BBC news 2009-04-19 加文本

BBC News with Mary Small.

The United States says it will boycott a United Nations conference on racism in Geneva next week because of concerns over language about Israel and the West in the text of the meeting’s final document. A State Department spokesman said that despite improvements, the final version does not address what the US sees as anti-Israeli and anti-Western language. John Donaldson reports from Washington.

This is a long-running dispute between the US and the United Nations, but it’s the first time it’s fallen under the watch of President Obama. In 2001, the last time the conference was held, both Israel and the United States walked out when Arab countries sought to define Zionism as racism. In a statement, the US State Department said the final text to be presented at the conference did not address their concerns about an anti-Israeli and anti-Western bias. Some believe that as was the case in 2001, the conference could be dominated by the debates over Israel’s policies in the Middle East.

The United States says it’s deeply disappointed by reports that a court in Iran has jailed an Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi for eight years on spying charges. A spokesman for the US State Department Robert Wood said there was no truth to the Iranian charges against the journalist.

“These charges that have been raised are baseless, without foundation and we’ve been worried about the transparency in the judicial process, so we are gonna continue to push and we wanna get some answers from the Iranians and we wanna see her released as soon as possible” .

Senators from Saberi’s home state of North Dakota described the court ruling as a shocking miscarriage of justice that would damage Iran’s international credibility.

French police have arrested a man reports are describing as the military leader of the Basque separatist organization Eta. Jurdan Martitegi Lizaso was one of three Eta members detained in France in a joint operation with Spanish authorities. From Madrid, Danny Wood reports.

The French Authorities say the three suspected members of Eta were detained near the town of Perpignan in southwest of France. News reports quoting sources that Spain’s Ministry for the Interior say one of the men arrested is Jurdan Martitegi Lizaso. Jurdan Martitegi is alleged to have assumed the military command of Eta after the arrest in December of Aitzol Irionda. Once regarded as a safe haven for Basque militants, France has detained several key Eta suspects after the group ended a cease-fire in June, 2007.

At least 27 people have been killed and more than 60 wounded in a suicide attack on a security checkpoint in the troubled northwest of Pakistan. Most of the casualties were soldiers and police. Pakistani officials said the bomber was driving a truck packed with the explosives, which he rammed into the security post as an army convoy was passing through. The checkpoint near the Orakzai tribal region in recent months has become a base for Taliban militants battling the Pakistani government.

BBC News.

Dutch forces taking part in NATO’s naval operation against piracy off the East African coast have freed 20 people then taken hostage by Somali pirates. The released captives are thought to be Yemeni fishermen who are forced to work for the pirates. NATO said Dutch commandos had confiscated the pirates’ weapons, but didn’t have the legal powers to detain them. In a separate incident, a Belgian ship was captured by pirates 600 kilometers off the Somali coast.

The tactics used by police during recent G20 protest in London are under further scrutiny after the Independent Police Complaints’ Commission said it had received 90 complaints about the use of force. They include the death of a newspaper seller who was not involved in the demonstration, but collapsed with severe internal bleeding shortly after apparently being hit repeatedly by police. Rory MacLean reports.

The latest allegation to be referred to the Independent Police Complaints’ Commission involves an incident in the City of London on Wednesday, April 1st. The claim is certain officer used excessive force. The metropolitan police in London passed this complaint to the IPCC and is trying to identify the officer involved. Meanwhile, the Sunday Times has been sent material which includes video, in which an environmental demonstrator was struck in the face with a riot shield. In a second sequence from much further away, another protestor appears to be punched in the face by an officer.(www.hXen.com)