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BBC News with David Austin
The French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said it was an error to admit Greece into the euro in 2001. Mr Sarkozy told French television that Greece shouldn't have been allowed to join the eurozone because, in his words, its economic figures were false. But he added that he did trust the current Greek leadership. From Paris, Christian Fraser.
He is the most unpopular president of the Fifth Republic and must hope that last night's success in Brussels goes some way to convincing a sceptical French public that he is the man to steer the French economy to safety. For over an hour, he tried to explain to the French people -and perhaps the rest of Europe looking on - the severity of the crisis, the course they will follow in the coming weeks. Greece was, of course, the main focus of the interview. The French banks have huge exposure to Greek debt. In truth the country should never have been allowed to join the eurozone, he said. "Their numbers were wrong; they weren't ready, but it will be saved," he said, "thanks to the decisions taken in Brussels."
In the last hour, Greece has given its first reaction to the statement by President Sarkozy that it was a mistake to admit Greece into the euro in 2001. The Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Lambrinidis told the BBC that Greece was not the source of the current eurozone crisis and that it was wrong to scapegoat any individual countries.
There's been praise for European leaders and a surge in stock markets following Wednesday's eurozone debt agreement. President Obama said it was a critical foundation for a solution to the problems. But the World Bank president Robert Zoellick cautioned that more fundamental decisions still lay ahead.
The United Nations Security Council has ended the no-fly zone over Libya and the mandate authorising military operations. From the UN, Barbara Plett has the details.
The resolution terminates UN authorisation for the no-fly zone and for military force to protect civilians. That will bring to an end the seven-month Nato campaign one minute before midnight on Monday 31 October. The Security Council decision was unanimous despite a request by the Libyan envoy here to delay it. He said the national transitional authority needed more time to assess its security needs. The NTC's interim leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil had said Libya would continue to need Nato until the end of the year to secure its borders against counterattacks from Gaddafi loyalists. But Security Council diplomats told journalists that was outside the existing UN mandate to protect civilians, which they said had now been accomplished.
The authorities in Iraq say there have been multiple bomb explosions in the capital Baghdad. Here's David Bamford.
Iraqi police say the explosions took place in the northeast of Baghdad, in the Shia district of Ur. They say the first blast killed about four people, but much more devastating was a second bomb that went off a few minutes later as the casualties were being evacuated. Medical officials at the Imam Hussein Hospital in the city say about 18 people are now known to have been killed; more than 30 others were injured. David Bamford reporting
This is the World News from the BBC.
A prisoner exchange between Egypt and Israel has concluded successfully with the arrival in Tel Aviv of the American-Israeli man Ilan Grapel. Reunited with his mother at the airport, Mr Grapel then met the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He'd been arrested in June and accused of spying by the Egyptian authorities. Earlier, 25 Egyptian detainees held by Israel crossed the border into Egypt at the border town of Taba.
South Africa's main opposition, the Democratic Alliance, has chosen for the first time a black leader for the party in parliament. After the election of Lindiwe Mazibuko, a 31-year-old woman from Swaziland, the party's national leader said her election moved the alliance into the future.
The Pakistan military has denied categorically that the Pakistani security services are supporting Afghan insurgents. The army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas was responding to evidence broadcast in a BBC documentary that Pakistan was secretly training and arming militants in Afghanistan. Major Abbas described similar allegations made by senior US and Western officials as baseless and malicious.
Pope Benedict has told a gathering of interfaith leaders that religion must never be used as a pretext for war or terrorism. The Pope said that using religion to justify violence was the antithesis of religion and would ultimately lead to its destruction. Pope Benedict was speaking in the Italian town of Assisi. David Willey sent this report from Rome.
One by one, Buddhist monks, Orthodox patriarchs, Muslim scholars and the head of the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams stood up in front of the Pope and committed themselves to working together to improve their dialogue and to promote justice and peace in the world. The Pope asked for forgiveness for the Catholic Church's use of violence in the past. Later, the religious leaders prayed separately and in silence in monk's cells at a Franciscan monastery. David Willey in Rome
That's the BBC News.
