BBC在线收听下载:挪威古老村落大火吞噬20多座特色建筑

BBC news 2014-01-20

BBC News with Fiona MacDnauld.

Ukrainian police have used tear gas, smoke bombs and water cannon against tens of thousands of anti-government protesters in Kiev. Demonstrators gathered earlier to hear an opposition leader’s denouncing a new anti-protest law. Daniel Sandford is in central Kiev. “What started is one of the regular Sunday protests in Kiev has descended into clashes and chaos. For weekly rallies against the government's decision to halt its progress towards the European Union took on a new trace this week when President Yanukovych signed into law a series of new measures. This made many of the figures of demonstrator’s actions illegal. This evening the frustration boiled over, hard-line protesters are throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at police, the officers are throwing stun grenades and choking gas back.”

A day before the planned elections of an interim president, the Central African Republic has been hit by more violence. The international committee of the Red Cross says at least 50 people have been killed in the northwest over the last two days. Thomas Fessy has more from Bangui. “The violence is daily here and today with no exception. The attacks are also ongoing elsewhere in the country. We've heard reports of violence in several remote towns. It's all we've received; very hard to know exactly what's happening in these places because the information doesn't reach the capital very easily. But everybody here is now waiting for the elections of new interim president, the hope is now it will ease the ongoing tension, but there are huge fears that it might actually trigger more violence.”

The leader of a powerful al-Qaeda-linked group in Syria appears to have called for reconciliation with rival rebel groups that have been fighting against for several weeks. An audio message purportedly from the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, known as ISIS urged Sunni Islamist rebels to focus, instead, on fighting President Assad's regime. Sebastian Usher reports. “The battle between Islamist extremists extensively fighting on the same side against President Assad has been fierce. More than 1,000 fighters and civilians have been killed in the past two weeks. On one level, it's a specific show down between rival Jihadists with ISIS and its leader seen by other militants as needing to be taken down after getting too greedy for territory and influence. There is also threat to derail the wider cause of the rebels and opposition against the Syrian government, which is urged this week's long-awaited talks to focus on fighting terrorism rather than arranging a transition from President Assad's rule.”

Jordon says it will allow the United States to train Iraqi soldiers on its soil so that they can fight al-Qaeda militants more effectively. The Iraqi government has been trying to regain control of two cities, west of Baghdad after they were taken over by al-Qaeda linked militants earlier this month.

World News from the BBC.

Afghanistan's national Security Council has accused foreign intelligence services of being behind in an attack in a restaurant in Kabul that killed 21 people on Friday. The council, which is chaired by President Hamid Karzai, said the attack has been too sophisticated to have been carried out by the Taliban as was widely believed. Correspondents say the term foreign intelligence is an apparent reference to the security services of neighbouring Pakistan.

Here in Britain, the right-wing UK Independence Party has suspended one of its local councillors, who blamed recent flooding on the government decision to legalize gay marriage. David Silvester, a devout Christian, said the floods were God's retribution for a Christian nation in abandon in its faith. UKIP initially said it back his right to expresses of views, but asked him not to repeat them, which he subsequently has in a BBC interview. Mr. Silvester left the governing conservative party last year because of his opposition to same sex marriage.

The Russian President Vladimir Putin has told the BBC that he isn't prejudiced against gay people in any way. In an interview ahead of next month winter Olympics in Sochi, Mr. Putin was asked about his own views after the Russian parliament passed laws that fine anyone passing information and homosexuality to children under the age of 18. “If you want my personal attitude, I would tell you that I don't care about a person's orientation, and I, myself know some people who are gay, we are on friendly terms, I'm not prejudiced in anyway and I've honoured several members of the gay community in this country, but for their personal achievements, regardless of their sexual orientation.”

A fire in south Norway has ripped through a village which is famous for its historic wooden buildings. The fire began overnight in a house in Laerdalsoyri village. More than 20 buildings were completely destroyed. BBC News