BBC news 2011-04-24 加文本

BBC news 2011-04-24

BBC News with Nick Kelly

The governing party in Yemen has accepted in full a proposal by Gulf Arab states aimed at resolving the country's political crisis. According to the proposal, President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who's faced months of street protests demanding his immediate resignation, will hand over power to his deputy. Here's Lina Sinjab.

The proposal would see President Saleh transfer power to his vice president within a month of an agreement with the opposition to grant him immunity from prosecution. A transitional national unity government would be formed including both the opposition and President Saleh's party. Fresh elections would then be held. The opposition have not given a clear response to the proposal. They say they welcome the initiative by the Gulf states to end Yemen's political crisis but seem reluctant to serve in a government with the ruling party.

The United States urged President Saleh to immediately begin the peaceful transfer of power.

Activists in Syria say more than 100 people have been killed by the security forces in the past two days. Shooting of mourners attending the funerals of those killed in Friday's massive protests has been reported in several cities, including the capital Damascus. Owen Bennett-Jones reports.

"We want the fall of the regime." That was the chant from the mourners at a funeral in a Damascus suburb today. The security forces responded by firing live ammunition. There was panic as people looked for cover and tried to get away. In the southern city of Deraa, where the protests began five weeks ago, security personnel opened fire on a column of mourners trying to reach some funerals. Five people were killed.

In Deraa, where some of the worst violence has taken place, two members of the Syrian parliament and a top government-appointed cleric have said they are resigning in protest at the bloodshed in their country.

The United States says it has carried out its first attack in Libya, using an unmanned drone aircraft. Nato says the attack destroyed a government rocket launcher near the rebel-held city of Misrata. Here's Peter Biles.

The picture of what's happening in the besieged city of Misrata remains unclear. Libya's deputy foreign minister has said the local tribes around Misrata might have to deal with the rebellion instead of the army. That could explain unconfirmed reports that government troops have begun to withdraw. But a lot could hinge on the loyalty of the different tribes. One source here in Benghazi with close connections to Misrata said all the tribes there were fighting against Colonel Gaddafi's army.

Thousands of people in Peshawar in northwest Pakistan have begun a two-day protest against US drone attacks there. The large-scale demonstrations have forced Nato supply trucks to stop crossing into Afghanistan. The opposition politician Imran Khan is one of the main organisers of the protest, which he plans to address on Sunday.

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A British woman who was accidentally dropped into the sea off Norway while being taken off a cruise ship last month has died in hospital in England. Janet Richardson, who was 73, fell ill on a Scandinavian cruise and was being transferred to another boat when the Norwegian Coastguard let her stretcher drop into the sea by a mistake. She spent eight minutes in the freezing waters of the Arctic Ocean before being rescued.

Italian police say they've arrested a mafia boss in the Puglia region of southern Italy. Police accuse 38-year-old Francesco Campana of heading the United Sacred Crown crime organisation. Duncan Kennedy sent this report from Rome.

Campana, who's 38, had already been sentenced to nine years in jail for his mob activities. He was found in hiding in the town of Oria, near Brindisi. His gang is smaller than other mafias like the Cosa Nostra or the 'Ndrangheta, and it's thought to specialise in smuggling operations from the Balkans and Eastern Europe. Italy's Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the capture of Campana was a big blow against his organisation.

Officials in Nepal say there's been a healthy increase in the population of the endangered one-horned rhinoceros. The results of a new census suggest that there are now more than 530 rhinos, many of them young. That's an increase of almost 100 compared with the last census three years ago. Conservationists welcome the news, saying it reflected better protection measures. The one-horned rhino now found only in India and Nepal is endangered as its survival threatened by shrinking habitats and poaching.

And the electronics company Sony has announced the death of the man credited with developing the compact disc, Norio Ohga. Sony says Mr Ohga died in the Japanese capital Tokyo from multiple organ failure. He was 81. The company said Mr Ohga's foresight and vision had transformed Sony into a global entertainment leader. He'd formerly worked as the company's president.

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