17/09/2012 BBC World News

Air strikes in Aleppo intensify as the UN warns that foreigners

including Jihadis are increasingly fighting in Syria including with

the rebels. Demonstrations in Beijing as fears grow that tensions

over a disputed set of islands could lead to armed conflict

between China and Japan. Protestors in Kabul have been burning cars and

throwing rocks at a US military base as the row continues over an

anti-Islamic film. Welcome to the programme. Also in this programme -

one baby, three parent. The new technique that uses DNA from three

people to prevent conditions being passed on. It's back to Earth with

a bump was the rocket lands in Kazakhstan. The UN Human Rights

Council says the scale of atrocities in Syria is getting

worse. The Council is meeting in Geneva to consider a report on

Syria in which its investigators accuse both the government and

rebels of committing war crimes. The head of a UN enquiry said gross

violations of human rights had grown in number, in pace and in

scale. Rour reporter is there and says the report highlights the

complexity of the report in Syria. It's really complicated and this

report that we are looking at this morning here at the UN reflects

that very accurately. 104 pages long. It looks in detail as

violations allegedly committed by government forces and militia

supportive of the government. The investigators say these clearly

amount to war crimes and against humanity, but they also say that

opposition forces, despite very publicly recently saying they've

signed up to a Code of Conduct in war, that they too have committed

atrocities, in particular the summary execution of Syrian

soldiers taken prisoner, so a very, very nasty, violent conflict which,

as we saw in Paul's report has spread right across the country,

focusing on particularly on big cities like Aleppo, where civilians

seem to be in the firing line again and again. Violent protests have

taken place following a film against the prophet Mohammed. One

person has been killed in clashes with police. Several buildings have

been damaged. There have been demonstrations in Indian-

administered Kashmir after days of peaceful protests. Demonstrations

have turned violent in sinned kneesia. People hurled petrol bombs.

Police responded with water cannon and fired warning shots into the

air to try to disperse the crowd. China is already at loggerheads

with Japan over disputed islands in the South China Sea. Now the US is

stepping into the argument. It's announced a deal with Japan to

install a second missile defence system on Japanese soil. Officially,

at least, it's aimed at containing the threat from North Korea. But

it's likely to anger Beijing. On a visit to Japan, the American

Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta, called on his hosts to resolve

their current dispute with China and prevent the situation from

escalating any further. It is in everybody's interests for Japan and

China to maintain good relations and to find a way to avoid further

escalation. Meanwhile, there have been more protests in China

targeting Japanese businesses and buildings, over the disputed

ownership of islands in the East China sea. The uninhabited

archipelago is administered by Japan, but are claimed by China,

among others. The violent protests in China followed Japan's

announcement that it was buying the islands from a private owner. The

BBC's Martin Patience is watching events from Beijing. There hasn't

been any immediate reaction to the second missile defence system,

which will be set up in Japan. It's interesting that the Americans are

stressing that this is a defence from North Korea and it's not

directed at China. There will, however, be concern about this

defence shield in Japan from chin knees views. In the past, they have

raised concern about America's military presence in Asia, which in

many ways China considers its own back yard and we have seen recently

President Obama talking about the strategic pivot, a move away from

the Middle East and Europe and putting more American resources in

Asia. China has perceived that as some way as a threat against the

country. They believe that America - some Chinese officials, believe

that America is trying to encircle China. Now all the business news. -

- sorry, we are been talking about the tension and it's spilled over

into trade and that's between China and Japan. Absolutely. The economic

problems. $345 billion, the two-way trade between the two last year. We

are looking at that the Chinese companies on the mainland that have

some sort of link to Japanese business or firms they are seeing a

bit of a sell-off. In particular, for example, Chinese motor

manufacturers that have a link to Toyota, they are down. Across the

board Chinese shares have fallen 2%. We are talking about business names

on the ground in China that have been targeted, the Toyotas and

Hondas, dealerships. Both sides vulnerable. Indeed. We'll get more

on this and go over to a Singapore reporter is joining us. Great to

see you. We're talking about the economic implications, $345 billion

of trade between the two, but not only just Japanese companies

targeted, but Chinese companies who have a link to Japan, they are seg

a sell-off. That's right. If you look at shock markets, Japan was

closed for a public holiday, but if you look at China, they're down

about 2% and that's because Chinese companies, which have links to

Japan, their shares fell quite sharply today, because of this on-

going dispute. As you mentioned, we had confirmation from Panasonic

spending some of the operations in China, at least until tomorrow and

there are reports that Canon has done the same and we heard from

airlines, who have seen cancellations of flights to China

and to Japan. It is quite an important relationship between the

two, but because of the on-going disputes over the islands, which

are known between them, the violent protests have been taking place,

especially after the Japanese government said last week it has

agreed to purchase the islands from a private owner, who is a Japanese

national. What about the reports and I know they are only newspaper

reports, I don't think we've had anything official from Beijing, but

the reports suggesting that Beijing could quite easily take economic

retaliation, but you say the trading partnership is both --

important for both? Any type of economic retaliation by China given

China's already showing down could be severe on both sides? That's

right. As you say, China's state media has warned that Japan could

face another lost decade it's not careful with the handling of this

dispute over the islands, but if you look at reactions in Japan,

some of the local press as well as reactions in Twitter, opinions are

split, but there are some who are saying that Japanese companies

should move outside China to other Asian countries, but also from

Japanese companies' point of view, the appetite for product has been

one of very few positive aspects to boost the economy, when the yen has

been strong and Europe has been slow. It's a very sensive balancing

act between the two -- sensitive balancing act between the two

countries, but the government of Japan is unlikely to back down with

elections looming and neither is chin fa. It will be interesting to

see how -- China. It will be interesting to see how it pans out.

Tomorrow it's the anniversary of the beginning of Japan's invasion

of China and the Japanese companies are fearing there could be more

anti-Japan protests taking place on Tuesday. Absolutely. You say it's

sensitive. Indeed. We'll keep our eyes on this and talk very soon to

you. Now on to the Lonmin. 44 people have died in clashes between

the strikers and the police since the pay dispute began five weeks

ago. Our reporter in Johannesburg says there's not much optimism over

the wage negotiations. They are still engaged in the talks, but it

doesn't look like they'll close the gap. The miners want 15,500 and the

mine only offered last week 960, which was about $100 or so. That is

the difficulty, but beyond Lonmin, outside the area where in the plait

mum belt of South Africa there are other mines that have joined the

strike and those negotiations are going on there as well. It's not

entirely clear where this is going, because a lot of the miners, as you

would know are negotiatinging on their behalf without the unions

representing them, because they say the unions have abandoned them.

We'll keep across that story. There's been disruption in Spain's

two biggest cities Madrid and Barcelona, following a strike by

rail and subway workers protesting over wage cuts and reforms. High-

speed services have also been affected. India's Central Bank has

kept interest rates on hold. It's been under immense pressure to cut.

This is because the economy is slowing, but the bank is reluctant

to make the move, because inflation remains well above its target level.

President Obama is to launch a trade complaint against China,

claiming the company is using illegal subsidies for support

vehicles and motor-part makers. He's due to make that announcement

during a campaign tour of Ohio. Ohio relies on the industry and is

an important swing state in the coming presidential elections. Hot

off the press, we are talking about what President Obama is possibly

about to say. Here we are talking about China and it says it is

filing disputes against the US and challenging duties on a wide range

of goods, including paper, steel, chemicals tyres, wind towers and so

on, so no peace and harmony. Everybody loves everybody at the

moment, don't they? Thank you. Still to come, a new IVF technique

to eliminate genetic conditions passed on from mothers to babies,

but is it ethical? An Italian gossip magazine has become the

latest to publish pictures of Britain's Duchess of Cambridge.

Lawyers representing the Royal couple headed to court in France to

press for criminal charges against the photographer, who took the

images, as well as the French Closer magazine which first

published them. The magazine normally comes out on a Wednesday,

but rushing out this special edition, what it calls the historic

edition, two days early. The front cover features a picture of the

Duchess of Cambridge topless and the headline is, "The Queen is

nude." Inside there are pages about the better part of the many

pictures of which the Duchess appears with her top off as she

sits or moves around on the balcony, where she was sunbathing, so this

is a larger run of those pictures than we saw published by the French

magazine last week, but actually no more revealing than those pictures

in France. There's minutal images of the Royal couple in any --

minimal images of the Royal couple and in his defence of his

publication, the editor says that he has believes he hasn't harmed

the dignity of the Duchess in anyway, although he discuss her

body shape in quite industry mate ways. And at the same time the

editor stugts the family should laugh this off. -- suggests that

the family should laugh this off and he argues he has somehow

enhanced her image by somehow humanising her and showing her as a

beautiful young woman in love on a holiday, like so many other people

Has there been any behind-the- scenes contact between Buckingham

Palace and Mr Berlusconi? There is a sense this deepening row is

piting the house of Windsor against the house of Berlusconi. The

publishing house, which is part of the Berlusconi network, runs both

these magazines. In fact, Mr Berlusconi's daughter chairs the

Italian publication, so the row between these two sides deepening

This is BBC World News. The headlines:

Heavy airstrikes on Aleppo as the UN warns that foreign fighters

including Jihadis are joining the conflict in Syria.

Protests in China as fears grow that a territorial dispute with

Japan could escalate into armed conflict.

In the UK, the public are being asked for their views on a new IVF

technique which creates embryos using DNA taken from three people.

The potential treatments, currently only at research stage, would

involve implanting genetically modified embryos into women for the

first time. It could eliminate some inherited conditions. The use of

genetically modified human eggs can eliminate some inherited conditions.

Our health correspondent Fergus Walsh has this explanation how this

process works. Mitochondrial - they're the power

packs for each cell and have their own DNA. They're passed on through

the woman's egg. This research used newly fertilised eggs donated after

IVF. The nuclei of the sperm and egg contain the crucial genes from

both parents. These were removed, leaving behind the mother's

mitochondria. The Nike Lee it's were transferred to another woman's

egg carrying itsene mitochondria. It had the parents' genes plus a

tiny bit of DNA from a second woman. That explanation hopefully

clarifies how that would work but the Human Fertilisation and

Embryology Authority's consultation could pave the way for changes to

the law in the UK. I asked Lisa Jardine, chair of the HFEA, to

explain how this IVF technique would work. Some woman's egg

contains in the outer area - not the nucleus - the black dot in the

frogspawn, they have faulty DNA in that area. The research has always

shown you can take a healthy egg from a donor woman and remove the

nucleus from that healthy egg and replace it from the nuclei from the

woman who has faulty DNA in her mitochondrial DNA and use that egg

which is now a mix of the woman who has provided the outer area and the

woman's own nucleus and fertilise that egg and you could notely - not

legally because it hasn't been done yet - but produce a baby that

wouldn't have that genetic defect. You have two maternal sets of input

into a child. What are the ethical problems with that potentially?

Ethical problems are what the public sees fit to be anxious about

and talk about, and I think the ethical issue here is bound to be

how do we feel about doing something that could not happen in

nature which is to combine the genetic material from three people

to produce a healthy child. The child might have views. We have to

think ethically about that. How would a child feel about having

multiple parents? These are the issues. The issues are not about

safety because the science seems to show it's proven. The issue is are

we comfortable as a society with introducing a modification in the

birth process which might - we have no real way of knowing several

generations down the line - throw up something uncomfortable or even

might upset people. Much more on that at the website, of course.

Tens of thousands of people in Japan have been left without power

after Typhoon Sanba passed over the country's southern most pre

frekture. The killings in Jalisko state are

thought to be carried out by one of the gangs fighting for Mexico's

illegal drug trade. It's in one of the world's most

dangerous countries and is the toughest golf club in the world.

Cardboard golf club was the scene of fighting in the '90s and it had

to be made playable. It might not look like much but

here on the outskirts of Kabul is the city's only golf course. It

opened in 2004 after 2004 and after they'd removed all the landmines.

It's popular with Western diplomats. Today on the first is the EU

ambassador. To play this course requires some fairly heavy irons.

You're a King golfer. Of all the courses you have played this must

be the most unusual. Yes, this is most challenging golf course. First

of all, it's hard to find the hole. LAUGHTER

Because it's under renovation. what's the great attraction of

coming out here? You get out of the city arpblgtsd you just have -- and

you just practise your walk. You have your swing. You can't practise

putting so much. There are some greens which are sand, and then you

see the people. That's what makes the difference. You've got a rod

running through the middle of the course. These power lines - these

aren't the main hazards. There are others. There are. There's some

water and some mines. Actually, the course was de-mined. Landmines?

Landmines, yes. When it was demined naturally, we can feel pretty

secure. You feel comfortable all the mines have gone? Yeah. Yeah.

this is about as extreme as golf can get, isn't it? There is no more

single, as far as I know. All right, master, go on. We find your ball.

Just watch yourself. Step back. think any golfer who wants to be

called a true golfer should come to Kabul to play. Correct?

LAUGHTER Very good. Golf courses have many

hazard, but few have a hazard like this. There is a road running down

the middle of this course, but we think we know where the

ambassador's ball is so we're going to actually find a hole to putt it

into. A great deal of determination is required. Thorn bushes and the

lack of flags at holes make sinking Fantastic. After 123 days in space,

three astronauts have landed back on earth. Their Soyuz spacecraft

landed safely in central Kazakhstan. The two Russians and one American

had been onboard the interspace station since May.

The final moments of the descent of the Soyuz spacecraft under its

chute and standing by for touchdown. Dangling by some very strong

threads the landing module descended on to the last plane of

Kazakhstan. The journey to earth had taken just four hours.

Touchdown confirmed. The soft landing engines firing. The

touchdown has occurred. Recovery helicopters landed, and rescue

crews extracted the astronauts. After so long in zero gravity, they

had to be carried from the craft. The flight engineer is home after

his first spaceflight. The three seemed well despite the bumpy

landing. The three cosmonauts and one astronaut had spent three

months onboard the International Space Station. They had a packed

schedule ranging from experiments on human blood and hair and another

on fresh water fish and satellites. They completed three space walks,

installed a new camera and prepared for the arrival of a new Russian

lab. They left behind three colleagues who will stay until

November and will be joined by three others in about a month's

time. Something a little more down to

earth - the world of competitive veg Tal growing in the UK - the

contest to come up with the biggest produce. The prize s were on show

at Harrogate. We went to have a look at the gardener who scooped

all the major awards to have a look at his secrets. Here is the man who

spent 25 years perfecting his techniques in order to grow

something as huge as this. Good morning. Good morning. There must

be a secret. What are your tips? How do you make something as large

as this? You spend all year nurturing them, growing them up.

You have a few years of experience behind it to do it. It takes a lot

of dedication to grow in a large onion. Let me bring in your wife

and assistant Mary. What's your role in this? I am the backup team.

I do the fetching, carrying. Whatever he tells me, I have to do.

You have won all sorts of prizes. Yes, I grow 15 types of giant

vegetables. This cucumber won a prize at the festival. What's going

to happen to this? I am thinking French onion soup, but maybe you

have other plans. We'll keep it safe and sound and seed it down the

following year. Hopefully, we'll get good seed from it in future

years. I have heard Peter talks to his plants to make them grow.

not really. I suppose he says, "Come along, boys." Thank you so

much for joining us this morning. Before I hand back to you, I have

to show you this monster down here. This is also a prize-winning

vegetable, the giant winning marrow from the Harrogate show. I am told

they wrapped this in a fleece to keep it warm. I am thinking