BBC news 2008-11-23 加文本

BBC 2008-11-23

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BBC News with Fiona McDonald.

Leaders from the 21 countries of the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum, or APEC, have pledged not to raise new barriers to trade or investment within the next 12 months and to continue to take steps to stabilize their financial sectors. There were also calls for another attempt to revive the Doha Round of the world trade talks which broke down in acrimony in July. The summit in Peru is the last being attended by President Bush before he leaves office. Brandy Marshall has more details.

The APEC leaders’ rejection of protectionist policies was matched by their commitment to reach an outline agreement on the World Trade Organization talks next month. A Japanese spokesman said concern over the global financial crisis had reinforced their determination to push forward on the talks which have been going on for seven years. The APEC countries include some of the richest economies, such as the United States, Russia, China and Japan, as well as major developing nations, such as Malaysia, and account for about half the world’s trade. But while the leaders endorsed further development to free trade, many of them are likely to face popular pressure at home as their economies see unemployment rise.

The United States President-elect Barack Obama has named his close aide Robert Gibbs to be the new White House Press Secretary. Mr. Gibbs has been working with Barack Obama for the last four years, serving as the communications director of his office in the Senate and as his spokesman during the presidential campaign.

The authorities in Guatemala say several prisoners have been beheaded during a clash between armed rival gang members in the jail south of the capital. A prison spokesman said the violence broke out when prisoners who belong to one gang objected to the transfer of prisoners from a rival gang to the prison. He said that seven prisoners were killed; five of them beheaded and mutilated during a five-hour clash before police and prison officials were able to restore control. Violence is common in Guatemala's overcrowded prisons where prisoners often have access to weapons and members of street gangs face off against each other.

Astronauts on the International Space Station have been carrying out a spacewalk to solve the latest technical glitch. They are trying to fix a joint that's supposed to keep the station's solar panels pointed towards the sun. Scientists are still struggling to repair a new recycling system intended to convert astronauts' urine into drinking water. Warren Bull reports.

The latest shuttle mission to the International Space Station has been plagued with problems. This is the third spacewalk made by the crew to repair the station's solar panels. It’s expected to be the longest and hardest of the mission and could last up to seven hours. The astronauts will try to complete repairs made during a previous spacewalk earlier this week, when a tool box worth more than 100,000 dollars was lost.

That was Warren Bull. World News from the BBC.

The rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda has condemned the planned deployment of extra United Nations troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo, saying they could not bring peace to the region. Speaking at a rally in the town of Rutshuru, about 80 kilometers north of Goma, General Nkunda said his forces would not accept outsiders coming in to provide security.

The government of Zimbabwe says it has refused entry to the former American President Jimmy Carter and the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan because they’d failed to consult the authorities before their trip. The two men were hoping to visit Zimbabwe as representatives of a humanitarian group, known as The Elders. A spokesman in the Harare said the visit had been postponed to allow proper protocol to be followed. Peter Biles reports.

The Zimbabwean authorities have accused Kofi Annan of misrepresenting their position. They said they’d advised him to postpone the visit to a later date. But this was a clear snub by President Robert Mugabe to a group of respected world figures. The Elders said the mission to Zimbabwe had been cancelled because the government had refused to cooperate in any way to make the visit possible. Jimmy Carter said the group had been led to believe that their visas would be issued on arrival in Harare.

A former Argentine police chief wanted for crimes against humanity has committed suicide on television as he was about to be arrested. During a live interview on the roof of his house, Mario Ferreyra, affirmed his innocence, said goodbye to his wife and shot himself in the head. As police arrived, TV camera showed him bleeding heavily. Mr. Ferreyra had been accused of kidnapping and torture during Argentina’s military ruling.(WWw.hxen.net)

The Gulf state of Qatar has opened a new museum housing one of the world’s finest collections of Islamic art. The building, a simple white geometric structure on its own artificial island was designed by the 91-year-old Chinese-American architect IM Pei. He was tempted out of retirement for the project.

BBC News.