28 November 2012 Last updated at 17:53 GMT Help
Thursday, 29 November 2012
Viewpoint: Let's make malnutrition visible
29 November 2012 Last updated at 12:57 GMT 
Malnutrition is an "invisible crisis" - ignored by development agencies and governments. Taken more seriously, argues Lawrence Haddad, Director of the Institute of Development Studies in Sussex, it could be eradicated in 20 years.
Haddad's children are from Cambodia - where malnutrition is a big problem 
Clean water is part of the package of what's needed to reduce malnutrition 
It's often hard to tell if a child is malnourished or not
Malnutrition is an "invisible crisis" - ignored by development agencies and governments. Taken more seriously, argues Lawrence Haddad, Director of the Institute of Development Studies in Sussex, it could be eradicated in 20 years.I was in India and I asked a group of journalists, "In your opinion, what percentage of the children in your country are malnourished?" They said 20%. The rate is, in fact, twice as high.
This surprised them.
They were alarmed when I told them that India's celebrated economic growth is not doing much to reduce child malnutrition.
And they were speechless when I told them India has a higher rate of child malnutrition than sub-Saharan Africa.
Sub-Saharan Africa has not done any better in terms of progress on child malnutrition. In fact, the rates of child malnutrition have been stuck at about 40% for the past 30 years.
I want to tell you what malnutrition is, why I believe it matters so much, why it is so persistent - even in countries experiencing rapid economic growth - and what we can do about it.Most people think malnutrition is all about not having enough food or enough of the right kind of food to eat. This is a big part of the story. But there are many other links in the chain.
If children are drinking dirty water or are playing in areas where people are defecating in the open, diarrhoea will ensure that the nutrients are not absorbed and that appetite will be depressed.
If children do not receive enough attention from parents and carers, they will fail to receive the stimulation and interaction that helps convert food intake into growth.
So dealing with malnutrition means fixing all the links in the chain - food, health, sanitation, water and care.
The problem starts for some children even before they are born. Their mothers are malnourished and their bodies cannot cope with the demands of pregnancy leaving their babies malnourished in the womb. These babies are born malnourished. And the deprivations that children face early on, if not corrected within the first 1000 days after conception, will be locked in for life.
This is because in pregnancy, and during a child's first two years, the key software of life is being laid down - the immune system and cognitive functions to name but two.
For example, we know that children who are malnourished at the age of three go on to do less well in school and are more likely to die from infection. As adults they earn lower wages, are much more likely to live in poverty, and are at greater risk of the diseases of middle age such as diabetes, heart disease and hypertension.
At a human level, this is tragic. At a national level this has serious consequences for economic growth, poverty reduction and social mobility. In essence, countries that pursue routes to development that neglect nutrition are building on quicksand.So we need to focus on what works to reduce malnutrition.
Broad-based economic growth helps, but is not a panacea. Nutrition will not just take care of itself. Rising income needs to be guided towards investment in policies that work.
We know that breastfeeding is vital for child growth in environments where water is not clean, and where nutrients are in short supply.
We know that handwashing with soap helps prevent diarrhoea. We know that fortifying flour and salt with key vitamins and minerals bolsters nutrient intake for those with low quality diets. We know that deworming improves nutrient absorption by the gut.
So if we know the causes of malnutrition, the terrible toll it exerts on people and on societies, and what to do about it, then we may wonder why it is so persistent.
A major reason is that malnutrition is an invisible crisis.
We are all familiar with pictures of children who are obviously malnourished - we can see their bones through tightly-stretched skin, their eyes are glazed, their hair thinning, their stomachs bloated. They are in obvious distress and seeing them first hand is a chastening experience.
But the truth is that most malnourished children appear healthy. There is no obvious distress and they do not seem thin.
Haddad's children are from Cambodia - where malnutrition is a big problem My wife and I adopted our daughter from an orphanage in Cambodia 11 years ago. At that time our daughter was malnourished, but not in ways that were obvious to her excellent carers or to us.
When we went back to Cambodia 18 months later to adopt our son, the orphanage staff who remembered our daughter couldn't believe how much she had grown in 18 months. Most forms of malnutrition are invisible.
This invisibility means that parents, community health workers and politicians are unaware of the extent of the problem.
Another reason for malnutrition's persistence is that many things need to fall in place to reduce it. Giving children better-quality diets is undermined if they have chronic diarrhoea.Breastfeeding is difficult to do if women are expected to work long hours in garment factories. If children are more likely to get sick rather than better when they visit a low-quality health facility, then the impact of better sanitation is going to be blunted.
So, every link in the nutrition chain needs to be strong. And this is a massive challenge. Nutrition often gets left out of the equation.
This was really reinforced by a presentation I attended by a dynamic non-governmental organisation operating in South Asia.
I asked the head of the NGO why they it wasn't doing more in nutrition. He said: "We would like to, but there is no one to argue with". Nutrition is everybody's business, but nobody's responsibility.
So in the face of all these challenges, is the lack of progress in reducing malnutrition inevitable? Absolutely not. There are success stories to inspire and sustain us.
Clean water is part of the package of what's needed to reduce malnutrition Fundamentally we have to make nutrition visible, we have to help governments become more responsive and we have to find ways to act in concert for nutrition.
Ultimately we have to get more political about malnutrition reduction.
And the success stories point the way.
Brazil's Zero Hunger programme was driven by the values of that country's labour movement, by electoral politics, and by the personal conviction of then President Lula, someone who had known poverty and hunger as a youngster.
In Vietnam, the success in reducing malnutrition was fuelled by economic growth, but also by an ethos that reducing inequality mattered and this led to important investments for the poorest.In Mexico, a successful cash transfer programme made the receipt of money conditional on visits to health centres, generating a doubly positive impact on nutrition.
But Peru is my favourite inspiration because it is a citizen-led story. In 2006, a group of Peruvian and international NGOs got together to challenge the presidential candidates to sign a pledge to do something about malnutrition if they were elected.
The NGOs were so effective, even the candidates who had never thought about the malnutrition (and there were plenty of those) had to sign up to the pledge. And when Alan Garcia was elected as president, money, laws and policies were quickly committed to malnutrition reduction.
But governments have many priorities, and not all face elections. Their attention needs to be dragged towards malnutrition.
It's often hard to tell if a child is malnourished or not This means recruiting people to social movements - people who will stand up for nutrition, who will not let it drop, who will assume responsibility for leading efforts to reduce it. The Scaling Up Nutrition Movement (SUN) is leading the way.
It is a movement of individuals and organisations who are determined to make nutrition more visible, to raise resources for it, to support governments which do something about it. To not let it drop. It involves many organisations worldwide, including my own.
SUN has been going for two years now, and is beginning to make a difference to policies, thinking and spending. The true test will be whether malnutrition rates actually fall.
There are about 170 million young children who are malnourished, and there are many more adults who are suffering from the terrible legacy of malnutrition early in their own lives.
But we can eradicate malnutrition in 20 years. I really believe that with all my heart.
Why Poverty? on BBC Radio 3 features five speakers on different aspects of the subject of poverty. Lawrence Haddad's essay is broadcast on Thursday 29 November at 22:45 GMT, or listen again on iPlayer
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After Sandy: The struggles of Ortley Beach
By Adam Blenford BBC News, New Jersey The ever-growing piles of rubbish outside every home in Ortley Beach only hint at the sadness of the owners inside.
John and Merlinda Berish's home white wooden home was hit by the corner of the rogue house 
John Berish says he has doubts about rebuilding. "It will never be the same again" 
There is a lot of wooden furniture, much of it clearly carved and crafted decades ago, and sofas upholstered in patterns of the past. There are mattresses and clothes left sodden by water.
But there are also leather footballs, children's bicycles, and vintage LPs; there are gas-fired BBQs, refrigerators and plastic flowers.
As good Italian home-makers, John and Merlinda Berish even had six months' worth of home-cooked meals in their freezer. No longer.
Sandy's salty floodwater and its deadly ally, a creeping mould, have spared little.
Instead of personal possessions the Berishes now have a rogue home sitting outside the front porch, a beachside bungalow that has come to rest a full quarter of a mile from its usual spot.
Sandy tore the house from its foundations in Beier Avenue and sent it careering up 3rd Avenue, where it eventually slammed into the Berishes' property and came to a halt. It's still there, weeks later.
"It hit my house pretty good," says John Berish, 75. "I wish they'd get it out of here now. It's an eyesore.
"Everything you see in most houses up and down the street is destroyed. You name it, it's gone."
John and Merlinda Berish's home white wooden home was hit by the corner of the rogue house He looks out over his front porch and surveys his belongings.
"Everything you have personally in your life is now going out in the garbage cans."
The Berishes' experience is entirely typical of the new reality in Ortley Beach. One month on from Sandy's inundation, it's not that Ortley Beach is yet to recover; the problem is that it has barely begun.
Continue reading the main storyI think once residents were able to get over to the island after it was cleaned up they got a full appreciation of the damage over there.”End Quote George Whitman Jr Local councillor The barrier island community was especially vulnerable to a storm like Sandy, which pushed great swells of ocean towards the coast, breaching protective dunes and flooding virtually every home.
While Ortley Beach is often referred to as "ground zero", other Jersey Shore communities were also badly hit: Seaside Heights, Lavallette, Normandy and Mantoloking on Ortley's island strip; on Long Beach Island and in Atlantic City to the south.
The governors of New York and New Jersey states have now asked for almost $80bn (£50bn) in federal funding for disaster relief and future flood prevention. New Jersey's $37bn request is bigger than the state's entire annual budget.
In Ortley Beach, it is hard to overstate the chaos and sadness the storm has left behind.
Although no-one died here, tales of loss are on every street corner and in most of the homes in between.
Continue reading the main story Residents and homeowners gained regular access to the island only last weekend, after Thanksgiving. One-third of Ortley Beach is now open each day, albeit with access controlled by police.There is no power, no gas, few toilets, no sewerage, no phone service, no shops and no restaurants. No-one sleeps in the town at night.
"They're all victims, and our goal is to help them one victim at a time," says Mike Mastronardy, chief of police for Toms River Township, which includes Ortley Beach.
As the water receded, Mastronardy and the Toms River council kept residents off the island, away from their ruined homes, until emergency infrastructure repairs made Ortley Beach safe to enter.
Continue reading the main story "Our states took a devastating blow from Hurricane Sandy, and our respective cost estimates to restore and rebuild reflect the ferocity of Sandy and the impact to our transportation and utilities infrastructures, our economies, tourism industries and, most importantly, the lives, homes and livelihoods of our citizens."
Gov Andrew Cuomo (NY) and Gov Chris Christie (NJ)
Estimated cost to New Jersey: $37bnEstimated cost to New York: $41.9bnDisaster centres open in New Jersey: 33 Disaster centres open in New York: 33Deaths attributed to Sandy: 121Uninsured eligible for help via National Flood Insurance ProgramIt was not a universally popular policy, and public discontent grew as impatient residents clamoured to see their homes and assess the damage.Those who did make it in found the town in ruins. The beach had been eviscerated, with 8ft-high (2.4m) protective dunes simply washed away. Instead, streets within two blocks of the water were filled with 2-3ft of sand.
Homes, boats and cars were strewn around, power lines were down, sinkholes appeared, and many buildings were unsafe.
"It really wasn't a good idea to go back there," Toms River council member George Whitman Jr says.
"I think once residents were able to get over to the island after it was cleaned up they got a full appreciation of the damage over there."
Only by visiting Ortley Beach itself is it possible to understand what Whitman means.
At its northern tip is a towering mountain of sand, reclaimed from the streets and corralled on top of what was once a popular pier.
From there, sweeping south, much of what remains is a withered mess.
The Surf Club, a Jersey Shore institution, now lies in ruins, and the wreckage of Ortley Beach's boardwalk runs both ways along the beach, meandering south towards Seaside Heights and its now-famous rollercoaster-in-the-ocean.
Before the storm, beachside dunes higher than the boardwalk protected the walkway - and the road and homes beyond - from storm-tossed seas.
But there are no dunes anymore. There is no tarmac road either, just an expanded and flattened beach stretching from the sea to the streets.
The houses ranged along Ocean Avenue are shattered, broken or simply not there anymore. The road that once ran parallel to the boardwalk is now twisted, broken and buckled.
There was no rain, and little wind, as Sandy closed in on the Jersey Shore on 29 October. But water had already seeped into the streets by the time the clock struck noon. As night fell, Ortley Beach was already flooded.
Continue reading the main storyRight now everybody is worrying about the immediate. I think the fallout from the insurance is still to come”End Quote Karen Vail Born in Ortley Beach "I went up to the ocean and they said the storm was about 500 miles away, and it had already breached the dunes and damaged oceanfront homes," says Frank Mazzo, a local builder who defied an evacuation order as the waters rose.
"That was about noon. By eight o'clock, eight-thirty, the water just rose about 2ft. By nine we were really in the thick of it."
Mazzo's sturdy, modern house - by the bay almost half a mile away - was barely damaged. Water flooded his garage, but most of his property is built on sturdy concrete pillars, and no structural damage was done.
"I built the house to withstand these things. But who knew the first hurricane we faced would be the 100-year storm, or the 500-year storm?"
Mazzo's neighbours were not so fortunate. To his right, Joanna Anselmo's neat, pink summer home - bought by her family in 1948 - is at least still standing. But it now perches precariously over a watery pit.
"It's very, very surreal," she says. "I keep waking up and thinking it didn't happen."
The house to Frank Mazzo's left, at 2029 Bay Boulevard, is listing oddly, its front aspect plunging forward into the same hole that scuppered the Anselmo home.
"The house is cracked in half at the back, I got a four foot pit around the back of my house, and my shed is nearly in the bay," says Bill Carroll, who has lived in Ortley Beach for 50 years.
John Berish says he has doubts about rebuilding. "It will never be the same again" "Pretty much, we lost everything here. We're coming out with nothing."
But if Ortley Beach is sad, it is not universally depressed.
Across the road, Karen and Rick Vail are literally taking a breather. Clad in white all-in-one Tyvek "disaster suits", they sit by their car and remove the face masks protecting them from prolonged exposure to mould spores.
The Vails are clearing Karen's mother's home, salvaging what they can. But she worries that many people might suffer at the hands of insurance companies.
Homeowner insurance generally does not cover flood damage, and many people were either unwilling to buy flood insurance or unable to get coverage.
"Right now everybody is worrying about the immediate, rather than when the insurance company starts paying off later," she says.
"People have a tendency to get angry as they get removed from something. I think the fallout from the insurance is still to come."
But she is optimistic, too: "Coming back in and seeing all the people rebuilding, instead of making me sad it's making me more hopeful."
Back on the beach, Police Chief Mike Mastronardy looks around the splintered landscape and sees a recovery already under way.
"You should have seen it two days after the storm hit," he says.
"We'll be in business this summer. You want to get a beach patch?"
After Sandy: The struggles of Ortley Beach
By Adam Blenford BBC News, New Jersey The ever-growing piles of rubbish outside every home in Ortley Beach only hint at the sadness of the owners inside. John and Merlinda Berish's home white wooden home was hit by the corner of the rogue house John Berish says he has doubts about rebuilding. "It will never be the same again"
There is a lot of wooden furniture, much of it clearly carved and crafted decades ago, and sofas upholstered in patterns of the past. There are mattresses and clothes left sodden by water.
But there are also leather footballs, children's bicycles, and vintage LPs; there are gas-fired BBQs, refrigerators and plastic flowers.
As good Italian home-makers, John and Merlinda Berish even had six months' worth of home-cooked meals in their freezer. No longer.
Sandy's salty floodwater and its deadly ally, a creeping mould, have spared little.
Instead of personal possessions the Berishes now have a rogue home sitting outside the front porch, a beachside bungalow that has come to rest a full quarter of a mile from its usual spot.
Sandy tore the house from its foundations in Beier Avenue and sent it careering up 3rd Avenue, where it eventually slammed into the Berishes' property and came to a halt. It's still there, weeks later.
"It hit my house pretty good," says John Berish, 75. "I wish they'd get it out of here now. It's an eyesore.
"Everything you see in most houses up and down the street is destroyed. You name it, it's gone."
John and Merlinda Berish's home white wooden home was hit by the corner of the rogue house He looks out over his front porch and surveys his belongings.
"Everything you have personally in your life is now going out in the garbage cans."
The Berishes' experience is entirely typical of the new reality in Ortley Beach. One month on from Sandy's inundation, it's not that Ortley Beach is yet to recover; the problem is that it has barely begun.
Continue reading the main storyI think once residents were able to get over to the island after it was cleaned up they got a full appreciation of the damage over there.”End Quote George Whitman Jr Local councillor The barrier island community was especially vulnerable to a storm like Sandy, which pushed great swells of ocean towards the coast, breaching protective dunes and flooding virtually every home.
While Ortley Beach is often referred to as "ground zero", other Jersey Shore communities were also badly hit: Seaside Heights, Lavallette, Normandy and Mantoloking on Ortley's island strip; on Long Beach Island and in Atlantic City to the south.
The governors of New York and New Jersey states have now asked for almost $80bn (£50bn) in federal funding for disaster relief and future flood prevention. New Jersey's $37bn request is bigger than the state's entire annual budget.
In Ortley Beach, it is hard to overstate the chaos and sadness the storm has left behind.
Although no-one died here, tales of loss are on every street corner and in most of the homes in between.
Continue reading the main story Residents and homeowners gained regular access to the island only last weekend, after Thanksgiving. One-third of Ortley Beach is now open each day, albeit with access controlled by police.There is no power, no gas, few toilets, no sewerage, no phone service, no shops and no restaurants. No-one sleeps in the town at night.
"They're all victims, and our goal is to help them one victim at a time," says Mike Mastronardy, chief of police for Toms River Township, which includes Ortley Beach.
As the water receded, Mastronardy and the Toms River council kept residents off the island, away from their ruined homes, until emergency infrastructure repairs made Ortley Beach safe to enter.
Continue reading the main story "Our states took a devastating blow from Hurricane Sandy, and our respective cost estimates to restore and rebuild reflect the ferocity of Sandy and the impact to our transportation and utilities infrastructures, our economies, tourism industries and, most importantly, the lives, homes and livelihoods of our citizens."
Gov Andrew Cuomo (NY) and Gov Chris Christie (NJ)
Estimated cost to New Jersey: $37bnEstimated cost to New York: $41.9bnDisaster centres open in New Jersey: 33 Disaster centres open in New York: 33Deaths attributed to Sandy: 121Uninsured eligible for help via National Flood Insurance ProgramIt was not a universally popular policy, and public discontent grew as impatient residents clamoured to see their homes and assess the damage.Those who did make it in found the town in ruins. The beach had been eviscerated, with 8ft-high (2.4m) protective dunes simply washed away. Instead, streets within two blocks of the water were filled with 2-3ft of sand.
Homes, boats and cars were strewn around, power lines were down, sinkholes appeared, and many buildings were unsafe.
"It really wasn't a good idea to go back there," Toms River council member George Whitman Jr says.
"I think once residents were able to get over to the island after it was cleaned up they got a full appreciation of the damage over there."
Only by visiting Ortley Beach itself is it possible to understand what Whitman means.
At its northern tip is a towering mountain of sand, reclaimed from the streets and corralled on top of what was once a popular pier.
From there, sweeping south, much of what remains is a withered mess.
The Surf Club, a Jersey Shore institution, now lies in ruins, and the wreckage of Ortley Beach's boardwalk runs both ways along the beach, meandering south towards Seaside Heights and its now-famous rollercoaster-in-the-ocean.
Before the storm, beachside dunes higher than the boardwalk protected the walkway - and the road and homes beyond - from storm-tossed seas.
But there are no dunes anymore. There is no tarmac road either, just an expanded and flattened beach stretching from the sea to the streets.
The houses ranged along Ocean Avenue are shattered, broken or simply not there anymore. The road that once ran parallel to the boardwalk is now twisted, broken and buckled.
There was no rain, and little wind, as Sandy closed in on the Jersey Shore on 29 October. But water had already seeped into the streets by the time the clock struck noon. As night fell, Ortley Beach was already flooded.
Continue reading the main storyRight now everybody is worrying about the immediate. I think the fallout from the insurance is still to come”End Quote Karen Vail Born in Ortley Beach "I went up to the ocean and they said the storm was about 500 miles away, and it had already breached the dunes and damaged oceanfront homes," says Frank Mazzo, a local builder who defied an evacuation order as the waters rose.
"That was about noon. By eight o'clock, eight-thirty, the water just rose about 2ft. By nine we were really in the thick of it."
Mazzo's sturdy, modern house - by the bay almost half a mile away - was barely damaged. Water flooded his garage, but most of his property is built on sturdy concrete pillars, and no structural damage was done.
"I built the house to withstand these things. But who knew the first hurricane we faced would be the 100-year storm, or the 500-year storm?"
Mazzo's neighbours were not so fortunate. To his right, Joanna Anselmo's neat, pink summer home - bought by her family in 1948 - is at least still standing. But it now perches precariously over a watery pit.
"It's very, very surreal," she says. "I keep waking up and thinking it didn't happen."
The house to Frank Mazzo's left, at 2029 Bay Boulevard, is listing oddly, its front aspect plunging forward into the same hole that scuppered the Anselmo home.
"The house is cracked in half at the back, I got a four foot pit around the back of my house, and my shed is nearly in the bay," says Bill Carroll, who has lived in Ortley Beach for 50 years.
John Berish says he has doubts about rebuilding. "It will never be the same again" "Pretty much, we lost everything here. We're coming out with nothing."
But if Ortley Beach is sad, it is not universally depressed.
Across the road, Karen and Rick Vail are literally taking a breather. Clad in white all-in-one Tyvek "disaster suits", they sit by their car and remove the face masks protecting them from prolonged exposure to mould spores.
The Vails are clearing Karen's mother's home, salvaging what they can. But she worries that many people might suffer at the hands of insurance companies.
Homeowner insurance generally does not cover flood damage, and many people were either unwilling to buy flood insurance or unable to get coverage.
"Right now everybody is worrying about the immediate, rather than when the insurance company starts paying off later," she says.
"People have a tendency to get angry as they get removed from something. I think the fallout from the insurance is still to come."
But she is optimistic, too: "Coming back in and seeing all the people rebuilding, instead of making me sad it's making me more hopeful."
Back on the beach, Police Chief Mike Mastronardy looks around the splintered landscape and sees a recovery already under way.
"You should have seen it two days after the storm hit," he says.
"We'll be in business this summer. You want to get a beach patch?"
Argentina 'Dirty War' case begins
28 November 2012 Last updated at 18:55 GMT ![A picture of one of Argentina's]()
Many victims were killed during "death flights", their bodies dropped into the Atlantic Ocean A court in Argentina has begun hearings in the largest trial of crimes committed during the so-called "Dirty War" between 1976 and 1983.
A heart carved into the wall in a detention cell at the Naval School of Mechanics (Esma) where the crimes in this trial were committed
Sixty-eight former officials face 800 charges of kidnap, torture and murder associated with an elite naval college.
Among the defendants are Alfredo Astiz, known as the Blond Angel of Death, and eight former "death flight" pilots.
Tens of thousands of Argentines were kidnapped and killed by the military junta during their years in power.
The deadliest of the regime's secret detention camps was the Naval School of Mechanics (Esma) in the capital, Buenos Aires.
Five thousand people were sent to the grandiose three-storey stone building in an upmarket northern suburb.
Very few survived their time in cells in the basement and attic. The bodies of many have never been recovered.
A heart carved into the wall in a detention cell at the Naval School of Mechanics (Esma) where the crimes in this trial were committed Some were allegedly burnt and their remains disposed of.
Others were drugged and dropped from planes flying over the Atlantic Ocean.
For the first time in Argentina, the pilots of those "death flights" are on trial, among them former naval lieutenant Julio Poch, who was extradited to Argentina from Spain in 2010 after allegedly confessing to the part he played to colleagues at the Dutch airline Transavia.
Another defendant, former naval captain Emir Sisul Hess, allegedly told relatives of the dead how sleeping victims "fell like little ants" from his plane.
The trial is part of a continuing series of actions against Argentine officers and other officials associated with the military dictatorship.
AmnestyLegal action began once democracy returned to Argentina in 1983, but President Raul Alfonsin brought an end to the trials in 1986, arguing the country needed to look to the future and not the past.
Three laws granting amnesty for crimes committed during the Dirty War were passed in 1986 and 1987. These were overturned in 2003.
Since then a number of high-profile figures from the regime have been convicted, including the de facto presidents Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone.
Continue reading the main story 1976: Military overthrow President Isabel Martinez de Peron1983: Raul Alfonsin elected president after collapse of dictatorship1985: Gen Jorge Videla convicted1986: Full Stop Law passed granting immunity to military1990: President Carlos Menem issues pardons to Gen Videla and other officers2003: Repeal of blanket amnesty2010: Gen Videla reconvictedGen Videla had already been convicted of homicide, torture and kidnap amongst other crimes in 1985, but he was given an amnesty by President Carlos Menem in 1990.About 250 convictions have been secured, including Alfredo Astiz, who last year was given a life sentence for the part he played in infiltrating left-wing groups and betraying their members to the regime.
A number of Esma officials have already been tried but human rights lawyer Rodolfo Yanzon told the Associated Press: "This was, is and will be the largest trial of crimes against humanity.
"There are 68 defendants charged in 800 cases, and we estimate there will be some 900 witnesses,"
Among the witnesses will be Graciela Palacio Lois, whose husband Ricardo never returned from a meeting of the Peronist University Youth movement in 1976.
She says she is nervous about giving evidence.
"It's one thing looking at them from the other side of the glass in the viewing gallery. But it's another thing sitting in the witness area with them in front of you."
The trial is expected to last two years.
Argentina wins delay over debt
28 November 2012 Last updated at 22:41 GMT 
Economy Minister Hernan Lorenzino has said Argentina will fight the US ruling Argentina, which is locked in a court battle over its debt, has received more time to argue against paying investors over its defaulted debt.
Economy Minister Hernan Lorenzino has said Argentina will fight the US ruling Argentina, which is locked in a court battle over its debt, has received more time to argue against paying investors over its defaulted debt.The nation is appealing against a US ruling ordering it to pay $1.3bn (£800m) to foreign creditors holding bonds that it defaulted on in 2001.
Argentina had been given until 15 December to reimburse the hedge funds, which shunned two previous debt swaps.
But the New York court has now granted a stay while its appeal is heard.
Argentina defaulted on $100bn of bonds in 2001, a record amount at the time.
But by 2003 a recovery was under way, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to a new loan.
Since then, Argentina has restructured its massive debt twice, offering creditors new bonds for the defaulted ones.
These hedge funds have previously rejected exchanges of their defaulted debt in 2005 and 2010. If Argentina is forced to pay in full, other holders of debt totalling more than $11bn are expected to demand immediate payment as well.
Argentine Economy Minister Hernan Lorenzino has said it is illegitimate to pay "vulture funds" and President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said her government would not pay a single dollar.
Arrests for Afghan girl beheading
28 November 2012 Last updated at 18:21 GMT 
Afghan police have arrested two men accused of beheading a teenage girl with a knife in northern Kunduz province, officials say.
Afghan police have arrested two men accused of beheading a teenage girl with a knife in northern Kunduz province, officials say.Prior to the attack, the girl's father had rejected a marriage proposal for his daughter.
"Our investigation shows those who killed her were people who wanted to marry her," police told the BBC.
Earlier this month, four policemen were jailed for 16 years for raping a young woman in the same province.
In the latest incident, the girl, who was about 14 years old, was carrying drinking water from a nearby well to her house in Imam Sahib district when she was attacked on Monday.
"People were harassing the family and asking for her hand. When she refused, they did this to her," a police official told the BBC.
Senior Afghan officials and local tribal elders said the two suspects were close relatives of the girl.
The father had not wanted his daughter to get married because she was "too young to be engaged", he was quoted as saying by the Pajhwok news agency.
At the mercy of Afghanistan's warlords
28 November 2012 Last updated at 00:18 GMT By Rustam Qobil BBC Uzbek Service 
In many areas of Afghanistan it is the warlords who hold sway - not the central government or the Taliban. They are able to exploit villagers with impunity using the threat, or the reality, of violence. 
In a region with few prospects, many young men end up fighting for the warlords 
The government in Kabul feels a world away 
In many areas of Afghanistan it is the warlords who hold sway - not the central government or the Taliban. They are able to exploit villagers with impunity using the threat, or the reality, of violence. In rural Takhar province, in the remote north-east of Afghanistan, time seems to have stopped in the 19th Century - bumpy roads, mud-built houses, lawless villages and no sign of the Kabul government.
Here, armed commanders and their guns are in charge. Their word is the law.
"Local armed commanders forced three of my elder brothers to fight for them against the insurgents," 26-year-old Najbulla tells me. "They were all killed in wars."
Najbulla - not his real name - speaks quietly because he is scared of being overheard, so we move to the back room of his friend's shop.
"Now they want me to be their soldier, too. But I need to look after my old parents and orphaned nephews, so I refused," he says.
"Ever since, they have been threatening to kill me and grab our land."
Najbullah doesn't know what to do. Moving somewhere else is not an option. He's a poor farmer, with a big family to look after.
He says there is no-one who can help him, either. Officials and the police are either scared of the armed warlords or working for them.
In a region with few prospects, many young men end up fighting for the warlords Both the Soviets and the Taliban struggled to gain control of this part of Afghanistan and its "mujahideen warlords", who today rule unchallenged.
In some places they impose taxes on local traders. Some have become government officials. Some run anti-Taliban militia groups, called Arbaki, which are supported by the government and international forces.
Continue reading the main storyWe just can't do anything against them... these commanders do actually represent the government here”End Quote Najibulla Khaliqyar Provincial Council of Takhar And many ordinary Afghan people are terrified of them. They say the commanders extort money and food, grab land, assault people - and sometimes kill.
Takhar province is situated on the southern banks of the Amudarya - the biggest river in Central Asia. Its tributaries should be able to provide enough water for all the region's agriculture - but, oddly, many farmers struggle to irrigate their crops.
In one district, Khojaye Ghor, the irrigation canals have dried up completely and crops are failing - hundreds of families have had to abandon their homes in search of water.
The explanation lies upstream.
"Some powerful and armed people... diverted our river to power their hydro-electric generators," one local farmer, Muhammad Sharif, complains.
One of them is Mr Aghagul Qataghany, he says - a former mujahideen commander, now mayor of Taloqan, the capital of Takhar province.
When I meet him in his office, he denies the allegation."Show me that person and I'm ready to challenge him in court. I don't have any hydro-power generator," he tells me.
But others back up the farmer's story.
Najibulla Khaliqyar, the head of the Provincial Council of Takhar, agrees Qataghany and others are diverting rivers for power.
"We just can't do anything against them because the government is weak and these commanders do actually represent the government here," he says.
"They are powerful people with good connections."
The might of the warlords goes back at least to 1979, when the country was invaded by the Soviet Union, and weapons started flowing into the region.
The government in Kabul feels a world away "A local commander grabbed my land 30 years ago," says an old man in his 80s, who I meet in Takhar.
"Now his son uses my land and despite having all the necessary documents I can't get it back. They beat me up and tried to kill my son. He had to flee to Iran."
He shows me dozens of documents. Some date back to the Soviet occupation, some are brand new. But they are just useless pieces of paper, powerless against the rule of the gun. Once a landowner, this man is now penniless and homeless.
Continue reading the main story I know cases of rape and murder but those who committed these crimes are at large simply because they are powerful”End Quote Bilquis Roshan Senator, Farah province Heather Barr, of Human Rights Watch in Kabul, says it's the same in many rural areas across the country.
"The government and international community have empowered these commanders and their groups by giving them more control in rural areas and turning them into anti-Taliban militia forces, or local police," explains Heather Barr.
"The country is being left to these people."
Critics say the national government is turning a blind eye to these problems.
"Many warlords or armed commanders are in the government and they are very powerful and in provinces it's their men who are in control," says Bilqis Roshan, a senator from Farah province.
"I know cases of rape and murder but those who committed these crimes are still at large simply because they are powerful commanders or have links to them."
Government officials admit the problem exists - but they say action is being taken to deal with it.
"We do have some problems with local police and Arbaki forces," says Siddiq Siddiqi, spokesman for Afghanistan's Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kabul. "But whoever breaks the law, they will be punished."
However, it seems ordinary people cannot get justice, even in the Afghan capital itself.
"A local armed commander killed my father and grabbed our land," says a woman I meet in the city.
"When he wanted to marry my teenage daughter by force I abandoned everything and fled to Kabul together with my children."
She cannot now go back to her village or claim her property back.
"He is a former mujahideen and a powerful man and has connections everywhere, so there is no point in complaining against him. It will only worsen my situation," she says.
She has been in hiding in Kabul for the last five years. All her young children have to work to supplement what she earns as a cook.
Nato is planning to withdraw most of its forces from Afghanistan within the next two years and is handing over security to local forces. They will continue the fight against Taliban insurgents.
But this could mean the armed commanders and their gangs are left to consolidate their power - and many ordinary Afghans will be left at their mercy.
Listen to the full report on Assignment on the BBC World Service on Thursday, 29 November, Listen again via the Assignment website or the BBC World Service documentaries download.
AUDIO: How to stop Gibraltar monkeys biting
The famous Barbary Macaque monkeys of Gibraltar are starting to bite people and get cross when they do not get enough chocolate.
Dr John Cortes, Gibraltar's minister for the environment, explains how the monkeys are being returned to nature on the famous rock.
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Bamber's conviction bid rejected
29 November 2012 Last updated at 20:09 GMT 
Jeremy Bamber's appeal was heard by two High Court judges Killer Jeremy Bamber has failed in his latest High Court action to overturn a conviction for murdering five relatives 27 years ago in Essex.
Jeremy Bamber's appeal was heard by two High Court judges Killer Jeremy Bamber has failed in his latest High Court action to overturn a conviction for murdering five relatives 27 years ago in Essex.Two judges in London rejected a judicial review application.
Bamber challenged a refusal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) to refer his case back to the Court of Appeal as a miscarriage of justice.
The CCRC, an independent body which investigates possible miscarriages, rejected Bamber's last appeal in April.
The decision on Thursday follows a single judge rejecting Bamber's application for permission to seek judicial review of the CCRC's decision after he studied the case papers in private.
Complex investigationBamber made a renewed application dealt with by Sir John Thomas, president of the Queen's Bench Division, and Mr Justice Globe.
Announcing the decision, Sir John said that having looked at the approach taken by the CCRC in the case he could not see "any way" in which a challenge could be made to the decision reached.
"It seems to me that a challenge is impossible to mount," he said.
The 51-year-old who is serving a whole-life term for the 1985 killings at a remote Essex farmhouse, has always protested his innocence.
In April, the CCRC said that despite a lengthy and complex investigation, it had not "identified any evidence or legal argument that it considers capable of raising a real possibility that the Court of Appeal would quash the convictions".
Bamber and two other killers have also started an appeal in the European Court of Human Rights against spending the rest of their lives in prison, claiming a breach of human rights.
In a statement posted on his website, Bamber said: "It appears that the threshold for my case to be referred to the Court of Appeal is much higher than in most cases but that doesn't make me any less innocent.
"The law, it seems, simply does not apply if it assists me in proving that I am wrongly convicted."
Beckham set for talks with Monaco
David Beckham is set to begin talks with French side AS Monaco, with negotiations expected to take place after Saturday's MLS Cup final. 
The French side have experienced a steady decline in fortunes since appearing in the 2004 Champions League final, which ended in a 3-0 defeat by Porto.
The 37-year-old is understood to be open to a move, having announced his desire to leave Los Angeles Galaxy.
Monaco chief executive officer Tor-Kristian Karlsen told BBC Sport: "We are happy with our current squad.
Founded: 1924
Stadium: Stade Louis II
Manager: Claudio Ranieri
Position in French Ligue 2: First
Notable former managers: Arsene Wenger (1987-1994); Jean Tigana (1995-1999); Didier Deschamps (2001-2005)
2011-12 season position: Eighth in Ligue 2
Notable alumni: George Weah, Yaya Toure, Emmanuel Adebayor, Thierry Henry, Glenn Hoddle, Christian Vieri
Correct as of 29 November 2012
"But if there's a chance to get a player of Beckham's stature, we'd be foolish not to explore it."The former England captain, who has attracted interest from clubs in Russia and Brazil, plans to make a final decision on his future by the turn of the year.
Karlsen added: "Right now we're trying to learn if Beckham's future ambitions are in sync with ours.
"I understand he's high in demand but it's natural for a player with his experience and quality. Let's see what the next few weeks bring.
"It's a privilege to be linked with world-renowned players like Beckham."
Beckham is due to play for LA Galaxy against Houston Dynamo on Saturday, a rematch of last year's MLS Cup final. LA Galaxy won that game 1-0 to earn Beckham his first piece of silverware in the United States.
That was thought to be the last game of his six-year MLS career, only for him to sign a new two-year contract in January.
But Monaco, who play in the second tier of French football, Ligue 2, following their relegation from Ligue 1 in 2011, look set to begin talks with the midfielder after he announced he was to leave the Galaxy for "one last challenge" before retirement.
The French side have experienced a steady decline in fortunes since appearing in the 2004 Champions League final, which ended in a 3-0 defeat by Porto. They had mainly been stuck in mid-table but a period of financial instability contributed to their relegation.
Billionaire Russian businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev bought a majority stake in the club in December 2011, with ambitions to return them to the level they were once at.
Karlsen added: "We're an ambitious club and our president is committed to bringing the club back to where it used it be - to the elite of French football.
"To achieve such a goal we have to keep an open mind when experienced and extraordinarily talented footballers become available."
Aside from the Champions League final, Monaco boast a fine history, with seven French league titles to their name and alumni such as George Weah, Yaya Toure and Englishman Glenn Hoddle.
They were also managed by Arsene Wenger between 1987 and 1994, the now-Arsenal boss winning the title in his first season at the club.
Monaco - under the guidance of former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri - are top of the French second division after 15 matches of the season.
Beckham wants a new challengeBeckham has attracted interest from other parts of France, too. Paris Saint-Germain offered him a multi-million pound contract to move to Paris last November but he opted not to accept the proposal for family reasons.
During his time at LA Galaxy he was loaned out to AC Milan twice, with Beckham keen to maximise his chances of making Fabio Capello's World Cup 2010 squad.
His dream died after tearing his left Achilles tendon playing for AC Milan against Chievo in March 2010, and he would not get the chance to add to his 115 England caps.
Birth tests 'can predict obesity'
28 November 2012 Last updated at 23:16 GMT By Melissa Hogenboom BBC News 
Researchers say a baby's chance of being obese in childhood can be predicted at birth using a simple formula.
Researchers say a baby's chance of being obese in childhood can be predicted at birth using a simple formula.The formula combines several known factors to estimate the risk of obesity.
The authors of the study, published in PLos One, hope it will be used to identify babies at risk.
Childhood obesity can lead to many health problems, including Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Researchers from Imperial College London looked at 4,032 Finnish children born in 1986 and at data from two further studies of 1,053 Italian children and 1,032 US children.
They found that looking at a few simple measurements, such as a child's birthweight and whether the mother smoked, was enough to predict obesity.
Previously it had been thought that genetic factors would give bigger clues to later weight problems, but only about one in 10 cases of obesity is the result of a rare gene mutation that affects appetite.
Obesity in children is rising, with the NHS estimating that 17% of girls and 15% of boys in England are now obese.
Continue reading the main storyPredictors used in the calculation include:
The child's birthweightThe parents' body mass indexNumber of people in the householdThe mother's professional status Whether or not the mother smoked during pregnancyThe risk factors for obesity are already well known, but this is the first time these factors have been put together in a formula.Prof Philippe Froguel from Imperial College London, who led the study, said that prevention was the best strategy. Once obese, a child can find it difficult to lose weight.
"The equation is based on data everyone can obtain from a newborn, and we found it can predict around 80% of obese children.
"Unfortunately, public prevention campaigns have been rather ineffective at preventing obesity in school-age children. Teaching parents about the dangers of overfeeding and bad nutritional habits at a young age would be much more effective.
"The message is simple. All at-risk children should be identified, monitored and given good advice, but this costs money."
Prof Paul Gately, a specialist in childhood obesity at Leeds Metropolitan University, said a tool like this would help the NHS target specific people at risk rather than the "scattergun one-size-fits-all approach, which we know does not work".
"Rather than spending money on a huge number of people, we can be more specific and spend appropriately. We may not save money in the short-term but it will be spent more wisely and could reduce [obesity-related] NHS bills in the future.
"We've done a great job of outlining that obesity is a serious issue but we have made the general public paranoid that everyone is at risk.
"Tools like this will help change that attitude. Once we use the tool, we need intervention programmes for children at a greater risk."
Bizarrely big black hole baffles
29 November 2012 Last updated at 09:42 GMT By Jason Palmer Science and technology reporter, BBC News 
Lurking in this image is a black hole that could revamp theories of galactic evolution Astronomers have spotted an enormous black hole - the second most massive ever - but it resides in a tiny galaxy.
Black holes are incredibly dense objects with gravity strong enough to trap even lightA "medium" black hole could have the mass of 1,000 Suns but be no bigger than Earth Supermassive black holes are thought to be at the centre of most large galaxies - including ours"Like a big jigsaw, we try to put those orbits together to reproduce that galaxy so it has the same stellar velocities we measure. "
Lurking in this image is a black hole that could revamp theories of galactic evolution Astronomers have spotted an enormous black hole - the second most massive ever - but it resides in a tiny galaxy.The galaxy NGC 1277, just a quarter the size of our own Milky Way, hosts a black hole 4,000 times larger than the one at the Milky Way's centre.
A report in Nature shows it has a mass some 17 billion times that of our Sun.
The surprise finding is hard to reconcile with existing models of black hole growth, which hold that they evolve in tandem with host galaxies.
Getting to grips with just how large black holes are is a tricky business - after all, since they swallow light in their vicinities, they cannot be seen.
Instead, astronomers measure the black holes' "sphere of influence" - the gravitational effects they have on surrounding gas and stars.
In the Milky Way, it is possible to observe individual stars as they orbit Sagittarius A, our own local black hole, to guess its mass.
But for the 100 or so far more distant black holes whose masses have been estimated, astronomers have made average measurements of associated stars' speeds - their "velocity dispersion".
On a hunt for the Universe's largest black holes, astronomers using the Hobby-Eberly Telescope in the US state of Texas undertook a survey that brought in a haul of nearly 900 host galaxies.
'Big jigsaw'But Remco van den Bosch, then at the University of Texas at Austin, and his colleagues were surprised to find that some of the largest black holes were to be found in small galaxies.
Among them was NGC 1277, 220 million light years away in the constellation Perseus, which happens to appear also in a high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope image, helping the researchers to refine their computer models.
"We make a model of the galaxy and compute all the possible stellar orbits," Dr Van den Bosch, who is now at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany, explained to BBC News.
Continue reading the main story Black holes are incredibly dense objects with gravity strong enough to trap even lightA "medium" black hole could have the mass of 1,000 Suns but be no bigger than Earth Supermassive black holes are thought to be at the centre of most large galaxies - including ours"Like a big jigsaw, we try to put those orbits together to reproduce that galaxy so it has the same stellar velocities we measure. "What the team found was that the NGC 1277 black hole was enormous - as large as our Solar System, and comprising some 14% of the entire galaxy's mass.
"The only way to you can actually make those high dispersions in the centre is by having that really big black hole, there's really no other way around it," Dr Van den Bosch said.
What is more, the team have five other small-galaxy candidates that, with the help of more data, could disprove the rule that big black holes only happen in big galaxies.
But NGC 1277 is stranger still, and could help advance our theories of how black holes evolve in the first place.
"This galaxy seems to be very old," Dr Van den Bosch said. "So somehow this black hole grew very quickly a long time ago, but since then that galaxy has been sitting there not forming any new stars or anything else.
"We're trying to figure out how this happens, and we don't have an answer for that yet. But that's why it's cool."
Body needed to curb press 'havoc'
29 November 2012 Last updated at 20:43 GMT Lord Justice Leveson: "It must protect both the public interest and the rights and liberties of individuals"A tougher form of self-regulation backed by legislation should be introduced to uphold press standards, the Leveson report has recommended.
Clive Coleman BBC News legal correspondent
Lord Justice Leveson said the press had "wreaked havoc in the lives of innocent people" for many decades.
But the report's recommendations have divided the coalition government.
David Cameron said he had "serious concerns" over statutory regulation but Nick Clegg said he supported some form of legal underpinning.
And Labour leader Ed Miliband urged the government to accept the report in its entirety.
Speaking in the Commons, Mr Cameron said he broadly welcomed Lord Justice Leveson's principles to change the current system.
But he said: "We should be wary of any legislation that has the potential to infringe free speech and the free press.
"The danger is that this would create a vehicle for politicians whether today or some time in the future to impose regulation and obligations on the press."
Continue reading the main storyWould:
Create a process to "validate" the independence and effectiveness of the new self-regulation body Validate a new process of independent arbitration for complainants - which would benefit both the public and publishers by providing speedy resolutionsPlace a duty on government to protect the freedom of pressWould not:
Establish a body to regulate the press directly Give any Parliament or government rights to interfere with what newspapers publishDeputy Leader Nick Clegg said changing the law was the only way to ensure "the new regulator isn't just independent for a few months or years, but is independent for good".Mr Miliband described the report as "measured, reasonable and proportionate" and said Labour "unequivocally" endorsed its conclusions.
After the first of cross-party talks, a senior Labour source said Mr Cameron had agreed to ask the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to draft a bill to implement Lord Justice Leveson's recommendations.
The source added Labour would push for a Commons vote on implementing the recommendation in principle by the end of January.
The Hacked Off campaign, which represents victims of phone hacking said Mr Cameron's "failure" to accept the full recommendations of the report was "unfortunate and regrettable".
Continue reading the main story Founder Brian Cathcart said: "Despite their years of abuses and outrageous conduct, it seems that the prime minister still trusts the editors and proprietors to behave themselves. It seems that the prime minister wants self-regulation all over again."Madeleine McCann's mother Kate said she hoped the report would "mark the start of a new era" for the press, in which it treated those in the news "with care and consideration".
Continue reading the main storyThe prime minister knows he has given his opponents yet another stick to beat him with. He also knows, however, that the press are firmly on his side.
Bob Satchwell, executive director of the Society of Editors said he hoped any British politician would hesitate before doing anything that "might in the slightest way threaten the freedom of the media"."What happens 20 years down the line if you have a different government, which was upset by the press again, once you've given away the principle and put a law in place, it's very easy to amend."
Mr Cameron set up the Leveson Inquiry in July 2011 after it emerged journalists working for the Sunday tabloid the News of the World had hacked the mobile phone of murdered Surrey schoolgirl Milly Dowler. The paper was subsequently shut down by its owners News International.
'Accountable press'Among Lord Justice Leveson's findings:
All of the press served the country "very well for the vast majority of the time"The press must create a new and tough regulator backed by legislation to ensure it was effectiveThis cannot be characterised as statutory regulationLegally-binding arbitration process needed to force newspapers to deal effectively with complaintsSome "troubling evidence" in relation to the actions of some police officers - but no proof of widespread corruptionOver last 30 years all political parties have had too close a relationship with the press which has not been in the public interestFormer Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt was not biased in his handling of News Corp's BSkyB bid but failed to supervise his special adviser properlyThe tabloid press often failed to show "consistent respect for the dignity and equality of women", and there is a "tendency to sexualise and demean" women.In his 2,000-page report, Appeal Court judge Lord Justice Leveson said his proposals will protect the rights of victims and people bringing complaints.
He said the press had failed to properly regulate itself in the past, but he believed the law could be used to "validate" a new body.
Continue reading the main story Clive Coleman BBC News legal correspondent The statute proposed by Lord Justice Leveson is intended to do three things: Enshrine freedom of the press for the first time; recognise the new regulator; and ensure it can be can be audited to confirm it is performing to proper standards.
It also provides incentives to publishers to sign up. Incentives are needed because no serving newspaper editor can serve on the new body. The proposals amount to the press being allowed to set up its own regulator, but not sit on it.
Principally the incentives involve setting up an arbitration service to settle disputes with members of the public over privacy and libel. If a publisher isn't part of that service and has to go to court, it could be deprived of very considerable legal costs, even if it won. And if it lost, it could be made to pay additional, exemplary damages.
These proposals on arbitration represent a very large carrot and stick and that, says Lord Justice Leveson, needs legislation. But in addition, there's a shotgun in the cupboard. The broadcast regulator Ofcom could act as a backstop regulator for those publishers not persuaded by the Leveson carrot and stick.
He said: "There have been too many times when, chasing the story, parts of the press have acted as if its own code, which it wrote, simply did not exist."This has caused real hardship, and on occasion, wreaked havoc with the lives of innocent people whose rights and liberties have been disdained.
"This is not just the famous but ordinary members of the public, caught up in events (many of them truly tragic) far larger than they could cope with but made much, much worse by press behaviour that, at times, can only be described as outrageous."
Lord Justice Leveson said putting "a policeman in every newsroom is no sort of answer," because legal powers were limited to allow the press to act in the public interest.
However, the press is "still the industry marking its own homework", and needs an independent self-regulatory body to promote high standards, he added.
The Metropolitan Police said it accepted the criticisms made against it in the report.
Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe said he had already taken "decisive action" on the issues raised and his priority was now ensuring phone-hacking victims got justice.
The chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, Lord Hunt, said the press had to seize the baton and make sure it "doesn't let Lord Justice Leveson down".
BPI demands pirate proxy closure
29 November 2012 Last updated at 20:55 GMT By Dave Lee Technology reporter, BBC News 
Loz Kaye said he intended to respond to the BPI's request by 6 December The UK's music industry body is demanding that a service offering a workaround to access banned site The Pirate Bay is shut down by its owner.
Loz Kaye said he intended to respond to the BPI's request by 6 December The UK's music industry body is demanding that a service offering a workaround to access banned site The Pirate Bay is shut down by its owner.Pirate Party UK, a political group, has set up a proxy that can be used to reach the piracy site even though it has been blocked by the UK courts.
The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has written to the party's leader Loz Kaye to request the proxy's removal.
Mr Kaye told the BBC his party was "seeking legal advice".
"We've been clear all along, the reasons for the proxy," Mr Kaye added.
"It is a legitimate tool, for a legitimate political end."
Pirate Party UK - which is not affiliated with The Pirate Bay - said it created the proxy website as an act of "freedom of expression" and to support "the right to share information and ideas without interference and that censorship is never the right answer".
However, in a letter seen by the BBC, BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor told Mr Kaye: "Freedom of expression is not an absolute right.
"It comes with a duty to respect the rights of others, including those whose talent, hard work and investment help to create music and other entertainment."
'Passionate believers'Since launching the proxy, the Pirate Party UK's website has rocketed in popularity.
According to web metrics firm Alexa, the party's site was ranked 1,943 in the UK prior to the Pirate Bay ban.
The site is now ranked 147 - higher than the likes of Netflix, the Huffington Post and the NHS. Mr Kaye has previously boasted that it sent more than two million hits to the Pirate Bay every day.
Mr Taylor argued that the Pirate Party UK's arguments to support the proxy were a "complete red herring".
"We are passionate believers in freedom of speech," Mr Taylor said.
"But it doesn't justify The Pirate Bay helping themselves to other people's work.
"The human rights implications of blocking this illegal site have been fully considered by the High Court.
"Whatever their views, Pirate Party UK are no more above the law than anyone else."
Mr Taylor has requested that the Pirate Party UK respond to the BPI's letter by 6 December.
Mr Kaye told the BBC he intended to honour that request.
Burma targets copper mine protest
29 November 2012 Last updated at 18:10 GMT The BBC's Jonathan Head in Burma: "It's become a test case for how old injustices will be addressed"Police in Burma have used water cannon and tear gas to break up a protest against a vast Chinese-backed copper mine in the north-west of the country.
Jonathan Head BBC News, Bangkok
Protesters said dozens were injured and their camps set alight in Monywa town.
Local farmers, monks and activists have been protesting against what they say are forced evictions to allow for the expansion of the mine, Burma's largest.
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is in the area to meet protesters and says she wants to mediate a settlement.
Ms Suu Kyi was greeted by supporters who lined the streets.
Continue reading the main story Jonathan Head BBC News, Bangkok When the government issued its ultimatum to the farmers and activists camped outside the Monywa copper mine, no-one could have guessed what would happen next. The rules have changed in post-military Burma, but no one is quite sure what they are.
When I was there last Saturday the police guarding the mine entrance were shocked to see a solitary monk walking past the gate and its intimidating "Restricted Area" sign, towards them. One officer shouted at him to leave - the others resorted to holding hands, like children in a playground, in a line across the road.
Eventually, the police relented and allowed a group of nuns to enter the site. It seemed then that we were witnessing a new era in Burma, one where violent repression was no longer an option for the security forces.
Today we saw something of the old Burma, in the rough way the police broke up the farmers' sit-in, using water cannon and something else that seems to have set the protest camps alight.
The government says it is still committed to a full inquiry into the farmers' complaint, that they were forced to accept the deal with the mining company under which they gave up their land for modest financial compensation and new but very basic housing.
The Burmese parliament is now asserting itself, and there will surely be aspiring politicians there who will see backing the farmers' grievances against a Chinese- and military-backed mine as a vote-winner. This conflict is not over, and from what I saw and heard from the farmers, they will not give up their struggle easily.
"I already met one side. I met with mine operators. I want to meet with villagers and protesters," she said. "I want to negotiate after hearing from both sides."The BBC's Jonathan Head, who recently visited the mine, says this is now being seen as a test case for how Burma's new government will handle growing protests around the country over land grabs that took place under military rule.
The farmers started their protest in June, saying they were forced to accept a deal two years ago under which they gave up their land in return for new housing and financial compensation.
The mine is owned by the military and Chinese arms manufacturer Norinco. The company has said that the deal was voluntary, and that only a small minority of farmers rejected it.
The mine's billion-dollar expansion project covers several thousand hectares of land in Burma's Sagaing region.
Squads of riot police arrived at the camps early in the morning, witnesses say.
"They shot some sort of canisters that caused fire at the camp. We just don't know what sort of weapon it was," Shin Oattama, a Buddhist monk, told Reuters news agency.
"We are now seeking refuge at a nearby village. There's no ambulance, no doctor to take care of the injured."
Of the 22 injured, many are monks, and they are mostly suffering from burns, our correspondent reports. It is not clear what caused the burns, he says.
President Thein Sein's office said in a statement that police had used water cannon, tear gas and smoke bombs to disperse the crowds. A spokesman denied that chemical weapons were used.
Laws on public protests in Burma have been relaxed amid a series of democratic reforms. But this week the government gave the protesters an ultimatum to leave the site.
Meanwhile, China has defended its joint mining project with Burma.
"The relocation, compensation, environmental protection and other issues involved with this project were jointly settled through negotiations by the Chinese and Myanmar [Burma] sides and meet Myanmar's laws and regulations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said during a regular press briefing in Beijing.
"We hope all levels of Myanmar society can provide an environment beneficial to the project's development."
In an editorial published on Thursday, the state-run Chinese newspaper Global Times said that halting the project would be a "lose-lose situation" for both countries.
"Only third parties, including some Western forces, will be glad to see this result," it said.
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Should models be better protected?
29 November 2012 Last updated at 01:38 GMT 
Sara Ziff (in blue) with fellow models Amy Lemons, Linda Vojtova, and Jeisa Chiminazzo Fashion modelling has a dark underbelly, with exploitation and unfairness rife, writes American model Sara Ziff. 
Sara Ziff is a model and documentary-maker, and the founder of Model Alliance The Problem With Fashion was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 28 November at 20:45 GMTIn 2010, I released Picture Me, a documentary that chronicles my and other models' experiences of the business - both the good and the bad. After five years of carrying small video cameras on location to shoots and fashion shows to document behind the scenes, we probably had 300 hours of footage.
Amy Lemons recalls being advised to stop eating 
Modelling is seen as a glamorous and lucrative profession
Sara Ziff (in blue) with fellow models Amy Lemons, Linda Vojtova, and Jeisa Chiminazzo Fashion modelling has a dark underbelly, with exploitation and unfairness rife, writes American model Sara Ziff. Modelling is a seemingly glamorous profession, and models are certainly not the people you picture when you think of bad working conditions. But wipe off the sheen and another reality emerges.
At 30, I've worked as a model for over half my life, since the age of 14 when a photographer scouted me on the street one day after school.
I've been very lucky in my career and have worked as the face of major brands. I enjoy modelling, a job that not only pays my bills, but also allowed me to put myself through school and made me financially independent.
For the most part, the work itself can be really fun. So I have no reason to speak negatively about an industry that has given me so much.
And, yet, a few years ago I decided I could no longer stay silent about some of the systemic abuses that my peers and I had experienced first-hand.
Continue reading the main story Sara Ziff is a model and documentary-maker, and the founder of Model Alliance The Problem With Fashion was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 28 November at 20:45 GMTIn 2010, I released Picture Me, a documentary that chronicles my and other models' experiences of the business - both the good and the bad. After five years of carrying small video cameras on location to shoots and fashion shows to document behind the scenes, we probably had 300 hours of footage.Stories of sexual abuse, unfortunately, were very common. One model described a casting with one of fashion's most celebrated photographers who asked her to take her clothes off, then took his clothes off and demanded that she touch him sexually.
The film marked a turning point - for the first time models were on the other side of the lens sharing our perspectives of an industry that sometimes left us feeling mute.
Our glossy industry often provokes superficial criticism of models' weight and body image. I hear a lot of "eat a hamburger!"
The prevalence of unusually thin models on the runway is well known. What's less well known is that for a long time the industry has relied on a labour force of children, and they are valued for their adolescent physique.
Continue reading the main story Maximum 10-hour working daySuitable meals laid onExpenses for journeys of 10 miles or more travelRespect and dignity towards model at all timesNo long-lasting change of appearance (including hair) unless agreedNudity or semi-nudity must be approved in advancePrivate changing area and bathroom facilitiesStudio temperature must be at least 21CInsurance cover and prompt paymentModels aged under 16 must be chaperonedIt's this obsession not just with youth, but really with extreme youth, that's the problem.A 13-year-old girl can be naturally skinny, like a beanpole, in a way that a grown woman, who has hips and breasts, generally can't - and shouldn't aspire to be.
And I think we need to ask ourselves why that's become the ideal. Why do we have this perverse fascination with images of such young girls who are so small and inexperienced and really quite vulnerable?
There's a Peter Pan syndrome in fashion. As soon as we start to get older and show signs of maturity, we're told to go on an extreme diet, a lot of the time, or we're discarded and replaced by a younger model. The models never grow up. And that sends a message to women - we're not allowed to grow up.
My friend, the model Amy Lemons, who started modelling women's clothing when she was 12 years old, reached instant supermodel status when she graced the cover of Italian Vogue.
She was 14 years old.
But just three years later, as she began to fill out physically, a New York agent advised her only to eat one rice cake a day. And, if that didn't work, only half a rice cake. So Amy got the hint. She told me: "They were telling me to be anorexic - flat-out."
Amy Lemons recalls being advised to stop eating The fashion industry has no restrictions regarding who can model adult clothing. Personally, I think that only adult models should be employed in those situations.
But the pressing issue is not so much whether we should allow models under 18 to work, but whether we can do anything about the poor conditions in which many models have to work.
As I toured festivals and I spoke at screenings of Picture Me, the film became something of an organising tool. Models sought me out to share their stories. And while most people think of modelling as a lucrative career, the vast majority of working models do not command large sums.
Some told me they had lost their life's savings to unscrupulous agencies. Others had been put on the spot to take nude photos against their wishes.
In New York, many designers pay their models in "trade", meaning just clothes, not cash. This practice is not illegal - models are generally considered to be independent contractors, not employees, and so minimum wage laws do not apply.
Continue reading the main story Photographs of Kate Moss, aged 14, were sold for £5,700 last week. The three images were taken in her model test shoot by photographer David Ross, who said, "she was untarnished. A blank canvas, as other writers have put it."Moss told Vanity Fair that she locked herself in the toilet and cried when asked to pose topless at the age of 16. "I see a 16-year-old now, and to ask her to take her clothes off would feel really weird," she added.Of her 1992 Calvin Klein shoot with Mark Wahlberg, Moss said, "I had a nervous breakdown... I felt really bad about straddling this buff guy. I didn't like it. I couldn't get out of bed for two weeks. I thought I was going to die."But you can't pay your rent with a tank top - and there is something deeply unsettling about some of fashion's wealthiest, most powerful brands hiring minors and not compensating them financially.The models who spoke to me really did love their jobs, but not the unfair, and sometimes illegal, treatment that came with it. We realised that we could do better, and that we would be stronger collectively than as individuals.
So in February 2012, with the support of other models and the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham Law School, I formed the Model Alliance, a not-for-profit labour group for models working in the American fashion industry.
In May, a few months after we met with editors at Vogue, all 19 international editions of the magazine agreed not to hire models under 16 or who appear to have an eating disorder. I think that language is a little problematic, but considering how resistant the industry is to change, it's a really significant step.
We also established a discreet grievance reporting system, have been working with industry leaders to improve financial transparency at agencies, and established a Backstage Privacy Policy at New York Fashion Week to avoid invasive photography while the models are changing.
Modelling is seen as a glamorous and lucrative profession We still have a long way to go. We're working to get legal protections for child models in the US. We also want to make sure that there is a policy of informed consent for jobs involving nudity, and to get models access to good, affordable health care.
Continue reading the main storyFrom super-skinny celebrities to models with low BMI, people are speaking out about women they perceive to be too thin. But some experts worry this behaviour makes things worse.
Photographs of models pervade our culture, and we cannot promote healthy images without taking steps to protect the faces of this business. I realise that fashion is a kind of escapism, and that most people don't want to consider these things when they flip through a magazine.It messes with the glamour if you stop to wonder, is this girl 13? Is there a clause in her agency contract that she cannot gain more than 2cm on her hips? Shouldn't she be in school?
But correcting these abuses starts with seeing models through a different lens - not as dehumanized images, but as human beings who deserve the same rights and protections as all workers.
So I think that if we put more work into empowering the models themselves, we can change the kinds of imagery that we see.
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South Georgia rat cull to resume
29 November 2012 Last updated at 12:08 GMT By Lorna Stewart BBC Radio Science Unit 
Sealing and whaling ships brought the first rats, which have now multiplied massively The largest animal eradication project the world has ever seen is set for its next phase.
The island is home to millions of penguins, seals and seabirds
Sealing and whaling ships brought the first rats, which have now multiplied massively The largest animal eradication project the world has ever seen is set for its next phase.The Habitat Restoration Project on the Atlantic island of South Georgia aims to wipe out millions of rats that first arrived on sealing and whaling ships.
A test mission to spread poison pellets in 2011, aiming to rid 128 sq km of the rodents, seems to have been successful.
The team is now targeting a further 580 sq km with poison pellets on a months-long mission to start in February 2013.
Brown rats may be a pest in the UK but in South Georgia they are pushing indigenous bird species to the brink of extinction.
They were first introduced to South Georgia by sealing boats in the late 18th Century and numbers were bolstered by rats arriving on whaling boats in the early 20th Century.
They quickly multiplied with no natural predators on the island.
For ground-nesting birds like the South Georgia pipit and South Georgia pintail, both of which are unique to the island, the rat explosion spells disaster because the rats feed on chicks and eggs.
Air dropA trial phase in 2011 was the largest rodent eradication ever attempted and succeeded in removing rats from a tenth of the infested areas.
Prof Tony Martin, an expert in animal conservation from the University of Dundee, is the project's director. He said: "Almost immediately, there were young pintail ducks being seen around the base in numbers which no-one could remember - it was remarkably instant and we expect to see pipits returning very soon.
The island is home to millions of penguins, seals and seabirds "But realistically most of the species which will benefit from the project will take years, maybe decades, to come back. But we're not in this for the short-term, this is something for the long-term."
The second phase of the project, detailed on Wednesday at a meeting in London, will see a 25-strong team of scientists, helicopter pilots, chefs and engineers embark on a four-month mission to eradicate the brown rat from the South Atlantic island.
They aim to clear 60% of the remaining area. The crew, dubbed Team Rat, will charter the RRS Ernest Shackleton from the British Antarctic Survey to transport them and their three helicopters, 270 tonnes of bait and shipping containers full of food and equipment.
"The only effective way to eradicate rodents on an island the size of South Georgia is by air," Prof Martin explained.
"The three helicopters will be used to deliver rat bait, using precisions flying, as they criss-cross the island with giant hoppers suspended underneath."
The hope is that eradicating the rats will mean 100 million pairs of seabirds return to the island once more.
Prof Tony Martin will be speaking to the Material World programme on Radio 4, which will air at 16:30 GMT on Thursday and will be re-broadcast at 21:00 on Monday 3 December, and available on iPlayer.
Still making money after 50 years
29 November 2012 Last updated at 00:06 GMT By Duncan Bartlett Business reporter, BBC World Service 
The Rolling Stones latest tour involves just five gigs The first night of the Rolling Stones 50th anniversary tour at London's O2 Arena met with almost unanimously positive reviews. 
The first two of the five tour dates are at the O2 Arena in London 
There is no shortage of Rolling Stones merchandise
The Rolling Stones latest tour involves just five gigs The first night of the Rolling Stones 50th anniversary tour at London's O2 Arena met with almost unanimously positive reviews. Those who saw the show said the band has retained its raucous energy and was given a boost by guest slots from former members, Mick Taylor and Bill Wyman.
The Stones operate like a corporation, with a complex financial operation that handles hundreds of millions of dollars.
The last big Rolling Stones tour, called A Bigger Bang, sold 4.6 million tickets and earned $558m (£348m).
This year's outing is modest by comparison, comprising of just five gigs so far.
The first two of the five tour dates are at the O2 Arena in London All the tickets sold out in minutes despite high prices. For the London shows, tickets range from £90 to £375 and a hospitality package costs nearly £1,000 per head.
The Stones have long sought to maximise the cash value of their music and performances. Mick Jagger said to Billboard magazine: "You might say 'the tickets are too expensive' - well, it's a very expensive show to put on, because normally you do a hundred shows and you'd have the same expenses." He also said he'd like to see the resale of tickets made illegal.
The Telegraph's arts correspondent Bernadette McNulty says: "I think they still enjoy playing but there's always been something really competitive about the Rolling Stones.
"I think they really like the idea of maintaining themselves as the biggest band in the world and proving that they can still do it. And making as much as money as possible is a way of showing they are really good at what they do. They are not ashamed of making money and never have been."
'Corporate status quo'But what of the Stones' rebellious image - songs about murder, revolution and fighting in the streets? How does that square with their status as multi-millionaires, sponsored by multinational companies?
Marc Hogan, music journalist for Spin magazine, says the apparent paradox has always been part of the Stones' identity.
"The cultural conservative view of the 1960s is that all these radical rock'n'roll bands came along and corrupted the young with their rebellion," he says.
"But looking all these years later, you can see that view was wrong. The Stones have become part of the corporate status quo. Being rebellious doesn't mean they're rebelling against the capitalist system."
Hogan points out that Jagger attended the London School of Economics for a year before dropping out. He describes him as "a brilliant businessman".
There is no shortage of Rolling Stones merchandise The ticket money is not the only way the Stones are cashing in on their 50th anniversary. There's a new film, Crossfire Hurricane, and a hits compilation called Grrr that includes new songs.
Then there's the merchandising: everything from Monopoly sets to women's underwear. Products bearing the Stones' famous tongue logo have a timeless appeal.
Ten years ago, Stones guitarist Keith Richards said to Fortune Magazine: "You don't start to play your guitar thinking you're going to be running an organisation that will maybe generate millions."
Since then, many millions more have been added to his fortune. But for five decades, the priceless asset of the Stones has been their passion for music. Those attending this tour are paying to discover if that passion remains.
The Inuit sitting on billions of barrels of oil
29 November 2012 Last updated at 12:37 GMT By May Abdalla BBC World Service, Point Hope, Alaska 
After a decade of legal wrangling and spending $4.5bn (£2.8bn), this year Shell Oil was given permission to begin exploratory drilling off the coast of Alaska. But many in the local Inuit community are concerned it could have a devastating impact on one of their main sources of food - the bowhead whale. 
Marie Casados and her prized polar bear foot 
The orange areas show Shell's leases to explore for and extract oil. Shell estimates that the Arctic holds some 30% of the world's undiscovered natural gas and 13% of its yet-to-find oil - the equivalent, overall, of 400bn barrels of oil. 
Source: Oil Spill Intelligence Report
After a decade of legal wrangling and spending $4.5bn (£2.8bn), this year Shell Oil was given permission to begin exploratory drilling off the coast of Alaska. But many in the local Inuit community are concerned it could have a devastating impact on one of their main sources of food - the bowhead whale. Marie Casados shows me the contents on her freezer. Inside there's whale meat, muktuk - frozen whale skin and blubber - a selection of fish and a polar bear foot, which looks like a human hand. She describes it as a real delicacy. But it's more than that - this is her food supply for the winter.
Fishing and hunting are central to the Inupiat way of life - archaeologists have found evidence of humans hunting whales in the area dating back to as early as 800BC.
Marie Casados and her prized polar bear foot "We are the oldest continuous inhabitants of North America," says Point Hope's Mayor Steve Oomituk. "We've been here thousands of years."
Oomituk shares the fear of many in the small community - population 800 - that offshore drilling by Shell could destroy the food chain that they rely on for survival. Over 80% of the food eaten in Point Hope is caught by the people themselves.
They worry that it will disrupt the migration routes of the marine mammals, driving them away from the coastal waters where they can be reached by hunters.
"Their proposed Arctic drilling is right in the path of the animals' migration routes," says Oomituk.
"We live in a cycle of life that hasn't changed for thousands of years. We know where the animals are coming. We know when they are going north, when they are going south, this is our home, our land, our identity as a people."
But Oomituk recognises that, like every other American citizen, he is dependent on fossil fuels. He heats his house with diesel, he drives a vehicle that needs petrol.Jobs are also a major concern in this poor community. As mayor, Oomituk appreciates that many people would benefit from a new local employer.
Continue reading the main story "You want jobs for the people, you want the economy to come up, but do you want to sacrifice your way of life to have that happen? To endanger a way of life that's been here for time immemorial?"Continue reading the main storyThe Inupiat - north-Alaskan Inuit - are allowed to catch 10 bowhead whales a year. The first nine boats to harpoon the whale receive shares. The lead whaling crew divide the head between them. The butchered skull is returned to the sea. The Inupiat believe the skull will "dress itself again" and become another whale. The flipper is pickled and offered to the elders.
So the proposed drilling poses a real dilemma for the Inupiat.In Point Hope, some people simply don't have enough to eat. Queuing up at a soup kitchen, where chunks of deep-fried king salmon and caribou stew are dished out to hungry locals, Patrick Jobstone says he'd be grateful to get any kind of job.
He has been looking for work ever since he came out of prison for drink and drug-related offences, and is struggling to support his wife and child.
Continue reading the main storyThe US Congress imposed a moratorium on offshore oil or gas drilling in 1981. In the run-up to the 2008 presidential election, Republicans such as vice-presidential hopeful Sarah Palin called for an end to the ban, with the slogan "Drill, baby, drill". At the time, Barack Obama opposed it. But once elected, he allowed drilling in some offshore areas, including the Chukchi and Beaufort seas north of Alaska.
For Jobstone, a job with Shell would be an answer his prayers. He is already being trained in clearing toxic waste in anticipation of any new job opportunities and hopes to be taken on as one of Shell's spill response team."If they have jobs I will work for them no problem," he says. But he too is concerned about pollution.
"If an oil rig spilled and made a mess of the ocean, how am I ever going to eat a whale that's not contaminated? Crude oil stays on the bottom of the ocean," he says.
Pete Slaiby, vice-president of Shell in Alaska, accepts that oil spills are a concern.
The orange areas show Shell's leases to explore for and extract oil. Shell estimates that the Arctic holds some 30% of the world's undiscovered natural gas and 13% of its yet-to-find oil - the equivalent, overall, of 400bn barrels of oil. "There's no sugar-coating this, I imagine there would be spills, and no spill is OK. But will there be a spill large enough to impact people's subsistence? My view is no, I don't believe that would happen."
Continue reading the main storySurprisingly, indigenous people can influence huge corporations, if they recruit allies and harness the power of the media.
The Dongria Kondh, for example, a small tribe living in eastern India, has waged a successful campaign to prevent their hills being mined for iron ore.
In Peru, farmers successfully battled a copper mine plan, despite the arrest and torture of protesters.
Australia's Martu Aborigines fought for decades against the loss of their land and a proposed uranium mine. They recently allowed the mine to go ahead - after securing their sacred sites, and a striking a deal on jobs and royalties.
Natural resource exploitation and indigenous and local peoples' rights can go together. But before they start, oil and mining companies must get the consent of the communities where they operate.
Jonathan Mazower, Survival International
On the other hand, he argues that oil extracted off the coast of Point Hope could make a big difference to America as a whole."It could mean a significant step in the journey to energy independence of the United States," he says.
Slaiby says that the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline, which has supplied the United States with oil extracted on land for 40 years, is beginning to run low.
"We're seeing a decline, year-on-year of 6%. For us, keeping the Trans-Alaskan pipeline going is in our national goals."
It's a familiar dilemma that has been played out time and time again across the world - should a community prioritise economic development over environmental protection?
This summer for the first time, the Point Hope tribal council met representatives from Shell, including Pete Slaiby, in the Point Hope town hall - a dilapidated wooden geodesic dome fashioned to look like an igloo.
Afterward the locals were emotional, but resigned to the onset of the drilling.
Continue reading the main story In 1958, H-bomb inventor Edward Teller visited Point Hope to promote a plan to use a bomb to create a deep harbour, 30 miles (48km) south of the village.
Villagers were told the explosion would form a harbour in the shape of a polar bear. The firepower would have been 160 times larger than Hiroshima.
But the community refused to move out of their homes for a blast during the whaling season. Many of the older Inupiat still refuse to shake hands with white people because of the offence caused.
We need to get all the information and make sure it's done properly, said Peggy Frankeson, executive director of the tribal council who was at the meeting."We're the caretakers of the animals and the land and we need to make sure that our culture is able to carry on for the next 10-20,000 years," she says.
In the event, Shell was unable to extract any off-shore oil this year. Firstly, drilling was stalled when a massive chunk of ice - 30 miles (48km) long and 12 miles (19km) wide - appeared to be heading towards their ship.
Later, Shell began drilling on two sites but was prohibited from extending wells into petroleum reservoirs by the US Coastguard after a huge dome designed to contain any spill broke down under trials.
The area is now iced over until next year, and the people of Point Hope have been granted a stay of execution, or a frustrating delay, depending on your point of view. Next year, Shell will be back to start drilling again.
The Battle for Point Hope was broadcast on BBC World Service and is available to listen via BBC iPlayer. You can also browse the documentary podcast archive.
Source: Oil Spill Intelligence Report Photographs by May Abdalla. Additional reporting by Bethan Jinkinson.
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