BBC news 2009-11-06 加文本

BBC 2009-11-06


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BBC News with David Legg.

The Palestinian president Mahmod Abbas has confirmed that he will not seek re-election in the presidential poll next January. He said he’d made that decision due to the lack of progress in the peace process. From Ramallah, Bethany Bell reports.

This isn't the first time Mr. Abbas has made such a threat and it’s by no means certain that these elections will actually take place. Palestinians are split geographically and politically. Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, says it won't take part in the vote. Some have speculated that this move by Mr. Abbas could be a negotiating tactic aimed at rallying western and Arab support. At the moment, there is no obvious replacement for Mr. Abbas. And without him, the prospects to the already faltering peace process would look even bleaker.

The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she looked forward to working with Mr. Abbas in any new capacity.

At least seven people have been killed and many others wounded in a shooting at the Fort Hood military post in the US State of Texas. One person has been arrested while another remains at large. Imtiaz Tyab reports.

According to US media reports, two men dressed in military uniform opened fire at the sprawling Fort Hood military post in Killeen, Texas. A dozen people have been wounded and an unknown number are dead. One suspect is believed to be in custody while another is said to remain at large. Fort Hood is one of the largest military posts in the world. More than 30,000 people are said to be confined to their base as officials try to secure the site. FBI agents are also understood to be on their way to investigate.

Officials at the United Nations Climate Conference in Barcelona have cast further doubt on whether a binding international agreement can be achieved at next month’s Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen. Matt Mcgrath has the details.

There are two key problems: one is the scale of the work that needs to be done to get an agreement on key issues like targets for emissions cuts and money for developing nations to cope with dramatic climate change; the other appears to be the lack of progress on climate legislation in the United States. A climate bill is currently being discussed in the Senate, but it's thought unlikely that it will be passed before the meeting in Copenhagen. Officials here are now talking about the possibility of a political agreement at the December meeting that will include targets on emissions, timetables and levels of financing. They could also include the timetable for a legally binding treaty to be completed most likely within six months to a year.

The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Morgan Tsvangirai has lifted a power-sharing boycott with President Robert Mugabe. Mr. Tsvangirai made the announcement at the end of a regional meeting attended by Mr. Mugabe in the Mozambiquan capital, Maputo. Mr. Tsvangirai gave Mr. Mugabe 30 days to fully implement the power-sharing agreement. Mr. Tsvangirai said he was disengaging from the coalition three weeks ago because of human rights abuses by Mr. Mugabe's party.

This is the World News from the BBC.

The deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has accused the interim authorities and their supporters in Congress of failing to adhere to the terms of the agreement signed last week to end the country's political crisis. Emilio San Pedro reports.

Mr. Zelaya, who was forcibly removed from office in June, was blunt in his assessment of the situation. In a BBC interview, he said he had followed the terms of the agreement to the letter of the law, but accused the interim authorities of failing to keep to their side of the bargain. And he called on the interim president, Roberto Micheletti, to force Congress to hold a vote on his reinstatement to power. The interim authorities see things differently and say the power-sharing agreement can go on without Mr. Zelaya's restoration, a view now shared by Washington, which brokered the deal.

Federal prosecutors in the United States have charged more people in New York implicated in the largest hedge fund inside a trading scheme ever seen on Wall Street. They include traders, lawyers and hedge fund managers. The investigation centres on a prominent New York firm, the Galleon Group, which once managed assets worth 7 billion dollars. The fund's billionaire founder and five others were arrested last month.

Judges at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague have appointed a lawyer for the former Bosnian Serb Leader Radovan Karadzic, who's on trial for genocide. Mr. Karadzic has represented himself so far, but has boycotted most of the proceedings, complaining he's had too little time to prepare.

British scientists have warned that the medical use in humans of nanotechnology, the manipulation of particles millions of times smaller than a pinhead, may damage the DNA or genetic building blocks of cells. The researchers observed that nanoparticles were able to damage the DNA and cells without crossing the cellular barriers that normally protect organs. Their findings raise questions about the safety of nanotechnology-based therapies.

BBC News.