BBC在线收听下载:印度最高院裁定电子身份证系统合法

BBC News. I'm John Shea.

India's highest court has ruled that the world's largest digital identification system is constitutional, rejecting pleas that it violates the right to privacy. But in the landmark judgement, the court also limited its use, deciding that some areas such as banking, phone companies and school places shouldn't demand it. Biometric data of more than a billion Indians are stored as part of the Aadhaar program. From Delhi, here's Devina Gupta.

Aadhaar which means foundation started nine years ago as a voluntary program to help Indians get welfare benefits like food subsidy. But the scheme has turned deeply controversial after the Indian government made it mandatory and wanted it to be linked to things like tax returns, phone numbers and bank accounts. Activists claimed that the policy creates a surveillance state and it should be voluntary for citizens.
There's been a stark warning from the United Nation's envoy to the Middle East over the state of the peace process in the region. Nickolay Mladenov tell the BBC tensions were rising.

The situation on the ground is slipping very quickly both in the West Bank and Gaza. Tensions are rising. In Gaza, we're on the verge of another war between Hamas and Israel. And I feel that the Palestinian leadership President Abbas feels that his whole strategy of negotiating of peacefully achieving a Palestinian statehood is now being threatened and undermined. And I think that's a very, very big danger.

The chairman of Australia's National Broadcaster, the ABC says he has no intention of resigning after hundreds of employees called for him to go. It follows a report that Justin Milne tried unsuccessfully to have a senior economics journalist sacked after the former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull complained about tax policy coverage. Howard Griffith has more details.

The ABC is publicly funded and fiercely independent. So suggestions that its chairman sought to have a journalist fired because her reporting drew complaints from the government have caused outrage. A leaked email suggests Justin Milne wrote, we need to get rid of her and save the ABC. The government has announced an investigation into the allegations. The corporation is already in turmoil after the board announced earlier this week it had sacked the managing director. Mr. Milne has refused to comment directly on the claims, saying he would not provide a running comment on the situation.

This is the latest world news from the BBC.