您现在的位置是：首页 > 英语听力 > BBC world news
正文
BBC news 2007-11-20 加文本
2007-11-20来源:和谐英语
音频下载[点击右键另存为]
BBC News with Sue Montgomery
The United States has welcomed the series of moves to improve the prospects for Middle East Peace Talks planned for this month. The US State Department spokesman said the Israeli government had put forward confidence-building measures. On Monday, Israel agreed to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and to stop building new settlements in the West Bank. The International Envoy to the Middle East Tony Blair has also announced a number of projects to help revitalize the Palestinian economy.
The greater the political progress, the easier the economic progress, the greater the Palestinian capability on security, the easier the politics and the economics. But getting investment projects going matters in itself. And that's what we are all doing today.
The leader of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir, has accused the Sudanese government of re-arming and mobilizing for war. Observers are concerned that the increasingly bitter dispute could undermine the Peace Agreement signed in 2005 that ended 20 years of war between North and South Sudan. From Khartoum, Amber Henshaw.
There are widespread concerns about the growing political crisis in Sudan. The international communities are urging both sides to stop the situation escalating. The leader of the South, Salva Kiir, who is greeted by huge crowds on his return from a trip to the Untied States, accused Khartoum of re-arming and mobilizing for war. Mr. Kiir said he would never initiate a war, but reserve the right to self-defense if the south came under attack. He warned his supporters to guard against war mongering by the country's governing National Congress Party. Tensions have been mounting since the main party in the south, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, withdrew its ministers from the coalition government last month.
Leaders of a Sunni group in Iraq allied with the United States, says the US military killed more 50 of their followers in a strike last week. Earlier the US army said it killed 25 militants in the operation against Al Qaeda north of Baghdad. But one of the Sunni leaders said none of those who died was from Al Qaeda. The BBC correspondent in Baghdad says the incident underlines the difficulties US forces face in distinguishing between friend and foe in the ground.
Share prices in Europe and the United States have declined following a new warning about possible losses at the leading American bank Citigroup. The Dow Jones was down over one-and-a-half percent in New York while the FTSE, in London, fell by over two-and-a-half percent. Andrew Walker reports.
An analyst at one big financial group Goldman Sachs warned that another Citigroup could face further losses as much as fifteen billion dollars in the next six month. Citi is one of many banks who have lost money on financial assets based on a wide range of loans especially in the housing business. As people had increasing difficulty repaying the loans, the value of financial assets linked to them has dropped sharply.
World News from the BBC.
The Bangladeshi Army says it still hasn't reach thirty percent of the villages along the coast hit by cyclone. Five days after one of Bangladesh's worst storms, many coastal communities say they still haven't received any help. The Army says more than three thousand people are now believed to have died. Our correspondent Mark Dummett sent this report from southern Bangladesh.
A massive wall of water crushed through these fishermen's settlement on the edge of one of the many waterways which crisscrosses southern Bangladesh. Houses and trees and electricity poles were all knocked down. A huge heavy fishing boat was lifted out of the water and then dumped on dry land. The survivors say several people are buried underneath it. There is a smell of death here. Some aid has got through. Enough rice for each family for the week and a medical team has arrived. But the people lost everything.
The United States has appealed to Japan to call off this year's whale hunt in the southern ocean around Antarctica. The fleet, which left Japan on Sunday, aims to kill more than nine hundred minke whales and up to fifty humpback whales. Japan argues the five-month mission is for scientific purposes. But the US State Department official said nonlethal methods could achieve the same goals.
The Afghan Government has announced plans to plant two thousand orchids in eastern Afghanistan to help to provide alternative to the illegal cultivation of opium poppies. Agricultural official said nurseries to grow the seedlings had already been established. And tree planting will begin soon.
The American Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI, says the number of hate-crimes, where people are targeted for their racial origin, religious beliefs or sexual orientation has risen by nearly 8%. This report was published three days after thousands of African Americans marched in Washington, calling for more action following a spate of incidents where blacks suffered racial harassment.
BBC News.
手机网站