BBC news 2009-10-12 加文本

BBC 2009-10-12


Download Audio

BBC News with Zoe Diamond.

The head of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan has appeared at a news conference flanked by the American, British and French ambassadors in what’s being seen as an international show of support for him. The envoy Kai Eide has come under fire from his former deputy Peter Galbraith, who accused him of covering up the extent of fraud in August’s presidential election. Mr. Galbraith was sacked after making the allegations. Mr. Eide acknowledged that there was widespread fraud, but he said it was too soon to get precise details.

“It has been claimed that there was around 30% fraud. There is no way to know at this stage what the level of fraud is. I do not know. Nobody else knows. I can only say that there was widespread fraud. Any specific figure at this time would be pure speculation.”

The Interior Minister of Pakistan Rehman Malik has blamed the Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaeda for the attack on the army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi. Commandos stormed the building on Sunday, freeing more than 40 hostages. Mr. Malik said the government was responding with an imminent military offensive against the militants’ stronghold at South Waziristan.

The Rwandan President Paul Kagame has praised China for giving Africa, as he put it, what it really needed. Mr. Kagame said China was improving Africa’s infrastructure, for example, by building new roads. The Rwandan leader said this stood in stark contrast to the West who gave Africans widespread pollution and dependency on foreign aid. Greg Morsbach reports.

Trade between China and Africa has grown rapidly. It now stands at well over 100 billion dollars a year. Some critics say the Chinese have done little to promote human rights and good governance in Africa. But Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has now launched a robust defense of China’s interests in Africa. He said it was the Chinese not the Europeans and North Americans who were driving the continent forward. He blamed the western companies for dumping their waste in Africa, for taking natural resources and for not treating African firms as equal business partners.

The New York-based group Human Rights Watch has urged Israel, rather, to immediately lift restrictions on the import of school supplies to the Gaza Strip. It said barring such imports was unjustifiable. Bob Trevelyan has the details.

It’s now more than a month into the school year in Gaza, but many Palestinian children remain without textbooks. Human Rights Watch says some books haven’t been printed because Israel wouldn’t allow ink and paper into Gaza. There are also restrictions on the import of notebooks, pens and desks. Some supplies have been smuggled in through tunnels from Egypt, but these items are more expensive and not enough to make up the shortage. Human Rights Watch says Palestinian children are in a fact that's been deprived of their right to an education. Israel maintains its blockade is necessary for security reasons.

This is Zoe Diamond with the latest World News from the BBC.

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the planned reopening of the border with Armenia must be linked to an Armenian withdrawal from the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh inside Azerbaijan. Turkey and Armenia signed deals on Saturday to end decades of hostility. Jonathan Head reports.

Turkey closed the border with Armenia 16 years ago because of the conflict in Azerbaijan over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. At the time, Armenian forces had occupied large swathes of territory outside the enclave. The agreement signed in Zurich this weekend to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia was made possible only because the current government takes a more pragmatic and less nationalistic approach towards foreign policy than its predecessors. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly promised not to open the border with Armenia until its troops pull back in Azerbaijan.

Thousands of gay and lesbian activists have marched through Washington in a protest aimed at putting pressure on President Obama and Congress to grant them greater civil rights protections, rather. The activists called on the government to revoke the Defense of Marriage Act which puts strict limits on legal partnerships between same-sex couples.

Scientists have warned of an alarming increase in the extinction of animal species because of the threats to biodiversity and ecosystems posed by pollution, climate change and the spread of cities. The Diversitas Group, rather, of global experts on biodiversity said it’s appeared increasingly likely that reduction targets set by world leaders for 2010 would not be met.

Dozens of environmental protesters are on the roof of the Houses of Parliament in London after climbing up and unfurling banners calling for action to prevent climate change. The spokeswoman for the environmental pressure group Greenpeace said the action was timed to coincide with the return of members of parliament after the summer recess. Greenpeace has said at least 20 people would remain overnight and throughout Monday.

That’s the latest World News from the BBC.