BBC News with Jonathan Weakley
US intelligence agencies have revised their assessment of Iran's nuclear program, saying they now believe Iran halted its nuclear weapons program over four years ago as a result of international pressure. They say Iran appears to be less determined to develop nuclear weapons than the US intelligence community had thought. Jonathan Beale reports.
For the past few years, President Bush has been stepping up the rhetoric and the pressure on Iran in the belief that it’d secretly been developing a nuclear-weapons program. But in a dramatic turnaround, the latest assessment of America's intelligence agencies is that Iran halted that work more than 4 years ago. The report still states would you not know whether Tehran intends to restart its weapons program. While the White House has welcomed the report as a vindication of current policies, taking the threat seriously and stepping up diplomatic pressure, the Bush Administration once again faces the charge of exaggerating the imminent danger.
United Nations' head of Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes says the international response to the crisis in Somalia has been inadequate and that more needs to be done urgently. Fighting has continued in the Somali capital between Ethiopian-backed government troops and Islamic-led insurgents. Mr. Holmes speaking during a trip to the country described the situation in Somalia as terrible and outlined some of the challenges facing any humanitarian relief operation to the country.
They have faced so many problems over so many years because this conflict has been going on for 15 or 16 years. And they stay in an area, which is also vulnerable to drought and disease. So there are a lot of factors here, which combined to make this a dangerous humanitarian situation. I think we are beginning to get on top of some of it at least, but there is an awful long way to go and an awful lot of people would not reach it who are in rural areas for example.
The two main opposition leaders in Pakistan Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif say they intend to present a list of demands to President Musharraf ahead of a crucial general election scheduled for January. But after a meeting in Islamabad, they said they had not yet decided what the demands would be nor would they say whether their parties intend to take part in the poll. However Mr. Sharif said both leaders believed the elections could not be free and fair under the current conditions.
We had a very detailed discussion and we both firmly believe that the election will not be free and fair. This election is likely to be massively rigged because the survival of Mr. Musharraf solely depends on the fact that the election is rigged.
The United States has announced new travel and financial sanctions on senior associates of the Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe. The American Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, said the latest measures would be aimed at about 40 individuals connected with President Mugabe. She described them as the worst perpetrators of the regime’s brutality.
You are listening to the world news from the BBC.
The Kremlin has rejected western concerns about Sunday's parliamentary election, which ended in an overwhelming victory for President Putin's United Russia Party. International observers and some western governments have expressed concerns about the way the poll was conducted. Germany said Russia was not a democracy and it called on Moscow to move towards a multi-party system. United States said President Bush had no plans to telephone Mr. Putin to congratulate him.
The Iraqi army says it's retaken control of the village north of Baghdad in which 14 people were killed on Saturday during an attack by gunmen. General Saleem Karim said fighting between his troops and Al Qaeda militants in the village Duailiyah had come to an end. He said a number of militants had been arrested. Crispin Thorold has more.
Major General Sallem Karim from the Iraqi army's Fifth Division said that his forces had taken control of the area and arrested 16 militants. At least 14 villagers were killed in an attack on Saturday morning. Local sources suggested that members of Al Qaeda then stayed in the village. General Krim said that the Iraqi troops attacked the militants this morning with the support of American helicopters.
The French President Nicolas Sarkozy has denounced the colonial system as profoundly unjust during a visit to Algeria, one of his country's former colonies. Monseigneur Sarkozy said colonialism was the opposite of what the founding words that the French Republic stood for: Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood. Mr. Sarkozy is expected to sign a series of big deals with Algerian oil and gas companies during his visit.
Japanese researchers say they've conducted experiments, which show that chimpanzees have better short-term memories than humans. The researchers from Kyoto University said the chimps who had been taught the numbers 1 to 9 were able to recall a series of numerals, flashed in front of them on a screen more quickly than their human counterparts. One chimp proved twice as accurate as students in some of the tests.
BBC News