US soldier kills Afghan civilians in Kandahar

Afghan men gathered in the area of the villages where the attacks took place

A US soldier in Afghanistan has shot dead 15 civilians and wounded others after entering their homes in Kandahar province, Afghan and Nato sources say.

He reportedly left his base early in the morning to attack village homes. Nine children are among the dead.
The White House voiced "deep concern" and Nato-led forces in Afghanistan promised a rapid inquiry.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned the attack and demanded an explanation from Washington.
BBC correspondents say there could be a furious backlash when news of the attack reaches the wider public.
In Kandahar's Panjwai district, local people have gathered near the base to protest about Sunday's killings, and the US embassy is advising against travel to the area.
Anti-US sentiment is already high in Afghanistan after US soldiers burnt copies of the Koran last month.
US officials have apologised repeatedly for the incident at a Nato base in Kabul but they failed to quell a series of protests and attacks that killed at least 30 people and six US troops.
The unnamed soldier, thought to be a staff sergeant, is reported to have walked off his base at around 03:00 local time (22:30 GMT Saturday).

He then made his way to the villages of Alkozai and Najeeban, about 500m (yds) from the base.

A local resident, Abdul Baqi, told the Associated Press news agency the soldier had apparently opened fire in three different houses.
"When it was happening in the middle of the night, we were inside our houses," he said. "I heard gunshots and then silence and then gunshots again."
In one house in Najeeban, the gunman reportedly killed 11 people, setting fire to their bodies before he left.
A relative of the 11 victims, Haji Samad, told Reuters news agency chemicals had been poured over the bodies and set alight.
"I saw that all 11 of my relatives were killed, including my children and grandchildren," he added, weeping.
An unnamed woman witness in Najeeban told BBC News she had heard gunfire at about 02:00. A barking dog was shot dead by the gunman, she said.
She added that the Taliban had not been seen in the area for five months.
At least three of the child victims were killed by a single shot to the head.

Coke and Pepsi alter recipe to avoid cancer warning

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo account for nearly 90% of the US fizzy drink market

Coca-Cola and Pepsi are changing the recipes for their drinks to avoid being legally obliged to put a cancer warning label on the bottle.

The new recipe for caramel colouring in the drinks has less 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI) - a chemical which California has added to its list of carcinogens.
The change to the recipe has already been introduced in California but will be rolled out across the US.
Coca-Cola says there is no health risk to justify the change.
'No risk'
Spokeswoman Diana Garza-Ciarlante told the Associated Press news agency they wanted to ensure their products "would not be subject to the requirement of a scientifically unfounded warning".

The chemical has been linked to cancer in mice and rats, according to one study, but there is no evidence that it poses a health risk to humans, said the American Beverage Association, which represents the wider industry.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) claims a person would need to drink more than 1,000 cans of Coke or Pepsi a day to take in the same dose of the chemical that was given to the animals in the lab test.
Coca-Cola and PepsiCo account for nearly 90% of the US fizzy drink market, according to one industry tracker, Beverage Digest.
The companies say changing their recipes across the whole of the US, not just in California, makes the drinks more efficient to manufacture.
In a statement Coca-Cola added that the manufacturing process across Europe would not change.
It said that apart from California "not one single regulatory agency around the world considers the exposure of the public to 4-MEI as present in caramels as an issue".

Syria crisis: Kofi Annan to hold talks with Assad

Witnesses report troops and tanks massing near Idlib, where anti-government protests continue

UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan has arrived in Syria for talks with President Bashar al-Assad, in a fresh diplomatic bid to end the violence.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Mr Annan would call for an immediate ceasefire by the army and the opposition.
Activists said government forces killed 77 people across Syria on Friday.
Earlier, UN aid chief Valerie Amos said "limited progress" had been made on taking aid to the worst-hit areas in Syria, but much more was needed.
Baroness Amos said she had requested full access to the worst-hit areas, but the government had asked for more time.
Calls for reform that began with pro-democracy protests a year ago have degenerated into violence that has brought Syria to the brink of civil war.
The UN says more than 7,500 people have died as a result of the violence.
'All violence must stop' Mr Annan arrived at Damascus airport on Saturday and was met by Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, before being taken to a hotel in the capital ahead of the talks with the president.
Mr Annan's meeting with President Assad was earlier announced in New York by Mr Ban, the UN secretary-general.
Mr Ban said he had held a conference call with Mr Annan and Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi.
"All three of us share the same concerns, same priorities and same approaches," he said.
"Our priority is, first of all, all violence must stop, whether by government forces [or] opposition forces.
"I have very strongly urged Kofi Annan to ensure that there must be an immediate ceasefire."
He said that if a ceasefire could not be agreed simultaneously, then government troops should stop first, followed by the opposition.
Mr Ban said Mr Annan - a former UN secretary-general - would also meet Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem in Damascus and then hold talks with opposition leaders after leaving the country on Sunday.
The UN has called for "dialogue" to end the crisis, although opposition groups have already rejected the idea of talks with President Assad.
Mr Ban also echoed Baroness Amos's calls for Syria to allow aid agencies access to areas badly hit by the violence.
He said that what she had seen in the devastated Baba Amr district of Homs showed there was a "quite serious, alarming situation in terms of humanitarian assistance and human rights".
On Friday, Baroness Amos said the government had indicated that an initial humanitarian assessment could be made within the next week, and that a UN team in Damascus was ready to get to work.

Afghan officials visit Guantanamo in peace bid

Washington, Mar 10  - An Afghan government delegation visited the Guantanamo Bay military prison this week to secure approval from five Taliban detainees who may soon be moved to Qatar, a sign that the Obama administration is inching closer to establishing peace talks to end the war in Afghanistan.

The delegation, which visited the top-security detention center in Cuba on Monday, included Ibrahim Spinzada, a senior foreign policy aide to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, sources familiar with the subject said.

Government sources in Kabul said Spinzada and Shahida Abdali, a senior Afghan security official, visited the United States this week. The White House said the two officials were in Washington briefly but both the White House and the Pentagon declined comment on the Guantanamo visit.

Karzai's government has demanded the five former senior members of the Taliban government, held at Guantanamo Bay for a decade, give their consent before they are transferred to , the small Gulf state where they would under Qatar's custody.

The transfer would be one of a series of good-faith measures that, if US diplomats can surmount remaining hurdles, would set in motion the first substantial political negotiations on the bloody conflict in Afghanistan since the Taliban government was toppled in 2001 in a US-led invasion.

A year after it was unveiled, the Obama administration's peace initiative may soon offer the United States a historic opportunity to broker an end to a conflict that began as the response to the September 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on the United States. The war has dragged on for a decade at great financial and human cost.

But the peace gambit also presents extraordinary risks for Obama, facing the potential for political fallout months before presidential elections, as his government considers backing an arrangement that would give some degree of power to the Taliban, a movement known for its brutality and extreme interpretation of Islam.

Despite months of covert diplomacy, it remains unclear whether the prisoner transfer will go ahead. Doubts are growing about whether the Taliban leadership is willing to weather possible blowback from junior and more hard-core members who appear to oppose negotiations.

US officials have been hoping the behind-the-scenes peace initiative will gain enough momentum to permit Obama to announce the establishment of full-fledged political talks between the Karzai government and the Taliban at a NATO summit in May.

Such an announcement would mark a major victory for the White House and might dispel some of the anxiety created by NATO nations' plans to gradually pull most of their troops by the end of 2014, leaving an inexperienced Afghan military and wobbly Afghan government to fend off a still-potent insurgency.

The confidence-building measures the administration has proposed also include the opening of the Taliban office in Qatar and a Taliban statement distancing itself from terrorism.

The Taliban detainees are seen by some U.S. officials as among the most threatening inmates remaining at Guantanamo. Their possible transfer has become a lightning rod for attack - or at least anxiety - from U.S. politicians from both parties even before the administration formally begins a required congressional notification process.

Among the prisoners that may be sent to Qatar is Mohammed Fazl, a "high-risk" detainee alleged to be responsible for the killing of thousands of minority Shi'ite Muslims between 1998 and 2001.

They also include Noorullah Noori, a former senior military commander; Abdul Haq Wasiq, a former deputy intelligence minister; and Khairullah Khairkhwa, a former interior minister.

Republicans particularly have voiced concerns that transferred Taliban officials might regain positions of power or rekindle an insurgency that Western forces are working to extinguish.

"My assumption is that my client would welcome an opportunity to be released from Guantanamo," said Frank Goldsmith, an attorney for Khairkhwa, who arrived at Guantanamo in May 2002.

This week's visit to Guantanamo may reflect the narrow course that Karzai, who had gone from Western darling to frequent antagonist, must tread as he seeks to build support for peace talks among Afghans who fear a Taliban return - all while shoring up his own fragile political backing.

It was unclear who else may have accompanied Spinzada to Guantanamo.

The reconciliation initiative has proceeded in fits and starts in part because of what US officials describe as an unpredictable partner in Kabul. US officials have held eight meetings with Afghan militant interlocutors since the peace initiative began, Reuters learned.

Karzai, meanwhile, has complained the United States has repeatedly sidelined in a process that is supposed to be "Afghan-led."

While those disagreements may have been put to rest, the latest diplomatic maneuvers come at a particularly sensitive time for the U.S.-Afghan relationship following the burning of copies of the Koran on a NATO military base, an incident that sparked protests and attacks on Western forces.

On Friday, the two governments announced a breakthrough in efforts to strike a bilateral deal that would outline their long-term presence and authorize a US military presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014.

Heroin horror stalks India's most remote villages

Heroin stalks a remote village in India

India's Punjab state is the birthplace of Bhangra music, home of the colorful turban and the exquisite golden temple.

It is a state in India where the population has prospered for many years. It has one of the lowest poverty rates in the country thanks to fertile farmland, abundant water supply and decent infrastructure. But the Punjab finds itself with a serious problem among its population -- drug addiction.

Addict Inderjeet Singh says at least half of the students in his school were taking drugs.

At 16 he says he was popping up to 10 prescription pills a day and washing them down with codeine cough syrup.

"When I take it I feel like I am wandering in heaven. I feel like a king of the whole world." Singh said.

At 20 he is in a drug rehab hospital where he prays, does yoga and learns candle making as he tries to kick the habit that was turning him into a zombie.

"I stopped recognizing even my parents," he said.

At the same hospital another man also named Inderjeet Singh (and no relation) said his drug of choice was heroin.

At 25 he said he would become violent if he didn't get a hit at least once a day. But finding the drug was never a problem even in what appear to be simple villages.

"It can be bought anytime from anywhere," he said. "20 to 25 families would be selling it in one village alone."

The cost: the equivalent of about $20 for five grams.

The United Nations 2011 drug and crime report says India is the largest consumer of heroin in South Asia, which stands to reason as it has the largest population in the region by far.

But the report has negated a perception that India is only a transit point for drugs coming in from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The report comes as no surprise to those in India's Punjab State, which borders Pakistan.

Some state officials estimate more than 50 percent of the population between 18 and 35 are using drugs illegally - including anything from heroin to abusing prescription drugs.

"As far as drug addiction in Punjab is concerned, the situation is explosive. It's worrisome. The young people are dying and the elders are becoming their pallbearer. Statistics show one addict is dying every eight minutes in Punjab," said Mohan Sharma, project director of the Red Cross De-addiction Hospital in Sangrur.

The U.N. says it is hard to get accurate statistics on drug use in India. But if those numbers are anywhere near true, it far exceeds the U.N.'s estimation of global illicit substance abuse for the 15-64 age range, which is 4.8 percent.

Even with 63 drug rehab centers in Punjab state they cannot seem to reverse the trend.. There is fear here that a whole generation will be locked in a terrible cycle of drugging and dying if more isn't done.

Fighting talk: Why wrestling is booming in Senegal

Wrestling rivals football for popularity in Senegal.

In most of Africa, football reigns supreme among sports, but in Senegal wrestling challenges it for popularity. It provides entertainment and exercise, and offers young men dreams of fame and fortune.

Wrestling's popularity in Senegal makes it big business. For the sport's superstars the rewards can be huge, with the biggest names earning up to $200,000 per contest. In a country where unemployment is pushing 50%, some young men see it as a way out of poverty.

Gris Bordeaux is a star in Senegal, a wrestling champion who also teaches at a wrestling school in the capital Dakar.

He says wrestling is a mental, as well as physical, discipline and that reaching the top of his profession takes dedication.

"It's all about making sacrifices," says Bordeaux. "It requires training and meditation; your mindset is important. You have to educate yourself well.

"Not all wrestlers get to realize their dreams, because on the bigger level it is few that get to where I am. You need to be focused on the sport -- like over 5,000 wrestlers you will get only 10 that make it."

See also: Senegal island exposes horrors of the slave trade

Bordeaux credits wrestling with changing his life, bringing him success and wealth.

"What I do know is that it has given me a lot of opportunities," he says. "It has opened doors for me because I am able to take care of myself and my family and especially to help the young people in the community."

It's perhaps a desire to emulate the likes of Bordeaux -- as well as a desire to keep fit -- that motivates young Senegalese men to work out on the beaches of Dakar.

Italy decries fatal UK raid in Nigeria

Chris McManus, pictured, and Italian national Franco Lamolinara were killed by their captors, officials say.

Nigeria  -- Britain's failure to consult Rome before a rescue operation that left two European hostages dead in Nigeria is "inexplicable," the Italian president said Friday.

Italy said Britain did not inform it before Thursday's attempt, in conjunction with Nigerian forces, to rescue Briton Chris McManus and Italian national Franco Lamolinara, who were kidnapped last year.

"A clarification on the political-diplomatic level is also needed," Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said.

Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi asked his British counterpart, William Hague, on Friday afternoon for "maximum clarity" on the raid "in the shortest time possible, in the next few hours."

The kidnappers killed the men while the raid to free them was under way, according to British government sources briefed on the matter.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has said the men were killed before the joint forces could reach their hideout in the northern state of Sokoto.

A spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron told Britain's Press Association the government notified Rome as "the operation was getting under way," describing it as a "very fast-moving" situation.

Still, the UK ambassador to Italy, Christopher Prentice, spoke to Italian authorities in Rome on Friday "on his own initiative to explain events," the British Foreign Office said.

Nigerian forces, with support from Britain, launched the operation Thursday after receiving credible information about the captives' location, Cameron said.

McManus and Lamolinara worked for the construction and civil engineering firm B. Stabilini and Co., which is based in Abuja. A message on the company's website Friday read simply "In loving memory of Chris & Franco. RIP from all your friends at B. Stabilini & Co. Ltd."

McManus, 28, was from northwest England, the British Foreign Office said. Lamolinara, 47, and married with two teenage children, hailed from the northern Italian town of Gattinara, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported.

Jonathan blamed the kidnapping and killings on Boko Haram, the militant Islamist terror group responsible for dozens of attacks in Nigeria in the past two years.

The circumstances behind the men's deaths remained unclear, but Jonathan said authorities detained the alleged captors.

"Perpetrators of the murderous act, who have all been arrested, will be made to face the full wrath of the law," the president said in a statement on the government website.

Cameron said he authorized the rescue attempt after working to free the two since they were kidnapped in May 2011. Authorities could not find the men for months, he said, but eventually got credible information about their location, and "a window of opportunity" presented itself.

"The terrorists holding the two hostages made very clear threats to take their lives, including in a video that was posted on the Internet,'' Cameron said.

"Boko Haram" translates from the local Hausa language as "Western education is forbidden." Authorities have said the militant group is behind escalated gun and bomb attacks that have killed scores in recent years.

Oxfam warns of West Africa drought 'catastrophe'

Drought has hit a huge swathe of the Sahel region

Urgent action is needed to stop drought in West Africa's Sahel region turning into a humanitarian disaster affecting 13 million people, Oxfam says.

The charity says the international community waited too long to respond to famine in East Africa last year.
Oxfam has launched a £23m ($36m) emergency appeal to help reach more than a million of the most vulnerable.
A BBC correspondent says refugees fleeing fighting in northern Mali are adding to the problem.
Launching its appeal, Oxfam said that malnutrition rates across Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and northern Senegal are hovering between 10% and 15%, and in some areas have risen beyond the emergency threshold level of 15%.
It says that more than one million children in the Sahel region are at risk of severe malnutrition.
In parts of Chad, Oxfam says, some villagers are digging up ant hills to gather grain that the ants have stored.
The agency says that drought, high food prices, severe poverty and regional conflict are causing the crisis.
"Millions of people are on the threshold of a major crisis," said Mamadou Biteye, Oxfam Regional Director for West Africa.
"All signs point to a drought becoming a catastrophe if nothing is done soon. The world cannot allow this to happen. A concerted aid effort is needed to stop tens of thousands dying due to international complacency."

Syria crisis: Kofi Annan's calls for talks spark anger

Footage said to show fresh shelling of civilians in the city of Homs on Thursday

Syrian opposition activists have angrily rejected calls by Kofi Annan, the UN and Arab League envoy to Syria, for dialogue with the government.

The leader of the main opposition, Burhan Ghalioun, said the comments were "disappointing" when Syrians were being "massacred every day".
Mr Annan, who is due in Syria on Saturday, had said a solution lies in a "political settlement".
He also said further militarisation "would make things worse".
Tens of thousands of people were again reported to be on the streets across Syria on Friday, protesting against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Meanwhile, activists say Syrian troops are massing in northern Idlib province and fear another major assault, as happened in the city of Homs.
The Local Coordination Committees group said another 35 people were killed across Syria on Friday, including 13 in Homs, nine in Idlib, three in Hama, two in Damascus and one each in Lattakia and Aleppo.

US deal to hand Bagram and other prisons to Afghans

The US has previously handed over responsibility for a few hundred detainees at Bagram

Afghanistan and the US have reached a deal to transfer US-run prisons in the country to Afghan control.

The largest and most controversial of these is Bagram jail, which holds 3,000 detainees, including terror suspects.
Under the deal the US will cede control of Bagram over six months. Reports say they will retain access and be able to block the release of certain detainees.
Handing over US-run jails has been a key demand of Afghan President Hamid Karzai ahead of Nato's withdrawal.
Analysts say the issue has cast a shadow over negotiations on Nato's withdrawal of all of its combat forces by the end of 2014 and the long-term relationship with Afghanistan.
Bagram prison, officially known as the Parwan Detention Centre, is located in one of the largest military bases for Nato-led forces in Afghanistan. It has been at the centre of a number of prisoner abuse allegations in recent years.
Nato is also under intense pressure after days of protests and targeted killings across Afghanistan - over the inadvertent burning of Korans at Bagram - left at least 30 people dead.
The US repeatedly apologised over the incident but that failed to quell public anger.

Rahul Dravid retires from international cricket 'sad but proud'

On Friday, Rahul Dravid retired after 16 years in international cricket

Rahul Dravid's retirement from international cricket was announced at his home ground, the Chinnaswamy Stadium, in a function room filled with more than 200 people. Family, team-mates, friends, KSCA members, officials and journalists had gathered - as did fans watching a live broadcast - to mark the end of a remarkable career and a "reassuring presence" in the Indian team.

The press conference began on schedule and, within three-quarters of an hour, Dravid left the room and international cricket as he had walked in. Swift, smooth, business-like, and, on Friday, to the sound-and-light burst of camera flashbulbs. The significance of Friday's announcement will be understood only six months down the line, when India play Test cricket for the first time in 16 years without the most reliable one-drop in their history. 

The decision to retire was not sudden, he said; the period of contemplation had lasted over a year as he assessed his game series after series. The disappointment of the Australia tour had not given him any 'eureka' moment around his decision to leave the game. "I didn't take the decision based on one series… these decisions are based on a lot of other things, it's the culmination of a lot of things. I don't think it's based on what happened in the last series. For each one it comes differently, for me it's come with a bit of contemplation, a bit of thought, with friends and family."