BBC World News with John Jason.
The former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori has undergone medical tests in Chile in preparation for his extradition to Peru in the coming hours. Chile's Supreme Court had earlier ordered Mr. Fujimori's repatriation to face charges of corruption and human rights violations. Dan Collyns reports from Lima.
Amid chaotic scenes outside Chile's Supreme Court, Judge Alberto Chaigneau announced that the former Peruvian leader Alberto Fujimori would be repatriated to face two charges of human rights abuses and five of corruption. The decision comes at the end of a long and complex process, almost two years after Mr. Fujimori arrived in Chile from Japan where he'd been living since he fled Peru in 2000. The two human rights allegations date to the early 1990s when the newly-elected president cracked down on the Maoist guerrilla organization, the Shining Path.
Cuban state television has broadcast a prerecorded interview with the island's ailing leader Fidel Castro. They are the first television images of him for more than three months. Michael Voss reports from Havana.
Cuba's ailing leader Fidel Castro appeared on television in an interview with one of the country's senior journalists, Randy Alonso. His was weak and he spoke slowly and deliberately, occasionally with a slight tremor. The interview was about one of his most recent newspaper articles on international affairs, the risks to the global economy and criticisms of the United States. But what he said is seen here as less important than the fact that he's made an appearance.
Talks aimed at speeding up the deployment of international peacekeepers to the Sudanese region of Darfur have been taking place at the United Nations in New York. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is chairing a meeting of ministers from twenty six countries along with the head of the Africa Union, Alpha Oumar Konare. The ministers are also discussing an increase in humanitarian assistance to Darfur and are preparing for next month's peace talks between the Sudanese government and rebel groups. Laura Trevelyan reports from the UN headquarters.
Peace talks between the Darfur rebels and the Sudanese government are due to be held in Libya next month. But one of the most prominent rebel leaders, Abdel Wahid, says he won't attend, so getting the fragmented rebel groups to the table is one difficulty, then there's the deployment of 26,000 Africa Union and United Nations peacekeepers to Darfur. This is supposed to be a predominantly African force. But some of the African units who were offered up didn't have the right equipment.
Flood waters are beginning to subside in many of the African countries hit by floods in recent weeks. A relief effort is only just getting underway with aid agencies appealing for extra funding to deal with the devastation. United Nations has asked for $43 million for Uganda, one of the countries hardest hit and the International Red Cross has sent relief experts.
World News from the BBC.
A leaked report prepared for the American Embassy in Baghdad has given a damning verdict about the extent of corruption within the Iraqi government. It says a number of ministries are blatantly under the control of militias or organized criminals. The US report concludes that the Iraqi government is incapable of even basic enforcement of anticorruption laws.
The international drug company Merck has suspended work on an experimental vaccine that was regarded as one of the most promising in the fight against HIV, the virus that can lead to AIDS. Merck stopped testing the vaccine after a monitoring panel judged it to be ineffective. Here is Latron Neismare.
The experiment called 'STEP' began three years ago, enrolling 3,000 volunteers across the Americas. All of them were initially free from HIV, but they were at high risk of contracting the virus, most were homosexual men or female sex workers, and Merck says they were repeatedly counseled about how to reduce their risk of HIV infection. The Merck vaccine was the first major test of a new strategy to prevent HIV, making the body produce more of the crucial immune cell called killer T cells. Experts say the drug was one of the most promising in development. This failure has been described as a huge disappointment.
Consumer safety officials in the United States have announced the recall of about one million babies' cribs which have been linked to the deaths of two young children. The deaths are thought to have been caused by faulty installation of the Chinese-made cribs.
The Dutch government has decided that a referendum on the European Union's Reform Treaty will not be necessary. Two years after the people of the Netherlands rejected the treaty's forerunner "a constitution for the EU". That vote together with a similar one in France led to a political crisis and the constitution was eventually abandoned. The Dutch Cabinet said that the referendum was not required this time because the new treaty needed only parliamentary approval.
And that's the latest BBC World News.