BBC news 2007-06-20 加文本

BBC 2007-06-20


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BBC World News, I'm David Leg.

President Bush and the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who've held talks in Washington have sought to boost the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his struggle with the Islamist Movement Hamas. President Bush described Mr. Abbas as a voice for moderation and the President of all Palestinians. He said he hoped the emergency government formed in the West Bank after Hamas took control of Gaza could be strengthened. Mr. Olmert pledged to make every effort to cooperate with President Abbas. But he said the Palestinians needed to improve their security before progress towards peace could be made. Israel's acting deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh told the BBC that the best way for Israel to support the new government would be to engage with it politically. “What should be done is to open serious negotiations with President Abbas on the permanent status agreement between Israel and Palestinians. We should at least start it and at least agree on the principles of such an agreement. It will generate enough hope that the Palestinian moderate would have the popular support to continue.”

A truck bombing in the Iraqi capital Baghdad has killed up to seventy-eight people as American forces launched a new offensive north of the capital against militants linked to Al-Qaeda. The Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the attack showed Al-Qaeda militants were determined to ignite sectarian violence. Jim Muir reports from Baghdad.

All too familiar scenes of chaos and confusion at one of Baghdad's hospitals as ambulances arrive with scores of wounded and dead from this latest outrage. It was the first biggest explosion in Baghdad since the lifting of a four-day curfew on Sunday. These bombings are always seen as the work of radical Sunni insurgents. For that reason alone, they add into the spire of sectarian violence. But this one also caused heavy damage to an important Shiite mosque, heightening its potential for stirring further trouble.

Three months after Britain was plunged into a diplomatic crisis with Iran over the capture of British Naval personnel in the Gulf, two official inquiries say no one individual was to blame. The first report concludes that although individuals could have done more to avoid capture, there was no single gross failing rather than coming together of a series of vulnerabilities. The other inquiry looked to the navy's handling of the media and found that sailors should never again be allowed to sell their stories.

At least twenty suspected militants have been killed and many others injured in an explosion at a training camp in Pakistan's tribal district of North Waziristan near the mountainous border with Afghanistan. A Pakistani army spokesman said the blast happened when a group of militants were making explosives at an isolated compound near Takcal.

World news from the BBC.

Britain is facing further protest from Islamic nations over its decision to award a Knighthood to the author Salman Rushdie. Many Muslims see his novel "the Satanic Verses" as blasphemous. The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador in Tehran and told him the award was a provocative act. Pakistan has protested, too, telling Britain that the Knighthood showed the government's utter lack of sensitivity. The Pakistani Minister Ejaz ul-Haq said the award could be used by extremists to justify attacks. “This is an award that is adding fuel to fire. And when these things happen, you know, that this is a root cause basically. And then somebody goes and kills himself. And then they justify there might provoke cause of abuse of bombing was malaise and every Muslim, I mean you ask people around you. Whether they will do it or not.”

The American space shuttle Atlantis is on its way back to earth from the international space station after a mission plagued by technical problems. The shuttle's bringing the American astronaut Sunita Williams home from the station. Andy Gallagher reports from Washington.

This has been one of NASA's most difficult missions in recent history. The crew should have been in orbit for eleven days, but they were forced to stay an extra forty eight hours to deal with a series of technical issues. When the computers on board the space station crashed, there were fears the aging laboratory would have to be abandoned as one of their functions is running the life support systems. But NASA managers say the Atlantis has now been given the green light to return to earth.

A senior British official says there is no point blaming China for the massive impact its industrial growths is having on the environment. The official John Astern said rich nations must take the lead in cutting their carbon dioxide emissions.

BBC world news.