BBC在线收听下载:泰国国防部长称爆炸袭击意在破坏泰国经济

BBC news 2015-08-19

Hello, I'm Julie Candler with the BBC news.

The defense minister in Thailand Prawit Wongsuwan says the perpetrators of a bomb attack at a busy road junction in central Bangkok deliberately targetted foreigners to harm tourism and the Thai economy. At least 19 people were killed in the explosion which happened at a Hindus shrine popular with tourists. Dozens of people were wounded. No group has said it carried out the attack. Major General,W C P government spokesman urged the public to remain vigilant.

"The public are advised to remain calm and monitor the situation regularly as security agencies conduct their operations. As for possible motivation to those who may have caused the incident, it is too early to speculate which group may have been responsible for this crime. But authorities are sorting possibilites."

The deadline for a peace deal in South Sudan has expired with no indication that President Salva Kiir has signed an agreement. The rebel leader, Mr Kiir's former deputy Riek Machar did sign the accord at talks in Ethiopia. Both sides have been threatened with sanctions if they fail to agree. James Copnall reports.

"President Kiir and his team is in a circle having been expressing reservation for quite some time since this proposed document was made public. They don't like the amount of power that would apparently be given to the rebel leader Riek Machar and his rebel movement and that it could include control of three states in the northeast of the country, oil producing states. They don't like the idea that the capital Juba as a demilitarized zone or the length of time it would take to integrate the rebel in the government's armies. They have lots of reservations.

The United Nation has condemned an attack by Syrian government forces on a rebel-held town near Damascus in which about a hundred people are now thought to have died. The UN Syrin envoy Staffan de Mistura said he was appalled by the airstrikes on a crowed market in Duma on Sunday.

It is looking increasingly likely that another general election will be held in Turkey two months after an inconclusive poll. Speaking after talks with the leader of the activists MHP which came third in June, Turkey's prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he exhausted all options to form a coalition government.

"I believe I shared every possible option with the opposition parties. Today we discussed four options but there has no ground to take new steps. I deeply respect the decisions of the oppositon leaders but after discussing the development with the executive committee of the AK Party, I will meet president and I will return the mandate if necessary after the meeting with him."

The UN peace-keeping force in Mali has declared a 20-kilometer security zone around the northern town of Kidal after clashes between Tuareg separatists and pro-government malitia left several people dead.

World news from the BBC.

Officials in Ecuador say nearly a third of a million people could be afftected by an eruption of Cotopaxi, a volcano rising above the capital Quito. They say the biggest risk comes from the volcano's snow cap melting and trigering massive floods and mudflows. Considered one of the most dangerous volcanos in the world, Cotopaxi sent an ash bloom high to the sky on Friday.

An international human rights organization says the Mexican authorities have denied them access to military personnel who may have witnessed disappearance of 43 trainee teachers in the city of Iguala last September. The Inter-American Commision on Human Rights said the military could only be questioned via an written questionnaire which the team opted against submitting. Nicolas Rocha reports.

"The team from IACHR has been investigating the case of the missing students at the request of the victims' families with the agreements of the government. The trainee teachers were arrested by police, and the government says they were then handed over to a drug lord who had them killed and their bodies incinerated. The team wanted to question soldiers from the battalion in Iguala that responded to the initial clashes between the students and the police. The Mexican government has not replied to the allegations."

The family of the composer Sergei Rachmaninoff has rejected the requests from Russia that he be reburied in his homeland. One of Rachmaninoff's grand-daughters told the BBC that the composer had wanted to be burried in New York State next to his wife and daughter and the family will not go against his will.

Scientists in the United States say they've identified the world's oldest flowering plant. The species known as Montsechia was thought to have grown in Spanish fresh-water lakes more than 125 million years ago. The plant lived under water had no petals and resembled a pondweed but it did bear fruit containing a single seed that defining characteristic of a flowering plant.

BBC news.