BBC news 2011-11-19 加文本

BBC news 2011-11-19

BBC News with Marion Marshall

The United Nations nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, has expressed deep and increasing concern about Iran's nuclear programme. A resolution passed by the agency's board called on Tehran to clear up outstanding questions about its nuclear capabilities without delay, but stopped short of referring Iran to the UN Security Council. Last week, an IAEA report said there was considerable evidence that Iran had undertaken the experiments geared towards developing a nuclear weapons capability. James Reynolds reports.

The IAEA board has voted to express its deep concern about Iran. It's asked the IAEA director general to report back in March, but it's not referring the country to the United Nations for further sanctions - in other words, criticism but no immediate action. The four Western countries would have preferred moves towards more sanctions, but Russia and China said no. Western diplomats are happy that the six countries have agreed a single response to Iran. But it's not yet clear what kind of impact a statement of criticism will have on the government of the Islamic republic.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians have joined rallies in Cairo and Alexandria to denounce what they see as moves by the military authorities to entrench their power. The army and security forces did not intervene. The protests were backed by Islamists, but the BBC Cairo correspondent says demonstrators from across the political spectrum took part to express their frustration at the military rulers' slow pace of reform.

The new Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti has won full approval from parliament for his austerity plan to deal with the country's budget crisis. The lower house followed the senate in giving his government an overwhelming vote of confidence. Alan Johnston is in Rome.

For now at least, nearly all the political parties say they'll support Mr Monti as he sets out to restructure the economy. He's warned that he'll demand sacrifices of the Italian people. His austerity programme will include tighter control of spending, more tax and pension reform. But Prime Minister Monti has also said he'll work for greater social fairness and create more jobs for young people.

Scientists have managed to repeat an experiment which shows subatomic particles travelling faster than the speed of light. There had been scepticism about the results of the first experiment. Jason Palmer has the details.

The team shook the world two months ago with its claim that neutrinos could beat the speed of light. Travelling through 700km of rock, the particles seemed to show up billionths of a second earlier than they should have. But critics said the groups of neutrinos were far more spread out in time than that tiny difference, blurring the team's ability to accurately measure them. Now the team has repeated the experiment with groups lasting for a less time and found almost exactly the same result. It's now up to other teams around the world to confirm the striking findings.

World News from the BBC

The British Prime Minister David Cameron says Britain and Germany agree on the need for decisive action to stabilise the eurozone. Speaking in Berlin after talks with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Cameron said a stabilisation mechanism should have detail, meaning and punch behind it. He gave no specifics.

President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil has signed a law creating a truth commission to investigate past human rights abuses, including those committed during military rule between 1964 and 1985. The commission will have the power to access all government documents, but an amnesty law means it won't lead to any prosecutions.

Leading climate scientists have warned that governments must implement policies to deal with the effects of more dangerous and uNPRedictable weather. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, meeting in Uganda, says global warming means heat waves, floods and droughts are likely to become more frequent and intense. Our science correspondent David Shukman reports.

As with all reports by the UN climate panel, this one was checked by governments from around the world before being published. It says it's virtually certain we'll see higher temperatures in the years ahead and that it's likely many regions will see more heavy rain. As to the role of man, the report says greenhouse gases are likely to have caused recent warming, but for the next few decades our influence will be relatively small compared to natural variability. That's not what environmental campaigners will want to hear.

The High Court in London has heard new allegations against a private investigator who worked for the tabloid newspaper News of the World. The investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, was jailed for phone hacking in 2007. Lawyers for phone-hacking victims said he was also involved in a practice called pinging - a technique to locate people using their mobile phones, which can only be used legally by the police and security forces.

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