Thursday, December 9, 2010

China stands firm against Liu Xiaobo Nobel prize

A protester holds an image of jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo outside of the Chinese Embassy in Oslo December 9, 2010

The Nobel Peace Prize committee is preparing to host its award ceremony, amid continuing anger from the Chinese government at this year's winner.

Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo - currently jailed in north-east China - will not be in Oslo to get his prize.

Nobel committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland has said the award should not be seen as a statement against China.

However, ahead of the ceremony, the UN said it had information that China had detained at least 20 activists.

A further 120 cases of house arrest, travel restriction, forced relocation and other acts of intimidation have been reported.

China has waged a wide-ranging campaign to discredit the award in recent weeks.

It has sought to prevent anyone travelling from China to Oslo, in Norway, to collect the prize on Mr Liu's behalf.

And a Chinese group of academics launched their own award, the Confucius Peace Prize, in Beijing on Thursday.

The BBC's world affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge says that the intense politics surrounding this year's Nobel peace laureate will overshadow the ceremony itself.

To the Nobel Committee, Liu Xiaobo symbolises a message it was keen to send to China - that its growing economic strength and power does not exempt it from universal standards of human rights.

On the other hand, China says the committee has chosen a criminal convicted under Chinese law to serve the interests of certain Western countries, our correspondent says.

Liu Xiaobo first came to prominence when he took part in the 1989 protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

He was sent to prison for nearly two years for his role, and has been a critic of the Chinese government ever since.

He was given an 11-year prison sentence in December 2009 for inciting the subversion of state power, a charge which came after Charter 08 was published.

The document calls openly for political reforms in China, such as a separation of powers and legislative democracy.

'Not a protest'

On the eve of the Nobel ceremony, Mr Jagland said the award was about universal human rights and "honouring people in China".

He said: "This is not a protest, it is a signal to China that it would be very important for China's future to combine economic development with political reforms and support for those in China fighting for basic human rights."

Countries boycotting Nobel ceremony

China, Vietnam, Kazakhstan
Russia, Serbia
Venezuela, Cuba
Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan, Algeria
Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Egypt
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka

Mr Jagland said there would be an empty chair for an absent Nobel laureate at the award ceremony on Friday.

The empty chair would be "a very strong symbol [that] shows how appropriate this prize was," he said.

It will be the first time since 1936 that the award, now worth $1.5m, will not be handed out.

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay on Thursday again called for Mr Liu to be released "as soon as possible".

The Chinese government has been furious about the award ever since it was announced in August that Liu Xiaobo had won it.

Beijing says that Mr Liu - a veteran of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests - is a criminal, and insists that giving him a prize is an insult to China's judicial system.

At least 18 nations are set to boycott the ceremony.

"We hope those countries that have received the invitation can tell right from wrong, uphold justice," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.

Earlier this week she said those who supported the award were "anti-China clowns".

As well as putting Liu Xia, the Nobel laureate's wife, under house arrest, other activists and dissidents have faced pressure from the authorities.

Some have been prevented from leaving the country, others have been forced to leave their homes for the next few days, according to the Chinese Human Rights Defenders.

One of those to disappear, it said, was Zhang Zuhua, the man who co-wrote Charter 08, a political manifesto that Liu Xiaobo also helped draft.

Prince Charles and Duchess of Cornwall unhurt in attack

Prince Charles and Camilla are attacked by protesters in their car in London

A car carrying Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall was attacked by protesters but the couple were unharmed, Clarence House has said.

Protesters kicked, threw paint and smashed a window of the car which was travelling along Regent Street in central London.

A spokeswoman said the couple later attended the Royal Variety performance as scheduled.

They left the theatre in a police van after the performance.

Adnan Nazir, 23, was one of the first to recognise the royal couple in their Rolls-Royce.

"I said, 'It's Camilla'. I wasn't trying to alert them. I was just surprised to see her. A few people turned around and started hitting the windows. People started kicking the car," he said.

He added that the prince remained calm, "waving and giving the thumbs up".

Another eyewitness told BBC News: "I came forward and I saw him on the back seat. It was definitely Prince Charles, no doubt about it. They tried to protect him but there was too many of them.

''A couple of people were kicking the door'' said one eyewitness

The car behind, an official royal Jaguar, also came under attack.

Camilla laughed off the attack. As she left the Palladium, she said: "I'm fine, thanks - first time for everything." The Prince of Wales smiled.

Scotland Yard has condemned the "outrageous and increasing levels of violence".

A spokesman said: "It has gone so far that a car in which the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall were travelling through the West End was attacked. Police managed the situation and they were unharmed."

A car containing Prince Charles and Camilla has been attacked by protesters in central London

A car containing Prince Charles and Camilla has been attacked by protesters in central London
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A car containing Prince Charles and Camilla has been attacked by protesters in central London, in violent scenes after MPs voted to raise tuition fees in England to up to £9,000 per year.

A window was cracked and their car hit by paint, but the couple were unharmed.

In angry scenes, protesters have battled with police and attacked buildings, including the Treasury and the Supreme Court.

Police say eight officers were hurt in clashes. They have made nine arrests.

Protests have spread to the West End with demonstrators breaking shop windows in Oxford Street.

Three ministerial aides have resigned, but the fees rise survived a backbench rebellion with a 21-vote majority.

Violent scenes

Riot police forced back protesters who were smashing windows and trying to break into a side door of the Treasury. Protesters also smashed windows at the Supreme Court.

Earlier protesters had forced their way into Parliament Square and pressed against lines of police in front of the Houses of Parliament.

The vote will mean fees being almost tripled, as the government saw its majority cut by three-quarters in a backbench rebellion.

Heather Sharp, BBC News, central London

Scuffles broke out in front of Westminster Abbey. A flare was thrown, and placards and sticks flew above the crowds.

The demonstrators pushed at the police line to shouts of "no ifs, no buts, no education cuts".

One of the protesters struggled back through crowd with blood running down his face as another held a burning placard aloft.

As the sun went down and the vote neared, groups of students in the rest of Parliament Square gathered around bonfires.

The warmest and the biggest of the bonfires turned out to be a park bench.

Live coverage

Less than half of Lib Dem MPs voted for the government's plans for tuition fees.

There were 21 Lib Dem and six Conservative MPs who voted against the coalition.

Mounted police were used to control crowds, as thousands of demonstrators protested outside the Houses of Parliament.

The London Ambulance Service says 19 people have been treated for injuries - six have been taken to hospital.

There were angry clashes as protesters - some throwing missiles - fought to break through police lines. Fires were started and buildings sprayed with graffiti.

The BBC's Ben Brown, outside Parliament, said protesters shouted "shame on you" as news of the result filtered out to the crowd.

HOW THE VOTE WENT

28 Lib Dem MPs voted yes
21 Lib Dem MPs voted no
8 Lib Dem MPs either abstained or were absent
6 Conservative MPs voted no
2 Conservative MPs abstained

Full list: How Lib Dems voted

In violent scenes earlier, the BBC's Mark Georgiou said there had been injuries to both police and protesters near to Westminster Abbey.

The Metropolitan Police say there have been attacks using "flares, sticks, snooker balls and paint balls".

Students from around the UK gathered in London for a day of protests and a rally - with police expecting about 20,000 demonstrators.

Violent protests as MPs vote to raise tuition fees

The coalition government has won the vote to raise tuition fees in England to up to £9,000 per year - amid violent protests in Westminster.

In angry scenes, protesters are battling with police and attacking buildings, including the Treasury and the Supreme Court.

A vehicle containing Prince Charles and Camilla was attacked as they travelled to an engagement. Both are unharmed.

Police say eight officers were hurt in clashes. They have made nine arrests.

Three ministerial aides have resigned over the issue, but the fees rise passed with a 21-vote majority.

Riot police have been forcing back protesters who were smashing windows and trying to break into a side door of the Treasury. Protesters also smashed windows at the Supreme Court.

Earlier protesters had forced their way into Parliament Square and pressed against lines of police in front of the Houses of Parliament.

Violent scenes

The vote will mean fees being almost tripled, as the government saw its majority cut by three-quarters in a backbench rebellion.

Heather Sharp, BBC News, central London

Scuffles broke out in front of Westminster Abbey. A flare was thrown, and placards and sticks flew above the crowds.

The demonstrators pushed at the police line to shouts of "no ifs, no buts, no education cuts".

One of the protesters struggled back through crowd with blood running down his face as another held a burning placard aloft.

As the sun went down and the vote neared, groups of students in the rest of Parliament Square gathered around bonfires.

The warmest and the biggest of the bonfires turned out to be a park bench.

Live coverage

Less than half of Lib Dem MPs voted for the government's plans for tuition fees.

There were 21 Lib Dem and six Conservative MPs who voted against the coalition.

Mounted police were used to control crowds, as thousands of demonstrators protested outside the Houses of Parliament.

The London Ambulance Service says 19 people have been treated for injuries - six have been taken to hospital.

There were angry clashes as protesters - some throwing missiles - fought to break through police lines. Fires were started and buildings sprayed with graffiti.

The BBC's Ben Brown, outside Parliament, said protesters shouted "shame on you" as news of the result filtered out to the crowd.

HOW THE VOTE WENT

28 Lib Dem MPs voted yes
21 Lib Dem MPs voted no
8 Lib Dem MPs either abstained or were absent
6 Conservative MPs voted no
2 Conservative MPs abstained

Full list: How Lib Dems voted

In violent scenes earlier, the BBC's Mark Georgiou said there had been injuries to both police and protesters near to Westminster Abbey.

The Metropolitan Police say there have been attacks using "flares, sticks, snooker balls and paint balls".

Students from around the UK gathered in London for a day of protests and a rally - with police expecting about 20,000 demonstrators.

Thousands protest as British lawmakers approve tuition hike plan

London -- British lawmakers approved a controversial plan to cut the government's massive debt by tripling the tuition rates charged by universities.
Lawmakers debated the proposal for most of the day while thousands of demonstrators have converged on Parliament to urge their elected leaders to vote down the measure. The government is seeking to raise the cap on tuition fees charged by British universities from £3,000 to £9,000.
In U.S. dollars, that's a nearly $10,000 increase -- from roughly $4,700 to $14,000.
In recent weeks, the proposal has spawned multiple public protests, set off tremors within the nation's coalition government and prompted a back-seat revolt among some Liberal Democrats in Parliament.
Liberal Democrats are lesser partners in a coalition government ruled by Conservatives.

The London protest started out peacefully Thursday, but grew more tense with the winding down of debate in the House of Commons. By late afternoon, police on horseback attempted to push back throngs of protesters moving on Parliament.
Students reacted by throwing sticks and setting off fireworks.
At least three police officers were injured: one was hospitalized after falling from his horse, another suffered a serious neck injury after being knocked unconscious, the Metropolitan Police said. No details were given on the third officer. The police service announced that seven protesters had been arrested and that six protesters had been injured.
Sixteen other people were also injured, and three people have been arrested, authorities said.
Protest organizers had urged demonstrators to show restraint. Earlier this month, police arrested a total of 153 people following another protest at Trafalgar Square during which students damaged a police van, set small fires and spray painted and smashed government building windows.
One final-year student, standing in front of police lines outside Parliamen on Thursday, told CNN he was there out of solidarity for students who may be priced out of a place at university. "We're all here because we're passionate about this. We feel betrayed," he said.
Another protester screamed, "Nick Clegg ... you're a sellout! You have betrayed us!"
The protester was referring to the British deputy prime minister and Liberal Democratic Party architect of the coalition government. The government is headed by Prime Minister David Cameron, a conservative.
Clegg supports the tuition increase plan. At least a dozen other party members, including deputy party leader Simon Hughes, said they oppose it.
Supporters say the tuition cap hike is needed to help pay down the government's massive debt. They argue that the increase is not mandatory, that universities would not be bound to charge university students the full £9,000.
Under the new plan, students wouldn't have to start paying off their school loans until they begin earning at least £21,000, about $32,600, a year.

Students currently must start paying off their loans once they reach a £15,000 (roughly $23,300) threshold.

US embassy cables: The background

US embassy cables: The background.

The latest batch of documents to be released by Wikileaks is made up of diplomatic messages sent from US embassies around the world.

The whistle-blowing website says it has obtained more than 250,000 cables passed between the US State Department and hundreds of American diplomatic outposts - but it has so far only published a small sample of those messages.
However, the entire archive of the reports from US diplomats out in the field has been made available to five publications - the New York Times, the Guardian in the UK, France's Le Monde, El País in Spain and Germany's Der Spiegel.
It is the third mass Wikileaks release of classified documents since the publication of 77,000 secret US files on the Afghan conflict in July, and 400,000 documents about the Iraq war in October.
Suspicion has again fallen on US Army private Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst arrested in Iraq in June and charged over an earlier leak.
In July the US Department of State revealed he had access to the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (Siprnet) - a system which allows government and diplomatic information to be shared.

Anonymous recruits Wikileaks 'data army'

The data war between companies that have refused to do business with Wikileaks and the online activists keen to defend it is getting more intense.

The tool through which attacks are carried out against websites perceived to be anti-Wikileaks has now been downloaded more than 31,000 times.
Security experts warned people to avoid joining the voluntary botnet.
Targets of the loose-knit group Anonymous have so far included Visa, Mastercard and Paypal.
Amazon is expected to be among firms targeted next using the Anonymous attack tool known as LOIC. When a person installs the tool on their PC it enrols the machine into a voluntary botnet which then bombards target sites with data.
Motivation Anonymous member Coldblood told the BBC that he did not understand how firms such as Visa and Mastercard have decided that Wikileaks is illegal.
"We feel that they have bowed to government pressure. They say Wikileaks broke their terms and conditions but they accept payments from groups such as the Klu Klux Klan," he told the BBC.
He said that he has not personally taken part in the recent distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks but explained the motives of those who have.
"Everyone is aware that they are illegal but they feel that it is a worthy cause and the possible outcome outweighs the risk," he said.
He said such attacks were only one tactic in its fight to keep the information being distributed by Wikileaks available.

In a twist to the story it has emerged that Amazon, which last week refused to host Wikileaks, is selling a Kindle version of the documents Wikileaks has leaked.

Anonymous have named the online retailer as its next target.
Earlier attacks against Visa and Mastercard knocked the official websites of the two offline for a while and resulted in problems for some credit card holders.
The attacks have been relatively small so far mustering less then 10 gigabits per second of traffic, said Paul Sop, chief technology officer at Prolexic which helps firms to defend themselves against the type of attack being employed by Anonymous.
"What's really wreaking havoc with these enterprises is how often the attackers can rotate the attack vectors," he said. "We see the attack complexity being more devastating as the mitigation technologies enterprises use can't filter out all these permutations."
Defending against an attack typically involves analysis to work out which ones are being employed. A tactic that may not work well in this case, he said.
"These Anonymous attacks are like riding a bull, they can change wildly and at a moment's notice," said Mr Sop.
Carole Thierault, a security researcher at Sophos, warned against getting involved with the Anonymous campaign.
"No-one, no matter how much you want to take part, should do this," she said. "It is very risky, and most probably illegal."
Ms Thierault said downloading and installing the LOIC attack tool was very risky.
"No-one should download unknown code on to their system," she said. "You're giving access to your computer to a complete stranger."
Coinciding ideals

Anonymous is taking action against sites it deems to be hampering the work of Wikileaks

As well as releasing the attack tool, the Anonymous group has also been active in helping to create mirror sites. To date there are over one thousand sites offering exact copies of the content on Wikileaks.
It is also ensuring the information is available on dark nets, heavily encrypted layers of the internet via which information can be extracted while remaining untraceable.
The DDoS attacks are the latest battle in a wider fight known as Operation Payback, which targets firms Anonymous sees as "misusing the internet".
Past targets include the music industry and law firms associated with the attempt to bring music pirates to book.
The new-found attention on Anonymous has led the group to publish its manifesto.
In it, it denies that it is a group of hackers.
"Anonymous is not an organisation...and it most certainly is not a group of hackers," it said.
"Anonymous is an online living consciousness, comprised of different individuals with, at times, coinciding ideals and goals."
It also keen to distance itself from Coldblood, who it said is not a spokesperson for the group.

PCWorld Google Android Phones are Selling Like Hotcakes

Google Android Phones are Selling Like Hotcakes

"There are over 300,000 Android phones activated each day," Rubin's landmark announcement message read, just four months after Google said it is activating more than 200,000 phones per day.

The growth is because of the sheer number of Android smartphones launched in recent months, and the numbers are calculated without counting tablet activations. Samsung said it has sold more than one million Galaxy Tab tablets already, so if tablets were to be included, the total activations per day figure would be even larger.

A Numbers' Debate

Apple CEO Steve Jobs took exception to Google's calculations back in September, after the company said it was activating around 200,000 phones per day, claiming Apple activates more than 230,000 iOS devices per day. Jobs then said in October that Apple was activating 270,000 iOS devices per day on average, with occasional daily peaks of 300,000.

Nokia also joined the competition in September, saying it sells 260,000 phones per day, but it didn't say whether these were smartphones only or a combination of smartphones and its feature phones.

Apple's numbers are a combination of iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches, all running iOS; the company doesn't count software upgrades. Google claims its figures are smartphones only, but did not say whether software upgrades are included (something that Jobs hinted at in September).

However, one thing is for certain: Android's strength lies in the number of devices running the mobile OS, whose combined numbers are now probably overtaking Apple's numbers, regardless of which way you count it. The difference is that not a single Android phone managed to pull in the sort of sales figures of any iteration of the iPhone: 1.7 million iPhone 4 were sold in just three days after launch, and 14.1 million units through September.

Google's Android is now the second-most popular mobile operating system in the world - behind only Nokia's Symbian OS, according to Gartner's third-quarter report. Apple's iOS comes in third, followed by Research In Motion's BlackBerry OS, and Microsoft Windows Mobile.

Protests start as MPs debate tuition fee rises

Thousands of demonstrators are marching on Westminster as MPs debate plans to raise tuition fees in England to £9,000 a year.

Huge crowds are in Parliament Square and organisers say they will stay there - so MPs can hear their voices.

The Business Secretary Vince Cable told MPs the fee plans were fair and would maintain the quality of universities while tackling the financial deficit.

The coalition government is facing its first major backbench rebellion.

Police are out in force and barricades surround the Houses of Parliament.

There have been minor scuffles between police and protesters as officers tried to control the march and fireworks and flares have been set off.

The BBC's Heather Sharp is in Parliament Square. She said: "A smoke flare has just gone off. Organisers say there are tens of thousands of people here and that it is good-natured and going well".

But the BBC's Dominic Hurst reported a short time ago: "There is an an ugly mood as hardcore of hundreds of students run towards Parliament Square. Many armed with sticks; some scuffles with riot police".

Students from around the UK have gathered in London for a day of protests and a rally.

The police said they were expecting 20,000 demonstrators.

The Commons vote on Thursday afternoon is the culmination of weeks of political divisions and student protests.

MPs split

It is expected that more than a dozen Liberal Democrat MPs will not support the government - including the party's deputy leader Simon Hughes.

The National Union of Students is expecting up to 10,000 for a rally - and 20,000 could take part in a separate protest march which will head towards Westminster.

Heather Sharp, BBC News, central London

Students are gathering to march through London

There is a forest of placards, and chants of "They say cut back, we say fight back." They have force of numbers with them and the sun is shining.

There is a mix of experienced protesters, some wearing masks and prepared with hard hats, union activitists, and others who seem fairly new to protesting.

The protesters seem organised. There are teams of marshals wearing orange jackets who are holding the crowds together at the start of the march.

The atmosphere is noisy, but so far good natured.

There are police lines at the front of the march. They are equipped with riot helmets, but most are not wearing them, and they seem relaxed, with some officers smiling and joking while listening to the speeches from the crowd.

Live coverage

Opening a noisy debate in the Commons, Mr Cable said: "The instrument that we're discussing here is a central part of a policy that is designed to maintain high quality universities in the long-term, tackle the fiscal deficit and provides a more progressive system of graduate contributions based on people's ability to pay".

Liberal Democrat MPs have been under intense pressure - after their election pledge to vote against any fee increase.

Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who has become a target for student anger, said that all Lib Dem ministers will vote in favour of the plan to raise fees.

"In the circumstances where the country as a whole, we don't have much money... it's not unreasonable to ask those graduates who've been lucky enough to go to university to make a contribution towards the costs," said Mr Clegg.

Meanwhile Mr Clegg's own party's youth wing is holding last-ditch talks to persuade Lib Dem MPs to vote against the fee rise.

In an attempt to bolster support, ministers announced further concessions on repayment thresholds which would make the fee package more generous to students.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes has said he will abstain or even rebel against the government.

Disincentive

Mr Hughes said that the "level of fee increase... may have a significant disincentive effect on youngsters going to university".

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Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg: 'The new proposals are the best option available.'

Shadow business secretary John Denham said the fee increase was being driven by the government's decision to have deep cuts to university funding.

"Even if they had just cut universities the way they are cutting other public services, students would be facing fees of no more than £4,000," he told the BBC.

"This is a choice they have made and they don't have to make it."

Prime Minister David Cameron has accused the Labour party of "rank hypocrisy" for opposing the rise in fees - while Ed Miliband said the university plans were in "chaos".

The package of measures would see fees rising to an upper limit of £9,000 per year - with requirements for universities to protect access for poorer students if they charge more than £6,000 per year.

College occupations

The proposals to raise fees have triggered a wave of student and school pupil protests, with a march last month leading to an attack on the Conservative headquarters in Millbank.

Dozens of universities have been occupied by students - with students in five more universities occupying buildings this week.

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Aaron Porter, NUS president: "English universities [will] become the most expensive public universities in the world"

For the first time, there have also been occupations of schools by pupils.

Aaron Porter, president of the National Union of Students, urged MPs to "do the honourable thing and vote down these damaging proposals".

"Students are now descending on Westminster to ensure that promises to voters are kept and they are not sold down the river," said Mr Porter.

Students and NUS officials will hold a rally and lobby MPs at Westminster throughout the day. A march is also moving through central London towards Westminster.

OUTSIDE LONDON PROTESTS

Swansea: Protest planned between 1200-1400 GMT at Castle Square
Edinburgh: NUS Scotland organising a candlelight vigil outside Holyrood at 1630 GMT
Kidderminster
Possibly Brighton before students gather in London

There has been no consensus within the university sector about the fees deal.

The university lecturers' union has backed student protesters - while university vice chancellors have been split over whether to support or oppose the fees plan.

The proposals to raise fees would apply to students in England. Welsh students will not pay the higher rate of fees, even at universities in England.

Students protest at Belfast City Hall

Belfast students protest against tuition fees hike

Hundreds of students have staged a protest in Belfast city centre against plans to raise third level tuition fees in England as high as £9,000 a year.

All of NI's MPs are expected to vote against the rise in fees in the House of Commons later, but the coalition is expected to win the ballot.
The new minister for employment and learning has warned that third level fees in NI are likely to rise.
Danny Kennedy said the Westminster vote would have a knock-on effect for NI.
"I think my instinct is that it is likely there will be an increase to the tuition fees and I have been warning of that for some time," he said.
"The situation is not entirely clear."
A review of student finance has already concluded that NI fees should remain at current levels. But Mr Kennedy said this was now being examined.
It's understood the new minister is waiting to establish what his Assembly budget will be, before making any decision.
He is also awaiting an updated report on student tuition fees as they apply in Northern Ireland in the light of the Brown report.
Although the proposals deal specifically with universities in England, politicians have warned this will affect thousands of Northern Ireland students who study there.
Mr Kennedy said he could not make a final decision without a budget and hit out at Sinn Fein for holding things up.
"Northern Ireland needs a budget. I do not know how much money my department will have particularly in respect of tuition fees.
"It is vitally important that the party that is holding up this process up of getting a budget, remove their blockages and bring forward a budget so that the Northern Ireland departments, the Northern Ireland ministers and the Northern Ireland people can be made aware as to the implications of the current economic problems we face."

Imran Farooq murder case: Scotland Yard arrests suspect

Imran Farooq murder case: Scotland Yard arrests suspect.

Scotland Yard on Thursday confirmed that they have arrested a 34-year old man of Asian origin in connection with Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) leader Dr Imran Farooq’s murder, informed senior journalist Naseem Siddiqui.
The man was arrested at 10 am (GMT) from the town of Camden and is now being kept in the North London Police Station for further investigation.
According to Siddiqui, the police will probably take two days to produce the suspect in court, while they continue looking for the second suspect who is believed to be 30 years old.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani high commission claimed that it had not been informed about the arrest.
Dr Farooq was murdered in a knife attack in the Edgware district of London on September 16, 2010.
Earlier the British police had also released an e-fit image of a man they wanted to speak to in connection with the murder of Dr Farooq.

World is getting more corrupt, says transparency poll

The world is considered a more corrupt place now than it was three years ago, a poll suggests.

Some 56% of people interviewed by Transparency International said their country had become more corrupt.

The organisation put Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq and India in the most corrupt category, followed by China, Russia and much of the Middle East.

Meanwhile, a BBC poll suggests that corruption is the world's most talked about problem.

About one in five of those polled by the BBC said they had discussed issues relating to corruption with others in the last month, making it the most talked about concern ahead of climate change, poverty, unemployment and rising food and energy costs.

In the Transparency International survey, political parties were regarded as the most corrupt institutions, and 50% of people believed their government was ineffective at tackling the problem.

One in four of those polled said they had paid a bribe in the past year - the police being the most common recipient.

Some 29% of bribes went to the police, 20% to registry and permit officials, and 14% to members of the judiciary.

Political parties have long been regarded as the most corrupt institutions - they topped the list in Transparency's 2004 barometer with 71%. In this year's report, 80% regarded them as corrupt.

Religious bodies experienced a sharp rise in people regarding them as corrupt - 28% in 2004 increased to 53% by 2010.

Why pay a bribe?

In sub-Saharan Africa, 67%of bribes were to avoid trouble with the authorities
In the Arab world and Latin America most bribes were paid to speed things up
In Asia-Pacific, 35% of people bribed to get a service they were entitled to
In North America and the EU, most bribe payers say they could not remember why they had paid

Source: Global Corruption Barometer 2010

People from Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq and India were among those who perceived the highest levels of corruption in their daily lives.

At least half of the people surveyed in those countries reported paying a bribe in the past year.

While people from Cambodia (84%) and Liberia (89%) were the most likely to have to pay a bribe, the Danish reported 0% bribery.

Robin Hodess, Transparency's policy and research director, expressed particular concern at the figures on bribery.

"Unfortunately people's experience with bribery most often involves the police, and this is really worrying," she said.

"It's a figure that's grown in the past few years. It's nearly doubled, in fact, since 2006. Nearly one in three people who had contact with the police around the world had to pay a bribe."

By region, people in sub-Saharan Africa were the most likely to have paid a bribe (56%).

Bribe taking was least common in EU countries and North America (both 5%) - although these were the two regions seeing the biggest increase in concern about corruption.

Analysts blame this rising concern on the global financial crisis for undermining people's faith in government, banks and economic institutions.

Sweden has enjoyed a clean reputation - but is it deserved?

The lobby group interviewed 90,000 people in 86 countries to compile its corruption barometer.

Poverty

The opinion poll commissioned by the BBC sampled 13,000 people in 26 nations.

One question asked people to rate which issues they saw as most serious.

Corruption was ranked as the second most important topic behind poverty.

Respondents in Brazil, Egypt, Colombia, the Philippines and Kenya were especially likely to view corruption as a very serious issue.

In Europe, Italians were the most concerned about bribe taking.

Publication of the BBC poll coincides with anti-corruption day held by the United Nations.

Door panel fell off plane at Southampton take-off

An unsecured engine door panel fell off a passenger plane and damaged a wing as it was taking off from Southampton Airport, a report has revealed.

Before departure on 22 April this year the captain had inspected the plane, including a check that the engine panels were secure.

The report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) concluded the door had not been properly secured.

The Flybe plane landed safely. None of the 40 passengers was injured.

The report also said no abnormalities were found by a de-icing crew who had worked on the Dash 8 plane before it left.

Latches fully open

A pilot sitting in a parked aircraft saw the panel thrown upward from the plane as it left Southampton in the morning.

He reported this to air traffic control (ATC), which passed the information to the flight crew.

The AAIB said: "Other than the report from the ATC, the flight crew were not aware of anything unusual.

"The aircraft appeared to behave normally."

ATC advised the crew that a panel and some other debris had been found on the airfield and the captain decided to return to Southampton where the aircraft landed without further incident.

The report said the panel had damaged the leading edge of the right wing of the plane.

The engine door panel was found in grass near the runway. Two of its latches were fully open and had dirt and grass in them, "indicating they were in the open position when the door impacted the ground".

The AAIB said "evidence suggested" that the door had not been fully latched following maintenance work done at Southampton overnight before the flight.

The report said the Exeter-based airline had launched a safety campaign to highlight the importance of securing and checking engine access doors on all its aircraft.

The teenager who sleeps for 10 days

While most teenagers struggle to get out of bed in a morning, Louisa Ball might take 10 days to fully wake from her slumber, due to a very rare neurological disorder. So what's it like living with Kleine-Levin Syndrome?

Louisa has slept through holidays, friends' birthdays and half of her GCSEs.

In 2008, aged 14, she had been suffering from flu-like symptoms. She was at her school in Sussex when she started nodding off in class and behaving strangely.

"I didn't know what I was doing, what I was saying, everyone thought 'hey this isn't right,'" she recalls.

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The Real Sleeping Beauty is on BBC Three at 2100 GMT on Thursday 9 December
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The Real Sleeping Beauty

"I was hallucinating and after that I don't remember anything. All of a sudden it just went blank and I just slept for 10 days. I woke up and I was fine again."

Her parents Rick and Lottie watched their daughter becoming fidgety and with unusual facial expressions as she sank into sleep. The first time was a frightening experience for them, although Louisa herself says she wasn't scared by the episode, more puzzled.

"It was really weird, no one knew what was wrong, we just thought it wasn't going to happen again. And then four weeks later it happened again."

What is Kleine-Levin Syndrome?

KLS is a disease of adolescence, and sometimes will begin after infection or illness, says Tom Rico of the Center for Narcolepsy & KLS Research at Stanford University, California.

"An individual with KLS will have sleep episodes, typically lasting between one and three weeks, with coinciding cognitive disturbance in the few hours of wakefulness.

"During this time period, a patient will sleep anywhere between 16 to 22 hours a day, every day, until the conclusion of the episode."

But the excessive sleeping is only half the problem, he says, because when awake during the episode, patients experience what they describe as a "dream-like state".

She was finally diagnosed with Kleine-Levin Syndrome (KLS). There is no known cause or cure but Louisa says it was good to know what it was and that it wasn't life threatening.

The average time it takes to diagnose the condition is four years, because there is no test and so it requires a process of elimination of other disorders.

The disease was named after Willi Kleine, a neurologist from Frankfurt, and Max Levin, a psychiatrist from New York, who identified patients with similar symptoms in 1925 and 1936.

Louisa is unusual as KLS usually affects teenage boys, who can also exhibit hypersexuality and inappropriate behaviour.

As well as excessive sleeping, symptoms include behaviour changes, irritability, feeling in a dream-like state and binge eating, symptoms that can be mistaken for normal teenage behaviour. There are no drugs that have conclusively shown to alleviate symptoms

AIG to repay $21bn emergency loan ahead of share sale

AIG to repay $21bn emergency loan ahead of share sale.

American International Group (AIG), the troubled giant US insurer, is to repay one of the emergency rescue loans it received during the financial crisis.

It will repay the remaining $21bn outstanding from a $91bn loan from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The move will pave the way for the US Treasury to sell a fifth of the insurer on the stock exchange early next year.
The Treasury currently owns 80% of AIG, although this will rise to some 92% before the planned share selloff.
AIG also plans to sell some new shares in the stock offering, which is expected to total $10bn-15bn.
The company's share price fell 3.5% on the news to $42, as the new share issue would dilute the value of existing shares. But the share price remained above the $30 level at which the Treasury would make a profit on its investment.
"Today's announcement is a milestone in the government's long-stated efforts to exit our investments in private companies as soon as practical while protecting taxpayers," said Treasury spokesman Tim Massad in a statement on the government department's website.
"When all is said and done, we believe taxpayers will recover every dollar invested in AIG and stand a good chance of making a profit."
The company received a total bail-out of about $182bn, some of which was controversially used to make good on payments owed by the insolvent insurer to major banks and financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs.