BBC news 2011-03-18 加文本

BBC news 2011-03-18

BBC News with David Austin

The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says imposing an effective no-fly zone over Libya would inevitably involve air strikes against Colonel Gaddafi's forces. In a sharp shift of tone, Mrs Clinton said Washington wanted the UN Security Council to authorise air attacks on Libyan tanks and heavy artillery. She said discussions on joint action were underway with some Arab countries, but Egypt said it would not be involved in any attacks. Here's our UN correspondent Barbara Plett.

The draft resolution would ban Libyan flights and authorise all necessary measures including military ones to protect civilians. It spells out that this would exclude an occupation force but leaves open the option of air strikes. Several members of the Security Council are wary of military intervention, including veto holders Russia and China. But supporters of the resolution are gambling that the two won't block it and believe they can get the nine votes to pass it. The situation is still fluid though, and diplomats said there would be a lot of calls between world leaders before the vote.

Colonel Gaddafi has promised to retake the opposition stronghold of Benghazi and says there will be no mercy for rebel fighters who continue to resist him. He described opposition forces as "traitors" and "sons of dogs".

The Pentagon is planning to fly home thousands of American military families and civilians from Japan. They live on the main island of Honshu, where the US has several military and naval bases. Speaking outside the White House, President Obama tried to reassure the American people about any effects of the nuclear crisis in Japan.

"We do not expect harmful levels of radiation to reach the United States, whether it's the West Coast, Hawaii, Alaska, or US territories in the Pacific. That is the judgment of our Nuclear Regulatory Commission and many other experts."

Meanwhile, engineering teams at the nuclear plant in Japan crippled by last Friday's earthquake have been laying new power cables to the pumps that should be keeping the reactors cool. It's the latest in a series of attempts including the use of helicopters to drop water to stop the fuel rods from overheating and causing a nuclear disaster. Chris Hogg reports.

It seemed the Japanese were prepared to try anything to cool the damaged reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant. The helicopters were used to water-bomb the site. But they had to fly high because of radioactive leaks from the reactors. It looked like much of the water missed its target. They switched to military fire engines to douse the reactors and the pools of spent fuel rods beside them. There was better news about a new power cable that's now been completed. It should supply electricity to the pumps needed to keep the reactors cool.

The former President of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is planning to end his seven-year exile in South Africa in the next few hours and fly back to his home country. Haitians go to the polls on Sunday in a presidential election run-off.

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At least 10 people have been killed in Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan when a shell exploded in a market in an area that opposes Laurent Gbagbo, the president who refuses to leave office. The shell struck in the Abobo area. Security has deteriorated in Abidjan since the country's disputed election at the end of last year.

A judge in France has placed the aircraft manufacturer Airbus under investigation on charges of involuntary manslaughter over the case of a plane which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in June 2009. The Air France jet flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris went down with the loss of 228 lives. Sam Wilson reports.

This investigation will determine whether there's enough evidence to put Airbus on trial. A central allegation is that the company knew there were flaws in its airspeed sensors but didn't act on that information. However, Airbus says it's not clear the sensors played any part in the crash. The answer may be contained in the plane's flight recorders, which are still at the bottom of the ocean. On Friday, the judge will decide whether Air France should also face investigation.

The authorities in Bolivia say they've arrested a former officer in the international police agency Interpol on drug trafficking charges. It's the second such high-profile arrest involving a Bolivian police commander in a month. Colonel Robert Valdez was detained in the city of Santa Cruz, where he was the Interpol chief until December last year. A former commander of Bolivia's counter-narcotics police was arrested in Panama and extradited to the United States last month.

One of South Africa's most prominent anti-apartheid activists, Cyril Ramaphosa, is to take over the McDonald's fast-food chain in the country. Mr Ramaphosa has been awarded a 20-year agreement to run the 145 McDonald's restaurants there. A close ally of Nelson Mandela, he was seen at one point as the man likely to succeed him as president in 1999, but instead he entered the world of business.

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