A rebel group trained by the US to fight in Syria, has told the BBC they are being let down by the Americans.
Wednesday, 5 August 2015
Syria conflict: US fighter plan criticised by key rebel
A US plan to build a moderate fighting force to take on the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria has been criticised by a senior rebel trained in the programme.
Capt Ammar al Wawi said the US and its allies failed to protect his fighters - known as Division 30 - when they came under attack in Syria last week.
At least five fighters were killed and more than 10 abducted in clashes with the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front.
Only 54 fighters had been trained so far under the programme.
US President Barack Obama announced the plan last summer, pledging to train up to 5,000 fighters a year to form a moderate Sunni opposition to help take on IS militants.
But Pentagon officials say they have struggled to find trainees who meet the vetting criteria.
"The project is very slow," Capt Wawi told the BBC's Ian Pannell. "They are ready to train and form a national army of 15,000 fighters and we hear they are ready to back it with money, weapons and provide air cover.
"But in reality, in six months only 60 fighters were trained. If it takes this long to train 60, it will take decades to get everyone ready."
Division 30 and members of the Free Syrian Army came under attack from al-Nusra in northern Syria last Friday.
Al-Nusra, which is not affiliated to IS but has itself come under attack from the US in the past, said in a statement that it had captured some fighters and warned others against taking part in what it called "the American project".
The US said it provided "defensive support fire" at the time of Friday's attack, although Capt Wawi said it came after the fighting had finished.
"In reality, we have got no international guarantees to protect our fighters or to protect the 30th Division," Capt Wawi said.
The Syrian conflict began with an uprising against the government in Damascus, but that has since splintered, pitting rebel groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad's forces against one another.
Hiroshima marks 70 years since atomic bomb
Residents in the Japanese city of Hiroshima are commemorating the 70th anniversary of the first atomic bomb being dropped by a US aircraft.
A ceremony, attended by PM Shinzo Abe, was held at Hiroshima's memorial park before thousands of lanterns are released on the city's Motoyasu river.
The bombing - and a second one on Nagasaki three days later - is credited with bringing to an end World War Two.
But it claimed the lives of at least 140,000 people in the city.
A US B-29 bomber called the Enola Gay dropped the uranium bomb, exploding some 600m (1,800ft) above the city, at around 08:10 on 6 August 1945.
On that day alone, at least 70,000 people are believed to have been killed. Many more died of horrific injuries caused by radiation poisoning in the days, weeks and months that followed.
People across Japan have observed a minute's silence to mark the anniversary. In Hiroshima a bell tolled at 08:15 local time - when the US aircraft dropped the bomb that flattened the city centre.
Addressing 40,000 people who attended the commemoration ceremony at Hiroshima's peace park near the epicentre of the 1945 attack, Mr Abe called for worldwide nuclear disarmament.
He said that that atomic bomb not only killed thousands of people in Hiroshima but also caused unspeakable suffering to survivors.
"Today Hiroshima has been revived," the prime minister said, "and has become a city of culture and prosperity.
"Seventy years on I want to reemphasise the necessity of world peace."
Mr Abe and Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matusi were joined by US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy for the official ceremony of remembrance on Thursday, which included silent prayers, the release of doves and a declaration of peace.
Mr Matsui described nuclear weapons as an "absolute evil" while urging the world to put an end to them forever.
"To coexist we must abolish the... ultimate inhumanity that is nuclear weapons. Now is the time to start taking action," he said in his annual speech.
Later in the day, thousands of paper lanterns will be released on the city's Motoyasu River - symbolising the journey to the afterlife of those who died.
The anniversary comes as divisions in Japan rise over Mr Abe's bid to pass unpopular legislation to expand the country's military role worldwide.
Shots fired at Pakistan cricketer Wasim Akram's car
Former Pakistan cricket captain Wasim Akram's car has been fired at in Karachi, the country's commercial capital, police say.
The shooting took place near the National Stadium in Karachi's Karsaz area on Wednesday, reports said. The ex-bowler was not hurt in the attack.
Police said the incident appeared to be a case of road rage.
Gun violence is not uncommon in Karachi, with much of it linked to militant groups.
Wasim told the Express News channel: "A car hit mine, I stopped him and then his guy stepped out and fired at my car."
Police say a hunt is on to arrest the owners of the other car, the BBC's Pakistan correspondent Shahzeb Jillani reports.
The cricket legend, who retired in 2003, is massively popular in Pakistan.
The great left-arm paceman took 502 one-day wickets and claimed 414 Test victims in a 19-year international career.
He is currently taking part in a training camp in Karachi, coaching young bowlers from across the country.
Many in Pakistan, including politician and former cricketer Imran Khan, were quick to condemn the attack and express relief that Wasim was unhurt.
MH370: Reunion debris is from missing plane, says Najib
Part of the aircraft wing found on Reunion Island is from the missing MH370 plane, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has confirmed.
Mr Najib said experts examining the debris in France had "conclusively confirmed" it was from the aircraft.
But the investigators have stopped short of confirming the link, saying only that it is highly likely.
The Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 239 people veered off course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014.
The debris was found on the remote French Indian Ocean island a week ago and was taken to Toulouse for testing.
The plane is long believed to have crashed into the southern Indian - though no evidence had been found despite a massive search operation.
"It is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts has conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris [...] is indeed MH370," Mr Najib told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.
"We now have physical evidence that [...] flight MH370 tragically ended in the southern Indian Ocean," he added.
Mr Najib said he hoped the discovery "will at least bring certainty to the families" of the victims, saying the burden they had faced was "unspeakable".
'Very strong indications'
French prosecutor Serge Mackowiak later confirmed the wing fragment, known as a flaperon, was from a Boeing 777 - the same make and model as the missing Malaysian airliner.
He said initial tests showed there were "very strong indications" that it was from flight MH370. But he said confirmation would only come after further tests on the fragment, which would begin on Thursday.
"[Investigators] will try to do it as soon as possible in order to provide total and reliable information to the family of victims, who are on our minds at the moment," Mr Mackowiak added.
Analysis: Hugh Schofield, BBC News, Paris
The Paris prosecutor failed to be as categorical as the Malaysian prime minister in asserting that the wing piece does come from MH370. All he said was that there are very strong reasons to presume that it is from the missing plane.
That does not mean that the prosecutor has any reason to doubt the prime minister's conclusion - simply that he is exercising supreme legal caution.
In the coming days there will be more tests on the flaperon and it's expected that these will prove the piece's origin. After that, it will probably be many months before deeper analysis allows any tentative deductions about how the plane may have come down.
Australia has been leading the search for the plane in the area it is believed to have gone down, some 4,000km (2,500 miles) east of Reunion.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Melbourne Radio 3AW the discovery "does seem to confirm that it went down in the Indian Ocean, it does seem very consistent with the search pattern that we've been using for the last few months".
Relatives of the victims were told about the initial results shortly before Mr Najib's news conference on Wednesday.
Jacquita Gonzales, the wife of crew member Patrick Gomes, said: "Now that they have confirmed it as MH370, I know my husband is no longer of this world but they just can't leave it with this one flaperon."
"We urge them to continue searching until they find the plane and bring it back," she told reporters. "It's not over yet."
She said she still hoped to get her husband's body back so that the family can give him a proper burial and say goodbye.
Malaysia Airlines described confirmation of the flaperon as "a major breakthrough".
In a statement, it said it hoped further evidence would be found in the coming days that would "help resolve this mystery".
Simulation of where debris in search area could end up
Teen boy charged as adult in death of California girl, 8, found in recycling bin
CNN)A 15-year-old boy has been charged as an adult with murdering and sexual assaulting an 8-year-old girl, whose body was found Monday in a recycling bin after she went missing in Santa Cruz, California, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Adrian Jerry Gonzalez also faces a kidnapping charge in the killing of Madyson "Maddy" Middleton, said Santa Cruz District Attorney Jeffrey Rosell.
The boy could face life in prison if convicted, Rosell said.
Adrain Gonzalez is seen during his arraignment on Thursday, July 30. He accused of murdering Madyson Middleton
"At this point, there is no plea deal on anything," the prosecutor told reporters.
The girl, an acquaintance of the defendant, voluntarily entered the apartment of the boy on Sunday, the day she was last seen, police said.
Asked whether authorities knew of a motive in the case, the prosecutor told reporters: "I can tell you this. People do things for lots of reasons. Sometimes we understand them. Sometimes we don't."
Gonzalez also faces charges of two special circumstances involving sexual offense, kidnapping and lying in wait, Rosell said.
"I've been here 24 years," the prosecutor said. "Off the top of my head, I can't remember any 15-year-old charged with these specific offenses, including sexual assault offenses."
Gonzalez is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday, authorities said.
The teen's attorney couldn't be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.
The girl trusted the teenage boy, Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel said earlier this week.
"They were alone in the apartment," the chief said. "She willingly accompanied him up to the apartment."
"She was 8 years old. She had a reasonable amount of trust in him," Vogel said. "They were acquaintances. I don't know to what degree they were friends."
The boy was arrested immediately after police found the girl's body Monday because the boy "was in the general proximity" of the recycling bin and may have been watching police search it, Vogel said.
Authorities declined to say how she was killed.
Authorities have interviewed the boy, but Vogel declined to reveal what the boy said. The chief also declined to state a motive.
"The body was located within the recycle bin in a way that if you just merely opened the top of the bin, you would have not seen the body," the chief said. "She was not readily visible."
"She was not readily visible."
Investigators believe that the girl was killed upstairs in the apartment building and then her body was later dumped in the bin, the police chief said.
"It's my belief that she was killed even before we got the phone call Sunday" at about 6 p.m. when she was reported missing, Vogel said.
Witnesses last saw the 4-foot-tall, 48-pound girl at 5 p.m. Sunday while she was riding a white Razor scooter with her long hair pulled to the side in a braid, police said.
Tuesday, 4 August 2015
Hainan gibbon decline charted in Chinese records
Historical Chinese documents have helped scientists to track the decline of the world's rarest primates.
Today, China has between 26 and 28 Hainan gibbons left, but government records that date back to the 17th Century show that gibbons were once widespread across half of the country.
The apes began to disappear from the documents about 150 years ago, corresponding with population growth.
The study is published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
They live in just four social groups, one of which was only discovered a few weeks ago.Hainan gibbons are now limited to a few isolated patches of forest in the south west of China.
Understanding this population crash has been difficult, but the old government documents have helped to reveal when and how the numbers fell.
Dr Sam Turvey, from the Zoological Society, said: "China is one of the few places in the world that has a very very rich, long historical record.
"Because it has had such a complex bureaucracy for so long, there has been a lot of need for reporting - not just numbers of households for tax purposes and things like that, but also in terms of the kinds of natural resources that were available in the immediate environment."
These included records of animals, including gibbons, he said.
"We looked at the pattern of disappearance of gibbons through time and how that varied from place to place and the different environmental conditions and human pressures that were also present in these places."
The archives show that gibbons were a common sight in about 20 provinces in China well into the 17th and 18th Century.
However, Dr Turvey said it was "a stark contrast to their very imperilled position today".
"We see a really steep increase in population decline and real population collapse across China about 100-150 years ago," he added.
"And this correlates with demographic expansion in China towards the end of the Imperial era and through the 20th Century, and the massive increase in deforestation and human population growth through the time of the Chinese Republic and the establishment of the communist party."
The researchers said a better understanding of the animals' decline would help them to establish a conservation plan for the country's last few Hainan gibbons.
Dr Turvey said: "It is an incredible privilege to be able to see gibbons in China in the wild.
"The Hainan gibbon is such as rare species, but knowing that this species is still hanging on there gives you hope that conservation will be able to bring that population back form the brink."
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