BBC news 2010-09-10 加文本

BBC news 2010-09-10

BBC News with Fiona MacDonald

The threat by the pastor of a fringe Christian church in Florida to burn copies of the Koran on the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks has prompted warnings of possible violent protests in other countries from both the international police agency and the US State Department. Interpol has issued a global alert while the US State Department warned Americans abroad of possible anti-US protests. Hugh Schofield reports.

In an official alert to its 188 member countries, Interpol warned of what it called a "strong likelihood" of violent attacks should the Koran burning go ahead. Interpol said its initiative followed a request from the Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik who'd personally contacted its Secretary General Ronald Noble. Mr Noble said that September 11th was a day when the world should come together to fight terrorism, not a day for provocative acts which will only serve to inspire more attacks against the United States.

And some news just in: the Florida pastor who was threatening to burn copies of the Koran says he has cancelled the plan as the group preparing an Islamic study centre near Ground Zero in New York changed their plans. Terry Jones said he'd be having discussions with the group.

Iran says it will release one of the three American prisoners who crossed into Iran more than a year ago. An Iranian diplomat at the United Nations named the prisoner to be freed as Sarah Shourd. Their families say they'd been hiking and strayed across the border by mistake. Kim Ghattas reports from Washington.

In an email sent to the media, an Iranian official at the United Nations said he could confirm that Iran would be releasing Sarah Shourd very soon. There were no further details about timing in this message, but earlier in the day reporters in Tehran received a text message from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, inviting them to a hotel in the Iranian capital on Saturday to witness the release of one of the three Americans detained. It's unclear why the release is taking place now, although there was some suggestion by officials that it was to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

Public transport in El Salvador has been severely disrupted for a third successive day by a strike ordered by criminal street gangs. The groups ordered a 72-hour shutdown on Monday in protest at a new anti-gang law. James Read of our Americas desk reports.

Such is the fear that El Salvador's street gangs inspire that the simple announcement of the strike was enough to bring most public transport to a halt. Many businesses have also closed to avoid violent reprisals. Thousands of troops have been deployed to protect commuters, and the army has been using trucks to help people get to work. The Mara Dieciocho and Salvatrucha gangs ordered the shutdown in protest at a new law which makes membership of a gang a criminal offence.

That was James Read of our Americas desk.

This is Fiona MacDonald and you are listening to the latest World News from the BBC.

The German Central Bank has announced that one of its board members at the centre of a row over comments he made about immigration and Jews is to stand down at the end of the month. Thilo Sarrazin said in an interview that Jews shared a particular gene that set them apart and warned of ethnic Germans being outnumbered by immigrants in the future.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says the global economic recovery is slowing sharply. It says it now expects the seven leading industrialized economies to grow at an annual rate of 1.5% in the second half of the year, which is lower than previously predicted. Here is our business reporter Mark Gregory.

The OECD is less optimistic about the prospects for growth in the global economy than it was four months ago, but it still thinks another recession is unlikely. The Paris-based think tank's main policy message to governments, however, is "don't overdo the austerity". It urges policymakers to be careful not to choke off economic recovery by cutting back on spending too much and too soon, and it says governments should think about reintroducing stimulus measures if the slowdown persists.

France and Romania say they've agreed to work together to help the Roma community integrate into Romanian society following a row over French deportations of hundreds of Roma, or Gypsies. The announcement was made by the Romanian foreign minister following talks with a French minister in Bucharest. Romania says it will establish a new integration plan for the Roma and will send extra police to Paris to help curb crime committed by Romanians.

Four detainees accused of links with al-Qaeda have escaped from a prison in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. A US military spokesman confirmed that they'd broken out from an American-controlled wing of the prison but declined to identify the men or to say how they had escaped.

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