BBC news 2011-02-03 加文本

BBC news 2011-02-03

BBC News with David Austin

The Egyptian government says one person has been killed and more than 600 injured in a day of violent clashes between supporters and opponents of President Hosni Mubarak in the centre of Cairo. The pro-Mubarak faction entered Tahrir Square in force, trying to drive out thousands of protesters who'd been there for days calling for the president to step down. Petrol bombs and chunks of concrete were thrown onto the protesters from rooftops. Egyptian troops have refused to intervene. Our correspondent Jim Muir sent this report from the square.

There are still quite a lot of people, and there's still a lot of fighting going on. On the side of the square which gives onto the Egyptian Museum, that's where the main battle is going on, and there is actually some, as you can hear that, some gunfire going on too. Now it's not clear whether this is exchanges of gunfire. We haven't had, as far as I'm aware, exchanges of gunfire so far. There has been a bit of shooting, but generally it's been the soldiers who are ringing the square in tanks, shooting in the air to try and control people, or basically intimidate them into behaving themselves, but it's been an afternoon and evening of skirmishing, well, more than that, street battles, running street battles, involving rocks being thrown, bits of pavement being ripped up and broken up and hurled at each other.

This man, Motaz, told the BBC he'd seen a variety of injuries sustained by those in Tahrir Square.

"Mostly injuries on people's heads, rock-throwing injuries. I have seen a few people being carried in stretchers, people with injuries on their legs. But as the people on the megaphones were calling for anyone with any materials that might help make makeshift stretchers, they were being called to the front line to carry the people whose injuries are incapacitating them as well."

The Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman has said that the anti-government protests must end before talks with the opposition can begin. Mr Suleiman, who was appointed to his post last week, urged demonstrators to heed a call by the Egyptian army to respect a night-time curfew and return to their homes.

The United States has condemned the violence in Egypt as "outrageous and deplorable". A White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said the political transition should begin immediately.

"The time for a transition has come and that time is now. The Egyptian people need to see change. We know that that meaningful transition must include opposition voices and parties being involved in this process as we move toward free and fair elections. But that process, that process must begin now."

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs

Mr Gibbs warned the Egyptian government that if it was instigating any of the violence, it must stop.

World News from the BBC

Nasa says it might have found several hundred new planets in distant solar systems in addition to the 500 already discovered. They were spotted by the Kepler space telescope, which has also found an entire solar system of six planets orbiting around a Sun-like star. Neil Bowdler reports.

This is the biggest news in astronomy in 16 years since the first planet outside our solar system was detected. Nasa say several hundred new planets may have been discovered using the Kepler space telescope. Although the data still has to be verified, the planets include five which are Earth-like in size, which orbit in a so-called habitable zone where temperatures are such that liquid water could float on the planet's surface.

A powerful cyclone has struck the Australian state of Queensland, ripping roofs off buildings and bringing down power lines. About 30,000 people were evacuated from their homes after warnings that Cyclone Yasi could be the worst storm in Queensland's history. Yasi's strength has since been downgraded, and there have been no reports of fatalities or serious injuries. From Sydney, Nick Bryant reports.

Cyclone Yasi hit the Queensland coast at the midnight hour with winds of 280km/h and potentially fatal force. Warned to expect the worst storm in the state's history, cities and towns were in complete lockdown. The emergency services were unable to respond to calls from frightened residents asking to be evacuated because it was too dangerous to venture out onto the streets.

Nick Bryant reporting from Sydney

Meanwhile, millions of Americans have been hit by a huge winter storm that's swept across almost a third of the United States and is now bearing down on the northeast coast. The city of Chicago has been particularly hard hit with almost half a metre of snow. Schools, businesses and airports have closed, and thousands of flights have been cancelled.

And those are the latest stories from BBC News.