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tv   BBC World News  WHUT  February 2, 2012 7:00am-7:30am EST

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>> this is "bbc world news america." funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. ♪ >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key, strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news america." >> egypt's parliament meets in and an urgency session after a
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clash at a football match left 74 dead. and allegations that the violence are politically motivated. >> to those who are trying to destabilize egypt, i will tell them they will not succeed, god willing. those behind the incidents will be dealt with according to the law. >> hello and welcome to>> make sense of international -- hello and welcome to gmt. i am george alagiah. angela merkel is in china. if she wants beijing to help the crisis over iran pose a nuclear program.
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it is midday in london, early morning in washington, and 2:00 a.m. in cairo, where they are doing with unprecedented to violence at a football match. live television pictures appear to show the police failed to take any decisive action. is that a case of competence, or as the brotherhood implies, inspired indifference? >> after last night's terrible football violence, today, the recriminations have started. the debate is just beginning in the newly elected egyptian parliament, but many egyptians blame the current rulers, or remnants of the old regime for what went wrong.
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at the stadium in port said, all that is left is the debris of the worst disaster in egypt football history. today, the prosecutor arrived to begin the investigation. locked gate may have contributed to the tragedy. it all started as the players from the visiting side fled for their lives when the players from the home team charge the field. many were stabbed, bludgeoned to death, were crushed as they desperately tried to flee from the stadium. late last night, many of the injured were greeted back in cairo by fellow supporters. a demonstration gathered in the main railway station with many of our in revenge. -- vowing revenge.
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on the coast, aegis military leader joined with the players. -- egypt's military leaders joined with the players are the most successful team. >> in this investigation, each one will take his punishment and we will know why and who caused this tragedy. >> what is under suspicion is the role that a law he played -- that alahi played. to discredit the police force is just as likely a cause for this tragedy. we met outside the stadium this morning. mostafa is still looking for his son, missing since he went to the game last night. everyone here has suspicions about what happened there. >> it is a crime done with -- from the old regime.
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they stole money from the people for 30 years, and now they are spending the money to make gangsters and corruption in egypt because they do not want us to succeed. >> here they are desperately sad about what happened last night, but also very angry. and like many egyptians, they are not sure who to blame. that is why this has become a political laue as well as a human tragedy. -- political row as well as a human tragedy. many egyptians would like people at the top to lose their jobs. >> you mentioned that at the end of your report this is turning into a political row. i gather right now there are crowds gathering in central cairo. how does this play into the wider picture? >> we have seen almost unprecedented criticism of
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egypt's military rulers, but for either incompetence or many suspect conspiring with members of the former mubarak regime. for example, there has been criticism on state television we have not seen even since the revolution. we have had the chancellor, who has not been previously permitted on state tv. and we have a very in greek parliament. there are suspicions of foreign interests -- and we had a very angry parliament. there are suspicions of foreign interference as well. >> pakistan's supreme court says it will charge the prime minister with contempt for failing to reopen an old corruption case against the president. the government has insisted that president zardari has immunity from prosecution while head of state.
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here are more details on the case. >> it looks like the prime minister will be in the dark very soon. he has been told to appear in parthenon on the 13th of february to answer the contempt charges. he made a previous appearance in january and relied heavily on the argument that as head of state, zardari enjoyed your mood -- enjoyed immunity. i'm sure he will rely on that argument again. it was more than two years ago that the supreme court told the government here to take action to revive these old corruption cases, particularly the case against president zardari. that goes back more than a decade. these charges were in switzerland. president zardari and his wife benazir bhutto were convicted in 2003 of laundering millions of dollars in swiss kickback companies. they appealed the conviction. the case was grinding to this was a legal mechanism, but then the pakistani authorities
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obstructed the swiss -- instructed the swiss legal authorities to drop the case. the supreme court said they want the case reopened. it struck down amnesty that allowed thousands of others to be shelved. now they -- the prime minister will have to go to court and explain why he did not follow the political order. the crisis has been poring over the last month and it could see the prime minister of office if he is convicted, and the government brought down. >> let's take a look at some of the other stores to -- other stories making headlines. there are signs of progress in the effort to break the deadlock in the u.n. security council over an arab peace plan for syria. the latest plan is reported to drop the call by arab states for presidents assad to transfer powers to a new entity. it had been strongly opposed by
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russia. nato is insisting that the alliance is sticking to a timetable to transition to afghan control by 2014. nato ministers are discussing the alliance's strategy in the country after the u.s. and france suggested they should end their combat role by 2013. a ship carrying 350 people have signed off the coast of pop and new guinea. more than two under have been rescued. -- off the coast of papelbon in guinea. -- papua new guinea. more than 200 have been rescued. angela merkel was speaking at the start of a visit to china, in which she will update ministers on progress in the eurozone debt crisis. mrs. merkel is particularly key to attract more chinese
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investment to europe. >> our economy and your economy are connected in this globalized world. we are facing some of the challenges and the -- and giving with the times of the financial crisis. we can feel the effects of the financial crisis especially in europe. and >> angela merkel speaking about european relations. how important is germany to the chinese trade? evan has been running out. >> germany needs and china. the chinese rich by the you -- buy german cars. this shows how china affects german profits. china is the customer that has kept the german economy ticking along while other european
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economies stumble. >> uc volumes increasing prior to the chinese new year -- you can see volumes increasing prior to the chinese new year. and with the factory is not running with the holiday, you can see volumes down all over the world. >> metal prices are going through the roof. germany, like every industrial country, that the needs what is called rare earth, those rare, essential elements that go into electronics. >> there is a high need for metal and china is the daughter of 20% of what is produced all over the world. -- is the owner of 20% of what is produced all over the world. >> it is an uneasy relationship. some german businesses think
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that all they are doing is tooling up chinese factories, all the better for chinese industry to come back and compete at very low cost in german markets. >> in china, there are signs of german companies everywhere. china wants more. >> the chancellor has arrived in beijing with a political shopping list, too. she wants china to reduce its iranian oil. her bargaining chip is german economic cooperation. >> the six people have died and more than 70 have been injured after a bomb exploded outside a police station in colombia. it happened at lunch time when the area was packed full of people. the bomb appears to have been packed inside a motorcycle. no group has claimed responsibility. the death toll from europe's big frisz has gone past 110 as
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countries from france to the ukraine have struggled in plummeting temperatures. nine people died in the last 24 hours due to the exposure to extreme cold. and more deaths have the knicks -- have been reported in new canaan -- in workinukraine and romania. >> heavy snow and freezing temperatures have reduced parts of europe to a crawl. in northern and central italy, this has been the coldest week in 27 years. roads, railways, and airports are all affected. but it was still colder in parts of romania, where even the sea froze. >> this was like in 2005 were you could walk out 100 meters on the sea. >> further south in turkey, a rare snowstorm in istanbul. it is snowing heavily here, says this man.
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it is a long time since we have seen this kind of weather. outside the country, some of the heaviest snowfalls in years. the freezing temperatures have fallen to as low as minus 33 degrees celsius in the ukraine, raising concerns about the impact on vulnerable people. special shelters have been set up to help the homeless. in neighboring russia, temperatures have also hit lows, but not everyone is concerned. >> it is fine. you should have winter temperatures when it is winter. everything is fine. >> but many communities are cut off and this is the only way to reach them. these helicopters are flying supplies to remote villages in bosnia. some relief for now, but this forecast is to continue well into february. >> and still to come on gmt, we
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gauged the space of the political environment in russia as the political season draws near. and time now for a look at the store is making the front pages in the newspapers around the world. the launch of facebook shares, the 800 million plus users could give the company evaluation of up to $100 billion. the financial times live to be blocked merger between the door to of course and in new york -- between the deutsche of boars and the new york stock exchange. it was a risk to competition. the european commissioner has warned there could be a shortfall this year in the most vulnerable regions and is making the case for a budget increase, something some members are strongly opposed to. and striking back in ukraine, a
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series of government websites were shut down by cyber attacks after authorities closed a popular site used by millions to download free content. >> this is gmt from bbc world news. i'm george alagiah. at least 74 people have died in the post-match violence in egypt. there are allegations that the clashes were politically motivated. pakistan supreme court said it will charge the prime minister with contempt for failing to reopen a corruption case against the country's president. time now for the business news. can we start with india? the government has revoked a load of telecom licenses, mobile
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phone licenses. and what is this about? >> this is one of the biggest scandals to hit india in many years. there are 122 licenses for what is known as the 2g licenses. the way in which they were allocated is considered to be fraudulent. the minister is in the middle of a trial where he is charged with fraud and cheating. the supreme court has withdrawn these licenses. the whole thing has got to be done again. it is only since 2008. some of the bigger licenses are not affected. but the large number that are, -- and it is pretty chaotic. and what is going to happen to these licenses? what is going to happen to the development that has been put into these estimates -- into these systems, or the loans by banks? all of it is up in the air. and there's another problem,
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explained by our correspondent in mumbai. where is india's reputation? >> some are suggesting, a couple of ministers here, are saying that the supreme court is showing that india is dealing with corruption. on the other side, there may be companies still thinking that it is not all sorted out yet and we need more short -- more assurances. we need more of the bigger names of ministers to held -- to be held accountable for this. >> what about facebook? >> what did we learn from this deciding to go public? >> the thing i cannot understand is that he is 27 years old. and he started it in his bedroom >> he controls about 54% of this company. we have learned something about his profitability, $3.7 billion in revenues every year. it is not as much as some people
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thought he would be making. also, there is the thought that this is about a social mission. making the world a better place. >> i think he wants to change the world. he put out a statement saying that there were interested in opening this. it seemed he was saying things were going to go my way. we will have to see how that goes. >> in terms of its profitability, its ability to make money, some people feel it has not reached its full potential at all. one example, in terms of revenue, it is producing about $5 per active user of facebook. google at the moment produces $27 per active user. >> a big gap there. >> yes. whether it is going to make that up, that is your judgment as an investor. >> on saturday, tens of
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thousands are expected to march through the russian capital to demand honest elections one month before the presidential election. but away from moscow, there are few signs of public protest and more signs for mr. putin. we have gone to the mountains to find out what people there think of vladimir putin. >> every day looks like armageddon. this is a town that never stops burning, turning out iron and steel around the clock. the snow here is black with pollution. but people's lives depend on the factory's. it is the instability they fear most. he has or that the local metallurgical plants for 50 years. -- he has worked at the local
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metallurgical plants for 50 years. he supports the president. he says working people do not want revolution. we want stability. and that is why we support putin. at the factory up the road, they pledged their loyalty to mr. putin live on television. this worker offered to come to moscow with his mate to cape -- to take on the anti- government protestors. the metal workers here are not marching on moscow. today, they are taken the original train to the -- taking the regional train to the capital. there are no white ribbons, the trademark of mr. putin's critics. the symbol here is the workers glove. he pays our pension, nikolai
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says. he gives us bread and cheese. that is all we need. as for the west, could in is russia's future, another says. >> middle class and yon, russians in moscow have been protesting against the government -- middle-class and young russians in moscow have been protesting against the government. >> but the crowd here was smaller than organizers had promised. and some of what we saw seemed stage managed. there were trying to get as many people as possible. one worker i spoke to, west to remain anonymous, said his workmates only travel to -- who asked to remain anonymous, said his workmates only traveled to the rally because they were offered days of work and free tickets.
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he will win votes here, but more, perhaps, out of a fear of change than any real belief that president putin can make life better. >> i want to take you to pennsylvania now, and in particular, -- i hope we can get some live pictures from punxsutawney. is a celebration rooted in -- i think, german superstition. i do not know if we have seen him yet. if the hibernating animal cast a shadow on february 2, then winter will last another six weeks. if no shadow is seen, then spring will come early. there is punxsutawney phil.
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open the door. we want to see. on not sure who actually makes the judgment about whether or not one can see his shadow. but that is what it is all about. the organizers say up to 20,000 people are supposed to come along for this. and there he is. punxsutawney phil. [cheers and applause] aita know if that groundhog knows what pressured -- i do not know if the ground of knows what pressure he is under. that does look like 15,000 people or so. [crowd chanting] i do not know who makes judgments about whether or not he has cast a shadow or not. i see the mayor is supposed to be there. the various dignitaries turn up.
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a big occasion for a box of ghani. it annual day in the sun. -- for punxsutawney. its annual day in the sun. now for something more serious, argentina still claims to all the territory of the falkland islands called the malvine a us.ri it has caused bitterness between the two countries. our correspondent joins us live from the falklands. allen, is prince william's deployment being seen in argentina as provocative? >> yes, very much so. it is being seen as a deliberate act of provocation in argentina. the government there has said so. but the british say he is coming to the falklands not as prince william, not as the duke of
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cambridge, not as the heir to the throne, but as a eighth light helicopter to take part in a humanitarian -- but as a flight helicopter pilot to take part in a humanitarian mission, but here is the future king coming to this outpost 9,000 miles away. for them, it is their impression of britain and forcing their right to the slot area. >> i'm afraid we will have to leave it there. that is all for the moment. that is all for the moment. stay with us
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