BBC news 2010-11-11 加文本

2010-11-11 BBC

BBC News with Marion Marshall

Police in Britain say an explosive device found on a cargo plane last month was timed to detonate over the east coast of the United States. The bomb which originated in Yemen was discovered inside a printer cartridge when the cargo plane was searched at an airport in the British Midlands. Here is our security correspondent Frank Gardner.

The announcement by British police on the timings related to the device found at East Midlands Airport last month is significant. It points towards what many have suspected that the ultimate target destination for the explosive device was not the Middle East or Europe, but the continental United States. British investigators have been working on the assumption that while al-Qaeda would not have been able to predict the exact route taken by the parcels, their intention was to send a viable device on a long-distance journey ending in the eastern United States.

The number of people killed by the cholera epidemic in Haiti has risen to more than 640. Aid agencies are now desperately trying to slow the spread of the disease in the capital Port-au-Prince. Bethany Bell reports.

The Pan American Health Organization says it's preparing for a large upsurge in cases of cholera in Haiti now that the epidemic has reached the capital. It says the conditions in the crowded city, with its damaged and inadequate water and sanitation systems, are ripe for a rapid spread of the disease. Doctors say they are alarmed by the speed at which new cases are emerging there. There are fears the epidemic, which now has a foothold in Haiti's river system, could continue for several years.

The American aircraft manufacturer Boeing has suspended test flights of its much delayed new plane, the 787 Dreamliner. The move came a day after an incident in the main cabin during a test flight, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Texas. More from our business reporter Mark Gregory.

A Boeing spokesman said the company had decided not to fly the plane until the incident was better understood. The plane apparently suffered some kind of fire as it prepared to land after a routine test flight. It's the first high-profile safety incident involving a 787, which is designed to be more fuel-efficient and lighter weight than any large passenger jet currently in service. Boeing share price fell sharply as investors worried the incident would mean further delays to a project that's already running nearly three years behind schedule.

Iran has failed in its efforts to win a seat on the board of a new United Nations agency promoting women's rights. The country got the lowest number of votes among the 11 Asian nations standing for the board of the body, UN Women. Iran has been criticised for its record on women's rights, and this year sentenced a woman to death by stoning for adultery. However, Saudi Arabia won a seat on the board, despite having severe restrictions on gender equality.

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Police in South Africa say a private hospital in Durban has pleaded guilty to performing illegal kidney transplant operations. The charges include selling children's kidneys. It was fined more than $1m. The operations involved donors and recipients from countries such as Brazil, Romania and Israel.

The editor of a Russian local newspaper, who suffered brain damage and was crippled in a vicious attack two years ago, has been convicted of slander. The editor, Mikhail Beketov, has accused a local mayor of involvement in a plot to blow up his car, but the judge ruled that he had knowingly spread false information. Mr Beketov made the allegations while covering controversial plans to build a road through the Khimki forest outside Moscow.

Student protesters have clashed with police in London during demonstrations against plans to cut university funding and increase tuition fees in England. Tens of thousands marched. Some broke into the headquarters of the governing Conservative Party. Rob Watson was at the protests.

What had started out as a peaceful demonstration by as many as 50,000 students and their supporters turned violent when a small minority tried to storm Conservative Party headquarters. Some got in, and some made it onto the roof of the building. Outside, there was a tense standoff as police tried to prevent further demonstrators from getting in. Many students blamed the violence on a hard core of anarchists and said it distracted from their cause and their fiercely held opposition to rises in university tuition fees.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has agreed to return to Egypt a collection of 19 artefacts taken from the tomb of the boy-pharaoh Tutankhamun. The Egyptian antiquities council said the artefacts, which include figurines, jewellery, a miniature bronze dog and a sphinx-shaped bracelet, were taken from Egypt to the United States in 1948.

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