The surrender was signed five days ago in secret

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Italy has signed an unconditional armistice with the Allies, General Dwight D Eisenhower has announced.

The surrender was signed five days ago in secret by a representative of Marshal Pietro Badoglio, Italy's prime minister since the downfall of Benito Mussolini in July.

General Eisenhower - the commander in chief of Allied forces in the Mediterranean - said the Italian Government had agreed to end all hostilities with the United Nations.

In a broadcast on Algiers radio at 1730 local time, he said: "All Italians who now act to help eject the German aggressor from Italian soil will have the assistance and support of the United Nations."

Afterwards, in a personal message to the Italian people, Marshal Badoglio confirmed the surrender and even hinted his people should turn against their former allies, the Germans.

"The Italian forces will cease all acts of hostilities against the Anglo-American forces, wherever they may be. They will, however, oppose attacks of any other forces."

The Italian Government first suggested an armistice in August, three weeks after the fall of Mussolini during a meeting on neutral territory - probably Portugal.

When the surrender was finally signed on 3 September in Sicily, it was agreed to keep it secret until the Allied invasion of Italy was well under way.

German radio has broadcast a furious attack of Marshal Badoglio for asking for an armistice, calling it "open treason".

Marshal Badoglio and the Italian King Victor Emmanuel had insisted to the Germans that there had been no surrender, but now the truth was out.

"With this," said the German broadcaster, "a veil has been torn from a treacherous intrigue which for weeks had been enacted by an Italian clique, serfs to Jews and alien to their own people."

The surrender indicates the Axis and the Tripartite Pact is now in tatters.

But US President Franklin D Roosevelt has said it is too early to assume this is the end of war in the Mediterranean.

In a broadcast from Washington he said: "The great news you have heard from General Eisenhower does not give you licence to settle back in your rocking chair and say 'Well, that does it. We've got 'em on the run. Now we start celebrating.' The time has not yet come for celebration." 

There were a number of 'go-slow' protests

The protesters - mainly road hauliers and farmers - are displaying their anger at Europe's highest fuel prices, which are due to rise another 2p per litre within the next few days.

This afternoon there was a 100 lorry "go-slow" protest on the A1 in Tyne and Wear and a convoy of 200-300 people set off to Wales to block the Texaco refinery near Pembroke.

The actions follow blockades at oil installations at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire and Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire.

The chairman of the Farmers for Action UK group said the demonstrations were only the beginning of a "winter of unrest".

A taxi driver taking part in the A1 protest said drivers were frustrated with their plight being ignored by the government.

"Everything's gone up and our money's gone down, so that's why we feel so strongly - we're losing out all the time, we're always on the sharp end," he said.

But the Transport Minister, Lord McDonald, said the government was in tune with motorists.

He told the BBC that Chancellor Gordon Brown had reduced road taxes and stopped fuel duty escalating as it had done under the Conservatives.

armistice: a state of peace agreed to between opponents so they can discuss peace terms（停战；休战）

treacherous: tending to betray（背信弃义的）

clique: an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose（私党；派系）