BBC news 2010-12-25 加文本

BBC news 2010-12-25

BBC News with Jonathan Wheatley

West African leaders have warned the incumbent President of Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, that force will be used if he doesn't step down. The statement was issued after an emergency summit in Nigeria of the regional group Ecowas. John James reports from Abidjan.

The international pressure on Mr Gbagbo to leave office has stepped up a few notches in the last 24 hours, but in a communique read on state television he remains defiant. If he rejects the final chance offered by West Africa's regional bloc Ecowas to hand over power peacefully, then he faces a very real risk of military intervention, almost certainly led by Nigeria. Army chiefs in the region will be instructed to start planning. Several hours earlier, the man Ecowas recognised as the winner of last month's poll, Alassane Ouattara, appealed to the Ivorian army to play a republican role and to protect the civilian population against armed attacks.

France has confirmed that Russia is to buy at least two French warships. The Mistral-class assault vessels can carry up to 16 helicopters and will be the first such purchase by Russia from a Nato member country. The deal has caused unease in other Nato countries, especially the United States. Marcus George reports.

The statement from the office of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced that a French consortium had been selected to supply the Russian navy with two Mistral-class warships. The consortium will work with a Russian naval yard to build what are known as projection and command vessels, with the possibility of two more to follow. According to reports, the French consortium was chosen following assurances it would include the transfer of military technology. It's expected that French shipyards will provide the design and build the hull with the weapons systems being fitted in Russia.

The French aviation authorities say flights into and out of the main airport in Paris should return to normal on Saturday after several days of severe weather disruption. Officials said they cancelled 400 flights at Roissy airport on Friday. At Brussels airport, no flights were allowed to land for much of the day. Here in Britain, international flights are getting back to normal after days of delays and cancellations.

Some 2,000 people have staged a protest in Tel Aviv against Israeli government plans to build a detention centre for African migrants. The protesters denounced the project as racist. The Israeli government approved plans for the centre last month, but a member of the Israeli parliament from the Arab Israeli Hadash party, Dov Khenin, said Israel needs a different approach to immigration.

"We need a different policy. We need recognition of refugees that will give them a true and humane response, that it is our duty under international law, it is our duty under human morals and is also our duty due to the history of the Jewish people."

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An Iraqi man has told police he killed his teenage daughter after finding out she'd been recruited by al-Qaeda as a suicide bomber. Police said the man confessed to the killing after they raided his home. There are reports that the man previously killed one of his sisters in the 1980s in what's described as an honour killing.

Reports from Tunisia say one person has been killed during new clashes between police and protesters in the province of Sidi Bouzid. A student union leader said protesters set fire to police cars and the headquarters of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's party. There's been no official confirmation. Magdi Abdelhadi reports from Cairo.

The trouble began last week when simmering anger over lack of jobs boiled over. A young man despairing of finding employment committed suicide. Another tried to set fire to himself when local officials prevented him from setting up a vegetable stall without permission. The incidents sparked violent unrest which seems to have continued, despite government promises of more investment in the region. Public protests in Tunisia are rare, where political dissent is repressed and the government is often criticised for its human rights record.

At least 12 people in Colombia have been killed and about 30 others injured in a landslide caused by heavy rains in the southwestern town of La Cruz. It's unclear if any survivors were trapped in the landslide. The mayor of La Cruz, Alexander Realpe, said relief workers had heard cries for help from inside a buried building, but other reports suggest the noise might have come from an animal.

The Brazilian football star Leonardo has been named as the new manager of the current European champions Inter Milan. He replaces Rafael Benitez, whose contract was terminated after just six months. Last season, Leonardo was manager of Inter's local rival AC Milan, but his contract ended abruptly after reported clashes with the club's owner, the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

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