BBC news 2010-08-20 加文本

BBC news 2010-08-20

(BBC News with Gaenor Howells.

The humanitarian crisis in Pakistan, )caused by the worst floods the country has experienced in modern times, is deepening. More villagers have been overwhelmed, forcing people to flee their homes. At the same time, the UN is to meet in special session later on Thursday to discuss the unfolding disaster in detail. 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's been discussion about the need for transparency in allocating and spending the funds.

The United States has deployed hundreds of National Guard troops along the southern border between California and Mexico, as President Obama attempts to boost frontier security. The troops are the first of 1,200 American soldiers and airmen who support existing border agents in four southwestern states, they'll be operational from September. Rajesh Mirchandani reports from Los Angeles

California's governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said the troops had been called to help protect the safety of the American people. They'll be operational from September. But he warned the country must find a permanent solution to its broken immigration system. There are some 12 million people in the US illegally, most have crossed the southern border from Mexico. The deployment of National Guard troops is part of President Obama's response to loud calls to do more to secure America's borders against drug smugglers, human traffickers and illegal immigrants.

The authorities in Mexico say the body of a local mayor who was kidnapped on Sunday night, Edelmiro Cavazos, has been found bound and dumped on a road. Mr Cavazos was taken by armed men from his home in the northern town of Santiago. The state prosecutor in Nuevo Leon said the killing only served to unite the authorities, even more in their fight against organise crime. The region, which is a popular tourist destination, has recently seen a rise in violence.

The Nelson Mandela charity in South Africa says one of its trustees has resigned after it emerged that he received diamonds allegedly given to the supermodel Naomi Campbell by Liberia's former President Charles Taylor. Karen Allen reports from Johannesburg.

In a statement, the Nelson Mandela Children's Charity said that Mr Ratcliffe had regretted his omission to inform the board that he had the precious stones, and acknowledged that had he done so, a more lawful way to manage the situation could’ve been found. Naomi Campbell told a court in The Hague how she received a pouch of diamonds she assumed had come from the former Liberian leader, Charles Taylor. He's accused of receiving blood diamonds in return for arming rebels linked to murders and rapes during the civil war in Sierra Leone a decade ago.

BBC News.

The European Commission says it's following attentively a French operation to expel hundreds of Roma people from the country. A spokesman told the BBC the commission wanted to make sure that France didn't violate the right to free movement within the EU, but he added it didn't have any direct concerns about the operation.

The authorities in Peru have re-arrested an American woman who was released early from a 20-year jail sentence she'd been serving for aiding left-wing guerrillas. Lori Berenson was freed conditionally in May after serving 15 years for collaborating with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, but an appeals court in Peru revoked her parole.

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 on-line pasts. Eric Schmidt said that people are unaware of how much personal information they 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 on-line personas. Reaction to his comments 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 criticised for the way it collects and hoards information about us.

A 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, seen as an emblem of French fighting spirit, is depicted with his friends tucking into burgers and chips in a take-off of the commonest strip's regular village banquet. Critics complain the invincible Gaul appears to have finally succumbed to the Americans.

BBC News.