BBC news 2011-12-20 加文本

BBC news 2011-12-20

This is the BBC World Service in London. We're sorry for the interruption to our normal programmes. We're hoping to return to our regular output shortly. But until then, we'll carry on with some music.

And this is Julian Marshall here with Newshour at BBC World Service Bush House in central London. And many apologies for failing to bring you our regular news bulletin, but a fire alarm has led to the evacuation of many parts of the building. Let me, though, give you a summary of our latest World News.

The United States has been consulting its allies in East Asia about the death of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. President Obama spoke with the South Korean head of state Lee Myung-bak while the American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met her Japanese counterpart Koichiro Gemba. Mrs Clinton said the United States and Japan shared an interest in a peaceful, stable transition in North Korea. The North Korean government has called on citizens to rally behind the son of Kim Jong-il. State media described the son, Kim Jong-un, as the "great successor".

In other news, Syria has agreed to allow in Arab League monitors as part of a plan to end the violent suppression of anti-government protests. The Arab League said the first observers would go to the Syrian capital within three days.

An arrest warrant has been issued for the Sunni Vice-President of Iraq, Tariq al-Hashimi, over alleged links to terrorism. The move comes two days after the Iraqiya political grouping, which represents most of Iraq's Sunnis, pulled out of parliament.

Police in Nigeria have arrested 14 suspected members of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. They said the arrests were made after an exchange of gunfire outside the home of one of the suspects in the northern city of Kano.

India has approved an ambitious plan to extend its subsidised food programme to cover almost two thirds of the population. The move is expected to increase the government's food bill by more than $5bn.

The official death toll in the Philippines after Sunday's tropical storm has risen to more than 900. The government's disaster monitoring office said more bodies had been recovered from the ocean and there were still many people missing.

Seventeen people, including current and former footballers, have been arrested in Italy as part of an investigation into match-fixing and illegal betting. They include Cristiano Doni, the former captain of Atalanta, who's already been banned from football over a previous case. Several matches from the last two seasons in Italy's top leagues are under investigation.

And the European Union has warned Ukraine that the imprisonment of the opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko has delayed an agreement which was supposed to bring Ukraine closer to EU membership.

That's a summary of the news brought to you by me, Julian Marshall, presenting Newshour...