Obama approves arms for Syria rebels
By Anonymous on Jun 14, 2013 03:21 am 13 June 2013 Last updated at 17:23 ET 
Syrian forces under President Bashar al-Assad have used chemical weapons "on a small scale" against rebel forces, the White House has said.
A senior aide to President Barack Obama said the US estimated 100-150 people had died in "multiple" attacks.
Ben Rhodes said the US had no "reliable" evidence the opposition had used chemical weapons.
More than 93,000 people have been killed in the Syrian war, according to the latest United Nations figures.
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Iranians vote for new president
By Anonymous on Jun 14, 2013 03:27 am 13 June 2013 Last updated at 22:08 ET 
Millions of voters across Iran are due to cast their ballots in the country's presidential elections.
Although all six candidates are seen as conservatives, one of them, cleric Hassan Rowhani, has been reaching out to the reformists in recent days.
The election will decide a successor to outgoing leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
His eight years in power have been characterised by economic turmoil and Western sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear programme.
Ayatollah's call Polls across Iran are due to open at 08:00 local time (03:30 GMT) and close at 18:00 (13:30 GMT). Some 50m people are eligible to cast their ballots.
The past week brought a surprising change to what otherwise had looked like being a predictable election, the BBC's Richard Galpin reports.
Mr Rowhani has been attracting increasing attention, speaking publicly about the need to re-engage with the West, our correspondent says.
Continue reading the main story Iranian presidential elections
- Six candidates running
- Race is seen as contest between Ayatollah Ali Khamenei' loyalists and moderate reformers
- About 50 million eligible voters
- If no candidate wins 50.1%, run-off held on 21 June
The surge of support for him came after Mohammad Reza Aref, the only reformist candidate in the race, announced on Tuesday that he was withdrawing his candidature on the advice of the pro-reform ex-President Mohammad Khatami.
Mr Rowhani now has the endorsement of two ex-presidents, Mr Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was disqualified from the race by the powerful Guardian Council.
However, Mr Rowhani faces a tough challenge from hardline candidates, including top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and Tehran's mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.
The remaining candidates are conservatives close to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.
Ahead of the election, he called on all Iranians to vote.
"Whoever is elected, if he enjoys a strong and overwhelming vote, he will be able to stand up against enemies and aggressors more properly," Ayatollah Khamenei's website quoted him as saying.
Friday's election is the first since 2009, when protesters took to the streets in anger at the results which they said had been rigged in favour of Mr Ahmadinejad.
But the disqualification Mr Rafsanjani in May finally left supporters of the post-2009 liberal movement divided about whether to bother voting in the election at all.
No foreign observers will be monitoring the poll, and there have also been concerns that media coverage in the run-up was unfair.
Many reform newspapers have been shut down, access to the internet and foreign broadcasters restricted, and journalists detained.
On Thursday, the BBC accused the Iranian authorities of putting "unprecedented levels of intimidation" on BBC employees' families.
It said Iran had warned the families of 15 BBC Persian Service staff that they must stop working for the BBC or their lives in London would be endangered.
Tehran has so far made no comment on the allegation.
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Read in browser » Airbus A350 set for maiden flight
By Anonymous on Jun 14, 2013 02:55 am 13 June 2013 Last updated at 19:03 ET 
The A350 is seen as vital to the future of Airbus in its battle with US rival Boeing
The newest aircraft from European planemaker Airbus is due to take off on its maiden flight later.
The Airbus A350 is designed to be more fuel-efficient, and a direct competitor to US rival Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.
It is seen as vital to the future of Airbus, which competes with Boeing to supply the majority of the world's airlines with new planes.
It is due to take off from the French city of Toulouse, where the A350 is assembled, on Friday morning.
The Dreamliner has proved popular since its first flight in 2009, despite recently being grounded by regulators over safety fears relating to its batteries.
Major milestone Airlines are being squeezed by high fuel costs and falling passenger numbers, and are looking for more fuel-efficient aircraft.
Like the Dreamliner, the A350 is made largely of advanced materials, particularly carbon composites, in order to save weight.
Airbus has already taken more than 600 orders for the new plane. But that still puts it behind the Dreamliner, which has 890 orders so far.
The company hopes to start delivering the first A350s to customers by the end of 2014.
Analysts say a successful test flight would be a major milestone for Airbus in the A350 project, with major aircraft manufacturing projects frequently beset by delays.
"All recent programmes before it, both by Airbus, Boeing and others, have had reasonably horrendous technical problems and delays," said Nick Cunningham, an aviation analyst at the London-based Agency Partners, speaking to French agency AFP.
"So every time you hit a milestone (such as a test flight), it's good news because it means that you've missed an opportunity to have another big delay."
Read in browser » Cuts could be dangerous - Army chief
By Anonymous on Jun 13, 2013 08:18 pm 13 June 2013 Last updated at 20:18 ET 
Army chief Sir Peter Wall said existing cuts needed time to settle down
Gaps between military resources and planned capabilities caused by spending cuts "could become quite dangerous, quite quickly", the Army's head says.
Chief of the General Staff General Sir Peter Wall said further efficiencies would be "very disruptive".
Sir Peter's comments came ahead of the government's Whitehall spending review on 26 June.
The MoD said it wanted to find savings that "protect front-line capabilities and protect military manpower numbers".
'Professional competence' Asked on Sky News documentary Britain's Last War about further cuts to the defence budget, Sir Peter said: "We have got to the point in a number of parts in our set-up where we can't go any further without seriously damaging our professional competence and our chances of success in the battlefields of the future.
"It would be a brave claim to say an organisation can never make more efficiencies but we do need the time to let our new structures bed in, for those efficiencies to get delivered.
"Imposing more on us now, before the last round of efficiencies have really materialised properly in a balanced way, would be very disruptive."
The UK's most senior officer in Afghanistan, Lt Gen Nick Carter, told the documentary that politicians should "look themselves in the mirror each morning" and ask if the risks of cuts were manageable.
'Huge gamble' Chancellor George Osborne is hoping to save £11.5bn across government in his spending review for 2015-16.
There will be a guaranteed 1% increase in defence equipment budgets but Defence Secretary Philip Hammond is expected to have to find a 5% cut overall.
Labour said the government was taking a "huge gamble".
Shadow defence minister Kevan Jones said: "The government have cut the Army without a replacement plan in place. The country will worry about strategic shrinkage by stealth."
The MoD said it was currently negotiating its financial settlement for the spending review.
An MoD spokeswoman said: "Although no final decisions have been taken we have been clear that we would first and foremost seek to find genuine efficiencies that would enable us protect front-line capabilities and protect military manpower numbers.
"Whilst this process is ongoing it would be inappropriate to comment further."
Read in browser » Man in court over Queen painting
By Anonymous on Jun 14, 2013 02:23 am 13 June 2013 Last updated at 19:55 ET
A man arrested for defacing a painting of the Queen at Westminster Abbey has been charged.
Tim Haries, 41, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, will appear in custody at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.
The electrician is charged with criminal damage over £5,000.
Read in browser » Turkish PM meets park protesters
By Anonymous on Jun 13, 2013 10:02 pm 13 June 2013 Last updated at 14:48 ET 
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Quentin Sommerville reports on the mood in Gezi Park
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to meet a group of activists from Istanbul's Gezi Park.
Hours earlier he had issued a "final warning" to protesters to leave the park. The meeting has been described as a "last-ditch" attempt to defuse the situation.
The meeting is due to begin at 23:00 local time (20:00 GMT).
Clashes between police and protesters in the park and adjoining Taksim Square have continued for nearly two weeks.
Activists have said they will not leave until the government abandons plans to redevelop the park. Mr Erdogan's party has proposed a referendum on the issue.
Such a vote would not be legally binding but Mr Erdogan implied he would honour its outcome.
Speaking at a meeting of his ruling AK Party (AKP) in the capital, Ankara, earlier on Thursday, Mr Erdogan said: "Our patience is at an end. I am making my warning for the last time."
"I say to the mothers and fathers, please take your children in hand and bring them out," he added, going on to say that the park belonged not "to occupying forces but to the people."
On Wednesday, Mr Erdogan met a group of 11 people - including artists, architects and a social media specialist - to discuss the situation in Gezi Park.
But those in the park and Taksim Solidarity, an umbrella group seen as most representative of the protesters, said that delegation did not speak for them.
'Looters' Gezi Park is a rare patch of green in Turkey's biggest city, and has been the focus of public anger.
Plans to redevelop it into a shopping centre were the initial spark for the protests.
The prime minister has previously branded the protesters there "extremists" and "looters", and said the demonstrations have been encouraged by foreign forces to undermine Turkey and its economy.
The suggestion of a public vote on the park's future is unlikely to appease many of the protesters still encamped there.
"There is already a court decision which orders the suspension of work in Gezi Park," said Tayfun Kahraman from Taksim Solidarity, one of the environmentalist groups fighting to save the area.
It was not even legal to consider a referendum on such an issue, since such votes could only be held on constitutional matters, he added.
"Are they going to ask us whether we approve of chopping down trees? What would the result change anyway?" 22-year-old student Arzu told AFP news agency.
Protests in Taksim Square since 1 June Continue reading the main story 
1 June: Taksim Square becomes focus for protests over the development of Gezi Park after clashes with police.
3 June: Protesters establish camps in Taksim Square with makeshift facilities, from libraries to food centres.
9 June: The protests continue for a 10th day, with thousands gathering in central Istanbul and other cities.
11 June: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warns he will not show any more tolerance.
11 June: Protesters clash with police, who use water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets to clear the area.
12 June: Morning sees Taksim Square empty of protesters. Some regrouped near Gezi Park and others gathered in the square again on Wednesday evening.
Continue reading the main story It is not yet clear what failing to heed Prime Minister Erdogan's "final" warning would mean for the protesters.
Some of those camped in the park have been waiting for news from city governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu, who has been assuring them for several days that police will not intervene, while urging them to leave so that "police can tackle marginal groups".
Several riot vehicles are still on standby in Taksim - a sign that police have no intention of abandoning the square they stormed on Tuesday.
Protesters fought back then, using stones and Molotov cocktails in reply to the police's tear gas and water cannons.
'Polarisation' warning The police crackdown on protesters has drawn international concern, especially from Europe.
On Thursday, the European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution that "deplores the reactions of the Turkish Government and of Prime Minister Erdogan, whose unwillingness to take steps towards reconciliation, to apologise or to understand the reactions of a segment of the Turkish population have only contributed to further polarisation".
Mr Erdogan angrily dismissed the resolution shortly before it was passed.
Also on Thursday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the US expects "the Turkish authorities to uphold these fundamental freedoms [of expression and assembly]."
Mr Carney also stressed that individuals should not be punished for exercising their rights, Reuters reports.
Five people have died and thousands injured since the protests began on 31 May.
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