World News from the BBC
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has accused the Obama administration in the United States of having
imperialist
pretensions in Latin America.
In a BBC interview, Mr Chavez said a deal giving US forces access to seven military bases in Colombia to fight drug trafficking and rebels had sent very negative signals to the region.
A Colombian police officer seized 12 years ago by left-wing rebels has been found alive in a jungle, hours after three fellow captives were rescued. Lieutenant Colonel William Donato had fled in the confusion when troops attacked the FARC rebel camp where he was being held. The four captives, all members of the security forces, have been re-united with their families in Bogota after 12 years in rebel hands.
The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that stricter rules are needed for countries using the euro, what she called "treaties with teeth". Speaking after a meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, she said they'd agreed on measures to help prevent a repeat of the financial crisis. Steve Rosenberg reports from Berlin.
At the G20 summit later this month, the two countries will jointly promote the idea of a tax on banks and on financial transactions. Though both push for stricter punishments for eurozone members, they'd failed to meet their financial commitments. President Sarkozy appeared to
backtrack
on his demand for an economic government of the eurozone and its own structures in secretariat. That was a victory for Chancellor Merkel who favours greater economic governance for all 27 EU countries.