BBC News with Michael Powles.
The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amari, who
turned up
at the Iranian Interests Section of the Pakistani embassy in Washington, is and always has been free to go home.
"Mr Amiri has been in the United States of his own free will, and he is free to go. In fact, he was scheduled to travel to Iran yesterday, but was unable to make all of the necessary arrangements to reach Iran through transit countries."
Iran says the scientist was
abduct
ed by the CIA while on a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, an allegation dismissed by the Americans. Mr Amiri is now saying he wants to return to Iran.
Adding to
the uncertainty, videotapes showing a man purporting to be Mr Amiri have been circulating, offering conflicting (of counts,口误) accounts of what happened to him.
The French parliament has voted to adopt laws to ban women from wearing the full-face veil in public. The legislation will now go before the upper house for
approval
in September. If the ban becomes law, women who wear it could be fined about 190 dollars. Punishments for male family members found to be enforcing the wearing of the veil include spending a year in prison. From Paris, Gavin Hewitt reports.
French MPs say the aim of this law is to
assert
that those who live (in?) or travel to France must
embrace