BBC在线收听下载:中国港口城市天津发生大爆炸

BBC news 2015-08-14

Marshall with the BBC news.

Huge explosions have rocked Chinese port city of Tianjin. State media say 13 people have been killed and hundreds of others injured. The state broadcaster said residents had been moved 10km from the explosion zone as buildings were collapsing. Our China correspondent John Sudworth reports. “The scale of the disaster is illustrated by one particular piece of mobile phone video taken from a high-rise apartment block. It shows a bright burning glow on the horizon at a distance of around 2km, possibly more, and clearly something large is on fire, then suddenly another bright flashes a huge fireball, lights up the sky. The man filming can be heard talking excitedly and then a full 8 seconds later, the force of the blast rattles the building violently, one can only imagine the effect on the buildings, clearly visible in silhouette, much closer to the blast.”

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has sacked the head of the UN peace keeping mission in the Central African Republic. Mr. Ban said the Senegalese diplomat Babacar Gaye would step down as head of mission. Human rights group Amnesty International has accused UN peace keepers of raping a 12-year old girl, and of killing a boy and his father. Mr. Ban expressed outrage over the reports. “I cannot put into words how anguished and angered and ashamed I am by recurrent reports over the years of sexual exploitation, and abuse by UN forces. When the United Nations deploys the peacekeepers, we do so to protect the world's most vulnerable people.”

The Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic says he fears the worst for a Croatian hostage kidnapped in Egypt following reports that he has been killed by militants affiliated to the Islamic State group. Mr. Milanovic said he could not be 100% certain that Tomislav Salopec was dead, but described the situation as horrifying.

United States’ most senior soldier has suggested that the country should considered deploying troops with their Iraq counterparts if progress is not made within a month in the fight against Islamic state. The army's chief of staff General Ray O’Diano says such forces would have a support rather than a combat role.

The President of Chad said Jihadist group Boko Haram has appointed a new leader. President Idriss Deby named him as Mahamat Daoud, but did not say what might’ve happened to the man who has lead Boko Haram in recent years Abubakar Shekau. From Legas, Will rose. “In numerous propaganda videos, Abubakar Shekau taunted the Nigerian authorities, but he has not been seen for several months. President Deby did not say whether Abubakar Shekau had been killed. Last year, the Chadian leader was said to be brokering peace talks with Boko Haram, but the negotiations never happened, then were widely seen as a sham. So some analyst will question how much credence to give to Idriss Deby's latest comments.” World news from the BBC.

Police and soldiers in Myanmar have raided the headquarters of the military backed ruling party in the capital Naypyidaw. Correspondents say that factions within the ruling union solidarity and development party have been engaged in a power struggle in recent months. There’ve been disagreements between the country's president Thein Sein and party's chairman over who should serve the next presidential term.

The former American president Jimmy Carter has announced that he has cancer. He said he would be rearranging his schedule to undergo a treatment. From Washington, here is Gary O’Donoghue. “Jimmy Carter underwent a liver surgery last week. And it's now become clear that the cancer has spread to other parts of his body. In a statement, he said further details would be made public after he undergoes further tests by his doctors in a hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. President Carter is 90 years old, and he is the second oldest living president after George Bush Senior.”

A boring factions in Libya have ended two days of talks brokered by the United Nations in Geneva. According to the UN, the parties have committed themselves to reaching a peace agreement within weeks. The UN envoy Bernardino Leon has urged them to strike a deal by the end of the month.

One of Venezuela’s main opposition leaders Daniel Ceballos has been released from jail and placed under house arrest. He was arrested in March last year for inciting violence during protests against food shortages, high inflation and rampant crime. Mr. Ceballos is the second leading opposition politician to be released this year.

The coach of Costa Rica's national football team has resigned a day after he was involved in a fight during a match in Panama. Paulo Wanchope, a former star of the national team, said he got angry when a steward denied him access to the pitch. The two men, as seen on the video, exchanged punches before police intervened. Wanchope said he was pushed first, but apologized for overreacting. BBC news.