BBC 2007-05-01 加文本

BBC 2007-05-01


【电信用户1】在线播放和下载

Download mp3

Britain’s longest-ever terrorism trial has ended with life sentences for five British Muslims convicted of plotting deadly bomb attacks. All five, who are mostly Pakistani origin, were supported of Al-Qaeda and some had visited training camps in Pakistan. The gang's possible targets for attacking included synagogues, trains, pubs, and a large shopping centre. The trial has prompted renewed calls for independent inquiry into surveillance operations by the British security services after it emerged that two of the men involved in the London bombings on July 7, 2005 were known associates of the convicted men. The whole affair's spokesman of the opposition conservative party is David Davis:
“It’s very apparent from the evidence in this that the security services MI5 had in their sights both Mohammed Sidique Khan and Shahzad Tanweer . we are, ah for on a number of occasions, four occasions, if you say, there they knew the address of Khan's family and yet they did not pursue the matter, and with hindsight, this is a mistake. The British Home Secretary John Reid said public inquiry would occupy the police of security services at the time when they were already stretched.

A government report in Israel has accused Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of bearing supreme responsibility for the failures and the conduct of last year's war in Lebanon. In a harsher-than-expected criticism, the report said he made up his mind hastily without a detailed military plan. The Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz was also criticized along with the former chief of staff General Dan Halutz who’s already resigned. Cathy Adler. reports from Jerusalem.

Ehud Olmert’s reputation is that of a political survivor. He has remained in office till now despite repeated allegations of corruption and embarrassingly low popularity ratings. Even after the release of the damning report into last summer’s Lebanon war, Ehud Olmert says he's here to stay. He spent the last days and weeks priming political allies and preparing his defense. But much will depend on his coalition partners, and particularly on members of his own Kadima party.

President Bush has again given his support to Paul Wolfowitz as head of the World Bank. Mr. Wolfowitz is fighting a continuing scandal surrounding a job promotion and pay rise which he arranged for his girl friend. Mr. Bush told reporters at the White House that Mr. Wolfowitz had done a good job since joining the bank. “My position is that he ought to stay, he ought to be given a fair hearing. And I appreciate the fact that he is advanced, he has helped the World Bank recognize that eradication of world poverty is an important priority for the bank.” For his part, Mr. Wolfowitz, a former top Pentagon official under President Bush said he had no intention of stepping down. He said he was a victim of a smear campaign and dismissed the conflict of interest allegations as bogus.

World news from the BBC.

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has used a national television and radio address to appeal for unity. He was speaking as the bitter dispute continued over the presidential election and the future of Turkey's secular political tradition. Sera Rainsfield reports from Istanbul.

This address lasted for half an hour. A somber-looking Prime Minister Erdogan told the nation his government was responsible for four and a half years of stability. Making no direct reference to the current political crisis, he said an atmosphere of tranquility was what people should look to maintain here and economic growth. His comments come as Turkish highest court begins considering a legal challenge meant to stop Mr. Erdogan's choice of candidate for president taking the job. Opposition politicians have applied to the constitutional court to annul the vote so far on the technicality. They claim foreign minister Abdulah Gul has a hidden Islamic agenda for Turkey.

Iraqi police say a suicide bomber has blown himself at a Shiite Muslim funeral ceremony north of Baghdad, killing at least thirty people. Many others were injured in the blast which took place inside the tent where monitors were gathered. The attack was in the mainly Shiite town of Khalis which lies in the province where sectarian violence has been common. Earlier at least thirteen people died in other bomb explosions in Iraq.

A delegation of members of the European parliament in the west bank for talks with Palestinian leaders has been told that the missing BBC correspondent Alan Johnston is alive and well. He disappeared in Gaza seven weeks ago and is presumed to have been kidnapped.

The Soviet War memorial in Estonia, whose removal on Friday sparked serious disturbances, has been relocated to a military cemetery in the capital Tallinn. A defense military spokesman said the statue of Red Army soldier was immediately open for viewing. The authorities hope a speedy repositioning of the monument will help defuse tension with Russia which reacts furiously to the statue’s removal.