BBC News with Zoe Diamond.
The American Defence Secretary Robert Gates has called in the FBI to help in the investigation on who recently leaked 90,000 classified military documents on the war in Afghanistan. The leaks were posted online earlier this week. From Washington, Iain MacKenzie reports.
Robert Gates claimed the leaking of 90,000 classified military files had potentially severe and dangerous consequences for troops on the ground. He said the documents relating to battlefield incidents and intelligence gathering could also pose a threat to those Afghan nationals assisting the coalition. However, the most stark warning came from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs appearing alongside him - Admiral Mike Mullen said Wikileaks may already have blood on its hands.
At least 80 people have been killed in a river boat accident in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The boat was carrying about 200 people. Many are still unaccounted for. The accident happened on Wednesday, but details are only now emerging. Jonny Hogg reports.
The Congolese Information Minister Lambert Mende Omalanga said the boat was on a stretch of the Congo River in the Kwilu district of Bandundu, with around 200 passengers onboard. He said it seemed the vessel was overcrowded. This, combined with low water levels, caused it to hit an obstruction, possibly a sandbank or rock, and capsized. The Congolese Red Cross has been searching for survivors, and a government rescue operation will be run by the Ministries of Transport and Internal Affairs. Rivers are often used as transport routes in the Congo as there’re so few roads, but poor maintenance and overcrowding mean ferry accidents are common.
A Senate subcommittee in the United States has estimated that more than 6,500 graves at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia may be mislabeled. At a Senate hearing, the former Superintendent responsible for running the cemetery, where the US has buried American veterans and war deaths since 1776, accepted “full responsibility”. John Metzler said he didn’t have the resources he needed and expressed his “sincere regrets to the families”.
A French woman has confessed to suffocating eight of her babies shortly after they were born in an effort to hide the fact that she’d become pregnant, even from her husband. She smothered the first of the babies in 1989, the last in 2006. The woman from a village in northern France was detained earlier this week when the bodies were found stuffed into plastic bags. The woman is expected to be charged with murder. Her husband has been released by police. The prosecutor Eric Vailliant explains why.
“Mr Cottrez has indicated to investigators that he never knew his wife was pregnant, or that she got rid of the children just after giving birth. Mrs Cottrez confirms this. She said she didn’t want any more children and that she didn’t want to see a doctor for contraception.”
This is the World News from the BBC.
A week of heavy monsoon rain in Pakistan has led to the deaths of at least 100 people in floods. Worst affected was the north of the country where dozens of people drowned while others were electrocuted or buried under rubble when the walls of their houses collapsed. Several rivers burst their banks, washing away cattle, roads as well as bridges.
A prominent Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas, who has recently ended his four-month hunger strike, has been released from hospital. The journalist and psychologist began his protest to demand the release of imprisoned opposition activists in poor health. Vanessa Buschschluter reports.
Doctors said Guillermo Farinas had been near death when he broke off his hunger strike after more than 130 days. He had started his protest in February after another dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo died following an 85-day hunger strike. Mr Farinas’s demand was simple - release all the jailed opposition activists who are ill. After the Cuban government agreed to free 52 dissidents under a deal with the Catholic Church and Spain, he ended his hunger strike. That was three weeks ago. Now with his health slowly improving, he has returned home.
Temperatures in Moscow have reached 39 degrees Celsius, the hottest day ever recorded there. The record-breaking heat wave has sparked fires across the country, and the Russian capital now lies under a thick layer of smog. Health experts are warning people to stay indoors or to wear masks because pollution levels in some parts of the city have risen ten times above normal safety limits.
The United Nations says thousands of children in Gaza appear to have broken their own world record for the number of kites being flown simultaneously. More than 7,000 children taking part in a three-week summer camp organized by the UN Relief and Works Agency gathered on a beach to fly a colorful kite each.
That’s the latest World News from the BBC.
翻译:
美国国防部长罗伯特·盖茨要求FBI帮助调查何人泄漏90,000份与阿富汗战争有关的机密文件。这些泄漏的文件于本周早些时候被上传到互联网上。华盛顿,Iain MacKenzie报道。
罗伯特·盖茨表示,这90,000份机密文件的泄漏可能对战场上的军队带来严重的,危险的结果。他表示,这些与战场事件和情报搜集工作有关的文件还可能对帮助盟军的阿富汗公民造成威胁。然而,最严重的警告来自参谋长联席会议主席马伦上将(MIKE MULLEN),他说,维基解密网双手已经沾满鲜血。
在刚果民主共和国一条河流上发生的翻船事件中,至少80人死亡。船上共有大约200名乘客。现在,许多人仍然下落不明。事故发生在周三,但是详细情况现在才刚刚开始浮出水面。Jonny Hogg报道。
媒体部长朗贝尔·门德·奥马兰加(Lambert Mende Omalanga)表示,事故发生在刚果河在西部班顿杜省Kwilu地区的支流上,船上共有大约200名乘客。他说,这艘船只严重超载。由于超载,再加上河面水位很低,导致船只撞上障碍物,可能是沙滩或岩石,致使翻船。刚果红十字会正在搜救幸存者,交通部和内务部引导的政府救援行动也即将展开。在刚果,由于道路很少,河流通常被用作交通通道,但是由于缺乏维护,再加上船只超载,翻船事故屡见不鲜。
美国参议院一个小组委员会估计,阿灵顿国家公墓超过6,500座坟墓的标签标错。在参议院听证会上,负责运营该公墓的前负责人表示愿意承担“全部责任”。阿灵顿国家公墓自1776年以来一直用于埋葬美国老兵和战死的士兵。John Metzler表示,他没有所需的资源,对“相关家属表示真诚的歉意”。
一名法国女性承认为了隐藏自己怀孕的事实,在八名婴儿出生后不久让他们窒息而死,甚至向自己的丈夫隐瞒实情。她闷死的婴儿第一个和最后一个分别是在1989年和2006年。这个来自法国北部小村庄的女人已经在本周初被捕,装在塑料袋中的婴儿的尸体被发现。预期这个女人将被控告谋杀。她的丈夫已经被警方释放。检控官Eric Vailliant解释了原因。
“Cottrez先生告诉调查人员,他从来都不知道自己的妻子怀孕,也不知道在孩子出生后将他们杀害。Cottrez夫人承认了这一点。她说,她不希望有更多的孩子,也不希望向医生求助进行避孕。”
这里是BBC世界新闻。
巴基斯坦为期一周的雨季强降雨已经造成至少100人在洪水中死亡。受灾最严重的是该国北部地区,数十人溺亡,其他人被电死或在房屋倒塌的时候被砸死。几条河流决堤,冲走了牛羊,冲毁道路和桥梁。
古巴著名的政见不同者Guillermo Farinas最近结束了为期四个月的绝食抗议,已经从医院获释。这位记者和心理学家要求释放健康状况不佳的反对派活动分子,开始绝食抗议。Vanessa Buschschluter报道。
医生表示,Guillermo Farinas结束130多天的绝食抗议时已经濒临死亡。另外一名政见不同者Orlando Zapata Tamayo进行了85天的绝食抗议死亡之后,二月份,Guillermo Farinas也开始绝食。Farinas的要求很简单,释放所有生病的反对派好战分子。古巴政府与天主教堂和西班牙达成协议,同意释放52名政见不同者之后,他停止了绝食抗议。这是三周前的事情。现在,由于他的健康状况已经逐渐恢复,他已经回到家中。
莫斯科的气温已经达到39摄氏度,这是有记录以来的最高温度。这次打破纪录的热浪导致全国各地频发大火,俄罗斯首都现在笼罩在一片浓烟中。卫生专家提醒人们尽量待在室内或者戴上口罩,因为莫斯科局部地区的污染水平已经上升到安全水平的十倍以上。
联合国官员表示,加沙地带数千名儿童同时放飞风筝,这已经打破了他们自己的世界纪录。70,000多名儿童参加了联合国难民救济及工程局组织的为期三周的夏令营,在沙滩聚集,每人放飞一只五颜六色的风筝。