:00:08. > :00:10.This is BBC World News Today with me, Tim Willcox.
:00:10. > :00:13.Another deadly suicide attack in Mogadishu - Somalia's Olympics
:00:13. > :00:23.Chief and the President of the country's football federation are
:00:23. > :00:24.
:00:24. > :00:30.among ten people killed. Shortages begin to bite as the
:00:30. > :00:33.international community repeats calls for the Mali coup leaders to
:00:33. > :00:35.give up power. Mitt Romney edges closer to the
:00:35. > :00:45.Republican presidential nomination as President Obama's team turn
:00:45. > :00:47.
:00:47. > :00:49.their fire on him. Too broke to compete - how Greece's
:00:49. > :00:52.austerity could stop athletes in their tracks.
:00:52. > :00:56.Also coming up in the programme: The Russians who've developed a
:00:56. > :01:05.taste for politics. Pushing for policies with a bit
:01:05. > :01:09.more bite - we meet the newcomers who've decided to take charge.
:01:09. > :01:12.When the protests began after the parliamentary elections, I read on
:01:12. > :01:15.Facebook that new people should run for office.
:01:15. > :01:25.And our master butchers' ancestors - beating lions to the best cuts of
:01:25. > :01:29.
:01:29. > :01:33.Hello and welcome. At least ten people have been killed in an
:01:33. > :01:35.explosion at Somalia's National Theatre. Among the dead are the
:01:35. > :01:39.presidents of the Somali Olympic committee and the country's
:01:39. > :01:43.football federation. Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali narrowly
:01:43. > :01:47.escaped the blast. He told the BBC a female suicide bomber was
:01:47. > :01:51.responsible. The Islamist group Al- Shabaab, linked to Al Qaeda, says
:01:51. > :01:54.it carried out the attack, and promised more to come. But, under
:01:54. > :01:56.fire from the African Union, and Kenyan and Ethiopian forces, how
:01:56. > :02:06.does Al Shabaab still present such a potent threat? Peter Biles
:02:06. > :02:11.
:02:11. > :02:15.Just a few bricks ago, Somalia's National Theatre reopened for the
:02:15. > :02:19.first time in 20 years. It was a moment of optimism, but today, as
:02:19. > :02:24.ministers, MPs and local dignitaries gathered at a theatre,
:02:24. > :02:28.an explosion tore apart this Mogadishu landmark. The Prime
:02:28. > :02:34.Minister was addressing an audience of 200 people when the bomb went
:02:34. > :02:42.off. I am safe, and most of my Cabinet
:02:42. > :02:46.is safe and secure. However, some Somalis at the ceremony lost their
:02:46. > :02:49.lives. There are conflicting accounts of
:02:49. > :02:54.what happened. The transitional government says a female suicide
:02:54. > :03:00.bomber was responsible. But the militant Islamist group out to bat
:03:00. > :03:06.says the explosives were planted before hand. -- Al-Shabaab.
:03:06. > :03:09.I don't know what to say but there are a lot of casualties.
:03:09. > :03:12.Among them were two sports officials, the president of the
:03:12. > :03:17.Somali Olympic Committee and the head of the Football Association.
:03:17. > :03:21.Both of them died in the bombing. In London, where David Cameron
:03:21. > :03:24.hosted an international conference on Somalia in February, the British
:03:24. > :03:28.Prime Minister has condemned the latest attack.
:03:28. > :03:32.The Al-Shabaab fighters, often said to be inspired by Al-Qaeda, have
:03:32. > :03:36.been on the back foot in recent months. They were driven out of
:03:36. > :03:39.Mogadishu and forced into adopting guerrilla tactics. But their
:03:39. > :03:42.ability to stage an attack in the heart of the capital served as a
:03:42. > :03:45.reminder that this is still one of the most dangerous countries on
:03:45. > :03:50.earth. Richard Dowden is the director of
:03:50. > :03:55.the Royal African Society and joins us from Central London.
:03:55. > :04:01.How much of Somalia does Al-Shabaab control?
:04:01. > :04:05.Probably not the right word. They did control a lot of the South and
:04:05. > :04:10.south-west until recently, but now they have been displaced from that
:04:10. > :04:16.by the invasion from Kenya and Ethiopia. I think they operate,
:04:16. > :04:19.they can easily go back to being an underground movement, but until
:04:20. > :04:29.recently, they controlled a lot of the South and parts of the capital
:04:29. > :04:33.as well. Recently, the Ethiopian has managed to drive them out of a
:04:33. > :04:38.place where they could shell the city. The city has been much safer
:04:38. > :04:41.recently. But why is it impossible for Kenyan
:04:41. > :04:48.and Ethiopian and African Union forces to actually defeat Al-
:04:48. > :04:55.Shabaab? This... The Somalis... How to put
:04:55. > :05:02.this? They did defeat the Americans, who tried to invade in 1991, 1992,
:05:02. > :05:08.and only lasted a year. It ended in the black cork down incident. They
:05:08. > :05:13.have been fighting since about 1989. There are a lot of skill for
:05:13. > :05:18.fighters there, where as Kenya has had absolutely no war experience,
:05:18. > :05:28.and the Ethiopians have had some but not of this type, of an urban
:05:28. > :05:28.
:05:28. > :05:33.fighting. The Somalis fighting at home, and they have experience
:05:33. > :05:35.behind them and are extremely good at these sorts of tactics.
:05:35. > :05:39.How pure are the motives of Ethiopia and Kenya? Are they
:05:40. > :05:45.fighting because out a bad represent a threat to their nation
:05:45. > :05:49.states as well? -- because Al- Shabaab represents a threat.
:05:49. > :05:58.I'm not convinced that Al-Shabaab is a threat to Kenya or Ethiopia in
:05:58. > :06:03.that way. I think it is an internal Somali force that has become funded
:06:03. > :06:11.by Saudi Arabian money, I suspect, as many of these movements are in
:06:11. > :06:16.Africa. I think they are not able to hold ground any more, Al-Shabaab,
:06:16. > :06:20.but they can create these nasty attacks.
:06:20. > :06:23.Thank you theme for joining us. 6,000 kilometres to the west is
:06:23. > :06:26.Mali - until a fortnight ago a relatively stable West African
:06:26. > :06:28.country, fighting a rebellion in its northern region. But since Army
:06:28. > :06:31.officers seized power in a coup, rebel fighters have made important
:06:31. > :06:34.territorial gains. Thousands of refugees have now fled their homes
:06:34. > :06:36.to escape the violence around cities like Timbuktu and Gao. As
:06:36. > :06:39.the crisis in Mali has deepened, the international community has
:06:39. > :06:47.urged the coup leaders to give up power. Mike Wooldridge has this
:06:47. > :06:53.report. In Mali's capital, this, the face
:06:53. > :07:00.of the crisis. People queuing to beat the shortages that are likely
:07:00. > :07:04.to impact on daily life. A West African organisation and the
:07:04. > :07:08.African Union had the sanctions they imposed will convince the
:07:08. > :07:13.military junta to step down by today. So far, the junta has other
:07:13. > :07:19.ideas. Its leader is calling for the country's feature to be decided
:07:19. > :07:23.at a national convention tomorrow. TRANSLATION: The conclusion of this
:07:23. > :07:27.conference should be accepted by everybody in order to put a stop to
:07:27. > :07:30.political considerations and the rapidly with the security situation
:07:30. > :07:34.in the north and the integrity of our national territory.
:07:34. > :07:40.For now, the northern half of the country remains effectively in the
:07:40. > :07:45.hands of the rebels, who swept through its main towns when the
:07:45. > :07:49.junta said its main aims were to prevent this. Some labels - recruit
:07:49. > :07:57.rebels are said to have links to Al-Qaeda.
:07:57. > :08:03.Including in the historic city of Timbuktu, as it mayor told the BBC.
:08:03. > :08:09.There are armed people going around. I have seen 15-year-old people with
:08:09. > :08:15.rifles and weapons. They are roaming the streets and pillaging.
:08:15. > :08:23.The stakes are high for the organisations, with their past
:08:23. > :08:28.success here in Togo, for example. Last year the presidential problems
:08:28. > :08:36.in Ivory Coast was a bigger challenge. The victor of that, as
:08:36. > :08:39.the chair of the organisation, is overseeing the Mali crisis.
:08:40. > :08:45.The President has called for the activation of the West African
:08:45. > :08:49.blocks' security force of around 3,000. But that could take weeks.
:08:49. > :08:53.Mali's envoy to the UN pleaded for support from the Security Council,
:08:53. > :09:01.calling the situation indescribable, and that is country was threatened
:09:01. > :09:06.with partition. Here we have the spokesperson for
:09:07. > :09:10.the organisation on the phone. Despite the sanctions, despite the
:09:10. > :09:20.course for these two leaders to hand over, you're not having much
:09:20. > :09:30.
:09:30. > :09:35.success, are you? Yes, we are. I believe the military
:09:36. > :09:41.junta does not have much time to gamble.
:09:41. > :09:49.How much time do they have? Already several deadlines have passed.
:09:49. > :09:59.they haven't. We have a process for the sanctions. From the reports in
:09:59. > :10:01.
:10:01. > :10:11.the media, the queues suggest the sanctions are beginning to bite. I
:10:11. > :10:12.
:10:12. > :10:17.am glad that the rebels have How much support do you think the
:10:17. > :10:27.captain has, the leader of this chunter?
:10:27. > :10:30.
:10:30. > :10:38.It is within the junta. He has the few people around him. I doubt if
:10:38. > :10:48.he enjoys any other support beyond his immediate supporters. Of course,
:10:48. > :11:02.
:11:02. > :11:12.in West Africa, he does not enjoy I think the support is limited to
:11:12. > :11:13.
:11:13. > :11:17.the military junta. Thank you for joining us.
:11:17. > :11:25.It looks as if Mitt Romney will become the Republican nominee to
:11:25. > :11:27.take on Barack Obama in November. The former Massachusetts governor
:11:27. > :11:30.won all the latest primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington
:11:30. > :11:33.DC. And Barack Obama is now targeting him in his presidential
:11:33. > :11:38.campaign. So does this mean game over for the other candidates? Our
:11:38. > :11:43.correspondent Steve Kingstone reports from Washington.
:11:43. > :11:47.It is not official yet, but this 65-year-old multi-millionaire will
:11:47. > :11:51.be the Republican challenger to Barack Obama. That is what Mitt
:11:51. > :11:56.Romney thinks, and it is what the President thinks, too. Just listen
:11:56. > :12:00.to his words this week during a speech on entitlement reform.
:12:00. > :12:04.Governor Romney has said he hoped a similar version of this plan from
:12:04. > :12:07.last year would be introduced as a bill on day one macro of this
:12:07. > :12:11.Parliament. It was the first time he had
:12:11. > :12:21.singled out Mr Romney by name, an unmistakable sign that the general
:12:21. > :12:21.
:12:21. > :12:26.The air war has already begun. The Obama campaign portrays Mr Romney
:12:26. > :12:34.as a puppet of the or industry. And the when the camp fires back, say
:12:34. > :12:38.the President is to blame for soaring petrol prices. In
:12:38. > :12:43.Washington, the candidate ignored his Republican rivals and targeted
:12:43. > :12:48.the real opponent. The President did not cause the
:12:48. > :12:57.economic crisis. But he did make it worse. He delayed the recovery and
:12:57. > :12:57.he made it anaemic. Then, the clearest possible
:12:57. > :13:02.statement of what Mitt Romney stands for. Free enterprise has
:13:02. > :13:05.done more to lift people out of poverty, to help build a strong
:13:05. > :13:12.middle-class, to help educate our kids and to make our lives better
:13:12. > :13:15.than all of the government's programmes put together.
:13:15. > :13:20.Technically, there are three other republicans contesting the
:13:20. > :13:24.nomination. But the incumbent and his opponent had already moved on.
:13:24. > :13:28.When you strip away the spin and the slurs, the battle for the White
:13:28. > :13:31.House will come down to an old- fashioned ideological divide
:13:31. > :13:35.between a president who thinks that government can help to solve
:13:35. > :13:39.America's problems and a Republican challenger who says government is
:13:39. > :13:43.the problem. Tim Stanley is a journalist and
:13:44. > :13:50.historian of the United States, who joins us from Washington.
:13:50. > :13:52.Mitt Romney has got 21 wins now either Rick Santorum's 11. Is there
:13:53. > :13:57.a sense of inevitability about this?
:13:57. > :14:02.There certainly has. Mommy has half the delegates he needs to get the
:14:02. > :14:06.nomination. -- Romney. He is getting endorsements from important
:14:06. > :14:10.people, like the Cenotaph Florida. A lot of pressure is going to start
:14:10. > :14:15.to be put on Rick Santorum to drop out. At the end of the month, we
:14:15. > :14:20.have got some big contests in big states, and it is likely the state
:14:20. > :14:26.of Pennsylvania will go to Santorum. But Romney will win places like New
:14:26. > :14:29.York, putting him closer to the nomination. Yes, Romney is the one.
:14:29. > :14:34.There is a tea-party favourite. Are more of the tea party movement
:14:34. > :14:38.coming in behind Mitt Romney now? No. That has not started to happen
:14:38. > :14:43.yet. More of them voted for him in Maryland, although that was not
:14:43. > :14:46.terribly competitive. If you look at Bromley's support, he is trapped
:14:46. > :14:51.in what you might call a demographic prison. He is popular
:14:51. > :14:55.among people who earn more than $100,000 per year, people you are
:14:55. > :14:59.over 65 and people who say they are moderate or somewhat conservative.
:14:59. > :15:03.He still fails to draw support from tea-party people, and part of his
:15:03. > :15:06.problem is going to be he is going to have to spend a lot of time
:15:06. > :15:09.appealing not only to moderate and independent and Democrats, he is
:15:09. > :15:12.also going to have to spend a lot of time still reaching out to
:15:12. > :15:22.people on the right of American politics.
:15:22. > :15:24.
:15:24. > :15:31.And he is prettily, isn't it, but And I do not think it will be that
:15:31. > :15:36.began issue. The Democrats will look mean if they play upon it. I
:15:36. > :15:41.think foreign-made, it is a plus overall. He can play the card
:15:41. > :15:48.saying, I am from a religious minority, I am from a people who
:15:48. > :15:51.understand pursue -- understand persecutions. I do not think the
:15:51. > :15:57.Mormon and all will be played in this election in the way we expect.
:15:57. > :16:04.Briefly, it will cost a lot of money. Who is going to be the
:16:04. > :16:09.number two? We do not know who that is going to be yet. We cannot
:16:09. > :16:14.possibly say. Many people who would should be, they are halfway through
:16:14. > :16:18.Senate terms that they want to complete. It is more likely to be
:16:18. > :16:24.someone like Rick Santorum, but I would not advise anyone to place
:16:24. > :16:28.money on anyone at this moment. Stanley, thank you.
:16:28. > :16:37.The man suspected of masterminding the September 11th attacks has been
:16:37. > :16:41.referred to trial. He has been charged with terrorism, hijacking
:16:41. > :16:46.aircraft and a number of other accounts, along with four others.
:16:46. > :16:50.The case will be heard at a military -- at a military tribunal.
:16:50. > :16:59.French anti-terror police have raided properties of suspected
:16:59. > :17:07.Islamist militants. Prosecutors have confirmed they are charging 13
:17:07. > :17:11.people who were detained last week. Hundreds of demonstrators have
:17:11. > :17:20.crowded around a court in Ankara for the opening of a trial of two
:17:20. > :17:30.retired generals who allegedly staged a coup in 1980.
:17:30. > :17:34.Yahoo! Has confirmed it is to cut 2000 staff, 14 % of the workforce.
:17:34. > :17:40.They say this is to make the company's smaller and more
:17:40. > :17:45.profitable. It was saved them around $375 million.
:17:45. > :17:50.It is a month since Vladimir Putin was re-elected Russia's President.
:17:50. > :17:56.Since his victory, this huge anti- government street protests which
:17:56. > :17:59.have dominated live in the Russian capital seem to have petered out.
:17:59. > :18:03.Russians' interest in politics has not disappeared, and Muscovites
:18:03. > :18:08.have been finding other ways to put pressure on the authorities, as
:18:09. > :18:12.Steve Rose and Beck reports. A boxing hall might seem an odd
:18:12. > :18:18.place for municipal council meeting. Then again, this is about to become
:18:18. > :18:22.a bit of a battle ground. First, they argue over who gets to be the
:18:22. > :18:28.chair man. The man with the microphone represents the old guard.
:18:28. > :18:32.He says he is in charge. His opponents do not agree. They are
:18:32. > :18:37.part of a new wave of opposition activists who were getting elected
:18:37. > :18:42.in Moscow at municipal level, and trying to change the way politics
:18:42. > :18:47.is done. The party of power is about to back -- is about to bite
:18:47. > :18:52.back, quite literally. This is fat to be again a trip's first
:18:52. > :18:57.experience of local politics -- this is Vladimir Garnachuk's first
:18:57. > :19:01.experience of local politics. He did not expect to be bitten!
:19:01. > :19:07.District councils like this one have few powers, but it appears
:19:07. > :19:11.Russians are getting interested in politics on their doorstep. A few
:19:11. > :19:20.months ago, local government meetings in the share attracted
:19:20. > :19:29.little attention and few visitors. Now, this is people power at the
:19:29. > :19:36.grassroots level. Away from the council chamber, Vladimir Garnachuk
:19:36. > :19:41.campaigns on local issues. Opposite says school, which the authorities
:19:41. > :19:46.plan to turn into a centre for drug addicts. Vladimir is trying to stop
:19:46. > :19:50.it, but he never planned to go into politics. TRANSLATION: I had never
:19:50. > :19:54.heard of municipal councils, but when the street protests began
:19:54. > :20:01.after that rigged parliamentary election, I read on face but that
:20:01. > :20:04.new people should run for office. - - I read on Facebook. It is not
:20:04. > :20:09.only by becoming councillors that the Russians are trying to change
:20:09. > :20:14.their country. In Zhukovsky, near Moscow copyboy have been protesting
:20:14. > :20:19.about the destruction of the local forest. Trees are being cut down to
:20:19. > :20:24.make way for a road. This issue has brought big crowds onto the streets
:20:24. > :20:34.of a small town. It is a sign that Russians are determined to make
:20:34. > :20:34.
:20:34. > :20:37.their voices heard. The Greek Athletics Federation says
:20:37. > :20:43.it has suspended all domestic sporting activities because there
:20:43. > :20:46.is no money. There are fears that unless budget cuts are reversed,
:20:46. > :20:51.participation in the London Olympics could be at risk. We can
:20:51. > :20:57.speak to Mark Lowen in Athens. A humiliation for any country, let
:20:57. > :21:02.alone Greece! Yes. This was where it all began. The Olympics began
:21:02. > :21:07.here in the eighth century BC. This was also where the first modern
:21:07. > :21:12.Games was held. Just imagine if the Greek Athletics Federation were to
:21:12. > :21:19.pull out of this summer's London Olympics whatever humiliation that
:21:19. > :21:22.would be, a sign of how deep the country has fallen. The sign is
:21:23. > :21:30.that they are suspending domestic sporting activities because of the
:21:30. > :21:34.budget a source at the federation said if the government does not
:21:34. > :21:39.intervene to resolve the budget crisis, pulling out of the London
:21:39. > :21:44.Olympics would still be an option. How much of a Gambetta is this? Is
:21:44. > :21:52.there any suggestion the Greek government will say, OK, we will
:21:52. > :21:59.make an exception, because of national pride? Absolutely. It
:21:59. > :22:03.could be a game of hide States. -- high-stakes. We will have to wait
:22:03. > :22:07.and see. The board of the federation will meet in a few weeks.
:22:08. > :22:13.They have appealed to the Minister of Culture. We will have to see
:22:13. > :22:16.what the government says. They want to avoid any further humiliation
:22:16. > :22:21.after the deep financial crisis this country is still going through.
:22:21. > :22:27.European championships are coming up, and the London Olympics in July.
:22:27. > :22:32.I think they would do anything they can to avoid having to pull out of
:22:32. > :22:42.their games. The prospect of that shows just how deep this financial
:22:42. > :22:43.
:22:43. > :22:51.crisis is affecting all aspects of Greek society. The team going to
:22:51. > :22:56.London is half the size of that in Beijing. Mark Lowen, thank you very
:22:56. > :23:01.much. A discovery on frozen place near
:23:01. > :23:05.the Arctic sea in northern Siberia has provided scientists with an
:23:05. > :23:09.incredibly well-preserved specimen of a 10,000-year-old mammoth. There
:23:09. > :23:19.are signs that the juvenile animal was attacked by lions and butchered
:23:19. > :23:33.
:23:33. > :23:38.by humans. After thousands of years lying
:23:38. > :23:42.frozen in the grand, it is twisted and contorted. Now lie in on its
:23:42. > :23:51.back, its head has flopped to one side and its legs stick a pin the
:23:51. > :23:54.air. Its stake strawberry blonde hair is exquisitely preserved.
:23:54. > :23:58.Extraordinary. Professor Daniel Fischer is at the Museum of
:23:58. > :24:08.Palaeontology at the University of Michigan. Tell it us how important
:24:08. > :24:12.this says. -- tell us how important this is. It is an extremely
:24:12. > :24:17.important specimen. In part, because of the quality of tissue
:24:17. > :24:21.preservation. Even a part of the animal are missing, what is there
:24:21. > :24:24.is extremely well-preserved. It is also important for the story it
:24:24. > :24:31.tells, the story you can reconstruct from the evidence of
:24:31. > :24:37.what remains. The cuts that our human ancestors appeared to have
:24:37. > :24:42.been interested in consist of meat and bones from the main core of the
:24:42. > :24:47.body. There have been removed. That part of the animal has been
:24:47. > :24:56.butchered. We see evidence of this in terms of the entry incisions
:24:56. > :25:02.into the hide, and some cut marks on some of the bones. That humans
:25:02. > :25:07.were waiting, I think, for Lyons, or they sued these Lions away that
:25:07. > :25:11.had killed this mammoth. Is that something may perhaps did
:25:11. > :25:18.frequently? They relied on more ferocious animals to kill food and
:25:18. > :25:22.then butchered them afterwards? That is one possibility. This is
:25:22. > :25:29.all inference at the moment, based on the patterns of damage that we
:25:29. > :25:39.see on the carcass of this animal and on some things we do not see
:25:39. > :25:42.
:25:42. > :25:47.that we would expect. Lyons typically enter a carcass in the
:25:47. > :25:57.region of the Bailey, the aim has all the neck, but these regions are
:25:57. > :26:01.
:26:01. > :26:07.not blemished. There are incisions at a very different replaced. --
:26:08. > :26:12.There are incisions that are very differently placed. This mammoth
:26:12. > :26:16.was only about two-and-a-half years old. Is there any suggestion that
:26:16. > :26:26.there was some sort of ritual involved here by our ancestors when
:26:26. > :26:31.it came to butchering an animal than eating it? I suppose this is a
:26:31. > :26:38.matter of opinion and inference. I actually think there is probably a
:26:38. > :26:47.utilitarian explanation for most of what we see. I do not see the need
:26:47. > :26:53.to call on ritual aspects of it. The inference we have generated is
:26:53. > :27:00.lions were responsible for the initial pursued to, that is based
:27:00. > :27:03.on singing deep scratch marks -- seeing deep scratch marks. They can
:27:03. > :27:13.only really have been produced by the claws of a large cat-like
:27:13. > :27:16.
:27:16. > :27:22.animal. I am sorry, Professor, we are told time. Remarkable images.
:27:22. > :27:26.Viewers in the UK can see the full programme on BBC Two at 9 o'clock
:27:26. > :27:36.tonight. Viewers around the world can find out more on the BBC
:27:36. > :27:46.
:27:46. > :27:51.website. That is it from me and the Hello. Finally, the weather front
:27:51. > :27:58.we have had slipping southwards been the snow and disruption across
:27:58. > :28:02.the UK is clearing away. A dry day to come tomorrow. Even the chance
:28:02. > :28:07.of decent sunshine. Through the night, the weather front will clear
:28:07. > :28:12.away from the south, taking with it the strong winds. First thing on
:28:12. > :28:20.Thursday, cloudy through the southern half of the UK. Further
:28:20. > :28:27.north, a week weather front also been ploughed and some outbreaks of
:28:27. > :28:32.rain. -- bringing cloud. Through the southern counties of England, a
:28:32. > :28:42.largely cloudy start to the day. That will break up and allow
:28:42. > :28:44.
:28:44. > :28:50.sunshine to break through. Sunny skies developing through northern