Monday, 10 December, 2007
- 10 Dec 07, 05:27 PM
Afghanistan
The symbolically important town of has been recaptured from the Taliban by Afghan troops with a lot of support from the US and British forces. Two British soldiers have been killed in the fighting and hundreds of civilians have fled the area. The Prime Minister, who was in Kabul today, promised to follow up victory with economic assistance for an area that currently provides half the world's heroin. We'll have the latest from Mark Urban on how Musa Qala was taken and whether it can be held.
Basra
Meanwhile on a visit to Basra yesterday Gordon Brown confirmed that the province will be handed over to the Iraqis within a fortnight. But what deals had to be struck with local Shiite militias to enable the pullout to take place? Mark has been speaking to General Bill Rollo, the highest ranking British soldier in the Iraq theatre. So is he saying it'll all be over by Christmas? Well, not quite.
Conrad Black
The erstwhile press baron will likely be sentenced to between six and a half and eight years in jail, he was told by a US judge today. But in an interview for Newsnight, recorded last week from his Palm Beach mansion was still protesting his innocence. He also told us that if he was sent to jail that wouldn't be the end of his battle to clear his name. We'll bring you that interview tonight.
Kosovo
Kosovan Albanians and Kosovan Serbs are not quite at daggers drawn yet but relations are at their worst ebb since NATO bombed Slobodan Milošević out of power back in 1999. Today was supposed to be the by which a deal on the final status of Kosovo was agreed with the UN. No deal has been reached so what will happen now? Allan Little has been to Kosovo to find out if the troubled province can ever peacefully become a nation. And we'll interview David Miliband who has been in Brussels trying to hammer out the European Union stance on the way forward.
And in what many here think is the music event of the year for middle-aged headbangers, Led Zeppelin will be playing their first proper concert for 19 years. We're hoping to playout from there.
Britain’s love/hate relationship with alcohol has led to many headlines over the past 12 months. 24-hour licensing has been a reality in England and Wales for two years now, binge drinking stories are often in the news, and doctors have been alarmed by the rise in the number of cases of alcohol-related illnesses.
The nominal deadline for international mediators to decide future status of Kosovo passed today. So what happens next? Alan Little has done a piece for us on the uncharted waters Kosovo is now entering. I'm bidding for a Foreign Office interview off the back.