BBC news 2007-09-08 加文本

BBC 2007-09-08


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BBC World News with John Jason.

The al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been shown in a video recording for the first time in three years. American analysts who’ve examined the tape say they are pretty sure the voice is his. In the tape, Osama bin Laden offers two ways of ending the war in Iraq. One is an escalation of the insurgency against American-led forces. The other is for the United States to accept Islam. President Bush gave his response in Australia where he is attending a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders. From Sydney, Filmers reports.

The US President responded to the tones by insisting that it was important to show resolve and determination and to deny al-Qaeda safe havens. Speaking at the APEC Summit here in Sydney, he said it was significant that Iraq was mentioned in the bin Laden tape. Mr. Bush said it was a reminder that the campaign in the Gulf was part of the war against extremists. Osama bin Laden appears tired in the video and made no overt threats against the US.

Both parents of a British girl missing in Portugal have now been named suspects in her disappearance. Gerry McCann was officially named as a suspect early on Saturday morning after hours of questioning by Portuguese police. His wife Kate was named a suspect hours earlier. Neither has been charged. Earlier a relative of the McCann family Brian Kennedy dismissed the idea that the parents could have harmed their child. "The notion that either of them would or could harm one of their children is ludicrous. They're absolutely devoted to Madeleine and the twins and no one who knows them would believe for a minute that they would hurt them in any way."

The biggest mortgage lender in the United States, Countrywide Financial, says it's making big job cuts. Countrywide's Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo said the company was being forced into the move because of turmoil in the American market for housing loans. Vanessa Heaney reports from Washington.

Countrywide, like many lenders, has been struggling for months. The US housing slump has caused a sharp rise in mortgage defaults than repossessions, particularly among borrowers with high risk loans, known as sub-prime. The company has already cut nearly 1,500 jobs. It's now planned to shut up to 12,000, as much as 20% of its workforce over the next three months. These are the biggest cuts the mortgage industry has seen in years. Calls are getting louder for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rate before the credit market turmoil drives the American economy into recession.

There is to be a general election in Poland following the collapse of the coalition government. On Friday, MPs cheered after they voted to dissolve parliament two years early.