Browse content similar to 04/11/2011. 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. The future of | :00:15. | :00:18. | |
Greece's Prime Minister, George Papandreou, hangs in the balance. | :00:18. | :00:22. | |
He faces a knife-edge vote of confidence in the Greek Parliament. | :00:22. | :00:26. | |
As crowds gathered outside Parliament, we report live on his | :00:26. | :00:33. | |
political gamble which has shaken the Mirror. -- the euro. | :00:33. | :00:39. | |
The situation in Greece dominates the G20 summit in Cannes. The US | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
tells Europe they can manage the crisis. There is more hard work | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
ahead and difficult choices to make but our European partners have laid | :00:46. | :00:53. | |
a foundation on which to build. Reports of 100 deaths in the Syrian | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
city of Homs after two days of protests. | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
Coming up: The prosecution and the defence have made their closing | :00:59. | :01:05. | |
arguments. This is not a reality show. It is reality. Now the jury | :01:05. | :01:10. | |
in a trial of Michael Jackson's doctor considers its verdict. | :01:10. | :01:15. | |
And a little wobbly, but all smiles, as six men emerged from self- | :01:15. | :01:20. | |
imposed isolation lasting more than 500 days. Why would they have | :01:20. | :01:30. | |
:01:30. | :01:34. | ||
Hello and welcome. The G20 summit in Cannes had been hoping to lay | :01:34. | :01:39. | |
down plans to stimulate global economic growth. Instead the crisis | :01:39. | :01:44. | |
in Greece has dominated the agenda. Let's go live to Athens. | :01:44. | :01:48. | |
Good evening and welcome to Athens. In three hours' time, George | :01:48. | :01:52. | |
Papandreou, the Greek Prime Minister, will know his fate. He | :01:52. | :01:56. | |
has been under growing calls to resign following his unilateral | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
declaration that there should be a referendum on a bail-out so | :02:00. | :02:05. | |
painstakingly agreed at a Brussels summit last week. In Athens the | :02:05. | :02:08. | |
protesters have taken to the streets once again. The Communists | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
came in earlier on receiving an hour of the groups have joined them, | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
to say that Greece should not have to shoulder any more pain as a | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
result of the austerity measures that have been implemented by the | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
European Union to prevent Greece from defaulting on its debt, to | :02:24. | :02:30. | |
prevent Greece from falling out of the eurozone. Let's get this report | :02:30. | :02:35. | |
from our correspondent, Matthew Price. | :02:35. | :02:38. | |
Greek members of Parliament have been arriving this evening for a | :02:38. | :02:42. | |
confidence vote that is too close to call. Some rebel MPs have | :02:42. | :02:47. | |
indicated that they may now back their leader. Even if he survives, | :02:47. | :02:53. | |
he is weakened. The country faces continuing political uncertainty. | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
This is the man at the eye of the storm. Greece's Prime Minister | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
caused panic when he suggested a referendum on the latest debt bail- | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
out package for the country. Many here feared that no vote might mean | :03:07. | :03:13. | |
Greece would have to leave the euro and few want that. What with the | :03:13. | :03:18. | |
situation be after leaving Europe? They think it would be much worse. | :03:18. | :03:24. | |
If you leave the euro? If we leave the euro. I think that we will be | :03:24. | :03:31. | |
totally alone. Without the help of Europe, things would be very | :03:31. | :03:37. | |
difficult for Greece. Already Europe is losing confidence in | :03:37. | :03:42. | |
Greece's ability to deal with its debt problem. This is very much the | :03:42. | :03:46. | |
epicentre of the global financial uncertainty at the moment. Until | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
the politicians in this building can work out exactly who will run | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
in Greece, Europe stands very little chance of being able to | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
contain its debt crisis. Already the political turbulence here is | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
affecting other vulnerable economies, especially Italy. But in | :04:03. | :04:06. | |
the cafes here, you find little belief that the current politicians | :04:06. | :04:13. | |
can get them out of this mass. never know. Maybe things need to | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
get so dark before a great leader comes around and makes a big change. | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
Once again there is a demonstration tonight. Anger outside the | :04:22. | :04:26. | |
Parliament and inside. Even from members of the Prime Minister's own | :04:26. | :04:33. | |
party. TRANSLATION: We are being asked to vote in favour of a | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
Government but everyone knows they have lost the trust of the people | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
of Greece and the international community. The next few hours will | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
determine much. The future of Greece's Prime Minister, the future | :04:45. | :04:55. | |
:04:55. | :04:56. | ||
of his country, and to a large extent the future of Europe. | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
Events in Greece and the eurozone debt crisis have dominated the | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
summit of the world's richest nations. Barack Obama has urged | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
European leaders to sort out the problems, to take aggressive steps | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
to fix the financial crisis. The French President Nicolas Sarkozy, | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
closing the G20 summit, said that Europe would do everything to | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
protect the euro. Let's get this report from our diplomatic | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
correspondent, James Robbins. This summit did not write to the | :05:26. | :05:32. | |
rescue of the euro and the eurozone. Leaders of the world's major | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
economies place that responsibility on the members of the currency | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
union itself. Several heads of Government made clear that Europe | :05:38. | :05:44. | |
could afford to heal itself. In the midst of crisis in Greece and Italy, | :05:44. | :05:47. | |
Barack Obama barely concealed his exasperation with European | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
decision-making. He said he had learned a lot in the past few days | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
about how laborious it was. He pointedly made clear his view that | :05:55. | :05:59. | |
the eurozone, including wealthy Germany, could afford to save | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
itself. Having heard from our European partners over the past two | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
days, I am confident that Europe has the capacity to meet this | :06:07. | :06:12. | |
challenge. I know it is not easy, but it is absolutely critical. It | :06:12. | :06:19. | |
is what the world looks for in moments such as this, action. | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
also pushed Silvio Berlusconi into accepting that the IMF should | :06:22. | :06:27. | |
monitor his Government's debt reduction programme, to reduce the | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
risk of financial catastrophe in one of the largest economies of the | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
eurozone. Italy insists it volunteered, but this amounts to a | :06:34. | :06:39. | |
public audit every quarter by the IMF. The G20 did agree that the | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
resources of the International Monetary Fund needed strengthening | :06:42. | :06:47. | |
to help individual countries around the world. But no figures will be | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
agreed before February next year. President Sarkozy had hoped for so | :06:50. | :06:57. | |
much for this meeting and he stressed the positive. We have | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
committed ourselves to reinforcing the means of the IMF if necessary. | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
To achieve this objective, the IMF should fulfil its role. The finance | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
ministers during a future meeting in February have instructions to | :07:10. | :07:15. | |
table, instructions and plans to achieve this within the IMF. China, | :07:15. | :07:20. | |
with its huge earnings from the surplus of export over import, says | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
it will allow greater flexibility for its currency. That should | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
correct some of the imbalance in world trade that hurts weaker | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
countries. Other proposals including a tax on financial | :07:33. | :07:37. | |
transactions to fund aid to the world's poor met stiff opposition, | :07:37. | :07:45. | |
or were pushed off the agenda by the subject that dominated the | :07:45. | :07:50. | |
summit, the crisis in the eurozone. As we heard and that report, the | :07:50. | :07:57. | |
G20 agreed to boost the resources of the IMF, to deal with the crisis | :07:57. | :08:01. | |
now besetting the eurozone. And also to monitor more closely what | :08:01. | :08:05. | |
Greece is up to in terms of its financial reforms. Our economics | :08:06. | :08:11. | |
editor has been speaking to the head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde. | :08:11. | :08:15. | |
End of the summit and time to reflect on whether the world is | :08:15. | :08:18. | |
safer now than it was a few days ago before the drama kicked off in | :08:18. | :08:23. | |
Greece. This summit started with France and Germany 10 increase that | :08:23. | :08:30. | |
it could not hold the eurozone to ransom. -- 10 increase. But it felt | :08:30. | :08:40. | |
that they were doing the same to the world economy. The answer came | :08:40. | :08:46. | |
back this afternoon, no. Or at least not yet. I asked the managing | :08:46. | :08:51. | |
director of the IMF if she was disappointed. For the moment I have | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
sufficient resources to face requests. But if there was a crisis, | :08:55. | :09:01. | |
if there was escalating demands, then the members of the IMF present | :09:01. | :09:06. | |
in the room today said we will put what it takes to make sure that you | :09:06. | :09:14. | |
can continue to play. Even a few hours ago, people certainly on the | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
French side and in other countries were saying that we are going to | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
see numbers in that communicate, and an increase. Is it not the case | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
that the rest of the World said no, this is Europe's job and we will | :09:26. | :09:32. | |
not cough up more money. Everybody understands that it is Europe's job. | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
The Europeans heard it and they actually said it was their job to | :09:35. | :09:40. | |
face a crisis. Italy has asked for her help, but there is no money | :09:40. | :09:50. | |
attached to that either. I am coming to Italy. Because I am | :09:50. | :09:57. | |
invited, you see. We will go quarterly. We will check that what | :09:57. | :10:01. | |
Italy has promised, it is delivering. If it is not delivering, | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
I will say so. The problem for Italy was its cost of borrowing was | :10:05. | :10:10. | |
rising in the markets. It has leapt today on hearing that news, so it | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
is not going very well so far. Let's see how things pan out. If | :10:15. | :10:20. | |
you look at the way that markets assess risks, it is very bizarre. | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
Two De Beers have been broken here. Europe's leaders have for many | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
drawn a link between Italy and the IMF, and they have openly | :10:29. | :10:33. | |
contemplated the possibility of a country leaving the euro. Now they | :10:33. | :10:39. | |
have to hope they have not tempted fate. | :10:39. | :10:45. | |
Let's talk to Christian favour, who has been in Cannes for us for the | :10:45. | :10:50. | |
G20 summit throughout. -- Christian Fraser. They look ready to fight | :10:50. | :10:55. | |
war on two friends. In Greece there are problems, but also in Italy as | :10:55. | :11:03. | |
well. Very much so. I think the many summits that were going on | :11:03. | :11:05. | |
last night after the dinner suggests that there are real | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
concerns about Italy. That caused to yield prices on ten-year Italian | :11:10. | :11:20. | |
:11:20. | :11:23. | ||
bonds to rise much past the levels they were at in August. The ECB | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
intervened then. Angela Merkel is probably worried that they will | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
turn on Italy and she looked very glum tonight. One of the statement | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
that she made this morning, she said that she had had no money | :11:34. | :11:39. | |
promised by the G20 countries will this fire wall to protect Italy. I | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
am hearing downstairs that there is also frustration with the Germans. | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
Not only are the Germans tough austerity within the eurozone, they | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
are also tough on the European Central Bank. This into Christine | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
Lagarde, I think there is a sentiment from her that the ECB | :11:55. | :12:01. | |
should be doing more. -- listening to Christine Lagarde. They cannot | :12:01. | :12:06. | |
rely on European partners to prop up the eurozone. Germany might have | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
to do more and relax its view of what the ECB does at the end of the | :12:09. | :12:17. | |
day. This is an example of economics meeting politics. This is | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
where the economics needs German history. The Germans are very, very | :12:21. | :12:26. | |
reluctant about the idea of the ECB printing money. Absolutely. They | :12:27. | :12:32. | |
are terrified of hyperinflation. Just a quick history recap. In the | :12:32. | :12:38. | |
1920s, people needed wheelbarrow loads to buy a loaf of bread. The | :12:38. | :12:43. | |
highest priced stamp in 1920 was four marks and by 1923 it was 50 | :12:43. | :12:48. | |
billion. That might be a long time ago but it is in the DNA of German | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
people and they remember it and they don't like the idea of funny | :12:51. | :12:57. | |
money, putting it simply. The Brits and those outside the eurozone are | :12:57. | :13:01. | |
saying that is all well and good, but you did not have to sign up to | :13:01. | :13:05. | |
the eurozone. It was your idea, and putting it bluntly it is up to you | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
guys to fix it. I think that is the message that has been delivered in | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
no uncertain terms this week. you very much. | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
In Athens, that vote is taking place in a little under three hours | :13:18. | :13:24. | |
time. That might start to map out some of the political future for | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
Greece. Whether there will be any more political uncertainty about | :13:29. | :13:32. | |
the decisions being taken and implemented in this country. In a | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
sense, that has been a problem. There is political paralysis. What | :13:37. | :13:40. | |
George Papandreou and the Greek people need tonight is a sense that | :13:40. | :13:44. | |
a direction has been set and that it will be followed. That has been | :13:44. | :13:49. | |
sadly lacking in recent weeks and months. From Athens, back to the | :13:49. | :13:51. | |
studio. Thank you. | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
A colleague Jon Sopel and of course we are waiting for that vote of | :13:56. | :13:59. | |
confidence in the great Parliament and if there is any news, we will | :13:59. | :14:03. | |
bring it to you. -- Greek Parliament. | :14:03. | :14:08. | |
Medical officials in Homs have told the BBC that the hospital has | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
received 100 corpses in the past 48 hours. Medical officials have | :14:12. | :14:16. | |
condemned the clamp down, saying that the Government is breaking the | :14:16. | :14:24. | |
commitment to an Arab League clamp down. We report from Turkey, where | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
many Syrians have fled following the unrest. | :14:27. | :14:31. | |
A hasty funeral for somebody reportedly killed after the peace | :14:31. | :14:35. | |
deal was agreed. Opposition activist so that the death toll | :14:35. | :14:37. | |
since the announcement on Wednesday show that the Syrian Government | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
cannot be trusted. The Arab League is making specific demands on the | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
President. Add to remove the military from the streets, release | :14:45. | :14:55. | |
:14:55. | :14:58. | ||
prisoners, and allow monitors and Instead, he has come back with an | :14:58. | :15:04. | |
offer of his own, giving opposition groups two weeks. It is hard to | :15:04. | :15:08. | |
envisage that he will withdraw his forces from the main cities. The | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
minute he withdraws these forces, he will see millions of people on | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
the streets because the fear factor will no longer be there. People | :15:16. | :15:21. | |
will demand his downfall and his position will be even weaker. | :15:21. | :15:27. | |
reports we are getting from serious suggest nothing has changed yet. -- | :15:27. | :15:32. | |
from Syria. Statements from doctors talking about 100 patients or more | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
in hospitals suggest the violence may have escalated. What is | :15:36. | :15:41. | |
proposed by the Arab League is the only deal on offer now. The only | :15:41. | :15:45. | |
possibility to stop Syria sliding into civil war. But it needs to | :15:46. | :15:54. | |
show some results soon if the Syrians are to believe in it. | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
The Chinese foreign ministry has said recent incidents of Tibetan | :15:59. | :16:01. | |
monks and nuns are setting themselves alight in protest | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
against Chinese rule should be condemned. The remarks come a day | :16:06. | :16:09. | |
after a Buddhist nun are burnt herself to death in western China. | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
In India, and ethnic Tibetan tried to set himself on fire in front of | :16:13. | :16:18. | |
the Chinese embassy today. He was quickly overpowered by police, who | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
extinguished the fire. Rescuers in China are continuing | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
efforts to reach 50 miners trapped underground in central Henan | :16:25. | :16:30. | |
province. The mineshaft collapsed shortly after a low level | :16:30. | :16:34. | |
earthquake. 14 miners managed to escape immediately and seven were | :16:34. | :16:36. | |
subsequently rescued. At least six people have been | :16:36. | :16:41. | |
killed and flash floods that last general and easterly's western | :16:42. | :16:46. | |
coastline to date. The water rage through the town, uprooting trees | :16:46. | :16:50. | |
and sweeping cars and furniture through the streets. -- Italy's | :16:50. | :16:56. | |
western coastline. Do Liberian opposition candidate | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
has said he will not take part in the country's one of presidential | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
election next week. He was due to stand against the incumbent | :17:04. | :17:10. | |
president and from from that, a recent Nobel Peace Prize winner. He | :17:10. | :17:16. | |
said he could not legitimise the process. | :17:16. | :17:20. | |
Israel's may be has boarded two bodes carrying pro Palestinian | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
activists, trying to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. The boat | :17:24. | :17:28. | |
set sail from Turkey on Wednesday carrying medical supplies and | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
nearly 30 add to this will stop Israel says the seizure of the | :17:32. | :17:40. | |
vessel had taken place peacefully. After six weeks of evidence and | :17:40. | :17:45. | |
testimony, the jury in the trial of Michael Jackson's Dr has begun | :17:45. | :17:50. | |
considering its verdict in Los Angeles. Dr Conrad Murray is | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
charged with involuntary manslaughter and faces up to four | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
years in jail if convicted. He is accused of causing the start's | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
death in 2009 by Reg Presley administering a dose of the | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
powerful tranquilliser propofol, and then trying to cover his tracks. | :18:06. | :18:15. | |
He denies involuntary manslaughter. For six weeks, America has followed | :18:15. | :18:21. | |
every step of this trial. Each day the Jackson family were in court, | :18:21. | :18:26. | |
to see the man accused of killing Michael. Conrad Murray, presented | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
as unethical - of the man who broke the trust between doctor and | :18:30. | :18:36. | |
patient out of greed. Michael Jackson was shown | :18:36. | :18:41. | |
rehearsing for a demanding run of concerts in London. Hours later, he | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
was dead. He had become dependent on the drug propofol to sleep. It | :18:46. | :18:51. | |
is a powerful anaesthetic, normally used in hospitals. Experts | :18:51. | :18:54. | |
explained that it should never be given at home without monitoring | :18:54. | :19:00. | |
equipment. Dr Murray provided it, and was paid �100,000 a month. He | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
was out of the room when Michael Jackson stopped breathing and did | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
not call emergency services for 20 minutes. Michael Jackson trusted | :19:08. | :19:17. | |
Conrad Murray, but Conrad Murray corrupted that relationship and, | :19:17. | :19:25. | |
for that, Michael Jackson paid with his life. Their defence claimed to | :19:25. | :19:28. | |
Michael Jackson had injected himself with the drug that killed | :19:28. | :19:34. | |
him. Or they are really asking you to do is to convict Dr Murray for | :19:34. | :19:38. | |
the absence of Michael Jackson. If you are going to hold Dr Murray | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
responsible, don't do it because it is Michael Jackson. -- at the | :19:43. | :19:48. | |
actions of Michael Jackson. This is not a reality show, it is reality. | :19:48. | :19:51. | |
The jury started deliberations a few hours ago. They have to decide | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
not just whether Conrad Murray was negligent or unethical in the way | :19:55. | :20:02. | |
he treated his patient, but whether his actions directly led to to the | :20:02. | :20:08. | |
death of Michael Jackson. Six men and, more than 500 days | :20:08. | :20:12. | |
together in total isolation in giant metal tubes - now, that | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
sounds like something you would not normally volunteer to do. But in | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
this case, it was all part of a Russian experiment to simulate a | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
mission to Mars and back. The aim was to plan ahead for a possible | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
voyage to the distant, but reachable, it red planet. | :20:29. | :20:35. | |
It was the door that had not been open for 520 days. Behind it, six | :20:36. | :20:41. | |
men who, for 17 months, had only had each other for company. Then, | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
pale from a lack of sunlight but smiling, they started to emerge. | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
They had been on one of the strangest space missions of recent | :20:49. | :20:57. | |
years - a voyage to know where, but simulating a journey to Mars. | :20:57. | :21:05. | |
really great to see you all again. Rather overwhelming. On the Mars500 | :21:05. | :21:11. | |
mission, we have achieved on Earth the longest space voyage ever, so | :21:11. | :21:16. | |
that's humankind can one day greet a new dawn on the service of a | :21:16. | :21:21. | |
distant, but reachable, planet. idea was to test whether the men | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
could endear the stress and boredom of a long space voyage. Their minds | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
and bodies were checked continuously postop they kept | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
themselves amused at Christmas, for example, but scientists at -- | :21:33. | :21:37. | |
insist this was a serious experiment. The most exciting | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
moment for the men during their 17 month-long mission was stepping out | :21:41. | :21:45. | |
onto this pile of sand, the simulation of a walk on the surface | :21:45. | :21:51. | |
of Mars. But the experiment had major shortcomings. There was no | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
weightlessness, or space radiation, and the men were never in any real | :21:55. | :22:01. | |
danger. Save for, man has only been to the moon. It took three days to | :22:01. | :22:07. | |
cover the distance. -- so far. Just getting to Mars will take at least | :22:07. | :22:13. | |
250 days. It is a minimum of 35 million miles, but astronauts say | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
it is within reach. If we make a real big effort starting today, I | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
think we can do it in 15 years. More realistically, I think it is | :22:21. | :22:26. | |
it more in the order of 25 years. For decades, Mars has been a | :22:26. | :22:29. | |
distant dream for those interested in human space flight. Today it | :22:29. | :22:37. | |
came a little bit closer. Let's discuss this a bit more. | :22:37. | :22:43. | |
Joining us from Leicester is Anu Ojha, a director of the UK National | :22:43. | :22:48. | |
Space Centre. It seems a bit of a strange thing to have done, doesn't | :22:48. | :22:53. | |
it? Would you have volunteered for it, by the way? Interesting. When | :22:53. | :22:59. | |
they put it forward, I did consider it. We need to remember, these guys | :22:59. | :23:04. | |
have gone deep into the human Psyche. As well as the engineering | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
and scientific talent has of getting to Mars, being cooped up | :23:08. | :23:11. | |
for 17 months and isolated from the rest of humanity will push the | :23:11. | :23:15. | |
human mind to the limits. When the results come out from this | :23:15. | :23:19. | |
experiment, they will transform our understanding of human psychology | :23:19. | :23:24. | |
as it relates to did space missions. But in what way would this really | :23:24. | :23:34. | |
:23:34. | :23:35. | ||
help us understand better, first of all? Earth is the one planet in the | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
solar system that we know is teeming with life. The Mall world's | :23:38. | :23:44. | |
we know to compare hours to, the more we will understand it. Mars is | :23:44. | :23:49. | |
a schizophrenic planet. It has an atmosphere but it is incredibly | :23:49. | :23:54. | |
thin. We have all these clues that billions of years ago, it was a | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
warmer, wetter world with oceans and rivers. What we know about | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
Earth is that if the conditions are right for live, it thrives. | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
Ultimately, why we want to explore Mars is to find out if life was | :24:07. | :24:11. | |
ever bed. If we can confirm that, even if it is just my grades, we | :24:11. | :24:19. | |
will know that we are not alone in the universe. -- microbes have. | :24:19. | :24:21. | |
Poor demeanour about whether Mars could have supported live in the | :24:21. | :24:26. | |
past or will in future? Spacecraft orbiting Mars have detected gases | :24:26. | :24:31. | |
that, on Earth, are produced by biological processes. We have got | :24:31. | :24:39. | |
more controversial Cleese. I have got a sample of the planet here. I | :24:39. | :24:46. | |
don't know if you can see this on camera. It is just a few grains of | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
rock and dust but this is a meteorite from Mars. It fell on | :24:50. | :24:56. | |
Earth in 1911. There are 16 or 17 of these that we found around Earth | :24:56. | :25:01. | |
but three in particular have got tell-tale clues that they could | :25:01. | :25:06. | |
have been produced by biological processes. In the scientific | :25:06. | :25:09. | |
community, if you have an extraordinary claim you need | :25:09. | :25:12. | |
extraordinary evidence. As much as I would love this to be evidence of | :25:12. | :25:17. | |
ancient life on Mars, the only way we will settle this issue for once | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
and for all is to send a crew of human scientists to Mars. When do | :25:22. | :25:28. | |
you think it might be feasible that humans will actually reach Mars? | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
People are amazed to find out that we could have gone to Mars in the | :25:33. | :25:36. | |
1980s if the Americans hadn't pushed through the space shuttle | :25:36. | :25:44. | |
approached -- space shuttle plan. It was always the Russians' goal. I | :25:44. | :25:49. | |
am unlikely to see activity on Mars in my lifetime. I would like to but | :25:49. | :25:53. | |
it will certainly be when I am in retirement. But when that grew | :25:53. | :26:01. | |
actually goes, they will be taking humanity's next giant leap. | :26:01. | :26:06. | |
Anu Ojha, clearly a man with a mission and a passion. Thank you | :26:06. | :26:10. | |
for talking to us. A reminder of the main news: | :26:10. | :26:14. | |
Outside the Greek parliament in Athens, protesters are gathering. | :26:14. | :26:20. | |
These are live pictures we are showing you. Inside, the Prime | :26:20. | :26:25. | |
Minister, George Papandreou, is facing a vote of confidence. He | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
sparked an angry response in Greece and elsewhere in the world - | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
particularly in Europe - over a plan to hold a referendum on the | :26:33. | :26:38. | |
latest bail-out plan for Greece, which is listed of austerity | :26:38. | :26:41. | |
measures there. He has abandoned his referendum proposal but there | :26:41. | :26:46. | |
have been numerous demands for his resignation. We are still waiting | :26:46. | :26:48. | |
for the results of that vote of confidence in the Greek parliament. | :26:48. | :26:55. | |
It is a knife-edge vote. Brummie, goodbye and enjoy your weekend. -- | :26:55. | :27:03. | |
We have had a few showers today that should ease overnight. First | :27:03. | :27:08. | |
thing tomorrow, it should not be too bad as start. However, that is | :27:08. | :27:11. | |
going to change in the south through the day, because we have | :27:11. | :27:16. | |
got this weather system approaching. It will, in from the near Continent | :27:16. | :27:20. | |
overnight tonight and arrive in the far south-east in the early hours | :27:20. | :27:25. | |
of tomorrow. That will spill westwards along with some outbreaks | :27:25. | :27:33. | |
of rain. At around 3pm, Yorkshire will turn cloudy and Lincolnshire | :27:33. | :27:37. | |
will turn damp through the afternoon. Rain for East Anglia and | :27:37. | :27:40. | |
much of south-east England. Southern Counties turning | :27:40. | :27:45. | |
increasingly grey but luckily staying dry. Further west, a dry, | :27:45. | :27:52. | |
bright day. To stay in brighter across South West England and Wales | :27:52. | :27:56. | |
as we had through the afternoon. For Northern Ireland and Scotland, | :27:56. | :28:00. | |
we are in the same boat again. High pressure builds and keeps the | :28:00. | :28:06. | |
weather fronts at bay. We stick with dry up with an sunshine for | :28:06. | :28:12. | |
Scotland, and light winds to boot. Through the evening, expected to | :28:12. | :28:16. |