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BBC news 2016-02-13

Hello, I’m Julie Candler with the BBC news.

The Syrian government's representative Bashar al-Jaafari blamed the opposition for the disruption. The United Nations has called a temporary halt to talks aimed at ending the war in Syria. The UN envoy Staffan de Mistura insisted the effort to negotiate a settlement in Geneva hadn't failed and would resume on February 25, but he said more work needed to be done. One of the Syrian opposition negotiators Basma Kodmani criticized what she called the heavy airstrikes that Russia had launched even as the talks were meant to be taking place, and said there needed to be a more robust response.

"We were confident because we had received written assurances from Washington that’s coming to Geneva was a meaningful that the hope was there, that there was enough hope for us to come over and really engage in good faith. That is really what happened. And we are very very surprised that today we only have statements in response. We hope to see something more than that." The Syrian government's representative blamed the opposition for the disruption.

France has accused President Assad and his allies including Russia of torpedoing the Syrian peace talks. The United States has also criticized Russia saying its airstrikes against civilian targets were hindering the peace process. The US State Department's spokesman is John Kirby.

"We call on Russia to focus their military energy in Syria on Daesh, a common enemy to the entire international community, and not on the opposition, also innocent civilians."

The US Republican presidential contender Donald Trump has accused his rival Ted Cruz of cheating his way to victory in the Iowa caucuses. In a tweet, Mr. Trump accused Mr. Cruz of fraud and called for a rerun. He was referring to an email from Cruz's campaign staff which implied his Republican rival Ben Carson was about to withdraw and that his supporters should be urged to vote for Mr. Cruz instead.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has pressed the start button on an experimental reactor designed to create clean energy through nuclear fusion. A small amount of hydrogen gas was held in a magnetic cage and superheated with microwaves. For a fraction of a second, the gas transformed into plasma at a temperature of 80 million degrees Celsius. Professor David Anderson said putting the theory of replicating the power of the stars into practice to create limitless energy is the greatest challenge.

"We know the fusion process works. We have stars in the sky. We have generated fusion energy in two experiments to date, so we really need to move now into a situation where we can try to take the scientific advances and push them into more of a practical application."

World News from the BBC.

A Libyan intelligence official has told the BBC that commanders from the Islamic State group have moved to the country from Syria and Iraq in recent months. Ismail Shukri, the head of intelligence in the city of Misrata, said there had also been an influx of IS fighters. He said it was a result of the pressure the organization was under in the Middle East. Mr.Shukri said IS regarded Libya as a safe haven.

A judge in the American state of Pennsylvania has ruled that the comedian Bill Cosby can stand trial on charges of sexual assault. Judge Steven O’Neill dismissed claims by Mr. Cosby's lawyer that he had been granted immunity from prosecution by a former district attorney a decade ago. The case will now move to a preliminary hearing in which prosecutors will have to demonstrate that they have enough evidence. Bill Cosby is accused of assaulting the woman at his home in 2004. James Cook reports.

"For decades,Bill Cosby was one of the biggest stars in the United States, affectionately nicknamed America's Dad. That image was ruined when claims of sexual assault by more than 50 women came to light. But the 78-year-old is facing one charge of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his home in Philadelphia in 2004. Lawyers for Cosby argued that he had been granted immunity by a prosecutor who had first investigated the case a decade ago. Judge Steven O’Neill rejected that argument."

The Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has called on the country's citizens to work together to try to eliminate the mosquito that transmit the Zika virus. Ms. Rousseff urged Brazilians to join more than 200,000 soldiers on Saturday to carry out a mass clean of homes, offices and areas where the insects breed.

The Anglican Dean of Brisbane has offered his cathedral as sanctuary to families threatened with deportation under Australia's asylum seeker policy. Dean Peter Catt said the church felt compelled to act to protect the migrants from the risk of being abused in the remote detention center.

BBC news.