30/05/2013 BBC World News

Not as warm in England and Hello, welcome to BBC World News. The top

stories: America demands the immediate withdrawal of Hezbollah

fighters from Syria, calling their involvement dangerous and

unacceptable. An American soldier charged with killing 16 Afghan

villagers agrees to plead guilty in a deal to avoid the death penalty.

Learning to live with pollution, how the people of the Niger Delta

survive in an environment damaged by oil spills.

It's no joke, the female cometic whose routine is standing up for

Syria's President Assad claims that Damascus has received the first

shipment of Russian air defence missiles from Moscow. The They were

saying they would help Syria to deter foreign sper vention in its

civil war. The move is likely to worry the United States which has

already expressed anger at the militant group Hezbollah's support

for President Assad. Washington saying that it represents a

dangerous escalation. Our Middle East correspondent is Jim Muir and

he is monitoring events in Syria from Lebanon and he says that

Washington's strong warnings won't cut much ice with Hezbollah's forces

on the ground. Hezbollah has been defying Washington ever since the

early 1980s when it was created as a counterto the Israeli invasion of

Lebanon. So it's not going to suddenly pack its bags and leave

Syria because Washington says so. It's there for very strong strategic

reasons, as its leader made clear in a speech on Saturday. It sees this

as essential to its own strategic interests, in other words, to

prevent the Syrian regime falling because it is - it links Iran with

Syria and Hezbollah. So, there's no way that Hezbollah is going to heed

words or even warnings from Washington at this stage in the

game. It's too vital. Most concern seems to be focussed right now on

the battle over control of the town of Qusar. What's the significance of

that? It controls rebel supply routes into Syria, into the

heartland, Homs and so on, the centre of the country. From the

regime's point of view it's very important for its forces to control

there, also if you are in control there you are threatening the main

route between Damascus and the coast and Damascus han the main cities to

the north. It's very important strategically. The Syrian state

forces do seem to have seized a disused military air airfield which

is just to the north of Qusair, probably cutting off the last supply

line to the rebels inside the town. Apparently with a large number of

civilians and they're putting out a strong appeal for help because

medical conditions are deteriorating and doctors saying there is no

oxygen left and they've hundreds of wounded people there. They're

appealing for the Red Cross or the Red Crescent to intervene to try and

save those civilians. Our Middle East correspondent Jim Muir in

Beirut. An American soldier charged with killing 16 villagers in

Afghanistan has agreed to plead guilty to murder charges in a deal

to avoid the death penalty. He left his remote base in the south of the

country in March last year and attacked people in two nearby

villages. Most of the victims were women and children. Our

correspondent in Afghanistan is David Loyn. What happened to this

man who served four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and had suffered

concussion in Iraq. One night he took Valium and steroids and drunk

from a plastic bottle of whisky. Apparently they had been watching a

movie in the base about revenge killings, he had been discussing

with his comrades an incident in which one of their comrades had been

very badly hurt, had lost a leg in an accident. He left the base armed

with an rifle and pistol and went to a village and went house by house

killing Afghans, apparently according to one of the families he

said something about the Taliban, Taliban, Taliban and started killing

people, men, women and children. 16 people altogether killed in the

incident and extraordinarily in the middle of it he wept back to the

base and said to a fellow soldier I have been in a village killing

people and the soldier said, don't be silly, I don't believe you and

went back to sleep. He went to a second village a mile or so away the

other side of the base and there he killed more people He piled bodies

together and set fire to them and came back to the base dripping with

done? Yes, his lawyer John Brown has told the AP news agency that next

week there will be a hearing and at that hearing he won't try and say

that he was mentally unfit to stand trial. He says the lawyer says he is

crazed and broken, but not mentally unfit. And that he wants to plead

guilty now. There's been a plea bar gaping process which goes on in the

United States in order to escape the death penalty and sentencing will

emerge later, providing the judge accepts that plea bargain in a

military court. I think the reaction of the families in the south will be

some shock. Some of the relatives of those who were killed went to the

United States for an earlier hearing and they thought they were being

taken to the state to see him being executed. They want him tried in

Afghanistan. There's a strong feeling here this trial should have

taken place here. Instead he's been under American military justice and

in an American military jail and facing American military justice

now. The families will be very perplexed that he is not to be

executed. More widely in Afghanistan there was quite a muted response to

this. Many people said the Americans have been killing lots of people

here over the years and this was no different to other incidents.

with of the two men accused of killing a British soldier on a

street in London last week has appeared in court. Michael Adebowale

was charged with murder after being released from hospital. He appeared

in court dressed in white baggy trousers and a grey sweatshirt and

spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and his address. It was a

four-minute appearance. Another man arrested with him remains in

hospital under armed guard. Both men were shot and wounded by police at

the scene of the killing. A series of bomb explosions in Iraq have

killed at least 13 people. Sunni mill tapts are thought to be

responsible -- militants are thought to be responsible. UN report today

calls for a moratorium on the use of robots in war. The robots aren't

controlled by humans. Human rights groups say they raise serious moral

questions about how we wage war. The European Commission is expected

to launch formal action against Spain today after hundreds of people

have complained that they've been denied medical treatment in Spanish

hospitals, despite showing their health assurance card. Tom Burridge

explained the severity of the situation in Spain. The cases we

have spoken to or seen date back several years and the European

Commission says hundreds of cases. We are not looking at is the

something that is widespread, but there are significant cases and

there are now - you only have to look at the fact that the European

Commission is taking this legal action against Spain at lunchtime

today to realise there is enough evidence, enough cases for them to

feel that is possible now. Are you getting a sense that this is

increasingly infrequency? I am wondering whether this is a direct

result of the dire economic circumstances in Spain? It's an

interesting question. It's something we thought about and asked people

about. The European Commission said there's no evidence that in the

recent months and probably within the course of the last month,

because a year ago sprain brought in a new health reform here,

essentially making it more difficult for illegal immigrants without the

right paperwork to get free public healthcare here in Spain. The

European Commission says actually there is no evidence that within the

last few months the number of cases related to this story has gone up

and it's very important to point out the two situations are very

different. In this situation we are talking about European Union

citizens going to public hospitals in Spain when they're on holiday and

presenting this European health assurance card, which is one of the

perks of being in the European Union, if you like. We are hearing

from Brussels the European Commission has requested information

from Spain regarding these complaints that Spanish hospitals

aren't providing public healthcare to other EU citizens who arrive in

Spain needing medical attention will keep you up to date with that

story. For the past couple of months or so India has been in the

spotlight for a negative reason because of a series of violent

assaults on women but far from seeing themselves as potential

victims, some Indian women are breaking into areas usually

dominated by men and we have been talking to one in particular, a

comedian. Hi, I am 26 years old and I am a stand-up comedian, among

other things and I am originally from Mumbai and I got into it three

years ago. It just happened to be great timing. I heard about a couple

of open mics happening in the city and I went to check out what was

going on and I saw what other people were doing and said maybe I should

give this a try and kept on going, because the moment you get that

first laugh you get addicted to it and want more. It's so empowering to

see everyone react the same way, to laugh. I think the problem with we

think as a woman, you don't know whether you are being laughed at or

laughed with. And I think as a woman you just feel slightly uncomfortable

with that idea. Of course you are required to speak boldly or required

to speak with a level of honesty that would be perceived as almost

for very few instances, the audience... One of the few actresses

in Bollywood, she's actually the age of a student. This one gentleman

came up to me after a show and he said, you know, you were very funny

and he shook my hand and everything. I said thank you. He said, but I

just want to know do your parents know you are saying all these type

of things on stage? I think the general concern is if you are going

to be a joker in public, who's going to marry you? My mother used to drop

me to open mics, I would run jokes by my dad and he would help me. My

parents have been nothing but supportive. They're very proud of

me, I think. It means so much to me that they are. If they weren't, it

would have been much more difficult. The story of the appearance at a

Westminster Magistrates' Court of one of the suspects in the killing

of an off-duty British soldier last week in London. We can go to that

court and our correspondent Matt Prodger. The appearance was short.

Prodger. The appearance was short. This is an appearance that begins

the process of trial. He appeared in court to give his name and

address. He was wearing a grey, long-sleeved top and white trousers.

This is the first time that we've seen him since the merger of Lee

rig by last Wednesday, which happened in Woolwich. After the

appearance, during the appearance rather, he was wearing handcuffs

and one of his hands was bandaged. He was also flanked by police in

suits and afterwards, he left under armed escort in a reinforced police

van. The next court appearance will be at the Old Bailey on June 3.

Thank you. Lots more to come here this morning,

including facing a really difficult future. How thousands of oil spills

threaten the livelihoods of farmers in the Niger Delta.

Beavers may look cute and cuddly to some of you but in Belarus there

are increasing reports after tacks on people, one beaver recently

killed a fisherman who was reportedly trying to pick it up and

have a photograph taken with. It the beavers -- beaver's bite hit a

major artery in his leg and he bled to death.

They're rodents known for keeping busy but a large rise in the beaver

population in Belarus has been named for a number of attacks on

humans. In March, one man was apparently attempting to catch a

beaver to have a photograph taken with it, when it bit him savagely.

The man died from his injuries. TRANSLATION: The character of the

wound was totally shocking for us medical professionals. We had never

run into anything like this before as far as I can remember. What we

saw was that his hip had been afflicted by the beaver bite, a

series of bites. Because the beaver is a rodent, he doesn't just strike

once. He strikes multiple times, at least two times with his teeth. The

teeth of a beaver can be as long as seven or eight centimetres,

approximately three inches. It can bite anything it wants and how it

wants. The killer beaver escaped after the attack and has not been

caught. But there have been other reports of aggressive behaviour

from the animals. This amateur footage is said to show one beaver

stalking the emergency vehicles September to move it on. Fire crews

eventually resorted to hosing it away. One woman filmed this beaver

outside a Community Centre. TRANSLATION: We accompanied the

beaver out to where there was a ditch. The emergency services

officials moved him away from the ditch. Once hunted almost to the

point of extinction in Europe beavers have made a come back as

new populations have been introduced.

TRANSLATION: We're in the midst of a beaver colony. In Belarus the

beaver population has reached more than 80,000 and they've started to

inflict damage on both forestry and agriculture. While life experts say

the animals can become disorientated in daylight and may

attack out of fear. Officials in Belarus say such attacks are rare

but that it is becoming an increasing problem.

Wuer with BBC World News. These are our top stories this morning: The

US has demanded that Hezbollah withdraw fighters from Syria

immediately, saying their presence is unacceptable and dangerous.

An American soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians in two

ram pages last year, will plead guilty in order to avoid the death

penalty. Oil pollution is a massive problem

in the Niger Delta. Over the years, thousands of oil spills have

polluted farmland, as well as lakes and rivers. But what was life like

before the multinational oil companies moved in?

This report on how local communities are managing to survive

despite the pollution. There are few signs of life here,

the trees are all dead and the water is heavily polluted. All the

result of an oil spill that happened nearly a year ago and

still hasn't been cleaned up. is the point where it spills, so it

was spilling too far. I can't even walk close to the point. The black

oil was gushing out? Yeah, crude oil was coming out speedily. Such

spills are common in the Niger Delta. People here reject the oil

company's allegation that it was caused by sabotage. With no chance

of growing crops or fishing, the farmers are forced to venture

further afield. There is another side to this place, unspoilt areas

of natural beauty. This is the Niger Delta before the oil. We

carefully waded across swamps. Birds providing a constant

soundtrack. After moving deep into the forest, we came across a lake

where people have been fishing for generations. They've set up camp

where they stay for just three months every other year. In this

community everyone has a role, whether it's weaving the reed

fishing baskets or smoking the fish. It's all providing a vital income.

We use this money to pay school fees. We use this money to buy

books for them. We use this money to even to buy school uniforms and

do everything for them. After setting the traps earlier in the

day, by late afternoon, it's time to bring in the catch, which is

shared by several families. The fact that people come here every

two years show that's they know about how to fish in a sustainable

way, but also living under the fear of pollution. This man tells me

they can drink the water around here and there are plenty of fish.

But he says if oil is discovered nearby, that could all change. He

says in his 78 years, he's gained nothing whatsoever from Nigeria's

oil. This is a community that's still reaping the benefits of an

unspoilt environment. But with pollution a constant threat, they

leave offerings at a shrine in a hope to the gods will allow them to

keep fishing. As we've seen recently in Oklahoma,

a streng -- the strength and power of a tornado and the effects are

familiar to many parts of the United States. Here in Europe,

they're a rare sight which is why a twister took Italian communities

completely by surprise, particularly as it appeared to be

following commuters. It appeared out of nowhere, a

tornado so strong it lifted debris from a nearby industrial estate and

swirld around as if in slow motion. For Italian commuters driving home

on the motorway on the outskirts of Milan just got a whole lot more

hazardous. It left a trail of destruction in its wake. Trees were

uprooted, trucks overturned and some houses suffered damage. There

were, thankfully, no reports of casualties.

TRANSLATION: It just kep growing and growing and growing. It was

like having the engine of a plane next to me. That's why these

violently rotating columns of air are so frightening, appearing from

nowhere, and then dissipating just as quickly. Until next time.

Two common pain killers used by millions of us with painful

conditions like arthritis carry a small risk of heart attack. That's

according to a new study. The research published in the British

Medical Journal the Lancet is the first to give accurate information

on the long-term use of high doses of ieb profin and diclofenic. The

information should help doctors and patients weigh up the risks in

using the Med kaigsz. These -- medication.

These pain killers are used by millions of people, for some,

including people with arthritis, they're a life lining, helping them

keep intense, long-term pain under control. Ieb proven -- iboprofin is

part of a group of non-steroid Alan ti infamiliarer to drugs. We are

saying this is the risk. Now consider the benefit you get from

taking these drugs. You may consider the small extra risk to be

worth the extra benefit you get, your ability to go about your daily

life in the normal way. This research is not about the small

dose of these pain killers you buy in the chemist shop for a headache

or a spraind ankle. It does give us the best information yesterday on

the risks of taking high dose over a long period of time. This looked

at the heart attack risks: On average eight in a thousand people

a year will have a heart attack, including those on high doses of

NSEDS, the risk is up to 11 in every thousand people. It was

higher for people who already had heart health problems. So this

research is about weighing up the extra risk of these drugs for those

patients who may also rely on them to manage their pain. The Victoria

and Albert museum in London has appointed its first ever game

designer in residence. It's Sophia George. She hopes her work with

video games will help people to see the creativity that goes into

making them. The Victoria and Albert museum not

the place you imagine many come to play video games. Now the V&A has

appointed its first video games designer in residence. She's won a

BAFTA for one of her games. Now she's on a mission to change

people's view of her industry. would really like the public's

minds to be open about gaming that it's not just about violence, it

can be about education, fun, playing games as families. Perhaps

for them to inspire to make their own games. All sorts of people,

young and old, male and female are playing games in all sorts of ways.

It's an industry where Britain has plenty of skills. Now the V&A

believes it's important that it recognises this aspect of our

culture. The V&A is very contemporary in its outlook. It's

had a really vibrant contemporary programme for a long time. All the

things thaw see around you have been contemporary at one point,

they've just got older as time goes along. As well as talking to

visitors, Sophia aims to design a game based on the museum's

directions. The V&A says its aim to are flect the best in design from

every era and it's games at the cutting edge. Bon Jovi will play a

gig in Madrid next month for free. The star says any proceeds from

reduced tickets will go to workers who help stage the concert and help

pay the hiring of the venue. Cheap tickets for the gig, not

surprisingly, have sold out. And to remind you of our top story: America

is demanding the immediate withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters

from Syria calling their involvement dangerous and unacceptable. Syria's

President, President Assad, has said his country has received a deliver

delivery of advanced air defence missiles from Russia. In an