Browse content similar to 18/08/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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This is BBC World News Today with me, Zeinab Badawi. Renewed pressure | :00:10. | :00:16. | |
on President Asaad of Syria. Britain, France and Germany back | :00:16. | :00:20. | |
Washington's call for him to step down. For the sake of the Syrian | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
people, the time has come for him to step aside and leave this | :00:23. | :00:30. | |
transition to the Syrians themselves. Coordinated attacks on | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
Israel's border with Egypt kill seven. Israel retaliates with | :00:34. | :00:40. | |
deadly air-strikes on the Gaza Strip. Fear of a return to | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
recession grips the financial markets once more, with sharp falls | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
in Europe and the United States. Thousands of Catholic pilgrims | :00:46. | :00:50. | |
welcome Pope Benedict to Madrid for World Youth Day, but the event also | :00:50. | :00:57. | |
attracts protesters. And 20 years since the Moscow coup that ushered | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
in the collapse of the Soviet Union, how much have the daily lives of | :01:00. | :01:10. | |
:01:10. | :01:20. | ||
Welcome to the programme. World leaders united today in their | :01:20. | :01:23. | |
condemnation of President Bashar Al Asaad of Syria and called on him to | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
step down. President Obama accused him of allowing a vicious onslaught | :01:27. | :01:31. | |
of his people. The UN believes that nearly 3,000 people have been | :01:31. | :01:37. | |
killed in Syria in five months of protests. Also today, the UN Human | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
Rights Commission gave a body of evidence of alleged repression by | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
the Syrian authorities which it says could amount to crimes against | :01:43. | :01:53. | |
:01:53. | :01:55. | ||
humanity. Jim Muir reports from neighbouring Lebanon. Five full | :01:55. | :01:57. | |
months of bloodshed and the Americans have held back for | :01:58. | :02:00. | |
calling for the President to go but they do not know what would come | :02:00. | :02:08. | |
next but now at their patience has cracked and the call has come. | :02:08. | :02:13. | |
people of Syria to serve the Government that respects their | :02:13. | :02:19. | |
dignity, protects their rights and lives up to their aspirations. | :02:19. | :02:23. | |
President Assad is standing in their way. For the sake of the | :02:23. | :02:29. | |
Syrian people, the time has come for him to step aside and leave | :02:29. | :02:35. | |
this transition to the Syrian people. Addressing his party | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
faithful shortly before the announcement from Washington, | :02:39. | :02:42. | |
President Assad said the country would stand firm, however much | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
outside pressure would mount. Now the Americans are really trying to | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
turn the screws. The steps at present a plan announced this | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
morning will further tighten the circle of isolation around the | :02:55. | :03:02. | |
regime. -- that President Obama. It immediately freezes all assets of | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
the government that are subject to American jurisdiction and prohibits | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
American citizens from engaging in any transactions with the | :03:09. | :03:15. | |
government of Syria or investing in that country. These actions strike | :03:15. | :03:22. | |
at the heart of the regime. American steps came as the UN | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
Security Council was preparing to hear a damning human rights report | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
on the Syrian regime's oppressive practices. The report includes | :03:31. | :03:34. | |
evidence that suggests crimes against humanity have been | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
committed in Syria. It recommends that the situation should be | :03:38. | :03:44. | |
referred to the International Criminal Court. All this came, | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
ironically, hours after President Assad said that all military and | :03:47. | :03:51. | |
police action against civilians had ended. Tanks and troops have been | :03:52. | :03:57. | |
pulled out of three trouble spots, including the port city of Latakia. | :03:57. | :04:02. | |
But the regime has plenty of other instruments for ensuring control. | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
The regime comforts itself by encouraging popular demonstrations | :04:05. | :04:12. | |
are support like this one. But the call from Washington for President | :04:12. | :04:17. | |
Assad to go will give fresh heart to protesters. The new sanctions | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
could generate enough pressure to start producing cracks within the | :04:20. | :04:29. | |
regime. But how long that might take is anybody's guess. Joining me | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
from the UN headquarters in New York is Farhan Haq, deputy | :04:32. | :04:40. | |
spokesperson for the UN Secretary General. President Assad apparently | :04:40. | :04:42. | |
tells Bank Ki-Moon that all operations against civilians have | :04:42. | :04:50. | |
been stopped, has Bank Ki-Moon been able to verify that? We have not | :04:50. | :04:57. | |
and the Secretary-General has once again called for all violence and | :04:57. | :05:00. | |
military operations and police operations to be halted and that | :05:00. | :05:05. | |
the same time, what he is calling for is an independent investigation | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
into the killings and violence and we have been trying to get a team | :05:09. | :05:16. | |
for many months from Our Human Rights Office into Syria and we are | :05:16. | :05:21. | |
urging the authorities to allow the team entry and the High | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
Commissioner for Sherman writes for the year when it is going to be | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
briefing the Security Council in the coming hours about a very | :05:29. | :05:34. | |
serious, sombre report prepared by the team even without having gone | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
into Syria. It is based on interviews they could get and on | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
that basis, they are worried and concerned that crimes against | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
humanity might have been committed in recent months. Talk us through | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
the steps, we know they have talked about systematic attacks and abuses | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
of civilians and they have this body of evidence. What happens | :05:53. | :06:00. | |
then? When you say that this should be referred to the ICC? Could | :06:00. | :06:09. | |
President Assad be referred to the ICC? The recommendation in the | :06:09. | :06:14. | |
Human Rights Office report is for the Human Rights Council to urge | :06:14. | :06:17. | |
the Security Council to consider a range of steps including referring | :06:17. | :06:22. | |
the case of Syria to the International Criminal Court and | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
the human rights High Commissioner will be presenting the report in | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
the next few hours and then the Security Council membership can | :06:30. | :06:35. | |
then evaluate whether they want to take up this recommendation. What | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
is your guess? We know that Britain, France and the United States have | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
called on the President to step down, what about Russia and China? | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
Are they elected to create some kind of paralysis? -- are they | :06:49. | :06:55. | |
likely? I do not speak for other countries? There have been | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
divergent opinions on the Security Council, in fact the last action | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
the Security Council took two weeks ago was a presidential statement | :07:04. | :07:09. | |
concerning Syria which took many weeks of negotiation to craft. It | :07:09. | :07:14. | |
is possible it will take some time and the secretary general | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
understands that this might take some time but he does hope that the | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
Security Council can continue to speak with one voice on Syria and | :07:22. | :07:31. | |
:07:32. | :07:32. | ||
can push for an end to violence. Thank you. Rebels in Libya say | :07:32. | :07:34. | |
Colonel Gaddafi is becoming increasingly isolated after forces | :07:34. | :07:39. | |
took full control of two key towns in the capital. The rebels said | :07:39. | :07:44. | |
they have captured captured Garyan, 80 kilometres to the south, Zawiya, | :07:44. | :07:51. | |
50 kilometres to the west, and an oil refinery just outside of Zawiya. | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
The advancing rebels are insisting they'll enter Tripoli by the end of | :07:54. | :08:01. | |
the month. You will get more on this. Matthew Price is there. This | :08:01. | :08:06. | |
is a blow to Colonel Gaddafi, it would seem. What response have we | :08:06. | :08:14. | |
had from the Libyan government? about the same time that the BBC | :08:15. | :08:20. | |
correspondent Rupert Wingfield- Hayes was being driven past the oil | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
refinery and seeing that it was in rebel hands, I was at a press | :08:24. | :08:30. | |
conference in Tripoli being held by the Libyan Prime Minister and he | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
said that the oil refinery is firmly in government hands. I | :08:33. | :08:38. | |
didn't know if that information was out of date or if he was giving us | :08:38. | :08:45. | |
misinformation but it is clear that there is an increasing disconnect | :08:45. | :08:48. | |
between what some of the things that the Libyan government says to | :08:48. | :08:54. | |
us as journalists and some of the facts on the ground as reported by | :08:54. | :08:57. | |
correspondence and reporters not just from the BBC but other | :08:57. | :09:03. | |
organisations to be trust. So why are, the reporting from there is | :09:03. | :09:06. | |
that there are still fighting going on and it sounds like skirmishes | :09:06. | :09:10. | |
from the reports I have read but at the same time it is clear that at | :09:10. | :09:16. | |
the moment, the rebels also have pretty much control of Zawiya and | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
the control the coastal road all the way from triply all the way to | :09:20. | :09:26. | |
Tunisia. -- Tripoli. The Prime Minister insisted that road was in | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
full government control and that clearly is demonstrably not true. I | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
suppose the answer to the question, how is the Government dealing with | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
this, is that it might be in a sense of denial about some of the | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
advances and there is a sense of confusion and one of the things I | :09:43. | :09:46. | |
have picked up on from some government officials in the last | :09:46. | :09:52. | |
couple of days is a sense of nervousness, and that has not been | :09:52. | :09:59. | |
there before. Thank you very much. Matthew on the balance of power | :09:59. | :10:08. | |
tipping away from Colonel Gaddafi. Now some of the other developments. | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
Police in Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, have blamed gang rivalry | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
for the killing of at least 39 people since Wednesday. Many of the | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
victims were shot in the head and appear to have been tortured. The | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
violence escalated after gunmen shot dead a leader in the ruling | :10:20. | :10:22. | |
Pakistan Peoples Party, Waja Karim Dad. The Indian anti-corruption | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
campaigner Anna Hazare says he won't leave prison until Friday, | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
despite reaching a deal with the authorities. He will start a 15-day | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
hunger strike that has now been agreed by the authorities. His | :10:31. | :10:39. | |
arrest sparked protests across the country. Here, police in Birmingham | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
say about 20,000 people have turned out for the funerals of three men | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
who were killed during disturbances in the city last week. Haroon Jahan | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
and brothers Shazad Ali and Abdul Musavir were hit by a car in the | :10:50. | :11:00. | |
:11:00. | :11:04. | ||
Winson Green area of the city. The when's says the situation in East | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
Africa is becoming desperate with more than 1000 Somalis pouring into | :11:08. | :11:13. | |
Kenya every day. To escape the famine and violence. The UN | :11:13. | :11:15. | |
recognises that more than 12 million people are in urgent need | :11:15. | :11:19. | |
of aid as the famine has spread to the southern parts of the country, | :11:19. | :11:29. | |
seen in the Red Ed area on the map. -- read earlier. They keep coming. | :11:29. | :11:37. | |
Walking for miles, many of their loved ones dying on the way. This | :11:37. | :11:43. | |
huge camp in northern Kenya is their only hope for survival. So | :11:43. | :11:51. | |
crowded, an extension is now being opened. A mother tells her she | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
walked for more than 100 miles. Her two youngest children did not make | :11:55. | :12:03. | |
it. Five of them survived. Britain has pledged more than �100 million | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
and has announced a massive vaccination programme against | :12:06. | :12:11. | |
disease. But the warning is that unless other governments to more to | :12:11. | :12:19. | |
help, up to 400,000 children could die. The decisions we take today, | :12:19. | :12:22. | |
the extent to which the international community can stop | :12:22. | :12:27. | |
that, will become clear in the months ahead. How many of those | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
400,000 will die? We had the power to stop that. The decisions we make | :12:31. | :12:37. | |
will determine the results. There are also new fears that the longer | :12:37. | :12:43. | |
the crisis continues, the more risk of ethnic and tribal rivalries | :12:43. | :12:53. | |
:12:53. | :12:53. | ||
breaking out in the camps. There will be issues of resources like | :12:53. | :13:00. | |
water and basic amenities, so reports of internal fighting and | :13:00. | :13:05. | |
altercations are there. Britain wants a long-term solution. Within | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
its EoN programme, projects are there to hand out seeds for crops | :13:09. | :13:13. | |
that can survive the current climate. And to keep cattle alive | :13:13. | :13:23. | |
:13:23. | :13:25. | ||
so that when the famine ends, these people have some hope. I have been | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
talking to John O'Shea from the Irish relief agency, and he told me | :13:29. | :13:33. | |
that it's very difficult to assess the situation inside Somalia. | :13:33. | :13:38. | |
Everybody connected with this is guessing because we're not there, | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
nobody is inside the provinces in southern Somalia controlled by the | :13:42. | :13:49. | |
terrorists. Everybody is pursuing the situation is ABC. The most | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
educated guesswork suggests that there are 4 million people in this | :13:53. | :13:58. | |
area with no access to food. There is a drought as well. There are no | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
white people, no international aid, nobody getting in with meaningful | :14:03. | :14:08. | |
amounts of food to keep these people live. Starving people can | :14:08. | :14:14. | |
only last for so long. And the photographs and images we see on | :14:14. | :14:19. | |
screens are from the refugee camps of Kenya and Ethiopia, were very | :14:19. | :14:22. | |
brave people have managed to get out of their own country and have | :14:22. | :14:28. | |
reached the relative safety of the refugee camps. However, there is no | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
focus on the 4 million lives hanging by a very slender thread in | :14:31. | :14:36. | |
the southern provinces. The British Government and the chief Cabinet | :14:36. | :14:40. | |
ministers have said we are on the cusp of a disaster and we have the | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
power to prevent that. Who should be doing more? And what should they | :14:43. | :14:51. | |
do? It's a very interesting word, the power, I spoke to Andrew | :14:51. | :14:55. | |
Mitchell, and I regret to say that I failed on this attempt to | :14:55. | :15:00. | |
convince him that the British Government has to exert pressure on | :15:00. | :15:05. | |
the supreme body in this area, the Security Council of the UN, they | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
are or, in my way of thinking, the only body on the globe are supposed | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
to be responsible for vulnerable populations. There are no more | :15:13. | :15:17. | |
vulnerable at the moment than those 4 million people. For some reason, | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
unknown to anybody, the Security Council has not even discussed the | :15:21. | :15:27. | |
tragedy of Sonali. What should they do? Discuss and do what? If they | :15:27. | :15:31. | |
discussed this they must come to the conclusion that they must send | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
in the international peacekeepers who will provide a safe corridor | :15:35. | :15:40. | |
through which the aid committees can then give out aid. But the | :15:40. | :15:45. | |
worst affected people are in those areas controlled by the militants. | :15:45. | :15:51. | |
And it will be very perilous? we allow tourists to set the agenda | :15:51. | :15:56. | |
now. Is the era of Neville Chamberlain back with us? Are we | :15:56. | :16:02. | |
afraid to face back these people? The Kenyans say the refugee camp | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
expected to receive tens of thousands of refugees, at least the | :16:06. | :16:10. | |
International Committee can get to them? They can, if the people | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
inside Somalia can reach the border. We're asking people to walk for 30 | :16:14. | :16:19. | |
days without food and water. We're asking the impossible. Many | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
thousands have died already, according to the UN themselves, | :16:23. | :16:29. | |
29,000 people children under the age of five have died. This is high | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
noon for the Security Council. Get off the pot. This is make a | :16:33. | :16:37. | |
decision, do we care sufficiently about the lives of 4 million people | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
or is what is going on in Syria and Libya of such importance that we | :16:41. | :16:51. | |
:16:51. | :16:52. | ||
have to set aside the needs of 4 That was John O'Shea, earlier today, | :16:52. | :16:56. | |
about the famine in East Africa. The border between Israel and Egypt | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
has long been calm. Now there has been a rare co-ordinated strike | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
inside southern Israel by militants. Seven people have been killed in a | :17:04. | :17:08. | |
series of attacks in southern Israel close to the Egyptian border. | :17:08. | :17:14. | |
Gunmen attacked a passenger bus. A military patrol and a private car | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
on desert roads leading to the Red Sea resort of Eilat. Several of the | :17:18. | :17:21. | |
attackers were later killed in a gun battle with Israeli troops. | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
Israel has retaliated with air strikes on the Gaza Strip, where | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
six Palestinians are thought to have died. Let's talk more about | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
this, joining us from Jerusalem is Gil Hoffman, Chief political | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
correspondent and analyst at the newspaper, the Jerusalem Post. Gil | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
Hoffman, tell us how this has been viewed in Israel, because as we | :17:42. | :17:48. | |
said it has been a very calm border. It is very demoralising and quite | :17:48. | :17:54. | |
scary. For 30 years Israel had to worry about the border to the south, | :17:54. | :17:57. | |
where we have problems. To the north, with Hezbollah, we have | :17:57. | :18:01. | |
problems with Gaza but we have had problems with Iraq and Iran in the | :18:01. | :18:06. | |
east but in the south, Egypt, it has been so quiet and calm, 30 | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
years of a cold peace and now the Israeli army has to be ready on | :18:10. | :18:15. | |
that border as well. It is quite a large border. It is going to be a | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
significant challenge and coming at a time when we have had a very | :18:18. | :18:22. | |
quiet summer in Israel, it was really a big shock -- a big shock | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
to the system. The Egyptian authorities that have given the | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
Americans assurances they will monitor that border and ensure that | :18:30. | :18:36. | |
there are no security breaches. By you assured by that? Well, the | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
Israeli government and Netanyahu himself just give a press | :18:39. | :18:41. | |
conference, said they are not holding Egyptians responsible, they | :18:41. | :18:45. | |
are holding Hamas responsible. Hamas is in charge of everything | :18:45. | :18:51. | |
that comes out of Gaza. Apparently the terrorists came out of Gaza and | :18:51. | :18:54. | |
when the Prime Minister says they are going to be held responsible, | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
that means there will be retaliation that could be quite | :18:58. | :19:03. | |
significant. Do you suppose we're going to see us rail shift some of | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
its security concerns from the North to the south and does it have | :19:08. | :19:12. | |
the budget, the resources, to do that, because they have been cuts | :19:12. | :19:19. | |
in government spending in Israel? Indeed, there have been cut in | :19:19. | :19:21. | |
spending and yet the defence minister has been very clear that | :19:21. | :19:26. | |
for the moment Mubarak -- from the moment Mubarak fell, Israel has to | :19:26. | :19:29. | |
take into account there could be threats from the south. There have | :19:29. | :19:34. | |
been warnings recently that is why there were additional forces ready | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
there when the attack happened. Now this is going to change the has | :19:39. | :19:44. | |
really Psyche, the Israeli spending, it changes everything. Now we know | :19:44. | :19:51. | |
one of the results, the Arab Spring, there can be another another border | :19:51. | :19:55. | |
where they could be problems. It is developing into a scary summer | :19:55. | :19:59. | |
after the Arab Spring. Gil Hoffman, thank you. | :19:59. | :20:02. | |
The financial markets have been rattled by the economic outlook. | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
There was another day of steep falls on global markets because | :20:07. | :20:10. | |
investors via another downturn in the world economy. The Dow Jones | :20:10. | :20:15. | |
index in New York plunged more than 4% at one stage and there were | :20:15. | :20:20. | |
similar falls in London, Paris and Frankfurt. Let's go to the New York | :20:20. | :20:22. | |
Stock Exchange and our correspondent, Michelle Fleury. | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
Just put these falls we have seen today and a new York -- and I know | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
New York is a couple of hours before it closes, put it into | :20:30. | :20:35. | |
context for it. I was talking to a trader earlier. He said the word in | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
all of this is confident, or lack of it. For whatever reason | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
confidence has led the flora -- has left the floor office trading floor | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
and those around the world. The big concern was that growth will be | :20:47. | :20:52. | |
slower in Europe, in the United States, and there is data out today | :20:52. | :20:57. | |
hear that added fuel to those concerns. We saw weak housing data, | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
a manufacturing report that indicated that confidence in that | :21:00. | :21:05. | |
sector also seems to be dissipating and we are seeing as a result of | :21:05. | :21:11. | |
that all sorts of share prices falling, the price of oil down | :21:11. | :21:14. | |
almost $5 and when people are worried they start pulling their | :21:14. | :21:17. | |
money out of what they perceive to be riskier assets and putting it | :21:17. | :21:22. | |
into safer assets and that has been reflected with the price of gold up | :21:22. | :21:26. | |
around $30 on the day. Another record for the price of gold. | :21:26. | :21:28. | |
Michelle Fleury in New York, thank you. | :21:28. | :21:32. | |
It is a sign of the times that a four-day visit to Catholic Spain by | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
the Pope has been marked by protests. Some people are angry at | :21:36. | :21:39. | |
the cost of the visit during a period of extreme belt-tightening | :21:39. | :21:43. | |
in Spain as a result of austerity measures. Sarah Rainsford has this | :21:43. | :21:48. | |
report from Madrid. As Pope Benedict's plane touched | :21:48. | :21:55. | |
down in Madrid, a crowd was waiting to welcome him. Spain's royal | :21:55. | :21:59. | |
family was there as well. This is a state visit as well as a pastoral | :21:59. | :22:03. | |
one. But above all it is about connecting with young Catholics, | :22:03. | :22:10. | |
insuring the Church has a future. TRANSLATION: I have come here to | :22:10. | :22:13. | |
make thousands of young people from all over the world, Catholics | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
committed to Christ, searching for the truth that will give real | :22:16. | :22:20. | |
meaning to their existence. By come as the successor of Peter, to | :22:20. | :22:26. | |
confirm the more in the face. people lining the Pope's route have | :22:26. | :22:31. | |
come from more than 190 countries to be here. The fact the Pope chose | :22:31. | :22:34. | |
Madrid to host this mass rally reflects his concern at the | :22:34. | :22:38. | |
declining influence of the church here and Spain's rapid | :22:38. | :22:46. | |
secularisation. This crowd say Spain is not secure enough. Their | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
protest against the use of public funds for a papal visit defend -- | :22:50. | :22:53. | |
descended into fighting with police on Wednesday night. Fuelling their | :22:53. | :22:57. | |
anger is the fact this lavish four- day event has been staged in the | :22:57. | :23:04. | |
midst of the deepest economic crisis in decades. Today, it is | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
backed a party mood, complete with party nuns. The only clouds on the | :23:08. | :23:14. | |
streets are the pilgrims. -- crowds. It is blisteringly hot but these | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
young Catholics have been on the streets under the sun for hours | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
already. They have come to Madrid from all over the world and are | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
anxious to get the best possible place for their first glimpse of | :23:24. | :23:30. | |
Pope Benedict. Now the Pope has joined the pilgrims, this welcome | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
ceremony is the first in a busy schedule of events. The climaxes a | :23:34. | :23:42. | |
mass on Sunday, when more than one million people are expected. | :23:42. | :23:47. | |
20 years ago this week the course of history was changed. Hardline | :23:47. | :23:50. | |
Communists in Moscow launched a coup against the Soviet leader, | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
Mikhail Gorbachev. The coup failed and within a few months to Soviet | :23:54. | :23:59. | |
Union had collapsed. Our Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg | :23:59. | :24:02. | |
reports on how Russia has changed since the demise of the Soviet | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
empire. When I moved to Moscow 20 years ago | :24:06. | :24:09. | |
this is the street where I lived and worked for stoppages called | :24:09. | :24:15. | |
Novoslobodskaya Ulitsa. Back then it August 1991, the Soviet Union | :24:15. | :24:20. | |
was tearing at the scenes, the economy was in ruins and here and | :24:20. | :24:23. | |
all over Moscow, supermarket shelves were empty of people had to | :24:23. | :24:30. | |
queue for hours just to buy bread, oranges or milk. Today, | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
Novoslobodskaya Ulitsa looks very different. There are coffee shop -- | :24:35. | :24:40. | |
shops, sushi restaurants, shopping centres, it is unrecognisable. I am | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
going to find out what people think about the immense changes which | :24:43. | :24:49. | |
have taken place on the street and in their country. At the local | :24:50. | :24:56. | |
health spa for hounds, Dynishka the Yorkie is enjoying a bobble massage. | :24:56. | :25:01. | |
20 years ago Russians were struggling to survive. Today, | :25:01. | :25:07. | |
customers here are spending $120 on canine coiffures. The designer | :25:07. | :25:13. | |
dorgi dresses from Italy are pricier. -- Dr ICES. Now the salon | :25:13. | :25:19. | |
plans to open a branch in London. TRANSLATION: Most of our clients | :25:19. | :25:25. | |
are businessmen, their wives are businessmen, and politicians. More | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
people can afford to bring their pets, so the economy is on the up | :25:29. | :25:33. | |
the stock at the technological university where I used to teach, | :25:33. | :25:36. | |
they are less upbeat. All the students I talked to say they plan | :25:37. | :25:41. | |
to leave Russia. More than one million Russians have done just | :25:41. | :25:46. | |
that in the last three years, seeing better prospects of broad. | :25:46. | :25:51. | |
TRANSLATION: Moscow has become such an expensive city. I think if I go | :25:51. | :25:54. | |
abroad and get a job financially I will be better off. Life will be | :25:54. | :26:03. | |
more interesting away from Russia. One man who stay -- who is staying | :26:03. | :26:07. | |
is Nikolai Swana Deeo. He has been cutting keys for 30 years. As his | :26:07. | :26:12. | |
friend and electricity bills have increased, his income has plummeted. | :26:12. | :26:16. | |
What he earns in a week is barely enough to feed his family. He | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
relies on produce from his vegetable patch to survive. | :26:21. | :26:27. | |
TRANSLATION: When the coup happened in 1991, I collected food and money | :26:27. | :26:30. | |
and took it to the Democrats who were defending the Russian | :26:30. | :26:36. | |
parliament. I regret that now. They should not have destroyed the whole | :26:36. | :26:42. | |
Soviet system. Beauty parlours for Peps and broken dreams. It is like | :26:42. | :26:49. | |
two different pressures on one street. -- Russias. | :26:49. | :26:54. | |
How times have changed in Russia. Let's remind you of the main news | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
story today. The United States, Britain, France and Germany have | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
demanded that President Basharat last -- President Bashar al-Assad | :27:02. | :27:05. | |
of Syria leave office following the violent suppression of street | :27:05. | :27:08. | |
protests against his leadership. It is the first explicit call for -- | :27:08. | :27:13. | |
on the West and its allies for him to step down. Mr Obama has frozen | :27:13. | :27:17. | |
all Syrian government assets in the United States and Bob -- and banned | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
oil imports from Syria. That is it from the programme. Next, the | :27:20. | :27:29. | |
weather. From me, Zeinab Badawi, Hello. We have had some very wet | :27:30. | :27:33. | |
weather around today, affecting southern and south-eastern counties | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
of England with localised flooding and heavy showers in the north-east | :27:36. | :27:40. | |
through the night. Tomorrow, very different. More sunshine around and | :27:40. | :27:45. | |
it stays dry. There is below that brought the rain today but through | :27:45. | :27:48. | |
tomorrow, high pressure will build across the UK and that means it is | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
set to be drier and brighter. Mist and fog in the South first thing. A | :27:52. | :27:55. | |
lot of the showers clearing from the north-east. The next weather | :27:55. | :27:59. | |
front will push in from the West introducing cloud and Pacha into | :27:59. | :28:03. | |
Northern Ireland but elsewhere the weather is set fair for Friday and | :28:03. | :28:06. | |
-- for Friday afternoon. The northern England and Midlands, | :28:06. | :28:10. | |
sunny spells. For the southern counties of England, a very | :28:10. | :28:14. | |
different looking day tomorrow. Drier, brighter, more sunshine. | :28:14. | :28:19. | |
Feeling warmer. Highs in the late 20s. The weather is set fair across | :28:19. | :28:23. | |
south-west England. Sunshine continues in the afternoon. After a | :28:23. | :28:28. | |
sunny start in Wales, a little more cloud in the afternoon. It is the | :28:28. | :28:30. | |
Northern Ireland where it will be a bright start but through the | :28:30. | :28:33. | |
afternoon it turns increasingly cloudy with outbreaks of like brain | :28:33. | :28:37. | |
forced -- like rain. Pacha in the Western Islands and for the far | :28:37. | :28:42. | |
west of Scotland. Further East, brighter skies, 19 or 20 Celsius. | :28:42. | :28:46. |