BBC News with Neil Nunes
At least six American soldiers have died in a suicide attack in Afghanistan. They were at a checkpoint near Kandahar when a vehicle laden with explosives was detonated. US forces have been engaged in a three-month offensive against the Taliban in the surrounding area. From Kabul, here's Paul Wood.
The small van packed with explosives was driven into a checkpoint jointly manned by the Afghan army and American troops. According to one eyewitness, the wall of a mud compound then collapsed, burying a number of the American troops. This attack brings to almost 700 the number of foreign troops killed so far in 2010, by far the bloodiest year in the nine-year campaign by international forces in Afghanistan.
Iranian politicians have criticised Britain's ambassador to Tehran for drawing attention to concerns about human rights in Iran. They accused the ambassador Simon Gass of breaching diplomatic protocol. They called for his expulsion and for Iran's ties with Britain to be downgraded. Jon Leyne has this report.
Britain's ambassador to Tehran Simon Gass highlighted what he said were a series of abuses in Iran. In a post on the embassy website to mark International Human Rights Day, nowhere were human rights under greater threat than (in) Iran, he said. And he highlighted the case of the human rights lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, who faces trial for acting against national security. In response, one Iranian MP said the ambassador should learn the diplomatic code of conduct; another MP highlighted what he said was suppression of university students in London in recent days.
British police have arrested a 21-year-old man suspected of causing criminal damage to the national war memorial, the Cenotaph. A man was photographed swinging from the British flag at the Cenotaph in London last week during protests against higher university tuition fees. The suspect is thought to be Charlie Gilmour, the son of the guitarist, David Gilmour, from the band Pink Floyd. He has apologised for his actions.
The Sri Lankan cabinet has abolished the Tamil version of the country's national anthem, saying it must be sung now only in the language of the Sinhalese majority. The Tamil version had been in use mainly in the north and east where most Tamils live. Here's Marianne Landzettel from our South Asia desk.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa said to have a version in Sinhala and Tamil was a shortcoming that needed to be rectified. Everyone should think of Sri Lanka as one country. The decision comes 18 months after the civil war ended with the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels, who fought for an independent Tamil state. The Tamil anthem was an exact translation of the Sinhala version, sung to the same tune, and had been in use since Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948.
World News from the BBC in London
A study by Canadian scientists says people in Africa are brimming with clever and cheap ideas to solve health problems but rarely get the support they need to make them a success. The scientists say it's not just a question of money, as Simon Ponsford reports.
When it comes to health innovations, says the study, Africa's got talent. The trouble is many of the brightest ideas are left languishing in the labouratory. In Ghana, for example, there's a simple test to diagnose a parasitic disease that's prevalent across Africa and a herbal medicine for malaria; Nigeria has an effective drug for tackling sickle-cell anaemia. But such innovations have not been nurtured and have failed to become commercial products. Homegrown scientists and entrepreneurs have the answer, says the study. With the right backing they could save millions of African lives.
An exit poll in Kosovo indicates that the Democratic Party led by the Prime Minister Hashim Thaci is ahead of its rivals in Sunday's parliamentary elections, but the poll also suggested that Mr Thaci was unlikely to win an overall majority. The election was the first since Kosovo and its ethnic Albanian majority declared independence from Serbia almost three years ago. Election officials said barely any votes were cast in Serbian areas of the north.
Some of the Chilean miners rescued in October after two months trapped underground have arrived in England to watch a football match. They are guests of Manchester United for their Premier League game against Arsenal on Monday. Ed Thomas reports.
Even after an 18-hour journey, there were plenty of smiles when the miners got off the plane. Tonight the miners had dinner with Sir Bobby Charlton at Old Trafford. Tomorrow they'll meet Manchester United players before watching the game from a director's box. How life has changed for the men who used to earn $800 a month at the San Jose mine!
BBC News
至少6名美国士兵在阿富汗发生的自杀式袭击中遇难。他们当时正在坎大哈附近一个检查点执勤,一辆装满炸药的车辆被引爆。美国军队正在周边地区参与为期三个月的打击塔利班分子的活动。喀布尔,Paul Wood报道。
这辆装满炸药的小型火车被开到由阿富汗军队和美国军队共同管理的检查点。据一名目击者称,检查点的一面泥墙倒塌,美国一名军人被埋在下面。这次袭击造成2010年目前为止在阿富汗遇难的外国士兵人数上升到接近700人。这是国际联合部队在阿富汗开展行动以来最为血腥的一年。
伊朗政客批评英国驻德黑兰大使引起人们对伊朗人权状况的注意。他们指责Simon Gass大使违反了外交礼仪。他们呼吁将Simon Gass驱逐,并将伊朗与英国的外交关系降级。Jon Leyne报道。
英国驻德黑兰大使Simon Gass强调说,他所说的是伊朗一系列虐待时间。在致纪念国际人权日的大使馆网页的信函中,他说伊朗的人权状况比其他任何地方更加具有威胁性。他强调了人权律师Nasrin Sotoudeh的案件,此人正因采取不利于国家安全的行动而面临审判。作为回应,伊朗一名议员表示,这位大使应该学习外交行为准则;另外一名议员则提到了他所说的最近几天伦敦镇压大学生的活动。
英国警方逮捕了一名涉嫌损坏阵亡将士纪念碑的21岁男子。上周,在反对大学学费上涨的抗议活动期间,有人拍照拍到一名男子在伦敦阵亡将士纪念碑的英国国旗上摇晃。嫌疑人据信是摇滚乐团平克·弗洛伊德(Pink Floyd)吉他手David Gilmour的养子Charlie Gilmour。他已经为自己的行为道歉。
斯里兰卡内阁宣布塔米尔版的国歌作废,称国歌现在只能用多数派的僧伽罗语演唱。塔米尔版本的国歌主要在大部分塔米尔人居住的北部和东部演唱。Marianne Landzettel在南亚办事处报道。
斯里兰卡总统马欣达·拉贾帕克萨(Mahinda Rajapaksa)表示,同时拥有僧伽罗语和塔米尔语的国歌是一种缺陷,必须进行纠正。每个人都应该将斯里兰卡视为一个国家。该决定在内战结束18个月之后做出。塔米尔猛虎组织希望能够成立独立的塔米尔国家,内战以他们的失败告终。塔米尔版本的国歌完全是翻译僧伽罗语,音调完全相同,自1948年斯里兰卡独立以来一直付诸使用。
BBC世界新闻。
加拿大科学家进行的一项研究表明,非洲人有很多聪明且成本低廉的想法能够解决健康问题,但是却没有所需的支持。科学家表示,这并不只是钱的问题。Simon Ponsford报道。
该研究称,在健康创新方面,非洲人非常有才华。问题是,这些非常聪明的想法只是停留在实验室。例如,在加纳,有一种诊断在非洲非常普遍的寄生虫疾病的方法和治疗疟疾的草本药物。尼日利亚有一种治疗镰状细胞贫血的有效药物。但是这些创新没有受到鼓励,没有成为商业化产品。该研究称,本土的科学家和企业家拥有答案。如果有了相应的支持,他们能够整个数百万非洲人的生命。
科索沃一项民意调查显示,周日的议会选举中,由总理萨奇领导的民主党领先于对手,然而,调查还发现,萨奇不可能赢得大多数人的支持。
这是自科索沃与其阿尔巴尼亚少数民族三年前从塞尔维亚宣布独立以来的首次选举。选举官方表示塞尔维亚北部地区几乎没有人投弃权票。
在曼彻斯特联队的邀请下,受困于地下两个月后获救的部分智利矿工现已到达英格兰,观看曼彻斯特联队与阿塞纳尔球队的英格兰足球顶级联赛。ED 托马斯报道。
尽管经历了18小时航程,下了飞机的矿工们仍是笑容满面,今晚他们与鲍比.查尔顿先生在老特拉福德球场曼联主场用餐。明天将与曼彻斯特联队队员们见面,随后将在导演席上观看比赛。对于这些以前在圣何塞矿场每月挣800美元的矿工们来说,生活发生了多么不可思议的转变啊!