BBC news 2011-05-06 加文本

BBC news 2011-05-06

BBC News with Jonathan Izard

The army in Pakistan has publicly admitted there were shortcomings in the way the country gathered intelligence on the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden before he was traced and killed in Pakistan by American special forces. The acknowledgement came after the army's chief of staff, General Ashfaq Kayani, held a meeting with his core commanders. Aleem Maqbool reports.

The new revelations, especially the admission from the army the Bin Ladens had lived here so long, have stunned people. The army has said it had monitored satellite phone calls made to Saudi Arabia from the compound, where a man speaking in Arabic had discussed financial issues, and the army had passed those details onto the Americans. It also claims it has evidence that al-Qaeda is all but broke, with only Bin Laden's personal moneys financing the organisation. The military official also expressed annoyance that, as he put it, the Pakistani intelligence contributions over the years had been forgotten.

Four days after American troops killed Osama Bin Laden, President Obama has visited the site of the former World Trade Center in New York. He laid a wreath at the spot where the centre stood until it was destroyed on 11 September, 2001. Here's Barbara Plett.

President Obama laid a wreath of red, white and blue flowers at the spot where the twin towers had once stood. He bowed his head and observed a moment of silence before meeting privately with the families of victims. He also visited a police station and a fire station, paying tribute to rescue workers. He did not make a public speech. The White House wanted to keep the focus on respect for the victims, aware it could be accused of politicising the event. But a spokesman said the president hoped his visit marking the death of Osama Bin Laden would give New Yorkers and Americans a sense of closure.

The price of crude oil has dropped by 10%, the steepest one-day fall in more than two years. The price of US crude fell to just under $100 a barrel. Here's our world business reporter Mark Gregory.

Oil prices have been high in response to social tensions in the Middle East and rising consumption in economies out of recession. But Thursday saw the trend go dramatically into reverse. This slump was triggered by figures from the United States showing a surge in claims for unemployment benefit. Weakness in the biggest oil consuming economy suggests demand for crude won't be as robust as forecast.

A silent peace march has been held across Mexico in protest at the killing of tens of thousands of people in drug-related violence. The four-day procession is winding its way from the city of Cuernavaca towards the capital Mexico City. One of the protest's leaders is the poet Javier Sicilia, who lost his son to the violence. On the eve of the march, President Felipe Calderon called on Mexicans to pull together in the fight against organised crime.

In Britain, the polls have now closed in a referendum on whether to change the way Westminster MPs are elected. There have also been national elections in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, along with local elections in England.

World News from the BBC

The wife of South Africa's minister of state security, Sheryl Cwele, has been found guilty of drugs trafficking. Mrs Cwele and a Nigerian accomplice were convicted of recruiting two women to smuggle drugs. From Johannesburg, Milton Nkosi.

Allegations of Mrs Cwele's drug trafficking surfaced in 2009 after the arrest of a South African woman caught in Brazil with more than 10kg of cocaine worth almost $300,000. The woman is now serving time in a Brazil prison. Cwele's arrest has led to opposition calls for her husband's resignation. The minister was not in court today, and he has had no comments since the conviction of his wife.

The head of Ivory Coast's highest court, Paul Yao N'Dre, has formally confirmed Alassane Ouattara as president. Mr Yao N'Dre was previously considered a staunch supporter of the former President Laurent Gbagbo. Last year, he ruled that Mr Gbagbo had won the presidential election, even though the electoral commission had declared Mr Ouattara the winner.

Details of works of art that were looted by Nazi Germany are being listed online for the first time. The directory will be available to the public to help the rightful owners recover their long-lost items. John McManus reports.

The directory is the first attempt by experts in the art world to provide a central catalogue of all available evidence relating to works of art which were looted by the Nazis and never returned to their original owners. Thousands of valuable artworks were stolen as German forces advanced across Europe during the 1930s and 40s. The best of those pieces, which included paintings, sculpture and jewellery, were destined for a museum that Adolf Hitler planned to build in his Austrian hometown of Linz.

The Nasa space agency has celebrated the moment 50 years ago when the first American was launched into space. The American mission was overshadowed by the fact that the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had made the first manned space flight just 23 days earlier. The Freedom 7 capsule made a suborbital flight lasting 15 minutes.

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