Your business:
Print media
AFP’s in-depth reporting ensures complete coverage of general news from around the world: politics, diplomacy, business, social, environment, sport, people, science, culture, offbeat, entertainment, fashion, lifestyle, health...
Global coverage in real time 24 hours a day
Syria's Homs under new deadly blitz
02/10 | 06:16 GMT
DAMASCUS (AFP) - More than 80 people were killed in Syria Thursday, most of them in a relentless blitz on the city of Homs, an attack US President Barack Obama decried as "outrageous bloodshed".
DAMASCUS (AFP) - More than 80 people were killed in Syria Thursday, most of them in a relentless blitz on the city of Homs, an attack US President Barack Obama decried as "outrageous bloodshed".
Shelling erupted at daybreak, killing more than 50 civilians in the besieged central city and burning several bodies beyond recognition, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
At least 83 people were killed across the country on Thursday, said the Britain-based Observatory.
Troops trying to crush opponents of President Bashar al-Assad have killed at least 400 people in a six-day onslaught on Homs, opposition activists say.
"The shells are raining down on us and regime forces are using heavy artillery," said Ali Hazuri, a doctor in the Baba Amr district reached by telephone from Beirut.
Omar Shaker, an activist in Baba Amr also reached by phone, said residents were hiding on ground floors as there were no underground shelters.
"When you venture outside, you can see craters every 10 metres (yards)," he said.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said Assad's regime appeared determined to kill its own people.
"It's quite clear that this is a regime that is hell-bent on killing, murdering and maiming its own citizens," Cameron told reporters in Stockholm. "It really is appalling, the scenes of destruction in Homs."
He called for "transition and change in Syria."
Foreign Secretary William Hague stressed that Britain has no plans to help arm Syria's opposition.
But Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Thursday during a visit to Washington that the international community cannot afford to watch the "massacre" taking place in Syria without acting.
Davutoglu is urging an international conference to resolve violence that erupted when demonstrators began demanding last spring that Assad be removed from office.
"We cannot let Syrian people die every day and the international community will follow blindly," Davutoglu said during a lecture at George Washington University in the US capital.
Germany meanwhile backed a proposed joint Arab League-UN mission to monitor the Syrian government's deadly crackdown on protests, but other major powers were more cautious.
Prospects for the mission that the Arab League chief has proposed to UN leader Ban Ki-moon could depend on an Arab League foreign ministers' meeting this weekend and the backing of the major powers.
As the international community struggles to find a new diplomatic response to Assad's assault on protest cities, Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle gave the strongest welcome to the Arab League-UN proposal.
"In addition to the establishment of a contact group of 'friends of a democratic Syria' we must also undertake a new attempt to resolve the crisis through the United Nations," Westerwelle said in Berlin.
He said a joint Arab League-UN observer mission and the naming of a UN special representative on the Syria conflict "would serve peace and balance. And both would be a clear signal by the international community to the Assad regime."
Ban said Arab League chief Nabil El-Araby had told him Tuesday that he would be sending observers back to Syria and wanted it to be a joint UN-Arab League operation. El-Araby also wanted a joint UN-League special envoy to Syria.
EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said Russia must confront "the reality" of the deadly crackdown in Syria, after Moscow vetoed a UN resolution condemning the violence.
"My message to my Russian colleagues is they too need to recognize the reality of the situation on the ground" in Syria, said Ashton, who was making a two-day visit to Mexico.
Obama, in comments after White House talks with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, condemned "the outrageous bloodshed that we've seen", and urged "a transition from the current government that has been assaulting its people."
Ban hit out at Russia and China for their steadfast refusal to back UN resolutions condemning the violence in Syria, saying this had encouraged Assad's regime to continue its repression.
Moscow, a staunch ally of Damascus, has insisted that any solution to end nearly one year of bloodshed must come from within Syria.
However the United States, France and Britain have dismissed such arguments while piling pressure on Moscow to change tack.
Despite the bloodshed, activists urged Syrians to turn out for a big demonstration against Russia on Friday, a traditional day of protests that follow the main weekly Muslim prayers.
"Russia is killing our children. Its planes, tanks and veto are also killing our children," said a banner on the Facebook page of The Syrian Revolution 2011.
Rights groups estimate that more than 6,000 people have died in the crackdown since mid-March.
Volume
5000 stories per day in six languages
Languages
Arabic, English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish
Global coverage in real time 24 hours a day
Rich coverage
Reportage, investigation and interviews from AFP’s network of journalists and freelancers. News stories are sorted, verified and published according to their importance. Regional and global analysis.
News Agenda
Regional news agendas on the following day’s big news stories. An international monthly news agenda is produced each week. Updated news agendas are produced several times each day.
Here are some examples
Nine Islamists jailed for plotting terror attacks
02/09 | 17:52 GMT
LONDON (AFP) - A British court on Thursday jailed nine Islamists inspired by slain Al-Qaeda lynchpin Anwar al-Awlaqi for planning terror attacks on targets including the London Stock Exchange.
LONDON (AFP) - A British court on Thursday jailed nine Islamists inspired by slain Al-Qaeda lynchpin Anwar al-Awlaqi for planning terror attacks on targets including the London Stock Exchange.
The nine men, who are all British nationals of Bangladeshi and Pakistani origin, had pleaded guilty to a variety of terror-related offences at a hearing a week ago at Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London.
Judge Alan Wilkie sentenced three of the men to "imprisonment for public protection" -- an indeterminate jail term for suspects regarded as dangerous -- while the other sentences ranged from 16 years to five years.
Wilkie said they were "fundamentalist Islamists who have turned to violent terrorism in direct response to material, both propagandist and instructive, issued on the Internet by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula."
Awlaqi, the US-born leader of AQAP, was killed on September 30 in an air strike in Yemen.
Wilkie added that it was a "difficult and complex sentencing" that "gives rise to a number of issues of principle and has a high profile".
Prosecutors said the men belonged to a group of fundamentalists who planned a spate of mail bomb attacks during the run-up to Christmas 2010 and discussed launching a "Mumbai-style" atrocity.
Four of the men -- Mohammed Chowdhury, 21, and Shah Rahman, 28, from London and brothers Gurukanth Desai, 30, and Abdul Miah 25, from Cardiff -- admitted preparing for acts of terrorism by planning to plant an improvised explosive device (IED) in the toilets of the London Stock Exchange.
Miah was jailed for 16 years and 10 months, Chowdhury for 13 years eight months, Rahman and Desai for 12 years each.
Three others, Mohammed Shahjahan, 27, Usman Khan, 20, and Nazam Hussain, 26, all from Stoke in central England, received indeterminate sentences with a minimum of eight years for making longer-term plans which included taking part in "terrorist training" in Pakistan.
Another man, Omar Latif, 28, from Cardiff, admitted preparing for acts of terrorism but was not involved in the specific plots and was jailed for 10 years four months.
Mohibur Rahman, 27, from Stoke, admitted possessing a copy of Inspire, an Internet magazine produced by AQAP, and was jailed for five years.
The Crown Prosecution Service said after the hearing that the men were "not members of Al-Qaeda but they were clearly influenced" by Awlaqi.
"What they had in common was that they all held extreme fundamentalist religious beliefs and were committed to converting those beliefs into terrorist action," CPS counter-terrorism lawyer Piers Arnold said.
During the case, prosecutors said police found a handwritten target list at the home of one of the men that included the Stock Exchange, the US embassy in London, Mayor of London Boris Johnson and two rabbis.
They also talked about travelling to a militant training camp in Pakistani Kashmir.
The group, who met due to their membership of various extremist Islamic groups, had originally challenged the charges against them and were due to stand trial, but at the 11th hour they changed their pleas to guilty.
UK News
Nine Islamists jailed for plotting terror ...Cancer drug reverses Alzheimer's in mice: study
02/09 | 19:25 GMT
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A widely available cancer drug has shown remarkable success in reversing Alzheimer's disease in mice, raising hope of a breakthrough against incurable dementia in humans, US researchers said Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A widely available cancer drug has shown remarkable success in reversing Alzheimer's disease in mice, raising hope of a breakthrough against incurable dementia in humans, US researchers said Thursday.
Mice treated with the drug, known as bexarotene, became rapidly smarter and the plaque in their brains that was causing Alzheimer's started to disappear within hours, said the research in the US journal Science.
"We were shocked and amazed," lead author Gary Landreth, a professor in the Department of Neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Ohio, told AFP.
"Things like this had never, ever been seen before," he said.
The drug works by boosting levels of a protein, Apolipoprotein E (ApoE), that helps clear amyloid plaque buildup in the brain, a key hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.
"Think of this as a garbage disposal," Landreth said.
"When we are young and healthy, all of us can basically get rid of this (amyloid) and degrade it and grind it into small bits and it gets cleared.
"Many of us will be unable to do this as efficiently as we age. And this is associated with mental decline or cognitive impairment."
Six hours after mice got the drug, which works through the liver to boost retinoid X receptors (RXR), stimulating production of ApoE in the brain, soluble amyloid levels fell 25 percent, ultimately reaching a 75 percent drop.
The effect lasted up to three days, said the study.
Soon after taking the drug, mice began performing better in tests, showing that they were able to remember things again, were more social and were able to smell again, a sense that is commonly lost in Alzheimer's.
Also, unlike normal mice, Alzheimer's mice will not usually build nests if given tissue paper in their cage, as if they have forgotten to associate paper with the opportunity to nest.
But 72 hours after treatment, the Alzheimer's mice began to build nests again.
"They are not great nests but they are nests nonetheless," added Landreth, suggesting that if the drug can be shown to work in humans it might be best targeted at people in the early stages of the disease.
Clinical trials for humans are being designed and should produce early results in the coming year, researchers said.
Bexarotene was initially made by US-based Ligand Pharmaceuticals under the brand name Targretin.
It gained orphan drug status in the United States -- approval by the US Food and Drug Administration -- in 1999 as a treatment for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, a rare cancer of the immune system that manifests in the skin and liver.
The Japanese pharmaceutical giant Eisai bought the worldwide rights for it in 2006. Bexarotene is now available in 26 countries in Europe, North America and South America.
Scott Turner, director of the Georgetown University Medical Center's Memory Disorders Program, who was not involved in the research, welcomed the findings.
"This looks very exciting," he said. "This is a brand new way to move forward in human trials of Alzheimer's disease and it works great with mice."
Turner, a neurologist and leading expert in Alzheimer's disease, however cautioned that more study was needed to see if the same results can be seen in humans.
"One obstacle is that the mice may not be a good model of Alzheimer's disease. We have so many things that work in mice and we try them in humans and they just completely fail," he said.
Bexarotene has a good safety profile, though women who are pregnant or may become pregnant are warned to stay away from it because it risks causing fetal defects.
Typical side effects include diarrhea, dizziness, nausea, dry skin and trouble sleeping.
Since the drug is typically given to cancer patients, Landreth said there have been no anecdotal reports of improved memory in humans, since most do not live long enough to reach the stage of Alzheimer's.
"We have clinical consultants or dermatologists who use this all the time but they hadn't thought to look at this so there is very little anecdotal data around."
Trials should begin in the next month or so, Landreth said.
"Perhaps the most important thing is to ask the question: Does this drug work in human beings as it does in mice? Does it get into the brain? And does it have an effect on amyloid levels and increase ApoE levels?
"We need to do that in normal human beings and see if humans are like mice."
Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia afflict 35.6 million people worldwide, with cases forecast to nearly double by 2030, according to Alzheimer's Disease International which puts the annual global costs of the disease at $604 billion.
Health/Medicine
Cancer drug reverses Alzheimer's in mice: ...England could appoint caretaker for Euro 2012
02/10 | 07:03 GMT
LONDON (AFP) - England could hire a caretaker manager to lead them into the European Championships before seeking a long-term appointment after the tournament, Football Association chiefs have revealed.
LONDON (AFP) - England could hire a caretaker manager to lead them into the European Championships before seeking a long-term appointment after the tournament, Football Association chiefs have revealed.
The shock resignation of Fabio Capello on Wednesday has left the FA scrambling to fill the vacant manager's job with just four months to go until England kick off their Euro 2012 campaign against France.
While Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp is the overwhelming favourite to succeed Capello, FA officials stress they are keeping all options open as they prepare to compile a shortlist of candidates.
Redknapp, who was cleared of tax evasion charges just a few hours before Capello's resignation, has previously indicated he would find it difficult to turn down the England job.
However the 64-year-old is unlikely to leave Spurs during the middle of a successful Premier League campaign which has seen them climb to third in the table and on course for qualification to the Champions League.
Redknapp is also enormously appreciative of the support he has received from Spurs during his trial, where Tottenham officials were ever-present throughout his three-week ordeal at Southwark Crown Court.
In the short-term, Stuart Pearce will take charge of England for their February 29 friendly against the Netherlands at Wembley.
After that, all scenarios are under consideration, suggesting it would be possible for Redknapp to lead England in Poland and Ukraine on a one-off basis before making way for another manager if he chose to stay at Tottenham.
"That is a possibility," FA chairman David Bernstein said when asked if a caretaker coach could lead England at Euro 2012.
"It might not be the case, but all options are open. I'm only talking common sense -- we're not prepared to restrict ourselves at this stage."
Intriguingly, Bernstein also declined to rule out the appointment of a foreign coach to lead England, while admitting the FA's preference was for an English or British manager.
"He might be English, he might be British, he might not be. He might be for the Euros only, he might be long-term," Bernstein said.
"We need to look at all the options because it would be absolutely pointless at this stage limiting our options."
The successful candidate would need to have strong motivational qualities as well as an ability to "handle big players, motivate and excite both the players and the fans," Bernstein added.
FA general secretary Alex Horne meanwhile acknowledged the near-universal clamour for Redknapp but emphasised the governing body would conduct a thorough examination of the available options.
"We of course understand the feeling of the nation," Horne said, without referring to Redknapp by name. "But we've got to sit down and look long term and give ourselves as many options as are available.
"We owe it to ourselves to write up the job brief and make sure we sit down calmly and make sure we've got an exhaustive list."
Adrian Bevington, the head of Club England and FA communications chief, stressed that England were keen to eventually make a long-term appointment with the distant goal of the 2018 World Cup in mind.
"This is a very important moment for us and everyone's focus is on 2012, recruit a manager, go to Poland and Ukraine and achieve success," he said.
"However, there is a longer-term strategy to this as well. In two years' time there is a World Cup in Brazil in 2014, the Euros in France in 2016 and then the World Cup in Russia in 2018. As an organisation we need to make sure we have the platform to achieve success.
"We've got to get out of the routine of just looking at the immediate tournament, or the immediate tournament after that," he added.
The FA's director of development Sir Trevor Brooking warned fans against expecting any new manager to end England's long record of failure in international competitions.
Facts:Fabio Capello's England highs and lows
"Let's be a bit realistic here. We've gone nearly 46 years without winning something," Brooking said.
"Of course we want to win big games. But we haven't won a tournament for 46 years, so when you go to this summer, would we be the favourites with or without Fabio? No, because you've got Spain, Germany, Holland.
"We have to get an improvement. But let's not get the expectancy that whoever comes in is going to start delivering championships."
