http://192.168.2.6/english/20061224BBC.mp3

【整理】BBC 2006-12-24
The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has held talks with the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem, their first formal meeting. Israel said it was willing to release a hundred million dollars of Palestinian tax revenues for humanitarian reasons providing a mechanism could be found to bypass the Hamas government. It's withheld about six times that amount since Hamas was elected in March. Miri Eisin is a spokeswoman for the Israeli government.

We are looking for a mechanism as the international community is and we're trying to do it now as quickly as possible so that the money will arrive at the Palestinian people. It just won't go through the Hamas-led government.

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders also discussed a possible prisoner exchange and ways of reviving the peace process. There was no immediate breakthrough but both sides agreed to keep talking. Iran has said it will press ahead with its uranium enrichment program despite the decision by the United Nation Security Council to impose sanctions over the country's nuclear plans. The Iranian foreign minister said the Security Council couldn't limit what he described as Iran's peaceful nuclear activities. The Security Council resolution demands an end to uranium enrichment by Iran and bans the supply of nuclear technology and materials. The British ambassador to the UN Sir Emyr Jones Parry said he hopes the vote will make Iran reconsider its intentions.

It's a very strong message, and when implemented, this will have, I think, a significant deterrent impact on any wishes to develop military nuclear programme.

Sudan says its officials will meet on Tuesday to put into effect the first phase of expanding the current African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur to take in United Nations troops. A Sudanese government spokesman told the BBC the expansion agreement showed his country's commitment to peace.

In a new twist in the bitter row between Nigeria's top two politicians, the government in Abuja has announced that President Obasanj is seeking a replacement for his Vice President Atiku Abubakar. The governing party in Nigeria, the People's Democratic Party, said on Friday if it was expelling the vice president from his ranks, it also called for him to be dismissed from his government post. James Copnall reports.

The spokesman for President Olusegun Obasanjo declared that Vice President Atiku Abubakar had technically resigned when he was named a presidential candidate for an opposition party. On Wednesday Mr. Abubakar was given the nomination of the opposition Action Congress for the presidential elections due in April. Mr. Abubakar is certain to disagree with President Obasanjo's verdict. Further struggle for power in Nigeria has taken a dangerous new turn.

The new American Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been briefing President Bush about his recent trip to Iraq. On his return to Washington he said he believed Iraqi political leaders had concrete plans for taking over security and, as he put it, dealing with Shiite Muslim militias.

World news from the BBC.

The United Nation Security Council has unanimously passed a resolution condemning attacks on journalists in war zones. The resolution said armies and insurgent groups should do their utmost to prevent crimes against journalists and associated media personnel.

The United Nations General Assembly has approved a plan for the renovation of the organization's headquarters in New York at a cost of almost 1. 9 billion dollars. The United Nations Compound was built more than 50 years ago and now has a leaking roof, is riddled with asbestos and lacks security devices such as fire detectors or sprinkler systems. The project would be financed by increases in the dues paid by United Nations member states.

The president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has threatened to stop importing gas from Russia after the Russian state-backed company Gazprom announced it will more than double the price of supplies. Gazprom says the new price reflects market rates. Matthew Collin reports from the region.

President Aliyev said the suggested price rise was unsavoury and went against the spirit of Azeri-Russian relations. Azerbaijan is an ally of the United States but it also tried to maintain good relations with Moscow. Gazprom is more than doubling the price of the gas it supplies to certain former soviet republics but others like Armenia, which had sold parts of its energy system to Russia, will be charged less.

The funeral is taking place in a few hours of the late president of Turkmenistan Saparmurat Niyazov, who died on Thursday. Mr. Niyazov who liked to be known as Turkmen Bashi or father of all Turkmens ruled with absolute authority for more than 20 years. After lying in state at the presidential palace in the capital Ashkhabad, his body is to be taken for burial in his home village. Tight security is enforced ahead of the ceremonies.

BBC world news

Words and Expressions:
unsavoury - If you describe a person, place, or thing as unsavoury, you mean that you find them unpleasant or morally unacceptable.