BBC 2009-01-08
Download AudioBBC News with Mary Marshal.
There’s increasing pressure to reach a truce in the Gaza Strip along the lines of a Franco-Egyptian proposal. The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, says she's been in close discussions not only with her Arab colleagues, but also with the Israelis, on the need to move the initiative forward. The plan is also being discussed to the UN Security Council. France says the plan aimed to create a ceasefire, stop the smuggling of weapons into Gaza, and lift the Israeli blockade of the territory. Jeremy Bowen reports.
At the end it may not be in sight yet, but there're now indications of what the two sides want from a ceasefire. Israel has demanded an end to Hamas rocket attacks, and an internationally verifiable way of stopping Hamas rearming. A Hamas spokesman reached by the BBC on the phone this afternoon said that Israel had to stop shooting first and open up its border crossings with Gaza to lift the blockade. Then, he said, Hamas would sit down to talk about something more long-term. So at the moment the two versions don't mesh.
As the diplomatic efforts continue, Israel has resumed its attack on the Gaza Strip. It follows a three-hour suspension, intended to allow the distribution of essential supplies to the population. Israel has said the pause would be observed daily, but the United Nations agency looking after the Palestinians called it insufficient.
Russia and Ukraine have invited the European Union to see for itself which country is to blame for the cutting gas supplies that's prompted Slovakia to declare a state of emergency, and Bulgaria a crisis. Ukraine wants EU monitors to confirm that Russia's energy company Gazprom is sending no gas down the pipeline. James Rogers reports from Moscow.
Russia's dispute with Ukraine is having ever more serious consequences for gas supplies to Europe. Now, Gazprom, Russia's giant gas company, says it is suspending all deliveries via Ukraine. Russia had accused Ukraine of stealing gas which was supposed to be sent on to European customers. Ukraine denies that, and says Russia had already cut off supplies. But this is not just a row about gas, Ukraine's search for close ties to the West and to NATO in particular has angered Russia.
The newly elected President of Ghana, John Atta Mills, has been sworn in at a ceremony at Independent Square in Accra. Jubilant crowds packed into the square, breaking into the area reserved for VIPs. Will Ross reports from Accra.
In front of tens of thousands of people at Ghana's Independence Square, John Atta Mills was sworn in to office, and then was given a 21-gun salute. In his first address as president, the 64-year-old spoke of a new dawn in Ghana, and promised to lead an open and honest government. There were loud cheers when he thanked the man he narrowly beat in the election. The fact that Narronl Lanoccador attended the inauguration is a sign that Ghana has a relatively mature democracy and is a long way ahead of many other African countries.
World News from the BBC.
The Pakistani national security adviser has been sacked. It came after the authorities admitted that the sole surviving gunman involved in the November attacks in Mumbai was a Pakistani. From Islamabad, Charles Haviland reports.
Retired General Mahmud Ali Durrani has been summarily dismissed as national security adviser, even as tensions with neighboring India over the Mumbai killings rise again. A statement from the prime minister's office said he was sacked for his irresponsible behaviour for not taking the prime minister and other stakeholders into confidence, and a lack of coordination on matters of national security. Nothing more specific was said, but earlier, the government was finally forced to admit for the first time that Ajmal Qasab, the one gunman who survived the Mumbai events, is from this country. He is a Pakistani, the information minister told the BBC, adding that investigations were continuing.
The President-elect Barack Obama has joined President Bush and three other surviving US presidents for lunch in the first meeting of its kind for a generation. As he stood in the White House with former presidents, Carter, Clinton and George Bush Senior, Mr. Obama described it as an extraordinary gathering and said he wanted to learn from his predecessors. President Bush said they all wanted Mr. Obama to succeed.
Barack Obama has said a massive spending program to stimulate the US economy would be at the high end of estimates despite concern about the ballooning budget deficit. He was speaking as figures from the Congressional Budget Office indicated an uNPRecedented 1.2-trillion-dollar deficit for the coming fiscal year.(www.hxen.net)
A court case billed as one of the last Nazi war crimes trials has been dropped after a judge ruled that the 86-year-old defendant, Heinrich Boere, was too ill to face justice. Mr. Boere had been charged with shooting three civilians in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands when he was allegedly part of a Waffen-SS death squad.
BBC World Service News.
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