Greece submits bailout reform plans

24 February 2015 Last updated at 12:02

Greece has submitted a list of reform proposals to its bailout creditors, the European Commission says.

The measures include combating tax evasion and tackling the smuggling of fuel and tobacco.

Newly elected Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is trying to balance satisfying the demands of creditors with meeting his pre-election pledges.

Greece needs approval from international creditors to secure a four-month loan extension.

The so-called troika of the European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund will assess the list before it is discussed by the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers later.

Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem told a news conference the list had been received late on Monday night. Contrary to news reports there had been no delay, he said.

He said he was not yet able to say whether he had a positive assessment of the list, but added the Greek government was "very serious" about meeting its reform commitments and had demonstrated an "unequivocal commitment to honour its financial obligations".

The process would not be easy and the list of reforms was just a "first step" towards rebuilding trust between Greece and European creditors, Mr Dijsselbloem said.

Greek proposals

• Combat tax evasion
• Tackle corruption
• Commit not to roll back already introduced privatisations, but review privatisations not yet implemented
• Introduce collective bargaining, stopping short of raising the minimum wage immediately
• Tackle Greece's "humanitarian crisis" with housing guarantees and free medical care for the uninsured unemployed, with no overall public spending increase
• Reform public sector wages to avoid further wage cuts, without increasing overall wage bill
• Achieve pensions savings by consolidating funds and eliminating incentives for early retirement - not cutting payments
• Reduce the number of ministries from 16 to 10, cutting special advisers and fringe benefits for officials

Source: Financial Times

Sticking points

Drafts of the list will have been seen by European officials in Brussels as they were being drawn up over the weekend, says the BBC's Mark Lowen in Athens.

But aspects of the plan that require new social spending may well be sticking points with creditors, he adds.

Ending primary home repossessions and providing free medical care and electricity for those who cannot pay may become bones of contention - while the eurozone may insist pension cuts and VAT rises should continue, our correspondent adds.

Analysis: Andrew Walker, BBC World Service economics correspondent

"A valid starting point" - that's how the European Commission described the letter from the Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. So even if eurozone finance ministers do accept the proposals, you can be pretty sure that we are in for several months of - at times fractious - negotiations.

The very last sentence of the letter is particularly striking: the government will "ensure that its fight against the humanitarian crisis has no negative fiscal effect".

There you have some key priorities for Greece and its lenders expressed very compactly. It will be very difficult to land any significant blows in that fight without extra spending.

Mr Varoufakis might be able to avoid any negative fiscal effect if he can deliver on all the stuff on improved tax collection. That will take time though, especially the desire he expresses to create a "new culture of tax compliance".

Desirable no doubt, but it's a reminder that in reality the story of Greek economic reform has years to run.

There is little time left to agree an extension to Athens' 240bn-euro (£175bn; $270bn) bailout programme, which is due to expire on Saturday.

Without an extension, Greece could face insolvency and the danger of needing to quit the single currency.

If creditors and finance ministers are happy with the list, it will then be put forward to national governments for agreement before Saturday.

The list will then have to be fleshed out with detailed measures by April.

'Return to dignity'

"Provided Greece avows its obligations and provided there is an agreement in the eurogroup [of finance ministers], the German government would be in favour of the proposed extension," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted as saying.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told CNN that the list of reforms was "very comprehensive".

"This is a very exciting moment because we are getting to be the co-authors of our fate," Mr Varoufakis said.

"I can assure you that people on the street are elated by this return to dignity of a people, the Greek people, who for five years have been treated as a debt colony."

But the compromises agreed to by leftist leaders of the governing Syriza party in pursuit of a European deal have already estranged key figures among the party's more radical supporters.

They include veteran Greek activist and MEP Manolis Glezos, who apologised to the Greek people for "taking part in this illusion".

Greek economy in numbers

• Unemployment is at 25%, with youth unemployment almost 50% (corresponding eurozone averages: 11.4% and 23%)
• Economy has shrunk by 25% since the start of the eurozone crisis
• Country's debt is 175% of GDP
• Borrowed €240bn (£188bn) from the EU, the ECB and the IMF

Greek crisis deepens amid EU tension

Greece bailout talks explained in 60 seconds

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Peanut allergy 'cut by early exposure'

23 February 2015 Last updated at 22:46 By James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website

Eating peanut products as a baby dramatically cuts the risk of allergy, a study suggests.

Trials on 628 babies prone to developing peanut allergy found the risk was cut by over 80%.

The King's College London researchers said it was the "first time" that allergy development had been reduced.

Specialists said the findings could apply to other allergies and may change diets around, but warned parents not to experiment at home.

Daily nut

The research team in London had previously found that Jewish children in Israel who started eating peanuts earlier in life had allergy levels 10 times lower than Jewish children in the UK.

The trial, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, focused on babies as young as four months who had already developed eczema - an early warning sign of allergies.

Skin-prick tests were used to identify those who had not yet developed peanut allergy or had only a very mild response.

Children under five should not eat whole peanuts, because of the risk of choking, so half were given a peanut-based snack. The other half continued avoiding peanuts.

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Sofia Magnuson was introduced to peanuts early on in her life as part of the trial

The trial indicated that for every 100 children, 14 would normally go on to develop an allergy by the age of five.

But this fell by 86% to just two out of every 100 children with the therapy.

Even the children who were already becoming sensitive to peanuts benefited. Their allergy rates fell from 35% to 11%.

Lead researcher Prof Gideon Lack told the BBC: "[It was] exciting to us to realise for the first time that in allergy, we can actually truly prevent the development of disease.

"It represents a real shift in culture."

He said that high-risk children "need to be evaluated, have skin-prick testing and dietary advice, [before], in most cases, early introduction of peanut".

Prof Lack added: "We realise this goes very much contrary to previous advice, but it is very much essential that we direct our attention to this group of infants and stem this growing epidemic of peanut allergy."

Until 2008, at-risk families were told to actively avoid peanut products and other sources of allergic reactions.

Analysis

By James Gallagher, health editor, BBC News website

Allergy levels are soaring.

In the US, the prevalence has more than quadrupled since 2008, and it's a pattern replicated across much of the Western world as well as parts of Asia and Africa.

This study has generated huge excitement at what it could mean for preventing allergies developing.

However, there are still many unanswered questions.

How regularly do children have to take the peanut snacks? What stage should they start? What happens when the children stop taking the peanut snacks?

How are health care services going to adopt this?

And excitingly, will this work in other types of food allergy?

It is these unknowns that mean no doctors are saying parents should take matters into their own hands.

But as a New England Journal of Medicine editorial states the results are "so compelling and the problem of the increasing prevalence of peanut allergy so alarming, new guidelines should be forthcoming very soon".

The findings have attracted excited responses from other doctors, and there is speculation similar approaches might work with other allergies, such as egg protein.

Prof Simon Murch, from University Hospital Coventry, a spokesman for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said the results were "brilliant".

He said: "It is potentially a very significant moment as it demonstrates that turning around our current approach may give better results.

"Obviously more studies will have to be performed on other potential allergens, but it is a very significant paper and is likely to change practice, at least for peanut, around the world."

When to eat them?

• There is often confusion about when peanuts are safe as the guidelines used to advocate avoidance
• Peanuts are now thought to be safe in pregnancy
• If there is no family history of allergies or eczema then health officials say peanut butter and other ground or crushed nuts are okay after six months
• If there is a heightened risk then parents should consult a doctor.
• This research suggests careful introduction of peanut may help such children, but parents should not do this on their own
• No child under five should eat a whole nut

He added that it was "unlikely" that previous policies were behind the rising tide of allergies as cleaner homes, modern food and gut bacteria were also likely to be playing a role.

However, he cautioned families not to rush out and buy a jar of peanut butter.

"This has to be looked at very closely by regulatory bodies, it is very possible this will lead to changes in recommendations," he said.

"But this is a single study, although very well conducted, so it is absolutely not at the stage you can recommend to families."

Dr Andrew Clark, a leading allergy specialist at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, found last year that allergic children could be trained to tolerate peanut by slowly exposing them to higher and higher doses.

He said: "This could be a turning point in the way we try to prevent food allergy in the future, it really does prove a principle that it is possible to reduce the prevalence of peanut allergy early in childhood by feeding infants peanut in a careful and controlled way.

"But we should remember this study was carried out at an internationally renowned centre, and they selected children at quite low risk of a severe reaction.

"Don't try this at home."

Do you have children affected by nut allergies? What is your reaction to this new study? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

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Indonesia defiant on executions

24 February 2015 Last updated at 08:22

Indonesian President Joko Widodo says foreign nations should not interfere in his country's right to use the death penalty.

He is under pressure from the leaders of Australia, Brazil and France, whose citizens are among 11 people facing death for drug trafficking.

Mr Widodo restated that the executions by firing squad would go ahead.

Earlier, a Jakarta court threw out an appeal by two Australians against their presidential clemency rejections.

Indonesia has some of the world's harshest drug trafficking penalties. It resumed executions in 2013 after a four year moratorium and new leader Mr Widodo is taking a much tougher stance on the issue.

In January, six traffickers - including five foreign nationals - were executed. A second round of executions involving 11 people is expected in coming days.

'No right to rule'

Mr Widodo told reporters that "there shouldn't be any intervention towards the death penalty because it is our sovereign right to exercise our law".

Several nations have spoken out against the move in recent days, however.

One Brazilian is among the second group and last week, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff delivered a diplomatic snub by rejecting the credentials of the Indonesian ambassador to Brazil.

France summoned Indonesia's ambassador last week to voice its "extreme concern" over the fate of one of its nationals, Serge Atlaoui.

Australian authorities have also launched a major diplomatic campaign for the lives of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, the ringleaders of the Bali Nine group of drug smugglers.

Who are the Bali Nine?

• The eight men and one woman were arrested in April 2005 at an airport and hotel in Bali, Indonesia after a tip-off from Australian police. They were trying to carry 8.3kg (18lb) of heroin back to Australia.
• In 2006 a court ruled that Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran had recruited the others and paid their costs. They were sentenced to death.
• The other seven are serving sentences of between 20 years and life, after some had death sentences revoked on appeal.
• Chan and Sukumaran have repeatedly appealed against their sentences and say they are reformed characters - Chan teaches Bible and cookery classes in prison while Sukumaran is an artist.

Who are Chan and Sukumaran?

Prime Minister Tony Abbott caused an uproar last week when he said Indonesia should remember the A$1bn ($0.78bn: £0.5bn) provided in aid by Australia after the 2004 tsunami.

The comments were seen as a threat by the political rank and some of the general public in Indonesia.

Sukumaran and Chan, who are also in the second group, were arrested for trying to traffic heroin out of Bali in 2005.

Responding to their latest challenge, Judge Hendro Puspito said the court had no jurisdiction to overrule the president's decision to not grant clemency, which is considered the final word in such matters.

"Clemency is the prerogative of the president... the state administrative court has no right to rule on the challenge."

He said they had 14 days to lodge an appeal. Their lawyers said they would pursue that avenue.

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Paris targeted in night drone mystery

24 February 2015 Last updated at 08:54

Drones have been seen flying over several sensitive landmarks in Paris in a night-time mystery that French police say is being taken seriously.

At least five of the unmanned aerial machines were spotted between midnight on Monday and 0600 on Tuesday, and none of the operators has been caught.

The first appeared over the US embassy and there were later sightings near the Eiffel Tower and Place de la Concorde.

French police believe the drone flights could be linked.

Small drones are easy to buy but their appearance in recent months over sensitive locations has worried French authorities.

Last month a drone was seen over the Elysee Palace, home of President Francois Hollande, and in October a series of nuclear plants was targeted across the country.

An inquiry has begun into the drone flight over the US embassy, a short distance from Place de la Concorde. The Invalides military museum and Bastille were also buzzed, reports said.

"We did all we could to try to catch the operators but they weren't found," a police source told AFP news agency.

Drones are capable of providing high-quality aerial film and what is not clear is whether they were being used maliciously or simply by enthusiasts.

Are you in Paris? Did you see a drone? You can share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

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IS 'abducts 90 Syrian Christians'

24 February 2015 Last updated at 10:44

Islamic State (IS) has abducted dozens of Assyrian Christians from villages in north-eastern Syria, activists say.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 90 men, women and children were seized in a series of dawn raids near the town of Tal Tamr.

Some Assyrians managed to escape and made their way east to the largely Kurdish-controlled city of Hassakeh.

It comes as Syrian Kurdish fighters backed by US-led air strikes continue to advance into IS-held territory.

On Monday, a Kurdish official said IS militants had been forced back to within 5km (3 miles) of the town of Tal Hamis by the Popular Protection Units (YPG).

The Syrian Observatory confirmed the advance by the YPG and said at least 12 IS fighters had been killed on Monday.

Hassakeh province is strategically important in the fight against IS because it borders both Turkey and areas controlled by the group in Iraq.

Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces are also attacking IS positions on the Iraqi side of the frontline, to the east.

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Top Panama judge guilty of corruption

24 February 2015 Last updated at 10:44

The former president of Panama's supreme court, Alejandro Moncada, has pleaded guilty to charges of illicit enrichment.

Moncada was suspended from his post in October when he came under investigation by Panama's Congress.

He also pleaded guilty to falsifying documents and was sentenced to five years in detention.

Moncada was appointed by former President Ricardo Martinelli, who himself faces a corruption probe.

As part of the deal struck with prosecutors, Moncada will hand back two apartments worth a total of $1.7m (£1.1m) he had bought since coming to office.

Crackdown on corruption

Shortly after taking up his position in 2010, Moncada had declared only a gold watch and a 2005 Toyota van. He also said at the time that he had no other income apart from his judge's salary.

Moncada's lawyer said his client's health was deteriorating and he had therefore agreed to plead guilty to two out of the four charges against him.

He was also facing allegations of money laundering and corrupting officials.

It has not yet been decided whether Moncada will be sent to jail or whether he will be allowed to serve his sentence under house arrest.

Moncada is one of a series of officials to face corruption probes since President Juan Carlos Varela came to office on a promise to clean up Panamanian politics.

Last month, the supreme court voted to investigate Mr Varela's predecessor in office, Ricardo Martinelli, over allegations he had inflated multi-million-dollar contracts.

Mr Martinelli denies the allegations.

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Deadly bus bomb explodes in Nigeria

24 February 2015 Last updated at 11:59

A suicide bomb attack has killed at least 13 people in Potiskum, north-eastern Nigeria, reports say.

An employee at Dan-Borno bus station told BBC Hausa that the bomber waited until the 18-seat bus was full before getting on board. Another local resident said he had seen 13 bodies.

He said the bus was completely destroyed by fire and others standing nearby were affected.

On Sunday, the town was hit by a suicide bombing by a young girl.

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UN climate head Pachauri resigns

24 February 2015 Last updated at 12:00

The head of the United Nations climate change panel (IPCC), Rajendra Pachauri, has stepped down amid sexual harassment allegations.

A spokesman for Mr Pachauri told the IPCC that he had resigned from his position with immediate effect.

Indian police are investigating a complaint from a 29-year-old woman working in Mr Pachauri's office in Delhi.

Mr Pachauri has denied the allegations.

Lawyers for the woman say the harassment included unwanted emails as well as text and phone messages.

On Monday, the 74-year-old had pulled out of a high-level IPCC meeting in Kenya because of "issues demanding his attention in India", as an IPCC spokesman put it.

The IPCC has since confirmed that the meeting will instead be chaired by its vice-president Ismail El Gizouli.

Mr Pachauri had chaired the IPCC since 2002. In 2007 he collected the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the organisation for its work in the scientific assessment of the risks and causes of climate change.

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Thais jailed for king insult in play

23 February 2015 Last updated at 08:50

A Thai court has sentenced a man and a woman to two years and six months in jail each for "damaging the monarchy".

Patiwat Saraiyaem, 23, and Pornthip Munkong, 26, had pleaded guilty to breaking strict lese majeste laws which protect the royals from any insults.

The charges related to a play they performed at a university in 2013.

Thailand's lese majeste laws are the world's strictest, but critics say the military government is increasingly using them to silence dissent.

The two were convicted on one count of lese majeste which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. The sentence was reduced because both admitted guilt, the judge said.

At the scene: Jonathan Head, South East Asia correspondent, BBC New

As they awaited their verdict, Pornthip Munkong and Patiwat Saraiyaem smiled and waved at their supporters in Bangkok's main criminal court.

Most of the crowd were fellow student activists; among them I recognised some of the few who have dared protest against military rule. Pornthip's mother hugged her tearfully.

Pornthip told me she had done nothing wrong in staging the play, but had pleaded guilty to try to reduce the sentence.

Some people go to jail for 10 years or more, she said. I don't want to do that at my age.

Her's and Patiwat's crime was to test the limits of the lese majeste law.

"The Wolf Bride" got little attention when it was staged in 2013. At the time other left-leaning groups tried bolder allegorical songs or performances questioning the official glorification of King Bhumibol.

For a while they got away with it. But the regime that took power in last May's coup has stated that no dissent on the monarchy will be tolerated; even past transgressors will be hunted down and punished.

The play, called The Wolf Bride, was set in a fantasy kingdom and featured a fictional king and his advisor.

It marked the 40th anniversary of a student pro-democracy protest that was crushed by a military regime.

However, the full details have not been widely reported because under the laws media coverage which repeats details of the offence is considered the same as the original statement.

It was performed at Bangkok's Thammasat University in October 2013 while Patiwat Saraiyaem was a student and Pornthip Munkong had recently graduated. The pair were not arrested until the following August and have been held in custody ever since.

Thailand's lese majeste laws

• Article 112 of criminal code says anyone who "defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir-apparent or the regent" will be punished with up to 15 years in prison
• Law remained largely unchanged since 1908
• Use widened in recent years, snaring academics, journalists, policemen, activists and even a 61-year-old grandfather

Lese majeste laws explained

Human rights groups say there has been a rise in royal defamation cases since the military seized power in a coup in May last year.

Our correspondent says 15 people have been charged with lese majeste since then.

More than 90 cases are being investigated and police are aiming to bring charges in about half of them, he adds.

Recent convictions include a taxi driver jailed for two-and-a-half years after his passenger recorded their conversation.

A student was also sentenced to the same amount of prison time for defaming the monarchy in a Facebook post.

The military has more widely suppressed dissent by detaining opponents, banning protests and censoring the media.

Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 87, is given an almost god-like status by many Thais. He has been on the throne for six decades, making him the world's longest serving monarch.

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Birdman, Redmayne, Moore lead Oscars

23 February 2015 Last updated at 06:20

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Highlights of the 2015 Academy Awards ceremony

British actor Eddie Redmayne has won the best actor Oscar for The Theory of Everything, while Julianne Moore picked up best actress for Still Alice.

Redmayne thanked his "staggering partner in crime", co-star Felicity Jones, and his "ferocious but incredibly kind director James Marsh".

Dark comedy Birdman won best film and best director for Mexican film-maker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

It also won best cinematography and best original screenplay.

The film sees Michael Keaton play a former movie superhero actor, who hopes to revive his washed-up career by putting on a Broadway play.

See all the updates from the night on our Oscars live page

Moore used her speech to raise awareness for Alzheimer's disease - in Still Alice, she plays a 50-year-old who has early on-set Alzheimer's.

"I'm so happy, I'm thrilled that we were able to shine a light on Alzheimer's disease," she said.

"So many people who have this disease feel marginalised. People who have Alzheimer's disease deserve to be seen so we can find a cure."

Redmayne was honoured for his portrayal of physicist Stephen Hawking, who has motor neurone disease (ALS).

Accepting his award, he thanked the Hawking family, including Jane Hawking on whose book the film is based, and said his award belonged "to all of the people around the world battling ALS".

Continue reading the main story Full Oscars coverage Continue reading the main story

• 1 win out of eight nominations for The Imitation Game

• 1 win out of six nominations for Boyhood

• 1 win out of six nominations for American Sniper

AFP

Richard Linklater's Boyhood won just one award from six nominations - best supporting actress - which went to Patricia Arquette.

Arquette thanked "her Boyhood family" and "every woman who gave birth".

"To every woman... we have fought for everybody else's equal rights. It's our time to have wage equality," she added, to huge applause from the audience.

JK Simmons won best supporting actor for Whiplash, in which he played a strict drumming teacher at a music conservatory.

Whiplash also won the award for best editing and best sound mixing.

The Grand Budapest Hotel picked up best costume design (Milena Canonero), as well as best hair and make-up (British duo Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier). It also won best score and production design.

Hannon thanked absent actor Bill Murray - who has a cameo in the film - for introducing her to director Wes Anderson on the set of his film Rushmore 17 years earlier.

Another British duo, Matt Kirkby and James Lucas, picked up the award for best live short action film, The Phone Call, starring Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent.

Alan Turing drama The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, won best adapted screenplay.

Best foreign language film went to Polish black and white family drama Ida.

John Legend and Common's track Glory, from civil rights drama Selma, won best song.

Legend used his time on stage to deliver a political message, saying: "We live in the most incarcerated country in the world... people are marching with our song... we are with you, march on."

Emmanuel Lubezko's win for best cinematography for Birdman was his second Oscar in as many years - in 2014, he won the same award for his work on Gravity.

Citizenfour, which chronicles one of the biggest intelligence leaks in American history, won best documentary feature.

It shows former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden at the very moment he made his sensational revelations detailing extensive internet and phone surveillance by the US government.

Best documentary short was won by Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, about the counsellors who work with military veterans on a 24-hour phone helpline.

Clint Eastwood's Iraq war drama American Sniper won the award for best sound editing.

The 87th Academy Awards took place at Hollywood's 3,300-seat Dolby Theatre.

Performers at this year's ceremony included Lady Gaga - who sang a medley of Sound of Music songs to celebrate the classic film's 50th year - Jennifer Hudson and Anna Kendrick.

Host Neil Patrick Harris kicked off with a song which paid homage to Hollywood's film industry, accompanied by Kendrick and Jack Black.

Birdman and Wes Anderson's quirky comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel began the night with nine nominations each, while The Imitation Game had eight.

Clint Eastwood's true-life Iraq war tale American Sniper and Boyhood had six apiece.

The best picture prize was widely predicted to either go to Birdman or Boyhood - both of which had been named best film at the many ceremonies leading up to Hollywood's biggest night.

The directors of both films did their best on the red carpet to play down any rivalry with Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who eventually won for Birdman, calling the supposed competition "so silly" and Linklater saying he loved Birdman.

"It's a real tribute for two films that aren't traditional stories, crazy stories," said Linklater, who filmed the coming of age movie over 12 years with the same actors.

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