BBC news 2010-03-21 加文本

2010-03-21 BBC

BBC News with Roy Larmour

President Obama has strongly defended his landmark health care reforms before Democratic members of Congress a day ahead of a crucial vote. His visit to Congress comes a day before the House of Representatives votes on full passage of the reforms which if approved would extend health coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans. Mr Obama said the bill touched on the fundamental principles of the Democratic Party.
"Somewhere deep in your heart you said to yourself I believe in an America in which we don't just look out for ourselves that we don't just tell people you're on your own, that we are proud of our individualism, we are proud of our liberty, but we also have a sense of neighborliness and a sense of community, and we are willing to look out for one another and help people who are vulnerable and help people who are down on their luck and give them a pathway to success and give them a ladder into the middle class. That's why you decided to run."

The Pope has apologized to victims of child sex abuse by priests and teachers at Catholic institutions in Ireland. He said he was truly sorry for the suffering victims had endured. But as David Willey reports from Rome, he didn't address child abuse scandals in other countries.
Although Pope Benedict criticizes the Irish bishops for what he calls grave errors of judgment, he admits any reference to similar scandals affecting the Catholic Church elsewhere, for this is now a European and even a worldwide problem for the church.
The Vatican spokesman defended the Pope's decision to limit his letter to the situation in Ireland, but he didn't exclude further papal statements, particularly concerning the escalating scandals in his homeland Germany.

And the top Archbishop in Germany Robert Zollitsch said the Pope's letter was a warning to his country's church. A group in Ireland bringing together victims of abuse by priests said the letter failed to recognize the responsibility of the Vatican.

Thousands of Russians have taken to the streets in rallies across the country in a protest about falling living standards, local issues and government policies. In what organizers billed as a day of rage demonstrators turned out in several cities from the Far East to the Baltic Coast. Richard Galpin reports from Moscow.
The day of rage has been organized by a coalition of opposition groups. There have been calls for the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his government to resign at several of the rallies. The police stopped the demonstration going ahead here in the capital Moscow and were reported to have detained dozens of people. Over the past ten years, the government has stamped out most opposition activity. It maintains a very tight grip on the country, but it still fears the spread of popular protests sparked by economic problems.
Richard Galpin reporting

This is World News from the BBC.

Supporters of the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi have held a big rally in Rome to bolster support for his party before regional elections later this month. Tens of thousands of people turned out for the rally. The organizers had predicted half a million would take part. More from Duncan Kennedy in Rome.
Mr Berlusconi used it to attack his opponents not over the economy or immigration, but over a bureaucratic bungle which has seen some of its candidates barred from running. A string of sex and personal corruption scandals have weighed heavily on Mr Berlusconi in the past 12 months. The latest has seen him facing claims that he tried to block political talk shows on television critical of his government. Silvio Berlusconi says next week's regional elections are a referendum on him, one thing his opponents probably would agree with.

Sandstorms have hit much of northern China leaving many places including Beijing shrouded in thick yellow dust. With people forced to cover their faces against the dust, the authorities have warned residents to stay indoors. Deserts now cover a third of China and their spread has been blamed in part on deforestation and the spread of cities.

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has rejected the Israeli distinction between East Jerusalem and the West Bank, saying they are all occupied territory. Israel regards both East and West Jerusalem as its indivisible capital. But Mr Ban said all settlement activity on such territory was illegal and had to stop. Meanwhile, clashes between Palestinian villagers and Jewish settlers in the West Bank have left at least one Palestinian youth dead.

British Airways' operation has been disrupted by a strike by cabin crew over job cuts. The union said an enormous number of BA flights had been cancelled. But the airline said many staff had ignored the strike and it was now reinstating some flights it had cancelled.

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