BBC news 2011-11-09 加文本

BBC news 2011-11-09

BBC News with Marion Marshall

The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has announced his intention to resign, but he says he won't go until after the Italian parliament has approved a package of reforms to shore up Italy's economy, which is badly affected by the eurozone debt crisis. Alan Johnston reports from Rome.

Silvio Berlusconi has confirmed that he intends to resign. Speaking on television, he said that he would step down after parliament accepts a raft of economic reforms that he's proposed. These are expected to go before parliament in about two weeks' time. There's been speculation in Rome that an interim government of technocrats might be ushered in if Mr Berlusconi's administration were to fall, but he clearly opposes any such step. Mr Berlusconi said that in his view fresh elections were the only way forward.

Greek politicians have been locked in a second day of wrangling as they try to form a unity government. Reports suggest a former vice president of the European Central Bank, Lucas Papademos, is likely to become the next prime minister. The new administration will have to implement more tough austerity measures.

The United Nations nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, says there are indications that Iran has carried out activities described as relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device. In its latest report on Iran, which has just been released to member states, the IAEA gives a wide-ranging picture of research and development work in Iran that suggests military nuclear aims. James Reynolds has more.

The report lists in detail what it believes Iran has been doing in secret. Its activities include conducting computer modelling, developing a detonator and testing high explosives. The IAEA suggests that some of Iran's activities are only applicable to nuclear weapons research. In other words, there's no innocent explanation for what Iran is doing. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed the IAEA as a puppet of the United States. His government has already declared that the report's findings are baseless and inauthentic.

A private investigator has told the BBC he was paid by the News of the World newspaper to follow more than 100 people, including members of Britain's royal family. Derek Webb, who's an ex-policeman trained in covert surveillance, described trailing Prince Harry and his girlfriend of the time, Chelsy Davy.

"On a number of occasions she would be picked up and they'd either go to Clarence House or, they'd go to, she'd go to an address out in Oxfordshire. I'd be monitoring them to see whether there was anything further. We'd call in a photographer if there was anything that was interesting."

Mr Webb said his other targets included the parents of the Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe. He said he worked for the newspaper for eight years until it was shut down by its owner Rupert Murdoch in July when it became embroiled in a phone-hacking scandal.

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A court in Tunisia has ruled that al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi, the last prime minister of Libya under Colonel Gaddafi, should be extradited to Libya. The new authorities there want to put Mr al-Mahmoudi on trial. His lawyer called the ruling political. He says Mr al-Mahmoudi will be in danger because of what he called the chaos in Libya.

In previously unpublished remarks, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a liar. In a conversation with President Obama last week, President Sarkozy said about Mr Netanyahu "I can't look at him any more; he's a liar." President Obama replied "You may be sick of him, but I have to deal with him every day." More from Wyre Davies in Jerusalem.

There's been no formal response from the Israeli prime minister's office to what was, after all, a private conversation between presidents Obama and Sarkozy. It's widely believed among Israelis that Benjamin Netanyahu is not particularly liked on a personal level overseas. But while President Obama might not enjoy having to deal with Mr Netanyahu on a daily basis and President Sarkozy might think him a liar, both the United States and France continue to be strong supporters of Israel.

Five thousand cholera victims in Haiti are seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation from the United Nations. Several studies have blamed the outbreak last year on UN peacekeepers from Nepal. The human rights group that's brought the demand says the UN mission in Haiti failed to screen peacekeepers for cholera and allowed untreated waste from a UN base to be dumped into the main river. It says the UN also failed in its response to the epidemic. The UN says the secretary general is studying the petition.

A pilot with Britain's famous Red Arrows aerobatic display team has died after being ejected from a plane while it was still on the ground at an RAF base. Military investigators are to determine the precise cause of the incident. It's the second death in three months.

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