13/03/2012 BBC World News

Militants opened fire on Afghan officials visiting the village

where am a US soldier killed 16 people. A ceasefire is agreed in

Gaza between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants, after four

days of deadly violence. Two internet giants go to court as

Yahoo it accuses Facebook of infringing its patents. Welcome to

BBC World News. Also, the fight over rare earth, the raw material

critical to the manufacture of hi- tech products like mobile phones.

And taking slices off your life, a new study suggests the risk from

eating too much red meat may be Two of President Karzai's brothers

are marks those who have been fired on in an attack in Afghanistan --

among us to those. Since a US soldier shot 16 civilians on Sunday,

the country has been on alert for reprisals. Afghan troops returned

fire in the village of Balandi. There are conflicting reports but

Sami Sadat is a former adviser. Speaking from Kabul, he told me

that people are furious. The mood on the ground is very bad, people

are angry, the parliament demands the trial of the soldier who killed

civilians in Kandahar. The attack is shocking and damaging. Shocking

for Afghan people to see a US military disciplined soldier walked

out of the base and file on the civilians, and kills women and

children. -- fire on civilians. It is damaging relations between the

Afghanistan, US and international forces as a whole. It puts the

international mission in jeopardy. We saw the burning of the Karam

near -- the Koran at mere Bagram Air Base and now we see the killing

of civilians. You can feel that the ground is not very nice. This comes

when the Taliban have been pushing the narrative of their spring

offensive and this is a positive message for the Taliban narrative.

They have come up with a statement that they will take revenge on that.

This morning, we have seen they have fired on the Afghan officials,

including the brother of President Karzai, Shah Wali Karzai, serving

at the Kandahar Council. Do you have any permission of potential

It is said that one member of security has been killed in

unconfirmed reports, but there is no final report on the final

conclusion on this. Sami Sadat, speaking to me earlier.

After four days of conflict, a new ceasefire has been reached between

Gaza militants and rail two stock military activities. Israeli -- and

Israel to stop military activities. The ceasefire deal was brokered by

Egypt. I asked our correspondent in Gaza why the ceasefire has pulled

out now. The authorities in Gaza has been trying to cobble together

a ceasefire through the Egyptians since Saturday night. But it has

proved more difficult than initially hoped. Hamas and Israel

do not speak directly to each other, they have to go through the

Egyptian intelligence services. We understand that senior Hamas

officials and from other groups went to Cairo, where they went --

carried on these negotiations. They reached a deal late last night. The

sticking-point was getting rail two committed would not carry out any

targeted killings -- Israel to commit. Once they got that

commitment, they were able to go forward with a ceasefire during the

night, it came into effect add A very difficult few days in the

region, can you explain what has been happening since Friday, what

are the causes of this? This began on Friday afternoon, Israeli air

strike hit a car in southern Gaza, which was carrying that the leader

of a militant group called the Popular Resistance Committees.

Israel claimed that it had intelligence that that group was

about to carry out an attack on Israeli soil, via the Sinai

Peninsula. They said they had legitimate reasons to carry out

that the strike. The Israelis clearly knew that would cause

retaliation from Gaza, and indeed it did over the weekend. More than

200 rockets were fired back at Israel from Gaza, mainly via by

Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees militants.

Israel then struck back at those militants firing rockets repeatedly.

We saw a couple of those yesterday, where a rocket went streaking out

into the sky over Gaza towards Israel, and with in a minute, an

Israeli airtight -- airstrike targeting those militants who had

fired the rocket. The problem has been trying to get both sides to

call a halt. Who is going to call a halt first and under what

conditions? The international envoy to Syria,

Kofi Annan, has been meeting members of the Syrian opposition in

Turkey. Mr Annan says he respect -- expects a response to date from the

Syrian authorities on concrete proposals to put forward during his

visit at the weekend. -- he put visit at the weekend. -- he put

That police in Bangladesh say 150 people are missing after a ferry

carrying 200 passengers capsized and sank. About 35 survivors have

been found, many are still missing. It is believed the ferry collided

with a tanker 20 miles south of In the latest round of the

increasing legal battles in the technology world, Yahoo has said it

will sue Facebook. Yah who claims the social network has infringed 10

of AIDS patients and its entire social model is based on Yahoo's

technology. Facebook denies the allegations and says it is puzzled

that a long-term business partner had chosen to resort to litigation.

I spoke to the editor of a technology website he told me why

it you who are suing Facebook. number of reasons. Yahoo could do

with the money and Facebook is coming up to its IPO, which makes

it honourable to litigation, because it doesn't want that to be

going on if it is going to the markets, and there is a lot of

money swishing around. Yahoo has chosen this moment to say that all

this clever stuff that Facebook does, Yahoo off court of first and

patented. What is you who are trying to get out of it? -- Yahoo

thought of first. It is trying to get money. It is attacking phase

More business now. Thank you. The US plans to launch a

case at the World Trade Organisation in conjunction with

Japan and the EU against China's export controls on rare earth

materials. These elements have become increasingly important,

using the production of hi-tech goods including mobile phones,

hybrid cars and solar panels. China accounts for more than 90% of

production of these minerals and that dominance has unnerved its

training partners. We can talk to the chairman of rare earth global,

a mining services firm which operates in China and which plans

to list its shares in London this year. Many people at home are

wondering, what are rare earth minerals and why are they so

important in high-tech development? Rare earth is important, for

It helps consolidate, it is used in most electronic components, from

nuclear reactors, down to telephones and computers. We have

seen rare earth prices rising steadily. No surprise that you are

deciding to float, while London question of -- wide London? It has

a more global reach than most markets. We thought of Australia

and Toronto but we thought the a market was the best one for us. It

gives us the ability to spread our shares with more shareholders, to

expand our refining separation plant. You are listing your shares

at a time of great controversy for rare earth. We are hearing that the

Europe and Japan going to the WTO, complaining about China's behaviour

in terms of its supporting -- exporting of rare earth. They have

brought it on themselves. They took a deliberate decision some 20 years

ago to buy the finished product rather than develop their own.

There is something like 110 million tonnes of a provable resources,

China has about 50% of that. The US Because of the high prices, certain

firms are now developing their own minds. They are accusing of

developing -- China of artificially raising prices elsewhere for people

like the US and EU are wanted by rare earth. China's exports 90% of

the rare earth materials in the world. It does, but that is nothing

to stop the others from increasing. From our point of view, we would be

happy if they did increase. China has, since the US and the others

took that decision not to develop their own, developed a skill and

experience which we, in fact, are happy to export. We have already

been approached by one or two firms to assist them in producing the

rare earth that they have. Thank That also on the agenda is the EU's

proposed financial transaction tax. The UK has already made his

position clear and is expected to stress strong opposition. It argues

that the tax would damage a vital national interest in the form of

the City of London. It says Brussels has no right to impose

taxes on in the States. It is estimated more than 70% of the tax

George Osborne will say, we do not on this introduced and it will be

It introduces European dictatorship It is thought EU finance ministers

are about to freeze aid worth nearly half a billion Euros for

failing to get its budget under control. It would be the first time

that funds have been withheld from a member country as punishment. It

comes as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

Development warned that the Hungarian economy would slide into

recession this year. Nick Thorpe is in Budapest. He explained what the

OECD said that Hungary must be to improve its economy. They are

saying to Hungary that they should axe crisis taxes that were imposed

on the banks and big taxes -- companies. That they should not

continue to tax minimum incomes. That they should not increase

minimum wages. A whole raft of advisory measures. The Hungarian

government minister was also at this menaced -- meeting, defending

hungry's economic policy. He was saying that while there was some

agreement, they agreed for example on the need for rapid agreement

with the IMF and the EU, but disagreed on pretty important other

aspects of the OECD advice. Let's look at the European markets, and

it is looking pretty good so far. In London, rising nearly 1%, in

Germany and France, a similar rise. We have seen important economic

data out of Germany. It showed that the biggest economy in Europe is

recovering from last year's dip. We also have the Federal Reserve

meeting later. We're not expecting any fresh stimulus moves but the

European markets are anticipating that meeting later today.

You're watching BBC World News. Still to come. Stiff upper lip and

a cup of tea? Not any more in Britain today, where the caffeine

fix comes in a double shot. And a letter sent from the doomed liner

Titanic, returns to Belfast 100 British Prime Minister David

Cameron will arrive in Washington to meet American president Barak

Obama in a few hours time. During his three day visit the two men

will discuss ongoing world problems. While Mr Cameron will become the

first world leader to fly on board Air Force One and take in a

basketball game. From Washington. Laura Trevelyan sent this report.

As David Cameron and Barack Obama prepared to meet once again in

Washington they say the world counts the alliance between the USA

and UK. We enjoy a truly special relationship. That was Barack Obama

the last time he received David Cameron at the White House. Now

they have written a joint article saying what makes our relationship

special, unique and essential for our nation's in the world, and we

joined hands across so many endeavours. They include

Afghanistan, the volatile situation there and the prospects for Afghans

taking control of their own security by 2014. It will be

discussed. Syria will be high on the agenda as President Assad's a

bloody crackdown on his opponents and containing Iran a's nuclear

programme will be a pressing topic for the and the visit is making

some headlines here. American reporters want to know why the

President is taking him to a basketball game. An opportunity for

them to spend time together outside the official trappings of

Washington and the White House. And the opportunity for the President

to show the Prime Minister a slice of American life. Conservative

critics say he has taken time to appreciate Britain's importance.

think all US presidents come to the conclusion that Britain is vital to

American interests, the special relationship is important

strategically. The red carpet has been rolled out, a state dinner

will be held in his honour. Expect to hear the words special

relationship a lot. Yet, in a changing world, Britain is far from

being the only country with a close connection to the USA. The

Sakurajima volcano in Japan's southern Kagoshima region has

erupted again for the second day running. Rocks half a metre wide

have been thrown more than two kilometres. Officials say that so

far the eruptions have caused no This is BBC World News. The

headlines: Militants open fire on an Afghan

government delegation visiting the village where an American soldier

killed 16 people. A ceasefire is agreed in Gaza between Israeli

forces and Palestinian militants Eating red meat can dramatically

increase your risk of dying prematurely, according to

scientists in America. Researchers at Harvard University have found

that if you regularly eat red meat, sausages and bacon you are at

greater risk of getting both heart disease and cancer.

It's been accepted for some time that too much red meat is not good

for our help. This American study suggests it may be even greater the

risk than previously thought. Scientists looked at 120,000 people

over a number of years. They found eating extra red meat every day

increased the risk of death by 13%. Eating processed meat every day

increased the risk by 20%. Were processed and unprocessed meet,

they have higher risks of premature death but the processed meat was

higher. The official government advice is red meat can be part of a

healthy balanced diet but the people who eat a lot should

consider cutting down. The advice from other bodies varies widely.

The World Cancer Research Fund says people should avoid processed meat

entirely. The meat advisory panel funded by the meat industry

challenged the results of this latest research pulls up it said

the meat was an essential part of a British just buy it -- a nutritious

diet. And people should not reduce their intake. If you know anyone

who has had a hip replacement operation, you'll be interested in

this. Scientists in Britain say that metal-on-metal hip

replacements have a much higher risk of failure than other options

and should not be implanted. Writing in the medical magazine,

the Lancet, researchers are urging surgeons to use plastic or ceramic

implants instead. They studied 400,000 hip replacements and

suggest the failure rate for metal- on-metal hips may be as high as one

in ten for some patients, particularly women.

With me now is our Health correspondent, Branwen Jefferys.

Why is this so bad for the metal replacements? They don't know why

they go wrong but they think they may loosen more quickly and the

failure rate is slightly higher for women than men. Overall, around 6%

of patients who had metal on metal implants needed another operation

within five years because they were in pain. If you look at plastic

sockets, that fell to less than 2%, so a much better result but overall,

it's important to remember hip replacements are very common

operation, also very safe. It was voted the operation of the century

by medical experts a few years ago. How many Ardena using metal on

metal in the UK? Surgeons in the UK have been voting with their

instinct, so the numbers being put in have dwindled down to fewer than

2% of patients. It's thought they is around 30,000 people walking

around with them in. Many will not have problems but they are now

going to be monitored more closely. It's quite a low proportion of

people with these implants now but still people might say why has it

taken so long to take to be found out? Because you don't always know

whether it's just that type of implant. There are thousands on the

market, so it needs this kind of research, looking a hundreds of

thousands of operations to judge whether it is a metal on metal bar

for than one make what is causing problems. So if that's what you

have fitted, you shouldn't rush back to hospital? Unless you're in

pain. If you do, get them checked out. You might want to contact the

hospital were you have had the operation and say, should I come

back for a yearly check-up to make sure this joint is working fine?

For younger people who want to go on being active, and want to go on

skiing in the Seventies, these may be a good option if they already

had them in already. Do you think they will be banned? Very unlikely.

Thank you very much indeed. Now, are you getting your daily caffeine

boost? Well, if you think that you've been missing out, worry no

more. From today, here in Britain, a leading coffee chain is adding an

extra shot to many of its drinks because customers are demanding a

stronger cup. Jenny Hill reports. They serve it dark and strong. At

this coffee shop in St Albans it's all about catering to customer

taste. Since we have been open we have seen a major increase in

customers coming in for a caffeine fix, especially in the mornings.

Normally we ask if they like their coffee strong and mostly they say

yes. Customers like Dave kick off their day with a double espresso

and then tops up on any macchiato. It's as important as breakfast for

me. Without it, something is missing. We have developed a taste

of coffee in the last few years and we get to 70 million cubs every day

and one in at 10 adult pays a daily visit to a coffee shop. Will

metabolise cabin at different rates so it affects people differently.

It's a stimulant and will make your heart the race if you are a lot of

it and give you palpitations. It does help you concentrate and can

make you more alert so, it can be very useful. Perhaps for a long

journey or a business meeting. Caffeine comes in many different

guises. There are now two shots, one had milligrams, in a cup of

coffee from a major coffee chains compared with around 40 milligrams

in a cup of tea, 60 milligrams in the cold remedies. Demand for

energy drinks has grown fast recently. To London 50 ml cans

contain around 160 milligrams of caffeine. Pregnant women are

advised not to exceed 200 milligrams a day. There are no

guidelines for the rest of the population. I think you would be

appropriate to have some very clear guidance on how much caffeine is in

a particular drink. Most of us drink sufficient caffeine do so

when we don't drink it, then we have a withdrawal reaction which is

usually manifest by feeling irritable, not feeling quite so

bright and alert. This business is growing. There are now around

15,000 copy shops in the UK. Many now serve double shot as a matter

of course. Their coffee, they say, is so strong enough. A long-lost

letter sent from the Titanic 100 years ago is to be returned to

Belfast, where the ship was built. It was written by one of the

doctors on board and posted to his mother. The letter ended up for

sale in New York this month. But a mystery benefactor has bought it

and is bringing it back to Belfast. Our Ireland correspondent Mark

Simpson has more. One of the surgeons on board the

Titanic was Dr Jack Simpson. Three days before the ship went down, he

wrote a letter to his mother, Elizabeth, back in Belfast. Dear

mother, my journey from Liverpool... His family have a copy of the

letter but not the original. It went on sale in New York this month

and was expected to be snapped up by a Titanic enthusiast in America

but a mystery buyer stepped in and now the family has been told the

letter is going back to Belfast. It will be put on public display.

I got a phone call, I had to sit down very quickly. I was so

delighted, slightly light-headed, and had to ask a person to repeat

the new several times to make sure I heard them correctly. Last night,

he should the good news with the Belfast Titanic Society. There are

plenty of copies of the letter but now members of the Simpson family

in Belfast are looking forward to seeing the original including me,

Dr Simpson was my great grandfather's cousin. But who

actually bought the letter remains another titanic mystery.

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