US says China 'destabilising' force

31 May 2014 Last updated at 10:17

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Chuck Hagel: "China has undertaken destabilising, unilateral actions asserting its claims in the South China Sea"

The US defence secretary has accused China of "destabilising" the South China Sea, saying its action threatened the region's long-term progress.

Chuck Hagel said the US would "not look the other way" when nations ignored international rules.

Mr Hagel was speaking at a three-day summit - the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore - that involves the US and South-East Asian countries.

He also urged Thailand's coup leaders to restore democratic rule soon.

The forum comes amid growing tensions between China, Vietnam and the Philippines, with Japan-China ties also strained over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

The summit gives senior delegates from the region a chance to meet face-to-face to try to resolve tensions.

'No to intimidation'

"In recent months, China has undertaken destabilising, unilateral actions asserting its claims in the South China Sea," Mr Hagel said in his address on Saturday.

"We firmly oppose any nation's use of intimidation, coercion, or the threat of force to assert these claims," he added, referring to the way China has claimed territorial rights over areas of the South China Sea close to Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam.

"All nations of the region, including China, have a choice: to unite, and recommit to a stable regional order, or, to walk away from that commitment and risk the peace and security that has benefited millions of people."

He said he supported Japan's offer to play a greater and "more proactive" role in regional security, as promised by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during his keynote speech on Friday.

Michael Bristow, BBC Asia analyst

These are strong words from the US defence secretary. Although a number of nations make loud claims for parts of the South China Sea, Chuck Hagel sees China as the destabilising force in the region.

He could point to a number of unilateral moves taken by Beijing over recent months. Deploying a giant oil rig off the coast of Vietnam is just one.

Analysts see a trend. Many think that while the squabbling continues over who has sovereignty over the South China Sea - and the East China Sea - Beijing has quietly decided to take action: by changing the situation on the ground, it makes it hard for other nations to resist its demands.

And China appears to be testing the resolve of the Americans to defend US interests, and those of its allies, in the region. Defence Secretary Hagel said the US would not look the other way. But what can America do? And how far does China have to go before Washington decides to resist?

What are the disputes in South China Sea?

Prime Minister Abe earlier offered to provide coastal boats to neighbouring countries wary of Beijing's tactics.

Chinese officials said Mr Abe was using the "myth" of a China threat to strengthen Japan's security policy.

Tensions have flared recently, with China declaring an air defence zone in the East China Sea and adopting a more confrontational stance over the disputed islands in the South China Sea, correspondents say.

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Japan's prime minister wants to play a more active role in regional security, Sharanjit Leyl reports

They say that although some Asean members will be reluctant to antagonise China because of their economic and political ties, others are likely to welcome an increased role from Japan.

Beijing claims a U-shaped swathe of the South China Sea that covers areas other South-East Asian nations say are their territory.

Military aid suspended

Turning to recent events in Thailand, Mr Hagel called on the coup authorities to release those it had detained and immediately to hold free and fair elections.

Until this happened, he said, the US would suspend all military assistance and engagement with Bangkok.

His remarks came hours after Thailand's coup leader Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha said elections would not be held for more than a year, speaking in a televised address.

Gen Prayuth announced a three-phase plan leading up to the new elections, which includes two to three months of reconciliation and a year of drafting a new constitution and reforms.

The US and Thailand have long been allies - and have particularly strong military ties - so this will hurt more than the general condemnation that has been heard since the coup, says the BBC's Jonah Fisher.

But it is still unlikely to make much difference to Gen Prayuth, our correspondent adds.

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Mickelson 'in insider trading probe'

31 May 2014 Last updated at 10:39

The FBI is investigating possible insider trading involving billionaire investor Carl Icahn, golfer Phil Mickelson and Las Vegas gambler William Walters, reports say.

The inquiry is reportedly examining whether Mr Mickelson and Mr Walters may have traded shares illegally, based on information provided by Mr Icahn.

Mr Mickelson's lawyers say he is not the target of an investigation. Mr Icahn denies giving out insider information.

Mr Walters has not yet commented.

The FBI, along with the Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors in Manhattan, are said to be looking into trading in two different stocks.

The investigation, which began three years ago, is focusing on trades in cleaning products company Clorox.

Mr Icahn, a billionaire investor and prominent activist, was mounting a takeover bid for Clorox around the time that Mr Mickelson and Mr Walters placed their trades, the New York Times reports.

"We do not know of any investigation," Mr Icahn, 78, told Reuters news agency, saying he was proud of his 50-year "unblemished record".

Investigators are also reportedly looking into trades that Mr Mickelson, a three-time Masters champion, and Mr Walters made relating to Dean Foods, the Wall Street Journal reports (pay wall).

The New York Times quotes sources saying federal authorities are looking into trades placed in August 2012 just before the company announced quarterly results.

Those trades appeared to have no connection to Mr Icahn, the newspaper added.

The FBI and other federal agencies have not commented publicly on the allegations.

None of the men have been directly accused of any wrongdoing.

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Legal wrangle over NBA team sale

31 May 2014 Last updated at 01:21

The National Basketball Association has tentatively backed the sale of the LA Clippers to the former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

However, Donald Sterling, the embattled owner who is embroiled in a racism row, may sue the NBA, his lawyer said.

Maxwell Blecher told US media his client planned to sue for damages for termination of team ownership.

Mr Sterling's wife had reached a deal on Thursday to sell the team through a trust to Mr Ballmer for $2bn.

The NBA announced on Friday it had cancelled a hearing scheduled for 3 June that would have considered Mr Sterling's ownership of the Clippers, and said it tentatively approved the sale of the team to Mr Ballmer.

Ms Sterling and the trust "also agreed not to sue the NBA and to indemnify the NBA against lawsuits from others, including from Donald Sterling", US media report.

But Mr Blecher was reported as saying his client would file a lawsuit on Friday.

Details of the lawsuit remain unclear but it has been tipped at nearly $1bn (£597m).

Banned for life

Mr Sterling was earlier banned from the NBA for life and fined $2.5m after racist comments he made went public.

The league announced the ban and fine soon after an audio recording of Mr Sterling emerged in the US media in which he was heard asking a woman not to associate in public with black people nor to bring them to games.

The league has charged him with damaging the reputation of the NBA, and later agreed to begin the process of selling the team.

Following news of a deal between Ms Sterling and Mr Ballmer, another lawyer for Mr Sterling said his client refused to back it.

Bobby Samini argued that as a co-owner of the team, his client had to consent to the Clippers' sale.

"He's not going to sell," he said. "That's his position."

Mr Ballmer said in a statement he was honoured to have his name put forward to the NBA for approval.

"I love basketball. And I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that the Clippers continue to win - and win big - in Los Angeles," he said.

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VIDEO: Moment Spelling Bee finalists both won

The two finalists of the Scripps National Spelling Bee competition have both been named champions, for the first time since 1962.

Sriram Hathwar of New York and Ansun Sujoe of Texas both successfully spelled the series of words they were designated on Thursday, becoming the fourth joint-winners in the competition's history.

Footage reveals the last few minutes of the tense final.

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Microsoft ex-CEO 'wins Clippers bid'

30 May 2014 Last updated at 11:11

Microsoft's former CEO Steve Ballmer has reached a deal to buy the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team for a potential record deal of $2bn (£1.2bn).

Shelly Sterling, who owns the Clippers with her husband through a trust, said she was "delighted" with the deal.

Donald Sterling was banned from the sport for life after he was recorded making racist remarks.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) later agreed to begin the process of selling the team.

However, Mr Sterling's lawyer Bobby Samini argues that as a co-owner of the team he has to consent to the Clippers' sale and is refusing to back the deal. "That's his position. He's not going to sell."

Local media reports say that details of the deal are unclear and many questions relating to it are unanswered.

NBA owners are due to meet in New York on Tuesday to consider Mr Sterling's remarks. The latest development could pre-empt a move by the NBA to force Mr Sterling to sell his interest in the team.

Mr Ballmer said in a statement that he was honoured to have his name put forward to the NBA for approval. He thanked the league for "working collaboratively" with him throughout the sale.

"I love basketball. And I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that the Clippers continue to win - and win big - in Los Angeles," he said. "LA is one of the world's great cities - a city that embraces inclusiveness, in exactly the same way that the NBA and I embrace inclusiveness."

In her statement, Shelly Sterling said Mr Ballmer "will be a terrific owner".

"We have worked for 33 years to build the Clippers into a premier NBA franchise. I am confident that Steve will take the team to new levels of success," she said.

The statement said that she made the deal "under her authority as the sole trustee of The Sterling Family Trust, which owns the Clippers".

Mr Ballmer is believed to have outbid two rival groups for the team, one of which was led by media mogul David Geffen and included talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

Mr Ballmer retired from Microsoft in February, but he still owns shares in the company.

A forced sale of the LA Clippers requires the approval of three-quarters of the 30 team owners in the NBA.

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Man 'lied' to police on Boston plot

30 May 2014 Last updated at 14:57

Authorities in the US state of Massachusetts have charged a Kyrgyzstan national with lying to police and destroying evidence in the Boston bombings investigation.

Khairullozhon Matanov, 23, spoke to the suspects accused of the bombing in the days after the attack, prosecutors say.

Mr Matanov is not accused of a role in the bombings or of knowing of the plot.

The blasts at the finish line of the Boston Marathon killed three people and hurt more than 260 on 15 April 2013.

In a statement, the US attorney's office in Boston said that in the days after the bombing, Mr Matanov realised the FBI would want to interview him because of his ties to Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the bombing suspects, and because he shared their "philosophical justification for violence".

Prosecutors say Mr Matanov deleted information from his computer and lied to FBI investigators about his relationship with the brothers.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 20, has pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges in connection with the bombing and is awaiting trial. His brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a shoot-out with police four days after the attack.

'Supported' bombing

Mr Matanov, a taxi driver who arrived in the US legally in 2010 and lives in Quincy, Massachusetts, is scheduled to appear in court on Friday.

According to prosecutors, Mr Matanov had known the brothers prior to the bombings, spoke to both several times after the explosions, and took them out to dinner the evening after the attack.

"In the days following the bombings, Matanov continued to express support for the bombings, although later that week he said that maybe the bombings were wrong," the federal prosecutors wrote in an indictment filed on Friday.

After the FBI released photos of the brothers identifying them as suspects, Mr Matanov attempted to call Tamerlan Tsarnaev several times, prosecutors said.

He eventually drove to a local police station, where he told officers he knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev but lied about how well, prosecutors said.

A detective there told him he would likely be contacted by the FBI, and in response, Mr Matanov allegedly deleted hundreds of files from his computer and his internet history.

Mr Matanov was soon interviewed by agents with the FBI who also seized his computer. According to the indictment, he lied during several interviews with the federal investigators.

"Although Matanov soon dropped the pretence that he and Tamerlan Tsarnaev had not seen each other much, he continued to falsify, conceal, and cover up evidence of the extent of his friendship, contact and communication with the Tsarnaevs during the week of the bombings, especially during the hours following the bombings," it said.

Last year, police charged three university friends of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with obstruction of justice in the bombing investigation.

Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev - both from Kazakhstan - allegedly threw away the younger Tsarnaev's laptop and backpack.

Robel Phillipos is accused of lying to investigators. None of the three are implicated in plotting the attacks.

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White House spokesman steps down

30 May 2014 Last updated at 19:22

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney is stepping down after three years as Barack Obama's chief spokesman, the president has said.

Mr Carney, a former journalist, will be succeeded by his deputy Josh Earnest.

Mr Carney, 49, previously served as press secretary for Vice-President Joe Biden after leaving Time Magazine.

Mr Obama announced the change in a surprise appearance at the daily White House press briefing, calling Mr Carney one of his "closest friends".

"He came to this place with a reporter's perspective, and that's why, believe it or not, I think he will miss hanging out with you," Mr Obama told reporters.

"I'm going to miss him a lot, and rely on him as a friend, and as an adviser."

The US president quipped that Mr Earnest's name "describes his demeanour".

"You can't find a nicer individual, even outside of Washington," Mr Obama said of Mr Earnest.

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US Veterans chief Shinseki resigns

30 May 2014 Last updated at 20:35

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"I want somebody who's spending every minute of every day figuring out, 'Are we fixing the system?'"

Embattled US Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki has resigned amid a scandal over delayed care and falsified records at the agency's hospitals.

President Barack Obama said Mr Shinseki told him he did not want to be a distraction as the agency tried to fix Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals.

Mr Obama said he accepted the resignation "with considerable regret".

A recent report found veterans at an Arizona hospital waited an average of 115 days for an initial appointment.

'New leadership'

On Friday morning after an Oval Office meeting with Mr Shinseki, a retired four-star general wounded in Vietnam, Mr Obama told reporters Mr Shinseki had "worked hard to investigate and identify the problems with access to care".

"But as he told me this morning, the VA needs new leadership to address them," Mr Obama said.

"We don't have time for distractions. We need to fix the problem."

The US president said he had named Deputy VA Secretary Sloan Gibson to be acting head of the agency.

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Shinseki: "I apologise as the senior leader of Veterans Affairs"

Mr Shinseki's decision to step down came as his support among Mr Obama's own Democratic Party steadily eroded. Republicans in Congress and at least one major veterans group had called for him to step down earlier this month.

On Friday, Jeff Miller, Republican chairman of the House veterans affairs committee, said Mr Shinseki's tenure had been "tainted by a pervasive lack of accountability among poorly performing VA employees and managers, apparent widespread corruption among medical centre officials and an unparalleled lack of transparency".

And House Speaker John Boehner said the resignation "does not absolve the president of his responsibility to step in and make things right for our veterans".

Mr Shinseki's resignation is the culmination of months of tumult at the agency over reports that administrators at a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, had falsified records to hide a lengthy backlog of veterans awaiting care.

On Wednesday, an internal VA inquiry revealed veterans in Phoenix waited an average of 115 days for a first appointment, but the hospital reported to the agency an average wait time of only 24 days.

The VA inspector general's report also said at least 1,700 veterans were not even on official waiting lists because they had not been properly registered.

A separate internal audit released on Friday found 64% of the more than 200 VA sites investigated so far had at least one instance of questionable scheduling procedures.

VA strained

Mr Obama acknowledged the misconduct was not limited to Phoenix but had occurred in VA facilities across the country.

"It's totally unacceptable," he said on Friday. "Our veterans deserve the best. They've earned it."

Mr Shinseki had begun sacking senior officials at the Phoenix hospital, and has also cancelled bonuses for top VA executives and ordered the agency to contact any veteran in Phoenix waiting for care.

The US veterans health system serves about nine million former US military service members.

Its resources have been strained by the ageing population of Korean and Vietnam War veterans as well as the large influx of wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

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US House upholds medical marijuana

30 May 2014 Last updated at 22:18

The US House of Representatives has passed legislation blocking the Department of Justice from interfering with state laws permitting medical marijuana use.

Republicans and Democrats banded together in the 219-189 vote in a surprising show of bipartisan support.

The provision does not address the use of marijuana for recreational purposes.

Nearly half the 50 US states have legalised medical marijuana, including for use by cancer patients.

But in recent years, federal agents are said to have raided dispensaries in states where marijuana is legal, seizing drugs and cash.

"Federal tax dollars will no longer be wasted arresting seriously ill medical marijuana patients and those who provide to them," Dan Riffle, director of federal policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, wrote in a statement. He called the House vote on Friday "historic".

"It's yet another sign that our federal government is shifting toward a more sensible marijuana policy," he added

Bill sponsor Congressman Dana Rohrabacher told US media that public opinion of medical marijuana was also changing.

US President Barack Obama recently described marijuana as no more dangerous than alcohol, and instructed the justice department to halt prosecutions of banks that do business with cannabis firms.

Opponents argue the drug is not regulated enough by the states and negatively impacts users' health, while the American Medical Association has labelled it "dangerous".

The bill next goes to the Democratic-led US Senate for approval.

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US man was Syria suicide bomber

31 May 2014 Last updated at 01:52

A US citizen carried out a suicide bombing against Syrian troops on Sunday, the US state department says.

The rebel al-Nusra Front said the man conducted the bombing on their behalf. It was one of four attacks carried out in the northern city of Idlib that day.

It is thought to be the first suicide attack by a US citizen in the conflict.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in the battle between forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and those opposed to his rule.

"I can confirm that this individual was a US citizen involved in a suicide bombing in Syria," state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

The man was believed to be Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, she said.

The department was "concerned about the flow of foreign fighters in and out of Syria", Ms Psaki added.

Al-Nusra Front at a glance

• Aims to establish Islamist state in Syria
• Leader: Abu Mohammad al-Julani
• 5,000 official members (approx.), supported by thousands of others
• Apparently has members inside government and military
• Big guerrilla attacks on rural government targets; lower level urban attacks
• Uses car bombings, suicide attacks, targets media facilities and personalities
• Policy of silence

Source: Quilliam Foundation

The al-Nusra Front, a militant Islamist group that has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda, said the man used a truck carrying explosives to conduct the attack.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens of soldiers were killed by the series of bombings on Sunday, AFP news agency reported.

Syria's internal conflict, which began in 2011, has destroyed whole neighbourhoods and forced nearly three million people to flee the country.

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Oldest American celebrates 115 years

23 May 2014 Last updated at 22:29

The oldest living American, one of the few living people born in the 19th Century, has marked her 115th birthday.

Jeralean Talley was born on 23 May 1899 and is the world's second-oldest person, according to a list maintained by the Gerontology Research Group.

The oldest is Misao Okawa in Japan, who is 116, according to the group.

Asked how she has lived so long, Ms Talley told the Detroit Free Press: "It's all in the good Lord's hands. There's nothing I can do about it."

She plans to celebrate with family and friends at a local church in Michigan on Sunday.

Born in Montrose, Georgia, she moved to Michigan in 1935 and had one child with her husband, Alfred, who died in 1988.

Her daughter Thelma Holloway, 76, lives with her mother in Inkster in Wayne County, and three more generations of her family live nearby.

Ms Holloway helps with her mother's care, although a fishing trip last year is evidence of Ms Talley's continued good health, and she can still walk with the aid of a walking frame.

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Sterling wife 'to negotiate sale'

23 May 2014 Last updated at 19:38

Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is authorising his wife to negotiate the sale of the basketball team, US media report.

She may seek to retain partial ownership of the club, reports say.

Mr Sterling was banned from the National Basketball Association (NBA) for life and fined $2.5m (£1.5m) after racist comments he made went public.

The sale could pre-empt a move by the NBA to force Mr Sterling to sell his interest in the basketball team.

The league has charged him with damaging the reputation of the NBA and its teams. Three-quarters of the team owners must vote to force the sale. The owners are meeting on 3 June to consider the matter.

A person with knowledge of the negotiations told the Associated Press news agency Shelly Sterling wanted "meaningful control" over the sale.

She and her husband own the team through a trust.

In a press conference on Tuesday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he would consider a sale before the 3 June hearing.

However, USA Today and ESPN reported Mrs Sterling wanted to retain some ownership of the team. It is unclear whether the NBA would allow this.

Last week, Mr Sterling said through his lawyer he would refuse to pay the fine and was considering suing the NBA.

Maxwell Blecher said his client had done nothing to deserve the NBA's punishment.

The league announced the ban and fine soon after an audio recording of Mr Sterling emerged in the US media in which he was heard asking a woman not to associate in public with black people nor to bring them to games.

Mr Silver said Mr Sterling's "hateful opinions... simply have no place in the NBA".

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Harvey Milk honoured on new US stamp

23 May 2014 Last updated at 04:11

Gay rights activist Harvey Milk, who was shot dead in 1978, has been honoured on a new US postage stamp.

The black-and-white stamp bearing the smiling features of Milk was unveiled at the White House on Thursday.

Milk was one of the first openly gay politicians in the US and was killed a year after winning election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Samantha Power, US ambassador to the United Nations, called for the further advance of gay rights, to honour Milk.

There were still seven countries where it was legal to execute people for being gay, she told those gathered at the unveiling of the stamp, which included relatives of Milk.

And she voiced her support for a White House push for legislation that would ban US workplaces from discrimination based on sexual orientation.

"While we now do live in an age where the National Football League has for the first time drafted an openly gay man [Michael Sam], we still live in an age where the NFL can fire him for being gay," she said.

"Postage stamps will not change that, legislation will."

Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the US House of Representatives, recalled how she attended Milk's funeral.

"I thought, is this how it ends?" she said. "But it really was just the beginning."

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Camera pictures saved from the deep

23 May 2014 Last updated at 15:42 By News from Elsewhere... ...as found by BBC Monitoring

A camera that was lost two years ago in a shipwreck off the west coast of Canada has been found with its memory card and pictures intact - and is due to be returned to its original owner.

The camera - encrusted in sea organisms - was brought up from the sea bed by a group of students on a diving trip near Vancouver Island in British Columbia, the Vancouver Sun reports. When they brought the camera back to the Bamfield Marine Sciences Center, they discovered the memory card was still working, and saw one photo in particular - a group shot - that they thought might help them find the owner.

After about a week, a water taxi driver responded to a sign on a local notice board, saying he thought he recognised one of the men in the photo. And a coast guard member said he had actually taken part in the man's rescue.

"That just shocked me," the camera owner, Paul Burgoyne, tells CBC News. "Getting the camera, or the photos back, that's really quite wonderful." Burgoyne, an artist, was sailing 500km (310 miles) from Vancouver to his summer home in Tahsis, British Columbia, when the boat sank in an accident during the night. He says the discovery has given him a newfound respect for technology. "You throw most of it away every two years, but that little card is an amazing bit of technology."

Use #NewsfromElsewhere to stay up-to-date with our reports via Twitter.

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Judge lifts Guantanamo feeding ban

23 May 2014 Last updated at 17:54

A US judge has lifted a temporary order preventing military officials from force-feeding a prisoner on hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay.

In the order published late on Thursday, federal Judge Gladys Kessler said there was a "real probability" Abu Wa'el Dhiab would die if not fed.

Mr Dhiab's lawyers say the force-feeding - through a tube in the nose - is illegal and abusive.

Prisoners at the US facility in Cuba began a mass hunger strike last year.

At its height, more than 100 of the 154 detainees inside the military prison were refusing food. The military has been force-feeding those who are striking.

'Pain and suffering'

Lawyers for Mr Dhiab are seeking an order from the judge to force the military to change their practices, including forcibly removing prisoners from their cells to be fed.

Judge Kessler said Mr Dhiab would consent to being fed in hospital if he could be spared the pain of having the tube inserted into his nose for the procedure.

In the order, Judge Kessler said the defence department's refusal to compromise on the procedures for the feeding had left her with a impossible choice - either continue her ban and risk Mr Dhiab's death or allow the force feeding with the possibility of "great pain and suffering".

Earlier, Judge Kessler ordered the US to produce 34 video recordings of Mr Dhiab being removed from his cell and force-fed.

In her order lifting the ban on force-feeding, she said she would decide the case on the merits quickly.

"As the court has asserted, this is a deeply complex issue," Pentagon spokesman Lt Col Todd Breasseale told the Associated Press news agency in response to the order.

"The department has long held that we shall not allow the detainees in our charge to commit suicide and it's particularly worth noting here that we only apply enteral feeding in order to preserve life."

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Castro nominated housing secretary

23 May 2014 Last updated at 21:09

President Barack Obama has nominated San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro as US housing secretary in a cabinet reshuffle.

The move elevates the profile of a young politician seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party, analysts say.

Current Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan will become White House budget director.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mr Castro, 39, would become the highest-ranking Hispanic administration official.

He won a third term as mayor of the Texas city in 2013.

Making the announcement at the White House on Friday, Mr Obama praised the work of Mr Donovan and credited him with assisting the recovery in the housing market.

The president said Mr Castro, whose grandmother arrived in the US from Mexico as an orphan, had "lived the American dream" and would work to ensure others followed the same path.

Both men were "proven leaders, proven managers", impassioned by public service, Mr Obama added.

He selected Mr Castro to deliver the keynote address at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, a function Mr Obama himself filled in 2004 when he was running for US Senate.

Analysts say the San Antonio mayor has been mentioned as a potential running-mate for Hillary Clinton in 2016, if she decides to run for president, and a cabinet-level position would give him a national platform.

The outgoing secretary of the department of housing and urban development, Mr Donovan, will be elevated to director of the White House office of management and budget.

He will replace Sylvia Mathews Burwell, whom Mr Obama recently nominated to be US health secretary.

Mr Castro's nomination completes the shuffle begun after Kathleen Sebelius resigned from the department of health and human services after the botched rollout of the website for Mr Obama's healthcare law.

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In his speech, Castro described the American dream as a "relay" not a sprint

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John Kerry to testify on Benghazi

23 May 2014 Last updated at 21:09

US Secretary of State John Kerry will testify in front of a House panel about the deadly Benghazi attacks, according to a letter obtained by the BBC.

State department officials say Mr Kerry's appearance at the oversight panel should mean he will not need to testify in front of the recently-formed Benghazi select committee.

He is scheduled to testify on 12 June.

A US ambassador and three others were killed after an assault on the Libyan diplomatic post in September 2012.

Republicans have argued the Democratic Obama administration misled the public on the nature of the attack.

Continue reading the main story

In the interest of accommodations and to resolve once and for all any outstanding, relevant questions, the secretary is prepared to appear before the committee"

End Quote State Department

Democrats in the US Congress have named five representatives to a special panel on the Benghazi attacks despite arguing it is motivated by Republican politics.

Mr Kerry, who was not secretary at the time, had previously been subpoenaed by the oversight committee to appear in late May, the letter said, but could not attend due to the Ukrainian crisis.

"We believe there are witnesses better suited to answer questions regarding the department's response to congressional investigations of the Benghazi attacks," the letter, dated Friday, reads.

"However in the interest of accommodations and to resolve once and for all any outstanding, relevant questions, the secretary is prepared to appear before the committee."

A separate select committee on Benghazi with the authorisation to operate until the end of the year was approved on a largely party-line vote.

Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, told broadcaster NBC the decision whether to call Mr Kerry to testify at the select committee would be made later.

"We're glad Secretary Kerry will appear at oversight," Mr Steel said. "Whether he will also be asked appear before the Select Committee will be a decision for Chairman Gowdy in the future."

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Judge orders serial rapist's release

24 May 2014 Last updated at 00:31

A man who raped and assaulted at least 40 women has been ordered to live in a remote California community, despite objections from residents there.

Christopher Evans Hubbart, who police believe may have had as many as 100 victims, will rent a small house in a rural area near the city of Palmdale.

A Santa Clara judge heard objections at an all-day hearing on Wednesday but issued his order two days later.

Hubbart, 63, will have to wear a GPS ankle bracelet when released on 7 July.

He admitted raping and assaulting about 40 women between 1971 and 1982, when he was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Police believe the number of victims to be closer to 100.

Released on parole in 1990, he was arrested two months later for a new attack and returned to prison until 1996, when he was transferred to a state mental hospital.

Doctors there recently concluded he was fit for release, but few options were available - in California, sex offenders must not live within 2,000 feet (600 metres) of schools and other places where children congregate.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey spent months fighting the decision to release him to live in her county.

"I am extremely disappointed with the court's decision," she said. "Now we are preparing for his arrival.

"We will do everything within our authority to protect the residents of Los Angeles County from this dangerous predator."

Judge Gilbert Brown would only say that the court had reviewed all the emails, petitions, cards and letters submitted in protest before it had reached its decision.

County Supervisor Michael Antonovich called it "an unconscionable threat to public safety", while the mayor of Palmdale, James Ledford, said it was very disappointing that a man with this record would be put into any community.

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Life raft still on capsized yacht

24 May 2014 Last updated at 11:00

The wreckage of the yacht crewed by four UK sailors missing in the North Atlantic was found with its life raft still onboard, the US Coast Guard says.

The upturned hull of the 40ft Cheeki Rafiki was found on Friday but there was no sign of the crew.

The yacht began taking on water on its way to the UK after an Antigua regatta.

The US search ended at midnight local time and the RAF will no longer go out. The yacht's owners said it was a "terrible moment" for their families.

A US Navy helicopter crew discovered the wreckage about 1,000 miles (1,600km) east of Massachusetts on Friday after the search for the missing men resumed three days earlier following an official request from the UK government.

The crew got into difficulties in the same area on 15 May.

They were Paul Goslin, 56, from West Camel, Somerset; Steve Warren, 52, from Bridgwater, Somerset; skipper Andrew Bridge, 22, from Farnham, Surrey; and 22-year-old James Male, from Romsey, Hampshire.

Mr Warren's uncle, Albert Davey, told the BBC: "Prior to setting off on this return trip... the Cheeki Rafiki had won its class in the Antigua Yachting Regatta.

"It's not the ending we would want but we have got to gain some small consolation that Steve was doing what he thoroughly enjoyed doing and I think we have got to cling on to that."

Prime Minister David Cameron said: "My thoughts are with the families and friends of the crew of the Cheeki Rafiki after the sad news that its hull has been found with the life-raft unused.

"My sincere thanks to the US Coast Guard for leading the international search with great dedication - and to the US Navy, the Canadian authorities and to our own RAF C-130 aircraft who took part in it."

Many private boats taking part in the ARC Rally across the Atlantic had diverted to help in the search. The event's organiser, the World Cruising Club, is now asking the 120 sailors from 16 nations taking part - as well as other sailors - to observe a minute's silence at sunset.

The Royal Yachting Association said the search efforts of sailors and merchant ships "has been a powerful reflection of the spirit that binds the boating community".

Southampton-based Stormforce Coaching, the owners of the Cheeki Rafiki, said in a statement: "This is a terrible moment for the families and friends of the crew... We all share in their sorrow after this tragedy.

"We would like to thank all those who have participated in the search efforts."

'Cabin flooded'

A US Navy boat crew was deployed after the helicopter sighting and found the cabin of the yacht was flooded and its windows shattered.

A surface swimmer then identified the name on the back of the boat and knocked on the hull but there was no response.

A spokesman said: "The US Coast Guard has confirmed the life raft aboard the capsized sailing vessel Cheeki Rafiki was secured in its storage space in the aft portion of the boat, Friday, indicating it was not used for emergency purposes."

There was no sign of the men and there are no further indications as to their whereabouts.

The yacht's keel was broken, which had caused a breach in the hull, a US Coast Guard spokesman added.

An image showing the life raft still in position had been "shared with and acknowledged by the [men's] families", the Coast Guard said.

The US Coast Guard added it did not perform salvage operations as a matter of policy.

Mr Warren's family said in a statement: "We are very sad that the US has now suspended the search.

"From the beginning we, together with the other families involved, have continued to hold out hope that he would be found alive."

They paid tribute to the US Coast Guard for leading an "exceptional search".

They added: "This is now an incredibly difficult time for all the family. We would therefore request that we are given privacy to come to terms with today's decision."

Jeremy Wyatt from the World Cruising Club sailing organisation said the chain of events was still "all speculation".

But he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the yacht would have become unstable after the keel came off and it would have capsized "very quickly" and the crew might not have had time to launch the lifeboat.

The Cheeki Rafiki contacted Stormforce Coaching on 15 May to say it was taking on water and diverting to the Azores. Contact was lost in the early hours of 16 May and locator beacons were activated later that day.

The US Coast Guard said at the start of the search that winds were blowing at more than 50mph and the sea reached heights of up to 15ft. On 18 May an overturned hull that matched the description of the Cheeki Rafiki was spotted by a container ship.

The RAF Hercules C-130 plane operating from the Azores had been due to continue its search on Saturday.

The Foreign Office said: "In light of the US Coast Guard's decision to suspend their search for the crew following photographic confirmation that the life raft is in the hull of the boat, the C-130 will now return to the UK."

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California drive-by gunman kills six

24 May 2014 Last updated at 13:50

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Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown says they have evidence that the shooting was premeditated

A gunman has killed six people in drive-by shootings in the Californian city of Santa Barbara, US police say.

The shootings took place on Friday night near the University of California-Santa Barbara, where two-thirds of the residents are students.

The suspected gunman was found dead in his car with a bullet wound to the head. It is not clear whether the wound was self-inflicted, police said.

Seven other people are in hospital, and being treated for bullet wounds.

The shootings occurred at several sites in the Isla Vista neighbourhood, and there were nine crime scenes, police said.

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Witnesses say they had to "run for my life" from the shooting

"We have obtained and are currently analysing videotaped evidence that suggests that this atrocity was a premeditated mass murder," Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told reporters.

He said police were familiar with a YouTube video entitled Elliot Rodger's Retribution, which shows a young man complaining about years of rejection by women.

Police say they were alerted to shootings around 21:30 on Friday. Six minutes later, the suspect and responding officers exchanged gunfire.

The suspect fled and eventually crashed into a parked vehicle.

Are you in the area? Did you witness the shootings? You can send us your comments by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using the subject line "Santa Barbara".

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Democrats join Benghazi select panel

21 May 2014 Last updated at 21:28

Democrats in the US Congress have named five representatives to a special panel on the Benghazi attacks despite arguing it is motivated by Republican politics.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Democrats would serve on the panel "to fight for a fair hearing and process".

Republicans have argued the Democratic Obama administration misled the public on the nature of the attack.

A US ambassador and three others were killed after an assault on the Libyan diplomatic post in September 2012.

Democrats have argued a series of previous panels and reports have already thoroughly documented the attack and its aftermath, and the Republican-led panel is a political ploy to raise campaign cash and motivate voters.

High-profile hearings

The panel, a select committee with the authorisation to operate until the end of the year, was approved on a largely party-line vote.

Continue reading the main story

If you're going to have a hanging, don't ask me to bring the noose"

End Quote Jim Clyburn Democratic Represenative

It will be chaired by Tea Party Republican Trey Gowdy, who has said Republicans should not fundraise based on the committee's work.

Ms Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House, said on Wednesday she hoped a Democratic presence would help the select committee operate "in a fair and open way".

"That simply would not be possible leaving it to the Republicans," she said.

The Democratic leader on the panel is Representative Elijah Cummings, the top member of the party on the oversight committee, where many Benghazi hearings have already taken place.

He will be joined by Representatives Adam Smith, Adam Schiff, Linda Sanchez and Tammy Duckworth.

The select committee's work will include high-profile public hearings in the months leading up to November's mid-term elections, in which all of the House and a third of the Senate will be up for re-election.

Among those likely to be called to testify is former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a potential 2016 presidential candidate.

Democrats in Congress have been divided over whether to participate. Representative Jim Clyburn still had reservations on Tuesday, saying: "If you're going to have a hanging, don't ask me to bring the noose."

The 11 September 2012 attack, in which gunmen stormed the US compound and set it on fire, has become a political lightning rod.

The Republicans have accused the Obama administration of covering up the involvement of militant groups in the days after the attack in order to protect President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.

The White House initially said the attack was sparked by protests about an anti-Islam video produced in the US.

Administration officials later found that it was an organised attack planned by local militias.

Previous independent, bipartisan and Republican-led inquiries have blamed the state department for inadequate security at the embassy. Four people have been demoted over the issue.

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Dozens charged in US child porn raid

22 May 2014 Last updated at 01:10

A police officer, rabbi and a nurse were among more than 70 people arrested in the US for allegedly sharing child pornography online.

They were charged as part of a five-week operation led by the US Homeland Security department in New York.

More than 600 laptops, smartphones and other computer devices were seized as part of the effort.

Officials say many of the defendants had access to young children but there were no reports of abuse.

The special agent in charge of investigations at Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in New York said the sheer volume and professional backgrounds of the alleged child porn traders was "troubling".

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Special Agent in Charge James Hayes: "These defendants come from all walks of life''

"We can no longer assume that the only people who would stoop to prey on children are unemployed drifters," said James Hayes Jr.

They began the investigation after the January arrest of a suburban New York police chief, Brian Fanelli, on charges of knowingly receiving and distributing child pornography.

Mr Fanelli has pleaded not guilty.

Beginning in April, Homeland Security agents posed as collectors of child porn who were offering to anonymously trade material through online file-sharing programmes.

They then identified the IP address of the sources of the material and subpoenaed internet service providers for the names of the people behind the files.

Mr Hayes said some of those arrested seemed eager to admit the guilt when agents went to complete searches of the most active and recent traders.

"We had some individuals tell us, 'I know why you're here. I was waiting for this. I knew this would happen someday,'" he said. "That's not something you find from someone who's trafficking cocaine or money-laundering."

The seized devices will be examined by agents to catalogue evidence.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children will use its analysts to review the images to see whether it can identify children using databases of known victims.

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'Missing' Canadian dogs died in heat

20 May 2014 Last updated at 23:18

A Canadian dogwalker has admitted six dogs in her care died of heatstroke in the back of her vehicle after previously saying they had been stolen.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) confirmed the dogs had died and they were investigating the case.

A pet recovery firm who helped look for the stolen dogs approached the dogwalker after a week of searching.

The firm's operator told the BBC the woman had "panicked" when she found the dogs and "made a very poor decision".

"We were hoping against hope some of the dogs would be safe," Alesha MacLellan of Petsearchers said, but added there were "lots of small things" that made them suspect the dogs had not been stolen.

The dogwalker, Emma Paulsen, had initially told police that she had left the dogs in the back of a lorry with a canopy over it, while she went to the toilet.

When she returned 10 minutes later, the canopy had been unlatched and the dogs were gone, she told officials.

But after a conversation with the pet search firm, she admitted that she had returned to find the dogs dead from the heat.

In a statement, the RCMP said Ms Paulsen had not been charged but investigations by both the police and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) were still ongoing.

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Mitch McConnell sees off Tea Party

21 May 2014 Last updated at 04:53

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell defeated his Tea Party challenger with some ease in the Republican primary contest in Kentucky.

The five-term senator struck a blow for the party establishment when he defeated Matt Bevin on Tuesday night.

Mr McConnell will face Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes in November's mid-term election battle for his Senate seat.

On the busiest primary night of the year to date, six states held contests to decide party nominations.

The Republicans need to pick up just six seats to win control of the Senate in November.

In Georgia, Michelle Nunn won the Democratic vote for the Senate race but it wasn't clear who she would face, with a run-off likely among the Republicans.

But all eyes were on Kentucky, where Mr McConnell led Mr Bevin by 60% to 36% with most of the votes in, according to Associated Press.

"If the American people give Republicans a majority in the Senate, you'll be proud of the United States Senate once again," McConnell, 72, said in his victory speech.

Democrats nominated businessman Tom Wolf to oppose Republican Governor Tom Corbett's bid for a second term in Pennsylvania.

Three other states were holding primaries on Tuesday - Oregon, Arkansas and Idaho.

Earlier this month, a North Carolina Senate candidate backed by the Republican Party establishment, Thom Tillis, won the party's nomination to face Democratic Senator Kay Hagan in the November election.

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Obama vows action on veterans agency

21 May 2014 Last updated at 17:45

President Barack Obama has vowed to punish those responsible for "dishonourable" alleged misconduct at hospitals for US military veterans.

At the White House, Mr Obama acknowledged veterans had to wait too long to receive medical care.

But he offered support for Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Eric Shinseki.

It was Mr Obama's first public comment on recent reports that officials at an Arizona VA hospital covered up long waits for veterans seeking care.

"When I hear allegations of misconduct, any misconduct, whether it's allegations of VA staff covering up long wait times or cooking the books, I will not stand for it, not only as commander in chief but also as an American," Mr Obama said in a White House press conference on Wednesday.

The White House has come under growing pressure from veterans groups, congressional Republicans and the media after it was alleged that officials at a VA hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, maintained secret records to avoid reporting to Washington the true length of time veterans had to wait for appointments.

Last month, a retired doctor at that hospital told broadcaster CNN he believed as many as 40 veterans had died while waiting months to be seen.

'Swift reckoning'

The row has grown rapidly, and on Tuesday the VA inspector general's office said 26 veterans hospitals and facilities were being investigated.

But investigators have said they have not yet linked any patient deaths to the delays in care.

"I know that people are angry and want swift reckoning," Mr Obama said. "But we have to let the investigators do their job and get to the bottom of what happened.

"Once we know the facts, I assure you, if there is misconduct, it will be punished."

The US president said he expected a preliminary report from Mr Shinseki's own review in the next week and a fuller report next month from Rob Nabors, a senior White House aide he has deployed to handle the matter.

This month, the American Legion, a prominent veterans group, and the Army Times, an influential independent newspaper, called on Mr Shinseki to step down.

Asked whether he would ask Mr Shinseki, a decorated retired Army general who was wounded in Vietnam, to resign, Mr Obama said, "If he does not think he can do a good job of this... then I'm sure he is not going to be interested in continuing to serve."

'Too long'

At an appearance before a Senate panel last week Mr Shinseki said he was "mad as hell" over the allegations but was waiting for the inspector general's report before taking action.

"Whatever comes out of this, whatever is substantiated, we will take action," he told reporters after the hearing.

The senior official in charge of health issues at the VA resigned last week.

Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives was scheduled to vote on a bill on Wednesday that would grant Mr Shinseki more authority to sack senior executives at the agency.

The recent allegations come amid ongoing issues at the VA, including a lengthy backlog in disability claims and high veteran unemployment.

"Even if we had not heard reports out of this Phoenix facility or other facilities, we all know that it often takes too long for veterans to get the care that they need," Mr Obama said, adding that while his administration had made gains, more needed to be done.

"That's not a new development. It's been a problem for decades, and it's been compounded by more than a decade of war."

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McDonald's headquarters shut down

21 May 2014 Last updated at 22:28

Thousands of protesters marched on a McDonald's campus that houses its Hamburger University training facility, demanding higher wages for workers.

The site of the planned protest was changed after McDonald's vacated its headquarters in the US state of Illinois after consulting with police.

Protesters want the fast food giant pay a minimum wage of $15 (£9) per hour, double the US federal minimum wage.

The company's annual shareholder meeting is scheduled for Thursday.

The closure affected one of five McDonald's corporate buildings and about 3,000 employees.

Ongoing effort

Protesters - which included a few hundred McDonald's workers - said they were seeking to highlight how low wages have exacerbated income inequality in the US.

The protest was planned before the annual shareholder meeting, where a vote is expected on executive pay.

Last year, chief executive Don Thompson was paid $9.5m.

Shareholders in Mexican fast-food chain Chipotle recently rejected an executive pay plan for the firm's co-chief executives, Steve Ells and Monty Moran, who earned $25.1m and $24.4m, respectively, last year.

Fast-food workers and labour organisers have been protesting since 2012 in an effort to boost wages and win worker rights, such as paid sick leave.

Last week, they organised a global walk out in more than 250 cities to highlight what they say are the difficulties facing low-paid restaurant employees.

US President Barack Obama has pushed Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour from $7.25, however he has faced stiff opposition from Republicans.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, fast-food workers in the US earn about $8.83 per hour, or $18,400 per year if they are working a full 40-hour work week.

Were you at the protest? Do you work for McDonald's? You can share your photos and experiences with us by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using McDonald's in the subject heading.

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US 'losing patience' with Venezuela

21 May 2014 Last updated at 23:57

US Secretary of State John Kerry has said that impatience with the Venezuelan government is growing across the region over its failure to address the country's serious political crisis.

Mr Kerry called on President Nicolas Maduro to reopen negotiations with the opposition.

Talks collapsed over a dispute about the release of political prisoners.

At least 42 people, from both sides of the political divide, have been killed in street protests this year.

Speaking during a visit to Mexico, Mr Kerry said that the United States was still considering imposing sanctions against Venezuela, but he hoped such measures would not be necessary.

"The power is in the hands of the government, and the government has to exercise that power in a responsible way in order to make the choices to create stability and a way forward in Venezuela," he said.

Mr Kerry criticised the government's "total failure" to show good faith during the talks, which are being mediated by the Unasur regional bloc and a representative of the Vatican.

He said Venezuela's neighbours, "including the United States", are growing increasingly concerned about the instability generated by the crisis.

Unasur foreign ministers left Caracas on Tuesday, but issued a statement asking both sides to book a date for a new round of talks.

The main opposition group, the Democratic Unity Alliance (MUD), pulled out of the talks last week after the government refused to release more than 200 people detained when the police broke up protest camps in Caracas earlier this month.

The opposition blames the socialist government of Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, for the economic crisis in the in the oil-producing nation.

Mr Maduro says right-wing sectors across the region, backed up by the United States, have been stirring trouble in Venezuela as part of a plan to oust him and put an end to his programme of social reforms.

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US Supreme Court delays execution

22 May 2014 Last updated at 02:29

The US Supreme Court has delayed the execution of a Missouri man amid concerns a medical condition could complicate the lethal injection and cause undue suffering.

Convicted murderer Russell Bucklew, 46, had been scheduled to die at 00:01 local time (04:01 GMT), before a series of court decisions led to a stay.

His lawyers say a congenital deformity would put him at risk of choking.

The execution was to be the first since a botched lethal injection last month.

A prisoner in Oklahoma, Clayton Lockett, took 43 minutes to die after the executioners had trouble finding a vein in which to inject the triple drug cocktail.

That led US President Barack Obama to call for a review of the problems surrounding the application of the death penalty.

Bucklew's reprieve came after a tortuous 24 hours of legal wrangling that set his execution on, then off and then on again, as a regional federal court granted him a stay of execution, only to have that stay overturned hours later by the full court.

Then, with just two hours to go until the scheduled execution, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who handles emergency appeals for the 8th Circuit region, issued his own stay.

The Supreme Court later lifted Justice Alito's stay but issued a new one which will remain in effect until the regional court hears a new appeal.

Bucklew suffers from a condition called cavernous hemangioma, which causes malformation of the blood vessels and tumours in the throat and nose.

In an affidavit for his defence team, an anaesthesiologist and surgeon wrote last week that during an execution he would be "at great risk of choking and suffocating because of his partially obstructed airway".

In 1996, Bucklew murdered a man he believed was romantically involved with his ex-girlfriend, then raped the woman during his escape from the scene of the murder.

US states have had increasing trouble in recent years finding drugs to use in executions, amid an embargo from the European Union, where pharmaceutical manufacturers have refused to ship drugs to buyers in the US for use in lethal injection.

The shortage has led the states in some cases to turn to lesser-regulated compounding pharmacies.

Missouri executes inmates with a single, lethal dose of the drug pentobarbital.

Like other states, it keeps the source of the drug secret, in an effort to shield the provider from scrutiny and unfavourable publicity.

News organisations and inmates have sued the states in an effort to force them to disclose the companies names. Their efforts have been rejected by the courts.

Earlier this month, a US court stayed the execution of a Texas man after his lawyers argued he was intellectually disabled.

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Missing US woman found 10 years on

22 May 2014 Last updated at 13:40

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In a tearful interview the victim said she was "so happy to see my family"

A 25-year-old woman who went missing 10 years ago in California has told police she was forced to marry her captor and have his child.

The unnamed woman contacted police shortly after communicating with her sister on Facebook, officers said.

Isidro Garcia, 41, was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of kidnapping, rape and false imprisonment.

Police said in a statement he had been living with the girl's family at the time of her disappearance.

The abuse began in 2004, when Mr Garcia was dating the victim's mother and residing with her and her daughters in Santa Ana, a city in Orange County, police said.

Continue reading the main story

The couple were known locally as Tomas and Laura, and were popular among neighbours for hosting lavish birthday parties for their three-year-old daughter.

"They gave us toys," one little boy said through the fence of an apartment complex in this predominantly Hispanic area. Another neighbour, Maria, showed us photos of the family smiling at church for their daughter's christening. As news trucks clogged the street, people told much the same story, of a family that seemed happy but never got too close to people. They hosted parties but didn't have very close friends.

Many just couldn't believe the allegations that "Laura" had been abducted a decade earlier. "They were a happy family," Xochitl Castillo said. "She was not a prisoner."

The police allege that Mr Garcia began sexually assaulting the victim that June, only four months after the girl arrived in the US from Mexico.

In August, he assaulted the victim's mother and drugged the teenager, driving her 26 miles (42km) north to Compton, in Los Angeles county, where he locked her in a garage, police said.

"Over the course of the following months and years, Mr Garcia repeatedly told the victim her family had given up looking for her, and if she tried to go back to them, the family would be deported," police said.

The two moved on several occasions to avoid police detection and used different identities, the police said. The woman twice tried to escape but he beat her severely, police said.

Mr Garcia frequently sexually assaulted the victim, it is alleged, and the two of them worked together at a night cleaning service.

"Even with the opportunity to escape, after years of physical and mental abuse, the victim saw no way out of her situation and lived a life with Garcia under sustained physical and mental abuse," police said.

Cpl Anthony Bertagna of the Santa Ana Police Department told reporters Mr Garcia had "brainwashed" her.

He said that in 2007, he forced the woman into a marriage, using documents he obtained in Mexico, and in 2012 the two had a child.

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Corporal Anthony Bertagna said the victim was told her family had given up looking for her

Recently, she contacted her sister on Facebook and was told that her mother had indeed been trying to find her, using a Spanish-language newspaper and television station.

The communication with her sister made her realise she needed to leave, said Cpl Bertagna, and on Monday she went to police to report that she was a victim of domestic abuse and told them she had been abducted.

The following day, police formally arrested Mr Garcia on suspicion of kidnapping for rape, lewd acts with a minor and false imprisonment. He has not been charged.

In an interview with KABC television, the woman said tearfully in broken English that when she was kidnapped she was only a helpless teenager and could only do what her captor wanted.

"I don't have a life all these 10 years," she said.

"I was very afraid about everything. I was alone - I think I was alone, but I never was... My family was with me."

Neighbours in the street in Bell Gardens, Los Angeles, where the couple lived in recent years said on Wednesday evening they were stunned by the news, describing them as a happy couple who doted on their young daughter and even hosted parties.

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Neighbours: Kidnap victim and man acted "like normal couple"

The alleged victim acknowledged her neighbours thought her captor was a good man because he worked hard for her and her daughter and "he bought everything I want".

"But I need love of my family, not things," she said.

The arrest comes a year after three women who went missing separately about a decade earlier were rescued from a house in Cleveland, Ohio.

Their captor, Ariel Castro, killed himself in prison in September 2013 at the beginning of a life sentence plus 1,000 years.

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Yacht families remain hopeful

22 May 2014 Last updated at 14:14

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Footage has emerged from a private yacht which has joined the search team, as Duncan Kennedy reports

The families of four British sailors who are missing in the Atlantic say they remain hopeful they will be found.

Speaking after a meeting at the Foreign Office, relatives said they were "very positive" and felt everything possible was being done to find the men.

Foreign Office minister Hugh Robertson thanked the US Coast Guard "for their significant efforts".

It comes after debris was spotted near to where the 40ft Cheeki Rafiki disappeared.

The captain of a catamaran helping in the search said details had been passed to the US Coast Guard, but did not know if the debris was part of the UK boat.

The Cheeki Rafiki, based in Southampton, was sailing back to the UK from Antigua when it went missing.

The search for the vessel was originally called off on Sunday but resumed on Tuesday.

'Right behind us'

The four missing crew members are Paul Goslin, 56, from West Camel, Somerset; skipper Andrew Bridge, 22, from Farnham; Steve Warren, 52, from Bridgwater; and 22-year-old James Male, from Romsey.

Graham Male, James's father, said the meeting with Foreign Office officials was "very constructive".

"It really filled the families in with detail," he said. "What we can say is that the UK government and the US Coast Guard are right behind us, which we are so grateful for."

Mr Male said he had been told more resources were heading to the search area and thanked everyone for their support.

He added: "The boys will be positive out there and the families are positive."

Cressida Goslin, Mr Goslin's wife, described the search efforts as "wonderful" and said: "I don't think anyone could be doing anything more than they are."

Patrick Michel, skipper of the Malisi, one of the volunteer crews searching for the missing yacht, said he had reported the positions of the debris and the time they were spotted to the US Coast Guard.

Mr Michel said a plank of wood, which could be a floorboard or part of a table, and a plastic board had been seen.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he did not know for certain what the items were but said "the grouping of these debris in the northern part of the search area could indicate that they are recent".

He added: "Until we get feedback from the owner who knows the boat, nothing can be confirmed."

The US Coast Guard confirmed it had received the report, but could not say for certain that the debris was from the Cheeki Rafiki as there were no identifying marks.

It said it took the information "very seriously" and would incorporate it into its search planning.

'Keep looking'

Foreign Office minister Hugh Robertson said of his meeting with the families: "The UK government remains in constant contact with our US colleagues and I was able to update them on the continuing search.

"I'd like to thank the US Coast Guard for their significant efforts thus far, and to assure everybody that the UK government will continue to do everything possible to try and locate these missing yachtsmen."

The relatives are due to visit the US Embassy later.

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Relatives of the Cheeki Rafiki's crew say they hope satellite imagery will be released so it can be studied by members of the public

The families, who took letters of thanks to the prime minister and foreign secretary for their efforts so far, said they hoped people would be able to join the search online using satellite technology.

Mr Warren's partner, Gloria Hamlet, said: "If there are eyes out there looking for them then there's a chance.

"Hopefully today will be the day but we've got to wait and see."

Coastguards said on Wednesday that about 9,000 square miles had been searched and there had been no sightings of a life-raft, debris or a boat during the day.

'Exhausting'

An RAF Hercules has joined the three planes and six ships already deployed to search the area where the sailors are thought to have disappeared - approximately 1,000 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

A number of yachts have also joined the search.

The decision to resume the search followed an official request from the UK government. An online petition, set up to urge the US Coast Guard to resume the search, attracted more than 200,000 signatures.

US Coast Guard Capt Anthony Popiel has said no decision has been taken on when to suspend the search, and pledged that teams would continue to hunt for the Britons as if they were "looking for a member of our own family".

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CIA 'ends use of vaccine programmes'

20 May 2014 Last updated at 16:46

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Zubair Mufti of the World Health Organization tells the BBC's Kim Ghattas the US move "is coming at the right time"

The CIA has ended the use of vaccine programmes in its spying operations amid concerns for the safety of health workers, the White House has said.

In a letter to US public health schools, a White House aide said the CIA stopped such practices in August.

The CIA used a fake vaccine programme to try to find Osama Bin Laden before US special forces killed him in 2011.

The CIA's move comes after a wave of deadly attacks by militants on polio vaccination workers in Pakistan.

"By publicising this policy, our objective is to dispel one canard that militant groups have used as justification for cowardly attacks against vaccination providers," CIA spokesman Dean Boyd said in a statement to the BBC.

Analysis: Kim Ghattas, Islamabad

The decision will be welcomed in Pakistan, where polio has been spreading fast since the Taliban banned the vaccination campaign two years ago.

Before the statement from Washington, Prof Ibrahim Khan, an intermediary for the Taliban, told the BBC the militants wanted assurances that the vaccination programme wasn't being used for other purposes.

He said he was hopeful the Taliban would then lift the ban on the vaccine but he added it was also contingent on the success of peace negotiations with the government.

The talks are stalled for now. The ministry of interior has said access to the polio vaccination would lead the agenda of the next round of talks.

Sixty-six cases of polio have been declared in Pakistan since January, compared with only eight during the same period last year.

And more than 60 polio workers and security personnel were killed between December 2012 and April 2014, most of them in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to Pakistani officials and humanitarian workers.

The geographical spread of the cases suggests they are mostly sourced to the north-western Waziristan tribal region, the BBC's Ilyas Khan reports from Islamabad. Militants controlling the region banned vaccination there, saying health workers may include American spies.

"This reassurance is coming at the right time and we sincerely hope this will contribute towards reaching the children," Zubair Mufti of the World Health Organization told the BBC. "Public health programmes should only be focused toward providing health to the people and not collateral things."

In a letter dated 16 May, the White House assistant to the president for homeland security and counter-terrorism, Lisa Monaco, wrote that CIA director John Brennan had directed the agency to cease "operational use of vaccine programmes".

"Similarly, the agency will not seek to obtain or exploit DNA or other genetic material acquired through such programmes," she wrote, adding the policy applied worldwide to US and non-US persons alike.

Genetic material obtained through a fake door-to-door hepatitis B vaccination programme reportedly helped the CIA confirm Bin Laden's whereabouts in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.

The al-Qaeda leader was killed in a May 2011 raid by US special forces.

The Pakistani doctor accused of running the vaccination campaign remains in jail.

Dr Shakil Afridi was convicted of ties to militant groups, which he denies, and imprisoned in 2012. The move is widely seen as punishment for his helping the CIA.

Correspondents say he is regarded as a traitor by Pakistan's security agencies.

Mr Boyd, the CIA spokesman, said "many obstacles" stand in the way of vaccination programmes, including myths they cause use sterility or HIV and claims they are spy programmes run by Western governments.

"While the CIA can do little about the former, the [CIA] director felt he could do something important to dispel the latter and he acted," Mr Boyd said.

"It is important to note that militant groups have a long history of attacking humanitarian aid workers in Pakistan and those attacks began years before the raid against the Bin Laden compound and years before any press reports claiming a CIA-sponsored vaccination programme."

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GM in another car safety recall

20 May 2014 Last updated at 20:33

US car giant General Motors has announced it will recall another 2.4 million vehicles in the US because of safety concerns.

That takes the total number of cars GM has recalled this year to over 13 million in the US - more than the carmaker sold in 2013.

The latest move covers possible faulty seat belts, transmissions, and air bags, as well as potential fire issues.

No fatalities have been associated with this recall.

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Most of the vehicles affected by the latest recalls were built between 2004 and 2010, although a small number of new cars and pickup trucks have also been included.

Mounting pressure

The company has been under intense pressure recently from regulators to improve its safety standards.

Last week the company was fined $35m (£21m) for failing to address different defects which have been linked to 13 deaths.

That was the maximum allowed by US law and it was the single highest civil penalty ever levied as a result of a recall investigation.

The recalls have already cost the company $1.3bn in the first three months of the year and it now estimates it will cost the firm around $400m in the April to May period.

It expects an internal investigation about the issue to conclude within the next two weeks.

Shares were down more than 3%.

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