BBC news 2009-05-04 加文本

BBC 2009-05-04

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BBC News with Mary Small.

The World Health Organization has said there is no room for complacency in the response to human cases of swine flu. The WHO said there were now almost 900 confirmed cases in 18 countries and no one should lower their guard. Health experts in the United States say swine flu could soon be present throughout their country as cases have been confirmed in more than half the states in the US. John Dollarson reports from Washington.

Scientists here say the virus is spreading, but no more so than seasonal flu. Most people have not fallen seriously ill. However, Doctor Ann Schuchat from the CDC told reporters the virus is now probably circulating across the US. She said she expected cases to become more severe and to lead to deaths. She stressed though that this in itself would not be unusual. She said every year 36,000 people die in America after contracting seasonal flu.

Preliminary results are due shortly in the presidential election in Panama. The centre-left governing party's candidate Balbina Herrera is being challenged by one of the country's wealthiest men, Ricardo Martinelli. Emilio San Pedro reports.

This election in which some two million registered voters are eligible to participate has become an all-out battle between two very distinct personalities. On the one side, there is the centre-left governing party's candidate Balbina Herrera, a woman who once led protest against the US following the American invasion that took General Manuel Noriega out of power in 1989. The challenger is Ricardo Martinelli, a conservative supermarket magnate who has campaigned as the candidate of real change. Whoever wins will face the challenge of overseeing the five-billion-dollar expansion of the Panama Canal.(www.hXen.com)

The survival of Nepal's first elected government is in question after the second biggest party in the coalition pulled out. The communist UML party said the Maoists who head the administration had acted unilaterally in sacking the army chief. Sanjoy Majumder reports.

General Rookmangud Katawal was fired after a special cabinet meeting with the government accusing him of ignoring orders to stop recruiting fresh soldiers and reinstating eight generals who had been dismissed. But the UML says the Maoists acted unilaterally and their move had endangered the two-year-old peace agreement. There are reports that General Katawal has refused to accept his dismissal and is meeting senior generals, raising fears of a confrontation between the army and the civilian Maoist-led government.

The Parkistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik has appealed to the international community to help stop the flow of weapons to Taliban militants. In a BBC interview, Mr. Malik said the rebels fighting in the north-west of Parkistan were poor, and yet he said they had sophisticated weapons and technology. He suggested they were coming in from neighboring Afghanistan. But a spokesman for the Afghan president rejected the claim.

World News from the BBC.

The wife of the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has confirmed that she is filing for divorce after 19 years of marriage. Veronica Lario said she had enough after her husband, who’s 72, attended the eighteenth birthday party of a young woman friend. She recently criticized what she called the shamelessly trashy process by which her husband's party chose attractive female candidates for European elections.

The Somali Security Minister Omar Hashi has accused Eritrea of making clandestine shipments of weapons to factions in Somalia twice last week. He said planes carrying arms had flown to a former Somali military airport which is thought to be controlled by a militant Islamic group Al-Shabab. Mr. Hashi said Eritrea's actions were undermining peace in Somalia. Eritrea has in the past denied arming Somalia insurgence.

A Venezuelan military helicopter has crashed on the border with Colombia, killing all 18 people on board. All but one of those who died were military personnel.

Bob Dylan's latest release has jumped straight to the top of the British album charts, almost 40 years since he last held the number one slot there. "Together through Life" is Dylan's 33rd studio album. Colan Pedison reports.

The last time Bob Dylan had a UK number one album, Edward Heath was prime minister. Back in November 1970, Dylan's "New Morning" knocked "Led Zeppelin III” off the top of the charts. Now today, over 38 years later, "Together through Life" has replaced "Lady Gaga" at number one.

"The evening winds are still, I have lost the way and will."

Dylan's success has been put down to a combination of factors. There are the good reviews; he’s currently on a UK tour, and crucially that in this era of illegal downloading his fans will still go to the shops and actually buy this album on CD.

BBC News.