BBC news 2015-03-20 加文本

BBC news 2015-03-20

BBC News with Julie Candler.

A spokesman for the White House Josh Earnest has said the Israeli Prime Minister had backed away from previous commitments on a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and led the U.S. was reevaluating its position. Benjamin Netanyahu's recent comments said he would never agree to a Palestinian state were widely seen as helping him win Tuesday's election. He since told an American television station that he remains committed to the idea. Aly Magbull has the details.“In his interview for the American channel, MSNBC, Benjamin Netanyahu sounded unequivocal: I want a sustainable, peaceful two-state solution, he said. I haven't changed my policy. But at the beginning of the week just before the Israeli election in which he ultimately defied expectations to do some willing, Mr. Netanyahu said he wouldn't allow the creation of a Palestinian state under his watch. He now says that was just a reflection of current circumstances. The White House doesn't appear to be buying that line. The spokesman said the Israeli Prime Minister had walked back on his commitment to a two-state solution. And as such, the U.S. was reevaluating the way forward.”

The White House says it's unable to confirm report that Islamic State was responsible for Wednesday's attack on a museum in Tunisia. But a spokesman said the attack on foreign tourists was consistent with violence the militant group has previously practised. It's known that many Tunisians have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight for IS. Some have now returned. And a BBC correspondent says it's questionable whether Tunisia's domestic intelligence service has the capacity to monitor them effectively. 9 people have been arrested by the Tunisian security forces.

A Dutch television channel says it has new evidence that the Malaysian airliner shot down over eastern Ukraine last July was targeted by a surface-to-air Buk missile. Our correspondent Dylon Newman reports.“The Dutch broadcaster, RTL, says a metal fragment found by a Dutch journalist in the plane's wreckage has been identified after a thorough, independent forensic analysis as part of a Buk missile. If this is confirmed, it would support the theory that the plane was shot down from rebel-held territory with Russian military help, because to operate the sophisticated system requires professional training. Russia has insisted MH17 was shot down by a Ukrainian warplane.”

The Yemeni President, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, has denounced an attack on his compound in the southern city of Aden as an attempted coup backed by the previous regime. Mr. Hadi had to be evacuated to safety after an air raid on the presidential palace in Aden. He flied there from the capital, Sanaa, which has been seized by Houthi rebels. His predecessor, Ali Abdullah Saleh, was forced to step down three years ago after a mass protest and he is currently allied with the Houthis. BBC News.

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has said she doesn't expect to break through on the Greek debt crisis in talks with the Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras. The talks are to take place shortly on the sidelines of an E.U. summit in Brussels. The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, who organised the meeting, said it was crucial to keep Greece in the Eurozone.“Nobody wants so-called Grexit. Everybody wants to avoid this risk of so-called Grexident. I feel that it is my obligation to help Prime Minister Tsipras to organise a meeting, because in his opinion, he need informal dialogue with main creditors and representatives of European institutions.”

The Governor of California, Jerry Brown, has announced a one-billion-dollar spending plan to deal with the America state's four-year draught. The emergency relief package is yet to be approved by the state's Congress. It will address dire water shortages, provide food aid and unemployment in draught-hit communities. From Los Angeles, Peter Bowes.“With the California winter drawing to an end without a significant amount of rain, the impact of the draught is worsening. Governor Jerry Brown says the emergency relief initiative would accelerate a spending plan which had been due to be negotiated during the summer. But officials say California cannot wait. The money is needed now to help communities facing dire water shortages and for food aid to the hardest-hit counties where thousands of farm workers have lost their jobs.”

Climate scientists say that this winer, there has been the lowest coverage of Arctic sea ice since records began in 1979. Most scientists have linked the shrinkage to global warming and say the Arctic summertime sea ice could vanish in the second half of the century. BBC News.