Jordan Romero, 13, 'becomes youngest to scale Everest'

Jordan Romero was due to do some school work during his trip

A 13-year-old American boy has become the youngest person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, his family says.

Jordan Romero, from California, telephoned his mother from the peak of the world's highest mountain, she said.

"Mom, I'm calling you from the top of the world," Leigh Anne Drake quoted her son as saying.

He was climbing with his father and three Sherpa guides. The previous record was held by a Nepalese boy of 16.

The 13-year-old has now conquered the highest mountains on six of the world's seven continents.

JORDAN'S SUMMITS

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• Africa - Kilimanjaro: 2006
• Europe - Elbrus: 2007
• South America - Aconcagua: 2007
• North America - Denali: 2008
• Oceania - Carstensz Pyramid: 2009
• Everest - Asia: 2010

He climbed Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro aged 10. He just needs to scale the Vinson Massif in Antarctica.

He has also scaled Mount Kosciuszko in Australia, which some call the eighth continent.

The team set off from Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, last month, heading for the base camp on the Chinese side of the mountain.

While Nepal insists that anyone planning to climb Mount Everest must be 16, China does not impose any age restrictions.

Some mountaineers have criticised the Romero family for letting him attempt the feat but his father said the ascent from the Chinese side is less dangerous, the AFP news agency reports.

Last month, his mother told the BBC he would do some school work during the trip.

Also on Saturday, Apa Sherpa, 50, climbed Everest for the 20th time, surpassing his own record.

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Salman Khan Speaks at GEL (Good Experience Live) Conference

I found Sal a long time ago, when all he had was math videos, and they ranked in the 10s. Now his videos rank in the 100's, and with his help I've been able to understand important concepts in economics and math.

Salman, you are a Godsend. Keep doing the fine work that you do. If you ever need help, the world should come to your rescue, as you came to it's.

How Credit Card Networks Work

Institutional Roles in Issuing and Processing Credit Cards

One Jet Engine Maker or Two? Gates' Defense Spending War

By Mark Thompson / Washington

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is responsible for overseeing the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but on Thursday he took on a new war — on Capitol Hill, after a congressional panel added nearly a half-billion dollars to next year's defense budget for a jet engine the military insists it doesn't need. Gates called the move "a waste of money" and promised that the Pentagon "will strongly resist efforts to impose programs and changes on the Department that the military does not want, cannot afford, and that takes dollars from programs and endeavors the military services do need."

Gates' attack followed a decision by the House Armed Services Committee to add $485 million to next year's $726 billion defense budget (which includes $159 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq) to begin development of a second engine source for the Pentagon's single-engine F-35 fighter, the largest defense program in history. (See pictures of Robert Gates in Afghanistan.)

This is a serious showdown even for a man who has made challenging politicians and the military brass on unnecessary spending a hallmark of his tenure. Gates has already plucked the low-hanging fruit from the Pentagon money tree, ending production of the Air Force's F-22 fighter and the Army's Future Combat System last year. Both were seen by many as Cold War hangovers, giving even politicians cover for their termination. But now come tougher decisions.

Gates doesn't believe starting a second assembly line to produce an alternate F-35 engine from another manufacturer makes sense. Big bucks are at stake: the program, which is slated to procure more than 3,000 planes for the Air Force, Navy, Marines and several foreign militaries over the next two decades, will see some $100 billion spent on their engines, currently slated to be built solely by Pratt & Whitney of East Hartford, Conn. But various lawmakers want to create a second assembly line in Cincinnati, Ohio, run by General Electric and its partner, Rolls-Royce, arguing that competition will keep prices down. Gates, believing that the upfront costs of producing a second engine won't generate sufficient savings to justify the cost, tried and failed to kill the second engine last year. Now, he is urging President Obama to veto the defense bill if it arrives on his desk with funds for the competitive engine again. (See the top 10 most expensive military planes.)

Gates said Thursday he wouldn't have telegraphed the veto threat without Obama's backing. Whether that is sufficient to derail the two-engine scheme as it works its way through Congress remains to be seen, but it's a make-or-break point for Gates' plan to cut what he sees as questionable Pentagon spending, often forced on the military by lawmakers more concerned with well-paying jobs back home than national security.

But the virtues of competition make Gates' argument tougher this time around. Various studies suggest it will cost about $2 billion to launch production of a second engine, money the Pentagon says is not worth spending even if it means forfeiting possible savings down the road. Gates said Thursday that the GE engine proposal low-balls its costs, is based on an inadequate design, and has only 200 hours of testing compared with 13,000 for the Pratt powerplant. "We're in favor of competition," he said. "But my idea of competition is winner takes all." (Read "In Lean Times, Military Spending Still Gets a Pass.")

Government auditors have estimated the added cost of launching a second engine assembly line would be recouped over the aircraft's 30-year lifespan by keeping engine prices down. The Pentagon is not so sure. "There is not a good analytical case that the upfront costs of the second engine would be paid back," Ashton Carter, the nation's top weapons buyer, said May 4. But many experts back the two-source approach. "Previous competitive engine procurement shows the cost will go down and the performance will go up," says Winslow Wheeler, a defense procurement expert. "Leaving the whole game to Pratt & Whitney virtually guarantees that the cost will go up."

Not surprisingly, Ohio's senators strongly back GE's bid, which currently supports about 1,000 jobs. "Giving an extraordinary large contract to a single vendor without competition is fiscally reckless and irresponsible," says Republican George Voinovich. Democrat Sherrod Brown adds that "Ohio's workers make the best engines in the world, and the government should not arbitrarily choose one engine over another." The GE-Rolls-Royce team has said it will produce its engine for the Pentagon at a fixed price starting in 2012. "Our offer creates a compelling business case to make competition affordable in the near term and position the program to reap the much-larger, recognized benefits of competition over the long run," David Joyce, president of GE Aviation, noted April 27.

Such talk led Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut to pipe up at a recent congressional hearing. He backs the monopoly approach of Pratt, which employs thousands of his constituents, and offered a new argument in favor of the Connecticut company. "GE has offered to make it a fixed-price contract," he said, "and I gather that Pratt-Whitney has essentially done the same." Sometimes, it seems, the mere threat of competition works as well as the real thing.

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Iran: Can Sanctions and Diplomacy Be Combined?

By Tony Karon

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, from left, hold hands after inking a nuclear-fuel-swap deal in Tehran on May 17, 2010

Atta Kenare /AFP / Getty Images

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"The purpose of sanctions is to bring the Iranian side to the negotiating table," said Li Baodong, China's U.N. ambassador, this week, explaining how Beijing could simultaneously support a new uranium-swap deal brokered by Brazil and Turkey and endorse new U.N. sanctions. The Obama Administration appears to have convinced China of its view that sanctions pressure is integral to achieving a diplomatic compromise. That two-track concept of combining punitive pressures with diplomatic engagement may also partly explain the U.S. slap-down of the deal brokered by Turkey and Brazil — even though that agreement may have been pursued at the encouragement of the Obama Administration.

Having likely been caught off guard by Iran's yes to a deal substantially similar to the one it turned down last October, Washington rushed to reclaim the initiative by putting on the table a new package of U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran, which Washington said had the backing of erstwhile holdouts Russia and China. And perhaps reflective of the Administration's desire to head off criticism from Capitol Hill, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday, May 17, that the new sanctions resolution was "as convincing an answer to the efforts undertaken in Tehran over the last few days as any we could provide." (See how Obama has doubled down in the Iran nuclear showdown.)

Yet Turkish officials were piqued by Clinton's language, claiming that the "efforts undertaken in Tehran" rebuked by Clinton were, in fact, coordinated with her Administration. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Tuesday that Clinton herself and National Security Adviser James Jones had been in "constant contact with us" and that Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan was encouraged by President Obama in April to persuade Iran to accept the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) fuel-swap deal offered last October. Iran appears to have accepted the key requirements of the TRR deal — that it transfer 1,200 kg of its low-enriched uranium abroad, in a single shipment, in exchange for a package of reactor fuel necessary to power its medical-research reactor. (See the turbulent aftermath of Iran's elections.)

"What they wanted us to do was give the confidence to Iran to do the swap. We have done our duty," Davutoglu said earlier this week. "We were told that if Iran gives 1,200 kg without conditions, then the required atmosphere of trust would be created." That trust will be eroded if the U.S. and its partners impose new sanctions, he said. And if the U.S. is seen to be shifting the goalposts, it could face a backlash among developing countries on the Iran standoff.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, however, criticized the Brazil-Turkey-Iran deal for failing to address the "core concern of the international community": the U.N. Security Council's demand, backed by existing sanctions, for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment. Crowley's complaint is somewhat disingenuous, because the same was true for the TRR deal offered by the Obama Administration last October; indeed, it was that deal's silence on the question of continued enrichment that prompted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to initially hail it as a great victory before domestic opposition forced him to back out of the deal. This time, a similar deal appears to have the backing of a broad spectrum of Iranian politicians, from Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei to a majority of parliamentarians and some key figures in the reformist movement.

Iran could still choose further brinkmanship, of course, by backing away from the Turkey-Brazil deal if new sanctions remain on the table — as Ahmadinejad threatened to do on Thursday. Brazil and Turkey, both currently on the Security Council, are annoyed by the U.S. response and have declined to discuss new sanctions. But Russia and China appear to want it both ways, promoting the fuel-swap deal and encouraging Iran to send it in written form to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) while continuing to support sanctions for now.

One issue that could keep Beijing and Moscow firmly on Washington's side may be Iran's vow to continue enriching uranium to 20% — the grade necessary to power the TRR, which is four times higher than regular reactor fuel and a lot closer to weapons-grade — even if the fuel swap goes through. Unless Iran walks back from that position, Russia and China will likely remain firm on sanctions, seeing no innocent reason for Iran to keep enriching uranium to that grade once the TRR has fuel.

Pursuing sanctions and engagement on parallel tracks may be Washington's answer to Iran's strategy of negotiating while steadily adding to its stockpile of nuclear material. Iran had, in fact, suspended enrichment late in 2003, a precondition for negotiations demanded by the European Union. But Ahmadinejad argued that the suspension had simply allowed the Europeans to stall on offering Tehran various political and economic incentives. So when he assumed office in August 2005, Iran resumed its enrichment activities, under scrutiny from the IAEA, which continues to monitor those activities despite the fact that they now violate Security Council resolutions. Just as U.S. officials argue that Iran's latest offer shows that sanctions pressure can be effective, so do Iranian officials argue that Iran's tactic of negotiating with its centrifuge-spinning has forced more concessions from the West.

So both sides are operating on two tracks, mustering pressure in order to prevail in the diplomatic game. The Administration is hoping to present a united front of Security Council powers in order to hold off pressure from Capitol Hill to take tougher action. But if Iran takes serious steps toward implementing the Brazil-Turkey deal, pressure could grow on the U.S. from the likes of China and Russia to respond positively.

Lurking beneath the latest moves is what may be a fundamental difference on goals. The outcome sought by the U.S. requires Iran to relinquish its right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes; the Iranians have no intention of doing so in the foreseeable future. China and Russia want Iran to satisfy all transparency concerns raised by the IAEA over Iran's program but don't in principle oppose Iran's right to enrich uranium as part of a nuclear energy program. And Iran will likely work in the gap in between.

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US court denies right to challenge Bagram detention

Think Oil Washing Ashore in Populated Areas, Grand Isle Beach Closed

'Good Food Revolution' - Urban Famer Gets Attention of White House

Texas schools to get controversial syllabus

Texas' decisions could influence curriculums across the US

Education officials in the US state of Texas have adopted new guidelines to the school curriculum which critics say will politicise teaching.

The changes include teaching that the United Nations could be a threat to American freedom, and that the Founding Fathers may not have intended a complete separation of church and state.

Critics say the changes are ideological and distort history, but proponents argue they are redressing a long-standing liberal bias in education.

Analysts say Texas, with five million schoolchildren, wields substantial influence on school curriculums across the US.

The BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani in Los Angeles says publishers of texbooks used nationally often print what Texas wants to teach.

Jefferson out

Students in Texas will now be taught the benefits of US free-market economics and how government taxation can harm economic progress.

They will study how American ideals benefit the world bu organisations like the UN could be a threat to personal freedom.

And Thomas Jefferson has been dropped from a list of enlightenment thinkers in the world-history curriculum, despite being one of the Founding Fathers who is credited with developing the idea that church and state should be separate.

The doctrine has become a cornerstone of US government, but some religious groups and some members of the Texas Education Board disagree, our correspondent says.

The board, which is dominated by Christian conservatives, voted nine-to-five in favour of adopting the new curriculum for both primary and secondary schools.

But during the discussions some of the most controversial ideas were dropped - including a proposal to refer to the slave trade as the "Atlantic triangular trade".

Opponents of the changes worry that textbooks sold in other states will be written to comply with the new Texas standards, meaning that the alterations could have an impact on curriculums nationwide.

~~~~~~~~~

Commentary

There is a difference between the truth and a slanted bias.

1) The separation of church and state, is not a bias it's a truth.

Don't take my word for it, Read the constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

It's the first amendment Texas school board, please read it.

2) Thomas Jefferson, was not only a founding father, but our 3rd President. Negating him from history is negating history itself.

3) The U.N does not threaten our personal freedoms. Our law takes precedence over theirs, so anything the U.N could create, would have no jurisdiction here unless we adopted it as well.

~~~~~~~

This is very dangerous material and now most of America will be reading it, because the Texas school market is too big to ignore.

Publishers can't make 5000 different copies for different states, so eventually we'll be hearing some of the lies out of our Children's mouth, and we can thank Texans for that.

This agreement is on par with the Arizona immigration bill. Both need serious investigation, thought, and eventual repeal.

The 'super-recognisers' who never, ever, forget a face

Health Check's Claudia Hammond has a forgettable face.

To find out why, she speaks to experts to learn about the psychology of face recognition. What makes a face stay in a person's mind - is a bright smile? A big nose? Alluring eyes?

She meets the "super-recognisers" - the people with a gift of never forgetting a face, no matter how little time they have spent in each other's company.

But she also hears from those with the opposite problem, including one mother who could not recognise her own daughter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To take the Cambridge Face memory test, Go here.

I got 62 our of 72 faces correct, with 86% success rate.

Why New Zealand is a lifestyle superpower

Taking in New Zealand's scenery from the thermal spas in Rotorua

Nick Bryant reflects on New Zealand's mix of controlled fury, subtle charm and social harmony, and asks why the rest of the world can't be more like it.

What can you tell about a country from the people you encounter at its point of entry?

Alas, in this age of globalised uniformity, the truth is, probably not that much.

Most of the immigration and customs officials that you come across in those sunlight-starved arrivals halls aren't very sunny themselves, as they mechanically stamp your passport or grudgingly wave you through.

If anywhere on the planet there's a more eloquent expression of controlled fury then I would dearly love to see it

But late the other night, I came across that rarest of bureaucratic beings - a middle-aged customs official with a sense of humour, a welcoming smile, blond dreadlocks which hung lazily over his shoulders, and a gloriously free spirit which he was delighted to share with a planeload of new arrivals from Australia.

He and his colleagues looked particularly kindly on us - a camera crew with almost as many bags as Imelda Marcos has shoes, which had arrived without one key item - the requisite paperwork to get us through customs.

"This need not be a major problem," they said with their Kiwi twangs, as we were welcomed into New Zealand, a land of geniality in a far-flung corner of the world.

Controlled fury

I confess that I have long been an admirer, even before I discovered that you could watch rugby union here morning, noon and night.

Whereas most countries these days have 24-hour rolling news channels, with thumping music and explosive footage, New Zealand has round-the-clock rolling mauls, with thumping tackles and explosive footballers.

With a channel devoted solely to rugby, it also means that you never have to wait long before getting to view what is surely sports superlative pre-match ritual - the Maori war cry known as the haka.

New Zealand's fabulous food and wine - and the sharp freshness of the air - make it one of the great lifestyle superpowers of the world

This, of course, is where the national team, the fabled All Blacks, face down the opposition with puffed out chests, sharp slaps of their thighs, lizard-like tongues and fuming eyes that look like they're about to burst, like ping pong balls, from their sockets.

If anywhere on the planet there's a more eloquent expression of controlled fury then I would dearly love to see it.

But for now, I'm quite happy to be fed a steady diet of haka at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Wherever you flick to on New Zealand television, it's hard to avoid a rugby star dressed in black - and rarely does a commercial break go by without one of the big-name stars trying to sell you something.

It takes a brave consumer, after all, to say no.

Sadly, the All Blacks have never managed to translate the dramatic range of their hakas to the more humdrum task of flogging white consumer durables, and most of them have the acting abilities of stage-struck waxworks.

Lifestyle superpower

Of course, I would not want you to think that my fondness for New Zealand merely flows from my love of rugby.

No, there's the fabulous food and wine, some of the most flavoursome coffee that you will find anywhere in the southern hemisphere - if not the world - and the sharp freshness of the air, all of which make it one of the great lifestyle superpowers of the world.

The Lord of the Rings turned Wellington into a world centre for film-making

There's also a funky arts scene, and a deep-held love of literature - the Kiwis are very bookish.

And such has been the global success of its film industry - with global mega-hits like the Lord of the Rings trilogy - that Wellington is now known as Wellywood.

They're even planning to erect giant capital letters high on a hill above the airport to spell out that success.

The irony is that the New Zealand film industry, under the tutelage of its most successful director, Sir Peter Jackson, is renowned for virtual reality.

This in a country where the real reality is so hard to beat.

Quaint fastidiousness

For all its attractions, there are times when it does feel like you are time-travelling in New Zealand.

Parts of it do feel like the land that the last four decades forgot. But its old-fashionedness can also be part of its subtle charm.

Take its televised coverage of Test cricket, where the commentators convene during the tea interval at a picnic table on the boundary. With quaint fastidiousness, they enjoy a pot of tea.

The stunning surroundings of Davies Park cricket ground near Queenstown

In other ways, though, New Zealand can be edgy and forward-thinking.

It was the first country to grant women the vote, and the first nation to see females occupy every high office of state.

It's just about to launch the world's most comprehensive emissions trading scheme to curb greenhouse gases, and some of its most senior civil servants are so with it, they look like they should be running organic supermarkets rather than the country.

Best of all, perhaps, is how non-indigenous New Zealanders live in such harmony with their indigenous compatriots.

Maori is taught in schools, a Maori chieftain adorns the country's coat of arms, and the indigenous heritage is a shared national heritage.

I hope to return soon to explore the fjords and mountains of the South Island, perhaps even its ski fields, and sample some of the world's finest Pinot Noir in the vineyards of Otago.

Next year it hosts the Rugby World Cup, but for now I will leave this country with my usual parting thought: "Why can't the rest of the world be more like New Zealand?"

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Hong Kong 'democracy' by-election held

Former HK deputy leader Anson Chan (r) backs the election

A by-election is under way in Hong Kong aimed at putting pressure on China to speed up the move to full democracy.

Five activists triggered the vote by resigning their posts in the Legislative Council (Legco) in January.

The activists want universal suffrage for the election of Hong Kong's chief executive and representatives.

However, correspondents say their move has been rendered almost meaningless by the refusal of pro-Beijing candidates to contest the by-election seats.

Chief executive boycott

Voting opened in the five constituencies at 0730 local time (1130 GMT Saturday).

The BBC's Annemarie Evans in Hong Kong says voter turnout is expected to be only about 25% for a poll that has been criticised as a waste of taxpayers' money.

The five legislators are from two small pro-democracy parties.

One, Alan Leong of the Civic Party, said: "Hong Kong people have been promised universal suffrage when the Basic Law was promulgated in 1990. So I don't see how we should be made to suffer an open-ended wait."

The chief executive and other senior government figures have announced that they will not vote on Sunday.

But Hong Kong's popular former deputy leader, Anson Chan, has backed the election.

There remains no clear date when the Hong Kong public will be able to directly elect their leader and legislators.

Beijing has said that direct election of the chief executive cannot start before 2017 at the earliest and Legco by 2020.

The Basic Law is a mini-constitution drawn up before Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

The chief executive is picked by an 800-member election committee and only half of Legco is directly elected from geographical constituencies.

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How to spot a psychopath at work

How to spot a psychopath at work

On the way to work. But who will they find there?

How well do you know your colleagues' personalities? Researchers warn some of them may have psychopathic traits.

But they say this is nothing to be worried about.

They will not be violent, but their psychopathic traits will allow them to climb the career ladder, New Scientist magazine reports.

Professor Robert Hare, of the University of British Columbia says "corporate psychopaths'" arrogance and focus helps them succeed.

They may also be superficially charming, prone to fly into rages and likely to take credit for colleague's achievements.

Professor Hare estimates that around one per cent of the population of North America could be described as psychopaths.

'Focussed'

He has developed the 'Business Scan 360' test, along with New York industrial organisational psychologist Paul Babiak in order to detect them.

People do say that you're a psychopath if you're violent and a successful businessman if you're not Paul Corry, mental health charity Rethink

The test involves interviewing people working with the person concerned to get a '360 degree' assessment of their personality.

They are currently interviewing 100 people convicted of fraud or embezzlement - who will serve as a benchmark of the ultimately undesirable employee.

They will then interview a "normal" population of managers, and a group of high flyers to see if they can distinguish exactly which traits lead to career success and which have less desirable consequences.

Mr Babiak said: "If you imagine the conscientious employee at one end of the continuum and a prototypical 'corporate psychopath' at the other end, the test attempts to gauge where the individual is."

Paul Corry, of the mental health charity Rethink, told BBC News Online: "It shows that mental health is an issue all around us."

He said there was also lots of evidence that people who were highly motivated and highly successful - particularly in finance and business - had some psychopathic traits.

"These are people who are extremely focussed on achieving their goals, and who are not too concerned about other people's feelings.

"There are other people who have very narcissistic traits; they want to be centre-stage and their needs have to be put first."

He added: "People do say that you're a psychopath if you're violent and a successful businessman if you're not."

Psychopathy is defined as a lack of empathy for others, or a conscience, and can be associated with extreme and manipulative behaviour.

This is distinct from psychosis, a group of mental illnesses, including schizophrenia.

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Obama asset list boosted by $1,600 gift of waterdog Bo

The Obamas' dog Bo is valued at $1,600

Barack Obama made millions in book royalties last year and took delivery of a special $1,600 gift - the family dog Bo, financial records show.

Royalties from "Dreams From My Father" and "Audacity of Hope" earned him at least $1m each, according to filings released by the White House.

Bo, a Portuguese water dog given to the Obamas by the late Senator Edward Kennedy and his wife was valued at $1,600 in Mr Obama's financial disclosure form.

The value of Mr Obama's Nobel peace prize medal and diploma were "not readily ascertainable", the document said.

But he donated to charity the award's $1.4m prize money.

OBAMA'S MILLIONS

Continue reading the main story

• Dog Bo: $1,600
• US treasury notes: $500,000 - $1m
• US treasury bills: $1m - $5m
• College savings plans: $200,000 - $500,000
• Book royalties: $2m - $10m

Vice-President Joe Biden disclosed between $155,029 and $675,000 in assets.

The disclosure forms do not typically list exact values for assets and income items, instead giving a range.

Among the president's $2.3m to $7.7m in assets are checking accounts, US treasury notes and bills, college savings plans for daughters Sasha and Malia and a pension from his service in the Illinois state legislature.

The US president also made hundreds of thousands of dollars from the sale of securities inherited from his grandmother.

In April, the White House disclosed the president's tax filings showing he and Mrs Obama had earned $5.5m, mainly from book royalties.

In addition to his book income, the president earns a salary of $400,000 per year from the US government.

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How dangerous is South Africa?

By Finlo Rohrer BBC News Magazine

With a multitude of tourists heading to South Africa for the World Cup, a question hangs on many lips: how dangerous is the country?

South Africa is a place where a lot of violent crime happens.

That much is hard to dispute.

Each day an average of nearly 50 people are murdered.

In addition to these 18,000 murders each year, there are another 18,000 attempted murders.

Murder is a staple of the news. In April, it was white supremacist Eugene Terreblanche. Earlier this month, it was Lolly Jackson, the flamboyant owner of the Teazers strip club chain, killed at a house in Kempton Park, just outside Johannesburg.

BBC World Cup 2010 Simon Austin's blog - World Cup heaven or hell?

In the run-up to the World Cup, British newspapers have been happy to convey a terrifying picture of South Africa.

One recently told its readers about "Cape Town's culture of gangsters, drugs, rape, robbery and a murder every 25 minutes".

So should football fans fear for their lives at the World Cup?

It's a complicated picture, says Johan Burger, senior researcher in the crime and justice programme at South Africa's Institute for Security Studies.

The first thing is that the South African murder rate is going down and not up.

"Contrary to what many people think, the murder rate, while still extremely high, is down by about 44% since 1995. That's a huge decrease."

Gunman kills SA strip clubs owner

The geographical and social spread of murder might also be relevant to visitors.

"What is important to understand about our high crime rate is that we know from research that approximately 80% of our murders happen within a very specific social context, mostly between people that know one another.

"There is something wrong within some of our communities in terms of the social interaction and the social conditions."

In blunt terms, areas with problems have murder levels that can be wildly above the national average.

Kwa Mashu, a township outside Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, has the unfortunate honour of being dubbed South Africa's murder capital by the media, with 300 last year. It took the unwanted honour from Nyanga, a township outside Cape Town.

These are not the kinds of areas that are regularly frequented by tourists.

Dr Burger says research done by other academics points to the social basis for a high crime rate in such areas.

"There are extremely high rates of unemployment in some areas. All of this leads to a large element of frustration. Often this is the thing that sparks violence.

"The gap between rich and poor is still widening and it leads to what is seen as relative deprivation. The people in the very, very poor communities, they see wealth.

"It is not just a gap, it is a visible gap. The situation is aggravated by poor service delivery. Many of our municipalities are in complete disarray, complete dysfunction. This then leads to dissatisfaction. People protest sometimes very violently."

There are many other crimes apart from murder which are seen as problematic in South Africa.

The national figure of 203,777 episodes of "assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm" might be alarming. It's hard to compare this with the UK where statistics are grouped differently, though the latter has a larger population (61 million compared with South Africa's 49 million.)

But like murder, many offences are geographically weighted, says Dr Burger.

Of the 18,438 house robberies in South Africa last year, 8,122 were in the province of Gauteng, which includes Johannesburg. The likelihood of being a victim is twice the national average there.

Carjacking is a category of danger that would be novel to most visitors from western Europe.

Foreign media have sometimes been scathing

There are junctions which are signposted as carjacking blackspots, and there are areas where drivers will avoid stopping at red lights, particularly at night, preferring the risk of a fine to the risk of hijack.

"Many people may come in rented cars and then like everyone else they will run the risk of this," says Dr Burger. He notes that "most of the time" carjacking victims are "threatened or violently removed... not seriously injured".

Unlike most categories of violent crime, recorded instances of carjacking are on the rise in South Africa. The police do their best to fight it, says Pretoria News crime reporter Graeme Hosken.

"We have had a problem with gangs following tourists from OR Tambo airport [near Johannesburg] and the cops cracked down on that. I take precautions. I've been nearly hijacked myself on an open freeway."

He advises:

• Keep your car locked while driving
• Don't stop for strangers or people who have broken down
• A blue light does not necessarily mean they are police
• If carjacked, do not offer resistance
• Carjacking is geographically skewed with half of the 15,000 happening in Gauteng

ADVICE FOR FANS Foreign Office travel advice - World Cup South Africa 2010

"There's another crime that poses some risk to visitors and that's street robbery," says Dr Burger.

"People are seldom seriously injured or stabbed or shot. In most cases people are threatened. Criminals will see the World Cup as a huge opportunity."

People can take a number of steps to reduce their chances of being robbed in the street, he says:

• Avoid advertising. Don't show you have valuables on your person
• Take precautions by trying to go to some of these places in groups of five, six, seven or more people
• Most importantly, make a point of seeking advice

"The locals know which places people should avoid and the times people should stay away from certain areas."

If England win their group and make it as far as the quarter finals, they will play in Soccer City, Johannesburg.

There are areas in the city that have a disproportionate level of crime. Ask a local and they may advise against travel to Hillbrow or Yeoville at night.

At the same time, people could also point out that every city has its bad bits.

"I wouldn't go to dodgy areas in London, or the dodgy areas in Liverpool or Manchester," says Hosken.

But of course the crime issue is high on the agenda for the World Cup organisers.

The South African Police Service has prepared a plan that includes extra officers, high visibility policing, and deployment of specialist teams.

"I've seen the police plan, it's extremely impressive," says Dr Burger.

The South African police say they have a plan to tackle crime

But while there may be optimism about the police plans, there is still a deep sense of unease, says Hosken.

"The government says crime is going down, [but] 50 odd people are being killed every single day. There is scepticism about what is really happening.

"While crime might be going down, it is [often] extremely violent, armed robberies, hijackings. It is very in your face, it is very gruesome. The robbers will come in and not only attack a couple, [but] rape the wife, and severely assault the husband.

"People are worried about what the government is trying to feed them. The violence associated with crime is increasing."

And while the South African police can point to decreasing crime and the efforts they are making, fighting the fear of violence is harder.

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Iran signs nuclear fuel-swap deal with Turkey

Iranian, Brazilian and Turkish foreign ministers brokered the deal

Iran has signed an agreement to send uranium abroad for enrichment after mediation talks in Tehran with Turkish and Brazilian leaders.

Correspondents say the plan could revive a UN-backed proposal and may ward off another round of sanctions.

But the BBC's Tehran correspondent says the deal will be viewed with scepticism in Western capitals, as Iran says it will continue enriching uranium.

Meanwhile, France has announced progress at the UN on fresh sanctions.

AFP news agency reported that Israeli officials were accusing Iran of manipulating Brazil and Turkey to stave off sanctions.

The West has long suspected that Iran's nuclear programme is aimed at making weapons - a charge Tehran denies.

Progress made?

Under the deal, Iran's foreign ministry said it was ready to ship 1,200kg (2,645lb) of low-enriched uranium to Turkey, in return for fuel for a research reactor.

The deal does not address the central nuclear issues dealt with by successive UN Security Council resolutions - namely Iran's refusal to halt its enrichment programme and address questions about its past nuclear activities.

The US reacted by saying it still had serious concerns over Iran's nuclear programme, although it did not reject the agreement.

KEY POINTS OF THE DEAL Iran will notify the IAEA of the details of the agreement within a week If approved by the Vienna Group, Iran will ship 1,200kg of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Turkey The LEU will remain the property of Iran while in Turkey Tehran and the IAEA may send observers to monitor its security The Vienna group must then deliver 120kg of nuclear fuel to Iran within a year Iran may request that Turkey return its LEU "swiftly and unconditionally to Iran Full text of the joint declaration Send us your comments

It said the Iranian government "must demonstrate through deeds - and not simply words - its willingness to live up to international obligations or face consequences, including sanctions".

"While it would be a positive step for Iran to transfer low-enriched uranium off of its soil as it agreed to do last October, Iran said today that it would continue its 20% enrichment, which is a direct violation of UN Security Council resolutions," said a White House statement.

Russia welcomed the deal, although President Dmitry Medvedev said further talks were needed on Iran's nuclear programme.

During a trip to Ukraine Mr Medvedev said the fact that Iran apparently still intended to continue its own uranium enrichment would continue to concern the international community.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said there had been "some important progress" in talks at the Security Council on fresh sanctions against Tehran.

The UK, for its part, said work on a resolution about imposing new sanctions on Iran would continue until Tehran showed its intentions were peaceful.

The German government said that nothing could replace a deal between Iran and the UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on world leaders for new talks "with Iran based on honesty, justice and mutual respect".

The EU's high representative for foreign affairs, Baroness Ashton, was ready to meet the Iranian authorities to find a "full and complete" solution to the stand-off, her spokesman said.

'Negotiating ploy?'

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were at the talks in Tehran with Mr Ahmadinejad.

ANALYSIS Paul Reynolds, world affairs correspondent, BBC News website Whether this is a breakthrough or a device to try to stop further sanctions remains to be determined. On the plus side, it appears that Iran is still interested in swapping some of its low-enriched uranium for fuel rods for its medical research reactor in Tehran, which is in need of replenishment. Sending low-enriched uranium to Turkey would be a good first step but it does not solve the problem, because Turkey cannot produce fuel rods. There therefore needs to be a further agreement with the countries that made an earlier offer to supply them - the US, Russia and France. And these countries are likely to be very cautious as they fear that Iran will impose conditions that, for them, make a deal impossible. Q&A: Iran and nuclear issue

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said 1,200kg of low-enriched uranium would be shipped to Turkey, and that Iran would notify the IAEA "within a week".

Under the deal, Iran has said it is prepared to move its uranium within a month of its approval by the so-called Vienna Group (US, Russia, France and the IAEA).

In return, Iran says it expects to receive 120kg of more highly enriched uranium (20%) - a purity well below that used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons - within a year.

If the deadline is not met, Iran says Turkey "will return swiftly and unconditionally Iran's low-enriched uranium".

BBC Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne, in London, says the agreement does not make clear whether Iran's low-grade uranium will be used to make the new fuel or just held as a kind of security deposit.

Our correspondent says Western governments will fear this is just a negotiating ploy designed to delay new sanctions.

Crucially, Turkey and Brazil are both on the UN Security Council, and so have a vote on those sanctions.

The Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, who spent 18 hours hammering out the deal with his Brazilian and Iranian counterparts, said there was now no need for more sanctions against Iran.

"The swap deal shows that Tehran wants to open a constructive path... there is no more ground for new sanctions and pressures," he said.

'Last chance'

The US is in the final stages of negotiating a fourth sanctions package with other UN Security Council members.

The deal was hammered out over 18 hours of talks

This new deal will be examined in great detail and with a high degree of scepticism in foreign capitals, our correspondent says.

Iran backed out of a similar proposal last October citing disagreement about the details of the deal, which included a simultaneous swap, something the IAEA said was not feasible.

Iran's stocks are now thought to be much larger than the 1,200kg covered by the new agreement.

Both Russia and the US say the talks represent Iran's last chance to avoid harsher sanctions.

Iran has been mounting a big diplomatic effort to prevent new UN sanctions; its foreign minister has visited all 15 members of the Security Council.

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VERY Cross CrossTalk: Finkelstein vs Morris

Finkelstein knows his material like the back of his hand.

Morris, for the sake of scholary devotion and respect found the roots of the israeli issue, but refuses to discuss them in public.

Ethnic cleansing and expulsion was inevitable for the creation of any Jewish state.
Just as it would be inevitable if we made a majority Chinese state in the middle of Germany.

Nottinghamshire social services criticised over death

Simon and Susan Moody were jailed for child neglect

Social workers responsible for the safety of a child found hanged after suffering neglect were under-trained and over-worked, inspectors say.

Charlotte Avenall, eight, who died after being locked in her "filthy" Nottinghamshire bedroom, had been known to social workers for several years.

The county council's care has been criticised as "inadequate" by Ofsted.

Inspectors found case workers knew Charlotte's parents locked her in her bedroom at night.

Susan and Simon Moody were each sentenced to a year in jail last month after pleading guilty to child neglect.

Delays in action

Charlotte, who had severe learning difficulties, was forced to use her chest of drawers as a toilet and had smeared excrement on the walls and ceiling of her bedroom.

Social workers had visited the family's house in Mansfield weeks before she died, but failed to make a follow up appointment after finding nobody at home.

Ofsted's report stated: "There is a significant shortage of frontline social work staff and the demand for the service, particularly referrals and re-referrals, has increased by 43% resulting in children not being effectively safeguarded."

Inspectors found the quality of assessments was often poor and there were delays in assessing children that could be at risk, as well as in taking action over those identified as at risk of significant harm.

A backlog of 140 children awaiting assessment was found in one office.

In its own serious case review into Charlotte's death the county council said the staff who dealt with the case had been retrained and more administrators had been employed.

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~~~~~~~~~~~

Commentary

This is nothing short of a travesty and an atrocity.

Were I the judge on this case, life in prison would be too easy a fate, especially because of the torture they put this poor 8 year old kid through.

So painful was it, and so unbearable, that she hung herself to death, after having wasted her life locked in a basement, forced to use a drawer as a toilet.

To call such adults that tortured this kid, humans, would be too great an honor. The very fact we write their names is an insult.

There is no humane justice in this world that may be inflicted upon them.

May God have mercy on the soul of this child, that had lost all hope, and is now dead because of the heinous crimes of her parents.

How did Thailand come to this?

By Vaudine England BBC News, Bangkok Troops used armoured vehicles to smash through the protest barricades

Three months ago, Bangkok appeared to be a successful South East Asian capital city - now government troops and anti-government protesters are fighting in the streets. The BBC's Vaudine England considers how it came to this.

Huge and thriving, Bangkok has long been seen - and seen itself - as a great city. But now there is blood on the streets.

How did Thailand descend into violence?

Thaksin Shinawatra won elections in 2001 and 2005. He poured money into rural areas, but was accused of corruption, had a poor human-rights record and was less popular with wealthier people in Bangkok.

He called snap elections in 2006, which were boycotted by the main opposition Democrat Party and ruled invalid by the constitutional court. Fresh elections were planned for October 2006.

Those elections never happened because on 19 September 2006 there was a bloodless coup. Fresh elections at the end of 2007 were won by a party made up of former allies of Thaksin.

Samak Sundaravej became PM, but was forced out by a court decision in September 2008, which came as yellow-shirted opponents of Thaksin occupied government buildings, leading to a state of emergency.

Somchai Wongsawat, Thaksin's brother-in-law, took over. The yellow-shirts then occupied Bangkok's two main airports, forcing them to close. Thaksin was found guilty of corruption in his absence.

The occupation of the airport ended after the constitutional court dissolved the three parties that made up the coalition government. The Democrat Pary's Abhisit Vejjajiva led a new coalition government.

Supporters of Thaksin took to the streets in April 2009 wearing red shirts. They condemned Mr Abhisit's government saying it was illegitimate and demanded that there should be fresh elections.

Tensions grew in early 2010 as some of Thaksin's assets were seized. His red-shirted supporters gathered in Bangkok, with demonstrations escalating, leading to the army action against protesters on 19 May.

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It is hard to imagine how Thailand got to this - and how it will manage to recover.

One explanation is simply that a crazed rabble of poor people came to the city from the under-developed north, flauning their love for a former prime minister - Thaksin Shinawatra - and being paid to do so.

Another vision talks of class war and a peoples' uprising, as the masses rise up on the barricades.

The reality lies somewhere in between and can only be understood by a brisk walk through Thailand's recent political history.

It is easy to speak of the 18 new constitutions in the past half-century, and the many coups. It is hard for people living in more settled countries to imagine that level of uncertainty about the basic rules of the political game.

Absolute monarchy only gave way to constitutional rule in 1932 and the play of power between the old feudal system, the military and various democratic forces has been fought out ever since, often with fatal consequences.

Certain big dates stand out: 1973, 1976, 1992, 2006 and now 2010.

Continue reading the main story

Whatever version of the recent past is chosen, neither violence nor a death-defying commitment to democracy is unusual in Thai politics

Thailand's overwhelming image as a Land of Smiles - as a fantasy land of sun, sea, sex and surgery - has been carefully crafted.

It has seduced many, outsiders and Thais, into believing a facade of stability where there was perhaps more a papering over the cracks.

That paper is now badly torn. Deep-seated fissures, long in existence, can no longer be ignored.

If nothing else, commentators agree, the red-shirts have achieved that much.

Bloody history

Thailand lived under variations of military rule most of the time since the 1932 constitution, during World War II, into the 1970s.

On 14 October 1973, more than 70 protesters were killed and 800 were injured when troops opened fire on huge demonstrations held in support of pro-democracy students.

The then military government collapsed; a new constitution and new elections in six months followed.

On 26 September 1976, two students were garrotted and hanged, allegedly by police. Thousands of students gathered in their support and against military rule.

Two weeks later, on 6 October, that tension exploded into the killing by soldiers, police and right-wing mobs of at least 46 people. Students said many more died.

This moment marked the end of a democratic period, and caused parts of a generation to flee to the hills, joining a communist movement which was later decimated.

Street fighting in 1992 left scores of people dead

By 1980, Gen Prem Tinsulanonda was appointed prime minister after a fellow general had ruled for three years following an October 1977 coup.

Gen Prem is now chairman of the Privy Council, and a target of red-shirt ire for what they claim was his role in the 2006 coup.

Coups and wobbly coalition governments led by appointed prime ministers carried Thailand into 1992, when Chamlong Srimaung led protests against the choice of Gen Suchinda Kraprayoon as prime minister.

King Bhumiphol Adulyadej famously called the two men into his presence to end fighting on the streets in mid-May that year, which had left scores dead, many injured and more than 2,000 people missing.

Back to future

Elections in September 1992 produced a Democrat-led coalition, with Chuan Leekpai as prime minister.

Thaksin Shinawatra proved very popular but highly divisive

Two years later, a telecommunications tycoon called Thaksin Shinawatra made his political debut, under the wing of Mr Chamlong.

In 1995, Mr Chamlong led his Palang Dharma party out of the coalition, causing the Chuan government to fall. Mr Thaksin was deputy prime minister in the next government.

Two coalition governments later, General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was prime minister - he is now chairman of Mr Thaksin's Peua Thai Party.

The 1997 economic crisis brought back the Democrats under Mr Chuan. But elections in January 2001 gave Mr Thaksin a resounding win.

Mr Thaksin used this to accrue wealth and power across a range of Thai institutions. He earned a shocking human rights record and quashed the free press, but poured money into rural areas usually starved of attention.

In elections in 2005 he again won by a landslide, with the highest voter turnout in Thai history. He called another, snap, election in 2006, which the Democrat opposition boycotted. His win was ruled invalid by the constitutional court on 8 May 2006.

Plans for elections in October were foiled by the 19 September coup in 2006. Since then, two Thaksin-allied governments have been elected and stymied by court actions, leading to the current Democrat government, elected by another vote in parliament, not a general election.

Determining whether current troubles are sudden and shocking, or in fact an outgrowth of a long history of conflict - discussion of which has been suppressed by censorship and strict lese majeste laws - all depends on where you choose to start.

Whatever version of the recent past is chosen, neither violence nor a death-defying commitment to democracy is unusual in Thai politics.

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