BBC在线收听下载:印度巴基斯坦两国总理进行会晤

BBC news 2013-09-29

BBC News with Sue Montgomery

Italy's fragile coalition government has collapsed after ministers belonging to the center-right party of the former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said they were resigning. Here's BBC's Rome correspondent Alan Johnston.

Tensions within the government had become extreme in recent days so much so that the center-left Prime Minister Enrico Letta said he will put business on hold until his administration secured fresh backing in a parliamentary confidence vote. But Mr. Berlusconi said he wouldn't support a government that put important economic matters on hold and so his ministers have resigned. Mr. Letta said that the reasons Mr. Berlusconi has given for the resignations are a huge lie. There’s been a complete breakdown in relations.

At least 42 people have died in Nigeria after an overloaded boat capsized in the River Niger, more than 100 are still missing. Officials say the boat split in two after setting off from a village in Niger state. From Lagos, Tomi Oladipo.

The passengers were mostly traders returning home after a busy market day in another village before disaster struck. A spokesman for the state emergency management agency says the boat had over 150 people on board, more than double the number of the passengers that could handle not counting the heavy goods they had with them. Officials say the recovered corpses will be given a mass burial near the riverbank. Water transport is not well regulated on the River Niger and boats often travel overloaded.

Officials in Tunisia say the Islamist-led government has agreed to step down in a few weeks time, and make way for a caretaker administration after negotiations with secular opposition are concluded. Talks in forming a transitional government could start on Monday. Peter Hiett reports.

The moderate Islamist party Ennahda which led the Tunisian government was careful to share power in the hope avoiding the worst mistake that President Morsi and his colleagues in Egypt. But it’s still found itself accused of being too soft in Islamist extremists especially of the separate assassinations of two leftist opponents. It starts outcry which led to talks with secular opposition brokered by trade unions on how to emerge from Tunisia's political paralysis. The next step is three weeks of talk on forming a non-party government followed by fresh elections.

The body in charge of destroying chemical weapons in Syria, the OPCW has said its first wave of experts will travel to Damascus on Sunday. A spokesman for the group told the BBC they are confident they can carry out the mission of verification and destruction on time provided they have Syrian and international support.

A suicide car bomb attack in northern Mali has killed two people and left several wounded. It's the first such attack since President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita took power last month promising to make security a top priority.

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Parliamentary elections have taken place in Guinea for the first time in more than a decade. Early indications suggest a high turnout although some logistical problems have been reported. The vote was due to be held within month of Alpha Conde becoming transitional president in 2010 following a military coup but it was repeatedly delayed.

The three-month investigation into the deaths in June of 19 firefighters who died battling a wildfire in the US state of Arizona has cited poor communication between the men and support’s staff and revealed that an aircraft carrying flame-retardant was circling overhead as the firefighters were overcome. All but one member of the fire crew died while protecting the small town of Yarnell from a wildfire.

A day ahead of a rare meeting with his Pakistani counterpart, the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that for any progress to be made Pakistan must put a stop to attacks against its territory.

“India is committed sincerely to resolving all issues with Pakistan. However, for progress to be made, it is imperative that the territory of Pakistan and the areas under its control are not utilized for aiding and abetting terrorism directed against India.”

Mr. Singh was addressing the UN General Assembly in New York. He is expected to meet the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday.

A retired Chilean General who led the country's intelligence agency during the rule of Augusto Pinochet has killed himself while on release from prison for the weekend. Odlanier Mena was serving a 6-year jail term for three killings in the 1970s. He was found guilty of belonging to a group of military officers accused of executing more than 100 members of the opposition in the month following

General Pinochet's coup.

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