BBC news 2010-09-19 加文本

BBC news 2010-09-19

BBC News with Nick Kelly

The top United Nations official in Afghanistan has told the BBC that it's too early to say whether today's vote has been a success. The UN special representative Staffan de Mistura said millions of Afghans should be praised for voting in parliamentary elections despite threats of violence and fears of fraud. Ian Pannell reports from Kabul.

Crowds of women voters queued patiently on the outskirts of Kabul, braving threats from the insurgents to chop off the fingers of anyone taking part in the election. But elsewhere in the country, turnout appears to have been low amid Taliban violence. There were rocket attacks and bombs in a number of polling stations, and gun battles with the security forces. Election monitors report that hundreds of voters were intimidated, and they say that in nearly half of all polling stations, ink used to mark voters' fingers could be easily washed off, raising fears of multiple voting.

The final results aren't expected until the end of October at the earliest.

The Nigerian president, who assumed office earlier this year after the death of his predecessor, has formally declared his intention to run for office. President Goodluck Jonathan made the announcement to tens of thousands of supporters who'd gathered in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

Pope Benedict during his visit to Britain has met five people who were sexually abused by Roman Catholic clerics. Earlier in the day at a mass at Westminster Cathedral, he had again apologized publicly for child abuse by priests, describing it as an unspeakable crime. Mike Wooldridge reports.

Pope Benedict met the abuse survivors for just over half an hour at the residence of the Vatican's ambassador to the United Kingdom. A church statement afterwards said the Pope was moved by what they had to say and expressed his deep sorrow and shame over what they and their families had suffered. The Pope prayed with the five victims and said the church was doing all in its power to investigate allegations to collaborate with civil authorities and to bring to justice clergy accused of such crimes.

Police now say six street cleaners arrested in London during the Pope's visit posed no credible threat to the life of the pontiff. The six have not been charged with any offence but are still in custody.

Mauritanian troops backed by fighter planes have clashed with militants linked to al-Qaeda on the border between Mauritania and Mali. An army official said 12 fighters from the group al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb had been killed, as had five Mauritanian soldiers. Chloe Arnold reports.

The clashes are taking place in Raz-el-Ma, a desert town that's home to Tuareg tribesmen, some 250km west of the Malian city of Timbuktu. The fighting is the latest in a series of clashes between Saharan countries and al-Qaeda's North African operation, which is the chief suspect in the kidnapping of seven foreigners in Niger earlier this week.

Chloe Arnold reporting.

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The lawyer of an Iranian human rights activist says she's been sentenced to six years in jail. The lawyer told Iran's semi-official ILNA news agency that his client, Shiva Nazar Ahari, had been found guilty on a number of charges. They include agitating against the authorities and what's known as moharebeh, waging war against God. Supporters of Ms Nazar Ahari have rejected those charges.

The wife of a defeated Tamil Tiger commander in Sri Lanka has asked the government to appoint a commission to find her husband and hundreds of other former fighters. Anandhi Sasidharan, wife of the regional commander Ezhilan, spoke to the commission during the first day of hearings in the former Tamil Tiger heartland. She said she she'd seen her husband surrendered to the Sri Lankan army at the end of the civil war in May 2009, but since then she hadn't been able to find him.

British police say they have no evidence so far that the killing of a Pakistani politician in London was politically-motivated. Imran Farooq, the deputy leader of the Karachi-based MQM party, was stabbed and bludgeoned to death on Thursday. Mr Farooq had been living in self-imposed exile in London since the 1990s. No one has been arrested.

A Frenchman who lost all his limbs in a domestic accident has swum the English Channel. It's thought Philippe Croizon is the first quadruple amputee to achieve the feat. Mr Croizon made the crossing with flippers attached to specially-made prosthetic legs. He completed the 34km from England to France in under 14 hours, much faster than predicted. David Chazan has the details.

Mr Croizon is a former metal worker who suffered a severe electric shock while trying to remove a television aerial from a roof. Doctors were forced to amputate all four of his limbs. When he was in hospital, he watched a documentary about a channel swimmer, which inspired him to attempt the challenge himself. Last month, he swam for 12 hours off the west coast of France.

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