BBC news 2010-02-06 加文本

2010-02-06 BBC

BBC News with Michael Powles

The British defence company BAE Systems is to pay a fine of 400 million dollars to the United States government for misleading it over arms deals. It was accused of breaching undertakings  it gave to the US over payments to a Saudi official as part of a 40-billion-dollar weapons deal. BAE will also pay a fine of nearly 50 million dollars to the British government over an arms deal with Tanzania. The Director of the Serious Fraud Office in London Richard Alderman said he was delighted with the outcome of the case.

"It's a big lesson to corporates. It's a lesson showing them that the SFO is very much on top of looking at these issues. We find cases, we investigate them and we don't give up. I think it's a warning sign to corporates to wake up to the implications of what's been happening, get their house in order, come and talk to us if needed, but to solve themselves out."

At least 40 people have been killed and more than 140 wounded by bombs apparently aimed at Shiit pilgrims on the final day of a religious ceremony in the Iraqi city of Kerbala. Police say two suicide bombers detonated cars packed with explosives as pilgrims streamed in and out of Kerbala. The attacks come as Iraq prepares for a nationwide parliamentary election next month.

Shiite Muslims were also the target of several attacks in Pakistan's largest city Karachi. A motorbike laden with explosives hit a bus going to a religious procession, killing 12 people. An hour later, another motorcycle exploded outside the hospital where the victims of the first attack were being treated, killing another 13 people. Pakistani officials said at least one of the blasts was a suicide attack. BBC Jaffer Rizvi was at the hospital when the second bomb went off.

We had to rush to save our lives for our state was panic. Everybody was shouting. Everybody was raising slogan against the militants here, and the hospital was full of the mourners, full of the victims' families and friends and all of them. I really can't tell you how the people were trying to save their lives. Everybody was so panic, the doctors, the victims, the families, the friends. Everybody was panic there.

For the first time, military personnel from a warship have stormed another vessel while Somali pirates were trying to hijack it and have freed the crew. Our East Africa correspondent Peter Greste has been following the story from Nairobi.

According to commander John Harbour of the European naval task force, pirates boarded a contained ship called the Ariella as she sailed along the Somali coast earlier today. The Ariella was part of a group transit, a convoy ships that move along a corridor with warships placed to strategic points. This time the strategy worked. The EU scrambled a helicopter which spotted pirates on the deck. They in turn called in a Danish warship, sailing under a NATO flag. And by the time the special forces arrived, the pirates had vanished.

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

The former US President Bill Clinton has apologized to Haitian protesters about the slow pace of aid distribution during the visit to the country. Mr Clinton, who has taken charge of coordinating international aid in Haiti, has said aid efforts will be intensified. From Port-au-Prince, here is Nick Davis.

The former US president arrived flanked by security on the agenda with the Haitian government, the progress in delivering aid to people.

"I'm sorry it's taken this long. But these people are working hard and what I'm trying to do now is to identify the things that aren't being done and need to be speeded up and fill those blanks. I'm doing the best I can."

The president said that a vast supply of several thousand new tents would arrive in the next few days along with 100 trucks to help distribute more aids.

Prosecutors in Los Angeles have confirmed for the first time that they will charge the doctor of the pop star Michael Jackson in connection with his death. The prosecutors say Doctor Conrad Murray will be charged on Monday. From Los Angeles, Rajesh Mirchandani reports.

The latest announcement from the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office is the first confirmation that charges will be brought over the death of Michael Jackson. It comes after a 7-month investigation and a week of negotiating between prosecutors and lawyers for Jackson's personal physician Doctor Conrad Murray. Court paper show Doctor Murray gave the star a powerful anesthetic and other sedatives on the day he died. Doctor Murray says he gave nothing that should have killed Jackson. It's expected he will be charged with involuntary manslaughter which carries a penalty of up to four years in prison.

The captain of the England football team John Terry has been stripped off his post after allegations of an extramarital affair with the former girlfriend of one of his England teammates. The England manager Fabio Capello said taking the captaincy from Terry was in the best interest of the squad. Terry's alleged affair with a French underwear model had led to frenzied coverage in sections of the British media.

BBC News.