BBC news 2008-05-21 加文本

BBC News with Neil Nunes.

Polls have closed in the Kentucky primary where the Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is hoping to win. And in the other US primary Oregon, Barack Obama, the frontrunner to be the Democratic presidential candidate, is the favorite to win when polls close in a few hours. With the latest here’s our Washington correspondent James Coomarasamy.

Opinion polls have suggested that Hillary Clinton has a pretty substantial lead in Kentucky, while Barack Obama is favored to win in Oregon. But what is expected to be the significance, if you like certainly from the point of view of the Obama camp, is that Barack Obama is almost certain to cross over one important threshold that he will get an unassailable lead amongst the pledged delegates, that is the people, the delegates of the National Convention, who have been voted on by this primary caucus system. He won’t have a complete majority, but what the Obama camp's saying is that today will be an important milestone in getting closer to the candidacy.(Www.hxen.net)

The Veteran American Democratic Party's Senator Edward Kennedy has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Senator Kennedy was airlifted to hospital after suffering a seizure at his home on Saturday. His doctors in Boston say the Senator is in good spirits and that he’ll have more tests before they decide on his future treatment. The majority leader in the Senate Nancy Pelosi spoke for lawmakers from both main parties and many ordinary Americans.

"That news has been met throughout the country with great concern. I have confidence though because Senator Kennedy has been a fighter all his life. He is a fighter , a fighter for our children, for our workers, for our seniors. I know that that fighting spirit will hold him in good, in good stead in the challenge that he faces now. "

There are reports that police in South Africa have fired rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of shantytown residents near Johannesburg who had forced African migrants to flee the area. More than twenty people have been killed in the past week in a wave of attacks against foreigners. The leader of the governing African National Congress Party Jacob Zuma told the BBC that they had a duty to protect the migrants.

"This must not be done to foreigners. They are there because they come from countries that have problems. Our Constitution protects everybody, protects the citizens of South Africa, protect(s) anyone who is in South Africa. And that's why we should do, that's why we should need to uphold. "

Members of Parliaments in Britain have rejected a cut in the time limit for abortions from 24 to 22 weeks or lower. In a series of votes, MPs decided by large majorities against moves to reduce the legal time limit for abortion to as little as 12 weeks. The debate in Parliament focused on whether modern medicine had increased survival rates of premature babies and in particular those born before 23 weeks.

World News from the BBC.

The authorities in California have begun a search for more possible victims of one of America's most notorious mass murderers Charles Manson. Manson now aged 73, is serving a life sentence in prison for killing seven people in 1969, including the American actress Sharon Tate and her unborn baby. The Californian police started their excavations after conducting new tests at a remote hideout in the Death Valley national park where Manson and his followers hid after the killings.

Scientists are warning that some types of Carbon nanotubes which are used in electronics and lightweight consumer goods could cause lung disease and cancers. Researchers expose mice to the long strands forms of nanotubes which are thousands of times thinner than a human hair. They found that the fibers could get stuck in…Jonathan Fildes reports.

The time 1969, the place California, a social revolution was underway, fuelled by sex, drugs and rock and roll. Charles Manson was a career criminal who believed a race war was coming. He called it Helter Skelter after a song by the Beatles. To kick-start this war, Manson ordered his followers, known as the family, to murder. Over two nights in Los Angeles, they killed seven people. He and four others are still serving life terms in jail. Rumors have persisted of bodies at the ranch. Initial tests found at least two potential grave sites and prompted the local sheriff to allow new digging.

Spain's anti-terrorism agency says the suspected political leader of the Basque separatist movements, ETA, has been arrested in a joint operation by French and Spanish police. Javier Lopez Pena, also known as Thierry, was among four ETA suspects arrested in a late night raid, are in an apartment in the southwestern French city of Bordeaux. ETA is blamed for the deaths of more than 800 people.

And that's latest from BBC World News.