BBC news 2010-09-18 加文本

BBC news 2010-09-18

BBC News with Jonathan Wheatley

In a historic speech at the houses of parliament on the second day of his visit to Britain, the Pope has said the world of faith and the world of secular rationality need one another for the good of civilization. He said those who called for the voice of religion to be silenced failed to understand the legitimate role of religion in public life. A little later, Pope Benedict publicly shook hands with an Anglican woman priest for the first time as he became the first Pope to enter Westminster Abbey. With more on the Pope's speech, here is our religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott.

This was one of the most important speeches of Pope Benedict's papacy, and he used it to warn that the very health of democracy that Britain had planted all over the world was in jeopardy because religion was being excluded from national debate. In a speech clearly intended to be heard in developed countries across the world, Pope Benedict warned that democracy relied on the use of reason, but that its reasoning was being distorted by ideology and changing social fashions. "Reason," said the Pope, "needed the light shed on it by religion with its unchanging teaching based on the fundamental nature of people."

The United Nations has appealed for millions of dollars more in aid to help Pakistan recover from last month's devastating floods. The UN says it needs an additional $1.5 billion, its largest-ever aid appeal for a natural disaster. Barbara Plett now reports from the United Nations in New York.

The money would be used to help up to 14 million people over a period of a year. It's targeted to fund projects carried out by 15 UN bodies and more than 100 aid agencies. Nearly $500 million has already been raised in a previous appeal, so the actual amount needed is $1.6 billion, which is "an enormous amount to deal with a mammoth task," said UN officials. Millions of people have lost everything. There is immense damage to infrastructure, and Pakistan's development prospects may be disrupted for years.

An American scientist and his wife have been indicted for allegedly trying to pass nuclear weapon secrets to Venezuela. The couple had worked as contractors at the Los Alamos nuclear research centre in New York. From Washington, here is Paul Adams.

This bizarre story appears to be the result of an elaborate sting, designed to catch a scientist with a long history of grievances against his employers at Los Alamos. The FBI's statement makes it clear that it's not accusing the government of Venezuela of anything. But for over two years, an undercover FBI agent posing as a Venezuelan official held a number of conversations with Pedro Mascheroni, a naturalized American of Argentine origin, about plans to develop a nuclear weapon. According to the FBI, in November 2008, the physicist handed over a coded 132-page document entitled A Deterrence Program for Venezuela and asked for almost $800,000 in return.

Paul Adams

World News from the BBC

A Polish court has ordered the release of an exiled Chechen separatist leader, Akhmed Zakayev, who's wanted in Russia on terrorism charges. He's been detained earlier on Friday, and the court said he was now being released until a decision was made on whether he should be extradited to Russia. Mr Zakayev denies involvement in terrorism.

The White House has said there are serious security concerns over Afghan parliamentary elections, which are being held on Saturday. The US special envoy to Afghanistan said the elections were likely to be flawed, but it was significant that they were taking place at all. There have been a number of kidnappings of people involved in the elections in recent days, with the latest victim, a candidate in the eastern Laghman province.

The head of intelligence for the Somali government, Mohamed Sheikh Hassan, has warned that militant Islamists trained in Somalia pose a great threat well beyond the country's own borders. Sheikh Hassan was responding to concern expressed by the head of Britain's domestic security service that it was only a matter of time before Britain suffered an attack at the hands of Somali-trained militants. Sheikh Hassan said he had proof that about 2,000 recruits from the United States, Europe and other foreign countries were fighting alongside the Somali insurgent group, al-Shabab.

"There are Somali people fighting alongside al-Shabab who have relations with them including people who are residents, students, who work among Somalis from America, Europe or other foreign countries. I cannot say it on air, but those things do exist."

Two businessmen have been found guilty in a British court of illegally selling human sperm. Eight hundred women signed up to use the online service which delivered sperm to their doors by courier. Two men were found to have made the equivalent of about $400,000 from the business, which they operated without a licence. They were charged after a woman complained about the uNPRofessional service.

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