:00:13. > :00:17.This is BBC World News Today. He's on the run but he's not afraid to
:00:17. > :00:19.speak out. After a daring escape from house arrest China's human
:00:19. > :00:29.rights activist Chen Guangcheng releases a video addressed to the
:00:29. > :00:37.
:00:37. > :00:40.TRANSLATION: All rumours on the internet, all the accusations of
:00:40. > :00:45.the violence against me and my family, they are all true. Spain's
:00:45. > :00:48.unemployment reaches a record high, one in four now without a job. The
:00:48. > :00:51.South Korean conglomerate Samsung overtakes the Finnish firm Nokia as
:00:51. > :00:58.the world's leading mobile phone maker. What are they doing right?
:00:58. > :01:04.Also coming up in the programme... The Indian reservation in South
:01:04. > :01:09.Dakota where drink is banned yet alcoholism is rife. The tribe is
:01:09. > :01:15.taking Marise and shops to court for selling them alcohol. There is
:01:15. > :01:25.no more money to buy beer, that is how we drink. Plans to ban
:01:25. > :01:36.
:01:36. > :01:38.foreigners from Dutch cannabis Hello and welcome. One of China's
:01:38. > :01:41.most famous human rights activists who's escaped house arrest has
:01:41. > :01:44.released a video addressed to Premier Wen Jiabo asking him to
:01:44. > :01:48.ensure the safety of his family, investigate local officials and
:01:49. > :01:53.punish corruption. The blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng made an
:01:53. > :02:01.extraordinary escape from his home in Shandong province on Sunday. His
:02:01. > :02:07.location is unknown but supporters say he's safe in Beijing. In a
:02:07. > :02:13.moment I will talk to one Chinese dissident in the US. But first...
:02:13. > :02:18.The BBC's Damien Grammaticus reports from Beijing. Speaking from
:02:19. > :02:22.race secret location, Chen Guangcheng, one of China's most
:02:23. > :02:27.famous human rights campaigners. For almost two years he has been
:02:27. > :02:30.under a legal detention. Addressing the Communist leaders directly he
:02:31. > :02:35.called of them to investigate his treatment. He said it was an
:02:35. > :02:40.example of the unchecked abuses of power happening in China today, all
:02:40. > :02:45.in the name of the Communist Party. How we escape from his village
:02:45. > :02:55.confinement is a mystery. A tense like this one to reach him have
:02:55. > :03:00.been blocked by dozens of hired thugs guarding his home. Activists
:03:00. > :03:03.who tried were often attacked and beaten. A year ago footage of Chen
:03:03. > :03:08.Guangcheng and his son under house arrest was smuggled out. Security
:03:08. > :03:12.men perched on ladders kept his every move under watch. They are
:03:12. > :03:17.thought to have beaten him savagely after this that it was said, so how
:03:17. > :03:21.Baloyi has slipped away is not clear. Chen Guangcheng spent four
:03:21. > :03:24.years in this prison after exposing how of thousands of women underwent
:03:24. > :03:31.forced abortions and sterilisations. There are now fears for the safety
:03:31. > :03:37.of his wife and child who he left behind. He had a direct question
:03:38. > :03:41.for Trina's Premier. He asked Wen Jiabao if the local officials
:03:41. > :03:44.abusing their power were acting alone, or with the support of the
:03:44. > :03:47.central government. He said I think you should give people a clear
:03:47. > :03:54.answer. In recent days China's leaders have struggled to contain
:03:54. > :03:57.one crisis caused by the sacking of the senior politician Bo Xilai. The
:03:57. > :04:07.escape of Chen Guangcheng gives them a new problem and focuses yet
:04:07. > :04:11.more attention on abuses of power here. We are joined from New
:04:11. > :04:15.Orleans by the founder of China Aid, an organisation that aims to
:04:15. > :04:20.promote religious freedom in China. He was forced to flee the country
:04:20. > :04:30.16 years ago. Bob, are you worried about the safety of the Chen
:04:30. > :04:33.
:04:33. > :04:43.Guangcheng, what can happen next to I am concerned over the long-term
:04:43. > :04:48.
:04:48. > :04:56.safety for him. But I am assured he is right now 100% safe in the City
:04:56. > :04:59.of Beijing. But sooner or later he will have to appear, what kind of
:04:59. > :05:08.strategy with his friends and supporters be urging him to make
:05:08. > :05:14.now? -- would his friends. He was offered to come a broad for
:05:14. > :05:23.permanent safety but he was reluctant after he escaped out of
:05:23. > :05:28.his home. He would like to fight for his freedom and rights in China
:05:28. > :05:34.until the end according to what he said. So you have information that
:05:34. > :05:44.since his escape from house arrest at a country has offered him safe
:05:44. > :05:50.
:05:50. > :05:55.I am not able to tell you that. But so far he is in a safe location and
:05:55. > :06:01.he would like his voice to be heard by the international community and
:06:01. > :06:11.the highest authority of the Chinese leaders. This comes at a
:06:11. > :06:15.
:06:15. > :06:23.How does this fit in with that? We saw the appeal he made to the
:06:23. > :06:29.premiere to clean up government in China. After all, this is a blind
:06:29. > :06:39.man, a self-taught legal at the best who advocates nothing but a
:06:39. > :06:44.
:06:44. > :06:49.rule of law and social justice -- He just wants basic freedom and
:06:49. > :06:59.human rights protection guaranteed by the Chinese constitution and
:06:59. > :06:59.
:06:59. > :07:05.Chinese law. So what kind of threat this blind man could pose -- could
:07:05. > :07:09.this blind man pose? He made his appeal to Wen Jiabao and said what
:07:09. > :07:16.you say to those corrupt officials who have beaten me? Are they doing
:07:16. > :07:22.it with your acquiescence? What do you think is the answer? I think it
:07:22. > :07:28.will echo the same mentality Wen Jiabao said in his press conference
:07:28. > :07:34.during the National people's Congress in March because even he
:07:34. > :07:43.is determined to that without dealing with the corruption, even
:07:43. > :07:47.the existence of the party is at stake. So Chen Guangcheng refers
:07:47. > :07:52.his own case that by a detaining him and putting hundreds of
:07:52. > :07:56.thousands of dollars of monitoring equipment around his family and
:07:57. > :08:00.village and there is corrupted officials took financial advantage
:08:00. > :08:07.over a case like that. We have to leave it there. Thank you for
:08:07. > :08:12.joining us. The latest job statistics from Spain are daunting.
:08:12. > :08:16.Almost a quarter of people are unemployed. The foreign ministers
:08:16. > :08:18.admitted the country is in crisis of huge proportions. And getting
:08:18. > :08:23.Spain out of its current predicament is even tougher now
:08:23. > :08:30.because the credit rating agency Standard and Poor's has downgraded
:08:30. > :08:33.spade -- Spain's credit worthiness by two points. The queues at the
:08:33. > :08:36.unemployment centres in Spain get longer as the jobless rate edges
:08:36. > :08:42.towards one in four. It is the highest in Europe and looking for
:08:42. > :08:47.work is an increasingly that this task. TRANSLATION: L'Equipe on
:08:47. > :08:53.looking. I would take anything that comes up but there is not much
:08:53. > :08:55.around. The crisis includes many people there were casualties of the
:08:55. > :09:00.boom-and-bust in the construction industry, many of the migrants
:09:00. > :09:06.arrived in the good times. TRANSLATION: I have taken loads of
:09:06. > :09:10.courses as an electrician thinking the -- the electrician. I took a
:09:10. > :09:15.course in massage, that was no good. They do not want to hire me, they
:09:15. > :09:19.say I am old. Spain has gone back into recession so the rise in
:09:19. > :09:23.unemployment is to be expected. Austerity measures as the
:09:23. > :09:26.government seeks to cut borrowing needs might eventually help by
:09:26. > :09:31.bringing interest rates down but in the short term they just add to the
:09:31. > :09:35.pain which is felt acutely by young people. The situation is even worse
:09:35. > :09:39.for youth unemployment where the ratio is something like one in two.
:09:39. > :09:42.The problem is Spain is in a recession, which is deepening, so
:09:42. > :09:48.the likelihood is unemployment will continue to rise substantially
:09:48. > :09:52.further. The problems are mounting for the Prime Minister. There has
:09:52. > :09:56.been another credit rating downgrade from Standard and Poor's.
:09:56. > :09:59.The agency expects the recession to drag on into next year and also
:09:59. > :10:04.thinks it increasingly likely the government will have a hefty bill
:10:04. > :10:14.to prop up the country's banks. Labour law reforms should help
:10:14. > :10:21.
:10:21. > :10:29.create jobs but the immediate outlook is for higher unemployment.
:10:29. > :10:32.Growth in the US economy has slowed. The weakest areas were business
:10:32. > :10:36.investment and government spending but consumer spending and exports
:10:36. > :10:41.grew faster than before. At least 27 people had been injured in a
:10:41. > :10:45.number of explosions in the Ukraine. The blasts were the near and
:10:45. > :10:54.eastern city, the first was close to a central Tam -- tram stop, a
:10:54. > :10:58.second device went off near a local cinema. Barcelona are looking for a
:10:58. > :11:02.new coach after Pep or dealer confirmed rumours he would leave
:11:02. > :11:05.the Spanish champions at the end of the current season. He said he
:11:05. > :11:11.intended to take a sabbatical from football but will no doubt be
:11:11. > :11:21.courted by a host of leading clubs in an effort to make him change his
:11:21. > :11:35.
:11:35. > :11:38.mind. A bomb has exploded in central Damascus and whilst Syrian
:11:38. > :11:41.state television is blaming it on a suicide bomber, activist groups say
:11:41. > :11:45.the government was behind the attack. At least nine people were
:11:45. > :11:48.killed and up to 30 injured. This after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-
:11:48. > :11:50.Moon warned the Syrian government that it is "in contravention" of an
:11:50. > :11:54.internationally agreed peace plan. The BBC's Jim Muir reports from
:11:54. > :11:55.Beirut. More bad news for Kofi Annan and his peace plan, a suicide
:11:55. > :11:58.bomber in Damascus. State television carried gruesome
:11:58. > :12:01.pictures of the aftermath, showing shattered body parts in explicit
:12:01. > :12:04.detail. It all reinforces the regime's argument it is facing not
:12:04. > :12:09.a popular uprising but a terrorist onslaught. With government shelling
:12:09. > :12:14.still going on, like here in do mad, activist accused the regime of
:12:14. > :12:18.being behind the bomb to distract attention from its continuing use
:12:18. > :12:22.of heavy weapons in defiance of the Kofi Annan peace plan. Under the
:12:22. > :12:27.plan, troops and tanks should have gone back to barracks weeks ago.
:12:27. > :12:31.Activists say the regime has killed more than 460 people since the UN
:12:31. > :12:35.observers started arriving. The regime it uses what it calls armed
:12:35. > :12:42.terrorist groups of carrying out a string of assassinations and other
:12:42. > :12:47.attacks. It says it has documented more than 1300 violations. Rebel
:12:47. > :12:52.fighters are certainly still active on the ground, like here at Deir
:12:52. > :12:56.Ezzor in the east. The and and plan calls for them to stand down, too.
:12:56. > :13:01.And up in the north the rebel Free Syrian army was announcing the
:13:01. > :13:07.formation of a new unit, that is also in contravention of the Cave
:13:07. > :13:11.and and plan. Crucially, Russia is backing the regime and blaming the
:13:11. > :13:14.rebels for provoking the violence. That makes action by the Security
:13:14. > :13:20.Council at this stage out of the question. So where do we go from
:13:20. > :13:24.here? Yes today two senior US officials told a congressional
:13:24. > :13:29.hearing that the US fell to the peace plan was failing and they
:13:29. > :13:31.said they were considering contingencies. That seems to me to
:13:31. > :13:37.indicate Washington is moving towards a start favoured by the
:13:37. > :13:41.Turks and Arab countries, that if the so-called ceasefire falls apart
:13:41. > :13:46.that you may have some type of humanitarian zone in the north-west
:13:46. > :13:51.of the country. For the moment, Kofi Annan's plan is the only game
:13:51. > :13:54.in town, but getting the badly- needed UN observers in is proving
:13:55. > :14:04.slow and in the meantime events on the ground are threatening to run
:14:05. > :14:13.
:14:13. > :14:22.Nokia at stall the number one -- Samsung has stolen the number one
:14:22. > :14:25.spot from Nokia. Even at Apple lost out, it is still the world's third-
:14:25. > :14:31.biggest mobile phone maker but it lost its crown as the biggest maker
:14:31. > :14:41.of smart phones to Samsung. I am joined by Rupert good wins, the
:14:41. > :14:42.
:14:42. > :14:47.editor of a London based on mind Samsung has come a long way since
:14:47. > :14:54.selling fruit and vegetables. What is it doing now? They have taken
:14:54. > :14:57.over from a lot of companies. They have a particularly good track
:14:57. > :15:02.record of having a good idea and are sticking with it for a long
:15:02. > :15:08.time. They're smart phones especially, if you look at the
:15:08. > :15:15.history, they have been making them better and better. They have a
:15:15. > :15:20.long-term approach to this. They have sold 25% more smart phones and
:15:20. > :15:23.apple but is this a trend that will definitely continue? It is a trend.
:15:23. > :15:28.Samsung got some advantage by the fact they got them cheaper and can
:15:28. > :15:33.sell them cheaper and this have the same quality field and are more
:15:33. > :15:36.functional than the apple stuff. They're also good at turning out
:15:36. > :15:44.lower-cost feature films which make up the vast majority of phones
:15:44. > :15:47.still sold in the world. Samsung used to be said to be just a
:15:47. > :15:51.follower and not an original creator of mobile phones and they
:15:51. > :15:56.get very upset when you tell them that. What does this tell us about
:15:56. > :16:02.the new technology? To some extent, that is still quite accurate. Their
:16:02. > :16:09.phones are good. Phone systems are now quite established. They have
:16:09. > :16:18.not changed very much since the I phoned him out. The technology is
:16:18. > :16:23.maturing and that is why the market is changing. Microsoft's from the
:16:23. > :16:29.software which is what Nokia her using has not really set the world
:16:29. > :16:35.alight. It is very good but it is lacking in features. When it tried
:16:35. > :16:41.in the future? I think they will, they are doing very well. Mobile
:16:41. > :16:46.phones, we're all fascinated with them, I think they will sink down a
:16:46. > :16:56.little and by that point, Samsung will do very well. Is the
:16:56. > :17:03.
:17:03. > :17:07.significance in the fact that it is in Western Europe? There is a mood
:17:07. > :17:14.perhaps back from the Far East. It doesn't really matter where things
:17:14. > :17:17.are made. They're very simple inside and there isn't much
:17:17. > :17:23.differentiation you can have. The importance as the software and what
:17:23. > :17:27.is going to happen is, the focus will be on the applications rather
:17:27. > :17:37.than the phone itself so that might see things coming back to the West
:17:37. > :17:40.
:17:40. > :17:47.again. You can tell me after we come off their what phone you have!
:17:47. > :17:50.In South Dakota, a reservation is home to a tribe that has a huge
:17:50. > :17:54.alcohol problems. Despite the fact that alcohol is banned from the
:17:54. > :17:59.reservation area, stories just across the state line in Nebraska
:17:59. > :18:04.have been selling it to them so now, leaders are taking the shops,
:18:04. > :18:12.distributors and breweries to court and they are seeking 500 million
:18:12. > :18:20.damages. This is home to just 12 residents.
:18:20. > :18:26.For surprisingly busy drugstores. These shops still sell 5 million
:18:26. > :18:31.bottles of beer a year, more than 13,000 servings a day. And 52 years
:18:31. > :18:37.old and I have come here because I'm an alcoholic. I get my beers
:18:37. > :18:41.from here. Most of that beer travels just a short way across the
:18:41. > :18:47.border into South Dakota. On the other side of the state line lies
:18:47. > :18:51.the Pine Ridge Indian reservation, the second largest in America. It
:18:51. > :18:57.is illegal to drink alcohol there but it is estimated that 80% of the
:18:57. > :19:02.families have one or more member who is suffering from alcoholism.
:19:02. > :19:07.As Indians, we drink until there is no tomorrow, to there is no more
:19:07. > :19:14.money to buy beer, that is how we drink. This man is a recovering
:19:14. > :19:21.alcoholic and a father of 12. elsewhere to buy beer additives are
:19:21. > :19:25.half-an-hour to walk. Some people use wheelchairs or crutches when we
:19:25. > :19:30.walk up there. The tribal council is suing the shops, the
:19:30. > :19:33.distributors and the breweries. The $500 million suit argues that that
:19:33. > :19:42.the vast amount of beer being sold, companies must know there is being
:19:42. > :19:49.used illegally. We have tried many avenues to close alcohol sales
:19:49. > :19:53.there. We're looking at what they have given us and that is the
:19:53. > :20:00.respect for our culture and people. The beer company has declined to
:20:00. > :20:09.speak to the BBC. There is little sympathy here for or the lots at.
:20:09. > :20:13.It is not illegal to buy alcohol at a place where it is legal. It is
:20:13. > :20:20.the leaders that are doing some of the same, they are coming down here
:20:20. > :20:25.and buying themselves but then they want to find the lawsuit.
:20:25. > :20:29.thinks that they owe his community something. They could get a
:20:29. > :20:36.treatment centre going, something to say, thank you for on your
:20:36. > :20:43.business. For buying all our alcohol and ruining your lives.
:20:43. > :20:46.They have yet to do that, all they give us his pain.
:20:46. > :20:50.One of arms to Iran's most infamous tour has attractions are the City's
:20:50. > :20:55.coffee shops where you can buy cannabis. Now the industry could be
:20:55. > :20:58.threatened after cafe owners lost their court battle against a
:20:59. > :21:02.government plan to ban tourists from entering the cafes. Soft drugs
:21:02. > :21:06.and the Netherlands are not strictly legal but their use is
:21:06. > :21:15.tolerated. The ban is due initially to come into force in three
:21:15. > :21:20.southern provinces in May. The Netherlands is famous for its
:21:20. > :21:28.liberal approach to soft drugs. While it is not strictly legal to
:21:28. > :21:31.smoke cannabis here, its use is tolerated. The Dutch government
:21:31. > :21:41.decriminalised the possession of less than five grams of cannabis in
:21:41. > :21:47.1976. Cannabis cafes or coffee shops are a major site in most
:21:47. > :21:54.cities and a major attraction for tourists. Now the government wants
:21:54. > :21:58.to tighten the restrictions. think it is ridiculous. It is a
:21:58. > :22:02.shame because I believe the world really admires the Dutch for their
:22:02. > :22:08.pragmatic and forward-thinking view on how to handle what they consider
:22:08. > :22:18.salt trucks and it just seems that they are literally going back in
:22:18. > :22:22.time. The new law is designed to cut the number of drug tourists who,
:22:22. > :22:27.some residents complained, were creating nuisances like traffic
:22:27. > :22:34.jams and an increase of hard drug dealers on the streets. It has also
:22:34. > :22:37.designed to cut cross-border crime coming by people coming to the
:22:37. > :22:41.Netherlands to buy them and returning home to sell them
:22:41. > :22:46.illegally. From 1st May, coffee shops in the three southern
:22:46. > :22:51.provinces will become members-only clubs. Up to 2000 membership cards
:22:51. > :22:58.will be issued by each coffee-shop to residents over the age the 18th.
:22:58. > :23:03.The novel come into effect across the country at the end of this year.
:23:03. > :23:10.There are around 700 cover shops in the Netherlands. Honours fighting
:23:10. > :23:16.the arms says it discriminates on the basis of where they live. Some
:23:16. > :23:20.say new rules will cut up to 90% of their business. It is disappointing
:23:20. > :23:26.for everyone and Holland. Nobody sees that there is a problem, we
:23:26. > :23:31.don't have problems with tourists who come to smoke a joint and then
:23:31. > :23:34.go to visit a museum. His got a third of tourists are attracted by
:23:34. > :23:39.the possibility of smoking cannabis. With the new legislation, there are
:23:39. > :23:42.fears it could have a huge impact on tourism. The mayor is hoping to
:23:42. > :23:51.negotiate a deal with the government to insure the tourists
:23:51. > :23:56.trying to buy cannabis can keep on coming.
:23:56. > :24:02.We are joined now by a representative of the Dutch
:24:02. > :24:06.opposition party, a Social Liberal Party will stop this mood is meant
:24:06. > :24:12.to help tackle the rise in drug- related crimes so wide you have a
:24:12. > :24:20.problem with that? Everybody in the Netherlands is against drug-related
:24:20. > :24:26.crime and we have to fight that, of course. But I think that this new
:24:26. > :24:31.idea of government is not going to support that goal. I think that is
:24:31. > :24:35.because we are going to in legalise drugs and more than we did, that
:24:35. > :24:41.there will be a lot of selling of illegal drugs on the streets
:24:41. > :24:46.instead of coffee shops. But this only applies to foreigners, not to
:24:46. > :24:50.Dutch residents of the Netherlands? The Netherlands is a very small
:24:50. > :24:54.country and we have a lot of Borders and especially in the south,
:24:54. > :25:01.a lot of French people and the Belgian people and German people go
:25:01. > :25:06.to the coffee shops to buy cannabis but if they are not able to buy it
:25:06. > :25:11.there, there are a lot of illegal dealers on the street who not only
:25:11. > :25:19.possess cannabis but other hard drugs who are willing to sell that
:25:19. > :25:24.to those foreign visitors. So I think that in the end, the crime in
:25:24. > :25:27.this area can even be bigger than it is now. Cafe owners say they
:25:27. > :25:31.will appeal and say this is discriminatory, do you think the
:25:31. > :25:35.chances of getting this overturned are strong or not? I don't know,
:25:35. > :25:41.the judges will decide of course but the thing is, we have to tackle
:25:41. > :25:43.this problem in a pragmatic way, instead of going back, we should be
:25:43. > :25:49.more discussing this internationally and saying to each
:25:49. > :25:58.other, the real about soft drugs in Germany, in Great Britain and also
:25:58. > :26:02.America and the whole of Europe. Young people are using cannabis and
:26:02. > :26:07.under the age of 18, people should not of course use cannabis but if
:26:07. > :26:13.you are grown up, then that there should be a free choice and you
:26:13. > :26:20.should regulates that as a government because then problems
:26:20. > :26:24.will escalate. Loss of revenue for the Dutch government in these
:26:24. > :26:31.financially perilous times? If you are going to regulate not only the
:26:31. > :26:36.way of selling but the production of it, you can do things like
:26:36. > :26:45.regulating the way it is produced but you can also tax it and it has
:26:45. > :26:49.figured out that to tax cannabis can create 500 million euro for the
:26:49. > :26:58.budget so it is also interesting weather but it and for the problems
:26:58. > :27:01.in Europe. A reminder of our main story: The
:27:01. > :27:05.blind Chinese activist, Chen Guangcheng, has appealed to the
:27:05. > :27:08.central government at for justice after making a dramatic escape from
:27:08. > :27:13.has arrest. He released a video appealing to the Prime Minister,
:27:14. > :27:23.Wen Jiabo, to ensue -- ensure the safety of this family and to tackle
:27:24. > :27:32.
:27:32. > :27:37.corruption. That's all from us. For many of us, it was another wet
:27:37. > :27:41.day today. You'll be pleased to hear that tomorrow, things are
:27:41. > :27:44.looking a little bit drier and brighter. But it is not set to last
:27:44. > :27:50.for the whole weekend because we have a developing area of low
:27:50. > :27:54.pressure to the south. For the time being, a decaying weather front
:27:54. > :27:59.sitting across us and that will keep it cloudy through Saturday.
:27:59. > :28:03.The south-east is where we look later for rain on Saturday but for
:28:03. > :28:08.the time being, for much of northern England, a lovely Saturday
:28:08. > :28:12.afternoon with plenty of sunshine. Drew central areas, it is cloudy
:28:12. > :28:15.but drier than today. The south- east of England will steadily see
:28:15. > :28:21.rain creeping in as we head through the late morning and early
:28:21. > :28:28.afternoon. Some rain over south- western parts of England but not as
:28:28. > :28:33.torrential as the downpour as we saw today. For Wales, the cloud
:28:33. > :28:39.will thin and things should brighten up. Across Scotland and
:28:39. > :28:43.Northern Ireland, plenty of spring sunshine to be enjoyed. A northerly
:28:43. > :28:47.wind feeding in some cooler air and the risk of some rain. For Saturday