French air safety authorities are investigating what caused a Ryanair 737-800 jet carrying 168 passengers to lose cabin pressure while it was 30,000ft over France.

Officials from the Paris-based BEA are going over the aircraft at Limoges international airport. It has been suggested that a faulty air valve may be involved.

Air is sucked into the cabin by the engines and its flow is regulated by an outflow valve. If the air supply is disrupted by a malfunctioning valve or a hole in the aircraft, the pilot has only a short time to bring the plane down to an altitude where the air is breathable -- around 8,000ft.

It was this rapid, controlled descent in response to a cockpit warning signal that led some passengers on board flight FR9336 from Bristol to Barcelona Girona to believe that the aircraft was plunging to the ground as freezing air whistled through the cabin.

Amid increasing signs of a worsening European economy, a survey has found that citizens in large EU countries are mainly blaming their own governments, but the European Central Bank is also becoming a target for discontent.

The IMF is to shave its July estimate for the eurozone's growth this year from 1.7 percent to 1.4 percent in its autumn World Economic Outlook due in October, according to an official quoted by Reuters, while cutting its 2009 forecast from 1.2 percent to 0.9 percent.

On a global basis, the Washington-based body predicts the world economy will slow down further in the second half of the year and achieve a growth rate of only 3.9 percent rather than 4.1 percent as earlier expected.

While the US forecast was left unchanged for this year, the IMF also suspects a further downturn in 2009, shaving its outlook to 0.7 percent from 0.8 percent.

Meanwhile, a survey by the Harris agency conducted for Financial Times and published on Tuesday (26 August) showed that citizens in countries most affected by the economic downturn overwhelmingly put the blame on their own governments.

German leaders received the toughest criticism, with 74 percent of Germans polled saying their government held "complete" or "a lot of" responsibility. While 63 percent of Brits thought the same about their decision-makers, in Spain the figure was lowest, at 53 percent.

Western leaders have condemned strongly Russia's decision to recognise the independence of the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

US President George Bush warned his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, that his "irresponsible decision" was exacerbating tensions in the region.

Georgia said Russia was seeking to "change Europe's borders by force".

Earlier, Mr Medvedev told the BBC that Russia had been obliged to act because of Georgia's "genocide" of separatists.

Russia warns NATO over build-up of warships in Black Sea
Russia's military says it is bewildered by the build-up of NATO's naval force in the Black Sea - and scoffed at claims the warships were delivering humanitarian aid. Deputy Chief of the Russian General Staff, Colonel General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, told a media briefing that there are currently ten NATO warships with cruise missiles in the area, and eight more are expected to arrive there shortly.

"These ships are very seriously armed," Nogovitsyn said. "As far as cruise missiles are concerned, they are strategic arms and have a range of 2,500 km. The Black Sea is just a pool for them."

The Colonel General added it's very hard to believe these ships have arrived just to bring humanitarian aid.

We have evidence of genocide - Russian investigators
Russian investigators say they have found evidence of genocide by the Georgian military against South Ossetians. The Head of Russia's Investigative Committee, Aleksandr Bastrykin, said that witnesses reported that Georgian soldiers were throwing cluster bombs into shelters where civilians were hiding.

He also said that investigators came across the body of a pregnant women shot in the head.

Germany's economy appears to be headed for trouble, according to key business and consumer sentiment indicators published on Tuesday. Analysts say the job market will be affected as firms cease hiring.

Germany's business sector is growing increasingly pessimistic about its economic outlook, according to the key business sentiment index which declined in August for the third consecutive month.

"The German economy is encountering an increasingly more difficult situation," Hans-Werner Sinn, president of the Ifo institute that calculates the monthly index based on a survey of around 7,000 companies, said in a statement.

The business climate index fell by far more than expected to 94.8 in August from 97.5 in July. Economists polled by Reuters had on average predicted a slight drop to 97.1.

Commerzbank, Germany's second-largest private sector bank, is far along in talks to take over Dresdner Bank. Analysts say it's high time Germany's banks consolidate to make up ground lost to foreign competitors in recent years.

It would be a breakthrough after years of hesitation -- Germany's second-largest bank Commerzbank is about to take over its rival Dresdner Bank, the third-largest, according to media reports. The basics of the transaction have already been ironed out and a decision is expected before the end of August, insiders say.

The deal could trigger a much-needed reorganization of Germany's entire banking sector. It would create a second national banking champion alongside market leader Deutsche Bank and put other players under pressure to follow suit. Analysts say that in the medium term, Dresdner and Commerzbank could join up with Postbank, a major retail bank owned by Deutsche Post, provided that Deutsche Bank doesn't snap up Postbank first in a pre-emptive strike.

A merger would kick-start long-overdue consolidation in the German banking sector, say banking analysts. Germany's banks are dwarfs in comparison with giants such as China's ICBC with a market capitalisation of $248 billion or Britain's HSBC with $189.9 billion. In terms of its market value, Deutsche Bank ranks 32nd in the world, with Commerzbank in 84th place.

Georgians raise tension in conflict zone
South Ossetian authorities say Georgian troops and police have been building up in close-to-border villages on the Georgian side on Sunday. Moreover, at weekend Georgian sabotage groups have fired on several settlements in Leningorsky and Znaursky districts of South Ossetia, bordering with Georgia, and wiped out livestock of the locals there.

As Irina Gagloeva from the Committee for Information and the Press in South Ossetia said, Georgian military have again started threatening the inhabitants of South Ossetian villages Orsochan, Abrev and Tsinaghar, and the latter had to be hiding in the woods during the night.

She said the pull-back of Russian troops from the area of the Georgia-South Ossetia conflict is aggravating the situation.
 

The mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, has revealed that he will run for the leadership of the French Socialist Party, setting the stage for a showdown with former presidential candidate Ségolène Royal.

The Socialists have been divided and rudderless since Mme Royal was soundly beaten by Nicolas Sarkozy in May 2007 and have failed to mount an effective opposition.

Party members are due to choose a new leader in November. Mme Royal said in May that she would stand and M. Delanoë, who is seen as her most serious rival, had been under pressure to launch his own bid. "Yes, I will put all my energy at the service of my beliefs," the mayor told Le Monde when asked if he would run.

An openly gay politician who has given Parisians free bikes-for-hire and fake beaches along the river Seine, M. Delanoë is seen by some Socialists as their best chance of breathing new life into the party.

Britain will overtake Germany and France to become the biggest country in the EU in 50 years' time, according to population projections unveiled yesterday. A survey of demographic trends finds Britain's positive birth rate contrasting strongly with most other large countries in Europe.

The impact of population shrinkage, coupled with the ageing of key European societies, spells big problems for pensions, health and welfare systems across much of the union, says the report, published by Eurostat, the statistical service of the European commission.

But Britain, it says, is likely to suffer less because of its strong population growth and the younger average age of British society.

Immigration is singled out as the sole mitigating factor, seen as crucial to maintaining population growth. But the report says this probably will not be enough to reverse the trend of population decline in many countries.

Nato commanders are waiting anxiously to see if Russia intends to scrap its offer to allow civilian supply convoys to use Russian land routes into Afghanistan.

This is far from the only element of Nato/Russian military co-operation now at risk, however, because of the row over Georgia. Several areas of joint activity and assistance include:

-- Training and exercises so that Russian and Nato troops can engage in joint operations.

-- Counter-narcotics training by Russian specialists in Afghanistan to address the threat of trafficking in central Asia. Co-ordinating with Russian ships in Nato's counter-terrorist operation in the Mediterranean. Russia sent a frigate in 2006 and more warships were supposed to be on offer this year.

-- Developing search and rescue co-operation. In 2005 Russia took part in Nato's biggest such exercise.

-- Joining in crisis management exercises, and co-operating over terrorist air threats. Between 1996 and 2003 Russia was the largest non-Nato troop contributor to Nato-led peacekeeping operations.

A delegation of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine, headed by acting top deputy FM of Ukraine Yuri Kostenko, has canceled its visit to the Russian Federation over the recent decision of Moscow to recognize the independence of the Georgian rebel states of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The delegation was due to visit the Russian Federation for political consultations on invitation of the Russian side on August 27.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Opposition legislators jeered President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday as he opened Zimbabwe's parliament, singing and chanting and sometimes drowning out his voice.

The rare show of defiance -- broadcast live on national television -- set the stage for a combative legislature, even as Mugabe and his political foes try to negotiate a power sharing arrangement after disputed elections.

Mugabe's speech could sometimes not be heard over the jeers of his opponents, who clapped and sang songs deriding him and the ZANU-PF. "ZANU is rotten. You are great liars," they sang.

"We are tired of you," they shouted.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A United Nations human rights team has found "convincing evidence" that some 90 civilians -- among them 60 children -- were killed in air strikes on a village in western Afghanistan on Thursday night, a statement issued by the United Nations mission in Kabul said, making it almost certainly the deadliest case of civilian casualties caused by any United States military operation in Afghanistan since 2001.

The United Nations the team visited the scene and interviewed survivors and local officials and elders, getting a name, age and gender of each person reported killed. The team reported that 15 people had been injured in the air strikes, which occurred in the middle of the night.

JERUSALEM, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Tuesday urged restraint in the latest debate over Israeli housing construction on the West Bank.

Speaking at a Jerusalem news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livini, Rice said that the final border between the Palestinian Authority and Israel would be determined through negotiation, and neither side should do anything to upset the process.

"I think it's no secret, and I've said it to my Israeli counterparts, that I don't think the settlement activity is helpful to the process, that in fact, what we need now are steps that enhance confidence between the parties," Rice said. "Anything that undermines confidence between the parties ought to be avoided."

A Sudanese airliner has been hijacked shortly after take-off from Nyala, in Darfur region, Sudanese civil aviation officials have said.

The plane was on its way to Khartoum, but has landed in Libya, after first trying to land in Cairo, reports say.

Aviation officials in Khartoum told the BBC the plane belonged to Sudanese airline Sun Air and there were 95 people on board.

The officials said members of a former Darfur rebel group were on the plane.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki demanded a complete U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq by 2011 as he embarked Monday on an attempt to win support among Iraqi leaders for a draft security accord with the United States.

Maliki's comments appeared to be an attempt to extract further concessions from American officials, less than a week after both sides said they had agreed to remove all U.S. combat troops by the end of 2011, if the security situation remained relatively stable, but leave other American forces in place. The U.S. plan is to leave as many as 40,000 troops to continue to assist Iraq in training, logistics and intelligence for an undefined period.

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Afghan opium cultivation and production dropped in 2008 for the first time in three years, partly because of drought, with almost all the illegal crop grown in unrest-hit areas, the UN said Tuesday.

The destitute country produces around 90 percent of the world's opium, used to make heroin sold in Europe and Central Asia, with production reaching record levels last year and profits said to feed a Taliban-led insurgency.

Last year, the world was "hit by a heroin tsunami," Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said in a statement. "This year the opium flood waters have started to recede."

The UN agency, in a report on its annual poppy survey, said there was a 19 percent decrease in opium cultivation to 157,000 hectares (388,000 acres), down from a record harvest of 193,000 hectares in 2007. It marked the first drop in cultivation since 2005.

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"The situation has to be reviewed within a few months.... One year is not enough to be convinced that something structural has changed," [Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime] said.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | 'Hero' Clinton plays killer scene

So often at the crucial moments of her life she has known what has to be said in public and she has said it, even when people have assumed that she must have been feeling something very different inside.

A remarkable piece of 'journalism' - Clinton may have said she wanted party unity, and said it over and over, but really she was thinking something very different.

Very few people know what Mrs Clinton really thinks, and they never say.

What would the BBC do without its talented mind-reading correspondents?