A powerful cyclone has hit the east coast of Indiaforcing half a million people to flee their homes.Cyclone Phailin is buffeting Orissa's state with windsup to 200km/hour. So far, at least five people havedied. Our correspondent Sanjoy Majumder is in the region, he described the intensity of thestorm.
We step up for a brief moment, we could barely stand on our feet, we'd come back right in. Andthere has been accompanied with very, very heavy rain, in the distance we frequently hear thesounds of bang of things coming down, of windows being smashed and already we're gettingreports of power line which have come down, the trees that have been brought down, ofhouses with their roofs blown off.
The Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has lambasted the International Criminal Court where hefaces trial for crimes against humanity as racist, biased and means for western governments tointerfere in Africa. Addressing African leaders in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, Mr. Kenyattasaid the ICC had become a toy of the declining imperial powers. The African Union has passedthe resolution that no sitting African head of state should appear before any international court.Gabriel Gatehouse reports.
The Kenyan president has repeatedly sought the deferral to his trial at the International CriminalCourt which is due to start an exactly one month time, though the request has been repeatedlyrebuffed. Now the African Union says Uhuru Kenyatta should not attend the trial unless thecourt agrees to postpone proceedings. The Pan-African body accuses the International CriminalCourt of biased on its current cases related to alleged crimes committed in Africa. PresidentKenatta has always maintained he'd cooperated fully with the ICC, diplomats in Kenya say failureto do so would have consequences.
The US and Afghanistan say they have agreed the terms of the security deal to take effect afterthe main foreign combat forces leave the country at the end of the next year. It follows talks inKabul between the US Secretary of State John Kerry and the African President Hamid Karzai.
