BBC news 2010-03-25
BBC news with Ann Petyon.
The authorities in Saudi Arabia say they've arrested more than 100 militants suspected of links to Al-Qaeda who were planning to attack oil installation in the kingdom. The Saudi Interior Ministry says half of those attained are Saudis and the others are from Yemen,Bangladsh,Somalia and Retrea. Official say security forces seized weapons, cameras,computers and documents. Shahzeb Jillani has more.
The latest round of arrests suggest militants are crossing from neighbouring Yemen and using Saudi connections to block attacks. The Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Mansur al-Turki said that the two cells dismantled by the security forces were cooperating Al-Qaeda and Yemen. In addition he said a network of militance specializing and targeting security personnel has been broken. Mr Turki said that militants from network and the two cells would be in contact with Al-Qaeda and Yemen and planning to attack oil facilities.
President Barack Obama has called on Israel to take confidence-building steps so the indirect peace talk with the Palestinians can resume. The White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said discussions between Mr Obama and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were on going.
They spoke for over two hours last night, face to face so I think we have a strong relationship with the strong ally. There are areas that they discussed last night,some of which they agreed,some of which they disagreed. As I’ve said, those talks are on going, but the conversations were honest and straightforward.
The White House wants Israel to clarify why it announced the construction of a further 20 Israeli homes in occupied east Jerusalem.
More than a million slings used to carry babies are being recalled in north America after three children died in them. The Consumer Safety Agency in the US says two models of the baby sling made by Californian company Infantino shouldn’t be used to carry infants younger than four months because of the risk they could suffocate. Rajesh Mirchandani has more.
The soft fabric straps had become popular amongst parents who like to have a closer contact with their babies. But now the US Consumer Product Safety Commission has warned people to stop using slings after three babies, the youngest just six days old ,died last year. A million of the carrying straps had been recalled in the US along with 15,000 more in Canada. They are all made by the same company Infantino based in the city of Santiago. It says its top priority is the safety of infants and it’s working to develop safety standards for slings.
A car bomb has exploded in Colombian port city of Buenaventura,killing at least four people and wounding more than 30. there was no immediate claim of responsibility but the head of arm forces Freddy Padilla said he suspected the left wing get a group of Farc. Last week, five oil workers were kidnapped in the Farc's first multiple kidnapping for several years.
World news from the BBC.
The euro, the single currency used by 16 European Union states has fallen sharply on foreign exchanges because of concern about the government debt in Portugal and Greece. The Euro dropped to 1 dollar 33 cents, its lowest level for ten months. More from our economic corrsepondent Andrew Walker.
The euro is now about 12% lower than four months ago when the concerns about the Greek government finances began to mount. Those worries have abtained flow along with changing signals about whether other Euro countries might be willing to provide financial help if Greece needed to avoid defaulting on its debts. In the last week, German’s resistance to the idea of rescue appears to have hardened and one of the credit rating agencies has downgraded Portugal,another Euro area government with severe stretched finances. The currency has weaken further with the resault.
The British government has announced 3.75 billion dollar package to help small businesses,just weeks before the general election. Resenting the last budget before the vote, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said the task now was to bring down borrowing in the way that didn’t damage the economic recovery.
The Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchneris said she is prepared to use International court to resolve cases related to the country’s last period of military rule if they can not be settled by the Argentine’s justice system. President Fernandez said in particular she wanted to speed up the identification of children who were taken as babies from mothers who’d been tortured and murdered in prisons for their left wing views during the 70s and 80s.
Police in Turkey say 46 people have been detained as a part of Europe-wide investigation into an alledged football match fixing. The arrests were made in several times in cities and includes some well-known Turkish players and coaches. Arrests for match fixing are rare in Turkey as there’s no law against it.
BBC news.