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听力文稿 ( Transcript )
European Union countries say they'll provide up to 7, 000 troops for the enlarged United Nations force which is being set up to help enforce the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon. The announcement was made after talks between EU foreign ministers and the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Speaking after the meeting in Brussels, Mr Annan gave details of how the force might be put together.
We are approaching this in 3 phases. The first phase we would want to get in about 3000 to 4000 men very quickly in the next few days or a week, and then we will have a second and a third phase to complete our deployment.
France will send nearly 2, 000 extra soldiers with Italy providing some 3, 000. The plan is to have many of the troops in place within a week. However, the BBC European Affairs correspondent says that one aspect of the plan may spell future trouble; the Europeans have given up the key goal of disarming Hezbollah fighters. This is to be left to the Lebanese army.
The American State Department has begun an investigation into whether Israel violated agreements with the United States by using cluster bombs in civilian areas in Lebanon. A White House official said the investigation would focus on whether American-made weapons were deliberately used against non-military targets. Nick Miles reports from Washington.
Washington has supplied Israel with cluster bombs since the 1970s on the understanding that they would only be used against defined military targets. The bombs open up to spread hundreds of smaller explosive devices over a wide area, many of them fail to detonate when they land only to explode later, often killing civilians. Earlier this week, the United Nations Mine Action Coordination Centre released a report suggesting that unexploded bomblets from US-made weapons have been found in 250 locations across southern Lebanon. They've killed 8 people and injured a further 30. The US State Department investigation will try to find out whether Israel intentionally dropped cluster bombs in civilian areas.
A court in San Francisco in the United States has jailed the former Ukrainian Prime Pavlo Lazarenko for money laundering, fraud and corruption while in office. Mr. Lazarenko was sentenced to 9 years and a fine of 10 million dollars. He'd been under house arrest on bail since being convicted in 2004. Prosecutors said Mr. Lazarenko had misused his position as prime minister to generate millions of dollars for himself at the expense of his fellow Ukrainians.
You are listening to the World News from the BBC.
Residents of Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria say government troops have set fire to hundreds of slum houses, forcing hundreds of people to flee. They say the soldiers became angry after one of their colleagues was shot dead by armed militants during the kidnapping of several foreign workers at a nearby oil terminal. A military spokesman said the army was not responsible for the fires. Our BBC correspondent in Port Harcourt says soldiers have been seen abusing local residents.
The police in Austria say DNA tests have confirmed that a young woman who escaped from her kidnapper this week was definitely Natasha Kampusch, who disappeared 8 years ago and was given up for dead. Natasha, who was 10 when she was abducted, has already been identified by her parents. The Austrian Minister of Interior Affairs G. H confirmed the woman's identity.
The probability of a second person, having the same DNA profile as the first, is one in 23 billion. For us, that's proved that the girl who was found on Wednesday is Natasha Kampusch.
The Austrian police are also checking whether the kidnapper who killed himself by jumping in front of a train after the girl fled had an accomplice.
The International Cricket Council or ICC has disclosed that the umpire at the centre of a test match row Darrell Hair has written to offer his resignation in return for payment of 500 thousand dollars. Mr. Hair was one of the umpires in a match between England and Pakistan that ended controversially on Sunday amid allegations of cheating by the Pakistan team. Kevin Gearey reports.
By revealing that Darrell Hair had offered to resign in exchange for a considerable sum of money after playing a key role in Pakistan's forfeiture at the final Test match against England last Sunday, the ICC has effectively made him the first umpire in cricket history to dismiss himself. It's almost inconceivable that he should ever stand again in an international match. Though the ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed did say he felt Mr. Hair had no dishonest or malicious intents. He conceded his actions were open to other interpretations. A full hearing into the disrepute in ball tampering charges against Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq has now been deferred and his team's tour will continue.
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