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The White House says that President Barack Obama will take several more weeks to review United States strategy in Afghanistan. Only then will he make a decision on whether to send more US troops. The White House issued a statement after the president met his most senior advisors to discuss the way forward. General Stanley McChrystal, the top US military commander ins Afghanistan - has already warned that the mission could fail without more resources. President Obama held the second of what the White House says will be five intensive sessions on Afghanistan and Pakistan with his National Security team. These discussions will influence the decision on whether the US deepens its military commitment in Afghanistan. The meeting included Vice President Joe Biden, Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well as senior military staff. The commander of US forces in Afghanistan - General Stanley McChrystal - took part by video link. He has already spelt out that ...

World powers have increased pressure on Iran, urging the country to reveal the nature of its nuclear programme during six-party talks in Geneva. A spokesman for the German chancellor said Iran was "comprehensively failing to co-operate". The International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran was the wrong side of the law in hiding a second uranium plant. Tehran revealed the existence of the previously secret site, partially built into a mountain, last week. "Iran was supposed to inform us on the day it was decided to construct the facility. They have not done that," Mohamed El Baradei, the head of the IAEA, told CNN-IBN Television. Negotiations Iran has said that it will allow IAEA inspectors in to view the site, thought to be near Qom, but has not said when the inspections can take place. Iranian representatives will meet on Thursday for talks with the five permanent Security Council seat holders - the UK, China, France, Russia and the US - plus Germany - the so-called P...

Guinea's military leader has called for a government of national unity days after dozens of opposition supporters died when protests turned violent. The rally was triggered by rumours that Moussa Dadis Camara, who seized power in a coup, would run for president. Capt Camara has called for "a commission of inquiry backed by the UN" to investigate the deaths. Meanwhile, the ruling National Council for Democracy and Development said it sought a transition government. "The CNDD asks for [...] the formation of a government of national unity integrating members of different political parties and tasked with transition," presidency official Mandjou Deoubate said on state television. Sanctions threat The African Union has given Capt Camara until mid-October to confirm he will not stand in presidential elections planned for 31 January. The military rulers - who have held power in the country since last December - also called for an African leader to be appointed as a med...

China is staging mass celebrations marking 60 years since the Communist party came to power. Vast lines of tanks, soldiers and missile launchers are being paraded through the capital, Beijing. President Hu Jintao has appeared on the rostrum at Tiananmen Square in a black Mao-style tunic, seen by analysts as a symbol of his control of the military. He was joined by his predecessor Jiang Zemin, Premier Wen Jiabao and other senior leaders. After a 60-gun salute, the Chinese flag was formally raised in the centre of the historic square - where revolutionary leader Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949. The military parade, expected to show previously unseen missile technology, followed a drive-by inspection of the armed forces and a speech by President Hu which lauded China's progress. The president, speaking from the same spot where Mao Zedong had declared the founding of the people's republic 60 years ago, claimed China had a b...

The senior UN envoy removed from his post in Afghanistan has told the BBC his dismissal sent "a terrible signal" to the world about the organisation. Peter Galbraith said he believed he had been removed because of a dispute with his superior over how to handle fraud allegations in the country's elections. He said that in not addressing the "extensive" evidence of fraud, the UN had failed its Afghan mandate. The UN said his dismissal had been "in the best interest of the mission". Mr Galbraith told BBC's World Tonight that he had great respect for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, but that he disagreed with his decision to remove him from his post. "Not just on personal ground, but because I think it sends a terrible signal when the UN removes an official because he was concerned about fraud in a UN-sponsored and funded election," he said. Mr Galbraith said he had seen "very extensive evidence of fraud" in August's president ...

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7 has hit Sumatra, a day after another powerful quake devastated much of the Indonesian island. Officials now say at least 200 bodies have been found from the earlier 7.6 magnitude quake, which triggered landslides and cut power lines. Hundreds of buildings, including hospitals, collapsed in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province. Rescue workers said the number of dead is expected to rise. Thousands of people are thought to be buried under rubble. Earlier Priyadi Kardono, a spokesman for Indonesia's National Disaster Agency, said some 100 to 200 people had died in Padang and more than 500 houses and buildings had collapsed. "Many people are staying outdoors and some people are staying in public facilities," he told Reuters. Mr Kardono told the AFP news agency about 150 military personnel, as well as police and Health Ministry workers, were in the affected area, but they urgently needed heavy machinery to lift the rubble. Rustam Paka...

A tsunami triggered by a strong quake in the South Pacific has killed at least 65 people in Samoa and more than 20 in American Samoa, say reports. The Samoan authorities say at least another 145 people have been injured and whole villages destroyed. American Samoa's delegate to the US Congress said thousands of people had been left homeless in the territory. An 8.3-magnitude quake struck at 1748 GMT, generating 15ft-high (4.5m) waves in some areas of the islands. The Samoa islands comprise two separate entities - the nation of Samoa and American Samoa, a US territory - with a total population of about 250,000 people. A tsunami warning was initially issued for the wider region but cancelled a few hours later. The general manager of Samoa's National Health Service told the BBC that 65 people had died and 145 people were injured. US President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in American Samoa, enabling federal funding to made available to help victims. Floating cars ...

A senior UN official in Afghanistan is to be removed from his post following a row about the country's presidential election, the BBC has learned. UN officials said Peter Galbraith had not been fired but would be removed from the mission. Mr Galbraith, a US diplomat, denied the report, and the UN mission in Kabul says he is expected back. Mr Galbraith angered Afghan President Hamid Karzai by reportedly calling for a complete recount of the vote. Last week the top UN Afghan envoy, Kai Eide, said Mr Galbraith had left the country after a row between them. But he denied he had ordered him to go. UN sources say Secretary General Ban Ki-moon decided to end Mr Galbraith's mission after it became clear he was no longer able to carry out his work in Afghanistan, says the BBC's Lyse Doucet. Some Afghan cabinet ministers had said they no longer wanted to work with him. But in an e-mail to the BBC, Mr Galbraith said: "The secretary general appointed me and has not fired me so far...

Space tourist and circus entrepreneur Guy Laliberte is set to begin his journey to orbit. The Canadian billionaire will sit in the right-hand seat of the Soyuz craft which blasts off to the International Space Station (ISS). Mr Laliberte has described his flight as a "poetic social mission". He says he will make the ISS astronauts laugh during his 12-day stay, and produce a web event that highlights the issue of clean water for all. He is accompanied in the Soyuz TM-16 spacecraft by Russian cosmonaut Maksim Surayev and US astronaut Jeffrey Williams. Lift-off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is timed for 0714 GMT. The three-man crew is expected to arrive at the ISS on Friday. Mr Laliberte was a street performer when he founded the Cirque du Soleil theatrical company in 1984. The enterprise has since become an international brand. The success has brought Mr Laliberte immense wealth, enabling him to buy the reported $35m ticket to go to the orbiting platform. The Canad...

A leading Guinean opposition leader has said protests will continue in the country to get rid of what he called the "criminal" military regime. Alpha Conde, head of the Rally of the People of Guinea party, said he would return there to "mobilise the people". Rights groups say at least 157 people were shot dead by troops on Monday and that woman have been publically raped. But the interior ministry said 57 people died in the protests. Officials denied knowledge of sexual assaults. "We can't fight and then draw back, we fought for change so we can't retreat now," Mr Conde, speaking from New York, told the BBC. "We want free and democratic elections, but considering what happened yesterday, we now want the government to go and for it to be replaced by a national government that can organise elections." Mr Conde said the government had been "discredited" by the violence, which he said had been "planned and were directed by the ...