:00:11. > :00:21.Welcome to BBC World News Today. The race to decide which republican
:00:21. > :00:27.
:00:27. > :00:29.will challenge President Obama gets personal. Mitt Romney and Newt
:00:29. > :00:39.Gingrich lead the pack but could allegations about Gingrich's
:00:39. > :00:42.
:00:42. > :00:47.personal life trip him up in the South Carolina primary?
:00:47. > :00:50.I cannot accept Afghan soldiers opened fire on French soldiers.
:00:50. > :00:53.A cautious rescue mission resumes on the Costa Concordia after the
:00:53. > :00:59.ship moves again from the ledge of rock beneath it.
:00:59. > :01:03.Also on the programme: Bringing a personal touch to your own funeral.
:01:03. > :01:11.The report on the efforts to make your final ceremony a better way to
:01:11. > :01:15.say goodbye. And we ask if Prokofiev, one of the
:01:15. > :01:25.20th century's greatest composers, was a man of the people. A festival
:01:25. > :01:31.
:01:31. > :01:34.of his music opens in London. Hello and welcome. In the race to
:01:34. > :01:37.become the Republican candidate to face Barack Obama in the coming US
:01:37. > :01:47.presidential election, one of the big contenders is at the centre of
:01:47. > :01:54.
:01:54. > :02:04.a furious row. There is plenty of interest in this Sunday's race. The
:02:04. > :02:20.
:02:20. > :02:26.overall leader is facing opposition from Newt Gingrich.
:02:26. > :02:29.It was private lives, not policies, that said this did it alight.
:02:29. > :02:35.appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like
:02:35. > :02:39.that. The topic he said he is outraged by it is an interview with
:02:39. > :02:46.his ex-wife and revelations about what happened when they were
:02:46. > :02:52.married. I said to him, we have been married a long time and he
:02:52. > :02:58.said, yes, but you want me all to yourself. What was he saying, do
:02:58. > :03:02.you think? He was asking to have an open marriage and I refused.
:03:02. > :03:09.wanted an open marriage? I accepted the fact that he had somebody else
:03:09. > :03:13.in his life. And you said? No mark. It would have been the killer blow
:03:13. > :03:19.for lesser candidates but just watch this for a masterclass in a
:03:19. > :03:25.damage limitation. Let me be quite clear, the story is false, every
:03:25. > :03:30.friend I have who knew us in that period says it is false. We offered
:03:30. > :03:35.them to say it was false. I am tired of the media protecting
:03:35. > :03:40.Barack Obama. The is the kind of red meat republicans to bar.
:03:40. > :03:44.Gingrich has appalled well and his ratings are up. More bad news for
:03:44. > :03:48.the man who has led the field so fair, the multi-millionaire who is
:03:48. > :03:54.struggling to ask questions about his own private affairs. I will
:03:54. > :03:58.take a look at what the documents are. In an election dominated by
:03:58. > :04:04.the economy, he was ill prepared to explain where his money came from,
:04:04. > :04:09.where it has kept and how much tax he is paying. Tomorrow will be the
:04:09. > :04:12.third boat in this contest, and Newt Gingrich could squeeze into
:04:12. > :04:22.first place. This race has just got a little tighter and certainly more
:04:22. > :04:27.
:04:27. > :04:32.interesting. At Ronnie is still the man to beat. -- mitt Romney.
:04:32. > :04:35.They are joined now by Kevin Jackson. Kevin Jackson is a well-
:04:35. > :04:43.known author, tea party activist and spokesman for the tea-party.net.
:04:43. > :04:53.He joins me now. Have you decided, you have until Sunday, who are you
:04:53. > :04:53.
:04:53. > :04:58.going to vote for? Will you tell us and tell us why? I will not reveal
:04:58. > :05:02.who is my personal choice and are certainly the tea-party does not
:05:02. > :05:09.endorse candidates, we just say whoever survives the fray is who
:05:09. > :05:11.will support. But I think the most cataclysmic thing to come out of
:05:11. > :05:16.this is a battle of philosophies. Typically the Conservative
:05:17. > :05:21.candidate has to be the goody-two- shoes, very clean, very wholesome
:05:21. > :05:24.candidate and what came at a visit was Newt Gingrich saying, as a
:05:24. > :05:30.candidate who is flawed, he is actually in the running and that
:05:30. > :05:33.has typically been the liberal stance. That really is going to
:05:33. > :05:38.send a shot to liberals that you're not going to be able to attack any
:05:38. > :05:45.more on issues of infidelity or sexuality and things that normally
:05:45. > :05:50.are reserved for them. I think it is also going to make mitt Romney,
:05:50. > :05:55.of two holes and at times so we will see what happens. To use your
:05:55. > :06:00.phrase, goody-two-shoes, is Gingrich not enough of a goody Two
:06:00. > :06:05.Shoes because of these allegations of his wife? No, I don't think that
:06:05. > :06:11.is the case. He got a rousing standing ovation when he went on
:06:11. > :06:14.the attack for that and he started, that has been the death the of
:06:14. > :06:18.Conservatives, that is they are meant to be too perfect and of a
:06:18. > :06:24.sudden they find out some piece of evidence that says of their human,
:06:24. > :06:27.suddenly the campaign gets derailed. What Newt Gingrich brings to the
:06:27. > :06:32.poll is that he is flawed and this idea that the Conservatives are
:06:32. > :06:36.admitting he is not perfect is the revelation to the left that
:06:36. > :06:40.suddenly they have to do with a human. Is that the game changed it
:06:40. > :06:45.as far as Conservatives are concerned, you are not going to be
:06:46. > :06:51.that bothered about candidates's personal lives? It is not a game
:06:51. > :06:54.ginger, is how you handle it. Newt Gingrich knows he has been
:06:54. > :06:59.forthright about what has happened in his personal life but I believe
:06:59. > :07:01.there has been somewhat of a watershed moment with respect to
:07:01. > :07:07.Conservative politics, that the candidates do not have to be
:07:07. > :07:13.squeaky-clean. We are not squeaky- clean, nobody is in the world.
:07:13. > :07:22.led to here you have your floors! Met Ronnie has this problem with
:07:22. > :07:27.taxation, his critics say, is that a problem for him? I don't believe
:07:27. > :07:31.it is their problem for him, the question he was asked was, when you
:07:31. > :07:35.like your father police have not won years. He said he would think
:07:35. > :07:38.about it. His problem with taxation will come from the left in the
:07:38. > :07:42.sense that he has made a lot of money. The problem we have had from
:07:42. > :07:46.the tactics of the left is, anybody who makes money is automatically
:07:46. > :07:50.demonised. I will tell you this, whether you live in America for the
:07:50. > :07:54.UK, the majority of people who do not have money are probably doing
:07:54. > :08:00.something to try to get money. There's nothing wrong with the
:08:00. > :08:03.pursuit of money and I think he is covering up his defences for the
:08:03. > :08:13.onslaught that he knows is going to occur when he talks about the
:08:13. > :08:13.
:08:13. > :08:17.amount of money he has made. Still not spilling the beans about
:08:17. > :08:20.to here he is voting for! France has suspended joint
:08:20. > :08:25.operations with the Afghan army after a rogue Afghan soldier shot
:08:25. > :08:28.dead four French troops and wounded at least 16 more. President Nicolas
:08:28. > :08:31.Sarkozy said he was considering an early withdrawal of French units
:08:31. > :08:41.and said it was unacceptable for French troops to be fired on by
:08:41. > :08:42.
:08:42. > :08:46.their allies. North-east of Kabul, French troops
:08:46. > :08:50.are trimming the Afghan army for an eventual security handover. It
:08:50. > :08:54.means the troops from both nations are stationed side-by-side at
:08:54. > :08:58.French bases. It was at one of these positions that a man in
:08:58. > :09:04.Afghan army uniform carried out the attack, Farren on a group of
:09:04. > :09:08.unarmed French soldiers. More than the number of casualties, it is the
:09:09. > :09:12.manner of the killings that has angered the government in Paris. It
:09:12. > :09:22.is the second fatal attack in three weeks, carried out by men that
:09:22. > :09:22.
:09:22. > :09:26.French soldiers are there to instruct. The French army is in
:09:26. > :09:30.Afghanistan to help the Afghan people in their fight against
:09:30. > :09:34.terrorism and against the Taliban. The French army is not in
:09:34. > :09:39.Afghanistan to be shot at by Afghan soldiers. We are friends of
:09:39. > :09:44.Afghanistan, we're allies of the Afghan people but I cannot accept
:09:44. > :09:49.Afghan soldiers opened fire on French soldiers. The defence
:09:49. > :09:53.minister, in Afghanistan for the new year, is being sent back. His
:09:53. > :09:57.mission to assess security conditions for French troops. If
:09:57. > :10:02.they are unsatisfactory, then France may consider an early
:10:02. > :10:07.withdrawal. Most French troops are due to remain in place like the
:10:07. > :10:15.rest of the NATO force until the end of 2014 but their mission is
:10:16. > :10:18.not popular in France and the to presidential election. Political
:10:18. > :10:22.as well as military considerations may be starting to count.
:10:22. > :10:24.Now a look at some of the day's other news. There has been heavy
:10:24. > :10:30.fighting in the Somali capital after pro-government forces
:10:30. > :10:32.launched a major offensive to seize territory from al-Shabab militants.
:10:32. > :10:37.Around 1000 soldiers have reportedly captured three al-Shabab
:10:37. > :10:42.basis. African Union forces backing the government says they have
:10:42. > :10:45.advanced for the first time. The government of south Sudan says
:10:45. > :10:49.it is shutting down its oil production as part of a deepening
:10:49. > :10:52.row with its northern neighbour Sudan over revenues. Most of the
:10:52. > :10:57.region's oil lies in south Sudan but it needs to use a northern
:10:57. > :11:01.pipeline to exported. The two countries have been locked in a
:11:01. > :11:06.dispute over pipeline fees. Iran's English-language television
:11:06. > :11:09.station, Press TV, has lost its licence to operate in Britain. The
:11:09. > :11:13.broadcasting regulator Ofcom said the channel have broken the rules
:11:13. > :11:18.because of its editorial control came from Tehran. Press TV has
:11:18. > :11:20.responded by accusing Britain of censorship.
:11:20. > :11:24.The American rhythm and blues singer, Etta James, whose
:11:24. > :11:28.passionate vocals anchored a string of hits, has died in California.
:11:28. > :11:33.She was 83. She had been suffering from dementia and serious health
:11:33. > :11:35.issues. Her ballad, At Last, was the song that made her a star. It
:11:35. > :11:45.became an anthem for weddings, commercials and President Obama's
:11:45. > :11:54.
:11:54. > :11:57.inauguration. Reports from the northern Nigerian
:11:57. > :12:00.city of Kano say there have been a series of explosions there. Details
:12:00. > :12:02.are still coming in but previous blasts have been blamed on the
:12:03. > :12:05.militant group, Boko Haram. In recent months, they have carried
:12:05. > :12:08.out several major attacks including the bombing of the United Nations
:12:09. > :12:17.building in the capital Abuja and an attack on a Christian church on
:12:17. > :12:25.Christmas Day. The most powerful religious leader
:12:25. > :12:33.in northern Nigeria. Here, for hundreds of years, traditional
:12:33. > :12:40.villas have maintained a huge influence. Christians living in the
:12:40. > :12:46.north. A Muslim cleric has come to their church. It is a brave attempt
:12:46. > :12:50.to build bridges between committees but efforts like these are fragile.
:12:50. > :12:54.There is a big issue between Christians and Muslims here in
:12:55. > :12:58.Nigeria which has once led to the historic split within the country
:12:58. > :13:02.between the north and south. But these days there is potentially an
:13:02. > :13:09.even more dangerous separation between the conservative Islamic
:13:09. > :13:11.authorities in northern Nigeria and the more radical groups. The is a
:13:11. > :13:14.must Boko Haram group said they were responsible for several
:13:15. > :13:24.attacks including the deadly bombing of a church on Christmas
:13:24. > :13:28.Day. I put it to a spokesman that they were killing innocent people.
:13:28. > :13:38.I don't understand how churchgoers at a church ceremony on Christmas
:13:38. > :13:59.
:13:59. > :14:04.The Amir of can no granted the BBC a very rare interview. I asked him
:14:04. > :14:12.whether the existence of a violent group in Nigeria meant his
:14:12. > :14:21.traditional power was being eroded. The perpetrators have been told of
:14:21. > :14:25.the tenants of Islam which does not allow a anything bad to happen to
:14:25. > :14:29.anybody so his Highness is always telling her subjects to embrace
:14:29. > :14:33.peace and live peacefully with one another. The vast majority of
:14:33. > :14:43.Nigerians, Christian and Muslim, said they want peace, too, but
:14:43. > :14:45.
:14:46. > :14:51.religion and politics often get in In Italy, the rescue operation
:14:51. > :14:55.aboard the Kung cost -- Costa Concordia or has restarted. The
:14:55. > :15:03.search was temporarily halted for the third time because of fears the
:15:03. > :15:10.ship could slip into deeper water. 21 people are still missing off the
:15:10. > :15:14.island of Ji deal. -- EDL. The families of those still
:15:14. > :15:21.missing came to Giglio today, the chance to see the wreck that still
:15:21. > :15:27.holds their loved ones. Some laid a wreath near the carcass of the ship,
:15:27. > :15:32.a poignant moment. It may be that some passengers did not make it out
:15:32. > :15:37.of the ship because they were given a false sense of security. Footage
:15:37. > :15:47.filmed by a passenger shows how a crew member tried to calm
:15:47. > :16:06.
:16:06. > :16:11.There was some activity on the ship today, albeit on Dec. Below the
:16:11. > :16:17.waterline had been deemed too dangerous for divers to resume
:16:17. > :16:27.their search, because the ship had moved. But yesterday, divers were
:16:27. > :16:27.
:16:27. > :16:32.allowed into the vessel. They came across this. The bell of the ship.
:16:32. > :16:38.As she reflects on the week - macro the events of a week ago, this
:16:38. > :16:48.local resident told me how she and others helped to pull people out of
:16:48. > :16:48.
:16:48. > :16:55.the water. "I still can't believe it," She told me. "Asked myself if
:16:55. > :17:01.it is real. Then I realise it is real. When I go home at night, I
:17:01. > :17:05.remember the crying children, the desperate people." Today, the
:17:05. > :17:09.captain said that if he has made mistakes he is ready to accept
:17:09. > :17:15.responsibility. As the investigation continues into his
:17:15. > :17:21.actions, he claimed he informed management in a phone call as soon
:17:21. > :17:26.as he had hit the rocks. The company denied exerting pressure on
:17:26. > :17:30.him to delay before declaring the ship should be abandoned. There are
:17:30. > :17:36.still many questions about what happened on the Costa Concordia a
:17:36. > :17:41.week ago tonight. Efforts by the United States to
:17:41. > :17:45.clampdown on what it considers to be internet piracy has resulted in
:17:45. > :17:52.one of the Web's most popular file- sharing sites been closed down.
:17:52. > :17:56.Those allegedly behind it had been arrested. Four people from the Mega
:17:56. > :18:02.Upload site were detained in New Zealand after an extradition
:18:02. > :18:12.request from America. Hackers are angry. They have attacked US
:18:12. > :18:16.
:18:16. > :18:26.It was a thriving business with high-profile musicians apparently
:18:26. > :18:30.happy to promote it. Now Mega Upload has been closed and its
:18:30. > :18:36.executives have appeared in a New Zealand court. The US authorities
:18:36. > :18:40.have accused them of facilitating millions of illegal downloads, in a
:18:40. > :18:48.criminal conspiracy. Homs belonging to the German-born founder have
:18:48. > :18:55.been raided. Hackers retaliated, shutting down some American
:18:55. > :18:59.Government websites for a while, to protest against the closure. It was
:18:59. > :19:07.one of the most popular sites on the internet, with 150 million
:19:07. > :19:14.people using it to what blood material, and to download files. -
:19:14. > :19:19.Mega Upload material. It earned this man �27 million last year. The
:19:19. > :19:29.FBI says it cost copyright holders more than �300 million in lost
:19:29. > :19:35.
:19:35. > :19:44.revenue. The battle over online piracy is hotting up. This band
:19:44. > :19:48.says it is not a crime. People have given up on paying for music. We
:19:48. > :19:52.don't want to be rich, we just want to make a living so we can produce
:19:52. > :19:56.another album. If we don't get revenue, how can we produce another
:19:56. > :20:01.album? But where the freedom campaigners warn against over-
:20:01. > :20:07.reaction. It is important to remember that a file hosts are
:20:07. > :20:11.legitimate services. They are incredibly useful for all internet
:20:11. > :20:17.users and businesses. We need to make sure we do not throw the baby
:20:17. > :20:22.out with the bath water. Mega Upload, based in Hong Kong, may
:20:22. > :20:29.have been put out of business. But aside promising something similar
:20:29. > :20:33.has surfaced in Belize. Funerals in some parts of the world
:20:33. > :20:37.can be colourful occasions. More of a celebration of a life than the
:20:37. > :20:40.mournful event. There is no movement here in Britain to make
:20:40. > :20:49.funerals more personal and meaningful to the people left
:20:49. > :20:59.behind. None of our mates knew what it was
:20:59. > :21:05.
:21:05. > :21:10.like to lose somebody. This is a film of a family funeral. When Jane
:21:10. > :21:14.Harris and Jimmy Adams lost their son, they wanted to remember what
:21:14. > :21:21.was a very personal, heartfelt and home made fare well. The film has a
:21:21. > :21:25.message. Funerals matter. You don't have to make do with tradition.
:21:25. > :21:33.know I personally did not want some awful funeral which meant nothing
:21:33. > :21:38.to me. People standing around not knowing what to do. I could not
:21:39. > :21:48.bear it to be hands off. The film is part of the first festival of
:21:49. > :21:49.
:21:49. > :21:54.death, which tries to find better ways to say goodbye. We often
:21:54. > :22:00.imagine our own funeral will be vivid and heart-warming. Too often
:22:00. > :22:09.funerals are dreary and understated. We are looking at your coffin,
:22:09. > :22:15.aren't we? Yes. Here is Ivan, a man who will be buried in a kite. A
:22:15. > :22:19.cough and with humour and an innings. We are all floating on the
:22:19. > :22:29.winds of chance. Do you feel uncomfortable thinking about your
:22:29. > :22:35.
:22:35. > :22:40.own death? No. No I do not. Let nature take care of itself.
:22:40. > :22:49.Alongside that there are other personalised coffins. This is for a
:22:49. > :22:59.train enthusiast. This is a corker. A festival about death? It is a
:22:59. > :23:03.
:23:03. > :23:09.Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev is one of the 20th century's
:23:09. > :23:18.greatest and most popular composers. He remains an enigma as a person.
:23:19. > :23:28.He renounced the artistic freedom of Paris and return home to live in
:23:29. > :23:41.
:23:41. > :23:45.Russia under Stalin. Was Prokofiev The rehearsal of a rarely performed
:23:45. > :23:55.Prokofiev work. The aim of the festival is to delve deep into the
:23:55. > :23:55.
:23:55. > :24:01.work of the composer. We are trying to find out what was Sergei
:24:01. > :24:08.Prokofiev, what kind of man, what kind of artist was he? Was the
:24:08. > :24:14.Russian, was he a man of the world? Was he connected to an ideology?
:24:14. > :24:23.immigrant from Revolution Tour and Russia, he found fame in the West
:24:23. > :24:26.only to return back to Russia in the 1930s. He was forced to comply
:24:26. > :24:31.with the rules of socialism. Some of his best music was written
:24:31. > :24:39.during that period. compositions he wrote the first 10
:24:39. > :24:44.years when he came back to Russia, were incredibly inspired. He really
:24:44. > :24:54.enjoyed writing music that he loved and feeling it was reaching a wide
:24:54. > :25:01.
:25:01. > :25:06.audience. Gabriel Prokofiev's piece was performed at last year's Proms.
:25:06. > :25:12.He says he is strongly influenced by his grandfather's music. I am
:25:12. > :25:17.doing something similar, taking the rhythms from the clubs and from the
:25:17. > :25:22.radio and from people's cars, and bringing that into my classical
:25:22. > :25:30.compositions. I feel I am doing something that really connects to
:25:30. > :25:37.the contemporary world we live in. Prokofiev paradoxically has been
:25:37. > :25:42.scorned by some in the West for eulogising the totalitarian regime.
:25:42. > :25:48.But this man has condensed much of the greatness of the music is how
:25:48. > :25:54.it reflects the tragic and dramatic times. We are more capable of
:25:54. > :25:58.understanding our times and the past times in the 20th century.
:25:58. > :26:04.Something which has always been an immense interest to me as an
:26:04. > :26:12.offspring of the Soviet Russian past, which I am not denying.
:26:12. > :26:21.Rather the opposite, I find it is a very important component of my
:26:21. > :26:26.artistic and human integrity. Prokofiev's contemporary said in
:26:26. > :26:30.her great poem, Requiem, I was there with my people, where my
:26:30. > :26:38.people certainly were. Sergei Prokofiev would have said that
:26:38. > :26:42.himself. That he was a man of the people.
:26:42. > :26:52.Alexander can on the the great Russian composer, Sir Guy Prokofiev.
:26:52. > :27:01.
:27:01. > :27:07.That ends World News today. Good Hello. Today's rain clears into the
:27:07. > :27:13.North Sea tonight. The wind picks up. It will be a windy weekend.
:27:13. > :27:19.There will be showers. Low pressure to the north. Isobars close
:27:19. > :27:26.together, the strong wind. Patchy light rain south across England and
:27:26. > :27:33.Wales. Showers coming into northern Scotland. Snow on the high ground.
:27:33. > :27:42.Northern England will brighten nicely. Strong winds over the east
:27:42. > :27:47.of the Pennines. At weather front taking its cloud and rain further
:27:47. > :27:52.south across England. In southern England you'll be hard pressed to
:27:52. > :27:59.find much in the where uprightness. Another mild day. Gradually
:27:59. > :28:04.brightening up in Wales. Drily in north-west England. A similar