BBC News:美眾院拒為奧巴馬醫(yī)改法案撥款
The Syrian government has started handing overdetails of its chemical weapons to the internationalcommunity’s chemical weapons watchdog in TheHague. A spokesman for the Organisation for theProhibition of Chemical Weapons said it had received an initial declaration from Syria, but wasexpecting more. Paul Adams reports.
The Russians and Americans gave Syria just a week to submit what they called acomprehensive listing of its chemical weapons programme, not just the weapons and agents,but the location of all storage, production and research sites too. It’s not clear how much ofthese the Syrians have now handed over, but it clearly falls some way short. A spokesman forthe OPCW said the organisation had received an initial declaration, was looking at it andexpected more. It needs as much information as possible, as quickly as possible.
With the American administration fast running out of money, the House of Representativeshas passed a bill that would keep the government operating, but cut funding for PresidentObama’s healthcare programme. The president called the move irresponsible. Here’s KatyWatson.
It’s becoming a familiar drama here in Washington-- the arguments between the White Houseand Republicans over spending cuts and borrowing limits. While the vote in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has approved a stopgap bill, it’s also included a provisionto cut funding to Obamacare, a move that President Obama criticised saying it risked a tailspinfor the recovering US economy. He added that if the debt ceiling wasn’t raised, America wouldbe a deadbeat. He said the entire world looked to the US to ensure the world economy isstable.
There’ve been conflicting accounts of a shooting in the Nigerian capital Abuja. Security officialssay they returned fire when they were attacked by Islamist militants from the group BokoHaram. But survivors have told the Reuters news agency that the soldiers opened fire onunarmed squatters who had defied an order to vacate the house they’d taken over. Aneyewitness told the BBC he’d seen nine bodies at the scene. Security officials said severalmembers of Boko Haram were arrested, but didn’t say whether anyone had died.
Reports from the West Bank say Israeli soldiers have manhandled a group of Europeandiplomats as they were trying to hand out tents to Palestinian Bedouins, whose homes weredestroyed by the army earlier this week. Kevin Connolly has this report from Jerusalem.
The diplomats said as soon as they arrived, around a dozen Israeli army jeeps converged onthem and ordered them not to unload their truck. A French diplomat said she was draggedfrom the vehicle and forced to the ground. One European official described the Israeli actionsas shocking and outrageous. The diplomats argue that Israel is failing in the duty underinternational law to protect civilians under military occupation. A British official expressedconcern at the blocking of aid and said the demolitions caused suffering to Palestinians, wereharmful to peace and were contrary to international law. Kevin Connolly
World News from the BBC
The Canadian smartphone maker Blackberry says it’s cutting its global workforce by 40% in anattempt to staunch huge losses. Blackberry said 4,500 staff would be laid off. The firm hadpinned hopes on the launch of the Blackberry 10 earlier this year, but sales have been weak.
The authorities in Mexico say they’ve partially re-opened the main motorway link between theseaside resort of Acapulco and the capital Mexico City following Tropical Storm Manuel.Elsewhere, in the state of Guerrero, clean-up and rescue operations are continuing. Will Grantreports.
As the floodwaters recede in parts of Guerrero, the full extent of human suffering in the stateis gradually being revealed. For example, the story of Vincent Romero, a coffee grower from thedevastated village of La Pintada, who lost 30 members of his family in the mudslide which torethrough their homes on Monday, although many other damaged villages in the state where therescue teams are yet to reach. In other parts of Guerrero as well as neighbouring states suchas Oaxaca and Michoacan, the flooding continues and residents are forced to wade through thestagnant water to find food and clean drinking water.
Police in Zimbabwe say they are investigating a former executive of the country’s state-owneddiamond firm for suspected corruption. It follows allegations that Godwills Masimirembwasought a $6m bribe from a Ghanaian company that was investing in diamond mining inZimbabwe. He’s denied any wrongdoing.
Researchers in Hungary looking for the burial place of the heart of the 16th century sultanSuleiman the Magnificent have uncovered a forgotten Ottoman town. After eight months ofarchaeological digs around the Hungarian castle of Szigetvar, the researchers found theoutline of the town, which grew up around the sultan’s tomb. Suleiman the Magnificent wasone of the most successful leaders of the Ottoman Empire, expanding it almost to the gates ofVienna. He died in 1566.
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