BBC news 2010-12-14 加文本

BBC news 2010-12-14

BBC News with Marion Marshall

The Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has been dismissed while on an official tour of Africa. A statement from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announcing the move gave no reason. Marcus George reports.

The timing of Manouchehr Mottaki's sacking may have been sudden, but there's little doubt about its cause. There's been mutual distrust between the president and Mr Mottaki since the election of 2005, which brought Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power. Mr Mottaki was the campaign manager for Ali Larijani, one of the rival candidates. His departure rids President Ahmadinejad of a critic at close quarters, but the move may yet cause problems in a parliament that's increasingly unhappy with its presidency.

Soldiers have been deployed in Ivory Coast around the headquarters in Abidjan of Alassane Ouattara, the man recognised by the United Nations and the African Union as the winner of last month's presidential election. He's inside the building, a hotel protected by UN peacekeepers. Shots were fired when armed supporters of Mr Ouattara tried to chase away soldiers blocking roads to the hotel. The incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo, is still rejecting a transfer of power.

A judge in the American state of Virginia has ruled that President Obama's healthcare reforms, brought in earlier this year, are unconstitutional. Paul Adams reports.

In a 42-page ruling, the judge in Virginia concluded that forcing people to buy insurance, in his words, exceeds the constitutional boundaries of congressional power. It's a narrow ruling, but the individual mandate, as it's known, is arguably the most important provision of the reform bill passed in March. Without the money it generates when it comes into effect in 2014, other parts of the bill could fall apart. This is a significant legal shot across the administration's bows, and it won't be the last. The newly-empowered Republicans have vowed to repeal the bill, and it's likely the whole issue could end up in the Supreme Court.

The Swedish authorities say they believe they've identified the man who set off two bombs in Stockholm on Saturday. He's been named as Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, who was born in Iraq, grew up in Sweden and studied at university in England. Frank Gardner reports.

The motives propelling Taimour al-Abdaly, who attacked Stockholm on Saturday, are becoming apparent. He held a violent, radicalised view of Islam, and he was bent on what he saw as revenge for a Swedish cartoon insulting the Prophet Muhammad, and for the presence of Swedish troops in Afghanistan. What is less clear is where and when he became radicalised and whether he had any accomplices. British Muslims who knew him in Luton, where he had a family home, have spoken today of his unacceptable, extreme views.

The authorities in Sudan are investigating the public flogging of a young woman allegedly carried out by Sudanese police after video images of the punishment were circulated on the Internet. The identity of the woman and the reason for her punishment aren't known.

World News from the BBC

Russia has told the North Koreans it's deeply concerned at their uranium enrichment activities and they should stick to their promise to abandon their nuclear programme. At a meeting in Moscow, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his North Korean counterpart Pak Ui-chun that information about Pyongyang's creation of an industrial uranium enrichment capability was deeply worrying.

The site of the world's worst nuclear accident, Chernobyl, is to host official tours from next year. Ukraine's Minister of Emergencies, Viktor Baloha, made the announcement as he visited the decommissioned nuclear power station with the head of the UN Development Programme, Helen Clark. A spokeswoman said specialists were working out safe routes for visitors to learn more about the explosion.

The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has used the final day before a parliamentary vote of no confidence to appeal for support and lobby deputies. Defectors from the governing alliance say they can no longer tolerate a prime minister immersed in personal scandal and corruption allegations. But in a speech to the upper house, Mr Berlusconi warned them that allying themselves with the left would plunge the country into dark times.

"If there's an honest and real concern about the troubles the Italian economy is facing, the only possible way is to give this government a vote of confidence. A vote of support for the government would prevent Italy from entering a dark period of crisis, which it really doesn't need and could mark the beginning of a new political phase."

Twenty-six of the Chilean miners rescued in October after two months trapped underground are in Britain to watch Manchester United play Arsenal in the Premier League. The miners are at the Manchester United ground at the invitation of Bobby Charlton, one of the club's directors. One of the miners spoke of their honour of being at the famous Old Trafford ground, which he described as the "theatre of dreams".

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