BBC在线收听下载:沙特国王下令彻查麦加踩踏事件

BBC news 2015-09-29

Hello,I’m Jerry Smit.

King Salman of Saudi Arabia has ordered a fullreview of the country's plans for the annual Hajj pilgrimage after 700 peopledied in a crush outside the Muslim holy city of Mecca. Here is Frank Gardner. “SaudiArabia is in shock. It's reeling from the worst tragedy to hit the annual Hajjpilgrimage in 25 years. All day the death toll has been rising with hundredskilled and injured when pilgrims stampeded through a tented city, trampling onone another in their panic. The Saudi authorities say some pilgrims disobeyed instructionsand took a wrong turning. But with up to 2 million pilgrims from dozens ofnationalities, the Hajj can be a disoriented experience.”

President Barack Obama's spokesman has said that when Mr.Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin meet in New York next Monday,the top item on the agenda should be Ukraine. Josh Earnest says it's the firsttime the two leaders would meet face to face in nearly a year. “When thepresident sits down with president Putin, the top item on his agenda will beUkraine and president Obama will once again use this occasion to reinforce presidentPutin the importance of Russia keeping the commitments they have made in thecontext of  the Minsk Agreements.” But Mr. Putin's spokesman DmitryPeskov says the Russian president wants the emphasis to be placed on Syria. Theconflict there will be the key theme in Mr. Putin's speech to the UN GeneralAssembly. Russia has recently stepped up its military presence in Syria. And Mr.Putin has urged the US to rethink its opposition to the Assad regime. He saidtheir common enemy was now the Islamic State group. And the possibility ofhaving the Syrian president involved in discussions to end the war in Syria islikely to be considered at a meeting of British, French and German foreignministers currently under way in Paris. Jeremy Bowen reports. “So far,President Bashar al-Assad has survived every prediction of defeat. The durabilityof his regime is one reason why some Western governments are softening theirrhetoric about president Assad. The German chancellor Angle Merkel has said hisside should be involved in any talks to end the war. There is also a sense thatSyria without the Assads might be even more dangerous and unstable. Thejihadists of Islamic State could seize more land. And without question,hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions more refugees would leave Syria.” JeremyBowen.

The Cuban president Raul Castro has arrived in New York ahead of the UN GeneralAssembly next week. It's the first time a Cuban leader has visited the US in 15years. Cuba's official agency Prensa Latina say Mr. Castro would listen to theUN speech of Pope Francis on Friday who helped broker the recent foreignrelations between Cuba and the US. News from the BBC.

Pope Francis has become the first head of the Roman Catholic Church to addressa joint session of the United States congress. Caroline Wyatt sent this reportfrom Washington. “It was the first time that America’s lawmakers had invited apope to speak. As a son of migrants, he called on the US and the rest of theworld to treat immigrants and refugees in a just and humane way in a countrythat's home to 11 million illegal immigrants. There was something for everyone,Democratic and Republican alike, as he urged America to treat all life assacred and was cheered by the anti-abortion right before he called on congressto put an end to the death penalty, a course for the left.”

Swiss prosecutors have confirmed that world football’s governing body FIFA hasagreed to unseal email accounts belonging to Jérôme Valcke, the organization'ssecretary general. He was suspended last week following allegations that he wasinvolved in a scheme to sell world cup tickets at inflated prices. Mr. Valcke’slawyer has dismissed the allegations as fabricated and outrageous.

The Russian president Vladimir Putin has phoned the pop star Elton John andproposed a meeting. The call came a week after a pair of Russian comedianstricked the singer into thinking he was talking to the president. The singerhad said he wanted to discuss Russia's attitude to gay rights. Bridget Kendallhas more details. “So the idea of face to face meeting between President Putinand Sir Elton John is back on again. After last week's hoax call, this time itwas the real deal. A Kremlin spokesman said a formal approach to Sir Elton wasfirst made by the Russian ambassador in London to convince the singer this wasnot another trick. Then apparently Mr. Putin spoke to him directly saying thatsince Elton John was such a popular performer, he would be ready to meet himface to face if they could make their schedules work to discuss anything hewanted.”  That was Bridget Kendall. And that's the BBC news.