Slovak rivals reach bailout deal

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12 October 2011 Last updated at 16:21 GMT Opposition leader Robert Fico has triggered new elections Political rivals in Slovakia have agreed to support a crucial bill ratifying changes to the EU bailout fund in exchange for early elections.

The bill was defeated in a first vote on Tuesday, after a coalition party and the main opposition abstained.

A second vote is expected by the end of this week after Prime Minister Iveta Radicova's coalition struck the deal with the opposition Social Democrats.

Slovakia is the last eurozone state to vote on ratifying the fund's expansion.

It is proposed to expand the effective lending capacity of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to 440bn euros ($600bn; £383bn).

The fund would also be empowered to buy eurozone government debt and offer credit lines to member states and to banks.

Top EU officials urged the country on Wednesday to ratify the bill swiftly.

"We call upon all parties in the Slovak parliament to rise above the positioning of short-term politics and seize the next occasion to ensure a swift adoption of the new agreement," European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a joint statement.

March elections

Ms Radicova failed to pass the bill on Tuesday when a junior partner in her coalition, Richard Sulik's free-market Freedom and Solidarity party, refused to back it.

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The feet of many Europeans stamp impatiently but these changes - however desirable - cannot be just nodded through”

End Quote Gavin Hewitt BBC Europe editor Freedom and Solidarity asked why Slovakia's taxpayers should be asked to help cover the debts of richer countries.

Many Slovaks feel their country - the second poorest in the eurozone - should not have to bail out countries like Greece, correspondents say.

However, the EFSF looks almost certain to pass in the second vote after four parties reached agreement on Wednesday.

"We have reached an agreement on securing the adoption of the most important document of this period - the EU bailout fund," said Robert Fico, head of the Social Democrats.

Prime Minister Radicova lost the support of former coalition partner Richard Sulik

Earlier, explaining his abstention in the first vote, which helped bring down the government, he said: "We're saying 'no' to a rightist government, but we're saying 'yes' to the rescue fund."

In return for his support, Ms Radicova's coalition agreed to hold snap elections on 10 March, one of her ministers, Mikulas Dzurinda, confirmed.

"We decided that as the first point of [Thursday's] parliamentary session, we will work on a proposal to shorten the voting period, with the goal of organising an election on 10 March," he said.

"Immediately after, tomorrow or Friday, we will debate proposals related to the EFSF."

Correspondents say Mr Fico, a former prime minister, is positioned to do well at the elections because of the unpopularity of the outgoing government's austerity measures.

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TB smoking toll 'could reach 40m'

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4 October 2011 Last updated at 23:00 GMT By Helen Briggs Health editor, BBC News website Smoking is a risk factor for TB Forty million smokers could die from TB by 2050, research suggests.

Smokers are about twice as likely to get the lung infection and die from it, compared with non-smokers.

Many of the new TB cases will be in Africa, the eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Asian regions, according to projections published in the BMJ.

A lung charity said global efforts to fight TB are being undermined by the tobacco industry's "aggressive promotion" of smoking in some places.

Dr John Moore-Gillon is a TB specialist and honorary medical advisor for the British Lung Foundation.

He said: "It is nearly 20 years since the World Health Organization declared tuberculosis to be a 'global health emergency'.

"Since that time rates have risen rather than fallen, and smoking increases the risk of getting - and dying from - TB.

"Concerted international efforts are now under way to try and turn the tide of TB, but this important research shows that all these efforts may be undermined by the tobacco industry's continuing aggressive promotion of smoking in many parts of the world."

Mathematical model

Nearly a fifth of people in the world are smokers; many in countries with high rates of TB where multi-national tobacco companies have expanded their markets.

Smoking is a known risk factor for TB, and may reduce the ability of the lungs to fight off infection.

X-ray of the chest of a patient with TB

Dr Sanjay Basu and colleagues from the University of California set out to predict the impact of smoking on future TB rates.

According to their mathematical model, worldwide smoking could lead to 40 million extra deaths from TB from 2010 to 2050.

If current smoking trends continue, the number of new cases of TB will rise by 18 million.

Smoking alone could undermine the worldwide goal of reducing TB mortality by half between 1990 and 2015, they say.

Writing in the BMJ, the team concludes: "Tobacco smoking could substantially increase tuberculosis cases and deaths worldwide in coming years, undermining progress towards tuberculosis mortality targets.

"Aggressive tobacco control could avert millions of deaths from tuberculosis."

Contagious

Tuberculosis is a contagious infection that mainly affects the lungs, but can spread to other parts of the body.

If not treated, it can damage the lungs to such an extent that a person cannot breathe properly.

Sometimes, people do not experience any symptoms for many months or even years after being infected.

TB can treated with antibiotics but is sometimes fatal.

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