BBC news 2007-10-11 加文本

BBC 2007-10-11



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BBC world news with Hafror Parton.

A committee of the US House of Representatives has approved a resolution describing Turkey's massacre of Armenians during the first World War as genocide. Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee voted by twenty seven votes to twenty one in favor despite an appeal from the Bush Administration that it would damage relations with Turkey. Rougishmerchant Darney reports from Washington.

This is a symbolic vote, the one that could have very real consequences for America and a key Nato ally. A powerful congressional committee decided the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians at the hands of Turks around the time of World War I should be called genocide. Turkey angrily disagrees. It says those who died were victims of civil war and unrest. The vote is not legally binding but it could threaten Turkey's cooperation with Washington that could affect US military supplies to troops in Iraq.

Hamas says it has agreed to hold reconciliation talks with its Palestinian rival Fatah and suggested that it might be ready to relinquish control of Gaza which it seized from Fatah in June. The statement was posted on the Hamas website by Ismail Haniya who was Prime Minister in the Hamas-led government that was declared wide( [英俚]机警的, 老奸巨滑的)after clashes between the two movements this summer. Katty Atler reports from Jerusalem.

This is the first time Hamas has said explicitly that its control of Gaza is temporary. Ismail Haniya said he hoped there would be renewed dialogue soon with his rivals in the Fatah party, perhaps, he said, in the capital of one of the Arab countries trying to mediate between the two main Palestinian factions. Fatah denies there have been any secret talks with Hamas since June. Advisers to the Palestinian President dismissed Mr. Haniya's comments on Wednesday night, insisting there would be no dialogue until Hamas unconditionally relinquish control of the Gaza Strip.

A new report by the International Charity Oxfam has, for the first time, attempted to quantify the economic key effects of conflicts on Africa. The report says that between 1990 and 2005, it cost the affected country on average $18 billion a year. It concludes by calling for a global legally binding arms trade treaty. The President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, is backing the call.

"The sums of the money lost to conflicts are staggering. We could contribute to covering the cost of solving the HIV and AIDS crisis in Africa, or provide education and water, and with the battle against TB and malaria, we could do much more. Conflict is undermining Africa's ability to escape poverty."

A dissident Congolese General Laurent Nkunda has called for a new ceasefire agreement between his soldiers and government forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Congolese army previously said at least 100 troops and rebel fighters had been killed in the latest clashes in the east of the country.

World news from the BBC.

A United Nations report has warned over an alarming rise in opium cultivation in Burma. Report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crimes, or UNODC, says production has shifted from poor farmers to criminal gangs who are increasingly concentrating on making synthetic drugs. Bethany Bell reports from Vienna where the UNODC is based.

Afghanistan now produces over 90% of the world's opium, with only around 5% coming from South East Asia. Most of that, the UNODC says, comes from Burma. In 2007, the report says, cultivation rose by 29% and production was up 46% as the result of higher yields. The Executive Director of the UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa, said corruption, high-level collusion and weak border security were contributing to the drugs trade in Burma.

Workers at the American car manufacturer, Chrysler, have ended the strike six hours after it started. The United Auto Workers Union said the strike had been called off after a deal was reached with Chrysler management. Details of the agreement were not immediately known. The strike follows a similar walkout at a rival company General Motors two weeks ago.

The authorities in the American city of Cleveland say a 14-year-old boy has shot and injured 4 people at his school before killing himself. The Mayor of Cleveland Frank Jackson said two adults and two students were injured but none of the gunshot wounds were thought to be life threatening.

Around 15,000 Wildebeests have drowned in the Mara River during their annual migration between Tanzania and Kenya. Tourists are looking on as vultures, storks and crocodiles pick clean the hips of carcasses. Local conservationists blamed the mass deaths on the destruction of nearby forests which increased the speed of the water sweeping the animals away. Game rangers say the loss is still tiny in relation to the overall scale of the migration, involving 15 million wildebeests.

BBC world news.