BBC在线收听下载:美国拟于明年年底从阿富汗撤军

BBC news 2013-10-13

BBC News with David Austin

A powerful cyclone has hit the east coast of India forcing half a million people to flee their homes. Cyclone Phailin is buffeting Orissa state with winds of up to 200km/h. So far at least five people have died. Our correspondent Sanjoy Majumder is in the region, he described the intensity of the storm.

We stepped out for a brief moment and we could barely stand up in our feet we have to come back right in. And it’s been accompanied with very, very heavy rain. In the distance we frequently hear sounds of bangs of things coming down, of windows being smashed and already we are getting reports of power lines which are coming down of trees that have been brought down, of houses with their roofs blown off.

The Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta has lambasted the International Criminal Court where he faces trial for crimes against humanity as racist, biased and means for Western governments to interfere in Africa. Addressing African leaders in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa Mr. Kenyatta said the ICC had become the toy of declining imperial powers. The African Union has passed a resolution that no sitting African head of state should appear before any international court. Gabriel Gatehouse reports.

The Kenyan president has repeatedly sought to deferral to his trial at the International Criminal Court which is due to start in exactly one month time. Those request have been repeatedly rebuffed. Now the African Union says Uhuru Kenyatta should not attend the trial unless the court agrees to postpone proceedings. The Pan African body accuses the international court of bias: all its current cases relate to alleged crimes committed in Africa. President Kenyatta has always maintained he’d cooperate fully with the ICC. Diplomats in Kenya say failure to do so would have consequences.

The US and Afghanistan say they’ve agreed the terms of a security deal to take effect after the main foreign combat forces leave the country at the end of next year. It follows talks in Kabul between the US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Mr. Kerry said differences still remained on immunity from prosecution of foreign and US soldiers…