BBC news 2009-11-08 加文本

BBC 2009-11-08


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BBC News with Ally Macue.

Finance ministers of the world's leading industrialized and developing countries, the G20, have agreed to continue supporting the global economic recovery. In a statement released after their meeting in Scotland, the ministers said conditions had improved, but economic and financial recovery was uneven and unemployment a worry. Andrew Walker reports.

The communique avoids complacency. Although economic and financial conditions have improved, they decided they still need to keep up the initiatives intended to restore growth. The meeting was, however, rather overshadowed by a statement from the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, suggesting a tax on financial transactions as one of a number of options for making banks pay for the crisis. His calls have been received politely by the finance ministers but several made remarks which suggest that other ways of tackling the problem are rather more likely to be adopted.

The Afghan Defense Ministry says at least eight Afghans working with American troops have been mistakenly killed in a NATO air strike. The strike came as a search operation was going on for two missing American soldiers in the western province of Badghis. Five Americans and another 18 Afghans were wounded. From Kabul, Andrew North reports.

US troops working with Afghan army and police are reported to have come under insurgent attack while searching for the two missing Americans. NATO confirms an air strike was then called in, but the Afghan Defense Ministry says it missed its intended target and killed at least seven Afghan soldiers and police and a civilian working with them. But a NATO spokesman said they’re still investigating whether this was the cause of their deaths.

President Obama has appealed to wavering Democrats in the House of Representatives to approve contentious reforms to the American health system, which would extend cover to millions of uninsured Americans. Republicans remain opposed to the measures, but in a rare visit to Capitol Hill, President Obama said Congressmen should rise to the moment.

"Opportunities like this come around maybe once in a generation. Most public servants pass through their entire careers without the chance to make as important a difference in the lives of their constituents and the life of this country. This is their moment. This is our moment to live up to the trust that the American people have placed in us, even when it's hard, especially when it's hard. This is our moment to deliver."

Italian police say they have arrested one of the country's leading organized crime figures, Luigi Esposito, in the southern city of Naples. Mr. Esposito is believed to be high up in the Nuvoletta Camorra clan. He is one of Italy's 30 most wanted men and had been on the run since 2003. Three years ago, he was convicted of drugs trafficking and associating with the Mafia and sentenced to nine years in prison. Police say Mr. Esposito is the latest in a string of senior crime figures to be arrested recently in southern Italy.

World News from the BBC.

The African Union says it will maintain the suspension of Madagascar's membership despite an agreement reached between the country's main rivals to end the political crisis. The president of the AU's Peace and Security Council, Ramtane Lamara, told the Reuters news agency that Madagascar would not be readmitted until a new power-sharing government was in place. Earlier it had been agreed that Andry Rajoelina, who led a coup overthrowing his rival, Marc Ravalomanana, would remain head of state.

An impersonator, pretending to be the Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has recorded interviews with Portuguese-language radio stations around the world. An interview with Angolan state radio was played for a couple of days before the hoax was discovered. Leonardo Rocha reports.

Radio stations that broadcast to the Portuguese language, the Espra, received an email a few days ago, saying President Lula was willing to be interviewed about the 2016 Olympics, which the city of Rio de Janeiro will be hosting; however, the interviews were with a very good impersonator in President Lula’s distinguished husky voice and informal style. A sound engineer at Australia's SBS station became suspicious that the president would be giving interviews on a poor telephone line, not from a studio in Brasilia, but it was too late for Angola’s State Radio Network which played the interview on several of its stations for two days before it was informed by the BBC that it was a hoax.

Britain’s oldest public museum, the Ashmolean in Oxford, has reopened to visitors after a 100-million-dollar refit. Dating from the 17th century, the Ashmolean has called its new display strategy "Crossing Cultures Crossing Time". Curators say the displays were arranged with the idea that civilizations which shaped modern societies developed as part of an interrelated world culture rather than in isolation.

BBC News.