Browse content similar to 02/01/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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This is BBC World News Today. I'm Tim Willcox. | :00:00. | :00:10. | |
A major blow for Iraq's security forces as militants linked to | :00:11. | :00:13. | |
al-Qaeda take control of parts of two major cities. Iraqi special | :00:14. | :00:17. | |
forces are battling militants in Fallujah and Ramadi who've seized | :00:18. | :00:19. | |
police stations, freed prisoners and set up checkpoints. | :00:20. | :00:29. | |
The first of the helicopters to take us home! Rescued at last after a | :00:30. | :00:35. | |
Christmas on ice. 52 people are airlifted from their ship, which has | :00:36. | :00:38. | |
been stuck in the Antarctic for a week. | :00:39. | :00:40. | |
Also coming up: Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson speaks out about the | :00:41. | :00:43. | |
fraud trial of her assistants, in which she was accused of regularly | :00:44. | :00:45. | |
using cocaine. To have not only your private life | :00:46. | :00:55. | |
but distortions of it put on display is mortifying. | :00:56. | :00:58. | |
And forget about the Great Wall. China now boasts an engineering feat | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
fit for the 21st century. We go for a ride. | :01:03. | :01:14. | |
Hello and welcome. Iraqi special forces have launched a major | :01:15. | :01:20. | |
operation to try and reclaim two cities which have come under the | :01:21. | :01:23. | |
control of militants linked to al-Qaeda. The Islamic State of Iraq | :01:24. | :01:28. | |
and the Levant - SIL - have reportedly captured several police | :01:29. | :01:31. | |
stations in Fallujah and Ramadi, both in Anbar province, taken | :01:32. | :01:34. | |
weapons, freed prisoners and set up checkpoints. It comes as the United | :01:35. | :01:40. | |
Nations claimed 2013 was the deadliest year in Iraq since 2008, | :01:41. | :01:43. | |
with more than 7,800 civilians and 1,000 members of the security forces | :01:44. | :01:51. | |
killed in violence there. Rafid Jaboori reports. | :01:52. | :02:00. | |
It is the first time since the withdrawal of the US forces that the | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
Iraqi government has lost control of two major cities. Significant parts | :02:06. | :02:13. | |
of Ramadi and Fallujah in Anbar province have fallen to the militant | :02:14. | :02:17. | |
fighters of Al-Qaeda, but the government is fighting to reading | :02:18. | :02:21. | |
them. Tension has been high since last week in the heartland of | :02:22. | :02:29. | |
Iraq's Sunni majority -- minority. On Monday, protest camp in Ramadi | :02:30. | :02:36. | |
was dismantled. The Sonys have been protesting against the Shia | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
government for months. But the government has now secured | :02:42. | :02:43. | |
significant backing from Sunni tribal leaders. Last year was the | :02:44. | :02:50. | |
most violent year in Iraq since 2008, with thousands killed and | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
injured, mainly in attacks on Shia areas and security forces by | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
Al-Qaeda. With the support of tribal leaders, the government might be | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
able to regain control of Anbar, but the long-running problems in the | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
Sunni areas will need more comprehensive political deals. | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
In another sign of instability in the country, a suicide bomber has | :03:14. | :03:19. | |
killed at least 12 people and injured more than 75 at a market 70 | :03:20. | :03:28. | |
kilometres north-east of Baghdad. Brad Blakeman is Professor of | :03:29. | :03:30. | |
Politics and International Affairs at Georgetown University in | :03:31. | :03:33. | |
Washington. He was also a member of President George W Bush's senior | :03:34. | :03:39. | |
staff from 2001 to 2004. Thank you for joining us on the programme. | :03:40. | :03:45. | |
America has sent 75 missiles and is talking about sending some Eagle | :03:46. | :03:49. | |
surveillance drones as well. Should it be doing more, given what is | :03:50. | :03:56. | |
happening in Iraq? Well, President Obama has made it clear that he is | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
not going to do more, and it is up to the international community now | :04:01. | :04:05. | |
to step up. We will help the best we can, but it is up to the Iraqis now | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
to stand up for themselves, and if they can't do it after all the | :04:11. | :04:13. | |
opportunity that the United States and Britain and other countries have | :04:14. | :04:21. | |
given to them, then they need to meet their own fate. So specifically | :04:22. | :04:29. | |
with the United States, do you agree with President Obama's stance? The | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
missiles and drones are some things, but what about more help in terms of | :04:35. | :04:41. | |
surveillance and into full -- infiltration. We should make sure | :04:42. | :04:47. | |
that the allies do not get a foothold in Iraq that they seem to | :04:48. | :04:50. | |
be getting in some of these areas in Fallujah and Ramadi. So it is in our | :04:51. | :05:00. | |
allies' interest to make sure that this doesn't happen and help them to | :05:01. | :05:03. | |
be self-sufficient enough to get the job done so that our allies will not | :05:04. | :05:07. | |
have to go in and augment that with troops or other support. What about | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
the sectarian split? Do think international pressure should be put | :05:13. | :05:20. | |
on them to make the Sunnis more represented within Iraq? There are | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
internal and external factors, a lack of representation in Iraq, and | :05:25. | :05:33. | |
externally, the war in Syria. And that is where the UN could be of | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
great value, to bring reconciliation to factions that have broken off. It | :05:38. | :05:42. | |
is incumbent on the UN under its charter to do that, which they are | :05:43. | :05:48. | |
charged to do, which is to go in and bring the parties together, and get | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
the current government to acknowledge that things must change | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
in Iraq, there must be not only an acknowledgement, but policies must | :05:57. | :05:59. | |
change in order for them to bring stability and peace within their own | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
borders. What about the role of Iran and Saudi Arabia here as well. What | :06:05. | :06:08. | |
sort of international leveraged can be put on them, especially given the | :06:09. | :06:15. | |
apparent rapprochement between the United States and Iran? There is no | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
question about it that outside forces are instigating a lot of the | :06:20. | :06:22. | |
violence within Iraq, and that has got to stop. We have to secure as | :06:23. | :06:29. | |
best we can and help them with their borders, and bring pressure up on | :06:30. | :06:32. | |
outside nations who are causing a lot of the mischief within Iraq, and | :06:33. | :06:36. | |
unfortunately, we have taken our foot off the sanctions, which are | :06:37. | :06:43. | |
starting to be of great significance in Iran. And I think our president | :06:44. | :06:52. | |
has been making a great misstep in taking his foot off some of the | :06:53. | :06:55. | |
sanctions, because it is not in the interests of the region, and it may | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
not even be in our interests that it was done. This has led to the deaths | :07:00. | :07:06. | |
of more than 8000 civilians. I wonder if there is any moral | :07:07. | :07:13. | |
necessity for America to take part in this, and how optimistic are you | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
that this will ever be resolved? We have had the threat of civil war so | :07:19. | :07:24. | |
many times before. Well, let's take a look in America's history. When we | :07:25. | :07:27. | |
declared independence, it took was 11 years to get our act ever, and | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
within 100 years of our independence, we had a civil war, | :07:34. | :07:41. | |
600,000 Americans dead, brother against brother. You cannot will | :07:42. | :07:49. | |
civility, it has to be earned. But only if it is going to mean | :07:50. | :07:52. | |
something and it will be the lubricant well thought out, and just | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
to do something to say that we did something is not enough. We have to | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
have results if we are going to do anything. Thank you very much indeed | :08:02. | :08:03. | |
for joining us on the programme. Sectarian violence has also flared | :08:04. | :08:09. | |
up again in Lebanon. Tensions heightened between Sunnis and Shias | :08:10. | :08:12. | |
because of the war in neighbouring Syria. In the last few hours, at | :08:13. | :08:16. | |
least six people have been killed in a car bomb attack in a southern | :08:17. | :08:19. | |
suburb of Beirut, a stronghold of the Shia militant group Hezbollah. | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
It comes just days after a Sunni and a critic of Hezbollah was killed by | :08:24. | :08:26. | |
a car bomb. Our correspondent Corine Torbey is at the scene and we'll get | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
the latest from her in just a few minutes. | :08:32. | :08:33. | |
Now to the crisis in South Sudan, where fierce fighting continues even | :08:34. | :08:38. | |
as efforts to end the violence get under way. Delegations from the | :08:39. | :08:42. | |
warring factions led by President Salva Kiir and his former deputy | :08:43. | :08:45. | |
Riek Machar are meeting for peace talks in the Ethiopian capital, | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
Addis Ababa. Aid agencies say many civilians inside South Sudan are in | :08:51. | :08:53. | |
desperate need of help and shelter. They estimate up to 75,000 people | :08:54. | :08:57. | |
have gathered on the banks of the Nile looking for help, after | :08:58. | :09:00. | |
crossing by boat from the town of Bor. Our correspondent Alastair | :09:01. | :09:08. | |
Leithead is at the camp. We don't know exactly how many | :09:09. | :09:12. | |
people have made the trip across the Nile river that is just behind me | :09:13. | :09:15. | |
here, but it is more than 75,000 people. That is like a sports | :09:16. | :09:19. | |
stadium full of people suddenly arriving here, and this is where | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
they are ending up. They are coming here and just sitting under the | :09:24. | :09:26. | |
trees. This is the only shelter they have got. And this goes all the way | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
down this bank of the Nile, all the way in for a couple of miles into | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
that area, huge numbers of people. And they have nothing. They grabbed | :09:37. | :09:39. | |
what they could, came here without much food. And the water isn't | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
clean. These guys here with these buckets on their head, that is water | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
collected from the Nile, dirty, bad water. On this side, we have a | :09:49. | :09:54. | |
clinic that has been set up by Medecins Sans Frontieres, two small | :09:55. | :09:59. | |
clinics with a handful of staff, and they have been trying to deal with | :10:00. | :10:01. | |
increasing numbers of people coming in with really bad diarrhoea, among | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
the many children, and we have heard of babies who have died of diarrhoea | :10:07. | :10:08. | |
because there are no facilities here. In the background here, you | :10:09. | :10:14. | |
can make out the first signs of aid coming in. This is truck loads of | :10:15. | :10:20. | |
food, the committee internationally of the Red Cross have come in and | :10:21. | :10:23. | |
brought food and supplies, and they are trying to do this in an | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
organised way. You can see the queues of people waiting, organised | :10:28. | :10:30. | |
by which area they are from to try to make sure that this is given out | :10:31. | :10:33. | |
fairly to those people who need it most, but more needs to come. It is | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
a five-hour drive of a bad roads to reach this area, and the UN is | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
already aware of the situation. It is a humanitarian crisis. The | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
fighting is continuing across the river. There are people over there | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
who can no longer come over on boats because it is too dangerous for | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
them. Even to get here where there is nothing is better than being in a | :10:56. | :10:58. | |
town held by the anti-government forces, and there is a serious risk | :10:59. | :11:01. | |
of more intense fighting breaking out in the days ahead. | :11:02. | :11:04. | |
He's been in a coma and vegetative state since 2006, but doctors in | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
Israel say the condition of former Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon has | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
worsened in the past 48 hours. Doctors say his organs are failing | :11:14. | :11:16. | |
and his life is in danger. From Jerusalem, Kevin Connolly reports. | :11:17. | :11:26. | |
At the medical centre near Tel Aviv, Israel waits anxiously for a medical | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
bulletin on the health of the former Prime Minister, who has been in a | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
coma for eight years. When the news comes, it is not good. | :11:35. | :11:42. | |
TRANSLATION: Mr Ariel Sharon shows some signs of deterioration in the | :11:43. | :11:48. | |
following two days, with some critical miss function, malfunction | :11:49. | :11:51. | |
of some of his organs, including his kidneys. He is under treatment, but | :11:52. | :12:02. | |
we feel that the situation is critical, and some danger is | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
expected for his life. Ariel Sharon's life may be slipping | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
away now, but in his heyday, they called him the bulldozer. The | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
forceful soldier and politician saw himself as an uncompromising | :12:16. | :12:17. | |
defender of his country's interests, in war and in peace. We remember his | :12:18. | :12:25. | |
contributions, sacrifices he made to ensure the survival and the | :12:26. | :12:30. | |
well-being of Israel, and I have many personal thoughts about my | :12:31. | :12:32. | |
meetings with him, on many different occasions. Always robust and strong | :12:33. | :12:42. | |
and clear about his position. His name may be for ever associated | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
with the massacre inside Palestinian refugee camps, carried out by | :12:47. | :12:49. | |
Christian militia in Lebanon during Israel's invasion of 1982, but Ariel | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
Sharon's life story was bound up with a history of his country from | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
the moment of its birth. He fought in the war of independence in 1948. | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
Israel's enemies hated Ariel Sharon, but people will remember him | :13:04. | :13:09. | |
as someone whose career dated back to the very foundation of their | :13:10. | :13:12. | |
state. Now they wait with concern as his fate again hangs in the balance. | :13:13. | :13:19. | |
Much attention is also focused on the hospital in France, where former | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher is still | :13:24. | :13:26. | |
being treated for head injuries following a skiing accident on | :13:27. | :13:32. | |
Sunday. He's been in a critical condition after falling and hitting | :13:33. | :13:37. | |
his head on a rock. He received a visit on Thursday from the head of | :13:38. | :13:41. | |
the FIA, Jean Todt, who was also his boss during his time at Ferrari. | :13:42. | :13:44. | |
It's Schumacher's 45th birthday on Friday. | :13:45. | :13:49. | |
Let's get more now from Lebanon, where a bomb has exploded in a | :13:50. | :13:54. | |
southern suburb of Beirut, killing at least six people. It was very | :13:55. | :14:00. | |
close to the Central office of Hezbollah. We can go to the scene | :14:01. | :14:04. | |
now and speak to the BBC's Corine Torbey. This is likely to stoke | :14:05. | :14:09. | |
sectarian tensions there even more, isn't it? Yes, a lot of tension, | :14:10. | :14:15. | |
especially as this is not the first attack in this area, but also within | :14:16. | :14:21. | |
Lebanon an last Friday, a former finance minister was also | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
assassinated, and the security situation is believed to be | :14:27. | :14:28. | |
deteriorating by the day in this country. In terms of the group | :14:29. | :14:36. | |
behind it, this is seen as tit-for-tat, is it? As the sectarian | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
nature of the Civil War in serious bills over the border? Well, there | :14:42. | :14:47. | |
is a wide belief that what is happening in Lebanon is very much | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
linked to the situation in Syria. What happened today, many people | :14:52. | :14:55. | |
think that it is a deterioration for Hezbollah's role in Syria, and its | :14:56. | :15:01. | |
involvement in some of the troops in the Shia party alongside government | :15:02. | :15:09. | |
forces in Syria. Lebanon has also its own problems, and it is a very | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
congregated situation, and it is very hard to understand what is | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
happening. -- a complicated situation. People are trying to make | :15:20. | :15:23. | |
sense of all of this violence that is taking hold of the country. Not | :15:24. | :15:32. | |
helped by the fact that Lebanon has been paralysed politically. This is | :15:33. | :15:38. | |
a very divided country, not only along political lines, but on | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
sectarian lines. Lebanon has been without Government for around nine | :15:44. | :15:48. | |
months. Political parties are unable to come together. There are real | :15:49. | :15:55. | |
fears that amid all of this in security, and made all of this | :15:56. | :16:01. | |
division, the situation might go further and further. Thank you. | :16:02. | :16:18. | |
Let's bring you some breaking news. About the killing of a Briton and a | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
New Zealander, both gunshot wounds, in western Libya, that is according | :16:24. | :16:27. | |
to a security source on writers news agency. The body was found on the | :16:28. | :16:35. | |
coastal area. It is about 100 kilometres west of Tripoli. At ACAS | :16:36. | :16:40. | |
Park complex. -- at ACAS complex. Police in South Africa have begun a | :16:41. | :16:51. | |
murder investigation into the death of a leading role and an opposition | :16:52. | :16:55. | |
figure Patrick Karegeya whose body was found in a hotel room. They said | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
that he may have been strangled. The former intelligence chief Fred | :17:01. | :17:05. | |
Rwanda after he was accused of plotting against his former ally | :17:06. | :17:08. | |
President Paul Kagame -- President Paul Kagame. | :17:09. | :17:14. | |
In the upmarket district, Patrick Karegeya came to this hotel on | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
Wednesday to meet a man from Rwanda whom he said to have trusted. | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
Yesterday, he was found dead in one of the hotel rooms. The police have | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
launched a murder inquiry. When the police were called, police were | :17:31. | :17:37. | |
given the possibility that he might have been strangled and a bloody | :17:38. | :17:44. | |
Tower was found on the scene. Patrick Karegeya fought against Paul | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
Kagame with the random picture that front. After the 1994 genocide, he | :17:50. | :17:57. | |
was Rwanda's external intelligence chief. He fell out with... | :17:58. | :18:05. | |
In 2007, he went into axe out in South Africa, where he was granted | :18:06. | :18:12. | |
political asylum. Together with a former army chief he formed a new | :18:13. | :18:19. | |
opposition party, The Rwanda And National Congress. Undoubtedly an | :18:20. | :18:30. | |
assassination. Patrick Karegeya did not have any problems with people in | :18:31. | :18:38. | |
South Africa. He didn't have any differences within the organisation. | :18:39. | :18:53. | |
We also know... This week's Kelling has thrown the spotlight on the | :18:54. | :18:56. | |
Rwanda and axe Isles who had in the past been warned of attacks on them. | :18:57. | :19:03. | |
The government continues to deny trying to kill its political | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
opponents. All 52 passengers on board a Russian | :19:09. | :19:12. | |
ship that has been stuck in the Antarctic have finally been rescued. | :19:13. | :19:16. | |
The research vessel became trapped in the ice on Christmas eve during a | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
fierce storm. Ice breakers made attempts to reach the strip ship, | :19:21. | :19:29. | |
but were awarded. Helicopters were used to carry passengers to a rescue | :19:30. | :19:38. | |
ship. Look at that. What a handsome craft | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
that is. It was the site that everyone had | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
been waiting for, the first rescue helicopter descending onto the same | :19:48. | :19:50. | |
eyes that had kept me and all on board the ship, the Akademik | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
Shokalskiy, stranded for over a week. | :19:55. | :19:59. | |
Previous attempts to bring about the rescue of the scientists and | :20:00. | :20:02. | |
tourists on board had been aborted due to poor weather. Finally, the | :20:03. | :20:09. | |
skies were clear. The first of their helicopters to take us home | :20:10. | :20:15. | |
passengers were taken to an Australian icebreaker. The rescue | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
operation lasted several hours. I was one of those who made this | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
journey. You were watching the last group of people that you have been | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
ferried from the Russian vessel through about a 15 minute wait | :20:33. | :20:38. | |
knuckle ride helicopter ride to just outside the Australian icebreaker. | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
Scientists on board the Akademik Shokalskiy had been recreating the | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
journey of Douglas Mawson and his 1911 voyage to Antarctica. On | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
Christmas Eve, thick flows of ice judge and by strong winds had left | :20:55. | :21:01. | |
the vessel unable to move further. Singing auld lang syne, expedition | :21:02. | :21:06. | |
members celebrated New Year by working towards their own rescue. | :21:07. | :21:16. | |
We're getting the team to stamp down on this snow and ice so the Chinese | :21:17. | :21:21. | |
helicopter can reach us. Finally, the rescue could go ahead. | :21:22. | :21:26. | |
The Aurora Australis is now breaking through the ice. The eventual | :21:27. | :21:31. | |
destination, the Australian state of Tasmania. | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
For the crew of the Akademik Shokalskiy, the weight remains. They | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
will have to hold out until the ice surrounding the ship breaks out. | :21:42. | :21:43. | |
That could be many more weeks. Pakistan's former president has been | :21:44. | :21:56. | |
taken to hospital with heart problems. He was due to appear in | :21:57. | :22:04. | |
court with treason charges when he reportedly fell ill. A spokesman | :22:05. | :22:07. | |
said he is conscious and is being examined by military doctors. | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
Japan's Coast Guard has rescued a Chinese man who tried to reach a | :22:13. | :22:17. | |
bunch of disputed islands by hot air Berlin. The islands are known by | :22:18. | :22:22. | |
Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China and are administered by Tokyo. | :22:23. | :22:32. | |
Nigella Lawson has said it was mortifying to have details of her | :22:33. | :22:36. | |
personal life and drug-taking revealed in court. Speaking in her | :22:37. | :22:40. | |
first interview since her assistants were cleared of | :22:41. | :22:43. | |
defrauding her and her former husband Charles Saatchi of hundreds | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
of thousands of dollars, she told a US TV station that her only desire | :22:48. | :22:51. | |
in the court case was to protect her children. | :22:52. | :22:58. | |
We know you have had quite a year. The reason Nigella Lawson was on | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
this show was to talk about her cookery programme. One topic could | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
not be avoided. Her recent experience on the witness stand at | :23:07. | :23:11. | |
the trial of her two assistants To have not only your private life, but | :23:12. | :23:19. | |
distortions of it, is mortifying. There are people going through an | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
awful lot worse and to dwell on it or on any of it would be self-pity | :23:24. | :23:30. | |
and I don't like to do that. In that court appearance, she had been | :23:31. | :23:34. | |
accused of being a regular user of cocaine. She denies this. The | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
intense interest in her life had begun before the trial. These photos | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
of her and her now former husband Charles Saatchi appeared. Over the | :23:43. | :23:48. | |
months, her private life has become very public. That appearance in | :23:49. | :23:53. | |
court was bruising. She said, her reputation had been maliciously | :23:54. | :23:57. | |
vilified. Today, she reappeared more | :23:58. | :24:00. | |
reflective than angry, but still wounded by the experience. You are | :24:01. | :24:05. | |
Mack were only desire really was to protect my children. I can always do | :24:06. | :24:11. | |
that, but that is what I wanted to do. -- could not. Since then, I have | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
details of chocolate and had a good Christmas and iron into the New | :24:18. | :24:24. | |
Year. Time to move on. -- I am. Our feelings about the way she had been | :24:25. | :24:30. | |
treated in court were clear. -- her feelings. | :24:31. | :24:34. | |
The city of Shanghai claims to have set a new milestone, two new Metro | :24:35. | :24:37. | |
lines which opened this week will take its total length to more than | :24:38. | :24:42. | |
500 kilometres. The city has been laying new track at a pace faster | :24:43. | :24:46. | |
than anywhere else in history. But it is not the only Chinese city in | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
the grip of a tabloid frenzy. -- tunnelling. | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
It is hard to believe that the Shanghai Metro system is barely 20 | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
years old. The pace of expansion has been | :25:03. | :25:07. | |
breathtaking. It is now the world's longest subway | :25:08. | :25:13. | |
network. With the opening of lines 12 and 16 this week, the first to | :25:14. | :25:20. | |
stretch over 500 kilometres. TRANSLATION: I used to take the bus. | :25:21. | :25:29. | |
That took ages. This is great. It saves me 30 minutes on my normal | :25:30. | :25:35. | |
journey. I am really happy. As of this week, Shanghai has 567 | :25:36. | :25:42. | |
kilometres of operational track, leaving London languishing with 400 | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
and New York even further behind with just 330: Matters. In the game | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
of my Metro is bigger than yours, China looks likely to remain the | :25:53. | :26:00. | |
champion. The Beijing Metro is now the world's second longest. 16 | :26:01. | :26:06. | |
cities already have subway systems and at least 18 more have begun | :26:07. | :26:10. | |
construction. If nothing else, it is a sign that there is little letup in | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
big government spending, despite the talk of having to rebalance the | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
economy. This week, Shanghai announced a ban on passengers eating | :26:22. | :26:25. | |
on board, but the appetite for growth is undiminished. In the next | :26:26. | :26:30. | |
few years, another 230 kilometres will be added, more than the total | :26:31. | :26:32. | |
length of the Paris Metro. It goes on and on. But is it from | :26:33. | :26:43. | |
us. The weather is coming up. Goodbye. | :26:44. | :26:56. | |
After a brief lull, things are going downhill again very quickly with | :26:57. | :27:02. | |
more wind and rain over the next few days and we can expect more of the | :27:03. | :27:06. | |
same with an ongoing likelihood of flooding. This is the situation | :27:07. | :27:09. | |
right now. This set | :27:10. | :27:10. |