The Israeli armed forces say there are still hundreds of targets they want to attack inside Gaza on the fourth day of their operation against the Palestinian group Hamas, the Israeli said militants launched more than 160 rockets in 24 hours. Forty Palestinians including several children have been killed since the fighting began. Richard Galpin reports from Jerusalem.
Israeli air force insists it has now destroyed at least 90% of the long-range missiles stockpiled in Gaza. But officials here would not say how long the operation will last, nor whether there will also be a ground offensive by troops which have been moving close to the Gaza border with tanks and artillery. An Israeli army spokesman told the BBC, the troops were ready to invade, but so far there has been no decision by the government.
The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been holding talks on the Gaza crisis with the Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi. In a speech at Cairo University, Mr Erdogan said Israel would be held to account for the children it had killed in Gaza. Before travelling to Egypt, Mr Erdogan spoke on the phone with the American President Barack Obama, but the White House said it wanted to de-escalate the fighting. From Washington here's Kim Ghattas.
The Obama administration has deplored the loss of civilian life on both sides, but repeatedly said it supports Israel's right to self-defense. In private, American officials are urging against an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza. But Israel's ambassador to Washington Michael Oren said he believed the US has given Israel full backing to take whatever measures were needed. Palestinian officials have complained Washinton's position is too one-sided and doesn't take into account with they say as Israel's disproportional response.
Polls have closed in presidential and parliamentary elections in Sierra Leone. There have been no reported incidents of violence, and the turnout seems to have been high. Julius Maada Bio is the main challenger to the incumbent Ernest Bai Koroma.
The United Nations Security Council is holding an emergency session to discuss the escalating conflict in the eastern Democratic Republica of Congo. Earlier UN helicopter gunships hit rebel positions as fighting continued between the Congolese army and the M23 rebel group. From the UN in New York, here's Barbara Plett.
It was France that called the emergency meeting. The French ambassador Gerard Araud told journalists he hoped the council would send a clear signal to M23 rebels to stop their attacks. The UN mission in eastern Congo said its helicopters bombarded M23 positions in the town of Kibumba on Saturday, after the rebels launched an offensive there with heavy weapons. According to the local governor, the Congolese army retreated because the insurgences were backed by Rwandan troops that something Kigali has denied. But UN experts say they do have evidence of Rwandan support for the rebels. And this week, they asked the Security Council to sanction senior Rwandan officials as a result.
World News from the BBC
Fifty young children have been killed in Egypt in a collision between a nursery school bus and train, the bus driver also died. The accident happened at a railway level crossing in the province of Assiut. Reports said the crossing barriers were left open, and the man in charge of them was also asleep. The transport minister and the head of the state railway authority have resigned.
A Tibetan woman has reportedly become at least the seventh person in two weeks to burn herself to death in western China in protest of Chinese rule. Tibetan protest escalated before and during the Chinese Communist Party Congress this week. Dave Marsh reports.
The change of leadership in Beijing hasn't alter the determination of some ethnic Tibetans to make the ultimate protest to what they say is Chinese repression. Rights activists say there between November 4th and 17th, eight Tibetans set themselves on fire in a single county in Qinghai province and that at least seven of them died. The activists and the exils said more than 1,000 Tibetans have attended the latest funeral there, despite heavy Chinese security. Foreign journalists have been prevented from visiting the region making details hard to verify.
Restaurants shops and businesses have been closed in the Indian city of Mumbai following the death affair of the Hindu nationalist politician Bal Thackeray. The founder and leader of the right-wing Shiv Sena Party was 86, his funeral will be held on Sunday. Known for his fiery rhetoric, Bal Thackeray gained national and international notoriety when he was blamed for inciting tensions between Hindu and Muslims communities during the 1993 Mumbai riots.
The Sri Lanka army has added more than 100 Tamil women to its ranks in an apparent move to promote ethnic reconciliation. The soldiers were inducted in a ceremony at a former stronghold of the rebel Tamil Tigers in northern Kilinochchi. Correspondents say it's the first time the country's overwhelmingly similar army has recruited such a large group of female Temil soldiers.
BBC World Service News
參考譯文
Jonathan Izard為你播報BBC新聞。
以色列武裝部隊稱加沙地區(qū)還有數(shù)百個目標需要進攻,現(xiàn)在已是與巴勒斯坦哈馬斯組織作戰(zhàn)的第四天了,以色列稱武裝分子在24小時內(nèi)發(fā)射了160多發(fā)炮彈。自戰(zhàn)斗開始以來,已有40名巴勒斯坦人喪生,其中有幾名兒童。Richard Galpin在耶路撒冷報道。
以色列空軍堅稱已毀掉庫藏在加沙的至少90%的遠程導彈,但官方并未透露戰(zhàn)斗將持續(xù)多久,以及裝備了坦克和炮彈并快速向加沙邊境轉(zhuǎn)移的部隊何時發(fā)起地面進攻。以色列軍方發(fā)言人告訴BBC,軍隊已做好進攻的準備,但目前為止政府尚未作出決定。
土耳其總理雷杰普·塔伊普·埃爾多安與埃及總統(tǒng)穆爾西就加沙危機舉行會談。埃爾多安在開羅大學的演講中說,以色列必須向加沙被殺的兒童負責。來訪埃及之前,埃爾多安與美國總統(tǒng)奧巴馬通了電話,但白宮稱不希望戰(zhàn)斗升級。Kim Ghattas在華盛頓報道。
奧巴馬政府對雙方造成的平民傷亡表示譴責,但一再表示,支持以色列自衛(wèi)的權(quán)利。而在私下,美國官方反對以色列地面進攻加沙。但以色列駐華盛頓大使邁 克·歐倫說,他認為美國對以色列采取一切必要措施提供全面支持。巴勒斯坦官方指責華盛頓立場不公,根本不考慮他們所謂的以色列“過激反應(yīng)”。
塞拉利昂總統(tǒng)和議會選舉已告結(jié)束,據(jù)悉沒有發(fā)生暴力事件,投票率很高。Julius Maada Bio是現(xiàn)任總統(tǒng)歐內(nèi)斯特·巴伊·科羅馬的勁敵。
聯(lián)合國安理會舉行緊急會議,談?wù)搫偣裰鞴埠蛧鴸|部的暴力升級。早些時候,聯(lián)合國直升機對叛軍據(jù)點進行打擊,當時剛果軍隊和M23叛軍組織激戰(zhàn)正酣。Barbara Plett在紐約聯(lián)合國總部報道。
法國提議舉行這次緊急會議,法國大使阿勞德告訴記者,他希望安理會向M23發(fā)出要求停止襲擊的明確信號。聯(lián)合國駐剛果東部使團稱周六其直升機轟擊了 M23在Kibumba鎮(zhèn)的據(jù)點,此前叛軍用重型武器發(fā)動進攻。據(jù)當?shù)毓賳T稱,剛果部隊之所以撤軍,是因為叛軍得到盧旺達軍隊的支持,而基加利對此表示否 認。但聯(lián)合國專家稱已掌握有關(guān)盧旺達支持叛軍的證據(jù)。因此,本周他們請求安理會制裁盧旺達高級軍官。
埃及一所幼兒園巴士和火車上發(fā)生碰撞事故,50名兒童喪生,巴士司機也遇難。事故發(fā)生在艾斯尤特省一個鐵路平交道口,報道稱道口障礙當時沒有放置,但負責人卻在睡覺。交通部長和國家鐵路局局長已經(jīng)辭職。
據(jù)悉,為了抗議國家法律,西部地區(qū)一名XZ婦女自焚身亡,據(jù)悉這是兩周來的第七次此類事件。黨代會舉行前夕和會中此類抗議越發(fā)頻繁。Dave Marsh報道。
領(lǐng)導換屆并未改變XZ少數(shù)民族抗議鎮(zhèn)壓的決心,人權(quán)活動人士稱11月4日到17日之間,QH省某縣已有8名XZ人自焚,至少7人已經(jīng)身亡。活動人士和流放者稱1000多名XZ人不顧安防重重參加了葬禮。外國記者無法進入該地區(qū),因此詳情無法得以證實。
印度教民族主義政治家拜·薩克雷死亡后,印度孟買的餐館和商店均已關(guān)門。薩克雷是印度濕婆軍黨的創(chuàng)立者和領(lǐng)導人,終年86歲,他的葬禮將于周日舉 行。拜·薩克雷因激昂的言辭著稱,他被指控在1993年孟買暴亂中煽動印度教和穆斯林社會之間的緊張局勢,因此在國內(nèi)外臭名昭著。
斯里蘭卡軍隊給100多名泰米爾婦女授以軍階,這顯然是促進民族和解之舉。在基里諾奇區(qū)北部泰米爾叛軍舊日據(jù)點舉行的儀式上,士兵們正式就職。記者稱該國如此隆重地大規(guī)模招募泰米爾女兵還屬首例。