BBC news 2008-05-01 加文本

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Welcome to the latest global news recorded at 15: 00 GMT, on Wednesday, the 30th April. I am Valory Sundus with selection of highlights from across BBC worldservice news today.

Coming up, a fierce gun battle in the heart of the Afghan capital, we have the details. Human Rights Watch warns of campaign of intimidation and violence against the opposition in Zimbabwe.  “We have seen incidents of people being made to lie on their stomachs, and brutally beaten on their backs and buttocks, with logs, thick logs, with iron bars.”

Also on the podcast, we report on the human cost of China's economic success as up to 1, 000 children are discovered working as slave labor.
English footballs on the high within the all English final in the European Champions League, but is there a downside to success?

Video footage of the formal Beatle John Lennon is at the center of a court case in the United States. What makes this tape amazing is it's the last tape. Did I know of before John Lennon broke away from the Beatles? We found out who is fighting who through the courts.
The inventor of LSD dies at the age of 102. What was the impact of his discovery?
And we discuss the role of a science fiction writing in the modern world.

But first, a large area of the Afghan capital, Kabul has been sealed off after a gun battle rage through the night. Police launched an operation against a group of heavily armed men which they described as enemies of Afghanistan. Amrullah Saleh is the head of Afghan National Directorate of Security, and he gave these details of the gun battle.

Our fighting continued till two or three o'clock, and we decided to stop and waited until it was light to avoid civilian casualties. From time to time, we were shouting through the loudspeaker, telling them to give themselves up. They continue to fight us, so we fight them with RPGs and machine guns. Three of our people were killed. They are brave and should be remembered.

These followed Sunday's attack on a military parade in Kabul, which was attended by the Afghan President Hamid Karzai. He wasn't injured in the attack, but three other people were killed. The Taliban said the attack showed that the movement could operate in the center of capital. So other two incidents linked. Earlier, I asked our correspondent in Kabul Alastair.

While a Taliban spokesman has confirmed that two of their men were killed in this operation, and one of those men's wives. He said they were involved in the planning of Sunday's attack on the military parade on president Karzai. And there are also / reports of six other people being arrested in the separate, location in the city according to National Directorate of Security. So all these appear to be linked in very much with the follow-up two the attack on President Karzai, and the military parade on Sunday.
There has of course well as you said, that hammed on Sunday and there has been tight security in Kabul since then. So what this is the say about the authorities' grip on the city?
Well, yesterday, we saw the key leaders in the security sector, the Interior Ministry, the Defense Ministry, the National Directorate Security, are being grilled by members of parliament after the breach in security. There was a vote of confidence which one is against them. They’ve made their pose. But they are trying to show that they are very much in control of the security of Kabul because they will be taking over responsibility for that from NATO in August. It does seem know that they have used their intelligence to locate those who were involved the incumbent President Karzai from where be hearing. Alastair in Kabul.

Zimbabwe is in a state of political limbo following last month disputed election. And reports of violence and human rights abuses are increasing. The New York based group, Human Rights Watch says the state is arming militants and at least 500 opposition supporters have been attacked and their homes burnt. From neighboring South Africa Will Ross has this report.

A well planned and orchestrated campaign of violence has been carried out by Zimbabwe's governing party and its allies. That's the view of Human Rights Watch. Up until now, it's been difficult to get an independent assessment of the violence. But researchers from Human Right Watch have been on the ground in rolls in Zimbabwe, meeting the victims what it says is clearly state-sponsored violence. Tiseke Kasambala says what she witnessed was both gratuitous and brutal.

We have seen incidents of people being made to lie on their stomachs, and brutally beaten on their backs and buttocks, with logs, thick logs, with iron bars, with huge rocks and stones. So this is a horrible, horrible violence, that's been perpetrated by more veterans in ZANU-PF  youths with the complicity of the state.