Israel Strikes Convoy On Syria-Lebanon Border

Israel has struck a suspected weapons convoy on the border of Syria and Lebanon, according to multiple sources.

Israeli jets carried out the strike overnight on the convoy which was said to be on its way into Syria, in the area of the Lebanon-Syria border.

Three squadrons of four jets carried out three separate sorties against the convoy, hitting it near the Lebanese village of Nabi Chit, about half way up the border with Syria in central Lebanon.

Early reports said the strike happened inside Lebanon, but Sky sources said the attack took place just inside Syria.

Sky News Middle East Correspondent Sam Kiley said: "We know from Sky sources that the Israelis have conducted an air strike involving three sorties by 12 planes - a very heavy airstrike, a high level of intent - on the village of Nabi Chit, near the bigger Syrian town of  Zabadani. It's inside Syrian territory, therefore representing a possible strategic escalation.

"I'm told by security sources that were not directly involved that the most likely target were either shore to ship missles - very sophisticated missiles of the kind used by Hizbollah against an Israeli ship a few years ago off the coast of Lebanon - or sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles, both of which the Damascus regime have access to from Russia.

"They are recently understood to have taken substantial imports of these from Russia.

"Why are they such a worry to the Israelis? If Hizbollah were to get access to such anti shipping missiles and particularly to very sophisticated anti aircraft missiles, it would prevent the Israelis carrying out just the sort of airstrike that they've just done - it would shift the balance towards Hizbollah.

"Israel has always enjoyed air superiority in the region and it would lose it if these missiles were able to find the way into Hizbollah's hands.

"There is less of a suggestion that it was targeting chemical weapons."

Israel has in the last few months boosted isecurity and put a lot of tanks on its northern border with Syria, around the disputed Golan Heights. It has also installed its Iron Dome anti-missile missile system which has been used successfully to stop rockets coming out of Gaza.

An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on the report.

Hizbollah also failed to comment.

In the run-up to the raid, Israeli officials had been warning very publicly of the threat posed to their country should high-tech anti-aircraft or anti-tank missiles reach Israel's enemies.

Lebanese militant group Hizbollah is a known enemy of Israel and has connections with Syria.

Israel fears sophisticated weaponery stockpiled by Bashar al-Assad's regime could fall into the hands of Hizbollah and could then be used to launch an attack against its citizens.

It was originally thought that Israel had waited until the convoy had crossed the border into Lebanon. A strike just inside Lebanon would had caused fewer diplomatic problems for Israel as it would avoid provoking Syria's ally Iran.

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Brit's DNA Linked To French Jogger's Murder

Police in France say DNA recovered from a crime scene where a mother-of-three was stabbed to death matches that of a British suspect.

A search was launched after Joudia Zimmat, 34, failed to collect her three-year-old daughter from school in Nimes.

Police sniffer dogs later discovered her body, and police believe she was sexually assaulted while out jogging, repeatedly hit around the face, and so brutally stabbed she was unrecognisable.

British man Robert Plant, 32, was arrested after police carried out house-to-house enquiries.

Nimes deputy prosecutor Stephane Bertrand

He is thought to have moved from Chatham in Kent, to France a decade ago.

Police are confident they have a DNA match with the suspect.

Nimes deputy prosecutor Stephane Bertrand said: "We compared the genetic profile with the evidence found at the scene, and the results were a match.

"His DNA corresponds with the objects recovered from the crime scene."

A friend, who gave his name as Michael, said: "We saw that he'd got scratches on him, but we couldn't understand why. I can't really say much more, I just don't know what has gone on."

Mr Plant's mother, a wealthy widow, was also arrested after allegedly giving false details of her son's whereabouts, but was later released.

Mr Plant remains in custody.

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Syria Is Being Destroyed, Says UN Envoy

The war in Syria has reached "unprecedented levels of horror" after evidence emerged of the massacre of dozens of men, the UN envoy for the country has said.

Lakhdar Brahimi told the divided UN Security Council it must act now to prevent further atrocities like the apparent execution of at least 65 men found dumped in a river in Aleppo.

Syrian rebels blamed president Bashar al Assad's government for the killings, but state media said an Islamist opposition faction was to blame.

"Syria is breaking up before everyone's eyes. Only the international community can help, and first and foremost the Security Council," Mr Brahimi told the council's 15 ambassadors.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed for more aid and an end to the violence. He said the situation was "catastrophic and getting worse. Every day, Syrians face unrelenting horrors".

More than 60,000 people have been killed in 22 months of conflict, according to the UN, which will seek £950m in humanitarian funding for beleaguered Syrians at a conference in Kuwait.

Fighting has devastated Aleppo since summer 2012

Mr Brahimi said Mr Assad's government's legitimacy has been "irreparably damaged" but warned that it could still cling to power as both state and rebel forces commit "equally atrocious crimes".

After briefing the Security Council, Mr Brahimi told reporters: "Syria is being destroyed bit by bit.

"And in destroying Syria, the region is being pushed into a situation that is extremely bad and extremely important for the entire world."

He warned of growing conflict "contamination" in neighbouring countries.

The Council has been paralysed on Syria for more than a year. Russia and China have vetoed three western-drafted resolutions which would simply have threatened sanctions.

Russia accuses the West of seeking regime change through force and insists it cannot make Mr Assad stand down. The US and its allies back the opposition stance that there can be no talks with the president.

Aleppo - Syria's most populous city - is far from Assad's Damascus base

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights opposition group said the Aleppo victims were found with their hands bound and a single bullet wound to the head - and that the death toll could climb to 80.

Hundreds of distressed people watched as muddied corpses were dredged from the Quweiq river.

"The regime threw them into the river so that they would arrive in an area under our control, so the people would think we killed them," rebel fighter Abu Seif said.

A government security official blamed "terrorists" - the regime term for the rebels - for the carnage.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the official SANA news agency said the jihadist Al Nusra Front carried out the executions.

Al Nusra, which has gained notoriety for its suicide bombings, has become a key fighting force, leading rebel attacks throughout the embattled country.

Its suspected affiliation to the al Qaeda offshoot in Iraq have seen it added to the US list of terrorist organisations.

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Japanese Olympic Judo Team 'Slapped' By Coach

Japan's female Olympic judo athletes were beaten with bamboo swords and slapped by their coaches, officials have said.

A 15-strong group of judokas complained to the Japanese Olympic Committee last month that they had been subjected to physical punishment by the team's head coach.

The group, which included athletes who took part in the London Olympics, says head coach Ryuji Sonoda routinely abused them, slapping them in the face and hitting them with thick wooden swords, like those used in the Japanese martial art of kendo.

They also complained that some were forced to compete in matches while injured, reports said.

Head coach Ryuji Sonoda has not denied the accusations

"We have asked the All Japan Judo Federation to investigate the case and improve their methods if the charges are true," a JOC official said.

AJJF head Koshi Onozawa said the federation had told off Sonoda and other coaches, who had admitted several of the allegations and they had been told they must change their style or they will "will face a harsher punishment if a similar incident happens in the future".

Sonoda himself did not deny the allegations. "Until now I have been doing things the way I saw fit, but I will mend the things that need fixing," Kyodo News quoted him as saying.

Japan's women returned from London with one gold, one silver and one bronze medal in judo, well below their haul from the 2008 Beijing Games.

The case comes weeks after a Japanese schoolboy killed himself after repeated physical abuse from his basketball coach, an incident that has provoked a bout of national soul-searching over the way children are disciplined.

Under a law dating from 1947, teachers are not allowed physically to discipline their charges. However, there are no statutory punishments  for those teachers who do so.

It is not the first time Japan's sporting world has been troubled with claims of violence - in 2007, a 17-year-old trainee sumo wrestler died after being badly beaten at the instigation of his trainer.

Speaking about the latest claims of brutality in sport, education and sports minister Hakubun Shimomura said it was time to reconsider the situation.

"It is time for Japan to change the idea that use of violence in sports including physical discipline is a valid way of coaching," he said.

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Toyota Recall Over Airbag And Wiper Faults

Toyota has launched a global recall of more than one million cars, including those fitted with airbags that can be triggered inadvertently by electrical interference from other vehicles.

It said a computer chip in the airbag control unit can malfunction when it receives electrical impulse from other cars.

The fault means there does not need to be any impact for the airbags to deploy.

The problem has caused minor injuries such as abrasions in 18 cases that have been reported, Toyota spokesman Naoto Fuse said.

Two accidents have been reported by customers outside Japan, although Toyota has not been able to confirm them, he added.

The airbag recall affects 752,000 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles in the United States.

Toyota UK has confirmed to Sky News that the fault only affects left-hand drive, non-European vehicles.

Toyota said it will add an electrical signal filter to the airbag control module to the recalled vehicles - repairs expected to take an hour to hour-and-a-half, according to Mr Fuse.

The spokesman declined to disclose the costs involved for the recall.

The news comes just days after Toyota was crowned the world's top-selling carmaker.

Separately, Toyota will also recall 385,000 Lexus IS and its series, including 270,000 Lexus IS vehicles in the US, over windscreen wiper problems.

The wiper arm nut of the front wiper in the affected vehicles may not be tight enough and the wiper may not work under certain weather occasions, including in snow.

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Spain GDP Shrinks For Sixth Straight Quarter

Spain has sunk even deeper into recession, according to latest figures.

The struggling eurozone country saw its gross domestic product (GDP) shrink by 0.7% in the fourth quarter.

The contraction was worse than expected and means Spain has now suffered six straight quarters of negative growth.

Spain's economy contracted by a total of 1.37% in 2012 and year-on-year GDP has contracted for five quarters.

Statistics showed Spain's economy shrank at the fastest pace in a year, as budget cutbacks and increasing unemployment prompted households to slash spending even more.

On Tuesday it was revealed that Spanish retail sales over the Christmas period were down more than 10% on the year before.

The National Statistics Institute (NSI) said the latest GDP estimate would be finalised on February 28 when the official figure is released.

Last week the NSI said the jobless rate for the last three months of 2012, for those aged 16 to 24, had soared to 55.13%.

The unemployment figure for young people was up from 52.34% in the previous quarter.

Overall, Spain's unemployment rate has risen to its highest level since measurements began in the 1970s, as a prolonged recession and deep spending cuts have left almost six million people out of work at the end of last year.

The nationwide jobless total rose 1% to 26.02% in the fourth quarter of 2012, or 5.97 million people, according to the NSI.

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South Korea's First Satellite Blasts Off

South Korea has launched a satellite into space from its own soil for the first time - just weeks after arch-rival North Korea accomplished a similar feat.

The rocket blasted off from a launch pad in the southwestern coastal village of Goheung.

Officials told cheering spectators minutes later that the rocket delivered an observational satellite into orbit.

It is unclear whether the satellite is operating as intended.

The launch is a culmination of years of efforts by South Korea - Asia's fourth-largest economy - to advance its space programme and cement its standing as a technology leader.

Crowds gather in a railway station in Seoul to watch the launch

North Korea's long-range rocket program has generated international fears that it is getting closer to developing nuclear missiles capable of striking enemies.

It has threatened to explode its third nuclear device, after tough new international sanctions were imposed over its December 12 rocket launch.

The rocket left from Goheung Space Centre

Washington and Seoul said North Korea's launch was a cover for a test of Pyongyang's banned ballistic missile technology.

South Korea tried and failed to launch satellites in 2009 and 2010, and more recent launch attempts were aborted at the last minute.

The satellite launched by Seoul is designed to analyse weather data, measure radiation in space, gauge distances on earth and test how effectively South Korean-made devices installed on the satellite operate in space.

South Korean officials say it will help them develop more sophisticated satellites in the future.

US experts say the North's satellite is tumbling through space and that it does not appear to be functioning, though Pyongyang has said it is working.

The South Korean rocket launched on Wednesday was partially designed and built by Russian experts under a contract between the two governments.

North Korea built its rocket almost entirely on its own.

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Nigerian Farmers Lose Shell Oil Claim

Judges have rejected most of a landmark case brought by Nigerian farmers against Royal Dutch Shell over the poisoning of fish ponds and farmland with leaking pipelines.

The Dutch Hague Civil Court rejected all cases against the Netherlands-based company.

However, in one case, it ordered subsidiary Shell Nigeria to compensate a farmer for breach of duty of care by making it too easy for saboteurs to open an oil pipe.

The level of damages in that case will be established at a later hearing.

The court rejected other claims, saying they were caused by saboteurs and, under Nigerian law, oil companies are not responsible unless they breach their duty of care.

The complaint was brought by four Nigerians and Friends of the Earth

Both sides have three months to appeal.

The case was seen by activists as a test for holding multinational companies responsible for alleged offences at foreign subsidiaries.

Four Nigerians and environmental group Friends of the Earth filed the suit in 2008 in the Netherlands - where Shell has its global headquarters - seeking reparations for lost income from contaminated land and waterways in the Niger Delta region.

The court backed Shell's argument that the spills were caused by sabotage and not poor maintenance of its facilities, as had been argued by the Nigerians.

"Shell Nigeria should and could have prevented this sabotage in an easy way," the ruling said. "This is why the district court has sentenced Shell Nigeria to pay damages to the Nigerian plaintiff."

The area is the main source of food for Nigeria's poorest

The Nigerians - fishermen and farmers - said they could no longer feed their families because the region had been polluted by oil from Shell's pipelines and production facilities.

The pollution is a result of oil spills in 2004, 2005 and 2007, they said.

It is the first time a Dutch-registered company has been sued in a domestic court for offences allegedly carried out by a foreign subsidiary.

The suit targeted Shell's parent company in the Netherlands and its Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Co. It is the largest oil and gas company in Nigeria, Africa's top energy producer, with an output of more than one million barrels of oil or equivalent per day.

Shell lawyers in October said that the company had played its part in cleaning up the Delta, which accounts for more than 50% of Nigeria's oil exports.

The Niger Delta has about 31 million inhabitants and includes the Ogoniland region. It is the main source of food for the impoverished, rural population.

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Russia Pulls Out Of Decade-Long Pact With US

By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent

Russia is pulling out of a decade-long pact with the US to tackle drug crime, in the latest public sign of the deteriorating relations between the two.

Washington had been helping to fund counter-trafficking operations, particularly targeting the flow of heroin from Afghanistan, since 2002.

But a statement published on the Russian Government website, and signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, now says Moscow has informed Washington that it is withdrawing from the deal because it "does not address today's realities and has exhausted its potential".

President Obama signs the Magnitsky rule into law last year

Ten years ago, when the agreement was signed, Moscow said it lacked the money to fight drugs effectively on its own. Its latest announcement implies that Russia, whose economy has since been boosted by high global energy prices, can now afford to do its own crime-fighting.

But analysts pointed to the timing of the announcement as evidence of the continuing diplomatic fallout from the death of a Russian lawyer in 2009.

The headstone of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, whose death triggered an outcry

Sergei Magnitsky died in a Moscow detention centre after being held for 358 days without trial - he had been attempting to expose a massive tax fraud at the time.

No-one has been convicted over his death, but his employer, a British-based investment firm, and human rights campaigners have published a list of around 60 Russian officials and policemen they allege were involved.

The US passed a law last year, dubbed the Magnitsky Act, banning those individuals (and any others Washington considers to be linked to human rights abuses) from travelling to the US as well as allowing any assets they hold there to be frozen.

Russia retaliated with its own law which, among other sanctions, bans American citizens from adopting Russian children.

Family and friends attend Sergei Magnitsky's funeral in 2009

Last week, the US announced it would leave a joint commission on civil society in protest at President Putin's record since his return to power last May.

Political analyst Andrey Piontkovsky told Sky News: "The explanation is very simple - it is not the first act of withdrawal from an agreement with the United States. 

"My feeling is that Putin is preparing to take even more anti-Western postures, and he does want to be not dependant on any kind of co-operation. 

"He is also calling for Russian oligarchs and businessmen to take their assets from the West and return them to Russia to make the Kremlin and his people less vulnerable to any reaction of the West to some future hostile action."

Russians protest against Moscow's decision to ban US couples from adopting

"I think that the general line of withdrawing co-operation with the West looks very sinister and allows us to predict some more harsh anti-western policies - so there will be no resetting of the reset as President Obama has asked Putin."

He said the Magnitsky Act had done more damage to US-Russia relations than even American plans for a missile defence shield in Europe.

"The Magnitsky Act created this storm with Putin and the Russian so-called elite because it hurts them.  Potentially, according to this act, Americans can freeze their assets in the United States and in other western countries."

"This is a blow to the heart of Putin's economic system because the Russian plutocracy likes the option of transferring money to a western bank, investing in western real estate and western economy - so this is very important and very sensitive for the Russian ruling class."

Russia's animosity is seen as coming from President Putin

"They regard the Magnitsky Act as an act of war, if you want, so they planning to react in the same way and to make themselves less vulnerable - first by getting these assets out of the West and second by cutting off any co-operation with the West. "

The head of Russia's parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, Alexei Pushkov, told news agency Interfax that Moscow had initially warned Washington it was ready to end the anti-crime deal six months ago.

"So this should not come as a surprise," he was quoted as saying.

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US Economy Shrinks For First Time In Three Years

The US economy shrank in the last quarter of 2012, the first contraction in more than three years.

The Commerce Department said the economy shrank at an annual rate of 0.1% in the fourth quarter.

It was a stark contrast to the 3.1% growth rate recorded during the July-September quarter.

The deepest cuts in defence spending for 40 years, fewer exports and sluggish growth in company stockpiles have been blamed.

The surprise contraction could raise fears about the economy's ability to handle tax increases that took effect in January and more looming spending cuts.

"It represents a sharp turnaround from the 3.1% expansion seen in the third quarter and confounding economists, who had on average expected to see 1.1% growth," Markit chief economist Chris Williamson said.

"The contraction was the first since the second quarter of 2009."

Food prices have come under pressure in the US due to grain price rises

Some believe the weakness may be because of one-time factors as government spending cuts and slower inventory growth subtracted a total of 2.6 percentage points from growth.

Those volatile categories offset faster growth in consumer spending, business investment and housing - the US economy's traditional core drivers of growth.

For all of 2012, the economy expanded at the rate of 2.2%, slightly up on 2011's 1.8%.

However, the economy may continue to stay weak in early 2013 as Americans come to grips with an increase in social security taxes that has left them with less take-home pay.

Subpar growth has held back hiring as the economy has only created about 150,000 jobs a month, on average, for the past two years.

That level of increase is barely enough to reduce the unemployment rate, which has remained at 7.8% for the past two months.

The Pentagon's military planners have had to slice billions from projects

Economists have forecast little change in the unemployment rate when the government releases the January jobs report on Friday.

"The details of the decline suggest that the underlying performance of the US economy is far better than the headline number suggests," Mr Williamson added.

"In particular, companies sought to cut inventories which had built up in previous months, and if the stock reduction is excluded, the economy grew at a 1.1% annualised rate.

"After a disappointing end to 2012, the first quarter of 2013 may well surprise on the upside as the economy rebounds from a temporary spell of weakness."

Companies frequently cut back on inventories if they anticipate a slowdown in sales. This in turn means factories are likely to produce less.

US economists are now waiting to see the reaction of consumers to the expiration of the social security tax cut.

Congress and the White House allowed the temporary tax cut to end in January, but reached a deal to stop income taxes from rising for most Americans.

The tax increase will lower take-home pay this year by about 2%. It means a household earning $50,000 a year will have about $1,000 less to spend, while a household with two high-paid workers will have up to $4,500 less.

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