BBC news 2010-06-13 加文本

2010-06-13 BBC

BBC News with Marian Marshall.

The interim government of Kyrgyzstan has granted shoot-to-kill powers to its security forces in an effort to stop ethnic fighting in which nearly 80 people have died with almost 1,000 wounded. Thousands of ethnic Uzbeks are fleeing from the country's second largest city Osh as fighting between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks continues. Rayhan Demytrie reports.

From the early hours, hundreds of women, children, the old and disabled made their way from the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh to the relative safety of neighbouring Uzbekistan. At the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border crossing, desperate women cried for help.

"Please help us. We need food. We need water. I've got two sons, and they are so little, and I need water and food to survive."

Most of the men stay behind to defend their homes. Uzbek eyewitnesses say gangs of armed Kyrgyz have been marauding neighbourhoods, killing residents and burning homes. There have also been reports of Kyrgyz casualties.

Poland is reported to have arrested an alleged Israeli agent over the killing of a Hamas leader in Dubai earlier this year. Germany is said to be seeking the extradition of the suspect. From Berlin, here is Steve Rosenberg.

Germany's federal prosecutor's office says the suspected Mossad agent was arrested on arrival in Poland early this month. Media reports have identified the man as Uri Brodsky. It was Germany which issued a European arrest warrant for him and is now seeking his extradition. The German authorities believe he provided a fake German passport to a member of a hit-squad which allegedly carried out the killing of a senior Hamas official. Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was found dead in his Dubai hotel room in January.

The US Coast Guard says BP's current plans to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill don't go far enough. A senior official has told BP that it had 48 hours to come up with more effective measures. Meanwhile, President Obama has spoken to Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron by phone about the crisis. Mr Obama who's been strongly critical of BP's handling of the spill said he had no interest in undermining the company's value. Andy Moore reports.

Trans-Atlantic phone calls between the leaders are a regular event. British officials said this was not a BP special. The call lasted about half an hour. Officials at Downing Street described the tone as warm. They went on to say that President Obama recognized BP was a multinational company and that his frustration had nothing to do with national identity. In the UK, the opposition Labour Party has called on critics of the company to stop pointing fingers.

A very strong earthquake of 7.7 magnitude has struck near India's Nicobar Islands, northwest of the tip of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. The US Geological Survey said the epicentre of the quake was about 160 kilometres west of the Nicobar Islands. A tsunami alert has been issued for all areas of the Indian Ocean.

World News from the BBC.

The first anniversary of the disputed presidential election in Iran has been marked by sporadic protests and some skirmishes with the security forces, but there were no reports of the large-scale unrest that has been seen in the past. Police were deployed in large numbers in the capital Tehran and other major cities with orders to break up any demonstrations. Iranian opposition leaders earlier called off planned protests, saying they wanted to avoid violence. A BBC correspondent says the day has left the opposition with no sense of direction.

The Cuban government has freed a jailed dissident Ariel Sigler and moved six others to prisons closer to their homes. Mr Sigler's release was the latest in a series of minor concessions following talks between Cuban officials and Catholic Church leaders. From the Cuban capital Havana, here is Michael Voss.

Ariel Sigler was one of the 75 opposition figures arrested during a government crack-down in 2003. He was serving a 20-year sentence for treason. According to Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Cuban human rights commission, Mr Sigler's health had deteriorated to the point where he became a paraplegic two years ago. Six other jailed dissidents have also been moved closer to their families, the second such transfer in the past month. These humanitarian gestures come just days before the Vatican foreign minister is due in Havana.

Thousands of Italians have marched through Rome to protest against government plans to cut public sector workers' pay. The austerity measures are intended to reduce government spending by 30 billion dollars. Meanwhile, the French government says it will cut public spending by about 55 billion dollars over the next three years to reduce its debt.

On the second day of the Football World Cup, England and the United States have drawn one-all. Earlier, Argentina beat Nigeria by one goal to nil, and South Korea defeated Greece by two goals to nil.

BBC News.