BBC news 2010-06-22 加文本

2010-06-22 BBC

BBC News with Sue Montgomery.

The man appointed to run a 20-billion-dollar fund in the United States to compensate those affected by huge amounts of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico has said he's determined to speed up the payment of claims. The fund is paid for by the oil company BP. Paul Adams reports from Washington.

Kenneth Feinberg says he wants to oversee a process that is fast and transparent. The man who ran the claim fund for the families of victims of the 9/11 attacks seems anxious to reassure the people of the Gulf that this will not be a long, drawn-out affair. In a round of television interviews days after his appointment, Mr Feinberg said he had witnessed it first-hand the frustration and anger of people uncertain about their financial future.

The man accused of trying to set off a car bomb in Times Square in New York in May, Faisal Shahzad, has pleaded guilty to all 10 charges against him. They include attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. He was arrested two days after the attack as he tried to board a flight bound for Dubai.

The US Supreme Court has overturned a lower-level court ruling which barred the American bio-tech company Monsanto from selling genetically modified alfalfa seeds until there had been an environmental-impact study. The ruling paves the way for Monsanto to resume marketing their version of alfalfa, even though research into the potential environmental consequences hasn't been completed. Alfalfa, which is used mostly as cattle feed, is the fourth most valuable crop in the United States.

Rescue workers in the Republic of Congo have found the wreckage of a plane that disappeared on Saturday while flying Australian mining company executives to an iron ore project. A government minister in Cameroon, where the plane took off, said there were no survivors. Will Ross reports.

The wreckage of the plane was found in a remote forested area of the Republic of Congo. Amongst the 11 passengers was the entire board of the Australian mining company, Sundance Resources. One of Australia's richest men, the mining tycoon, Ken Talbot, was also on the plane, as well as two British, two French and one American national. They'd all been visiting the Mbalam iron ore project which straddles Cameroon, the Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea, and from where Sundance Resources is hoping to extract 35 million tons of iron ore a year.

The Iraqi minister for electricity has tendered his resignation after violent protests against widespread power cuts. Here's James Hodges.

The Minister Karim Waheed declared his resignation on Iraqi state television. Demonstrators demanding his departure and protesting against widespread electricity blackout have clashed with police in a number of Iraqi cities in recent days. Two demonstrators in the southern city of Basra were killed on Saturday.

That report from James Hodges.

BBC News.

The British government says the number of its soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the invasion of 2001 has reached 300. The death of the latest Royal Marine was announced on the day that nine NATO personnel were killed in bomb attacks and a helicopter crash in the south of Afghanistan. The latest deaths made this the deadliest month for the international coalition this year.

An Israeli planning body has approved an initial plan to demolish 22 Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem. The scheme, which is part of a redevelopment project in the Silwan neighbourhood, is still some way from being implemented. It's strongly opposed by the Palestinians, who believe it will tighten Israel's control of the area. The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said it was a dangerous move.

The coach of the French team at the football World Cup, Raymond Domenech, has said his players' refusal to train on Sunday in protest at striker Nicolas Anelka being sent home was unspeakably stupid. He said he fully supported the decision by the French football authorities to expel Anelka from the squad after he refused to apologize to him for a foul-mouthed outburst. He was speaking to journalists in South Africa.

“I tried to convince the players that to boycott training would be an aberration, an imbecility, would be unspeakably stupid. And for 45 minutes myself and the rest of the staff tried to convince them as members of the French team not to behave in such a way.”

France are in great danger of elimination from the tournament after failing to win either of their two first games.

Officials at one of Colombia's toughest jails, La Modelo in Bogota, say the equivalent of 40,000 dollars has been stolen from the prison's safe. The money proceeds from the sale of food to visitors disappeared from the administrative wing. Police are searching for suspects among the almost 6,000 prisoners.

BBC News.