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天佑我华，众志成城

BBC news with Fiona McDonald.

The most powerful earthquake to hit China in 30 years is feared to have killed thousands of people in the southwestern province of Sichuan. The official news agency Xinhua says 10,000 people may have died. The authorities have launched a major rescue operation, but they are finding it difficult to reach victims because roads have collapsed. Our correspondent Nick Mackie has just arrived near the epicenter, north of the provincial capital Chengdu.

“Basically, I arrived here in the middle of night, when it is pitch-black, given that there is no power at all in the town. And, you could, but you could still make out that many of the buildings are badly damaged, some have collapsed and there was one workman working away(perhaps a slip of tongue?), workmen and soldiers working away, trying to clear the debris from, from some collapsed buildings to see if there’re people underneath, and hundreds , if not, thousands of people just sleeping out in the streets, underneath tarpaulins because we had torrential, er, torrential rain all through the night.”

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said he’s immensely frustrated at what he called the unacceptably slow delivery of aid to the victims of Cyclone Nargis in Burma. A BBC correspondent in the country whom we can't name for security reasons says many people are still in desperate need.

“Rain has been falling heavily across southern Burma today, once again drenching tens of thousands of cyclone survivors, still living out in the open or in makeshift shelters. Some aid has arrived, reaching many more people than before, and an impressive clean-up operation can be seen in the bigger cities affected by the storm. In the countryside, the situation is far worse. There are many areas along the Gulf and Delta Coast still untouched by the rescue effort. Equation there is simple, unless those people get help soon, they will die.”

President Bush has said the United States will give practical assistance to the Lebanese armed forces to help the government take control of the country from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah Movement. Mr. Bush who was speaking to BBC Arabic Television, said Hezbollah had acted against its own people.

“Cuz I don't see how you can have a society with Hezbollah wrapped the way they are, I mean when they feel like moving in, they try to do it. In this case, though, they move against the Lebanese people, they are not moving against any foreign country, they’re moving against the Lebanese people and it should send a signal to everybody that they are a destabilizing force. And, but the first step of course is to make sure that the Siniora government has got the capacity to respond with a military that’s effective.”

Israeli police have raided Jerusalem City Hall as part of an investigation into corruption allegations against the Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Mr. Olmert who denies any wrongdoing was Mayor of Jerusalem for ten years. The police say they seized document related to allegations about illegal campaign funding.

World News on the BBC

Victims of South African Apartheid to be allowed to bring lawsuits against international companies in American courts. More than 50 major corporations are accused of violating international law by assisting Apartheid, the system of racial separation in South Africa between 1948 and 1994. The victims are reportedly seeking more than $400 billion in damages.

Chad has accused Sudan of planning an attack on its territory and denied Sudanese allegations that it had supported a recent attack by rebels from the Darfur Region near the capital Khartoum. The Chadian ambassador to the United States, Mahamoud Bechir, told the BBC Sudan was making the accusations to justify its aggression towards his country.

The BBC World Service has won a number of awards of the Sony’s, the British radio industry’s most prestigious prizes. Here’s our correspondent Torrin Douglas.

“The Sony Awards are often called the Oscars of radio and it was a good night for the BBC World Service which won four gold awards. Owen Bennett-Jones was named News Journalist of the Year and Newshour won the award for News and Current Affairs Program. The Bangladesh Boat Project exploring the impact of climate change won the Multiplatform Radio Award and the World Have Your Say won the award for Listener Participation.

There has been a late arrival in the race for the White House, a former Republican Congressman who hopes to stand for the Libertarian Party. The new Presidential hopeful Bob Barr is proposing lower taxes and less government involvement in people's lives. He said none of the current candidates understood the principles of fiscal conservatism which he called the ones on which the United States is founded. A BBC correspondent in Washington says Mr. Barr would have little chance of winning, but that he could damage the chances of the Republic candidate John McCain by drawing away right-wing supporters.

BBC News.