BBC news 2007-08-31 加文本

BBC 2007-08-31


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to rescue him. Here is Jill McGivering.

President Musharraf ousted Mr. Sharif in 1999 in a military coup. Mr. Sharif described his current rule as illegitimate and repeatedly referred to him as a dictator. His own goal, he said, was to restore undiluted democracy. Mr. Sharif was asked what he thought about former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who says she is now close to agreeing a power sharing deal with President Musharraf, that would be a misfortune, said Mr. Sharif, and she will be going back on earlier commitments.

The army in Pakistan said that around 100 soldiers whose convey was reported missing have been found safe. Earlier reports said they had been taken hostage near the Afghan border by pro-Taliban militants who claimed to be holding up to 300 soldiers. An army spokesman said there was no suggestion the incident had involved any kidnapping or fighting.

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the French President Nicholas Sarkozy have called for more action to secure a ceasefire in Darfur. Writing in the Times Newspaper, they say the UN resolution authorizing the dispatch of peacekeepers to the troubled Sudanese region is just the starting point of international efforts to stop the killing. This report is from Carole Walker.
Gordon Brown and Nicholas Sarkozy say they are (to) redouble their efforts to make further progress on Darfur. In their joint article, they warned that with more than two million people displaced and the fighting continuing, intense international action is needed to secure a ceasefire. Gordon Brown has made Darfur a foreign policy priority and the UN agreement authorizing the deployment of peacekeeping troops was the result of a joint British-French resolution.

The President of Lebanon Emile Lahoud has proposed appointing an interim government led by the head of the army, if rival Lebanese politicians can't agree on his successor. Reporting from Beirut, here is Andrew North.
Lebanese parliament is supposed to elect a replacement for President Emile Lahoud by the end of November. But it's currently suspended because of an opposition walkout last December. The governing coalition dose not have enough MPs to master the required 2/3 majority to push through their own candidate. There is no sign of an end to the deadlock, which pits the US backed government against the pro-Syrian president and the Iranian backed Hezbollah movement.

Two people are missing after a collision between two ships near the Israeli port of Haifa. Several people were injured and one of the vessels, a cargo ship, sank.

World News from the BBC.

The White House has criticized the military government in Burma for arresting pro-democracy demonstrators, who have held a series of protests about rising fuel prices. From Washington, Regus Merching Dunny has this report.
In his statement, President Bush strongly condemned the Burmese authorities for arresting, harassing, and assaulting pro-democracy activists. He said their concerns over rising fuel prices should be listened to, rather than silenced through force. There have been a string of arrests in Burma during several days of protest. The opposition National League for Democracy says more than a hundred have been detained. President Bush also called for the release of all political prisoners held in Burma, including pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 11 years.

Eight people are reported to have been killed in Brazil in a train crash on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. At least 60 other people were injured when a train packed with hundreds of passengers hit a stationary locomotive with just a driver on board in Nova Iguacu.

Staff at the United Nations have found vials of potentially dangerous chemical in one of the buildings in New York. The chemical was identified as phosgene, a poisonous substance that was used during the First World War as a choking agent. Officials at the UN said there was no immediate risk or danger. UN Becanon is a spokesman for the UN weapons inspectors. "They have come from an inspection in Iraq, certainly, there is an inspection late back in 1996 when we basically dug to the bottom of the mesonic chemical weapons production facility. And these materials probably came from the analytical laboratory of the mesonic chemical weapons plant."

A diamond-encrusted platinum skull, created by the artist Damien Hirst, has become the most expensive work of art by a living artist after it was sold for its asking price of $100m. It is studded with 8,601 diamonds.

You are listening to world briefings from the BBC with me JJ. He is being an exile since his removal in a coup by General Musharraf in 1999. Now the former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif has well and truly thrown his hat into the ring for the forthcoming presidential elections.