on 小北
BBC News with Joe Macintosh.
The
head of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn has
warned that the global financial system has been pushed to the brink of
meltdown. Speaking in Washington, Mr. Strauss-Kahn said he had been calling for coordinated action on the crisis for some months. However, the IMF did
endorse an action plan from finance ministers of the G7 Group. Our
economics correspondent Andrew Walker was at the IMF meeting.
The
strong words from the IMF chief reflected the belief that the financial
crisis can be contained and he welcomed the objective set up by the
finance ministers of the G7 leading industrial countries when they met
on Friday, but he clearly has some concerns. He said the steps taken so
far have not stabilized markets or bolstered confidence. Further action
is likely to be required, he said. The G7 statement has been criticized
for a lack of detail about how the governments would go about achieving
objectives such as unfreezing credit markets and ensuring that key
banks don’t fail.
Mr.
Strauss-Kahn also called on donor countries not to allow the deepening
financial crisis to affect their commitment to the developing world. He
underlined the continuing impact to high food prices on emerging
countries.
“We
shouldn’t forget the other crisis, and other crisis is the crisis faced
by ah… emerging countries, low income countries due to the increasing
prices of fuel and food. The bill for those countries, as far as food
is concerned, for instance, is still higher than it was before. And for
many countries, namely, mostly low-income countries, this bill is just
unaffordable. ”
The United States has removed North Korea from its list of states which sponsor terrorism. The issue had been a sticking point in negotiations about North Korea’s nuclear disarmament. The State Department said North Korea
had given assurances that it would comply with international
verification of its nuclear facilities. A State Department official
Patricia Maloney said the US would continue to apply pressure to North Korea if necessary.
“The
North Korea will still remain one of the most sanctioned countries in
the world in terms of US law, in fact, all exports by the United States
remain/, ah… are subject
to licensing, by the Commerce Department as well as many prohibitions
from the missile standpoint, the non-proliferation, the nuclear weapon
standpoint, and so the lifting today certainly does not remove at all
the leverage that we will maintain as we move forward in this process.”
The
Peruvian President Alan Garcia has appointed a left-wing regional
governor Yehude Simon as prime minister after the entire cabinet
resigned over allegations of corruption. Mr. Simon is the governor of
the northern Lambayeque province. He was imprisoned a decade ago for
alleged links with guerrillas. The BBC correspondent in Lima says the appointment is seen as an attempt by the president to regain public trust.
You are listening to the World News coming to you from the BBC.
Nearly 3,000 people have been evacuated to temporary shelters on Mexico’s Pacific coast after a powerful hurricane made landfall. The storm
Hurricane Norbert has brought heavy rain and winds of more than 160
kilometers an hour to the region of Baja, California. Warren Bull reports.
Hurricane Norbert hit land in the southern part of Baja California,
bringing fierce winds which uprooted trees, destroyed roofs and left
over 2,000 homes without power. Residents in towns such as Puerto San
Carlos were evacuated in school buses and army trucks as flood waters
reached their homes. Forecasters say the storm is moving steadily
across the narrow peninsular before it heads into the Gulf of California
and makes landfall again on the Mexican mainland. The authorities say
they are concerned that the storm could bring heavy rains and flooding
to several states along the Pacific coast.
Local officials in northwestern Pakistan
say at least three people were killed when a missile believed to have
been fired from an unmanned American aircraft struck a compound in the North Waziristan tribal region close to the Afghan border. The United States has launched several missile strikes against suspected militant targets in the border region in recent weeks.
An earthquake in the southern Russian Republic of Chechnya
has killed at least 13 people. The Chechnya Health Minister Musa
Akhmadov said more than 100 others have been taken to hospital. The
quake damaged roads, power supplies and communications across the
Caucasus and was felt as far away as Georgia and Armenia. A rescue team has been sent from Moscow to lead the search for survivors.
The influential Jamaican musician Alton Ellis has died of cancer in London
at the age of 70. Ellis won international acclaim for pioneering rock
steady music which evolved into reggae. In a career spanning 50 years,
he had a string of hits in the 1960s with tracks such as “I'm just a
guy” and “Dance Crasher”.
And that’s the BBC News.
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