BBC news 2010-08-15 加文本

BBC news 2010-08-15

(Pakistani govern)ment has been defending itself from criticism that it  hasn’t reached many of those affected by the country’s devastating  floods. The Information Minister, Sumsam Bokhari, said the authorities  were doing their best to get through to all 20 million people affected.

There are some people where the relief has not reached yet. But that  does not mean that it will not reach there. The thing is that with  whatever sources we have-with the helicopter, with the trucks, because  there have been roads which have been cut by the floods, which have been  washed away like the bridges and elsewhere. So getting to the people is not an  easy thing right now

The Pakistani prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said he would work more  closely with the opposition to raise funds for relief effort.

At least 12 people have been killed in a US missile strike in  northwetern Pakistan near the Afghan border. Pakistani security  officials say an unmanned aircraft, or drone, was seen firing missiles  at a house used by suspected Islamist militants near the town of Mirali  in north Waziristan.

President Obama has promised to keep supporting businesses hit by the  Gulf-of-Mexico oil spill until they are fully recovered from the  disaster. During a visit to the Florida coast, Mr. Obama also said he  wouldn’t be satisfied until the area was fully restored. From Florida,  here’s Andy Gallacher.

Clean, safe and open for business-that was the message from the Obama  family as they began their short holiday on Florida’s northwestern coast.  It's a region that’s been hit hard by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico  as tourists sub stayed away in droves. The president encouraged people  to come back to the “pan handle” as it is known and even promised to  take a swim in the sea, away from the prying eyes of the press. No oil  has been spilling from the ruptured well in recent weeks, but several  Gulf states continue to back up a perception that both beaches and seafood  have been tainted by oil.

Lebanese security officials say troops have killed the suspected leader of al-Qaeda inspired  militant Islamist group Fatah al-Islam. Security forces ambushed Abd-al-Rahman  Awad and two associates as they were traveling through the town of  Chtaura. Jim Muir reports from Beirut.

Abd-al-Rahman Awad was already high on the Lebanese wanted list. He’d  been condemned to death in absentia on charges relating to a number of  bomb attacks and killings over the past three years. He’s believed to  have taken over the leadership of Fatah al Islam after its three-month  battle with the Lebanese army at the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr  al-Bared near Tripoli in northern Lebanon in 2007, in which around 400  people died.

Police in Mexico say members of drug cartels blocked off at least 13  major roads in the city of Monterrey on Saturday. Drivers were dragged  out of their vehicles by armed men and their cars used to cut off  roads. The blockade happened after a shoot-up between the Mexican army  and the alleged members of a local drug cartel, in which four people were  killed by the security forces.

World News from the BBC.

The international peacekeeping force in the Sudanese region of Darfur  says two of its peacekeepers have been kidnapped. The Joint United  Nations-African Union Mission, UNAMID, says two police advisors were  abducted by gunmen in a vehicle near their home in Nyala in South  Darfur. Seventeen foreign workers have been seized in Darfur since March  last year.

A man described as Japan’s most wanted fugitive for his alleged  involvement in a jewelry robbery has been taken into custody in Tokyo.  Rifat Hadziahmetovic, a 42-year old Montenegro national, have been  extradited to Japan from Spain. The Japanese accused him of being a  member of the international Pink Panther criminal gang. A Spanish  police officer described their alleged crimes.

We’re talking about an international criminal group made up of more than  200 people. They’re organized in independent cells and they live in  different countries. They’re supposed to be the authors of more than 120  robberies in high class jewelry stores, and they have loot valued at  about $113 million.

After 900 years of male dominance, the authorities of the Italian lagoon  city of Venice have for the first time granted a full license to a  female gondolier. Twenty-four-year old Giorgia Boscolo, whose father is  also a gondolier, has passed a year long series of practical and written  tests. Venice’s deputy mayor said that there had been excessive male  domination inside the gondolier’s guild, which jealously guards the  trade.

The first Youth Olympic Games have opened in Singapore with a  spectacular ceremony on a floating stage. The International Olympic  Committee president, Jacques Rogge, called the game a new chapter in the  Olympic movement. More than 3,500 athletes aged between 14 and 18 will  take part. Organizers say they are confident the 12-day Games will be a  big success. But there has also been criticism of the cost of the event  and sluggish ticket sales.

BBC News.