BBC News, I am Roy Lamar.



President Bush has warned that a congressional resolution, now being considered which describes as genocide, the mass killings of Armenians during the First World War, would, if passed, damage US relations with Turkey.



I urge members to oppose the Armenian genocide resolution now being considered by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. We all deeply regret the tragic suffering of the Armenian people that began in 1915, but this resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings, and its passage would do great harm to our relations with the key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror.



Earlier, the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the vote for the resolution in the House of Representatives, Foreign Affairs Committee, would destabilize US efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, because Turkey is a main hub for US military operations in the region. Turkey disputes Armenian claims that 1.5 million Armenians died under Turkish rule in the last years of the Ottoman Empire.



European Union leaders have called for a worldwide halt to capital punishment as Europe marked its first day of opposition to the death penalty. Portugal, which holds the EU presidency, urged states that had the death penalty to move towards abolishing it. The European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner said that they should break the cycle of violence and reaffirm the value of life. But Poland opposed the EU plans for a European Day against the death penalty, saying any such campaign should include abortion and euthanasia.



Malaysia's first astronaut has blasted off from Kazakhstan bound for the International Space Station. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, a 35-year-old doctor, is to become one of a tiny number of Muslims to have traveled into space. Sheikh Muszaphar said he hoped his 12-day trip would be an inspiration to Muslims around the world.



"Being a Muslim going to space is a big responsibility to me, not only for the Malaysian people, but all the Muslims all over the world. And to be close to God's creation, I will feel more spiritually, and I do hope to come back and share all my experience to all the Muslim people all over the world."



Intense diplomatic activities taken place to ensure the talks to end the conflict in Darfur go ahead later this month. A number of rebel leaders have threatened to boycott the talks in Libya, and the UN special envoy for Darfur Jan Eliasson is in Khartoum meeting Sudanese officials and ambassadors in the region.



The Iraqi government says it has a significant problem dealing with the growing number of internally displaced Iraqis. But the government spokesman told the BBC that the plight of refugees in many of Iraq's provinces was not as severe as the UN Refugee Agency had estimated. Earlier, the UNACR described Iraq as a pressure cooker with up to 11 of its 18 provinces turning away displaced people.



This is BBC News.



The Congolese military says at least 100 rebel fighters and army soldiers have been killed in the latest fighting in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Government soldiers have been engaged in rebels loyal to the renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda. Our East Africa correspondent Karen Allen reports.



The flare of the fighting has come as a ceasefire drawn up last month was declared dead by renegade General Laurent Nkunda. Clashes have been reported northeast of Goma, the capital of the turbulent province of north Kivu. The UN's World Food Programme has been trying to get vital supplies due to some of the 150,000 people believed to be out of reach of humanitarian assistance. But now with renewed fighting, there are serious concerns that what it's already a dire situation could get worse.



A German engineer held hostage in Afghanistan has been released. Reports say Rudolf Blechschmidt, who was seized in July, was among a group of hostages freed by the Taliban in exchange for several Taliban held in government custody. Alastair Leithead reports from Kabul.



Rudolf Blechschmidt had appeared on a video released by insurgents, appearing to be in poor health, and negotiations to release him had been going on for some time. Governor Naiem said five Taliban prisoners had been released in exchange for the German and his four Afghan colleagues. A Taliban spokesman also told news agencies in Kabul the deal had been done and the five hostages had been freed. A sixth man, also a German national, took ill in captivity, and he was shot dead soon after being held.



The World Health Organization says northern Nigeria is fighting a rare outbreak of polio derived from a vaccine. It says 69 children who were not immunized against polio caught the disease after children who had been vaccinated excreted a mutated form of the virus. Nigeria is one of a few countries where polio is still endemic.



BBC News.