今晚，我要借此机会向大家发表演说，因为我们已经来到了战争的关键时刻。 今天凌晨4时，希特勒已进攻并入侵俄国。既没有宣战，也没有最后通牒，但德国炸弹却突然在俄国城市上空象雨点般地落下，德国军队大举侵犯俄国边界。一小时后，德国大使拜见俄国外交部长，称两国已处于战争状态。但正是这位大使，昨夜却喋喋不休地向俄国人保证，德国是朋友，而且几乎是盟友。 希特勒是个十恶不赦、杀人如麻、欲望难填的魔鬼，而纳粹制度除了贪得无厌和种族统治外，别无主旨和原则。它横暴凶悍，野蛮侵略，为人类一切形式的卑劣行径所不及。 它的残酷行为和凶暴侵略所造成的恶果超过了各式各样的人类罪行。在过去二十五年中，没有一个人像我这样始终一贯地反对共产主义。我并不想收回我说过的话。但是，这一切，在正在我们眼前展现的情景对照之下，都已黯然失色了。过去的一切，连同它的罪恶，它的愚蠢和悲剧，都一闪而逝了。我看见俄国士兵站在祖国的大门口，守卫着他们的祖先自远古以来劳作的土地。我看见他们守卫着自己的家园，他们的母亲和妻子在祈祷——呵，是的，有时人人都要祈祷，祝愿亲人平安，祝愿他们的赡养者、战斗者和保护者回归。 我看到俄国上万的村庄，那里穿衣吃饭都依靠土地，生活虽然十分艰辛，那儿依然有着人类的基本乐趣，少女在欢笑，儿童在玩耍。我看见纳粹的战争机器向他们碾压过去，穷凶极恶地展开了屠杀。我看见全副戎装，佩剑、马刀和鞋钉叮当作响的普鲁士军官，以及刚刚威吓、压制过十多个国家的、好诈无比的特工高手。我还看见大批愚笨迟钝，受过训练，唯命是从，凶残暴忍的德国士兵，象一大群爬行的蝗虫正在蹒跚行进。我看见德国轰炸机和战斗机在天空盘旋，它们依然因英国人的多次鞭挞而心有余悸，却在为找到一个自以为唾手可得的猎物而得意忘形。在这番嚣张气焰的背后，在这场突然袭击的背后，我看到了那一小撮策划、组织并向人类发动这场恐怖战争的恶棍。 于是，我的思绪回到了若干年前。那时，俄国的军队是我们抗击同一不共戴天的敌人的盟军，他们坚韧不拔，英勇善战，帮助我们赢得了胜利，但是后来，他们却完全同这一切隔绝开了——虽然这并非我们的过错。 我亲身经历了所有这一切，如果我直抒胸臆，感怀旧事，你们是会原谅我的。但现在我必须宣布国王陛下政府的决定，我确信伟大的自治领地在适当时候会一致同意这项决定。然而我们必须现在，必须立即宣布这项决定，一天也不能耽搁。我必须发表这项声明，我相信，你们绝不会怀疑我们将要采取的政策。 我们只有一个目标，一个唯一的、不可变更的目标。我们决心要消灭希特勒，肃清纳粹制度的一切痕迹。什么也不能使我们改变这个决心。什么也不能！我们决不谈判；我们决不同希特勒或他的任何党羽进行谈判。我们将在陆地上同他作战；我们将在海洋上同他作战；我们将在天空中同他作战，直至借上帝之力，在地球上肃清他的阴影，并把地球上的人民从他的枷锁下解放出来。 任何一个同纳粹主义作斗争的人或国家，都将得到我们的援助。任何一个与希特勒同流合污的人或国家，都是我们的敌人。这一点不仅适用于国家，而且适用于所有那些卑劣的、吉斯林之流的代表人物，他们充当了纳粹制度的工具和代理人，反对自己的同胞，反对自己的故土。这些吉斯林们，就象纳粹头目自身一样，如果没有被自己的同胞干掉(干掉就会省下很多麻烦)，就将在胜利的翌日被我们送交同盟国法庭审判。这就是我们的政策，这就是我们的声明。 因此，我们将尽力给俄国和俄国人民提供一切援助。我们将呼吁世界各地的朋友和盟友采取同样的方针，并且同我们一样，忠诚不渝地推行到底。 我们已经向苏俄政府提供了力所能及的，可能对他们有用的技术援助和经济援助。我们将日以继夜地、越来越大规模地轰炸德国，月复一月地向它大量投掷炸弹，使它每一个月都尝到并吞下比它倾洒给人类的更加深重的苦难。 值得指出的是，仅仅在昨天，皇家空军曾深入法国腹地，以极小损失击落了28架侵犯、玷污并扬言要控制法兰西领空的德国战斗机。 然而，这仅仅是一个开端。从现在起，我国空军的扩充将加速进行。在今后6个月，我们从美国那儿得到的援助，包括各种战争物资，尤其是重型轰炸机，将开始展示出重要意义。这不是阶级战争。这是一场整个大英帝国和英联邦，不分种族，不分信仰，不分党派，全都投入进去的

战争。 希特勒侵略俄国仅仅是蓄谋侵略不列颠诸岛的前奏。毫无疑问，他指望在冬季到来之前结束这一切，并在美国海军和空军进行干涉之前击溃英国。他指望更大规模地重演故伎，各个击破。他一直是凭借这种伎俩得逞的。那时，他就可以为最后行动清除障碍了，也就是说，他就要迫使西半球屈服于他的意志和他的制度了，而如果做不到这一点，他的一切征服都将落空。 因此，俄国的危险就是我国的危险，就是美国的危险；俄国人民为保卫家园而战的事业就是世界各地自由人民和自由民族的事业。 让我们从如此残酷的经验中吸取教训吧！在这生命尚存，力量还在之际，让我们加倍努力，团结一心打击敌人吧！

 

第二篇：BBC文稿

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BBC news with Marian Marshall.

The pentagon has said the damage caused by the leaking of more than 90,000 classified military documents on the war of Afghanistan may take weeks to assess. The classified documents posted on the Internet by the whistle-blower organization WikiLeaks contain many accusations. Kevin Connolly reports from Washington.

The leak documents portrait a green picture of a war who’s winned ability than the Americans are increasing inclined questions. They depict Parkistan as a certain ally whose own intelligence service maybe helping the very Taliban enemy is meant to be helping to fight. Robert Gibbs gave the point that the leaked papers mainly detail but low military reports are most out of date, so any improvements from President Obama’s surge strategy will not be reflected. Mr Gibbs said the president didn’t need leaks to be horrified by civilian casualties, and warned the publication of the papers could put the Americans or ally’s soldiers at risk. A founder of the WikiLeaks website Julian Assange told the news conference the documents appeared to reveal the evidence of war crimes,but it’s up to the court to decide. The documents include details of killing of Afghan civilians by Nato forces. Mr Assange said everyone suffered in a war. The real story of this material is that it’s a war. It’s the continuous small events, the continuous deaths of children,insurgents, allied forces, searched for the world amputation in this material or amputee and dozens of dozens references. Most of the deaths in this war are as a result of everyday squalor of war, not the big incidents.

Two car bombs’ve gone off in Southern Iraq,killing at least 20 people,more than 50 others were injured. Gabriel Gatehouse has the details.

Thousands of Shiite pilgrims have been making their way from crossing Iraq and beyond to Kerbala from important festival which culminate later this week. Most of the worshipers make the journey on foot and these people who bought the blunt to blasts. Sectarian violence declined markedly in Iraq since 2007 when Shiite malicious forced to beat the civil war. But insurgents attacks continue on the daily bases and Shiite pilgrims remained a frequent target.

The European Union is posing tough sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. The measure set agreed by EU Foreign Minister in Brussel include a haul to new investment in Iran’s oil and gas sector. The EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the sanction targeted people,companies and sectors involved in the nuclear industry and designed to get Iran back to the negotiating table. Canada has announced similar sanctions of its own. EU countries and United States accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons but Iran says the program is for peaceful purposes. World news from the BBC.

The army in Uganda says the African Union peace-keeping force in Somalia has no choice but to go on offence against Islamist insurgents in the country. The army spokesman told the BBC that this was the only option. Following this month deadly bomb attacks in Uganda carried out by the Somali Islamist group Al-Shabab. The mandate of the AU force is currently limited to peace keeping and defending the transitional government. An AU summit in Uganda is discussing whether to increase the numbers of peace-keepers in Somalia.

The BBC understand the embattled Chief Executive of the oil giant BP Tony Hayward is to leave his post. His formal departure from BP will probably take place in October. Robert Peston reports.

The disclosure that Tony Hayward will be able to draw a pension around 600,000 pounds a year from the moment he leaves BP on October 1st will be hugely controversial,given the company recent woes. But this is his contract and entitlement under the rules of scheme which says anyone who joined before April in 2006 can take the pensions any point from age 50. Mr Hayward is 53. His departure will be confirmed tomorrow is not being sacked but is leaving by mutual agreement said the board it has to honor the terms of its contract with him. he will also receive a year salary plus benefits worth more than 1 million pounds.

According to Seychelles since sentence 11 Somali to ten years in prison for pirates related offences. It’s the first conviction of its kind in the Island which lie more than thousands of kilometers of the Somali Coast. The pirates were captured last year as they tried to hijack a boat belonging to the Seychelles coast guard.

At least 17 people have died after consuming illegally produced alcohol in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. At least ten others lost their eyesight after the drink was believed to be laces with methanol. Nairobi police said they were questioning a woman suspected of producing the substance and selling it to the city’s key barrier area.

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BBC News with Fiona MacDonald. The BBC has learned that BP’s chief executive Tony Hayward, who has been widely criticized in the United States over the Gulf-of-Mexico oil spill, is to stand down. A senior source of the oil company told the BBC that Mr Hayward is currently negotiating the terms of his departure, and that an announcement was likely by Monday. From Washington, Madeleine Morris reports.

Tony Hayward has become a liability to BP here in the United States, so it’s no surprise that his expected departure has generally been welcomed. Congressman Ed Markey, a leading critic of BP, reacted by calling Tony Hayward’s leadership “aloof and uninformed”. In a statement, he warned that whoever took over the reins of the company would have, in his words, “an uphill climb” to correct Tony Hayward’s legacy. Fishermen in the Gulf who’ve spoken to the BBC say they too hope a new chief executive will lead to a new era in BP’s actions.

The organizer of the huge German dance& music festival, where 19 people were trampled to death on Saturday when panic broke out in the crowd, says the event will never be held again. Rainer Schaller said he could not express the shock he felt at what had happened at the event. The city’s deputy police chief, Detlef von Schmeling, said there were several foreigners among the dead.

The police have identified 16 victims and informed the relatives of their respective consulates, because we had foreign nationals among the guests and among the victims. We’re mourning a visitor from the Netherlands, one from Australia, one person came from Italy, and one from China. Not all of the 19 deceased have yet been identified.

A bomb has exploded at a bus-stop in the Thai capital Bangkok, killing one person. The blast was in an area that was occupied by anti-government red-shirt protesters for weeks until the army was sent in on May 19th. It’s not clear if the bombing was connected to a by-election in Bangkok, in which a leader of the protests was standing despite being in jail. The by-election was the first test of voters’ opinion since the red-shirt protests were suppressed with the loss of 90 lives. Preliminary results suggested the vote was won by the government’s candidate.

President Sebastian Pinera of Chile has rejected a proposal by the Roman Catholic Church that he pardon the members of the armed force convicted of human rights abuses during military rule in the 1970s and 80s. President Pinera said the proposal had created tension and opened old wounds in Chile. Individual cases will be considered, but not if they involve crimes against humanity and other serious offenses such as murder and terrorism.

Reports from Yemen say six soldiers have been killed in an attack in the south of the country. The reports quote local officials in Shabwa province which contains many of Yemen’s oil facilities.

World News from the BBC.A North African militant group has been reported of saying that it has killed a French hostage it was holding. A leader of the group al-Qaeda and the Islamic Maghreb said in a recording broadcast on Al-Jazira television that Michel Germaneau was killed on Saturday in revenge for the killing of six group members during a raid to free the hostage by French and Mauritanian troops.Officials in Pakistan say four militants were killed in an American drone attack in the tribal area of North Waziristan, the second such attack on the same day. The first attack in South Waziristan killed five militants.

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has threatened to halt oil exports to the United States if his country is attacked by Colombia. In an escalating dispute over allegations that Venezuela is harboring Colombian rebels. Mr Chavez said that he had received intelligence that the possibility of armed aggression from Colombia backed by the US was greater than it had ever been. Mr Chavez broke diplomatic ties with Colombia last week after Bogota presented detailed accusations that Farc and ELN rebels were operating inside Venezuela.

The Ferrari Formula 1 team has been fined $100,000 for breach of sporting regulations following the controversial victory of its Spanish driver Fernando Alonso at the German Grand Prix. The stewards at Hockenheim said Ferrari had instructed Alonso’s teammate Felipe Massa to slow down towards the end of the race and make way for Alonso who had a better chance of winning the driver’s championship. David Croft reports.

A breach of Article 39.1, Ferrari guilty of issuing team orders, stage-managing Fernando Alonso’s victory at the expense of his teammate Felipe Massa. Now but it took a genius to work it out. The coded messages from Massa’s race engineer on the team radio--his apology to his driver after Massa conceded the lead are the reaction of both a Brazilian and Fernando Alonzo himself--had given the game away long before the stewards issued their $100,000 fine.

13

BBC News with Zoe Diamond. At least 15 people have been crushed to death in Germany at a Techno music festival known as the Love Parade. One hundred others were injured, 45 of them seriously. Up to one million people have been attending the festival which this year is being held in the city of Duisburg. The tragedy occurred at an entrance tunnel to the festival area where hundreds of fans were waiting to be let in. A crush developed, triggering panic. Despite the deaths, the authorities have decided to let the festival continue. Safine black, a journalist at radio Duisburg, was at the festival and told the BBC there seemed to be hardly any attempts to control the crowd.

There was only one entrance to the festival and the people were coming from two sides and they collided there at the entrance. And I don't know, the organization was it was terrible.

Two Americans serving with Isaf, the International Force in Afghanistan, have reportedly been captured by the Taliban. They are believed to have been seized in Logar province. From Kabul, David Loyn reports.

This was a very unusual incident in Afghanistan where US forces move around only with a lot of protection. The two left their base in Kabul shortly before sunset on Friday and then disappeared. The spokesman for the governor of Logar province said that the men ignored warnings in setting out into a known Taliban- held area. After an exchange of gunfire, the two were captured. The American military have appealled for the return of the two men, offering a reward on local radio and giving a description of the two, confirming that they were in US military uniform. According to unconfirmed reports, one of the two captives has already been killed.

Civilians in Sungai, in southern Afghanistan say as many as 40 people were killed on Friday when a cluster of several houses was hit by a missile. Local people said they'd gathered inside the buildings to escape fighting between insurgents and US-led forces. The civilians say they suspect the missile was fired by international troops, but there has been no independent confirmation of this. A local journalist told the BBC that he'd visited the area and seen the damaged houses.The ships that were working on the leaking BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico are heading back to the site after having to move away because of a tropical storm. The storm has now blown out and the ships should be back within 24 hours. Madeleine Morris has this report from Washington.

Ships which were evacuated late Friday to avoid possible high seas caused by tropical storm Bonnie are now being returned to their posts over the broken well. Coast Guard Adm Thad Allen says the evacuation has put back operations to drill a relief well by seven to ten days. But BP's engineers are now considering another option to close the well--pumping mud through the cap that has stopped the flow of oil for the past eight days. That could start later this week, the first of two stages to create a permanent seal. This is the World News from the BBC in London.

The authorities in Mexico say they have now recovered more than 50 bodies from a clandestine cemetery in the northern state of Nuevo Leon. The dead are thought to be victims of drugs gangs who have been fighting for control of smuggling routes into the United States. Investigators have been using heavy machinery to dig for the bodies which were buried in pits.The Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has met the intelligence agents deported from the United States in a spy-swap earlier this month. He told reporters they'd sung Soviet songs and talked about life, and he was in no doubt they'd have bright futures in Russia. Mr Putin was speaking on a visit to Ukraine, but did not say where they'd met. The prime minister, who served as a KGB agent himself during the Soviet era, said he told the agents that he admired what they'd done.More than 100,000 people have been moved from their homes in China as heavy rain continues to soak large sorts of the country, swelling rivers and reservoirs. Engineers at the Three Gorges Dam have been releasing water through its sluice gates as the level behind the dam continues to rise. From Beijing, Christ Hawk reports.There are concerns again about the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River. On Friday, the water level there was the highest it had ever been. On Saturday morning, it was just 17 metres below the maximum height of 175 metres. Engineers are pumping water through the sluice gates to try to control the water levels. But they have to be careful not to allow too much to flow downstream where communities are already water-locked. The heavy rain in the area around the dam is forecasted to continue.

The Brazilian Football Authorities have appointed a new national team coach--Mano Menezes, a day after their first choice turned down the job. Muricy Ramalho, Brazil's most successful manager of recent years, declined the offer on Friday, saying that his club had refused to let him break his contract.

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BBC News with Fiona MacDonald European Union officials say just 7 of 91 European banks have failed test of their financial strength. The checks were designed to see if individual banks needed to raise capital against future losses in case of a new recession. Our economics correspondent Andrew Walker reports.

The "stress tests", as they are called, looked at what would happen to European banks if there were a renewed recession and a further worsening of the government debt crisis. The question was whether their capital, a kind of financial cushion, would fall below a particular threshold. Seven have failed that test--5 savings banks in Spain, a German property market lender and one Greek bank. No large bank has failed. European leaders hope the test will restore confidence in the banks. But there are already questions about whether they were stringent enough.

A court in the Netherlands has found a multinational company, Trafigura, guilty of illegally exporting toxic waste from the European Union to Africa. The company was fined more than a million dollars for shipping waste to Ivory Coast where it was dumped around the largest city Abidjan. Tens of thousands of people fell ill, overwhelming the city's medical facilities. Trafigura said it was disappointed and would study a ruling with a view to appeal. The environmental campaign group, Greenpeace, said the Dutch court decision was a strong warning that illegal waste exports would not go unpunished.Soldiers in Mexico have uncovered a mass grave containing at least 18 bodies in the northern state of Nuevo Leon. Financial Bullet of our America’s desk reports.

Security forces said an anonymous tip-off led them to the site which is almost the size of a football pitch. Investigators said they believed drug gangs had used the remote spot to torture and execute the victims. Police are now using diggers to search for more bodies. In the past weeks, two other such graves have been discovered in Nuevo Leon, which is at the center of a violent battle between rival drug gangs. Over the past three years, more than 200 people have disappeared in the border state.

The former British Justice Secretary Jack Straw said he won't appear at a Senate hearing in the United States on the release of the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. The hearing is to examine whether lobbying by the oil company BP had a role in Mr Megrahi's release last year. Mr Straw said the decision had been taken by the Scottish government and he could throw no light on the matter.

I literally had nothing whatever to do with that, it was an entirely separate decision for the Scottish justice secretary.He and Alex Salmond, the first minister in Scotland, made quite clear that they had no representations from the British government or from BP in respect of that; and as it happened, I learnt about Mr Megrahi's imminent release whilst I was on holiday from the BBC website World News from the BBC.

The African Union says Guinea is ready to send a battalion of soldiers to Somalia to boost the African peacekeeping force there. The AU did not give an exact number for the contingent, but our east African correspondent says it could be as many as 1,700 soldiers. That would take the number of peacekeepers in Somalia to just over 8000, the figure originally pledged by the AU.Switzerland's famous tourist train, the Glacier Express, has derailed during a spectacular passage through the Alps. One person was killed and more than 40 injured. Police said most of the passengers were Japanese. The cause of the accident isn't known and rail accidents are extremely rare in Switzerland; the last serious one in 2006 killed three people.An unmanned, solar powered plane has set a new record by staying airborne continuously for more than two weeks. The plane, the Zephyr, was launched from a United States army base in Arizona. It landed safely after its British developers, Qinetiq, decided nothing would be proved by keeping it in the air any longer. Nick Higham reportsThe plane comfortably beat the previous records for continuous flight without refueling-nine days for a piloted aircraft, just 30 hours for an unmanned craft like Zephyr. The plane is powered during the day by paper-thin solar panels on the wings and at night by light-weight batteries recharged each day. The test flight was also a military trial of the plane’s payload, communications relay equipment which could be used on the battlefield in Afghanistan or in civilian applications. A Roman Catholic Diocese in Italy has denounced homosexual priests who are leading what it called “a double life” and urged them to leave the priesthood. The statement was issued by the Rome Diocese in response to a magazine article which gave details of alleged sexual encounters by three homosexual priests. The article also carries pictures and interviews with the men. BBC News

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BBC News with Gaenor Howells.

Venezuela has ordered Colombian diplomats to leave the country within 72 hours. The Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez had earlier announced he was breaking up relations over accusations that his government was harboring left-wing Colombian rebels. At a meeting of the Organization of American States in Washington, Colombia presented videos, maps and photos to prove that Farc and ELN rebels have bases in Venezuela. Mr. Chávez blamed Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who's leaving office next month for the deterioration of relations.

I blame President Uribe, who's sick with hatred because he's going into the desperate of history, he's going to stray there, upon of the Yankee empire. He ended up isolated in the continent; he didn't defeat the guerillas, all the drug traffickers. And Venezuela is a victim of all this.

The International Court of Justice in the Hague has ruled that Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia did not violate international law. The ruling, backed by 10 judges with 4 against, was announced by the president of the court, Hya Shiowada.The court considers that general international law contains no applicable prohibition of declaration of independence. Accordingly, it concludes that the declaration of independence of the 17th of February, 2008 did not violate general international law.

Although not legally binding, the ruling could have implications for separatist movements around the world. It's expected to lead to a renewed push by Kosovo for further international recognition. The president of Serbia, Boris Tadi?, speaking after the court decision, said his country would never accept what he called "the unilaterally proclaimed independence" of Kosovo. Mr. Tadi? said his government would carefully analyze and consider the situation in the days to come.A Russian scientist deported to Britain two weeks ago in a spy swap between the United States and Russia has said he wants to go home. The statement is the first from Igor Sutyagin since he arrived in the United Kingdom from Russia, where he'd been held in a prison camp since being convicted of spying for the Americans. Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports from Moscow.

Igor Sutyagin is homesick. Nearly two weeks after arriving in the UK, he has told his brother he desperately wants to go home. In a statement released by his brother in Moscow, Mr. Sutyagin says he wants to see his wife and children and to fix the porch on his little house outside Moscow. How soon that might happen is hard to tell. The British authorities have said nothing about what they intend for him. But as part of the deal for his release, Mr. Sutyagin was pardoned by President Dmitry Medvedev. So in theory he should be allowed to return to Russia in the future.

You're listening to the World News from the BBC.

A leading academic in the United States has accused the British oil company BP of trying to buy the best scientists and academics to help in its defense in lawsuits arising from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The academic says scientists should think twice before they sign a contract with the corporation, which has such powerful economic interests at stake. The BBC has obtained a copy of the contract being offered to scientists by BP. It states they cannot publish the research they do for BP or speak about the data for at least three years.

A tropical depression is forming over the Bahamas and moving towards the Gulf of Mexico. US officials say it could affect the operation to clean up the oil spill there. With more hear from Financer Bushluter of the American Desk.

The American National Hurricane Center says that the tropical depression could hit the area of the massive oil spill in the Gulf within the next three days. American officials said they would decide later on Thursday whether to evacuate the site. Some ships skimming oil off the surface are already on the way to port. But Admiral Thad Allen, who's the official in charge of the cleanup, said whatever happened, the cap which has been placed over the well to contain the oil would stay in place.The Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has announced that the term of the army chief of staff, General Ashfaq Kayani, has been extended by three years. General Kayani, who was appointed by the former President Pervez Musharraf, was due to retire in November when his 3-year-term in office expired. Mr. Gilani said the extension was essential given the country's battle against terrorism.

The Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has addressed the nation on the eve of Revolution Day. In a speech partly designed to provide reassurance about his health, Mr. Mubarak spoke standing up for more than ten minutes. BBC News.

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10% of the number of contractors employed by the military, and he will cap the number of generals, admirals and senior civilian officials in the armed forces.

俄罗斯大火缓解 莫斯科浓烟笼罩

With Moscow shrouded in smoke from nearby wildfires and pollution at a dangerous level, city officials say twice as many people as normal are dying each day. Moscow's Health Department said that normally some 380 people died daily in the city at this time of the year, but this has risen to 700. Richard Galpin reports.

For five weeks, the people of Moscow have endured record-breaking temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celcius. Then last week, a thick blanket of smog descended on the city as fires not far to the south and the east burnt out of control. As the amount of oxygen in the air has gone down, the concentration of carbon oxide and other dangerous gases has shot up. Over the weekend, it was five or six times higher than levels considered safe.

Russia has warned that the grain harvest could drop by a third due to the wildfires and drought.

名模坎贝尔所收“石头”确为钻石

Two witnesses at the war crimes trial of the former Liberian President Charles Taylor have contradicted evidence by the model Naomi Campbell about alleged blood diamonds. Ms Campbell had said she didn't know who gave her the diamonds. But her former agent, Carole White, said the model was promised the diamonds by Charles Taylor at a dinner party in 1997. Earlier, the Hollywood actress Mia Farrow said Ms Campbell had told her the day after the party at breakfast about an unusual visit by two men the night before.

"She didn't even sit down before she had said, 'In the middle of the night, these men knocked my door and they were representatives of Charles Taylor, and he's given me a huge diamond'. That's what I remember. And then she said 'of course, I'm not gonna keep it, I'll give it to my dearest Children's Charity."

Linking the former Liberian leader to illegal conflict diamonds is the key to the prosecution's case.

Votes are being counted in the Rwandan presidential election. The incumbent, Paul Kagame, is expected to win by a large majority. The three candidates who stood against him are all allies of his Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front.

You are listening to the World News. It's coming to you from the BBC in London.

A campaign group has warned that a booming of dam building projects for renewable energy is having a devastating impact on indigenous peoples in many parts of the world. The group, Survival International, says major hydroelectric projects in countries including Brazil, Malaysia and Ethiopia are being carried out without fully consulting indigenous communities. It says many hydroelectric projects threaten indigenous people disproportionately.

The Japanese carmaker Honda is recalling more than 400,000 vehicles in North America to fix a potential problem with ignition switch on automatic models. In a statement, Honda said that if the switch was warm and the driver could pull out the key after driving without the gear lever in park mode. If the parking brake was off, the car could roll.

The Colombian Vice President Angelino Garzon is having emergency heart surgery after falling ill just two days after he assumed his post. Mr Garzon, who's 63, was said to be conscious and stable when he arrived at hospital, complaining of chest pains. A former trade union leader and regional governor, he was sworn into office by Colombia's new President Juan Manuel Santos on Saturday.

A former British soldier has become the first known person to walk the length of the Amazon, the world's second longest river. Ed Stafford took 859 days to walk from the origin of the Amazon in the mountains of Peru to its mouth on the coast of Brazil, a distance of 6,400 kilometers. During his epic trek, he suffered countless mosquito bites, was wrongly accused of murder and was chased by tribesmen. But in video footage for a documentary, Mr Stafford said the bad times were not nearly as bad as many had predicted.

"Everyone tell me I was crazy when I was doing it. As I have been told I was gonna be killed so many times, I can't remember how many times. But I'm not there, I don't care now. And that, yeah, anyone can achieve what they want to achieve if they were hard enough."That was Ed Staffort .And that was the BBC News.

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BC News with Jonathan Weekley. The Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has refused to admit defeat after his political opponents dissolved parliament and demanded his resignation. Latest reports from the capital Bishkek say there was heavy shooting as night fell. From Bishkek, Richard Galpin now reports.

After the bloodshed yesterday, this morning the main leaders of the opposition announced they taken control of the country, forming a temporary government and dissolving parliament. But at a news conference here in the capital, they admitted there were concerned that the president was trying to rally his supporters in the south of the country in order to fight back. The opposition wanted him to resign immediately, but Mr.Bakiyev has told BBC he has no intention of quit it and still considers himself to be president. There are growing fears that many people have died in a massive landslide in Brazil which engulfed more than 50 houses in the shanty town near Rio de Janeiro. Around 200 people lived in the houses. Greg Morsbach has more.A massive mud and rubble crashed down from a hillside onto the houses in the shanty town in the real suburb of Niteroi. It was nighttime when it happened, many families would have been at home. A nursery is among the buildings buried under the mud. A resident said around 20 children were usually looked after there. The settlement of Morro do Bumbo was built on top of a disused rubbish dump. Rescue teams at the scene say they have across pockets of toxic gases caused by decomposing waste. This is what has been slowing down their work.The United States and Russia has signed a historic treaty that will cut their nuclear arsenals by about a third. President Obama and the Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev signed the deal at a ceremony in Prague. It's the biggest scraping of nuclear arms since the Cold War ended 20 years ago.

The United Nations' ambassadors of six world powers have opened talks in New York on possible new sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. China is joining the United States, Britain, France, Russia and Germany in the discussions about Iran's nuclear programme which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes.

From the UN in New York, Bob Replate now reports.

The Chinese ambassador Li Baodong told reporters that these were important negotiations as he entered the building where the meeting is being held. Publicly, China still hasn't dropped objections to a new round of sanctions against Iran, but it has now join the conversation on a possible UN resolution. Russia is also reluctant, but the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said the Security Council may have to take action. Speaking in Prague, he stressed that Russia would favor only smart sanctions with specific targets that didn't hurt the Iranian people. Diplomats say the ambassadors will be discussing US proposals to target Iran's powerful revolutionary guards as well as toughing existing measures against Iran's shipping and banking sectors. World News, BBC.

The High Court in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka has ruled that women working in educationally institutions should not be forced to wear any form of veil or other Islamic face covering. The court in the predominately Muslim country said that it was a woman's personal choice and that she were compelled to wear a veil,this would amount to a violation of fundamental rights. Scientists say that analysis of two world preserved ancient skeletons on earth in South Africa show they represent a previous unknown species of prehuman or humanity. The bones from an adult woman and a male juvenile date back almost two million years. And were found in cave at the Malapa World Heritage Site outside Johannesburg two years ago. One of the scientists said the discovery opened up a new chapter in the history of humankind.The death has been announced of Malcolm McLaren, a British impresario best known for discovering and managing the punk band to the Sex Pistols. He died in New York on Thursday, aged 64.

Natasha Glonb now reports.In pop, fashion and his personal life, Malcolm McLaren quoted and thrived on controversy. In the 70s with his partner, the fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, he set up a shop in the King's Road in London which he provocatively named Sex. The shop created the Rock of Punk and the Sex Pistol provided the sound track with McLaren wiping up a media storm to ensure their success. He managed other bands, such as New York Dolls and had hit records of his own, with Buffalo Gals and Double Dutch.Tiger Woods has returned to competitive golf after a five-month break, following a sex scandal. The world's NO.1 golfer struck his first ball on Thursday at the Masters Championship in Augusta, Georgia. Woods had taken time off after emersion November last year that he had a string of

affairs. The scandal has damaged his reputation and costed him millions of dollars in lost sponsorship earnings. BBC News.

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New pledges of aid totaling more than $300 million to deal with the disastrous floods that have swamped large parts of the country. But the UN said millions of flood victims haven't yet received any aid whatsoever. The new pledges came after the UN's Emergency Relief Operation said on Monday that it had still only received about 1/3 of the money it needed. Mike Wooldridge reports from Islamabad.Aid officials here talk of some progress on the ground over this past week. They say access to flood victims has increased, as has their own capacity to respond. But the problem is that they're constantly trying to catch up with the disaster that's grown with every new area flooded and, they say, without the funds to enable them to get closer to bridging the gap. Pakistan's UN envoy in Geneva said he believed the international community still needed to understand how serious the situation is.Police in Tanzania have arrested a Kenyan who was attempting to sell an albino man. The police had posed as businessman interested in using albino body parts for witchcraft. They say the man had tricked the albino, who is also Kenyan, into believing he'd got a job in Tanzania. Instead, the police say, he secretly struck a deal with undercover officers to sell the man for more than a quarter of $1 million.

The Turkish authorities say the security guards in their embassy in Israel have overpowered a Palestinian who'd forced his way into the building in an apparent bid for asylum. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the man, who they say was carrying a knife, a petrol can and a toy gun, had tried to take their deputy counsel hostage. The man is reported to have been injured. Will Davis reports from Jerusalem.The Israeli Foreign Ministry which is in touch with Turkish authorities initially said the man had taken hostages thought to be the Turkish Counsel General and his wife, although later repots said they had managed to escape or had been released. The Foreign Ministry also named a suspected gunman as Nadim Injaz, a Palestinian from Ramallah in the West Bank, who tried to seek asylum at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv in 2006, although his motives this time were unclear.The Lebanese parliament has passed new legislation that for the first time grants Palestinian refugees living in the country the right to work legally. Jim Muir reports from Beirut.

The law and its final form have been heavily diluted to meet the concerns of Christians in particular over a worry of any step that might lead to a permanent implantation of the Palestinians here. The law grants the Palestinians the right to work in the private sector. They will also be allowed to make social security payments into their own fund to cover work accidents and indemnities. But they won't be able to work in the public sector nor to practice professions which are governed by Lebanese Syndicates such as doctors, lawyers, engineers and so on, nor will they have the right to state educational or medical care.World News from the BBC

Medical officials in Iraq say a suicide bombing at an army recruitment center in Baghdad has killed more than 60 people. More than 120 were wounded. The lone bomber walked into a crowd of men waiting to apply for work. Hundreds had been there all night to get a good place in the queue. The United States has condemned the attack.

Taiwan's parliament has approved a wide ranging trade pact with China. China regards it has been made the great concessions and Taiwan will keep its borders closed to Chinese labor. But the deal has proved intensely divisive on the island.Four French footballers have been suspended from national team as punishment for their behavior during the World Cup. The striker Nicolas Anelka, whose expulsion from the tournaments sparked a team training boycott, was banned from the national team for eighteen games. The World Cup captain, Patrice Evra, was suspended for five matches. Midfielder, Jeremy Toulalan, was banned for one match. Alex Capstick reports.

France were eliminated from the World Cup the first round stage. But it was the players' refusal to train which was angrily condemned by the French public and the country's political leaders including the president Nicolas Sarkozy. None of the 23-man squad received their World Cup bonuses, and they were not considered for a Friendly International against Norway. The new coach, Laurent Blanc, had hoped to move on. But he is now being forced to start the European Championship qualifying campaign, without four of his best players.

The government with the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro has set up a grammar hotline to help people who have difficulties using Portuguese, which is the official language of Brazil. The hotline will be staffed by eight language professors. It will field questions by topics such as spelling and also the use of accents in Portuguese. Correspondents say Brazilians are sensitive by making grammatical errors which are often associated with a lack of education. That's the latest world news from the BBC in London.

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The country is flooded has led to renewed calls for help from the government in Islamabad. The Foreign Minster Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the BBC the disaster was too great for Pakistan to handle alone, and an international failure to get immediate aid to those in need could leave millions to starve. He also warned of the activities of charities linked to militant groups who are trying to exploit the situation.

When people are suffering, they do not differentiate of where help is coming. If a person is hungry, if a person is thirsty, and you provide water, he would not ask you whether you are a moderate or an extremist. He will grab that water from you and save himself and his children who were starving. So we have to be aware of this challenge.

The United Nations has warned that up to 3.5 million children are at risk from waterborne diseases. It says a boost in funding is urgently needed to get safe drinking water to six million children.

With American forces just weeks away from ending their combat operations in Iraq, there’s been another blow to the protracted negotiations to try to form a stable coalition government. Five months after Iraqis went to the pose, the alliance that won the most seats, the Al-Iraqiya bloc, has suspended its talks with the second-placed Shiite-led bloc of the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. This was in response to Mr. Maliki describing al-Iraqiya as a Sunni group rather cross-sectarian. A member of the al-Iraqiya bloc, agnal danbus, said the prime minister’s remarks were not healthful. The prime minister’s words reflect his personal opinion of the hapsi’s troop beliefs. But we were not expecting such statements from the prime minister. On the contrary, we were hoping to forge an alliance and upon this we can form the next government. However, such remarks will put distance between our Party lists and inflame the political scene.

The former prime minister of Britain, Tony Blair, is to donate the profits from his forthcoming memoirs to a charity that helps British injured soldiers. With the details, here’s our reporter Rajini Vaidyanathan.

Tony Blair’s autobiography is called A Journey. It will certainly be a money-making one. The book’s publishers, Random House, paid an estimated $7.5 million as an advance for it. But that, plus all the profits, are to be donated to the Royal British Legion which provides rehabilitation for injured soldiers. The spokesman for the former prime minister said this was Mr. Blair’s way of recognizing the courage the armed forces demonstrate, day in, day out. But the families of some of those who lost their lives in Iraq have criticized the donation. The father of one soldier who died in a conflict described it as “blood money”. Rajini Vaidyanathan reporting.

The American Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said the United States would definitely start reducing the number of its soldiers in Afghanistan next July. His comments to the Los Angeles Times newspaper come after the new commander of international forces in Afghanistan, General David Patraeus, said he might advise President Obama to delay the withdrawal.

The United States Senator leading investigation into the release of a Lockerbie bomber, Abdul Al-Megrahi, has called for whistle blowers to come forward with inside information. Robert Menendez is looking at whether the Libyan’s release from a Scottish prison nearly a year ago was linked to a BP oil deal with Libya.

Officials from the United States have been allowed to visit an American serving hard labor in North Korea who entered the country illegally at the start of the year. A State Department spokesman said two doctors and a consulate official visited Aijalon Mahli Gomes in hospital in the capital Pyongyang. US officials were concerned about Mr. Gomes’s health and welfare after North Korea said last month he’d attempted to suicide.

A Colombian passenger plane has crashed and broken up into three pieces after reportedly being hit by lightning as it was coming into land on the Caribbean Island of San Andres. All but one of the more than 120 people on board survived. The Island’s governor said it was a miracle that only one person died in crash. Jeremy McDermott has this report from Colombia.

The Aires Boeing 737 was coming from Bogota, carrying holiday makers looking for some Caribbean sun during the long weekend. It seems the plane encountered an electrical storm as it came into land and was hit by lightning during its final approach to San Andres Airport. The crash landing broke the plane into several pieces, killing one elderly passenger who had heart attack and seriously injuring another five. The remainder of the 121 passengers and six crew suffered mainly minor injuries.

That was Jeremy McDermott reporting. That’s the BBC News.

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Ban Ki-moon has urged the world to step up its support for flood-ravaged Pakistan. Mr. Ban said he would never forget the suffering and destruction he’d seen and announced the UN would give an extra $10 million from its Emergency Fund. He was speaking after seeing for himself some of the worst hit areas. Our correspondent Lyse Doucet traveled with Mr. Ban and the Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari.

Ban Ki-moon and president Zardari flew by helicopter over four districts of Punjab, the province known as this country’s breadbasket. Now from the air, it looks like a land of sprawling lakes. Valuable crops like sugarcane and wheat are under water. Mud houses are submerged, millions have fled. The UN says not even half of the survivors are now being reached with aid. Ban Ki-moon called on the world’s donors to do much more. Unprecedented floods, he said, demand unprecedented assistance.The new commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan, General David Patraeus, has said he reserves the right to advice against president Obama’s commitment to stop withdrawing troops next year. Speaking on the American NBC program “Meet the Press”, General Patraeus said progress had only begun a few months ago and only in small pockets. He said he would make recommendations to the president based on the security needs at the time.“The President has been very clear, Vice President Biden has been very clear as well, more recently, that this is a day when a process begins that is conditions based. And as the conditions permit, we transition tasks to our Afghan counterparts, and the security forces and various governmental institutions. And that enables a quite responsible draw down…”Israeli troops have begun demolishing a high concrete wall that was erected eight years ago to protect the Jewish settlements on the outskirts of East Jerusalem at Gilo. An Israeli spokesman said the two-meter-high wall was no longer needed. Warren Bull reports.

After the second Palestinian uprising started in 2000, the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo came under fire from Palestinians in the nearby village of Beit Jala. The attacks prompted the Israeli authorities to build a concrete barrier along several streets of Gilo. The settlement had been annexed by Israel in the 1967 war, and Israel regards it as a neighborhood of Jerusalem. The wall itself can’t be seen as a precursor to the much larger security barrier that Israel has been building in the West Bank to stop suicide attacks. Now Israel’s military says the wall at Gilo can be dismantled, because, it says, the security situation has improved there.

The Roman Catholic Shrine of Lourdes in southern France has reopened after a temporary evacuation following a hoax bomb alert. French police said they received a call warning that four bombs would go off at the Shrine. But a search of the site did not reveal any devices. This is the World News from the BBC.

The authorities in Bahrain say they’ve arrested three more Shiite activists on security related charges following the earlier detention of a leader of the mainly Shiite Haq Movement for Civil Liberties and Democracy, Abdul Jalil Al Singace. He was arrested on his return from London where he’d been giving a lecture on human rights in Bahrain.

The charity, Save the Children, says severe flooding is causing further devastation in Niger, where nearly 300,000 children are at risk from a massive food crisis. The country is struggling to cope with the worst flooding of the River Niger in 80 years. Richard Hamilton reports.

It’s thought the food crisis in Niger caused by last season’s drought was already the worst in the world this century in terms of the number of people affected. And now the country has been devastated by flooding. Half the population is reliant on food aids. Zinder in the south is one of the regions suffering most from the current food crisis. Around 28,000 people have been affected by the floods, and more than 37,000 animals have drowned.

The Angola/Dutch oil multinational Shell has said acts of sabotage are increasing in Nigeria. In a statement, the company said it had suffered at least three separate incidents of sabotage on its pipelines in the Niger Delta this month. Shell added that it had placed containment booms into the surrounding waterways to stop the flow of oil. Thieves known as bunkers often tried to cut into the pipes to extract oil and sell it on. Militants in the Delta have also carried out repeated attacks against oil installations.

Two South African political parties have agreed to merge to challenge President Jacob Zuma’s African National Congress. The leader of the official opposition, Helen Zille, welcomed the leader of the Independent Democrats, Patricia De Lille, into her Party, the Democratic Alliance. All members of the Independent Democrats have been asked to join the Democratic Alliance over the next four years.That’s the latest BBC News.

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Pakistani government has been defending itself from criticism that it hasn't reached many of those affected by the devastating floods. The Information Minister Zaman Kaira said the authorities were doing their best to get through to all 20 million people affected.

"There're some people where the relief has not reached yet, but doesn't mean that it will not reach in. The thing is that with whatever sources we have. With the helicopter, with the trucks because there have been roads which have been cuts by the floods, which have been washed away like the bridges and So get into the people is not a easy thing right now."The Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said he would work more closely with the Opposition to raise funds for the relief effort.At least 12 people have been killed in a US missile strike in northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border. Pakistani security officials say an unmanned aircraft or drone was seen firing missiles at a house used by a suspected Islamist militant near the town of Mir Ali in North Waziristan.

President Obama has promised to keep supporting businesses hit by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill until they are fully recovered from the disaster. During a visit to the Florida coast, Mr Obama also said he wouldn't be satisfied until the area was fully restored. From Florida, here is Andy Gallacher.

Clean, safe and open for business-- that was the message from the Obama family as they began their short holiday on Florida's northwestern coast. It's a region that's been hit hard by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. As tourists sub-stayed away in droves. The President encouraged people to come back to the panhandle, as it is known and even promised to take a swim in sea. Away from the prying eyes of the press, no oil has been spilling from the ruptured well in recent weeks. But several Gulf States continue to back up perception that both beach and seafood have been tainted by oil.Lebanese security officials say troops have killed the suspected leader of the Al-Qaeda-inspired militant Islamist group Fatah al-Islam. Security forces ambushed Abdulrahman Awad and two associates as they were traveling through the town of Chtaura. Jim Muir reports from Beirut.

"Abdulrahman Awad was already high on the Lebanese wanted list. He'd been condemned to death in absentia on charges relating to a number of bomb attacks and killings over the past three years. He's believed to have taken over the leadership of Fatah al-Islam after its three-month battle with the Lebanese army at the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared near Tripoli in northern Lebanon in 2007 in which around 400 people died."

Police in Mexico say members of drug cartels blocked off at least 13 major roads in the city of Monterrey on Saturday. Drivers were dragged out of their vehicles by armed men and their cars used to cut off the roads. The blockade happened after a shootout between the Mexican army and alleged members of a drug cartel, in which four people were killed by the security forces.The International peacekeeping force in the Sudanese region of Darfur says two of its peacekeepers have been kidnapped. They joined the United Nations African Union Mission--UNAMID says two police advisers were abducted by gunmen in a vehicle near their home in N'Djamena in south Darfur. Seventeen foreign workers have been seized in Darfur since March last year.A man described as Japan's most wanted jewelry-thief for his alleged involvement in a Jewelry robbery has been taken into custody in Tokyo. Rifat Hadziahmetovic, a 42-year-old Montenegro national have been extradited to Japan from Spain. The Japanese accused him of being a member of the International Pink Panther criminal gang. A Spanish police officer described their alleged crimes.We are talking about an International criminal group made up of more than 200 people. They are organized in independent sales. They live in different countries. They are supposed to be the authors of more than 120 robberies in high-class jewelry stores and they have loot valued at about 113 million dollars.

After 900 years of male dominance, the authorities in the Italian lagoon city of Venice have for the first time granted a full licence to a female gondolier. Twenty-four-year-old Giorgia Boscolo whose father was also a gondolier has passed a-year-long series of practical on written tests. Venice's deputy mayor said there had been "excessive male domination" inside the gondoliers' guild which jealously guards the trade.

The First Youth Olympic Games have opened in Singapore with a spectacular ceremony on a floating stage. The International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge called the game as a new chapter in the Olympic movement. More than 3,500 athletes aged between 14 and 18 will take part. Organizers say they are confident the 12-day games will be a big success. There's also been criticism of the cost of the event and sluggish ticket sales.BBC News.

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Hold no official Independence Day celebrations other than hoisting the national flag on Saturday in deference to the 14 million people affected by devastating floods. President Zardari is expected to spend the day with survivors in the worst affected regions. International aid agencies have warned of a second wave of deaths due to deadly waterborne diseases.

A Red Cross spokesman said there was no clean drinking water available to millions of people. Pakistan's ambassador to the United Nations Zamir Akram told the BBC that there wasn't yet enough international support for the relief effort, but that aid had begun to flow.

"I don't think that Pakistan has been abandoned. I think that the relief assistance that is now emerging is... As the gravity of the situation and the extent of the damage that has been caused by these unprecedented floods spreads around the world, the response is growing."

The head of an American-based charity has told the BBC that the people of Niger are now experiencing a famine because of drought. The Africa director of Helen Keller International, Shawn Baker, said drought had wiped out crops and killed livestock.

"If you look in terms of the number of children affected, the way that livestock have been decimated and the population movements that were seen earlier in the year, you certainly can consider a famine situation."

Mr Baker accused the international community of failing to respond to appeals for help for Niger. He said there was a shortfall of $69 million, and unless that could be found, tens of thousands of children would die.

The US state of Alabama is suing BP and Transocean, the two companies it blames for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, for damages. Alabama is the first US state to sue since the Deepwater Horizon rig, owned by Transocean and leased to BP, exploded in April and sent millions of gallons of oil into the sea. Andy Gallacher reports.

Alabama's Attorney General Troy King said BP had inflicted catastrophic harm on the Gulf Coast state. On Thursday afternoon, he filed two lawsuits, one against BP, the other against Transocean, Halliburton and other companies associated with the oil spill. The legal action accuses the companies of damaging Alabama's coastline and economy as well as a failure to adhere to recognize industry standards. The legal action goes against the wishes of Alabama's Governor Bob Riley who has said he hopes to reach an out-of-court settlement.

The German economy, Europe's biggest, has shown its largest three-month growth since reunification over 20 years ago. It grew by 2.2%, mainly spurred by exports but also by strong sales at home. Correspondents say it's unclear whether this was a one-off rise or the start of more general European recovery. Overall, the 16 countries using the euro grew more than expected by 1%, faster than the United States.

Sierra Leone's Human Rights Commission has called on South Africa to hand over uncut diamonds allegedly given to the supermodel Naomi Campbell by the former Liberian President Charles Taylor. It said the diamonds could be sold to raise funds for the thousands affected by Sierra Leone's civil war. Last week, the international court trying Mr Taylor heard that the diamonds had been passed to the South African police.

Immigration officials in Canada have begun processing several hundred people believed to be migrants from Sri Lanka who arrived in a cargo ship at a naval base on Vancouver Island. They are reported to have been at sea for three months.

A BBC correspondent says that after giving the new arrivals medical checks, the authorities will try to establish whether any of them are people traffickers or members of the Tamil Tigers.

President Obama has signed legislation aimed at stemming illegal immigration from Mexico and curbing illegal drug running across the border. The measure will provide around 1,500 extra border guards and agents and more unmanned aerial patrol drones.A crate of Scotch whisky trapped in Antarctic ice for more than a century has finally been opened. The crate was recovered from the hut of the renowned polar explorer Ernest Shackleton. Whisky experts opened it to reveal 11 bottles of Mackinlay's Scotch, carefully wrapped to protect them from the rigours of Shackleton's 1907 expedition. The original recipe for the blend no longer exists, but distillers hope to be able to replicate it. Richard Paterson, a master whisky blender, hopes to be among those who get a chance to gauge its quality.

"It will be put into the nosing glass which is shaped like a tulip, and what I'll do is swirl it around, and then I'll stick my nose right deep into it none on the top, right into the heart of the glass and allow the aromas to rise. I'll be able to see a whisky that's not been smelt for over 100 years. Now that has to be an honour, that has to be a privilege."BBC News

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The UN has warned the trial may set a dangerous precedent for child soldiers worldwide. No child has been prosecuted for an alleged war crime since World War II. Military prosecutors say Mr. Khadr is a clear-eyed Al-Qaeda fighter. His lawyers say he is a victim forced into war by his family. Mr. Khadr has pleaded not guilty to all five charges against him.

President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela says he hopes to rebuild relations with Colombia during talks with the new President Juan Manuel Santos. Speaking on his arrival in Colombia, Mr. Chávez said he wanted to ensure unity and peace after months of tension between the two neighbors. Jeremy McDermott reports from Colombia.

President Chávez arrived in the Caribbean city of Santa Marta amid a large deployment of the Colombian security forces. Now begin some very delicate negotiations. Venezuela will want Colombia's assertions that it's harboring Marxist rebels who were included in international lists of terrorist groups either withdrawn or buried. This was because of the most recent breakdown in diplomatic relations. Mr. Chávez may also want to discuss the presence of the US military in Colombia, which has insisted hostile intentions towards Venezuela.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for a fresh start in Indian-administered Kashmir. His call came after weeks of violence. Chris Morris reports from Sri Lanka.

The past two months in Indian-administered Kashmir has seen some of the worst clashes between protesters and the police for many years. There has been and there still is a barely concealed fury. But only now has India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed the issue in public. He said he feels the pain and alienation of Kashmiri youth. He wants dialogue and he wants to create a better future for Kashmir. Some Kashmiris will reject his initiative outright, others will be pleased that he has at least spoken directly to them. But there is enormous skepticism here about any proposals emanating from Delhi.

The authorities in Morocco say they will close more than 1,200 mosques they deem unsafe to avoid a repeat of the collapse of the minaret that killed 41 people earlier this year. The Ministry of Religious Affairs said more than 500 mosques will be completely demolished and rebuilt.

World News from the BBC.

The United States Central Bank for Federal Reserve has said it will maintain stimulus spending to help to boost the economic recovery which, it says, has slowed in recent months. The Federal Reserve also said it would not change interest rates in the face of slowing growth and high unemployment. Economists say the action is a signal that the Fed sees the recovery weakening.

The Russian government has criticized the mayor of Moscow for being on holiday while the city struggled to deal with smoke and pollution from wildfires in the surrounding region. Economists have suggested that the fires in central and western Russia could reduce national output by up to 1%. Richard Galpin reports from Moscow.

Hundreds of fires continue to burn in several different regions of the country, including around the capital. But here in Moscow the dense smog has lifted for the first time in almost a week, being replaced by sunshine and then some rain, welcome relief for the population which has been suffering from the very high levels of pollution. But the heat wave continues, and experts say it's having a serious impact on the country's economy, in particular agricultural output.

A former police officer in Northern Ireland has escaped an injury after a bomb exploded under his car. It's the third such attack on security personnel in a week. Bombs had been planted below the cars of an army major and a policewoman, but this is the first time such a device is detonated. Police are blaming the attacks on dissident Republicans trying to disrupt the Northern Ireland peace process.

Scientists in Britain say they have developed a new brain scan which can detect autism with over 90% accuracy. The researchers from King's College London say the scans take 15 minutes to complete and could eventually replace the lengthy and costly tests currently used to diagnose the condition which impairs social interaction and can lead to repetitive behavior. The study was carried out on autistic adults. And the scientists are testing to see if the scans could work on children.

BBC News.

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It will block all the emails and messages from BlackBerry smartphones unless the manufacturers give it access to secure data by the end of this month. As Mark Gregory reports, India is the latest country to express security concerns about BlackBerry's Secure Data Systems.

The ultimatum came after what was described as an inconclusive meeting between India's Interior Minister and the Canadian company that makes BlackBerries. The company Research In Motion is now under intense pressure to give Indian security services unencrypted access to its secure messaging system. India is worried BlackBerry is being used by terrorists and criminals to swap secret messages. Other countries, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Algeria have expressed similar concerns.

The President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari has sought to fend off the public outcry over his response to the country's catastrophic floods by visiting flood-affected areas for the first time. He visited Sukkur in Sindh province where he handed out aid while being briefed about the damage. The first US helicopters have arrived in Pakistan to join the relief operation, but many people are still waiting for help.

he oil company BP has agreed to pay a record fine in the United States for failing to improve safety at a Texas refinery where 15 people were killed in an explosion in 2005. Here is Iain Mackenzie.

The company was originally fined $21 million that was increased to $50 million after it was found BP failed to implement safety recommendations made after the explosion. The company is still contesting a further $30 million in fines over an even more recent round of safety violations. Families of those killed in the blast have said BP should have been forced to pay out much more. The settlement comes as the company faces for a greater payout over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. For that, BP has agreed to set aside $20 billion.

A suspected Israeli secret agent has been extradited to Germany, in connection with the killing of a leading Hamas figure in Dubai. The man, Uri Brodsky, was sent to Germany from Poland. German prosecutors accused him of illegally obtaining a German passport. Here is Tristana Moore.

German prosecutors said they believed the passport was used in connection with the assassination of a Hamas commander in Dubai in January. And they asked the Polish authorities to hand over the alleged Mossad agent. The last week, a Polish court ruled the suspect could only be extradited on charges of forgery related to the false passport application in the German city of Cologne. So German prosecutors can now only charge him with his offense which carries a lesser penalty, a fine or maximum sentence of three years in prison.

World News from the BBC

A judge in the American State of California has ruled that same-sex marriages can resume from next Wednesday. The decision follows last week's ruling that California's ban on gay and lesbian marriages was unconstitutional. Many religious and conservative groups have been ready to go on appeals against the lifting of the ban.

The chief executive of a car manufacturer General Motors has announced he is to leave the company after a year in the job. Ed Whitacre has been overseen the firm's affairs since it emerged from bankruptcy protection last summer. Here is Duncan Bartlett.Ed Whitacre admitted he knew little about cars when he joined the firm, but his focus was on cost cutting and the sale of unprofitable divisions. General Motors has now started making a profit again and is expected to sell shares on the stock market soon, raising money to repay its debts. Mr. Whitacre had made it clear he was expected to be an interim leader, but the timing of his departure has still caught many people outside the firm by surprise. He'll be replaced by Dan Akerson, who was appointed to the board of GM by the Obama Administration a year ago.

A special session of the United States Senate has passed new legislation to toughen security along the border with Mexico. The $600 million bill will pay for hundreds of new border patrol and customs agents as well as communications equipment and unmanned surveillance drones. It'll be funded by increasing the fees paid by companies that bring large numbers of employees into the US on skilled worker visas.

A huge global project to use the untapped potential of people's home computers has helped to discover a real star 17,000 light years from earth. The star was found with the help of hundreds of thousands of volunteers who using a special piece of software allowed researchers to process data on their computers when they won't be used.BBC News.

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To shape their next government after Saturday’s closely fought general election left no party with an outright majority. With most votes counted, neither the Labor prime minister Julia Gillard nor her conservative Liberal National Coalition opponent Tony Abbott is expected to be able to declare an outright victory. Nick Bryant in Sydney—

An election that’s being compared to a national soap opera has not produced its concluding installment because the likelihood there was of a hung parliament with a handful of independents of one Green MP holding the balance of power. Election night itself was full of trysts. Exit polls suggested the Labor government might scrape home. The opposition started winning marginal seat after marginal seat.

As floodwaters continue to inundate much of Pakistan, tens of thousands more people have been moved to safety. The southern province of Sindh is now described as the worst affected area with up to four million displaced people. Jill McGivering is there in the town of Sukkur.

Families are visible everywhere—on riverbanks, open ground and along the roadside. About a tenth of the homeless have plaited in relief camps; the rest are trying to survive alone without shelter or any assurance of food. Aid is being provided, but it’s limited. And there’s enormous demand. Inside some camps, the distribution of aid is tightly controlled, supervised by armed police. Organizers are wary because fighting has broken out in recent days when desperate people mobbed aid trucks.

The International Monetary Fund says the floods will present a massive economic challenge to the government and people of Pakistan. It’s announced that talks of Pakistani officials will start on Monday.

A Van Gogh painting valued at $50 million that was stolen from the Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo earlier on Saturday has now been recovered. The Egyptian cultural minister said two Italians were arrested at Cairo Airport, trying to smuggle a painting out of the country. Yolande Knell reports from Cairo.

Airports and ports in Egypt had been told to look out for this painting of evasive puppies to make sure it wasn’t smuggled abroad. In the end, the picture estimated to be worth $50 million was discovered at Cairo Airport just hours after it was snatched. According to Egyptian officials, the painting had been cut out of its frame shortly after the Mahmoud Khalil Museum opened early in the day. The museum has one of the most impressive collections of 19th and 20th century paintings in the region.

The South African government has been granted an injunction prohibiting workers in essential services from continuing their national strike. The ruling also prevents nurses and teachers from intimidating workers who refuse to participate. BBC News.

There’s been a mixed international reaction to Iran’s start of an operation to load fuel into its first nuclear power station at Bushehr. An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman called the move “totally unacceptable” and urged world powers to increase pressure on Iran to comply with international decisions and stop its Uranium enrichment and heavy water reactor programs.The authorities in the Somali capital Mogadishu say that a powerful explosion, which was heard across the city earlier on Saturday, killed at least ten people, most of them Islamist fighters attempting to overthrow the government. They say the blast may have been caused when preparations for a car bomb went wrong and the bomb went off prematurely. The authorities say that three Pakistanis, two Indians, two Somalis and an Afghan and a Nigerian were among the dead.Police in Sweden have withdrawn an arrest warrant for the founder of the Wikileaks whistle blowing website, Julian Assange. Mr. Assange had been briefly wanted for questioning by Swedish police over allegations of rape and molestation. Stuart Hughes reports.

Swedish prosecutors confirmed on Saturday that they charge Julian Assange is absence over allegations of rape and molestation. But just hours later, Sweden’s chief prosecutor issued a brief statement saying that Mr. Assange was not suspected of rape and was no longer wanted by police. Last month, Wikileaks was responsible for one of the biggest security breaches in US military history when it published tens of thousands of documents about American operations in Afghanistan. Mr. Assange’s supporters claimed the allegations are proof of a smear campaign to try to undermine his credibility.The Colombian intelligence service says it has captured five people it believes are part of the inner circle of a top Marxist rebel. The five are accused of providing security, logistics and medical care to the top military commander of the Farc guerrilla group.BBC News.

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Peace talks in two weeks' time. The American Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said the leaders of both sides have been invited to meet in Washington with the aim of achieving lasting peace within a year. She urged both sides to be patient. "The enemies of peace will keep trying to defeat us and to derail these talks. But I ask the parties to persevere, to keep moving forward even through difficult times and to continue working to achieve a just and lasting peace in the region." Here, with his assessment of the announcement, is James Reynolds in Washington.”

The ambition is simple, and to many it's also staggering. Hillary Clinton aims to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by September next year. Not improve it, not get things back on track, but resolve it for good. So at the start of next month, the Israeli and the Palestinian leaders will fly to Washington. They will attend an eve of summit meeting along with President Obama, President Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan.

The Pakistan government says the southern province of Sindh is now the worst-hit by devastating floods with 2.5 million people affected. New warnings have been issued and villagers have been evacuated. The World Health Organization says health threats are increasing, with cases of diarrhea and malaria up sharply. Altogether at least six million Pakistanis are homeless and 1/5 of the country remains submerged.

Voting has started in the Australian general election. Opinion polls suggest the outcome will be the tightest in years with a hung parliament a distinct possibility. The governing Labor Party has been hoping to win a second term on the basis of its handling of the economy, but faces a tough battle with Opposition Conservatives. Here is Nick Bryant, on the leaders of the two parties.

Julia Gillard enjoyed a brief political honeymoon when she became Australia's first female prime minister two months ago. The thinking behind calling a snap election was that it would last until polling day. But that hasn't happened, and Australia has ended up with a "photo finish" election. The leader of the Conservative Liberal Party, Tony Abbott, claims he will bring back grownup government and end what he calls "the national soap opera”. He is referring to the bloodletting in the ruling Labor Party that's given the campaign its main and sometimes bizarre narrative.

Afghan police say up to 30 people were killed in Helmand province when Taliban insurgents attacked a road construction gang. There are few details, but a spokesman for the construction company said the fierce battle had lasted several hours after the site was attacked with rockets and machine-gun-fire.World News from the BBC.

The White House has called for the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing to be returned to prison in Scotland. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a Libyan, was freed on compassionate grounds and returned to Libya a year ago today. From Washington, here is Steve Kingston.

John Brennan described the decision to free the Lockerbie bomber as "unfortunate, inappropriate and wrong". He said the Obama White House had emphatically disagreed with the Scottish government which released the terminally ill prisoner on compassionate grounds. Mr Brennan said Abdelbaset al-Megrahi had been rightly convicted of what he called "a reprehensible act of terrorism". And he said Megrahi should now be returned to Scotland to complete his 27-year prison sentence. That US position is not new, but it carries additional force coming from President Obama's counter-terrorism adviser on the anniversary of Megrahi's release.

Six police officers have been arrested in Mexico in connection with the murder earlier this week of the mayor of a northern town. The body of the local mayor Edelmiro Cavazos was found on Fat Wednesday--bound and dumped on a road--three days after he was seized from his home in Santiago. It's believed Mr Cavazos may have been killed for his efforts in ridding the local police of corrupt officials.

Public sector workers in South Africa have continued their strike for a third day with little signs of progress in pay talks with the government. Hospitals have been particularly badly affected and volunteers have been called up to replace striking staff. The South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said that those who interrupted vital medical care were guilty of murder.

And Britain has held commemorations to mark the 70th anniversary of the speech by its wartime leader Winston Churchill who thanked the young pilots of the Royal Air Force for what became known as the "Battle of Britain". BBC News.

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Towards raising its target of $460 million for the flood victims of Pakistan. But aid agencies on the ground warned that the crisis is continuing with dramatically worsening conditions in some areas, forcing tens of thousands more people to flee their homes. Millions of people need emergency assistance. From Islamabad, Jill McGivering reports.

After a period of frustration, the United Nations is finally starting to sound optimistic about the donor response to Pakistan’s crisis. More than half the funds requested in its emergency appeal has been pledged. By far the biggest single donor is the United States. Some of those in Pakistan have expressed dismay with the slow response. There’s been discussion about the need for transparency in allocating and spending the funds.

The Pakistani politician and former cricketer Imran Khan has launched his own emergency appeal, saying the country cannot rely on the international community.The head of the global Internet company Google has warned that some young people may have to change their identities in the future to escape their online pasts. Eric Schmidt says that people are unaware of how much personal information may leave on the Internet. Jonny Hogg reports.

Eric Schmidt describes the Internet as the largest experiment in anarchy without the hand. He says we are unaware about the information about ourselves we leave littered on the web, and in his apocalyptic view of the future, he warns changing our names might be the only way to escape our online personals. Reaction to his comments has been mixed. Some feel his view is too Orwellian; others agree with his sentiment but find it ironic coming from the head of a company which has itself being criticized for the way it collects and holds information about us.

The Indian Army says three of its peacekeeping soldiers have been hacked to death in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Seven others were injured. The statement from the Indian military said about fifty rebels raided the peacekeepers’ camp in the middle of night and attacked them with machetes and knives.

The authorities in southern Sudan have unveiled a $10 billion plan to rebuild the region’s cities and the shapes of animals and fruits. The United Nations says more than 90% of southern Sudan’s population lives on less than one dollar a day. Mary Harper has more.

Elaborate blueprints for the new city have already been drawn up. The regional capital Juba will be relocated and designed in the shape of a rhinoceros. Wau, the capital of Western Bahr el-Ghazal state, appears in the somewhat unwieldy shape of a giraffe. The office of the regional president is situated where the animal’s eyes should be. And the sewage treatment plant is appropriated placed under the giraffe’s tail. There’s a talk that the town of Yambio will be shaped like a pineapple.World News from the BBC.

A court in Venezuela has banned national newspapers from printing graphic photographs of murders and violence. The month-long ban was introduced following the publication by two opposition newspapers of a front page photograph which displayed the bullet ridden bodies of murder victims piled up an morgue. The government says the ruling will protect children. But the newspapers which printed the images say the ban is an attack on the freedom of the press ahead of parliamentary elections in Venezuela in September.

The supreme leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said Iran will not conduct talks with the United States about its nuclear program unless Washington drops sanctions and military threats. Speaking on state television, he said that America was not acting honestly.

Restrictions on the sale of alcohol in Russian capital Moscow have been extended in an attempt to tackle the problem of alcohol abuse. From the first of September, shops will no longer be able to sell drinks containing more than 15% alcohol between 10 o’clock at night and 10:00 in the morning. Yevgeny Brun, the government expert in drug& alcohol abuse, welcomed the ban.

This decision can only be welcomed. It’s a very good measure that will reduce the alcohol strain on the population. Thirty to forty percent of the population drink to excess, and this has economic, social and medical consequences. We are losing a lot because of this segment of our population.

The new adverts by the McDonald fast food chain featuring the cartoon characteristics the Gall has provoked outrage among some French critics who see it as a sellout to American consumerism. Asterix, often seen as an emblem of French fighting spirit, is depicted with his friends as talking into Burgers and chips in a takeoff of the comic strips Regular Village Banquette.BBC World News.

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Caused by the worst floods the country has experienced in modern times is deepening. More villagers have been overwhelmed, forcing people to flee their homes. At the same time, the UN is to meet in special session later on Thursday to discuss the unfolding disaster in detail. From Islamabad, Jill McGivering reports.

After a period of some frustration, the United Nations is finally starting to sound optimistic about the donor response to Pakistan's crisis. More than half of the funds requested in its emergency appeal has been pledged. By far, the biggest single donor is the United States. Some of those within Pakistan have expressed dismay with the slow response. There's been discussion about the need for transparency in allocating and spending the funds.

The United States has deployed hundreds of National Guard Troops along the southern border between California and Mexico, as President Obama attempts to boost frontier security. The troops at the first of 1,200 American soldiers and airmen who support existing border agents in four southwestern states, they'll be operational from September. Rajesh Mirchandani reports from Los Angeles.

California's governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said the troops had been called to help protect the safety of the American people. They'll be operational from September. But he warned the country must find a permanent solution to its broken immigration system. There are some 12 million people in the US illegally, most have crossed the southern border from Mexico. The deployment of National Guard Troops is part of President Obama's response to loud calls to do more to secure America's borders against drug smugglers, human traffickers and illegal immigrants.

The authorities in Mexico say the body of a local male who was kidnapped in Sunday night, Edelmiro Cavazos, has been found bound and dumped on a road. Mr. Cavazos was taken by armed men from his home in the northern town of San Diego. The state prosecutor in Nuevo Leon said the killing only served to unite the authorities, even more in their fighting against organized crime. The region, which is a popular tourist destination, has recently seen a rise in violence. The Nelson Mandela Charity in South Africa says one of its trustees has resigned after it emerged that he received diamonds allegedly given to the supermodel Naomi Campbell by Liberia's former president Charles Taylor. Carole L. reports from Johannesburg.

In a statement, the Nelson Mandela Children's Charity said that Mr Ractliffe had regretted his mission to inform the board that he had the precious stones and acknowledged that he had done so a more lawful way to manage the situation could have been found. Naomi Campbell told a court in the Hague how she received a pouch of diamonds she assumed had come from the former Liberian leader Charles Taylor. He's accused of receiving blood diamonds in return for arming rebels linked to murders and rapes during the civil war in Sierra Leone a decade ago.BBC News.The European Commission says it's following attentively a French operation to expel hundreds of Roma people from the country. A spokesman told the BBC the commission wanted to make sure that France didn't violate the right to free movement within the EU, but he added that he didn't have any direct concerns about the operation.

The authorities in Peru have re-arrested an American woman who's released early from a 20-year jail sentence she'd been serving for aiding left-wing guerrillas. Lori Berenson was freed conditionally in May after serving 15 years for collaborating the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. But an appeals court in Peru revoked her parole.

The head of the global Internet company Google has warned that some young people may have to change their identities in the future to escape their on-line pasts. Eric Schmidt said that people are unaware of how much personal information they leave on the Internet. Jonny Hogg reports.

Eric Schmidt describes the Internet as the largest experiment in anarchy we've ever had. He says we are unaware of the information about ourselves we've littered on the web, and in his apocalyptic view of the future, he warns changing our own names might be the only way to escape our on-line personas. Reaction to his comment has been mixed. Some feel his view is too Orwellian; others agree with his sentiment, but find it ironic coming from the head of a company which has itself being criticized for the way it collects and hoards information about us.

A new advert by the McDonald Fast Food Chain featuring the cartoon character Asterix the Gaul has provoked outrage among some French critics who see it as a sell-out to American consumerism. Asterix, seen as an emblem of French fighting spirit, is depicted with his friends tucking into burgers and chips in a takeoff of the comic strip's regular village banquet. Critics complain the invincible Gaul appears to have finally succumbed to the Americans. BBC News