UN investigates claims of mass rape by DR Congo rebels

　　

　　Thousands of women are raped each year in DR Congo, the UN says

　　The United Nations is investigating claims that rebel fighters raped more that 150 women and baby boys in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

　　The attacks happened over four days within miles of a UN base, a US aid worker and a Congolese doctor said.

　　UN chief Ban Ki-moon is sending two top aides to the country to help investigate the alleged assaults in the country's volatile eastern region.

　　Mr Ban also urged the Congolese government to investigate the attacks.

　　Aid workers and UN representatives knew that rebels had occupied Luvungi town and surrounding villages in eastern DR Congo the day after the attack began on 30 July, the International Medical Corps (IMC) said on Tuesday.

　　“Start Quote

　　The secretary-general is outraged by the rape and assault”

　　End Quote Ban Ki-moon UN Secretary-General

　　They could not get into the town until the rebels left, said the IMC's Will Cragin.

　　According to reports, the rebels gang-raped nearly 200 women and some baby boys over four days before leaving.

　　The region lies approximately 10 miles (16km) from a UN peacekeepers' base.

　　Mr Ban is sending Atul Khare, assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping, immediately to DR Congo to help investigate, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

　　He also ordered his special representative for sexual violence in conflict, Margot Wallstrom, to take charge of the UN's response to the attacks.

　　A UN joint human rights team confirmed allegations of the rape of at least 154 women by fighters from the Rwandan FDLR militia and Congolese Mai-Mai rebels in the village of Bunangiri, Mr Nesirky said.

　　"The secretary-general is outraged by the rape and assault. This is another grave example of both the level of sexual violence and the insecurity that continue to plague Congo," he told the Associated Press.

　　'World rape capital'

　　The victims are receiving medical and psychological care.

　　Ms Wallstrom condemned the rapes. She said: "It should be noted that this incident represents a very extreme case in terms of its scale and the level of organisation of the attacks.

　　The "terrible incident" confirmed her findings during a recent visit to Congo of the "widespread and systematic nature of rape and other human rights violations."

　　DR Congo has a shocking reputation for sexual violence. In April, a senior UN official said it was "the rape capital of the world".

　　A report by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative showed that 60% of rape victims in South Kivu province had been gang-raped by armed men.

　　More than than half of the assaults took place in the victims' homes, the report said, and an increasing number of attacks were being carried out by civilians.

　　More than 8,000 women were raped during fighting in 2009, the UN says.

　　Eastern DR Congo is still plagued by army and militia violence despite the end of the country's five-year war in 2003.

　　UN peacekeeping troops have been backing efforts to defeat the FDLR, whose leaders are linked to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and who are operating in eastern DR Congo.

Somali MPs killed in hotel suicide attack

　　

　　The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan: "The security of the MPs was very susceptible in the hotel in Mogadishu"

　　Islamist gunmen have stormed a hotel close to Somalia's presidential palace and killed at least 32 people, including six MPs.

　　The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says the men were disguised as government soldiers.

　　They approached the Muna hotel, opened fire on a guard, then one of them blew himself up inside the building.

　　Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage from the al-Shabab Islamist militia said its "special forces" were behind the raid.

　　“Start Quote

　　The AU should declare a state of emergency and appoint someone to rule until all militants are destroyed”

　　End Quote Idowu Olabode Peculiar Nigeria

　　The hotel attack comes on the second day of heavy fighting between al-Shabab and troops of the transitional government, who are backed by the African Union (AU).

　　Our correspondent says the Muna hotel is popular with government officials, because it is in a government-controlled area and security was seen as tight.

　　Deputy Prime Minister Abdirahman Ibbi told the BBC Somali Service that the suicide attacker had blown himself up using a hand grenade.

　　As well as the six MPs, five government officials and 21 civilians were also killed.

　　Maj Barigye Bahoku, spokesman for the African Union peacekeepers, said an 11-year-old shoe-shine boy and a woman selling tea in front of the hotel were among the dead.

　　An MP at the Muna hotel told a BBC reporter that there were "dead bodies all over" and the scene was a "massacre".

　　He said the gun battle at the hotel had lasted about an hour.

　　"They rained gunfire on everybody. Nobody stood a chance. I was lucky because they aimed at me but I jumped out of the window and survived," hotel employee Adan Mohamed told the AFP news agency.

　　Analysis

　　Mark Schneider, International Crisis Group

　　Al-Shabab is estimated to control a significant portion of the country - the government is assumed to hold something of the order of 20%.

　　In recent weeks, the African Union mission there, Amisom, supporting the government, was expected to be beefed up by some additional Ugandan and Burundian troops.

　　It may well be that al-Shabab decided that before those troops became firmly located, they would carry out this attack and demonstrate their continued ability to go after government, and civilian, soft targets anywhere in the country.

　　I think the government will not collapse. I think Amisom will not allow it to collapse. Several of these kinds of attacks on civilians have lost popular support for al-Shabab.

　　Al-Shabab has moved from a largely Somali organisation two years ago, to where now our reporting shows foreign jihadis control a significant part of the decision-making.

　　Mr Ibbi called the attack "shocking and brutal", especially given that it had happened during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

　　Al-Shabab launched a new offensive on Monday soon after its spokesman said the group was declaring a "massive war" on the AU force, describing its 6,000 peacekeepers as "invaders".

　　At least 40 other people have been killed in the fighting and more than 130 wounded, with shells being fired into residential areas, according to health officials.

　　The government controls only a few key areas of the capital.

　　The group said it carried out last month's deadly twin bombings in Uganda's capital during the football World Cup final.

　　They were in retaliation for Uganda's deployment of troops to Somalia with the African Union force, it said.

　　The AU has responded by saying it will send extra troops to bolster its force in Mogadishu.

　　Somalia has experienced almost constant conflict since the collapse of its central government in 1991.

Plane crash kills 42 in north-eastern China

　　

　　The majority of those rescued did not suffer life-threatening injuries

　　At least 42 people have been killed after a passenger plane crash-landed in the north-eastern Chinese province of Heilongjiang, state media report.

　　The Henan Airlines aircraft, with 91 people on board, burst into flames after overshooting the runway at Yichun City's airport at 2136 (1336 GMT).

　　Police in Heilongjiang told Chinese state TV that three of the 49 survivors were in a critical condition.

　　

　　The Embraer ERJ-190 had taken off from the provincial capital Harbin at 2051.

　　Among those on board were five crew members and five children, officials from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) told the Xinhua news agency.

　　Henan Airlines earlier told Xinhua that the plane was carrying 96 people.

　　Sun Bangnan, the deputy director of Heilongjiang's public security department, said the majority of those rescued had not suffered life-threatening injuries.

　　Unconfirmed reports said Yichun City's Lindu airport had been shrouded in heavy fog at the time of the crash.

　　

　　Henan Airlines operates five Embraer ERJ-190 passenger planes

　　A 20-strong team of CAAC officials and technicians have reportedly already left for Yichun City to begin an investigation.

　　Lindu airport is a small domestic facility that opened only last year.

　　Henan Airlines is a joint venture between Shenzhen Airlines of China and Mesa Air Group of the US, and is based in Henan province. It was previously known as Kunpeng Airlines.

　　The BBC's Martin Patience in Beijing says China has seen a rapid expansion in its domestic airlines in recent years and generally they have a good safety record.

　　The last serious air accident was in 2004, when a passenger plane crashed into a frozen lake near the northern city of Baotou, killing all 53 people on board. Two people on the ground also died.

Claudy bomb: conspiracy allowed IRA priest to go free

　　

　　The report said police believed Fr James Chesney was an IRA leader and was involved in the bombing

　　The police, the Catholic Church and the state conspired to cover up a priest's suspected role in one of the worst atrocities of the Northern Ireland Troubles, an investigation has found.

　　Nine people died in bombings in Claudy, County Londonderry on 31 July 1972.

　　The NI Police Ombudsman's probe found that high-level talks led to Fr James Chesney, a suspect in the attack, being moved to the Irish Republic.

　　Ombudsman's Report

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　　No action was ever taken against Fr Chesney, who died in 1980.

　　Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson said that the government was "profoundly sorry" that Fr Chesney had not been properly investigated.

　　Mark Eakin, whose younger sister Kathryn was killed in the blast, said he would like to see someone brought before the courts.

　　Mr Eakin said: "I would like to ask the British government if they would now step in and investigate this thing further, give the PSNI of today, who are still trying to investigate, more resources."

　　In 2002, the Police Ombudsman's office began a probe into the original investigation.

　　Al Hutchinson's report, published on Tuesday, found that detectives in 1972 had concluded that Fr Chesney was an IRA leader and had been involved in the bombing.

　　He added that by acquiescing to a deal between the government and the Catholic Church to move Fr Chesney to a parish in the Irish Republic, the Royal Ulster Constabulary was guilty of a "collusive act".

　　He said this had compromised the investigation and the decision "failed those who were murdered, injured or bereaved" in the bombing.

　　He said that if officers involved were still alive, "their actions would have demanded explanation, which would have been the subject of further investigation".

　　As well as investigating complaints made against the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Police Ombudsman also has the authority to look at investigations carried out by their predecessors, the RUC.

　　'Never arrested'

　　Mr Hutchinson said some detectives' attempts to pursue Fr Chesney were frustrated ahead of a meeting between Northern Ireland Secretary William Whitelaw and the leader of Ireland's Catholics, Cardinal Conway.

　　There, it was agreed that the priest would be moved to a parish in Donegal, just over the border in the Irish Republic.

　　The Ombudsman found that the Chief Constable, Sir Graham Shillington, was made aware of this decision.

　　Mr Shillington said he would "prefer a move to Tipperary". Tipperary is about 200 miles from the border.

　　Fr Chesney, who denied involvement in terrorist activities to his superiors, was never arrested.

　　On Tuesday the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, said the church was not involved in a cover-up over the role of Fr Chesney.

　　Claudy bombings

　　

　　Claudy is a small village, with a mixed Protestant and Catholic population, six miles south-east of Londonderry

　　Nine people were killed in the three blasts, which happened on 31 July 1972

　　No warnings were given by the bombers

　　The IRA never claimed involvement, but were assumed to be behind them

　　Local priest Father James Chesney rumoured to have been a member of the IRA unit responsible

　　He was transferred by the Catholic Church across the border to Co Donegal

　　He died in 1980 without ever being questioned by the police over the atrocity

　　"The Church was approached by the secretary of state at the instigation of senior members of the RUC," he said.

　　"Furthermore, the Church subsequently reported back to the secretary of state the outcome of its questioning of Fr Chesney into his alleged activities.

　　"The actions of Cardinal Conway or any other Church authority did not prevent the possibility of future arrest and questioning of Fr Chesney."

　　Sinn Fein, the political party closely indentified with the IRA, said the deaths in Claudy were "wrong and should not have happened." The party repeated its call for an independent international truth commission.

　　BBC Ireland correspondent Mark Simpson said that the report lacks any explanation from Cardinal Conway or Mr Whitelaw about how they came to their decision to move Chesney.

　　"As both are now dead, we can only speculate as to their motives," our correspondent added.

　　"The most generous theory is that they felt that protecting the priest was the lesser of two evils.

　　"During that turbulent period in 1972, many believed that Northern Ireland was on the brink of a sectarian civil war. Almost 500 people were killed that year.

　　"If a priest had been arrested in connection with the Claudy bomb, it could have pushed community relations over the edge."

　　Both Protestants and Catholics were killed in the blasts.

　　The youngest victim was eight-year-old Kathryn Eakin who was cleaning the windows of her family's grocery store when the first bomb exploded.

　　The other people killed were Joseph McCluskey 39, David Miller aged 60, James McClelland 65, William Temple 16, Elizabeth McElhinney 59, Rose McLaughlin aged 51, Patrick Connolly, 15, and 38-year-old Arthur Hone.

　　Mr Hutchinson said that he accepted some of the decisions taken "must be considered in the context of the time" but added that the conspiracy still amounted to collusion.

　　"I accept that 1972 was one of the worst years of the Troubles and that the arrest of a priest might well have aggravated the security situation.

　　"Equally I consider that the police failure to investigate someone they suspected of involvement in acts of terrorism could, in itself, have had serious consequences."

　　He said he had found no evidence of criminal intent by anyone in the government or the Catholic Church.

　　Meanwhile in a statement, the PSNI said the investigation into the Claudy bomb was now under the remit of the Historical Enquiries Team.

Rich exoplanet system discovered

　　By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC News

　　

　　The researchers say the finding marks a new phase in the hunt for exoplanets

　　Astronomers have discovered a planetary system containing at least five planets that orbit a star called HD 10180, which is much like our own Sun.

　　The star is 127 light years away, in the southern constellation of Hydrus.

　　The researchers used the European Southern Observatory (Eso) to monitor light emitted from the system and identify and characterise the planets.

　　They say this is the "richest" system of exoplanets - planets outside our own Solar System - ever found.

　　Christophe Lovis from Geneva University's observatory in Switzerland was lead researcher on the study. He said that his team had probably found "the system with the most planets yet discovered".

　　

　　The discovery could provide insight into the formation of our own Solar System

　　"This also highlights the fact that we are now entering a new era in exoplanet research - the study of complex planetary systems and not just of individual planets," he said.

　　The research has been submitted for publication to the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

　　Eso's High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (or Harps) instrument was responsible for the discovery.

　　Harps measures the wobble of a star; this gives a measure of how much it is being tugged on by an orbiting planet.

　　"If there is one planet it will induce a little movement - the star will come towards us and move away," Dr Lovis explained to BBC News.

　　"And what works for one [planet] works for many."

　　With many planets orbiting the star, its movement becomes a very complex "superposition" of several different planet-induced movements.

　　“Start Quote

　　[This] marks the way towards gathering the information that will put our own existence into cosmic context”

　　End Quote Martin Dominik University of St Andrews

　　Using Harp, Dr Lovis and his team were able to measure this and break it down, in order to calculate how many planets were in the system, how great each of their masses was, and even the path of each individual planet's orbit.

　　The researchers said the system around HD 10180 as unique in several respects.

　　It has at least five "Neptune-like planets" lying within a distance equivalent to the orbit of Mars, making it more populated than our own Solar System in its inner region. And all the planets seem to have almost circular orbits.

　　Dr Lovis said: "Studies of planetary motions in the new system reveal complex gravitational interactions between the planets and give us insights into the long-term evolution of the system."

　　False alarm?

　　So far, the astronomers have picked up clear signals from five planets, along with two slightly "fuzzier" signals. One of these possible sixth and seventh planets was estimated to be just 1.4 times the mass of the Earth; if its presence in the system was confirmed, it would be the lowest mass exoplanet yet discovered.

　　It is also predicted to be very close to its host star - just 2% of the Earth-Sun distance, so one year on this planet would last only 1.2 Earth days.

　　Dr Lovis said he was 99% certain that this small planet was there.

　　"There are five signals that are really strong that we have no doubt, but we have another two with a 'false alarm' probability of 1%," he said.

　　Martin Dominik, an astronomer and exoplanet hunter from the UK's University of St Andrews said the complexity and structure of this system made it an interesting discovery.

　　"The richness of the system of planets around HD 10180 with its many characteristic features marks the way forward towards gathering the information that will put our own existence into cosmic context," he told BBC News.

　　He cautioned against describing this as the "richest system" saying that it was not clear whether other systems that had already been detected hosted further planets.

　　Dr Dominik added: "I am tempted to consider the detected system as one of the most 'informative' ones.

　　"Like most discoveries in science, the findings come with more questions than answers; but in my opinion, this is what really advances a field."