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BBC news 2008-12-27 加文本

2008-12-27来源:和谐英语
BBC 2008-12-27


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BBC News with Nick Kelly.

The United States has urged India and Pakistan to avoid raising tension, amid reports that both sides have increased troop numbers along their border. The comments came from a White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe. Pakistani officials said they redeployed troops from the frontier with Afghanistan and cancelled leave for infantry units in response to reported concentrations of Indian soldiers at the border. From Islamabad, Barbara Platt reports.

A senior security official said a limited number of soldiers had been pulled out from none-essential positions on the Afghan border. ‘Snowbound areas’, he said, ‘and areas where there were no military operations.’ He didn’t say to where they’ve been redeployed. But Pakistani media have reported that troops are strengthening some positions on the border with India. The security official said army leave had also been restricted, calling the steps ‘minimum defensive measures’. The troop movements do not appear significant, and both countries have said that they want to avoid military conflict, but warn they would act if provoked.

Shares in the troubled American car giant General Motors have risen dramatically, following positive news with vehicle financing affiliate. Its stock price rose by 1/5 after the affiliate GMAC was reclassified as a bank. Here is Jeff Bede who has the report from our Business Unit.

GMAC provides finance for General Motors' customers and dealers to buy the company’s vehicles. It has big debts, and was seen as close to bankruptcy. That would have been a huge blow to America’s largest car-maker, at a time when the shortage of credit is already squeezing vehicle sales. But now the authorities have stepped in with a rescue. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve decided that GMAC should be classified as a bank-holding company, in effect, a bank. This gives it access to billions of dollars of government financial assistance under a huge program set up by Congress to help troubled financial institutions.

The president of Senegal has urged the international community to recognize the new military leadership which seized power in neighboring Guinea, after the death of the country's President Lansana Conte. President Abdoulaye Wade, the first head of state to support the takeover, called for patience, saying Guinea’s new leaders have promised to organize elections and that this will take time. The call by Mr. Wade came as tens of thousands of people attended funeral ceremonies for Mr. Conte in the capital of Guinea Conakry. Greg Morsbach reports.

A military band for a president who came to power in a military uprising, thousands throng the streets of Conakry as they pay their respects to President Lansana Conte. The international community is viewing the unfolding events in Guinea with a sense of nervousness. South Africa’s president called on the military junta to step down and hold elections immediately. The French government said the military leaders ought to return the country to civilian rule within six months.

You are listening to the World News from the BBC.

Two Palestinian girls have been killed in what appears to have been a misdirected rocket attack by militants in Gaza. An official said the girls died when a rocket fell short and hit their house. Palestinian militants have been firing rockets into southern Israel for the past week in response to the killing of three members of the Hamas-Islamist group by Israeli forces. The Israel cabinet has warned of possible military action if the attacks don’t stop.

Three suspected members of al-Qaeda in Iraq have mounted a violent escape from a police station in the western city of Ramadi. Iraqi police say six of their officers and seven militants were killed during the incident in the early hours of the morning. Police imposed a curfew as they searched houses in Ramadi to try to recapture the three militants.

A ninth body has been found by investigators sifting through the ashes at the scene of a gun attack in Los Angeles, where a man dressed as Santa Claus opened fire on a Christmas Eve party. Peter Bowes sent this report.

The gunman who has been named as Bruce Pardo approached the home of his ex-wife’s parents as they were holding a Christmas Eve party. Dressed as Santa and carrying a large wrapped package, he knocked at the door. It was answered by an eight-year-old girl who Pardo shot in the face with a semi-automatic handgun. He then opened fire on the 25 guests at the party. Amid the chaos, he doused the house with a flammable liquid from a fuel tank he had been hiding in the package. The 8-year-old girl and the 16-year-old who were shot in the back survived and were taken to hospital.(www.hXen.com)

And finally scientists reported a rapid recovery in some of the coral reefs that were damaged by the Indian Ocean Tsunami four years ago. It had been feared that some of the reefs off the coast of Indonesia could take a decade to recover. But the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society says there is evidence of rapid growth of young corals in the badly hit areas.

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