BBC news 2008-05-11 加文本

BBC News with Nick Kelly.

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned that hundreds of thousands of Burmese lives could be at risk unless the military government removes all restrictions on foreign aid following Cyclone Nargis a week ago. The UN has appealed for almost $200 million in aid. The Burmese ambassador to the UN said his country would accept help from any quarter. His government has said that it is not ready to allow in foreign search and rescue teams. But the UN's Head of Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes said he believed Burma could become more flexible after the constitutional referendum.

"The pressure on them from, from everyone, from us of course, but also from many states around the world, including their friends in ASEAN(Association of Southeast Asian Nations), in China and India, they are all saying please be more open because there is no time to lose to get the aid in and I, I hope they will begin to listen. "

Polling in the referendum is now underway. In his BBC interview, Mr. Holmes described as naive suggestions that the UN and the aid organizations could impose help on Burma without the agreement of government. He said air-dropping supplies would be very much a last resort.

The United States says the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah poses a threat to international peace and must be held accountable for the violence that swept the Lebanese capital Beirut this week. The White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said that America was consulting the United Nations Security Council and the countries in the Middle East following Hezbollah's takeover of most of Muslim West Beirut.

"We are very troubled by the recent actions of Hezbollah. We urged Hezbollah to stop their attempt to defy the lawful decisions taken by the democratically elected Lebanese government. We also urge Iran and Syria to stop their support of Hezbollah and its destabilizing effects on Lebanon. "

At least fifteen people have been killed in the violence.

An Israeli man has been killed by a mortar shell fired from the Gaza Strip to kibbutz close to the border. Three others were injured in the attack which was carried out by the military wing of the Palestinian organization Hamas. The man killed in the attack is the first Israeli to die in the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip since Israel pulled out of the territory.

Gunmen in Mexico have killed another top Mexican police official, the fourth such killing in the last ten days. The policeman, Esteban Robles, who headed the anti-kidnapping unit of the Mexico City Police, was shot several times as he was driving out of his house. Duncan Kennedy reports.

He was attacked by four gunmen who pulled up in a truck and started firing. It follows the killing on Thursday of the acting director of Mexico's Federal Police Force, Edgar Millan. Two more senior officers have died in the past ten days in what appears to be a series of retaliatory attacks by members of the country's drug cartels. The White House has again called on the American Congress to pass legislation that will allow more than a billion dollars in aid to be used in fight against the cartels.

World News from the BBC.

The South African President Thabo Mbeki has left Harare following talks with President Mugabe on Zimbabwe's presidential election crisis. Mr. Mbeki, who is the regional mediator for Zimbabwe, left without speaking to reporters. South African officials say Mr. Mbeki is concerned about violence ahead of a possible run-off election. He did not meet representatives of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and MDC's spokesman Hebson Makuvise said Mr. Mbeki's presence in Harare was not enough to stop the violence.

He does not stop the violence that is prevailing in, in different parts of the country today, and the perpetrator of this violence, er, police officers, soldiers and ZANU-PF militias, who are beating up people, abducting people, taking them to torture centers, and they brutalize them if they would vote for the MDC.

The American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has discussed the crisis in Zimbabwe with the presidents of several Southern African countries. The State Department spokesman said Doctor Rice wanted to get a sense from regional leaders, aware that a solution for the crisis in Zimbabwe will need the support and encouragement of neighboring countries.

One of the banks worst hit by the international credit crisis, the Citigroup, has outlined plans to dramatically reduce the size of its business. The bank's Chief Executive Vikram Pandit wants to dispose of assets worth about $400 billion over the next three years. The BBC economic correspondent says the plan appears to be to sell off less profitable part of its operation. Citigroup has recorded losses of $15 billion in the last six months.

And police in Italy have arrested eight people in connection with their investigation into the shooting dead of six Italians at a pizza restaurant in the German city of Duisburg last year. 300 police took part in dawn raids which focused on rival Mafia clans in the southern region of Calabria. However, the main suspect in the case, Giovanni Strangio, escaped capture.

BBC News.