02/10/2012 BBC World News

Six crew members arrested after 37 people died in a collision between

two boats in Hong Kong. Victory to Georgia's opposition, the President

goes on television to concede victory in the parliamentary

elections. The Chinese authorities prevent dissident artist Ai

Weiwei's company from trading. Welcome to BBC World News. Also

coming up in the programme, surviving in Syria, we are in

Damascus where people are struggling to earn a living because

of tough economic sanctions. And the death of the Great Barrier Reef,

why the world's biggest choral system could be gone in 20 years. -

First this morning, police in Hong Kong have arrested six crew members

following a collision that left 37 people dead. The authorities say

the group is being investigated for operating the boat and safely.

Dozens of passengers were thrown into the water when the pleasure

boat sank in busy waters south of Hong Kong island. It had been

taking people to live fireworks display to mark the national day.

Juliana Liu reports from Hong Kong. The search and recovery operation

continues after Hong Kong suffered one of the worst public transport

disasters in recent memory. This is all that is left of a passenger

vessel owned by Asia's richest man. He was not on board, but his

employees at Hong Kong Electric and their families were on a company

outing to watch fireworks when it collided with another boat. More

than 120 people were on board when it sank. Dozens did not survive.

The government blamed the poor visibility and the presence of

numerous obstacles preventing passengers from escaping Staveley.

Survivors, some of whom suffered from hypothermia, have been taken

to hospitals across Hong Kong. The cause of the accident, which took

place over a long holiday weekend, is still not known. Officials have

said the priority is to locate all the missing passengers.

Well, Julie and I gave a small details of the arrest of the six

crew members. -- Juliana Liu. We heard during a press conference

from the chief executive of Hong Kong and hence of police and other

government units. They have updated as on the death toll, it is now 37

people confirmed dead, 32 adults and five children. The number for

the children is the first time we have had confirmation that children

have indeed died in his accident. Now, the officials have said that

they have also arrested six crew members from the crews of the two

boats involved. They have said that they have broken marine regulations

and that they are looking at possibly arresting even more people,

looking at possible criminal charges, although that has not

obviously been finalised. The rescue mission continues, because

the government says they cannot be sure that there are not more

missing... They do not know exactly how many more people are missing,

so the press conferences just concluding, but it is clear that

the rest the method and the investigation is really just

beginning. This is quite an unusual event in

Hong Kong, isn't it? Our people up in arms, or are they still stunned

and trying to absorb the detail? I think people are very shocked by

the magnitude of his accident, Martine. Hong Kong is very proud of

its great infrastructure and safety record. It is very rare that an

accident of this kind would happen, and even more rare that we are

talking about fatalities in the dozens. No-one can really remember

the last time that this happened. Of course, as you know, thousands

of people take the ferries in Hong Kong from different islands from

Hong Kong island to the outlying islands every single day. This is

perceived to be a very safe form of public transport and has been for

decades, so people are pretty much in shock.

In Georgia, the President has been on television to concede victory to

the opposition, the Georgian Dream party. Now, this contest marks the

first time in the post-Soviet history of the country that power

has changed hands through elections rather than revolution. OK, we can

get the very latest now on at breaking news from the BBC's

Russian Service correspondent. Mikhail Saakashvili went on

television to concede. Absolutely, and this marks the change, because

the worries among the analysts were that the political process, the

political argument will spill onto the streets, rather than be solved

in a normal, democratic manner. And the fact that nobody tried to use

violence or false to change the result of the election, change the

balance of power in a non- democratic way, it is a big mark

for Georgia. What do we know of the Georgian Dream coalition? Well,

this is a rag-tag army. They are basically small opposition party

that did not find a common platform with the United Georgia movement,

but they've found such a big personality, a Georgian billionaire,

been seen at Ivanishvili, who tried to get them into one coalition. But

still the coalition lacks a clear political platform, a programme of

what they want to do, and they will have to get to work and tried to

formalise some kind of relationship between themselves. And always

Georgette is beset by problems with regard to its relationship with

Russia. -- Georgia. How will that play out with the new coalition in

power? There are two major territorial conflicts going on, and

one is the breakaway republic, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In 2008,

in August, Russia invaded parts of Georgia and also used forces in the

South Ossetia to formalise and break away and announce their

independence, and by now Russia is one of only a few countries that

supports and recognises the independence of South Ossetia and

Abkhazia. But at the same time, the Russian leadership has said they

will not talk to Mikhail Saakashvili when he was President.

Maybe they will be able and willing to talk to Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Thank you very much indeed. The Chinese authorities are

revoking the company licence of the dissident artists Ai Weiwei. He is

an outspoken critic of the Chinese authorities whose detention last

year, you may remember, sparked international condemnation. This

move follows a court ruling last week which denied him the right of

appeal against a tax fine imposed on his company. From Beijing,

Martin Patience explains what this means.

Well, it means that his company will not be licensed, therefore it

cannot be a business in China. We understand that Ai Weiwei was told

of this decision on Sunday, he then posted it on the blog, and it shows

that because he failed to register the company, then its licence is

being revoked. Interestingly, the artist Ai Weiwei wrote in his blog

that the reason that he was not allowed to re-register his company

was that the very documents which had been confiscated by the

authorities were needed for this re-registration process. So

certainly it does seem convoluted. However, we have spoken to a lawyer

who works on Ai Weiwei's behalf, that is the BBC, and he says that

Ai Weiwei will be appealing the decision against the licence being

revoked for his artistic company. So effectively, I am sure that he

would say that this is another turning of the screw, the Chinese

authorities trying to prevent him from making a living.

Well, yes, and his supporters would say that as well. The background to

all of this was that one year ago Ai Weiwei was detained for almost

three months incommunicado. That led to an international outcry, why

did that happen? Protests were sweeping North Africa, supporters

of Ai Weiwei say it is not because he is an artist but because he is

an outspoken critic of the government. When he was then

released from that secret detention, his company, which sells all his

artistic work, it faced a huge tax fine. Now, Ai Weiwei has fought

that tax fine, but just last week he lost that appeal to pay that tax

fine. He says that is the end of the legal road on that issue. He

and his supporters will see this as another hammer from the authorities,

designed, a move by ill authorities designed to try and silence one of

the men who was one of the most outspoken critics of the ruling

Communist Party in China. Martin Patience reporting from

Beijing. Jaime Paz the business news. We are starting with serious

charges being levelled at JP Morgan. It is a very old story going back

five or six years, and it is coming back to haunt us, America's biggest

bank, JP Morgan Chase, is being sued by the New York Attorney-

General, accused of defrauding mortgage investors. The alleged

fraud may have cost investors as much as $20 billion. I'm joined now

from central London by Alastair McCague, an analyst with IAG. Give

us the background about what is alleged to have happened. Well, yes,

this really does date back to 2006- 2007, where Bear Stearns, in regard

to their mortgage-backed securities business really had manipulated the

market and then sold products to a vast array of people, really on the

back of very complicated mortgages on properties where there was a

very high chance of default. Certainly, the best side of that

was not properly explained to those who got involved. -- risk. It is

harsh and JP Morgan, because one could say that they were forced

into taking over Bear Stearns, and it all happened before they took

them over. Yes, this is rather curious, it was rushed through over

the course of a weekend, and it was the US government to put this

forward, not JP Morgan who requested it. It was going to be

the US government he would have to bailout Bear Stearns if it had not

been put through. We can draw similarities between the way that

Lloyds acquired HBOS over here in the UK, very similar cases, when

the government really tried to push that room, and under normal

circumstances it probably would not have happened. This is a case where

damages are being sought, not a criminal case at the moment,

because one of the big arguments as been that we have been through one

of the worst financial crises in history and nobody is in jail, or

very few anyway. I think the Attorney-General in New York, his

attention -- his intention is in the right place but his target may

be wrong. He is going to have real problems to push this through, and

if you are looking at is in a cynical way, this is on the behest

of a working group set up by President Obama, and we are only a

month or so away from the elections. It is going to make for very good

headlines, it will potentially appease some people that

retribution may be dished out, but arguably it might not go anywhere

in the long run. Well then the other prosecutions? Bear Stearns

was not the only one to push these mortgages. -- will lead the other

prosecutions? Other targets may be more realistic to get some kind of

success and financial retribution from. I do not think that JP Morgan

ultimately will suffer in this. Certainly, its name is being

tarnished, but whether there will be financial penalties, I am

slightly sceptical. Thank you very much indeed.

Over 79,500 people lost their jobs in Spain in the last month alone,

taking the total number of unemployed to 4.7 million, putting

more pressure on the Prime Minister, who was facing battles on several

fronts, the markets, the streets and now amongst the leaders of the

country's regions. He is meeting them later today. He needs to

persuade all 17 of them to follow his austerity regime. The most

troubling of the regions is Catalonia, when the government is

threatening to break away from Spain. All this worries the

financial markets, of course, which is why the government is seeing

borrowing costs climb again. Catalonia, with Barcelona as

capital, is an economic powerhouse for Spain. But its government needs

a bail-out of $6.5 billion to avoid imminent bankruptcy. Backed by

popular demonstrations against rule from Madrid, Catalonia's leaders

are demanding that they and not the central government should have the

power to raise taxes in the region. Catalonia wants to have the same

regime as the Basque country and basically raise its own taxes and

therefore be able to say to the government, we do what we want with

the money we raise. If they manage to do that, you will have not only

one government to focus on, but 17 or 18. The Prime Minister wants to

show European leaders and the markets that he can master Spain's

financial problems. Last week, his government unveiled a budget which

slashes central government spending by $50 billion. But the regions

spent no less than 40% of all public money, or things like

healthcare and social services. And the Prime Minister need then to cut

spending as well for his austerity programme to gain any ground.

cannot bring the regions to heal, likely to overshoot its targets,

just as it did in 2011, and it did so significantly, in part because

of overspending in the regions, so bringing these wayward regions to

heel is absolutely key if he is to meet these targets. Spain's

problems with its regions have sapped market confidence over the

past three weeks, pushing interest rates on government borrowing back

up to dangerous levels and making it ever more likely that Spain will

need to request the bail-out from the European Union. For Catalonia

secateurs, this would mean swapping Madrid's demands for cuts with cuts

imposed with Brussels. No great advance in their quest for

Airline regulators in India have been meeting with executives from

Kingfisher Airlines today to discuss safety issues as doubts

grow about the company's future. Labour unrest at the company forced

the carrier to cancel all flights until Thursday. Engineers are

striking in protest at not being paid since March.

Our reporter has been following the story from Mumbai.

The chief executive officer of Kingfisher Airlines met the

regulator and told them they are trying to resolve the issues and

the salaries to employees will be resolved in the next four macro

weeks. The came back with a date to their airline regulator as to

whether they are fit to fly on not. The striking workers said they

won't come back to work until their salaries are paid. The management

will say they will pay up to one month's salary. Whether they come

back to work or not, that is the question. Airlines cannot fly

because it is essential for engineers to certify the aeroplane

before it takes off. The aviation regulator is clear it won't let

Kingfisher airline fly until the A look at the markets. There is an

expectation there will be a bail out the Spain. Nobody is admitting

it yet and the official line is, it is not going to happen. That is the

You're watching BBC World News. Coming up: Surviving in Syria -

we're in Damascus where people Workers in north eastern France

occupied the site of two idle Arcelor Mittal steel furnaces on

Monday, as management and unions met in Paris to decide their fate.

The furnaces have been out of operation since last year due to

lack of demand. From Paris, Hugh Schofield reports.

They are the last blast furnaces here, once the crucible of the

French steel industry. After more than a year sitting idle, they will

be closed down definitively. The Indian steel tycoon, Arcelor Mittal

has said it is surplus to requirements. And there is a glut

in European steel production and demand has dropped by a quarter

since the start of the economic crisis. The decision was announced

at a meeting at the headquarters in Paris. Some union members tried to

break into the meeting but was stopped by police. Afterwards they

spoke of their anger. It was, they said, a black day for French

industry. TRANSLATION: It is official, the

date will remain in the history books. Arcelor Mittal has just

announced the definitive closure of offices. Steel will never be melted

here any more. We demand today to take his -- take the responsibility

and nationalise all Arcelor Mittal sites in France.

The news means a more than 600 jobs are to go. The company has made one

concession - it has agreed to give the Government 60 days to find a

buyer for the furnaces. But there is little hope. Across France, the

economic outlook is grim, at the 3 million unemployed figure was hit

last week and every day brings a new toll of lay-offs. Now this,

part of France's industrial heartland is joining the statistics.

The Colombian President has confirmed he has prostate cancer.

He will have to go under grip -- will have to undergo surgery in the

next few days. It does not mean he will have to start a -- stop

working. The announcement comes days ahead of the crucial peace

talks between the Colombian Government and the leftist rebels.

The Facebook founder has made a rare appearance in a suit in Russia.

He was talking to Dmitry Medvedev. We thought it would be nice for you

to see him in a suit and tie. This is BBC World News. The

headlines: At least 37 people have died in an accident involving two

passenger boats in Hong Kong. Police have arrested six crew

members. Victory to Georgia's opposition.

The President goes on television to concede victory in the

parliamentary elections. In the High Court in London,

lawyers for the radical Muslim cleric, Abu Hamza, are challenging

his extradition to the United States on health grounds. The

appeal is being seen as a last- ditch attempt by Mr Hamza to avoid

being sent to the US, where he faces accusations of kidnapping and

planning to establish a terrorist training camp. The BBC's Home

Affairs Correspondent, Dominic Casciani, is at the High Court.

They are trying to prove, the lawyers that that is, that his

health is deteriorating? We thought a couple of weeks ago this story,

this case was as good as over, the judges in the highest courts of

Strasbourg and the European Court of Human Rights would force him to

the US and the process was over. Now we have heard there is this

last ditch appeal. It relates to his health. His lawyers have

brought evidence, which we are not allowed to see because it is

confidential medical evidence, and his health is deteriorating. They

said he needs an MRI scan, a body scan to assess the exact nature of

his health since he has been in prison since 2004. What of their

argument comes down to, if this scan confirms his health is

deteriorating, perhaps a mental problems, he would be unfit to

stand trial in the United States. If he is unfit to stand trial, an

extradition would be unlawful and be oppressive. It is an unusual

arguments to run in the 11th hour. But it is one we have heard before.

It you cast your mind back to more than a decade, when General

Pinochet was facing extradition from the UK and human rights

charges. His extradition was stopped on similar grounds when it

was ruled he wouldn't be fit to stand trial in Spain where he would

be extradited. This is a very, very complicated case. I have not seen a

High Court as full as it is, every bench is taken by lawyers and

journalists and interested parties. I don't suspect we will get an

answer from the two senior judges today, because they are complex

arguments they need to address and potentially reopen his case at the

11th hour. You alluded to the amount of public interest because

he has become a celebrity, much reviled in Britain. There had been

a collective sigh of relief when it was announced he would be

extradited to the United States. You cannot explain how important

this case is, to Government ministers in the UK and by

extension, administrators in the US in Washington. They have fought to

get this man out of the UK and on trial in the US. It has come down

to this final hearing. There has been enormous public concern that

Abu Hamza or ran a mosque the years before he was evicted. Some of that

concern has been about the legal costs. His lawyers have said this

morning they stopped taking public money in 2008 and they are

representing him pro Bono, effectively for free because they

feel the issues are important and need to be discussed, debated and

ruled upon in the highest courts in the UK. There is a lot to play for.

If Abu Hamza loses in the next couple of days, we expect the US

authorities to send an aeroplane to the UK very quickly to take him to

face trial. The next time we would see him is a courtroom in New York.

Thanks very much. The diplomatic stand-off between

the West on one hand and Syria continued at the UN General

Assembly yesterday. But people have more pressing concerns like how to

earn a living. This is one of the many peaceful

remaining parts of Damascus. The old city so far has been immune

from the fighting. On the face of it, life seems to be normal here.

Beyond the laughter, there are many concerns. It is not just the

violence that Syrians are suffering from. The situation is becoming

tough. At the historical bizarre of Damascus, it used to be packed full

of people, tourists and ordinary customers. But 18 months into the

crisis, the people you find here are passers-by or those who are

trying to buy their basic needs. Everyone seems to be looking not

buying. This shopkeeper is complaining. He

tells me he had only 10 customers today. In the past, lots of

tourists were coming. He tells me it is becoming hard with this

situation. I asked this woman how is she coping with rising prices?

She tells me or the economy is bad. Whenever you buy something, she

says, you run out of money. As for this fruit seller, it is all about

safety. He tells me, everyone is affected by the crisis and people

are hardly making ends meet. All levels of society are feeling the

strain. Karim Malas is a young businessman and has been out of

work for more than a year. What are you going to do? We are considering

leaving the country. When you are not generating income, you have

depleted your savings, what do you do when you have a family and kids