BBC在线收听下载:北京将在所有公共场所实施禁烟

BBC news 2015-06-03

BBC News with Joe Macintosh

Disarray among Republican senators in the United States will almost certainly force the national security agency to stop collecting the telephone data of American citizens from middle night local time. Senators have been holding a rare Sunday debate on whether to extend the measures. The Director of the CIA John Brennan appeared on CBS television and explained why he thinks the surveillance should continue.

These tools give us better ability to see the tactical moves that various terrorist groups and individuals are making and what we need to do is to have strategic intelligence perspective but the same time we need to have those technical tools and capabilities here in the homeland to stop attack.

But speaking in debate the Republican senator Rand Paul said it was an illegal program.

We are not collecting the information of spies, we are not collecting the information of terrorists, we are collecting all American citizens' records all of the time. This is what we fought the revolution over. Are we going to so blindly give up our freedom?

The opposition in Burundi has called for more street protests after a summit of East African leaders failed to address their concerns. One opposition activist said they were disappointed that the summit fell short of calling for president Pierre Nkurunziza to abandon his decision to seek reelection. Instead, the leaders who were meeting in Tanzania called for elections in Burundi to be postponed for at least 6 weeks, Richard Hamilton reports.

"The calls coming from Dar es Salaam will add to the pressure on Pierre Nkurunziza. But there is no indication that he is listening. He's already rejected previous calls by the United States and European Union for the polls to be delayed. He did not even turn up at this summit aimed to bring the crisis in Burundi to an end. His absence was hardly surprising when he last left the country to attend a silimar summit earlier this month, army officers staged an unsuccessful coup against him."

The former commander of US forces in Iraq, the retired General David Petraeus has talked of the need for changes to American strategy as it confronts Islamic State militants in Iraq. He said Washington had to augment its activities on both military and political fronts as it works with the Iraqi government. General Petreaus was speaking to Johnnason Marcus.

"General David Petreaus described the so-called Islamic States as 'a formidable enemy'. It's really a conventional army, he told me, with insurgent and terrorist elements as well. He said that the recent loss of the provincial capital of Ramadi was a strategic setback. The narrative IS being on the defensive was shown to be somewhat hollow. But he said he had no doubt that the Iraq military could defeat Islamic State. There was now a recognition in Washington, he said, the change was needed. This could involve more US advisors on the ground, closer to the fighting."

World news from the BBC.

The Islamic State has gained more ground in northern Syria. They've driven a rebel grouping, the Eleventh Front, out of the town of x and two neighbouring villages. The advances take Islamic State closer to the nearby Turkish border.

China has introduced a ban on smoking in all indoor public places in the capital, Beijing. Micheal Bristow has more details.

China has about three hundred million smokers, but those in Beijing will now have to be careful where they light up. Smoking in the Chinese capital has been just banned in restaurants, offices and on buses, in fact, in all indoor public places. There will be fines for those who don't comply and thousands of inspectors to check venues and workplaces. Previous smoking bans in Beijing have not worked because of too many loopholes and poor enforcement. And a survey found most people think this one will be just as ineffective.

An exit pool issued after the close of voting in the municipal and regional elections in Italy suggests that the center-left party of the Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is in a closed fort battle to win in two key regions, Campania and Bologna. Mr Renzi, who took office 15 months ago, needs a convincing result to maintain momentum for his government's labor and educational reforms.

On Sunday authorites in Turkey closed Taksim Square and the adjacent Gazi Park in Istanbul to prevent gatherings marking the second anniversary of the start of nationwide anti-government protests. Riot police with water cannon were deployed on roads leading to the area, a few protesters were dispersed by police.

The United State Secreatery of State John Kerry has broken his leg in a cycling accident in the Alps. He has cancelled the rest of his European tour and is returning to the United States on Monday. He was in Switzland for talks on Iran's neuclear programme.

And that's the BBC news.