08/09/2011 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today. With me, Zeinab Badawi. A public inquiry

condemns the appalling violence carried out by British soldiers

that led to the death of an Iraqi civilian in 2003. My judgment is

that they constituted appalling effort and -- episode of serious,

gratuitous violence on civilians. President Medvedev condemns

Russia's air safety record after Wednesday's plane crash which

killed most members of a top ice hockey team. Guilty, the British

designer John Galliano was fined 6,000 euros for making anti-Semitic

remarks during a drunken outburst in Paris. Could the famine in

Somalia help end the conflict between the interim government and

the militant Al-Shabab group? The country's Prime Minister offers an

olive branch. Everybody who wants to talk to has come as big with us,

joiners, save Somalia from itself, we will talk to them. And the two

million-year-old fossils that could overturn conventional thinking on

Hello, welcome. The death of Baha Mousa was one of the most appalling

incidents of abuse by Western soldiers during the Iraq War. The

young Iraqi hotel worker died after sustaining 93 external wounds

whilst he was in the custody of British troops in the southern city

of Basra. The language used by an independent public inquiry here was

blunt. It said, his death had left a great stain on Britain's armed

forces. Our world affairs correspondent Caroline Hawley has

this report. In a makeshift detention facility

eight years ago a killing that cast a shadow over the army's reputation.

Baha Mousa had just lost his wife to cancer when he was detained by

British troops. Over the next 36 hours he and nine other detainees

were hooded, forced into painful positions and badly beaten. When

Baha Mousa died he had 93 separate injuries. My judgment is that it

constituted an appalling episode of serious, gratuitous violence on

civilians which resulted in the death of one man and injuries to

others. They represented a very serious breach of discipline.

Footage from the detention facility shows Corporal Donald Payne

shouting obscenities at the Iraqis. He is the only man to have been

punished in any way for what happened here. The use of pudding

and stress positions are against international law and had been

banned by the British government in 1972 -- hoods. It was an Army major

that instructed the soldiers to use them. The inquiry heard it was

standard operating procedure. The report blamed they use on a

corporate failure that the Ministry of Defence. It said that stress

positions and hoods were wholly unacceptable in any circumstances.

It also found that many soldiers had a sort of the Iraqis, even more

had failed to intervene. There had been, it said, a lack of moral

courage. It is clearly a truly shocking and appalling incident.

Pictured not have happened. It should never be allowed to happen

again. -- it should not have happened. The British Army should

uphold the highest standards. inquiry found that Major Michael

Peebles had news that detainees had been assaulted. He is accused of an

acceptable failure. It said that if Lieutenant Craig Rodgers had acted

when he first knew what was happening, Baha Mousa would almost

certainly have survived. It found that the commander of the Regiment,

Colonel Jorge Mendonca, ought to have known what was going on. And

that Corporal Payne was a violent Paul Leigh who tried to cover up

what he had done. No doubt the Director of Public Prosecutions and

the Director of Public Service prosecutions are reading the report

and they will be considering the war crimes of torture, inhumane

treatment and submitting people to grossly humiliating behaviour.

There is a number of people who have every reason to be very, very

worried. Back in the Middle East family still grieving. Baha Mousa's

father had to identify his son's body. In my heart I love Baha Mousa.

He was a good son. Baha Mousa's two children are now growing up without

a father. Today, the soldier who tried to resuscitate him expressed

deep remorse. I could not say in enough words how sorry but only for

myself but for those that were involved in his death, whether you

hit him or you did not hit him, you have your responsibility for his

desk that day. Baha Mousa is buried in Iraq's holiest city. Today's

reporting to his death is a big step towards accountability but the

scandal over what happened to him has not yet been laid to rest.

The death of Mark -- of Baha Mousa was one of several examples of

prisoner reduce by foreign troops during the past decade since the

September 11th attacks. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and detention

centre with the US in Guantanamo Bay have led to many criticisms of

human rights abuses. Kurt Volker is a former US ambassador to NATO and

also served in the Bush Administration and joins us from

Washington. Kurt Volker, how far do you think George Bush's war on

terror created a kind of climate whereby this kind of incident might

have happened more recently, more readily? You know, I think it is

wrong to blame it on a climate. I think when you look at the

inquiry's report, he made a very clear. About the rules and

procedures that are allowable and what are not allowable and making

sure that is well known in advance and part of the training that will

just get. We put soldiers and were very difficult climate, in a war-

zone, they are there to conduct combat, people were trying to kill

them. It is extremely stressful and they are asked to make decisions on

a split second sometimes. A very difficult environment to be in.

That is why it is so important they have clear routes -- rules and when

abuses do happen, as we have had from American and British forces,

it is important they be investigated and dealt with

appropriately, but the key thing is to make sure the rules are clear.

Just looking at the wider picture, ten years since the September 11th

attacks, we did see in the war on terror things like detention

without trial, you have the accusations of rendition,

extraordinary rendition, the invasion of Iraq was illegal by

make people's standards and so this kind of climate is not conducive

necessarily to do the observance of civil liberties, if that is what

the politicians are saying at the time? A think it is very important

to get the legal frameworks right and did we have not yet done this.

You have a gap between what is domestic criminal justice systems

and protection of civil -- civil liberties and so forth, and you

have an area where you are talking about the laws of armed conflict

and war, and you're talking about terrorist groups, suicide bombers,

Al-Qaeda, who do not follow the laws of war, do not belong to a

state, do not wear uniforms, so we are forced into a grey area of how

you deal with these situations. We have picked up people, held them as

combatants in a conflict, in a normal war you would hold them to

the end of the conflict, this is not a normal ward and we are not

comfortable saying we will hold people forever but we don't know

issues, there is ambiguity about treatment, certainly in the British

cases we have heard, also true in American cases, where we have a

clear prohibition against torture, where that line was drawn in terms

of what is a tough interrogation officers what is more physical

abuse, was not a clear line. That has since been clarified and the US

system but I do think... You are talking there about the enhancing -

- the enhanced Territt -- interrogation techniques, such as

waterboarding, which some people call torture. Do you think the

policies that we did see in the war on terror have actually resulted

now in making the world a safer place? I think in a number of ways

they have forced up in a number of ways we have seen terrible results

at the same time. Life happens in the world. We have significantly

weakened Al-Qaeda. Iraq now has a better government than it had under

Saddam per se. It has suffered tremendously through a civil war

however. You see people in the Arab world, the Muslim world, rise up to

demand rights from the Rhone leaders in ways that was not the

case before. They are being squeezed between this trap of on

the one hand being accused of being Islamist terrorists come on the

other hand seeing these harsh dictatorial regimes in their rent

societies finally caused people to come out to say we demand better

rights and freedoms in our own countries. I do think we are seeing

in the Arab world right now one of the most hopeful things that we are

seeing in this decade. Ambassador Kurt Volker, thank you for joining

us from Washington. Now the other main use. NATO forces

in Afghanistan have admitted that a BBC reporter killed in a July in

the south of the country was shot dead by a US soldier who was took

him for a suicide bomber. -- Mr Kim. Ahmed Omed Khpulwak was caught up

in a suicide attack. Initial reports suggested he was killed by

the Taleban. A group of 20 medical staff in

Bahrain, charged with incitement to overthrow the government earlier

this year, have been released on bail. They were the last of 47

staff at the main hospital in the capital Manama who had been accused

of harbouring extremists and concealing weapons. Their families

say they were tortured into making confessions.

The Russian President Dmitri Medvedev says they must be so swift

action to improve aviation safety after a plane crash that killed

most members of one of Russia's top hockey teams -- ice hockey teams.

The players from Lokomotiv Yaroslavl were killed when their

plane failed to take off on Wednesday. President Medvedev said

the number of Russian bear characters -- carriers must be

reduced radically. Steve Rosenberg reports.

In the river to Russia are to search continued into the morning,

for survivors but wreckage of the plane and bodies. Dmitri Medvedev

had been due here for a political conference but he began his day

here. At the sight of the air crash he laid roses and bowed his head in

honour of the dead. Later President Medvedev criticised the safety

record of Russian airlines. He warned that if his country could

not produce reliable aircraft it would have to buy foreign aid

planes. The Yak-42 jet had crashed here in a ball of flames soon after

board were killed. Among the dead were players, coaches and officials

from one of Russia's Top ice hockey teams, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. The

team had a Canadian trainer and star players from Sweden, Slovakia

and the Czech Republic. Today, the fans gathered outside the club's

stadium. They laid fan -- flowers and lit candles and they stood

staring in disbelief that their hockey team had been wiped out.

Russians have grown used to hearing of these kinds of disasters in

their country. Of planes crashing, pleasure boats sinking, but this

latest tragedy has caused particular shock and anger here.

With a plane crash wiping out almost an entire ice hockey team.

The 50-year-old British fashion designer John Galliano has been

found guilty of anti-Semitic -- Anti-Semitism by a court in Paris.

He was given a suspended fine of 6,000 euros for a series of drunken

outbursts against fellow customers in a Paris bar. John Galliano was

sacked from the fashion house d'Or in March. The court also ordered

him to pay a symbolic one euros win damages to each of his victims. ILA

Paris correspondent Christian Fraser has the story.

The king of high fashion ruined by anti-Semitic insults that cost him

a million dollar career. Today, John Galliano's shame was complete,

a guilty verdict of the suspended fine tells you that judges had

certain sympathy. There is actually no penalty so to speak which is a

very strong signed by the court because it shows the court took

into account is sincere apology, the fact that Mr Galliano has

entered treatment for his addiction. He was arrested in July over a

series of complaints from people who he had abused. The court was

shown a video filmed in a bar in which Mr Galliano was heard

glorifying the Holocaust. On another occasion he told art

curator Geraldine Bloch she had, a dirty Jewish face. The designer

admitted on that particular night he had been drinking heavily at

this bar. On a cocktail of Valium and sleeping pills. John Galliano

was a regular at La Perle Bar but his behaviour, said staff, had

become increasingly erratic. He told the court he had no

recollection of the knights who was arrested but so common were these

outbursts the chauffeur had instructions to call the designer's

lawyer if the rows became too heated. Mr Galliano's friends

blamed the workload. He oversaw 12 new collections the year for the

Dior. The pressure dramatically decreased in 2007 with the death of

his partner at first assistant, Stephen Robinson, who died of an

overdose. -- increased. I think it is impossible for anybody to be

creative and respond to these demands that are increasing on one

single person. Of course Dior could also have accompanied him in a

different manner, could have tried to replace his first assistant who

was also his very, very close friend. He was fired by Dior after

his arrest. This summer he did pick up a pencil to start Kate Moss's

wedding dress, part of my creative therapy, he told Vogue magazine. As

for Dior, they are yet to appoint his successor but the rumours are

they like the look of Marc Jacobs, an American designer was Jewish

The transitional federal Government in say Somalia is willing to talk

to a rebel group. It was said that an international gathering in

Nairobi that the head of the country would talking anyone

willing to save Somalia. 3 million Somali Zara Prescott dying from

famine within the next few months. Government representatives from

across the region are here at this summit on the famine. The aim is to

come up with an action plan to be signed by the heads of State. They

want to ensure that the next time a drought hits it does not cause a

humanitarian catastrophe. Right now more than 13 million people across

the region are addressed. This is the epicentre of the crisis,

Somalia, where the UN says the famine is still spreading.

Humanitarian agencies are still delivering food but the effort in

the south of the country is hampered by the ongoing war of. The

group which controls the worst area is Neen there are not aid packages

getting to people. Anybody who can talk to us or speak with us to help

as save so Malawians we will talk to them. There is a glimmer of hope

that the dire situation could provoke the warring factions to put

aside their differences. Kenya's foreign minister says if expensive

military campaigns could be funded by the West then surely money could

be found to save lives. We are continuously reminding the rest of

the world that if they can spend billions of dollars to drive out

Gaddafi they can spell a little of that to save the dying people in

the Horn of Africa. This crisis will not be solved by a few heads

of State flying in to sign a bit of paper but it will remind the world

that the famine is still causing misery for millions across this

region and the humanitarian response will be needed for months

to come. The United Nations envoy to Somalia took a break from those

discussions at the gathering in Nairobi to talk to us. He told us

that more donor funding is needed. There has been a very generous

response so far but out of the estimated $1 billion that is

required for the next six months to address the famine, or only 300

million have been received so far. The effort is continuing. This

meeting is very important to help reach the target. What is the key

thing you want to see happen in this area to ensure people are not

starving? Firstly we must have policies that are addressing the

root causes of drought and implementing the measures that are

needed in a full security, water management and land use. The whole

question of pastoralists in this part of the world has -- who have

lost their livestock in the past few months. We hear the Government

are trying to speak to members of the rebel groups so that they can

go to the areas where they are in control, is that the case and would

that not be legitimising a militant group? Humanitarian access and

security for humanitarian workers is one issue. Political

negotiations is another. The group should renounce violence, laid down

their arms and joined the peace process. There may be promising

signals now that this is the moment and the opportunity where elements

of the rebel group are again invited to come into the political

discussions, this would be the time. The door remains open and an olive

branch has been extended by the ruling Government and by the

international community through the United Nations Security Council.

That was the UN envoy for Somalia are talking to me from Nairobi.

Nearly one in 10 Americans are looking for her work. Their economy

needs to create thousands of jobs each year just to stand still. In a

few hours' time Barack Obama will unveil a plan to get Americans back

to work. You may not guess it from this crowd, but Barack Obama's

popularity is at a new low placing him under more pressure to get

Americans back to work. Given the lack of appetite for more

Government spending, his suggestions for cranking up the

economy might not get far. depends what kind of stimulus will

be called for, if it is a waste ranging spending package the chance

of getting it through the house is rather slim. -- wide-ranging.

President is expected to roll out a 300 billion dollar plan which will

include tax credits for companies that hire new workers as well as

funding for infrastructure projects and assistance for the long-term

unemployed. With 14 million Americans out of were one training

programme in Georgia is getting a lot of attention. It lets companies

try out employees for eight weeks, it cuts the cost of training for

business while allowing the worker to continue to receive an

unemployment cheque. This woman has a job at a college today because of

the programme. I decided if I could go somewhere and volunteer for a

while to see if it is a fit for me and if I am a fit for them, there

is nothing to lose. For millions of Americans the great recession of a

couple of years ago and never ended. Without an increase in-demand,

there may not be jobs for them. It joining as now from New York is an

expert from a school of business. Does this 300 billion dollar job

plan sound good to you? Some parts are better than others. You get the

most in terms of short-term stimulus if you are actually

creating jobs. If you are spending money on things to benefit the

economy in the long term like infrastructure. In terms of tax

cuts, you have to aim at people on lower levels of pay, they will

probably be trying to pay off their debt rather than spending. For

companies that are worried about the uncertainty in their economy,

they will not hire people because it is a little cheaper. It will

take more of a push to make them feel good about the prospects for

the economy in the long term. people think there is another

recession on the cards in the US? People have been talking about two

recessions and a double Decker. I think we are looking at a period of

slow growth which will take us a lot of time to generate that demand

and see a return to the higher growth levels of earlier. This is

not a recession, it is a severe contraction. What about printing

more money? I think there is a lot of pressure for inflation all

around the world because there are a lot of countries that have huge

debts. Inflation is one way to make them go away. Countries such as

China are seeing do not use inflation because it will alter the

terms of trade. Thank you. -- China are saying. It is a question that

has baffled scientists for generations, how did we become

human and who are our closest ancestors? Scientists in South

Africa believe they may have found a hidden link between chimps and

humans. They have been studying two skeletons which are more than 2

million years old. South African scoreless park the cradle of

humankind. It turns out that it may well be. These remains were found

in a cave at the park. They are of an ape-like creature who lived 2

million years ago. Research shows they are the most human-like tapes

of their time. These hands may have been able to use tools. News Gans

of its skull shows that the brain was shifting to being more human-

like. We are looking for something that is potentially tool using,

there are the potential origins of language, something that is looking

like us. This is the story of human evolution so far. The first apes

emerged 20 million years ago, then came three humans, apes with some

human characteristics. Then came the first true Schumann's, this

happened around 2 million years ago. The new species is thought to be

right at the transition point between the human and Schumann.

Some say it actually was the very first human. -- human. This new

discovery challenges the theory that the first human arrived in

East Africa. Scientists once thought there was a linear

progression from monkey to ape to Schumann. We now know the picture

was far more complicated. There were many similar species which

became fewer over the years until there was just one, us. Never

before have our origins been studied in so much detail. There

are a deeper questions about what it truly means to be human. Now let

us remind you of our main story. An independent inquiry here has

concluded that British soldiers serving in Iraq took part in

unjustified and brutal violence that led to the deaths of an Iraqi

civilian. A sustained assault on the Baha Mousa and other detainees

in 2003 had left a very great stain on Britain's armed forces. That is

often now. Goodbye. -- that is all After the cool and breezy weather

we have some warmth to end the week. It will be as sticky day tomorrow.

The warmth is spreading up from the south. There will be some moist

area and so coastal or hill fog. During the day tomorrow it will

warm up. That comes after a morning of a good deal of cloud. These will

see the sunshine breaking through the cloud. By 4 o'clock there is

quite a difference in temperatures. Not necessarily clear blue skies

but it will be brighter, warmer and more humid than it has been. There

will be coastal fog on the south coast and into South Wales. We will

see some patchy outbreaks of rain or showers developing here. If you

catch a shower it could be on the heavy side, especially late in the