BBC news with Neil Nunes.
International condemnation of the Burmese military government has been mounting after security forces killed 9 people during the violence suppression of anti-government demonstrations. But there's been no direct criticism from Burma's main ally, China. President Bush has urged Beijing to use its influence to help bring about the transition to democracy in Burma. As Jonathan Beale reports now from Washington:
The Bush administration has been using its diplomatic clout to try to force Burma's military dictators into a corner. President Bush said the American people were standing in solidarity with what he called "the brave individuals who are protesting on the streets". In a meeting with China's Foreign Minister at the White House, Mr. Bush urged Beijing to use its influence on Burma. In New York Condoleezza Rice confronted representatives of the Burmese government at a meeting of Southeast Asian Nations. Afterwards she said that the US was determined to keep an international focus on what she called "the travesty in Rangoon".
Croats have reacted furiously to the verdicts in one of the most notorious cases trialed by the Hague Tribunal, the Vukovar Massacre of 1991. Despite prosecution calls for a life sentence, the former Yugoslavian army officer Mile Mrksic was handed down twenty years' imprisonment for failing to prevent the executions of some 200 people sheltering in the town's hospital. Another defendant was sentenced to 5 years for torture, while a third was acquitted. Zago Pavlovich was a paramedic in Vukovar hospital.
"I'm so angry. If you stole a car today, you'd get a harsher sentence than what they got for the biggest crime that was committed here in the past 15 years."
Turkey and Iraq have failed to agree on anti-terrorism pact targeting the banned separatists group, the PKK. Turkey wants the right for its security forces to crossing into Iraq on limited operations in pursuit of PKK fighters who are based there. As Sarah Rainsford reports now from Istanbul:
On Wednesday the word was this deal was done, that Iraq and Turkey had agreed the terms of their cooperation to root out and eradicate the PKK. Instead Iraq's Interior Minister says the talks will continue into a third day. He gave no details of the disagreement, but the stumbling block is likely to be the issue of "hot pursuit" raids into Iraq. Turkey wants to secure its troops the rights to follow PKK fighters across the border. But it's thought Iraq is demanding Turkey seeks formal permission for that each time.
The Georgian prosecutor says the country's former Defense Minister Irakly Okruashvili has been arrested on charges of extortion, money laundering and abuse of power. The arrest came two days after Mr. Okruashvili alleged that the country's President Mikheil Saakashvili had asked him to kill a prominent businessman.
World news from the BBC.
The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has signed a bilateral investment plan worth more than a billion dollars with the Bolivian President Evo Morales, as part of an effort to strengthen Iran's ties with left-wing leaders in Latin America. Our South America correspondent Daniel Schweimler has more:
The President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the Bolivian leader Evo Morales his "dear brother" and said his trip was the start of a deep relationship between the two countries. Mr. Morales responded with a promise that their nations would fight for life and humanity. Sweet words, but what Bolivia wants is financial help in exploiting its vast oil and natural gas reserves, while Iran is keen to find allies in Latin America, which shares its mistrust of the United States. The Bolivian opposition criticized the visit of the President of the state, they say, promotes terrorism, a view shared by many in Washington.
The environmental group the WWF says it will take at least two decades for new forests in areas of Greece destroyed by recent fires to grow back. The fires which killed 65 people raged across much of southern Greece in August. The WWF director in Greece Dimitris Karavellas told BBC that they would establish a group of lawyers to intervene if lands developers try to take advantage of the disaster.
"WWF will be taking on the more active, more aggressive watchdog role in monitoring exactly what is happening and intervening through legal experts where that is necessary. We don't intend to leave the situation to the assurances of the government alone."
A Colombian oil worker in southern Nigeria has been killed in a gun attack on a compound in Port Harcourt. The attack comes a few days after the main militant group in the region called off a truce with the Nigerian government.
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