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BBC World News with Sue Montgomery.

The main international airport in Sri Lanka has been attacked from the air by Tamil Tiger rebels. The Sri Lankan Armed Forces said a light aircraft dropped explosives on the military section of the airport, north of Colombo.Two airmen were killed and seventeen wounded. Reporting from the Sri Lankan capital,Rowland Berk.

The rebel air raid took place just before one o'clock in the morning. According to a spokesman for Sri Lanka's air force,Group Captain Ajantha Silva, a light plane flew over the airbase and dropped two bombs. The base is next to Sri Lanka's sole international airport. Passengers inside the terminal said they heard several explosions, followed by machine gun fire. There was chaos and panic. Flights in and out of the airport were cancelled and roads cordoned off, but no civilians were wounded and the runway was not damaged.

The people of Egypt begin voting shortly in the referendum on controversial amendments to the constitution. The government says the changes will enhance democracy in Egypt. But secular and Islamist opposition groups have said they'll limit political freedom and increase the danger of electoral fraud. The largest opposition force in Egypt,the Muslim Brotherhood, has called for a boycott of the referendum. Heba Saleh reports from Cairo.

For many in the opposition,this is a black day in Egypt's history. They say the amendments spare the death of the constitution as the main guarantee of liberties and democracy. But the government insists the changes will deepen democracy and help it fight terrorism. Thirty-four articles are being changed. One of the most controversial will do away with the need for judges to supervise every ballot box during elections. The opposition says this will make fraud easier,but the government argues there aren't enough judges.

The British Prime Minister Tony Blair has expressed Britain's deep sorrow and regret for its part in the slave trade but has stopped short of making full apology. In a recorded message marking the 200 years since Britain abolished the slave trade,Mr Blair said efforts shoud focus on what he called modern-day slavery. Meanwhile, the abolition of the trans-Atlantic trade in slave labor has been marked in the United States at what was the main point of arrival for slaves in Charleston. Our correspondent James Coomarasamy is there.

A simple but a very heart-felt ceremony attended by representatives of many different faith,different cultures, different colors. It wasn't actually marking the end of the,this trade over here in the United States but really was marking the beginning of the end.During the ceremony,there were African dances,there were gospel music, there was a whole panoply of different ways of commemorating the occasion. This is of couse is a port where around 40 percent of all the African slaves who came to the United States arrived. And so,it was here they decided to have this ceremony.

This is the World News from the BBC.

Four American soldiers had been killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb. The United States military says the attack occurred in the province of Diyala,north of Baghdad. Two other soldiers were wounded.The area is a stronghold of Sunni insurgents and the scene of frequent clashes between Iraqi and US forces and the militants. The American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who is now in Jerusaleum has urged the Palestinians and Israel to work together towards the goal of creating a Palestinian state. Dr.Rice held the first round of talks on Sunday with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and then Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. After a visit to Jordan later today, she'll be having further discussions with the Palestinians and Israelis.

The Indian cricket team has been eliminated from the World Cup in the West Indies. Its fate was sealed when Bangladash beat Bermuda to overtake the side in their group table. Back in India, cricket fans have been burning effigies of the players. India's early exit is the second big shock on the field of the World Cup after the elimination of Pakistan. But the whole tournament has been overshadowed by the subsequent murder of Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer. Jamaica's Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields told the BBC the detectors were studying closed-circuit television footage, recovered from the hotel where Mr Woolmer died.

You know from many murder investigations and terrorist investigations around the world that CCTV can play and actually be critical part and therefore,it's important that we do it right and that's the reason I'm asking the officers to take their time to examine the tapes and then come up with some analysis.

Police in Pakistan have arrested dozens of people ahead of a protest planned for Monday by an opposition alliance over the recent removal of a senior judge. Officials of the Pakistan People's Party led by the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto say police conducted overnight raids and detained a number of their workers.

BBC World News