BBC news 2011-09-05 加文本

BBC news 2011-09-05

BBC News with Zoe Diamond

Fighters loyal to the National Transitional Council in Libya, who are surrounding the desert town of Bani Walid, say talks with pro-Gaddafi forces there have failed. Hundreds of rebel fighters in trucks mounted with heavy weapons are stationed within kilometres of the town, southeast of the capital Tripoli. The rebels' chief negotiator Abdullah Kenchil spoke to reporters about the failure of the negotiations.

"I don't have anything to offer right now, and I hope those brigades in Bani Walid to leave soon."

"So it's finished, negotiations."

"From my side, yes. We hope that no bloodshed (and) especially when Gaddafi and his sons and his Kadar Admiral brigades move to these cities and keep them as hostage."

The Libyan opposition in Benghazi say that one of Colonel Gaddafi's sons has been killed near Tripoli and has been buried near Bani Walid. Khamis Gaddafi was the commander of the 32nd Reinforced Brigade, the best trained and equipped force in the Libyan military. Jon Leyne reports from Benghazi.

Days after the first unconfirmed report of his death, the opposition say they can now confirm that Khamis Gaddafi was killed. They say it happened in fighting just outside Tripoli and he's been buried in the town of Bani Walid, where there's currently a standoff between Gaddafi loyalists and opposition forces. The opposition say Muhammad Senussi, the son of the feared intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi was also killed. Khamis Gaddafi was head of one of Colonel Gaddafi's elite military brigades, known as the Khamis Brigade, a unit with a notorious reputation for brutality.

The National Transitional Council in Benghazi says that it has now taken control of key parts of a major pipeline network south of Tripoli, known as the Great Man-Made River. It's hoped that the water supply can be restored to the capital soon. Since Tripoli fell to anti-Gaddafi forces, the city has had no running water and little electricity.

As violence continues in Syria, the head of the Arab League says that he plans to visit this week to express concern about months of bloodshed. The Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi said that the government in Damascus had agreed to his trip. Owen Bennett-Jones reports from neighbouring Lebanon.

The secretary general of the Arab League said that the Syrian government had told him it would welcome a visit. Nabil al-Arabi has said that he will be going to Damascus to listen, but he will also be carrying a critical message. The Arab League has publicly spoken of the Syrian people's legitimate aspirations for political and social reform. Together with EU and US sanctions, and critical statements from Turkey and even Iran, it means President Bashar al-Assad is increasingly isolated.

In the latest unrest, Syrian state media reported that nine people were killed in an ambush near the city of Hama. Pro-democracy activists say 12 demonstrators were killed elsewhere.

World News from the BBC

There have been more ethnic and religious killings in the central Nigerian town of Jos. Three Muslims were killed on Saturday evening, and a family of eight Christians died from gunshots early on Sunday. About 80 people have died in the town since Monday.

A Burmese news magazine has published an interview with the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. It's the first time the authorities have permitted this inside Burma since her release from years of detention. Here's Viv Marsh.

An executive editor at the weekly magazine, the Messenger, told the BBC that the interview was conducted just after Aung San Suu Kyi was freed last November, but that the journal hadn't been authorised to publish it until now. Her release came days after elections that paved the way for a nominally civilian government in Burma after nearly half a century of military rule. The interview's subject matter is relatively uncontentious. It deals with the prospects for young people in Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi's hopes that they'll study more. But it comes two weeks after she met the country's president amid a series of initiatives by the new administration designed to show it reaching out to former foes.

Early results from a regional election in Germany suggest another setback for the Chancellor Angela Merkel. Her Christian Democrat Party appears to be more than 4% down on its previous result in a northeastern state in 2006. The Christian Democrats concede that government decisions on the eurozone debt crisis have dented their popularity.

There's been a series of attacks on historic monuments in Rome. In the first, a man was filmed on closed-circuit television cameras hitting a marble statue on a fountain in the Piazza Navona. Hours later, a man was filmed throwing a rock at the Trevi Fountain in the city centre, and a 20-year-old American student was caught scaling a wall of the Colosseum and also trying to chip away pieces of marble from the Roman amphitheatre.

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