BBC在线收听下载:维基解密的创始人露面发表演讲

BBC news 2012-08-20

BBC news with Julie Candler.

The founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, has made his first public appearance in two months. He was speaking from a balcony of the Ecuadorean embassy in London where he has been hold up to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations. Mr. Assange thanked Ecuador for granting him asylum and angrily criticized the United States. Caroline Hawley reports.

The media circus for today is over, but the stand-off of the Ecuadorean embassy and the diplomatic row over Julian Assange's fate are not. Britain says it won't grant the Wikileak's founder a safe passage so he can get to Ecuador. But it's had to back away for a warning it made last week that it could find a legal basis to enter the embassy and arrest Mr. Assange. That deeply angered not only Ecuador but other countries in South America who will meet next Friday. It also provoked doubts about its legality.

President Jacob Zuma of South Africa has declared a period of mourning following the shooting dead by police of 34 miners who were taking part in a strike over wages. Mr. Zuma has also asked for a commission of inquiry to investigate the incident at a platinum mine. Meanwhile, striking miners have been told to return to work on Monday or face dismissal. But many have said that to end the dispute now will be an insult to their dead colleagues. They say they will return to the protest site and continue to demand better pay. Nomsa Maseko reports from Johannesburg.

Flags will flay at half mast for the whole week. President Jacob Zuma has also declared Thursday as the official day for the memorial service to mourn and promote a violent-free society. Mr. Zuma reiterates that the nation is still in shock and pain, adding that time must be taken to reflect the importance of human life. He also urged the country to avoid pointing fingers. The violence has been blamed on rivalry between Labor Unions during the strike for better wages.

Thousands of people have taken part in anti-Japanese protests in China after Japanese nationalists raised the flag of Japan on disputed islands in East China Sea. Martin Patience reports from Beijing.

In the southern city of Shenzhen, Chinese state media say a thousand people took to the streets. Some of the demonstrators overturned Japanese-made police cars as their anger apparently boiled over. The demonstrations across China were almost certainly sanctioned by the authorities. In the past that tap the country's deep anti-Japanese sentiment as a way to deflect criticism. The islands sit close to key shipping lanes as well as deposits of natural gas which has increased their importance in recent years.

An oil pipeline has been blown up in southwestern Colombia. Local officials are blaming Colombia's largest rebel group the Farc for the attack. It happened near the city of Tumaco which has been without power for the past ten days.

World news from the BBC.

The mandate of the UN observer mission in Syria has officially expired. The observers were deployed to monitor a ceasefire but no truce ever took hold and the violence only escalated. Their departure from Syria comes after the Security Council agreed to end their mission at midnight local time. And instead, back a new civilian office in Damascus to pursue political contacts which might lead to peace.

Police in Pakistan have arrested an 11-year-old Christian girl accused of desecrating pages of the Koran. The incident occurred in a Christian neighborhood on the outskirt of the capital Islamabad. Shahzeb Jillani reports.

The 11-year-old girl at the center of this incident is known to be mentally impaired. Some Christian groups have suggested she has Down's syndrome. She was allegedly found carrying a waste bag which contained pages from the Koran. This is said to have infuriated some local people. And after the prayers on Friday, a large angry crowd gathered to demand action against her. Officials say more than 600 Christians have since fled to their homes from the neighborhood. Under Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws, a person can be jailed for life for deliberate desecration of the Koran.

The final obstacle to the formation of Somalia's first parliament selected inside the country since 1991 appears to have been overcome. Martin Plaut reports.

This is a critical moment. Somalia has had no effective government since the overthrow of President Siad Barre in 1991. On Sunday morning, representatives of the international community flew into Mogadishu from Nairobi for final talks with President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. The President had halted the issuing of identity cards for MPs. This came after a committee evading proposed members of parliament had rejected some selected by his clan who were accused of war crimes. The diplomatic intervention worked and the cards were issued. On Monday, the parliament is due to hold its first sitting.

BBC news.