BBC News with Jerry Schmitt.

The governing Zanu-PF Party in Zimbabwe and the opposition MDC have met in South Africa, their first encounter since President Mugabe's disputed election victory last month. It's taking place under the mediation of President Thabo Mbeki. From Johannesburg here's Peter Biles.

Both government and opposition in Zimbabwe are under pressure from the African Union to start a process of dialogue on forming a government of national unity. The confirmation that preliminary talks are underway in Pretoria is a first step, but the MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai has insisted that this meeting is only to present the conditions under which genuine negotiations can then take place and a framework for such discussions. He says the MDC will not take part in negotiations until there's an end of violence, the release of more than 1,500 political prisoners and an expanded mediation team that includes a permanent African Union envoy.

The Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak speaking amid growing tension over Iran's nuclear program has warned that his country would not hesitate to defend its own security interests. Mr. Barak was speaking on Israeli radio.

Israel is the strongest country in the region, and as it's proved, it does not recoil from acting when its vital security interests are at stake.

Mr. Barak's comments came after Israel displayed details of what it said was an advanced plane capable of spying on Iran. Earlier Iranian state media said Revolutionary Guards has test-fired more missiles in the Gulf, at least one of which, it said, could hit Tel Aviv.

The US Senate has confirmed President Bush's choice of General David Petraeus as the new supreme commander in the Middle East. As the top US general in Iraq, General Petraeus was credited with having overseen a largely successful surge in American military operations there. He takes over as chief of the U.S. Central Command from Admiral William Fallon, who resigned last month following media reports that he opposed the White House policy on Iran.

Scientists in the United States said they've developed a new way of capturing energy from the Sun that means solar panels can generate ten times as much electricity as they currently do. Our science reporter Matt McGrath has the details.

For years scientists have been trying to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic cells through the use of solar concentrators. These are usually mobile mirrors that track the sun and focus its beams onto the electricity generating cells at the center. But this new technique concentrates the rays using a mixture of dyes that can be painted onto panes of clear glass of plastic. The dyes transport the energy to solar cells that can be placed around the edges of the pane. The scientists say these new clear solar concentrators could be used to replace windows generating ten times the amount of electricity. The scientists expect them to be on the market within three years.

World News from the BBC;

The United Nations has said the barrier that Israel is building in the West Bank will have devastating consequences for Palestinians if it's completed along its proposed route. And in a new report the UN said building the barrier inside the West Bank rather than along the Israeli border meant tens of thousands of Palestinians had already been cut off from their jobs, farmland or essential services. Israel says the barrier is needed to keep out Palestinian attackers.

Georgia is to recall its ambassador from Russia for consultations after Moscow admitted its fighter jets had entered Georgian airspace earlier this week. Georgia said it would take aggressive diplomatic steps to respond to the Russian action.

From Tbilisi Mathew Collin reports;

Georgia's Foreign Minister, Eka Tkeshelashvili, told the BBC the ambassador was being recalled because Russia had committed what she called a very grave act of aggression, which was a clear violation of the country's sovereignty. Moscow admitted it had sent its air force in the Georgian airspace. The Russian foreign ministry said it's dispatched its fighter jets in its words to cool hot-heads in Tbilisi.

One of the most popular news presenters on French television, Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, has broadcast his last bulletin. He's presented the evening news on Channel TFN since 1987. The announcement last month that he'll be replaced by a younger female news reader was itself headline news in France.

The hand-painted drum heads that appeared on the cover of the legendary 1967 Beatles' album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" has sold at auction in London for more than a million dollars, also at the sale of Rock & Pop Memorabilia at Christie's Auction House were handwritten lyrics to the John Lennon's song" Give Peace a Chance". They fetched more than 800 thousand dollars, a record for the sale of pop lyrics. Lennon wrote the song in 1969.

BBC News.