:00:11. > :00:15.This is BBC World News Today, with me Zeinab Badawi. Mission ended,
:00:15. > :00:21.but is it mission accomplished? A formal ceremony in Baghdad marks
:00:21. > :00:28.the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq - were there any gains?
:00:28. > :00:35.This is a time for Iraq to look forward. This is an opportunity for
:00:35. > :00:38.Iraq to forge ahead on the path to security and prosperity. Disgraced,
:00:38. > :00:42.but not in prison - France's Jacques Chirac is found guilty of
:00:42. > :00:45.corruption gets a suspended jail term. Putin faces his public during
:00:45. > :00:50.his annual phone-in he says he's pleased young people protested over
:00:50. > :00:53.the election results. Also coming up in the programme: the small
:00:53. > :00:57.piece of writing by a teenager that's fetched more than a million
:00:57. > :01:03.dollars at auction. A manuscript, written by British author Charlotte
:01:03. > :01:06.Bronte when she was just 14 is sold to a French museum. And taking
:01:06. > :01:16.Hollywood by storm - the silent era film The Artist tops the list of
:01:16. > :01:23.
:01:23. > :01:27.contenders for the Golden Globes Hello and welcome. Nearly nine
:01:27. > :01:30.years of United States military involvement in Iraq is over. At a
:01:30. > :01:32.symbolic ceremony in Baghdad the American military standard was
:01:32. > :01:35.lowered, formally marking the end of a hugely controversial conflict.
:01:35. > :01:37.The US Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta, said it was mission
:01:37. > :01:47.accomplished, and worth the enormous cost, in both dollars and
:01:47. > :01:53.
:01:53. > :01:58.lives. Our World Affairs Editor, John Simpson, reports from Baghdad.
:01:58. > :02:06.A quiet, down beat ceremony marks the end of an occupation which
:02:06. > :02:12.lasted 1 hundred months, cost the lives of 4,500 Americans and of an
:02:12. > :02:20.unknown number of Iraqis. This is a time for Iraq to look forward. This
:02:20. > :02:25.is an opportunity for Iraq to forge ahead on the path to security and
:02:25. > :02:30.prosperity. Welcome to Sadr City, a sprawling working class Shi'ite
:02:30. > :02:36.suburb of Baghdad. The occupiers are going, says the poster, thanks
:02:36. > :02:42.to our Government. But things have changed here out of all recognition.
:02:42. > :02:47.The last time I was here in Sadr City was about three years ago and
:02:47. > :02:53.I have to say I was nervous. Kidnapping was rife and there were
:02:53. > :02:59.bombs here justy day. Now, well, you can see for yourself how
:02:59. > :03:06.relaxed everything is. But not everything is necessarily better.
:03:06. > :03:13.There are power Kuti day here and in every where in reek. -- power
:03:14. > :03:18.cuts. -- in Iraq, the Americans never fixed the electricity supply.
:03:18. > :03:23.They put in water supplies, but that has been forgotten. Instead,
:03:23. > :03:28.people remember the American atabs on the city. This man keeps the
:03:28. > :03:35.pictures on his mobile. -- American attacks. These are pictures from
:03:36. > :03:39.the internet and that is American laughter. At the meat market, you
:03:40. > :03:47.don't find any love for the United States. The butchers of Baghdad are
:03:47. > :03:54.happy to see the back of the Americans. The chicken seller sairs
:03:54. > :04:01.they brought poverty and killed our children. According to the man who
:04:01. > :04:06.sells cow hearts, they destroyed our country. And the Searl of
:04:06. > :04:10.sheeps' heads thinks things were better under Saddam. But the United
:04:10. > :04:15.States has done a good job of training the security forces here.
:04:15. > :04:22.These check points are every where and are the front line of the civil
:04:22. > :04:28.war. There are attacks ony day. There were 79 bomb attacks last
:04:28. > :04:35.month. This one targeted the Prime Minister. Still in 2007, there were
:04:35. > :04:40.1,000 bombs a month. The suffering doesn't stop, but the insurgency is
:04:40. > :04:46.vizibly winding down. For 40 years not just the eight of the American
:04:46. > :04:52.occupation, Iraq has known little more than dictatorship, war and
:04:52. > :05:02.isolation. Now, people are daring to hope that their luck may finally
:05:02. > :05:04.
:05:04. > :05:11.be changing. We hope to have more thon that ceremony in Iraq later.
:05:11. > :05:15.Now claims of fraud, protests and calls for him to step down have
:05:15. > :05:23.made one of the more testing months of Vladimir Putin's political
:05:23. > :05:27.career. Today he was giving his annual televised phone in. It
:05:27. > :05:31.lasted more than four hours, and he accepted that the demonstration a
:05:31. > :05:37.that have been taken place in Russia were lawful, but he accused
:05:37. > :05:45.the organisers of trying to weaken the country at the behest of
:05:45. > :05:49.western powers. Here is our Moscow correspondent. Vladimir Putin holds
:05:49. > :05:54.a live question and answer session on television each year. This year
:05:54. > :06:00.after the protests in Moscow, everyone was looking for signs of
:06:00. > :06:06.weakness to the -- or concessions, but there are not any. He entered
:06:06. > :06:11.the studio as confident as ever. He was Russian ya's president for
:06:11. > :06:17.eight years and had been Prime Minister for four. But now he is
:06:17. > :06:22.facing his biggest crisis. In the first few questions he dealt with
:06:22. > :06:28.the Parliamentary election results. TRANSLATION: I have no doubt that
:06:28. > :06:33.the result reflects the real balance of power in the country.
:06:33. > :06:37.Five days ago thousands of people took to the streets of Moscow to
:06:37. > :06:41.protest against those results. He said he was glad is many young
:06:41. > :06:48.people had become politically active, but suggested that some of
:06:49. > :06:54.the opposition were being paid by foreign powers. TRANSLATION: There
:06:54. > :07:00.are of course people with passports of the Russian confederation but
:07:00. > :07:05.are working for the foreign powers. We will try to win those people
:07:05. > :07:10.over. It made me furious... Evidence that the election was
:07:10. > :07:14.rigged is aCombe lating. This man was a about an observe ein a
:07:14. > :07:18.polling station, but the result he witnessed was changed when it was
:07:18. > :07:23.entered into the national data banks. The number of votes given to
:07:23. > :07:33.the ruling party was double the original counts. Blen you see it
:07:33. > :07:33.
:07:33. > :07:39.with your own eyes so play Tantly and... -- blatantly and
:07:39. > :07:43.unsophisticatedly done, I felt betrayed, I felt infuriated. I felt
:07:43. > :07:49.very angry at the people who did it to me and who did it to people like
:07:49. > :07:54.me. That story is far from unique. We have been sent examples from
:07:54. > :07:59.across the Russian Federation, where the number of votes received
:07:59. > :08:05.by United Russia went up from the initial certified results to the
:08:05. > :08:10.results entered in the official computer. But all that was swept
:08:10. > :08:16.aside as Vladimir Putin gave a bravura performance lasting over
:08:17. > :08:20.four and a half hours. He head no - - made no concession that there was
:08:20. > :08:25.cheating. He said that is what opposition parties claim every
:08:25. > :08:31.where in the world. And he also attacked the west. He said he would
:08:31. > :08:41.like to be an ally of America, but that sometimes it seemed to me him
:08:41. > :08:48.
:08:48. > :08:51.that America isn't looking for allies. Now a look at some of the
:08:51. > :08:54.days other news. A US-based rights group has named Syrian military
:08:54. > :08:56.commanders whom it accuses of ordering soldiers to shoot-to-kill
:08:56. > :08:58.during the anti-government protests. Human Rights Watch says 74 senior
:08:58. > :09:01.government officials and military officers are directly involved in
:09:01. > :09:03.crimes against humanity. The findings are based on testimony
:09:03. > :09:09.from Syrian army defectors. At least 140 people have died, after
:09:09. > :09:12.drinking contaminated alcohol in India. The district hospital near
:09:12. > :09:14.Calcutta where most of the patients are being treated is said to be
:09:14. > :09:17.full to capacity. The illegally- made cheap liquor contained toxic
:09:17. > :09:27.methanol and was sold in a village shop. Seven people have been
:09:27. > :09:33.arrested. The Governor of the Bank of France said the British debt
:09:33. > :09:39.should be downgraded before French debt. He said Britain was in a
:09:39. > :09:41.weaker position than France. The police in South Africa are
:09:41. > :09:44.investigating allegations that illegal filming took place outside
:09:44. > :09:48.Nelson Mandela's home. The former president, who is 93, has now
:09:48. > :09:50.retired from public life and lives in the Eastern Cape region. One of
:09:50. > :09:56.two international news agencies being investigated has denied
:09:56. > :10:00.spying on the former president. The country singer, Billie Jo Spears,
:10:00. > :10:04.has died at her home in Texas. She was 73. Her hits included Mr Walker,
:10:04. > :10:06.It's All Over, What I've Got in Mind and Misty Blue. But she'll be
:10:06. > :10:16.best remembered for her song Blanket on the Ground, which was
:10:16. > :10:23.
:10:24. > :10:26.number one in the country charts in the US in 1975. The former French
:10:26. > :10:29.president, Jacques Chirac, has been convicted on corruption charges and
:10:29. > :10:31.given a two-year suspended sentence, after being found guilty of
:10:31. > :10:35.creating fictitious jobs for members of his party when he was
:10:35. > :10:37.mayor of Paris. Mr Chirac is the first former French head of state
:10:37. > :10:40.to be convicted since the wartime collaborationist leader, Marshall
:10:40. > :10:50.Petain. He says he won't appeal, because he no longer has the
:10:50. > :10:51.
:10:51. > :10:57.strength to fight. From Paris, Christian Fraser reports. It is the
:10:57. > :11:01.only time since Marshal Petain and before him Louis 16th that the
:11:01. > :11:06.highest office in is in land has faced justice. Jacques Chirac was
:11:06. > :11:12.convicted and sentenced as a common criminal. The 79-year-old was found
:11:12. > :11:17.guilty of paying friends and allies with public funds between 1977 and
:11:17. > :11:22.1995 while the mayor of Paris. In effect he used the civic payroll to
:11:22. > :11:28.support his campaigns. The collusion, embezzlement and abuse
:11:28. > :11:32.of power, he was handed a two-year suspended sentence. Escaping jail,
:11:32. > :11:36.but shamed nonetheless. TRANSLATION: For the family it's
:11:36. > :11:41.very painful, but we must accept it. I think the decision is much too
:11:41. > :11:47.severe for him. At no point in the trial did Jacques Chirac give
:11:47. > :11:50.evidence. He is suffering from a condition linked to Alzheimer's
:11:50. > :11:57.triggered by a mini-stroke. Generally, opinions were divided on
:11:57. > :12:03.whether the former president should have faced trial. There is still
:12:03. > :12:10.affection for a man whose values are seen as very French. He is more
:12:10. > :12:16.popular than the man who replaced him A two year sentence may appear
:12:16. > :12:22.lenient. But the real punishment is the verdict. It an unfortunate foot
:12:22. > :12:31.note to 12 years in power and one that sheer sheer fought to avoid. -
:12:31. > :12:34.- sheer sheer fought to avoid. -- Jacques Chirac fought to avoid.
:12:34. > :12:38.Agnes Poirier is a French journalist living in London. She's
:12:38. > :12:42.been following the Chirac case and joins me now. A lenient sentence I
:12:42. > :12:49.think most people are thinking. But that was no surprise? Actually it
:12:49. > :12:54.was a surprise. Nobody thought that he would ever get convicted.
:12:54. > :13:01.Because the first French president since Marshal Petain I think, which
:13:01. > :13:07.is a long time ago, to be convicted for abuse of trust. And illegal
:13:07. > :13:13.conflict of interest. Nobody thought he was going to be found
:13:13. > :13:19.guilty in France? Well no, yes, not, because I mean, it is a long case.
:13:19. > :13:26.He was the mayor of Paris between 1977 and 1995. That is almost 20
:13:26. > :13:31.years. And this took place for a long time. He did reimburse all the
:13:31. > :13:35.fake salaries, or the real salaries for the fake jobs and the town hall
:13:35. > :13:40.was actually not pressing any charges. But the fact, the fact he
:13:40. > :13:47.has been found guilty now, but he has got a sentence, what do you
:13:47. > :13:54.think people make of that? He is a very old man and he is frail. A lot
:13:54. > :13:58.of people rejuice at the sentence, because it proves that justice can
:13:58. > :14:05.be independent. -- rejoice. And a president can be found guilty. On
:14:05. > :14:09.the other hand, a lot of people say it comes too late. Why, perhaps we
:14:09. > :14:14.should scrap that immunity that French presidentsen joy. What is
:14:14. > :14:21.what he cited as he was serving as a president? Yes, it could have
:14:21. > :14:27.happened just a shortly after he left power. Now, he is a frail man.
:14:27. > :14:32.So ewe rejoice without rejoicing. Is it a big stain on his legacy.
:14:32. > :14:37.There are no other political implications? Yes it is a stain. In
:14:37. > :14:41.a way Jacques Chirac serve Foard long time and he was a minister --
:14:41. > :14:49.served for a long time and he was a minister ten years before I was
:14:49. > :14:56.born. He had a long and career and he was he was very appreciated on
:14:56. > :15:03.the world stage. He said no to the war in Iraq. He did achieve many
:15:03. > :15:08.things. He was also the man the French left loved to hate. But
:15:08. > :15:18.nobody hates him any more. And this has brought the curtain down in an
:15:18. > :15:21.
:15:21. > :15:25.Back to the top storey of the end of US involvement in Iraq. Joining
:15:25. > :15:29.us from New York is Matthew Sherman, a former State Department official
:15:29. > :15:38.-- official who spent three years working in Iraq. Was it all worth
:15:38. > :15:43.it in terms of dollars and the lives lost? I still think it is too
:15:43. > :15:48.early to tell. What today does mark is an important milestone in the
:15:48. > :15:53.evolving relationship. With the US military gone, the politics of Iraq
:15:53. > :15:56.changes because they played such an important role and now you have an
:15:56. > :16:00.opportunity for the Iraqi political environment to stabilise which
:16:00. > :16:04.means it will be a different US and Iraq relationship and the type of
:16:04. > :16:09.political relationship in Iraq but also a different relationship with
:16:09. > :16:13.how Iraq used itself in the region and on the world stage. -- views
:16:13. > :16:20.itself. While the military mission is at an end there is a challenging
:16:20. > :16:24.diplomatic mission ahead. Under lot of people are saying that the irony
:16:24. > :16:28.of the mission to go into Iraq is that it has delivered one of
:16:28. > :16:34.America's big enemies in the region, Iran, a much stronger hand because
:16:34. > :16:40.it has a lot of influence now in post Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
:16:40. > :16:43.would have to disagree with that slyly. What is important for us to
:16:43. > :16:50.remember is the strength of Iraqi nationalism. I don't think Iraq
:16:50. > :16:55.wants to be a client state for anyone, beat the international
:16:55. > :17:03.community, Iran -- be it the international community, Iran, any
:17:03. > :17:06.country. It will be important for us to see how Iraqi nationalism
:17:06. > :17:10.involves the -- have also the next coming months and years. That will
:17:10. > :17:16.be the true test inside the country. But you cannot discount what the
:17:16. > :17:21.critics say when they say Iran does have influence in Iraq. The Prime
:17:21. > :17:29.Minister himself has spent time in Iran. They are co-religionists in
:17:29. > :17:34.the sense that they are all Shia Muslims. But now the mission has
:17:34. > :17:39.transformed Iraq into a Shia Muslim majority country run by a Shia
:17:39. > :17:43.Muslim government. Again, I would have to say that you need to take
:17:43. > :17:47.into mind something that brings together all Iraqis, and that is
:17:47. > :17:52.nationalism. It is also important not to forget the history Iraq has
:17:52. > :17:59.with Iran. Having been there for so many years and having engaged with
:17:59. > :18:04.these leaders on many issues, it is that nationalism that runs through
:18:04. > :18:11.Iraq and even in the government while Iran it will play a role
:18:11. > :18:15.within Iraq, Iraq also has to deal diplomatically with its neighbours.
:18:15. > :18:19.We have to be mindful of that as we move forward in the months and
:18:20. > :18:23.years to come. Briefly, from the American perspective, a lot of
:18:24. > :18:33.people will be glad to see this chapter closed. It was a war which
:18:34. > :18:37.Barack Obama as a senator said was a dumb war. It is bad to categorise
:18:37. > :18:43.any of these things with simple statements such as that. This is a
:18:43. > :18:46.very complex type of situation. It has been complex for the nine and a
:18:46. > :18:50.half years we have been there and complex for the soldiers and
:18:50. > :18:54.statesman on the ground. But what we need to look as well is to the
:18:54. > :18:58.future and be able to look at how we can utilise the remaining
:18:58. > :19:02.strategic influence to help stabilise Iraq to be independent of
:19:02. > :19:07.Iran which means helping diplomatic relations with in the region and
:19:07. > :19:10.also being able to help Baghdad become a stronger player on the
:19:10. > :19:20.international stage. Matthew Sherman, thank you for joining us
:19:20. > :19:26.
:19:26. > :19:29.from New York. It's half the size of a credit card, has 19 pages and
:19:29. > :19:31.4,000 words, and today it sold for nearly �700,000. This tiny
:19:31. > :19:34.manuscript was written in 1830 by the British author, Charlotte
:19:34. > :19:37.Bronte, who wrote Jane Eyre and Emma amongst other great novels. To
:19:37. > :19:41.the disappointment of British collectors, it's on its way to a
:19:41. > :19:46.museum in France, as Ed Thomas reports. So small you need a
:19:46. > :19:50.magnifying glass to read it, but every page is crafted with short
:19:50. > :19:53.stories. It details an imaginary world written by Charlotte Bronte
:19:54. > :19:58.for her brother's toy soldiers. It has not been seen in public for
:19:58. > :20:06.over 60 years until its owners, a German family, sold it at auction
:20:06. > :20:10.today. Its new home will be a museum in France, a disappointment
:20:10. > :20:15.for many when you consider how important this tiny manuscript
:20:15. > :20:20.eased to English literature. This is the first time it has been seen
:20:20. > :20:25.in living memory. It has not been known about. Modern scholarship has
:20:25. > :20:28.not seen it, so it's an exciting opportunity. That significance is
:20:28. > :20:33.not lost here in the village where the Bronte sisters grew up. The
:20:33. > :20:38.family home is now a museum and the trustees were outbid at auction.
:20:38. > :20:42.They wanted it to complete the set, because all six of the many
:20:42. > :20:47.manuscripts were written here. And it was in this room that Charlotte
:20:47. > :20:53.Bronte would talk about her story ideas with her sisters and with a
:20:53. > :20:58.brother. And it is on this table that her classics were written like
:20:58. > :21:02.Jane Eyre. He said that every now and then they glided from his eyes
:21:02. > :21:06.to his brain where a immense fire was burning. And when you listen to
:21:06. > :21:11.Charlotte Bronte A's words of the manuscript you might recognise
:21:11. > :21:16.similar passages in Jane Eyre. For many this goes some way to explain
:21:16. > :21:19.how her genius developed. It is significant because this teenager
:21:19. > :21:23.became one of the greatest novelists in the English language.
:21:23. > :21:29.And it is because -- significant because this particular book has
:21:29. > :21:34.the seeds of Charlotte's greatest work, Jane Eyre. The manuscript may
:21:34. > :21:39.not be coming home, but there is one edition missing, and with it,
:21:39. > :21:46.more Bronte story has yet to be told. -- Bronte stories yet to be
:21:46. > :21:49.told. The Golden Globe nominations have been announced and this year's
:21:49. > :21:52.leading contender is "The Artist" which tells the story of the demise
:21:52. > :21:54.of the silent era in Hollywood. Other films in the running include
:21:54. > :21:56.George Clooney's film "The Descendants"; "The Help" about
:21:56. > :22:02.African-American maids in 1960s Mississippi, and Stephen
:22:03. > :22:05.Spielberg's "War Horse". In a moment, I'll be discussing all of
:22:05. > :22:15.this with film critic Jason Solomons, first let's take at look
:22:15. > :22:32.
:22:32. > :22:35.If Jason, you either love it or hate it. I think it has six
:22:36. > :22:40.nominations at the Golden Globes, so obviously somebody loves it.
:22:40. > :22:45.What about you? I think every one that sees it loves it. Seeing a
:22:45. > :22:48.small club does not do justice -- justice. Anyone seeing it
:22:48. > :22:51.surrendered to its beauty and daring and the swooning love story
:22:51. > :22:57.and a very fact it is a silent movie. You have to know what you're
:22:57. > :23:01.doing. It will be the first French may be to win Best Picture at the
:23:01. > :23:04.Oscars and the first silent-movie for 80 years. Why is this old
:23:04. > :23:10.fashioned thing taking people by storm? Because it is really good.
:23:10. > :23:15.It is brilliantly done, it is lovely and I suppose it is about
:23:15. > :23:25.storytelling and tells you that you are away from the pyrotechnics of
:23:25. > :23:31.
:23:31. > :23:36.these days to what we like about The actress her name is peppy
:23:36. > :23:41.Mellor, and it is a peppy film. Clearly you like it, and I haven't
:23:41. > :23:47.seen it. Tate it for me it is good. J son, you're usually right. What
:23:47. > :23:54.about The Help, set in the 1960s in Mississippi? Before we talk about
:23:54. > :24:02.it here is a clip. Hold on. She looks like the winning horse at the
:24:02. > :24:10.Kentucky Derby. That has paprika on. Forgive me Lord, but I don't have
:24:10. > :24:14.to kill that woman. Now she's dead put some marks on the toilet paper.
:24:14. > :24:21.But I carried the papering from my own damn house. So that is
:24:21. > :24:28.basically about African American maids working in a White House told.
:24:28. > :24:33.The maids are meant to confess in the -- made to confess her horrors
:24:33. > :24:37.of their lives. This film was very popular in America, but I think
:24:37. > :24:40.that has this many nominations is terrible. I found that film
:24:41. > :24:44.extremely problematic. Just backlit, watching the old stereotypes being
:24:44. > :24:49.reinforced, and I know with the distance of age, but we are looking
:24:49. > :24:56.black characters playing rolling eyes maids in the back of the
:24:56. > :24:59.kitchen. I don't think we have progressed any further. This film
:24:59. > :25:03.is a hugely retrograde step. Whereas The Artist is a forward
:25:04. > :25:09.step even though it is going back into nostalgia, but this film is
:25:09. > :25:11.not really changed. It is not told from the black standpoint. For me
:25:12. > :25:19.this film is a sort of embarrassment and not the sort of
:25:19. > :25:24.film I would expect Hollywood to be lauding. I don't think it will make
:25:24. > :25:27.it through to the Oscars. But it might do. The actress does have
:25:27. > :25:32.extreme dignity in the role, but I find the film uncomfortable to
:25:32. > :25:38.watch from the off. What about some of the films that have not made the
:25:38. > :25:42.list? Some highly acclaimed films like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
:25:42. > :25:45.I was very upset to see the film shut-out. It has a fantastic cast
:25:45. > :25:50.and a brave performance by Gary Oldman and looks fantastic. Colin
:25:50. > :25:54.Firth is in it. A great British cast. It seems that film, which has
:25:54. > :25:58.been popular in Britain, has not quite translated to America. I am
:25:58. > :26:00.worried it will be shut out of the awards and I think it is one of the
:26:00. > :26:06.most clever and stylish and interesting works of film of the
:26:06. > :26:12.year. It may get their revenge with BAFTA claiming the back. But
:26:12. > :26:18.somehow the Americans, so far, seem to be shunning it. And also the
:26:18. > :26:22.Tree of Life, Terence Malik, that has been shunned. It won the Cannes
:26:22. > :26:28.Film Festival award. It has been completely shut out by the Golden
:26:28. > :26:33.Globes. They don't want any of that hippy nonsense! But The Artist,
:26:33. > :26:40.given their props, a good choice. You don't sound a happy man really,
:26:40. > :26:43.apart from The Artist. Thank you for that. After almost nine years