BBC news 2010-01-03 加文本

2010-01-03 BBC

BBC News with Nick Kelly.

Parliament in Afghanistan has rejected more than two-thirds of President Hamid Karzai’s proposed new cabinet, dealing him a serious political blow. Those rejected include a former warlord who is accused of human rights abuses. Peter Greste reports from Kabul.

This has been a tortuous process with a painful outcome for President Karzai. The laborious secret ballot ran throughout Saturday, and by its close, only seven of his cabinet of 24 had managed to get the support of majority of parliamentarians. The rest, 17 in all, were rejected. They include Ismail Khan, a former warlord and perhaps the most controversial cabinet nomination. President Karzai wanted him to run the Ministry of Energy and Water. Guantu is the only female minister along with the nominations for justice, commerce,energy, economy, public health and communications.

A Somali man has appeared in court in Denmark charged with trying to murder a Danish artist whose cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed sparked riots and protests among Muslims around the world. Muslim organizations in Denmark have condemned the attack.Julian Isherwood reports from Copenhagen.

Rolled into court on a stretcher with a cover over his face to prevent him from being recognized, the man denied all charges brought against him over attempting to kill Kurt Westergaard and a policeman. KurtWestergaard was one of the 12 Danish cartoonists who in 2005 produced drawings of the Prophet Mohammed which incensed many Muslims. For the past four years,Mr. Westergaard has been under police protection because of several death threats.

President Obama has for the first time said a group linked to Al–Qaeda was behind the failed attack on an American airliner on Christmas Day.In his weekly radio and video address, he said the young Nigerian man Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had traveled to Yemen and had been equipped,trained and directed to carry out the attack. President Obama said all those involved would be held to account and the US government would continue to work closely with Yemen to fight terrorism.

"As president, I made a priority to strengthen our partnership with the Yemeni government, training and equipping their security forces,sharing intelligence and working with them to strike al-Qaeda terrorists. And even before Christmas Day we have seen the results.Training camps have been struck, leaders eliminated, plots disrupted. And all those involved in the attempted act of terrorism on Christmas must know, you too will be held to account."

Villagers in northwest Pakistan have been mourning the victims of a suicide attack on spectators at a sports event. More than 90 people died, many more were wounded, by the explosion at a volleyball tournament near the town of Lakki Marwat on Friday. The United States condemned the attack and said it would continue supporting Pakistan’s efforts to combat extremism and bolster democracy. For his part, the Pakistani President Asif Zardari said such attacks wouldn’t weaken his government’s resolve to fight terrorism.

World News from the BBC.

A town in central Somalia has been captured by Islamic militants of Al-Shabab. At least 10 people were killed during fighting for the town to Dhusamareb. It had been held by Ahlu-Sunnah, a group that follows a Sufi form of Islam which is rejected by Al-Shabab.

Pirates have hijacked two more ships off the Somali coast, bringing to four the number of vessels seized this week. The latest targets were an Indonesia-owned chemical tanker heading for India, and a British-flagged cargo ship carrying cars from Singapore to Saudi Arabia. The European Union's anti-piracy task force said the car transporter was well outside the area patrolled by its warships.

The son of the late dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri has urged the Iranian authorities to reach a compromise with the opposition to avoid what he called catastrophic consequences.Speaking by phone from his home in Qom, Saeed Montazeri said Iran’s rulers should come to their senses and take the path of national reconciliation. His statement echoed that of the opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi who urged the government on Friday to calm the situation by accepting people’s rights to peaceful protest and introducing reforms.

And Sweden is issuing licenses to permit wolf hunting for the first time since the 1960s. The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has decided that 27 wolves can be shot between now and mid-February. James Rodgers reports.

Having waited almost half a century for the right to shoot wolves,Swedish hunters have been out in large numbers. Radio Sweden’s website has reported that more than half of the permitted number of wolves has already been killed on only the first day of a season that is due to last until Feb, 15th. The 27 wolves which can legally be shot represent just over 10% of Sweden's wolf population. The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation has criticized the decision, arguing that the wolf is an endangered species.

BBC News.