04/12/2012 BBC World News

NATO is set to approve the deployment of Patriot defence

batteries to protect Turkey from stray Syrian missiles.

The Duchess of Cambridge is spending a second day in hospital,

following the news she's expecting a biby.

Thousands are forced to flee their homes as a powerful typhoon hits

the southern Philippines. Welcome to BBC World ska World News.

Finance ministers meet it in Brussels.

And it is panda-monium at Edinburgh School as their famous residents

celebrate their new home, one year Amid increasing tensions between

Syria and Turkey, NATO's expected to agree on the deployment of

Patriot missiles to defend Turkey's border. Foreign ministers are

meeting in Brussels today. Jonathan Beale reports. To warn you, the

report has flash photography. Syrian shells have already landed

inside Turkey, increasing border tensions. With fierce that the

conflict could spill over the border, Turkey's requested the help

of its NATO allies will boost its defences. A NATO team has already

visited a number of sites in Turkey to assess where best to place the

Patriot batteries, preparing the ground for today's Foreign

Minister's meeting, which is' expected to approve their

deployment. -- which is's expected. The weapons

system, which was also sent to Turkey before the invasion of Iraq

in 2003, could be used to shoot down any stray Syrian missiles or

warplanes that stray over the border, but NATO officials stress

if deployed the missiles will only be used for defensive purposes and

not to establish a in-fly zone within Syria itself.

-- a no-fly. Russia, one of the Syrian regime's few remaining

allies has already voiced opposition about the deployment of

Patriot. The Russian President has tried to

play down the differences over the crisis.

James Reynolds is in southern Turkey and joins me now. What

should we read into the fact that these missiles look like they will

be installed? What actually can they do? They can shoot down

missiles. They can also shoot down aircraft. Essentially they give

Turkey missile defence, something that it doesn't have on its own. It

perhaps gives Turkey a little bit of peace of mind as well. As it

watches the conflict escalate across its border, it wants to

think - can it defend itself if things get worse? Can it defend

itself if, for some reason, Syria decides toorgt Turkey. With those

Patriot -- target Turkey. If those Patriot missiles it has peace of

mine and the Government of Syria can see it is taking strong

measures and that NATO membership has benefits. We have seen the head

of NATO asking about the possible use of chemical weapons by the

Syrian Government and wrning any such use would be completely

unacceptal and there would be an immediate reaction. -- warning. Do

these Patriot missiles also play into that? Yes. I think that's one

of the things that Turkey has been worried about, at the back of its

mind when it started about thinking about asking for the deployment of

Patriot missiles, worry being every possible eventuality, if Syria

chooses to use every weapon in its own arsenal. Turkey will feel that

the deployment of Patriots covers it against most eventualities.

we know what kind of chemical weapons the Syrians could possibly

have? We don't know for sure. There is speculation. It is worth saying

Syria is not a signatory to the chemical weapons convention. One of

a handful of countries which has not signed. There's speculation

that it developed a chemical weapons programme in the '70s and

80s. It is not clear what stocks it might have at the moment. We have

been following the warnings issued by President Obama and also

briefings by diplomats suggesting that Syria may be moving things

around. But, of course, it is a very difficult subject to try to

confirm independently. OK. Thank you very much.

Well, let's have a closer look at the potential NATO deployment.

Military sources in Turkey say NATO is considering up to six Patriot

batteries and some 300 to 400 foreign troops to operate them. The

Patriot system would probably be supplied by the United States,

Netherlands or Germany. It is designed to mainly bring down

missiles but it can be used against aircraft. So what do they look like

and how precisely do they work? We have been to meet the Dutch troops

running through a drill in Vredepeel.

The Patriot missile is an intercept weapon. It is designed to detect

and intercept enemy ballistic fire before it reaches the targets.

This is a training exercise to ensure the Dutch troops are ready,

if and went the command comes to send them to the Turkey-Syria

border. This is the most sophisticated

missile defence system in the world. The missiles can travel up to five

times the speed of sound. They reach supersonic speeds within a

second of launch and here, they say, it's effectively like a bullet

hitting a bullet. This is the engagement control

station. It's from in here that they monitor the airspace 24/7.

From these units they deploy the Patriot missiles It's purely

defensive. The colonel in charge rlt of the last Dutch Patriot

deployment in 2003 is keen to ensure any involvement isn't

misinterpreted on the ground. -- who was in charge of the last.

only thing it will do over there is defend the population against

ballistic missiles coming from a certain area into the direction of

a NATO territory. There is nothing else this Patriot weapon system can

do. It is just against the threat coming from the sky.

NATO's Patriot missile decision is due to be discussed by the Dutch

Parliament on Friday. 12 crew members are missing after

their cargo ship sank in a storm off Istanbul's Black Sea coast.

Officials in Turkey say a helicopter and rescue boat are

searching for the crew, believed to be of Ukrainian and Russian

nationalities. There are also reports a second ship is having

problems in that same area. News just coming. In Now, messages of

congratulations have been sent frarned the world to Prince William

and his wife. From around the world. In fact Prince William has just

arrived at the hospital in central London to visit his wife, who is

spending a second day in the hospital in central London, being

treated for acute morning sickness. She is thought to be less than 12

weeks pregnant. Their baby will be born third in line to the throne.

Here is John brain with more. Today the Hospital where the Duchess is

being treated is the focus of attention for much of the world's

press. Until she leaves the, neither will they. The announcement

of the pregnancy has been greeted with delight across the globe.

behalf of everyone here in the White House, beginning with the

President and First Lady, we exour congratulations to the Duke and

Duchess of Cambridge -- extend. This is on the welcome news this

morning out of London that they are expecting their first child. This

is delightful news. It's going to bring joy to them and their family.

I think it is going to bring joy to many around the world. There had

been no sign of Kate's condition last Friday. She even spent some

time playing hockey in high heels during a visit to her old prep

school in Berkshire. Stkpwhrts thought she's less than

12 weeks pregnant. -- it's thought. The planned announcement had to be

brought forward when she was hospitalised with acute morning

sickness. This is where you are so, so affected by sickness, by being

sick. In particular you can't keep anything down, you become

dehydrated. You lose weight and become at risk of vitamin

deficiencies. It's horrible. Last night, Prince William left his

wife's bedside without commenting. He is expected to return later

today. Meanwhile bookmakers have slashed the odds on the Duchess

giving birth to twins. Of course, as we heard at the top

of that report, Prince William has arrived back at the hospital to see

his wife for day 2. Moving away from babey, Alice, we move to Boris

Johnson. -- from babies. He has stepped into the euro row.

Seamless. He is saying the euro is a calamitous project and warning

about banking talks today. Never mincing in his words. He is

stepping into the fray. Today is a crunch day. Euro finance ministers

are meeting in Brussels today to try to bridge the yawn divide over

banking supervision. They are attempting to get agreement on

plans for a single banking supervisor potentially within the

European Central Bank. All part of a grand plan for the European

banking union. But Germany's Finance Minister, Wolfgang

Schaeuble warned his Parliament it would not approve any deal that

would give the EU the final say when supervising banks. I spoke to

a representative from the German Institute. The structure of the

banking industry defers considerably from one country to

another. Germany has a very decentralised banking system with

many small banks, even though they form a network among themselves.

France has the opposite system wopbl very large institutions, a

handful of them that dominate the banking work et. -- with only a.

Germany says only the largest ones. But all the smaller ones would

remain under national supervision. Obviously you can't centralise

everything in Frankfurt. But the question of delegating authority

while keeping the ultimate say on what has to be done, and whether or

not to draw a banking licence, that is in my view the critical question.

Now the global economic gloom is also now hitting Australia. Its

Central Bank has lowered its main interest rate by 0.25%. The history

of Australian interest rates is actually very different from the

rest of the world throughout the recession. We saw rates rise in the

boom years and fall to 3% in 2009 but then, unlike almost any other

country, the Central Bank starting hiking them again as demand from

its raw materials from China picked up. It's only since the end of last

year that the bank has started to cut them again. Our Asia Business

Correspondent explained to me that other factor, such as the strong

currency was at play. The economy has been recovering from a strong

Australian dollar. A rate cut usually weakens the currency and

boosts productivity in and out of the mining sector. Economists

believe the rate-cutting cycle will continue into 2013 with some

predicting a further full point reduction to 2%. Now, we are seeing,

or are we, a revival of the package holiday after years of do-it-

yourself. TUI Travel says profits jumped 8% as sunseekers fell back

in love with the all-inclusive deal. Political unrest in some parts of

the world has also boosted deals protected by ATOL. Consumers are

looking for certainty in uncertain times. What is popular is we are

selling the all-inclusive who will day. The customer buys everything

in advance -- holiday. They buy all food and beverage.

They prove successful. It gives customers peace of mind. We are

seeing a resurgence in demand for package holidays. We offer great

value and give customers complete peace of mind. We take care of

everything. British air which is is cutting 400 senior cabin crew

positions on both its long and short-haul routes. Ba. Said all the

redundancies will be voluntary and started a 90-day consultation

process. BA's centre airline, Iberia is

moving ahead with plans to shed 4,500 jobs. -- BA's sister airline.

Now the markets: they are rising Now the markets: they are rising

across the board. At the beginning of the session the FTSE was down

but over the course of the day they have nipped up, currently around

the 5,800. In Germany the DAX is up and a similar picture in France and

Spain. That's the business this hour. How is your dancing? Look at

this. We have much more coming up: We are hoping to show you some

pictures of Rico. Because he is dancing.

He catches up with the Korean pop sensation and he has a go at

sensation and he has a go at Gangnam-style. Now it is a year

since parliamentary elections in Russia which triggered a wave of

mass protests. Tens of thougs of President Putin's opponents took to

the streets of Moscow. -- tens of thousands. While demonstrations

were allowed, the Government clamped down hard on opposition

organisers. This has been an unprecedented year

of protests in Moscow as the opposition condemned unfair

elections, and Vladimir Putin's This was a young organiser from the

left of the movement and his fate is sa striking example of the

subsequent Government clampdown. After the violence of the 6th May

protests and with the net closing in on him, Leonid Razvozzhayev fled

Russia for Ukraine. There he was discussing political asylum with

this United Nations office in Kiev when he was abducted from the

street and disappeared for two days. By the time he reappeared on a

video link to a Moscow courtroom, he had signed a ten-page confession

which he claims was extracted under torture. He said he was blind-

folded and tied to a chair while investigators threatened the lives

of his children. He said they had smuggled him back across the border

into Russia illegally. His partner, the mother of his two children,

told me she still hadn't been allowed to see him. TRANSLATION:

I thought things like this only happened in films but it turns out

they can happen in real life. I think his ten-page confession was

dictated to. If my family's lives were threatened I would have

written a 20-page confession and in handwriting. Leonid Razvozzhayev

remains behind bars, charged with organising mass riots, something he

denies. And the Government's treatment of him has alarmed human

rights groups. I believe that, it's a sign of a new quality of

political repression actually, because didn't dare to act this way

earlier. 11 people remain in prison awaiting

trial following the May 6th demonstration. One year on since

the protest movement began, no one is quite sure when the Government's

clampdown it triggered will end. This is BBC World News. The

headlines: NATO is expected to approve the deployment of pat triot

missiles to defend Turkey's border with Syria and the Duke of

Cambridge returns to visit his wife who remains in hospital for a

second day with severe morning sickness.

More on our top story and the meeting of NATO foreign Ministers.

Speaking as that meeting opened the alliance's Secretary General said

NATO stood in solidarity with Turkey Turkey. The Syrian

stockpiles of chemical weapons are a matter of great concerns. We know

that Syria possesses missiles. We know they have the chemical weapons

and, of course, they also have to be included in our calculations and

this is also the reason why it is a matter of urgency to ensure

effective defence and protection of our ally, Turkey.

More than 40,000 people are seeking shelter from a powerful typhoon

that's hit the southern Philippines. Rescue services are saying Typhoon

Bopha has killed at least two people on Mindanao Island's east

coast. The storm has uprooted trees, tore the roofs off houses and

triggered landslides and flash floods. It's now on the move

towards the centre of the country. Here to tell us more is Darren Bett

from the weather centre. Tell us exactly where it is and what damage

it's causing. Well, it hit with sustained winds close to 200

kilometres per hour, which made it a very strong typhoon. It's now

moved across the South Islands there and heading to the sea. There

has been weakening, as would you expect over land, sustained winds

for the next 24 hours still going to be 160 kilometres per hour and

forecasts rainfall amounts of 3-400 milimetres of rain and the track

takes this system... We have pictures we should be running.

track takes the system, you can see it on the satellite picture there,

the forecast track takes the typhoon to the South China sap sea

over -- Sea, but it's still close tphouf the Philippines to provide a

lot of rain and some damaging winds for a good few days. They do

experience bad weather there but is this unusual? It's quite unusual to

get a typhoon this far south because you need to have a certain

amount of spin and the closer you get to the equator you lose that so

it's unusual to get one this far south. It turns out it's the

strongest typhoon we have had so far this year. Usually they're

further north and you can get something like 20 storms a year but

to get one this far south is unusual, though it follows on from

a year ago when we had a typhoon that caused a lot of disruption.

You probably know what I am going to ask, what probably everybody

asks, but all this unusual weather that we are seeing. Is this

connected? What we need to look at is the frequency, but also the

strength of the storms, because if the waters get warmer, then they

feed the energy of the storms. If the waters are warmer, you could

potentially have more powerful storms. It's something that we need

to do more research on over a period of time to get answers.

Thank you very much. Now the global hit Gangnam Style -

by the Korean pop star Psy - is officially the world's most watched

video on YouTube. It's closing in on 900 million views. The 34-year-

old pop legend - whose real name is Park Jae-Sang - has been passing

through Singapore on yet another whirlwind tour. And while he was

there, he spoke to my colleague Rico Hizon and explained why he

chose to call himself Psy. In my case what I thought was, you know,

crazy about music, dancing, performance, so that kind of cycle.

Everyone is now crazy about Gangnam-Style, but this worldwide

hit came in your 6th album. What made you write this song? I have

done same kind of thing for 12 years and same kind of song for 12

years. And same kind of dance for 12 years. But all of a sudden this

happens. I didn't do anything on purpose or honestly I didn't put

any effort to be an international something. So, strange, weird,

still. That's the song in your view unite western and eastern music?

Honestly, I cannot say my music is, you know, eastern or western,

because we got all inspired from western music anyway and lyric is

Korean, that's important thing. Yeah, in some way east and west

meets, I think. It's so popular now it's more than 850 million hits on

YouTube. What's next after this? I am working on new project, new

single and my debut album for worldwide. I am working on it right

now and it's going to be next March, I think. A lot of people ask me

about pressure and, you know, to be another success like Gangnam Style

but honestly, I can say I am going to do my best, I cannot be Gangnam

Style, that's one time only. It's phenomenon. It's not success, so

people make it, not me. They make it. So next time I am going to make

it for the first time. This interview will not be complete

if you don't teach me the Gangnam Style dance moves. Can we do it,

please? He is making it look easy! If you

think William and Kate have had pressure to produce their first

pregnancy wonder how this pair feel. There are times when bamboo won't

do. Even pandas get a cake to celebrate an anniversary, this

treat is made of rice and soya and topped with honey, apt for a panda

whose name means Sweetie. Yang Guang is enjoying a stroll in

the winter sunlight. Their keepers say the first 12 months have flown

by. The first year has been really exciting. We have learnt a lot

about the pandas in the year they've been here. They'll settled

in well and lots of people have come to see see them. They're

fantastic animals. I know that myself and all the staff have had a

great time with them this year. tourists have enjoyed it, too.

Visitors numbers have risen from over half a million to around

800,000 this year, thanks to the star attraction. They're so cute

and the female's sleeping but we got to see the male walking around

so that was nice. We were lucky. The female one seems lazy, seems to

be sleeping. The male is walking about and seems bored. Critics say

the arrival of the pandas was about making money, not saving a species.

Edinburgh Zoo is renting the bears from China for $1 million a year

but the zoo insists the profits benefit the pandas. They're

generating lots of money for us, but of course we are a charity, so

all that money is reinvested back into the organisation. It allows to

us do more charitable work. It's not just ticket sales keeping the

tills ringing. The gift shop is packed with black and white

merchandise. They've sold 70,000 toy pandas in the past year. But

one thing has been disappointing, romance has not yet blossomed in

the panda pen. They're surely among the most observed animals 19 where

in the world -- anywhere in the world and they're using that

knowledge to find out more about them with the ultimate aim of

breeding more pandas. The keepers think they have the key, the pandas

are used to the Scottish climate but not to the short winter days

and long summer evenings. So from now on, it will be early to bed and

lights out for these bears. It could be a recipe for the pitter-

patter of panda paws. Let's hope so. More on the baby

theme, we are going to show you pictures of Prince William who