BBC在线收听下载:登月第一人阿姆斯特朗逝世

BBC news 2012-08-26

BBC News with John Jason.

The first man to set foot on the moon Neil Armstrong has died at the age of 82. He'd undergone heart bypass surgery earlier this month. As commander of the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969, Armstrong made the first footprint on the dusty surface. Pallab Ghosh reports.

It is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

Thousands of people were involved in the Apollo missions that led to this moment, but it was Neil Armstrong’s ice cool nerves that ensure that lunar module Eagle landed safely. He had to take manual control of the spacecraft as it descended toward the surface, taking it toward region’s drone with boulders and craters. He and his fellow crew members returned to earth to a hero’s welcome. But Neil Armstrong soon retreated from the lime light, preferring the quieter life as a professor of engineering.

Buzz Aldrin, a fellow member of the Apollo 11 mission and the second man on the moon, gives the BBC’s reaction to Mr. Armstrong’s death.

I was fortunate enough to be one of those crew members and to fly with outstanding test pilot Neil Armstrong. So it is very sad indeed that we are not able to be together as a crew on 50th anniversary in 2019.

President Obama has accused his Republican election rival Mitt Romney of holding his extreme positions on economic and social issues. In an interview with Associated Press news agency, the president said Mr. Romney had locked himself into such policies and would carry them forward if elected.

The oppositional commander of Afghanistan’s most prominent militant group the Haqqani network has been killed in an American air strike, according to his family. A relative told the BBC that Badruddin Haqqani died last Tuesday. Local officials and tribesmen also see his death, but the U.S. military has not yet verified it. From Islamabad, Ola Garin.

There are growing indications that the al-Qaeda linked Haqqani network has lost one of its key leaders. Badruddin Haqqani has been described as the operational commander of the Haqqani group, masterminding and directing ambitious attacks on high profile targets. He was also responsible for training camps and for extorting funds from contractors. If confirmed, his death would be a considerable victory for U.S. forces. The Haqqani network is one of their most formidable foes.

Torrential rains and near hurricane strength winds have battered Haiti as Tropical Storm Isaac made landfall west of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Officials said a young girl is the first confirmed fatality. She died when a wall fell on her. A spokeswoman for the British charity Oxfam said the girl was among four fatalities it had heard of.

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The police commissioner of New York has said it appears that all nine bystanders wounded in a shooting incident in the city on Friday were hit by police gunfire. Commissioner Ray Kelly said the victims were struck by fragments or bullets fired by police, the officers’ responding to a fatal shooting near the Empire State Building.

The authorities in Venezuela say 26 people have been killed in a huge explosion of the country’s biggest oil refinery. The governor of Falcon state Stella Lugo said a ten-year-old boy was among the dead, more than 80 others have been injured. Most of the victims were National Guard troops stationed at the Amuay refinery. The Venezuela’s authorities say it was caused by a gas leak.

Eyewitnesses in the Libyan capital Tripoli have told the BBC that mosque tombs belonging to followers of Sufi Islam have been demolished by bulldozers. Sufi is long established in North Africa but Salafi have increasingly targeted their shrines and practices. Bethany Bell reports.

Witnesses blamed the attack on ultra conservative Salafi Muslims who regarded the shrine as idolatrous. The police, they said, stood by and watched. It is the second attack against Sufi shrine in Libya in two days. Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur said the destruction of shrines and mosques was a crime. The graves of the holy men were revered in the mystical Sufi sect of Islam. But many Salafi feel Sufis and their shrines as hierarchical.

Egypt has fully reopened its Rafah border crossing, Gaza’s only gateway to the outside world that bypasses to Israel. It was closed three weeks ago when 16 Egyptian soldiers were killed by militants. It was partially reopened a week later to allow Palestinians on the Egyptian side of border back into Gaza. Correspondents say Egypt’s decision signals an improvement in its relations with Gaza's Islamist Hamas government which deteriorated after the attack.

That is the latest BBC News.