Neo-Nazi trial opens in Germany

6 May 2013 Last updated at 06:02 ET

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The BBC's Stephen Evans: "The authorities have admitted that things went wrong"

An alleged member of a German neo-Nazi cell has gone on trial in Munich in connection with a series of racially motivated murders.

Beate Zschaepe, 38, is accused of being part of the National Socialist Underground (NSU), which killed 10 people, mostly of Turkish background.

She denies the murder charges. After entering court, she stood with folded arms and turned her back on the camera.

The case sparked controversy as police wrongly blamed the Turkish mafia.

The head of Germany's domestic intelligence service was eventually forced to resign over the scandal. It also emerged that intelligence files on far-right extremists were destroyed after the cell's activities came to light.

Four male defendants are also on trial with Ms Zschaepe, facing lesser charges of having helped the NSU.

She faces life in prison if convicted.

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This police video shows alleged Neo-Nazi Beate Zschaepe in an identity parade.

Critics have accused authorities of turning a blind eye to the crimes of right-wing extremists, the BBC'S Steve Evans reports from Munich.

Officials deny this, saying mistakes occurred because the murders were spread across different regions, each with different police and security agencies.

The killings took place over a seven-year period, and none of the victims or locations was high-profile.

Execution-style killings

Ethnic Turkish community groups and anti-racism campaigners demonstrated outside the courthouse on Monday demanding justice. Some suspect the police of institutional racism, which may have helped the neo-Nazis to act with impunity, our correspondent says.

Before the trial got under way a large crowd of journalists had gathered outside, along with dozens of people hoping to get seats in the court. About 500 police officers were deployed and nearby streets were cordoned off.

Ms Zschaepe is charged with complicity in the murders of eight ethnic Turks, a Greek immigrant and a German policewoman between 2000 and 2007, as a founding member of the NSU.

She is also accused of involvement in 15 armed robberies, of arson, and of attempted murder via two bomb attacks.

Prosecutors say the aim of the execution-style killings was to spread fear among immigrants and prompt them to leave Germany.

Her lawyers say she is refusing to speak in court. Only the trial opening was broadcast, in line with German legal restrictions.

The four male defendants are:

• Ralf Wohlleben, 38, and Carsten Schultze, 33, accused of being accessories to murder in the killing of the nine men - they allegedly supplied weapons and silencers
• Andre Eminger, 33, accused of being an accessory in two of the bank robberies, in the 2004 nail-bombing in Cologne's old town that injured 22 people, and two counts of supporting a terrorist organisation
• Holger Gerlach, 39, faces three counts of supporting a terrorist organisation.

The NSU cell remained undetected until Ms Zschaepe gave herself up in November 2011, after police discovered the bodies of two of her alleged accomplices.

Uwe Mundlos, 38, and Uwe Boenhardt, 34, appeared to have shot themselves after a botched bank robbery.

After their deaths, the gun used in the murders of the 10 people was discovered.

Ms Zschaepe shared a flat in Zwickau, in the old East Germany, with the two men who were found shot dead.

The arson charge against her relates to a fire which she is alleged to have started in the flat before giving herself up. She told police she was the one they were looking for.

In addition, a video emerged showing pictures of the corpses of the victims and identifying the "organisation" behind the murders as the NSU. The video had a cartoon Pink Panther totting up the number of dead.

Only then did the authorities conclude that the killings were the work of neo-Nazis.

They had previously treated some of the families of the victims as suspects in their murders.

As a result, the trial has taken on a meaning beyond the charges in court, as it is also puts the spotlight on attitudes towards the murder of members of ethnic minority groups, our correspondent says.

An earlier start date had been set for the trial, but it was delayed for weeks amid a dispute about the seat allocations, as Turkish media were not guaranteed places.

Turkish media have now been given four seats, but several leading German newspapers missed out in the lottery, AFP news agency reports.

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Bangladesh protest clashes 'kill 15'

6 May 2013 Last updated at 07:12 ET

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Police used stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse the demonstrators

At least 15 people are reported to have been killed and more than 60 hurt after police and Islamist protesters clashed in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka.

Police used stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse a Sunday protest organised by the group Hefazat-e Islam.

But there were later running battles throughout Sunday and into Monday in areas across the city.

Tens of thousands of Islamists had gathered in the city to call for stronger Islamic policies.

Rioters went on to set fire to shops and vehicles.

'Very aggressive'

Central Dhaka was reported to be calm following a day and night of violence.

Police said a ban had been imposed on all rallies and protests in the city until midnight on Monday to prevent a repeat of the clashes.

Continue reading the main story

• A tightly-knit coalition of a dozen or so Islamist groups, pushing to change Bangladesh's secular culture via imposition of what it sees as proper Islamic ways
• Rose to prominence in Feb 2013, rallying against a campaign that demanded the death penalty for an Islamist leader convicted of war crimes
• Support drawn from religious schools across Bangladesh
• Has 13-point charter of demands including exemplary punishment to those who "insult Islam".

Thousands of Islamist activists were seen fleeing the Motijheel area of Dhaka on Sunday as police moved in to take control of the area.

Having secured the business district by the early hours of Monday, the police said officers were searching for protesters hiding in nearby buildings.

The area around the city centre's largest mosque had turned into a battleground as police reacted to stone-throwing rioters with tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets and truncheons.

Clashes also broke out in Kanchpur on the south-eastern outskirts of Dhaka.

There were varying reports of the number of dead and injured, but police have confirmed that two officers and a member of the security forces were among the dead in Kanchpur.

One witness who watched events unfold from a rooftop in central Dhaka said the demonstrators "were very aggressive, some people were throwing stones and the situation quickly become violent... the police had no option but to respond".

"Rioters vandalized markets and set fire to bookshops where the Holy Koran is sold. Thousands of Koran and religious books burned. They also attacked the ruling party's political office and national mosque," he told the BBC.

The bank employee, who asked not to named, said many people in Dhaka were angry about the violence, particularly as the city is still mourning the recent loss of more than 600 workers in a building collapse.

"I am Muslim and 90% of the population is Muslim too but the protesters do not represent our views," he said.

'Hang atheists'

On Sunday, crowds of protesters blocked main roads, isolating Dhaka from other parts of the country.

Dhaka's Daily Star newspaper reported that the group hired at least 3,000 vehicles, including buses, lorries and minibuses to bring demonstrators into the capital, while others travelled there by train.

Chanting "Allahu Akbar!" ("God is greatest!") and "One point! One demand! Atheists must be hanged", the activists marched down at least six main roads as they headed for Motijheel, AFP news agency reported.

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Hefazat-e Islam - a coalition of around a dozen Islamist organisations - is seeking to impose a stricter form of Islam on Bangladeshi society.

The movement, which draws its strength from the country's madrassas, or religious schools, has issued a 13-point charter of demands, including greater segregation of men and women.

Its opposition to a national development policy for women has angered women's groups.

The government, which describes Bangladesh as a secular democracy, has rejected Hefazat-e Islam's demand for a new law on blasphemy.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said current legislation was adequate.

Muslims make up nearly 90% of the country's population, with the rest mostly Hindus.

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Ex-Italian PM Giulio Andreotti dies

6 May 2013 Last updated at 07:59 ET

Giulio Andreotti, one of the most prominent political figures of post-war Italy, has died aged 94.

Mr Andreotti was Italian prime minister seven times between 1972 and 1992. He led the Christian Democrat party, which dominated Italian politics for decades.

He was dogged in later years by allegations of corruption and mafia links.

He had been seriously ill for some time, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported.

Mr Andreotti entered the Italian parliament in 1945 and remained there for more than 60 years, before seeing out his days as a senator-for-life.

He was reputed to have met the pope as an eight-year-old after sneaking away from a Vatican tour group.

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Evidence Syria rebels 'used sarin'

6 May 2013 Last updated at 08:05 ET

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Carla del Ponte: "I was a little bit stupefied by the first indication of the use of nerve gas by the opposition"

Testimony from victims of the Syrian conflict suggests rebels have used the nerve agent sarin, according to a leading United Nations investigator.

Carla del Ponte told Swiss TV there were "strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof".

However, she said her panel had not yet seen evidence of government forces using chemical weapons.

Syria has recently come under growing Western pressure over the alleged use of such weapons.

Ms del Ponte, who serves on the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, said in an interview with Swiss-Italian TV: "Our investigators have been in neighbouring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

This is not the first time rebel forces in Syria have come under suspicion for using chemical weapons.

The Syrian government has accused them, and some independent commentators have speculated some groups could conceivably have got hold of stocks when storming government facilities.

But allegations about sarin gas use, possibly by Syrian rebels, coming from a senior UN official is a different matter. Carla del Ponte is a former war crimes prosecutor and serves on a UN commission looking into human rights abuses in Syria. So any comments from her carry weight.

However, this is hardly a formal UN position. She was speaking informally in TV and radio interviews, and freely admits that looking at the use of chemical weapons in Syria is not part of her remit.

All her team did was collect testimony, which they will now, no doubt, pass on to the separate UN team of weapons inspectors waiting in Cyprus for permission to enter Syria to make a full investigation.

In the meantime her comments are likely to make Western governments even more cautious in their preliminary assessments.

"According to their report of last week, which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated."

Ms del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney-general and prosecutor with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, did not rule out the possibility that government troops might also have used chemical weapons, but said further investigation was needed.

"I was a little bit stupefied by the first indications we got... they were about the use of nerve gas by the opposition," she said.

Ms del Ponte gave no details of when or where sarin may have been used.

Her commission was established in August 2011 to examine alleged violations of human rights in the Syrian conflict since March 2011.

It is due to issue its latest report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in June.

Her comments might also complicate matters for the US Secretary of State John Kerry ahead of his visit to Moscow this week, says the BBC Diplomatic correspondent, Bridget Kendall.

If he was hoping to cite fears that the Assad regime was now using chemical warfare as a reason why the Russians should shift their position, that argument will not be so easy to make, our correspondent says.

Mutual accusations

A separate United Nations team was established to look specifically into the issue of chemical weapons.

It is ready to go to Syria but wants unconditional access with the right to inquire into all credible allegations.

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What is Sarin?

• One of a group of nerve gas agents invented by German scientists as part of Hitler's preparations for World War II
• Huge secret stockpiles built up by superpowers during Cold War
• 20 times more deadly than cyanide: A drop the size of a pin-head can kill a person
• Called "the poor man's atomic bomb" due to large number of people that can be killed by a small amount
• Kills by crippling the nervous system through blocking the action of an enzyme
• Can only be manufactured in a laboratory
• Very dangerous to manufacture

Both the Syrian government and the rebels have in the past accused each other using chemical weapons.

The United States and the UK have said there is emerging evidence of Syrian government forces having used sarin, with the US saying it had "varying degrees of confidence" that chemical weapons had been deployed.

US President Barack Obama called in April for a "vigorous investigation", saying the use of such weapons would be a "game changer" if verified.

President Bashar al-Assad's government says the claims do not have any credibility, denouncing them as "lies".

Sarin, a colourless, odourless gas which can cause respiratory arrest and death, is classed as a weapon of mass destruction and is banned under international law.

Israeli raids

Ms del Ponte's allegations concerning the use of sarin by rebels came after Israel carried out a series of air attacks on Syrian military targets early on Sunday.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Israel, whether intentionally or not, has made itself a perceived ally of the Syrian rebels"

End Quote Haaretz newspaper, Israel

Israeli officials said its military struck consignments of advanced Iranian missiles for delivery to the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.

Hours later, the Syrian government said the Jamraya research centre north-west of Damascus was hit.

A more recent official statement has given more details, saying military positions in the Jamraya area were struck along with other facilities at Maysaloun near the Lebanese border and a military airport at Dimass.

The statement said there was massive damage at those locations and nearby civilian areas with many people killed or injured. It also denied that the targets included missiles on their way to Hezbollah.

The New York Times quotes an unnamed senior Syrian official as saying dozens of elite troops stationed near the presidential palace were killed, while AFP news agency quoted the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights as saying 15 soldiers died.

Images on state TV showed large areas of rubble with many buildings destroyed or badly damaged.

The Arab League has condemned the raids and the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, has expressed concern.

He said all sides should "exercise maximum calm and restraint" and "act with a sense of responsibility to prevent an escalation of what is already a devastating and highly dangerous conflict".

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Speedboat victim was BSkyB executive

6 May 2013 Last updated at 08:06 ET

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Eyewitness video showed the moment the speedboat was brought under control

A man who died in a speedboat crash off the north Cornish coast, which also killed his daughter, was a senior executive at BSkyB.

Nick Milligan, 51, and his eight-year-old daughter were among six people thrown from the boat in the Camel Estuary, off Padstow on Sunday.

Four other family members, thought to have been hit by the boat, are in hospital with serious injuries.

The vessel was stopped after a local waterskiing instructor jumped on board.

The injured family members are thought to have been hit by the boat while it was going round in circles.

'Deeply shocked'

The four injured are a 39-year-old woman, a four-year-old boy and two girls aged 10 and 12. They suffered leg injuries of varying degrees of severity, John Oliver from South Western Ambulance Service said.

The boat is owned by the family, who are from Wandsworth in south London, and are believed to have a holiday home in the area.

Mr Milligan had been managing director of Sky's advertising sales division, Sky Media, since 2004.

A company spokesperson said: "Everyone at Sky is deeply shocked and saddened to learn of the tragic accident involving the Milligan family.

"Nick has been a great friend and colleague for many years and his loss will be felt across our company and the industry. Our very deepest sympathies are with his family at this time."

Police and marine investigators have begun an inquiry into the incident, co-ordinated by Devon and Cornwall Police.

Supt Jim Colwell said some of the injuries were "life threatening" as well as "life changing".

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Nick has been a great friend and colleague for many years and his loss will be felt across our company and the industry"

End Quote BSkyB statement

"The key lines of enquiry are primarily witness enquiries, those eye witnesses that were at the scene at the time and have already started to provide us with information as to what the circumstances were and what the boat was doing at the time of the incident," he said.

Supt Colwell said a mechanical examination of the boat, with the involvement of the Marine Action Investigation Branch, would take place "just to make sure there were no factors to do with the vessel itself which may have caused this incident".

The sunny bank holiday weather had drawn a lot of visitors to the harbourside, and the surrounding waters of the Camel Estuary were said to have been calm on Sunday afternoon when the accident happened.

'Heroic' rescuer

At about 15:50 BST, Falmouth Coastguard received a number of reports from members of the public that six people had been thrown from a speedboat.

They reported seeing the boat "out of control for a short time" and striking some other boats, Jo Rawlings, from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, told the BBC.

Dog walker Simon Lewins, from Wadebridge, said he watched as a big, powerful boat going "a bit too fast" suddenly turned right, "depositing" people into the water.

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NICK MILLIGAN'S CAREER

• Joined the television industry in 1983 at Television South (TVS)
• Moved to Central Television in 1986 and went on to Thames Television in 1988, staying until 1992
• Was on the team which established the UK Gold and UK Living channels
• Became a founding director of Channel 5 in 1996 and stayed at the station until 2003, its first profitable year
• Became managing director of Sky Media in June 2004

Source: Media Guardian

"It kept going off in ever decreasing circles. The screams coming from the people in the water were pretty bad."

The man who leapt on to the out-of-control speedboat, from another vessel he went alongside with, was named locally as Charlie Toogood, from Camel Ski School.

It is thought Mr Toogood got a rope around the propeller of the out-of-control vessel in a bid to reduce its speed before jumping on board.

He then managed to stop it and take it away.

"I tell you what, this guy is a hero," Mr Lewins told the BBC.

Coastguards then helped some of the injured as a helicopter landed on the beach, he added.

Kill cord

The injured were being treated at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said.

Matt Pavitt, the Coastguard sector manager for North Cornwall, said the injured four were "badly shaken up".

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Cornwall Coastguard Matt Pavitt : "Someone managed to get on the boat... and prevent further loss of life"

He said the 8m (26ft) long vessel had a "very, very powerful engine" and there were reports it was "seen to veer over to one side, causing all six people to end up in the water", resulting in a number of serious injuries.

Alex Greig, of Falmouth Coastguard, said safety features in such vessels usually included a so-called "kill cord".

He said: "If somebody is thrown away from the console, it should disable the engine.

"But if it's not working, or not being worn correctly, there is the chance that if you are thrown away from the boat, it will continue to move under its own power.

"The way an outboard engine works, because it hangs loose on the back of the boat, it will actually put the boat into a very tight circle and continue round at the speed it was left going at originally."

Coastguards said the was no speed limit in the area where control was lost of the boat.

Investigators appealed for anyone with photographs or video clips to come forward.

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'No change of course' says Hague

5 May 2013 Last updated at 04:05 ET

Foreign Secretary William Hague says the Conservative Party does not need a "drastic change of course" despite its poor showing in local election results last week.

He was responding to a surge in support for the UK Independence Party, which won over 140 seats.

He wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that Tories shared voter concerns about immigration, welfare and living costs.

The elections saw the Tories lose control of 10 councils but retain 18.

UKIP averaged 25% of the vote in the wards where it was standing in Thursday's elections. Labour gained two councils and boosted its councillors by nearly 300.

Contests took place in 27 English county councils and seven unitary authorities, as well as in Anglesey. About 2,300 council seats were up for grabs in England, in a major mid-term test for the coalition government.

Mr Hague said that while the election results "are better for the government than is usual in the middle of a parliament... they do show that there is a good deal of dissatisfaction and unhappiness in the country, in particular among some traditional Conservative supporters".

"These people are sending a clear message to the government I serve in," he added.

Mr Hague said that the results required a "threefold response" from the Conservative Party.

No 'shortcuts'

Firstly, he said, it must "underline to all those feeling aggrieved that we don't simply 'understand' how they feel - on immigration, on welfare, on bringing down the cost of living - we feel it too."

And the party needs to "relay much more forcefully how we're acting in all these areas", he says.

"The deficit has been cut by a third and 1.25 million new private sector jobs have been created. We have brought in a cap on benefits.

"We have pledged a referendum on Europe. These are the things we came into government to do for the country - and we must shout about them even louder."

'Badly off-track'

Mr Hague also said that the "important" third response must be "a resolve not to fall into the trap of lowest common denominator politics".

"People are tired of bad news. Many want to hear that there's a Plan B or C or D that is a shortcut to success. But to offer shortcuts that will not work would be to cheat the British people, offering them a dead end - and frankly it is patronising them too.

"The truth is there are no easy ways out for our country."

Meanwhile, former Conservative chairman Lord Tebbit has called on the Conservatives to set a date for an EU referendum as part of efforts to win back voters from UKIP.

Lord Tebbit also said Tory policy was "badly off track" and needed a rethink.

He urged Mr Cameron to look at UKIP's policies and consider which were "really Conservative policies that would be attractive to the party and its traditional voters".

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UKIP 'here to stay', says Farage

5 May 2013 Last updated at 06:08 ET

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UKIP leader Nigel Farage is questioned on policies on the Andrew Marr Show

The UK Independence Party is "fundamentally changing British politics" with its goal of "getting our country back", Nigel Farage has said.

The UKIP leader said the party was "here to stay" and offered a change from existing parties which were almost "merged" in terms of their policies.

There have been Tory calls to change course to win back voters who switched to UKIP in England's local elections.

But Mr Farage said UKIP took votes from Labour and Lib Dems, not just Tories.

"We are the party with the broadest appeal across the country: north, south, east and west, old Labour voters, rural Tory voters, we are a genuinely national political party," he told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show.

"Now, to succeed in Westminster in 2015 we've got to grow and build a lot from here - but please don't think that it's impossible and I promise you this, UKIP is here to stay."

Draft bill

The UK Independence Party, whose main policy is for the UK to leave the European Union, gained about 25% of votes in the council seats it contested in England's local elections on Thursday.

Mr Farage said that the party's rise to having 147 local councillors gave the party a "bridgehead" to show what it can do.

There have been calls for the Conservatives to harden their commitment to a referendum on UK membership of the EU.

Conservative cabinet minister Philip Hammond said he hoped there would be a draft bill on a referendum ahead of the next general election.

Former Tory chairman Lord Tebbit also called for a date to be set for the referendum David Cameron has promised if the party wins the next election.

Mr Farage was asked whether a Conservative referendum pledge - and other policy changes - could lead to a deal being done between the two parties.

An indulgence

He said: "They're talking about it, but they don't mean it - and everyone knows that.

"You know, Mr Cameron set the course of this coalition government, indeed his own leadership since 2005 has been pro-EU, pro-open door immigration and pro-building wind turbines all over our green and pleasant land.

"He's not going to U-turn on all of those things, if he does, well, good luck to him. But please don't think that UKIP is just some little pressure group that will go away because someone in Downing Street starts singing the same song."

Foreign Secretary William Hague said that, from his experience campaigning for the local elections, people wanted a government which was doing the things currently being done - tackling the deficit, cutting immigration and capping welfare.

He said the government had to make sure that message was put across clearly.

He added, on Sky News' Murnaghan programme, that voting in the general election would not be "an indulgence" as it was for some voters in local elections - it would be a choice of who was going to run the country.

UKIP was the current "vehicle for the protest vote", as a variety of parties had been over the past 30 years, he said.

Deputy Lib Dem leader Simon Hughes said the Lib Dems had to take UKIP seriously and that the coalition was taking action on issues such as immigration.

But Mr Hughes said his party had done better in the local elections than in the previous two years and that they would continue to make the case that UK membership of the European Union was a "net plus for Britain", and also push the positives of immigration.

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Tory MP Evans denies rape claim

5 May 2013 Last updated at 06:51 ET

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Nigel Evans: "I'd like to thank my colleagues, friends and members of the public who've expressed their support and, like me, a sense of incredulity."

Deputy House of Commons Speaker Nigel Evans has denied allegations against him as "completely false", after being arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault.

The 55-year-old Conservative MP for Ribble Valley has been questioned about alleged attacks on two men.

But in a statement to journalists on Sunday, Mr Evans expressed his "sense of incredulity at these events".

His solicitor said he did not intend to quit as deputy speaker or as an MP.

Lancashire Police said on Saturday that a 55-year-old man had been arrested and questioned all day by officers.

The alleged offences took place between July 2009 and March 2013 in Pendleton, Lancashire, they said.

Mr Evans has been bailed until 19 June.

'Obviously shocked'

Addressing reporters outside his home, he said: "Yesterday I was interviewed by police concerning two complaints - one of which dates back four years.

He added: "The complaints are completely false and I cannot understand why they have been made, especially as I have continued to socialise with one as recently as last week."

He went on to thank police for their sensitive handling of the matter, as well as colleagues, friends and members of the public who had "expressed their support and, like me, a sense of incredulity at these events".

Prime Minister David Cameron has been made aware of the arrest, it is understood.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond told the BBC he had been "shocked" by the allegations about Mr Evans.

"I know Nigel well, I have known him for years. I'm obviously as shocked as everybody else is," he told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show.

Mr Hammond added it could be "very difficult" for the MP to continue as deputy speaker while the matter was being investigated.

"I think that is essentially a question the speaker will have to consider," he said.

'Shell-shocked'

Mr Evans, MP for Ribble Valley since 1992, was elected one of three Commons deputy speakers three years ago.

In more than two decades in Parliament, the Swansea-born MP - who came out as gay to a Sunday newspaper in 2010 - has held some senior posts in the party.

From 1999 to 2001, he was vice-chairman of the Conservative Party. Then, when Iain Duncan Smith became party leader in 2001, he was promoted to shadow Welsh secretary - a post he held for two years.

Michael Ranson, chairman of the Ribble Valley Conservative Association, said people in the constituency were "completely shell-shocked".

"He is a very popular MP and a very good constituency MP. He's given assistance to a lot of his constituents over many years," he told Sky News.

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Damascus 'hit by Israeli strikes'

5 May 2013 Last updated at 07:16 ET

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Syrian journalist Alaa Ebrahim describes the attack as like 'a mild earthquake'

Syria has accused Israel of launching rocket attacks on Damascus, after a night of huge explosions near the city.

Syrian state media said the rockets hit the Jamraya research centre, which Western officials have suggested is involved in chemical weapons research.

Israeli radio quoted a senior security official confirming an attack, and sources said it targeted weapons bound for Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

It is the second suspected Israeli strike in Syria in two days.

On Friday Israeli aircraft hit a shipment of missiles near the Lebanon border, according to unnamed US and Israeli officials.

The BBC's Yolande Knell in Jerusalem says the latest developments are a significant escalation in Israel's involvement in the conflict.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

Two air strikes in 48 hours does indeed start to look perilously like the involvement in Syria's internal crisis the Israelis have always said they want to avoid, especially when they are visibly taking out military targets on the very edge of Damascus.

Politically such attacks strengthen the Syrian regime in regional and domestic terms, and embarrass the rebels, who are cast as actors in a Western-directed plot to undermine resistance to Israel.

Israel has said that its only concern is to prevent advanced weapons being handed over to Hezbollah. Objectively it would be hard to see Israel's interest in helping trigger an uncontrolled collapse of the regime, leaving the field open to rebel groups among which Islamist radicals currently make the running.

But if the Friday and Sunday attacks herald a pattern of mounting Israeli involvement, it may be increasingly hard to keep the two strands separate.

She says Israel has already responded to fears of retaliation by locating two batteries of its Iron Dome missile defence system near Haifa, close to the Lebanese border.

'Mild earthquake'

Damascus was shaken by repeated explosions coming from the north-western suburbs.

Amateur video footage and eye witness testimony suggested rocket attacks had hit weapons dumps, triggering dramatic orange-flamed blasts.

The area houses numerous military facilities, including the Jamraya research centre, designated by Syria as a scientific research centre "in charge of raising our level of resistance and self-defence".

A state TV bulletin said: "The new Israeli attack is an attempt to raise the morale of the terrorist groups, which have been reeling from strikes by our noble army."

Damascus-based journalist Alaa Ebrahim told the BBC it was "the biggest explosion" the city had seen since the conflict began two years ago.

He said residents living near Jamraya reported feeling a "mild earthquake" just before the blast, indicating that the rockets may have hit an underground facility.

Continue reading the main story

Media reaction

• According to Syria's Sana state news agency: "The new Israeli aggression shows the direct involvement of the Zionist entity in the conspiracy against Syria and the relationship that links the armed terrorist groups with the Israeli hostile schemes backed by the Western, regional and some Gulf states."
• Iran's Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi is quoted by Fars news agency reacting to Friday's attack: "The inhuman acts and adventurism of the Zionist regime will strengthen the waves of anti-Zionism in the region and will shorten the life of this fake regime."
• A writer with Israel's Walla website notes that "common sense would seem to mandate" the attack on Syrian targets. However, he notes that admission of the attack from Syrian state media and the Lebanese militant group must raise fear about retaliation.

He added that the Syrian army was likely to have suffered major casualties in the attack.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights quoted eyewitnesses in the area as saying they saw jets in the sky at the time of the explosions.

The Jamraya facility was also apparently hit in an Israeli air strike in January.

Israeli officials confirmed the January strike, but insisted it had targeted trucks carrying missiles to Hezbollah.

After the latest attack, unnamed Western intelligence sources have again said the target was a weapons cache heading for Lebanon.

Israel has repeatedly said it would act if it felt advanced weapons were being transferred to militant groups in the region, especially Hezbollah.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Israeli military analysts are already warning of the danger of war, as what promises to be a long hot summer fast approaches"

End Quote

'Horrific reports'

Analysts say the air strikes are unlikely to have a major effect on the civil war in Syria.

The latest reports from coastal regions around the town of Baniyas suggest dozens of Sunnis have been massacred in a campaign of sectarian cleansing.

The government said it had pushed back "terrorist groups" and restored security to the area.

The US said it was "appalled by the horrific reports" but that it did not foresee sending US troops to Syria.

However, the US is no longer ruling out supplying weapons to the rebels.

More than 70,000 people are estimated to have been killed since the conflict erupted in March 2011.

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BBC inquiry to probe Hall claims

5 May 2013 Last updated at 07:26 ET

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Lord Patten: "We have to... satisfy people that we've been prepared to deal with our own dirty washing"

All claims relating to broadcaster Stuart Hall will be investigated by the inquiry into BBC culture and practices set up following the Savile scandal, BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten says.

News reports have claimed fellow BBC staff may have helped Hall, who has admitted indecently assaulting 13 girls, gain access to victims.

He said the claims were "appalling" but that a separate inquiry would not help.

Former Appeal Court judge Dame Janet Smith is leading the review.

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What we have to do is to provide answers which will satisfy people that we have been prepared to deal with our own dirty washing"

End Quote Lord Patten BBC Trust Chairman

It was set up in the wake of revelations of sexual abuse by former BBC presenter Jimmy Savile and is designed to examine whether culture and practices at the corporation during the 60s, 70s and 80s enabled abuse to continue unchecked.

On Thursday, Linda McDougall, a former colleague of Hall's, told the BBC he was "one of these people who had his hands all over you".

The political writer worked with the presenter at BBC Manchester in the late 60s and 70s. She recalled how he occupied a private room in the building and it was common knowledge that he would entertain female visitors there.

Newspaper reports have also included allegations that BBC staff helped Hall abuse his victims, including on BBC premises.

'Dirty washing'

Responding to the claims on the BBC One's Andrew Marr Show, Lord Patten said: "If that was the case - and Janet Smith is looking at it - then we want to see that evidence, we want to get it out in public and get it out in that way because it is intolerable."

But he added: "I think to set up a new inquiry, when there is already one which is extremely well-resourced operating would probably delay arriving at the truth.

"If we need to do more, we will. At the end of the day, what we have to do is to provide answers which will satisfy people that we have been prepared to deal with our own dirty washing."

Asked by guest presenter Jeremy Vine whether the BBC faced paying compensation to Hall's victims, Lord Patten said: "I imagine so, but that will be a matter for the lawyers and conceivably the courts."

He declined to estimate the cost of compensation, saying: "I think it would be incredible to be able to do that now because first of all what needs to happen is that we need to be able to get a grip on what happened and of course, in the meantime, co-operate with the police."

He went on: "It's a different case from the Savile case because the main person who is alleged to have committed these crimes, who has committed these crimes... is actually alive."

Hall admitted 14 charges of indecently assaulting girls, one aged nine, in May.

The 83-year-old, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, pleaded guilty at Preston Crown Court to the offences, involving 13 victims, which occurred between 1967 and 1985.

The ex-host of the BBC game show It's a Knockout was bailed and is due to be sentenced on 17 June.

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