BBC news 2011-10-25 加文本

BBC news 2011-10-25

BBC News with Marion Marshall

Tunisia's moderate Islamist party Ennahda has claimed victory in the country's first democratic elections and pledged to create a multi-party secular democracy. Early indications are that Ennahda has won most votes in the poll but not an overall majority. Allan Little reports on the Islamist party's appeal.

Ennahda has its roots in the radical Islamist movements that flourished in the Arab world from the 1980s onwards that sought to overthrow and were banned by the region's dictatorships. But the party's current leaders say they want to play their part in a modern multi-party secular democracy, that they don't want an Islamic state, that they have no intention of imposing Islamic law on a free and secular people. Supporters of secular parties are wary though. One activist told me the Islamists have one message for the foreign media: democracy and tolerance while preaching hard-line Islamic conservatism to their own support base.

There's been another grenade attack in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. Police say one person was killed in the blast at a bus-stop in the centre of the city and several others injured. Will Ross in Nairobi has the details.

The second explosion in less than 24 hours was also in the centre of Nairobi, and the police say it was a grenade attack. The area was fairly crowded, being a place where commuters were waiting for transport home. The American and British embassies issued warnings over the weekend of a possible terrorist attack. Many Kenyans then assumed the first explosion in a bar was done by the Somali Islamist group al-Shabab in retaliation for the Kenyan army's military operations in Somalia against the al-Qaeda-linked group. However, the police said al-Shabab was not behind that attack.

The United States has pulled its ambassador out of Syria because of concerns for his safety. The State Department said that Robert Ford had become the subject of an incitement campaign by the Syrian regime. In response, the Syrian ambassador to Washington has been called back to Damascus for consultations. Here's Kim Ghattas in Washington.

The State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland insisted Mr Ford was not being withdrawn or recalled. She said he would be holding consultations in Washington about the situation in Syria and would return to Damascus. She said the Syrian authorities would then be responsible for his protection, and she called for an end to a campaign of incitement against Mr Ford in Syrian state media. The Syrian ambassador to the US, Imad Moustapha, has now also left Washington. The Syrian embassy said he was going home temporarily for consultations.

In response to international concern, the head of Libya's National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, has announced an inquiry into the death of Muammar Gaddafi, who was apparently shot after his capture four days ago. Mr Jalil said Libya would remain a moderate Islamist country and most Libyans had wanted to put Colonel Gaddafi on trial; only his former supporters wanted his speedy death. Libyan officials also say there will be no more public viewings of Colonel Gaddafi's body.

World News from the BBC

Emergency teams in eastern Turkey are working by floodlight to find more survivors of Sunday's earthquake as temperatures plummet to below zero. At least 260 people were killed in the quake; more than 1,000 were injured, and hundreds of others are missing. A BBC correspondent in the town of Ercis says there are about 80 sites where apartment blocks collapsed, each block being home to about 100 people. Earlier, five people were pulled alive from the rubble.

Egypt and Israel have reached an agreement under which 25 Egyptian prisoners held in Israel will be released in exchange for an Israeli American held in Egypt. Egyptian television named the man as Ilan Grapel, who was suspected of spying for Israel and had been detained since June. The deal is yet to be approved by the Israeli cabinet. The agreement follows the Egyptian-brokered swap between Israel and Hamas in which an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, was freed in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

The British Prime Minister David Cameron has warned MPs that it would be a mistake to vote for a referendum on membership of the European Union in parliament shortly. Mr Cameron was heckled as he said the timing for such a vote was wrong with the EU facing an economic crisis. Dozens of MPs from Mr Cameron's Conservative Party have threatened to ignore an order to vote against a referendum, and he faces the prospect of the biggest rebellion of his leadership. Our political correspondent Rob Watson reports.

Like other Conservative prime ministers before him, David Cameron is facing a major revolt from his own MPs over Europe. Many Conservative MPs strongly believe the voters deserve a say in whether or not Britain stays in the EU, or at least re-negotiates the terms of its membership. Attempting to blunt the rebellion, the prime minister told MPs he shared many of their concerns over the EU and wanted to reform it, but that now was not the time for a referendum.

BBC News