BBC news 2009-01-12 加文本

BBC News with Sue Montgomery.

The Israeli military has announced for the first time that reservists are operating in the Gaza Strip alongside regular Israeli troops. An army spokesman denied that this meant the next phase of the offensive had begun. Earlier, the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, said Israel was near to achieving its set aims in the military campaign, but he said the offensive would continue.

This is the time to translate our achievements to reach our goals. Israel is close to achieving the objective it set for itself though this demands patience, determination and effort in order to achieve the goals in a way that will change the security reality in the South and civilians will feel safety and stability in the long run. We must not miss, in the last minute, what has been achieved in the united and uNPRecedented effort that revives the spirit of unity in the nation of Israel.

Two Norwegian doctors who have been working in the Gaza Strip say health services are close to collapse because of Israel's military campaign. They say the main Gaza hospital, Shifa, lacks specialist doctors and basic medical equipment. They also said that half of their patients were civilians. One of them, Mads Gilbert, spoke to the BBC.

I've been to many wars, we were both in Beirut in 1982, but I think we have concluded that we have never seen anything like this, lacking everything, all sources of resources: manpower, beds, capacity, disposable oxygen masks, and it's just terrible.

The United States President-elect Barack Obama says he'll get involved in trying to break the impasse in the Middle East as soon as he takes office. In an interview with US television, Mr. Obama said he found the deaths of Palestinian and Israeli civilians heartbreaking and that made it much more determined to act.

"The reason it’s so important for the United States to be engaged and involved immediately, not waiting till the end of their term, is because working through the politics of this requires a third party that everybody has confidence, wants to see a fair and just outcome."

Mr. Obama also said he would seek broader engagement with Iran, suggesting that Iran represented one of the United States biggest challenges.

The Iraqi authorities say they've captured the alleged leader of Ansar al-Sunna, one of the main Sunni insurgent groups that's been blamed for a string of bomb attacks. A military spokesman said the man identified as Thayer Kadhim al-Suraiwi had links with some Iraqi politicians and had received support from groups in neighboring countries which he didn't name. The spokesman said the insurgent leader was detained in December and was behind attacks including a bombing in Baghdad last year in which dozens of people died.

World News from the BBC.

The Russian President Demitry Medvedev has said an agreement negotiated yesterday to resume gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine is void. Mr. Medvedev said he had received a copy of the agreement signed by Ukraine on Sunday with an attached declaration that contradicted Russia's position. Travelling back from the Russian border, our Ukraine correspondent, Gabriel GateHouse reports.

24 hours ago, it looked like there was a deal. After days of frantic shuttle diplomacy from the European Union, both Russia and Ukraine had signed up to an agreement that allowed international observers to monitor the flow of natural gas from Russia to Europe via Ukraine. Now, though that deal appears to be off again, the Russian President Demitry Medvedev has said that Ukraine added provisos to the agreement that were unacceptable to Moscow. It appears that these amendments relate to the thorny questions of Ukraine's gas debt to Russia, and whether or not, Kiev had been siphoning off gas destined for European customers.

Some news just at hand. Reports from Brussels say that the European Union Commission Chief, Jose Manuel Barroso, and the Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, have agreed to address Russian concerns over the disagreement on gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine.

Austria has criticized Slovakia's decision to reopen one of its Soviet-era nuclear power reactors following the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine. An Austrian government statement said the nuclear reactor was one of the most dangerous in Europe and its shutdown was key to Slovakia's entry into the EU and must be respected.

Reports from Turkey say a court has charged nine more suspects including a former chief of police in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow the government. State media said another four former senior military officers were detained on similar charges. It's part of an investigation which has already led to 86 people going on trial last October.(www.hxen.net)

BBC News.