BBC news 2007-05-23 加文本

BBC 2007-05-23


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BBC World News with Jonathan Weekly.

Thousands of Palestinians in northern Lebanon have been fleeing the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp where Islamist fighters have been engaged in days of gun battles with the Lebanese army. Trapped Palestinians took advantage of a lull in the fighting to leave in cars, lorries and on foot, leaving behind them a scene of devastation with dead and even some wounded lying in the streets. Nadim Houry from Human Rights Watch says the situation in the camp was desperate.
“You know they've been running short on water. They haven't had electricity in three days. In addition to fires and attack from tanks and artillery shells, they also talk about sniper fire. And so many people are actually afraid of leaving their basements and their homes to actually try to get supplies.”

The United Nations Children's Fund has identified five cases of cholera among children in the Iraqi city of Najaf, months before the usual annual appearance of the potentially fatal disease. UNICEF says the cases could be an early warning that cholera will be a problem this summer. James Shaw reports from Baghdad.

Amid the daily violence afflicting many parts of Iraq, UNICEF says that the plight of children is easily overlooked. Five cases of cholera among children under twelve in the city of Najaf reported within the last few days are an early warning that the potentially fatal disease could be a big problem this summer. A lack of safe water supplies and the frequent absence of health services increase the danger of a serious outbreak.

A BBC investigation has uncovered evidence that UN peacekeepers in Congo have been involved in illegal gold trafficking. And in some instances, its alleged to have even provided militia groups with arms in return for gold. Martin Plaut reports from the town of Mongualu in eastern Congo.

The gold mines of Mongualu could be among the richest in the world, but all they brought local people is war as rival militia fought to control them. When the Pakistani peacekeepers arrived in 2005, many hoped for better times. But soon UN troops were trading in gold with the militia they were supposed to disarm. The UN has known this since late 2005. Its own internal investigation uncovered even more startling allegations that some Pakistani officers were selling weapons to the brutal militia who'd just been disarmed. Those officers have now gone home and there's no suggestion the UN peacekeepers now on the ground have been involved. But the UN inquiry has yet to result in any prosecutions nearly two years after the allegations first surfaced.

Israel has again attacked the Gaza Strip this time as the Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas was there to restore a ceasefire with Israel. An Israeli helicopter fired at a site in northern Gaza City.

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Officials in Moscow say they won't extradite a former Russian agent accused of murder here in Britain. British prosecutors have charged Andrei Lugovoy with the death of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian dissident, who died of radiation poisoning in London last year. Russian officials say extradition will be unconstitutional, but they have held out the prospect of a trial in Moscow. Mr. Lugovoy has continued to protest his innocence. “I'm a victim, not a perpetrator of (a) radiation attack. I've said before and I will say again that my family and myself were attacked when we were in the UK. I'm deeply surprised at the inappropriate actions of the British law enforcement bodies.”

American and Chinese officials have begun high level economic talks in Washington amid fears of growing anti-China sentiment in America. The Chinese vice Premier Wu Yi said in her opening remarks that politicizing trade issues was absolutely unacceptable. United States Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said both sides recognized the importance of getting their long-term relationship right.

Diplomats say the United States is ready to make a formal complaint to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency for suggesting that Iran should be allowed to keep parts of its uranium enrichment program. Mohamed ElBaradei of the IAEA said it was too late to stop the Iranians acquiring the knowledge of how to enrich uranium. Instead, he said, the focus should be on preventing Tehran from reaching industrial scale production.

The World Health Organization says it has reached preliminary agreement to ensure the sharing of virus samples of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu to aid the production of vaccines. Several affected countries, including Indonesia and China, have been reluctant to send the samples to the WHO because they say the vaccines subsequently developed were priced way beyond their reach.

BBC World News.