BBC News with Zoe Diamond



The Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says his Movement for Democratic Change came close to an agreement with the governing ZANU-PF Party that would have removed President Robert Mugabe from power. Mr. Tsvangirai told the BBC that his party was approached by the president’s representatives a day after the disputed elections in March. He said they had proposed a government of national unity but the talks came to a halt after three or four days.



"We are prepared to consider the issue of an inclusive government, including some members of Zanu-PF, in fact, they were suggesting how many and we are talking about a panel from which we were going to choose."



Earlier Mr. Tsvangirai called for the South African President Thabo Mbeki to be replaced as mediator in the Zimbabwean political crisis.



Kenya's new Prime Minister Raila Odinga has said the country should consign its past failures of grand corruption and tribalism to the history books. Mr. Odinga was speaking as a power-sharing government took office in Nairobi following months of unrest over disputed elections that cost hundreds of lives. President Mwai Kibaki said everyone recognized that the individual interests must not override the greater goods of the nation. "I urge all of us to consider today as a fresh start for our country towards lasting peace, prosperity and equitable development." Responding to an appeal by Mr. Odinga, the outlawed Mungiki sect said it was calling off protests that had led to the deaths of at least fourteen people in recent days.”



Pope Benedict has celebrated an open-air mass at a baseball stadium in Washington, as he continues his six-day visit to the United States. In front of more than 40,000 people, he made further attempts to condemn the sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic clergy in the US. He said no words of his could describe the pain and harm inflicted on the victims. "Great efforts have already been made to deal honestly and fairly with this tragic situation, and to ensure that children can grow up in a safe environment. These efforts to protect children must continue. I encourage each of you to do what you can to foster healing and reconciliation, and to assist those who have been hurt. Also, I ask you to love your priests.” To cheers，he went on to speak in Spanish reflecting the large Latino presence in the congregation.



A new poll by the BBC suggests that the majority of British people fear that racial and ethnic tensions in the country could lead to violence. More than half said Britain had too many immigrants and wanted foreigners to be encouraged to leave. Britain's Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said that the government understood that immigration was top of the list of voters' concerns.



This is Zoe Diamond with the latest world news from the BBC.



The United Stated and Britain have expressed their continuing concern about Iran's nuclear program. Speaking after talks with President Bush at the White House, the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Britain was talking to other European Union countries about extending EU sanctions against Iran. Mr. Bush said anyone who believed Iran's assurances that it had no intention of making nuclear weapons was naive. Kevin Connolly reports.



President Bush rejected the idea that Tehran interested only in civilian energy production, not producing a nuclear weapon as naive. There was no real sign of any hint of possible future military action against Iran. The talk was of tougher sanctions rather than the air strikes. Mr Bush had firm words, too, for Robert Mogabe, Zimbabwe, referring scathingly to its failure to publish the results of recent elections. He challenged Mr. Mogabe to put the figures in the public domain.



A suicide bomber has killed at least twenty people in an attack in the southwestern Afghan province of Nimruz. The attack took place in a busy market near the main mosque in the provincial capital Zaranj. More than 30 people were injured, most of them civilians. It's thought the suicide attacker was targeting the district police chief who was killed in the blast.



The president of Ecuador Rafael Correa has warned the Colombian rebel group FARC that any future incursion into Ecuadorian territory would be considered an act of war. Mr. Correa said that if Ecuador's forces discovered FARC patrols or camps in Ecuador, they would respond. Ecuador cuts diplomatic relations with Bogota after Colombian forces carried out a cross-border raid to target a FARC commander.



The German Constitutional Courts has ruled that a husband whose wife left him for a lesbian lover after 26 years of marriage is not obliged to pay her any alimony. The court ruled the partners who leave a signed marriage and transfer the health and care to someone else forfeit any claim to alimony, even if they've undergone a change in sexual orientation.



That's the latest BBC News.



1. approach: make advances to someone, usually with a proposal or suggestion

2. consign…to…: give over to another for care or safekeeping

3. equitable: implying justice dictated by reason, conscience, and a natural sense of what is fair to all

4. alimony: court-ordered support paid by one spouse to another after they are separated

5. forfeit: lost or subject to loss through forfeiture