Briton dies in Alps ski accident

A British man has died in a skiing accident in the French Alps.

John Atkinson, 63, was reportedly on holiday with his wife and children when he crashed into a rock in the resort of Les Deux Alpes yesterday.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said today: "We are aware of the death of a British national at the Deux Alpes yesterday and we are attempting to contact the next of kin to offer consular assistance."

A spokeswoman for the police in Les Deux Alpes said the family were in "shock" and too upset to talk about what happened.

She added: "He was on holiday with his wife and two children - they arrived two days ago.

"He was skiing with his children on a blue piste at around 3pm yesterday.

"It was snowing and the visibility was not good.

"He crashed into a rock."

She said Mr Atkinson lived in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

Drugs warning after men found dead

Police were today warning of the dangers of taking illegal drugs after the bodies of two men were found at a flat in a seaside town.

The bodies of the two men, aged in their early 30s and late 20s, were discovered in Babbacombe Road, Torquay, Devon, last night.

The deaths are thought to be drugs-related with a quantity of blue tablets recovered from the address.

A police spokesman said the drugs had been sent away for toxic analysis.

"We want people to be especially careful over the Christmas period, especially in the light of these deaths," he said.

"We know that illegal drugs are taken, perhaps more so at this time of the year, but need to stress that people simply do not know what they are taking.

"People that produce these drugs make mistakes with their strength. There is no way to guarantee that the potency of these drugs will not be excessively high - and this can lead to tragic consequences."

The grim discovery was made at around 10.30pm and paramedics and police attempted resuscitation but both men were pronounced dead at the scene.

The deaths are currently being treated as unexplained, however they are not believed to be suspicious, police said.

Their families and the Cornwall Coroner have been informed.

Police seek man after dog kills woman

Police have issued an urgent appeal to trace the man believed to have owned a Belgian mastiff that mauled a woman to death.

The victim, named locally as Barbara Williams, was savaged last night at a house on Demesne Road, Wallington, south London.

The dog, described by one officer as large and ferocious, was shot dead by police marksmen.

Police said today they were urgently seeking Alex Blackburn-Smith, who is believed to be the owner of the dog.

Detective Chief Superintendent Guy Ferguson: "We are in the process of contacting the lady's next-of-kin. We also urgently want to speak to Alex Blackburn-Smith, who is the main occupier of the premises, in relation to the circumstances of the incident to establish facts."

Mr Ferguson described the dog as "distinctly large" and said at the time of the attack another woman of similar age to Ms Williams was in the house with a child under five.

"It was a very ferocious dog," he said.

"The officers had to use shields to contain the dog."

He said police would be investigating previous complaints about the dog and what, if anything, was done.

On Mr Blackburn-Smith, he said: "My information is he lives at that address and has a 1976 date of birth and we are making inquiries to speak to him."

On the victim, Mr Ferguson said: "I believe she is a lodger at the premises which are controlled by him."

Next door neighbour Burhan Yanbolu said the attack was "always going to happen".

Mr Yanbolu, a minicab driver, had previously called the police and council to complain about the animal after it smashed their adjoining fence.

He said: "It was going to happen, it was always going to happen.

"I once saw the young boy in the house playing with the mastiff and it was getting too rough, so I told the woman who got killed, and she said they were just playing."

Mr Yanbolu, a father of twin girls, said: "We didn't have anything to do with them because of the dog.

"It was a big strong dog.

"We started having problems with them in autumn 2009.

"There were two dogs and the big one would lean against the fence and could see over it on its hind legs.

"We had concerns it would get over and could get in our garden."

Mr Yanbolu said he complained about the dog to Mr Blackburn-Smith.

"This has come as no surprise to us at all," he said.

"Last year our children couldn't play in the garden at all because the mastiff damaged a big chunk of fence crashing through."

He said the dog managed to break free on a few occasions and another woman who lived at the house with Ms Williams was too frightened to try to tie it up.

He said: "The lady who lives upstairs said she was too scared and would have to get Alex, who works in a security job, home to do it."

Describing last night's horrific events, Mr Yanbolu said: "The police came through our garden to get access.

"We could hear them talking about the female, saying she was badly injured and there was lots of blood, but they couldn't get in to secure the dog.

"Somehow the dog went into a different bit and the police and paramedics worked on the lady."

He said police marksmen evacuated neighbours on the other side and considered moving him and his wife as well.

"They told us to expect 10 rounds to take the dog out," said Mr Yanbolu.

"But it was only four. We heard three and then 30 seconds later there was one more."

Sutton Council confirmed it had received a complaint about dogs damaging a neighbour's fence last year.

"The council and the police's Safer Neighbourhood Team were contacted in connection with another smaller dog and damage to a fence at this address in August 2009," said councillor Colin Hall, responsible for dog control.

"At that point there were no legal grounds for the council to intervene on the basis of our statutory powers.

"There were no subsequent complaints."

Assange's accusers are WikiLeaks fans, lawyer says

STOCKHOLM - The two Swedish women accusing Julian Assange of sex crimes are not pawns of the CIA nor do they hunger for revenge or money — they just seek justice for a violation of their "sexual integrity," their lawyer says.

Claes Borgstrom, a self-professed feminist who used to be Sweden's ombudsman for gender equality, told The Associated Press he finds it "very upsetting" that Assange, his lawyers and some supporters are suggesting the case is a smear campaign against WikiLeaks, the secret-spilling website Assange founded.

"He's been spreading false rumors that he knows are untrue. It's reckless against these two women," Borgstrom said by phone Thursday. "They, too, are supporters of WikiLeaks. They support its work."

Assange denies the allegations of sexual misconduct, which his lawyers say stem from a dispute over "consensual but unprotected sex." He has not been charged.

The lawyer said Assange had every right to reject the women's sex claims but says Assange is, in essence, accusing them of breaking the law by suggesting they are driven by ulterior motives.

"There is no truth to this whatsoever," he added.

British newspaper The Times recently quoted Assange as saying there is "very suggestive evidence" the two women were motivated by revenge, money and police pressure. When the investigation started after the August incidents, Assange said he had been warned about "dirty tricks" from the Pentagon, though he later said he wasn't pointing fingers at anyone.

At the time, WikiLeaks had deeply angered U.S. officials by publishing tens of thousands of secret U.S. military documents on the war in Afghanistan that the U.S. said could put the lives of informants at risk.

The silver-haired Australian met both women in connection with a lecture on Aug. 14 in Stockholm. One, a 31-year-old, was involved in organizing the event for Sweden's left-wing Social Democratic Party and offered to host Assange at her apartment. The other, a few years younger, was in the audience.

Assange had sex with both within a week, police documents show. The women realized that when the younger woman contacted the older one seeking to get in touch with Assange. They went to police together, not to file criminal complaint, but to seek advice, Borgstrom said.

A policewoman who heard their stories decided there was reason to suspect they were victims of sex crimes and handed over the case to a prosecutor.

Lawyer Gemma Lindfield, acting for Sweden in British courts, said one of the women accused Assange of pinning her down and refusing to use a condom. The second says Assange had sex with her without a condom while she was asleep.

The case appears anything but clear-cut. A chief prosecutor in Stockholm dropped the rape complaint shortly after the case began, and it would most likely have ended there had it not been for Borgstrom.

The 66-year-old lawyer successfully appealed the decision to a more senior prosecutor who relaunched the investigation. Two-and-half months later, when Assange had already left Sweden, the senior prosecutor got court approval for a request to interrogate Assange on suspicion of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion.

Assange is now out on bail in Britain, fighting his extradition to Sweden.

Asked whose initiative it was to appeal — his or the women's — Borgstrom demurred, citing client confidentiality. However, he said the women didn't even know it was possible to appeal a prosecutor's decision until he told them.

"I had read the police reports. I had seen my clients and heard their stories," Borgstrom said. "In my opinion, it was rape and attempted rape or sexual molestation."

Borgstrom was appointed Sweden's ombudsman for gender equality in 2000 by the Social Democratic government. He left the post in 2007, a year after the Social Democrats were ousted, and now runs a law firm with former Justice Minister Thomas Bodstrom.

Even in gender-conscious Sweden, Borgstrom has raised eyebrows for speaking out so strongly against the male norms he says still pervade Swedish society.

He has said all men bear a collective responsibility for the fact that some men abuse women. In 2006, he even proposed that Sweden withdraw from soccer's World Cup because of an expected surge in the sex trade in host nation Germany, where prostitution is legal.

"What happens during the World Cup is that women are imported — in the full sense of the word — to meet the demands from the men going there to buy sex," Borgstrom told Swedish TV at the time.

His proposal was rejected by the Swedish soccer federation and Sweden took part in the tournament as planned.

Borgstrom has previously described his passion for women's rights and equality as bordering on an obsession.

"Now that I really have put on my 'gender goggles' I see everything through them," he was quoted as saying in 2004 by the tabloid Aftonbladet.

A 2009 study funded by the European Commission found Sweden had the highest rate of reported sex offenses among 24 European countries — 47 per 100,000 citizens — though only 10 percent led to convictions. The high number of complaints doesn't necessarily mean rape is more common in Sweden but that victims are just more likely to step forward, Borgstrom said.

"We have better knowledge than other countries in the field of gender equality," he said. "That also means women don't accept certain things in the same way they do in other countries."

US pays Pakistan more than $600 mln for support

ISLAMABAD - Washington transferred more than 600 million dollars to the Pakistani government this week to pay for its efforts in the fight against violent extremists, the US embassy in Islamabad said Thursday.

The 633 million dollar payment under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) programme came on Wednesday, amid reports that top US military commanders in Afghanistan were pushing to expand special forces ground raids across the border into Pakistan's lawless tribal areas.

"The Coalition Support Fund is designed to reimburse the government of Pakistan for expenses incurred fighting violent extremist groups," the embassy said in a statement.

It added that the payment covered the first six months of this year and Pakistan had now received "approximately 8.76 billion dollars" since 2001 under the scheme.

The CSF process reimburses 27 nations, including Pakistan, for logistical, military and other support provided to Washington's overseas military operations.

Washington considers Pakistan's lawless tribal belt the global headquarters of Al-Qaeda and says eliminating the militant threat is vital to winning the nine-year war against the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The United States has this year doubled missile strikes in the tribal belt, with around 100 attacks killing more than 600 people since January 1.

Most have been concentrated in North Waziristan, the most notorious Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda stronghold in Pakistan, where the United States wants the Pakistan military to launch a ground offensive as soon as possible.

Mumbai put on alert; terror plot suspected

MUMBAI - Police searched India's financial capital on Friday for four men who authorities believe entered Mumbai to carry out a terrorist attack, a top police official said.

Authorities issued a terror alert for the city, where a three-day terrorist seige in 2008 killed 166 people. Since then, police tend to take even minor threats seriously and have periodically raised the alarm, but there have been no subsequent attacks in the city. Despite checkpoints and some road closures, traffic and activity in most of Mumbai was normal on Friday.

Police have received credible information that at least four men belonging to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group have entered the city and were planning to strike during the holiday season, said Himanshu Roy, joint police commissioner of Mumbai Police. India blames Lashkar for the 2008 assaults.

"The four men are planning violent attacks that are going to cause destruction," Roy said. "The four have recently arrived in Mumbai. We believe the threat is serious."

Pakistani officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

On Friday, police set up checkpoints along major roads in the city, put additional men on patrol duty at public places and released computer photographs of the four suspects.

Roads were also closed near the Taj Mahal hotel and Mumbai's iconic landmark Gateway of India. In addition to being India's financial capital, Mumbai is also home to Bollywood, the country's prolific film industry.

He identified the four men but said their nationalities were not known.

In March, Mumbai police said they prevented a major terrorist strike after they arrested two Indian men, who, police said, were preparing to hit several targets in the city.

Then in September, police issued a terror alert for the city during a popular Hindu festival. Police said they had information that two Islamist militants were planning a terror strike and that the men were acting on directions from handlers in Pakistan.

India has called on Pakistan to crack down on terrorists thought to be operating from their soil. Lashkar-e-Taiba is banned by Pakistan's government but it still thought to have support in Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence community.

In the 2008 attack, several gunmen laid siege to two luxury hotels — including the Taj Mahal — a Jewish center, a popular restaurant and Mumbai's crowded main train station. The lone surviving gunman was captured and earlier this year sentenced to death.

New Delhi has repeatedly accused Islamabad of complicity in terrorist attacks against India. Pakistan denies the charge saying it only offers the militant groups political and diplomatic support.

No output signal from OPEC as oil heads to $100

CAIRO - OPEC gave no signals on Friday it would supply the world with more crude, despite oil prices trading near a two-year high and with most analysts predicting a rally above $100 per barrel.

OPEC's most influential oil minister, Saudi Arabia's Ali al-Naimi, said he was still happy with an oil price of $70-80 per barrel.

U.S. crude closed at over $91 per barrel on Thursday and Brent traded at around $94 per barrel.

He was speaking on his arrival in Cairo for a meeting of Arab oil exporting countries.

Arab OPEC ministers are meeting in the Egyptian capital this weekend where they may discuss oil production and price, but no formal decision on output will take place. OPEC's next scheduled meeting is for June.

Libya's top oil official, Shokri Ghanem, said his country was producing 1.5 million bpd at the moment while having capacity of 2 million.

"Our capacity is close to 2 million (barrels a day) but you know we are producing around 1.5 million," Ghanem said.

"Production is according with our international commitment, in particular our OPEC commitment, and in the meanwhile we don't want to rock the boat of the market."

New security measures to delay Iraqi oil exports-logistics firm

SINGAPORE - Oil tankers loading at Iraq's southern Basra oil terminals will face delays of as much as four days due to the implementation of new security measures, said shipping and logistics firm GAC.

Iraq has tightened security around oil infrastructure and oilfields in the south in response to intelligence suggesting al Qaeda and other insurgent groups plan to attack oil facilities.

"A new procedure is in place for Iraqi oil terminals, to include security sweeps on all vessels and oil tankers while en route to the terminals," GAC said in its daily report.

Basra, in Iraq's Shi'ite south, has enormous strategic importance as the hub for oil exports, which account for more than 95 percent of government revenue.

Iraq is looking to its massive oil resources for its future stability and prosperity as it emerges from the worst of the sectarian violence set off after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, but it still confronts a resilient Sunni Islamist insurgency.

The OPEC member has signed deals with international oil companies, which if successfully developed could boost Iraq's output capacity to 12 million barrels per day in seven years from the current 2.5 million bpd.

Iraq's exports rose in November to 1.912 million bpd from 1.9 million bpd in October.