BBC news 2008-04-24 加文本

BBC news with Nick Kelly.

The human rights group Amnesty International has condemned what it called “the targeted killing of civilians” during a raid by Ethiopian soldiers on a mosque in Somalia. The Ethiopian government has denied its troops were involved in the killings. David Bamford reports.

Amnesty International's accusations back up earlier eyewitness reports that Ethiopian troops in Somalia to support the transitional government there against Islamist militants raided the Hidya mosque in the northern suburbs of the capital Mogadishu. Amnesty says that 21 people were killed including the mosque’s imam and several religious scholars. Some, the eyewitnesses said, had their throats cut. Ethiopia has acknowledged the raid and confirms reports that the soldiers took away at least forty children. Amnesty has demanded their release.

In the heaviest fighting in Sri Lanka this year, government forces and Tamil rebels have suffered many losses in the north of the country. The government side has admitted to having lost over forty soldiers with thirty more missing in action. The spokesperson for the Tamil Tiger Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan told the BBC that the LTTE rebels had beaten back the government troops.(www.hxen.net)

Today the Sri Lanka armed forces made a large-scale attempt to overrun the Allidie’s town hall, heavy bloody weapons towards the bloody weapons and 2 thirty hours, the clashes lasted for several hours, end by 7: 40 hours. The SLA formation pulled back to their earlier positions with heavy casualties.

The United Nations says a complete lack of fuel in the Gaza Strip means they’ll have to suspend essential humanitarian work there on Thursday. This includes the provision of food aid to 650,000 refugees and the collections of solid waste from facilities serving half a million people. UN said that the hospitals and clinics would also run out of the fuel within a week. Gaza is entirely dependent on Israel for fuel supplies and UN officials have repeatedly called on Israel to lift its restrictions. From the west bank Town of Ramala, here is Arlie Mudor.

Since Israeli sanctions were imposed, the number of people living in Gaza who rely on food aid has risen sharply. The figure is now thought to be well over eighty percent of a population with a high proportion of children. The UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza says that it’ll have to stop its food deliveries to over half a million Palestinians unless it urgently receives diesels for its trucks. Israel began to decrease the amount of fuel litre allowed into Gaza last June. It’s part of a plan to put pressure on Hamas and Palestinian militants who fire rockets across the border. (Www.hxen.net)

The top American General in Iraq David Petraeus has been nominated to lead the US Central Command which includes operations in Iraq, Kandahar and Afghanistan. The US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that the appointment has been approved by President Bush and will be submitted to the Senate for confirmation.

World news from the BBC.

The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said Britain will press for an international arms embargo against Zimbabwe to stop a shipment of weapons from reaching the country from China. Mr Brown was addressing Parliament before meeting the leader of the South Africa’s governing ANC Party, Jacob Zuma. Afterwards, Mr Zuma said that he didn’t think an arms embargo against Zimbabwe was necessary and South Africa, another African nation has done enough by refusing to allow the ship carrying the weapons to dock in their ports.

I don’t think we’ve reached that stage where we have to call the arms embargo. I think what the South Africa has done on the vessel that was carrying weapons that's what I think at the moment, has been done and supported and directed that one African leader, for exemplar say,  it should not dock anywhere else . I think we are on that stage at the moment.

The Chinese ship carrying the arms is now thought be heading towards Angola.

Finance Ministers from eight west African countries say they are setting up a fund worth half a billion dollars to help African states deal with sharp increases in food prices after manure would be targeted at helping local agriculture. Earlier, the European Union Trade commissioner Peter Mandelson criticized food-producing countries who were restricting exports, saying they were fueling the crisis. Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization said poor policy decisions over the past twenty years were to blame for the high prices. But if resources were better directed, the food crisis could be resolved.

And thousands of people have gathered in Canberra for the Olympic torch relay through the Australian capital. Parts of the city have been sealed off with the steel fence to protect the torch from any protests after previous relays were interrupted in London, Paris and Los Angeles. Hundreds of local and federal police are on duty. Many of the demonstrators are complaining about Chinese policies in Tibet, but thousands of others have descended on Canberra to cheer the torch on, and express their support for the Chinese government.

BBC news.