BBC news 2011-10-02 加文本

BBC news 2011-10-02

BBC News with Marion Marshall

The Kenyan government says a French woman who was kidnapped overnight from a beach resort has now been taken to Somalia. It said her attackers escaped after a shoot-out when coastguard vessels and helicopters caught up with a boat which was carrying her. Several of her abductors were injured in the exchange. The woman, who's in her 60s and severely disabled, was staying near the resort of Lamu. France has now warned tourists not to travel to the area. Kenya's Tourism Minister Najib Balala told the BBC that the area was difficult to police.

"That border line is a long unmanned border. And whatever we are going to do, if we don't have the support of the international community to address the Somali issue, then it is very challenging to manage to man the border in Somalia."

Syria's official news agency says three security personnel have been killed while trying to defuse a bomb near Damascus, and three civilians working with the police were killed by gunmen in Hama. Anti-government groups say two of their activists were also killed near Damascus. A BBC correspondent in the region says activists are questioning whether they will be able to break the stalemate with the government without using force.

Egyptian state media say the ruling military council has decided to amend part of a disputed election law. Earlier this week, a coalition of political parties threatened to boycott the forthcoming elections unless the law was altered. Bethany Bell reports from Cairo.

Many political parties in Egypt, including the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, object to an article in the election law, which they fear could allow supporters of the former President Hosni Mubarak to return to power. Now state media says the military council has agreed to amend that article, but no details have been given about the changes. The council, which is under pressure to deliver faster democratic reforms, also said it would study the status of Egypt's emergency law.

Campaigning has begun in Tunisia for the first elections since the revolution in January, which inspired the Arab Spring, a wave of uprisings that swept North Africa and the Middle East. Eighty-one political parties are vying for places on a national assembly that will draft a new constitution.

The Afghan government has asked the international community for more financial aid to tackle the severe drought in the country's northern and central provinces. Marianne Landzettel has more.

The government says after 10 years of little or no rain, 14 provinces - a third of the country - are experiencing severe drought conditions with the harvest in many areas failing. In some regions, wells have dried up. The government says two million tonnes of grain, mainly rice and wheat, will have to be imported. Worst-affected is the central Afghan province of Ghazni, where the fruit orchards have withered and farmers are selling their cattle.

World News from the BBC

The Nato-led international force in Afghanistan, Isaf, says it's arrested Haji Mali Khan, one of the highest-ranking members of the Haqqani network, blamed for the recent attack on the American embassy in Kabul. Isaf has called his arrest a "significant milestone". In a separate development, Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari has called for the United States to resume serious dialogue with his country.

The Sri Lankan sports minister says he's sacked his department's entire medical team after a series of drug scandals. He says he's investigating allegations that the ministerial unit itself provided the banned substances. Saroj Pathirana has the details.

The sports minister says he has received a number of complaints from sports associations and sports personnel. Among those who have admitted to taking a banned substance was national cricketer Upul Tharanga. At least another five national sports personnel have been banned. The head of the medical team, Doctor Geethanjana Mendis, has refused to comment. The minister says there is an urgent need to strengthen the sports medical unit with, as he put it, a good administrator and specialists to prevent such incidents in future.

Denmark has become the first country in the world to introduce a fat tax - a surcharge on foods that are high in saturated fat, which is seen as harmful to health. Butter, milk, cheese, pizza, meat, oil and processed food will all be taxed if they contain more than 2.3% saturated fat. Here's Farhana Haider.

In a country famous for its pastries, the new fat tax is being introduced in a bid to slim down Denmark's population and cut heart disease. It's expected to raise about $220m. Consumers have been hoarding to beat the price rise, and some producers complain that the tax is a bureaucratic nightmare while some scientists think that saturated fat may be the wrong target. They say salt, sugar and refined carbohydrates are more detrimental to health.

BBC News .