Washington, I’m I’m Frances Alonzo.. The Nigerian parliament has enpowered vice president Goodluck Jonathan to (serve) as the country’s leader while president Umar Yar'Adua undergoes medical treatment in Saudi Arabia. Both houses of parliament has the motions Tuesday saying Mr. Jonathan shall henceforth discharge the (functions) of the office of the president, commander chief of the armed forces as acting president. The senate passed a second motion saying that Mr. Jonathan would cease to be president once Mr. Yar'Adua informs parliament he has returned from medical leave. The presidents of Chad and Sudan have agreed to end hostilities and (normalize) relations between their countries. The Chadian president Idriss Deby and Sudanese president Omar Al Bashir spoke to reporters Tuesday after meeting in Sudan’s capital Khartoum. Mr. Bashir said Mr. Deby’s visit has put an end to all the problems between Sudan and Chad. Iran says it has started enriching uranium to a higher level, defying international efforts to curb its nuclear activity. The Iaranian state media said the process began Tuesday in Iran’s Neptune facility and in the prestence of International Atomic Energy Agency (inspectors). Iran told the IAEA Monday its plan to enrich uranium to 20 percent in order to fuel a medical nuclear reactor. Sri Lanka’s oppsition parties are protesting the (oppressed) by the military of their defeated presidential candidate, the former top army commander credited with helping to defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels. VOA correspondent Steve Herman has details. A day after the arrest of former opposition presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka , Sri Lanka’s government called the former top military chief command hell * dog, betraying the nation and conspiring against the presient who (defeated) them. Government, military officials say Fonseka faces a court marshal for getting involved in politics before his retirement last November and disloyalty for saying he would tesitfy about war crimes committed against the Tamil Tigers. A US State Department report has accused the military and the defeated rebels of possible war crimes. At a news conference in Colombo, the former general’s wife, Anoma tearfully called his arrest and abduction saying soldiers refused his request as a civilian to surrender to the police. She said her family does not know where he is being held and calls on the government to release that information. The military denies Fonseka has been held in a secret location and says the family and leagal council are allowed acess to him. Steve Herman, VOA News, New Delhi. The Nnited Nations is appealing for 500.. (additional) aid for hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis displaced by the army’s ungoing anti-Taliban offensive. UN aid coordiantors in Pakistan say the funds are needed to be in care for people fleeing violence during the next six months. A Chinese dissident human activist allegations of (shoddy) construction of schools that were destroyed by an earthquake has been sentenced to five years in prison for subversion. Stephenie Ho reports from Beijing. A court in the city of Chengdu convicted a sentence of activist Tan Zuoren to five years in prison. Tan’s attorney Pu Zhiqiang reported the verdict although officials of the Chengdu courthouse did not confirm it. Tan’s lawyer says hic client was charged with inciting subversion of state power because of comments he made about the bloody (crackdown) on pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing’s Tian’an men Square in 1989. Rife with the human rights group Amnesty International says her organization strongly disagree with the court verdict. “Amnesty Interanational is actually calling the (authorities) to release Tan Zuoren immediately because we believe he has been convicted fully for exercizing his rights, freedom expression.” Rife points to what she believes to be the real reason Tan is being punished is work with parents of children who died in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Tan is among the activists investigation whether shoddy school construction was to blame. Stephenie Ho, VOA News, Beijing. The US capital is bracing for a second major snowstorm just days after a powerful blizzard * the region with (snowfalls) up to 90 cm. The Federal Government closed for a second day Tuesday as transportation remained difficult throughout much of the Washington area. The situation is up to get worse as national weather service has warned of 25 to 50 centimeters of snow during Tuesday overnight until Wednesday. More details at voanews.com. I’m Frances Alonzo, VOA News.