Syria not complying with peace plan, says Ban Ki-moon

There is little evidence that Syria's government is complying with a peace plan to try to end violence, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said.

After briefing the Security Council, he warned there was an "imminent" danger of civil war in Syria and it could go from tipping point to breaking point.

Meanwhile, UN envoy Kofi Annan said the council should put more pressure on Damascus to implement his peace plan.

The comments come after reports that 78 people were killed in central Syria.

Opposition activists blame the killings at the Qubair village on pro-government forces but the government accuses "terrorists".

UN monitors trying to reach the village just hours later were fired upon, Mr Ban said. None were hurt in the shooting.

Mr Ban earlier gave several examples of how UN observers had narrowly escaped injury, saying heavy weapons rounds had fallen near a patrol and armour-piercing bullets had been fired at at least one vehicle, a diplomat told the BBC's Barbara Plett at the UN headquarters in New York.

Continue reading the main story

The UN has 297 unarmed observers in Syria to verify the implementation of Mr Annan's six-point plan. It includes a ceasefire, which was supposed to have taken effect in mid-April.

Syrians 'bleeding'

Mr Ban was speaking at a joint news conference with Mr Annan and also Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi after a Security Council meeting on the Syrian crisis.

"The danger of a full scale war is imminent and real," the UN chief said, urging the Security Council to "speak with once voice".

Mr Ban also warned that recent violence across Syria "may amount to crimes against humanity".

"Reports of yet another massacre in Qubair underscore the horrifying reality on the ground.

"How many more times have we to condemn them, and how many ways must we say that we are outraged? The Syrian people are bleeding."

And while reiterating the UN was committed to Mr Annan's six-point peace plan remained "at the centre of our focus", he said urgent talks were needed to discuss how to proceed further.

His comments were echoed by Mr Annan, who warned that "further militarisation of the conflict would lead to disastrous consequences".

The latest discussions at the Security Council have highlighted divisions among its members, our correspondent reports.

She says that the US is demanding decisive action, while Russia and China are both opposing any outside intervention.

Continue reading the main story

Annan's six-point peace plan

1. Syrian-led political process to address the aspirations and concerns of the Syrian people

2. UN-supervised cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties to protect civilians

3. All parties to ensure provision of humanitarian assistance to all areas affected by the fighting, and implement a daily two-hour humanitarian pause

4. Authorities to intensify the pace and scale of release of arbitrarily detained persons

5. Authorities to ensure freedom of movement throughout the country for journalists

6. Authorities to respect freedom of association and the right to demonstrate peacefully

Iran controversy

At the news conference, Mr Annan also confirmed that discussions were taking place on forming a contact group of key nations on Syria.

He said that such group should exert more pressure on both the government of President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition to comply with the peace plan.

It has become clear that the idea of including Iran in this contact group would be likely to lead to new controversy, correspondents say.

Although Mr Annan expressed hopes that Iran would be part of the solution, the US and UK earlier ruled out Tehran's participation.

source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18363286

Read More

Honeybee virus: Varroa mite spreads lethal disease

A parasitic mite has helped a virus wipe out billions of honeybees throughout the globe, say scientists.

A team studying honeybees in Hawaii f

ound that the Varroa mite helped spread a particularly nasty strain of a disease called deformed wing virus.

The mites act as tiny incubators of one deadly form of the disease, and inject it directly into the bees' blood.

This has led to "one of the most widely-distributed and contagious insect viruses on the planet".

The findings are reported in the journal Science.

The team, led by Dr Stephen Martin from the University of Sheffield, studied the honeybees in Hawaii, where Varroawas accidentally brought from California just five years ago.

Crucially some Hawaiian islands have honeybee colonies that are still Varroa-free.

Continue reading the main story

This provided the team with a unique natural laboratory; they could compare recently-infected colonies with those free from the parasite, and paint a biological picture of exactly how Varroa affected the bees.

The team spent two years monitoring colonies - screening Varroa-infected and uninfected bees to see what viruses lived in their bodies.

Dr Martin explained to BBC Nature that most viruses were not normally harmful to the bees, but the mite "selected" one lethal strain of one specific virus.

"In an infected bee there can be more viral particles than there are people on the planet," Dr Martin explained.

"There's a vast diversity of viral strains within a bee, and most of them are adapted to exist in their own little bit of the insect; they get on quite happily."

But the mite, he explained, "shifts something".

In Varroa-infected bees, over time, the vast majority of these innocuous virus strains disappear and the bees' bodies are filled with one lethal strain of deformed wing virus.

And when it comes to viral infection, it's the sheer quantity that kills; each viral particle invades a cell and takes over its internal machinery, turning the bee's own body against itself.

Although it is not clear exactly why this strain thrives in mite-infected bees, Dr Martin explained that it could be the one virus best able to survive being repeatedly transmitted from the mites to the bees and back, as the mites feed on the bees' blood.

The effect appears to take once the mites have changed this "viral landscape" in the bees' bodies, the change is permanent.

"So the only way to control the virus is to control the levels of the mite," said Dr Martin.

Prof Ian Jones, a virologist from the University of Reading said the findings mirrored "other known mechanisms of virus spread".

He added: "[This] reinforces the need for beekeepers to control Varroa infestation."

The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) praised the research.

BBKA chairman Dr David Aston said it "increased our understanding of the relationships between Varroa and [this] significant bee virus."

He told BBC Nature: "These findings underline the need for further research into Varroa.

"There remains a clear and urgent need for an effective, approved treatment."

source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/18339797

Read More

French police 'hold suspect' over anti-Semitic attack

French police say a man suspected of attacking three young Jews with a hammer in the town of Villeurbanne has been detained, local media report.

Several assailants are reported to have taken part in Saturday's attack, in which iron bars were also used.

The suspect, the fifth to be detained, reportedly gave himself up to police on Thursday afternoon.

A spate of anti-Semitic incidents has followed the murder of four people at a Jewish school in Toulouse in March.

The attack in Villeurbanne took place as the three youths, all wearing Jewish skullcaps, were leaving a Jewish school.

A small group attacked them, reportedly insulting and jostling them, before as many as a dozen other joined in, striking the youths with weapons.

One of them suffered a hammer blow to the head, another was struck with an iron bar, while the third was hit on the arm.

'Unquestionable link'

The man detained on Thursday afternoon was "like the other people who are being held, in complete denial", a police source told the Liberation newspaper.

However, the man "is indeed the one that we think used the hammer", the source added.

Incoming French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault branded the attack "intolerable violence".

Interior Minister Manuel Valls held a meeting with Jewish representatives on Tuesday at which he promised increased protection for Jewish institutions in France.

The man who carried out the Toulouse attack in March, Mohamed Merah, had also killed three French soldiers and later died in an armed siege after police surrounded his flat.

Jewish organisations say there has been an increase in anti-Semitic incidents since the Toulouse killings.

"The link appears unquestionable to me, as we have statistics," Richard Prasquier, president of CRIF, the representative body of Jewish groups in France, told Agence France Presse.

source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18357812

Read More

Mitt Romney raises $17m more than Barack Obama campaign

US Republican candidate Mitt Romney raised almost $17m (£11m) more than President Barack Obama's re-election effort in May, figures show.

Mr Romney and the Republicans raised $76.8m, while the Obama campaign and the Democratic Party brought in $60m.

Mr Romney now has $107m cash on hand, almost matching the $115m Mr Obama's campaign had by the end of April.

Mr Obama's May total included $15m raised at the home of George Clooney, with tickets costing $40,000.

Members of the public also bought $3 raffle tickets to win a spot at that star-studded event.

Both presidential candidates are in the midst of a hectic fund-raising schedule as they prepare for the long campaign ahead of November's election.

Mr Obama is campaigning this week in California and Nevada, while Mr Romney has been in Texas.

The monthly campaign fundraising totals do not include millions of dollars being raised and spent by independent committees backing each campaign.

'Broken promises'

May's fundraising figures were the first since Mr Romney took an unbeatable lead in the Republican primary process, having won the required numbers of delegates to ensure he will face Mr Obama in November.

Announcing its fundraising totals early on Thursday, the Obama campaign said on Twitter that 572,000 people donated in May, 147,000 of them for the first time.

His campaign also reported that 98% of the contributions were less than $250.

In its statement shortly afterwards, the Romney campaign reported that donations of $250 or less made up 93% of all donations and $12m of the total amount raised.

"Our strong fundraising is a sign that Americans are tired of President Obama's broken promises and want a change of direction in the White House," Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement.

Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt used Twitter to play down Mr Romney's fundraising haul: "Reminder on RNC/Romney camp fundraising: 1st month joint committee was in existence, so all their primary donors wrote their maxout checks."

Both the camps raised considerably more in May than in April, when the Obama campaign and the Democrats brought in $43.6m, slightly ahead of their opponents.

source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18358616

Read More