18/12/2012 BBC World News

Freud female health workers are shot dead in Pakistan, targeted for

their role in giving the polio vaccine.

The South African President Jacob Zuma is re-elected the leader of

the governing a MC. If we Elizabeth attends the meeting of the British

Cabinet, the first Queen to do that since Queen Victoria.

And the English theatrical tradition which some say it is now

Welcome to BBC World News. Increased security is in place at

schools in Newtown, Connecticut, where some children are expected to

return to class for the first time since Friday's massacre. The school

where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults remains a crime

scene. More funerals and remembrance services are due to

take place. Ben Wright reports. The memorials grow, the grieving goes

on. Today the children of Newtown will return to their schools. The

surviving pupils will go to classes in a neighbouring town, but not yet,

and the crime scene that was their school may never reopen. The first

funerals took place on Monday and there will be many more in the

coming days. Including one for Dylan, who was six years old. His

family moved to Newtown from England two years ago and last

night they said no words could express their feelings of loss. In

a statement his family said it did not and never would regret their

decision to move to the community. As news of the shooting spread on

Friday, parents of the pupils at the school waited for news at the

fire house. Whilst most discovered their children were safe, some were

getting frantic. Uncertain was -- uncertainty was growing, until one

mother yelled out "is anybody still alive?" that is when they realised

nobody was. President Obama said America could not tolerate

tragedies like this anymore. Some say banning assault weapons should

be warm response to this tragedy, but gun-control was one of the most

controversial issues in US politics. Many people will fiercely resist

restrictions. Yesterday was the best sales we have done in 20 years,

today will probably eclipse that. new tree has been planted for every

murdered child. The horror witnessed here might persuade

politicians that America's gun culture must change.

Dr Jennifer Wild is a consultant clinical psychologist who has

worked with the parents of murdered children. She says the team of

experts who've been brought in to help the victims' families will be

waiting for the parents to approach them. The people who were brought

in really will be encouraging a period of watchful waiting so we

know the medical centre has a crisis intervention team, and

really people have been encouraged to telephone the centre should they

wish to talk. We don't offer a more systematic intervention because our

research shows this stress debriefing, which used to be often

in a drama like this, it actually caused people to develop problems

over time. For the first month, we going to a period of watchful

waiting. After a month, if people are showing evidence of flashbacks

or nightmares, we offer, -- we offer cognitive behavioural therapy.

Do they need to talk about it to start to open up the process of

dealing with this. Some people will be encouraged, other people will

not necessarily want to talk about it. In this sort of circumstance,

given the severity of what has happened, and the death of children

is the most severe trauma we can go through, people will be talking

about it. It happened to so many children, the families are likely

to talk about it with each other. How much contact they have with it

crisis intervention team is a little bit unclear at this time.

Five female health workers have been shot dead in Pakistan because

they worked on a polio vaccination campaign. The attacks happened in

three separate areas of the country's biggest city, Karachi.

This week the World Health Organisation launched a nationwide

drive to vaccinate children against the disease. Now the campaign has

been suspended in Karachi. The Taliban have previously issued

threats against the polio drive, saying the vaccine is harmful.

Joining me from Islamabad is the BBC's Aleem Maqbool. They asked him

if he thought the attack had been co-ordinated. Yes, it would appear

so. The females administering the vaccine were shot dead, but also a

fifth female was shot dead in the north-west of the country,

following on from one hole for -- health worker being shot in Karachi.

They were people who had settled there, and in the past the Taliban

have banned vaccination programmes in tribal areas in north-west

Pakistan. They have spread conspiracy theories, saying the

vaccination programme is either a Western plot to sterilise Muslims

or they have raised suspicions about the fact the programme could

be used by foreign spy agencies to gather intelligence, but it has the

cost the lives of these six workers over the last couple of days. It

has meant the suspension of the programme, and of course that means

many more children are at risk of getting the disease.

In the US, expectations are growing that a compromise will soon be

reached to avoid the fiscal cliff. Barack Obama and John Boehner have

met at the White House. John Boehner signalled he agreed to

raise tax rates for those earning more than one million dollars per

year. A deal must be reached by January first, or a combination of

steep tax rises and sharp spending cuts will take effect. It is all

about compromise, the deadlock has gone on for too long. The

Republicans did not want to see tax increases in the top wealthy of the

United States, that 2% band, whilst the Democrats did not want to see

any tax increases for the middle class. That is a huge population

that President Obama has said he will protect from tax increases.

The Republicans were the first to take the step because they came in,

John Boehner, and said they will agree to a tax increase on the

higher earners. He said he will increase the threshold to 400,000,

so at least we are getting some numbers on the table. Let's get

some more on this from our guest. These concessions signal a new

stage in the negotiations. Of this posturing has given way to real

talk, hasn't it? Yes, it is a step in the right direction but we still

have a long way to go. In terms of spending cuts, we focus a lot in

the recent hours on the tax increase and the threshold, but in

terms of spending cuts we have not really even started the debate of

where it will come from. It is a step in the right direction. Both

parties clearly have their constituents to talk to and to deal

with, and I think there is an element of not reaching a deal too

fast because they might be accused of giving in to quickly. In the end

we have to do the right thing. Tax reforms are needed in the US and

even if we have to go over the cliff for a couple of days in

January in order to bring everybody to a reality check, that would be

OK, but what may need is fundamental in debt reform that

will really help deal with this deficit, but also not kill growth

in 2013 and beyond. As the proposals stand, what we have seen

on the table so far, who wins and who loses in America in terms of

the demographics? It does seem there could be higher tax payments

for the middle-class, and that is the section that President Obama

said he would try to protect. has increased of course that

threshold as you mentioned to 400,000, so I think in terms of the

large part of his constituents, that might be something that is

helpful while the higher end, above 1 million, is being taxed more

heavily to 39.5%. This is a concession that both can live with.

I believe again that we have to look at the cuts because that is

where things will be very important in terms of health care for example

or pensions or reductions. There were talks about taking away some

of the fiscal advantage to deduct interest from mortgages and that is

very important to the American population. I would say the middle

class, generally. A step in the right direction but we still have a

few more days for more negotiation. Thank you.

The US are pressing Chinese officials to tackle long-standing

trade problems between the countries. Now a Chinese delegation

is in Washington today and tomorrow for talks with the US trade

representative, who was expected to push China to drop restrictions on

livestock and take action to stop counterfeiting and piracy of

American goods. Are we now in a new era of talking and diplomacy?

Daniel Costello joins me now. think at the top of the list from

the US is the currency issue. The US government still says US exports

are being harmed. The Chinese trade deficits is at an all-time high

this year so there will be pressure on them to keep pushing that. They

will have interests in the fiscal Cliff discussion because they have

holdings on federal debt and at the same time they have continuing

concern around restriction of high- tech goods sales.

Some other business stories and Morgan Stanley has agreed to pay a

fine of $5 million to securities regulators in the US state of

Massachusetts for withholding information prior to the flotation

of Facebook. Morgan Stanley was the lead underwriter for Facebook. The

bank allegedly gave details of the social media sites revenue

shortfall to analysts - before shares were floated on the stock

market - but withheld that vital information from the general public.

Morgan Stanley didn't admit any guilt but agreed to be censured and

pay the fine. A US judge has denied Apple's

request for a permanent injunction against Samsung Electronics'

smartphones. The iPhone maker won a billion dollars in damages in

August after a jury found Samsung had copied critical features of the

iPhone and iPad. However, the judge said there was not enough evidence

that the infringed patents had hurt Apple's US sales. Samsung had

requested a re-trial, but that request was also turned down.

The International Monetary Fund has given Ireland a fresh $1.1 billion

in aid, after approving the country's progress under its two-

year-old rescue program. The IMF praised Ireland for pushing ahead

with policy reforms and deficit cuts despite a slowdown in growth,

but warned the outlook could darken if the European and US economies

weaken. This latest money takes to $25 billion the total aid Ireland

has received so far. European Union fisheries ministers

are meeting for two days of talks to set new annual fishing quotas.

The UK is concerned about plans to cut cod quotas in the North Sea,

even though cod numbers are But could news. It is increasing.

You British love it. Fish-and-chip, lovely. I got to go. See you. Some

breaking news. An American correspondent has been released

unharmed after being kidnapped and held for five days inside Syria by

an unknown group. NBC's chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel

and his production team are now out of the country. Engel has been

reporting on the Syrian conflict since March 2011.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has been taken to hospital in what the

prime minister's office is calling a stroke. President Talabani has

had numerous health problems, including a heart operation in 2008.

He has also travelled to to the United States and Europe for a

variety of treatments. You're watching BBC World News.

Still to come. The Hollywood stars coming to take part in that most

British of Christmas traditions - A state of natural disaster has

been declared in the south Pacific Island of Fiji after a tropical

cyclone left a trail of destruction in its wake. 8,000 people are still

in evacuation shelters as the clean-up begins. The government

says they can now begin to return home. We have come up the coast

today. Most of the worst affected areas are particularly in that

local areas. What we have seen so far, trees have fallen, power lines

are down. The structural damage, though, is not as bad as the first

anticipated, so we have come through this very well. Some of the

resorts are still operating. Some of them are opening tomorrow. The

structure in the resorts has been minimal. There has been a bit of

flooding but the biggest issue really is getting power back on,

the electricity. Are those areas safe for people to return to? The

people who have been moved to shelters? The weather is beautiful

at the moment. It goes through very quickly. People can return to their

houses. Obviously, the houses need to be repaired quite quickly, but

they are in it evacuation centres and are quite safe they are being

looked after. It's very well co- ordinated because we had so much

warning and preparation it was coming. Can your emergency services

deal the aftermath on this on their own or would you like external

help? Currently, we can deal with it on our own. Obviously, we have

got today and tomorrow. We have the military police and emergency

services out there, who have been out since first light clearing the

roads, and no bridges have come down. There have been no landslides.

The airport will be opened up to date. It looked like business as

usual. When you drive along some areas, they are completely

unaffected. Others areas, badly affected. Fiji is open for business.

In some areas, it would be hard to know anything has happened. We were

extremely lucky to come through This is BBC World News. The

headlines. After the first funerals are held

for the victims of Friday's shooting in Connecticut, some

children in the town are going back to school for the first time.

Gunmen have shot dead five women working on a polio vaccination

campaign in Pakistan. The attacks happened in three separate areas of

the country's biggest city, Karachi and in Peshawar.

It's highly unusual but the Queen paid a visit to Number 10 Downing

Street today to sit in on the first cabinet meeting of her 60-year

reign. She sat in the chair usually occupied by the Prime Minister. The

first item on the agenda was the proposed change to royal accession

rules to allow a girl to become head of state even if she has a

younger brother. The Queen was given 60 place mats as a gift from

the Cabinet. Historian Jane Ridley is here to give us some context on

the visit. How significant is this? It's a historical constitutional

landmark. I don't think historians, don't think, any monarch has

attended the Cabinet since 1781. George the third. It's an awful

long time ago. George VI, her father, went to war cabinet

meetings, a difficult time, but he did sitting on them. That's right,

but that was awful for we are talking about peace time. -- That

Was War. The Queen was an important mark of respect the Queen commands

that she has been invited to such a meeting because the Cabinet is a

political body. Does it redefine, enhance and a positive way, the

relationship between the monarch, as a person, but also the monarchy

and the government? I think, in constitutional terms, basically it

is saying the Queen is not identified with party politics. She

is above party politics. Therefore, inviting her to the Cabinet is not

really a political act, if you see what I mean. Any party could do it.

It's not identifying the Queen with any party. And I think that that

really does show that the Queen and the monarchy is a bar politics.

That's important. She is so much more mature than some members of

the Cabinet in chronological terms, but it's important because she can

offer advice to the Prime Minister and she has done it in the past.

But she doesn't get involved but she's very much behind the scenes

and very much plug-in because the first prime minister, Winston

Churchill. Yes, it's a long time, isn't it? The thing which has

developed is the weekly audience with the Prime Minister. She's

incredibly well-informed and of course, they can't say what happens

in these meetings, they are confidential, but that's why they

are so valuable. There's an agreement nothing must come out of

them. They are free discussions but all the prime ministers to say

she's incredibly wise and a very good sounding-board. She is very

well-informed, certainly. If you were to give anybody 60 place mats,

it would be Her Majesty because she is likely to have 60 people around

to dinner. It was the Russian-made super jet on a promotional flight

for potential buyers when it slammed into a mountain.

Investigators are the pilot was talking to a possible customer and

was distracted. South Africa's president Jacob Zuma has been re-

elected as head of the ruling African National Congress. Mr Zuma

comfortably saw off a leadership challenge from his own deputy,

Kgalema Montlanthe. Around 5,000 delegates cast votes to decide who

should lead the party into the next election. That meeting of the ANC

is happening in Mangaung where the party was formed a century ago.

Milton Nkosi is there for us. come to us it just as the results

have been announced. President Jacob Zuma beat his deputy, Kgalema

Montlanthe, by 2984 votes. It is a landslide for Jacob Zuma and

therefore, he will feel happy to go into a second term and follow his

own programme which has been decided a at the conference earlier

this year. What is a programme and how long until it kicks in? He has

always spoken about the challenge facing South Africa, inequality,

high unemployment, and poverty. He says it is a legacy of the

apartheid system, so the policy they have put together is that they

want to improve the infrastructure of the country so they can build

more factories and improve productivity and create more jobs

so they can live to millions of South Africans who are still

languishing in poverty. It's Pantomime season here in the UK. A

great theatrical Christmas tradition. But, when it comes to

booking a ticket, is the audience swayed by the presence of a

celebrity? Pamela Anderson and Henry Winkler are among the growing

number of American stars who have crossed the Atlantic for a spell in

panto. David Hasselhoff and Priscilla Presley are over this

year. But with pantomimes more important to theatres than ever,

not everyone's happy about the hiring of star names. Tim Muffett

reports. Oh no, not a fight scene?

Theatre Royal in York and the UK's longest serving pantomime dame is

in rehearsal. For 40 years, he has been entertaining festive

I promise you, there are very, very few people who know how to do

pantomime properly. You have to work every line in pantomime. Look

at that. It is timing, timing, timing. He is not a household name

but the pantomimes here have been hugely popular and there's not a

celebrity in sight. They don't do anything for the art of pantomime.

It is an art form. Pantomime is the last bastion of community theatre.

Pantomimes, of course, are fun, festive and a bit daft. But for

many theatres, they serve a pretty serious roles. Without pantomimes,

some venues would struggle to survive. For our members, it

accounts for 25% of the audience throughout the year. And one-fifth

of the income, so it's hugely important. In the last year, we've

seen 9% cuts to organisations from local government funding. Does this

make pantomime more important to theatre survivals? Absolutely.

best to attract an audience? Casting a celebrity is one option

and recently more and more American stars have been tempted over. Henry

Winkler, Steve Guttenburg and this Christmas David Hasselhoff is in

Manchester and Priscilla Presley is in Snow White at London's Wimbledon

Theatre. I think the American stars is a relatively new thing. But

going back 50 years, pantomimes were star driven. Yes, there are

some changes, but really, it's about something which will appeal

to the whole family. And those stars make a big difference. Even

so, one panto purist is not convinced. I don't think the

audience buy it. Honestly, I really don't. I think they just come to

see the Hoff. It's not doing pantomime any favours. Pantomime is

Oh, your mother saved the day again for you, Robin. Can you tell the

family likeness? It's like looking Barack Obama has met senior

officials to discuss how to respond to Friday's school shootings in