political news

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri says he is concerned about "escalating and dangerous threats" posed to the Middle East by Israel.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri says he is concerned about "escalating and dangerous threats" posed to the Middle East by Israel.

Mr Hariri told the BBC that Israeli planes were entering Lebanese airspace every day, and he feared the prospect of another war with Israel.

He accused Israel of making a huge mistake by allegedly threatening both Lebanon and neighbouring Syria.

His comments come days after Syria and Israel exchanged hostile accusations.

The BBC's Natalia Antelava in Beirut says that while such rhetoric is hardly new, there is concern it could lead to more serious confrontation.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Hariri said: "We hear a lot of Israeli threats day in and day out, and not only threats.

"We see what's happening on the ground and in our airspace and what's happening all the time during the past two months - every day we have Israeli planes entering Lebanese airspace.

"This is something that is escalating, and this is something that is really dangerous."

Mr Hariri also said that Lebanon was united, and that the government would stand by Hezbollah - the Lebanese militant group which fought Israel in 2006.

"I think they're betting that there might be some division in Lebanon, if there is a war against us.

"Well, there won't be a division in Lebanon. We will stand against Israel. We will stand with our own people."

His comments come just days after the foreign ministers of Syria and Israel exchanged aggressive accusations, which fuelled both media speculation and public fear about what many in the region describe as the "imminent next war".

Such hostile rhetoric is hardly new to the Middle East, and yet, because calm in this is region is so fragile, many are concerned that it could lead to a more serious confrontation.

US President Barack Obama has said the US and its allies are developing a "significant regime of sanctions" against Iran for its nuclear programme.

He said the international community was unified over Iran's "misbehaviour".

Speaking in Washington, he said despite Tehran's denials, it was clear Iran was working to build nuclear weapons.

His remarks came after Iranian state media reported that Iran had started the process of enriching uranium to 20% for use in a medical research reactor.

Russian disapproval

In an unexpected appearance in the White House briefing room, Mr Obama said the US was confident the international community was "unified around Iran's misbehaviour in this area".

He said the new push for sanctions on Iran was "moving along fairly quickly" and should be completed in the next few weeks.

Mr Obama also said he was pleased at Russia's quick disapproval of Iran's latest move.

But he said it was unclear how China would respond to a new push at the UN Security Council for another round of sanctions against Iran.

China, a UN Security Council member, has called for further talks over the issue.

China and Russia have been reluctant in the past to support international sanctions against Iran.

"How China operates at the Security Council as we pursue sanctions is something we're going to have to see," Mr Obama said.

The five permanent members of the Security Council - the US, Russia, China, France and Britain - have a veto over resolutions, including sanctions.

Iran currently enriches uranium to a level of 3.5% but requires 20% enriched uranium for its research reactor, which is meant to produce medical isotopes. A bomb would require uranium enriched to at least 90%.

The US and its Western allies say Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapon - a charge Iran denies.

In October, a deal brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was thought to have been struck for Iran to send its uranium to Russia and France for enrichment.

But last month, diplomats said Iran had told the IAEA that it did not accept the terms of the deal - though there have since been other, conflicting messages.

Also on Tuesday, US state department spokesman PJ Crowley said the international community was willing to help Iran secure medical isotopes from abroad.

The offer would help to "build some confidence" and show Iran that enriching uranium to 20% purity was "unnecessary", Reuters news agency quoted him saying.

Dozens of people including pro-government militia have tried to attack Italy's embassy in Iran, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini says.

Basij militia dressed as civilians hurled stones and shouted "Death to Italy" and "Death to Berlusconi", he told a senate hearing.

Iranian media said a protest took place but made no mention of violence.

Tensions have been high in Tehran since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed poll win last year.

Correspondents say the protest could be linked to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's pledge of support for Israel and his call for sanctions against Iran to be tightened, during a visit to Jerusalem last week.

Italian energy company ENI has already said it will pull out of Iran.

Italy is Iran's biggest trading partner in the European Union.

Western powers have stepped up pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme, but Tehran says it has started the process of enriching uranium to 20%.

Attendance cancelled

Speaking at a senate committee hearing on Iran, Mr Frattini said about 100 "hostile" protesters threw eggs and stones at the Tehran embassy but were prevented by police from getting inside.

There was "no significant damage", he said.

Iran's privately-owned Fars news agency said the protesters "condemned the actions of the [Italian] government in supporting seditionists and interfering in Iran's internal affairs".

Protests also took place outside the French and Dutch embassies.

Mr Frattini said Italy had cancelled its attendance on Thursday at events marking the anniversary of the Iranian revolution.

"Contacts are under way at the European level" aimed at sending a "signal of strong concern" over the incidents, he added.

Iraq and Iran have exchanged bodies of soldiers killed in the eight-year war between the two countries.

Iran handed over the remains of nine Iraqi soldiers, after Iraq gave the bodies of seven soldiers to Iran on Tuesday, according to reports.

It is the second such exchange of soldiers' remains since Saddam Hussein was ousted from power in 2003.

It is estimated that thousands of soldiers are still missing from the war, which ended in 1988.

Last year the countries signed an agreement to search for missing soldiers.

Still searching

Estimates vary but around half a million people are believed to have been killed in the war, with thousands of prisoners captured on both sides.

In 2001 Iran claimed that 213,000 Iranians were killed in the war. Iraqi estimates are uncertain; between 160,000 - 240,000 are said to have been killed.

Estimates for those Iranians and Iraqi unaccounted for are also uncertain.

In total, the International Committee of the Red Cross says it has helped repatriate some 97,000 prisoners of war (POWs) since the end of the war.

Twenty years after the end of the war, families on both sides continue to search for records of their loved ones in hospitals, morgues and police stations.

The last speaker of an ancient language in India's Andaman Islands has died at the age of about 85, a leading linguist has told the BBC.

Professor Anvita Abbi said that the death of Boa Sr was highly significant because one of the world's oldest languages - Bo - had come to an end.

She said that India had lost an irreplaceable part of its heritage.

Languages in the Andamans are thought to originate from Africa. Some may be 70,000 years old.

The islands are often called an "anthropologist's dream" and are one of the most linguistically diverse areas of the world.

'Infectious'

Professor Abbi - who runs the Vanishing Voices of the Great Andamanese (Voga) website - explained: "After the death of her parents, Boa was the last Bo speaker for 30 to 40 years.

"She was often very lonely and had to learn an Andamanese version of Hindi in order to communicate with people.

"But throughout her life she had a very good sense of humour and her smile and full-throated laughter were infectious."

She said that Boa Sr's death was a loss for intellectuals wanting to study more about the origins of ancient languages, because they had lost "a vital piece of the jigsaw".

"It is generally believed that all Andamanese languages might be the last representatives of those languages which go back to pre-Neolithic times," Professor Abbi said.

"The Andamanese are believed to be among our earliest ancestors."

Boa Sr's case has also been highlighted by the Survival International (SI) campaign group.

"The extinction of the Bo language means that a unique part of human society is now just a memory," SI Director Stephen Corry said.

'Imported illnesses'

She said that two languages in the Andamans had now died out over the last three months and that this was a major cause for concern.

Academics have divided Andamanese tribes into four major groups, the Great Andamanese, the Jarawa, the Onge and the Sentinelese.

Professor Abbi says that all apart from the Sentinelese have come into contact with "mainlanders" from India and have suffered from "imported illnesses".

She says that the Great Andamanese are about 50 in number - mostly children - and live in Strait Island, near the capital Port Blair.

Boa Sr was part of this community, which is made up of 10 "sub-tribes" speaking at least four different languages.

The Jarawa have about 250 members and live in the thick forests of the Middle Andaman. The Onge community is also believed to number only a few hundred.

Academics have divided Andamanese tribes into four major groups, the Great Andamanese, the Jarawa, the Onge and the Sentinelese.

Professor Abbi says that all apart from the Sentinelese have come into contact with "mainlanders" from India and have suffered from "imported illnesses".

She says that the Great Andamanese are about 50 in number - mostly children - and live in Strait Island, near the capital Port Blair.

Boa Sr was part of this community, which is made up of 10 "sub-tribes" speaking at least four different languages.

The Jarawa have about 250 members and live in the thick forests of the Middle Andaman. The Onge community is also believed to number only a few hundred.

"No human contact has been established with the Sentinelese and so far they resist all outside intervention," Professor Abbi said.

It is the fate of the Great Andamanese which most worries academics, because they depend largely on the Indian government for food and shelter - and abuse of alcohol is rife.

Academics have divided Andamanese tribes into four major groups, the Great Andamanese, the Jarawa, the Onge and the Sentinelese.

Professor Abbi says that all apart from the Sentinelese have come into contact with "mainlanders" from India and have suffered from "imported illnesses".

She says that the Great Andamanese are about 50 in number - mostly children - and live in Strait Island, near the capital Port Blair.

Boa Sr was part of this community, which is made up of 10 "sub-tribes" speaking at least four different languages.

The Jarawa have about 250 members and live in the thick forests of the Middle Andaman. The Onge community is also believed to number only a few hundred.

"No human contact has been established with the Sentinelese and so far they resist all outside intervention," Professor Abbi said.

It is the fate of the Great Andamanese which most worries academics, because they depend largely on the Indian government for food and shelter - and abuse of alcohol is rife.

"No human contact has been established with the Sentinelese and so far they resist all outside intervention," Professor Abbi said.

Academics have divided Andamanese tribes into four major groups, the Great Andamanese, the Jarawa, the Onge and the Sentinelese.

Professor Abbi says that all apart from the Sentinelese have come into contact with "mainlanders" from India and have suffered from "imported illnesses".

She says that the Great Andamanese are about 50 in number - mostly children - and live in Strait Island, near the capital Port Blair.

Boa Sr was part of this community, which is made up of 10 "sub-tribes" speaking at least four different languages.

The Jarawa have about 250 members and live in the thick forests of the Middle Andaman. The Onge community is also believed to number only a few hundred.

"No human contact has been established with the Sentinelese and so far they resist all outside intervention," Professor Abbi said.

It is the fate of the Great Andamanese which most worries academics, because they depend largely on the Indian government for food and shelter - and abuse of alcohol is rife.

It is the fate of the Great Andamanese which most worries academics, because they depend largely on the Indian government for food and shelter - and abuse of alcohol is rife.

At least 17 Indian soldiers have been killed after an avalanche hit a military training camp in Indian-administered Kashmir, the army says.

Dozens of troops were rescued after the avalanche struck near Gulmarg, the region's main ski resort, about 50km (30 miles) west of Srinagar.

The army said 17 soldiers were injured. Rescue teams have returned to base.

Avalanches are common in Kashmir, but this is one of the deadliest to occur in the region in recent years.

About 400 troops were stationed at the high-altitude camp, part of which is said to have been engulfed in snow.

Tourists were unaffected by the avalanche because it happened at a higher altitude than the nearby ski resort, officials said.

'High winds'

The soldiers were on a training exercise at the Indian army's high altitude warfare school, nearly 3,000m (more than 9,000ft) above sea level in the Khelenmarg mountains.

"We have 17 dead and 17 injured. No-one is missing and rescue teams have returned to their bases," army spokesman Col Vineet Sood told the AFP news agency.

An army statement said all soldiers were out of danger.

Heavy snow, fog and high winds had hampered rescue efforts which went on for hours.

Casualty numbers rose steadily after reports of the disaster first emerged on Monday. Among the dead is at least one officer.

"It's been snowing here for the last four days," another army spokesman, Col Jagmohan Brar, told the BBC.

"We had about 70 people buried in the avalanche."

The avalanche struck close to the Line of Control, the disputed de facto border that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

Avalanches and landslides occur frequently in Kashmir, often blocking roads and cutting off resorts like Gulmarg.

Last June seven Indian soldiers were killed in an avalanche in Kupwara district. Another 12 people were killed a month earlier on the Pakistani side of the heavily-militarised dividing line.

In 2005, an avalanche near villages in the Neelum valley on the Pakistani side killed more than 40 people.

India and Pakistan have fought two wars over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which both claim in its entirety.

The two sides have tens of thousands of troops stationed in the region, where a ceasefire has been in place since 2003.

A Yemen-based offshoot of al-Qaeda has called on Muslims in the region to wage holy war against the US and its allies.

A purported audio statement by Said al-Shihri, deputy leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, warned "American and Crusader interests are everywhere".

"Attack them and eliminate as many enemies as you can," Mr Shihri urged.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has said it was behind a failed bomb attack on a US passenger jet as it flew into Detroit on Christmas Day.

A Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has been charged with attempting to blow up the Northwest Airlines Airbus A330.

He has allegedly said AQAP operatives trained him in Yemen, equipped him with a powerful explosive device and told him what to do.

'Glorious invasion'

In an audio message posted on a jihadist website, Mr Shihri praised the "glorious invasion" by Mr Abdulmutallab and said it had been carried out in co-ordination with al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.

"We repeat what our Sheikh Osama said, that America will not dream of security until we live in security in Palestine," he said, referring to a purported audio statement issued by the Saudi militant leader last month.

Mr Shihri, a Saudi national who was released from the US military detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in November 2007, urged Muslims in the Arabian Peninsula to "prepare and carry your weapons and to defend your religion and yourselves, and to join your mujahideen brothers".

"The Christians, the Jews and the treacherous apostate rulers have pounced on you," he said. "You have no other way out from this plight other than to wage jihad."

He said US forces had killed Yemeni women and children using "spy planes" - an apparent reference to unmanned drones.

Mr Shihri himself was said to have been killed in an air strike by the Yemeni air force in December, a claim AQAP has denied.

Mr Shihri became AQAP deputy leader in January 2009 after it was formed by a merger between two regional al-Qaeda offshoots in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

He said the group aimed to gain control of the strategically important strait of Bab al-Mandab, which connects the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea.

Then militants could "close the door and tighten the noose on the Jews, because through [the strait], America brings support to them by the Red Sea", he said.

Mr Shihri's call to arms was addressed to a number of Yemeni tribes including the "Houtha", an apparent reference to members of the minority Shia Zaidi sect who are fighting Yemeni and Saudi troops in the north of the country.

Earlier, a brother of the Houthi rebels' leader denounced the decision by a Yemeni court to sentence him to 15 years in prison in absentia for supporting the insurgency.

Yahya al-Houthi, who lives in Germany and has acted as a spokesman for the rebels, said the verdict was illegitimate and political.