BBC news 2010-09-28 加文本

2010-09-28 BBC

BBC News with Jonathan Izard

The American State Department has expressed disappointment at Israel's decision not to extend its moratorium on settlement construction. The administration's Middle East envoy George Mitchell is heading back to the region to hold meetings with Israelis and Palestinians. The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he won't rush into a decision about whether to abandon the peace talks over the issue. Kim Ghattas reports from Washington.

President Mahmoud Abbas has said he will consult with Palestinian leaders and then Arab foreign ministers at a regional meeting on 4th October. PJ Crowley, the State Department spokesman, said the US was hoping the Arab League would continue to support the negotiations. Despite weeks of international pressure, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not extend the moratorium. There is no deal in sight. But President Abbas is also under pressure not to walk out, and he will not want to be blamed for the failure of the talks.

Official media in North Korea say the youngest son of the leader Kim Jong-il has been given the rank of general. Analysts said the promotion of Kim Jong-un could be the start of a succession process. More from John Sudworth in South Korea.

Thought to be around 27 years old, Kim Jong-un has never been mentioned by North Korea's government-controlled media until now. His promotion to the rank of four-star general comes just a few hours before a rare national conference of the North Korean Workers Party, the first gathering of its kind in at least three decades. With the country's leader, his father Kim Jong-il visibly frail and sick, speculation has been mounting that the meeting is designed to officially anoint Kim Jong-un as his chosen successor.

The opposition in Venezuela has made significant gains in parliamentary elections, overturning the two-thirds majority that President Hugo Chavez's Socialist Party needs to pass major legislation without its support. The opposition says it won just over half the popular vote and supporters have been now celebrating. Will Grant reports from Caracas.

The chants of "we are the majority", opposition supporters greeted the results of the parliamentary election with jubilation. The parties under the Democratic Unity Table, an opposition coalition, had obtained a third of the seats in the National Assembly, enough to frustrate Mr Chavez's socialist ambitions for the next five years. For his part, Mr Chavez decided not to address his supporters from the balcony of the presidential palace, choosing to congratulate his supporters via Twitter instead.

The International Monetary Fund has given its strong backing to the British government's plan for a big squeeze on public spending to cut the country's record budget deficit rapidly. In an annual report on the British economy, the IMF praises the plans of the Conservative-led coalition government, saying they will greatly reduce the risk of a costly loss of confidence in the country's public finances.

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The British Foreign Secretary William Hague has warned Iran of the danger of pursuing the country's nuclear programme in defiance of world opinion. Speaking to the BBC after a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Mr Hague said he wanted Iran to enter into real negotiations over a peaceful nuclear energy agreement and not just play for time. Iran has consistently said its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

Officials in India who are making preparations for the Commonwealth Games say a fifth of the rooms being built to house athletes are still not ready. Cleaners and other workers are scrambling to tackle dirt, flooding and other problems in the athletes' village less than a week before the opening ceremony. Many in India wanted their hosting of the games to be a matter of great national pride, but correspondents say the delays have become hugely embarrassing.

The American actress Gloria Stuart, who played a shipwreck survivor in the film Titanic, has died at the age of 100. Peter Bowes reports from Los Angeles.

According to her family, Gloria Stuart passed away in her sleep at her home in Los Angeles. In Titanic, she played the elderly survivor Rose, who's portrayed by Kate Winslet as a young woman. The James Cameron film about the doomed luxury liner became the highest-grossing movie of all time. Her performance earned Ms Stuart an Academy Award nomination for best actress in a supporting role. Then 87, she was the oldest person ever to be nominated for an Oscar.

Gunmen have raided a police arsenal in northern Mexico, carrying off dozens of assault rifles as well as ammunition and bullet-proof vests. Officials said the attackers subdued several officers guarding the state police barracks in Chihuahua and forced them to open the armoury. Some reports said the raiders were in police uniform. An investigation is underway into how they managed to get into the complex without the alarm being raised. Chihuahua state on the border with Texas is one of the worst-affected by Mexico's drug-related violence.

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