BBC news 2011-10-16 加文本

BBC news 2011-10-16

BBC News with Gaenor Howells

Protests against what's perceived as corporate greed and economic mismanagement have been taking place around the world. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in European cities. Police in Rome fired tear gas to disperse protesters, who'd smashed bank and shop windows. Some 70 people were reported injured. The protests were inspired by weeks of continuing anti-Wall Street demonstrations in North America. Marcus George is following events in Washington DC.

We've had several hundred protesters under a campaign called Occupy DC. They've been marching in the downtown area, and they joined a rally for jobs and justice, which was led by activists and union leaders, to directly pressure Congress into passing legislation to create more jobs across the country.

At the Washington rally, the activist Reverend Jesse Jackson told the BBC the poorest people were suffering most in the economic crisis.

"Too few have too much; too many have nothing. The extremes of unrestricted wealth and greed is[are] driving poverty. People have lost their homes - because of bankster - the haven they've lost. They've lost their jobs. It's time now for a restructuring of our economic order."

Finance ministers from the G20 group of major economies have ended a meeting on eurozone debt, saying they believe European leaders are making progress towards solving the crisis. The British minister George Osborne said the discussions in Paris had brought the eurozone reforms a step closer.

"I think there's real momentum towards resolving the eurozone crisis, and that will be the biggest boost not just to the European economy but actually to the British economy. And what you got here is a countdown to the big G20 summit with David Cameron, Barack Obama, President Sarkozy of France in three weeks' time, so a lot of pressure on the eurozone to sort their problems out by then."

The US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said he'd heard encouraging things about a new plan, though he had reservations about a lack of detail. The French Finance Minister Francois Baroin has insisted that clear answers will be presented next weekend during a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels. The plan involves strengthening Europe's banks, reducing Greek debt and increasing the power of the eurozone's bailout fund.

The security forces in Yemen have shot dead at least 12 people as tens of thousands of demonstrators demanded the resignation of President Saleh. Yolande Knell reports.

A huge crowd of anti-government protesters marched from their stronghold - Change Square - angry that nothing in Yemen had changed, and once again violence erupted. Security forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh used tear gas, water cannon and guns against the demonstrators.

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The transitional military government in Egypt has issued a new anti-discrimination decree a week after 26 people were killed in clashes between the security forces and mainly Coptic Christian protesters. The new decree will impose stiffer penalties for anyone found guilty of discrimination on the grounds of race or religion.

The head of the election commission in Liberia has rejected claims from opposition parties that Tuesday's presidential poll was fraudulent. The commission chairman James Fromayah said both local people and international observers had declared the election to be free and fair. Partial results suggest the incumbent, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is slightly ahead but without enough votes to avoid a run-off. The second-placed candidate Winston Tubman is among those claiming the vote was flawed. He told the BBC that voting material had been tampered with.

"We've seen film, video of people opening ballot boxes. Many things are flawed. We've seen documents where things were written over, figures on the original differed from what was showing on the subsequent copies, and this was clear tampering."

The Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he's travelling to Cuba for a health checkup four months after he had surgery for cancer there. Mr Chavez, who's also had chemotherapy, said tests would determine if any cancerous cells remained in his body. The Venezuelan leader has previously described his treatment as successful, but correspondents say secrecy about the exact nature of his cancer has fuelled speculation that his illness may be worse than officially stated.

Reports from Iran say that the award-winning film director Jafar Panahi has lost his appeal against a six-year prison sentence. A film-making and travel ban was also upheld. A state-run newspaper said he was found guilty of anti-government propaganda and threatening national security. Mr Panahi was arrested last year.

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