BBC news 2011-11-11 加文本

BBC news 2011-11-11

BBC News with Marion Marshall

Greece has appointed Lucas Papademos as its new prime minister. Speaking after his appointment, Mr Papademos said Greece was at a crossroads with huge problems. Mark Lowen reports from the Greek capital Athens.

After days of speculation and disagreement, the man taking one of Europe's most unenviable jobs is known: Lucas Papademos, a 64-year-old former deputy at the European Central Bank. He's likely to have the confidence of Europe's leaders given his past experience, but whether he can win the backing of the Greek people who are not quite so fond of bankers at present is less clear. Mr Papademos says the priority is looking to the future to vote through last month's bailout package so Greece can continue to get its international loan and calm fears that it could yet leave the euro.

The chairman of News International, James Murdoch, has reaffirmed to a panel of British MPs that he did not know at the time that illegal phone hacking was widespread at one of his newspapers, the now defunct News of the World. Here's our political correspondent Robin Brant.

This was James Murdoch's second showing in front of the committee. MPs wanted to ask him about inconsistencies in the evidence that they've heard. He was insistent, though, he hadn't been shown a crucial email, nor had its significance been explained to him. The most dramatic moment, though, was when the Labour MP Tom Watson called him a mafia boss, something he said was offensive.

South Sudan has blamed its northern neighbour, the Republic of Sudan, for the aerial bombardment of a refugee camp south of the border. Residents of the camp in Unity state said a plane circled overhead before dropping five bombs. Sudan's army has denied it's responsible for the attack. James Copnall reports from the refugee camp.

The camp hosts refugees from the war in Southern Kordofan over the border in Sudan. There, northern rebels, who once fought on the side of the South Sudanese, are fighting the Sudanese government again. The governor of Unity state, Taban Deng, put the blame firmly on Sudan. He said President Omar al-Bashir should be asked hard questions about the bombing. Incidents like this and both sides' belief that the other is sponsoring rebels on their territory are making an already shaky relationship worse.

Partial results released by Liberia's National Election Commission show the incumbent President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is leading with just over 90% of the vote. Turnout was as low as 33% partly due to a boycott by the opposition candidate Winston Tubman, who alleged fraud in the first round. International observers rejected his allegations.

One of President Obama's most influential advisers on the Middle East, Dennis Ross, has announced that he's stepping down. Mr Ross, who's 62, said he took the decision for personal reasons. He joined the Obama administration in 2009. Another American Middle East envoy George Mitchell stood down in May. Correspondents say White House expertise on the region is now much diminished.

BBC News

A Ugandan man has been sentenced to 30 years in jail for murdering the country's leading gay rights activist David Kato in January. Sidney Nsubunga Enoch admitted he bludgeoned Mr Kato to death with a hammer, but alleged this was because of sexual advances. The murder took place as the Ugandan parliament was debating the death penalty for gay sex.

Police in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil say they have arrested the city's most wanted drug gang leader. The capture of Antonio Bonfim Lopes, known as Nem, came as police prepared to take control of Rocinha, Rio's biggest slum district. James Read of our America's desk reports.

Rio's most wanted drug suspect was found in the boot of a car that was stopped at a police checkpoint as it was leaving Rocinha. The driver reportedly claimed to be the Congolese honorary consul and then offered officers a huge bribe before his human cargo was discovered. Antonio Bonfim Lopes is alleged to be the leader of the drugs gang that controls Rocinha, Rio's biggest shantytown. It appears he was trying to escape the area before police moved in. The planned operation is the latest stage in a programme to reduce violent crime in Rio before the football World Cup in 2014.

The governor of Texas Rick Perry has pledged to continue his campaign to win the Republican Party nomination for presidential candidate despite a lapse of memory during a candidates debate. In a televised discussion with his rivals in Michigan on Wednesday, he vowed to shut down three cabinet departments if elected but could name only two of them. His gaffe has gone viral on the Internet.

A French court has convicted the American cyclist Floyd Landis of involvement in hacking into the computer of the laboratory that drugs-tested him after he won the Tour de France. Landis, who was tried in his absence, was given a suspended sentence of a year in jail. He was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title when it was found he had an abnormally high level of testosterone.

BBC News