BBC news 2009-05-18 加文本

BBC 2009-05-18


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BBC News with Michael Poles

The Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka said they decided to silence their guns after more than two decades of conflict with government forces. The Tigers said they were ready to lay down their arms, but the spokesman insisted this was not a surrender. A former mediator in the conflict, the Norwegian Minister of International Development Erik Solheim has said Tamil sources had told him they'd be prepared to hand their arms to the international community. Damian Grammaticas reports.

Celebrations erupted in Colombo today as words spread that the war against the Tamil Tigers is almost at an end. The Tigers are now confined to an area of jungle just 200 metres by 200 metres, says the government. In a statement released on the TamilNet website, the Tigers' chief of international relations Selvarasa Pathmanathan said the battle has reached its bitter end and he added that the Tigers had decided to silence their guns to save the lives of Tamil civilians. But the army spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said Sri Lankan forces will not let up their offensive until every inch of land is under government control.

Earlier the Sri Lankan army said that all of the thousands of Tamil civilians trapped in the country's war zone had now escaped. This has been directly contradicted by the Tamil Tigers. They say there are 25,000 critically injured civilians trapped in the war zone with no medical attention available. James Elder, a spokesman for the United Nations Children's Agency UNICEF, said that it was concerned that all civilians should be able to leave the area

Government is stating that just over 50,000 people have moved into government-controlled territory in the past 72 hours. Now, there are no absolutes, but it is certainly, it's our hope that all people, all civilians are out of that area because they have paid far too great a price for the actions of both sides over these past months.

President Obama has defended the legal right to abortion in a speech at a Roman Catholic University and appealed to Americans on both sides of the debate to respect one another's beliefs. At Notre Dame University in Indiana, Mr. Obama said the two camps' views were to some extent irreconcilable. From Washington, Justin Webb

This was billed as a showdown between President Obama and Catholic Conservatives who have been among his firmest and most vocal critics in the months since he was elected. Mr. Obama's invitation to Notre Dame upset many, who believe his views on abortion-he has a record of support for abortion rights, rendered him unsuitable to be the recipient of an honorary degree. Nearly a quarter of all Americans are Catholics. They make up a hugely important slice of the electorate. And there is some polling evidence that their support for Mr. Obama has been falling sharply since his election.

The Speaker of the British Parliament Michael Martin has said he will give a statement to MPs on Monday following calls by the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party for his resignation. Mr. Martin is under pressure over his handling of a scandal involving politicians' expense claims.

This is Michael Poles with the World News from the BBC.

Dalia Grybauskaitė, the European Union's Budget Commissioner, has claimed victory in Lithuanian's presidential election. Speaking to reporters, Ms. Grybauskaitė said she expected to win 70% of the vote and that turnout would be 52%, meaning a second ballot would not be required. Ms.Grybauskaitė, who ran as an independent candidate, was seen as a clear favorite going into the poll. Adam Easton reports.

Lithuania is undergoing a painful economic recession. Ms. Grybauskaitė was widely seen by voters as a competent EU budget chief. Very frank by her own admission, she castigated the politicians back home in Vilnius for squandering years of economic boom, and failing to prepare for the global crisis. In Lithuania, the president's main power, however, lies in foreign policy and here she has promised to be less confrontational, especially towards Russia.

A group representing the largest ethnic group in Nigeria's oil-producing region, the Niger Delta, has accused the government of killing around a thousand people in attacks by land, air and sea. A spokesman for the Ijaw National Congress called on the United Nations to intervene. A Nigerian military spokesman dismissed the allegations as unfounded.

A judge in South Africa has dismissed an attempt to stop a multimillion-dollar investment by the British multinational Vodafone in the country's telephone industry. The case was brought to court by trade unions and the South African telecommunication's regulator who oppose the deal, but Vodafone had the backing of President Jacob Zuma. Analysts say a decision to halt the deal would have dealt a blow to South Africa's image as a business-friendly country.

The world's number one tennis player Rafael Nadal has been beaten in the final of the Madrid Open by his long-time rival Roger Federer. The defeat ended a 33 match winning streak for Nadal on clay. The world number two Federer had lost his previous five matches with Nadal.

And that’s the BBC News