英国新闻听力 伊拉克北部库尔德总统选举（在线收听）

Preliminary counting has begun following presidential and parliamentary elections in the autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. Opposition parties have alleged voting irregularities, but the Iraqi Electoral Commission said the poll has been transparent. The final result which is not expected for several days is being widely seen as crucial to future negotiations over / control of Kurdistan’s oil wealth and territorial disputes with the federal government. The incumbent Kurdish President Massoud Barzani said all problems should be settled through constitutional means.

This election is a victory for the people of Kurdistan and the Iraqi people, and this is the important thing. The other thing is that I want to tell the Iraqi people that we are brothers and partners in this country and we are ready to defend Basra, Ramadi, Baghdad, or Neojave, as we defend Arbil, Sulaimaniyah and Duhuk, and there is a constitution which we can refer to whenever there is a problem between the region and Baghdad.

Three opposition leaders in Iran have called on senior clerics to help secure the release of what they say are hundreds of people arrested after last month’s disputed elections. In a flurry of statements on websites, they accused the authorities of torturing detainees and abusing the country’s intelligence network to suppress opposition.

Officials in Afghanistan say Taliban fighters have tried to carry out multiple suicide attacks on government buildings in the eastern city of Khost. Locals reported gun battles between police and militants lasting several hours.

The Taliban have used coordinated suicide attacks with more precision recently. The raid in Khost close to the Pakistani border was the third such attack in Afghanistan in a week as the country prepares to hold presidential elections. At least three and possibly as many as seven suicide bombers were involved. And other Taliban fighters followed up the explosions with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. Some of the bombers blew themselves up after approaching the police station wearing border police uniforms while other targets included a bank and a military hospital.

The Columbian military says it has killed at least 16 Maoist rebels of the FARC during an assault on a jungle camp in a central province. A spokesman said ground troops found the bodies following air bombardments of the camp. The FARC has been on the defensive in recent years in the face of military successes by President Alvaro Uribe.

The deposed President of Honduras Manuel Zelaya has returned to the country’s border with Nicaragua and said he would set up camp there to put pressure on the interim government to allow him to return. On Friday, he made a symbolic crossing into Honduras, but withdrew after being confronted by troops.

President Obama’s special envoy for the Middle East George Mitchell is in Syria where he is due to meet President Bashar Assad in a few hours’ time. And the US State Department says Mr. Mitchell wants to look at ways of promoting peace talks between Syria and Israel where he is expected to arrive in the afternoon. Natalia Antelava reports.

It’s still rare for Syrian officials to praise Washington publicly, and most of them choose to approach President Obama’s new initiatives in the region with cautious skepticism. But in private, some Syrian officials say they are encouraged by what one of them described as Washington’s new willingness to listen. No one in Damascus is expecting this visit to bring an immediate breakthrough and Washington is still a long way away from getting Damascus on its side. But for now at least, the atmosphere of hostility which dominated during the Bush administration seems to be a thing of the past.

Brazil and Paraguay have reached agreements on a long-simmering dispute over the use of energy from a giant hydro-electric plant on their border. Charles Haviland reports.

Under the accord, Brazil will pay Paraguay considerably more for energy from the Itaipu plant which is one of the world’s largest hydro-electric schemes. Speaking after talks in Paraguay, the Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva described it as a historic agreement. He said it was not in Brazil’s interest to have a neighbor that was moving at a slower pace of development. The Paraguayan leader Fernando Lugo said both countries stood to gain. It’s been a priority for his left-wing administration to maximize revenue from the plant which was developed at a time when both countries were under military rule.

The Ferrari Formula One driver Felipe Massa has undergone surgery after sustaining a skull fracture in a high-speed crash in Hungary. The hospital spokesman said his condition was serious but stable. Massa crashed his Ferrari into a tyre barrier after being hit in the helmet.

伊拉克北部库尔德斯坦自治区总统和议会选举计票初期工作开始进行。反对党声称投票有谬误，但是伊拉克选举委员会称选举过程是透明的。

最终结果尚需几天时间。群众普遍认为，投票结果对未来协商控制库尔德斯坦地区石油财富和与联邦政府的领土争议非常关键。库尔德在职总统巴尔扎尼称，所有问题都应该通过立宪的方式解决。

对于库尔德斯坦和伊拉克人民来说，这场选举是一个胜利，是一个重大事件。我想告诉伊拉克人民的另外一件事是，我们是兄弟，是合作者，我们随时准备保卫巴士拉，拉马迪，巴格达，或Neojave，就像我们保卫Arbil，Sulaimaniyah和Duhuk一样。当该地区与巴格达之间出现问题时，我们可以依据宪法进行解决。

伊朗三名反对党领袖要求高级牧师帮忙争取释放上月有争议的选举之后被逮捕的数百人。在网站上发表的一系列声明中，他们指控当局折磨被拘留者，滥用国家情报网络来镇压反对派。

阿富汗官员称塔利班分子企图在东部城市Khost对政府建筑实施多宗自杀式袭击。当地报道称警察和好战分子之间的战斗持续了几个小时。

塔利班分子最近准确进行了多起同样的自杀式袭击。由于阿富汗正在准备总统选举，接近巴基斯坦附近的Khost的袭击已是一周以来阿富汗发生的第三起类似爆炸。至少三名可能多达七名自杀式爆炸者参与。其他塔利班分子随后哦那个自杀式武器和火箭推动式手榴弹发动了爆炸。一些身穿边境警察制服的爆炸者在抵达警察局之后引爆自己。其他袭击目标还包括一所银行和一所军事医院。

哥伦比亚军方称，在对中部省份一丛林营地发动攻击时击毙来自哥伦比亚武装力量至少26名毛泽东主义反叛分子。一名发言人称，陆地军队在空袭之后发现了反叛分子尸体。由于总统乌里韦的军事胜利，哥伦比亚武装力量今年来一直处于防御状态。

洪都拉斯被驱逐总统塞拉亚穿越与尼加拉瓜边境回国，他说，他将就地建立营地，向临时政府施压，使他们允许自己回国。周五，他象征性地踏入洪都拉斯，但是由于军队出现，他马上撤退。

奥巴马总统驻中东特使乔治·米切尔现在在叙利亚，几小时后将会见总统巴沙尔。美国国务卿称米切尔希望寻找促进叙利亚和以色列之间的和平谈判的方法。预期他将于今天下午抵达以色列。 Natalia Antelava报道。

叙利亚官员公开称赞华盛顿的情况仍然非常罕见。大多数通常选择以谨慎的怀疑态度面对奥巴马总统对该地区的新政策。但是私下来讲，一些叙利亚官员称华盛顿表现出新的倾听的意愿，这使他们很受鼓舞。大马士革无人认为米切尔此次访问可以带来立即的突破，华盛顿将大马士革争取过来还需要很长的路。但是，至少目前来说，布什政府期间占主导地位的敌意已经成为过去。

巴西和巴拉圭长期以来对边境巨大的水电厂的能源使用存在争议，现在双方就此达成协议。Charles Haviland报道。

按照协议，巴西将向巴拉圭支付更多资金以使用来自直接最大的水电体系之一的Itaipu的能源。巴西总统卢拉在于巴拉圭进行会谈后发表讲话，称这是历史性的协议。他说，拥有一个发展速度缓慢的邻国不利于巴西队利益。巴拉圭总统领袖费尔南多·卢戈称，双方均有收获。其左翼政府将水电站的收益最大化是首要任务。巴西和巴拉圭均在军事统治之下时该水电站已经建成。

法拉利F1赛车手Felipe Massa在匈牙利高速碰撞后颅骨受伤，现已接受了手术。医院发言人称，Massa状况很严重，但是比较稳定。Massa被撞到头盔之后，其法拉利跑车撞到了路障。