BBC news 2011-12-25 加文本

BBC news 2011-12-25

BBC News with Gaenor Howells

The former Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin says this month's parliamentary elections were flawed and should be rerun with new electoral laws. Mr Kudrin, who is a close friend of the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, was greeted with whistles and catcalls by tens of thousands of demonstrators in central Moscow. They are part of a day of protests across Russia against the official election result - a win for Mr Putin's party. Steve Rosenberg reports.

Prospect Sakharov is packed with protesters - tens of thousands of people who've taken to the streets to demand fresh parliamentary elections, and much of their anger is directed at Vladimir Putin. Up on stage, politicians, rock stars and writers have been calling for Mr Putin to resign. One speaker said the civil society which had suddenly appeared couldn't be stamped out by the Russian authorities. Many in the crowd have been blowing red whistles - their attempt to blow the whistle on Mr Putin's decade in power.

Fighting in the northern Nigeria between government forces and Islamist militants is reported to have left about 50 people dead. The fighting broke out two days ago in the cities of Damaturu and Maiduguri. Here's our Africa editor Martin Plaut.

Intense fighting erupted in two northern Nigerian cities on Thursday and Friday. The police and army fought running battles with suspected members of the Islamist sect Boko Haram. The army chief of staff Lieutenant General Ihejirika said he lost three soldiers with a further seven wounded, but that his men killed more than 50 militants. Boko Haram, which calls for a strict Muslim state, was founded in 2002. Since then, it's attacked government buildings and the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria.

The Duke of Edinburgh, the husband of Queen Elizabeth, is recovering in hospital in eastern England after being treated for a blocked coronary artery. The Queen and her sons and daughters have visited Prince Philip, who's said to be in good spirits. Peter Hunt reports.

Doctors are continuing to monitor the progress of the 90-year-old prince, who Buckingham Palace say had a good night. The Queen's husband is recovering after what's known as a stent was inserted into a blocked coronary artery which had been causing the prince to suffer pains in his chest. Officials have called it a "minimally invasive" procedure, and Prince Philip would have been conscious throughout. It's not yet known how long he'll be staying in hospital, or whether or not he'll miss the traditional Christmas gathering of royals at Sandringham.

The Africa[n] Union force that's fighting Islamist militants in Somalia has been strengthened with the arrival of 100 soldiers from Djibouti. They've joined Ugandan and Burundian soldiers already in the Somali capital Mogadishu. China is giving more than $4m to the African Union force to buy equipment.

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Kim Jong-un, the son of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, has been hailed as "supreme commander" of the communist state's powerful armed forces. The ruling party newspaper called on Kim Jong-un to lead North Korea to "eternal victory". It's the first time state media has referred to him a supreme commander, having previously called him the "great successor" after the death of his father.

A suicide bomb attack has killed six soldiers and wounded at least 12 in northwest Pakistan. The bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives into the office of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in the city of Bannu. The Pakistani Taliban say they carried out the attack. These two local men were present at the time.

"It was six o'clock in the morning. I was listening to songs on my mobile phone when all of a sudden a blast occurred, and there was darkness. My face was covered with dust."

"A powerful explosion took place. When we came out, plumes of smoke were rising. There was darkness. The electricity was cut off. We couldn't see anything. My hotel is badly damaged. It's the same with my house, which is in front of my hotel."

Brazil's environmental agency has fined the American oil company Chevron more than $5m for breach of its environmental licence when it tackled an oil spill in November. The agency Ibama said Chevron lacked the necessary equipment and was slow to respond to the leak. The agency had already fined Chevron $28m for causing the spill.

Part of a Russian satellite that failed to reach orbit has crashed onto a street named in honour of Russian space explorers. A fragment of the satellite went through the roof of a house in Cosmonaut Street in the Siberian village of Vagaytsevo. No one was hurt. The failure is the latest in a series of setbacks for the Russian space programme.

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