WORLD NEWS - 00:30 UTC, April 18, 2006By Voice of America

Broadcast: Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Special thanks to Kwahili, Jonathan Song, Tina Zhong, Sophie Anny, ... for posting their scripts of dictation

It is zero hour thirty universal time. I am Jim Ted in Washington.

Palestinian reports say Israel military has fired missiles at a metal factory in the Gaza Strip锛???娌??板甫锛?. They say the missiles damage the factory but did not kill any one. Palestinians also have reported Israel military activity in the west bank cities of Nabulus and Jenin. Earlier a member of the militant group Jihard killed himself and 8 others in a bomb explosion. At least 60 people were wounded. The Palestinian group Hamas defended the attack as a fair action against Israeli aggression. Hamas now controls the Palestinian government. The US called the attack an evil act for which there is no excuse and condemned Hamas for approving of it. United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan also condemned the bombing. He urged the Palestinian authority to take a position against what he called such acts of terrorism.

The trial of former Iraq leader Saddam Hussein continues in Iraq. Lawyer should proof that he has assigned documents linked to government actions against Shiites in the 1980`s. Defense lawyers disputed the findings. They said the experts were interior ministry workers and demanded the court to use experts from other countries. The chief judge ended锛?缁???锛?涓??锛? the trial until Wednesday. Saddam Hussein and seven others are charged with killing more than 140 Iraqi Shiites in the village of Dujail in 1982. Also in Iraq, leaders have postponed a meeting of parliament because they can not agree about who should lead the next government. The main political parties have been in dispute over the issue since December.

Diplomats from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and other countries are preparing to meet in Moscow. They are to discuss the dispute about the Iranian nuclear program. The four Security Council meet next week. It was here we reported from the International Atomic Energy Agency about Iran??s nuclear program. The Security Council recently ordered Iran to stop enriching锛????硷?娴?缂╋? uranium which could be used to make a nuclear bomb. Since then Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad has said his government is testing a new machine that can enrich uranium four times faster that older machines. The price of oil has increased to new high levels in New York and London. London??s price for North Sea oil reached $71.62 a barrel. In New York trading, America oil hit a price of $70.40. Experts blamed the price increases on concerns about America oil supplies and worries that the political problems may slow the movement of oil from producers.

You are listening to the news in VOA special English.

A top American diplomat says Russia and China will block proposed UN restrictions against four people from Sudan. The US UN ambassador John Bolton says he was told unofficially about the plan to block the restrictions. The four Sudanese are accused of war crimes 锛???浜?缃??in the Dafur area of Sudan. The proposed restrictions target their finances and their freedom to travel. The restrictions are to go into effect锛?????锛? Monday if no Security Council members object. Mr. Bolton has asked for a Security Council meeting to discuss the issue.

Chinese news reports say the country has approved the building of a new oil pipeline to Burma (缂???. The official China business newspaper says the National Development and Reform Commission(?藉????瑰?) gave the approval at the beginning of April. It will connect Burma??s deep water port of Sittwa (缂??歌タ?ㄦ腐?ｅ??甯?锛?浜????舵?ュ??1942骞存?诲??锛??卞??1945骞村ず????瀹???????杩????╄?????瑕?娓???to the city of Kun Ming in Yunnan province in Southwestern China. The building is likely to begin this year. The newspaper did not say when it will be completed.

In Mexico(澧ㄨタ?ワ??????????), police say at least 63 people were killed when a bus fell off a road between the city Guadalajara and Veracruz (?????瑗挎捣宀稿?颁?娴峰哺??涓ゅ骇??瑕???甯?). At least 3 people were injured. Official say the bus was carrying a group of holiday travelers. It is not clear what caused the accident. Investigators are looking into possible equipment failures.

Police in Malawi (椹???缁达????ㄩ??娲插??? have fired tear gas at thousands of people who were protesting the governments efforts to stop them from selling goods on the street. The street sellers opposed the government plan to move them to areas away from the streets. They are not satisfied with the new locations for their businesses. A government official said the street must be cleared because the sellers caused problems in the roads and are scaring away possible business investments. Sellers of goods in the Liberia capital of Monrovia say police are burning their open-air structures. The Liberian government recently banned street sales. The government says the sellers are blocking traffic in Monrovia. The sellers are protesting the ban. There were reports of minor injuries during the clash between the police and sellers.

Finally in sports news, Kenyan runner Robert Cheruiyot has won the men??s Boston marathon footrace(璺?姝ユ?璧?) in the American state of Massachusetts. He set a race record of 2 hours 7 minutes and 14 seconds. Benjamin Maiyo Of Kenya was second, American Meb Keflezighi was third. Rita Jeptoo Of Kenya won the women??s Boston marathon race with a time of 2 hours 23 minutes and 38 seconds; Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia was second. Reiko Tosa of Japan was third. South Africa Ernst Van Dyk won the men??s wheelchair marathon race for the six time and Edith Hunkeler of Switzerland won the women??s wheelchair race.

And now briefly, here again is the major news of the hour in special English.

Palestinian reports say the Israel military has fired missiles at a metal factory in the Gaza Strip.

The trial of former Iraq leader Saddam Hussein continues in Iraq and diplomats from Germany and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plan to meet Tuesday in Moscow.

And that is the news in VOA special E English from Washington.This is Jim Ted reporting.