:00:14. > :00:19.This is World News Today with me, Zeinab Badawi. The UN Security
:00:19. > :00:23.Council is about to discuss a draft resolution urging the Syria's
:00:23. > :00:27.President Assad to step down. But in Syria itself, the authorities
:00:27. > :00:30.launched a massive attack on opposition strongholds in what one
:00:30. > :00:35.activist calls a terrifying massacre.
:00:35. > :00:39.Keeping watch on Iran - the head of the UN's atomic agency tells us he
:00:39. > :00:43.does not believe Teheran has revealed everything about its
:00:43. > :00:48.nuclear programme. The problem is that we are not sure whether Iran
:00:48. > :00:52.has declared everything, and therefore we cannot give assurance
:00:52. > :00:57.that everything is for a peaceful purpose.
:00:57. > :01:01.An escalating dispute over oil wealth. The leaders of Sudan and
:01:01. > :01:06.South Sudan that failed to resolve their differences at mediation
:01:06. > :01:11.talks in Ethiopia. Also coming up: At the highest unemployment rate in
:01:11. > :01:14.the developed world - we report from Spain, where the new
:01:14. > :01:24.government is grappling with the new jobless rate, which is twice
:01:24. > :01:30.
:01:30. > :01:40.And a musical meditation on that September macro as the world
:01:40. > :01:44.
:01:44. > :01:48.renowned grimness Quartet comes to Hello and welcome. Activist in
:01:48. > :01:52.Syria say government forces have launched renewed assaults on
:01:52. > :01:57.several cities. Witnesses say beef feared 4th division is leading the
:01:57. > :02:02.attack in the City of Hama. These pictures, which we are unable to
:02:02. > :02:06.verify, seem to show people demonstrating after Friday prayers
:02:06. > :02:11.in the cities of Homs and another city. Activists say that shortly
:02:11. > :02:14.after these pictures were taken, security forces opened fire. More
:02:14. > :02:19.than 130 people are believed to have been killed across Syria in
:02:19. > :02:26.the last 48 hours. The head of the Arab League observer mission says
:02:26. > :02:30.violence and Syria has risen sharply since Tuesday. But what of
:02:30. > :02:33.the opposition fighters who have taken up arms or defected from the
:02:33. > :02:38.Syrian army? Our Middle East Editor reports now from the Damascus
:02:38. > :02:42.suburb of where the Assad Government's grip appears to be
:02:42. > :02:48.weakening. To find out the strength of the
:02:48. > :02:55.opposition, drive into the suburbs of Damascus. We had no idea what we
:02:55. > :02:59.would discover. We found the Free Syria Army, deserters from the
:02:59. > :03:03.President's forces and local men, securing a poor district on the
:03:04. > :03:09.edge of the city. They said they were protecting the people who were
:03:09. > :03:18.about to hold a funeral. They looked well established here, with
:03:18. > :03:22.sandbag firing positions. Everyone was on edge. For 10 months, the
:03:22. > :03:25.regime's forces have been cracking down hard on Friday protests. This
:03:25. > :03:32.commander said he had been a general in the Syrian government
:03:32. > :03:40.forces. A man interrupted to praise the Free Syria Army. Then,
:03:40. > :03:47.something nobody wanted to hear. Security are coming? Don't be
:03:47. > :03:55.afraid, said the general, our resistance is strong. Some of them
:03:55. > :03:59.got ready to fight. Stay with me, said the general, don't be afraid.
:03:59. > :04:03.Sentries were sending in information by phone. They all
:04:03. > :04:07.seemed to know what was happening. They went into their positions and
:04:07. > :04:17.others moved to deeper into the suburb, where the funeral had
:04:17. > :04:22.
:04:22. > :04:30.It had felt as if every man in the suburb was there.
:04:30. > :04:40.A big send-off for a man who was killed by the security forces.
:04:40. > :04:47.Across Syria, funerals are focus for opposition. They chanted, "oh,
:04:47. > :04:50.God, you're all we have. We are your men". This is another section
:04:50. > :04:55.of the suburbs of Damascus which has slipped out of the control of
:04:55. > :05:02.President Assad. The only way he can enforce his authority is by
:05:02. > :05:06.sending in his men and by using their guns and bullets. And for a
:05:06. > :05:11.moment, that is what we thought was about to happen. It shows the
:05:12. > :05:21.tension, even with the Free Syria Army close by. It was time for us
:05:22. > :05:22.
:05:22. > :05:25.to go. He warned about snipers. Getting out was not easy. The Free
:05:25. > :05:31.Syria Army controller a surprisingly big area, but it was
:05:31. > :05:35.surrounded. All this does not mean that the president is about to fall.
:05:35. > :05:39.He has his own strong support and lethal weapons, but the regime's
:05:39. > :05:46.forces cannot be everywhere at once and the power of the opposition is
:05:46. > :05:50.growing. Those dramatic scenes were from
:05:50. > :05:53.Damascus. The head of the un's atomic agency
:05:53. > :05:58.is urging Iran to engage constructively with a team of
:05:58. > :06:01.inspectors heading to Tehran this weekend. A report by the
:06:01. > :06:06.International Atomic Energy Agency in November has reinforced
:06:06. > :06:11.suspicions that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, despite its
:06:11. > :06:15.repeated denials. The IAEA chief, Yukiya Amano, said efforts to
:06:15. > :06:24.verify whether Iran's nuclear activities Arfon on a military
:06:24. > :06:28.purposes had been hampered by a lack of co-operation. Talks on
:06:28. > :06:33.around's nuclear ambitions broke Darin Turkey one year ago. The
:06:33. > :06:37.Iranian President, Mahmood Ahmadinejad, insists Tehran is not
:06:37. > :06:42.budget negotiations and is ready for talks with world powers. But
:06:42. > :06:45.several other countries are still waiting for Tehran took reply to a
:06:45. > :06:51.letter sent by the European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine
:06:51. > :06:56.Ashton, in October, calling for any discussions. The EU imposed its
:06:56. > :07:00.harsher sanctions yet on Iran this week, including an oil embargo and
:07:00. > :07:04.freezing of its central bank assets. Britain, France and the US also
:07:04. > :07:09.recently sailed warships through the Strait of Hall news, a key
:07:09. > :07:13.supply route which Iran has repeatedly threatened to close. And
:07:13. > :07:17.today, the Israeli Defence Minister called for even tougher sanctions
:07:17. > :07:21.to stop the run from reaching the point where a military strike could
:07:21. > :07:25.not prevent it from having nuclear weapons.
:07:25. > :07:29.I have been talking to the head of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, at the
:07:29. > :07:35.World Economic Forum en Davos. Does he believe the later sanctions by
:07:35. > :07:41.the EU will have the desired effect of making Iran return to the
:07:41. > :07:45.negotiating table? -- latest sanctions. In my view, engaging
:07:45. > :07:50.with the IAEA will clarify the outstanding issue and it should be
:07:50. > :07:54.in the interests of Iran itself. And do you believe that Iran has
:07:54. > :08:00.declared everything in respect of its nuclear programme? You had
:08:00. > :08:09.these inspectors going to Tehran to start their work. -- you have.
:08:09. > :08:13.is a problem. Iran has declared a good number of facilities and they
:08:13. > :08:18.are under the IAEA Safe Guard, and we can verify that they stay in
:08:18. > :08:25.peaceful purposes. The problem is that we are not sure whether Iran
:08:25. > :08:30.has declared everything and therefore we cannot give assurances
:08:30. > :08:38.that everything is for a peaceful purpose. Do you personally believe,
:08:38. > :08:43.Yukiya Amano, that Iran is trying to develop a nuclear bomb? We have
:08:43. > :08:47.chosen our words very carefully. We do not say that Iran has nuclear
:08:47. > :08:53.weapons. We do not say that Iran has made a decision to develop
:08:53. > :09:00.nuclear weapons. What we said to is that we have the information that
:09:00. > :09:04.indicates that Iran engaged in activities relevant to the
:09:04. > :09:11.development of nuclear explosive devices, and the information is
:09:11. > :09:15.credible. Therefore, we would like to clarify these issues. The EU has
:09:15. > :09:20.imposed its toughest sanctions yet. Do you believe that the United
:09:20. > :09:25.Nations is going to also route follows suit and ask for a total
:09:25. > :09:30.oil embargoes and a frieze of all central bank assets? Do you think
:09:30. > :09:36.Japan will follow suit? Is that what you are pushing for? As we are
:09:36. > :09:43.not working in the sanction of fields, we are working in the area
:09:43. > :09:49.of a verification. It is difficult. In my view, the IAEA has a role to
:09:49. > :09:53.play and countries have a role to play, the UN has a role to play and
:09:53. > :09:57.everyone needs to work in it their own fields and with a combination
:09:58. > :10:02.of efforts, we hope that we can make progress. Israel is one
:10:02. > :10:08.country that is very worried about Iran's nuclear ambitions. The
:10:08. > :10:12.Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, has said he is content to see the world
:10:12. > :10:16.in the driving seat in terms of getting a diplomatic resolution but
:10:16. > :10:22.he said he would never turn down the option of using force against
:10:22. > :10:29.Iran unilaterally. A my response to that is that we have to solve this
:10:29. > :10:35.issue through dialogue. By dialogue, I mean that Iran has to tell us
:10:35. > :10:41.everything. I have identified the areas where Iran needs to engage
:10:41. > :10:47.with us. Iran has a case to answer. What do you say to the Israelis?
:10:47. > :10:52.You have met Ehud Barak in Davos, who says that balls is not going to
:10:52. > :10:59.be taken off the table. Barack Obama also said similar things.
:10:59. > :11:06.What do you say? I am doing everything possible in my power to
:11:06. > :11:12.solve this issue of in a peaceful manner. I believe that Israel
:11:12. > :11:17.appreciates that the IAEA is to starting its responsibility. By the
:11:17. > :11:25.way, I believe that all the countries support activities to
:11:25. > :11:29.verify the nuclear activities of Iran. The head of the UN's atomic
:11:29. > :11:33.agency, the IAEA, talking to me from Davos.
:11:33. > :11:37.Coil is a commodity that is often seen as a curse and a blessing. It
:11:37. > :11:40.is hard to know which way it will go at the moment for South Sudan.
:11:40. > :11:44.When the country became independent six months ago, and neighbouring
:11:45. > :11:48.Sudan lost most of its oil wealth because the most of the fields were
:11:48. > :11:52.in the South. The dispute is escalating over the revenues are
:11:52. > :11:57.linked to the oil pipelines that run through Sudan. The presidents
:11:57. > :12:06.of the two countries failed to reach agreement during mediation
:12:06. > :12:09.talks in Addis Ababa today. This stand-off is already being
:12:09. > :12:14.called the oil war. Last week, South Sudan announced it was
:12:14. > :12:18.stopping its oil production after accusing Sudan of stealing its oil.
:12:18. > :12:22.Saddam had started confiscating South Sudan's most precious
:12:22. > :12:28.resource when both sides were unable to agree how much the new
:12:28. > :12:34.country should pay in transit fees. -- Sudan or had it started. Issues
:12:34. > :12:41.like the borders, citizenship and others were unresolved. About
:12:41. > :12:44.three-quarters of the oil fields in South Sudan are under dispute. But
:12:44. > :12:48.as a landlocked country, South Sudan relies on Saddam for the
:12:48. > :12:54.pipelines. The dispute about the transit fees continued attention
:12:54. > :13:04.group. Hearing Khartoum, they know that Sudan's economy needs that
:13:04. > :13:04.
:13:04. > :13:08.money. -- here in at Khartoum. Euphoria of Independence Day
:13:08. > :13:13.celebrations didn't last long. South Saddam's decision to shut all
:13:13. > :13:18.production down as Gail -- gained support throughout the country but
:13:18. > :13:21.there are tough economic times ahead. During the long years of war,
:13:21. > :13:26.south Sudanese people managed without oil revenues and they could
:13:26. > :13:30.tear it again. That is the gist of President Salva Kiir's message.
:13:30. > :13:35.Others fear that if there is no agreement over or oil, Sudan and
:13:35. > :13:40.South Sudan could drift into another conflict.
:13:40. > :13:43.Let's take a look at some of the other news. The President of France,
:13:43. > :13:48.Nicolas Sarkozy, has announced French combat troops will leave
:13:48. > :13:51.Afghanistan at the end of 2013. He also said French soldiers in
:13:51. > :13:59.Afghanistan will resume their training mission from Saturday.
:13:59. > :14:03.Last week, four French troops in Officials in Iraq say at least 32
:14:04. > :14:09.people have died after a blast near Bureau procession in a mainly Shia
:14:09. > :14:15.area of Baghdad. They say be blast was caused by a suicide bomber
:14:15. > :14:19.driving a car laden with explosives. -- near a funeral procession.
:14:19. > :14:23.The Olympic Village in London has been handed over by the organisers
:14:23. > :14:26.of the 2012 games exactly six months before the opening ceremony.
:14:27. > :14:31.The apartments will cater for 16,000 athletes and officials from
:14:31. > :14:35.200 countries. Spain now has the highest
:14:35. > :14:40.unemployment rate in the developed world. The latest figures show that
:14:40. > :14:45.5.3 million people are without a job, nearly 23% of the workforce.
:14:45. > :14:55.That is more than twice the average unemployment rate in the eurozone.
:14:55. > :14:57.
:14:57. > :15:02.They wait for work in a suburb in southern Madrid. These men moved to
:15:02. > :15:06.Spain and used to work here in the construction industry. Now, only
:15:06. > :15:11.the odd day's work is available. Many others are waiting outside
:15:11. > :15:15.Jobcentres. Two weeks ago we saw these people queuing outside
:15:15. > :15:20.because all the seats inside were taken. This man is a photographer,
:15:20. > :15:24.who lost his job just a few days previously. He told us things were
:15:24. > :15:28.getting worse, and he does not know when Spain will start creating more
:15:28. > :15:33.jobs. Nearly one in four of those looking for work in Spain do not
:15:33. > :15:38.have a job. For young people, that figure is nearly one in two. It is
:15:38. > :15:42.a massive problem for the relatively new government. Since
:15:42. > :15:47.then leader took power at the end of last year he has announced a
:15:47. > :15:51.significant public spending cuts to rein in the country's debt. He will
:15:51. > :15:54.soon announce Labour reforms, to make it easier to hire and fire.
:15:54. > :15:59.For the government here, unemployment is a double-edged
:15:59. > :16:03.sword. It gets less money through income tax and pays out more in
:16:03. > :16:09.benefits. It also means that people here in Spain have less money to
:16:09. > :16:18.spend, so growth is drying up, and Spain is all but technically in a
:16:18. > :16:21.recession. At the World economic Forum in Davos, awards are made in
:16:21. > :16:26.recognition of achievements from all walks of life, and the Crystal
:16:26. > :16:31.Award is given to artists who have used their art to improve the state
:16:31. > :16:35.of the world, as the prize says. One winner this year is the South
:16:35. > :16:39.Africans singer Yvonna Chaka Chaka, known by some as the Princess of
:16:39. > :16:44.Africa. She's the first African woman to get this prize. In her
:16:44. > :16:49.speech, she said that growing up in South Africa under apartheid had
:16:49. > :16:53.told her that giving people the dignity was vital to building
:16:53. > :17:02.fairer society is, which are critical to building a safe and
:17:02. > :17:12.secure world. She treated her audience to a song.
:17:12. > :17:13.
:17:13. > :17:22.# This is the power of Africa. # Let all the people unite.
:17:22. > :17:32.# From north to self, just feel the power of Africa. Let's speak to
:17:32. > :17:38.Yvonna Chaka Chaka now. Rain, congratulations. It must have been
:17:38. > :17:44.difficult to perform in those circumstances. Yes. You said in
:17:44. > :17:48.your speech that a fairer society is what you're after, when you look
:17:48. > :17:53.at South Africa, it is really not doing very well on that score, is
:17:53. > :17:59.it, with the allegations of corruption and everything? Well,
:18:00. > :18:03.thank you very much for having me. I want to say, I'm lucky to be a
:18:03. > :18:07.South African, particularly a woman. I think we have got a great
:18:07. > :18:12.Minister of Health, a doctor by profession, who understands all the
:18:12. > :18:18.problems that people are having, and I think we need to give him the
:18:18. > :18:22.thumbs-up. Just looking at what's going on in the rest of the
:18:23. > :18:27.continent, you hear about young people saying, we want jobs, we
:18:27. > :18:37.want to have a share of the wealth, you see that in Nigeria, surely
:18:37. > :18:42.that is something you must be pushing for? You know, for me,
:18:42. > :18:46.being an ambassador, I have seen so many faces and places, it is 10
:18:47. > :18:51.years and we have seen change in that time. When I started as a
:18:51. > :18:56.goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, a child was dying from malaria every
:18:56. > :19:01.30 seconds. Now, we can proudly say it is every 45 seconds. But I want
:19:01. > :19:06.to see the time when we say every sat back, or maybe just one each
:19:06. > :19:09.day. It is important that people are given medication. Malaria is
:19:09. > :19:15.treatable and curable, and I still do not understand why people should
:19:15. > :19:20.be dying from it. Especially women and children, they're the most
:19:20. > :19:25.vulnerable. But I would like to think all those people, the British
:19:25. > :19:30.Government, the malaria Project, everybody supporting us, we need to
:19:30. > :19:33.be supported, we need funding, so that those people should not die.
:19:33. > :19:38.Now is not the time to put the brakes on. You're concerned about
:19:38. > :19:44.young people, as you say, do you feel the continent is failing its
:19:44. > :19:48.young people? For me, young people are our future, we need to engage
:19:48. > :19:53.them now, we need to give them skills and jobs, so they can be
:19:53. > :19:57.better citizens. If that is not done right now, we will be judged
:19:57. > :20:01.by the very same people. I want to say to present governments in
:20:01. > :20:09.Africa, we need you to invest in your people, above all, you need to
:20:09. > :20:13.educate them and give them the skills to become better citizens.
:20:14. > :20:19.It may be possible to detect autism at a much earlier age than had been
:20:19. > :20:22.thought, according to an international team of researchers.
:20:22. > :20:27.They identified differences in the brain waves of infants from as
:20:27. > :20:34.early as six months. Autism charities said identifying the
:20:34. > :20:39.disorder at an earlier stage could help. This is how you test the
:20:39. > :20:43.brain patterns of babies. This youngster is eight Mum sold and
:20:43. > :20:47.developing normally. These electrodes will painlessly pick up
:20:47. > :20:51.his responses. There was a big difference in his brain activity
:20:51. > :20:56.between the periods when the faces on the screen were looking straight
:20:56. > :21:02.towards him, compared to when they looked away. This suggests normal
:21:02. > :21:06.social interaction. 100 would -- 100 babies were tested in total,
:21:06. > :21:11.and with some of those who later developed autism, there was little
:21:11. > :21:15.difference in brain patterns. showing us something we did not
:21:15. > :21:21.know before, about these differences being identified at six
:21:21. > :21:26.months. Nobody wants to read too much into this small study. The
:21:26. > :21:31.test predicted autism correctly some of the time, but it also got
:21:32. > :21:36.it wrong several times as well. The prospect of diagnosing autism in
:21:36. > :21:42.its infancy is hugely attractive, because the earlier it is spotted
:21:42. > :21:45.and support begins, the better the outcome for children. But this
:21:45. > :21:50.research is really in the very early stages, and the test will
:21:50. > :21:55.need to be a lot more accurate before it can be used routinely.
:21:55. > :22:00.This nine-year-old seem to develop normally until about 18 months, but
:22:00. > :22:05.then his speech stopped. His mother says, as with any health condition,
:22:06. > :22:11.early diagnosis is vital. He went from a child who was very sociable,
:22:11. > :22:15.interactive, responding to his name, talking a few words, to none of the
:22:15. > :22:20.above. Perhaps if we had known at six months, which is what this
:22:20. > :22:24.study might suggest, we could have done something even earlier. A lot
:22:24. > :22:34.more babies are going to be studied in a wider trial at Birkbeck
:22:34. > :22:36.
:22:36. > :22:40.College in London, a move which has been welcomed by autism charities.
:22:40. > :22:44.Now, the Kronos Quartet is one of the most renowned exponents of
:22:44. > :22:49.contemporary music in the world. They're beginning their residency
:22:49. > :22:54.in London. They will be performing a musical meditation on 9/11. They
:22:54. > :22:58.will also be performing a world premiere by the Ukrainian composer
:22:58. > :23:08.of Valentin silvestrov. We got exclusive access to the first
:23:08. > :23:18.
:23:18. > :23:26.rehearsal. It is the first time the musicians have seen the music.
:23:26. > :23:32.Valentin Silvestrov And the Kronos Quartet are rehearsing a world
:23:33. > :23:42.premiere. The composer was surprisingly slow to accept the
:23:43. > :23:43.
:23:43. > :23:47.offer. TRANSLATION: I never usually right
:23:47. > :23:51.when I am offered a commission. A long time ago, in the Soviet days,
:23:51. > :23:55.I was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture to write a piece
:23:55. > :24:05.glorifying a party congress. I told them I would love to, but I was
:24:05. > :24:15.busy composing a nocturne. This put me off writing commissions for ever.
:24:15. > :24:17.
:24:17. > :24:24.But the long wait turned out to be worth the while, for Valentin
:24:24. > :24:30.Silvestrov. It is an astonishing experience to work with him. We do
:24:30. > :24:35.not have a common verbal language, so we have a translator, and we are
:24:35. > :24:44.asking questions and getting answers in various language, it is
:24:44. > :24:54.an incredible experience. The range of Kronos's repertoire is extremely
:24:54. > :24:56.
:24:56. > :25:03.wide, here playing with the singer Alim Qasimov. From jazz and rock to
:25:03. > :25:07.the huge variety of ethnic music. For the quartet's leader, however,
:25:07. > :25:14.these contrasting elements are all parts of one single musical
:25:14. > :25:21.universe. I cannot wait to wake up every morning and explore. So, for
:25:21. > :25:29.me, being a musician allows me to explore the world. I think all of
:25:29. > :25:36.us in the Kronos Quartet feel that. A traditional Iranian lullaby, as
:25:36. > :25:42.well as music from Iraq, Uzbekistan and other countries, blend together
:25:43. > :25:50.in to A wakening, a meditation on the anniversary of 9/11, which
:25:50. > :25:59.culminates with a piece by the American composer Michael Gore.
:25:59. > :26:04.Given everything that's going on right now in the world, I think
:26:04. > :26:14.music can actually point directions for the way things might be able to
:26:14. > :26:26.
:26:26. > :26:30.Before we go, a reminder of the main news. Activists in Syria say
:26:30. > :26:35.government forces have launched renewed assaults on several cities.
:26:35. > :26:39.More than 130 people are believed to have been killed in the last 48
:26:39. > :26:43.hours. The head of the Arab League observer mission says violence has
:26:43. > :26:53.risen sharply since Tuesday, when the mission's mandate was renewed
:26:53. > :27:03.
:27:03. > :27:08.for another month. That is all from Tonight, icy roads and widespread
:27:08. > :27:14.frost, with temperatures down to minus 7 in Scotland. Tomorrow, it
:27:14. > :27:17.should be a cracking start to the weekend, if you like it bright.
:27:17. > :27:23.This high pressure will be coming in for the start of the weekend. It
:27:23. > :27:30.will be cold and frosty. Still some cloud in the south-east of England,
:27:30. > :27:35.with the odd chance of a shower. A aide change across northern England,
:27:35. > :27:40.compared to those wintry showers that we have had today. But there
:27:40. > :27:46.is still the chance of the odd shower across East Anglia and the
:27:46. > :27:55.south-east. Over the past few days we have had some gusty winds, but
:27:55. > :27:59.they will be much lighter at the start of the weekend. In Northern
:27:59. > :28:09.Ireland and the far north-west of Scotland, you will get cloud
:28:09. > :28:10.
:28:10. > :28:16.increasing the further Lothians you are. Another cold one on Saturday