06/11/2012 BBC World News

The polls open in the United States as Americans choose their President

for the next four years. These are live shots from Virginia.

The Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, extends campaigning into

election day itself. The door to a brighter future is

there. It's open. It's waiting for us. I need your work, I need your

help, I need your vote. President Obama arrives back in

Chicago after telling his supporters his work is not yet done.

Our fight goes on because America's always done best when everybody's

got a fair shot and everybody's doing their share. Greeks take to

the streets as a 48-hour general strike begins in protest at a new

wave of spending cuts. Welcome to BBC World News. Also in this

programme: President Putin sacks Russia's defence chief over alleged

fraudulent sale of military assets. More than just a pretty boy, how

this cockatoo has surprised scientists.

Polling stations are now opening in several states and millions of

Americans are heading to the polls in one of the most tightly fought -

and expensive - elections in recent US history. The race between Barack

Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, is still close and the

outcome will be decided in a handful of key states. Mr Romney

has announced two extra events in Ohio and Pennsylvania on polling

day. Our Washington correspondent Adam Brookes reports.

Opening for the President of the United States, this was Jay-Z

reving up the crowd during frantic last-minute campaigning in Ohio. Mr

Obama needs all the star power he can get. This election is very,

very close. Americans are deeply divided on Mr Obama's record,

they're not sure if they believe his argument, that America's

economy is mending. Today, our businesses have created nearly 5.5

million new jobs, we have made real progress, Ohio, but the reason why

we are here is because we've got more work to do. The Republican

challenger was in Ohio, too. Mitt Romney's supporters are energised,

but do voters trust his pitch of tax cuts and deregulation and the

power of markets to heal the American economy? Does it sound a

bit like the economics that caused the crash? Talk is cheap. But a

record is real and it's earned. Change can't be measured in

speeches, it's measured in results. The political future of Barack

Obama now hangs in the balance. Has he done enough to persuade voters

he deserves another four years in the big house behind me? Or will he

find his name added to that sorry list of one-term Presidents? Mr

Obama has argued furiously for his second term. He seems now to hold a

very narrow lead in the polls. But the challenger, Mitt Romney, says

he is confident he can snatch the presidency from Mr Obama and return

America to the conservative road. The small New Hampshire village of

Dixville Notch - population 10 - has maintained its record for being

the town that always declares first at a Presidential election. This is

what happened a short time ago. Seven votes for President, this has

never happened before. We have a tie. Five votes each... I wonder if

that's a prediction? Barack Obama has arrived in Chicago, with his

wife, Michelle, probably doing TV and radio interviews to keep his

voice out there. Mitt Romney, of course, also announced two new

campaigning events, very unusual that, to campaign on polling day

itself. But it's a reflection perhaps of how tight this race is

and these are live pictures from the swing state of Virginia,

Arlington is where we are looking. You can see early votes being cast.

It's very early, of course, there. Arlington County, people in the

cold keen to get their votes out. Predictions of a lot of queuing

ahead. Virginia, of course, like many of the southern states started

off being Democrat, switched to being Republican and now the

Democrats have come back. Both parties have targeted it again,

trying to get turnout up now today, that's the thing that both parties

have been very much focused on in the last few days and you can see

those keen to get started are queuing up to cast their ballots.

The final result will be determined by the unique workings of the US

electoral system, with everything hanging on the votes in the

electoral college. Jeremy Vine explains.

Welcome to our election situation room, here is the map as the last

American election left it. American elections are decided by electoral

college votes. Each state has a certain number of them, according

to its population size and the winner of the most electoral

college votes takes the election. Barack Obama did last time. It

means this result comes down to a handful of states really. States

like Colorado, and Ohio in the east, Virginia and Florida. Mr Romney for

the Republicans really needs to get those states back, some, if not all

of them, from the Democrats. What are the polls saying? Back to the

start of the campaign, you will see it started not that tightly. Obama

quite some way ahead. It looked as if Romney was struggling. Then the

crucial date to focus on is right here, October 3rd, the first debate.

Watch what happens. Romney is suddenly back in contention and it

stays very tight until the end. That doesn't mean it's necessarily

going to be a close result, because it depends on those states I showed

you. But my goodness, what an exciting election. The BBC will be

bringing you full coverage of the results as they come in with a

special election programme here on BBC News. Let's catch up with the

business news. Greece is our other big story today

because we have got lots of people out on the streets, austerity

measures - more measures pushed through and Greece still left with

a massive debt. Absolutely, it's an enormous day

over there. Two days worth of strikes coming up. A huge deal

happening there. By this time tomorrow we should have a good idea

of exactly what's going on in Greece. First a look at the US

presidential elections. We are going to have a good idea of who is

going to be President over the next four years.

While that's generated interest in the election, for business and

investors it's a source of concern. The US has pressing financial and

economic problems and the business world wants clarity over who will

tackle those problems, and how. From New York, here's Ben Thompson.

On Wall Street today today there is just one question - who will run

America and its ailing economy for the next four years? The answer

could be just hours away. Yet whilst Americans go to the polls,

business is already looking beyond the election. For months firms have

put off investing and delayed hiring new staff. They're waiting

for clarity on what their next leader will bring. Top of that to

do list is tackling the fiscal cliff, the tax rises and spending

cuts that many fear could push America back into recession.

There's also the big issue of creating jobs, with the

unemployment rate at 7.9%. Republicans accuse President Obama

of stifling growth through tough regulations, introduced after the

financial crisis and they've also questioned the role of America's

Central Bank and its chairman, Ben Bernanke. With so much on the to do

list, where should the new President start? Traders say the

priority is restoring confidence in the economy. Once we have clarity,

businesses are going to invest if they see that in demand and what we

have seen over the last couple of months with the US data is

strengthening in a housing market, stronger user demand overall from

consumers, higher consummer optimism than we have seen since

the financial crisis. businesses like this green energy

firm they're less worried about who takes the top job, but the

President's ability to push through tough decisions. I assume the

Senate will be deadlocked for the next four years, so independent of

who is elected President, neither will really get much done to help

us. I am not expecting a lot of help. Here on Wall Street it

appears the markets have already factored in a victory for President

Obama. But nonetheless, a real impact will come from Congress.

Unless there is a significant change in the make-up of the House

or Senate, the new President's powers will be limited and so as

Americans vote for their next President, business is hoping they

deliver one with the power to get things done.

Let's go back to that story in Greece. It's going to be a day of

disruption and protest in Athens. The main unions representing public

and private sector workers have started a 48-hour strike. It means

public transport will be shutdown, including taxies and ferries. There

could be delays to healthcare and shops are expected to close too.

Unions say that the latest austerity measures, due to be voted

on tomorrow, are destructive to society and impoverishing their

members. Thomas Costerg is a European economist at Standard

Chartered Bank. Let's start off by asking just how serious is the

situation in Greece and could it all be over today if the Government

does pass this budget? Well, I don't think so. You have this

problem of tranche fundings, Greece is waiting for the next or it will

run out of cash. There is this issue of debt, Greek debt is

unsustainable, the I phfpblt F -- IMF is worried about that and a

risk the IMF will suspend its share of the next tranche if it does not

see Greek debt back on track. this situation has has been going

on and on, the Greek people if they're out on the streets for 48

hours, both private sector and public sector workers on strike,

what exactly do we need to do to draw this to a conclusion? I think

you have two things, there is huge pressure on the Greek parliament to

pass those austerity and reforms in parliament but you have also this

question of debt. I think governments should find a way to

cut Greek debt. It will be politically painful, but that's

necessarily solution at this stage. Is that going to be palatable to

Germany? Germany is one of the main people financing this? You are

right and exposure of - the Greek debt is mostly owned by the German

Government and French Government and that's in stark contrast with

what was the case in the past, with the first Greek default in March of

this year the debt was owned by the private investors, by banks and

shinance companies. -- insurance companies. Now it's owned by

taxpayers money from Europe. It's more sensitive, yes. Thank you.

Nissan has slashed its profit forecast for the year by 20%. It

now expects to make almost $4 billion this year. It blamed weak

sales in Europe and China. Other Japanese companies have also been

suffering in China, following a dispute between the two countries

over islands in the East China Sea. In contrast, BMW is enjoying a

strong year. Profits in the third quarter rose by 16%. Sales were up

nearly 14% on last year. Sales were strong in China which is now the

firm's biggest market and one of the world's largest markets for

cars. Suzuki is shutting down its US

business which is losing money and has big debts. In fact, the firm's

subsidiary, American Suzuki Motor Corporation will file for chapter

11 bankruptcy protection. The The firm blamed the strong yen and

strict US safety regulations for the demise of its American business.

It's a big day for the video games industry, the latest in a series of

Halo shoot-em Games, Halo4 is out today. The creaters are confident

it will be the biggest selling game of 2012.

That's it for all the business news. We will be back later. Thank you

very much. Something more gentle coming up.

You are watching BBC World News. Hundreds of Ukrainian opposition

supporters have confronted riot police in the capital, Kiev.

They're demanding a recount of votes placed in last week's

parliamentary elections, and claim the results were rigged by

President Viktor Yanukovich's ruling party. Kimberley Soekov

reports. An uneasy standoff in the capital

Kiev. Opposition supporters rallied outside the election commission

headquarters chanting and shouting at police. Then, tensions boiled

over. Riot police struggled with the large group pushing and shoving.

A much larger but more subdued crowd had gathered earlier in the

day. They claim last week's parliamentary elections were

fraudulent and say the delayed vote count is being rigged in favour of

pro-Government candidates. TRANSLATION:

There are a lot of falsifications, both on party lists and in

individual constituencies. whole of the Ukraine was robbed.

All pensioners were robbed, except Buoyed by their supporters outside,

Ukraine's United opposition liersd went to the opposition demanding a

recount for a French vote. International observers agreed the

election was marred by abuse of power and the excessive roll of

money. President Viktor Yanukovych's chief rival, the

former Prime Minister, is in prison and was barred from running

altogether but all authorities deny the claims of vote-rigging and say

the opposition is only trying to intimidate election officials.

The UN has ordered international sanctions against the Pakistan-

based Islamic militants known as the Haqquani network. They have

been blamed for targets on military installations in Afghanistan.

The Malawi Government says it has officially suspend anti-

homosexuality laws and ordered police not to arrest gay people.

Authorities say it is pending a decision on whether to

relenchshraigs. Homosexuality is banned in Malawi. -- repeal the

legislation. The British Prime Minister has been

in the United Arab Emirates trying to persuade the country to buy 60

Typhoon fighter jets. Campaigners say he should not ignore human

rights in the push for business deals.

This is BBC World News. The headlines: US polling stations

have opened on the US East Coast, as Americans choose their President

for the next four years. President Obama is back in Chicago

after making his final appeal to voters, though Republican Mitt

Romney is campaigning on. Of course we don't yet know the

results of those elections. One thing we do know is that it is all

change at the top of another super- power, China, this week.

Preparations are well under way in Beijing for 18th Party Congress

which starts on Thursday which will rubber stamp a once in auto decade

change in the Chinese leadership. - - once in a decade change

You can't go anywhere in Beijing without seeing the Chinese flag.

There are huge floral arrangements up but also a security crackdown.

We know that more than00 dissidents have either been detained or put

under house restrictions. -- 100 dissidents. But in the coming days

this party Congress will get under way. It will get under way on

Thursday. More than 2,000 delegates are arriving in town. Security is

very tight. The reason that it is very tight is the authorities don't

want anything or anybody to spoil what is the most important

political event in China, over the last decade.

How much is already known about the new political leaders that are

going to be named now? Well we know that jing jing jing will be

appointed President. -- Xi Jinping will be appointed President. We

also know that the Premier will be Li Keqiang. But as to who will come

after them isn't clear. What effectively you have is the

standing committee of the poll it bru. That's currently a anyone-

member body that rules the country. -- Politburo. We know that Xi

Jinping is in it, he will be the next leader. We know the Premier,

who will be number three. The question is whether or not that

body will be cut from seven to nine? We don't know that. We don't

know how long the party Congress will actually last for. This in

some ways is pretty extraordinary. What was seen in China over the

last decade is remarkable change. We have seen remarkable economic

growth and growing personal freedoms for people around the

country, but when it comes to the political system it remains

unreformed and as secretive as ever. A suicide bombing in Iraq has left

27 people dead. The bomb exploded at the entrance to the Taji

military camp, an army base which is 20 kilometres north of Baghdad.

Police say 19 soldiers are amongst those killed. Insurgents in Iraq

frequently target members of the country's security forces to try to

undermine confidence in the Shia- led government. The attack was the

deadliest in Iraq in several days and the second targeting soldiers

near Taji in less than 24 hours. It's rare for the Russian President,

Vladimir Putin, to sack his top ministers but that's what has

happened to the man in charge of defence. Anatoly Serdyukov has been

dismissed amid a fraud investigation into a company that

he once chaired. Russian investigate ost suspect that a

state-controlled military contractor sold military assets to

commercial firms at a loss of nearly $100 million. Mr Serdyukov

has been replaced by the former Emergencies Minister and loyal ally

to Mr Putin, Sergei Shoigu. It seems that Anatoly Serdyukov's

career is now over. He was found ten days ago in the flat of the

director of this company at the centre of these allegations of

fraud. She's a 32-year-old woman and the flat was raided at 6.00am.

He was in the flat at that time which of course raised a lot of

eyebrows about the possibility of there being some kind of affair

between the people but much more seriously for him, it looked as if

he was going to have to be questioned at least as a witness in

this case of multi-million dollar fraud and possibly he will become a

suspect in it. It obviously got to the point where his career was no

longer sustainal and he becomes really the first many in many, many

years, to simply lose his job. -- sustainable. A trial is being held

in Turkey today which will accuse four Israeli military commanders of

causing the death of nine activists as they tried to reach the Gaza

Strip by boat in 2010. The defendants will not be present at

the hearing. The boat was stormed after it attempted to get to Gaza

by breaking Israel's blockade of the territory. James Reynolds has

been following the story. The rift opened up in May 2010 when

Israeli commandos stormed the boat, the Mavi Marmara, that rift has not

been mended. Turkey still insist that Israel must apologise and pay

compensation to the families of the nine victims but Israel says its

Commandos acted in self-defence, Israel had a right to storm the

boat in international waters and this this particular trial, which

is now going ahead in Istanbul, is politically motivated a unilateral

act Israel says and has no judicial credibility. The argument between

the two sides continues and may even be made worse by the opening

of this trial. Now, as we bring you more on the US elections, you will

probably have heard the phrase many times "swing state", a state where

no one candidate has overwhelming support. One such is Arlington in

Virginia. A number of seats up for grabs here and voting has begun.

You can see a steady stream of people have turned up very early in

the day there to cast their ballot, having been bombarded now for

several weeks and months by leaflets and phonecalls from both

candidates and now it is, of course polling day, finally. We will hope

to get a result tomorrow although lawyers on both teams poised in

these key battleground states, like Virginia, in case it is very tight

and they need to challenge any results. Another such state is

Pennsylvania. It voted Democrat in river election since 1992 but it

was a close call in the last two. David Botti explains why.

It's the eve of the election and the national spotlight comes to a

key county and a key swing state. The people of America understand

we're taking back the White House because we're going to win

Pennsylvania. There is is a saying, out goes Bucks County, as goes

pence vainia. You could say, as goes Pennsylvania, so goes the

United States. A month ago Pennsylvania was seen out of

Romney's reach. That he is here in the final hours of the campaign, is

a sign of how close the race is. When they are done training they

will go and get a walk packet. at Obama HQ in the county seat, the

hours are long and volunteers are from all stripes.

REPORTER: Why do you think President Obama should be elected?

Because Mitt Romney is dangerous. Dangerous? Yeah. Elsewhere in the

county, some Democrats worried privately that the race is becoming

too close for comfort. Here, expressed to the media at least,

the confidence is strong. Everybody is fired up. Everybody is ready to

go and it's just a matter of making sure they get there to vote and we

feel good. The BBC has visited Bucks County

for the last year. At the southern end is Levittown, one of the first

iconic American subbeshes, a symbol of the post-war middle class. --

suburbs. It has mostly voted Democratic for

President. But that doesn't mean it is a sure thing. It is a very

conservative Democratic voter, so it will be very interesting to see

how they respond obviously on Tuesday to the messages from both

parties. Even as crowds get fired up

andville tiers hunker down, there is still a sense of disappointment

in the tone of the past year. -- volunteers hunker down.

bickering going become and forward is more than America needs. There

is nothing accomplished in that way. It is more from an anti,

perspective than it is from a promotion of kanddas sis. This may

have been the worst I have ever seen. In Levittown both sides agree

vote remembers liable to choose be a candidate's character over his

party. -- voters are. This Congressman was born and raised

there. They don't just vote based n upon party distinctions or partisan

characteristics. It is character. So goes Bucks County, so goes

America. Whether that's true, whale find out on Tuesday.

Now before we go, I want to show you these from South Africa. They

are brand new banknotes which have gone into circulation, bearing the

image, for the very first time of Nelson Mandela, the iconic anti-

apartheid former President. And this is the governor of the South

African Reserve Bank, Gill Marcus, one of the first to use the notes.

Lovely colours and the smiling face. The notes keep their original size

but it is the first time that Mr Mandela has allowed him to use his