介绍:
The United Nations general assembly has voted in favor of a motion which allows the Palestinian flag to be raised in front of UN buildings. Under the resolution, the flags of two nonmembers with observer status, Palestine and Holly See, would be able to fly alongside member states. The Palestinian representative at the UN said it was another step towards solidifying his country's status. But Israel’s UN ambassador Ron Prosor said the decision was an attempt to manipulate the United Nations. "The Palestinian managed to take cynicism to a whole new level, make no mistake; the goal of this resolution is photo op. The Palestinians want to bring together world dignitaries and the media together around, and watch Mahmoud Abbas raises flag. They plan to use the procedure of the UN as a backdrop for this shrive.”
The UN Security Council has authorized a new investigative panel aimed at tracking down those responsible for chemical weapons attacks in Syria. The team has been given the freedom to travel anywhere within Syria to carry out their inquiries. The BBC has seen evidence that more than 60 chemical attacks have been carried out in Syria over the past two years. Sebastian Usher reports.
"The continued use of chemical weapons in Syria is another failure for the international community. Two years ago, all present Assad’s capability for making the weapons were supposed to have been destroyed. The issue brought the US to the brink of launching an all-out air campaign against the Syrian president. There have been many credible reports since the use of chlorine gas by Syrian forces. The trouble is that chlorine isn’t banned. And it is easily available. The latest report for the IS has used mustard gas are equally disturbing. The militants may have attained it from the Iraqi or Syrian facilities they captured or they may even be producing that themselves.”
President Obama has instructed officials to increase the number of Syrian refugees, admitted the United States. Preparations have been made taking up to 10,000 people. Aleem Maqbool reports. "In the four years since the beginning of Syria’s conflict, America is estimated to have accepted only around 1500 refugees out of the four million also people who fled the country. There hasn’t been the same public or political clamor for change here as there has been in Europe of late. And until now, the Obama administration insisted that it was still at the forefront of dealing with the crisis through its provision of billions of dollars of funds to Syria’s neighbors. A poisonous immigration debate fears about security and a limit to funds congress has set aside for resettling refugees here have all been seen as obstacles to the US doing more.”
Footage has emerged of disturbing scenes that the Wresk migrants camp in Hungry at the border of Syria. The video shows police throwing food, pushing crowd of refugees gathered in a warehouse house building. The footage was shot by activists who told the BBC that they were not allowed contact with the refugees. World news from the BBC.
Britain's long-awaited Iraq inquiry to be published in June or July 2016
(Agencies)
Updated: 2015-10-29 19:41:18
- The chairman of a British public inquiry into the Iraq War that has been running for seven years said on Thursday he expected to publish his report mid-2016, prompting Prime Minister David Cameron to urge him to speed up the process.
The inquiry aims to shed light on every aspect of Britain's involvement with Iraq from 2001 to 2009, from the build-up to the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to the withdrawal of combat troops, and to identify lessons that can be learned.
The Iraq War, and in particular the role of former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair in leading the nation into it, are still live political issues in Britain and the inquiry has come under repeated criticism from lawmakers and relatives of those killed over how long it has taken.
"My colleagues and I estimate that we will be able to complete the text of our report in the week commencing 18 April 2016. At that point, national security checking of its contents ... can begin," John Chilcot said in a letter to Cameron published on the inquiry's website.
Chilcot said due to the length of the report - more than 2 million words - it would then take many weeks to prepare for printing, making publication in June or July most likely.
Cameron welcomed that there was now "a clear end in sight" for the inquiry, but said he was disappointed Chilcot did not believe it would logistically be possible to publish the report until next summer.
"I recognise that you have a significant task, but would welcome any further steps you can take to expedite the final stages of the inquiry," he said in a letter to Chilcot released by his office.
More resources will be provided to the inquiry team if it allows the report to be published sooner, Cameron said, adding that the government planned to take no longer than two weeks to complete the national security checking process.
Publication has been held up by so-called "Maxwellisation", a confidential process in which people who are to be criticised in the report are given advance copies so that they have a chance to defend themselves.
On Sunday, U.S. network CNN aired an interview with Blair in which he apologised for what he described as mistakes in planning and intelligence before the war, with media accusing him of trying to pre-empt the report's criticism.
Reg Keys, whose 20-year-old son Thomas was killed in Iraq, said seven years was too long.
"We, the families, believe that Sir John allowed this ridiculous Maxwellisation process to run on far too long," he told the BBC. "It went on for two years when six months would have been fine.
"All we will get now is a watered down version of all the criticisms that Sir John put to these civil servants and senior politicians."
Afghanistan-Pakistan quake
Rescue efforts are being stepped up to help those affected by the magnitude-7.5 earthquake which hit remote areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Monday.
More than 360 people are known to have died, most of them in Pakistan, and at least 2000 were injured.
Rescue teams have been sent to remote mountainous areas where the impact of the quake is still unclear.
The Taliban, which controls some areas affected, called on aid agencies “not to hold back” relief supplies.
In another development, Pakistani officials said several glaciers in the Karakoram mountain range had cracked, in one case causing a flood, but so far without loss of life.
Many people cross the region of a new quake, spent the night sleeping outside in temperatures close to freezing.
On Tuesday, the Afghan presidential palace tweeted that the death toll had risen to 115, with 538 people injured. It said that 7630 homes, 12 schools and 17 mosques were among the buildings destroyed or damaged.
In a televised address, president urged those living in affected areas to help the rescue effort.
The governor of Badakhshan province said survey teams were heading into more remote areas on Tuesday but landslides had blocked roads and helicopters were needed.
Afghan victims included 12 schoolgirls killed in a crush as they tried to leave their classes.
