BBC News:南非总统取消印尼访问
The South African President, Jacob Zuma, has visited a makeshift camp near Durban, where more than a thousand migrant workers have fled to escape a wave of violence against foreigners. At least 6 people have been killed in the past 2 weeks. From Johannesburg, Karen Allenreports.
“President Jacob Zuma's decision to cancel a state visit to Indonesia and address foreigners, who've found themselves the focus of violent attacks, was a clear attempt to rebuff criticism that he's appeared detached from the troubles of recent weeks. Visiting a vast makeshift camp near the eastern city of Durban, the area where the violence initially flared up, he's struck a conciliatory tone. He told some of the migrants, more than a thousand of them who've fled their homes in fear of their lives, that it was not the South African way to treat foreign nationals with hostility. He said it was a minority that was causing trouble, but it was heckled by some of the crowd, who's said his visit was too little, too late, and they were planning to leave South Africa altogether.”
Pope Francis has urged the world to do more to help the thousand of migrants making the dangerous crossing by sea from North Africa to Europe. His appeal follows the deaths of more than four hundred people whose boat sank in the Mediterranean this week. David Willey reports from Rome.
“Pope Francis said the size of the problem created by the spurt in the number of arrivals requires much broader involvement by Brussels and northern E.U. countries. We must never relax our efforts to seek a more extensive commitment on the European and international level, he said. He thanked Italians for their lifesaving operations, conducted by the Navy and Coastguard during the recent search in the number of people from Africa and the Middle East attempting to reach Italian territory on overcrowded and rickety boats, mainly from Libya.”
The authorities in the Indian capital, Delhi, have appointed the city's first woman bus driver. The appointment of 30-year-old Vankadarath Saritha comes at a time of growing public anger about the sexual harassment of women on public transport in Delhi. Here's Abhinatha Etirajian.
“Driving a passenger bus trough congested roads of Delhi is not an easy task, and men have always considered it to be their domain. Ms. Saritha's appointment marks a new beginning for the Delhi Transport Corporation, which operates more than five thousand buses. Ms. Saritha said she would ensure that all female passengers traveling in her bus would have a safe journey. Transport officials hope the move will inspire other women to choose driving as a career.”
The authorities in India-administered Kashmir have ordered an investigation into the death of a teenage boy during clashes with security forces. The teenager was killed when police opened fire to disperse stone-throwing demonstrators during a second day of protests against the arrest of a separatist leader. The news of the teenager's killing sparked more demonstrations in the Kashmir Valley. World news from the BBC.
The United Nations Envoy to Libya has condemned the latest breakup of violence in the country. Bernardino Leon said that as representatives of Libya's factions were currently, in Morocco, ready to resume efforts to find a negotiated settlement, there could be no justification for the clashes. The fighting in Tripoli has left more than a dozen people dead.
One of the President Putin's closest allies, Belarussian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, has said he will not attend this year's victory day parade in Moscow, in what's being interpreted as a snub to the Russian leader. The event next month marks the 70th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War and is one of the highlights of the Kremlin's political calendar this year.
The U.N. Mission in Mali says two of its drivers have been shot dead near the city of Gao. Another person was wounded in this attack on a convoy transporting supplies for U.N. peacekeepers. There have been a number of attacks by suspected Islamic State militants in recent weeks.
A majestic replica of a French warship that sailed the Atlantic to help in the American War of Independence is retracing the journey it made in 1780. The ship, L’Hermione, took about 17 years to build at the cost of some 30 million dollars. Hugh Schofield reports.
“The young volunteer crew of the L’Hermione sing a sea chantey for President Hollande. On the last day before leaving on its 6-week transatlantic voyage, there were festivities and speeches on the ill decks near La Rochelle. The President said that the ship was proof for what France could still achieve in the world. The original L’Hermione was the frigate which carried the Marquis de Lafayette on his mission of support for the American rebels. Next stop for the L’Hermione, York Town, seen of the English surrender to the Americans and their French allies in 1781.”
BBC News.
