:00:13. > :00:17.Ethiopia's Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, dies at the age of 57 and
:00:17. > :00:21.sparks concern about stability in the country. The owners of the
:00:21. > :00:24.South African mine where dozens of people were killed in recent
:00:24. > :00:30.clashes drop their threat to sack workers who refused to return to
:00:30. > :00:38.work. And President Obama warns Syria that US military action could
:00:38. > :00:43.follow if it uses chemical weapons. Welcome to BBC World News. George
:00:43. > :00:50.Soros, the billionaire hedge-fund manager, buys a 2% stake in
:00:50. > :01:00.Manchester United. That famous last. We remember
:01:00. > :01:10.
:01:10. > :01:14.American comic Phyllis Dellape, who Hello. Ethiopia's government says
:01:14. > :01:18.that the country's Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, has died after
:01:18. > :01:21.developing an infection while recovering from illness. He is
:01:21. > :01:25.understood to have been receiving treatment at an overseas hospital.
:01:25. > :01:33.He has been replaced on an acting basis by his deputy, Hailemariam
:01:33. > :01:37.Desalegn. His time and power coincided with famines and conflict
:01:37. > :01:47.with other countries. It also saw the country establish new
:01:47. > :01:51.international links. 1991. Meles Zenawi's rebels from
:01:51. > :01:55.the northern region of Tigray and their allies sweep into Addis Ababa.
:01:55. > :01:59.It is an end for the Marxist dictatorship of Mengistu Haile
:01:59. > :02:06.Mariam, propped up by the Eastern Bloc and one of the many proxy
:02:06. > :02:10.theatres of the Cold War. Meles Zenawi, from Marxist Ritz himself,
:02:10. > :02:16.was a medical student before he took up arms against the regime.
:02:16. > :02:20.The legacy of the Civil War and the highly ideologically driven
:02:20. > :02:28.politics, and of the decades of feudalism that preceded it, was
:02:28. > :02:34.widespread and deeper poverty, little investment in infrastructure.
:02:34. > :02:38.It made Ethiopia are particularly vulnerable to famine. It was at its
:02:38. > :02:41.most devastating in 1984, when Highlanders tracked across the
:02:41. > :02:48.front lines of conflict in their thousands to seek help and up to 1
:02:48. > :02:56.million people died. Meles Zenawi set this never colonised land, with
:02:56. > :03:00.various ethnic identities are, on a path to so-called ethnic federalism.
:03:00. > :03:04.He was regularly accused by human rights groups of abuses towards
:03:04. > :03:12.ethnic minorities. There have been clear limits to the tolerance of
:03:12. > :03:16.political dissent. When the result in an election was disputed in 2005,
:03:16. > :03:22.nearly 200 people died in a crackdown on demonstrations. In the
:03:22. > :03:29.next elections, Meles Zenawi won 99% of the vote and began a third
:03:29. > :03:34.decade in power. TRANSLATION: The parties that have been denied votes
:03:34. > :03:38.need to recognise the decision of this nation and its proud people. I
:03:38. > :03:43.advise them not to try to override the vote as I will not bow to
:03:43. > :03:49.pressure from foreign forces. Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia has seen a
:03:49. > :03:53.wreckage rise in economic growth. - - record rise. China has been a big
:03:53. > :03:57.player. While Western nations have had their worries about democracy
:03:58. > :04:01.and the handling of dissent, they also saw him as an ally, not only
:04:01. > :04:09.independent shall economic translation of his own country, but
:04:09. > :04:19.of the developing world and General. But will his legacy be greater or
:04:19. > :04:20.
:04:20. > :04:24.The owners of a pattern and mine in South Africa, where more than 14
:04:24. > :04:28.people died in a violent dispute, say they are lifting if threat to
:04:28. > :04:33.dismiss staff that will not return to work. The company, Lonmin, says
:04:33. > :04:37.a third of workers reported for duty earlier. A spokesman for the
:04:37. > :04:46.company says that it has not backed down. If I can take you back to
:04:46. > :04:52.last week, the illegal strike, the workers were called back to work on
:04:52. > :05:00.Friday. On the events of Thursday, we left it that ultimatum because
:05:00. > :05:07.of the tragic events of Thursday. When we asked people to come back
:05:07. > :05:16.to work, for the morning shift on Monday, eventually about 30% of
:05:16. > :05:21.workers came back to work. No dismissals occurred at all. So, now
:05:21. > :05:27.we have decided that there will be no dismissals this week.
:05:27. > :05:31.You have been following that story as well. Also, Manchester United. I
:05:32. > :05:34.promised viewers this. We have had such an interesting investment in
:05:34. > :05:39.Manchester United from a certain billionaire, you may have heard of
:05:39. > :05:44.him? This is the billionaire that is betting on read. See what I have
:05:44. > :05:48.done their? We are talking about a surprising match, you mentioned
:05:48. > :05:53.Manchester United, the world's most famous football, or soccer, club,
:05:53. > :05:59.teaming up with one of the world's most famous investors, George Soros.
:05:59. > :06:04.He sits on eye two trillion dollar fund. He now owns 2% of the club.
:06:04. > :06:12.Manchester United went public, they were listed on the New York shock
:06:12. > :06:16.Exchange. Cash stock exchange. Yesterday, it closed at $13.60. It
:06:16. > :06:21.has been under pressure. One of the reasons is the controversy over the
:06:21. > :06:25.Glazer family, how they structure their share sales. If you are an
:06:25. > :06:29.investor, you do not get a dividend, a regular return or payout. There
:06:29. > :06:34.are very little voting rights. You don't have much of a say in how the
:06:35. > :06:38.country is run. It was registered in the Cayman Islands and it had a
:06:38. > :06:42.debt of $600 million. That has been almost halved banks to the money
:06:42. > :06:47.they have raised from the share sales. Given that big institutional
:06:47. > :06:56.investors have stayed clear, the question is, what his George Soros
:06:56. > :06:59.seeing, and he isn't an idiot, that others are not? One person
:06:59. > :07:03.suggested that Manchester United would become what he called the Son
:07:03. > :07:08.of Facebook. Shares are already down, for the reasons you have
:07:08. > :07:12.mentioned. What would have enticed him, I suspect, is that in terms of
:07:12. > :07:16.revenue Manchester United is the biggest club in the world. It has
:07:16. > :07:20.three main revenue streams. It has the money that comes in from the
:07:20. > :07:24.football rights, it has the match- day takings in terms of programmes.
:07:24. > :07:30.In particular, it is a bit of a merchandising machine. The club
:07:30. > :07:36.itself estimates that it has �700 million, globally. On the back of
:07:36. > :07:41.the fact that the US female team won the football in the Olympics,
:07:41. > :07:45.there is a possibility that soccer might be taking some sort of
:07:45. > :07:48.traction. Given the fact that it is still a long way behind the three
:07:49. > :07:54.major sports in the United States, I can only imagine that is the
:07:54. > :08:01.attraction. Let me ask you this. I have also read that it is deemed as
:08:01. > :08:05.one of the biggest global brands. You mentioned the lucrative media
:08:05. > :08:09.rights, retailing, money that comes in from that. Here is the question.
:08:09. > :08:12.How do shareholders make money from the club if they do not get a
:08:12. > :08:16.dividend? Did they just have to wait until the share price goes up
:08:16. > :08:23.and then sell? That's right. It's down to capital growth, rather than
:08:23. > :08:30.income. There was, at one stage in the UK, we had the best part of 20
:08:30. > :08:33.football clubs voted. -- floated. We are now down to one or two. At
:08:33. > :08:38.the time they were floated on this side of the pond, football clubs
:08:38. > :08:41.are notoriously difficult investments to be having. Automatic,
:08:41. > :08:45.although United has a track record, their fortunes are very much tied
:08:45. > :08:51.to what is going on on the pitch. If they had a few poor seasons,
:08:52. > :08:54.that would start eating into their income. As such, you're taking
:08:55. > :09:00.something of a view on the individual success of any given
:09:00. > :09:08.team. That has proved, in the past, all sporting franchises, a high
:09:08. > :09:12.risk strategy. Suzuki has started limited
:09:12. > :09:17.production in its car plant on Tuesday. It's over a month since a
:09:17. > :09:21.riot by a workers claimed the life of company officials and injured
:09:21. > :09:29.100 others. It left a trail of destruction through the factory.
:09:29. > :09:36.Only 300 permanent workers will resume duties.
:09:36. > :09:43.This is a significant day for narrative Suzuki, as workers re-
:09:43. > :09:48.entered the factory following violent clashes between managers
:09:48. > :09:54.and employees. One manager was killed and nearly 100 workers were
:09:54. > :10:00.injured. Now, the company is not taking any more chances and it has
:10:00. > :10:04.deployed nearly 100 security officers. The state has deployed
:10:04. > :10:10.about 500 armed policemen for this security. Even today, the
:10:10. > :10:15.production will only stop partially. About 300 employees have gone
:10:15. > :10:18.inside and they aim to produce about 150 cars, eight fraction of
:10:18. > :10:26.what the factory is capable of. When it was fully functional, this
:10:27. > :10:30.used to produce about 1500 cars of the top selling models. It accounts
:10:30. > :10:34.for a third of the car-making capacity here. It was very
:10:34. > :10:42.significant that it resumes operations as fast as possible.
:10:42. > :10:48.It seems even the world's largest mining could be cannot insulate
:10:48. > :10:52.itself from the economy. Glencore announced a drop of about a third
:10:52. > :10:57.in first-half profits, coming into about $1.8 billion. That was
:10:57. > :11:00.slightly better than originally expected. The company owns 34% of
:11:00. > :11:10.the rival mining group Xstrata and it is currently trying to buy the
:11:10. > :11:19.rest. It is being met with some resistance. A lot of -- prices are
:11:19. > :11:23.going down and that is one of the reasons for that slowing in innings.
:11:23. > :11:31.There is the faltering economic story in the United States. But
:11:32. > :11:33.Glencore is a market here, as well should be better place to ride out
:11:34. > :11:36.at Widnes. Virgin Atlantic is to begin a
:11:37. > :11:40.short-haul service between London Heathrow and Manchester. That is
:11:40. > :11:45.starting next March. This will be their first foray into domestic
:11:45. > :11:48.flying. It signals the start of a new network that will provide
:11:48. > :11:53.regional flights that will feed into the airline's long-haul
:11:53. > :11:57.service. The chief executive of Virgin says that the new route will
:11:57. > :12:01.be good for consumers by providing important competition to none other
:12:01. > :12:07.than British Airways. Manchester, which we are announcing today, is
:12:07. > :12:11.an important market. Over 64,000 passengers each year connect
:12:11. > :12:14.through Heathrow to the rest of the world and back to Manchester. If we
:12:14. > :12:23.were not doing this, they would only have one choice. That is never
:12:23. > :12:27.good in a market. One of Facebook's directors has cashed in most of his
:12:27. > :12:33.stake in the company. Peter Teale was one of the earliest investors
:12:33. > :12:37.in the firm and also the co-founder of another firm. A regulatory
:12:37. > :12:43.filing showed that he sold $100 million worth of shares after an
:12:43. > :12:46.initial lock up which restricted the shares and came to an end. All
:12:46. > :12:50.eyes will certainly be on November when most of the company staff are
:12:50. > :12:57.allowed to sell shares. Will they or will they not? That price
:12:57. > :13:04.remains under a lot of pressure. Always a pleasure.
:13:04. > :13:06.Let's move on to Syria. President Obama has warned President Asadabad
:13:07. > :13:10.of his military deployed chemical weapons against opponents then that
:13:10. > :13:14.the United States would rethink its response to the conflict. He added
:13:14. > :13:24.he has not ordered military intervention at this point, but did
:13:24. > :13:25.
:13:25. > :13:29.confirm that the US had put This unverified footage shows how
:13:29. > :13:33.rapidly the conflict has escalated. President Obama has been regularly
:13:33. > :13:41.asked what it would take to trigger military intervention from the US.
:13:41. > :13:44.So far, such action has been off the table. But the knowledge that
:13:44. > :13:47.the Assad regime has chemical weapons and has threatened to use
:13:47. > :13:52.them in the event of a foreign attack has prompted some of the
:13:52. > :14:00.strongest rhetoric yet. We have been very clear to the Assad regime,
:14:00. > :14:04.but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for others
:14:04. > :14:08.is that we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving
:14:08. > :14:12.around will be neutralised. That would change my car Kilis. There
:14:12. > :14:20.are growing security concerns, have to keep such weapons safe as the
:14:20. > :14:23.fighting on the ground intensifies. That doesn't just concern Syria, it
:14:23. > :14:27.concerns are close allies in the region, including Israel. It
:14:27. > :14:31.concerns us. We cannot have a situation where chemical biological
:14:31. > :14:35.weapons are falling into the hands of the wrong people. The US says it
:14:35. > :14:39.will not harm the rebels because it does not know who they are. It is,
:14:39. > :14:48.however, providing non-lethal assistance and that is set to
:14:48. > :14:52.South Korea's Foreign Minister has rejected Japan's proposal that a
:14:52. > :14:56.row over disputed islands be resolved by the International Court
:14:56. > :15:00.of Justice. The islands, between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, are
:15:00. > :15:03.controlled by Seoul but also claimed by Tokyo. Relations between
:15:03. > :15:06.the countries worsened after South Korea's president visited the
:15:06. > :15:10.islands earlier this month. There has been a crackdown on social
:15:10. > :15:13.networking site in India display threatening messages towards
:15:13. > :15:17.migrants. It sparked an exodus of tens of thousands of workers and
:15:17. > :15:21.students from major cities, including Bangor and Mumbai. All of
:15:21. > :15:24.this follows fears of reprisal attacks from Muslims after recent
:15:25. > :15:27.ethnic classes in the state of Assam.
:15:27. > :15:30.30 people have been rescued from a bus after a crane collapsed in
:15:30. > :15:35.Toronto. Live power lines were brought down by the construction
:15:35. > :15:38.crane, trapping passengers until emergency workers arrived. All
:15:38. > :15:48.passengers were unharmed. The crane operator was eventually freed and
:15:48. > :15:51.
:15:51. > :15:56.Militants have damaged the plane used by the most senior US
:15:56. > :16:00.commander in Afghanistan after firing shells at Bagram airbase.
:16:00. > :16:08.The Americans say the general was not in the plane at the time and
:16:08. > :16:13.was in no danger. They have described the hit as a lucky shot.
:16:13. > :16:18.We have been hearing from NATO officials in Kabul and they have
:16:18. > :16:22.told us that General Martin Dempsey was on the base at the time, but he
:16:23. > :16:29.was in his sleeping quarters. This happened during the night and the
:16:29. > :16:33.shells were fired into the air base just a short distance north of
:16:34. > :16:38.Kabul and the shrapnel from one shell damaged his plane and also a
:16:38. > :16:43.helicopter. There were only two servicemen who were injured and
:16:43. > :16:49.their injuries are described as very slight. The general has now
:16:49. > :16:54.taken another aircraft out of Afghanistan. The Taliban say they
:16:54. > :16:58.carried out this attack, but they are prone to exaggeration, and they
:16:58. > :17:03.say they damage 17 American aircraft. But there have been
:17:03. > :17:09.attacks like this fairly frequently at Bagram airbase. But it is quite
:17:09. > :17:13.rare that aircraft are damaged. The significance is it was the aircraft
:17:13. > :17:20.of the most senior American military officer.
:17:20. > :17:26.Plenty to come: Nasa's Curiosity rover is going on a test drive
:17:26. > :17:30.after its successful landing on Mars. And it is one of France's top
:17:30. > :17:38.tourist spot, but are the hallowed cloisters becoming too
:17:38. > :17:43.commercialised? The summer heatwave across Europe has triggered a
:17:43. > :17:47.series of wild fires around the Mediterranean. Blazes are being
:17:47. > :17:52.tackled in Spain, Greece and Croatia where thousands of homes
:17:52. > :17:58.have been evacuated. This is Croatia, its Dalmatian coast is a
:17:58. > :18:02.region of natural beauty, but wild fires are putting all that at risk.
:18:02. > :18:08.Planes scan the horizon dousing flames in the hope of bringing the
:18:08. > :18:13.fires under control. The ground below is as dry as a bone. The
:18:13. > :18:18.fires are spreading ever closer to local villages, putting homes and
:18:18. > :18:22.businesses in danger. As the wild fires raged on, fire fighters push
:18:22. > :18:27.through the undergrowth to get to the heart of the flames, but they
:18:28. > :18:34.are desperately in need of help. TRANSLATION: This is one in a
:18:34. > :18:39.series of fires in this area. There is a huge one which is spreading
:18:39. > :18:44.towards our main forces and we have asked for help from the state.
:18:44. > :18:51.Spain the worst wild fires for a decade have burnt 50,000 hectares
:18:51. > :18:54.of land. In the last month, several areas of mainland Spain, the Canary
:18:54. > :19:01.Islands and Majorca have been scorched. Now fire fighters are
:19:01. > :19:06.battling flames in the centre of the country. This is a Greek island
:19:06. > :19:12.and these fires have been blazing four days, burning 18,000 acres of
:19:12. > :19:17.land and destroying half of the island's rare trees. Resin from the
:19:17. > :19:23.trees is used to make chewing gum, soap and to flavour liqueurs. It is
:19:23. > :19:28.a trade that rakes in more than $80 million a year. But while the fires
:19:28. > :19:35.rage and the crops continue to burn, the islanders who produced the
:19:35. > :19:42.resin face a very uncertain future. Ecuador's President Rafael Correa
:19:42. > :19:44.says it would be suicide for the UK to enter the Ecuadorian embassy in
:19:44. > :19:48.London where the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been staying. He
:19:48. > :19:53.said removing him would set a dangerous precedent and he said he
:19:53. > :19:57.was willing to take the issue to the United Nations. TRANSLATION: It
:19:58. > :20:02.would be suicide for the United Kingdom to enter the Ecuadorian
:20:02. > :20:10.embassy. It would set a precedent that would allow UK diplomatic
:20:10. > :20:17.premises in other territories to be violated later on. The UK would not
:20:17. > :20:22.have a say on that. You are watching BBC World News, the
:20:22. > :20:28.headlines: The Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, has died at
:20:28. > :20:34.the age of 57. An ultimatum to the striking South African miners to
:20:34. > :20:41.return to work has been dropped. In China the Government is pouring
:20:41. > :20:46.billions of dollars in the country's north-east region. The
:20:46. > :20:51.ancient city is on the Silk Road and Chinese authorities want to
:20:51. > :20:57.return it to its glory days. But it is now experiencing its biggest
:20:57. > :21:04.economic boom end up living memory and it is driving up costs.
:21:04. > :21:08.For centuries this has hosted a livestock market. Some farmers
:21:08. > :21:13.travel for 50 kilometres to bring their cattle into the city. You
:21:13. > :21:18.will see them haggling with customers. Most of the buyers are
:21:18. > :21:24.butchers, but on some occasions you will see a family by an animal to
:21:25. > :21:29.mark a special celebration. A cow will cost about $2,000, but if you
:21:29. > :21:35.want a donkey, it would be half of that and if you are short of cash
:21:35. > :21:39.and want to splash out on a sheep, it would be $500. What is
:21:39. > :21:45.noticeable about this market is that farmers say prices have more
:21:45. > :21:51.than doubled in the last five years. That is because as China becomes
:21:51. > :21:55.better off, more people like eating meat and that is pushing up prices.
:21:55. > :22:00.What this market shows is the effects of rising prosperity in
:22:00. > :22:05.China are being felt in far flung parts of the country.
:22:05. > :22:10.It is a big day for the team behind the Mars rover mission. In a few
:22:10. > :22:16.hours it will take the probe on its first test drive. If all goes well,
:22:16. > :22:20.it will set off on a year-long trip into the Martian folk tales. Dr
:22:21. > :22:25.John Bridges is a planetary scientist at Leicester University
:22:25. > :22:30.and is currently working with the Mars science laboratory team in
:22:31. > :22:36.Pasadena and he brings as up-to- date with the mission so far.
:22:36. > :22:44.will have been ticking off a lot of boxes. We have tested the robotic
:22:44. > :22:49.arm and that is behaving as predicted. We have also tried the
:22:49. > :22:55.laser to get sparks of plasma on rock surfaces. From that we can
:22:55. > :23:01.determine what rocks are made of. We are taking off all the boxes and
:23:01. > :23:06.checking ate the instruments and we are going to check out a small
:23:06. > :23:12.movement of Curiosity to check that the rover movement is working well
:23:12. > :23:18.as well. She will be remembered as a woman who paved the way for other
:23:18. > :23:23.female comics. The American comedienne Phyllis Della has died
:23:23. > :23:27.aged 95. She took to the stage in the 1950s at a time when stand-up
:23:27. > :23:33.comedy was not seen as something fit for women.
:23:33. > :23:38.She had big hair, an outlandish wardrobe and a cackling laugh that
:23:38. > :23:44.became her trademark. Phyllis Diller's career spanned five
:23:44. > :23:49.decades. She broke into comedy after working in advertising as a
:23:49. > :23:54.writer. A pop-culture icon in the Sixties, she was famous for making
:23:54. > :24:03.disparaging jokes about her looks and her cooking. I once entered a
:24:03. > :24:08.beauty contest. I not only came in last, I got 361 get-well cards.
:24:08. > :24:15.appeared in several films and had two TV series. She also toured with
:24:15. > :24:21.Bob Hope to entertain the troops. She is credited with paving the way
:24:21. > :24:26.for a female comedians to be accepted on stage and TV. The Queen
:24:26. > :24:35.of one-liners. To her friends and fans she was the first lady of
:24:35. > :24:40.stand-up comedy. One of the biggest attractions in
:24:40. > :24:45.France is being restored. Mont St Michel is a giant rock sitting one
:24:45. > :24:49.kilometre from the Normandy coast. Scientists are working with
:24:49. > :24:59.engineers to remove the sort that has built up, however the project
:24:59. > :25:03.
:25:03. > :25:08.is proving divisive. -- silt. For 1300 years it has been a focus of
:25:08. > :25:14.deep reverence and spirituality. In medieval times it was a fort was
:25:14. > :25:20.repelling repeated attacks by the English. But today the ramparts are
:25:20. > :25:24.open to 3 million visitors a year. It is the second most visited site
:25:24. > :25:28.in France and it is getting a facelift. Since the late 19th
:25:29. > :25:34.century and the building of a causeway, the rock has been
:25:34. > :25:40.surrounded by vast deposits of silt. There were fears by 2050 it would
:25:40. > :25:44.not be an island. Until they built this dam which at high tide stores
:25:44. > :25:49.water upstream and at low tide flushes it out through the Bay
:25:49. > :25:53.carrying the silt with it. Cars and buses have been banned
:25:53. > :25:58.from the mud flats since the spring and we are directed instead to this
:25:58. > :26:03.new car-park where they charge the princely sum of 8 euros. The
:26:03. > :26:07.trouble is it is a long walk to the bus, particularly in the afternoon
:26:07. > :26:13.temperate weather. Those with businesses on the island say they
:26:13. > :26:18.have lost 30% of their trade. TRANSLATION: For us it is a
:26:18. > :26:22.catastrophe. Since they brought in the new parking rules cars cannot
:26:22. > :26:31.go through and we deplore the system. It is an infringement on
:26:31. > :26:35.our liberty. In antiquity the rock was besieged by English armies.
:26:35. > :26:40.Today it is controversy that surrounds the island, aesthetic
:26:40. > :26:48.spaces profit. The quiet piece of the abbey still offers welcome
:26:48. > :26:55.refuge from the warring parties below.