03/10/2012 BBC World News

At least 30 people killed in bomb- blasts in Aleppo, Syria's second

city. Hamas is accused of torture, police

brutality and arbitrary arrests in Gaza.

And further tensions between China and Japan in their islands dispute.

This time three Chinese ships enter the frame.

Welcome to BBC World News. I'm pert Dobbie. -- Peter Dobbie. Also in

the programme: The US presidential campaign heats up. Barack Obama and

Mitt Romney prepare to go head to head in a televised debate on the

economy. And supermarket giant Tesco posts

its first fall in profits in nearly Our top story.

In Syria, at least 30 people have been killed in a series of

explosions in the northern city of Aleppo. Three bombs exploded in an

area controlled by Government forces. Two of the attacks took

place in a central square and another outside the nearby town

hall. Fighting between Government forces and rebels in Aleppo has

recently intensified, splitting the city in two. Our correspondent, Jim

Muir, is in Beirut. He says the death toll is set to rise.

Obviously there are people who are being pulled from the rubble

probably even as we speak, some of them alive, some dead, some of them

with injuries to which they will later succumb. Initially the

figures start going up. State TV is saying 31 killed and dozens injured.

Other figures from other killed are higher, 40 killed and so on.

There'll finally be a reliable figure at the end of the day but it

may be some time before the full magnitude becomes clear. What's

clear from the pictures from state TV and others, as there are several

sympathetic to the Government TV stations in the Aleppo area.

They've all been with live pictures showing huv devastation. Several

build "their fronts ripped off. Others virtually demolished, huge

piles of debris going down into the square. Very big blasts leaving

huge craters as well. And casualties being carried away in

improvised stretchers made from blankets and so on. It's a scene of

complete devastation. Right at the heart of the part of Aleppo still

under control, in Saadallah al- Jabari Square. A hotel there

virtually demolished. The officers club directly hit. Right at the

heart of the Government's power, or symbols, in the middle of Aleppo,

the biggest city in the country, over which there's been a struggle

since July, an unresolved one. The Government is trying to break it

but bring up more troops to launch an offensive in the next few days

to try to break the grip of the rebels in the parts of the city

where they are dug Such a difficult couple of days for the people of

Aleppo. One remembers the pictures on Sunday of the central souk being

burnt to the ground almost. That's right. It may have been that which

decided that President Assad according to some reports to finish

the story in Aleppo as quickly as possible, apparently ordering fresh

troops from other areas in the east to try and crack this particularly

difficult nut. There's a kind of axiom that whoever controls Aleppo

will control the country, so I think both sides realise that this

is a vital battle to win in the case of the rebels, if they are to

have a chance of overthrough the regime. And in the case of the

regime if it is a to have a chance of clinging on. Jim Muir in Beirut

there. The Hamas Government in Gaza is

being accused of using torture, police brutality and arbitrary

arrests within its criminal justice system. The allegations come in a

new report from the group, Human Rights Watch. Hamas has denied

widespread abuse. The BBC's Jon Donnison is in Gaza City. A short

time ago he said the Human Rights Watch report contains some fairly

damning accusations. Some pretty strong language from Human Rights

Watch saying that the criminal justice system in Gaza reeks of

injustice. As you say, widespread police brutality, the use of

torture, beatings, in some cases electric shock treatment and people

being arrested arbitrarily. In some cases they've said that three

people, at least, in the last five years have been executed as the

result of confessions extracted through torture. I've been speaking

to one young man who Human Rights Watch spoke to for this report.

He's a supporter of Hamas's rivals, the Fatah movement. He's been

arrested many times in recent years. We've concealed his identity for

obvious reasons but I asked him what happened to him in detention.

TRANSLATION: Conditions of detention were more than bad. I was

subjected to torture, beatings and humiliation. I was not allowed to

sleep for a few days. They put a stinky and heavy bad over my head.

The torture led to a severe pain in my body, especially my neck and

back. The beatings and humiliation continued for several days. One

stripped my leg and burned my foot with a cigarette lighter. I tried

to move my foot and they held me down and burned me again. What's

the reaction there? It is interesting, as Ingham as have been

more open to this criticism as they would have been in the past. Human

Rights Watch have held a press conference the last hour sitting

alongside Hamas officials, something I don't think would have

happened in the past. As you might expect, Hamas have denied some of

the allegations made in this report. I've been speaking to Hamas's

Deputy Foreign Minister. I think the situation now has become more

better than in the past. Can I confirm that there is no kind of

torture inside Gaza. Because our rules and the censorship inside the

prisons and the jail centres and everywhere. I have a good

connection with all human rights organisations here in Gaza. I think

one of the interesting things here that in the climate of the Arab

Spring, where Hamas had been very critical of brutality in Basharal

Assad's Syria and Hosni Mubarak's Egypt, Hamas perhaps not wanting to

be tarred with the same brush. Figures from Tesco out today.

the biggest retailer in the UK. In fact every �1 out of �7 or �8 spent

on the ground in the UK, that �1 goes through a Tesco till. They are

a giant. But we are seeing a first drop in profits for 20 years. 1994

was the last time we saw a drop in profits. Big problems at home.

They've been spending $1.5 billion on a revamp in the UK business,

employing 8,000 staff and trying to turn that around. But the other

problem is Tesco is in many places around the world and the

international operations are struggling. You've got the eurozone

crisis having a big impact on its European operations. The US, which

has always been a bit of a struggle with its US operations. That

continues drag its feet. And south Korea. They were pinning a lot of

hopes there, but new regulations about store opening hours for big

retailers is having an impact. New foods for customers to pop in

their trolleys, more staff to give service on the shop floor. Tesco

has been battling for months to stop customers drifting off to

rivals. The hope is that halfway through its financial year it may

just have arrested decline at home. But a third of Tesco's trade is now

international and here, too, trouble seemed to be mounting.

Countries in Asia and Eastern Europe have been success stories,

but international operations are becoming volatile, and overall they

aren't providing sufficient return for investors Particular, South

Korea has ordered twice-monthly Sunday closures to protect local

markets, and that is Tesco's biggest singlet overseas territory.

And questions remain among analysts as to whether Tesco might decide to

quit its loss-making US Fresh and Easy chain. Priority number one is

stabilising the UK business. We've seen progress there. They need to

ride out the storm in Ireland, a tricky market. The next item on

their list is fissioning the US business and turning that into a

profitable operation, probably a couple of years away. Perhaps lower

down are rolling out e-commerce to the rest of their markets in

Eastern Europe and Asia. Operational issues such as those.

Tesco may be part of the community here but it has just pulled out of

Japan. It has shown it is ready to take tough decisions. The problem

is it is trying to fix the business overseas while also trying to

revive it at home. Retail expert Raoul Sharma

explained what has gone wrong for tegs cooverseas. -- Tesco overseas.

In Europe and Asia Tesco are not doing as well as their peers are.

It is to do with exposure to large stores. Consumers don't like the

fact that potentially the price image isn't as good. They don't

like the temptation of going into large stores, where in tough times

they end up buying things they don't want to. You see the mistakes

in the UK potentially being made overseas.

Talks are continuing together between the Greek Government and

its international lenders, known as the troika. The two parties are at

loggerheads over 2 billion euros worth of savings in the package of

austerity measures. The total package is 13.5 billion euros. The

Greeks must pass all of us in order to get the next vital stalment of

that bail-out money. -- instalment of that bail-out money. There's

still real deadlock over these 2 billion euros worth of cuts within

the larger package. What the Government wants is to be able to

cut back in defence, health and local authority spending. What the

troika says is that's not going to work. They want more across the

board cuts to jobs, salaries and pensions. But the Finance Minister

says that could prompt such an outburst of anger here that it

could lead the Government to fall. We saw a huge demonstration last

week. 50,000 people on the streets here. There's a lot of anger over

the cuts to come. Already lots of job cuts and salary cuts included

in the package. The Government feels they need to try to soften

the blow by restructuring other areas. The troika says that

wouldn't work. All of this means that Greece's payout of the next

instalment of its loan may be delayed. The 21 billion euros that

was going to be signed off at the EU summit in October might be

pushed back because of this disagreement. Let's touch on some

of the other business stories. A post-Olympic snurge the number of

holiday-makers visiting the -- surge in the number of lol day

makers visiting the -- holiday- makers visiting the UK, according

to EasyJet. The hivery coast has fixed its

price for cocoa at $2.41 per kilo. Farmers will receive 60% of that

price 2. 2% goes to exporters and middlemen. The next to the

Government. The Ivory Coast has been trying to boost the income tax

of farmers to encourage investment. As Iran's currency continues to

fall, official money trade ers in Tehran have held a protest

demanding the Governor's resignation, and chanting anti-

Government slogans. The President has blamed western sanctions for

the crisis, but many Iranians accuse him of financial

accuse him of financial mismanagement.

European markets, a bit of a mixed bag. Every waiting to see the

decision by these international lenders to Greece. This is vital

for Greece to get its next chunk of bail-out money. Those international

lenders are finalising this report card. We should have it in a week's

time. The Asian markets, they are a bit mixed as well. All eyes on the

US jobs numbers on Friday. Whether or not the US can shake

that stubborn 8% unemployment. that televised debate today about

Still to come: further tensions between China and Japan in their

islands dispute. This time three Chinese ships enter the fray.

In the Ukraine the Parliament has given initial backing on a ban on

the promotion of gay rights activity. A similar law was adopted

in the Russian city of St Peter's bug recently and led to the arrest

of several same sex couples. The group outside the Ukrainian

Parliament was small but vocal. Gay rights campaigners gathered to

protest about a bill that would make this demonstration illegal.

The bill which has just passed its first reading would make promoting

homosexuality a criminal offence, with those found guilty facing jail.

TRANSLATION: We will not be able to come out with posters like today

with our symbols. To say publicly that you are a homosexual or a less

ban would be considered propaganda. The Bill has been criticised by

human rights groups but is not without its supporters, who held

their own counter protest outside TRANSLATION: This worries us and we

demand a ban and punishment. The decision to pass the bill was

supported by more than half of Ukraine's members of Parliament.

The bill doesn't clearly define what the promotion of homosexuality

is, but it states that it's a threat to national security and

threatens family life. Gay rights campaigners fear the country could

follow the city of St Petersburg in Russia, where gay couples have been

arrested, but the bill has to pass a second reading and be approved by

the President, before it becomes law. A leaked draft report has

uncovered problems. It says some measures agreed 20 years ago still

haven't been implemented in certain countries and it might need up to

$30 billion to put it right. Now, look very closely. This is the

scene in Rome, the dome of St Peter's Basilica shining in the

autumn sunlight, but if you look near the top half, you can see the

figure of a man. Marcello Di Finizio jumped over the railings

near the top of the 137-metre-high dome on Tuesday and abseiled to

that ledge over the window to unfurl his banner. He's protesting

against austerity measures. This is BBC World News. The headlines - at

least 30 people are killed in a series of explosions in Aleppo,

Syria's second city. The Hamas government denies accusations of

torture, police brutality and arbitrary arrests in Gaza. A

Chinese-owned firm in the US is suing President Barack Obama after

he blocked a wind farm deal on national security grounds. Ralls

Corp, a private firm, bought four wind farm projects near a US naval

facility in Oregon earlier this year. Mr Obama signed the order

blocking the deal last week. The lawsuit alleges the US Government

overstepped its authority. There's been a renewed flare-up in tension

between China and Japan over disputed islands in the East China

Sea. Three Chinese maritime surveillance vessels have entered

Japan's territorial waters around the Japanese-controlled Senkaku

Islands, known as the Diaoyu Islands in Chinese. This follows

further incursions by Chinese vessels into Japanese waters on

Monday and Tuesday. Our correspondent in Tokyo is Rupert

Wingfield-Hayes. It's pretty clear now that the Japanese Government

badly miscalculated when it moved to nationalise three of the islands

in the East China Sea last month. That move has prompted Beijing to

assert its sovereignty claim to the Senkaku Islands or Diaoyu Islands

as never before. Chinese ships are sailing into waters around the

islands on a regular, almost, daily basis, testing Japan's resolve.

After the latest incursion today the Foreign Minister said the

dispute must be calmed down peacefully, but the Chinese side

appears in no mood for dialogue. There are reports from Tokyo today

that several Chinese-state-run banks have pulled out of a major

International Monetary Fund and World Bank conference here in Tokyo

next week without any explanation and while the Japanese Foreign

Minister is saying he wants this resolved peacefully, he also said

today that Japan will never back down on its sovereignty claim. We

cannot see what we cannot see, he told Japanese journalists. The

danger now is that as China continues to test Japan's resolve

there will come a point where Tokyo feels it has to respond. In South

Africa, the commission investigating the killing of 34

miners at the Lonmin Platinum Mine in Marikana will be hearing from

forensic experts and crime scene investigators and will examine

pathology reports. The Judicial Commission, which is led by judge

Ian Farlam, will look into the roles of the police, the mine

management, government and the unions. With just over one month to

go until election day in the US, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will

go head to head for the first time in a televised debate on the

economy. Live now to Rome to our reporter regarding the trial of the

Pope's butler. In terms of testimony this gets more

interesting and more interesting. It does, indeed. We heard today in

court from four police officers who conducted a search of the butler's

apartment and they said they came across a vast number of documents.

We knew that they were kept in something like more than 80 boxes

in different parts of the butler's home and it included many, many

printouts on all kinds of subjects. As you say, secret sex, on masonry

and on Silvio Berlusconi and yoga - a vast range of subjects, but the

police narrowed down about 1,000 documents, which they felt were

directly relevant to the case against the butler. A number of

photo copies and among them several original documents that would have

passed across the Pope's desk. far as this evidence today from

these three or four Vatican police officers giving evidence, doing

research into the occult and yoga it's perfectly legal and allowable

and it -- allowable and it doesn't prove membership and we get the

indicator and we are nudged to the idea that the Vatican is not

holding back when it is going after this man in anyway at all?

Certainly, we are finding out a great deal more about the butler's

private interests, but I don't think that they are going to count

for a very great deal in the end. This case is about aggravated theft,

the official theft. It will narrow down to whether the judges decide

that he did indeed take documents from his employer's study and

whether he took, as well, three other items, a rare book, a nugget

of gold, he's accused of taking that home with him and

extraordinarily, 100,000 euro cheque made out in the name of the

Pope. Now, he says with regard to those items he had been allowed to

borrow the book. He didn't know the nugget was there. Denied it was

part of his possessions or anything like that. He said that he had

never seen the cheque, as part of the documents that he was scooping

up and taking home with him. Thank you very much. With over one month

to go until election day in the US, President Obama and Mitt Romney go

head to head for the first time in a televised debate later today

focusing on the economy. The president is under attack from the

Republicans, accused of failing to deliver strong economic growth and

crucially, much-needed jobs after the recession. Nowhere is that felt

more than in Reno Nevada, home to the highest unemployment rate in

the country. Reno is a bit less Vegas than Las Vegas. It might be

little, but the voters could have a big impact. Casinos - once the

city's lifeblood are in decline. Few places in America were worse

hit by recession. Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the

country. President Obama won here comfortably four years ago. This

time it will be closer. You are going to have a big choice to make

and it's not just a choice between two candidates or two political

parties. It's a choice between two different paths for this Government.

-- for this country. This is the other path, Mitt Romney, the

businessman turned politician, who is promising to turn the economy

around. He has slipped a little in the polls, but it's still too close

to call. He's debates are an opportunity for each of us to

describe the path forward we choose and the American people are going

to have to make their choices as to what kind of America they want.

More money is being spent on this election than ever before. Who wins

depends on how people vote in a handful of swing states and more

specifically in a few areas of those states. And so all that money

is being spent on bombarding the undecided with TV ads and with

phone calls. This is the President Obama campaign. I'm a volunteer.

The Democrats have a well-oiled campaign machine. It was grassroots

supporters inspiring new voters who won the President his first term in

office. We are outnumbering Republicans with new voter

registration and we have volunteers in here every day making phone

calls and we have a paid canvassing team that's been on the ground for

months now and we'll have a large army of volunteers on the ground

when it's time to get out to vote. Just down the road, the Republicans

are doing exactly the same thing, and in a swing state your phone's

always ringing. We always know that down near Las Vegas that always

goes Democrat and in the others all Republican. This county here right

here, whichever way it goes it will term how the state goes. How is it

going? The competition is very much on and people are divided. The man

that can put more people to work, that can get our economy better is

the man who is going to go through. Have you decided how to vote?

Who? I'm going with Romney. Romney is for the rich and we are just the

middle class that is talked about. I hope whoever wins is going to do

the job for all the people not just some of the people. Have you

decided how you'll vote? Not yet. Which way the undecided voters go

depends on what happens in four short weeks. Well, in some US

states people don't have to wait for the official election day

before they can vote. Ballot boxes in Ohio opened for the first time

on Tuesday morning and some people camped overnight so they could be

amongst the first to make their choice. Ohio is one of several

states where residents don't have to give a reason to vote early, a

system which helps avoid long queues at polling stations on

election day. At least 30 people have been killed in a series of

explosions in Aleppo. Three bombs, maybe four, according to one report,

explode ing in an area controlled by Government forces. Two of the

attacks took place in a central square and another outside the