BBC news 2010-05-21 加文本

2010-05-21 BBC

BBC News with David Legge.

Scientists in the United States say they've developed the world's first synthetic organism. Supporters say this marks the beginning of a new industrial revolution. Critics say scientists are playing God. Pallab Ghosh explains.

It's a development that some believe will transform our world on a par with the splitting of the atom or the creation of the silicon chip. Scientists working for a private corporation have created the world's first synthetic life form - a single-celled organism named Synthia. Its DNA was built block-by-block in a machine. What's more, when Synthia reproduces, its offspring also have the new artificial DNA. Scientists say that this is a beginning of a new industrial revolution. All manner of synthetic bulks could be made, they say, to produce new medicines, clean up pollution and create a new generation of biologically based electronic components.

Stock markets around the world have suffered further falls amid continuing uncertainty about the European debt crisis. An unexpected rise in unemployment in the United States contributed to the New York Stock Exchange closing more than 3.5% down, as Duncan Bartlett of our business staff reports the troubles in Greece are weighing on the minds of American investors.

It may seem surprising that Greece, a small economy with little direct trade with the US, could cause a fall on Wall Street. But if the problems in Greece could push the rest of Europe into recession, that would certainly affect many US companies. Many European countries, including Greece, are looking at making serious spending cuts because of their current economic problems. They recognized that in a short term, Europe's economy could stop growing or even be nudged back towards recession.

Football's world governing body FIFA says less than 2% of tickets sold for the World Cup in South Africa have gone to Africans living outside the host country. FIFA's General Secretary Jerome Valcke said just 40,000 tickets had been sold to people in other parts of the continent, far fewer than the numbers hoped for when South Africa was awarded Africa's first World Cup.

A prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone wants to hear testimony from the model Naomi Campbell in a case against the former Liberian President Charles Taylor. Ms Campbell allegedly received a blood diamond from Mr Taylor after a dinner hosted by Nelson Mandela in South Africa 13 years ago. Peter Andersen, the Public Affairs Chief of the Sierra Leone Special Court, explained what might happen to Naomi Campbell if she refused to appear.

"Were she to be found in contempt of court, Interpol could be notified. And even after the trial is over, there could be some sanctions and because there will be some residual mechanism of the court. However, that is really a question for the judges. We always hope that persons who are called before the court will testify."

World News from the BBC.

United States Senate has voted to end its debate on reforms of the financial system, paving the way for a final vote on new legislation. President Obama welcomed the move. He said the vote would allow financial reform to protect consumers, the economy and the American people. The bill's progress had been stalled by some Republican leaders who did succeed in making some amendments.

The President of Cuba Raul Castro has held a rare meeting with leading members of the Roman Catholic Church on the island. The talks come ahead of a visit next month by the Vatican foreign secretary. From Havana, Michael Voss.

The official Communist Party newspaper Granma showed a photograph of a smiling President Raul Castro, greeting Cardinal Jaime Ortega, head of the Catholic Church in Cuba along with the Archbishop of Santiago Dionisio Garcia. The meeting, the paper said, discussed various international and domestic issues as well as the favorable development of relations between the Catholic Church and the state. Church sources indicate that the talks also touched on the fate of political prisoners whom the government brands as mercenaries in the pay at the United States.

Soldiers from Jamaica's national reserves have been mobilized to help the police after parts of the capital Kingston became no-go areas. Streets have been taken over by supporters of an alleged drug lord, Christopher Dudus Coke who the government now want to extradite to the United States. Mr Coke is wanted in the US for alleged drugs and arms smuggling.

The American cyclist Lance Armstrong who's won the Tour de France seven times has denied allegations by a disgraced fellow competitor that he used performance-enhancing drugs. Floyd Landis who was stripped of the Tour de France title in 2006 after testing positive for drugs accused Armstrong, his former teammate, of doing the same. Dismissing the accusations, Armstrong said he had nothing to hide.

BBC News.