BBC在线收听下载:伊朗遭遇连续两次地震袭击

BBC news 2012-08-12

BBC news with Nick Kelly.

Two strong earthquakes have struck northwestern Iran in quick succession. Officals say 180 people have been killed and more than 1300 injured, all links to the affected region near the city of Tabriz are cut, making it difficult for the authorities to determine the scale of the injuries and damage. Mohsen Asgari reports.

More than 60 villages have been heavily damaged and are in need of help. a lawmaker in the quake-stricken city of Ahar also said that the villages are seriously damaged. People poured into streets. They are in a state of completely panic more than 10 aftershocks have stricken the provinces since this afternoon. Heay trafic jams are reported in the area, police asked the people to stay at home and follow up the news from radio. Telephone lines are still cut and links to most of the villages are totally cut.

The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the US is working closely with the Turkish government to coordinate their response to the deepening crisis in Syria. After meeting with Turkish leader, she said both countries were working together in efforts to support the Syrian opposition and preparing for the phase after the fall of the President Assad government. From Istanbul, Bethany Bell reports.

Mrs. Clinton says the US will give another five million dollars in humanitarian aid to the people fleeing the crisis in Syria. She described her meetings with Syrian refugees as who she said had  told her terrible stories of cruelty and violence. She praised Turkey for its response to the conflict and said the two countries would be working closely to coordinate efforts to support the Syrian opposition as they prepared for the day after President Assad.

In the London Olympics, the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt has won his third gold medal of the Games in the men's 4x100m relay. In the last leg of the race, Bolt eased away from Ryan Bailey of the United States to bring the Jamaican team home and a new world record time. This report from our correspondent Rob Broomby.

The power and accelaration of Jamaica's Usain Bolt needed no introduction. He sized the battle in the final leg of the 4x100m relay and stormed the line with a breaking another world record for the time of 36.84 making it the double triple, three golds in Beijing and now three in London too. And it was a triple for USA's Allyson Filex's team took gold in the women's 4x400m relay. Britain's Mo Farah doubled his golden tally adding the 5,000m title to the 10,000 he took earlier.

Earlier, it was announced that a South Korean footballer has been barred from his medal ceremony of the London Olympics after he reportedly held up a political message of the team's third place playoff win over Japan. The ban was said to refer to a longstanding dispute between the two countries over Island known as as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan.

World news from the BBC.

Speaking to supporters in the state of Virginia, the Repulican candidate in this year's American presidential eletion Mitt Romney has named Paul Ryan as his candidate for vice president. The law maker from Wisconsin as a conservative who chairs the Budget Committee. Correspondents say he is an influential policy maker within the Republican Party who wants to cut taxes and overturn President Obama's healthcare reforms. Mr. Romney accidently introduced Mr. Ryan as the future president of the United States a mistake he corrected shortly afterwards.

Wildfires are threatening one of the world's oldest monarchistic  communities near Mount Athos in Greece and the Spanish Canary islands of Tenerife and Gomera. From Spain, Hasgore Heart reports.
On Tenerife, the biggest Island in Spain's tourist archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, the authorities have moved 400 people from their homes as a precaution against the fire raging there. On the Island of Lagomera, a further 300 people have fled after a fire which had been smoldering since last Saturday flared up again overnight on Friday. But the authorities say they are hopeful that the fire will not engulf  any more of Lagomera's ancient laurel-covered natural park which is a UNESCO world heritage site.

Italian tax police say the amount of cash and gold seized from people trying to smuggle money out of the country illegally has sharply increased this year. Police said specially trained sniffer dogs have played a significant role in seizing 50m dollars worth of currency, gold and silver at airports and frontiers in the first seven months of the year. They cited the case of a Chinese businesswoman who had hidden banknotes worth more than 100,000 dollars in her underwear

And more than 70 villages in central Nigeria have been inundated with water as floods thread through Plateau state. Emergency operations are underway in the south of the state where people have been forced to seek refuge in trees and on hill tops.

BBC news.