BBC news 2010-05-30 加文本

2010-05-30 BBC

BBC News with David Austin.

A senior member of Britain's new coalition government David Laws has resigned after it was revealed that he'd claimed tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayers' money to pay rents to his long-term gay partner. British MPs are banned from leasing accommodation from a partner. Earlier, Mr.Laws said he hadn't declared the arrangement because he'd wanted to keep his homosexuality private. Here is our political correspondent Rob Watson.

This is a terrible blow for David Laws personally and politically for Britain's new coalition government. For Mr.laws, the whole episode has exposed the very details of his personal life he had wanted kept private; for the new government, that's also a bad blow. David Laws was the minister responsible for getting the grips with Britain's vast budget deficit by carrying out cuts in public spending. In a brief resignation statement, Mr.Laws said he didn't see how it could carry on such a crucial work while having to deal with the implications of the recent revelations.

The President of Malawi has pardoned two gay men who were given 14-year jail sentences last week in a case that caused international outrage. President Bingu wa Mutharika said the men had committed a crime against Malawi's culture, religion and laws, but he was pardoning on them on humanitarian grounds. He was speaking after meeting the United Nations Chief Ban Ki-moon. Mr.Ban praised the president's decision, but said that laws discriminating against homosexuals were unacceptable.

"It is unfortunate that laws that criminalize the people are on the basis of their sexual of orientation still exist in some countries. This outdated penal code should be reformed. The very body may exist"

Final results from the general election in the Czech republic shows that Centre-right Parties were have a majority in parliament. The biggest of these parties, the Civic Democrats is expected to hold talks with two smaller parties on forming a coalition government. From Prague, here is our correspondent Rob Cameron.

Centre-right Parties tell voters all they could offer were painful austerity measures to avoid a Greek style economic meltdown and they seem to have been rewarded for their honesty. The Leftist, Social Democrats who pledged to tax the rich and preserve social benefits suffered their own Greek tragedy. For months, opinion polls had put them on 30%, in the end they emerged with just 22%. Party leader Jiri Paroubek has already resigned.

An explosion in a smuggling tunnel between the Gaza Strip and Egypt has left six people dead and at least 14 injured. Doctors in Gaza said a gas canister had blown up. Gazans have relied heavily on smuggled goods from Egypt since Israel imposed a blockade after Hamas took control of the territory four years ago.

World News from the BBC.

The Thai government has lifted a curfew imposed ten days ago in Bangkok and other parts of the country. The restrictions were brought in as the army tried to end weeks of paralyzing protests. More than 80 people were killed. A state of emergency remains in force. The Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has blamed his exiled predecessor Thaksin Shinawatra for the violence.

Scuffles have broken out at the conference of the South African Opposition Party, a congress of the people COPE. The conference in Pretoria passed a motion of no confidence in the party's president Mosiuoa Lekota after he obtained a High Court , preventing the meeting from electing a new leader. Mr.Lekota was engaged in a power struggle with his deputy president Mbhazima Shilowa.

The Hollywood actor and director Dennis Hopper has died, aged 74. He has been suffering from prostate cancer. Here is our arts correspondent Vincent Dowd.

Dennis Hopper's movie career began unspectacularly. In the 1950s, he played on screen alongside James Dean. But his career only took off in 1969 when he both directed and acted in the movie Easy Rider. It was about a drug-filled motorcycle rider across America and ever after, Hopper was associated with 60s counterculture. In fact, he was a more complex man than that reputation suggested. He was a wearing formed and careful collector of modern painting for instance, but Easy Rider remains his best-known film.

The government of Bangladesh has banned access to the popular social networking site Facebook. The chairman of the body which regulates telecommunications in Bangladesh told the BBC that Facebook was carrying content which was detrimental to the country's prosperity, unity and governance. Earlier, there were reports that police had arrested a man because he'd unloaded onto Facebook some characters of politicians including the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Opposition leader Khaleda Zia.

That's the BBC News.