英国新闻听力 雅典大火仍难控制（在线收听）

Raging wildfires threatening the Greek capital have forced thousands of people from their homes. The greater Athens local governor has called the fire an ecological disaster. Malcolm Brabant reports from Athens.

The fire has been so enormous that the emergency services have been unable to cope. There weren’t enough planes to water-bomb all the hot spots. Other Mediterranean countries are sending reinforcements. But to many homeowners, their arrival would be too late. Mercifully, there have been no fatalities, but the biggest casualty has been the environment. The loss of so much foliage is going to have a negative impact on air quality in Athens. The wooded hillsides on the outskirts of the capital acted as its lungs and air conditioning units, providing much needed oxygen and cooler air.

The two-week offensive by the Yemeni government intended to crush a long-running rebellion in the north of the country is continuing with air strikes on rebel positions. The army says it's killed more than 100 militants, but rebel sources dispute this. Sebastian Usher reports.

The Yemeni army launched its offensive in the north two weeks ago with the aim of crushing the rebels once and for all. Air strikes, artillery and tanks have been used. The government claims success, saying two of the rebel leaders have been killed. But the rebels deny this and accuse the army of killing civilians. The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. They are drawn from a Zaidi Shia religious sect that seeks the restoration of Shia rule in the north of the mainly Sunni country. There have also been months of protests, anti-government clashes in the south, raising concern that Yemen's fragile stability could collapse.

26 accused of planning attacks in Egypt on the orders of the Lebanese movement Hezbollah have pleaded not guilty at the start of their trial in Cairo. They have been charged with planning to target Israeli tourists in the Sinai. Yolande Knell reports.

The accused include two Lebanese, five Palestinians and 19 Egyptians. Four remain on the run and have been tried in their absence. The Egyptian authorities began arresting members of the alleged Hezbollah cell last year, ratcheting up tensions with the Lebanese group and its state backer Iran. Relations worsened in April after the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah admitted that one of the Lebanese men now on trial was his agent in Egypt charged with smuggling arms to Hamas.

The lawyer who defended the Lockerbie airliner bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, during the 1990s has criticized the decision of the Scottish authorities to send him back to Libya. Ibrahim Legwell said releasing Mr. Megrahi to hospital in Britain might have shown greater compassion because of Libya's lack of specialist cancer care. Mr. Megrahi has terminal prostate cancer. The Scottish authorities have again defended their decision to release Mr. Megrahi on compassionate grounds despite fierce criticism.

A state-run newspaper in Cuba has published a new picture of the ailing former leader Fidel Castro in which he appears in much better health. Mr. Castro has been out of the public eye since he underwent an operation in 2006. Here's Emilio San Pedro of our America's desk.

This latest image of Fidel Castro which takes up a large part of the Communist Youth newspaper shows him talking to the Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa in Havana. In it, a relaxed Mr. Castro is standing and wearing a white dress shirt. More importantly, he appears to be in better health than at any point since he became ill in 2006. The very fact that the picture was given such prominence in the communist party newspaper demonstrates how keen the Cuban authorities are to dispel the persistent rumors in Cuba and abroad surrounding Mr. Castro's health.

An influential member of the Iranian parliament is reported to have said that the nominee for the post of defense minister Ahmad Vahidi will be confirmed in the job despite accusation that he was involved in the deadly bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Argentina in 1994. The chairman of the Foreign Policy and National Security Committee, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, told the official IRNA news agency that the allegations against General Vahidi might even increase his support among MPs. The Iranian parliament is expected to vote on General Vahidi's nomination on September 1st.

And in cricket, England have regained the Ashes after winning the final deciding Test against their great rival Australia on the fourth day of play at the Oval in London. The England player Andrew Flintoff who's retiring from Test cricket said it was a moment to treasure.

"It seems a bit of dream to be involved in an Ashes winning side again, to be at the Oval, walking around the ground with the urn and the medal round your neck. It's almost surreal in some ways. I think it will take some time to sink in. I am not quite sure if I have ever thought I’ll get to this again. So having been here, I'm sure I'm gonna enjoy it." Andrew Flintoff.

威胁希腊首都的熊熊大火迫使数千人从家中撤离。雅典当地官员称这次大火是一次生态灾难。Malcolm Brabant在雅典报道。

火势非常迅猛，紧急服务难以将其控制，没有足够的飞机向火灾现场投掷水弹。其他地中海国家均向雅典派遣了增援。但是对许多业主来说，增援到达的太迟了。幸运的是，没有造成人员伤亡，但是最大的受害者是环境。如此大面积森林被毁坏，将对雅典的空气质量造成消极影响。雅典外围森林茂密的山坡是整个城市的肺和空调设施，为城市提供了所需的氧气和清凉的空气。

为了粉碎也门北部长期存在的反叛组织，政府实施了两周的进攻仍在继续，现在在向反叛分子据点进行空袭。军方称已经击毙100多名好战分子，但是反叛分子予以否认。Sebastian Usher报道。

为了一劳永逸地粉碎该国北部的反叛组织，也门军队两周前发起了进攻。空袭，大炮和坦克轮番上阵。政府宣称已经取得胜利，两名反叛分子头目已经被击毙。但是反叛分子予以否认，并指控军方伤害平民。几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。他们来自Zaidi什叶派宗教军团，一直寻求在主要是逊尼派的北方重建什叶派法规。南方也曾出现了几个月的抗议和反政府冲突，使人们担忧也门原本脆弱的稳定性随时可能崩溃。

在开罗的审判中，26名被指控按照黎巴嫩真主党的命令计划在埃及实施袭击的人没有认罪。他们被指控计划在施奈袭击以色列游客。Yolande Knell报道。

被控诉者包括2名黎巴嫩人，5名巴勒斯坦人和19名埃及人。4人仍在在逃，但是仍缺席审判。埃及政府从去年开始逮捕真主党成员，引发了与黎巴嫩真主党和其支持者伊朗之间的紧张局势。四月份，真主党领袖Hassan Nasrallah承认其中被审判的一人为他在埃及的代理之后，关系更加恶化。此人被指控向哈马斯走私武器。

90年代洛克比空难主犯迈格拉希的辩护律师谴责苏格兰政府将其释放的行为。Ibrahim Legwell称，让迈格拉希住进英国医院更能表现出对他的同情，因为利比亚缺少专业的癌症护理。迈格拉希患有末期前列腺癌正。尽管面临严厉批评，苏格兰政府仍然为其释放迈格拉希的行为辩护。

古巴一份官方报纸公布了生病的前领袖菲德尔·卡斯特罗生病的最新照片，在照片中，卡斯特罗看上去健康状况良好。自2006年进行了手术之后，卡斯特罗就从公众的视线中消失。Emilio San Pedro报道。

卡斯特罗这张新照片在共产主义青年报上占据了大篇幅，展示了他在哈瓦那与厄瓜多尔总统拉法尔·科雷亚进行谈话的情景。在照片中，科斯特罗非常放松地站立着，身穿一件白色衬衫。更重要的是，他的健康状况似乎比2006年生比以来的任何时候都要好。这张照片被共产党的报纸赋予如此重要的位置，表明古巴当局急切希望消除古巴国内外关于卡斯特罗健康状况的谣言。

据报道，在伊朗议会颇有影响力的成员称，对国防部长Ahmad Vahidi的提名将得到确认，尽管，有人指控他卷入1994年阿根廷犹太人文化中心的致命爆炸案中。对外政策和国家安全委员会主席Alaeddin Boroujerdi告诉官方的IRNA通讯社，对Vahidi将军的指控甚至可能增加议会成员对他的支持。9月1日，伊朗议会将对Vahidi的提名进行投票。

在板球方面，英国队在比赛的第四天在伦敦板球场击败对手澳大利亚队之后赢得了板球对抗赛决赛，再次获得灰烬杯。已经从板球对抗赛退休的英国选手Andrew Flintoff称这是值得珍惜的一刻。

“能够再次站在赢得灰烬杯的一方，和其他队员一起脖子里挂着奖章绕比赛场地行进，感到像做梦一样。在某些方面甚至感到非常离奇。我认为需要一段时间才能真正接受这个现实。我不是很确定，我是否想过会再次获胜。所以能够站在这里，我确定我一定会享受着一刻。”Andrew Flintoff说。