BBC news 2010-08-04
BBC News with Gaenor Howells
There has been a rare border clash between Israel and Lebanon, the worst such incident since the war between Israel and Hezbollah four years ago. The brief gun battle killed a senior Israeli army officer, at least two Lebanese soldiers and a Lebanese journalist. The United Nations Security Council has said it's deeply concerned. Barbara Plett reports.
The Security Council urged all parties to practise utmost restraint to end hostilities and to prevent further escalation. It called on both countries to respect the border and to strictly observe the terms of a UN resolution which ended the 2006 war between Israel and the Islamist Hezbollah movement. The Lebanese and Israeli armies accuse each other of violating the resolution, and their governments have lodged formal complaints here. The UN peacekeeping mission in the area says it's still investigating the circumstances that led to the clash. The acting head of the force has himself gone to the site, reflecting deep concerns that the border skirmish could trigger a wider conflict.
The leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has warned Israel his group will join the fighting if there are more clashes on the Lebanese border. Hassan Nasrallah also accused Israel of being behind the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005.
The United Nations says more than three million people have been affected by floods in Pakistan, the worst for 80 years. Many survivors are angry at the failure to get aid through, but a military spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, told the BBC that 50,000 troops have now reached most of the remote areas that needed help.
"Because of the limited helicopter fleet available and because of the weather also, it was difficult to reach out to some areas. However, at the moment, the rescue operation has almost been completed. Wherever there was a distress call of the helicopters the army has reached out. Now it is basically a relief work. A lot of relief camps have come up. The medical aid is there. The soldiers have given their own rations because it wasn't possible to reach out to far-flung areas."
The oil giant BP has started a long-awaited operation known as a "static kill" to permanently seal its blown-out underwater well in the Gulf of Mexico. Kevin Connolly has just sent this report from Washington.
No one involved in trying to plug the leak below the Gulf of Mexico wants to tempt providence, but it's possible that BP is getting closer to bringing its gushing well under control just hours after the US government confirmed it's the worst spill in history. This latest attempt essentially involves forcing mud down a pipe into the well. At greater pressure the nature is forcing the oil out. As a backup, work is continued on relief wells which might offer a longer term solution. Hopes have been raised and dashed before with the regularity of the ocean tides though, and it's still not clear when BP will declare the "static kill" operation a success or another failure.
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Russia is struggling to contain hundreds of wildfires in forests and arable land caused by continuing high temperatures. Officials say more than 300 new blazes are appearing every day. In some areas around Moscow, there are reports of a shortage of fire engines.
A plan to build an Islamic cultural centre, including a mosque, near the former World Trade Center in New York has cleared its final bureaucratic hurdle. The body that protects landmarks in the city decided that the building now on the site had no historical significance and could be demolished. Opponents say the planned development is disrespectful to the memory of those who died in the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.
Three people have been killed and at least 50 wounded in a bomb attack in the southern Iraqi city of Kut. Earlier, several policemen and an Iraqi soldier were killed in separate incidents in Baghdad. Hugh Sykes reports.
The bomb in Kut exploded during the early evening in a commercial district which is busy at that time of the day in the summer when people come out to go shopping after the searing heat of the afternoon has dissipated. Some of the survivors of the attack were very badly injured, so the death toll may rise. In Baghdad early on Tuesday morning, five policemen were killed at a checkpoint by men using weapons with silencers. Reports suggest they shot the two policemen on duty and then killed the other three as they slept during time off. Witnesses said the killers left a flag at the checkpoint, the black flag of the Islamic State of Iraq.
The government in Mexico says that more than three years after President Felipe Calderon deployed the army to fight drugs gangs, the level of violence is still growing. The National Intelligence chief said Mexico's security forces were involved in armed confrontations with the gangs on a daily basis. He said more than 28,000 people had been killed in drug-related violence since President Calderon took office at the end of 2006.