BBC News with Daburah McKenthy.



The American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has visited the Iraqi capital Baghdad as part of a mission to counter Iran’s influence there. She told reporters she knew that the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was in Iran and praised the recent Iraqi government military assaults against his militiamen.



It is indeed a moment of opportunity in Iraq, thanks to the courageous decisions taken by the Prime Minister and a unified Iraqi leadership. And of course, the Iraqi security forces which have fought very bravely in this recent operation.



American military officials say Iraqi government forces have killed 40 Shiite militiamen in clashes near the city of Nasria. An Iraqi soldier and a policeman were also killed.



Pope Benedict on the final day of his tour of the United States has paid a visit to Ground Zero where he said prayers for those killed during the attacks of September 11, 2001. He then celebrated an open-air mass at the Yankee Baseball Stadium in New York. In his homily, the pope referred to the changing nature of the Catholic Church in America as more Hispanic migrants, most of them brought up as Catholics, arrived to find work.



In these two hundred years, the face of the Catholic community in your country has changed greatly. We think of the successive waves of immigrants whose traditions have so enriched the church in America.



Exit polls from the presidential election in Paraguay indicate that the opposition candidate, the left-wing former bishop Fernando Lugo has won a narrow victory. Mr. Lugo was the main challenger standing against the candidate of the Colorado Party which has been in power in Paraguay for more than sixty years. Gary Duffy reports from the capital, Asuncion.



Polling stations in many parts of Paraguay have been busy in what have been widely recognized as a significant election for the country. Five media exit polls are now suggesting the result could be a historic victory for the opposition candidate and former bishop, Fernando Lugo. If this is confirmed by official results drew out later, it would mean an end to sixty-one years of domination by the Colorado Party. Its candidate, Blanca Ovelar was campaigning to be the country’s first woman president. But her efforts were undermined by internal party divisions.



Security officials in Lebanon say two members of the Christian Phalange Party have been shot dead and three others wounded at the opening of a new office in the town of Zahle. It's not clear who carried out the shooting. The army has been deployed in Zahle to try to find those responsible. The Phalange Party is part of the governing coalition which has been paralyzed by a long-running standoff with the opposition led by the Islamist group, Hezbollah, over the appointment of a new president.



The US navy says a female sailor has been found dead at the American naval base in Bahrain. In October, two female sailors were killed at the base.



BBC news.



The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has echoed recent warnings about the impact on the world’s poorest people of rising food prices. Opening a UN conference in the Ghanaian capital Accra, he said if they were not properly handled, global price rises could harm growth and security, and set back efforts to reduce poverty.



As you know, we have been witnessing riots and mass protests around the world over the sharp rise in food prices. This is a worrisome situation, as it poses a serious of threat to the stability of many developing countries in Africa and elsewhere.



There have been two explosions in Burma’s largest city, Rangoon. The blasts occurred about an hour apart in streets near the city center. There were no reports of any injuries. A Burmese police officer was quoted as saying at least one of the explosions was caused by a bomb. There've been a number of similar incidents in Rangoon this year. Burma's military leaders blamed previous blasts on ethnic rebels opposed to their rule.



A state funeral for a pioneering black consciousness campaigner Aime Cesaire has been held on the French Caribbean island of Martinique. Cesaire died in Martinique on Thursday at the age of 94. The funeral was attended by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Aime Cesaire together with the late Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor developed the concept of negritude in the 1930s to affirm pride in the black African heritage.



Rival Christian groups have been involved in scuffles at the church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the reputed site of the burial and resurrection of Jesus. Armenian and Greek Orthodox priests and worshippers jostled and pushed each other in a dispute revolving around shared access to the area, and Israeli police were called in. Different Christian denominations have been accusing each other of attempting to overturn the long-established status quo.



BBC News.