This’s the BBC news. Hello, I’m Nick Kelly.
The UN Security Council has strongly condemned the attack by Iranian protesters on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran which has led to a furious diplomatic row between the
two countries. A Security Council statement expressed deep concern and urged Iran to protect diplomatic premises. It made no mention of Saudi Arabia’s execution of a
Shia Muslim cleric which sparked the protests on Saturday. The Saudi Ambassador to the UN Abdulla al-Mouallimi said the row could be ended if Iran stopped interfering
in the affairs of others.
“We are not natural born enemies with Iran. It is only the behavior of the Iranian government that continues to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries,
particularly our Arab countries including our own that is causing us to take this position.”
The White House has given details of President Obama’s plans to tighten gun controls in the US. It says all gun seller will have to be registered as dealers and must
carry out background checks on all buyers. Officials say the FBI will hire more than 200 additional staff to process the checks. After years of fierce opposition,
President Obama has decided to bypass Congress and introduce the measures through a series of executive orders. He said the steps will be widely supported.
“The good news is that these are not only recommendations that are well within my legal authority and the executive branch, but they are also ones that the
overwhelming majority of the American people including gun owners, support and believe in.”
British intelligence sources have told the BBC they believe they have identified the main suspect in the latest propaganda video by the Islamic State group. He has
been named as Siddhartha Dhar from east London.Gavin Hewitt reports.
“The BBC has been told that Dhar is the main focus of the attention of security and intelligence officers as they studied the video in which five men are murdered. A
source said a lot of people think it is him. However, there has been no official confirmation of this. After converting to Islam, Dhar joined the radical group al-
Muhajiroun. He began using the name Abu Rumaysah and gave interviews supporting so called Islamic State. Earlier asource from al-Muhajiroun told the BBC he had no doubt that the voice was that of Siddhartha Dhar.”
The US Justice Department is suing the German carmaker Volkswagen which has admitted fitting emissions cheating software to millions of vehicles. The lawsuit accuses VW of causing excessive pollution, harming public health and cheating consumers.
Stock markets in China have rallied after opening more than 3% down on Tuesday. Dealers described the initial losses as “panic selling”following suspension of
trading on Monday when shares plunged by 7%.
World news from the BBC.
The new president of Venezuela’s parliament Henry Ramos Allup says all opposition members will be sworn in at a ceremony later on Tuesday despite the suspension of
three of them by the Supreme Court. They are accused of electoral fraud. Without the three seats, the opposition alliance would fall short of the 2/3 majority which
would allow to challenge President Nicolas Maduro’s government.
A group of British members of parliament is urging the government to accept 3000 child refugees who have come to Europe from Syria unaccompanied. The International Development Committee says it is concerned that vulnerable children living alone may fall prey to people traffickers. Naomi Grimley reports.
“The MPs broadly support the government’s strategy of offering to resettle 20,000 of the most vulnerable refugees from countries such as Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon,
as well as sending extra aid to the region. But they are worried that not enough is being done to help children who have already arrived in Europe, many of them
unaccompanied by adults. The MPs point out that the Italian authorities believe 4000 of these Syrian children simply disappeared in 2014.”
A bus has caught fire in northern China killing 14 people and injuring more than 30 others. The authorities are investigating the cause of the blaze in Yinchuan, the
capital of the remote Ningxia region.
And the British Royal Mail is celebrating its 500th anniversary by a series of special events including an online gallery of objects and people that played an
important role in its history. Among them is Brian Tuke, knighted by King Henry VIII, become the first Master of the Posts in 1516. He went home to establish the
foundations of a national distribution network. Royal Mail has been responsible for a number of world records including the first adhesive stamp known as the penny
black and the first-ever airmail flight.