23/08/2012 BBC World News

Memorial services up under way in Marikana for the 44 miners killed.

Germany and France are to hold talks to discuss whether to give

Greece more time to make repayments. And over 50 people are killed in

clashes in Kenya. Prince Harry's blushes are spared

after a British newspapers decide not to publish pictures of him

naked. And plans for a bullet train in the USA are met with opposition

in California. Memorial services are taking place in South Africa to

commemorate the deaths of the 44 people killed during the miners'

strike last week. Last Thursday 34 miners were killed when police

opened fire. Previously 10 people, two of them police officers have

died in violent clashes. Services have begun with a ceremony in the

town of Marikana where the killings took place. The community of

Marikana mourn their dead. Hymns, prayers and tributes for those

killed in the industrial unrest. 34 in a single tragic moment of

gunfire last week. And an appeal for reconciliation. To go from a

broken this to wholeness. To go from wrong doing to forgiveness.

There is little mood for compromise. There should be docks, not killing,

pleads the South African president to an angry audience.

It is gruelling work deep below ground. The wages are $500 per

month say the miners. But what bonuses and allowances that is more

than doubled claims the company and a 10 % raised is due in October.

Even so their living conditions remain squalid and poor. There is

now concern that the sentiment of unfairness will spread rapidly

throughout South Africa's mining industry.

The police kept their distance from the service. Modern South Africa

was not meant to be like this. More memorials are being held

across the country. Many of the dead were migrant workers whose

bodies have been returned to their home villages.

A short while ago I spoke to the deputy chairman of the South

African Institute of International Affairs. He is also the brother of

a former president of South Africa. South Africa is in a state of shock.

We thought we were over police and massacring demonstrations which is

what we love with during their apartheid era. We are now seeing a

repetition of this. The country is in as state of shock. What needs to

be done to heal the country? There mining industry, which is the

flashpoint of the issue, has been at the same way for hundreds of

years. It was set up for her diamond mining. It is based on low

wages. Their way of operating of the last 140 years has to go.

reaction of the Police has shocked many people in South Africa. What

can heal the rift between the police and citizens? Since the

President came into power he has reversed policies brought in by

Mandela. During the apartheid era or the police were militarised.

They were up paramilitary force to suppress social movements. The

current president has in three militarised the police. -- he has

no demilitarised. Only recently have their heads of various

churches brought together the two sides in this discussion. Why has

it taken so long for this to happen? What has been happening in

South Africa in the last 18 years or-so, but especially in the last

10 years, is that there has been a huge amount of disintegration of

civil society. Civil society has lost its cohesion. The South

African Council of churches is in a shambles. This is the first time in

many years we have seen the South African Council of churches

appearing in public in this particular way.

Their ANC itself has been it de mobilise. Conflict has been sold in

the churches. There has been a lot of upheaval under the surface in

this country, but it is only now because of the killings that they

are becoming visible to the wide world. Something needs to be done

by the a authorities. A South Africa is being touted as a great

tourist destination. That will certainly affect that industry.

you say we have a huge tourist industry. In Cape Town are there is

a huge upheaval of gangs fighting amongst themselves. Many children

are being killed in the crossfire of the gangs fighting. The

government was asked by provisional governments to send in the army to

restrain the gangsters. The current president has refused to do so.

There is lot happening in South Africa that is unpalatable but the

government appears to be oblivious to it, especially the current

president. Francois Hollande travels to Berlin

later to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel. They will discuss

whether to give Greece more time to make the cuts required by the

bailout. Angela Merkel has already said that Greece must stick to its

commitments. As the ongoing tragedy of the Greek

economy deepens, the leaders of France and Germany will meet yet

again to discuss the fate of Greece. They will also meet the Greek Prime

Minister later this week. He is pleading with these two to give

Greece more time to bring down its borrowing. Who can blame him? Their

economy here is on its knees with unemployment at 25 %. Greece is in

its 5th year of recession and austerity. He has already pleaded

with John Cobb Junker, ahead of the European finance ministers.

TRANSLATION: that only thing for this government, for the Greek

people to do, is to move towards recovery as soon as possible.

in a press conference on Wednesday the German Chancellor was not

willing to make any firm commitments. TRANSLATION: it will

not be any different from what has been said in the past. We will not

find any solutions on Friday. Instead we will wait for the report

and then decisions will be made. But there is pressure at home for

the Greek president to secure the deal. It seems this will be a

They eurozone. It is important. We know what is going on in Greece,

but they cannot ignore the relent this data.

Absolutely. Today they will be watching these

numbers. These numbers are extremely important. They are

fundamentally important to any economy.

These numbers are forward looking. What we have seen is that these

numbers continue to shrink for the 7th consecutive month. The big

problem is that we are starting to see the rot that started it on to

the periphery of the euro-zone taking hold in the core. Their

economies that we were relying on to keep the rest of the region

afloat such as Germany and France, have slid back into reverse. The

French numbers continue to shrink for the 6th consecutive month. It

all points to their eurozone heading into its second recession

in three years. Their extras I have been talking to this morning told

me that there are big problems for Europe, but it is not just a

European problem. We are seeing a tandem effect.

Germany was hit by this. Renewed contraction in the services sector.

But also the manufacturing sector is export dependent. Exports have

fallen. This is endemic in the global economy. The global economy

has hit a soft patch. We have seen this also in trade statistics for

China and Japan. This is not a European thing. It is a global

economic slowdown. There are also worries for the

Australian airline because it posted its first annual loss since

it was privatised in 1995. And all of this and at high fuel costs.

We will have more on that, but first this report from Australia.

This is an iconic airline with chronic finances. Losses of $245

million for the last year were announced. Industrial disputes,

high fuel, and restructuring costs have all played a part.

We have been through an exceptional period. Yet over the course of the

last year we have made progress in advancing our overall strategy. Our

biggest challenge is our international operation. The

transformation is on track. Our goal is to return to profit and

ensure that we are at the flagship carrier.

The domestic operation is doing well, controlling 65 % of the

market. It is the international arm where the problems lie. It lost

$450 million last year, in part because of greater competition in

China. The usually outperform most other

airlines, but in this case they have been outperformed. This is the

worst loss since 1953. It is significant.

The airline is trying to deal with its problems by splitting the

company in two. One company looks after the domestic market and the

other looks after the international side.

There is talk of the aviation world about a tie-up between court has

and another -- between the Australian airline and another

airline. Shareholders and markets want the

The world's largest drinks company, Diageo, posted a jump in profits.

The maker of Guiness, Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker whisky. It

says growth in Latin America, Africa and Asia were the key

drivers between profits of almost $2 billion. It has helped the

company, which operates in 180 companies, to offset the weaker

sales it's so near to its home in Europe. We asked the chief

executive about the impact of Europe's economic problems.

results in Europe, our sales contracted by 1%. But there are

growth opportunities to be had in Europe. If you look at our very

high and brands like Johnnie Walker Blue Label and tanker rates, we

grew those by 10 %. Europe does need to sort itself out

economically. Having said that, I don't think it is as dire as

The computing giant Hewlett-Packard has announced a monumental

quarterly loss of nearly $9 billion. It was pretty much forced to write

down the value of some assets and really take a hefty reorganisation

will charge. The world's largest technology company did attempt to

reassure investors and said they are making decent progress despite

those head wins. Egypt has requested a $4.8 billion loan from

the International Monetary Fund to help stabilise and revive its

ailing economy. The request was made during talks in Cairo between

President Mohamed Morsi and the IMF chief, Christine Lagarde. The IMF's

technical team will visit Egypt next month to study their economic

programme and discuss possible forms of financial support from the

IMF. The US economy could face recession if Congress does and

avert a so-called fiscal cliff which could seek US GDP shrinks by

half a % next year. That simply refers to Congress trying to agree

to spending cuts and tax rises. A report by the Congressional Budget

Office says it expects the US economy to continue at M Shed --

modest pace for the rest of 2012, but warns that substantial changes

to tax and spending policies would cause the US to to back into

recession in 2013. On that cheery news, well, Diageo is doing well.

It's not so great. Plenty to come on BBC News. British newspapers

choose not to publish leaked photos The weather throughout the so-

called British summer months has hit the bee population. The

situation is being described as the worst in nearly 30 years. The

National Bee Unit says that heavy rain has made it difficult for bees

to gather food, putting them at risk of starvation. Much like us

humans, honey bees aren't too keen on venturing out in wet weather.

Torrential rain in June followed by downpours in July and August have

all limited their time foraging for food. And without gathering enough

nectar and pollen, some have been staffed. Right in the middle of the

summer, in the middle of June when the nectar flows should have been

at their very best, bees were starving. So beekeepers have had to

feed their bee s, they feed them on sugar syrup. I've never known that

before. A familiar buzz has been missing from Ian Storrar's orchard.

Normally he can depend on bees to pollinate his crop, but this year

three-quarters of the trees haven't borne fruit. This apple tree would

normally be covered in fruit. This year, as you can see, it's almost

totally barren, except for this brand here. I've lost about 75-80 %

of my crop. This year's honey crop is also likely to suffer. Some

beekeepers are predicting a drop of up to 60 % on last year. And

there's one final sting in the tail. The rain may also have put a damper

on mating for Virgin Queen Bees, threatening colony members in the

future. More than 3000 people have been evacuated from mountainous

areas of Taiwan, as a powerful Typhoo and approaches the island.

Typhoon Tembin is due to meet land at around midday local time on

Friday. Winds of 150 kilometres an hour are expected, along with more

than a metre of rain. Locals fear this could cause landslides. Jordan

has poured three of its athletes facing sexual assault charges out

of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. The three athletes were arrested on

Monday in Northern Ireland, where Jordan's Paralympic squad is Chick

-- is training. The Jordanian government has said that the three,

who were all members of the apparent -- power lifting team,

The headlines. Memorial services take place in South Africa to

commemorate the deaths of 44 people who were killed in a miners pay

protest. Kenyan police are trying to bring two rival communities

together after more than 50 people were killed in clashes in the south

east of the country. Let's stay with Kenya, where police are trying

to bring these rival communities together for a peace meeting. 50

people were killed in the clashes in the south-east of the country.

Most of those victims were women and children who were hacked or

burned to death. Police say the attack was carried out by become a

militia men against ethnic Orma herdsmen. They are in dispute over

land and grazing rights. I should warn you you may find the images in

this report disturbing. Burned-out homes like empty. But the signs of

the deadly attack which devastated this village are still visible. Not

much was spared, not even the animals. Those who survived a

inconsolable. And this is why. Most of those killed were women and

children, hacked to death with machetes. His eye witness their

eyes, they started attacking us at 5am and started burning houses from

that direction and also killing cattle. I was in the house and then

saw them when some of them entered the houses. I ran away. This man

says the entire area was surrounded and some of them had weapons that a

villager would not have come and that's how they killed people. The

attack is believed to be collected -- to be connected to land disputes

between the Drive and Pokomo groups. It's not the first time the tribes

have clashed. All this issue is about revenge. Everybody is just

stamping. We are asking our people to make peace, so they can become

peace-loving again. It looks as though it is entering through this

year and coming out this ear. the most deadly outbreak of

violence in Kenya in over four years. The police have been brought

into court -- calm the situation. The people here have been left

Immediate row was brewing in Britain after revealing photos of

the Queen's grandson, Prince Harry, were published on an American

website. So far, British newspapers have decided not to print the

pictures. They were taken while the Prince was on holiday in Las Vegas

at the weekend. Royal officials confirmed that the Press Complaints

Commission has been contacted over privacy concerns. Our reporter at

St James's Palace in central London, where Prince Harry's offices are

based, said that the issue of privacy has come to the fore again.

I have the official statement here. They've said they did contact the

Press Complaints Commission over concerns that some British

newspapers were considering publishing those photographs. The

officials there say that if publications have been made, that

constituted an unjustified intrusion into his privacy and

breached the editor's code of practice, and this morning it seems

from the papers in the UK that they have kept their word. There is

still no publication of those photos of Prince Harry in Las Vegas.

Maybe the British press are mind all that Lord Justice Leveson is

going to begin writing his report into the standards on the British

press. Now to the US, where President Obama has put his faith

in big infrastructure projects as a way of helping the country out of

recession. Among his plans is a high-speed rail link between Los

Angeles and San Francisco. The first leg of this track is going to

cut through California's Central Valley. Questions are already being

asked about its viability. The cows of California don't know what is

coming. The train is going to go right through the middle? North and

south in this direction. About 50 feet away from where we are

standing. This is some of the most productive farmland in the world.

And it will be the first place in America to have its own bullet

train. Not surprisingly they are curious as to why. If the line does

come through, the impact of going to be tremendous. It will go

through where we store our feet, through a crowd of cows. It takes

at my dad's house, blogs to our facility and put the train way to

close. The high-speed train will collect it LA and San Francisco, if

it's ever finished. It will take decades to build and will cost at

least $68 billion, and it is intended to help bring development

to a very poor part of the state. California is the 9th largest

economy in the world. One of the reasons we are where we are is

because of prior investments like this in the state water system, the

state universities and the state highway system. You have to invest

in order to succeed and be competitive and provide a quality

of life for people in this state. There's been big debate at the

state capital in Sacramento. California owes billions. While

funding Rail, the Governor is asking people to vote themselves a

tax increase just to stop schools from closing. They say California's

best days are behind us. That's not true. We are building for the

future. One of the most polarising debates in American politics ahead

of the elections around government spending. The Republicans want a

far less. The Democrats are backing big projects like high-speed rail.

Billions being put towards future infrastructure. But with a country

so much in debt, is now the right time? Is it ever the right time?

The massive Hoover dam was built at great expense during the Great

Depression and created many jobs. On the first US transcontinental

railway was commissioned in the middle of the American Civil War.

Today's rail system needs investment but the people advising

politicians have to spend money said it was a bad idea. We said

that given those uncertainties regarding the funding, that they

should and move forward with the project until a better funding plan

was put forward. But phase one is going ahead here in the farming

belt. Taxpayers will have to pay many billions more before the