BBC在线收听下载:巴基斯坦发生严重的工业火灾

BBC news 2012-09-13

BBC news with Julie Candler.

The American ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens has been killed in an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi on Tuesday night. Gunmen armed with grenades set the building on fire. A Libyan doctor who treated Mr. Stevens said the ambassador had died from smoke inhalation. Three other Americans were also killed. It happened during a protest over a film deemed insulting of the prophet Mohammed, but it isn't clear whether the attackers were linked to the protest. Jeremy Bowen reports.

Some reports say that the gunmen who attacked the consular were from a group known as Ansar al-Sharia. Witnesses told reporters, while the attack was going on, the streets surround the consular were cordoned off by bearded fighters who looked like jihadists armed with automatic weapons including heavy machine guns and rocket launches. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the killers were part of a small and savage group. In Washington at the White House, President Obama condemned the attack.

Police in Tunis have fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a protest about the film. Around 200 protesters try to break into the US embassy in Tunis following several hours of peaceful demonstrations outside.

In Egyptian capital Cairo, angry crowds have again gathered outside the American embassy. From Cairo, here is Jon Leyne.

Security at the embassy has been stepped up, and there is no sign protesters will be able to climb the wall or break into the embassy as they did on Tuesday. President Mursi has been quick to condemn the film. He called for legal action against the film makers in the United States. But Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood-led government has little interest in prolonging the crisis. The government is looking for American help to secure a major IMF loan to shore up the economy.

About 290 factory workers are now known to have died in one of Pakistan's worst ever industrial fires in the city of Karachi. Survivors said many workers were trapped in the multistory building because the access to the roof was locked and most windows were secured by metal grilles. From Karachi, Orla Guerin reports.

Tonight, rescue workers are still dousing burning embers inside the factory. Employees say it was a death trap. But as is often the case in Pakistan. The authorities allowed it to remain open. Relatives of those who perished here are asking if anyone will be held to account.

Newly published files on one of the Britain's worst peacetime disasters at the Hillsborough football stadium 23 years ago have revealed how police covered up their own failings and tried to deflect the blame for what happened onto fans. Ninety-six Liverpool's supporters were crashed to death in one of the stands. Fresh evidence also shows that 41 of the victims could have been saved if the emergency services had responded differently.

World news from the BBC.

The Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has called for the three jailed members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot to be released. The women who were due to appeal against their two-year sentences next month were convicted of hooliganism after performing a protest song against the Russian President in Moscow's main cathedral. Steve Rosenberg reports from Moscow.

Dmitry Medvedev said he was sickened by what the three Pussy Riot activists had done and by the hysteria surrounding it. But he suggested that the five months they spent in pre-trial detention had been punishable enough. Russia's Prime Minister said he believed that extending their confinement would be counter-productive, and they should be handed suspended sentences.

The Cuban government says it is prepared to negotiate with the United States to find a solution in the case of detained American contractor, Alan Gross. Mr. Gross is serving a 15-year prison sentence for taking internet equipment to Cuba. The Senior Cuban Diplomat Josefina Vidal said in a statement that Cuba was willing to talk to Washington and was awaiting an answer.

Police in Mexico say they have arrested the alleged leader and founder of a criminal group known as the Resistance. The man, Ramiro Pozos Gonzalez, was detained in Mexico state. He is accused of drug trafficking and murdering members of rival gangs. Police seized a gold-plated machine gun which Mr. Pozos had said to be a present from a fellow drug baron. Federal police said Mr. Pozos was defiant after his arrest.

Germany's deputy finance minister Steffen Kampeter has rebuffed  suggestions that his country could still owe billions of euros to Greece in unpaid reparations from the Second World War. Speaking to the BBC, Mr. Kampeter said Germany closed the debate on the matter years ago. His comments follow an announcement that Greek finance ministry is examining the scale of unpaid compensation that it says the Germany still owes the Greek government.

BBC news.