:00:15. > :00:20.This is World News Today. One year on in the Syrian uprising
:00:20. > :00:25.and the country is divide and in the midst of conflex. Rallies in
:00:25. > :00:30.support of the government in Damascus, as a newspaper publishes
:00:30. > :00:34.when it says are President Bashar al-Assad's personal e-mails.
:00:34. > :00:38.As antiAmerican sentiment hardens, the Taliban suspends, talks with
:00:38. > :00:42.the United States. One of China's best-known and flamboyant
:00:42. > :00:46.politicians, is sacked suddenly from his post. What does this tell
:00:46. > :00:54.us about China's future political direction? Also coming up in the
:00:54. > :00:59.programme: Loss and grief in the Swiss Alps. As Belgium announces a
:00:59. > :01:03.day of mourning, investigation noose the accident continue. And in
:01:03. > :01:13.Greece, the potato sellers helping families squeezed by the debt
:01:13. > :01:19.
:01:19. > :01:25.Hello and welcome. I'm Zeinab Badawi. One year on and
:01:25. > :01:30.the Arab Spring in Syria has been likened by some to an Arab autumn.
:01:30. > :01:34.The leaves falling off a deeply embedded tree, as a metaphor for
:01:34. > :01:40.the number of people killed in the Syrian uprising, while the Assad
:01:40. > :01:44.government is solid. Many thousands have fled their
:01:44. > :01:49.homes to escape the conflict. Yes this report.
:01:49. > :01:51.Against the odds, Syria's rebels continue to fight back.
:01:51. > :01:58.The pictures are difficult to very few.
:01:58. > :02:05.This is thought to be in the central town of Hama.
:02:05. > :02:11.They celebrate a small victory. But the Free Syrian Army is heavily
:02:11. > :02:18.outgunned and outnumbered. In homss -- Homs, opposition activists
:02:18. > :02:23.release film of security forces going house-to-house. Activists say
:02:23. > :02:27.that the government is carrying out a scorched earth policy, destroying
:02:27. > :02:29.everything of use to the opposition, but in Damascus, a mass rally in
:02:29. > :02:34.support of President Bashar al- Assad, broadcast on state
:02:34. > :02:40.television. It was spring, 2011 that saw the
:02:40. > :02:43.first demonstrations. Starting in the southern town of
:02:43. > :02:46.Deraa. The target of people's anger,
:02:46. > :02:51.President Bashar al-Assad. His family have ruled Syria for
:02:52. > :02:57.more than 40 years. As the protests spread, the
:02:57. > :03:01.response of the security forces became increasingly violent.
:03:01. > :03:04.Some members of the Syria army defected to fight for the
:03:04. > :03:09.opposition, but not in big enough numbers to tip the balance.
:03:09. > :03:12.The government has tried to deal with the situation with a
:03:12. > :03:16.combination of miner concessions and brute force. In April,
:03:16. > :03:21.President Bashar al-Assad promised a new constitution. Offering
:03:21. > :03:26.multiparty elections. The government says it is facing an
:03:26. > :03:31.armed insurgency and has blamed terrorist gangs for the violence.
:03:31. > :03:38.But at the same time, the authorities have continued to use
:03:38. > :03:41.force against unarmed protesters. Opposition strongholds like Homs
:03:41. > :03:46.and Idlib have been besieged and bombarded.
:03:46. > :03:50.There have been reports of troops going house-to-house in some areas,
:03:50. > :03:54.killing civilians, including women and children.
:03:54. > :04:02.Just as Syria has been divided, so has the international community.
:04:02. > :04:07.The can I has been suspended from the Arab League, while the EU and
:04:07. > :04:11.the Us have imsupposed sanctions, however, there has been no
:04:11. > :04:15.agreement to call for the end to the violence, because of Russian
:04:15. > :04:20.and Chinese objections. Hopes are now pinned on the new international
:04:20. > :04:26.envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, but his push for a peace plan, which began
:04:26. > :04:30.in Damascus, last weekend, has yet to yield any results.
:04:30. > :04:34.While military intervention has been ruled out by Western nations,
:04:34. > :04:42.there are calls by some Arab countries to arm the opposition. An
:04:42. > :04:47.option that would surely see the country slip further into Civil War.
:04:47. > :04:50.Well, one year on and some intriguing details about President
:04:50. > :04:55.Bashar al-Assad in the midst of the uprising have epercentaged. More
:04:55. > :04:59.than 3,000 of his personal e-mails have apparently been leaked by
:04:59. > :05:04.Syrian opposition figures to the British newspaper, the Guardian.
:05:04. > :05:08.They shed light on his private life and reveal advice given by
:05:08. > :05:13.individuals, including officials from Iran on how to respond to the
:05:13. > :05:17.opposition. We cannot verify the e-mail's
:05:17. > :05:21.authenticity, but it is believed they are genuine. In one e-mail,
:05:21. > :05:29.President Bashar al-Assad jokes about reforms in a message to his
:05:29. > :05:35.wife and refers to:, "The rubbish laws of parties, elections and
:05:35. > :05:41.media. Later, President Bashar al- Assad is advised to take a hard
:05:41. > :05:51.line against the opposition in an e-mail from Hamza Al-Khatib.
:05:51. > :05:54.
:05:54. > :06:00.The e-mail seems to confirm the strong bond between President
:06:00. > :06:04.Bashar al-Assad and his British- born wife, Asma.
:06:04. > :06:07.The Syrian government has denied these were President Bashar al-
:06:07. > :06:12.Assad's personal e-mails. Well, a taste there of what was
:06:13. > :06:17.contained in some of the e-mails. Now, Hamid Karzai has called for
:06:17. > :06:22.NATO-led forces to pull back to their bases and end patrols in
:06:22. > :06:26.Afghan villages. The remarks come after the killing of 16 civilians
:06:26. > :06:31.by an American soldier last weekend. In a separate development, there
:06:31. > :06:35.has been a setback for peace talks before they even started. The
:06:35. > :06:41.Taliban suspending negotiations as they objected to the involvement of
:06:41. > :06:44.the Afghan government. Lyse Doucet told us what is known about the
:06:44. > :06:49.reasons for the Taliban's opposition.
:06:49. > :06:55.Even though the Taliban have been trying to capitalise on the late's
:06:56. > :07:01.violence in the country, including the killing of Afghan civilians, 16,
:07:01. > :07:04.this has less to do with that, than the tentative process of dialogue
:07:04. > :07:08.with the Americans. It was a significant achievement that the
:07:08. > :07:12.Taliban had agreed to open a political office in Qatar, had
:07:12. > :07:17.agreed to talk to the Americans about getting their prisoners out
:07:17. > :07:20.of Guantanamo Bay and other detention centres, given the gap of
:07:20. > :07:24.confidence between the two sides and the fact that they are still
:07:24. > :07:27.attacking each other, but what is also clear is that they have
:07:27. > :07:32.different ideas about where the dialogue goes next. They say they
:07:32. > :07:36.want to talk about their prisoners and only to talk to the Americans
:07:36. > :07:44.about that, not to Hamid Karzai. Where as the Americans were told,
:07:44. > :07:49.had made it clear to their Taliban interlock terse, that the next step
:07:49. > :07:53.was to bring in the Afghan government.
:07:53. > :07:58.Now let's take a look at some of the day's other nis. In Egypt,
:07:58. > :08:06.prosecutors have charged 75 people in connection with last month's
:08:06. > :08:12.football rioting in which more than 70 people were killed. The writhe
:08:12. > :08:15.happened in Port Said. Days of protest followed the writhe, with
:08:15. > :08:21.thousands holding the governing Military Council responsible.
:08:21. > :08:25.Evidence emerges shows that another 7,000 women in the UK I may have
:08:25. > :08:28.received faulty breast implants from PIP. This brings to 47,000 the
:08:28. > :08:31.number of women affected. The Department of Health has advised
:08:31. > :08:35.those with worries to see their doctors.
:08:35. > :08:38.David Cameron has visited Ground Zero in New York on the last leg of
:08:38. > :08:42.his official visit to the United States.
:08:42. > :08:46.Last night he and President Obama paid tribute to each other at a
:08:46. > :08:51.star-studded banquet at the White House in Washington.
:08:51. > :08:56.Now one of China's most flamboyant politicians, Bo Xilai, has been
:08:56. > :09:00.sacked as the Communist Party boss in the city of Chongqing. Bo Xilai
:09:00. > :09:05.had been a contender for promotion to China's top leadership, but he
:09:05. > :09:08.is thought to have upset some with his high-profile campaign against
:09:08. > :09:13.corruption and a revival of Maoist ideology.
:09:13. > :09:19.We look at what went wrong with this politician.
:09:19. > :09:25.He is one of China's most high- profile politicians.
:09:25. > :09:29.Bo Xilai is comfortable in the limelight. He had been tipped for a
:09:29. > :09:33.top position dure this year's leadership change.
:09:33. > :09:37.He made his name launching a campaign against organised crime in
:09:37. > :09:42.Chongqing, where he was the party chief, but since last month, there
:09:42. > :09:48.has been intense speculation over his future.
:09:48. > :09:53.His police chief, shown here on the right, apparently tried to defect
:09:53. > :09:55.at a US Consulate. Bo Xilai's close associate is now under
:09:56. > :10:01.investigation. It was this extraordinary political scandal
:10:01. > :10:05.that now appears to have claimed Bo Xilai.
:10:05. > :10:13.On Wednesday, Premier Wen took the highly unusual step of critising
:10:13. > :10:17.his colleague in public. TRANSLATION: The present Chongqing
:10:17. > :10:23.municipal party Committee and government must reflect seriously
:10:23. > :10:26.on this incident. Bo Xilai appeared withdrawn at this
:10:26. > :10:30.year's Parliamentary session. He may have already known that his
:10:30. > :10:34.days were numbered. Later this year, a new generation
:10:35. > :10:40.of leaders will start assuming power in China. Bo Xilai was
:10:40. > :10:48.expected to be among them, but with his career now over, he's become a
:10:48. > :10:57.casualty in a struggle at the very top of Chinese politics.
:10:57. > :11:03.I've been joined in the studio by Rod Wye. He was a senior officer in
:11:03. > :11:07.Beijing, and head of the Group of Research of Beijing. The write was
:11:07. > :11:10.on the wall for Bo Xilai, but why did he have to go sooner, rather
:11:10. > :11:19.than later, do you think? I think that the pressure got too much.
:11:19. > :11:24.It was clear, you are right, that at the beginning of this month when
:11:24. > :11:29.there was the disappearance of his right-hand man, that nothing good
:11:29. > :11:31.could come of this. There after it was a matter of time before he was
:11:31. > :11:37.formerly removed. Does this suggest that there is
:11:37. > :11:43.some kind of a struggle at the top of the power, the hierarchy in
:11:43. > :11:48.China? Does it mean that one faction is triumphant with his
:11:48. > :11:53.sacking? Well it is played out, obviously, against the background
:11:53. > :11:57.of the forthcoming party Congress, when a new leadership is to be
:11:57. > :12:02.established. That leadership could last ten years. So the stakes are
:12:02. > :12:05.high. Bo Xilai has been campaigning hard to become a member of the
:12:05. > :12:09.Politburo standing Committee, but something went seriously wrong.
:12:09. > :12:13.Quite what that is, we don't know. We know about the deforeign
:12:13. > :12:19.exchange, or the attempted deforeign exchange of Wang Lijun,
:12:19. > :12:27.but what was deeper behind that, we don't know it is not clear. We
:12:27. > :12:31.don't know who has won. But outgoing prem aire wen, to make
:12:31. > :12:37.a criticism like this, when he says something like we don't want to see
:12:37. > :12:45.a return to the cultural revolution, the revival of Maoist ideology,
:12:45. > :12:50.what does that tell us about where China is heading -- Premier Wen.
:12:50. > :12:55.Premier Wen was stronger on reform than he had been previously. I
:12:55. > :12:59.think that the question of the cultural revolution is no so much a
:12:59. > :13:04.veiled criticism of Bo Xilai and his Red Songs. There is a warning
:13:04. > :13:07.that unless reforms were pushed through, China faced really serious
:13:07. > :13:17.political trouble. That is the way it is going to go?
:13:17. > :13:19.
:13:19. > :13:23.That is really on that path? It is not I rev -- I revkobl. I think
:13:23. > :13:28.that the strikes high. I don't think that Bo Xilai's disappearance
:13:28. > :13:32.is complete for one group nor the other. We don't know what group he
:13:32. > :13:35.represented. Why? On the one hand he was pushing
:13:35. > :13:40.Maoist ideology, but on the other hand his economic reforms were very
:13:40. > :13:45.much in keeping with the kind of things that the leadership now want.
:13:45. > :13:51.Is he simply down but not out? A popular politician that could yet
:13:51. > :13:55.cause mischief? I think he's out. My goodness, you took me by
:13:55. > :13:59.surprise, you were so brief. Thank you very much. You did not mince
:13:59. > :14:04.your words, but he is out for the count. Thank you very much.
:14:04. > :14:07.Now, to the top story, as we've been saying it's a year since the
:14:07. > :14:10.Syrian uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and in that year
:14:10. > :14:14.around 8,000 people are estimated to have died and thousands more
:14:15. > :14:19.have fled to neighbouring countries like Turkey and Jordan. To talk a
:14:19. > :14:26.little more about this anniversary, we are joined by the Syrian lawyer
:14:26. > :14:31.and dissident, Katherine AlTully, what a difference a year has made.
:14:31. > :14:37.A lot of deaths, but Assad is still in power, are you beginning to
:14:37. > :14:41.think it is worth it? The last year was the dignity and the freedom
:14:41. > :14:47.year to all of Syrian people. The Syrian people went out to the
:14:47. > :14:54.streets for their freedom and their dignity and because they want this
:14:54. > :15:02.Syrian regime to be a throw away. The Syrian people, when they went
:15:02. > :15:07.to the streets, they were knowing that this regime is bloody, but
:15:07. > :15:13.they decided to get their freedom and went to the streets for that
:15:13. > :15:19.Of course, all want freedom and dignity and democracy deserve, even
:15:19. > :15:26.if we pay our life for that, and Syrian people felt that and decided
:15:26. > :15:36.to let the President Bashar al- Assad regime, go out from Syria.
:15:36. > :15:46.
:15:46. > :15:56.Up he is using tanks against the city. He has surrendered the city.
:15:56. > :16:06.People are hungry and have no water. I want to ask, we have seen
:16:06. > :16:08.
:16:08. > :16:16.pictures of a massive brawl are sad rally. It is not controversial to
:16:16. > :16:21.say Bashar al-Assad commands the support it in his area up.
:16:21. > :16:31.Sectarian is sent to be rife in Syria. You have made mistakes,
:16:31. > :16:35.
:16:35. > :16:41.haven't you? All the Syrian people know that if we can say that a
:16:41. > :16:49.group of people in the street. Security forces forced people who
:16:49. > :16:57.have worked with the state and students are forced with guns to
:16:57. > :17:07.sure the media that he still has support. We know all this is not a
:17:07. > :17:15.
:17:15. > :17:24.truce. Serbian opposition is not united. This is not a democracy.
:17:24. > :17:34.All Serie a's opposition is United on wanting the Government to be
:17:34. > :17:36.
:17:36. > :17:45.overthrown. The opposition also support the people on the street
:17:45. > :17:55.and we want it peacefully. All international laws and Syrian
:17:55. > :18:02.losses say defending yourself is you're right. I am sorry to cut you
:18:02. > :18:05.off. The families of the children killed
:18:05. > :18:15.in a court should crash and Switzerland have attended a
:18:15. > :18:16.
:18:16. > :18:22.memorial service. Relatives and community members are more men the
:18:22. > :18:32.children and adults killed in the trap. Two drivers were also killed
:18:32. > :18:32.
:18:32. > :18:37.in the crash. The last year of primary school and
:18:37. > :18:44.Fortrose of the annual ski trip to the Alps. Incomprehensible that
:18:44. > :18:54.such a holiday can end in this way. The mountain village has been
:18:54. > :18:58.
:18:58. > :19:04.welcoming this that -- group for years. Local mountain guide saw the
:19:04. > :19:09.children on the last day of their holiday. TRANSLATION: they were
:19:09. > :19:15.clattering through the village. In a small village like this, every
:19:15. > :19:21.child feels like one of your own. It has been a brittle 24 hours or
:19:21. > :19:29.parents. Today, they left the hotel for the grim task of identifying
:19:29. > :19:39.the dead. Some wanted to see the crash site. The Belgian ambassador
:19:39. > :19:46.has been here throughout. You feel the emotion. It is terrible. A
:19:46. > :19:50.terrible accident in, all these young people. What can you say?
:19:50. > :19:57.coach crashed at the end of or winding mountain road on a stretch
:19:57. > :20:04.of water we. Because of the accident is still unknown. It has
:20:04. > :20:09.focused on the driver. Here, the crash investigators are working
:20:09. > :20:15.through the wreckage to try to find out why the boss swear it. At the
:20:15. > :20:24.moment, there are more questions than answers. There was no other
:20:24. > :20:33.vehicle and all that, 0 apiece. Did the driver have a heart attack?
:20:33. > :20:43.TRANSLATION: the police told me they are conducting post-mortems.
:20:43. > :20:44.
:20:44. > :20:48.One fears that he was handling a DVD at the time.
:20:48. > :20:54.As Greece sinks deeper into recession, ordinary Greeks are
:20:54. > :21:03.struggling to call and are looking for ways to live cheaply. One
:21:03. > :21:07.initiative has sprung up to sell basic products like potatoes. The
:21:07. > :21:14.initiative started in northern Greece and has spread to Athens
:21:14. > :21:19.with thousands are benefiting. They're calling it the potato
:21:19. > :21:29.revolution. Ordinary Greeks squeezed by the recession waging
:21:29. > :21:31.
:21:31. > :21:38.war on prices they can no longer afford. A simple strategy with
:21:38. > :21:47.simple product but it is drawing the crowds. Hundreds are taking
:21:47. > :21:57.part forcing supermarkets to cut prices. The idea as a growing fast.
:21:57. > :21:59.
:21:59. > :22:06.Salary so. The taxes are high. We have to spend a lot of money to buy
:22:06. > :22:14.the basic goods. All sides benefit. Farmers are no longer paying fees
:22:15. > :22:19.to wholesalers. TRANSLATION: middle man exploits us. We want to help
:22:19. > :22:25.the consumer in these difficult times. It sends the message that a
:22:25. > :22:31.few people cannot profit from us. Greeks are coming up with new
:22:31. > :22:41.wheeze and ideas of dealing with this recession. This is a positive
:22:41. > :22:47.
:22:47. > :22:52.by-product of the financial crisis. One buyer is this man. At home, he
:22:52. > :23:02.and his wife tell a familiar tale, a family trying to lead a normal
:23:02. > :23:03.
:23:03. > :23:08.life. I have to Galway from Greece and find another country, a country
:23:08. > :23:18.that can give me the right circumstances to have a better
:23:18. > :23:24.
:23:24. > :23:32.future. This is a movement with fur it -- far reaching implications.
:23:32. > :23:37.To talk more about the social dimensions, we have a journalist
:23:37. > :23:47.and novelist who has been loving in Greece for years. Their impact of
:23:47. > :23:55.the crisis, it has taken its toll. I saw how people really wear.
:23:55. > :24:05.has been a huge shock for people. It happens so suddenly. It tickets
:24:05. > :24:07.
:24:07. > :24:17.call extremely quickly. Salaries were slashed. One statistic was
:24:17. > :24:18.
:24:18. > :24:28.that the number of suicides in 2011 went up by 40 %. Yes, and younger
:24:28. > :24:35.people, tragically. There is this terrible suffering. There is also
:24:35. > :24:42.the other side witches solidarity among people. They have to group
:24:42. > :24:52.together. For the last few years, there has been a sense of, where
:24:52. > :24:53.
:24:53. > :25:03.did this problem come from? People have done a lot of soul-searching.
:25:03. > :25:07.
:25:07. > :25:13.How did it come out of the blue? I think, I can see people have got
:25:13. > :25:23.over the initial shock and or seeing how they can rebuild their
:25:23. > :25:24.
:25:24. > :25:34.lives. Our they are resourceful people? The Greek family is
:25:34. > :25:35.
:25:35. > :25:45.famously strong. If parents are finding a few children coming back,
:25:45. > :25:46.
:25:46. > :25:50.that is a strange, isn't it definitely. There is a set common
:25:50. > :26:00.in Greece about adult children going back to live with their
:26:00. > :26:01.
:26:01. > :26:11.parents. You are a naturalised Greek. You are a descendant of
:26:11. > :26:13.
:26:13. > :26:21.Catherine the Great. Does it give you the advantage of being Annan's
:26:21. > :26:28.-- outsider? I have published a novel which looks at present the
:26:28. > :26:38.Athens but tries to go back to see below historical factors. Big deals
:26:38. > :26:43.
:26:43. > :26:48.with the riots of true 1008. -- 2008. They have a yearning for
:26:48. > :26:58.freedom within them. For me, it was interesting to go back into the
:26:58. > :27:00.
:27:00. > :27:10.history. Do you think the crisis has irretrievably changed the
:27:10. > :27:14.
:27:14. > :27:19.Greeks IK? And nor, I don't. The Greeks are freighters. -- fighters.
:27:19. > :27:29.There has been civil war, and Nazi occupation. The Greeks have come
:27:29. > :27:30.
:27:30. > :27:36.back from far worse. Thank you the first anniversary of the uprising