BBC News with Jerry Smit
The Deputy Prime Minister of Syria has told a British newspaper the country's civil war has reached a stalemate and the government is ready to call for a ceasefire. Speaking to the Guardian newspaper, Qadri Jamil said neither the government forces nor the rebels were capable of defeating the other side. More detail from Jim Muir in Beirut.
This was unusual talk from a senior government figure of yet, one who is not a hard-core Baath Party loyalist. In fact, Qadri Jamil is a former communist, his party took part in demonstrations against the regime at the beginning of the uprising two and half years ago. But in his interview with the Guardian, he insisted that he was speaking for the government. It realized, he said that neither side could win the war for the time being, there was a stalemate. That in itself from the counter to the normal government line, that the rebels labeled terrorists must be defeated.
The American Secretary State John Kerry has said that the UN Security Council must be prepared to act on Syria by drawing up a binding resolution next week. He insisted the facts concerning the use of the chemical weapons in the attack of August 21st will beyond dispute and it was implausible to think that opposition rebels will responsible. Mr. Kerry said there was no time for any more disputes or pretend that everyone could have their own set of facts.
It is vital for the international community to stand up and speak out in the strongest possible terms about the importance of enforceable action to rid the world of Syria's chemical weapons.
Financial regulators in the United States and Britain have found the American bank JP Morgan 920 million dollars ever losses made by trader known as the London Whale.The bank lost more than six billion dollars as the result of the trades. Emma Simpson reports.
The fines are huge and the findings damning for this wall street giant, the losses of those through what the financial conduct authority described as a high risk trading strategy. The bets were made by Bruno Iksil, a trader in the bank's chief investment office in London, so huge were these bets. He became known as the London Whale. JP Morgan said it had accepted responsibility for its mistakes and was working to ensure they would never happen again.
A commission of inquiry into the police killing of 34 workers at a platinum mine in South Africa has accused the police of lying about the incidents. The commission said police had hidden some documents, falsified others and given a false version of the events. It said it had thousands of more documents to examine and will postpone the inquiry for several days. The BBC Africa correspondent says it's an extraordinary attack on the credibility of the South African police. The commission was set out following the killings the striking miners in August last year.
World News from the BBC
The environmental group Greenpeace says 29 of its activists have been held at gunpoint by armed Russian men believed to be members of the Russian security service, the FSB who stormed their ship in international waters. The activists vessel has taken part in a protest against drilling by gas program in the Arctic Ocean. Daniel Sandford reports.
The Greenpeace protest began when four people try to board gas programs Prirazlomnaya drilling rig, the Russian coast guard immediately detained two activists who managed to get on to the side of the platform and the other activists returned to their ship, the Arctic Sunrise. But helicopters flew to the Arctic Sunrise and around 15 armed men in balaclavas up sailed onto the deck. One of the activists on the ship told the BBC that the armed men were holding 29 of them in the galley while the captain was being detained on the bridge.
The Mexican authorities say almost 100 people have been killed by two hurricanes that hit the country earlier in the week. The Pacific coast has been battered by Hurricane Manuel while Mexico's Gulf coast has been hit by Hurricane Ingrid.
A court in Texas has overturned the conviction of Tom DeLay, who was once one of the most powerful politicians in the United States. He was found guilty of money laundering three years ago in a case linked to the 2002 election. But the appeal judges decided there had been insufficient evidence to support conviction. The acquittal of Mr. Delay, a conservative Republican and former majority leader in Congress means he can't be retried.
Pope Francis has said the Catholic Church needs to find a new balance between its preaching on abortion, gay marriage and contraception and a great need to be inclusive. He said he'd been criticized for not speaking much on those issues himself, but he said the church did not find a new balance its moral edifice could collapse like a house of cards.