Egypt's Morsi rebuffs army ultimatum
By Anonymous on Jul 02, 2013 02:58 am 1 July 2013 Last updated at 20:03 ET 
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The BBC's Aleem Maqbool: Anti-government protesters "are already celebrating"
Egypt's army has denied its ultimatum to feuding politicians to resolve the country's deadly crisis within 48 hours amounts to a coup.
It said earlier it would offer a "road map" for peace if Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and his opponents failed to heed "the will of the people".
Noisy celebrations erupted in Cairo as protesters interpreted the ultimatum as spelling the end of Mr Morsi's rule.
On Sunday millions rallied nationwide, urging the president to quit.
Large protests continued on Monday, and eight people died as activists stormed and ransacked the Cairo headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, to which the president belongs.
He became Egypt's first Islamist president on 30 June 2012, after winning an election considered free and fair following the 2011 revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak.
Coup in the making? In an announcement read out on Egyptian TV, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, defence minister and head of the armed forces, described the protests as an "unprecedented" expression of the popular will.
Continue reading the main story Analysis
Jeremy Bowen BBC Middle East editor, Cairo
The statement by the minister of defence and army chief, Gen al-Sisi, was worded carefully.
It did not say the president must go. The army, with troops in strategic positions across Cairo, is saying the government and opposition have 48 hours to agree a way forward or it will intervene with its own plan.
The Egyptian military has been both hero and villain for the people involved in the ousting of President Mubarak in 2011.
Heroes, first of all, when they put themselves between protesters and the Mubarak regime's enforcers. But later they were widely criticised for holding onto power for too long.
The reality is they have never given up their critical role behind the scenes, which includes huge economic power.
No matter which way Egypt goes - and there could be some very rough days ahead - the army will never want its own power diluted.
If the people's demands were not met, he said, the military would have to take responsibility for a plan for the future.
But while he said the army would not get involved in politics or government, his words were seen by many as a coup in the making.
To the sound of blaring car horns and exploding fireworks, tens of thousands of flag-waving supporters of Tamarod (Rebel) - the opposition movement behind the protests - partied in Cairo's Tahrir Square late into the night.
They accuse Mr Morsi of putting the Brotherhood's interests ahead of the country's as a whole.
As five helicopters flew over the square with huge Egyptian flags hanging below them, the crowds chanted: "The army and the people are one hand."
There were similarly jubilant scenes in the Mediterranean city of Port Said and outside Mr Morsi's house in Zagazig, where protesters vowed to continue a sit-in until a clear plan for handing over power was enacted.
Given the inability of politicians from all sides to agree until now, the 48-hour ultimatum makes it unlikely Mr Morsi can survive in power, says the BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Cairo.
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Former presidential candidate Amr Moussa: "We are really hoping to save Egypt from real collapse to ruins"
But a second statement posted on the military's Facebook page late on Monday emphasised the army "does not aspire to rule and will not overstep its prescribed role".
"Our earlier statement's purpose was to push all parties to find a quick solution to the current crisis... to push towards a national consensus that responds to the people's demands," said the statement.
Senior Brotherhood figure Muhammad al-Biltaji urged pro-Morsi supporters to "call their families in all Egyptian governorates and villages to be prepared to take to the streets and fill squares" to support their president.
"Any coup of any sort will only pass over our dead bodies," he said to a roar from thousands gathered outside the Rab'ah al-Adawiyah mosque in Cairo's Nasr district.
There were reports of gun clashes between rival factions in the city of Suez, east of the capital, on Monday night.
A night-time press conference by the presidency was postponed until Tuesday. Instead, an undated photograph posted on the president's official Facebook page showed Mr Morsi smiling with Gen Sisi and Prime Minister Hisham Qandil.
Obama calls for restraint The opposition movement had given Mr Morsi until Tuesday afternoon to step down and call fresh presidential elections, or else face a campaign of civil disobedience.
An undated photograph posted on the president's Facebook page showed Mr Morsi (right) smiling with Gen Sisi and Prime Minister Hisham Qandil
On Saturday, the group said it had collected more than 22 million signatures - more than a quarter of Egypt's population - in support.
And on Monday the ministers of tourism, environment, communication and legal affairs reportedly resigned in an act of "solidarity with the people's demand to overthrow the regime".
But Mr Morsi was defiant in an interview published on Sunday, rejecting calls for early presidential elections.
US President Barack Obama has called for restraint on all sides, saying the potential for violence remained.
Although it was not the job of the US to choose Egypt's leaders, it wanted to make sure all voices were heard, said Mr Obama during a visit to Tanzania.
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Live child abuse images warning
By Anonymous on Jul 01, 2013 08:08 pm 1 July 2013 Last updated at 20:08 ET Images showing child sex abuse - including those streamed from live webcams - are increasingly available on the internet, experts warn.
Ceop received 8,000 reports relating to 70,000 images
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre received reports relating to 70,000 indecent images in 2012 - twice as many as in 2011.
Ceop received 8,000 reports of obscene material being downloaded or shared in the UK.
An estimated 50,000 UK web users are involved in distributing abuse images.
Live streaming had been identified as an emerging threat, it said. Offenders had been found to be targeting vulnerable families overseas, particularly in parts of the developing world.
Children were then forced to engage in sexual activity on live webcams in exchange for payment to the family or criminals. Ceop said that online video services such as Skype were among those being exploited to transmit live images of abuse.
Ceop said many abusers were hiding their actions deep in the "hidden internet" by using encrypted networks and other secure methods to distribute images. These methods made it harder for law enforcement agencies to trace abusers.
"The use of the hidden internet in the UK and beyond is expected to continue increasing throughout 2013, possibly reaching 20,000 daily UK users by the end of the year," said the report.
"Ceop assesses that the networking and sense of 'safe' community that occurs within the hidden internet and the relative sophistication of offenders within that environment stimulates the production of [indecent images of children] on both a commercial and non-commercial basis."
'Searching questions' Peter Davies, chief executive of Ceop, said: "Our assessment shows that, sadly, there are still too many children at risk and too many people who would cause them serious harm. We should all practise zero tolerance to child sexual exploitation and abuse."
An NSPCC spokeswoman said that evidence from police in England and Wales indicated there were 20,000 sexual offences against children every year.
"However, we believe this is far from the true situation as many cases are never revealed," said the spokesman.
Independent charity Victim Support, meanwhile, said the police service must "ask itself some searching questions".
"It's first priority is to prevent and detect crime," chief executive Javed Khan said.
There were "inconsistencies in the way forces collect, record and categorise child sex abuse offences", he added.
"It is essential that every dot is joined up if the most vulnerable in our society are to be protected.
"Every police force must therefore contribute fully and consistently to the national intelligence picture - only then will we have a true picture of the scale of the problem."
Policing And Criminal Justice Minister Damian Green said: "These figures are deeply troubling and show how our understanding of child sexual exploitation has greatly improved in recent years.
"But more needs to be done. Ceop is doing excellent work and we will see its capability strengthened when it is transferred to the National Crime Agency later this year.
"I am leading a new Home Office group which is urgently looking at how we better identify those at risk."
Read in browser » Snowden 'sends 21 asylum requests'
By Anonymous on Jul 02, 2013 03:07 am 1 July 2013 Last updated at 20:31 ET 
Edward Snowden is believed to be staying at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport
US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has accused President Barack Obama of denying him his right to asylum, in a statement published by Wikileaks.
It is his first public announcement since flying to Russia on 23 June, where he has applied for asylum.
The former CIA analyst, who is holed up in a Moscow airport hotel, is wanted by the US on charges of espionage.
He says President Obama is putting pressure on the countries from which he has requested political asylum.
"The president ordered his vice president to pressure the leaders of nations from which I have requested protection to deny my asylum petitions," he is quoted by Wikileaks as saying.
"This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither is the extralegal penalty of exile. These are the old, bad tools of political aggression. Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me."
In the statement, Mr Snowden describes himself as "a stateless person", accusing the US government of stopping him from exercising the "basic right...to seek asylum".
On Sunday night, the 30-year-old fugitive applied for asylum in Russia, according to foreign ministry consul Kim Shevchenko.
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Vladimir Putin: "He should cease his work aimed at damaging our American partners"
The request was reportedly submitted by Sarah Harrison, a British member of the Wikileaks legal team acting as Mr Snowden's representative.
However, the Kremlin has so far made no comment.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow "never hands over anybody anywhere and has no intention of doing so".
He suggested Mr Snowden could stay on the condition he stops damaging Russia's "American partners" with his leaks.
The leaking of thousands of classified intelligence documents has led to revelations that the US is systematically seizing vast amounts of phone and web data.
'High-level discussions' Mr Snowden is thought to be seeking asylum in Latin America, particularly in Ecuador whose embassy in London is sheltering Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
Continue reading the main story Analysis
Steve Rosenberg BBC News, Moscow
If it was up to the Russian parliament, Edward Snowden's asylum application might already have been signed and sealed. Fuelled by anti-US sentiment, Russian MPs have been queuing up to support it.
But it will not be parliament that decides: it will be the Kremlin. Earlier, President Putin appeared to suggest it was unlikely Mr Snowden would remain in Russia. The 30-year-old American could stay, he said, on one condition: that he stops damaging Russia's "American partners" with his leaks. The Kremlin leader added that Mr Snowden probably would not agree to that, and therefore should choose an onward destination and go there.
Might that destination be Venezuela? The Venezuelan president is currently in Moscow attending a gas exporters' summit. He is due to meet President Putin for talks on Tuesday. It is hard to imagine Edward Snowden's fate would not be on the agenda.
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa told the Agence France-Presse news agency on Monday that his country would process Mr Snowden's asylum request if he manages to enter an Ecuadorean embassy.
However, if he can complete his asylum request on Russian territory , then "the situation can be processed and resolved there," President Correa adds.
Details have also emerged of a letter from Mr Snowden to President Correa, thanking Ecuador for guaranteeing "my rights would be protected upon departing Hong Kong - I could never have risked travel without that".
He tells President Correa of his "great personal admiration of your commitment to doing what is right rather than what is rewarding".
Speaking in Tanzania on Monday, President Barack Obama said Moscow and Washington had held "high level discussions" about Mr Snowden.
"We don't have an extradition treaty with Russia," he said. "On the other hand, Mr Snowden, we understand, has travelled there without a valid passport and legal papers."
Mr Snowden has reportedly been in the transit area of Sheremetyevo Airport since arriving there from Hong Kong on 23 June.
While it remains unclear in which other countries he has applied for asylum, the LA Times recently quoted a Russian foreign ministry official as saying Mr Snowden had applied to some 15 countries.
Read in browser » Stabbed boy police find woman's body
By Anonymous on Jul 02, 2013 03:11 am 2 July 2013 Last updated at 02:40 ET 
The attack on the boy happened at the Carnegie Skate Park, in Shipley
A man suspected of stabbing a boy at a park is also being held on suspicion of murdering an elderly woman.
The nine-year-old boy was attacked at about 16:40 BST on Monday in Shipley, West Yorkshire. He is said to be in a stable condition in hospital.
Police investigating the stabbing later found the body of 84-year-old Louisa Denby in a bedroom at her home on Prospect Mount. She had been stabbed.
A 26-year-old Shipley man is being held in connection with both crimes.
Read in browser » Organ donor system change vote due
By Anonymous on Jul 02, 2013 03:17 am 1 July 2013 Last updated at 22:43 ET By Carl Roberts BBC Wales political reporter 
Some religious leaders have called for a "soft opt-out" scheme for relatives
Controversial Welsh government plans for a system of presumed consent for organ donation will be voted on by assembly members later.
The proposed opt-out system would mean everyone is deemed to be a willing organ donor when they die, unless they object beforehand.
But opponents want families to be able to stop a donation if their relative did not express an opinion either way.
Ministers want to increase the number of donors for transplant by a quarter.
There has been opposition to the changes from Christian churches and from within the Muslim and Jewish communities.
It would mean a change from the current opt-in system, where would-be donors have to sign a register.
A statement from faith leaders and health professionals - signed by the Archbishop of Wales Dr Barry Morgan and others - calls for a so-called "soft opt-out scheme" in the Human Transplantation Bill.
They say it would give deceased patients' families a say on donation if their relative had neither opted in or out.
A joint statement says that failure to make changes to the Bill would be "inhuman, unfeeling before the suffering of relatives, and a danger to the public trust and support which are necessary for the practice of organ donation to flourish".
It adds: "Without this there is a real danger that the law could backfire."
If passed by AMs on Tuesday, the presumed consent system could come into force by 2015.
The Welsh government hopes legislation will lead to 15 extra donors leaving around 45 more organs for transplant each year.
As currently happens, organs could go to recipients anywhere in the UK, not just in Wales.
Of around 250 potential donors in 2011, 67 left organs.
The presumed consent law would apply to over-18s who die in Wales if they have lived in Wales for more than six months.
People will be able to sign up to the organ donor register so their wishes will be known if they die outside Wales.
Continue reading the main story ORGAN DONATION FIGURES
- The aim of the Bill is to increase the number of organs available from Wales, potentially by 25%
- On latest figures this would see the number of donors rise from around 65 donors to 80.
- The average number of transplants anticipated from 15 additional donors would be approximately 26 kidneys, 10 livers, two hearts and four lungs
- Just over 30% of organs donated in Wales are transplanted into people living in Wales
If the law is changed, ministers will have a duty to publicise the system and almost £8m will be spent over 10 years.
The Bill would involve transferring some powers from the UK government to Welsh ministers.
'Further progress' The Kidney Wales Foundation (KWF) has campaigned for a law change on organ donation and described the Bill as "progressive law".
Roy Thomas, KWF chief executive, said: "The Welsh government has seen this Bill scrutinised properly and several detailed consultations have been undertaken with the Welsh public.
"Wales has been at the forefront of organ donation with development of the Organ Donor Register in the 1980s to having the DVLA communicate on the issue when sending out driving licences.
"This law is further progress and evidence shows it will increase donation rates."
Shadow health minister Darren Millar AM said it was a landmark day and it was essential the issues continued to be properly debated, including increased awareness and the rights of the family.
"Deemed consent represents a significant and controversial departure from the current system and there are a number of anxieties that must continue to be scrutinised and appropriately addressed," he said.
Read in browser » Firms' confidence 'at six-year high'
By Anonymous on Jul 02, 2013 03:19 am 2 July 2013 Last updated at 02:23 ET 
Export sales have boosted the UK's economic prospects, the BCC says
Business confidence in the UK is at its highest level since 2007, the latest economic survey from a leading business group has suggested.
The quarterly survey from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) is the latest indication that the UK's economic recovery is strengthening.
The BCC said the positive news could mean growth will be stronger than forecast this year.
It now expects GDP to grow by 0.6% in the second three months of 2013.
That is significantly more positive than its previous forecast, where it predicted growth of 0.9% for the whole year.
"The UK upturn is slowly strengthening," said David Kern, the BCC's chief economist, citing strong export data as particular cause for optimism.
"The remarkable export balances show that the service sector is capable of increasing its trade surplus over time and can work to reduce our overall trade deficit," he said.
"Developing the export potential of this sector is critical to long-term prosperity."
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