BBC News, this is Mike Cooper.
The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has told Israel that it faces tough choices if it's to achieve peace with the Palestinians. Speaking after a public row with Israel over planned Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian territory, Mrs Clinton said the status quo was unsustainable, and negotiations on a two-state solution were the only way forward.
"It will take direct negotiations between the parties to work through all the issues and end the conflict. United States stands ready to play an active and sustained role in these talks and to support the parties as they work to resolve permanent status issues including security, borders, refugees and Jerusalem."
Meanwhile, an Israeli soldier has been shot dead by colleagues on the Gaza border. An army spokesman said one of the group of soldiers opened fire on another after mistaking them for Palestinians who'd illegally crossed the border into Israel.
President Hamid Karzai has held peace talks with a delegation from Afghanistan's second biggest militant group Hezb-e-Islami. Mr Karzai's spokesman said he had yet to respond to a tentative peace plan offered at the talks two days ago. Quentin Sommerville reports from Kabul.
The two sides have been in contact before, but this is the highest profile meeting yet significantly taking place in the capital city Kabul. There's a growing recognition both within Afghanistan and from its foreign partners that insurgents have to be a part of any peace settlement and that the ongoing military operation alone won't be enough to bring peace to the country. President Karzai is expected to hold a peace jirga, a gathering of tribal leaders sometime next month.
The Internet giant Google says it's making uncensored access to its search engine available to users in China despite opposition from the authorities. Google has been resisting official limitations on use of its site in China where the government accuses it of seeking to impose American values. Now Chinese users have been redirected to a Google site in Hong Kong with full search facilities. Maggie Shiels is in San Francisco.
Google says it had stopped censoring its search services on Google China as it had said it would back in January following the cyber attacks on the Gmail accounts of dozens of human rights activists connected with China. The search giant said attempts over the last year to further limit free speech on the web in China had led Google to conclude that it could no longer continue censoring results as required by Chinese law. In a blog post(n.) today, the company's chief legal officer David Drummond pointed out that the Chinese government had been crystal clear throughout discussions that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement.
The former American presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush are in Haiti as part of efforts to raise funds for the earthquake-stricken nation. Mr Bush and Mr Clinton toured streets of the shattered capital Port-au-Prince and visited ten cities where tens of thousands of homeless survivors are living.
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The French President Nicolas Sarkozy has reshuffled his cabinet following a humiliating defeat in regional elections. Mr Sarkozy sacked his Labour Minister Xavier Darcos and introduced some key right-wing figures into the government. The BBC's Paris correspondent says it's an attempt to appease the old conservative guard which has felt overlooked.
The British government says it may be necessary to delay publication of a long-awaited report into the killing of 14 demonstrators by British troops in Northern Ireland in 1972. The report which has been completed will now be vetted for security issues.The minister responsible for Northern Ireland Shaun Woodward acknowledged that the process might not be finished before the general election which is expected this May.
The international body that regulates trade in endangered species has rejected requests by Tanzania and Zambia to change the protected status of African elephants, so their ivory can be sold. The United Nations convention also refused Tanzania permission to sell a stockpile of 90 tons of ivory. From Doha, Adam Mynott reports.
In lengthy and occasionally spirited debates, moves by the two African countries to change the protected status of elephants were defeated. The two African countries wanted to use the proceeds of the sale to improve conservation, but opponents led by 23 other African countries and environmental groups argue that the legal sale of ivory serves mainly to encourage a market in elephant tasks, and this in turn leads to poaching which has been on the increase in Africa in the past five to ten years.
A United Nations report to mark World Water Day says dirty water is killing more people than all forms of violence including war. Two million tons of waste are discharged daily into rivers and seas, spreading disease and damaging eco-systems. The waste water is described as a cocktail of fertilizers, sewage and waste.
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美国国务卿希拉里·克林顿告诉以色列,如果要与巴勒斯坦人取得和平,他们面临艰难的选择。与以色列就在巴勒斯坦领土建筑定居点的计划进行公开的争吵之后,希拉里表示,现在的状况是难以为继的,对两国方案进行探讨是唯一的解决方法。
“双方必须进行直接协商来解决所有问题,终止冲突。美国做好充分准备在这些对话中发挥积极和持续的作用,在双方致力于解决永久性的问题,例如安全,边境,难民和耶路撒冷等问题时支持他们。”
同时,一名以色列士兵在加沙边境地带被其同事枪杀。一名军方发言人表示,一名士兵误认为另外一名士兵是非法穿越边境进入以色列的巴勒斯坦人,开枪将其击毙。
卡尔扎伊与阿富汗第二大反政府武装组织“伊斯兰协会”(Hezb-e-Islami)举行和平会谈。卡尔扎伊的发言人表示,两天前的会谈提出了试验性的和平计划,卡尔扎伊还没有做出回应。Quentin Sommerville在喀布尔报道。
此前双方也曾经进行联系,但是至此为止,这是在首都喀布尔进行的最为高调的会谈。阿富汗及其外国合作伙伴逐渐认识到,反叛分子必须是任何和平解决办法的一部分。持续不断的军事行动不可能为国家带来和平。预期下月卡尔扎伊总统将召开族长和平会议,与部落首领进行会谈。
互联网巨头谷歌公司宣布,尽管官方反对,他们将为中国的搜索引擎用户提供未经审核的搜索结果。谷歌一直反对中国对其互联网使用的限制,而中国则指控谷歌企图灌输美国的价值观。现在,中国的用户已经被重新连接到设置在香港的谷歌网址,享受全面的搜索服务功能。Maggie Shiels在洛杉矶报道。
谷歌表示,他们将停止对谷歌中国搜索服务的审查。一月份,数十名与中国相关的人权活动家的Gmail账户受到网络攻击之后谷歌层宣布退出中国。该搜索巨头表示,去年在网络言论自由方面进行了一年多努力之后得出结论,谷歌不能再按照中国法律的要求继续对搜索结果进行审查。在今天的网络博客中,该公司首席司法官David Drummond指出,通过商讨,中国政府已经非常明白,自我审查是不可妥协的法律要求。
美国前总统比尔·克林顿和乔治·布什前往海地,为这个被地震摧毁的国家筹集资金。布什和克林顿在疮痍满目的首都太子港巡回,并走访了数十万无家可归的幸存者居住的十个城市。
BBC世界新闻。
在区域选举中遭遇屈辱性的挫败之后,法国总统萨科齐改组内阁。萨科齐解雇了劳工部长Xavier Darcos,而是将一些关键的右翼人物安插入政府。BBC驻巴黎记者表示,此举是为了安抚那些自我感觉被忽视的保守派卫士。
1972年,14名示威者在北爱尔兰被英国军队杀害,英国政府称,有必要推迟宣布对该事件等待已久的调查结果。这份已经完成的报告现在将要接受安全问题检查。负责北爱尔兰问题的部长Shaun Woodward表示,该过程在5月份的大选之前不会完成。
坦桑尼亚和赞比亚要求更改对非洲象的保护状态,这样他们的象牙就可以出售。负责管理濒危物种贸易的国际机构驳回了他们的要求。联合国大会还拒绝了坦桑尼亚出售90吨库存象牙的要求。多哈,Adam Mynott报道。
在漫长的,偶尔激烈的辩论中,两个非洲国家企图更改对非洲象的保护状态的行为遭遇挫败。这两个非洲国家希望利用继续销售的行为改善保护状况,但是由23个其他非洲国家和环保组织领导的反对者辩称,象牙的销售主要为猎象任务市场服务,这会进一步导致非法偷猎现象。在过去的五到十年,非洲的偷猎活动不断滋长。
联合国纪念世界水日的一份报告表示,污水造成的死亡人数多于其他任何形式的暴力,包括战争在内。全世界每天向河流和海洋中倾倒两百吨废物,不断传播疾病,破坏生态系统。废水被描述为肥料,污水和垃圾的混合物。