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BBC news 2012-03-06

BBC News with Gaenor Howells

President Obama has been meeting the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss their shared concerns about Iran. The United States and Israel accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons, but they've differed over how to respond. Paul Adams reports from Washington.

Last year, Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu clashed publicly over the issue of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories. Their disagreements over Iran are rather less conspicuous but no less real. With Mr Netanyahu by his side, Barack Obama echoed his own speech to the pro-Israel lobby, saying all options were on the table to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. But he said he and Mr Netanyahu both preferred to resolve the issue diplomatically. For his part, Mr Netanyahu reminded the president Israel had the sovereign right to make its own decisions.

People fleeing the Syrian city of Homs have given the BBC detailed accounts of what they say are atrocities by the security forces. One man told our correspondent in Homs Paul Wood that he saw his own young son being brutally killed by soldiers.

The Ibrahim family told us they had witnessed a massacre. On Friday, in the Jobar district of Homs, Ahmed Ibrahim told me that 36 men and boys were taken away. Among them were four members of his own family, including his 12-year-old son, Hozaifa. All were dead now, he said, their throats cut. Laying flat behind some trees, he saw everything.

"One soldier held down each one of them with a boot; another came with a knife," he said. "I could hear their screams."

Ahmed Ibrahim talking to our correspondent in Homs.

In Washington, a senior American senator John McCain has called for US-led air strikes against the forces of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Addressing the Senate, Mr McCain said arming the opposition wasn't enough to save innocent lives.

"The only realistic way to do so is with foreign air power. Therefore, at the request of the Syrian National Council, the Free Syrian Army and Local Coordinating Committees inside the country, the United States should lead an international effort to protect key population centres in Syria, especially in the north, through air strikes on Assad's forces."

Russian riot police have broken up a protest in Moscow against the election of Vladimir Putin to the presidency, arresting dozens of demonstrators. Hundreds of people shouting slogans such as "Russia without Putin" had refused to leave Pushkin Square, where thousands had attended an opposition rally. Amongst those arrested was Alexey Navalny, a prominent anti-corruption activist.

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The leader of the youth wing of South Africa's governing ANC, Julius Malema, is to appeal against his expulsion from the party. A spokesman said the decision last week to expel him was unfair and not in keeping with ANC values. Mr Malema, who declined to speak or answer questions, was expelled for bringing the party into disrepute and sowing division. The Vice-President of South Africa, Kgalema Motlanthe, said he expected Mr Malema to continue his career.

"I'd hope that this does not mark the end of the youth league leader's political life. I'd think that it also offers him an opportunity to develop himself, to grow into a (more) better person in future."

India has banned all exports of raw cotton in a move apparently designed to control domestic prices and ensure a sufficient supply for local mills. India is the world's second largest producer of cotton. China is its biggest export market.

A member of parliament in Egypt has been expelled from his party after undergoing cosmetic surgery and then lying about it. The MP had said that injuries to his face were the result of an attack. Jon Leyne in Cairo takes up the story.

The newly elected MP Anwar al-Balkimy claimed to be the latest victim of the growing crime wave in Egypt. He said he'd been robbed as he drove on a Cairo to Alexandria road. He described how masked gunmen beat him when he refused to step out of his car, hence the bandages on his face. But then a doctor came forward to say that he had recently performed plastic surgery on the MP's nose and the MP had urged him to keep it secret. According to the strict Islamists of the Salafist movement, plastic surgery is forbidden. So when news reached his political party al-Nour, they expelled the MP.

BBC News