:00:14. > :00:18.As Russia prepares for a Vladimir Putin Presidential third term,
:00:18. > :00:22.international election observers say they found serious problems in
:00:22. > :00:29.Sunday's poll. Although all contestants were able to campaign
:00:29. > :00:33.unhindered, the conditions for the campaign were clearly skewed in
:00:33. > :00:40.favour of one candidate. Geir Haarde goes on trail, as the first
:00:40. > :00:44.national lieder to go on trial over the international financial crisis.
:00:44. > :00:52.Gunmen in Iraq kill 25 policemen in early morning attacks. Welcome to
:00:52. > :00:59.BBC World News. Also an advance against Shabaab
:00:59. > :01:02.rebels. We report from Baidoa. The challenge for Ethiopia is to
:01:02. > :01:12.ensure this incursion does not become as unpopular as the last one,
:01:12. > :01:21.
:01:21. > :01:24.it is not seen as a military Vladimir Putin's return to Russia's
:01:24. > :01:28.Presidential Palace has been criticised by a number of
:01:28. > :01:33.international observers who are raising concerns about the voting.
:01:33. > :01:38.The OSCE says there was serious problems and the process was skewed
:01:38. > :01:43.towards Mr Putin at the expense of his rivals. Although all contesants
:01:43. > :01:51.were able to campaign -- contestants were able to campaign
:01:51. > :01:55.it was skewed in favour of one candidate. Registration demanded
:01:55. > :02:00.competition. While all candidates had access to media, only one
:02:00. > :02:06.candidate, the current Prime Minister, was given clear advantage.
:02:06. > :02:16.State resources were mobilised at regional level in his support.
:02:16. > :02:18.
:02:18. > :02:24.ox - well the golgol says there was independent -- GOLOS says there was
:02:24. > :02:29.independent voting. We have this report now from Novosibirsk. With
:02:29. > :02:36.tears in his eyes, Russia's strong man, Vladimir Putin, was quick to
:02:36. > :02:46.appear before his supporters in Moscow and declare victory.
:02:46. > :02:48.
:02:48. > :02:54.TRANSLATION: We have won in an open and honest struggle.
:02:54. > :03:00.I promise you -- I promised you we would win and we have won. Glory to
:03:00. > :03:05.Russia. Not far away, in a Moscow cafe, one of Mr Moscow's most
:03:05. > :03:09.threatening opponents was also holding court.
:03:09. > :03:14.The blogger and opposition leader, pleading mass protests in the
:03:14. > :03:19.coming weeks and months. TRANSLATION: A substantial number
:03:19. > :03:22.of Russian citizens, first of all residents of big cities, do not
:03:22. > :03:25.recognise these elections as legitimate and do not recognise
:03:25. > :03:31.Vladimir Putin as the President of the country.
:03:31. > :03:36.The authorities have resorted to falsifications and rigged elections.
:03:36. > :03:41.The opposition has held a series of demonstrations, unprecedented in
:03:41. > :03:45.size. These, sparked by evidence that the
:03:45. > :03:51.parliamentary election in December had been rigged.
:03:51. > :03:56.This evening, there'll be the first protests following Sunday's vote.
:03:56. > :04:00.Here in the capital of Siberia, the opposition had hoped to hold their
:04:00. > :04:04.protest in this central square. In what has become a familiar tactic,
:04:04. > :04:12.the authorities say they cannot, because the square is reserved for
:04:12. > :04:17.a rally by the ruling party. So, what might Vladimir Putin's
:04:17. > :04:20.return to the top job in Russia mean for his country's position in
:04:20. > :04:25.world events? In particular Russia is at odds with the US, Britain and
:04:25. > :04:29.France over the issue of imposing a UN Security Council Resolution on
:04:29. > :04:37.Syria. Alexei Pushkov was asked, the chairman of the American-Israel
:04:37. > :04:42.Public Affairs Committee what -- of the public affairs committee what
:04:42. > :04:48.we could expect. I don't think it can be easily dropped. So, a lot
:04:48. > :04:53.will depend on the ground. If Mr Assad manages to have those
:04:53. > :04:56.elections he promised in May and if it leads to the appearance of
:04:56. > :05:01.multi-party system in Syria this may be a kind of answer to the
:05:01. > :05:06.issue. So I think a lot will depend on how things develop in Syria. If
:05:06. > :05:11.the civil war spreads on and Assad loses control, then of course, you
:05:11. > :05:14.know, every power has to adjust its position to what is going on in the
:05:14. > :05:18.world. We might see a new UN Security Council Resolution in
:05:18. > :05:23.Syria, which Russia would support this time? I think if the
:05:23. > :05:28.resolution does not change Russia will not support it. Russia insists
:05:28. > :05:34.that both sides to the civil conflict in Syria should stop fire.
:05:34. > :05:37.The last time the Governmental troops stopped fire it was used by
:05:37. > :05:42.the military formations to get out of Homs and to move as far as to
:05:42. > :05:47.Damascus. I have been there and I have seen this. So, if this is the
:05:47. > :05:52.essence of the resolution, I don't think Russia will support another
:05:52. > :05:58.resolution which will replace the old one it vetoed. If it says that
:05:58. > :06:01.the UN call both sides to stop fire and to start some kind of dialogue,
:06:01. > :06:05.whatever, negotiation, through intermediate, whatever, then I
:06:05. > :06:13.think Russia should reconsider its stance. Just to let you know that
:06:13. > :06:19.it's reported by the AFP news agency that the EU foreign affairs
:06:19. > :06:22.secretary has urged Russia to -- saying the EU takes note of the
:06:22. > :06:28.preliminary results but they are encouraging Russia to address these
:06:28. > :06:32.short comings. More on that of course at the website. Other news
:06:32. > :06:36.today: Gunmen in Iraq disguised as police have killed 25 members of
:06:36. > :06:42.the security forces on attacks in checkpoints and homes in Haditha.
:06:42. > :06:49.Officials say the gunmen killed police guards at several
:06:49. > :06:54.checkpoints before dawn this morning. It started at 2am when
:06:54. > :07:00.groups of armed men stormed the town of Haditha in western Iraq.
:07:00. > :07:04.Apparently their main targets were two Iraqi Ministry of Interior
:07:04. > :07:11.officers. The first Street a Colonel and the second a captain.
:07:12. > :07:17.Both men were killed as a result of the attacks along with more than 20
:07:17. > :07:21.officers, 20 police personnel and three of the attackers, who managed
:07:21. > :07:27.to withdraw almost safely, apart from the three men from the city.
:07:27. > :07:32.The attackers were wearing the uniform of the Special Forces of
:07:32. > :07:37.the Iraqi Ministry of Interior. They were using SUVs, used usually
:07:37. > :07:42.by the Ministry of the Interior, which raises question marks about
:07:42. > :07:46.the abilities of those groups. There was no immediate claim of
:07:46. > :07:50.responsibility, but the targets, the two killed officers were very
:07:50. > :07:58.well known for their fighting against Al-Qaeda in Iraq during its
:07:58. > :08:04.time, controlling the city as part of its presence and control of
:08:04. > :08:14.large parts of the Sunni part of Iraq. There was a curfew imposed on
:08:14. > :08:18.the town of Haditha right away. The attacks ended at 4am. In the last
:08:18. > :08:22.hour or so the head of the UN nuclear watchdog has said he
:08:22. > :08:27.continues to have concerns about the possible military dimensions of
:08:27. > :08:31.Iran's nuclear programme. He was speaking at a meeting of the Board
:08:31. > :08:36.of Governors in Vienna. More on that as it comes in. Jamie is here
:08:36. > :08:41.with all the business. Thank you. Let's start in Russia. Vladimir
:08:41. > :08:46.Putin is set to serve third tefrpl as Russia's President. However the
:08:46. > :08:54.claims of vote rigging will not be the only problems, there are
:08:54. > :09:02.economical ones as well. There are fresh problems to contend with.
:09:02. > :09:05.Russians are pulling billions out of the country.
:09:05. > :09:10.Dmitry Medvedev's four years of President were blessed with record
:09:10. > :09:15.high earnings from oil and gas. They replenished state coffers
:09:15. > :09:19.after the credit crunch and helped enrich a wider circle of Russians.
:09:19. > :09:26.Mr Medvedev's policy was to reinvest billions from state funds
:09:26. > :09:31.in other industrial sectors such as aeronautics. In his campaign
:09:31. > :09:35.Vladimir Putin said he would shift away from this form of state
:09:35. > :09:44.capitalism. The pendulum is starting to shift. The returns on
:09:44. > :09:48.state capitalism have fallen. Put in place a programme, it is to
:09:48. > :09:52.increase the role of public enterprise and to open the country
:09:52. > :09:58.to a long duration of foreign capital in large numbers.
:09:58. > :10:03.Capital is currently flowing out of Russia, not into it, as business
:10:03. > :10:06.grows nervous about the rise in political temperature. The
:10:06. > :10:11.persistent protests against vote rigging in December's parliamentary
:10:11. > :10:15.elections. Last year alone, says the central bank, wealthy Russians
:10:15. > :10:20.sent $84 billion abroad. Russians themselves do not trust their
:10:20. > :10:23.Government and do not trust the economy. If Russians are taking
:10:23. > :10:26.money out, the westerners are holding it back. What it means for
:10:26. > :10:33.Russian is it means there is not enough money. It is not a problem
:10:33. > :10:37.itself. What it means is there is less modern technologies, less
:10:37. > :10:40.managerial practises are coming into Russia.
:10:40. > :10:47.More financial pressure has been stored up for the future, because
:10:47. > :10:52.in his election campaign Mr Putin pledged big increases in state
:10:52. > :10:56.salaries, benefits and pensions. They could cost the Government $160
:10:56. > :11:02.billion over the next six years. All this at a time when the world
:11:02. > :11:12.price for gas has gone into decline. Mr Putin is now considering a major
:11:12. > :11:12.
:11:12. > :11:19.tax hike on energy to finance this. Corporate news, investors get their
:11:19. > :11:23.first opportunity to react to BP's actions in the Gulf of Mexico. It
:11:23. > :11:28.has been seen as a step towards the company recover from the incident.
:11:28. > :11:32.It killed of course 11 people and spilt four million barrels of oil
:11:32. > :11:36.into the sea. BP agreed to pay individuals and businesses affected
:11:36. > :11:42.�7.8 billion. The US Government plans to continue
:11:42. > :11:51.its case against BP. The oil firm has lost about $45 billion in
:11:51. > :11:53.market value since April 2010. That is when the accident happened. We
:11:53. > :11:58.have been told it is still difficult to know what the
:11:58. > :12:01.individuals will get. From the standpoint of these individual
:12:01. > :12:05.fishermen, other coastal residents, they don't really know what they
:12:06. > :12:09.will get by way of settlement. All they know is that BP has agreed to
:12:09. > :12:14.take responsibility and has agreed to go ahead and get this resolved
:12:14. > :12:17.on a settlement basis, through a claims process, rather than going
:12:17. > :12:22.through what would have been protracted, not only trial
:12:22. > :12:28.proceedings, but also appeal. So, they still have to go to the
:12:28. > :12:36.claims process. It promises to get them more than the process which
:12:36. > :12:41.was previously in place. How much? Too early to say.
:12:41. > :12:46.Glencore has reported a sharp rise in revenues. It said it would push
:12:46. > :12:52.ahead with its planned merger with Extrata.
:12:52. > :12:56.The company offered no improvements though knowing the terms of its
:12:56. > :13:00.deal. China has cut its target for economic growth. It is part of the
:13:00. > :13:09.Government's plans to reduce the reliance on exports. At the annual
:13:09. > :13:14.National People's Congress, a ten- day meeting under the leadership of
:13:14. > :13:24.Premier Wen Jiabao. It was down from 8%.
:13:24. > :13:24.
:13:25. > :13:32.I am joined by the author of As Goes China, So Goes The World. He
:13:32. > :13:36.says they need to contain inflation. It is going in and gives us inside
:13:36. > :13:41.what they are concerned about. One concern is clearly inflation. We
:13:41. > :13:45.read almost every day about uprisings or disturbances in the
:13:45. > :13:50.Chinese countryside. What keeps Chinese leaders awake at night is
:13:50. > :13:56.what could potentially go on in cities if they cannot cap inflation.
:13:56. > :14:00.People who earn salaries who live in cities could cause major
:14:00. > :14:05.disturbances in Chinese cities as we saw 20 years ago. The European
:14:05. > :14:10.Union will today lay out new plans to get more women into the
:14:10. > :14:15.boardroom. The commissioner said she will take the first steps
:14:15. > :14:18.towards introduced mandatory quotd tas. It is likely to cause a row
:14:18. > :14:22.between Brussels and national Governments. That's the business
:14:22. > :14:29.news. More later. I am saying nothing on that one. We
:14:29. > :14:35.will keep quiet. Thank you. You are watching BBC World News. Still to
:14:35. > :14:45.come: Ethiopia's advance against Shabaab rebels. We report from the
:14:45. > :14:46.
:14:46. > :14:51.A great mystery is grippingly Germany. In the town of
:14:51. > :14:59.Braunschweig somebody is giving a lot of money away. They leave money,
:14:59. > :15:05.up to 10,000 euros, in places difficult to find.
:15:05. > :15:09.These people have a lot to sing about. It is the quiet of a hospice
:15:09. > :15:14.for the terminally ill. Last week the nurse discovered an envelope
:15:14. > :15:24.with pen 1,000 euros, just left outside the front door. -- 10,000
:15:24. > :15:33.euros. It said it is money for good causes like hospices, or churches,
:15:33. > :15:38.something like that. It would please a romantic. The money was
:15:38. > :15:42.found under the doormat in the lit porch, so why did the mystery donor
:15:42. > :15:46.leave it where it might not have been found? There is talk of Robin
:15:46. > :15:50.Hood, somebody we distributing the proceeds of crime to the poor. But
:15:50. > :15:56.here is the thing, with the hospice donation the easiest thing would
:15:56. > :16:00.have been to put the money in the letterbox on the street. No risk
:16:01. > :16:05.attached to that. A cutting from the Braunschweiger Zeitung is
:16:05. > :16:11.usually included with the money, referring to the good cause. It is
:16:11. > :16:17.the best good-news story the paper has ever had.
:16:18. > :16:23.It is like in the famous fairy-tale. It is a mystery, secret, hidden,
:16:23. > :16:28.and people like to read that. St Markus' Church the Hans-Juergen
:16:28. > :16:38.Kopkow found an envelope with the can present Euros tucked behind him
:16:38. > :16:47.books, so who is the donor? Perhaps somebody begins with it and other
:16:47. > :16:57.people think OK, I will do the same. Do you think they are crazy?
:16:57. > :17:00.
:17:00. > :17:06.not crazy. Not crazy, just warm and A rare bit of good news. Also, some
:17:06. > :17:16.spectacular pictures from Argentina. A major portion of a glacier has
:17:16. > :17:21.
:17:21. > :17:25.collapsed. Huge sections crashed This is BBC World News. The
:17:25. > :17:27.headlines: International monitors for the Organisation for Security
:17:27. > :17:33.and Co-operation in Europe say there were irregularities in the
:17:33. > :17:37.Russian presidential election. Iceland's former Prime Minister has
:17:37. > :17:46.become the first national leader to face criminal charges over the
:17:46. > :17:50.global financial crisis. The trial has opened. The former
:17:50. > :17:54.Icelandic leader is accused of negligence in the build-up to the
:17:54. > :17:57.collapse of his country's economy. A special court convening in
:17:57. > :18:04.Iceland for the first time his hearing not enough linnets were put
:18:04. > :18:08.in place to prevent the crisis. He denies the charges calling them
:18:08. > :18:18.politically motivated. An economic consultant in recce Vic told me he
:18:18. > :18:25.believed he should not be alone in standing trial -- Iceland. This is
:18:25. > :18:30.not fair to try just one person. Many people caused the collapse.
:18:30. > :18:38.This was an international collapse with the collapse of Leman brothers,
:18:38. > :18:46.and it is hard to see what he would have been able to do because of the
:18:46. > :18:52.assets of the Iceland banks. Probably the shareholders and the
:18:52. > :18:56.bankers were liable for this probably would be seeking
:18:56. > :19:00.compensation from the Treasury. parliament in your country voted
:19:00. > :19:05.that he was the only person who should be tried on these charges
:19:05. > :19:09.relating to the collapse of the bank. It did lead to a huge
:19:09. > :19:14.diplomatic row as well between Britain and the Netherlands. Isn't
:19:14. > :19:21.it good and important somebody specific is held to account?
:19:21. > :19:24.better solution would have been some kind if truth and
:19:24. > :19:30.reconciliation committee are to go through this because there were
:19:30. > :19:33.many other ministers involved, the Minister of banking, etc, people
:19:33. > :19:40.that had meetings with Alistair Darling and all those others who
:19:40. > :19:45.are not standing trial. And yet you do need the buck to stop someone,
:19:45. > :19:48.and this, he stands accused of negligence, a serious charge,
:19:48. > :19:56.shouldn't he have the chance to defend himself but for him to go on
:19:56. > :20:02.trial and justice seen to be done? Since this was called by the
:20:02. > :20:11.parliament people in Iceland, even though they are divided, they are
:20:11. > :20:15.curious to find out what happened. But he put in place legislation but
:20:15. > :20:25.basically protected depositors, not only in Iceland, but in the UK and
:20:25. > :20:26.
:20:26. > :20:31.the Netherlands. The consequences of that is probably that from about
:20:31. > :20:41.people probably had 99 of the dollar from the estate so that is
:20:41. > :20:42.
:20:42. > :20:46.the most important thing, we were The deputy president of South
:20:46. > :20:50.Africa, Kgalema Motlanthe, has told the BBC South Africa will not be
:20:50. > :20:56.adopting a policy of nationalisation of mines in an
:20:56. > :21:02.exclusive interview, he said nationalisation is not a policy of
:21:02. > :21:12.the agency, as will not happen now or in the future. No, it is not
:21:12. > :21:19.going to happen. The party had a team of researchers, and they came
:21:19. > :21:25.back with their report, and their recommendation is that is not a
:21:25. > :21:30.good option. What about the expropriation of land without
:21:30. > :21:34.compensation? Are you worried about the calls from the Youth League
:21:34. > :21:44.about this? Some would say colloquially Zimbabwe style? There
:21:44. > :21:54.is no basis for that. We have a constitutional democracy. There is
:21:54. > :21:58.
:21:58. > :22:03.a clause in the constitution which must be respected. The constitution
:22:03. > :22:13.allows for land to be expropriated if it is in the public interest.
:22:13. > :22:15.
:22:15. > :22:20.And even then with compensation. That is why you do not have
:22:20. > :22:27.expropriation taking place outside of the law. You have been on Robben
:22:27. > :22:33.Island for 10 years, sacrificed a lot of your life fighting apartheid
:22:34. > :22:43.and he we are with the Youth League leader be expelled, what does that
:22:44. > :22:44.
:22:44. > :22:53.mean for you? I hope this does not mark the end of the Youth League
:22:54. > :23:03.leaders' political life. It all folk -- also offers the opportunity
:23:03. > :23:13.to develop himself, grow, better person. As to whether he will play
:23:13. > :23:13.
:23:13. > :23:19.a leadership role or not, that is not for me to comment on. But any
:23:19. > :23:28.setback also of his time for reflection and unit in boxing they
:23:28. > :23:34.say that a boxer who has no experience of being knocked down
:23:34. > :23:44.may not be a good champion, because the day he gets knocked down the
:23:44. > :23:44.
:23:44. > :23:49.surprise of it may mean that he doesn't know how to rise. I hope he
:23:49. > :23:59.takes it in that spirit. The deputy president of South
:23:59. > :24:01.
:24:01. > :24:09.Africa. We have heard Julius Melema will
:24:10. > :24:15.appeal his expulsion. The stronghold of Baidoa was
:24:15. > :24:20.recently captured. Our East Africa confident -- correspondent was one
:24:20. > :24:25.of the first correspondents into Baidoa following his fall. A rare
:24:25. > :24:32.chance to go deep inside Somalia. A flight to the town which until just
:24:32. > :24:36.a few days ago was a key Al-Shabab stronghold. Landing at the airstrip
:24:36. > :24:43.it is immediately clear who controls Baidoa now. Ethiopian
:24:43. > :24:51.soldiers with plenty of firepower. The visit was organised by the
:24:51. > :24:57.Ethiopian army, keen to show it is winning the war against Al-Shabab.
:24:57. > :25:01.A look inside what was the Islamist militants'bass. On the walls
:25:01. > :25:06.jihadist graffiti. The images of a war that has drawn in foreign
:25:06. > :25:12.fighters from across the world. The weaponry of the al-Qaeda link
:25:12. > :25:20.militants. Some of these were captured, others were abandoned as
:25:20. > :25:30.the Ethiopian and Somali troops advanced across the country. We did
:25:30. > :25:31.
:25:31. > :25:37.offensive on these places. There was very small and rare and issues.
:25:37. > :25:40.Cash and bushes. A key ally of the West, this is Ethiopia's second
:25:40. > :25:45.major offensive in recent years to stop the Islamists from controlling
:25:46. > :25:49.Somalia. About three years ago Somalis were celebrating on the
:25:49. > :25:53.street as the Ethiopian army pulled out. Those soldiers are now back,
:25:53. > :25:57.the challenge for Ethiopia is to ensure this incursion does not
:25:57. > :26:05.become as unpopular as the last one. It is not seen as a foreign
:26:05. > :26:08.military invasion. A on the streets many businesses have stayed shut,
:26:08. > :26:12.partly because the battle for Baidoa may not be over.
:26:13. > :26:18.Nobody knows how long the Ethiopians will stay, so there is a
:26:18. > :26:22.fear Al-Shabab could return. In the presence of Ethiopian officials
:26:22. > :26:29.Somali elders said they were grateful for the help in tackling
:26:29. > :26:36.the militants. Sheikh Amin Abdu said the Islamist fighters will be
:26:36. > :26:40.welcomed back home if they came in peace. Bringing this thing to get
:26:40. > :26:45.there, they will make a bomb. ingredients of terror preferred
:26:45. > :26:52.these days by Al-Shabab. It has promised blood shed in Baidoa. The