29/08/2012 BBC World News

A flood defence levee overflows south-east of New Orleans as

Hurricane Isaac continues to unload high winds and heavy rainfall on

southern Louisiana. President Assad dismisses suggestions for a buffer

zone on Syrian territory for refugees from the conflict. We are

engaged in a regional and global battle. We are progressing. Talks

have started between South African unions and mine owner Lonmin aimed

at ending the bitter dispute, in Welcome to BBC World News. Also in

this programme: The budget airline Ryanair is making a third attempt

at taking over the Irish flag The Paralympic torch visits a Hindu

temple ahead of the opening Hurricane Isaac has made landfall

in southern Louisiana. It is lashing coastal areas with winds of

up to 130 kilometres an hour and has sent floodwaters surging. New

Orleans is braced for Isaac, exactly seven years after Hurricane

Katrina. President Obama has warned residents in the hurricane's path

not to tempt fate and to heed evacuation warnings. The BBC's

Alistair Leithead is in New Orleans as Hurricane Isaac pushes in.

Harris Caine eyes sick hit land as night fell. -- Hurricane Isaac. It

is entering the stage of the storm where there is nothing anyone can

do but hoped their shelter holds and wish the storm quickly on its

way. Seven years after Hurricane Katrina, a New Orleans was

confident it was ready for Isaac. The city is to kill. We have assets

and personnel been placed to secure off the city. -- secure. We are

going to begin to prepare for search and rescue missions should

be pickled upon to do so. We have law enforcement officials from

federal state and local levels who are at the disposal of the city of

New Orleans. Many people decided to stay, hunkering down in shelters,

knowing the storm was far weaker than Hurricane Katrina. They hoped

the City would cope. They say it is category one. I am not as worried

as I was with Hurricane Katrina. We are still worried a little bit.

Just before the hurricane hit, police and emergency services were

at making sure people were getting to safety. They were on standby

with the risk of flooding. The Gulf Coast is being battered. The storm

surge hit the shoreline. It is a dangerous time. This is the view

from the International Space Station, clearly showing the extent

of the storm, as it moved its way through the Gulf of Mexico, slowly

pushing its way on to land. We have very high winds, a lot of driving

rain and debris being thrown onto the streets. People are trying to

get into shelter. It will be a long night for many, waiting and hoping

their storm defences hold back the high winds and flood waters. In a

rare interview with Syrian television, President Bashar Assad

of Syria has vowed that his forces will win what he describes as a

global war against his country. His comments come a day after a car

bomb exploded at a funeral in a Damascus suburb killing 27 people.

TRANSLATION: We are engaged in a regional and global battle so we

need time to win it. We are progressing. The situation under

ground is better but we have not yet won. It would take more time.

To be go back because of the ignorance of some Turkish officials

or focus on our relationship with the Turkish people? They stood by

us in a crisis and when not swayed by media propaganda and financial

backing. Al-Assad determined to take full control over Syria. But

his grip over the country is not complete. Let's have a look at the

situation on the ground according to research carried out by the

Washington-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War. The

city of Aleppo is predominantly in rebel hands. There are government

forces still in Idlib and Homs although the situation is changing

all the time. Deraa in the south, where the uprising began, is still

under state control although rebels control much of the nearby

countryside. The study shows how rebel forces mostly control areas

to the north and east of Aleppo, much of the border with Turkey and

south of Idlib. The city of Homs is currently divided between

government and rebel control. Meanwhile, Syria's coastal

provinces along with Suwayda in the south are firmly under government

control. The BBC's Barbara Plett has been following developments

from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon. I believe the last time he appeared

on television was when he went to prayers for the Muslim holiday for

the end of Ramadan. Not so long ago. He has not been sighted very much

since mid- July, when there was a bombing attack in Damascus, killing

members of his middle circle. This is probably his main statement

since then. He says the regime is progressing in its battle against

armed elements. He said it will take more time to end the conflict.

It is not a national struggle, it is a global and regional one. He

says Syria is being targeted by hostile powers who want to weaken

its resistance to Israel and the rest of the region. He says the

Government has made mistakes. He acknowledges that. The bond between

the Government and people are still strong. He insists he has the

majority of support from the population. He dismisses recent

high-level defections. He says it was a self- purging of weak

elements in the regime. He dismisses the idea of a Western

imposed buffer zone in Syria, which has been discussed recently. He

says it is impractical, even for those countries who are talking

about it. Let's go to South Africa. Managers, unions and workers at the

Lonmin mines have started talks this morning with South African

government mediators. The unrest at the mine is over a dispute about

pay and conditions and led to 34 miners being shot dead by police in

clashes earlier this month. Joining me from Johannesburg is the BBC's

Karen Allen. Who are involved in the talks? The workers at the mines

are not represented by one union, are they? There are three unions

that are represented here. There is a dissident union, the National

Union of Mineworkers and Solidarity. They are meeting with executives

from Lonmin and also representatives of the South

African government. A senior minister in the presidency is here

and also representatives of the Church. They have been trying to

bring the different sides together. We're not expecting any kind of

breakthrough in the next few days. It is about creating a framework

for future negotiations in a bid to try to get workers back to work as

the negotiations continue. The mine is 40 kilometres away from here. It

is currently suspended. There have been reports of intimidation. 1

miner on the phone said all was quiet there today. Her while the

dispute continues, production is well down. This area produces vast

amounts of the world's supply of platinum. About 80% of the world's

platinum is in South Africa. Lonmin, a company which is trading on the

Stock Exchange both in London and in South Africa, is very concerned

about the effect it will have. The price of platinum is going up. They

want to resolve the dispute as quickly as possible. There are

wider concerns about headlines for the South African government. They

had two inquiries trying to probe by 34 workers were shot dead by

police. The newspaper headlines said the police have not received a

riot training since the end of apartheid. Not just about the nuts

and bolts of the industrial dispute but wider ramifications about the

behaviour of the police and the exposure of the rifts within South

African society, which is ranked the most unequal in the world. Why

is it that 18 years on from the end of white minority rule that there

is still such a gap between rich and poor? Thank you very much

indeed. That is an issue that will be followed here in the business.

Today it is the aviation industry primarily. Let's start with Ryanair.

And Aer Lingus. Third time lucky. Michael O'Leary, the boss of

Ryanair, I do not think he has heard of never say never. He still

wants to take over Aer Lingus. He wants the full bag. A quite

interesting twist on the story. Because Ryanair and Aer Lingus are

the dominant carriers in and out of Dublin, he has asked roughly six

other airlines to start increasing the competition in and out of

Dublin. European competition - us the European Commission has

dismissed this in the past because it would see it as a monopoly. --

the European Commission. We also have Lufthansa. Cabin crew and

their union have taught with management. These talks have broken

down. A strike could go ahead as soon as tomorrow, Thursday. That

would have a big knock-on consequence. Cabin crew want the 5%

increase. The airline has said, we're only going to a few around

3.5%. Let's get more on both these stories. -- going to offer you.

Great to have you with us. Let's start with Lufthansa. It does look

imminent the strike will go ahead, possibly tomorrow. We have seen

this before with his big national legacy carriers was that they are

standing adamant against any union offers. -- legacy carriers. They

have to compete with budget carriers and big Gulf state

carriers. They're in a difficult position. They have no alternative

but to restructure. You see this as this -- a theme across the whole

industry. There fronts is result in some very intense negotiations. --

Air France is involved. Lufthansa does have one advantage. It has a

lot of airline partnerships, not only in Europe but around the world.

They said that is how they would try to redirect passengers if the

strikes went ahead. If the strikes go ahead, it would cause huge chaos

for the carrier and cost possibly millions of dollars or Euros every

day. No airline can afford that. getting around the financial damage

that would be caused. Lufthansa is a powerful organisation. With a bit

of contingency planning, it is possible for companies to ride out

this sort of trouble, providing they have plenty of cash on hand. A

couple of years ago British Airways had exactly this problem. The cabin

crew went on strike. The airline did not go down on its knees. The

airline could handle it. Lufthansa has a �1 billion of cash in the

bank and that will last it for ages. Third time lucky. A very

interesting move with Ryanair in a hole Aer Lingus Dore. Let's start

with the fact it is Ryanair asking. -- in the halt Aer Lingus story. Is

it a smart move by Ryanair? could be. They are keen to get this

deal done at the third time of asking. We're led to believe from

reports that the actions of other airlines they have approached have

-- has been lukewarm. It is a tall order. If it were attractive, they

would already be doing it. If they could persuade British Airways to

take on the route that Aer Lingus already serves, it might go some

way to assuaging the competition concerns. I do not think that

British Airways will have much interest in doing that. It gets all

it needs from that relationship. Very briefly, will they be third

time lucky? What will they say? Today we will see the EU take the

investigation into phase two. They would take another few months to

investigate it in great detail. They did that in 2006/ 2007. They

decided the obstacles were too The G7 countries have called on oil

o producers top increase production. With growth weakening in key

economies and tensions over it, G7 finance ministers hinted they were

ready to push for the release of strategic oil resefrbgs to prevent

a tightening of the prices in the market. Also air China, it has

become the latest major Chinese company to report a steep drop in

the first half profit, in fact those profits plunged 77%, because

of the slowing economy. Heightened competition, and needless to say

the rising jet fuel costs. The carrier joins a number of other

companies have seen a slump in their profits. That is it. With the

business news. We will keep our eye tons rave Asian stories and in

particular Lufthansa. Thank you very much. We have a lot more to

come. The first time ever, music is broadcast from another planet, by

the Mars Rover Curiosity. To India now and the stream court has up

held the death sentence for the only surviving gunman involved on

the attacks on Mumbai in 2008. The gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab

had appealed against the sentence, 166 people were killed in the

attacks that shocked the nation, and soured relations between India

and Pakistan. The BBC's Andrew North is in Dell his He said he had

not been given a fair trial. He was saying while he admitted

involvement in the Mumbai attacks of 2008, he said he was not guilty

of the most serious charge against him, which was waging war against

India. But the two Supreme Court judges, in their ruling today, said

that that was the most important offence, and he was guilty. They

said of that, and therefore they had no choice but to up hold the

death penalty against him. He has one last option, to try and avoid

the death stens and that is to appeal for a pard frn the Indian

President. -- sentence. Certainly with the feeling, the anger that

the still grips the country, over the Mumbai attack, the worst

attacks on Indian soil, for a very long time, by an outside group, I

think there is going to be a lot of pressure for the Government to

carry out the death sentence quickly. Now the other major stores.

The former Prime Minister of the Ukraine Yulia Tymsoshenko has lost

her appeal in Ukraine's high court against her conviction for abuse of

office. She was sentenced last year to seven years in prison, over a

gas deal she signed with Russia while in power. Her lawyers have

taken her case to the European Court of human rights in Strasbourg,

saying the case was politically motivated. Two Kenyan policemen

have died of their injury from a grenade attack on Tuesday in

Mombasa. Three policemen have died following the killing of a radical

Islamic cleric. Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa says he is

withdrawn from a seminar on leadership, in protest at the

presence of the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He said

Mr Blair support for the invasion of Iraq in 2003, was normally

indefensible. Mr Blair's office The top stories this morning.

Floodwaters overflow a sliv south- east of New Orleans as Hurricane

Isaac continues to pound southern Louisiana. President Assad dimisses

as unrealistic soufgs a buffer zone on Syrian territory for refugees

from the conflict. Here in London thousands of people have turned out

to welcome the Paralympic flame, the flame is en route currently to

Olympic Stadium n the east of London, for the opening ceremony of

the Games which happens later today. These are some pictures as the

torch passes through London. This being at the Shree Swaminarayan

Hindu temple in Neasden, north-west London. That was just a little

while ago. Team China of course is expected to top the medals table,

as they did in Beijing. Here is our correspondent in Beijing: He

reports that Paralympic success is actually helping to change

attitudes towards disability in China. This man is used to dealing

with on strabg -- obstacles in life. He was born blind that. Doesn't

stop him getting round Beijing. When he first started making this

journey, he sometimes took the wrong bus. But now he knows the

route. This morning, he is attending a weekly Film Club for

blind people. A guess speaker narrate what is is happening on

screen so the audience can follow the film. He says it is one example

of how his life has improved in cent years. -- recent.

TRANSLATION: nvingsfrpblgts the past people would talk about you as

you walked in the street. Sometimes kids would chase after you. That

almost never happens now. People treat you normly, and many are

willing to help. The Beijing Paralympics four years ago played a

huge part in changing attitudes in China. The long no longer were

those with disability seen as charity cases who you should feel

sorry for, instead they were seen as winners, who should be

celebrated. Dist despite the progress, many disabled people are

overlooked. They are forced to fend for themselves. Campaigners say

that China still has a lot of work to do. I think one of the biggest

challenges is just the fact that there is such an uneven development

in China, so the people, dis -- disabilities are getting support.

Because many are in the rural parts of China, then, this means that

it's a much slower pace than in other parts where development is

happening faster. He says China has come a long way in terms of

recognising disabilities. But the journey is far from over. I am sure

you know that NASA's Curiosity rover is a bit of clever kit, and

now it has done something that has never been done before. It

broadcast music from the red pleasant and beamed it back to

earth. Scientists at NASA are more used to launching space missions

than songs, but this is the you're yosty rover, beaming a song from

space. For more than 700 million miles away, it's the first time a

song has ever been broadcast from another planet. Its writer is the

US musician Will.i.am. I don't want do a song that was done on a

computer. I wanted to show human collaboration and have an orchestra

there, and something that will be timeless, where it is, you know,

and translated in different cultures, not like have a hip-hop

beat or dance beat. The Mars Rover doesn't have any speakers onboard,

so the song wouldn't have been heard on the planet. But there is a

more serious side to the mission. Curiosity's 17 camerass are

returning detailed colour pictures of the surface of Mars and NASA say

the rover has sent more data than all the other rovers combined. If

all goes to plan, Curiosity will continue sending its findings for

another year and ten months helping us better understand some of the

mistroifs Red Planet. -- mysteries of. Elvis Presley was worshipped by

millions round the world but away from the stage, the king of rock

'n' roll was rather religious, now his personal Bible is being

auctioned. This is the king's King James. Prest priest Bible, is on

sale -- Elvis Presley's Bible is on Yes, while Elvis was a rocking and

a rolling and a shaking, he was also a reading and writing and

underlining in this Bible, which goes under the hammer next week.

came to us by a big Elvis clebg nor the the UK. What makes it special

is the an taition, there have been Bibles that have come up for sale

which he owned or gave to people. This one he owned for 20 years when

he was given it at Christmas. his name is embossed on the cover

it is what is inside that is revealing. Given to him by his aunt

and uncle after he moved into grace land he made notes throughout and

marked particular packages. picked out some op of Job, maybe he

identified with him. What has he underlined. Behold I come out cry

out of wrong. I cry allowed but there is no judgment. Maybe he was

having a bad day that day!. He has taken the crown from my head, the

king. Very impressive. He goes for block capitals while he is writing.

Yes, all the way through and his hand writing is not the best.

has spelled guide wrong! He is missing an E. And while he appears

to have dedicated the majority of his reading to the New Testament,

right at the back he has added a saying of his own. To judge a man

by his weakest Lynn ork deed is like judging the power of the ocean

by one wave. And this is not a Bible verse, this is Elvis's

thoughts. That is perhaps his thoughts when he has been reading