BBC News with Dee Sebastian.
Pakistan has accused the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of meddling in its internal affairs. The complaint came after Mr. Ban on Monday expressed deep concern over President Pervez Musharraf's imposition of emergency rule in Pakistan. The Pakistani ambassador to the UN Munir Akram met Mr. Ban and told him Pakistan was committed to the rule of law and democracy. And the Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has challenged General Musharraf to hold elections as scheduled in January, and to step down as army chief. Ms. Bhutto, a former Prime Minister, said she was ready to join with all political parties to fight emergency rule.
“All the oppositions have already united, our goal is the same, and our destination is the same. We all want a restoration of democracy and we want that through fair, free and impartial elections. I've spoken to leaders of several political parties and we are working out how we can all proceed ahead the same goal.”
A report from a United Nations body has warned that private security firms working in conflict zones are similar to modern-day mercenaries. It says they often operate with impunity. The UN working group on mercenaries says governments need to make sure that those employed by private security firms abide by the law. It speaks of a mushrooming of private military and security companies especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. Imogen Foulkes reports from Geneva.
The UN working group is concerned about what it calls the mushrooming of private military and security companies especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, where it says governments and occupying powers are outsourcing jobs which would normally be done by the armed forces. The report warns that these private companies are operating without supervision or accountability.
The French President Nicolas Sarkozy is in Washington for his first official talks with President Bush since being elected earlier in the year. It has been seen as marking a new chapter in relations between the two countries after the previous French President Jacques Chirac opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq. Nick Chiles reports.
Suddenly, the French leader looks like Mr. Bush's best European friend. Mr. Sarkozy has been almost self-consciously shaking things up in French foreign policy and especially in terms of rebuilding ties with Washington, and George Bush seems happy to reciprocate, after the departure of his erstwhile closest ally, Britain's Tony Blair. Indeed with his successor, Golden Brown, clearly standing more aloof. French and British relations with Washington seem to be heading in opposite directions.
Indigenous groups from the North of Argentina have lodged a formal complaint against the Argentine government after more than 20 people died from malnutrition in recent months. They said state resources for housing, health, education and clean water often don't reach them. Correspondents say the situation is particularly grave near the border with Paraguay.
World News from the BBC.
There has been strong international condemnation of the suicide attack in northern Afghanistan on Tuesday, which killed and injured dozens of people, many of them children. A White House official said the attack was a despicable act of cowardice. Among European expressions of regret, Germany said the attack was aimed at scaring off international help to rebuild Afghanistan. The attack targeted a delegation of MPs who were visiting a town in the province of Baghlan. Afghan MP Sofia Sediky survived the attack and witnessed many casualties.
“The small children, they were just one on the top of the others. And the others are in your looking here, a bloody you got, And it was blood and blood everywhere.”
King Mohammed of Morocco has strongly condemned the visit by the Spanish Monarch to the disputed Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the north Moroccan coast, saying it hurt the feelings of the Moroccan people. In a rare statement read out in cabinet, King Mohammed said the unprecedented visit by King Juan Carlos of Spain was offensive and jeopardized future relations between the two countries. Morocco has long been demanding control over two enclaves which were first settled by Spain some 400 years ago.
Queen Elizabeth has formally opened a lavishly refurbished London railway terminal St. Pancras, for the new high speed link to Paris and Brussels. It has been extended to accommodate the Eurostar service to mainland Europe. She congratulated the developers for modernizing the terminal whilst preserving its heritage.
“My warmest congratulations go to everyone involved in this project, which is a wonderful illustration of what can be achieved through working in partnership, and it says a good deal about how we can take a 21st century approach whilst the same time having due consideration for our heritage.” Britain's Queen Elizabeth.
BBC News.