24/05/2012 BBC World News

A global emergency, a new campaign is launched to help eradicate polio.

After hours of talks, Europe's leaders agreed to balance cuts with

Croke but still no solution to the Greek crisis. The brother of

Chinese activists Chen Guangcheng escapes from his closely guarded

village. I am Tim Willcox. Also coming up, Des two of Egypt's

historic elections with millions going to the polls to vote for a

new President, and it is another housing bubble about to burst, this

Member states of the World Health Organisation are expected to

declare polio to be a global health emergency when they meet today. The

WHO had originally said the year 2000 as its target for polio

eradication, but the date was missed. It remains endemic in just

three countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria, but recently

there have been outbreaks in other countries. Imogen Foulkes reports

from Geneva. A crippling disease which has blighted the lives of

thousands of children, now the World Health Organisation believes

the longed-for goal of polio eradication is finally in sight.

India, with a population of 1.2 billion, was a huge challenge, but

now, thanks to an intense immunisation campaign, it is polio

three. India can do it, and so the WHO believes the rest of the world

can. But there are problems. It is endemic in Afghanistan, Pakistan

and Nigeria. That is a risk not just inside their borders. There

have been recent worrying outbreaks in neighbouring countries once

declared polio free. In China and the Democratic Republic of Congo,

it killed half of those who contracted. The WHO says that until

every child is vaccinated, every child is at risk. It wants donor

countries to support one last effort at eradication, because if

they do not, polio could come back with devastating consequences for

Let's talk about some forecasts which are not very good news for

the eurozone and Germany in particular. He will have hit the

nail on Edward that one, the numbers coming out of here, the

purchasing managers' index, you may look it bought when I mention that,

and for an average audience it can be, but it is very important. The

purchasing managers said at the top of the entire supply chain for all

sorts of industries. They make the orders going forward. If they are

in the doldrums, that eventually feed through the entire supply

chain, and the numbers coming out of Europe do not bode well. The

service sector down to a seven- month low, manufacturing is down to

levels we have not seen since 2009, a three-year low. Straight after

the Lehman's collapse. Yes, and the numbers are really showing the

catch-up to the likes of Germany and France, in particular Germany.

We have the very influential survey looking at business sentiment, and

that drop quite sharply for the month of May. I was talking to our

experts earlier and asked whether this is evidence that the slowdown

in the rest of the eurozone region could finally be catching up on the

big guns like Germany. There are strong headwinds coming, not least

from the renewed tensions with the sovereign crisis, with the question

marks about Greece, the question marks about Spain. We have to

remember that is an absolute terms. Germany is still a performing in

relative terms. The weakness we saw in the German survey data today

would point to flat growth in the second quarter after a strong first

quarter, which compares to the euro area falling by about 5% -- 0.5%.

Germany is still outperforming in relative terms, even if the

magnitude in absolute terms is not quite as shiny as before. Just

briefly, surely the big concern, some economists are saying that if

this is happening before the event, what about when the issue finally

tops and Greece possibly Exits the region? I do not think we are quite

there yet. I think the incentives remain very high for that not to

happen. Of course, it is difficult to predict what will happen in

Greek politics, but the signs on the opinion polls and that we have

had from the radical Left leader in recent days suggests that they

might try to look for a compromise on which they can stay in the euro

area and renegotiate the bailouts. But it is still a big question mark,

and it is pressing on people's minds, but in my view Greece as

more likely to stay in and out. Moving on, the world's second

biggest brewer has reported a 55% rise in earnings. SAB Miller made

$5.6 billion before tax. The fall in the European revenue was more

than offset by soaring sales in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Earnings were also boosted in part by its takeover of rival Foster's

back in September last year. Jamie Wilson is chief financial officer

at SAB Miller. Great to have you with us. Before we talk about the

region's annual sales, you have got to say, solid numbers that you have

reported today, but these numbers were certainly helped by the sales

of the Russian and Ukrainian businesses. Yes, good morning. Well,

they certainly are, but if you strip out the acquisitions and

mergers part of our results, we are still reporting very large growth

on an organic basis. We have got 7% growth on sales, 8% on profits. So

I think those are pretty solid results, but yes, you are right, we

basically exchanged our Russian and Ukrainian businesses for a stake in

the wider group in Turkey. That was obvious they are reported as an

exceptional profit Veneer. Interesting to see from companies

like yourself where your sales up, well, certainly growing, because

over the past couple of years, I have been talking about it every

day, we have been watching global wealth shift from the likes of

Europe and the US to Latin and South America, parts of Asia and

Africa. That is where you are seeing it reflected in a sales,

isn't it? No, that is correct. We have had very good performance in

Latin America and Africa in the last year, but also strong

contributions from South Africa and Asia. Those Asians are producing

better than Europe and North America to some extent, although

North America is slightly different because you have very strong growth

in the craft and import sector at the top bend, which is growing in

double digits. Briefly, looking at the year going forward, what impact

will lead the from the rising cost of raw materials? Yes, they mark

going up, and we expect to seek input costs go up in single digits,

but we expect to be able to recover that with a mixture of pricing and

our ability to streamline costs. We still expect to see flat if not

growing margins in the year to come. Great stuff, if you can take one of

those beers are off the shelf behind you to celebrate! Thank you

very much. Jamie Wilson of SAB Miller. We should have some of

those in the studio. The world's biggest computer maker, Hewlett-

Packard, has confirmed it is laying off 27,000 workers from all of the

world, one in 12 of its workforce will have to go. It hopes to save

around $3.5 billion by 2014. Some analysts say HPA has not changed

its mind set, so will cutting such a large number of jobs make a

difference? HP has been in a position of cost cutting and saving

its financial health for some years now, and the quickest way to do

that is often to cut jobs, unfortunately. They are huge

numbers, but I do not know that they are unprecedented or

unexpected, rather. You could probably see this coming, because

it is such a huge organisation, such a leviathan with so many

people that these are the sort of numbers you have to cut, yeah.

In other corporate news, it could soon become cheaper and easier to

shop electronically around Europe, because the European Court has

ruled that MasterCard should slash its fees on cross-border card

transactions. At the moment, retailers have to pay hefty charges

when customers from another EU state buy goods or services on

their cards. Also, Thomas Cook as finely appointed a new chief

executive. Harriet Green, currently the boss at premier final, will

take over in July. Her appointment ends a long search for the

successor. The group's financial woes led to the previous boss

quitting last year. It has agreed to sell its subsidiary in India for

nearly $150 million in the latest in a series of restructuring moves

to try to reduce its 2 billion dollar debt.

The double-dip recession is deeper than originally feared he in the UK.

The revised figures show that GDP, gross domestic product, contracted,

fell, shrank by 0.3% in January to March. It follows the deepest fall

in construction output in around three years, a big sting or indeed.

A quick look at the markets, still More than moderate increases there,

but typical after we have seen big force. I would go and practise that

name! I want to see those pictures and hear that story again, Thomas

Cook! See you! Think of the housing market, and one of the first things

that come to mind is a huge problem, the US sub-prime market caused the

Kate crash, and since then analysts are looking at Canada. Home prices

in Toronto have increased 85% over the last decade, but can it last?

Welcome to the new Toronto. Every street has direct elevator access...

This is currently listed for $2,100,000. It is good living if

you can afford it. Amy and Chris are looking for a more modest place

in Toronto. They are currently living in a small furnished rental

with their two-year-old daughter. We want to unpacked our belongings,

we want a home, we want to plant our feet. They have lost out on

four of KERS and backed out of three others. They say competition

is so intense that they have seen things get physical. The listings

agent back into the corner by the fireplace, someone saying, I'm

going to work with you, make sure we get his property, whatever it

takes, 200% over the asking price, I will do it, just to try and

intimidate them. Toronto prices are being driven by a perfect mix, a

record low interest rates, lack of inventory and a stable Canadian

economy. Prices appreciated about 85% over the past decade and have

been rising steadily after a short and moderate dip caused by the 2008

financial crash. So how much would they pay for a three-bedroom place?

It is over one million, but not too much over. The big fear in Toronto

and even more so in high-flying Vancouver is this, his real estate

at risk of an American-style collapse? The way to place their

appreciation is much less than you see in United States for countries

such as Ireland that had a real blast. The Irish situation, for

example, from trough to peak, four times as great price appreciation

as we have seen in Canada. In this account, Toronto is the taught us

that has caught the air, and now real estate here is on a par with

San Francisco and New York. But David Mehdi army of Capital

Economics is not so sure Canada can rely on slow and steady growth.

think it is a bubble driven by psychology, fuelled by cheap credit,

so the market is borderline irrational. He sees a lot of common

factors between what happened in the US in the 2000s and Canada

today. Toronto is putting up the most high-rise buildings, anything

from 12 to 39 floors, of any city in North America. 132 compared to

86 in New York, 17 in Chicago and five in Boston. Most economists

agree that real estate valuers will almost certainly be higher in 20

years, so for a young couple looking to invest for the long term,

there's really no bad time to buy. That is if there is something they

Still to come, honouring a man who stood up to the Mafia in the town

that inspired the film, The Godfather. Amnesty International is

warning that the United Nations Security Council is being made to

seem increasingly unfit for purpose because world leaders lack the

courage to make real and lasting changes. In its annual report,

Amnesty says governments around the world have failed to match the

courage of the millions of people who took part in protests last year.

Our World Affairs Correspondent These are among the latest pictures

from Syria. More amateur video showing the shelling of buildings

and is an image of a government crackdown on dissent. The team of

UN observers sets off from Damascus. The violence and bloodshed

continues despite the presence. And the UN has issued new warnings this

week about the risk of fall-out civil war. Amnesty International

claims the continuing crisis in Syria is the most telling example

of why the UN Security Council is now looking tired, out of step and

increasingly unfit for purpose, redundant as a guardian of global

peace. Thousands of people died in Syria. And we had made a very clear

case, as many other agencies did, what was happening there

constituted crimes against humanity but there was no action from the

council, so what we're asking for right now is, when there is grave

human rights abuses, as we have seen in Syria, the use of the veto

cannot be allowed without a clear explanation as to why it's

happening. Amnesty is in -- accusing government are playing to

show leadership to match the courage shown by protesters during

the past year. Nick associations this July for the treaty and the

global arms treaty, would be an acid test for world leaders to

place rights over self-interest and profit. Amnesty calls the past year

truly to more to us, millions of people taking to the streets to

demand freedom and dignity -- but tumultuous. For putting their lives

on the line and some then securing memorable victories. Dictators have

fallen but not dictatorship. Amnesty International's view of the

impact of what has been a remarkable year for popular protest

and campaigning for human rights. For that reason is warning the

This is BBC World News. The headlines.

A global emergency. A new campaign is launched to help eradicate polio.

Europe's leaders agree to balance cuts with growth to get their

The brother of the blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has fled

his village in northeastern China. Chen Guangfu is reported to have

broken out of Dongshigu having been living under tight guard since his

brother escaped house arrest last month. Chen Guangcheng is now in

New York with his family. So where is Chen's brother now? The BBC's

Michael Bristow is in Beijing. is in Beijing but were not exactly

sure where at the moment. We have spoken to his lawyer a few moments

ago and he has told us he is OK and he is here and he intends to go

back to Shangdong Province in a few days' time. When they had finished

what they came to do here. If I can roll back the story a little bit.

This is to do with a blind activist, Chen Guangcheng, who fled from his

village to Beijing, stayed in the US embassy and now is in America.

He went to America on Saturday but fears that his family are being

persecuted and put under pressure back in that village in the

Shangdong Province, and his elder brother, as indicated, on Tuesday

he escaped in a similar way to the blind activist and has come to

Beijing. He has come here, he says, to find a lawyer for his son, who

has been accused of attempted border -- murder. So, quite a

complicated case, but what I think it tells you is that the villagers

and relatives of this blind activist, now in the USA, are

feeling the pressure in their home village of Shangdong Province.

A man who stood up to the Mafia and was murdered 64 years ago is being

given a state funeral in Italy later. Platchido Ritzotto took on

the gangsters in the town of Corleone, the heartland of the most

ruthless Sicilian mafiosi. Alan Johnston has been there to find out

why it's taken so long to honour this anti-Mafia hero.

It might look peaceful enough, but it is a town with a grim reputation.

This is Corleone. Home town of the Godfather in the famous gangster

movie. That was fiction. But from these quiet streets, in real life,

have come some of Sicily's most violent Mafia bosses. But Corleone

was also home up to this man, the union leader, Platchido Ritzotto.

Back in the 1940s, he bravely led farm labourers in the struggle with

the Mafia over land. One evening, Platchido Ritzotto, he emerged from

his offices and walk through town to this corner, where they used to

be a bar. We know that he stopped and chatted for a while before

moving on into the night, never to be seen alive again. His body was

dumped far I wrote in the countryside. The gangsters had

murdered him. But just recently, his remains were positively

identified. And now, all these decades on, Italy is honouring this

anti-Mafia hero. He's been given a state funeral cure in Corleone. And

for his nephew, who has the same name, this is important.

TRANSLATION: It will show that the state has come to Corleone. It is

present. Today, more than ever, it intends to stand against the Mafia.

Corleone has learned to live with its reputation. But Platchido

Ritzotto's example inspires people here who detest the Mafia.

TRANSLATION: Today young people are moved when they think of this young

union leader who the Mafia made disappear, who had the same values

of democracy and freedom that they value.

The state confiscated this land from the mafioso, and when these

workers braved threats from the gangsters and took over the farm,

they named it after the fallen hero, Platchido Ritzotto. The mafioso are

still here. But the story of the brave union man is proof that

Corleone has not only produced a In Azerbaijan, human rights

campaigners have been using the run up to the Eurovision Song Contest

final to stage further protests against the country's poor human

rights record. Tom Esslemont has In Azerbaijan, contestants for

Eurovision are sharpening up their act. But be on the razzmatazz,

there are those who want to shine a light on this country's bad human

rights record. Protesters have used the moment it to take to the

streets, some demonstrations being sanctioned. But this one was not

and uniformed officers move the people on. That's why some have

opted for a more subtle approach. While police turn their backs, some

of the best-known human rights campaigners in Azerbaijan speak out.

My message is that it is a shame on people who do not support freedom

in Azerbaijan. We need to support anybody in society. Others like her

are angered by this, reports of houses demolished for the contest

with little compensation, although the government disputes this and

says many were rehoused. Other critics have been harassed and, in

some cases, hospitalised. This journalist was attacked by guards

from the state oil company. This singer was arrested for insulting

the president. But this is a country of extremes. One where the

oil wealth is turned into an opulence the elite can enjoy. While

large numbers of people live in poverty. But critics be warned.

Everywhere you go in Azerbaijan, you are likely to be watched. The

winner of the Eurovision Song contest will be known on Saturday

night and it's announced here in the crystal Hall, and many are

hoping Eurovision carries a legacy of freedom of expression, one that

lasts until well after the dazzling lights go out.

An Australian mining magnate has been declared the richest woman in

the world. Gina Rinehart is now said to be worth nearly $30 billion,

having increased her wealth by nearly $20 billion in one year. But

Ms Rinehart is a controversial figure in Australia as Duncan

Kennedy now reports from Sydney. She's rich and getting very much

richer. Gina Rinehart, now declared the wealthiest woman on earth.

Greetings. The 58-year-old mining magnate has ridden the boom in

Australia's commodities markets and come out the biggest winner. The

sums involved in her wealth are enough to bring water to several

eyes. She earns at a rate of almost $52 million a day. That's $1

million every half hour. Or nearly $600 a second. In total, it's said

she's worth more than $29 billion. It's an increase of more than $18

billion in the past year alone. The same year that Gina Rinehart was

involved in some bitter public disputes. Firstly with the

government over its new mining tax, and then with three of her four

children over control of the family trust, the headlines have not been

favourable to Gina Rinehart. But she now overtakes the likes of

Christy Walton of the United States and Liliane Bettencourt of France

to become the world's richest woman. Though she still has some way to go

to match the men, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates and

Mexico's Carlos Slim Forbes. But the authors of the new report say

at the rate she is going, Gina Rinehart is on target to become the

world's first $100 billion person. If she continues like she is now, a

lot will depend on demand for resources and growth in Asia, but

if those things continue on, it's something which could definitely

happen. Gina Rinehart is a very private business woman at the

centre of a very public accumulation of wealth that, at the

moment, seems to have no limit. It's day six of the Olympic torch

relay and two very unusual spectators are expected on the

sidelines to cheer the flame on as it travels from Gloucester to

Worcester in the west of England. These two elephants from West