BBC News with Jerry Smit.
The police chief of the US city of Ferguson is to resign. Thomas Jackson has been criticized by many activists following the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by
one of his officers in August. Kim Ghattas reports from Washington.
“Police Chief Thomas Jackson was one of the two officials whose behavior was highlighted IN a scaling report by the department of justice last week. The report was
prompted by the fatal shooting of 18-year old Michael Brown by a white policeman last summer. It alleged racial bias in the city police department and court system and
outlined ways in which the police and courts functioned as a money-making enterprise, mostly targeting the city’s African American population. Mr. Jackson has so far
resisted calls to step down over his handling of the shooting of the unarmed black teenager and weeks of protests that followed.”
America’s top General says there is no doubt that Iraqi forces will drive Islamic state militants out of Tikrit. But General Martin Dempsey expresses concern over how
Sunni inhabitants of the city would then be treated. Shia militias make up a large part of the government forces attacking Tikrit. As Paul Adams reports.
“This is not the government’s first attempt to retake Tikrit, but this operation now 10 days old does seem to be the most concerted efforts so far and it’s entering
a critical phase 3,000 government troops backed by around 20,000 Shia militiamen and much smaller forces of Sunni tribesmen are now reported to have entered one of
Tikrit’s northern neighborhoods Qadisiya. The city is more or less sealed off, but it is not clear if street fighting has really begun in earnest. An Iraqi major who
declined to give his name for security reasons said his forces started advancing early this morning, moving towards the center of Tikrit from four locations.”
Defense officials in the United States say Washington is to send more non-lethal military aid to Ukraine. The package will include drones and unarmed military jeeps.
The US has also imposed sanctions on eight separatist leaders on a Russian Bank following claims by the secretary general of NATO Jens Stoltenberg that Moscow is
continuing to equip and train rebels in eastern Ukraine, a point echoed by the White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
“There continues to be evidence that Russia is continuing to transfer weapons and material across the border into Ukraine in support of separatists in eastern
Ukraine. And there are continued reports that Russia backed separatists are preventing OSCE monitors from getting access to those areas of the country that are
necessary to verify compliant with Minsk Implementation plan.”
A British military healthcare worker has tested positive for Ebola while working in Sierra Leone. It is believed the patient is a woman and her condition is being
assessed before any decision is made about flying her back to Britain for treatment.
World News from the BBC.
A leading conservative opponent of the Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos has questioned the decision to suspend for one month aerial bombing attacks on Farc
guerrillas. The move is intended to help peace talks underway in Havana, but the Colombian Procurator General Alhandor Dones said it would paralyze the arm forces
while Farc continued to attack civilians.
Cuba has re-established direct telephone links with the United States for the first time in 15 years. It is the first agreement signed between Cuban and American
companies since the announcement last December that both states will renew diplomatic ties after more than 50 years of hostility. Will Grant reports from Havana.
“A key part of the decision by the Obama administration to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba was to help boost telecommunications on the island. In the long term it
is hoped in Washington that would mean greater internet access. But for now it has at least brought a direct telephone connection between the two countries. Previously
calls were rated by a third countries driving out of the cost of a call to the US from Cuba and making it prohibitively expensive for ordinary Cubans.”
The American space agency NASA has made the first testifying of the world’s most powerful solar fuel rocket that it hopes will propel a man mission to Mars in the
2030s. NASA said a low temperature firing of the 54 meter-long booster known as the space launch system performed flawlessly. It was anchored horizontally for the test
carried out in Utah.
France has formally objected to a Belgian proposal for the design of a coin commemorating the 200th anniversary of the battle of waterloo on the grounds that it risks
undermining the unity of the euro zone. Officials say the two euro coin is a negative symbol, they could cause hostile reactions in France at a time when governments
across Europe are trying to increase cooperation.