BBC在线收听下载:美国各地总统大选投票已开始

BBC news 2012-11-07

BBC News with Sue Montgomery

Votes have been cast across the United States in a tightly fought presidential election with campaigning continuing even on polling day itself. The Republican candidate Mitt Romney is taking the rare step of campaigning in two battleground states as voting takes place. Speaking to supporters outside Cleveland, Ohio, he said it was critical that as many people go to the polls as possible.

People are making calls to get folks out to vote, because they know we get folks out to vote we'll have the real change, we really needed in this country. And I'm so excited about the prospects. I've got to tell you, I'm buoyed by the spirit of the people across the nation, the enthusiasm, the support, the energy. It is just amazing. Thank you.

By contrast, the Democrat incumbent, Barack Obama held his final rally late on Monday. Opinion polls have suggested that Mr Obama has a narrow lead in most of the key states, but the result will be very close.

We feel confident, we've got the votes to win, but it's going to depend ultimately on whether those votes turn out. And so I would encourage everybody on all sides just to make sure that you exercise this precious right that we have and that people fought so hard for us to have.

Special measures have been put in place to facilitate voting in large parts of the eastern United States still affected by last week's massive storm, while the majority of polling stations in New York are said to be working normally, some have had to rigged up in tents. Under emergency legislation people have been allowed to vote wherever they can get to with special buses provided to transport them.

The main Islamist group occupying northern Mali says it rejects all forms of extremism and terrorism. The Ansar Dine group urged the Malian government and other armed movements to engage in political dialogue following talks with the regional mediator, President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso. Richard Hamilton has more.

Ansar Dine which controls the feeble town of Timbuktu, a large tracts of the Arab northern desert is thought to have stoned people to death and amputated the hands of thieves under a strict interpretation of Islamic law or Sharia. But now it seems to be talking about peace. This apparent turnaround may be because of the very real threat of military intervention by international forces. West African army chiefs have been meeting in the capital Bamako to discuss such an operation in the north. And despite a long arduous process involving consultation with the United Nations, they are now very close to finalizing details of that action.

Several people have been killed in a bomb attack in the Syrian capital Damascus. The official Syrian news agency Sana said the blast took place in a northwestern suburb. The London based Syrian observatory for human rights said three bombs exploded killing at least ten people.

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Turkey's ruling AK party has submitted to parliament proposals aimed at transforming the powers to the president. Under the existing constitution, the president has a largely ceremonial role. The current Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he intends to run for the role of the president when the elections  are held in 2014. Here is Tom Esslemont.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dominated Turkish politics for ten years. As Prime Minister, he's restored economic stability to a country once steeped in crisis. He's brought to heel Turkey's powerful military diminishing its ability to intervene in politics. To him it must feel as though there is little standing in his way to become a president and doing so obtaining more power. If successful he would continue to appoint ministers and under his party's plans make decisions without being hamstrung by parliamentary bureaucracy.

Canada and India have reached a deal that would allow Canadian companies to export uranium and nuclear reactors to India. The announcement was made in Delhi by the visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.

Police in Venezuela have seized a stash of more than two and a half ton of Marijuana in the state of Tachira. The drug was hidden in a container which police said had come from neighbouring Colombia. One Venezuelan man was arrested. Police say they are working with their counterparts in Colombia to track down the smuggling ring which sent the consignment.

Spain's constitutional court has dismissed an appeal by the governing Popular Party challenging the legality of country's gay marriage law. The conservative Popular Party claimed that the law was against the constitution which, it said, recognised only the union of a man and a woman as marriage. The court rejected the argument and upheld the law which was passed seven years ago by a socialist government.

And that's the latest BBC News