BBC news 2007-06-04 加文本

BBC 2007-06-04


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BBC World news with Joe Makentash.

Some of the world's biggest polluters outside the United Nations' Kyoto Protocol are outlining their own plans for dealing with climate change. Australia's Prime Minister John Howard has reversed years of skepticism about the problem and announced plans for carbon trading scheme to curb greenhouse gas emissions. China, the world's second largest emitter of greenhouse gases, will shortly release details of its first national plan to tackle climate change, as Robert Warker reports.

China's policymakers have already set up plans to increase energy efficiency and deal with heavily polluting factories, and now the government is about to release details of the first national plan to tackle climate change. It accepts that climate change will cause serious problems, but at the same time, the government is wary of introducing any measures, which might threaten growth and the efforts to pull more people out of poverty. China's view has also been that the causes of climate change lie predominantly with western nations. They industrialized first, and they should be the first to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The war in Iraq is expected to be the main issue in a debate between the major democratic presidential candidates in the US. Eight candidates including the front runners, Hilary Clinton, and Barack Obama are taking questions from journalists at about 100 undecided voters in New Hampshire.James Comarasamy is there.

Groups of supporters have braved a wet New Hampshire evening to see the eight potential Democratic presidential nominees take to the stage for a two -hour debate. They will see them take questions not just from a host, but for the first time in the series of debates from members of the public. Hilary Clinton retains a sizable lead in national opinion polls, but in this state which traditionally holds the first presidential primary, she only has a slight advantage over the Illinois senator Barack Obama . He will be looking to improve on what was widely considered to be an unspectacular performance in the first debate. While a candidate currently running third in the polls, the former vice presidential nominee John Edwards will be hoping to close the gap between himself and the two front runners.

The former president of Liberia Charles Taylor goes on trial in the Hague today Monday, he faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for atrocities committed by rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone. Mr. Taylor detainer has pleaded not guilty to the charges. More than 50, 000 people died during the decade-long conflict in Sierra Leone. Jeroline Cockland reports from the Hague.

Charles Taylor is the first African head of state to go on trial before an international court. He's being tried by the special court for Sierra Leone in the ICC building. The trial was moved here from Freetown for security reasons. Charles Taylor denies helping to arm and train Sierra Leone's RUF rebels in exchange for diamonds during the civil conflict in the 90s.
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The leader of the Kurdish region in Iraq Massoud Barzani has said that the Turkish troops have shelled a border area in northern Iraq in an attack on Kurdish rebels based there. He said Turkish soldiers did not enter Iraqi territory. Reports say Turkey has been building up its forces along the border between the two countries in recent weeks in a bid to counter a Kurdish separatist, who launched attacks on Turkey from inside Iraq.

Government troops in Lebanon have clashed with militants at a second Palestinian refugee camp, and continued to bombard Palestinian fighters dug in at a camp in the north of the country. Fighting began at the En-Alhawa camp near Sidon, where militants from a group called J attacked an army post. There were further clashes after dark. The mayor of Sidon, Abdul Rahman Bizri , told the BBC that the fighting had been contained. "we were aiding with the help of the Palestinian organizations and with the help of larger attepts or groups in the camp to subdue the activity and contain any action from getting even larger."

The Russian president Vladimir Putin is taking a combative line on several issues likely to come up at this week’s G8 summit in Germany including missile defense, Kosovo and democratic standards. In an interview, Mr. Putin said Moscow could once again target missiles at Europe, if the US went ahead with plans to build a missile defense shield there. Mr. Putin went on to say Russia was opposed to any rapid move towards independence for Kosovo, and would veto any such initiative at the UN.

A helicopter taking people home from an international football match in West Africa has crashed in the main airport in Sierra Leone, killing at least 20 people on board. The crash happened as the helicopter was ferrying passengers to the airport from the capital Freetown.

BBC World news.