BBC News:法国总统对美国进行全面国事访问
The United Nations says that both sides in the Syrian city of Homs have agreed to a three-dayextension of a ceasefire as the further 300 residents were evacuated today. The UN aid chiefValerie Amos said that she was deeply disappointed that the warring parties had fails to fullyabide by the previous humanitarian pause. Jim Muir has this report.
The three-day humanitarian pause initially agreed by both sides for the relief operation atHoms expired on Sunday. There hasn't been an official announcement that it has beenextended for another three days. But the UN Humanitarian Affairs chief Valerie Amos haswelcomed the reports that it has been. And on the ground, efforts are going ahead on thatassumption, with the governor of Homs announcing the evacuation of hundreds morewomen, children and elderly. Valerie Amos said that many of those them who left earlier,appeared traumatized and weak after enduring many months of siege, under bombardmentand with little food or medical care.
With more details of the humanitarian operation, here's our chief international correspondentLyse Doucet in the Damascus.
Today, a tide of people continue to flee the ruins of the old city of Homs. Elderly men andwomen on stretchers or crutches, exhausted mothers in tears. Children who went straight intothe arms of waiting aid officials from the UN and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society. Water,bread even polio vaccinations were provided on the spot. The old city is controlled by rebelforces and it's been cut off by Syrian government troops. Many residents who finally escapedspeak of having only grass and olives to eat.
The UN special representative to the Central African Republic General Babacar Gaye has calledfor urgent action to stop the spiraling violence which he says is tearing the country apart.General Gaye told the BBC that everyone was living in fear due to the lack of state authorityand security.
“You have several type of violence entail country into violence, you have bounded to them,you have politically related violence. We cannot wait anymore, so is the need to take actionbecause today aid venue is leaving under fear, and not so under dire needs. So, this is thesituation.”
The former Congolese rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda has appeared at the International CriminalCourt in the Hague after 7 years on the run and one year in custody. Prosecutors told the courtthat he ordered troops to kill and rape civilians in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo adecade ago. General Ntaganda has denied the charges.
The Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has ordered an investigation into the case of acameraman who received catastrophic head injuries during an anti-government protest onThursday in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Santiago Andrade was declared brain dead today.
BBC News
The French President Francois Hollande has arrived in the United States at he start of the firstfull state visit there by a French president in nearly 20 years. From Washington, Jane O'Brien.
President Hollande will begin his visit with the relaxing trip to Monticello, the historic homes ofThomas Jefferson, America's third president. He will meet there with President Obama informallybefore tomorrow's state dinner at the White House. The conflict in Syria, Iran's nuclearambitions and climate change are all expected to feature in talks. But the focus for Mr. Hollandeis business. On Wednesday, he will travel to California Silicon Valley for discussions with topexecutives from Google, Facebook, Twitter and other internet giants. But although Francewants to create new partnerships, it also also wants such companies to pay tax on French soil.
Hundreds of homes along the River Thames in southern England are being evacuated after theriver burst its banks and swept into villages and towns, west of London. More details in thisreport from Rob Broomby.
The normally steady flowing Thames has become in places a swirling, brown lake, engulfinggardens, fields and gulf courses alike. The Prime Minister David Cameron has said everythingthat can be done is being done. But his government and the agency responsible for floodprotection have been treated in punches over who was most to blame for the lack ofpreparedness. The police have already called this a major incident. And with more rainexpected, the flooding could get worse before it gets better.
The British parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favor of a ban on people smoking in carswhen children are present. The vote gives the government the power to introduce such a ban inEngland and Whales. Ministers are expected now to decide whether to do so. Bans on smokingin cars carrying children already exist in some countries including Australia, South Africa and inthe United States.
BBC World News.
