BBC news with Fiona Macdonald.
The European Central Bank has
unveiled
its new program to buy government bonds from struggling countries in the eurozone. Stock markets in Europe and the United States rose sharply in response. The bond-buying plan aims to make it cheaper for countries such as Spain and Italy to raise the funds they need. The Italian prime minister Mario Monti welcomed the ECB's announcement as an important step forward. Allan Jonstan reports.
Italy's problems are not quite severe as Spain's. But it is still in difficult and dangerous financial waters. For months, prime minister Monti has called for measures to help shield the eurozone's weaker economies from
unbearable
pressures on the money markets. And he is clearly relieved that the European Central Bank will now play a more robust role in this area. But Mr Monti is determined to try to do everything he can to avoid having to turn to the bank for help.
The Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban has rejected the conditions attached by the International Monetary Fund and European Union to a new 90-million-dollar loan for Hungary. Using the social media site Facebook, Mr Orban said that the conditions asked for the loan were unacceptable.
Police in France say three out of four people found dead at a holiday's spot in the Alps on Wednesday had been shot in the head. Three of the bodies were in a car. A dead cyclist was found nearby, as was a young girl who'd been seriously wounded and is now in a