BBC news 2008-06-26 加文本

BBC News with Jerry Schmitt.

In his first public statement on the deepening political crisis in Zimbabwe, the former South African President Nelson Mandela has said the country is suffering a tragic failure of leadership. He was speaking at a dinner in London to mark his 90th birthday.

"We have seen the outbreak of violence against fellow Africans in our own country and the tragic failure of leadership in our neighboring Zimbabwe."

Earlier, leaders of other southern African countries called on the government of Zimbabwe to postpone the disputed presidential run-off election due on Friday and urged it to seek a compromise solution with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Britain has stripped President Mugabe of "an honorary knighthood". The government in London said it was a mark of revulsion at Mr. Mugabe's disregard for human rights and the democratic process in Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, South Africa says a group of around 200 Zimbabweans, thought to be fleeing political violence, has sought refuge at its embassy in Harare. The South African Foreign Ministry said the embassy had contacted the Zimbabwean government and humanitarian organizations in an attempt to provide an alternative shelter for the group. It said that some of the people in the embassy compound were injured.

The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, has decided to leave a key interest rate unchanged at two percent, and the move brings to an end a series of seven consecutive rate cuts since September last year. From New York, Greg Wood reports.

This is the first time the US Central Bank has cut interest rates unchanged at a regular policy meeting since it embarked on a series of cuts last September. It's worried about inflationary pressures building up in the economy, and it's not just record oil prices which are to blame. Nearly all commodities are becoming more expensive thanks to continued strong demand from China and other emerging economies. The Fed warned today that the upside risks to inflation and inflation expectations had increased, a veiled warning that rates may have to go up later in the year.

Germany have won through to the final of the European Football Championships with a victory over Turkey, in which Imogen Foulkes was at the match played in Basel in Switzerland.

Turkey have been the combat kings throughout Europe 2008 scoring last-minute goals in their wins against the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Croatia. In Basel, it looked as if they would do the same thing. They equalized against Germany in the 86th minute. But in the end, that all added that it is a game of 90 minutes, and in the end Germany always wins prove true once again, with a winning goal from the Germans in the 90th minute.

In the final on Sunday, Germany will meet either Russia or Spain who’ll play the second semi-final in Vienna on Thursday.

World News from the BBC.

The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has denounced Italian judges as a "cancerous growth" and accused the courts of trying to subvert his new government. David Willey in Rome has the details.

Mr. Berlusconi was speaking to a national conference of shopkeepers, crossing his wrists as if he'd been handcuffed. Mr. Belusconi said “Many prosecutors would like to see me like this”. His outburst followed opposition and media criticism of the current passage through parliament of a new legislation which would suspend a long running corruption case against him in which he is accused together with the British tax lawyer David Mills of paying illegal kickbacks in exchange for false testimony.

Mr. Berlusconi has been charged and tried 17 times for corruption, but he is always protested his innocence.

The United States Supreme Court has drastically cut the amount of money the oil company Exxon Mobil will have to pay in punitive damages for causing one of the largest environmental accidents in American history. The original figure of 5 billion dollars now reduced to 500 million dollars was awarded to fishermen and businesses in Alaska, where a supertanker, the Exxon Valdez, ran aground in 1999 and spilt its cargo of oil on the coastline.

President Bush says a proposed security pact between the United States and Iraq will be a strategic framework agreement that suits the Iraqi government. He was speaking after the talks at the White House with the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani who said he hoped the two sides would reach agreement on the pact soon.(www.hxen.net)

A new study suggests that the oceans are destroying greenhouse gases in the lower atmosphere at the Cape Verde Islands and found that chemicals in sea spray and from microscopic plants were destroying the two gases. The results indicate that tropical oceans can have a positive impact on global warming. But scientists are concerned that the current climate models are underestimating the amount of greenhouse gases being emitted.

BBC News.