BBC News with Neil Nunes
The new Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has said he’s determined to resolve the long-running dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. Speaking at his first news
conference since inauguration on Sunday,Mr. Rouhani said he was prepared to enter serious and substantive negotiations with the West. Richard Gilpan has this report.
Mr. Rouhani stressed Iran’s uranium enrichment program was peaceful and legal and would continue. But he said the concerns of countries like the United States could
be addressed through constructive negotiations where the goal was to find a solution meeting the concerns of both sides. He added that threats and more pressure on
Iran would not work. And he accused the US of sending contradictory signals on the issue saying there was a war-mongering group there opposed to constructive talks. In
response, the US State Department said Iran needed to take steps to meet its international obligations.
Two American senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham have urged the release of political prisoners in Egypt. After talks in Cairo with government officials, Senator
McCain said there could not be proper negotiations with leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood while they were in prison. From Cairo, Caroline Wyatt.
Senator John McCain and Lindsey Graham were the latest of many foreign representatives who come trying to persuade the government and the Muslim Brotherhood to
negotiate and avoid further bloodshed on both sides after hundreds of deaths. Senator Graham warned that America’s more than one billion dollars in annual aid to
Egypt’s armed forces was conditional and that unless the country moved towards new elections and new constitution it could be suspended. He warned that Egypt’s stood
on the edge of an abyss and that more violence could kill the country’s future.
The United States says it will go ahead with a high-level meeting with Russia this Friday despite tension over the fugitive American intelligence analyst Edward
Snowden. The American Secretary of State John Kerry and the defense secretary Chuck Hagel are due to hold talks with their Russian counterparts in Washington on
Friday.Jane O’Brien has more details on this report from Washington.
Edward Snowden’s whereabouts in Russia are not publicly known after he slipped away from Moscow’s international airport last week. But his lawyer says he has now
registered an address within Russian territory and his father is waiting for a visa to visit him. He said Snowden wanted his father’s advice on what to do with his
new life.Russia’s decision to grant temporary asylum to the former intelligence analyst has strained relations between Moscow and the US. Snowden leaked details of
the Obama administration’s vast electronic surveillance programme which gathers data about emails and phone calls made by American citizens. Jane O’Brien
This is the latest World News fromthe BBC
A spate of car bombings in Iraq has killed more than 40 people and wounded about 100 others. Most of the casualties were in markets and shopping areas of Baghdad but
ten of the deaths resulted from an attack on the mainly Shiite village of Anbakiya about 65 km northeast of the capital. Sectarian bombings have multiplied in Iraq
since the start of the year.
Parliament in Uganda has passed a controversial new law banning public demonstrations. The Public Order Management bill was passed despite fierce criticism from human
rights groups,religious leaders and opposition MPs. Under the new law, police can break up small gatherings of just three or more people discussing political issues in
their own homes. The Ugandan civil society leader Maria Magezi said the law would be used by president Museveni's governing party to stifle dissent.
“Is this law advancing the Uganda’s democratic governance or it is taking it backwards? This is a law which is going to be used by the government to really crack
down on any other people who are not supported the government.”
The Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner now has again urged Britain to negotiate over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands. Mrs. Fernandez was
speaking at the UN Security Council where Argentina has just taking over the rotating presidency. In response, Britain reiterated its position that there could be no
discussion of sovereignty unless the Falkland Islanders themselves so wished.
An American man accused of driving through crowds at a Los Angeles beach and killing an Italian woman on her honeymoon has been charged with murder. Eleven other
people were injured in the incident which took place on Saturday night. Police say he maneuvered his car around a barrier before plowing into tourists and stall
holders.