BBC news 2008-11-25 加文本

BBC News with Geonald Harold.

The campaign group, Human Rights Watch, has accused the government of President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo of using violence to eliminate its political opponents following elections in 2006. Human Rights Watch said Congolese security forces had deliberately killed more than 500 people in a campaign against opposition groups in the capital Kinshasa and the western province of Bakongo. Congolese government officials said at the time they were acting against coup plotters. Human Rights Watch said the opposition groups had also used violence.

The leaders of what was once the largest Muslim charity in the United States have been convicted of funding the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, in what's been described as the biggest terrorism financing trial in the US history. The now defunct Holy Land Foundation was accused of giving more than 12 million dollars to charities controlled by Hamas. A lawyer for Holy Land, Nancy Hollander, told the BBC the charity had operated legally.

Our clients provided charity to charity committees and to orphans, and families in the occupied territories, Palestine, West Bank, Gaza, Chechnya, Bosnia and various other places. No money was sent to Hamas.

And some news just in. Members of Parliament in Kuwait say the government has submitted its resignation to the emir. The move follows a standoff between government and Parliament over the request by some deputies to question the prime minister.

Organizations throughout the world are highlighting the prevalence of rapes, sexual assault and domestic violence on Tuesday to coincide with the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. In Cambodia, the government has released a report which suggests that a quarter of all women suffer domestic violence. In Kenya, the development organization Oxfam is launching a campaign to change people's attitudes towards violence in a country where half of women reported experiencing domestic violence. The campaign manager is Carol Thiga.

This is a campaign that seeks to prevent violence against women in the long term, but in the immediate objective is actually to reduce the social acceptability of violence against women.

New laws to stop women being forced into marriage and to protect those already married against their will have come into force here in Britain. Anyone convicted of trying to force someone into marriage could be imprisoned for up to two years.

There have been big rises in most stock markets across Asia. Japan's Nikkei index closed more than 5% up, Hong Kong rose more than 3%. Chris Hogg reports from Shanghai.

There's been a collective sigh of relief it seems in Asian markets after the US government bailed out the troubled bank Citigroup. The stimulus package announced by the British finance minister on Monday has also helped. There is much concern in this part of the world about the health of the European economies, important markets for Asian goods.

World News from the BBC.

Officials in the South African border town have expressed fears about a possible cholera epidemic as infected refugees arrive from Zimbabwe. The mayor of Musina, a town south of the Zimbabwean border, said people wanted to help the Zimbabweans but were scared of being infected themselves. The World Health Organization says 300 Zimbabweans have died from cholera and at least 6,000 are infected.

There are reports that Somali pirates have hijacked a Yemeni cargo ship. This will make it the 39th successful hijacking by Somali pirates this year. It comes ten days after the Saudi supertanker, the Sirius Star, was hijacked with 100 million dollars worth of oil and 25 crew members on board. It also comes several days after officials from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen called for international help.

A man and a woman from Britain convicted of having sex on a beach in the Gulf State of Dubai have been freed after the Emirates Court of Appeal suspended their three-month prison sentence. The widely publicized case has highlighted a clash of values between western residents and tourists. Julia Wheeler reports from Dubai.

Michelle Palmer and Vince Acors were not in court to hear that the guilty verdict has been upheld, that they will not have to serve time in prison. Their three-month prison term has been suspended for three years. They will be deported from the UAE. The case has caused some anger among local Emirati people in Dubai and the UAE. It has been cited as an example of the city being too open to other people's cultures and in danger of losing its own traditions. (WWw.hxen.net)

Figures published in China say a third of the Yellow River, the country's second longest, is so polluted as to be unsafe for any use. The latest study by an official environment watchdog found much of the river's water which supplies China's heavily industrialized northern regions wasn't even fit for agriculture, let alone household use.