Grim Afghan toll as 100 foreign troops die in June

Chart showing foreign troop deaths in Afghanistan since 2001


A memorial to British soldiers killed in action in Afghanistan

KABUL — A total of 100 foreign soldiers fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan have died in June, the deadliest month for NATO in nine years of conflict, intensifying concerns about the conduct of the war.

An announcement by the US Department of Defence of the death of an American soldier on June 24 in the strife-torn western province of Farah took the toll for the year to date to 320, compared with 520 in all of 2009.


Australian soldiers in Camp Russell salute their fellow soldiers killed in Afghanistan as their remains are repatriated.


US soldiers exit Camp Nathan Smith in Kandahar City 

Australian soldiers in Camp Russell salute their fellow soldiers killed in Afghanistan as their remains are repatriated.

AFP's figures are based on a tally kept by the independent icasualties.org website.

The Defence Department said 20-year-old Private Robert Repkie of Tennessee had died on June 24 of "injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident" that was under investigation.

A spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said 81 international troops had been killed in combat so far in June.

He said 12 troops had died of non-combat related causes. The remainder, who are not counted by ISAF, had died of injuries after returning home for treatment.

No NATO troops deaths were reported in Afghanistan on Monday, the spokesman said, adding: "A rare good day for us this month."

The previous highest monthly toll was last August, at 77.

The United States and NATO have 140,000 troops in Afghanistan, set to peak at 150,000 by August in an effort to quell the intensifying war against the hardline Islamist Taliban.

The sacking last week of US General Stanley McChrystal for insubordination has concentrated concerns about the progress being made in bringing the insurgency under control.

His replacement, US General David Petraeus -- due to take up the post on July 4, according to military officials -- arrives to enormous pressure as casualties rise and Western public opinion continues to turn against the war.

The head of the CIA, Leon Panetta, also acknowledged at the weekend that there were "serious problems" with the Afghan war.

"We're dealing with a country that has problems with governance, problems with corruption, problems with narcotics trafficking, problems with a Taliban insurgency," he said.

Lack of action in cleaning up endemic official corruption is seen as an obstacle to progress, as many ordinary Afghans distrust the government the West is fighting to prop up.

On Monday, a senior US lawmaker angrily blocked billions of dollars for Afghanistan, vowing not to extend aid until President Hamid Karzai fulfills pledges to act against corruption.

Representative Nita Lowey, who sits on the powerful committee in charge of the budget, said: "I do not intend to appropriate one more dime for assistance to Afghanistan until I have confidence that US taxpayer money is not being abused to line the pockets of corrupt Afghan government officials, drug lords and terrorists."

President Barack Obama's administration requested 3.9 billion dollars in aid for Afghanistan in the 2011 fiscal year starting in October, an aide said.

While much of the anti-Taliban effort is concentrated on the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar -- the Taliban heartland -- a major offensive is under way in the border region of Kunar province, according to ISAF.

It said in a statement Sunday that more than 600 ISAF and Afghan troops were pursuing Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in Kunar and that "a number of insurgents" had been killed.

Two US troops were also killed, ISAF said, though there was no immediate update Tuesday.

The Washington Post reported that up to 150 Taliban insurgents had been killed in battles along the Kunar border with Pakistan.

The US-led operation, which began Sunday, was one of the largest yet in the region around Kunar province, said the newspaper, citing US officials as calling it "one of the most intense battles of the past year" in Afghanistan.

NATO has said the dramatic upswing in casualty numbers has been caused by the alliance stepping up military operations and taking the fight to the Taliban in areas where the Islamist militia has previously been unchallenged.

The heavy toll can be largely attributed to the Taliban's use of homemade bombs, or improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which are cheap and easy to make and account for the majority of foreign troops deaths.

The United Nations reported this month that IED attacks had risen by 94 percent in the first four months of this year, compared to the same period in 2009.

Pakistan drone attack kills six 'militants'

There have been frequent drone attacks in Pakistan's border area

Six suspected militants have been killed by missiles fired by a US drone in Pakistan's tribal belt.

The missiles targeted a house in Karikot village near Wana, the main town in South Waziristan district.

The house belonging to a militant commander, Maulana Halimullah, has been destroyed, an official said.

Waziristan is a sanctuary for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan. The area has seen frequent US drone raids.



Pakistani officials say the US has carried out at least 70 such raids since January.

Pakistan publicly criticises the attacks, saying they fuel support for militants.

But observers say the authorities privately condone the strikes.

In one high-profile attack last August, Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed.

US dog raid on madrassa sparks violent Afghan clash

KABUL, June 29 — Afghan police clashed today with dozens of stone-throwing protesters who had gathered at a religious school on the outskirts of the capital to complain about arrests by foreign forces.

Reuters witnesses said police could be seen firing rounds in the air or ground to disperse the protesters and saw what appeared to be three lifeless bodies being carried away by a police vehicle.



The protest was at a madrassa, or religious school, in Qalacha on the southern outskirts of Kabul. Residents said US forces had caused outrage on Monday night when they entered the compound with dogs and detained several people.

A spokeswoman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan was checking into the report.

No foreign forces appeared involved in today’s clash, which was being handled by Afghan police.

Protesters clash with Israeli police over park plan

Palestinian and Israeli left-wing activists take part in a demonstration against the Jerusalem Municipality's plan

JERUSALEM — Israeli police clashed on Sunday with some 200 Palestinian protesters in an Arab neighbourhood of east Jerusalem that is the planned site of a controversial archaeological park, police said.

The protesters threw stones and fire bombs at a Jewish home in the area before private security guards fired in the air and police were called in to disperse them, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.



Six policemen were lightly injured in the clashes, said Rosenfeld. He had no details on any casualties among the protesters.

The clashes occurred in Silwan, an Arab neighbourhood, which has been the focus of the plan by Jerusalem municipality to raze 22 Arab homes to make way for an archaeological park.

Silwan is part of the so-called Holy Basin, just outside the walls of Jerusalem's famed Old City, and is believed to be the site of ancient Jerusalem during the time of the biblical kings David and Solomon.

It is now a crowded Arab neighbourhood in a part of the city occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move not recognised internationally.

Israel considers the whole of Jerusalem as its "eternal and indivisible" capital while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.

China says can guarantee grip on Tibet ‘forever’

LHASA, June 29 – China can maintain its grip on Tibet “forever”, a senior official said today, but conceded that a heavy security presence was still needed to ensure order in Lhasa two years after deadly riots.

Hao Peng, deputy Communist Party boss and deputy governor in mountainous Tibet, fingered unidentified “anti-Chinese” forces and exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama as the main threat to a region which has been hit by sporadic unrest since 2008.



“We have the ability and confidence to maintain stability in Tibet forever, and we will ultimately achieve long-term order and stability,” Hao told visiting journalists, in a city still tense two years after it was ravaged by deadly ethnic rioting.

“What you see in the streets, including the police and other legal forces, are necessary measures to maintain stability,” he said, speaking in an ornate room in the Tibet government offices.

At least 19 people died in the March 2008 riots in Lhasa, which sparked waves of protests across Tibetan areas. Pro-Tibet groups say more than 200 people were killed in a subsequent crackdown.

Protests against Chinese rule, led by Buddhist monks, gave way to torrid violence, with rioters torching shops and turning on residents including Han Chinese and Hui Muslims.

Many Tibetans see Hans as intruders threatening their culture and religion, and say they have been treated harshly by the government since the riots.

Beijing has denied being heavy-handed, and says it has poured billions of dollars into boosting Tibet’s development, money it says benefits mainly Tibetans.

Hao said peace had returned and blamed overseas agitators for the continued presence of armed police in Lhasa, especially in the old Tibetan quarter.

“The situation in Tibet is more stable than before the March 14 incident,” he said.

“The Dalai clique and some anti-Chinese forces internationally have colluded to make trouble in Tibet. Because of this, we have to take a lot of measures, to ensure the stability of the legal system and the stability of Tibet.”

Exiled Tibetans and rights groups say those in Tibet are living under difficult restraints and many are still waiting to hear from relatives and friends who disappeared after the violence.

“Two years down the line there is still no normality across the Tibetan plateau. It’s still extremely tense,” said Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher on China with Human Rights Watch, a New York-based advocacy group.

“It’s still very difficult to get things done, there are still a lot of restrictions, a lot of surveillance, a lot of troops. Certainly tourism and travel is not back to normal.”

The area is usually off-limits to foreign reporters, apart from those on rare and tightly-controlled government trips like the one Hao met with, which makes it hard to assess competing accounts.

Hao, repeating the government’s standard line about on-off talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama, said China was willing to talk if independence was off the table.

“The core of this policy is for the Dalai Lama to abandon Tibet independence, stop separatist activities, and acknowledge that Tibet is an inalienable part of China,” he said.

“If he does this then the door to talks is always open.”

The Dalai Lama denies China’s charges against him, and says he only seeks more meaningful autonomy for Tibet and that he has never advocated violence. China says it does not believe him.

But his image is not allowed to be shown publicly in what is officially called the Tibet Autonomous Region despite the reverence many Tibetan Buddhists have for him. Every year some make the dangerous trek to India and back to see him in person.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning Dalai Lama fled into exile following an abortive uprising in 1959.

Hao said the prohibition on his image was natural. “The Dalai Lama is not merely a religious figure, he is also a mastermind of separatist activities. No sovereign country in the world would allow the hanging of a portrait of a person like that,” he said

Thousands of French Nazi collaborators to be exposed as official reports are published online for the first time

Tragic end: The only photo French Resistance fighters facing the firing squad at Mont Valerien outside Paris

Victory march: German troops parade down the Champs-Elysees in Paris following their victory

Thousands of French people who collaborated with the Nazis are to be unmasked as secret files from 70 years ago are finally made public.

The records, which include information passed on to the Gestapo by those who lived during the Occupation of 1940-44, will be published online.



The archive will give survivors and their relatives an opportunity to discover what happened to their loved ones - and if any countrymen played a part in their betrayal.
Since the liberation of Paris, all documentation relating to the Second World War has been kept in cardboard boxes in the basement of the city's Police Museum.

A museum spokesman said: 'They include notes from interrogations, as well as information passed on to the authorities willingly.'

The archive includes every police log from stations across France, as well as details of every arrest, fine and interview.

In addition to shedding light on the work of the Gestapo across France, the files will illuminate the role of the Brigade Speciale, which tracked down resistance fighters and other 'enemies' of the Nazi regime.
All of the paperwork is officially protected by a 75 -year classification order issued by the post-war government.

But work has started on digitising them, with the 1940 material publicly available in 2015 and the rest to follow over the subsequent four years.

At least 77,000 Jews were deported to their deaths from French transit camps between 1942 and the end of the German occupation in December 1944.

Of these, around a third were French citizens and more than 8,000 were children under 13.

The French police, led by Rene Bosquet, played an important role in this work, with SS boss Heinrich Himmler describing the Frenchman as a 'precious collaborator within the framework of police collaboration'.

Bosquet initially managed to disguise his crimes after the war and was not brought to justice until many years later.

He was shot dead in June 1993, just before his trial for crimes against humanity was due to begin.

In a dramatic ruling last year, the Council of State, France's highest judicial body, said the Vichy government of the period held ' responsibility' for deportations.

Longest Serving US Senator Robert Byrd died at 92.

Australia's 'Dr Death' found guilty of manslaughter

 
Jayant Patel, an India-born surgeon dubbed "Dr Death", has been found guilty of manslaughter

SYDNEY — An India-born surgeon once dubbed "Dr Death" was found guilty Tuesday of killing three Australian patients and permanently harming another, after a trial which heard evidence of botched and needless operations.

After about 50 hours of deliberations, a jury found Jayant Patel guilty of three counts of manslaughter committed during his time as director of surgery at Australia's Bundaberg Base Hospital between 2003 and 2005, reports said.



Patel, branded "Dr Death" by the media during initial investigations into his conduct at the north Australian hospital, was also found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm to another patient, Australian Associated Press reported.

The doctor, who had pleaded not guilty to all charges, looked stonily at the floor as the jury announced its verdict. He will face a sentencing hearing on Thursday.

Patel's wife Kishoree, who has appeared in court each day with her husband, left the court in tears as former patients and their supporters cheered.

Patel, who was extradited from the United States to face the Supreme Court in Brisbane, had conducted dangerous, unnecessary and inappropriate operations on some of his patients, the court heard during the marathon 14-week trial.

The prosecution argued that James Phillips, 46, Gerry Kemps, 77, and Mervyn Morris, 75, would not have died except for the surgeries Patel performed on them, while Ian Vowles was left with permanent injuries after the surgeon removed his healthy bowel in October 2004.

Patel failed to disclose that he had been found grossly negligent in the United States prior to taking the job in Bundaberg, and had been banned from performing some surgeries without a second opinion, the jury heard.

He questioned his abilities after the third fatal surgery, according to the prosecution, who told the jury he was heard saying, "Maybe I shouldn't be doing these operations."

During the case, Patel was described by prosecutor Ross Martin as a "bad surgeon motivated by ego and suffering from lack of insight".

Summing up last week, Justice John Byrne told the jury that the crown's case was, in short, that patients had endured misdiagnosis, surgery they were unable to survive and the removal of healthy organs.

Patel's lawyers had attempted to argue that the surgeon was working to benefit his patients and had wanted to see them returned to good health. Every surgery had been done with the patient's consent, they said.

Defence lawyer Michael Byrne said much of the evidence was fuelled by "a great deal of second-guessing and use of hindsight".

The case, one of the longest in Queensland state history, is the result of years of investigations and legal proceedings into Patel's tenure at the Bundaberg hospital which began in early 2003.

In 2005, a local politician raised concerns in Queensland parliament after they were brought to him by a senior nurse working with Patel.

Patel later resigned and moved to the United States but a series of inquiries followed. Warrants were issued for Patel's arrest in November 2006 and extradition proceedings began in 2007. He arrived in Australia in mid-2008.

Former patient Doris Hillier Tuesday welcomed the verdict.

"To think it has finally come our way is just too good to be true," she told ABC television.

Asked what sentence Patel should receive, Hillier said: "Life, life, life, life. For what he has done to so many patients up here, he has ruined their lives."

Lawyers for Patel have indicated they will appeal the convictions.

First body retrieved after landslide buries 107 in SW China-Chance to survive "dim" for 107 buried in landslide

Soldiers evacuate residents from the site of a landslide in Dazhai Village, Guanling County of southwest China's Guizhou Province, on June 28, 2010. Some 107 people from 38 families were buried and trapped by a rainstorm-triggered landslide Monday afternoon in southwest China's Guizhou Province, local authorities said. (Xinhua/Long Rongfang)


Soldiers rush to the site of a landslide in Guanling County of southwest China's Guizhou Province, on June 28, 2010. Some 107 people from 38 families were buried and trapped by a rainstorm-triggered landslide Monday afternoon in southwest China's Guizhou Province, local authorities said. (Xinhua/Ou Dongqu)

Rescuers Tuesday recovered a child's body from the scene of a rainstorm-triggered landslide, which was the first body to be retrieved after 107 people were buried in the disaster in southwest China's Guizhou Province Monday afternoon.



The child, yet to be identified, was found at 5:50 p.m. under debris in Dazhai Village, Gangwu Township, in Anshun City's Guanling County, a rescue headquarters spokesman said.

Some 107 people from 38 families were buried in the landslide at 2:30 p.m. Monday and their chances of survival were "slim," rescue headquarters officials said.

Survivors made a list of the buried and Xinhua reporters counted 62 names on the list. The list, which may not be accurate, was handed over to rescuers.

More than 1,000 nearby villagers have been evacuated and over 500 more are waiting to be relocated, said the spokesman.

Wu Guangxiang, 59, a resident from Bawan Village near scene of the rain-triggered landslide, and her grandson were evacuated to a resettlement area Monday night. The local government has provided milk, biscuits, bottled water and instant noodle to the evacuees.

"The noodles were tasty. But I wonder when I could return home," said Wu as she took shelter in a tent Tuesday morning.

Jianzhuang Primary School, which was at risk, has suspended classes and sent students to safe areas.


Some 107 people from 38 families had a "slim" chance to survive after being buried by a rainstorm-triggered landslide Monday afternoon in southwest China's Guizhou Province, according to officials at the local rescue headquarters.

The landslide occurred at 2:30 p.m. in Dazhai Village, Gangwu Township of Guanling County, said a spokesman for the government of Anshun City, which administers Guanling.

Also, rescue work had been suspended due to persistent downpours, which had been pounding the township since Sunday night, said headquarters officials.

Villager Cen Chaoyang said he rushed out of his house when he heard the landslide and managed to escape.

"I called for the others to flee, but it was too late. I saw some people behind me being buried," Cen told Xinhua in a telephone interview.

Putin Criticizes U.S. for Arrests of Espionage Suspects

Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin

MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin criticized American law enforcement agencies on Tuesday for breaking up an what they described as a Russian espionage ring in the United States, as other Russian officials questioned whether the arrests were intended to damage relations between the countries.

Mr. Putin, at a meeting with former President Bill Clinton, brought up the subject.

“You have come to Moscow at the exact right time,” Mr. Putin told Mr. Clinton. “Your police have gotten carried away, putting people in jail.”



Mr. Putin offered no comment on the specific accusations against the 11 suspects, who were described by prosecutors as living under false identities in an effort to penetrate American society. Russia has acknowledged that they are Russian citizens.

“I really expect that the positive achievements that have been made in our intergovernmental relations lately will not be damaged by the latest events,” he said. “We really hope that the people who value Russian-American relations understand this.”

Other Russian officials went further on Tuesday, suggesting that the timing of the case was politically motivated. The Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, said the Russian government was awaiting more information from the United States about the accusations.

“They have not explained what the issue is,” Mr. Lavrov told reporters in Jerusalem, where he was on an official visit. “I hope that they will explain. The moment when this was done was chosen with a certain elegance.”

After Mr. Lavrov spoke, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling the arrests “baseless” and “unseemly.” It accused American prosecutors of acting “in the spirit of the spy passions of the cold war period.”

“We would like to note only that this type of release of information has happened more than once in the past, when our relations were on the rise,” the statement said. “In any case, it is deeply regrettable that all this is taking place on the background of the ‘reset’ in Russian-American relations declared by the United States administration itself.”

On Tuesday night, the Foreign Ministry issued another statement acknowledging that the suspects were Russian citizens.

“They have not conducted any activities directed against the interests of the United States,” the statement said.

The ministry said it hoped that prosecutors would allow the suspects access to lawyers and Russian consular officials.

The arrests on Monday came after a period of warming in relations between the United States and Russia, with President Dmitri A. Medvedev making a visit to the United States this month, including to Silicon Valley in California, that was hailed here as a success. Mr. Medvedev met with President Obama, and the two seemed to have developed a personal bond.

Some Russian politicians declared that the announcement of the arrests indicated that hostile elements in the United States government were bent on preventing relations from flourishing.

Vladimir Kolesnikov, a prominent member of Parliament from Mr. Putin’s ruling party, said the timing “was not a coincidence.”

“Unfortunately, in America there are people who live with the old baggage, the baggage of the cold war, double standards,” Mr. Kolesnikov said.

On Tuesday, the arrests were widely covered on the state-controlled national television networks in Russia.

One of the people accused of involvement in the espionage ring made no secret of his ties to Russia, openly taking part in Russian social media in order to keep up with friends from high school and university.

The suspect, Mikhail Semenko, a Russian immigrant, maintained a page on Odnoklassniki, one of the most popular Russian Web sites, where he joined alumni groups from his high school and university in Russia’s Far East. He lived in Blagoveshchensk, 3,600 miles from Moscow, and attended Amur State University, earning a degree in international relations.

Cells of undercover operatives, masked as ordinary citizens, are known in Russian as “illegals,” and they occupy a storied position in Soviet culture.

One of Russia’s beloved fictional characters is an undercover agent, SS-Standartenführer Max Otto von Stirlitz, whose penetration of Hitler’s inner circle was at the center of popular television series.

Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, who served as a K.G.B. officer in East Germany in the 1980s, has said Stirlitz’s character helped shape an entire generation of Soviet youth.

Illegals, unlike most spies, live in foreign countries without the benefit of a diplomatic cover, which would have offered them immunity from prosecution if they were caught. Soviet intelligence services began training a corps of these agents shortly after the October Revolution in 1917, when few countries had diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, and it came to be seen as a particular Soviet specialty.

It is both risky and very expensive work, since agents often spend years just developing a fake life story, known in Russian as a “legend,” and because the K.G.B. would often keep an agent in place abroad for years or even decades before he or she was able to gather useful information.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, many career spymasters began to speak publicly about the adventures of the illegals, but several recent arrests have come as reminders that the tactic is still in use.

In 2008, Estonia found that one of its top intelligence officials was reporting to a Russian agent who was living under a Portuguese identity as Antonio de Jesus Amorett Graf. In 2006 Canadian officials arrested a Russian spy who had been living under an assumed Canadian identity as Paul William Hampel.

Taiwan and China sign landmark trade agreement

China and Taiwan have signed a historic trade pact, seen as the most significant agreement since civil war split the two governments 60 years ago.

The Economic Co-operation Framework Agreement (ECFA) removes tariffs on hundreds of products.
It could boost bilateral trade that already totals $110bn (£73bn) a year.



Correspondents say that, economically, the deal favours Taiwan but that Beijing hopes for political gains in its long-standing unification campaign.

The deal is seen as the culmination of efforts by Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou, elected two years ago with a vow to reduce tension with the mainland.
Service sectors

The deal was signed in the mainland city of Chongqing and was carried live on state television.

Taiwan's envoy Chiang Pin-kung said the agreement was "a critical moment in the development of long-term relations".

His Beijing counterpart, Chen Yunlin, said the pact was an agreement of "equal consultation and mutual benefits".

The pair exchanged gifts and joined in a toast at the ceremony.

The deal is seen as being most economically beneficial to export-reliant Taiwan.

At the moment $80bn in goods flows to China, and $30bn to Taiwan.

Almost $14bn worth of Taiwanese goods exported to China will have their tariffs reduced or removed.

Taiwanese companies will also gain access to a number of mainland service sectors, including banking and insurance.

Chinese exports worth just under $3bn will see their tariffs lowered.

The BBC's Cindy Sui in Taipei says this is clearly a good economic deal for Taiwan but there remains genuine concern among many that the agreement will make Taiwan too economically dependent on China and therefore politically vulnerable.

There have been some street protests in Taiwan against the deal but opinion polls suggest the majority on the island are in favour.

Taiwanese critics say the deal could leave the island's economy open to a flood of cheap imports.

They also worry about China's motives, arguing that Beijing is hoping to use it to win the political support of big business on the island for its own agenda.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has previously said that his country "can give up our profits because Taiwanese compatriots are our brothers".

For decades, relations between the two sides have been strained.

Taiwan and China have been governed separately since the end of a civil war in 1949.

The site of the signing, Chongqing, has historical resonance. Communist leader Mao Zedong and Nationalist President Chiang Kai-shek tried but failed to sign a truce there.

Chiang was forced to Taiwan in 1949.

Custer’s last flag: Little Bighorn banner to go under the hammer... and it could sell for more than £3m

The American flag was retrieved from under the body of a fallen soldier, following the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876

An American flag found at the site of the carnage of the Battle of the Little Bighorn is expected to fetch over £3million at auction.

The flag was retrieved from the Black Hills of Montana, where Lt Col George Custer and more than 200 men were massacred by Indian warriors in 1876.


Lt Col George Custer (left) and more than 200 men were massacred by Indian warriors led by Sitting Bull (right)

Nearly all the military artefacts of the 7th Cavalry Regiment were carried away by the victorious Lakota Sioux, but the single swallowtail flag was found days later under the body of a fallen soldier.
Since 1895, the silk American flag, called a guidon, has been the property of the Detroit Institute of Arts, which has decided to sell it and use the proceeds to build its collection.

The guidon, discovered by Sgt. Ferdinand Culbertson while on a burial detail of the battlefield, has been valued at $2 million to $5 million and is to be auctioned in October, Sotheby's auction house announced on Friday, the 134th anniversary of the battle.

The current auction record for any textile is $12.3 million, for an American flag captured by the British in a 1779 battle in Bedford, New York. Sotheby's was sold it in 2006.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand, resulted in the deaths of 210 soldiers, including Custer, as several thousand warriors led by Sitting Bull fought for their land near what's now Crow Agency, Montana.

The Black Hills in southeastern Montana (present-day South Dakota) were declared Indian land in the late 1860s. The conflict erupted when the government tried to drive the Indians off the land after white settlers discovered gold there.

The 1876 battle's devastating loss came as a great shock to the nation as it prepared to celebrate its centennial.

The battle was a pivotal moment in American history, told and retold in books, in film, on stage, and in song as mystical portrayals of Custer's bravery. Custer was a native of eastern Ohio, but moved with his family to Monroe at age 10 and considered that his home.

Although the view of Custer as a hero has changed over time, anything associated with the battle still resonates, Sotheby's said.'It's still one of those truly legendary events of 19th-century American history, and I suppose for a reason it was this extraordinary clash between the two cultures of America,' David Redden, Sotheby's vice chairman, said.

'However you look at it, it's still an extraordinary and tragic encounter. Anything connected with that, particularly something that's as significant as a battle flag, also has that kind of iconic stature.'

The guidon measures 32 1/2 inches by 26 1/2 inches. One star and a patch of the white and red stripes are missing, cut from it as souvenirs, a common 19th-century practice, Sotheby's said.

'It means the flag was considered a sacred relic,' Redden said.

'Literally, it was absolutely par for the course to take small snippets of extraordinary objects, whether it's the dress of Martha Washington, which was snipped to pieces, or the Star-Spangled Banner.'

The 7th Cavalry had five guidons and one regiment flag. Three of the guidons have vanished, and the fourth, known as the Keogh guidon, is in very poor condition, eaten by moths, Redden said.

The regiment flag was on a train en route to the battlefield when the 7th Cavalry was annihilated. That flag and the Keogh guidon are owned by the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Crow Agency.

Company guidons at Little Bighorn were abbreviated versions of the American flag, said John Doerner, the monument's historian.

Each had a V-shaped cutout at the end to reduce wind drag, and they 'served as beacons on the battlefield because they actually marked company positions,' he said.

He called the guidon Culbertson found a 'national treasure.'

'It's part of American history and heritage that's being sold,' he said.

'It would be nice to have that guidon returned to the Little Bighorn Battlefield Monument. It could be enjoyed by the public coming to this very hallow ground.'

Graham W.J. Beal, director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, said that because the guidon doesn't fit the criteria for a work of art, the museum hopes 'to exploit it for our real mission, which is to collect and interpret art.'

Fans pay £30,000 for X-rays of Marilyn Monroe's chest

Marilyn's hands can be seen on her hips as she has her chest X-rayed in 1954

Three X-rays of Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe's chest and pelvis taken during a hospital visit have sold for more than 10 times their pre-sale estimates at auction in the U.S..

The X-rays fetched £30,000 during a sale of Hollywood memorabilia.


The X-ray was taken just months after she filmed her classic Seven Year Itch

Auction house Julien's held the auction in Las Vegas last weekend, with the X-rays expected to go for just £500 to £800 each.
The most sought-after items of the sale had toured Ireland, Japan and China before going under the hammer.

The Monroe X-rays came from a 1954 visit by the actress to the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. The actress died in August 1962 at the age of 36.

She had been admitted for surgery for endometriosis, a condition of the womb which caused her a lot of pain.
Film footage shows her leaving the hospital two days after the X-ray was taken, looking unkempt.

She was still married at the time to American baseball star Joe Di Maggio although the couple had split and were going through divorce proceedings.

Two months earlier she filmed her famous scene from classic movie Seven Year Itch where a warm air vent billows her white dress up around her waist.

The X-ray carries her married name of Marilyn Di Maggio.

A young doctor working in the hospital's radiology department later obtained the X-ray and when he taught at the centre's medical school used to to show it to students.

It later passed to his daughter who has put it up for sale.

Other items also sold at the auction included a chair from Monroe's last photo shoot that went for £23,000, Christopher Reeves' Superman VI costume, which sold for £21,000, and a dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face, which went for £37,000.

A crystal-studded glove from Michael Jackson's Victory Tour sold for £126,000 at an earlier Music Icons sale held by Julien's Auctions.

BP denies Tony Hayward is on brink of resigning as cost of oil spill grows

 To resign, or not to resign? Russia's top energy official Igor Sechin, right, claimed today that under-fire BP CEO Tony Hayward, left, was about to step down - a claim that BP has since denied

BP has been forced to deny that embattled chief executive Tony Hayward is on the point of resigning, after comments made by a Russian politician.

Mr Hayward is widely expected to face the axe over the company's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and his own gaffes, such as going sailing while the oil continues to spill.


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Igor Sechin, Russia's deputy prime minister and top energy official, increased pressure on the BP boss just hours before meeting him in Moscow.
We know that Tony Hayward is leaving his position and he will introduce his successor,' said Sechin.

Sources within BP were angered by the comments, saying Sechin was 'not clairvoyant'.

Kremlin later played down Sechin's comments, releasing a statement saying that the issue of Mr Hayward's successor had not come up at the meeting.
A spokesman for BP said: 'Tony Hayward-remains chief executive and there has been no decision about any change.'

Oil-rich Russia is a key region for BP, where its TNK-BP joint venture is responsible for about a quarter of the company's overall production.

Meanwhile, the company believes measures to plug the leak could be ready within weeks.

BP said one of two relief wells being drilled to staunch the flow of oil is nearing completion, with 900ft still to drill until it links up with the original pipe emerging from the Macondo oil field.
Spokesman Kent Wells said the first of the two wells is on target to be finished by early August, if not before.

'We're getting very close,' he said, adding that the success of the relief wells was 'not so much a matter of "If" but "When"'.

The company also revealed that the cost of cleaning up the spill has reached £1.8billion.









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