Friday, August 19, 2011
11 August 2011 Last updated at 15:53 GMT By Charles Haviland BBC News, Colombo 
The families demanded that more should be done to find their loved ones Weeping parents have been demonstrating in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, asking what has become of close family members who have disappeared.
The protesters gathered on a hot street corner near the town hall.
Most of those grieving were Tamil and from the former war areas of north and east Sri Lanka. They solemnly held pictures of their missing loved ones.
The issue of disappearances still causes agony for many Sri Lankans, who do not know where to get help.
"We want our children," the protesters chanted. "Where are our children? Dear president, please listen."
The war has been over two years, they said, but their children remain missing.
About 100 family members of disappeared people demonstrated, supported by a student organisation.
Many broke down as they spoke.
WeepingManeswari Chandrarasa said her 19-year-old son, Prabhakaran, had no political connections but was taken away three years ago by men claiming to be from the Criminal Investigation Department.
But the CID subsequently denied any knowledge of it, she said.
Missing person Mayurathan is believed to be third from the left "They came inside the house and took my child who was asleep," she said, weeping. "I'm still looking for him. So far there's no reply from the officials. Please give me my child."
Neranjini Nirmalanathan, who had earlier lost her husband to the Tamil Tigers, said soldiers took her son, Mayurathan, in 2007. He was an altar boy at church in Jaffna.
Her enquiries to the authorities since then had gone unanswered. But in June a Tamil newspaper published a photograph of him and five other youths that it says it found on the internet.
She clutches the photograph, which she thinks shows the six in a prison.
"I want my son," she said, sobbing, in English. "Please try and understand, I want my son, without my son I will commit suicide."
Large numbers flocked to testify before the government's own war inquiry commission during its public hearings late last year, though relatively few could be heard.
During the war many saw their children forcibly conscripted by the Tamil Tigers, only to be later detained by the government side and never seen again.
A recent police announcement that families could now seek news of their loved ones at police stations seems to have made little difference.
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3 August 2011 Last updated at 18:09 GMT 
Standard Chartered said trading had made a strong start to the second half of the year London-based, Asia-focused Standard Chartered Bank has reported an increase in half-year profits.
Pre-tax profits for the first six months of the year were $3.6bn (£2.2bn), up 17% from last year.
Operating profits by region rose in all territories except Standard Chartered's biggest market, India, which fell 39%, and Africa, down 6%.
It blamed rising interest rates, growing competition and regulatory changes for falling profits in India.
Profits grew by 55% in Hong Kong, 11% in Singapore, 30% in South Korea, and 98% in the Americas, UK and Europe.
Income from its businesses in the Middle East and South Africa rose 6%, the rest of Africa rose 5%, and in the Americas and Europe it was up 12%.
"The group's strong performance in the first half of 2011 should be seen in the context of the ongoing economic uncertainties, particularly in the West, and the sustained global regulatory upheaval," said Standard Chartered chairman Sir John Peace.
"Standard Chartered has had a strong start to 2011 and this momentum has continued into the second half."
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21 January 2011 Last updated at 18:15 GMT 
Lying off the southern tip of India, the tropical island of Sri Lanka has beguiled travellers for centuries with its palm-fringed beaches, diverse landscapes and historical monuments.
But the island has been scarred by a long and bitter civil war arising out of ethnic tensions between the majority Sinhalese and the Tamil minority in the northeast.
After more than 25 years of violence, the conflict appeared to be at an end - at least militarily - in May 2009, when government forces seized the last area controlled by Tamil Tiger rebels.
Continue reading the main story
Army and Tamil separatists fought a long conflict involving air raids, roadside blasts, suicide bombings, land and sea battles
More than 70,000 killed 1983 - Start of war 2009 - Government forces re-conquer all rebel-held territoryKnown as "Serendip" to Arab geographers, the island fell under Portuguese and Dutch influence and finally came under British rule when it was called Ceylon.There is a long-established Tamil minority in the north and east. The British also brought in Tamil labourers to work the coffee and tea plantations in the central highlands, making the island a major tea producer.
But the majority Buddhist Sinhalese community resented what they saw as favouritism towards the mainly-Hindu Tamils under British administration.
The growth of a more assertive Sinhala nationalism after independence fanned the flames of ethnic division until civil war erupted in the 1980s between Tamils pressing for self-rule and the government.
Most of the fighting took place in the north. But the conflict also penetrated the heart of Sri Lankan society with Tamil Tiger rebels carrying out devastating suicide bombings in Colombo in the 1990s.
The violence killed more than 70,000 people, damaged the economy and harmed tourism in one of South Asia's potentially prosperous societies.
International concern was raised about the fate of civilians caught up in the conflict zone during the final stages of the war, the confinement of some 250 000 Tamil refugees to camps for months after the war, and allegations that the government had ordered the execution of captured or surrendering rebels.
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Wednesday, August 17, 2011
16 August 2011 Last updated at 06:55 GMT 
A suspected US drone attack has killed four militants in north-western Pakistan, local intelligence officials said.
The drone fired a missile, destroying a house in a market in Miranshah town in North Waziristan tribal district.
North and South Waziristan are regularly targeted by drone missiles.
The US says the region provides sanctuary to al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents who are involved in attacks on Nato forces in Afghanistan.
Last week, a US drone attack killed at least 21 militants in North Waziristan. Among the dead were several foreigners believed to be part of the Haqqani network.
Last month, drone strikes killed at least 30 people in less than 24 hours in the area.
Drone attacks have escalated in the region since President Barack Obama took office in 2008. More than 100 raids were reported in the area last year.
The US does not routinely confirm drone operations, but analysts say only American forces have the capacity to deploy such aircraft in the region.
Pakistan publicly criticises drone attacks, saying they fuel support for militants. But observers say the authorities privately condone the strikes, although there have been recent signs that they want to limit the scope of such attacks.
A number of militants, some of them senior, have been killed in the raids, but many civilians have also died.
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10 August 2011 Last updated at 06:47 GMT 
Mick Jagger teams up with AR Rahman on the song Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger has sung in Sanskrit on a new album by a supergroup, which stars Oscar-winning Indian musician AR Rahman.
Jagger sings Satyameva Jayate (Truth alone triumphs), the second single from a supergroup called SuperHeavy which also features Dave Stewart, Joss Stone and Damian Marley.
Satyameva Jayate is the band's second single.
SuperHeavy's album is expected to be released in September.
"Dave said AR [Rahman] we want your voice in this album... we want this to be a great Indian song too. A long dream for me to raise one of the morals of Indian culture which is Satyameva Jayate and make it as a song," Rahman was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.
"This is historic... it is iconic in a way. I hope people will like it," he said.
Jagger formed the band in May, saying that he "wanted a convergence of different musical styles".
"It's different from anything else I've ever been involved in," Jagger told Rolling Stone magazine .
"The music is very wide-ranging - from reggae to ballads to Indian songs in Urdu."
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The sudden announcement that Sonia Gandhi, the president of India's ruling Congress party and head of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, had left for America to undergo an operation has highlighted the extraordinary powers she enjoys and brought to the fore the question of her successor.
Sonia Gandhi shuns the limelight, but still holds great influence in IndiaHardened members of parliament in Delhi wept when, after leading the Congress party to a surprise victory in the 2004 general election, Sonia Gandhi announced that she would not become prime minister.
Those tearful MPs need not have worried: Sonia was not about to go away, to leave them leaderless.
And now every member of the ruling party, from the top down, is worried about whether Sonia will recover to continue leading them, and if not, how she will manage the succession.
When Sonia gave up the chance to become prime minister, she made it clear that she would still be the boss by choosing Dr Manmohan Singh to do the job.
He is renowned for his honesty and his knowledge of economics, but has spent most of his life as a bureaucrat and politically he is entirely dependent on Sonia.
Sonia remained President of the Congress party. It is a position without any constitutional authority but she has ensured it makes her more powerful than the prime minister.
In the shadows
Sonia Gandhi's power derives from being the head of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty which has dominated Indian politics since the time of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister after India gained its independence.
Italian by birth, she became a member of the family by marrying the imperious Indira Gandhi's eldest son Rajiv.
Manmohan Singh has had to find the funds to pay for Sonia Gandhi's policiesSonia never showed any interest in politics and did not want her husband to go into the family business. So long as he was prime minister, she remained in the background.
For six years after Rajiv's assassination, there was no member of the dynasty in the government or the party, but Sonia refused to fill the vacuum.
It was not until 1997, after the Congress had lost a general election and was falling apart, that Sonia stepped in to hold the party together.
The Congress party has unshakeable faith in the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, but Sonia also owes her immunity from criticism to doing the opposite of what a politician usually does - she avoids the limelight and shuns publicity.
By refusing to become the prime minister, she has left Manmohan Singh to face all the flak that office attracts.
She very rarely gives interviews, she says very little in parliament and she does not intervene publicly when the government faces crises. But Sonia does appeal to the public over the heads of parliament and the press by addressing rallies.
At her rallies, Sonia always puts across the message she learnt from her mother-in-law - the message which says: "I am on the side of the poor".
In order to demonstrate whose side she was on, Indira passed a number of radical socialist measures with unfortunate consequences for the economy.
Sonia has demonstrated her option for the poor by forcing Dr Manmohan Singh to establish schemes to guarantee work for unemployed villagers and subsidised food for a sizeable proportion of the population.
The prime minister has to find the money to pay for Sonia's pro-poor policies. But he is a cautious economist, and someone who has worked closely with him told me one of his favourite maxims is "money does not grow on trees". Yet he still has to find the funds for the pro-poor schemes because Sonia has told him to.
Secrecy and succession
Typically, there was no government announcement about Sonia's departure for America. The Congress party issued a bald statement bereft of any information about her illness or the hospital where she was being treated.
This was justified on the grounds that her health was a personal matter and the people of India were asked to respect her family's request for privacy.
Rahul Gandhi (r) is next in line to succeed his mother But India's two leading business papers did not agree to that request. One of them, the Economic Times, said the secrecy was reminiscent of the days of the Iron Curtain when "doddering old leaders of ruling Communist parties ailed, were hospitalised and died, and their countrymen were kept in the dark".
Once again, Sonia Gandhi has shown that, unlike most politicians in democracies, she does not feel obliged to explain herself.
What is more, she has demonstrated that she alone will nominate her successor, and when the time comes, he will be her 41-year-old son Rahul.
The Congress party has issued a statement saying that, while Sonia is in America, its affairs will be run by a quartet consisting of Rahul and three others whose only obvious qualities are their utter loyalty to his mother.
But there is one question which remains to be answered.
When the time comes for Rahul to succeed, will Sonia hand the party to him so that he can continue to exercise his authority in the way she has done, or will she feel that he should become prime minister?
In which case, he will have to explain himself and take responsibility for his decisions.
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Tuesday, August 16, 2011
9 August 2011 Last updated at 00:29 GMT By Bilal Sarwary BBC News, Afghan-Pakistan border 
What happens in areas like Wazir Bazaar could shape Afghanistan's future It is a bright summer morning and US soldiers from the 101 Airborne Division along with the Afghan National Army and Afghan border guards are patrolling the picturesque village of Wazir Bazaar in the eastern province of Nangarhar.
The village - on the border with Pakistan - appears deserted and empty as an American helicopter gunship flies low over the snow-capped White Mountains to provide cover from the air.
But the insurgents they are looking for have vanished into the valley, leaving only a roadside bomb behind.
Gen Aminullah Amarkhel, commander of the Afghan border police in the east, is leading the charge.
Eminent credentialsA veteran of the war against the Soviet Red Army, he knows this terrain only too well.
The area is constantly switching hands between Nato and Afghan forces Gen Amarkhel assessed the situation from his armoured vehicle before stepping out to meet local people.
But unlike other areas, there was no warm reception for the highly decorated officer. Only three villagers - one elder and two young men - came forward to talk to him.
"Have you seen the Taliban? Where are the Pakistani, Arab and Chechen fighters?" the general asked the villagers. But they did not respond.
"I fought the Soviets here," he said. But such eminent credentials make no difference.
"We don't know about the Taliban," the elder said. "We work in our farms in the day and during the night, we don't know who is here."
Increasing violence in Nuristan - and in other border provinces of Laghman, Kunar and Nangarhar - poses a significant security threat.
It was not difficult to understand why no-one was keen to talk about the presence of Taliban. This area, like many others, alternates between Taliban and government control.
Stealing money"I cleared the recruitment test for police, but didn't get the job. They asked for $1,000 in bribe," one of the young men said. "I refused to pay."
Local people are reticent in front of US and Afghan troops The general tries to offer reassuring words.
"Come with me and I will make you an officer in the border police," he said.
But his offer is flatly rejected.
"No, we are fine here," the man says.
This enraged the general.
"They are lying that there are no Taliban," Gen Amarkhel said before he was moved out of the area by his bodyguards.
They feared for his safety. Suicide attackers often pose as villagers to attack senior officers.
American forces let the Afghan soldiers do the house searches.
In the past, international forces have been accused of kicking in doors, swearing and sometimes opening fire on civilians.
But villagers say Afghan forces are equally bad. Afghan soldiers have been accused of stealing money and jewellery in the past.
Poor intelligenceAs the soldiers looked for a Taliban commander responsible for a series of attacks in the area, the challenge was obvious: the Afghan forces not only have a weak presence in rural areas, they also lack intelligence about the whereabouts of Taliban commanders.
Continue reading the main storyOnce the snake recovers from its injuries, it becomes even more dangerous. You need to kill the snake”End Quote National Directorate of Security officer This was all too apparent when troops apparently found the house they were looking for.
There was one problem, though. It belonged to an Afghan National Army soldier. It was here that the Taliban commander was believed to have taken refuge.
Ten years after the Taliban were toppled from power, poor intelligence such as this has repeatedly failed Afghan and coalition forces in rural Afghanistan.
The villagers do no want to take any chances. They know that the army and police will leave after the operation, but the Taliban will remain.
"The government is here during the day and the Taliban are here during the night," a frustrated villager said.
Among those killed by the insurgents were a well respected local counter-terrorism official and an engineer reconstructing irrigation canals and bridges.
Other targets for the militants have included a headmaster who was severely thrashed because he refused to shut a school for girls and a cleric who received a death threat for failing to stop locals from joining the police and army.
Porous border"This is the Islamic Emirate of Taliban," an aid worker from the area told me.
The Taliban have repeatedly attacked girls' education in the area "Music is banned at weddings, clean-shaven men are beaten up, government spies and informers are killed and you are made to pay 'usher' [a 10% tax on income]," the worker said.
So uncertain is life in this part of Afghanistan that he recently had to relocate to the eastern city of Jalalabad after receiving death threats.
An officer with the Afghan spy agency, the National Directorate of Security, says that the insurgents are "not short of money, resources or manpower".
He said things have reached such a low point only because the government has failed to seal the porous border with Pakistan.
"It is easy for foreign fighters - Pakistanis, Arabs and Chechens - to carry out attacks here and then run for shelter in Pakistan," he said.
Afghan intelligence officials say that night operations carried out by the US and Afghan special forces broke the back of the insurgency in the White Mountains area.
But since then, the government has failed to secure gains on the ground.
"You need to have a larger presence in these places," one NDS officer said. "You should help people with water, irrigation canals and prevent the Taliban from taxing and intimidating people. The operations are just wounding the snake. Once the snake recovers from its injuries, it becomes even more dangerous. You need to kill the snake."
A senior Afghan official in the interior ministry in Kabul admits that mistakes had been made.
"Not maintaining enough forces on the ground and the lack of reconstruction have contributed to the problem," he said.
It is rural areas like Wazir Bazaar which will ultimately decide the fate of the military handover from Nato to Afghan forces.
If it is not won soon, the war will be lost.
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