09/12/2011 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me Tim Willcox. The birth of a new

Europe? The UK refuses to sign a new EU treaty to tackle the

Eurozone crisis. With the other 26 members either prepared or close to

signing up, David Cameron says it's not in Britain's national interest.

So what now for the UK in the EU? We were offered a treaty that

didn't have proper safeguards for Britain and I decided it was not

right to sign that treaty. That was the decision I took. Everybody knew

that we are talking about something very important, very important

decisions. We regretted that Great Britain is not able to go along the

same path. Congo braces for violence as the

opposition candidate rejects the presidential election results

saying he's the rightful winner. A rare sign of confidence in the hope

for peace in Somalia with a visit from the UN Secretary General. Also

coming up in the programme: Feeling the heat: protesters dominate the

final day of the climate change conference in Durban. How one woman

overcame a lifetime of obstacles to become an artistic sensation - we

meet Iraqi Kurdistan's Lady Of Hello and welcome. He says it's in

Britain's national interest, but David Cameron's refusal to sign a

pact to stabilise the euro has not made him a popular man in Europe.

As 26 of the EU's other members agreed in principle to the deal,

the British prime minister said it would compromise the UK's

sovereignty by ceding some budgetary powers to Brussels.

Britain's relationship with the European Union, he conceded, has

changed. The BBC's Europe Editor, Gavin Hewitt reports from Brussels.

This was a summit when the you changed, a summit full of tension.

The French President's was chipper, the British Prime Minister managing

a clenched smile as Britain's relationship with Europe changed

too. France and Germany wanted to amend the treaty is to impose

tougher discipline on budgets, but needed British agreement but the

Prime Minister wanted safeguards in return. The arguments continued

until 4 am. Good morning, sorry for keeping you up. I said before

coming to Brussels that if I could not get adequate safeguards for

Britain in a new European treaty, I would not agree. What is on offer

is not in Britain's interests so I did not agree. Cameron wanted to

protect the UK's financial services sector but the French and Germans

were in no mood to make concessions. David Cameron asked for something

we thought was unacceptable. To exempt the UK from regulations on

financial-services which we think a large part of the problem comes

from the deregulation of financial services. So the idea of treaty

change was effectively sunk by a British veto. Before the leaders

headed off for two hours' sleep, they made it clear if they could

not get changed the eurozone countries would go it alone with a

deal of their own. Gradually it was clear how isolated Britain had

become. For most of the other countries not in the eurozone, they

indicated they might sign up. Increasingly it appeared as if it

might end up with Britain on one side and 26 other countries on the

other. So what have these eurozone countries signed up to? Greater

European control on tax and spending, national budgets will be

viewed at European level first, sanctions for those who overspend

like Greece and Italy, these countries will meet monthly,

Britain will be excluded. Daybreak after a marathon a night, the

leaders returns to the summit and Angela Merkel said this about

Cameron. David Cameron was at the negotiating table and we made this

decision, we could not make a lousy compromise for the euro, we had to

set up hard rules. Other leaders noted eat Britain was alone in

demanding concessions. Brits are divided and they are out side of

decision-making. The mood to extend to a ceremony welcoming Croatia as

the latest EU member. Last but not least, the United Kingdom. Mr David

Cameron. The Prime Minister said he was not frightened of being left

out of future talks. So Europe's leaders headed home with a new pact

to instil discipline overspending. What has not been addressed his

debt and low growth. The fundamental problems of the

eurozone. David Cameron insists Britain will

still have a significant influence in Europe despite being the only EU

country to veto the new agreement. His decision has delighted the

eurosceptics within his party but may encourage calls for a

referendum in the UK. The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson has

more. This picture might not make it onto

David Camerons mantelpiece. It captures the moment the European

family split, 26 against one. The moment a British Prime Minister

made a stand, the moment others say he was hopelessly outmanoeuvred by

the French President. You're in a room with 26 others say put aside

for national interest, go with the crowd, do what will make life easy

there in the room but you say no, it's important we get the things

Britain needs and I decided not to sign the treaty. On the morning

after a long night before, Cameron found himself alone at the EU

summit table. He might have to get used to it, the leaders of France

and Germany and the commission will plan Europe's economic future

without Britain. Even countries now not in the euro will join in. When

Europe's leaders meet, it's possible 26 will be in the room,

one, you, Britain, will not be there. How is that in the countries

interest? We are not in the euro, we do not want to join the euro is

so I do not need to go to those meetings. There is 17 leaders, this

is one country, one leader is not there. It is right for Britain to

say which bits of Europe most benefit us as a nation and to focus

on those things, I am not frightened of the fact sometimes

you might not be included. Are we better off outside the euro? You

bet we are! Sarkozy left smiling, he has always argued Britain should

not influence decisions but to none of our business. We are in the

parts of Europe we need to be, the single-market but we are not

involved in this complex treaty with tougher punishments for

countries in other parts of Europe that leave be on their means,

additional complexity, bureaucracy and rules. We are not in that.

David Cameron headed home knowing he has done something even Margaret

Thatcher never did, Britain is still in the EU but much of it is

now heading off in a completely different direction.

Ian Watson it joins us from Brussels. What is the mood towards

Britain? The mood is to fold, some of politicians here feel irritation

with Britain but they were pushing their own demands in protecting the

financial-services industry were never such a big crisis in the

eurozone. The second view is more nuanced, they expect Britain to

stay out side of the single currency and push its own interests

but feel when it came to negotiations, David Cameron

miscalculated, he felt Angela Merkel would have been on site to

give concessions to get a treaty of all 27 EU states. In fact, in the

end, she said no, she sided with the French. Sometimes you can

divide France and Germany but not over the euro. It was felt it was a

gamble which went wrong for David Cameron. He is putting a brave face

on it, he says different countries can do different things and his

stock is high with some of his own MPs. The view here is perhaps he

could have played his hand rather better or perhaps should not have

been the first place been pushing demands which seemed peripheral at

the time of major crisis. On the point of the transaction tax, he

said that was at the heart of this but the EU is going hell-for-

leather try to make Frankfurt and Paris the French will centre of

Europe. Well, the French and Germans say no, they are happy to

protect London and a sympathetic to London as a major financial centre

but they would say simply this, while London has pre-eminence at

the moment as a financial centre in Europe, they were not prepared to

agree what they saw as the concessions and special treatment

for Britain on a certain things which David Cameron wanted which

they felt undermined the single market when it came to financial

transactions. He listed the demands at 2:30am, they included making

sure member states would have full consultation and a veto over future

financial regulations and the French and Germans especially felt

that went too far. That shows the gulf between Britain and other

countries because David Cameron felt these were reasonable demands

and some of his own MPs thought he was not asking for enough.

In a few minutes we'll be speaking to the UK's minister for Europe

David Lidington but first let's look at the day's other major

stories. Now a look at some of the days other news. The Democratic

Republic of Congo is bracing itself for violence, the results of the

election show a come -- a comfortable majority for the

incumbent. There were warnings they will reject anything other than

victory for their candidate. Let's go to Nairobi and speak to will

Ross. Etienne Tshisekedi has declared himself the leader. What

is happening at the moment? It is a tense city at the moment.

There was some gunfire we understand from the anti- riot

police to get some of those supporters away from his home.

There has been a fair number of clashes, there have been a few

clashes recently between anti- riot police and Etienne Tshisekedi

supporters. Etienne Tshisekedi, who was defeated in this election, has

called for Supporters to become and has also said to wait for his word

on what he wants to do next. The options are to go to the courts as

challenge the results but the problem is the opposition says it

has no faith in the judicial system, it is packed with supporters of

President can be left. Will he called for mass protests because

there is a fear if that happens they could be violence. When you

look at the reaction of the independent observers, they say the

results were flawed but not fraudulent. Well, you get different

stories from different observers. Frankly, none of the observer

groups could get a proper picture of what was happening across the

country. There were whole areas of Congo, where there were no

international observers whatsoever monitoring the vote counting. It is

quite clear the transparency of the vote count itself was a bit

questionable, there were concerns from different members of the

international community trying to assess the election but a

complicated poll and it is clear up a dangerous situation, many

candidates have support and income Chasseur Etienne Tshisekedi has a

great deal of support. It is a precarious situation, a lot of

tension end the facts we now have the loser declaring himself the

winner does not bode well. The international community will be

keeping a close side and we have heard from the International

Criminal Court in the Hague which says using a lecture will violence

to get into office were not be a ticket to the presidency, it will

be a ticket to the Hague. Thank you. Anger Barbon agreement has

dominated final day of the UN talks in Durban. World leaders have spent

two weeks try to hammer out a deal. Slogan chanting activist try to

break into the meeting hall urging delegates to come up with a binding

agreement to/emissions by 2015 at the latest. Let's cross to our

correspondent who has been covering the conference. I read reports

suggesting momentum is building behind an EU plan, is that your

sense? There's more smoke and mirrors about this process than

there is substance. You get different messages from different

people and some of them you know are correct and others are telling

you because he wanted to have a message to the world. Clearly there

is momentum but there always is, we should have finished all ready.

That is how late in the day we are. Ministers have been meeting, the

meeting has just broken, an informal meeting to hammer out the

big remaining issues and I think we are due to here later in the

evening what might have happened. China is a key to all of this, do

you get any idea of whether it will hang on to his position as a

developing nation with the extra demand at the end that it will have

to conform to more stringent conditions than perhaps other

At the moment, China is going to hang on to its status as a

developing nation in that context. On the other hand, it has indicated

previously that it wants to take emissions cuts commensurate with

its development in the future. I interpret that to mean that when

the emissions get high enough it would be willing to take on the

same commitments that Western countries have. The Chinese have

previously been very open, they spoke to pass on a number of the

occasions, but today they have been out of the public eye. -- they

spoke to last. The UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon, who has been

visiting Somalia, has called on the Islamist group Al-Shabab to stop

violence and join in the police -- peace process. He met the President

and Prime Minister. The Secretary- General also visited a refugee camp.

Ban Ki-moon's trip is one of the highest level visit to Somalia in

years. Al-Shabab has attacked targets in the capital but has

moved out of the city in recent months. The Secretary-General

really wanted to highlight the plight of the newly 0.5 million

refugees that fled Somalia and live here in the Kenyan border. His

security people that it was not safe enough to go to the actual

camp, so he is staying in the UN compound. The refugees are meeting

him here. The media is preoccupied by the news that Al-Shabab has

expelled a number of aid organisations. The Secretary-

General has condemned that. He was in Mogadishu just before he came

here, but while there, he focused on political issues. The UN is

pushing a political road map. They are trying to get the authorities

to come up with a new constitution and reform Parliament by August.

They are quite impatient with these authorities, they are weak and

corrupt. He said a strong message that they should take this road map

seriously. They should extend their authority and try and win public

support. The African peacekeepers in Mogadishu have recently pushed

out the Al-Shabab militants, and the visit to Mogadishu shows there

has been some progress. Even though that is the case, the militants are

fighting back. There has been a number of attacks in Mogadishu this

week. Activists in Syria say 13 people

have been killed in anti-government demonstrations. A number of pro-

government demonstrations have been reported. A roadside bomb has

killed at least five French UN peacekeepers and 11 civilians -- a

Lebanese civilian. The Prime Minister has condemned the attack.

A letter bomb has exploded in the tax office in Rome. The director-

general was wounded in the explosion. It comes one day after a

similar bomb was sent to the chairman of Deutsche Bank. The

Dutch government has apologised for a massacre committed by its

soldiers in Indonesia more than 60 years ago as the company fought for

independence. A sermon was held in the village of Rawagede on the

island of Jaafar. -- Java. Pope Benedict will visit Cuba next year.

It is the second time he has visited. A Cuban church official

confirmed he would meet members of the Government during the visit.

For most of her life, Haji Khanem has lived in impoverished

conditions in Iraqi Kurdistan with no chance of developing her

creative talent. At the age of 75 she is now living in Amsterdam and

has become an artistic sensations. The Dutch media are calling her the

Lady of Colour. She is known as the Lady of Colour, but she has never

been to school or taking any art classes. Haji Khanem waited for 65

years to show her talent. Creating a piece of art gives me pleasure.

If you do not have a purpose in life you can fall into depression.

She loves music and flowers. Years of war in Iraqi Kurdistan took away

any chance to enjoy the beauty of nature. Her father did not let her

go to school, and at a young age, she was married off to an older man

who had four children already. I got married my husband was 36 off

37. I was only 15. Life was very difficult. I had talent and was

good at making things with my hand, but I never got the chance to use

it. When her husband died, Haji Khanem moved to the Netherlands. It

was in Amsterdam she had the chance to see the works of Vincent van

Gogh. She would spend hours in museums and galleries. She cannot

pronounce Vincent van Gogh, and she calls him the man with one ear.

When I arrived I was panicking and did not know how low it learned --

how I would learn that the strange Dutch names. But I started painting

and peoples all my work and started to love it. -- people witnessed my

work. Many people have bought her work and there has been bake

exhibitions. Despite sickness and eight she has finally fulfilled her

talent. It is something she believes millions of suppressed

women around the world should have The Lady of Colour. Opening doors

and using cash machines does not sound impressive until you hear it

is being done by docks. Herein Britain, six puppies are being

trained to do things like that to help injured servicemen and

servicewomen. Six new recruits which could change lives. In a few

short months, these puppies are destined for the homes of those who

love lost their mobility and independence. For now, it is the

basics. The simple commands and the idea that doing something right

will be rewarded with praise and a treat. It is very rewarding. The

first few months are the most difficult because that is when they

are learning so much so quickly. You see it on the television all

the time, what they have been very and still have to go through,

especially with serious injuries, and they do not think enough is

done for them. The initiative has been driven by this man, a former

chief petty officer. He was left partially paralysed after the Gulf

war, and he says his chance encounter with one special dog gave

him the strength to fight back. His head injuries were so severe that

he remembered little of his past life and nothing of his wife and

family. That was before this labrador became his friend and

helper. Little by little, he regained his memory and his love

for those dearest to him. brought me back to my wife and

children in such a manner that we got remarried five years ago. He

saved my life. Now there is another dog. He is also an expert with

buttons. He can do the weekly shop. This is life enabling. There are so

many people that could benefit from a dog. It does not stop here. When

the guns go quiet on the battlefield, the battle is

beginning for so many. The new recruits have a fine example to

follow. For the dogs and their owners, the rewards are unending.

Now what our lead story. Britain's refusal to tackle eurozone crisis.

Britain is isolated, cast adrift. Where are we going to have any

influence if we do not have a seat at the top table? We are full

members of the European Union, and nothing that was agreed at the

summit as in any way changed the requirements of the treaty of

Lisbon. What happened is we were unable to agree to a treaty that

the eurozone members wanted within the context of an amendment to the

treaty of Lisbon. They chose to go ahead with a separate agreement. We

work closely with our partners in the European Union on a range of

issues, from developing the digital market, the single energy market,

both of which were in the summit, cutting the cost of regulation, the

vigorous co-operation on foreign policy. Do you think the UK will be

punished for this? I do not think that is how grown-up European

countries behave. I think European countries today look for

opportunities where they can find the issues on which they can co-

operate. Clearly there are differences of national interest

from time to time, and David Cameron rightly decided that what

was on offer did not provide adequate safeguards for the United

Kingdom's national interests. have made that point. Nick Clegg,

the Prime Minister has spoken to him and told him of the decision.

What you make of his comments that Britain runs the risk of becoming

more marginalised? We have to work very hard to make sure we do not

see the development of eurozone countries against us. When I speak

to them, I speak to ministers from Austria, Germany, and they want to

work with us. That's all for now, goodbye.

Temperatures are tumbling this evening, and with clear skies we

will have the coldest night of the winter so far. Widespread frost and

icy conditions. Accord started tomorrow, many places will be dry

with some sunshine. -- a cold start. Chilly start with icy conditions.

Most of the showers will fade away. Some showers will continue to run

into the north-west of England. It will be a night braced -- a nice,

bright day. The cloud may increase in the south-west. We will keep

some showers around, some running into Wales. For Northern Ireland,

it will be a bit mixed. Temperatures will struggle up to

six degrees. Temperatures will be higher in Scotland, compared to