2010-05-16 BBC
BBC News with Michael Powles.
The Prime Minister of Thailand Abhisit Vejjajiva has said military action will continue against escalating anti-government protests, because it's the only way to restore peace. At least 22 people have been killed and many more injured since the operation began on Thursday. Thai soldiers are setting up cordons street by street around the protesters' huge fortified camp in central Bangkok. Our correspondent there is Chris Hogg.
In a statement carried live on national television here, the Prime Minister said his forces would do all they could to minimize the bloodshed during the operation to try to end the protests against his government. But his tone was defiant, he offered no new negotiations. Instead he tried to justify the action he had taken. He said a minority of protestors who were opposed to reconciliation were trying to destabilize the country.
The US government has demanded immediate clarification from the oil giant BP over its commitment to pay for costs caused by the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In a letter to BP, the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the public had a right to know the company's true intentions. More from Madeleine Morris in Washington.
The letter from the Obama administration effectively asks BP to make clear how much it will pay for the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Last week, the chair of BP's American operation said he believed the statutory 75-million-dollar cap on a company's liability for oil spills was irrelevant. He added that BP will pay for all clean-up costs and legitimate damages claims.
Mexican authorities have announced that a former presidential candidate Diego Fernandez de Cevallos has probably been kidnapped. The Attorney General in Mexico City said Mr.Fernandez's car had been found in his home in the city of Queretaro on Friday night. And the investigators had found signs of violence of the site. Mr. Fernandez is a top official of the governing PAN Party. He stood for president in 1994.
The Italian authorities have fined the Irish Airline Ryanair 4 million dollars for failing to help passengers stranded by the volcanic ash cloud which paralyzed European aviation last month. They said Ryanair had breached EU regulations by failing to provide passengers with drinks, meals and accommodation. More from Sean Fanning of our Europe desk.
Tens of thousands of flights were grounded during a week of travel chaos caused by the ash cloud from a volcano in Iceland. The Italian Civil Aviation `Authority said its own staff had to help stranded Ryanair passengers in Rome and it's cited 178 cases where the company had breached the rules. During the closure of European Airspace, Ryanair led by the combative Michael O'Leary had first said it would only refund ticket costs, but later relented and said it would stick by(忠于) the EU's rules. It has made no comment so far on the Italian fine.
BBC News.
The most powerful Sudanese rebel movement in Darfur has denied that the Sudanese armed forces have killed any of its members in western Darfur. An army spokesman said more than 100 rebels had been killed, but a spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement in Sudan, Dr.Eltahir Adam Elfaki said continuous bombardment by the Sudanese armed forces in Jebel Moon have killed civilians and displaced others to Chad.
The fighting is far away from the area of Jebel Moon. We fought the Sudan armed forces near to Nyala which is the capital of southern Darfur. We defeated them, we took 155 vehicles. We managed to drive them all out. And that's where it all is, it is away from the area of the civilian.
The transitional government in Niger has started distributing emergency food supplies to the 1.5 million people aid agencies say are facing starvation in the north of the country. A government spokesman said 21,000 tons of food mainly supplied by the World Food Program would be handed out.
A former British cabinet minister Ed Miliband has formally declared he's standing for the leadership of the Labour Party, following the resignation of Gordon Brown as party leader and prime minister after Labour's General Election defeat. He joined his brother, the former Foreign Secretary David Miliband the only other candidate so far.
In football, Chelsea have beaten Portsmouth with one nil to take the English FA Cup. They have now completed the double, winning the League and FA Cup for the first time in their history, only the seventh club to do so. This was the moment they took the title.
"And the game is over, Chelsea have beaten Portsmouth by one goal to nil and 2010 will go down as the year Chelsea won the double. It's been a remarkable FA Cup Final. The favourites have won it in the end, but it was quite a story." In Germany, Bayern Munich also achieved the rare double win.
And that's the BBC News.