BBC news 2010-01-11 加文本

2010-01-11 BBC

BBC News with Eileen MacHugh.

The first match in the Africa Cup of Nations is under way after footballers and spectators held a period of silence as a mark of respect for the three Togo team members killed in an attack on their bus. The hosts Angola have been playing Mali in the opening game. As they were doing so, the Togolese national squad left Angola by plane. Our southern Africa correspondent, Karen Allen, reports.

Togo's presidential plane was sent to take the national squad home after their bus was ambushed on Friday by separatist militants. The incidents overshadowed what was meant to be a moment of glory for African football. Instead, Angola security arrangements have been cast into doubt. Despite the desire by the players to stay for the tournament as a mark of respect for those who died, Togo's prime minister, Gilbert Houngbo, insisted that it would be reckless to let them remain. The opening ceremony, finally under way, was marked by a minute's silence to honour the dead.

A member of the ruling family in Abu Dhabi has been cleared of charges that he tortured a former business associate. The charges came after a video emerged, appearing to show the incident. But a lawyer acting for Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan said his client was not responsible for the torture. Julia Wheeler reports from Dubai.

The incident concerned was filmed in 2004, and the tape showed one man viciously beating another with whips, electric cattle prods and a wooden plank with nails. The first man then poured salt in his victim's wounds and ran over him with a 4-wheel drive vehicle. The police apparently assisted in the attack. In court, Sheikh Issa's defence, led by one of Dubai's most prominent lawyers, stated that the Sheikh was under the influence of prescription drugs. That meant he was unaware of his actions and had no recollection of them.

A parliamentary committee in Iran has made a rare official criticism of the treatment of opposition detainees held after last year's disputed presidential poll. In a report, it said three detainees died at a notorious prison because of their treatment. Here is our Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne.

The Iranian parliamentary report is heavily critical of the way opposition detainees were sent to the Kahrizak detention center in Tehran, despite a lack of space and facilities there. The report says that 147 of them were kept in one room with poor food, excessive heat and poor ventilation. It says that three of them died because of the bad conditions and as a result of physical attacks. The parliamentary committee blames a former Tehran prosecutor, who had a reputation as a hardliner, for insisting the detainees be sent there despite being warned about the conditions.

Pope Benedict has called for respect for migrants, saying that they have rights and are equally loved by God. He was speaking after violent clashes between African farm workers and local residents in Calabria, southern Italy. Some 70 people were injured in the disturbances.

BBC News.

The party of the Social Democrat candidate in Croatia's presidential election has claimed victory on national television. Ivo Josipovic appears to be on course to be declared the winner. Most exit polls in this run-off vote show him taking a commanding lead of around 30 points over his opponent, the mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandic.

The Israeli armed forces say they have killed a senior field commander in Gaza belonging to the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad. They identified him as Awad Nasir. Palestinian medical workers said he was among three members of the Islamic Jihad killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza. Earlier, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned that there would be, what he called, a powerful response to rocket or mortar attacks launched from Gaza against Israel.

Republicans in the United States have demanded the resignation of the Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid over racial comments he made about President Obama. The head of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele, said the remarks were inappropriate and reflected an attitude to race that was out of step with modern America. Mr. Obama has accepted an apology from Senator Reid, who'd been a key ally on health care reform.

Egyptian archaeologists say they have discovered tombs of workers who helped build the country's largest pyramid. As Keith Adams reports, the discovery sheds light on how they lived.

The tombs made from bricks of dried mud date back 4,500 years. According to Egypt's head of antiquities, Zahi Hawass, they revealed far from being slaves. Those who toiled on the Great Pyramid were free and enjoyed relatively good working conditions. He says their location, so close to the pyramid, which itself a tomb for their king, proves they weren’t of the slave class. And he says evidence found at the site shows that 10,000 or so labourers were given 21 cattle and 23 sheep every day.

BBC News.