Thai PM reassures as Bangkok braces for floods

Rachel Harvey says a village just north of Bangkok is waist-deep in water

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has sought to reassure Bangkok residents, as efforts continue to protect the city from the country's worst floods in decades.

Ms Yingluck said flood walls would protect the city centre and it should be considered safe.

Her comments came after an evacuation warning for some suburbs issued by a minister sparked panic.

The flooding, which began in late July, has affected huge swathes of Thailand.

Northern and central provinces bore the brunt of the flooding initially but the run-off is now swelling waterways that flow south into Bangkok.

Authorities there have warned that the arrival of the run-off water, plus high tides and bad weather at the weekend, could flood parts of the city.

'Dangerous time'
Flooding has already inundated parts of Pathum Thani, a town directly north of Bangkok.

Central Bangkok is protected by flood walls and in recent days, teams of troops and volunteers have been racing to fill sandbags to fortify existing dykes.
"Bangkok may face some problems in areas that are on the outer sides of the irrigation dykes but water levels will not be too high. But inner Bangkok has extremely high defences," Ms Yingluck said.

"In conclusion, Bangkok should still be considered safe," she said.

Large parts of the World Heritage city of Ayutthaya are under water

Late on Thursday, Science Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi said that northern suburbs were at risk of flooding because a floodgate had burst, causing some residents to leave.

But the government later issued a call for calm, saying the breach would not affect Bangkok.

"During 15 to 18 October, it may be a dangerous time because water from the north will be coming in... But I confirm it has not reached a crisis stage as of this moment," said Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra.

Officials in charge of managing the floods say they plan to divert the water through canals to the east and west of Bangkok and then on to the sea.

The main canals are being dredged to help water flow out to sea. Troops are also digging out other canals to improve water flow, a government spokesman said.
Sandbags have been distributed to residents in villages within the drainage area, the Bangkok Post newspaper reported.

The flooding has been gathering pace for weeks. More than 280 people have been killed and Thailand's economy has been hit hard because factories are under water.

The city of Ayutthaya, a World Heritage site home to temples and monuments, has been particularly badly affected.

Neighbouring Cambodia has also been hit hard by floods, which have been triggered by heavy monsoon rains. Almost 250 people have been killed since the flooding began, with 17 out of 23 provinces affected.

Hollywood hacker apologises to celebrity victims

Photos appearing to show Scarlett Johansson in the nude were posted online last month

A Florida man has apologised for hacking into the private emails and personal accounts of Hollywood celebrities.

Christopher Chaney, 35, of Jacksonville, was arrested and charged on Wednesday following a year-long FBI investigation.

He said he was "addicted to seeing behind the scenes".

Some of the images he found, including a nude photograph of Scarlett Johansson, appeared on the internet.

FBI agents said their investigation - called "Operation Hackerazzi" - had identified more than 50 victims, including Christina Aguilera in addition to Johansson.

The hacked pictures of Johansson appeared last month and showed her naked in a home setting.

Christopher Chaney faces 26 separate charges of accessing and damaging computers, identity theft and wiretapping.

He faces up to 121 years in prison if found guilty on all charges.

He admitted his guilt to journalists in Florida, saying: "It started as curiosity and it turned into just being addicted to seeing behind the scenes of the lives of the people you see on the big screen every day."

Mr Chaney hacked into email accounts and set up a system so he was sent copies of all the emails the stars received.

He said he did not sell any of the pictures or information he found and did not intend to use them for blackmail, but described it as a "relief" when the police finally stopped him.

"I deeply apologise," he said. "I know what I did was probably one of the worst invasions of privacy... I know it was wrong and have to face it and go forward."

The FBI said they were taking the case very seriously.

According to an FBI statement on Wednesday, Mr Chaney offered up photos from the accounts to celebrity blog sites.

He is also alleged to have stolen financial information and film scripts through hacking Google, Apple and Yahoo email accounts.

Mr Chaney allegedly used several online aliases, including "anonygrrl" and "jaxjaguars911".

He is expected to appear in court in Florida on Friday.

Occupy Wall Street: Protesters hail park cleaning delay

Protesters tell the BBC's Laura Trevelyan that the decision is a "great victory"

Anti-Wall Street protesters have been celebrating the last-minute decision to delay cleaning the New York City park where they are based.

Occupy Wall Street activists had said the plan to clean Zuccotti Park on Friday was a ploy to evict them.

As more demonstrators streamed into the green space, there were fears of a showdown with the owners and police.

Hundreds have camped in the park for weeks, with protests against corporate greed spreading to other US cities.

In the Colorado city of Denver on Friday, riot police arrested demonstrators as they removed their tents in Lincoln Park near the state Capitol.

Ten Occupy Seattle protesters were detained on Thursday when they ignored orders to leave their tents in the city's Westlake Park, said police.

'Be warned'
But the standoff in New York ended early on Friday as deputy mayor Cas Holloway released a statement from Zuccotti Park's owners, Brookfield Properties.
"They are postponing their scheduled cleaning of the park, and for the time being withdrawing their request from earlier in the week for police assistance during their cleaning operation," it said.

The statement said Brookfield hoped to "work out an arrangement with the protesters that will ensure the park remains clean, safe [and] available for public use".

The news prompted cheers from the demonstrators.

The BBC's Laura Trevelyan in New York says the police were standing around the outskirts of the protest and it may be that the authorities decided there were just too many people to be able to get them out in an orderly manner.

Activists had sent an email to supporters on Thursday asking them to join the group at 06:00 EDT (10:00 GMT) on Friday to "defend the occupation from eviction".

They said on a Facebook page: "Be warned, this is a tactic that [New York City Mayor Michael] Bloomberg has used to shut down protests in the past, and a tactic used recently in similar protests throughout Europe."

Representatives of Brookfield Properties distributed its cleaning notice on Thursday. Some were escorted by police.

The park regulations existed before the protests began but have not been enforced.

They include a prohibition on lying down on the ground or on benches, using sleeping bags or tarps, or the storage of personal property.

New York City councillors joined protesters at a news conference on Thursday evening, calling the effort to move the protesters a "ruse" backed by Mr Bloomberg.

Throughout the park, where protesters have camped since mid-September, big buckets were filled with brooms and mops.

As activists scrubbed the park on Thursday, some questioned the need to clean the space at all.

"This is the cleanest protest I've ever witnessed," Emilio Montilla, an unemployed teacher's assistant, told the Associated Press news agency. "We take care of ourselves. We're self-sufficient."

Bailey Bryant, 28, a Manhattan bank employee who visits the camp after work and on weekends, told Reuters news agency: "We clean up after ourselves. It's not like there's rats and roaches running around the park."

'Offensive odours'
There have been some flashpoints between police and protesters in recent weeks, with hundreds of people arrested this month during a march over the Brooklyn Bridge.

As the number of protesters sleeping in the park has grown, food stalls have sprung up, as well as an infirmary and a library.

But protesters have no toilet facilities of their own and depend on local restaurants near the park.

There have been reports of demonstrators urinating and defecating in the streets.

And residents have complained about lewdness, drug use, harassment and offensive odours from the protesters, Brookfield said.

Earlier this week, Mr Bloomberg said protesters would not be evicted from the park unless they broke the law.

The demonstration began on 17 September with a small group of activists and has swelled to include several thousand people at times, from many walks of life.

Similar "occupy" protests have sprung up recently in cities across the US.

There are reports that rallies are being planned to take place in the US and Canada on Saturday, with activists in Europe organising, too.

Tunisia police teargas protesters

Police in Tunisia have fired tear gas at hundreds of Islamists demonstrating in the capital, Tunis, reports say.

One of the protests took place outside a private TV station which has angered Islamists by screening an animated film which critics accuse of blasphemy for including an image of God.

It was the second rally outside the Nessma TV station in a week after it broadcast "Persepolis", which deals with Iran's 1979 revolution.

Tunisia goes to the polls next week.

The elections, for a constitutional assembly, will be held on 23 October.

These will be the first polls in Tunisia since long-time President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was overthrown in an uprising in January.

Correspondents say that with the autocratic government of Ben Ali gone, more conservative Muslims are making themselves heard.

Syria uprising: UN says protest death toll hits 3,000

Protests, as here in Amude, have been continuing against President Assad for seven months

The United Nations has said 3,000 people have been killed in Syria, in the protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said at least 187 children were among the dead.

The UN also says hundreds have been arrested since the protests began seven months ago.

Activists say at least seven more protesters were shot dead by security forces following Friday prayers.

The UN report said 100 people had died in the past 10 days.

The government in Damascus blames armed "terrorist gangs" for the trouble, and says 1,100 members of the security forces have been killed.

Resolution vetoed
Ms Pillay warned that Syria's "ruthless repression" threatened to drive Syria to "full-blown civil war".

"The onus is on all members of the international community to take protective action in a collective manner," she said.

UN spokesman Rupert Colville added that hundreds of Syrians had been detained and tortured or had disappeared.

He said that families who supported the opposition had been targeted by the Syrian government both inside the country and abroad.

A European-drafted UN resolution threatening "measures" against the Syrian regime if it did not end its repression of the protests was vetoed this month by China and Russia.
But both Beijing and Moscow have also recently urged Damascus to adopt promised reforms swiftly - a sign, correspondents say, that they too may be losing patience with the Assad government.

Mr Colville said that the diplomatic moves so far were "not producing results and people continue to be killed every single day".

He added: "Just hoping things will get better isn't good enough, clearly."

In its reports of violence from Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group said that at least 36 people had been killed, including 25 soldiers.

The worst violence was in the north-western town of Banash.

It said there were also deaths in Deraa, south of Damascus, and the central city of Homs, which has been one of the biggest flashpoints of the uprising.

On Friday, activists reported that at least seven people were killed when security forces opened fire on protesters in the town of Dael, near Deraa.

There were reports of other deaths from suburbs of Damascus and the northern town of Aleppo.

Although there has been some trouble in its suburbs, Damascus has not been so greatly affected as other areas in recent months.

Thousands of people rallied in the capital on Wednesday to back the president.

Thousands rallied in Damascus on Wednesday to support the president

Italy PM Silvio Berlusconi wins confidence vote

Mr Berlusconi's supporters congratulated him after he won the vote

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has won a key confidence vote in parliament, sparked by questions over his handling of the economy and personal scandals.

Mr Berlusconi won the vote by 316 to 301.

Italy's government credit rating was recently downgraded and parliament failed to back a key part of the budget this week, triggering the vote.

Mr Berlusconi also faces trial on sex, bribery and abuse of power charges.

'Cohesive majority'
Mr Berlusconi needed a simple majority of 316 of the 630 MPs. Together, his Freedom Party and his main coalition ally, the Northern League, have 293 seats.

The Prime Minister's allies applauded when the result of the vote was announced.

However, the BBC's David Willey, in Rome, says the fact that he scraped through with the minimum number of votes presages trouble ahead. If Mr Berlusconi has to get a vote of confidence on every issue, he will find it very difficult to govern.

Even with Mr Berlusconi's survival, our correspondent says most Italians are betting on a general election as early as next spring - more than a year before Mr Berlusconi's term expires.
The confidence vote was forced after parliament on Tuesday failed to approve one article of the budget by a single vote. It later emerged that the finance minister had failed to meet the ballot deadline by 30 seconds.

Demanding the confidence vote, opposition leader Pierluigi Bersani said: "The government is not coping with the situation. The problems have all been laid out, but he only knows how to stay nailed to his seat by using tricks."

Ahead of the vote, Mr Berlusconi, 75, said he felt "serene".

He insisted he had a "cohesive majority" in parliament.

"There is no alternative to this government. Early elections would not solve the problems we have. A political crisis now would mean victory for the party of decline, catastrophe and speculation."
Despite facing four trials - including for allegedly paying for sex with a 17-year-old girl - and an all-time-low approval rating of 24%, Mr Berlusconi has shown remarkable staying power. He has always maintained his innocence.

On Saturday, he also faces a mass demonstration of some 200,000 people in Rome - similar to recent ones in New York and Madrid - against austerity measures and financial mismanagement.

Italy is considered vulnerable in the current eurozone crisis, with the highest public debt among countries using the European single currency.

The country approved an austerity package last month to balance the budget by 2013 but its central bank chief this week urged the government to introduce more measures to stimulate growth.

Haqqani commander 'killed' in Pakistan drone strike

A top commander of the Haqqani militant network has been killed in a US drone strike in the Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan, a US official says.

Janbaz Zadran "played a central role in helping the Haqqani network attack US and coalition targets" in Afghanistan, the official told the BBC.

The US blames the Haqqanis for attacks including one on the US embassy and Nato in Kabul last month.

Pakistan's restive tribal area is frequently targeted by drones.

Many insurgents - from the Taliban as well as the Haqqani network - have taken shelter there.

Escalation
In line with US policy, the official did not confirm reports earlier today that the killing was the result of a strike from an American-operated drone aircraft.

Janbaz Zadran, who the US says was also known as Jamil, was a key lieutenant to Badruddin Haqqani, one of the group's commanders and the son of its founder, the Associated Press says.

Badruddin Haqqani is on a US state department blacklist.

Zadran had access to Haqqani's leadership in Miram Shah. He served as a key lieutenant to Haqqani network commander Badruddin Haqqani. In May, the US designated Badruddin Haqqani a terrorist. He's the son of the group's founder, Jalaluddin Haqqani, according to the State Department.

"His death in Miram Shah makes him the most senior Haqqani leader in Pakistan to be taken off the battlefield," the official said.

The drone strikes come as the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, arrived in Islamabad in an effort to improve relations with Washington.

Drone attacks have escalated in the region since President Barack Obama took office in 2008. More than 100 raids were reported in the area last year.

A number of militants, some of them senior, have been killed in the raids, but many civilians have also died.

The US does not routinely confirm drone operations, but analysts say only American forces have the capacity to deploy such aircraft in the region.

Last month, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US was in the final stages of deciding whether to label the Pakistan-based Haqqani network a foreign terrorist organisation.

Relations between the US and Pakistan have been severely strained since the killing of al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden on Pakistani soil by US commandos in May.

Seized India explosives 'meant for attacking Delhi'

Police in India say the large quantity of explosives recovered from a car on Thursday was to meant be used in an attack by militants in Delhi.

The car was carrying more than 5kg (11lb) of explosives and was found outside a railway station in Haryana.

Police said the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Indian Babbar Khalsa International were planning to use it.

They said the attack was timed ahead of the upcoming Diwali festival.

Sixteen people were killed and 76 others were injured in a bomb attack on the high court in Delhi last month.

Delhi police official Arun Kampani told reporters officers they had received intelligence that Lashkar-e-Taiba militants in Indian-administered Kashmir had planned to "strike in Delhi" with the help of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), a group said to be active in Indian Punjab.

"Investigations were done and found that the explosives were meant for BKI and to be used in Delhi," Mr Kampani said.

The "exchange" of explosives was planned in Ambala, when the police received information on the car, he said.

No arrests have been made so far, and it is still unclear who drove the car to the car park at Ambala railway station.

Detonators, timer devices and batteries were also recovered from the vehicle, officials say.

Indian intelligence agencies believe Babbar Khalsa has the backing of Pakistan's spy agency, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).

Google profits and revenue surge in the third quarter

Google boss Larry Page said the company had "a great quarter"

Internet giant Google has reported a large rise in profits in the three months to September.

The search engine said net income in the third quarter surged 26% to $2.73bn (£1.74bn), up from $2.17bn in the same period last year.

Earlier this year, Google launched Google+, a social network to take on Facebook.

"People are flocking into Google+ at an incredible rate," said Google head Larry Page.

The profits were well ahead of market expectations, and shares in the company rose 6% in trading after the market closed.

"The real interesting thing here is the expenses weren't as high as the Street was anticipating," said UBS analyst Brian Pitz. "This is the fourth quarter in a row the company has accelerated their revenue on top line."

Revenue rose 33% to $9.72bn - just shy of having a quarterly turnover of $10bn.

Mr Page, a co-founder of the company, replaced Eric Schmidt as CEO in April.

"We had a great quarter," he said. "Google+ is now open to everyone and we just passed the 40 million-user mark."

Facebook, around since 2004, has around 800 million users.

As well as generating money through advertising based on search, Google also makes the popular Android mobile phone operating system.

Clashes in Syria leave 19 dead - rights activists

Anti-government protests have been going on since March

At least 19 people have been killed in continuing unrest across Syria, activists have said.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 people died when government troops attacked the northern town of Banash.

In the southern town of Haara, armed men killed at least nine soldiers.

The UN says nearly 3,000 Syrians have died since protests against the government of President Bashar al-Assad began in March.

Activists say tens of thousands of Syrians have been arrested.

The Syrian authorities have banned most foreign media, making it difficult to independently verify such reports.

The government in Damascus blames armed "terrorist gangs" for the trouble, and says 1,100 members of the security forces have been killed.

China and Russia earlier this month vetoed a European-drafted UN resolution threatening "measures" against the Syrian regime if it did not end its repression of the protests.

But both Beijing and Moscow have also recently urged Damascus to adopt promised reforms swiftly - a sign, correspondents say, that they too may be losing patience with the Assad government.

S&P downgrades Spain on weak growth outlook

The euro fell in Asia trade after the Standard & Poor's announcement

Standard & Poor's has cut Spain's long-term credit rating by one notch, from AA to AA-, because of weak growth and high levels of private-sector debt.

The ratings agency added that the country's high unemployment would remain a drag on the economy.

Last week the Fitch agency cut Spain's rating, a process that can raise a country's borrowing costs.

On Thursday, Fitch downgraded the creditworthiness of UK banks Lloyds and RBS, and also Switzerland's UBS.

Late on Thursday, S&P followed Fitch by cutting Spain's rating by one notch.

S&P said in a statement: "Despite signs of resilience in economic performance during 2011, we see heightened risks to Spain's growth prospects due to high unemployment, tighter financial conditions, the still high level of private sector debt, and the likely economic slowdown in Spain's main trading partners."

It noted the "incomplete state" of labour market reform, and added: "The financial profile of the Spanish banking system will, in our opinion, weaken further."

S&P also warned of a further ratings cut if Spain's economy worsens.

'On watch'
The euro drifted lower in Asian trade after S&P's move, though the currency was still on track for its biggest weekly rally since January.

The euro traded at $1.3741, having lost about a third of cent.

Earlier, Fitch cut credit ratings or signalled possible downgrades for several major European banks.

It downgraded UBS, Lloyd's Banking Group, and Royal Bank of Scotland.

It also placed on watch for possible downgrade Barclays, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and Societe Generale.

Last week Fitch fuelled concerns about the eurozone's debt crisis when it downgraded Spain and Italy, citing the "intensification" of the bloc's economic and financial problems.

Kenyans hunt for kidnappers of Spanish MSF aid workers

The BBC's Nawaz Shah says it is unclear who kidnapped the MSF doctors

Police in Kenya say they are hunting for the gunmen responsible for abducting two Spanish woman aid workers near the Kenya-Somalia border.

Regional police chief Leo Nyongesa said he believed the attackers had come from Somalia and that they were pursuing them by road and air.

The government blames al-Shabab militants for the attack.

The Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) workers were taken from Dadaab refugee camp, the world's largest, on Thursday.

The camp lies about 50 miles (80km) from the Somalia-Kenya border and houses nearly half a million refugees fleeing famine in the Horn of Africa.

The aid workers' Kenyan driver was wounded in the attack and is now in hospital, MSF say.
In recent weeks, two other foreign women - one English, the other French - have been kidnapped near the border and are believed to have been taken to Somalia.

Al-Shabab denial
Kenyan police say they are confident they will find the gunmen, who they says fled towards Somalia from the camp.

"We are following them by the road and air. We have closed the borders. We are tracking them down," Mr Nyongesa said.

The BBC's Kevin Mwachiro in Nairobi says it is feared that the aid workers may have been taken across the border, which is highly porous.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said police had recovered an abandoned vehicle.

"The Kenyan police acted very quickly today," he said.

"They mobilised not only the local forces but two helicopters, as a matter of fact, the car has been recovered but unfortunately the two colleagues have not yet been found."

The Kenyan government says it believes the al-Shabab militant group, which controls large swathes of Somalia, is behind the attack.

However a senior al-Shabab official, who did not want to be named, denied the accusation.
"We heard about the MSF abductions but we were not behind it," the official in southern Somalia told Reuters news agency.

"Nor have they been brought into any area under our control," he said.

The head of MSF in Spain, Jose Antonio Bastos, condemned the attack.

"MSF is in contact with all the relevant authorities and is doing all it can to ensure the swift and safe return of our colleagues.

"Meanwhile, our thoughts are with them and with their families in this difficult time".

MSF has set up a crisis team but says it will not provide any further information for the moment in order to ensure a rapid and safe resolution.

'Complicates aid efforts'
Adan Keynan, chairman of the parliament's defence and foreign relations committee, said he was "deeply shocked and saddened".

"This is a barbaric action, and the people of responsible nations must unite and fight this menace. This is an organised criminal gang who are hell-bent on causing fear and mayhem among people of Kenya," he told Reuters.

The attack happened near the Ifo camp, one of three areas that make up Dadaab. In all, Dadaab now houses 450,000 refugees, making it the equivalent of Kenya's third-largest city.

Correspondents say the attack complicates the humanitarian aid effort that is taking place in Dadaab, which has expanded as a result of the region's worsening food crisis.

The region is experiencing its worst drought in more than half a century. Tens of thousands of people have died.

The UN has declared a famine in six regions of Somalia, most of them under the control of al-Shabab.

Last month, 56-year-old Briton Judith Tebbutt was kidnapped by gunmen from a remote Kenyan resort at Kiwayu. Her husband David was killed. Mrs Tebbutt is believed to be held by al-Shabab in Somalia.

On 1 October, a 66-year-old French woman was seized by an armed gang on Kenya's northern resort island of Manda and taken to Somalia.

And a Kenyan driver working for the Care charity was abducted from Dadaab on 21 September.

The UK Foreign Office has advised against all but essential travel to the Kenyan coast near the Somali border.