BBC在线收听下载:埃及调解以巴冲突的会谈进行中

BBC news 2014-08-18

BBC News with Maria Marshall.

Kurdish sources have told BBC that the Peshmerga fighters have broadly taken control of a strategic dam in the north of Iraq from Islamic militants. Their ground offensives have been coordinated with the US forces who'd provided air cover. Jim Muir is in the Kurdish regional capital Erbil (also written Arbil).

Basically, it seems they've taken most of the area around the dam. Some reports are saying they've taken part of the dam. It's really quite confusing. What I think we can say is they haven't taken there completely, indisputably and finally. One commander says they still got a lot of clearing-up to do, that the ISIS or Islamic State radical fighters left a lot of explosives, and in fact all the way, during the fighting which began very early in the morning. Just at dawn, the Peshmerga on the ground had encountered a lot of roadside bombs even suicide bombs according to some accounts.

Syrian activists say government warplanes have launched nearly 25 airstrikes against bases of the militant group Islamic State in the north of the country. The Syrian observatory for human rights says at least 31 Islamic State fighters were killed. Analysts say these are the first targeted strikes by government forces against the Islamic State formerly known as ISIS.

An Ebola quarantine center has been attacked and looted in the Liberian capital Monrovia. There are conflicting reports about what happened to those in the center. Our African correspondence Will Ross reports.

A group of men broke into the quarantine centre in the densely populated West Point area of the capital Monrovia. They looted the mattresses and other items. About 30 suspected Ebola patients left the facility, but the Liberian government says they've all been found and taken to a treatment centre. This incident shows the extraordinary challenges health workers face as they try to stop the spread of the deadly virus. People living in West Point were angry that the facility was set up in their neighbourhood. It's possible that the raid was aimed at closing it down.

The foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France are holding talks in Berlin, hoping to make progress towards resolving the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. Ahead of the meeting German's foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier described the situation in Ukraine as difficult and tried to curtail expectations.

There are no guarantees that these talks will succeed. But I think it would be responsible not to use this willingness for talks, especially in light of the situation today and in the last couple of days.

Police in Britain say the migrants found concealed in a shipping container on Saturday are believed to be Sikhs from Afghanistan. Thirty-five people including women and children were discovered at Tilbury Docks when a freight from Belgium was being unloaded. One man was found dead, others were treated for severe dehydration and hypothermia.

You are listening to the latest World News from the BBC:

Egyptian-led efforts to mediate indirect talks between the Palestinians and Israelis over the Gaza conflict are continuing in Cairo, as so far being no sign of a breakthrough, with the five-day truce currently enforced in Gaza set to expire in a length over 24 hours. Before the talks resumed, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there will be no agreement on a long-term ceasefire, unless Israel security needs were clearly met.

More than a hundred thousand people in Brazil have attended a public Mass in the northeastern city of Recife for the late presidential candidate Eduardo Campos. Mr. Campos died in a plane crash on Wednesday. Here's Julia Carneiro.

The queues traced for up to three kilometers outside the Governor's Palace in Recife. Over 100,000 people are lining the streets to bid farewell to Eduardo Campos during the public service held in his honour. Mr. Campos had governed the state for seven years and stepped down just four months ago to run for president. Brazil's most prominent politicians went to Recife for the funeral services including his would-be opponents President Dilma Rousseff and her ex son amis and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The US Attorney General Eric Holder has authorized a further postmortem examination on Michael Brown, the black Missouri teenager who was shot by a police officer a week ago sparking violent protests. An initial autopsy, the day after the shooting, concluded that he died of gunshot wounds.

A German man who holds the world record for having the most body piercings has been refused to entry to Dubai after travelling there to make an appearance at a hotel nightclub. Rolf Buchholz has 453 piercings on his body and face. Mr. Buchholz is reported to say he has never been given an official reason for being barred. But airport workers had told him that he had been turned away because authorities feared he may practice black magic.

BBC News.