17/05/2012 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me, Tim Willcox. Greece swears in a

new Parliament - but only for one day - as fresh elections loom.

After 16 years on the run and countless months of legal

preparation, the trial of former Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic

is adjourned after just 48 hours. A new row over an old dispute.

Queen Sofia of Spain cancels a visit to Britain over Gibraltar.

Gibraltar is like a colony in Spain and for it's not good business to

have a colony now. Also coming up in the programme:

Handover complete - the Olympic torch is on its way to London after

the flame is passed over to the British delegation in Greece.

And the end of a voice synonymous with the disco era of the 1970s and

'80s - Donna Summer dies at the age Hello, and welcome. As the turmoil

over its economy intensifies, Greece swore in 300 Members of

Parliament today - including 21 members of Golden Dawn - one of the

most extremist nationalist parties to take seats in a European

Parliament since the Second World War. But none of those MPs will be

in power for more than 24 hours - as no party has enough votes to

form a government. Greece's political chaos coincides with

growing alarm about capital flight, with reports of hundreds of

millions of euros being withdrawn from banks. Matthew Price reports.

It is a government with little part in a country with dwindling options.

They swore in a cabinet of technocrats, whose task is to guide

priest to its second election in as many months. This is becoming too

much of a ritual and one which has cost increase time. For two years,

Greeks have been withdrawing large sums for -- from their banks, to

pay bills and also to try to ensure the money is safe if the country is

forced out of the euro. It is not to run on the banks, but some fear

that is not far off. We hear so many scenarios, this man said, we

just don't know what the truth is. I don't have any hope, another said,

things are just going to get worse. This afternoon, is seen yet EU

leaders held a conference call, among them the new French President.

There are signs that Francois Hollande is prepared to be bowled

in reshaping Europe's response to this crisis. British prime minister

David Cameron, before that call had told the eurozone to find a

solution at, and fast. Five that Europe has a effective eurozone

with an effective fireball, as system of fiscal burden sharing and

supportive Monetary Policy, for we are in uncharted territory which

carries huge risks for everybody. In New York, the President of the

European Commission address the United Nations Assembly. He called

for continued economic reform in Europe but also for renewed

investment in transport, energy. P caution those predicting the break-

up of the EU. The EU is more than just a construction, it is the

product of peace which is... It political project is what unites us

beyond momentary difficulties. in Spain today, those momentary

difficulties were increasing. The government had to pay more to

borrow money. Not helpful in a country where the banking system is

in need of massive government funding to stay afloat. Spain's

leaders believe the longer the great crisis goes on, the greater

the chance that they and others will be dragged down further. This

is a slow-moving story. No one knows where it is heading. It is

that which is so unnerving. Panagiotis Gripios is a Partner at

a Greek company, Solar Production, in Athens. He joins me now via a

webcam. How worried are you today? I am not

as worried as every creek that lives in the country, but I believe

all European people of forehead as well because this crisis is a

global phenomenon. Is it better for Greece to be in or out of the

eurozone? I believe that we should state in the European Community,

with the EU -- with the euro currency. The banks need to help

the people and they need to communicate and co-operate with

each other among the European countries. So, you are prepared to

take the austerity, but Europe needs to be more patient with

Greece? Of course. Greece has proved that it can do whatever it

needs to get better and better. However, we all need to be together

as one European team, I believe. How is this crisis affecting your

business? I do find it difficult to raise money, or to pay your

employees? It is difficult to get the funds from the banks. They do

not give as easily as they used to give money to people. We now

construct small plants for production from electricity. So

banks need to provide the necessary money, that funds, for that. But

they don't. They are very suspicious of the project, even

though this project is a renewable energy project which is the future

of the world, I believe. It does seem as if hundreds of millions,

maybe even 1 billion euros has been withdrawn from banks by a Greek

people, worried that about what might happen. Had he taken cash out

and transferred it to bounce outside Greece? No, I have not. I

believed in Greece and I want to believe that the banks will change

their attitude to people and we all need to help Greece get better. You

may as well, the British and other European countries. Thank you very

much indeed for joining us. Now a look at some of the day's

other news. Ministers in France's new Socialist government have cut

their own pay by 30%. President Hollande, whose salary is also cut,

had promised the reduction during his election campaign, saying it

was intended to set an example. At their first cabinet meeting, the

new government made its main concern to tackle the European debt

crisis. Two days after his controversial

re-election, the head of Syria's main opposition bloc, Burhan

Ghalioun, is resigning. He led the Syrian National Council by

consensus rather than being elected, since it was founded in October

last year. Ghalioun was re-elected as the main opposition group's

chief in a vote held in Rome on Tuesday.

In Georgia, three people have been arrested after a gay-rights march

in the capital Tbilisi turned violent. It was the first such

protest in Georgia and marked the International Day Against

Homophobia. But dozens of members of a conservative religious group

blocked their way and a fight broke out.

Medical experts in Britain have suggested everyone over the age of

50 be given the cholesterol- reducing drugs known as statins.

The move comes after a new study in the Medical Journal the Lancet

found they could reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes by such a

margin that even healthy people would benefit.

Just two days after it started, the war crimes trial of Ratko Mladic

has been delayed indefinitely through a prosecution error. The

presiding judge made the decision after it emerged that the

prosecution had not passed some 7,000 pages of evidence to Ratko

Mladic's lawyers. The defence has asked for six months to process the

material. Mr Mladic faces 11 charges of war crimes and crimes

against humanity arising from the Bosnian conflict. This report from

the BBC's Allan Little in the Hague. Today was devoted to the most

notorious massacre of the entire war, the killings in Srebrenica in

four days in 19... They swat and will remain genocide. He listened

we ate reaction as the prosecutor said that the facts of the crime

had not been in dispute. The case would focus on his criminal

responsibility. The Srebrenica on Clive had been surrounded for three

years. By the summer of 1995, 40,000 people were crowded into the

town. Serb forces overran the wrong place on July 11th. The court saw

video of the main street. 7000 Muslim men and boys were rounded up.

In three days, 7000 were murdered by firing squad and their bodies

disposed of in mass graves. The B R S carried out then murderous orders

with incredible discipline, organisation and military

efficiency. The court heard that in January this year for the employers

submitted a plea of alibi on the Srebrenica massacres, claiming that

when the massacres took place, at the general what in Belgrade at a

wedding. The prosecutor said it was inconceivable that killing on that

scale could have taken place without his knowledge and advice he

gave authority. General Mladic sat passively, listening carefully,

listening carefully throughout. It's a tiny outcrop of rock on the

southernmost point of Spain, but the issue of who should own

Gibraltar has sparked another in a long series of diplomatic spats

between Madrid and London. Gibraltar was handed to Britain by

Spain as part of the Treaty of Utrecht almost 300 years ago, but

many Spaniards believe it should be handed back. The latest dispute has

caused Queen Sofia to cancel a visit to the UK on Friday for a

lunch celebrating Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee. The BBC's Tom

Burridge reports from Madrid. It is eight years old Royal

celebration in Britain. And Queen Elizabeth will next host fellow

heads of state for lunch this Friday. But Spain's Queen has now

pulled out at the last minute over a growing row between London and

Madrid. The dispute is over a tiny slice of land on the southern tip

of Spain. Spain and Gibraltar to Britain in 1713. People here tell

you they are very British and if you are from mainland Britain, it

can seem like home. However, the Spanish government believes the

land should be handed back to Spain. That is why when British royals

planned to visit the territory, it angers Madrid. Spain's foreign

minister had publicly criticised the trip of Princess Ed -- Prince

Edward then next month. Some think the Government should have other

priorities. TRANSLATION: It is not something I get worked up about.

What is true is that in historic terms it is Spanish territory.

me it is a good idea not to go to London for the celebration because

Gibraltar is like a colony in Spain and for me it is not a good

business to have a colony now. TRANSLATION: In cities response to

a pass provocation from the British government or the royal family, in

normal times it would be the right way to react, but I think Spanish

people have something bigger to worry about witches unemployment

and the financial situation. Now a row over fishing in the waters

surrounding Gibraltar has escalated the dispute, with Queen Sofia

announcing she will not attend the lunch at winter council. It seemed

the Queen was leant on by Spain's government because it felt the trip

to London was not appropriate. The Interior Ministry says Spanish

police will escort Spanish fishermen in the water around

Gibraltar. People living in Gibraltar will welcome the royal

visit but some people here in Spain wished that they would stay away.

We can speak to Stephen Constantine, who specialises in Gibraltar at the

University of Lancaster. It is the latest in a series of disputes but

do you detect a hardening of attitude under the new government

in Spain? I think the new government also coincide with the

worsening of the situation inside Spain so it is reasonable to

suppose that the government, in that situation, is ratcheting up,

just as Franco had done in the past, the differences that Spain and

Britain have in relation to Gibraltar. We should relate the two

things very closely together. Britain says it is up to the people

of Gibraltar to decide and it seems the people of reporter are adamant

that it should remain British. Does that cut any ice in Spain, up when

you consider other islands on the I think the reference is often

raised by people from Gibraltar. They have a very specific identity.

There are many people from Britain but a considerable number of people

go back centuries. There has also been a strong relationship between

Spain, the mainland and Gibraltar. That relationship was rather more

intimate than people care to remember. There has been an

association with Gibraltar before which many of the Spanish

dignitaries had attended. The people of Gibraltar and the

Governor of Gibraltar were close to Spain but things changed

dramatically after the Second World War. 1958 was the first time that

Frankel indicated displeasure. That became obvious when the Queen

herself in 1954 it made a visit to Gibraltar as Queen of Gibraltar,

that did spark off a massive dispute between Britain and Spain.

The people of Gibraltar were caught in the middle of that. The

strangeness has always been there. Princess Anne visited end 2004 and

that caused another controversy. The King of Spain did not attend

the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana. Are there issues of

Conservatives been about smuggling, cigarettes and other contraband?

There are. That has always been an issue between the people of

Gibraltar and Spain. There is a long tradition of smuggling across

the frontier. The police here themselves try to control that. The

there has been co-operation between the police forces on either side

but when the politics of this situation hot up they find that the

controls over the passage of people to and from Gibraltar and Spain

becomes more intense. At the Mall and there is a lot of searching of

the vehicles going to and from. A lot of time this is genuinely

searching for contraband. Sometimes it is just pressure. We are out of

time but I'm due for joining us. The Olympic flame is now in British

hands. It was passed to the Princess Royal, Princess Anne,

herself a former Olympic athlete, at a ceremony in Athens. The BBC's

Chris Eakin is at the Panathenaic Stadium. The Olympic flame better

get used to this. It was an damp send off from Athens. Despite that,

the London 2012 delegation insist it will not dampen the impact of

the arrival of the claim in the UK. This is an amazing moment for us,

it is blighting the touch paper of the 70 defuse that is going to

detonate with the great pyrotechnics of the opening

ceremony. As the president of the British Olympic Association the

Princess Royal has been a central figure in the preparations for the

London Games. Back in 1976, Princess Anne became the first

member of the Royal Family to compete in the Olympics in Montreal.

She is known as a fierce competitor, proud of her sporting heritage. I

presume you would have loved to have competed in a home Olympics?

would have found it very difficult I suspect to do it on my home patch.

I would take to be doing it now, it has gotten worse. Because of the

pressures? I think so, so much, for many, the pressures. I think it has

got into some of the athletes. Tomorrow, the flame starts its

journey back to the UK now in British hands. Could this be the

moment when the Olympic Games really take off? The Queen of Disco,

Donna Summer, famous for such 70's classics such as Love To Love You

Baby, has died in Florida. She was 63. She became a star just as disco

was taking off, and came to define the era with a string of hits.

David Sillito looks back at her life and her music. It was in 1977

the sound of the future. The synthesisers with Donna Summer's

voice was the birth of electronic dance music. Donna Summer had grown

up in Boston and then moved to Germany. It was there she met a

music producer experimenting with synthesisers. This song was, for

its time, more than racy. It was sexy, and fabulous to dance to.

became known as the queen of this goal. She had one of the key

records in electronic dance music. She had 29 hit singles and today

her family said she was a woman of many gifts, the greatest being her

face. Her Christian faith help her recover from the pressures of fame

during the disco era and made her uncomfortable with some of her

older songs. There was some anti- gay controversy but as the years

went on all was forgotten and she performs some of her old songs

again. She would remain the Queen of this goal. Donna Summer who has

died at the age of 63. For the first time in the United States

ethnic-minority babies make-up the majority of those born in the

country. They made up more than half of the babies born in the

first half of 2011. Birth rates are falling sharply among white

Americans who had 10% fewer babies than in 2010. That is compared to a

decline of 6% for minorities. All were all, ethnic minorities now

make up more than 36 % of the US population. We are joined by the

Corps Director of Immigration Studies at New York University. How

important a tipping point is this, do you think? It is significant in

terms of a symbolic moment pointing to a very different American future.

That is in terms of demography, ethnicity and in terms of the

immigrant origin groups that now it will very firmly constitute the

American majority, moving forward. What is white now, then? When we

read that white babies are in the minority, who are we talking about?

We are talking about the old European origin and United States.

The English, Irish, Scots, Germans. Those were really be big immigrant

groups over the last 200 years. Their descendants came to enter

this broad category that we call quite. I think we are seeing an new

America that is increasingly off quite with the New ethnicities and

immigrant origin groups constituting a larger share of the

population. You look at, for example, Hispanic birth rates and

they do seem to be rising, don't they? Yes, they do. However, half

of all Hispanics in the US consider themselves white. Also, the story

in the US is that immigrant groups, over time, their fertility rates

tend to gravitate towards those of the majority population. Hispanics

now have larger families but this is true warmly of one generation.

Moving forward, they will, like all other Americans, have similarly

declining fertility rates. Do we see that in the black American

fertility rates as well? The black American fertility rate is

relatively stable. The most fascinating story in terms of the

black American evolution is that today, here in New York City, half

of all black people are immigrant origin. Over the last two

generations twice as many blacks have come to the US as immigrants

as during the entire slavery period. Looking ahead, we are not looking

at a dominant non-white adult population yet but what do you for

a seat for 50 or 100 years down the line? We need to be careful because

there is a difference between science and science fiction.

Predicting what will happen to populations 100 years of -- 100

years from now, that is just imagination. Today's Gate shows

that in deep child and emerging adult population it is already dead

case but America will be the Orly post-industrial democracy in the

world where shortly have of the adult population will be applauded

city of languages and graces. -- plus city of languages and braces.

That is all from us here for now. Goodbye. A low. Plenty of rain

across the country tonight. There will be a killer feel in the

freshening easterly breeze. This weather front will give damp

conditions to parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern

England. To start Friday the north England. To start Friday the north

England. To start Friday the north of Scotland and England will be

bright but cloud will be thickening as we go on into the afternoon.

Still some damp conditions in the North of England in the afternoon

but further south it should be drier and brighter. Some sunshine

in the east. There will be rain moving up from the south after 4

o'clock. Cloud will break in the South West to bring brightness or

sunshine. Plenty of cloud in Wales but again hence of sunshine if you

are lucky. For Northern Ireland it is mainly dull and damp with

disappointing temperatures. The far north of Scotland will continue to