:00:00. > :00:09.This is BBC World News Today, with me Zeinab Badawi. Pope Francis uses
:00:10. > :00:12.his strongest language yet to condemn child sexual abuse by
:00:13. > :00:26.Catholic priests and asks for forgiveness. The Pope apologises for
:00:27. > :00:30.the evil damage done to children by priests and says there will be
:00:31. > :00:32.sanctions. If the Vatican at last answering criticisms that it has
:00:33. > :00:34.done too little too late? TRANSLATION: We will not take one
:00:35. > :00:39.step backward with regard to how we deal with this problem and the
:00:40. > :00:43.sanctions that must be imposed. On the contrary, we have to be even
:00:44. > :00:46.stronger. In South Africa Oscar Pistorius is
:00:47. > :00:49.accused of repeatedly lying about what happened the night he killed
:00:50. > :00:53.his girlfriend. We have the latest on the third day of his questioning
:00:54. > :01:01.by the prosecution. Your version never happened and you
:01:02. > :01:05.have to keep up with an untruth. On the road back to Afghanistan - an
:01:06. > :01:08.exclusive report on a young girl who was wounded by a stray grenade and
:01:09. > :01:12.heads home after getting treatment in the United States.
:01:13. > :01:15.And should more of us follow the example of French technology workers
:01:16. > :01:17.who have won the right not to be contacted by e-mail or phone by
:01:18. > :01:38.their bosses for 11 hours a day? Hello and welcome. The child sexual
:01:39. > :01:42.abuse scandal in the Catholic Church has been a stain on the reputation
:01:43. > :01:47.of the Church for some time now. Today, Pope Francis moved to try to
:01:48. > :01:50.address the criticisms. He has asked for personal forgiveness for the
:01:51. > :01:53.evil committed by Roman Catholic priests who have abused children.
:01:54. > :01:56.The Pope said the Church was conscious of the personal and moral
:01:57. > :01:59.damage done, and said that those responsible must face sanctions.
:02:00. > :02:08.However, he did not spell out just what those sanctions would be. We'll
:02:09. > :02:16.be discussing whether his comments today go far enough. First, our Rome
:02:17. > :02:19.correspondent Alan Johnston reports. The Pope was meeting a delegation
:02:20. > :02:22.from the French Catholic Children's Organisation. Speaking off the cuff,
:02:23. > :02:31.she turned to the issue of clerical child abuse and couched what he had
:02:32. > :02:35.to say in quite personal terms. He said he felt compelled to take
:02:36. > :02:39.responsibility for all the evil that some priests have committed. He said
:02:40. > :02:41.he was asking for forgiveness for the damage caused by men of the
:02:42. > :02:46.Church. TRANSLATION: We will not take one
:02:47. > :02:49.step backward with regard to how we deal with this problem and the
:02:50. > :02:52.sanctions that must be imposed. On the contrary, we have to be even
:02:53. > :02:59.stronger, because you cannot interfere with children.
:03:00. > :03:03.This new papacy is being widely seen as hugely successful in many ways.
:03:04. > :03:06.With its down-to-earth style and strong focus on the poor and
:03:07. > :03:14.marginalised, Francis has won admirers from far beyond the
:03:15. > :03:17.traditional confines of Catholicism. But there has been some scathing
:03:18. > :03:21.criticism of his approach to the child abuse scandal. Some argue that
:03:22. > :03:28.he has not made the issue enough of a priority. But in these latest
:03:29. > :03:35.remarks, Francis seemed to very publicly commit himself personally
:03:36. > :03:38.to addressing the problem. And they're his strongest comments on
:03:39. > :03:41.the matter so far. But for many victims of abuse, words will not be
:03:42. > :03:44.sufficient. They are demanding much more action in the drive to root out
:03:45. > :03:56.the sex crimes of the clergy. With me is Peter Saunders, the Chief
:03:57. > :04:00.Executive and founder of the National Association of People
:04:01. > :04:03.Abused in Childhood. And Fiona O'Reilly of Catholic Voices, a group
:04:04. > :04:17.formed to give a Catholic perspective in the media. Fiona,
:04:18. > :04:22.Pope Francis' works today, those works go further than any other
:04:23. > :04:26.Pope? Benedict recognised that these were
:04:27. > :04:30.awful crimes for which there can be no excuse. What is encouraging with
:04:31. > :04:36.Pope Francis is that he is mentioning the need for sanctions.
:04:37. > :04:43.Nobody is saying enough has been done, more still must be done, but
:04:44. > :04:51.this is a Pope who gets it. I could not agree more. The Pope has
:04:52. > :04:55.mentioned sanctions and we await to see what he means by that. He talks
:04:56. > :05:01.about not going backwards and I think that is significant. There are
:05:02. > :05:06.millions of survivors of abuse around the world. Abused at the
:05:07. > :05:11.hands of clergy of the nominations, not just Catholic. But I do think
:05:12. > :05:21.that Pope Francis is the man who appears to get it. I am hopeful.
:05:22. > :05:29.But it is a watch and wait scenario and some organisations have said
:05:30. > :05:35.that they need to know what the sanctions are. They say that unless
:05:36. > :05:42.priests accused of abusing children are handed over to settle criminal
:05:43. > :05:47.authorities, that that is what they want. There is no suggestion that
:05:48. > :05:54.this is the kind of sanction the Pope is talking about, is the?
:05:55. > :05:57.He made it very clear to all of the churches that they were compelled to
:05:58. > :06:02.comply with local civil law and criminal law. In this country, an
:06:03. > :06:12.abuser would be guilty of a criminal offence. In some countries, child
:06:13. > :06:15.abuse is not actually an offence. What Pope Benedict did and what Pope
:06:16. > :06:23.Francis is now building upon, is deconstructed the local bishop'
:06:24. > :06:28.conferences to safeguard and bring to justice and bring healing to
:06:29. > :06:36.victims. That is the reason I am here. I was also a victim of abuse
:06:37. > :06:41.by priests as a child. There are many others. My concern is support
:06:42. > :06:48.for the victims. There is a great deal more the Church can do. It has
:06:49. > :06:52.a history of cover-ups. In many institutions, we are here at the
:06:53. > :06:55.BBC, which now has many questions to answer over the Jimmy Savile
:06:56. > :07:01.scandal. Your emphasis is on going for. But
:07:02. > :07:06.also, acknowledging the pain carried by survivors. They have had bad
:07:07. > :07:12.experiences. I have generally had good experiences in my dealings with
:07:13. > :07:16.the Church and the charity I work for. But there are many survivors
:07:17. > :07:21.have had the worst closed in the face. I hope Pope Francis will
:07:22. > :07:24.ensure this does not happen. So, acknowledgement of what has
:07:25. > :07:31.happened and prevention and protection. Yes. We have good child
:07:32. > :07:41.protection laws in this country. It is care for victims in the past that
:07:42. > :07:47.is the acid test. Other parts of the world need to deal with this also.
:07:48. > :07:52.The vast majority of them will be supportive of what Pope Francis is
:07:53. > :07:59.saying. Fiona, you implied that the fault is
:08:00. > :08:03.not exactly with the Vatican but in countries with it is not a robust
:08:04. > :08:09.enough judicial system to deal with child sex abuse. There was a report
:08:10. > :08:15.by the UN recently which was damning of the Vatican and said that even
:08:16. > :08:19.today, it is more concerned about protecting its own reputation rather
:08:20. > :08:25.than protecting children. That there are still cases of abusing clerics
:08:26. > :08:30.who are simply moved around from one Diocese to the other.
:08:31. > :08:37.That still needs to be fully tackled. The real opportunity with
:08:38. > :08:43.the UN report was that it ignored the good work that has been done. It
:08:44. > :08:49.should have partnered with the Vatican to help them. Just to
:08:50. > :08:53.dismiss it on the basis of factual inaccuracies... To come back to an
:08:54. > :08:59.earlier point, one of the things implicit in comments was that the
:09:00. > :09:03.church needs to respond. Part of the response must be informed by what is
:09:04. > :09:11.helpful for victims. It is encouraging that the papal
:09:12. > :09:18.commission has Cardinals on it, like Sean O'Malley from Boston, but also
:09:19. > :09:22.Maria Collins, a survivor of sexual abuse he was treated disgracefully
:09:23. > :09:28.by the Church. She is any good position to help the Move for from
:09:29. > :09:31.this. I would have liked to have seen a few more survivors of abuse
:09:32. > :09:38.on that commission that the Vatican set up. Many of us who have worked
:09:39. > :09:45.with survivors, whether with clerical abuse or other forms of
:09:46. > :09:48.abuse, have been disappointed. Very quickly, you said you are
:09:49. > :09:53.hopeful those sanctions will be robust. What kind of sanctions do
:09:54. > :09:56.you think Pope Francis should be dropped about? I hope he looks
:09:57. > :10:03.carefully at the United Nations papers and the criticisms. I hope he
:10:04. > :10:09.actively encourages bishops around the world, where they do have
:10:10. > :10:15.information about this, to work with civil authorities to protect
:10:16. > :10:25.children. Whatever it takes. That is what I hope he means by sanctions.
:10:26. > :10:29.Thank you very much. The South African athlete, Oscar
:10:30. > :10:31.Pistorius, has faced a third day of intense cross-examination at his
:10:32. > :10:34.trial in Pretoria. The chief prosecutor, Gerrie Nel, accused him
:10:35. > :10:37.of repeatedly lying in his testimony, giving his version of
:10:38. > :10:46.events on the night he killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, last
:10:47. > :10:49.year. Arriving for another challenging
:10:50. > :10:52.morning in court, Oscar Pistorius repeatedly accused of lying about
:10:53. > :10:55.how and why he shot Reeva Steenkamp. As usual, no video images of the
:10:56. > :10:59.athlete were allowed. The prosecutor asked him why he did not talk to his
:11:00. > :11:02.girlfriend and check where she was, the moment he felt they were both in
:11:03. > :11:09.danger. When you heard the noise, you never
:11:10. > :11:17.discussed it with her. I did not.
:11:18. > :11:23.I asked whether you said that. Why not?
:11:24. > :11:36.At one point, emotions got the better of him.
:11:37. > :11:39.This is a person I cared about! Pistorius then argued that it was
:11:40. > :11:46.instinct that prompted him to rush from the bedroom to the bathroom on
:11:47. > :11:58.his stumps. I am not sure why I did it.
:11:59. > :12:01.I find your instincts strange. The prosecutor was unconvinced,
:12:02. > :12:03.insisting a reasonable man would have behaved differently and that
:12:04. > :12:12.Reeva Steenkamp would have surely shouted out from the bathroom.
:12:13. > :12:18.Did she scream while you shot her four times?
:12:19. > :12:27.No. Are you sure? Did Reeva Steenkamp
:12:28. > :12:29.scream after the first shot? The trial has been adjourned until
:12:30. > :12:42.Monday. Our correspondent Milton Nkosi has
:12:43. > :12:46.been following the case in Pretoria. It would seem that the focus this
:12:47. > :12:53.week has been as much on Gerrie Nel, the chief prosecutor, as it has
:12:54. > :12:59.been on Oscar Pistorius. Yes, that is correct. When this
:13:00. > :13:08.trial began, the man of the moment was Oscar Pistorius's own defence
:13:09. > :13:12.counsel, Barry Roux. He was the man on all the television channels and
:13:13. > :13:26.in the newspapers. Now the tables have turned. The NL, really
:13:27. > :13:38.prosecutor, -- Gerrie Nel, the lead prosecutor is in the forefront now.
:13:39. > :13:57.Look at this newspaper headline. The times: And now the Bild newspaper.
:13:58. > :14:09.This says "in the terrier's jaws" . The Star: Gerrie Nel is on the front
:14:10. > :14:13.page there also. Gerrie Nel is known as the pill terrier for his
:14:14. > :14:17.relentless style of cross-examination. He once kept a
:14:18. > :14:21.witness for two weeks on the witness stand. He also successfully
:14:22. > :14:27.prosecuted the former South African Police Service and. That was for
:14:28. > :14:30.corruption. On Monday, Oscar Pistorius will return to the witness
:14:31. > :14:42.stand for more tough questioning from Gerrie Nel.
:14:43. > :14:45.Thank you very much. Now a looked at some of the day's
:14:46. > :14:49.other news. A cyclone with winds of up to 230
:14:50. > :14:51.kmph has hit coastal areas of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
:14:52. > :14:55.Residents and tourists had been fleeing the area as Tropical Cyclone
:14:56. > :14:58.Ita drew nearer. The storm has already claimed the lives of twenty
:14:59. > :15:11.three people when it barrelled over the Solomon Islands late last week.
:15:12. > :15:14.The UN's refugee agency is helping Italy with refugees. The agency
:15:15. > :15:24.wants the EU to help the process and arrivals, presiding -- providing
:15:25. > :15:27.reception facilities. Many have been rescued in the past days.
:15:28. > :15:30.The Japanese Government has approved an energy plan that backs the use of
:15:31. > :15:33.nuclear power, despite public anxiety after the Fukushima
:15:34. > :15:35.disaster. The plan reverses an earlier decision to phase out
:15:36. > :15:41.nuclear power by a previous Government.
:15:42. > :15:45.Several private newspapers in Myanmar - also known as Burma - have
:15:46. > :15:48.printed black front pages in protest at the recent arrests and sentencing
:15:49. > :15:52.of journalists. The move follows the conviction on Monday of a journalist
:15:53. > :15:55.for the Democratic Voice of Burma. Zaw Pe was handed a one year prison
:15:56. > :16:04.term for trespassing and disturbing a civil servant while doing a story
:16:05. > :16:07.on education last year. In Ukraine, the interim Prime Minister is
:16:08. > :16:11.meeting regional leaders in the east of the country on a mission to
:16:12. > :16:19.defuse tensions and end the stand-off with pro-Russian
:16:20. > :16:26.protesters. He is in Donetsk where pro-Russian activists hold a
:16:27. > :16:30.government building. He arrived in eastern Ukraine amidst
:16:31. > :16:38.a growing local crisis. Here is the focal point. The regional
:16:39. > :16:41.administration building for Donetsk, which pro-Russian protesters have
:16:42. > :16:48.occupied, declaring a People's Republic. You can see around me,
:16:49. > :16:54.protesters, they have also occupied a building in another eastern
:16:55. > :17:00.Ukrainian city. It seems quiet right now but there is an undercurrent of
:17:01. > :17:04.tension. The interim Prime Minister met with regional political and
:17:05. > :17:11.business leaders who gave him an earful. They demanded more money
:17:12. > :17:17.from Kiev, regional autonomy, and equal status for the Russian
:17:18. > :17:21.language. The key question was, what will Kiev do about pro-Russian
:17:22. > :17:27.activists. The interim Prime Minister insisted they will not use
:17:28. > :17:34.violence. We have made an offer. They are to leave the premises of
:17:35. > :17:39.the state administration. Disarm. And we, the state of Ukraine, can
:17:40. > :17:45.guarantee them that they will not be detained or arrested.
:17:46. > :17:50.As you can see, these barricades are extensive. The protest is tell us
:17:51. > :17:57.that they do not trust the new Ukrainian government in Kiev. The
:17:58. > :18:03.question is, if talks fail and the stand-off continues, could this
:18:04. > :18:08.eventually turn violent? The White House has said that the
:18:09. > :18:13.United States will not be as UAVs to the man nominated by Iran to be its
:18:14. > :18:21.next ambassador to the United Nations will stop -- issue a Visa.
:18:22. > :18:30.He is linked to the group that's bombed the US embassy in 1979. --
:18:31. > :18:36.that stormed. The White House has said today that
:18:37. > :18:42.it will not grant a visa. It follows a week of concern from US officials
:18:43. > :18:50.who say they have been talking to Iran to make it clear they were
:18:51. > :18:55.unhappy with the choice nominee. What that effectively means, if the
:18:56. > :19:02.Visa has not granted, is that it is a message from the US to Iran that
:19:03. > :19:05.you need to choose somebody else. The misgivings are over his alleged
:19:06. > :19:10.involvement in the Iran hostage crisis. He was a member of the
:19:11. > :19:15.student group which stormed the embassy and help Americans hostage.
:19:16. > :19:22.But he has maintained that his role was merely as a translator and the
:19:23. > :19:27.ghost later, a peripheral role. The US say it does not affect ongoing
:19:28. > :19:32.talks between the two countries over a nuclear enrichment programme. But
:19:33. > :19:39.they do say it is a separate issue and talks will not be affected.
:19:40. > :19:43.Thank you very much. Violence in Afghanistan has not only claimed
:19:44. > :19:49.many lives it has also left many maimed for life. One young girl that
:19:50. > :20:00.we were wounded by a stray grenade has returned home after treatment in
:20:01. > :20:05.the USA. Seven-year-old Shabibi took the full force of a blast in a
:20:06. > :20:14.region where villagers are constantly caught in the crossfire.
:20:15. > :20:18.I first came across Shabibi just days after her tiny body was
:20:19. > :20:24.shattered by a grenade in one of the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan.
:20:25. > :20:32.Every day, children like her live in fear for their lives. She was one of
:20:33. > :20:36.the fortunate few. Flown to America after a nurse raised the alarm, she
:20:37. > :20:42.was treated for her injuries and has even been to school. But her family
:20:43. > :20:47.were left behind, thousands of miles away. Today, I met her and her
:20:48. > :20:54.guardian as she returned to Afghanistan. A country with an
:20:55. > :20:59.uncertain future. With elections just last weekend security is tight.
:21:00. > :21:07.She seemed fascinated by the streets of Kabul. Taliban, she says,
:21:08. > :21:17.pointing to the men with guns. In fact, they are police. Finally, the
:21:18. > :21:21.moment her father arrives. At first, Shabibi seems overwhelmed. Then the
:21:22. > :21:31.intimacy returns after many months apart. I laughed and I cried when I
:21:32. > :21:37.saw her. I feel deeply indebted to the people who helped. I am bursting
:21:38. > :21:45.with happiness. I feel it in my heart, I cannot stop smiling.
:21:46. > :21:54.She shows off what little English she has. I want to see my brother,
:21:55. > :22:03.sister, and mother, she tells me, and teach them to write. In a
:22:04. > :22:12.country dominated by images of war, this is a father is relief that his
:22:13. > :22:15.daughter has survived. Most of us with mobile phones and
:22:16. > :22:23.laptops are connected to the Internet during all of our waking
:22:24. > :22:26.hours. An agreement between technology workers in France and
:22:27. > :22:33.their bosses means there will now be entitled to at least 11 hours away
:22:34. > :22:42.from work e-mails and phone calls. The idea is to create and Greece. --
:22:43. > :22:45.create boundaries of how much they can be contacted outside of working
:22:46. > :22:53.hours. It has prompted a debate about work -life balance in an age
:22:54. > :23:00.of connectivity. I am joined by the founder of Idler the magazine, set
:23:01. > :23:07.up to promote alternatives to the work ethic, freedom, and the fine
:23:08. > :23:13.art of doing nothing! It is a lovely dream.
:23:14. > :23:18.Do we all need to follow the example of these French technology workers?
:23:19. > :23:25.They are sending out a positive message. Perhaps pitted against the
:23:26. > :23:32.more extreme work ethic that you see in the United States. If you read
:23:33. > :23:40.interviews with the Google CEOs and suchlike of this world, for them, it
:23:41. > :23:44.is a status thing to be constantly connected. In the office at 7am, if
:23:45. > :23:51.I needed whilst asleep, my blackberry is next to me, I think it
:23:52. > :23:56.is an arid vision. But it is a globalised world. You
:23:57. > :24:00.might be running a big empire with working hours elsewhere in the
:24:01. > :24:04.world. In the news business, how business, something is always
:24:05. > :24:10.happening. But you need your rest, your sleep!
:24:11. > :24:16.I was just reading today that Charles Darwin had a period set
:24:17. > :24:25.aside each day for idleness. For playing backgammon with his wife. He
:24:26. > :24:28.was not switched on 24-7. On an individual level, everybody must
:24:29. > :24:35.learn how to switch off. And learned that it is OK to do so.
:24:36. > :24:38.Does it not necessarily matter when you switch off? For example, if you
:24:39. > :24:44.are a working mother with small children, often you want to work
:24:45. > :24:51.late at night or early morning when they are asleep, so what do you make
:24:52. > :24:57.of that kind of ring, -- thing, not everybody has the same working
:24:58. > :25:02.pattern? The flexible arrangement works very well. Switch off in the
:25:03. > :25:07.afternoon, working the evening. People have different work rhythms.
:25:08. > :25:18.I did awake until 1pm then fall asleep till about 5pm. A nice life
:25:19. > :25:25.you have. Can I join you? Please do! I might catch up in the evening.
:25:26. > :25:31.I look for distractions whilst writing, check my e-mails, get
:25:32. > :25:39.active people efficiently, but they do practice what I preach. This
:25:40. > :25:44.message, can resonate? There is so much unemployment. Careers,
:25:45. > :25:49.competition, coming out of a recession, a tough job market.
:25:50. > :25:56.People want to be connected all the time and impress their bosses and
:25:57. > :26:00.employees. But there is also the fact that you can share the work
:26:01. > :26:09.around. Employ more people during a shorter working week. That has been
:26:10. > :26:15.trialled in Sweden. City workers will be given a 30 hour week on the
:26:16. > :26:21.same pay. Because they say the 40 hour work is unproductive, half the
:26:22. > :26:25.time you're not really working. There is a funny link between
:26:26. > :26:28.idleness and efficiency. You can work fewer hours and be more
:26:29. > :26:33.efficient, lots of studies back that up.
:26:34. > :26:37.I don't take a leaf out of your book, but I am not going to sleep
:26:38. > :26:43.just yet. A reminder of your main news. Pope Francis says he will take
:26:44. > :26:59.personal responsibility for the abuses of priests, asking victims to
:27:00. > :27:00.It looks as though the weekend will be half