英国新闻听力 74（在线收听）

BBC News with John Jason.

The United Nations says the Israel military has stepped down its offensive against the leadership of Hamas organization in Gaza, targeting the homes of about 25 Hamas officials in its latest air strikes. The UN says most of those in the firing land were warned that they were about to be hit. In response, Palestinian militants fired more than 60 rockets into southern Israel. Matthew Price reports from UN headquarters in New York.

The UN says the week-long bombardment of Gaza has worsened the humanitarian crisis there.In all it says up to 421 people may have been killed and more than 2,000 injured.

But it says it can not confirm those figures. For 18 months, the crowded coastal strip has been largely sealed off from the world. Israel has tightly controlled movement to and from Gaza ever since Hamas, the elected leaders seized military control of the territory.

In his first public address since the start of Israeli bombardment, the exile leader of Hamas Khaled Meshaal has warned against any Israeli ground offensive. Mr. Meshaal, who is based in Damascus, says a black destiny awaits Israeli forces if they invade the Gaza Strip. “Gaza will throw you into the sea of defeat, failure and bankruptcy. As for you, the soldiers of the enemy, whose commanders are preparing you to into Gaza in a landing invasion, you must know that black destiny is waiting for you and you will be either killed, injured or imprisoned.”

Iraqi police say suicide bomber blew himself after a meeting of Sunni Arab tribal leaders southern of Baghdad, killing up to 30 people. About 100 others were injured. A security spokesman says the attacker was a relative of the host and had been able to enter the house through the back door.

The first commercial fight between Europe and Iraq in at least 17 years has landed at Baghdad airport. The Swedish-based company that operates the plane says it expects to fly to the Iraqi capital once a week. The Iraqi national carrier, Iraq Airways says it hopes start flying routes to Europe within month.

European contry is beginning to feel the effects of Russian’s decision to cut gas supplies to Ukraine despite earlier Russian assurances that it wouldn’t affect them. The Czech presidency of European Union has demanded that gas supplies resume immediately to EU member states following pressure drops in Romanian, Poland and Hungary. Ferran Tarradellas, the spokesman for the EU Energy Commissioner said they will enclose consultation with Russia and Ukraine to find out why gas supplies have been reduced. “ // the real concerns of this production of the pressure because they could be caused by different reasons and we are in close contact with Ukrainians. Some Russians don’t accept what the reasons are. I have to despite that we don’t have a clear picture of that, but our consultations continue.”

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Votes are being counted in the last constituency to go to the polls in Ghana’s presidential run-off election. The governing party boycotted Friday’s ballots, saying conditions were not free and fair. The BBC correspondent in Accra says the government’s candidate Nana Akufo-Addo now has no realistic chance of winning the overall election having begun the day behind the opposition leader John Atta-Mills. President John Kufuor has urged both leaders to respect the outcome.

A Portuguese woman thought to be the oldest person in the world has died at the age of 115. Maria de Jesus was born in a deprived region of central Portugal in 1893. Rob Norris reports.

Maria de Jesus worked in the field from the age of 12 and never went to school. She remained unable to read or write for her entire life although she tried to start learning when she reached the age of 100. Her 84-year- old daughter who lived with her says she never took any medication and remained active until recently. She avoided meats and prefered to eat fish and vegetables. She enjoyed sun bathing on her porch and refused to go into an old people’s home. She outlived her husband by 57 years and had 6 children and 11 grandchildren.

The Sri Lankan government says its troops have captured the town of Kilinochchi from the Tamil Tigers rebels that had been held 10 years as the rebels’ military headquarters. President Mahinda Rajapaksa called it an unparallel victory shortly after a suicide bomber attacked the air force headquarters in the capital Colombo.

The Roman Catholic Church in Cuba says mass has been celebrated in prison for the time since the Cuban Revolution 50 years ago. Five bishops held mid-night Christmas mass for inmates in jail across the country. It’s not known whether political prisoners were allowed to attend the services. Correspondent say inmates were allowed to receive pastor visits but priests had not previously been allowed to say mass.