BBC news 2011-11-16 加文本

BBC news 2011-11-16

BBC News with Iain Purdon

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made his strongest denunciation yet of Syria's President Assad. "No regime," Mr Erdogan said, "can survive by killing and jailing its opponents." The Arab League has already suspended Syria for failing to implement an Arab peace initiative. Jonathan Head is in Istanbul.

The Turkish prime minister is habitually outspoken. Even so, his latest rebuke of President Assad, a man he considered a personal friend until a few months ago, was dramatic. "No regime," warned Mr Erdogan, "can survive by killing and jailing. No one can build a future on the blood of the oppressed." Turkey has now stopped cooperation on energy projects and says it's considering further sanctions which would not hurt ordinary people. Turkish business leaders say trade, which was worth around $2.5bn last year, has all but stopped.

Syrian opposition groups say as many as 70 people have been killed in the past 24 hours. The head of the main Syrian opposition movement, Burhan Ghalioun, says he has failed to persuade Russia to drop its opposition to international sanctions against Syria. Speaking after talks with Russian officials in Moscow, Mr Ghalioun described the talks as fruitful, although there was no change in the positions of either side.

The Italian Prime Minister-designate Mario Monti has said he has succeeded in forming a new government and will present his appointments to President Napolitano on Wednesday. Speaking after a day of talks with political parties, Mr Monti said he was confident Italy would overcome its current crisis.

"I will put the finishing touches to the political appointments in the coming hours, and I will be in a position to present them tomorrow morning to the head of state. Naturally with respect to the president of the republic, you will understand that I cannot reveal the contents. But I will like to assure you all of my absolute faith and conviction in our country's ability to get through this difficult period."

After two days of talks in parliament, Mr Monti has received the backing of all but one of the political factions.

The authorities in the Philippines have prevented the former President Gloria Arroyo from leaving the country despite the Supreme Court having overturned a government ruling banning her from travelling abroad. From Manila, Kate McGeown.

Gloria Arroyo and her husband arrived at Manila's international airport just hours after the Supreme Court ruled that she could go abroad. They were trying to get to Singapore and then on to Europe because the former president says she needs urgent medical treatment there. But the Justice Secretary Leila de Lima ordered officials to stop the Arroyos from boarding the plane. Mrs Arroyo faces numerous claims of corruption and electoral fraud, and the government is afraid that if she leaves the country, she'll never come back to face the accusations against her.

World News from the BBC

Protesters in New York have remained on the streets after police cleared their two-month-old anti-Wall Street protest camp from a park in the financial district. Police arrested about 200 protesters after moving in early on Tuesday to clear the camp. Here's Barbara Plett in New York.

The lawyers for the Occupy Wall Street protesters are challenging the eviction. They've filed an injunction with the court, saying essentially that the mayor and the city needed a court order in order to evict the protesters from the park and they didn't get one. And there is a hearing on this as to whether the eviction is in fact legal. In the meantime, the protesters are still milling about. It's not clear what's going to happen next, but definitely the activists are around in the streets of Manhattan and vowing to keep up their protests.

An American biotechnology company says it's been forced to stop trials using embryonic stem cells in humans owing to the high costs. The trials, the first of their kind in the world, involve the treatment of patients with spinal injuries. Matt McGrath reports.

Just over a year ago, Geron Corporation announced that they had enrolled their first patients in a clinical trial of embryonic stem cells to treat spinal injuries. It was hoped that the cells, which have the potential to develop into any type of body tissue, would repair damaged spines and one day allow patients to walk again. But the company say that while the treatment has been well tolerated by patients and had no serious adverse events, the large financial burden involved has forced them to axe the trial, lay off staff and halt development of their stem cell programmes.

A Liberian court has cleared the way for three radio stations to reopen in spite of finding them guilty of spreading hate messages and inciting violence. The stations were closed last week because of their coverage of clashes between the opposition and the police on the eve of the presidential election run-off.

BBC News