original people of north America, who made up several distinct groups of native Americans, went into decline with the arrival of settlers and now constitute a minority of the population.

The early settlers came predominantly from the British Isles. Large numbers of black Africans were taken as slaves to work the plantations of the Americas, while millions of Europeans in search of political freedom and economic opportunity constituted a third stage of immigration.

Today, Asians from the Pacific rim and Hispanics from the southern Americas are among those seeking what their predecessors wanted - the promise of prosperity and freedom which remains one of the defining hallmarks of "the American dream".

Despite relative prosperity in recent years, the gap between rich and poor remains a major challenge. More than 30 million Americans live below the official poverty line, with a disproportionate percentage of these being African-Americans and Hispanics.

Furthermore, the global financial crisis of 2008 has left the US facing its most challenging set of economic circumstances since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

9/11 aftermath The wealth gap remains a big issue, with millions of Americans living in poverty

The terrorist attacks of September 11 2001 had a momentous impact as the country continued to re-define its role as the world's only superpower.

In October 2001 the US led a military campaign in Afghanistan which unseated the Taleban regime. However, the man thought to have inspired the 9/11 attacks, Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden escaped the operation and eluded the US until 2011, when killed in a US special forces operation in Pakistan.

In March 2003 Washington initiated military action in Iraq which led to the toppling of the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

US foreign policy has often mixed the idealism of its "mission" to spread democracy with the pursuit of national self-interest.

Given America's leading role on the international stage, its foreign policy aims and actions are likely to remain the subject of heated debate and criticism, as well as praise.

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Posted in: country,profile,States,United

Blockbuster economics: So you want to make a movie?

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Posted in: Blockbuster,economics,movie

Bomb plotter was 'secret agent'

9 May 2012 Last updated at 16:27 GMT Airport security around the world was tightened after the 2009 underwear bomb attempt A would-be suicide attacker in a foiled "underwear bomb" plot was an undercover agent, reports from the US say.

US officials are quoted as saying the person dispatched by Yemen-based al-Qaeda to attack a US-bound plane had infiltrated the group.

In an apparent intelligence coup, the agent left Yemen with the device and delivered it to the CIA.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon says it is sending military trainers back to Yemen to help counter al-Qaeda militants.

US intelligence learned last month that militants with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen planned to attack a plane with a more sophisticated version of a bomb hidden in a passenger's underwear, similar to one used in a failed 2009 attempt, the Associated Press news agency reported.

On Wednesday, FBI director Robert Mueller told a congressional hearing that AQAP posed the most serious terrorist threat to the US.

Officials told US media that the would-be bomber had been recruited by Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency and sent to Yemen where he infiltrated the militants' cell.

Continue reading the main story Gordon Corera Security correspondent, BBC News

The infiltration of an agent into the ranks of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula provides a rare insight into the shadowy world of counter-terrorism and the problems for both intelligence agencies and al-Qaeda in knowing whom to trust.

The Yemen operation was carried out amid the highest levels of secrecy, according to officials, and the exact details of the individual's identity remain obscure.

But he appears to have been run by the Saudi intelligence in conjunction with the CIA. Other countries may also have been involved although British officials declined to comment.

The individual has been described by some as a "double agent". In fact, it seems more likely that he is a straightforward undercover agent who infiltrated the group and not a double agent whose loyalties shifted or who told both sides he was working against the other.

The BBC's Steve Kingstone in Washington says the undercover agent was reportedly given an ambitious task by Saudi intelligence - to convince AQAP that he wanted to blow up himself and a US-bound aircraft.

The agent was given the device which he then delivered to the CIA and Saudi officials.

The New York Times reports that the agent is now safe in Saudi Arabia.

FBI analysts are studying the device.

The upgraded underwear bomb is described by officials as a "custom-fit" device, that would have been difficult to detect even with careful security checks.

It is said to have two forms of detonator, unlike a similar bomb, from the same Yemeni source, that failed to explode on Christmas Day 2009.

The main charge was a high-grade military explosive that "undoubtedly would have brought down an aircraft", an official told the New York Times.

Experts quoted in the US media say both bombs bear the hallmarks of AQAP master bomb-maker Ibrahim Hassan Tali al-Asiri.

Continue reading the main story

We have been working with the government of Yemen and the Yemeni military for some time now to help them deal with the growing threat of al-Qaeda”

End Quote Capt John Kirby Pentagon spokesman "The plot itself indicates that the terrorists keep trying... to devise more and more perverse and terrible ways to kill innocent people," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a visit to India.

During his Wednesday testimony, Mr Mueller also called for Congress to reauthorise counter-terrorism tools enacted in 2008, set to expire at year-end.

No changes in US airport security are expected, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said.

"There is a concern that overseas security doesn't match ours," Mr Rogers said. "That's an ongoing challenge."

Drone attack

The agent also provided intelligence that led the CIA to conduct a drone strike in Yemen on Sunday that killed AQAP leader Fahd al-Quso, the New York Times reported.

Quso was wanted in connection with the bombing of the American destroyer USS Cole in Yemen 12 years ago. The US was offering a $5m (£3.1m) reward for information leading to his capture or death.

US officials told ABC News that Quso had been planning an attack similar to the failed 2009 attempt to blow up a passenger plane.

The device seized from Yemen shares some features with the bomb sewn into the underwear of would-be suicide bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab during that attempt, officials said.

The US military will be working with pro-government forces fighting militants in the south

The Nigerian was arrested when his device failed to explode fully while on a plane bound for Detroit.

Meanwhile, Pentagon spokesman Capt John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that the US had "begun to reintroduce small numbers of trainers into Yemen".

"We have been working with the government of Yemen and the Yemeni military for some time now to help them deal with the growing threat of al-Qaeda in Yemen," he added.

Capt Kirby would not say how many trainers were involved or where they were based.

Months of political upheaval in Yemen have left militants in control of large parts of the south of the country.

Washington's military training programme in Yemen was suspended in 2011 after then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh was badly injured in a rocket attack.

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Posted in: agent,plotter,secret

Kunis 'helps save man's life'

Mila Kunis helped give emergency treatment says TMZ Actress Mila Kunis intervened to help a man who had a seizure at her house, according to reports.

The TMZ site says the Black Swan star gave emergency treatment after the 50-year-old man - who works at her house - started coughing up blood and vomiting.

Mila Kunis reportedly ran over, turned the man's head to the side to stop him choking and told her friend to call an ambulance.

The man is said to have since made a full recovery.

A friend of the actress also placed a wallet in the man's mouth to stop him swallowing his tongue, reports TMZ.

The incident comes days after another "celebrity rescue" - this time by Hollywood actor Dustin Hoffman - who helped a jogger who collapsed in London's Hyde Park.

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Posted in: helps,Kunis

N Carolina approves gay union ban

9 May 2012 Last updated at 15:14 GMT More than 500,000 early and absentee ballots had been cast by the state's primary day Initial results show North Carolina has approved a constitutional amendment effectively banning same-sex marriage or civil unions.

State election officials said 61% had voted for the measure banning gay unions, and 39% opposed it.

Recent polling had suggested the ban would pass, defining marriage as only between a man and a woman.

North Carolina law already bans gay marriage but the vote enshrines this in the constitution.

Recent comments in favour of gay marriage by US Vice-President Joe Biden had reignited debate over the issue.

'Laws of nature'

President Barack Obama has not taken a position on gay marriage, describing his views as "evolving".

Days before the primary, high-profile supporters on both sides attempted to make their views heard.

Continue reading the main story

President Barack Obama's contention that his position on gay marriage is evolving looks at best lame and at worst dishonest”

End Quote Former President Bill Clinton recorded phone messages urging voters to reject the amendment.

Meanwhile, a statement in support of the ban by the Reverend Billy Graham appeared in 14 North Carolina newspapers over the weekend.

National groups poured money into campaigning on the issue, with the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage donating a large chunk of the $1.5m (£932,000) raised by ban supporters Vote for Marriage.

The North Carolina group against the amendment, Coalition to Protect NC Families, raised $2.5m. Its largest single donor was the LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign.

Light to moderate turnout was reported across the state on primary day.

Joe Easterling, who described himself as a devout Christian, told the Associated Press he voted for the amendment.

"I think it is important that the state of North Carolina's laws are compatible with the laws of nature but, more importantly, with the laws of God," Mr Easterling said.

Another supporter told the Charlotte Observer: "Our church has taken a stand on this."

Linda Toanone, an opponent of the amendment, argued that "everybody should have the same rights as everyone else. If you're gay, lesbian, straight - whatever".

With the passage of the amendment, North Carolina becomes the 29th state to use its state constitution to explicitly ban gay unions.

While including a ban in the constitution would make it more difficult to overturn than the existing law, one state legislator said changing times would eventually undermine the measure.

"It's a generational issue," State House Speaker Thom Tillis told a student group at North Carolina State University in March. "If it passes, I think it will be repealed within 20 years."

Eight states and the District of Columbia allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. Same-sex marriage laws have passed this year in New Jersey, Maryland and Washington state.

New Jersey governor Chris Christie vetoed his state's law, while opponents have promised challenges to Maryland and Washington's laws.

The North Carolina vote came shortly after Mr Biden said he was "absolutely comfortable" with same-sex married couples having the same rights as other married couples.

On Monday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan also spoke of his unequivocal support for same-sex marriage.

Mr Obama has previously backed gay rights and civil unions but has stopped short of supporting marriage.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said on Tuesday that Mr Obama's positions were "consistent with his belief that it is wrong to take actions that would deny rights to LGBT citizens or rescind rights already provided".

The president faces increasing pressure from advocacy groups and from donors to his re-election campaign, many of whom see gay rights as a key issue.

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Posted in: approves,Carolina,union

How offensive is the word 'lunatic'?

8 May 2012 Last updated at 23:23 GMT By Daniel Nasaw BBC News Magazine, Washington The word 'lunatic' originally referred to a kind of insanity that recurred according to the cycles of the moon Two US senators have proposed to excise the word "lunatic" from federal law, calling it outdated and offensive. What are the word's origins and why is it so offensive?

The word "lunatic" has been codified into US law so long it has outlasted its currency in the psychiatric profession.

Many experts say they are surprised a term that in antiquity referred to madness influenced by the lunar cycle survives in such a prominent place in the US Code - its very first section.

The US Code is the official codification of US federal laws. In it, the word "lunatic" appears in a section of basic definitions, and later in a tract dealing with bank mergers.

Last month, Senators Mike Crapo, an Idaho Republican, and Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, proposed the 21st Century Language Act, a 257-word bill that would strip the word out.

"The continued use of this pejorative term has no place in the US Code," Mr Conrad said on the Senate floor.

"'Lunatic' is an unnecessary term and... its removal will have no impact on the broader federal law."

'Drunkards' and 'idiots'

The bill is the latest in a series of efforts in the US and Britain to strike terms for mental illness and developmental disability that are deemed antiquated and offensive from the law and from public discourse.

In the US, a 2010 act of Congress replaced "mental retardation" with "intellectual disabilities" in several places in the US Code.

Tennessee last year passed a law replacing "handicapped" with "having a disability" and "idiot, lunatic, person of unsound mind" with "person adjudicated incompetent". In 2009, the state of Maine inserted "person with alcoholism" in the place of "common drunkard" and "person who is legally incompetent" for "lunatic".

The 21st Century Language Act does not include replacement language.

Advocates say the moves are not merely politically correct word-policing, but legitimate attempts to ease the debilitating stigma attached to mental illness and developmental disability.

"The written laws of the US, let alone the ones at the state level, are official pronouncements," says Bob Carolla, a spokesman for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

"It can show up in court proceedings, it can show up in any kind of legal citation or boilerplate. Anyone with a mental illness is never going to know when they're going to be slapped in the face by it, and it's coming in a very official context."

Continue reading the main story

Original Middle English:

Thanne loked up a lunatik, a leene thyng withalle

And knelynge to the Kyng clergially he seide

"Crist kepe thee, sire Kyng, and thi kyngryche"

Modern English:

Then looked up a lunatic, a lean thing withal

And kneeling before the king well speaking said:

"Christ keep thee sir King, and thy kingdom"

Source: Project Gutenberg; Harvard University

Not only is the word "lunatic" older than the current understanding of mental illness - it is far older than the English language itself.

The word stems from the Latin "luna" meaning moon, with the "atic" suffix meaning "of the kind of", according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

The OED says the word originally referred to a kind of insanity supposedly dependent on the phases of the moon.

The word, written in Latin as "lunaticus", an adjective, first appears in writing in the 4th Century Vulgate Bible, attributed to St Jerome.

In Matthew 17:15, a man asks Jesus to have mercy on his son who "lunaticus est". More than a millennium later, the compilers of the King James Version rendered the passage with "lunatick".

Passed through languages

In the Digest, a 6th Century legal code ordered compiled by the Emperor Justinian, "lunatic" shows up in a passage discussing the value of slaves.

The word may have entered English through Norman French, which received it from late Latin.

Continue reading the main story

When it originally was put in the law, it didn't have the same connotations that it has today. It wasn't intentionally derogatory - it became so over time”

End Quote Allan Horowitz Rutgers University sociologist In English, it first appears in the South English Legendary, a verse compendium of saints' lives composed in the 13th Century near Gloucester. Roughly a century later, it shows up in The Vision of Piers Plowman, the late-14th Century allegorical poem by William Langland.

The word enters the American medical lexicon in the 19th Century with the development of modern psychiatry, says medical historian Gerald Grob, an emeritus professor at Rutgers University.

"'Lunatic' was a descriptive word," he says. "Today we would use 'mental illness' or the like."

And only later did it develop an offensive, pejorative connotation, researchers say.

In the 19th Century, the so-called lunatic asylums, often run by the city or state, became overcrowded and the target of reformers.

The word "lunatic" thus developed a sordid, hateful association, and it dropped out of the medical lexicon by the end of the 19th Century, Prof Grob says. It was replaced by "insane", and subsequently by "mental illness".

Continue reading the main story

The words "insane" and "insane person" and "lunatic" shall include every idiot, lunatic, insane person, and person non compos mentis;

The US law that would be amended by the new bill was passed in 1947. In the Senate, Kent Conrad said federal law should reflect the 21st Century understanding of mental illness, a notion shared by scholars.

"This thinking is definitely antiquated and it needs to disappear," says Christopher Lane, a professor of English at Northwestern University in Illinois, and author of Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness.

"Any move to present those conditions in a more neutral and scientifically informed way should be welcomed."

Advocates say 'lunatic' unfairly connotes danger and unpredictability Dangerous and unpredictable

Mental health advocates describe the move as a small step toward healing the stigma of mental illness.

The word "lunatic" connotes danger, wildness and unpredictability, says Prof Patrick Corrigan, a professor of psychology at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

"It sort of captures them in a snap shot as this dangerous, unpredictable, different soul," he says.

The preferred terminology is "people-first" language that does not define individuals diagnosed with mental illness by the condition.

"If somebody has a diagnosis of schizophrenia, that may be a significant thing in their life but it isn't their whole being, their whole identity," says Eduardo Vega, director of the California Center for Dignity, Social Inclusion and Stigma Elimination.

"The impulse to define people by a characteristic, and in particular a disability or an illness, is very dehumanising."

Researchers and scholars note that the removal of the word "lunatic" illustrates plainly how quickly language evolves - and warn journalists, legislators and medical professionals not to get too attached to the new vocabulary.

"I would be confident that 100 years from now, the terms that we now see as enlightened will be seen in the same way that we consider these old-fashioned terms," says Allan Horowitz, a professor of sociology at Rutgers University who studies mental illness.

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Posted in: lunatic,offensive

Punk singer 'will become a woman'

By Jasmine Coleman
Newsbeat reporter The front man of American punk rock band Against Me! has revealed he plans to start living as a woman.

Tom Gabel will take the name Laura Jane Grace after coming out as transgender.

The singer told Rolling Stone magazine that he would start the transition process soon by taking hormones and undergoing electrolysis.

He said he had dealt privately for years with gender dysphoria, a condition where a person feels they're trapped inside a body of the wrong sex.

The 31-year-old said he planned to remain married to his artist wife Heather.

'Beautiful'

On the track Ocean, released on the Against Me! album New Wave in 2007, Gabel sings: "And if I could have chosen, I would have been born a woman.

"My mother once told me she would have named me Laura, I'd grow up to be strong and beautiful like her."

Gabel told Rolling Stone magazine: "I'm going to have embarrassing moments and that won't be fun."

But he added that he was "hoping people will understand, and hoping they'll be fairly kind".

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Posted in: become,singer,woman

US targets Mexico drug lord sons

9 May 2012 Last updated at 09:10 GMT The US treasury department details the Guzman brothers' position in the Sinaloa cartel The US treasury department has put two sons of Mexico's most wanted man Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman on its drugs kingpin blacklist.

The move bars all people in the US from doing business with Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar and Ovidio Guzman Lopez, and freezes any US assets they have.

Joaquin Guzman, on the list since 2001, runs the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel.

Mexico has seen an explosion of violence in recent years as gangs fight for control of trafficking routes.

The US administration "will aggressively target those individuals who facilitate Chapo Guzman's drug trafficking operations, including family members," said Adam Szubin, director of the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control .

"With the Mexican government, we are firm in our resolve to dismantle Chapo Guzman's drug trafficking organisation."

Ovidio Guzman plays a significant role in his father's drug-trafficking activities, the treasury department said.

Ivan Archivaldo Guzman was arrested in 2005 in Mexico on money-laundering charges but subsequently released.

As well as the Guzman brothers, two other alleged key cartel members, Noel Salgueiro Nevarez and Ovidio Limon Sanchez, were listed under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.

They were both arrested in Mexico in 2011 and are still in custody.

Under the Kingpin Act, US firms, banks and individuals are prevented from doing business with them and any assets the men may have under US jurisdiction are frozen.

More than 1,000 companies and individuals linked to 94 drug kingpins have been placed on the blacklist since 2000.

Penalties for violating the act range include up to 30 years in prison and fines up to $10m (£6m).

The US has offered a reward of up to $5m a for information leading to the arrest of Joaquin Guzman, who escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001.

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Posted in: Mexico,targets

Big rise in Pacific plastic waste

9 May 2012 Last updated at 01:01 GMT By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News The Scripps team trawled the surface of the ocean for floating debris The quantity of small plastic fragments floating in the north-east Pacific Ocean has increased a hundred fold over the past 40 years.

Scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography documented the big rise when they trawled the waters off California.

They were able to compare their plastic "catch" with previous data for the region.

The group reports its findings in the journal Biology Letters.

"We did not expect to find this," says Scripps researcher Miriam Goldstein.

"When you go out into the North Pacific, what you find can be highly variable. So, to find such a clear pattern and such a large increase was very surprising," she told BBC News.

All the plastic discarded into the ocean that does not sink will eventually break down.

Sunlight and the action of the waves will degrade and shred the material over time into pieces the size of a fingernail, or smaller.

An obvious concern is that this micro-material could be ingested by marine organisms, but the Scripps team has noted another, perhaps unexpected, consequence.

The fragments make it easier for the marine insect Halobates sericeus to lay its eggs out over the ocean.

These "sea skaters" or "water striders" - relatives of pond water skaters - need a platform for the task.

Normally, this might be seabird feathers, tar lumps or even pieces of pumice rock. But it is clear from the trawl results that H. sericeus has been greatly aided by the numerous plastic surfaces now available to it in the Pacific.

The fragments are tiny - about 5mm in diameter, or less

The team found a strong association between the presence of Halobates and the micro-plastic in a way that was just not evident in the data from 40 years ago.

Ms Goldstein explained: "We thought there might be fewer Halobates if there's more plastic - that there might be some sort of toxic effect. But, actually, we found the opposite. In the areas that had the most plastic, we found the most Halobates.

"So, they're obviously congregating around this plastic, laying their eggs on it, and hatching out from it. For Halobates, all this plastic has worked out well for them."

The micro-plastic has been a boon to one marine invertebrate - Halobates sericeus

Ms Goldstein and colleagues gathered their information on the abundance of micro-plastic during the Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition (Seaplex) off California in 2009. They then compared their data with those from other scientific cruises, including archived records stretching back to the early 1970s.

Plastic waste in the North Pacific is an ongoing concern.

The natural circulation of water - the North Pacific Gyre - tends to retain the debris in reasonably discrete, long-lived collections, which have popularly become known as "garbage patches". In the north-eastern Pacific, one of these concentrations is seen in waters between Hawaii and California.

This Scripps study follows another report by colleagues at the institution that showed 9% of the fish collected during the same Seaplex voyage had plastic waste in their stomachs.

That investigation, published in Marine Ecology Progress Series, estimated the fish at intermediate ocean depths in the North Pacific Ocean could be ingesting plastic at a rate of roughly 12,000 to 24,000 tonnes per year.

Crabs, barnacles, sea anemones and hydroids make a home on a piece of discarded rope

Toxicity is the issue most often raised in relation to this type of pollution, but Ms Goldstein and colleagues say broader ecosystem effects also need to be studied.

The abundance of ocean debris will influence the success, or otherwise, of "rafting communities" - those species that are specifically adapted to life on or around objects floating in the water.

Larger creatures would include barnacles and crabs, and even fish that like to live under some kind of cover, but large-scale change would likely touch even the smallest organisms.

"The study raises an important issue, which is the addition of hard surfaces to the open ocean," says Ms Goldstein.

"In the North Pacific, for example, there's no floating seaweed like there is in the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic. And we know that the animals, the plants and the microbes that live on hard surfaces are different to the ones that live floating around in the water.

"So, what plastic has done is add hundreds of millions of hard surfaces to the Pacific Ocean. That's quite a profound change."

Ms Goldstein's co-authors were Marci Rosenberg, a student at the University of California Los Angeles, and Scripps research biologist emeritus Lanna Cheng.

Debris tends to collect within the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone. Ocean eddies and other small ocean circulation features will further aggregate material into more discrete "garbage patches"

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter

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Posted in: Pacific,plastic,waste

Canada country profile

1 February 2012 Last updated at 16:21 GMT Canada is the second largest country in the world after Russia. However, its population is only about one-fifth of Russia's.

Nearly 90% of Canadians live within 200km of the border with the United States, which means that Canada contains vast expanses of wilderness to the north.

The relationship to its powerful neighbour is a defining factor for Canada. The US and Canada have the world's largest trading relationship.

The North American Free Trade Agreement, involving Canada, the US and Mexico, has brought a trade boom for Canada. But thorny issues abound. American moves which impact on Canadian exports, in the form of tariffs on Canadian timber and increased subsidies for US farmers, have created particular tension.

Vancouver rates as one of the world's most liveable cities

Canada is also worried about pollution from US factories near the border, and about the possible impact on the environment of the exploitation of oil deposits in Alaska.

Canada pursues a foreign policy that is distinct from that of the US. The country has committed troops to the American-led war on terror, but does not back the US trade embargo on Cuba. Canada did not send troops to join the US-led war in Iraq.

After the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US, the challenge of securing the 9,000-km Canada-US border from possible terrorist infiltration prompted both countries to look at ways of sharing information.

Immigration

Immigration has helped to make Canada one of the world's richest nations. Challenges related to discrimination and integration are gaining increasing attention. Many recent newcomers hail from Asia. Canada's indigenous peoples make up less than two per cent of the population. The way in which provincial governments share land and natural resources with native groups is an ongoing issue.

Separatist aspirations in the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec are a major domestic issue. A referendum in 1995 saw advocates of an independent Quebec only narrowly defeated. Subsequent opinion polls indicated a fall in support for independence and the pro-independence Parti Quebecois was defeated in 2003's provincial election.

The concept of nationhood for Quebec resurfaced in late 2006, when parliament agreed that the Quebecois should be considered a "nation" within a united Canada. The move was largely symbolic, having no constitutional or legal grounding.

Canada has been asserting its sovereignty in the Arctic with growing vigour and has become embroiled in territorial spats with the US and Denmark. At stake is the possible bounty from previously-untapped reserves of oil and gas.

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Posted in: Canada,country,profile