BBC news 2010-10-02 加文本

2010-10-02 BBC

BBC News with Jonathan Wheatley

The United States has apologized for infecting hundreds of people in Guatemala with gonorrhoea and syphilis during medical tests almost 60 years ago. The tests were brought to light by an academic, Susan Reverby, who found that many of the subjects were psychiatric patients and prisoners who didn't give their consent. The Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom told the BBC he'd spoken to President Barack Obama, and they'd agreed to set up a bilateral commission to investigate. From Washington, Kim Ghattas.

The study by Professor Susan Reverby shows that over four years, the doctors used prostitutes with syphilis to infect their patients. They also tried to inoculate them directly with the disease. The researchers were trying to determine whether penicillin could prevent syphilis, not just cure it. The patients were then treated for the disease, but it's unclear whether treatment was adequate. No offer of compensation for now, but an investigation will be launched, and it's likely that an American apology will not be enough.

Car bombs have killed at least eight people in the Nigerian capital Abuja as the nation was marking 50 years of independence. The largest rebel militia Mend had warned of attacks, saying Nigeria had nothing to celebrate. One man described what he saw.

"We heard a massive explosion not too far away from us. We saw people shouting all over the whole place. So some of the security people were now saying that 'Everybody should move back. You do not know if there are other bombs in some other cars around yet. Move back, move back.' Before we knew it, the second blast just happened."

United Nations report on killings in the Democratic Republic of Congo over a decade of conflict says Rwandan forces took part in attacks on Hutu civilians which, if proven in court, could amount to genocide. It says the killings of tens of thousands of people were systematic and premeditated. Rwanda said the report was flawed.

International Labour Organization says that global employment won't recover from the financial crisis in 2015, two years later than previously forecast. Here is Mark Gregory.

The ILO's latest report acknowledges that three years after the onset of global financial turmoil, employment is growing again in emerging economies in Latin America and Asia, but it also points to new clouds that are worsening the jobs outlook in advanced economies. These include governments withdrawing stimulus measures that supported jobs in the financial crisis and recent austerity programmes to deal with deficits that are causing public sector workers, in particular, to lose their jobs.

Financial regulators in the United States say that a single trader caused New York share prices to plunge by nearly 10% in a few minutes last May. They said the incident called a flash crash was triggered by a computer trade of exceptional speed. That led to a rush of selling at a time when the markets were already under pressure because of fears about European debt.

World News from the BBC

The American envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell has concluded two days of talks in the region with no apparent breakthrough. He's trying to save the current peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, which have stalled over the issue of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Mr Mitchell said the two sides would continue to talk indirectly.

More than 40 people have been arrested in Spain on suspicion of laundering money for a Latin American rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc. Police carried out a series of raids in several cities. The suspects are alleged to send millions of dollars earned from drug trafficking to Latin America, disguising the money as remittances from foreign migrant workers.

The main Shia parliamentary bloc in Iraq, the National Alliance, has chosen the current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as its candidate to lead new government. The decision is seen as a step towards ending months of uncertainty following inconclusive elections. Jim Muir reports from Baghdad.

Mr Maliki's nomination by the Shia factions after months of wrangling certainly gives him a boost, but he's not home yet. Even at full strength, the grand Shia alliance, which now supports him, falls short of a parliamentary majority, and it's not even sure that all of the Shia groups in that alliance are on board. The faction led by the militant young cleric Moqtada Sadr, who commands about 40 seats, staged a sudden turnaround to back Mr Maliki apparently under Iranian pressure and will be a reluctant partner.

China has launched its second lunar space probe, part of its plan to put Chinese astronauts on the Moon possibly within a decade. The Chang'e-2 probe launched on China's National Day will orbit the Moon and take images of possible landing sites for unmanned craft. It's just seven years since China put its first astronaut into space. So far, only Americans have set foot on the moon although India, Japan, Russia and European countries have similar ambitions.

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