BBC在线收听下载:印度或为5亿穷人提供免费医疗

Hello, I'm Jerry Smit with the BBC News.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to launch what's being billed as the world's biggest universal healthcare scheme. The plan aims to grant five hundred million people, nearly half of India's population, the entitlement to free health insurance. Our South Asia editor Anbarasan Ethirajan reports. Described by the Indian media as Modicare, the new health scheme aims to transform 150,000 community centers into health and wellness centers. The program also gives poor families insurance of up to 9500 dollars in private hospitals. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hopes this will boost his chances of re-election next year. Critics say given India's complex bureaucracy and corruption, the rollout and implementation will be a big challenge.

The President of Iran Hassan Rouhani has accused American-backed Gulf states of supporting the groups responsible for Saturday's deadly terror attack on a military parade. At least twenty five people, including twelve members of the elite Revolutionary Guards and a four-year-old girl were killed in the assault and more than sixty others were wounded. Joseph Tar has the details. Mr. Rouhani did not name the states, but said that Iran would respond to any attack lawfully. Saudi Arabia, the seat of Sunni Islam, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain view Iran as a regional threat. Shia Muslim Iran supports militant groups across the Middle East. President Rouhani also said that Washington wanted to cause insecurity in Iran. An Iranian ethnic Arab separatist group and Jihadi's Islamic State have both claimed that they carried out Saturday's attack in the city of Ahvaz.

Swiss voters will go to the polls later in two separate nationwide votes on ethical food. The proposals would boost government support for small family farms and require foreign food producers to adopt Swiss standards on sustainability and animal welfare. Imogen Foulkes reports from Bern. Switzerland already has strict regulations on the environment and on animal welfare. Consumer demand for local organic produce is high, but Swiss farmers still struggle to compete with foreign imports. Thirty thousand farms have closed in the last twenty years. The proposals would boost government support for small family farms and require foreign food producers to adopt Swiss standards on sustainability and animal welfare.

World news from the BBC.