16/06/2011 GMT with George Alagiah

A new leader for Al-Qaeda vows to continue the war on America and its

time lieutenant to Osama Bin Laden, is officially taking over the

Welcome to GMT. I'm Naga Munchetty. Also in the programme:

Fighting the financial crisis in Greece - the outcome could

determine the future of the European single currency.

TRANSLATION: It is everyone's duty to do everything needed to

safeguard the stability of the euro. The weird and wonderful world of

animation - a new London exhibit looks back at 150 years of the art.

It's 12:30pm here in London, 2:30pm in Athens and a time of change for

Al-Qaeda. Ayman Al-Zawahiri, a long time associate of Osama Bin Laden

and sometimes described as "the real brains of Al-Qaeda", has taken

over the reigns of the organisation. The announcement was posted on an

Islamist website accompanied by a promise to continue what Al-Qaeda

calls "the holy war" against the United States, Israel and their

allies. Peter Biles reports. It had been widely anticipated that

Ayman Al-Zawahiri would replace Osama Bin Laden as the head of boss

-- of Al-Qaeda. He had long been Bin Laden's right hand man and the

person thought to be the brains behind the 9/11 attacks in the

United States nearly a decade ago. The only surprise about the

succession is perhaps how long it has taken since the killing of Bin

Laden in early May. Since 96, they were very close to each other. I

believe it is a natural move and expected from Al-Qaeda. They needed

time to establish Al-Zawahiri as the leader and sort out differences

within the group. This is what we expected Al-Qaeda to do.

Ayman Al-Zawahiri was born in 1951 to a wealthy family in Cairo. He

studied medicine and in 1978, received a master's degree in

surgery. A year later, he set up the Egyptian Jihad, which was

subsequently involved in the assassination of Anwar Sadat. He

made his way to Afghanistan in 1980, when he met Osama Bin Laden.

Under new leadership, Al-Qaeda has warned it will continue its fight.

The organisation has been on the defensive since the Arab uprising

of recent months. But Ayman Al- Zawahiri remains as hostile to the

West as his predecessor, Osama Bin Laden.

Let's get some more on this new Al- Qaeda leader. We're joined by our

security correspondent, Frank Gardner.

What makes him different, what does he bring to Al-Qaeda? In many ways,

no big change. He has been more or less operationally in charge of Al-

Qaeda for the last eight years. We have seen him in the videos most of

the time, his most recent one was only a week ago, in which he was

setting himself up as the leader. Bin Laden has really been in hiding,

far less in evidence. His background is that of Egyptian

Islamic Jihad. He has got very good connections with Egyptian Islamists,

many of whom have been released since the Arab uprising. It is the

challenge is that a lot of people will focus on, that he faces. It is

a very disparate organisation under a lot of pressure. They have lost

Osama Bin Laden, Kashmiri, Abdul Muhammad, three major leaders from

the Al-Qaeda et diaspora in the last few weeks. It may be that this

man may not even last this long, because the intelligence is now

getting so good at tracking people down. There will be enormous

pressure on the Pentagon and CIA to find him. At the same time, Al-

Qaeda is under pressure to demonstrate its power. One of the

problems this man faces is trying to exert some kind of authority

over the various branches. You have them in Yemen, doing their own

thing. You have them in North Africa, involved in kidnapping and

hostage demands was that you have Al-Qaeda and affiliates in other

parts. What will be the relationship in Afghanistan? If

there is going to be a peace deal between the Afghan government and

Taliban, will that involve getting rid of Al-Qaeda and not allowing

them to come aboard? He has a lot Top as a character, Osama Bin Laden

had carried to, does he bring this? I don't think you could accuse of -

- Al-Zawahiri of having a lot of character, he is very dry and

dictatorial. I have not met him, this is what people have said. He

is not somebody who has that X Factor, that magic touch... I know

he is anathema to most people but those who admired Osama Bin Laden

said he had, weirdly, a personal gentleness. He invited the media to

interview him 15 years ago, lots of people did. BBC were invited but we

left it a bit late. Lots of other networks interviewed him with

impunity. His message, although it was of great violence and hostility

and confrontation and destruction, nevertheless, on a personal basis,

people found him quite engage in -- engaging. They have not said that

about Al-Zawahiri. He spent time in London, a man Al-Zawahiri. He was

involved in the SAT assassination - - Ayman Al-Zawahiri. His mind set

He has all the fire and zealotry of a young revolutionary and

reactionary, but he is not that popular, with some of the Gulf

operatives, who may find it tricky paying allegiance to an Egyptian,

where they found it eg to -- easy to pay allegiance to a Saudi, in

Bin Laden. While one militant leader is

promoted, another has been jailed. The Indonesian radical Muslim

cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir, has been given a 15-year sentence for

helping to organise an Islamic militant group. A court in the

capital, Jakarta, found him guilty of providing thousands of dollars

to a militant training camp, uncovered last year in Aceh

province. Our correspondent, Karishma Vaswani, reports from

Jakarta. The verdict in the Abu Bakar Bashir

trial has been delivered. Police came out in full force today, as

you can see. They are getting ready to leave the court house, where the

verdict was delivered. In the lead- up to the announcement, there were

a number of concerns about security in Jakarta. There were text

messages and Twitter messages circulating, saying there would be

violent repercussions if Abu Bakar Bashir received a harsh or severe

sentence. He got 15 years in jail, prosecutors had demanded a life

sentence. His lawyers have said they will contest this verdict how

much are an effect this decision will have on Indonesia's ability to

fight terror is still debatable. People we have spoken to have said

Mr Bashir will continue to be active, even if he is behind bars.

He is believed to be the spiritual influence behind radical Islamic

groups in the country, and it is likely he will continue to preach

his message, turning Indonesia into an Islamic state even while he is

in prison. Let's take a look at some of the

other stories making headlines around the world today.

The Greek prime minister, George Papandreou, is preparing to

announce a new cabinet and seek a vote of confidence to allow him to

continue in office. Mr Papandreou needs support for his austerity

programme to stop the country defaulting on its debts, but he's

facing a revolt among some of his own PASOK party, and police had

running battles with protesters in Athens. From there, Malcolm Brabant

reports. There's little doubt that people

power contributed to the sudden collapse of George Papandreou's

administration. It wasn't the rioters who were involved in some

of the worst violence seen in Greece in over a year, but the

indignant movement, which represented such a cross section of

the country's society. Its daily peaceful protests touched the

consciousness of socialists Members of Parliament, who could not

stomach the members -- the prospect of passing you swingeing austerity

measures. A few of them gathered outside Parliament, as Mr

Papandreou prepared to select a new cabinet. TRANSLATION: The issue

isn't if one or another ends up minister, the issue is that we

finally see a substantial way to deal with these problems.

TRANSLATION: I would like elections, there is no other solution. Pantry

you cannot do what he wants, he does not have the right to do as he

wishes -- Papandreou cannot do what he wants. It has alarmed partners

in the eurozone and President Sarkozy was one of the first

leaders to call for stability. TRANSLATION: What we need most

today is unity. We need to move on from these national quarrels and

get back to the sense of our common destiny. I call on everyone to show

the spirit of responsibility, and sense of compromise on which Europe

has been built. The international financial markets

were contemplating a second bobbly day in succession, with some

analysts warning of the danger of the Greek disease infecting other

imperilled European economies. One of Greece's most respected

broadsheet newspapers, lambasted as a political farce Mr Papandreou's

failed attempt to form a government of unity. A leading comp --

To add to Mr Papandreou's embarrassment, a leading

backbencher has resigned from the party. This will not affect his

majority in parliament because the Socialists will hang on to the seat,

but it indicates that Mr Papac Deri will have a difficult task trying

to win a vote of confidence on Sunday -- Mr Papandreou will have a

difficult task. Joining us via webcam from the

Greek capital is Constantine Michalos, the Chairman of the

Athens Chamber of Commerce. Thank you for joining me. We were

hearing from our reporter the Prime Minister's position is tenuous, to

say the least. A vote of confidence on Sunday isn't guaranteed. What do

you think? Absolutely. To add to the report but we have just heard,

there has been another three resignations in the last hour and a

half from the governing party MPs. They have called for the

parliamentary group of the governing party to meet later today,

4:00pm Greek time. I think, at the end of the day, there will be a

ballot, which will be set, so a new leader will be elected. It is

extremely difficult, that there will be a vote of confidence with

the present Prime Minister on Sunday. I have to agree with your

reporter, it was criminal management, what happened yesterday.

Because this comes at a very difficult time for the Greek

economy, the Great Society. What is required is responsibility and

seriousness. Unfortunately, for the last two-and-a-half months, we have

been missing both. While this turmoil continues, do you envisage

any agreement between the political parties, even if a new leadership

is established? We have always advocated that consensus is the key

word, in order to combat this situation that the Greek economy

finds itself in. Yesterday, we saw an extremely erroneous management

by the Prime Minister, and I think that what must happen in the next

few days is that the serious political persons from both of the

two large parties increased must find a way to move towards

consensus, to have a coalition government, so that early next week,

there will be a representation in Brussels, so that they can

rearrange, or reallocate the austerity programme that has been

dictated by the IMF and the European partners. We are seeing

pictures of protests on Wednesday, do you think the protesters will be

appeased by some political stability? I think everyone wants

political stability. The people that are out on the streets, the

so-called indignant movement, that has been demonstrating for the last

20 days. Also, the market forces in Greece. As I said, for the last

two-and-a-half months, we haven't seen any reforms. There hasn't been

any sort of governmental effort, in order to solve the problems. The

only thing we are hearing of his measures, measures, measures, as

far as taxation is concerned. If you don't enhance growth measures

into your economy, it is impossible to expect any economy, however

strong it may be, to produce the necessary results. We need to have

a different mixture of economic policy. It is something the Leader

of the Opposition has indicated, both to the Prime Minister and the

Greek people. I think we have defined a solution, combining the

necessary reforms that are dictated by are EU partners, but at the same

time, enhancing the necessary growth measures, so we will exit

this tunnel of crisis that we are living through during the last two

In other news, hackers have attacked Malaysian government

websites, disrupting more than 40 sites. The attacks follow

allegations that Malaysia is trying to curb internet freedom. The anti-

censorship group anonymise had threatened to attack the Website

after the Internet watchdog blocked 10 last week in an attempt to

combat piracy. Fights between Australia and New

Zealand have again been grounded because of volcanic ash from chilly.

Tens of thousands of passengers have been delayed since the Puyehue

began erupting almost two weeks ago. Qantas says that some flights to

New Zealand could resume on Friday. Still to come on GMT: Diplomatic

manoeuvres. Is there a peaceful outcome for Libya where Colonel

Gaddafi stays but power changes hands?

First, time for the business news. We have been talking about Greece.

You are definitely talking about Greece. His defaults are

inevitable? Many will say so. It's gone from messy to dangerously

disastrous. You have eurozone leaders, to this hour, still unable

to agree on how to rescue Greece. In Greece itself, you are talking

with a country with a junk status credit rating, the worst in the

world. It is paying interest on its debt at 18.5%. That is crippling.

The banking stocks are down to a 15 year low, that has sent markets

down. Investors are thinking of just one thing, that Greece will

default. The problem is that it's no longer a Greek problem, it's no

longer a European problem. It's a global problem. Listen to this.

Greek debt is the new subprime. If Greece goes down, there's a good

chance that other European countries hit the rocks, Portugal

and peripheral countries. You have a huge amount of effectively dodgy

government debt. The market wrongly used to think that was safe, just

as was the case with subprime debt from America. If one country starts

to default, the entire financial system will be hit badly. That is a

scary warning. The worry is contagion and the impact on banks

around Europe, bags around the world and the impact on us as

consumers. We are going to have a busy few days. The debate has

always been if you are iPhone or BlackBerry. The name we don't

always throw around his awry m, the company behind BlackBerry? Before

the iPhone, before Google Android, there was BlackBerry. It is still

probably be go to devise for businesses. But the share price

does not reflect that. It's fallen 40% since the beginning of this

year. Why? They launched a new tablet device and it got mixed

reviews. It's the devices they haven't launched yet that is

causing the problems. They promised a family of smart phones, but they

keep getting delayed. That's not good when you're trying to complete

-- compete against Apple and Android. There is one good news

story out of this. The good news is the developing markets, they have

been doing very well there. The other interesting thing, I've been

in the Middle East, and the youth set-up BlackBerry Messenger to set

up dates. 80 Kloss -- 8 o'clock dinner, tonight... Our way back on

air? A quick flash of the markets. BRITs is the worry. Have if you

would like to get in touch with us, tell us your thoughts on anything

you have heard or seen, had to our You can watch the highlights from

You are watching GMT. The headlines this hour: The war goes on. Defiant

rhetoric from Al-Qaeda as Ayman Al- Zawahiri takes over following the

killing of Osama Bin Laden. Protests against austerity measures

continue in Greece as the Prime Minister prepares to reshuffle his

cabinet to deal with the debt A Russian envoy says he can

envisage a future for Libya where Colonel Gaddafi remains in the

country but power moves to the opposition. The Russian President's

Special Representative for Africa made the comment in an exclusive

interview with the BBC Middle East editor in Tripoli. This is ahead of

his meeting with senior members of the Libyan government. If there is

a kind of national reconciliation in Libya, if Gaddafi is involved in

that process, all options are open for the time being. You're saying

he could stay in the country, but you want him to leave power?

only Russia, I think. I think all of the international community

understands pretty well that Colonel Gaddafi lost his

credibility after he started bombing civilians. We understand

very clearly that, if he is a responsible person, and we hope he

is a responsible person, he should undertake urgent measures to start

the process of national reconciliation. People in the

regime, including his son, have talked about elections and reforms,

but with Colonel Gaddafi staying in the country. Major says he must go

and then other things must be talked about. What does Russia

want? -- NATO. I've been to Benghazi. I met with the National

Council, up almost all of the leaders. In Cairo, I met with

Gaddafi's cousin, who also represents part of the Libyan elite.

I think the general consensus in the Libyan elite is that Gaddafi

should go. With all my respect to the position of NATO, with all my

respect to the position of the world leaders that represent the

great -- G8 and talked about Libya a lot, the key factor is what

Libyans think about the future of Libya. My feeling is that they

think about it without Gaddafi as a political leader.

Time for something completely different. Fans of cartoons from

Astro Boy to Betty Boop are in for a treat if they are in London over

the next few months. The Barbican Art Gallery has trawled the

archives of 150 years of animation for a new exhibition it is

launching this week. Called Watch Me Move, it features animated

classics including Mickey Mouse, Tom and Jerry and the Flintstones.

As well as more experimental and sometimes unusual works by

independent artists. We can take a look at one of them now. It is

Joining me now is the Watch Me Move creator, Greg Hilty. We are already

talking because it is so exciting, so different. What was the

inspiration? The Barbican has done a lot of exhibitions about broad

visual culture, but we thought animation really needed to be seen.

It so pervasive, it's everywhere. It is on websites, Baba phones,

it's an incredibly expressive and artistic tool. How easy is it to

collect the correct footage? easy at all. We have been working

for three years on this project, it's got about 180 works. We have

had specialists choosing and I have had my own team of experts in terms

of my family. It really is for everybody. There is work from

Japanese animation, drawer, I have to credit my daughter with bringing

in Tron. Mainly it is an exhibition of films, but we got some fantastic

objects. There are toys, models from 1929 feature film animations.

I know it is not all light-hearted. There's another clip that I want

our viewers to see, called A Is For Autism. Sometimes, my shell-likes

distort the teacher's instructions, or my eyes Blur to stop me seeing

the blackboard. Sometimes I won't hear a few words at the start, and

the next lot of and words merge into each other. I couldn't make

head or tail of it. So, not all fun and games. Then our messages that

animation can get across. How important is animation's role in

that? I think it's crucial. One thing you see in that clip is that

animation, as a medium, provides a series of tools. It's not like

there is a clear progression from simple animation to CGI. Artists,

animators can delve into the repertoire and bring out what they

want for their own expressive purposes. It's interesting the way

that animation has come a long over the years. It's been 150 years, we

have quite an old clip available for our viewers to save lots of

talk to me about this. This is buying Windsor McKay, one of the

early pioneers of animation. It's where the title comes from, you saw

it at the beginning, Watch Me Move. The early stage of the exhibition

is one of the most spectacular, is one of the reasons why it should be

in a gallery rather than just on film or television. We have works

presented by Edward, it used to be a scientific and entertainment tool.

He took pictures of things that could not be visualised before. He

also presented them in a kind of projection show, travelling around

the country. Animation has always had a sense of engaging with the

real world, but also being entertaining and compelling. Even

as we watched this, I know it is old compared to what we see now, it

does seem timeless. It doesn't seem that animation has to be flashy and

impressive all the time to grasp our attention? One of the reasons,

it's sometimes seen as a childish thing. People dismiss it, they have

been a bit dismissive in terms of high art or high visual culture. I

think that's a mistake. I think if people come to the show they will

see it is a mistake. Supposedly childish things still have a

profound meaning. I'll put you on the spot, give me your favourite

one that we should watch? esoteric, I would go for the Tale

of Tales, a beautiful, dents, Russian film, made in the 1970s. It