BBC news 2009-02-19 加文本

BBC English News with Fiona McDonald.

President Obama has announced a massive mortgage relief plan to try to prevent millions of American families losing their homes. The money, 275 billion dollars, is aimed at helping borrowers, those who owe more on mortgages than their properties are now worth, and those on the verge of being repossessed. Mr. Obama said the plan was aimed at helping families who had "played by the rules", not rescuing the unscrupulous. Andy Gallagher reports.

President Obama told a gathered crowd in Arizona that the housing crisis threatens the American Dream. Millions of homeowners here already know that, but the president's promised to tackle the problem head-on, offering millions of people a lifeline before it's too late. Around five million so-called "responsible homeowners" will be allowed to refinance their houses. Another four million people will be able to enter a Homeowner Stability Initiative, aimed at reducing their monthly costs.

The leading Egyptian opposition figure, Ayman Nour, has been released after more than three years in prison. Mr. Nour was charged with forgery in 2005. His imprisonment was widely condemned as having been politically motivated. Speaking to the BBC after his release, Mr. Nour said he would continue to be involved in politics.

"I will carry on my role in political life as an Egyptian citizen, as someone who loves this country, as someone who believes in reform and change, as someone who stands against many things that are happening in Egypt."

Rebels in the Sudanese region of Darfur have accused government forces of attacking their positions just a day after the two sides signed an agreement towards ending their conflict. The Justice and Equality Movement said government aircraft bombed their fighters at the same time as ground forces clashed with rebels about 70 kilometers further northeast. There's been no words from the Sudanese government. Mark Doyle has more.

The man who led the rebel delegation to this week's confidence-building talks with the Sudanese government in Qatar, Dr. Jibril Ibrahim, said government planes had on Wednesday been bombing rebel-held areas east of the Jebel Marra mountains in the Darfur region. Dr. Ibrahim, speaking from Qatar, said he had been in touch with people in the field in Darfur. He named five locations near the Jebel Marra mountain range that he said had been hit including a camp for war-displaced people, known as the Fallujah camp, where he said five people had been killed in the government's aerial attacks.

The European Union envoy says that Russia and Georgia have agreed on proposals aimed at preventing conflicts six months after fighting each other over the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia. The envoy, Pierre Morel, said both sides had agreed to set up a hotline and to meet weekly to defuse tensions.

World News from the BBC.(www.hxen.net)

Hundreds of people in Venezuela and the Caribbean island of Antigua have been queuing to withdraw their money from banks associated with the Texan financier, Allen Stanford, who's been accused of a massive fraud. Financial regulators insisted that the bank has sufficient reserves. From Caracas, Will Grant.

In an effort to reassure depositors, the head of the Venezuelan banking regulator, Edgar Hernandez, issued a statement saying that the Stanford Bank Venezuela was fine and that the situation was normal. “Stanford Bank Venezuela is a healthy bank,” he said, “without any type of problem.” The move comes as regulators tried to stave off a run on the retail bank, after hundreds of people gathered outside the local branch of Stanford International Bank in an effort to retrieve their savings.

A judge in the US has frozen the assets of Mr. Stanford and his whereabouts are currently unknown.

Ecuador expelled an American diplomat, accusing him of interfering in police matters, the second US official to be expelled from the country in just over a week. A spokesman said that the decision was taken by the National Security Council after the first secretary at the US Embassy was accused of intervening in the decisions of a police unit.

Sweden has decided to play its Davis Cup tennis match against Israel next month behind closed doors for security reasons. The council in the host city Malmo, said it could not guarantee keeping fans safe from protests against Israel's military intervention in Gaza. The chairman of the Israel Tennis Federation said the organizers expected provocation by what he called troublemakers who had nothing to do with the sport.

The Coast Guard in Scotland has confirmed to the BBC that all 18 people on board a helicopter which ditched into the North Sea off the coast of Scotland have been rescued. The passengers were found in two life rafts, and none of them has serious injuries. The helicopter came down as it approached an oil rig.

BBC News.

Glossary:

repossess: If you car or house is repossessed, the people who supplied it take it back because they are still owned money for it.

unscrupulous: If you describe a person as unscrupulous, you are critical of the fact that they are prepared to act in a dishonest or immoral way in order to get what they want.

head-on: If you deal with a problem head-on, you deal with it in a very direct way.

lifeline: A lifeline is something that enables an organization or group to survive or to continue with an activity.

stave off: If you stave off something bad, or if you stave it off, you succeed in stopping it happening for a while.

a run on the bank: A lot of people suddenly took their money out the bank.

whereabouts: The place or area where someone or something is.

life raft: A life raft is a small rubber boat carried on an aircraft or large boat which can be filled with air and used in an emergency.

oil rig: An oil rig is a structure on land or in the sea that is used when getting oil from the ground.