BBC news 2011-09-15 加文本

BBC news 2011-09-15

BBC News with Fiona MacDonald

A Greek government spokesman says the leaders of Greece, Germany and France have agreed that Greece will remain in the eurozone, despite market speculation that it might default on its debts. Gavin Hewitt reports from Brussels.

The leaders of Greece, France and Germany have held an emergency conference call. They discussed the Greek debt crisis and the risk that Greece might default. The Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou told the other two leaders that Greece was determined to meet all its obligations and so qualified for fresh funding. He said that recent austerity measures will help Greece reach its spending targets and reduce its deficit. According to a Greek government spokesman, the three leaders all agreed that Greece would remain part of the eurozone. France and Germany said they are convinced Greece belongs in the euro.

The Italian parliament has given final approval to an austerity package. It aims to reduce Italy's deficit by more than $70bn over three years. The bill's passage through the Italian parliament exposed deep divisions in Mr Berlusconi's coalition and triggered street protests. Opponents of the package clashed with police outside the parliament.

Senior political figures from within the Nato alliance are heading to Libya to meet its new leadership following the ousting of Colonel Gaddafi. An American envoy, Jeffrey Feltman, who's already in Tripoli, has promised strong US support for Libyan efforts to build a new democratic country.

"The United States respects Libya's sovereignty. A guiding principle of our partnership with the Libyan people will always be respect for Libya's independence and sovereignty. This was a victory for the Libyan people, and Libya's destiny must be decided by Libyans alone."

French media, meanwhile, are reporting that President Sarkozy will travel to Tripoli on Thursday to meet representatives of the National Transitional Council. The reports say he'll then fly to the eastern city of Benghazi, where he intends to deliver a speech in Liberty Square. From Paris, here's Christian Fraser.

President Sarkozy is still at record lows in the polls. Foreign policy, crucial as it is for a president's image, does not win elections, but the liberation of Tripoli presents an opportunity. And Mr Sarkozy wants the world to know that France has succeeded while the US failed in Iraq. It's said he will visit a hospital in Tripoli before meeting leaders of the NTC. Mr Sarkozy will be accompanied by philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, whom many see as the driving force behind Mr Sarkozy's decision to press ahead with military action.

A former head of Colombia's intelligence agency has been jailed for 25 years for collaborating with right-wing paramilitaries. Jorge Noguera was convicted of helping death squads to infiltrate the intelligence agency and murder an opposition activist. He was also found to have wiped information on paramilitaries and drug traffickers from agency files.

World News from the BBC

An aluminium producer in Hungary has been fined almost $650m over last year's spill of toxic sludge, which killed 10 people and caused serious environmental damage. A government statement said the size of the fine reflected the uNPRecedented amount of damage caused by the red toxic mud. The spill occurred when a chemical waste reservoir was breached.

Pirates in West Africa have kidnapped 23 sailors and seized their oil tanker in waters near the capital of Benin, Cotonou. Reports say the pirates struck as the Cypriot-flagged vessel tried to transfer its cargo of crude oil to a Norwegian-registered ship. The International Maritime Bureau, which tracks piracy worldwide, says the pirates sailed away with the Cypriot tanker.

Police in Haiti have used tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters demanding the withdrawal of United Nations peacekeeping troops from the country. The clashes happened outside the presidential palace in the capital Port-au-Prince. The protests were triggered by allegations that UN troops from Uruguay raped a Haitian man.

The American space agency Nasa has unveiled its design for a huge new rocket to carry astronauts to the Moon, the planet Mars and beyond. The new rocket and its Orion capsule are expected to cost $16bn, and the first test flight is due to take place in six years' time. Our science correspondent Jonathan Amos.

America's pride has been hurt since the retirement of the space shuttle in July. Today, it has no means of getting its astronauts into orbit, and it must buy or barter seats on Russian rockets if it wants to send people to the space station. The new Space Launch System is an attempt to redraw the exploration vision. It calls for a rocket that is taller and more powerful than the moon shot rockets of the 1960s and 70s, and capable of putting in orbit, the equipment needed to send people to Mars, five times the payload that could be carried on a single shuttle mission.

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