BBC在线收听下载:北极海冰已缩减到来最低水平

BBC news 2012-08-28

BBC News with Neil Nunes

Riots in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa have left one person dead and caused widespread destruction. Muslim youths attacked shops and vandalized several churches. They were angry about the death of an Islamic cleric Aboud Rogo Mohammed. Kevin Mwachiro has this report.
Mr Rogo was shot Monday morning by unknown assailants as he was driving his family. It is reported that he died as he's being taken to hospital. Aboud Rogo was on a United Nations sanction list for allegedly financing and assisting the Somali militant group al-Shabab. Kenyan police had earlier this year charged (him) for possession of guns and ammunition as well as for being a member of the Somali militant group which is outlawed here in Kenya.

Scientists say Arctic sea ice has shrunk to its lowest level since satellite records began more than 30 years ago. The director of the US National Snow and Ice Data Center said the Arctic Sea used to be covered by ice that remained for several years, but now it is becoming a seasonal ice cover.

The head of the United Nations food agency has called for coordinated action by the world's richest countries to ease worries about rising food prices. He said the honors was on the G20 because they produce about 90% of the crops worst affected by price rises. The conference was also urged to help reduce food wastage. Here's Mark Doyle.
Delegates to the conference in Sweden were told that about a quarter of the food were produced worldwide never reaches our plates. This increases the prices we pay in the shops and puts unnecessary pressure on land and water supplies. The way food is wasted varies. In richer countries, consumers expect their food to look so perfect that slightly blemished though perfectly nutritious food and vegetables never reach the supermarkets; in poorer developing countries, most of the waste is on farms.

The French President Francois Hollande has said that the stalemate at the United Nations over the conflict in Syria illustrates the need for a reform of the Security Council. Mr Hollande said the veto by Russia and China had weakened the UN.
"The question that is asked today is current members of the Security Council take the responsibilities to allow it to make decisions. Because blocking the system leads to either it being bypassed or its impotence. That is why I said to Russia and China that their attitude towards the Syrian crisis is weakening our capacity to fulfill the mandate of the United Nations charter."
Mr Hollande also urged the Syrian opposition to form a government of national unity, which he said France would recognize.

Meanwhile, the Turkish foreign minister has called for more international help with an influx of refugees from Syria. He said their numbers had doubled over the past two months to more than eighty thousand.

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The United Nations says basic public services in Gaza must be improved urgently if, as it puts it, the Palestinian enclave is to remain 'livable'. The UN points to a lack of clean water as the greatest challenge in Gaza, and it warns that health, power and education infrastructure are falling behind the needs of a rapidly growing population.

At least 40 Egyptians believed to be illegal immigrants heading for Europe are feared drown after their boat sank off the coast of neighboring Libya. From Cairo, John Leyne.
One of those on the boat survived to raise the alert. Egypt launched a major search and rescue operation. An official said that five more survivors had been pulled from the water as well as three bodies. The fishing boat was close to the maritime border between Egypt and Libya. Those on board are thought to have been headed for Europe.  That's also possible they could have been looking for work in Libya itself. Since the fall of Colonel Gaddafi, Libya has demanded visas for the many Egyptians looking for work in the country.

Media in Latin America are reporting that the Colombian government and Colombia's largest rebel group, the Farc, have signed an agreement to begin peace talks. The regional media network, Telesur, said the two sides have signed a formal agreement in Cuba to begin talks in October.

The Venezuelan vice-president says a fire at the country's biggest oil refinery has spread. He said a third tank was now ablaze following Saturday's explosion which is now known to have killed 48 people. The opposition candidate in the forthcoming presidential election blamed the explosion on the inefficiency of the government of President Hugo Chavez.

Dozens of coal miners on the Italian island of Sardinia have barricaded themselves inside a pit with hundreds of kilograms of explosives. The miners are worried that their Carbosulcis mine could be closed. About 100 miners are involved in the protest.

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