BBC在线收听下载:美国奋进号航天飞机最后的飞行

BBC news 2012-09-22

BBC news with John Jason.

A Turkish court has given prison sentences to more than 300 military officers for plotting to overthrow the government. Three former commanders from the army, navy and air fore were given 20-year sentences for leading the conspiracy. Here is James Reynolds.

The court outside Istanbul did something which would have been unthinkable a decade ago. It found more than 300 military officers guilty of trying to overthrow the government. For years, the Turkish military saw the overthrow of a civilian administration as its right. It got rid of four governments. But the court has now decided that this right is a crime. The judge has found that more than 300 officers tried to organize a plot in 2003 called Sledgehammer.

The American republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has made public his tax records for last year to counter allegations that he pays too little tax. Earlier in the week, Mr. Romney said in a video that nearly half of the country didn't pay income tax. From Washington, here is Paul Adams.

The documents show that in 2011 Mr. Romney and his wife paid almost $2m in tax on an income, mostly from investments, of more than $13.5m. But the candidate's opponents want to know more with some senior Democrats suggesting Mr. Romney sometimes avoided paying tax at all. And so Mr. Romney has also released a summary covering 20 years from 1990. It shows that the couple paid both state and federal tax through out with an average federal rate of 20%.

Thousands of Libyans have staged a rally in the eastern city of Benghazi in support of democracy and against Islamist militias. Protesters urged the Libyan government to ban the militias which refused to give up their weapons since the uprising against Col Gaddafi last year. They demanded that the army and police be strengthened and paid tribute to the US ambassador killed last week in the city. A rival demonstration by Islamist militias who have been blamed for the ambassador's death attracted far fewer people.

A day of violent protest across major cities in Pakistan has left at least 19 people dead as thousands demonstrators against an anti-Islamic video made in the United States. In Karachi, police clashed with rioters as they set fire to banks and cinemas. In Islamabad, police fired tear gas to prevent thousands of demonstrators from getting close to the American embassy. At a news conference in Washington, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton again condemned the video. The visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar thanked Mrs. Clinton.

Your condemnation has given a strong massage that the United States government not only condemns it but has absolutely no support to such blasphemous videos or content anywhere. I think that is an important message, and that massage will go a long way in ending the violence on many streets in the world.

World news from the BBC.

The Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has gone on national television to defend economic reforms unveiled last week. The changes have prompted 6 ministers to resign from his coalition. The government now depends on smaller parties to survive.

The South African police have issued arrest warrant for the controversial politician Julius Malema who is expelled from the governing African National Congress. He is expected to appear in court next week on charges of money laundering, corruption and fraud. Mr. Malema's lawyer Nicqui Galaktiou dismissed the allegations as part of a wider political campaign against him.

Mr. Malema spoke publicly a few days ago. That we had received reliable information from various sources to say that they wanted to defoliant him, assassinate him or incarcerate him to get rid of him and which subsequently address very high level authorities in South Africa and plans on record that we believe that it is politically motivated.

Rioting has broken out in Conakry, the capital of the West African state of Guinea. Protesters blocked the main bridge and threw up barricades on the main roads. Supporters of President Alpha Conde from the Malinke ethnic group attack rivals from the Peul. There has been tension between the two groups since the 2010 elections.

An Israeli soldier and three militants have been killed in fighting on the border between Israel and Egypt. Israel says the militants opened fire on soldiers guarding construction workers building the latest extension of Israel's border fence.

The US space shuttle Endeavour has been making its last fly bolted to the top of a jumble jet for a series of celebratory fly past over California landmarks. Endeavour took off into clear skies before dipping low at more than 20 sites including Disney land and Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The US space agency Nasa ended its 30-year shuttle programme last year.

BBC news.