BBC news 2010-11-20 加文本

BBC news 2010-11-20

BBC News with Michael Powles

President Obama says Nato members have agreed to set up a new anti-missile defence system in Europe, possibly involving Russia. Speaking at a Nato summit in Portugal, he said the alliance was subject to many of the same threats as the Russians. Russia has been critical of the plans in the past, but it'll take part in further discussions on Saturday to see if it can be included. From Lisbon, here is our diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus.

The decision to go ahead with an expanded missile defence system to cover all Nato countries is a response to the spread of ballistic missiles capable of reaching alliance territory. In Washington's view, the primary threat comes from Iran. But Turkey, which may host a crucial radar station, insisted that it would not back the plan if there was any explicit mention of Iran. This is only a pointer to some of the problems that may lie ahead - issues of command and control, data exchange and the cost of a truly comprehensive system.

Rescue workers exposed to toxic dust from the rubble of the World Trade Center following the September 11th attacks nine years ago have approved a settlement with the city of New York. They'll collectively receive over $625m in compensation. From New York, Bethany Bell reports.

More than 10,000 people sued - the firefighters, police and construction workers who spent months clearing up the rubble after the 9/11 attacks. They say that ash and soot at the site got into their lungs and made them ill. Now more than 95% of them have accepted the settlement. The Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, welcomed the settlement, saying it was a "fair and just resolution".

One of the biggest banks in Ireland says there's been a major decline in the size of its deposits, adding to the deep crisis in the banking sector. Allied Irish Banks said its deposits had fallen by $18bn - that's 17% since January. Huge losses in the banking sector have forced the Irish government to negotiate with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund on a rescue package. Our economics correspondent Andrew Walker reports.

Negotiations on an international rescue are focusing on fixing Ireland's banks and also on the deficit in the government's finances. Those discussions are continuing amid reports they are likely to end with loans of tens of billions of dollars. Any deal will also include further measures to curb the government's borrowing needs. One area that will be contentious is Ireland's low tax rate on company profits. It's seen by some European governments as an unfair inducement to business to move to Ireland.

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The head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti has spoken out against what he called criminal and irresponsible acts of violence in the country, which he said had condemned many Haitians to certain death from cholera. Edmond Mulet was commenting after angry demonstrations this week in parts of Haiti. He suggested that many roads, airports and bridges were still blocked, impeding efforts to treat those affected.

Tests are being carried out at a mine in New Zealand where 29 workers remain trapped to see if it's safe to try to rescue them. There's been no communication with the miners since an underground explosion, and there are concerns about the threat of poisonous gases. Police say a power cut is compromising the ventilation system in the Pike River Coal Pit in a remote part of the country's South Island.

Two ancient statues stolen from Italian museums in the 1980s have been returned to Rome. One of them, a marble female torso, was only recovered after an Italian policeman on holiday in the United States spotted it in a gallery window. Duncan Kennedy sent this report from Rome.

It was during a stroll down Madison Avenue in New York that Michele Speranza made his discovery. He said he had remembered it from photos in the police data bank. Mr Speranza took his own photo and looked it up when he returned to Italy. Dating from the 1st century, it had been stolen from a museum south of Rome in 1988. At a news conference, police also revealed that a second stolen item, a small bronze statue of Zeus, was spotted in a Sotheby's catalogue and traced to its owner.

The European Union has ordered Italy to repay nearly $1m of EU funds that were spent on staging an Elton John concert last year. The pop star was booked as the headline act at a festival in Naples using money meant for regional development. The European Commission says that was inappropriate.

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