BBC News with Jonathan Weekley
Polls close shortly in South Carolina, the latest presidential primary in the United States with Democratic Party voters turning out in very large numbers. The black Senator, Barack Obama, is expected to do well in the state where African Americans make up about half of Democratic voters. But their support of Mr. Obama is not guaranteed, with many women in particular speaking positively about his main rival, Hillary Clinton. The last days of their campaign in South Carolina saw the emergence of the race issue with unusually pointed exchanges between the two candidates. Kevin Connolly reports.
The campaigning in South Carolina has taken on a new edge of vitriol. The Clinton camp portrays Senator Obama as slippery, inexperienced and thin-skinned. His supporters complained about the nastiness of the battle-hardened Clinton election machine and run a radio ad that says Senator Clinton would say anything but change nothing.
The Afghan government has confirmed that the British politician Paddy Ashdown, the former high representative for Bosnia, is not its preferred candidate for the new role of United Nations envoy in Afghanistan. The Afghan ambassador to the UN, Zahir Tanin, said in a BBC interview that while his government held Lord Ashdown in high regard, it would prefer the job to go to a British General, John McCall. James Robbins reports.
Lord Ashdown is not commenting nor is the UN which makes the appointment. But this disagreement is important. It's a symptom of far wider tensions between President Karzai and Britain. In the past few days, the president has criticized the performance of British troops fighting the Taliban in Helmand Province. President Karzai apparently sees Lord Ashdown as too strong a figure, who could look like a rival. But equally, there is unease in London and Washington about the president's political authority. The hope had been that Lord Ashdown could help bolster the entire international effort in Afghanistan through NATO and the EU, as well as the United Nations.
Egypt has said that it will invite the rival Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, for separate talks aimed at resolving the unrest and its border with the Gaza Strip. At least 700,000 Palestinians have streamed into Egypt since militants blasted open the border four days ago, breaking a blockade by Egypt and Israel. The Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said members of the Egyptian security forces were being injured in clashes on the border and he warned Palestinians not to abuse Egypt's hospitality.
"These provocations cause us concern and our Palestinian brothers should note that the Egyptian decision to host them and ease their suffering should not result in threats to the lives of our sons in the Egyptian forces.
The prominent Palestinian leader, George Habash, a long-time rival of Yasser Arafat has died in Jordan at the age of 81. Reports say he died from a heart attack. Mr. Habash founded the radical militant group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine 40 years ago.
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The former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, who is in Kenya, says he’s seen evidence of gross and systematic human rights abuses in the Rift Valley where more than 600 people have been killed in the ongoing violence, following last month's disputed elections. Mr. Annan called for an investigation to the communal clashes.
"It's essential that the facts be established and those responsible held to account, and it is important, we cannot accept that periodically, every five years or so, the sort of incident takes place, and no one is held to account. Impunity cannot be allowed to stand."
He said there needs to be fundamental changes to Kenya and its institutions to prevent a repetition.
The French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is in Rwanda for talks with President Paul Kagame on ways to improve relations between the two countries, which broke diplomatic ties a year ago. He is the most senior French official to go there since ties were broken. Long-term mistrust developed between France and Rwanda after the Rwandan genocide in 1994. President Kagame has accused France of supporting Rwandan Hutu militants in the period leading up to the killing of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
The man accused of a huge share dealing fraud in France Jerome Kerviel has been taken into police custody for questioning. Police are investigating allegations that he hid losses of 7 billion dollars in speculative trading at the second largest bank in France, Societe Generale. They've searched the bank's headquarters and Mr. Kerviel's home in Paris.
Trade ministers meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland say they hope to conclude the long-delayed Doha world trade talks by the end of the year. The Doha Round and Negotiations began seven years ago but stalled mainly because of differences between rich and developing countries over agricultural subsidies and import tariffs on industrial products.
BBC News.