BBC news 2011-12-12 加文本

BBC news 2011-12-12

BBC News with Marion Marshall

The Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani says his country doesn't trust the United States and the feeling is mutual. Mr Gillani told the BBC it could be weeks before Pakistan lifts its blockade of Nato convoys carrying supplies to Afghanistan. Relations between the US and Pakistan have been in crisis since 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in a Nato air strike on two border posts last month. Mr Gillani said relations with the US must be improved.

"Yes, there is a credibility gap. We are working together, and still we don't trust each other. I think we have to improve our relationship so that for the better results we should have more confidence in each other."

The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says he's ordered an investigation into all allegations of fraud in last weekend's parliamentary election. Mr Medvedev made his statement on the social network Facebook, and 4,000 people used the president's page to respond with what in a random sample were mostly hostile comments. On Saturday, Russia saw its biggest protests yet against the governing party of Vladimir Putin. Our Moscow correspondent Daniel Sandford reports.

In the topsy-turvy world, that is, Russian politics, President Dmitry Medvedev's announcement was made on his Facebook page rather than through any formal Kremlin statement. He said that he'd given instructions for checks to be made on whether polling stations had complied with election laws. But there was nothing specific about who would conduct the limited investigation, and he gave no ground on the protesters' main demand that Sunday's elections to the Duma should be held again. Neither President Medvedev nor the more powerful Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has appeared at a public event for three weeks since Mr Putin was booed at a martial arts fight. The response to President Medvedev's Facebook announcement was thousands of angry comments from people saying they didn't believe him.

The former French prime minister and conservative politician Dominique de Villepin has announced he'll stand for president in the election next year. Mr de Villepin is a long-time rival of the incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy. Mr Sarkozy himself hasn't formally declared that he's standing but is widely expected to do so. Mr de Villepin was linked to a smear campaign against Mr Sarkozy but was cleared of all charges last year.

There's been a low turnout in Ivory Coast in the first parliamentary election since a presidential poll a year ago that led to months of violence. The vote was boycotted by supporters of the former leader Laurent Gbagbo, who faces charges of crimes against humanity in The Hague. President Alassane Ouattara said the election would help rebuild democracy.

"This parliament will be a real democratic parliament and one of consensus, and this parliament will contribute towards reinforcing democracy in our country."

World News from the BBC

Two bomb attacks in northeastern Kenya close to the Somali border have killed a member of the Kenyan security forces and wounded at least 10 others. Kenya has suffered numerous attacks since sending troops into Somalia in pursuit of militants from the Islamist group al-Shabab two months ago.

Syrian activists say they've received reliable reports of heavy fighting between the security forces and soldiers who've defected to the opposition. Sources inside Syria say dozens of new army defectors clashed with government forces in the southern province of Deraa. Jonathan Head reports from Istanbul.

The much talked-about spectre of civil war is already a reality in parts of Syria like the town of Busra al-Harir in the south, where an army unit loyal to President Assad and backed by tanks is reported to have fought for several hours today with armed opposition forces, leaving some military vehicles in flames and an unknown number of casualties. There were similar reports from the northwest close to the Turkish border. The city of Homs has experienced daily gun battles for several weeks. Human rights groups fear the army is now preparing an operation to retake control of the city. The opposition had also called for a general strike today - a strike for dignity, they called it, which appears to have been widely observed.

There are signs of serious disagreement between the two parties in Britain's coalition government over the outcome of Friday's European summit. The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats says he's told the Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron that the result of the summit was bad for Britain. Mr Cameron blocked a deal on the euro debt crisis at the summit, saying it was not in Britain's interests.

Britain's financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, will publish a report on Monday into the collapse of one of the country's biggest banks, which will be highly critical of its own role in the affair. The report says the regulator's supervision of the Royal Bank of Scotland was "inadequate" and "deficient".

BBC World Service News