2010-07-04 BBC
BBC News with Sue Montgomery.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil has told a summit of West African leaders that his country is determined to increase its unity with Africa. President Lula is on his last visit to the continent before he steps down later this year. James Reed reports.
During his 8 years in power, Brazil’s commerce with the continent has quadrupled with big investment in mining, agriculture and infrastructure development. At the summit in Cape Verde, Lula said Brazil could never repay its historic debt to Africa - the ancestral home of millions of Brazilians who are descended from slaves. But he said his successor had a “moral duty” to increase trade and investment as well as the transfer of technology. Brazil’s links with Portuguese-speaking African nations are long standing, but its influence is growing throughout the continent.
Cuban doctors treating a political dissident who’s on hunger strike say he is in danger of dying despite their efforts to keep him alive. The dissident Guillermo Farinas has been refusing food to demand the release of jailed dissidents who are ill. The news was reported in Cuban state media who usually ignore dissident protests. From Havana, Michael Voss.
Saturday’s article in the official newspaper Granma appears to be aimed at defusing international criticism should the hunger striker Guillermo Farinas die. He’s refused to eat or drink since February 24th, the day after the death of another hunger striker, the jailed dissident Orlando Zapata. Mr Farinas, a 48-year-old psychologist, has been in hospital on a drip feed for several weeks. His lead doctor, Armando Caballero, told Granma that he’s in danger of dying from a blood clot in his neck.
President Barack Obama has announced that two solar energy companies are to get government loan guarantees of nearly $2 billion for projects expected to create thousands of new jobs in America. He said the companies will construct a solar power generating plant and advanced solar panels. Jenner Bryon reports.
Investing in green technology has been key to the administration’s attempts to get the economy back on track and reduce the nation’s dependency on fossil fuels. Two companies have been offered government-backed loans totaling $2 billion for projects that are expected to create more than 5,000 new jobs. The biggest in Arizona will be the first large-scale solar plant in the US capable of storing the energy it generates. It could cut carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to the amount generated by 90,000 cars a year.
The US Vice President Joe Biden is spending the weekend in Iraq to support the country’s leadership as it tries to build a new coalition government. Inconclusive election
s in March have left Iraq in a state of limbo. Mr Biden will meet the leaders of the main political factions.
World News from the BBC.
The charred bodies of some of the more than 200 people killed in a fuel truck explosion on Friday night in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo have been buried in mass graves. UN peacekeepers and International aid workers helped to evacuate seriously injured survivors to medical centres. The truck overturned in Sange village while some people tried to gather leaking fuel before it ignited, but most died as their homes caught fire.
A senior Chinese official has reported a saying that for the first time the country’s urban population is due to outnumber those living in rural areas, and it’s likely to happen within five years. Addressing a conference in eastern China, the head of the Population Planning Commission Li Bin said the country faced major changes. While China’s population was projected to reach almost 1.4 billion by 2015, the proportion of those too young or too old to work would increase for the first time in 40 years.
Spain and Germany have qualified for the semi-finals of the World Cup in South Africa where they will face each other. Germany thrashed Argentina 4-0 in Cape Town while Spain beat Paraguay 1-0 in Johannesburg, as Alex Capstick reports.
Spain have qualified for their first-ever World Cup semi-final, but a defensive Paraguay made life very difficult for the European champions. The only goal of a disappointing match was scored by David Villa, his fifth at the tournament. Both teams missed a penalty, otherwise there wasn’t much to thrill the crowd here at Ellis Park. Spain have yet to reproduce the form which took them to the European title two years ago, and they know they will have to improve when they face Germany in next Wednesday’s semi-final.
And the other semi-final will be between the Netherlands and Uruguay.
The American tennis player Serena Williams has won the ladies’ singles title at Wimbledon in London. She beat the Russian Vera Zvonareva in straight sets.
BBC News.