BBC在线收听下载:马拉维启动疟疾疫苗试点

Hello, this is David Austin with the BBC news.

The first funerals have taken place in Sri Lanka for the more than three hundred people killed in Sunday's suicide bomb attacks. A mass burial was held near St Sebastian's Church in Negombo where dozens of Christian worshipers were killed. The authorities have blamed a local Islamic group. Here is Sharanjit Leyl. The Sri Lankan government is now suggesting that these attacks took place in retaliation to the Christchurch attacks that happened last month that targeted two mosques in Christchurch. This is according to the Minister of Defense. Now what we also know is that the Sri Lankan government now is mulling, potentially banning the burqa because this is what's many of these suicide bombers were apparently seemed to be wearing. The Islamic State group has now said its members carried out the attacks, but provided no evidence.

Trials of an experimental vaccine against malaria start in Malawi today. Almost a billion of dollars has gone into developing it in the hope of saving hundreds of thousands of lives a year, mostly of children in Africa. Here is Richard Galpin. Three hundred and sixty thousand young children are expected to be vaccinated each year until 2023 in this pilot program being rolled out in Malawi, Kenya and Ghana. In previous much smaller trials of vaccine, known by the initials RTSS was found to protect almost forty percent of the babies aged between five and seventeen months who received it. One potential concern is that it has to be given in four separate doses over many months. This big pilot program will be used to look into how effective the vaccine is and whether there are side effects.

The head of the transitional military council of Sudan has told the BBC he will not allow his troops to use force against protesters calling for a civilian government. The comments from General Abdel Fattah Burhan come a day after the military ordered protesters to dismantle their barricades near the army headquarters.

A former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon and his wife Penelope are to stand trial over allegations that he created a fake job for her to do parliamentary work. The scandal severely damaged Mr. Fillon's bid for the presidency in 2017. The center-right candidate lost in the first round.

Indian Supreme Court has ordered the state of Gujarat to pay compensation to a woman who was gang raped when fleeing the communal riots in the state in 2002. It had earlier found that state police had mishandled the case. The court also ordered Gujarat to provide her with a government job and accommodation. BBC news.