16/09/2014 World News Today


16/09/2014

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This is BBC World News Today, with me, Philippa Thomas.

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With just two days to go before a vote on independence

:00:00.:00:08.

will last minute promises keep Scotland within the United Kingdom?

:00:09.:00:13.

The Yes campaign says the offer of more powers

:00:14.:00:15.

But Gordon Brown claims it's the only way to protect key services.

:00:16.:00:25.

Do you think we would ever stand by and allow the NHS to be privatised

:00:26.:00:33.

or cut in Scotland? Do you think we would ever allow the NHS not to have

:00:34.:00:37.

the powers in Scotland to protect itself? No! The only guarantee to

:00:38.:00:45.

protect the health service, create jobs, make sure we do not get Tory

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governments we did not vote for is to vote yes.

:00:50.:00:53.

The French government narrowly wins a confidence vote,

:00:54.:00:55.

but will that help it turn round the French economy?

:00:56.:00:58.

This extraordinary scene as Ukraine ratifies an historic deal

:00:59.:01:01.

to tighten ties with the European Union.

:01:02.:01:14.

With only two days to go to referendum day,

:01:15.:01:18.

both sides in the Scottish independence debate have seized

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on a pledge by Britain's three main parties to devolve more powers.

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Party leaders David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg say the

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United Kingdom, the Union, offers voters the best of both worlds.

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But the Yes to indepence campaign describes their pledge as an insult

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to voters, asking why it's taken so long to offer extra powers.

:01:39.:01:43.

And as James Cook reports, the future of a key

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government service, the NHS, has been central to today's campaigning.

:01:47.:01:56.

This campaign began more than two years ago. As Ed Miliband arrived in

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Edinburgh, you would not know it. Both sides are fired up, there is

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little sign of fatigue as they argue passionately about the future of

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this country. Today, those arguments focused on Scotland's's health

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service, the NHS is already run from Edinburgh, but this document

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suggests the Scottish Government may soon have to save more than ?400

:02:24.:02:28.

million from its budget. The Scottish Parliament has the powers

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to raise the amount of money spent on the National Health Service, or

:02:34.:02:35.

any other public service, if they are prepared to go to the sponge

:02:36.:02:41.

people and ask them to raise the revenue to do so. This nails the

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Scottish National Party line. As tempers fray and temperatures rise,

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SNP ministers are hitting back. They insist they are not planning to cut

:02:55.:02:58.

the NHS, and if money is tight, Westminster, which sets Scotland's

:02:59.:03:03.

overall budget, is to blame. We will fight to protect the health service.

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I know how hard it is to protect the budget of the health service when

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the overall budget is being cut. We did that, and we continue to do it.

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But when your budget is being cut by Westminster, that makes it harder

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and harder to do. And there is a wider argument. Both sides agreed

:03:22.:03:26.

that they want Scotland to have more control of its own affairs. They

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disagree about how much control and how it should happen. Today, the

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three UK party leaders published a pledge, going to introduce more

:03:37.:03:40.

powers if Scotland says Now. They see it will ensure the Scottish

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Parliament will be Parliament -- permanent. And that they will have

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the final say on NHS spending. We are voting for a stronger Scotland,

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a stronger Scottish Parliament with more powers so we can protect the

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NHS, we can protect education, services in Scotland. And at the

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same time, we avoid the risks that would come from independence. But

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campaigners for Independence Day the pledge is nonsense. They point out

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that the three party still do not agree on what extra powers should be

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devolved. Some on the Yes team wants to go much further. We live in a

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Scotland that is socially scarred! Tommy Sheridan has been to ring the

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country calling for a radical new Scotland. So popular is his

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message, he sometimes is to speak outside to those who cannot get into

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the hall. We will not yet be a socialist country, just a free

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country after September. But the declaration is quite clear. It will

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be a more progressive, more fear country. Public ownership of gas,

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electricity, oil and the railways. We will be listened to a lot of

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more. Scotland's future has been hanging in the balance for a long

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time. But very soon, Scotland decides.

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Among the many international observers now in Scotland is

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a delegation from Canada's Parti Quebecois,

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including Alexandre Cloutier, a leading member of Quebec's

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provincial parliament, and of course an advocate of independence.

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Welcome to World News Today. Do you think the SNP has learned anything

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from your experience in Quebec customer I am sure they are aware of

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what we have been doing in the past. I am sure they are able to make the

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difference necessary. It is two different situations, but we are a

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democratic country under Democratic party. We have tried to do

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independence in Canada respectfully of all laws and the International

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Charter of rights, but Scottish people have their own great

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experience now. What do you make of what you are seeing? Over 40 of you

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either from Quebec to watch over campaigns are going. We are very

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excited to be here, we wanted to learn from the Scottish experience.

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The Yes campaign has been doing amazing work. It is quite

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unbelievable the progress they have made doing the last 24 months. I

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remember when I was a student here in 2004, the movement was not so

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organised. It is quite unbelievable the progress. We wanted to

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understand better who were supporting the Yes movement. What do

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you think can said be to voters who still have not made up their minds?

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Those who are worried about economic certainty or even economic recession

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following a vote for independence? I do not have any advice to give to

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people here. I am only here to learn from the experience. There is no

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doubt from me that a small country can do very well, we have a great

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example in northern Europe where you have very rich, small countries

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doing very well. I totally understand the argument when you

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say, why should you not only yourself, and do things for your

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people? How big a story is this back on? It is very big. All eyes are

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being turned here. I have been doing so many interviews, people are

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looking towards what is going to happen here. Not many people

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believed it was possible, and now, obviously, anything can happen. We

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will find out in a couple of days. Thank you very much.

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France's Prime Minister Manuel Valls has narrowly won a confidence vote

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in his reshuffled cabinet amid record low poll ratings for the

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It follows anger on the left of his Socialist Party

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at the government's plan to drive through austerity policies.

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But although 31 Socialist Party deputies were reported to have

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abstained, Mr Valls still won with 269 votes to 244.

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In an uncompromising speech earlier, Valls said he would not be swayed

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from his plans to save 50 billion euros over the next three years.

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Joining us from our Paris studio is Christine Ockrent,

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a leading French journalist and television presenter.

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Welcome to World News Today. He scraped through, but that does not

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necessarily make all socialists happy? Certainly not, but as you

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just said, Manuel Valls's challenge was not so much to convince

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opposition in parliament, but to convince his own people. Five months

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after being in office, he had again to ask for confidence, because he

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has been adamant about the need for reforms. You have to understand

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that, as opposed to the British Labour Party, which went through

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that sort of ideological revolution, many years back, French socialists

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are still, part of them, at least, very much against market capitalism.

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Against globalisation. And quite far away from economic reality, so

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Manuel Valls has had, since he has been, the courage and indeed the

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stamina to try and convince his political party, his opponents

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within the Socialist party, and also French public opinion. How much

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chance do you think he has of pushing through the economic reforms

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chance do you think he has of that he and Francois Hollande I

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really needed? -- say at really needed? Francois Hollande was

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elected on a series of false promises. Had he not made them, he

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probably would not have been elected. But the problem is that

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these have been two wasted years. Manuel Valls makes no mystery of the

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need to try and catch up. The problem with public opinion is, and

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I think it is true in all of our democracies, is that people ask for

:10:39.:10:42.

a very quick results. Of course, it does not happen overnight. The

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French economy is absolutely still, nothing happens. There is no

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growth. There is a risk of deflation within the Eurozone. All of the

:10:55.:11:04.

measures to try and get the business community to create jobs, assuming

:11:05.:11:06.

these measures ever work, it will not create 300,000 jobs in two

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weeks. The problem is really a race against time, as indeed the next

:11:15.:11:19.

presidential election being in 2017, the opposition, which has not

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put forward any proposal at all that makes any sense so far, in a way,

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the presidential campaign has started today in my view. When you

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listen carefully to what Manuel Valls has said. And thinking about

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that next campaign, how much of a threat to you think the opposition

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is? The Prime Minister has threatened that they are at the

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gates of power. I think it is true when you look at the latest opinion

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polls. They have indeed risen, and it showed in the European election

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is not that long ago. It is a threat, not only to the socialists

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in power, but also to the Conservatives. People say, after all

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these traditional politicians, what have they done for us except put us

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in this plight? Why not try something else? Even if the economic

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proposals are preposterous, people are tempted to say, the hell with

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you, the traditional elite way of doing things. Let's try something

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new. That is what is shown in the opinion polls. When it comes to the

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ballots, that maybe another story. It is indeed a threat. Good to speak

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to you. Thank you. American ground forces could be

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deployed against Islamic State militants if the current

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United States-led strategy fails. That's the view of top US General

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Martin Dempsey who's been speaking President Obama has insisted US

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ground troops would not have But General Dempsey says

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he'd make that recommendation if the international coalition

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against Islamic State My view at this point is that this

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coalition is the appropriate way forward. I believe that will prove

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true. But if it feels to be true, and if there are threats to the

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United States, I would go back to the President and make a

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recommendation that may include the use of US military ground forces.

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General Dempsey's comments come after the US carried out its first

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air strike against Islamic State under its new strategy and Kurdish

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troops on the ground are pushing towards Iraq's second city of Mosul.

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Our correspondent Jim Muir is with the Kurdish forces.

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Cutting through the skies of northern Iraq at dawn, American jets

:13:53.:13:58.

providing air cover for the latest offensive against IS positions.

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Below, Kurdish forces are preparing for action. American drones were

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also up there, this time both the end the jets were just watching. --

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both they and the jets. On the ground, the firepower was coming

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from the Kurds. This is the objective, a village on the plane

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leading to more so. -- Mosul. Kurdish ground forces had advanced

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beyond their old lines, preparing to move in the village after the

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bombardment. -- move in on the village. You can see clearly how it

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works, Americans in the sky providing reconnaissance and

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possibly are strikes, Kurdish forces on the ground bombarding with tanks

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and rockets and so on. Despite all that, the ground forces are

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preparing to move in, it is proving a very hard and costly job. Far-away

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on the other side of Mosul, Kurdish forces have been pressing for on

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another front. Pushing on further has been painfully slow.

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They leave many bombs behind, he said so we have to be very careful.

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It takes much information and planning to drive them out. Another

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victim, this Arab village, abandoned and partly demolished by the Kurds,

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retribution for collaborating with a ceramic state. -- Islamic State.

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This man's Sun has been detained, suspected of working with the

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militants. The other side of the coin, thousands of people driven out

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by the IS radicals, waiting for the day that may never come when they

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will be able to go home. Back on the front, the Kurds keep up the attack,

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but the progress they have made it illustrates just how hard it will be

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to eliminate the militants in the rest of the rock and Syria.

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It's been an historic day for Ukraine as the European

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parliament has ratified a controversial association

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agreement strengthening economic and political ties with the country.

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The agreement has also been ratified by the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev

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during a live video link-up between the two parliaments,

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although the free trade element of the deal won't be implemented

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In separate measures, Ukraine also granted limited

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autonomy to its eastern regions and an amnesty to fighters.

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But while today's development may be seen as a step forward by the

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government in Kiev, it was marred by disturbing scenes outside the

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Parliament afterwards as an angry mob grabbed economic development

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party deputy Vitaly Zhuravsky and manhandled him into a rubbish bin.

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Zhuravsky, once allied to former President Viktor Yanukovich,

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authored a bill in January severely tightening restrictions

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In the past, he authored a bill criminalising libel.

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As you can see, he was pushed over and held down in the dumpster,

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after which men poured water on him and threw his briefcase on top.

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First, David, why is there such anger

:17:50.:17:52.

It has been an historic day for the Ukrainians. There were two major

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pieces of legislation passed, first the ratification of this Treaty,

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also the granting of some form of autonomy or limited the tonic to the

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East, but there was also a vetting bill, and anti-corruption bill,

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which the crowd gathered around the parliament to demand, and this is

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where the emotions that we have seen, where they came from. They

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were very high. The crowd was demanding this bill to be passed,

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because this was one of the main demands of the revolution. It is not

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quite clear why the crowd through this one particular politician into

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the rubbish bin. There are different versions, but it does go to show

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that it was a very passionate scene out there. They were burning tires,

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and it shows that in addition to all these other things that were going

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on, the EU deal, the amnesty and autonomy, the reform and

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anti-corruption is very much a hot button topic here in Ukraine. We

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should also talk about what is happening with eastern Ukraine and

:19:16.:19:19.

an element of amnesty for fighters there and self-government, but tell

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us how significant you find that to be? It is difficult to say. This is

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a very controversial bill. There was a great outcry, people saying that

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this perhaps creates a frozen conflict in the east, and so it

:19:36.:19:38.

remains to be seen whether this was one step back or two steps forward,

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or just the opposite. It should be said that some of the rebels have

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rejected this deal, because they would rather remade within Ukraine

:19:47.:19:55.

with its limited autonomy. It is only for three years. The fighting

:19:56.:20:01.

continues, and there are great fears among Ukrainian officials that the

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cease-fire which is already very unstable may eventually break down,

:20:06.:20:09.

and this will all be able to point, and we will see major fighting in

:20:10.:20:16.

the East. Briefly, we can't talk about this without mentioning

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Russia, and I wonder whether the trade part of the deal was delayed

:20:20.:20:23.

partly because it would provoke Russia greatly. Well, this is one of

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the controversial points about the deal, is that it brings Russia to

:20:32.:20:36.

the table, and this concession of putting on hold part of the deal

:20:37.:20:42.

until the end of next year, this was seen as being from Russian pressure.

:20:43.:20:46.

Now, the other parts of the deal are being implemented, but the

:20:47.:20:50.

oppression -- the question is what does Russia want, and whether or not

:20:51.:20:55.

this could placate Moscow and contribute to peace in the East or

:20:56.:20:58.

whether we will see further fighting.

:20:59.:21:02.

Now a look at some of the day's other news.

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One person has been shot dead in a court building in the Danish

:21:05.:21:08.

Police say a suspect has been arrested

:21:09.:21:11.

The head of the City Court said it was probably

:21:12.:21:14.

A suicide bomb attack in the Afghan capital Kabul has killed three

:21:15.:21:19.

members of the NATO-led military forces and injured many others.

:21:20.:21:22.

Police say the explosion targeted an international convoy

:21:23.:21:25.

of soldiers along the airport road near the United States embassy.

:21:26.:21:29.

The Taliban said it carried out the attack.

:21:30.:21:33.

Filipino authorities say the country's most active volcano,

:21:34.:21:36.

Mount Mayon, is dangerously close to erupting again.

:21:37.:21:47.

Some 12,000 people living within an eight-kilometre radius

:21:48.:21:49.

of the crater have been ordered to leave their homes.

:21:50.:21:52.

The volcano has erupted 50 times in the last 500 years,

:21:53.:21:54.

That's how UN agencies have today described the escalation

:21:55.:22:02.

of the ebola crisis in West Africa, which has already killed almost

:22:03.:22:05.

The stark warning comes as the US President Barack Obama prepares

:22:06.:22:08.

to announce a huge increase in his country's commitment to

:22:09.:22:12.

It's understood the United States will send 3000 troops to Liberia who

:22:13.:22:19.

will be responsible for training about 500 healthcare workers a week.

:22:20.:22:23.

And will build 17 medical facilities with at least 100 beds each.

:22:24.:22:29.

50,000 home health care kits will also be sent to households

:22:30.:22:31.

Joining me now from Monrovia in Liberia is Sarah Crowe

:22:32.:22:37.

Thank you for your time. I have seen some of the photographs that you

:22:38.:22:51.

have been putting online, really showing the situation. For example,

:22:52.:22:56.

taxis lined up outside the hospital there. Yes, it is a tragic situation

:22:57.:23:00.

and truly unprecedented. Everywhere you go, you are reminded that Apple

:23:01.:23:06.

is really here. -- a bowler is really here -- ebola is really here.

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We have been delivering 10,000 hygiene kits to households over the

:23:21.:23:24.

weekend, so there is a huge surge forward now, and Liberians are

:23:25.:23:31.

really... There is a real sense of trepidation, but also a sensible is

:23:32.:23:35.

all to get on with the job at hand, and not to be entirely paralysed by

:23:36.:23:41.

this kind of ebola psychosis. You are seeing a lot of those whose

:23:42.:23:44.

families have been devastated by this. One of the photographs you

:23:45.:23:48.

posted was of a little girl, and what is she doing with that mask on

:23:49.:23:53.

her face? Yes, that was quite striking. This was a centre that was

:23:54.:23:59.

once setup for children who were separated from their parents or lost

:24:00.:24:04.

a parent or a loved one during the war, and it was closed down in 2008.

:24:05.:24:11.

Now it has been reopened. Once it was for the victims of war, now it

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is for her smack survivors. She was one of the little girls there. --

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ebola survivors. Her parents have died, and we are now trying to trace

:24:24.:24:31.

the extended family and put them back together in the extended

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family. There is great stigma and great discrimination against those

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who have survived, but that little girl was putting a mask to her face

:24:44.:24:48.

because she said that was what she saw the doctor is doing all the

:24:49.:24:52.

time, so she had taken a little poster and put it up to her face

:24:53.:24:57.

just like a Doctor's mask, and she said that is how she felt she had to

:24:58.:25:04.

approach people now. So even children, throughout wherever I have

:25:05.:25:22.

done, are all aware of what they have to do, washing their hands with

:25:23.:25:28.

chlorine, you might have seen some of those pictures too, having their

:25:29.:25:32.

temperature taken, where ever they go. Of course, there are no schools

:25:33.:25:40.

and no health facilities operating as well as they should be, so our

:25:41.:25:47.

big fear is not only ebola but also the impact to children's health in

:25:48.:25:53.

general, that means deaths from measles, malaria, and other

:25:54.:25:55.

childhood diseases, because children are not being immunised as they

:25:56.:26:01.

should be right now. Just very briefly, you have given us a vivid

:26:02.:26:04.

picture there, are you not frightened for yourself as well?

:26:05.:26:09.

There is a sense of trepidation, but there are also has two B... We can't

:26:10.:26:14.

abandon Liberia, we can't walk away from this awful virus, so we have

:26:15.:26:18.

two bogeys on the job at hand and really get on with supporting

:26:19.:26:25.

communities, supporting households, and re-building the structure here,

:26:26.:26:30.

because it is devastating and it is truly unprecedented, and it really

:26:31.:26:34.

is the sense of them writing the first draft of the history of this

:26:35.:26:38.

disease. There is the need to continue to push forward and focus

:26:39.:26:42.

on what needs to be done right now. Thank you.

:26:43.:26:50.

Temperatures will climb tomorrow morning. But we are also expecting

:26:51.:27:11.

extensive cloud

:27:12.:27:12.

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