China export surge stirs U.S. anger

By Alan Beattie and Geoff Dyer, FT.com

(FT) -- A surge in Chinese exports and rising anger in the US Congress will put renewed pressure on China to allow its currency to rise against the US dollar.

Chinese trade figures showed exports leaping by 48.5 per cent in May over the year before, way ahead of analysts' forecasts. Data released in the US showed America's trade deficit widening slightly in April, with some economists arguing that the improvement in net trade and its contribution to US growth appeared to have stalled.

The data gave more ammunition to China's critics in the US Congress, who have said they will proceed with legislation to restrict Chinese imports to correct the perceived misalignment of the country's currency. The US Treasury has been pursuing quiet diplomacy with Beijing to allow the renminbi to rise, but lawmakers said they were losing patience.

Charles Schumer, New York senator and the third most senior Democrat in the Senate, said he would seek to have his bill made into law within two weeks unless he saw signs of action from Beijing. "We need to take stronger action than this back-and-forth," he told Tim Geithner, Treasury secretary, who was testifying to the Senate finance committee.

Mr Geithner said it was important for China to understand that the legislative move in the US had very broad support. "I think the strength of the sentiment in Congress is overwhelmingly strong, it's bipartisan and it reflects how important this is to the United States," he said.

Britons die in South Africa crash

Four British students remained seriously ill in hospital following a bus crash in South Africa which killed three of their companions.

The students, from a further education college in Leicestershire, were in the country on a field trip when their driver apparently lost control on a bend, leading to the bus overturning.

Two women students died at the scene on the Bulembu road, a few miles from Barberton near Nelspruit.

A male student died later in hospital. As well as the four students seriously injured, another eight were kept in the Nelspruit hospital overnight for observation. The two course lecturers on the trip were among those admitted to hospital. Four students were discharged to a local hotel where they joined other members of the group.

The casualties, who ranged in age from 18 to 30, were understood to have suffered injuries ranging from a fractured spine to head and face injuries. The group of 18 students and two teachers from Brooksby Melton College in Melton Mowbray is believed to have arrived in the country on June 1. The bus was travelling on the road from Swaziland when the crash happened.

Fears grow for missing teen sailor

Fears are growing for a 16-year-old American girl attempting to sail solo around the world after her emergency beacons were activated and satellite communication was lost in the southern Indian Ocean.

An international effort to rescue young Abby Sunderland, from Southern California, began, but the vast distances meant long hours of waiting for her family.

But her support team expressed confidence that she was alive because the beacons were deliberately turned on rather than set off automatically.

"She's got all the skills she needs to take care of what she has to take care of, she has all the equipment as well," said her brother Zac, himself a veteran of a solo sail around the world at 17.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokeswoman Carly Lusk said three vessels were sent from the French territory of Reunion Island, off Madagascar, and an aircraft was dispatched from Perth on a four-hour flight to Abby's location more than 2,000 miles from both Africa and Australia.

Hundreds arrested in 2-year drug route investigation

By Terry Frieden, CNN Justice Producer

Washington (CNN) -- Federal agents trying to disrupt illegal drug trafficking from Mexico arrested more than 400 people in raids Wednesday, bringing to more than 2,200 the number of arrests from a two-year investigation aimed at cartel transportation operations.

The 429 arrests in sixteen states from coast to coast punctuated the climax of what the government called "Project Deliverance." The project combined 22 geographically separate operations which led investigators to some common transportation routes.

"There were some Mexicans, but the vast majority of those we arrested are U.S. citizens," said one DEA official involved in the takedown.

The special operations agent who asked not to be identified because of his position, said the increase of roughly 15 percent in street prices -- and much more for heroin -- was evidence of the law enforcement success.

The massive sweep Wednesday by more than 3,000 agents and officers boosted the 22-month seizures to $154 million in cash, tons of marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and black-tar heroin and over a thousand weapons and vehicles.

"This operation has struck a very significant blow against the cartels, but make no mistake, we know that as successful as this operation was, it was just one battle in what is an ongoing war," said Attorney General Eric Holder.

Memorial service in Afghanistan to remember Australian soldiers

MARK COLVIN: The ABC Four Corners journalist Chris Masters is embedded with Australian forces in Afghanistan and he heard the roadside bomb that killed the two Australian soldiers on Monday. 

He was also present at a memorial service for the soldiers in Tarin Kowt in Afghanistan.

Chris Masters spoke to the ABC’s Stephanie Kennedy a short time ago. 

CHRIS MASTERS: The memorial service has just been completed as I speak. About 400 people gathered in an aircraft hangar here at the multinational base at Tarin Kowt and we saw that mixture of coalition uniforms, dominated by the Australians in the green and the desert camouflage; the green being the uniform that was worn by Sappers Smith and Moerland. 

There were of course Dutch soldiers, Afghan National Army soldiers, Euro soldiers as well. There was a small number of civilians from AusAid. The blue of the Australian Federal Police was present. The SOTG, the special operations people, were there in the background and also present were the explosive detection dogs, Tank, Harry, Bundy, who, like the now deceased Herbie, are considered soldiers too. 

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: And this was a farewell ceremony for the bodies of Sappers Smith and Moerland? 

CHRIS MASTERS: That’s right. A number of soldiers spoke. Lieutenant Colonel Blain, the officer commanding Mentoring Task Force 1 said that these two men exemplified the spirit of the soldier to put service before self. He expressed a common sentiment that I have heard from many of these young soldiers; that this sacrifice should not be in vain.

Major General John Cantwell, who commands the whole operation here was there. He spoke very movingly. I had spoken with him before and he told me how impressed he was with the physical and mental endurance of the men, because when you see them in the field, carrying this extraordinary gear for hours and hours upon end in 50 degree heat at the same time risking their lives, it’s hard not to be impressed.

Some of the mates spoke as well. Sapper Michael Clarke spoke of his good mate Snowy, who’s Sapper Jacob Moerland. I don’t think anybody knew what Jacob Moerland’s real name was, he was just known as Snowy and he was one of those unforgettable characters. And Sapper Clarke spoke of Snowy’s larrikin spirit and said that he and his mates would never be above or below him but always beside him. 

Corporal Craig Turnbull spoke of Smithy, Sapper Darren Smith, explaining that he’d only just been married, he got married last December between the mission rehearsal exercise and the actual deployment. So he has a very new wife Angela now in mourning and a two-and-a-half year old son Mason and probably the most moving part of the ceremony was when he gave the last word to two-and-a-half years old Mason, who’d sent across a message with the Lest We Forget insignia and the words "to my daddy, Mason". 

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: Can you describe the mood now amongst the soldiers? 

CHRIS MASTERS: Look it was very hot in that hangar. It’s 50 degree heat around here and I can say that there was a lot of sweat but sweat mingled with tears. These are men not given to silence and a lot of sentiment but this has cut very, very deeply into this tight knit unit. The second engineers feel this deeply. They, if this conflict has a frontline, these are the people who are likely to find it. 

MARK COLVIN: Chris Masters, the veteran ABC journalist embedded for Four Corners with Australian forces in Afghanistan, speaking to Stephanie Kennedy.

Big Brother 2010: Sunshine grounded as housemates eat lunch in the air

Big Brother housemate Sunshine was left all on her lonesome in the garden today after her fellow contestants ate their lunch at an elevated table

To celebrate the housemates' first day in the Big Brother house, Big Brother treated them to a special three-course lunch - on a crane.

In the garden a dinner table was hoisted up with all the housemates seated around it - but only after one of them had volunteered to stay behind.

PICTURES: Big Brother 2010 gallery from day 1 in the House

Sunshine took one for the team and stayed in the garden, and as part of the task after lunch she was required to paint five pictures on a giant pad in the garden from numbered clues. 

The other housemates then had to guess who she was drawing from the five clues, which were 'Big Boobed Babe', 'Squatter', 'Boring Old One', 'Hunky Trio', and 'Wannabes'.

For each correct answer they bagged £100 for the shopping budget, and despite getting three right because Sunshine gestured for one of them they only got £200.

The full results were:

1. Big Boobed Babe - which they failed to identify. 

2. Squatter - which they identified correctly 

3. Boring Old One - they correctly identified, but Sunshine gestured to the housemates which was against the rules 

4. Hunky Trio - which they failed to identify 

5. Wannabes - which they identified correctly

Brazilian man accused of fathering seven children with daughter

(CNN) -- A 54-year-old man accused of fathering seven children with his daughter was arrested this week in Pinheiro, Brazil, police said, according to CNN affiliate Record TV.

Jose Agostinho Bispo Pereira was arrested after complaints that he sexually abused his daughter, whom he kept captive, said police chief Adriana Meireles said.

According to police, Pereira had sex with his daughter since she was 12 years old. Now 29, the daughter has seven children from her father.

"It is a crime. I know that it is a crime," Pereira told Record TV. "But she was committing the crime as well, wasn't she? Then, I had to do it".

"A farmer only does things because the other consents, because if the other doesn't consent, the person doesn't do (it)," he added.

Police are now investigating whether Pereira also sexually abused a 2-year-old granddaughter or his other children.

Second Swede sought over Auschwitz theft

Polish authorities want to question a second Swede, millionaire Lars-Göran Wahlström, about the theft of the "Arbeit macht frei" sign at the Auschwitz concentration camp. 

The news was reported by Polish daily Rzeczpospolita, quoting Austrian news agency APA. According to the newspaper, Wahlström has a Nazi past.

Wahlström currently has power of attorney over the affairs of Anders Högstrom, who in early April was extradited to Poland on suspicion of being the brains behind the theft. He has since been in custody in Krakow awaiting trial.

During questioning, Högstrom is thought to have accused Wahlström ofcommissioning him and several Polish men to steal the sign. Wahlström has long denied the charges, including in an interview with newspaper Aftonbladet in January, when he said that he would be happy to be questioned by Polish police.

Cancelling Iran opposition protests 'regrettable': Clinton

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday called "regrettable" the Iranian opposition's cancellation of anti-government protests planned for this weekend, the anniversary of last year's disputed presidential election.

"It is not only regrettable that the opposition cancelled demonstrations... but it demonstrates very clearly why the Iranian regime has caused so much concern throughout the world," she told reporters here on a visit to the island nation.

Iranian opposition leaders earlier Thursday called off rallies planned for Saturday in part "to protect the lives and properties of the people," Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi said in a joint statement.

In recent weeks both Mousavi and Karroubi had renewed calls for fresh presidential elections and said they rejected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's authority.

"When you look at the combination of their repression of their people, manipulation of their own elections, the fact they are an exporter and supporter of terrorist activities around the world, and the pursuit of nuclear weapons, it adds up to a very dangerous combination," Clinton said.

"And therefore we stand in solidarity with the people of Iran as we have since the beginning of the administration," she added.

After losing to Ahmadinejad in the 2009 election, Mousavi and Karroubi quickly dismissed the result as having been massively rigged, sparking street protests that rocked the Islamic republic last summer and winter.

Security forces cracked down heavily on dissent, with dozens of protesters killed, hundreds arrested and scores of prominent reformists, journalists and rights campaigners put on trial -- with many receiving stiff jail sentences.

Suspected Wikileaks Source Described Crisis of Conscience Leading to Leaks

• By Kevin Poulsen and Kim Zetter

On his last full day of freedom before Army CID investigators took him into custody, 22-year-old Bradley Manning pondered what would happen if his secret life as a self-described Wikileaks “hacktivist” were ever exposed.

“What would you do if your role [with] Wikileaks seemed in danger of being blown?” was the question posed by ex-hacker Adrian Lamo, who’d been chatting with Manning online for about five days.

“Try and figure out how I could get my side of the story out, before everything was twisted around to make me look like Nidal Hassan,” wrote back Manning.

Manning, an Army intelligence analyst at Forward Operating Base Hammer in Iraq, doubtless thought it was a hypothetical question. But by that time, May 25, the 29-year-old Lamo had already tipped off FBI and Army investigators, and the former hacker was at that moment working to get more information for the government, which would result in Manning’s arrest the next day.

Drug cartel leader captured in northern Mexico

From Esprit Smith, CNN

Mexico City, Mexico (CNN) -- The alleged leader of a regional branch of the Los Zetas drug cartel was arrested by the Mexican Army Wednesday, Mexico's state news agency Notimex reported.

Hector Raul Luna Luna, known by the alias "El Tori" was arrested during a "precision operation" by the personnel of the Seventh Military Zone in Monterrey, in northern Mexico, the agency said.

The military command said that Luna confessed to participating in a grenade attack on the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey on October 12, 2008, under the orders of Sigifredo Najera Talamantes, alias "El Canicon" who was arrested on March 20 of last year, Notimex reported.

There is also evidence that Luna was responsible for killing six members of the Mexican Army and was the perpetrator of an attack against the secretariat of public security in the municipality of Escobedo, in Coahuila state, near the Texas border, and the subsequent attack on the then-secretary of public safety, retired general Hermelindo Lara Cruz.

The military also arrested one of Luna's accomplices, David Eduardo Fuentes Martinez, known by the aliases "El Chile" and "El Mantequilla," who was carrying an array of weapons, including a 55 mm Barrett rifle, commonly used for piercing through shields and other materials, said Notimex.

He spins, turns his life around

Deported from the U.S., a former Long Beach gang member makes a name break dancing in Cambodia and becomes a role model

By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Phnom Penh, Cambodia — 

His arms and chest coated with gangland-style tattoos, his eyebrow pierced, Tuy "K.K." Sobil sits in a cafe in Phnom Penh beside his 5-year-old son, Unique, adopted from drug dealer parents who couldn't cope.

"I'm trying to get him to eat his vegetables," he said. "He gets his bad habits from me."

K.K., short for "Krazy Kat," knows all about bad habits: The onetime member of the Long Beach Crips served eight years in prison for armed robbery before being deported in 2004 to Cambodia, his parents' homeland.

SECNAV Discusses Future of Alternative Energy Sources

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Doug Kimsey, Naval War College Public Affairs

NEWPORT, R.I. (NNS) -- The secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) shared his vision of a greener Navy and Marine Corps team, one that is more energy independent, but still remaining the greatest maritime force in the world, during a keynote address at the Naval War College's 61st Current Strategy Forum in Newport, R.I., June 9.

"It's a matter of energy independence, it's a matter of our security," said SECNAV Ray Mabus of the need for the Navy and Marine Corps to reduce dependence on foreign fossil fuels.

Attended by more than 1,200 participants, the 2010 conference explored the theme of "The Global System in Transition" by examining U.S. foreign policy in the emerging global order, the strategic leadership opportunities for the United States and the role of the maritime services in supporting the nation's key objectives. The two-day forum is hosted annually by SECNAV.

"It's a matter of making sure that when we need those ships at sea, when we need those aircraft in the air, when we need the Marines on the ground, we have the energy produced right here in the United States to do that," said Mabus. 

Mabus, a former governor of Mississippi, U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and surface warfare officer, gave examples of efforts to become less dependent on foreign fossil fuels.

"In April (2010), we flew the Green Hornet, an F-18 Hornet. The Green Hornet, a regular off-the-shelf F-18, supersonic, flew on a mixture of regular gasoline and biofuel, biofuel made from camelina," said Mabus. 

Camelina is a small mustard seed that has the potential to be grown in rotation with wheat in every state. 

Becoming greener serves tremendous tactical imperatives as well, said Mabus.

Mildenhall special operations Airmen commemorate D-Day landings

by Staff Sgt. Austin M. May

100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

6/10/2010 - NORMANDY, France (AFNS) -- The sky above Normandy billowed to life June 5 as hundreds of parachutes slowly descended on a field just outside St. Mere Eglise, a town near Utah Beach.

Beneath the chutes was a mix of American, English, French and German paratroopers, all landing in the field known as the "Iron Mike" drop zone, with the same mission: to commemorate the 66th anniversary of Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings of World War II.

Among the jumpers were members of Royal Air Force Mildenhall's 321st Special Tactics Squadron, which has participated in the D-Day commemoration almost every year since the mid 1990s. Five 321st STS Airmen jumped from a static line, where their parachute is deployed automatically upon exiting the aircraft, while another 14 performed a high-altitude, low-opening jump. 

Capt. Steven Cooper was one of the Airmen who made the static-line jump, but with a twist -- he and the other four were delivered to the drop zone by a German aircraft.