on dribble
BBC News with Fiona McDonald.
More details are emerging about the American helicopter attack into Syria on Sunday in which eight people were killed. American officials, who declined to be identified, said the target of the attack was Abu Ghadiya, the leader of a network that helps to smuggle foreign fighters from Syria into Iraq. Kim Ghattas reports from Washington.
The White House and the State Department have refused so far to comment publicly about the military strike. But they've also not denied the reports. Military officials in Washington speaking on condition of anonymity said the operation was successful, suggesting Abu Ghadiya had been killed. U. S. troops have been taking a more aggressive approach to tackling militants, launching cross-border attacks into Pakistan, for example, from Afghanistan. But the attack across the border into Syria is unlikely to be more than a one-off.
Regional talks on forming a power-sharing government in Zimbabwe failed to break the deadlock between President Robert Mugabe and the main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. A statement issued at the end of the talks called for a broader regional summit to be held to continue negotiations. Catherine Hartley reports.
It was in September that Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai signed what was then held as a historic power-sharing agreement. But immediately talks on the formation of a government ran into deep trouble, with the two sides unable to agree on the distribution of key ministries, especially home affairs which controls Zimbabwe's police. That issue has now led to the failure of the Harare talks. What hope is left for a resolution now rests on a broader regional summit which will be called to discuss the issue.
The commander of the United Nation's Peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo has resigned after being in the post for just four weeks. The U. N. spokesperson said the resignation was for personal reasons. It comes as some 20, 000 people are fleeing heavy fighting between government troops and rebels. Laura Trevelyan reports.
Senior UN officials expressed the surprise that the general had left so quickly at a time when the situation on the ground is so precarious. A peace deal between the government and rebel groups collapsed in August, and now rebels're advancing towards the key-strategic city of Goma in the east. U. N. peacekeepers have been firing on the advancing rebel forces. Local people are accusing the U. N. of failing to protect them of riot outside the U. N. base in Goma. One person was killed.
Prosecutors in Mexico reviewed their employees of an elite crime-fighting unit, while at the same time working for one of the country's drug cartels. It's ]said police agencies and senior officials have passed sensitive information to the Beltran Leyva cartel and what's being described as the worst case of infiltration by traffickers of the Mexican law and enforcement system in a decade.
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The authorities in United States say they've charged two men with threaten to kill Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, as part of a plan to kill as many black people as possible. The two men were arrested last week in the State of Tennessee. A number of guns including a sum of short guns were seized during the arrest.
The longest-serving Republican senator in the United States, Ted Stevens, has been found guilty of corruption. A jury in Washington convicted Mr. Stevens of failing to disclose that he received gifts from an oil company. From the U. S. capital, here is *.
The jury found Ted Stevens guilty of lying about more than a quarter of a million dollars worth of gifts he had been given by the oil firm Veco. They include renovations on his resort home in Alaska, a discount on a brand new land rover and a massage chair. During the trial, he insisted he was innocent, telling the court he believed he'd paid for the home improvments and some of the gifts were only loaned to him. Next week he's up for re-election in what become a hotly fought contest. But this verdict could have an impact on his political future.
The Sudanese Foreign Ministry says that five of the nine Chinese oil workers kidnapped more than a week ago have been killed. The ministry says two of the surviving men were wounded but managed to escape. It says that the remaining two are still being held. The Sudanese government says the oil workers were kidnapped by the Darfur rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement.
The Israeli President Shimon Peres has told parliament that after consulting all political parties on the possibility of forming a government, no option remained except to hold a general election. His statement comes a day after the foreign minister Tzipi Livni who heads the largest party told Mr. Peres that she had given up attempts to form a variable coalition. Deputies now have three weeks to discuss |