BBC news with Hartifor Parton.
The United States has issued travel bans on more than thirty additional members of the Burmese military government because of the violence suppression of pro-democracy demonstrations. The measures mark the latest tightening of a ten-year-old sanctions' regime. Latest reports from the former Burmese capital Rangoon say the military appears to have succeeded in limiting the scale of the protests there, but there have been signs of the protests spreading to other cities. The United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari is, meanwhile, on his way to Burma for talks. The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she hopes the Burmese authorities will not obstruct his mission.
"We are pleased that ambassador Gambari is going to go out on behalf of the Secretary General. We are unanimous in insisting that the regime in Burma receive him and accede to all of his requests, including to see Aung San Suu Kyi and to talk to members of the political opposition."
President Bush has once again made it clear that he is opposed to internationally binding caps on greenhouse gas emissions. Addressing a gathering he called in Washington of 16 major polluting nations, Mr. Bush said the fight against climate change mustn't impede economic growth. Roger Harrobin reports.
Mr. Bush gave his strongest statement so far, accepting that climate change was being driven by emissions from mankind. He said the United States wanted to work within the framework of the United Nations to fix a long-term global goal for cutting emissions of greenhouse gases. He outlined the large American investments in clean technology and called on Europe to follow. And he urged Japan and Europe to join him in setting up a global fund to transfer clean technology to poor nations.
A Syrian cleric Sheikh Mahmoud Abou al-Qaqa has been shot dead in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo after Friday prayers. It's been widely reported that he was suspected of recruiting foreign fighters to travel to Iraq. Crispin Thorold reports:
Sheikh Mahmoud Abou al-Qaqa was killed as he was leaving Friday prayers in a mosque in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. An unidentified man fired several bullets into his chest. After chase, the gunman was arrested by the Syrian authorities. Sheikh Mahmoud Abou al-Qaqa was widely reported to have been involved in the recruitment and training of foreign fighters destined for Iraq. He was said to have used his mosque in Aleppo as a base for his activities. The cleric always denied any involvement with insurgency.
The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has ordered what she is calling, "a serious and comprehensive review" of her department's security practice in Iraq. The announcement follows an incident earlier this month involving the private security firm Blackwater, in which 11 Iraqis were killed. The review will be carried out by a penal of outside experts who are due to travel to Baghdad this weekend. The State Department spends tens of millions of dollars every year employing private security firms in Iraq.
BBC News.
Campaigning has ended in Ukraine before Sunday's general election intended to end months of political deadlock. The early poll was called after a power struggle between the pro-western President Victor Yushchenko and the Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych. Stephen Evans reports.
Thousands of people attended rallies on the streets of the capital Kiev as the main parties made a last push before the vote on Sunday. The latest opinion polls put the party of the Prime Minister, Victor Yanukovych, narrowly in the lead. He is promising to bring stability and prosperity to Ukraine and urging voters to throw out the advocates of The Orange Revolution, the mass protests which enabled Victor Yushchenko to become President. But the Orange camp, which has been riven by infighting since then is trying to make a fresh start. Mr. Yushchenko says he's now put aside his differences with the former Prime Mminister Yulia Tymoshenko and they've urged the reformists to unite for victory.
The Serbian government and ethnic Albanian representatives from the * province of Kosovo have held their first direct talks on the future of the province at the United Nations, but have failed to make any breakthrough. The BBC correspondent to the UN says the two sides agreed to meet again in October. The head of the meeting, the Kosovo Albanians, were continuing to insist on full independence. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the UN General Assembly there could be no unilateral solution.
The settlement of the Kosovo problem is only possible within the framework of international law based on negotiations. Unilateral steps will not lead to a lasting peace and will create the risk of destabilization in the Balkans and other regions.
Togo has issued an urgent appeal for food and medicine from the international community to help its own efforts to deal with the recent flooding which has now affected almost half of the countries in Africa. Twenty three people are confirmed dead in Togo with 20,000 others left homeless.
BBC News.