Uganda police 'assaulted' author

22 September 2011 Last updated at 12:46 GMT Uganda's government says it will not tolerate attempts to depose President Yoweri Museveni A Ugandan author has accused police of assaulting and threatening to kill him after detaining him for a controversial book about President Yoweri Museveni.

Vincent Nzaramba told the BBC he was unlawfully detained for five days for publishing People Power - Battle the Mighty General.

A police spokesperson said Mr Nzaramba had been interrogated for incitement.

This year Uganda has been hit by a series of protests against Mr Museveni's 25-year rule.

Mr Nzaramba said police arrested him on Saturday after ransacking his home in the capital, Kampala, and confiscating copies of his book, laptop and phone.

"I was arrested without an arrest warrant, which is illegal.

"I was beaten up. I was flogged. They told me: 'Don't you know we can kill you?'," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

'Gandhi-inspired'

Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba confirmed that Mr Nzaramba, who was released on Wednesday, had been "interrogated" over the book.

"It's not the first time we are holding people for inciting material," she said.

Mr Nzaramba told the BBC he doubted that the police had read the book, which has a photograph of President Museveni in his military attire with the words "he is finished" underneath.

The book advocates peaceful change and he had been inspired by US civil rights activist Martin Luther King and Indian pacifist Mahatma Gandhi when he wrote it, he said.

"Every dictator fears this concept [of peaceful resistance]. It sweeps dictators away faster than any other concept," Mr Nzaramba said.

Earlier this year, Mr Museveni - who won controversial elections in February - warned that he will not tolerate an Egypt-style uprising.

Nine people were killed in April after security forces intervened to end an opposition protest about the rising cost of living.

Last year, police impounded a consignment of the book, The Correct Line? Uganda under Museveni, authored by Olive Kobusingye, a sister of opposition leader Kizza Besigye.

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Fatal Karachi bomb targets police

19 September 2011 Last updated at 11:14 GMT The attack destroyed a large part of Mr Aslam's house A bomb targeting the home of a senior police officer in Karachi has killed at least eight people, officials say.

A car packed with explosives blew up destroying a large part of the home of Chaudhry Aslam Khan, the chief of the crime investigation department.

He and his family were unhurt. Most of the dead were police guards posted outside the house.

He blamed the Taliban for the attack but there have been two claims of responsibility from militant groups.

One came from the Pakistani Taliban who said the attack was to avenge those militants they say were killed by Mr Khan and his forces.

Earlier, a little-known group, Al-Mukhtar - which admitted to having some links with the Taliban - said it had carried out the attack.

Counter-terror chief

Mr Khan said he had received threatening letters from militant groups including the Pakistani Taliban.

"They are cowards... They call themselves Muslims but they are unbelievers. This will make me even more determined to carry on operations against them," he said.

Continue reading the main story Syed Shoaib Hasan BBC News, Karachi

It is not the first time that an attempt has been made on the life of the most famous policeman in Karachi - and one of the most feared in Pakistan.

Chaudhry Aslam Khan has an unmatched record for catching people including mafia dons, Taliban militants, sectarian militants, bank robbers and common criminals.

His reputation is not without controversy - he has been accused of being involved in several extra-judicial killings. However, all these charges have been investigated and Mr Khan has been cleared of all wrongdoing.

In recent times, he has been involved in the arrest of several high-profile militants in Karachi which has increasingly become a safe haven for jihadists.

"Such things do not scare me... I'm staying right here. They can try and come for me whenever they want and I'll be ready."

Correspondents say that Mr Khan is a well-known figure in Karachi, responsible for counter-torror operations in the city.

Since 2008, his unit has been involved in the arrests of dozens of militants - including would-be suicide bombers - planning attacks in Pakistan and across the border in Afghanistan.

Some witnesses said the driver of the car rammed it into the gate of the house, causing the explosion. But the police said it was a suicide attack. Karachi's police chief, Saud Mirza, said that the attackers used 300kg of explosives.

A woman and her son who were passing their house on their way to school were among those killed.

Television pictures showed twisted metal of a number of vehicles littering the street outside and a thick cloud of smoke hanging high over the blast site.

Karachi's police force has been a target of the militants in the past.

In November 2010, a car bomb attack on the main CID offices in Karachi had killed at least 30 people.

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Police retrieve swallowed diamond

14 September 2011 Last updated at 13:00 GMT By Sarah Rainsford BBC News, Madrid The diamond pendant was irretrievable for three days Spanish police have foiled an attempted robbery from a British woman, after discovering a stolen diamond inside a man's stomach.

The woman's handbag - which contained cash and a diamond pendant worth 12,000 euros (£10,500) - was taken as she dined in a restaurant in Marbella.

The suspects were caught four hours later with most of the loot.

But it took three days to retrieve the most valuable item, the diamond, after one of the men swallowed it.

The woman had been sitting in the Marbella restaurant with a friend when two smartly dressed men entered - one of the men taking the table behind the women.

Some time later the women realised that both men had disappeared along with the handbag, which contained 2,000 euros and £500 in cash as well as the diamond and other valuables.

At 18:00 the same day police were conducting a routine vehicle check about 50km (30 miles) up the coast in Torremolinos when they spotted four men, known to have criminal records for robbery.

Their suspicions raised, they inspected the vehicle and discovered jewellery and a woman's purse containing British currency and ID documents.

But it was the sight of a suspect raising his hand to his mouth that drew the attention of one sharp-eyed officer. He guessed the man was swallowing some of the evidence.

All four suspected thieves were promptly taken to a local clinic, where X-rays revealed a diamond, minus the chain it once hung from, inside one of their stomachs.

The British woman was reunited with most of her possessions that same evening. But she only received the precious jewel three days later.

According to police spokeswoman Ana Moreno in Torremolinos: "It was retrieved in the simplest and most natural way."

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Scuffles disrupt Mubarak trial as police testify

CAIRO — The prosecution's first witness in the trial of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak startled the court in a stormy session Monday, testifying that police were not ordered to fire on protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square in a contradiction of the prosecutors' central claim.

The police general's statement could damage the prosecution's case that Mubarak and his security chief gave the green light to police to use lethal force to crush the uprising, during which at least 850 people were killed.

Prosecution lawyers were visibly stunned by the testimony of the witness, Gen. Hussein Moussa, and angrily accused him of changing his story from the affadavit he initially gave prosecutors.

Relatives of protesters killed during Egypt's uprising scuffled with police and tried to force their way into the Cairo courtroom, demanding to be allowed to attend the latest session in the trial.

Live TV broadcasts of the landmark trial have been halted by a judge's order, and family members massed outside the courtroom were angered they could not witness the prosecution of the former leader charged with complicity in their loved ones' deaths.

In Monday's sessions, proceedings were taking a key turn, with the first witnesses taking the stand after the procedural issues that have dominated the trial so far.

'Beginning of the real trial'
The first witness to take the stand was top police official, Gen. Hussein Saeed Mohamed Mursi, head of communication in the state security service.

He told the court that police were instructed to use tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters on the night of Jan. 25, when protests against Mubarak erupted, state television said.

"The first witness denied the possibility of using automatic weapons against the protesters," state television said, quoting Mursi.

Mubarak's downfall came on Feb. 11 after an 18-day popular uprising.

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Gamal Eid, a lawyer representing 16 of some 850 people killed in the uprising, earlier told Reuters Mursi worked in the police operations room during the uprising and had been accused of deleting recordings of what happened in the room at that time.

"(Mursi) had been accused in a decision issued by the general prosecutor of deleting those recordings but he later turned into a witness," Eid said.

The three other witnesses to be called by the court are police officers who were in the operations room during the 18 days of protests. The court named them as Emad Badr Saeed, Bassim Mohamed el-Otaify and Mahmoud Galal Abdel Hamid.

"This the beginning of the real trial," said Khaled Abu Bakr, a lawyer representing families of slain protesters.

Chaotic scenes outside courthouse
The 83-year-old Mubarak, who is in ill health, was shown on state TV being wheeled on a gurney from a helicopter that landed in the Police Academy on Cairo's outskirts, where the court has been set up. He shielded his face from the sun as he was taken into an ambulance to deliver him to the session. In the courtroom, he lay in a hospital bed in the defendants' cage along with his co-defendants, including his two sons.

Outside the academy compound, hundreds of victims' families and protesters pushed and shoved in an attempt to break through the main gates and enter the court building. Black-clad anti-riot police swung batons and briefly clashed with the protesters, who hurled stones at the security forces.

Interactive: The rise and fall of Hosni Mubarak (on this page)

TV footage also showed metal barricades being thrown, while hundreds of anti-riot police chased young men in the streets.

Ramadan Ahmed Abdou, the father of a slain protester, said he applied for permission to attend the session and had been told he could pick up the permit Monday morning before the trial. But when he arrived, he was told there was no permit for him.

"People are very frustrated," he said. "We said OK when the judge decided to ban the broadcast of the trial, but we want to see it ourselves," he said.

Crowds held posters of slain protesters and shouted, "To die like them or to get their rights." One held a hangman's noose and demanded Mubarak's execution. Some set fire to pictures of Mubarak, while chanting, "The people want to execute the butcher."

Nearby, about 50 Mubarak supporters in a counterdemonstration cried out, "Why humiliate the president who protected us?"

Emotional proceedings
It was the third time that family members and others have tried but been unable to get into the courtroom since the trial began on Aug. 3. Showing the hearings live on state television had been a nod to widespread public demand for a chance to see the trial of the man who led the country for nearly 30 years. It was also a gesture to activists who complained that the military rulers now in charge of the country were dragging their feet bringing Mubarak and stalwarts of his regime to justice.

But in an Aug. 15 session, the chief judge, Ahmed Rifaat, stopped the live broadcasts to "protect the public interest." The move appeared to be aimed at reducing what had been a rather circus-like atmosphere in the courtroom, but many saw it as aimed at preventing humiliation of the president or tamping down public interest.

Slideshow: Hosni Mubarak on trial (on this page)

Mubarak is charged with corruption and with complicity in the killings of protesters. About 850 people were killed when police opened fire on protesters during the uprising. His sons, Gamal and Alaa, also face corruption charges, and his former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly and six top police officers are also charged in the protester killings.

In the court Monday, the session was stormy, as the many lawyers involved in the case shouted insults at each other. According to Gamal Eid, a human rights lawyer, who tweeted from inside the courtroom, the session started with "big fight between the victims' lawyers and Mubarak's lawyers." Chants of "'the people want the execution of the ousted one,' rocked the courtroom," he said.

Eid tweeted that lawyers screamed and yelled at the judges, prompting Rifaat to briefly halt the session. Egyptian television confirmed that the session was halted and then resumed.

More than 1,000 witnesses called
Attorneys have filed motions to summon more than 1,000 witnesses in the trial, including Hussein Tantawi, the head of the council of generals that took over control of the country after Mubarak's fall. Tantawi was also Mubarak's defense minister.

The scene of Mubarak in bed inside a defendants cage was an unprecedented moment in the Arab world, the first time a modern Mideast leader has been put on trial fully by his own people. However, more than six months after the uprising, Egyptians are still agitated at the slow pace of reforms and the failure of the ruling military council in restoring law and order in the streets.

A call for big rally on Sept. 9 has been circulating on social networking sites against the military's policy of putting civilians on trial in front of military tribunal. Thousands — including protesters — have been put on swift trials by the tribunals, drawing condemnations from rights activists, while Mubarak and his associates have gone before civilian courts.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Italian police defend their Knox murder probe

PERUGIA, Italy — The police official who conducted the original investigation in the Amanda Knox case defended her standards Monday, after an independent review harshly criticized the evidence used to convict the American student of murdering her British roommate.

Patrizia Stefanoni took the stand as Knox's appeals trial resumed after the summer recess. A verdict is expected by the end of the month.

Knox and her co-defendant and one-time boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were convicted of sexually assaulting and killing Meredith Kercher in the apartment that Knox and the 21-year-old Briton shared while studying in Perugia. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison; Sollecito to 25. Both deny wrongdoing and have appealed the Dec. 29 verdict.

An independent review of DNA traces in the case found that much of the evidence collected in the original investigation fell below international standards and may have led to contamination of the samples. The review especially focused on some traces of DNA linking the defendants to the crime, and concluded that due to the risk of contamination and the low amounts of DNA used for the testing it was impossible to extract a genetic profile with any certainty.

In the first trial, prosecutors maintained that Knox's DNA was found on the knife's handle and Kercher's DNA was found on the blade. They also say Sollecito's DNA was found on the clasp of Kercher's bra, mixed with the victim's.

Carla Vecchiotti, one expert questioned Monday over the extraction of DNA profiles from the bra clasp, said the data was so mixed that a very high number of genetic profiles could be extracted, depending how one combined the data.

"I could find yours, too," Vecchiotti told the presiding judge. "I'm there, too," she said, adding that some data was compatible with her own DNA. She said Kercher's profile was the only certain one.

The findings have boosted the defendants' efforts to be cleared and gain freedom after almost four years in prison.

Curt Knox, the defendant's father, said he was hopeful that the case was turning in his daughter's direction.

"The independent experts have done a very good job evaluating the information," he said. "I don't see it breaking down at this point. I see it's been good for Amanda and Raffaele."

Giulia Bongiorno, a lawyer for Sollecito, said DNA can be "formidable evidence" but not with such a mixed, confusing trace.

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"Poorly collected DNA can lead to an error of justice," she told reporters during a break in the proceedings.

The two independent experts were appointed by the appeals court at the defense's request. Over two sessions of fierce cross-examination, both the prosecutors and a lawyer representing the Kercher family have sought to undermine the experts' testimony and insisted that the evidence could stand.

Stefanoni, the forensic police officer, countered some of the points made in the review, saying that DNA analyses were carried out from behind a glass wall to avoid the risk of contamination. She also said some of the standard protocols cited by the experts were published after she finished her report in May 2008.

Using some of the 119 slides she said she had prepared, she challenged the experts' finding over DNA quantity, analysis and evidence collection techniques. Her testimony will continue Tuesday.

The DNA review has dominated recent hearings in the 10-month appeals trial.

Just before the trial resumed, Kercher's sister issued a letter asking the appeals court to assess "every single (piece) of evidence" so justice can be done. The Kercher family insisted they still had faith in the Perugia police, investigators and the court, but also expressed worry over the evidence review.

"We find it extremely difficult to comprehend how the evidence that was so carefully developed and presented in the first hearing was valid, yet how it now seems to carry a slight chance it will become irrelevant," Stephanie Kercher said in the letter.

"We ask that the Court of Appeal assess every single (piece) of evidence, both scientific and circumstantial, as well as any witnesses who have taken the stand independently of any other information or media," she wrote.

The Kercher family has kept a low profile throughout the headline-grabbing case. The letter, released through the family's lawyer Francesco Maresca, represented a rare break in their silence.

"Meredith has been forgotten because she is no longer with us, yet this should be about her and what really happened on that tragic evening," Stephanie Kercher lamented in the letter.

Knox has been the center of attention since her arrest on Nov. 6, 2007 — four days after Kercher's body was found in a pool of blood at the apartment. Knox has been described both as an angel-faced ruthless killer and as an innocent girl caught in an Italian judicial nightmare.

Both Knox, 24, and Sollecito, 27, attended the session Monday.

A third person, Rudy Hermann Guede of the Ivory Coast, also has been convicted of Kercher's murder in a separate proceeding. Italy's highest criminal court has upheld Guede's conviction and his 16-year-prison sentence. Guede denies wrongdoing.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Police: New York retiree shot dead in Jamaica

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Police say a 57-year-old retiree from New York City has been shot to death outside a relative's home in a southern Jamaica.

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The Constabulary Communications Network says Cavina Bennett-Brown was attacked by two gunmen late Saturday in her car as she was leaving a relative's home in Clarendon parish.

She was shot multiple times and pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Police have not disclosed a possible motive. There have been no arrests.

Investigators identified Bennett-Brown as a retiree from the Bronx and also a resident of the Vineyard Town neighborhood of Kingston.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Bahrain activists blame police in boy's death

MANAMA, Bahrain — Bahraini security forces clashed with anti-government protesters after Wednesday morning prayers, and a 14-year-old boy died after being hit by a police tear gas canister, human rights activists said.

The activists blamed police for the death of Ali Jawad Ahmad, who was in the crowd of protesters in the oil hub of Sitra.

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights cited witnesses as saying the boy died after being hit by a tear gas canister fired at close range by police during the demonstration.

Bahraini officials confirmed a 14-year-old was killed but gave no other details on the possible cause of death.

A statement by the Interior Ministry said there was no reported police action in Sitra at the time the boy's death was reported. The statement added that an investigation was ordered and posted a 10,000 dinar ($26,600) reward for information leading to a definitive finding.

Isa Hassan, an uncle of the dead teen, claimed police overreacted when confronted by a small group of protesters after morning prayers marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Hassan said the tear gas was fired from about 20 feet (seven meters) away directly at the protesters.

"They are supposed to lob the canisters of gas, not shoot them at people," he said at the funeral for the boy. "Police used it as a weapon."

In a report late Wednesday, Bahrain's official news agency said the autopsy showed a "neck injury was the cause of (the boy's) death, as there were fractures in that area causing bleeding around the spinal cord." The report by the Bahrain News Agency also said that the young protester had bruises on his chin, face, right hand, pelvic area and knees.

Bahrain has been gripped by clashes between police and Shiite-led protesters demanding greater rights and political freedoms in the tiny Gulf nation that is the home of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

More than 30 people have been killed since protests began in February inspired by other uprisings across the Arab world.

Shiites are the majority in Bahrain but claim widespread discrimination by the ruling Sunni dynasty. Sunni rulers in the Gulf fear any concessions by Bahrain's Al Khalifa family to protesters would strengthen the region's Shiite powerhouse Iran.

Small-scale clashes between police and mostly Shiite demonstrators have become a near nightly event in the tense Gulf nation since authorities lifted emergency rule in June.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Police probe Australian political sex scandal (AP)

CANBERRA, Australia – Australian police were investigating allegations Tuesday that a lawmaker misused a credit card to pay prostitutes, a political scandal that could bring down the country's fragile government.

New South Wales state police said they are looking into new evidence that government lawmaker Craig Thomson misused a trade union credit card when he was a senior union official in 2005 and 2007.

A conviction for theft or fraud would force Thomson to quit Parliament and cost Prime Minister Julia Gillard's year-old government its single-seat majority.

With opinion polls showing the government has become deeply unpopular, observers agree that the ruling Labor Party would have little hope of retaining Thomson's seat in an ensuing by-election.

Thomson has denied any wrongdoing and Gillard has publicly supported the lawmaker, who was first elected when Labor swept to power in 2007.

The allegation, first raised by a Sydney newspaper in 2009, dates back to when Thomson was national secretary of the Health Services Union. He allegedly used his union credit card to pay a Sydney brothel thousands of dollars of union money in two transactions.

Thomson has denied the allegation and claimed that an unnamed man had taken his credit card and forged his signature. Thomson also said that that man had repaid the money.

Thomson sued the newspaper's owner, Fairfax Media Publications, but dropped that court action in May.

Police have never investigated the allegations because the Health Services Union, which is aligned with Labor, has never made a complaint.

But an opposition senator, George Brandis, wrote to Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione on Monday with new evidence he said showed Thomson had committed a range of crimes, including fraud, which is punishable by 10 years in prison.

The new evidence included a statement from a forensic handwriting expert who said Thomson had probably signed one of the brothel credit card dockets in question. It also included a bundle of recently released court documents that Fairfax would have used in the defamation trial as proof of many more instances in which Thomson allegedly paid prostitutes with the same credit card.

Gillard told Parliament on Tuesday "it would be inappropriate for me to comment further" on the scandal because of the police investigation.

She denied any involvement in a decision by a Labor state branch to pay more than 90,000 Australian dollars ($94,000) toward Thomson's legal bills for settling his defamation case.

"Decisions about finances related to the New South Wales Labor Party are for the New South Wales Labor Party to make," she told Parliament.

The party won't explain the generous gift, but the opposition is convinced it was to prevent Thomson being bankrupted by his legal bills.

Under Australia's Constitution, a lawmaker must quit Parliament if he or she is bankrupt or convicted of a crime that carries a potential prison sentence of at least 12 months.

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Norway police face review, think killer acted alone (Reuters)

OSLO (Reuters) – Police are increasingly certain that mass killer Anders Behring Breivik acted alone, but are leaving no stone unturned in the hunt for collaborators as they try to close one of the bloodiest chapters in Norway's history.

Breivik, 32, killed eight people in a bomb attack in central Oslo last Friday and then shot 68 at an island summer camp for the ruling Labor Party's youth wing.

He has told police he was part of a network in his self-styled "crusade" against Islam and multiculturalism -- but Norwegian authorities doubt this.

"So far we have no indication that he has any accomplices or that there are more cells," the head of the Norwegian Police Security Service, Janne Kristiansen, told Reuters on Wednesday. His claim was likely to have been a play for publicity, she said.

Kristiansen said there would be no let-up in hunting Breivik's possible partners, however unlikely, or in police monitoring of extremists.

"As long as there is a tiny chance...we have to investigate it -- that is our main focus," said Kristiansen, who added that Breivik was "too calculated, too focused" to be considered insane.

Norway's parliament has promised a review of the country's security services and their actions during Breivik's attacks. The government said on Wednesday it would pay the costs of burying the mostly teenaged and twenty-something victims.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg urged his countrymen to participate in the open debate and democracy that Breivik had cruelly silenced at the camp.

Days after the attacks, Norwegians may be doing just that, with the Labor Party reporting a surge in applications. An opinion poll showed 80 percent believed the prime minister had performed "extremely well" in the crisis.

Staring at thousands of flowers outside Oslo cathedral in the sunshine, physiotherapist Aase Bergheim, 41, said she now saw Stoltenberg, and Norway, differently.

"The prime minister, I now see him in a new light, because he's shown he can gather the people. People are smiling at each other now. I don't usually vote for him, but maybe in future," she said.

(Writing and additional reporting by Mohammed Abbas; Editing by Louise Ireland and Mark Trevelyan)

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LulzSec spokesperson in custody, say UK police

The man arrested by British police, and known as "Topiary" cleared out his messages on Twitter, save for this one he left behind.

One of the key members and spokesperson of LulzSec, which is allied with the Anonymous group of hackers, was arrested Wednesday.

Police arrested a 19-year-old who goes by the name "Topiary" online. He was arrested in Scotland's Shetland Islands.

Topiary, who often served as an online spokesman for the group, also gave several high-profile interviews in recent weeks, and downplayed concerns about being caught.

"Worrying is for fools!" he told Gawker's Adrian Chen last month.

He reiterated that attitude in an interview published last week in Salon, which asked if he was concerned he might get "pinched by the cops." Topiary replied: "The short answer to that is no, the long answer is that I've received so many threats of being caught over the past 8 months (almost every day) that it doesn't affect me at all."

The "Lulz" in LulzSec's name is Internet speak for laughs, something the group of supposedly six members, has emphasized from its hack of PBS to Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspaper website last week, when it posted a fake page with a story about Murdoch being found dead.

Most thought LulzSec was gone from the scene when it said last month it was stepping back to work with Anonymous in efforts to hack government and corporate websites the group deems corrupt. The joint effort is known as "AntiSec," or anti-security.

"The arrest of 'Topiary' is important as it sends a strong message to other hackers or would-be hackers," Chester Wisniewski, a security researcher with Sophos, told Reuters.

"While many have found the antics of Lulz Security entertaining, breaking into computers and stealing the personal details of innocent people is a serious crime."

Law enforcement in the U.S. and globally has intensified efforts to arrest those believed to be connected to LulzSec and Anonymous, and to various hacks and denial-of-service efforts that brought down government and corporate websites.

In the U.S. last week, 16 people were arrested on charges they were involved in major cyber attacks, with 14 of the 16 alleged to have helped bring down the PayPal website last December as retribution for PayPal's dropping of WikiLeaks' donation account.

In Britain, the Metropolitan Police Service’s Police Central e-Crime Unit posted this news release about the arrest of Topiary — the name used on his Twitter account, saying, in part:

The man arrested is believed to be linked to an ongoing international investigation in to the criminal activity of the so-called "hacktivist" groups Anonymous and LulzSec, and uses the online nickname “Topiary” which is presented as the spokesperson for the groups.

He was arrested at a residential address in the Shetland Islands and is currently being transported to a police station in central London. A search is ongoing at the address.

A residential address in Lincolnshire is also being searched. A 17-year-old male is being interviewed under caution in connection with the inquiry. He has not been arrested.

Topiary's Twitter feed had been full of tweets, or messages, in recent months about hacking activities. But on Wednesday, the account looked cleared out, with just one tweet remaining: "You cannot arrest an idea," posted July 21, and something members of Anonymous and LulzSec have been saying online since last week's arrests in the U.S.

Other arrests were also made last week by the Metropolitan Police Service and the Dutch National Police Agency in connection with alleged cyber-related crimes.

Last Friday, Dutch prosecutors said four suspects were released from custody after confessing to infiltrating websites and publishing confidential information.

And last month, British police arrested and charged Ryan Cleary, 19, for attacking the website of Britain's Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) and sites owned by the British Phonographic Industry and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Cleary was released on bail.

Related stories:

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Police: Suspect in Norway attacks says he acted alone

Norway suspect allegedly posts videoNEW: Authorities say they have not established the suspect's motiveInvestigators are still searching waters around Utoya island for victimsThe man accused in Norway's twin terror attacks that killed at least 93 says he acted alonePolice are looking into a 1,500-page manifesto purportedly written by the suspect

Oslo, Norway (CNN) -- The man accused of killing at least 93 people in Norway has said he carried out the bombing and mass shooting, authorities said Sunday, as an ashen-faced and openly weeping King Harald V led the nation in mourning.

The suspect has not pleaded guilty, and said he acted alone with no accomplice, acting National Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim told reporters Sunday.

"There is no progress on the question of what (his) motive was," Sponheim said, but he said investigators were studying a 1,500-page manifesto that authorities believe was published online the day of the attack.

The document, apparently compiled over a period of nine years, rants against Muslims and their growing presence in Europe and calls for a European civil war to overthrow governments, end multiculturalism and execute "cultural Marxists."

The author of the document identifies himself as Anders Behring Breivik, the suspect in the Norwegian terrorist attacks. CNN could not independently verify that Breivik wrote the document, and Norwegian authorities would not confirm that the man in their custody wrote the manifesto, saying it was part of their investigation.

Police have not identified the suspect, but local television and newspaper reports say the man in custody is Breivik, 32.

Authorities allege that he set off a car bomb outside government buildings in Oslo on Friday, then ambushed an island political youth retreat in a shooting spree that left at least 86 dead. The suspect was still carrying a considerable amount of ammunition when he surrendered to authorities, Sponheim told reporters.

Police raised the official death toll from the twin attacks to 93 after a person wounded in the shootings died Sunday. That number could increase, they said, as investigators continue searching waters around the island for victims who may have drowned trying to escape the shooter. At least four people have not been accounted for from the shooting.

Authorities were also still trying to determine how many people died in Friday's bombing in downtown Oslo, where the explosion badly damaged a number of government buildings as well as the majority Labour Party office.

The investigation continued Sunday as memorial shrines with flowers and candles dotted the city's streets and Norwegians gathered at a cathedral in the capital to mourn the victims of the attacks.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg called the attacks "incomprehensible."

"Soon, names and photographs will be released. The enormity of the evilness will surface in all its horror, and that will be a new test for us all," he said.

Attorney Geir Lippestad, who claimed to represent Breivik, told TV2 late Saturday that his client "is ready to explain himself" on Monday when it is anticipated he will make his first court appearance. Breivik believed the terrorist attacks were "horrible," but "in his head (they) were necessary," Lippestad said.

CNN was unsuccessful in its attempts to reach Lippestad for comment.

While they have arrested only one suspect, Sponheim said authorities have not ruled out the possibility that someone else was involved in the shooting on the island. Statements from witnesses to the mass shooting "make it uncertain if it was more than one person," Sponheim said.

A police raid searching for explosives on property the suspect owned in the eastern Oslo area of Slettelokka Sunday did not turn up any leads, he said.

"We were there with dogs but found nothing of any value as evidence," Sponheim said.

Authorities Saturday were searching for bodies of victims in the bomb attack in downtown Oslo.

On Sunday police said the area around the blast site would remain cordoned off, but members of the public in the area were not at risk.

Seven people have been confirmed dead from the bomb attack. Police said that the explosive was in a car.

At least 97 people were wounded in the attacks -- 30 in the blast and 67 in the mass shooting, Sponheim said. That total includes the person who died Sunday.

Investigators will conduct autopsies over the next few days, Sponheim said, and the identities of the victims will be released once all the next-of-kin have been notified.

Doctors at Oslo University Hospital Sunday were treating 31 patients injured in the terror attacks -- 18 of whom were critically or seriously injured, Oslo University Hospital spokesman Jo Heldaas told CNN.

On Saturday, an employee at a Norwegian agricultural cooperative told CNN that the man identified in media reports as the suspect bought six tons of fertilizer from her company in May.

Oddmy Estenstad, of Felleskjopet Agr, said she did not think the order was strange at the time because the suspect has a farm, but after Friday's explosion in Norway's capital, Oslo, she called police because she knew the material can be used to make bombs.

"We are very shocked that this man was connected to our company," said Estenstad. "We are very sad about what happened."

Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday offered his "fervent prayers for the victims and families, invoking God's peace upon the dead and divine consolation upon those who suffer."

"At this time of national grief he prays that all Norwegians will be spiritually united in a determined resolve to reject the ways of hatred and conflict and to work together fearlessly in a shaping a future of mutual respect, solidarity and freedom from for coming generations," according to a statement released by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone on behalf of the pope.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed U.S. solidarity with Norway.

"The United States strongly condemns any kind of terrorism no matter where it comes from or who perpetuates it, and this tragedy strikes right at the heart of the soul of a peaceful people," she said in a statement.

CNN's Michael Holmes, Erin Mclaughlin, Chelsea J. Carter, Jim Boulden, Laura Smith-Spark, Joe Sterling, Moni Basu, Chelsea Bailey, Claudia Rebaza and Cynthia Wamwayi contributed to this report.

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Police expand hacking probe team

21 July 2011 Last updated at 08:18 GMT

Police said they had experienced a surge of inquiries over the past fortnight The police team investigating phone hacking has been boosted from 45 to 60 officers, Scotland Yard has said.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers said the move came after a "significant increase in the workload" over the past fortnight.

Meanwhile, the investigation into alleged misconduct by newspapers may be spreading beyond News International.

Police have asked for files of an earlier inquiry into the use of private investigators, the BBC has learned.

According to BBC Radio 4's The Report, the files from Operation Motorman, which was run by the Information Commissioner's Office in 2003, were requested three months ago.

They contain 4,000 requests from 300 journalists and 31 publications for confidential information from a private investigator, which in many cases had been obtained illegally.

The investigation found the Daily Mail had made the most requests, followed by the Sunday People and the Daily Mirror.

The Daily Mail said the information obtained may have been for reasons of public interest, and Trinity Mirror Group said its journalists worked within the law and the Press Complaints Commission code of conduct.

'12,000 victims'

On the hacking probe known as Operation Weeting, Ms Akers said there had been a "surge of enquiries and requests for assistance from the public and solicitors.

Continue reading the main story

This is excellent news. The extra resources will assist to help move things along much more quickly”

End Quote Keith Vaz MP Home affairs committee chairman "I have said all along that I would keep the resources under review and this has led to the increase. Similarly, if the demand decreases, I will release officers back to other duties."

The expansion in officer numbers comes after a Commons home affairs committee report praised Ms Akers' decision that all potential victims of phone hacking by the News of the World should be contacted.

But the MPs said they were "alarmed" only 170 people had so far been informed and noted that "up to 12,800 people may have been affected".

They warned that if the process dragged on it would "seriously delay" the start of Lord Justice Leveson's public inquiry announced by Prime Minister David Cameron.

After Ms Akers' announcement, home affairs committee chairman Keith Vaz said: "This is excellent news. The extra resources will assist to help move things along much more quickly."

'Serious offences'

In other developments, it emerged that former News of the World editor Andy Coulson was only given mid-level security clearance when he went to work as the prime minister's communications director in May last year.

Mr Cameron told the Commons he was subject to "basic level" vetting and was not able to see the government's most secret documents.

Elsewhere, the legal firm that represented News of the World owners News International (NI) has been given permission by the newspaper group to answer questions from the police and MPs.

Harbottle & Lewis is said to have received e-mails from the company four years ago which the legal firm concluded did not reveal reasonable grounds for believing the hacking went beyond the News of the World's royal editor Clive Goodman.

Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator jailed for phone hacking, speaks to the BBC

But on Tuesday, former director of public prosecutions Lord Macdonald, who reviewed for NI's owner News Corporation the e-mails in a file relating to bribes allegedly paid to police, said they contained "evidence of serious criminal offences".

The law firm had said it was being prevented from responding to "inaccurate" comments made by News International chairman James Murdoch because it was not allowed to breach its duty of client confidentiality.

Also, Labour have seized on remarks by the culture secretary as an "admission" that Mr Cameron had discussed the BSkyB takeover bid with News International.

Mr Cameron faced repeated questions on the issue in the Commons on Wednesday and told MPs he had had no "inappropriate conversations".

Position reversed

But Jeremy Hunt said afterwards that "the discussions the prime minister had on the BSkyB deal were irrelevant" because he, as culture secretary, was responsible for making the decision, prompting the Labour attack.

Mr Hunt's aides later said he had been talking about discussions in general, rather than specific discussions with NI executives.

Conservative deputy chairman Michael Fallon dismissed what he called petty point-scoring by saying former NI executive Rebekah Brooks and Mr Cameron were both clear no inappropriate discussions had taken place.

During his Commons statement, Mr Cameron told MPs that "with hindsight" he would not have hired Mr Coulson.

Labour MP Nick Raynsford said that when Mr Coulson was still working at Downing Street, the cabinet secretary had been alerted to evidence of illegal phone hacking, covert surveillance and hostile media briefing against a senior government official - a claim the cabinet secretary denied.

But the Cabinet Office later completely reversed its position, conceding that a meeting on the matter did take place last summer.

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