BBC news 2009-09-28 加文本

BBC 2009-09-28


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BBC News with David Austin.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has claimed victory in the country’s general election, after exit poll suggested she’d won enough votes to ditch her Social Democrat coalition partners and form a new alliance. From Berlin, Oana Lungescu reports.

"We’ve managed to achieve our election aim," said the beaming Angela Merkel, a stable majority in Germany for a new government. Not only is she the first leader of a major world economy to be a return to power despite the crisis, but her preferred coalition partners, the pro-business Free Democrats, have also made substantial gains. It’s what Mrs. Merkel needed to end the loveless grand coalition with the Social Democrats. With just over 23%, their results are the worst in half a century. The party's top candidate Frank-Walter Steinmeier called it a bitter day for Social Democracy and a bitter defeat.

The film director Roman Polanski has been detained in Switzerland on an arrest warrant issued in the United States more than 30 years ago. The warrant stems from a charge that he had unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles in 1977. He pleaded guilty but fled the country before being sentenced. The Swiss Justice Ministry says he won’t be sent back to the US until extradition proceedings are completed. However, the British novelist Robert Harris, who knows Roman Polanski, questioned why the authorities had arrested him now.

"I’ve been working with Roman Polanski in Switzerland this year and last year, and he has a house there, and he’s travelled back freely for many years. So why now suddenly there should be this dramatic arrest at the airport at night? I’ve no idea."

The row is continuing between Brazil and Honduras over the fate of the ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. The de facto government gave Brazil ten days to define the status of Mr. Zelaya, who’s taken refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa. But President Lula of Brazil says he will not bow to a deadline imposed by what he called "usurpers of power". Will Grand reports.

At this stage, it's highly unlikely that the government of Roberto Micheletti in Honduras will retract the ultimatum and apologize. Indeed, the tone of Mr. Micheletti has been increasingly confrontational with the Brazilian government since Mr. Zelaya appeared at their embassy last week. On Saturday, he laid out his government’s position clearly: unless Mr. Zelaya was handed over by the Brazilian embassy within ten days, further action would be taken. As yet, however, there are no further details of what that action would entail.

Will Grand reporting.

And in the past few minutes, the interim authorities in Honduras have refused entry to a delegation from the Organization of American States. They arrived in Tegucigalpa to try to negotiate an end to the political crisis. Details are still coming in.

This is the World News coming to you from the BBC.

Nearly 100 members of a militant Shiite group blamed for the kidnap of five Britons in 2007 have been released from prison. Computer programmer Peter Moore and his four bodyguards were seized from the Iraqi Finance Ministry. Three bodies were later handed over to the British Embassy. Peter Moore is believed to be still alive. The man released belonged to the Leagues of Righteousness group. From Baghdad, Hugh Sykes reports.

A senior member of the group, Jassim al-Saedi, confirmed that 97 of his men had been set free and said negotiations were continuing for the release of another 500. He expected this to happen by the end of November. A British embassy's spokesman in Baghdad told the BBC anything that achieves a resolution of the hostage crisis is a good thing. He said it suggested that the militants realized that hostage-taking was incompatible with being part of the legitimate political process. Asked if it would look like part of a deal, the spokesman reiterated the British government position that they made no deals with hostage-takers.

After nearly a century of animosity between Turks and Armenians, Ankara and Yerevan are to sign a deal to establish diplomatic relations. The Turkish prime minister said the agreement would be signed on October 10th.

Shiite rebels in northern Yemen say the army has renewed its assault on one of their strongholds, the Hafr Sufyan district in Omran province. They say that the army carried out nine air raids during the day. The rebels said there had been casualties, but it's not clear how many or whether they were civilians or combatants.

Pakistan says it submitted a roadmap for future peace talks with India at a meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries in New York. The Pakistani foreign minister said the proposal had a time frame to discuss all contentious issues. The Indian foreign minister said he’d urge Pakistan to speed up the investigation into last year’s attacks on the city of Mumbai. The two ministers met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly gathering.

That’s the latest BBC News.