Browse content similar to 08/03/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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This is BBC World News Today with me, Tim Willcox. Having retaken | :00:11. | :00:14. | |
Homs, reports from Syria say the army is now focusing on rebels in | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
the northwestern city of Idlib. The fear, that Idlib could be a new | :00:18. | :00:21. | |
Baba Amr, where the UN's humanitarian chief talks of | :00:21. | :00:28. | |
devastation. That part of Homs is completely destroyed and I'm | :00:28. | :00:31. | |
concerned to know what has happened to the people who lived in that | :00:31. | :00:37. | |
part of the city. A Special Forces rescue mission in Nigeria ends in | :00:38. | :00:47. | |
:00:48. | :00:48. | ||
failure, with 2 hostages, an Italian and a Briton, killed. | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
Heading our way. The largest solar storm in five years comes with | :00:51. | :00:53. | |
warnings about threats to power supplies and navigation systems. | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
Also coming up in the programme: living with the painful memories. | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
As the first anniversary of the Japanese tsunami approaches, the | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
families still trying to come to terms with the loss of their loved | :01:02. | :01:07. | |
ones. And wowing the crowds after 60 years on the throne. The Queen's | :01:08. | :01:17. | |
:01:18. | :01:22. | ||
Jubilee tour gets underway in Hello and welcome. Reports from | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
Syria say government tanks and troop carriers are moving on the | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
city and province of Idlib - home to many Free Syrian Army fighters | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
and close to the border with Turkey. There've reportedly been government | :01:32. | :01:38. | |
warnings to civilians to leave their lands and their homes. | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
Meanwhile the UN's humanitarian chief, Valerie Amos, has been | :01:41. | :01:44. | |
speaking about the devastation she saw during a short visit to the | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
Syrian city of Homs and in particular the district of Baba Amr. | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
In Cairo the UN and Arab League special envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
says the conflict can only be resolved by a political settlement. | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
The diplomatic pressure coincided with news of the defection of | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
Syria's Deputy Oil Minister to the rebels. Jim Muir reports from | :02:03. | :02:13. | |
:02:13. | :02:20. | ||
neighbouring Lebanon. The Valerie Amos said she was devastated by the | :02:20. | :02:30. | |
:02:30. | :02:42. | ||
destruction she sobbed on her visit to Zawiya. -- Baba Amr. That part | :02:42. | :02:47. | |
of Homs is completely destroyed by and I am concerned to know what has | :02:47. | :02:55. | |
happened to dead people to live in that part of the city. The scale of | :02:55. | :03:00. | |
the destruction impressed upon her. Much of the superficial damage has | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
been cleared away but the underlying devastation cannot be | :03:04. | :03:11. | |
disguised. In addition to the hundreds who died here under | :03:11. | :03:17. | |
bombardment it is said that many more died during summary executions | :03:17. | :03:26. | |
carried out last week. This man is the highest Government member so | :03:26. | :03:34. | |
far to defect. He issued a four minute denunciation on YouTube. | :03:34. | :03:42. | |
do not want to end mightier serving the crimes of this regime. I join | :03:42. | :03:52. | |
the cause of justice knowing they will burn my house, terrorise my | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
family and tell lies about me. The blood of the martyrs will not | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
forgive those who continue as accomplices of the regime on the | :04:01. | :04:07. | |
grounds that they are just employees of being orders. It is | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
good news for the opposition. Its fighters have kept up harrying | :04:12. | :04:19. | |
opposition forces. -- Government forces. The Government continues to | :04:19. | :04:28. | |
use its heavy weapons against towns and villages. It is looking | :04:28. | :04:34. | |
increasingly like civil war. That is what the special peace envoy | :04:34. | :04:40. | |
wants to halt. Stopping off in Cairo he urged the opposition as | :04:40. | :04:46. | |
well as the Syrian Government to co-operate for a balanced solution. | :04:46. | :04:51. | |
His approach she believes is the only practical way. We have to be | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
coldly realistic when we put proposals on the table to | :04:55. | :05:02. | |
understand it can be carried through and will have the right | :05:02. | :05:08. | |
results otherwise we raise false hopes and cause more problems. | :05:08. | :05:13. | |
he cannot make a break through it is doubtful that anybody else can. | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
Well, as reports from inside Syria say that army reinforcements have | :05:16. | :05:18. | |
been sent to the northwestern province of Idlib, activists say | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
they fear an assault similar to the one that devastated the Baba Amr | :05:22. | :05:30. | |
neighbourhood of Homs. Nour lddin is a resident of Idlib, and we can | :05:30. | :05:39. | |
speak to him via a webcam. What is happening around that City this | :05:39. | :05:49. | |
:05:49. | :06:04. | ||
evening? The village where gunmen were born, where a young man was | :06:04. | :06:11. | |
killed they went to his house and other houses in the village. There | :06:11. | :06:21. | |
:06:21. | :06:33. | ||
was another one in the countryside. He died. That led to many people in | :06:33. | :06:41. | |
their houses and at the market demonstrating. There is a very long | :06:41. | :06:47. | |
delay on this site, just one last question if I may, have you seen a | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
build up of army tanks and troop carriers and have there been | :06:51. | :07:01. | |
:07:01. | :07:11. | ||
warnings to people to media before the army moved end? -- move end? -- | :07:11. | :07:21. | |
:07:21. | :07:21. | ||
move in? I am sorry, there were technical problems with that | :07:21. | :07:29. | |
interview. The BBC's Lina Sinjab is in the Syrian capital Damascus. | :07:29. | :07:38. | |
Strong words from the UN. His best having any impact at all on the | :07:38. | :07:48. | |
:07:48. | :07:56. | ||
Zairean as authorities? Yes indeed. -- Syrian as authorities. Baroness | :07:56. | :08:01. | |
Amos said she was waiting to hear what the Syrian as authorities have | :08:01. | :08:11. | |
:08:11. | :08:13. | ||
to say before she takes any further action. The situation is ongoing | :08:13. | :08:19. | |
despite the international condemnation. What about the | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
defection of the Deputy Oil Minister, has there been any | :08:23. | :08:29. | |
official recognition of that? has not been any statement yet from | :08:29. | :08:36. | |
the Government about this defection. Anything which happened in the past | :08:36. | :08:41. | |
was attributed to the Ministry of whom the Government considered | :08:41. | :08:49. | |
traitors. There has not been any reaction from the Government about | :08:50. | :08:56. | |
that so far. Thank you very much for joining us. A British and an | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
Italian construction engineer have been killed in Nigeria during a | :09:00. | :09:07. | |
failed attempt backed by special forces to rescue them. In a | :09:07. | :09:13. | |
statement, just over an hour ago, David Cameron said Nigerian and | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
British forces launched the rescue attempt after information that | :09:17. | :09:22. | |
delights of the men were under increasing threat. We have a video | :09:22. | :09:28. | |
of the men being held in captivity, it was uploaded to YouTube. David | :09:28. | :09:34. | |
Cameron says early indications are that the men were murdered by their | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
captors before they could be freed. It was only today that David | :09:38. | :09:44. | |
Cameron authorised the rescue operation to go ahead. We are still | :09:44. | :09:49. | |
waiting for many of the details to be confirmed. David Cameron gave | :09:49. | :09:54. | |
this statement at Downing Street a short while ago. A British citizen | :09:54. | :10:02. | |
was taken hostage in Nigeria by terrorists in May 2011. He was held | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
left a colleague who was Italian. Since then we have been working | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
with the Nigerian authorities to try to find them both and secured | :10:11. | :10:15. | |
their release. The terrorists holding deep two hostages made very | :10:15. | :10:20. | |
clear threats to take their lives including in a video which was | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
posted on the internet. After months of not knowing where they | :10:25. | :10:30. | |
were being held we received information about their location | :10:30. | :10:35. | |
and a window of opportunity arose to secure their release. We were | :10:35. | :10:44. | |
all sorts under the impression that their lives were in danger and | :10:44. | :10:49. | |
their deaths were imminent. Today I authorised arrest you attempt to go | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
ahead with our support but it is with great regret I have to say | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
that both men have lost their lives. We are still awaiting confirmation | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
of the details but the early indications are that both men were | :11:03. | :11:09. | |
murdered by their captors before they could be rescued. Our security | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
correspondent has been giving us a few more details about the | :11:13. | :11:20. | |
operation and what we think went wrong. These two men were first | :11:20. | :11:24. | |
kidnapped last here in the north- west of the country from a | :11:24. | :11:29. | |
residential compound. There was a video a few months later and then | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
today David Cameron made it clear there had been further concern | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
about the threat to them and intelligence had come in a | :11:37. | :11:42. | |
revealing their possible location. On that basis he said he had given | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
the authorisation for an operation to go-ahead which we understand was | :11:46. | :11:52. | |
Nigerian with operational support also from the UK. That in turn | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
tragically has led to the death of the men tragically at the hands of | :11:56. | :12:03. | |
their captors. Let's have a look at some of the other news now. The | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
Greek Government says it is on its weight to a bond swap deal with | :12:07. | :12:14. | |
investors which could help avoid their huge debts. More than 75 % of | :12:14. | :12:20. | |
private creditors are said to have signed up. The three widows of | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
Osama Bin Laden have been charged with illegally entering and living | :12:24. | :12:34. | |
:12:34. | :12:36. | ||
in Pakistan. Lisa French President says he will abandon politics if he | :12:36. | :12:43. | |
loses the forthcoming presidential election. Nicolas Sarkozy has been | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
criticised for competing with the National Front for right wing bolts | :12:47. | :12:54. | |
after seeing there were too many foreigners in France. -- right-wing | :12:54. | :13:03. | |
votes. Scientists say charged solar particles are heading towards us at | :13:03. | :13:09. | |
more than 16 kilometres per second. The solar storms do not directly | :13:09. | :13:16. | |
harm people but can disrupt satellites and air travel. More | :13:16. | :13:21. | |
from Our Science Correspondent now. A storm on the surface of our son. | :13:21. | :13:27. | |
The most intense in five years. It was triggered by gigantic solar | :13:27. | :13:32. | |
flares earlier this week. The continued activity could soon have | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
an effect on Earth. US Government agencies are monitoring the | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
situation closely. We are at least able to tell you that yes, this is | :13:42. | :13:52. | |
coming towards us, be aware, keep watching, do not get hysterical. | :13:52. | :14:00. | |
solar tsunami is coming our way! But hysterical they got. But how | :14:00. | :14:06. | |
worried should we be? The sun is throwing out sheets of charged | :14:06. | :14:11. | |
particles. It often does this but the difference is that this time | :14:11. | :14:20. | |
these sheets maybe on a collision course with the Earth. We will be | :14:20. | :14:30. | |
:14:30. | :14:31. | ||
protected by the Earth's magnetic field but there could be disruption | :14:31. | :14:38. | |
to the planet's satellites which could affect computer and | :14:38. | :14:43. | |
telecommunications systems. We are moving towards as solar maximum so | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
we may expect these things to increase. We are already co- | :14:47. | :14:53. | |
operating with the Americans on this. Our Prime Minister and Barack | :14:54. | :15:02. | |
Obama signed an agreement last year. So far there are no signs of | :15:02. | :15:12. | |
Let's talk to Ingo Mueller-Wodarg from Imperial College London. A | :15:12. | :15:21. | |
solar tsunami, we heard. I think the worst is over, it has not hit | :15:21. | :15:29. | |
us to Baddeley. It has fizzled by. The main problem is that the | :15:29. | :15:37. | |
electromagnetic storm is a bubble of gas, high energy gas, hitting us | :15:37. | :15:44. | |
in space. But we are well protected by our geomagnetic field and our | :15:44. | :15:49. | |
atmosphere. It seems that the bubble did not hit us directly but | :15:49. | :15:57. | |
hit us on the side. Probably the worst is over. These particles are | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
moving at 4 million miles an hour. Will we be seeing more of these and | :16:01. | :16:07. | |
how great is the potential threat? On ground the threat is minimal. | :16:07. | :16:12. | |
These events have happened as long as life existed on Earth and before | :16:13. | :16:20. | |
that. We are well protected by our magnetic field. However, what used | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
to not be a big problem and is increasingly a problem because we | :16:24. | :16:30. | |
rely on technology in space is that these events disrupt the magnetic | :16:30. | :16:34. | |
fields in space and they can hit the communication between | :16:34. | :16:39. | |
satellites which, in turn, affects signals which much of our lives | :16:39. | :16:46. | |
depend on. And defence systems as well. Of course, and power grids. | :16:46. | :16:51. | |
Events like this will continue to happen and they will get stronger | :16:51. | :16:58. | |
now, with the solar cycle... Why is the sun sends -- sending off be | :16:58. | :17:08. | |
:17:08. | :17:09. | ||
used massive storms? -- the be used massive. This summer is a ball of | :17:10. | :17:14. | |
gas and the magnetic field rearranges itself. -- the sun is a | :17:14. | :17:23. | |
bald gas. It throws off these big bubbles of gas, coronal mass | :17:23. | :17:29. | |
ejection has, and it throws them into space and they are either hid | :17:29. | :17:36. | |
us or they don't. -- coronal mass ejections. The event is completely | :17:36. | :17:41. | |
normal and has not changed over hundreds of thousands of years. | :17:41. | :17:47. | |
nothing to be worried about. have to be careful nowadays. The | :17:47. | :17:52. | |
problem nowadays is that we rely on technology that is in space. We | :17:52. | :17:58. | |
have to be absolutely careful. Sadly, the funding into this area | :17:58. | :18:07. | |
has gone down dramatically. Ingo Mueller-Wodarg, thank you very much. | :18:07. | :18:12. | |
This Sunday's Japan will be remembering victims of the | :18:12. | :18:15. | |
earthquake and tsunami that hit the east coast a year ago. 16,000 | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
people were killed when towns and city in Iwate and Miyagi | :18:19. | :18:26. | |
prefectures were devastated. Damian Grammaticas has been to Japan's | :18:26. | :18:31. | |
East Coast to speak to one family caught up in the disaster. | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
Shadows on the landscape are all that is left of this place. Avoid | :18:35. | :18:40. | |
full of memories. For Tatsuya Suzuki it is the memory of the | :18:40. | :18:45. | |
smile his wife gave him, right here in the two-storey house, as he left | :18:45. | :18:51. | |
for work. I wish I could go back in time, he says, go back to that date. | :18:51. | :18:56. | |
If only I could have saved him. He is burdened by guilt that he | :18:56. | :19:02. | |
survived and Izumi did not. As the a tsunami swept into the area, he | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
had managed to get their two children to safe place is. Seconds | :19:06. | :19:15. | |
later Izumi was carried away by the wave. Today, Hikaru and her little | :19:15. | :19:24. | |
brother Hibiki are laughing again. Sometimes they cry out in their | :19:24. | :19:27. | |
sleep. I see the sadness and a struggle to know what to say. My | :19:27. | :19:37. | |
heart aches. The tsunami killed 1,000 of the | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
7,000 people here. One year on the, the government is burning what | :19:42. | :19:49. | |
little remains of the area. They aim to build this town again, but | :19:49. | :19:54. | |
higher. For hundreds of miles along the coast it is the same story, | :19:54. | :19:59. | |
dozens of communities starting a new. The first priority is the | :19:59. | :20:04. | |
unfinished task of accounting for everybody. More than 3,000 are | :20:04. | :20:12. | |
still missing. At this school, 70 children were swept away. Four have | :20:12. | :20:20. | |
not been found. Yasukichi Takayama's mother disappeared. | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
Nothing moves on, he says. I have been following police teams like | :20:25. | :20:32. | |
this all year. Hikaru and Hibiki used to be so | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
inseparable from their mother. Hikaru is doing well at his new | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
school but their father feels trapped by the past. | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
TRANSLATION: Even though a year has gone by, nothing has really changed. | :20:44. | :20:51. | |
Time has stopped for me. I am still grieving. His children never one to | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
live here again but one day, he says, he will move back. This place | :20:55. | :21:03. | |
still feels like home. In the immediate aftermath of the | :21:03. | :21:06. | |
tsunami there were big fears that the radiation threat posed by the | :21:06. | :21:13. | |
Fukushima nuclear plant but one year on those fears have largely | :21:13. | :21:16. | |
diminished. Some experts believe that the radiation did not pose a | :21:16. | :21:19. | |
long-term risk. One of those experts is Professor Richard | :21:19. | :21:21. | |
Garfield from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. He | :21:21. | :21:26. | |
joins us now from New York. I was there at the time and there was | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
real fear that people even in Tokyo about what was happening. Were | :21:31. | :21:37. | |
those fears are exaggerated completely? Not at all. We did not | :21:37. | :21:42. | |
know how much radiation there would have been and if it had been like | :21:42. | :21:46. | |
Chernobyl there would have been an enormous help effect. It did not | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
turn out that way. These were much better designed, the radiation was | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
contained for the most part and the radiation that did escape was not | :21:55. | :22:01. | |
that harmful and did not reach population centres. It is | :22:01. | :22:04. | |
interesting because, because of lack of knowledge in that sense of | :22:04. | :22:10. | |
not really knowing what might happen, that drove, not hysteria, | :22:10. | :22:15. | |
but real mental anxiety. Is that one of the longer-lasting effects | :22:15. | :22:21. | |
of this disaster? Fear, confusion, lack of understanding of how much | :22:21. | :22:29. | |
radiation there is. Any place there is a radiation escape, this is a | :22:29. | :22:32. | |
man made situation and it is something people don't control | :22:32. | :22:38. | |
themselves. One always has a perception of greater risk when | :22:38. | :22:43. | |
those events are external and unnatural and imposed on one. At | :22:43. | :22:47. | |
the Japanese government compounded by not giving good information. | :22:47. | :22:50. | |
you think people will die as a result of what happened a year ago, | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
but not because of radiation but maybe because of mental health | :22:54. | :22:57. | |
problems and stress and other things impacting on the daily | :22:57. | :23:04. | |
lives? It appears that it is other health affects the and radiation | :23:04. | :23:09. | |
which will have a long-term impact. A third of a million people were | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
displaced and some have health problems but can't be dealt with as | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
effectively when they don't know the physicians who are taking care | :23:17. | :23:22. | |
of them. There are so many people who have lost family members and to | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
have long-term mental and social impacts or stop the father in the | :23:25. | :23:31. | |
story said, my heart aches. Thank you very much, Professor Richard | :23:31. | :23:35. | |
Garfield. A visit to one of Britain's most | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
ethnically diverse cities, Leicester, has marked the beginning | :23:39. | :23:44. | |
of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee tour. There were enthusiastic crowds as | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
she travelled with the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duchess of | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
Cambridge. This report contains flash photography. | :23:51. | :23:56. | |
10 years ago the Golden Jubilee got off to a comparatively slow start. | :23:56. | :24:02. | |
That was not the story today. The people of Leicester, a culturally | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
diverse city in the heart of England, came out in their | :24:05. | :24:09. | |
thousands to launch the Queen's died in Jubilee and to welcome her | :24:09. | :24:19. | |
guest companion, the Duchess of Cambridge. -- diamond jubilee. It | :24:19. | :24:22. | |
is the cultural diversity of Leicester which made it the place | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
to start the tour. Few places better show the changes that have | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
taken place over her rain. But Leicester could -- at Leicester | :24:30. | :24:40. | |
Cathedral she attended a special service between various faith | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
groups. Prayers were said for the six British soldiers killed in | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
Afghanistan. We pray for those who died in | :24:48. | :24:58. | |
Afghanistan yesterday from the Yorkshire and the Duke of -- and | :24:58. | :25:04. | |
its the Duke of Lancaster's regiments. Outside the cathedral, | :25:05. | :25:09. | |
the Queen and the Duchess said despite stood side by side to | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
receive bouquets of flowers. The fact that the Queen invited the | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
Duchess to join her is a public endorsement of her importance to | :25:17. | :25:21. | |
the royal family. At times they worked as a team, the Queen taking | :25:21. | :25:28. | |
one side of the crowd, the Duchess other -- the other. They went to a | :25:28. | :25:30. | |
fashion show at De Montfort University. Their relationship | :25:30. | :25:35. | |
seems to be an easy one, the younger one leaning across to chat. | :25:35. | :25:39. | |
Them, in the city centre, the Queen hoping perhaps that the newcomer | :25:39. | :25:43. | |
will absorb a few lessons. Bob there was something more to the | :25:43. | :25:48. | |
Duchess's presence. It is a subtle signal that the Queen recognises | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
the importance of bringing on somebody who will be so central to | :25:52. | :25:57. | |
the monarchy of the future. At there was no doubt, though, who is | :25:57. | :26:03. | |
still this court -- the star of the show. Not everybody is a monarch -- | :26:03. | :26:09. | |
monarchist but this monarch's popular as ever. She is the queen | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
of our country and I am proud. Coming to Leicester was just | :26:12. | :26:17. | |
fantastic. We could not have asked for much more. It was an awesome | :26:17. | :26:22. | |
moment to celebrate it with her. The Palace's view - it was a | :26:22. | :26:30. | |
welcome beyond their expectations. A reminder of our top news. Reports | :26:30. | :26:33. | |
from serious say that government track -- tanks and troop carriers | :26:33. | :26:41. | |
are moving on the province of Idlib, home to many Free Syrian Army | :26:41. | :26:44. | |
fighters. There have been reports that they have been government | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
warnings to civilians to leave their lands and their homes. That | :26:48. | :26:57. | |
:26:58. | :27:02. | ||
is all from me. Next, but whether. Hello. After a very active first | :27:02. | :27:08. | |
half of the week it is all change. The emphasis is on for dry weather. | :27:08. | :27:13. | |
More cloud than today tomorrow but temperatures quite high. The breeze | :27:13. | :27:18. | |
and things are settling down, this area of high pressure. -- the | :27:18. | :27:26. | |
reason things. Plenty of dry weather to come. This week were the | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
front of pushing across Scotland is an exception, outbreaks of rain | :27:31. | :27:41. | |
:27:41. | :27:41. | ||
tomorrow. -- week weather front. Breezy, but 12, 13, possibly 14 | :27:41. | :27:50. | |
degrees. A strip of cloud across southern England, maybe a spot of | :27:50. | :27:56. | |
rain. We will continue with thicker cloud into Wales, light rain or | :27:56. | :27:59. | |
drizzle in the hills, also affecting parts of north-west | :27:59. | :28:05. | |
England, and maybe brushing the north of Northern Ireland. The | :28:05. | :28:10. | |
further south east you are, brighter skies into Belfast, for | :28:10. | :28:16. |