2010-07-10 BBC
BBC News with David Austin.
The US has announced that an elaborate spy swap with Russia has taken place successfully. Ten Russian agents arrested in the US last month were flown to Vienna and exchanged for four people who had been jailed in Russia. David Willis reports from Washington.
Shortly after private flights from Russia and America brought the spies to Vienna where they changed planes and then took off, the American Justice Department announced the biggest spy swap since the Cold War had been successfully completed. The American plane carrying four spies from Russia stopped briefly at a British air force base on its return to the US, and reports suggest two of the four may have got off there. Senior US officials have hailed the spy saga as an important achievement, saying that by shutting down the network, they have demonstrated strong counter-intelligence capability and sent a warning to other countries that might have been contemplating spying on the US.
The United Nations Security Council has unanimously condemned the attack that caused a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, to sink earlier this year. But the statement drafted by the United States stopped short of naming North Korea, despite an international inquiry which found the communist country was to blame. The South Korean ambassador to the UN, Park In-kook, welcomed the UN statement.
"I'm sure that today's strong unanimous statement would serve to make North Korea refrain from further attack or provocation."
North Korea denies it carried out the attack.
A massive police manhunt in the north of England seems to be approaching its end after more than a week. Police are negotiating with a man who matches the description of Raoul Moat who allegedly shot his ex-girlfriend, killed her new partner and shot a policeman after being released from prison last Thursday. A large number of armed police have surrounded the area in the town of Rothbury. Nick Ravenscroft has just filed this report.
There are few confirmed details from police except that a man fitting Raoul Moat's description has been found near the centre of town, and they are negotiating with him. An eyewitness Peter Abitson is watching events unfold from nearby and told the BBC what he could see.
"He's moved from a laying-down position to an upright position. He's sitting there. Unfortunately, he's got a shotgun facing underneath his head."
Earlier, the public were urged to get in their homes by police officers who sealed off the roads.
The American official overseeing the clean-up operation for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico says a new containment cap on the well with an additional ship collecting oil could mean that the spill was effectively contained as early as Monday. Thad Allen, the National Incident Commander, said the existing cap which isn't stopping all of the oil would be replaced over the weekend.
This is the World News from the BBC.
The Colombian politician, Ingrid Betancourt who spent six years as a hostage of the Farc guerrillas, is seeking compensation from the Colombian government for her ordeal. The government has rejected the demand and expressed surprise and regret. James Read reports.
When Ingrid Betancourt was rescued by the Colombian army two years ago without a shot being fired, she described the operation as "perfect". Now she and her family are seeking more than six million dollars in damages for emotional distress and loss of earnings during her six years as a captive. The government says it sees no reason why it should pay, noting that Colombian troops risked their lives to save her. It says she ignored repeated warnings not to travel to the rebel-controlled area where she was kidnapped while campaigning to be president.
The super model, Naomi Campbell, is to give evidence in the war crimes trial of the former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor. Earlier this month, Ms Campbell was ordered to testify at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands over allegations that she received a rough-cut diamond as a gift from Mr Taylor. The former Liberian president is alleged to have used such diamonds to buy weapons for rebels in Sierra Leone, but has denied ever possessing them. Naomi Campbell's spokeswoman said on Friday that the model wanted to help the due process of law.
The BBC has learnt that football's world governing body FIFA was warned before this year's World Cup of fears that Nigeria's team could be vulnerable to match-fixing. An investigator from UEFA, European football's top body, raised concerns such as betting patterns. Nigeria went out of the tournament in the first round losing to Greece. It's alleged certain Nigerian players came forward during qualifying, suggesting that their team was vulnerable to manipulation. FIFA doesn't deny getting a warning but says it's had no indication of match-fixing in any World Cup matches.
That's the latest BBC News.