BBC news 2009-01-07 加文本

BBC News with Aleem Maqbool.

The United Nations says at least 30 people have been killed in an Israeli artillery attack near one of its schools in the Gaza Strip, the second in as many days. The building had been a refuge for hundreds of people fleeing the fighting. The UN described the situation after the attack as horrific and demanded an independent investigation into the incident which happened at Jabaliya in northern Gaza. Ben Brown reports from the Israeli Gaza border.

The Israeli attack on the UN-run school may be the biggest single loss of civilian lives so far in Gaza since this crisis began. The Israelis say that Hamas militants were firing from the school, using it as cover. But the UN are furious with Israel and insist they had given the Israelis GPS coordinates for all their buildings in Gaza precisely to avoid a tragedy such as this. According to the United Nations, at least 30 Palestinians died at the school and 55 were wounded, many of them children. They have been seeking shelter after fleeing from their homes.

Israel said the attack was in response to a Palestinian one from the school grounds. The Israeli prime minister's spokesman Mark Regev put the blame on the militant group Hamas.

We do know that there was a Hamas operatives [operative] in the institution that they were using institution for military purposes, we know they are amongst the casualties, there were military operatives of Hamas; we even have specific names, and I think this is an incident which shows clearly how Hamas operates, they have very few qualms that they are taking over UN institution, which is supposed to be neutral, yes, for military purposes, they have no qualms about using civilians, I understand, refugees, as human shields.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have pushed further south from the Gaza Strip and clashed with Hamas militants near Gaza City.

The Venezuelan government has expelled the Israeli ambassador and drawn other embassy staff in protest of the attacks in the Gaza Strip. The move comes a day after the Venezuelan president strongly criticized the Israeli government, calling the offensive in the Palestinian territory “a genocide” against innocent civilians.

As the dispute between Russia and Ukraine over gas deliveries for Europe worsens, seven Eastern European and Balkan’s countries have reported a complete halt to their supplies from Russia. Further west, Germany, France and Italy have reported a decrease in their supplies. As cold weather grips the continent, the European Union has called the shutdown completely unacceptable. The Deputy Chief Executive of the Russian gas firm Gazprom, Alexander Medvedev, blamed Ukraine for the dispute.

Unfortunately last night we witnessed events that are uNPRecedented in the history of international gas market. At 2:30 Central European Time, the Ukrainian side unilaterally shut down three main pipelines, supplying gas for western and central Europe. As a result of this action, we don't have the physical ability to supply gas to Europe.

World News from the BBC.

The new Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been sworn in at a ceremony in Dhaka. The event marked an end to two years of rule by an army-backed government and a return to democracy for Bangladesh. From Dhaka, Mark Dummett reports.

Sheikh Hasina has become Bangladesh's prime minister for the second time. But this is without doubt the greatest moment of her long career. Her Awami League and its allies won a massive victory in last week's elections, securing more than 250 seats out of a possible 300. The largest party in the last parliament, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia was crushed and so was its ally, the main religious party Jamaat-e-Islami.

The man who has been chosen to fill the vacancy to the United States Senate left by the President-elect Barack Obama has been turned away on the grounds that his credentials are incomplete. The chosen candidate, Roland Burris, a prominent African American has been strongly opposed in his home state of Illinois because of a scandal surrounding the man who appointed him, the state Governor Rod Blagojevich. The governor is facing charges of trying to sell the seat to the highest bidder. Mr. Blagojevich denies any wrongdoing.

The family of one of Germany's richest businessmen Adolf Merckle say he’s committed suicide. Investigators said he’d been hit by a train near his home in Ulm in the southwest of the country. Mr. Merckle, who was 74, lost a fortune in October in an ill-fated gamble that the share price of the German car maker Volkswagen would drop instead it quadrupled.(www.hXen.com)

The Ethiopian Parliament has passed a bill imposing heavy restrictions on aid agencies. All foreign agencies are banned from a number of areas including human rights, equality, conflict resolution and the rights of children. The new law also bans any local group that received more than 10% of its funding from abroad from work in these areas.