BBC news 2008-06-16 加文本

BBC 2008-06-16

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BBC News with Labaco Tary.

President Bush who’s on an official visit to London has said he has not compromised his core principles for the sake of politics or polls. On what’s thought to be his last trip to Britain before he leaves office, Mr. Bush told Sky News he hoped people would look positively on his presidency.

“I want it to be said about George W. Bush that when he finished his presidency, he looked in the mirror and a man who (saw) did not compromise his core principles for the sake of politics or the Gallup poll, or the latest, you know, whatever. And you can’t lead in this world if you're chasing something as temporary as a popularity poll.”

President Bush also defended the Iraq War and denied any split with Britain over the pace of any Iraqi troop withdrawal.(Www.hxen.net)

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon says Saudi Arabia will increase oil production in an attempt to bring down soaring prices. Saudi Arabia is thought to be the only oil producer with the ability to pump substantially more crude. Here is our economic correspondent Andrew Walker.

“There’s been no official statement from the Saudi authorities themselves, but Ban Ki-Moon has been discussing oil prices with King Abdullah and met the Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi. Mr. Ban said he had been informed that Saudi Arabia plans to boost production by 200,000 barrels, a day about 2% in July in response to requests from customers, which presumably means refineries. Mr. Naimi had previously said that Saudi Arabia had already increased by 300,000 barrels in the last month. Mr. Ban’s remarks seemed to imply that the oil production he’s been told about is additional to that.”

The Serbian government has defied the implementation of a new Constitution for Kosovo by announcing a new Parliament for the minority Serbian community there. A BBC correspondent in the Serbs’ stronghold of Mitrovica says the new Parliament represents a serious challenge to the Kosovo Constitution which ends 9 years of UN rule and hands power over to the ethnic Albanian population, it comes four months after Kosovo declared independence from the Serbia.

Reports from Zimbabwe say political violence in the campaign for the presidential run-off election later this month has spread to urban areas around the capital of Harare. Some opposition supporters complained of being attacked in a township near the city which has been largely quiet while violence flared in rural districts. One opposition supporter described how he had been abducted by supporters of President Mugabe's Zanu-PF Party who then beat him with rods.

“...all the / keeps and rapes. And at night, and they are, are, leading patrols, is to find the MDC members and supporters. They want to demolish, they are chasing away them, even let myself, they looted everything.”

World News from the BBC.

Rebels in Chad have continued moving toward the capital Ndjamena after occupying and then leaving the town of Am Dam. The Chadian authoritites confirmed the attack. They said Am Dam had not been protected by government troops and that the rebels had taken it for publicity purposes. In February, Rebels reached the presidential palace in the Chadian capital before being repelled.

The Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen says the European Union must help resolve the impasse caused by his country's decisive rejection of the EU reform treaty. EU leaders have said they will continue to pursue ratifying the treaty despite the Irish rejection. Some have suggested that a second referendum should be held in the Irish Republic in the hope of overturning last week’s vote. But Mr. Cowen insisted it wasn’t simply Ireland's problem and without political developments the treaty will not be implemented.

A British man and his dog have both survived a fall of more than 60 meters down a remote cliff face on the southern English coast. Ricky Carter reports.

Rescue teams found the man half way down the cliff at Chapman's Pool near Swanage, Dorset. He had been thrown clear of his Ford by fall, which had come to rest on a large ledge on the cliff face. The 42-year-old was winched to safety and taken to hospital with two broken legs and abdominal injuries. Rescuers though were unable to find the man’s dog, a black New Zealand sheep dog, but were relieved to discover that the animal had made its own way home. It was found later underneath the kitchen table.

The Swedish Jazz pianist and composer Esbjörn Svensson has died in a scuba diving accident near Stockholm at the age of 44. With his trio, known as EST, Esbjörn Svensson was renowned for bringing Jazz to younger audience, playing in rock venues and using light effects and fog machines during performances. Svensson’ music drew on influences as disparate as classical music and funk, and the trio’s albums gained international acclaim.

BBC News.