05/09/2011 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today. There is to the investigation into

allegations that British security services were complicit in the

illegal transfer of terror suspects to Libya while Gaddafi was The

battle for control of Libya continues, hundreds of anti-Gadaffi

fighters gather ready to attack one of his last strongholds, the town

of Bani Walid. An empty dock, the former French

President, Jacques Chirac, is too unwell to attend his corruption

trial.. As shares in the euro-zone fall sharply yet again, the boss of

Ferrari gives us his speedy suggestions on how to solve the

European debt crisis. We have to avoid becoming like Greece. In

other words, we need important structural deep reforms. And the

controversial Indian film about the caste system which questions

The Prime Minister David Cameron has been lavish with his praise of

how Libyans are dislodging Colonel Gadaffi after decades of misrule

and oppression. It is an embarrassment then that UK security

services are accused of being involved in the illegal transfer of

terror suspects to Libya while Colonel Gadaffi was in power. The

government says the allegations will be investigated.

The ransacked office of the former head of Libyan intelligence. Inside,

a treasure trove of one's secret files that revealed a close

relationship between British intelligence and Libyan spy master.

He offers Christmas greetings and an invitation to runs in his office.

Other documents raised difficult Allegations of British involvement

in this treatment of detainees have already led to the promise of an

inquiry. The Prime Minister today said the Libyan allegations would

be looked at as part of it. We have issued new guidance to intelligence

services personnel on how to deal with detainees held by other

countries. We have asked a retired judge, Sir Peter Gibson, to a poll

this inquiry and it will look at these latest accusations very

carefully. The foreign secretary at the time many of the documents were

written, said he did not know about the allegations. It was who policy

of the previous government, as is wholly to be opposed to any

complicity in torture or ill- treatment or unlawful condition.

Much of the communication involved the exchange of information. Some

of the documents suggest that Britain they have played a role in

the practice known as rendition were suspects are transferred and

often mistreated. One document relates to a member of the Libyan

Islamic fighting group. He says he was tortured in custody. The

British government has always denied any complicity in his

mistreatment or rendition. It is effectively the unlawful kidnapping

of people, carrying them across borders and putting them into

jurisdictions where it is known perfectly well that they will be

mistreated. The British government also condemns that which is why it

would be so serious if it turns out that agencies answerable to the

British government had been engaging in that sort of behaviour.

The job of intelligence agencies is to gather information and sometimes

officials said today that involves working with regimes which do not

share our standards. Joining us now is a former UK

foreign office minister in the Labour government and a former

chairman of the Commons Intelligence and Security Committee.

These allegations are deeply embarrassing, and they, for the

United Kingdom? I hope they are not deeply embarrassing. I cannot

imagine that there is any greater achievement than to dissuade

Colonel Gaddafi to give up his weapons of mass destruction

programme which hour security service played an important role in

and we needed to protect ourselves against Islamist groups like Libyan

fighting group, Members of which were in Britain as well as in Libya.

But the commander of the Tripoli forces is physically accusing the

UK of being complicit in his torture love, what you say to that,

that is a serious accusation. is something that must be

investigated thoroughly. They have been other allegations of course in

the past. We on the Intelligence and Security Committee, examined it

very carefully and we didn't find it against the agencies. We didn't

have any political axe to grind. But there was a problem there, we

would have highlighted it but we didn't find that. This man is a

former member of the fighting were up and he confesses to that. They

were an organisation that wanted to commit atrocities inside Britain.

Believe me, if M I six had not been trying to get information on people

like him, they wouldn't have been doing their job properly. Are you

suggesting the when the current government welcomes the actions of

the rebel forces in trying to topple Gaddafi, this is a man

should not be doing business with, is this what you are saying?

not at all, they have been many people who have been terraced who

have changed. What we have to wait for is to see if he really has

changed because what the fighting group wanted to do was to replace

Gaddafi's dictatorship with a very hard line Islamist government. I

soon that the noises we hear coming out of Tripoli now are for

democracy and not for setting up some kind of organisation which is

going to be run by religious On the ground in Libya, forces of

the NTC, the National Transitional Council, are sounding increasingly

confident about taking the desert town of Bani Walid, one of the last

strongholds of Gadaffi's supporters. It is around 200 kilometres south-

east of Tripoli. Earlier, according to official sources in a

neighbouring Niger, the chief of security of Gadaffi's brigades had

crossed into Niger. Let's get more now from our Correspondent in

For now at least, these rebels are not fighting but singing their

songs of the victory and liberation. Even so, they know they cannot yet

claim that all of Libya is free, not until they have dealt with the

final few pockets of Gaddafi resistance. One rebel fighter told

me that he fears sooner or later there will have to be a battle for

this time. What are you waiting for? Somebody inside he will give

us a signal to enter inside or not. We're waiting for that because we

are a new team, we have someone there already. Are you ready to

fight? Of course, we are one team. Whether many Gaddafi people in Bani

Walid? Sure, not all of them have escaped. Negotiations are

continuing but some of the rebels here appeared to be losing patience.

They said the humanitarian situation in the town is

deteriorating rapidly with food and water running out. So, the rebels

have moved closer to Bani Walid, their morale is sky-high. The

easily outnumber the Gaddafi loyalists and they are ready for a

full-scale assault on Bani Walid, the men at the order goes through

but for now at least, the leadership of the National

Transitional Council same desperate to avoid a bloodbath.

The BBC's Ben Brown is with anti Gadaffi forces on the road between

Tripoli and Bani Walid and joins us What can you tell us about what the

National Transitional Council have been saying to you about this

battle for Bani Walid? They do seem absolutely determined to give

negotiations as long as possible. The deadline that the opposition

leader had last week, but the ultimatum really for the Gaddafi

forces to surrender of this Saturday, still stood so we could

be here for more days with no action on the ground. Even then,

negotiations so far have not been productive. It has been said that

this was because the presence of two of Colonel Gaddafi's sons were

there and the tribal leaders had this duty of guests and they could

not betray them. That may be a polite way of allowing them away to

climb down, a diplomatic way of letting them back into the

negotiations. The trouble is, we had a few hundred really desperate

people, Gaddafi loyalists who may feel reluctant to give themselves

The corruption trial of the former French President Jacques Chirac,

got under way today. Mr Chirac, 78, faces charges of illegal party

funding during his time as mayor of Paris 20 years ago. Doctors

treating him say he is not medically fit to appear in court

but the judges said the trial will go ahead without him attending.

For 50 years, he was a potent force, not only in French politics, but on

the world stage. Jacques Chirac was for ever pushing the French point

of view. The zenith of his career, a bold stand against the war in

Iraq. But today in the same chamber in which Barry and when it was

tried for treason, the elder statesman was betrayed as a frail

old man with a failing memory. The lawyers who represent him and nine

other co-defendants say there is no prospect of a fair trial. The most

important person in this trial is not available to come and defend

himself. For this reason, I think this trial has no meaning. The case

relates to his time as mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995. It is

alleged he embezzled tax payers money, creating 21 ghost jobs to

pay allies from his party. The charge carries a possible sentence

of 10 years or a fine of 150,000 euros. The medical report that is

being submitted is signed by an eminent neurologist, it concludes

that Jacques Chirac is suffering from a condition that could be

linked to Alzheimer's. It affects the speech, there can be bouts of

manic loss and the sufferer is often unaware there is a problem.

Friends say the man who once spoke in such eloquent French now forgets

which party he is from but have the people forgotten what he is accused

of and how tirelessly he fought to evade this prosecution? He is too

old and so sick so there is nothing for us now. It is in the past.

two months ago, he sold the book with his memories, why could he not

answer to questions. He has lost his memory in two weeks! No! Yet,

in spite of many rearguard actions to avoid court, Jacques Chirac is

the first French head of state to face trial since the end of the

second world war. Historic, but not as significant as it would have

been had the man they dubbed the untouchable finally appeared in the

In Syria, opposition to the president Bashaar Al-Asaad, is

still gaining traction, despite months of oppression by the regime.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says authorities have

given delegates permission to visit Syrian prisoners. As the protests

continue, this funeral procession in Homs turned into a protest march

as the crowd chanted, "You will not defeat us, Assad". Here in the UK,

the prime-minister David Cameron told MP's that President Asaad's

time was up. The message to President Assad must be clear. He

has lost all legitimacy and can no longer claim to lead Syria. The

violence should end and he should step aside for the good of his

country. The European Union has been taking

a lead in putting international pressure on Syria. It has now

banned oil imports from Syria and may expand the embargo. In a moment,

we'll talk to the EU trade commissioner.

95% of Syria's oil is bought by the EU which accounts for a quarter of

the country's budget. The ban prevents EU companies from making

new trades in Syrian oil, but they can continue to invest and operate

in the country. Russia doesn't support the sanctions, and Russian

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov believes they "bring no good". In

the long term, Syria could get around the embargo by replacing

their European trade partners with Asian markets. I'm now joined from

our central London studios by Karel De Gucht, the EU's Commissioner for

Trade. If the EU were serious about pushing pressure on, you would go

for a total trade embargo? -- putting pressure on. First of all,

as you mentioned, the most important export market for Syrian

crude oil is the European Union. Of course, he could be -- it could be

that oil experts are diverted to other markets, but we will have to

see what happens in the future. But it is a measure that has been taken

that will have considerable impact on the financing of the Syrian

regime. To be consistent, would you consider a ban on investments and

operations by oil companies in Syria, for example Chelle? As was

mentioned at the end of the statement, we will consider further

measured in the light of the forthcoming evolutions in Syria,

but when you speak about sanctions and the impact they might have, or

could have, that would be a ban on investment and that would not have

an immediate impact. We are not talking about sanctions that should

have an impact within two or three years, this is a people who are

suffering and are extremely courageous. So we have to look at

sanctions that can have an immediate impact, and I believe

that the export ban on crude oil, largely exported to Europe, can

have that kind of impact. We are talking about 10 million euros on a

daily basis, and it is a large proportion of their budget, so this

is a very well targeted sanction but we are considering further

sanctions if needed. Is the EU trying to get sanctions at an

international level, at UN level? We are, but as you mentioned,

Russia is extremely reluctant about this which means that they are

saying no. So the result of us are making sanctions at European level

is because we could not have them at a global level with the United

Nations. So the reason we have done it at European level is because the

others are not only reluctant, they are negative about it. I did want

to ask you about Libya, but we do not have time. Thank you very much

indeed. Now a look at some of the day's other news.

There have been scuffles both inside and outside the courtroom

where the trial of the ousted Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak,

has resumed in Cairo. Several people were arrested outside the

court as pro- and anti-Mubarak supporters clashed. Inside, the

session was temporarily halted when prosecution and defence lawyers had

to be separated by police. Mr Mubarak is charged with ordering

the killing of protesters during the uprising that removed him from

power. Up to 750,000 people are at risk of

dying from starvation in East Africa if the response to the

crisis doesn't improve. The United Nations also says the famine is

spreading across Somalia, the country worst hit by the

humanitarian crisis, with emergency conditions expected to continue

well into next year. Scientists have created stem cells

from two endangered species, which could help ensure their survival.

The northern white rhino is one of the most endangered animals on

Earth, while the drill - a West African monkey - is threatened by

habitat loss and hunting. The scientists report in Nature Methods

that their stem cells could be transformed into different types of

Doubts are growing about Italy's commitment to the multi-billion

euro austerity plan it announced amongst much fanfare last month.

European financial markets saw falls of around 5% on Monday as

investors worried about the ability of Italy and other Eurozone

economies to pay their debts. Measures to reduce the deficit in

Italy, including a tax on high earners, have been proposed and

quickly dismissed as members of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's

coalition government squabble over how exactly they will balance the

budget by 2013. With additional fears that the second bailout

package for Greece as some EU countries qustion the level of

support, could Italy become the next Greece? That's a question I

put to one of Italy's leading industrialists, the chairman of

Ferrari, Luca De Montezemolo. We are not Greece, but we have to

avoid becoming Greece. In other words, a week need -- we need it

important structural, deep reforms, and we have to take care of the

situation and take advantage. To put it in a provocative way, take

advantage of the situation to make the reforms. But this is not easy,

because in my opinion, we are at the end of a political phase, a

very long political phase. It will be difficult to do everything that

is necessary. Obviously the government is under pressure and

needs money. One of the key things Italy could do is get more money

through tax, and many say, let's face it, a lot of people in Italy

avoid paying tax.Unusual. You are saying rich people like you should

pay more. We have three different problems. The first one is we have

to fight with all the instruments we can against tax evasion. This is

something terrible in Italy and we have to do something even more to

combat this evasion. Secondly, we cannot ask only money from the

Italians, but the state has to do something with privatisation,

liberalisation and cutting costs, the political costs. Our country is

like a very heavy car, an expensive car. We have to cut the costs. Then

we can ask the money from the Italians, because they want to know

where the money goes to improve services and not to put money in

the public expenses. Last but not least, I think that people like me

have got a lot from our country. If the state will do what is necessary,

and only after the state does this, then it is normal for eight

solidarity and generosity that we can do more than others, because if

we are rich, we have to pay more. Briefly, to continue with your

analogy of the car, would you describe Italy as a Ferrari and the

tank is running a bit empty and that the government really ought to

be doing more, but it's difficult because they do not want the car to

stop, in other words they don't one measures that could bring -- bring

recession? Ferrari cars never stop, so this is not the right analogy!

But talking seriously, I am very seriously optimistic for the future

of my country if we can have a new political leadership, and if we

make reforms, because we have a lot of productivity. Italy has three

priorities, one is the public debt, so we have to decrease the debt,

then the Italian state is too expensive because we have too many

things to count up, and then we have to cut bureaucracy. If we can

do this, we have a huge future in front of us. That was the chairman

of Ferrari talking to me a little earlier from Rome.

The film "Aarakshan", starring some of the biggest names in Bollywood,

caused something of a stir when it was released in India - some states

even tried to ban it. The film brings to the silver screen the

issue of caste reservations or quotas in the education system for

people from lower caste or minority backgrounds. But how relevant is

this type of positive discrimination in today's India?

Rajini Vaidyanathan reports from With an all-star cast, Aarakshan

has been making headlines since its release because of its

controversial subject-matter. The film looks at India's centuries old

caste system, a social hierarchy which places people in different

class categories based on their family background. It deals with

the sensitive issue of affirmative action for lower-class and minority

people. Are you trying to accuse me of being a caste system racist?

Some have tried to ban the film, but the director thinks it needs to

be discussed. 49.5 % of all higher education seats and government jobs

are reserved for second class cast in society, which has created a lot

of turmoil. This system of quotas is known as a reservation or

Aarakshan in Hindi. It was introduced to make sure everyone in

India has access to the same opportunities. These students both

study on the same course, but even though the goal scored high marks,

she struggled to get a place because she is from a higher caste.

I couldn't get into the colleges because of the reservation. The

people who scored lower than me, their marks were really low, they

got into it and walked into the college just because they were

minorities. Ashish has benefited and says he has had it harder in

life because of his family's history as a look labourers, so he

There has been a need of reservations for us, and we need to

explore these opportunities. These is one of the many statues which

can be found across the country. He was the architect of the Indian

constitution and helped introduce quotas or reservations. That was

more than 60 years ago, so how relevant are they to today's India?

Reservations changed India dramatically. In a short space of

time it gave the lower-class an opportunity for a higher education,

so they have been able to come civil servants, doctors, engineers

and so on. It is still relevant because we are still an uneven

society. Although it is not deserved as it was as much as it

was years ago, it is still as part of Indian society. Supporters of

reservation says it provides a level playing field but critics say

it is creating inequalities of its own.

Next to the weather, but from now, from me and the rest of the team,

This week brings the return of whether we associate with the

autumn. They will be rain at times, and it will be on the cold side

with a very brisk winds. Through the night and into the Morrow,

windy weather, all due to low pressure bringing rain through the

night and into tomorrow with the isobars so close together, the

first proper blow of the autumn season. Southern England will bear

the brunt of there rain in the morning with the strongest wins.

The rain doesn't clear account until the evening. Very windy

across the south-east of Scotland and the north-east of England with

strong crosswinds on the A one. But it will be brightening up across

much of England and Wales during the afternoon but the rain is still

there in East Sussex and Kent, and the brisk winds continue across

southern England. Along with the brightening up process elsewhere

across England and Wales there will be a few showers coming in and

those will head to parts of Wales and western England later in the

day which could be on the heavy side. For Northern Ireland, a spell

of dry and bright weather, and another band of rain will sink into

northern areas. And close to the area of low pressure in northern

Scotland, across: there are bands of rain to contend with. It stays