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BBC news 2013-07-19

BBC news with Jerry Smit.

The Justice Ministry in Rome says the CIA’s former Milan station chief who’s been convicted by Italian courts has been detained in Panama. Robert Seldon Lady was sentenced in absentia for his role in the kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric, Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar. Mr Nasr says he was transported to Egypt when he was tortured. David Willey reports from Rome.  Robert Lady is one of the first Americans to be convicted anywhere in the world in connection with the extraordinary rendition program of the CIA. He’s technically a fugitive from Italian justice, having been convicted in his absence, and sentenced by an appeals court in Milan early this year to nine years jail, for taking part in a notorious kidnap ten years ago from a street in Milan of a Muslim cleric called Abu Omar. CIA has made no comment on the arrest and police in Panama say they have no information about Mr. Lady’s detention.    

The city of Detroit has filed for bankruptcy, the largest city to do so in the United States. The city, nicknamed motor-city for its once great automobile industry has more than 18 billion dollars of debt. It’s seeking protection from its creditors, including large pension funds and public sector workers.

The judge hearing the Court Martial of the American soldier Bradley Manning, who’s accused of passing thousands of documents to Wikileaks, has refused to throw out the most serious charge he faces aiding the enemy. The offense carries a mandatory life imprisonment. From Washington, Rajini Vaidyanathan reports. Bradley Manning admits he uploaded more than 700,000 diplomatic cables and US military documents to the Wikileaks websites. But he denies he did this to help or assist terror groups, such as Al Qaeda. Defense lawyer has been pushing for the charge to be dismissed, but the judge at the court room here of Fort Meade decided it should remain. She said the way in which Private Manning prepared and trained ahead of leaking the information backed up the government’s argument that he’d knowingly aided the enemy

In his first feature, Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour has vowed to restore security and stability in the face of those, he said, who wanted to drive the country to chaos. James Reynolds reports from Cairo. This was Adly Mansour’s first national address as Egypt's interim President. In his speech, Mr. Mansour accused some people of wanting to drag Egypt into, what he called, the unknown. "Some want a bloody path", he warned, "we will fight a battle for security until the end", he promised. Mr. Mansour’s administration has outlined a path towards parliamentary and presidential elections within 6 months. But the main opposition movement here, the Muslim Brotherhood rejects this timetable.

News from the BBC.

Russian police have detained dozens of protesters following the five-year prison sentence imposed on the leading opposition activist Alexei Navalny. There were scuffles since thousands of people took to the streets in Moscow, St Petersburg and other cities for protest that continued late into the evening. The White House described Mr. Navalny’s conviction from embezzlement as politically motivated, saying the judgment was an example of the Russian government suppressing dissent.

On a visit to Syrian refugee camp in Jordan, the US Secretary of State John Kerry has been confronted by several refugees, angrily demanding that the US set up a no-fly zone and safe havens in Syria. After a helicopter tour of the sprawling camp that holds some 115, 000 refugees, Mr. Kerry conceded that if he were in their shoes, he would be looking for help. “Well, I think they are frustrated and angry at the world for not stepping in and helping. I don’t think it’s a cut and dry, as simple as someone looked at. If I were in their shoes, I’d be looking for help from wherever I could find that.”

Police in Burma have arrested 6 people in connection with the killing of 10 Muslins in the western state of Rakhine last year, where a tension between Muslin minority and Buddhist erupted into violence. Local sources said the 6 detainees were Buddhists, around 80 people died in the communal unrest.

A London law firm has publically apologized to the Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling for revealing that she’s written a detective novel under a pseudonym. The move follows a statement by Miss Rowling, in which she criticized the firm in withering terms, saying she was angry and that her trust in it has been misplaced. The company said the revelation had been made by one of its partners in a private conversation that somebody he said he trusted. The book has become a best seller after Miss Rowling’s authorship was made public.