BBC news 2009-08-06 加文本

BBC 2009-08-06


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BBC news with Marian Marshall.

President Obama has urged North Korea to give up developing nuclear weapons if it wants better relations with United States. He was speaking hours after the former US President Bill Clinton secured the release of two American journalists being held there. Kim Ghattas reports from Washington.

President Barack Obama said the release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling was a source of happiness for the whole country. But in an interview with the American news channel MSNBC, he also said that Pyongyang had to give up its nuclear weapons and stop its provocative acts if it wanted better ties with international community. The Secretary of State Hilary Clinton also said she hoped the North Koreans would now agree to resume talks about their nuclear program. Bill Clinton was briefed by officials from the Obama administration before leaving. He will now brief them about what he saw and heard in Pyongyang.

Reports from the Iranian capital Tehran say hundreds of police and militia have been deployed in the city to prevent any more protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Earlier, as he was sworn into office for a second term, clashes broke out between police and hundreds of opposition supporters who dispute the result of June election. Caroline Hawley reports.

Behind a vast floral display Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took his oath of office with a call for national unity. There were many empty seats at the ceremony. The former Presidents Ayatollah Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami boycotted the inauguration. In all, dozens of MPs stayed away. President Ahmadinejad said disrespect, interference, and insults would not be tolerated. But his new term in office is likely to be beset by difficulties on many fronts.

On his first visit to Afghanistan as NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen has expressed his determination to reduce civilian casualties. He acknowledged that the deaths resulting from the military alliance’s operations in the country have been a cause of bitter resentment.

We have seen a number of civilian casualties, I strongly regret that. But I can assure you that it is our clear intention to do everything possible to reduce the number of civilian casualties to an absolute minimum.

Mr. Rasmussen also said NATO had no interest in who won the forthcoming Afghan presidential elections, only that the process was as inclusive as possible.

The government in Iraq has said that the Blast Walls in Baghdad that were erected to protect against bomb attacks will be removed within the next 40 days. Much of the city is divided or obscured by concrete walls, in particular the area near the Green Zone, the zone where the government, foreign organizations and embassies are based. The removal of the walls comes weeks after the US troop withdrawal and aims to restore some normality to Baghdad.

World News from the BBC.

A United Nation's human rights expert has accused the Iraqi authorities of blocking supplies of food and water to a camp for dissident Iranian exiles near Baghdad. John Zigler, an adviser to the UN Human Rights Council said the attack amounted to a growth violation of international law. Mr. Zigler and a Geneva-based campaign group also said they feared a repeat of what they called a brutal attack on the Ashraf Camp by Iraqi forces at the end of July, in which at least seven Iranian exiles were killed and hundreds injured.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says that rocket launchers and automatic rifles found in the Colombian rebel camp were in fact stolen from the Venezuelan naval post 14 years ago. He said Colombia’s suggestions that his government has supplied the weapons to the FARC rebels were a ruse to divert attention from its plan to open seven military bases in Colombia to US forces. Last week the Venezuelan president froze relations with Colombia over the allegations.

The second day of a conference aimed at revitalizing the Palestinian movement Fatah has been marred by angry disputes between the delegates. Hundreds of Fatah members at the meeting in the western bank town of Bethlehem have denounced the organization's administrative and financial failures.

The Italian Prime Minister and owner of AC Milan football club, Sivia Berlusconi has criticized the amount of money spent by clubs like Real Madrid to sign top players. He said it was mad for clubs to be paying such fees during a global recession.

In this time of crisis, Real Madrid and other teams are putting sums on the table which can only be described as mad, and that’s a euphemism. These investments are sacrilegious and have nothing to do with the evolution of the economic situation. But that’s football.

It is estimated Real Madrid has spent more than 340 million dollars in the past few weeks bringing in stars like Ronaldo, Kaka and most recently Xabi Alonso.

BBC News.


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