11/10/2012 BBC World News

Moscow demands to know why Turkish jets forced a Syrian passenger

plane to land at Ankara. Lance Armstrong, cycling legend and

allegedly behind the most sophisticated doping conspiracy in

sporting history. Also, more pressure mounting on Madrid as it

tries to resist growing calls to Tensions between Moscow and Turkey

are on the rise after Ankara said it found illegal equipment on a

Syrian flight from Moscow bound for Damascus. The plane was forced down

by Turkish fighter jets and some of its cargo has been withheld. The

plane itself has been allowed to continue on its journey, but Russia

is demanding an explanation. In the darkness at Ankara airport, the

Turkish authorities began their examination of the Syrian passenger

plane. It had been intercepted by Turkish fighter jets and forced to

land as it crossed Turkish airspace. There were around 30 passengers on

board the Airbus A 320. Turkey's Foreign Minister said the aircraft

had been carrying illegal cargo. He said objector no materials had been

confiscated. TRANSLATION: We will keep the

materials in Turkey to be examined. Some evidence is in question

because there are some materials that needed to be declared but

weren't. The Syrian air jet was on a scheduled flight from Moscow to

Damascus. But as it was flying south, Turkey demanded that the

plane diverted to an cava. -- Ankara. This amounts to increase

tension between Turkey and Syria. There's been a week of sporadic

shelling on the border, with Turkish Gunners responding to what

appeared to be strays Syrian shells. Turkey's government has put its

military on a high state of readiness. Russia wants an

explanation from Turkey about last night's events. And Syria has

described the incident as an act of piracy. An airline official in

Damascus said the cargo had been legitimate and he accused the

Turkish authorities of using aggression against the cruel before

the plane was allowed to leave. -- against the crew. A gunman has

assessed the -- assassinated be Yemeni chief of security at the

American embassy in the Yemen capital, Sana'a. We will get what

we can on that now. As far as the details go, what has happened?

we understand is that masked gunmen on a motorbike appeared to have

opened fire and then fled on a car carrying this Yemeni chief of

security at the embassy and killed him. It very much looks like a

target in killing on this individual. He was in his 50s, had

been working at the embassy for about 20 years. He is likely to

have been quite well known and therefore might well have been

picked out by militants. So not actually outside the embassy or

involved with in the compound. I make that point because with coming

off the back of the sustained attacks on various American

premises over the course of the last few weeks. That's right.

Particularly the attack on Benghazi on the September 11th anniversary

has become very political in America. Were there any warnings? A

row that same period, again, linked to a video that had offended many

people in the Islamic world, they will also -- there were also

attacks on the US embassy in sat nav. People stormed that embassy.

That did look very different what happened in Benghazi, though. But

this killing looks much more in the model of what Al-Qaeda in the

Arabian peninsula have been doing recently, which is carrying out the

assassination attempts and high- profile attacks, particularly in

the capital and against officials. That is very interesting inasmuch

as there are plenty of observers who have gone close to writing off

Al-Qaeda in the Arab peninsula with the Yemen in the course of the last

few months. They've had some setbacks because I think the

government has been pushing hard with some American support in the

background to try and knock them down, with quite big military

engagements, trying to push them out of towns where they are taking

control. But they have been responding that these very high-

profile attacks, particularly in the capital. Trying to assassinate

the Defence Minister and attacks like this. They are definitely not

out of action. And they are catching attention. To a rather

different story, but as a cyclist, Lance Armstrong could be described

as the most sophisticated professional and successful racer

of all time. But that very phrase is now the one being used to

characterise the extent to which he cheated, according to the USA anti-

doping agency. It has published its report. It concludes that Armstrong,

his seven time one of the Tour de France, was involved in a highly

elaborate doping programme, something he has long denied but is

no longer contesting. You can read the report - that you can't read

the report and not be utterly convinced of Armstrong's Guild. The

conspiracy of doping within his team. However, Armstrong seems to

be as defiant as ever. I don't see any signs of any kind of admission

from him at any point. Is this going to end in an entirely

unsatisfactory situation for everyone who wants a sense that

justice has been done one way or the other because Lance Armstrong

World contest? We've still got his lawyer saying, this is just a

hatchet job on Armstrong. Yes, it's difficult. It's a complicated

situation when there is no positive drugs test, no smoking gun. That's

the one thing that he would struggle to contest. Although other

athletes before him have contested positive tests. I'm sure he will go

on being defiant. His lawyers will continue to fight his corner. But I

think that if the UCI, Cycling's world governing body, essentially

rubber-stamp these findings and confirm he will be stripped of his

seven titles, I'm sure an effect will be raised from the last decade

of cycling. Although he can claim to be a seven-times winner, the

records will say otherwise. A That Was Richard Moore, a former cyclist

There is probably no better or worse place to start than Spain.

Another notch on the bedpost for a ratings agency. Absolutely. This is

the pressure. It is mounting on Madrid. Standard and Poor's, the US

credit rating agency, late last night downgraded Spain's credit

rating by two Rogers. Where does that leave Spain, it leaves it on

because of junk status. That means inevitably it will make the

servicing of Spain's huge debt much more expensive. Spain needs to

borrow $260 billion from the international money market. That's

a tough task with the credit rating that is just above junk status. On

top of that, you've got a wok and a hard place and Spain is right in

the middle. That's because Standard and Poor's downgraded Spain, saying

it was visited far as Spain is being so hesitant to put its hand

and ask for a bail-out. On the other hand, you've got Moody's, the

other big credit rating agency, has said, if Spain as for a bail-out,

we are also going to downgrade you. It's a tough position to bien. The

question I put to our man on the ground in Madrid. Also won this

report is S&P's points to some of the political problems here. It

talks about the regional problems with the central government. That

is an indication about Catalonia, the problems of in that North-East

region of Spain, where Barcelona is the capital. Essentially that

region have said, we are not getting enough money from the

central government, we are going to call early elections for late in

November. If the ruling party their wins those elections, they will

hold a referendum on independence. We are a long way from independence

but it's still adding to the political uncertainty, which has

only fuelling the economic crisis. We will keep our eyes on that story.

The oil giant Shell is in court in The Hague today, facing a lawsuit

over three oil spills in Nigeria's Niger Delta or. It's been brought

by a group of fishermen and farmers who say they can no longer feed

their families because the area has been polluted. Shell says the

pollution was caused by oil feeds and that it has cleaned up its part

in that process. Tommy -- our correspondent in Lagos says twice

as much oil has been spilt in the Nigeria Delta plan was built in the

Gulf of Mexico. A lot of environmentalists have complained

that this scenario, what you have in the Niger Delta, is nothing

close to, it's a lot larger than what you have to the US Gulf, it

has received as much attention as that in the US did. A lot of these

people of fishermen and farmers. They've not been able to carry

out... To continue with their livelihoods because the water is

polluted and the soil is polluted as well. And there is the

environmental hazard because these people also get their drinking

water from there. They really can't do anything. Is there a sense on

the ground that companies like Shell, and this is not my words,

these are words in many reports, basically have double-standards?

Compared to the oil spills in Nigeria, compared to any spillage

in Europe or America. A lot of people complaining that these

companies are able to get away with so much, to be able to make some

much money from this place and yet not be able to clean up the mess

that they leave. Some of the Niger Delta people are among the poorest

people you find in this country, yet there is so much money being

made right from their backyards. This is what a lot of

environmentalists as well as a lot of these people themselves are

complaining about. They are also saying that Shell and a lot of

these other companies have a huge influence on the Nigerian

government. So the government is not able to put pressure on them to

clean up. He was explaining the situation on the ground in terms of

the oil spill. An energy analyst at eco Bank explained to me what kind

of damage this could do to shell. Let's not forget, Shell has

actually faced a series of lawsuits in Nigeria. We don't often hear

about them because many of them are minor cases. This is quite

significant. There's the whole issue of corporate and social

responsibility. Shell currently contributes a high percentage of

oil from that area. This is coming on the back of a find this year by

Nigerian regulators to the tune of 5 billion against Shell for

environmental pollution. It is a theme which we have seen time and

time again. There are other operators in Nigeria, so I guess

the question here is - could this set a precedent where we could

possibly see other lawsuits against other oil producers down there?

Certainly. It's always a matter of scale. The big five companies, they

all operate in Nigeria to one extent or another. There's also an

issue on the Nigerian side about enforcement of environmental

regulations and the stringency of some of these regulations. That is

obviously a governance problem that needs to be resolved. But Shell

will argue that all will theft, known locally as a oil bunkering,

is a major contributor to many of these oil spills, as is sabotage

and other forms of illegal activity around oil infrastructure. But it

is a major PR headache for Shell. I'm glad you mentioned that about

what Shell says, but what is the sense in terms of people like you

in the industry? In terms of the sabotage, do they have a point?

They can't control the sabotage to pipelines. Part of the problem is

the data around oil spills is highly contentious and

controversial. Whilst companies like Shell, they report leaks from

pipelines, what Bill's report often don't capture is this illegal trade

in crude oil which is on a small- scale and sometimes very lucrative

if oil is stolen directly from oil wells and sold on international

global markets. That could estimate for -- account for almost 25 % of

daily production in Nigeria. The real issue is, how do you separate

bat-pad of illegal activity that caused his bills and pollution from

technical law or neglect on the part of some of these companies? It

is an issue of research and data traffic. It is extremely difficult

in an environment like Nigeria. Briefly, your sense of what will

happen in this case - Wilshere will lose? In this case I suspect, there

are many lawsuits running simultaneously, but this is a very

big case to try and prove the oil spills have directly been caused by

Shell over the course of a decade or so. I think it will drag on.

There will be some sort of perhaps compensation that Shell would need

to pay eventually, but whether it's a despise the full extent of the

Niger Delta farmers who are complaining, who are the plaintiffs,

Hewlett Packard has taken over the market as a best-seller. PCs

continue to lose sales to the likes of tablet computers and smartphones.

Lenovo number one, another first for a big Chinese company, ahead of

Hewlett Packard. Thanks.

Thanks for watching BBC World News. Still to come: How should the

centenary of the outbreak of World War I be remembered in 2014? Stay

with us. Police in Indonesia have raised the

security alert to its highest level after warning of possible terror

attacks on a ceremony this Friday to mark ten years since the Bali

bombings. Over the last deck - decade, Indonesia has seen a string

of small attacks. In recent months, this city's been

in the news for all the wrong reasons. Officials say it's become

a hot bed of extremism, following the high profile arrests last month

of suspected militants here. Some of those arrested studied here,

the Islamic boarding school on the outskids of Solo. On the surface,

this looks like any conservative Muslim boarding school in Indonesia,

but critics say it's a braeding ground for young extremists and

militants. They point to a long list to have school's graduates

mrbgs of whom have been involved in some of the most deadly attacks in

Indonesia. On the school's note its board, the

founder now in prison convicted of terrorism charges. Many say his

influence is still heavily felt amongst students here, but the

principal says, while students are taught to defend Islam, they are

not told to carry out acts of terror.

TRANSLATION: Of course we teach about Jihad here and it's a must

for Muslims, but it cannot be carried out randomly. Our religion,

when it's threatened, and when deprived of our right to follow the

Islamic laws, that's when we look to Jihad. Some Indonesian Muslims

have chosen a different and unusual route to stand up for their faith.

By sketching humorous cartoons. This book, the 33 Messages of the

Prophet, is a best-seller because of its religious message told in a

modern context. I want to tell readers from a young age what the

foundation of Islam is. I want to reach out to young people because

they are easy to mould. A lot of people see Islam as radical, but

it's not about bombs, it's about peace.

Back at Al-Mukmin, it's time for Arabic class, the language of Koran.

Excelling in it is a matter of pride for these Muslims. Shaping

the next Jonration of Indonesia's Muslims is crucial for this

country's security and arguely for the world's too.

-- arguably for the world's too. These are the headlines:

Moscow demands to know why Turkish jets forced a Syrian plane with

Russian passengers on board to land. The Yemen embassy has seen a

shooting. The British Prime Minister is to

set out plans for commemorations to mark the outbreak of the First

World War. How should that occasion be marked? We can find out more

from our correspondent, Robert Hall, who is in Ypres in Belgium.

Memories of the First World War run deep in this town. It was destroyed

during the years 1914-198 then rebuilt pretty well as it was

before the war, an extraordinary feat -- 1914-1918. The Menin Gate

straddles what was a road leading up to a fontline and it's inscribed

with more than 50,000 British soldiers and Commonwealths whose

remains were never found. We are talking about a formal

commemoration for that centenary, but in a way, remembrance goes on

here, hundreds of people, not just here, but in cemeteries across the

battlefield every day of every year. Across the old battlefields, the

autumn leaves are falling once more, as today's generation prepares to

mark the event imprinted on the farmland of France and Belgium.

The Tyne Cot cemetery is the largest of its kind in the world.

These are the graves of nearly 12,000 British and Commonwealth

soldiers killed as they struggled through the mud to reach the

Belgian village of Passchendaele, an vent from the history books and

yet more than 300,000 people come here every year -- an event.

always think a country that forgets its past has no future. I really do

think that we have to, at times, pause to reflect. All we are asking

for really when you talk o our own nationals is two minutes a year to

pause and reflebt on the sacrifices made by people.

-- reflect. Around us, Tyne Cot was being spruced up for this year's

ceremonies, a duty which the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

pledged to fulfil in every cemetery in every corner of the world. The

centenary commemoration also present new challenges for all

involved. I think it should be treated with

dignity and a lot of thought. There will be many, many formal

ceremonies involving all the Armed Forces, Veterans Association and

everybody else, bringing a level of pageantry to dit. But it will also

be a serious pageantry -- pageantry to it.

Under the great arch of the Menin Gate, surrounded by the names of

the missing, we found evidence of new links being forged with the

past and support for plans to mark this centenary.

I think it would be quite important because it would be like this was,

it would be emotional but nice because it would be paying your

respects. It really catches your attention and gets you to think

about what people were really fighting about and if it was all

worth it. After the Great War, Ypres promised

to honour the great allies who fought and fell on Belgian soil,

hundreds now keep vigil as the bugles sound clear on the evening

air. Anniversaries come and go, but the storys that reach out from

wartime history have always touched and inspired us.

So, the names on these memorials and the cemeteries are knew

relevant to far more people, possibly through the Internet and

schools, as we have been seeing in the report. One final fact - a poll

released in Britain today suggests that a sizeable majority of people

want Remembrance Sunday, 11th November, in 2014, to be a special

day, perhaps with church bells ringing, perhaps with sport

cancelled for the day, so that people are automobile to focus on a

day of remembrance. That, no doubt, will be a consideration right

across Europe. We are staying in Belgium. It's

been looted in three different wars, not the country, the object I'm

about to tell you about. Held for ransom, sold illegally and part of

it is still missing. One of the o world's most stolen paintings is

now being restored at a museum in Belgium.

Getting a glimpse of the past. These art experts are the eyes

behind the restoration. It's a painstaking process. There are more

than 20 of these panels and they all need to be checked for damage.

Layers of yellow varnish that have made the painting appear darker

will be removed before the work underneath gets a retouch.

Visitors to the fine art museum here can watch the entire project.

It's very open, so the windows are very big. The problem with it is

that people want to come very close into the lab, but we are already

being very generous by having it so widely available and open. This is

Gent that deed thal, the building the altar piece was commissioned

for more than 60 years ago -- Gent cathedral. Once the restoration's

complete, this is where it will come back to, its original home.

Here, you can see a section that's already been cleaned. Look at the

brighter area on the right and this part of the altar piece is one of

the most famous. It's a replica of a panel called the Just Judges,

which was stolen in 1934 and never returned.

It has really been a point of interest since then - where is that

missing panel? People still look for it and I'm sorry, I don't have

a particular theory about that, the only thing I can say is, yes,

people will keep looking for it and will not give up.

Some argue that the paintings and their controversial histories, is

already enough to keep drawing the crowds, without any expensive make-

overs. The restoration will cost close to $2 million and is expected

to take five years, but the people behind the project insist it will

be worth the wait. Remember Dolly the Sheep, the first

to be cloned. The man who led that project in the 1990s, Professor

Keith Campbell, has died. Dolly was born in 1996 in Scotland. Professor

Campbell moved to the University of Nottingham then where he was

Professor of Animal development. It took a bit of encouragement, but

after living his first two years in a nature reserve, a giant panda has

been released into the wild in China. The male panda had to be

nudged out of his cage, poor chap, but tentative at first, he soon

wandered off into a bamboo forest, hopefully to a happy life.

And on a theme for you, American scientists say mice may be able to

learn to sing in harmony in a way which is similar to humans and some

birds. Researchers say that when a group

of male mice are kept together in the presence of a female, they

match the pitch of their songs. I should say, I've heard a bit of it,

it's more of a whistle, but it's really there. Extraordinary stuff.

A reminder of the main story: Russian is now demanding

explanations from Turkey as to why a military Turkish jet forced a

passenger plane carrying 17 Russians to land at Ankara - we

understand from the Turkish Foreign Minister that's what been described

as an objectionable cargo has been removed - although the plane itself

has been allowed to continue on its way to Damascus. Syria also