BBC news 2009-03-20 加文本

BBC 2009-03-20


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BBC News with David Austin.

 

Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who imprisoned his daughter for more than 20 years, repeatedly raped her and fathered seven children by her has received a life sentence. The jury found him unanimously guilty of a series of charges including rape, incest, imprisonment, and murdering through neglect one of the children. Mr. Fritzl will serve his sentence in a psychiatric institution. But the court spokesman Franz Cutka said he could eventually be sent to a prison.

 

"In theory, he could be released from the institution for mentally ill offenders. There are yearly examinations there, after which an expert opinion is drafted and if this opinion shows that he has been cured, he would then be transferred to a penal institution to serve his life sentence. He could theoretically be released after 15 years at the earliest. "

 

The United States House of Representatives has voted for a 90% tax on bonuses awarded by companies bailed out by the government. The move follows growing anger over news that the insurance company AIG recently paid 165 million dollars worth of bonuses to employees. From Washington, James Coomarasamy.

 

85 House Republicans joined with Democrats to approve a 90% tax on bonuses awarded to high earning employees from bailed-out companies. This was despite opposition from Republican leaders, who argued that the measure was intended to divert attention away from questions about the administration's handling of the affair. The tax, which the Senate will now consider, would apply to anyone earning more than 250,000 dollars and firms receiving over 5 billion dollars of public money. (www.hXen.com)

 

The United Nations has sharply criticized rich countries for their role in the global financial crisis. In a new report the UN Conference on Trade and Development or UNCTAD says wealthy nations acted with a herd mentality. Imogen Foulkes reports from Geneva.

 

It's an unusually sharply-worded report. UNCTAD says blind faith in the virtues of the market allowed forms of financial innovations which were completely detached from any truly productive economic activity. Instead, a herd behavior allowed rampant speculation, which the report alleges, most likely contributed to last year's soaring food prices. UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi now wants the UN to play a central role in reforming global financial institutions.

 

The Israeli government has promised to investigate reports of abuses by its soldiers during the recent offensive in Gaza. The Haaretz newspaper published testimony from troops who said Israeli forces killed Palestinian civilians and intentionally destroyed property under permissive rules of engagement. The paper says the soldiers' stories contradict statements by the Israeli military.

 

World News from the BBC.

 

The Mexican authorities say they've arrested the son of one of the country's top drug lords. The man Vicente Zambada is alleged to have played a key role in the Sinaloa cartel which is believed to be behind much of the violence that’s left more than a thousand people dead across the country since the start of the year alone. The authorities say Mr. Zambada was seized in the capital along with his escort of armed guards and quantities of weapons and money.

 

American astronauts have begun a spacewalk to install the last set of solar panels on the International Space Station. The aim is to generate extra power for the ISS. Here's our science reporter, Matt McGrath.

 

When the space shuttle Discovery arrived at the ISS a few days ago, it brought a new crew member and the final set of solar array wings that will complete the construction of the station's backbone. During the first of three planned spacewalks on this mission, two astronauts will hook up a 15-meter-long metal segment that will hold the new solar panels. When fully working, the new panels will nearly double the amount of electric power available to the station. This will increase the number of crew members that the ISS can support from three to six.

 

In a growing row between Germany and Switzerland over banking secrecy, the German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck has complained about being compared to a Nazi. Germany has been at the forefront of efforts to get Switzerland to relax secrecy. One Swiss MP said Mr. Steinbrueck's behavior reminded him of the old generation of Germans who, as he put it, 60 years ago went through the streets with leather coats, boots and armbands.

 

The medical examiner’s office in New York says the actress Natasha Richardson died of an accidental blunt impact to her head. Ms. Richardson was injured when she fell while skiing in Canada. She died on Wednesday in a hospital in New York where she'd been flown after her condition deteriorated rapidly. She was married to the actor Liam Neeson.

 

That's the latest BBC News.

 

Notes：

neglect： neglect (of sth/sb) the fact of not giving enough care or attention to sth/sb; the state of not receiving enough care or attention 

Herd mentality describes how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors, follow trends, and/or purchase items. Examples of the herd mentality include the early adopters of high technology products such as cell phones and iPods, as well as stock market trends, fashions in apparel, cars, home decor, etc. Social psychologists study the related topics of group intelligence, crowd wisdom, and decentralized decision making.

People in these herds are broken up into two groups, explains Friedrich Nietzsche, a philosopher who coined the phrase. One lended itself to the religious points of views- their beliefs and how those dictated their actions- while the other lended itself to influence by the media- more liberal and based upon what others perceive as 'right' (following trends, social norms, etc.).

detached：separated

rampant：(of something bad) getting worse quickly and in an uncontrolled way