BBC news 2008-09-27 加文本

BBC News with Nick Kelly.

The contenders for the White House, John McCain and Barack Obama, begin their first presidential debate shortly after a last-minute change of heart by John McCain. He previously indicated he wouldn't join the debate at Oxford in the state of Mississippi while politicians in Washington were working on a multi-billion-dollar rescue plan for the American financial system. From the debate venue, here's James Coomarasamy.

This debate would have been a huge set-piece event under any circumstance, but the economic crisis and its political fallout have only heightened the sense of drama. Add to that, John McCain's late decision to take part and his first head-to-head debate with Barack Obama is likely to attract a huge audience. There's a great deal of anticipation here at the debate's venue, a once segregated university campus which underlines the historic dimensions of the first event of its kind to feature a black presidential candidate.

Share prices have risen in New York as congressional leaders continue their efforts to agree a 700-billion-dollar rescue plan for the United States financial system. The main Dow Jones Index closed up on Friday amid hope that legislators would reach agreement over the weekend. President Bush and both sides in Congress have tried to reassure the American public that a deal is close. The Democratic Party Speaker of the House Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said the talks were back on track.

The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has announced plans to modernize his country's nuclear deterrent weeks after warning Washington that deploying US interceptor missiles in Poland would spark a new arms race. President Medvedev told military commanders that a new system had to be in place by 2020, enabling Russia to respond to potential threats. Caroline Wyatt reports.

The statement is in keeping with a new-found sense of confidence of the Kremlin which began under President Putin. In the 1990s, Russia's military endured years of underfunding following the collapse of Communism, although its nuclear deterrent is believed to remain effective. However, Russia's military has enjoyed much higher funding in recent years, thanks to Russian profits from oil and gas.

The prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has told the BBC he won't bow to pressure to drop charges against the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. President Bashir is accused of committing war crimes in Darfur. Several African, Arab and European governments want a compromise. They're trying to find President Bashir a way out of international prosecution. But Mr. Ocampo says he can't ignore strong evidence.

"We found evidence that al-Bashir himself was controlling the attacks on these people who normally lived in Darfur. They were first attacked in their villages, they were raped, killed, they were surrounded by the army, Sudanese army and militias, the Janjaweed. They were bombed with air force and they were removing [removed] from the villages."

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The International Criminal Court in The Hague has ruled that there're sufficient grounds to try two militiamen for war crimes committed five years ago in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The prosecution accuses the two men of leading the Lendu ethnic militias against the rival ethnic Hema groups. It says more than 200 civilians were killed in the attack on a village in the northeastern Ituri region of Congo.

The Pentagon has said it's considering its options a day after pirates of the coast of Somalia seized a Ukrainian-operated cargo ship. The vessel is carrying 33 Russian-made T-72 tanks, grenade launchers, spare parts and ammunition. The Pentagon spokesman said the United States was monitoring the situation and was concerned about the origin of the pirates and what the cargo might be used for. The authorities in Russia, Ukraine and Kenya where the ship was heading, are trying to establish where it is.

Scientists have revealed the existence of a huge bird with bony teeth that once swooped over the wetlands of southern England 50 million years ago. Its well-preserved skull was found in London. Dee Sebastian reports.(Www.hXen.com)

With a five-meter wingspan, these huge birds were similar in lifestyle to the albatross. But Gerald Mayr, who described the find in the journal Paleontology, said the bird called Dasornis was a pretty bizarre creature, and looked more like an ocean-going goose about the size of a small plane. Doctor Mayr said the strangest thing about it was it had developed pseudo-teeth. He said this was probably linked to its diet. The birds skimmed to the surface of the sea, snapping up fish and squid on the wing, and an ordinary beak would have made their meals just slip away.

And a Swiss airline pilot Yves Rossy has become the first person to fly across the English Channel using only a jet-propelled wing strapped to his body. Mr. Rossy jumped out of a plane over France, fired up his jets and landed ten minutes later. He hoped many people would have the opportunity to fly like this.

BBC news.