BBC news 2010-07-29
BBC News with Zoe Diamond
In a case that's seen national lawmakers pitted against the legal authorities of a single US state, a federal judge has blocked parts of a tough new immigration law in the state of Arizona just hours before it was due to come into force. The Mexican government has welcomed the federal court decision. From Arizona, Rajesh Mirchandani reports.
The judge put on hold the most controversial elements of what were seen as America's strictest anti-immigration law. The measure would have required Arizona officers to check immigration status while enforcing other laws and would have made it a crime not to carry immigration papers. The ruling is seen as a victory for Hispanic groups, civil liberties organizations and the White House who complained the law might lead to Latinos being unfairly targeted. That's because of the 400,000 people in Arizona illegally, most come from Mexico.
The French government is bringing in a series of measures to control Roma Gypsy communities. The interior minister said half the camps used illegally by Roma travellers would be dismantled within the next three months. The announcement came at the end of an emergency cabinet meeting called by President Sarkozy to discuss last week's riots in a Roma community in central France. Christian Fraser reports from Paris.
The president condemned the behaviour. They have the same rights but also the same duties as any French citizen, he said in a communiqué. And he's now set in place some tough measures to deal with it. The government has identified 200 illegal settlements where there's evidence of illicit trafficking, exploitation of children for begging or where living conditions are squalid. He's asked the government to evacuate the camps within three months. Those who are living illegally in the country will be expelled, and the government is seeking provisions with the Romanian government to return unaccompanied minors.
Nigeria's financial regulators have told the BBC that they will take 260 organizations and individuals to a special tribunal over alleged abuses in Nigeria's stock markets. Caroline Duffield reports from Lagos.
For months, Nigeria's financial regulators have gathered evidence against hundreds of individuals that they believe are involved in financial offences. Those involved are not named, but they range from stock brokerages to accountants, lawyers and individuals working in the capital markets. The offences include price fixing, share price manipulation, fraud and insider trading. A spokesman for the Nigerian Stock Exchange had no comment to make on the statement.
Scientists say the abundance of phytoplankton, the vital tiny plant in the upper layers of the ocean, has declined in recent years, the probable result of global warming. Writing in the scientific journal Nature, the Canadian researchers warned that the decline could quicken global warming because there will be less photosynthesis, a process by which plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
This is Zoe Diamond with the latest World News from the BBC.
A human rights group in Mexico says four journalists are missing in the northern state of Durango. The four were reportedly covering allegations of corruption at a prison in the city of Gomez Palacio. The state prosecutor's office says guards lent inmates weapons and vehicles to commit a series of massacres before returning them to their cells.
Rescue workers have gone to a town in northeastern China where flooding is reported to have trapped 30,000 people. Jilin is the latest Chinese province to be hit by weeks of torrential rain and floods. Vivien Marsh of our Asia Pacific desk reports.
The Chinese media said water began pouring into the town of Kouqian in Jilin province after a reservoir overflowed. The reports said some buildings were under three metres of floodwater and the local train station was cut off, with 80 people inside. In Jilin city, Xinhua news agency said flooding had washed more than 1,000 barrels of the corrosive chemical, trimethylchlorosilane, into the Songhua River. Further south, thousands of workers have been laying sandbags on riverbanks in Wuhan in Hubei province, where the flood crests from the Yangtze and Han rivers are set to converge.
The Greek government has used a rare emergency order to force striking truck drivers back to work after a crippling three-day strike. They now have 24 hours to return to work or face arrest. The strike has led to fuel shortages and the closure of most petrol stations. The authorities said that the use of the emergency legislation normally reserved for wartime was justified as no one had the right to paralyze the country. The drivers oppose plans to open the sector up to competition.
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas has imposed new regulations on lingerie shops in Gaza to display more modesty. Shops selling women's clothes have been ordered by police to remove mannequins displaying revealing clothes and posters of racy undergarments.
That's the latest World News from the BBC here in London.