BBC news 2015-03-18 加文本

BBC news 2015-03-18

BBC News with Jonathan Izard.

Exit polls in Israel's election suggest the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party, and the centre-left Zionist Union are neck and neck. Two Israeli television stations project that the parties have won 27 seats each. This would be a better result than predicted for Mr. Netanyahu. On Twitter, he has already described it as a great victory against all odds. Kevin Connolly reports from Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv.“Until almost the very end of the last hour of polling, the mood of Likud's election headquarters was very tense. But that began to change, as rumours spread theTV exit polls suggest that Benjamin Netanyahu had, after all, polled very strongly. Those rumours were quickly worn out. There had been a sense for much of the campaign, Mr. Netanyahu was trailing the centre-left opposition, but he launched what are meant to be a blitz of media interviews over the last few days. The indications now are the bad strategy has paid off. If the TV exit polls are right, then Likud has done well, and will join the next Israeli parliament by enough likeminded parties to form another right-centre coalition.”

The former lawyer for a Pakistani doctor, who helped the CIA track down Osama bin Laden, has been shot dead in Pakistan. Samiullah Afridi was one of 4 lawyers representing Dr. Shakil Afridi, who played a role in helping the United States to the find the Al-Qaeda leader in Pakistan four years ago. Shana Hallio reports from Islamabad.“Samiullah Afridi was on his way home when unidentified assailants fired at his car, injuring him. According to local media reports, he later died in hospital. He was on a visit to Pakistan after having fled to Dubai in December 2013, because of militant threats. He hasn't been linked to Dr. Shakil Afridi's case since then. Shakil Afridi was jailed for 33 years in May, 2012, after he was convicted of ties to militants. But many see this as a punishment for the role he played in helping the United States find and kill Al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden.”

Switzerland is to return 380 million dollars to Nigeria, which was stolen during the 1990s when President Sani Abacha was the Nigerian leader. Will Ross reports from Lagos.“The latest tranche of looted money to be returned to Nigeria from Switzerland is a whopping 380 million dollars. It was stolen when the brutal military dictator, Sani Abacha, was head of state. After his death, Nigeria asked the Swiss authorities to help recover over two billion dollars that had been stashed away in European bank accounts operated by the Abacha family. Switzerland has already returned 1,700 million dollars, and last year, after a deal was struck to end a legal dispute, Liechtenstein also handed over more than 200 million dollars to the Nigerian government.”

A court in New York has charged a veteran of the U.S. Air Force of attempting to join Islamic State. Prosecutors said Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh, who had converted to Islam, tried to join the jihadists in Syria after he was sacked from his job as a mechanic in the Middle East. BBC News.

Syrian state media says the country's air defence has brought down a U.S. drone. The state news agency described the unmanned surveillance plane as hostile. It said the incident happened in the province of Lattakia. It gave no further details. U.S. officials say they are looking into the reports.

The Vice President of Iraq, Ayad Allawi, has called on the United States and other western countries to do more in the fight against Islamic State militants.“They need to be involved. They have not only a moral responsibility and political responsibility, but also things will get out of hands here. Then definitely, it will spill over into Europe. Mr. Allawi also warned that without more western support, Iran's influence on Iraq would increase. He echoed concerns that some of the Shiite militias fighting with the government against IS were deepening the sectarian divide in Iraq by carrying out revenge attacks against Sunnis.”

The Ukrainian Parliament has approved a law on special status for the rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine. The bill, proposed by President Petro Poroshenko, will come into force after the local elections, monitored by international observers, are held in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Russia has accused Mr. Poroshenko of introducing new conditions in the legislation that were not agreed in Minsk where the ceasefire deal was signed.

The eldest daughter of Malaysia's jailed opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, has been freed on police bail after being held overnight because of comments she made about the judiciary. Nurul Izzah Anwar, who is Vice President of the PKR Party, was arrested after making a speech in Parliament, criticising the justice system over her father's conviction for sodomy.

People living on one island in Vanuatu have told the BBC they've been forced to drink salt water following last week's devastating cyclone, and are also running out of food. Our correspondent is the first outsider to reach the island of Moso. He says people grow their own food, as there are no shops, but crops have been destroyed. Vanuatu has more than 60 inhabited islands, and many of them remain cut off. That's the latest BBC World's Service News.