Ivory Coast cocoa exports 'banned' by Alassane Ouattara

Ivory Coast's farmers provide a third of the world's supply of cocoa

The internationally recognised president of Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, has called for a month-long ban on cocoa exports.

Ivory Coast is the world's largest cocoa producer and it is a key source of revenue for Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to cede power.

The price of cocoa - already up 14% since November's disputed election - rose about 7% when trading resumed.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has urged the UN to authorise force to oust Mr Gbagbo.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Odein Ajumogobia wrote an editorial published by several local newspapers saying the UN Security Council should pass a resolution to give legitimacy to previous West African threats to send troops to Ivory Coast.

He did, however, stress this would be a "last resort".

Experts say some West African countries would be reluctant to use armed force against Mr Gbagbo.

Mr Ouattara has previously said special forces should remove Mr Gbagbo from the presidential palace but he is also trying to use financial pressure to force him out.

On Saturday, one of Mr Gbagbo's allies was forced to resign as head of the Central Bank of West African States - which manages the currency of eight West African countries, including Ivory Coast.

'Pandemonium'

But it is not clear how far Mr Ouattara's call for a cocoa export ban will be heeded.

“Start Quote

Those who think that Ivory Coast will be isolated are those who think that [we] have no choice but to operate with them”

End Quote Ahoua Don Mello Laurent Gbagbo spokesman

• Could Ivory Coast turmoil make chocolate more expensive?

"We are getting on with things as usual," the director of an Abidjan-based export firm told the Reuters news agency.

The BBC's John James in the main city Abidjan, says the announcement is causing pandemonium in the international cocoa industry.

Although Mr Ouattara does not control any security forces there who could enforce the ban on the city's ports, our reporter says the call may have some effect with major players in the world cocoa industry.

They will be worried about losing their licences if Mr Ouattara does ever come to power, he says.

And global companies could be concerned about their international reputations if they are seen to be dealing with an administration seen as illegitimate by the world community, he says.

The European Cocoa Association and Federation of Cocoa Commerce said they had not yet decided what action to take.

"We have received communications in relation to the conduct of the cocoa business in Cote d'Ivoire [Ivory Coast] to which we are in the process of responding in order to seek further clarification for our members," they said in a joint statement.

"As can be expected in these circumstances, the trade issues involved in this respect are of a highly sensitive nature and will take time to resolve," they said.

Reuters news agency reports that cocoa prices rose by 7% to reach a six-month high of $3,616 (£2,269) on the Liffe futures exchange when trade opened on Monday.

Ivory Coast produces about a third of the world's cocoa.

The European Union, US and West African states have already adopted various financial sanctions against Gbagbo and his closest allies.

But Mr Gbagbo's allies say any attempts to deprive it of cash are futile.

Spokesman Ahoua Don Mello told journalists: "Isolation cannot work... Those who think that Ivory Coast will be isolated are those who think that [we] have no choice but to operate with them."

Protest as Mumtaz Qadri in court over Taseer death

Malik Mumtaz Hussein Qadri has become a hero to many in Pakistan

The self-confessed assassin of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer has appeared in court as dozens of his supporters demonstrated outside.

Mumtaz Qadri, 26, was brought for a procedural hearing at an anti-terrorism court in a Rawalpindi city jail.

He has admitted gunning down Mr Taseer earlier this month in Islamabad, after the governor backed reforms to controversial blasphemy laws.

Qadri has been hailed as a hero by many in Pakistan.

The BBC's M Ilyas Khan, who was outside the court in Rawalpindi's main Adiala jail, says more than 50 Qadri supporters turned up, waving placards and shouting slogans.

'Solitary confinement'

He says the demonstrators were mainly supporters of a Sunni Muslim cleric, Qari Hanif, whom police have been investigating on suspicion of inciting violence on Governor Taseer.

It is understood that Qadri told police he had been inspired to attack Mr Taseer after attending a religious gathering held by Mr Hanif, who heads a little-known religious party, Shabab-e-Islami.

The protesters were joined by students from a nearby agricultural institute.

Our correspondent says the demonstration outside the jail was not big, compared with those at previous court appearances by Mr Qadri, when he was mobbed and showered with petals.

But it was an attempt by his supporters to make their presence felt, he says.

Only defence lawyers, the judge and Qadri were present at Monday's pre-trial hearing when a police report on the case was submitted.

Members of the media and the public were excluded from the court.

Outside the jail, Qadri's lawyer Tariq Dhamial said his client was being kept in solitary confinement, and his health was suffering.

He said they had applied for Qadri's family to be allowed to visit him.

Qadri is next due in court on 1 February, when an indictment is expected to be served.

Qadri pleaded guilty to Governor Taseer's murder through a confessional statement earlier this month.

He was acting as a bodyguard for the politician when he riddled him with bullets in broad daylight on 4 January.

Pakistan's blasphemy law has been in the spotlight since a Christian mother-of-five, Asia Bibi, was sentenced to death in November.

She denies insulting the Prophet Muhammad in her Punjab village in June 2009.

Critics of Pakistan's blasphemy law say it has been used to persecute minority faiths in Pakistan, and is sometimes exploited for grudges.

Earlier this month two men from Pakistan's Sunni Muslim majority were convicted under the law.

The father and son had been found guilty of tearing down a poster of a gathering to mark the Prophet Muhammad's birthday.

They were handed a life term, instead of the law's mandatory death sentence.

Toyota beats GM to end 2010 as world's biggest carmaker

Cars Toyota recalled in 2010 included Avalon models made between 2005-6 over braking issues

Toyota ended 2010 as the world's largest carmaker despite suffering a series of recalls and safety issues.

The Japanese company's sales reached 8.42 million vehicles, just beating General Motors' tally of 8.39 million.

Toyota's sales, including truckmaker Hino and carmaker Daihatsu, rose 8% from 2009 due to strong growth in China and other Asian countries.

Toyota dethroned its US rival as the world's biggest carmaker in 2008 - a position GM held for nearly 80 years.

But the company says it is targeting profits and quality rather than volume.

"Being number one in term of sales is not important for us," said Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco.

"Our objective is to become number one with the customer, in terms of service and customer satisfaction."

The Japanese company, which had an impeccable reputation for quality, saw its image suffer in 2009, especially in America where it was the only major carmaker to see sales fall in 2010.

Analysis

Jorn Madslien Business reporter, BBC News

---

Toyota remains the leader, in spite of last year's embarrassing recalls.

But it may not last.

General Motors is recovering quickly with strong sales growth, Volkswagen Group is also eyeing the top slot, and soon further consolidation in the motor industry could lead to the creation of new giants.

The main battles will be fought in Asia, where sales are set to grow the fastest in the years ahead.

Whoever wins in China and India will become the biggest in the world.

It recalled more than 10 million vehicles around the world for issues ranging from faulty floor mats to computer software faults.

Toyota's North American sales last year totalled 1.94 million vehicles, down 2% from 2009.

The company's sales in Japan rose 10% to 2.20 million vehicles, with the Prius its best-selling model.

Meanwhile, GM, which underwent a major restructuring in 2010 after going into bankruptcy protection and being bailed out by the US government, saw sales rise 12.2%, with a 28.8% jump in China. Sales in America rose 6.3%.

Although sales rose in the UK, there were setbacks in some other European markets, with Germany falling 29.5% and Italy down 10%.

Drug reduces lung cancer deaths, Swiss study finds

Lung cancer is the second most common form of cancer in the UK

Drugs used to treat breast cancer may also be useful in tackling lung cancer, according to research in Switzerland.

The study, published The Cancer Journal, showed that anti-oestrogens reduced the number of deaths from lung cancer.

The authors said the research, if backed up, could have substantial implications for clinical practice.

Cancer Research UK warned that large scale clinical trials were needed before any conclusions could be made.

Hormones have long been associated with some forms of cancer.

Tamoxifen, which cancels out the sex hormone oestrogen, was first used to fight breast cancer more than 40 years ago.

Some studies have shown that increasing levels of oestrogen, through hormone replacement therapy, increase the risk of lung cancer.

“Start Quote

This could have substantial implications for clinical practice”

End Quote Dr Elisabetta Rapiti Geneva Cancer Registry

The researchers at the University of Geneva asked if increasing oestrogen increased cancer deaths, would reducing oestrogen have the opposite effect.

Preventing deaths

They analysed data on 6,655 women diagnosed with breast cancer between 1980 and 2003. Just under half had been prescribed anti-oestrogens.

There was no significant difference in the number of women developing lung cancer, but those on anti-oestrogens did have a lower death rate.

Dr Elisabetta Rapiti, who lead the study at the Geneva Cancer Registry, said: "Our results support the hypothesis that there is a hormonal influence on lung cancer, which has been suggested by findings such as the presence of oestrogen and progesterone receptors in a substantial proportion of lung cancers.

She said: "If prospective studies confirm our results and find that anti-oestrogen agents improve lung cancer outcomes, this could have substantial implications for clinical practice."

Lung cancer is the second most common form of cancer in the UK and is strongly linked with smoking.

Oliver Childs, senior science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: "It's possible that breast cancer drugs like Tamoxifen could also have an effect on lung cancer, but we can't draw firm conclusions from this study alone - the number of women who developed lung cancer was small.

"Evidence from large-scale clinical trials is needed before we know if these drugs could also be used as new treatments for people with lung cancer."

Tunisia police fire tear gas at protesters

Protesters defied the curfew to come out on to the streets

Tunisian police have fired tear gas at protesters who were demanding the removal of all allies of former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

The protesters had defied an overnight curfew to gather outside the offices of Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi - one of the men they want to quit.

Mr Ghannouchi helped form a unity government after Mr Ben Ali fled the country on 14 January.

But protesters are unhappy that many of Mr Ben Ali's allies remain in power.

The authorities say they have arrested several members of Mr Ben Ali's family over the past week, and political allies including former Interior Minister Abdallah Qallal have been placed under house arrest.

Meanwhile, schools were set to reopen on Monday after they were closed earlier this month by Mr Ben Ali's government in a failed attempt to stop protests from spreading.

But union leaders have called on teachers to strike against the unity government.

Razor wire

The BBC's Magdi Abdelhadi in Tunis says some teachers and pupils have opted not to go to school - and instead have joined the ranks of the protesters.

He says the protesters seem more determined than ever to get rid of the interim government.

Fall from power

• 17 Dec: Man sets himself on fire in Sidi Bouzid over lack of jobs, sparking protests
• 24 Dec: Protester shot dead in central Tunisia
• 28 Dec: Protests spread to Tunis
• 8-10 Jan: Dozens of deaths reported in crackdown
• 12 Jan: Interior minister sacked
• 13 Jan: President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali promises to step down in 2014
• 14 Jan: Mr Ben Ali dissolves parliament after new mass rally, then steps down and flees

• France 'slow to back' Tunisians

Mr Ghannouchi, who has been in power since 1999, has pledged to quit after elections - which are expected within six months, although no date has been set.

But protesters have been gathering outside his offices for several days demanding that he step down immediately.

On Sunday night, hundreds of people - many from rural areas of the country - arrived to continue their protest camped outside his compound.

Witnesses said the protesters threw stones and smashed windows on Monday morning, prompting the police to fire tear gas.

Afterwards, protesters set fire to police cars and charged police lines, before the authorities cordoned off the government compound with razor wire and barricades.

Mr Ben Ali, the country's authoritarian ruler since 1989, was forced from power on 14 January amid country-wide protests sparked by economic problems and political repression.

Dozens of protesters were killed in the unrest, and the authorities have promised to investigate the deaths.

There has been speculation that the Tunisian unrest could spread to other countries.

In Algeria, police broke up an anti-government demonstration on Saturday by about 300 protesters calling for greater freedoms. There have also been protests in Yemen against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Irish parties set for crisis talks after Greens quit

Opposition parties are pressing Brian Cowen to call a snap election

Irish parties are to hold crisis talks after the Greens pulled out of the coalition led by beleaguered Prime Minister Brian Cowen.

The Green Party's decision wipes out the governing coalition's two-seat majority and puts into question the passage of a vital finance bill.

The main parties will try to reach a deal on a timetable for the finance bill and on a general election date.

Irish voters are currently due to go to the polls on 11 March.

Mr Cowen quit on Saturday as leader of the Fianna Fail party, but is staying on as taoiseach, or prime minister.

Opponents said his decision to stay on was "farcical".

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan told Irish radio that "we do need a tight timetable - I will look constructively at any amendments" - "as short as possible a timetable as can be devised".

He added that the Irish Republic was dependent on international funding and had been for three to four years.

Analysis

Shane Harrison BBC NI Dublin correspondent

---

After Brian Cowen's resignation, Fianna Fail is now a party without a leader and a coalition partner, and pressure is growing for a general election earlier than the 11 March date announced last week.

Green Party leader John Gormley's statement makes it a virtual certainty that the people of the Republic will go to the polls sometime in February.

But the fog of uncertainty remains.

That's because we still don't know whether the finance bill can be passed and, if so, when. Nor do we have a date for a general election, although it will almost certainly be sooner rather than later.

The opposition parties have threatened votes of no confidence in both the Irish prime minister, or taoiseach, and his government this week.

If the votes go ahead, it is unlikely the minority Fianna Fail government can win.

• Fog clouds Republic's government

The opposition Labour party has threatened to press ahead with a no-confidence motion on Tuesday unless the bill is rushed through by Friday and the Dail dissolved, which would lead to early elections being held in February instead of March.

Labour finance spokeswoman Joan Burton called for the government to agree to an election either on 18 or 25 February or 4 March.

"I think the first thing Brian Lenihan has to realise is that Fianna Fail is now a minority government and it does not command sufficient support in the Dail to dictate the order of business," she said.

Mr Cowen is clinging on to power, and could well be voted out of office before the end of the week, says BBC Ireland correspondent Mark Simpson in Dublin.

There is recognition on all sides that the political squabbling is damaging Ireland's reputation abroad, our correspondent says, but a deal is by no means guaranteed.

No loopholes

Fianna Fail had urged the Greens to stay in government to ensure the finance bill - needed as part of Ireland's international bail-out package - is passed before the election.

The bill is designed to cut the government's deficit. The Irish Republic was forced to accept the 85bn-euro ($113bn; £72bn) EU and IMF bail-out in November last year.

Mr Lenihan has revealed the bill, which was published on Friday, contains a number of reforms to shut tax loopholes.

Fast-track

The Green Party will join the opposition benches immediately.

But it said it would still support the finance bill and hoped Fianna Fail would fast-track the legislation so it could be approved speedily.

Green Party senator Mark Deary has said if the bill is passed this week, a February election is "inevitable".

"If the finance bill can be concluded by the end of this week, a three-week campaign would bring us to 18 February, a four-week campaign to 25 February."

The loss of two Green Party cabinet members means Mr Cowen now only has seven ministers of 15, the minimum constitutionally allowed.

Mr Cowen has been under increasing pressure over his handling of the economy and party disputes.

Last Tuesday, he won a vote of confidence in his leadership of Fianna Fail. Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin, who had opposed Mr Cowen, resigned.

However on Thursday, Mr Cowen bungled a planned government reshuffle. The Greens were angered and blocked the reshuffle. Mr Cowen then called the general election.

Mobile phone to blast into orbit

By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

Development of the satellite is now quite advanced

British engineers are planning to put a mobile phone in space.

The team at Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) in Guildford want to see if the sophisticated capabilities in today's phones will function in the most challenging environment known.

The phone will run on Google's Android operating system but the exact model has not yet been disclosed.

It will be used to control a 30cm-long satellite and take pictures of the Earth in the mission later this year.

Although mobile phones have been flown on high altitude balloons before, this would likely be the first time such a device has gone into orbit several hundred kilometres above the planet.

"Modern smartphones are pretty amazing," said SSTL project manager Shaun Kenyon.

"They come now with processors that can go up to 1GHz, and they have loads of flash memory. First of all, we want to see if the phone works up there, and if it does, we want to see if the phone can control a satellite."

High Street product

The venture is part of the company's quest to find more inexpensive, off-the-shelf electronics that can be used to lower the cost of its spacecraft designs.

The mission is known as STRaND-1 (Surrey Training Research and Nanosatellite Demonstration).

“Start Quote

We're trying to use as much of the capability of the phone as possible”

End Quote Doug Liddle Head of science, SSTL.

It involves both the company and researchers from the local university's Surrey Space Centre (SSC).

Much of the development work has been done in team-members' spare time.

The mobile model being used will be a standard, sub-£300 ($450), smartphone available in High Street stores.

"We're not taking it apart; we're not gutting it; we're not taking out the printed circuit boards and re-soldering them into our satellite - we're flying it as is," Mr Kenyon explained.

"And, in fact, we're going to have another camera on the satellite so we can take a picture of the phone because we want to operate the screen and have some good images of that as well."

Eye on Earth

Critical to the whole endeavour is the phone's operating system.

Android is open source software which means SSTL's engineers can modify it to adapt the phone's functions.

Google sent Nexus S smartphones to an altitude of 18km (60,000ft) on balloons last year

The great swings in temperature and the harsh radiation found in space require the phone be placed inside the satellite casing to give it some protection.

A hole will have to be cut in the side of the casing therefore to allow the phone's camera lens to see out.

The phone itself will not "call home"; messages and pictures will come back via the satellite's radio link.

For the first part of the mission, the mobile will act as the back-up to the main computer on the spacecraft.

After a period of time, however, the phone will be put in charge.

"We're trying to use as much of the capability of the phone as possible," said Doug Liddle, head of science at SSTL.

"Ideally, the phone can take control and do the thinking."

Busy months

To precisely point and manoeuvre, the satellite will be incorporating advanced guidance, navigation and control systems including miniature reaction wheels, and a GPS receiver, as well as innovative pulse plasma thrusters to propel it through space.

The latest smartphones pack enormous capability into a very small space

The intention is that the phone be given the chance to oversee all these subsystems.

"The open source nature of the software is very exciting because you can see how further down the line, once we've got the phone working in orbit, we could get people to develop apps for it," Mr Liddle added.

Chris Bridges from the Surrey Space Centre commented: "If a smartphone can be proved to work in space, it opens up lots of new technologies to a multitude of people and companies for space who usually can't afford it. It's a real game-changer for the industry."

SSTL has earned a worldwide reputation for its small satellites. The company has managed to reduce the cost of its systems by incorporating components that were originally developed for consumer products such as laptops.

The coming months will see the company launch Earth observation spacecraft for Nigerian, Russian and Canadian customers.

It is also about to start building the spacecraft that will form the initial constellation of Galileo, Europe's multi-billion-euro answer to America's GPS network.