BBC在线收听下载:俄罗斯南部遭遇暴雨袭击

BBC news 2012-07-08

BBC News with Fiona MacDonald

Libyans have been voting in the country's first national election in almost half a century. They are choosing a new assembly that will select replacement for the transitional government formed after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi nine months ago. These voters in Benghazi were optimistic about the process.

"I feel that this is a day of jubilations for all Libyans. Fifty thousand people have sacrificed their lives and many others were injured for this day. It's celebration all over Libya. This is the first time we can stand in line and elect the legal body that represents the Libyan force and the Libyan factions."

"It's a great feeling. We were hoping to cast our ballots in safety. When I saw many people coming to the polling station, I was encouraged to come and vote as well."

Despite early concerns that the country wasn't ready for an election, Salim Ben Tahir from the election commission said that to hold the vote today was a right decision. "It's important for the stability of the country. We can do it better in the future. But now we have to reach a situation where the  it could not be further delayed. The NTC and the current government are losing legitimacy and people are not expecting them any more."

In Benghazi where some groups feared that their region won't get proper representation, a polling station was shut out and all the election material destroyed. And in Ajdabiya one person was killed in a gun battle between security forces and protesters.

Torrential rain in southern Russia's caused floods and landslides that have killed more than 130 people in the Krasnodar region. Crude oil shipments from the country's largest Black Sea port Novorossiysk have been halted and transport links cut. There Caroline Hawley has the details.

It's been described as the worst natural disaster in the area in living memory. The flashfloods caused a large sway of southern Russia. Five of the dead are reported to have been electrocuted when a transformer fell into the water. Others seem to have been caught unawares as the flood waters rose suddenly in the middle of the night, drowning people as they slept. Russia's largest port on the Black Sea Novorossiysk has had to stop oil shipments. Boats and helicopters have been used to rescue people from their homes as the authorities try to identify the dead, include a ten-year-old child.

The authorities in Burma have released all the student activists arrested overnight in their biggest crackdown on dissents since reforms began last year. About 20 activists had been detained ahead of a commemoration of the suppression of a student movement 50 years ago. They were release after an outcry by opposition supporters. The activists say the arrest prove that the government remains oppressive, despite recent reforms.

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Delegates to a high profile conference in Tokyo on Sunday say they hope to raise 16 billion dollars in aid for Afghanistan. The pledges will demonstrate continuing international support for Kabul beyond the withdrawal of Nato-led troops in 2014. Correspondents say one of the challenges is to overcome donor concerns about corruption in Afghanistan.

The BBC is learned that the cholera outbreak in Cuba has reached the capital Havana days after three people died in the southeastern town of Manzanillo. More than 50 people were infected in the town and hundreds have received medical attention. The Cuban health ministry says the last report of cholera outbreak on the island was in 1959 in the month following the revolution. Sarah Rainsford reports from Havana.

For over a week, doctors in Havana have been doing the rounds of their patients checking for symptoms of cholera. The infirm, elderly and pregnant have been prioritized. Now the BBC has learned that the test on a 60-year-old admitted to hospital on Wednesday had confirmed that she has the disease. Diagnosed early, the woman's condition is said to be stable, but this will be a worrying development for Cuba's authorities.

A rebel group in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which on Friday seized a key town on the border with Uganda, has called for talks with the government. A leading member of the group M23 told the Reuters news agency that the rebels would not advance on other urban areas, if as he put it, the government agree to speak to them. There's been no word so far from the Congolese government. Thousands of people have fled the fighting into Uganda.

Residents of Taiwanese island just off the coast of China voted to allow a casino to be built there, legalizing gambling in Taiwan for the first time. Advocates of the casinos on Matsu say it will boost the local economy. But opponents, including Buddhists and social welfare groups, say it could lead to an over reliance on the gambling industry and an increase in crime.

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