BBC news 2008-07-10 加文本

BBC News with Charles Caro.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in the Sudanese region of Darfur has suffered its heaviest losses so far in an ambush by militiamen it suspects are loyal to the Sudanese government. Seven troops and police from the combined UN-African Union force were killed and 22 were wounded. The UN says they fought for more than two hours to repulse the attack by suspected Janjaweed fighters who used mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

A spokeswoman for the UN in New York Michelle Montas condemns the attack.

The Secretary-General condemns in the strongest possible terms, this unacceptable act of extreme violence against AU-UN peacekeepers in Darfur, and calls on the government of Sudan to do its utmost to ensure that the perpetrators are swiftly identified and brought to justice.

The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, speaking at the end of a summit in Japan urged other countries to support a new United Nations resolution to impose tougher sanctions on Zimbabwe. The UN Security Council is to consider new measures including an arms embargo against Zimbabwe and targeted sanctions. Mr. Brown said these now had the backing of the leaders of the G8 industrialized nations.

Georgia has accused Russia of sending fighter jets into its airspace to undermine a visit by the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The trip to Georgia comes amid growing tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi.

Russia has accused Georgia of orchestrating acts of violence in its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, actions Moscow says are backed by Washington. Dr. Rice accused Russia of adding to the tension by its stance on Georgia’s breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The United States considers Georgia to be a good friend; the United States considers the territorial integrity of Georgia to be inviolable, there have been a number of moves recently by the Russian Federation that have in fact not been helpful in terms of the frozen conflict there with Georgia and Abkhazia. But I'm going to visit a friend.

The United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he will reopen the biding for a 35-billion-dollar contract to build midair refueling planes. Mr. Gates said he hoped a direct decision could be reached by the end of the year. From New York, our North America business correspondent Craig Wood reports.

The original decision to choose a European Airbus rather than a Boeing as the new refueling tanker for the US air force caused political uproar in Washington with warnings of American jobs at risk. Boeing complained that the biding process had been flawed and last month the US Government Accountability Office which reviews federal disputes upheld that complains. Today, the US Defense Secretary Robert Gates reopened the process. He said that both parties would have to submit revised bids and that he hoped for a final decision by December.

World News from the BBC.

A senior official of the State Department in Washington has said Iran is making only modest progress in its nuclear program. William Burns, the State Department's top analyst on Iran made the comment at a congressional hearing just hours after Iran tested missiles including one it said could hit Israel. Earlier, the White House condemned the missile test but the US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he didn t think America and Iran were any closer to confrontation.

Two men who tried to sell a teenage boy in Ghana have each been jailed for 20 years. Police believed that Akwesi Buabeng would have been killed and his body parts used for witchcraft. His captors were arrested and the police have issued a photo of him in order to try to find his relatives. Will Ross reports from the Ghanaian capital, Accra.

The photo published by the police shows Akwesi Buabeng staring into the camera, looking a little bewildered; The Ghanaian police hoped the picture will help them reunite him with his relatives.

Akwesi is lucky to be alive after two men took him from the Volta region to Sefwi-Asawinso in the west of Ghana and tried to sell him. Traditional healers are widely consulted in Africa, and some people believe the use of body parts for a ritual can bring good luck and protect against disease or misfortune. (Www.hxen.net)

Scientists in the United States say they've devised a technique that could one day help predict earthquakes. The seismologists measured changes in the earth's crust before, during and after two small earthquakes in California. They found a big change in the stress level of the crust ten hours before one of the quakes.

And the veteran American politician Edward Kennedy has returned to the Senate for the first time after undergoing brain surgery last month to treat a malignant tumor. He was greeted with a standing ovation from Republican as well as Democratic senators, standing in the well of the Senate as he cast his vote to ease the passage of healthcare legislation.