BBC news 2010-08-29 加文本

BBC news 2010-08-29

BBC News with Nick Kelly

UN officials in Pakistan say more than 70,000 children already malnourished before the devastating floods hit the country are now at high risk of dying from waterborne disease. The UN humanitarian coordinator in Pakistan said many children have only contaminated water to drink, and he called for what he termed the more assertive international response. Chris Morris reports from Islamabad.

This is now a fight on many fronts. The floods themselves are continuing to wreak havoc, putting huge strain on flood defences in southern Pakistan. In many places, the water has won. Millions of people have been left homeless; many are out in the open without even a plastic sheet. Now there are growing fears of disease and severe malnutrition, especially among children. The UN is warning that if urgent action isn't taken, tens of thousands of children are at high risk of death.

Rwanda says it will reconsider its commitments to the United Nations if a draft report highly critical of the Rwandan army is published. The report, covering the years 1993 to 2003, suggests Rwandan troops may have committed acts of genocide during fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mary Harper reports.

The Rwandan Justice Minister, Tharcisse Karugarama, told the BBC that the UN had stabbed Rwanda in the back that it should not publish what he described as a shoddy report. If it did, he said, the issue of cooperation would have to be reconsidered - Rwanda would have to rethink its options. The country contributes thousands of peacekeepers to the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in the Sudanese region of Darfur. The possible withdrawal of these troops would be a massive blow.

Fierce fighting has been continuing for a sixth day between government forces and Islamist insurgents in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Medical officials say more than 100 people have been killed since the Islamists launched a fresh offensive on Monday. Thousands of people are fleeing the city as the insurgents try to capture a key road.

Tens of thousands of people have taken part in a rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington led by a conservative talk show host, Glenn Beck, who once described President Obama as a racist who hated white people. The former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has also been addressing the event. Paul Adams reports from Washington.

From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the edge of the World War II monument, a vast assembly of Americans has gathered here in the centre of Washington to reaffirm their patriotism and share their conviction that this country has lost its way. Opponents of the rally's organizer, charismatic conservative commentator Glenn Beck, have attacked him for holding the rally on the anniversary of Martin Luther King's famous 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech. Mr Beck insists the timing is an accident.

This is the World News from the BBC.

Yemeni officials say gunmen have killed at least eight soldiers in southern Yemen. It's the latest in a series of attacks targeting soldiers and police blamed on al-Qaeda. Earlier this month, the local chief of intelligence in the province of Lahij was killed in a hail of bullets. Southern Yemen has seen rising unrest recently because of a burgeoning secessionist movement and a resurgent al-Qaeda.

The public audit office in Egypt has ordered a comprehensive survey of the security systems in museums and ancient temples across the country. The decision follows the theft last Saturday of a painting by Vincent van Gogh from a modern art museum in Cairo. Magdi Abdelhadi of our Middle East desk has the details.

Egyptian museums are home to some of the most prized antiquities in the world, but they also have outdated video surveillance systems which often do not work. That was clearly the case when thieves struck at a modern art gallery in Cairo last week. With the alarms out and only a few of the 43 cameras working, a van Gogh painting was cut out of its frame and the thieves walked out apparently unnoticed. But the problem is not only one of equipment. Poorly-paid guards are often seen snoozing or reading from the Quran or simply too bored to pay attention.

A big rescue operation has been mounted in Austria after 25 people fell from inflatable rafts into a fast-flowing Alpine river in the western province of Vorarlberg. Fifteen people were immediately plucked to safety. The other rafters were eventually located after scores of rescue workers supported by helicopters scoured the banks of the Bregenzerach River for several hours.

And the Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg has condemned the expulsion of Roma people from France earlier this month. Mr Schwarzenberg said it was difficult to avoid the suspicion that racist views had played a role in France's decision. He said it was contrary to the spirit of European Union rules.

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