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White House review: NSA surveillance powers should be limited - live reaction
MI5/MI6 torture collusion report published: Politics live blog
Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in fast lane for Go Like Hell
US ambassador visits Central African Republic
Dennis Rodman visits North Korea days after execution of leader's uncle - video
Hugh Hefner movie sashays closer with director David Dobkin
Vladimir Putin press conference - in tweets
European leaders gather for summit after complicated banking compromise
Chinese journalists face ideology exams
Blind man's tribute to guide dog after being run over by New York subway train – video
Young Australian describes vicious attack by two kangaroos
2013 climate year in review: 'the heat is on. Now we must act'
South Sudan rebels take key town
UK storms bring power cuts, transport disruption and flood warnings
Palestinian killed by Israeli troops in West Bank
Turnbull tops ministerial popularity rankings, but little love for Pyne
ADF troops return from Afghanistan
You won't believe which environment group the Australian government has de-funded now | Alexander White
Dennis Rodman returns to North Korea
Plastic pound notes: a message from the enlightened future … Australia | Bridie Jabour
US prosecutor defends arrest and strip-search of Indian diplomat
Vatican’s representative seeks immunity over sex abuse inquiry
Afghanistan: ADF troops arrive back, to be greeted by a tearful welcome
Toyota to contest court ruling against reduced wages and entitlements
Australia's new ‘freedom commissioner’ should fight culture war on all fronts

White House review: NSA surveillance powers should be limited - live reaction

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 01:59 AM PST

• NSA 'should be banned from undermining internet'
• Agency should be stripped of bulk phone records power
• New to the NSA revelations? Catch up here
• What do the NSA files mean for you ?
• NSA and surveillance made simple – animation

Paul Owen

MI5/MI6 torture collusion report published: Politics live blog

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 01:58 AM PST

Andrew Sparrow's rolling coverage of all the day's political developments as they happen, including the publication of the Gibson inquiry report into allegations that MI5 and MI6 colluded in torture, and Kenneth Clarke's statement about it to parliament

Andrew Sparrow

Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in fast lane for Go Like Hell

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 01:57 AM PST

Heavyweight star pairing to reunite for motor sports movie about competition between American and European racing teams

• News: Tom Cruise onboard Jack Reacher sequel
• Blog: Happy 50th Brad Pitt!

Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt are set to reunite for the first time since 1994's Interview with the Vampire in the car-race drama Go Like Hell, adapted from AJ Baimes' book about the 1960s rivalry between car makers Ford and Ferrari, which would appear to have been fast-tracked after the success of Ron Howard's formula one drama Rush.

Cruise is due to play American car designer Carroll Shelby in a film to be directed by Joseph Kosinski, who recently worked with Cruise on the sci-fi thriller Oblivion. It is not know who Pitt will play, but he was attached to star in the project in an earlier incarnation, according to the Hollywood Reporter, when director Michael Mann was on board.

Go Like Hell charts the contest for motor-racing supremacy between the American Ford manufacturers and the Italian Ferrari team, climaxing at the 1966 Le Mans 24-Hour endurance race, at which an American car won for the first ever time (through driven by New Zealanders Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon.) Jerusalem playwright Jez Butterworth has written a new draft of the script with his brother John-Henry.

Andrew Pulver

US ambassador visits Central African Republic

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 01:53 AM PST

Samantha Power will meet president and community leaders in effort to halt increasingly sectarian violence

The US ambassador to the United Nations has arrived in Central African Republic, in the highest-profile American effort to date to quell a cycle of violence that has claimed hundreds of lives and displaced at least 10% of the population.

Samantha Power said on the eve of her visit that she and Barack Obama were "deeply disturbed" by the killings by rival militias since the CAR government was overthrown in March. "The violence has been vicious and primarily directed toward civilians and is increasingly sectarian," she said. "Obviously urgent action is required to save lives."

Power landed within sight of a refugee camp of 40,000 people and sped off in a convoy of three armoured SUVs guarded by US contractors in trucks. She will meet religious and community leaders as well as the president, Michel Djotodia, whose forces are accused of taking part in the atrocities.

Power, who has been a vocal proponent of US intervention to stop mass atrocities, cautioned against comparing CAR to other African tragedies but did not hesitate to draw parallels. "Somalia showed us what can happen in a failed state and Rwanda showed us what can occur in a deeply divided nation," she said. "The population of the Central African Republic is in danger."

Before joining government service Power wrote a Pulitzer prize-winning book in 2002 about how various US administrations over the years have been reluctant to confront mass atrocities and genocide around the world.

Muslim rebels overthrew the CAR government in March and a cycle of atrocities and revenge attacks followed, peaking over the last few days.

Human Rights Watch said in a report on Thursday that Christian militias including soldiers of the deposed regime, responding to "rampant abuses" by Muslim armed groups, had killed hundreds around the country, sparking further retaliatory attacks.

According to Power, 400,000 people – almost 10% of the population – have been displaced from their homes in what was already one of Africa's poorest countries.

A French military force of 1,600 backed by 3,500 troops from African countries have intervened in the country with US logistical support in an effort to stop the killings.

Human Rights Watch's UN director, Philippe Bolopion, said Power's early work on genocide make her a significant choice for the first high-level US mission. "She used to be an observer on the sidelines and now she is at the very centre of it so she's fully aware of what is at stake there and with her background I think she is doing everything in her power to push the US government to react the way it should," he said.

Bolopion called for a UN peacekeeping mission of at least 9,000 soldiers. A senior US official said part of Power's mission would be to assess the necessity of such a mission.

Dennis Rodman visits North Korea days after execution of leader's uncle - video

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 01:44 AM PST

Retired basketball player Dennis Rodman says he will not raise the subject of Jang Song-thaek's execution on his trip to North Korea

Hugh Hefner movie sashays closer with director David Dobkin

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 01:44 AM PST

Wedding Crashers helmer signs on for long-gestating biopic telling life story of Playboy magazine founder

• Peter Morgan in talks to develop Hugh Hefner biopic

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner is to have his life story told in a biopic to be directed by Wedding Crashers' David Dobkin, it has been announced.

The 87-year-old magazine publisher and dedicated party host has seen studio Warner Bros pick up the project, after Universal failed to make sufficient headway and let it go. Dobkin, considered a proficient maker of brash comedies who has Shanghai Knights ad The Change-Up on his CV as well as Wedding Crashers, will direct a script by Peter Morgan, of Frost/Nixon and The Damned United renown.

Hefner founded Playboy magazine in 1953 and subsequently became a leading figure in the sexual revolution of the 1960s, as well as turning Playboy into a powerful multimedia brand. He tweeted last year about meeting with Morgan to discuss the script.

Dobkin is expected to begin work on the film after finishing his legal thriller The Judge, which stars Robert Downey Jr – who coincidentally was one of the early favourites to play Hefner. No details yet have emerged as to who will actually don the silk pajamas.

Andrew Pulver

Vladimir Putin press conference - in tweets

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 01:42 AM PST

Follow Shaun Walker's tweets live from Vladimir Putin annual press conference

Shaun Walker

European leaders gather for summit after complicated banking compromise

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 01:27 AM PST

Analysis: The main issue is what German chancellor Angela Merkel wants, what she doesn't want and what she might get

European leaders gather in Brussels on Thursday for a two-day summit aimed at shoring up the euro, pooling economic reform efforts and entrenching a radical new regime for controlling most of the eurozone banking sector. The summit begins after late-night negotiations in Brussels saw finance ministers thrash out a complicated compromise deal that left national governments ultimately responsible for bailing out their banks.

Taken together, the policies amount to the biggest moves attempted by the 17 governments of the single currency since the euro and sovereign debt crisis exploded four years ago. The action being plotted is highly contentious, the policies are divisive. The main issue is what chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany wants, what she does not want, and what she might get in the end.

"They are trying to solve a German problem," said a senior EU official.

The two main innovations are agreements on a key pillar of a new "banking union" that makes the European Central Bank the supervisory authority for the big systemic eurozone banks from next year and a new system of "binding" contracts agreed at the eurozone level to encourage structural reforms in individual countries.

The Germans have resisted and sought to dilute the banking union since Merkel was hijacked at a summit in June last year by France, Italy and Spain and the new regime was agreed. By contrast, the contracts scheme is Merkel's idea, aimed at making weaker eurozone economies more competitive. It is fiercely resisted even by her northern allies in the euro crisis, such as the Dutch, the Austrians, and the Finns. It is feared by the French and the southern Europeans.

But Berlin is making plain that there won't be progress on banking union unless she makes headway on the contracts.

"Ideologically, there is some kind of connection for the Germans," said a senior EU diplomat involved in the fraught negotiations. Another senior diplomat said Berlin was making the linkage "very explicit".

The big contested points on the new banking regime boil down to who foots the bill for a rotten bank or to recapitalise and restructure a failing bank and who has the final word on winding up a bank.

"We've been talking about banking union for months," Merkel told German television. "We Germans have laid down very clear conditions. I do see a chance that we can make it. I just don't know for sure yet."

The Germans have been relatively isolated in their demands, but appear to be carrying the day. Since Lehman Brothers in 2008, European taxpayers have shelled out €1.6tn (£1.3tn) via government bank rescues. Arguing on grounds of moral hazard, Berlin insists that era is over. The banks will themselves, via a levy, supply their own insurance, a €55bn pot that, however, will not be available until 2025 at the earliest. Also, bank investors, creditors and shareholders will themselves have to step up to the plate and pay for failure before governments.

The Germans have been resisting any common "fiscal backstop" for bank resolution, such as the €500bn bailout fund, and have been determined to avoid liability for others' banks until 2025. The French lead the opposition here.

Merkel and President François Hollande wrestled over the issue on Wednesday in Paris hours after she was sworn in for her third term as chancellor, while EU and eurozone finance ministers capped a fortnight of frantic late-night negotiations with more scrapping in Brussels.

Points victory for Berlin

The result was a points victory for Berlin, a complicated compromise that phases in a common fund by 2025 but until then leaves bank rescues mainly a national matter. The deal also produced a complex decision-taking system that leaves the final word on bank rescues with national governments.

The two fundamental aims of the banking union are to break the toxic loop between bad banks and sovereign debt that contributed hugely to the euro crisis and to shift liability for failure away from taxpayers to the financial sector itself.

Both aims look likely to be unfulfilled for a long time. Responsibility for banking fecklessness will remain mainly national for years to come, at German insistence, meaning partial government bailouts and taxpayer involvement.

And because of quarrels over who decides to wind up a bank, the EU or its governments, the compromise is messy involving the European commission, a new banking resolution board and national finance ministers.

Mario Draghi, the head of the ECB, voiced his exasperation to the European Parliament this week.

"I am concerned that decision-making may become overly complex and financing arrangements may not be adequate … We should not create a Single Resolution Mechanism that is single in name only," he said. He demanded "a single system, a single authority, and a single fund".

"One can't have hundreds of people consulting each other about whether a certain bank is viable."

"Under the likely agreement, the process of bank resolution will be political and complex, while the costs will primarily be borne by the private sector and national budgets in the short and medium term," said Mujtaba Rahman, analyst at Eurasia Group. "The deal will be a bad one, as lead European negotiators do not wish to upset the Germans."

Things get even more unwieldy because, again to accommodate German constitutional concerns, the new system will be based on both new EU legislation as well as an international treaty between participating governments. There will be a battle with the European Parliament and there may be national problems getting the treaty ratified, all of which indicates delays which suit Berlin.

Merkel is much keener to push her structural reforms contracts scheme because she believes not enough has yet been done to immunize the eurozone against a new crisis and also to force greater competitiveness on the rest of Europe, not least France, Berlin's biggest worry.

She has already backed down considerably from last year when the initial idea was to have legally binding contracts forcing changes to pension systems, education systems, or labour markets, policed by the EU and where lagging governments could be sued in the European Court of Justice.

"The initial idea was a German straitjacket. That's dead," said the senior official.

Now the talk is of "partnership" and "national ownership" of the reform contracts which would be greased by "solidarity" payments. But it is not clear how much money is involved, whether it takes the form of loans or grants, where it comes from (not the EU budget).

A senior German official said the money available will be "limited."

"We're interested in making the contracts binding. We think that's right if we want to move beyond the current system based only on recommendations."

The creditors in the eurozone bailouts, the northerners, are against this because they see it as the thin end of the wedge in the creation of a eurozone budget and "transfer union".

And the southerners want the money without being coerced into reforms, particularly in Paris where Hollande would struggle with the implicit loss of national sovereignty over economic and fiscal policy.

"It's a Germanic view of how to do structural reform. Everyone else is against it," said one of the senior diplomats. "There's quite a lot tension. It will be a long, bitter and twisted debate."

Ian Traynor

Chinese journalists face ideology exams

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 01:25 AM PST

State media say it is first time reporters have been required to take such a test en masse

Chinese journalists will have to pass a new ideology exam early next year to keep their press cards, in what reporters say is another example of the ruling Communist party's increasing control over the media under President Xi Jinping.

It is the first time reporters have been required to take such a test en masse, state media have said. The exam will be based on a 700-page manual peppered with directives such as "it is absolutely not permitted for published reports to feature any comments that go against the party line", and "the relationship between the party and the news media is one of leader and the led".

Some reporters say the impact of the increased control in the past year has been chilling. "The tightening is very obvious in newspapers that have an impact on public opinion. These days there are lots of things they aren't allowed to report," said a journalist at a current affairs magazine.

China has also intensified efforts to curb the work of foreign news organisations. The New York Times Company and Bloomberg News have not been given new journalist visas for more than a year after they published stories about the wealth of relatives of the former premier Wen Jiabao and Xi .

The General Administration of Press and Publication, a key media regulator, has said via state media that the aim of the exam and accompanying training is to "increase the overall quality of China's journalists and encourage them to establish socialism as their core system of values". It did not respond to questions from Reuters about the exam or press freedom in China.

Traditionally, Chinese state media have been the key vehicle for party propaganda. But reforms over the past decade that have allowed greater media commercialisation and limited increases in editorial independence, combined with the rise of social media, have weakened government control, according to academics.

China media watchers point to a flurry of editorials after Xi spoke to propaganda officials in August as evidence of concern within the party that control over public discourse was slipping. The official Beijing Daily described the party's struggle to win hearts and minds as a "fight to the death".

Some reporters and academics, however, trace the start of the tougher attitude to a strike lasting several days in January by journalists at an outspoken newspaper, the Southern Weekly, after censors scrapped a new year editorial calling for China to enshrine constitutional rights. Xi had taken over the Communist party only several weeks earlier.

"This was a shock to Xi Jinping's leadership [circle]," said Xiao Qiang, a China media expert at the University of California at Berkeley. "They own these newspapers. That makes it an internal, public rebellion, which made the censorship and media control mechanism look really bad."

The strike ended after local propaganda officials promised to take a lighter hand with censorship. Some senior reporters have since left the paper, according to two sources. The Southern Weekly declined to comment.

Journalists will have to do a minimum 18 hours of training on topics including Marxist news values and socialism with Chinese characteristics, as well as journalism ethics, before sitting the exam in January or February. Reporters who fail the test will have to resit the exam and undergo the training again. It os not clear what happens to reporters who refuse to take it.

In theory all reporters in China need a press card to report, though Zhan Jiang, a journalism professor at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, said many did without one. Zhan said recent scandals in the Chinese media had raised some questions about the industry's professionalism.

A reporter for the Guangzhou-based New Express tabloid was arrested in October after confessing on state television to accepting bribes for fabricating more than a dozen stories about Changsha-based Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co Ltd. The reporter wrote that Zoomlion had engaged in sales fraud and exaggerated its profits, accusations strongly denied by the state-owned construction equipment maker.

"It's hard to say if this is really to improve the actions of journalists or to control them. You don't know what [the authorities] are thinking," Zhan said.

Reporters had little doubt about the aim of the exam. "The purpose of this kind of control is just to wear you down, to make you feel like political control is inescapable," said a reporter for a newspaper in the booming southern city of Guangzhou.

Blind man's tribute to guide dog after being run over by New York subway train – video

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 01:20 AM PST

A blind man tells how he and his guide dog survived being run over by a New York City subway train after he lost consciousness on the platform and fell on the tracks

Young Australian describes vicious attack by two kangaroos

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 01:00 AM PST

Thirteen-year-old girl subjected to 25-minute onslaught while out jogging in the bush

A 13-year-old girl suffered a vicious 25-minute attack by two kangaroos while out jogging in the bush in Australia.

Jade Bassett was left bleeding with deep scratches down her legs as well as injuries to her face and arm after confronting the two eastern grey kangaroos in bushland in Oakhampton in the Hunter region of New South Wales.

Her grandfather, Kevin Henderson, had taken her to the track and sat down on a bench to wait for her to return from a 15-minute run.

Bassett had only jogged about 10 metres when she spotted kangaroos, two of which she said were "really big" and one slightly smaller, though still bigger than her.

As she ran towards them they did not move, which Bassett said she found strange, but did not give it much thought as she ran around them.

As she ran past one bounded up beside her and she moved to let it reach the scrub.

"I thought it was weird but I kept running. You usually don't see them beside you, they usually move away," she said.

"I kept going and then I heard a really loud, grunting, hissing, sound. It scared the absolute nutter out of me."

Bassett saw the kangaroo get up on its hind legs and thought to herself "I can't outrun a kangaroo", so she ran into the dense scrub next to the path, thinking it would not follow her.

"Then it hit me, I don't know if it was with its arms, its legs or its tail. I was just on the ground," she said. "I looked up and thought 'oh my god, it's just so big'."

Bassett said the kangaroo then attacked her with its front paws, scratching her and trying to bite her while baring its teeth and snarling.

"I've never heard a noise like it," she said. "I can't sleep, every time I close my eyes I hear it in my mind. I hate it."

Bassett said she tried to push the kangaroo's face away from her but the movement exposed her face and stomach to the animal as it attacked her, so she lay down and tried to kick as high as she could.

Bassett did not want to scream for her grandfather as she was worried what would happen if it attacked the 71-year-old.

"I copped a lot in the back of thighs, its claws kept sinking into me but I couldn't feel it at the time," she said.

"It took me a full day to get up the guts and look at my legs because they felt so wrong. I could put my finger in the grooves where its claws dug into me."

Bassett picked up a branch and tried to crawl away from the kangaroo back to the track but it followed her and kept pulling her hair, scratching her and kicking her. Bassett then felt something thump her on the back.

She said she looked up and saw a second kangaroo had joined the attack and its face was just inches from her own.
"It was the scariest thing I have ever seen," she said. "I thought, 'it's going to eat my face'."

"By now I was just screaming I was in so much pain. One was grabbing the back of my hair and pulling me back while the other was pulling me forward. I thought 'I can't handle this' and just started screaming for my pop."

Bassett said she kept blacking out as the kangaroos continued kicking, clawing and hitting her. Her grandfather ran yelling down the road with a big stick, which scared the kangaroos away.

Bassett got up and ran back down to the track where Henderson was and they were helped by two strangers.

Henderson said he wanted signs put up in the area.

Bassett said she wanted to warn other people that kangaroos might be more aggressive than usual in the area as she did not want it to happen to anyone else.

"I keep going over in my head what did I do to deserve it? Did I get too close?" she said. "I don't want the kangaroos to be hurt. In a way it's my fault because I was in their territory. But I just can't understand why they did that."

Bridie Jabour

2013 climate year in review: 'the heat is on. Now we must act'

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 01:00 AM PST

Damian Carrington looks back at a year when experts concluded it was 'unequivocal' that global warming was human-induced

On 10 May 2013, the concentration of climate-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere passed the milestone level of 400 parts per million for the first time in human history. The last time so much greenhouse gas was in the air was several million years ago, when the Arctic was ice-free, savannah spread across the Sahara desert and sea level was up to 40 metres higher than today.

The milestone moment was a sobering reminder that the emission of globe-warming gases is continuing unabated, despite ever more certainty that the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation is on track to end the millennia of relatively stable climate during which human civilisation has flourished.

In September, a landmark report on climate change science from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded it was "unequivocal" that global warming was the result of human actions. Its authors said that, without "substantial and sustained" emissions reductions, the 2C limit set by the world's governments would be breached, resulting in heatwaves, droughts and more extreme weather. Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, urged world leaders to pay heed to the "world's authority on climate change" and forge a new global deal on cutting emissions. "The heat is on. Now we must act," he said.

John Kerry, the US secretary of state, said: "This is yet another wake-up call: those who deny the science or choose excuses over action are playing with fire."

The IPCC report, compiled by hundreds of the world's climate experts, was the first for five years and also stated that sea levels are expected to rise a further 26-82cm by 2100, though a significant number of scientists think this is an underestimate. The IPCC also warned of the increasing acidification of the oceans as it absorbs CO2, with an October report finding the seas are becoming more acidic at the fastest rate in 300 million years and a mass extinction of species may already be almost inevitable.

The so-called "pause" in climate change – a slowing of the global air temperature rise over the last 15 years – was dismissed by IPCC co-chair Thomas Stocker, who said climate trends "should not be calculated for periods of less than 30 years." Other scientists noted that excess heat has continued to be trapped by greenhouse gases and that just 1% of it heats the atmosphere, compared to 93% that warms the oceans. Another much-discussed issue – how sensitive the climate is to increases in atmospheric CO2 – turned out to make little difference to the temperature rises projected by the IPCC.

The most controversial part of the IPCC report was its first statement on how much more CO2 humans can pour into the atmosphere without triggering dangerous levels of climate change – and the conclusion that more than half of that "carbon budget" has been used up.

"There's a finite amount of carbon you can burn if you don't want to go over 2C," said Stocker. "That implies if there is more than that [in fossil fuel reserves], that you leave some of that carbon in the ground."

The climate economist Lord Stern and others had warned in April of the risks of a "carbon bubble", because two-thirds of the fossil fuel reserves underpinning the value of oil, gas and coal companies will have to remain underground to keep warming under 2C. "The financial crisis has shown what happens when risks accumulate unnoticed," said Stern, who added that the risk was "very big indeed" and that almost all investors and regulators were failing to address it.

The consensus of climate scientists on the cause of global warming had been emphasised in May, when a study of thousands of research papers published between 1991 and 2011 showed 97% endorsed human-caused global warming.

This consensus on the science was not matched by consensus on a political deal to tackle climate change. The annual meeting of the UN's climate body, the UNFCCC, took place in November in coal-friendly Poland, and concluded by sending nations away to "do their homework" ahead of a deadline for a global deal in 2015. The critical question: which nations should cut their emissions and by how much?

Australia attracted criticism after its new government, led by Tony Abbott – who has called climate change "crap" – failed to send a minister to the UN climate talks but set about dumping the country's nascent carbon tax. Meanwhile, Australia's spring was the warmest on record.

However, the big two global emitters – China and the US together cause 40% of emissions – provided brighter news when agreeing in July to expand their joint efforts against climate change, a move seen as raising the prospects for an eventual global climate deal. The agreement covered cleaner vehicles, carbon capture technologies, energy efficiency and smart grids.

2013 also saw China establish carbon trading schemes in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, which may help address appalling air pollution problems. Such schemes, where permits to pollute are traded are seen by many as the cheapest way of cutting emissions but the world's biggest scheme – the EU's – saw only modest progress in addressing the glut of permits that is holding the carbon price at rock-bottom levels.

In the UK, the coalition fought over green policies, with the prime minister, David Cameron, reported as saying he wanted to get rid of all the "green crap" – the environmental levies charged on energy bills. In contrast, the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, said: "We will do everything we can to strengthen the role of the low-carbon sector in the new economy." In December, the government's official advisers on climate change told ministers there was no evidence supporting the weakening of emissions targets in a review demanded by the chancellor, George Osborne.

Perhaps the most unusual place that scepticism about climate change turned up was in the Twitter feed of one of the UK's largest rail companies, First Capital Connect. When a passenger questioned why the company was using outdoor heaters on mild October day, one of its social media team lost his cool, tweeting back that the science underpinning climate change had been "shattered" by reports and the climate had always changed naturally. The "deeply sorry" company deleted the offending tweet.

Damian Carrington

South Sudan rebels take key town

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 12:49 AM PST

Officials in Bor, capital of Jonglei state, believed to have defected as violence spreads after alleged coup attempt

South Sudan's military says it no longer controls a key town in a rural state where fighting has spread in the aftermath of what the government says was an attempted coup mounted by soldiers loyal to a former deputy president.

The authorities in Bor, the state capital of Jonglei, were not answering their phones, leading the central government to believe they had defected, said Philip Aguer, the South Sudanese military spokesman.

"We lost control of Bor to the rebellion," Aguer said. He said there were reported gunfights in Bor overnight as renegade officers tried to wrest control of the town from loyalist forces.

Citing figures from the South Sudan Red Cross, Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for the UN secretary general's office, said at least 19 civilians had been killed in violence in Bor. He said tensions were also on the rise in the states of Unity and Upper Nile.

Ethnic rivalry is threatening to tear apart the world's newest country, with the clashes apparently pitting soldiers from the majority Dinka tribe of President Salva Kiir against those from the ousted vice-president Riek Machar's Nuer ethnic group. The government said on Wednesday that at least 500 people, most of them soldiers, had been killed in violence since the alleged coup attempt on Sunday. At least 700 more have been wounded, according to the information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth.

Although Juba, the South Sudanese capital where the alleged coup was mounted, has since become calm, violence appears to be spreading to other parts of the oil-rich east African nation.

Tensions have been mounting in South Sudan since Kiir fired Machar as his deputy in July. Machar has said he will contest the presidency in 2015.

Machar is the subject of a manhunt by the military after he was identified by Kiir as the leader of the alleged coup attempt. He has denied the allegation.

Kiir told a news conference in Juba late on Wednesday that he was willing to enter talks with Machar, a rival for power within the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement party.

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said on Wednesday that South Sudan was experiencing a political crisis that "urgently needs to be dealt with through political dialogue." Ban said he had urged Kiir "to resume dialogue with the political opposition".

South Sudan has been plagued by ethnic violence since it peacefully broke away from Sudan in 2011 after decades of civil war.

UK storms bring power cuts, transport disruption and flood warnings

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 12:41 AM PST

Bad weather set to continue with strong winds and large waves threatening coastal areas, particularly in western parts of UK

Wild weather will continue to batter the UK on Thursday as thousands of people recover from flooding and power disruption to their homes brought on by heavy downpours and gale-force winds.

Gusts of up to 90mph are expected to cut across Northern Ireland and parts of western Scotland, while there are warnings of up to 20cm of snow in Scotland and icy roads across much of England.

Storms caused by an Atlantic depression left 7,000 customers without electricity in Northern Ireland on Thursday night, though most have now been reconnected, with another 3,500 affected in north-west England and almost 900 without power in south Wales.

A search for a missing sailor who fell overboard from a small cargo ship on the River Trent in north Lincolnshire was called off last night in "very poor" conditions.

A 19-year-old man was also injured and taken to hospital when his car was hit by a falling tree in Warwickshire.

Flood warnings telling of the need for immediate action were in place on Thursday morning, with 26 in the south-west alone.

The Environment Agency said a number of rivers in Somerset and Devon could be liable to flood , including the rivers Yeo, Tamar, Brue, Torridge, Teign and Axe.

Roads in Bristol flooded on Wednesday, while in Cardiff the fire service had to pump water from streets.

A further 116 flood alerts were in place, with many in Wales and the Midlands.

The bad weather is set to continue, with winds of 70mph to 80mph and gusts of 90mph in western Scotland and the Western Isles, the Met Office said, with large waves threatening coastal areas.

Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) said it expected further damage to the electricity network as bad weather is set to continue.

Some 1,000 customers were without electricity as of 11pm on Wednesday night because of trees down across power lines and broken electricity poles, though NIE expected the number to rise during.

Spokeswoman Julia Carson said: "We were prepared for the storm and have already restored over 6,000 customers to power since the winds swept across Northern Ireland this afternoon.

"However, we are expecting the winds to peak in the early hours of the morning, causing additional disruption to electricity supplies, especially in eastern and northern areas."

Coastguards and an RAF helicopter were on Wednesday night searching for a 45-year-old man, believed to be a foreign national, who fell overboard from a small cargo ship moored on the River Trent.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the man was working with ropes on the MV Sea Melody when he appeared to become entangled and was pulled over the side, where he disappeared.

A helicopter from RAF Leconfield in East Yorkshire began a search and was joined by a coastguard team from Hull, but the search was called off because of gale force winds, and cold, driving rain, the MCA said.

Humber coastguard watch manager Mike Puplett said: "We understand that the crewman was not wearing a life jacket and, in these conditions particularly, I would say this should have been an essential bare minimum of safety equipment."

The search would continue on Thursday morning, he added.

Police closed the A595 at Moota in Cumbria on Wednesday after the roof was blown off a hotel, and the M6 is partially closed southbound between junctions 38 and 37 because of an overturned lorry, the Highways Agency said. The motorway was expected to reopen fully from 8am.

Rail commuters could also face delays.

Strong winds and heavy rain are causing flooding and obstructions across the rail network in the south of England, National Rail said, affecting several CrossCountry and South West Trains routes. At the Port of Dover in Kent, tugboats were on hand to help ferries berth amid strong gusts in the English Channel.

Officials said the port stayed open but ferry schedules were subject to "slight delay".

A port spokesman said: "The safety of our customers and staff remains the port's priority whilst efforts continue to minimise any disruption or delay to customers."

Wednesday night's football fixtures were also hit by bad weather, with a Sky Bet Championship football match in Sheffield abandoned when heavy rain left the pitch unplayable.

Sheffield Wednesday's home match against Wigan, at Hillsborough, was called off early in the second half after large puddles appeared on the playing surface.

Stoke City's home tie against Manchester United in the League Cup was temporarily suspended due to heavy rain and hailstones.

Palestinian killed by Israeli troops in West Bank

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 12:34 AM PST

Death of Saleh Yassin, whom Israeli army sought to arrest for firing on its soldiers, comes hours after another Palestinian killed in occupied territory

Israeli troops have shot and killed a member of the Palestinian security forces they wanted to arrest in the central West Bank town of Qalqilya, the Israeli military said.

Palestinian residents named the man as Saleh Yassin, 27, a Palestinian intelligence officer, and local hospital staff said he had been shot in the back. A local Palestinian official said Yassin was shot dead in cold blood while returning home from work.

The Israeli army said Yassin had fired at troops when they came to arrest him and that they shot back at the source of the firing.

An army statement said that Yassin had been the target of the arrest raid because he had "opened fire towards [Israeli] soldiers on numerous occasions in recent weeks". It added that a weapon and ammunition had been found at the scene.

Yassin's death on Thursday was the second in the occupied West Bank in a few hours, after Nafeh al-Saadi, 23, whom Jenin residents said was an Islamic Jihad militant, was shot dead by Israeli troops who came to arrest him on Wednesday.

The Israeli army said forces opened fire after coming under attack in the raid.

A number of other Palestinians were wounded in subsequent stone-throwing clashes with the troops.

Violent incidents in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have become more regular in recent months and at least 19 Palestinians and four Israelis have been killed since US-backed Middle East peace talks resumed in July.

On Wednesday, the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said the talks could take up to one more year to complete if they can reach a broad framework accord in the coming weeks.

Turnbull tops ministerial popularity rankings, but little love for Pyne

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 12:32 AM PST

Communications minister pips the lesser lights to title of frontbench's top performer in eye of the public

Politicians often say polls come and go – but this one might hit a bit closer to home for some ministers.

Australians view Malcolm Turnbull as the Abbott government's best-performing minister while they view Christopher Pyne much more dimly, according to a survey that ranks each cabinet member.

McNair Ingenuity Research, which asked 1,005 voters to rate each frontbencher, calculated ratings based on the views of respondents who felt they knew enough about the person to score. Ministers earned a score of 100% if their performance was considered excellent, 75% for good, 50% for average, 25% for poor and 0% for terrible.

The communications minister had the highest score of all ministers, with Turnbull attracting an average of 51%. When divided into the views of respondents based on political support, his score was 31% among Labor voters and 62% among Coalition voters.

The second, third, and fourth-ranked ministers overall were David Johnston (defence), Nigel Scullion (Indigenous affairs) and Peter Dutton (health and sport), although the three were ranked by less than half of respondents, given their lower public profile.

The lowest-ranked minister was Christopher Pyne (education), who attracted a score of just 35% across all respondents, or 20% among Labor voters and 47% among Coalition voters. He was ranked slightly lower than Scott Morrison (immigration) whose performance was scored at 39% overall.

The treasurer, Joe Hockey, equalled Turnbull's rating of 52% among Coalition voters, but with a score of just 29% from Labor voters his overall figure was 47%.

Nineteen in 20 respondents felt they knew enough about the prime minister, Tony Abbott, to rank his performance. He scored at 42% overall, or 22% among Labor voters and 59% among Coalition voters.

McNair Ingenuity Research said people who did not know the minister or enough about their performance were excluded from the rating calculations. It was conducted online, but respondents were drawn from the firm's pre-existing list of participants.

The company said the survey invitations were "managed" in order to invite a statistically balanced representation of people in each major city and regional area across Australia, weighted according to age, gender and location. The respondents said they voted 53% Coalition to 47% Labor after preferences at the last election, similar to the official 53.5% to 46.5% result.

The survey was conducted between Friday last week and Wednesday this week.

ADF troops return from Afghanistan

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 12:32 AM PST

ADF Troops arrive in Sydney to greet family and friends

You won't believe which environment group the Australian government has de-funded now | Alexander White

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 12:26 AM PST

Climate change denying Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has gone after a small group of non-profit environmental advocates.

Stay with me on this one.

The joke started something like this: a cockatoo, a potoroo, a skink and a brown tree frog go into a bar...

Unfortunately, this isn't' a very funny joke, because the Glossy Black Cockatoo, the Long-nosed Potoroo, the Eastern She-oak Skink and the Large Brown Tree Frog are all threatened species.

The Glossy Black is a fussy eater, a bit like a vegan hipster. It only feeds on the seeds in cones of she-oaks, and even then, only from selected individual trees. Like someone who's found their favourite barista and doesn't want to risk getting a bad coffee somewhere else, the Glossy Black will return to eat at the same tree time and time again, even other trees are overflowing with oak-cones. We don't really know why Glossy Blacks are so particular, but since each one can live up to thirty years, we should be able to take the time to get to know them properly. If we don't wipe them out first.

If the Glossy Black Cockatoo is a hipster, the Long-nosed Potoroo is like a shy and lonely emo with a preference for eating fungi when the stars are out. Closely related to kangaroos, the Long-nose makes up for its shyness during its twice-yearly mating season, and is notorious in the Australian outback for having a prodigious number of sexual partners. A big threat to the Long-nose's rutting, fungi-eating lifestyle is feral cats, foxes and human development.

The She-oak Skink and the Large Brown Tree Frog are less warm and fuzzy than the other two. In fact, they're scaly and slimy. I'm not clear why it's named after the She-oak, but the She-oak Skink lives the lizard equivalent of a ski-bum lifestyle in the alpine regions of Victoria around Mt Hotham and Falls Creek. (There's also a Tasmanian She-oak Skink.) The Large Brown Tree Frog is actually pretty small, around 45 mm in length, and like a mad sports fan it looks like it has painted its face with dark stripes like war-stripes.

I said the joke was not very funny. Here's why.

The Victorian government has a legal obligation to protect threatened species, but a remarkable loop-hole allows state-owned, loss-making corporations like VicForests to log their habitat so long as there was no conservation plan. This includes the picky-eater Glossy Black Cockatoo, and the war-painted Large Brown Tree Frog.

The ABC reported at the time:

A statement from the Department of Environment and Primary Industries confirmed there were 689 species, communities or processes (such as pollution of waterways or removal of species) that did require action statements. Of these, the department said 60 per cent had either been "drafted, published or were due for review".

The implications of only 60 percent of these "species, communities or processes" having a conservation plan is ghastly; what does it say about the Victorian government's attitude to the environment?

And the Glossy Black and his three friends? They've been without conservation plans for at least 10 years.

This sense of moral affrontry is no doubt what drove Environment East Gippsland and the EDO to go to court to demand the Victorian government follow its own laws.

Dick the Butcher may have once suggested that we "kill all the lawyers", but there are some lawyers we should probably spare. The non-profit lawyers from the Environmental Defenders Office are definitely amongst them.

The EDO in Victoria recently took the Victorian government to court for breaking its own laws by not preparing conservation plans (called "action statements") for the Glossy Black Cockatoo, the Long-nose Potoroo, the She-oak Skink and the Large Brown Tree Frog.

The Environmental Defenders Office is a small network of nine state-based non-profit community legal centres (they're collectively the Australian Network of EDOs). They are a small but highly effective group of lawyers who make sure that Australia's environmental laws are upheld. Since they were founded in the 1990s, they've held governments and big business accountable when their actions would threaten species like the fungi-eating potoroo.

While multi-national mining companies and cashed-up developers can plough nearly unlimited funds into running roughshod over our environmental laws, everyday communities rely on organisations like the EDO.

The punch-line to this joke was delivered by Tony Abbott on Tuesday 17 December.

That's when he announced that federal funding for Environmental Defenders Offices would be removed. As a community legal centre, the EDO was until Tuesday funded through the Attorney General's office. This was worth, nationally, about $10 million, to do priceless environmental protection work.

Why exactly would Prime Minister Abbott, and the Attorney General George Brandis do this?

Your guess is as good as mine.

Brandis himself says that:

the government was having to make savings across all portfolios in a "fiscally constrained environment".
"The government has prioritised the funding of legal financial assistance to frontline services," he said.

(Here's what economist Stephen Koukoulas says about the LNP's recent mid-year economic forecast, and Greg Jericho on the fraud that is their "fiscally constrained environment".)

But another reason may be something that NSW Mineral Council boss, Stephen Galilee, said in October. The Australian reported:

Mr Galilee said it was "ridiculous" that taxpayer funds were being used to appeal and reject approved projects.
"We will be seeking to take up the issue of commonwealth funding of the NSW EDO with the new Attorney-General and the new government," he said.
"We were dismayed when former attorney-general Mark Dreyfus decided in June to provide a $300,000 grant (per year) of taxpayer funds to the NSW EDO.

(And since we're on the topic of use of taxpayer funds, is it worth raising the $10 billion in fossil fuel subsidies that may financially benefit some members of the NSW Minerals Council? More about that here.)

This funding cut really is just yet another example of the Abbott government's ideologically driven war against the environment, and their Nixonian hatred of an enemies hit-list which includes anyone who cares about the environment.

Senior ecologist for the Australian Conservation Foundation, Dugald Murray put it well when he said:

The cost of the government's decision to cut federal funding for EDOs will be borne by Australian communities and by our unique and fragile environment.

Glen Klatovski, from The Wilderness Society, echoed those views: "For thousands of people around the country one of their only avenues to protect their community, often against illegal activity, has been seriously cut," he said.

Driven by climate change denial, and by the far right in the Liberal-National party, Tony Abbott and George Brandis are engaging in a dangerous first-hundred-day fantasy romp against environmentalists.

The abolition of the Climate Commission, the snub at CHOGM and the UN climate talks, the attacks on the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the scare campaign against the carbon price, the review of the renewable energy target, the obsession with building a nuclear power plant, and the building of one of the world's largest coal ports on top of the Great Barrier Reef. The defunding of the Environmental Defenders Office.

This is yet another morbid symptom of Abbott's climate denial-driven war, and his agenda of handing over Australia to global mining companies and billionaire coal barons.

Humble, harmless native Australian animals deserve to treated better than a joke; Abbott's actions this week show precisely what he thinks of them.

If you feel, like I do, that the Australian government should re-fund the Environmental Defenders Offices, please share your support.

Proud to support Environmental Defenders Office. Re-fund the #edo @EDO_Vic @EDONSW #auspol @TonyAbbottMHR pic.twitter.com/hYwqfnzXeu
— Alexander White (@alexanderwhite) December 18, 2013

You can also support the EDO in Victoria and in NSW to run cases that protect animals like the potoroo and cockatoo.

Postscript: And those threatened animals, the potoroo, cockatoo, frog and skink? Well, the EDO won. In a settlement, the Victorian government agreed to finalise conservation plans by 30 June 2014.

Alexander White

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Dennis Rodman returns to North Korea

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 12:26 AM PST

Ex-NBA star says he expects to meet Kim and arrange tournament in Pyongyang marking leader's birthday

The former NBA star Dennis Rodman is flying to North Korea to help train the national team and renew his friendship with Kim Jong-un.

Rodman told reporters at Beijing's aiport that he was not going to talk about politics or human rights, but he expected to meet Kim and arrange an international tournament in Pyongyang on 8 January marking the leader's birthday.

His visit comes less than a week after North Korea announced the execution of Kim's uncle Jang Song-thaek, in the North's most serious political upheaval in decades.

South Korea's president, Park Geun-hye, has described the recent events as a "reign of terror". The purging of Jang, considered the second most powerful man in the North, indicated factionalism within the secretive Pyongyang government.

Rodman told Reuters: "It has nothing to do with me. I mean, whatever his uncle has done, and whoever's done anything in North Korea, I have no control over that. I mean, these things have been going on for years and years and years. I'm just going over there to do a basketball game and have some fun."

The flamboyant Rodman is the highest-profile American to meet the North Korean leader since Kim inherited power from his father, Kim Jong-il, in 2011. He travelled to the secretive communist state for the first time in February.

Before the trip, the Seoul-based North Korean human rights activist Shin Dong-hyuk said in an open letter in the Washington Post that Rodman should talk to Kim about human rights abuses in North Korea.

Rodman said it was not his place to talk about such issues. "People have been saying these things here and there. It doesn't really matter to me. I'm not a politician. I'm not an ambassador," he said.

"I'm just going over there to try and do something really cool for a lot of people, play some games and try to get the Korean kids to play. Everything else I have nothing to do with. If it happens that he wants to talk about it then great. If it doesn't happen I just can't bring it up because I don't [want] him to think that I'm over here trying to be an ambassador and trying to use him as being his friend and all of a sudden I'm talking about politics. That's not going to be that way." Rodman said.

Rodman is expected to provide North Korea's national basketball team with four days of training during the trip. He intends to return to Pyongyang in January with a team of fellow former NBA stars to hold basketball games on Kim's birthday.

Rodman's trip was arranged by the Irish bookmaker Paddy Power, which has a history of controversial advertising campaigns.

Plastic pound notes: a message from the enlightened future … Australia | Bridie Jabour

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 12:24 AM PST

Australia has used polymer money for 25 years – I'm not sure Britain realises how much joy simple plastic bank notes will bring

I speak to you from the enlightened future: Australia. Well, 11 hours in the future if we are going to be technical and 25 years in the future if we are talking about currency that does not start to fall apart after beer is spilt on it.

The Bank of England has announced it will start moving to polymer money in 2016 and though the decision has been met with interest I am not sure the English are aware of the life-changing properties such a move is going to bring.

So how can the simple plastic bank note bring so much joy?

1. It's not afraid of a little water

At the beach, that momentary panic of entering the sea and suddenly realising there's a $20 note in your board shorts is in fact not a moment of panic in Australia. Or for a slightly more British scenario, that moment when you pull the jeans out of the washing machine and notice a crumpled £50 note will soon be a moment of celebration ("scored 50 quid!") rather than devastation ("ruined 50 quid!").

Pints of beer, swimming pools, downpours. The plastic money is built to laugh in the face of such threats to paper money. Or, you know, just not be ruined by them.

2. It doesn't smell

Soon playground taunts of "you smell like a fiver" will no longer carry the humiliating suggestion of the distinct smell of socks mixed with breast sweat and 1,000 blissful unwashed days. I am sure there's a scientific explanation for it but plastic money just does not stink.

3. It's not enormous

You don't have to feel like you're Del Boy every time you unfurl a wad of more than four notes. Plastic money also actually fits in wallets as opposed to sticking out all over the place like you've tried to stuff a labrador dog into a piece of pitta bread.

4. Your children can't write on it or destroy it, unless they have scissors

How many times have you handed over a £10 note, carefully putting the side scribbled with crayons face down on the counter? How many times have you looked at the odd things written on money and wondered if you are being tracked? Fear children no more! Your kid can go mad with the markers and pens, it's barely going to make a stain on your lovely plastic money and you can happily exchange your cash for goods without worrying if it was used in a drug deal. Well, without worrying if it was identifiably used in a drug deal.

Plastic notes also rid you of the social awkwardness and ensuing silent rage that comes from handing over a lovely crisp £20 note to get in return: a crumpled fiver that if it was not taped together would be in six different parts.

5. Cool transparent window

Of the many, many advantages of plastic money I apprehended when I surveyed my expat friends, the overwhelmingly favourite thing was the cool little transparent window on the notes. "Good for spying on your enemies," one offered, "so unnecessary" another said gleefully. I checked and the British plastic money will indeed have the little transparent windows. They will actually be a bit larger than Australia's and take front and centre stage on the new Bank of England notes. Enjoy!

Bridie Jabour

US prosecutor defends arrest and strip-search of Indian diplomat

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 12:20 AM PST

Preet Bharara says diplomat Devyani Khobragade was treated well and search by female marshal was standard practice

A US federal prosecutor has defended the arrest and strip-search of an Indian diplomat held on visa charges, saying she was treated well and given coffee and offered food while detained.

The US attorney Preet Bharara made the highly unusual move of issuing a lengthy statement addressing the arrest and issues not in a criminal complaint. He said the diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, was afforded courtesies most Americans would not get, such as being allowed to make phone calls for two hours to arrange childcare and sort out personal matters, after she was arrested by state department agents outside the school her children attend in Manhattan.

Khobragade was arrested last week on charges that she lied on a visa application about how much she paid her housekeeper, an Indian national. Prosecutors say the maid received less than $3 an hour for her work.

Bharara said Khobragade, who has pleaded not guilty, was not handcuffed, restrained or arrested in front of her children. She was "fully searched" in private by a female deputy marshal, which he said was a standard safety practice that all defendants had to undergo.

Khobragade has been transferred to India's mission to the United Nations, according to her lawyer and a former colleague. It is unclear how such a move might affect her immunity from prosecution, and a UN spokesman said on Wednesday evening it had not received a necessary transfer request from her.

News that Khobragade was strip-searched has chilled US-Indian relations. John Kerry, the secretary of state, called a senior Indian official to express his regret over what happened. India has revoked privileges for US diplomats in protest.

Bharara, who was born in India but moved with his family to New Jersey, defended his case. "One wonders whether any government would not take action regarding false documents being submitted to it in order to bring immigrants into the country," he said. "And one wonders why there is so much outrage about the alleged treatment of the Indian national accused of perpetrating these acts, but precious little outrage about the alleged treatment of the Indian victim and her spouse?"

Khobragade, who was India's deputy consul general in New York, would face a maximum sentence of 10 years for visa fraud and five years for making a false declaration if convicted. She has said she has full diplomatic immunity. The state department disputes that, saying hers is more limited to acts performed in the exercise of consular functions. Her work status was unclear late on Wednesday.

Venkatasamy Perumal, an Indian consulate spokesman, said Khobragade was transferred to India's UN mission on Tuesday, but he declined to comment further.

The state department's deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said that when such a transfer request was made to the UN, the UN secretariat would inform the state department. It would then have to be reviewed by appropriate authorities in both places.

Khobragade's lawyer, Daniel Arshack, said he did not know what she would be doing at the UN mission, but "I fully expect her to stay in the US".

Khobragade has said US authorities subjected her to a strip-search, cavity search and DNA swabbing following her arrest. India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, has described her treatment as "deplorable".

In India the fear of public humiliation resonates strongly, and heavy-handed treatment by the police is normally reserved for the poor. For an educated, middle-class woman to face public arrest and a strip-search is almost unimaginable, except in the most brutal crimes.

Harf said Kerry had called India's national security adviser, Shivshankar Menon, who has criticised the diplomat's treatment as "despicable and barbaric".

In an email published in Indian media on Wednesday, Khobragade said she had been treated like a common criminal. "I broke down many times as the indignities of repeated handcuffing, stripping and cavity searches, swabbing, in a holdup with common criminals and drug addicts were all being imposed upon me despite my incessant assertions of immunity," she wrote.

Khobragade was arrested by the state department's diplomatic security team and then handed over to US marshals in New York. The US Marshals Service confirmed on Tuesday that it had strip-searched Khobragade and placed her in a cell with other female defendants. It described the measures as "standard arrestee intake procedures". It could not immediately confirm whether she underwent a cavity search.

The White House spokesman Jay Carney said: "This isolated episode is not indicative of the close and mutually respectful ties" that the US and India share.

India retaliated against US diplomats with measures that included revoking diplomat ID cards that brought certain privileges, demanding to know the salaries paid to Indian staff in US embassy households and withdrawing import licences that allowed the commissary at the US embassy to import alcohol and food.

On Wednesday dozens of people protested outside the US embassy, saying Khobragade's treatment was an insult to Indian women.