英国新闻听力 埃塞俄比亚发现450万年前人类化石（在线收听）

The United Nations says at least 1,100 people were killed in the huge earthquake that struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Wednesday. A large number of people are still believed to be trapped under rubble and the UN humanitarian chief John Holmes says the number of fatalities is likely to rise. Karishma Vaswani is in one of the worst affected cities, Padang.

As every hour passes, the scale of this disaster becomes all too clear. Dozens of homes and office buildings have collapsed in the city of Padang. A restaurant frequented by young college students is now a pile of rubble. Officials say at least 60 people are trapped underneath. Scenes like this are repeated all across Padang. Rescue efforts have been hampered by poor communication lines and bad roads. The first flights carrying food and aid arrived this morning, but it’s nowhere near enough.

President Obama has described international talks on Iran’s nuclear programs “constructive”. However, he said he now wanted to see concrete action from Iran to prove its intentions were peaceful. The negotiations between Iran, the US and other powers took place in Geneva from where Jeremy Bowen reports.

It looks as if the meeting went better than expected. For the first time, the Americans took a full part in a negotiation, and the Russians and the Chinese apparently stood together with the western powers. A potentially highly significant development is an Iranian agreement in principle to allow significant proportion of its stock of low-enriched uranium out of the country to be made into fuel for nuclear reactor. If that happens, it would take out of the equation material that the big powers here feared could be made into a nuclear bomb.

The former Argentine President Carlos Menem has been charged with obstruction of justice in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural centre in which 85 people were killed. Several other former officials were also charged. Candy Sperest reports from Buenos Aires.

In his statement the judge said Carlos Menem had covered up what was called at the time “the Syrian connection”. Right at the beginning of the investigation, the spotlight had turned on an Argentine Syrian friend of the Menem family. The judge accused Mr. Menem of covering up and destroying evidence and abusing his authority. His brother, Munir Menem, who was presidential chief of staff at the time, a formal federal judge, two intelligence officers and two police officers were also indicted. The chief prosecutor in the investigation, Alberto Nissman, said he had requested this indictment a long time ago

Opposition leaders in the West African state of Guinea have rejected a proposal by the country’s military leader to form a government of national unity. Captain Moussa Dadis Camara made the offer amid mounting international condemnation of the shooting dead by the army of dozens of opposition demonstrators. They’ve been protesting following reports that Captain Camara plans to run for president.

Reports from Somalia say the Islamist group Al-Shabaab has now taken control of the strategic port of Kismayo, following clashes with another Islamist militia Hizbul-Islam. At least 12 people were killed and nearly 60 injured in the fighting. The two factions used to share control of Kismayo, but relations have deteriorated in recent weeks.

Police in Bangladesh say they’ve arrested a senior member of the banned Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba suspected of planning attacks in India. Mohammad Emdadullah was captured in Dhaka following a tip-off.

Scientists say the remains of a 4.5 million-year-old creature formed the earliest known skeleton of a human ancestor. The research reported in the Journal Science says the 1.2-metre-tall skeleton found in Ethiopia in 1994 show signs of the first stage of human evolution better than anything seen to date. Dr. Owen Lovejoy was one of the scientists involved in the discovery.

“Part of the tooth led to a finger bone, and a finger bone led to the size of a portion of skeleton that is 4.4 million years old. She has a pelvis that allows her to negotiate tree branches rather well, so half of her life is spent in the trees. She would have nested in trees and occasionally fed in trees, but when she was on the ground, she walked upright pretty close to how you and I walk.”

The finds nicknamed Ardi is more than a million years older than the fossil Lucy, which has long been considered the earliest remains of human ancestor.

The pilot and co-pilot who’s successfully landed the stricken airliner in New York’s Hudson River in January have made their first flight together since the incident. Passengers applauded when they were told Captain Chesley Sullenberger and his co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles were in the cockpit. The team flew the same route as in January when Captain Sullenberger landed in Hudson after his jet struck a flock of geese and lost power in both engines.

联合国称，在周三袭击印度尼西亚苏门答腊岛的强烈地震中，至少1,100人死亡。相关部门相信，仍有多人被困在废墟下，联合国人道主义负责人John Holmes称，遇难者人数仍然可能上升。

随着每个小时的过去，这场灾难的规模越来越明晰。在巴东市，数十座房屋和政府建筑倒塌。年轻大学生经常光顾的一个餐馆现在变成了一堆废墟。相关官员表示，至少有60人被埋在地下。巴东市到处都是这样的景象。由于通讯线路和交通状况恶劣，搜救工作受到阻碍。今早，第一批运载食物和救援物资的飞机已经抵达，但是难以找到足够近的投放地点。

奥巴马总统称，关于伊朗核项目的国际对话是“建设性的。”然而，他表示，现在，他希望伊朗能够采取具体行动，证明其核项目是出于和平目的。伊朗，美国和其他大国之间的协商在日内瓦举行。

会议状况似乎好于预期。这是美国首次在协商中发挥充分作用，而俄罗斯和中国则很明显地与西方大国站在了统一战线上。事情有望取得重大进展，伊朗或许原则上允许大部分低浓缩铀出口到国外加工成核反应堆燃料。如果这成为事实，这会消除西方大国担心将用于制造核弹的物质。

阿根廷前总统卡洛斯·梅内姆(Carlos Menem)被控在1994年犹太文化中心爆炸事件中妨碍司法。在这场爆炸中，85人死亡。同时被控诉的还有其他几名政府前官员。Candy Sperest在布宜诺斯艾利斯报道。

在声明中，法官称，卡洛斯·梅内姆(Carlos Menem)隐瞒他与叙利亚人之间的联系。在调查初期，线索指向梅内姆家族的叙利亚朋友。法官指控梅内姆隐藏和销毁证据并滥用职权。而他的兄弟，当时担任参谋长的Munir Menem，前联邦法官，两名情报官员和两名警官也被指控。这次调查的检察长Alberto Nissman表示，很久以前，他就曾要求对他们提起诉讼。

西非国家几内亚反对派领袖拒绝了军方领导提出的建立全国统一政府的提议。由于数十名反对派示威者被军方射死，国际社会的批评声逐渐高涨，Moussa Dadis Camara上尉提出了该建议。继报道称Moussa Dadis Camara上尉将竞选总统之后，反对派开始发起抗议游行。

来自索马里的报道称，经过与伊斯兰圣战组织的激烈冲突之后，激进伊斯兰组织青年党现已控制了战略性港口基斯马尤。在冲突中，至少12人死亡，接近60人受伤。两个好战组织一直共同管理基斯马尤，但是最近几周，双方关系恶化。

孟加拉警方称，他们逮捕了被禁止的位于巴基斯坦的好战组织虔诚军队高级成员。此人涉嫌密谋在印度发起攻击。在收到警告之后，Mohammad Emdadullah在达卡被捕。

科学家称，最近发现的拥有450万年历史的遗骸可能是人类最早的祖先的化石。该研究报道发表在《科学》期刊上。研究称，这副骨骸于1994年在埃塞俄比亚发现，比其他任何骨骸更好地反映出人类进化的阶段。Owen Lovejoy博士是此重大发现中的一位科学家。

“从牙齿片段可以推断出手指骨，从手指骨可以推断出这具440万年的骨骸的比例。她拥有骨盆，这样可以使她更好的在树枝之间盘旋，所以，她的生命有一半是在树林中度过的。她可能巢居在树林中，偶尔在树林中膳食。但是当她到达地面时，她可以直立行走，姿势与你我都差不多。”

该发现被命名为Ardi，比Lucy化石的历史悠久100多万年。Lucy长期以来一直被认为人类祖先最古老的残骸。

今年1月份，一架飞机受到袭击，驾驶员和副驾驶员在纽约哈德逊河上空成功迫降。现在，这两位驾驶员和副驾驶员进行事故后第一次飞行。当广播宣布飞行员上尉Chesley Sullenberger和副驾驶员 Jeffrey Skiles已经就坐时，乘客们不约而同地为他们鼓掌。一月份，飞机经过哈德逊河上空时遭遇飞鸟袭击，两个引擎同时失灵，而Sullenberger成功使飞机在哈德逊河降落。这次的航行路线与上次一致。