:00:05. > :00:09.This is BBC World News Today with me, Philippa Thomas. Our top story -
:00:09. > :00:15.Dietro Front - that's U-turn in And it's left former Prime Minister
:00:15. > :00:27.bruised as his party drops its challenge to Italy's coalition
:00:27. > :00:30.government. President Obama summons congressional leaders to the White
:00:30. > :00:34.House - but can they agree a deal to end America's government shutdown?
:00:34. > :00:37.Greenpeace activists were arrested at gunpoint by Russian security
:00:38. > :00:40.And why scientists now believe Mars eruptions that may have shaped the
:00:40. > :01:09.Hello and welcome. Silvio Berlusconi likes to be the king-maker, if not
:01:09. > :01:16.ministers from his own centre-right party - refused to walk out. The
:01:16. > :01:22.votes are still going on, but it's already clear who is the biggest
:01:22. > :01:50.the Senate to get his government a Let's get more from the BBC's Alan
:01:50. > :01:52.the Senate to get his government a chance to implement the economic
:01:52. > :02:05.reforms in this country desperately continuity and stability. As he
:02:05. > :02:12.spoke, he knew there was trouble in Silvio Berlusconi's camp. Many were
:02:12. > :02:17.prepared to D5 Silvio Berlusconi and side with the government. He also
:02:17. > :02:26.knew he was in a corner with the real risk of a major split in his
:02:26. > :02:35.party. He rose to his feet and any dramatic moment capitulated. This
:02:35. > :02:43.Five Enrico Letta, everything was at stake. He had come to plead with the
:02:43. > :02:50.Senate to back his government and desperately needs. He had to deliver
:02:50. > :02:56.the speech of his life. Honourable senators, courage and confidence is
:02:56. > :02:59.what I asked. I appealed today to the entire parliament, give us your
:02:59. > :03:05.confidence in order to achieve these objectives. All this time, Silvio
:03:05. > :03:09.Berlusconi knew the affair was moving against him. Senior figures
:03:09. > :03:13.in his party where unhappy with moving against him. Senior figures
:03:13. > :03:20.decision to try to torpedo the government. They were ready to
:03:20. > :03:25.rebel. As he listened, he decided he had to try to limit the damage.
:03:26. > :03:35.rebel. As he listened, he decided he he rose it was for a humiliating
:03:35. > :03:38.government that can produce all structural and institutional reforms
:03:38. > :03:49.the country needs, we have decided not without trouble, to express
:03:49. > :03:51.the country needs, we have decided government. He accepted defeat and
:03:51. > :04:01.meekly agreed to back the coalition he had attempted to destroy. The
:04:01. > :04:16.government won a huge endorsement. against 70. Zero abstentions, the
:04:16. > :04:34.Senate approves. The prime minister Certainly one of the toughest days
:04:34. > :04:45.over. Several weeks ago he was in his long and tumultuous political
:04:45. > :04:50.over. Several weeks ago he was that has made he is liable to be
:04:50. > :04:52.humiliated again by being thrown out of Parliament and stripped of his
:04:52. > :04:58.seat and barred from public office. of Parliament and stripped of his
:04:58. > :05:15.We may see with than 48 hours a of Parliament and stripped of his
:05:15. > :05:22.marginalised and less influential. each other and he is all the time
:05:23. > :05:26.marginalised and less influential. That is his fate but what about
:05:26. > :05:29.Italy as a whole? There seems to be a vote today for stability when
:05:29. > :05:36.Italy as a whole? There seems to be could have been massive upheaval?
:05:36. > :05:38.Certainly when this exploded with his worth the role of his ministers
:05:38. > :05:46.from the Cabinet at the weekend his worth the role of his ministers
:05:46. > :05:54.Letta's government was hit below the water line and we might have been
:05:54. > :06:02.a few days is a very long time in Italian politics and Enrico Letta
:06:02. > :06:07.has emerged from the tumult very much reinforced. He will continue
:06:07. > :06:12.but let us not forget, this is the most awkward beast of a government.
:06:12. > :06:17.It brings together people from the right and left of Italian politics
:06:17. > :06:19.who have been rivals the entire political career and this is still
:06:19. > :06:25.not the most stable arrangement political career and this is still
:06:25. > :06:27.Let's look more at the problems political career and this is still
:06:27. > :06:30.facing. With me is Bill Emmott, co-writer of the documentary film
:06:30. > :06:33.Girlfriend In A Coma about Italy's 20-year economic, political and
:06:33. > :06:49.social decline. He's also a former editor of The Economist. Do you
:06:49. > :06:55.comebacks than Frank Sinatra. He has got a thick skin. You can never
:06:55. > :06:57.write him off and particularly when the humiliation like this, and it is
:06:57. > :07:09.a humiliation, he has a thicker the humiliation like this, and it is
:07:09. > :07:13.rhinoceros. He will be expelled the humiliation like this, and it is
:07:13. > :07:16.the Senate? He will be expelled the humiliation like this, and it is
:07:16. > :07:22.and will go on to house arrest for a year but is still one of Italy's
:07:22. > :07:26.richest men, so he can try to make a comeback but they are lazy lot to
:07:26. > :07:36.play for now. The big thing that happened behind the scenes is he was
:07:36. > :07:37.lot of people who split from him are die-hard Catholics and the church
:07:37. > :08:04.and he has quite a while to live seems to have deserted him. The
:08:05. > :08:05.and he has quite a while to live reforms of Enrico Letta? The answer
:08:05. > :08:25.ideas... It is not popular with reforms of Enrico Letta? The answer
:08:25. > :08:27.ideas... It is not popular with of incompatibles, and they all think
:08:27. > :08:32.they can be elected so do not want to be seen as inflicting harm. They
:08:32. > :08:37.are better than yesterday but not a lot better. You have this situation
:08:37. > :08:44.where the markets are watching and what happens in the Italian economy
:08:44. > :08:49.is very important. It is not purely internal. There are always shock
:08:49. > :08:53.waves across Europe? All across Europe there is at least between the
:08:53. > :09:01.reforms and fiscal austerity and the things that needs to be done to
:09:02. > :09:05.reforms and fiscal austerity and the the euro. An event like this keeps
:09:05. > :09:13.Italian politics together but it is also a temptation. One tactic he
:09:13. > :09:27.might do is to go against the euro. tinderbox, still very explosive
:09:27. > :09:34.because Italy is the third biggest economy and the biggest debt or
:09:34. > :09:36.because Italy is the third biggest it as any bad recession. I do not
:09:36. > :09:41.think it is the light at the end of the tunnel but it is a better day
:09:41. > :09:44.for Italian politics than it had looked like being 24 hours ago.
:09:44. > :09:47.Well, as Italy's Prime minister narrowly misses a crisis, President
:09:47. > :09:56.Obama is struggling to get out of one. In a few hours' time he will
:09:56. > :09:58.finally get to sit down to discuss the American government shut down,
:09:58. > :10:01.with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders at the White
:10:01. > :10:07.House. Let's put some numbers to this story to understand the scale
:10:07. > :10:10.All nonessential staff have no work and they're not being paid. That's
:10:10. > :10:15.more than 700,000 people, who make national, workforce. The costs are
:10:15. > :10:22.estimated at $300 million per day, although that's manageable for an
:10:22. > :10:23.economy the size of America's. But the bank Goldman Sachs says that if
:10:23. > :10:26.the shutdown lasts three weeks, the bank Goldman Sachs says that if
:10:26. > :10:40.could knock nearly one per cent the bank Goldman Sachs says that if
:10:40. > :10:44.I am joined now from Washington the bank Goldman Sachs says that if
:10:44. > :10:49.all eyes on the White House, but the mood music has been so difficult
:10:49. > :10:54.all eyes on the White House, but the far? Just the fact they are coming
:10:54. > :10:57.to the White House has something. This is some glimmer of hope in
:10:57. > :11:03.to the White House has something. very fact that you will have seen
:11:03. > :11:08.both the House of Representatives than the Senate, and President
:11:08. > :11:45.Obama, all around a table. We have heard from the house leadership
:11:45. > :11:45.Obama, all around a table. We have Representatives are putting on
:11:45. > :11:59.passing any spending is a delay Representatives are putting on
:11:59. > :12:04.evidence on who the American public is blaming? Americans across the
:12:04. > :12:15.country are simply fed up of what they see as beckoning between the
:12:15. > :12:18.beckoning. There is a sense that certain members of the Republican
:12:18. > :12:23.party are in some ways to blame certain members of the Republican
:12:23. > :12:32.this. That is actually a sentiment that some in the Republican party
:12:32. > :12:37.Republicans like Pete King say that his party has been hijacked by tea
:12:37. > :12:42.party sympathisers and he said other Republicans in the House of
:12:42. > :12:46.Representatives wants to find a other Republicans in the House of
:12:46. > :12:53.out of this because they too like the public are fed up of this. It is
:12:53. > :12:55.not necessarily a case of Republican versus Democrat because you have
:12:55. > :13:01.divisions within the Republican Many times we've reported on the
:13:01. > :13:09.now a new political crisis has hit the country. At the centre of events
:13:09. > :13:14.Michaloliakos, the leader of the far under arrest. He and five MPs have
:13:14. > :13:24.money-laundering and are linked under arrest. He and five MPs have
:13:24. > :13:27.the murder of a left wing activist. Pavlos Fyssas was stabbed to death
:13:27. > :13:29.by a Golden Dawn supporter and the investigation into his death has
:13:29. > :13:40.prompted extraordinary allegations leadership is the lying that link.
:13:40. > :13:48.-- been arguing. Here's our special report from Mark Lowen, lifting
:13:48. > :13:48.-- been arguing. Here's our special Charged with forming an organised
:13:48. > :13:53.crime gang, three MPs of Golden Charged with forming an organised
:13:53. > :14:01.led out of court today on bail. Charged with assault and money
:14:01. > :14:04.laundering, they are unrepentant. Golden Dawn has soared with the
:14:04. > :14:09.Greek economic collapse, the third Golden Dawn has soared with the
:14:09. > :14:13.most popular party, but it is in chaos after police worked after
:14:13. > :14:18.most popular party, but it is in left-wing activist was killed by an
:14:18. > :14:29.real insight from an ex-supporter. intensely secretive but we had a
:14:30. > :14:30.real insight from an ex-supporter. stood to attention when the leader
:14:30. > :14:36.came in. They talked of beating stood to attention when the leader
:14:36. > :14:45.gay and dark skinned people and stood to attention when the leader
:14:45. > :15:05.the party leader came to visit me. police fighting protesters. At least
:15:05. > :15:12.one is identified as a Golden Dawn member. That is why the party got
:15:12. > :15:19.away with it. He was almost killed a year ago by suspected supporters but
:15:19. > :15:29.nothing was done. That really was from. When I said Pakistan they
:15:29. > :15:34.stabbed me. If I was Greek, they would leave me alone. I am terrified
:15:35. > :15:58.to go outside. I want to go to report. We will brief some of the
:15:58. > :16:04.Amnesty International has accused committing human rights abuses on a
:16:04. > :16:10.massive scale when they tried to quell anti-government protests over
:16:10. > :16:16.the summer. The organisation's investigators say live ammunition
:16:16. > :16:22.severely beaten and women protesters China says it is continuing to
:16:22. > :16:26.search for the fishermen missing in the South China Sea after Typhoon
:16:26. > :16:31.Wutip. At least 30 people have been pulled to safety so far. But 58
:16:31. > :16:39.others are still listed as missing recovered. Thousands have been
:16:39. > :16:46.central Vietnam, after the storm hit Giant Hornets have killed 41 people
:16:46. > :16:51.in central China. These things are five centimetres long and venom
:16:51. > :16:51.in central China. These things are dissolve flesh. If that wasn't
:16:51. > :16:57.enough, around 1600 people have dissolve flesh. If that wasn't
:16:57. > :17:00.badly hurt by them. It's known that Hornets can get more aggressive
:17:00. > :17:04.badly hurt by them. It's known that this time of year because this is
:17:04. > :17:11.Now to Russia, where authorities have charged 14 Greenpeace activists
:17:11. > :17:15.with piracy, over a protest against oil drilling in the Arctic last
:17:16. > :17:21.month. They were among 30 people arrested, after two protesters from
:17:21. > :17:25.a Greenpeace ship tried to board an oil platform owned by the Russian
:17:25. > :17:32.state-controlled firm Gazprom. Daniel Sandford reports from Moscow.
:17:32. > :17:39.These people are being charged with piracy. It carries a prison sentence
:17:39. > :17:42.in Russia up to 15 years. Greenpeace described the charges as an outrage
:17:42. > :17:54.and an assault on the principle described the charges as an outrage
:17:54. > :18:01.Russian Intel security organisation Sunrise. The raid followed this
:18:01. > :18:23.protest two weeks ago at an Arctic environment. Russia says that the
:18:23. > :18:37.titanic supervolcano eruptions. to the country's economic future.
:18:37. > :18:37.titanic supervolcano eruptions. Scientist tell us that the blasts
:18:37. > :18:43.would have been thousands of times Scientist tell us that the blasts
:18:43. > :18:53.volcanoes, powerful enough to alter extinctions. Palab Ghosh reports.
:18:53. > :19:10.Mars has remnants of thousands of volcanoes including this one, nearly
:19:10. > :19:18.ultimate past -- blast from the past, sending up sealing hot ash
:19:18. > :19:24.they blotted out the sun. But rather than destroy the planet, they may
:19:24. > :19:28.have breathed life into it. More than three .5 billion years ago
:19:28. > :19:45.have breathed life into it. More might have led to this. Morris with
:19:45. > :19:48.atmosphere is developed. It could have allowed the planet to have
:19:48. > :19:53.arrived to happen to conditions have allowed the planet to have
:19:53. > :20:00.producing the chemical material needed. By studying pictures taken
:20:00. > :20:04.from orbit, the doctor found these structures which look like craters
:20:04. > :20:10.but are not. They are gigantic holes in the ground. These are what is
:20:10. > :20:13.left of the Martian supervolcano is. It is these super volcanoes that
:20:13. > :20:20.have shaped the planet, so I were they formed? We begin when molten
:20:20. > :20:30.Gradually the pressure builds up costing the pressure -- surface
:20:30. > :20:32.Gradually the pressure builds up break up. What is emerging is a
:20:32. > :20:39.story of a violent beginning from the big question is what happened
:20:39. > :20:53.next to have led to the dry and Clancy novel. He was perhaps the
:20:53. > :20:57.most widely read military novelist of time and news came said today --
:20:57. > :21:07.came through today that he died of time and news came said today --
:21:07. > :21:28.The Hunt for Red October and Patriot in astonishing numbers. With me
:21:28. > :21:30.The Hunt for Red October and Patriot military theme. His gift was to
:21:30. > :21:33.The Hunt for Red October and Patriot these detailed descriptions of the
:21:33. > :21:54.workings of a Soviet summer arena or together made him such a widely
:21:54. > :21:55.workings of a Soviet summer arena or and appreciated writer. You walk
:21:55. > :21:59.into any airports in the world, and appreciated writer. You walk
:21:59. > :22:04.see those books everywhere. He had a real gift for giving the characters
:22:04. > :22:13.feel empathy and humanity and at the information. It is much more than
:22:13. > :22:19.soap operas and page turning. This was a man who had been briefed by
:22:19. > :22:22.the guys on CIE arts. He had great contacts and that built up on the
:22:22. > :22:28.years. When military people read those books, with most writers,
:22:28. > :22:30.years. When military people read is do they make this stuff up. These
:22:30. > :22:40.are at this guy clearly knows his respect. More and more people would
:22:40. > :22:43.talk to him about how things worked and that fed back into the books and
:22:43. > :22:46.gave them a real credibility, not just for the public, but for the
:22:46. > :22:51.military world. His first break just for the public, but for the
:22:51. > :22:58.from Ronald Reagan. Yes, his first published book, The Hunt for Red
:22:58. > :23:00.October, made into a Hollywood film. Ronald Regan got it as a present and
:23:00. > :23:06.said, I am loving this book. He Ronald Regan got it as a present and
:23:06. > :23:11.some nice things about him. That helped propel the then, we are
:23:11. > :23:16.talking about a Cold War book. President involved in the end of the
:23:16. > :23:24.Cold War. It seemed like nothing could stop him. He kept churning out
:23:24. > :23:28.these Jack Ryan books, they are thick books and written at a good
:23:28. > :23:37.pace. They have been made into several Hollywood movies now. Alec
:23:38. > :23:47.Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, characters and his books. This
:23:47. > :23:53.character has got such longevity and played by talented actors. It is an
:23:53. > :24:02.usual to catch the imagination like The United Nations Security Council
:24:02. > :24:10.has called on all parties in the humanitarian buzzes in the fighting
:24:10. > :24:15.convoys. Meanwhile, the team charged with getting rid of Syria's chemical
:24:16. > :24:22.Damascus. The disarmament experts are given until the end -- the
:24:22. > :24:48.an Emmy at the news and documentary middle of next year to complete
:24:48. > :25:02.They arrive like the walking dead. Uprising, reporters Ian Pannell
:25:03. > :25:05.They arrive like the walking dead. We do not know what was in the bomb
:25:06. > :25:12.but the injuries and deeply suggest something like napalm. This man
:25:12. > :25:17.but the injuries and deeply suggest known at the cannibal rebel, that is
:25:17. > :25:25.not a far-fetched propaganda claim. This was a depraved act. Are you
:25:25. > :25:28.sorry that you did it? I did not want to do this. I had to. We have
:25:28. > :25:35.to terrify the enemy, humiliate want to do this. I had to. We have
:25:35. > :25:37.just as they do to us. High on a cliff face in a beautiful valley,
:25:37. > :25:41.two small children lead the way cliff face in a beautiful valley,
:25:41. > :25:43.their newborn. They were forced cliff face in a beautiful valley,
:25:43. > :25:49.run away from their village when it was attacked by government forces.
:25:49. > :25:56.-- their new home. This is where A prize-winning team there were
:25:56. > :25:56.-- their new home. This is where extraordinary pictures and stories
:25:56. > :26:03.from inside Syria. I mean news: extraordinary pictures and stories
:26:03. > :26:06.Italian prime minister has won a confidence vote he needed in the
:26:06. > :26:18.Senate in Rome to hold together Italy's coalition government. This
:26:18. > :26:26.Berlusconi. You can say hemp there. -- say hemp. Opinion polls suggest
:26:26. > :26:36.that the patching together of old amongst Italian photos. Thank you
:26:36. > :26:38.very much for being with us here on World News Today. From me and the