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The United States has summoned the Syrian ambassador over the attack on U.S. ambassador to Damascus and read him the riot act, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Friday. Syrian Ambassador Imad Mustapha was called into the State Department on Thursday night by Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs Jeff Feltman and "read the riot act about this incident," Nuland told reporters at a regular news briefing. "He was reminded that Ambassador Ford is the personal representative of the president and that an attack on Ford is an attack on the United States," she said. "He was also asked for compensation for our damaged vehicles." In addition, "a very strong set of representations" were made again about Syria's responsibilities under the Vienna Convention, she added. Reports said that pro-government demonstrators in Syria pelted Ford's car with eggs and tomatoes during his visit to the office of Hasan abdul Azim, a prominent Sy

Donations from finance account for half of payments to Tories since 2010 general election Read the Bureau of Investigative Journalism's report The influence of the City over the Conservatives has been laid bare by new research showing that more than half of the Tory party's donations since the general election have come from individuals and businesses working in finance. Hedge funds, financiers and private equity firms contributed more than a quarter of all the Tories' private donations which this year poured in at a rate equal to 1m a month the study by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has found. The figures show an increase in the proportion of party funds coming from the financial sector, raising fears that the City's financial influence over the Tories is on the rise as key pieces of legislation are discussed by the coalition government. They come amid growing concerns that some parts of the financial sector, described by Labour leader Ed Miliband this week

Education secretary outlines plans ahead of Tory conference, including extension of school day and tougher truancy fines Read the full interview with Michael Gove The education secretary, Michael Gove, today proposes that every child aged five or over should be learning a foreign language, and promises to "pull every lever", including encouraging longer school days, to make it happen. In a pre-Conservative conference interview, he says: "There is a slam-dunk case for extending foreign language teaching to children aged five. "Just as some people have taken a perverse pride in not understanding mathematics, so we have taken a perverse pride in the fact that we do not speak foreign languages, and we just need to speak louder in English. It is literally the case that learning languages makes you smarter. The neural networks in the brain strengthen as a result of language learning." In the interview he also: Urges more schools to follow the example of academies by

Family of victim Meredith Kercher had difficulty finding air tickets, says lawyer as appeal comes to an end Amanda Knox was said to have a plane standing by to whisk her out of Italy if her appeal was upheld, whereas the family of her alleged victim, the British student, Meredith Kercher, were having difficulty getting air tickets to be in court for the decision, their lawyer said on Friday. Francesco Maresca was speaking as the appeal by the 24-year-old Knox and her former Italian boyfriend built towards a much-anticipated climax. In line with Italian court practice, each of the parties to the case was given a last chance to sway the two professional and six lay judges. According to unconfirmed reports in the Italian media, a US television network has put a private jet at the disposal of the Knox family. "Well now," said Maresca when his turn came to speak. "The Kercher family has problems finding the tickets to come here to hear the outcome on Monday morning." Mon

Author Polina Zherebtsova who was 14 when conflict began publishes journal on taboo subject despite death threats Read extracts from Polina Zherebtsova's book Polina Zherebtsova was 14 when the bombs started raining down. They hit the market where she worked with her mother, the streets she walked down daily, until Grozny was reduced to rubble, a hometown no longer recognisable. From the start, Zherebtsova wrote about it, an act of catharsis as much as a document on the second Chechnya war. She filled dozens of diaries in a messy, scribbled cursive, sometimes embellished with doodles bomb blasts that look like flowers, blocks of flats seen from a distance. This week, despite death threats and fears for her safety, Zherebtsova published Polina Zherebtsova's Diary, gathering three years' worth of journals for a rare look into daily life in Grozny under siege. "I thought, when they kill me, people will find this diary," Zherebtsova said in Moscow, where she has be

Follow our live coverage as Anwar al-Awlaki, the US-born al-Qaida leader, is said to be killed in Yemen by drone strike 12.54pm: The New York Times looks at the case against Awlaki: The Obama administration had long argued that Mr. Awlaki, 40, had joined the enemy in wartime, shifting from propaganda to an operational role in plots against the United States, and last year it quietly decided that he could be targeted for capture or death like any other Al Qaeda leader. It was unclear whether the same formal determination had been made about another radicalized American who may have been killed in the same strike, Samir Khan. Some civil libertarians questioned how the government could take an American citizen's life based on murky intelligence and without an investigation or trial, claiming that hunting and killing him would amount to summary execution without the due process of law guaranteed by the Constitution. 12.45pm: The American Civil Liberties Union issues a statement que

Bob Crow calls on rail train companies to get a grip, as Essex commuters suffer delays The problem of cable theft on the railway network is "out of control", a union leader warned as passengers suffered fresh delays during the Friday morning rush hour. Services run by c2c between Essex and London were hit after a theft at Rainham, the latest in a spate of incidents in recent months causing huge disruption to train services across the country. Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, said rail firms were partly to blame. "The problem of cable theft on the railways is escalating out of control. If a chunk of the excessive profits of the train companies was invested in visible staffing, track patrols and security, we could get a grip on this criminal disruption to rail services." Alan Pacey, assistant chief constable of the British transport police, said the threat to railway infrastructure was unlikely to recede because of the scale of de

READERS of this blog may be interested in two pieces from the latest issue of European Voice , a sister publication of The Economist devoted to the affairs of the European Union. First , our central and eastern Europe correspondent asks how the West should respond to the (not unexpected) news that Vladimir Putin will return to the Kremlin after Russia's presidential election next March. Second , a profile of Iurie Leanca, Moldova's pro-Europe foreign minister, who is hoping to score some successes with Nick Clegg and other EU leaders at the Eastern Partnership summit in Warsaw.

BULGARIA'S biggest cities have seen violent protests this week, following the death in a hit-and-run last weekend, in the village of Katunitsa near Plovdiv, of a 19-year-old boy, allegedly at the hands of a member of a local bigwigs clan. What makes the case particularly incendiary is that the bigwig in question, Kiril Rashkov, or "Tsar Kiro" as he is known locally, is a Roma (gypsy), and Angel Petrov, the young victim, was an ethnic Bulgarian. Mr Rashkov, a wealthy man with few visible sources of income, had supposedly had a number of previous brushes with the law, none of which had led to any charges. Following the incident enraged locals surrounded and torched Mr Rashkovs palatial house, overwhelming the police, who had to escort his family to safety. Earlier this week protests spread to Bulgarias largest cities, as groups of mainly young people held banners calling for Equal Rights and Responsibilities for All, and shouted slogans against the countrys Roma and Turki

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will go on an international tour to muster more support for the Palestinian bid in the United Nations for statehood, a Palestinian newspaper reported Friday. Palestinian minister of foreign affairs Reyad al-Malki told the Ramallah-based al-Ayyam Daily that Abbas will start his tour next week and will give a speech on Oct. 6 to the European Council in Strasbourg. "He will also visit on Oct. 7 and Oct. 8 Honduras and two members of the Security Council, Columbia and Portugal, to gain more support for a vote on the bid for a full membership of a Palestinian state," said al-Malki. Abbas handed the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon a request on Sept. 23 for a full UN membership of the Palestinian statehood and gave a historic speech to the UN General Assembly. The Security Council has held two sessions this week to debate and study the Palestinian bid. On Thursday, the council members decided to refer the bid to the committee of memberships, whic

Work on 2.3bn Myitsone dam halted after Burma's president says he has to 'act according to the desire of the people' Democracy activists and environmentalists have notched up a rare victory in Burma after the president ordered the suspension of a huge Chinese hydropower project on the Irrawaddy river. Following opposition by activists, academics and tribal militias, President Thein Sein informed parliament that construction of the $3.6bn (2.3bn) Myitsone dam should be halted because it was against the will of the people. The suspension of the 3,600MW project on Burma's most important river is a remarkable step for a nation long ruled by military fiat, but after elections this year, the government appears to have put public and ecological concerns ahead of economic priorities and the interests of its most powerful neighbour. The decision was welcomed by Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma's pro-democracy opposition. In August, the Nobel laureate called for the plan

The US-born radical Muslim cleric, who has been linked to 9/11 and the Fort Hood shootings, has been killed in Yemen An al-Qaida leader regarded as the terror group's most potent threat to western interests has been killed in Yemen, defence officials in the capital, Sana'a, say. Anwar al-Awlaki , a dual US-Yemeni citizen, is believed to have been killed at 9.55am on Friday morning at a site 90 miles (140 kilometres) east of Sana'a between the provinces of Marib and al-Jawf in what is believed to have been an air strike. He is thought to have been travelling in a two-car convoy, which local tribal officials say was destroyed. The CIA and the US military have used drones to target al-Qaida officials in Yemen and had placed Awlaki near the top of a hit list. The US president, Barack Obama, authorised a request to target Awlaki in April last year, making him the first US citizen to be a legal target for assassination in the post-9/11 years. The US embassy in Sana'a declined

The Austrian parliament will debate the expansion of the European financial stability facility, after Germany yesterday became the latest country to back the plan 8.09am: Europe's stock markets have opened, and it's a sea of red electronic ink as most shares fall. The FTSE 100 is down 62 points at 5133, around 1.2% lower. Similar losses in other markets, with the German DAX falling 1.5% and the French CAC down 1.2%. Not major swings, but not terribly encouraging. The catalyst for the sell-off appears to be poor retail sales figures from Germany, which suffered their biggest fall in four years. The Federal Statistics Office reported that retail sales, adjusted for inflation and seasonal swings, slumped 2.9% in August compared with July. That has increased fears that Europe's economic powerhouse is slowing down. These monthly retail figures are notoriously volatile, but economists warned that the euro crisis has probably deterred many German consumers from splashing out o

NEW DELHI, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- India Friday successfully test fired the nuclear-capable Agni II missile from a defense base in Bhadrak district in Orissa, eastern India, said highly placed sources. The test fire came after India Monday successfully test fired its home developed nuclear capable ballistic missile Prithvi-II off the Orissa coast. Related stories India test fires nuke capable ballistic missile 2011-09-26 India to test fire nuclear-capable Agni 2 prime missile next month 2011-09-19 Editor: Wang Xiaomei | Source: Xinhua

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Thursday welcomed the recently announced measures by Saudi Arabian King Abdullah granting women the right to vote and stand in municipal elections as well as to become members of the Shura Council. "The Secretary-General believes that these represent an important step in the realization by women in Saudi Arabia of their fundamental civil and political rights," a statement issued by his spokesperson said. According to the Saudi Government website, the Shura (consultative) Council, made up of 60 members appointed by the country's king, enjoys the same powers as Western parliaments it is entitled to enact laws, oversee the functions of government agencies and investigate public cases.

The female victims, aged 17, 18 and 19, in serious condition after incident on John Fearon Walk in North Kensington Three teenagers were in a serious condition in hospital on Thursday night after being shot in the street. The female victims, aged 17, 18 and 19, were shot outside a property on an estate in North Kensington, west London. Police hunting the gunman were investigating if the attack was a botched drive-by shooting. It was initially believed that only one shot was fired. One of the victims was taken to hospital in a critical condition but has since improved. The victims' injuries are not believed to be life threatening. Scotland Yard said the teenagers were shot outside an address in John Fearon Walk at around 7.15pm. The 18-year-old was treated for gunshot wounds at the scene before being taken to hospital by air ambulance. The other two victims made their own way to hospital. A police spokesman said they were alerted to the incident by the ambulance service, which had r

Carl Bernstein said the two events were 'cultural moments of huge consequence' about corruption at the highest levels One of the two journalists who uncovered the Watergate scandal has said that he was "struck by the parallels" between the News of the World phone-hacking affair and the saga that brought down Richard Nixon in the 1970s. Carl Bernstein said that the two events were "shattering cultural moments of huge consequence that are going to be with us for generations" and that both were "about corruption at the highest levels, about the corruption of the process of a free society". The American reporter, speaking at an event in London organised by the Guardian, specifically likened Rupert Murdoch, the NoW's proprietor, to the ousted US president in his relation to criminal acts and alleged criminal acts conducted by their respective employees and subordinates. Bernstein said that the important thing was not whether there was "a smo

Middle-aged men are twice as likely as women to end up with a cancer diagnosis after a colono-scopy, according to an Austrian study that challenges current screening guidelines. Currently, people at average risk of colon cancer start screening for the disease at age 50, regardless of gender. But the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows a discrepancy of nearly 10 years between men and women in the development of colon and rectal tumors. The study found that colono-scopies would find one in 80 men aged 55 had cancer. This figure is also true for 65-year-old women. The same logic held for the pre-cancerous growths called advanced adenomas, which doctors also look for during colonoscopies. Lead researcher Monika Ferlitsch, of the Medical University of Vienna, said: "The prevalence and number needed to screen for advanced ade-nomas were comparable for men aged 45-49 and women aged 55-59." About one in 19 men develops colon cancer at some poin

Carl Bernstein said the two events were 'cultural moments of huge consequence' about corruption at the highest levels One of the two journalists who uncovered the Watergate scandal has said that he was "struck by the parallels" between the News of the World phone-hacking affair and the saga that brought down Richard Nixon in the 1970s. Carl Bernstein said on Thursday night that the two events were "shattering cultural moments of huge consequence that are going to be with us for generations" and that both were "about corruption at the highest levels, about the corruption of the process of a free society". The American reporter, speaking at an event in London organised by the Guardian, specifically likened Rupert Murdoch, the News of the World's proprietor, to the ousted US president in his relation to criminal acts and alleged criminal acts conducted by their respective employees and subordinates. Bernstein argued that the important thing was no

Hit F5 to refresh or turn on the automatic widget below Email paolo.bandini@guardian.co.uk or tweet @Paolo_Bandini Follow all tonight's latest scores in the Europa League 27 mins "Presumably you've seen the old story about the Football Manager player who applied for the Middlesbrough job ," asks Simon Davis as McCabe receives a quick throw-in on the right and thumps a 25-yard effort comfortably wide of the near post. I have indeed, Simon, but it bears revisiting. Steve Gibson earned himself huge respect from a good many fans for taking the time to respond, though I have always wondered if he subsequently got hundreds more such letters from others hoping for a similar note. 26 mins Pavlyuchenko's near-post jab is knocked behind for another corner, but this one is hoofed clear emphatically by Murray. 25 mins It's been a lively start for Danny Rose down the left and he wins another corner for Tottenham here - breaking into space on the left but seeing his