Thursday, 7 December, 2006

By Robert Morgan
Producer, BBC Newsnight

Presented by Kirsty Wark

Comment on this programme

BLAIR & BUSH

Tony Blair is currently at the White House with President Bush discussing the future strategy for Iraq and the Middle East after yesterday's publication of the Iraq Study Group report.

Our Diplomatic Editor, Mark Urban is in Washington with the latest.

We'll also be discussing the future of Iraq, the Middle East and the credibility of the special relationship with senior politicians from both sides of the Atlantic.

LITVINENKO

Dmitry Kovtun, a contact of the dead Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, is in critical condition in hospital from radiation poisoning, Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying on Thursday.

"Doctors have classified Kovtun's condition as critical," Interfax quoted its source as saying.

Kovtun met Litvinenko in London on 1 November, the day the former spy fell ill.

All seven staff who were working at a hotel bar on the day former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko visited it have been tested positive for low levels of the radioactive substance that killed him, the Health Protection Agency said today.

Our Science Editor, Susan Watts is on the case.

TORNADO

Police have sealed off an area in Kensal Rise in London where a tornado has caused significant damage to around a hundred properties.

One person has been taken to hospital with head injuries, five others were treated at the scene.

Safety checks are being carried out after the storm ripped the roofs off several houses and tore down trees.

Could this be down to global warming or is it just another freak storm? We look at the meteorological evidence.

RAPE

Why do juries fail to convict in so many rape trials?

New research suggests that despite a concerted government campaign juries still often blame rape victims for "bringing it on themselves" if for example they had been drinking.

We'll be discussing this new research with Labour minister and QC, Vera Baird and former Conservative Home Office minister, Ann Widdecombe.

LEBANON

Our correspondent, Tim Whewell has a been to southern Lebanon to explore the extraordinary amounts of reconstruction money being splashed out in Hezbollah's name.

Meanwhile the Lebanese Government looks increasingly under siege as the Hezbollah led rallies outside the parliament building in Beirut enter their seventh day.

Many feel the country is on the verge of a new civil war.

The ceasefire agreement that ended the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah this summer was designed to reinforce the authority of the Lebanese state and make the region safer.

So what went wrong?