10/12/2012 BBC World News

The DJs who made a prior call to the hospital treating the Duchess

of Cambridge so they are heartbroken by the death of a nurse

they spoke to. I am very sorry and saddened for the family and I can't

imagine what they are going through. Gutted, shattered, heartbroken.

UN appeals for emergency help for the Philippines, over 5 million

people have been affected by Typhoon Bopha.

The Italian government's borrowing costs rise. Scores of same-sex

couples crowd to Seattle City Hall for a day of wedding ceremonies now

the game marriage law takes effect. Mexico mourns the death of the

singer Jenny Riviera. The Australian DJs who made a hoax

phone call to the hospital treating the Duchess of Cambridge speak

about the death of a nurse caught up in the prank. The radio hosts

expressed their regrets and said they never foresaw the outcome of

their call. Mel Greig, who impersonated the Queen, was asked

about the moment she found out one of the nurses had taken her own

life. A Unfortunately I remember that moment very well because I

have not stopped thinking about it since I happened. My first question

Winnie found out she was? I am very saddened for the family and I can't

imagine what they are going through. What about you, Michael? Gutted,

you know. Shattered, heartbroken. For does it even feel real to you,

what's happened? We are still trying to get our heads around

everything, trying to make sense of the situation. If it doesn't seem

real because you could not foresee something like that happening from

a prank call. It was never meant to go that far. It was meant to be a

silly little prank that so many people have done before. This

wasn't meant to happen. hindsight, would you do something

like that again? I don't... I don't think that anyone could have

predicted what could have happened. It was just a tragic set of

circumstances that I don't think anyone could have thought that we

would be here. Who came up with the idea of the thank? It was just in a

team meeting before the show. wasn't either of you individually?

If ever thing is done as a team. Did you have legal advice or senior

producers nursing you through this? The call, to begin with, wasn't

about speaking to Kate. It wasn't about trying to get the scoop or

anything. The call was just... We assumed they would hang up and that

was that. When that didn't happen, and let's be honest you thought it

was a coup at the time - were you shocked that you got that far to

talk to the nurse? Absolutely, and the accents were terrible. It must

designed to be stupid. We were never meant to get that far. The

little corgis barking in the background, we wanted it to be a

joke. The joke was on us, not anyone else. We were not trying to

fool someone. We assumed with the voices we put on, we were going to

get told off and that was the joke. Do you get any training as to what

you are allowed to put on the radio? Have you been taught that

during your ten-year here? If this phone call is the same as with any

pre-recorded segments that goes on the radio. There are processes in

place. Oh role... Have you been taught that in a legal class?

are people who make those decisions for us. So did somebody listen to

that call? Be won through the same process, everything gets recorded

and passed on to the appropriate people and we are told whether it

is OK to play. Can you talk about the time spent from when you did

that call to going on the radio - was it one hour? Two hours? We go

about our work and keep going. in other things organised. But you

were pretty giddy with what you have pulled off? Yes, we didn't

expected to work, we didn't see it actually working. It wasn't to get

something that nobody else had. book you are where you were trying

to get a medical condition, and a medical condition for the Royal?

but we didn't want that. We wanted them to hang up, and play the 22nd

segment on the radio. The number of people being killed in the

Philippines is continuing to rise following Typhoon Bopha. Although

650 people are known to have died and many more are missing,

President Aquino has declared a national calamity. The BBC's Kate

McGeown brings us the latest from New Bataan in the province of

Mindanao. If this is one of the worst-affected regions after the

typhoon, and basically mud and boulders came crashing down into

this area. In some cases whole villages have been obliterated.

Very difficult to imagine they were even there. Now a week after the

typhoon, you can still smell that sadly all the bodies have not been

found yet. In the evacuation centres I found people looking

through the lists of the missing, still hundreds in this area alone.

One by one, bodies are being brought in and most are sadly dead.

In Egypt, President Mohamed Morsi has given the army powers of arrest

ahead of the referendum planned for this weekend. The announcement

comes one day before mast protest planned by the opposition against

the vote. Mohamed Morsi has ordered the security to protect state

institutions ahead of the referendum due to take place on

Saturday, and ordered the army to co-operate with the police until

results are announced. It has been nearly two years since

the Arab uprising began in Tunisia before it's worked across countries

and the Middle East. Our correspondent has been back to

Tunisia to see how life has changed, and she has gained rare access to

one of the grand palaces of the deposed President's.

The stunning view of the Mediterranean. You need money or

power to afford to live here. President Ben Ali of Tunisia have

both. We are going to show you at least one of the flaws in the grand

palaces which will go on sale. This is a more intimate corner, the file,

how to use the television remote. Copies of the Holy Koran, and a

book he was perhaps Reading, about the French First Lady. This is a

huge informal drawing room for entertaining with a lot of personal

mementoes. Come and see, if you can, through the paper, photographs of

the family. Ben Ali, his second wife Mailer, and their last child -

their only son. He also had five daughters from two marriages. For

all of this will go on sale, including this glittering

collection of prayer beads or worry beads as they are sometimes known.

Crystal, gold and candles for the lavish entertaining that must have

gone on here. Ivory, Jade, even the desert scene in gold. This must be

for adults. If you have six children, you need a place for them

as well. Look at this play room. A lot of Tories, including this

special car former -- for his son. The car bomb has killed a regional

police chief in Afghanistan. General Mohammad Musa Rasoli's car

was hit by the explosion as he drove to work. One soldier was

injured. Although no group has claimed responsibility, the Taliban

often target officials. A tour bus has crashed into a

ravine in Taiwan killing 13 people. Ten survivors were rescued by

emergency workers and taken to hospitals close to the area in

Hsinchu County where the accident happened. The bus was taking

passengers to a class reunion from a school they had graduated from

more than 40 years ago. A television studio which collapsed

killing 115 people during last year's New Zealand earthquake

should never have been built. That's the conclusion of an inquiry

which says the Canterbury Television building in Christchurch

was badly designed, inadequately constructed, and should not have

been approved. All eyes on Italy. Be yes, what we

are looking at a day in particular, this time last year the borrowing

costs for the Italian government was 7.5%. That is what investors

basically demanded, forced them to buy Italian debt. It was one of the

reasons we saw Silvio Berlusconi exit the government, and Mario

Monti then had to walk this financial tightrope. He had to

introduce some tough austerity measures and he can't have the

markets. Now we have the situation back up and running with Silvio

Berlusconi putting his bid in two Mario Monti so he will exit. You

have the markets all over the place. The markets have dropped. Some of

the banks in Italy taking big hits today, five, 6% down. The borrowing

costs are approaching 5%, so the European Central Bank has said in

the last few hours Italy must stick to its reforms. One former

economist we spoke to earlier said he is not surprised. This has

always been a crisis of confidence. Make no confidence has improved,

the ECB safety-net has improved the mood a lot. This really doesn't do

anything to improve things again. We could see a period of

nervousness again, it could need more expensive countries to re-

finance themselves leading to a more sustainable situation. Clearly

this is not a good development. Let's go from one exodus to another,

because a Hollywood actor has become the latest world the

Frenchman to flee the country's wealth tax. He has of to property,

and there is a 75% tax rate on people who earn over a million

euros a year. Let's go over to Paris. This is an interesting story.

This actor is joining the ranks of a few 1000 who have chosen this

little Belgian village literally just across the border. Yes, it is

interesting. He is quite open about it, it is obvious the reason for

his exile, the fact that it is so near to the border. The house he

will move into is an old customs offices house, just to show how

close it is to the border. Quite evidently the purpose is for tax

reasons and it is very emblematic, he is the most famous French actor.

He is well known to be on the right, politically, a rather grumpy,

temperamental character, the sort of person who would do this. Far

more damaging I think to the government is the general

disgruntlement that one hears of in business circles, and clearly that

has much greater implications for the future of French economic

development. If it's wealth creators, business types start

thinking of moving abroad, that is where the focus should be but it

draws attention to this 75% banning, and the wealthy are feeling

victimised in France. From the outside, looking in, we say this is

an interesting story but how is It is a mixture. Your political

affiliation were determined to a point, your point of view. On the

left, you say this is responsible and there are plenty of rich people

staying behind and saying, conditions are difficult, but we

have benefited from the French in for structure of social benefits

and so on. And there are those who say that in France, we have a

culture of hating wealth, and it is all Catholic tradition. We have

always despised wealthy people and it goes back to the revolution and

so on. I suspect most people are worried about this. They do not

think it is a good thing. They are not stupid, they can look around

the world and see how France risks becoming uncompetitive and it will

not do much good to the economy if these wealth creators ago. They can

hear the mood among business people. It is hard to get a true picture of

this. The media really do play up every move abroad. On the other

hand, the Government plays down the phenomenon. There are two extreme

versions of what is going on. Actually telling how many people

are going and how deep the feeling of fear is and how seriously big

companies are thinking of moving abroad, it is difficult to know.

The world's second largest economy, China, appears robust despite

economic slowdown in much of the rest of the world. Chinese

factories were busier in of November. Output from those

factories rose 10% from the previous year. Chinese people are

also spending their hard-earned cash, boosting retail sales, which

were up nearly 15%. This has helped offset the slowdown in exports.

They are still growing, but at a slower rate of 2.5%. A senior

economic analyst said the Chinese government has had success propping

up the economy with injections of cash. A industrial production is up

10%, which is a positive number. Over the past couple of numbers, it

-- over the past couple of months, it was lower. So there is an

improvement there because the Government has been aggressive in

trying to stimulate growth domestic live. They have been injecting

liquidity into the banking system. There has been a huge amount of

rail investment, up over 100% this month. The Government is focusing

on trying to revive growth. There is also a boom Frasier's second

biggest economy, the world's third largest, Japan. Wealth is shrinking

in there today. The economy fell, or contracted by 0.9%, putting

their country back into recession. Japanese exporters have also been

struggling to sell goods overseas. Due to the strong value of their

currency, the yen, a strong currency makes Japanese goods more

expensive for us to buy overseas. It also makes sales at home

difficult. You are watching BBC World News.

Still to come: another US State gives gay marriage the go-ahead.

In Ghana, President John Mahama has been declared the winner or

Friday's election. But the opposition says the poll was

fraudulent, and will meet on Tuesday to decide what to do. The

Electoral Commission said Mr Mahama won 50.7% of the vote, avoiding the

need for a run-off. He has urged leaders of all political parties to

respect the voice of the people. Even before the results were

announced, projections that John Mahama had won gonna's presidential

election led to protests on the streets of across. The main

opposition in Ghana, the New Patriotic Party, has accused the

governing National Democratic Congress of conspiring with the

Electoral Commission to fix the poll, a claim rejected by the party.

Inside the Commission's offices, security was tight as the result

was made official. Ladies and gentlemen, based on the results

given, I declare John Mahama of President elect. This election was

troubled even before the claims of vote tampering. Glitches with the

new fingerprinting system meant that Friday's poll had to be

extended into Saturday in parts of the country. But observers said the

election had passed off largely peacefully. Mr Mahama was gonna's

vice-president until the unexpected death of the president in July

catapulted him into office. On the sombre occasion of his

predecessor's funeral, he paid tribute to his leadership qualities.

Now his own time as leader is to be extended, and his supporters are

jubilant. But their celebrations could be short-lived if the dispute

over Ghana's election result destabilises a country which boasts

one of the world's fastest growing economies and is regarded as one of

Africa's most well-established democracies.

Thousands of people have held a silent march in the Netherlands in

memory of a volunteer football linesman who died after being

attacked last Sunday. Richard Nieuwenhuizen was assaulted after

officiating at a junior club game. Four teenagers have been arrested.

The crowds held banners decorated with ladybirds, the Dutch symbol of

opposition to meaningless violence. This is BBC World News. The

headlines: two Australian radio presenters who made a hoax call to

the London hospital treating Prince William's pregnant wife say they

are heartbroken by the death of a nurse caught up in the bank.

The UN has appealed for emergency help for the Philippines, wherever

5 million people have been affected by typhoon Bhopal.

A pioneering Portuguese scheme which de criminalises drug abuse

has been recommended by a British Parliament committee. A report by

the Commons home affairs committee argues that Britain might benefit

from the approach, which removes criminal penalties for people found

with small quantities of drugs, if they go into an effective treatment

programme. But the British government insists that drugs used

in the UK is already falling. For 15 years, drug use has dropped

in the UK, but it still costs the justice system and health service

billions. A report by the Home Affairs committee says the

Government should look overseas for suggestions, like here in Portugal,

where drugs were effectively decriminalised. And other places

where cannabis has been legalised. We need a programme that deals with

treatment as well as punishment. If we can focus on the dealers and get

them prosecuted, but also focus on those who are addicted, and also

not forgetting that the victims are the people who suffer as a result,

this approach is what is required. Today's report also calls for a

royal commission to rethink the drugs problem. It wants better

treatment for addicts and a focus on what it calls alarming increases

in addiction to Prakash friction drugs like relaxants and sleeping

pills. At this club clinic in London, the staff share the

report's concerns about another growth area, so-called legal highs.

As fast as the Government has outlawed substances like mephedrone,

others become available. She it is crucial that as these new drug

trends emerge, the treatment system and the policymakers adapt to these

new patterns. The Government says a royal commission on drugs is not

necessary, and says it has no intention of legalising cannabis.

The Mexican Americans singing superstar Jenni Rivera has been

killed and a plane crash in northern Mexico. The 43-year-old

and six other passengers and crew boarded a plane from Monterey on

Sunday after performing in a concert. Aviation authorities lost

contact with the plane ten minutes after take-off. Born in California

to Mexican parents, Jenni Rivera sold more than 20 million records.

Valeria Perasso, a correspondent for BBC Mundo, based in Los Angeles,

says Jenni Rivera left her mark on both sides of the US-Mexican border.

She was a big superstar within the Latino community in the US and also

in Mexico, where she was well known for being one of the leading

singers for a particular musical genre, which is basically a mix of

different musical styles from northern Mexico. It is a huge

business in the US and the area around the border. So she was well

known by fans on both sides of the border.

Dozens of same-sex couples in the United States have taken their

wedding vows after a vote to approve gay marriage law came into

effect in Washington state. The ceremonies began at midnight.

As soon as it became legally possible to do so, Washington

State's same-sex couples were tying the knot. At Seattle's City Hall,

they were saying their vows every half an hour. To celebrate the love

we have for one another not only three our families and friends but

also through the court system in Washington state, it is an

exceptional opportunity to have for everyone here to recognise it. Our

union is really between each other. Gay marriage is now illegal in six

American states and in Washington DC, but the 38 states banned it.

Public opinion is shifting, though. Recent polls showed that more are

in favour of same-sex marriage them are against it, and supporters

include President Obama. By have been going through an evolution on

this issue. Money and Sasha have friends whose parents are same-sex

couples. It would not dawn on them that somehow, their friends'

parents would be treated differently. That is the kind of

thing that prompts a change of perspective. Or all eyes are now on

the Supreme Court. The justices have decided to review two laws

concerning same-sex marriage. Many expect that they will rule that gay

married couples have the same rights as heterosexual ones. It is

possible that they might go further and make a gay marriage illegal in