15/10/2013 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me, Philippa Thomas. A state of

emergency is declared on Sicily as the region struggles to cope with

the arrival of hundreds of migrants. Italian authorities release pictures

showing a mother ship carrying the migrants from Africa into the

Mediterranean. We'll speak to a special rapporteaur from the UN

about the problem. Turmoil on Capitol Hill - with two

days to go, will there be a deal to avoid a US debt default and reopen

government? Why are they doing this to the American people? Sabotaging a

good faith, bipartisan effort coming out of the Senate? Wasting the

public's time? In this case, time is money.

Iran returns to the negotiating table over in Geneva over its

nuclear programme - we'll speak to the EU's spokesman at the talks on

how well they're going. Hello and welcome.

Also coming up: Six books, six authors but only one winner - the

prestigious Man Booker prize will be announced in the coming hours. We'll

be live at the award ceremony. A state of emergency has been

declared by the government of Sicily due to the large number of migrants

arriving in southern Italy by boat. Sicily is, of course, responsible

for the island of Lampedusa, which is really struggling to cope with

the surge in arrivals from North Africa. Some 400 people have been

rescued in the past 24 hours alone. As Italy ramps up its surveillance

of the Mediterranean, it has discovered a huge human trafficker

mothership. From Lampedusa, the BBC's Kassim Kayira reports.

A migrant mothership is spotted by Italian border police alongside a

smaller vessel. Italian authorities say the larger ships are used by

smugglers to complete most of the journey across the sea, then

migrants are put onto overcrowded smaller vessels. Hundreds of

migrants, leave to be of Syrian and Egyptian nationalities, were part of

the deck of the mothership. The mothership is believed to have left

from Egypt. Over the past 24 hours alone, Italian authorities say they

have rescued more than 400 people. The journey is hard enough, and once

they arrive, the challenge is adapting to the new lives. Rituals

and customs keep the communities together. Most of the migrants have

been marking the key Festival in their religious calendar, Eid.

Migrants at the Lampedusa Ritter -- reception centre tried to look for

the... Look their best for the festival. They found their own way

to celebrate. TRANSLATION: We prayed but it was a

small ceremony, because there was no facilities, so the imam try to make

it short. The atmosphere was good, thankfully. Even when the boats

managed to dock or pulled to safety, like here on the Italian island of

Lampedusa, faith or religion continues to play a key role. Away

from home, unsure of their future, the migrant still marked one of the

biggest festivals in the Muslim calendars, praying to their faith to

keep their identities intact. Francois Crepeau is the United

Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants. He joins

me via webcam from Switzerland. Welcome. May I ask you first, what

do you make of these motherships? It shows the scale of the industry in

transporting illegal migrants, doesn't it? It does, and we should

not be surprised about that. It is happening, it is going to happen

again and will not stop as long as we keep our current policies. One of

the policies you want to see is more legal channels for migrants to come

through? One of the reasons there is this migration to Europe is that we

have unrecognised labour needs, we have underground labour markets were

migrants are employed, often in appalling conditions. As long as

there are jobs for them, people will take them. Unless we recognise these

markets and make them above ground, regulate them and then give access

to people, even migrants, the pull factor will be great and we will

continue to see migrants coming in regularly. You are saying there need

to be more legal channels for migration of the low skilled into

Europe? Yes, these underground labour markets exist in the

construction, agricultural, caregiving, hospitality industries

and in many others, cockle picking, for example, in the UK. We need

migrants in these industries. We don't recognise or acknowledge

this. We let employers create appalling underground labour markets

where these people will be employed in appalling conditions, with the

deaths on a regular basis. As long as we don't recognise this, make a

tape of ground, acknowledge we need migrants. -- make it above ground.

We need 150 million migrants in Europe by 2050, says one report We

don't have any politicians with the courage to say so. You know the

difficulty, especially in times of economic recession or austerity for

any politician to stand up and say, we need to allow more foreigners to

come in to take jobs. You say that you know the demand is there, but

how do you persuade political leaders to take the stand with you?

It is extremely difficult, because migrants don't vote, so they are

invisible politically. They also don't protest or mobilise, because

they fear being identified, arrested, detained, deported. They

are the object of the discussions, not the subject of them. The only

thing that has worked in the past few years was going to court, where

court have told - the European Court of Human Rights, the court of

justice, the Supreme Court in several countries - the governments

of countries that they don't have the right to do this. If you can't

do it for citizens, why can you do it for migrants? The courts can tell

the government things because they do not have electoral pressure on

them. We need to work more with national human rights institutions,

courts and tribunal 's, to set the legal principles which should apply

in order to protect the rights of these people. They have rights, just

like we do, the same fundamental rights that we do except for the

right to vote and be elected and the right to stay in the country. I m

afraid we have to leave it there, but thank you. A pleasure.

As the senior Democrat Nancy Pelosi put it in Washington today, time is

money - and the US government is running out of both. America could

default on its debts - that is start running out of money to pay its

bills - in just two days. The atmosphere on Capitol Hill is

frantic. The White House has just said that progress is being made,

but negotiations, statements and accusations are still flying. Let's

hear more from the two sides - first from Ms Pelosi, the Democrats'

leader in the House of Representatives.

Why are they doing this to the American people, sabotaging a good

faith bipartisan effort coming out of the Senate? Wasting the public

This morning when I got up it did look like there was going to be a

deal on the Senate side. They were getting close to the deal

to re-open the Government by January 15th, increase the debt ceiling and

make minor tweaks to the President's signature health and insurance law,

but House Republicans didn't like the sound of this deal. When they

met this morning, to consider their own proposal that would have done

those to consider their own proposal that would have done those two

things - re-open the Government and extend the debt creerlings but

include a change to the President's healthcare law, which Democrats were

never going to like. It seems that when Republicans met, their own

proposal didn't have the support of their own caucus full stop the house

Democratic leadership is due to meet with the president in an hour.

Tomorrow night the US will not be able to borrow any more money and

it. To run out of money to pay its huge, gigantic billions of dollars

of obligations. To try to find out what is happening, I have been

talking to a Democratic congressman from Oregon and I asked whether

there would be a deal? I believe we will at this point in time. If you'd

asked me to Mac Pro days ago, I would say we would not. But the fact

that there is a bipartisan framework coming out, as well as what others

have been doing and as well as what the house of Republicans is

considering, they are all in the same ballpark. It is about extending

the debt ceiling until after the first year and working on the big

problem, the budget. The long-term debt and deficit and getting the

economic recovery going is the one thing nobody is talking about, but

it is the real problem. But House Republicans seem to want major

change to the health insurer into law. Will you budge? That will not

happen. Then we might not get and agreement? I don't think they are

suicidal. I do not believe that in their heart of hearts as legislators

they will let the country default. You will have to leave some of the

Tea Party radicals and reckless people behind. So all eyes are on

House Republicans. Republicans control the House of

Representatives. So far they have not come up with their own proposal

but they have not commanded... We have a bipartisan deal in the

making. The White House used to be able to throw its weight behind it,

but it will be down to House Republicans and what they can or

can't report. The Dow Jones is down very slightly, meanwhile, investors

are concerned that the deal they thought was in the making is

apparently slipping away and many Americans have their pension funds

invested in the stock market, so as soon as they flip, people start to

lose money. If there is a default, the stock market will plunge. Thank

you, Laura Trevelyan on Capitol Hill.

More than 90 people have died after an earthquake struck the central

Philippines, causing widespread destruction. The epicentre of the

7.1 magnitude quake was beneath the island of Bohol. Jonathan Head

reports. The earthquake brought down

buildings in Cebu, more than 60 kilometres away from the percentage,

leaving rescue teams with the grim task of lifting slabs of concrete to

retrieve bodies. TRANSLATION: The earthquake stopped,

but there was another tremor, so we rushed out. One of us try to get

away but there was a big chunk of concrete which fell from the upper

floors. The tremors caused damage over a wide area, affecting several

islands in the central Philippines. Among the casualties were some of

its most historic churches. They had stood for hundreds of years, since

the beginning of Spanish colonial rule. It will take some time for the

authorities to assess the number of casualties will stop they have

declared what they call a state of calamity in several areas, allowing

the central government to help restore order and basic services.

With strong after-shocks still being felt, many buildings remain unsafe.

This could have been worse. It was a public holidays of schools and

government offices were largely empty, but it was bad enough. - so

schools and government offices were largely empty.

It's one of the most prestigious awards in literature and this year's

Man Booker Prize winner will be revealed in just a few hours. Let's

take a look at the short list of contenders. Jim Crace is the

favourite to win with what may be his last book, Harvest. New

Zealander Eleanor Catton is the youngest of this year's contenders

with The Luminaries. Irish author Colm Toibin's The Testament of Mary

is the shortest novel at just over 100 pages. Canadian-American writer

Ruth Ozeki's A Tale for the Time Being is her fourth book. Pulitzer

Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri's novel is The Lowland. And Zimbabwean

author NoViolet Bulawayo's We Need New Names is the only debut novel on

the short list. Harvest Ruth Ozeki A Tale for the Time Being Jhumpa

Lahiri The Lowland NoViolet Bulawayo We Need New Names Our arts

correspondent Rebecca Jones is at London's Guildhall, where the winner

will be announced soon. Over to you. It will be at this magnificent

Guildhall in the City of London The 500 or so guests will be filing in

to embark on their lavish three-course dinner. Among the guest

as royal visitor this year, Her Royal Highness the Duchess of

Cornwall will be here to present the six short-listed authors with

specially bound copies of their books. It is a landmark moment for

the Man Booker this year, after 45 years the rules are change. From

next year anybody writing in English will be eligible to enter. That

means the Americans are coming. To share their thoughts and insights

I'm delighted to say I'm joined by by one of the world's leading

literary agents and by the publishing managing director of

Canon gate. You have a Booker in contention? Ruth Ozeki with her

wonderful novel A Tale for the Time Being. Are you optimistic? I'm

nervous. It's a great short-list this year, so there'll be a number

of worthy winners on that list. I wanted to ask you, what is the

impact of winning this prize on a writer's career? Well, it depends

where the writer is in his or her career. I was the agent for John

Banville when he won. It supercharges their career. Suddenly

whoosh! All the back list books sell. You go back and you print all

the earlier books. And the advances go up and all kind of good things

happen. It has a huge impact. What about a writer at the beginning of

their career. Career. You had Jan Matel, and this year for NoViolet

Bulawayo, it is her first novel Might it distort a writer's career

by winning so early? For any writer it has a significant impact on how

many more readers will discover the books that they've written. I don't

think it is necessarily going to distort what that writer then does

in the future, but fame can do all sorts of strange things to anyone.

The beerk is re, but fame can do all sorts of strange things to anyone.

The beerk is the equivalent -- the Booker is the equivalent of our

Oscars, and it thrusts a writer into the limelight in a way that they are

not normally in. It has a big impact on any writer. What impact does it

have on the publishing industry in general? The whole purpose of the

Booker, and I was around when it was conceived, he was thinking and we

were all thinking about the French prizes, the Concord, the Mmdici

they sell books. They really do sell books. Jan Martell sold millions of

copies. Night was meant to sell books, to stimulate reading and the

public buying books. A quick word about the Americans entering this

year. A good thing or is it going to be a shame? It is a very good thing.

It is like having a beauty contest but not admitting redheads. American

write in English last time I looked and they should be in this. Thank

you both very much indeed. We will be revealing the winner in a couple

of hours' time. Remember characters thank you.

Cautious TRANSMIT Remember characters thank you.

Cautious opt Mitch - that's how some are describing the mood after the

first day of talks on Iran's nuclear programme in Geneva. These are the

first formal negotiations since Hassan Rouhani became President

Tehran has promised new proposals. The US is holding out the prospect

that it could lift some of its tough economic sanctions.

From a polite distance the chief negotiators said their he believes.

Mohammed Zarif and Baroness Katherine Ashton met for two days of

talks. Mohammed struggled to get out of his chair. His plaint on Facebook

of serious back pain. Note the black laptop. He used it to give an

hour-long PowerPoint presentation outlining Iran's ideas. The world

powers say they are ready to listen. We've come here with a sense of

cautious optimism and a great sense of determination, because we believe

it is really time now for tangible results. We are very serious. We are

not here to waste our time. We are serious for a real target-oriented

negotiations between Iran and others. These talks follow last

month's phone call between President Obama and Iran es new President

Hassan Rouhani. Are it was the most important conversation between the

US and Iran in three decades. But don't get carried away, warn those

who've tried it before. It is right that we go into this with our eyes

open, mindful of the history of it. In a situation where the Iranians

are under no doubt that the sanctions and the threat remain on

the table. Iran's promise of a new start with the West is now being

tested the right here. But it will take more than two days of talks to

sort out all their disagreement One official here has delivered a punchy

warning. Don't expect any overnight breakthroughs.

Michael Mann is spokesman for Katherine Ashton, the EU foreign

policy representative. Thank you for being with us on World News Tonight.

I want to ask, why are you feeling positive tonight? You talked about

optimism. Well, we've been hearing lots of very positive noises coming

from the new President in Iran, and from the new Foreign Minister. We

really came to this meeting hope that they would follow through on

those positive remarks with concrete and constructive proposals. We had a

set of proposals on the table for a long time which they haven't yet

responded to, the Iranians. We hoped that the new regime would be able to

respond positively. We said at this morning's session that the proposals

were useful. This afternoon our experts sat down with the Iranians

and went for the first time in a detailed way through all the

technicalities of this. There are positive signs, but as James said in

his report, this is a long process and there is a long way to go. What

we were aiming for at the end of the day is that the Iranians can prove

unequivocally and verifiably to the international community that they

are not building a military nuclear programme and that it is a peaceful

programme. There's a lot of work still to do. Talks will continue

hear, hear tomorrow and there'll be other rounds of talks as well. What

practical moves could Iran make that would give you confidence? For

example, they could pull back on enriching uranium to 20%. Is that

the kind of shift you are looking for? We don't go into too much

detail about our proposals publicly but everybody knows that the core

issue here is that Iran is enriching uranium according to the

International Atomic Energy Agency to levels that are not required for

a peaceful programme. We talk about this 20% enrichment issue. The ball

is in their court to take a confidence-building measure that can

kick off a process of negotiations. We are willing to play our role

because it takes two sides to negotiate, but the ball is in their

court to make the first move, as Iran is in breach of its

international obligations. We had so many positive signals from Mr Hassan

Rouhani, are you confident that the regime is fully engaged behind him?

Well, the Foreign Minister is very much behind this. He is the chief

negotiator now. We've noticed a different tone in negotiations since

Mr Zarif took over. There is a lot of work still to be done. Done. We

hope they can follow through the positive noises from Iran with

concrete negotiations. There has been a start today but we are going

to continue to work hard. My boss Katherine Ashton has met with the

Minister this evening. There'll be further meetings tomorrow and I

imagine another set of talks before much longer. We'll keep watching.

Thank you. Thank you.

Another member of Greenpeace arrested in Russia for staging a

protest against Arctic oil drilling has had his bail application

rejected. Briton Frank Hewetson was the logistics co-ordinator on the

Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise. Crew of 30 face piracy charge as. They

carry a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.

Dawn outside a jail in Murmansk Russia's biggest Arctic port. A

Greenpeace volunteer is carrying in huge bags of supplies for the 3

activists who are held here, six of them are British. This morning

lifelong campaigner Frank Hewetson from London was in court asking to

be bailed from the prison. Is it warm enough? With the extra two

blankets I requested it is quite warm, otherwise it is very cold

Frank Hewetson's lawyer argued that his detention in international

waters was illegal and the charge of piracy was absurd. But the judge

dismissed it all. One by one the activists have been brought to court

to sit in knees cages while their lawyers ask for bail and they've

been denied and sent back to prison, where they've already spent three

weeks. She thin. We showed our pictures to he partner in London and

asked what she thought of his Russian jail time. Not an

occupational hazard but I think that this charge of piracy with a 15 year

sentence is completely unprecedented. It seems a massive

overreaction to peaceful protest and nobody could have anticipated that.

The activists were all detained last month by armed officers when they

tried to tie themselves on to a Russian Arctic oil rig 40 miles

offshore. We are the only non-Russian TV news team to have

been out to the rig, which is expected to start pumping oil later

this year. Just down here is the spot where two of the Greenpeace

activists tried to climb on to the platform before they were hosed

down, pulled off and taken away by armed men in balaclavas. The

Greenpeace ship has been toed to Murmansk and impound. Russia's

strong action shows how important the massive reserve of Arctic

offshore oil are to the country s future and how little tolerance

Vladimir Putin has for protest. Just time to remind you of our main

news. Italian authorities have released video showing a "mother

ship" carrying migrants from Africa transferring passengers to a smaller

boat. This comes as the region of Sicily their as state of emergency

because of the large numbers of migrants being rescued. Next it is

the weather but for now, from me Philippa Thomas and the rest of the

team, goodbye. Good evening to you. I'm showing you

a foggy sphere for the overnight period. With good reason. The

eastern parts, particularly of England, could see extensive and

dense fog for a time during the new day's morning. Towards the west a

different story. Eventually the cloud will thicken and this area of

cloud and rain associated with weather fronts in the Atlantic will

push