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BBC world news, I'm Nick Kelly

President Bush has called the death sentence passed on Sadam Hussein earlier in the day 'a milestone' on Iraq's road from the rule of a tyrant to the rule of law. He said the former leader's victims had now received the justice that Sadam Hussein had denied them.
"Iraq has a lot of work ahead as it builds its society, that delivers equal justice and protects all its citizens. The history will record today's judgement as an important achievement on the path to a free and just and unified society, United States is proud to stand with the Iraqi people, we will continue to support Iraqi unity government as it works to bring peace to this great country."
Sadam Hussein was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity by a court in Baghdad. The judges related / the killing of 148 Shiite villagers and the torture and deportation of others following an assassination attempt on him in 1982. As the judgement was delivered, the deposed president shouted out "god is great, and down with the invaders". He will now be in an automatic appeal process. Reaction to the verdict across Iraq has been mixed, in many parts of the country, there were celebrations among Shiite Muslims and Kurds, long oppressed by Sadam Hussein, but in Sunni areas there were protests and some clashes, the Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said the deposed president was a criminal who deserved the punishment he'd been given, the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said all the defendants in the trial had been given their full rights and the trial was just.
"I think the trial was fair, those people had full right to say what they want to say, they even used it for education, for propaganda, for talking against the Iraqi government and I must respect the independence of the Iraqi judiciary."
Now we'd look at reaction elsewhere in the Middle East, here is the BBC's E.P.
This verdict comes as no surprise in the region.Broadly speaking there will be few regrets about it either. Most governments had little time for Sadam Hussein, although they didn't support the invasion of his country, few mourned his downfall. For two countries, this verdict has been welcome news: In Iran, a country'd fought a long and bloody war with Iraq, a government's spokesman said it was a just punishment for his inhuman crime; In Kuwait, a country Saddam invaded, the speaker of Parliament called for Sadam to be hanged without delay. But there has been criticism, especially of the process which many feel has been a one-sided American controlled trial. The Palestinian militant group Hamas said the verdict was politically motivated, Syria said it was illegitimate.

At least two Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip on the fifth day of Israel's current military offensive there. Palestinian medical officials said the two died in separate incidents on Sunday bringing the number of deaths since Wednesday to nearly 50 people, many of them said to be Palestinian militants. Earlier, the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declined to say when the operation would end but insisted that Israel had no intention of reoccupying Gaza.

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The speaker of Somalia's transitional parliament S has held talks in the capital Mogadishu with leaders of the Union of Islamic Courts whose Islamist militia controls the city. Following the talks, the Islamic Courts said they were willing to talk peace with the transitional government. Mr.A was the first senior government official set foot in Mogadishu since it fell to Islamist forces in July causing the alliance of warlords who had controlled the city for 15 years to flee. The leader of the Islamic Courts Sheikh H.D said he was pleased to see Mr.A in Mogadishu.
"The speaker is performing his duty by coming here and we welcome him. This city is his city, when he last saw Mogadishu, it was chaotic, thanks to God that he has come, now the town is very peaceful, may God help us finish what we have to do."

The people of Nicaragua have been voting for a new president in an election that's been closely watched by Washington. The front-runner is Dennial L, the Leftwing leader, whom the Regan administration saw as one of its main adversaries in the 1980s.

The Prime Minister of Italy Romano Prodi has called for a single authority to regulate electricity supply across Europe after millions of west Europeans were hit by blackouts on Saturday night. Mr Prodi said the interlinked power systems in Europe demanded this while a green politician in France said the power failures showed his government should reconsider energy privatization. The power cuts began in Germany when a cold-snap caused a surge in demand for electricity overloading the network. Blackouts spread to France, Belgium,the Netherland, Spain and Portugal as well as to Austria, Italy and Croatia.

BBC world news.