22/08/2014 BBC World News


22/08/2014

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top stories. America considers expanding

:00:16.:00:18.

operations against Islamic State militants. Is it time to take them

:00:19.:00:22.

on in Syria? They are beyond just a terrorist group. They marry

:00:23.:00:27.

ideology, sophistication of strategic and tactical military

:00:28.:00:31.

prowess, this is beyond anything that we have seen. A Russian aid

:00:32.:00:37.

convoy enters Ukraine without permission, after what the Kremlin

:00:38.:00:41.

calls "intolerable delays" on the border.

:00:42.:00:46.

Five weeks after the downing of Flight MH17 over Ukraine, Malaysia

:00:47.:00:48.

brings home the first of its victims.

:00:49.:00:53.

And would you drench yourself on camera for charity? The ice bucket

:00:54.:00:57.

challenges flooding the Internet, but has President Obama got cold

:00:58.:00:58.

feet? The US has warned the threat

:00:59.:01:13.

from Islamic State militants is the most dangerous it's faced

:01:14.:01:17.

in recent years, and there is a growing recognition

:01:18.:01:19.

in the West that efforts to defeat them will need to extend to Syria,

:01:20.:01:22.

the heart of their power base. The US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel

:01:23.:01:25.

has described the threat as imminent While the US Army's senior general,

:01:26.:01:28.

Martin Dempsey, said efforts to defeat the militant group would have

:01:29.:01:43.

to extend into Syria, describing the border between the two countries

:01:44.:01:46.

as essentially "non-existent." Tom Esslemont reports

:01:47.:01:48.

from Washington. How should America and its

:01:49.:01:52.

allies tackle the Islamic State? During recent months,

:01:53.:01:55.

militants have been gaining ground in Syria and Iraq, seizing towns

:01:56.:02:00.

and killing those who refuse to Britain and America are now hunting

:02:01.:02:07.

for the man who killed The jihadists have threatened

:02:08.:02:11.

another hostage, Steven Sotloff, and his fate hinges on what America

:02:12.:02:16.

does next. At a news conference,

:02:17.:02:19.

US defence officials said two weeks of American air strikes had helped

:02:20.:02:21.

break the Islamic State's advance. But they gave a bleak picture

:02:22.:02:26.

of the threat they pose. They are

:02:27.:02:29.

beyond just a terrorist group. They marry ideology,

:02:30.:02:37.

a sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess,

:02:38.:02:40.

they are tremendously well-funded. This is

:02:41.:02:46.

beyond anything we have seen. And the only way you do that is you

:02:47.:02:50.

take a cold, steely, So far, the US has focused

:02:51.:02:56.

on containing the militants in The Pentagon is now hinting

:02:57.:03:07.

at a wider strategy, This is an organisation

:03:08.:03:14.

which has an apocalyptic, end-of-days strategy, which will

:03:15.:03:22.

eventually have to be defeated. To your question,

:03:23.:03:24.

can they be defeated without addressing that part of

:03:25.:03:26.

the organisation residing in Syria? The answer is no,

:03:27.:03:30.

it will have to be addressed on both President Obama has described it

:03:31.:03:34.

as a cancer. The question is, how to cure it,

:03:35.:03:41.

when there is so little domestic Officials say they are

:03:42.:03:44.

not ruling anything out. After days waiting at the border, a

:03:45.:04:09.

steady procession of some 70 Russian trucks with food, water and

:04:10.:04:13.

generators on board have crossed into the Ukraine. The latest reports

:04:14.:04:17.

we have said around 90 tracks were heading towards the rebel held city

:04:18.:04:21.

of Luhansk. The convoy itself was supposed to be travelling with the

:04:22.:04:25.

International Red Cross, but the agency has said that security

:04:26.:04:27.

concerns are preventing them from accompanying it. We have got these

:04:28.:04:33.

pictures for you of those lorries, heading on their way towards Luhansk

:04:34.:04:37.

full stop as we look at those, I'm joined by the BBC's Ukraine analyst.

:04:38.:04:44.

It has taken an awful long time for them to start rolling, but there is

:04:45.:04:48.

huge attention straightaway that they have gone. Yes, and the tension

:04:49.:04:52.

is no longer about what is inside the trucks, but the way the convoy

:04:53.:04:56.

was put together and the potential risks it creates. It goes through

:04:57.:05:00.

territory which is partly controlled by the rebels and partly controlled

:05:01.:05:04.

by the Ukrainian army. It is not clear what sort of guarantees the

:05:05.:05:07.

Russian Federation has got from the rebels. The Ukrainian side is saying

:05:08.:05:12.

that it is not the rebels' guarantees and their responsibility,

:05:13.:05:21.

the responsibility is on the Russian side. This convoy creates a lot of

:05:22.:05:23.

potential risk. If anything happens to it, the Russian government has

:05:24.:05:25.

already indicated it will blame the Ukrainian side for something

:05:26.:05:28.

untoward which may happen with the convoy. The Ukrainian side, I am not

:05:29.:05:34.

sure it has formulated its position. What are the choices, are they going

:05:35.:05:38.

to stop it, escorted, and if it is going to the city of Luhansk itself,

:05:39.:05:42.

there is very, very severe fighting reported in the city. There is

:05:43.:05:48.

shelling, certainly the rebels and the Russian media are blaming the

:05:49.:05:51.

Ukrainian side, the Ukrainians are saying the rebels are shelling. That

:05:52.:05:56.

is typically the problem, isn't it, because we cannot know the sure

:05:57.:05:59.

whether a full verification has been carried out or not, whether the

:06:00.:06:03.

Ukrainian authorities are holding it back a bit or if Russian authorities

:06:04.:06:07.

are pushing it through come what may. I think the Russian line,

:06:08.:06:10.

certainly from the statement of the Foreign Ministry, is that this is

:06:11.:06:15.

pure humanitarian aid. The Ukrainian position is that this is a

:06:16.:06:18.

humanitarian invasion, and they are very fearful that this could be a

:06:19.:06:22.

pretext to something more sinister. I think the timing is also very,

:06:23.:06:30.

very important. August 24 is Independence Day in Ukraine, and the

:06:31.:06:33.

Ukrainians want to have a big parade in the city centre. The Russian

:06:34.:06:36.

ministry says that probably this is the reason they are preventing the

:06:37.:06:40.

convoy from entering Luhansk. They want to finish the operation there.

:06:41.:06:44.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is coming to Kiev tomorrow, and there is a

:06:45.:06:47.

meeting planned between President Putin and President Poroshenko, or

:06:48.:06:52.

at least, there is talk about this meeting, in Minsk on Tuesday.

:06:53.:06:58.

Politically, it creates a very big area of tension, when many people

:06:59.:07:01.

thought that, at least diplomatically, there could be some

:07:02.:07:05.

sort of movement. Our focus on this convoy, it is a very visual element

:07:06.:07:09.

of the story, which slightly takes our right off the ball of what is

:07:10.:07:13.

going on around Donetsk and Luhansk. What is the situation

:07:14.:07:19.

there? Extremely tense. There is heavy fighting reported in a place

:07:20.:07:22.

called in a vice, which is halfway through this corridor which cuts

:07:23.:07:30.

Donetsk from Luhansk. -- ill advice. There is very heavy loss of life,

:07:31.:07:34.

including civilian life. Roughly 60 people a day are dying in the area,

:07:35.:07:38.

and there is a lot of loss for them and that -- the Ukrainian military.

:07:39.:07:42.

Today they reported the downing of another military helicopter, with

:07:43.:07:46.

the crew being killed. This happened two days ago but was only reported

:07:47.:07:50.

now. There are also reports of a lot of regular Russian troops spotted in

:07:51.:07:55.

the area. There is very little hard -- hard evidence to prove this. But

:07:56.:08:01.

at least the Ukrainian officials have produced some of the evidence

:08:02.:08:05.

of armoured personnel carriers, with Russian documents, with driving

:08:06.:08:07.

licences, with military cards inside. The Russian defence Ministry

:08:08.:08:13.

dismisses that as yet another provocation. One more illustration

:08:14.:08:17.

to the blame game, and one more illustration of how tense the

:08:18.:08:20.

situation is and how difficult it is to resolve it. The convoy does not

:08:21.:08:25.

act as a resolution. It may not alleviate the aid situation, but it

:08:26.:08:28.

creates an additional area of tension.

:08:29.:08:34.

Malaysia is observing a national day of mourning to mark the return home

:08:35.:08:39.

of the first 20 victims from the downing of Flight MH17 over Ukraine.

:08:40.:08:46.

43 Malaysians in all were amongst the 298 passengers and crew killed

:08:47.:08:50.

in the crash. The remaining bodies are still in the process of being

:08:51.:08:53.

identified by experts in the Netherlands, where most of the

:08:54.:09:02.

victims were from. Finally home. These were the first

:09:03.:09:06.

Malaysian victims of Flight MH17 to be identified. They were welcomed

:09:07.:09:12.

back with a full state ceremony, reflecting the sorrow felt here not

:09:13.:09:17.

just for these 20 passengers and crew and their families, but also

:09:18.:09:20.

over the extraordinary double tragedies which have struck this

:09:21.:09:22.

country's aviation industry this year. Malaysia's top leaders were

:09:23.:09:28.

all here, along with politicians and diplomats. Later, the bodies were

:09:29.:09:34.

reunited with their families. In some cases, flown by military

:09:35.:09:38.

aircraft to home towns in more distant parts of the country. Ten

:09:39.:09:42.

more bodies are due to come back this weekend. The task of

:09:43.:09:48.

identification has been complicated by continuing conflict in eastern

:09:49.:09:51.

Ukraine. Investigators have been unable to get to the crash site for

:09:52.:09:56.

the past two weeks. The remains of some victims have yet to be

:09:57.:10:02.

recovered and identified. The families of Flight MH17's victims,

:10:03.:10:07.

though, can at least start to mourn their loss. For those who lost

:10:08.:10:11.

family members on board the earlier Malaysian airline, flight and made

:10:12.:10:14.

370, which vanished without trace in March, there is as yet no closure.

:10:15.:10:24.

-- flight MH370. Some forlorn faces for you here,

:10:25.:10:27.

because heavy rain is delaying the search for more than 50 people

:10:28.:10:31.

believed to have been buried under a landslide at the edge of Hiroshima.

:10:32.:10:36.

The official death toll stands at 39, but that is expected to rise.

:10:37.:10:39.

Rescue workers fear the continuing rain could set off though the

:10:40.:10:45.

landslide in the area. Our correspondent is in Tokyo with the

:10:46.:10:47.

latest on the number of people missing.

:10:48.:10:53.

This changed dramatically overnight. Yesterday at this time we were

:10:54.:10:57.

talking about 39 people dead, at only a few more, maybe six or seven

:10:58.:11:03.

more, were recorded as missing. Now, authorities are talking about more

:11:04.:11:06.

than 50 people still being missing. So it seems that they have, or they

:11:07.:11:11.

had, yesterday, is usually underestimated the extent of this

:11:12.:11:14.

disaster. And it is only as they are going through, house-to-house, that

:11:15.:11:19.

they are realising that entire families are buried under these

:11:20.:11:23.

mudslides. Nobody had reported these people missing before. They had been

:11:24.:11:27.

waiting for relatives and so on to turn up at these mudslides and tell

:11:28.:11:31.

the authorities who lives in these houses, and that has made these

:11:32.:11:37.

numbers go up very dramatically. So now we are starting to hear just how

:11:38.:11:42.

fast, dramatic and awful these mudslides were on Wednesday morning.

:11:43.:11:47.

One description of people seeing a mother standing outside her house,

:11:48.:11:53.

as frantic digging took place to get her children out, but then bringing

:11:54.:11:57.

at least two small children, won two years old, one in 11 years old, both

:11:58.:12:01.

of them lifeless. And then the description of a father who handed

:12:02.:12:04.

his small child to a rescuer, thinking that the rescuer was going

:12:05.:12:08.

to be able to take the child to safety, but in fact the rescue and

:12:09.:12:11.

the small child were then engulfed by a secondary landslide, swept

:12:12.:12:14.

away, and both of them were killed as well. Really horrific stories of

:12:15.:12:20.

these people trying to escape, but having no time to do so, as this

:12:21.:12:24.

enormous volume of mud and rock swept down the mountainside.

:12:25.:12:30.

Still to come on the programme, could the oceans be helping to slow

:12:31.:12:34.

down the pace of climate change? We will take a look beneath the surface

:12:35.:12:36.

in a moment. Venezuelans may soon have to provide

:12:37.:12:48.

their fingerprints in order to buy their bread. President Nicholas

:12:49.:12:52.

Majuro wants to introduce fingerprinting to stop people buying

:12:53.:12:55.

Venezuelan food, which is heavily subsidised, and then selling it on

:12:56.:13:03.

at a profit in Colombia. The weekly shop at Venezuelan

:13:04.:13:06.

supermarket can be difficult enough. A shortage of basic goods and a lack

:13:07.:13:11.

of imports make life complicated. Soon, these shoppers will have to do

:13:12.:13:15.

have their fingerprints scanned at the till, to stop them making

:13:16.:13:18.

repeated visits or buying unusually large amounts of food. Is this

:13:19.:13:24.

rationing, or a against smuggling? TRANSLATION: These are populist

:13:25.:13:30.

measures to mislead people, to distract them from shortages caused

:13:31.:13:34.

by the government due to its poor public administration of the

:13:35.:13:37.

country. It's not going to stop smuggling. It won't stop anything.

:13:38.:13:42.

It's a tragedy, because it leads to even more radical control than what

:13:43.:13:50.

we've experienced so far. The president announced the plan earlier

:13:51.:13:56.

this week. The idea for a biometric system, he said, will be like the

:13:57.:14:00.

fingerprint readers in the electoral system. It is a blessing against

:14:01.:14:04.

fraud. And there clearly is a problem. The authorities claim up to

:14:05.:14:08.

40% of government subsidised goods are smuggled to neighbouring

:14:09.:14:12.

Colombia, where they can be sold at much higher prices. Earlier this

:14:13.:14:15.

month, Venezuelan began to close its border with the country at night to

:14:16.:14:20.

try to combat smuggling. And the Venezuelan economy is suffering,

:14:21.:14:23.

with chronic shortages and an annual inflation rate of more than 60%.

:14:24.:14:29.

Critics say it is the government's meddling in the economy which is

:14:30.:14:33.

causing the problems, and left-wing president interfering with the free

:14:34.:14:36.

market. But ministers insist they are helping the poor by providing

:14:37.:14:38.

food at a reasonable price. The United States says

:14:39.:14:47.

the jihadist group Islamic State is the most dangerous threat

:14:48.:14:54.

the US has faced in recent times. Trucks from a Russian aid convoy

:14:55.:14:58.

stream into Ukraine without permission after Russia accuses

:14:59.:15:04.

Ukraine of obstructions. For the last 15 years or so,

:15:05.:15:08.

scientists have been puzzled as to why average global temperatures have

:15:09.:15:12.

been going up more slowly. A number of theories have been put

:15:13.:15:15.

forward to explain the so-called "pause" - ranging from

:15:16.:15:18.

volcanic activity, to pollution. But new research,

:15:19.:15:22.

published in the journal Science, has found it might actually be

:15:23.:15:25.

current of the seas and those of Let's get the thoughts of

:15:26.:15:28.

Piers Forster, a Professor of Climate Change at Leeds

:15:29.:15:33.

University, who joins me from Oslo. If it is the oceans, is it a bad

:15:34.:15:47.

thing if they're taking up the slack? I do think it... Heat in the

:15:48.:16:09.

oceans could be giving us a respite from global warming. When you say of

:16:10.:16:16.

respite, does that mean it is a good thing in itself or is this something

:16:17.:16:20.

that will turn around to bite us again later?

:16:21.:16:29.

Yes, it is a good thing for the time being so it has been keeping the

:16:30.:16:36.

surface relatively cool for the last 15 year period but we expect that

:16:37.:16:45.

might reverse within the next couple of decades. We can expect

:16:46.:16:55.

accelerated global warming. Given it was difficult to work this

:16:56.:16:58.

out, what gives you the confidence to say we can forecast it will

:16:59.:17:03.

reverse over the next couple of decades?

:17:04.:17:08.

Yes, in fact I think this is where the work is interesting because it

:17:09.:17:18.

really does indicate that we are looking at something that is quite

:17:19.:17:24.

distinct from our estimates of long-term global warming and we have

:17:25.:17:31.

a relatively robust understanding of the long-term global warming trend,

:17:32.:17:42.

this is more to do with the ocean mixing the heat internally so I

:17:43.:17:50.

think this work is a real indication that we are looking at quite a

:17:51.:17:56.

different mechanism done this overall long-term temperature trend

:17:57.:18:03.

caused by our activities. An intriguing new study. Sorry to

:18:04.:18:07.

interrupt you, Professor, we must leave it there. Thank you for

:18:08.:18:14.

joining us. As we have heard, the advance of the Islamic State has

:18:15.:18:16.

sent ripples across the region. In Lebanon, people are anxiously

:18:17.:18:19.

monitoring the group's expansion. Just two weeks ago, groups

:18:20.:18:21.

affiliated to IS and other jihadist movements clashed with the army -

:18:22.:18:24.

raising fears that the Islamic State, which already controls large

:18:25.:18:27.

swaths of territory between Syria From these mountains across the

:18:28.:18:42.

Lebanese Syrian border, the first battle between the Lebanese army and

:18:43.:18:48.

jihadi groups was launched. Just two weeks ago, the border town, saw

:18:49.:18:55.

fierce battles between the army and jihadi fighters followed the arrest

:18:56.:18:59.

of a jihadi leader who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

:19:00.:19:06.

This lady from the town is still traumatised by the bomb that hit her

:19:07.:19:09.

house. She fears the threat is not over.

:19:10.:19:14.

TRANSLATION: I did not see it coming, Moore is

:19:15.:19:21.

yet to happen. The Lebanese army has found itself joining other armies in

:19:22.:19:27.

the region in the fight against jihadi groups. Western powers,

:19:28.:19:32.

including the USA and the UK, have pledged military aid to bolster the

:19:33.:19:40.

army arsenal. Lebanon faces a new wave of Islamist terror which is a

:19:41.:19:44.

mounting challenge creating great anxiety here. In that context, we've

:19:45.:19:49.

decided to prioritise what we can do to support the Lebanese state but

:19:50.:19:54.

also the Lebanese army, one of the uniting groups in the country and an

:19:55.:19:59.

army that has proved effective so far. But the army is not the only

:20:00.:20:03.

Lebanese force fighting groups such as the Islamic State. Long before

:20:04.:20:10.

the Lebanese army confronted Sonny J Hardy groups, the sheer party has

:20:11.:20:16.

Boller went to fight alongside the Syrian regime. -- Shia Muslim party.

:20:17.:20:25.

They say they had to fend them off. Today, the fight against the Islamic

:20:26.:20:30.

State is central to the party's narrative. Scores of has Boller

:20:31.:20:35.

members have been battling jihadis. Has Boller sees them as a threat for

:20:36.:20:43.

Lebanon and the wider region. -- has blah. From Iraqi came hundreds of

:20:44.:20:48.

Christians fleeing the onslaught of the Islamic State. They became

:20:49.:20:51.

refugees in Lebanon on. Their plight, the recent battle and the

:20:52.:20:56.

images of atrocities coming from Syria and Iraq have also sent shock

:20:57.:21:06.

waves across Lebanon on. Just adding to the situation in Syria,

:21:07.:21:10.

The United Nations says more than 190,000 people have been killed

:21:11.:21:12.

during the three year conflict in Syria, more than double

:21:13.:21:15.

The figure is the first issued by the UN's human rights office

:21:16.:21:21.

since July 2013, when it documented more than 100,000 killed.

:21:22.:21:24.

And just a reminder that you can find much

:21:25.:21:26.

more on the conflicts in the Middle East - including a special report on

:21:27.:21:29.

the background of the militant group Islamic State on the BBC website.

:21:30.:21:44.

It was once a leper colony, and then became one

:21:45.:21:46.

These days Big Island, or Il-ya Grande,

:21:47.:21:49.

off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, is a popular tourist destination.

:21:50.:21:52.

Julio de Almeida arrived on the island in 1958, aged just 27.

:21:53.:21:59.

Now 83, after serving his time reportedly for multiple

:22:00.:22:04.

murders, he was given a conditional release to remain until this year.

:22:05.:22:06.

BBC News went to meet Julio at home in the shadow

:22:07.:22:09.

To something very wet and cold now - the ice bucket challenge,

:22:10.:24:58.

which has fast become a worldwide internet phenomenon.

:24:59.:25:01.

In case you've missed it - you drench yourself on camera - to raise

:25:02.:25:06.

Getting wet here - former Manchester United footballers

:25:07.:25:12.

And here's Justin Timberlake with his tour team - and singer

:25:13.:25:20.

You're then allowed to nominate someone else to repeat the feat.

:25:21.:25:27.

But it seems even the ice bucket challenge has reached its limit -

:25:28.:25:30.

with President Obama saying he's not going to drench himself for charity.

:25:31.:25:36.

He has tried his hand at most things.

:25:37.:25:51.

But when it comes to the Ice Bucket Challenge, President

:25:52.:25:53.

The President's predecessor was not so shy, however.

:25:54.:26:01.

George W Bush was soaked by his wife Laura.

:26:02.:26:06.

It is unclear exactly whose challenge the President is refusing.

:26:07.:26:12.

Now I nominate Ellen, Barack Obama...

:26:13.:26:15.

Justin Bieber was the first to nominate him.

:26:16.:26:22.

And 86-year-old Kennedy family matriarch Ethel also named him,

:26:23.:26:31.

Mr Obama won't be alone in staying dry.

:26:32.:26:34.

The US government says an ethics code means officials are

:26:35.:26:36.

So the White House won't become the Wet House.

:26:37.:26:42.

The charity says the President has donated an undisclosed sum.

:26:43.:26:53.

pretty much everyone else is at it. Nominations for the challenge, get

:26:54.:27:00.

in touch with us on

:27:01.:27:01.

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