A key European Union summit on saving the euro currency is underway in Brussels. Shortly before it began, the leaders of France and Germany made dramatic appeals for support. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France (warned) that the risk of disintergration in Europe had never been greater. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel said changes to the European constitution were a necessary to tighten fiscal (discipline). The president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso said if a deal on much stricter rules to govern eurozone was to emerge, then everyone had to play a part.
"What I expect from all the heads of government is that they don't come saying what they can not do, but what they will do for Europe. All the world is watching us. And what the world wants from us is not more national problems but European solutions".
Our correspondent in Brussels Christ Morris says reaching an agreement at the summit will not be easy.
The trouble of the European Union is much bigger than it was. Every country, all 27 of them has a red line somewhere. And that's why reaching an agreement is going to be so difficult. But Angela Merkel has made it (clear) that she wants the treaty change of some kind. She prefers all member states to be involved but at the very least the 17 countries in the eurozone have to act.
The European Central Bank has cut its key interest rate by 25% to 1%. The move was widely expected. The but last cut rate only five weeks ago. The ECB has also taken fresh debts to help those banks that are struggling to get the funds they need to operate by making it easier for them to borrow.
Iran is showing video footage of what it says is an unmanned American spy plane brought down recently by its military. State television showed what appeared to be a largely undamaged drone. Iran says the aircraft was forced to (land) by what it called an electronic ambush and it accused the US of violating its territory. The Nato-led military force in Afghanistan acknowledged that it could have been lost over Iran.
Officials of Virginia Tech University in the United States say that two people including a police officer have been shot dead on campus. And the gunman is still at large. Reports say the policeman was shot dead when he stopped the suspect during a routine check. Juliette Fielding was a student at Virginia Tech.
" I saw the police car is sitting there. And I thought it was responding to a call here because I heard a bunch of sirens coming from the distance. So I kept walking towards his car. I think that I'll get around it before there's any police get here. And then The police pulled up and they opened his car door. And when they opened it, he just fell out towards the ground . And I use to see his face and he was covered in (blood). I don't know if the blood was x x exactly. And then they immediately started to revive him."
BBC news.
The government of Malawi has announced that it is to review a series of controversial laws including a ban on homesexual sex. The Justice Minister said that the move was in response to public opinion. On Tuesday the United States secretary of state Hillary Clinton said the US would use foreign aid to encourage countries to decriminalize homosexuality.
The president of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe has called for elections next year as he attempts to win another term in office. Mr Mugabe made the announcement during a speech to a conference of his Zanu-PF party. A BBC correspondent to the conference says the speech was a familiar attack on foreign imperialism. He described Nato as terrorists who have turned Libya into rubble. Mr Mugabe is 87 and reportedly in poor health. But though the party is divided by his ability to lead them, descent really surfaces in public.
The European Union has drawn forces with the world's poorest countries to call for a stronger agreement at the UN climate talks in Durban in South Africa. From there Richard Black reports.
The world order is changing. Once the climate negotiations whirled about rich versus poor. Now they are about countries that want a strong deal soon and those that don't. Ministers from Bangladesh, Gambia, Mozambique and Nepal stood alongside European counterparts calling on China, India, the US and Brazil to move forwards. The US and China have both said they do not reject such a deal provided certain conditions are met. But other delegations say there's a difference between what the two biggest carbon emitters say in public and how they behave during negotiations.
Scotland at north of England, Wales at northern Ireland have been battered by storm force winds. There winds in Scotland, winds exceed more than 250k/h, close to the fastest winds be ever recorded in Britain. Fifty thousand people have been left without power. Most schools have closed and trains, ferries and flights have been canceled.