BBC在线收听下载:奥巴马为监听民众事件辩解

BBC news 2013-06-08

BBC News with Iain Purdon

President Barack Obama has sought to reassure the American people following revelations that US intelligence agencies have conducted large-scale surveillance of telephone and internet activity. Mr Obama said nobody was listening to the routine phone calls of Americans while the internet checks did not apply to US citizens. The president said the measures were needed to give Americans safe while protecting their privacy.

"I think it’s important to recognise that you can’t have 100 per cent security and also then have 100 per cent privacy and zero inconvenience. We are going to have to make some choices as a society.”

He said the surveillance programmes were in place to anticipate and prevent terrorist activity and had been approved by Congress.

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Police in California say several people have been wounded by a gunman at Santa Monica College, west of Los Angeles. Reports said a man armed with several guns had fired into traffic and at a bus. Police said the wounded included the gunman who was taken into custody. A student at the college, Omar Wright, described what he saw.

"I was approaching the library and I heard two shots. I didn’t think anything of them. I didn’t think they were gunshots. I saw people running. I was still curious, so I didn’t turn around and leave immediately. I got behind the bookstore and I heard somebody discharging like a hook weapon of ammunition. I got very scared.” 

The incident took place about 5km from where President Obama was appearing at a fundraiser. Officials said the shooting was not having any impact on his visit.

A senior European Union official has condemned the excessive use of police force against anti-government protesters in Turkey. The European Union Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule said those behind the violent response must be held to account. The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose government wants to join the EU, said he was open to democratic demands, but he called for an end to the demonstrations.

World News from the BBC

The third and last debate between Iranian presidential candidates has seen one of the front runners Saeed Jalili criticised for the way that talks on the country’s nuclear programme have been conducted. One of the other candidates, Ali Akbar Velayati, said that talks under the current negotiating team led by Mr Jalili were deeply flawed. He said they’d failed to achieve the aims of securing Iran’s nuclear rights and ending international sanctions.

Officials in north-west Pakistan say at least seven suspected militants have been killed in an attack by American unmanned aircraft, the first such airstrike since Nawaz Sharif was sworn in as prime minister. Orla Guerin reports.

The drone strike took place in a remote valley in the tribal region of North Waziristan near the Afghan border. The timing will be uncomfortable for Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Nawas Sharif. It’s just two days since he said drone strikes must end and his country’s sovereignty must be respected. Local reports say a number of missiles hit a compound. It’s unclear who the target was, but several militant groups have camps in the area, including the Pakistan Taliban. Its deputy leader was killed in a drone strike last week.

Prison officials in the United States say a serial killer, known as the Night Stalker, who carried out gruesome murders in southern California in the 1980s, has died in prison. Richard Ramirez, a self-proclaimed devil worshipper, was convicted of 13 murders. Ramirez broke into homes late at night to carry them out.

Finally, Libya has hosted its first international football match since the game’s governing body Fifa lifted a ban imposed two years ago at the start of the revolution that toppled Col Gaddafi. But the national team suffered a setback with hopes of playing at the World Cup when it was held to a 0:0 draw in Tripoli by the Democratic Republic of Congo.

BBC News