27/10/2011 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me, Tanya Beckett.

A positive response to the deal to contain Europe's financial crisis.

Stock markets surge higher and the Euro is bolstered. But do the plans

unite or divide Europe? We are much better today than we were yesterday

and it's very important to keep up the momentum of this work and keep

people's confidence, that is the critical thing.

Thailand's government tells Bangkok residents to prepare for the worst.

Thousands flee crippling floods. Israel approves another prisoner

swap deal. This time to free an American-Israeli student accused of

spying by Egypt. Also coming up in the programme:

A shake up in South African politics.

A traditionally white opposition party elects its first ever black

leader. And learning Chinglish. We look at

the new Broadway comedy that is trying to bridge the language

barrier. Hello and welcome.

There's been a cautious but positive response from stock

markets around the world to news of what eurozone leaders have

described as a vital deal to contain the debt crisis. Emerging

bleary-eyed in the early hours of the morning, they announced the

outlines of a package, which include a boost to the EU's bailout

fund and a 50% write-off of Greek debt held by private banks. There

are still plenty of details that need to be worked as our Europe

Your report the news that against expectations, its leaders had

agreed on a plan to fix the Eurozone crisis. It might not have

been it the basilica that some people had been calling for, but

during a long Brussels night, some were claiming that the Euro had

been saved. We will have to wait for a couple of days just to be

sure. Stock markets around the world and that -- enjoyed abounds.

The Eurozone had been seen as increasing the risk of a global

depression. Euro's leaders had been under enormous pressure to reach an

agreement. At 4 am, Europe at's two most powerful leaders stepped into

the spotlight. TRANSLATION: I am very aware, as we

all are, that the world is watching us closely tonight.

I think that we Europeans proved that we came to the right

conclusion. TRANSLATION: I think the result

will be welcomed by the entire world.

I think these decisions have been taken. Away from the summit, others

were more cautious, seeing progress but seeing the outcome as just

another step. We are much better today than we were yesterday and

it's very important to keep up the momentum of this work and keep

people's confidence, that is the critical thing. So, what was in the

big deal? Banks that would have been destined to be swatted losses

of up to 50%, producing a Greek dead. This will mean that Europe's

banks will have to raise more capital. And the EU's main bail-out

fund will be boosted to one trillion Euros, to protect

countries like Italy. It is wise to be cautious. A lot of the crucial

detail is missing from this plant and will not be known for weeks.

What the markets like is that it signals that Europe are's leaders

have finally tried to take control of our debt crisis that began in

the goodies. In Greece today, at their country's debts were said to

be manageable. Here too, there were -- if they were cautious. Key

details of the bail-out fund will not be Nicola sated until November.

They have stopped their neural from collapsing today, or even perhaps

tomorrow, but they definitely have not saved it. We're not out of the

woods. Last night's most tricky decisions were taken here by the

Eurozone leaders. The UK, not to being in the Euro, was not

represented. It represents -- it raises questions about whether

there will be a two-tier Europe. Europe's early morning debt deal

has received a warm reaction in the markets, seen as a step to shore up

the euro and lift the threat of contagion. The BBC's chief economic

correspondent, Hugh Pym looks at the details and the implications.

There is agreement on tackling the Eurozone crisis after weeks of

debate. What is the detailed? We have been told that 50% of the

Greek debt owed to private inspectors will be written off. --

investors. It still needs approval. Most if not of the banks have

agreed to the 50% write-off. That is one part of the announcement

this morning that from our perspective was quite clear. There

is a lot more details still to come on another key part of the package.

That is the one trillion Euro bail- out fund. The idea is to take

existing funding and encourage other investors to come on board.

It is unclear who will pay for it. An approach will be made to the

Chinese government to seek involvement in the new fund. They

could act as an insurer, covering a portion of losses by future

investors. Perhaps the biggest question of all is well it will

work? We do not know with the size of the bail-out fund is enough or

whether it will provide enough firepower to calm investors. We do

not know whether it will help economic growth, which is key for

future stability. We only will get out of a debt problem if these

economies are still growing and for that, only time will tell. There is

nothing they can deliver it to last over night that could make us say

absolutely that these economies are on a sustainable path. We need to

see that whether a politically this austerity can be delivered and hid

economies react in the face of it. The financial markets have taken an

optimistic view of the agreement. As we have seen all too often,

moods can shift quickly on Eurozone bail-out to deals.

Sony Kapoor is Managing Director of the economic Thinktank Re-Define.

He joins me now from Brussels. A lot of the problem that investors

have a with this agreement is the detail, the lack of detail. Let us

start with the banks. They are supposed to recapitalise to the

tune of 1 billion euros. Where will they get that money from? If you

look at the details below the 106 billion figure, I think three-

quarters of it is expected to be raised by countries that a rider in

programmes, such as Greece, Portugal, Ireland or the two

countries for whom this will packages designed, which is Spain

and Italy. As of today, the he FFS cannot invest in banks directly. It

can only lend directly to Spain, which can then invest in the week

regional banks, which need to be strengthened. The problem is that

at 10 billion increase in the sovereign debt of Spain might wipe

out any benefits that might arise from a 10 million recapitalisation

of the week banks, because those weak banks are heavily exposed to

the Spanish sovereign debt. So we have not found a way of addressing

that problem. The second missing think is the detail on were the

banks will get funding from. Right now, they are only able to raise

money from the European Central Bank, only for one year. One parent

-- long-term funding is being cut across the board. There was no

agreement on that. Is there not a risk that banks will cut their

balance sheets by stopping lending, and then you have an economic

crisis? I think that is already going on. Let us turn out to the

size of the fund. This looks woefully inadequate. Italy and

Spain need to win a trillion Euros just in a refinancing so that the

size of the fund the likes are really quite inadequate at this

point and one wonders if the next plan is to turn to China? That is

part of their discussion. It is not that Spain and Italy cannot access

the market, they can. In fact, every time they have gone to the

markets, they have been able to be finance and sell new bonds. The

problem is they are only able to do this at high interest rates which

are simply not sustainable. The idea behind this partially

guaranteed mechanism is not to borrow from the markets and then

lend as has been done in the case of the smaller economies of

Portugal and Ireland, but to partly ensure that the borrowings that

Spain and the play or try and deceit from the markets from now,

the idea being that this might somehow reassure investors into

getting them to lend to Italy and Spain at war industries than their

currently ready to do so. What needs to be done is that these

interest rates need to be brought down, for example, below the 4.5%

level. It is impossible to say if this will succeed, because the

exact size and how far we can stretch it will only get in on the

ones we know what investors will accept. The test of the market will

determine whether the scales or succeed. The right now, it looks

temporary. And in the longer term, the plan is that euro-zone

countries will integrate further, so that they would look at how the

other countries within the euro- zone are spending. That,

automatically, automatically alienates not only countries in

Europe but outside the euro-zone. It is not a sustainable solution.

If we were talking about a small economy, for example the way that

Sweden was in the early 90s, austerity can and does help

generate growth. We're talking about the second largest economic

region in the world having austerity at the the same time that

the economy is degenerating. There is no magic here. No one is coming

from outside. India and China are simply not big enough. We have a

small problem aware and a confusion has been made between what is

appropriate for a small economy and what is appropriate, for example,

for Germany. That has been applied to all of the 27 members. Even more

aggressively, with in the Euro Octavia, 17 countries. That's what

will increase between the countries within the 17 the Euro Adia member

states which are forced to take tighter instructions from a

centralised authority, compared to those 10 countries which are not

within the Euro ADR. -- area. I think this but is bound to grow.

Now a look at some of the day's other news.

The United Nations Security Council has ended the no-fly zone over

Libya and the mandate authorising military operations. It'll come

into effect just before midnight on Monday. The mandate was passed

unanimously, despite a request by Libya's transitional government for

NATO's mandate to be extended. A 25-year-old man has been pulled

alive from a collapsed building in the Turkish city of Ercis more than

100 hours after the region was hit by a strong earthquake. But relief

workers say the chances of finding more survivors are now rapidly

decreasing. The number of people confirmed dead has risen to 523.

Chinese researchers have discovered how woodpeckers manage to bang

their beaks on wood without damaging their brains. The shock is

absorbed by spongy bones in the skull and the unequal lengths of

the upper and lower beak. Researchers plan to use the

principle to design new protective headgear for humans.

Thousands of people have been trying to leave the Thai capital,

Bangkok, after the government warned that large parts of the city

could soon be hit by floods. As you can see from this satellite image,

the city centre is now completely surrounded by water. Roads out of

the city have been clogged with traffic as a deluge of water

swamped the northern suburbs. It is Thailand's worst floods in decades.

So far, more than 360 people have died. From Bangkok, Rachel Harvey

reports. The water is winning the battle for

control of Bangkok's northern suburbs. Creeping further it greedy.

Torrents of it. A middle-class neighbourhood is a rapidly being

submerged. This woman has just watched her streets disappear under

the deluge. Water is at waist. Inside, it is at my chest.

supporters coming higher all the time? Yes. Most take with them only

what they can carry, valued possessions and treasured pets.

There is no panic here, but the sense of urgency, tinged with

disbelief. The government had originally said that Bancorp would

be protected. There were no such assurances any more. This is just

the latest district of Bangkok which has been told to evacuate.

With each passing day, more areas of the capital city are put on

alert. Now the government says there is no part of Bangkok which

it can guarantee will be safe. TRANSLATION: We are trying her best,

an emotional Prime Minister tells reporters.

Just two months into her job, she has to deal with this. In the

centre, things are normal apart from the sandbags. Warnings from a

Our assessment is not alarmist, just practical. If things get worse

then we will take that into account. The signs are not encouraging.

Market traders in the old quarter of Bangkok kept going as long as

they could. But few customers are prepared to wait to their stores.

Little point in hanging on to watch the water's relentless rise. Those

who can are getting out of town. Confidence has gone. Complacency

25 Egyptian detainees held by Israel have crossed the border into

Egypt as part of a prisoner exchange between Cairo and

Jerusalem. Egyptian television showed them bowing down in prayer

as they arrived at the Israeli border town of Taba shortly before

they were transferred to the Egyptian authorities. The former

prisoners are being exchanged for an American-Israeli man, Ilan

Grapel, who was arrested in June, accused by Egypt of spying. Mr

Grapel is being flown from Egypt Our correspondent Jon Leyne is

watching developments from Cairo. This comes hot on the heels of a

high-profile prisoner exchange involving Gilad Shalit, but does it

carry as much symbolism? Not at all. I think this is just business being

done. 25 ordinary criminals, they have even admitted themselves they

were drug smugglers being released in return for somebody who was held

since June by the Egyptian authorities, Ilan Grapel, accused

of spying but no real strong evidence. There is some scepticism

here about that because he came openly into Egypt, he did not try

to hide his identity. There was even stuff on the internet to show

he was a member of the Israeli army who fought in Lebanon a couple of

years ago. So just everyday business being done by two

countries which still formally have a peace treaty. But relations have

deteriorated somewhat. To some extent. I think the military

leaders here are taking a more pragmatic view of things. They know

the peace treaty is not popular, that they cannot break it off

because they have committed to that alliance and the Americans would be

very disappointed. But I think they are dealing with Israel, perhaps

keeping it at a greater distance, dealing with a pragmatically but

South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, has

for the first time chosen a black leader for the party in parliament.

She's Lindiwe Mazibuko, a 31-year- old woman whose campaign was

supported by the party's national leader Helen Zille. Critics have

described the change in the parliamentary leadership as window

dressing. Our South Africa South Africa's main opposition

party may be dwarfed by the ANC but it is powering ahead in the polls

as it tries to win over black votes. This woman could be the secret

weapon. Lindiwe Mazibuko just secured the most -- second most

powerful place, leader of the DEA She now needs to prove herself to

her party and a majority black electorate. Campaigning here in the

township of Soweto would have been unthinkable just a few years back.

And although this remains staunchly ANC turf the DEA is making modest

inroads. Critics say it promoting Lindiwe Mazibuko... We are building

a democracy, it is not yet consolidated. The DEA is the only

party growing and in the last election got one out of every four

votes so that key position on the most important platform in South

Africa has sparked great interest. They ANC Youth League has demeaned

Lindiwe Mazibuko as simply a servant. She is 80 girl. Her report

-- who ruled must remain in the Some believe that this will

radically transform politics in the next decade.

Gunmen in Kenya have killed four people during an attack close to

the border with Somalia. Those who died were travelling in a vehicle

that was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. It's the third incident

this week being linked to Al-Shabab, the militant Somali group that has

threatened terrorist attacks inside Kenya. Last week the Kenyan army

crossed into Somalia in pursuit of Al-Shabab after a string of

kidnappings. Our Africa correspondent Andrew Harding

There is a queasy sense of dread on the streets of Nairobi, a city

braced for trouble. Already this week two grenade attacks, a Kenyan

authorities are struggling to reassure the public and foreign

tourists. We have enough men, enough capacity to Secure Kenny and

his visitors. He was why Kenya may be in danger - it army has just

stormed across the border into Somalia. It is chasing Al-Shabab, a

group linked to Al-Qaeda, and blamed for a string of kidnappings

inside Kenya. But nobody seems sure how far the Kenyans will go. Their

offensive could also make Somalia's Fang even worse. -- famine. Al-

Shabab have recently lost territory but vowed to retaliate -- to

retaliate inside Kenny and are still capable of devastating

terrorist attacks and ambitious. The danger is you are being trapped.

I don't think so. If you were in a trap some divinity would have

happened, but as of now I believe we are positive, moving positively

and capturing those hideouts. Kenya, too, the authorities are

claiming progress. An arms cache, allegedly linked to Somali

militants, discovered here. But as the security clampdown continues

there is growing concern about the impact of all of this on the

region's biggest economy. For years Kenya has kept the anarchy in

Somalia or more less at arm's length. But that has just changed

abruptly. By invading its neighbour Kenya has taken a big gamble. In

Nairobi at the doubts are already surfacing. -- the doubts. They are

hard to defeat. So Kenya made a mistake? I think so. But for now,

Kenya's army pushes on deeper into the chaos of Somalia. With no exits

Saturday in -- with no exit strategy in sight. Well, there is

no doubt that the Chinese influence is being felt around the globe and

now that reach extends to Broadway. Alongside Phantom of the Opera and

Les Miserables you will now find Chinglish - a new comedy which uses

cultural tension and the communication gap between the

Chinese and the English language to leave audiences laughing. Damian

Musicals from Porgy and Bess to Mamma Mia! Had long been a Broadway

staple. So it comes as a big surprise to find a new play all

about the language barrier between America and China. Chinglish is

written in English and Mandarin. For the first time at the Chinese

has arrived on Broadway. Cleveland isn't exactly farming, though I

suppose it was at one time. Chinglish tells the story of a

struggling American businessman trying to win a contract to make

signs for public buildings in China. Along the way he falls in love with

a Chinese official. Chinglish is about attempts to communicate

across cultures and the barriers that separate us, the most

superficial of those is language, but then sometimes, even if you're

understanding the words literally you may as well be speaking a

different language because some of the other line cultural assumptions

are so different. Chinglish actually exists in China in the

form of absurdly translated signs in garbled English. But cultural

differences run even deeper than words. To make the play as

authentic as possible the producers of Chinglish tend to Ken Smith and

Joanna Lee, who served as the play's cultural advisers. You now

find American, British businessmen in the middle of nowhere in China,

India, how do they navigate? How do they find their hotel room, be able

to stay there, get what support and help they need on the ground so

they can get their deal? So while Chinglish is played for laughs,

there is no doubt it taps into a deeper cultural anxiety between the

West and China. A reminder of the main news - there has been praised

for a European leaders around the world following the euro-zone debt

agreement. President Obama said the deal was a critical foundation for

a solution to the euro-zone crisis. European leaders worked until the

early hours of the morning to agree a deal, which includes a boost to

the bail-out fund and a 50 per cent write-off of Greek debt held by

private banks. Thousands of people are leaving Bangkok after the

government admitted large part of it could soon be flooded. Roads out

of the City are clogged with traffic as residents take advantage

of an emergency five-day holiday declared by the authorities to deal

with the crisis. Well, that's all from the programme. Next the

weather. But for now from me and The rain today dies out across

south-east England overnight leaving cloud around, keeping the

temperature up. Overnight it will be chilly, a frosty start in places

tomorrow but they will also be a bigger problem with fog. The high

pressure will settle things down for Friday before more frontal

systems come into the north-west over the weekend. For to start the

morning could be dense over parts of south-west England, through the

Severn Valley to East Wales and the West Midlands, some even may linger

into the first part of the afternoon. Any early fog will clear

way in northern England. The cloud stays with us in south-east England,

15 degrees in London, it might not feel like that because of the cloud

that stays across us. They could be patchy drizzle on higher ground.

Sunshine in south-west England but sunspots may stay grey through the

Severn Valley. If you have low cloud or mistiness that will halt

the temperature down compared with elsewhere. A freshening breeze in

Northern Ireland, still bright foremost by the end of the