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The top British commander in Afghanistan has said the British troops are involved in extraordinarily intense fighting there, and were being attacked up to a dozen times a day. In an interview with ITV news, Brig Ed Butler said the fighting was far more ferocious on the daily basis than in Iraq, sometimes involving hand-to-hand combat. Britain provides nearly half of the NATO force of some 10, 000 soldiers, backing up the Afghan government. Earlier the NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said some member countries were not fulfilling their promises to provide sufficient numbers of troops for military operations in Afghanistan. From Brussels where NATO has its headquarters, Johnny Dymond reports.

NATO's leaders have just come back from a 3-day tour of Afghanistan, there they talked with President Karzai, senior military officials and ordinary soldiers. The message they brought back is pretty blunt, they want more soldiers to deal with the situation they didn't expect. For weeks now, NATO has been pushing its way southwards. It's been encountering stiff resistance from what it says is a combination of the Taliban, the former government overthrown in 2001, drug traffickers and warlords. The Taliban, in particular, one official said, has upgraded its capabilities to resist NATO troops.

The Arabic language television station Al-Jazeera has broadcast a previously unseen video, showing Osama bin Laden meeting people. It identifies the plotters of the September 11th attack. Al-Jazeera says the video was filmed in 2001, days before the strikes on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3, 000 people. From Washington , A.

The new videotape aired by Al-Jazeera appears to show the Al-Qaeda leader walking against the backdrop of mountains. He greets Ramzi Binalshibh, allegedly one of the men who planned the 9/11 attacks. Mohammed Atef for another key Al-Qaeda planner is also there. And two Saudi nationals who took part in the attacks are also shown delivering statements to the camera. It appears to be a meeting held just a few days before the attacks took place. Mohammed Atef was reportedly killed in an American airstrike in 2001. But Ramzi Binalshibh was captured and was held in a secret prison run by the CIA.

A group of European scientists say new research into the brain of a patient who can not move or speak can show that she can understand spoken instructions and respond to them. The study scanned the brain of a woman in vegetative state and asked her to image playing tennis. The scans lit up the parts of her brain linked to limb movement, which was the same reaction of healthy volunteers also taking part in the study.

The US Congress has accused British Petroleum of damaging the US economy by failing to properly maintain its pipelines in Alaska. The head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee John B said it was simply unacceptable that BP had for years failed to inspect what he called 2 of the most vital oil pipelines in the US. Congress is investigating BP's recent decision to shut down half of the production at the Prudhoe Bay or oil fuel because of the leaks caused by corrosion in pipes. The head of BP in North America Robert Malone has acknowledged that the company is falling short of the high standards it sets for itself, but rejected the idea that another company should now take over the pipelines.

This is BBC World News.

In an attempt to quell a growing revolt over his leadership, the British Prime Minister Tony Blair has confirmed that he will resign within a year. But he has not set a precise date. Mr. Blair made his plans public a day after 8 junior members of his government resigned. Here's our political correspondent John D.

After 3 days / behind the things arouse and the resignation of several junior members of the government, Mr. Blair bow to pressure to clarify his exit strategy. The semiofficial timetable which has been emerging this week has become official. Mr. Blair will no longer be prime minister in a year's time. He added that when he was ready, he would give sufficient notice of his plans, but the precise date was not revealed, that Mr. Blair said would depend on the interests of the country and the circumstances of the time.

Israel has lifted an 8-week air blockade of Lebanon imposed at the start of its conflict with the militant group Hezbollah. The spokeswoman for the Israeli prime minister said the blockade of Lebanon's ports would remain in place until international naval forces had deployed off the Lebanese coast. Shortly after the air blockade was lifted, a Lebanese plane, arriving from Paris, circled above Beirut before touching down at Beirut airport.

BBC World News.