BBC news 2010-05-23 加文本

2010-05-23 BBC

BBC News with Nick Kelly.

British cabinet ministers who are visiting Kabul have played down differences that had appeared to be growing between the Foreign Secretary William Hague and the Defense Secretary Liam Fox over the future British's role in Afghanistan. From Kabul, here is Mark Dummett.

Following a day of meetings in Kabul, the ministers were keen to stress that they would be working closely together to tackle what William Hague has described as Britain's most urgent foreign policy priority. The International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said it wasn’t possible to put a cigarette paper between his views, for example, and those of the Defense Secretary Liam Fox who had argued in a newspaper interview that Britain should move away from nation building and focus more narrowly on Britain security interests. Here in Kabul, Dr Fox was keen to play down those comments. In his newspaper interview, Liam Fox also said he wants to see if there was any chance of bringing the troops back home any faster than planned. But William Hague said it wouldn't be possible to set any kind of date.

NATO says insurgents have attacked its main military base in southern Afghanistan. A NATO spokesman told the BBC that Kandahar airfield had come under rocket and mortar fire. He said several NATO personnel had been wounded, but that the attack was now over. On Wednesday, the coalition's main military base at Bagram near Kabul was attacked by militants.

Survivors of a plane crash in southern India have suggested the plane seemed to hit something as it prepared to land, then caught fire and broke into pieces. Officials say there'd been no distress signal from the pilot. 166 people were on board, only eight survived. Sanjoy Majumder reports.

Officials say the aircraft, a Boeing 737, landed midway on the runway, located on top of the hill and was unable to stop. It skidded off the runway and crashed into a heavily wooded gorge below. Incredibly, some people were thrown clear of the wreckage and were able to survive. Although it was raining at the time, aviation officials say it was not enough to make things difficult for the pilot, and there was no indication from the cockpit of something going wrong. All attention is on recovering the black box data recorder to establish what might have happened.

Israel has vowed to use its navy to prevent nine ships from reaching the Gaza Strip where they are hoping to break an Israeli blockade by sea. Jonathan Head watched one of the ships leaving port in Istanbul.

The crowd of several hundred well-wishers waving large Palestinian flags braved the wet weather to send off the largest of the ships from a wharf on the Bosphorous. Most were from strongly religious communities in Turkey, but there were activists from many other Muslim countries who contributed to the 10,000 tons of building materials and medical supplies on board. Around 500 activists are traveling with the ships. Eight previous attempts have failed to break the blockade of Gaza. Israeli authorities have made it clear they’ll not allow this one through either.

This is the World News from the BBC.

The mothers of three young Americans detained in Iran since last July have returned to the United States after being allowed to meet them. Soon after arriving In Tehran on Wednesday, the mothers had appealed for the release of the three - Sarah Shourd, her partner Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, saying they had entered Iran accidentally while hiking in northern Iraq. The Iranian government has accused the three Americans of spying.

A court in Chile has sent back to prison a Pakistani man who was arrested at the United States embassy earlier this month after allegedly testing positive for explosives. The court said Mauhannas Saif ur Rehnab Khan was “a danger to society” and revoked his probation. Mr Mauhannas, who insists he is innocent, is accused of entering the embassy with traces of explosives on his hands and possessions when he went there to discuss a visa.

The world's most expensive stamp, Treskilling Yellow of Sweden, has been sold at auction for an undisclosed sum. James Reed has more.

The Treskilling Yellow owes its extraordinary value to its exceptional rarity. It's believed to be the only surviving misprint of an 1855 three shilling stamp that was supposed to be green. The sale at a private auction house in Geneva was shrouded in secrecy. But it's thought the stamp fetched at least the 2.5 million dollars it’s sold for in 1996. That would confirm its reputation as the world's most valuable object by weight. The auctioneer said the buyer saw the stamp as a solid investment in turbulent economic times. Certainly, wealth does not get much more portable.

That was James Reed reporting.

And finally, the Italian football team Inter Milan has claimed its first European Cup for 45 years by beating Bayern Munich of Germany 2-nil in the final in Madrid. Both goals were scored by the Argentine striker Diego Milito. The win gave Inter Milan an uNPRecedented treble in one season - the Italian League Cup and the European Cup.

BBC News.