BBC 2008-12-25
Download Audio
BBC News with John Jason.
The leader of Tuesday’s military coup in the West African state of Guinea has led a parade of hundreds of soldiers through the streets of the capital Conakry. Captain Moussa Dadis Camara told thousands of cheering supporters he saw the reaction to the coup as favorable, but the country’s prime minister who is in hiding was quoted as saying the majority of the army was still loyal to the government. Here is our West Africa correspondent Will Ross.
As each hour passes, the men who swept aside the constitution are becoming more and more entrenched in power. The coup may have been condemned outside the country, but in Guinea there is not much support for the constitution to be respected because that would lead to the head of the National Assembly, Aboubacar Sompare, taking over power. Mr. Sompare is widely unpopular as he is seen as part of the old guard of / ineffectual politicians who failed the population of Guinea.
Palestinian militants have fired several dozen rockets from Gaza into southern Israel following the killing of three militants on Tuesday. The Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak blamed the militant group Hamas for the rocket attacks. In response, Israel launched air raids on the Gaza Strip which Palestinian medical officials say killed a member of Hamas and wounded two more. Here is Keith Adams.
The scores of mortars and rockets fired by Palestinian militants into Israel and Israel’s air strike in response represent an escalation in the familiar tit-for-tat violence. Wednesday’s events followed the end last week of a six-month truce between Israel and Hamas, the group that controls Gaza. Both sides accused each other of failing to honor its conditions, so the peace deal which was brokered by Egypt was not renewed. The violence should give some urgency to talks on the elapsed truce between Israel’s Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak planned for Thursday.
Amid tight security, thousands of Christian pilgrims have begun celebrating Christmas with a mass in the West Bank town of Bethlehem which they believe is the birth place of Jesus. Among those attending the service were about 200 Christians from the Gaza Strip whom Israel granted permission to make the journey. Extra Palestinian security personnel have been sent to Bethlehem from the West Bank towns of Ramallah and Jericho to safeguard the 40,000 visitors expected during the week.
A prominent Zimbabwean human rights activist who'd been missing since being abducted from her home three weeks ago has appeared in court in Harare. According to state media, Jestina Mukoko was charged with plotting to overthrow the government. Defense lawyer said the judge ordered that she and eight other activists be sent to hospital for treatment under police supervision so that / allegations of torture could be investigated. The lawyer said the order was ignored by the police. The opposition MDC says more than 40 activists have disappeared in the past two months.
You are listening to World News from the BBC.
President Bush is taking the extremely rare step of halting the process of a pardon he had granted only a day before. On Tuesday, the president pardoned 19 people, including Isaac Robert Toussie from New York who'd been convicted of mail fraud and of making false statements to a government department. The next day, the White House said the President was reviewing the decision in the light of new information. This, it said, included the extent and nature of Mr. Toussie's previous criminal offences.
Russia and Serbia have signed a controversial energy deal that critics say will undermine Europe’s attempts to reduce its dependency on Russian gas. The new pipeline calls “South Stream” would give Serbia a key role in taking Russian gas to southern Europe. Mike Sanders reports.
The multi-billion-dollar deal signed in Moscow gives the Russian gas monopoly Gas Gazprom control of Serbia’s state oil monopoly. In return, Russia promises to build its “South Stream” gas pipelines through Serbia completed with a gas storage depot. That would give Serbia a key role in the transit of Russian gas to southern Europe. But it's caused rows at cabinet level in Belgrade. Critics say there is no guarantee of whatever get built even though some European Union countries have already signed up to it.
The Russian President Demitry Medvedev has threatened Ukraine with sanctions if it doesn’t pay its bill for this year’s Russian gas supplies as he put it “down to the last ruble”. Speaking to a Russian TV station, Mr. Medvedev suggested this could mean cutting gas supplies next year. (www.hxen.net)
An Australian man is reported to have been arrested at Cairo airport after security staff found ancient mummies of a cat and an ibis in his luggage. An airport official said that the mummies dated back to 300 BC. He said another 19 figurines were found in the man’s bags of the ancient Egyptian Gods Horus and Thoth wrapped up as gifts. The man is being charged with smuggling antiquities which can carry a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.
BBC News.
手机网站