BBC news 2010-12-08 加文本

BBC news 2010-12-08

BBC News with David Austin

Hours after the founder of the Wikileaks website, Julian Assange, surrendered to the authorities in Britain, a court in London ordered him to remain in custody while it decides on his possible extradition to Sweden, where he faces allegations of sexual offences. Mr Assange denies the accusations. Jon Brain was in court.

He was asked if he understood that he could consent to being extradited to Sweden. He said he did understand that, but he did not give his consent. He'll be fighting this extradition. There'll now be a full hearing in a week's time when the arguments will be laid out on both sides. His lawyer says he'll be robustly resisting any attempts to extradite him, and he says they will use the option, if necessary, of appealing to a higher court even if this court decides in favour of the Swedish authorities.

Meanwhile, another credit card company Visa has suspended dealings with Wikileaks. MasterCard and PayPal had already done the same. Wikileaks has outraged Washington by releasing thousands of secret American documents.

The West African regional bloc Ecowas has suspended Ivory Coast because of the failure of the incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo to accept that he lost last month's election. At a special summit in Nigeria, Ecowas recognised Alassane Ouattara as the Ivory Coast's president-elect and called on Mr Gbagbo to yield power without delay. Our correspondent John James in Abidjan says that Mr Gbagbo shows no signs of bowing out.

If you look at the election results, Ouattara seems to have won slightly more votes in the election itself. But in terms of who holds the power, Laurent Gbagbo has been in charge for the last few years, so he's got that continuity of control over the institutions of the state. He's certainly still got the backing of the army, of the police force, the gendarmerie, and control of the state television as well, which is really important here, given that (international) access to the international media is limited. So at the moment, he seems to be more in charge on the ground, but internationally, the regime is increasingly looking very isolated.

European Union finance ministers have decided not to provide any extra money for an existing trillion-dollar bailout fund for eurozone countries that might get into financial trouble. The IMF had called for the EU to do more.

A senior US official has told the BBC that the Obama administration is suspending efforts to persuade the Israeli government to freeze settlement building in occupied Palestinian territory. Both sides have been invited to talks in Washington next week. From Washington, Kim Ghattas reports.

The Obama administration last month offered Israel a sizable package of incentives, including jet fighters and security guarantees, in return for an extension of Israel's moratorium. The Palestinians were refusing to participate in peace talks while building continued. A second American official said the administration had determined that the moratorium extension was not the best basis to resume talks. But it's unclear how the US is planning to proceed now.

World News from the BBC

A bomb blast in the Indian city of Varanasi has killed a girl and injured at least 30 other people. Police say a small, improvised bomb in a milk canister exploded on one of the ghats, the stone staircases which allow worshippers to descend to the River Ganges to bathe. The Islamic militant group, Indian Mujahideen, says it carried out the attack.

An investigation into the cholera epidemic in Haiti is reported to have blamed United Nations peacekeepers from Nepal. The study by a French medical professor has been submitted to the French government and the UN. Barbara Plett reports from the UN in New York.

Reports say the French disease expert concludes the most likely explanation for the cholera epidemic is contamination from a base of UN Nepalese troops, located on the river system where the epidemic broke out. A UN spokesman called this "one report among many" on the topic and said the mission in Haiti has neither accepted nor dismissed the findings, but he said it is taking them seriously and will follow up on any additional information, consulting with a broad range of specialists. Accusations against the peacekeepers led to violent demonstrations in Haiti last month, but the UN continues to say there is no scientific evidence they brought cholera to the country.

A Brazilian football star has been jailed for four and a half years for abducting and assaulting a former lover who's now presumed dead. Bruno Fernandes, the goalkeeper for Brazil's most popular club, Flamengo, was found guilty by a court in Rio of kidnapping Eliza from movie and forcing her to take abortion-inducing drugs before releasing her last year.

One of the largest universities in Bangladesh is cleaning up its dining hall after protests by angry students about the food. On Sunday, a student found rat meat and a rat's head in the chicken curry he was eating for lunch in Rajshahi University in the northwest. As news spread, about 300 students staged a demonstration. The head chef has now been suspended and handed to police. A drive to kill all remaining rats in the dining hall is now underway.

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