BBC news 2009-12-11 加文本

BBC 2009-12-11

BBC News with Ally Macue.

France, Britain and the Untied States have warned Iran that time is running out to avoid new sanctions over its nuclear program. After the meeting of the UN Security Council, the French ambassador said this was Iran’s last chance to begin negotiations. From New York, here is Barbara Plett.

Our reporter to the Security Council said Iran appeared to have violated an existing arms embargo twice in the past three months. And frustration over Iran’s nuclear program is building momentum towards further sanctions as the year draws to a close. The envoys of France, Britain and the United States all expressed frustration over the failure to win an agreement on a proposal dealing with Iran’s enriched uranium, aimed at easing concerns that it’s trying to build a nuclear weapon. Tehran strongly denies that it is, but the envoys warned that the window for negotiations was closing.

President Obama has defended the right of the US to wage what he called Just Wars as he received his Nobel Peace Prize. In his acceptance speech, he said he would not stand idol in the face of threat to American people. He also said that although he admired the nonviolent tradition of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, there were times when the use of force was not only just necessary, but morally justified.

I do not bring with me today a definitive solution to the problems of war, what I do know is that meeting these challenges will require the same vision, hard work and persistence of those men and women who acted so boldly decades ago, and will require us to think in new ways about the notions of just war and the imperatives of a just peace.

The Nobel Peace laureate from 2003, Shirin Ebadi, says she’s still being harassed by the Iranian authorities. She told the BBC that her bank account and her husband’s were still frozen and her pension was not being paid. Last month, Ms Edabi reviewed that the Peace Prize medal had been taken from a safe deposit box in Iran. Earlier today, the Foreign Minister of Swiss and Norway criticized the Iranian government for the way Shirin Ebadi had been treated.

The day after Britain announced measures to curb banks bonuses payments, one of the largest investment groups in the US, Goldman Sachs, says its top executives will not receive any cash rewards this year. Instead, all bonuses will be in the form of shares. Andrew Walker reports.

The Goldman Sachs’ move is in line with many governments for bonuses to be paid in a way that reduces the incentive to take risks. Goldman’s top executives will get theirs in shares which they wouldn’t be able to sell for five years. But the change may not be that radical and practical because Goldman executives already have shares as a large part of their pay and tend not to sell them quickly. In addition, the statement says only how they will be paid not how much. If it turns out to be an amount that looks generous to the public, they still face criticism.

World News from the BBC.

The Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been questioned in Parliament for four hours about the car bombs that killed 127 people in Baghdad on Tuesday. The section was held behind closed doors. Natalia Antelava reports from Baghdad.

It couldn’t have been an easy meeting, the Prime Minister was summoned to explain just how vehicles full of explosives could get through check points that they are supposed to protect Baghdad. Mr Maliki, who’s under a lot of pressure, left parliament without commenting. The summon peace who attended the section, said the Prime Minister spent a lot of time defending the security services. The problem he told the legislators was that the police in the army are still infiltrated by insurgents.

The Prime Minister of Israeli, Benjamin Netanyahu has offered Jewish settlers more funds and other new benefits a day after thousands of settlers protested against limited freeze on new building in West Bank settlement. The protest was the biggest show of defiance by the settlers so far. They accused Mr Netanyahu of giving in to US pressure over the 10-month halt on new residential building which is aimed at persuading the Palestinians to renew peace talks.

115 people have been arrested across Europe on suspicion of child sex offences on the internet. The arrests followed a 2-year investigation by EUROPOL, the European Union’s Law Enforcement Organization. The investigation identified five children as victims of sexual crimes all are now reported to be saved.

The commander of European Union’s anti-piracy force of Somalia says he’s considering widening its patrol area as pirates increase the range of their attacks. Rear Admiral Peter Hudson says some vessels have been attacked more than 1800km from the Somali coast meaning they are closer to India than Africa. He says he’s consulting his military and political superiors about extending the range of his patrols.

BBC News.