BBC news 2010-10-26 加文本

BBC news 2010-10-26

BBC News with Stewart Macintosh

Workers at two French oil refineries have voted to end their strike against government plans to raise the state pension age. Employees are also returning to work at a third refinery shut down in a separate dispute. However, nine other refineries are still on strike. Here is Hugh Schofield.

At two refineries owned by Esso, one in the north and one in the south, staff have chosen to go back to work. A third refinery in the east, which was shut in a totally separate dispute, is also reopening. Further good news for President Sarkozy is that all of the country's 200 or so fuel supply depots are also now cleared of pickets and operating normally. It means that the threat of the country grinding to a halt for lack of oil has more or less disappeared.

Anti-fraud police in Nigeria have issued a list of more than 100 people who, they say, should not be allowed to run for political office. The list includes politicians, bankers, civil servants and businessmen. The anti-fraud squad, the EFCC, set those on the list for being prosecuted for alleged corruption, and it urged political parties not to endorse them as candidates in next year's elections.

The United Nations has warned Haiti to prepare itself for a potential spread of the cholera outbreak, which has killed more than 250 people. A senior UN official, Nigel Fisher, said it would be irresponsible to plan for anything other than a considerably wider outbreak. However, he said there were no new signs the outbreak would spread. Laura Trevelyan reports.

The UN's humanitarian coordinator in Haiti has told the BBC his organisation is still preparing for the possibility of a national outbreak of cholera. Nigel Fisher said that while the epidemic may be stabilising in the Artibonite region, it could still spread across the country, and he hoped people weren't being complacent. Cholera experts have expressed surprise at the speed with which Haiti's government moved to say the epidemic was stabilising, given the possibility that it could take hold in the crowded capital Port-au-Prince.

The youngest inmate of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp has pleaded guilty to killing an American soldier in Afghanistan eight years ago when he was 15 and still technically a juvenile. The detainee, Omar Khadr who's a Canadian citizen, was appearing before a military tribunal at the camp. He's also admitted planting roadside bombs.

The US says it remains suspicious of Iran's intentions in making cash payments to the government of Afghanistan. The State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said Washington did not question Iran's right to provide financial assistance or Kabul's right to accept it, but he added that Tehran had a track record of meddling in its neighbours' affairs.

"We remain sceptical of Iran's motives given its history of playing a destabilising role with its neighbours. We hope that Iran will take responsibility to play a constructive role in the future of Afghanistan."

World News from the BBC

An official report commissioned in Germany has revealed that members of the foreign ministry were much more actively involved in the Nazi Holocaust than previously thought. The report is due to be published on Thursday. Steve Evans reports.

One of the authors said "The German foreign ministry collaborated with the Nazis' violent politics and especially assisted in all aspects of the discrimination, deportation, persecution and genocide of the Jews." The historians discovered the travel expenses of one senior diplomat who went to Serbia in 1941 to help organise the killing of Jews. The expenses form said simply "Liquidation of Jews in Belgrade."

The head of the Italian carmaker Fiat has provoked an angry reaction by saying the company would be better off without Italy. Sergio Marchionne cited Italy's poor record of labour efficiency and industrial competitiveness. He said that Fiat's current profits were more than $2billion, but none came from Italy.

A judge in Italy has ruled that the value of life of an Albanian workman who died in an industrial accident is worth 10 times less than that of an Italian who might die in a similar incident. Each of the parents of the dead Albanian worker was awarded $45,000 in compensation. Here is David Willey.

The sentence caused some astonishment in legal circles as the award was based on the earning power of workers in Albania, not in Italy. The judge said the deceased worker's parents were not entitled to "unjustified enrichment". If they had been resident in Italy, they'd have received a sum about 10 times greater. If the judge's decision is not overturned by a higher court, this would mean that Italian employers will be encouraged to hire workers from poorer countries in preference to those from richer nations.

And that's the BBC News.