31/08/2011 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me, Kirsty Lang.

Rebel soldiers strengthen their positions around Sirte, as the

clock ticks on an ultimatum for Gaddafi's forces to surrender.

After Saturday, loyalist forces in the town have been told that if

they do not surrender, the rebels are coming in.

For the first time in four decades, Tripoli celebrates Eid without

Gaddafi. But who exactly will govern the capital now?

The Kosovo Albanian radicalised by online Islamist propaganda pleads

guilty to killing two US servicemen in Germany. There is a maul right

at the top of the circus. -- mole. How European film studios are

giving Hollywood a run for its money at the Venice Festival.

And Winston Churchill called it "the most dangerous journey in the

world". It is 70 years since these ships crossed the Arctic to supply

Soviet troops fighting the Nazis. Hello and welcome.

Libya's National Transitional Council says it does not need or

want help from the United Nations. Rebel leaders have given Gaddafi

loyalists in the ousted leader's home town of Sirte until Saturday

to surrender. Colonel Gaddafi is reported to have made a radio

broadcast, urging people in Sirte not to surrender. National

Transitional Council forces continue to move east from the

capital Tripoli and west from Benghazi towards those forces.

People here in the Tripoli are continuing to celebrate, not only

the liberation of the city, but also the holy festival of Eid al-

Fitr. There have been celebrations all through the day to day. And yet,

this is still a country in limbo somewhat. What's of uncertainty and

unanswered questions. Where is Colonel Gaddafi? What will happen

in Sirte, the stronghold, the police of his birth. Sirte is about

400 kilometres east of here. The rebels have moved towards it from

East and West. They have issued an ultimatum, that if they get that

the loyalists there have not surrendered by Saturday, they will

attack with a full-blooded assault. Our world affairs correspondent,

Paul Wood, reports from the Eid al-Fitr prayers in a hamlet.

Fighters and villagers men going easily. This place changed hands a

few days ago. The latest stop in the rebel advance to the town of

Sirte. Vietnam angrily denounces the Gaddafi forces who had been

there. They beat people, they destroyed things, he says. Colonel

Gaddafi's troops have fled now and the rebels say they do not want any

fighting during the holiday. The fighters have told that they will

be a pause in their operations for a few days. That is partly because

of the holiday, but it is also to give an opportunity for peace talks

with tribal leaders. After Saturday, loyalist forces in the town have

been told if they do not surrender, the rebels are coming in. The

fighters still hope it will not come to that. They say they have no

appetite for revenge. My brothers, they are my brothers. We hope to go

to separate. Without fighting, God willing. A few miles outside the

village, revel Scout try to locate the loyalist position. Gaddafi

forces fired a grad rockets at them this morning, DC. There is no

ceasefire. There are a few more days to sick you're one before the

battle for Sirte begins. -- a few more days to find one before the

battle for Sirte begins. Another correspondent is with the

rebel forces. This is what he told This is the West reproach to serve.

-- the Western approach to Sirte. The rebels did to consolidate their

control over the whole of Libya. These places are important because

they believe that key regime at loyalists, those that fled when

Tripoli was taken, are there. Two members of Gaddafi's family were

spotted and others are believed to have gone in that direction. What

you have here is one of the key front lines for the rebels, waiting

for orders whether or not to head into Sirte. For now, as seems that

strict orders have been sent to all rebel fighters to cease hostilities

until Eid al-Fitr is over. They are waiting for orders. This deadline

has been issued. If they do not lay down their weapons by Saturday,

these groups and that the troops in Ben Kasey are poised to attack. The

say they will fall any orders that there are given, but they have come

so far they feel that the final stretch is in sight.

Let us look ahead to the longer term and the future of Libya more

generally, away from the battlefield. The National

Transitional Council have rejected the idea that the United Nations

could send in peacekeeping troops. The transitional council have said

they do not needs any foreign troops on the ground to help them

with the transition from the Gaddafi dictatorship to a modern

democracy. There is, while the National Transitional Council are

based in Benghazi and have not arrived here in Tripoli, there is

something of a power vacuum here in the capital. The city really is

controlled by different factions from different parts of Libya,

different rebel groups controlling different areas. There are some

worries that that could lead to a rival bid between different

factions, also that some Islamist factions might gain control. People

perhaps with links to the Taliban, The war has swept through Tripoli

and back into the desert, taking the Colonel Gaddafi with it.

Gunfire is for celebration now, not for killing and prayers for Eid al-

Fitr, the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Just after dawn, the

former Green Square, now named after Libya's martyr's is full and

with memories of 40 years of dictatorship. They killed her

children, he said. And the rate hour women, he is a murder and God

will punish him. -- the reader to our women and he is a murderer.

Dewar had already touched the street. On 19th June, and NATO

mistake killed a family here. This man can say that the fighters gave

their lives and we think it is going to be fine for our family now.

Tripoli is feeling very local at the moment. The people are looking

after themselves and their families. They are looking after their

neighbourhoods. There is a vacuum at the top. The National

Transitional Council has been recognised by some of the biggest

powers in the world, but around here, at his local people that are

taking the decisions. And decision- making on the street starts with

these men, locals who picked up guns to fight the regime, stopping

to check us out. Anyone suspicious it's taken to this school,

requisitioned by the fighters. These three were suspected nurse

nowadays. The prisoners said they were innocent migrant workers

picked up because they were black. They were terrified and not much

reassured when their captors, all fighters from Tripoli, said there

would be justice in the new Libya. The hard part is starting now,

because now we have we to build a country, to have creative people,

to produce, we're going to do everything. Men with guns still set

the pace here, not civilian politicians who have been slow off

the mark. Long term, that does not equal stability.

So what happens next here in Libya? As we have seen here, the war is

not quite over it, the revolution is not quite complete. Joining me

from Washington is Marius Deed, Professor of Middle East studies at

Johns Hopkins University. What do you think they National

Transitional Council need to do in the next few months? It needs to

move quickly, it should not wait for Colonel Gaddafi to be captured.

It has a authority and legitimacy. This will move faster if it they

are on the ground in the Tripoli. There is also some concern about

who exactly is the opposition, who are the rebels. There are concerns

that there are different factions that may fall out, his list people

with the nerve that have some extremist links. What is your view

of that? There are different groups, but I am optimistic. The top leader

of the National Transitional Council is composed of people that

have tremendous credentials and all believe in the rule of law. In a

way, this provides some kind of assurance that the rule of law is

going to be the norm after the rule of a Gaddafi, which was lawless and

are based on tyranny and oppression. How easy or difficult do you think

it will be for the new, interim administration, when it is formed

in it Tripoli, to get at democracy up and running? There have been all

the democratic elections here since 1952. How hard will that be? It is

not going to be easy, but I do not think it will be extremely

difficult. People are ready for a system which is open, where they

can elect their own representatives, freely. Sirte is made of tribes and

different regions. In a way, this helps a democracy. Democracy is

about local politics, about electing candidates who will

represent them in a parliament. I think it is very possible that

democracy will be established soon after the war and the triumph of

the the revolution. The idea that no more than 18 months until a

government is established and there is a different constitution. I

think they have had it with the repression and the dictatorship,

they do not want to hear about it. What are they want -- what they

want his freedom and human dignity. Thank you for joining us.

Now a summary of what is happening here in a Tripoli. Water is in

desperately short supply. There is a huge pipeline that runs 1,000

kilometres from the south. No water is coming along that pipeline.

Water is in desperately short supply. The transitional council

want frozen assets on a frozen as soon as possible. That has happened

with the �1 billion worth of assets in the United Kingdom. That has

been on a frozen, Libyan of bank notes that are being flown by the

British RAF to Libya so that that money can start to get into supply.

A lot of people here have not been paid for months. There is literally

no money in many people's pockets. Those are the problems that people

are facing here. They are being patient at the moment, but that

patient may run out in the next weeks and months. That is the

latest from Tripoli. I will hand Now a look at some of the day's

other news. He told the court in Frankfurt he

had been radical art by looking at online propaganda.

The suspect said it contradicted his beliefs. He went it took a

military bus and asked one of them for a light before shooting him in

the head. He went on to the bus shouting, God is great, in Arabic,

and shot another servicemen dead. He wounded two more. He fled, to be

caught in the terminal. He said he acted after seeing a video on

Facebook. It was an anti- America propaganda video, which used clips

and anti-war film. The 9/11 attacks were planned by people attended a

mosque in Hamburg. It was thought that he might be part of a bigger

organisation. It turned out he was just a crazed individual. He said,

what I did was wrong but cannot be undone. His trial is estimated to

last for 10 days. He will probably get life imprisonment, which means

in Germany, about 15 years. The authorities in Nigeria say they've

arrested two members of the Islamist group, Boko Haram, in

connection with last week's bombing of the UN office in the capital,

Abuja. Boko Haram said it carried out the

suicide attack which killed more than twenty people. The group is

alleged to have links with Al Qaeda. The Nigerian government has asked

America's FBI for help in investigating the incident.

BP has claimed that a raid by investigators of its offices in

Moscow is an attempt to apply pressure on its business in Russia.

The company says the action is linked to a court case in Western

Siberia, which relates to the collapse of BP's Arctic oil

exploration deal with Rosneft. Australia's High Court has blocked

government plans for a refugee swap with Malaysia. It ruled that the

human rights of asylum seekers who went to Malaysia could not be

guaranteed. The Australian government has called the verdict

"disappointing." An 11-year-old boy has become the

youngest person to be sentenced over his part in the riots in

London earlier this month. The boy, who can't be named for legal

reasons, was given an 18 month rehabilitation order after stealing

a rubbish bin from the Debenhams department store..

Stars, filmmakers and fans are gathering in Venice for the annual

film festival, with a some hotly anticipated titles. But this year's

line-up of films making their world premiere includes a high number of

big budget productions made and financed in Europe rather than

Hollywood. And these are not just art-house films, but high profile

pictures with big-name actors and directors. There's a mole at the

top of the circus... Tinker tailor soldier Spy is the

quintessential spy movie that has been made for Hollywood, you would

think, but it was made in France. It is financed by a French company,

which believes the film has a strong appeal for European

audiences. With stars like Colin Firth and John Hurt, it makes sense.

Tinker, tailor... Soldier... Spy... Films of the European sensibility

have more chance of getting made on this side of the Atlantic,

particularly with Hollywood studios currently obsessed with making

super hero franchised movies. If these can make money outside Europe,

they could provide Hollywood with much-needed competition. Carnage is

the latest movie from Roman Polanski. It is another pan-

European co-production, financed in France. Sex. A male. David

Cronenberg's latest film is set in Zurich and Vienna, and funded by

Europe. Setting up a pan-European super studio to rival Hollywood has

long been a dream for European film makers. If the line up at the

Venice Festival is anything to go by, it is a dream that might just

be getting a bit closer. But there are some films that could

not be made anywhere other than America. One such movie was

released today in New York. Rebirth looks back at the struggles of five

individuals who were traumatised by the terror attacks of 9/11. It's

just one of several films which have attempted to capture the

horror of both the day and its aftermath. Ten years on, Tom Brook

has been looking at the impact of 9/11 on Hollywood.

On that day, the attacks were being described as a keen to way

Hollywood movie. It's right out of a disaster movie, but it is very

real... It shook up the film industry. It is unlike anything I

can think of in my lifetime. Therefore, the film industry, which

is a secondary factor, will change. What did change in Hollywood? 9/11

did not bring forth any great cinema classics, but it caught the

attention of film-makers. created a great desire to address

why this happened. And how it happened, and what do we do now,

and how do we deal with this NME? Some academics who have taught

courses on a 9/11 or doubt whether anything will ever capture the

horror of the day. These two magnificent buildings coming down,

no artistic cinematic way possible to represent that, make it feel the

way the actual event made you feel. Hollywood was hesitant initially.

It took time. The first studio pictures, like Oliver Stone's film

in 2003, focused more on the Americans. In terms of larger

issues about why this happened at all, America's place in the global

world, I do not think Hollywood went very fine capturing those

things. Those are by definition adult themes, and Hollywood is not

orientated to making adult movies. It is orientated to making fantasy

films for teenagers. More scenes where explored in documentaries.

Non-political documentaries also addressed psychological

complexities. Rebirth followed some individuals are becoming the

traumas following 9/11. It shows how a human being shines through a

person. Cinnamon in this particular place takes it through the years --

cinema in this particular place to take it through the years.

Hollywood has yet to make a movie they can be seen as a definitive

9/11 film, most agree. That is because the narrative to explain it

all is still emerging. Two months after Hitler attacked

the Soviet Union, the first of the 78 Allied Arctic Convoys docked in

the port of Arkhangel in northern Russia. It's now 70 years since

those ships arrived, carrying vital supplies for Soviet troops fighting

the Nazis. Dozens of British ships were destroyed by German U boats

and bomber jets as they made the perilous journey. Today a group of

British war veterans are in the northern Russian city of

Arkhangelsk to mark the occasion. Steve Rosenberg reports.

Winston Churchill called it the worst journey in the world. Through

thick fog and freezing cold, under attack from German U-boats and

fighter-bombers, the Arctic convoys battled their way to have Russia.

British ships helped keep the Soviet Union supplied with fuel.

But at a cost. Over 100 allied vessels never made it back home.

Today, British veterans of the convoy's returned to Arkhangel. A

chance for these men to honour the memory of the 3,000 sailors who

lost their lives maintaining Russia's lifeline. We thought, this

is hell, Absolute Hell, I do not ever want this to happen again. I

look back, and think, it was one of the proudest moments of my life, to

have done such a thing. These veterans have been welcomed back as

heroes. Russia says it will never forget the contribution they made

and the risks they took to help Russia win of the war. Back home,

some convoy veterans feel that Britain has forgotten them. William

Grenfell is campaigning for veterans of the Arctic convoys to

be awarded medals. He thinks they are long overdue. There are

probably a large number of highly placed people in this country who

just could not stomach the idea of British men having a medal for

helping the Russians. So many years have gone by, for goodness sake!

What these men did is hugely significant. But against the

backdrop of World War II, it has to be put into perspective. This time

for the veterans, the fighting was not real, but the French reports.

Here, they will always be remembered as heroes.

A reminder of our main news. Sporadic clashes have continued

between Libyan opposition forces and Colonel Gaddafi loyalists near

the town of Bani Walid where rebels believe the Colonel may be hiding.

The opposition National Transitional Council has given both

Bani Walid and Colonel Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte until Saturday to

surrender. In Germany, 21-year-old has

admitted that he killed two US servicemen in Frankfurt. He

expressed regret for what he had done. He had become radical Arab --

he had become radical lysed by propaganda. That's all from the

programme. Next, the weather. The Good evening. It has been a

cloudy story for most of the UK today. Tomorrow should stay largely

dry. Here's the reason for that. High pressure across the UK stays

with us on Thursday. Low-pressure lurking towards the West and that

will go into northern areas. Despite a cloud is that for most,

most places will brighten with some spells of sunshine coming through

false for north-east England, Thursday afternoon, they have is a

chance of the odd shower but nothing more than that. For the

Midlands, East Anglia and south- east England, a lovely afternoon.

Pleasant spells of sunshine. Highs of 20, 21. Across Wales and South

western parts of England, very promising for Thursday afternoon.

Temperatures in the low twenties. Cloud amounts will vary in Northern

Ireland. Bright skies for western Scotland, but further east, it is