BBC在线收听下载:奥巴马谴责共和党候选人的言论

BBC news 2015-07-29

Hello, I am Jerry Smit with the BBC news.

The United States has confirmed that it is holding talks with Turkey about stepping up their joint military campaign against Islamic state group in northern Syria. A state department spokesman Mark Toner gave more details. “Efforts to defeat, destroy, degrade ISIL in northern Syria create an area there, that is ISIL free if I poke, put it that way, but also really bring the fight against ISIL forces that is still active in northern Syria. And to support the efforts of the anti-ISIL fighters who are very active in northern Syria, and frankly making gains against ISIL in northern Syria.”

Earlier the US rejected the suggestion that the US had sanctioned Turkey's airstrikes on Kurdish forces in northern Iraq. The Kurdish separatist PKK has said that Turkey's assault on the IS is just a cover for its renewed fight against them. They believe the attacks are response to Kurdish political success in Turkey's recent general election. The deputy leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party Ertugrul Kurkcu says the country needs to find a way to live with the Kurds. “Problems with Kurds cannot be resolved as they are resolved with the IS. You just slammed the door to IS, but you cannot slam the door to its 25,000,000 Kurdish society and its problems and its demand for a self-government.”

Forensic experts in Colombia have begun a search for hundreds of bodies at a land filled site believed to be one of the largest urban mass graves in the world. Relatives of possible victims held a ceremony at the site on the outskirts of the city of Medellin before excavation work started. Natalia Kaushoi reports from Bogota. “The operation is expected to last 5 months around the hundred thousand cubic meters of rubble will be removed to try to find the bodies of people killed in a joint operation between the army and paramilitary groups that took place in 2002. It is estimated that around 90 bodies were found in the land filed site at the time, but victims organizations suggest that could be up to 300.”

The Nigerian government says it has received an offer of peace talks from the group which claims to be a faction of the militant Islamic group Boko Haram. A spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari said efforts are now underway to verify whether the group is genuine and has a mandate to negotiate. Mr. Buhari has previously indicated that he is not opposed in principle to talking to Boko Haram.

A Somalian MP has been telling the BBC about how he survived the bombing of a hotel in the capital Mogadishu on Sunday two years after he escaped from the Westgate shopping center attack in Kenya. Ali Halif Galaid who is a former Prime Minister said he was about to leave his hotel bedroom when in his words all hell broke loose. BBC news.

President Obama has strongly criticized attacks on him by Republican presidential candidates over the recent nuclear agreement with Iran. Speaking in Ethiopia, Mr. Obama condemned a remark by one Republican Mike Huckabee who said the deal with Tehran was marching Israelis to the door of oven, a reference to Nazi death camps. Mr. Obama said such language would be considered ridiculous if it was not so sad.

The US geological survey says a powerful earthquake has struck the Indonesian province of Papua. It said the quake took place inland about 250km from the provincial capital at a depth of about 52km. There is no word yet on damage or casualties, various scientific monitors said there was no threat of a tsunami.

An American billionaire philanthropist believes he has found a solution to the international refugee crisis by creating a new country for them all to live in. Jason Boozy says there are large sparsely populated areas of land around the world which could be set aside. He believes refugees would happily volunteer to live there. “If people are miserable lives, a lot of times they cannot work, they do not have citizenship by it, they cannot own land, so they have a new country of their own, I think most would prefer that. Now many of them do want to come to the west, but as you know, there is a lot of anti-immigrant backlash, so that's not a politically feasible solution. The beauty of it is when you create infrastructure for a new country just like when you build a new city, you are actually creating thousands of thousands of jobs in the process.”

The Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the head of FIFA Sepp Blatter deserves a Nobel Prize for his leadership of World Footballs governing body. Several FIFA officials are under investigation in United States accused of corruption. Mr. Putin, who shared a stage with Mr. Blatter at the draw for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, made his comments on Swiss TV. BBC news.