- 听力文本
- 中文翻译
BBC news with Julie Candler.
A Colombia General kidnapped by the Farc rebel group earlier this month has been released. Gen Ruben Dario Alzate and two companions have been taken to a military base near the city of Medellin. They are due to be reunited with their families. The General’s capture prompted the Colombia government to suspend long-running peace talks with the Farc in Cuba. A Farc representative in Havana Evan Marquis said a peace agreement was vital for Colombia.
We ask President Santos to use his common sense and agree that we cannot continue with the absurdity of prolonging these peace talks in the middle of a war. It’s time for a cease fire on both sides so the fighting can no longer interrupt such a beautiful and historical process like that of peace, a process which our nation longs for.
Pope Francis has urged Muslim leaders worldwide to speak out clearly and condemn terrorism carried out in the name of Islam. Returning from a trip to Turkey where he met the spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Pope exactly understood how Muslims were offended by a stereotype decreed Islam with terrorism.
An investigation into corruption in the Iraqi army has revealed there were 50000 fictitious names on its pay roll. The scale of the problem came to light an inquiry headed by the Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, who says the access payment has been halted. Allen Johnston reports.
The 50000 extra pay roll names belong to what is known in the Iraqi army as ghost soldiers. They didn’t exist. They no longer reported for duty, but their salaries were paid and presumably siphoned off by corrupt officers. The Americans spent billions trying to build up the Iraqi army. It is collapsed when Islamic state militants launched their northern offensive last summer. And one of the reasons for that weakness was the chronic corruption in the army’s ranks.
The charity Save the Children has defended its record on tackling Ebola in Sierra Leone following complaints that the treatment center runs as three quarters as empty. The agency says the safety of staff at the Kerry Town center of in the capital Freetown is paramount. Andrew Harding has been into the center.
A rare sound in the Kerry Town Ebola facility, songs and celebrations of a 21-year-old student is discharged, cured of the virus. 80 beds here are the centerpiece of British response to the Ebola outbreak. But nearly four weeks after it opened, only fourteen beds are currently occupied. Save the children insists it always intended a slow start, training staff takes time, but the organization says that all 80 beds will soon be filled.
World News from the BBC
A Christian militia in the Central Africa Republic which has been accused of carrying out widespread atrocities says it has abandoned violence in favor of politics. The spokesman for the anti-bolaka movement urged fighters to lay down their weapons. The new political organization is to be known as the Central African Party for Unity and Development.
The organization representing the world’s French-speaking countries has named a woman to be its leader for the first time. The former governor-general of Canada Michell Joan was chosen at Francophonie summit in the Senegalese capital Dakar. Born in Haiti, she and her family fled to Canada as refugees in the 1960s. Michell Joan has promised to shift the organization’s focus towards economic issues.
“People are seeing in this economic strategy some hope and new relevance for la Francophonie. You know, countries, peoples and civilizations came together by doing business together, by exchanging their economy together and this is how you know we saw civilizations coming together. This is the history of humanity.”
Nearly 2000 Brazilian couples have got married at an indoor sports venue in Rio de Janero in the biggest mass wedding in the city’s history. The annual event promoted by the local authorities is aimed at helping low-income couples who can’t afford to pay for a wedding. Many of the couples have been living together for years. The authorities in Rio booked special commuter trains for the couples and their guests. An estimated 12000 people attended the ceremony.
BBC News