09/03/2016 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me, Karin Giannone.

The headlines: A rare royal rebuttal from Buckingham Palace over alleged

Claims in a newspaper that Queen Elizabeth wants Britain

to leave the European Union are being strongly denied.

The main route for migrants trying to reach northern Europe

is effectively shut down as Macedonia closes its border with

Tributes for the man who shaped the Beatles' sound from the very

beginning - their producer, George Martin, who's died

And a spectacular treat for sky-watchers in Indonesia -

the best country in the world to witness this rare solar eclipse.

We start with an official complaint from Buckingham Palace,

about a report in Britain's Sun newspaper, which claimed the Queen

had expressed strong doubts about the UK's place in Europe.

The paper said the Queen made her opinion known to the then

Deputy Prime Minister at a lunch at Windsor Castle in 2011.

The BBC's royal correspondent, Nicholas Witchell, reports.

As many focused on the marriage and Kate Middleton, the Queen at Windsor

Castle was letting rip about the European Union. That at least is the

claim from an anonymous source to the Song. Alongside a front-page

deadline, greenbacks breaks it, the Song claims that at a lunch at

Windsor the monarch believed the EU was heading in the wrong direction.

The paper says the lunch was attended by the Ven Deputy Prime

Minister Nick Clegg, to whom the remarks were principally directed,

and a handful of other ministers. But today Mr Clegg said he had no

recollection of such a conversation. I think it's appalling that the

people who want to drag the UK out of the European Union are now trying

to drag the European referendum debate. As for the story in the

Sunni, it's Sunni, it's nonsense, it's not true, I couldn't clearer.

King Palace initially stressed the Queen's political neutrality. Later

it confirmed it was making a complaint about the story to the

press standards organisation. But the paper said...

Might this have been the occasion at the centre of the story? The Court

circular shows that in early April 2011 there was a meeting of the

Privy Council at Windsor attended by Mr Clegg and Michael Gove, who was

then the Education Secretary, and several other ministers. None has

made any comment today. So what are we to make of this? The Queen does

ask questions, she makes observations on occasions, but she

doesn't take over the political positions. Her officials point to 64

years of pretty pumped years neutrality. They say any idea that

she would take sides in anyway in the EU referendum is simply wrong.

With me is Andrew Blake, a constitutional historian at Kings

College, London. What do you make of this report and furore? It engages a

very important constitutional issue fundamental to the way in which

British democracy and our monarchy functions. That is that the monarchy

should not be seen publicly to get involved in matters of political

controversy on one side or the other. The monarchy is supposed to

keep out of these things. You say this is vitally important that the

Queen would not be seen to have any persuasion one way or the other on

this sort of matter? That's exactly it and that's why the Palace are

taking this so seriously. This is such an important issue, such a

divisive issue, that the monarchy cannot be seen to be siding on one

side or the other, whatever the Queen may think privately. How

unusual is it for Buckingham Palace to come out of this weight and rebut

these comments and the report about what she may have said or may not

have said? Very unusual and they have a general policy of not getting

involved. It shows how seriously this is being taken. How much

privacy does the Queen have two express what she feels about matters

in politics and elsewhere? What is private for her? Where does the

boundary like? There's a clear understanding that although the

Queen doesn't become publicly involved in controversial matters,

she's entitled to warn ministers, to consult and advise ministers, to

have with ministers in private. She has a weekly audience with the Prime

Minister in which all manner of things can come up. There's a

convention around this that nobody breaks ranks and actually brings

into the public domain things they are told by the Queen. In terms of

talking to the public, we've had reaction to something she said about

Scotland and the referendum about Scotland's remaining in the UK.

What's the difference between the Queen talking to a minister or the

Deputy Prime Minister and a member of the public? An important

difference is also that the Queen at that time was saying this is a

serious decision that needs to be taken seriously. You may attach an

interpretation to that... She wanted Scotland to stay. Some people

attached that, but she didn't say that, she said this should be taken

seriously, which you can't argue with. If she's saying the referendum

in Europe needs to be taken seriously, that's one thing. If

she's expressing a view that we should perhaps leave, which I'm not

saying is her view, but that's the insinuation, that's a different

matter. Thank you. Elsewhere in Europe,

Macedonia says it will no longer let any migrants through its

border with Greece - blocking the main route for people

trying to seek asylum. Tensions are high among

the thousands stranded at the Greek-Macedonian border,

which is now closed. Our correspondent, Christian Fraser,

is at Idomeni and has walked the last mile with some

of the migrants. Thousands of migrants have walked

through Greece and Macedonia and on into Central Europe. But in recent

weeks, many of the countries along that route have started applying

tighter restrictions. The border between Greece and Macedonia has

been closed and it looks as if it will stay closed. And yet still they

arrive in huge numbers. So who are they and why do they come? We will

walk the last mind -- mile of this journey and find out a bit more

about their stories. What has life been like

for Yazidis in Iraq? TRANSLATION: Absolutely difficult,

there's no life there, only war. 4,500 women were raped

and a lot of men were killed. Have you heard of the

conditions at Idomeni? The conditions are really bad,

only God can help us. TRANSLATION: It's very important

to have the right documents, and even with the right documents,

they're kind of useless My wife is already in Austria

and I tried to go through the family reunion route, but I've been waiting

for a long time so I decided to make this journey to try

and join her in Austria. There's not many people to help,

but that guy is holding my daughter. So God sent him to help me,

he's from Syria. We're walking again,

we must keep walking. We've been walking for an hour. We

are in sight of the camp. These are the outskirts of the camp. You can

see the Kents in the fields. There's a whole process these people have to

go through. They have to register at the camp, get a number, the numbers

are called to the gate one by one, in order. We've heard while we've

been on the road today from the Macedonian police on the other side

that they've closed the border completely. These things fluctuate

and these people will hope the border might well open, but right

now, it seems this might be a futile journey and they could be sitting

here for days, possibly weeks. A Greek far-right MEP

has been thrown out of the European Parliament

after comparing the Turkish To applause, the parliament's

President Martin Schultz announced the immediate expulsion

of Golden Dawn MEP Eletherios Mr Schultz said his comments

had "crossed red lines" The MEP gathered up his

belongings and was escorted You've probably been

following the story of one of London's most audacious

jewellery heists last Easter. Now four of the men behind

the Hatton Garden raid have been The gang got away with ?14 million

in cash and jewels. The re-enforced wall,

more than a metre thick, that the Hatton Garden gang bored

through with a diamond-tipped drill. Once inside, they ripped open

73 safe deposit boxes, stuffing the diamonds, jewels,

watches, cash and gold bullion into wheelie bins

for ease of transport. They made away with ?14 million

worth last Easter Bank Holiday Today, most of the Hatton Garden

gang learnt their punishment. 77-year-old Brian Reader was too

unwell to be sentenced yesterday, but Terry Perkins was given

seven years in prison, so was Kenny Collins

and the fourth ringleader, Jones' friend, Carl Wood,

who lost his nerve halfway But William Lincoln who helped store

the loot loot got seven years. Hugh Doyle, the plumber who helped

move the stolen property, Each will serve only half

their sentence actually in prison. There may be people out there that

feel a little bit of sympathy in relation to those that

were sentenced today. However, these were all career

callous criminals who had no thought in relation to the property

that they actually stole ?4 million worth of stolen jewellery

and cash was found by police, some buried in a North London

graveyard, but ?10 million Also missing is the mysterious Basil

who worked with the gang, He's now the Flying

Squad's most wanted man. The gang gave few clues

in their police interviews. Secretly filmed here

by undercover detectives, discussing the heist in the pub,

the gang had an average age of 63, so why were they still

committing crime? Noel 'Razor' Smith, himself

a lifetime criminal, though now reformed,

knows some of the men and says they probably did it

for the thrill of it. Being a professional criminal,

crime can be very addictive. When you're a career

criminal, that's your thing. No matter how old you get and how

much money you've got, you still get a, sort of,

a yearning to be on the front-line The judge today described this

burglary as "unprecedented" in its ambition and the value

of property stolen so the sentences are extremely high and things could

get worse for the Hatton Garden gang next year they'll be asked to give

the money back or spend even A Ukrainian military pilot on trial

for complicity in the death of two Russian journalists has

denounced her trial in a Russian Nadyia Savchenko has vowed

to continue her hunger strike, now in its fifth day, until charges

against her are dropped. Russian prosecutors allege

she coordinated this mortar attack in eastern Ukraine, in which two

Russian journalists and other Today's hearing sparked

more protests outside Tom Burridge reports

from Kiev in a moment, but first here's Sarah Rainsford

outside the court in Donetsk. It was a fairly short session

of court today in southern Russia, Nadyia Savchenko has been on hunger

strike now for five days, but she managed to walk into court

herself and at one point she jumped and showed her middle

finger to the judge, a gesture of defiance, but also,

she said, showing what she thinks She then had a translator read

out a formal statement She said that Russia had no justice,

that this trial is a farce We've heard from the EU

and the US this week, both calling on Russia to drop

the charges against Nadyia Savchenko and to return her to Ukraine,

saying this is an unjust trial. Russia has said this is a criminal

proceeding and that the outside world, the West, should not

try to influence Russian courts. Nadyia Savchenko is

a Russian military officer. She is accused of complicity

in the deaths of two Russian journalists during the fighting

in eastern Ukraine. Her lawyers, over the course

of several months, have shown evidence that they say proves

she was actually captured before She is still on hunger strike

and she's vowed to stay on hunger strike until the verdict

is delivered or until, But that verdict now

won't come until March 21st. Her lawyers have warned that

unless she is force-fed, The case of Nadyia Savchenko has

become much more than just one woman's claim of innocence

in a Russian courtroom. This is the Russian

Embassy in central Kiev. There's paint on the walls

from previous protests. Further down, you can see

all the signs and the heavy police These people here today,

the protestors who have come out to the Russian Embassy,

and across Ukraine, see her as a symbol of defiance,

a symbol of hope, in the face of what a lot of Ukrainians believe

is Russian aggression. We came here today because Nadyia

Savchenko is a symbol of Ukraine. She shows the Russian citizens

and the Russian government that Thank God we have such a hero

who can, despite all the trials, despite all the hardships

she faces at the moment, she can freely express her opinion

and she's not definitely broken. These people really see

Nadyia Savchenko as someone who represents the fight in Ukraine

for true independence, true sovereignty, from their larger

neighbour, Russia. In the world of music,

Sir George Martin was revered His death, at the age of 90, has

been followed by countless tributes. Paul McCartney described him

as the fifth Beatle, acknowledging George Martin's

pivotal role in taking the Fab Four's raw talent

and turning them into Over seven decades, he worked

with many of the most successful George Martin was 15 years older

than most of the Beatles, much more experience and had been trained as a

classical musician. By 1962 when he first saw the Beatles, he already

had seven years of experience and had already had numerous hit

records. He really knew the pop music business in the UK and the

Beatles, as talented as they were, were still very, very young. Give

the black -- classical background make the difference when it combined

with this war force of pop music? That background helped, but George

Martin had a very good understanding of what the formulas were for

putting together pop songs in that era. That's one of the most

important thing is he taught the Beatles. They had the talent, but he

had the ability to pull it together to something that would be

immediately successful. Were they sceptical at first with what he was

trying to do? A little bit. There's a story George Martin used to love

to tell. If there's anything you don't like tell me. George Harrison

said, I don't like your tie. They were always pushing back on anything

trying to control them. But they had a very healthy respect for him. The

students on your carts -- course, what part do they see him as having

played? The fifth Beatle? Probably not because the Beatles have become

such iconic faces, larger-than-life in many ways. George Martin was

always behind-the-scenes. By the time they get to the end of the

course, they know how important George Martin was to the group. As

their music evolved, how did George Martin's input change? The Beatles

began to change from being craftsmen, trying to repeat the same

formula, to being artists, where they didn't want to repeat. They

were always trying new things and somebody had to tell them how to get

new effects in the studio. George Martin was in charge of that. What

would he do? Backward tape affects. Being for the benefit of Mr Kite,

they took a tape of the Steve Morgan, threw it into bits, threw it

up in the air, take them together and created a background wash. This

is the kind of thing George Martin thought up when John Lennon said he

wanted to sound like the Dalai Lama singing from the mountaintop. How do

you do that? Tens of thousands of people have

been holding protests across France against a new labour

law being brought in by The reform to the country's labour

code is meant to give greater flexibility to employers,

so they'll be more willing to take But opponents say it's an erosion

of longstanding social rights. The biggest demonstration

was in Paris and Hugh Schofield At the end of today there will be

the normal numbers game to see how many people have turned up for this

protest against the government's new labour law. I would say it's a

pretty big turnout, but maybe not quite as much as the organisers

would have liked. Maybe the bad weather has something to do with it.

Most people here are young people. Students, university students, and

they say they will be the first in line if this reform goes through.

Just to remind you what this government reform is about, it's

about a change to the labour code. The government wants to reassure

business to take on more staff by removing some of the protection

enjoyed by workers up to now. For examples there would be a ceiling on

the amount of fines courts could impose on companies in the case of

wrongful dismissal, for example. The aim is to combat the country's

punishingly high unemployment, but young people are saying that when

they hit the jobs market, they will be the first to suffer. They'll be

condemned to a life of job insecurity. Precariousness. That's a

long way from the idea of social progress which of course is so dear

to the French left. A pioneering procedure for treating

the leading cause of blindness has been successful in helping

children in China to see. Around 20 million people worldwide

are blind because of cataracts, which is the clouding

of the eye's lens. It's normally treated

by implanting a lens, but the new technique activates stem

cells in the eye to grow a new one. It was trialled in China

amongst 12 children, where the regenerated lens grew

to a normal size in eight months. Our health and science reporter,

James Gallagher, explains. If you imagine light comes

in your eye through the pupil, the little black dot in the middle

of your eye and just behind When that becomes cloudy,

and it's no longer able to focus the light onto the back of the eye

to allow you to see. That's why there are millions

of people around the world So the best treatment at the moment

is to use ultrasound to break up the lens and then you just wash it

out and then you put in an implant. Now that works really

well for older people. It's less successful,

although still the best thing So the idea here was to try

something completely different. So they go in and they remove

the cataract, which is that blue bit But what they do is they leave

the rest, the outside So they just take it out

through a tiny little hole. The thing is, that capsule,

the outer surface of the lens, is covered in these regenerative

cells which would normally heal minor bits of damage,

but actually if, if you keep them intact, then they can repair

the entire lens when left That's what they've just

done in these children. Indonesians have been treated

to a rare solar eclipse - that's when the moon passes

in front of the sun, Indonesia was the best country

in the world to see the spectacle. People in Belitung had

a particularly good view. Foreign and local tourists have

flocked to this small island to catch one of the best views of the

rare solar eclipse. Cheers of excitement and then silence. You can

tell. The shades are different and the colours become different. Even

the temperature gets a bit lower. You cannot compare it with something

else. It's very special. You see the curl on the diamond. The noise of

the sea comes back. It's loud. Before that it's so silent. For many

in Indonesia it was deeply spiritual. Across the diverse

cultures of this archipelago, there are many myths and beliefs about the

solar eclipse. I'm so happy but also frightened. I have mixed feelings. I

am frightened by the darkness and I'm scared. It's an omen of

something bad happening in the future. Like more natural disaster.

But the event has given the island economy a major boost. We already

sold out since October last year. Mostly the guests are coming from

outside Indonesia. In some places officials have had to find extra

space for tourists on boats. People not wanting to miss it. Quite

exciting and quite incredible. Once-in-a-lifetime maybe. Scientists

have also flocked to Indonesia, using the event to study solar

physics. The next one is in 18 months' time in North America.

Buckingham Palace has complained to the British press watchdog over a

newspaper story claiming Queen Elizabeth supports Britain's except

from the European Union. The palace said the Queen remained politically

neutral. But for now from me and the rest

of the team, goodbye.