24/04/2012 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me, Kirsty Lang. Tonight - Murdoch

Junior takes the stand. Calls for government resignations, as the

scale of his family's ties to the Sudan - is it a war in all but

name? As border skirmishes continue between North and South, a call for

restraint from China is met by more angry rhetoric. He hares declared

war against Bcell for of it is Sudan One. -- he has.

The death-toll mounts in Syria raising more doubts about the

viability of the UN peace plan. Also coming up in the programme: A

holiday with a twist or just a twisted holiday? Why are tourists

attracted to sites of death and destruction? We look at the growth

of so called dark tourism. And now you see her, now you don't - the

extraordinary moment a teenage girl fell through the pavement into an

Well come. Britain's minister for culture is facing calls for his

resignation after links between the Murdoch empire and the British

Government came under intense scrutiny today at the inquiry into

press standards. James Murdoch has been repeatedly asked about his

dealings with Jeremy Hunt. He was responsible for the final decision

on the controversial BSkyB takeover that News Corporation were so keen

to win. This has flash photography.

The company which he once led has been accused are having to close a

relationship with various public officials. Tonight, after a day of

evidence from James Murdoch, the suggestion is there was too close a

relationship with office of a Cabinet minister.

At the Royal Courts of Justice, Mr Murdoch stepped forward to give

evidence under oath. I swear that the evidence a chubby the truth,

the whole truth and nothing but the truth. He was taken to phone

hacking and time and again, he claimed ignorance of the scale of

wrong doing at the company he had headers. That is not what I recall.

That was not what I it was told. That is not what they communicated

to me for stopped that was it on phone hacking. He either couldn't

remember all claimed ignorance. Then to the question of News

International's political links and to the company's bid in 2010 to

take control of BSkyB television. It should have been the crowning

moment of James Murdoch's career and it seemed to be going so well.

Vince Cable had been relieved of responsibility for the decision

after making unguarded remarks. Two days after that, Mr Murdoch found

herself at a pre-Christmas dinner at the home of Rebekah Brooks. One

of the guests was David Cameron. Had he discussed the BSkyB bid with

the Prime Minister? I expressed the hope that things would be dealt

with in a way that was appropriate and judicial. The crucial figure

for News International was Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary. He had

a legal obligation to act impartially. The picture at the

inquiry was of a ministerial office that was in contact with News

International. Council quoted from Consort -- private e-mails. We are

in a good place tonight. Q are being given private information

about the Secretary of State's current view. -- You are being

given. It is a private view. Councils pointed out that Jeremy

Hunt was acting in a Kuala sigh a judicial capacity. He was in effect

a judge. This judge was in contact through his special adviser with

another. You having covert interactions, weren't you? I never

saw them as covert and I would have expected that his advisers were

communicating with other parties around this transaction as well.

another, Frederic Michel said he had obtained a copy of what Mr Hunt

would be telling the House of Commons the following day. Managed

to get some info on the plans for tomorrow. Although, absolutely

illegal. What do you make of that? I thought it was a joke. The

exclamation mark there, it is a joke. Tonight, as James Murdoch

departed, Downing Street said the Prime Minister had full confidence

in Jeremy Hunt. For his part, Mr Hunt declined to comment. I will

His father will be giving evidence tomorrow. Saddam and South Sudan

seemed to be moving closer and closer to all out war. Perhaps they

may already be there. South Sudan's president on a visit to China

thinks so. China has called for Sudan and his neighbour, South

Sudan, to show restraint in the conflict of their disputed border

and the United Nations has condemned an aerial bombardment in

The army is preparing for the possibility of an all out war with

Sudan. It has reinforced along the border and the south Sudanese

military say they know it Sudan is doing the same thing. Tuber macro

is no longer in control. A trigger for this latest crisis that the

fighting has not stopped. The country's president, on a visit to

China, said this was a decisive moment. Our neighbour has declared

war on South Sudan. A Monday, Bentiu was hit. The main target may

have been a bridge a one civilian was killed in a market. It has been

condemned by the United Nations. The south Sudanese say they have

been more aerial bombardments but there has been no ground fighting

since Sunday. The battle for the oil fields was extremely popular

here, as it was on the other side of the body in Sudan. Bentiu is a

frontline town and no one thinks they have seen the last of the

fighting. The cost of the fighting is high. South Sudan's archbishop

has warned political leaders could create a war that both countries

don't want. World leaders are calling on both sides to court --

to pull back from the brink but it does seem to be working.

Just before we came on air, James said us there is a date.

South Sudan's president says Saddam has declared war on his country. --

Sudan. South Sudanese troops are no longer in a Heglig oil field bet

there has been Ariel and apartments and some ground clashes. I am

joined by her Hilde F Johnson. What is the situation? It is a big

concern because the chances are -- tensions have escalated. We

reported new bombardments today in to new locations. The ones today,

we are on the way to verify. This is a major concern and we condemn

these attacks the stock -- these attacks. As far as the reports go,

we have yet to verify that. We are seeing a calming in some ways with

aerial bombardment and that has to seize. You have been in this region

for a considerable period of time. How damaging would a new conflict

be and how can that be avoided? Clearly, very damaging. On the

ground, people would like to see a complete end to any escalation of

the war. There is a strong desire for peace and there is a strong

desire for peace among the leadership. So if we would like to

see -- we would like to see independence that was declared on

9th July last year and hope it can lead to a new chapter for these

people and see peace come. What that implies is both sides need to

restrain from any further attacks and we need to see both sides

willing to come to be a negotiating table and sort out their

differences. So far, the president of Sudan has said the glaciation is

not possible. Attention is clearly high and lots of international

efforts to get both sides to restrain, so far don't seem to be

working. The African unions have been

meeting to discuss this and joining me is Erastus Mwencha. Thank you

for joining us. What did the AU decide today? First of all, the

consul of the African Union, has expressed grave concern on the

situation along the border between South and North sedan. Also this

situation on the human terrain aspect. Also, the Council condemns

the occupation and the variable -- aerial bombardment that is going on

in a South Sudan. In the view of the you, who is the aggressor in

this case? The North or the south. Who is in the wrong? There is a

history that has been built on. First of all, the two countries,

the council noted that concern that they have not been going along with

the agreements that they completed. They have continued to engage in

talks. There was a very good at this fear at the beginning of March

when there was a new atmosphere to engage in talks that would lead to

implementation and result in some of the outstanding issues.

Outstanding issues. This is key, isn't it? The African Union left a

lot of outstanding issues when you oversaw this agreement. Don't you

think more should have been done to resolve the issues of the border of

access to oil, before the South got its independence? If that would

have been possible, yes. Obviously, there are priority is to ensure

that the two countries can co-exist side by side and the political

aspect of it, first of all allow and the people of South Sudan to

take legitimate decisions as to whether they want it to be one

nation or separate nations. This was equally important but now that

is behind us. What is important is the road map that the councillors

have agreed to, to address the crisis. We have asked the two

states to seize the hostilities within 48 hours. Ask them to go

back to the negotiating table and Rooker the road map there should be

completed in three months. More importantly, to implement the

agreements that they have agreed and also an implementation

mechanism would have to be agreed. Thank you very much.

The other news now and a bomb has exploded at the main robbery

station in Lahore in Pakistan. Two people have been killed and more

than 25 injured. The attack happened minutes after a busy trade

has pulled into the station. Israel has legalised the status of

three settler outposts in the West Bank. The settlements, Sansana,

Bruchin and writer Lem are home to 800 people. They have condemned the

decision. -- Rechelim. Robert Mueller has visited lemon -- Yemen

and promised the US would do more to put down a Islamist insurgency.

He told the Yemeni President that the Americans would use for force

A pro-government TV station in serious says a car bomb has

exploded, blamed on armed terrorists. There are clashes

reported in several parts of the capital, these are the latest UN

verified images from the suburb of Douma. The Koffi -- the UN envoy

could fire a man is going to update the situation soon. -- Kofi Annan.

This is Douma, a suburb just north- east of Damascus. It has defied the

government for months. Heavy weapons that should have been

withdrawn two weeks ago under the UN plan are still being used. And

the troops and armoured vehicles which should also have gone are

still there as well. Just a day earlier, a handful of UN observers

was in Douma, completely swamped by a huge crowd of anti- regime

protesters. Furthermore, they were burying their dead in mass graves.

Local activist groups named 40 people they said were killed in a

government attack on Monday, mostly by shelling, some, they said,

summarily executed. The attack also came a day after a brief visit from

the UN observers. State media said security forces pursued what they

called armed terrorist groups, who had been attacking systems. --

citizens. Clearly, the tiny advance party of UN observers cannot be

everywhere all the time. They are not just trying to monitor as much

as they can but also setting up contact and procedures for the full

deployment of 300 who should be overriding bit by bit in the coming

weeks. It is this still kind of act -- same kind of activities, meeting

with parties, looking at the logistics that will be necessities

for the larger nations coming in. All the groundwork activities are

being done, and in the process, observing the situation.

evidence so far suggests that when the monitors are there on the

ground, the violence dies down. But sending unarmed observers into an

unstable situation is clearly a gamble. The hope is that by being

there, they will tilt the balance away from conflict and towards

dialogue. In around an hour, Kofi Annan is

due to deliver his latest update to the UN Security Council. Do we know

what he is going to say? We do, because unusually, his spokesman

has given a preview from Geneva on UN TV on what his boss is going to

be telling the council in 45 minutes. It is pretty robust. The

spokesman says the sector -- the ceasefire is extremely fragile,

when UN monitors enter conflict areas, the guns are silent but when

they leave, the exchanges start again. He also said that there are

credible reports of Syrian forces approaching people that the UN

monitors have met and then sometimes, those people may perhaps

be killed. Strong language, and of course what Kofi Annan is going to

do, I understand, his call for the deployment of the additional 270

monitors to be speeded up and have done as quickly as possible.

Presumably now there will be some doubt over that, because some

member states will be saying, should we really be putting these

UN monitors at risk in this sort of situation? My understanding is that

the UN as it is at the moment is going to be proceeding with the

deployment. The problem is something that Kofi Annan himself

separately identified in a speech to the University in Sweden. He

said that the use of UN staff to monitor a conflict, as in the case

of Syria, can offer no guarantee of protection without strong

international backing. What you have here is the UN Security

Council divided between the US and European powers, who would like to

take more robust action against the European -- the Syrian government,

and then Russia and China, who do not want to interfere any further

in what they see is an internal affair.

Anders Breivik has been confronted him caught by some of the people

who witnessed and survived the attacks in Norway in which he

killed 77 people. He had to listen as a security guard explained how

he saw a car bomb exploded in the centre of Oslo, the blast killed

the 38 of Breivik's victims. -- the first eight. For the past

five days, the court has heard nothing but the testimony of Anders

Behring Breivik himself. But today, it wants to start hearing the other

side. An explosives expert taking the witness stand to give details

of the car bomb Breivik built to attack the main government offices

in Oslo. He showed this video of a test explosion by the military,

demonstrating just how powerful Breivik's bomb was. It had the

potential to kill hundreds. The actual car bomb last July killed

eight people, and left nine others seriously injured. When Breivik

drove the van containing the bomb up to the government buildings here,

he was not able to park in the exact location where he knew he

would cause the maximum damage. And it was mid- afternoon on a Friday,

during the summer holiday. So the offices were pretty empty. Some of

those who were inside the government offices and survived

have also been giving evidence in court today. TRANSLATION: We had to

read by the police and stickier video footage. -- notified the

police. We had to make sure it did not get damaged so we secured the

servers with plastic. That was crucial as it showed Breivik

walking away from the van before it blew up. The Police able to trace

him through the registration number, but they could not stop him before

he carried out his second attack on Utoeya Island.

Spending your summer break is surrounded by death and brutality

and terror may not sound like everyone's idea of a holiday, but

the number of travellers who talk site of Dravid cheap -- tragedy is

growing. There is even a term for it, and dark tourism, and each year

more than 1.5 million people walk through the gates at Poland's

Auschwitz memorial to learn about the Holocaust. In New York,

tourists flocked to the World Trade Center site. And 100 years since

Titanic sank, cruises retrace the original route. Tourists dressed in

period costume get the chance to wine and dine just like all those

people who lost their lives at sea. To discuss that I am joined by

Professor John Lennon at the Glasgow Caledonian University who

coined the term dark tourism in 1996. Why did you coin the term? Is

it because it was something you? was a good umbrella catch-all term

for something that I realised was a significant phenomenon. Visitation

and fascination with site associated with death, with mass

killing, with incarceration, assassination, seemed to exert a

curious fascination over visitors. And the more deeply you burrow into

that, the more you see the Connectivity visitors have with

such sites is not purely because I loved one has passed away their or

because there is a family connection, rather, such sites have

become part of the tourist's eye to a very. Something they will do, if

they are visiting Poland, they will go to Auschwitz -- tourist's

itinerary. Is it aspirational? So people want to learn about history?

Or is it rather more morbid than that? I did the motivations are

mixed. There is genuine historical interest -- I think the motivations

are mixed. In many times, such site become the repository of the

history. If he wants to understand about the Khmer Rouge, he will not

find out on the history syllabus, but you would expect to find some

details in the area where the massacres happened. Getting the

history right wed the history is not ideological and based on

primary sources is quite important. There is also a darker fascination

that is close to where his am. Death is something we all have in

common. -- it is close to the voyeurism. We all fascinated with

death, it comes across in literature, film, and tourist

behaviour at such a site which seems to be enduring and not going

away. Where is the line between it been it a bit tacky and morbid,

like going to the world trying to do and buying a T-shirt saying you

have been to grown -- ground zero, or actually learning about an

important historical events like the historic -- the Holocaust or

the killing fields? I am not a moral arbiter of taste. But there

is a scale of activity of what you do in these sites, there is genuine

reflection and historical interest at one end of it, and there is also

share mess -- shameless, order size Asian and entertainment at the

other end. -- shameless commodity making. People would hope that they

get some insights into what we are capable of as the human race. It

would seem, however many times we visit site of mass killing or

incarceration, it does not seem to stop that happening again. So we do

not learn. It would seem, depressingly, not the case.

A teenage girl has had a remarkable explained -- escape after the

pavement collapsed beneath her what she was walking along a road in

Xi'an in China. She dropped into an underground cavern and the whole

incident was captured on CCTV. An ordinary view of an ordinary

street, until this happens. And in case you blinked and missed that,

here it is again. Now you see her, but you do not. Running water had

created a cavity under the pavement. A passing taxi driver saw her

disappear and rushed over to see if she could help. He saw her clinging

to an underground cable and climbed down after her. TRANSLATION: He

said he called out to her but she did not respond. I shook her a

little and she came to. A crowd gathered and soon the rescue

services arrived. Down in the gloom, the cabbie, the Tote the terrified

teenager as a ladder was lowered. - - there can be comforted the

terrified teenager. TRANSLATION: The ladder kept moving, it was

flimsy and she was screaming so I told her to get out first.

Eventually, she did. The teenager was shaken and dirty but apparently

not injured by her subterranean ordeal. A moment later, out came

her gallant rescuer. But it may be some time before either of them

take the pavement for granted again. Before we go, a reminder of the

main news. At the inquiry into media ethics in Britain, James

Murdoch, the son of the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, has been

facing questioning on the family's interest on -- interests in British

politics. E-mails were produced showing close contact between the

News Corporation and the culture minister Jeremy Hunt as they were

considering buying BSkyB. Taina's President has urged the two

Sudans to back off the descent into war and choose a pass -- path of

peace into Beijing. That is all for now, at next the

Whilst we have still got a few showers around, it is all going

downhill tonight and into tomorrow. We have got some heavy rain and

strong winds across much of the country, quite a deep low of moving

in of the Atlantic. Here it is through the day on Wednesday, it is

A very wet start across many southern areas, the really tricky

drive to work tomorrow morning. As we head into the afternoon, that

moves across northern England. Torrential downpours, and as a

result it will feel quite cold out there. A strong wind and

temperatures are nine degree. Following on from the main band of

wind, a mixture of sunshine and showers. When you get some she

sunshine, there is just enough energy in the sun to give 12

degrees. But for showers could be heavy and sundry with some hail and

the temperatures will then plummet. But heavy and thundery. North Wales,

thicker cloud. Northern Ireland, of grey day, the rain will come and go.

The best of dry and bright weather across the Western Isles tomorrow.

We have got to strong winds, eastern Scotland has rain and hail

snow and very windy. Through the night, the band pushes northwards,