07/03/2013 BBC World News

You are with BBC World News. The top stories for you:

Accusations from one party that the Kenyan election results are being

doctored, as officials still have to count ballots by hand.

The former Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has been

sentenced to one year in prison, over the publication of a wire-

tapped conversation. The President who improved their

lives, tens of thousands of Venezuelans queue through the night

to pay respects to Hugo Chavez. And could China be the nation that

finally turns the electric car into a mass market seller? Why worries

about air quality in the streets, are great for the sales in the

Hello everyone. Breaking news in the last half an hour. The former

Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has been sentenced to

one year in prison that is over the publication of a wire-tapped

conversation. Silvio Berlusconi was alleged to have pressed to have it

published in order to damage a political rival. Pe is -- he is

expected to appeal against the sentence.

Live to Rome with Alan Johnston. This is a case that dates back to

2005. Italian justice moving famously slowly it related to a

banking scandal. An inquiry was underway and a wire tap tape went

missing. This tape included a conversation between a individual

and a leading left-wing politician of the time. A major rival of

Silvio Berlusconi's at that period. This illegal obtained wire tap was

published in the paper run by Mr Berlusconi's brother, Paolo. It was

in relation to the publication that Silvio Berlusconi has now been

sentenced to one year in prison. His brother Paolo has been

sentenced to over two years. We know from their lawyers that they

would appeal if convicted. We very much expect that to happen, but

there is no prospect of Berlusconi going to jail. The case is about to

run out of time in judicial terms. Obviously another serious blow to

the reputation of Italy's former Prime Minister, coming too, at a

time when Mr Berlusconi has surged back to the centre of the Italian

political scene. Doing better than expected in last month's general

election. Alan, picking up on what you said about whether or not he

will serve a sentence because of the time. There is a pattern here.

There is not the first time he has been found guilty of anything?

Absolutely not. A few months ago Mr Berlusconi lost another important

case. He was then sentenced to jail for a year in connection with tax

fraud. Afterwards, Mr Berlusconi came out

furious. He, of course, always denies guilt in all of his cases.

He always argues that all of his legal trav ails are politics. That

there is an element out to get him politically. At that they cannot

stop him in the ballot box but go for him in the courts. The

supporters may believe that but many other Italians, of course,

take the view that Mr Berlusconi is guilty of everything that they say

he is in the courts of this country. And quickly, given the three weeks

since the election with a very messy result, could this have any

implications of any kind of trying to build a coalition. He did seem

to feel he would have a hand in a future coalition? I think that you

will see that the Berlusconi camp is suggesting, as I say, as they do,

that they are a political machinations at work here. Having

said that, you know, the whole political structure here is

familiar with Mr Berlusconi's legal problems. I don't think that will

play directly into the negotiations here. The fact is that Mr

Berlusconi's party is unlikely to be able to form a coalition with

any of the other two major players here, but all very damaging. At a

time when Mr Berlusconi is back centre-stage here, politically, in

Italy. Alan, thank you very much for the breaking news about Silvio

Berlusconi. Other news at this hour: The star Russian dancer,

accused of organising an attack on his Artistic Director at the

Bolshoi Ballet, has told a court in Moscow, he was shocked that acid

was used. The soloist, Pavel Dmitrichenko, expected Ursula

Philpot to be beaten up. Three men have been denied bail at the

hearing. Research suggests that eating processed meat, including

sausages, bacon and pies could lead to an early death it is said that a

daily limit of 20 grams, the equivalent of one rasher of bacon

could prevent thousands of deaths a year.

Mikhail Gorbachev has not held back in his choice of words about

Russia's current President, Vladimir Putin. He denounced new

laws passed in Russia as an attack on citizens' rights. He had a go at

Mr Putin's inner circle, full of thieves and corrupt officials, is

how he described them. North Korea has accused the United

States of wanting to start a nuclear war.

The atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula is more tense than usual.

Both North Korea and South Korea have been holding fresh military

drills. Pyonyang is ready to tear up the 6-year Armistice between the

two nations. Well, the BBC's correspondent in

Seoul is Lucy Williamson. When she joined me, I asked her what

evidence is emerging in Seoul of what happened further north with

that nuclear weapons test, or was it? Lots of indications that the

military atmosphere is ramping up. That North Korea is anxious about

the drills going on in the south, but the UN Security Council vote

later on today, but having said that, we have to point out that

these threats are not unusual from North Korea. This appears harsh,

this pre-emptive nuclear strike but for North Korea to act on that,

would be, many believe, technically impossible, and out of character.

National suicide, in fact. Well, you talked about the

technical side of this, Lucy. After the recent nuclear tests, what was

the verdict of its capability now. Both in terms of having a nuclear

power and its launch capability and the ability to launch it a long

distance? Very difficult to tell exactly what North Korea carried

out under ground there. Whether it is a urine East Anglia yum test, a

pollute own yum test, whether indeed it was a nuclear test. There

is no evidence that it was a nuclear test. We know little, but

nuclear experts say it it often takes many, many tests to perfect

that situation necessary to put the nuclear power on to a warhead and

North Korea has not carried out enough tests to do that effectively.

We saw that North Korea was able to launch a satellite but we have not

seen it able to launch an intercontinental blastic missile.

You have to get it up and get it down again and hit an attack. There

is no evidence that North Korea is able to do that.

Now, to Kenya, where the running meat to Raila Odinga says that the

vote count cannot be stopped, but there has been caution against

treat protest. There is concern about the slow pace of the election

count and the failure of the electronic counting system. Raila

Odinga is trailing Uhuru Kenyatta. This is what Kalonzo Musyoka said

earlier as a press conference. There has been a total failure of

the electronic voting transmission system. There is evidence that the

results that we are receiving have been doctored.

Well, let's go to the BBC's James Cottenall in Nairobi. That is the

word there, doctored. It suggests active manipulation by some people?

I think it is really worth pointing out that Kalonzo Musyoka is the

running meat of Raila Odinga. That this is not a neutral figure but a

political figure making a political point. People have said that there

are details to back up claims. There is talk about constituencies

where there have been more votes than the number of electors

registered in the areas. There have been given another few examples but

I suspect that the Kenyans want to see greater evidence and impartial

resources before responding to this call by Kalonzo Musyoka for the

voting were ses to be stopped. -- process to be stopped.

Are we talking about a system that has failed and they are trying to

improvise with hand counting, there is no real system in place, so it

is never perfect? It is clearly not. Everyone agrees on that, but the

fact that the electronic system has failed is a blow. Now the

Independent Electoral Commission, who will talk later on and give

their response to the serious accusations, they say that the

electronic system was never the final results. That they would

always rely on thefall results coming in bits of paper, that would

be tallied and to match the electronic stem cell. We have lost

the first part of the system but not the entire plan. That is how

the Electoral Commission see it is. Figures of Raila Odinga's group

disagree with that. Uhuru Kenyatta has been critical of the process,

or at least his party has. The longer that these results take to

come out, the claims that are made against their validity, the more

that the Kenyans will start to worry.

Are there independent observers, monitoring an checking whether

there is doctoring or not? Well, there are independent observers. A

couple of thousand and of them at least. International ones around

the country and Kenyan observers. The key question is what access

that they are getting to the vote- tallying at the Independent

Electoral Commission and once the votes are taken from the

constituencies, and back here to the vote-tallying centre, I suspect

not much. One of the complaints from Kalonzo Musyoka was that even

party agents are not able to watch the tallying process. So serious

questions that have been raised. I think that everyone is expecting

that the independent lek material commission will have -- electoral

commission will have to answer them in the future. Now, red is the

colour of mourning in Venezuela. Hundreds of thousands of people

continue to pay last respects to the late President, Hugo Chavez who,

died on Tuesday. The President's body is lying in state at the

military academy in Caracas that is where he began his army career.

Earlier, huge, often, emotional crowds, lined the streets.

Hugo Chavez had been fighting cancer for two years. A senior

member of the presidential guard is quoted as saying, "He died of a

massive heart attack." A question at the presidential election, due

within 30 days of the funeral, is whether the Hugo Chavez spirit will

sweep his successor into power? He has loomed over Venezuelan politics

for years. The architect of the so-called

Bolivarian Revolution, his image adorns every corn of Venezuela, his

name on everyone's lips. Hugo Chavez presided over a period of

great upheaval. Instigating social change in the country's sprawling

shanty towns. Using the vast oil wealth to pay for social programmes

and introducing pensions, inspiring life long devotions among the poor.

One of the beneficiaries of that process is Javier Castro. He has

gotten clean in a Hugo Chavez social programme, being give an

government job and a smart new apart. -- apartment. Little wonder

he loves Hugo Chavez like his own family.

TRANSLATION: The revolution must be like the building, earthquake-proof.

We are experiencing a strong tremor but it will not fall down.

Mr Hugo Chavez's opponents have a challenge on their hands. They

sense an opportunity to regain power but remain divide and unsure

of how best to proceed. Beyond accusing Hugo Chavez of crushing

decent and ruining the economy, the message has failed to inspire the

majority of Venezuelans. Even the leaders have a grudging admiration

of Hugo Chavez. He has always been able to defend

and fight for what he believes. No matter what the public opinion, or

the rest of the environment think. Of course, I do not share his

values. Nor do I share his vision for my country, but I respect his

stubbonness and his belief and courage to fight for his ideas.

At this delicate moment in Venezuelan politics, there is

really own one question that the experts are asking: Can Chavismo

survive without Chavez? If you look in Argentina, you can understand

that four years later, there is control of the country still.

Here they are still building Bolivarian Revolution, the

supporters say it is an unfinished project, but the question many are

asking is whether or not it is built on strong enough foundations

to survive without Hugo Chavez at its helm? Still to come: Something

unusual. # Right now

# Right here. # Mixing it at the British House of Commons. A very

unusual gig for the Parliament tearians with the disc jockey known

as Fatboy Slim. Israel is hoping to avoid a plague

of locusts that may cause disruption ahead of the Passover

holiday. The government has sent out planes to spray pesticides over

agricultural fields to prevent damage by the small swarm. They've

also set up an emergency hotline and asked Israelis to be vigilant

in reporting locust sightings. Locusts are known to move with the

wind and have been a problem since biblical times, as the BBC's Chris

Paterson reports. A plague of biblical proportions.

Countless locusts swarming in to southern Israel and Gaza from Egypt.

These insects can devastate agriculture. Farmers close to the

Egyptian border say more than a third of their crops have been

damaged. TRANSLATION: The locust is here in

great numbers, in the hundreds and the thousands. It is on the parsley

and the spinach. The arrival of these unwelcomed visitors come

three weeks before the Jewish Passover holiday. It's modern-day

technology that is being used to get rid of them. Pesticides are

being sprayed from the ground and from the skies. Before he takes off,

this pilot of a crop-dusting plane confidently predicts the locusts

will be destroyed. Others have a different method of ridding the

area of the insects. TRANSLATION: We came here from Tel

Aviv. We got here at 5.00am to collect them because the locusts

don't fly at night. We are collecting them to eat them.

Collect them, put them in the oven - they come out like chips! You can

put barbecue sauce on them. Whether they are eaten or sprayed, the

future looks bleak for the locusts. The question is how much damage

will they do before they are eradicated?

In Peru, it's flooding that's proving a severe menace, with

thousands left homeless in the centre of the country. One of the

worst-hit areas was the city of Huanuco, where local authorities

say 4,000 buildings have been affected. Some tried to salvage

belongings from flooded buildings. Residents waded through waters - up

to waist-high in places. The regional government is preparing to

send assistance to the flooded areas. You are with BBC World News.

The former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been

sentenced to a year in prison for publishing a wire-tapped

conversation. He is expected to appeal.

Officials continue to count votes by hand in Kenya. Supporters of the

current President say they have evidence the results are being

"doctored". As China's communist leaders meet

in Beijing for the annual parliamentary session, pollution is

high on the agenda. So some analysts believe this might now

prompt a renewed effort to kick- start the domestic electric car

industry. So far, no country has succeeded in making the dream of

emission-free driving a reality - despite the lofty ideal. But as

John Sudworth reports, China might just now have the motive and the

political clout to change all that. For China, the costs of its

economic rise are suddenly looming large. More than one million new

cars take to its roads every month, adding on the one hand to

prosperity, but on the other to a mounting crisis. Vehicle exhaust

now accounts for up to half of all the harm sm pollutants -- harmful

pollutants choking half of China's cities. The politicians need a

solution and this might be it. The question is can China do what no-

one else has managed so far - make the electric car not just an

environmental aspiration, but a real consumer-desirable? There's

already a plan to put five million electric vehicles on the roads by

the year 2020. But despite greasing the wheels with subsidies worth up

to $30,000 per car, still no-one is buying. I think when you talk to a

regular Joe about electric vehicle, he's excited. When we start asking

the Mr Joe to buy that vehicle, he becomes apprehensive and we call

that range anxiety. Most people are concerned about how far will my

vehicle go? 300-plus kilometres per charge might impress some, but

there is another obstacle - China doesn't have anything like enough

charging stations. The same anxieties lie behind the failure of

electric cars the world over. In terms of deciding what runs on

China's roads, the government still has distinct advantages. The luxury

of unchallenged, centralised decision-making power and the

ownership of an awful lot of vehicles. In this southern city

this part state-owned taxi company runs 300 electric cabs. Pollution

is weighing heavily on China's Communist Party. Some are expecting

renewed efforts to give battery power a boost.

More now on the death of Hugo Chavez. He is also being mourned in

Cuba. Venezuela supplied Cuba with oil at preferential prices and Cuba

sent thousands of health workers to Venezuela in return.

Cuba too is mourning the loss of Hugo Chavez, flags have been

lowered across the country, concerts cancelled, bars told to

switch the music off. The island's Communist government has hailed

Chavez as a son of Cuba and many people here agree.

TRANSLATION: As all of Latin America and the Caribbean, the

entire world will be affected because Chavez's ideas were very

progressive and in favour of those most oppressed. There is no hint of

criticism of Chavez here. State newspapers came out in black

instead of red to mark his death. He was after all Fidel Castro's

political protege. At leader who squared up to the United States.

His economic support for Cuba has been vital. Schoolchildren here are

worried about the future now. TRANSLATION: There could be

blackouts. My own family is preparing for that.

A book of condolences is filling up at the embassy. There's been no

personal comment yet from Fidel or Raul Castro. Among those paying

respects was another of Cuba's revolutionaries.

TRANSLATION: He fought and set an example. There is nothing left for

us to say other than that we are sorry.

It was in Havana that Chavez was treated in hospital. Cuba's leaders

were in close contact with him and his allies. They clearly hope for a

successor who will keep the Flame of friendship alive. But for now,

they have declared three days of official mourning, just one sign of

how much Venezuela's commandante will be missed in Cuba.

Parliament in London at Westminster is a familiar image around the

world - for tourists on postcards and for those consumed by the

political intrigue. On typical sounds - there are the chimes of

Big Ben or the jeers from sometimes boisterous politicians in the

Chamber. But not usually a DJ blasting music!

It is one of the world's most iconic buildings. It's hosted kings,

Queens, Presidents and Popes. The Houses of Parliament have never

seen something quite like this. # Right here

# Right now... # The invasion of electronic dance

music brought to the halls of Westminster by Norman Cook, better

known as Fatboy Slim. I'm looking forward to seeing some bad dad

dancing from the MPs. It is nice of them to see what we do. Hopefully,

we will win a few more hearts and minds from them tonight. There's a

few of our crew in who are celebrating we are here in the

House of Commons. They will be the best of dancers. The British music

star is DJing royalty. He's spun a string of hits at some of the

world's biggest music events over three decades. Tonight, he is here

as part of a charity event. While it is not the biggest crowd

he has ever played to, he admits it is his most unlikely. The irony

isn't lost that 19 years ago they passed the Criminal Justice Bill in

here which tried to outlaw what we do and 19 years later, we have

wormed our way into the establishment and endeared them we

are not just drug-taking lunatics and we are here and part of English

culture. It is a part of British culture that now seems to have some

political backing. I did have my hands waving in the air at one

stage! I have to be careful. I'm a big chap. If I wave about too much,

I will knock someone over! It's a great occasion. We have had a great

time. Every politician on the premises wanted to come here and

they were dancing in the front row with their ties on and their suits

getting a bit hot. Probably that's the best advertisement there is for

politics, people being normal, even if they are daddy-dancing! By the

looks of it, the moves on display might not catch on, and despite the

fun clearly had, there's little doubt it will soon be back to