Damascus hit 'by Israeli strikes'
By Anonymous on May 05, 2013 03:07 am 4 May 2013 Last updated at 20:01 ET 
Large explosions are being reported in the Mount Qassioun area of the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Syrian state TV says a military research centre has been attacked.
Mount Qassioun is the site of military installations that have been used to shell rebel-controlled areas.
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Tory MP in rape inquiry on bail
By Anonymous on May 05, 2013 02:02 am 4 May 2013 Last updated at 15:01 ET
Deputy House of Commons Speaker Nigel Evans has been arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault, Press Association sources say.
The 55-year-old Conservative MP is being questioned about alleged attacks on two men in their 20s, the sources said.
Police said a 55-year-old man was being interviewed by officers on Saturday.
The alleged offences took place between July 2009 and March 2013 in Pendleton, Lancashire, police added.
In a statement, a Lancashire Constabulary spokesman said: "A 55-year-old man from Pendleton in Lancashire has today, Saturday, 4th May 2013, been arrested by Lancashire Constabulary on suspicion of rape and sexual assault.
"The man will be interviewed at a police station in Lancashire during the course of the day.
"The offences are alleged to have been committed in Pendleton between July 2009 and March 2013.
"We take all allegations of a sexual nature extremely seriously and understand how difficult it can be for victims to have the confidence to come forward.
"As a constabulary, we are committed to investigating sexual offences sensitively but robustly recognising the impact that these types of crimes have on victims.
"We would encourage anyone who has experienced sexual abuse, or who has information about it, to have the confidence to report it to us knowing that we will take it seriously, deal with it sensitively and investigate it thoroughly."
Read in browser » 'No change of course' says Hague
By Anonymous on May 04, 2013 11:59 pm 4 May 2013 Last updated at 23:59 ET 
William Hague says the Tories have a threefold response to the local election results
Foreign Secretary William Hague says the Conservative Party does not need a "drastic change of course" despite its poor showing in local election results last week.
He was responding to a surge in support for the UK Independence Party, which won over 140 seats.
He writes in the Sunday Telegraph that Tories shared voter concerns about immigration, welfare and living costs.
The elections saw the Tories lose control of 10 councils but retain 18.
UKIP averaged 25% of the vote in the wards where it was standing in Thursday's elections. Labour gained two councils and boosted its councillors by nearly 300.
Contests took place in 27 English county councils and seven unitary authorities, as well as in Anglesey. About 2,300 council seats were up for grabs in England, in a major mid-term test for the coalition government.
Mr Hague said that while the election results "are better for the government than is usual in the middle of a parliament... they do show that there is a good deal of dissatisfaction and unhappiness in the country, in particular among some traditional Conservative supporters".
"These people are sending a clear message to the government I serve in," he added.
Mr Hague said that the results require a "threefold response" from the Conservative Party.
No 'shortcuts' Firstly, he said, it must "underline to all those feeling aggrieved that we don't simply 'understand' how they feel - on immigration, on welfare, on bringing down the cost of living - we feel it too."
And the party needs to "relay much more forcefully how we're acting in all these areas", he says.
"The deficit has been cut by a third and 1.25 million new private sector jobs have been created. We have brought in a cap on benefits.
"We have pledged a referendum on Europe. These are the things we came into government to do for the country - and we must shout about them even louder."
'Badly off-track' Mr Hague goes on to say that the "important" third response must be "a resolve not to fall into the trap of lowest common denominator politics".
"People are tired of bad news. Many want to hear that there's a Plan B or C or D that is a shortcut to success. But to offer shortcuts that will not work would be to cheat the British people, offering them a dead end - and frankly it is patronising them too.
"The truth is there are no easy ways out for our country."
Meanwhile, former Conservative chairman Lord Tebbit has called on the Conservatives to set a date for an EU referendum as part of efforts to win back voters from UKIP.
Lord Tebbit also said Tory policy was "badly off track" and needed a rethink.
He urged Mr Cameron to look at UKIP's policies and consider which were "really Conservative policies that would be attractive to the party and its traditional voters".
Read in browser » Historian sorry for 'gay' remark
By Anonymous on May 04, 2013 06:02 pm 4 May 2013 Last updated at 18:02 ET 
Scottish-born Niall Ferguson has apologised on his website for his remarks about John Maynard Keynes
Harvard history professor Niall Ferguson has apologised for saying the economist John Maynard Keynes did not care about society's future because he was gay and had no children.
Prof Ferguson, born in Scotland, made the comments at a conference in California on Thursday.
Mr Keynes was an influential British economist who died in 1946.
Prof Ferguson has now apologised "unreservedly" for what he called "stupid" and "insensitive" remarks.
He was asked to comment on Mr Keynes's famous observation of "in the long run we are all dead".
In unscripted remarks during a question and answer session, the high-profile historian and writer said Mr Keynes was indifferent to the long run because he had no children, and that he had no children because he was gay.
'Detest prejudice' But in a statement posted on his website, he said it was obvious that people who do not have children also care about future generations. The historian also insisted he was not homophobic.
"My disagreements with Keynes's economic philosophy have never had anything to do with his sexual orientation," he wrote.
"It is simply false to suggest, as I did, that his approach to economic policy was inspired by any aspect of his personal life. As those who know me and my work are well aware, I detest all prejudice, sexual or otherwise."
In 1926, Mr Keynes married Lydia Lopokova, a Russian ballerina, and Prof Ferguson also said he had forgotten that she had miscarried.
Read in browser » Malaysia votes in close contest
By Anonymous on May 05, 2013 03:14 am 4 May 2013 Last updated at 17:09 ET 
Voters are faced with retaining the ruling party or choosing an untested opposition
Malaysians are preparing go to the polls in what is widely expected to be the most closely contested general election in the country's history.
PM Najib Razak's Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition is up against Pakatan Rakyat, a three-party alliance headed by Anwar Ibrahim.
Voters are faced with returning the ruling party, in power for 56 years, or choosing an untested opposition.
Ahead of the polls, allegations of various forms of fraud have emerged.
For the first time since Malaysia's independence from Britain in 1957, correspondents say there is a real possibility that the opposition headed by Mr Anwar may be able to unseat the ruling party.
The possibility of an end to more than half a century of one-party rule has made this the hardest-fought election anyone can remember, says BBC South-East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head.
The hunger for change, especially among younger Malaysians, has given the opposition real momentum during the campaign, says our correspondent.
But the ruling party has significant advantages, he adds, in the cash it has spent on crowd-pleasing hand-outs, and in the way Malaysia's parliamentary system over-represents rural areas, where the government's support is strongest.
Clamour for change? Barisan Nasional, while credited with bringing economic development and political stability, has also been tainted by allegations of corruption.
Continue reading the main story Malaysia 2013 polls
- Election is expected to be Malaysia's most keenly contested poll since independence
- PM Najib Razak leads the long-dominant coalition Barisan Nasional (National Front)
- Anwar Ibrahim leads the three-party opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat
- Key issues include corruption, race-based policies that favour Malays and the economy
But it remains to be seen whether Mr Anwar's coalition, comprising parties of different ethnicities and religions, can persuade voters to choose an alternative government.
Mr Najib, 59, said he was confident that Malaysians would retain his coalition and even return the two-thirds parliamentary majority Barisan Nasional lost in the 2008 polls.
"I asked myself, why are we getting more support from people?" he said during a campaign rally on Thursday.
"Because for the last four years we have proved that our national transformation has been able to protect and benefit all Malaysians."
He told supporters in his home state of Pahang on Saturday that he wanted to "carry on with the trust" placed in him, saying: "The task of transformation is not over yet."
Meanwhile, Mr Anwar, 65, said people's clamour for change meant that Pakatan Rakyat would emerge victorious.
"God willing, we will succeed," he told the Associated Press news agency.
"People have enough of this semi-authoritarian rule, of complete [government] control of the media, of strong arrogance, of power and endemic corruption."
On a campaign stop in the north on Friday evening he told supporters it was "an election of the people fighting oppressive and corrupt rulers."
'Support the process' Allegations of election fraud have surfaced before the election. Some of those who voted in advance have complained that indelible ink - supposed to last for days - easily washed off.
The opposition has also accused the government of funding flights for supporters to key states, which the government denies.
"In the past few months we are already hearing rumours and unsubstantiated statements about the presence of foreign nationals being given IDs and then allowed to vote," Ibrahim Suffian, director of the independent pollster Merdeka Center, told Reuters news agency.
Mr Razak's party, United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), said the flights had been funded by supporters and not the prime minister himself.
It said they were routine efforts to help voters get home.
Speaking on Saturday in his home state of Penang, Mr Anwar said his party had advised supporters "to remain calm, not to be provoked, not to take the law into their own hands, support the process".
"Unless there's a major massive fraud tomorrow - that is our nightmare - we will win," he told AFP.
Rights group Human Rights Watch also said there had been well-planned attacks against the country's independent media ahead of the polls.
It said on Thursday that readers were unable to access several online news sites providing coverage of opposition candidates.
Read in browser » Some liver transplants 'avoidable'
By Anonymous on May 04, 2013 07:08 pm 4 May 2013 Last updated at 19:08 ET 
The liver clears the body of toxins
Some patients with severely damaged livers may not need a transplant as their own organ is actually regrowing, say doctors at a hospital in London.
They made the discovery by looking at a rare group of patients given a transplant while their own damaged liver is left in the body.
Sometimes the original liver recovers.
A study, in the American Journal of Transplantation, suggests doctors can predict which patients do not need a transplant as their liver is healing.
King's College Hospital has a leading liver transplant centre and is one of few places to perform "auxiliary transplants".
They are performed in sudden cases of liver failure caused by overdoses or viral infections, rather than the long-term damage caused by alcohol abuse.
Normally in organ transplants one organ comes out and a new one goes in. However, in this complex operation the transplant is put in beside the old liver.
After any transplant a patient needs to take a lifetime of drugs to suppress the immune system in order to avoid rejection. The drugs leave the body vulnerable to infection.
However, if the patient's liver does eventually recover then they can come off the immunosuppressant drugs and their body will get rid of the transplant.
The transplant is used to get the patient past the critical stage of the illness.
But the recovery happens only in some patients. In the study, the transplant was no longer needed in seven out of 11 patients.
So doctors analysed the detailed chemistry inside the liver cells of patients and looked for differences between those who recovered and those who did not.
Dr Varuna Aluvihare told the BBC: "There was a big difference right from the point of transplantation in the expression of some very small molecules between the group that would, three years down the line, regrow their liver versus the group that never did."
Those molecules regulated the way cells in the liver grow.
"Some of them were already starting to regrow. So what we may be able to do is come up with a better set of tests to allow us to identify those patients who are already regrowing and may not need transplantation.
"So we may be able to remove a group from the transplant list."
The liver does have a phenomenal ability to regenerate. In healthy people it will recover in the space of months even if a large amount is taken away.
People who need a transplant because of acute liver failure are seriously ill. Even if doctors could tell which patients' livers were already on the path to recovery, they would still need to keep those patients alive long enough for the liver to return to form.
Dr Aluvihare argued this would be possible as a small amount of restored liver function would be enough for patients to leave hospital.
He said there are cases at King's of patients recovering while they were on the waiting list.
"I would say five to 10 patients a year we seriously consider for emergency transplantation and then they start recovering.
"That tells us there probably is a pool there and there is probably quite a lot of mileage in identifying people would would recover."
Whether this would work is still uncertain. The team have received funding to look for those chemical differences in the blood of patients.
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