BBC news 2011-12-10 加文本

BBC news 2011-12-10

BBC News with Iain Purdon

The European Union has decided to press ahead without Britain with a plan to forge a tighter fiscal union. The plan is to sign a pact by March if national parliaments agree. The British Prime Minister David Cameron was the only one of the 27 EU leaders to refuse to take part. From Brussels, here's Andrew Walker.

The core of what the summit agreed was a system of tougher discipline over government finances. The deal has been accepted by the 17 countries that use the euro and six others. Three of the remaining leaders will consult their parliaments, so Britain could end up completely isolated. Those who do take part will accept new limits on borrowing and face possible sanctions if they break the rules. They also agreed measures to increase the funds available for bailouts of struggling governments. It'll be done as an agreement between the countries that want to participate. Some, including the German leader Angela Merkel, would have preferred amendments to EU treaties, which require all governments to agree. But David Cameron wanted some guarantees about the regulation of financial services, which he was unable to get.

Mr Cameron says he acted in Britain's national interest by refusing to sign up to the new EU treaty, but he admitted that Britain's relationship with Europe had now changed.

"I think I did the right thing for Britain. We were offered a treaty that didn't have proper safeguards for Britain, and I decided it was not right to sign that treaty. You're obviously in a room with 26 other people who are saying 'put aside your national interest, go along with the crowd, do what will make life easy and comfortable for you there in that room', but you say no. It's important that we get the things that Britain needs, and so I decided not to sign that treaty. It's what I said I'd do, and it's what I did."

The top US military officer General Martin Dempsey has said he's extraordinarily concerned about the viability of the euro because he thinks its collapse could lead to civil unrest. General Dempsey, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it was not clear whether the latest measures taken by the EU would be sufficient glue to hold the eurozone together.

Officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo say the incumbent, Joseph Kabila, has won the fiercely contested presidential election. Provisional results show he picked up just under half the votes cast. Supporters of his main challenger Etienne Tshisekedi have complained of fraud. From Kinshasa, this report from Thomas Hubert.

The announcement finally came three days late on Friday afternoon after successive postponements. According to the electoral commission, President Joseph Kabila topped the polls on 28 November with 48.95% of the votes, with his main opponent Etienne Tshisekedi trailing at 32%. The result must now be confirmed by the Supreme Court. But Mr Tshisekedi's party officials have said that they regard their candidate as the winner and would reject any other outcome.

World News from the BBC

The foreign minister of South Sudan has told the BBC that the fighting along the country's northern border with Sudan constitutes the most serious threat to peace since the South's independence in July. Nhial Deng Nhial said that Sudan's incursion around the town of Jau could lead to the outbreak of full-scale hostilities between the two states.

Activists in Syria say at least 24 people, including four children, have been killed in anti-government protests across the country. A number of pro-government demonstrations were also reported, including in Damascus. Meanwhile, the Syrian authorities say eight members of the security forces were injured in separate attacks.

Congress in Honduras has voted in favour of a temporary ban on motorcyclists carrying passengers in an attempt to end a series of drive-by shootings. The vote was held behind closed doors because the politicians feared for their safety. Ignacio de los Reyes reports.

The ban will last for six months to tackle crime. The Honduras Congress approved a decree limiting the number of people allowed on a motorbike to just one. Motorcycles are used in 90% of the killings in Honduras. Honduras is not the first country to ban motorcycle passengers in Central America. Guatemala did it two years ago. Both countries are facing the threat of organised crime and Mexican cartels, but also local gangs who usually extort bus and taxi drivers for a protection racket.

Russia's presidential human rights council has advised President Dmitry Medvedev that last Sunday's parliamentary elections should be rerun if allegations of widespread vote-rigging are confirmed and if the true results cannot be established. The council, which has no power to order a fresh ballot, said that reports of election fraud were of deep concern and that those who carried out violations should be prosecuted.

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