BBC 2009-03-30
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BBC news with Jonathan Weekley
The billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros says next week's G20 Summit in London will be a make or break event if the global recession is to be avoided. He told the BBC that the entire international financial system had to be reconstructed and had to be done by countries agreeing and working together, otherwise the system would fall apart and there would be a global recession. Mr. Soros stressed things would never be the same.
I don't think we'll ever be back where we came from. It should be recognized that the last 25 years were an aberration and we cannot go back there. We have to reconstruct the financial system.
The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the American Vice President Joe Biden have said the next week's summit of world leaders in London will produce tangible results. Speaking after a meeting in center-left government in Chile, They promised to answer the concerns of the demonstrators who marched through London. Mr. Brown said there would be measures to create jobs and stimulate business as well as action on climate change. Mr. Biden asked the protesters to give the leaders a chance to deliver on concrete proposals
One of things I think we’re all sure you heard of today is that we measure success of the recovery and recovery will come, not merely on whether there is a growth in our collected GDPs, but whether or not the standard of living of all our citizens actually increases and so I would hope that the protestors give us a chance.
The president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari has promised to take steps to resolve the country’s political crisis. Mr.Zardari told parliament he would recommend lifting central government rule in the province of Punjab, the imposition of which led to a confrontation between the opposition and the government. From Islamabad, Barbara Plett now reports.
President Zardari used the beginning of a new parliamentary year to offer an olive branch to the opposition. The West will welcome the president's move. It wants Pakistan’s political parties to fight Islamist militancy, not each other. Above all, it wants Pakistan to eliminate Taliban and Al-Qaeda’s safe havens near the Afghan border, a demand the US president has put at the heart of his new strategy for Afghanistan. The US strategy promises Pakistan increased aid but also increased pressure. President Zardali will need peace with all political parties to be able to meet it.
At least three people have died in the Iraqi capital Baghdad during clashes between Iraq’s security forces and a neighborhood patrol group. Several Iraqi soldiers are thought to have been taken captive. Shooting broke out after the arrest of Adil Mashadani, a local leader of the Awakening Movement, many of whose members used to fight for Al-Qaeda but then turned against it. The BBC correspondent in Baghdad says the incident threatens to destabilize a poor district Fadhil that had recently been quite peaceful.
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Tens of thousands of supporters of the former president of Madagascar Marc Ravalomanana have clashed with security forces and followers of the new army-backed government in the capital Antananarivo. Jonny Hogg has sent this report.
An initially peaceful affair turned ugly when marchers were prevented from completing their route. Security forces fired teargas but then for over an hour the capital reverberated to the sound of automatic gunfire as they attempted to break up the protest. At least 30 people were injured in the ensuing chaos. Local hospitals are saying that at least 6 people have suffered gunshot wounds in the unrest which was compounded by clashes between supporters of both the current and former governments.
Forecasters say flood waters on the Red River in the mid-west of the United States may have peaked but that the next 24 hours are critical. The floods are threatening the cities of Fargo and Moorhead, from which many residents have been evacuated. The National Guard and thousands of volunteers have been working in freezing temperatures to reinforce the banks of the river. The waters are at their highest level for a hundred years
A World Cup football qualifier between Northern Ireland and Poland in Belfast has been marred by clashes in the streets before and after the game. There were several injuries and arrests. The match itself was held up when an official was struck on the head by an object thrown from the crowd. Collete Hume now reports from Belfast.
Just minutes after the World Cup qualifier ended with a 3:2 victory for Northern Ireland the violence flared again. Rival supporters threw bricks, bottles and fireworks to the each other. The trouble began at lunch time when fighting broke out in the city center bar. By three o'clock, there were pitched battles between the Polish and Northern Ireland supporters in the roads surrounding the Windsor Park ground. Many had been drinking heavily. At least nine people have been arrested.
Pitched battle: 激战
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