Rio summit ends with warning on corporate power

        The UN sustainable development summit in Brazil has ended with world leaders adopting a political declaration hammered out a few days previously.              Environment and development charities say the Rio+20 agreement is too weak to tackle social and environmental crises. Gro Harlem Brundtland, author of a major UN sustainable development report 25 years ago, said corporate power was one reason for ...

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Umberto Bossi urges Silvio Berlusconi to quit : Italy

      Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's key coalition partner has urged him to step aside ahead of a crucial budget vote.          Northern League leader Umberto Bossi is a volatile ally who brought down Mr Berlusconi's first government in 1994. Mr Berlusconi's majority has crumbled ahead of the vote, with several MPs defecting or saying they will rebel. Until now he has insisted he has enough support to be able to continue...

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Russia satirists use YouTube to challenge Kremlin

Media control has been one of the key factors that have allowed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to dominate Russia's political landscape since he was first elected president in 2000.     As the country prepares for parliamentary and presidential elections, though, there are signs that the Kremlin is facing a fresh media challenge in the form of an increasingly politicised audience on Youtube. Over the past few weeks, a number of Russian politics-themed clips on Youtube have...

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Sudan army seizes rebel stronghold in Blue Nile state

Sudanese forces have captured the key rebel stronghold of Kurmuk in the border state of Blue Nile, government and rebel sources said.Sudan's defence ministry said the rebels left behind "a large number of dead and injured" after the battle for the town, near the Ethiopian border. A spokesman for the SPLM-North rebels said they would fight on. Since September Sudan has been battling rebels allied to South Sudan, which gained independence in July. 'Not the end' "The Sudanese Armed Forces...

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Ireland to close embassies to Vatican, Iran and E Timor

The Irish Republic has decided to close its embassies to the Vatican and two other nations on cost-saving grounds.        It said the closure of the missions in Vatican City and also in Iran and East Timor would save about 1.25m euros (£1.1m; $1.7m) a year. But Dublin stressed that the move was not related to a clerical child abuse row between Ireland and the Holy See. In July, a report accused the Vatican of aiding child-abuse cover-ups in Cork - a claim denied...

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Venezuela prison guards taken hostage after riot

Venezuelan officials are trying to negotiate the release of two police officers taken hostage during a prison riot in the western state of Tachira.       Eight inmates were killed after fighting broke out between rival gangs. Two other captive officers were freed after the authorities agreed to transfer members from one gang to another facility. Venezuela's overcrowded prisons have been the scene of repeated uprisings and gang violence. The army has taken charge but...

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Qantas flight lands safely in Dubai after engine issues

Qantas has confirmed its flight from Singapore to London has landed safely in Dubai after an engine was shut down.    The flight was QF31 and had 258 passengers on board, with four pilots and 21 cabin crew, Qantas said. The plane is an Airbus A380 superjumbo and engine number four suffered "an engine oil defect", a spokeswoman said. Friday's problem comes exactly one year after a mid-air engine blast forced an emergency landing of a Qantas A380 jet in Singapore. Last year's emergency...

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Activists say 20 killed in Homs

This video, released on Wednesday before the deal was announced, is said to have been shot in Homs    Tanks mounted with machine-guns have opened fire in the Syrian city of Homs, killing at least 20 people, activists have reported. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Baba Amr district came under heavy fire on Thursday. Violence was also reported in other parts of the city. It comes a day after the authorities in Damascus agreed to an Arab League...

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G20 seeks solution to debt crisis

The G20 leaders are set to continue their talks on Friday as they seek to find a sustainable solution to the eurozone debt crisis.      They are expected to discuss ways to increase the firepower of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The hope is that increased resources will help the IMF to support struggling eurozone economies, such as Greece. There have also been calls for a "financial firewall" to protect vulnerable economies such as Italy. The US President, Barack Obama, said on Thursday that resolving the eurozone debt crisis was "the most important aspect...

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Honduras arrests 176 police in corruption purge

A total of 176 Honduran police officers have been arrested in a purge against corruption and organised crime, the authorities there say.        The security ministry said the officers were suspected of offences including murder, kidnap and drug dealing. The arrests follow public outcry over the release of four policemen accused of murdering two students. Earlier this week President Porfirio Lobo sacked his top police commanders and deployed troops to combat crime....

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Simulated Mars mission to 'land' back on Earth

       The project was intended to find out how the human mind and body would cope on a      long-duration spaceflight Six men locked away in steel tubes for a year-and-a-half to simulate a mission to Mars are set to end the experiment.      The Mars500 project, undertaken at a Moscow institute, was intended to find out how the human mind and body would cope on a long-duration spaceflight. It is a venture that has...

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China mine disaster: Dozens trapped by 'rock burst'

Dozens of miners have been trapped in a coal mine in China after a "rock burst", officials say.     Four miners were killed and 57 are still missing after the accident, which happened late on Thursday in the city of Sanmenxia in Henan province. State media reported that the rock burst - an explosion caused by the sudden release of built-up pressure - happened shortly after an earthquake. Hundreds of Chinese miners die every year in pit accidents. The industry is one of the...

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Dr Conrad Murray: Trial timeline

Michael Jackson's personal physician, Dr Conrad Murray, is standing trial over the singer's death. He is charged with involuntary manslaughter.                         Prosecutors say he caused the pop star's death by administering a powerful anaesthetic, propofol. Dr Murray has denied the charges. It has taken more than two years for the trial to come to court. BBC News...

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Michael Jackson doctor Conrad Murray case goes to jury

Prosecutors ended their case by saying Dr Conrad Murray's care of Jackson had been "bizarre", while the defence said the singer had caused his own death. The case against the physician charged with the death of the pop star Michael Jackson has gone to the jury, following closing statements.        Prosecutors concluded their case by saying Dr Conrad Murray's care of Jackson had been "bizarre" and left the pop star's children fatherless. The defence countered...

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Greek crisis: Your stories

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou isfacing calls to resign , amid uncertainty about a eurozone bailout deal.Senior members of his own party, including influential Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, said they opposed Mr Papandreou's plan to hold a referendum on the EU deal. BBC News website readers in Greece have been reacting to the latest political developments taking place in their country.  Haris Daskalothanassis, Athens                                                                                     ...

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G20 'agrees to boost' International Monetary Fund

The Group of 20 leaders have agreed to increase the firepower of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).It means the Fund will be more able to support struggling eurozone economies. French President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed that most talks had revolved around the eurozone crisis. In Greece, Prime Minister George Papandreou has defied calls to resign ahead of a vote of confidence on Friday. He has said he may scrap a plan for a referendum on the bailout deal. Mr Papandreou's surprise decision...

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Greece and the euro: A game-changing summit after all

Last week's European summit was supposed to be the game-changer, but the real change in the game might have happened on Wednesday night here in Cannes, as a direct result of the Greek prime minister's shock decision to call a referendum.                   The change is that for President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel, keeping Greece in the euro is no longer priority number one. And a eurozone without Greece is no longer necessarily the worst outcome. Just a few months ago, when Greece came under pressure, these two leaders...

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Eurozone leaders admit exit from euro is possible

Markets are behaving in a way that I find even more baffling than usual.          Naturally I can understand why investors may be taking comfort from ... But that doesn't imply that the grip on power of the current Greek government, or of a coalition that may replace it, would be anything other than tenuous. So whether through plebiscite or general election, the Greek people may yet turn their back on the package their government has agreed of rescue...

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Papandreou blinks first in euro poker game

ATHENS - The last 24 hours have seen all manner of political gyrations here. If one had to sum up what it has all meant, it is that the government of George Papandreou has felt the heat from Europe's most powerful players and realised that it cannot take it.                             This city is still wracked with rumour about how he might bring Greece through this acute phase of its ongoing crisis, but the prime minister seems to have realised that either...

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Greece PM Papandreou faces fresh call to resign

Greece's centre-right opposition has demanded Prime Minister George Papandreou resign, throwing into disarray plans for a unity government. Opposition leader Antonis Samaras also called for snap elections before leading his MPs in a dramatic walkout of parliament. Mr Papandreou's government faces a crucial confidence vote on Friday. He earlier said that opposition support could mean dropping controversial plans for a referendum on an EU bailout. Mr Papandreou had faced a rebellion in his governing...

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Amy Winehouse death: Coroner records misadventure verdict

Amy Winehouse's death was the result of the singer drinking too much alcohol, a coroner has said.A verdict of misadventure was recorded into the 27-year-old's death after an inquest heard she was more than five times the drink-drive limit. Winehouse was found dead at her home in Camden, north London, on 23 July. St Pancras coroner Suzanne Greenway said the "unintended consequence" of Winehouse drinking so much alcohol was her "sudden and unexpected death". Three empty vodka bottles, two large...

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