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BBC news 2012-02-21

BBC News with Neil Nunes

Eurozone ministers meeting in Brussels say they believe they can agree another big bailout of the Greek economy. Outstanding issues include how to bring Greece's huge debt down to a sustainable level and make sure it carries out promised austerity measures. Steve Evans reports from Brussels.

The tone of the politicians as they went into their meeting was optimistic. The French finance minister said all the elements were in place for an agreement. His Greek counterpart said he anticipated a long period of uncertainty coming to an end. But all emphasised too that some things remained to be discussed, particularly how any agreement would be monitored. The likelihood is that a deal will be done because eurozone governments think the alternative is too awful to contemplate, entailing perhaps a financial crisis.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says it's trying to broker a limited ceasefire between the Syrian authorities and opposition activists to get humanitarian aid into areas that have seen the worst violence. From Geneva, Imogen Foulkes.

The ICRC is the only international aid agency operating inside Syria, but as the violence has escalated in recent weeks, it too has had great difficulty reaching the areas most affected by the fighting. As ever, the Red Cross won't provide details of negotiations, but has confirmed that one possibility under discussion is a temporary ceasefire so that ambulances can get in to evacuate the wounded, and food and medical supplies can be delivered.

Residents of the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri say they have seen 20 corpses at a market following explosions and a shoot-out between government forces and militants. The security forces said they had killed eight militants. Richard Hamilton has this report.

A spokesman for the Nigerian joint military task force said that three of its soldiers were injured in the shoot-out with the militants, but denied any civilians had died. However, shop owners at the Baga market said they had seen at least 20 dead bodies being piled onto trucks and taken away. Maiduguri is a stronghold of the Islamist militant sect Boko Haram, and has witnessed frequent bombings and drive-by shootings in recent years. A state of emergency has already been imposed on the city and other troubled parts of the north by President Goodluck Jonathan, but residents say a military solution is clearly not working.

Rebels in the Sudanese region of Darfur say they have released dozens of international peacekeepers whom they had captured for entering their territory without permission. A spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement said the group of 49 peacekeepers were free to go, but that they were continuing to hold two Sudanese translators and a Yemeni police officer.

World News from the BBC

The people of Libya's third largest city Misrata have been voting in local elections - the first significant democratic poll since the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi four months ago. No democratic elections were held during Colonel Gaddafi's rule. Misrata was the scene of some of the most ferocious fighting in Libya's revolution.

Iran says it's holding military exercises to boost protection of its nuclear sites. The official news agency said a four-day drill involving aircraft and missiles would take place in the south of the country. There's been recent speculation that the United States or Israel might carry out a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.

Britain's home secretary has announced a shakeup of the country's border agency after admitting that security checks had been suspended or applied inconsistently for the past five years. Theresa May told parliament that an investigation found that tens of thousands of people had been allowed into Britain without proper checks. Here's Rob Watson.

The UK Border Agency is responsible for checking who comes into Britain at its airports and other points of entry. This report paints a picture of an agency bordering on the dysfunctional. It says tens of thousands of people were allowed into the country without proper checks between 2007 and last year. It accuses senior officials at the agency of poor management and of failing to inform ministers about the extent to which checks were being suspended.

Chile has temporarily closed its main border crossing with Peru after torrential rains washed landmines onto the road. Officials didn't say how many mines had been displaced by the downpours, but army bomb disposal experts have detonated several devices. Chile planted thousands of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines along its northern border in the 1970s during a period of tension with Peru.