BBC news 2008-07-26 加文本

BBC news with Jerry Smite.

Delegates attending what's seen as a make-or-break round of world trade talks say there are signs of progress. Speaking in Geneva, the European Union trade chief Peter Mandelson said the proposals on the table were not perfect. But he was very hopeful that the deal could finally be reached. Earlier, the talks seemed on the point of failure. Imogen Foulkes reports from Geneva.

Late in the afternoon, a piece of paper emerged, new proposals which would require the United States to reduce its ceiling on agricultural subsidies by a further half a billion dollars. They would also allow developing countries to label up to 12% of their products as special, thus offering some protection. But and this is likely to be a sticking point, emerging economies would not be allowed to completely protect an entire industrial sector. That would irritate Indian’s growing car industry and please German car manufacturers.

Lawyers for the captured former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic say they filed an appeal against his transfer to the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague. The lawyers said they sent the document from Italy to Serbia in the last possible moment in order to delay the legal process. The BBC correspondent in Belgrade says it’s almost certain that the appeal would be unsuccessful.

Hospital officials in the Gaza Strip say four Hamas militants and a young girl have been killed near Gaza city when the car they were traveling in was blown up. It was the third bomb attack in Gaza in 24 hours, one of the bloodiest days in the territory since Hamas seized control a year ago. The details are now from Alin Makbully in Gaza City.

The explosion happened on Gaza City’s coastal road close to a crowded beach. The target had been a car carrying four members of Hamas militant wing. All four were killed, but so too was a young girl. Many other bystanders, who’d been spending the Muslim rest day by the sea were wounded. Hamas hasn’t explicitly accused its bitter rival Fatah of carrying out the attack, but it has implied it.

Security officials in Lebanon say the number of people killed in renewed sectarian fighting in the northern city of Tripoli has risen to six. More than 30 people were injured. The latest clashes between pro- and anti-Syrian groups came despite an agreement by rival Lebanese politicians two weeks ago to form a government of national unity. Since then, there’s been further political wrangling over one of the main issues of contention, weapons held by the Hezbollah movement.

The Sudan government has given another strong warning about moves to indict President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes. The presidential adviser Bona Malual said that if the International Criminal Court did [not] indict president al-Bashir, Sudan could not be held responsible for the wellbeing of UN peacekeepers and other foreign troops in Darfur. The ICC prosecutor has asked judges to issue an arrest warrant for President al-Bashir.

World News from the BBC.

The American presidential contender John McCain has called for China to address concerns about human rights and free Tibetan prisoners. Mr. McCain, the republican candidate, made his comments after meeting the Tibetan spiritual Lama, well, I beg your pardon, this is the Tibetan spiritual leader the ** Lama in Colorado. Earlier Mr. McCain said the policy of his rival Barack Obama on the war in Iraq showed he was not ready to be commander-in-chief.

United States Coast Guard says very limited ship movement has resumed on the Mississippi river following an oil spilt that has caused a massive disruption. Up to 200 commercial vessels were stranded. And it could be days before ships can travel unhindered on the river. As Nicolas Long reports.

A collision on Wednesday between a barge and an oil tanker closed 150 kilometers of the river from the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans, one of the busiest US ports. A traffic jam of around 200 ships at various points on Mississippi could take days to clear. Authorities investigating the crash say there wasn’t a properly licensed pilot aboard the tugboat towing the barge. The cost of the accident will include millions of dollars in lost commerce and the bill for cleaning up one and a half million liters of spilled oil.

Engineers from the Australian airline QUANTAS are said to examine a three-meter hole which appeared in the fuselage of one of its jumbo jets during the flight from London to Melburn on Thursday. The pilots of Boeing 747 made an emergency landing in the Philippine’s capital Manila after a section of the fuselage separated from the plane and there was a rapid decompression of the cabin. No one was hurt in the incident.(Www.hxen.net)

A computer science professor Randy Pausche whose last lecture became an unlikely publishing and Internet sensation has died aged 47 at his home in the United States. He gave the lecture entitled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” last September at Carnegie-Mellon University shortly after he learned he had terminal pancreatic cancer. He intended it as a guide for his young children and became a best-selling book.