07/12/2012 BBC World News

You are watching BBC World News, and she joined as, thank you for

joining us, at the very moment that Khaled Meshaal has been addressing

the people of Gaza. The leader of Hammers, who has been in exile from

Palestinian territory for 45 years, crossed through the Rafah crossing

from Egypt into Gaza just a matter of 30 minutes ago. He is there for

three days of celebration, for the 25th anniversary of Hammers, but

also a highly symbolic moment in terms of Hammers putting its front

foot forward and expressing its desire for the Palestinian unity,

to tie more closely with fatter and, as we have just been hearing from

Khaled Meshaal, a desire for the Palestinians did take the blame of

their own territories and have their own state. Mike Wooldridge is

with me. We have just been listening to what he had to say,

these first words that so many Palestinians would have been on

Not in the least bit unexpected that he should have been searching

for such rhetoric, and more speeches are expected, most notably

tomorrow, marking the 25th anniversary of the founding of

Hammers and the start of the Palestinian intifada, or uprising,

The top Hamas military commander was killed recently, and that will

be very much in his mind and no doubt why he chose to open it by

paying tribute, as we might have expected, to the many matters in

Gaza. Nothing here at all of any kind of subtlety about whether

there might be any shift in Hamas' own stand against Israel or, indeed,

towards Fat Duck. Maybe more of that will emerge during the visit,

maybe it will remain behind the scenes, but it is obviously the

kind of thing that people will be wanting to here. It is the big,

broad brush opening salvo, isn't it? A very clear message about the

Recent statements may have pointed to more and accommodation with

Israel, but Israel has been very dismissive of this visit. They

described Hamas as a terrorist organisation which has shown no

interest in dialogue whatsoever, so we would not expect to see anything

moving forward in pragmatic terms in terms of the relationships in

the region. A symbolic moment, none the less, and as I say, the Hamas

leader has been speaking for the first time, that news conference,

if we can call it that, in Gaza City. Let's catch up on what he had

to say. He said Gaza has never left his heart, although it is a place

he had never set foot in. TRANSLATION: This is an historic

moment. This is a great day in the march of the Palestinian people for

a return to Palestine. Sorry about that, that was the precursor to

Khaled Meshaal's speech. We will line that are in a moment, well

worth having a listen to, but I think we can now cross over to our

correspondent him is covering this down at the Rafah crossing. You

have seen what has been a highly symbolic moment. That is right,

that is what he said, and everybody in here waiting for this moment.

Now we can see the cars inside the Rafah terminal, the cars around us

for all of Hamas leaders, who has been in the reception of Khaled

Meshaal. A short speech to him and to the Bam as prime minister,

Ismail Haniyeh. He said, I do not find the words to speak today,

because today might get a new birthday in Gaza, because this is

the moment that I wait for a long time. I never visit Gaza, but Gaza

in my heart all the time. He thanked everybody, the Hamas

militants, the other Palestinian factions, the Hamas government here,

and his words were to the Palestinian mothers and the people

in Gaza who is waiting him, and he promised that his visit will not be

the last visit. Anyway, everybody waiting on the schedule today, I

think we are in front of a very long day. He will visit the homes

of Hamas leaders, top leaders killed through the confrontation

between Israel and Hamas in the last years. Also, he will visit the

sites which were destroyed in the last war. Also, everybody waiting

for this meeting tonight with all the Palestinian factions, the Fatah

movement will also participate in his meetings, and everybody waiting,

this promises that he will give a new information about

reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, and this is the big step

that everybody is waiting from Khaled Meshaal. Anyway, Khaled

Meshaal, he just reached the Rafah crossing, he stepped down from his

car and kissed the ground in Gaza. And he said, this is the moment

that I promise, this is the step that I promise when I reach to Gaza

Strip. Everybody in here waiting for the big festival tomorrow in

Gaza, and the big speech to him. But today there was a very short

speech at the Rafah crossing, and the people waiting a lot from

Khaled Meshaal. Thank you very much indeed for that. It is going to be

an intriguing three days as Khaled Meshaal arrives there in Gaza.

Other news around the world now, and a one metre high tsunami has

hit Japan's north-east coast. The way was recorded in Ishinomaki, a

city in Miyagi prefecture, which was badly hit just over 18 months

ago Bennett tsunami, of course. Well, this one was triggered by a

powerful earthquake, preliminary magnitude of 7.3, as opposed to

nine at 18 months ago. It was felt as far away as Tokyo. These

pictures came from the City of Sendai. No reports of any serious

damage or indeed of casualties. Rupert Wingfield-Hayes is in Tokyo,

and he said he felt his building shake violently, and he gave me the

latest. It is much, much smaller than the tsunami that hit the same

coast in March 2011. That raged up to 11 metres at its highest point.

It wrought massive destruction along that coast, killed nearly

20,000 people. So this is a much smaller tsunami, and we understand

that it has not caused any significant damage, and the tsunami

warning has now been lifted from that coastline. I think it is a

sign of just how nervous Japan is now about these sorts of events

that the authorities were very quick to issue a tsunami alert and

to order people on the coast to leave their homes this evening. It

was not a very big tsunami. significant point about people

moving out, because they are not many that many there now anyway,

our there? Well, there or not. If you go along the north coast of

that prefecture, the ones which were really badly struck, places

like Ishinomaki, where the tsunami came ashore, in this city it

virtually does not exist any more. Many of the towns along that those

were utterly destroyed and barn owl really just sort of flat land,

where they have cleared the buildings. -- and are now. Most

areas they have not started rebuilding, so there's not much

population down on the coast. are cutting short on that, because

we want to go over to the Turkish border with Syria. Those cars are

the convoy taking Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon of the United Nations

into a refugee camp. The man on your screen, of course, is James

Reynolds. James, please do come in. Ban Ki-Moon going in to see for

himself the sort of conditions that 200,000 refugees, at the lucky ones,

who have got some shelter, who have come across from Syria. They have

tents in here, 9,000 of them live in the refugee camp under blue and

grey canopies behind me, but the conditions that Ban Ki-Moon will be

getting to see now are still pretty miserable. One refugee told us

there is no electricity. At the moment, you might be able to make

out the driving rain that we have had all morning, the temperature is

pretty low. He might hear some pretty uncomfortable Refugees when

he is walking around the camp. will be itching to think about

going home, as I am sure the Turkish authorities well as well.

Is there any expectation that things are moving quicker now?

There is some hope. Indeed, every time you as a Syrian refugee if

they think they will be going home, they all say, we hope so, God

willing. A few weeks ago, the wall looked to be at a stalemate, now it

looks as if the rebels have an advantage. We have met refugees who

are actively preparing a government-in-exile, ready to take

over if they get to go back home. suppose the flipside of that is

that Ban Ki-Moon is among those who has warned Syria about the use of

chemical weapons as well. He wrote a letter to the Syrian President,

one end of serious consequences if those weapons are ever used. --

warning. Syria has said it will not use those weapons against its own

people, but that leaves open the potential for using it against

other people. One Western intelligence source has told the

BBC there has been no significant detected movement of any chemical

weapons at the moment. James, thanks very much indeed, James

Rattle's any refugee camp. Egypt now, where the opposition

coalition has rejected President Morsi's call for talks about the

crisis which has been sparked by his decision to expand his powers.

The National Salvation Front has said that it has decided to refuse

to take part in a dialogue until its demands are met. There was

further violence overnight, and the state-run television has been

reporting clashes in the last few hours outside a mosque Enrique

Alexandria. Opposition demands Well, bad news coming. That is

always the way with Business now, isn't it? Germany has some pretty

poor figures heading its way. It has definitely been a bit of a

shock, further evidence that Germany is being tracked down by

the eurozone crisis and broader global slowdown. The central bank

has slashed its forecast for next year's growth from 1.6% down to

just 0.4%. This report suggests Germany may even see its economy

contract this quarter and next, putting it into recession. The

chief European economist at Deutsche Bank says the dimming

prospects for Germany could make it easier for the European Central

Bank to take action to help all of Europe. We have had a lot of

tension within the system between the Bunders Bank and the rest of

the euro system. -- Bundesbank. If there are signs that Germany is

faced with a downturn, it makes normally the Bundesbank more

inclined to accept more unorthodox measures, a looser monetary

condition. The worst, in a way, for the ECB, would be a situation where

Germany would be sailing through very nicely with strong growth,

while the rest of the eurozone would do poorly. This convergence

towards a fairly dim level of growth helps, bizarrely, the

central bank to define its monetary policy.

Luxury car maker Aston Martin has secured a new investor. The

European private equity firm, former owners of Ducati, will take

a 38% stake in the business, about �150 million worth. In return, the

investment firm will take four out of nine seats on the board.

The Russian President will attend a ground-breaking ceremony on the

Black Sea coast for a major new gas pipeline to southern Europe on

Friday. Russia already supplies almost 40% of Europe's gas, and

critics say the pipeline will make Europe even more dependent on

The boss of Netflix is in trouble with its financial regulators.

Americas Securities and Exchange Commission has warned Reed Hastings

it might bring a civil lawsuit against him for releasing

information about the company on Facebook. Mr Hastings said the

comment he made it not contain commercially sensitive information.

The Hong Kong stock market welcomed a new arrival on Friday. It is the

Chinese insurance firm PICC Group, it sold shares for the first time.

The state-controlled company rose more than $3 billion. The shares

rose 7% on the opening date. They have some 137 million customers in

China. We will get the latest indicator on the US jobs market

shortly. The figures for November, due later on Friday, are expected

to show a sharp drop in hiring. Economists blame the Superstorm

Hoboken in New Jersey looks very different today from a few weeks

ago. Residents here knew Hurricane Sandy was coming, but nobody

expected it to hit this hard. Certainly not this spot owner, who

showed us what is left of her storm ravage business. All of the

furniture got damaged, we threw that out. The floor has really

buckled. She and her staff are now in limbo. You have how many

employees? 3. What's happened to them? They are out of work. Three

employees may not seem like a lot but it quickly adds up across the

North-East. Instead of seeing a seasonal boost to employment, jobs

are being lost. Sandy will definitely show up in the national

numbers, even though it was in regional event. We know that from

past experience. 2005, the Gulf Coast was hit by two Hurricane Ike.

What we saw in the immediate aftermath was bad job growth slowed

by 75 %. In Hoboken, Sandy hasn't just destroyed jobs. This station

is closed. But deep inside, construction wall -- workers have

been brought in to pump out the tunnel and destroyed -- restored

destroyed wiring. The latest figures will capture the

devastation caused by a super storm sanding, but the path to rebuilding

should bring with it jobs. That may We've seen small falls, not

dramatic. The ibex in Spain is down We will have a holiday soon to look

forward to. More on that in a moment. You could have a holiday on

the moon. Not as far-fetched as you might think. More expensive than

Traditionally they are used as office buildings but an increasing

number of skyscrapers on now people's homes. In the latest

report in what has been a week-long series, Duncan Kennedy visited the

Eureka Tower in Melbourne in Australia, one of the world's

tallest residential buildings. He meets one family who have settled

down a 70 floors up. The southern city of Melbourne, sometimes voted

the best place to live on earth. And it's in this vibrant city of

more than 4 million people were they build the tallest residential

structure in the southern hemisphere. The Eureka Tower, home

to 1500 people. It's nearly 300 metres tall. Just short of the

Eiffel Tower. On its 74th floor, it is home to this family. Every

morning it is curtain-up on a breathtaking view of Melbourne.

Every time I look out the window it looks different. I know there's

something new. It's very much about looking outside. Our interiors are

relatively modest because it's not about the inside, it's about what

is outside the building. I never take it for granted. I can honestly

tell you, having come from a house environment, I wouldn't go back for

anything. They have been there for five years with their son, Gideon.

From special-effects for furniture to state of the art fire Kitts,

they say it's safe and practical. Do you get there - not do you ever

get any vertigo? No, none of us suffer from it. But we have friends

who can't visit because of the height. They have issues with

vertigo and heights. Day-to-day stuff like emptying the trash?

have rubbish chutes. Because of the height, the rubbish chute goes in a

zig-zag to break the speed of the rubbish. That way Lance at a

relatively slow speed when it hits the bottom. So by high residences

are rare, most skyscrapers of a working and not living. This

building tries to smooth out any practical drawbacks. Once you've

caught the bug, there's no going I suppose you get some rather

wonderful views. You can get more views like that from around the

That is on the world page of the The headlines. The exiled leader of

the Palestinian Hamas group has arrived in Gaza. It's his first

visit to Palestinian territory since he was a child. The US

Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has arrived for her last visit to

Northern Ireland before she leaves office. She is in Belfast at

Stormont. At an interesting time, there is growing sectarian violence

once again in Northern Ireland. She is meeting Northern Ireland's

leaders to discuss possibly what to do about that, get the bigger

picture on the peace process as well. We can go over to James Cook,

who is in Belfast. I suppose this was seen as a possible swansong

visit. It is anything but a swansong seen on the ground in

Belfast at the moment. That's right. Obviously not the atmosphere in

which Hillary Clinton had hoped to ride in Belfast. It will be

interesting to see what she has to say about it. We are expecting a

news conference after she has been speaking at Stormont Castle to the

First Minister, Peter Robinson, and the Deputy First Minister, Martin

McGuinness, who greeted her warmly at the steps of Stormont Castle

earlier. I suppose there are two -- two separate things going on. At

about 8:40pm last night, police in Londonderry interceptor Descartes,

four men were arrested and detectives say what they found in

that car was a viable Improvised Explosive Device, in other words, a

home-made bomb. That was made safe by the British Army. Some residents

were evacuated from their homes. On the other side of the divide in

Northern Ireland there have been protests by loyalists who are

unhappy about a decision to restrict the number of days on

which the United Kingdom's flat can be flown from Belfast City Hall.

The number of people have been targeted. There has been violence.

The latest manifestation of that was a death threat to Naomi Long,

who is the MP for East Belfast, a member of the Alliance Party, a

moderate party in the middle of politics in Northern Ireland which

has become caught up in this because it voted in favour of that

change. I don't suppose realistically there is an awful lot

Hillary Clinton can do with regard to the sorts of nitty gritty issues.

Perhaps not. It will be interesting to hear what she has to say but it

is a very brief visit. As you suggest, I suppose it was intended

as a valedictory visit as she will be leaving office shortly. It is

worth stressing, you know this as well as anyone else, that this is

not by any stretch of the imagination a return to the days of

the past. They have been some problems in recent days and months.

There have been undoubtedly been sectarian tensions which are

threats, but we are still a long way from the atmosphere before the

peace process began in the 1990s, not least guided by Hillary

Clinton's husband, Bill Clinton. We've just got time to remind you

of the news coming out of Gaza. The exiled leader of the Palestinian

group Hamas, Khalid Mashaal, has arrived in the Gaza should Gibbs.

It's a place he's never visited before. He hadn't been on

Palestinian territory since he was 11 years old. This was the 25th

anniversary of the founding of Hamas. This is ostensibly why he

has come. He has come for three days. He went into exile way back

after the 1967 six-day War. He had a news statement to make in which

he said Gaza had never left his heart.

TRANSLATION: I've come to Gaza and I say I have come back to Gaza,

although I haven't visited Gaza before. But Gaza is always in my

heart. I have come here because it has always been in my heart, it's

never left me. I left the West Bank in 67. This is the first time I

visited Palestine after 37 years. This is the first time I have the

honour to me to Gaza and it's great, blessed people. I wanted to visit

Gaza... I wanted to come to Gaza last year, following the

reconciliation, but God has decreed otherwise and wanted that I visit

Gaza today. He is due to make what you might have made keynote address

on Saturday in Gaza. This is a man who has faced his own assassination

attempt back in 1997. An attempt he survived. Not surprisingly, Israel

has little to say about this visit, but certainly not one that would be

welcomed. It seems to hint at a growing sense of confidence within

Hamas, following the recent conflict with Israel. There will be

discussions between thaker macro and Hamas in the course of this

visit, to see how much further they can go to reconcile their two

positions and have something of a united front in pursuing the aims

of the Palestinian people. It was a long line of welcoming crew there

for him. I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised about that either. He

is very much the figurehead, the symbolic figurehead for Hamas. How

much practical work can be done in three days remain -- remains to be

seen, but he did say he saw this as his third birth in life. His birth,

the survival of the assassination attempt and now, what is the first

time he has actually set foot in Gaza. I just want to bring you one

other story. 40 years ago today, the space agency NASA launched a

very significant mission to the moon. It was the last manned

mission. Now we private American company, backed by former space

engineers, has said it plans to fly To the Moon again by the year 2020.