BBC在线收听下载:美国医改网站仍然问题不断

BBC news 2013-12-01

BBC News with Marian Marshall

The President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych has said he was deeply outraged by the use of force against protesters opposed to his decision not to sign a partnership deal with the European Union. Ukraine's Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said there had been investigations into the early morning clashes between police and demonstrators in the capital Kiev.

“Having familiarized myself with information, I deeply regret the fact that such events took place a thorough analysis is yet to be held by the prosecutor's office and by law enforcement bodies. All the evidence recordings need to be analyzed and assessed. Please, tell me why would the President and the government need this in this difficult situation?”

Both the European Union and the United States have criticized Ukraine and several thousand people continue to protest throughout Saturday.

Soldiers in Thailand have been called in to help thousands of police defend government buildings ahead of what the opposition calls a people's revolt on Sunday. The anti-government movement says it's preparing a mass occupation of official buildings in an attempt to bring down the administration of the Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Protests have been held in Israel against a draft law to resettle tens of thousands of Bedouin living in the Negev desert region. Thousands joined in what they called a day of rage in the Negev itself, Haifa and Jerusalem. Our Middle East correspondent Kevin Connolly reports.

Before the creation the state of Israel in 1940s, groups of Bedouin Arabs lived a semi-nomadic life in the forbidding expanses in the Negev desert. In modern times as many have settled in what's known as unrecognized villages. Israel has a plan to move the villages into formally planned towns with better basic services. But the Bedouin and their supporters see the move as a smoke screen for program to cut the historic links between the Arab communities and their land and to replace them with new Jewish settlements.

Works have been continuing in the United States to resolve problems with Federal website which is essential to President Obama's flagship health care reform law. The government had promised it would complete it overall by the end of the Saturday but the site is due to be taken off-line for several hours on Sunday morning for further maintenance. From Washington here's Katy Watson.

Technicians have been working around the clock in the past few weeks to try and solve the glitches on the website and allow millions of Americans to finally sign up for their new health insurance plans. After being severely burnt by the crisis, the administration has been careful not promised too much warning that the overhauled site won't work for everyone and could still be overwhelmed by traffic during busy times. The Affordable Health Care Act known to people here as Obamacare is the most important law that the president has introduced with the aim of giving affordable health care to millions of Americans.

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Heavy rain has been battering Cuba since Friday causing widespread flooding and killing at least two people. Many buildings are collapsed under the weight of the torrential downfalls in the capital Havana. From there Sarah Rainsford reports.

Every time there is heavy rain residents of the older parts of Havana worry, much of the housing there is poorly maintained and in a highly precarious state. And rain this time was relentless, lashing the city in much of the northern coast of Cuba for more than 24 hours. The downpour turned city streets into rivers, the seafront Malecon was closed as waves crashed over the wall. Families bailed water from their homes and outside traffic police at some junctions still up to their ways in the water.

The Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has promised to help Afghanistan in its attempts to seek peace with the Taliban. Mr. Sharif was visiting Afghanistan for the first time since he took office in May. From Kabul Karen Allen reports.

It would appear to have been a brief the cordial meeting between the two leaders, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif assured President Hamid Karzai that Pakistan would facilitate efforts to reopen peace talks with the Taliban. Key to this was a promise to ensure a meeting would take place between Afghan representatives and an influential Taliban commander, Mullah Baradar who was recently released from custody in Pakistan but whose whereabouts remains unknown.

Heads of state from the East African community have agreed to set up a single currency within the next ten years. The Presidents of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi meeting in Uganda agreed that before accepting it to the Union, each country would have to meet targets on inflation and debt.

The former Prime Minister of Spain, Joss Maria Aznar, has denied a media report that he’s been involved in commercial arms deals. Allegations in an online newspaper have linked him with lucrative arms sales to Libya and Venezuela.

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