BBC news 2009-04-15 加文本

BBC News with Joe Macintosh

North Korea has asked United States officials to remove all inspection seals and cameras at the Yongbyon nuclear reactor and leave the country as soon as possible. North Korea said it was ending all cooperation with the UN Nuclear Agency, the IAEA with immediate effect. From Vienna, Bethany Bell reports.

In a statement, the IAEA said UN inspectors had been asked to leave North Korea as soon as possible. The IAEA also said it had been informed that Pyongyang had decided to reactivate all its facilities, including the reprocessing plant, which can be used to make weapons great plutonium. The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the inspectors' expulsion an unnecessary response. The United States, Russia, and China have urged North Korea to reconsider its decision to pull out of nuclear disarmament talks.

Pirates operating out of Somali have captured two more ships and opened fire on another in the Gulf of Aden, one of the busiest waterways in the world. The hijacking of the ships, one Greek and one flying a Togolese flag took place after the pirates threatened to take revenge for the killing in recent days of several of their comrades by French and American forces. The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen said Washington was ready to deal with any threat.

"I certainly take their comments seriously. That said, we are very well-prepared to deal with anything like that and that would certainly be part of our review militarily. "

An appeals court in the United States has halted the deportation of a suspected Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk. The ruling came shortly after American officials took Mr. Demjanjuk from his home in Ohio to deport him to Germany. Steve Jackson has this report.

John Demjanjuk was carried down the steps of his house in a wheelchair and lifted into a waiting van. His eyes closed and his head slumped back. His wife sobbed as the 89-old was driven away to be deported to Germany. But before he could be put on a plane, judges at a US federal appeals court intervened and granted him a stay of deportation, another twist in this long-running case. His family says he's too ill to be moved and there will now be further legal hearings to decide whether he can be deported. He faces charges in Germany of being involved in the killings of 29, 000 Jews at a Nazi death camp in 1943.

There have been violent anti-government protests in the Hungarian capital Budapest following an appointment of a new prime minister, Gordon Bajnai earlier today. Several people, including policemen were injured after some demonstrators on motorbikes drove into a police cordon. Police used teargas as hundreds of people demanded fresh elections and they broke through metal fences. Mr. Bajnai has promised to implement tough austerity measures to tackle Hungary's grave economic problems.

You are listening to the BBC News.

The Vatican has rejected at least three possible candidates proposed by President Obama to serve as American ambassador to the Holy See. As our Rome correspondent David Willey reports, the Vatican is unhappy about the candidates' support for abortion.

One of the potential nominees vetoed by the Vatican is Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the former US President, whose candidacy has already been criticized by conservative Catholics in the US because of her out-spoken pro-choice views on abortion. Since the United States established formal diplomatic relations with the Vatican in 1984, the ambassadorial post has always been held by pro-life Catholics under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

President Obama has said the American economy is seeing the first glimmers of hope from recession, although there will be a lot of pain before it returns to growth. In a speech in Washington, Mr. Obama said government action to help the banking industry and the housing market were generating signs of economic progress. He suggested he wanted to move to an economy far different from the past, but cautioned that the recession would still lead to more job losses.

The Mexican police have seized an anti-aircraft machine gun and other heavy weapons during a raid on a house belonging to suspected drug traffickers near the border with the US. They said the machine gun was mounted on a truck and could fire 800 rounds a minute. More than 7, 000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since the beginning of last year. (www.hXen.com)

Old sewing machines have been fetching extravagant prices in Saudi Arabia because of rumors that they contain an expensive substance that can be used to find treasure, ward off evil spirits or even make a nuclear bomb. The Saudi authorities say the sewing machine buying frenzy has been caused by a hoax. Saudis have been buying the sewing machines for up to $50, 000.

And that's the latest BBC News.