UK recovery subdued for two years, says OECD

UK high street The OECD said the UK economy has become out of balance partly thanks to too much borrowing.
Continue reading the main story
UK Economy

* Jobless total hits 17-year high
* Further fall in Scottish jobless
* Report warns of housing shortage
* Rate rise 'could derail recovery'

The UK economic recovery will remain subdued for two years, with government spending cuts and slowing world trade weighing down growth, a report says.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimated growth this year of 1.5%, rising to 2% in 2012.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast is for 1.9% growth this year.

The OECD called the government's cuts "ambitious and necessary".

It said they were needed in order to achieve a sustainable recovery.

The wording is slightly different to a previous OECD report on the UK economy, when it called them "substantial but necessary".

The body, which is known to consult the governments of the countries it monitors, also suggested that interest rates should remain low.

The OECD warned that strong economic growth in the run-up to the 2008-09 recession had hidden a build-up of "significant imbalances", creating an over-reliance on the financial sector, booming asset prices and too much borrowing.

Spending cuts were needed to address these imbalances, it argued.
Reforms

It also said that reforms to the housing market should be made, with the aim of lowering asset prices and increasing affordability.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

The [OECD] report reserves its sharpest language for the state of the UK housing market - and the planning regime”

End Quote
image of Stephanie Flanders Stephanie Flanders Economics editor, BBC News

* Read Stephanie's blog

Education, too, should be reformed, to focus resources more on disadvantaged children.

The organisation, which gathers data on countries to further its aim of stimulating economic progress and world trade, said: "Monetary policy should remain expansionary, even if headline inflation is significantly above target, to support the economy.

"All in all, a subdued recovery is expected over the next two years."

The Chancellor, George Osborne, said the OECD report was a validation of his government's plans for the country: "The Budget [on March 23] will echo what I see as the central message of this OECD report. This government has set the right course for the British economy but we have so much more to do."

However Labour's Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls said he thought the OECD report was further evidence that government economic policy was on the wrong track.

"In the real world the evidence is mounting that his reckless plan to cut deeper and faster than any other major economy in the world isn't working," Mr Balls said.

Read more »

US urges tough United Nations resolution

Pro-Gaddafi forces west of Ajdabiya, 16 March Pro-Gaddafi forces have been gaining ground eastwards along the coast
Continue reading the main story
Libya Revolt

* No-fly zone options
* Gaddafi's limited options
* Uprising in maps
* Eyewitness: Tripoli in fear

The US has said the UN should consider more than just a no-fly zone over Libya, amid Security Council division on a draft resolution.

US ambassador Susan Rice said a no-fly zone would only bring limited help. She hoped for an early vote on a draft.

Russia expressed concern at some of the implications of the proposals and put forward a counter-resolution.

Forces loyal to Col Gaddafi are taking ground from rebels, who say they fear "genocide" without swift UN action.

On Wednesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross withdrew from the rebel-held city of Benghazi, in eastern Libya, saying it feared an imminent attack by Col Gaddafi's forces.

Government forces say they have captured Ajdabiya, the last town before Benghazi, but the rebels deny this.
'Over in 48 hours'

The UN Security Council on Wednesday undertook lengthy and difficult negotiations over a resolution aimed at authorising a no-fly zone.

The US has previously been cool on the effectiveness of such a zone, but Ms Rice said further measures were now needed.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

For days the US has held back, refusing to reveal its position - even to its allies...”

End Quote
Mark Mardell BBC North America editor

* Read Mark's thoughts in full

"The US view is that we need to be prepared to contemplate steps that include, but perhaps go beyond a no-fly zone, at this point, as the situation on the ground has evolved and as a no-fly zone has inherent limitations in terms of protection of civilians at immediate risk."

The BBC's Barbara Plett at the UN says the draft resolution contains controversial language authorising all necessary measures to protect civilians, which some interpret as permitting strikes against government ground forces if civilians are under attack.

She says that may have been what Russia's ambassador was referring to when he angrily declared that some members had introduced proposals with far-reaching implications.

Russia has strong reservations about military action, as does China, and instead offered a counter resolution calling first for a ceasefire.
Continue reading the main story
map

* Leaders flounder over no-fly zone
* UK wants UN 'leadership' on Libya
* Diplomatic options
* Is a no-fly zone possible?

Western diplomats said it was rejected because it lacked teeth.

Supporters of the draft resolution stressed the urgency of action and are pushing for a vote on Thursday.

Ms Rice said: "We will continue our negotiations early on Thursday, fully focused on the urgency and the gravity of the situation on the ground and it's my hope that we may be in a position to vote a serious resolution as early as Thursday. We're working very hard toward that end."

Pro-Gaddafi troops have been moving closer to Benghazi in recent days.

One of Col Gaddafi's sons, Saif al-Islam, has claimed Benghazi will be recaptured soon even if a no-fly zone is imposed.

"Everything will be over in 48 hours," he told Euronews.

Reports say Gaddafi forces have taken up positions outside Ajdabiya, only 160km (100 miles) from the rebel stronghold.
'Sterilised'

Tanks, artillery and warplanes have been bombarding Ajdabiya, but there are conflicting reports on whether it has fallen to the government troops.

The BBC's Jon Leyne in Benghazi says the situation there is getting more tense by the hour, and the calls for the international community to impose a no-fly zone more desperate.

Read more »

Yen hits record-high against US dollar as Nikkei falls

American and Japanese flags beside trading board A stronger currency makes Japanese exports less competitive and potentially hurts the economy
Continue reading the main story
Japan Earthquake

* Japan quake Live
* Q&A: Fukushima alert
* Shares rebound
* In pictures

The Japanese yen has hit its highest level against the US dollar since the end of the Second World War.

The yen climbed as high as 76.25 against the dollar in US trading on Wednesday. In Asia on Thursday, it was closer to 79.42.

The Nikkei 225 index shed 2.7% to 8,845.49 on concerns about the impact of a strong yen on exporters' profits.

G7 finance ministers have called a meeting on Thursday to discuss how to deal with global market volatility.

The G7 is a group of the world's seven richest nations, including the US, Japan, the UK and China.

Analysts expect the ministers to give Japan the go ahead to intervene in currency markets to stabilise the yen.

"It seems inevitable that the yen will be part of a broader discussion on stabilising global markets," said Alan Ruskin of Deutsche Bank.

"It would be nothing short of amazing if they fail to at least make some veiled threat of intervention," he added.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

Apart from intervention, there isn't much to stop this slide and the dollar doesn't look like it's coming back soon”

End Quote Brian Dolan Forex.com

* Crisis damage to cut Japan growth
* Companies move staff from Japan

'Nervous'

Japan's Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda declined to comment on whether or not Japan would step into the market but said he would keep an eye on developments.

"I will be closely watching market moves today," he said.

The minister has blamed speculation for the yen's surge.

"Market moves have been nervous amid speculation, while trade has been thin," Mr Noda said.

Analysts have been blaming the strengthening of the yen on the repatriation of assets and foreign currency by Japanese insurance firms.
Cash injection

In an effort to ease market concerns and provide liquidity, Japan's central bank pumped 5 trillion yen ($63bn; £39bn) into the banking system.

This is the fourth such injection of funds by the Bank of Japan, taking its total funds inflow to 33tn yen.

Analysts say that given the current market situation and the strength of the yen, the central bank may now go a step further and intervene in markets to stem the currency's rise.

"Apart from intervention, there isn't much to stop this slide and the dollar doesn't look like it's coming back soon," said Brian Dolan, chief strategist at Forex.com.

Read more »

Japan steps up cooling operation

apan says it is stepping up efforts to cool reactors at the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Army helicopters dumped tonnes of water to try to prevent a meltdown of fuel rods. Water cannon will join the operation shortly and it is hoped electricity will be restored soon.

Increasing alarm has been expressed in the US at the crisis.

The confirmed death toll from Friday's 9.0 magnitude quake, which triggered a tsunami, has risen above 5,000.

Police say 5,178 are confirmed dead and another 8,606 people are still missing.
'Deep condolences'

Japan's military CH-47 Chinook helicopters began spraying tonnes of water on reactors three and four at Fukushima, 220km (137 miles) from Tokyo, at 0948 local time (0048 GMT), officials said.
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
image of Richard Black Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News

Over the days of the Fukushima crisis, attention has switched from reactor building 1 to 3, to 2, back to 3 - and now, to 4.

Here, it is not the actual reactor that is causing concern. Instead, it is a pool storing fuel rods that had been taken out of the reactor when it was shut down for maintenance before the earthquake struck.

There have been reports that water levels were low; and now the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which has a team of experts advising in Japan, says the pool is completely dry.

This means the fuel rods are exposed to the air. Without water, they will get much hotter, allowing radioactive material to escape - and the NRC says radiation levels are probably extremely high, creating a danger to workers at the plant.

The company operating the plant has even warned of "re-criticality" - that a nuclear chain reaction could start among fuel rods in the now dry pool.

That would not cause a nuclear explosion but it would increase the release of radioactive substances.

* Surprise 'critical' warning raises fears

The aircraft dumped four loads before leaving the site in order to minimise the crews' exposure to radiation. On Wednesday, the helicopters were forced to abort a similar operation amid concerns over high radiation levels.

The BBC's Chris Hogg in Tokyo says the helicopters can carry an enormous amount of water but given the high winds it is difficult to know whether it has been dropped accurately.

Japanese government spokesman Yukio Edano said at a news briefing that nuclear experts were now investigating how effective the operation was.

Meanwhile, water trucks are on standby to spray more water on the reactors.

The operation was intended to help cool the reactors and also to replenish water in a storage pond with spent fuel rods.

Officials also said they were hoping that later on Thursday they would restore the power supply to the plant, which is needed for the cooling system and backup generators.

"If the restoration work is completed, we will be able to activate various electric pumps and pour water into reactors and pools for spent nuclear fuel," a spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Company, which runs the plant, told the AFP news agency.

US President Barack Obama spoke to Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Thursday local time amid increasing US fears over the crisis.

The US has now chartered aircraft to help Americans leave Japan and authorised the voluntary departure of relatives of diplomatic staff.

The White House said Mr Obama conveyed "deep condolences" at the loss of life and said Washington was "determined to do everything possible to support Japan".

On Wednesday, Greg Jaczko, chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), told a congressional energy and commerce subcommittee hearing in Washington that there appeared to be serious problems with attempts to cool the reactors.

"We believe that around the reactor site there are high levels of radiation."

He said it would be "very difficult for emergency workers to get near the reactors. The doses they could experience would potentially be lethal doses in a very short period of time".
Continue reading the main story
Fukushima Daiichi: What went wrong

* Reactor 1: Was first to be rocked an explosion on Saturday; fuel rods reportedly 70% damaged
* Reactor 2: There are fears a blast on Tuesday breached a containment system; fuel rods reportedly 33% damaged
* Reactor 3: Explosion on Monday; smoke or steam seen rising on Wednesday; damage to roof and possibly also to a containment system
* Reactor 4: Hit by a major blaze on Tuesday and another fire on Wednesday

* In graphics: Fukushima alert

US Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the situation appeared to be more serious than the partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania in 1979.

The head of the UN's atomic energy agency, Yukio Amano, is travelling to Japan in person to gather more information.

The US state department has urged Americans living within 80km of Fukushima Daiichi to leave the area - a much wider exclusion zone than the 20km advised by the Japanese government.

Mr Edano described the US approach as "conservative".

Britain has advised its nationals currently in Tokyo and to the north of the capital to consider leaving the area.

France has urged its citizens in Tokyo to leave the country or move south. Two Air France planes are due to begin evacuating French nationals later on Thursday.

In areas of the north-east badly hit by the tsunami, bitter winter weather has added to the misery of survivors, though more supplies are now reported to be reaching them.

The governor of Fukushima prefecture, where the badly damaged nuclear plant is located, has complained that evacuation centres lack basic necessities, including sufficient hot food.

About 450,000 people have been staying in temporary shelters, many sleeping on the floor of school gymnasiums.

The crisis has also continued to affect the markets - the benchmark Nikkei index fell 3.6% in early Thursday trading in Tokyo, shortly after the yen briefly hit the highest level against the US dollar since World War II.

On Wednesday, in a rare public appearance, Japan's Emperor Akihito said he was "deeply worried" about the crisis his country was facing.

Read more »

US cyber war defences 'very thin', Pentagon warns

Battle map on screen US officials say government and private systems are attacked millions of times per day
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories

* Cyber war exaggerated says expert
* Is cyber-warfare a genuine threat?
* Oil and gas firms hit by hackers

The US military lacks the people and resources to defend the country adequately from concerted cyber attacks, the head of the Pentagon's cyber command has warned.

"We are very thin, and a crisis would quickly stress our cyber forces," Gen Keith Alexander told Congress.

The US says government systems are attacked millions of times a day.

Disputes over budgets are holding up a new cyber protection system ordered by the Department of Homeland Security.

However, some argue the threat of cyber warfare is greatly exaggerated.
'Potential adversaries'

Gen Alexander, head of the US Defence Department's Cyber Command, told a Congressional Committee that he would mark as a "C" the military's ability to protect Pentagon networks, although he acknowledged improvements in recent years.

"We are finding that we do not have the capacity to do everything we need to accomplish. To put it bluntly, we are very thin, and a crisis would quickly stress our cyber forces," he said.

"We cannot afford to allow cyberspace to be a sanctuary where real and potential adversaries can marshal forces and capabilities to use against us and our allies. This is not a hypothetical danger."

US officials say cyber criminals, terrorists and other nations are getting better at penetrating state and private networks, whether to spy, to steal data or damage critical infrastructure.

But speaking last month, leading security expert Bruce Schneier told the BBC that the emotive rhetoric around "cyber warfare" did not match the reality.

"What we are seeing is not cyber war but an increasing use of war-like tactics and that is what is confusing us. We don't have good definitions of what cyber war is, what it looks like and how to fight it," Mr Schneier said.

Read more »

CIA contractor Ray Davis freed over Pakistan killings

Raymond Davis (file photo) CIA contractor Raymond Davis has reportedly already left prison
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories

* Lahore shootings fuel US-Pakistan row
* Behind the scenes of Pakistan's 'spy' shootings
* Raymond Davis and Lahore shootings - unanswered questions

A Pakistani court has freed a US CIA contractor after acquitting him of two counts of murder at a hearing held at a prison in Lahore, officials say.

Raymond Davis, 36, was alleged to have shot dead two men in the eastern city of Lahore in January following what he said was an attempted armed robbery.

The acquittal came when relatives of the dead men pardoned him in court.

They confirmed to the judge overseeing the case that they had received compensation - known as "blood money".

Under Pakistani Sharia law, relatives of a murder victim can pardon the killer.

Reports say about 18 family members of the two dead men were in court on Wednesday and confirmed that they wanted Mr Davis to be freed and pardoned because they had received "blood money".

The Pakistani media has reported that the families received 200 million rupees ($2.34m, £1.1m) but US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denied the US government had paid any blood money.

Protests against the acquittal took place in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. In Lahore demonstrators clashed with riot police near the US consulate.

Six people were injured and several others were arrested after police baton-charged the crowd.

In other parts of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad demonstrators set tyres on fire and disrupted traffic.

Cameron Munter, the US ambassador to Pakistan, said that he was "grateful for the generosity" of the families.

"I wish to express, once again, my regret for the incident and my sorrow at the suffering it caused," he said.

Mr Munter said that the US Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the incident.

Washington has always insisted that Mr Davis had diplomatic immunity and was acting in self-defence.

Faizan Haider, a lawyer representing the family of one of those killed, told the BBC that the "blood money" deal was done without his knowledge and that he was in detention when it was made.
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
M Ilyas Khan BBC News, Islamabad

It was high drama. For nearly seven weeks the media and the religious right in Pakistan waited for the indictment of Raymond Davis.

On Wednesday, they waited four hours for a session that normally would not last an hour. And then there was a burst of protests, not so much on the streets, but on the Pakistani TV channels.

The Raymond Davis affair touched a deep chord with the anti-US section of the Pakistani population and provided more fuel to an increasingly assertive religious right which organised demonstrations demanding that Mr Davis be hanged.

The issue also brought the US-Pakistan relations to their lowest point in recent years. Many thought that Mr Davis would be finally freed, but nobody expected this to happen so suddenly.

This is because nobody expected the families of the men Mr Davis killed to go for a blood money deal, an option which they had been rejecting apparently due to pressure from religious groups.

Although protests have now taken place, the religious lobby was initially unusually quiet on the issue. The fact that Mr Davis' release came under a clear Islamic law may be a reason.

"I was not allowed to participate in the proceedings of the case... and could not see or approach my clients," Asad Manzoor Butt said.

"I and my associate were kept under forced detention for four hours.

"If my clients have indeed signed a blood money deal, then this has been done behind my back and I don't know anything about it."

As recently as three days ago, relatives told the BBC they wanted justice not compensation.

Aijaz Ahmad, a cousin of Faizan Haider, said that eight members of his immediate family have not been traceable since news of the deal emerged.

"There is a padlock on their door. Their phones are all switched off. If they have done this then they have acted dishonourably," he said.

The immediate family of the other man killed is also reported to have gone missing.

Illegal weapons

The BBC's Orla Guerin in Islamabad said that Mr Davis - a former US special forces member - had already been released from jail but his exact whereabouts were unknown.
Protesters take to the street on Wednesday against the court decision The acquittal prompted protesters to take to the streets on Wednesday

She added that there were unconfirmed reports that he had already left Pakistan.

The deal to release him - made by the court sitting in his Lahore jail - ends a long-simmering diplomatic stand-off between Pakistan and the United States which had severely strained relations. It will come as a relief to both governments.

"The court first indicted him but the families later told court that they have accepted the blood money and they have pardoned him," Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told Reuters.

"The court acquitted him in the murder case."

Ms Sanaullah said that because Mr Davis was already on bail in a parallel case relating to possession of illegal weapons at the time of the killings, there was no reason why he should not also be released in that case too.

Mr Davis was arrested immediately after he shot dead two men. He has said that he killed them in self-defence as they were trying to rob him.

A third man was run over by a US vehicle that came to the American's aid but there have so far been no charges in relation to that case.

Public anger intensified after unnamed US officials said that Mr Davis had been secretly working for the CIA at the time and questions are likely to remain as to what he was exactly doing at the time.

The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says it is not clear exactly how much blood money was paid to the families of the dead men.

Our correspondent, who visited the families recently in Lahore, says they had been under great pressure from right-wing religious parties not to accept "blood money".

Hardline religious parties have led protests across Pakistan against Mr Davis in recent weeks and were keen to see him punished.

The Jamaat-e-Islami has announced that demonstrations will be held in protest against the release on Thursday.

Read more »

Japan Devastated: Video of fires, landslides, stranded people

Read more »

Japan Earthquake: Helicopter aerial view video of giant tsunami waves

Read more »

Japan's Nikkei 225 rebounds as economic concerns ease

A investor gazes at a share prices board in Tokyo Japanese companies saw their valuations drop over the past two days because of the massive sell-off
Continue reading the main story
Japan Earthquake

* Japan quake Live
* Q&A: Health effects
* In pictures
* Q&A: Fukushima explained

Japanese stocks rebounded on Wednesday as concerns over the long-term economic impact of Friday's earthquake and tsunami eased.

The Nikkei 225 gained 5.7% to close at 9,093.72 points.

The index had dropped more than 16% on Monday and Tuesday in its biggest two-day fall for 23 years.

European markets also held steady at the start of trading, with companies previously hit by nuclear or supply chain fears rebounding.
Bargain-hunting

Germany's Dax index was Europe's best performer, rising 1%, led by utility firms E.On and RWE.

The two had been hit on Tuesday by fears of a German clampdown on the nuclear power industry in response to the continuing leakage at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan.

Technology company Infineon also rose strongly, as did carmakers across Europe, as fears over damage to their Japanese supply chains eased.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

Once the nuclear plant problem is cleared out of the way, the market will go back to the level from before that panic sell-off”

End Quote Makoto Kikuchi Myojo Asset Management

* BOJ adds another $43bn to markets
* Companies move staff from Japan
* Asia could rethink nuclear future
* Carmakers fear Japan parts shortages

Earlier in Tokyo, stocks of financial companies, exporters and car companies were among the biggest gainers, as investors hunted for bargains following Tuesday's rushed sell-off.

These sectors and stocks were among the hardest hit in the sell-off following the earthquake and tsunami.

Taking a cue from Nikkei's strong rebound, other markets in the region registered gains as well.

Seoul's main Kospi index rose 1.8%, while Australian shares ended the day 0.7% higher.
'Oversold'

Japanese shares had tumbled in the aftermath of the disaster, with some of the biggest companies seeing their market values plunging.

"The market in general understands that Japanese shares are oversold," said Kazuhiro Takahashi of Daiwa Securities Capital Markets in Tokyo.

While concerns remain about the impact of the devastation on Japan's economy, analysts say stocks of companies which are not fully dependent on domestic demand are priced attractively.

"Once the nuclear plant problem is cleared out of the way, the market will go back to the level from before that panic sell-off," said Makoto Kikuchi of Myojo Asset Management.
Short selling

While there is optimism about the economic recovery, many analysts believe there are other factors to consider.

"The rebound is pretty strong as investors realised they may have panicked a bit too much [on Tuesday]," said Fujio Ando of Chibagin Asset Management.

Mr Ando also believes that the markets may be distorted as traders try to cover bets they took that the market will continue to fall.

Click to play
Advertisement

Fears hang over Tokyo markets

Many traders borrow shares they do not own, promising to repay them at a later date at a fixed price.

They then sell the shares, hoping to buy them back at a cheaper price in a falling market, thus making a profit on the difference, a practice called short-selling.

"It's mostly short covering by both domestic and foreign players, and not honest, active buying, because nuclear worries are still strong," Mr Ando said.
'Extremely volatile'

Investors were optimistic about a recovery despite reports of another fire at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

A spike in radiation levels at the Fukushima nuclear plant had forced workers to suspend their operation, according to a government spokesman.

Analysts have warned that developments at the plant will have an impact on the markets.

"The market is still extremely volatile," said Norihiro Fujito of Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

"All eyes are on the nuclear plant and the Nikkei will move according to the news about the plant," he added.

There have been concerns about a meltdown at the plant after it was hit by explosions.

The reactor was the worst hit by the earthquake in Japan.

Read more »

Japan's Emperor Akihito has said he is "deeply worried"

Japan's Emperor Akihito has said he is "deeply worried" about the crisis his country is facing following last Friday's earthquake and tsunami.

In an extremely rare appearance, the emperor went on live TV to make his first public comments on the disaster, and said he was praying for the people.

He spoke after technicians temporarily abandoned a quake-crippled nuclear plant as radiation briefly surged.

The 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami has killed thousands of people.
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
image of Richard Black Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News

The latest spike of radiation measured at Fukushima Daiichi is consistent with reports suggesting damage to the containment system around reactor 3.

It appears similar to Tuesday's incident in reactor 2, thought to be a crack that released steam containing some radioactive substances.

In both cases, radioactivity levels soon fell. More worryingly, the latest spike was serious enough to force technicians off the site.

Without workers on the ground, it is hard to see how the vital task of putting water into the hot reactors could be maintained.

The situation in reactor 4 is puzzling. A pool storing fuel rods from the shut-down reactor appears to have run dry, and officials spoke of a danger of "criticality" - the resumption of a nuclear reaction in the stored rods.

Nuclear experts say this should not happen if the rods have been correctly arranged in the pool.

Radioactivity levels continue to be an issue around the plant; but further away, they are not high enough at present to pose a hazard - especially with the wind blowing out to sea.

The stricken Fukushima Daiichi power facility has sent low levels of radiation wafting into Tokyo, spreading alarm in the city and internationally.

TV stations interrupted programming on Wednesday to show the emperor describing the crisis facing the nation as "unprecedented in scale".

The 77-year-old - deeply respected by many Japanese - said: "I hope from the bottom of my heart that the people will, hand in hand, treat each other with compassion and overcome these difficult times."

As a cold snap blanketed parts of the disaster zone in snow, Emperor Akihito called for an all-out rescue effort.

Survivors have been struggling with little food, water or heat, while about 450,000 people have been staying in temporary shelters, many sleeping on the floor of school gymnasiums.

Japan's titular head of state - who acceded to the throne in 1989 after the death of his father Hirohito - said he prayed that every victim could be saved.

At least 10,000 people are feared dead following the catastrophe, which pulverised swathes of the country's north-east coast.

In other developments:

* France urged its nationals in Tokyo to leave the country or move south; two Air France planes were sent to begin evacuation
* Australia advised its citizens to consider leaving Tokyo and the most damaged prefectures; Turkey warned against travel to Japan
* After losing $620bn (£385bn) in the first two days of this week, Japan's stock market rebounded to finish Wednesday up by 5.7%

Engineers are racing to avert a nuclear catastrophe at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, 220km (140 miles) from Tokyo.

Click to play
Advertisement

Watch: Japan's Emperor Akihito addresses the Japanese people

Helicopters deployed to dump water on the facility on Wednesday have been pulled out amid concerns over radiation.

Earlier, the plant's operators evacuated its skeleton crew of 50 workers as ground-level radiation spiked, but they have since returned.

And yet another fire broke out in a reactor, while smoke or steam billowed from another one.

Winds from the facility are currently blowing north-west out into the Pacific Ocean.

The government said it had no plans to extend a 20-km (12-mile) evacuation zone around the plant.
Continue reading the main story
Fukushima Daiichi crisis

* Reactor 1: Was first to be rocked an explosion on Saturday; fuel rods reportedly 70% damaged
* Reactor 2: Fears Tuesday's blast breached containment system; fuel rods reportedly 33% damaged
* Reactor 3: Explosion on Monday; smoke or steam seen rising on Wednesday; damage to roof and possibly also containment system
* Reactor 4: Hit by a major blaze on Tuesday and another fire on Wednesday

* In graphics: Fukushima alert

Another 140,000 people living between within 20-30km of the facility were told on Tuesday not to leave their homes.

The atomic crisis has been caused by the tsunami breaking back-up diesel generators which kept the nuclear fuel cool.

Workers have been dousing the reactors with seawater in a frantic effort to stabilise their temperatures, since the first in a series of explosions rocked the plant on Saturday.

In Tokyo on Wednesday, there were as few people on the streets or using public transport as there would be on a public holiday, and many shops and offices were closed.

Many people have stocked up on food and water to stay indoors or have simply left the city

Read more »

Washington concerned over torture allegations in Zimbabwe

he United States expressed concern Thursday about recent arrests in Zimbabwe of political and civil society activists and allegations by their lawyer that some of them were tortured.

On February 19, former Movement for Democratic Change Member of Parliament Munyaradzi Gwisai and 45 other labor union and student activists "who had gathered peacefully to discuss recent events in Egypt" were arrested and charged with treason, State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said in a statement.

Other political and civil society activists have also been arrested, he said.

"Gwisai's defense attorney has reported that several of the 46 people were tortured while in custody, and we understand that the magistrate has ordered physical examinations to substantiate those claims," he said. "We call on the government to provide medical attention for those who need it and, if torture occurred, to take immediate action to hold the perpetrators accountable."

A ruling on the charges' merits is to be delivered March 7.

Crowley called on the government of Zimbabwe to uphold rights spelled out under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and to ensure that those arrested are guaranteed due process.

Zimbabwean authorities said the 46 people were arrested and charged with treason after they were caught watching footage of the protests that led to the ouster of Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

"On 16 February they held a meeting and the purpose of the meeting was to organize, strategize and implement the removal of a constitutional government of Zimbabwe by unconstitutional means, the Tunisian-Egyptian way," prosecutor Edmore Nyazamba said last week in court.

At least 12 of the activists were beaten with broomsticks on their buttocks and the soles of their feet, defense attorney Alec Muchadehama told a packed courtroom on Thursday. All 46 defendants were charged with treason, a charge that carries a death sentence in Zimbabwe.

"If watching television footage of the uprisings was treason, most Zimbabweans would be guilty of it because we watch news daily," Muchadehama said.

Robert Mugabe, 87, has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. Like Mubarak and Ben Ali, he has been accused of rigging elections and instituting repressive laws to tighten his grip on power.

The arrests may be an indication that authorities are worried that the changes sweeping across north Africa may inspire Zimbabweans to rise up. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change, MDC, which is in a troubled unity government with Mugabe's ZANU-PF, has called the arrests "an abuse of state machinery by ZANU-PF to suppress the people's views."

Mugabe's policies over the past decade have been blamed for plunging the once-prosperous country into economic crisis. Mugabe has called for an election this year, but his political rival and leader of the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai, has threatened to boycott the poll if a referendum on a new constitution is not held.

Read more »

Japan's suicide rate for job seekers jumps

The number of people in Japan who killed themselves last year because they couldn't find a job jumped 20%, the National Police Agency reported Thursday.

The figures were released as part of the agency's annual study of suicides.

In 2010, 424 people killed themselves because they failed to find a job, according to the NPA. In 2009, the number was 354.

Police said the greatest growth in the category came among students. In 2009, 23 students killed themselves. In 2010, the number grew to 53 -- a 130% increase.

The stark figures stood in contrast to the overall decrease in the number of suicides in Japan, down 3.5% to 31,690. About 127 million people live in the island nation.

Police figures also showed an increase in the number of child caretakers who killed themselves. The number in 2010 grew to 157, up 44% from 2009.

Japan has one of the developed world's highest suicide rates. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry says the number of suicides in Japan has been over 30,000 per year for 13 years in a row.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has made tackling suicides one of his priorities, saying, in the past that he aimed to "reduce the factors that make people unhappy."

On World Suicide Prevention Day last September, the government launched a website featuring a popular soccer star, urging the country become more aware of the warning signs of suicide.

But the suicide rate persists, in a society where a stigma surrounds mental health issues.

Read more »

15 people killed in attacks in Pakistan

A vehicle packed with explosives rammed into a police checkpoint in northwest

Pakistan on Thursday, killing nine people, police said.

Thirty-one others were hurt in the attack outside Hangu district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said police official Aslam Khan.

The province was formerly known as the North West Frontier Province.

Meanwhile, six tribal policemen were killed and three others injured Thursday when unknown gunmen opened fire on a patrol in Khyber Agency in Pakistan's tribal region, a senior government official said.

The police van was on a routine patrol when more than five gunmen opened fire, said Shafeerullah Khan, the administration chief of Khyber Agency.

Read more »

Eurozone interest rates could rise in April, ECB says

ECB HQ The European Central Bank has kept interest rates in the eurozone unchanged at a record low 1%
Continue reading the main story
Global Economy

* Global food prices hit new record
* Oil rise 'to hit airline profits'
* India economy to sustain growth
* China lowers growth rate target

The president of the European Central Bank has said that a rise in eurozone interest rates was "possible" at its next policy meeting in April.

Jean-Claude Trichet said the ECB was "in a posture of strong vigilance" against rising inflation.

He said the rate-setting committee may have to act in the light of recent "price shocks" due to the sharp rises in commodity prices.

On Thursday the ECB decided to keep rates at 1% at this month's meeting.

Speaking at a press conference, Mr Trichet stressed that no decisions had yet been made.

"We are never precommitted. The decision will be taken at the next meeting by the governing council," he said.

But analysts said it was a clear signal that a rate rise next month was likely.
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
image of Andrew Walker Andrew Walker Economics correspondent, BBC World Service

Inflation is a growing global concern as food and energy prices rise. In Brazil, the central bank raised interest rates on Wednesday for the second time in three months.

There is growing support for an increase by the Bank of England too, although so far the majority on the main policymaking committee have opted to keep interest rates at their all time low.

The dilemma for central banks in the rich countries is that higher interest rates could discourage consumer spending and business investment and undermine the weak recovery from recession.

Developing economies face a different problem. Raising interest rates can draw in foreign investment funds. That is normally welcome, but now there are concerns that the result might be financial market bubbles and currencies rising so far that local industries are made uncompetitive.

* Global food prices hit new record
* Brazil interest rates hit 11.75%

Jacques Cailloux, of RBS European Economics, said that the ECB appeared to have "pre-announced a rate hike for its next policy meeting.

"This is a shock to us relative to our earlier expectation of ECB [rates] remaining on hold till September," he said.

Mr Trichet said that the ECB may need to act to prevent "secondary effects" from the current inflation shock sweeping the 17-nation eurozone.

Second-round effects are wage and price rises, which could be discouraged by raising interest rates.

Higher energy, food, and raw material costs have helped push up inflation throughout the world, and analysts are speculating that the UK will raise rates sooner rather than later.
'Prepared to act'

Inflation in the eurozone rose to 2.4% in January, above the ECB's target of just below 2%.

The bank has said it expects inflation to stay slightly above 2% for most of 2011, before moderating again in 2012.
Continue reading the main story
Euro v US Dollar
Last Updated at 04 Mar 2011, 06:46 GMT *Chart shows local time EUR:USD intraday chart
€1 buys change %
1.3963 -
-0.00
-
-0.05

Mr Trichet said that the risk to prices were "on the upside" and that the whole governing council was "prepared to act in a firm and timely manner".

He added: "The continued firm anchoring of inflation expectations is of the essence."

The strength of Mr Trichet's warning on inflation surprised the markets. The euro shot up around a cent to around $1.3950 while bond prices across the single currency zone fell.

Analysts said that the markets were betting on an April rise in interest rates.

Kornelius Purps, fixed income strategist at Unicredit, added: "We should now try to price in a steady rate hike cycle starting as soon as next month."

The ECB decision to keep rates on hold for March is the 22nd-consecutive month they have been kept at record low of 1%.

The bank also kept two other rates, the marginal lending rate and the deposit rate, unchanged at 1.75% and 0.25%.

Read more »

Oil wealth 'must be shared' with citizens says Soros

George Soros Mr Soros says the US and the West must back revolutions in the Middle East
Citizens of oil producing nations must see more benefit from their country's national resources, billionaire investor George Soros has told the BBC.

Revolts in Libya were partly the result of "revulsion against a corruption" fed by the misuse of oil money, he added.

More "transparency and accountability" was needed from other producers such as Russia and Saudi Arabia he said.

Mr Soros also predicted the Iranian regime would be overthrown in the "bloodiest of the revolutions".
'Rebelled'

Libya produces 1.6 million barrels of oil per day and is the 17th largest producer in the world.

And Colonel Gaddafi's hold on power has been dependent on the billions of dollars in oil revenue that pour into the country.

Talking of the wave of governments being challenged in North Africa and the Middle East, Mr Soros said: "What has caused the revolutions is a revulsion against a corruption that is fed by the misuse of natural resources like for instance in Libya.

"Transparency and even more importantly accountability in the use of natural resources is what you need for people living in those countries to get the benefit of those national resources.

"Libya produced enormous wealth which Gaddafi took as his own and now the people rebelled against it."
'Tremendous improvement'

Asked whether there should be more transparency with what happened to oil incomes, Mr Soros said: "Very much so."

And he said the US and Europe needed to more actively support the revolutions in Libya and elsewhere so that the new regimes will co-operate with the West.

"What is happening today in the Middle East is very similar to what happened in the former Soviet Union in 1989-91. But then it was a regime hostile to the West that was destroyed by the revolution," he said.

"Now it is regimes supported by the West, so the West has to regain the allegiance of the people in those countries by actually supporting the transition to democracy.

"It's very important that Europe and the US should be in front of the revolution rather than behind it because if they are behind it, they are going to lose the allegiance of the new regimes that are emerging and if they are properly supported they will be democratic regimes and it will be a tremendous improvement."

Read more »

Residents flee Bolivia's mega-mudslide By Mattia Cabitza

"This does not look like a landslide, but a massive earthquake."

Jose Joaquin Mamani is carrying on his back a few of his belongings, wrapped in a dirty white sheet. "There is nothing that can be saved," he cries out.

He is among thousands of other residents evacuating Irpavi II, one of the many neighbourhoods in La Paz affected by last Sunday's landslide which destroyed or damaged more than 1,500 houses.

Mr Mamani pleads for help. "We do not know where to go. We are just leaving this area.

"My house and cattle were buried under mud. But we are alive - that is the most important thing." His eyes get watery as he talks about his children.
'Help us!'

A constant flow of people leaves behind their houses in ruins to move to stable ground.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

This is the biggest landslide in the city of La Paz since records began”

End Quote Luis Revilla La Paz mayor

They carry furniture, clothes - anything they can grab in desperation - to cross a raging river which threatens to swallow the only working bridge left standing.

"Mr President, help us!" cries Rina Valencia Escalante.

She had been living in the area for more than 20 years and had not finished paying her house.

"I still owe $8,000 (£4,900)," she says, hoping the debt will be written off.

Ms Valencia, like most people here, did not have insurance on her property, and has nothing left.

President Evo Morales has promised he will not abandon people left homeless. The government says they will rebuild new homes for them.

But for the more than 6,000 people directly affected by the landslide, the priority now is to deal with their urgent humanitarian needs.
Water warning
Residents flee La Paz About 60% of La Paz is prone to geological problems, experts say

On Tuesday, the government launched a national campaign to ask for money and donations for the victims.

The local and national governments have also mobilised thousands of rescue workers, police and troops to help in the evacuation, and to relocate residents to temporary accommodation.

People are being housed in wooden shelters and tents as well as schools, and tonnes of dried food, clothes and mattresses are being provided.

The mayor of La Paz, Luis Revilla, told the BBC that since Sunday the affected area had almost doubled in size, from 80 to 140 hectares, but that the worst should be over.

"The landslide has been practically detained," he said, hoping that the weather would not deteriorate.

Despite criticism from residents, who complain they had received little information of the dangers their houses were facing, Mr Revilla said the authorities were doing everything they could considering the magnitude of the disaster.

"This is the biggest landslide in the city of La Paz since records began," he said.

"All the preventive measures we had put into place in the area proved insufficient to stop a landslide of such magnitude."

One of many involved in the rescue effort in Irpavi II is Fabian Yaksic, a member of parliament.

He reports that, among the misery faced by homeless residents, thousands of people living on lower ground face the prospect of remaining without water for six months or more.

"We carried out an inspection and found out that, unfortunately, the main pipe [which takes water to many parts of the southern district of La Paz] is broken," Mr Yaksic says.

"A new pipeline needs to be built," he says.

But the pipes may have to be imported from as far away as the United States, adding more time to the repair work.
Exposed city

Landslides are nothing new in La Paz, and every year whole chunks of mountains crumble, and sometimes bury residents alive.

Alain Malatrait, a French geologist who made a risk assessment of the city ground 30 years ago, told the BBC that 60% of it was prone to geological problems.

"The risks in La Paz are water erosion, gravitational movements [such as landslides], flooding by rivers and earthquakes," he says.

"There are several places that are exposed to landslides but it is difficult to know which neighbourhoods are more at risk now, and which ones will be next."

La Paz, a city of a million people, has grown rapidly, often at random, in the past few decades along the sides of its many canyons.

It also sits on an estimated 400 rivers and underground streams, which swell during the rainy months of January and February.

Given the known risks faced by the city, homeless residents are asking why permission was given for their houses to be built on steep slopes so vulnerable to landslides.

Read more »

Wikileaks: Suspect Bradley Manning faces 22 new charges

Bradley Manning, US military handout Intelligence analyst Bradley Manning served in Iraq
Continue reading the main story
Wikileaks Revelations

* Q&A: Arrest of Wikileaks' founder
* Cables at a glance
* Wikileaks activists go analogue
* A world after Wikileaks

The US Army has charged a soldier held in connection with the leak of US government documents published by the Wikileaks website with 22 extra counts.

The new charges against Private First Class Bradley Manning include aiding the enemy, a capital offence, but prosecutors have said they will not seek the death penalty.

The intelligence analyst is being held at a military jail in Virginia.

He is suspected of leaking 620,000 diplomatic and military documents.

Pte Manning, who joined the US military in 2007, was initially charged in May with 12 counts of illegally downloading and sharing a secret video of a US military operation and secret military and diplomatic documents and cables.

The new charges accuse the soldier of using unauthorised software on government computers to download classified information and to make intelligence available to "the enemy".

Under the US Uniform Code of Military Justice, the offence is punishable by death.

But in a news release, the US Army said prosecutors would not seek the death penalty, although Pte Manning could face life in prison if tried and convicted.
Fresh details

Pte Manning's lawyer David Coombs said the soldier's defence team had been preparing for the possibility of additional charges over the past few weeks.

Pte Manning is being held in solitary confinement in a high-security military prison at Quantico marine base, Virginia.

Mr Coombs has said he expects a hearing to determine whether the military has enough evidence to try the soldier to be held in May or June.

The newly released list of charges offers fresh details on the records Pte Manning is accused of obtaining illegally.

Those include:

* More than 380,000 records from a database of military records from the Iraq war
* 90,000 records from a database of Afghan war files
* 250,000 records from a US state department diplomatic database
* 75 classified US state department cables, including one titled "Reykjavik-13"
* A video file named "12 JUL 07 CZ ENGAGEMENT ZONE 30 GC"

In recent months, Wikileaks has published troves of documents it titled the Iraq War Logs, the Afghan War Diary, and reams of secret US state department cables spanning five decades.

The site has also released a cable titled Reykjavik 13 that summarised US diplomats' discussions with Icelandic officials about that country's financial troubles, and a leaked video of a 2007 helicopter attack in Iraq that killed two Reuters news service employees.

Read more »

Nearly two months after President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fled the country he ruled for 23 years

Nearly two months after President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fled the country he ruled for 23 years, some Tunisians are asking whether the authoritarian system he created is really being dismantled.

Protesters are camping beside the prime minister's office in central Tunis. Hundreds of people from all over the country are now living in the tented city, singing protest songs and asking passers-by to sign petitions.

"Nothing has changed," said a student standing by one of the tents.

A young bearded man standing beside her, his head swathed in a chequered red-and-white scarf, nodded in agreement: "We don't trust the new government."

Last weekend protesters marched through central Tunis to demand more rapid change and fought running battles with the police.

The police fired live rounds into the crowds, killing five people.
Gerontocracy

At a smoke-filled cafe in central Tunis a group of policemen sporting short haircuts and leather jackets gave their version of events.

"Some people - we don't know who - broke into the interior ministry and threatened the people working inside. These people are going to make the country a mess. So I don't mind killing them," said one of the police officers as he flicked ash on the cafe's marble floor and sipped black coffee.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

For the first time you can write what you think without censorship: either self-censorship or from your boss. If we don't succeed it means we go back under dictatorship”

End Quote Assia Atrous Tunisian journalist

Although the police did manage to suppress the protests, the demonstrators did not go away empty-handed.

Prime Minister Mohamed Gannouchi, who had hung on from the Ben Ali era, announced he was stepping down. He was replaced by former Foreign Minister Beji Caid Sebsi.

Tunisia is now governed by a 78-year-old interim president and an 84-year-old interim prime minister. The youth revolution has spawned a gerontocracy.

"All these young people who went on the streets to force Ben Ali out, they have just handed the revolution to these people on a silver plate," said Raoudha Ben Othman of Tunis University.

There are no national level politicians who speak for the revolutionaries. Instead the government consists of established politicians and a few new faces in the form of technocrats.

Zami Zaoui is one of them. A suave, immaculately dressed business consultant, he became secretary of state for communications and technology in the interim government. But earlier this week he resigned.

He thought he was joining a government of national unity that would enjoy broad support as it managed the transition to elections. But the interim government's work has been more contested than he had anticipated.

"The revolution can not be stolen," he said, adding that "it now needs political stability".

But Mr Zaoui conceded that when it came to communicating a more politically suitable image, the interim government should have had fewer faces from the Ben Ali era.

Read more »

Rebels in Libya have been celebrating after fighting off an attempt by troops loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi to retake the eastern oil port of Brega.

The town was full of jubilant people, who fired their guns in the air, the BBC's John Simpson in Brega reports.

Well-armed Gaddafi forces had arrived in large numbers, and at one stage appeared to hold the upper hand. But they were later forced to retreat.

Meanwhile, Col Gaddafi warned he would "fight until the last man and woman".

In a televised speech, Col Gaddafi also said that thousands of Libyans would die if Western forces intervened.

Discussions continue at the UN about the idea of implementing a no-fly to stop pro-Gaddafi forces launching air attacks on rebel forces.

But the BBC's Barbara Plett in New York says Russia, among others, is unlikely to support any no-fly zone proposal unless there are air raids by Colonel Gaddafi's forces on civilians.

Meanwhile, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has spoken to Colonel Gaddafi to discuss the establishment of a "peace commission" to mediate in the country.

Communications Minister Andres Izarra did not say how the Libyan leader had reacted to President Chavez's proposal.
'Important reverse'

The BBC's John Simpson said that he had been to Brega's seashore and university, where the heaviest fighting took place on Wednesday, and they appeared entirely clear of pro-Gaddafi troops.

Our correspondent says that a senior rebel officer suggested the Gaddafi troops - who had arrived in more than 100 vehicles and had managed to briefly seize the university and an oil refinery - might have run out of ammunition and been forced to withdraw.

The excited rebels appear to be very proud of what they have achieved, our correspondent says, and the feeling in the town is that Col Gaddafi's men do not necessarily have their hearts in the job.

A Libyan air force plane did recently drop one bomb nearby, he says, but the attempt by Col Gaddafi to move on the eastern rebel-held areas - his first such attack in two weeks - appears for now to have been repulsed and, although this is by no means a final victory, it is an important reverse for the Libyan leader.

Medical sources in Brega told BBC Arabic that 14 people had been killed in the fighting.

Our correspondent says an airforce plane had earlier tried to bomb the vast weapons dump on the outskirt of Ajdabiya 50km (30 miles) from Brega.

He says most people in Ajdabiya probably assumed at that point that Col Gaddafi's forces were on their way and that there was little between them and the rebel capital Benghazi 100 miles away. But volunteers came pouring in from Benghazi and Ajdabiya.

Read more »

Pakistan Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti shot dead

Pakistani Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti has been shot dead by gunmen who ambushed his car in broad daylight in the capital, Islamabad.

He was travelling to work through a residential district when his vehicle was sprayed with bullets, police said.

Mr Bhatti, the cabinet's only Christian minister, had received death threats for urging reform to blasphemy laws.

In January, Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, who had also opposed the law, was shot dead by one of his bodyguards.

The blasphemy law carries a death sentence for anyone who insults Islam. Critics say it has been used to persecute minority faiths.
No security escort

Mr Bhatti, 42, a leader of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP), had just left his mother's home in a suburb of the capital when several gunmen surrounded his vehicle and riddled it with bullets, say witnesses.
Continue reading the main story
At the scene
image of Orla Guerin Orla Guerin BBC News, Islamabad

In the streets where Shahbaz Bhatti was shot dead, the gunmen left their mark. We found bullet holes gouged into the walls. The gunmen had been lying in wait close to the home of Mr Bhatti's mother.

The minister made an easy target, according to a neighbour at the scene, who didn't want to be named. He told us Mr Bhatti was alone, away from his driver, when the gunmen struck.

"The minister had only one car. There was no security, no police at that time. After the incident happened, the police came," he said.

Senior police officials said Mr Bhatti had been assigned police and paramilitary troops, but had asked them not to travel with him at the time.

In recent weeks Mr Bhatti had been concerned about security. One of his friends said the minister had asked repeatedly for a bullet-proof car. In late January, Mr Bhatti said to me: "I am telling you I have no extra security. It is the same security I was given when I became a minister."

The minister's driver was spared.

Mr Bhatti was taken to the nearby Shifa hospital, but was dead on arrival.

The gunmen, who were wearing shawls, escaped in a white Suzuki car, according to witnesses.

The minister had not been accompanied by his guards or the security escort vehicle that is standard for all Pakistani ministers, and it is not clear why.

Pamphlets by al-Qaeda and Tehrik-i-Taliban Punjab, a branch of the Taliban in Pakistan's most populous province, were found at the scene.

Tehrik-i-Taliban told BBC Urdu they carried out the attack.

"This man was a known blasphemer of the Prophet [Muhammad]," said the group's deputy spokesman, Ahsanullah Ahsan.

"We will continue to target all those who speak against the law which punishes those who insult the prophet. Their fate will be the same."
Vendettas

Security has been stepped up on all main roads in Islamabad.

In January, Mr Bhatti told the BBC he would defy death threats he had received from Islamist militants for his efforts to reform the blasphemy law.

A government spokesman condemned the assassination.

"This is a concerted campaign to slaughter every liberal, progressive and humanist voice in Pakistan," Farahnaz Ispahani, an aide to President Asif Ali Zardari, told AP news agency.

The Vatican condemned the murder of the Catholic politician as "unspeakable".

Governor Taseer was shot dead on 4 January, also in Islamabad, by one of his own police bodyguards. The killer has been feted by many in the country as a hero.

The governor had backed a private member's bill in parliament by Sherry Rehman, a female MP, to amend the blasphemy law in an attempt to make miscarriages of justice less likely and remove its death penalty.

But in the face of strident popular opposition, the federal government said it would not support the proposed reforms.

Ms Rehman said last month she was receiving death threats every half hour by e-mail and telephone.

Christians, who make up an estimated 1.5% of Pakistan's 185 million population, were left reeling by Mr Bhatti's death.

"We have been orphaned today!" Rehman Masih, a Christian resident of Islamabad, told AP news agency. "Now who will fight for our rights?"

Pakistan's blasphemy law has been in the spotlight since a Christian, Asia Bibi, was sentenced to hang in Punjab last November.

She denies claims she insulted the Prophet Muhammad during a row with Muslim women villagers about sharing water.

Although no-one convicted under the law has been executed, more than 30 accused have been killed by lynch mobs.

Critics say that convictions under the law hinge on witness testimony, which is often linked to grudges.

Read more »