23/04/2014 World News Today

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

Could there be a new unity government for the Palestinian

people? Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas agree a deal, after

a bitter seven year rift, and Israel responds by cancelling planned peace

negotiations. US President Obama kicks off his

Asia Tour in Tokyo seeking to reassure allies over their

territorial disputes with China. Also coming up: As the Ukraine

crisis prompts the deployment of US troops in Poland - Russia warns

washington over its support for the government in Kiev.

And... Brave New World, Come What May, Good Riddance - how our

everyday language still channels Shakespeare 450 years after he was

born. Hello and welcome. It was at this

joint news conference that once rival Palestinian factions, Fatah

and Hamas, announced the signing of an historic reconciliation deal. It

comes after almost seven years of schism between the two factions -

these pictures from 2007 of the military takeover by Hamas of the

Gaza strip. Under the deal a unity government should be formed within

five weeks. And that would be followed by elections in six months.

It is not clear yet what will happen to Hamas's army and its weapons.

Israel has already criticised the deal. Its prime minister Benjamin

Netanyahu says the Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas has chosen to

talk peace with Hamas rather than with Israel. Yolande Knell reports.

Ordinary Palestinians have long hoped for an end to the damaging

split between the political leaders. Again the culture unity as a

delegation arrived at the Gazza 's strip for talks. Reconciliation

deals have been made before. But they were not implemented. Now these

officials say they will be and that the rift between Fatah, the faction

of the Alastair nearing a slim -- it is bit to tell the diaspora about

the end of division. Israel's reaction is more negative.

This announcement was made as peace talks with the Palestinians are

close to Stalin. The meeting between negotiators was cancelled and Mr

Abbasi was criticised. Instead of moving into peace with us, they want

to move into peace with Hamas. He has to choose. You can have one but

not the other. I hope he juices peace. So far he has not. Back in

2007 in Gazza, it was this fierce fighting that enabled a mask to get

control of the Palestinian territory. -- enabled Hamas. It left

the Palestinian authority dominated by Fatah, in part control of the

West Bank. They will no agree a new unity government within five weeks

and plan for new elections in the six months to follow. But with the

failure of previous efforts and Escher from Israel, the EEC Hamas as

a terrorist group, there is caution and scepticism. We have an

independent member of the Palestinian legislative Council who

helped to negotiate today's agreement. Thank you for joining us

today. Tell us more about how you got this deal together. I think we

managed to put this deal together because all the parties have

realised that all acetone -- Palestinian situation is at risk. It

has become clear that Israel has no intention of achieving peace. He

prepares to keep occupation and that is why be found it's our obligation

to find a way to change the situation by unifying the

Palestinians. For many years, we Palestinians were divided. We said

we cannot make peace with the leader who does not represent all

Palestinians. Now we have agreements with the governments. Mr Netanyahu

has now said that either you are with us or Hamas. It will give us a

much better chance for peace now because any agreement would now

become part of what every Palestinian rights. It will open the

road to get back what we have lost which is our democracy. Our right to

have a legislative Council and Parliament, our right to have free

and democratic elections, and our rights to have a Blu-ray list exist

rather than 1-party rule in the West Bank and another 1-party rule in the

Gaza Strip. The Israelis say that how can we be expected to negotiate

with the party, Hamas, that denies our very existence. I think that

Israel, first of all Israel does not have to negotiate with Hamas. They

have to negotiate with Mr Bass. Israel for a very long time had said

that Mr Ambassador is the preferred president for them. -- negotiator

with them. They did not deliver peace there. For many years, 421

years, we have had negotiations. Instead of achieving peace, have

achieved only more settlements. It is very clear today that Mr

Netanyahu's claim when he claims that he says it is a choice between

peace and Hamas. It is a choice between peace or settlements, peace

or continuation of the longest occupation in modern history. This

agreement brings better conditions for a possibility of a lasting

peace. With democracy we have better chances. As I have always said, the

best chance of having a lasting peace is the one that comes into

democracy. It may be today we have paved the road for bringing a new

model for the Arab world. A model of participation, Pluto arises from --

pluralise Asian, where people can participate in democratic elections.

-- pluralise Asian. What makes you confident this time that it will

work? There are many different reasons why this is different. First

of all we are not talking about an implementation of an agreement that

was concluded before. The fact that we managed to reach this new deal

and 22 hours of talks was a great achievement. Nobody expected that.

In my opinion, there is a strong well -- will to implement what was

agreed on. Both parties realised today that the Palestinian public is

very big. They are going to play a very high price if they proceed with

this division. -- P. There is a high price politically for that. Everyone

realises that their hopes of having an agreement with Israel without

changing the balance of power is useless. Israel has rejected

practically every possibility. They have made life horrible by their

rejection and extreme actions. Now everybody realises that we cannot

achieve ongoing freedom unless reunify. The most important one is

the fact that both Fatah and Hamas realised today, they have been

fighting over another ready without authority. And as it is still under

occupation in Gaza. Before we fight for a Nokia vision under authority,

we have to fight this and the -- free Arab country. -- free our

country. Thank you very much. President Obama has begun his tour

of East Asia with a state visit to Japan, the first by any US president

in 18 years. And he's already assured Tokyo that

the US will oppose any attempt by Beijing to undermine Japan's control

over disputed islands in the East China Seas. Mr Obama will also visit

South Korea, the Philippines and Malaysia although he won't be going

to the country which is likely to dominate the agenda throughout,

China. From Tokyo, Rupert Wingfield-Hayes sent us this report,

which does contain flash photography.

It's been 18 years since a US President walked off Air Force One

on a state visit to Japan. In that time, the whole map of Asia has been

transformed by the rise of China. Out in the Sea of Japan, the US

Seventh Fleet, still the most powerful navy in Asia. Huge assault

carriers like the USS Bonhomme Richard, still guarantee Japan's

security. The US Navy has nine of of these monsters and another ten even

larger super carriers. No other navy in the world has anything like this.

American Navy power is still supreme for now. But just a few hundred

miles over there, is China. This Chinese boat is deep inside Japanese

waters and refusing to stop. China is becoming much more aggressive in

asserting claims to Japanese controlled islands in the East China

Sea. Japan is worried America may be going soft. There was a real

possibility that the Americans might be entangled into an actual combat,

simply because of this confrontation between China and Japan and about a

certain few islands. And the Americans backed off. It's not about

the size of the military capabilities which in the men's, of

course. -- immense. It is the will of the Americans. America has 27,000

Marines based in Japan. Their commander tells me they have both

the will and the means. The message is that the US sticks by its allies.

I landed on this beach 30 years ago as a young lieutenant. So this shows

our staying power, the stregth of these alliances. It's exactly what

Japan wants to hear, but they want to hear that now from the US

commander-in-chief himself. James Schoff is a senior associate

in the Asia Programme at The Carnegie Endowment for International

Peace. He joins me from Washington. Thank you for being with us.

Briefly, if you can, president -- President Obama is trying to tread

the line between Japan and China as these disputes go over these

islands. It is a discussion he will have to have when he is in Japan. He

wants to make progress on the rebalanced Asia policy which is

supposed to be more than just visiting countries more often and

attending more meetings and building up of military capability in the

region. It is about strengthening alliances to do more in the region,

to expand trade, and to deal with regional crises in Asia, but to help

out with things like Ukraine and Syria. The conversation he has to

have is dealing with this reassurance question, the bilateral

need that Japan has too feel that the United States is there and ready

and willing to support it in this low-level confrontation that it is

having with China over the islands and this I is China Sea. How

dangerous do you judge that situation to be? I do not think the

probability of confrontation is high. I think it is relatively low.

That said, China's policy is to continue to send ships into the

territorial waters around the islands to try and assert its own

administrative control of those islands. It went on almost a hundred

times last year. That compared to only two or three times a couple of

years ago. So this is bringing Japanese and Chinese ships and

planes into close proximity with the potential for an accident. In that

case, if it clears up, the US as opposed to help back-up Japan and

support it. The question is how would it do that? Would it bring

ships up into the region or send planes into the area? Would it

simply provides some reconnaissance support and political support? The

US and Japan need to figure out or come to zombies agreement about how

they would deal that. -- come to some basic agreement. To go back to

the big picture, President Obama has made great play of becoming the

Pacific president. How successful do you think he has been in that role?

The policy has come under a lot of criticism. Some say it as big, or

that his focus on domestic issues Dai Lewis and tension and resources

to the rebalanced. -- Daewoo 's. He is beginning to have some success.

The US is ready to play a large role in Asia. It is going to take time.

Part of it is setting expectations properly. It is not an immediate

expansion in Asia. I think it is reassurance, but it is also trying

to build these partnerships that can build institutions and capacities in

Asia so it can come together and deal more effectively with the

challenges they face. Thank you. Rescue teams in South Korea are

continuing to recover bodies from the submerged hull of the passenger

ferry that capsized and sank last week. The official number of dead is

now more than 150. Officials say they'll begin efforts to lift the

vessel's hull on Thursday. A first contingent of US troops as arrived

in Poland as Washington tries to reassure its NATO allies in the

region following Roger's annexation of Crimea. More than 100 soldiers

touched down in the west of the country. More are expected to

follow. Tensions between Ukraine and Russia have ratcheted back up.

Moscow is warning it will retaliate if the influence -- the interests of

Russian speaking people there are threatened. Natalia Antelava is in

eastern Ukraine and she has been gauging the mood among soldiers

stationed there from Ukraine. We are driving along the Russian -

Ukrainian border. Kiev has sent Ukrainian troops here. I hope we can

find some Ukrainian soldiers and ask them what they think. Here it is,

the evidence that Ukraine is building up troops on the border. We

are 30 kilometres away from Russia. These soldiers have been here for

almost two months. They now have plans to bring more troops in.

This car has just pulled. Are volunteers from Lugansk. It is a

city that is predominantly pro-Russian.

So you do not want Vladimir Putin to protect you? No!

He says they just got a green light from Kiev to set up this self

defence Force in Lugansk. Volunteer brigades, basically. Not

volunteers, sorry. They are apparently going to be paid. At a

time when politicians say they have agreed groups here, we are learning

that new armed groups are being created. Taking the food to the

soldiers. Natalia Antelava. A look at some of

the day's the news. The Turkish Prime Minister has offered the

country's first ever formal condolences to Armenians for mass

killings during the First World War. Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the

statement on the eve of the anniversary of the start of the mass

deportation of Armenians in 1915. Armenians have long said that up to

1.5 million people were killed by the Ottoman Turks in what they

consider to be genocide. Turkey disputes this.

Mountain guide organisations in Nepal have denied that sherpas on

Mount Everest have gone on strike. They had threatened a boycott unless

they got more compensation, following the avalanche which killed

16 sherpas five days ago. Nepal's tourism minister is expected to hold

talks with sherpa spokesmen on Thursday. The brother of the Duchess

of Cornwall has died after sustaining a serious head injury in

a fall in New York. He was 62 and the chairman of the wildlife group,

the elephant family. Former prime ministers Tony Blair has said

radical Islam in the Middle East is the biggest threat to global

security. -- former Prime Minister. Carnage in Syria, conflict in Egypt,

instability in Libya. The Middle East, says Tony Blair, is too

important for the West to give up on. Many still blame him and George

Bush for the problems in the region. Today he called on Western leaders

to engage more with the Arab world. The greatest security threat we face

is Islamist extremism. It originates in the ideas created in the Middle

East. It has been exported around the world. Into Africa, the Far

East, Central Asia. Even back into our own countries. It is in the

Middle East where the future of the relationship between politics and

religion, politics and Islam, will be determined.

Yet the baggage of Tony Blair's decision to join the Iraq invasion

continues to haunt him. Many will not want to hear from a man they

consider a war criminal, who has grown rich since leaving office. But

he is controversially an international envoy to the Middle

East. Governments do listen to him. On Syria, he said the West should

have imposed no-fly zone is two years ago. On Egypt, he says the

West should support its military-backed government. He

called on Western leaders to fight Islamic extremism.

Even if we have to have a very tough set of actions and dialogue on an

issue like Ukraine, on this issue we should be prepared to cooperate.

This is an issue where we have one common purpose and one common

interest. Tony Blair's many detractors have

been quick to dismiss his words, often without listening to them. The

only thing they can agree on is that the Middle East matters. But for

them he will always be the wrong messenger. Some breaking news on the

mass -Fatah unity deal. The US State Department has said it is

disappointed by the announcement, which could seriously complicate

peace matters. That is what we are hearing from the US State Department

now. It is difficult for Israel, it says, to negotiate with a government

that does not believe in its right to exist. That in relation to the

Palestinian internal pull -- piste. An international survey released to

mark 450 years since William Shakespeare was born, has found that

the playwright is regarded as the UK's greatest cultural icon - and

this is part of the reason why. Look at these phrases, reminding us how

much Shakespeare's language still inspires our words today. In the

survey, 5,000 young adults were asked to name the person they

associated with contemporary UK arts and culture. And from India to

Brazil, to Germany to China, the bard beat them all. With me is

Patrick Spottiswoode, director of Globe Education at Shakespeare's

Globe Theatre in London. I bet you are not surprised by

this? Probably more popular now than he has ever been. He has been

translated into 90 languages. He has been translated into Esperanto and

Klingon. His work continues to excite and amaze and amuse. The

phrases we have picked out here. I was surprised by some money

apparently modern phrases that are his? If you are ever lonely, it is

down to Shakespeare. If I get tongue tied during this interview, it is

down to Shakespeare. Shakespeare was the first person to describe

audiences as groundlings. Tonight we will have more than a thousand

groundlings watching a production of Hamlet. It is your job to captivate

new generations, who encourages teenagers and young people around

the world why Shakespeare is still relevant? Yes, we do -- we do that

through play. He is a great psychologist, great writer. If you

engaged with his words playfully, they do seem relevant. Do you

sometimes have breakthrough moments. --? You may realise that people are

there because they are brought along and then you see them get it. Yes, I

have a wonderful episode last year when young boy was leaving the

theatre saying that he didn't like Shakespeare, but he knew he was

wrong. He met Shakespeare through play and not in a textbook. We talk

about Shakespeare a lot. Does that push out though the opportunity to

look at other playwrights whom iron is -- may inspire us? I think we are

that assessed. With good reason. It is a healthy obsession to have. He

doesn't push out other authors. It is up to educators to share other

authors. Just think how many other art forms Shakespeare has inspired.

Ballet, film, poetry. Even his words or his story -- stories continue to

inspire it around the world in many languages and many more to come.

Thank you so much. Thank you for being with us. Good night.

Hello again. Some rain around at the moment. As that clears to the east,

it will turn a misty and