:00:35. > :00:38.This is BBC World News Today with me Kirsty Lang. Syria's President
:00:38. > :00:40.gives his first interview to the Western media. A defiant Bashar al-
:00:40. > :00:43.Assad tells American anchor, Barbara Walters, "I did not give
:00:43. > :00:47.orders to kill." Egypt swears in a new cabinet under Kamal al-Ganzouri,
:00:47. > :00:50.a former premier under Mubarak, so how different is to the last one?
:00:50. > :00:53.Retail U-turn in India, as plans to allow firms like Tesco and Walmart
:00:53. > :00:56.to buy out its supermarket chains are shelved. Also coming up in the
:00:56. > :00:58.programme: a fair comment or a convenient smokescreen? We look at
:00:58. > :01:02.President Sarkozy's claim that laissez faire economics and Anglo-
:01:02. > :01:05.Saxon capitalism are to blame for much of Europe's current crisis.
:01:05. > :01:15.And America marks 70 years since the event that brought it into
:01:15. > :01:25.
:01:25. > :01:29.World War II, the Japanese attack Welcome. For nine months, the
:01:29. > :01:33.Syrians have been protesting against their Government. For
:01:33. > :01:41.thousands of them have died in that time. President Bashar al-Assad
:01:41. > :01:43.said there was no command from him to kill or use brutality. In a rare
:01:43. > :01:48.interview with Barbara Walters, the unelected President of Syria
:01:48. > :01:52.claimed he was extremely popular with his people and he blamed the
:01:52. > :02:00.violence on criminals, religious extremists and terrorists
:02:00. > :02:05.sympathetic to Al-Qaeda. With astonishing bravery, Syrian
:02:05. > :02:15.and the armed protesters have come out day after day to face machine
:02:15. > :02:16.
:02:16. > :02:22.guns, snipers and armoured vehicles. The cost so far, at least 4000 dead.
:02:22. > :02:28.In his interview with ABC, President Assad denied killing his
:02:28. > :02:35.own citizens. We don't kill our appeal -- people, no Government in
:02:35. > :02:42.the world kills his people alas it is led by a crazy person. -- and
:02:42. > :02:49.last. It is impossible for anyone in this state to give orders to
:02:49. > :02:59.kill. We saw a different picture in a week of travelling inside Syria.
:02:59. > :02:59.
:02:59. > :03:04.Inner-city here, she catalogues her losses. Her son were shot dead at a
:03:04. > :03:11.protest then her grandson was killed by a sniper while out
:03:11. > :03:18.getting bread. A few days after speaking to us, she too was shot
:03:18. > :03:23.dead in the street. But demonstrators are sick of such
:03:23. > :03:30.denial and started off with a simple call for reform. Now they
:03:30. > :03:35.want the President to go. A UN report accuses him of hanging on
:03:35. > :03:43.using mass arrests, torture, sexual assault of protesters and killing
:03:43. > :03:52.some 300 children. This will send - - they will send us the documents
:03:52. > :03:58.and evidence. We cannot say yes. Who says that United Nations is a
:03:58. > :04:05.credible institution? You do not think they are credible? Know. It
:04:05. > :04:09.is a game we play. The Syrian Government calls these men
:04:09. > :04:14.terrorists. They say they have taken up arms after months of
:04:14. > :04:19.killings by the regime. President Assad seems to accept there has
:04:19. > :04:29.been excessive force by his police and Trevor's best says these were
:04:29. > :04:34.individual acts not policy. This will be scorned by the
:04:34. > :04:38.demonstrators and Syrian is -- serious moving from a crackdown to
:04:38. > :04:42.something that resembles a civil war.
:04:42. > :04:47.A short time ago, Barbara Walters joined my colleague who asked her
:04:47. > :04:52.for her impressions of President Assad. It is very surreal. It is
:04:52. > :04:57.disconnected. You have this calm, collected man who was an opera for
:04:58. > :05:03.Moller must, a doctor, telling you he was not responsible for the
:05:03. > :05:10.crackdown. -- up for mycologist. There were no ground rules, he
:05:10. > :05:14.answered every question. The whole thing is a disconnect. You are in
:05:14. > :05:20.Damascus which was pretty calm but I found I could go anywhere. One
:05:20. > :05:27.hour away, people were being killed. You are talking to the present he
:05:27. > :05:35.was saying that you don't -- he didn't ordered the crackdown. He
:05:35. > :05:41.wants to see the proof that he ordered people to die. I am
:05:41. > :05:48.confused by what he says and what is going on in his country. Do you
:05:48. > :05:55.think that he believed what he was saying? There is no way of mind
:05:55. > :05:59.knowing whether he believes what he is saying but he is saying that he
:05:59. > :06:04.didn't ordered the crackdown, that is the Government and we are going
:06:04. > :06:10.to prosecute these people who did these bad things. He is the
:06:10. > :06:16.Government and he is a dictator. He says we are not a democracy but I
:06:16. > :06:24.am not a dictator. He doesn't want a DAI and St, he isn't training his
:06:24. > :06:28.eight-year old son to take over. For -- a dynasty. It is so hard to
:06:28. > :06:35.understand why he doesn't admit what is going on in his country and
:06:35. > :06:39.take responsibility or apologise for it. He doesn't do any of those.
:06:39. > :06:46.Could he have been pursuing this line of deny ability with his eye
:06:46. > :06:52.on the future? With some international criminal process that
:06:52. > :06:57.he might see before him in the future? I did feel he feels this
:06:57. > :07:03.way. He says the middle, which is not the extremists, they support
:07:03. > :07:09.him. If the middle did not support him, he would step down. You talk
:07:09. > :07:14.about his being isolated by these countries around him. Syria is the
:07:14. > :07:19.hub of it all. He says it doesn't matter what they say, what matters
:07:19. > :07:27.is what happens in Syria. I don't care about public opinion. This is
:07:27. > :07:34.not a crazy talking manner the wake Gaddafi is. He says the sanctions
:07:34. > :07:42.his people more industrious. You don't have the feeling that he
:07:42. > :07:47.feels they are going to come and put him in jail.
:07:47. > :07:56.Now to another country at the heart of the Arab Spring, a new cabinet
:07:56. > :08:01.has been sworn in in two -- in Egypt,. The military ruler said the
:08:01. > :08:05.Prime Minister has been given new powers. This comes on the eve of
:08:05. > :08:09.the official results of the first round of Egypt's parliamentary
:08:09. > :08:18.elections in which the Muslim Brotherhood is claiming a majority.
:08:18. > :08:28.The BBC's John line is in Cairo. How different is this to the last
:08:28. > :08:28.
:08:28. > :08:33.Government? -- Jon Leyne. previous Government resigned after
:08:33. > :08:36.huge protests in Tahrir Square. The army promised a Government of
:08:36. > :08:40.national starvation and they have produced a similar Government to
:08:40. > :08:46.the previous one that is still dominated by people from the
:08:46. > :08:51.previous regime, dominated by half the members of the Cabinet. There
:08:51. > :09:00.is a new interior minister but he is a general, somebody who was a
:09:00. > :09:06.figure from the previous regime. It looks very similar. I think a lot
:09:06. > :09:13.of people think this will not be about real change until after the
:09:13. > :09:19.election has been named. Tonight, we have had the resort's of the
:09:19. > :09:24.first round. -- results. We did have the precise details because
:09:24. > :09:34.they didn't have percentages but it seemed as if a coalition, led by
:09:34. > :09:35.
:09:35. > :09:43.the Muslim Brotherhood, has 48%. The more extreme assist -- the more
:09:43. > :09:51.extremist have the rest. They have only done a third of the seats so
:09:51. > :10:00.far. This Cabinet is an interim Cabinet. What point will an elected
:10:00. > :10:03.Cabinet be able to take over? to be precise, the interim
:10:03. > :10:06.Government is appointed by the military and he has then appointed
:10:07. > :10:11.a Cabinet. It appears the information we are getting, the
:10:11. > :10:15.military are taking an enormous role in this and are still running
:10:15. > :10:19.the day-to-day affairs despite the fact that they are dedicating more
:10:19. > :10:24.power. We have to go through this long electoral process that doesn't
:10:24. > :10:28.and until March. There has to be a constitutional committee,
:10:28. > :10:33.presidential elections and then the new president, when he is appointed
:10:33. > :10:39.will be appointing a new Government. It is a long process and will take
:10:39. > :10:43.many months, if not years. Meanwhile on the ground in Libya,
:10:43. > :10:46.the revolution may be over but militias still brought large parts
:10:46. > :10:50.of the capital city. Many of the armed groups were part of the force
:10:50. > :10:53.that helped to bring down Vivette - - Gaddafi but an upsurge in
:10:53. > :11:03.fighting between them has alarmed authorities who are demanding be
:11:03. > :11:04.
:11:04. > :11:08.laid down their arms and go home. -- they laid down.
:11:08. > :11:13.Life in Tripoli has been returning to normal in recent weeks. There is
:11:13. > :11:18.a dark cloud over this city, the continued presence of armed men in
:11:18. > :11:21.a country with no proper police force or army to keep things secure.
:11:21. > :11:30.Its militiamen still control the streets, sometimes settling their
:11:30. > :11:34.differences by force. TRANSLATION: I pro-Gaddafi's forces
:11:34. > :11:42.had re-entered Tripoli the other night there were so much shooting.
:11:42. > :11:47.We are suffering. Before everything was OK. Now, everything is upside
:11:48. > :11:52.down. The Government says it will integrate 50,000 former rebels into
:11:52. > :11:55.the new security forces and tried to provide jobs or further
:11:55. > :12:03.education for tens of thousands of others. That is the plan but it
:12:04. > :12:08.would be easy. TRANSLATION: I want them to go back home, even the ones
:12:08. > :12:12.from Tripoli. They are like children. You give them a toy and
:12:12. > :12:18.it is hard to take it back from them. At this hospital, doctors are
:12:18. > :12:22.on strike after armed militia men dread doubt its administrator in a
:12:22. > :12:25.dispute over patient's treatment. It is not the first time medics who
:12:25. > :12:29.have been threatened. Now the sick and the injured will have to be
:12:29. > :12:36.transferred elsewhere. This is the emergency room in the country's
:12:36. > :12:41.most trawl -- trauma hospital. They say they won't work until they have
:12:41. > :12:44.Government protection. The intensive care unit is full of
:12:44. > :12:50.patients injured not in the liberation of Tripoli but in the
:12:50. > :13:00.violence that has come in its wake. The sole doctor is still at work
:13:00. > :13:02.
:13:02. > :13:07.when we visited. All the cases here are from gunshot. Don't leave Libya
:13:07. > :13:11.like this. Reining in the gunmen responsible is perhaps the biggest
:13:11. > :13:17.channel -- challenge facing the Libyan Government. It is critical
:13:17. > :13:21.here that they succeed, say people here.
:13:21. > :13:24.In the other news, the maximum could Mrs cities foiling an
:13:24. > :13:29.international plot to smuggle one of Colonel Gaddafi's sons and
:13:29. > :13:37.Mexico. At the height of the Libyan up rising September, his officials
:13:37. > :13:42.uncovered the plan for the some, Saadi, and of the Sun to come in.
:13:42. > :13:50.He is under house arrest in idea. 40% of cancers could be prevented
:13:50. > :13:55.by making simple lifetime -- lifestyle changing. Smoking,
:13:55. > :13:58.alcohol and nutrition or play a part. For many was eating a lack of
:13:58. > :14:04.fruit and vegetables and for women, was overweight playing a
:14:04. > :14:07.significant role. The armed forces of Sudan and
:14:07. > :14:13.newly-independent South Trabant -- South Sudan have clashed. Sudan
:14:13. > :14:17.says its troops were in control of the gel area which both sounds -- -
:14:17. > :14:21.- Jau area which both say it is theirs.
:14:21. > :14:26.The Italian police say they have captured the Dida of one of the
:14:26. > :14:32.country's most powerful mafia groups -- captured the most
:14:32. > :14:40.powerful mafia group. He was found hiding in an underground boat --
:14:41. > :14:45.bunker near his home town of Naples. The former Israeli president has
:14:45. > :14:55.been -- began a seven-year jail sentence for rape. He was convicted
:14:55. > :14:59.
:14:59. > :15:02.of two counts of sexual harassment. Foreign supermarket chains won't be
:15:02. > :15:05.allowed into India. The government has suspended its plans to allow
:15:05. > :15:08.global giants such as Walmart and Tesco to enter the lucrative Indian
:15:08. > :15:11.retail market, valued at $450 billion. The decision announced
:15:11. > :15:14.last month was opposed by small traders, opposition parties and
:15:14. > :15:24.even some members of the governing coalition on grounds that it would
:15:24. > :15:37.
:15:38. > :15:47.4th after days of disruption and deadlock, the embarrassing retreat.
:15:48. > :15:49.
:15:49. > :15:55.51 % of retail trading is suspended and talk a consensus -- Until at
:15:55. > :16:03.consensus has taken place. The plan to let the big supermarket giants
:16:03. > :16:13.in has been opposed by those who believe it will not help small
:16:13. > :16:14.
:16:14. > :16:21.businesses. They employ some 20 million people. The fear is that if
:16:21. > :16:25.Wal-Mart and Tesco set up shop, they will be squeezed out.
:16:25. > :16:29.experience the world over it shows that when at large retailers come
:16:30. > :16:34.into the market, initially to keep away the small operators, they do
:16:34. > :16:38.keep their prices low. But subsequently, having wiped out the
:16:38. > :16:45.market of the small operators, the large retells tend to increase
:16:45. > :16:51.their prices. The price competitiveness does not exist when
:16:51. > :16:56.you become a single operator. the move has dismayed Indian
:16:56. > :17:01.business leaders, who see it as regressive. The big retail chains
:17:01. > :17:08.were expected to herald a consumer revolution, offering more for less
:17:08. > :17:12.and reducing wastage and improving infrastructure. With India's
:17:12. > :17:17.economy reeling from inflation and slowing growth, it could be an
:17:17. > :17:22.opportunity missed. The government may argue that you have to respect
:17:22. > :17:27.public opinion, but this has come as a major setback, especially for
:17:27. > :17:32.the Prime Minister, who is now seen as leading an administration that
:17:32. > :17:38.is in political paralysis. It means that no reform is likely to be
:17:38. > :17:40.announced at some time, which is bad news for India.
:17:40. > :17:43.America's Treasury Chief says he's encouraged by what he's been
:17:43. > :17:45.hearing on his European trip. On day two of a whirlwind visit
:17:45. > :17:48.Timothy Geithner met the French President Nicolas Sarkozy and
:17:48. > :17:52.Finance Minister Francois Baroin to discuss ways to solve the
:17:52. > :17:54.eurozone's debt crisis. European leaders start a key summit on
:17:54. > :18:04.Friday. Mr Geithner said he had faith that Europe's leaders could
:18:04. > :18:09.
:18:09. > :18:14.find a way out of the crisis. We have a strong and productive
:18:14. > :18:19.relationship. A lot of confidence in what the President of France and
:18:19. > :18:24.what the minister are doing, working with Germany to bring a --
:18:24. > :18:34.build a stronger Europe. This is not just to put in place economic
:18:34. > :18:35.
:18:35. > :18:42.reforms across Europe, but he tried to build a stronger Architecture
:18:42. > :18:47.for a fiscal union. Now, throughout this eurozone crisis, many French
:18:47. > :18:53.commentators have been pointing the finger at Anglo-Saxon capitalism.
:18:53. > :18:58.They say it was not overspending, but a lack of regulation which
:18:58. > :19:02.triggered the banking crash. Is that their comments, or a
:19:02. > :19:06.convenient smokescreen. Our correspondent reports from Paris.
:19:06. > :19:12.The French President has held the view for some time that finance and
:19:12. > :19:19.unruly globalisation should be policed. Last week he was read --
:19:19. > :19:25.returning to a familiar theme. The root of the Sir Bruce Forsyth's
:19:25. > :19:33.problems began with laissez faire politics. He means Anglo-Saxon
:19:33. > :19:41.economics. Mr Sarkozy has always been willing to challenge economic
:19:41. > :19:46.growth. France has deep suspicions of financial markets. One element
:19:46. > :19:56.of the financial markets that has come in for criticism is the credit
:19:56. > :19:57.
:19:57. > :20:03.rating agency. Whilst it is tempting to see it as a them-and-us
:20:03. > :20:07.mentality, it is not only be Anglo- Saxon model that is being blamed.
:20:07. > :20:12.Where ever you look across the Continent, blame is being
:20:12. > :20:18.apportioned in all directions. I am joined from Paris by Pierre
:20:18. > :20:22.Haski, a French journalist and co- founder of the internet newspaper
:20:22. > :20:29.Rue 89. I was talking to a French banker the other day and he said
:20:29. > :20:33.that he felt that the ratings agencies were inherently anti-
:20:33. > :20:39.European and they were staffed by Anglo-Saxons. Is that a view widely
:20:39. > :20:47.held in France? A yes, it is. You have to admit that Anglo-Saxon
:20:47. > :20:54.capitalism is not popular in France and that his wife you have -- that
:20:54. > :20:58.is why you have President Sarkozy been on the side of the criticism
:20:58. > :21:02.of Anglo-Saxon capitalism. Remember, he is fighting for his own re-
:21:02. > :21:07.election in just over six months time and he has to make people
:21:07. > :21:12.forget that he was once in favour of introducing Anglo-Saxon roles in
:21:12. > :21:20.France. That is right. In the last election it was very much, we have
:21:20. > :21:23.to go down that road, from Sarkozy. Not only that, he had been making
:21:23. > :21:28.his first opening trips to Washington and London and
:21:28. > :21:32.forgetting about Berlin and now Germany is now the saviour of the
:21:32. > :21:38.eurozone and President Sarkozy wants to be seen as Germany's best
:21:38. > :21:42.friend. He wants everyone to forget he got it wrong initially, at least
:21:42. > :21:46.in terms of where France is now standing. He in London we have a
:21:46. > :21:52.lot of French bankers and financiers and it is the same in
:21:52. > :21:57.Wall Street and there are major French banks. The French
:21:57. > :22:01.participate in this global financial system as well. Yes, but
:22:01. > :22:05.that is French schizophrenia that has been going on for a long time.
:22:06. > :22:11.France is a player in the global system and is probably the best
:22:11. > :22:16.critic of the global system. Some French companies have become big
:22:16. > :22:20.multinational corporations, whether in banking or oil and at the same
:22:21. > :22:25.time, France is probably the only Western country where you hear so
:22:26. > :22:34.much criticism of globalisation. But that is something that the
:22:34. > :22:38.French are intellectually playing with in that part of the system and
:22:38. > :22:45.no-one is too hysterical about it. So at this is an expression, if you
:22:45. > :22:50.like, or of French nationalism, a convenient scapegoat, rather than a
:22:50. > :22:55.serious debate about different economic systems? Obviously we are
:22:55. > :23:00.in the mill of the crisis, so the French want to keep hope of
:23:00. > :23:10.maintaining their quite peculiar social system and the only way of
:23:10. > :23:10.
:23:10. > :23:15.doing it is finding someone responsible for the crisis and the
:23:15. > :23:25.easy target is Anglo-Saxon capitalism. To be honest, as a
:23:25. > :23:25.
:23:26. > :23:35.Frenchman, there is some truth in it. It is a widely accepted view in
:23:36. > :23:36.
:23:36. > :23:41.France. Thank you. Now, December 7th, 1941. It is a
:23:41. > :23:45.date steered into American history. Ceremonies have been held in Hawaii
:23:45. > :23:50.to mark the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The
:23:50. > :23:56.Japanese assault killed more than 2,000 Americans and destroyed the
:23:56. > :24:01.US Pacific Fleet. It also drew the country into World War II. Seven
:24:01. > :24:07.decades later, veterans who were there that day pause to remember
:24:07. > :24:13.the historic event. In Pearl Harbour today, they
:24:13. > :24:20.gathered - the survivors of a surprise assault from the skies
:24:20. > :24:26.that would transfer the Second World War. 7th December, 1941 - a
:24:26. > :24:34.date that will live in infamy. words of President Franklin
:24:34. > :24:38.Roosevelt, capturing the shock and fury of a nation under attack.
:24:38. > :24:47.Unconfirmed reports are that almost every ship has been hit.
:24:47. > :24:50.Japanese bombers struck at first light. 2,500 people were killed.
:24:50. > :24:56.This shows what Pearl Harbor look like five minutes before the war
:24:56. > :25:02.started. When the attack began, at this man was on board a ship
:25:02. > :25:08.reading a comic. At first we thought there was a fire on the
:25:08. > :25:18.ship and then soon discovered there were planes flying around with the
:25:18. > :25:18.
:25:19. > :25:24.Japanese flag painting on -- painted on the side. As with 9/11
:25:24. > :25:34.at six decades later, Pearl Harbor shattered America's sense of
:25:34. > :25:38.impregnability. Here, too, the US would quickly be clear war and like
:25:38. > :25:47.9/11, there were consequences on the home front. Japanese Americans
:25:47. > :25:57.were branded enemy aliens. Among stem this man who represents Hawaii
:25:57. > :26:03.
:26:03. > :26:09.in the Senate. All is insanity. those who survived, the very
:26:09. > :26:14.youngest up in their early 80s. A short time ago there was a final
:26:14. > :26:22.moment of silence for those they knew and last in a remote place
:26:22. > :26:32.where history turned. A quick reminder of our top news
:26:32. > :26:36.
:26:36. > :26:40.story - the Syrian President has denied he ordered and 80 protesters
:26:40. > :26:44.-- anti-government protesters to be attacked. He said he did not feel
:26:44. > :26:54.guilty about the violence, but he was sorry for the lives that had
:26:54. > :27:06.
:27:06. > :27:10.been lost. That's it for now. It has been a win seats -- a windy
:27:10. > :27:16.day to day and it is set to get worse. The Met Office had issued a
:27:16. > :27:21.red warning and we are expecting disruption across the country. It
:27:21. > :27:27.is due to this low pressure moving in off the Atlantic. We begin the
:27:27. > :27:37.day with sleet, rain and some snow across Scotland. It is a windy day
:27:37. > :27:45.
:27:45. > :27:50.for every where -- for everyone. There will be patchy rain in the
:27:50. > :27:58.south-west and it will be milder. Behind the front, it is turning
:27:58. > :28:05.colder. Cold and blustery in Northern Ireland. There will be
:28:05. > :28:10.wintery showers and strong winds. For Scotland, rain, sleet and snow,