04/08/2014 World News Today


04/08/2014

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A day of commemoration as people across Europe mark 100 years since

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In Belgium, where the first troops were killed, both royals and world

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leaders remembered those lost, and reflected on their legacy.

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Former adversaries have worked together for three generations to

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spread democracy, prosperity and the rule of law.

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As Europe reflects on its bloody past we'll look

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at the legacy of the conflict still being felt across the Middle East.

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There is a new conflict which is still deadly. There is a situation

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that Europe must face. As a pause in the fighting ends

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Israel vows it?s to continue its military campaign in Gaza

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until their security is assured. And rescuers check rabble after a

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deadly earthquake. -- rescuers check rubble.

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Today marks 100 years since Britain and its Empire entered the

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On this day in 1914, German troops invaded Belgium in order to attack

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France and Britain responded by declaring war on Germany.

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In Belgium, where the invasion by German troops brought Britain into

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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were joined by Belgium's king

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and queen and also the presidents of Germany and France.

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Thousands of balloons were released over the memorial at the site

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Our royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell reports

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It was a summer much like today, said the minister of Glasgow

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It was 100 years ago today, the day Britain went to war.

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From every continent the leaders of countries

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which had once been part of the British Empire and which are now

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linked by the Commonwealth came to remember and to pay their respects.

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Most of the fighting, most of the casualties occurred

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Belgium was the first point of impact, invaded by German forces

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To the city of Liege, stoutly defended

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by Belgian forces in 1914, came many of Europe's present day leaders.

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He was thankful for the invitation, he said, and there was contrition

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for Germany's completely unjustifiable invasion of Belgium,

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as he put it, and for the conduct of German troops.

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President Hollande of France spoke about present-day wars and what he

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Prince William said recent events in Ukraine showed that instability

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But he said something better was possible.

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The fact that the presidents of Germany

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and Austria are here today and that other nations, then enemies,

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are here too, bears testimony to the power of reconciliation.

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Balloons were released as a symbol of unity and peace.

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In Glasgow the Prince of Wales laid a wreath

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in tribute to all those from Britain and the Commonwealth who gave

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And in Folkestone, from where hundreds of thousands of

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soldiers embarked for the Western Front, Prince Harry opened a

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Tonight Britain's attention will centre on Westminster Abbey with

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a vigil which will be shared across the country as lights are dimmed.

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A moment of reflection inspired by a remark by the Foreign Secretary

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of Britain a century ago, that the lamps were going out all

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It is the solemn commemoration of a catastrophic moment,

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represented at the Tower of London by nearly 1 million ceramic poppies

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placed there to signify the bloodshed and the sacrifice of war.

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16 million people died in that war. Hundreds of thousands were British

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troops. Historians have been able to identify the first British soldier

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to die. He was Private John Parr. At this cemetery David McCarthy

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and his daughter have reached Around them the men of the Middlesex

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Regiment lost in fighting at Mons. Ahead, the last resting place

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of David's great uncle. This is a very special day

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when the whole nation is remembering So that does really add to

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the emotion of the moment. Many of the 90 families attending

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tonight's ceremony are here Amongst them the descendants

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of Corporal Walter Last. He was only a baby

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when his father was killed. It is very important

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for us to come and pay This evening Europe will remember

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in particular Private John Parr, 17 years old,

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and the first British soldier to be I heard from Berlin to say that

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my son was shot down at Mons... His great-niece has a copy

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of the letter in which Tonight it will be shared with

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a global audience. I have a photograph of the family

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wedding, of me holding the hand So I like to think that I am

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now taking her by the hand As dusk falls on a day

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of remembrance the most powerful message still

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comes from those who were there. As soon as you get over the top fear

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has left you and it is terror. I was tired of seeing infantry

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sinking back in that morass, I was tired of all the carnage,

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of all the sacrifice just to gain These soldiers stabbed each other,

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strangled each other, What was it that we who have nothing

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against them personally fought with Where better to reflect

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on the futility of conflict and We the Duke and Duchess of the ant

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David Cameron who will be taking part in a major service of

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remembrance. -- the Duke and Duchess of York.

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We will be asking is its shadow still felt today.

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An eight-year-old girl was killed in an air strike

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on a refugee camp in Gaza just minutes into a unilateral pause

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in Israel's military operations, according to Palestinian officials.

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The Israeli army says it's looking into the incident.

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The seven-hour truce by the Israeli army came into effect in parts

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of Gaza this morning, but it didn't apply in the southern town of Rafah.

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So far over 1,800 Palestinians and 67 Israelis have been killed

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Orla Guerin sent this report from Gaza City.

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You may find some of the images distressing.

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Fresh casualties arrive on the day of an Israeli cease-fire. Survivors

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told as missiles at their homes. An attack that came about warning. This

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was the latest innocent victim. They should fight soldiers, not the

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children. Casualties are still arriving at the hospital. It is

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chaotic. There is not room for all the people that are arriving. They

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say that this attack happened after the humanitarian cease-fire was

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supposed to have begun. He is grandmother said, we will

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stand firm and have more children to fight Israel.

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Some took advantage of the Seas fire to salvage what they could from

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their homes. Then this front line area there was heavy fighting.

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This was my house. This was where I built my dreams. My memories.

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This is the ruins of the house where he lived with his wife, children and

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extended family. He says he will bring his infant son and daughter

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back year to live in a tent and they will teach them about the Israelis.

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They have two learn how to live with those people. How can we live

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together? They destroyed the house. His losses include family farmland

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and as plastics factory. This man of books is now left with sadness and

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heat. International pressure has been

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mounting on Israel over President Hollande of France

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described yesterday's air strike near a UN-run school as

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a violation of international law. In Jerusalem,

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an Israeli died when a mechanical pressure these pictures show the

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first attack in Jerusalem. Police officers rushed towards him. The

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police fire at the driver, a Palestinian, and they kill him.

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Afterwards a crowd gathers. I think we should be able to live in peace.

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We should stop the radicals from escalating things. This is the most

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significant attack on Israelis in Jerusalem. We will not be deterred

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from developing the city of Jerusalem. Terrorists will

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understand that does not pay. We will go back to our life and move

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on. Then we get word of another attack.

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Now there is a sense of fear and uncertainty in Jerusalem. In the

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space of a few hours there have been two separate attacks at the heart of

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the city. The attacks put pressure on the Prime Minister of Israel. He

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insists that Israel's offensive will continue until quiet is restored for

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a lengthy period. Now a look at some

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of the days other news. A ferry carrying

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around 200 passengers has capsized Police say about 100 people have

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so far been rescued but two bodies The boat sank around 30 kilometres

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south of the capital, Dhaka. Many

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of the passengers were coming back A British warship that evacuated 110

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citizens from Libya has arrived Over the last few days,

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226 South Koreans, Indians, Filipinos and Bangladeshis have

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also landed in Valletta. More than 200 people have died

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in violence between rival militia groups

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in Libya over the past two weeks. Thousands

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of people are fleeing a border town in eastern Lebanon on the third day

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of fighting between Lebanese troops Clashes broke out in Arsal

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after soldiers detained a suspected member of the Syrian

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Islamist group, Al Nusra Front. An Australian couple has denied

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abandoning a child with town syndrome born to a woman in

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Thailand. The couple said that they had returned to Australia with his

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healthy twin sister. The case has led to an online campaign which has

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raised almost $200,000 for the medical treatment of the child.

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A rescue operation is underway in China

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after a strong earthquake struck a remote area of Yunnan province,

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in the south west of the country, killing at least 400 people.

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President Xi Jinping has called for "all-out efforts" to find

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survivors as he dispatched thousands of troops to the disaster region.

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From Shanghai, our correspondent John Sudworth gave us this update

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This morning, help finally arrived at the epicentre of the earthquake.

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Bad visibility and weather conditions have for almost 20 hours

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stopped the military helicopters from landing. Once airborne, the

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extent of the lethal destruction was clearly visible in this remote

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mountainous region. Surveillance camera footage showed the moment it

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struck at 4:30pm in the afternoon on Sunday. When many people would have

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been at home. Those that could went to the safety of the outdoors. On

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the first tremor, everything shook, seven or eight times, this man said.

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Our house collapsed almost as soon as we got out. Thousands of rescue

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workers, soldiers and medical staff have been drafted in but progress on

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the ground is being badly hampered by disrupted communications and

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blocked roads. Offers of help if needed have come from Washington and

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the United Nations. But it is access which is the problem. At this stage

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China appears to have all the manpower needed. The authorities are

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sending large quantities of bedding and medical supplies. Compare to the

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2008 earthquake in the neighbouring province which claimed almost 70,000

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lives, this disaster is smaller in scale at relative comparisons are

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meaningless for the hundreds of families that have lost loved ones

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and the many thousands made homeless. The Chinese premier as

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flown in to personally oversee the rescue operation. From the air, the

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real vulnerability is clear. Older buildings are lying collapsed in

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between new multistorey buildings left standing. The South West is one

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of the most earthquake prone regions and also one of the poorest. It is

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that combination leading to such a large loss of life.

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Earlier we saw how European leaders are marking 100 years

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since the start of World War One at ceremonies in Belgium.

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The commemorations are taking place amid a backdrop of ongoing conflicts

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While the Great War may have officially

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ended in 1918, today's events have prompted leaders including

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French President Francois Hollande to draw parallels between the Great

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TRANSLATION: We should not look at what has happened in the borders of

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Europe. Close by their is a new conflict which is still deadly. On

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the other side of the Mediterranean there is a situation Europe must

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face. You should not believe that these situations are only for the

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countries involved. Terrorism, violence, all of this can spread. We

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must act. To discuss this further I'm joined

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by Dr Paul Salem, Vice President for Policy and Research at The Middle

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East Institute in Washington D.C and here with me in the studio again

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is historian Lynelle Howson from the Thank you both for joining us on

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this historic and significant day. Let me start by talking to you. You

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have been across these events today on the BBC already. World War I was

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described as the war to end all wars. At looking at what we have

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been looking at today, Gaza, Libya, Lebanon, it was not at all. Why not?

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I think that is something said about the First World War very

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retrospectively indeed. You can only make the decisions you make at the

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time with what you have. The First World War suffers from being in the

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shadow of the Second World War. It makes us more critical in what they

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might have done differently, but how were they to know? It's changes how

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we look at it because of experience, knowledge and understanding of the

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Second World War and what happened after that, the Cold War and the

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events of today in places like Gaza. Do you think there is a shadow from

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World War I cast over the Middle East conflict? I do think there is

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because one of the things the First World War did was redraw the map in

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many parts of the world. And certainly the Middle East is one of

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those parts. Dr Paul Salem, do you think the world War contributed to

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the chaos, the carnage that we are seeing in the Middle East? Certainly

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it was one of the major factors. It was not the singular, the only

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event. There was already a Western effort into a declining Muslim world

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and a declining Ottoman Empire. World War I was a defining moment in

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the Middle East breaking that empire which had loosely governed the

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region for almost half a millennium. And there was a very uncertain 20th

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century. Part of the troubles in the Middle East is that it was very

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suddenly falling and borders were drawn by the French and the British

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in World War I. It included a promise for the Israeli and Jewish

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homeland and Palestine and Israel. It brought with it an additional

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bunch of challenges. The Middle East in addition to those international

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challenges has been for the past century trying to deal with the

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challenges of moving towards a modern state, modern economy and

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society. The last of those attempts was three years ago in the Arab up

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risings. Sadly they have come to nothing in most of those countries.

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It is a very complex mix of challenges and difficulties. Part of

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it is related to World War I but I would not take all of the causality

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into that. You were talking about borders. We have got this Jewish

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diplomat, Mark Sykes and a French diplomat, and between them they

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can't up the map of the Middle East. -- British diplomat. It was known as

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the famous line and it was imposed boundaries and they might not have

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had those boundaries quite as to linear weighted in the past. They

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were drawn across sectarian divisions but they did not reflect

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divisions. And people of different faiths in different countries and

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sectarian divisions continued. How much of a factor is that particular

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episode in the fighting that we are seeing in the Middle East today? I

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am less of an expert in this matter than your other guest! I know you

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have written about this, Dr Paul Salem. Let me say a couple of

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things. The drawing of those borders first of all, it had an impact on

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part of the Middle East which is what we call the Lebanon, Palestine,

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Syria, Israel, Iraq but not the other parts including Egypt and

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North Africa, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and so on. It impacted part of that

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region. The region it impacted before World War I was all part of a

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directly governed group of provinces. They were governed by

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Turkey 's forces. Turkish Empire. There was not rising encouraged by

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the British against Turkish rule. The borders that were drawn were

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somewhat arbitrary. Secondly, they included in each nation state, a new

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nation state, different communities. But under the Ottoman Empire, all of

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these areas were multi-sector Aryan. They generally lived together. --

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multi sectarian. There was a large uproar in the region, especially

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because of the British. They had promised a unified Arab state based

:25:05.:25:08.

into mass goods, including Iraqi and much of the area with British

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support under Arab unified rule. The British made concession to the

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French allies and gave half of it to France and the agreement caused a

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great anti-Western reaction in the Arab world. I am just going to jump

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in there. We have talked about the conflict in Syria and Iraq in recent

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months. And pace militant group issued a video saying that by moving

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across from Syria into Iraqi words destroying that agreement you talked

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about. They certainly believed that the shadow of World War I was

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looming large. Just to finish with you, Lynelle Howson, what has the

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world learned from World War I? They have learned that unfortunately

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violence can achieve some goals and also that the hats they are very

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short-term. And at a very high cost. And -- and also maybe. There were

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many people that went into the war and attempted to use it for positive

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regress as well. Not everybody was satisfied at the end of that and I

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think that would be true of any armed conflict anywhere. Dr Paul

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Salem and Lynelle Howson, thank you very much for joining us.

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And if you are watching us in the UK you can tune

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into special coverage of World War One commemorations on BBC2.

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For viewers around the globe, stay with us here on here

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BBC World, we'll cross live the commemorative ceremony in Mons,

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If you enjoy day fine Monday there will be some spells of warm sunshine

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at times this week but that is not the whole story. There will be some

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wet weather on cheese day and into Wednesday and Friday

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