BBC news 2009-06-09 加文本

BBC 2009-06-09


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BBC news with Fiona McDonald

Brazilian navy divers have found the tail fin of the Air France plane that disappeared over the Atlantic a week ago. Search teams have so far recovered 16 bodies as well as other debris. 228 people died when the plane disappeared on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. Gary Duffy reports from Sao Paulo.

At the latest news conference, the Brazilian authorities presented a photograph of what appeared to be a large tail section of the missing Airbus floating in the Atlantic. And the distinctive red and blue stripes of Air France could clearly be seen on its side. The image showed four divers in the water with a half-submerged wreckage, while four of their colleagues offered assistance from an inflatable boat. It's certainly what seemed to be the most significant piece of wreckage retrieved so far. But the priority for the investigators is still to find the plane’s flight data recorders.

The United States Supreme Court has delayed the proposed sale of most of the assets of the bankrupt American carmaker Chrysler to a group led by the Italian firm Fiat. An earlier court ruling had approved the sale but justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg agreed to a delay after the administrators of Indiana Pension Funds and consumer groups ask for one. It’s not clear how long the delay will be. Earlier, the Obama administration had urged the Supreme Court to allow the sale.

There are reports from New York that the giant oil producer Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay 15.5 million dollars to settle a lawsuit accusing the company of complicity in human rights abuses by the former military government in Nigeria. A lawyer representing families who suffered as a result of the alleged abuses said that under the settlement Royal Dutch Shell would neither admit nor deny any wrongdoing.

The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has survived the latest attempt to force him to resign. Correspondents say most members of Parliament from the governing Labour Party backed Mr. Brown at a private meeting at the House of Commons. He was cheered when he arrived and one supporter said the prime minister had delivered a very impressive and forthright speech. However, several other members repeated calls for Mr. Brown to stand down, following Labour’s heavy losses in the European elections and local polls in Britain. The Justice Secretary Jack Strew denied accusations that Mr. Brown was a “lame duck”.

“No, he’s not, and the condition is externally to this government, above all in terms of the economy, demand an active and engaged prime minister, this is not a man who remotely is a lame duck, he continues to have extraordinary energy and focus.”

A civil court in Northern Ireland has ruled that four dissident republicans were responsible for a bomb attack in 1998, although no one has been convicted in a criminal court. The bombing in the market town of Omagh killed 29 people. The judge ordered relatives compensation of two and a half million dollars.

World news from the BBC

Africa’s longest-serving leader President Omar Bongo of Gabon has died after more than 40 years in power. Mr. Bongo took office in November 1967, and run Gabon as a one-party state for his first two decades as president, until strikes and demonstrations forced him to legalize opposition parties. He was reputedly one of the world richest men who used his country’s oil wealth to buy properties in France. He died in hospital in Spain from where Steve Kingston reports.

The death of President Omar Bongo was announced in a written statement from Gabon’s Prime Minister Jean Eyeghe Ndong released by the Quiron hospital in Barcelona. It said the 73-year-old leader had passed away following a heart attack, announcing 30 days of national mourning. The prime minister called for unity and solidarity from the people of Gabon, stressing the need to preserve respect for the country’s political institutions. He said this was essential to preserve the peace and cohesion fostered by the deceased president.

Labour’s poor European election performance was mirrored by center-left parties in other countries, including France, Germany and Spain. Mainstream center-right parties were the main beneficiaries. A BBC correspondent says voters appear to have entrusted the center-right with alleviating the impact to the world economic crisis and preferences center-left parties which traditionally support the interests of workers. Far right and nationalist parties also won seats.

The leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah has acknowledged his party’s defeat in Sunday’s parliamentary election in Lebanon. In a televised address he said Hezbollah congratulated the winners, a coalition by the United States and Saudi Arabia. Earlier, President Obama welcomed the result; He said Lebanon was now on the path towards independence and stability. The result has led US fears that Hezbollah which Washington considers a terrorist organization would assume more...