BBC news 2011-04-26 加文本

BBC news 2011-04-26

BBC News with Sue Montgomery

The Syrian authorities have launched a heavy attack on the southern town of Deraa, the centre of anti-government protests. Opposition activists say at least 20 people have been killed and many others injured. The Syrian government said the troops had been invited to the town to hunt for what it called 'extremist terrorist groups'. Adam Mynott has compiled this report.

The Syrian government made it very clear today that it will tolerate no dissent. Tanks rumbled down the streets of Deraa, trying to seize the city back from protesters. The army moved in in force, firing at demonstrators. Syria is trying to ruthlessly crush resistance. 5,000 troops are said to have been mobilized. There are reports of bodies lying in the streets and more people killed today, taking the death toll to more than 350 since protests in Syria began last month.

Meanwhile the United States says it's considering a range of targeted sanctions against the Syrian government. With the details, Andrew North.

These sanctions could include a freeze on the assets of Syrian government officials as well as a ban on US business ties. It's a sign of the White House starting to take a tougher line on Syria's use of violence against protesters after much criticism here that it has been too soft. But these are only limited sanctions and critics point out the contrast between its military action in Libya, but also with its response to Bahrain and Yemen, where the authorities have also used violence to put down protests, but where the White House has limited itself to words of condemnation.

Italy says it will join the NATO air campaign against Libya. The Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, said the Italian air force would be taking part and actions against military targets in order to protect civilians as allowed by the UN. Until now, the Italians have played a minor role in the operation of enforcing a no-fly zone and arms embargo.

Russia says the western military intervention in Libya risks fanning a series of civil wars across the Middle East. The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, accused western nations of bias in Libya and warned that rebels elsewhere in the Middle East would assume that they too would get help from the west.

Western governments and NATO who have set about to fulfill Resolution 1973 in their own way have come out on the side of the rebel movement and probably the rebels are counting on that. 'They'll help us from abroad. We'll secure the regime and we'll take power into our own hands.' This creates a very dangerous mood.

Dozens of people are missing after a ferry capsized in a lake in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Red Cross in Bukavu said 11 people had survived. 38 bodies have been recovered so far.

World News from the BBC

Hundreds of police have been deployed around the Indian port town of Jaitapur, the proposed site of the world's largest nuclear plant, in an attempt to block the arrival of anti-nuclear protest march. The authorities say the march might inflame tensions after a protest in Jaitapur last week, in which one person died and more than 50 were injured.

A spokesman for the Afghan President Hamid Karzai has described the escape from prison of many Taliban militants as 'a disaster'. Nearly 500 militants got away in the southern city of Kandahar. Quentin Sommerville reports from Kabul.

This prison break-out started with a break-in. From a home outside the prison walls, the Taliban dug a 360-metre-long tunnel. It took five months and at 11 o'clock last night, they smashed through the concrete floor into the cell of Taliban prisoners. Back in 2008, the Taliban blew the gates of the prison; over 1,000 escaped. Millions of pounds were then spent to improve security at the jail. Today’s escape is a further setback for security in the area and for the fight against the insurgency.

Iranian leaders say the country has been targeted by a new computer virus, ten months after its nuclear programme was reported to have been affected by a cyber attack. The Mehr news agency quoted the commander of the Iranian counter-sabotage unit as saying the damage from the new virus called Stars had been low so far, but he didn't specify what its target had been. There's been not any independent confirmation that the virus exists.

Electoral authorities in Haiti have delayed the certification of results from last month's run-off legislative poll, after the UN and a number of donor countries raised concerns over possible fraud. The provisional electoral office said it had postponed publishing the results for 18 seats in the interest of transparency. It did not say whether it planned a recount of the votes.

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