BBC news 2010-08-19 加文本

BBC news 2010-08-19

...way towards raising its target of $460 million for the flood victims of Pakistan. But aid agencies on the ground warn that the crisis is continuing with dramatically worsening conditions in some areas, forcing tens of thousands more people to flee their homes. Millions of people need emergency assistance. From Islamabad, Jill McGivering reports.

After a period of some frustration, the United Nations is finally starting to sound optimistic about the donor response to Pakistan's crisis. More than half of the funds requested in its emergency appeal has been pledged. By far, the biggest single donor is the United States. Some of those within Pakistan have expressed dismay with the slow response. There has been discussion about the need for transparency in allocating and spending the funds.

The Pakistani politician and former cricketer, Imran Khan, has launched his own emergency appeal, saying the country cannot rely on the international community.

The head of the global Internet company Google has warned that some young people may have to change their identities in the future to escape their online pasts. Eric Schmidt says that people are unaware of how much personal information may leave on the Internet. Jonny Hogg reports.

Eric Schmidt describes the Internet as the largest experiment in anarchy we've ever had. He says we are unaware of the information about ourselves we leave littered on the web, and in his apocalyptic view of the future, he warns changing our own names might be the only way to escape our online personas. Reaction to his comment has been mixed. Some feel his view is too Orwellian; others agree with his sentiment, but find it ironic coming from the head of a company which has itself being criticized for the way it collects and hoards information about us.

The Indian army says three of its peacekeeping soldiers have been hacked to death in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo; seven others were injured. A statement from the Indian military said about 50 rebels raided the peacekeepers' camp in the middle of the night and attacked them with machetes and knives.

The authorities in southern Sudan have unveiled a 10-billion-dollar plan to rebuild the region's cities in the shapes of animals and fruit. The United Nations says more than 90% of southern Sudan's population lives on less than $1 a day. Mary Harper has more.

Elaborate blueprints for the new cities have already been drawn up. The regional capital Juba will be relocated and designed in the shape of a rhinoceros. Wau, the capital of Western Bahr el-Ghazal state appears into somewhat unwieldy shape of a giraffe. The office of the regional president is situated where the animal's eye should be, and the sewage treatment plant is appropriately placed under the giraffe's tail. There is talk that the town of Yambio will be shaped like a pineapple.

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A court in Venezuela has banned national newspapers from printing graphic photographs of murders and violence. The month-long ban was introduced following the publication by two opposition newspapers of a front-page photograph which displayed the bullet-ridden bodies of murder victims piled up in a morgue. The government says the ruling will protect children. But the newspapers which printed the images say the ban is an attack on the freedom of the press ahead of parliamentary elections in Venezuela in September.

The Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei has said Iran will not conduct talks with the United States about its nuclear programme unless Washington drops sanctions and military threats. Speaking on state television, he said that America was not acting honestly.

Restrictions on sale of alcohol in the Russian capital Moscow have been extended in an attempt to tackle the problem of alcohol abuse. From the 1st of September, shops will no longer be able to sell drinks containing more than 15% alcohol between 10 o'clock at night and 10:00 in the morning. Yevgeny Brun, the government expert in drug and alcohol abuse, welcomed the ban.

"This decision can only be welcomed. It's a very good measure that will reduce the alcoholic strain on the population. Thirty to forty percent of the population drink to excess, and this has economic, social and medical consequences. We are losing a lot because of this segment of our population."

The new advert by the McDonald's fast food chain featuring the cartoon character Asterix the Gaul has provoked outrage among some French critics who see it as a sell-out to American consumerism. Asterix, often seen as an emblem of French fighting spirit, is depicted with his friends as tucking into burgers and chips in a take-off of the comic strip's regular village banquet.

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