BBC news 2011-05-12 加文本

BBC news 2011-05-12

BBC News with Neil Nunes

In one of the biggest financial trials for decades, a court in New York has convicted a well-known financier, Raj Rajaratnam, of insider trading. The prosecution's evidence relied largely on intercepted phone calls with some of the most senior executives on Wall Street. Michelle Fleury reports from New York.

From billionaire to life behind bars, the man at the centre of the most high-profile insider trading case in a generation, Raj Rajaratnam, earned a fortune managing billions of dollars. The government argued that he made more than $63m illegally by trading on confidential information. Mr Rajaratnam claimed he was using information open to the public. The jury was not convinced. If he loses his appeal, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

New research suggests that almost 50 women are raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo every hour, a figure which adds up to 400,000 in a year. The American authors of the study say the prevalence of sexual violence against Congolese women is spreading from the armed groups operating in eastern Congo and is now widespread even outside the conflict zones. But a government spokesman in Kinshasa said the recent high figures were caused by better reporting rather than by rising violence. The research was published in the American Journal of Public Health, which was based on a health survey of 10,000 Congolese women in 2007.

Anti-government forces in Libya say they have taken control of the airport in the western city of Misrata after days of heavy fighting with troops loyal to Colonel Gaddafi. Tanks abandoned by government forces have been captured by rebels. A BBC correspondent in rebel-held Benghazi says there have been reports of celebrations on the streets of Misrata. A doctor in the city told the BBC that the rebels had made important progress.

"Today well after a very brutal and fierce battle between Gaddafi's forces and the freedom fighters, we have managed to gain control and retaken the airport. We've also managed to reach some parts of the air academy, and also to get in and take control over the suburb Raouf, which is considered as one of the stronghold[s] of Gaddafi's forces in the south."

A new study from the UN has found that about one third of all food produced in the world every year is either wasted or lost. David Willey reports from Rome.

The study finds that food waste is more of a problem in industrialised countries, where both retailers and consumers throw mountains of perfectly edible food stuffs into trash bins. In poor countries, food losses during harvest and in storage mean lower incomes for small farmers and higher prices for poor consumers. This squandering of resources could be reduced, the study says, by improving harvesting techniques.

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The United Nations has added four more groups, two in Yemen and two in Iraq, to its annual list of those recruiting or abusing children during armed conflicts. The UN special representative Radhika Coomaraswamy told the BBC that during the recent civil war in Yemen up to 15% of the pro-government militia and about 20% of the Huthi rebel force was made up of children. The UN said that in all children were involved in warfare in 22 countries.

Syrian human rights activists say at least 13 people have been killed in shelling by security forces near Deraa. They say tanks fired on houses close to the southern city, where anti-government protests began in March. Further north, residents in Homs say nine people were killed as they came under sustained shell and machine gunfire.

Two earthquakes in as many hours have struck southeastern Spain, killing at least 10 people. The quakes hit the ancient town of Lorca, destroying houses and public buildings. Sarah Rainsford reports.

There were two separate earthquakes. The second and most powerful came just before 7:00 in the evening here and registered over five on the Richter scale. A Spanish television team captured dramatic images as the bell tower of a church came crashing to the ground, landing just metres from the cameraman. At the epicentre of the quake in Lorca in southeastern Spain, the mayor has confirmed that several people have been killed. Pictures from the scene show piles of rubble, buildings with deep, long cracks in the side and cars in the street crushed by falling bricks and debris.

Finland says it will not veto the European Union financial bailout package for Portugal despite opposition to the deal from the nationalist True Finn party. True Finns' strong showing in last month's election had put Finnish parliamentary approval for the Portugal aid package in doubt, but the government says it is confident it can muster enough votes.

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