BBC在线收听下载:微软CEO宣布将在12个月内辞职 股价当天大涨

BBC news 2013-08-24

BBC News with Jerry Smit

A former US army psychiatrist who admitted shooting dead 13 people at a military base in Texas has been found guilty. Maj Nidal Hasan could now face the death penalty. Alastair Leithead reports.

Maj Nidal Hasan refused army lawyers and defended himself at the military trial at Fort Hood base in Texas where the shootings took place in 2009. But he called no witnesses, did not testify and made no closing statements. He even admitted responsibility. Thirteen people were killed and 32 others injured when Hasan, an American-born Muslim, opened fire on the crowded base as fellow troops were preparing to deploy to Afghanistan.

In a separate court case, an American soldier, who was found guilty of murdering 16 unarmed Afghan civilians in a shooting spray in Kandahar province, has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. Peter Bowes has more.

When he appeared on the witness stand, Staff Sgt Robert Bales apologised for the pre-dawn attack which took place in March of last year. He described it as an act of cowardice. He was serving his fourth combat deployment in Kandahar province when in the middle of the night, he attacked two villages. During questioning from one of his lawyers, Bales said he was truly sorry to those people whose families were taken away. Nine villagers travelled from Afghanistan to testify against Bales. One said he lost 11 relatives, including his mother, wife and six of his seven children.

The UN Security Council has strongly condemned two bomb attacks near mosques in the Lebanese city of Tripoli. They killed at least 40 people and injured around 400 others. The explosions came a week after a bomb in a Shiite district of Beirut killed 27 people. Nada Tawfik reports from New York.

With no immediate ending sign to the Syrian conflict, the United Nations Security Council has been increasingly alarmed by the spill-over effects of the violence to neighbouring Lebanon. The Security Council said the attacks were unjustifiable and one of the most serious threats to international peace and security. But fearing continued sectarian strife, members urged the Lebanese people to maintain national unity in the face of attempts to undermine the country’s stability and to distance themselves from the crisis in Syria. 

A bomb blast in the Iraqi capital Baghdad has killed at least 25 people and injured many more. Reports say a suicide bomber struck at a cafe in a park in the north of the city. Political and sectarian tensions across Iraq in recent months have led to a wave of violence.

The chief executive of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, has announced he’s stepping down within the next 12 months. Microsoft has not yet named a replacement for Mr Ballmer, but shares in the software giant rose by about nine per cent on the news. Critics say that under his leadership, Microsoft has fallen behind.

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Russia says there’s growing evidence that Syrian rebels were behind an alleged chemical attack in Ghouta near the capital Damascus. At the same time, Moscow has urged President Assad to cooperate with a UN investigation into the incident. The opposition Syrian National Coalition says it will do anything to assist the UN chemical weapons inspectors currently in Syria to conduct the investigation.

The head of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde has urged central banks in Europe, the United States and Japan to continue monetary easing policies designed to stimulate economic growth. Ms Lagarde made her remarks at a meeting of central bankers in the American state of Wyoming. Marie Colvin reports from New York.

As the best and brightest financial minds from around the world gather in Wyoming this weekend, their focus is on the US monetary policy. The Federal Reserve has signalled it will slow down stimulus measures which have been affecting stock prices and currencies around the world. But the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, says stimulative policies have been successful and they are still needed in key visions. She’s cautioned central banks not to withdraw their support for weak economies too soon and urged policymakers to work more closely together.

The military in Nigeria says suspected members of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram have attacked a village in the north-east of the country, killing at least 35 people. An army spokesman said that Boko Haram attacked the village because locals refused to cooperate with them. He said a further 14 people have been wounded.

The veteran British cinematographer Gilbert Taylor, who worked with Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick, has died aged 99. Gilbert Taylor won Oscar nominations for his special-effects work on the Second World War film “The Dam Busters” and The Beatles’ musical “A Hard Day’s Night”.

And that’s the BBC News.