BBC News with Sue Montgomery Parliament in Nigeria has voted to send a delegation to Saudi Arabia to check on the health of President Umaru Yar'Adua. He's been in hospital there since November, being treated for heart trouble. As Will Ross reports from Abuja, there is a growing concern that the president's long absence is creating a power vacuum. The United States has dismissed as "absurd" allegations by Iran that American and Israeli agents were responsible for the assassination of a physics professor in Tehran. The official state media in Iran was quick to report details of the attack, and said a bomb had killed the scientist, Masoud Ali Mohammadi, as he was leaving his home. Jon Leyne reports. Saudi Arabia says four of its soldiers have been killed in clashes with Yemeni rebels who crossed the border into Saudi territory. The assistant defence minister said Saudi forces destroyed the rebels who tried to occupy a border village. The European Court of Human Rights says British anti-terror legislation allowing police to search people without reasonable suspicion breaches human rights. The case was brought by two people who were stopped by police on the way to a demonstration in London in 2003. Here is Danny Shaw. This is the World News from the BBC. Russia has announced its biggest fall in gas production for 25 years. Gazprom, the energy giant that supplies three quarters of Russian gas, saw its output falls 16%. A spokesman blamed the global economic downturn for reduced demand in Russia and abroad. The government in Venezuela is beginning power-cuts in large parts of the country to tackle an energy crisis caused by water shortages. The electricity minister said the cuts lasting up to four hours every other day would prevent water levels at Venezuela's main hydro-electric dam from falling too low. Drought has affected the flow of water into the reservoir. Police in Mexico say they have captured one of the country's most wanted men, the alleged drug baron Teodoro Garcia Simental. His gang is blamed for much of the violence in the border city of Tijuana which escalated following his split from the powerful Arellano Felix cartel in 2008. Peter Bowes has the details. Figures from the United States' Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, show it made a record profit of 52 billion dollars in its lending operations last year. The Fed benefited from interest payments by private banks forced to take out emergency government loans during the global financial crisis. The figures suggest that the American tax payers have so far gained rather than lost money from the banking bail-out. (责任编辑:voa365) |