英国新闻听力 75（在线收听）

BBC News with Nick Kelly.

Israeli troops have entered the Gaza Strip in what their government says is an operation to take control of the areas Palestinian militants used to launch rockets into Israel. Witnesses say armed vehicles crossed into northern Gaza in at least three places supported by helicopters. Both Israel and Hamas say clashes were taking place. Tim Franks reports from Jerusalem.

The ground offensive began with a barrage of artillery thumping into the areas to the north and the east of the Gaza Strip. Within a few hours, columns of Israeli armed vehicles crossed into Gaza at what appeared to be four separate points. They were backed by helicopters and with warnings from the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak that Israel’s campaign will not, as he put it ,“be easy or short”. The Israeli prime minister spokesman insisted that Israel had no desire to stage a full reoccupation of the Gaza Strip. He said that Israel did not withdraw its civilians and its military in 2005 in order to return in the New Year in 2009.

An Israeli army spokesman said the aim was to deliver a harsh blow to Hamas so it would loose the motivation to carry on new rocket attacks. Hamas fighters say they were engaging Israeli troops who they said would pay a heavy price. The BBC’s Rushdi Abu Alouf is in Gaza.

We could hear from here not far from the north fighting. It’s going on Israeli the artillery fired on the Israeli, Apache (a helicopter) are flying over our heads and sending rockets between time to time to cover the troops on the ground. The Hamas source so far is talking about blowing up Israeli tanks in the north and killing and injuring a number of Israeli soldiers. So far, we have no independent a source who can tell us the truth in the north because it’s very dangerous area and we keep hearing the news from Hamas Sources and from the Israeli army.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has called for an immediate halt to the Israeli ground assault in Gaza. Matthias Price sent this report from the UN in New York.

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon spoke earlier with Israel’s prime minister. He conveyed his extreme concern and disappointment about the Israeli ground operation into Gaza. Mr. Ban said he is convinced that this escalation will increase the suffering of Gaza civilians. He called for an immediate end to the ground operation. He asked that Israel do all it can to ensure the protection of civilians. He also stated that the developments of the last 24 hours make it even more difficult to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

The UN Security Council is due to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis about now. France called the Israeli ground offensive a dangerous escalation and Britain said it would cause alarm and dismay. But the Czech Republic, the current president of the European Union said it considered Israel’s operation to be more defensive in nature than offensive.

World News from the BBC

The presidential election in Ghana has been won narrowly by the opposition candidate John Atta Mills. The Ghana’s Electoral Commission said that after final delayed vote in one constituency, the governing party candidate Nana Akufo-Addo had lost by less than half a percentage point. Our correspondent Will Ross reports from the capital Accra.

As soon as the chair of Ghana’s Electoral Commission declared John Atta Mills, the president-elect, his supporters started dancing in the streets wearing the white, black red and green party colors. Nana Akufo-Addo said he had congratulated his rival, but his party was considering challenging the final result in court. It has been a divisive election, but on a continent plagued by chaotic polls, Ghana is still setting a good example.

A French Foreign Ministry official has arrived in Guinea where he’s meeting the group of junior soldiers who seized power in the country nearly two weeks ago. He is the first senior Western diplomat to go to Guinea since the coup which took place within hours of the death of the country’s long-term President Lansana Conte. That coup has been internationally condemned and Guinea was suspended from the African Union.

In the American state of Arizona, a 12-year-old boy has been found guilty of murdering his mother. The judge ruled that prosecutors have proved that the boy acted intentionally and with premeditation when he shot his mother 8 times in a domestic argument. Prosecutors have wanted the child to be trialed as an adult. Under Arizona law, he can be detained only until he becomes 18. He’s due to be sentenced later this month.

And the Russian state gas company Gazprom says it will take its Ukrainian counterpart to court to ensure gas supplies for Europe. Ukraine had warned that technical problems might disrupt the flow of gas through pipelines across its territory. Russia and Ukraine are in dispute over unpaid bills and the price of gas. Four EU countries have already reported false in their supplies.

And that’s the latest, BBC News.