BBC在线收听下载:南苏丹政府与反政府武装举行首次直接会谈

BBC news 2014-01-07

BBC News with Sue Montgomery.

The United States says it will accelerate sales of military equipment to Iraq to help the country fight militants linked to al-Qaeda. The move came as fighting continued in the city of Fallujah which was taken over last week by the militants. But the White House spokesman Jay Carney stressed that the Iraqi government would take the lead role in providing its own security.

We are accelerating our foreign military sales, deliveries, and we are looking to provide an additional shipment of Hellfire missiles as early as this spring. These missiles are one small element of that holistic strategy. So this is, I think, representative of the comprehensive package of assistance that we are providing to Iraq in this effort, which obviously they are leading and the government is responsible for carrying out. 

The Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has urged residents of the city to drive out the militants. The Islamists who've taken over Fallujah say they will target tribal fighters who've joined forces with the army in the nearby city of Ramadi. In a statement obtained by the BBC, the self-styled Military and Political Council of Revolutionaries in Fallujah called on all Sunni tribes in the western province of Anbar to rally behind them in their fight against the Shia-led government. The insurgents also urged thousands of families who fled Fallujah fearing a major army assault to return to their homes.

The government of South Sudan is holding its first direct talks with rebels who've broken away from the national army causing three weeks of deadly violence. The talks began in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. As Emmanuel Igunza reports.

After several false starts, the two negotiating teams have today finally sat down together and discuss how the talks will proceed. But the real work starts on Tuesday when they talk on more contentious issues that have threatened the talks-how to implement a ceasefire and the release of political detainees. Both teams have publicly announced support for a ceasefire and access humanitarian assistance for the thousands displaced by the fighting. But they have been at odds over the release of senior opposition figures who were arrested when fighting broke out in mid December.

The Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has insisted her country will deliver a successful football World Cup later this year. Her comments on Twitter follow criticism from the head of football's world governing body Fifa Sepp Blatter who said Brazil was further behind in preparations than any previous World Cup's host. Wyre Davies reports.

Mr. Blatter's comments have angered many Brazilians, including the President Dilma Rousseff. She took to social media sites, insisting that Brazil will deliver the Cup of Cups and the tournament that will make the country proud. For many Brazilians, the World's Cup is already a lost opportunity. Millions of dollars of public money have been spent to build the new stadiums and many of the promised infrastructure projects that were meant to accompany the tournament will also be late or won't be delivered at all.

BBC News.

The United Nations and its chemical weapon's watchdog have ordered all non-operational staff, including journalists, to leave the international mission collecting key parts of Syria's chemical arsenal. Journalists, including a BBC correspondent, were given one hour to pack their bags before being transported by a Norwegian navy speed boat to the port of Limassol in Cyprus. The watchdog said a media blackout would be enforced for a few weeks due to the sensitivity of the operation.

A court in France has awarded 45,000 euros in damages to a Guinea born man who was wrongly jailed for 5 months because he had the same name as a convicted child rapist. Mohamed Camara was arrested in 2001 under an international arrest warrant issued against his namesake who'd been sentenced to 20 years in prison in his absence.

And an American woman who called herself Jihad Jane has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for a failed plot to kill a Swedish artist. Colleen LaRose, a convert  Islam, admitted planning to murder the artist because he had depicted the Prophet Muhammad's head on a dog. Nada Tawfik reports.

Colleen LaRose told the judge she had been in a trance thinking about Jihad from morning to night but that she did not want to be that way anymore. She admitted to associating with suspected al-Qaeda operatives online and recruiting others to wage violent attacks in the name of Jihad. Colleen LaRose faced life imprisonment for that and her plot to kill the Swedish artist Lars Vilks. But the judge accepted a government request to reduce her sentence because she gave information that was instrumental in multiple criminal investigations including two significant terrorism cases.

And an American team of archaeologists in Egypt has identified the tomb of Pharaoh Sobekhotep I who's believed to have founded the 13th dynasty 3,800 years ago. The team discovered the sarcophagus a year ago but has only now managed to identify it.

BBC News.