US President Barack Obama says US troops have withdrawn from Iraq’s towns and cities on schedule, but he warned of “difficult days” ahead. Mr Obama described Tuesday’s handover to Iraqis as a milestone, but said the country’s leaders would face “hard choices” on politics and security. As Iraqis celebrated the US withdrawal, a car bomb in the northern city of Kirkuk killed at least 27 people. In the past two weeks about 250 people have been killed in a wave of attacks. Iraqi and US troops have been on alert for attacks during the pullback. As Iraq marked the handover with a public holiday called National Sovereignty Day, President Obama said: “Iraq’s future is in the hands of its own people.” “The Iraqi people are rightly treating this as a cause for celebration. Make no mistake, there will be difficult days ahead Barack Obama US President Iraqi voices: US troop pullback In pictures: Iraq celebrates Oil firms spurn Iraq contracts “The future belongs to those who build, not to those who destroy.” Mr Obama predicted there would be more violence, like the “senseless bombing” in Kirkuk. That came 10 days after a truck bomb killed more than 70 in the city’s deadliest attack in over a year. “Make no mistake, there will be difficult days ahead,” he said. He added: “There are those who will test Iraq’s security forces and the resolve of the Iraqi people through more sectarian bombings and the murder of innocent civilians. “I am confident that those forces will fail. Today’s transition is further proof that those who have tried to pull Iraq into the abyss of disunion and civil war are on the wrong side of history.” Violent month Kirkuk, about 250km (155 miles) from Baghdad, was also the scene of two suicide bombings last month, in which 14 people were killed. The city is the centre of northern Iraq’s oil industry, and home to a volatile mix of Kurds, Arabs, Christians and members of the Turkmen community. Most of the other bombs that have killed around 250 people in the past fortnight have been aimed at Shia areas. Despite their pullback from cities and towns, US troops will still be embedded with Iraqi forces. On Monday, four US soldiers were killed in combat in Baghdad. The pullback comes two years after the US “surge” of extra troops between February and June 2007, which saw US troop levels in Iraq reach about 170,000. US-led combat operations are due to end by September 2010, with all troops gone from Iraq by the end of 2011. Some 131,000 US troops remain in Iraq, including 12 combat brigades, and the total is not expected to drop below 128,000 until after the Iraqi national election in January.
US President Barack Obama says US troops have withdrawn from Iraq’s towns and cities on schedule, but he warned of “difficult days” ahead. Mr Obama described Tuesday’s handover to Iraqis as a milestone, but said the country’s leaders would face “hard choices” on politics and security. As Iraqis celebrated the US withdrawal, a car bomb in the northern city of Kirkuk killed at least 27 people. In the past two weeks about 250 people have been killed in a wave of attacks. Iraqi and US troops have been on alert for attacks during the pullback. As Iraq marked the handover with a public holiday called National Sovereignty Day, President Obama said: “Iraq’s future is in the hands of its own people.” “The Iraqi people are rightly treating this as a cause for celebration. Make no mistake, there will be difficult days ahead Barack Obama US President Iraqi voices: US troop pullback In pictures: Iraq celebrates Oil firms spurn Iraq contracts “The future belongs to those who build, not to those who destroy.” Mr Obama predicted there would be more violence, like the “senseless bombing” in Kirkuk. That came 10 days after a truck bomb killed more than 70 in the city’s deadliest attack in over a year. “Make no mistake, there will be difficult days ahead,” he said. He added: “There are those who will test Iraq’s security forces and the resolve of the Iraqi people through more sectarian bombings and the murder of innocent civilians. “I am confident that those forces will fail. Today’s transition is further proof that those who have tried to pull Iraq into the abyss of disunion and civil war are on the wrong side of history.” Violent month Kirkuk, about 250km (155 miles) from Baghdad, was also the scene of two suicide bombings last month, in which 14 people were killed. The city is the centre of northern Iraq’s oil industry, and home to a volatile mix of Kurds, Arabs, Christians and members of the Turkmen community. Most of the other bombs that have killed around 250 people in the past fortnight have been aimed at Shia areas. Despite their pullback from cities and towns, US troops will still be embedded with Iraqi forces. On Monday, four US soldiers were killed in combat in Baghdad. The pullback comes two years after the US “surge” of extra troops between February and June 2007, which saw US troop levels in Iraq reach about 170,000. US-led combat operations are due to end by September 2010, with all troops gone from Iraq by the end of 2011. Some 131,000 US troops remain in Iraq, including 12 combat brigades, and the total is not expected to drop below 128,000 until after the Iraqi national election in January.
Vegetarians are generally less likely than meat eaters to develop cancer but this does not apply to all forms of the disease, a major study has found. The study involving 60,000 people found those who followed a vegetarian diet developed notably fewer cancers of the blood, bladder and stomach. But the apparently protective effect of vegetarian did not seem to stretch to bowel cancer, a major killer. The study is published in the British Journal of Cancer. Researchers from universities in the UK and New Zealand followed 61,566 British men and women. They included meat-eaters, those who ate fish but not meat, and those who ate neither meat nor fish. VEGETARIANS GOT NOTABLY FEWER OF THESE CANCERS: Stomach Bladder Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma Multiple myeloma Overall, their results suggested that while in the general population about 33 people in 100 will develop cancer during their lifetime, for those who do not eat meat that risk is reduced to about 29 in 100. Special protection? The researchers said they found marked differences between meat-eaters and vegetarians in the propensity to cancers of the lymph and the blood, with vegetarians just over half as likely to develop these forms of the disease. In the case of multiple myeloma, a relatively rare cancer of the bone marrow, vegetarians were 75% less likely to develop the disease than meat-eaters. At the moment these findings are not strong enough to ask for particularly large changes in the diets of people following an average balanced diet Professor Tim Key Report author The reduction was less notable for fish-eaters with these cancers. The reasons, researchers said, were unclear, but potential mechanisms could include viruses and mutation-causing compounds in meat – or alternatively that vegetables confer special protection. There were also striking differences in rates of stomach cancer. Although the numbers of cases were small, fish-eaters and vegetarians were about a third as likely to develop the disease as meat-eaters. Previous research has already implicated processed meats in stomach cancer, so these findings were not entirely surprising. It is thought N-nitroso compounds found in these meats may damage DNA, while the high temperatures they are cooked at may also produce carcinogens. But the same reduction for vegetarians was not found with cancers of the bowel, one of the most common forms of the disease. Meanwhile the relative risk for fish-eaters and vegetarians of cervical cancer was twice that of meat-eaters. The number of cases was small, and could be down to chance but the researchers said it was possible that dietary factors influenced the virus behind cervical cancer. Professor Tim Key, the lead author, said it was impossible to draw strong conclusions from this one single study. “At the moment these findings are not strong enough to ask for particularly large changes in the diets of people following an average balanced diet.” ‘Complex process’ A spokesperson for Cancer Research UK, which funded the research, said: “These interesting results add to the evidence that what we eat affects our chances of developing cancer. We know that eating a lot of red and processed meat increases the risk of stomach cancer. “But the links between diet and cancer risk are complex and more research is needed to see how big a part diet plays and which specific dietary factors are most important. Myeloma UK said this was the first data of its kind for the bone marrow cancer “and for that reason we are treating it with caution. “Dietary advice to myeloma patients remains aligned with national guidance – that they should eat a healthy, balanced diet high in fibre, fruit and vegetables and low in saturated fat, salt and red and processed meat.” Dr Panagiota Mitrou, Science and Research Programme Manager for the World Cancer Research Fund, said: “The suggestion that vegetarians might be at reduced risk of blood cancers is particularly interesting. “However, this finding should be treated with caution since not much is known about the link between diet and these types of cancer. Further studies of vegetarians are needed before we can be confident this is actually the case.”
A US judge has ruled that Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford should remain in jail until his fraud trial. The judge in Houston overturned a decision to allow him to leave prison on a $500,000 (?305,000) bail. Prosecutors argued he was a flight risk, saying Sir Allen’s network of wealthy friends and dual citizenship could enable him to leave the US. The financier is facing trial over allegations he ran a $7bn ($4.2bn) scheme to swindle investors. Mr Stanford’s lawyers said they were disappointed with the decision and would appeal against the ruling. Surrender US District Judge David Hittner revoked the bail order granted last week, which would have seen Sir Allen freed before his trial. Sir Allen remained in jail while the the government appealed against the earlier decision. The judge said the case presented by government prosecutors convinced him Sir Allen could potentially make efforts to leave the US in advance of his trial. “In total, the evidence proffered by the government is sufficient to weigh in favour of detention,” he said. Earlier, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in London froze $100m (?60m) of assets in London in connection with the case. These funds were allegedly acquired in connection with Sir Allen’s suspected fraud scheme, the SFO said. The assets were frozen in April, but kept secret until after his arrest. Sir Allen Stanford surrendered to FBI officers earlier this month and was taken into custody. He appeared in court a week later where he pleaded not guilty to fraud, conspiracy and obstruction. The 59-year old faces spending the rest of his life in jail if found guilty on all charges. Cricket tycoon Sir Allen and three former executives are accused of being involved in a scheme which persuaded investors to buy $7bn worth of certificates of deposit from Stanford International Bank, located in Antigua. Prosecutors said they “promised returns that were too good to be true”. The unveiling of charges against Sir Allen capped a rapid fall from grace for a man who had shot to prominence in the UK and the Caribbean for his lavish sponsorship of cricket. Sir Allen invested heavily in West Indies cricket over several years, sponsoring an inter-island Twenty20 competition and building his own cricket ground in Antigua, the island where his financial group, Stanford Financial Services, was based. A long-standing friend of Antigua, where he was awarded citizenship and a knighthood, Sir Allen bankrolled a high-profile $20m cricket match between England and a Stanford All-Stars team on the island last year. But his deals with English cricket began to unravel soon afterwards and were officially cancelled when the US levelled major fraud charges against him.
Minnesota’s Supreme Court has declared Democrat Al Franken the winner of the state’s disputed 2008 US Senate race. On election night last November, electronic voting machines gave Mr Franken’s Republican opponent Norm Coleman a 215-vote lead. After a state-wide manual recount Mr Franken was declared the winner, but Mr Coleman fought the result in court. The Supreme Court ruling means that Mr Franken should soon become the Democrats’ 60th vote in the US Senate. Sixty votes are needed to overturn attempts by the Senate minority to block legislation using a technique known as a filibuster. Comedian Mr Coleman has not publicly ruled out continuing his fight in the federal courts. In earlier court hearings, his legal team complained that a number of absentee ballots had been unfairly rejected by local officials. The people of Minnesota will now finally get the brilliant and hardworking new senator they elected in November Harry Reid Senate Majority Leader Q&A: Minnesota Senate race But the Minnesota Supreme Court rejected Mr Coleman’s arguments. Mr Franken first came to prominence as a comedian, appearing on Saturday Night Live. He later became a best-selling author and a host on the liberal Air America radio station. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid issued a statement to “congratulate Senator-elect Al Franken, the next senator from the state of Minnesota”. He added: “The people of Minnesota will now finally get the brilliant and hardworking new senator they elected in November and the full representation they deserve.”
At least 15 people have been killed in a car bomb at a market place in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, officials say. It came as US troops completed their withdrawal from towns and cities in Iraq, six years after the invasion. Iraqi and US troops are on alert for insurgent attacks during the pullback, which was declared a national holiday. Ten days ago more than 70 people were killed in a truck bombing in Kirkuk – the deadliest attack in over a year. Police Brig Gen Sarhat Qadir told the Associated Press news agency at least 40 people had been wounded in the latest blast, caused by an explosives-laden vehicle parked near the crowded market. Kirkuk, about 250km (155 miles) from Baghdad, was also the scene of two suicide bombings last month, in which 14 people were killed. The city is the centre of northern Iraq’s oil industry, and home to a volatile mix of Kurds, Arabs, Christians and members of the Turkmen community. Sunni insurgents and groups including al-Qaeda remain active in the area despite security improvements in other parts of the country, correspondents say. Are you in Kirkuk? Have you been caught up in events? Send us your comments using the form below: A selection of your comments may be published, displaying your name and location unless you state otherwise in the box below. Name Your E-mail address Town & Country Phone number (optional): Comments The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide. Terms & Conditions
China is to delay a controversial plan requiring all new computers sold in the country to be equipped with an internet filtering software, state media says. The filter, called Green Dam Youth Escort, was to have been required from Wednesday, but the industry ministry said computer makers needed more time. Its planned rollout sparked widespread disapproval inside China, legal challenges and criticism from overseas. Officials say it is designed to shield children from pornography and violence. However, free speech activists have criticised the software plan as an attempt to tighten the Chinese government’s already strict controls on internet usage. A report by China’s official Xinhua news agency gave no other details on the decision by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Virus risks The BBC’s Quentin Sommerville, in Beijing, says the reversal is a very rare and embarrassing climbdown for the Chinese government. Chinese internet users already endure one of the most heavily-censored and politically-controlled internets in the world, our correspondent says, and were furious about this additional control. Foreign governments have complained that the new software could break trade rules, and concerns have been raised about its effectiveness and safety. Tests carried out on Green Dam outside China indicated that it left personal computers open to many different security risks, including virus attacks. Our correspondent says that despite the government’s strict controls over internet usage in China, the country does have a vibrant internet culture. Some people do manage to get around the controls, he says, and criticism of the Communist Party government is available online, even if political opposition is formally banned.
A five-year-old child has been found alive, hours after a Yemeni airliner crashed in the Indian Ocean with more than 150 people on board. Some bodies have also been recovered from the wreckage of the plane. The Yemenia Airbus 310 flight IY626 was flying from the Yemeni capital Sanaa, but many passengers on the plane began their journey in France. The EU voiced concern about Yemenia’s safety and proposed a world blacklist of those carriers deemed unsafe. The EU already has its own list, and its Transport Commissioner, Antonio Tajani, said such a list would be a “safety guarantee for all”. Another EU official told Reuters news agency there were concerns about the airline’s “incomplete reporting procedure and incomplete follow-up” following 2007 tests on the aircraft which crashed, but that its record was improving. RECENT AIR CRASHES 1 June: An Air France Airbus plane travelling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris disappears in the Atlantic with 228 people on board 20 May: An Indonesian army C-130 Hercules transport plane crashes into a village on eastern Java, killing at least 97 people 12 February: A plane crashes into a house in Buffalo, New York, killing all 49 people on board and one person on the ground Timeline of air disasters In pictures: Yemeni plane crash Timeline of Flight IY626 EU wants world aviation blacklist Yemeni Transport Minister Khaled Ibrahim al-Wazeer told Reuters that the plane had undergone a thorough inspection and conformed to international standards. See a map of the plane’s route Reports say the plane was due in the Comoros capital Moroni at about 0230 (2230GMT on Monday). Most of the passengers had travelled to Sanaa from Paris or Marseille on a different aircraft. The flight on to Moroni, on the island of Njazidja (Grande Comore), was also thought to have made a stop in Djibouti. There were more than 150 people on board, including three babies and 11 crew. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Anxious relatives of passengers wait at Paris airport An airport source told AFP news agency that 66 of the passengers were French, although many are thought to have dual French-Comoran citizenship. This is the second air tragedy this month involving large numbers of French citizens. On 1 June an Air France Airbus 330 travelling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris plunged into the Atlantic, killing all 228 people on board. Relatives’ anger Gen Bruno de Bourdoncle de Saint-Salvy, French naval commander in the Indian Ocean, said the plane came down about 15km (eight nautical miles) north of the Comoran coast. They put us aboard wrecks, they put us aboard coffins, that’s where they put us – it’s slaughter Relative at Paris airport Ties that bind: Comoros and France A search is under way, with the French military assisting with the operation. As well as the rescued child, five bodies and some wreckage of the plane have been recovered. “The weather conditions were rough; strong wind and high seas,” Yemenia official Mohammad al-Sumairi told Reuters news agency. The three Comoros islands are about 300km (190 miles) northwest of Madagascar in the Mozambique channel. A resident near the airport told the BBC about 100 people were trying to get into the airport to find out more information, but without much success. Relatives also gathered at Paris Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport and Marseille Marignane airport to wait for news, some expressing anger at the state of the airline’s planes. “They put us aboard wrecks, they put us aboard coffins. That’s where they put us. It’s slaughter. It’s slaughter,” one relative in Paris told French TV. The airline Yemenia is 51% owned by the Yemeni government and 49% by the Saudi government. In 1996, a hijacked Ethiopian airliner came down in the same area – most of the 175 passengers and crew were killed. Click here to return Have you been affected by the crash? Do you have any information about it you would like to share? Contact the BBC using the form below. Send your pictures to yourpics@bbc.co.uk , text them to +44 7725 100 100 or you can upload here . Read the terms and conditions At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. Name Your E-mail address Town & Country Phone number (optional): Comments The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide. Terms & Conditions
A five-year-old child has been found alive, hours after a Yemeni airliner crashed in the Indian Ocean with more than 150 people on board. Some bodies have also been recovered from the wreckage of the plane. The Yemenia Airbus 310 flight IY626 was flying from the Yemeni capital Sanaa, but many passengers on the plane began their journey in France. The EU voiced concern about Yemenia’s safety and proposed a world blacklist of those carriers deemed unsafe. The EU already has its own list, and its Transport Commissioner, Antonio Tajani, said such a list would be a “safety guarantee for all”. Another EU official told Reuters news agency there were concerns about the airline’s “incomplete reporting procedure and incomplete follow-up” following 2007 tests on the aircraft which crashed, but that its record was improving. RECENT AIR CRASHES 1 June: An Air France Airbus plane travelling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris disappears in the Atlantic with 228 people on board 20 May: An Indonesian army C-130 Hercules transport plane crashes into a village on eastern Java, killing at least 97 people 12 February: A plane crashes into a house in Buffalo, New York, killing all 49 people on board and one person on the ground Timeline of air disasters In pictures: Yemeni plane crash Timeline of Flight IY626 EU wants world aviation blacklist Yemeni Transport Minister Khaled Ibrahim al-Wazeer told Reuters that the plane had undergone a thorough inspection and conformed to international standards. See a map of the plane’s route Reports say the plane was due in the Comoros capital Moroni at about 0230 (2230GMT on Monday). Most of the passengers had travelled to Sanaa from Paris or Marseille on a different aircraft. The flight on to Moroni, on the island of Njazidja (Grande Comore), was also thought to have made a stop in Djibouti. There were more than 150 people on board, including three babies and 11 crew. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Anxious relatives of passengers wait at Paris airport An airport source told AFP news agency that 66 of the passengers were French, although many are thought to have dual French-Comoran citizenship. This is the second air tragedy this month involving large numbers of French citizens. On 1 June an Air France Airbus 330 travelling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris plunged into the Atlantic, killing all 228 people on board. Relatives’ anger Gen Bruno de Bourdoncle de Saint-Salvy, French naval commander in the Indian Ocean, said the plane came down about 15km (eight nautical miles) north of the Comoran coast. They put us aboard wrecks, they put us aboard coffins, that’s where they put us – it’s slaughter Relative at Paris airport Ties that bind: Comoros and France A search is under way, with the French military assisting with the operation. As well as the rescued child, five bodies and some wreckage of the plane have been recovered. “The weather conditions were rough; strong wind and high seas,” Yemenia official Mohammad al-Sumairi told Reuters news agency. The three Comoros islands are about 300km (190 miles) northwest of Madagascar in the Mozambique channel. A resident near the airport told the BBC about 100 people were trying to get into the airport to find out more information, but without much success. Relatives also gathered at Paris Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport and Marseille Marignane airport to wait for news, some expressing anger at the state of the airline’s planes. “They put us aboard wrecks, they put us aboard coffins. That’s where they put us. It’s slaughter. It’s slaughter,” one relative in Paris told French TV. The airline Yemenia is 51% owned by the Yemeni government and 49% by the Saudi government. In 1996, a hijacked Ethiopian airliner came down in the same area – most of the 175 passengers and crew were killed. Click here to return Have you been affected by the crash? Do you have any information about it you would like to share? Contact the BBC using the form below. Send your pictures to yourpics@bbc.co.uk , text them to +44 7725 100 100 or you can upload here . Read the terms and conditions At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. Name Your E-mail address Town & Country Phone number (optional): Comments The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide. Terms & Conditions
The most complete terrain map of the Earth’s surface has been published. The data, comprising 1.3 million images, come from a collaboration between the US space agency Nasa and the Japanese trade ministry. The images were taken by Japan’s Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (Aster) aboard the Terra satellite. The resulting Global Digital Elevation Map covers 99% of the Earth’s surface, and will be free to download and use. The Terra satellite, dedicated to Earth monitoring missions, has shed light on issues ranging from algal blooms to volcano eruptions. For the Aster measurements, local elevation was mapped with each point just 30m apart. “This is the most complete, consistent global digital elevation data yet made available to the world,” said Woody Turner, Nasa programme scientist on the Aster mission. “This unique global set of data will serve users and researchers from a wide array of disciplines that need elevation and terrain information.” Previously, the most complete such topographic map was Nasa’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, covering 80% of the Earth’s surface. However, the mission’s results were less accurate in steep terrain and in some deserts. Nasa is now working to combine those data with the new Aster observations to further improve on the global map.
