BBC news 2010-06-06 加文本

2010-06-06 BBC

BBC News with Kathy Clugston.

An Irish-owned ship that was trying to break through the Israeli blockade of Gaza has been diverted to the Port of Ashdod. Israeli forces who boarded it about 30 kilometres off the coast said they faced no resistance. The ship, the Rachel Corrie, was supposed to have been the 7th in the flotilla which was stormed by Israeli forces on Monday when at least nine activists were killed. It’s now being searched by the Israeli police. There's been no communication with any of the pro-Palestinian campaigners on board. Andrew North reports from Ashdod.

Eleven activists including a former Nobel Peace Prize winner and nine crew are being questioned. It’s not yet clear what will happen to them, but the expectation is they will eventually be released. The Israeli government will be relieved that it was able to stop this latest effort to break its blockade of Gaza peacefully and its people are firmly behind it, but it’s looking increasingly isolated worldwide, with even its American ally saying the blockade of Gaza is unsustainable.

The Supreme Administrative Court in Egypt has upheld a ruling that Egyptian men married to Israelis should be stripped of their citizenship. The case is being viewed as a sign of the negative feeling against Israel in Egypt, with which it has had a peace treaty for more than 30 years. From Cairo, Yolande Knell reports.

The judge in the Supreme Administrative Court said that the interior ministry must give the cabinet details of all Egyptian men married to Jewish Israelis and Arab Israelis. Each file will be considered separately, but steps can be taken to remove their Egyptian nationality and that of their children. The lawyer who brought the case said the offspring of such marriages should not be allowed to perform military service. He added that his aim was to protect young Egyptians and national security.

The US Coast Guard official leading the operation to contain the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico says BP’s new operation is doing better than initial estimates. Admiral Thad Allen says at least a third of the oil leaking from the broken well has been captured in the past 24 hours. Madeleine Morris reports from New Orleans.

Admiral Thad Allen says BP hopes to increase the amount it’s capturing over the next a few days, after the company has a better idea of the oil’s pressure and rate of flow. He had bad news though from Mississippi, Alabama and Florida - suddenly winds are pushing the slick towards the shoreline of those states whose beaches have untill now escaped the brunt of the oil.

A new technique for treating breast cancer could in the future eliminate the need for weeks of radiotherapy. An international study trial published in the medical journal, the Lancet, suggests that giving one dose of radiotherapy inside the breast during surgery is just as effective at preventing cancer recurring as weeks of external radiotherapy. 2000 women across 9 countries took part in the study.

World News from the BBC.

Pakistan has announced it’s to increase defence spending by 17% in the coming year, with analysts saying much of it will be used to combat Islamic militants. In his budget speech to parliament, the Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said the security forces who were prepared to lay down their lives should know they had the support of parliament. Defence spending will rise to more than $5 billion a year from next month.

The environmental organisation, the Blacksmith Institute, has warned that hundreds of Nigerian children could die from lead poisoning in the northern state of Zamfara, where residents have been digging illegally for gold. The warning comes a day after Nigerian officials confirmed that lead contamination had killed 163 people, mostly children, in the region this year. Jonny Hogg reports.

The Blacksmith Institute has tested children in the affected villages. Its president, Richard Fuller, told the BBC that hundreds of them have such high levels of lead in their blood that they are likely to die in the near future. Health workers in the Nigerian government providing treatment to the victims and some parts of the affected villages have already been evacuated. Mr Fuller says the poisoning occurred after women brought metal ore back to their houses to process into gold.

A storm that's hit Oman over the past 2 days has killed 16 people and left 4 others missing. Tropical Cyclone Phet produced winds of more than 150 kilometres an hour, as well as heavy rain that knocked out power and communications in the east of the country and the capital Muscat. Oil exports also had to be suspended from Oman’s main port, but as the storm has since weakened, they’ve now resumed.

The Italian tennis player Francesca Schiavone has become the first woman from her country to win a Grand Slam singles title. Schiavone won the French Open championship in Paris, defeating Samantha Stosur of Australia in straight sets 6-4, 7-6.

BBC News.