:00:11. > :00:23.Hello. This is BBC World News. Our top stories: Ukraine's Government
:00:24. > :00:28.backs down and scraps a protest law that sparked demonstrations across
:00:29. > :00:32.the country. Egypt's former President, Mohamed Morsi is on trial
:00:33. > :00:37.charged with organising a mass prison escape. Ratko Mladic refuses
:00:38. > :00:40.to testify at The Hague and denounces Radovan Karadzic's trial
:00:41. > :00:44.as see tannic. And on the lookout for a creature
:00:45. > :00:49.from the deep, we find out what's biting this doctor from New Zealand
:00:50. > :01:09.-- setanic. Hello and welcome. As protests
:01:10. > :01:14.continue in the centre centre of Kiev, the Ukrainian Parliament's
:01:15. > :01:17.voted to scrap a series of laws which it was feared would pave the
:01:18. > :01:22.way for a crackdown by the authorities. It's a matter of days
:01:23. > :01:26.since the new laws came into effect giving the police sweeping powers to
:01:27. > :01:29.deal with block aids of buildings. The Prime Minister's offered to
:01:30. > :01:33.resign, but it's not clear whether that will be enough to placate the
:01:34. > :01:39.protesters who've been manning the barricades in the centre of the
:01:40. > :01:45.capital for two months. Our BBC correspondent is in Bodorov
:01:46. > :01:50.for us. Quite a shift by the Government. Is it enough? Well,
:01:51. > :01:56.that's the main question. The Parliament moved quickly to repel
:01:57. > :02:01.the laws. It's on the break until 4 pm local time at which time it was
:02:02. > :02:05.debate amnesty for those who've been detained for the disorders and
:02:06. > :02:10.protests. Yes, the main question, will this satisfy the protesters on
:02:11. > :02:15.the square down below and on the bar raids to the left of me. A week ago,
:02:16. > :02:18.this would be wonderful, probably would diffuse the situation very
:02:19. > :02:24.much. Since then, the situation moved ahead. I've spoken to so many
:02:25. > :02:27.protesters who say the only thing which will more or less satisfy them
:02:28. > :02:33.is the resignation of the President which is not on the cards right now.
:02:34. > :02:39.And are they in a mood to listen to those who apparently lead the
:02:40. > :02:43.opposition groups? Well, again, it's very, very hard to
:02:44. > :02:47.say for certain. When the opposition figures come and speak to the
:02:48. > :02:53.people, and they'll do so today no doubt, they'll come and discuss and
:02:54. > :02:58.present whatever they've achieved in the Parliament, they're both cheers
:02:59. > :03:01.and jeers. They are people saying it's not enough, you should be brave
:03:02. > :03:05.and go there to the barricade and push all the way through, so the
:03:06. > :03:09.opposition is balancing a very difficult act.
:03:10. > :03:13.And how much is this still about the basic politics of what is going on
:03:14. > :03:17.and how much is it about the way the Government's hand it would protests
:03:18. > :03:22.in the last few weeks? Well, it's all been layer after
:03:23. > :03:25.layer after layer of protest. It started with a European agreement
:03:26. > :03:30.which the Ukrainian Government decided to spurn in favour of going
:03:31. > :03:35.towards Russia. It then became much more about police violence. Then on
:03:36. > :03:39.top of that, it was the laws, then more violence, arrests and trials
:03:40. > :03:46.and detentions. So now, basically, they are trying to pull back those
:03:47. > :03:49.layers of disagreements, but it seems that a very considerable
:03:50. > :03:57.portion of the protesters want to go all the way into changing the power.
:03:58. > :04:01.Many thanks. In Egypt, the former Islamist
:04:02. > :04:05.President, Mohamed Morsi, has gone on trial, charged with organising
:04:06. > :04:10.mass prison break in 2011. He's the second former Egyptian leader to
:04:11. > :04:14.face trial in the last three years. His predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, has
:04:15. > :04:19.been in custody since 2011 and was found guilty of failing to put an
:04:20. > :04:22.end to the killing of protesters by the Egyptian Security Forces. He's
:04:23. > :04:26.currently in a military hospital awaiting a retrial.
:04:27. > :04:31.Mohamed Morsi, seen here at his trial today, was removed from office
:04:32. > :04:36.six months ago by the military. He's being held, as you can see, in a
:04:37. > :04:41.sound proof glass box inside the courtroom. Our correspondent is
:04:42. > :04:46.outside that trial for us. Just explain to us who is behind you and
:04:47. > :04:52.also why the glass box for Mohamed Morsi?
:04:53. > :04:57.We had footage released by the Egyptian TV a couple of minutes ago
:04:58. > :05:02.from inside the courtroom. We had ex-President Morsi with a number of
:05:03. > :05:07.leading Muslim Brotherhood figures placed inside the cage which is
:05:08. > :05:11.sound proof, meaning that Mohamed Morsi cannot hear what's going on
:05:12. > :05:16.inside the courtroom except through head phones inside the cage. He also
:05:17. > :05:21.cannot speak to the judge unless he raises his hand and gets permission
:05:22. > :05:26.and he can speak through a microphone. Also inside the cage.
:05:27. > :05:30.The defence lawyers objected to that and said that the defendants are
:05:31. > :05:36.quiet isolated from what is going on in the courtroom. However, the judge
:05:37. > :05:40.refuted this, saying that all the defendants can perfectly hear what
:05:41. > :05:45.is going on through the head phones inside the cage.
:05:46. > :05:49.They are stating the charges levelled against Morsi and the other
:05:50. > :05:53.defendants today and they appeared to be extreme extremely serious
:05:54. > :05:59.charges. That's what makes this case one of the most serious Mr Morsi has
:06:00. > :06:04.to go through. The charges including collaborating with Palestinian
:06:05. > :06:09.militias from Hamas who had to sneak inside territories between Gaza and
:06:10. > :06:15.Egypt and taking control of the borders, part of the borderline
:06:16. > :06:18.between Gaza and Egypt. It includes killing and kidnapping Security
:06:19. > :06:24.Forces who were guarding some of the prisons all over Egypt on the 28th
:06:25. > :06:28.January to 2011. So extremely - in addition to possessing illegal
:06:29. > :06:34.weapons, including heavy machine guns and RPJs - so a number of
:06:35. > :06:40.charges, making this one of the most serious cases Morsi is going
:06:41. > :06:44.through. He and other defendants can be severely punished if convicted.
:06:45. > :06:49.What sort of punishment could Mohamed Morsi potentially face here
:06:50. > :06:52.and also, do you think this will swing people's political view, or
:06:53. > :06:59.are people pretty much lined up already behind the military or
:07:00. > :07:03.behind the Muslim Brotherhood? The ex-President, when he had the chance
:07:04. > :07:07.to speak to the judge via the microphone, first of all said this
:07:08. > :07:11.trial is a farce, he said he does not recognise it. He said the
:07:12. > :07:15.trial's merely politicised and this view was shared by a number of
:07:16. > :07:20.Muslim Brotherhood supporters, he said. He said this trial has
:07:21. > :07:24.political dimensions, rather than legal ones. We have the other camp
:07:25. > :07:28.of liberals and those who support the Army who believe this man is
:07:29. > :07:33.pretty involved in the charges levelled against him. One final
:07:34. > :07:36.thing we have to point out, after some consultations, the dilemma is
:07:37. > :07:41.finally sorted out as the ex-President picked up a lawyer to
:07:42. > :07:45.defend him in the four cases or trials he'll face throughout the
:07:46. > :07:49.coming month. Before that, he was absolutely reluctant to assign a
:07:50. > :07:54.lawyer to defend him and the court would have to appoint a lawyer for
:07:55. > :07:58.him, but finally, after some consultations today, with Lea teams,
:07:59. > :08:00.he picked up a lawyer to defend him in the four trials he has to go
:08:01. > :08:07.through. Thank you very much.
:08:08. > :08:12.Gunmen have shot dead a senior official at the Egyptian Interior
:08:13. > :08:17.Ministry. General Mohammed Saeed, the Head of The technical office was
:08:18. > :08:21.attacked outside his house in Cairo. Security officials say the gunman
:08:22. > :08:28.shot him through a vehicle and then fled.
:08:29. > :08:30.The former Bosnian Serb commander, Ratko Mladic, has refused to testify
:08:31. > :08:34.at the International Criminal Tribunal. The man once known as the
:08:35. > :08:40.butcher of Bosnia was called as a defence witness for his former
:08:41. > :08:44.political master, Radovan Karadzic. General Mladic told the trial he'd
:08:45. > :08:48.not testify because of his health and because it would prejudice his
:08:49. > :08:52.own case. He accused the tribunal of being a setanic court. Let's get the
:08:53. > :08:55.latest from Brussels. Our correspondent has been following
:08:56. > :08:58.events at The Hague. Tell us a business more about what's happened
:08:59. > :09:01.today? We knew that Ratko Mladic didn't
:09:02. > :09:06.want to appear in court. He didn't want to be there today. The session
:09:07. > :09:10.has started off with his lawyer. His lawyers first of all said that he
:09:11. > :09:14.was suffering from a memory disorder and that made it hard for him to
:09:15. > :09:19.differentiate between truth and fiction. Then he said that Mladic's
:09:20. > :09:27.health could be at risk if he was forced to injure endure this stress.
:09:28. > :09:31.The judge rejected the arguments and no-one was expected what came next.
:09:32. > :09:36.He stood in the witness box and said he wasn't able to testify because
:09:37. > :09:41.he'd forgotten his dentures. He told the judges "I can't talk because I
:09:42. > :09:45.have no teeth". So the trial was adjourned for 15 minutes while they
:09:46. > :09:50.retrieved his teeth and then it continued.
:09:51. > :09:54.How long is this particular part of the proceedings expected to go on?
:09:55. > :09:59.It's extraordinary to see these two figures together isn't it?
:10:00. > :10:05.Absolutely extraordinary, yes. I spoke to one of the former victims,
:10:06. > :10:10.somebody who was kept in a death camp who often attends the trials in
:10:11. > :10:13.The Hague and he said for everyone concerned it was an opportunity for
:10:14. > :10:18.the first time in two decades to see these men that many of them feel
:10:19. > :10:22.were most responsible for their suffering in court together at the
:10:23. > :10:27.same time. It's over already though. The hearing was due to last for an
:10:28. > :10:32.hour-and-a-half and Karadzic had a list of questions which I have here
:10:33. > :10:38.which he was hoping his former Army General would answer and the answers
:10:39. > :10:41.would help support his defence case. Ratko Mladic however refused to
:10:42. > :10:45.answer the questions. He started off with question number one, going
:10:46. > :10:50.through some of the positions he'd held in the Bosnian Serb Army, but
:10:51. > :10:54.then he said he couldn't answer any more questions because he didn't
:10:55. > :11:00.want to jeopardise his health or his own case which is also being heard
:11:01. > :11:06.at the ICTY. Thank you very much.
:11:07. > :11:09.Now, President Obama will deliver his annual state of the union ate
:11:10. > :11:13.dress to the American people tonight. Setting out his plans and
:11:14. > :11:18.priorities for the year ahead. One area he will focus on is poverty in
:11:19. > :11:22.the United States and the growing gap between rich and poor. Children
:11:23. > :11:24.are the worst affected. One American child in five lives below the
:11:25. > :11:35.poverty line. It's the world's most powerful city.
:11:36. > :11:40.Washington DC's also one of the worst places in America to grow up.
:11:41. > :11:47.More than a quarter of children here live in poverty.
:11:48. > :11:52.This woman raises her 13-year-old son James in this tiny apartment.
:11:53. > :11:57.It's basic and broken. The taps need fixing, they've mould
:11:58. > :12:02.on the walls and in this bitter winter, the central heating doesn't
:12:03. > :12:06.even work. She uses the oven to warm the place.
:12:07. > :12:11.That's on all day every day. It get cold in here. She is recovering from
:12:12. > :12:18.cancer. She gets by on less than $100 a month and it's a struggle to
:12:19. > :12:24.feed James. You can't go to a lot of places to
:12:25. > :12:37.get food, fresh food. I can get powdered milk, processed and cheese.
:12:38. > :12:42.But he's 13 and I hope he'll be a great man, but I've got to make sure
:12:43. > :12:46.nutritional-wise he has to be able to get a meal.
:12:47. > :12:51.He might not have the same start in life as other teenagers, but James
:12:52. > :13:00.does have the same ambitions. I want to be a basketball player. I want
:13:01. > :13:05.people to look at me as like a great guy, if he can do it, I can do it
:13:06. > :13:09.too, if he can dribble that good, I can feel good too and shoot for your
:13:10. > :13:14.dreams. American Dreams are harder for people to realise. The rate of
:13:15. > :13:17.child poverty's gone up since President Obama took office. Dealing
:13:18. > :13:21.with income and quality will be a key them in his annual State of the
:13:22. > :13:28.Union address which he'll deliver later today and many say the answer
:13:29. > :13:33.lies in one thing. Education. The key to getting out of poverty is
:13:34. > :13:38.education. So I think the real issue is an emphasis on education,
:13:39. > :13:44.beginning with early childhood, but also to adults.
:13:45. > :13:48.The financial crisis hit people here hard. As the economy starts to pick
:13:49. > :13:50.up, the challenge for President Obama is make sure no-one's left
:13:51. > :14:02.behind. Stay with us here on BBC World News.
:14:03. > :14:04.Much more to come. Pete Seeger whose protests inspired a generation has
:14:05. > :14:21.died. We'll look back at his life. It is Chinese New Year this Friday.
:14:22. > :14:25.Anyone who can is heading home to spend holiday with their family. An
:14:26. > :14:34.estimated 3.6 billion trips will be made, mostly by rail. Buying a seat
:14:35. > :14:38.on a train in China demands tenacity and persistence. We have been
:14:39. > :14:48.speaking to two migrant workers who are fighting for their tickets home.
:14:49. > :14:56.I am going home for the Chinese New Year. My old father is waiting for
:14:57. > :15:01.me. He is 73 this year. The trip is a nightmare. There are too many
:15:02. > :15:06.people, so it is very difficult to get a train ticket. Last year, I
:15:07. > :15:12.spent two days queueing at the train station. I still did not get one. It
:15:13. > :15:16.is lucky I managed to get a ticket this year, although it is a standard
:15:17. > :15:21.ticket and we will have to stand for 17 hours on the train. Nowadays you
:15:22. > :15:30.can buy tickets on the Internet but I do not have a computer and I do
:15:31. > :15:32.not know how to do it. Those who do have bought all the available
:15:33. > :15:40.tickets, so it is even harder for us. Tickets will be released online
:15:41. > :15:44.starting at 8am. I will sit in front of the computer way ahead of time
:15:45. > :15:59.and wait anxiously for the clock to turn eight.
:16:00. > :16:07.This is a brutal experience. Normally within a minute or so, all
:16:08. > :16:11.tickets will be sold out completely. It is like hundreds of thousands of
:16:12. > :16:16.troops all trying to cross a very narrow bridge at the same time. The
:16:17. > :16:22.lucky ones get across and the rest fall and die. I came from April
:16:23. > :16:27.Village in the countryside. I drained of life in the big city. --
:16:28. > :16:32.a poor village. I rarely get a chance to go home. This is a
:16:33. > :16:39.valuable chance for me to visit my parents. The worst thing that could
:16:40. > :16:51.happen to my Chinese New Year is that I fell to get a ticket home. --
:16:52. > :16:59.I fail will stop the latest headlines: The Ukrainian government
:17:00. > :17:06.fails to scrap the controversial anti-protest law. Egypt's former
:17:07. > :17:11.President Mohammed Morsi is on trial, charged with organising a
:17:12. > :17:15.mass prison escape. Hong Kong has started slaughtering tens of
:17:16. > :17:21.thousands of live chickens in an effort to halt the spread of a new
:17:22. > :17:24.strain of bird flu. It is because a batch of chickens imported from
:17:25. > :17:27.mainland China tested positive for the deadly H7N9 strain of avian flu.
:17:28. > :17:30.These chickens as well as 20,000 others stored in the same wholesale
:17:31. > :17:34.market are being destroyed. The H7N9 strain of bird flu has infected more
:17:35. > :17:41.than 200-people and killed dozens since emerging last year. The BBC's
:17:42. > :17:48.Juliana Liu is in Hong Kong. She told me more about this latest
:17:49. > :17:53.slaughter programme. In no wee hours of this morning, the Government held
:17:54. > :17:58.a press conference telling the public that a batch of samples from
:17:59. > :18:03.chickens imported from China but currently in Hong Kong had tested
:18:04. > :18:08.positive for this kind of bird flu. They immediately announced there
:18:09. > :18:12.would be a Karl, which has already happened this morning. They also
:18:13. > :18:18.announced a ban on the sale of fresh chickens for three weeks, as well as
:18:19. > :18:23.a ban on the import of fresh, live chickens. This has caused a lot of
:18:24. > :18:31.anger among chick and sellers. We are just a few days ahead of the
:18:32. > :18:34.Chinese lunar New Year holiday where freshly slaughtered chicken is often
:18:35. > :18:40.on the menu. They will be suffering a lot of losses. There will be
:18:41. > :18:45.policies in place for compensation but they are quite upset about it.
:18:46. > :18:51.The public in Hong Kong understands the worries surrounding this new
:18:52. > :19:02.bird flu virus, which has killed two people here in Hong Kong. They do
:19:03. > :19:10.support these measures. The son of Pakistan 's assassinated prime
:19:11. > :19:14.minister says this brutality must be eradicated from the country. Let's
:19:15. > :19:19.have a look at his background. He is the third generation of his family
:19:20. > :19:24.to enter into politics. His mother, father and grandfather or lead the
:19:25. > :19:27.country. He was born in September 1980 eight, three months before his
:19:28. > :19:35.mother was elected prime Minister for the first time. -- 1988. He
:19:36. > :19:41.spent much of his childhood here in England, going to Oxford University.
:19:42. > :19:46.While he was studying there in 2007, his mother was assassinated in
:19:47. > :19:50.Pakistan. At the age of 19 he was thrust into the limelight as
:19:51. > :19:59.chairman of the Pakistan People's party. Aged 25, he has been speaking
:20:00. > :20:05.to our international correspondent. Dialogue is always an option. We
:20:06. > :20:16.have to have a position of strength. How do you do this? They are
:20:17. > :20:24.fighting us. You are saying your code chairperson would like a
:20:25. > :20:28.military operation. In Karachi, we would like support from the
:20:29. > :20:34.Federation for that. We would like to eradicate the Taliban from
:20:35. > :20:41.Pakistan. Why has it not been done if it is so easy? It has not been
:20:42. > :20:53.tried. My father did try. The nationals can sense that politicians
:20:54. > :20:56.use, oh, this is America 's War, confusing the nation on purpose
:20:57. > :21:03.because they are scared and they are cowards. The fact of the matter is,
:21:04. > :21:09.how long will you wait? I thought the assassination of my mother would
:21:10. > :21:15.unite this country. Are you making your entry into politics? I think it
:21:16. > :21:19.is the opportunity for me to start taking on more responsibility. I
:21:20. > :21:24.will be focused more on party politics and working with every
:21:25. > :21:29.level of the party. I do not want to parachute myself in from the top. I
:21:30. > :21:34.want to work with the grassroots at every level of the party across the
:21:35. > :21:41.country. My aim is the 2018 election. You are not going to run
:21:42. > :21:47.before? As far as the by-election is concerned, this is a discussion
:21:48. > :21:54.which is ongoing within the party. You really want a life in politics?
:21:55. > :21:58.It is a dirty and dangerous game. I have seen my mother bury her
:21:59. > :22:05.brothers. I have seen my mother living in X I'll, raising her three
:22:06. > :22:09.children practically as a single mother, while my father was a
:22:10. > :22:16.political prisoner for eight and a half years. I challenge you to find
:22:17. > :22:22.119-year-old, 225-year-old who would say, I want to do this, it sounds
:22:23. > :22:29.like fun. I never saw myself as being in politics. I did not have
:22:30. > :22:33.ambitions for politics. Now, I am here in my country and I see this
:22:34. > :22:40.state of my country. I just feel like I want to play some role - any
:22:41. > :22:43.role I can. Pakistan today is so dramatically and sadly different
:22:44. > :22:48.from the days of your grandfather, even the days of your mother. It is
:22:49. > :22:52.a country that people fear. People wonder whether it is still a place
:22:53. > :22:57.with domestic politics. The face of Pakistan should not be Osama bin
:22:58. > :23:13.lard or the terrorists who murdered us on a daily basis. This country
:23:14. > :23:17.should have hope, not fear. It sounds like the scene from a film. A
:23:18. > :23:21.doctor from New Zealand has managed to stitch up his own wound after he
:23:22. > :23:25.fought off a shark that had bitten his leg. James Grant was spear
:23:26. > :23:28.fishing in the sea off the south coast on Saturday when he was
:23:29. > :23:32.attacked by what he thinks was a seven gills shark. Well, James spoke
:23:33. > :23:45.to us from Invercargill on the South Island. I asked what happened. Good
:23:46. > :23:52.day. We have had a bit of run of bad weather recently. Only in the last
:23:53. > :24:01.day, on Saturday, I had the day off and headed out to one of the local
:24:02. > :24:07.spots. I had just gone into the water and killed a fish. Something
:24:08. > :24:12.latched onto my leg. I thought it might have been one of my dive
:24:13. > :24:18.buddies. I turned around and got a bit of a fright. I saw something I
:24:19. > :24:23.did not expect to see that day. A big shark had latched on. That must
:24:24. > :24:27.have been extraordinary painful. Take us through what happened. You
:24:28. > :24:34.went back to shore and stitched herself up. Just show us the scar. I
:24:35. > :24:42.do not have a scar. It is a bit hard to see actually. There is a bit of
:24:43. > :24:55.tibial laceration. Also some punches on the back. On my wet suit, there
:24:56. > :25:02.is a good bite mark. You stitched yourself up on the beach
:25:03. > :25:07.straightaway? What I did I put a couple of little stitches into
:25:08. > :25:12.Tackett back together. The real credit goes to my friend,
:25:13. > :25:19.Bernadette, who is a surgeon at the hospital. She is one of the girls I
:25:20. > :25:24.work with. She did a nice job. How could he possibly have the presence
:25:25. > :25:36.of mind to treat yourself? I did not really think about it. The guys had
:25:37. > :25:43.a pretty good time over it. I'd like you were not in so much pain you
:25:44. > :25:51.could not function, clearly. -- you were not in so much pain? The sharp
:25:52. > :25:58.bit into the wet suit and did not do too much damage to the flesh
:25:59. > :26:08.underneath it. The veteran American folk singer and activist Pete Seeger
:26:09. > :26:11.has died, at the age of 94. He spent seven decades performing and
:26:12. > :26:13.demonstrating - working with the US civil rights movement, environmental
:26:14. > :26:17.groups, and most recently taking part in the Occupy Wall Street
:26:18. > :26:20.protests. This was one of his most recent appearances on stage when a
:26:21. > :26:23.gala was held four years ago to celebrate his 90th birthday. Seeger
:26:24. > :26:26.was feted by artists including Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder and Dave
:26:27. > :26:29.Matthews in New York's Madison Square Garden. Springsteen called
:26:30. > :26:32.him a living archive of America's music and conscience, a testament of
:26:33. > :26:37.the power of song and culture to nudge history along.
:26:38. > :26:48.A reminder of our top story.... As protests continue in Kiev, Ukraine
:26:49. > :26:52.in Parliament has voted to scrap a controversial series of laws it
:26:53. > :26:57.feared would pave the way for a crackdown on protesters. The Prime
:26:58. > :26:59.Minister has offered to resign. Thanks for being with us today.