BBC news 2010-10-04 加文本

BBC news 2010-10-04

BBC News with Marion Marshall

Polls have closed in Brazil where about 135 million people have been voting to elect its successor to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. His former Chief of Staff Dilma Rousseff, running for the Workers' Party, is the favourite to win. From Sao Paulo, here is Steve Kingstone.

From the Amazon in the west to Brazil's Atlantic coast in the east, polls are now closed. It's widely expected that Dilma Rousseff will emerge as the presidential candidate with the most support. The coming hours will reveal whether she's secured the 50% of valid votes needed to win the contest outright. Sixty-two-year-old Ms Rousseff is the former chief of staff of Brazil's hugely popular outgoing president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. But during the closing days of the campaign, her large poll lead narrowed. If there were to be a second-round run-off, her likely challenger would be Jose Serra, the former governor of Sao Paulo.

The Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan says a small group from outside the country was responsible for the bomb blasts that killed at least 12 people during independence celebrations on Friday in the capital Abuja. Mr Jonathan said the group's activities had been financed by individuals from inside Nigeria. From Lagos, Caroline Duffield reports.

President Goodluck Jonathan says that those behind the bombs are terrorists, and they are no part of the group Mend, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta. He says investigations show that Mend know nothing of the attacks. Senior commanders in the group, who are abiding by a ceasefire, have told the BBC that they condemn the bombs. But one former Mend leader has been arrested. What President Jonathan is doing is drawing a line between those who've accepted amnesty and those who've not.

The 19th Commonwealth Games have begun with a spectacular ceremony in Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, and the Indian President Pratibha Patil proclaimed the Games officially open. Nine-thousand performers entertained the packed stadium with the celebration of India's tradition and the diversity of its culture. In a welcoming speech, the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hailed the Games as a proud moment for his country.

"I invite all of our guests, who have come from every corner of the world, to enjoy our hospitality, to enjoy the Games and to enjoy the incredible sights and sounds of India."

Churches and civic organisations in Zimbabwe's second city Bulawayo have expressed concern over the deployment of the army on the streets in support of the police. The deployment follows a rise in armed robberies and the killing two weeks ago of a senior police officer, who was shot in a Bulawayo nightclub. Civilians complain that soldiers are imposing an unofficial curfew.

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The Afghan government says it has begun shutting down the operations of private security firms, including the controversial American contractor, formerly called Blackwater. A spokesman for President Hamid Karzai said hundreds of weapons had been impounded from the companies, which included both foreign and domestic firms. Many local people believe the security firms act with impunity.

The first time in three decades, Egypt and Iran have agreed to resume direct flights between their capitals. Following talks in Egypt, officials from the two sides said the agreement would allow 28 weekly flights between Cairo and Tehran. It's not clear how soon they'll resume.

The government of Bangladesh has set up an industrial police force for the first time to tackle labour unrest in the country. The special force will be deployed in four industrial zones of the capital Dhaka and the southern port of Chittagong. The move has proved controversial, as Anbarasan Ethirajan reports.

Trade unions have strongly criticised the move, saying the new force will worsen the relationship between workers and factory owners. They say it will be used against union leaders and to suppress legitimate protests. However, the government says the force will be impartial, and at the same time will also protect industrial complexes during unrest. The move came months after the country witnessed some of the worst clashes between garment factory workers and security forces earlier this year.

Pope Benedict, on a one-day visit to Sicily in southern Italy, has warned young people at a rally that they shouldn't give in to the temptations of the Mafia. He said that getting involved with the criminal organisation, which has its heartland in Sicily, would lead them down a deadly path incompatible with Christian values. Earlier, at a Mass attended by tens of thousands of people, Pope Benedict referred to the suffering caused to Sicilians by high unemployment and organised crime.

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