BBC在线收听下载:阿富汗发生系列自杀式袭

BBC news 2012-08-15

BBC News with Marion Marshall.

At least 46 people have died in a series of suicide attacks in Afghanistan. The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, has condemned the violence. Aleem Maqbool sent this report from Kabul.
It was in the western city of Zaranj in a market place packed with people shopping for this weekend's Eid celebrations. The police say at least three suicide bombers detonated their explosives. Eyewitnesses have given horrific accounts of the scenes it followed. Intelligence officials told us up to 14 potential bombers had planned to take part in the attack, but that some had been arrested. Then, in the northern province of Kunduz, another explosion – this time ripping through a main square close to a row of food vendors; several of them are among the dead.

The American Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the United States doesn't think Israel has made a decision on whether to attack Iran over its nuclear program. Mr Panetta said the critical moment for military action hadn't been reached. From Washington, Mark Mardell.
Leon Panetta just returned from a trip to the region including Israel, and he said he did not believe that Israel had made the decision to attack Iran. Not for the first time there are persistent rumors in Washington and Israel for the attack may be only months or weeks away – a timetable dictated not only by military possibilities, but by America's presidential election. Some believe before the election, President Obama would have to support such an Israeli attack, but if reelected, would have a freer hand – it's certainly not the decision he wants to make now.

The British bank, Standard Chartered, has reached a settlement with regulators in New York who'd accused it of hiding billions of dollars worth of illegal transactions with Iran. The regulators said the bank would pay a penalty of $340m and install a monitor in its New York branch to oversee future transactions. From New York, Mark Gregory.
The bank was accused of helping Iran launder money by deleting any reference to Iran from records of transactions. The New York financial regulator claimed up to $250bn of deals were hidden in this way. Standard Chartered, though, said the figure was just $40m. The $340m penalty is large, but not as large as some other European banks have paid in similar circumstances – Britain's HSBC had set aside $700m to settle similar claims.

In his first appearance since defecting from Syria last week, the former Prime Minister Riad Hijab has denounced the government of President Assad. In a live televised statement from the Jordanian capital Amman, Mr Hijab said the Syrian government was collapsing morally, economically and militarily. He said it now only controlled 30% of the country; and he said that he did not want to lead but to serve as a soldier in the rebels' cause. Mr Hijab is the most senior official who have defected from Syria.

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A court in Egypt has sentenced 14 Islamist militants to death for an attack last year in northern Sinai in which several police and soldiers were killed. The men were also charged with founding an illegal group, Al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad. The sentences come after an attack last week by suspected Islamist militants in Sinai, in which 16 border guards were killed.

The French interior minister has been jostled and booed by angry crowds. During a visit to the northern city of Amiens, where there's been two nights of rioting. Manuel Valls said order must be restored.
"I'm asking the local authorities to re-establish order in the coming hours. Law and order will prevail again, for the benefit of everyone affected by this violence, and for everyone who wants their voice to be heard. To shoot at the police officer, burn a school and damage infrastructure. It's intolerable."
Large numbers of riot police have now been deployed to prevent repeat of Monday night's violence when about 100 youths set fire to cars, a nursery school and a youth center.

The Paris prosecutor's office has said the French international footballers, Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema, will face trial for paying for sex with a minor. The woman involved, Zahia Dehar, says she's been paid for sex since she was 16. She's testified that both men solicited her when she was under age. They denied the allegations.

Members of the Russian punk fan, Pussy Riot, have vowed to continue their protest against President Putin despite the detention of three of their number on hooliganism charges. In an interview with the BBC, the woman, wearing brightly colored ballet(?) covers to hide their identities, said no one could mute them or curb their freedom of speech. Some of those interviewed had taken part in the performance of an anti-Putin punk rock song in Moscow's main cathedral in February. The verdict in the trial of those who are arrested is expected on Friday.

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