BBC news 2010-03-03 加文本

2010-03-03 BBC

BBC news with Michael Powles.

Huge numbers of people in Chile are still waiting for vital aid after the weekend’s massive earthquake. Reports from the badly damaged city Concepcion says trucks carrying supplies have been held up by bureaucracy and long traffic queues. Our correspondent Claire Marshall reports from the coastal town of Constitucion which was also badly affected.

Four days after the earthquake, aid has yet to reach this part of the coast, people are growing frustrated.

There is no water, we are running out of food, there is no electricity either, there are no medicines and I don’t know anything about my family.

More than 300 people are thought to have died just in this one town. Many destroyed houses have yet to be searched for bodies, so the number of dead could be even higher.

The Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has said that his country risks bankruptcy if it does not take extra measures to tackle its budget crisis. Further budget counts are expected following pressure from the European Union. Malcolm Brabant reports from Athens.

Mr. Papandreou was used some dramatic phrases to describe Greece’s fiscal problems over the past few months. But this is his most alarmist to date. He told the parliamentary group of his socialist party, we find ourselves in the wartime situation. Faced with the negative scenarios affecting our country. He said that Greece had to avoid the nightmare of bankruptcy in which the state would not able to pay salaries or pensions. Mr. Papandreou was effectively telling Greeks to prepare themselves for another blow to their wallets.

The mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat has unveiled the controversial plan to turn a Palestine neighbourhood in the Israeli occupied eastern part of the city into an upmarket area of parkland, restaurant and tourist attractions. He said the idea would have many advantages.

The plan is for the benefit of the residents alongside. The importance of developing the area for the benefit of the world, for the benefit of tourists, and for the beauty of the city of Jerusalem.

Palestinians living in 88 buildings on the site have already been given demolition orders. Their homes were built without planning permission which they say is virtually impossible to obtain from Israelis. A senior Palestinian official Mohammed Ishtayeh said the development plan was a provocation.

There is no way that the Palestinians can accept the demolishing of houses in Jerusalem and the continuation of building settlements for the Jewish settlers. It’s very astonishing and very odd that Israel is going into these measures.

The Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has accused his political rivals of receiving money from foreign powers to finance their electoral campaigns. Mr.al-Maliki made the charge in a BBC interview but did not spell out which countries he had in mind. Parliamentary elections are due on Sunday.

World News from the BBC.

The Ukrainian Prime Minister and defeated presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko has reacted angrily to an announcement that her governing coalition had collapsed. Mrs. Tymoshenko told journalist in Kiev that the parliamentary speaker who made the announcement after a number of her supporters in parliament switched their religions had no legal right to act in the way he did.

The United States' envoy to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke says Washington is worried about new restrictions on media reporting imposed by the Afghanistan authorities. He was responding to an announcement by Afghanistan intelligence service that live media coverage of militant attacks has been banned because it bolsters their cause. Mr. Holbrooke said Washington would raise the issue with the Afghan government.

It’s pretty obvious that we support free press. We don’t like restrictions on the press, and my whole careers have been devoted to supporting that, and I and the Secretary of State are concerned and will make our support of free access by the press clear to the government.

The main political parties in Britain have reached agreement with broadcasters on the format for the country’s first live election debate between the party leaders. With the general election due within the month, the parties have agreed to three nationwide debates in front of live audiences. This will involve the Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the leaders of opposition of Conservative and Liberal Democratic Parties. Separate additional debates will be arranged in Wales and Scotland.

Scientists say ostrich shell fragments found in South Africa with symbols inscribed on them are among the earliest examples of written communication by modern humans. The collection of nearly 300 etched shells found in a rock shelter have been dated to about 60,000 years ago. Researchers say the etchings were almost certainly a form of messaging that could bring great insight into the development of symbolic thought that marked a major advance in human evolution.

And that’s the BBC news.