BBC news 2009-03-18 加文本

BBC News with David Austin.

Military commanders in Madagascar say they've transferred power to the opposition leader Andry Rajoelina. An admiral, Hyppolite Ramaroson said Mr. Rajoelina was now running the country. Earlier the President Marc Ravalomanana had announced that he intended to hand over power to a group of military officers. From Antananarivo, Jonah Fisher reports.

Having accepted that his own position as president was untenable, Marc Ravalomanana handed power to a group of senior military figures. But after a period of uncertainty, they announced that they would back Mr. Rajoelina. Earlier in the day, Mr. Rajoelina had proclaimed himself president and promised to hold elections within two years. Having criticized his predecessor as dictatorial, the new president's entry into power was all about military supports and very little about democracy.

The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the Sudanese government and President Omar al-Bashir will be held responsible for any deaths in the refugee camps of Darfur following the expulsion of international aid workers. Sudan has expelled 13 foreign aid agencies since Mr. al-Bashir was indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes. Mrs. Clinton said the decision was endangering the lives of 1.4 million people displaced by the conflict in the region.

The French parliament has cleared the way for rejoining NATO's military command for the first time in more than 40 years after President Nicolas Sarkozy won a key parliamentary vote. Mr. Sarkozy announced the major policy shift last week and has argued that France as a founder member of NATO should have more influence on NATO decisions. From Paris, Alex Sanford reports.

The Prime Minister Francois Fillon played down the significance of the decision to rejoin NATO's military command. He said the move represented an adjustment in policy rather than a break with the past, listing the NATO operations to which France had contributed already. He rejected criticism that the French would be forced to bow to the US interests. France, he said would always be America's ally but never subordinate to Washington. But one former minister from the governing party questioned what influence France would gain.

The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has announced plans for what he is calling a comprehensive rearmament of the country's armed forces and navy. James Rodgers has this report from Moscow.

Russia is talking of large scale rearmaments. Nuclear forces are said to be the main beneficiaries. The modernization program is due to begin in 2011. President Dmitry Medvedev linked his plans to the actions of Moscow's Cold War era foes. He said that attempts to enlarge NATO‘s military structure were continuing. He also spoke of the need to address shortcomings exposed during Russia's military operation in Georgia last summer.

That report from James Rodgers in Moscow.

This is the world news from the BBC.

Pope Benedict has arrived in Cameroon for his first visit to Africa as the head of the Roman Catholic Church. He will hold an open-air mass in the capital Yaounde and he'll outline the program for a synod on Africa to be held later this year. Our religious affairs correspondent Christopher Landau reports.

The Pope said he came to bring Christ’s message of hope, a Christian can never remain silent, he said, in the face of violence, poverty, hunger, corruption or the abuse of power. The church's response to such problems is sometimes controversial. Relations with other faiths will also feature on the agenda this week. The Pope will meet Muslims in the hope to continue to improve relations with Islam on a continent where the two religions often find themselves competing for converts.(www.hXen.com)

The outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said his government will not accept Hamas’ conditions for releasing the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who has been held in Gaza for almost three years. Israeli officials said they’d agreed to free more than 300 Palestinian prisoners on a list presented by Hamas but would not release more than 100 others who’d been involved in attacks.

Lawyers in the United States say there is an increasing danger of mistrials in court because jurors are violating rules by accessing the internet. One judge in Florida said a big federal drug trial had collapsed there last week after nine jurors admitted doing research online. Juries have been using their mobile phones to gather in and send out information during trials.

The governing body of the world's premier motor-racing championship, the Formula One, has announced a major change to the way it’s to operate. Starting this season, the winner of the championship will be the driver who wins the most races, rather than the one who gains the most points. If the new rules had applied to last year's championship, the winner Lewis Hamilton would have lost out to his rival Felipe Massa as he had won fewer races.

And that's the latest BBC News.

Glossary:

untenable: An argument, theory, or position that is untenable cannot be defended successfully against criticism or attack.

beneficiary: Some who is a beneficiary of something is helped by it. =recipient 

synod: A synod is a special council of members of a Church, which meets regularly to discuss religious issues.

convert: A convert is someone who has changed their religious or political beliefs.

juror: A juror is a member of a jury.

lose out: to not have an advantage that other people have: =miss out