BBC在线收听下载:罗马教皇方济各访问日本

Hello, I'm Tom Watts with the BBC News.

The Colombian President Ivan Duque has promised a national conversation on social policy in response to a wave of anti-government protests. Mr. Duque said he wanted to find ways to reduce the gap between rich and poor. Protests against corruption and austerity continued in the capital Bogota on Friday night. Voters in festive mood have thronged polling stations on the first day of a two-week referendum to determine if the Bougainville Archipelago once independence from Papua New Guinea. Bougainville's regional President John Momis was cautiously optimistic as he cast his vote. It's obvious that the people are now in the mood of celebration and I join them very much. They have every right to celebrate because this is a forecast or beginning of good things to come，if we collaborate and work as a trusted partners to implement something that both parties have contributed to. A pro-independence vote is widely expected in Bougainville, which in ethnic terms is more closely linked to the neighboring nation of Solomon Islands.

The man who led the military coup which ousted President Mugabe two years ago has returned to Zimbabwe after a long spell of medical treatment abroad. Ex-general Constantine Chiwenga who holds the post of vice president has been treated for an unknown illness. There's been speculation in Zimbabwe about his health since he was seen by many as the power behind the throne and the front runner to succeed President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Pope Francis has arrived in Japan on the second leg of his week-long visit to Asia that began in Thailand. He is due to say two masses one in the capital Tokyo, the other in Nagasaki where he's expected to warn against the danger of nuclear arms. Only about one percent of Japans population identifies as Christian, about half of them Roman Catholic.

The commonly-held view that dogs aged seven years for every one human year is a myth according to latest research. Scientists found the aging process in puppies is much faster than thought as Sasha Schlichter explains. Examining the natural phenomenon of DNA methylation in more than one hundred labradors and compared it to that of three hundred humans, scientists at the University of California found that as soon as a dog is born, it starts aging pretty fast, so that by the time is three years old, its biological age is 50, but then the process slows down and a ten-year-old labrador was found to be similar to a person aged 68. The DNA contains marks that change over time as a cell matures allowing scientists to track an animal's biological age. Sasha Schlichter.

BBC News.