:00:12. > :00:16.Heavy fighting in the Syrian capital Damascus, as government
:00:16. > :00:19.troops are reported to be closing in from all sides on the southern
:00:19. > :00:21.suburb of Al Hajar Al Aswad. Back at the helm after an
:00:21. > :00:25.unexplained absence, the man tipped to become China's next leader holds
:00:25. > :00:27.a very public meeting with the US Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta.
:00:27. > :00:33.Mass protests in Georgia, as the country's prisons minister resigns
:00:33. > :00:43.over allegations that inmates were beaten and raped in jail.
:00:43. > :00:45.
:00:45. > :00:47.Welcome to BBC World News. Also in this programme, Japan
:00:47. > :00:50.Airlines reborn - back from bankruptcy the national carrier
:00:50. > :00:52.returns to the stock market. Got a headache? Don't reach for the
:00:52. > :01:02.tablets. New research suggests taking too many painkillers can
:01:02. > :01:07.
:01:07. > :01:09.There has been further heavy fighting in the Syrian capital,
:01:09. > :01:14.Damascus, with government forces reported to be closing in on the
:01:14. > :01:17.southern suburb of Al-Hajar Al- Aswad. Activists say the situation
:01:17. > :01:22.for residents there is desperate with troops moving in from all
:01:22. > :01:27.sides, bombarding the area. Syrian State TV says many rebels,
:01:27. > :01:33.described as terrorists, had been killed in Damascus. Jim Muir has
:01:33. > :01:36.the latest from neighbouring Beirut. The activists are saying in Al-
:01:36. > :01:41.Hajar Al-Aswad which is the quarter, it is on the southern edge of
:01:41. > :01:45.Damascus, it is being heavily bombarded now. Troops are moving in
:01:45. > :01:51.or pressing in from all sides and that helicopter gunships have been
:01:51. > :01:56.carrying out airstrikes there as well. This is just one of many
:01:57. > :02:01.areas, there are adjacent quarters affected, but many parts of the
:02:01. > :02:07.control. Up in Aleppo, it is the biggest city, the commercial hub.
:02:07. > :02:12.That goes on with again, the Government using its air power, its
:02:12. > :02:17.monopoly of air power to strike at rebel-held areas. There is a -- it
:02:17. > :02:23.is a very fluid situation. The battle has been going on there for
:02:24. > :02:27.two months and it is unresolved. People in Damascus can hear the
:02:27. > :02:31.thumping as artillery goes off and hits the areas on the southern side
:02:31. > :02:35.of the capital. On the diplomatic front, the
:02:35. > :02:39.Iranian Foreign Minister is in Damascus today. Is anyone taking
:02:39. > :02:45.any diplomatic moves by any side seriously?
:02:45. > :02:48.Well, the outside world is really concerned and that includes Syria's
:02:49. > :02:53.closest allies, Iran. They can see the regime is in distress. It maybe
:02:53. > :02:59.in danger of collapse and they are trying to see if there is a
:03:00. > :03:05.political way out of it. So the Foreign Minister of Iran, he is
:03:05. > :03:10.coming from Cairo, where he has been conferring with the Egyptian
:03:10. > :03:16.and Turkish Foreign Ministers, the Saudis were supposed to be there,
:03:16. > :03:21.but didn't turn up. Iran Iran doesn't see eye to eye with Turkey
:03:21. > :03:25.and Egypt, both of which want President Assad to go. The Foreign
:03:25. > :03:31.Minister will be trying to find if there is any common ground where
:03:31. > :03:36.Iran and the regime insist on keeping going and refusing to bow
:03:36. > :03:41.to the demands of the rebels and others, that the regime has to go
:03:41. > :03:50.or whether they can find some half- way ground, but he is exploring
:03:50. > :03:52.what possibilities there maybe, but nobody is holding out a lot of hope.
:03:52. > :03:54.China's vice-president, Xi Jinping, has said that Japan should "reign
:03:54. > :03:57.in its behaviour" and stop undermining China's sovereignty,
:03:57. > :04:00.according to Chinese state media. His comments follow days of anti-
:04:00. > :04:03.Japanese protests over a chain of disputed islands in the East China
:04:03. > :04:06.Sea. Mr Xi, who is widely expected to become the next leader of China,
:04:06. > :04:09.has been meeting with the US Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta in
:04:09. > :04:12.Beijing. Before the meeting, the Chinese vice-president hadn't been
:04:12. > :04:18.seen in public for two weeks, with officials giving only vague reasons
:04:18. > :04:23.of unspecified health problems. Let's get the latest from Martin
:04:23. > :04:29.Patience. Martin, on the comments regarding Japan, are they
:04:29. > :04:35.surprising? Will they be seen as infamiliartry? How -- inflammatory.
:04:35. > :04:42.How will they be responded to, do you think? I don't think they are
:04:42. > :04:46.surprising. The man who is expected to be the country's next leader is
:04:46. > :04:51.shoring up the country's credentials. He ruled the Japanese
:04:51. > :04:55.decision to buy thise lands from its -- these islands from the
:04:55. > :05:01.private owners as a farce. That triggered the protests across China.
:05:01. > :05:04.Many Of them have been violent and it has been the worst violence,
:05:04. > :05:08.anti-Japanese violence we have seen in China for years. But the fact
:05:08. > :05:10.that he is talking tough just as he is about to take up the reigns of
:05:11. > :05:15.power, I don't think that's a surprise for anyone.
:05:15. > :05:19.He has not been seen in public for two weeks. There is all sorts of
:05:19. > :05:23.speculation. I don't know if that has died down and he has been
:05:23. > :05:27.holding talks with Leon Panetta? That's right, he was seen over the
:05:27. > :05:35.weekend, but this is the first time he met a foreign dignitary. He held
:05:35. > :05:39.talks with the US secretary of defence, Leo Panetta. America are
:05:39. > :05:41.concerned about China's military programmes. From China's point of
:05:41. > :05:47.view, well, they are concerned about America's increased military
:05:47. > :05:52.presence in the region. So this trip is about reassuring both sides
:05:52. > :05:55.and Leon Panetta said that co- operation is the way that America
:05:55. > :05:59.and China can develop and improve the relations going into the tu
:05:59. > :06:03.ture. What about the speculation as to
:06:03. > :06:06.his whereabouts? Was it something to do with his health or the power
:06:06. > :06:11.struggle? There is a leadership change coming up, isn't there?
:06:11. > :06:16.Well, that's right. The fact is we don't know. We have had from one
:06:16. > :06:19.top insider, he told another broadcaster that Xi Jinping had
:06:19. > :06:23.injured himself whilst swimming, but the fact that the man who is
:06:23. > :06:27.tipped to become China's next leader, become one of the most
:06:27. > :06:36.powerful men on earth, the fact that for two weeks, nobody apart
:06:36. > :06:39.from within the party knew where he was just shows how opaque China's
:06:39. > :06:42.political system remains and many people around the world and some in
:06:42. > :06:48.China think there needs to be changes, that the party needs to be
:06:48. > :06:53.more accountable. The fact is that China now matters. It is a major
:06:53. > :06:56.player in the world and it is the world's second largest economy.
:06:56. > :07:00.Martin Patience, thank you very much.
:07:00. > :07:07.To Georgia, there are reports ten people have been arrested before
:07:07. > :07:12.the publication of graphic pictures showing prison inmates being abused
:07:12. > :07:16.by guards. The film shows officers beating prisoners and one inmate
:07:16. > :07:19.being sexually assaulted. The video sparked anti-Government
:07:19. > :07:22.demonstrations weeks before Parliamentary elections and forced
:07:22. > :07:25.the minister in charge of prisons to resign.
:07:25. > :07:30.The French Government is calling for restraint and has condemned a
:07:30. > :07:34.satirical magazine, for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
:07:34. > :07:39.The images feature in the French weekly Charlie Hebdo. The last time
:07:39. > :07:42.it published similar cartoons, its Paris offices were firebombed.
:07:42. > :07:44.France's Foreign Ministry says it has increased security at its
:07:44. > :07:47.embassies, fearing a backlash over the cartoons. The controversy
:07:47. > :07:53.coincides with continuing anger in the Muslim world, over an amateur
:07:53. > :07:58.anti-Islam film made in the United States.
:07:58. > :08:03.There is just more, the latest line on the film, Pakistan are reported
:08:03. > :08:07.to be giving Friday this week as a national holiday to try and perhaps
:08:07. > :08:12.ease tensions around that. How do you deal with a headache? Do
:08:12. > :08:17.you wait for it to go away on its own or do you take a painkiller? If
:08:17. > :08:21.your first response is to rush to the medicine cabinet for a tablet,
:08:21. > :08:26.you might want to think again. Doctors are warning that people who
:08:26. > :08:31.regularly take tablets could be causing themselves extra pain.
:08:31. > :08:34.Fergus Walsh explains. Aspirin, paracetamol and other painkillers
:08:34. > :08:40.can be effective in treating headaches, but doctors say those
:08:40. > :08:46.who take them more than 10 to 15 days a month are at risk of causing
:08:46. > :08:51.themselves more pain than relief. This can end up up get nothing a
:08:51. > :08:55.vicious cycle where your headache gets worse and you take more
:08:55. > :09:00.painkillers and this is a very difficult disorder to treat. The
:09:01. > :09:05.advice sounds simple which just says stop taking your painkillers,
:09:05. > :09:09.but it is difficult advice. You have to be a strong patient to go
:09:09. > :09:13.through this. This woman was shocked to find out
:09:13. > :09:16.she had been taking over the recommended dose for her migraines
:09:16. > :09:20.and it was giving her more headaches, so she stopped taking
:09:20. > :09:24.them. I had to be signed off work for six
:09:24. > :09:28.weeks whilst I was coming off the medication. The pain during that
:09:28. > :09:32.six weeks wag really unbearable -- was really unbearable. It was like
:09:32. > :09:36.having a terrible hangover every day, really sensitive to light and
:09:36. > :09:39.sound. Specialists say stopping
:09:39. > :09:43.painkillers abruptly makes the problem worse in the short-term,
:09:43. > :09:47.but usually results in dramatically fewer headaches for patients. The
:09:47. > :09:52.new guidance is for doctors in England and Wales. But the limited
:09:52. > :10:00.research in this area suggests the problem is global affecting up to
:10:00. > :10:05.one in 50 people worldwide. Jamie is here with all the business.
:10:05. > :10:11.Two stories from Japan. The Bank of Japan, injecting more money? They
:10:11. > :10:19.are going similar things to what the Federal Reserve was doing last
:10:19. > :10:24.week. The Japanese plans to spend an extra $128 billion. It is an
:10:24. > :10:29.idea that puts extra cash to allow banks to loan more and that's going
:10:29. > :10:36.to, it hopes, boost investment and boost spending. It will hoped the
:10:36. > :10:45.scheme will weaken the Japanese yen. The programme is due to last until
:10:45. > :10:49.next year. I am joined by the head of research of Japanese markets.
:10:49. > :10:54.Monetary policy can only go so far to encourage people to take out
:10:54. > :10:58.loans. If this money isn't passed on to borrowers in terms of more
:10:58. > :11:04.lending, what we might find and we would expect to find is that this
:11:04. > :11:08.money will trickle out from banks into other financial assets such as
:11:08. > :11:13.the equity market or into assets overseas which is something that
:11:13. > :11:18.helps to weaken the exchange rates as well. So you know, I don't think
:11:18. > :11:23.one needs to assess the success only in terms of the amount of
:11:23. > :11:28.lending which we expect to remain modest in Japan given the weak
:11:28. > :11:36.global economic environment and also certain factors at home that
:11:36. > :11:41.are weighing on demand now. Today, Japan Airlines returned to
:11:41. > :11:48.the Tokyo Tokyo stock market. It raised $8.5 billion from investors.
:11:48. > :11:54.It is the second biggest share of the sale after Facebook.
:11:54. > :12:01.One of Japan's most celebrated chief executives oversaw the
:12:01. > :12:04.reorganisation of JAL. I asked Doug McNeil to assess his
:12:04. > :12:07.performance. It has been an extraordinary turn
:12:07. > :12:12.around. This is a company that was losing over �1 billion a year when
:12:12. > :12:17.he took over. It is making over �1 billion a year. He managed to push
:12:17. > :12:20.through enormous job cuts, something like 40% of the employees
:12:20. > :12:23.have gone, that's 15,000 redundancies in a society, in a
:12:24. > :12:30.culture, where redundancies are hard to effect. There is no
:12:30. > :12:36.question that he has done an extraordinary job.
:12:36. > :12:46.The German State rail operator has placed its first order in Poland.
:12:46. > :12:47.
:12:47. > :12:56.It ordered 470 low co motives. It already supplies eng jince to --
:12:56. > :13:06.engines to Italian and lith winian -- lith uwaneian railways.
:13:06. > :13:09.
:13:09. > :13:14.Shares in Zara are up today. The company made �1.-- $1..2 billion.
:13:14. > :13:20.-- $172 billion. -- -- $1.2 billion.
:13:20. > :13:25.Miners in South Africa have have accepted a hefty pay rise. The
:13:25. > :13:31.agreement includes a 2,000 rand bonus, a rise in wages as well of
:13:31. > :13:36.between 1 and 22% -- 11% and 22%. Some analysts warned that the wage
:13:36. > :13:46.increase could lead to a rash of pay demands across the mining
:13:46. > :14:00.
:14:00. > :14:05.sector. Plans for a new carrier has cause
:14:05. > :14:10.upset in Germany. We could be entering a period of
:14:10. > :14:13.food prices rising shortly. A report by commodities specialist,
:14:13. > :14:19.warned that drought and poor harvests around the world will
:14:19. > :14:24.raise the price of grains and animal feed. Staple feeds could
:14:24. > :14:30.become more expensive. Meat could return to being a a luxury for
:14:30. > :14:37.people on lower incomes. An analyst said food producers will need time
:14:37. > :14:42.in order to raise production levels. We are likely to see much increased
:14:42. > :14:46.acreage and in America next year, but we are at thread bare stock
:14:46. > :14:49.levels and exposed to any negative weather impacts again next year,
:14:49. > :14:53.but at the moment we have got to deal with the fact that there is
:14:53. > :14:59.not nearly enough corn and soya beans in the world to supply what
:14:59. > :15:04.would be the ideal level of needs for the people.
:15:04. > :15:11.The markets. The FTSE is up just a fraction.
:15:11. > :15:21.Little movement. Even the I had taleian market hard -- Italian
:15:21. > :15:27.
:15:27. > :15:32.In the United States, it goes on for a longer period of time, until
:15:32. > :15:37.2016. This Bank of Japan action will go on until the end of next
:15:37. > :15:41.year. That is the business. You're watching BBC World News.
:15:42. > :15:44.Still to come: What happens when marrying into the family firm isn't
:15:45. > :15:51.enough? We'll find out why tens of thousands of Japanese men are
:15:51. > :15:54.willing to go one step further to prove their loyalty to the business.
:15:54. > :16:01.President Obama has accused his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney,
:16:01. > :16:04.of writing off a large part of America. It's after Mr Romney made
:16:04. > :16:06.disparaging comments about a wide section of voters at a private
:16:07. > :16:10.fund-raising gala. Appearing on The Letterman Show, Mr Obama said one
:16:10. > :16:16.of the first things he'd learned as President was that he had to
:16:16. > :16:21.represent the whole of the country - Republicans and Democrats.
:16:21. > :16:29.All smiles from the President and at a surprise gift from his
:16:30. > :16:35.opponent. Here, making the most of it on the Late Show. You represent
:16:35. > :16:41.the entire country as President. When I meet Republicans, as I am
:16:41. > :16:46.travelling around the country, they are hard-working family people, who
:16:46. > :16:53.care deeply about this country. My expectation is that if you want to
:16:53. > :16:58.be President, you have to work for everybody, not just for some.
:16:58. > :17:03.Romney putting on a brave face as he shows his grandchildren his
:17:03. > :17:13.campaign plane in Salt Lake City. His campaign is again in damage-
:17:13. > :17:16.
:17:16. > :17:20.control. Tonight on World News... The news bulletins announced a
:17:20. > :17:24.political earthquake that has shaken up the race. All this thanks
:17:24. > :17:34.to comments Mitt Romney made four months ago inside a Florida mansion
:17:34. > :17:41.
:17:41. > :17:48.at a private $50,000 a head At a fund-raising lunch, the
:17:48. > :17:52.cameras were allowed in. approach is a government-centred
:17:52. > :17:56.America, where government takes more and more and then gives to
:17:56. > :18:00.those who believe they need that help. We all believe that when
:18:00. > :18:05.people are in distress and when they need help, we pull them back
:18:05. > :18:09.up, but we don't believe in redistribution. Four years ago,
:18:09. > :18:15.then candidate Barack Obama was taped at a fundraiser talking about
:18:15. > :18:19.voters who cling to their God and their guns. That was months before
:18:19. > :18:29.the election. Mitt Romney has only seven weeks left of a very tight
:18:29. > :18:32.race. This is BBC World News. The
:18:32. > :18:35.headlines: Rebels say there's heavy fighting
:18:35. > :18:37.in Damascus, as government troops close in on the southern suburb of
:18:37. > :18:40.Al Haja Al Aswad. The man tipped to be China's next
:18:40. > :18:48.leader, Xi Jin Ping, says Japan should "rein in" its behaviour over
:18:48. > :18:50.a chain of disputed islands in the East China Sea.
:18:50. > :18:53.Last Wednesday, in a devastating night-time attack on the United
:18:53. > :18:57.States Consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi, the American
:18:57. > :18:59.Ambassador and three of his staff were killed. In an exclusive
:18:59. > :19:02.interview with the BBC, an ultra- conservative Muslim group denied
:19:02. > :19:05.any involvement in that and other attacks against Western targets but
:19:05. > :19:15.said it rejected what it saw as the imposition of democracy in Libya,
:19:15. > :19:17.
:19:17. > :19:23.as Wyre Davies reports from Benghazi. Libyans celebrating
:19:23. > :19:29.Martyrs' Day as perhaps they know best - with guns. In the city where
:19:29. > :19:34.the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi began, there are reminders
:19:34. > :19:40.of the sacrifices these people made to win their freedom. There are
:19:40. > :19:46.some here who still refuse to lay down their weapons. Radical
:19:46. > :19:55.Islamist groups say the fight for Libya is not over. Ominously, they
:19:55. > :20:01.reject a Western Style solution. TRANSLATION: We don't believe in
:20:01. > :20:06.the democratic system, even those countries who pretend they are
:20:06. > :20:13.wooed by democracy. We want to tell the whole world the project of
:20:13. > :20:16.democracy is not for us and it doesn't suit Islam. They deny
:20:17. > :20:23.allegations it was responsible for the death of the American
:20:23. > :20:27.Ambassador, although it supports the rights of Muslims to protest
:20:27. > :20:31.and says it sympathises with other organisations including Al-Qaeda.
:20:31. > :20:36.The authorities have identified or arrested 50 people in connection
:20:36. > :20:40.with last week's attack. They won't say who they are nor what the
:20:40. > :20:46.evidence against them is. They admit many of the perpetrators may
:20:46. > :20:48.already have left Libya. Much of this is just for show and Libya's
:20:48. > :20:58.new authorities have been criticised for failing to get on
:20:58. > :21:00.
:21:00. > :21:05.top of a worsening security situation. That's what we believe,
:21:05. > :21:10.public opinion, the majority of Libyans are against this. Then
:21:10. > :21:17.there is the impact of all this instability on Benghazi's ambitions
:21:17. > :21:22.to rebuild. This sprawling half- built new town for 200,000 people
:21:22. > :21:27.was abandoned last year by its Chinese developers. They have yet
:21:27. > :21:35.to return. Many of the foreign companies will be very hesitant to
:21:35. > :21:42.come back to Benghazi and this is tragic for Libya and for Benghazi.
:21:42. > :21:45.We are shooting ourself in the foot. The majority of Libyans clearly
:21:45. > :21:50.support the democratic project and this city has an overwhelmingly
:21:50. > :21:55.positive feel. But a handful of radical militants could still spoil
:21:55. > :21:58.everything. Family businesses dominate Asia's
:21:59. > :22:01.corporate landscape. But Japan has the largest number of them, some
:22:01. > :22:04.with a very long history. They include household names such as
:22:04. > :22:07.Suzuki. For generations, sons have always taken on the top job and
:22:07. > :22:10.there's been a unique method to ensure there's always a male heir
:22:10. > :22:20.to inherit the business - formally adopting a son-in-law into the
:22:20. > :22:22.
:22:22. > :22:27.family. It was in 718 when this hot spring inn was founded by a
:22:27. > :22:37.Buddhist monk. For 46 generations, the hotel and the name of the monk
:22:37. > :22:47.
:22:47. > :22:51.have been passed down from father to son. Meet the latest Zengoro
:22:51. > :22:56.Hoshi. How have they always managed to have a boy for 1,300 years?
:22:56. > :23:00.There is a catch. TRANSLATION: When there were only
:23:00. > :23:08.girls, the family would adopt a daughter's husband. My father was
:23:08. > :23:13.adopted like that. It is very important for us to keep the name.
:23:13. > :23:18.Most family businesses aren't as old as this one. Here in Japan it
:23:18. > :23:23.is not uncommon for sons-in-law to be legally adopted to take over the
:23:23. > :23:29.family business. In fact, even today there are more than 80,000
:23:29. > :23:34.men who are adopted and change their surnames each year. And now
:23:34. > :23:38.the traditional practice has gone online. This woman has started a
:23:38. > :23:43.match-making website. It is for women looking for a husband who is
:23:43. > :23:48.willing to be legally adopted by his wife's family. She says in a
:23:48. > :23:54.poor economy more men are seeking opportunities to use their business
:23:54. > :24:00.skills outside the corporate world. This man is one of them. He has
:24:00. > :24:04.signed up to the website in November. He lost his own business
:24:04. > :24:08.to his ex-wife. Now he wants to get remarried and take over another
:24:08. > :24:12.business. TRANSLATION: I don't have a problem
:24:12. > :24:15.changing my family name because I see it like a nickname given by the
:24:15. > :24:20.government for the family registry. If there is a chance for me to
:24:20. > :24:30.inherit a family business and make it successful, then that would be
:24:30. > :24:33.
:24:33. > :24:40.best for everyone. For the family who runs the inn, it's time to pray
:24:40. > :24:44.for their business to continue its success and for the name to live on
:24:44. > :24:47.in many more generations. And since that report was made,
:24:47. > :24:50.Zengoro Hoshi has told us of his son's death. He says he'll now
:24:50. > :24:53.groom his teenage grandson to take over the business - and the name
:24:53. > :24:57.Zengoro Hoshi. You can hear more about that story on Assignment on
:24:57. > :25:00.BBC World Service. Visit our website for more details. Doctors
:25:00. > :25:07.in Sweden have carried out the first transplant of wombs from
:25:07. > :25:11.mothers to their daughters. The operations were carried out in
:25:11. > :25:15.Gothenburg over the weekend. It was an operation that a team of
:25:15. > :25:21.ten surgeons had trained for several years to carry out. At the
:25:21. > :25:28.weekend, they finally completed the world's first mother to daughter
:25:28. > :25:32.uterus transplants. TRANSLATION: Transplant surgery has
:25:32. > :25:37.moved on to transplanting organs that improve the quality of life.
:25:37. > :25:41.That's what a uterus transplant does. One of the recipients had
:25:41. > :25:44.lost her womb to cancer. The other had been born without a uterus. Now
:25:44. > :25:48.that both of them have received their mother's wombs, they are
:25:48. > :25:52.hoping they will be able to carry their own babies. Surgeons believe
:25:52. > :25:57.they will be ready to conceive in a year from now.
:25:57. > :26:01.TRANSLATION: We have already done IVF on these women and we have a
:26:01. > :26:05.large number of embryos in the freezer. We want to wait 12 months
:26:05. > :26:12.so the rejection risk is minimal and then, like with normal IVF, we
:26:12. > :26:18.will put in one embryo at a time to try and achieve pregnancy. The two
:26:18. > :26:23.mothers who donated their organs will be discharged from hospital in
:26:23. > :26:29.a few days. The surgeons say they will only judge the operations a
:26:29. > :26:34.success if they give birth to healthy babies.
:26:34. > :26:37.I want to show you these pictures before we go.
:26:37. > :26:40.One of nature's rarest weather events has been captured on camera
:26:40. > :26:43.by an Australian film maker. A fire tornado, made up of flames reaching
:26:43. > :26:46.around 30 metres off the ground, was filmed by Chris Tangey. He was
:26:46. > :26:49.out in the outback searching for film locations when he saw the
:26:49. > :26:52.twister. Fire tornados are also known as "fire whirls" or "fire