:00:11. > :00:18.As the Arab League meets to discuss their monitoring team's mission to
:00:18. > :00:28.Syria, Damascus rejects calls for President Assad to resign.
:00:28. > :00:35.
:00:35. > :00:40.TRANSLATION: And there were clashes, of motor attacks.
:00:40. > :00:44.Four Kenyan politicians are to stand trial for violence in which
:00:45. > :00:54.thousands of people have died. Also in this programme, find out
:00:55. > :01:07.
:01:07. > :01:11.why the Chinese Year of the Dragon Welcome to BBC World News. The head
:01:11. > :01:15.of the Arab League monitoring mission says there has been less
:01:15. > :01:19.violence since his team arrived in the country. He also said it was
:01:19. > :01:24.and his team's responsibility to stop the violence that has fled
:01:24. > :01:29.across the country since anti- government protests last March.
:01:29. > :01:36.Syria has rejected the latest peace plan. The head of the mission at
:01:36. > :01:46.said that violence did subside but only in some areas.
:01:46. > :01:52.
:01:52. > :02:01.TRANSLATION: In Homs and Deraa. We witnessed some fighting and firing
:02:01. > :02:09.amongst the people, the use of arms. We noticed that this action took
:02:09. > :02:19.place from armed members, and some people at some checkpoints were
:02:19. > :02:28.forced to fire back. And to shoot back. In Idlib, we witnessed a new
:02:28. > :02:38.development. We noticed that there were some strange elements,
:02:38. > :02:39.
:02:39. > :02:47.explosions, which targeted a number of institutions. And buildings. And
:02:47. > :02:50.I would like to say, frankly, this was not acceptable to the Arab
:02:50. > :02:58.community and international community.
:02:58. > :03:04.The head of the monitoring mission. Our correspondent has been
:03:04. > :03:09.monitoring of that conference. He has given me his interpretation.
:03:09. > :03:14.Basically, this is not going to be music to the ears of the Syrian
:03:14. > :03:17.opposition. For example, when he says the violence diminished
:03:17. > :03:21.cricket after they arrived and demonstrators were not being shot
:03:22. > :03:26.at any more, that is at variance with what the activists on the
:03:26. > :03:31.ground have been reporting. In some areas where the observers have been,
:03:31. > :03:41.perhaps it has tapered away, but it has still been going on where they
:03:41. > :03:46.were not physically present. He taught about the release of
:03:46. > :03:50.detainees, which has only been partial and not verified. So this
:03:50. > :03:55.will be taken by the opposition as further evidence the mission is and
:03:55. > :04:00.having much effect, it has failed now that the Saudis have pulled out
:04:00. > :04:04.as well. The opposition would like this to be referred to the Security
:04:04. > :04:09.Council and they will react quite strongly to his statements. Further
:04:09. > :04:19.evidence that the Arab League is not making much progress in its
:04:19. > :04:26.patchy operation. He said it wasn't their mission to stop the violence,
:04:26. > :04:33.but to implement their protocol. And also he said in a couple of
:04:33. > :04:38.cities, he witnessed people using arms, and at checkpoints people
:04:38. > :04:46.were forced to fire back, which might seem controversial too many.
:04:46. > :04:50.Certainly, the last element, again, will not please of the opposition.
:04:50. > :04:55.There is widespread recognition there is a lot of armed activity
:04:55. > :05:01.going on by rebels, provoked from their point of view by the massive
:05:01. > :05:05.crackdown by the Army itself. As for the observers being empowered
:05:05. > :05:09.to halt the violence, that is not their job, they are there to
:05:09. > :05:19.monitor compliance with the agreement calling for the cessation
:05:19. > :05:19.
:05:19. > :05:24.of all violence, the withdrawal of armed manifestations in the streets.
:05:24. > :05:28.He is perfectly correct with that, that is what the protocol calls for.
:05:28. > :05:32.One reason why the opposition has been sceptical about the whole
:05:32. > :05:41.mission from the beginning. They didn't believe the regime would
:05:41. > :05:47.comply but use it as a way of playing for time.
:05:47. > :05:51.A year to the date since protests erupted in Egypt, Parliament is
:05:51. > :05:55.sitting for the first time. Islamists dominate the new
:05:55. > :06:01.Parliament. The Freedom and Justice Party won the largest number of
:06:01. > :06:09.seats. It remains up to the President to decide which party
:06:09. > :06:14.gets to form a government. The first session of Parliament it
:06:14. > :06:20.is going very smoothly. A historic moment, the first properly
:06:20. > :06:25.democratic elected Parliament in Egypt's history. A completely
:06:25. > :06:33.different make-up from what we have seen in the past decade when it was
:06:33. > :06:39.dominated by the ruling party, notoriously corrupt. We are
:06:39. > :06:47.watching the swearing in as they go through with each MP. They will
:06:47. > :06:52.choose the Speaker and Deputy Speaker. They wanted to get this in
:06:52. > :06:57.before the marking of the demonstrations on January fed.
:06:57. > :07:07.is dill not clear how the groupings will work out, and what
:07:07. > :07:11.accommodation they will make with the military? It looks as if the
:07:11. > :07:21.Muslim Brotherhood, the largest party, portraying themselves as the
:07:21. > :07:27.
:07:27. > :07:33.pragmatists, a success of La negotiating -- successfully. Over
:07:33. > :07:40.foreign policy and defence policy. They're working on that behind the
:07:40. > :07:50.scenes. The liberals fear a cosy car but between the two main forces.
:07:50. > :07:50.
:07:50. > :07:54.But there is no great clash in prospect.
:07:54. > :07:57.Aaron joins me now with the business.
:07:57. > :08:05.The top management at the maker of Blackberry smartphones have stepped
:08:05. > :08:08.down. Research In Motion says both its co-CEOs and co-chairmen will
:08:08. > :08:10.make way for former Siemens executive Thorsten Heins. The move
:08:10. > :08:20.was initiated by activist shareholders who wanted the
:08:20. > :08:24.
:08:25. > :08:30.phonemaker to keep up with rivals. Let us listen to the new boss and
:08:30. > :08:35.what he had to say today. More internally from a process
:08:35. > :08:39.perspective, we need to get a bit more discipline in our own
:08:39. > :08:44.processes. We are in great innovative company but we innovate
:08:44. > :08:48.too much while we are building the product. I want to spend more time
:08:48. > :08:58.on prototypes, research and development, while we are building
:08:58. > :08:58.
:08:58. > :09:04.the product. Has he hit the nail on the head, discipline, innovating
:09:04. > :09:13.too much? This is the interesting thing about Research In Motion,
:09:13. > :09:23.what other company can rethink of which has been successfully run by
:09:23. > :09:26.
:09:26. > :09:36.two joint chief executives? The founder, running the business
:09:36. > :09:37.
:09:37. > :09:45.successfully with another. Google came in with its android operating
:09:45. > :09:51.system. We have the Blackberry market being attacked from both
:09:51. > :09:59.sides and not knowing how to respond. Having two at the helm,
:09:59. > :10:06.let us look at last year. Their system outage. On top of that,
:10:06. > :10:11.there Siv -- their share price, falling 75%. The market has been
:10:11. > :10:15.very hard on the company. It is still making profits. The market
:10:15. > :10:25.was looking at how rapidly any company that falls a little bit
:10:25. > :10:27.
:10:27. > :10:34.behind, gets into trouble. Nokia. That company has been suffering
:10:34. > :10:39.problems. The feeling is there will not be many survivors. These
:10:39. > :10:49.smartphone world is sorting itself into three or four big players. The
:10:49. > :10:51.
:10:51. > :10:56.question is, will Blackberry be one of them? The new chief executive,
:10:56. > :11:00.can he do it? Do they have the technology? They certainly have the
:11:01. > :11:06.technology. They have had command of the Business section of the
:11:07. > :11:11.market. It was the defining device for any executive. Their problem is
:11:11. > :11:18.that this top-of-the-market is under assault from Apple in
:11:18. > :11:27.particular. They have brilliant technology on board. The founders
:11:27. > :11:37.in particular had a lot of nous. But, do they have the speed to move
:11:37. > :11:42.
:11:42. > :11:46.in a different direction? Private creditors to Greece say
:11:46. > :11:49.they have now made their best offer in talks to reduce the country's
:11:49. > :11:51.debt. Charles Dallara, the chief negotiator for the Institute of
:11:51. > :11:54.International Finance, that's the group representing the private
:11:54. > :12:01.lenders, says he's offered the maximum possible. Greece needs to
:12:01. > :12:03.persuade bond holders to forgo more than half the money they're owed.
:12:03. > :12:07.And it's crucial because Greece's 130 billion euro rescue package
:12:07. > :12:12.from the EU and IMF depends on a deal being reached with these
:12:12. > :12:15.private debt holders. Without the money, Greece would be unable to
:12:16. > :12:19.pay the interest on its debt, and would more than likely default on
:12:19. > :12:29.some $18.5 billion in March. Jan Randolph is head of Sovereign
:12:29. > :12:29.
:12:29. > :12:33.Risk at IHS Global Insight. The key is the IMF which will not
:12:33. > :12:37.lend in a situation where it seems that the debt is not sustainable.
:12:37. > :12:44.If there is a shortfall, they are looking to the European Union, in
:12:44. > :12:49.particular, Germany, to make up the difference. The IMF will not do so.
:12:50. > :12:53.It is up to Germany and France and the eurozone finance ministers,
:12:53. > :12:58.whether they are prepared to make up the shortfall. If the IMF sees
:12:58. > :13:03.that there is a shortfall. Some reports by suggesting some of
:13:03. > :13:09.these private debt holders would almost preferred going down a Greek
:13:09. > :13:13.default path, because they are insured against that? There are
:13:13. > :13:19.hedge funds and mainstream banks which hold these insurances against
:13:19. > :13:24.default. They are secretly hoping it will fall apart, there will be a
:13:24. > :13:30.disorderly default, a hard dead destruction, and they can collect
:13:30. > :13:34.the insurance claim. But the IMF and EU are trying to avert that
:13:34. > :13:38.situation. Time for a look at some other business stories.
:13:38. > :13:41.The founder of Megaupload has told a New Zealand court he is innocent
:13:41. > :13:44.on charges of piracy and money laundering. Kim Dotcom, also known
:13:44. > :13:48.as Kim Schmitz, was arrested last week after police raided his estate
:13:48. > :13:52.in New Zealand at the request of the FBI. Megaupload had about 50
:13:52. > :13:57.million hits a day when it was in operation, putting it within the
:13:57. > :14:01.top 100 most visited websites, according to estimates.
:14:01. > :14:05.The United Arab Emirates' Central Bank says it has fended off hackers
:14:05. > :14:09.trying to bring down its website. The bank's web server had been
:14:09. > :14:12.flooded with information to try and make it crash. The hackers called
:14:12. > :14:15.themselves the IDF Team, which is thought to be a reference to the
:14:15. > :14:25.Israel Defence Force. They also claim to have disrupted the
:14:25. > :14:30.
:14:30. > :14:35.websites of the Saudi Arabian and The political future of Kenya's
:14:35. > :14:41.looks to be influenced by its political past. Over 1000 people
:14:41. > :14:45.died in violence after elections in 2007. The International Criminal
:14:45. > :14:55.Court in the Hague decided that four prominent Kenyans will be
:14:55. > :15:04.tried for crimes Against humanity. Kenyans have been eagerly awaiting
:15:04. > :15:08.this day. The judge confirmed the trials will go ahead for four out
:15:08. > :15:12.of the six. They include the Finance Minister and Deputy Prime
:15:13. > :15:20.Minister, as well as another former minister. Both those men want to
:15:20. > :15:22.stand in another election, due in December or early next year. This
:15:22. > :15:27.decision from the International Criminal Court in the Hague has a
:15:27. > :15:33.huge bearing on the future politics of Kenya and those elections. The
:15:33. > :15:37.last election was such a mess and led to so much violence that
:15:37. > :15:42.Kenyans have been hoping things will be cleared up between the last
:15:42. > :15:46.election and the next one. The process is so slow in the Hague, it
:15:46. > :15:51.is quite possible once we have had their appeals and more activity
:15:51. > :15:56.from the lawyers that the trial may not even have begun by the time the
:15:56. > :16:03.Kenyans are queuing up to vote in the next election. An interesting
:16:03. > :16:10.few months ahead and the lawyers will be busy. EU ambassadors agree
:16:10. > :16:15.the details of an oil embargo against Iran during its nuclear
:16:15. > :16:19.programme. The American congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords,
:16:19. > :16:29.who were shot and nearly killed, has announced she will step down
:16:29. > :16:31.
:16:31. > :16:36.from office. She wants to focus on recovery. One year ago, Gabrielle
:16:36. > :16:43.Giffords were shot in the head. She was left seriously injured and
:16:43. > :16:49.unable to walk or talk. 12 months on, the extent of her recovery is
:16:49. > :16:57.clear. I do not remember much from that horrible day. But I will never
:16:57. > :17:02.forget the trust you placed in me. In this video message posted online,
:17:02. > :17:08.she thanks people for their prayers and support but admits she has a
:17:08. > :17:13.long way to go and resigning from Congress is the best thing to do.
:17:13. > :17:18.will step down this week. Gabrielle Giffords was meeting voters at the
:17:18. > :17:25.supermarket when she was shot. The bullet passed through her brain.
:17:25. > :17:30.She has undergone intensive speech therapy. It is best for her, she
:17:30. > :17:37.feels, and the voter she represents, to step down. Everyone has wished
:17:37. > :17:47.her well. It is clear she plans to return to politics in the future.
:17:47. > :17:48.
:17:48. > :17:52.will return and we will work together for Arizona and this great
:17:52. > :17:57.country. After months of violent protest in Yemen, the President has
:17:57. > :18:01.left the country of the parliament granted him immunity from
:18:01. > :18:06.prosecution. He is reportedly in Amman but is expected to travel to
:18:06. > :18:16.the United States for medical treatment after an attack in his
:18:16. > :18:23.
:18:23. > :18:28.This is BBC World news. The headlines: The head of the Arab
:18:28. > :18:34.League mission to Syria describes the violence his monitors witnessed
:18:34. > :18:37.in Homs and Hama. The new is a missed dominated parliament in
:18:37. > :18:41.Egypt meets for the first time since the downfall of President
:18:41. > :18:43.Mubarak. It is the start of a new year in the Chinese lunar calendar
:18:43. > :18:46.and celebrations are well underway. Dancers performed in the Chinese
:18:46. > :18:49.Spring Festival Gala, where moving images of dragons were projected
:18:49. > :18:54.onto the stage. Thousands of people also visited Beijing's Lama Temple
:18:54. > :18:57.to pray. It is the Year of the Dragon, which is believed to be
:18:57. > :19:06.especially lucky. So, many couples are making an extra effort to give
:19:06. > :19:12.birth to dragon babies. Our Hong Kong correspondent explains. It is
:19:12. > :19:18.the start of a Brand New Year for this family. The countdown is still
:19:18. > :19:23.on. At this holiday market, they are buying a toy for their soon-to-
:19:23. > :19:28.be baby - a dragon just like their future sun. Thanks to careful
:19:28. > :19:34.planning he will be born under the mayor special of all the signs in
:19:34. > :19:39.the Chinese zodiac. We believe that dragon babies are more lucky,
:19:39. > :19:44.clever and smart. I went to a doctor for a special check-up. Only
:19:44. > :19:49.once every 12 years can you have a dragon baby. So many other couples
:19:49. > :19:55.want dragon babies that doctors say there could be 10% more berths this
:19:55. > :20:02.year. It has put a particular strain on the Hong Kong medical
:20:02. > :20:10.system. Mainland Chinese mothers are also arriving to give birth.
:20:10. > :20:15.Even if I would like to put someone into August, I cannot. There are no
:20:15. > :20:21.beds. Even this morning I have been receiving e-mails from distressed
:20:22. > :20:26.mothers who are only on waiting lists. People born in the year of
:20:26. > :20:32.the Dragon are believed to be destined for greatness. Of course
:20:32. > :20:38.that went be true for everyone. With so many extra Dragons around,
:20:38. > :20:41.life could be more competitive as well. That is especially true in
:20:41. > :20:45.schools. There are struggling to cope with the number of students,
:20:45. > :20:50.even without the added burden of the Dragon Room.
:20:50. > :20:56.TRANSLATION: Our schools cannot deal with it. There were not be
:20:56. > :21:00.places in pre-schools and primary schools. A child may actually be
:21:00. > :21:05.worse of being born in the year of the dragon? Yes, they may not
:21:05. > :21:14.receive the quality of education as children born in other years.
:21:14. > :21:18.down side does not faze Catherine. She has made sure the timing of her
:21:18. > :21:23.pregnancy is perfect. Her first child was born in the year of the
:21:23. > :21:27.VAT which is not nearly as special as the dragon. Catherine says she
:21:27. > :21:33.will love her children equally. But with the Chinese world so obsessed
:21:33. > :21:40.with certain animal years, her unborn child is likely to get extra
:21:41. > :21:44.attention, which is why so many couples want dragon babies.
:21:44. > :21:49.European Union ambassadors have agreed the details of an oil
:21:49. > :21:52.embargo against Iran over its nuclear programme, according to
:21:52. > :21:59.diplomats. These measures are expected to be officially approved
:21:59. > :22:04.by EU ministers. There are concerns that Tehran might have the nuclear
:22:04. > :22:10.weapons programme. Our correspondent is with me now. We're
:22:10. > :22:14.not exactly clear whether this has been fully passed yet. What will it
:22:14. > :22:19.mean? William Hague is talking about this as an unprecedented
:22:19. > :22:24.package of measures. It is the first time the EU has put together
:22:24. > :22:33.such a force for packaged to basically block the vital oil
:22:33. > :22:40.export of Iran. If Europe buys about 20% of Iranian oil. It is a
:22:40. > :22:45.difficult thing for the EU. Some countries rely more heavily on
:22:45. > :22:52.Iranian oil than others. Some of these are in economic difficulties.
:22:52. > :22:58.It could make the economic problems of Greece even worse because Boyle
:22:58. > :23:04.will be higher priced. -- boa. will be looking to countries like
:23:04. > :23:09.Saudi Arabia for reassurances. They will be getting money from the EU.
:23:09. > :23:15.A lot of negotiation is happening behind the scenes. How much damage
:23:15. > :23:21.will it do to Iran? Will it make a real impact? Lots of people are
:23:21. > :23:27.saying extra pressure could have a factor. There are still quite
:23:27. > :23:37.provocative remarks being made by government ministers. It is talking
:23:37. > :23:39.
:23:39. > :23:43.about blocking exports before the full ban takes effect. Iran is in
:23:43. > :23:49.dire -- has dire economic problems at the moment. It will put pressure
:23:49. > :23:53.on the Government and the people. Emergency crews have today resumed
:23:53. > :23:58.their search for missing passengers from the Costa Concordia cruise
:23:58. > :24:00.ship, nine days after it ran aground off the Italian coast.
:24:00. > :24:07.Questions still remain about whether Unregistered passengers
:24:07. > :24:12.were on board the vessel when it was damaged. The number of debt has
:24:12. > :24:16.risen to 13 after divers found another body. Earlier from Porto
:24:16. > :24:22.Santo Stefano on the Italian mainland, Bethany Bell gave asked
:24:22. > :24:28.the question on those Unregistered passengers. We do not have a number
:24:28. > :24:33.on the question of unregistered passengers. One official told us
:24:33. > :24:37.yesterday that a Hungarian family had rung the Italian authorities,
:24:37. > :24:43.saying that their daughter had rung them up from the ship's saying she
:24:43. > :24:48.was on board. They have not heard from her since then. According to
:24:48. > :24:53.the authorities, she is not on the passenger list. This does raise the
:24:53. > :24:58.question of unregistered passengers. This morning, the search and rescue
:24:58. > :25:04.team have been continuing. Before I came on air, a number of controlled
:25:04. > :25:09.explosions were heard. The divers are trying to get into areas of the
:25:09. > :25:13.ship which are very difficult to reach, where there is a lot of
:25:13. > :25:17.debris. We understand this morning they are looking into an area which
:25:17. > :25:24.is at the back of the ship, near the restaurant area, to see if they
:25:24. > :25:28.can discover anyone there. I think there are about 1500 rooms on this
:25:28. > :25:35.ship. They were saying it could take weeks to search every single
:25:35. > :25:40.corner of the ship. That holds up the salvage operation. Yes. It is
:25:40. > :25:48.taking a very long time. The head of this rescue mission is to meet
:25:48. > :25:54.with a prosecutor in Tuscany later today. What we expect from that
:25:54. > :25:59.meeting is that there may be some sort of decision as to when this
:25:59. > :26:04.rescue and Search Phase is actually called off. That will allow the
:26:05. > :26:08.salvage stage to begin and removed the tulle. Some news that has just
:26:08. > :26:18.come in to us. European foreign ministers have agreed to suspend
:26:18. > :26:23.
:26:23. > :26:27.these are bans -- visa bans. Burma is due to be holding by-elections
:26:27. > :26:35.in April the shares will start this will be contested for the first
:26:35. > :26:38.time by the opposition party, led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Some more news
:26:38. > :26:43.from the International Criminal Court. It accepts that safe out
:26:43. > :26:51.Islam Gaddafi will be tried in Libya rather than at the court in