BBC在线收听下载:奥巴马提名韩裔教授为世行行长候选人

BBC news 2012-04-17

BBC News with Jonathan Wheatley

The man accused of killing 77 people in Norway last July has pleaded not guilty to acts of terror and mass murder at the opening day of his trial. Anders Behring Breivik admitted carrying out a bombing following a shooting rampage in and around the capital Oslo, but denied criminal responsibility. He said he was acting in self-defence. Steve Rosenberg was at the court.

As the trial began, Breivik announced he was refusing to recognise the court's authority. Then prosecutors read out the names of his victims with details of their horrific injuries. Breivik displayed no emotion. He stared down at a folder that contained a list of those he'd killed and maimed. It was only when the court was shown his YouTube video depicting him as a crusader against multiculturalism and Islam that Anders Behring Breivik appeared moved to tears.

The Spanish government has denounced what it called the "hostile" and "arbitrary" announcement by Argentina of plans to nationalise a Spanish-controlled oil company. The Argentine President Cristina Fernandez said she wanted her government to take a 51% stake in the company YPF, which had been privatised in the 1990s. Vladimir Hernandez in Buenos Aires has more details.

The announcement puts an end to weeks of speculation about whether the government would move to take back YPF. This uncertainty had been having a critical effect on the valuation of the Argentine oil company in the financial markets as its shares had lost at least 40% of its value since the start of the year. The Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said her government would now send a draft bill to congress to take over 51% of YPF, which in effect nationalises most of the shares owned by the Spanish company.

The board of the World Bank has chosen an American academic, Jim Yong Kim, as its new president despite an uNPRecedented challenge from a non-American candidate. Doctor Kim is an expert on health issues in the developing world. Andrew Walker reports from Washington.

Jim Yong Kim was a surprise choice when President Obama nominated him. His predecessors were all American, but they were either political figures or financiers. He is neither. What he does have is a knowledge of health problems, and that is an important part of the bank's work. For the first time there were other candidates, and they offered wider experience of economic development, which is the bank's main business. The American nominee can, however, expect support from Europe as a long-standing deal gives the bank to an American and the top job at the IMF to a European.

The United States has warned that heightened violence in Syria threatens the viability of sending 200 UN ceasefire monitors to the country. The warning from the American ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, comes on the day an advance group of six monitors started work in Damascus. Opposition activists say heavy shelling by government forces has continued in Homs, and 30 people were killed.

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Sudan's parliament has voted to brand South Sudan "an enemy" after Southern troops captured the north's main oil field last week. The parliamentary speaker said Sudan would now use all its resources against South Sudan. Last Tuesday's attack on the Heglig oil field, which is vital to the north's economy, has shut down production there. South Sudan became independent last year after a protracted civil war.

One of the main opposition leaders in Rwanda says she's refusing to participate in her terrorism trial. Victoire Ingabire said she would no longer go to court. She complained that the judiciary was biased and the charges were politically motivated.

A female model, Imane Fadil, has told a court in Milan that she was paid personally by Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi when she attended a raunchy party. Alan Johnston has more.

Imane Fadil said that she was invited to several of what became known as the then prime minister's "bunga bunga" parties. In the state news agency's account of her court testimony, Ms Fadil said that the first time she went, she was paid 2,000 just for attending. She said that on that first evening, she saw two women dance for Mr Berlusconi dressed as nuns. She named one of the dancers who is now a regional counselor representing Mr Berlusconi's party.

King Juan Carlos of Spain has been widely criticised for going hunting in Africa at the height of his country's economic crisis. The trip to Botswana by the 74-year-old monarch came to light because he fractured his hip while away. The palace refused to comment on reports that the king was hunting elephants. Many newspaper editorials have been critical of the monarch, and an online petition signed by nearly 50,000 people has called for him to step down from his position at an international conservation charity.

These are the latest stories here on BBC World Service.