12/11/2012 BBC World News

Syrian aircraft bomb a rebel-held town on the border with Turkey,

killing at least six people. After making further cuts to their

budget, the financial problems in Greece top the agenda of the

eurozone minister meeting. Venice - three-quarters of the city is under

water. Welcome to BBC World News. Also in this programme: After a

series of scandals including paedophiles, Australia's Prime

Minister announces a national inquiry. And the BBC says it is

changing its editorial chain of command, after a row over an

inaccurate report into allegations of child abuse.

Syrian aircraft have bombed a rebel-held town on the border with

Turkey, killing at least six people. The attacks sent up huge plumes of

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 69 seconds

black smoke and sent scores of hit Turkish territory they will hit

back. They are restricted to a local responsibility-of--- response.

Neither sigh want to get involved in a conflict, in a war along their

border, and the same goes really for the Israelis on the Golan

Heights where there was a similar This comes at a time when we have

seen the opposition movements - they have come together and found a

potential new leader. That is right. They have a new body - this new

coalition, which takes in not just the Syrian National Council, which

is the existing umbrella group, which had been seen as a bit

dilapidated and out of touch, but a lot of other groups and people

perhaps more in touch with what's going on the ground. They have

elected a new President. He's now actually on his way to the Arab

League in Cairo, along with a Prime Minister, who will introduce him

and push strongly to get recognition by the Arab League of

this new coalition and perhaps even League, as a first tangible step

for recognition of this new body. The Greek Parliament has approved

the country's 2013 budget. The vote, which was passed by a

majority comes as eurozone Finance Ministers meet in Brussels to

discuss whether the austerity measures go far enough. If they do

40 billion of bail out funds will be released. If they are not, the

Prime Minister says the country will run out of money by the end of

the week. Is this another sticking plaster for Greece? Our

correspondent is in Brussels. is one of the reasons why this

latest tranche of bail out money has not been paid for so long. It

is five months late now. There was a feeling, in certain quarters,

Germany along -- among them, that it could not just be another

sticking plaster and more robust measures need to be put in place.

Greece feels it has fulfilled its side of the bargain. There are many

people who feel we have seen this before, but measures which have

been approved in Parliament simply don't get implemented properly. The

money will not be paid today. There's an assumption that

eventually and probably fairly soon that next tranche of bail out loans

will be released for Greece. There are problems. Most people agree

that Greece needs more time to fulfil its bail out commitments.

More time means more money. There is disagreement about who should

pay for that. Between the EU and the IMF, there are disagreements

still about how to make Greek debt in the long-term more sustainable.

You look at the numbers and they still don't look very good. The BBC

is shaking up its news management in the wake of a crisis which hit

the corporation when it broadcast a TV report wrongly implicating a

former British political figure in child sex abuse. The corporation

says the changes will address the lack of clarity around the

editorial chain of command. The resignation of George Entwistle has

been followed by this announcement that two more senior managers will

step aside. We are seeing pictures here of Lord Patten and George

Entwistle. The director of news and her deputy will be replaced in

their daily duties pending the results of an inquiry looking at a

separate report into child abuse by Jimmy Savile was dropped N the past

hour, David Cameron, has criticised the amount of money the out going

director will get as a payoff. That is just over $700,000.

The Culture Secretary also weighing in to criticise the BBC Trust?

is right. Politicians like to keep the BBC at arm's length, because it

is editorry rally independent of the Government. At the same time, I

think they feel on this occasion they can comment on it. There's

been criticism that paying this amount of money to the outgoing

Director-General is basically a reward for failure and we're

expecting questions to be asked about this in the House of Commons

later. So, the BBC are under a new bit of pressure when it comes to

whether they should have signed off that amount of money when he left.

George Entwistle will have on-going duty to the BBC as the events

unfold. There are a few changes within management that are being

announced at the moment? That is right. We have heard today that the

head of news and the deputy head of news have had to step aside. I

think this is really just a sign of how serious the episode has been

for the BBC. The BBC has been in the headlines now for weeks

relating to two sets of child abuse allegations. Although it really

comes down to one programme - the flagship programme, Newsnight -

nevertheless t danger for the BBC is its whole journalism stable has

been tarnished. That is why we are seeing a clear-out now. Of course

there are many critics of the BBC - the newspapers here in Britain have

had a go. Lots of front pages over the past few days and also

internationally some critics have been weighing in. That is right. It

is interesting when you look at the comment abroad. China, central

television saying it casts doubt over the BBC's credibility. Another

saying a hat trick of trouble for the news gaibt. It is fair to say -

- giant. It is fair to say there is a lot on networking sites and the

BBC are getting e-mails supporting BBC journalists, particularly when

it comes to area like Syria or Burma. Areas where the BBC still

has a very strong news presence. Of course it is a world away from the

kind of scandal that has mired Newsnight.

Thank you very much. Now, a combination of heavy rains and

strong winds has caused flooding in a number of areas across Italy.

Homes have been had to evacuated in Tuscanny. The rains have produced

one of the highest water levels since the rains began. It has left

two-thirds of the city submerged. Barriers will not be operational

before 2014. In Australia, the Prime Minister,

Julia Gillard, has announced a national inquiry into how

institutions have reacted to child sex abuse allegations there. She

made the announcement after a senior policeman claimed the chath

lick church delayed evidence of abuse and conspired to disrupt

police investigations. There have been too many revelations of adults

who have averted their eyes from this evil. It is appropriate for

there to be a national response through a Royal Commission. This, I

hope, will help, but I specifically hope its recommendations will help

us ensure that this never, ever happens again.

Well, the South Korean singer has won Best Video for of course the

worldwide single. The reward was presented by David Hasslehoff.

I would like to thank each and everyone around the world who is

supporting me, my video. I thank you so much and all the great

support from Korean. You have to follow that! I can't! We are

talking Starbucks, Amazon, Google. Do they pay tax? Should they?

these big corporations here in the UK paying enough corporate tax?

Senior officials from those companies will be asked that

question. They will have to answer it today. They are facing a UK

parliamentary committee. It is a taxation committee. It's been in

the headlines for, well of late over here. If you look at some of

the numbers - Starbucks, for example has paid $13 million in

corporation tax over the past 14 years. Google paid $9 million last

year. The company generated $600 million in turnover. Look at Amazon

- the UK's largest online retailer, which generated sales of nearly $5

billion. Corporation tax - zero. That is the big question. Questions

are being asked about the system and how to go about it. It makes it

very attractive. Britain is not the only one who, I would not say tax

loopholes. It is a complicated system. Let's listen to Bill

Dodwell, a tax expert from Deloitte. I think we have to look and see

what happened here. Those, many of those sales may not have taken

place actually in the UK from activities taking place here. They

may well have sold into the UK from elsewhere. That's perfectly

legitimate for companies to do. So, you have to look and see what is

going on in a particular country and if something is happening, then

tax it. If nothing is happeninging there and you are simply selling to

customers here, then you should not have ex -- expect to pay tax on

profits. Let's talk about Portugal, because its finances will be under

the microscope over the next few days. Officials from the troika, -

they begin their latest quarterly review on Portugal's progress and

implementing that bail out. It coincides with a visit from

Germany's Chancellor, Angela Merkel, who is insistent on the need for

more austerity, which angers many on the ground in Portugal.

Saturday saw the latest in a series of protests against the right of

centre Government's draft budget for next year. This time it was

members of the military, contesting the cuts foreseen in the budget. On

Monday, many Portuguese are expect come on to the streets to protest

against Angela Merkel, who is to make a flying visit to the country.

The German Chancellor will hold talks with Portugal's President and

Prime Minister, who seems to agree with her on the need for more

austerity for the country to keep to its eurozone bailout. Monday

sees the start of the sixth quaurtdly review of Portugal's bail

out progress. Portugal has earned praise for its deficit-cutting

efforts. Exports too are doing relatively well, as European

officials noted last week. external adjustment is shaped by

the shifts to what is the production of tradable goods and

services within vulnerable countries. This is particularly

true for Ireland, but also increasingly for Spain, Portugal

and Slovenia. The troika's last review warned of the hefty tax

increases might choke off growth, making the deficit target harder to

reach. Many Portuguese fear a recessionry spiral has set in and

have, in large numbers, been clam bouring for a change of course.

Last week, police marched against the budget to the same Parliament

building officers had ringed to protect from protestors just days

before. The other business news making headlines today: Olympus has

reported a first-half profit of $100 million. They have recovered

from that accounting scandal that emerged last year and cost just

over $7 billion. Back in September they received a boost from Sony,

which said it would invest $50 billion in Olympus, the company.

India's factories slowed down. Everything they factories churn out

fell nearly 0.5% over the month. Economists are expecting an output

to pick up to expand. India's economy - it has been hit by rising

interest rates and the decline of export markets, in particular

Europe. Hong Kong will have more jobs in the financial services

industry than London by 2015. That is according to CCER. The report

says by 2015 Hong Kong will be the world's main financial centre and

Singapore will be close to In the three months to the end of

September, the world third largest economy shrank at a rate of 3.5%.

That is the worst since last year. Our reporter explained why Japan is

struggling. The contraction of 3.5% from last year leaves, but if you

look at from the previous quarter, the economy also shrunk by under 1%

and many economists are forecasting the economy will shrink again in

the next quarter. If that happens Japan will be officially back in a

recession. The country's economy has been recovering rather resill

yently after the earthquake last year, but that is partly thanks to

the Government spending a lot of money on rebuilding and

implementing subsidies, but those measures are starting to finish,

and that is partly why we are seeing this dismal figure, but also,

their other factors affecting Japan's economy such as the debt

crisis and a slow down in China, Japan's largest trading partner. As

we have been talking about the strength of the Japanese yen,

affecting the country's export performance, on top of that Japan

had territorial dispute with China, in September, which is still kind

of ongoing, and that let anti-Japan protest in China so even though

that happens in September, that is starting to affect some numbers out

of Japan, as well, so very tough time, going forward for Japanese

companies and the economy. So not good news for Japan. That is

driving the markets in Asia down, a bit of a worry about that. It is

interesting to see London being overtaken so quickly. To see it in

black-and-white is salutary. You are watching BBC World News. Still

to come. More people are choosing to learn English in the Philippines

but will they end up speaking tag lish instead? Now, west African

leader say they end to -- intend to send troops to Mali to recapture

the area from Islamist rebels. Organising and deploying the

soldiers could take months to implement. This report. It is more

than seven months since radicals took advantage of the chaos

following a military coup and seized control of northern Mali.

The militants have imposed strict Sharia law on the communitys they

now control, and destroyed tombs in the ancient city of Tim buck too.

Thousands of people have fled the area to neighbouring countries,

including niedgeier and more Tain ya. -- Niger. It is not just the

people of Mali who feel threatened. Other African countries and a wider

global community are concerned that Mali mieb might become a safe haven

for Al-Qaeda to launch attacks. A a meeting on surpbgsd plans were

announced for a force of 3,000 soldiers, drawn from countries

including Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria and Burt Bacharach. The Nigerian

President told the meeting that Mali's neighbours had to unite, to

impose stable. One of the lessons, years of conflict management in our

region, have taught us, is to treat conflicts in one country as it is a

challenge, acquiring a common response. The plans could take some

while to implement though. They have to secure the agreement of the

African Union and the UN Security Council. A ruling on whether the

radical cleric qat can be deported to Jordan is expected to be given

by judges in the UK today. The European Court of Human Rights

previously blocked the deportation, saying there was a real risk that

evidence obtained by torture would be used against him. The British

Government says it secured assurances he will get a fair trial

but these are disputed by his lawyers. Nur tiingures show the

number of homeless in Australia rose by 17% between 2006 and 2011.

Much of the increase was accounted for by migrants. The rise in

numbers despite a pledge by the the Government in 2008 to halve

homelessness in Australia in a decade. This is BBC World News. The

headlines. Syrian aircraft have bombed a rebel held town on the

border of Turkey, sending civilians fleeing. Eurozone ministers are

meeting with financial problems in Greece the top of the agenda. Here

is a difficult question. Where in the world do they speak English as

a second language more than just about anywhere else? It is said to

be the Philippine, so students look for cheaper ways to travel and

learn the language, more are looking to the Philippines P Have

you guys heard of the words first impressions? This man is learning

English n the Philippine capital. He is from Saudi Arabia, but his

classmates are from Taiwan, Libya and Japan. Other students are from

Belgium and Brazil. They are all here because they can get good

quality teaching for a fraction of what it would cost in the United

Kingdom or America. Everyone speaks English very well here, the accent

very good. It is a cheap place to stay and learn. There are about 100

million peel in the Philippines, most speak at least some English.

The Government proudly states this is the third largest English

speaking nation the world. That is sort of true. Hello circumstances I

can have a coconut please How many? Just one. That kind of English is

typical through the Philippines. It is eng lish with the local language

mixed in. That must make it difficult for foreigners who are

studying English know what is English and what is Philippine

English. But this hasn't deterred people from coming here. Every year,

the number of foreign students goes up. Immigration data shows there

are three times as many now as there were three years ago. The

Philippines doesn't just attracts students who want to learn English.

Lis bet ta speaks it. She has come here from Russia to do an

engineering degree, language isn't a problem because most courses are

taught in English. Here it is much cheaper compared to in other

countries. I checked about Australia and New Zealand, but it

is too much, so my parents cannot afford it. Do you think the

education level is the same here? Sure. I think it is very good. This

university believes the teefpg it provides can match up to that

anywhere in the world. And with the cost of being a student rising

every year, and the competition for jobs tougher than ever, it is not

surprising that more and more people are looking further afield

for for good quality cheap education. Now, power station here

in the UK are going to be paid to burn wood instead of coal as trees

absorb carbon dioxide. Green groups have criticised the scene. It is

cold outside. But trust a dog to nab the warmest spot in the house.

At their home in Yorkshire, the Goulder family get the wood burner

going when the nights draw in. It is a bit of evident but it is worth

it. Love the fire. Lovely to look at. But if it takes this to help

heat a room for a few hours what would it take to run a power

station burning wood? Drax Power Station in Yorkshire is the big

nest the UK. Coal is what generates heat here to make the power. Burr

coal produces too much of the CO2 helping to disrupt the climate, so

the use of coal is going to be halved. And here is what will be

burned instead. Wood and other plant material together known as

biomass. Lengths of birch branches are being shredded for the furnace.

Plants absorb CO2 while they are growing, so the Government says

this system helps the environment. It is hard to grasp the scale of

all this. Just imagine how much wood this place will need to burn,

nearly 7 million tonnes of it every year. The great majority imported

from the USA and Canada Environmentalists fear the impact

on the world's forests of burning more and more wood, and they say it

won't help the climate in time. When you burn wood it is CO2 that

comes out just as when you burn coal. While the tree will regrow

and recapture that car borpbgs it can take decades for that to happen.

If we want to stop dangerous climate change, we need to cut

emissions now. The truck delivering the wood producing CO2. So does

turning the wood into dry pellets. But Drax boss say it is still

worthwhile. We are confident we are delivering major carbon savings.

There is am sustainable biomass available. We only burn the