BBC news 2011-06-20 加文本

BBC news 2011-06-20

BBC News with Nick Kelly

Nato has acknowledged that one of its weapons in the Libyan capital Tripoli may not have hit the intended target and would have caused a number of civilian casualties. Libyan officials said seven people including two babies were killed in the attack on a building in the Souk al-Juma district on Saturday night. Earlier, a Nato spokesman said they had targeted a surface-to-air missile site.

Thousands of protesters have again gathered outside the Greek parliament in Athens to oppose any further budget cuts. Waving banners and Greek flags, they shouted "Thieves" and "Traitors". The protests came as the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou appealed to parliament to push through painful economic reforms. Eurozone finance ministers are expected to release funds to avert a default by Greece. Gavin Hewitt reports from Athens.

Crowds have once again been gathering outside the Greek parliament, voicing their opposition to any further budget cuts in exchange for new funding from the IMF and the EU. Inside the chamber, MPs were beginning a three-day debate before a crucial confidence vote in the government. New short-term funding is dependent on the government winning that vote. The Prime Minister George Papandreou, facing a violent unrest, told MPs that cash reserves would soon be exhausted. He urged politicians to unite because the country finds itself at a crucial point.

Refugees trying to cross from Syria into Turkey say the Syrian army has cut off a border town which had been providing those fleeing with vital supplies. Foreign journalists are being denied entry to Syria, but our correspondent Matthew Price has been inside, close to Bdama.

Women and children were using a stream today to wash their clothing. It runs through a camp that now houses many of Syria's displaced. The number of people living here squeezed up along the Syrian-Turkish border has been growing, and over the weekend, more people have come to this particular camp from the town of Bdama, which Syrian forces went into. It's clearly as far as the people here are concerned, a very frightening situation, and they all say they don't know when they will return to their homes.

The United States Defence Secretary Robert Gates has confirmed that there have been what he described as "preliminary" contacts with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Speaking on American television, Mr Gates said that along with other countries the US State Department had been conducting what he called "outreach" talks, but he stressed that military pressure on the Taliban was still needed.

"My own view is that real reconciliation talks are not likely to be able to make any substantive headway until at least this winter. I think that the Taliban have to feel themselves under military pressure, and begin to believe that they can't win before they're willing to have a serious conversation."

This is the World News from the BBC.

Pakistan is setting up a new commission of inquiry into security and intelligence failures surrounding the presence in Pakistan of the former al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and last month's US military incursion in which he was killed. A previous panel appointed by the Prime Minister Yusuf Gilani became mired in political controversy.

The Prime Minister of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, has resigned, complying with a UN-backed deal aimed at ending a feud between the president and the parliamentary speaker. Mr Mohamed said he was quitting in the interests of the Somali people.

"To stop the division and the long-existing feud between senior Somali politicians, I decided to step down from my position. But the rest of my cabinet and team will be working as we agreed. I myself, I will help the incoming new government, and I shall do all I can, going forward; all the Somali politicians should do the same."

In Venezuela, 2,500 prisoners have been transferred out of a jail near Caracas where troops are locked in a standoff with rioters in another block of the prison. Two national guards and at least one prisoner were killed when troops intervened to restore order on Friday.

And a British peace campaigner who camped outside parliament in London for 10 years in protest at the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has died of lung cancer. Jonathan Blake reports.

Brian Haw began his protest in Parliament Square on 2 June 2001. That day he was asked by a police officer how long he intended to stay, his reply: "As long as it takes." The former carpenter, who had a strong Christian faith, was moved to stage his protest in response to sanctions against Iraq. He said the children of that country were as valuable and worthy of love as his own. Later, Brian Haw's protest became a focal point for opposition to the US-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

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