Browse content similar to 22/04/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Tonight at ten: Tensions between Russia and Ukraine are again on the | :00:00. | :00:10. | |
rise. In eastern Ukraine, the funerals take place of three men | :00:11. | :00:13. | |
killed in an attack on a pro-Russian checkpoint. The Russian influence in | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
this part of Ukraine is again under strong attack from the Americans. | :00:19. | :00:25. | |
We call on Russia to stop supporting men hiding behind masks, in unmarked | :00:26. | :00:36. | |
uniforms, sewing unrest in eastern Ukraine. We'll be asking if the | :00:37. | :00:39. | |
elements of a peace deal announced last week are still in place. | :00:40. | :00:42. | |
Also tonight: Manchester United have sacked their manager David Moyes | :00:43. | :00:44. | |
just ten months after he succeeded Sir Alex Ferguson. | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
Nigel Farage launches UKIP's campaign for the European elections | :00:50. | :00:53. | |
with a range of controversial posters. | :00:54. | :00:58. | |
China advertises the strength of its navy. We have a special report as | :00:59. | :01:07. | |
President Obama visits Asia. President Obama is visiting allies | :01:08. | :01:14. | |
in Asia. Not on his list, but on everyone's mind, China and its | :01:15. | :01:19. | |
growing might at sea. And Chelsea try to gain the advantage in Madrid | :01:20. | :01:22. | |
in their Champions' League semifinal. And coming up in | :01:23. | :01:25. | |
Sportsday on BBC News, as well as more from Old Trafford and the | :01:26. | :01:28. | |
Champions League, we'll have the latest from day four of the World | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
Snooker at the Crucible. Good evening. Tensions between | :01:34. | :01:56. | |
Ukraine and Russia are escalating once again. Ukraine's acting | :01:57. | :01:59. | |
President has called for renewed military operations against | :02:00. | :02:01. | |
pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine. He spoke on the day the US | :02:02. | :02:06. | |
vice-president, Joe Biden, was visiting Kiev. Mr Biden warned | :02:07. | :02:10. | |
Russia that further "provocative behaviour" in Ukraine would lead to | :02:11. | :02:13. | |
greater isolation, but the Russians say they're ready for any further | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
sanctions. Our correspondent Daniel Sandford reports from Donetsk. | :02:19. | :02:24. | |
The headquarters of the eastern Ukrainian uprising in Donetsk | :02:25. | :02:27. | |
tonight, as the shaky Easter truce came to an end. Just a few minutes | :02:28. | :02:33. | |
earlier, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov announced he was resuming | :02:34. | :02:35. | |
what he had called the anti-terrorist operation in the | :02:36. | :02:43. | |
rebellious East. The President said he was relaunching the operation | :02:44. | :02:46. | |
after the bodies of two people were found. They had apparently been | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
tortured. One of them was a local politician. Filmed here in the black | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
jacket a few days ago, Vladimir Rybak, who supports the government | :02:56. | :02:58. | |
in Kiev, disappeared soon afterwards and has now turned up dead. He was | :02:59. | :03:05. | |
from the same party as acting President Turchynov. Today he was | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
getting support from the visiting American Vice President Joe Biden, | :03:10. | :03:12. | |
who firmly blamed Russia for the problems in eastern Ukraine. | :03:13. | :03:19. | |
No nation should stoke instability in its neighbour's country. We call | :03:20. | :03:28. | |
on Russia to stop supporting men, hiding behind masks, in unmarked | :03:29. | :03:31. | |
uniforms, sowing unrest in eastern Ukraine. | :03:32. | :03:41. | |
In the east's, most militant town, Sloviansk, the uncontrolled sorrow | :03:42. | :03:47. | |
of a wife mourning today. Her husband, Sergei Rudenko, was one of | :03:48. | :03:50. | |
three men shot by unknown gunmen while manning a rebel checkpoint. | :03:51. | :03:59. | |
The deaths have only further increased the strong feelings and | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
tensions in a region which has already brutally exposed rifts that | :04:04. | :04:06. | |
are opening up in Ukraine, rifts that will get harder to bridge each | :04:07. | :04:08. | |
time blood is shed. It was the area around this town | :04:09. | :04:19. | |
that the Kiev government targeted in its unsuccessful military operation | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
last week. If anything, attitudes have hardened since then. This was | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
the self appointed mayor of Sloviansk today, on the subject of | :04:29. | :04:31. | |
the far right activists of western Ukraine. TRANSLATION: With the Nazis | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
and fascists, will have only one kind of dialogue. We'll destroy | :04:38. | :04:43. | |
them. As the deaths mount on both sides and the rhetoric gets | :04:44. | :04:46. | |
stronger, the time to resolve this crisis is running out. | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
Live to Donetsk tonight, Daniel is there for us. The peace deal we were | :04:53. | :05:00. | |
talking about last week in Geneva, how likely is that looking following | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
the events of the past ten to four hours there? Well, as we have been | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
saying for several days, the Geneva agreement looks pretty much dead | :05:10. | :05:12. | |
here. One of the things that was supposed to happen was that | :05:13. | :05:14. | |
pro-Russian protesters were supposed to give up government buildings and | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
police stations they were holding here and that simply hasn't | :05:19. | :05:21. | |
happened. In fact, everything seems the same as it was just before the | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
Geneva agreement was signed, except for one thing, that President | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
Alexander Tettey of says he has restarted his military operation. | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
What that means isn't clear. Does that mean the whole region is | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
teetering on the brink? I'm not sure about that. Donetsk feels pretty | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
normal most of the time. The blood going about their life. The only | :05:45. | :05:48. | |
thing which is unusual is the few buildings being held. This doesn't | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
feel like a city on the brink of civil war. But when you go to | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
Sloviansk, the headquarters of the uprising, there you feel that almost | :05:57. | :05:59. | |
anything can happen. Thanks very much. | :06:00. | :06:01. | |
The most successful club in Premier League history, Manchester United, | :06:02. | :06:05. | |
have sacked their manager David Moyes just ten months after he | :06:06. | :06:08. | |
succeeded Sir Alex Ferguson. Last season's title winners have slipped | :06:09. | :06:11. | |
to seventh place in the league and they've failed to qualify for the | :06:12. | :06:14. | |
Champions' League for the first time in two decades. David Moyes, who was | :06:15. | :06:17. | |
chosen by Sir Alex, spent just 295 days in charge, despite having | :06:18. | :06:20. | |
signed a six-year contract last year. Ryan Giggs has taken over | :06:21. | :06:26. | |
until a permanent appointment is made. It's a goal! What a blow for | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
Manchester United and David Moyes. It's been almost painful to watch. | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
4-0! And as results have gone from bad to worse for David Moyes, it was | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
only a matter of time before Manchester United brought his misery | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
to an end. That could be the nail in the in the coffin for Manchester | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
United tonight. This was Moyes today, avoiding the cameras as he | :06:52. | :06:54. | |
arrived back at his house after being fired just ten months into the | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
job. The final straw, this defeat by Moyes's old team Everton on Sunday. | :07:01. | :07:07. | |
Everton 2, Manchester United 0. Within 24 hours, news of his | :07:08. | :07:10. | |
imminent sacking started to leak and early this morning he was summoned | :07:11. | :07:13. | |
to a meeting at the club's Carrington training ground. By 8:30 | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
he was gone. The whole process moving so quickly, he hadn't even | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
agreed his payoff. There's no question Manchester United are a | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
club in crisis. They've not qualified for the Champions League, | :07:28. | :07:30. | |
they've lost a manager just before the transfer window starts. They are | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
in a worse situation than they were 12 months ago. So, what went wrong? | :07:36. | :07:41. | |
Having had years to plan for the succession from Sir Alex Ferguson, | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
the club seemed underprepared. After delivering the last of his 13 | :07:47. | :07:49. | |
Premier League titles last year, Ferguson was then allowed to | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
hand-pick his replacement. But Moyes, dubbed The Chosen One, had | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
little time to rebuild the team last summer and struggled to escape from | :07:59. | :08:05. | |
Sir Alex's shadow. He had a squad of players who seemed unable or even | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
unwilling to deliver for him. Those players he was able to bring in made | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
little impact and he was faced with constant rumours of dressing room | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
unrest. I think it's a shame. I think he should have been given more | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
time. I think some of the players at Man United should be ashamed of | :08:24. | :08:26. | |
themselves. I think they really let him down. Finally, there was the | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
question of United the business. Ever since American owners the | :08:31. | :08:33. | |
Glazers floated United on the New York stock exchange, commercial | :08:34. | :08:35. | |
revenues and profits have been going up. This year, United's income will | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
be over ?400 million, more than enough to cope with this season's | :08:41. | :08:46. | |
European disappointment. But the markets are watching. This will be a | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
concern to those investors. They've had plenty of time in the last few | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
months to adjust those expectations. But they will require Manchester | :08:57. | :08:59. | |
United to get back on track as quickly as possible. For now, United | :09:00. | :09:05. | |
legend Ryan Giggs is in charge. But he won't get the job long term. The | :09:06. | :09:09. | |
search, then, is on for an experienced manager to fill the gap, | :09:10. | :09:12. | |
with Dutchman Louis van Gaal the favourite tonight. Whoever takes it | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
on will be anxious to avoid the mistakes made by Moyes. But from the | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
start this has not been well handled. While he has ultimately | :09:23. | :09:25. | |
paid the price, this is a mess of more than one man's making. | :09:26. | :09:34. | |
A lot of people will be looking at this club tonight and wondering what | :09:35. | :09:41. | |
on earth is going on. Manchester United have for so many years been a | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
symbol of stability and success. For the last few months that has been | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
thrown into the year. -- air. David Moyes never seem to fit the mould of | :09:52. | :09:55. | |
Manchester United manager. I think the Glazers have realised over the | :09:56. | :09:58. | |
last week or so that they could not really entrust him with more than | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
?100 million to spend on new players in the summer. The focus is on the | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
owners now. They have a huge decision to make, possibly the | :10:07. | :10:09. | |
biggest they have had to make since they took over the club. They know | :10:10. | :10:10. | |
they can't afford to get it wrong. Britain should limit the number of | :10:11. | :10:17. | |
immigrants to 50,000 people a year at most, according to Nigel Farage, | :10:18. | :10:23. | |
leader of the UK Independence Party. He was speaking at the launch of his | :10:24. | :10:26. | |
party's campaign for next month's European and local elections. The | :10:27. | :10:33. | |
party which wants Britain to leave the EU is putting up hundreds of | :10:34. | :10:36. | |
posters warning that unemployed Europeans are after British jobs. Mr | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
Farage faced questions about the decision to employ his wife, who's | :10:40. | :10:48. | |
German, as his secretary. There is nothing Nigel Farage likes | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
more than steering up a row, upsetting those he calls the | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
chattering classes. Today, UKIP's leader strode into Sheffield to | :11:00. | :11:02. | |
launch an election campaign that he says he and his party are going to | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
win. His aim, he said, is nothing less than regaining control of our | :11:08. | :11:11. | |
country. Starting with our borders. We want to have, after the EU, a | :11:12. | :11:19. | |
sensible and open immigration policy which says, we welcome people, but | :11:20. | :11:22. | |
we have to control the quantity and quality of who comes to Britain. | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
Open and sensible are not among the words his opponents are using to | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
describe posters like this which suggest millions of potential | :11:32. | :11:34. | |
immigrants from the EU after your job. Unemployment here in Sheffield | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
and elsewhere is falling, just months after UKIP's last warning | :11:39. | :11:45. | |
that millions of Romanians and Bulgarians were on their way, | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
looking for work. Your post is saying many millions of | :11:50. | :11:53. | |
people are threatening people's jobs. I'm putting it to you that, | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
since the borders were opened, using your language, unemployment is going | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
down and the number of jobs in the economy are going up. It is going | :12:03. | :12:05. | |
down and the number of jobs in the economy are going up. It's a the | :12:06. | :12:08. | |
borders opened in 2004, and it is irony linked to increasing | :12:09. | :12:11. | |
unemployment in this country. What happened to the Romanians and | :12:12. | :12:17. | |
Bulgarians taking jobs? We don't know. There are no official figures. | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
UKIP say they would not stop immigration, they would instead | :12:23. | :12:27. | |
allow 30,000 two 50,000 skilled immigrants in each year. Another | :12:28. | :12:32. | |
UKIP poster claims you are funding a celebrity lifestyle for European | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
bureaucrats. I suggested to Nigel Farage that it could include him, as | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
he and his wife have received several million pounds in EU funds | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
since he became a member of the European Parliament. Your wife is | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
German, she is your secretary, paid for by the British taxpayer? She | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
came here as a highly skilled person, paying a large amount of | :12:55. | :13:01. | |
tax. Issue not taking somebody else's job? No, I don't think | :13:02. | :13:05. | |
anybody would want to be in my house at midnight, going through e-mails | :13:06. | :13:09. | |
and getting briefed for the next day. How is she not taking a British | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
prison's job? Nobody else could do that. Unless I married them. You | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
don't think anybody else could do that? Marrying me? Doing the job of | :13:20. | :13:24. | |
your secretary? I don't think anybody else would do those hours. | :13:25. | :13:31. | |
Watching and heckling, the BNP, who caused an upset in European | :13:32. | :13:35. | |
elections five years ago. But UKIP's appeal is much broader and | :13:36. | :13:37. | |
they are now targeting ex-Labour voters. It was Tony Blair and | :13:38. | :13:46. | |
labour. Before UKIP? This was many years ago. What changed your mind? | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
Immigration. A hot topic. Controls are important, for that, I agree | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
with him and I think the majority would. But you might not vote for | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
him? When it comes to voting for him, it would take a lot from it to | :14:03. | :14:09. | |
do that. I think basically he is bordering on fascism at times. | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
Really? That's a very strong word. Yes, I do. It wasn't very long since | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
David Cameron was dismissing UKIP as fruitcakes, loonies and closet | :14:21. | :14:24. | |
racist 's. Today, Nigel Farage says he believes he can win the European | :14:25. | :14:29. | |
elections. In Westminster, there are a lot of people that think he may | :14:30. | :14:31. | |
well be right. The Business Secretary Vince Cable | :14:32. | :14:39. | |
has sent a letter to Britain's 100 biggest companies calling on them to | :14:40. | :14:42. | |
show restraint on executive pay levels. He's told the BBC that | :14:43. | :14:44. | |
government reforms give businesses an opportunity to improve their | :14:45. | :14:47. | |
reputation with the public by linking pay in the sector to | :14:48. | :14:49. | |
performance for the first time. This is anp opportunity for these | :14:50. | :15:00. | |
companies to make peace with the public. It is particularly true of | :15:01. | :15:06. | |
the banking sector why pay reached ridiculous levels and with Barclays | :15:07. | :15:09. | |
in particular coming up on Thursday, we will see how far they have | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
listened to pressure from people who own the banks. The shareholders and | :15:14. | :15:16. | |
exercise responsibility and long-term thinking. | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
That was Vince Cable. Our business editor, Kamal Ahmed is with me. | :15:23. | :15:25. | |
Let's talk about the timing of the letter and second, what it is meant | :15:26. | :15:29. | |
to achieve? Well, this is an actual general meeting season. Now that's | :15:30. | :15:34. | |
not quite up there with Christmas in most people's calendar but it is | :15:35. | :15:37. | |
important for the business world. It is a time when shareholders can vote | :15:38. | :15:44. | |
on the executive's pay. Mr Cable has clearly written this letter do show | :15:45. | :15:47. | |
he is still on the side of the public. The public think this is a | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
very, very important issue. It has been a toxic issue ever since the | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
financial crisis. The letter has come to try and achieve three | :15:55. | :15:58. | |
things: He wants to say - I've listened to the public, I have acted | :15:59. | :16:01. | |
and I have given powers to shareholders to act. Now, it is the | :16:02. | :16:05. | |
third of those where there might be the problem. Has there been action? | :16:06. | :16:11. | |
Now, a letter, even with insinnedry language that he uses, he talks | :16:12. | :16:15. | |
about excessive and disproportionate pay in the corporate sector damaging | :16:16. | :16:18. | |
popular trust. Will it make a difference? Not on its own. | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
Businesses are global. They need to compete for talenter around the | :16:24. | :16:27. | |
world. The issue Mr Cable will be trying to get across is - I've go | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
the my eye on this. It is time for the shareholders to act and to | :16:33. | :16:35. | |
listen to what the members of the public are worried about. The former | :16:36. | :16:41. | |
Prime Minister, Labour's Gordon Brown, has urged voters in Scotland | :16:42. | :16:44. | |
to see the benefits of staying within the United Kingdom in the | :16:45. | :16:47. | |
referendum on Scottish independence later this year. Mr Brown said | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
Scottish pensions would be more secure and cheaper to administer if | :16:52. | :16:54. | |
Scotland remained a part of the UK. It was his first speech for the | :16:55. | :16:57. | |
cross-party Better Together campaign. Our special correspondent, | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
Allan Little, was there. His report contains some flash photography. He | :17:02. | :17:13. | |
stayed away from Better Together until now, reluctant, it seemed, to | :17:14. | :17:16. | |
share a platform with Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Today he put | :17:17. | :17:19. | |
those old divisions aside to speak directly to Scotland's pensioners, | :17:20. | :17:21. | |
"Your security lies in the United Kingdom", he said, "where financial | :17:22. | :17:24. | |
risk is shared with England, Wales and Northern Ireland." We pool and | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
share our resources across the United Kingdom, to secure our | :17:31. | :17:32. | |
pensions, health care, freedom from unemployment, the right to work and | :17:33. | :17:35. | |
a whole range of benefits that flow from the cooperation that happens | :17:36. | :17:38. | |
between four nations. His intervention is timely, for the | :17:39. | :17:40. | |
"yes" campaign is making in-roads into Labour territory. In Gordon | :17:41. | :17:50. | |
Brown, Better Together have fired the biggest gun in their artillery. | :17:51. | :17:55. | |
Whatever his reputation elsewhere in the UK, the Better Together campaign | :17:56. | :17:57. | |
believe Gordon Brown retains great respect in Scotland, especially in | :17:58. | :18:00. | |
traditional heartlands like this constituency in Glasgow. They hope | :18:01. | :18:07. | |
that his intervention will stem the flow of traditional Labour voters, | :18:08. | :18:10. | |
who've been defecting to the independence camp. The journalist | :18:11. | :18:21. | |
Ruth Wishard is one. She's been voting Labour most of her life but | :18:22. | :18:24. | |
has joined the independence campaign because she believes an independent | :18:25. | :18:27. | |
Scotland would be a fairer, more egalitarian society. A lot of people | :18:28. | :18:33. | |
of my age and persuasion are voting as much about values and social | :18:34. | :18:36. | |
cohesion and social justice as any sense of nationhood or nationalism. | :18:37. | :18:39. | |
It is about what kind of country we think Scotland can be and I think a | :18:40. | :18:43. | |
lot of us don't think that kind of country is going to emerge under the | :18:44. | :18:46. | |
next UK Government, whatever shade it is. The Scottish Government | :18:47. | :18:49. | |
insists that an independent Scotland would easily be able to pay its | :18:50. | :18:54. | |
Pensions Bill. The pro-union campaign is trying hard to change | :18:55. | :18:57. | |
its tone to be upbeat about Britain, rather than downbeat about | :18:58. | :19:00. | |
independence. Gordon Brown's warning that a "yes" vote would jeopardise | :19:01. | :19:03. | |
pensions does not sit easily with that rebranding. | :19:04. | :19:13. | |
Parents of the schoolgirls abducted by Islamists in Nigeria a week ago | :19:14. | :19:23. | |
say the figure missing is much higher than 100. It's thought they | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
are being held by the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram in the | :19:29. | :19:39. | |
north-eastern state of Borno. Yet another destroyed school in | :19:40. | :19:43. | |
north-east Nigeria. This area of Borno state is so remote and | :19:44. | :19:46. | |
dangerous, it took a whole week to get the first pictures out. Many | :19:47. | :19:49. | |
schools have been attacked by Islamist militants but this midnight | :19:50. | :19:52. | |
raid on this school was different. The gunmen forced all the female | :19:53. | :19:54. | |
students out of their dormitories that were then torched. The | :19:55. | :19:57. | |
insurgents, believed to have been from the group known as Boko Haram, | :19:58. | :20:00. | |
then loaded more than 200 girls on to lorries and drive them away. A | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
few managed to escape. One of the girls said she initially mistook the | :20:06. | :20:08. | |
attackers from people who had come to protect them. We've hidden her | :20:09. | :20:11. | |
identity for her own safety. TRANSLATION: We thought they were | :20:12. | :20:14. | |
soldiers and they asked us to board a vehicle which headed towards | :20:15. | :20:17. | |
Zamboa and my friends and I jumped from the vehicle and ran back home | :20:18. | :20:20. | |
because we realised they didn't look innocent. After trying for days, I | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
got through on the phone to the father of one kidnapped girl. We, | :20:26. | :20:34. | |
the parents, we are pleading to the Boko Haram, please, release our | :20:35. | :20:40. | |
daughters. I plead. Boko Haram translates in the local | :20:41. | :20:43. | |
language as, "western education is forbidden" and the attacks on | :20:44. | :20:45. | |
government schools have forced thousands of students home. Last | :20:46. | :20:52. | |
week the Nigerian military was saying it was doing all it could to | :20:53. | :20:56. | |
locate and rescue the girls but since then there has been no | :20:57. | :20:58. | |
official statement. Now relatives and friends telling me they are | :20:59. | :21:01. | |
increasingly desperate and feel helpless as they wait for news. | :21:02. | :21:04. | |
Christians and Muslims from the area are all saying the same prayers - | :21:05. | :21:06. | |
for the girls to be set free. A seven-year-old boy who suffered | :21:07. | :21:19. | |
serious burns in Aberdeen on Friday has died in hospital. Preston Flores | :21:20. | :21:22. | |
was found by neighbours, with his clothes on fire, after an incident | :21:23. | :21:25. | |
which is thought to have involved petrol. Police said there was "no | :21:26. | :21:29. | |
evidence of a deliberate act" but it's not known how it came about. | :21:30. | :21:39. | |
Six years after the onset of the global financial crisis, new | :21:40. | :21:42. | |
research has revealed that the UK's debt burden is finally falling. But | :21:43. | :21:46. | |
the UK remains the second most indebted of all the world's | :21:47. | :21:48. | |
developed nations, with debts at the end of last year totalling almost | :21:49. | :21:51. | |
five times the country's national output. Our economics editor, Robert | :21:52. | :21:54. | |
Peston, has been taking a closer look. | :21:55. | :21:59. | |
For many, huge debts represent the end of freedom, living, in effect, | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
behind bars. And what's true for individuals has also been true for | :22:05. | :22:07. | |
the country, as UK indebtedness soared to record levels in the crazy | :22:08. | :22:14. | |
boom years. This is the old wall of the notorious Marshalsea debtors' | :22:15. | :22:16. | |
prison, where Charles Dickens' dad, among others, was locked up. Now, | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
for the past few years, the British economy has felt constricted, | :22:22. | :22:23. | |
imprisoned, unable to thrive or grow because of the burden of its record | :22:24. | :22:34. | |
debts. From 2000 to 2012, total UK debts - that's household, company, | :22:35. | :22:36. | |
banking and Government debts - soared from 304% of the national | :22:37. | :22:39. | |
income or GDP to an eye-watering, all-time record of 502% and they | :22:40. | :22:51. | |
didn't fall for ages. But recently they have been reducing, a bit, to | :22:52. | :22:59. | |
471% of GDP. This American professor, when, at the influential | :23:00. | :23:01. | |
Bank for International Settlements, warned that big debts can make whole | :23:02. | :23:11. | |
economies poorer. Well, I think there is substantial evidence, first | :23:12. | :23:14. | |
of all that is saying that initially an economy grows but then things can | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
go too far and you can get too much debt and it becomes a drag, it | :23:19. | :23:22. | |
becomes a drag on consumers and businesses. It becomes a drag on | :23:23. | :23:30. | |
investors. As I found at a market in south-east London, a story of less | :23:31. | :23:33. | |
burdensome debts in general, leaves some still struggling. Do your | :23:34. | :23:36. | |
finances feel better or worse than a few years ago? I think I would | :23:37. | :23:40. | |
probably say better than a few years ago. Much worse. Much worse. They | :23:41. | :23:45. | |
are better now. Can you put a bit of flesh on that, why they are better? | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
Is it that you paid down your debts? Yes, exactly that. Keeping your head | :23:50. | :23:52. | |
above water isn't all that easy in Cornwall. Mike Ainsworth borrowed a | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
huge amount to buy his dream house here. I think it probably was too | :23:57. | :24:04. | |
easy to borrow. But, we would just happen to be very lucky that the | :24:05. | :24:07. | |
interest rates crashed when they did. Which helped us a lot, really. | :24:08. | :24:14. | |
Mike's been doing all he can to pay off his mortgage. So, his story, to | :24:15. | :24:19. | |
an extent, is that of Britain - in that households increased their | :24:20. | :24:22. | |
debts from 62% of national income in 1997 to 103% in 2009. But, these | :24:23. | :24:30. | |
debts have since been declining to 90% of national income. | :24:31. | :24:36. | |
There is, of course, one part of the economy where the story of declining | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
debts isn't true. That's the public sector, the Government, where | :24:41. | :24:44. | |
borrowing is still very substantial. But, even so, the debt shackles that | :24:45. | :24:47. | |
have been preventing our escape to rising prosperity, may, at last, be | :24:48. | :24:48. | |
loosening. President Obama has left Washington | :24:49. | :25:01. | |
for a week-long tour of Asia. The White House says it's part of the | :25:02. | :25:04. | |
"eastward rebalancing" of US foreign policy. The Americans are | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
increasingly focused on security and trade in a region where China is | :25:09. | :25:16. | |
adopting more assertive policies. Mr Obama travels first to Japan, which | :25:17. | :25:19. | |
is involved in a diplomatic standoff with China over islands in the East | :25:20. | :25:22. | |
China Sea. He goes next to South Korea, where talks will focus on | :25:23. | :25:26. | |
trade links. Finally Mr Obama will go to Malaysia and the Philippines. | :25:27. | :25:30. | |
Both have concerns over China's claims in the South China Sea. The | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
President, who visited China five years ago, is not stopping there | :25:35. | :25:37. | |
this time but as our China editor, Carrie Gracie reports, his every | :25:38. | :25:40. | |
word will be measured carefully in Beijing. | :25:41. | :25:48. | |
Naval power is a Chinese obsession. The country's aircraft carrier is | :25:49. | :25:55. | |
based in Wen Yuzhun's hometown. But he can't get close enough to see the | :25:56. | :25:58. | |
real thing, so he made this model and hopes that, even if he doesn't, | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
his grandson will live to see China rule the waves. TRANSLATION: One | :26:03. | :26:10. | |
aircraft carrier is not enough. Ten is not enough. Japan is bullying | :26:11. | :26:14. | |
China and sees China's not strong enough, and there's nothing we can | :26:15. | :26:18. | |
do about it. A music video from the top guns of the People's Liberation | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
Army on the eve of President Obama's Asian tour. Out on exercise to make | :26:23. | :26:28. | |
the Chinese public proud, to teach the neighbours respect and to focus | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
American minds on what it might cost in future to dominate these seas. | :26:33. | :26:38. | |
TRANSLATION: It's like Napoleon said. When China wakes, it will | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
shake the world. The Americans can't bear it. We've woken up and we are | :26:44. | :26:50. | |
recovering our might. So, President Barack Obama is coming back to Asia. | :26:51. | :26:53. | |
He's conspicuously not visiting China. Future diplomats in a Beijing | :26:54. | :26:59. | |
classroom. They've grown up under a map of Asia dominated by US power. | :27:00. | :27:03. | |
But now there's more talk of the old map, with China at the centre, | :27:04. | :27:07. | |
circled by deferential neighbours. Chinese people may think that now we | :27:08. | :27:11. | |
have money we should be perceived in a more respectful way and you should | :27:12. | :27:21. | |
respect our sovereignty. This Qingdao ferry only goes across the | :27:22. | :27:29. | |
bay. But sail east from here and soon you are in waters controlled by | :27:30. | :27:32. | |
the US Navy. Americans often say China should be grateful to the US | :27:33. | :27:35. | |
fleet for keeping the peace in Asia for the past 40 years. That it's | :27:36. | :27:41. | |
allowed China the space to grow rich and grow strong. But that's not how | :27:42. | :27:44. | |
the Chinese government sees it, nor the Chinese public. Here, they will | :27:45. | :27:58. | |
be watching President Obama's tour across the water, alert for signs | :27:59. | :28:01. | |
that he's encouraging the territorial claims of others and | :28:02. | :28:04. | |
dreaming of the day when China is strong enough to enforce its own | :28:05. | :28:09. | |
claims in these seas. Tonight's football and Chelsea have | :28:10. | :28:16. | |
held Athletico Madrid to a goal-less draw in the first leg of the | :28:17. | :28:20. | |
Champions' League semifinal. Madrid in the springtime. Formal | :28:21. | :28:24. | |
Real boss, Jose Mourinho knows it well. But his return to the capital | :28:25. | :28:29. | |
didn't start as planned. David Luis's push on Garcia ended Petr | :28:30. | :28:34. | |
Cech's night early. His shoulder dislocated. So, on came Mark | :28:35. | :28:40. | |
Schwarzer. At 41 their very own Chelsea pensioner. They have a much | :28:41. | :28:44. | |
younger keeper, but he is on loan, here. | :28:45. | :28:48. | |
He was almost called into action but Gary Cahill's header went nowhere. | :28:49. | :28:52. | |
Chelsea were defending solidly. Some have even called that parking the | :28:53. | :28:57. | |
bus. But a twisted ankle for John Terry saw him limp off and Atletico | :28:58. | :29:03. | |
sniff their chance. Ultimately, though, it all came to nothing and | :29:04. | :29:10. | |
Fernando Torres's return to his old club turned out to be a stalemate. | :29:11. | :29:15. | |
And that's | :29:16. | :29:16. |