BBC在线收听下载:西班牙政府展示多年前沉船珍宝

BBC news 2012-12-01

BBC News with Sue Montgomery.

Israel has authorized the construction of 3,000 new homes on occupied Palestinian land a day after the United Nations General Assembly voted to revise the status of the Palestinians to that of non-member observer state. US officials have condemned the Israeli move as counterproductive. Kevin Connolly reports.

Israel has been struggling to calibrate its reactions to the Palestinian campaign for upgraded status of the United Nations. But it clearly felt that allowing the development to pass without some form of political response would be seen as a sign of weakness. So it has announced its granting permission for 3,000 new homes in the west bank in eastern  Jerusalem and speeding up the processing of a further 1,000 existing planning applications. The Palestinians and the overwhelming majority of the international community see the area in question as land occupied by Israel.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians have been protesting in Cairo against the country's President Mohamed Mursi and a new draft constitution. The demonstrators already critical of sweeping powers assumed by Mr. Mursi are angry  the draft was rushed through in just 16 hours. Bethany Bell spent the day in Tahrir Square.

President Mursi has said the reason he took the step to give himself those powers was because he was worried the court, the judges were trying to prepare a legal challenge to the body that was writing the constitution and they were going to hold everything up. So a real tussle going on here and it's really a question of who you believe more, whether you believe the suspicions of the opposition, or whether you do believe President Mursi is going to give up those powers. So a real shushing match over Egypt's future taking place on the streets of Cairo and other cities across the country.

Russia's powerful Investigative Committee says it has evidence, a number of opposition activists were trained abroad as a part of alleged foreign-sponsored plans to provoke unrest. Here's Tom Esslemont.

In the 12 months since mass opposition demonstrations began in Russia with the aim of ending Vladimir Putin's rule, the leaders of those protests have grown more determined and more defiant. Among them, 35-year-old Sergei Udaltsov, he and fellow activists Learnid ResvojaEd and Kostantin Lebedev have already been charged with organising mass disorder. Now the Investigative Committee, a state body with extended powers, says it has further evidence including witness testimony showing how the men were seeking cash from abroad to fund mass unrest in Russia. The men denied the charges.

The Spanish authorities have for the first time shown some of the treasure from a frigate that sank more than 200 years ago. The treasure estimated to be worth $ 500 million was discovered by a U.S. salvage company. But Spain successfully claimed ownership.

BBC News.

The authorities in northern Pakistan say at least 18 people are missing including eight soldiers after they were hit by an avalanche. An official in the Nilam Valley in Pakistan-administered Kashmir said the party had been on a mission to find three soldiers who were hit by an earlier avalanche when another avalanche struck.

The governor of Nigeria central bank has defended his call for the number of civil servants to be halved. The governor Lamido Sanusi told the BBC that the Nigerian government spent 70% of its income on less than 1% of the population. He said spending should be channeled towards education, health and improve power supplies.

The Italian government has moved to tackle a crisis that threatened to end production at one of Europe's biggest steel mills in the southern city of Taranto. Pollution from the ILVA plant has long been blamed for causing higher-than-average rates of cancer in the area. The owners denied this, but on Monday announced that because of legal pressure, they would close the plant down. The government has now issued a decree forcing the company to invest in the technology needed to clean the plant up. Here's Ellen Johnston.

The mill will be allowed to continue operating while this work is being done. The government is obviously desperate to ensure that there is no shutdown and no job losses. The mill is the only major employer in an area which is already economically depressed. At the same time, the plant produces about one third of Italy's steel and even a temporary halt to production might have had an impact on many areas of the country's manufacturing industry.

An American company says it has found a way to make bread stay mold-free for two months. Tests showed that putting slices in a sophisticated microwave oven for around ten seconds kill the spores that turn bread black. Food waste is a huge problem in most developed countries.

BBC News.