BBC在线收听下载:巴林F1赛事顺利完成

BBC news 2012-04-23

BBC News with Julie Candler

The latest results from the first round of the French presidential election show that the Socialist Party challenger Francois Hollande will face the incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, in the second round next month. With 80% of the votes counted, Mr Hollande has 28% of the vote with Mr Sarkozy very close behind on 26.9%. Among those who will not make it to the second round is the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen of the National Front. She currently has 19% of the vote, the highest-ever share of the vote for the party. Both leading candidates have already addressed their supporters. President Sarkozy challenged Mr Hollande to three face-to-face electoral debates. He said France had a crucial choice to make.

"They carry with them the respect of our borders, a determined fight against delocalisation, handling of immigration, better value given to work, security for them and for their families. I know that in this world which is evolving so fast, the main work of our compatriots is to preserve their way of life. This is the central question in this election."

Mr Hollande has agreed to one debate only. He said he was the candidate of all those who wanted to turn a new page.

"This is a new signal. It should trigger a republican awakening and an understanding not only of what makes us angry, but of what is damaging our country, demeaning it, stripping it of its rightful pride as has been the case in the last five years. Tonight, through the vote of the French, I am the candidate of all those who want to turn one page and open a new one."

The United States and Afghanistan have put the final touches to a draft strategic agreement that sets out the future of their relationship after the planned end of America's combat mission in 2014. Jonathan Blake reports from Washington.

This agreement comes after months of talks between the US and Afghanistan on the future of the two countries' relationship. The main stumbling blocks were night raids by US forces and Afghan civilians being held in US-run prisons. Both two issues were dealt with in separate agreements. No detail of this pact has been released, but it will establish guidelines for any US military presence in Afghanistan after 2014 and the extent of financial support that the country will receive.

Tens of thousands of people have attended a prayer rally in Moscow in support of the Russian Orthodox Church amid anger at a political protest by a punk rock band. The all-female group Pussy Riot burst into a Moscow cathedral in February to perform a song criticising the Church's close ties with the Kremlin. The women are in jail, facing trial for hooliganism.

World News from the BBC

***省略一段***

The Formula 1 Grand Prix in Bahrain has passed off without incident despite concerns that the opposition might try to disrupt it. The race was won by the reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel. Caroline Hawley reports.

"The red lights go on, three, four, five lights on when they go out, we will be racing. And they..."

Despite all the controversy, despite the protests, the show went ahead without disruption, but with the tighter security ever seen at a Grand Prix. The Bahraini authorities succeeded in keeping demonstrators away from the heavily guarded circuit. Elsewhere, though, tyres were burnt in protest, and the opposition is reporting injuries caused by security forces firing birdshot. Hosting the Grand Prix was built by the authorities as an event to unify the island, but with one protester dead, others wounded, the Formula 1 drivers leave behind an island that is as bitterly divided as ever.

The Sri Lankan government has ordered the removal of a mosque from an area it says is sacred to the country's Buddhist majority. The Prime Minister DM Jayaratne said the mosque in the town of Dambulla would be relocated. Officials said it was being expanded illegally, but Muslim leaders disputed this.

At least nine people have been injured in Argentina in a clash between rival sections of a trade union group. Police said two armed men burst into the offices of the Construction Workers' Union in Buenos Aires. The men, thought to belong to a rival faction of the same union, opened fire on the people there, leaving one man paralysed and eight more with wounds to their legs.

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