BBC在线收听下载:古巴领导人卡斯特罗数月来首次露面

BBC news 2012-10-22

BBC News with Stewart Macintosh.

Angry mourners at the funeral of the assassinated Lebanese security chief, Wissam al-Hassan, have tried to march on the government headquarters in central Beirut. They clashed with police who fired tear gas and shot into the air. The BBC's Wyre Davies is in Beirut.

As today's funeral drew to a close, fired by the rhetoric of some speakers around 100 protesters marched on the government palace in Beirut demanding the resignation of Prime Minister, Najib Mikati. Tear gas was fired there was a big police presence, and a handful of people were injured, but the crowd soon dispersed. In a wake of last week's car bombing, many Lebanese accused the government of failing to protect the country from interference by neighbouring Syria. If the civil war across the border intensifies, the big fear is it will inevitably spread to the streets of Lebanon.

President Ahmadinejad of Iran has been prevented from visiting notorious ever in prison in the north of the capital Tehran. The president had asked to visit the prison earlier this month soon after one of his closest aides was arrested for allegedly insulting other Iranian leaders. Kasra Naji reports.

A spokesman for the Judiciary has said there are more important issues facing the country, like the state of the economy and the rising prices. A presidential visit to the prison, he added, will give a wrong impression of the priorities of Iran's top officials. The episode shows the declining standing of President Ahmadinejad in Iran just eight months before the end of his term in office.

Police in Kuwait city have used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse demonstrators who gathered to march towards the government headquarters. Police tried to prevent protesters gathering at three sites in the capital. On Saturday, Kuwaiti opposition groups called on their supporters to take to the streets to protest against changes in the electoral law which they described as a coup against the constitution.

The death has been announced in the United States of George McGovern, the former senator and Democratic Party presidential candidate, best known for his early opposition to the Vietnam war. He was 90. Steve Kingstone has this report.

For decades the name of McGovern was synonymous with defeat, but in death that judgement has been revised. Those who knew George McGovern depicted compassionate, principled man, who opposed Vietnam because he himself had lived the horrors combat as a bomber pilot during World War Two. Senator McGovern has described Richard Nixon as the most corrupt president in the American history, but he was ahead of the curve for although the Water Gate scandal had broken, it had yet to reach the Oval Office door. Two years later, Nixon became the first American president to resign, prompting a popular bumper sticker, it read: don't blame me, I voted for McGovern

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Jordan says it has foiled what it called a major terror plot and state television said security forces has detained 11 suspects. Jordanian officials said the group believed to have links with al-Qaeda was planning attacks on shopping centers, residential areas and foreign nationals. The television said the plotters had planned to bring weapons and explosives into Jordan from Syria.

Police in the American state of Wisconsin say a man has shot dead three people in a spa near a shopping mall in the city of Brookfield. The police have named a suspect. A bomb squad has been sent to the scene following a report that the explosive device has been found there.

Preliminary results following parliamentary voting in two Spanish regions suggested the ruling centre-right Madrid government has largely held up its support despite its austerity policies aimed at ending Spain's economic and unemployment crisis. In Galicia, the Home of the Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, his People's party looked likely to retain an absolute majority. In the Basque Country, nationalists and pro-independence parties have taken about two thirds of the seats.

The Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro has appeared in public for the first time in several months refuting persistent rumours, that he was gravely ill. Mr. Castro had been photographed with a senior Venezuelan politician on Saturday. Sarah Rainsford reports from Havana.

This photograph cautious weeks of the rumours about the health of Fidel Castro. Speculation that he was critically ill again even at death door. Instead he's (been) seen in the snap shot inside a car with a broad smile. The picture was apparently taken outside the Hotel Nacional in Havana on Saturday as Fidel and his wife dropped off their guest, the former vice president of Venezuela. Elias Jaua has now confirmed that he spent five hours with Fidel on Saturday, talking about politics, agriculture and history and said the Cuba's former president was very well.

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