...peace talks in two weeks' time. The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the leaders of both sides had been invited to meet in Washington with the aim of achieving lasting peace within a year. She urged both sides to be patient.
"The enemies of peace will keep trying to defeat us and to derail these talks. But I ask the parties to persevere, to keep moving forward even through difficult times and to continue working to achieve a just and lasting peace in the region."
Here with his assessment of the announcement is James Reynolds in Washington.
The ambition is simple, and to many it's also staggering. Hillary Clinton aims to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by September next year - not improve it, not get things back on track, but resolve it for good. So at the start of next month, the Israeli and the Palestinian leaders will fly to Washington. They will attend an eve of summit meeting along with President Obama, President Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan.
The Pakistan government says the southern province of Sindh is now the worst-hit by devastating floods with 2.5 million people affected. New warnings have been issued, and villagers have been evacuated. The World Health Organization says health threats are increasing with cases of diarrhea and malaria up sharply. Altogether at least six million Pakistanis are homeless, and 1/5 of the country remains submerged.
Voting has started in the Australian general election. Opinion polls suggest the outcome will be the tightest in years with a hung parliament a distinct possibility. The governing Labor Party has been hoping to win a second term on the basis of its handling of the economy and faces a tough battle with opposition conservatives. Here is Nick Bryant on the leaders of the two parties.
Julia Gillard enjoyed a brief political honeymoon when she became Australia's first female prime minister two months ago. The thinking behind calling a snap election was that it would last until polling day. But that hasn't happened, and Australia has ended up with a photo-finish election. The leader of the conservative Liberal Party, Tony Abbott, claims he will bring back a grown-up government and end what he calls the "national soap opera". He is referring to the bloodletting in the ruling Labor Party that's given the campaign its main and sometimes bizarre narrative.
Afghan police say up to 30 people were killed in Helmand province when Taliban insurgents attacked a road construction gang. There are few details, but a spokesman for the construction company said a fierce battle had lasted several hours after the site was attacked with rockets and machine-gun fire.
World News from the BBC
The White House has called for the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing to be returned to prison in Scotland. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a Libyan, was freed on compassionate grounds and returned to Libya a year ago today. From Washington, here is Steve Kingstone.
John Brennan described the decision to free the Lockerbie bomber as "unfortunate, inappropriate and wrong". He said the Obama White House had emphatically disagreed with the Scottish government which released the terminally ill prisoner on compassionate grounds. Mr Brennan said Abdelbaset al-Megrahi had been rightly convicted of what he called a "reprehensible act of terrorism", and he said Megrahi should now be returned to Scotland to complete his 27-year prison sentence. That US position is not new, but it carries additional force coming from President Obama's counter-terrorism adviser on the anniversary of Megrahi's release.
Six police officers have been arrested in Mexico in connection with the murder earlier this week of the mayor of a northern town. The body of the local mayor Edelmiro Cavazos was found on Wednesday bound and dumped on a road three days after he was seized from his home in Santiago. It's believed Mr Cavazos may have been killed for his efforts in ridding local police of corrupt officials.
Public sector workers in South Africa have continued their strike for a third day with little signs of progress in pay talks with the government. Hospitals have been particularly badly affected, and volunteers have been called up to replace striking staff. The South African Health Minister Aaron Motosaledi said that those who interrupted vital medical care were guilty of murder.
And Britain has held commemorations to mark the 70th anniversary of the speech by its wartime leader, Winston Churchill, who thanked the young pilots of the Royal Air Force for what became known as the Battle of Britain.
BBC News
以色列和巴勒斯坦将在两周内进行直接的和平对话。美国国务卿希拉里·克林顿表示,双方领导人已接受邀请在华盛顿举行会晤,在一年之内取得持续的和平。她敦促双方必须有耐心。
“和平的敌人将会试图打击我们,为和平对话设置障碍。但是我要求各方必须不屈不挠,即使在困难时期,也要不断前行,不断努力在该地区获得公正的,持续的和平。”
华盛顿的James Reynolds对该宣告进行了评估。
该追求非常简单,对许多人来说,也非常犹豫不决。希拉里·克林顿希望在明年的9月份之前解决以色列巴勒斯坦冲突——不是改善,不是回到正轨,而是一劳永逸地将这个问题解决。所以,在下个月月初,以色列和巴勒斯坦领导人将飞往华盛顿。他们将与美国总统奥巴马,埃及总统穆巴拉克和约旦国王阿卜杜拉一起参加峰会闭幕式。
巴基斯坦政府表示,南部信德省是受灾难性的洪水影响最严重的地区,共有250万人受灾。现在已经发布了新的预警,村民已经被疏散。世界卫生组织表示,由于痢疾和疟疾案例大幅增加,健康威胁也不断增加。现在共有至少600万巴基斯坦人无家可归,五分之一的国土被洪水浸泡。
澳大利亚大选投票开始。民意调查显示,结果将是近几年来最紧张的,极有可能形成无任何党派占明显多数的议会。执政党工党希望基于对经济的处理赢得第二任期,但是面临与反对派保守党的艰苦斗争。以下是Nick Bryant针对两党领袖的报道。
吉拉德(Julia Gillard)两个月前成为澳大利亚第一位女总理,度过了短暂的政治蜜月期。要求进行临时选举时的想法是,认为该选举会持续到选举日。但是这并没有发生。澳大利亚最终进行了全面的选举。保守派自由党领袖Tony Abbott声称他将带回一个成熟的政府,结束他所说的“全国肥皂剧”。他指的是执政党工党的混乱景象主导了这场选举。
阿富汗警方表示,塔利班反叛分子袭击了一个道路建筑队,造成赫尔曼德省30人死亡。目前,关于这次袭击的细节信息很少,但是该建筑公司一名发言人表示,该地点被火箭弹和机枪袭击之后,这里爆发了持续了几个小时的战争。
BBC世界新闻。
白宫要求1988年洛克比空难主犯重新回到苏格兰的监狱。一年前的今天,利比亚人迈格拉希因同情原因被释放,回到利比亚。华盛顿,Steve Kingstone报道。
John Brennan称,释放洛克比空难主犯的决定是“不幸的,不当的,错误的。”他表示,奥巴马总统领导的白宫坚决反对苏格兰政府出于同情考虑将这名癌症晚期的犯人释放。Brennan表示,迈格拉希被正确地判为“实施了应受谴责的恐怖主义。”他说,迈格拉希现在应该回到苏格兰监狱,完成27年监禁的判决。美国的立场一如既往,但是在迈格拉希被释放一周年之际,奥巴马总统的反恐顾问施加了更多的压力。
由于与本周西北部某城镇市长被谋杀有关,墨西哥6名警官被捕。在圣地亚哥的家中被劫持三天之后,周三,人们发现当地市长Edelmiro Cavazos被绑着丢在路上。据信,Cavazos可能因为剔除当地警察中的腐败官员而被杀害。
南非公共部门工作人员继续进行第三天的罢工,与政府进行的薪资谈判没有取得任何进展。医院受到的影响最为严重,目前已经招募了志愿者来顶替罢工的职员。南非卫生部长Aaron Motosaledi表示,扰乱至关重要的医疗部门的人犯有谋杀罪。
英国举行庆祝活动,纪念战争领袖丘吉尔讲话七十周年。丘吉尔在讲话中赞扬了皇家空军的年轻飞行员。英国皇家空军在《不列颠之战》中广为人知。