BBC news 2007-08-02 加文本

BBC 2007-08-02


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$550 million by the US and British regulators after it admitted unlawfully conspiring to fix air fares and other prices. Another airline, the South Korean carrier Korean Air was fined $300 million. American officials said the huge fines were intended as a deterrent. From Washington, Jonathan Beale reports.

The US Department of Justice said that the crimes committed by British Airways and another company Korean Airlines were among the largest most far-reaching antitrust conspiracies it had ever detected. US officials said that virtually every American business and consumer was impacted by the illegal price fixing. They said the conspiracy to increase fuel surcharges had raised the price of almost every ticket purchased on British Airways' long-haul flihts between the period 2004 and 2006.

One of the leading presidential candidates for the Democratic Party in the United States Barack Obama says he would be prepared to order military attacks against al-Qaeda in Pakistan even without the consent of the Pakistani government. Speaking in Washington, Mr. Obama said that if he had intelligence about what he called "high value terrorist targets" in Pakistan, he would act against them if President Musharraf failed to do so. The Pakistani ambassador in Washington said Mr. Obama's comments were hypothetical.

Tens of thousands of people have come out onto the main streets of the Colombian capital Bogota to welcome a teacher who's walked nearly 900 kilometers to protest against the kidnapping of his son by the left-wing rebel group the FARC. Gustavo Moncayo has been walking for more than 6 weeks with his hands chained together. From Colombia, Jeremy McDermott reports.

An unknown teacher from a provincial town was received in Bogota like a rock star with multitudes gathering in the streets to cheer him on. Mr. Moncayo never anticipated the reaction that Colombian people have had to his solitary protest which started almost 7 weeks ago when he began walking to Bogota with a petition for the president to affect a prisoner exchange so that his son held captive for 10 years could come home.

The Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic had said that Belgrade would be prepared to give Kosovo the widest possible autonomy to help reach agreement on the future of the province. The majority Albanian population in Kosovo wanted independence from Serbia. Speaking to the BBC, Mr. Jeremic said he was sure a compromise could be found.
"Serbia is prepared to consider even giving up some of the sovereign prerogatives, like being able to have their own access to the World Bank and the IMF, like international financial institutions, like some kind of representation abroad, we are prepared to give up a lot of things. But they also need to be prepared to give up something."

World News from the BBC.

The main Sunni Arab political bloc in Iraq, the Iraqi Accordance Front, has said it's withdrawing from the government. The group, which has 6 cabinet ministers said the Shiite-led administration had failed to meet a list of demands including one urging tough action against Shiite militias.

The Italian government has reached an agreement with the leading American museum for the return of 40 disputed artifacts which Italy contends were looted from the country. The agreement with the Jay Pole Getty Museum in Los Angeles follows years of negotiations. Emma Wallace reports from Rome.

The Aphrodite sculpture dates from the 5th century BC and was found by Italian fish men in the international waters but was acquired by the Getty Museum in the process which has become mired in accusations of looted antiquities and tomb raiding. Italian Culture Minister, Francesco Rutelli, managed to clench a deal that his predecessors failed to close. He ensured that a total of 40 prized antiquities will be returned to Italy and Italian people.

Doctors in the United States have used a new technique of brain stimulation to enable a man in a near vegetative state to speak, eat and perform other simple tasks. The doctors say they adopted a treatment already used for Parkinson's disease in which electrodes are implanted into the region of the brain that regulates consciousness. The 32-year-old man was in a minimally conscious state after being badly beaten 6 years ago. Within a short time, he responded to the treatment and can now use limited words and gestures.

The head of the Brazilian Football Federation Heigardy Dershilum has blamed Brazil's early exit from last year's World Cup Finals in Germany on late-night drinking by some of the team's players. Mr. Dershilum said some players had returned drunk to the team hotel between 4 and 6 in the morning. However, he refused to name the players which were involved.

BBC World News.