BBC news 2008-06-03 加文本

BBC News with Maria Marshall.

A top United Nations official is warning that spending on agriculture in poorer countries needs to rise tenfold to tackle the problem of world hunger. The Head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Jacques Diouf, was speaking to the BBC on the eve of a food security summit in Rome.(Www.hxen.net)

When we want to address the whole problem of how to double food production by the year 2050, to feed a world population of 6 billion that will reach 9 billion, then we are talking of investment in the magnitude of 30 to 50 billion dollars a year.

A BBC correspondent at the summit says spending on agriculture has fallen dramatically over the last quarter of a century.

United Nations Security Council has unanimously passed a resolution allowing countries to send warships into Somalia’s territorial waters to tackle pirates. The resolution permits countries which have the agreement of Somalia’s transitional government to use all necessary means to repress acts of piracy and armed robbery. 26 ships have been attacked by pirates in Somali waters in the past year, and the fragile government is unable to police its own coastline, Somalia’s coastal waters are near key shipping routes connecting the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Meanwhile, Somalia’s Islamist opposition said on Monday that it wouldn't consider direct talks with the government, unless there was a timetable for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Somalia. The comments made following talks in Djibouti came during a visit by United Nations Security Council team, trying to end nearly two decades of conflict. Mark Doyle reports.

When the Security Council, which has just begun a tour of Africa’s hot spots, tried to foster direct talks between the two Somali sides, it came up against two problems. The opposition, which is in fact, nationalist as well as Islamist said it wouldn’t enter direct talks with the government until the Ethiopians withdrew. And the government said the Ethiopians couldn’t withdraw until there was some other international force to ensure security, which is code for the weak government's survival in a tough environment.

More than 400 children taken away from a polygamous sect in the United Sates are beginning to go home to their parents after a court in Texas ordered their immediate return. The authorities removed them from their ranch in April over allegations that young girls were being forced into underage sex. Yv Galleta reports from Miami.

The parents from the Yearning for Zion Ranch will now be reunited with their children, but there are restrictions. The parents will not be allowed to leave the state of Texas, they'll have to cooperate with the on-going investigation and will have to take parenting classes. Officials believed the children have been groomed to have sex with their middle-aged spiritual husbands. The churches say no abuse has taken place.(www.hXen.com)

World News From the BBC.

The Bolivian government has nationalized the company which controls the country’s oil and gas pipelines after failing to come to an agreement with one of the foreign part owners of the company. President Evo Morales accused the US firm Ashmore of conspiring against his government. He said partners were welcome in Bolivia, but the country wouldn’t accept bosses. Bolivia is the poorest country in South America, but has some of the region's largest natural gas reserves.

A new report from the United Nations says that more HIV positive people are now getting anti-retroviral treatment for the infection, but the supply of the drugs isn’t keeping pace with the rate of new infections. Dr. Kevin De Cock, the director of HIV-AIDS program of World Health Organization, said there was still much to be done to prevent infection.

"I think remarkable things have been achieved, but HIV-AIDS remains the leading infectious disease challenging global health. This is, er, you know, it’s a formidable disease to deal with, as I think all of the research into vaccines, for example, which has not gone as well as we would have hoped, have shown, this is a very complicated infection."

One of America's most senior politicians, Edward Kennedy, has undergone surgery to treat a malignant brain tumor. Doctors at Duke University Medical Centre in North Carolina, said the operation had been a complete success, and Senator Kennedy should have no long-term neurological side-effects.

The legendary American Rock musician Bo Diddley has died of heart failure. He was 79. Didley’s songs including "Hi, Bo Diddley" and "You Can’t Judge a Book by Its Cover", were known for their distinctive, pulsating rhythm and heavily amplified guitar, the home-made rectangular instrument that was to become his trademark. Correspondents have described Bo Diddley as an innovative singer, song writer and Blues guitarist, whose influence on Rock and pop music can still be heard today.