BBC news 2011-09-27 加文本

BBC news 2011-09-27

BBC News with Sue Montgomery

There's mounting international concern about the safety of Libya's stocks of chemical weapons and ground-to-air missiles. A senior political official at the United Nations, Lynn Pascoe, told a Security Council meeting on Libya it was imperative that control be established over weapons stockpiles.

"It's imperative that the NTC and the international community establish control over the large stocks of sophisticated arms, including ground-to-air missiles amassed by the Gaddafi government. The spread of these weapons and the dangers that they could fall into the hands of terrorists are matters of grave concern. Re-establishing control over chemical weapons material is also of major importance."

Two of Libya's neighbours - Niger and Algeria - have already expressed fears that the local branch of al-Qaeda could obtain them.

Eurozone officials say it's too early to suggest that a comprehensive plan to tackle the financial crisis engulfing the region has been worked out. Reports from the weekend meeting of finance ministers said that under the plan banks would have to accept losing half the money they lent to Greece. From Brussels, Chris Morris.

Eurozone officials accept that a variety of ideas are being discussed, including ways to increase the size of the fund to help protect countries and banks which are threatened by financial contagion. It's also clear that the consequences of a Greek default on its debts, something many analysts and officials now regard as inevitable, are being carefully considered. But timing is everything, and for the moment, the emphasis is on getting the 17 national parliaments in the eurozone to approve existing agreements made in July.

The Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has resigned following a public row with President Medvedev over the government's economic policy. Dmitry Medvedev had called for the resignation after Mr Kudrin publicly criticised the president's economic policy. Here's Steve Rosenberg.

Alexei Kudrin had been Russian finance minister for more than 11 years. He's widely credited with bringing economic stability to Russia through prudent management of the country's finances. But his relations with Dmitry Medvedev have been strained for some time. When it emerged on Saturday that President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin planned to switch roles, Mr Kudrin said he would definitely refuse to serve in a Medvedev government. He criticised Mr Medvedev's plans to increase military spending. His departure from the government will worry foreign investors, who've praised his management of the Russian economy.

Official media in China say the country's richest man is on course to become the first private business owner to join the Communist Party's powerful Central Committee. Newspapers reported that the party had completed background checks on the construction billionaire Liang Wengen, and tipped him for election to the 300-member body next year.

World News from the BBC

The newly-elected President of Zambia, Michael Sata, has told Chinese companies they are welcome but only if their investments benefit the country and are within the law. The president made the remarks during a meeting with the Chinese ambassador. China has already invested more than $2bn in Zambia.

The head of Italy's Catholic Bishops' Conference has delivered a stern attack on the morality of the country's political elite, in apparent condemnation of the sex and corruption scandals embroiling the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Without naming names, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco told fellow bishops it was mortifying to witness behaviour that not only ran counter to public decorum but was also intrinsically sad and hollow. David Willey reports from Rome.

On his way to Germany last week, Pope Benedict sent a telegram to the Italian president, calling for an ethical renewal for the good of Italy. This appears to have been the cue that the Italian bishops have been waiting for. Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the head of the Italian Bishops' Conference, told his fellow bishops that Italy needed to purify the air caused by sex and corruption scandals that had brought the country into disrepute around the world. He said Italians were dumbfounded and astonished at politicians who'd become enmeshed in scandal and were preoccupied only with self-preservation.

Counter-narcotics police in Colombia have seized a submarine believed to have been built to smuggle cocaine. The fibreglass vessel was found in a jungle area in Choco near the Pacific coast. Police said it could stay under water for up to 10 days and carry four tonnes of cocaine.

A shipwreck with more than $150m worth of silver on board has been discovered 500km off the coast of Ireland. The SS Gairsoppa was a British cargo vessel carrying 200 tonnes of the precious metal when it was torpedoed in 1941 by a German submarine.

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