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Valerie Plame was answering questions in Congress. She said she was outed in retaliation for remarks by her husband accusing the administration of manipulating intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war. James Coomarasamy reports from Washington.

In her first public comments about the case, Valerie Plame alleged that her identity had been carelessly and recklessly leaked by White House and State Department officials as an act of revenge. The CIA agent described feelings as though she'd been hit in the gut when she saw her name in print shortly after her husband had criticized the Bush Administration's use of intelligence in the run-up to the war in Iraq. Investigation into whether this leak had been a crime led to the conviction of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

The deadline for candidates to register for next month's French presidential election has expired, leaving the anti-globalization campaigner Jose Bove uncertain if he's made it onto the list. Eleven candidates say they have collected enough signatures. Hugh Schofield reports from Paris.

The three leading contenders, Nicolas Sarkozy of the ruling center-right, the Socialist Segolene Royal and the centrist Francois Bayrou, easily got the necessary 500 signatures. The far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen had, as ever, greater difficulty. The Hunters' candidate Frederic Nihous declared at the last minute that he's just slipped through. But Jose Bove, the farmer and campaigner against globalization, says he is not sure if he's got the necessary 500.

The Court of Appeal in Uganda has ruled that the government must pay more than 2 billion dollars in compensation to soldiers who served under Presidents Idi Amin and Milton Obote. The judges ruled that thousands of soldiers had not been properly dismissed from the military in 1979, and therefore deserved to be paid. Mary Harper reports.

The court explained that the situation had a reason because of an administrative oversight by the government when it was setting up a new army. But the claimants weren't concerned about the technicalities. They were ecstatic. Although the legal defense team have expressed confidence that the soldiers will receive over 20 years worth of back pay, it's unclear how the Ugandan government could afford to pay them even if it wanted to. The army spokesman said that the government would appeal against the decision.

An Islamist militia commander in Somalia Adan Hashi Ayro has released a tape recording, in which he calls on Somalis to resist the presence of Ethiopian forces in the country. In the recording, Mr. Ayro says that he survived weeks of bombing by American and Ethiopian forces in the southern Juba region in January. The Islamic Courts Union controlled much of Somalia until the end of last year.

World News from the BBC.

The president of Ivory Coast Laurent Gbagbo has signed a decree to create a new military structure involving rebel forces as part of a peace agreement intended to end years of civil war. The integrated command center will include equal numbers of government and rebel officers. James Copnall reports from Abidjan.

President Laurent Gbagbo has signed a decree creating what is known as an integrated command center, which brings together his troops and the New Forces rebels. The new structure should include equal numbers of officers from both armies, though the final details still need to be hammered out. According to the decree, the command center would help define defense policy, carry out disarmament program and set up joint military units including both loyalists and rebels. The joint army command structure was the first step laid out in the Ouagadougou Accord, which was signed just under two weeks ago.

Washington says it would do all it can to approve a visa that would allow the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to appear before the United Nations Security Council. President Ahmadinejad wants to speak to the Security Council before any vote on the resolution to widen sanctions against Iran over its program of uranium enrichment.

Lawyers for three New York police officers have confirmed that their clients will be indicted for their role in the shooting of an unarmed young black man who'd been celebrating on the eve of his wedding. Sean Bell was shot dead outside a nightclub in the Queens District of the city last year. His death prompted outrage and put considerable strain on race relations. Fifty shots were fired into the car Mr. Bell and two friends were in.

Cricket at the World Cup in the West Indies, the South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs has scored the maximum six sixes in a single over, only the third time the feat has been achieved in the history of first-class cricket.

BBC World News.