:00:12. > :00:20.The violence in Syria. Two bombs strike in the military headquarters
:00:20. > :00:23.in Damascus. The correspondent for Iranian press TV is shot dead.
:00:23. > :00:27.South African politician Julius Malema is released on bail charged
:00:27. > :00:33.with money-laundering. She is definitely done with Harry.
:00:33. > :00:38.JK Rowling tells the BBC now she is -- why she is writing for an adult
:00:38. > :00:42.audience. I don't want to go mechanically back into that world
:00:42. > :00:49.and Pickup the N's and say, we can sell this. It would make a mockery
:00:49. > :00:57.of what those books were. -- pick up the end ups.
:00:57. > :00:59.Workers walkout in Greece since the first general strike since the
:00:59. > :01:06.coalition government came to power in June.
:01:06. > :01:16.And good use for Lloyds - it is back in profit after the first six
:01:16. > :01:18.
:01:18. > :01:22.Syrian state television has reported a statement from an
:01:22. > :01:25.official military source reacting to a major explosions that have
:01:25. > :01:30.targeted the Army and Air Force buildings in Damascus. The
:01:30. > :01:35.statement said no senior military personnel were injured in the blast
:01:35. > :01:42.near Umayyad Square. It said the two explosions were as a result of
:01:42. > :01:46.a car bomb and one in the general premises of the building.
:01:46. > :01:50.In the heart of Damascus a major military building blazing out of
:01:50. > :01:53.control. This act of the studio, which we cannot be independently
:01:53. > :01:59.verified, shows the heavily-guarded General Staff headquarters
:01:59. > :02:04.apparently stricken by the bomb blasts. Shooting broke out
:02:04. > :02:08.immediately after the explosions. Officials said security forces were
:02:08. > :02:12.chasing what they called terrorists in the nearby area. Diplomats said
:02:12. > :02:16.troops were conducting house-to- house searches. The whole of
:02:16. > :02:21.Damascus was shaken by the blasts, which went off just as the morning
:02:21. > :02:27.rush-hour was starting. They were the biggest explosions to have
:02:27. > :02:32.happened in months. Western parts of the city but paralysed as the
:02:32. > :02:37.security try to contain it. Syrian state TV was the first to report
:02:37. > :02:41.the blast but then there was a silence on the outcome. But
:02:41. > :02:46.reassuring words from the Information Minister. He said none
:02:46. > :02:50.of the Military Command staff were injured and everything was normal.
:02:50. > :02:55.With the violence worsened in and around 150 people being killed
:02:55. > :02:59.every day, Syria dominated the UN general Assembly discussions in New
:02:59. > :03:04.York. The French are among those growing impatient at action to halt
:03:04. > :03:08.the carnage. TRANSLATION: Without further delay,
:03:08. > :03:11.I ask the United Nations to give the Syrian people now the support
:03:11. > :03:18.they are requesting, and in particular, that the liberated
:03:18. > :03:25.areas be protected. But there's still no appetite in the West for
:03:26. > :03:31.the kind of intervention this would require. Arab military intervention
:03:31. > :03:35.is equally unlikely, though someone to see it. The relentless violence
:03:35. > :03:39.is destined to go on. It is now engulfing all parts of the country.
:03:39. > :03:45.But the regime will not give way and the rebels will not give up.
:03:45. > :03:48.The outside world does not have an answer.
:03:49. > :03:52.The man who could arguably be described as the most controversial
:03:52. > :04:00.figure in South African politics at the moment is, once again, in the
:04:00. > :04:08.spotlight. That is Julius Malema, former Duke -- former leader of the
:04:08. > :04:14.Querrey. He has appeared in court charged with money laundering. --
:04:14. > :04:21.leader of ANC Youth League. I asked him what reaction there had been to
:04:22. > :04:27.the charge. The surprise is, certainly amongst the crowd, but it
:04:27. > :04:36.was only one charge relating to laundering. We believe it links to
:04:36. > :04:44.his family trust. It had money put in it by businessmen. He has been
:04:44. > :04:48.posted bail, 10,000 rand. That is about $1,000. Will this be seen by
:04:48. > :04:52.his supporters as... I know it is a criminal case, but nonetheless, a
:04:52. > :05:00.partial victory, and as much as we were expecting a wider raft of
:05:00. > :05:05.charges to be laid, weren't we? It is early days and it is entirely
:05:05. > :05:11.possible further charges will be added. It is also possible to
:05:11. > :05:15.people will say, look, this is another find that this prosecution
:05:15. > :05:19.has been rushed at the last minute because of political pressure and
:05:19. > :05:23.they have not got their case together properly. But it will be a
:05:23. > :05:28.long, slow process, and presumably the details will come out sooner or
:05:28. > :05:33.later. With anti-austerity strikes getting
:05:33. > :05:39.under way in Greece, there is a wide scale strike. The Spanish
:05:39. > :05:47.capital Madrid is getting, again. But there were protests again last
:05:47. > :05:51.night. -- getting calm again. And protesters charged the government
:05:51. > :06:00.building, angry at the government's ever stricter spending cuts. Let's
:06:00. > :06:04.have a look for you now in the heart of Athens, Syntagma Square. A
:06:04. > :06:08.general strike and it is public and private sector. It will last for 24
:06:08. > :06:14.hours and it is the first of this scale since the current coalition
:06:14. > :06:20.government, led by the Conservative, Antonis Samaras, came into power
:06:20. > :06:24.back in June. Aaron is with me as we consider the pickle the
:06:24. > :06:28.government is in. They have got paid general strike on their hands
:06:28. > :06:35.so it is clear what people think about further cuts. They don't
:06:36. > :06:41.Institute the cuts and they can -- if they don't Institute the cuts,
:06:41. > :06:46.they can wave goodbye to the bail out. Yes. That is just it. Here is
:06:46. > :06:50.the problem - we are already hearing the Finance Ministry has
:06:50. > :06:55.approved this new austerity package, worth some $15 billion. But is
:06:55. > :07:03.still has to go to the collision for approval and to, very
:07:03. > :07:06.importantly, the international physically testing Athens and
:07:06. > :07:10.giving them a report card to see if they can do all they can to get
:07:11. > :07:14.this chance of bail out money. 31 billion euros. Without it, they
:07:14. > :07:23.cannot pay visible servants and their salaries. And things like
:07:23. > :07:27.that. So it is very important for Athens. But Spain is quieter today
:07:27. > :07:32.after those rather violent protests last night with rubber bullets
:07:32. > :07:38.being fired. What we saw in Spain and Athens, the markets do not like
:07:38. > :07:42.it. It is what makes them rather jittery. And this is off the back
:07:42. > :07:48.of the eurozone mess. And the yield, the cost of borrowing for countries
:07:48. > :07:54.like Spain, and like Italy, they are on the up, and a higher these
:07:54. > :07:58.costs go, it basically signals that investors are not confident. But
:07:58. > :08:03.Spain is at the epicentre at the moment of the eurozone debt crisis
:08:03. > :08:09.because tomorrow we get the 2013 Budget on the table and the Newbury
:08:09. > :08:13.structural reforms. They are on the table as well. -- the new
:08:13. > :08:17.structural reforms. On Friday, we get the final results of the stress
:08:17. > :08:26.test of the Spanish banking system and we already know the eurozone
:08:26. > :08:30.collectively have promised 125 billion euros of a bail out. Sorry,
:08:30. > :08:33.$125 billion. What we are hearing is that the Prime Minister wants to
:08:34. > :08:38.put this out on the table officially with further cuts before
:08:38. > :08:43.he then puts his hands up officially and says, OK, we will
:08:43. > :08:48.need a full-blown bail out. So that is what we are hearing first.
:08:48. > :08:51.done deal first? Absolutely. Because he has said there is only a
:08:51. > :08:56.certain line he will cross in terms of what measures and conditions
:08:56. > :09:03.come with a certain bail out. Let's listen to the experts I have been
:09:03. > :09:07.talking to this morning, starting with Greece. The growth outlook has
:09:07. > :09:12.deteriorated. The actual growth numbers we are seeing are worse
:09:12. > :09:16.than implied in the initial projections for the second bail out.
:09:16. > :09:20.This austerity package itself has been delayed considerably. It
:09:20. > :09:24.should originally have gone through in June, so the delay of reforms
:09:24. > :09:29.and of state sales means the outlook is now a lot worse. So even
:09:29. > :09:34.if they managed to get this through, as is looking likely, after a lot
:09:34. > :09:39.of bargaining between the coalition partners, it could still not be
:09:39. > :09:42.enough and more austerity is likely to be required. That is going to
:09:42. > :09:46.increase tensions within the coalition, and the risk is, it
:09:46. > :09:50.could only be a matter of time before that government collapses,
:09:50. > :09:54.and then you could be faced with the anti-bail out party that is
:09:54. > :10:00.riding high in the opinion polls, threatening to get back into power.
:10:00. > :10:04.And that is a big worry. While I am talking to you, we are seeing the
:10:04. > :10:09.live pictures from Athens. A big Greek promise and a move that was
:10:09. > :10:12.supposed to underpin the reforms and be the big money raised it was
:10:12. > :10:19.Greig privatisation, but we are hearing hardly anything at all has
:10:19. > :10:24.been done. -- Greek privatisation. Like everything with the reform and
:10:24. > :10:29.austerity programme, there has not been much going through. There have
:10:29. > :10:34.been delays and hold ups. This compares the situation and then the
:10:34. > :10:38.markets are getting jittery again. And all of the sort of... Tuna, we
:10:38. > :10:48.saw some relief after the actions of the central bank in Europe. --
:10:48. > :10:50.
:10:50. > :10:53.you know. That needs to be activated and with these worries in
:10:53. > :10:59.Greece and Spain, the markets are getting jittery and we could see
:10:59. > :11:04.tensions rising. We will keep a cross that. Let's move on. Lloyds,
:11:04. > :11:08.the largest insurance market, has cashed in on a quiet spell for
:11:08. > :11:14.natural disasters because today it announced a profit of just over
:11:14. > :11:18.�1.5 billion, over $2 billion. But is in stark contrast to last year,
:11:18. > :11:22.which was the second most expensive on record for insurers, with claims
:11:23. > :11:27.of almost $21 billion, and that followed the severe floods in
:11:27. > :11:32.Australia and Thailand, the earthquake in New Zealand as well,
:11:32. > :11:36.of course. And Japan's devastating earthquake. This year has been
:11:36. > :11:44.virtually disaster-free. But the eurozone crisis is an ongoing
:11:44. > :11:51.challenge for Lloyds. A little earlier, I spoke to a member of
:11:51. > :11:55.Lloyds about how what was affecting his business. The eurozone crisis
:11:55. > :11:59.is affecting the European economy and the global economy. It is
:11:59. > :12:04.affecting people's confidence, and so it is more challenging for us to
:12:04. > :12:09.make a return on those investments and governments have reduced
:12:09. > :12:13.interest rates to virtually zero. It is difficult to find asset
:12:13. > :12:18.classes to invest in. It presents a challenge but also an opportunity.
:12:18. > :12:21.We are in the business of risk and helping people manage it. On the
:12:21. > :12:26.Continent, Europe and in Spain and Greece, people still need to manage
:12:26. > :12:30.their assets and we are there to help them. That is the boss of
:12:30. > :12:34.Lloyds of London talking about the negatives of the eurozone but there
:12:34. > :12:38.are also positives. It is important we talk about the governments
:12:39. > :12:43.handling the crisis but also how corporates are handing it. Thank
:12:43. > :12:49.you. Thank you for watching BBC World
:12:49. > :12:57.News. Plenty more still to come, including, JK Rowling speaking to
:12:57. > :13:01.Will Gompertz about her first book for adults. And a mention of Harry.
:13:01. > :13:05.At least seven people have died in Indonesia in a collision between a
:13:05. > :13:09.ferry and a cargo ship. A spokesman for the transport ministry said 200
:13:09. > :13:15.made crew and passengers had been evacuated from the very and it is
:13:15. > :13:19.not yet confirmed how many were on board. -- 208 crew. Rescue workers
:13:19. > :13:23.are still looking for the missing. The ferry links Java and Sumatra
:13:23. > :13:28.islands. Scientists who have spent two and a
:13:28. > :13:32.half years investigating marine life have claimed to found more
:13:32. > :13:42.than a million and a half new species of plant and. There are
:13:42. > :13:46.some amazing pictures to go with it. Out of the deep, these dazzling
:13:46. > :13:51.discoveries. You are looking at plankton, microscopic plants and
:13:52. > :13:56.animals that drift through our seas and oceans. They might be small but
:13:56. > :14:00.they are vital. They produce the oxygen in every second breath we
:14:00. > :14:06.breathe. They take carbon-dioxide out of the atmosphere and there are
:14:06. > :14:10.at the base of the food chain, so if there is no plankton, there is
:14:10. > :14:17.no fish in the ocean. More things we have to understand more about to
:14:17. > :14:21.understand how the Russian works. This boat is moored up after a two-
:14:21. > :14:26.and-a-half-year voyage of discovery all over the world. The aim of the
:14:26. > :14:30.scientists on board, to take the pulse of the planet. What they
:14:30. > :14:35.found surprised them all. Scientists thought there were
:14:35. > :14:39.30,000 different plot that species. In fact, there are one and a half
:14:39. > :14:43.million. We always thought ocean biodiversity is lower than
:14:44. > :14:47.diversity on the land but knowing now that there is something like
:14:47. > :14:53.1.5 million, it basically brings biodiversity in the ocean up to
:14:53. > :14:56.raise similar level as that on land and in the forests and so on.
:14:56. > :15:06.team collected tens of thousands of samples and there are still being
:15:06. > :15:07.
:15:07. > :15:16.analysed. Among the strangest, this, the drop, cover and hold. It is the
:15:16. > :15:22.world's long this creature, up to 40,000 metres long. -- the
:15:22. > :15:32.siphonophore. They reveal a whole new underworld -- underwater world
:15:32. > :15:41.
:15:41. > :15:45.which scientists say can teach us This is World News Today. The
:15:45. > :15:50.headlines: Agreed to bomb's target the Army and Air Force headquarters
:15:50. > :15:55.in Damascus. Syria's information minister say
:15:55. > :16:03.all commanders escaped injury. Julius Malema has been charged with
:16:03. > :16:07.money laundering and released on The former chief executive of News
:16:07. > :16:11.International is appearing in court along with the British Prime
:16:11. > :16:15.Minister's former director of communications Wendy Coulson. They
:16:15. > :16:20.are due at London's Old Bailey with five other journalists from the
:16:20. > :16:23.defunct tabloid to face charges linked to the investigation into
:16:23. > :16:30.phone hacking. We can speak to our legal affairs Correspondent at the
:16:30. > :16:34.Old Bailey. Two of the biggest names. Just to be absolutely clear
:16:34. > :16:39.about this, there were two Casey's before the court this morning. One
:16:39. > :16:45.of them related to charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of
:16:45. > :16:52.justice and the defendant in that case, Ms Brooks, husband, her
:16:52. > :16:57.former PA and four other former employees of News International
:16:57. > :17:01.employed in various capacities. That was one set of charges. That
:17:01. > :17:05.relate to the concealing or allegations of concealing or
:17:05. > :17:09.evidence from the police or indeed removing evidence from News
:17:09. > :17:14.International. That was one set of charges. In addition to that There
:17:14. > :17:21.are another set of charges which are based on conspiracy to
:17:21. > :17:26.intercept voice mails. Eight defendants in that case, including
:17:26. > :17:33.Ms Brooks, Andy Coulson, former director of communications at
:17:33. > :17:37.Downing Street, and a raft of other senior editorial staff at the
:17:37. > :17:42.former News of the world and the private detective Glenn Mulcaire.
:17:42. > :17:47.Both cases were before the court this morning. All we can really
:17:47. > :17:50.report is that directions were given in both of those cases that a
:17:50. > :17:55.proposed trial date of 9th September next year, one year's
:17:55. > :17:59.time, has been set. Even that is only a proposed trial date. It was
:17:59. > :18:05.a very crowded it dock at the Old Bailey with the people I have
:18:05. > :18:10.mentioned in it, and each of those people, when it was put to them,
:18:10. > :18:13.whether they could identify themselves, they spoke simply to
:18:13. > :18:18.identify themselves. All of them were then bailed. There will be
:18:18. > :18:23.another hearing on 12th December but because of the reporting
:18:23. > :18:27.restrictions that is all I can inform you about.
:18:27. > :18:30.We all have to grow up and move on eventually. That seems to be the
:18:30. > :18:34.message from the writer of the most famous children's books of recent
:18:34. > :18:41.times. JK Rowling's first book aimed at an adult readership is out
:18:41. > :18:47.on Thursday. She has been talking to our arts editor.
:18:47. > :18:54.They you are, reasonably successful children's author, characters
:18:54. > :18:57.people quite like. Why change horses and courses?
:18:57. > :19:02.Because this is the thing I wanted to write next, it is not very
:19:02. > :19:06.complicated. I had the idea, I knew I would love to write it, so that
:19:06. > :19:11.is where it all started. I did not sit down to write this novel, no
:19:11. > :19:16.part of me felt, got to prove, I had nothing to prove. I don't mean
:19:16. > :19:23.that in an arrogant way. I certainly did mean that I cannot
:19:23. > :19:28.improve as a writer, I certainly don't mean, coming from a place of
:19:28. > :19:34.self-satisfaction. Harry Potter it truly liberated me. It liberated me
:19:34. > :19:38.in the sense that there is only one reason to right now, for me, if I
:19:38. > :19:41.genuinely have something I want to say and want to publish it. Why was
:19:41. > :19:46.it the thing you wanted to write next?
:19:46. > :19:48.The truth is the idea just came to me and I just had that almost
:19:48. > :19:55.visceral reaction when you are excited about something and you
:19:55. > :19:59.know you want to do it. I could go back and say, well, it plays into
:19:59. > :20:05.certain areas of my life. It is quite a personal book, things I
:20:05. > :20:10.think about a lot. It is personal in the sense that it deals with
:20:10. > :20:17.broad themes that have affected my life in a very real sense, poverty,
:20:17. > :20:22.for example. Their attitudes depicted in this book -- there are
:20:22. > :20:26.attitudes. I found myself suffering from these at a formative time in
:20:26. > :20:32.my life. Did you have those experiences that
:20:32. > :20:38.you project onto your characters? I wouldn't want to go there too
:20:38. > :20:44.much. I will say, as is well documented, I have had my issues
:20:44. > :20:49.with mental health, have been depressed, in my teenage years I
:20:49. > :20:53.had issues with anxiety. The Casual Vacancy is a story set
:20:53. > :20:58.in a small English town in which a rough council estate becomes a
:20:58. > :21:04.divisive issue in a community riven with pate, prejudice and exclusion.
:21:04. > :21:07.Expletives are bound -- with hate. Do you worry children who are fans
:21:07. > :21:14.of yours will be on an internet site where you can download these
:21:14. > :21:21.books? I hope that we have made it really
:21:21. > :21:25.clear this isn't a book for children. I have been open about
:21:25. > :21:28.the themes, we have talked about what the story is about, I would
:21:28. > :21:33.think parents could make a clear choice.
:21:33. > :21:40.It might not be the parents making the choice.
:21:40. > :21:46.With children, well, I suppose I would have to ask why have kids got
:21:46. > :21:50.access to the internet a yard downloading things I would be even
:21:50. > :21:55.more worried they would be downloading.
:21:55. > :22:03.There is something of Dickens about this book.
:22:03. > :22:09.I am very flattered. When I did start writing it I was aware that I
:22:09. > :22:13.was doing a contemporary version of what I love, which is a big, fat, a
:22:13. > :22:17.nineteenth-century novel set in a small community. To panic step --
:22:17. > :22:21.to an extent, swear words notwithstanding, that is what The
:22:21. > :22:26.Casual Vacancy is. What do you aspire to as a writer? To get
:22:26. > :22:36.better it would be great. I think you are working and learning until
:22:36. > :22:36.
:22:36. > :22:41.you die. I can say with my hand on my heart I will never write for any
:22:41. > :22:45.reason other than I'd burning we wanted to write the book. A couple
:22:45. > :22:49.of the Harry Potter books I knew that they needed another year.
:22:49. > :22:53.Towards the end? One towards the beginning and one towards the end
:22:53. > :23:01.that I felt that about. I had to write on the run. There were times
:23:01. > :23:11.when it was really tough. I read them and I think, Oh God, maybe I
:23:11. > :23:11.
:23:11. > :23:16.will go back and do a director's cut, I did know. -- I do not know.
:23:16. > :23:21.As a writer, you have created a portfolio of characters which
:23:21. > :23:25.connect with millions, maybe billions, of people. An
:23:25. > :23:35.extraordinary extreme -- achievement. Surely you cannot
:23:35. > :23:37.
:23:37. > :23:43.leave them be. It was murder saying goodbye, but
:23:44. > :23:48.where Harry's story is concerned I am done. Now, if I had a fabulous
:23:48. > :23:55.idea that came out of that world because I loved writing it, I would
:23:55. > :23:58.do it. But I have got to have a great idea. I don't want to go it
:23:58. > :24:03.mechanically back into that world and pick up a load of odds and ends
:24:04. > :24:07.and the them together and say we can sell us. -- and glue them
:24:07. > :24:12.together. It would make a mockery of what those books were. They kept
:24:12. > :24:19.me going through rough times so I don't want to betray them. Maybe a
:24:19. > :24:26.sidetrack. I am not sure. A sidestep, we will see. Very
:24:26. > :24:34.difficult to say how angry I felt that my five-year-old daughter's
:24:34. > :24:39.school was no longer a place of complete security from journalists.
:24:39. > :24:42.On Leveson you gave a moving account about what happened to you.
:24:42. > :24:45.Do you think it will change anything?
:24:45. > :24:49.It is a massive question for our culture. We have got to get it
:24:49. > :24:56.right. I believe in the freedom of the press passionately, but having
:24:56. > :25:02.been on the receiving end of some dubious, illegal behaviour, how do
:25:02. > :25:07.the cleaners up? I do not know. I hope and pray it does change things.
:25:07. > :25:14.-- clean this up. It is toxic what has been allowed to go on. Thank
:25:14. > :25:18.you very much. Very interesting stuff. It is
:25:18. > :25:22.understood to of the five terrorism suspects facing extradition to the
:25:22. > :25:27.United States from the UK have asked the High Court to block their
:25:27. > :25:32.removal. The two suspects have filed an application to stage their
:25:32. > :25:34.extradition. We cannot say at the moment which of the five suspects
:25:34. > :25:39.they are but campaigners on their behalf have launched a private
:25:39. > :25:43.prosecution against them to get the case heard in the UK, rather than
:25:43. > :25:47.in the US. Obviously we will keep a cross that story for you.
:25:47. > :25:52.Here in the UK the worst September storms for 30 years have blown
:25:52. > :25:56.through the country. One part of Scotland, in fact, it caused quite
:25:56. > :26:04.an unusual sight. Gale force winds and torrential rain combined to
:26:04. > :26:06.blow what was he sand filled foam off the North Sea and into the
:26:06. > :26:11.street of Aberdeen. Severe conditions have been causing
:26:11. > :26:17.flooding, disrupting rail and ferry services in much of Scotland, but
:26:17. > :26:21.not like this everywhere. For one little chap there in Aberdeen this
:26:21. > :26:25.invasion looked like nothing but great fun.
:26:25. > :26:30.New pictures of the missing 15- year-old schoolgirl Medhin stammer
:26:30. > :26:39.and her 30 world maths teacher had been released by police -- 30-year-
:26:39. > :26:42.old maths teacher. -- Megan Stammers. An investigation into
:26:42. > :26:48.their relationship had been going on for several months after they
:26:48. > :26:54.were spotted holding hands on a school trip. Just to remind you, if