BBC news 2010-02-02 加文本

2010-02-02 BBC

BBC News with Zoe Diamond.

President Obama has presented Congress with his budget proposals for 2011, saying the United States must learn to live within its means. He said the country could not go on spending as if its deficits and waste didn't matter. Mr. Obama said America faced serious challenges, it must be prepared for a painful cuts. Kevin Connolly has this from Washington.

"Barack Obama buffeted by recent election defeats to his Democratic Party has a keen political sense of the image he wants to portray on the economy --- that of the president forced by circumstance into enlarging America's already huge budget deficit in the short-term while promising in the medium-term to reduce it. So his 3.8 trillion dollar budget includes more money for education and scientific research and more for defence programmes. But it also looks forward to eliminating waste and freezing many other domestic programmes."

The American Defense Secretary Robert Gates has sacked the marine general overseeing a 40-billion-dollar project to build an advanced warplane for the United States and several of its NATO allies. Mr.Gates said the program to develop the F-35 Joint strike fighter had failed to hit performance targets.

The Somali Islamist Group Al-Shabab has for the first time said that its military campaign should be linked to Al-Qaeda. In a statement, Al-Shabab said what it described as it's Jihads in the horn in the east of Africa should be combined with Al-Qaeda's international operations.

Pope Benedict has criticized Britain over a proposed law designed to ensure equality, saying it could limit the freedom of religious groups to act in accordance with their beliefs. His comments are seen as an attack on the draft law that would ,for example, prevent Roman Catholics from discriminating against homosexuals. Robert Pigott has the details.

It's the first time Pope Benedict has directly addressed what has become a central issue for Christians in Britain. The conflict between legislation protecting group, such as Gay P against discrimination and the freedom of churches to act in accordance with traditionalist's beliefs. Pope Benedict said the UK was well known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society. However, he said the affect of some legislation had been to impose on just limitation on the freedom of churches to act in accordance with their beliefs.

The United States armed forces have resumed medical evacuation flights for Haitian's critically injured in the earthquake three weeks ago. A military spokesman said the American authorities had now identified locations where the injured could be taken in the US that would not overwhelm local facilities. The Chief Medical Officer at an American field hospital in Port-au-Prince Doctor Mike Sheehan.

It's a great thing that the military transports have opened up again, we have had a lot of patients who are critically ill that we are caring for. But they need more care than we can find here, we got a list of 7 people who probably would die within 48 hours if they don't get out of here.

This is the World News from the BBC in London.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has said Germany must do everything it can to gather information on tax evaders after a whistle blower offered to sell details of secret bank accounts held by German citizens in Switzerland. Her government has indicated that it's willing to pay for a computer disk containing information on about 1,500 Germans suspected of hiding money in Swiss Bank or other to avoid tax. Mrs.Merkel said it was important to obtain such information.

"We have to pave the way in discussions on a federal and on a state level, but our aim should be to obtain this information if it is relevant. "

The Palestinian authority has signaled the softening in its demand that Israel freeze all settlement construction in the occupied West Bank before a peace talks can resume. While repeating his call for a freeze, the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has for the first time suggested that such a move would not need to last from within three months. Mr.Abbas made his comments in Berlin from where it's Steve Rosenberg reports.

After meeting the German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, President Abbas indicated that peace talks could get on the way if the Israeli halt settlement building for, as he put it, a certain period. He didn't specify how long that should be.But in an interview with Guardian newspaper published on Monday,the Palestanian leader spoke of a period of three months. Up to now though, Israel has been opposed the idea of any construction freeze in east Jerusalem.

The governing African National Congress in South Africa has defended President Jacob Zuma over reports that he fathered a child outside marriage. The ANC said Mr.Zuma had broken no laws and there was nothing wrong in a relationship between two people. Opposition Parties and newspapers have accused Mr.Zuma of setting a bad example in the fight against AIDS for having uNPRotected sex with multiple partners. One member of parliament urged him to seek treatment for sex addiction.

BBC News.