2010-05-09 BBC
BBC news with David Legge.
President Sarkozy of France and the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi have cancelled visits to Moscow on Sunday to work instead on plans to stop the Greek debt crisis spreading to other countries using the European single currency. Mr Sarkozy said the single currency was an essential element of Europe and financial speculators must not be allowed to undo it. European finance ministers will meet on Sunday to consider a package of special measures to ensure the stability of the eurozone. Robert Peston has more.
After a week of global turmoil in markets, there are widespread fears of a renewed banking crisis, which is why so much rests on this weekend's emergency talks about how best to provide the emergency funding to Europe's banks. What we're seeing is contagion from Greece's inability to borrow from conventional investors. There are concerns that other financially-stretched governments may also lose the confidence of their creditors, and that in turn has generated concerns about potential losses that could be incurred by banks that have lent to these countries.
Here in Britain, the leader of the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg has been consulting his parliamentary colleagues over a power-sharing deal offered to them by the Conservative Party following the inconclusive general election. A senior Liberal Democrat told the BBC that Monday was seen by all parties as an important day and there would need to be a conclusion by then.
Palestinian leaders in the West Bank have agreed to start indirect peace talks with Israel. It'll be the first formal negotiations between the two sides in 18 months. The White House has welcomed the decision. Tim Franks reports.
The Palestinians refused to hold direct talks with Israel as long as there's continued building within Jewish settlements on occupied territory. For its part, Israel has offered a temporary and partial curb on building within the West Bank and says it's keen to move to face-to-face negotiations as soon as possible. But both sides have a very different idea, not just on the shape and powers of a future Palestinian state, but also what should be even discussed in the first phase of negotiations.
Hundreds of airline flights in Europe have been disrupted and airports have been closed by new cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano. The cloud stretches for some 2,000 km. Nineteen airports in Spain have closed while others were affected in northern Portugal and southern France. Here's Sarah Rainsford.
Spain had been largely unaffected by the volcanic ash cloud, but early on Saturday morning, it drifted this way from over the Atlantic. Airports in the north were closed first, and as the cloud moved eastwards, Spain's second biggest airport Barcelona joined the list. The airport authority here says elsewhere more than 600 flights have been cancelled in and out of the country, affecting thousands of passengers. The restrictions will stay in place until early on Sunday morning at least.
World News from the BBC.
There's been a methane gas explosion inside a Russian coal mine in Siberia. Rescue workers said there were at least two deaths and several injuries. Many miners were brought to the surface, but more than a hundred others were still thought to be underground several hours after the blast.
The US Defence Secretary Robert Gates says he wants to make spending cuts of more than 10 billion dollars by ordering a far-reaching review of what he called "a bloated and wasteful bureaucratic machine". From Washington, Madeleine Morris reports.
Robert Gates described America's defence spending over the past decade as a gusher, and one that had to be turned off. In announcing plans to save 10 billion dollars, Mr Gates gave diverse examples of what he sees as bloated Pentagon costs, including military health care, the large number of generals and admirals, and various layers of bureaucracy. He said redirecting 2 to 3% of defence spending to combat activities in readiness would be better use of American taxpayers' dollars in preparing for what he called "an uncertain future". Mr Gates pointed out that last year long-term savings of 330 billion dollars have been made by trimming several dozen weapons programmes.
The oil company BP has encountered problems with the massive containment box it's trying to place over a ruptured well on the seabed of the Gulf of Mexico. BP's chief operating officer Doug Suttles said the hundred-ton box had to be moved after icy residue or slush began accumulating inside it. He said engineers hoped they could find a solution to the problem and place the box back over the leak. The aim is to contain the oil and then funnel it into a tanker on the surface.
The last surviving member of the 27 original chess grandmasters has died at his home in Hungary. Andor Lilienthal was 99 years old and received the grandmaster title from the International Chess Federation in 1950. During his career, he won matches against 6 world champions.
BBC news.