BBC News with Jonathon Izzard.
After a quiet night in the Tibetan capital Lhasa, Chinese troops are on alert for any resumption of violent protests after what are being described as the largest and most violent anti-Chinese riots there for almost twenty years. Crowds of Tibetans set fire to buildings and vehicles in the old quarter of the city, chasing out ethnic Chinese traders and looting or destroying their shops. Reports quoting hospital sources say several people were killed and a number were injured. The Chinese government accused the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama of masterminding the protests in Lhasa. The official Xinhua News Agency said the disturbances were organized and premeditated by, what it called, the Dalai Lama’s Clique. A spokesman for the Dalai Lama dismissed the accusations as totally baseless. He called on China to stop, what he called, its brute force against the Tibetan people. The British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called for restraint.
“I think all European countries will be seeking clarification about what is actually happening on the ground. I think there are probably two important messages to go out, one is the need for restraint on all sides, but secondly, that substantive dialogue is the only way forward. We obviously see that there are real strains there, but they need to be addressed in the way that balances restraint and dialogue.”()
In the latest sign of the damaging fallout from the troubled housing sector in the United States, one of the biggest and oldest established investment banks there Bear Stearns has been given emergency funding jointly by the US government and another rival bank JP Morgan. The extent of the funding being provided to Bear Stearns has not been disclosed. Justin Webb reports from Washington.
On Wall Street, it was well-known that Bear Stearns was particularly exposed and it was rumored that the bank faced collapse. In the words of its president Alan Schwartz, “Amid this market chatter, our liquidity position in the last twenty four hours had significantly deteriorated.” The rescue deal involves another bank JP Morgan using funds guaranteed by the Federal Reserve Bank for twenty eight days. After that it’s possible the JP Morgan will take over Bear Stearns, but no deal is being done.
The US Defense Department says it’s captured an Afghan man believed to be a close associate to the head of al-Qaida, Osama Bin Laden. The Pentagon said the man, Muhammad Rahim, was seized last year. He was held by the CIA until being transferred this week to the American detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Kim Ghattas reports from New York.()
Mahhammad Rahim Rahamny was described by the Pentagon as a high-level member of al-Qaida. He was arrested in the summer of 2007. It’s unclear where he was detained and where he was being held. In a statement, CIA Director Michael Hayden said that Rahim was a personal facilitator and translator for Osama bin Laden. A spokesperson at the Department of Defense also said Rahim had helped prepare a hideout in the mountains of Tora Bora in Afghanistan for Osama Bin Laden, and helped the al-Qaeda leader escape a US operation to catch him in 2001.
World News from the BBC.
Polling has ended in Iran’s parliamentary elections. Voting had been extended because of, what the Interior Ministry called, the glorious turnout. But BBC correspondent in Tehran said many polling stations were quiet. Most opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadineijad were disqualified from the elections and our correspondent said many voters felt there was no candidate they could support.
The chief state prosecutor in Turkey has filed a petition in the Constitutional Court for the closure of the governing AK Party for engaging in alleged anti-secular activities. From Istanbul, David O'Byrne reports.
The case, which has been brought by chief prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, alleges that the AKP has become a focus for anti-secular activity. Pointing to recent legal changes restricting the sale of alcohol and the removal of a ban on female university students wearing headscarves, he said he was calling for the party to be closed down and for seventy of its leading figures, including the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, to be banned from politics for up to five years.
The Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos has confirmed that more than two and a half million dollars is being paid as a reward to a member of the left-wing FARC rebels who killed one of its leaders. The money is going to Pedro Pablo Montoya who murdered the senior FARC leader Ivan Rios and his girlfriend and then cut off the man’s right hand to take to the Colombian authorities to prove that he'd done it. Mr. Santos said although there was some opposition to rewarding a self-confessed murderer, the payment system was helping the government to fight the rebels.
The world football governing body FIFA has reaffirmed its opposition to international competitions being played at altitudes above 2750 meters. However, the new rule announced by the FIFA Executive Committee would allow for games to be played at altitudes higher than the stated maximum if teams agree and if the players are given time to acclimatize.