20/07/2011 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me, Tim Willcox. Regrets and the

benefit of hindsight. Prime Minister David Cameron says that

now he wouldn't have employed the former News of the World editor,

Andy Coulson, as his spokesman. You live and you learn, and,

believe you me, I have learnt. not about hindsight, Mr Speaker.

It's not about whether Mr Coulson lied to him. It's about all the

information and warnings that the Prime Minister ignored.

Dying of hunger - the United Nations declares a famine in

southern Somalia for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Closing a door on the past - the last Serbian war crimes fugitive is

arrested after seven years on the run.

Classic opera performed on a floating stage. We'll see how one

production lit up Austria's famous Hello and welcome. After a week

that's seen the Murdochs and the Metropolitan Police face tough

questions from MPs about the phone hacking scandal, today was the turn

of the British Prime Minister, David Cameron. Speaking in an

emergency recall of Parliament after cutting short a trade trip to

Africa, Mr Cameron again defended his appointment of former News of

the World editor Andy Coulson as his spokesman. But he added that in

hindsight he would not have offered him the job. Labour leader Ed

Miliband said his words on Mr Coulson, who was arrested nearly

two weeks ago over phone hacking allegations, were not enough. Our

political editor Nick Robinson reports. For for a friend in need

is a friend until they become a massive political headache.

David Cameron has always defended his decision to give Andy Coulson a

second chance until, that is, to date. With 20-20 hindsight and all

that has followed, I would not have offered him the job and I expect

that he wouldn't have taken it. But you don't make decisions in

hindsight. You make them in the present. You live and to learn and,

believe you me, I have learned. Prime Minister said he was

extremely sorry for the furore Andy Coulson's appointment had caused.

But was he ready to say sorry for hiring him? Not yet at least.

if it turns out I have been lied to, that would be a moment for a

profound apology and in that event, I can tell you why will not fall

short. Few had expected him to go that far, but it simply wasn't far

enough for the Labour leader. isn't good enough, because people...

It is not about hindsight, Mr Speaker. It is not about whether Mr

Coulson lied to him. It is about all the information and warnings

that the Prime Minister ignored. The warnings Ed Miliband claimed

came up -- both before and after David Cameron moved into Number Ten.

On that day, as director of clarification is tried very hard to

keep a low profile. It was a plan that would not last long. Police

are to examine fresh claims about phone hacking by the News of the

World. Last autumn, a New York Times investigation into phone

hacking claimed that Andy Coulson knew about it, something he has

always denied the money it. Despite the paper's claims, Andy Coulson

was not fired but any left Number Ten a few weeks later with the

Prime Minister's praise ringing in his ears. The Prime Minister was

caught in a tragic conflict of loyalty between the standards and

integrity that people should expect of him and his staff, and his

personal allegiance to Mr Coulson. He made the wrong choice. There

were questions about the Prime Minister's other choice of friends,

too. His many meetings with News International bosses with Rebekah

Brooks and with Rupert Murdoch, who left London today on the morning

after the most humble day of his life. As Prime Minister, did he

ever discuss the question of the BSkyB it with News International at

all the meetings they attended? never had one in appropriate

conversation. It was the third time of asking and Labour did not like

the answer. I completely took myself at off any decision-making

about this bid. I had no role in it. I had no role in when the

announcements were going to be made. In an increasingly confident mood,

David Cameron accused Labour of having their close relationships

with the Murdoch empire. The great contrast is, I have set out all of

the contacts and meetings that I've had in complete contrast to the

party opposite. I can say this to the honourable gentleman. I have

never held a slumber party was seen her in her pyjamas. David Cameron

says he has an old-fashioned view that a man is innocent until proven

guilty, but today he tried to separate his fate from Andy

Coulson's. To discuss David Cameron's

performance, let's go to Westminster and speak to two senior

British political journalists, Jason Beattie, deputy political

editor of the Daily Mirror, and Jim Pickard from the Financial Times.

Thank you both very much. Jason Beattie, the backbenchers in the

Tory party seemed to love this. He has sent them off with their tails

high, hasn't he? I am surprised by this. David Cameron did what he is

very good at. He kind of pretence that he is in charge of something.

He gives this impression he is open and transparent. When you've tried

to do this -- digest all the headlines tomorrow, he was actually

extraordinarily slippery, particularly on the BSkyB issue.

Let's stay with Andy Coulson for a minute. He has been arrested but

not for us to have anything. The Prime Minister cannot go any

further, can he? He could have done. A few days ago, David Cameron held

an emergency press conference in Downing Street when is a Andy

Coulson was and is a friend. Now he is trying after a lot of pressure

from Labour to try to disassociate himself from this man. But he

didn't really answer all the questions on it. There were still

too much good things raised again and again, you were warned not just

by Nick Clegg or Lord Ashdown, but by a new -- newspaper articles, by

the Guardian, bat Andy Coulson's behaviour after you appointed him

and used by him bus-stop he has not yet answered that question properly.

Jim Park card, why didn't you listen to those warnings? I think

the context you have to understand is that British politics for 20 to

40 years, the News International empire has been intertwined with

the British elite. If you go but Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair,

Gordon Brown, they were all going it in and out of each other's

offices, they were having dinners and advising each other. David

Cameron wants to remain close to what is the most powerful media

organisation in the country. Hacking generally, investigative

journalism, sailing close to the world, is something quite a few

newspapers in Britain have been conducting of many years. Even the

Financial Times? The Financial Times is the only newspaper on a

list of drawn up in 2006 by the Information Commissioner showing

who had been paying private detectives for information for

various ways. I think the Mirror came up with 800 or 900 occasions.

The Financial Times was not on that list. But almost every other

newspaper was. PNE point at which the story suddenly gained enormous

attraction was when it was realised that some journalists were hacking

victims of crime, Milly Dowler, the dead teenager, when suddenly it was

realised that this was obscene and a vaulting. That Information

Commissioner's report, 305 incidents of blagging. Put that to

one side because Parliament did nothing at the time in 2006.

Specifically on the BSkyB-News International Relations, the Prime

Minister was not straight in his response, was he? Exactly. I

thought his response was very smooth in terms of generalities. He

had the sycophantic MPs behind him. Labour MPs repeatedly asked him,

have you had meetings with News International insect -- executives

where the issue Obertan to take control of BSkyB is discussed? All

he would say is that he had not had any inappropriate discussions,

implying he had had some. That made him look evasive. Jason Beattie,

the Labour Party is perceived to have done particularly well over

the past two weeks, Ed Miliband in particular. But the Prime Minister

has caused 12 or 13 separate inquiries. There is not much more

we can do. Has he not now regained control of this crisis? You are

right about the Labour Party. It has given Ed Miliband extraordinary

confidence. Just a few weeks ago, there were mutterings about how

long he could stay in the job. Those have all disappeared now. He

has banned voice as a leader. Whether he can keep going is

another question. In terms of the inquiries, they will help in some

way to dissipate the miles from around this story. There has been a

slight hysteria about it. I still think Cameron has a lot of

questions to answer. They will not go away. There was an extraordinary

claim made today in the Commons by Nick Raynsford, saying a senior

civil servant had his own act. These have been denied by the

Cabinet Office. But every time you think this story is going to calm

down, something else comes up. view would be that when you know

3000 people have been hacked, there is almost nothing left to surprise.

The fact that a government official was probably hack, I was mass of

the unsurprised. And also the fact that the MPs are breaking up for

the summer and that today Cameron basically so by the occasion means

that things will died down relative to this incredibly frenetic two

weeks. Jim Pickard and Jason Beattie, thank you both very much

for joining us from a rather soggy Westminster.

Famine will spread across Somalia within two months unless the

international community sends more aid to the region, according to the

UN. Famine has already been declared in two areas of southern

Somalia, which has been ravaged by conflict and the worst drought in

east Africa for more than half a century. The UN says up to ten

million people are affected. Our Africa correspondent Andrew Harding

sent this report. Now it is official, Somalia is

sinking into famine. It is the first time that compelling word has

been deployed in almost 20 years. The United Nations is hoping it

would Olga world into action. Thousands of Somalis continue to

three a lethal combination of drought, conflict and poverty.

Since I was here in 1992 and when I look around and icy yet again...

These are Brew resilient people. substantial aid operation is under

way. Supplies are arriving in neighbouring Kenya. But the UN is

asking for an extra �185 million immediately. The international

response has been mixed. Britain has given �23 million to Somalia

this year. The United States barely half that. Germany and France on

three and 1.6 million are among those accused of ignoring the alarm

bells. I think the contributions from other countries has been in

some cases derisory and overall dangerously inadequate. Britain is

setting a good lead and we expect others to contribute. There are

signs today that others are beginning to put their shoulder to

the wheel but we need that to happen rapidly and vigorously.

money is not the only problem here. Famine has taken hold in areas

controlled or influenced by a militant Islamist group, Al-Shabab.

They have made it too dangerous for foreign aid groups to operate

directly. Now they say a ban has been lifted, but the politics are

complicated and aid simply isn't getting to the right people fast

enough. And so the familiar images of hunger and helplessness and the

predictable scramble for money and access as famine bites into Somalia.

Joining me from Nairobi is Rozanne Chorlton, UNICEF representative for

Somalia. How bad are things? Are we looking at a similar famine --

famine to that of 91/92? numbers are certainly comparable

and comparable with other famines that have occurred in the last 10

years, but it is the worst, a severe food security crisis in

Africa in the last 20 years and it is currently the worst food

security crisis in the world. The number of children suffering from

malnutrition has doubled, and another number of those, or the

proportion of those who are severely malnourished is 50%. That

is generally much lower in -- even in an emergency situation. Our real

concern for those children is that they are nine times more likely to

die than a healthy child. For and no coincidence that famine has now

been declared in two areas controlled by Al-Shabab. The famine

is across the southern part of Somalia. Certainly, those areas are

largely controlled by Al-Shabab. They are also the areas where there

has been a crop failure, where there has been trapped and there

has been no possibility for people to benefit from their own harvest.

There has also been no food aid for a very long time. So one topple

whatever -- on top of whatever the government arrangements may be,

there are fundamental other issues to do with trout and to do with

economic collapse that are also coming into play here.

development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, has described the world's

response to this as derisory. Do you agree with that, and just as a

second thought, it is worth pointing out that there is food

there, isn't there, but it is very expensive and people are not able

to afford to buy it? That's absolutely correct. There is food

in the market. That is showing that the market is still working, but

there is not enough food and it has very, very high prices that the

majority of those who were weak and vulnerable cannot afford. What we

are hoping for is that the donors who have been present all along but

at a lower level are going to come in with much more substantial

contributions over the next month or two and that other donors who

have perhaps not yet contributed to Somalia were also see the need to

come in. This really does take a global response to manage the

enormity of the crisis. Rozanne The last suspected war criminal on

the rung after the conflict in the former Yugoslavia has been arrested.

Goran Hadzic a pipe smoking former warehouseman, was the leader of the

ethnic Serbs in the east of Croatia. He's accused of crimes against

humanity during the war. The EU has described his arrest as an

important step as Serbia's eventual step towards joining the union.

A brief glimpse of a man who'd been in hiding for the past seven years.

Goran Hadzic, the last remaining fugitive from the Yugoslav wars,

wanted by the UN tribunal in the Hague. Of 161 suspects dieted it

had been feared that Hadzic would be the one that got away. In the

early hours of Wednesday morning, he was seized in a forest near the

northern Serbian town. Announcing his arrest the Serbian President

said it had been his country's moral and legal responsibility.

Asked why it had taken so long to find him, the President drew

compare sons with another long hunted fugitive. If I have to

remind yourself about other cases, internationally very well known and

recognised, for example, the case about Osama Bin Laden, that is the

same situation. We've been working very hard. We've been working

systematically. When Croatia broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991, Goran

Hadzic led a rebellion by Croatian Serbs. He took charge of the

separatists in the region. The counts against him include murder,

torture and persecution, notably the massacre of 250 Croats in

Vukovar and the deportation of many thousands more. Here he is pictured

with the former Bosnian Serb leaders, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko

Mladic. Once they were caught in Serbia, Hadzic became the most

wanted. And so Goran Hadzic is now in custody in Belgrade, awaiting

transfer to the Hague. He says he won't appeal. The arrest the

fugitives from the 1990s had been a pre-condition for Serbia to move

towards European Union membership and the country will now expect a

date for accession talks. Beyond that, Serbia hopes this will

finally draw a line under its painful past and rehabilitate its

image within the international community.

The President of the European Commission has warned that history

will judge Europe's leaders harshly if they fail to find a solution to

the financial crisis facing the eurozone. Jose Manuel Barroso said

if leaders gathering for the summit in Brussels didn't respond

decisively, the negative consequences would be felt

throughout Europe and beyond. Gavin Hewitt is in Brussels. He says

finding a solution to this crisis will be a major challenge. This

summit is really crunchtime for the euro and the whole financial world

will be watching. There are two main challenges. First Greece needs

a second bail out and second, gros's debts which have mushroomed

to 360 billion euros and they need bringing down. Some measures are

easy to agree to, like reducing the interest that Greece pays on its

loan. In the past it's been the taxpayer who has stood behind these

bail outs. But the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, said

that's unfair. She wants private investors, the banks and pension

funds both to support the second bail out ond to help in reducing

those debts. Now, if those banks end up taking big losses, some will

say that in effect is a default and that would unsettle markets right

across Europe. Now, there is one other big fear here. Say it proves

difficult helping Greece, then what about Italy? A much bigger economy,

and one that also has huge debts, 120% of GDP. Now if they have

difficulties tomorrow, it will put further pressure on Italy. And if

Italy runs into trouble, then that could threaten the very survival of

the eurozone. Gavin Hewitt our Europe editor.

Some of the day's other news. The Libyan foreign minister said

Colonel Gaddafi's removal from power is not up for negotiation.

Abdelati Obeidi was speaking after talks in Moscow. Earlier the French

foreign ministers suggested Colonel Gaddafi might be able to remain in

Libya, if he stood down. In Britain, a nurse has been

arrested in connection with the deaths of three patients at a

hospital in Stockport, in the north of England. The 26-year-old woman

was detained in her home and is being questioned by detectives.

The Irish Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, has launched an

unprecedented attack on the Vatican for encouraging Roman Catholic

bishops not to report suspected paedophile priests to the Police.

Mr Kenny said a recrept report into abuse allegations showed, the

"dysfunction, elitism and narcissism" that dominated the

culture of the Vatican. International health experts say

goals to rid the world of polio by the end of next year is off track.

The World Health Organisation agreed to eradicate polio in 1988.

But it's been concluded that tackling the remaining cases will

prove the greatest challenge yet. British forces in Afghanistan have

handed over security in the capital of Helmand province to the Afghan

Police and army. Lashkar Gah city, where British forces have been

operating since 2006, is one of seven areas in the region to be

placed under government control over the next week. But as Jonathan

Beale reports, the handover has been accompanied by increasing

levels of violence from the Taliban. A moment of national pride. Afghans

taking responsibility for their own security. This ceremony designed to

send the message that they're up to the job. But the British soldiers

who've helped train them and who will now step back still have

concerns, not least about corruption within the Afghan Police.

There is certainly some elist it income generation and allegations

of corruption and it would be foolish to deny that exists. We're

trying to eradicate that from the police. If we get it wrong, the

police could push the locals away. Even if Afghanistan manages to root

out corruption, huge challenges remain. This is Bamiyan, another

province just handed over to the Afghans. Unlike Helmand, there's

been little fighting here for the past ten years. Bombs and bullets

aren't Bamiyan's biggest killers, it's diarrhoea and malnutrition.

Most of the aid agencies and NGOs will leave Bamiyan, after the

withdrawal of NATO forces. pressure's now on the government to

win the trust of its own people. They are going to be lots of

questions. There are going to be lots of concerns. We acknowledge

the concerns as legitimate. Our job is to change our institutions and

to change the perceptions. And this, in theory, is the easy phase. The

transition of just a few less violent parts of the country. For

NATO, it marks the beginning of the end, the exit strategy that will

see all British combat troops leave by 2015.

If transition doesn't succeed in Lashkar Gah or bannian -- Bamiyan,

what hope for the rest of the Afghanistan?

This is BBC World News today. The annual Bregenz Festival of arts and

music is opening in western Austria. One of this year's highlights is a

new production of the opera Andre Chenier. Our correspondent reports

from Vienna. A tale of love and death, staged on

a lake. Umberto Giordano's opera Andre Chenier is being performed

for the first time on the floating stage at the Bregenz Festival. The

action takes place both on and in the water. The opera is set at the

time of the French Revolution. It tells the story of a poet and his

lover caught up in the Reign of Terror. It's a very passionate

story with this backdrop of historical events going on. It's

written with tremendous economy and pace and drive from Giordano, so

there are no longer, I mean it is like watching a good film. That's

exactly what the experience out here should be like. The stage

design is based on the famous painting, the death of Marah by

Jacques-Louis David. It is high above the surface of the lake and

weighs 60 tones. Austria's President, Heinz Fischer, is to opt

festival and will attend the premiere.

The opera will be performed until Something quite spectacular. Our

main news: MPs have been holding a special session to debate the phone

hacking scandal, which has rocked the police, the political

establishment and the Murdoch media empire. The Prime Minister, David

Cameron, who's cut short a trip to Africa, said public trust in key

institutions had been shaken and that with hindsight, he wouldn't

have employed as his spokesman the former newspaper editor, Andy

Coulson, editor of the News Of The World, who was arrested over the

hacking allegations nearly a fortnight ago. And famine will

spread across Somalia within two months, unless the international

community sends more aid to the region. Famine has been declared in

two areas of southern Somalia. That's all from me and the team.

Next the weather. For now, good Hello. I'm hopeful that come the

weekend, most of us will be dry with sunshine and feeling a bit

warmer. But it's a struggle to get there. Tomorrow again will be a

rather cloudy day with some showers around and feeling cool as well.

The showers will be mostly closest to this low pressure, which is

crawling along northern parts of France. No sign of high pressure on

the horizon just yet. Still a lot of cloud around on Thursday. The

focus of the showers will be across southern and eastern areas. Further

north and west, a good chance of staying dry and bright. Mid-

afternoon, don't be surprised if you encounter a heavy and possibly

thundery shower across the southern third of the UK. They'll be slow

moving as well because the winds will be fairly light. A cool

feeling day, despite some reasonable spells of sunshine and

parts of the south-west will do well with relatively few showers

and some good sunshine here. So not too bad if you're off to the beach.

For parts of Wales too, it's looking OK. The showers reasonably

well scattered. Many places staying dry. It's a similar story across

Northern Ireland. You get the sense that these western parts of the UK

will seat best of the weather on Thursday. Head further east, it's a

different story. Further slow moving and sharp showers expected