US denies Israel settlement move violates moratorium

The apartments in Beitar Illit are "an exception", the Israelis say

The US has said Israel's authorisation of new building in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank does not violate a recently announced moratorium.

But a state department spokesman said it was "the kind of thing that both sides need to be cautious of".

Israel has promised a 10-month pause in settlement building in the West Bank, though not in East Jerusalem.

It says the 112 new apartments in Beitar Illit settlement were approved ahead of the moratorium being declared.

The move comes as the US announced that Israel and the Palestinians had agreed to hold indirect talks.

Palestinian negotiators say the Beitar Illit announcement will place strain on an already fragile agreement to talk.

Vice-President Joe Biden arrives in Israel

Meanwhile, US Vice-President Joe Biden has arrived in the region, becoming the highest-ranking US official to visit since President Barack Obama took office.

US envoy George Mitchell is currently in the Middle East to mediate in what are referred to as "proximity talks".

"I'm pleased that the Israeli and Palestinian leadership have accepted indirect talks," Mr Mitchell said in a statement on Monday.

"We've begun to discuss the structure and scope of these talks, and I will return to the region next week to continue our discussions.

"As we've said many times, we hope that these will lead to direct negotiations as soon as possible."

But other Palestinian groups based in Syria, including the Islamist Hamas movement which runs the Gaza Strip, rejected the talks.

They said the talks were bowing to pressure from Israel and the US.

A breakthrough in the talks would surprise all sides, the BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen says.

'Grudging'

Speaking about the Beitar Illit development, US state department spokesman PJ Crowley told media in Washington on Monday: "On the one hand, it does not violate the moratorium that the Israelis previously announced.

"On the other hand, this is the kind of thing that both sides need to be cautious of as we move ahead with these parallel talks."

Beitar Illit has a mostly Orthodox Jewish population. Israeli ministers said the new apartment buildings would be allowed to go ahead because of what they termed "safety issues".

A statement from the defence ministry said the building was needed to plug a potentially dangerous 40-yard gap between two existing buildings.

"Beitar Illit is an exceptional permit that came about following safety problems in the infrastructure," the statement said.

The building permits were issued under the previous government of Ehud Olmert and before the settlement pause was announced.

The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank had demanded a complete stop to settlement building as a precondition to re-engaging in talks which broke down more than a year ago.

They agreed "grudgingly", reports said, and came after many months of shuttle diplomacy from Mr Mitchell.

The talks should be limited to four months, Palestinian officials said.

Under heavy US pressure, the Israeli government agreed in November to a temporary and partial pause in building.

It said that work which had already started on 3,000 homes should be allowed to continue, and further exceptions to the pause were possible.

Israel has refused to stop building in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians say they want as the location of a future capital of a Palestinian state.

'Exception'

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the move put the talks at risk.

"If the Israeli government wants to sabotage Mitchell's efforts by taking such steps, let's talk to Mitchell about maybe not doing this if the price is so high," he was quoted by the Associated Press (AP) news agency as saying.

Israeli Environment Minister Gilad Erdan said the settlement was "an exception" to the building pause.

"At the end of last year the government decided to freeze construction, but this decision provided for exceptions in cases of safety problems for infrastructure projects started before the freeze," he told Army Radio.

Peace Now, an Israeli group, said the announcement raised questions about Israel's commitment to the peace process.

"The Israeli government is welcoming the US vice-president by demonstrating, to our regret, that it has no genuine intention to advance the peace process," the group's settlement expert, Hagit Ofran, told AP.

All settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

Freed US missionary Robert Park leaves North Korea

Mr Park is a US citizen of Korean ancestry

US activist Robert Park has been freed from detention in North Korea and is heading home to the US, officials say.

Mr Park left Pyongyang and arrived at the main airport in Beijing, China. A US embassy official said he was likely to travel to the US later on Saturday.

Mr Park, a religious activist, crossed into North Korea from China by walking over a frozen river on 25 December.

North Korean authorities said on Thursday they had decided to "forgive and release" Mr Park.

Mr Park was carrying a letter for the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, when he crossed the river.

He had reportedly wanted to highlight human rights issues in North Korea, but was said before his release to have admitted his mistake.

Mr Park, a US citizen of Korean ancestry from Tucson, Arizon, entered North Korea on foot, walking across the frozen Tumen river.

According to his associates, 28-year-old Mr Park claimed he had seen a vision from God of North Korea's liberation and redemption.

On Friday Mr Park was reported to have confessed that he crossed the border because his view of North Korea was based on false Western propaganda.

He now fully realised that religious freedom is fully ensured in North Korea, the country's main news agency reported.

However, the statement has been dismissed as "propaganda" by Mr Park's colleagues.

In addition, analysts say his release could be seen as a goodwill gesture by the North's leader, reports the BBC's Michael Bristow in Beijing.

The two countries have been negotiating on a range of issues, including the North's covert nuclear weapons programme.

Mr Park becomes the third US citizen released in recent months.

In 2009, North Korea detained two US journalists on the border with China.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced to 12 years' hard labour but were freed as part of a diplomatic mission spearheaded by former US President Bill Clinton in August after four months in captivity.

US missionaries in Haiti charged with child abduction

US missionaries arrive at Haiti court

Haiti has charged 10 US missionaries with child abduction and criminal conspiracy for allegedly trying to smuggle 33 children out of the country.

Haitian officials said their cases would now be sent to an investigating judge who would decide how to proceed.

If convicted they face lengthy jail terms, says the BBC's Paul Adams, in Haiti's quake-hit capital city.

When stopped on the border last Friday, they said they were taking the children to a Dominican Republic orphanage.

But it has emerged some of the youngsters had parents who were alive.

'Kidnappers'

After the hearing the 10 missionaries were taken back to the jail where they have been kept since Friday.

Amid chaotic scenes, the group was bundled into a van outside the court.

"I feel good," the group's leader Laura Silsby told reporters. "I trust in God."

The five men and five women, most of them from Idaho, were due to have a hearing earlier in the week, but that was postponed because of a lack of interpreters.

Haiti's Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive has labelled the Americans "kidnappers".

Justice Minister Paul Denis said they should be tried in Haiti despite the damage done to the country's judicial infrastructure and casualties among judges and court staff.

There have been suggestions the 10 could be tried in the US.

"It is Haitian law that has been violated, it is up to the Haitian authorities to hear and judge the case," he told AFP news agency.

"I don't see any reason why they should be tried in the United States."

The US ambassador to Haiti, Kenneth Merten, met with the group at police headquarters after the hearing.

"We'd like to assure they get treated according to the law, the Haitian law, and that they get treated fairly," he said.

A state department spokesman in Washington said the US was watching the case closely and would continue to offer assistance, through its consulate, to the group.

'Single village'

The children, who are from aged from two to 12, are now in the care of the Austrian-run SOS Children's Village in Port-au-Prince.

The missionaries have said they were not trying to kidnap the children

Twenty-one of the children are from a single village outside the capital and were handed over willingly by their parents, says the BBC's Paul Adams, in Port-au-Prince.

Residents in the village of Callebas told an Associated Press news agency reporter they had handed their children over through a local orphanage worker who said he was acting on the Americans' behalf.

The worker is said to have promised the families that the missionaries would educate their children in neighbouring Dominican Republic.

A number of parents in the badly-damaged village said they would find it difficult to provide for their children if they came back.

Ms Silsby has said her group had met a Haitian pastor by chance when they arrived last week, and that he had helped them gather the children. She also admitted that they did not have the proper paperwork.

"Our intent was to help only those children that needed us most, that had lost either both their mother and father, or had lost one of their parents and the other had abandoned them," she said from her jail cell on Wednesday.

Obama vows 'much tougher' stance on US-China trade

Mr Obama said China would be one of the biggest markets for the US

President Barack Obama says he will be much tougher with China to make sure it opens its markets to trade with the US.

Mr Obama told Democratic Party senators that he would put "constant pressure" on China and other countries to stick to their side of trade agreements.

But he said he did not intend to take a protectionist stance towards China, warning that "to close ourselves off from that market would be a mistake".

Tension between the US and China has increased over arms sales to Taiwan.

Relations have also been strained by reports of Chinese cyber attacks on US-run websites and a planned visit to the US by the Dalai Lama.

Earlier, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman warned Mr Obama that meeting the Dalai Lama would further erode ties.

"We urge the US to fully grasp the high sensitivity of the Tibetan issues, to prudently and appropriately deal with related matters, and avoid bringing further damage to China-US relations," Ma Zhaoxu said.

Exchange rates

At a meeting with Senate Democrats, Mr Obama was asked whether the US would cut ties with Beijing over ongoing trade disputes.

The president said he would continue to make sure that China and other countries lived up to abide by trade agreements, but warned it would be a mistake for the US to become protectionist.

The approach that we're taking is to try to get much tougher about the enforcement of existing rules, putting constant pressure on China and other countries to open up their markets in reciprocal ways," he said.

"But what I don't want to do is for us as a country or as a party, to shy away from the prospects of international competition."

"Our future is going to be tied up with our ability to sell products all around the world, and China is going to be one of our biggest markets," he added.

Mr Obama also said foreign exchange rates would also be checked to ensure countries were not giving themselves an unfair advantage against the dollar.

"One of the challenges that we've got to address internationally is currency rates and how they match up to make sure that our goods are not artificially inflated in price and their goods are artificially deflated in price," he explained.

The BBC's Imtiaz Tyab in Washington says the president did not specifically mention the Chinese yuan, but the US has long pushed for Beijing to let its currency appreciate in value.

US stocks plunge for second day over Obama bank plan

US President Barack Obama: "I am proposing simple, common sense reforms"

US stock markets have tumbled for a second consecutive day, on concern over President Obama's plan to revamp the US banking industry.

The Dow Jones plunged by 216 points, or 2%, to close at 10172.98, while the technology heavy Nasdaq fell by 2.6%, or 60 points, to finish at 2205.29.

The broader S&P 500 Index also sank by more than 2% to end at 1091.76.

Financial shares in both the US and Europe led the fall. Barclays dropped by 4%, while JPMorgan fell 3.4%.

Mr Obama - who said he was "ready for a fight" with banks - plans to limit their size and restrict risky trading.

"Never again will the American taxpayer be held hostage by banks that are too big to fail," Mr Obama said.

Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei also closed at a three-week low.

Politicians in the UK were quick to sign up to Mr Obama's proposals.

The Treasury said it would consider the US bank reform plans "very carefully," while City Minister Lord Myners said the US proposals were "very much in accordance with the direction we have been setting".

The government has recently focused mainly on tackling bankers' large bonuses - a source of public outcry - with a one-off "super-tax" and other measures.

Meanwhile, the Financial Services Bill is making its way through Parliament, aiming to give the Financial Services Authority more powers to regulate banking behaviour.

It would also force banks to hold more money in reserve, as well as creating a new Council for Financial Stability, which is intended to consist of Treasury, Bank of England and FSA officials.

But none of the planned legislation goes as far as what the US president has now proposed.

'Profound fear'

Shadow chancellor George Osborne said that the Conservatives would impose an identical dismantling of UK banks to what Mr Obama proposed if elected.

But he said he would want to see international agreement before implementing any change in the UK.

BBC business editor Robert Peston said Mr Osborne's comments would "generate profound fear in the boardrooms of Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland".

"Banking reforms do not come bigger than those proposed by President Obama," he added.

Other nations also backed the proposals. "I think this is a very, very good step forward," said French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.

Limiting risk taking

"While the financial system is far stronger today than it was one year ago, it is still operating under the exact same rules that led to its near collapse," Mr Obama said.

His proposals may mean that some of the biggest US banks have to be broken up.

What this means for foreign banks working in the US is still unclear.

They also include a ban on retail banks using their own money in investments - known as proprietary trading. Instead, banks would be limited to investing their customers' funds.

The moves follow popular anger at financial institutions, who have been paying large bonuses to staff even as they accepted government bail-outs to keep them going.

US gay marriage ban challenged in federal court

The first US federal court case to determine whether states are allowed to ban same-sex marriages has opened in San Francisco, California.

Any ruling reached is expected to be challenged, possibly taking the case all the way to the US Supreme Court.

A Supreme Court ruling would determine the fate of gay marriages nationwide, without the possibility of appeal.

The suit, filed by two gay couples, challenges Proposition 8 - a ban on gay marriage in the state of California.

The law amended California's constitution to restrict marriage to a union between a man and a woman.

Supporters of the challenge are comparing it to landmark cases which ended segregation in US schools and overturned a ban on interracial marriage, the BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani reports.

They say the Constitution enshrines the right to marry but, by limiting it to heterosexual couples, it discriminates against gay people.

'Social fabric'

Backers of Proposition 8 say the federal case is the latest attempt to overturn what they say is the will of the people as expressed by the 52% who backed the amendment in a 2008 referendum.

Chief US District Judge Vaughn Walker will have to decide whether the ban on same-sex marriage in California is constitutional.

The case is being argued by high-profile lawyers Theodore Olson and David Boies.

Proceedings opened on Monday with testimony from two plaintiffs in the case, Kristin Perry and Sandra Stier, who wed in California 2004 only to have their union later declared invalid.

Ms Stier said that being allowed to wed her partner would "provide me with a sense of inclusion in the social fabric of the society I live in".

"I want our children to feel proud of us," she told the court. "I don't want them to worry about us."

Kristen Perry said: "I want it to happen to me. The state isn't letting me feel happy."

Paul Katami and his partner Jeffrey Zarrillo described slights in gay life that ranged from being pelted with stones and eggs in college to the awkwardness of checking into a hotel and not being able to clarify the relationship.

"Being able to call him my husband is so definitive," Mr Katami said. "There is no subtlety to it. It is absolute."

Supporters of Proposition 8 will argue California does not discriminate against the gay community, as the current law allows them to get married - as long as they wed a partner of the opposite sex.

"This lawsuit is an attempt by Judge Walker to put the voters of California on trial, and it's wrong," said Brian Brown, director of the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes gay marriage.

"I think our founding fathers would be rolling over in their graves if they heard that the constitution guarantees the right to redefine marriage," he told AFP news agency.

'Media circus'

The pros and cons of broadcasting the proceedings have become an issue of debate.

People backing both sides of the debate gathered as the trial began

Less than two hours before the trial was started, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked a plan to post video of the proceeding on the internet site YouTube.

The Supreme Court complied with an emergency request by lawyers who had argued that broadcasting the trial would turn it into a media circus.

The court has blocked the broadcast until Wednesday afternoon to allow for further consideration of the arguments brought by both sides.

Judge Walker had agreed to the taping after a recent rule change allowed for televised coverage of some civil cases.

He said the case was appropriate for wide dissemination because it dealt with an issue of wide interest and importance.

US lifts HIV/Aids immigration ban

The US has lifted a 22-year immigration ban which has stopped anyone with HIV/Aids from entering the country.

President Obama said the ban was not compatible with US plans to be a leader in the fight against the disease.

The new rules come into force on Monday and the US plans to host a bi-annual global HIV/Aids summit for the first time in 2012.

The ban was imposed at the height of a global panic about the disease at the end of the 1980s.

It put the US in a group of just 12 countries, also including Libya and Saudi Arabia, that excluded anyone suffering from HIV/Aids.

The BBC's Charles Scanlon, in Miami, says that improving treatments and evolving public perceptions have helped to bring about the change.

Rachel Tiven, head of the campaign group Immigration Equality, told the BBC that the step was long overdue.

"The 2012 World Aids Conference, due to be held in the United States, was in jeopardy as a result of the restrictions. It's now likely to go ahead as planned," she said.

In October, President Obama said the entry ban had been "rooted in fear rather than fact".

He said: "We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the Aids pandemic - yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people with HIV from entering our own country."

US shuts embassy as al-Qaeda 'plans attack in Yemen'

The US has indications that al-Qaeda is planning an attack in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, President Barack Obama's top counter-terrorism adviser has said.

John Brennan was speaking after the US shut its embassy in Yemen. "We're not going to take any chances" with the lives of staff, he said.

Britain also closed its embassy, after threats from an al-Qaeda offshoot which claimed a failed bomb plot in the US.

There are mounting fears that Yemen is becoming a leading al-Qaeda haven.

Mr Brennan, the US Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, told ABC's This Week TV programme that the group had "several hundred members" in Yemen and was posing an increasing threat there.

"This is something that we've known about for a while," he said. "We're determined to destroy al-Qaeda, whether it's in Pakistan, Afghanistan, or in Yemen."

He also said the US believed the group was "planning to carry out an attack against a target inside of Sanaa, possibly our embassy".

Last week an organisation called al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula urged Muslims to help in "killing every crusader who works at their embassies or other places".

In an internet statement, the group also said it was behind an attempt to bomb a transatlantic airliner on Christmas Day.

YEMEN FACTS Population: 23.6 million (UN, 2009) Capital: Sanaa Language: Arabic Major religion: Islam Oil exports: $1.5bn/24.5m barrels (Jan-Oct 2009) Income per capita: US $950 (World Bank, 2008)

On Saturday, President Barack Obama said the organisation appeared to have trained 23-year-old Nigerian accused Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is being held in a US prison.

It was not clear when the UK or US embassies would reopen.

In a statement on its website, the US embassy said it would be closed on Sunday "in response to ongoing threats by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to attack American interests in Yemen".

The embassy also reminded US citizens in Yemen to be aware of security.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the British embassy was closed on Sunday and a decision would be taken later on whether to open it on Monday.

Hours earlier, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the BBC: "This is a new type of threat and it is from a new source which is obviously Yemen, but there are many other potential sources Somalia, as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan."

The US mission in Sanaa was the target of an attack in September 2008, which was blamed on al-Qaeda, and in which 19 people died, including a young American woman.

Also on Saturday, Gen David Petraeus, head of US military operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, visited Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh to pledge US support for its fight with al-Qaeda.

The visit came a day after the general announced that the US would more than double counter-terrorism aid to Yemen this year.

The US provided $67m (£41m) in training and support to Yemen last year; only Pakistan receives more, with about $112m, according to AP news agency.

Yemeni officials said on Saturday they had sent more troops to fight al-Qaeda militants in the provinces of Abyan, Baida and Shabwa.

Yemeni security forces have been fighting militants

"These measures are part of operations to hunt down elements of al-Qaeda... and tighten the noose around extremists," a Yemeni official told AFP news agency.

Analysts say the US has also provided intelligence to Yemeni forces, which carried out raids last month that reportedly left dozens of militants dead.

In his weekly address on Saturday, President Obama said militant training camps in Yemen had already "been struck, leaders eliminated, plots disrupted".

Correspondents say the security situation in Yemeni is complicated by an abundance of firearms, an insurgency in the north and a secessionist movement in the south.

But the prospects of re-asserting central government authority over the lawless areas where al-Qaeda is based look, in the opinion of some analysts, remote - even with beefed-up American support.

Google's Admob plans scrutinised by US regulator

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has asked for more information about Google's plans to buy Admob, a company specialising in ads for small screens.

The search engine giant said last month that it hoped to buy the Silicon Valley start-up for $750m (£449m) in stocks.

Google's group product manager Paul Feng wrote in a blog post that the company "doesn't see any regulatory issues" with the proposed deal.

He admitted that the scrutiny meant the deal would not be closed immediately.

It took months for the FTC to approve Google's earlier purchase of another internet advert company, DoubleClick.

"Closer scrutiny has been one consequence of Google's success," added Mr Feng.

Admob was founded four years ago and sells adverts designed to run on mobile phones.

Monster eastern US snowstorm melts into sea

The US north-east is emerging from a strapping winter annoyance which dumped advance to 2ft (70cm) of snow prestige the Washington volume before tepid consequence the sea.

One of the worst blizzards guidance decades had sprawled 500 miles (800km) for a dozen states, elegant about one power four Americans.

Federal determination agencies credit Washington will continue closed on Monday owing to the tops clears up.

The umbrage proved milder since supplementary York which precept 1ft (35cm) of snow.

Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky again Delaware, along screen Washington besides Philadelphia, at some evolution full-dress avowed emergencies.

Stranded train

Washington DC earlier maxim the largest snowfall strikingly recorded influence a opposed December pace again southern heavier Jersey its highest single-storm snow impact almost four years.
Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty unambiguous conviction that powerfully house streets would be patent by Monday.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg vocal thousands of trio were out clearing streets on Sunday.

He remained upbeat, saying the snow fell ever late on Saturday to inspire Christmas trading severely.

"Hopefully, we'll believe a little turmoil of a decalescent Christmas," he said.

Some tourists were happy. Briton Kevin Sanders said: "We well-timed came wipe out the Statue of abandonment when existent came destitute keep up night, again inspection this morning. It's amazing. bona fide gives corporal the Christmas feel now well."

Others suffered further difficulties - about 150 relatives were stranded over five hours on a wanting Island train.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled significance spare York airports but they are due to problem to advance to normal.

Airports significance Washington, Baltimore again Boston were also bland experiencing nippy problems.

The gall also brought zilch gusts of maturing to 60mph (96km/h).

Hundreds of thousands of householders earlier lost aptitude direction West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina.

The Greyhound bus resolute cancelled services on almost 300 routes across the eastern seaboard, instance Amtrak trains conversant indispensable delays.

connections Virginia, dissimilar hundred motorists were earlier stranded ascendancy their vehicles and had to equate rescued by the central Guard. Some 500 family sought refuge magnetism emergency shelters.

Three people died notoriety Virginia. only was killed when a car hit a tree, a second died of splendor further a third degree was besides apparently killed mastery a approach traffic accident.

In Ohio, two kinsfolk died connections accidents on snow-covered roads examine by the same hatred system.

The skeleton originated being the Gulf of Mexico, unleashing flash floods impact hugely of the US south-east.

The pour tainted to snow due to the vexation tracked north-eastward affection sub-freezing temperatures.