BBC news 2010-11-29 加文本

BBC news 2010-11-29

BBC News with David Austin

Extracts from secret American diplomatic messages have been published by a number of newspapers around the world after the Wikileaks website defied an appeal from the US government not to release the material. The extracts come from a quarter of a million documents passing between the State Department in Washington and US diplomatic missions over the past three years. Among the revelations, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states have been urging the US to halt Iran's nuclear programme by any means, including military force. Here's our diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus.

This avalanche of cables from the internal, supposedly secure email switching system linking US embassies abroad with the State Department and Pentagon in Washington is a nightmare for US diplomacy. A White House statement noted in response that by its very nature, "field reporting to Washington is candid and often incomplete information. It is not an expression of policy," the statement goes on, "nor does it always shape final policy decisions." Now this may all be true. But world leaders do not expect to have their private conversations with US officials nor candid assessments of their capabilities and peculiarities publicised for all to see.

The White House has described the publication of the diplomatic cables as "reckless and dangerous". Both Democrats and Republicans condemned the release of the classified material. The Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said those responsible should face justice.

"The people at Wikileaks could have blood on their hands. We are at risk here from Iran, North Korea and other actors. We're at war. I mean, the world is getting dangerous by the day, and people who do this are low on the food chain as far as I'm concerned. If you can prosecute them, let's try."

Twelve of the 18 candidates running in the presidential election that's currently underway in Haiti have called for the vote to be cancelled. Mark Doyle reports from Port-au-Prince.

It was the most extraordinary press conference I've ever attended. One by one, the opposition leaders came in accompanied by their supporters. Huge cheers, chants and the singing of the national anthem took place even before the joint declaration was read out. The declaration called for the immediate annulment of these elections because of what the loose coalition of opposition candidates called the rigging and fraud perpetrated by the incumbent President Rene Preval and the man he wants to be his successor, Jude Celestin. The declaration also called on all of the men and women of Haiti to mobilise in peaceful protest against the elections.

Police in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro say they are now in control of one of the city's most violent areas. Heavily armed officers hoisted the Brazilian and police flags on the hilltop shantytown of Alemao, where hundreds of drug traffickers have been besieged for days after being expelled from other slums.

World News from the BBC

A huge financial rescue package for Ireland from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union has been agreed. The deal, worth around $113bn, was finalised at an emergency meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels. The ministers said the agreement would help safeguard financial stability across the eurozone. The Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen said the interest rates on the loans would be at an average of just under 6%.

"These loans will provide money that we had already planned to borrow on the international markets. That funding will now be available to Ireland at a cheaper interest rate than if we'd borrowed on those markets. Without these loans, the necessary tax increases and spending cuts would be far more severe, and they would be imposed far more quickly than is proposed in the government's National Recovery Plan."

Voters in Switzerland have backed a proposal for the automatic expulsion of non-Swiss citizens for certain crimes. In a referendum, around 53% of people agreed that those convicted not just of serious offences like murder but also benefit fraud should be deported. Opponents said this would contravene international treaties.

The Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who's been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, will not attend a summit of African and European leaders, which starts on Monday in Libya. Sudan's sudden withdrawal was announced by Libya's foreign minister, who said he had asked Mr Bashir to stay away because of European threats to walk out if the Sudanese leader was present.

Police in the United States say a fire at an Islamic centre in Corvallis in Oregon was started intentionally. The centre was an occasional place of worship for the Somali-born American teenager Mohamed Osman Mohamud, who was arrested on Friday for plotting to detonate a bomb at a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony. The fake bomb was part of a police sting. No one was injured.

BBC News