BBC news 2010-09-24 加文本

2010-09-24 BBC

BBC News with John Jason

President Obama has urged those attending the United Nations General Assembly to put aside pessimism and cynicism and support recently-relaunched Middle East peace talks. He said that while the parties themselves must answer what he described as the "call of history", the world should rally behind them. Mark Mardell at the UN has more on the speech by President Obama.

He urged the Israelis to continue the moratorium on building settlements and told the many friends of Palestine in the hall that they should turn their promises into deeds by normalizing relations with Israel and help build Palestinian institutions. He said recognition of Israel was key and the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, had been bold. The president said if the world reached towards what was best inside all of us, by this time next year the UN could have a new member, Palestine. The president doesn't lose anything by being high-minded and hopeful especially at the UN, but it may not just be cynics and pessimists who point out the many hurdles in the way of his lofty ambition.

The American delegation has walked out of the UN General Assembly during an address by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The walk-out came when Mr Ahmadinejad appeared to refer to conspiracy theory circulating after the September 11th attacks of 2001 in New York and Washington that the United States itself was implicated. The US described the remarks as "abhorrent".

There are signs that the crisis surrounding next month's Commonwealth Games in India may be easing. Within the past hour, the England Games Association has announced that the team will be travelling to Delhi. It's one of several countries to express concerns over security and reports of unfit accommodation. The decision by the English association followed assurances from the Indian authorities and after hundreds of extra workers were drafted in to get the athletes' village ready. Other team managers have spoken of tangible progress.

Security forces in Colombia say they have killed a military leader of the Farc rebel group. Reports said the leader, known as Mono Jojoy, died in an air raid. Jeremy McDermott reports from Colombia.

The Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos described the death of the man, known as Mono Jojoy, as the greatest blow to the Farc in their 46-year history. Within the rebel movement, he was a revered figure and the Farc's top general, who commanded the rebels' most powerful fighting division, the Eastern Bloc. In a large-scale operation, the security forces bombed a Farc camp in the mountains of La Macarena in the eastern province of Meta but were unable to confirm the death of the guerrilla leader until the army fought its way through the rebel units, which were protecting a base.

There has been fierce fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu, where Islamist militants have attacked possessions held by government forces and African Union peacekeepers. Health officials said 19 people were killed and more than 80 injured in the clashes. Some of the heaviest fighting was in the main Bakara market in south Mogadishu. The head of the ambulance service said most of those killed were civilians.

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A court in New York has sentenced a Pakistani scientist to 86 years in prison for trying to kill American agents and military officers. From Washington, Iain MacKenzie reports.

Dr Aafia Siddiqui was arrested in Afghanistan in 2008. It was claimed she was carrying documents related to bomb making as well as a list of potential targets in New York City. It was while being questioned at a police facility in the city of Ghazni that she got hold of a machine gun according to prosecutors. Siddiqui was taken to New York and put on trial despite medical reports that suggested her mental state was unstable. Her eventual conviction was met with protests in Pakistan, where many of Siddiqui's supporters claimed the charges against her had been fabricated.

Hundreds of thousands of French workers have taken to the streets on another day of strikes against government plans to raise the retirement age. Trade unions put the number of demonstrators at nearly three million. The police said the figure was about a million. Many rail services and flights were cancelled, and there were widespread school closures. President Sarkozy wants to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62.

Nicaragua and Honduras have issued storm warnings for part of their coasts after forecasters said a tropical depression over the Atlantic was likely to head their way. Scientists at the US National Hurricane Center said the depression was expected to strengthen to a tropical cyclone during the next two days.

The European Medicines Agency has called for the suspension of the use of the controversial diabetes drug Avandia. The drug, which is made by the British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, has been linked in some studies to an increased risk of heart failure. Meanwhile, its US counterpart, the Food and Drug Administration, has announced it will restrict access of the drug to new patients who cannot control their diabetes using other drugs.

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