BBC在线收听下载:爱尔兰宣布将就同性婚姻合法化举行公投

BBC news 2013-11-06

BBC News with Julie Candler

A day of an intense diplomacy has failed to set a date for a long-awaited peace conference on Syria after the talks in Geneva involving officials from the US, Russia and other members of the UN Security Council. The international envoy on Syria Lakhdar Brahimi said he'd been hoping to be in a position to announce a date today, but unfortunately was unable to do so. Lyse Doucet reports from Damascus.

One of the major sticking points in any peace talks is President Assad. Some opposition leaders say he must step down at some point in the political transition. Others insist he must go before talks can even start. But the president's advisor Doctor Bouthaina Shaaban was clear this issue was not on the table. In a rare interview, she emphasized the president's role would be decided by the Syrian people at the ballot box, in elections or in a referendum. Doctor Shaaban was also scathing about the opposition describing rebel groups as creations of powerful backers like Saudi Arabia.

The American Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Israel following earlier stopover in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. He is due to have separate meetings on Wednesday with Israeli and Palestinian leadership to try to revive the peace talks which were launched three months ago. They are due to end next April and so far there has been little sign of progress. On Monday, Israeli media reported that Mr. Kerry may propose a new interim peace deal but he has denied that such plan exists.

The authorities in Brazil have cancelled a major global football convention Soccerex due to take place in the city of Rio de Janeiro later this month. The state government says the decision was taken to avoid the use of public funds. But the chief executive of Soccerex which brings together thousands of football executives and managers from around the world blamed continuing unrest. The organizers of next year's Football World Cup due to be held in the city say the protests will not mar the tournament.

The Brazilian Justice Minister has defended his country spying activities and said they were completely different from those carried out by the United States. Jose Eduardo Cardoso said that Brazilian agents who were reported to have followed and photographed American, Russian and other diplomats in Brazil acted in compliance with the law.

“I don't say what was done as violation of privacy or rights and it was done on national territory. So, if you ask me how does this affect Brazil's image, I would say that there has been no damage. All countries have to do counter-espionage, what I can't do is violate the rights of other people, what I can't do is violate the sovereignty of others.”

The allegations about the 10-year-old activities by Brazilian agents were leaked in the national press. Recent reports of US email and phone spy on Brazil have prompted the country's president to postpone a visit to Washington.

World News from the BBC

The Vatican has taken an unusual step of launching global survey to find out what Roman Catholics really think about church teachings on marriage and family life. Pope Francis is calling bishops to Rome in a year’s time to discuss possible reform. David Willey in Rome has more details of the survey.

It will cover such formally taboo subjects as how to include the adopted children of gay couples in the church. A question there join-up in Rome seeks to find out, for example, what the Catholics of the 21st century feel about the controversial ban on artificial contraception. The Pope also under pressure particularly from Catholics in Germany to reconsider the church's refusal to allow divorced and remarried Catholics to receive communion. The new Vatican buzzword is collegiality and this is something of a revolution.

The Irish government has announced it will hold a referendum on whether to allow same sex marriages. Civil partnerships have been legal in Ireland since 2010, but activists have been campaigning to amend the constitution and give gay people equal access to civil marriage.

The mayor of Canada's biggest city Toronto Rob Ford has admitted that he once smoke the drug crack cocaine. The mayor surprised admission comes after months of speculation began when reports service to a video that appeared to show the Mayor smoking the drug. From Toronto Lee Carter reports.

Speaking to reporters, Toronto's mayor Rob Ford finally admitted that he had smoked crack cocaine. But he said he was not an addict and insisted that he only tried it once a year ago, in his words probably in a drunken stupor. The admission just comes just days after Mr. Ford's lawyer suggested that the substances that the mayor as apparently seems smoking in the video may not have been crack cocaine. One fellow city councilor says he is preparing a motion to suspend the mayor.

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