Turning 'dislike' into commercial success

19 July 2011 Last updated at 11:57 GMT By Virginia Brown BBC News Magazine Rebecca Black prompted an outpouring of online bile Rebecca Black - who achieved online notoriety for the awfulness of her first effort at a music video - has released a second single. But how does critical loathing turn into commercial success?

The outpouring of online odium that followed the posting on YouTube of Rebecca Black's Friday would be enough to make many people faint of heart.

The song was ruthlessly criticised online with harsh complaints about her use of Auto-Tune, a device that corrects pitch, the cloying nature of her video, but most of all, the mindbogglingly banal lyrics.

"Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday. Today is Friday, Friday" are the kind of lyrics that don't exactly sit well with a tough crowd of YouTube followers. Some critics went as far as describing Friday as the worst song ever.

But the song ranked top in global trending topics on Twitter, surpassing the Japanese earthquake crisis.

Despite receiving millions of "dislikes" on YouTube, Black's single has sold well as a download. And she has used her brush with unpopularity to release a new single, My Moment. It addresses the "haters" that have goaded the teenager.

So why do people relish Black's song? "Because it's an easy target, because we're cynical and we can unload all of our malice on its stupidity," says David LaGuardia, author of Trash Culture: Essays in Popular Culture.

The Rebecca Black phenomenon has echoes of the equally ridiculed Florence Foster Jenkins.

Continue reading the main story From California, 14 years oldShot to fame earlier this year with self-financed video that went viralReceived death threats Surpassed Justin Bieber as most played YouTube clip of all time - with more than 160 million viewsBlack's song Friday was performed on GleeBlack appeared in a Katy Perry videoThe song peaked at No 58 on the US Billboard Hot 100 list in March This shockingly bad songbird of the early 20th century was adored by crowds despite - or perhaps because of - her utter lack of singing ability. To keep a straight face through the YouTube clip of her mangling of Queen of the Night, from Mozart's Magic Flute, is an achievement.

Jenkins reportedly lived in blissful ignorance, mistaking the audience's laughter for cheers, and as word of her terrible renditions spread, so did her celebrity.

Eventually her fans demanded she take the stage at New York's Carnegie Hall, one that has been graced by superstars from Judy Garland to Billie Holiday.

She finally agreed to perform there in 1944 just before she died - and the tickets sold out in only two weeks.

Jenkins was the viral success of her day. Like Black, her career suggests that critical revulsion can be a help as much as a hindrance when it is raised to epic levels.

There's a long history of "bad" becoming "so bad it's good" and earning a cult following.

Continue reading the main story

Kickin' in the front seat/Sittin' in the back seat/Gotta make my mind up/Which seat can I take?”

End Quote One of the lyrics that propelled Rebecca Black to fame "The degree of awfulness is often a cultish badge that attracts people to the media text in question," says Sean Redmond, co-editor of Celebrity Studies.

"Cultish bad texts provide a space for chatter and shared identification with something that isn't mainstream, polished or sterile.

"So the cultish text is often 'oppositional' in some way, it goes against the grain of the mainstream and the predictable."

For some it's the realm of the guilty pleasure, for others it's something to "do" - to talk about at the watercooler and to play to a friend or a colleague.

"Cultish media often involve participation and active celebration," says Redmond.

Continue reading the main story

Bouquets...

Rolling Stone: "A distinct singer with an alluring sort of anti-charisma"

Huffington Post Comedy: "Fascinating and funny mutation of pop culture"

Brickbats...

Billboard: "Hilariously bad", "straight out of Auto-Tuned hell"

Time: "Train wreck", "hilariously dreadful"

Yahoo! Music: "Mind-meltingly horrific"

Slate's Farhad Manjoo: "Literally the worst song I've ever heard"

There's also a fascination on the part of the audience as to why someone would carry on despite a wall of virulent criticism.

Stephen Temperley, who has written a play partially based on Jenkins's life, says her appeal was a "combination of her ambition and her lack of ability to sing".

"She must have had an innocence about her when she performed and it gave her a kind of vulnerability. The crowd was there to cheer her on while also laughing at her," says Temperley.

Her performances provided a thrill that competent opera singers could not always generate.

"It became a big social event in New York. It gave you a certain cachet and people really competed for tickets," he notes.

There are plenty of films that convert disliking into commercial gold.

Irish pop act Jedward have not always earned critical acclaim

Birdemic: Shock and Terror is a recent candidate for the worst film ever made, but the self-financed romantic action-adventure of 2008 turned this status into ticket sales.

The story centers around a platoon of eagles and vultures attacking a small town. Many people die. A 3D sequel is due soon.

Another film The Room, which has been called "the Citizen Kane of bad movies", is a staple of late night showings.

The YouTube haters think Black is an acceptable target for an outpouring of vitriol.

"There are simply acceptable targets for the hatred people carry around every day," says Rob Manuel, co-founder of the pop culture website b3ta.com. Unfortunate musicians and pop icons fall into that category.

Perry has troubled relationship with tea party (AP)

By STEVE PEOPLES and APRIL CASTRO, Associated Press Steve Peoples And April Castro, Associated Press – 52 mins ago

CONCORD, N.H. – In spite of his thundering speeches against big government, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has a troubled relationship with the tea party, a rift increasingly obvious as he gets closer to a presidential bid.

Tea party groups from New Hampshire to Texas are collaborating to criticize Perry's record on immigration, public health and spending and his former affiliation with the Democratic Party.

"It's real easy to walk into church on Sunday morning and sing from the hymnal. I saw a guy that talked like a tea party candidate but didn't govern like one," said Debra Medina, a Texas tea party activist who challenged Perry in the 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary. "I still don't think he governs like the conservative he professes to be."

Texas conservatives recently shared material on Perry's record with the New Hampshire Tea Party Coalition, which dedicated a section of its website to the Texas governor. The coalition offers links to negative media coverage and videos about the man who it says "was Al Gore's Democrat chairman" in 1988. Perry switched to the Republican Party in 1989, around the same time as other conservative Democrats.

The organization also distributed a series of emails to supporters, including one obtained by The Associated Press warning, "We should be aware there is more to him than meets the eye."

The attacks are quietly promoted by other Republican presidential contenders, who view Perry as a growing threat as he inches closer to a late entrance into the Republican presidential primary. Many of the candidates are competing for the hearts of tea party activists who have generated passion, campaign cash and armies of volunteers from GOP voters nationwide.

A key Perry strategist dismissed the tea party criticism as isolated to a handful of conservative groups in a fragmented movement.

"There's no candidate running on either side of the aisle that has his record and relationship with tea party members," said David Carney. "But the tea party is not one monolithic group."

Carney concedes that Perry has work to do in early voting states like New Hampshire.

"We have reached out to some members of the tea party leadership. But until we get the campaign going, if we have a campaign, and they have an opportunity to talk to the governor, they're not going to know who he is and they're going to be somewhat skeptical," he said.

They're particularly skeptical about Perry's record on immigration, an issue that resonates with the Granite State's tea party movement.

As governor, Perry signed a law making Texas the first state to offer in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, and he blasted a proposed border fence as "idiocy." Texas tea party groups sent Perry an open letter this year expressing disappointment over his failure to get a bill passed that would have outlawed "sanctuary cities," municipalities that protect illegal immigrants.

Texas governors, including Perry and his predecessor, George W. Bush, walk a fine line when it comes to immigration. The state's powerful business lobby, which is reliably Republican, back many immigration rights laws and the state population is more than one-third Hispanic. Landowners along the Texas-Mexico border had complained about the border fence interfering with ranching.

Perry also said that Arizona's controversial immigration law "would not be the right direction for Texas," although he would later support a friend-of-the-court brief defending Arizona's right to pass its own laws in accordance with the 10th Amendment.

"That's a pretty big knock against him," said Jerry DeLemus, chairman of the Granite State Patriots Liberty PAC, when notified of some of Perry's immigration policies.

Conservative activists also have attacked Perry's support for mandatory HPV vaccines for sixth-grade girls and the seizure of private property for a now-defunct trans-state toll road, among other things.

Still, Perry enjoys substantial support from some tea party groups, who say Perry's conservative credentials are strong, even if not perfect.

"I don't think there's a purity test for who is tea party and who isn't tea party," said Ryan Hecker, a member of the Houston Tea Party Society and organizer of the group Contract from America. "Being an executive involves a lot of tough decisions. At times, some tea party people would have liked him to be more conservative. But, generally speaking, he has an excellent record, a far better record than other candidates in the race."

Perry told reporters in Austin on Tuesday that his wife, Anita, was encouraging a presidential run.

"My wife was talking to me and saying, `Listen, get out of your comfort zone. Yeah, being governor of Texas is a great job, but sometimes you're called to step into the fray,'" he said.

Hecker, who has not yet decided whom he will support, said tea party folks in Texas appreciate Perry's early embrace of the nascent group while others considered it fringe. Indeed, Perry was among the first statewide officials in Texas to embrace the movement and appear at tea party rallies where he demanded Washington retreat from state affairs.

That generated some good will that still exists in some camps.

The conservative policy group, New Hampshire Cornerstone, will feature Perry as the keynote speaker during its annual dinner in October.

"Obviously we invited him because we've liked the job he's done in Texas," Cornerstone Executive Director, Kevin Smith, said when asked about the attacks by the New Hampshire Tea Party Coalition. "I've seen some of those emails. My impression is that when I've dug deeper, I've found the folks sending them are on board with another candidate."

Austin Tea Party activist Don Zimmerman, like many tea party activists in Texas and New Hampshire, prefer libertarian Rep. Ron Paul in his third presidential bid. Paul, Zimmerman said, is the true tea party favorite.

"Ron Paul pretty much invented the national tea party," said Zimmerman, a member of the Texas State Republican Executive Committee. "It's really unfair for these other candidates to come along and claim to be the tea party favorite. It's almost like it's starting to lose its meaning."

___

Castro reported from Austin, Texas.

Chile president shakes up cabinet

19 July 2011 Last updated at 08:21 GMT President Pinera made eight changes to his cabinet Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, facing protests in recent weeks, has made major changes to his cabinet.

It was Mr Pinera's second reshuffle in recent months.

The president's popularity peaked after the rescue of the 33 miners in October but his approval ratings have dropped to some 30% amid simmering unrest.

Students have been protesting to demand changes to the education system, while last week copper miners staged a one-day strike over restructuring plans.

President Pinera announced eight changes to his cabinet, including at the economy, energy and justice ministries.

"Our institutions, our leadership, are being tested by citizens who are more empowered, who are demanding greater participation and, above all, greater equality," said President Pinera as he swore in his new team.

Copper promise

Among the main names is Laurence Golborne, who as mining minister had a highly visible role during the miners' rescue.

He goes to the Public Works Ministry, a department which has assumed greater prominence, especially after last year's major earthquake.

Some of the student protests have spilled over into violence

His successor as minister of mines is Hernan de Solminihac.

President Pinera said major investment would be made in the mining sector and he denied there were any plans to privatise the state-run copper company Codelco.

"Codelco is going to remain in state hands, belonging to the Chilean people, but we also want it to be modern, efficient and fully capable of realising its potential," Mr Pinera said.

Felipe Bulnes, the former justice minister, moves to education - a key post as students continue to press for reforms, including lower university fees.

Thousands have taken to the streets of Santiago and other main cities, with some protests turning violent.

Mr Pinera took office last March, the country's first conservative leader for 20 years.

Austria extradites Croatian ex-PM

19 July 2011 Last updated at 11:48 GMT Ivo Sanader was extradited under police escort Croatia has put its former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader behind bars after his night-time extradition from Austria.

He is due to be questioned this week over allegations of corruption and abuse of power.

He was driven across the Croatian border in a silver Mercedes van under police escort, Reuters reported.

Mr Sanader, 57, denies any wrongdoing, and says the charges are politically motivated. He was in power in 2004-09.

He was arrested in Austria in December, on a Croatian arrest warrant, a day after Croatia had lifted his immunity from prosecution.

There are suspicions that Mr Sanader diverted state budget money into a secret slush fund for his conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

Croatia has been cracking down on corruption, under pressure from the European Union, which it will join in July 2013.

Mr Sanader suddenly stepped down in July 2009, taking Croats by surprise.

He claims the legal proceedings have been initiated by his political enemies.

Correspondents say the case could prove difficult for his former HDZ party colleagues, as they prepare for a general election in December.

Tamgho out of World Championships

Tamgho set the season's best jump of 17.91m in Lausanne in June World indoor triple jump champion Teddy Tamgho is out of next month's World Athletics Championships.

The 22-year-old Frenchman fractured his ankle last Saturday in Ostrava.

Tamgho's leap of 17.98m last year in New York is the third longest in history.

Great Britain's Phillips Idowu will be defending his world title at the Championships, which start on 27 August in Daegu, South Korea.

Tamgho would have been among the favourites for the gold medal, having won the European indoor title in his home city of Paris in March.

He set a new indoor world record with his jump of 17.92m.

The Frenchman sustained the injury during the warm-up at the European Under-23 Championships in the Czech Republic.

Paris crowd go wild for Tamgho's world record leap (UK only)

At the time he said: "It hurts a lot. It looks serious but I hope the season is not over for me."

Tamgho set the leading distance in the triple jump in 2011, with a leap of 17.91m in Lausanne in June.

He was due to participate at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco on Friday, where he would have faced Idowu.

Tamgho finished 11th at the last outdoor world championships in Berlin in 2009, an event Idowu won with a jump of 17.73m.

News Corp shares up after hearing

19 July 2011 Last updated at 20:23 GMT Continue reading the main story Shares in News Corporation recovered ground after Rupert and James Murdoch's appearance in front of a committee of British MPs.

At the close of trading in New York, News Corp shares were 6% higher.

The move recovers some of the losses sustained as the phone-hacking scandal at its newspaper title, the News of the World, has unfolded.

But pressure on the company continues, with another major shareholder questioning the company's standards.

The giant Californian public pension fund, CalPERS, has joined the list of those who are unhappy with the way the company has been managed.

CalPERS (California Public Employees' Retirement System), which owns 6.4 million of News Corp's shares, is in particular unhappy with the shareholding structure that gives the Murdoch family's 'B' shares voting rights, meaning that although they own 12% of the company, they hold the biggest single block - 40% - of the votes.

Other 'B' shares are largely held by unnamed investors.

Family power

More than two thirds of the shares are 'A' shares, which give investors no say as to who sits on the board, let alone major strategic decisions such as whether to bid for another company.

Its Senior Portfolio Manager, Anne Simpson, who heads its corporate governance program, said: "News Corp does not have one share one vote. This is a corruption of the governance system.

"Power should reflect capital at risk. CalPERS sees the voting structure in a company as critical. The situation is very serious and we're considering our options. We don't intend to be spectators - we're owners."

Other financially interested parties have this week reviewed their opinion of the strength of the company.

Continue reading the main story

The Murdochs will probably be seen to have emerged bruised but not broken by today's ordeal - which is why the share price of News Corporation, the parent company, has been stabilised”

End Quote Robert Peston Business editor, BBC News On Monday, the ratings agency Standard & Poor's placed News Corp's credit rating on a negative watch citing "increased business and reputation risks".

Also on Monday, another of its shareholders urged it to raise its standards.

The Nathan Cummings Foundation in New York, a small shareholder in News Corp, wrote to the board asking it to improve its transparency and governance:

The Foundation is concerned about News Corp's political lobbying, particularly payments to organisations that have then campaigned for looser regulation which could potentially benefit its businesses.

News Corp has reorganised its standards committee, set up to investigate impropriety at News International.

News Corporation is the parent company of News International, which runs the Sun, the Times and Sunday Times. Their sister paper, the News of the World, was shut down earlier this month as a result of the phone-hacking scandal.

Yahoo revenue dips in Q2, shares fall (Reuters)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Yahoo Inc's net revenue declined slightly in the second quarter on weakness in its display advertising business, and shares of the Internet search company dropped nearly 2 percent in after-hours trading.

Yahoo reported net income of $237 million, or 18 cents a share, compared with $213 million, or 15 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter.

The company forecast third-quarter net revenue, which excludes the fees that Yahoo pays to partner websites, of between $1.05 billion and $1.1 billion.

In a statement, Yahoo Chief Executive Carol Bartz said the company saw "softness" in its display advertising revenue during the second half of the quarter due to changes in Yahoo's sales organization aimed at positioning Yahoo for "more rapid display growth in the future."

Yahoo said revenue from display advertising, which represents roughly half of Yahoo's business, inched up 2 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, compared with the 6 percent growth rate achieved in the first quarter.

Search revenue declined 45 percent year-over-year to $467 million.

Last quarter, Yahoo said its search partnership with Microsoft was taking longer than expected to pay off due to some technical imperfections in the search advertising system. As a result, Yahoo said its revenue per search won't rise to levels it experienced pre-Microsoft until the end of the year.

Yahoo is one of the most popular destinations on the Internet and a leading provider of online display ads in the United States, but the company is facing increasing competition from social networking service Facebook and continuing pressure from search leader Google.

Yahoo said net revenue in the second quarter was roughly $1.1 billion, compared with $1.13 billion in the year-earlier period.

The company's shares were down 21 cents at $14.38 in after-hours trade.

(Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Jagan moves SC against HC order for CBI probe into assets - Times of India

NEW DELHI: YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the legality of an Andhra Pradesh high court order asking the CBI to conduct a preliminary probe into his alleged disproportionate assets.

The HC had on July 12 had ordered a CBI probe on a letter-cum-petition filed by Congress MLA P Shankar Rao and a separate petition by three TDP leaders, all of whom accused Reddy of amassing wealth much beyond his known sources of income. The HC had sought a report from the agency in two weeks.

Recently elected to Parliament from Kadapa by a huge margin, Reddy questioned the HC order saying the petitions were filed by his rivals wanting to settle political score through judicial forum.

He has cited the apex court's judgment in Lalu Prasad case, in which the court had warned against use of the courts as a forum settling political scores. The SC had refused to order CBI probe against Lalu Prasad.

The HC had said that results of the CBI's preliminary enquiry would ascertain the need for a regular probe. The petitioners had alleged that Reddy had acquired assets worth hundreds of crores of rupees from various companies and individuals as a quid pro quo for the land allotted and licences granted to them at cheap prices for various activities when his late father Y S R Reddy was the chief minister between 2004 and 2009.

The also listed the alleged transfer of money into Jagan's companies such as Bharathi Cements, Jagathi Publications, the publishers of Sakshi newspaper, and Indira Television, the broadcaster of Sakshi TV, etc.

'Massive' uranium find in India

19 July 2011 Last updated at 04:38 GMT Exploration work is underway in Tummalapalle India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh may have one of the largest reserves of uranium in the world, the country's chief nuclear officer says.

Studies show Tummalapalle in Kadapa district could have reserves of 150,000 tonnes of the mineral, Atomic Energy Commission chief S Banerjee said.

India has estimated reserves of about 175,000 tonnes of uranium.

Analysts say the new reserves would still not be sufficient to meet India's growing nuclear energy needs.

Mr Banerjee said that studies at Tummalapalle have shown that the area "had a confirmed reserve of 49,000 tonnes and recent surveys indicate that this figure could go up even threefold" and become one of the world's largest uranium reserves.

The uranium deposits in the area appeared to be spread over 35km (21 miles), he said, adding that exploration work was going on in the area.

Mr Banerjee said the new findings were a "major development", but India's own uranium reserves would still fall short of meeting its nuclear energy needs.

"The new findings would only augment the indigenous supply of uranium. There would still be a significant gap. We would still have to import," he was quoted as saying by The Hindu newspaper.

India is planning to set up some 30 reactors over as many years and get a quarter of its electricity from nuclear energy by 2050.

Hackers tamper with Sun website

19 July 2011 Last updated at 11:10 GMT Visitors to the Sun's website were redirected to this spoof page A group of computer hackers has tampered with the website of the Sun, owned by News International.

At first, readers were redirected to a hoax story which said Rupert Murdoch had been found dead in his garden.

A group of hackers called Lulz Security, which has previously targeted companies including Sony, said on Twitter it was behind the attack.

Visitors to the Sun website were then redirected to the group's Twitter page, before News International took it down.

News International said it was "aware" of what was happening but made no further comment.

Readers trying to access thesun.co.uk were taken to new-times.co.uk and a story entitled "Media mogul's body discovered".

It suggested that Mr Murdoch had been found after he had "ingested a large quantity of palladium".

Disbanding

After that site stopped working, the Sun's address was re-directing to LulzSec's Twitter account, which claimed to be displaying "hacked internal Sun staff data" in one entry.

In another, the group said: "Arrest us. We dare you. We are the unstoppable hacking generation..."

Continue reading the main story Iain Mackenzie Technology reporter, BBC News

The attack on the Sun website is in line with LulzSec's "hacktivist" ethos. Although it claims to do what it does for laughs, the group usually has a point to make.

Often it is trying to raise awareness of the poor security measures put in place by large organisations.

However, some of its hits have been more overtly political. In one case, LulzSec broke into the website of US broadcaster PBS after it showed a documentary that was critical of Wikileaks.

The attack on the Sun website has LulzSec's fingerprints all over it, with the combination of a mischief-making news story, and a target that is seen as being involved in corporate wrongdoing.

Clearly this is not the most significant development in the scandal currently engulfing News International. But the turning of the hacking tables is, at least, curiously ironic sideshow.

It is thought the Times website and the News International corporate website were taken down by the company as a precaution on Monday evening.

BBC technology reporter Iain MacKenzie said the attack on the Sun website was in line with LulzSec's "hacktivist" ethos, with the combination of a mischief-making news story, and a target that is seen as being involved in corporate wrongdoing.

He said: "Clearly this is not the most significant development in the scandal currently engulfing News International. But the turning of the hacking tables is, at least, curiously ironic sideshow."

Last month the hacking group announced it was disbanding.

Lulz Security made its announcement through its Twitter account, giving no reason for its decision.

A statement published on a file-sharing website said that its "planned 50-day cruise has expired".

The group leapt to prominence by carrying out attacks on various high-profile companies.

The first came in May 2011 when the hackers targeted Fox.com in retaliation for calling rapper and entertainer Common "vile" on the Fox News channel.

A month later, they turned their attention against Sony, taking data from thousands of people including names, e-mail addresses and dates of birth.

The group has also cyber-attacked broadcaster PBS, the CIA, and the United States Senate.

As a parting shot, it released a selection of documents apparently including confidential material taken from the Arizona police department and US telecoms giant AT&T.

PM defends foreign aid spending

19 July 2011 Last updated at 16:29 GMT The PM wants to see investment focused on more measurable things such as vaccines David Cameron has defended the UK's commitment to spend 0.7% of national income on foreign aid by 2013.

But Britain will "use aid differently" to ensure it is well spent, the prime minister told an audience in Nigeria.

He was speaking as a survey of public opinion in the UK suggested many people felt the country's foreign policy had changed for the worse in the last year.

The top priorities ought to be protecting borders and countering terrorism, its results suggested.

Mr Cameron has cut short a planned four-day trip to Africa so he can prepare for his statement to Parliament on Wednesday on the phone-hacking scandal.

But before leaving he used a speech to the Pan-African University in Lagos to reinforce Britain's aid commitment and spell out the potential for UK countries trading in Africa.

UK aid spending should be targeted at projects to deliver infrastructure like customs services, roads and the internet and to train business leaders, mathematicians and scientists, he said.

Trade opportunity

This could kick-start growth and development and help Africa move off aid altogether, the prime minister added.

"We see Africa in a new way, a different way. Yes, a place to invest our aid. But above all a place to trade," he said.

Britain must increase its 4% share in exports to Africa, he said, promising to use loan guarantees and trade finance to help UK companies win contracts.

Earlier, he had visited a clinic in the capital Lagos, where babies were being vaccinated against yellow fever.

The Department for International Development operates a scheme in Nigeria to monitor vaccination rates, train nurses and reach out to women who might otherwise miss out on health care for their children.

Policy 'worse'

Meanwhile, the survey conducted by think tank Chatham House and polling company YouGov, also found that many people believed Britain spent too little equipping its armed forces and too much on contributions to the EU and on overseas aid to developing countries.

The poll questioned two groups, members of the general public and "opinion formers" drawn from a YouGov panel of figures from the business, media, politics, academia, science and arts spheres.

Of the members of the public surveyed, 65% thought Britain's foreign policy had changed for the worse over the past year.

Nearly 60% thought much overseas aid was wasted and did not promote Britain's interests. And only 20% thought the UK had a moral right to support pro-democracy uprisings in places such as Egypt and Libya.

Nearly half of those questioned thought the UK should not be involved at all.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said the government rejected any notion that Britain's role in the world was shrinking.

He said the repositioning of UK foreign policy was to secure its prosperity and security in the long term.

U.S. charges two for illegal lobbying for Pakistan - Reuters

By Jeremy Pelofsky

WASHINGTON | Tue Jul 19, 2011 2:37pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. citizens have been charged with illegally lobbying the United States for the Pakistani government and its spy agency over the disputed territory of Kashmir, U.S. authorities said on Tuesday.

Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, 62, was arrested in Virginia on charges that he failed to register as an agent of a foreign government in his capacity as director of the Kashmiri American Council and for receiving at least $4 million from Pakistan for his lobbying efforts.

Zaheer Ahmad, 63, was also charged but is believed to be at large in Pakistan.

The arrest and allegations are likely to only further strain ties between Washington and Islamabad which were already complicated -- particularly after U.S. forces conducted a secret raid in Pakistan in May that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Control over the mountainous region of Kashmir has been at the center of hostilities between Pakistan and India, two countries that now have nuclear arms, since their partition in 1947. The area is heavily militarized, and has been the scene of numerous conflicts, including a 1999 war.

An FBI affidavit detailed the alleged scheme in which Fai's organization received up to $700,000 annually from Pakistan to make campaign contributions to U.S. politicians, sponsor conferences and other promotions.

One unidentified confidential witness told investigators that Pakistan's powerful military spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI), was behind some of the money Fai received, according to the FBI affidavit.

A second confidential witness said the spy agency had sponsored and controlled Fai's organization and had been directing him for the past 25 years, the court papers said.

Foreign nationals and governments are banned from making contributions to U.S. campaigns and anyone who lobbies on behalf of a foreign government must register with the U.S. Justice Department.

Fai, his nonprofit group and Ahmad never registered that they were working on behalf of the Pakistani government, U.S. authorities said.

"Mr. Fai is accused of a decades-long scheme with one purpose -- to hide Pakistan's involvement behind his efforts to influence the U.S. government's position on Kashmir," Neil MacBride, U.S. Attorney for Eastern Virginia, said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear if Fai had a lawyer yet. One U.S. official said the investigation was ongoing. The FBI affidavit said Fai denied during past interviews that he lobbied, saying instead that he was involved in public relations.

As part of the scheme, Pakistan allegedly funneled money to Fai through Ahmad and contributions by others which were reimbursed by the Pakistani government. Fai then used the funds for campaign donations, conferences and other lobbying efforts, the affidavit said.

Federal election records showed that Fai gave $23,500 to U.S. political candidates since 1997, including $250 to President Barack Obama's presidential campaign as well as $7,500 to Republican Representative Dan Burton of Indiana.

The Justice Department said that there was no evidence that any elected officials who received the contributions from Fai or his organization knew that it came from the Pakistani government.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Obama hails debt talks progress

19 July 2011 Last updated at 20:01 GMT Mr Obama urged Republican and Democratic congressional leaders to start "talking turkey" US President Barack Obama has cited "some progress" in debt talks, with the US at the "11th hour" before a deadline to raise the nation's debt ceiling.

At the White House, Mr Obama hailed a plan by a group of senators to cut the budget deficit and raise the limit.

And he urged congressional leaders to put aside "symbolic gestures" and begin writing legislation.

The US risks default on its debt if Congress does not raise the debt limit before 2 August.

'Talk turkey'

At the White House, Mr Obama said a proposal had been put forward on Tuesday by a bipartisan "gang of six" senators.

The group has been meeting on and off in recent months in an effort to craft a plan to reduce the US government's $1.5tn (£928bn) annual budget deficit.

Mr Obama said the proposal was "consistent" with a plan the White House had been urging, and called on leaders in the House and Senate from both parties to start "talking turkey".

Continue reading the main story US government owes itself $4.6tnRemaining $9.7tn owed to investorsThey include banks, pension funds, individual investors, and state/local/foreign governments China: $1.16tn, Japan: $0.91tn, UK: $0.35tnDeficit is annual difference between spending and revenue, $1.29tn in 2010Congress has voted to raise the US debt limit 10 times since 2001

Source: US Treasury, May 2011, Congressional Research Service, Congressional Budget Office

"We don't have any more time to engage in symbolic gestures. We don't have any more time to posture," Mr Obama said. "It's time to get down to the business of actually solving this problem."

The plan was reported to include a mix of new revenues and cuts to military and social spending that in total would cut the budget deficit by about $3.7tn over the next 10 years.

Mr Obama said in particular that the plan would broadly share the "sacrifice" across the political spectrum, with both Democrats and Republicans ceding on some of their policy priorities.

'Cut, cap, balance'

There have been sticking points on both sides of the political divide in recent months.

Continue reading the main story

Uncharted territory but two scenarios emerge

Worst case:

Higher interest rates on mortgages, credit cards and loansGovernment unable to pay wages to staff, including militarySocial security cheques stoppedTurmoil on international markets

Better case:

Default could be avoided by paying creditors, at expense of slashing spending

Sources: Associated Press, CBS, ABC

Republicans have been unwilling to consider raising new tax revenues to counter the growing budget deficits, while the Democrats have been opposed to cutting popular healthcare and welfare programmes for pensioners and the poor.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday the Republican-controlled House of Representatives was set to vote on a so-called "cut, cap and balance" resolution.

That would impose severe and immediate spending cuts, cap future government spending at a certain percentage of the national economy, and call for an amendment to the US constitution to require Congress to pass a balanced budget.

If the bill is passed by the House, it has no chance of passing the Senate, which the Democrats narrowly control. Mr Obama has said he would veto any law if it were eventually passed.

Baltic fury over Austria release

19 July 2011 Last updated at 13:16 GMT A rally was held in Vilnius on Monday against Austria's release of Mr Golovatov Latvia has joined its neighbour Lithuania in condemning Austria's release of a former Soviet officer wanted over a bloody crackdown in 1991.

Latvia summoned Austria's ambassador in Riga and demanded an explanation.

Police arrested Mikhail Golovatov, 62, at Vienna's Schwechat airport last Thursday. The former commander of elite Soviet Alpha troops, wanted in Lithuania, was released the next day.

Austria says it acted correctly under the European Arrest Warrant rules.

Defending the release, Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said the information supplied by Lithuania in the Golovatov case was "too vague".

Lithuania wants to put Mr Golovatov on trial for the Soviet assault on a Vilnius television tower in January 1991, in which 14 civilians died and hundreds were injured.

The Soviet crackdown was aimed at breaking up a pro-independence demonstration in the Lithuanian capital.

Escalation to EU level

Latvia says its foreign minister and those of its Baltic neighbours Lithuania and Estonia have sent a joint letter to EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding complaining about Austria's move.

"The decision to release Golovatov impairs the effectiveness of international legal co-operation in criminal cases and lessens the significance of the EU solidarity principle for the member states," the letter said.

"Though we understand the principle of judicial independence, we are still concerned about the speed at which the Austrian authorities decided to release the individual."

On Monday, Lithuania recalled its ambassador from Vienna and threatened to take Austria to the EU's top court over the affair - the European Court of Justice.

The three Baltic states, incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940, achieved independence after the abortive coup by Soviet hardliners in August 1991.

Chile ex-leader Allende 'shot himself'

19 July 2011 Last updated at 20:27 GMT Salvador Allende's economic reforms angered the right in Chile A team of international experts has concluded that the former president of Chile, Salvador Allende, killed himself during the 1973 military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet.

A detailed report was released two months after Mr Allende's body was exhumed as part of an inquiry into his death.

Mr Allende's family has always accepted the official version.

But some of his supporters suspected he had been killed by soldiers.

Allende, who was 65, died in La Moneda presidential palace on 11 September 1973 as it was being bombed by air force jets and attacked by tanks.

The official version was that he shot himself - with a rifle given to him by his friend, the then Cuban leader Fidel Castro - as troops stormed the palace.

Mr Allende's family agreed to have his body exhumed from a cemetery in the capital, Santiago, so that an international team of experts, including specialists in ballistics, could determine the cause of death.

One wound, two shots

The official report handed in to the Chilean government concludes that Mr Allende was killed by two bullets shot from a rifle held between his legs.

British ballistics expert David Prayer took part in the investigation and said the result was clear.

"The gun, an AKA rifle, was on automatic," he said.

Senator Isabel Allende, daughter of the late president, had always accepted the suicide version

"There was one wound in his skull, caused by two bullets. There is no evidence that a third person was involved," said Mr Prayer.

Senator Isabel Allende, a daughter of the late president, said the family had received the news with great peace.

"The report conclusions are consistent with what we already believed. When faced with extreme circumstances, he made the decision of taking his own life, instead of being humiliated," Ms Allende said.

Socialist reforms

Salvador Allende, a member of the Socialist Party, became the first left-wing president of Chile when he was elected in September 1970.

He introduced a number of economic reforms, including the nationalisation of the mining industry, that angered the opposition and the US government at the time.

A series of strikes paralysed the country and left the capital isolated in the tense days that preceded the coup.

On 11 September 1973, President Allende was tipped off that part of the military would launch an attack to remove him from power.

General Pinochet's forces attacked the presidential palace on 11 September 1973

He turned up at the Palacio de La Moneda carrying a rifle and ready to co-ordinate the resistance, witnesses said.

The coup led to 17 years of military rule under Gen Pinochet. More than 3,000 political opponents were killed or "disappeared" by the military.

Investigators are looking into more than 700 cases of alleged human rights abuses.

The legacy of Salvador Allende remains a divisive issue in Chile. For some, Mr Allende was a reckless Marxist, intent on turning Chile into another Cuba.

For the left, he was a democratic socialist and a victim of one of several US-sponsored military coups in Latin America in the 60s and 70s.

Iran upgrades nuclear centrifuges

19 July 2011 Last updated at 15:30 GMT The Bushehr nuclear plant, Iran's first nuclear power station, begun operating in May Iran says it is installing newer and faster centrifuges at its nuclear plants, with the goal of speeding up the uranium enrichment process.

The foreign ministry says the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, has "full supervision" of the operation.

The French government has condemned the move as a "new provocation".

France and other Western powers fear that Iran's nuclear programme is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its programme is for civilian use.

Enriched uranium can be used for civilian nuclear purposes, but also to build atomic bombs. Tehran insists that it is refining uranium for electricity generation and medical applications.

"By installing the new centrifuges progress is being made with more speed and better quality," said Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast.

He said the move showed Iran's success in pursuing its "peaceful nuclear activity", but did not say where the new generation of centrifuges would be installed, or provide details on the speed or capability of the machines.

'Suspicions confirmed'

France was quick to condemn the announcement.

Continue reading the main story Mined uranium ore is purified and reconstituted into solid form known as yellowcakeYellowcake is chemically processed and converted into uranium hexafluoride gasGas is fed through centrifuges, where its isotopes separate The process is repeated until uranium is enrichedLow-level enriched uranium is used for nuclear fuelHighly enriched uranium can be used in nuclear weapons"Iran is engaging in a new provocation by announcing the imminent installation of next-generation centrifuges," the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

"[It] clearly confirms the suspicions of the IAEA and of the international community about the finality of a programme with no credible civilian application," the statement said.

Diplomatic efforts to find a solution to Iran's nuclear dispute have stalled, after talks between Iran and six world powers broke down in December last year.

"Iran must suspend its sensitive activities and create the conditions for reopening talks," France said.

The country is subject to four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.

Last month, the British government accused Iran of testing missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, in contravention of a UN resolution.

The Iranians openly test-fired 14 surface-to-surface missiles with a range of 2,000km (1,250 miles) as part of a 10-day programme of military exercises.

Its foreign ministry said none of these missiles had nuclear capability.

Strauss-Kahn daughter questioned

19 July 2011 Last updated at 14:16 GMT Camille Strauss-Kahn is a friend of her father's alleged victim Tristane Banon French investigators have questioned one of Dominique Strauss-Kahn's daughters about an allegation that he attempted to rape a French writer.

Camille Strauss-Kahn is a friend of the alleged victim, Tristane Banon.

Ms Banon says the former IMF chief assaulted her in a Paris flat in 2003 as she attempted to conduct an interview with him.

Separately, Mr Strauss-Kahn denies charges of sexually assaulting a New York hotel maid on 14 May.

Mr Strauss-Kahn was freed from house arrest in the US city earlier this month after the credibility of his accuser's evidence came into question.

Counter-claim

Police questioned Camille Strauss-Kahn on Monday, a judicial official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Associated Press.

Her mother, Mr Strauss-Kahn's ex-wife, Brigitte Guillemette, was questioned on Friday, legal sources said. She is Ms Banon's godmother.

Continue reading the main story 2006: Publication of Sexus Politicus, book by Christophe Deloire and Christophe Dubois, with chapter on Mr Strauss-Kahn and his tendency of "seduction to the point of obsession"2008: Mr Strauss-Kahn admits an affair with IMF colleague; he admits an "error of judgement"2011: Mr Strauss-Kahn arrested on 14 May in New York, accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid 16 May: Writer Tristane Banon comes forward to say Mr Strauss-Kahn tried to assault her in an interview nearly a decade before1 July: Mr Strauss-Kahn freed without bail from New York house arrestIt was shortly after Mr Strauss-Kahn was arrested in New York that Ms Banon - now 32 - came forward to say that he had tried to assault her eight years ago.

She said she had not pursued the case at the time because "everyone told me it would never succeed", but that following the allegations in New York there was "perhaps a chance to finally be listened to".

Mr Strauss-Kahn denies any wrongdoing, and has launched a counter-claim, suing Ms Banon for making false statements.

Under French law, the charge of attempted rape carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail. However, the prosecutors' inquiry may not lead to formal charges.

Ms Banon and her mother, Anne Mansouret, herself a politician from Mr Strauss-Kahn's centre-left Socialist Party, were interviewed by police last week.

Nitish seeks report on BIADA land allotments - Times of India

PATNA: In a swift reaction to the row over alleged favouritism in allotment of land to the near and dear ones of ruling politicians and bureaucrats, chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday directed chief secretary Anup Mukherjee to submit a report on the facts of the matter.

"It's not the job of the CM to allot lands," Kumar said and added he would speak on the issue only after going through the chief secretary's report.

Pandemonium prevailed in both the Houses of the state legislature on Tuesday. While the opposition attack on the government was led by RJD's Abdul Bari Siddiqui in the assembly, leader of opposition in the council Ghulam Gaus moved an adjournment motion on the "illegal allotment" of Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA)'s land to the government's favoured few.

The opposition leaders alleged the beneficiaries of the land scam include Urvashi Shahi, daughter of HRD minister P K Shahi, and Rahmat Amanullah, daughter of social welfare minister Parveen Amanullah and senior IAS official Afzal Amanullah. Several other politicians' kin benefited from the government's benevolence, they alleged.

In the council, Nawal K Yadav, Badshah Prasad Azad, Mishri Lal Yadav, Ram Chandra Prasad, Tanvir Hasan (all RJD), Chandan Bagchi and Jyoti (both Congress) shouted anti- government slogans. While slogans like "CM istifa do", "Zameen ka bantwara bandh karo" and "Kisano ki zameen wapas karo" rent the air in the House, the opposition members entered the well of the House, displaying posters and banners demanding the resignation of CM. The House had to be adjourned twice without transacting any business in the pre-lunch session.

Later, council chairman Tarakant Jha rejected the adjournment motion, saying that four RJD MLCs had already submitted a calling attention motion on the issue and the government would give its reply on July 21.

In the assembly, the RJD and LJP members trooped into the well and pressed for an adjournment motion on the police firing on people agitating against the upcoming factory of a BJP MLC's son on a plot of BIADA land in Forbesganj. The uproar forced the Speaker to adjourn the House for ten minutes. When the House reassembled, the Speaker rejected the adjournment motion but agreed for a debate on the firing.

Initiating the debate, Siddiqui demanded compensation for the families of four people who died in the firing and transfer of the officers responsible for the "heinous crime".

Replying to the debate, the CM said he could not be accused of being insensitive as he instituted a judicial probe into the firing soon after the receipt of a joint report from the home secretary and ADG (HQ). He assured the House that the government would initiate action the moment it gets the report of the commission.

The CM further said BIADA land is allotted as per set norms. The government is inquiring if the norms were violated to allot land to anyone, he said.

Councils told 'no schools U-turn'

19 July 2011 Last updated at 13:39 GMT By Hannah Richardson BBC News education reporter Mr Gove said he wanted to prioritise spending on the most dilapidated schools The education secretary has refused to reinstate a string of school revamps which the High Court said he scrapped unlawfully.

Michael Gove was ordered to look again at his decision to axe 58 school rebuilds in six council areas, on the grounds that he failed to consult them.

But Mr Gove only agreed to meet the councils' costs.

In future cash for England's school building would be targeted at the most dilapidated schools, he added.

Mr Justice Holman, who heard the case back in February, said Mr Gove had acted unlawfully in the way he scrapped the schemes in six areas because he failed to consult the local authorities affected.

But he said it was wholly up to Mr Gove to decided whether or not to reinstate the schemes in Waltham Forest, Luton, Nottingham, Sandwell, Kent and Newham.

Mr Gove told the Commons that the judge had found against him on procedural grounds but insisted that his department won on the substantive points.

'Dilapidated'

He said he had written to the councils to let them know he was prepared to indemnify them for their contractual liabilities, but that he would not be restoring their specific Building Schools for the Future (BSF) projects.

However, he said the councils would have a further opportunity to make representations to him before he made his final decision.

But he added they would all be eligible to bid for funds from a new school rebuilding programme, which is expected to fund between 100 and 300 new schools. But the Department for Education could not say how much it would be investing.

Mr Gove told the Commons: "I appreciate that the local authorities, and their representatives, will be disappointed.

"But let me also be clear - this decision, if confirmed after any representations have been made, does not mean no new school buildings in their areas.

"They will all be eligible for support from the new programmes I am establishing to cater for population growth in the areas most in need and the worst dilapidation.

Pressure on places

"That is central to my reasoning on why I am minded not to restore their projects. I want to ensure absolute fairness in the distribution of resources at my disposal."

Sandwell Council leader Darren Cooper said the decision was a "bitter blow to pupils, parents, teachers and governors".

He added: "This is not the end. We intend to see if there is any more we can do to fight this injustice and we will use every means at our disposal."

The new building fund would be open to all local authorities and schools and will replace Labour's flagship BSF scheme, which Mr Gove axed in its entirity last year because he said it was inefficient.

The move ended school rebuilds in about 700 schools and prompted outrage from head teachers, pupils and MPs. About 600 schemes that were far advanced went ahead.

He said funds would from now on be allocated on the basis of need, with money going to the most dilapidated schools.

'In tatters'

Mr Gove has also ordered a full survey of the school estate to discover the areas of highest physical need.

Under the new scheme, schools would be invited to use standardised off-the-shelf designs in order to keep down costs.

Shadow education secretary Andy Burnham challenged Mr Gove to reveal how much it was costing the taxpayer to reimburse the six councils.

He said Mr Gove had failed to get a good deal from the Treasury for school buildings and that the spending review had left the budget for this "in tatters".

Ty Goddard, director of the British Council for School Environments, said: "The importance of a comprehensive survey into the school estate cannot be understated - we can't be sure of what we need to do until we're sure of what the problems are.

"Complete standardisation of design may not be a panacea - one size does not fit all.

Mr Gove also announced an additional £500m to fund new school places in England in areas with the highest pressure on places.

He said the money, available within this financial year, was being made available to primary schools in particular which are facing pressure in dealing with rising numbers this September.

London Councils' executive member for children and young people Councillor Steve Reed said the new money to help London's local authorities provide enough school places for the capital's children was welcome.

"However the pressures faced in London are so great that we need almost all of the money announced today just to ensure every London child has a permanent school place in 2011/12," he said.

A film for foodies: Culinary creativity at elBulli (AP)

NEW YORK – For a foodie, the new film about Spain's renowned elBulli restaurant is a bit like an Angelina Jolie movie for a teenage boy.

That boy's never going on a date with Angelina. And sorry, dear foodie, but you're never gonna eat at elBulli.

Well, at least food lovers can now salivate via celluloid. "El Bulli: Cooking in Progress," a meticulous exploration of how this famously avant-garde eatery comes up with its insanely inventive creations, may not be for everyone. But for those passionate about the artistry and indeed the science of cooking, it's dangerously close to porn.

And for some, perhaps close to tragedy, too. Co-owner and chef Ferran Adria announced earlier this year that on July 30 he will close his restaurant, a winner of three Michelin stars and countless other honors. Citing financial struggles and a need to regroup after years of exhausting work, he said elBulli would become a think tank and research facility.

German filmmaker Gereon Wetzel had no inkling of this when he shot his film, training his cameras on elBulli's creative team for 10 hours-plus per day, a week at a time, over 15 months in 2008 and 2009.

But the news, which came during editing, didn't change his goal, which was to show the laborious, indeed painful, process of creating art — in this case, edible art, dishes for an ever-changing menu of 30 to 50 courses that can take three, four, maybe five hours to eat, for 50 lucky diners a night. Just a few names give you a sense of their unique nature: A gorgonzola tree. A parmesan crystal. A coconut sponge. Iced peppermint. "Vacuumized" mushrooms.

Or vanishing ravioli — with a pasta envelope, coated in maltodextrin, that literally disappears in front of your eyes.

"What fascinated me was the process," Wetzel said in an interview this week from his home in Munich. "How do they do it? What does it take to get to these ideas?"

And so the 38-year-old director, who by the way professes not to be a foodie, spent most of his shooting time not at the restaurant, which is on the coast a few hours from Barcelona and is open only six months a year, but in its lab in the city. There, a few top chefs spend the other six months creating the next season's menu.

The work Wetzel displays is more than painstaking. Adria's main deputies, Oriol Castro and Eduard Xatruch, labor and philosophize over the consistency of a mushroom. What happens when you "vacuumize" it? (A machine is used.)

And what can we do with a sweet potato that's never been done? What can we extract from it? All this is shown with no narration whatsoever.

"This is very hard work, and I wanted people to see that," says Wetzel. And so he didn't shy away from the difficult moments, including one where chef Adria berates his team for having lost some data on a bad hard drive. The team protests that they still have lists on paper. "I don't want it on paper, I want it on the computer!" Adria retorts. "This is a disaster." At another point, he rejects a dish curtly: "Don't give me anything that's not good."

There are also some unintentionally very funny moments, like when the two chefs go to the local market and ask for five single grapes for their testing — and three beans. "You get away with everything," remarks the merchant.

At another market visit later on, they ask the merchant not to discard the tongue of a fish. Anything might be fodder for a new creation, after all. Wetzel notes how Adria's team also works with the cartilage of a calf shoulder — something others would surely throw away. "For them, the way they work, this cartilage has value equal to caviar," he says.

After the film has spent a good hour showing painstaking lab work — Rachael Ray's cooking show, this is not — the action shifts to the coast, and opening day of the new season. We see an army of new workers, some of them interns, who have come from all corners of the world to work with these Spanish masters.

And as the staff revs up for the incoming crowd, Adria and his lieutenants are still refining, experimenting, tasting. Adria sits down for a rehearsal of new dishes. The tension is almost unbearable as he tastes one, then says nothing for many seconds.

We also see the birth of a new, typically elBulli dish: A silky cocktail of hazelnut oil, water and two crystals of salt. Testing such a cocktail at one table, a server comes back in a panic: Fizzy water has mistakenly been used, instead of still water. The chefs consult. Maybe they should keep it fizzy? Maybe that will make it even more interesting!

During three years of overall work on the film, there was one thing Wetzel and his team never did: Taste the famous food they were documenting.

But once shooting was complete, they finally got a table.

"To spend five hours doing nothing but thinking and talking about food — it was an experience," he says. And a relief, too.

"After all that time and work, I was just so glad that it was really, really good," he says.

___

http://www.elbulli-themovie.de

Two more get 'cash for bomb' calls - Times of India

MEERUT: Within a week of a meat trader getting a mysterious phone call from Iran offering Rs 1 crore to carry out blasts in the city, two more people have approached the police claiming they have got similar cash for terror calls.

Even as the STF and local police were looking for clues into the first matter, Adil, a resident of Inchauli area of the district, has approached police saying he received a call on July 17 with a person offering Rs 1.5 crore to carry out blasts in the Ghantaghar area of the city.

On July 16, Vikas of nearby Baghpat district reported to police that a person calling from abroad offered him Rs 1 crore to carry out blasts in the city, police said.

After the Mumbai blasts, meat trader Hashim Ilahi had approached the police here claiming he received three calls from Iran offering money to carry out blasts in the city. The Meerut police confirmed they were overseas calls.

Should people build their own homes?

19 July 2011 Last updated at 01:41 GMT By Tom de Castella BBC News Magazine The government wants to double the number of people building their own homes. But is it wise to encourage the population to take up DIY housebuilding?

Programmes like Grand Designs tap into the desire to build your dream home. Now the government - keen to raise the stubbornly low housebuilding rate - wants to start "a self build revolution".

Housing Minister Grant Shapps will later this week launch an action plan to double the number of self-build homes within a decade.

In reality, few Britons follow the Grand Designs model. The show's creator Kevin McCloud argues that Britons buy houses like baked beans - as generic products from a developer's catalogue - rather than creating something that fits their lifestyle. But what exactly is self-build?

The term is something of a misnomer, admits Ted Stevens, chairman of the National Self Build Association, which drew up the action plan. "It suggests you're laying the bricks yourself. But the truth is that most self builders hire an architect and do a bit of decorating themselves."

Other countries are way ahead, he says. In Austria 80% of all homes are self-built. In Germany, France and Italy the figure is 60%. In the US and Australia it is over 40%. By contrast the figure for the UK is about 10%.

There's huge interest and growing demand, says Stevens. Over three million people watch Grand Designs, 100,000 subscribe to websites announcing available plots of land and a similar number buy self-build magazines. But only 13,860 built their own home last year. Why so few?

Continue reading the main story

Ashley Vale is a self-build neighbourhood in Bristol made up of around 40 homes built on a former scaffolding yard.

In the late 1990s the site was about to be sold to a volume housebuilder. But a group of likeminded local people persuaded the council to sell them the site instead, to develop as a self-build neighbourhood.

It now has 40 environmentally-sustainable homes, some of them built entirely by the residents, others put together by builders.

"For people to work around each other on the houses is an amazing way to create a community," says Jackson Moulding, a director of the Ashley Vale Action Group.

"There are conflicts but in the end it worked out well." The reward is getting the house you want at an affordable price, he says.

"It's really hard to get your hands on a plot of land," says Stevens. "The housebuilders are very nimble, always sniffing around to find a field that might one day get planning permission." The planning system also fails to take self-builders into account, he says.

Grant Shapps wants to make land and mortgage lending available to self-builders. The aim is to rebrand it from something for the wealthy over 50s and "bring the opportunity of self-building to the masses".

But this is unrealistic says Steve Turner, a spokesman for the Home Builders Federation. Self-build will never move beyond being a fringe activity for a committed few to something mainstream, he argues.

"Building a house is a very complex procedure from the planning stage, to designing the shell, to the electricity, plumbing and insulation. I wouldn't want to live in a house I'd built myself."

Because the self builder is the landowner, they are also liable for improvements to local infrastructure, a cost that would normally be borne by the housebuilder.

But overall, self-build saves money, supporters argue. The average new build home costs £189,940 compared to a self-build cost of £84,000 if you do the work yourself or £146,000 if you employ tradesmen to do it for you.

Lynda Williams was given a plot of land in mid Wales by her father. She didn't have the money to hire a project manager so ended up building it herself from a timber frame. It took eight months and meant putting it together in the evening after work.

The main motivation was getting value for money. Her mortgage was £110,000 but it is now valued at £260,000. In addition to the financial spin-off, there is an emotional payout from being connected to the design and construction of your home. "I love my home. I quite often look up and remember when we built that section."

Planners are supportive of the concept. But there's a danger that allowing people to start building their own homes en masse could leave a blot on the landscape, they warn.

"When you build a house you're creating an asset for a hundred years," says Hugh Ellis, chief planner at the Town and Country Planning Association. "The design is not just a matter of personal taste, it has an impact on the wider community."

He fears the government's deregulation of the planning service may allow self-builders to "stick two fingers up" at planning controls.

Poor design is not the real problem, says Edwin Heathcote, the Financial Times's architecture critic. "The mass housebuilders have done such an appalling job of despoiling the countryside. So from an aesthetic point of view self-builders can't do any worse and should be encouraged."

The trouble with self build is that it steers clear of city sites - where development is most sustainable - as few can afford the land prices there. Instead self-builders buy land outside cities, where they are reliant on cars, and use larger plots than necessary, encouraging suburban sprawl. "Although the idea of self-build is potentially quite hippyish, it's relatively unsustainable," Heathcote says.

The answer, he says is to do self-build on a collective level and create a new city development. One current scheme is Ashley Vale in Bristol where likeminded people came together to redevelop an inner city site.

It boils down to giving power to the individual, says Stevens. "You've found the site, specified to the architect what you want, decorated and landscaped. So it feels different to just turning up one day to the house and picking up the keys."

Clinton pushes for deals in India

19 July 2011 Last updated at 17:36 GMT The three-day visit is Mrs Clinton's second to India as secretary of state. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has pushed for greater security and nuclear ties on a visit to India.

Mrs Clinton said last week's bombings in Mumbai (Bombay) had "driven home how important it is that we get results".

She also called for deeper trade ties and heard Indian worries over US pullout plans from Afghanistan.

Following the talks with Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna in Delhi, Mrs Clinton said she was "encouraged" peace moves with Pakistan had restarted.

Mrs Clinton said that counter-terrorism was an issue on everybody's minds following last week's bombings in Mumbai, which killed 20 people.

"We are deepening and expanding our efforts and making great strides together on behalf of counter-terrorism, but also in respect of maritime security," she told a news conference.

She said she was "encouraged" by renewed dialogue between India and Pakistan, which was "so necessary for us to deal with the underlying problem of terrorism".

India has not blamed Pakistan for last week's attack, but the much deadlier 2008 assault derailed peace efforts between the regional rivals. Formal talks restarted only this year.

Continue reading the main story Suvojit Bagchi BBC News, Delhi

India's domestic nuclear safety bill has made it difficult for the US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement to function smoothly.

Under clause 17 of the Nuclear Liability Bill, the government-owned operator of a nuclear plant can go to court in the event of an accident and force suppliers of material, equipment or services to pay compensation, if negligence is established.

US companies fear these sums could be huge.

Both Russia and France have also objected to the bill. Russia's ambassador called it a "deterrent" to suppliers, while the head of Areva, the French state-owned nuclear giant, wants more clarity on India's liability laws.

The US would like India to ratify the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage by the end of the year and adapt its liability laws in line with the treaty.

But after the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima, India is not keen to do either, experts say.

For his part, Mr Krishna voiced India's concern at US plans to withdraw from Afghanistan.

He urged the US to factor in "ground realities", so Afghanistan "will be in a position to defend itself against terrorism sponsored by the Taliban".

Nuclear energy

Mrs Clinton singled out civilian nuclear energy as a priority area, where the US and India "can and must do more".

The US agreed a landmark energy deal with India in 2008, but since then US private firms have struggled.

The US sees India's new nuclear liability law as too tough on nuclear plant suppliers, which has made it hard for US firms to compete with their state-owned French and Russian competitors.

Mrs Clinton's three-day visit is her second to India as secretary of state and follows President Barack Obama's trip last November.

Mrs Clinton arrived in Delhi late on Monday. After meeting Indian leaders, she will travel to the southern city of Madras (Chennai), a hub for US investment, where she will visit a Ford car factory.

India is currently the US's 12th largest trading partner, with bilateral trade of almost $50bn (£31bn).

In June, the two countries agreed to improve access to each other's markets - the US wants India to become one of its top 10 trading partners.

Kevin Costner in talks to join Tarantino film (Reuters)

By Joshua L. Weinstein Joshua L. Weinstein – Mon Jul 18, 7:42 pm ET

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap) – Perenial good guy Kevin Costner is negotiating to play a sadistic bad guy in Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained," an individual close to the project confirmed.

He is in talks for the role of Ace Woody, the sort of nasty that Tarantino specializes in.

The script focuses on a German dentist-turned-bounty hunter (to be played by Christoph Waltz). He buys a slave (Jamie Foxx) who can identify a man the bounty hunter is looking for.

The bounty hunter and the slave become friendly and set out to rescue the slave's wife from the vicious Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio is in that role). Costner plays one of Candie's henchmen.

Tarantino wrote and is directing the film.

Costner will also be playing honest guy Jonathan Kent, Clark Kent's father, in Warner Bros. upcoming Superman movie "Man of Steel."

Painkillers 'aid dementia care'

18 July 2011 Last updated at 00:08 GMT By Jane Hughes Health correspondent, BBC News Dementia often causes agitation Many dementia patients being prescribed "chemical cosh" antipsychotic drugs could be better treated with simple painkillers, research says.

The British and Norwegian study, published on the BMJ website, found painkillers significantly cut agitation in dementia patients.

Agitation, a common dementia symptom, is often treated with antipsychotic drugs, which have risky side effects.

The Alzheimer's Society wants doctors to consider other types of treatment.

Experts say that each year about 150,000 patients in the UK are unnecessarily prescribed antipsychotics, which have a powerful sedative effect, and can worsen dementia symptoms, and increase the risk of stroke or even death.

They are often given to patients whose dementia makes them aggressive or agitated.

But researchers from Kings College, London, and Norway speculated that the behaviour may sometimes be caused by pain, which patients were unable to express in other ways.

They studied 352 patients with moderate or severe dementia in nursing homes in Norway.

Half were given painkillers with every meal, the rest continued with their usual treatments.

Supervised treatment 'key'

After eight weeks, there was a 17% reduction in agitation symptoms in the group being given painkillers - a greater improvement than would have been expected from treatment with antipsychotics.

The researchers concluded that if patient's pain was properly managed, doctors could reduce the number of prescriptions for antipsychotic drugs.

Prof Clive Ballard, Alzheimer's Society: "Simple painkillers... had a a very, very substantial impact”

Professor Clive Ballard, one of the report authors and director of research at the Alzheimer's Society, said the finding was significant.

"At the moment, pain is very under-treated in people with dementia, because it's very hard to recognise," he said.

"I think this could make a substantial difference to people's lives - it could help them live much better with dementia."

However, he said painkillers should only be given to patients under the supervision of a doctor.

The Alzheimer's Society is issuing new guidance calling on doctors to think much harder before prescribing antipsychotics, and to look at prescribing pain medication instead.

The National Care Association said the study highlighted some of the complexities of dementia.

"Pain in itself is debilitating, so to identify it as the route cause of agitation and aggressive behaviour is a major breakthrough which will enable us to support people appropriately," said its chairman, Nadra Ahmed.

A government programme to reduce the inappropriate prescription of antipsychotic drugs is already under way in England.

The care services minister Paul Burstow welcomed the study.

"It should act as a further call for GPs to carefully examine the reason why those with dementia display agitated behaviour, rather than immediately resorting to antipsychotic medication," he said.

US officials met Gaddafi envoys

19 July 2011 Last updated at 14:31 GMT Libyan government spokesperson Moussa Ibrahim said the talks were a step to repairing relations US officials have held face-to-face talks with representatives of Col Muammar Gaddafi's government, the US state department has confirmed.

The US said the meeting reiterated its demand that Col Gaddafi step down, and involved no negotiations.

A spokesman said the Libyan government supported dialogue with the US but only if it was free from preconditions.

On Monday, rebels said they had pushed government troops westwards after seizing back most of the town of Brega.

The Libyan government denied the claim, insisting that the key oil refinery town was still firmly under its control.

'Delivered a message'

In a statement, the US state department said officials had given representatives of Col Gaddafi a "clear and firm" message that the Libyan leader had to go.

"The message was simple and unambiguous - Gaddafi must leave power so that a new political process can begin that reflects the will and aspirations of the Libyan people," it said.

The US did not give the location of the talks, but Libya said they had taken place on Saturday in neighbouring Tunisia.

Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim hailed the talks as an important step in "repairing relations" with the US.

"We support any dialogue, any peace initiative as long as they don't decide Libya's future from without," he told journalists in Tripoli.

"We will discuss everything but do not condition your peace talks. Let the Libyans decide their future," he added.

Washington said that Jeffrey Feltman, the US assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, and the US ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz, had been involved in the talks, but would not say who represented the Libyan side.

Continue reading the main story Christian Fraser BBC News, Tripoli

There has been a deliberate media strategy here to show us that Gaddafi remains firmly in control. I've been taken to towns in government territory around Tripoli - Zlitan, Gharyan, Zawiya - and we've seen big demonstrations - tens of thousands of people, much bigger than those we've seen in the past.

This shows two things: One, there is support for Col Gaddafi here. That is significant when the rebels talk about taking Tripoli - it's not necessarily going to implode from within, though it's hard to ascertain Gaddafi's support when our movements are so tightly controlled.

Second, they are trying to counter the media voice in the outside world suggesting that this is eventually going to end and Col Gaddafi will go. They are saying in fairly confident tones that they have control of the situation.

It's a propaganda war. Under the bombardment they have faced, propaganda is about the only tool they have left.

American officials said no further talks were planned "because the message has been delivered".

The BBC's Christian Fraser says he has been told that in recent weeks the French have held similar meetings with Libyan officials in the Tunisian resort of Djerba - the difference between the two approaches, he says, is that the French have specified that Col Gaddafi must be sent into exile.

So far, the leader has laughed off suggestions he would leave the country.

US forces have been involved in military action in Libya since the UN in March passed resolution 1973, which permitted intervention to protect Libyan civilians against Col Gaddafi.

Following the resolution, the US took the lead in the air strikes against Col Gaddafi's forces.

Nato later took over - although the US continues to play a support role.

Nato strikes

Meanwhile, fighting continues in Brega, where rebels have been trying to push back pro-Gaddafi forces since Thursday, often fighting at close range in residential areas.

Brega, about 750km (465 miles) east of the capital Tripoli, has changed hands several times in the fighting along Libya's Mediterranean coast since the rebellion began in February.

Rebels said they had pushed government forces back to Ras Lanuf - and they say intercepted radio chatter suggests the forces were led in retreat by their commander, Col Gaddafi's son Mutassim. The government has dismissed the claims outright.

Rebels claim to have made gains in the eastern town of Brega

The government says 500 rebels have died in the fighting for Brega, while the rebels say the figure is 12.

Correspondents say the fall of Brega would be a major breakthrough for anti-Gaddafi forces. For weeks the Libyan conflict has appeared to be in a protracted stalemate with rebels holding eastern Libya and pockets in the west.

Nato aircraft have been targeting pro-Gaddafi forces near Brega in recent days, reporting hits on armoured vehicles and rocket launchers near the town, according to Reuters.

On Monday, South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, who has led a mediation mission on behalf of the African Union, said that Libya needed a democratic government.

But he said that the Libyan people must decide their own destiny, and that if Col Gaddafi goes conditions must be in place as to when, where and how that happens.

Mr Zuma made his comments during a joint news conference in South Africa's capital, Pretoria, with the visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Meanwhile, Russia has refused to recognise the rebel leadership as the legitimate Libyan government, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying such a move amounted to taking sides in a civil war.

Sheridan 'released on home leave'

19 July 2011 Last updated at 15:56 GMT Sheridan was jailed for lying during his successful defamation case in 2006 The disgraced former MSP Tommy Sheridan has been released from prison on a week's home leave.

The former Scottish Socialist Party leader was jailed for three years at the High Court in Glasgow in January after being convicted of perjury.

A jury found him guilty in December last year of lying during his successful defamation case against the News of the World newspaper in 2006.

Sheridan has been serving his sentence at Castle Huntly Open Prison in Angus.

Sheridan's appeal against his conviction is to be put on hold pending the completion of an inquiry by Strathclyde Police into allegations that witnesses at his trial may have lied under oath.

'Private time'

Ken Ross, chairman of the Defend Tommy Sheridan campaign, said: "He has desperately missed his wife and daughter and is keen to get some private time with them. He is going to be home spending private time with his family.

"The main issue is that after six months, he has desperately missed his daughter. His wife Gail is able to go and visit him but he has not seen his daughter, though he has spoken to her by phone."

It is thought Sheridan will return to prison on Friday.

His lawyer Aamer Anwar said: "It is normal for people at Castle Huntly to be released on a monthly basis in a similar fashion, so this is the beginning of that process.

"Tommy will be spending time with his wife and his daughter and close members of the family in the next few days."

The Scottish Prison Service said it does not comment on individual cases, adding that home visits vary from a day to a week.

Angry lesson

By Justin Webb
Today programme, Japan

Four months on, has the earthquake shaken Japan's traditional respect for authority?

When the cleaners have finished preparing the Bullet Train at Tokyo station they form a line next to the gleaming carriages and bow deeply to the waiting passengers. This happens with every train, everyday. It is not a ceremony for tourists, it is a part of life.

It is quite clear they do things differently here.

Volunteers in Ishinomaki are frustrated with the pace of the recovery effort

Japan is a society with a profound sense of its own culture and mores. As everywhere, the culture changes with time but even in ultra-modern Tokyo you notice again and again the politeness and restraint of the traditional Japanese way.

On the approach road to the Fukushima nuclear plant, the exclusion zone is guarded by two policemen. They are neat men with masks - to guard against dust rather than radiation I should stress - who politely and firmly turn us back. And then bow.

The last time I was turned back at a police line was in south London after an accident. At least 10 policemen were required to keep back the unruly hoards and they did so with what seemed to be a sneering disdain for the people they serve: "Can't you see the line. What do you think it's there for?"

The contrast is striking.

In so many areas of life, Japan has a unique approach to things. They have certainly borrowed a fair bit from the outside world, not least from the English language which has been incorporated into everyday Japanese life and advertising.

But it is simply not true to suggest that Japanese culture is a sponge and nothing else.

The work practices that have transformed the Western car industry and the Japanese pop culture that was the height of trendy modernity in the 70s and 80s, are both recent exports from a nation that has plenty of ideas of its own.

But somewhere along the road Japan has lost its way.

'Mega-catastrophe'

Economically, it has gone nowhere in the last 20 years. The bullet train is still fast but it looks a little tired now. Companies making big profits in the new industries of the post-industrial era like solar power are likelier to be based in China than Japan.

Playgrounds lie empty in Minamisoma, close to the Fukushima Nuclear Plant

The terrible scourge of an ageing population - faced in the future by many nations across the world - has already begun in Japan, where the population ages and declines every year. A quarter of all Japanese will be over 65 in a few decades time.

It really hits you that there are very few children and young people around. Everyone seems roughly the same age as me (50) and that is not a pretty sight or an economically attractive model.

And this year there was a further blow to Japan's self-confidence in the shape of the series of disasters that have been called the world's first mega-catastrophe. There was an earthquake of huge power, followed by tsunami and topped by a nuclear meltdown.

But what did the shocks of March 2011 do to Japan?

The place is used to earthquakes - they really are part of life here - but does the power of this year's quake and the terrible devastation it caused, lead Japanese people to change their lives? If so, how?

Do they become more fearful - do they give up on trying to stay among the world's top economic dogs or do they find a side of themselves they didn't know existed?

Do they begin to question their leaders as never before? Do charities and support groups that don't have anything to do with government begin to emerge? And, if that happens, does Japanese society find a new strength, and perhaps a new economic potency as well?

Overwhelming distrust

We met Koshu Kunii, a volunteer in the city of Ishinomaki, who was frustrated by the passivity of his fellow countrymen. They have an urgent need for people to help treat depression but not enough volunteers with the right qualifications.

Why are they not there? "It's a good question," he says.

"In Japanese culture we have a tradition of restraint and not wanting to get in people's way."

He believes that this has got in the way of helping victims in Ishinomaki. Interestingly Mr Kunii has studied in England. He was not being unpatriotic but he did make it clear that foreign culture might provide some pointers towards a more activist Japan.

Japan's speedy Bullet Train has been overtaken in speed by trains in China

Perhaps the nuclear disaster will change things. When you visit Fukushima you hear real anger and real fear. People who live near the plant feel that they were strung along by the power company and by the government.

They do not know whether they can bring their children back to live there and they do not trust what they are told. All schools close to the power plant are now closed and the playground is already overgrown with long grass.

When will that grass be mowed and the children welcomed back with their future safety guaranteed by trusted authorities?

I ask some elderly ladies, who give us lunch, whether they will ever trust the power company again. They laugh bitterly.

"Next time they build a nuclear power station they should do it in Toyko," they say. They do not expect their own grandchildren to cross their thresholds within the next 10 years.

But here is the problem. We are used to hearing the fact - repeated ad-nauseam around the time of the disaster - that nuclear power generates 30% of all Japan's electricity.

What is less well known is that the proportion was due to rise to 50% in a few decades time. Japan is - or was until March - travelling fast and furiously on a road to a nuclear future.

To leave the road suddenly might involve, if you will excuse the continuation of the metaphor, causing an accident.

My strong sense on leaving Fukushima is that the anger and distrust of the nuclear industry here is likely to be overcome by a Japanese acceptance of what they will see as practical necessity to keep nuclear power.

In the end, the nukes will stay but the debate that precedes that decision is only just beginning.

It is a debate that could change Japanese society, ushering in a new age of fractiousness and political tension.

Whatever they decide, I hope they still bow beside the Bullet Train.

Get in touch with Today via email , Twitter or Facebook .

Death-row dilemma

19 July 2011 Last updated at 12:20 GMT By Alastair Leithead BBC News, Texas Mark Stroman, due to be executed for going on a killing spree, now describes hate as "pure ignorance"

In the nine years Mark Stroman has been on death row in Texas, he says he has watched 208 people walk past him on the way to be executed.

This week it is his turn.

But fighting to save his life is the man he shot in the face and blinded in one eye.

In the days following 11 September, 2001, Stroman attacked three people, killing two of them.

The attack left Rais Bhuyian blind in his right eye

He was targeting anyone he considered an "Arab", calling it revenge for 9/11.

"What Mark Stroman did was a hate crime, and hate crimes come from ignorance," said Rais Bhuiyan, 37, the only man to survive the shooting.

"His execution will not eradicate hate crimes from this world, we will just simply lose another human life."

'Uneducated idiot'

It was a Friday lunchtime when a gunman walked into the petrol station shop and pointed a double-barrelled shotgun at Rais.

He had been robbed before and knew what to do. He offered the money from the cash register, but that didn't appear to be what Mark Stroman had come for.

"He asked me 'where are you from?' and that's a strange question to ask in a robbery. As soon as I said 'excuse me?' I heard an explosion and felt the sensation of a million bees stinging my face."

Rais Bhuyian, a Bangladeshi-born naturalised US citizen, played dead until his attacker left.

Continue reading the main story

If I can forgive my offender who tried to take my life, we can all work together to forgive each other and move forward”

End Quote Rais Bhuyian Victim He needed many operations, has lost the sight in his right eye and still carries shotgun pellets in his face, but is now campaigning hard to prevent his attacker from being put to death.

Mark Stroman killed two other men in a similar way - Vasudev Patel, an Indian immigrant who was Hindu, and Waqar Hasan, a Muslim born in Pakistan. They were both shot as they stood behind a counter.

"I was an uneducated idiot back then and now I'm a more understanding human being," Stroman said through the black telephone handset, from behind a thick pane of glass in the death row visiting room at the Polunsky Unit, Livingston, Texas.

It was a week before the death sentence was due to be carried out, and his last opportunity to speak publicly about what he did, why he did it, and what he thought about the man he shot who was now fighting for his life.

"At that time here in America everybody was saying 'let's get them' - we didn't know who to get, we were just stereotyping. I stereotyped all Muslims as terrorists and that was wrong."

Stroman is shaven-headed and covered in tattoos. He made a point of putting up a small American flag on the counter behind the thick glass as the camera started rolling for the interview.

Mark Stroman is due to be put to death by lethal injection

At 41, he has lost some of the muscle he had when he appeared in court nine years ago, when he proudly held up an American flag and gave the thumbs up to the courtroom cameras.

"I had some poor upbringing and I grabbed a hold of some ideas which was ignorance, you know, and hate is pure ignorance. I no longer want to be like hate, I want to be like me," he said.

"No matter what I do or say is going to change the fact that even you are going to view the Muslims as suspect," he told me.

"If you get on the airplane and you see one, you might not be wanting to, but you are going to watch that person - we live in different times now, but it's not right to stereotype them and I'm the first to admit I did that."

Offering forgiveness

Rais Bhuyian is a Muslim, and on what he feared was his deathbed, he promised Allah he would make a pilgrimage to the Hajj in Mecca. There he thought more deeply about what had happened and what he wanted to do.

"This campaign is all about passion, forgiveness, tolerance and healing. We should not stay in the past, we must move forward," he said.

"If I can forgive my offender who tried to take my life, we can all work together to forgive each other and move forward and take a new narrative on the 10th anniversary of 11 September."

He had been in touch with Stroman, who he would like to see as "a spokesperson, an educator, teaching a lot of people as ignorant as him what is wrong".

Stroman says he has asked himself the question a thousand times - would he be able to forgive the man who shot him in the face? He said he would find it very hard.

"I tried to kill this man, and this man is now trying to save my life. This man is inspiring to me.

Rais Bhuiyan says Stroman could have a role as an 'educator'

"Here it is, the attacker and the attackee, you know, pulling together. The hate has to stop - one second of hate will cause a lifetime of misery. I've done that - it's wrong, and if me and Rais can reach one person, mission accomplished.

"If this is what my purpose in life is, let's do it - rock on, saddle up it's rodeo time as we say in Texas."

It seems very unlikely that the governor of Texas will issue a stay of execution - the state is known for its regular use of the death penalty - but Stroman seems resigned to it.

"To be honest, the closer I get to death the more at peace I am," he said.

Rais Bhuiyan's desire to forgive and to stop this execution is a small step towards bringing communities together.

"He did what he did, but now he is a different person, and can talk to the people - those who are as ignorant as him - so there is a chance we can live in a better society. Execution is not a solution in this case."

Mark Stroman is due to be put to death by lethal injection on Wednesday 20 July at 1800 Texas time (0000 GMT on Thursday).