BBC news 2011-06-09 加文本

BBC news 2011-06-09

BBC News with David Austin

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country will not close its borders to refugees from Syria as hundreds flee unrest in their country. Tanks and troops led by the Syrian president's brother are reportedly closing in on the town of Jisr al-Shughour. Britain and France are meanwhile about to table a United Nations Security Council resolution in New York condemning Syria's repression of anti-government protests. Here's our diplomatic correspondent James Robbins.

For weeks, the dominant countries at the United Nations in New York have failed to agree any collective condemnation of President Assad's government, so no one has tried to push the issue to a vote. But now Britain, France and standing half a step behind them the United States have decided that the scale of killing demands a response. The draft of an Anglo-French resolution condemns the repression, demands an immediate end and urges dialogue over legitimate demands for political reform. There's no talk of UN sanctions in the draft resolution, still less any threat of military action against Syria. But several countries oppose any resolution.

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has said there is evidence that the Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi has ordered the rape of hundreds of women as a weapon against anti-government forces. Luis Moreno-Ocampo said rape was a new part of Colonel Gaddafi's repression.

"The issue for us was, can we attribute these rapes to Gaddafi himself, or is it something that happened in the barracks and decided by some people. That was the hesitation. But now we are getting some information that Gaddafi himself decided to rape, and this is new. It was never the pattern he used to control the population. The rape is a new aspect of the repression."

Reports from the Libyan city of Misrata say at least 10 Libyan rebels have been killed in military operations to push back pro-Gaddafi positions east and west of the city. From Misrata, David Loyn.

From early morning, heavy explosions could be heard to the east of Misrata as Colonel Gaddafi's forces responded with Grad rockets to a rebel offensive. For more than three weeks, Misrata's rebel army have remained at the fixed positions they've taken up after they forced Libyan government troops out of the city. But on Tuesday, they made a series of probing raids to the west, and now their first sustained assault to the east. Field ambulances took a steady stream of casualties for treatment. Nato forces were alerted to a move forward by Gaddafi's troops, but distinguishing between the two sides would have been difficult from the air in this fast-moving situation.

David Loyn in Misrata

A committee of United States senators has warned that Afghanistan risks sliding into economic depression when foreign troops withdraw in 2014. In a report assessing the effects of billions of dollars in aid to Afghanistan, the senators conclude that the money has produced mixed results.

This is the World News from the BBC.

The European Union has increased by 40% its compensation offer to farmers affected by the deadly E. coli outbreak in Germany, which has claimed more than 20 lives. This new offer is for more than $300m. Chris Morris reports from Brussels.

The compensation offer has been increased after big fresh vegetable producers, like Spain and France, said the initial proposal was insufficient. But even the new figure comes nowhere near covering the full losses which the industry believes it's suffered after many European consumers stopped buying fresh vegetables. Spain, in particular, has said it expects 100% compensation for its farmers after German officials initially and erroneously said Spanish cucumbers were responsible for the outbreak.

British scientists say human hearts could be repairable in 10 years. Researchers found that if they gave a drug to labouratory mice before inducing heart attacks in them, the heart muscle would subsequently repair. James Gallagher reports.

The damage caused by a heart attack is permanent, or at least that's how the theory used to go. Repairing the hearts has been of growing importance. As more people survive heart attacks, more are living with damaged hearts, which struggle to pump enough blood around the body. This research, published in the journal Nature, looked at stem cells in mice, which line the hearts. When the mouse is in embryo, these cells are able to transform cells into other heart tissue. This ability is dormant in adults. The team at University College London found a drug to wake the cells up. Lead researcher Professor Paul Riley said this resulted in repair.

The former speaker of the Nigerian parliament has appeared in court, charged with 16 counts of corruption. Dimeji Bankole pleaded not guilty to conspiring to buy luxury goods for Nigeria's National Assembly at inflated prices and rigging the tendering process. The contracts amount to $60m. More charges are expected next week.

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