BBC news 2009-03-19 加文本

BBC News from Victoria Meakin.

The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, says it will spend more than one trillion dollars in an effort to lift the country out of recession. The Fed will increase its purchase of assets linked to home loans and buy long-term government bonds to try to ease conditions on the credit markets. From New York, Greg Wood reports.

The Federal Reserve has a problem. It's already cut short-term interest rates to zero. So it has to find another way to stimulate the economy. It's going to buy a large amount of longer term treasury bonds, the IOUs, issued by the government which are repayable in 10 to 30 years time. The theory is that this extra demand for bonds will push up their price thus reducing the yield, the interest rate paid to holders of those bonds. Bond price‘s shot up after the Fed's announcement and the yield on 10-year bonds fell by up to 0.5%, essentially an interest rate cut.

The United Nations food agency has announced it's going to give food aid to more than double the number of people it's currently helping in Kenya. It's said many families were struggling to find food for even one meal a day. Mary Harper reports.

The UN says the global financial crisis is hitting Kenyans very hard. This combined with drought, high food prices and the aftermath of last year's political violence which led to the massive displacement of people from fertile land, means that 3.5 million Kenyans will soon be receiving food handouts. The UN will give more than a million children free school meals as a way of trying to keep them in education. And all of this is in a country that's traditionally been seen as the economic powerhouse of East Africa.

Yosef Fritzl, the Austrian man accused of fathering seven children by a daughter he imprisoned for more than 20 year, is expected to be sentenced tomorrow after changing his plea to guilty on all charges. Asked by the judge why he changed his mind, Mr. Fritzl referred to his daughter's videotaped testimony. Bethany Bell was in court.

It was a dramatic turn of events. The judge asked Josef Fritzl if he had anything to say after viewing the 11 hours of his daughter's videotaped testimony. "I plead guilty, " he said. The court also heard from the psychiatrist Dr. Adelheid Kastner who spoke of Josef Fritzl's overwhelming need to dominate and control. She said Josef Fritzl had picked out his third daughter as his victim because she was the most similar to him, obstinate and strong.

The election commission in Azerbaijan says voters have approved proposals to lift the two-term limit on how long their presidents can stay in power. Results so far indicate that 92% voted in favor of abolishing the limit. Opposition parties say the change would give President Aliyev a chance to remain in power for life.

You're listening to the World News from the BBC in London.

France and Germany have criticized Pope Benedict for saying that the use of condoms could endanger public health and increase the problem of AIDS. The Pope made the remark in Cameroon on Tuesday during his first visit to Africa. The French Foreign Ministry said condoms were fundamental to efforts to prevent the spread of AIDS. The German Health and Development Minister said family planning must be made available to the poorest of the poor and that anything else would be irresponsible.

South African prosecutors are reported to be considering whether to drop corruption charges against Jacob Zuma, the man widely expected to become the country's next president in the elections next month. Mr. Zuma has always maintained he is innocent, saying he is the victim of a political conspiracy. Peter Biles reports from Johannesburg.(www.hXen.com)

The national prosecuting authority says it's recently been given more information by Jacob Zuma’s lawyers. This has led to further investigation and the NPA says it's treating the process with the utmost urgency. It's thought that Mr. Zuma's submissions which are now under consideration by the prosecutors are a bid to have the corruption charges against him withdrawn. Press reports that the case is about to be dropped have been denied. But Jacob Zuma has always argued that he's been the victim of a political conspiracy and he's been unfairly prosecuted.

The United Nations children's agency, UNICEF, says the number of children killed in fighting in Sri Lanka has risen sharply in the last month with hundreds left dead. UNICEF says many have died from respiratory infection and diarrhea because of a lack of food, water and medical supplies.

The Italian Parliament is studying legislation on redrawing Italy's border with Switzerland, a move that’s become necessary because of alterations caused by global warming. The frontier runs through an Alpine area but it’s moved over the decades as glaciers have melted and erosion has occurred. The idea is that in future the border will be described as mobile.

BBC News.

Glossary:

yield: A yield is the amount of money or profit produced by an investment. (BUSINESS)

obstinate: If you describe someone as obstinate, you are being critical of them because they are very determined to do what they want, and refuse to change their mind or be persuaded to do something else. =stubborn

respiratory: Respiratory means relating to breathing. (MEDICAL)

diarrhea: an illness in which the body's solid waste is more liquid than usual and comes out of the body more often: