BBC news 2009-03-08 加文本

BBC 2009-03-08

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BBC News with Marian Marshall.

Two American envoys have met the Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem in the first visit to Damascus by high-ranking US officials in more than four years. One of the envoys, Jeffrey Feltman, said that the discussions had been constructive and had been not about finger-pointing but about identifying areas of mutual concern. Natalia Antelava reports from Beirut.

The Syrian government has played down the significance of the talks between the US diplomats and the Syrian minister of foreign affairs. One Syrian official who wanted to remain anonymous said Damascus didn't want to make a big deal of the talks and that the government was treating them with great caution. Over the last few days, Obama administration officials have repeatedly said that while they wanted to engage with Damascus, they also have real concerns about the role of Syria in the region and its support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

The Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has submitted his cabinet's resignation to make way for a government of national unity. The rival Hamas movement has welcomed the decision, which Mr. Fayyad said would take effect after a unity government was formed. The announcement follows the relaunch last month of reconciliation talks between Hamas and the Fatah party of the Palestinian President Muhammad Abbas.

A British resident freed from Guantanamo Bay last month has released more details which he says support his claims that the British security service, MI5, colluded in his interrogation by the CIA. Ethiopian-born Binyam Mohamed has given a British newspaper what he says are two telegrams sent by MI5 to the CIA after he'd been transferred to Morocco in 2002. The director of the civil rights group Liberty, Shami Chakrabati, explained why the telegrams were so crucial as far as she was concerned.

"The telegrams suggest that while they didn't know where he was, they did know he was under CIA control and they were asking the Americans to interrogate him in a certain way, now that, to me, looks very much like a smoking gun. Whether I am right or not about that, it's certainly more than enough to call the police in. So I think what this does is to make an immediated criminal investigation, absolutely inescapable."

Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has gone to Botswana to recuperate after the car crash on Friday in which he suffered minor injuries and his wife was killed. A source close to Mr. Tsvangirai said the prime minister needed time to rest and come to terms with what had happened, stressing that his departure from Zimbabwe had nothing to do with security concerns. The MDC Secretary General, Tendai Biti, who is now also Zimbabwe's finance minister, speculated that the accident could have been avoided.

"The police are making investigations. We are also carrying on our own independent investigations. We will be making the necessary amendments so an announcement in due course. There are certain things that could have helped to avoid this thing, and one of them is clearly for a police escort."

BBC News.

The Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir says he will travel to Darfur on Sunday, his first visit to the region since the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest. Mr. al-Bashir has been accused of committing war crimes in Darfur, a charge he denies. Mary Harper reports.

President al-Bashir told a rally in Khartoum that if anybody wanted to fight him, they should come directly to Sudan instead of issuing arrest warrants from afar. His decision to travel to the Darfur town of El-Fasher on Sunday is a clear sign of defiance in the face of international pressure for him to be tried for war crimes allegedly committed in the region. He's been accused by the International Criminal Court of murder, rape, torture and pillage.

The Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has announced a 50% cut in the tax paid by country’s wine growers who sell their wines abroad. President Fernandez said the move was aimed at helping the nation's wine growers offset the effects of the global financial crisis. She also announced that the Inter-American Development Bank will be releasing 15 million dollars in aid for small wineries.

A film about Ethiopia under the rule of its exiled former military leader Mengistu Haile Miriam has won the top prize at the Pan-African Film and Television Festival in Burkina Faso. “Teza” by the Ethiopia-born director Haile Gerima beat 19 other entries. James Copnall reports from Rabat.

The Ethiopian film "Teza" was a popular winner of Africa's top film award, the Yennenga Stallion. It's the story of a doctor who returns to his country determined to help develop it, but once back in Ethiopia, he's confronted with a repressive regime of dictator Mengistu and a number of difficult moral choices. A Moroccan film "Nos lieux interdits" or "Our forbidden places" won best documentary. It dealt with a common thing here getting justice for victims of past abuses.

BBC World Service News.

Glossary:

finger-pointing: accusations against someone

play down: If you play down something, you try to make people believe that it is not particular important.

make way: to be replaced by someone or something

collude: If one person colludes with another, they co-operate with them secretly or illegally.

a smoking gun: A smoking gun is a piece of evidence that proves that something is true or that someone is responsible for a crime. (mainly AM or JOURNALISM)

recuperate: When you recuperate, you recover your health or strength after you have been ill or injured.
= recover

come to terms with: If you come to terms with something difficult or unpleasant, you learn to accept and deal with it.

in due course: If you say that something will happen or take place in due course, you mean that you cannot make it happen any quicker and it will happen when the rime is right for it.

from afar: from a long distance away

offset: If one thing is offset by another, the effect of the first thing is reduced by the second, so that any advantage or disadvantage is cancelled out. = balance(www.hXen.com)

entry: An entry for a competition is a piece of work, for example a story or drawing, or the answers to a set of questions, which you complete in order to take part in the competition.

repressive: A repressive government is one that restricts people's freedom and controls them by using force.