25/01/2012 World News Today


25/01/2012

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This is BBC World News today with Tim Willcox. One year on from the

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start of the revolution and still a divided country. Egypt's Tahrir

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Square draws the crowds again, but where are the Facebook generation?

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How much change has really happened? Although most of the

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targets of the Egyptian revolution had not been accomplished yet.

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special forces from the same team that killed Osama Bin Laden 3 two

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American hostages in Somalia. It came just hours before President

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Obama set out his vision for a second term in office. I intend to

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fight obstruction with action and I will oppose any effort to return to

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the same policies that brought on his economic crisis in the first

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place. We assess whether his State of the Union address will win over

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the voters. Also coming up, 2,600 delegates, 40

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heads of state, 18 central bank chiefs and about 70 billionaires.

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The German Chancellor opens the World economic Forum in Davos.

:01:16.:01:26.
:01:26.:01:33.

There is still a lot to learn from the economic crisis. And life after

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Borat, a new films showing Kazakhstan as the people would like

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to us see it. Hello and welcome. One year to the

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day since the start of the revolution in Egypt which swept

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Hosni Mubarak from power, thousands of people return to Tahrir Square

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in Cairo. Far from a united nation, the decisions in the society were

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all too clear. Rival stages were set, with banners carrying

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conflicting messages. Business, who command a majority in Parliament,

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celebrating, one pro-democracy supporters want further reform,

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including the resignation of the ruling military council. It is

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Party demonstration, part celebration. One year on, Egyptians

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are proud of what they have achieved, but angry about what has

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not been done yet. Tahrir Square is a bit of a noisy street party.

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There are plenty here pressing hard for a quicker move to democracy.

:02:44.:02:54.
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am proud of the revolution. We still find that the Egyptian people,

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although most of the targets of the Egyptian revolution had not been

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accomplished debt, it has not been filled by the military council.

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Around the square, there are at least three different stages, with

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the different political groups all blaring out of their competing

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messages. That certainly would not have been possible one year ago.

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Neither would this. Some fairly vicious caricatures of Eija's

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current leaders. These are also pictures of those killed in the

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revolution. Some are being drawn by artists, right in the middle of the

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demonstration. One year on from the revolution, Egypt is still ruled by

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the military. This man addressed the nation last night to stress

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that the army support the aims of the revolution. The other power in

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the land are the Islamists. They are in the majority in the newly

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elected Parliament and they are involved in complicated behind the

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scenes negotiations with the army of for a handover of power to

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civilian rulers. Not everyone here in Tahrir Square once the immediate

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downfall of the military. There are plenty of different agendas. Sooner

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or later, someone will have to get this country moving again. One year

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after the revolution, it is no longer the People versus the

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government, but a lot of groups competing for power. Sometimes

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demonstrating, sometimes confronting, sometimes negotiating,

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it will be a long and complicated road ahead for Egypt.

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Let us take you lied to Tahrir Square where you can see many

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people still packing that central square in the heart of Cairo. This

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is for the start of those mass protests against Hosni Mubarak. It

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resulted in him been swept from power. He is facing trial. Let us

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stay and speak to Dr Omagh Ashour, director of Middle East Studies at

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the University of Exeter. There were special commemorative coins,

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mass parties planned for the whole of Egypt. How sincere gesture is

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that? I guess it is a way to absorb some of the anger of the protesters.

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I was in a suburb walking to Tahrir Square, more than 100,000

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protesters came out and the chance were overwhelmingly against the

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armed forces. All of them were demanding a transition to civilian

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rule, elected civilian rule, President first, it was chanted a

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lot of times. It is a way to tell the Supreme Council to hold

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elections as soon as possible. April is the deadline. We will see

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more and more protests to push back the military out of role. Now there

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is a Parliament, but the Parliament has limited powers, it cannot

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appoint a government, it cannot sack a minister. It has the role of

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crafting the constitution. To complement the full transition of

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power, we need an elected president and that was the main demand today

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in Tahrir Square. We were both there one year ago and I remember

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that the Facebook generation was there, how the revolution swept

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around the country via electronic media. Where were those people?

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Many of them poorer all-round. Many of these younger activists ant all

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of them were in the demonstration today. And many of them were

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leading the demonstration coming from the upper middle-class areas.

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They were in Tahrir Square speaking to people and trying to formulate

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an upcoming strategy. They were calling for a massive protest on

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Friday calling for elections as soon as possible. These debates are

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there and most of these activists were there. This is a very

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different game, the election process. And many of them did not

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win in the parliamentary do that -- elections, but outside in street

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politics, things are different and they showed today that they can

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mobilise again and there is a lot of support for their demands for

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their calls of the full transition to civilian rule.

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Now look at some of the other news. At least 70 people in the Pakistani

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city of Lahore are believed to have been killed by contaminated hard

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drugs. Officials say the deaths appear to be linked to a batch of

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drugs given to patients free of charge by a government-run hospital.

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A government official has told us that 28,000 people received drugs

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from a contaminated batch. We understand that the drugs were

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distributed free of charge in the middle of December. Some officials

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say these drugs were manufactured by a little-known local companies

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and they did not have expiry dates. Samples of the suspected -- suspect

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drugs have been sent for testing. At least one firm has been closed

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and several arrests have been made. Relatives of the dead are saying

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that authorities waited too long to ring the alarm bells and a more

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lives were lost because of this. Doctors are warning the death toll

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could reach 150. We know that more than 400 people have become ill

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since taking these drugs. Hospital sources have been telling the BBC

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that they come under pressure to buy from the cheaper suppliers.

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They say if they do not, they could face court action from local firms.

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In the wake of this tragedy, doctors are saying that has to stop

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and that hospitals have to be forced to buy drugs from reputable

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authorised suppliers, not just from the cheapest people in the market.

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Nigeria's president Goodluck Jonathan has sacked his police

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chief Hafiz Ringim. It comes in the wake of attacks by Boko Haram and a

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recent escape from police custody of a man suspected of masterminding

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the Christmas Day church attack. South Sudan has agreed a deal with

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Kenya to build an oil pipeline, potentially reducing its dependence

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on its northern neighbour Sudan. Last week, South Sudan said it was

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stopping its oil production because of the row with the government of a

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transit fees. President Obama has praised the US

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special forces to launch a pre-dawn raid in Somalia and rescuing two

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hostages including an American. Both were on hand, but nine parrots

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were killed. The aid workers were abducted in October when working

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for a Danish de-mining organisation. The Navy Seal team the rescue the

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hostages was the same team that killed Osama Bin Laden. A commander

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in chief with every reason to be relieved. On his way to give the

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State of the Union address last night, President Obama

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congratulated his Defence Secretary on a secret rescue mission in

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Somalia. This mission ended these two aid worker's nightmare. They

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were freed by US Navy seals after three months held by Somali

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kidnappers. They were seized last October in northern Somalia while

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working for a Danish mine-clearing charity. They were held to ransom

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and the health deteriorated and the US decision to rescue them came

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from the White House. They were being held in a compound in

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northern Somalia. US Navy seals, from the same unit that killed

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Osama Bin Laden, mounted the operation. They parachuted into the

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area, landing close to the compound at 2am. Gunfire broke out as they

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approached and then the fighting that followed, all nine kidnappers

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were killed. There were no US casualties. The hostages were then

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flown by helicopter to the safety of the US base. The entire

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operation lasted one hour. When it was over, the president rang the

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woman's father. He had taken a big risk. That President personally

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authorised this and we have our special operations forces. They

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concluded they should go at this time and the President gave the go-

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ahead. The raid was the highest profile military action in Somalia

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since US forces pulled out of there in 1994. That still leaves over 150

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hostages, mostly sailors, held by Somali pirates and bandits. The

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ransoms for their release are rising, well into the millions. One

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of those still being held is a British tourist, snatched from this

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Kenyan beach resort last September and taken to Somalia. It is partly

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what prompted David Cameron to call an international conference on

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Somalia next month. Tonight, there are two X hostages his ordeal is

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over. There will be more kidnappings and more piracy.

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Somalia's problems will need lasting solutions.

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That daring raid happened just hours before President Obama went

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to Capitol Hill to deliver his annual State of the Union address.

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In it, he demanded a fairer tax system with the wealthiest

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Americans paying more. He said the policy was about common sense, not

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class war. That is how his republican opponents described it.

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The president of the United States! Up it is a great American ritual

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and by now he knows the stage craft by heart. Will be Raffles estate at

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the President Obama's last. With tens of millions watching at home,

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this was a pitch for his own job. America is back! Anyone who tells

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you otherwise, any one who tells you that America is in decline or

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that our influence has waned, does not know what they're talking

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about! To there was optimism here, jobs being created at last, a car

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industry reborn. What pains President Obama is the widening gap

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between rich and poor. He says the nation faced a choice. We can sell

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for country were is shrinking number of people do well, whether a

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growing number barely get by. And we can restore an economy where

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everyone gets a fair shot and were everyone does their fair share and

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where everyone plays by the same set of rules! Translation? The rich

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should pay more in tax. Republicans call that class warfare. On foreign

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affairs, he pledged that America would remain the one indispensable

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nation, but he sounded a warning. The let there be no doubt. America

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is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and I will

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take no options of the table to achieve that goal! In Syria, I have

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no doubt that the regime will soon discover that the forces of change

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cannot be reversed and that human dignity cannot be denied.

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president ended with a call for common purpose, evoking the spirit

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of the Navy seals who killed Osama Bin Laden. This was a speech

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delivered in Congress, but directed at American voters far beyond

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Washington. The President will now take his message on the road to

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vital battleground states that will The trouble is, more than half of

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the American population do not believe he can change things around.

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Two-thirds do not like his direction. He has an uphill task.

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You have to give the President his dues. The private sector has

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created jobs for 23 consecutive months, offsetting declines in be

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government sector. People did not think that he would be as strong as

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he is now six months ago. Things are moving in the right direction

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but him politically, but certainly for the American economy. He

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deserves the credit. When you look at what has happened and what the

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Republicans try to do to our country last summer when they were

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denied -- they denied the United States paying his debt...

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United States is equal for the debt. The President called for two

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trillion dollars -- up four trillion dollars in cuts but it has

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to be staged. We want our economy to get stronger, we need to make

:16:41.:16:45.

commitments and put the cuts in place. But we also needs to raise

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revenue. He is quite clear. When you ask Americans whether they

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think the tax system is fair and fairly applied, particularly when

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you have a presidential candidate who paid less than 50 % of his vast

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wealth in taxes, I think this is a winner issue for the President.

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Mitt Romney was clearly in his sights, though he did not mention

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him by name. Doesn't the empirical evidence showed that when you do

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raise tax rates, the actual tax take is lower? No. Honestly, you

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cannot 0.21 situation in US history where that has been the truth. That

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is an old wives tale which has been told time and time again and it is

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simply not true. When it comes to paying back the deficit, how on

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earth is it going to happen when everything is locked in terms of

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Congress? There is no support there. Let's not forget that when Bill

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Clinton was President, we have balanced books up. We then had a

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president, George Bush, who went in a completely different direction,

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gave tax cuts and drove spending or wildly out of proportion, got as

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involved in two wars, one of which our current President has finally

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withdrawn as from, so I think the American people will hear this

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discussion over the next few months once the Republicans have selected

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their candidate and we will have a good dialogue. But having said that,

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this President is in much better shape than he appeared to have been

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six months ago, particularly with the private sector job growth that

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the US is experiencing. If you look at the water industry, one which

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Barack Obama single-handedly saved, hundreds of thousands of people

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directly and indirectly employed against -- over the opposition of

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most Republicans. -- the automobile industry. We must leave it there.

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:19:03.:19:10.

There's lots of snow, and it's icy cold in the Swiss ski resort of

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Davos, but there are many heated debates ahead for the top political

:19:14.:19:16.

and business leaders gathered at the World Economic Forum there. The

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meeting was officially opened by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

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She urged her audience to reflect on what lessons had been drawn from

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the global financial and economic crisis and suggested there was

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still a lot more to learn. TRANSLATION: What is needed is a

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big rethink. Ever since 2008 and 2009, we have been debating time

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and again what lessons we can draw from this big global financial and

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economic crisis. Let us and perhaps take a moment and reflect a

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question that was asked last year and that I'm going to ask again

:19:42.:19:47.

this year, what lessons have we learnt from the global financial

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and economic crisis? Is it sufficient? The answer to that it

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is even in this year, it is still not sufficient. If we are talking

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about having a rethink and are breaking new ground, I think there

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is still room here for improvement. If one is realistic, even perhaps a

:20:07.:20:13.

bit pessimistic come up one has to say that although in 2008 and 2009

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we have experienced very clearly that there is a close

:20:17.:20:22.

interdependency, we have now been able to bring the Doha round to a

:20:22.:20:26.

successful conclusion. We had a fast changeover in Davos.

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Our previous guest is gone and we can now speak to the deputy editor

:20:30.:20:37.

of the Financial Times Deutschland. Thank you for joining us. Germany

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reset pushing the eurozone into a vicious downward cycle with

:20:42.:20:46.

unrealistic austerity demands. It was -- was their son that she was

:20:46.:20:54.

listening to him today? It was known before that that is not her

:20:54.:21:00.

opinion. What did you draw from that? Bizzett more of the same? She

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is not listening to the IMF either. She made it clear today, and that

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was for the first time that she made it back play, that Germany is

:21:09.:21:14.

not prepared to pay it more money for the eurozone, at least for the

:21:14.:21:19.

time being. That was new today and there was clear. Interesting that

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Christine Lagarde wants the merging of the temporary yes -- ESF their

:21:28.:21:31.

point Why was he not go along with something like that? Is it too

:21:31.:21:37.

politically dangerous? That is one reason. She would run into massive

:21:37.:21:42.

problems if she agreed to pay more money because the Democrats are

:21:43.:21:47.

strictly against it, as is the population. On the other hand, her

:21:47.:21:53.

opinion is that the eurozone is doing pretty well, and better than

:21:53.:21:57.

the weeks before. We had some success for bond auction is,

:21:57.:22:02.

austerity programmes are in place in a few countries and today, she

:22:02.:22:06.

mentioned that she almost praises countries like Spain, Portugal,

:22:06.:22:10.

Italy and Ireland for putting these austerity programmes in place. That

:22:10.:22:15.

is why she thinks she can have this tough decision. She also asked

:22:15.:22:19.

business leaders to give policy makers more time to allow them to

:22:19.:22:28.

sort this out, but how much town is left? There is a schedule now, that

:22:28.:22:34.

the problem is we think Greece is more or less fixed, but still we do

:22:34.:22:40.

not know how the outcome will be. Once we will run into problems with

:22:40.:22:45.

Greece Again, then the game is open. The problem is not solved yet, but

:22:45.:22:50.

we look better now than we did six or seven months ago because we had

:22:50.:22:59.

that idea of a new EU treaty which is being constructed. We have this

:22:59.:23:03.

successful bond auction so it seems like as if we are on the right

:23:03.:23:08.

track, but we had this opinion several times before so I'm not

:23:08.:23:18.
:23:18.:23:20.

sure either. Thank you for joining Five years ago, comedian Sacha

:23:20.:23:23.

Baron Cohen put the spotlight on Kazakhstan for all the wrong

:23:23.:23:25.

reasons with his film spoof 'Borat.' Now the country is

:23:25.:23:28.

launching its own cinematic fight back. To mark its 20th anniversary

:23:28.:23:31.

of independence from the Soviet Union, it's made its most expensive

:23:31.:23:34.

film ever, a national epic called 'Myn Bala.' And as the BBC's Arts

:23:34.:23:37.

Correspondent, Emma Jones reports, there's a new wave of Kazakh films

:23:37.:23:47.
:23:47.:23:47.

This was the Bay -- the weight Sacha Baron Cohen's film brought

:23:47.:23:53.

Kazakhstan to the West. Although it was timing tea, they were betrayed

:23:53.:23:57.

as backward, sister marrying peasants. Finally this is their

:23:57.:24:05.

response, their own cinema invasion. This is a film which is filmed --

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No nylon jackets anywhere, this is the true history of how two

:24:15.:24:18.

centuries ago cassocks overthrew the Mongolian oppressors. This

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message of freedom cost 7 million US dollars to make and it was

:24:22.:24:28.

funded by the cassocks to tell their story. TRANSLATION: We made a

:24:28.:24:32.

good movie and I think it will appeal to a crop -- audiences

:24:32.:24:36.

across the world. A great film knows no borders.

:24:36.:24:40.

It would be wrong to assume there is no mood the infrastructure here.

:24:40.:24:44.

These are the world renowned nomad stunt men. This is where the cast

:24:44.:24:49.

get put through their paces for the film. This stunt team have worked

:24:49.:24:56.

all over the world on films like Conan the barbarian. They then came

:24:56.:25:04.

home to Kazakhstan to make this They are a bad to do more domestic

:25:04.:25:09.

work as well. Last year, the tale of a pink bunny, a look at while

:25:09.:25:13.

the youth, became the country's highest grossing domestic film ever.

:25:13.:25:17.

It alerted the authorities they had a market are now 20 films are in

:25:17.:25:23.

production, Trent not -- 90 % of which are funded.

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TRANSLATION: We have done a lot to attract young film-makers. Now the

:25:30.:25:35.

script writers are coming to us. The average age is between 20 and

:25:35.:25:40.

27, they are the new wave of directors.

:25:40.:25:44.

This film should be launched at the Cannes Film Festival, but it is

:25:44.:25:48.

hoped its sweeping landscapes will attract Westerners, although

:25:48.:25:53.

modern-day Kazakhstan is as much about oil as a year its.

:25:53.:25:59.

TRANSLATION: Making films is important for our image building

:25:59.:26:02.

for an international audience. It is a good investment to put money

:26:02.:26:05.

in. After all, it is advertising the country abroad and hopefully

:26:06.:26:15.
:26:16.:26:21.

It is hoped this a national epic could really make benefit for the

:26:21.:26:28.

glorious nation of Kazakhstan, as A reminder of our main news:

:26:28.:26:31.

Thousands of Egyptians have returned to Tahrir Square in Cairo,

:26:31.:26:34.

a year after the start of the protests which overthrew President

:26:34.:26:36.

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