BBC 2008-04-19
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BBC News with Victoria Meakin
Pope Benedict has told the United Nations in New York that the international community should intervene within the legal framework of the organization if governments failed in their duty to protect their people from great violations of human rights. Speaking to the UN General Assembly, he said the real harm came from indifference or non-intervention. He urged countries to work together to defend human rights and respect the rule of law.
"Promotion of human rights remains the most effective strategy for eliminating inequalities between countries and social groups, and for increasing security, indeed. So victims of hardship and despair, whose human dignity is violated with impunity, become easy prey to the call to violence, so they can then become violators of peace."
The former American President Jimmy Carter has concluded his talks in Damascus with the exiled leader of the Palestinian Islamist Movement of Hamas Khaled Meshaal. The meeting drew fierce criticism from the Bush administration in Washington and also from the Israeli government. Jim Muir reports from Damascus.
Mr. Carter had a series of meetings with Hamas, commentating in this one with its leader. Some of the focus is on a prisoner exchange, which would involve Gilad Shalit, the Israeli serviceman captured in Gaza by Hamas nearly two years ago. Mr. Carter is also asking Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel. That would require Israel to ease the pressure it's been inflicting on Gaza. The former president has said he's not mediating, but if he can't go back to Israel where he'll be on Monday with some positive signals from the Hamas leadership. It's possible that some sort of process might slowly start up.(Www.hxen.net)
The President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe has delivered a defiance speech to thousands of his supporters in Harare to mark the country's Independence Day. Mr. Mugabe said it was important not to forget Zimbabwe's recent history and accused Britain of trying to steal back its former colonial possession by bribing people against the government. Peter Biles reports.
Mr. Mugabe made it clear there was no going back on his land reform program. White farmers would not be allowed to come back and reoccupied their land. He made little mention of the recent elections and gave no reasons for the extraordinary delay in releasing the presidential results. This weekend, there will be a recount in 23 constituencies where the Electoral Commission says there were problems. The outcome could overturn the opposition's newly-won parliamentary majority.
The French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced that France will double its food aid for developing nations this year to counter the global rising food prices. He said the food aid budget would rise to $95 million. He said 37 countries were experiencing serious food crisis.
World News from the BBC.
The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged Washington to take the leads in driving a new global cooperation. Speaking at the end of a short visit to the US, he urged America and Europe to lead a shakeup of the main international institutions to reflect a new era of global interdependence. "A new World Bank, a new International Monetary Fund, a reformed and renewed United Nations, mandated and resourced that can now be greater than the sum of its parts. Strong regional organizations, building up the African Union as we build up the European Union and other organizations, to be able to bring to a troubled world the humanitarian aid, peacekeeping, and the support for stability and reconstruction that has been absent for too long. All built around the vision of a global society founded on revitalized international rules and institutions and grounded in the great values we share in common."
The authorities in Argentina say they are investigating the owners of fields in which fires have raged for several days cloaking the capital Buenos Aires in dense smoke. The government says the fires were deliberately set alight by farmers clearing land for greasing.
European Union countries have agreed to tighten laws against incitement to terrorism in an effort to stop militant groups exploiting the Internet. EU justice and interior ministers meeting in Luxembourg said the public provocation of terrorist attacks and recruiting and training people for terrorism should be made criminal offenses.
President Putin has vehemently denied Russian tabloid newspaper reports he secretly divorced his wife in order to marry a 24-year-old Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast. In a joint news conference in Italy with the incoming Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, President Putin expressed disdain for journalists who, as he put it, poke their snotty noses and erratic fantasies into other people's private lives.
BBC News.
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