BBC news 2009-07-15 加文本

BBC 2009-07-15


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BBC news with Ian Perdon.

Profits by the leading American investment bank Goldman Sachs have gone up by a third for the three months to June, far exceeding expectations. Details of the bank's performance were keenly awaited as a sign of whether massive bailouts for the financial sector have put it on course for recovering. Rober Pasten reports.

This investment bank has consistently performed better than most of its rivals. But when that cataclysmic storm broke over the financial system last autumn, Goldman, like the rest, had to turn to taxpayers for a crutch in the form of guarantees for its debt, access to central bank liquidity and capital. It has recently declared it can stand on its own two feet again without taxpayers to lean on. But some may well ask whether taxpayers shouldn’t have demanded a bit more for their support, given that Goldman is once again the world's preeminent money-making machine.

Officials in Mexico say 12 people who were tortured, then killed and dumped along a mountain highway have been identified as federal agents. The bodies were found tied and blindfolded on Monday near the town of La Huacana in Michoacan State. Initial reports suggest the agents were killed in retaliation for the arrest of an alleged senior drug trafficker. Dona Everha reports.

Arnoldo Rueda Medina, nicknamed La Minsa, has been accused by the authorities of organizing the distribution of cocaine, marijuana and synthetic drugs for the La Familia cartel. His arrest sparked off a wave of violence in Michoacan neighboring states in which another six police officers and two soldiers were killed. The authorities have blamed the cartel for a number of what they said were reprisal attacks on police stations and also a hotel where federal police were staying, using guns and grenades.

Two Israeli warships have sailed through the Suez Canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea in what Israeli newspapers have said is a message to Iran. It's believed to be rare for Israeli naval ships to use the canal, although the Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit  says it's entirely legal.

"Passage through the Suez Canal is governed by the Treaty of Constantinople of 1888. This treaty grants warships the right of innocent passage through the canal, provided that they have no aggressive intent towards the state that owns the canal. That is Egypt. “

Several weeks ago, an Israeli submarine reportedly also used the canal. Israel has said repeatedly that it won't rule out military action against Iran because of Teheran's nuclear program.

The French Foreign Ministry has confirmed that two French security advisers who were working for the Somali government have been abducted in the capital Mogadishu. Eyewitnesses said a group of armed men stormed the hotel where the men were staying and took them away at gunpoint.

World News from the BBC.

A court in Switzerland has ruled that assets of the former Congolese leader Mobutu Sese Seko, who died in 1997, be returned to his family. The court rejected an appeal to extend a freeze on assets worth more than 6 million dollars held in Swiss bank accounts. Marry Harbo reports.

The man who brought the appeal, Mark Pieth, described the decision to release Mr. Mobutu's money to his heirs as a black day for Congo, and all of those who had fought against the release of the funds. The move will also disappoint the Congolese government which has been trying for some years to get the money returned to Congo. It says Swiss Banks are holding at least 1 billion dollars worth of Mobutu's assets, far more than the 6. 7 million that's now due to go to his heirs. Mobutu, who governed Congo for 32 years, lived a life of excess while most people struggled to survive.

The Kenyan authorities say they have seized more than 300 kilograms of smuggled ivory and rhinoceros horn in a raid on a cargo plane bound for Asia. The spokesman for the Kenyan Wildlife Service said 16 elephant tusks and two rhino horns were confiscated. The contraband was reported to be hidden in wooden boxes shaped like coffins.

A bishop in Britain has advised churches not to use holy water in order to prevent the spread of swine flu. The bishop of Chelmsford said all receptacles for water, including those used by people making the sign of the cross should be removed until the flu pandemic is over. The bishop has also urged special caution when taking Holy Communion on pastoral visits. He said if priests came across anyone with flu-like symptoms, only they should drink from the chalice.

Six volunteers have emerged from a Russian capsule where they spent 105 days cut off from the outside world simulating a voyage to Mars. The experiment included a mock Martian landing and unplanned emergency drills.

BBC News.