BBC News with Nick Kelly.
An Internal United Nations report seen by the BBC says the UN was responsible for a grave failure to protect civilians in the final stage of Sri Lanka's civil war three and a half years ago. The draft report says senior UN staff in Colombo did not see it as their responsibility to prevent the killing of civilians. But John Holmes who was the UN and secretary general for humanitarian affairs at the time, says the accusation is untrue.
'I think everybody was doing their very best to protect the civilians and particular the Tamils who were trapped with the LTTE. The reality obviously is that the government were absolutely determined to finish that war, at any cost including to civilians they made that very clear at the time. I'm not prepared to listen either to answer the United Nations or to any of the world powers and the truth is also the rapid report doesn't make this point. None of the world powers is really prepared to do anything to stop them.'
France has become the first western power to formally recognise the new Syrian Opposition bloc that was formed on Sunday. The Franch President Francois Hollande said his country considered the coalition to be the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. Sebastian Usher reports.
Mr Hollande's announcement is a clear sign that West is now pinning its hopes on the Syrian opposition finally being able to offer a united and effective alternative to President Assad. Most significantly, Mr Hollande said the question of arming the rebels would be reviewed once the opposition established itself as a proper government in exile. The new opposition leaders say this is an urgent priority. The US and Britain have also talked up the legitimacy of the coalition, but stopped short of full recognition, both want to see it prove itself first.
The main Syrian aid agency says that at least two and a half million people are now displaced within Syria. The figure from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent more than doubles previous estimates. The United Nations refugee agency says the figure has shown the people are on the run and in hiding.
President Obama has suspended the nomination of the top American military officer in Afghanistan, General John Allen for the post of Nato's supreme commander. The US Defence Department is investigating allegations that General Allen exchanged communications described by one official as flirtatious with a woman at the center of a scandal surrounding the resignation last week of the CIA director, David Petraeus. Jonny Dymond in Washington has more.
The Pentagon is reviewing tens of thousands of documents emailed by the General to Jill Kelley, a friend of his and of David Petraeus, the former General, who resigned as head of the CIA on Friday following revelations of an affair. So far the emails have been described as potentially inappropriate by the Pentagon, but it's not clear if they involve any security breach. White House spokesman Jay Carney said the president has faith in General Allen and believe he is doing and has done an excellent job in Afghanistan.
World News from the BBC.
The United State treasury has posted a sharp rise in the federal budget deficit, they said the gap between the government income and spending widened by 22% in October compared with the same month last year. Tax rises and spending cuts are due to coming into effect the at end of the December that would cut the deficit sharply but analysts have warned they could plunge the country back into recession.
The German research body says global carbon dioxide emissions which are widely blamed for climate change reached a record level last year. They were 2.5% higher than in 2010. Matt Mcgrath has more.
China is way-out in front in the global rankings are emitting around 50% more carbon dioxide than the United States which has reduced its total because of a switch from coal to gas for electricity generation. India is ranked third ahead of Russia and Japan. The report broadly chimes with analysis by the international energy agency produced earlier this year, that suggested the rise in emissions is mainly coming from developing nations while richer countries in the main have managed reductions.
The United Nations in Haiti says 1.5 million people remained at a risk of not having proper access to food in 2013 due to the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy and a series of natural disasters that have hit the impoverished country in the last six months. The UN World Food program says many areas remain isolated and situation has been made worse by a serious drought.
And Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has ordered the army to be deployed in the remote area in the north of the country where gunmen killed 42 police officers in an ambush over the weekend. A presidential statement said the military would support police in apprehending the attackers and recovering stolen cattle and arms. The police officers were attacked while they were pursuing a group of cattle rustlers over suspected of having killed 13 people.
BBC News