BBC news 2008-07-15 加文本

BBC News with Fiona McDonald.

The United Nations has begun to withdraw non-essential staff from the Sudanese region of Darfur after the International Criminal Court Prosecutor called for the arrest of President Omar al-Bashir. The Organization's peacekeeper said UN staff are already finding it difficult to fulfill their mandate, and withdrawal of personnel would not make things easier, but they stressed the process was not an evacuation. David Banfer reports.

The UN while reaffirming that the ICC is an independent body over which it has no influence is nevertheless bracing itself for possible increased difficulties in western Sudan. But it's continuing to run alongside other NGO's large-scale humanitarian operations there and has thousands of peacekeepers in place.

The African Union has warned that any attempt to arrest President Bashir would create a power vacuum in Sudan, saying there would be an increase in anarchy and a risk of military coups. The Sudanese ambassador to the UN, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, told the BBC that he had never seen President Bashir so jubilant and composed, and rejected the prosecutor's statement, saying the International Court had no power over the government of Sudan.

"That is a political statement by Ocampo, a vicious one that doesn't deserve respect, let along cooperation. It is a very irresponsible move, it will affect negatively the peace process in the country, it will have ramifications in the entire region, our priority is peace in the country, is stopping bloodshed."

The Afghan government has directly accused Pakistan's intelligence services of being behind a recent wave of attacks by militants in Afghanistan, including last week's bombing outside the Indian embassy in the capital Kabul, in which more than 50 people died. The Afghan President Hamid Karzai said his government had told Islamabad that the killings, destruction and insecurity in  Afghanistan were the work of Pakistan's intelligence and military departments.

Supporters of the two main American presidential candidates say a cartoon depicting Barack Obama as a Muslim and his wife as a terrorist is tasteless and offensive. The drawing on the front cover of the influential New Yorker Magazine shows the couple in the White House with the American flag burning in the fireplace. From Washington, Jack Izzard reports.

With a reputation for being liberal and intellectual, the magazine's tongue-in-cheek image is supposed to be a satire on Senator Obama's right wing critics, an article inside it accused them of using scare tactics, and forcely characterizing the Senator as a closet Muslem. The supporters of both the Democratic candidate and his Republican rival John Machan said the cover is in poor taste, and may end up fanning some of the prejudices it is trying to lampoon.

That was Jack Izzard in Washington. You're listening to the World News from the BBC.

There's been a further loss of confidence in the American banking system despite newly announced measures designed to reassure customers. Shares in the largest savings and loan group, Washington Mutual, fell by 35% and a regional national city bank shares dropped nearly 20%. The US Treasury has said it would make funds available to the embattled mortgage finance companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and would if necessary buy shares in them.

President Bush has announced that he's lifting a long-running presidential ban on drilling for oil in the United States coastal waters, a move designed to address the sharp rise in US energy costs. Mr Bush renewed this call for Democratically-controlled Congress to overturn its own nearly 30-year-ban on off-shore drilling. But the Democratic Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, said a better solution to rising fuel costs was needed.

"There is not a single Democrat that doesn't think we can do a better job with domestic production, but for this Johnny One Note of just drill, drill, drill, it is not gonna do the trick we have to work together and come up with something that is more meaningful. "(www.hXen.com)

Critics say that lifting the ban would have no immediate effect, because it would take years before any new oil fields could be exploited.

The head of Mexico's intelligence service has said that the country's democratic constitutions are under threat from drug cartels. Guillermo Valdes said drug traffickers were trying to take over the power of the state. He said the gangs had infiltrated local police forces, justice departments, and government bodies to create structures to protect their businesses.

The national airline of the United Arab Emirate Etihad has announced that it is ordering 55 new fuel-efficient passenger planes from the European manufacturer Airbus, in an order worth some eleven billion dollars. The order comes on top of another deal with the American manufacturer Boeing to buy 45 of its large passenger jets, at a cost of more than 9 billion dollars.

BBC News.