BBC news 2007-05-20 加文本

BBC 2007-05-20


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BBC World News, I'm Sandy Walsh.

Militants have attacked a military base in southern Iraq where the British Prime Minister Tony Blair was meeting soldiers. A series of explosions were heard near the base in Basra but there were no reports of injuries. There have been attacks near Mr. Blair's every stage of his trip to Iraq. Paul Wood has been travelling with Mr.Blair and sent this report.

"On this his seventh and last visit to Iraq as prime minister, Tony Blair did not venture outside the blast walls of the green zone, or the wire of the British base in Basra. Even so, there were mortar attacks at both places. One's shaking the windows of the building when Mr. Blair was meeting senior commanders in Basra. All this is no doubt disappointing for the prime minister, but at a news conference, he angrily defended his record, accusing the media of focusing only on the bad news in Iraq and ignoring real progress."

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reaffirmed her government's commitment to Afghanistan despite the killing of three German soldiers by a suicide bomber. Chancellor Merkel said the German military was carrying out an important mission for the reconstruction and stabilization of Afghanistan. A spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry Zemarai Bashary said civilians were also among the dead and injured.

"There was a suicide bombing in the center of Kunduz province, and as the result of this bombing, unfortunately three German soldiers were killed and three others were injured, as well as, we had some civilian casualties as well and … seven civilians were killed in this incident and around fifteen civilians were injured."

The main Palestinian parties Fatah and Hamas have agreed another truce in the Gaza Strip in an attempt to end a week of factional violence that has left more than fifty people dead. Reports from Gaza say gunfire has stopped and militants have begun to dismantle road blocks. From Jerusalem, Cartel Adella reports.

This is the fifth ceasefire that's been called in a week, dozens are skeptical. True, gunmen are leaving the streets and dismantling their checkpoints. But the sentiment in Gaza is the law may last hours, weeks, even a few months. But most feel the factional fighting will break out again. This because the internal and external pressures behind the tensions are not being addressed.

Exit polls suggest that the Romanian president has survived a referendum on whether to impeach him. According to preliminary results, Traian Basescu got three quarters of the votes. Mr.Basescu said his victory showed that Romanians want the political system modernized. The president had been pushing for the implementation of anti-corruption reforms agreed when Romania joined the European Union in January. His opponents in parliament had accused him of exceeding his powers by frequent interventions in the daily running of the country. Our BBC correspondent says President of parliament must now seek the consensus they have avoided over the past month.

World News from the BBC.

Militia groups in Ivory Coast which support President Laurent Gbagbo have started to disarm, reviving hopes that the country is moving towards great political stability after years of conflict. At a ceremony attended by President Gbagbo, the militiamen handed over hundreds of weapons over to United Nation's peacekeepers. The militias which are due to be disbanded as part of a recent peace deal supported the president against the new forces rebels in the country's civil war.

The Ethiopian government says its troops killed nearly one thousand people in the Somali capital Mogadishu during heavy fighting in March and April. Ethiopian troops entered Somalia last December to support the transitional government against fighters of the Union of Islamic Courts which had taken control of Mogadishu. An Ethiopian statement said three hundred of those killed was said to be from the youth wing of the Islamic Courts Union.

And now to sport. An English football club Chelsea has defeated Manchester United in the FA Cup Final by one goal to nil. The goal was scored by Didier Drogba in the extra time. It makes Chelsea the first team to win a major football trophy in the new Wembley Stadium in London. It's also the first FA Cup trial for the club's Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho.

"For me, it's fantastic. It's a historical final, and my grandsons in S will know their granddad won the first final in the new Wembley. And that, that's history."

Thousands of people have marched through the Polish capital Warsaw to demand equality for homosexuals amid growing concern about intolerance towards gays and lesbians in the country. Politicians from several European countries joined the march. At the one point, a group of far right political activists chanted anti-homosexual slogans, but lines of riot police kept the two sides apart. In the past Gay Pride marches in Poland have been attacked by youths throwing bottles and eggs.

BBC World News.