BBC在线收听下载:罗姆尼指责奥巴马竞选中制造分裂

BBC news 2012-08-27

BBC News with John Jason

The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says the current crisis in his country is a plot against the whole region, of which he said Syria was the cornerstone. Mr Assad's latest comment follows claims by opposition activists that government forces have massacred more than 300 people in Darayya near the capital Damascus. There's no independent confirmation of the claim. Barbara Plett reports from neighboring Lebanon.
The ground assault on Darayya started on Saturday morning after days of shelling. Troops searched house to house for rebels and, say activists, they left hundreds dead in their wake. One video released by opposition sources showed dozens of bodies of young men lined up in a mosque. Another showed a mass grave of more victims that included women and children.  If the numbers are confirmed, said Britain's Foreign Office, this would be an atrocity on a new scale. But pro-government television made it sound like the soldiers had liberated the residents from terrorists, broadcasting interviews with residents who thanked the army for saving them.

The Libyan Interior Minister Fawzi Abdelali has submitted his resignation to the country's prime minister. He'd been criticized for failing to stop a series of attacks on Sufi Muslim holy sites. In the latest such incident, ultra-conservative Muslims on Saturday destroyed a Sufi mosque and shrine in the middle of the capital Tripoli. Police were accused of failing to intervene.

A state of emergency is in place in southern Florida as a tropical storm approaches which forecast is expected to turn into a hurricane by the time it hits land. Thousands of people have already lost power; buildings on the Florida Keys have been boarded up; and traffic queues have formed as people leave towards the mainland. Hundreds of flights have been canceled. On Sunday, Florida's Governor Rick Scott spoke about the state's preparations for the storm.
"In the Tampa, the biggest issue right now is the concern is gonna be wind. But around the state, we've got the rain, we've got wind, we've got storm search, and we've got the research tornados."
Earlier, the storm battered eastern Cuba and Haiti where it's reported to have left at least six people dead.

The Republican challenger for the US presidency Mitt Romney has accused President Obama of running a campaign of character assassination and divisiveness.  Earlier, President Obama accused him of adopting extreme positions on economic and social issues. Here's Zoe Conway.
Mitt Romney said President Obama's campaign had hit a sad new low by trying to link him to controversial comments about abortion made by a Republican candidate for the Senate. The candidate, Todd Akin, had suggested that there is a difference between legitimate and other kinds of rapes. The comments have been widely condemned, and Mitt Romney had repeatedly called for Mr Akin to get out of the race. Governor Romney was also asked about opinion polls that suggest voters don't like him as much as they like President Obama. He said "All I can do is to be who I am."

World News from the BBC

Israeli police have arrested three Jewish boys suspected of throwing a petrol bomb at a Palestinian vehicle in the West Bank earlier this month. The attack injured six people, trapping one in the vehicle when it overturned. A police spokesman said the boys, who were between the ages of 12 and 13, came from the West Bank settlement of Bat Ayin, close to where the attack took place. Human rights groups say it's rare for settlers in the West Bank to be prosecuted for acts of violence against Palestinians.

The Russian punk band, Pussy Riot, says on its Twitter account that two members of the band have fled the country after three of the group were sent to jail. They were sentenced earlier this month for hooliganism after performing a protest song against the Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral. The jailed women are appealing against their sentence.

An aid operation has begun in the West African state of Niger following floods that have left more than 125,000 people homeless. The aid agency Plan International says at least 65 people died when heavy rains hit the capital Niamey earlier this month. Our Africa editor Martin Plaut reports.
The torrential rains which swept across the country earlier this month resulted in the River Niger rising to levels not seen since the 1920s. Sixty-five people were drowned as villages along the banks were inundated by the brown, swirling water. Homes collapsed, farm animals were killed and thousands of families lost almost everything they owned. Now the first help has arrived. The UN is calling for further donations of food, tents and household goods.

Reports from Ivory Coast say the secretary general of former President Laurent Gbagbo's party has been arrested – the third senior party official to be detained in just over a week.  A spokesman for the Ivorian Popular Front said police took Laurent Akoun into custody in Adzope north of Abidjan. Government sources alleged she is implicated in attacks on government troops.

BBC News