Rome, August 08: Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi made one of his strongest denials yet in a scandal over alleged relationships with young women, insisting on yesterday he has nothing to hide and nothing to apologize for.

Berlusconi responded to apparent criticism from his daughter, Barbara, who said in an interview with a magazine this week that politicians cannot afford to differentiate between their public and private spheres and should work to improve moral values.

London, August 08: The new head of the Army is warning that Britain’s mission in Afghanistan could last in some form for up to 40 years.

General Sir David Richards, who becomes Chief of the General Staff later this month, said in a newspaper interview: “I believe that the UK will be committed to Afghanistan in some manner – development, governance, security sector reform – for the next 30 to 40 years.”

–Agencies

London, August 08: Ministers’ proposals to hold DNA records of those falsely accused of crimes for up to 12 years has been attacked by Britain’s human rights watchdog for being unlawful and based on unreliable research.

London, August 08: MI5 faces claims that it misled MPs during a parliamentary investigation into Britain’s complicity in torture and rendition during the “war on terror”.

The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), which oversees the work of the security service, MI5, has been asked to reopen a report it concluded two years ago following damning findings about the activities of secret agents in Pakistan, Morocco and London.

Tokyo, August 08: US President Barack Obama is unlikely to stop by Hiroshima and Nagasaki during his possible visit to Japan in November because he would not be here long enough to do so, a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official indicated.

Expectations have been growing in Japan that Obama, who is calling for a nuclear-free world, may visit the two cities that suffered US atomic bombings in 1945, as the ministry is making arrangements for Obama’s possible visit, which would be his first to Japan as US President.

Mexico City, August 08: Mexican soldiers have taken over a vast compound in central Mexico dedicated to the production, warehousing and distribution of illegal drugs, the military said in a statement.

Soldiers found 22 buildings on the 240-hectare (593-acre) property in Durango state that include laboratories for the production of crystal methamphetamine, the military said yesterday.

The complex includes dormitories, kitchens, rest homes, storage warehouses and laboratories.

It also has “luxury quarters” for the compound manager, the statement read.

Melbourne, August 08: After India, it’s now China that has raised concerns about the safety and security of its students in Australia following a vicious road rage attack on four students on the Gold Coast.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has warned its students in Australia to be “cautious about their security,” The Australian reported on Saturday.

In the third such warning, Beijing said the assault late last month on one of the young students was so severe he suffered a broken cheekbone, the report said.

Washington, August 08: On at least a dozen recent flights by US jetliners, malfunctioning equipment made it impossible for pilots to know how fast they were flying, federal investigators have discovered.

A similar breakdown is believed to have played a role in the Air France crash into the Atlantic that killed all 228 people aboard in June.

The discovery suggests the equipment problems are more widespread than previously believed. And it gives new urgency to airlines already scrambling to replace air sensors and figure out how the errors went undetected despite safety systems.

Anchorage, August 08: Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin called President Barack Obama’s health plan “downright evil” on Friday in her first online comments since leaving office, saying in a Facebook posting that he would create a “death panel” that would deny care to the neediest Americans.