2010-07-13 BBC
BBC news with Iain Purdon.
An Israeli military report on the commando raid on a flotilla of aidships heading for the Gaza Strip in May has heavily criticized the tactics and method used. Nine Turkish activists were killed when Israeli commandos stormed one ship in the flotilla as it tried to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Adam Mynott reports from Tel Aviv.
“Israeli commandos were underprepared for what awaited them as they dropped from helicopters onto the deck of one vessel of Mavi Marmara. And mistakes were made.” These are the central findings of the report prepared by major general Giora Eiland. This is the first of two inquires and looks at the military aspects of the operation. Wider, political and legal ramifications will be examined in another inquiry. General Eiland said that the use of force was the only way to stop the flotilla. Israeli commandos and coastguards boarded the Mavi Marmara, he said, and were met with a hostile and violent reception from some of those on board armed with clubs and knives and at least one gun.
Switzerland has said it willnot extradite the film director Roman Polanski to the United States.The announcement comes ten months after Swiss police arrested Mr. Polanski at the request of the American authorities. They had wanted him extradited in relation to charges that he had sex with a 13-year-old girl 30 years ago.
The Somali Islamist group Al-Shabab has said it was behind two bombings which killed more than 70 people in the Ugandan capital Kampala. Peter Grestereports.
Spokesman Sheikh Ali Mahamud Raage said his organization was responsible for attacking two venues as World Cup fans watched the last minutes of the final. Al-Shabab is fighting to overthrow the transitional federal government in Somalia.Uganda has sent thousands of troops to support the government there as part of an African Union force. And last week Al-Shababwarned it would strike the country in retaliation. Investigators say they have found the remains of two people both, who appeared to be Somali nationals and who, they suspect, may be suicide bombers.
The French president Nicola Sarkozy has angrilydismissed allegations that he received illegal donations for his presidential campaign from France's richest woman Lilian Bettencourt. Mr. Sarkozy also said he had full confidence in his labor minister Eric Woerth, who’s been accused ofaccepting illegal donations from Mrs. Bettencourt. From Paris, here's Hugh Schofield.
President Sarkozy was at his most combative in this hour-long interview carriedlive from the terrace of the Elysee Palace. It was shameful, he said, to suggest that he received envelopes of money from the Loral heiress, awoman he knew only socially. As for his minister Eric Woerth, he was, he said, an honest, competent man whose name had been sullied by three weeks of lies and calumny. The president said it was no surprise that a campaign to destabilize them had been launched now just as they were about to embark on an ambitious reform of the pension system.
World news from the BBC.
The Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro is shortly expected to make his first appearance on live television since 2006 when he retired from public life. Mr. Castro was invited by Cuban state television to discuss the state of affairs in the Middle East. It is not known whether he will refer to domestic affairs in the 90-minute show.
News just in: the United States government has imposed a new moratorium on offshore deepwater drilling as a result of the huge Gulf of Mexico oil spill. It had last since all the end of November. Last month, a US judge ruled against an earlier moratorium after lawyers for the oil industry argued that it would destroy businesses.
Hundreds of thousands of ecstatic Spanish football fans have jammed the street of Madrid tocelebrate their national team’s World Cup win. Inching through the crowds on anopen-top bus, Spain’svictorious football hasparaded the golden World Cup trophy. Sarah Rainsford joined the celebrations.
It’s huge crowd by the revelry Madrid has been building for hours. They’ve been chanting and singing here; they’ve been drinking and dancing, savoring the moments of their country’s first ever World Cup victory. Many have been partying all through the night ever since the winning goal went in. And across the capital here, Spanias have crowded onto the streets to greet the team itself. Theplayers have been on an open top bus tour of the city,a lot of honor. They’ve been passing the Cup from hands to hands. This cocks weather end up soon. There’ve been jet planes here, roaring overhead. They painted theentire sky yellow and red, in the colors of the Spanish national flag.
And finally gunfire has forced professional baseball players in Mexico to abandon a League game. Panics spread through the spectators when gunshots echoed through the stadium in Reynosa, home to the Broncos baseball team. It’s not clear who fired the shots or whether it waslinked to drugs gangs. The Mexican Baseball League, which decided to suspend the event, called the incident "unprecedented,even for Mexico".
BBC news.