:00:19. > :00:23.Freud female health workers are shot dead in Pakistan, targeted for
:00:23. > :00:27.their role in giving the polio vaccine.
:00:27. > :00:37.The South African President Jacob Zuma is re-elected the leader of
:00:37. > :00:38.
:00:38. > :00:41.the governing a MC. If we Elizabeth attends the meeting of the British
:00:41. > :00:45.Cabinet, the first Queen to do that since Queen Victoria.
:00:45. > :00:55.And the English theatrical tradition which some say it is now
:00:55. > :01:02.
:01:02. > :01:05.Welcome to BBC World News. Increased security is in place at
:01:05. > :01:08.schools in Newtown, Connecticut, where some children are expected to
:01:08. > :01:11.return to class for the first time since Friday's massacre. The school
:01:11. > :01:13.where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults remains a crime
:01:13. > :01:23.scene. More funerals and remembrance services are due to
:01:23. > :01:23.
:01:23. > :01:28.take place. Ben Wright reports. The memorials grow, the grieving goes
:01:28. > :01:35.on. Today the children of Newtown will return to their schools. The
:01:35. > :01:40.surviving pupils will go to classes in a neighbouring town, but not yet,
:01:40. > :01:44.and the crime scene that was their school may never reopen. The first
:01:44. > :01:49.funerals took place on Monday and there will be many more in the
:01:49. > :01:54.coming days. Including one for Dylan, who was six years old. His
:01:54. > :01:58.family moved to Newtown from England two years ago and last
:01:58. > :02:02.night they said no words could express their feelings of loss. In
:02:02. > :02:08.a statement his family said it did not and never would regret their
:02:08. > :02:13.decision to move to the community. As news of the shooting spread on
:02:13. > :02:19.Friday, parents of the pupils at the school waited for news at the
:02:19. > :02:29.fire house. Whilst most discovered their children were safe, some were
:02:29. > :02:29.
:02:29. > :02:36.getting frantic. Uncertain was -- uncertainty was growing, until one
:02:36. > :02:41.mother yelled out "is anybody still alive?" that is when they realised
:02:41. > :02:46.nobody was. President Obama said America could not tolerate
:02:46. > :02:50.tragedies like this anymore. Some say banning assault weapons should
:02:51. > :02:59.be warm response to this tragedy, but gun-control was one of the most
:02:59. > :03:06.controversial issues in US politics. Many people will fiercely resist
:03:06. > :03:11.restrictions. Yesterday was the best sales we have done in 20 years,
:03:11. > :03:17.today will probably eclipse that. new tree has been planted for every
:03:17. > :03:19.murdered child. The horror witnessed here might persuade
:03:19. > :03:22.politicians that America's gun culture must change.
:03:22. > :03:25.Dr Jennifer Wild is a consultant clinical psychologist who has
:03:25. > :03:28.worked with the parents of murdered children. She says the team of
:03:28. > :03:37.experts who've been brought in to help the victims' families will be
:03:37. > :03:44.waiting for the parents to approach them. The people who were brought
:03:44. > :03:47.in really will be encouraging a period of watchful waiting so we
:03:47. > :03:52.know the medical centre has a crisis intervention team, and
:03:52. > :03:58.really people have been encouraged to telephone the centre should they
:03:58. > :04:07.wish to talk. We don't offer a more systematic intervention because our
:04:07. > :04:11.research shows this stress debriefing, which used to be often
:04:11. > :04:15.in a drama like this, it actually caused people to develop problems
:04:15. > :04:24.over time. For the first month, we going to a period of watchful
:04:24. > :04:34.waiting. After a month, if people are showing evidence of flashbacks
:04:34. > :04:34.
:04:34. > :04:39.or nightmares, we offer, -- we offer cognitive behavioural therapy.
:04:39. > :04:44.Do they need to talk about it to start to open up the process of
:04:45. > :04:49.dealing with this. Some people will be encouraged, other people will
:04:49. > :04:54.not necessarily want to talk about it. In this sort of circumstance,
:04:54. > :04:57.given the severity of what has happened, and the death of children
:04:57. > :05:02.is the most severe trauma we can go through, people will be talking
:05:03. > :05:08.about it. It happened to so many children, the families are likely
:05:08. > :05:16.to talk about it with each other. How much contact they have with it
:05:16. > :05:19.crisis intervention team is a little bit unclear at this time.
:05:19. > :05:22.Five female health workers have been shot dead in Pakistan because
:05:22. > :05:24.they worked on a polio vaccination campaign. The attacks happened in
:05:24. > :05:26.three separate areas of the country's biggest city, Karachi.
:05:26. > :05:29.This week the World Health Organisation launched a nationwide
:05:29. > :05:31.drive to vaccinate children against the disease. Now the campaign has
:05:31. > :05:34.been suspended in Karachi. The Taliban have previously issued
:05:34. > :05:42.threats against the polio drive, saying the vaccine is harmful.
:05:42. > :05:47.Joining me from Islamabad is the BBC's Aleem Maqbool. They asked him
:05:47. > :05:54.if he thought the attack had been co-ordinated. Yes, it would appear
:05:54. > :05:57.so. The females administering the vaccine were shot dead, but also a
:05:57. > :06:07.fifth female was shot dead in the north-west of the country,
:06:07. > :06:13.following on from one hole for -- health worker being shot in Karachi.
:06:14. > :06:18.They were people who had settled there, and in the past the Taliban
:06:18. > :06:23.have banned vaccination programmes in tribal areas in north-west
:06:23. > :06:27.Pakistan. They have spread conspiracy theories, saying the
:06:27. > :06:31.vaccination programme is either a Western plot to sterilise Muslims
:06:31. > :06:37.or they have raised suspicions about the fact the programme could
:06:37. > :06:41.be used by foreign spy agencies to gather intelligence, but it has the
:06:41. > :06:46.cost the lives of these six workers over the last couple of days. It
:06:46. > :06:51.has meant the suspension of the programme, and of course that means
:06:51. > :06:55.many more children are at risk of getting the disease.
:06:55. > :07:01.In the US, expectations are growing that a compromise will soon be
:07:01. > :07:10.reached to avoid the fiscal cliff. Barack Obama and John Boehner have
:07:10. > :07:20.met at the White House. John Boehner signalled he agreed to
:07:20. > :07:23.
:07:23. > :07:27.raise tax rates for those earning more than one million dollars per
:07:27. > :07:37.year. A deal must be reached by January first, or a combination of
:07:37. > :07:41.steep tax rises and sharp spending cuts will take effect. It is all
:07:41. > :07:46.about compromise, the deadlock has gone on for too long. The
:07:46. > :07:51.Republicans did not want to see tax increases in the top wealthy of the
:07:52. > :07:56.United States, that 2% band, whilst the Democrats did not want to see
:07:56. > :08:00.any tax increases for the middle class. That is a huge population
:08:00. > :08:06.that President Obama has said he will protect from tax increases.
:08:06. > :08:16.The Republicans were the first to take the step because they came in,
:08:16. > :08:16.
:08:16. > :08:26.John Boehner, and said they will agree to a tax increase on the
:08:26. > :08:27.
:08:27. > :08:33.higher earners. He said he will increase the threshold to 400,000,
:08:34. > :08:41.so at least we are getting some numbers on the table. Let's get
:08:41. > :08:47.some more on this from our guest. These concessions signal a new
:08:47. > :08:51.stage in the negotiations. Of this posturing has given way to real
:08:51. > :08:59.talk, hasn't it? Yes, it is a step in the right direction but we still
:08:59. > :09:05.have a long way to go. In terms of spending cuts, we focus a lot in
:09:05. > :09:09.the recent hours on the tax increase and the threshold, but in
:09:09. > :09:14.terms of spending cuts we have not really even started the debate of
:09:14. > :09:19.where it will come from. It is a step in the right direction. Both
:09:19. > :09:23.parties clearly have their constituents to talk to and to deal
:09:23. > :09:28.with, and I think there is an element of not reaching a deal too
:09:28. > :09:34.fast because they might be accused of giving in to quickly. In the end
:09:34. > :09:38.we have to do the right thing. Tax reforms are needed in the US and
:09:38. > :09:43.even if we have to go over the cliff for a couple of days in
:09:43. > :09:48.January in order to bring everybody to a reality check, that would be
:09:48. > :09:55.OK, but what may need is fundamental in debt reform that
:09:55. > :09:59.will really help deal with this deficit, but also not kill growth
:09:59. > :10:09.in 2013 and beyond. As the proposals stand, what we have seen
:10:09. > :10:10.
:10:10. > :10:13.on the table so far, who wins and who loses in America in terms of
:10:13. > :10:17.the demographics? It does seem there could be higher tax payments
:10:17. > :10:23.for the middle-class, and that is the section that President Obama
:10:23. > :10:28.said he would try to protect. has increased of course that
:10:29. > :10:35.threshold as you mentioned to 400,000, so I think in terms of the
:10:35. > :10:42.large part of his constituents, that might be something that is
:10:42. > :10:47.helpful while the higher end, above 1 million, is being taxed more
:10:47. > :10:52.heavily to 39.5%. This is a concession that both can live with.
:10:52. > :10:59.I believe again that we have to look at the cuts because that is
:10:59. > :11:03.where things will be very important in terms of health care for example
:11:03. > :11:07.or pensions or reductions. There were talks about taking away some
:11:07. > :11:12.of the fiscal advantage to deduct interest from mortgages and that is
:11:12. > :11:17.very important to the American population. I would say the middle
:11:17. > :11:27.class, generally. A step in the right direction but we still have a
:11:27. > :11:30.few more days for more negotiation. Thank you.
:11:30. > :11:34.The US are pressing Chinese officials to tackle long-standing
:11:34. > :11:40.trade problems between the countries. Now a Chinese delegation
:11:40. > :11:45.is in Washington today and tomorrow for talks with the US trade
:11:45. > :11:49.representative, who was expected to push China to drop restrictions on
:11:49. > :11:59.livestock and take action to stop counterfeiting and piracy of
:11:59. > :12:00.
:12:00. > :12:08.American goods. Are we now in a new era of talking and diplomacy?
:12:08. > :12:18.Daniel Costello joins me now. think at the top of the list from
:12:18. > :12:20.
:12:20. > :12:27.the US is the currency issue. The US government still says US exports
:12:27. > :12:33.are being harmed. The Chinese trade deficits is at an all-time high
:12:33. > :12:38.this year so there will be pressure on them to keep pushing that. They
:12:38. > :12:41.will have interests in the fiscal Cliff discussion because they have
:12:41. > :12:51.holdings on federal debt and at the same time they have continuing
:12:51. > :12:55.
:12:55. > :12:58.concern around restriction of high- tech goods sales.
:12:58. > :13:01.Some other business stories and Morgan Stanley has agreed to pay a
:13:01. > :13:03.fine of $5 million to securities regulators in the US state of
:13:03. > :13:09.Massachusetts for withholding information prior to the flotation
:13:09. > :13:11.of Facebook. Morgan Stanley was the lead underwriter for Facebook. The
:13:11. > :13:14.bank allegedly gave details of the social media sites revenue
:13:14. > :13:22.shortfall to analysts - before shares were floated on the stock
:13:22. > :13:25.market - but withheld that vital information from the general public.
:13:25. > :13:29.Morgan Stanley didn't admit any guilt but agreed to be censured and
:13:29. > :13:31.pay the fine. A US judge has denied Apple's
:13:31. > :13:37.request for a permanent injunction against Samsung Electronics'
:13:37. > :13:40.smartphones. The iPhone maker won a billion dollars in damages in
:13:40. > :13:44.August after a jury found Samsung had copied critical features of the
:13:44. > :13:48.iPhone and iPad. However, the judge said there was not enough evidence
:13:48. > :13:52.that the infringed patents had hurt Apple's US sales. Samsung had
:13:52. > :13:55.requested a re-trial, but that request was also turned down.
:13:55. > :13:57.The International Monetary Fund has given Ireland a fresh $1.1 billion
:13:57. > :14:03.in aid, after approving the country's progress under its two-
:14:03. > :14:05.year-old rescue program. The IMF praised Ireland for pushing ahead
:14:05. > :14:08.with policy reforms and deficit cuts despite a slowdown in growth,
:14:08. > :14:13.but warned the outlook could darken if the European and US economies
:14:13. > :14:22.weaken. This latest money takes to $25 billion the total aid Ireland
:14:22. > :14:25.has received so far. European Union fisheries ministers
:14:25. > :14:28.are meeting for two days of talks to set new annual fishing quotas.
:14:28. > :14:38.The UK is concerned about plans to cut cod quotas in the North Sea,
:14:38. > :14:40.
:14:40. > :14:50.even though cod numbers are But could news. It is increasing.
:14:50. > :14:50.
:14:50. > :14:52.You British love it. Fish-and-chip, lovely. I got to go. See you. Some
:14:52. > :14:55.breaking news. An American correspondent has been released
:14:55. > :14:58.unharmed after being kidnapped and held for five days inside Syria by
:14:58. > :15:02.an unknown group. NBC's chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel
:15:02. > :15:09.and his production team are now out of the country. Engel has been
:15:09. > :15:12.reporting on the Syrian conflict since March 2011.
:15:12. > :15:14.Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has been taken to hospital in what the
:15:14. > :15:17.prime minister's office is calling a stroke. President Talabani has
:15:17. > :15:20.had numerous health problems, including a heart operation in 2008.
:15:20. > :15:23.He has also travelled to to the United States and Europe for a
:15:23. > :15:26.variety of treatments. You're watching BBC World News.
:15:26. > :15:36.Still to come. The Hollywood stars coming to take part in that most
:15:36. > :15:39.British of Christmas traditions - A state of natural disaster has
:15:39. > :15:44.been declared in the south Pacific Island of Fiji after a tropical
:15:44. > :15:52.cyclone left a trail of destruction in its wake. 8,000 people are still
:15:52. > :15:59.in evacuation shelters as the clean-up begins. The government
:15:59. > :16:08.says they can now begin to return home. We have come up the coast
:16:08. > :16:13.today. Most of the worst affected areas are particularly in that
:16:13. > :16:18.local areas. What we have seen so far, trees have fallen, power lines
:16:18. > :16:24.are down. The structural damage, though, is not as bad as the first
:16:24. > :16:29.anticipated, so we have come through this very well. Some of the
:16:29. > :16:36.resorts are still operating. Some of them are opening tomorrow. The
:16:36. > :16:40.structure in the resorts has been minimal. There has been a bit of
:16:40. > :16:47.flooding but the biggest issue really is getting power back on,
:16:47. > :16:52.the electricity. Are those areas safe for people to return to? The
:16:53. > :16:59.people who have been moved to shelters? The weather is beautiful
:16:59. > :17:07.at the moment. It goes through very quickly. People can return to their
:17:07. > :17:09.houses. Obviously, the houses need to be repaired quite quickly, but
:17:09. > :17:13.they are in it evacuation centres and are quite safe they are being
:17:13. > :17:18.looked after. It's very well co- ordinated because we had so much
:17:18. > :17:21.warning and preparation it was coming. Can your emergency services
:17:21. > :17:28.deal the aftermath on this on their own or would you like external
:17:28. > :17:33.help? Currently, we can deal with it on our own. Obviously, we have
:17:33. > :17:38.got today and tomorrow. We have the military police and emergency
:17:38. > :17:45.services out there, who have been out since first light clearing the
:17:45. > :17:50.roads, and no bridges have come down. There have been no landslides.
:17:50. > :17:55.The airport will be opened up to date. It looked like business as
:17:55. > :18:01.usual. When you drive along some areas, they are completely
:18:01. > :18:05.unaffected. Others areas, badly affected. Fiji is open for business.
:18:05. > :18:15.In some areas, it would be hard to know anything has happened. We were
:18:15. > :18:17.
:18:17. > :18:20.extremely lucky to come through This is BBC World News. The
:18:20. > :18:22.headlines. After the first funerals are held
:18:22. > :18:26.for the victims of Friday's shooting in Connecticut, some
:18:26. > :18:29.children in the town are going back to school for the first time.
:18:29. > :18:32.Gunmen have shot dead five women working on a polio vaccination
:18:32. > :18:39.campaign in Pakistan. The attacks happened in three separate areas of
:18:39. > :18:42.the country's biggest city, Karachi and in Peshawar.
:18:42. > :18:46.It's highly unusual but the Queen paid a visit to Number 10 Downing
:18:46. > :18:49.Street today to sit in on the first cabinet meeting of her 60-year
:18:49. > :18:52.reign. She sat in the chair usually occupied by the Prime Minister. The
:18:52. > :18:56.first item on the agenda was the proposed change to royal accession
:18:56. > :19:03.rules to allow a girl to become head of state even if she has a
:19:03. > :19:07.younger brother. The Queen was given 60 place mats as a gift from
:19:07. > :19:12.the Cabinet. Historian Jane Ridley is here to give us some context on
:19:12. > :19:21.the visit. How significant is this? It's a historical constitutional
:19:21. > :19:27.landmark. I don't think historians, don't think, any monarch has
:19:27. > :19:32.attended the Cabinet since 1781. George the third. It's an awful
:19:32. > :19:37.long time ago. George VI, her father, went to war cabinet
:19:37. > :19:42.meetings, a difficult time, but he did sitting on them. That's right,
:19:42. > :19:51.but that was awful for we are talking about peace time. -- That
:19:51. > :19:55.Was War. The Queen was an important mark of respect the Queen commands
:19:56. > :20:02.that she has been invited to such a meeting because the Cabinet is a
:20:02. > :20:07.political body. Does it redefine, enhance and a positive way, the
:20:07. > :20:14.relationship between the monarch, as a person, but also the monarchy
:20:14. > :20:20.and the government? I think, in constitutional terms, basically it
:20:20. > :20:25.is saying the Queen is not identified with party politics. She
:20:25. > :20:30.is above party politics. Therefore, inviting her to the Cabinet is not
:20:30. > :20:36.really a political act, if you see what I mean. Any party could do it.
:20:36. > :20:41.It's not identifying the Queen with any party. And I think that that
:20:41. > :20:47.really does show that the Queen and the monarchy is a bar politics.
:20:47. > :20:53.That's important. She is so much more mature than some members of
:20:53. > :20:58.the Cabinet in chronological terms, but it's important because she can
:20:58. > :21:01.offer advice to the Prime Minister and she has done it in the past.
:21:01. > :21:05.But she doesn't get involved but she's very much behind the scenes
:21:05. > :21:12.and very much plug-in because the first prime minister, Winston
:21:12. > :21:15.Churchill. Yes, it's a long time, isn't it? The thing which has
:21:15. > :21:19.developed is the weekly audience with the Prime Minister. She's
:21:19. > :21:22.incredibly well-informed and of course, they can't say what happens
:21:22. > :21:26.in these meetings, they are confidential, but that's why they
:21:27. > :21:31.are so valuable. There's an agreement nothing must come out of
:21:31. > :21:38.them. They are free discussions but all the prime ministers to say
:21:38. > :21:44.she's incredibly wise and a very good sounding-board. She is very
:21:44. > :21:49.well-informed, certainly. If you were to give anybody 60 place mats,
:21:49. > :21:57.it would be Her Majesty because she is likely to have 60 people around
:21:57. > :22:01.to dinner. It was the Russian-made super jet on a promotional flight
:22:01. > :22:03.for potential buyers when it slammed into a mountain.
:22:03. > :22:07.Investigators are the pilot was talking to a possible customer and
:22:07. > :22:10.was distracted. South Africa's president Jacob Zuma has been re-
:22:10. > :22:12.elected as head of the ruling African National Congress. Mr Zuma
:22:12. > :22:19.comfortably saw off a leadership challenge from his own deputy,
:22:19. > :22:22.Kgalema Montlanthe. Around 5,000 delegates cast votes to decide who
:22:23. > :22:26.should lead the party into the next election. That meeting of the ANC
:22:26. > :22:29.is happening in Mangaung where the party was formed a century ago.
:22:29. > :22:33.Milton Nkosi is there for us. come to us it just as the results
:22:33. > :22:42.have been announced. President Jacob Zuma beat his deputy, Kgalema
:22:42. > :22:47.Montlanthe, by 2984 votes. It is a landslide for Jacob Zuma and
:22:47. > :22:51.therefore, he will feel happy to go into a second term and follow his
:22:51. > :23:00.own programme which has been decided a at the conference earlier
:23:00. > :23:07.this year. What is a programme and how long until it kicks in? He has
:23:07. > :23:13.always spoken about the challenge facing South Africa, inequality,
:23:13. > :23:20.high unemployment, and poverty. He says it is a legacy of the
:23:20. > :23:24.apartheid system, so the policy they have put together is that they
:23:24. > :23:28.want to improve the infrastructure of the country so they can build
:23:28. > :23:31.more factories and improve productivity and create more jobs
:23:31. > :23:36.so they can live to millions of South Africans who are still
:23:36. > :23:39.languishing in poverty. It's Pantomime season here in the UK. A
:23:39. > :23:42.great theatrical Christmas tradition. But, when it comes to
:23:42. > :23:46.booking a ticket, is the audience swayed by the presence of a
:23:46. > :23:49.celebrity? Pamela Anderson and Henry Winkler are among the growing
:23:49. > :23:52.number of American stars who have crossed the Atlantic for a spell in
:23:52. > :23:55.panto. David Hasselhoff and Priscilla Presley are over this
:23:55. > :23:59.year. But with pantomimes more important to theatres than ever,
:23:59. > :24:07.not everyone's happy about the hiring of star names. Tim Muffett
:24:07. > :24:10.reports. Oh no, not a fight scene?
:24:10. > :24:16.Theatre Royal in York and the UK's longest serving pantomime dame is
:24:16. > :24:26.in rehearsal. For 40 years, he has been entertaining festive
:24:26. > :24:27.
:24:27. > :24:34.I promise you, there are very, very few people who know how to do
:24:34. > :24:42.pantomime properly. You have to work every line in pantomime. Look
:24:42. > :24:45.at that. It is timing, timing, timing. He is not a household name
:24:45. > :24:50.but the pantomimes here have been hugely popular and there's not a
:24:51. > :24:58.celebrity in sight. They don't do anything for the art of pantomime.
:24:58. > :25:01.It is an art form. Pantomime is the last bastion of community theatre.
:25:01. > :25:05.Pantomimes, of course, are fun, festive and a bit daft. But for
:25:05. > :25:12.many theatres, they serve a pretty serious roles. Without pantomimes,
:25:12. > :25:15.some venues would struggle to survive. For our members, it
:25:15. > :25:24.accounts for 25% of the audience throughout the year. And one-fifth
:25:24. > :25:27.of the income, so it's hugely important. In the last year, we've
:25:27. > :25:31.seen 9% cuts to organisations from local government funding. Does this
:25:31. > :25:36.make pantomime more important to theatre survivals? Absolutely.
:25:36. > :25:41.best to attract an audience? Casting a celebrity is one option
:25:41. > :25:44.and recently more and more American stars have been tempted over. Henry
:25:44. > :25:46.Winkler, Steve Guttenburg and this Christmas David Hasselhoff is in
:25:46. > :25:56.Manchester and Priscilla Presley is in Snow White at London's Wimbledon
:25:56. > :26:02.Theatre. I think the American stars is a relatively new thing. But
:26:03. > :26:05.going back 50 years, pantomimes were star driven. Yes, there are
:26:05. > :26:08.some changes, but really, it's about something which will appeal
:26:08. > :26:12.to the whole family. And those stars make a big difference. Even
:26:12. > :26:18.so, one panto purist is not convinced. I don't think the
:26:18. > :26:22.audience buy it. Honestly, I really don't. I think they just come to
:26:22. > :26:30.see the Hoff. It's not doing pantomime any favours. Pantomime is
:26:30. > :26:40.Oh, your mother saved the day again for you, Robin. Can you tell the
:26:40. > :26:43.
:26:43. > :26:47.family likeness? It's like looking Barack Obama has met senior
:26:47. > :26:52.officials to discuss how to respond to Friday's school shootings in