BBC在线收听下载:澳大利亚科学家研究植被来寻找矿产

BBC news 2013-10-23

BBC news with Sue Montgomery.

The authorities in the Australian state of New South Wales have urged people living in the Blue Mountains to leave their homes as strengthening winds and high temperature threaten to spread major bushfires. Forecasters warn that Wednesday could be the worst day since the crisis began more than a week ago. Emily Thomas has the latest.

Exhausted firefighters have been preparing for their most challenging day yet. They have been carrying out controlled burning of key areas, the ideal is to deprive fires of fuel and prevent them traveling. On Monday they joined up two large fires to make one that’s easier to manage. around 60 fires are burning in New South Wales with around 17 of them still uncontained. Almost 120,000 hectares have been raised by the fires so far and more than 2,000 firefighters have been trying to get them under control but that has not prevented the loss of more than 200 homes.

The Greek parliament has voted overwhelmingly to pass a law that suspends state financing to the far-right Golden Dawn party. The law allows an indefinite funding freeze for parties whose leaders are charged with involvement in a criminal group or terrorism. Here's Matt Mcgrath.

The measure was adopted by 235 votes out of 300 MPs in the parliament. The Golden Dawn MPs left the chamber protesting that the prosecution of its member is politically motivated, they aware the real target of the legislation as the leader and two MPs are in custody are waiting trial on charges of being part of a criminal organization following the murder of an anti-fascist musician by a supporter of the party.

The vice president for Syrian National Coalition has told the BBC that the opposition leaders at a peace conference in London have agreed that they need for a transitional government in Syria. Salem al-Meslet said there would be no place in any future government for president Assad. Earlier the president of the opposition coalition Ahmed Jarba said his members would be considered traitors if they didn't for secure key conditions ahead of joining any peace conference.

“We came to tell you frankly, we represent a people that have had enough empty promises, a revolution board with an international community that speaks too much while its deeds are almost non-existent. Ladies and gentleman, if we believe some states and go to the Geneva to conference, our people will not believe us and they would not take one step with us, we would be labeled as traitors of the revolution.”

Cuba has announced plans to scrap the dual currency system which has been operating for two decades, the change means that Cubans will eventually be able to buy all goods and services in the same currency their wages are paid. Currently all important products are priced in the convertible currency tagged

to the dollar.

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The Iranian Justice Minister has said that there is no need for a convict who survived a hanging to be executed again. Last week, lawyers appealed to the head of the country's judiciary to stop a repeat hanging after the man was found alive in the morgue. The Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi said executing the man would have significant international repercussions for Iran's image.

A report by the charity Save the Children says Niger is the country that has made the most progress in trying to prevent child death. Researchers say that although child mortality remains high, Niger has managed to make large strides because of free health care for pregnant women and children. Among the countries at the bottom of the table are Haiti and Papua New Guinea and Equatorial New Guinea.

The French authorities say seven people accused of selling fake vintage wine for thousands of dollars of bottle have been arrested in raids across Europe. It follows a-year-long investigation in six European countries. Here's David Chazan.

It was an elaborate scan to dupe connoisseurs into paying up to 11,000 dollars a bottle for cheap plunk labeled as Romanee Conti, a legendary Burgundy red, it’s one of the world's finest and most expensive wines. French prosecutors say counterfeit labels were treated with wax to make them look older and the result was so good that the bottles were near perfect copies of the real thing. France has requested the extradition of an Italian father and son arrested in their home country. They are suspected of netting nearly three million dollars by selling at least 400 fake bottles.

Scientists in Australia say tiny traces of gold they have detected in some plants indicate that deposits of the metal at present far below the ground. Researchers discovered gold particles in the leaves, twigs and barks of some eucalyptus trees using X-ray images. They believe analyzing vegetation could be a cheaper and more environmentally-friendly method of finding minerals.

BBC news.