BBC News with Julie Candler
The US Secretary of State John Kerry has said the deal with Iran over its nuclear program will make Israel and Middle East a safer place. He was speaking after Iran agreed to limit its uranium enrichment program for six months in return for the relaxation of some sanctions. Mr. Kerry told ABC’s this week program at a long-term deal was now a real possibility.
“This negotiation is not the art of fantasy, or the art of the ideal. It's the art of the possible, which is verifiable and clear in its capacity to be able to make Israel and the region safer.”
During the six-month period, further talks would be held with the aim of reaching a comprehensive agreement. The temporary agreement has attracted sharp criticism in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling it a historic mistake. His spokesman is Mark Regev.
“Nuclear energy does not require centrifuges, nuclear energy does not require a plutonium producing heavy water reactor. You only need those two elements if you want a nuclear bomb. Iran is demanding in this deal allows it to maintain the capabilities to move ahead and build that heavy water reactor and of course, not a single centrifuge has been dismantled in this deal, and that's why we say it's a dangerous deal.”
In Washington, hard-line lawmakers urged Congress to push for tougher sanctions to hold Iran to account. But two leading senators, one Democrat, the other Republican, said there was probably an agreement on a six-month window before they tried to pass new sanctions.
A new law restricting public protests has been signed in Egypt by the interim President Adly Mansour. It says the police will have to be informed three days before any planed demonstrations allowing the authorities to ban them if they fear violence. The names and addresses of organizers will also have to be submitted. Human rights groups have criticized the measure has an attempt to criminalize people's right to stage peaceful protests.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators have marched through the Ukrainian capital Kiev to protest against the government decision last week to scrap an association agreement with the European Union. President Yanukovych's government has said it could not afford to break relations with neighbouring Russia. David Stern reports.
“Ukraine is Europe, the crowd shouted. Protesters packed they ethically named European square insides streets in one of the biggest rallies Ukrainian capital has seen in a decade. They came to support a groundbreaking agreement drawing Ukraine closer to the EU which Ukrainian officials were supposed to sign this week. But last week, President Viktor Yanukovych's government abruptly called off the signing saying the country would suffer huge financial losses.”
World News from the BBC.
Police in Kenya are carrying out operations against militiamen who've besieged village in the northwest of the country. The police said they had encountered heavy resistance from the gunmen believe to be from the Pokot ethnic group with the Red Cross says are surrounding some 900 villagers. A curfew has been imposed in the area for a second night.
A Saudi girl who eloped to Yemen to be with her Yemeni boyfriend has been given UN protection while she seeks asylum. Sebastian Usher reports.
“In Yemen, the two lovers, Huda and Arafat have been celebrated as a modern day Romeo and Juliet. Huda across the border several weeks ago promptly followed by Arafat who was working in Saudi Arabia. Huda, who is in her early 20s, says she decided that they have to elope after Arafat's marriage proposal was rejected by her family. The two have been held in an immigration detention centre in the capital Sanaa. Huda is charged with illegally crossing the border. The same charge against Arafat was dropped, but he refused to be freed wanting to remain with her in prison.”
The government in Colombia says ten fighters from the country’s second largest rebel group, the ELN have been killed. An overnight raid by the army close to the Venezuelan border also left at least two other rebels from the left-wing group injured. The Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said peace negotiations will to be sped up to avoid more deaths. His administration is already in talks with the country's largest armed group the Farc.
People in Honduras have been casting their ballots in the country's general elections with many enthusiastic voters voting early. Opinion polls suggested a close race between the main presidential candidates, the Conservative Juan Orlando Hernandez and Xiomara Castrothe, the wife of the former president Manuel Zelaya who is deposed in a coup in 2009. Hondurans are also choosing new mayors in members of the parliament. The country is the second poorest in Latin America with some of the world's highest murder and inequality rates.