|  |  |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Quakes measuring 6.4 and 6.3 magnitude destroy six villages and injure about 1,500 people, according to officials Two strong earthquakes have killed 220 people and injured another 1,500 in north-west Iran where rescuers frantically combed through the rubble of dozens of villages on Saturday night. Thousands fled their homes and remained outdoors after the quakes as at least 40 aftershocks hit the area. Casualty numbers could rise, Iranian officials feared, as some of the injured were in a critical condition, others were still trapped under the rubble and rescuers had yet to reach some of the affected villages. Sixty villages had sustained more than 50% damage, Iranian media said. Iran is straddled by major fault lines and has had several devastating earthquakes in recent years, including a 6.6 magnitude quake in 2003 which turned the south-eastern historic city of Bam into dust and killed more than 25,000 people. The US Geological Survey measured Saturday's first quake at 6.4 magnitude and said it struck 37 miles north-east of the city of Tabriz at a depth of 9.9km. A second quake measuring 6.3 struck north-east of Tabriz 11 minutes later at a similar depth. The second quake struck near the town of Varzaghan. "The quake was so intense that people poured into the streets through fear," Fars news agency said of the town. About 210 people in Varzaghan and Ahar were rescued from under the rubble of collapsed buildings, the official IRNA news agency reported. "Since some people are in a critical condition and rescue workers are still trying to rescue people from under the rubble, unfortunately it is possible for the number of casualties to rise," IRNA quoted Bahram Samadirad, a provincial official from the coroner's office, as saying. Photographs posted by Iranian news websites showed about a dozen bodies lying on the floor in the corner of a white-tiled morgue in Ahar and medical staff surrounded by anxious residents working on the injured in the open air as dusk fell. "I was just on the phone talking to my mother when she said 'There's just been an earthquake,' then the line was cut," one woman from Tabriz, who lives outside Iran, wrote on Facebook after telephoning her mother in the city. "God, what has happened? After that I couldn't get through. God has also given me a slap and it was very hard." Tabriz is a major city and trading hub far from Iran's oil producing areas and known nuclear facilities. Buildings in the city are robust and the Iranian Students' News Agency said nobody in the city itself had been killed or hurt. Homes and businesses in Iranian villages, however, are often made of concrete blocks or mud brick that can crumble and collapse in a strong quake. Red Crescent official Mahmoud Mozafar was quoted by Mehr news agency as saying about 16,000 people in the quake-hit area had been given emergency shelter. Fars quoted lawmaker Abbas Falahi as saying he believed rescue workers had not yet been able to reach between 10 and 20 villages. A local provincial official urged people in the region to stay outdoors during the night for fear of aftershocks, according to IRNA. Falahi said people in the region were in need of bread, tents and drinking water. The Turkish Red Crescent said it was sending a truck full of emergency supplies to the border, an official said. Turkey's foreign ministry said it had informed Iran it was ready to help.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | A host of greats have made London 2012 a truly joyous event. But Mo Farah's is the face that has come to symbolise it best Mo Farah can skip the cryosauna, the one in which liquid nitrogen takes the room temperature down to –200F. This time the tiny tears in his muscles can be left to repair themselves. Instead he can enjoy the warmth of what is left of this Olympic summer, soaking up the balm of a nation's adoration. On Saturday Farah, who came to Britain from Somalia as a refugee at the age of eight, won the 5,000m to add to the 10,000m gold medal he captured a week ago on the Super Saturday when gold seemed to rain down from the east London skies on to British athletes. On that night he had ended 116 years of failure by generations of British athletes to win a long-distance Olympic gold. Now he has done it twice, once again defeating competitors of the highest class with a performance that required the expenditure of every last scrap of his physical and mental resources but, in the end, brooked absolutely no argument. Thanks to Bradley Wiggins, Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford, Charlotte Dujardin, Nicola Adams, Sir Chris Hoy and a host of others, Britain is not short of sporting heroes just now. But it is hard to avoid the instinctive feeling that Farah, who was rescued from temptation in his teenage years by a perceptive PE teacher, stands primus inter pares as the symbolic figure of London's inordinately successful and joyous Games. What he achieved had been done by only six men in history: Hannes Kolehmainen of Finland exactly a century ago, Emil Zátopek of Czechoslovakia in 1952, Vladimir Kuts of the Soviet Union four years later, Lasse Viren in 1972 and again in 1976 – a double double that Farah might feel inclined to emulate in Rio in four years' time – followed by two Ethiopians, Miruts Yifter in 1980 and Kenenisa Bekele in Beijing. Now the British runner is the magnificent seventh. Brendan Foster, who tried the same double himself 40 years ago and can be assumed to know whereof he speaks, called it the greatest feat in the history of British athletics. That is some claim, but it would take a brave voice to dispute it after the 29-year-old Farah set the Olympic stadium rocking for the second time in eight days. It was a race that started like a gentle jog to pick up the Sunday papers and ended in an absolute maelstrom of a sprint. A field of 15 offered danger from all sides, from three Ethiopians, two Kenyans, the Kenyan-born Bernard Lagat, who now runs for the United States, Lopez Lomong, born in Southern Sudan but also now running for the US, Hayle Ibrahimov, an Ethiopian who now represents Azerbaijan, and Abdalaati Iguider of Morocco. But no one was willing to make the early pace, which suited the fast-finishing Farah just fine. Isiah Koech of Kenya led them through the first 1,000m in 2min 55sec, which made it seem like a stroll. The progress to 2,000m was even slower, with Lomong at the front. In the third kilometre two of the Ethiopians, Yenew Alamirew and Dejen Gebremeskel, moved to the front, with Farah carefully manoeuvring himself into position behind them. Suddenly the pace, which had been inconsistent, was raised. The Ethiopians accelerated, followed by Ibrahimov and the third Ethiopian, Hagos Gebrhiwet. A 60-second lap started to shake out the also-runs from the contenders, and the Kenyan pair of Koech and Thomas Longosiwa took station behind the Ethiopians. Farah stayed cool, but quickly moved up and with four laps to go he slid back into the order of precedence behind Alamirew and Gebremeskel. With three laps to go, and the pace holding up, he slipped into second behind Gebremeskel. After another 62sec lap he made his move, going to the front as the field straightened on to the back stretch. Had he gone too early? At 600m his training partner, the tall American runner Galen Rupp, came up on to his shoulder, presented a more formidable obstacle to any competitor who fancied attacking with a run round the outside as they came into the finishing straight and approached the last lap. A week earlier Rupp had also run in support of the man with whom he shares a coach, the Cuban-born former marathon champion Alberto Salazar. On that occasion Rupp was rewarded, to Farah's delight, with an unexpected silver medal. This time, however, he was sacrificing himself, giving his friend a buffer against the first wave of assaults. At the bell they began to come, Rupp falling back as Farah ploughed on at the head of a group of six, all with their own schemes and dreams about to be fulfilled or shattered. The 24-year-old Longosiwa was the first to challenge, and the most persistent, coming round the outside of Gebremeskel with his arms flailing wildly. The full-throttle sprint to the line started 250m out and was agonising to watch as each athlete put every sinew to the test. But that was where Farah's extra burst of acceleration, the "second kick" he has been working on for the last year, enabled him to hold them all at bay and finish two metres ahead of Gebremeskel, with Longosiwa in the bronze medal position. Watched by his wife, Tania, who is expecting twins, and daughter, Rihanna, Farah came home in triumph, twice a hero and many times blessed.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Tremors measuring 6.4 and 6.3 magnitude destroy six villages and injure about 600 people, according to officials Two strong earthquakes have struck northwest Iran, killing 87 people and injuring hundreds, according to Iranian state media. Iran is straddled by several major fault lines and has suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent years, including a 6.6 magnitude quake in 2003 which devastated the southeastern city of Bam and killed more than 25,000 people. The US Geological Survey measured Saturday's first quake at 6.4 magnitude and said it struck 60km (37 miles) northeast of the city of Tabriz at a depth of 9.9km. A second quake measuring 6.3 struck 49km northeast of Tabriz 11 minutes later at a similar depth. There have been at least 18 aftershocks since then, Iranian media said. The second quake struck near the town of Varzaghan. "The quake was so intense that people poured into the streets through fear," Fars news agency said of the town. The head of the crisis centre in Iran's East Azerbaijan province where the quakes struck said 87 people had been killed, Fars said. Some 600 had been injured, the agency added. Some 210 people in Varzaghan and Ahar have been rescued from under the rubble of collapsed buildings, the Islamic Republic news agency(IRNA) said, quoting a local official. Tabriz is a major city and trading hub far from Iran's oil-producing areas and known nuclear facilities. Though most buildings in the city are robust, homes and businesses in Iranian villages are often made of concrete blocks or mud brick that can crumble and collapse in a strong quake. A local provincial official urged people in the region to stay outdoors during the night in case of further aftershocks, according to IRNA. Lawmaker Abbas Falah said people in the region are in need of bread, tents and drinking water.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Tremors measuring 6.4 and 6.3 magnitude destroy six villages and injure about 1,300 people, according to officials Two strong earthquakes have killed 180 people and injured another 1,300 in northwest Iran where rescuers frantically combed through the rubble of dozens of villages on Saturday night. Thousands fled their homes and remained outdoors after the quakes, as at least 20 aftershocks hit the area. Casualty numbers could well rise, Iranian officials feared, as some of the injured were in critical condition, others were still trapped under the rubble and rescuers had yet to reach some of the affected villages. Some 60 villages had sustained more than 50 percent damage, Iranian media said. Iran is straddled by major fault lines and has suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent years, including a 6.6 magnitude quake in 2003 which turned the southeastern historic city of Bam into dust and killed more than 25,000 people. The US Geological Survey measured Saturday's first quake at 6.4 magnitude and said it struck 60km (37 miles) northeast of the city of Tabriz at a depth of 9.9km. A second quake measuring 6.3 struck 49km northeast of Tabriz 11 minutes later at a similar depth. Provincial official Khalil Sa'ie said 180 people had been killed and some 1,300 injured, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. The second quake struck near the town of Varzaghan. "The quake was so intense that people poured into the streets through fear," Fars news agency said of the town. About 210 people in Varzaghan and Ahar were rescued from under the rubble of collapsed buildings, the official IRNA news agency reported. "Since some people are in a critical condition and rescue workers are still trying to rescue people from under the rubble, unfortunately it is possible for the number of casualties to rise," IRNA quoted Bahram Samadirad, a provincial official from the coroner's office, as saying. Photographs posted by Iranian news websites showed about a dozen bodies lying on the floor in the corner of a white-tiled morgue in Ahar, and medical staff surrounded by anxious residents, working on the injured in the open air as dusk fell. "I was just on the phone talking to my mother when she said 'there's just been an earthquake', then the line was cut," one woman from Tabriz, who lives outside Iran, wrote on Facebook after telephoning her mother in the city. "God, what has happened? After that I couldn't get through. God has also given me a slap, and it was very hard." Tabriz is a major city and trading hub far from Iran's oil producing areas and known nuclear facilities. Buildings in the city are robust, and the Iranian Students' News Agency said nobody in the city itself had been killed or hurt. Homes and businesses in Iranian villages, however, are often made of concrete blocks or mud brick that can crumble and collapse in a strong quake. Red Crescent official Mahmoud Mozafar was quoted by Mehr news agency as saying about 16,000 people in the quake-hit area had been given emergency shelter. Fars quoted lawmaker Abbas Falahi as saying he believed rescue workers had not yet been able to reach between 10 and 20 villages. A local provincial official urged people in the region to stay outdoors during the night for fear of aftershocks, according to IRNA. Falahi said people in the region were in need of bread, tents and drinking water. The Turkish Red Crescent said it was sending a truck full of emergency supplies to the border, an official said. Turkey's Foreign Ministry said it had informed Iran it was ready to help.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Federal investigators are questioning why possible corrosion of pipe was not picked up by Chevron during earlier inspection Federal investigators probing the cause of a massive Chevron oil refinery fire are focusing on possible corrosion in a decades-old pipe the company inspected late last year. Investigators with the US Chemical Safety Board said Saturday they are trying to determine why Chevron did not replace the pipe when it had a major five-year inspection last November. That inspection led Chevron to replace an old pipe connected to the one that failed on Monday, catching fire, sending up black smoke and causing thousands to seek medical attention for health issues in one of the most serious US refinery fires in recent years. Chevron said Saturday it too is seeking to understand why the accident occurred. "We agree that this is a serious incident that warrants thorough investigation. We are cooperating with all regulatory agencies and are committed to better understanding the root cause of this incident," said Sean Comey, a company spokesman. The inspectors have not yet seen testing records for the pipe that failed, but given its age and the condition of pipes connected to it, they believe corrosion is a strong possible cause of its failure. Also, investigators told The Associated Press that more than a dozen Chevron refinery workers were engulfed by vapor and narrowly escaped serious injury when it ignited. The Richmond refinery, located about 10 miles northeast of San Francisco, produces about 16% of the region's daily gasoline supply. The crude unit where the fire occurred is a key part of the refinery, helping to create a specialized blend of cleaner burning gasoline that satisfies air quality laws in California. On Saturday, the average price for a gallon of regular gas in California was $4.04, up from $3.86 cents Tuesday. While high crude prices have driven prices up nationwide, the partial loss of production at Chevron's Richmond refinery has also had an effect on driving prices in the state even higher, analysts said. The incident began Monday afternoon when a small dripping leak was detected by refinery workers. When engineers responded to find the leak's cause, they removed insulation around the pipe. Shortly thereafter, a vapor cloud was released. "Due to the high temperature of the material in the tower, in excess of 600 degrees Fahrenheit, the gas-oil immediately formed a large flammable vapor cloud," chemical safety board investigators said. County officials say sirens were activated to warn residents of an accident when the vapor ignited, and the company later alerted county officials. Chevron's response and Contra Costa County's emergency warning system are being investigated by several agencies, including the federal chemical safety agency. More than 4,000 people were treated and released at from hospitals in the days following the fire, officials have said. Chevron has set up a claims center for people who were affected, which by Friday had received about 2,000 calls. Investigators said, in general, all pipes corrode over time. The pipe that failed Monday dated back to the 1970s, but it is still unclear whether the thickness testing conducted by Chevron in its last major inspections noted corrosion in that specific, 8-inch pipe. However, investigators said a 12-inch pipe connected to the one that leaked Monday was found to be corroded, and was replaced after the November "turnaround," an industry term for when a refinery unit is taken off-line so all the lines can be inspected. Dan Tillema, the board's investigative team leader, said "important issues in the investigation included understanding why the pipe that later failed was kept in service during a late 2011 maintenance turnaround." By choosing not to replace the pipe that failed, he said Chevron had decided that it was strong enough to last another five years, when the next piping inspection would have been conducted, which is the industry standard.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Tremors measuring 6.4 magnitude destroy six villages and injure 400 people, officials say Two strong earthquakes have struck northwest Iran, killing between 40 and 50 people and injuring 400, according to Iranian media. The Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) quoted the head of the government's emergency centre, Gholamreza Masoumi, announcing the casualty figures. A local official in the area told ISNA on Saturday that six villages had been completely destroyed and 60 villages had been 50 to 70 percent destroyed. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the first quake at 6.4 magnitude and said it struck 60 km (37 miles) northeast of the city of Tabriz at a depth of 9.9 km (6.2 miles). A second quake measuring 6.3 struck 49 km (30 miles) northeast of Tabriz 11 minutes later at a similar depth. The second quake struck near the town of Varzgan, Fars news agency said. "The quake was so intense that people poured into the streets through fear," it said. A local provincial official urged people in the region to stay outdoors during the night for fear of aftershocks, according to the official IRNA news agency. By early evening, ISNA said there had been at least 10 aftershocks. Iran is straddled by several major fault lines and has suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent times, the last which struck the city of Bam in 2003, killing more than 25,000 people.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rolling report: Get all the latest news as Mo Farah goes in the 5,000m and Usain Bolt runs in the 4x100m relay for Jamaica
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rolling report: Get all the latest news as Mo Farah goes in the 5,000m and Usain Bolt runs in the 4x100m relay for Jamaica
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Dramatic new twist after the dead girl's step-grandfather is arrested following tip-off from a member of the public The Tia Sharp murder inquiry took a dramatic twist after detectives announced they had arrested her grandmother over the 12-year-old's death. Christine Sharp, 46, was being questioned in custody in a south London police station on suspicion of murder. In another unexpected development, Paul Meehan, a 39-year-old neighbour, was also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and held in custody. It follows the arrest of Tia's step-grandfather, Stuart Hazell, 37, who was detained on suspicion of murder eight hours after a girl's body was found, reportedly in the loft, at Tia's grandmother's home in New Addington on Friday. As the murder inquiry broadens, extra forensic teams could be seen on the south London estate where Tia was murdered, rummaging through wheelie bins and scouring grass verges in the search for evidence. Questions remain over why it took police four separate searches to find what is thought to be Tia's body and over how Hazell managed to go missing before he was arrested on Friday night following a tip-off from a member of the public. The makeshift shrine of candles at a nearby bus stop – where police assumed the last, unconfirmed sighting of Tia happened – has already been cleared away, with chalk messages remaining on the pavement saying "Tia come home". The Met apologised on Saturday afternoon for the "stress and concern" over delays in finding the body. Commander Neil Basu said in a statement that four scene examinations were conducted of the property and that officers should have found the body on the second search. "It is now clear that human error delayed the discovery of the body within the house. We have apologised to Tia's mother that our procedures did not lead to the discovery of the body on this search." Neighbour Dale Robertson, 44, said: "There's a mixture of anger and heartbreak. People feel aggrieved. They were duped. Even people who couldn't get out on the searches have posted up on Facebook that they are angry and they were duped." Robertson said thorough searches of the house should have been done sooner. He added: "I don't think it happened soon enough. After 24 hours they should have been ripping that house apart." A former Scotland Yard Commander, John O'Connor, branded the apparent lack of a thorough search of the grandmother's house as "unforgivable". It is understood that a criminal justice review will be launched examining how agencies and police supervised Tia's family during the investigation. The manner of the police investigation will be placed under scrutiny either through an inquiry led by the Inspectorate of Constabulary or the Independent Police Complaints Commission. The probation officers' union, Napo, also said it believed that a raft of reviews relating to Tia's disappearance and death would be launched early this week. The London Borough of Croydon's safeguarding board is expected to instigate a review of what interaction Tia had with the local authorities. The board will seek to establish what, if any, involvement the youngster had with social services in the months before she died. As news of the latest arrests filtered across the vast New Addington estate yesterday, the mood of shock among residents was palpable. Elaine Alchin, 49, who lives adjacent to the house where Tia's body, which has still not been formally identified, was found, said: "I cannot believe it. To think that she was in there all that time. But we knew something was wrong, that she might have actually never left the house, when CCTV of her when she was meant to have gone to Croydon never turned up." Throughout yesterday, a steady trickle of neighbours and friends, many clutching flowers, visited the home of Tia's grandmother at The Lindens. Billie-Jo Butler arrived with her three daughters beside her. "I helped search for her, I handed out leaflets. I'm really stressed that it's happened here." The 26-year-old photographer – who said she knew Tia's mother, Natalie – left the growing pile of condolence notes and flowers in tears. "This is so shocking for everyone around here," she added. Her sentiments were echoed by Joe and Malita Desouza. Chartered accountant Joe, 61, said: "It's absolutely disgusting. It makes you think that this girl could have been our grandchild. We cannot comprehend it." However, some neighbours managed to find positives. Sara Messenger, 38, who works for a construction company, said the manner in which residents had rallied around to search for Tia illustrated the tight-knit nature of the estate. She said: "People have the wrong impression of the estate. The way everybody pulled together proves there is a strong community."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Decision to choose ultra-conservative Tea Party hero will offer voters a stark choice from Barack Obama's fiscal politics Mitt Romney announced as his vice-presidential running mate Paul Ryan, a Congressman who established his reputation with a Tea Party-infused plan for massive debt cuts. The choice of Ryan ends months of speculation that he might choose a woman or a Latino as his running mate. Instead, he has opted for a relatively young, ultra-conservative politician who will be popular with the Republican base. Ryan's choice will help define the White House race, offering a stark choice between Barack Obama's push for spending to help speed America out of recession and a Romney-Ryan ticket committed to huge cuts in federal spending, especially welfare. Romney, introducing Ryan at a campaign event in Norfolk, Virginia on Saturday, had a minor gaffe, describing him as the "next president of the United States". He acknowledged his mistake and reintroduced him as the next vice-president. Romney made the choice after returning from a trip to England, Israel and Poland a fortnight ago. He phoned others on the shortlist on Friday night. Democrats welcomed the prospect of Ryan because his $5.3tn plan to reduce debt over a decade gives them scope to win over the targets of those cuts: the elderly on Medicare, the poor on welfare programmes, students and others. The Obama campaign said Romney and Ryan also share a commitment to 'budget-busting tax cuts' for the wealthy. Jim Messina, the Obama campaign manager, said the Republican ticket would return the nation to "reckless Bush economic policies that exploded our deficit and crashed our economy" and end Medicare. The prospect of changes to Medicare could have a potent effect on the election. When Ryan first proposed it, there was backlash from its main beneficiaries, those aged 65 and over, worried over the prospect of losing their cover. Bill Burton, a former White House staffer and founder of a leading Obama Super Pac, tweeted that "Romney picked one of the only people who could have had an impact in the race. But, not the way he wants." Ryan's speech was dominated almost entirely by an attack on Obama's economic record. "We find ourselves in a nation facing debt, doubt and despair. This is the worst economic recovery in 70 years," he said. "Unemployment has been above eight percent for more than three years, the longest run since the Great Depression." The Romney campaign will come under pressure to explain how the Romney-Ryan team will implement a massive debt-cutting programme and cut taxes, as Romney has promised. Speculation about a vice-presidential running mate focused on a shortlist that included former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and senator Rob Portman. Others included senator Marco Rubio, in the hope that he might help bring over Latino voters, and the boisterous governor of New Jersey Chris Christie. Wild cards included former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and general David Petraeus. Obama and Romney have been running almost neck-and-neck in the polls for months, though Obama has opened up a small lead over the last week after a sustained attack on Romney's record as chairman of Bain Capital and a controversial ad linking Bain to a woman who died from cancer after her husband lost his job and health benefits. Romney, in his speech Saturday, referred to the Obama campaign hitting "a new low". The choice of running mate does not normally matter, apart from controversial choices such as Sarah Palin. The vice-presidential candidate, after an initial flurry of interest, tends to retreat to the shadows, apart from his vice-presidential debate in the autumn. But Ryan looks as if he is going to have a bigger than usual impact. Ryan's debt-reduction plan will be picked over in the coming weeks by the Obama campaign. One of the most controversial parts of his package is to curb Medicare, the health insurance programme for Americans over 64, and that could play into Democratic hands. He also proposes cutting Medicaid, the modest health safety-net for the poor, and other welfare programmes. Among Ryan's champions have been the ultra-conservative editorial team on the Wall Street Journal, who have been arguing that he has defined the debate about the role of government and how to turn America into a growth economy.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hillary Clinton says US and Turkish intelligence to examine possibility of flying ban as Syrian and Jordanian troops clash The United States and Turkey are considering imposing no-fly zones and other steps on Syria to help rebel forces, Hillary Clinton has announced. The US secretary of state said she and the Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, agreed to examine the possibility of imposing a flying ban, while Turkish media reported that they were also considering creating safe havens within Syria. "It is one thing to talk about all kinds of potential actions, but you cannot make reasoned decisions without doing intense analysis and operational planning," Clinton said. "Our intelligence services, our military have very important responsibilities and roles to play so we are going to be setting up a working group to do exactly that." The imposition of no-fly zones by foreign powers were crucial in helping Libyan rebels overthrow Muammar Gaddafi last year. But until recently the international community has been reluctant to take an overt military role in Syria's 17-month-old conflict. Davutoglu said it was time for outside powers to take decisive steps to resolve the humanitarian crisis in cities such as Aleppo, which is under daily Syrian government bombardment. Clinton was scheduled to hold talks with the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and President Abdullah Gul. Turkey is a fierce critic of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, and has welcomed Syrian activists working to overthrow him. The talks in Turkey took place as clashes broke out on the border with Jordan when troops there responded to fire from their Syrian counterparts which began after refugees tried to cross into Jordan. No one was reported killed on Jordan's side. In Damascus, rebels clashed with government forces after a bomb was detonated near the city centre. Clinton also plans to meet Syrian refugees in Istanbul during her visit as the US and allies boost humanitarian relief for civilians who have fled the war. More than 51,000 Syrians have sought refuge in neighbouring Turkey, with many more in Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. There were more than 6,000 new arrivals in Turkey this week alone, many from Aleppo and surrounding villages, while others came from Idlib and Latakia. The United Nations refugee agency said on Friday that the number of refugees in four neighbouring countries, including Turkey, has reached almost 150,000. That figure counts only Syrians who have registered or are in the process of registering as refugees. Officials acknowledge that the real number of Syrian refugees is likely to be more than 200,000 since tens of thousands are believed to have not yet registered with authorities.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Christine Sharp held on suspicion of murder and Paul Meehan held on suspicion of assisting an offender after discovery of body The grandmother of missing schoolgirl Tia Sharp has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Christine Sharp, 46, was detained following the discovery of a body at her home in New Addington, near Croydon, south London, on Friday. Her partner Stuart Hazell, 37, was arrested in Merton, south-west London, on Friday night on suspicion of murder. Sharp's next-door neighbour Paul Meehan, 39, was later taken into custody on suspicion of assisting an offender. In the wake of Hazell's arrest, Scotland Yard announced on Saturday that a 46-year-old woman and a 39-year-old man had been arrested on Friday. Sources later identified the two further suspects as Sharp and Meehan. As Hazell was being arrested, a senior Metropolitan police officer acknowledged there would be many questions asked about why the body, which is believed to be Tia's, was not found until the fourth search of Sharp's house. No identification has taken place yet but there is little doubt that it is that of the schoolgirl who was on holiday from Raynes Park high school when she went missing on Friday 3 August. Hazell was arrested in a public place – believed to be a park – at about 8.25pm on Friday. According to Sky News, he was identified by schoolgirl Chloe Bird, 11, shortly after he bought alcohol in an off-licence. Her stepfather, Nick Keeley, 40, said she came home and told him she had spotted Hazell. "The police were here within five minutes," he said. "I hadn't even finished telling them where he was, and they were here. There were, like, five cars within five minutes and then the whole area was swarmed with police." It was only on Friday afternoon, after a full search of the house was carried out, that the body was found. It is understood it was found in the confines of the house, not outside or in any outbuilding. Tia's mother, Natalie, with whom Tia lived about seven miles from Christine Sharp's house, was informed of the discovery on Friday afternoon. "A number of searches took place at the address," said Commander Neil Basu. "When Tia was first reported missing, officers searched her bedroom as is normal practice … A further search of the house took place in the early hours of Sunday morning by a specialist team. This was followed by another search of the house by specialist dogs on Wednesday lunchtime." Police were also following up two sightings of Tia which suggested that she might have left the house. Examining hundreds of hours of CCTV footage earlier in the investigation, police failed to find any trace of Tia in the town, and their focus returned to the house in New Addington. By Friday, a decision was made to search the house again more thoroughly and Sharp was asked to leave the property. Police interviewed Hazell as a witness on Wednesday but released him without further action. Basu said the family had been kept up to date with developments: "Our priority is to support the family of Tia at this distressing time and identify the body."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Troops were shot dead by locals including a police chief and his men as attacks on Nato troops by 'allies' increase Six US soldiers were shot dead on Friday by Afghans, including police, in southern Helmand province – a grim reminder of the growing threat foreign forces face not just from the Taliban but also from their supposed allies. It was the bloodiest single day for foreign troops in the province since six British soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in early March. Three US Marine Corps special operations troops were shot dead in the early hours of Friday morning in Sangin district, a northern corner of the province that has seen heavy fighting. The killers were an Afghan police commander and some of his men, who had invited the US officers to join them for a meal and to discuss security, Afghan officials said. Then in the evening, an Afghan man shot dead three other foreign soldiers who worked on a joint base with him, the Nato-led coalition said. It does not reveal nationalities of soldiers killed during operations, but Afghan officials said the men were from the US. "The attack happened in police headquarters of Garmser," said Daoud Ahmadi, spokesman for the provincial governor, referring to a district about 40 miles (60km) south-west of the provincial capital. One other foreign soldier was also injured, he added. The Taliban has claimed reponsibility for the attack. "Last night after prayer time around 9pm, they were just coming out of the mosque, and a policeman opened fire on the Americans outside the district police headquarters," said Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi. The shooter has been arrested, Nato said, but added that he was not wearing a uniform at the time of the attack, leaving open the possibility he was a civilian employee on the base. But Farid Farhang, spokesman for the provincial police chief, said the man was from a much-criticised auxiliary police unit, usually trained by special forces. "All I know is that he was from the Afghan local police," Farhang said, adding that an investigation was underway. The attacks were the third and fourth times in less than a week that Afghans have turned on their mentors or colleagues. On Tuesday, two Afghan soldiers killed a US soldier and injured two others in eastern Paktia province, and on Thursday two other Afghan soldiers opened fire on a group outside another base in the east, although the only person killed was one of the shooters. So far this year 37 soldiers and military contractors have been killed in 27 such attacks, far outpacing the toll in 2011. They have become such a commonplace threat that some foreign units are watched by armed "guardian angels" from their own ranks. In a sign of growing concerns about the frequent shootings, President Hamid Karzai issued a rare condemnation of the deaths of foreign soldiers, and ordered an investigation into shootings in Helmand and Paktia. "The enemy who does not want to see Afghanistan have a strong security force, targets military trainers." Karzai said in a statement that also described the shooters as "terrorists in Afghan security uniform". Nato commanders argue that the attackers account for only the tiniest portion of security forces, now more than 300,000 strong, and say many are driven by personal grudges rather than loyalty to the Taliban or other insurgent groups. But the shootings are disproportionately damaging to morale on the critical mission to train the Afghan police and army as foreign forces head home. Two British soldiers were also killed within the space of 48 hours in Helmand this week. Their deaths bring the number of UK soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 424.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney introduces Paul Ryan as his VP running mate - as it happened
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Wisconsin congressman named as Romney's choice for vice-presidential candidate Mitt Romney has picked the Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan as his vice-presidential running mate, the Republican US presidential candidate's campaign has confirmed. "Mitt's choice for VP is Paul Ryan. Spread the word about America's comeback team," a Romney campaign app said, confirming widespread reports he had selected the 42-year-old lawmaker who chairs the House budget committee. Ryan, the 42-year-old congressman from Wisconsin who has become the leading Republican voice on spending cuts, was confirmed by multiple party sources as Romney's running mate. After rising to national prominence as chair of the House Budget Committee, Ryan is likely to be a popular pick with fiscally conservative Republicans, who admire his attempts to propose bold budget cuts. But Democrats will be licking their lips at the prospect of Ryan's promotion, seeing him as the public face of threatened cuts to healthcare and welfare services through the so-called Ryan budget plan. Romney's decision to announce his running mate at 8.45am ET on a Saturday, at an event in Norfolk, Virginia, threw America's political pundits into disarray, with no announcement expected until after the Olympics had ended and certainly not in the relative dead time of a weekend morning. But the Romney campaign has come under increasing pressure and some criticism from its allies in the Republican party for a lacklustre campaign to date, with polls continuing to show a small but resilient lead for President Barack Obama despite the sagging economy. Romney himself has been bedeviled by a series of gaffes and missteps, including his jibe at the readiness of the London Olympics organisation, and has been unable to throw off controversies over his own tax returns. The Republican candidate refuses to release more than the last two years of his tax returns, leading some – including the Democratic Senate majority leader Harry Reid – to speculate at what the wealthy Massachusetts financier might be hiding. The choice of Ryan will delight conservatives such as the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, which recently urged Romney to pick the seven-term congressman, saying that Ryan "best exemplifies the nature and stakes of this election. More than any other politician, the House budget chairman has defined those stakes well as a generational choice about the role of government and whether America will once again become a growth economy or sink into interest-group dominated decline." Reaction from Democrats was swift and savage. "If it's really Ryan, Romney will have picked one of the only people who could have had an impact in the race. But, not the way he wants," tweeted Bill Burton, head of the Obama-supporting Priorities USA action committee. One early hint of Romney's choice was the venue: aboard the warship the USS Wisconsin, named after Ryan's home state. Ryan's relative youth belies his influence within the congressional Republican party, as head of the influential Budget committee but also as the party's policy-maker advocating once unthinkable ideas such as converting government-funded healthcare known as Medicaid into a voucher-like system to slash costs. The choice of Ryan, however, means Romney has spurned more attractive alternatives who would appeal to a wider pool of voters, such as the rising star of the Republican party, Marco Rubio of Florida, the more experienced Condoleeza Rice, or the robust New Jersey governor Chris Christie, another favourite of Republican grassroots. Ryan's career is almost entirely within Washington DC and Capitol Hill, likely to subtract from Romney's claim that he represents an outsider's view of Washington and its politics. The announcement comes at the start of a four-day bus tour by Romney to visit crucial swing states including Virginia, North Carolina Florida and Ohio, and will be used as a chance to introduce the relatively unknown Ryan to the US public. The news of the announcement came at 11pm ET on Friday night in a statement by the Romney campaign. Confirmation of Ryan's elevation came via the normally cautious Associated Press, which reported that "a Republican with knowledge of the situation" had told it that Romney has chosen Ryan. "The Republican spoke on condition of anonymity because this person was not authorised to disclose the decision," the AP reported.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Woman, 46, believed to be schoolgirl's grandmother, held on suspicion of murder and man, 39, held on suspicion of assisting an offender Detectives investigating the disappearance of Tia Sharp have arrested two more people – a 46-year-old woman, believed to be the schoolgirl's grandmother, on suspicion of murder and a 39-year-old man on suspicion of assisting an offender, Scotland Yard has said. Stuart Hazell, 37, who lived with Tia's grandmother Christine Sharp, was arrested in Merton, south-west London, on Friday after the discovery of a body at Sharp's house in New Addington. He is being held on suspicion of murder after being arrested at 8.25pm when a member of the public called police. As Hazell was being arrested, a senior Metropolitan police officer acknowledged there would be many questions asked about why the body, which is believed to be Tia's, was not found until the fourth search of Sharp's house. No identification has taken place yet but there is little doubt that it is that of the schoolgirl who was on holiday from Raynes Park high school when she went missing on Friday 3 August. "A number of searches took place at the address," said Commander Neil Basu. "When Tia was first reported missing, officers searched her bedroom as is normal practice … A further search of the house took place in the early hours of Sunday morning by a specialist team. This was followed by another search of the house by specialist dogs on Wednesday lunchtime." But it was only on Friday afternoon, after a full search of the house was carried out, that the body was found. It is understood it was found in the confines of the house, not outside or in any outbuilding. Tia's mother, Natalie, was informed of the discovery on Friday afternoon. Police were also following up two sightings of Tia which suggested that she might have left the house. Examining hundreds of hours of CCTV footage earlier in the investigation, police failed to find any trace of Tia in the town, and their focus returned to the house in New Addington. By Friday, a decision was made to search the house again more thoroughly and Sharp was asked to leave the property. When asked where Hazell was, she said: "I don't know where Stuart is; he is out doing his own thing. He has had it hard, he knows the finger is being pointed at him." Police interviewed Hazell as a witness on Wednesday but released him without further action. Basu said the family had been kept up to date with developments: "Our priority is to support the family of Tia at this distressing time and identify the body." Friends on the estate had been walking the streets all week, carrying posters of Tia and asking the public for help in finding her. Within minutes of the discovery of the body, members of the community arrived to express their sadness and shock. But there was some anger directed against the family and the police. Ginny Oteng, 46, a mother of three children, said: "I have kids of my own the same age as Tia, and I was worried because I thought there was a child snatcher out there." Eileen Minogue, 40, said: "I feel disgusted. It is heartbreaking. I feel for the genuine family, her mum Natalie, the cousins and aunts who have been in that house who have had sleepless nights waiting for Tia to come home. All the while her body was there." One man shouted abuse at the police and asked: "Weren't you watching him?" Gavin Barwell, MP for Croydon Central, wrote on his blog: "The police and forensic teams now have a serious job to do and I ask that we all please allow them to get on with trying to close a case which has, in such a short period of time, affected so many of us in Croydon and around the country. "Despite the sad end to an emotional week, I want to praise the community in New Addington for their relentless dedication to trying to help their neighbour's family. So often in times of tragedy come inspirational displays of community."
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