China :: World

BRUSSELS, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Muammar Gaddafi's regime in Libya has shown visible cracks after eight senior Libyan military officers defected, a NATO spokesman said Tuesday. "A number of pro-Gaddafi units have shown signs of waiving loyalty. And yesterday (Monday), a number of senior pro-Gaddafi officers defected," Mike Bracken told a press briefing via video conference from Naples, Italy. Eight senior Libyan military officers, including five generals, announced their decision to defect in Rome Monday. "The cracks in the Gaddafi regime are now clearly visible," Bracken said. According to the defected Libyan military officers, pro-Gaddafi forces were now at only 20-percent capacity, NATO spokeswomen Oana Lungescu told the same press conference. "It is a significant loss of the regime' senior leadership, and it doesn't come in surprise. Because NATO strikes have largely paralysed the command and control of the Gaddafi regime forces... they (senio

BANGKOK: A motorcyclist threw a home-made grenade into an anti-government "yellow shirt" rally in central Bangkok late on Tuesday, injuring two men, police said. The unidentified assailant, wearing a crash helmet, sped away after the attack on supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) who have been camped out near Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's office for more than four months, protesting against his handling of a border dispute with Cambodia. A PAD supporter and an ice-cream seller were wounded by shrapnel near a makeshift stage used by PAD leaders to address supporters. The PAD is a nationalist, royalist movement that in the past spearheaded mass protests against former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, prior to his removal in a bloodless military coup in 2006. It also led street protests against subsequent pro-Thaksin governments and occupied Bangkok's two main airports for a week in late 2008, ending the siege when the courts dissol

TOKYO: Dozens of Japanese ruling party rebels plan to vote for a no-confidence motion against unpopular Prime Minister Naoto Kan, media said on Wednesday, short of the number needed to oust the leader but enough to split the party and weaken his clout as he struggles with the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years. Analysts have said Kan would likely survive the vote, which looked set to take place on Thursday, but he would still face big hurdles pushing policies through a divided parliament, including an extra budget to pay for rebuilding after a deadly March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Adoption of the motion would force Kan either to resign with his cabinet or call a snap lower house poll. While he has refused to rule out the latter, analysts say holding an election would be tough while part of the country is still trying to recover from the nuclear and natural disasters. Rivals in Kan's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), many of whom back scandal-tainted powerbroker Ic

David Bernstein seeks a 'genuinely independent' review of the scandal-hit governing body England and Scotland led the way in a brave but unlikely attempt to force reform at Fifa after the Football Association's chairman, David Bernstein, called on Sepp Blatter to postpone Wednesday's uncontested election for his fourth term as Fifa president. On another day of drama in Zurich, Bernstein issued a public declaration demanding the launch of a "genuinely independent" review of Fifa's governance structures. Having kept the sports minister, Hugh Robertson, informed of his intentions, Bernstein made a plea for reform that was swiftly reinforced by the Scottish FA's chief executive, Stewart Regan. "This is a matter of principle," said Bernstein on Tuesday. "Myself and the FA believe that the position in Fifa is just not acceptable." Despite Blatter's defiance at Monday's press conference, in which he insisted he would only be judged

Former Bosnian Serb general allowed to visit daughter's grave ahead of flight to Netherlands and Scheveningen prison Ratko Mladic was flown to the Netherlands on Tuesday night to face charges at The Hague war crimes tribunal for his role in the killing of thousands of Muslims in the Bosnian war after an emotional final day in Serbia. The former Bosnian Serb general was flown into Rotterdam airport on a small Serbian government jet and then transferred by helicopter to a 15 sq metre cell in a special unit in Scheveningen prison, a brick castle-like jail in a leafy suburb of The Hague yards from the North Sea coast. He swept into a side entrance in a police cavalcade under flashing blue lights, avoiding most of the hundreds of onlookers including family members of Mladic's alleged victims and Serbian nationalist supporters of the war crimes suspect. Also looking on were several Dutch army veterans who were part of the UN peacekeeping force which was unable to stop the massacre o

David Bernstein seeks a 'genuinely independent' review of the scandal-hit governing body England and Scotland led the way in a brave but unlikely attempt to force reform at Fifa after the Football Association's chairman, David Bernstein, called on Sepp Blatter to postpone Wednesday's uncontested election for his fourth term as Fifa president. On another day of drama in Zurich, Bernstein issued a public declaration demanding the launch of a "genuinely independent" review of Fifa's governance structures. Having kept the sports minister, Hugh Robertson, informed of his intentions, Bernstein made a plea for reform that was swiftly reinforced by the Scottish FA's chief executive, Stewart Regan. "This is a matter of principle," said Bernstein on Tuesday. "Myself and the FA believe that the position in Fifa is just not acceptable." Despite Blatter's defiance at Monday's press conference, in which he insisted he would only be judged

Controversial fuel crops linked to rising food prices and hunger, as well as increased greenhouse gas emissions British firms have acquired more land in Africa for controversial biofuel plantations than companies from any other country, a Guardian investigation has revealed. Half of the 3.2m hectares (ha) of biofuel land identified in countries from Mozambique to Senegal is linked to 11 British companies, more than any other country. Liquid fuels made from plants such as bioethanol are hailed by some as environmentally-friendly replacements for fossil fuels. Because they compete for land with crop plants, biofuels have also been linked to record food prices and rising hunger . There are also fears they can increase greenhouse gas emissions. A market has been created by British and EU laws requiring the blending of rising amounts of biofuels into petrol and diesel, but the rules were condemned as unethical and "backfiring badly" in April by a Nuffield Council on Bioethics

Speculation grows that former Alaska governor will enter 2012 presidential race, as teasing tactics eclipse political rivals Sarah Palin has arrived in Philadelphia on day three of a mystery bus tour that is swamping US media coverage of the Republican race for the White House, leaving her rivals struggling to win attention. Palin, who began her road trip in Washington, is refusing to provide an itinerary for the media, in what is being interpreted as payback for the hostility she faced in the 2008 election. "It's not really an intention to play cat and mouse," she said. But the tactic has worked spectacularly to her advantage, with reporters gleefully turning her tour into a chase and guessing game about her next stop. Reporters are enjoying the novelty so much that there is even a Twitter hashtag, #wheressarah, logging sightings and speculating on her next venue. When reporters do catch her, the inevitable question is whether she intends to join other Republicans in se

Ex-SAS soldiers and private security firm employees passing information to Nato attack helicopters, sources tell Guardian Former SAS soldiers and other western employees of private security companies are helping Nato identify targets in the Libyan port city of Misrata, the scene of heavy fighting between Gaddafi's forces and rebels, well-placed sources have told the Guardian. Special forces veterans are passing details of the locations and movements of Muammar Gaddafi's forces to the Naples headquarters of Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard, Canadian commander of Nato forces involved in the military operations, sources said. The targets are then verified by spy planes and US Predator drones. "One piece of human intelligence is not enough", a source said. The former soldiers are there with the blessing of Britain, France and other Nato countries, which have supplied them with communications equipment. They are likely to be providing information for the pilots of Briti

Source of outbreak that has killed 16 people remains a mystery as row spreads across Europe and Spain counts cost of ban on its vegetables The mystery E coli outbreak that has killed 16 people escalated into a pan-European row on Tuesday as Germany admitted that tainted Spanish cucumbers were not the source of the outbreak after all. Spain's agriculture minister Rosa Aguilar ate a homegrown cucumber on live television as she railed against a suggestion by Hamburg scientists last week that Iberian cucumbers were likely to blame for the outbreak, which claimed its first non-German victim on Thursday when a Swedish woman died shortly after returning from Germany. "Germany accused Spain of being responsible for the E coli contamination in Germany, and it did it with no proof, causing irreparable damage to the Spanish production sector," said Aguilar. French health minister Xavier Bertrand demanded greater transparency from Spain and Germany after three people in France becam

Extradition process under way after Serbian judges reject appeal from former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic is on a plane to The Hague to face war crimes charges, the Serbian government has said. Snezana Malovic, the country's justice minister, said the process of extraditing the former commander of Bosnian Serb military forces to the UN war crimes tribunal "has started." The move follows judges' rejection of an appeal by Mladic against his extradition to the UN tribunal. Mladic is charged at the tribunal for atrocities committed by his Serb troops during Bosnia's 1992-1995 war, including the notorious Srebrenica massacre that left 8,000 Muslim men and boys dead. Earlier on Tuesday, he was briefly released from the jail cell, travelling in a secret high-security convoy to a suburban cemetery where he left a lone candle for his daughter, Ana, who killed herself during Bosnia's bloody ethnic war. Mladic, 69, was accompanied by a convoy of armoured ve

Despite being a leading agroexporter, half the country's population of 14 million live in extreme poverty Domingo Tamupsis works on a Guatemalan sugar plantation for a company that exports bioethanol to fill the fuel tanks of US cars. He has a job as a harvester, six days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day, in a country that is a major producer of food for global markets. His settlement in the fertile Pacific coastal area is surrounded by industrial farms, but he earns so little that his family can't afford to eat every day. Some days he survives his shift of hard physical labour on nothing but the mangoes that drop from trees by the roadside. His wife, Marina, is 23-years-old, but is so slight she might be mistaken for a young teenager. She has two daughters, Yeimi aged six and Jessica aged two. Jessica is the size of the average European one-year-old, her distended stomach a sign of chronic malnutrition. When she tries to smile, hollow creases form in her cheeks, betraying her semi

In response to mass unemployment and the prospect of having to emigrate, an unemployed Irish graduate has spent 2,000 (1,745) on a massive billboard advertisement asking employers not to let him leave the republic. Filim Mac An Iomaire, who erected an advertising hoarding on the busy Merrion Road in south Dublin in an attempt to find a job, has said he has been overwhelmed by the response. The ad contains a picture of the 26-year-old marketing graduate facing a number of famous landmarks from Sydney, London and New York with the message: "Save me from emigration." His ad has struck a chord across Ireland at a time when about 50,000 citizens, many of them young graduates, are expected to leave this year for work abroad. There are still up to 400,000 jobless workers in Ireland due to the property crash and the country's fiscal crisis. Mac An Iomaire said he came up with the idea after being unemployed for eight months after a year in Australia. "I had a good bit of mo

Former Conservative peer falsely filed for travel and overnight subsistence to claim more than 11,000 from taxpayer, court told Lord Taylor of Warwick became the first peer to be jailed over the expenses scandal when he was sentenced to 12 months for falsely claiming more than 11,000 in expenses. The 58-year-old, the first black Conservative peer, was guilty of a "protracted course of dishonesty" in falsely claiming overnight and subsistence allowances he was not entitled to, judge Mr Justice Saunders said at Southwark crown court, in London. As Taylor, a former barrister, was sentenced, it emerged that more than a dozen of his fellow peers had refused to give evidence to support his defence at his trial. Among them was Lord Clarke of Hampstead, a former chairman of the Labour party who was ordered by the judge to attend court after initially refusing. He was served with a summons to attend the trial after initially saying the expenses scandal had already caused him stress. T

Turn on the auto refresh button below for the latest updates Email katy.murrells@guardian.co.uk with your thoughts Check out all the latest from Roland Garros here *Murray 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 1-2 Troicki* Thwack. Troicki goes 40-15 ahead with a thunderous forehand down the line, but Murray gives back as good as he gets and unleashes a backhand winner to get to deuce. Troicki brings up advantage with some clever play, but then dumps a forehand into the net. It's then Murray's turn at advantage , but Troicki snuffs out the danger with a forehand winner. Deuce. Troicki then reels off the next two points to again deny Murray the break. Murray 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 1-1 Troicki* (* denotes next server) A bit of danger for Murray at 15-30 down, but he reels off the next three points - the third with a crunching forehand - to level up. And a plea from Qasa Alom. "In between your coverage and 5live extra, I've just about got this covered - would appreciate a "shout count

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday officially dissolved the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and terminated the appointments of his aides and other political appointees. The dissolution of FEC and termination of the appointments of the aides were in accordance with their appointments letters, a statement from his office said. "In accordance with the appointment letters of members of the FEC, Special Advisers, Senior Special Assistants, Special Assistants and other political appointees, their appointments ended on May 29th, 2011," the statement said. "This brings to a close the former administration and marks the beginning of the new one," it added. In another development, the president approved the appointment of Senator Anyim Pius Anyim as Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). The new SGF would be sworn-in later on Tuesday. The president also approved the re-appointment of retired Gen. Andrew Azazi as the national security adviser.

Click refresh for latest updates and post below the line Fifa must postpone election, says FA chairman Matt Scott: 'Blatter: Crisis? What Is a Crisis?' 11.12am More from Matt Scott in Zurich: Fifa has refused to respond to the FA's call for Sepp Blatter to postpone Wednesday's elections beyond pointing out the process. Fully 75% of all national associations (that is 154 of the 205 who have a vote at Wednesday's congress) calling for a change to the agenda. Naturally Fifa do not believe this will happen. 11.05am Emirates has joined Adidas and Coca Cola in criticising the recent goings-on at Fifa, although its choice of verb - 'disappointment' - and the gruel-like blandness of its statement suggests that the organisation is not going to be first charging the barricades of Fifa HQ. Anyway, here's their statement: Emirates, like all football fans around the world, is disappointed with the issues that are currently surrounding the administration of the s

36-year-old will join Old Trafford coaching staff next season Scholes: A video appreciation of his career The Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has announced his retirement from football with immediate effect. There had been speculation about the 36-year-old's future in the past few weeks after he became increasingly dissatisfied with his bit-part role at Old Trafford. "This was not a decision I have taken lightly but I feel now is the right time for me to stop playing," said Scholes, who will join the United coaching staff from next season. "I am not a man of many words but I can honestly say that playing football is all I have ever wanted to do. To have had such a long and successful career at Manchester United has been a real honour. To have been part of the team that helped the club reach a record 19th title is a great privilege. "I would like to thank the fans for their tremendous support throughout my career, I would also like to thank all the co