BBC news 2009-07-23 加文本

BBC 2009-07-23


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BBC News with Neil Nunes.

Violent protests against poor living conditions are spreading in South Africa where more than 100 people have been arrested in a week of clashes. Police fired rubber bullets at demonstrators in Johannesburg, the Western Cape and the north-eastern region of Mpumalanga. It's the most direct challenge to President Zuma since he came to power in April, promising to improve conditions in the townships. Peter Biles has this report.

The protests over service delivery are a reminder of the impatience felt in the most deprived areas of the country. Paradoxically, the gap between rich and poor is wider now than it was 15 years ago in spite of the progress that's been made since the demise of apartheid. Mr. Zuma is still to make his mark as president. Now he will be under even greater pressure to explain how the ANC is going to meet its plethora of election promises.

As the first human trials for a swine flu vaccine began in Australia, the United States has appealed for several thousand volunteers to take part in similar tests there. The first American volunteers, all adults, will be injected next month. Initial results should help the US government decide whether to carry out a mass vaccination campaign. Smaller scale trials are already underway in Australia. Andrew Cuthbertson is the director of research at the laboratories developing the vaccine.

"We have a specific vaccine that we believe will be able to protect millions of people against this new H1N1 flu. But what we have to do before this is made generally available is do some appropriate testing."

Security officials in Ukraine say a suspect in the murder of the journalist Georgiy Gongadze nine years ago has been arrested and has confessed to his killing. The decapitated body of Mr. Gongadze, an outspoken critic of the then President Leonid Kuchma was found dumped in a forest, provoking widespread outrage in Ukraine. Mr. Gongadze's widow, Myroslava, welcomed the arrest of General Oleksiy Pukach.

"It's crucially important that the Security Service of Ukraine were able to find and arrest General Pukach from the evidence presented during the previous court hearing and testimonies. It's clear that General Pukach is the one who intentionally killed Georgiy, strangled him with his own belt."

Investigators in the United States have raided the clinic of Michael Jackson's personal doctor. The man Conrad Murray was with Jackson when he died last month. Police in Texas were seen removing bags from Dr. Murray's clinic in the city of Houston. A lawyer for Dr. Murray said officials were looking for evidence of manslaughter. Dr. Murray who has been interviewed by police is not considered to be a suspect.

World News from the BBC.

The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has given an uncompromising warning on nuclear weapons to North Korea and Iran. She told North Korea that its only option was to complete an irreversible dismantling of its nuclear weapons program and China, Russia, Japan and South Korea agreed with Washington on that.

President Obama says he expects violence in Iraq to continue, but the US is still on course to withdraw all its troops by the end of 2011. He was speaking after talks at the White House with the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. President Obama said the two countries were in the midst of a transition based on mutual respect. Mr. al-Maliki spoke of developing a strategic friendship between Iraq and the United States. The President said US support for Iraqi security services will continue.

Going forward, we will continue to provide training and support for Iraqi security forces that are capable and non-sectarian. We'll move forward with our strategy to responsibly remove all American combat brigades from Iraq by the end of next August and to fulfill our commitment to remove all American troops from Iraq by the end of 2011.

A British Minister quoted in a newspaper interview as saying British troops didn't have enough helicopters in Afghanistan has denied this is what he meant. The Minister Malloch Brown insisted he was talking about the number of helicopters needed worldwide to fight insurgents. The comments came as the government has been under increasing pressure as the number of British troops killed in Afghanistan has risen to uNPRecedented numbers.

Venezuela has rejected a demand from the interim government of Honduras that it withdraw its remaining diplomats from the Honduran capital. On Tuesday, the government accused the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of interfering in Honduras domestic affairs, a charge Mr. Chavez rejects.

BBC News.