BBC news 2008-07-28 加文本

BBC News with Joe Macintosh.

At least 14 people have been killed and around 100 injured in two explosions in the Turkish city of Istanbul. They occurred in a busy road in a working class residential district about ten minutes apart. There were scenes of panic with people covered in blood as they tried to run from the area. Sarah Rainsford reports from Istanbul.

Two bombs were detonated in this attack, planned to cause as much harm as possible. A small device left in a rubbish container exploded first. Minutes later, when a crowd had gathered, a second far larger bomb went off. Istanbul’s governor has said there’s no doubt this was a terror attack, the target, a pedestrian street in a residential area of the city. A popular spot in the summer evenings, the area was crowded when the bombs were detonated.

Cities across India have been put on high alert after 17 explosions in Ahmedabad on Saturday. Troops and riot police have been deployed in Ahmedabad which has a history of religious violence. Damian Grammaticas reports from Delhi.

Ahmedabad was tense. Security forces patrolled the streets. Outside one of the city’s main trauma hospitals …two bombs went off here just as the injured were being brought in for treatment. The hospitals were overflowing with casualties, but it could have been worse. Bomb disposal officers defused several more unexploded devices. The aim may have been to ferment trouble between Hindus and Muslims. And there’s real concern that Indian cities are now the target of a sustained indiscriminate campaign of bombings. 

A coalition of mainly African aid agencies has strongly criticized the joint African and United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Darfur region of Sudan. The group known as the Darfur Consortium said the mission was too small, inadequately equipped and was failing to protect civilians. Our world affairs correspondent Mark Doyle reports.

The joint United Nations-African union mission in Darfur, or UNAMID, began operations six months ago. The hybrid force came about because the United Nations Security Council promised protection to some four million people caught up in the war between the Sudanese government and rebels. But Khartoum insisted that Africans should make up the bulk of the soldiers. The highly critical UNAMID report said the force had only deployed 9,000 of the 26,000 soldiers promised.

Police in Tanzania say another albino has been murdered, so his body parts can be used in witchcraft. The latest killing brings to 26 the number of albinos killed in Tanzania over the past year. The man was attacked in his house by a group of men who used machetes to chop off his right foot and his genitals. The Home Affairs Minister told the BBC that police patrols have been increased in areas where albinos have been murdered. Last week, a BBC undercover reporter was offered albino body parts by witch doctors.

World News from the BBC.

The Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has gone to Washington for a three-day visit, his first to the United States since he took power after February’s elections. He’ll be holding talks with President Bush and senior administration officials and he’s also expected to meet the Democratic and Republican presidential hopefuls, Barack Obama and John McCain. Correspondents say the trip comes amid intensifying US pressure on Pakistan to move against strongholds that Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants have established in its lawless border regions.

The brother of the captured Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has confirmed an appeal has been lodged against his arrest and transfer to The Hague on war crimes charges. Helen Fawkes reports from the Serbian capital.

Prosecutors at Serbia's war crimes court are now waiting for the appeal to arrive in the post. It’s not clear how long this will take. A special council from the court will have three days to consider the appeal once it's been delivered. It’s almost certain to be rejected and the case handed to the Serbian government which has the power to issue the final extradition order. Then Radovan Karadzic will be transferred from Belgrade to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Ground crew and cabin staff of Germany's biggest airline Lufthansa have begun an indefinite strike over pays. It's the first industry action of the airline for 13 years, and it's expected to affect ten of Germany's largest airports. The union representing the striking workers says it would be difficult for Lufthansa to limit their impact. (Www.hXen.com)

African and Caribbean countries have threatened to block a global agreement at the international trade talks in Geneva over one of the world's oldest trade disputes--the European Unions controversial tariffs on Latin American banana imports. The spokesman for the ACP trade grouping said it was unacceptable to reduce the tariffs introduced as part of a preferential trade deal between European countries and former colonies.