BBC news 2010-11-16 加文本

BBC news 2010-11-16

BBC News with Jonathan Izard

The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has defended US military operations in Afghanistan. She was responding to criticism from the Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who had said that such operations, especially night raids, by American special forces should stop as they disrupt daily life. Kim Ghattas reports from Washington.

Hillary Clinton forcefully defended the American military and civilian strategy in Afghanistan. She said the military operations were having a significant impact on the insurgent leadership and their networks, and she said they were also in the best interest of the Afghan people and their government. She added that the use of intelligence-driven, precision-targeted operations against high-value insurgents and their networks was a key component of the strategy. She insisted those were conducted in full partnership with the government of Afghanistan and pointed out that Afghan forces were included on each operation. But Mrs Clinton did acknowledge that Washington was sensitive to concerns expressed by President Karzai.

A huge fire has destroyed a high-rise apartment building in Shanghai, killing at least 42 people. At least 90 others were injured. This survivor spoke of an urgent need for assistance.

"All of my relatives and friends have been driving to all the different hospitals. As a family member, what can I do in this situation? How can I calm down? I have only one thing to say - I ask the Communist Party to come and help quickly."

The 28-storey building in a busy central district of Shanghai housed more than 150 families. It was being renovated when the fire broke out.

One of the candidates in Guinea's run-off election, Cellou Dalein Diallo, has declared himself president as his supporters burnt tyres and set up barricades in the capital Conakry. Mr Diallo, the front-runner in the first round, earlier described the election as fraudulent. Here is Thomas Fessy.

Despite a ban on political demonstrations, Mr Diallo's supporters took to the streets before being dispersed by security forces. Residents heard gunshots, but it's still unclear whether there are any casualties. The results were due to be announced by noon on Monday, but that deadline has been missed. On Sunday, Mr Diallo said he had evidence of fraud in some voting districts, and he requested that the election body investigate further. Earlier today, his rival candidate Alpha Conde, a veteran opposition leader in the country, suggested that he'd won the election.

And in the last few minutes, it's been announced that Alpha Conde has won Guinea's presidential election. The electoral commission said preliminary results showed that he had taken just over 52% of the vote.

There is growing concern over the debt problems that have engulfed Portugal and Ireland. The Portuguese finance minister said contagion was moving like wildfire and that no eurozone country could feel safe. A BBC correspondent said it could be only a matter of time before Ireland asked to be bailed out by the European Union, as Greece was in May.

World News from the BBC

There have been violent protests in Haiti against United Nations peacekeepers, who have been blamed for a cholera epidemic that's killed more than 900 people. UN troops fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators throwing stones and blocking roads in Cap Haitien, Haiti's second city. Some Haitians have accused peacekeepers from Nepal of introducing cholera to Haiti for the first time in a century. The UN says no evidence has been found to justify the accusation, but the cholera strain has been matched to one from South Asia.

The US government says that almost 17.5 million American households had trouble feeding themselves adequately last year because of their financial difficulties. The Department of Agriculture said the number had not risen from 2008, despite a sharp increase in unemployment, and many families would have faced far more severe problems without help from the federal government.

The social networking site Facebook has launched a new messaging service that seeks to incorporate and surpass email. The founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, said he did not see email as a modern messaging system, but he stressed that he didn't envisage people abandoning it straight away.

"We don't expect anyone to wake up tomorrow and say 'OK, I'm going to shut down my Yahoo mail account or my Gmail account and switch exclusively to Facebook.' That's not what we think is happening in the world. What we think is happening is that just like those high school students who have started off today talking about, have subtly shifted towards more and more real-time, simpler communication. That's what we think is going to happen here too."

Scientists say they finally understand how a giant prehistoric winged reptile, the pterosaur, was able to fly. Previous research suggested this heavy reptile, roughly the size of a giraffe, could not have built up enough momentum to become airborne. But a team of paleontologists from a British university said the pterosaurs used their powerful legs and arms to leap into the air, rather like pole vaulters in athletics.

BBC News