2009-03-06BBC

BBC News with Maria Marshall.

The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attending her first meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels has called for a high-level conference on Afghanistan at the end of this month. Mrs. Clinton said it was clear that any solution to the problems of Pakistan and Afghanistan could be found only by getting all countries involved, including Iran, to work together.

"It's becoming obvious that Pakistan faces very serious internal threats and that Afghanistan faces continuing external threats that emanate out of Pakistan. Last week, I met with delegations from both countries, and I believe that both countries recognise(既然BBC撰稿，個人認為還是S好，呵呵） that they share common threats and even common adversaries."

Earlier, Russia welcomed the decision by the NATO foreign ministers to resume high-level contacts which were cut following Moscow’s invasion of Georgia last year.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said Sudan’s decision to expel 13 aid agencies from the Darfur region will cause irrevocable damage to humanitarian operations there. The decision to expel the agencies followed the issue of an arrest warrant for the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court over the violence in Darfur. The UN’s Deputy Humanitarian Chief Catherine Bragg said it would be impossible to fill the gap left by the expulsions.

"It will be extremely challenging for the remaining humanitarian organizations and the government of Sudan to fill the operating gap. And we do not see how these gaps can be fully covered. We therefore urge (應該是表現在的，不是以前的）the government of Sudan to seriously examine the implications of this action and to reconsider its decision to expel these 13 NGOs as a matter of urgency."

The Bank of England, Britain's central bank, has taken an unprecedented step to boost the struggling economy by increasing the money supply. It’s also cut the main interest rate by a further half percent to a new record low of 0.5%. Mark Gregory reports.