2010-03-12 BBC
BBC News with Zoe Diamond.
Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Sweden after the Swedish parliament narrowly voted to describe the mass killing of Armenians by Turkish forces during the First World War as genocide. Turkey's Prime Minister strongly condemned the vote. Jonathan Head reports from Istanbul.
This year has gone particularly badly for Turkey. Last week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington narrowly voted in favor of a resolution recognizing the genocide. Now the parliament in Sweden, one of Turkey's strongest supporters in the European Union has adopted a similar resolution. Turkey has responded by withdrawing its ambassadors to both United States and Sweden. But beside showing its displeasure, it's not clear what else it's willing to do. The present government has been working hard to burnish the country's international image and project its power in the region which is one reason for its recent efforts to restore relations with Armenia and an initiative that's now running out of steam.
The swearing-in ceremony of the new Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has been overshadowed by a series of strong aftershocks. Mr.Pinera's election ends two decades of left-wing dominance of Chilean politics. From Santiago, Gideon Long.
It couldn't have been a more dramatic prelude to the presidential handover. As Mr.Pinera arrived at the Congress building in Valparaiso, a huge tremor shocked the center of the country. In Santiago, building shocked and people split out into the streets in panic. In Valparaiso, the ceremony continued. And moments later, Mr.Pinera was handed the red-whiten-blue presidential sash. Thousands of people have been made homeless by last month's quake and around half a million houses have been destroyed. Mr.Pinera has already said that his government will be one of reconstruction. Seldom can an incoming Chilean president have faced such a massive and immediate challenge.
And the military in Nigeria has denied allegations by government officials that it ignored warnings of ethnic attacks near the central city of Jos that left at least 100 people dead. The commander of the regional task force said the army was told of the violence only after it happened. He said it had been difficult for security forces to reach the affected villages because it was dark and roads were bad.
The United States has expressed concern about the way Muslims are treated in Europe. In its annual report on human rights, the US State Department highlighted a ban on the construction of minarets in Switzerland. From Washington, here is Kim Ghattas.
Iran, China, Burma, North Korea is the usual suspects on the State Department's list of countries with the poor record of human rights. What is new is the concern expressed by drawing anti-Muslim descrimination in Europe. The reports said such developments occurred in countries with generally strong records of respecting human rights. The State Department also denounced new forms of anti-semitism and the rise of anti-Jewish sentiments around the world. It added that governments like those of Iran and Egypt were fueling the trend rather than fighting it.
This is Zoe Diamond with the latest World News from the BBC.
Early results from the Iraqi parliamentary election on Sunday suggest a tight contest is developing between the incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his main challenger Ayad Allawi. Partial counts have Mr.al-Maliki leading in two predominantly Shiite provinces. But Mr.Allawi ahead in Sunni areas to the north of Baghdad.
Nine members of a white supremacist group in Russia have been given jail sentences of between 2 and 22 years for killing a man from Cameroon. It's the latest in a series of court cases involving racist attacks in Russia. Here is John ...
Three of the group, knowed as the Simbirsk White Power, were convicted of the racially motivated murder of the Cameroonian, Etizok Ndobe Ernest, who worked in the central city of Ulyanovsk, as a DJ. Investigators said his throat was slit since he was stapped repeatly on his way home from work in 2008. This latest case comes as the Russian authorities appear to be making a concerted effort to combat hate crime. Independent groups that monitor the issue say the number of those killed in racially motivated attacks last year dropped by more than a quarter to just over 70. A figure they say is still unacceptable high.
Germany and France have suggested a possible ban on the trade in some types of complex financial instruments that have playing for worsening the Greek debt crisis. Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy in a joint letter call for the European Commission to investigate the actions of speculators. They say if the financial instruments, known as credit defaults swaps are found to have been abused, they should be outlawed.
The British Rock Group Pink Floyd has won a legal battle against its record label EMI in a dispute over how its music is sold online. A British judge ruled that EMI could not longer sell individual Pink Floyd tracks rather than whole albums over the Internet without the Band's permission. The ruling also applies to mobile phone ring tunes.
That's the latest World News from the BBC here, in London.