Siwarak Chothipong, who is Thai, was accused of passing Mr Thaksin’s private flight details to Thai diplomats.

Mr Thaksin caused a diplomatic uproar when he was named an economic adviser to Cambodia despite being wanted in Thailand to serve time for corruption.

Ties between the neighbours were already tense over a border dispute.

Diplomatic manoeuvres

The judge said Siwarak, 31, had breached security by leaking the details of Mr Thaksin’s private flights while Mr Thaksin was a guest of the government.

But the seven-year sentence was actually the lightest possible for spying. The maximum would have been 15.

Thai officials have indicated they will try to reduce it further – by helping Siwarak to appeal, or asking for a royal pardon from Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni.

Key points in dispute ‘Thaksin can help Cambodia’ Temple at storm’s centre

There has also been speculation in Thailand that Mr Thaksin may intervene to secure Siwarak’s release,from Phnom Penh.

Cambodia’s relationship with its larger neighbour has deteriorated since July last year – when it secured World Heritage status for an ancient temple in a disputed border area.

Last month’s appointment of Mr Thaksin as a special economic adviser to the government in Phnom Penh made matters worse.

A mutual withdrawal of ambassadors followed, as Thailand accused Cambodia of political interference.

The Thai tycoon was toppled in a 2006 coup and is living in self-imposed exile to avoid a two-year jail term for corruption.

Ramon Labanino and Fernando Gonzalez were part of the Cuban Five group, jailed in the US in 2001 for spying for the then government of Fidel Castro.

Labanino’s life sentence has been reduced to 30 years and Gonzalez’s by one year to 18 years.

The resentencing follows an appeals court ruling that the terms originally imposed were too harsh. A third man had his jail term reduced in October.

Antonia Guerrero had his life sentence reduced to 22 years.

Gonzalez had requested a greater drop in his sentence, said the Associated Press news agency.

But US District Judge Joan Lenard said it was “important that foreign governments know that such activities are not tolerated in this country”.

‘Unjust’

The case has long been a cause of friction with Cuba, where the men, who have been in US custody since 1998 – are considered national heroes.

The men are considered national heroes in Cuba

Labanino, Gonzalez and Guerrero – along with Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez – were found guilty in 2001 of infiltrating US military bases and Cuban exile groups, and giving the information to Cuba.

Last year, an appeals court upheld their convictions but ordered three of the group to be resentenced.

US prosecutors have insisted the men were found guilty on hard evidence, while Cuban exile groups say they were justly punished.

The Cuban government says the men were not in Miami to spy on the US but to prevent anti-Castro exile groups from launching what it calls terrorist attacks on Cuba.

Following Tuesday’s hearing, the president of Cuba’s National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon, said the new sentences were “not without importance”.

But he said the jailing the men was still “unjust” and called on the US to release them.

In a rare weekend session, the Senate has gathered to debate and vote in a bid to get the bill completed by the end of the month.

Mr Obama urged his Democratic Party senators to “get the job done”.

Democrats are divided over abortion and whether to allow the government to compete with private companies to sell insurance.

‘Affordable coverage’

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, a key author of the healthcare overhaul, said Mr Obama had told the senators that the public would reward Democrats for decades if the reform got through.

US HEALTHCARE Q&A: US healthcare reform US healthcare: Who wants what? Divided views

“You could tell it had an effect,” Mr Baucus said.

Obama aide Bill Burton said the president had urged legislators to “continue forward on this historic opportunity to provide stability and security for those who have insurance, affordable coverage for those who don’t”.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who had invited Mr Obama to the meeting, said that Republicans wanted this to be “President Obama’s Waterloo” adding: “It’s not going to be”.

Vice-President Joe Biden also attended the closed-door meeting.

The $848bn (£515bn) 10-year legislation seeks to establish a government-backed “public option” for healthcare coverage to compete with private insurers, but allows states to opt out.

Moderate and liberal lawmakers met on Saturday to try to find a compromise on the government insurance plan, or public option.

Despite obstacles ahead, the White House Office of Health Reform said the process was “going really well”.

The healthcare bill is a key domestic issue for President Obama.

The legislation aims to extend coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans, but faces entrenched opposition from Republicans.

The House of Representatives passed its version of the bill earlier this month.

If the Senate can agree a plan, the two versions will have to be reconciled and passed again by each chamber before they are sent to the White House for approval.

The legislation could lead to the biggest changes in US healthcare in decades, if approved.

Exit polls suggest Bolivia’s first indigenous leader polled at least 61%, defeating his conservative rivals.

Mr Morales, who had vowed to expand state control over the economy, said it was now his duty to “accelerate the pace of change”.

A referendum earlier backed changes to allow presidents to seek a second term.

‘Totalitarian’ ambitions

Mr Morales, 50, won between 61% and 63% of the vote, avoiding a run-off, the exit polls suggest.

ANALYSIS With this apparent victory, Evo Morales doesn’t only gain a second term in office. He’s also now freed of any real opposition in Congress, where his Movement to Socialism party is expected to win an outright majority in both the lower house and the Senate. This newfound political freedom will give Mr Morales the opportunity to push through his sweeping social reforms – which he says are aimed at improving the lives of the more than 30% of Bolivians who live on less than $2 a day. But despite what appears to be a landslide victory, Mr Morales is still likely to continue facing stiff opposition to his socialist agenda from the country’s wealthy, eastern provinces like Santa Cruz. There, the main opposition candidate, Manfred Reyes Villa, appears to have won the majority of the votes.

They indicate that his main rival Manfred Reyes Villa, a former governor, secured about 23%.

The BBC’s Andres Schipani in La Paz says the exit polls also suggest the president is set to take control of the upper house of Congress from the opposition.

Mr Morales said that “by holding two-thirds of Congress it now is my duty to accelerate the pace of change”.

Official results are expected in the coming days.

Foreign observers have praised the election for its transparency and fairness.

Mr Morales’s support base is chiefly among poor indigenous people who account for some 65% of the population – in contrast to his challengers.

“He’s changing things. He’s helping the poor and building highways and schools,” Veronica Canizaya, a 49-year-old housewife, told Reuters news agency before casting her vote at a public school on the shores of Lake Titicaca.

Analysts say a victory for Mr Morales will solidify his dominance in Bolivian politics and weaken the split conservative opposition tied to the business elite.

His other challenger was Samuel Doria Medina, a wealthy businessman.

Both challengers accused Mr Morales of having “totalitarian” ambitions for the country and of being responsible for the rise in cocaine production, says our correspondent, Andres Schipani.

Mr Morales told crowds at his final campaign rally: “There are two roads: continue with change or return to the past.”

Three of the Americans were said by Nato to have died in southern Afghanistan on Sunday and the other in the east in a bomb explosion on Monday.

Three Afghan soldiers were also killed in a separate incident on Sunday by a roadside bomb in Helmand province.

This has been the deadliest year for foreign troops since the US-led invasion overthrew the Taliban.

In a statement released on Monday, Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said that of those who died in southern Afghanistan, two US soldiers had been killed by a bomb attack and the other in a separate firefight with insurgents.

Revised strategy

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior said two other Afghan National Army soldiers had been wounded in the Musa Qala district by the same roadside bomb that had killed their three colleagues on Sunday.

It also said six soldiers in Kunar province and one in Kandahar had been injured in incidents in the past 24 hours.

The ministry did not give any details of how the soldiers had been hurt.

As yet there has been no confirmation of any connection between the US and Afghan deaths.

US President Barack Obama is still considering whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, following a report by General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of Nato forces there, which outlined a revised military strategy for the country.

Soldiers from more than 40 countries make up Nato’s force of nearly 110,000, two-thirds of them from the US.

The biggest contingents operating in the west of the country are from the United States and Italy.

Mr Obama said Iran needed to get a “clear message” that, if it failed to take advantage of such opportunities, it was “making itself less secure”.

Earlier, Tehran indicated it would not accept the offer to ship low-enriched uranium abroad in return for fuel.

It instead proposed carrying out a simultaneous exchange on its territory.

Correspondents say the proposal is very unlikely to be acceptable to the world powers negotiating with Iran over its nuclear programme.

Sanction was the literature of the 60s and 70s… I think they are wise enough not to repeat failed experiences Manouchehr Mottaki Iranian Foreign Minster

The West fears Iran is attempting to develop nuclear weapons. Iran insists is nuclear programme is for entirely peaceful purposes.

A meeting of the UN Security Council’s permanent members – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – plus Germany, will be held on Friday to discuss Iran’s response.

On Monday, the UN’s nuclear watchdog said it needed “more clarification” about the purpose of a recently declared uranium enrichment facility near the city of Qom.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also said in a new report that the development of the plant raised concerns about other possible secret sites.

‘Right approach’

On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minster Manouchehr Mottaki said his country had misgivings about the deal brokered by the IAEA in October that envisages Iran sending about 70% of its low-enriched uranium to Russia and France, where it would be processed into fuel rods for a research reactor in Tehran.

Mr Mottaki suggested a deal that the West and Russia are likely to reject

Mr Mottaki suggested Iran would instead agree to exchange its uranium for an equivalent amount of nuclear fuel, but only on its own territory. Tehran wanted to guarantee it would receive fuel it had contracted for, he said.

Responding to the comments, President Obama said the US and its allies had begun discussions “about the importance of having consequences”.

“The dual-track approach requires Iran to get a clear message that, when it fails to take advantage of these opportunities, that it in fact is not making itself more secure, it is making itself less secure.”

“Over the next several weeks, we will be developing a package of potential steps that we could take that would indicate our seriousness to Iran.”

But Mr Obama said he still hoped Iran would change its mind.

“I continue to hold out the prospect that they may decide to walk through this door. I hope they do,” he said.

“But what I’m pleased about is the extraordinary international unity that we’ve seen… I think it’s an indication that we’ve taken the right approach.”

NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE Mined uranium ore is purified and reconstituted into solid form known as yellowcake Yellowcake is converted into a gas by heating it to about 64C (147F) Gas is fed through centrifuges, where its isotopes separate and process is repeated until uranium is enriched Low-level enriched uranium is used for nuclear fuel Highly enriched uranium can be used in nuclear weapons In depth: Nuclear fuel cycle

Speaking during a visit to the Philippines, Mr Mottaki dismissed the threat of further international sanctions.

“Sanction was the literature of the 60s and 70s,” he said.

“Well, in the last four years they have the experience of doing so. And I think they are wise enough not to repeat failed experiences. Of course, it’s totally up to them,” he added.

Mr Mottaki said Tehran was ready “to have further talks within the framework which is presented”.

“It’s not our proposal to have a swap,” he added. “They raised such a proposal and we described and talked about how it could be operationalised.”

Later, the Russian government insisted that there was still “every chance” of reaching a deal with Iran on enrichment, and denied that it was discussing further sanctions with Washington.

“As far as we know, there has so far been no final official answer from Tehran,” Russian foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said in a statement. “It is important to let diplomacy work, and superfluous emotions only harm the situation.”

“There is currently no discussion on working out additional sanctions against Iran at the UN Security Council,” he added.

During Mr Obama’s recent visit to China he received no assurances that it would support new sanctions against Iran at the UN Security Council. France and the UK want Iran to accept the deal.

The communist country’s shift from Fidel Castro’s leadership to president Raul Castro has not changed conditions according to the report.

The group said that since taking office, Raul Castro had kept abusive laws firmly in place.

It is the first far-ranging report since Raul Castro took over.

The report says political and religious activists live in constant fear, and that persistent aggression is placed against dissidents.

Raul Castro has relied in particular on a Cuban law that lets the state imprison people even before they commit a crime, Human Rights Watch said.

“Despite significant obstacles to research, Human Rights Watch documented more than 40 cases in which Cuba has imprisoned individuals for ‘dangerousness’ under Raul Castro because they tried to exercise their fundamental rights,” the report said.

“Rather than dismantle the repressive machinery, Raul Castro has kept it firmly in place and fully active.”

The report was secretly researched on unauthorised visits to the Caribbean island and by getting data from interviews with roughly 60 people.

The assessment comes at a crucial moment, as US President Barack Obama wants to re-set ties with Cuba.

The US Congress is also considering lifting a ban on travel to the communist-run island.

Richard Colvin told a parliamentary committee in Ottawa that government bureaucrats had ignored his warnings.

He said the detainees were tortured by Afghan security officers after being transferred from Canadian custody.

But Conservative Party MPs on the committee were concerned he had spoken to just four alleged victims.

His testimony has raised serious allegations about Canada’s role in the transfer of prisoners in Afghanistan.

‘Beatings’

Mr Colvin wasted no time in making his central allegation to Canadian members of parliament.

He said that Afghan detainees transferred from the Canadian military base in Kandahar to the Afghan intelligence service had been tortured.

“The most common forms of torture were beatings, whippings with power cables and the use of electricity,” he said.

Mr Colvin said that for 16 months, up to April 2007, the Canadian military in Kandahar had no monitoring system for keeping track of an Afghan detainee after he had left Canadian custody.

“Was he still in detention? Had he been released? Had he been transferred to a third party? Had he died under torture or been executed? We had no idea,” he said.

Mr Colvin said he relied on what he called trusted sources for much of his information.

But he admitted that he had only spoken to four detainees himself.

That led to a scornful response on the committee by MPs from the governing Conservatives, who said that that fact alone discredited the intelligence officer’s testimony.

The issue of torture has been raised publicly in both the United States and Britain in the past but never in Canada.

Mr Colvin said that he and his colleagues had tried to warn senior officials in Ottawa about the torture allegations.

But he said that he was ordered by Canadian foreign ministry officials to stop putting his concerns on paper.

Mao’s granddaughter, Kong Dongmei, met John Chiang as she visited Taiwan as part of a delegation to promote cultural and educational ties.

Taiwan split from China as Chiang’s Nationalist forces fled the victorious Communists in 1949.

The island has been self-governed since but China maintains its claim.

The civil war cost the lives of millions of people, and China continues to regard Taiwan as a renegade province.

Impressed

The meeting between John Chiang and Ms Kong is seen as an indication of improving ties between China and Taiwan.

She is believed to be the first of Mao’s offspring to visit the island.

John Chiang is the vice chairman of the Kuomintang, or Nationalist party, which hosted the delegation.

The two shook hands, exchanged greetings, but played down the significance of their meeting.

Mao’s granddaughter told reporters she was impressed with Taiwan’s advanced culture, education and creative industry, but did not mention its democracy.

A spokesman for Mr Chiang’s office told the BBC’s Cindy Sui in Taipei he thought it was natural that as relations between Taiwan and China improved, he would meet his grandfather’s former enemies or their offspring sooner or later.

But many see the meeting as a reflection that ties between the two sides have vastly improved recently, despite Beijing still claiming the island as its territory.

This year, the first direct flights between China and Taiwan took off and a free-trade agreement is expected to be signed next year.

Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia are the lowest-ranked countries in TI’s annual global survey. They were all at the bottom of the list last year as well.

“When essential institutions are weak or non-existent, corruption spirals out of control,” TI said.

New Zealand was the least corrupt, with last year’s winner Denmark as runner-up and Singapore third.

It said this was a result of “political stability, long established conflict of interest regulations and solid, functioning public institutions”.

The issue of corruption in Afghanistan is particularly pressing. Widespread fraud marred the country’s last elections, while the US is still debating whether to increase troop levels.

The UK ranked 17th, down one place from last year. The US also fell one place to 19th.

The organisation said tackling public sector corruption was even more pressing now, as governments worldwide had spent huge amounts of public money bailing out banks and public institutions.

“At a time when massive stimulus packages, fast-track disbursements of public funds and attempts to secure peace are being implemented around the world, it is essential to identify where corruption blocks good governance and accountability,” TI said.

TI also welcomed action by the OECD and G20 group of richest nations to tackle tax havens and other places where corrupt government officials often harbour their money.

“Corrupt money must not find a safe haven,” it said. “The OECD’s work in this area is welcome, but there must be more bilateral treaties on information exchange to fully end the secrecy regime.”