A US Senate committee has cut aid to Pakistan by 33 million dollars a year in response to the jailing of a Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA track down Osama Bin laden. Dr Shakil Afridi was sentenced to at least 33 years imprison for treason for helping the US to locate the Al Qaeda leader in the town of Abbottabad. From Washington, Jonny Diamond reports.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has cut the billion dollars that the US gives Pakistan annually by one million dollars for every year imprison that Dr Afridi was sentenced to. "A schizophrenic ally", one senator called Pakistan, "Allice in Wonderland", was how another described the talk of cooperation between Washington and Islamabad. The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee called Dr Afridi's imprisonment a very sad day.
The International Criminal Court has cleared the way for the trial of four prominent Kenyans accused of crimes against humanity. The four suspects had challenged the court's jurisdiction to try them for allegedly orchestrating post-election violence in 2008 in which more than 1000 people were killed. Anna Holligan reports from the Hague.
The Kenyan defence lawyers claimed that the ICC prosecutors were wrong to describe organizational policy as a crime against humanity. On that basis, they argued that the trial should be held in Kenya rather than at the Hague. The four accused are deputy prime minister Uhuru Kenyatta, the former head of the civil service Francis Muthaura, another member of parliaments and a radio presenter. This ruling means the proceedings will continue and there will be hearings in just over two weeks time. The suspects are not required to appear at these hearings in person, but will be forced to come to the Hague when the trials begin.
A rebel group in Syria, the Free Syrian Army, the FSA has confirmed to the BBC that Al Qaeda fighters are active inside the country. An FSA officer told the BBC that anti-government forces had been offered money and weapons by Al Qaeda but it had been rejected. Alastair Crooke, a former British intelligence officer who studies Islamist militants said they were increasing in number.
"The hard element of the opposition, they armed the combat-experienced people who come up from either Libya or Iraq not only are at the vanguard , but they are actually pushing out all other forms of opposition."
Polling stations have closed in Egypt after the second day of voting in the first free presidential election there. If there's no outright winner, the two leading candidates will go into a run-off next month. Those standing include several Islamists as well as ministers from the era of the former president Hosni Mubarak. Counting at the votes have begun at some polling stations. The results are expected to be announced by Tuesday at the latest. There are no exact turnout figures yet.
World news from the BBC.
The head of the Vatican Bank Ettore Gotti Tedeschi has been sacked after a vote of no confidence from the bank's board of directors. The Roman Catholic Church said Mr Gotti Tedeschi who's under investigation for alleged money laundering had failed in the primary functions of his office.
Two days of talks in Baghdad over Iran's disputed nuclear program have ended with negotiators saying despite differences, there's still some hope of progress. The European Union's Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton spoke of common ground. James Reynolds reports from Baghdad.
In a statement at the end of talks, the lead negotiator for the world powers Lady Ashton said that her group put specific ideas on the table to Iran but no final agreement was reached.
"It's clear that we both want to make progress and there is some common ground . However, significant differences remain."
Lady Ashton said that the world powers and Iran would meet again in Moscow next month, a third round of talks in three months.
The president of Honduras Porfirio Lobo says that purge of the police forces are essential to guarantee the safety of the country. Mr Lobo spoke after the United States released a report saying curruption and human rights abuses were a serious problem in the Hondurean police. Mr Lobo has already replaced the head of the police.
The government of Argentina is revoking a railway company's right to operate because of a train crash in Buenos Aires earlier this year. Fifty-one people were killed and more than 700 injured when the commuter train slammed into the buffers as it came into the station last February.
The International Olympic Committee and United States have reached a deal on sharing television and marketing revenues, clearing the way for American cities to apply to host the games. Details of the deal have not been published. But the IOC said it would come into place in 2020.
BBC news
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