BBC news 2009-02-18 加文本

BBC 2009-02-18

Download Audio

BBC News with Blerry Gogan.

After prolonged negotiations and political wrangling, President Barack Obama has signed into law an economic stimulus package worth almost 800 billion dollars. He said the packag aimed to keep the American dream alive, but was only the start of a long hard road to set the economy on firmer foundations. Mr. Obama emphasized that the measures would benefit the environment, employment, health, education and infrastructure.

"Just as President Kennedy sparked an explosion of innovation when he set America’s sights on the moon, I hope this investment will ignite our imagination once more, spurring new discoveries and breakthroughs in science, in medicine, in energy, to make our economy stronger and our nation more secure, and our planet safer for our children."

Some news just in. A White House spokesman has said that President Barack Obama has approved a 17,000 troop increase for Afghanistan. In a statement, President Obama said the increase was necessary to stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan. He said the country had not received the resources it needed.

Federal regulators in the United States have charged the financier and cricket impresario, Allen Stanford, with what they described as massive fraud. A spokesman for the Securities and Exchange Commission said the fraud was of shocking magnitude and that has spread around the world. From New York, Greg Wood reports.

Although better known for his involvement in cricket, Sir Allen Stanford’s wealth is based on the investment empire he runs. Today the US financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission, charged Sir Allen and two other people with orchestrating a fraudulent multibillion-dollar investment program. Federal agencies were seen entering his company's offices in Huston, Texas. The SEC alleges that Stanford subsidiary company in Antigua sold eight billion dollars worth of so-called certificates of deposit to investors by promising them improbable and unsubstantiated high interest rates.      

The United Nations in Gaza has issued an urgent appeal for the return of thousands of kilograms of explosives that have disappeared from a warehouse guarded by Hamas. The bombs and shells were dropped by Israel during its recent offensive but failed to explode. Tim Franks reports from Jerusalem.

The UN experts have been liaising with Hamas authorities in Gaza to arrange for the safe disposal of the munitions. The UN staff had also been waiting for the Israeli army to allow them to bring into Gaza the specialist equipment needed for them to destroy the explosives. But two days ago, when UN officials returned to the warehouse, they found that most of the explosives had gone missing. An Israeli army spokesman told the BBC that the bombs had been commandeered by Hamas militants. A UN official said that its staff were urgently trying to establish where the explosives had gone and have called for their safe return.

World News from the BBC.

The Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe has said that criminal charges against one of its senior members are malicious and politically motivated. The charges against Roy Bennett, who was chosen to be a deputy minister in the new unity government with Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF, ranged from plotting terrorism to weapons and immigration offences. The charges were brought as the unity government held its first cabinet meeting.

The founder of the US cable television channel aimed at countering Muslim stereotypes has been charged with murdering his wife. Muzzammil Hassan went to police near the offices of Bridges TV in New York State on Thursday, and told them his wife was dead. Andy Gallagher reports from Washington.(www.hxen.net)

Police found Aasiya Hassan’s body at the television station. She’d been beheaded. Officers say she placed a protection order against her husband and had recently filed for a divorce. In a statement on its website, the station said it was shocked and saddened by the murder and Mr. Hassan's subsequent arrest. He is due to appear in court on Wednesday. The couple had two children, aged four and six.

Chinese officials say that AIDS was the country’s leading cause of death from infectious diseases last year. A report by China’s Ministry of Health ranked AIDS above tuberculosis and rabies for the first time, saying it had killed almost 7,000 people in the first nine months of 2008. The ministry said the total number of cases of HIV in China was now more than 260,000, almost double the figure published three years ago.

The Jazz musician, Louie Bellson, described by Duke Ellington as the world’s greatest drummer, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 84. Mr. Bellson was a big band drummer in the 40s and 50s, who performed with Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Duke Ellington among others. He was also a prolific small group player, recording with Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and James Brown as well as a composer and arranger.

And that’s the latest BBC World News.

Glossary:

wrangle: to argue with somebody angrily for a long time.

spark: If one thing sparks another, the first thing causes the second thing to start happening.

ignite: If something or someone ignites your feelings, they cause you to have very strong feelings about something. (LITERARY)

impresario: An impresario is a person who arranges for plays, concerts and other entertainments to be performed.

orchestrate: If you say someone orchestrates an event or situation, you mean that they carefully organize it in a way that will produce the result that they want it.

liaise: When organizations or people liaise, or when one organization liaises with another, they work together and keep each other informed about what is happening.

commandeer: If armed forces commandeer a vehicle or building owned by someone else, they officially take charge of it so that they can use it.

stereotype: A stereotype is a fixed image or set of characteristics that a lot of people believe represent a particular type of person or thing.

infectious: A disease that is infectious can be caught by being near a person who has it.

among others: If something applies to a particular person or thing among others, it also applies to other people or things.

prolific: A prolific writer, artist, or composer produces a large number of works.