BBC news 2009-10-02 加文本

BBC 2009-10-02


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BBC News with Michael Poles.

The United Nations says at least 1,100 people were killed in the huge earthquake that struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Wednesday. A large number of people are still believed to be trapped under rubble and the UN humanitarian chief John Holmes says the number of fatalities is likely to rise. Karishma Vaswani is in one of the worst affected cities, Padang.

As every hour passes, the scale of this disaster becomes all too clear. Dozens of homes and office buildings have collapsed in the city of Padang. A restaurant frequented by young college students is now a pile of rubble. Officials say at least 60 people are trapped underneath. Scenes like this are repeated all across Padang. Rescue efforts have been hampered by poor communication lines and bad roads. The first flights carrying food and aid arrived this morning, but it’s nowhere near enough.

Karishma Vaswani in Padang.

President Obama has described international talks on Iran’s nuclear programs “constructive”. However, he said he now wanted to see concrete action from Iran to prove its intentions were peaceful. The negotiations between Iran, the US and other powers took place in Geneva from where Jeremy Bowen reports.

It looks as if the meeting went better than expected. For the first time, the Americans took a full part in a negotiation, and the Russians and the Chinese apparently stood together with the western powers. A potentially highly significant development is an Iranian agreement in principle to allow significant proportion of its stock of low-enriched uranium out of the country to be made into fuel for nuclear reactor. If that happens, it would take out of the equation material that the big powers here feared could be made into a nuclear bomb.

The former Argentine President Carlos Menem has been charged with obstruction of justice in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural centre in which 85 people were killed. Several other former officials were also charged. Candy Sperest reports from Buenos Aires.

In his statement the judge said Carlos Menem had covered up what was called at the time “the Syrian connection”. Right at the beginning of the investigation, the spotlight had turned on an Argentine Syrian friend of the Menem family. The judge accused Mr. Menem of covering up and destroying evidence and abusing his authority. His brother, Munir Menem, who was presidential chief of staff at the time, a formal federal judge, two intelligence officers and two police officers were also indicted. The chief prosecutor in the investigation, Alberto Nissman, said he had requested this indictment a long time ago

Opposition leaders in the West African state of Guinea have rejected a proposal by the country’s military leader to form a government of national unity. Captain Moussa Dadis Camara made the offer amid mounting international condemnation of the shooting dead by the army of dozens of opposition demonstrators. They’ve been protesting following reports that Captain Camara plans to run for president.

BBC News.

Reports from Somalia say the Islamist group Al-Shabaab has now taken control of the strategic port of Kismayo, following clashes with another Islamist militia Hizbul-Islam. At least 12 people were killed and nearly 60 injured in the fighting. The two factions used to share control of Kismayo, but relations have deteriorated in recent weeks.

Police in Bangladesh say they’ve arrested a senior member of the banned Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba suspected of planning attacks in India. Mohammad Emdadullah was captured in Dhaka following a tip-off.

Scientists say the remains of a 4.5 million-year-old creature formed the earliest known skeleton of a human ancestor. The research reported in the Journal Science says the 1.2-metre-tall skeleton found in Ethiopia in 1994 show signs of the first stage of human evolution better than anything seen to date. Dr. Owen Lovejoy was one of the scientists involved in the discovery.

“Part of the tooth led to a finger bone, and a finger bone led to the size of a portion of skeleton that is 4.4 million years old. She has a pelvis that allows her to negotiate tree branches rather well, so half of her life is spent in the trees. She would have nested in trees and occasionally fed in trees, but when she was on the ground, she walked upright pretty close to how you and I walk.”

The finds nicknamed Ardi is more than a million years older than the fossil Lucy, which has long been considered the earliest remains of human ancestor.

The pilot and co-pilot who’s successfully landed the stricken airliner in New York’s Hudson River in January have made their first flight together since the incident. Passengers applauded when they were told Captain Chesley Sullenberger and his co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles were in the cockpit. The team flew the same route as in January when Captain Sullenberger landed in Hudson after his jet struck a flock of geese and lost power in both engines.

And that’s the BBC News.