BBC news 2009-02-09 加文本

BBC News with Mary Small.

President Obama's new envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, has given a stark assessment of the task facing the United States in the region. He said the problems in Afghanistan were like nothing the US had had to cope with before. He's due in Pakistan on Monday for talks which Islamabad says will focus on tackling militancy in the region. Alan Johnston reports.

Richard Holbrooke is a tough veteran diplomat but he gives the impression of being slightly aghast at the scale of the task before him in Afghanistan. Making progress there, he said, would be much tougher even than it has been in Iraq. Mr. Holbrooke said the US was in for a long, hard fight and that at the moment, it was being waged with inadequate and insufficient resources. He called for new ideas and better coordination with America's NATO allies.

Taliban militants in Pakistan have released a video of what they say is the beheading of a Polish engineer kidnapped in September last year. They said on Saturday that they'd killed the man, Piotr Stanczak, because the Pakistani authorities refused to free militant prisoners in exchange for him.

The reformist, former President of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, has confirmed his intention to stand in the presidential election in June. He'll probably face the President incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a hard-liner who's expected to seek re-election. From Tehran, Jon Leyne.

In this 30th anniversary year of the revolution, it will give Iranians a stark choice over the future of the Islamic Republic. Former President Khatami should have a chance of unseating President Ahmadinejad. But as when he was president, he'll face tough opposition from hard-liners in the clergy and the military. His old supporters were disillusioned by his failure to push through more changes when he was in power. So the challenge will be persuading them to go out and vote.

Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, Sergei Ivanov, says Moscow is ready to resume dialogue with Washington on all issues of common interest. Ties worsened under the President Bush due in part to US plans for a missile defense system in Central Europe. Our defense correspondent Rob Watson is at the security conference in Munich.

Speaking at the conference on Saturday, the US Vice President Joe Biden has said Washington wants to press the reset button in its relations with Moscow. Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov has now described the speech as very positive, particularly the idea of pressing the reset button. Vice President Biden had told the conference it was time to end the dangerous rift in relations between the US and Russia.

Police in Moscow have arrested seven opposition activists who took part in an unauthorized ceremony to honour a high-profile lawyer and a journalist shot dead last month. A police spokesman said the group ignored orders to disperse and had provoked conflict. The activists' colleagues said they were detained elsewhere long after the ceremony.

BBC News.

The fire authorities in Australia say more than 100 people have been killed in bush fires in southeastern Australia in the country's worst recorded disaster of its kind. Tens of thousands of firefighters have been tackling the inferno helped by soldiers. Flames tore through several towns north of Melbourne, incinerating everything in their path. Some people died in their cars as they tried to escape. The Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been touring the devastated areas.

"Hell in all its fury has visited the good people of Victoria in the last 24 hours, and many good people now lie dead, many others lie injured. This is an appalling tragedy for Victoria, but because of that, it's an appalling tragedy for the nation."

The Swiss have voted by a large majority to continue allowing European Union citizens the right to live and work in Switzerland. Official results from the referendum showed almost 60 percent of voters supported the idea. The result means the right to work will be extended to the EU's newest member states, Bulgaria and Romania, whose citizens face restrictions within the EU itself.

The trial of the Iraqi journalist, who threw his shoes in protest at the former US President George Bush during his visit to Baghdad, has been set for February 19th. An Iraqi court official said Muntazer al-Zaidi would be charged with assaulting a head of state. His bid to face the lesser charge of insulting Mr. Bush was rejected.

The film "Slumdog Millionaire" set in the slums of Mumbai has just won seven British Academy Film Awards, including those for best film and for Briton Danny Boyle, best director. Kate Winslet won the award for best leading actress in "The Reader", and Mickey Rourke, best leading actor in "The Wrestler". The BAFTAs are Britain's version of the Oscars, and stars from the film world braved the wind and rain to attend the ceremony in London's Covent Garden. (Www.hxen.net)

Glossary

aghast:  If you aghast, you are filled with horror and surprise.

wage: If a person, group, or country wages a campaign or war, they start it and continue it over a period of time.

stand in: If you stand in an election, you are a candidate in it.

unseat: When people try to unseat a person who is in an important job or position, they try to remove him or her from that job or position.

disillusion: If a person or thing disillusions you, they make you realize that something is not as good as you thought.

push through: If someone pushes through a law, they succeed in getting it accepted although some people oppose it.

rift: A rift between people or countries is a serious quarrel or disagreement that stops them having a good relationship.

inferno: If you refer to a fire as an inferno, you mean that ti is burning fiercely and causing great destruction.

incinerate: to burn something completely

lie: You can use lie to say that something is or remains in a particular state or condition. For example, if something lies forgotten, it has been and remains forgotten.

brave: If you brave unpleasant or dangerous conditions, you deliberately expose yourself to them, usually in order to achieve something.