BBC news 2008-09-24 加文本

BBC News with Mike Cooper.

The Bush administration’s massive 700-billion-dollar plan to bail out America’s troubled financial industry has run into stiff opposition in Congress. At a hearing of the Senate’s influential Banking Committee, both Republican and Democratic leaders have expressed skepticism about the plan. The Committee’s Chairman, the Democrat Chris Dodd called it unacceptable while the leading Republican on the Committee Richard Shelby vowed not to rubber-stamp it. James Coomarasamy reports from Washington.

The White House has called on Republicans and Democrats to work together and approve its financial sector bailout plan. For the moment, though, the parties seem united in opposing it, at least in its present form. After a tense Senate Banking Committee hearing where the head of the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Secretary both warned of dire economic consequences if Congress dragged its feet, the general mood was one of skepticism. Both parties are now calling on the government to issue concessions to ensure the bailout doesn’t help Wall Street at the expense of ordinary Americans.

The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is under increasing pressure within his own Labor Party because of his poor ratings in opinion polls, has made a forceful defense of his policies. In a speech to the Party’s annual conference, Mr. Brown said only Labor could be trusted to build a fairer society in Britain. Naomi Grimley reports.

This was a personal speech from Gordon Brown which began with an immediate defense of his own style of leadership. If some thought he was too serious he wasn’t going to apologize because these were serious times. The Prime Minister said his government would do all it could to stabilize the still turbulent financial markets. And he rounded on his main opponent David Cameron, arguing that the global challenges facing Britain meant this was no time for a novice.

The Finnish government says it’ll tighten laws on gun ownership after an armed man killed ten students at a college in the west of the country. The gunman eventually shot himself and died of his wounds in hospital. Police had questioned the man on Monday after he placed a video clip of himself at a shooting range on the Internet. But they didn’t detain him. The Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said it was most unfortunate.

After the events of last year, the public has been more vigilant in keeping an eye on Internet videos. That is why this particular video was brought to the attention of the police so quickly. But sadly, this did not prevent another tragedy from taking place.

There has been another outbreak of heavy fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu, with African Union peacekeepers coming under a sustained attack from insurgents. At least seven civilians are reported to have been killed since the clashes erupted later on Tuesday. Our BBC correspondent in Mogadishu says the fighting started when insurgents attacked Ugandan peacekeepers. The AU peacekeepers responded with tank and artillery fire.

World News from the BBC.

Two foreign aid workers have been kidnapped in the Somali region of Ethiopia. The French agency Medecins du Monde said two of his staff were abducted by gunmen on Monday. It’s thought they have been taken across the border into Somalia. Ethiopia’s Somali region is troubled by a separatist rebellion but aid workers have not previously been attacked there.

The US Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the army does not have enough forces to meet the demands of its commanders in Afghanistan. Mr. Gates said extra troops could not be committed now without extending combat tours or changing existing deployments elsewhere. New combat brigades could not be found until next spring he warned.

Scientist will have to wait until early next year to use the giant Hadron Particle Collider for research into the nature of matter. The collider built in a circular underground tunnel in Switzerland was shut down last week because of a technical fault. It had begun operating just two weeks ago. Our science correspondent Christine McGourty reports.

The machine is designed to fire beams of particles around a circular ring with a series of magnets steering the particles around. It’s thought that a faulty electrical connection between two of the magnets led to a large leak of the liquid helium that is needed to keep the machinery at freezing temperatures. Experts have now been down into the underground tunnel to investigate the problem. They say it’ll take three to four weeks just to bring the equipment up to room temperature so the magnets can be opened up for inspection. After repairs, a standard period of winter maintenance is scheduled, so the particle collider won't be up and running again until the early spring. (Www.hXen.com)

The authorities in India say that nearly 200 people have been killed in floods caused by heavy monsoon rains in the past few days. Nearly four million people are reported to have been affected by flood waters. The army has been deployed to rescue thousands of stranded people.

BBC News.