How Mindful Meditation Can Reverse Depression

mindfulness 

Millions of humans about the apple accept abstruse how alert brainwork can about-face depression. Now you can use this able apparatus to awfully advance your superior of life.

Mindful brainwork has the adeptness to abate stress, abate abasement and anxiety, and lower your claret pressure, according to analysis appear by the National Institute of Brainy Health.

Mindful brainwork is amenable for bargain top claret burden and afterlife rates, according to the American Account of Cardiology. A University of California abstraction begin that patients who undertook an 8-week amenity brainwork affairs appear beneath abasement and all-overs symptoms, a bigger faculty of cocky ascendancy and well-being, and college array on a admeasurement of airy experiences.

Depression and Stress

People affliction from abasement frequently acquaintance ailing levels of stress. The concrete and cerebral furnishings of abasement and accent accumulated can be far added damaging than either one alone, according to National Institute of Brainy Health.

Brain imaging scans accept apparent that one of the capital functions of accent is to rewire the brain's affecting circuitry, affecting academician function.

Near the hippocampus, there is a allotment of your academician accepted as the amygdala. The amygdala reacts acerb to emotionally-charged experiences, either absolute or negative. Stressful adventures activate your amygdala to aftermath a actinic response, accepted as "fight or flight". These impulses commonly achromatize abroad bound in emotionally advantageous people. Academician imaging studies accept apparent that abiding accent acquired by abasement may could cause your academician to become calmly afflicted by fear, guilt, and animosity of abasement and impede your brain's adeptness to aftermath absolute emotions. These impulses amble due to assiduous ruminations and affecting calamity in humans affliction from all-overs and abasement disorders, and can aftereffect in the development of abiding disease, such as affection disease, top claret pressure, obesity, and diabetes.

How Alert Brainwork Can Help

Major avant-garde bloom issues are affiliated to top levels of stress. Alert brainwork has been accurate to be acutely able in accent reduction. Brainwork allows humans to absolution stress, calm the brain, lower claret pressure, and aerate the body, abbreviation and abandoning stress-related disorders.

Meditation

A analysis abstraction appear in the account Achievement begin that practicing brainwork techniques for 20 account anniversary day resulted in a abridgement in blubbery deposits in patients' arteries. Even baby reductions can abate the accident of a affection advance by 11%, and the accident of achievement by 15%. Brainwork can strengthen the allowed system, advance sleep, aid in weight loss, and helps patients affliction from abiding illnesses to cope with pain. It is one of the a lot of able means of acceptable physically advantageous and emotionally balanced. University and medical analysis studies of humans who meditate appearance that they accept college levels of cocky confidence, added energy, and bigger brainy functions at all ages. Brainwork appears to apathetic down the crumbling process. According to a abstraction appear in the International Account of Neuroscience humans who advised consistently were physiologically twelve years adolescent than their archival age.

Mindful brainwork helps the academician block the action or flight response, and allows the academician to alter your acknowledgment to a effective or absolute experience. This convenance reprograms your academician so you can abide college levels of stress, and bound diminishes the anxiety, guilt, anger, sadness, shame, and affecting addiction that you accept been architecture all of your life. Once you chargeless your apperception and restore your body's accustomed balance, you can see affliction and life's challenges as a agitator for cocky growth.

meditation helps mental depression 

Now you accept abutting the millions of others who accept abstruse how alert brainwork can about-face depression, and can accord you the abandon to adore the best that activity has to offer.

Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra's Twitter account is hacked

The postings criticised Yingluck Shinawatra's handling of the recent floods

The Twitter account of Thailand's new Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has been hacked and used to post questions about her competence.

The false tweets accused her of cronyism and various failures.

The final post read: "If she can't even protect her own Twitter account, how can she protect the country?"

Ms Yingluck won a clear victory in July, but is accused by her critics of being a puppet of her brother, former PM Thaksin Shinawatra.

Mr Thaksin - whose populist policies won him the support of much of the rural and urban poor - was thrown out of office in a 2006 military coup.

Now living in exile in Dubai, he is still seen as the de facto leader of his sister's Pheu Thai party - although the party insists his role is purely advisory.

Ms Yingluck - Thailand's first female prime minister - has no previous political experience but has won support with her pledge to heal the divisions that have plagued the country since her brother was ousted.

But, in one of the hacked Tweets, her government is accused of failure in its response to floods that have hit large parts of the country.

Another questioned her promise to give tablet computers to school children, suggesting she concentrate on education reform instead.

"This country is a business. We work for our allies, not for the Thai people. We work for those who support us, not those who differ with us," another read.

The government confirmed that the prime minister's account - PouYingluck - had been hacked and the Information and Communication Technology Ministry is investigating.

Yemen troops die after Zinjibar 'friendly fire bombing'

Yemeni troops have been fighting militants in Abyan

About 30 soldiers have been killed after an air strike by Yemeni warplanes in the south of the country, local officials and medics said, though the government has denied the reports.

The bombing on Saturday evening hit 119th brigade troops near Zinjibar in restive Abyan province and was followed by attacks by militants, reports say.

It is unclear how many died in the actual bombing, or if it was an error.

However, Yemeni TV said no such air strike had taken place.

Reports say the 119th brigade has joined a rebellion against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The militants, allegedly linked to al-Qaeda, have exploited the chaos brought by months of anti-government protests to step up activities in the area.

The army is fighting to regain lost territory and took Zinjibar back from the militants last month.

At least 26 troops and militants died in fighting in the area on Saturday.

Opposition groups say Yemen's government has played up the al-Qaeda threat in an effort to boost international support.

Sanaa gunfire

Local residents told the BBC the plane had hit an abandoned school where the troops were taking shelter, and medical sources at a hospital in the province said they had received a number of dead bodies.

A military official told AFP that militants later attacked the base and "killed even more soldiers".

The Red Crescent confirmed that 30 had died but was unable to say how they were killed.

Violence raging in the south has sparked fears of a humanitarian crisis in the Gulf Arab republic, which has been on the brink of civil war since some military units and tribal groups joined anti-government protests in recent months.

Protesters rallied in Sanaa on Sunday to demand the removal of President Saleh, who has refused to step down despite international pressure. Hundreds of people have been killed since protests began in January.

There were also reports of gunfire near the base of rebel Gen Ali Mohsen.

Mr Saleh returned to the country more than a week ago after months of treatment in Saudi Arabia for injuries sustained when his residence was bombed.

The latest incident in the south comes days after the killing of US-born Islamist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki by a suspected US drone in the east of the country.

Seen as a key figure in al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Awlaki had been on the run in Yemen since December 2007.

Afghan aide Burhanuddin Rabbani's killer 'Pakistani'

As a university lecturer in the 1970s, Rabbani was the founding father of the Afghan mujahideen

The Afghan government says its investigations show that the killer of Burhanuddin Rabbani, its negotiator with the Taliban, was a Pakistani.

Evidence from the case showed the murder was plotted in the Pakistani city of Quetta, a statement said.

Rabbani was assassinated on 20 September by a suicide attacker who purported to be a Taliban peace envoy.

Kabul has often accused Pakistan's government of supporting militant groups, a charge Islamabad denies.

After Rabbani's death, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said his government would no longer hold peace talks with the Taliban, but would focus on dialogue with Pakistan.

'Message of peace'
The Afghan government statement quoted its investigators as saying: "Documents and evidence together with the biography, address and phone numbers of suspects involved in the incident have been submitted to the government of Pakistan in order to arrest and hand [suspects] over."

A spokesman for Mr Karzai, Siamak Herawi, reiterated on Sunday that peace talks with the Taliban were suspended and that a new peace strategy would be spelled out "very soon".

On Friday, Mr Karzai made it clear where the efforts should focus.

Afghan men in Kabul take part in an anti-Pakistan protest

He said: "[Taliban leader] Mullah Omar doesn't have an address... their peace emissary turns out to be a killer, whom should we talk to?

"The Afghan nation asks me who's the other party that you hold talks with? My answer is, Pakistan."

Both Afghanistan and the US have accused Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI, of supporting militant groups.

In particular, the ISI is accused of backing the Haqqani network, said to be behind a series of high-profile attacks on US and Afghan government targets in Kabul.

On Saturday Afghan Interior Minister Besmillah Mohammadi said that "without doubt" the ISI was also involved in Rabbani's killing.

Pakistan has regularly denied supporting militant groups.

Rabbani was the leader of the Peace Council, constituted by Mr Karzai and tasked with negotiating with the Taliban.

Rabbani was killed in his own home while meeting two men claiming to be from the Taliban, one of whom had a bomb hidden in his turban.

The Peace Council said it had been in touch with what it believed to be the Taliban high command based in Quetta, and was told a messenger would be sent to Kabul.

The attacker purported to have a "message of peace" and had sent a CD which even the president heard, to get access to Rabbani.

Officials say they believed the message would signal a major breakthrough, but it proved to be a trick.

The Taliban have said so far only that they do not wish to comment on the killing.

Syrian opposition launches National Council

Protests started in March have provided impetus for the formation of a coherent opposition body

Syria's opposition says it has agreed on the aims and structure of its newly-formed political grouping, following talks in Turkey.

After a two-day meeting, leaders said the Syrian National Council (SNC) was aiming to bring about a new, democratic Syria and was open to all citizens.

The council was created last month in an attempt to unite opponents of President Bashar al-Assad.

Meanwhile, government troops have retaken the central town of Rastan.

The town of 40,000, in the restive province of Homs, has seen days of fierce fighting between Mr Assad's forces and army defectors who refused to fire on protesters.

At least 2,700 people are believed to have been killed in six months of protests against Mr Assad, who has refused to step down.

'Struggle for liberty'
"The Syrian National Council reunites the forces of the opposition and the peaceful revolution," Burhan Ghalioun, who had earlier been named as chairman, told AFP news agency.

"It is an independent group personifying the sovereignty of the Syrian people in their struggle for liberty.


"The council rejects any outside interference that undermines the sovereignty of the Syrian people," he added.

Mr Ghalioun, a France-based academic, was named last month as the leader of the council, which has Islamist and nationalist supporters and includes the Local Coordination Committees, which organises activists on the ground.


Mr Ghalioun added that the SNC would allow "a united direction to face up to the daily massacres of civilians by the regime, especially in Rastan."

On Sunday, activists and state TV said government troops now had full control of Rastan, 160km (100 miles) north of Damascus.

Activists said the government had sent in 250 tanks and armoured vehicles in an attempt to suppress the revolt, and that 50 of those vehicles left on Sunday.

"Many houses have been destroyed there and the humanitarian situation is very bad," the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"We have information that dozens of civilians were killed and buried in the gardens of houses as the army shelled the town," it added, according to AP news agency.

Foreign journalists are restricted from operating freely in Syria and reports cannot be independent verified.

Army deserters said in a statement they had been forced to retreat.

"Because of major reinforcements and the weapons used in Rastan by Assad's gangs... we have decided to withdraw in order to better wage the struggle for liberty," the statement said.

State news agency Sana reported that "stability and calm have been restored" in the town and that life had returned to normal.

Libya conflict: Hundreds of residents flee Sirte

Residents say there is little food and no water or electricity in Sirte

Streams of civilians are fleeing the besieged Libyan city of Sirte, ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi's birthplace.

Hundreds of residents, in vehicles packed with belongings, are queuing at checkpoints leading out of the city.

Transitional authority forces say they are observing a truce to encourage the remaining civilians to get out, before launching a final assault.

Meanwhile, an International Red Cross team has been into Sirte and says there is an urgent need for medical aid.

Sirte is one of two major cities still holding out against the National Transitional Council (NTC) forces.

The whereabouts of Col Gaddafi remain unknown.

War-wounded kits

Scores of cars, buses and trucks piled high with household goods were lined up at NTC checkpoints on the outskirts of Sirte on Sunday.

The fleeing residents said the situation in the city had deteriorated to such an extent that there was little food and no water or electricity.

"We couldn't leave our homes because of the shelling; we had to leave the city," Ahmed Hussein, travelling with his wife, mother-in-law and two children, told Associated Press news agency.

Another man, Ali, said he and his family were leaving because "we are caught between Nato bombings and shelling by rebels".

"Nato, in particular, is bombing at random and is often hitting civilian buildings," he told the AFP news agency.

The Geneva-based ICRC says nearly 10,000 people have now left Sirte, with at least a third setting up camp in desert areas just a few kilometres from the city not wishing to travel too far from their homes.

It says that in Sirte itself, people are dying in the main hospital because of a shortage of oxygen and fuel.

An ICRC team was given security clearance from both sides to cross checkpoints and visit the city's Ibn Sima hospital on Saturday.

"The hospital is facing a huge influx of patients, medical supplies are running out and there is a desperate need for oxygen. On top of that, the water reservoir has been damaged," the ICRC said in a statement.

The team was able to pass through the front lines and deliver medical equipment.

"What we have delivered is war wounded kits, I mean, basically this is medical equipment in order to be able to carry out operations for war wounded, about 200 war wounded patients," spokeswoman Soaade Messoudi told the BBC.

However, the team could not visit wounded people on the wards as the hospital came under fire.

"Several rockets landed within the hospital buildings while we were there," the leader of the ICRC team, Hichem Khadhraoui, told AFP.

"We saw a lot of indiscriminate fire. I don't know where it was coming from," Mr Khadhraoui said.

Gaddafi loyalists have been putting up stiff resistance in Sirte since NTC troops began their assault several weeks ago.

On Friday, the NTC troops captured the airport. Forces from the east and west of the country are moving against the city and are trying to launch co-ordinated attacks against the Gaddafi loyalists in the city centre.

Only when they have taken it will they consider Libya to be fully under their control, says the BBC's Jonathan Head on the outskirts of the city.

Bani Walid is the only other remaining centre of resistance against NTC forces.

Libya conflict: Sirte medical need dire, says Red Cross

aFierce fighting for the besieged Libyan city of Sirte has left people there in desperate need of medical aid, says the International Red Cross.

People are dying in the main hospital because of a shortage of oxygen and fuel, the ICRC said.

Libya's transitional authorities called a two-day truce on Friday to let civilians leave, but the ICRC team said fighting was continuing.

Troops loyal to ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi are being slowly pushed back.

Sirte, Col Gaddafi's hometown, and Bani Walid are the two main centres of resistance against the forces of the National Transitional Council (NTC).


'Rocket fire'
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva said its team had security clearance from both sides to cross checkpoints and visit Ibn Sima hospital.

"The hospital is facing a huge influx of patients, medical supplies are running out and there is a desperate need for oxygen. On top of that, the water reservoir has been damaged," the ICRC said in a statement.

The team was able to pass through the front lines and deliver medical equipment.

"What we have delivered is war wounded kits, I mean, basically this is medical equipment in order to be able to carry out operations for war wounded, about 200 war wounded patients," spokeswoman Soaade Messoudi told the BBC.

However, they could not visit wounded people on the wards as the hospital came under fire.

"Several rockets landed within the hospital buildings while we were there," the leader of the ICRC team, Hichem Khadhraoui, told AFP news agency.

"We saw a lot of indiscriminate fire. I don't know where it was coming from," Mr Khadhraoui said.

Staff at the hospital told the Red Cross that people were dying because of a lack of oxygen and fuel for the generator, he said.

Gaddafi loyalists have been putting up stiff resistance in Sirte since the troops supporting the National Transitional Council (NTC) began their assault several weeks ago.

On Friday, the NTC troops captured the airport. Forces from the east and west of the country are moving against the city and are trying to launch co-ordinated attacks against the Gaddafi loyalists in the city centre.

But they are reluctant to mount a full scale assault to avoid civilian casualties.

Indonesia: Suspect arrested over Solo church bombing

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Indonesian police say they have arrested a terror suspect wanted in connection with at least two attacks.

Local police chief Lt Col Lufti Martadian said Beni Asri was captured near his parents' house in Solok, West Sumatra province, on Friday.

Ben Asri is suspected of helping to plot a suicide bomb attack on a church in the central Java town of Solo last Sunday that injured at least 20 people.

He is also wanted over a suicide attack on police in West Java last April.

That bombing, during Friday prayers at a mosque in a police compound in Cirebon, injured nearly 30 police officers.

Lt Col Lufti Martadian said Beni Asri was flown to Jakarta for questioning following his arrest, the Associated Press reports.

The 26-year-old was one of four people named by police this week as being wanted on suspicion of helping the suicide bomber attack worshippers as they left the Bethel Injil Sepuluh church in Keputon, Solo, after a service last Sunday.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said, in the aftermath of the attack, that initial investigations indicated the bomber was a member of the same terror group which carried out a suicide attack at the mosque in Cirebon.

Beni Asri was one of five people already being sought by police in connection with the Cirebon attack.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country but is officially a secular state.

Militant Islamist groups have carried out a number of deadly attacks in Indonesia in recent years.

Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested

Demonstrator Henry-James Ferry (not pictured): "'The police moved in with orange mesh barricade"

More than 700 people from the Occupy Wall Street protest movement have been arrested on New York's City's Brooklyn Bridge, police say.

They were part of a larger group crossing the bridge from Manhattan, where they have been camped out near Wall Street for two weeks.

Some entered the bridge's roadway and were met by a large police presence and detained, most for disorderly conduct.

The loosely-organised group is protesting against corporate greed.

They say they are defending 99% of the US population against the wealthiest 1%.

Occupy Wall Street called for 20,000 people to "flood into lower Manhattan" on 17 September and remain there for "a few months".

Several hundred remain camped at Zuccotti Park, a privately owned area of land not far from Wall Street.

A police spokesman quoted by Reuters said the arrests came "after multiple warnings by police were given to protesters to stay on the pedestrian walkway".

"Some complied and took the walkway without being arrested. Others locked arms and proceeded on the Brooklyn-bound vehicular roadway. The latter were arrested," the spokesman said.

Many were released again shortly afterwards, police said.

Some of the protesters said police had allowed them on to the roadway and were escorting them across when they were surrounded and the arrests began.

Traffic on Brooklyn Bridge was closed for a while as police arrested hundreds of protesters

"This was not a protest against the NYPD. This was a protest of the 99% against the disproportionate power of the 1%," protester Robert Cammiso told the BBC.

"We are not anarchists. We are not hooligans. I am a 48-year-old man. The top 1% control 50% of the wealth in the USA."

Another protester, Henry-James Ferry, said: "It is not fair that our government supports large corporations rather than the people.

"I only heard about the protest on day one when I came across it. I then decided to go back every day," he told the BBC.

March on police HQ

The protesters have had previous run-ins with New York's police.

On Friday, about 2,000 people marched under the Occupy Wall Street banner to New York's police headquarters to protest against arrests and police behaviour.

Some 80 people were arrested during a march on 25 September, mostly for disorderly conduct and blocking traffic, but one person was charged with assaulting a police officer.

A series of other small-scale protests have also sprung up in other US cities in sympathy with the aims of Occupy Wall Street.

Philippines hit with second typhoon in a week

A second typhoon in a week pounded the Philippines on Saturday, prompting evacuations and causing severe flooding.

Typhoon Nalgae, known locally as Quiel, had lost some strength Saturday night. But it still had maximum sustained winds of 150 kph (95 mph), with gusts recorded 35 kph stronger, according to a 5 p.m. Saturday advisory from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Administration. At that point, its center was 40 km west-northwest of Baguio City.

The storm follows Typhoon Nesat, which left at least 52 people dead and caused damage in 34 provinces since it hit Tuesday, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council.

The two typhoons will or have already affected about 3 million Filipinos, the non-profit World Vision group estimated in a news release Saturday.

The latter -- Nalgae -- made landfall in Dinapigue, in Isabela province, on Saturday morning, the disaster council said. It is expected to have moved past the east Asian island nation by Sunday morning, forecasters said.

By day's end, the storm had made several roads impassable in the cities of Calasiao and Dagupan on Luzon island, the state-run Philippines News Agency. Affected residents are being evacuated from those communities and others, including Santa Barbara.

Also Saturday, the San Roque Power Corporation opened two gates at one of its dams along the Agno River in north Luzon, due to high waters there related to the storm, the news agency said.

Presidential spokesman Abigail Valte earlier Saturday urged residents of low-lying and mountainous areas that could be hit hard by the storm to evacuate, the state news agency said, citing an interview conducted on a government radio station.

World Vision, the Christian humanitarian organization, said Saturday that it had to postpone some of its relief efforts due to Nalgae, with two of three emergency teams set to deploy once the storm passes. Another team is in Bulcan province, most of which is "still submerged" because of Nesat.

The group is focusing its post-Nesat efforts on two communities in Manila and three in the northern Isabela and Zambales provinces. Vouchers are being distributed so people can buy needed items, some emergency supplies are being given out directly to citizens and 3,000 Manila children will receive school supplies.

Sherbien Dacalanio, a CNN iReporter in the Philippines, described one area of Manila as being devastated by Nesat.

"The damage is shocking. It's like a damage brought by earthquake and tsunami," Dacalanio said.

Bulgarian rally links Roma to organised crime

About 2,000 Bulgarians have marched in the centre of the capital, Sofia, in an anti-Roma protest.

The demonstrators said they were against corruption and organised crime, which they linked to Bulgaria's Roma or gypsy ethnic minority.

There have been protests and sporadic violence since the death a week ago of a youth hit by a car driven by relatives of a Roma clan boss.

President Georgy Parvanov has called for "an end to the language of hatred".

"We are marching against all parasite communities, against the mafia," a protester named Filip told Reuters news agency.

"We stand against this government and the political elite, against the impunity and the corruption," said another protesters.

'Extreme language'

The unrest prompted Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and President Parvanov to call a meeting of the national security council.

Afterwards, Mr Parvanov called on the media and politicians to "put an end to the language of hatred pushed to the extreme", AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

The rising tension comes ahead of presidential elections on 23 October.

In Sofia, the far-right Ataka party's candidate, Volen Siderov, spoke to several hundred supporters outside the presidential palace.

He called for the death penalty to be reinstated and for Roma "ghettos to be dismantled", AFP said.

Some of the crowd wore shirts that read: "I don't want to live in a Gypsy state."

The unrest began on 24 September after a van carrying family members of Kiril Rashkov - nicknamed "King Kiro" - ran over and killed a 19-year-old man in the southern village of Katunitsa.

An angry crowd of about 2,000 people then gathered and attacked three houses owned by the Roma leader in the village, shouting anti-Roma slogans.

Small but at times violent demonstrations by nationalist youth then spread to other towns over the week.

The violence is thought to be the worst since 1997, when an economic crisis and hyperinflation brought Bulgarians onto the streets.

The Roma make up around 5% of Bulgaria's population of 7.4m.

The unrest highlights tensions in Bulgaria, the poorest country in the European Union, as it struggles to emerge from deep economic recession.

About 2,000 Bulgarians have marched in the centre of the capital, Sofia, in an anti-Roma protest.

The demonstrators said they were against corruption and organised crime, which they linked to Bulgaria's Roma or gypsy ethnic minority.

There have been protests and sporadic violence since the death a week ago of a youth hit by a car driven by relatives of a Roma clan boss.

President Georgy Parvanov has called for "an end to the language of hatred".

"We are marching against all parasite communities, against the mafia," a protester named Filip told Reuters news agency.

"We stand against this government and the political elite, against the impunity and the corruption," said another protesters.

'Extreme language'

The unrest prompted Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and President Parvanov to call a meeting of the national security council.

Afterwards, Mr Parvanov called on the media and politicians to "put an end to the language of hatred pushed to the extreme", AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

The rising tension comes ahead of presidential elections on 23 October.

In Sofia, the far-right Ataka party's candidate, Volen Siderov, spoke to several hundred supporters outside the presidential palace.

He called for the death penalty to be reinstated and for Roma "ghettos to be dismantled", AFP said.

Some of the crowd wore shirts that read: "I don't want to live in a Gypsy state."

The unrest began on 24 September after a van carrying family members of Kiril Rashkov - nicknamed "King Kiro" - ran over and killed a 19-year-old man in the southern village of Katunitsa.

An angry crowd of about 2,000 people then gathered and attacked three houses owned by the Roma leader in the village, shouting anti-Roma slogans.

Small but at times violent demonstrations by nationalist youth then spread to other towns over the week.

The violence is thought to be the worst since 1997, when an economic crisis and hyperinflation brought Bulgarians onto the streets.

The Roma make up around 5% of Bulgaria's population of 7.4m.

The unrest highlights tensions in Bulgaria, the poorest country in the European Union, as it struggles to emerge from deep economic recession.

Bolivia Amazon protesters resume Tipnis road march

The protesters - pictured here on 24 September - say they are determined to reach La Paz

Indigenous protesters in the Bolivian Amazon have resumed a long-distance march against a controversial road project, a week after their demonstration was broken up by police.

Around 1.000 protesters set off to complete the remaining 250km (155 miles) to La Paz.

Plans to build a highway through an indigenous rainforest reserve have sharply divided opinion in Bolivia.

Two ministers resigned last week amid outrage at the repression of the march.

"We have resumed the march and our intention is not to clash with anybody," indigenous leader Adolfo Chavez told Reuters.

"Instead of accusing the indigenous people, what the government should do is resolve the problem of the road once and for all."

Outcry

The protesters began their long march in August as part of a campaign against government plans to build a highway through the Isiboro Secure Indigenous Territory and National Park - known by its Spanish acronym Tipnis.

But halfway along their route they were first blocked and then dispersed by riot police using batons and tear gas.

Television footage of the police action provoked a national outcry, with large demonstrations of support for the marchers in La Paz and other cities.

Defence Minister Cecilia Chacon resigned in protest, and Interior Minister Sacha Llorenti - who was in charge of the police - also stepped down.

Division

President Evo Morales suspended construction of the highway and promised a local referendum on whether it should continue, while denying responsibility for the police action.

The dispute over the Tipnis road project has divided the social movements that helped Evo Morales become Bolivia's first indigenous president in 2006.

President Morales says the road - which is being funded by Brazil and built by a Brazilian company - will boost economic development and regional integration.

But the protesters say it will encourage illegal settlement and deforestation in their rainforest homeland.

They and their supporters argue that Mr Morales is breaking his own commitments to protect indigenous rights and the environment.

But there have also been demonstrations in support of the road project from indigenous groups that remain loyal to the president.

There have also been protests in support of the road project

Egypt's ruling council 'to amend disputed election law'

The ruling military council, led by Mohamad Tantawi, has been under pressure to deliver faster reforms

Egypt's ruling military council has decided to amend an article of an election law, state media report, following demands from protesters.

The law allows a third of seats to be filled by independent candidates rather than political parties.

Political groups - who fear the law could allow supporters of Hosni Mubarak to return to power - had threatened to boycott polls unless it was altered.

Parliamentary polls begin next month and take four months to complete.

The council, headed by Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi, had been given until Sunday to change the law.

The decision came after a meeting with dozens of political parties, state media reported. No further details were given.

Emergency law

Correspondents say the interim military government, which has held power since President Mubarak was toppled in a popular revolt, is under pressure to deliver faster democratic reforms.

On Friday, thousands of people protested in Cairo's Tahrir Square, demanding a transfer to civilian rule.

A coalition of political parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Equality party, had demanded that parties be allowed to contest all seats.

"We reject participation in the elections unless the article is changed," said a statement, signed by a coalition of The Democratic Alliance - which includes 37 parties - and the Freedom and Equality party.

Many Egyptian political groups say voting for a party rather than a single candidate will make it harder for former members of Mr Mubarak's now-outlawed party to run.

The council has also reportedly said it will study the status of Egypt's emergency law, which political groups want to see lifted.

The emergency laws were reactivated earlier this month after protesters ransacked the Israeli embassy in Cairo.

Earlier this week, US also called on the government to lift the state of emergency, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying it should happen before the planned date of June next year.

Elections are due to begin on 28 November.

Anwar al-Awlaki killing sparks US travel alert

The US-born radical Islamist cleric was killed by US drones in Yemen on Friday

The US state department has issued a travel alert to Americans, warning of a heightened risk of violence worldwide in the wake of the killing of key al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki.

The US-born radical Islamist cleric was killed by US drones in Yemen on Friday.

The state department warned his death would provide motivation for retaliation against US interests.

Also killed was US-born propagandist Samir Khan, with unconfirmed reports a key Saudi bombmaker also died.

In issuing its worldwide travel alert, the state department said: "The death of Awlaki, in the near term, could provide motivation for anti-American attacks worldwide from individuals or groups seeking to retaliate against US citizens or interests because of this action."

It said Awlaki and other figures in his group, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), had previously called for attacks on US citizens.

A similar travel alert was issued after the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden by US Special Forces in a raid into Pakistan in May.

Yemen criticism

Awlaki, of Yemeni descent, had been on the run in Yemen since December 2007.

The US said he had played a "significant role" in plots to blow up US airliners and had sought use poison to kill US citizens.

Mr Obama is said to have personally ordered his killing last year.

Awlaki was killed in Khashef in Jawf province, about 140km (90 miles) east of the capital, Sanaa.

Samir Khan, a US citizen of Pakistani origin, had produced an online magazine promoting al-Qaeda's ideology.

There have been reports that Saudi militant Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri was also killed.

Associated Press news agency quoted US officials as saying intelligence had indicated he was among the dead but the officials could not confirm it.

Reuters quoted Yemeni security officials as denying Asiri had been killed.

If his death is confirmed, it would be a severe blow to al-Qaeda.

Asiri, 29, is thought to have designed explosives in two attempted attacks on the US.

One involved bombs hidden in two printers that were shipped from Yemen and intercepted in England and Dubai.

Meanwhile, Yemen's government has accused the US of disrespect in repeating its call for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.

The White House said Awlaki's killing had not changed its demand that Mr Saleh, who has faced months of protests against his rule, should go.

But Yemen's Deputy Information Minister Abdu al-Janadi told Reuters news agency: "The Americans don't even respect those who cooperate with them."

One-minute World News

Philippines hit by second typhoon

Typhoon Nalgae batters flood-hit Philippines

Typhoons Nesat and Nalgae have brought a double dose of rain and floods

The second typhoon to hit the Philippines in less than a week has been battering northern areas, with ferocious winds and heavy rain.

At least one person died as Typhoon Nalgae hit regions still waterlogged by the earlier storm Nesat, and officials warned of flash floods and landslides.

Nalgae crossed the main island Luzon, but weakened as it headed west toward the South China Sea.

The Philippines suffers frequent typhoons, about 20 a year.

Nalgae made landfall in the eastern province of Isabela on Saturday. At it strongest it was packing winds of up to 195km/h (121mph).

It is now expected to gather strength again over the sea as it moves towards China's Hainan island and Vietnam. Heavy wind and rain is expected in the Philippines for another 48 hours.

A woman was killed in Mountain Province when a landslide engulfed the minibus she was travelling in. A second person was injured.


In Isabela, power supplies were switched off as winds toppled trees and blew off roofs.

In Luna township, a bus carrying 30 people turned over in a rice field but no-one was hurt, the Associated Press reported.

Misery compounded
The storm is taking much the same route as Typhoon Nesat which hit the country on Tuesday leaving at least 52 people dead and thousands homeless.
Tens of thousands of residents have moved into evacuation centres or the homes of relatives or friends, but many areas are still heavily flooded from the earlier storm.

With more heavy rains expected, officials fear that floods resulting from the second hurricane will compound the misery of more than a million people still trapped after the first.

Several towns remain submerged, and the BBC's Kate McGeown in Manila says many residents are still on rooftops awaiting rescue from the first storm.

"I hope the [Nesat] floods will wash out to Manila Bay before the [Nalgae] runoff hits the area," disaster management chief Benito Ramos said, quoted by AFP news agency.

"If the latter catches up to the former, there won't be any rooftops left to see above the floodwaters."

Provincial disaster official Raul Agustin told ABS-CBN television that marooned flood victims were often reluctant to leave for fear their homes would be looted.

"When we send out rescue teams to help them, they ask for food instead," he said.

In pictures: Typhoon Nalgae hits Philippines

Syria unrest: Troops 'retake most of Rastan'

Homs province has been the scene of frequent protests since the revolt began in March

Syrian forces have retaken most of the central town of Rastan after days of fighting with defectors who had joined protesters, an activist group says.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops had gained ground after defectors pulled out of the town, in restive Homs province.

Dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles had entered, reports say.

Meanwhile, opposition members have met in Turkey to forge a united front against President Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian National Council, a group created this year, have begun a two-day meeting to elect a leadership.

A fresh wave of protests erupted after prayers on Friday in cities across Syria, leaving at least 18 people - protesters and troops - dead, activists said.
'Heavy gunfire'
Rami Abdel-Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that after five days of fighting, Rastan, 180km (120 miles) north of Damascus, was now mostly under control of government forces.

Foreign journalists are restricted from operating freely in Syria and the report cannot be independent verified.


Reports also suggest that land and mobile phone lines in Rastan - a town of 40,000 - have been cut.

Mr Abdel-Rahman said a resident who fled Rastan early on Saturday reported heavy gunfire through the night.

State news agency Sana, citing a military official, reported on Friday that "army units have successfully fulfilled their duties" in an operation against "terrorists" in Rastan.

Seven soldiers and members of law-enforcement agencies were killed, among them two officers, while 32 others were wounded, the military officer was quoted as saying.

In a separate report on Sana, the government denied claims it had used air power.

Much of the fighting has reportedly been between the military and soldiers who defected to the opposition to protect protesters from the assault.

Correspondents say Syrian security forces have mostly remained loyal to President Assad, but deserters have formed their own units around Rastan, regarded as a recruiting ground for Sunni Muslim conscripts for the army.

The military is dominated by officers from the minority Alawite sect, of whom the Assad family are members, but most troops are Sunnis.

'Targeted measures'
Analysts have expressed concern that the revolt in Syria, which began peacefully six months ago, is evolving into an armed conflict.

On Saturday, Syria's state news agency reported that three security personnel who had tried to defuse a bomb near Damascus and two civilians working with police were killed.

Anti-government groups said two protesters were killed near Damascus.

The BBC's Owen Bennett-Jones, on the Lebanese-Syrian border, says there was a violent element to the opposition six months ago, and that element is growing.

The question now is what proportion of those determined to overthrow President Assad believe they will only be able to do so by using weapons, he says.

On Friday, the draft of a UN Security Council resolution against the violence in Syria was watered down, with a reference to sanctions being removed in order to appease Russia.

European nations instead called for "targeted measures" in the text, which Russia and China have threatened to veto.

Mr Assad has faced mounting international criticism for his crackdown on protesters.

The UN estimates that more than 2,700 people have been killed across Syria since the protest movement began. Syria blames the violence on "armed gangs".

Zambia's president replaces anti-corruption chief

Mr Sata has got rid of several top officials since his poll victory

Zambia's newly-elected President Michael Sata has dismissed the head of the country's anti-corruption watchdog.

A presidential statement said Godfrey Kayukwa would be replaced by Rosewin Wandi, without giving further details.

Mr Kayukwa is considered to be a close aide to former President Rupiah Banda, who lost last month's tightly-contested elections to Mr Sata.

During the campaign, Mr Sata pledged to stem out corruption among government officials.

And during the swearing-in ceremony last week he said: "Corruption has been a scourge in this country and there is a wide link between corruption and poverty."

The previous government was criticised for not being tough on tackling graft.

David Cameron defends economic growth policy

David Cameron insists that the government has an "incredibly active growth strategy"

Prime Minister David Cameron has defended the government's policies on economic growth following criticism from a prominent Tory figure.

Commons Treasury Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie said the government was not doing enough to promote growth.

He called for tax cuts for business and questioned government initiatives, such as the Big Society.

Mr Cameron said growth was vital and the government had an "incredibly active" growth strategy.

Mr Tyrie said some government initiatives "have seemed at best irrelevant to the task in hand, if not downright contradictory to it".

According to Mr Tyrie, the government is pursuing policies more suited to an age of abundance rather than austerity.

He does support the coalition's strategy to reduce the public deficit, saying it is both necessary and correct.

Living standards
But in the pamphlet for the pro-free market think tank, Centre For Policy Studies, he said the government had to review its positions on the reform of public services, the increase in overseas aid and some aspects of its environmental agenda.

The pamphlet, called It's the Economy, says: "Without the lynchpin of a clear strategy for growth in place, other attempts to provide a more appealing theme than austerity are unlikely to succeed.

"The Big Society; localism; the Green strategy - whether right or wrong - these and other initiatives have seemed at best irrelevant to the task in hand, if not downright contradictory to it; likewise the huge spending hike on overseas aid and the cost of the Libyan expedition."

He said instead there should now be a relentless focus on improving living standards.
Mr Tyrie called for the tax system to be simplified and business taxation to be reduced, and said he wanted to see fewer regulations and changes to labour laws.

"There is much to do, and it is not just a question of gaps in policy; in places it is inconsistent, even incoherent," he wrote.

"A much more coherent and credible plan for supply-side reform to improve the long-term economic growth rate of the UK economy is now needed."

The issue is likely to dominate at the Conservative Party conference which begins in Manchester on Sunday. Economic policy is being debated on Monday.

Mr Cameron said: "First of all, we've got to deal with the debts and the deficit and stick to our plan there, but we are doing things to cut corporation tax, to help small businesses to de-regulate, to make it easier to employ people.

"Just today, we've announced the single thing the CBI have asked for most - which is to reform employment regulations, to make it easier for small firms to take people on."

Some of his views would be shared by other Tory backbenchers, former Conservative cabinet minister John Redwood told the BBC.

"I think Andrew Tyrie speaks for a lot of Conservatives when he says that he thinks that some of the spending priorities are not appropriate for current austerity Britain and that we need to make stronger strides to get the deficit down by controlling spending," he said.

Chancellor George Osborne has suggested there might not be tax cuts before the next general election.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, the chancellor said tax cuts "should be for life not just for Christmas".

"We'll see how things develop in the rest of this parliament," he said.

"I'm a Conservative who believes in lower taxes. They lead to a more enterprising economy.

Afghanistan Haqqani militant Haji Mali Khan captured

The other main Haqqani figures are Jalaluddin Haqqani and his sons Siraj and Badruddin

A senior leader of the militant Haqqani network, Haji Mali Khan, has been captured in Afghanistan, the Nato-led international force Isaf has said.

He was detained during an operation by Afghan and coalition forces in Paktia province on Tuesday, Isaf said.

He was heavily armed but did not resist, it added.

Haji Mali Khan is the senior commander in Afghanistan for the Haqqani network, blamed for some recent Afghan attacks and accused of links to Pakistan.

He is also a revered elder of the clan, the uncle of the network's leader, Siraj Haqqani, and served as an emissary between the Haqqanis and Baitullah Mehsud, the former head of the Pakistani Taliban who was killed in a suspected US missile attack in 2009.

He is accused of setting up bases in Paktia and coordinating the transfer of money for militant operations.

The BBC's Paul Wood in Kabul says Afghan officials describe him as the brain of the network.

The Haqqani are affiliated to the Taliban and have pledged allegiance to their spiritual leader, Mullah Omar. However, some in the West believe the Haqqani also have links to Pakistan's intelligence agency, an accusation Islamabad denies.

Change of focus

Isaf said the capture was a "significant milestone in the disruption of the Haqqani network", adding that the network remained a top priority for Afghan and coalition forces.

A large number of other insurgents was captured in the operation, in Jani Khel district, including Mali Khan's deputy and bodyguard.

A senior Afghan intelligence official in Paktia province told the BBC that agents had information of a major attack that was being planned on Jani Khel.

A joint Afghan-Isaf force arrested Haji Mali Khan, whose real name was said to be Ali Khan, in the village of Mana, the official said.

A senior counter-terrorism official in Kabul told the BBC: ''Haji Mali Khan was in charge of suicide attacks, other attacks, money, finance and operations. He was not as brutal as other Haqqanis when it came to dealing with locals. For that he was liked and protected from time to time."

US officials say they are close to deciding whether to label the Haqqani as a foreign terrorist organisation, and on Thursday the treasury department announced new sanctions on five individuals it said were linked to "the most dangerous terrorist organisations operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan".

Mali Khan's capture came days after the assassination of former Afghan president and negotiator Burhanuddin Rabbani, which was blamed on the network.

The killing prompted Afghan President Hamid Karzai to say on Friday that he was focusing on talks with Pakistan rather than the Taliban.

Afghan police said an attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul in June that left nine attackers, two police and 11 civilians dead, "bore the hallmarks" of the Haqqani.

The Haqqani network was also accused of carrying out a 20-hour attack last month on the Isaf headquarters and the US embassy in Kabul in which some 25 people died.

The US military accused Pakistan of helping the Haqqani in that attack.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm Mike Mullen, said the network was a "veritable arm" of Pakistani intelligence service the ISI.

Pakistan has long denied supporting the Haqqani group, but BBC correspondents say it has a decades-old policy of pursuing foreign policy objectives through alliances with militants.

Although Islamabad denies the network has safe havens inside Pakistan, the country's former national security adviser told the BBC that it was operating in North Waziristan, in Pakistan's restive tribal belt.

"Today North Waziristan is a hot bed," said retired Maj Gen Mahmoud Durani.

The army was too overstretched to take on the Haqqanis, he added.