BBC News:美國情報主任為國家安全局的活動辯護
Thousands of civilians have been fleeing of the seasuburb of the Syrian capital Damascus after arelaxation of a barricade by government forces.Food, water and other supplies have been runningdesperately short. Lyse Doucet who is in Damascus described desperate people fleeing therebel held suburb of Moadamiya which’s been under siege since March.
A tide of people fled Moadamiya today some on stretchers, some crying, all showing severestrain of a life under siege. “We didn’t seen a piece of bread for nine months.” one woman toldme, “We were eating leaves and grass.” A little girl in a pink dress showed me her tremblinghands. “We are all sick.” She said as she and her little sister clutched pieces of bread distributedby the Syrian-Arab Red Crescent Society.
The Syrian army had previously said rebel held areas of Damascus could surrender orstarve.
The Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has dismissed his deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil afterhe met an American diplomat in Geneva. Syrian state media said the talks were unauthorized.The American he met, the former ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford told the BBC Mr. Jamil hadrequested the meeting in a personal capacity.
“To be very frank, from although I was willing to meet with Qadri Jamil he made clear that hewas meeting me in a personal capacity not as a deputy prime minister of the Syriangovernment. And we had a long and very thorough discussion but I cannot say that we agreedon many issues they clipped. For one agreement we had that Syria does need to revolve itsconflict through political means.”
America’s top intelligence chiefs have defended the activities of the national security agencyin the wake of allegations that it’s been spying on European allies and unlawfully monitoringAmerican citizens. Johnny Diamond reports.
If anyone was expecting apologies or embarrassment from the leaders of America’sintelligence community, they were in for disappointment. Mistakes had been made saidJames Clapper, the director of national intelligence, but they were human or technical. Thereis, he said, no other country on this planet that has the magnitude of oversight that the USdoes. He said that what he described as the torrent of disclosures about American surveillancehad been extremely damaging and he anticipated even more. And asked whether America’sallies spied on the US, he replied with just one word, ‘Absolutely’.
The head of the NSA said reports about mass phone surveillance in France, Italy and Spainwere false.
President Putin’s most high-profile political opponent in Russia is facing new criminal charges.Alexei Navalny who’s stood for election as mayor of Moscow has already been giving a five-yearsuspended sentence for embezzlement. Now he’s been charged with money laundry alongwith his brother. Alexei Navalny has always insisted accusations against him are politicallymotivated.
World News from the BBC
The Supreme Court in Argentina has ruled that a controversial media bill passed four yearsago is constitutional, clearing the way for the breakup of large media groups. Argentina’sbiggest broadcasting and newspaper company Clarin had appealed against the law starting abitter dispute with the government of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Following theruling, Clarin’s share prices fell sharply.
The president of France, Francois Hollande says four French hostages seized by Islamistmilitants in Niger more than three years ago has been released. They were kidnapped by al-Qaeda in Islamist Maghreb from the uranium mining town of Arlit. The foreign minister LaurentFabius said no ransom had been paid. Now our West Africa correspondent Tomas Fessyreports.
The details of how the hostages were released have yet to emerge but the French PresidentFrancois Hollande has thanked his Nigerian counterpart for securing their freedom. The fourmen working for the French mining company Areva were captured more than 1,000 days ago inSeptember 2010 by al-Qaeda militants. Both French ministers of foreign affairs and defense areon their way to the western African countries to bring the four free men back home.
The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelming to condemn the US embargoagainst Cuba. Only two out of 200 countries, the US and Israel voted against the resolution.The American sanctions against Communist Cuba have been in place for more than fivedecades.
A Brazilian surfer is thought to have broken the record for the largest wave ever surfed duringthe storm that battered Western Europe on Monday. Carlos Burle was filmed riding a wall ofwater around 13 meters high off the coast of Portugal. He also said the life of a fellow Braziliansurfer who nearly drowned in the huge swill.
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