BBC news 2009-08-09 加文本

BBC 2009-08-09

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BBC News with Gaynold Howells.

There’s been strong European reaction to the latest trials in Iran over unrest that followed the country's disputed presidential election. A French national and Iranian workers at the French and British Embassies are among those charged. The EU Swedish Presidency said this would be considered an action against all of the EU and treated accordingly. Jon Leyne reports.

The British Embassy employee Hossein Rassam was accused of spying for his role in reporting on the opposition and on their demonstrations. According to the official News Agency he admitted his mistakes and asked for clemency. An Iranian employee of the French Embassy and a young French woman who is teaching French in Iran were also accused of helping to provoke the mass demonstrations that broke out after the election. It's now up to the European Union whether they can agree new diplomatic measures such as the withdrawal of ambassadors or perhaps new financial sanctions.

In the first post-war local elections in northern Sri Lanka, the governing coalition has suffered a surprise defeat in Vavuniya, but it did win in Jaffna, the region's biggest city. Both towns have overwhelmingly Tamil populations. Charles Haviland reports from Colombo.

It is likely to be surprised that the government’s powerful coalition which includes Tamil politicians did not win in both Jaffna and Vavuniya .It did win Jaffna though on a turnout of only about 20 percent. But it lost Vavuniya to the Tamil National Alliance, a pro-Tamil Tiger parliamentary group. For now the reasons for the results can only be guessed at. In Vavuniya the confinement of more than a quarter of a million Tamils in refugee camps may have counted against the government.

The first Hispanic judge to be appointed to the United States Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor has been sworn into office. Judge Sotomayor is also the first member of the nine strong court to be chosen by President Obama. Her appointment was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday. Her arrival on the bench isn’t expected to change the balance of the court as she replaces another liberal Justice David Souter who's retired. Judge Sotomayor has been a federal judge for 17 years.

A helicopter carrying five Italian tourists and a small aircraft have collided over the Hudson River in the New York. Nine people were killed in the crash including a child on the plane. Recovery teams are at the scene and divers are working in the muddy waters to recover the bodies. It was a clear summer day and it's not yet clear how the mid-air collision came about. The New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it would take time to determine the cause of the crash.

Keep in mind with all of these things. Number one, until National Transportation Safety Board makes the determination, nothing is a fact, and it can take them many weeks or even years to determine what goes on. Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York.

You are listening to World News from the BBC.

The Pakistani Interior Minister has challenged Taliban rebels to prove that their leaders are still alive, following reports that two of them have been killed over the past days. The Minister Rehman Malik said the government had evidence from the Taliban side that the rebel leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US rocket attack.

If Baitullah Mehsud is alive, or Hakeemullah is alive, why don't they bring on the video? You have just a video camera. Every telephone has got a camera and that they can just shoot them out. Can they show them that they are alive? I challenge them.

Mr. Malik said the intelligence suggested that a shootout had later broken out between Mr. Mehsud's potential successors in which one of them, Hakeemullah Mehsud had been killed. The Taliban has denied the reports.

Indonesian police say they use DNA evidence to establish if the body of a man killed in a shootout is that of Noordin Top, one of Southeast Asia's most wanted terror suspects. They say they have been seeking DNA samples from members of Mr. Noordin's family. There’s been widespread speculation that Mr. Noordin who’s believed to have been involved in all recent major Islamist attacks in Indonesia died in a 17-hour-siege in central Java.

A suicide bomber has attacked the French Embassy in the West African State of Mauritania. Two French guards standing outside the building in Nouakchott were slightly wounded in the blast. It's not yet known who is behind the attack. It comes three days after the leader of last year’s military coup Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was sworn in as President after winning an election last month.

The captain of a Spanish football team Daniel Jarque of Espanyol has died from heart failure at the age of 26. Jarque was with his team on a pre-season tour of Italy. He was found dead by his teammates in his room after failing to turn up for their evening meal. The team had trained in the morning in the Italian city of Coverciano. Daniel Jarque, a defender, had played all his career at Espanyol.

BBC News.