04/04/2012 World News Today


04/04/2012

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This is BBC World News Today with me, Tim Willcox.

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Another deadly suicide attack in Mogadishu - Somalia's Olympics

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Chief and the President of the country's football federation are

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among ten people killed. Shortages begin to bite as the

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international community repeats calls for the Mali coup leaders to

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give up power. Mitt Romney edges closer to the

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Republican presidential nomination as President Obama's team turn

:00:35.:00:45.
:00:45.:00:47.

their fire on him. Too broke to compete - how Greece's

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austerity could stop athletes in their tracks.

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Also coming up in the programme: The Russians who've developed a

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taste for politics. Pushing for policies with a bit

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more bite - we meet the newcomers who've decided to take charge.

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When the protests began after the parliamentary elections, I read on

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Facebook that new people should run for office.

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And our master butchers' ancestors - beating lions to the best cuts of

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Hello and welcome. At least ten people have been killed in an

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explosion at Somalia's National Theatre. Among the dead are the

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presidents of the Somali Olympic committee and the country's

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football federation. Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali narrowly

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escaped the blast. He told the BBC a female suicide bomber was

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responsible. The Islamist group Al- Shabaab, linked to Al Qaeda, says

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it carried out the attack, and promised more to come. But, under

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fire from the African Union, and Kenyan and Ethiopian forces, how

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does Al Shabaab still present such a potent threat? Peter Biles

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:02:06.:02:11.

Just a few bricks ago, Somalia's National Theatre reopened for the

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first time in 20 years. It was a moment of optimism, but today, as

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ministers, MPs and local dignitaries gathered at a theatre,

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an explosion tore apart this Mogadishu landmark. The Prime

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Minister was addressing an audience of 200 people when the bomb went

:02:28.:02:34.

off. I am safe, and most of my Cabinet

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is safe and secure. However, some Somalis at the ceremony lost their

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lives. There are conflicting accounts of

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what happened. The transitional government says a female suicide

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bomber was responsible. But the militant Islamist group out to bat

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says the explosives were planted before hand. -- Al-Shabaab.

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I don't know what to say but there are a lot of casualties.

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Among them were two sports officials, the president of the

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Somali Olympic Committee and the head of the Football Association.

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Both of them died in the bombing. In London, where David Cameron

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hosted an international conference on Somalia in February, the British

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Prime Minister has condemned the latest attack.

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The Al-Shabaab fighters, often said to be inspired by Al-Qaeda, have

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been on the back foot in recent months. They were driven out of

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Mogadishu and forced into adopting guerrilla tactics. But their

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ability to stage an attack in the heart of the capital served as a

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reminder that this is still one of the most dangerous countries on

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earth. Richard Dowden is the director of

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the Royal African Society and joins us from Central London.

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How much of Somalia does Al-Shabaab control?

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Probably not the right word. They did control a lot of the South and

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south-west until recently, but now they have been displaced from that

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by the invasion from Kenya and Ethiopia. I think they operate,

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they can easily go back to being an underground movement, but until

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recently, they controlled a lot of the South and parts of the capital

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as well. Recently, the Ethiopian has managed to drive them out of a

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place where they could shell the city. The city has been much safer

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recently. But why is it impossible for Kenyan

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and Ethiopian and African Union forces to actually defeat Al-

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Shabaab? This... The Somalis... How to put

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this? They did defeat the Americans, who tried to invade in 1991, 1992,

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and only lasted a year. It ended in the black cork down incident. They

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have been fighting since about 1989. There are a lot of skill for

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fighters there, where as Kenya has had absolutely no war experience,

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and the Ethiopians have had some but not of this type, of an urban

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fighting. The Somalis fighting at home, and they have experience

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behind them and are extremely good at these sorts of tactics.

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How pure are the motives of Ethiopia and Kenya? Are they

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fighting because out a bad represent a threat to their nation

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states as well? -- because Al- Shabaab represents a threat.

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I'm not convinced that Al-Shabaab is a threat to Kenya or Ethiopia in

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that way. I think it is an internal Somali force that has become funded

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by Saudi Arabian money, I suspect, as many of these movements are in

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Africa. I think they are not able to hold ground any more, Al-Shabaab,

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but they can create these nasty attacks.

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Thank you theme for joining us. 6,000 kilometres to the west is

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Mali - until a fortnight ago a relatively stable West African

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country, fighting a rebellion in its northern region. But since Army

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officers seized power in a coup, rebel fighters have made important

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territorial gains. Thousands of refugees have now fled their homes

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to escape the violence around cities like Timbuktu and Gao. As

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the crisis in Mali has deepened, the international community has

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urged the coup leaders to give up power. Mike Wooldridge has this

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report. In Mali's capital, this, the face

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of the crisis. People queuing to beat the shortages that are likely

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to impact on daily life. A West African organisation and the

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African Union had the sanctions they imposed will convince the

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military junta to step down by today. So far, the junta has other

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ideas. Its leader is calling for the country's feature to be decided

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at a national convention tomorrow. TRANSLATION: The conclusion of this

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conference should be accepted by everybody in order to put a stop to

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political considerations and the rapidly with the security situation

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in the north and the integrity of our national territory.

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For now, the northern half of the country remains effectively in the

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hands of the rebels, who swept through its main towns when the

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junta said its main aims were to prevent this. Some labels - recruit

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rebels are said to have links to Al-Qaeda.

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Including in the historic city of Timbuktu, as it mayor told the BBC.

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There are armed people going around. I have seen 15-year-old people with

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rifles and weapons. They are roaming the streets and pillaging.

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The stakes are high for the organisations, with their past

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success here in Togo, for example. Last year the presidential problems

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in Ivory Coast was a bigger challenge. The victor of that, as

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the chair of the organisation, is overseeing the Mali crisis.

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The President has called for the activation of the West African

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blocks' security force of around 3,000. But that could take weeks.

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Mali's envoy to the UN pleaded for support from the Security Council,

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calling the situation indescribable, and that is country was threatened

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with partition. Here we have the spokesperson for

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the organisation on the phone. Despite the sanctions, despite the

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course for these two leaders to hand over, you're not having much

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success, are you? Yes, we are. I believe the military

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junta does not have much time to gamble.

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How much time do they have? Already several deadlines have passed.

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they haven't. We have a process for the sanctions. From the reports in

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the media, the queues suggest the sanctions are beginning to bite. I

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am glad that the rebels have How much support do you think the

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captain has, the leader of this chunter?

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:10:27.:10:30.

It is within the junta. He has the few people around him. I doubt if

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he enjoys any other support beyond his immediate supporters. Of course,

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in West Africa, he does not enjoy I think the support is limited to

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:11:12.:11:13.

the military junta. Thank you for joining us.

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It looks as if Mitt Romney will become the Republican nominee to

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take on Barack Obama in November. The former Massachusetts governor

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won all the latest primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington

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DC. And Barack Obama is now targeting him in his presidential

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campaign. So does this mean game over for the other candidates? Our

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correspondent Steve Kingstone reports from Washington.

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It is not official yet, but this 65-year-old multi-millionaire will

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be the Republican challenger to Barack Obama. That is what Mitt

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Romney thinks, and it is what the President thinks, too. Just listen

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to his words this week during a speech on entitlement reform.

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Governor Romney has said he hoped a similar version of this plan from

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last year would be introduced as a bill on day one macro of this

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Parliament. It was the first time he had

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singled out Mr Romney by name, an unmistakable sign that the general

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The air war has already begun. The Obama campaign portrays Mr Romney

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as a puppet of the or industry. And the when the camp fires back, say

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the President is to blame for soaring petrol prices. In

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Washington, the candidate ignored his Republican rivals and targeted

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the real opponent. The President did not cause the

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economic crisis. But he did make it worse. He delayed the recovery and

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he made it anaemic. Then, the clearest possible

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statement of what Mitt Romney stands for. Free enterprise has

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done more to lift people out of poverty, to help build a strong

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middle-class, to help educate our kids and to make our lives better

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than all of the government's programmes put together.

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Technically, there are three other republicans contesting the

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nomination. But the incumbent and his opponent had already moved on.

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When you strip away the spin and the slurs, the battle for the White

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House will come down to an old- fashioned ideological divide

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between a president who thinks that government can help to solve

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America's problems and a Republican challenger who says government is

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the problem. Tim Stanley is a journalist and

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historian of the United States, who joins us from Washington.

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Mitt Romney has got 21 wins now either Rick Santorum's 11. Is there

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a sense of inevitability about this?

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There certainly has. Mommy has half the delegates he needs to get the

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nomination. -- Romney. He is getting endorsements from important

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people, like the Cenotaph Florida. A lot of pressure is going to start

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to be put on Rick Santorum to drop out. At the end of the month, we

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have got some big contests in big states, and it is likely the state

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of Pennsylvania will go to Santorum. But Romney will win places like New

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York, putting him closer to the nomination. Yes, Romney is the one.

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There is a tea-party favourite. Are more of the tea party movement

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coming in behind Mitt Romney now? No. That has not started to happen

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yet. More of them voted for him in Maryland, although that was not

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terribly competitive. If you look at Bromley's support, he is trapped

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in what you might call a demographic prison. He is popular

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among people who earn more than $100,000 per year, people you are

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over 65 and people who say they are moderate or somewhat conservative.

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He still fails to draw support from tea-party people, and part of his

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problem is going to be he is going to have to spend a lot of time

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appealing not only to moderate and independent and Democrats, he is

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also going to have to spend a lot of time still reaching out to

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people on the right of American politics.

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And he is prettily, isn't it, but And I do not think it will be that

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began issue. The Democrats will look mean if they play upon it. I

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think foreign-made, it is a plus overall. He can play the card

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saying, I am from a religious minority, I am from a people who

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understand pursue -- understand persecutions. I do not think the

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Mormon and all will be played in this election in the way we expect.

:15:51.:15:57.

Briefly, it will cost a lot of money. Who is going to be the

:15:57.:16:04.

number two? We do not know who that is going to be yet. We cannot

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possibly say. Many people who would should be, they are halfway through

:16:09.:16:14.

Senate terms that they want to complete. It is more likely to be

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someone like Rick Santorum, but I would not advise anyone to place

:16:18.:16:24.

money on anyone at this moment. Stanley, thank you.

:16:24.:16:28.

The man suspected of masterminding the September 11th attacks has been

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referred to trial. He has been charged with terrorism, hijacking

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aircraft and a number of other accounts, along with four others.

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The case will be heard at a military -- at a military tribunal.

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French anti-terror police have raided properties of suspected

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Islamist militants. Prosecutors have confirmed they are charging 13

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people who were detained last week. Hundreds of demonstrators have

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crowded around a court in Ankara for the opening of a trial of two

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retired generals who allegedly staged a coup in 1980.

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Yahoo! Has confirmed it is to cut 2000 staff, 14 % of the workforce.

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They say this is to make the company's smaller and more

:17:34.:17:40.

profitable. It was saved them around $375 million.

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It is a month since Vladimir Putin was re-elected Russia's President.

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Since his victory, this huge anti- government street protests which

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have dominated live in the Russian capital seem to have petered out.

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Russians' interest in politics has not disappeared, and Muscovites

:17:59.:18:03.

have been finding other ways to put pressure on the authorities, as

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Steve Rose and Beck reports. A boxing hall might seem an odd

:18:09.:18:12.

place for municipal council meeting. Then again, this is about to become

:18:12.:18:18.

a bit of a battle ground. First, they argue over who gets to be the

:18:18.:18:22.

chair man. The man with the microphone represents the old guard.

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He says he is in charge. His opponents do not agree. They are

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part of a new wave of opposition activists who were getting elected

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in Moscow at municipal level, and trying to change the way politics

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is done. The party of power is about to back -- is about to bite

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back, quite literally. This is fat to be again a trip's first

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experience of local politics -- this is Vladimir Garnachuk's first

:18:52.:18:57.

experience of local politics. He did not expect to be bitten!

:18:57.:19:01.

District councils like this one have few powers, but it appears

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Russians are getting interested in politics on their doorstep. A few

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months ago, local government meetings in the share attracted

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little attention and few visitors. Now, this is people power at the

:19:20.:19:29.

grassroots level. Away from the council chamber, Vladimir Garnachuk

:19:29.:19:36.

campaigns on local issues. Opposite says school, which the authorities

:19:36.:19:41.

plan to turn into a centre for drug addicts. Vladimir is trying to stop

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it, but he never planned to go into politics. TRANSLATION: I had never

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heard of municipal councils, but when the street protests began

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after that rigged parliamentary election, I read on face but that

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new people should run for office. - - I read on Facebook. It is not

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only by becoming councillors that the Russians are trying to change

:20:04.:20:09.

their country. In Zhukovsky, near Moscow copyboy have been protesting

:20:09.:20:14.

about the destruction of the local forest. Trees are being cut down to

:20:14.:20:19.

make way for a road. This issue has brought big crowds onto the streets

:20:19.:20:24.

of a small town. It is a sign that Russians are determined to make

:20:24.:20:34.
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their voices heard. The Greek Athletics Federation says

:20:34.:20:37.

it has suspended all domestic sporting activities because there

:20:37.:20:43.

is no money. There are fears that unless budget cuts are reversed,

:20:43.:20:46.

participation in the London Olympics could be at risk. We can

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speak to Mark Lowen in Athens. A humiliation for any country, let

:20:51.:20:57.

alone Greece! Yes. This was where it all began. The Olympics began

:20:57.:21:02.

here in the eighth century BC. This was also where the first modern

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Games was held. Just imagine if the Greek Athletics Federation were to

:21:07.:21:12.

pull out of this summer's London Olympics whatever humiliation that

:21:12.:21:19.

would be, a sign of how deep the country has fallen. The sign is

:21:19.:21:22.

that they are suspending domestic sporting activities because of the

:21:23.:21:30.

budget a source at the federation said if the government does not

:21:30.:21:34.

intervene to resolve the budget crisis, pulling out of the London

:21:34.:21:39.

Olympics would still be an option. How much of a Gambetta is this? Is

:21:39.:21:44.

there any suggestion the Greek government will say, OK, we will

:21:44.:21:52.

make an exception, because of national pride? Absolutely. It

:21:52.:21:59.

could be a game of hide States. -- high-stakes. We will have to wait

:21:59.:22:03.

and see. The board of the federation will meet in a few weeks.

:22:03.:22:07.

They have appealed to the Minister of Culture. We will have to see

:22:08.:22:13.

what the government says. They want to avoid any further humiliation

:22:13.:22:16.

after the deep financial crisis this country is still going through.

:22:16.:22:21.

European championships are coming up, and the London Olympics in July.

:22:21.:22:27.

I think they would do anything they can to avoid having to pull out of

:22:27.:22:32.

their games. The prospect of that shows just how deep this financial

:22:32.:22:42.
:22:42.:22:43.

crisis is affecting all aspects of Greek society. The team going to

:22:43.:22:51.

London is half the size of that in Beijing. Mark Lowen, thank you very

:22:51.:22:56.

much. A discovery on frozen place near

:22:56.:23:01.

the Arctic sea in northern Siberia has provided scientists with an

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incredibly well-preserved specimen of a 10,000-year-old mammoth. There

:23:05.:23:09.

are signs that the juvenile animal was attacked by lions and butchered

:23:09.:23:19.
:23:19.:23:33.

by humans. After thousands of years lying

:23:33.:23:38.

frozen in the grand, it is twisted and contorted. Now lie in on its

:23:38.:23:42.

back, its head has flopped to one side and its legs stick a pin the

:23:42.:23:51.

air. Its stake strawberry blonde hair is exquisitely preserved.

:23:51.:23:54.

Extraordinary. Professor Daniel Fischer is at the Museum of

:23:54.:23:58.

Palaeontology at the University of Michigan. Tell it us how important

:23:58.:24:08.

this says. -- tell us how important this is. It is an extremely

:24:08.:24:12.

important specimen. In part, because of the quality of tissue

:24:12.:24:17.

preservation. Even a part of the animal are missing, what is there

:24:17.:24:21.

is extremely well-preserved. It is also important for the story it

:24:21.:24:24.

tells, the story you can reconstruct from the evidence of

:24:24.:24:31.

what remains. The cuts that our human ancestors appeared to have

:24:31.:24:37.

been interested in consist of meat and bones from the main core of the

:24:37.:24:42.

body. There have been removed. That part of the animal has been

:24:42.:24:47.

butchered. We see evidence of this in terms of the entry incisions

:24:47.:24:56.

into the hide, and some cut marks on some of the bones. That humans

:24:56.:25:02.

were waiting, I think, for Lyons, or they sued these Lions away that

:25:02.:25:07.

had killed this mammoth. Is that something may perhaps did

:25:07.:25:11.

frequently? They relied on more ferocious animals to kill food and

:25:11.:25:18.

then butchered them afterwards? That is one possibility. This is

:25:18.:25:22.

all inference at the moment, based on the patterns of damage that we

:25:22.:25:29.

see on the carcass of this animal and on some things we do not see

:25:29.:25:39.
:25:39.:25:42.

that we would expect. Lyons typically enter a carcass in the

:25:42.:25:47.

region of the Bailey, the aim has all the neck, but these regions are

:25:47.:25:57.
:25:57.:26:01.

not blemished. There are incisions at a very different replaced. --

:26:01.:26:07.

There are incisions that are very differently placed. This mammoth

:26:08.:26:12.

was only about two-and-a-half years old. Is there any suggestion that

:26:12.:26:16.

there was some sort of ritual involved here by our ancestors when

:26:16.:26:26.

it came to butchering an animal than eating it? I suppose this is a

:26:26.:26:31.

matter of opinion and inference. I actually think there is probably a

:26:31.:26:38.

utilitarian explanation for most of what we see. I do not see the need

:26:38.:26:47.

to call on ritual aspects of it. The inference we have generated is

:26:47.:26:53.

lions were responsible for the initial pursued to, that is based

:26:53.:27:00.

on singing deep scratch marks -- seeing deep scratch marks. They can

:27:00.:27:03.

only really have been produced by the claws of a large cat-like

:27:03.:27:13.
:27:13.:27:16.

animal. I am sorry, Professor, we are told time. Remarkable images.

:27:16.:27:22.

Viewers in the UK can see the full programme on BBC Two at 9 o'clock

:27:22.:27:26.

tonight. Viewers around the world can find out more on the BBC

:27:26.:27:36.
:27:36.:27:46.

website. That is it from me and the Hello. Finally, the weather front

:27:46.:27:51.

we have had slipping southwards been the snow and disruption across

:27:51.:27:58.

the UK is clearing away. A dry day to come tomorrow. Even the chance

:27:58.:28:02.

of decent sunshine. Through the night, the weather front will clear

:28:02.:28:07.

away from the south, taking with it the strong winds. First thing on

:28:07.:28:12.

Thursday, cloudy through the southern half of the UK. Further

:28:12.:28:20.

north, a week weather front also been ploughed and some outbreaks of

:28:20.:28:27.

rain. -- bringing cloud. Through the southern counties of England, a

:28:27.:28:32.

largely cloudy start to the day. That will break up and allow

:28:32.:28:42.
:28:42.:28:44.

sunshine to break through. Sunny skies developing through northern

:28:44.:28:50.

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