:00:15. > :00:19.Britain confirms plans to step back from combat duties in Afghanistan.
:00:19. > :00:25.David Cameron says he is confident that the country will be able to
:00:25. > :00:29.look after its own security by the end of 2014. As we see a stronger
:00:29. > :00:33.and more confident national Afghan army, stronger Afghan police, many
:00:33. > :00:37.of whom we have trained ourselves, and also the Afghan local police, I
:00:37. > :00:47.do believe it is right to start planning the withdrawal of some of
:00:47. > :01:00.
:01:00. > :01:04.Welcome to GMT. Also in the programme: He's back and in
:01:04. > :01:08.fighting spirit. The Venezuelan President makes a surprise return
:01:08. > :01:13.from Cuba following treatment for cancer.
:01:13. > :01:23.And a cultural taste of a changing world. 100 artists descend on
:01:23. > :01:25.
:01:25. > :01:29.London this month as part of a new Well, it is 12.30 in London, 7:30am
:01:29. > :01:33.in Washington and 4pm in Afghanistan, where NATO has
:01:33. > :01:37.confirmed the death of another four soldiers. There were killed in the
:01:37. > :01:40.east of the country, where foreign troops, mostly American, are
:01:40. > :01:44.battling a fierce Taliban insurgency. Despite this and
:01:44. > :01:49.previous losses, both American and British leaders do believe that the
:01:49. > :01:51.tide is turning against the Taliban. On a visit to Afghanistan today,
:01:52. > :02:01.the Prime Minister David Cameron has confirmed that he is planning
:02:01. > :02:06.to withdraw more combat troops in David Cameron's latest visit to
:02:06. > :02:11.Afghanistan comes at a critical time. There is talk of a new phase
:02:11. > :02:14.as plans are advanced to withdraw some forces. Yesterday, Mr Cameron
:02:14. > :02:18.met both British and American troops and Helmand province. But
:02:19. > :02:23.the death on the same day of a British soldier underlined how
:02:23. > :02:28.dangerous the situation still is. In Kabul today, with President
:02:28. > :02:32.Hamid Karzai, Mr Cameron said he was confident that, overall, things
:02:33. > :02:38.were on track. I do believe it is right, as we build up the Afghan
:02:38. > :02:41.national security forces, as we see a stronger and more confident
:02:41. > :02:44.national Afghan army, stronger Afghan police, many of whom we have
:02:44. > :02:48.trained ourselves, and also the local police, I do believe it is
:02:48. > :02:56.right to start planning the withdrawal of some of our troops.
:02:56. > :03:00.We start with 9500. There are about 426 coming home this year. I will
:03:00. > :03:03.be making an announcement in the House of Commons tomorrow about a
:03:03. > :03:06.modest reduction that will take place next year. The Afghan
:03:06. > :03:12.President said that his people had to take charge of their own
:03:12. > :03:17.security. This, of course, does not mean that there should be a sudden,
:03:17. > :03:23.immediate end to the systems to Afghanistan. Or to co-operation
:03:23. > :03:26.between Afghanistan and its allies, like the United Kingdom. But a
:03:26. > :03:32.process in which Afghanistan increasingly becomes in charge of
:03:32. > :03:37.its own affairs, all of its affairs, and where, increasingly, we are no
:03:37. > :03:41.longer a burden on our allies. Increasingly, time lines are being
:03:41. > :03:46.set. British combat operations in Afghanistan will finish by the end
:03:46. > :03:50.of 2014. But David Cameron says there will be a long-term
:03:50. > :03:59.relationship to build the country, based around trade, diplomacy and
:03:59. > :04:03.Well, Quentin Sommerville is live with us from Kabul. Let's speak to
:04:03. > :04:08.him now. First things first, the Prime Minister is talking about a
:04:08. > :04:13.radical reduction in the threat from the Taliban, from terrorists.
:04:13. > :04:18.Is the evidence in Afghanistan backing that claim? In some areas,
:04:18. > :04:21.yes. Down in the south, in the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar,
:04:21. > :04:25.when we visited there, it is certainly a lot less violent than
:04:25. > :04:30.it has been in the past. The security situation seems to be
:04:30. > :04:33.improving and we are seeing more and more Afghan troops on the
:04:33. > :04:38.ground. When you speak to commanders, they say it is because
:04:38. > :04:43.of the surge, the extra troops that flooded into Afghanistan,
:04:43. > :04:46.principally from the United States. That has made a big difference.
:04:46. > :04:50.When David Cameron and President Obama start talking about drawing
:04:50. > :04:53.down their troops, are the Afghan security forces ready to step in
:04:53. > :04:57.and are they able to do the job to the same level that their
:04:57. > :05:01.international allies have been doing, in terms of keeping the
:05:01. > :05:04.Taliban away? The Afghan people want foreign troops to leave. In
:05:04. > :05:09.many cases, they are holding their breath to see if they themselves
:05:09. > :05:13.will be able to keep the Taliban at bay. America and the UK have always
:05:13. > :05:16.emphasised a legacy for their work in Afghanistan. Now they have
:05:16. > :05:22.announced a training base for the Afghan army. Tell us how that will
:05:22. > :05:26.work. That's right, it's going to be a Sandhurst College, the top
:05:26. > :05:34.military college in the UK, there will be a fishing in Afghanistan to
:05:34. > :05:39.help teach the future leaders of the Afghan security forces. We also
:05:39. > :05:42.have an indication from the Prime Minister, from David Cameron, that
:05:42. > :05:45.there will be continuing support in terms of international aid to
:05:46. > :05:50.Afghanistan, that Britain would not weaken in that. I have to say,
:05:50. > :05:53.Britain is going to be standing pretty much alone in that. Many
:05:53. > :05:58.countries will significantly pull back their aid commitment,
:05:58. > :06:03.particularly the United States, after troops finished their combat
:06:03. > :06:08.operations at the end of 2014. Quentin Sommerville, live from
:06:08. > :06:11.Kabul. Now, let's look at some of the other stories making headlines
:06:11. > :06:16.around the world today. We begin in Iraq, where two explosions have
:06:16. > :06:23.killed more than 30 people in the town of Taji, north of the capital
:06:23. > :06:27.Baghdad. Officials say the blast happened almost simultaneously at a
:06:27. > :06:30.government building that issues identity cards. One official said
:06:30. > :06:34.that the first explosion was a car bomb and the building was full of
:06:34. > :06:37.people. David Cameron says that claims that
:06:37. > :06:41.a private investigator working for the News of the World newspaper
:06:41. > :06:45.hacked into the phone of a murdered teenager, Milly Dowler, are
:06:45. > :06:49.shocking. Executives from News International, the company owned by
:06:49. > :06:53.Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, are due to meet police shortly to
:06:53. > :06:58.discuss the allegations. A court in the Netherlands has
:06:58. > :07:03.ruled that the Dutch state was responsible for the deaths of three
:07:03. > :07:08.Muslim men in 1995 after dish -- the fall of Srebrenica. The men
:07:08. > :07:12.were handed to Bosnian Serb forces by Dutch UN troops.
:07:12. > :07:16.A shipment or fenugreek seeds from Egypt is the most likely source of
:07:16. > :07:20.the E.coli epidemic to sweep Europe, according to the European Food
:07:20. > :07:25.Safety Authority. All and 4000 people in Europe and North America
:07:25. > :07:28.have been infected by outbreaks so far. The infection has killed more
:07:28. > :07:33.than 50 people in Germany and there has been one death in America,
:07:33. > :07:38.France and Sweden. In Japan, the Minister for
:07:38. > :07:41.Reconstruction has resigned after just a week in the job. Ryu
:07:41. > :07:44.Matsumoto was criticised for offending victims of the disaster
:07:44. > :07:54.when he said that communities would not receive help unless they came
:07:54. > :07:54.
:07:54. > :08:00.Well, police in the state of New South Wales will have the power to
:08:00. > :08:04.demand the removal of burkas and other face coverings to identify
:08:04. > :08:08.people suspected of committing crimes. The law has been changed in
:08:08. > :08:11.reaction to a high profile Sydney case involving a Muslim woman and a
:08:11. > :08:21.police officer during a routine traffic stop. Refusing to comply
:08:21. > :08:22.
:08:22. > :08:26.with the new rule could lead to up The very public battle over
:08:26. > :08:30.allegations that a woman falsely accused a policeman of ripping off
:08:30. > :08:33.her veil has seen the Government close what police regarded as a
:08:33. > :08:38.legal loophole. I think it's a victory for commonsense and police
:08:38. > :08:43.on the front line. Soon, anyone who has their face covered must reveal
:08:43. > :08:47.it if an officer tells them to. Otherwise they risk a hefty $5,500
:08:47. > :08:50.fine or a year in jail. I think it's wrong, each to their own. Why
:08:50. > :08:55.should they have to show themselves to people? They should follow the
:08:55. > :08:58.law. It doesn't matter if you are Christian, Jewish, Muslim...
:08:58. > :09:04.woman came to Australia almost 20 years ago and has always covered
:09:04. > :09:09.her face. We think in Islam that ladies are really, really precious.
:09:09. > :09:12.But she says she is not above the law. The ABC has spoken to several
:09:12. > :09:17.women who would wear the niqab or the burka. They say they are
:09:17. > :09:20.comfortable with the new laws, but they prefer to show their face to a
:09:21. > :09:23.female police officer. The Australian-Muslim Women's
:09:24. > :09:29.Association says a sensitive balance needs to be struck. It's a
:09:29. > :09:31.matter of how each party handles themselves from hereon in. The
:09:31. > :09:35.Muslim community complying and reasonably requesting a female
:09:35. > :09:44.police officer and the police force acting in a reasonable manner
:09:44. > :09:49.without any force or coercion, in a respectful way. There are only a
:09:49. > :09:53.limited amount of police to police each area.
:09:53. > :09:57.Islamic groups say it will come down to a matter of trust. There
:09:57. > :10:01.has to be a lot of engagement with people from the Muslim community,
:10:01. > :10:09.especially the women. Other states will be watching how New South
:10:10. > :10:15.Now, tomorrow Venezuela will mark the 200 anniversary of the
:10:15. > :10:18.independence from Spain. The man he would expect to be at the centre of
:10:18. > :10:22.the celebrations will not be attending. Hugo Chavez says he will
:10:22. > :10:26.watch from the presidential palace, as he is still too unwell to attend.
:10:26. > :10:30.His recent treatment for cancer did not stop him from addressing
:10:30. > :10:35.thousands of supporters in Caracas. He told them that their backing was
:10:35. > :10:40.the best medicine for whatever illness. Despite the performance,
:10:40. > :10:44.many questions remain about his ill-health and its implications.
:10:44. > :10:48.Let's talk to Michael Reid, the American's editor for the Economist
:10:48. > :10:53.magazine. He joins us from central London. The message from Hugo
:10:53. > :10:57.Chavez has been, I am still in charge, the show still goes on. Is
:10:58. > :11:03.that realistic? Well, that has very much been the message. There are
:11:03. > :11:07.many things that the Venezuelan people, and we don't know about his
:11:07. > :11:11.medical complex -- condition. We don't know how advanced the cancer
:11:11. > :11:15.was, what kind of cancer it was, what kind of treatment he will
:11:15. > :11:18.require over the next three months. It's reasonable to assume that he
:11:18. > :11:26.will need chemotherapy. It's reasonable to assume that he will
:11:26. > :11:31.not be restored to vigorous good health for some weeks or months.
:11:31. > :11:36.That does raise some questions about what will happen in Venezuela
:11:37. > :11:41.in the next period. We know from various reports that there has been
:11:41. > :11:45.some jockeying for position amongst his allies, just in case he has to
:11:45. > :11:50.step aside for a few months and they need someone to take over.
:11:50. > :11:54.Isn't the point here that with Chavez it is personal, without him,
:11:54. > :11:58.what he is driving forward in Venezuela is it possible? That's
:11:58. > :12:03.absolutely right. It's a highly personal EST regime. It's been all
:12:03. > :12:06.about President Chavez. The reason he suddenly came back from Cuba was
:12:06. > :12:11.precisely because there were signs that jockeying for power was
:12:11. > :12:18.breaking out within the ranks of his supporters. It's in the nature
:12:18. > :12:25.of these regimes that no successor, there is no heir, there is no
:12:25. > :12:34.designated successor. He also faces a crucial presidential election
:12:34. > :12:38.next year. So, I think he wanted to make sure that the battle for power
:12:38. > :12:43.within his organisation didn't get out of hand. What about the
:12:43. > :12:47.opposition? Where does a poorly Hugo Chavez leave them? Well, they
:12:47. > :12:51.already had quite a good chance of winning next year's presidential
:12:51. > :12:55.election. One assumes that, depending on what happens, and he
:12:55. > :13:00.may well make a full recovery and be just as vigorous and active as
:13:00. > :13:04.he was before, but there has to be some doubt about that. Clearly,
:13:04. > :13:07.that doubt gives them a bigger opportunity, provided they stay
:13:07. > :13:12.together. The historic failure of the a Venezuelan opposition has
:13:12. > :13:15.been a failure to unite. They need to pick a plausible presidential
:13:15. > :13:20.candidate and unite behind that candidate. Then they will be in
:13:20. > :13:22.with quite a strong chance. Good to speak to you, thank you very much
:13:22. > :13:26.indeed. Michael Reid from the Economist.
:13:26. > :13:31.We have some extraordinary pictures from China. Chinese emergency
:13:31. > :13:35.services on Monday, staging a dramatic rescue of dozens of people
:13:35. > :13:39.that was stranded on a bridge which had collapsed under the force of
:13:39. > :13:44.surging floodwaters. This is all coming from a report by the state
:13:44. > :13:48.broadcaster, CCTV. The floods were triggered by days of heavy rain,
:13:48. > :13:51.the rain brought down the bridge in Sichuan province. As you can see,
:13:51. > :13:57.they were improvising with all sorts of different techniques to
:13:57. > :14:01.try and get people to safety. There, they are using a rope. In a moment
:14:01. > :14:05.we will also see a huge crane being used as well. The fear was that the
:14:05. > :14:10.cables would break. They were not particularly secure. The good news
:14:10. > :14:13.is that they didn't. The standard workers eventually fetched a crane
:14:13. > :14:17.from their plant and they successfully used it to lift
:14:17. > :14:19.colleagues to safety. Absolutely extraordinary. The county where
:14:19. > :14:29.this is taking place was the epicentre of a massive earthquake
:14:29. > :14:30.
:14:30. > :14:35.two years ago which claimed almost Still to come, we are going to talk
:14:35. > :14:38.about a new festival of Arab art in London. Also, there has been
:14:38. > :14:48.outrage at Indy as the country's health minister Brian's
:14:48. > :14:52.
:14:52. > :14:56.homosexuality a disease. -- in Now Aaron is here with the business.
:14:56. > :15:01.We have spent so much time talking about the Greeks and their debt.
:15:01. > :15:05.You're going to be talk about the Americans. Yes unthinkable that we
:15:05. > :15:11.could be asking who defaults first - Greece or the United States? But
:15:11. > :15:20.the potential is there. The United States has four weeks until it runs
:15:20. > :15:24.out of money and has a debt of $14.3 trillion and Barack Obama is
:15:24. > :15:29.urging them to raise the debt ceiling. Here is the problem.
:15:29. > :15:34.Republicans are at loggerheads with democrats. They say we want
:15:34. > :15:39.spending times. The democrats say hang on, we want to raise taxes on
:15:39. > :15:44.the rich to help pay off the debt. But whatever the outcome, if they
:15:44. > :15:50.don't do something soon, the US defaulting is possible. Listen to
:15:50. > :15:57.this. It has potential to be catastrophic for the US markets and
:15:57. > :16:04.it would mean the US has to pay higher interest rates and it would
:16:04. > :16:09.I think really be a something that the US taxpayers would get upset
:16:09. > :16:13.about. Everyone is saying a deal will be agreed. But there is a lot
:16:13. > :16:19.of ground to cover. I was mentioning the Greeks, when they
:16:19. > :16:24.get a bailout, the Germans pay more and now somebody has taken this to
:16:24. > :16:31.the courts. Yes we have known for some time the Germans dislike these
:16:31. > :16:38.Irish and Greek rescue pots. You have said it, let's not kid
:16:38. > :16:45.ourselves, the Germans are the pay master in the eurozone and today
:16:45. > :16:51.the constitutional court in Germany will listen to complaints brought
:16:51. > :16:55.by Markus Kerber who says the money is unconstitutional, because they
:16:55. > :17:03.were organised by the European Commission and the central bank and
:17:03. > :17:09.not by German Parliament. Here is the man himself. Parliament has an
:17:09. > :17:17.obligation to control public funds and expenditure. They cannot give a
:17:17. > :17:24.general authorisation to sovereign national agencies to... Spend money
:17:24. > :17:29.for the sake of rescuing the euro or rescuing the stability of the
:17:29. > :17:33.eurozone. There is is a man being seen as a man who will block the
:17:33. > :17:42.bailout and it could throw the European Parliament in disarray.
:17:42. > :17:52.That is the business for now. do remember you can get in touch
:17:52. > :18:07.
:18:07. > :18:11.This is GMT. Our headlines: Laying out the long-term - the Prime
:18:11. > :18:20.Minister visits Afghanistan as his forces begin the handover to local
:18:21. > :18:30.security. And back home, Hugo Chavez returns from Cuba, following
:18:31. > :18:32.
:18:32. > :18:35.Let's look at story that's rapidly becoming one of the most read
:18:35. > :18:38.online. Ghulam Nabi Azad is India's Health Minister and yesterday he
:18:38. > :18:41.told a conference on HIV-AIDS that homosexuality is a disease. He also
:18:41. > :18:51.said it's more common in the developed world, but is spreading
:18:51. > :18:53.
:18:53. > :19:01.fast in India. We can speak to our correspondent, Sanjoy Majumder. Has
:19:01. > :19:03.he ever said these things before? Well he has not made comments on
:19:03. > :19:08.homosexuality before. He has made other comments which haven't gone
:19:08. > :19:11.down well. You can imagine the reaction these comments have got.
:19:11. > :19:15.Particularly because of the timing and the venue. The fact that he was
:19:15. > :19:22.making the comments at a conference which was aimed at preventing the
:19:22. > :19:27.spread of HIV and AIDS. He made remarks that you have mentioned,
:19:27. > :19:32.that homosexuality, he described as an unnatural act, alien to India
:19:32. > :19:37.and brought by westerners and spreading. The gay community as
:19:37. > :19:41.well as gay campaigners in India are outraged. Not just because of
:19:42. > :19:49.the place he said this, but also the fact that they feel that apart
:19:49. > :19:52.from being ignorant, this could feed into campaigners from
:19:53. > :19:58.conservative groups from the religious right, who are opposed to
:19:58. > :20:02.any attempt at legalising homosexuality. Put this in
:20:02. > :20:06.contexted, homosexuality was decriminalised two years ago, is
:20:06. > :20:12.that right? Yes, this is a community that is active in India
:20:12. > :20:18.and two years ago the courts put out, struck down a law that dated
:20:18. > :20:22.back to the 19th century, under which a homosexual act was a
:20:22. > :20:28.criminal offence and you could be sent to ten years in prison that.
:20:28. > :20:33.Ruling was welcomed and in the last couple of years, cities have
:20:33. > :20:38.witnessed very large gay pride parades. But socially it is still,
:20:38. > :20:41.same sex relationships are considered a taboo. The community
:20:41. > :20:45.receives widespread discrimination and it is hard for them to carry
:20:45. > :20:49.out a normal life and that is why they're upset. They say coming from
:20:49. > :20:57.a minister, it almost seems as if it represents the Government's
:20:57. > :21:01.point of view. It makes their life more difficult. Thank you. For most
:21:01. > :21:04.of July London will play host to a new arts festival called Shubbak, a
:21:04. > :21:07.Window on Contemporary Arab Culture. Around 100 Arab writers, actors,
:21:07. > :21:17.artists, musicians and film-makers from around the world will be
:21:17. > :21:27.
:21:27. > :21:37.showcasing their works. Two of them are joining me here. Ghulam Nabyi
:21:37. > :21:40.
:21:40. > :21:47.Azad and Weal Shawky. -- - Is this necessary? Yes it is a good
:21:47. > :21:52.opportunity to participate in such an event. I'm not sure if this is
:21:52. > :22:01.really happening only now. Many institutions are already doing this
:22:01. > :22:06.before. But maybe now it became the right time to focus on this. Both
:22:06. > :22:16.of you are going to be exhibited your work. Let's look at a couple
:22:16. > :22:36.
:22:36. > :22:41.of of the films you will be showing. Tell us more about it. These are
:22:41. > :22:46.familiars that were part of the Dubai International Film Festival
:22:47. > :22:53.and we are showing some of the winners in that festival. That
:22:53. > :22:59.particular film is an interesting experimental film by a Palestinian
:22:59. > :23:02.film maker based in Holland. The idea is to show case films, artists
:23:02. > :23:07.and photographers who find it difficult in London's crowded
:23:07. > :23:13.market and of course London is an important market, to be seen and to
:23:13. > :23:18.be appreciated by audiences here. Arab and non-Arab alike. We can
:23:18. > :23:28.pull up some of the images that people which see at your exhibits.
:23:28. > :23:32.-- will see at your exhibits. Talk us through these. This is part of,
:23:32. > :23:42.actually these are two different sew lows I have now in the UK. One
:23:42. > :23:45.
:23:45. > :23:49.in Liverpool at the Walker gallery. Another one in London. Actually,
:23:50. > :23:58.this is, yeah, so there is one of them that you have seen the image
:23:58. > :24:03.of now. The question all of our viewers will want to ask, how are
:24:03. > :24:07.the Arab uprising affecting Arab art? I think that objective
:24:07. > :24:11.circumstances will affect what you think and feel and how you express
:24:11. > :24:16.yourself. Of course how long this will take and what, I don't think
:24:16. > :24:23.it is an automatic process, but it is a fascinating thing to watch.
:24:23. > :24:29.This festival in particular will offer us a window as it says, to
:24:29. > :24:39.appreciate some of the changes and the interesting things that this
:24:39. > :24:43.new reality will take. What about you, there are plenty of protests
:24:43. > :24:49.in Alexandria. It is already happening. Usually I'm sceptical
:24:49. > :24:53.about these kind of events that says Arab or middle eastern Arab
:24:53. > :25:00.art. But I think it is still a good opportunity to meet interesting
:25:00. > :25:03.people, most of them are my friends. And also to make it more possible
:25:03. > :25:10.for people that don't have that much access to art in general.
:25:10. > :25:15.is the first time in London that we have a festival dedicated to the
:25:15. > :25:20.whole region, special think contemporary output. That is
:25:20. > :25:25.precious. The festival has arts is tick goals, does it have political
:25:25. > :25:30.goals and are you saying come and support change? We don't organise
:25:30. > :25:36.the festival. The mayor's office does. With reference to your work.
:25:36. > :25:40.In terms of the UK, it is important, it is the first time we're looked
:25:40. > :25:46.at as one culture. I think is debatable but it is interesting.
:25:46. > :25:51.Secondly it is a secular approach and we're not just treats from a
:25:51. > :25:54.religious point of view. And for the UK and London's Arab population
:25:54. > :26:01.in particular, it is a great opportunity, and gives us
:26:01. > :26:05.confidence to share and be part of the same city and it is wonderful.
:26:05. > :26:13.Are you trying to make a political point, or just make art? I think
:26:13. > :26:17.I'm just trying to make art in this case. But showing part of the peace
:26:17. > :26:22.in lifplts was also showing something about -- in Liverpool was
:26:22. > :26:29.showing something about how cultures see each other. Because
:26:29. > :26:33.part of my work is about cliches and how people see the other
:26:33. > :26:39.cultures and I think yeah, showing that, making a decision to show
:26:39. > :26:42.part of it was part of this. Good to pleat you, thank you. Finally,
:26:42. > :26:46.here's a man enjoying life at the moment - Novak Djokovic became