15/11/2013 BBC World News

Hello and welcome to BBC World News. Our top stories: The death toll

following Typhoon Haiyan rises to just over 3500, although the number

could be much higher. Aid workers described the situation

as bleak with tens of thousands of survivors desperate for help.

Protest in Sri Lanka as the Commonwealth meeting starts.

China announces plans to relax its one child policy.

And the legend Sachin Tendulkar misses a century in his final test

in his home city of Mumbai. One week after a devastating typhoon

ripped through the centre of the Philippines, aid agencies say the

situation remains bleak. The official death toll has risen to

over 3500. The UN says it could be much higher, and the number of

people affected have gone up to 11.8 million. 673 people have been

displaced, and the typhoon has caused widespread damage to

agriculture and infrastructure. Aid is beginning to arrive in some of

those cities, but with roads still blocked and fuel running short, it

is not reaching all the remote areas. The government is facing an

uphill task to get aid. Relief efforts had been delayed because of

the scale of the devastation. The basic infrastructure of any

community that is normally found in any part of the world have been

swept away. Everything you see here have been brought in from the

outside. Imagine a situation from ground zero, were from day one you

have to set up the mechanisms to feed, clothe and shelter 275,000

families. Everything has been swept away. Is that why the relief effort

has appeared to be slow? Yes, in a situation like this is nothing is

fast enough. But the first responders were literally swept

away. They themselves were victims, they died, their loved ones died,

they cannot be found. They may be suffering from traumatic stress. It

is only now that people are showing up to work in City Hall. From the

police in Tacloban, out of a man power of 293, when I went to the

police station to organise people only 20 showed up. There was only 50

or so, two days ago. That is why we have to augment everything from the

outside. I only have eight trucks from the Armed Forces that are

delivering goods and food stuff to the communities. For the whole city?

For the whole province. The total trucks under this system is 16

yesterday. Extreme. That shows you there is some thought going into

this. Out of those 16 trucks, we dedicated one half to delivering

food, and one to clearing the roads. There is not much more we can do.

That was the secretary for the interior for the Philippine

government. We are in Tacloban, we have been around the city to see how

people are coping. It does not look much like it, but this is a high

school, one of the few buildings left standing after the storm swept

through here a short time ago. As you can see, what it is now is a

refugee camp. These people have come in from the region, most of them

telling a story of destroyed homes, of neighbours and family members who

have been killed. They are simply trying to find somewhere dry and

safe to get their lives back into some sort of order. Most of the

people we have spoken to here say they are not hungry. They say they

have water, but what they are desperate for is shelter. They have

no homes to go to, they are crammed into this area and they need help

from the international community. The teachers from the school are

taking details of the families who are registered here. There are

something like 250 families already. They are giving each family

a number so that as and when international aid arrives here, they

will be allocated aid in an orderly fashion. Everybody is trying to did

positive, this is positivity in the face of real human tragedy. A

glimpse of one part of Tacloban. We are going to move onto one of our

top stories today and leaders of the Commonwealth are attending a summit

in Columbo, a overshadowed about a row over whether the company is a

suitable venue. The British Prime Minister is on an historic visit to

the Jaffna region to meet Tamil leaders and some of the victims of a

country's prolonged civil war. They are always colourful affairs,

but this Commonwealth summit has turned into one of the most of

modern times. Campaigners continue to call for an investigation into

alleged war crimes as it is estimated tens of thousands of

civilians died in the government's final victory over the Tamil Tigers

separatists. A grand red carpet entrance for David Cameron who has

defended his decision to take part. Not long after this handshake with

the controversial Sri Lanka and president, he broke away from the

summit to head to Jaffna north, the first western leader to do so. It is

important to shine a spotlight on what has happened in this country

and speak up against abuses that have taken place, and make sure

people in the north of the country have a voice. There has been

progress, but they're still has not been enough truth telling about what

has happened. It is important to go there and make these points. As he

met Tamil leaders, protesters made clear their grievances. Families,

including many women, attempted to block the road and call attention to

many people they believe are missing. Before that the Prime

Minister was very much a part of the lavish opening ceremony. The leaders

of Canada, India and Mauritius have stayed away. The Sri Lanka and

leader has a defiant message for his critics. Opportunities have been

long denied to my people due to terrorism which existed for nearly

three decades. In ending terrorism in 2009, we asserted the greatest

human rights, the right to life. It is all quite a debut for Prince

Charles, representing the Queen for the first time at a Commonwealth

summit. We hope to speak to the Canadian

High Commissioner on this story, Canada have not sent their Prime

Minister to the summit. First we will go back to the Philippines. My

colleague is in Tacloban. What is the picture overall about the aid

delivery system? We have seen America coming in with huge

resources, potentially. Is that reaching people on the ground? It is

beginning to. A week after this super typhoon things appear to

finally be changing. We drove around the city today and spoke to lots of

people. A lot of the roads are clear, there are teams of the Red

Cross out the military. They are trying to get this city back to some

semblance of normality. Yet there are hundreds of side streets clogged

with concrete lamp posts, debris from the houses which have been

blown away by this wind. There are dozens, properly hundreds, even

thousands more bodies buried under that rubble. That will take some

time to clear. As far as the aid is concerned, people seem to be getting

rice and water. The -- the market was opened today. The real problem

here is going to be shelter. Thousands of people are without any

roof over their heads. They are still in evacuation centres, the

conditions there are squalid and miserable. The mayor, who we were

speaking to a few moments ago, said according to a few NGOs and hope to

set up temporary shelter for these people with something to protect

them from the rain. It is raining here constantly over the typhoon

season. He hopes once everything is set in place, they will be able to

create towns and cities for the survivors of this terrible storm so

that they can survive with food and medicine as best they can until

housing is rebuilt. That will take a long time. More now on the Sri Lanka

summit for the heads of the Commonwealth leaders. Let's speaks

to the High Commissioner for Canada here in the UK. Thank you for

joining us. Why has Canada's Prime Minister not gone? David Cameron

says the best way to deal with this situation, the alleged deaths of

40,000 civilians in the Civil War, is to shine a spotlight on it.

Canada has been trying to shine a spotlight for some time. In 2011 at

their head the Commonwealth meeting, our Prime Minister was

clear that we needed to see human rights improvements taking place in

Sri Lanka. In fact, we have seen Sri Lanka going the opposite direction.

The UN human rights director will say they are moving towards an

authoritarian of government. One family is in control of many of the

arms of government. We are watching as the Supreme Court justice is

impeached with impunity. In 2007 when Pakistan impeached their

Supreme Court Justice the Commonwealth acted and they

suspended Pakistan. We see human rights abuses, even weeks ago the

Sri Lankan representative said everyone would get their visas and

then they withdrew that. We believe we have to be consistent, that our

actions have to follow the commitment we made to the

Commonwealth Charter. This was an appropriate steps for our Prime

Minister to take. Every leader will take their own steps. Why do you

think most of the Commonwealth leaders have turned up to this

lavish ceremony today? They are the ones who appointed Sri Lanka to host

the summit in the first place. Is it the influence of China in the

regions? Perhaps you lose influence you walk away. There are 27 leaders

out of 53 countries there, that is quite a narrow most. Having said

that, we continued to try and move to a process of reconciliation. We

have been providing support into Sri Lanka, we have been encouraging aid

agencies and human rights agencies there. We will continue to do that.

Canadians believe human rights are things we believe in and act on. The

Commonwealth in the past has acted on those. The Commonwealth acted on

issues like apartheid. We think the Commonwealth has to pick this up,

and the way to do it is not to reward a government like Sri

Lanka's government. Thank you very much indeed for joining us.

China's new leadership has announced two major changes in policy. Labour

camps are to be abolished and the one child policy is to be relaxed.

Couples will be allowed to have two children, if one of the parents is

an only child. Let's go live to Beijing. This seems an extraordinary

move. Certainly, the so-called one child policy relaxation is a

surprise. As you were pointing out there, couples, if one of them is an

only child, will be able to have more than one child. Previously,

both parents needed to be an only child. Italy that is a significant

move. I think the reason it has happened is growing concern.

China's population is rapidly ageing because they do not have lots of

children being born. Secondly, there is growing concern over the fact

that the country's working age population is shrinking. The number

of workers in China has peaked and that has consequences down the road

in terms of economic growth. In terms of the Labour camp, there had

been a drumbeat over the last few months that authorities were talking

about reforming this system. Now we have this statement saying they will

abolish labour camps. Labour camps were used for petty criminals,

people accused of minor crimes could be sent to these camps for up to

three years without a trial. It is clear china's leaders seem to be

sending a signal they want to see greater legal framework when it

comes to these types of cases. The one child policy change is

eye-catching, but other reforms were announced. What does this tell us

about the thinking in Beijing? In terms of the economy we get the

sense they are trying to liberalise. In terms of social

policy, we have seen with the so-called one child policy, they are

moving on that front. Some people believe that the relaxing on social

issues in terms of the economy, they are liberalising, but when it comes

to political control, when it comes to tracking down dissent, China's

leaders have now been in power for a year and are still taking a tough

line. Thank you. Still to come, the legend's last stand. He missed out

on 100, could Sachin Tendulkar have played his last ever test match

innings? Malaysia has posted another big growth in its GDP, by 5% in the

latest quarter. Analysts are warning that part of that decreases down to

high levels of borrowing, something which could storing up problems. At

the Kuala Lumpur International motor show, a car starts at the touch of a

tablet. This kind of innovation has kept Malaysia spending. The country

is one of the largest markets for private cars in south-east Asia.

Malaysia's top-selling car-maker has increased sales by 15%. This is the

most popular model but it does not come cheap. The average Malaysian

could spend more than a year of their salary just to buy this car.

Imported cars could be taxed more than 200%. How can Malaysians are

afforded? We do not have as effective public transport as in the

United States. Whether we like it or not, some of us have two or three

jobs. That is 16 hours of working in a day. For a meagre salary. And you

spend it all on cars. This willingness to borrow money for

expensive cars and houses pushes 60 people to declare bankruptcy day.

That is a 40% increase since the financial crisis. It worries the

Malaysian central bank so it now restrict credit growth and offers

free counselling. People used to save money. When they had enough,

they would spend it. Now the system has changed. The younger generation

have greater access to the banking facilities. For them to get in the

debt trap is really easy. Around the city, shoppers are tempted by sale

signs. The readiness to sell is pushing the economy through hard

times. Now the Government says Malaysians should only buy within

their means. It is not clear if they are getting the message yet.

This is BBC World News. The Philippines Gottman says the death

toll from Typhoon Haiyan has risen to just over 3500. -- the

Philippines government. The higher number is likely to be higher.

Supplies are beginning to arrive but the situation on the ground is

bleak, according to aid agencies. Brazil says the rate of

deforestation in the Amazon has risen sharply after years of

decline. It is up nearly 30% a year. Me now is Beatrix Richards, an

expert from the world wildlife fund. What exactly is happening here? It

is quite a complex picture. The main reasons are around the fact that the

Brazilian government has been working on the forest cold. We

predicted uncertainty at the time would result to an increase in

deforestation. The second one is around the fact that you have land

title issues in Brazil. And then you also have the issue around commodity

prices, the fact that key commodities like beef production,

the price has not gone up significantly. Historically, in

recent years, those commodity prices have been quite depressed. What are

your key concerns? Forest loss is a huge issue globally. The greenhouse

gas emissions that result from that, forest loss contributes anything up

to 20% of greenhouse gas emissions. That has a high significant impact.

Nobody can link what is going on in the Philippines to climate change

directly, but some people have raised those questions? They are

valid concerns. The Amazon has a huge impact on global climate

circles. It has been demonstrated that you can see impact of

deforestation affecting global climate -- global climate cycles.

Can anything be done to stop this? There are several things. The

Brazilian government have good forest laws. It is about

enforcement, giving the powers necessary to their environmental

police force. Also knuckling down at state government level. One state in

Brazil, the deforestation rate has gone down by about 30%. That is

fantastic news. That is as a result of a concerted effort between the

state government, local communities and industry. There are good

examples of good projects. Thank you very much indeed.

One of America's most notorious gangsters, has been given two life

sentences for crimes going back decades. He was convicted of

extortionate drug dealing and 11 murders.

James Bolger led a criminal career that spanned decades. He was sent to

Alcatraz in the 1950s for hijacking and bank robbery. In the 1970s and

1980s, he led a murderous reign in Boston. He inspired the

Oscar-winning film the departed, in which he was played by Jack

Nicholson. In this film from the 1980s, he is seen meeting with

another crime boss. It later emerged he was a top-level informant for

corrupt FBI agents, who ignored his crimes in exchange information on

arrival New England Mafia. He fled Boston in 1994 after a tip-off that

officials were closing in. He went on the run for more than 15 years.

Authorities put it $2 million bounty on his head. Until his capture, he

has been on the wanted list. Police arrested him just days after

releasing an appeal looking for his long-term girlfriend. Find her and

you will find him. It worked. Extradited back to Massachusetts, he

finally faced his crimes. On Thursday, a judge sentenced him to

life in prison, for crimes including murder, extortion, money-laundering

and drug trafficking. He deserves nothing less than to spend the rest

of his life in jail for the harm, the pain and the suffering that he

has caused to so many in this town. For a 31 years, six months, two

days, to finally get a conviction for somebody from my father, today

is the first day we can get on the road to closure. It is a good

feeling. It is bittersweet. The 84-year-old remained defiant until

the end, calling his trial a sham. He remained stonefaced as he learned

his fate. 50 countries are meeting in Geneva today to find out whether

to open discussions on banning lethal weapons -- lethal autonomous

weapons. Supporters of killer robots say they could save lives by cutting

the number of soldiers on the battlefield. A little bit of a sad

moment across India today, I'm afraid, as cricket legend Sachin

Tendulkar narrowly missed a century in what is probably his last

international match. He scored 74. The Little Master is calling it

quits after nearly 25 years in the game. The BBC reporter summed up the

mood. Sachin Tendulkar made possibly his last international appearance,

making 74 runs, agonisingly short of a century, which would have been a

fairy tale ending, I guess. He first started his career 24 years ago

tomorrow. If the matchless and tomorrow, it will be quite an

ending. It was a full house today. Everybody was quite shell-shocked

when he did get out. Then they stood up to give him a massive ovation. A

bittersweet moment for Indian fans. They were delightfully played the

way he did right at the end but sad that they will not be able to see

him for much longer. Very sad that he will not make it. Just before we

go, let me remind you of the top story today. It is one week since

that devastating typhoon ripped through the centre of the

Philippines. Aid is now beginning to arrive in some of the worst affected

areas. US heavy lifting helicopters have been flying supplies into

Tacloban airport, devastated by the storm. Ships have been unloading

consignments of food aid. Distribution is difficult in the

remote areas. The death toll is now estimated at 3500, but likely,

sadly, to increase. Thank you for watching. Goodbye.