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tv   BBC World News  BBC America  October 21, 2014 6:00am-7:01am EDT

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this is bbc america, and now live from london, "bbc world news." >> given a phone card for that to happen. >> reporter: what's been the reaction generally to the sentence that you can deduce from all the different people who have been speaking? >> a lot of people are saying it's not enough. it's not like oscar pistorius to not kill somebody. he has admitted to killing his girlfriend. reeva steenkamp is dead. and this is what the relatives of reeva steenkamp have been saying for months at the courtroom, saying sure, this brings closure, but it does not necessarily mean that it will bring back reeva steenkamp. a lot of people saying oscar pistorius should have been given
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a much harsher sentence to prove to society that they can still have confidence in the justice system of this country. >> judge masipa said that sometimes people don't understand the difference between the interests of society and the desire society has for retribution. >> that's correct. she mad a distinction between vengeance and punishment, and says that people need to understand the two. and also saying that people don't always get what they want. and she also said in her judgment that she hopes that the sentence that she has given to oscar pistorius will bring closure to reeva steenkamp's family. and she also said nothing she does or says today will bring her back. >> reporter: indeed, thank you very much. our colleague here in pretoria, has been in court all through this trial. but there we are, on day 49 of the whole proceedings. we've been here since march 3rd. we finally learned oscar
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pistorius's fate. he will serve five years, or he's been sentenced to five years in prison, but could be out of jail in as little as ten months. now, a warm welcome if you've just joined us on bbc news. this is special coverage of the sentencing of oscar pistorius. i'm karin giannone in pretoria. and in the last few minutes, we've just seen oscar pistorius leaving the court here in a van where he'd been held in some holding cells just below the court. he walked down steps just after judge masipa stopped speaking, and he has been taken away to a prison that used to be known as pretoria central prison. just six or so minutes drive from central pretoria. where he will begin his sentence, and what we learned about this five-year sentence is that in effect, it may not mean five years in prison. this could be as little as ten
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months if he fulfills the conditions that have been set, and then it would change into something along the lines of house arrest, possibly with community service, if he fulfills all the conditions being a prisoner over the course of those ten months. so around 1/6th of that sentence is the minimum he could serve. but let's just hear what judge masipa -- the words she used when she delivered her sentencing judgment. >> mr. pistorius, please rise. the following is what i consider to be a sentence that is full and just both to society and to the accused. count one. culpable homicide. the sentence imposed is the maximum imprisonment of five years imposed in terms of
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section 2761-i of the criminal procedure act, number 51 of 1977. two, on count two, the contravention of section 120, subsection 3b of the firearms control act, number 60 of 2000. the sentence imposes three years imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years on condition that within the period of suspension, the accused is not found guilty of a crime where there is negligence involving the use of a firearm. paragraph three. the sentence in count one and
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the sentence on count two shall run concurrently. >> reporter: let's just take you straight to oscar pistorius's uncle arnold, who is giving a statement. >> you've shared this process, you've seen the seasons in the city coming and going. and today a new season starts for us as family. not the pistorius family alone, but the steenkamp family and all the families involved in this tragic event. this has been an incredibly hard, painful process for everyone involved. the steemp camp family, our family, and oscar. it has been a harrowing 20 months.nkamp family, our
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family, and oscar. it has been a harrowing 20 months. we are all emotionally drained and exhausted. that case that was set down for three weeks originally has been dragged out for seven months. in fact, for 20 months since the bail application. we said since the beginning that the state drive to force a puzzle into premeditated murder. when they realized the fact that it didn't fit, they changed their stunts to mosaic, where everything cannot opportunistically fit anyway. in the process, they decided to inflict as much collateral damage as they could by keeping a cloud of premeditated murder
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over this case for as long as possible. one of the most distressed parts for me of this whole trial was how the truth became totally irrelevant to make the premeditated murder stick. the court has now handed down judgment and sentence, and we accept the judgment. oscar will embrace this opportunity to pay back to society. i appeal to all of you as the media to accept the ruling of the court.
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after 20 months of relentless public trial, i would ask you, ladies and gentlemen of the media, to let us have -- to let us move forward in this process. and give us some degree of dignity, privacy as we do so. as a last word, i want to say something as an uncle. i hope oscar will start his own healing process as he'll walk down the path of restoration. as a family, we are ready to support and guide oscar as he serves his sentence. thank you for your presence, your patience, and please
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understand that i really don't want to take any questions. thank you very much for your time and your effort. >> that is oscar pistorius's uncle arnold, whose home oscar pistorius has spent the last 20 months in on bail, and he has been a figure in that court every single day of these legal proceedings. now, he went on to say that the family accepted the judgment. they will not be appealing this sentence, and also said that oscar will embrace this opportunity to pay back society, but he did have very strong words for the case. he said it had been dragged out. he also said that the state inflicted as much collateral damage as possible by pursuing this charge -- he called it a cloud of premeditated murder. he said today marks the start of a new season, not just for the
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pistorius family, but for the steenkamp family, too. an emotionally drained steenkamp and pistorius family indeed he mentioned. so there we are. we know from their words a little earlier and then from uncle arnold pistorius in the last few minutes, he said the family accepts the sentence and will not be appealing. but emma saddler, a legal commentator, is with me. emma, strong words for this case. he even said that this had been dragged out. you don't believe that? >> strong words against the state saying that they inflicted as much harm as possible. saying they'd endured 20 months of this trial already. indeed, it has been 20 months since the incident took place. but if we cast our minds back to when i first spoke to you, which was in march, the 2nd of march, it feels like a lifetime ago. but bearing in mind that this trial had 37 witnesses. it really is almost record pace for the south african judicial
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system. >> reporter: what about the fact that the defense and the family are just going to accept this sentence? they could land oscar pistorius with a harsher sentence. >> there was a lot of talk before today about whether or not there would be an appeal, either by the prosecution or the defense. arnold pistorius has now come out and categorically confirmed that they won't be appealing. that's not to say that the prosecution won't appeal. there was a lot of reaction to the fact that oscar pistorius wasn't found guilty of murder, that he was only found guilty of the lesser charge of culpable homicide. so the prosecution now have 14 days with which to decide whether or not they would like to bring an appeal. i think that it's a very interesting sentence that judge masipa has handed down. i think she struck a very good balance between what the prosecution wanted and what the defense wanted. bear in mind that while oscar pistorius has been sentenced to a maximum of five years, under the section, the particular section of the law, under which he will be serving that time, he
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may come out of prison after a sixth of that service -- a sixth of that term has been served. now, what's interesting is that when he comes out, he won't be on parole. he will still be under correctional supervision in his house, presumably he'll still be staying with his uncle oscar pistorius. he'll be able to go to work, to church presumably. he may be able to go to the park for a couple hours a week, but he still is very much under correctional supervision for the entire duration of that five-year term. there is no parole if you are under correctional supervision. >> he's left the court now. we saw him in those pictures. we've just been watching. in an armored car, being taken to a prison not far from here. >> just literally walking distance from here. he'll be held at pretoria central prison. reports over the weekend that there was a meeting with the department of correctional services. those have been unconfirmed. but reports that he will be held in the hospital wing of that prison, and he will have his own
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room with shared bathing facilities. the correctional department, the correctional services department making it very clear that they certainly have provision to house oscar pistorius and, of course, his special needs. >> reporter: emma, thank you very much. that's emma saddler, legal commentator. this effectively is a historic night in the life of oscar pistorius, because for seven and a half months of this trial, we've been wondering what his fate would be, and tonight, he will be spending that first night in jail, on the first day of that five-year sentence, and as emma was just saying there, a sentence that could be as little as ten months in prison. now, we've been watching the various comings and goings from the court here in pretoria. a little earlier, the parents of reeva steenkamp june and barry steenkamp came out and gave their reaction. >> he's going to pay something. >> do you think justice has been
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served? >> yes. >> do you have anything to say to us? >> do you have anything, june? it's been a long journey for you. >> exhausted. >> you're exhausted? >> i made a comment to you now. i'm just glad it's over. >> mr. steenkamp. it's been a long journey. are you happy? are you satisfied? >> we are satisfied. >> do you have any hopes moving forward? >> very much so, yes. >> what are your hopes? >> we're just pleased -- >> do you think five years is enough? >> reporter: well, ever since the conviction for culpable homicide that oscar pistorius was handed down just over a month ago, rather than premeditated murder, there's been a big question over whether the state, the prosecution would appeal that conviction, that judgment. today i've been speaking to the spokesman of the national prosecuting authority. >> we believe we have done all we could to get to where we are.
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but of course, we are already stated before, that we were not entirely satisfied with the outcome of the case as far as the judgment is concerned. we indicated that we were disappointed because it was not what we had set out to achieve for that purpose. so now that the sentence has been delivered, we are going to have to go and study the judgment, study the part of the sentence that was imposed today, but also, you know, go and study the case law that is relevant, to see if indeed it would support us in the event that we take the matter forward. there is an -- we do believe there's something to work with, but we are not going to hastily take that decision. we have 14 days within which to indicate to a court that we are going to appeal the matter or not. at this point in time, the prosecution team is trying to make sure when the decision is taken, it's based on law, rather
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than the feeling that we have at this point in time. >> reporter: what would you say the probability is therefore that you will pursue an appeal to the conviction? >> well, as i said, the appetite is there, but, i mean, we are guided by the law, and we have to make sure that the law is on our side. we will not just take the matter to court if we know that we're not going to be successful. and we'll have to make sure that we study the judgment, and as i said, all the case law within the next 14 days before we make that decision. >> if the sentence had been heavier today, would you still be saying this? >> absolutely. it has nothing to do with the sentence. of course we will take the sentence into consideration, and we are satisfied with the sentence in that we find solace that it is a custodial sentence. it is not what we also argued for after the conviction, but it is something that we at least we did argue for. it's half of what we argued for.
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but as i said, you know, the question of appeal or not appeal has nothing to do with sentence. it all has to do with the fact that we wanted a conviction on murder and that's not what we got. >> reporter: that is the national prosecuting authority spokesman, leaving us with that possibility, that although we have received the sentence that oscar pistorius will serve, we know his fate, at least for now, that there could be an appeal by the state, a conviction for culpable homicide in the pipeline, but we have to see, because as he said there, the national prosecuting authority will be examining the judgment in its entirety to try to find areas where they make a challenge on legal grounds. so that is the point that is still up in the air. but for now, oscar pistorius has left in an absolute commotion at the back of court in an armored car to be driven the six minutes or so to a prison very nearby to spend his first night as a
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convicted killer serving time in jail. an incredible moment for south africa. 20 months ago, this man was an idol, a sporting superstar, but tonight he will be in prison for the first time on the very beginning of that five-year sentence, which could be done in as little as ten months. but for now, from pretoria, for me karin giannone, back to london. >> karin, thank you very much. do stay with us here on "bbc world news." still to come, hong kong's chief executive is holding public talks with pro-democracy campaigners in a bid to end weeks of protests.
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awesome! awesome! (all) awesome! i love logistics. hello, you're watching "bbc world news." the latest headlines. oscar pistorius has been sentenced to a maximum of five years in jail for killing his
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girlfriend reeva steenkamp. judge masipa said a long custodial sentence would have sent the wrong message to the community. the olympic committee say they will ban pistorius from competing for five years. the hong kong government are holding talks with student leaders as pro-democracy street protests continue into a fourth week. the protests have blocked key parts of the city. the students say they want the public to have a say in who can run for the position of the territory's chief executive. but beijing wants to be able to vet the candidates first. first of all, let's just have a little listen into those talks. >> translator: some of the rules
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should be laid out, but it hasn't. i believe all the people living in hong kong do wish and hope the government could publish the useful rules and policy. and tell them they have the human right. and tell them they still have the hope to leave hong kong for a better life. it's really different from what
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the news said, that if your governor can go to the street, have a look, and you can find that not just the students on the street, but also the elderly people. >> so, of course, we're just listening in to the government holding talks with student leaders, of course, after those weeks of protests in hong kong. let's just join now, though, our correspondent juliana lui who joins us from hong kochbng. what is the aim of these talks? they've touched on this before, haven't they? >> reporter: well, the aim of the talks is on the future of political reforms here in hong kong, as you know, that the talks had been called twice, called off twice before this, so the fact that both sides are able to sit down together is really seen as a victory. you're listening now, i think, to one of the student representatives. the two sides met for a photo
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call just before the talks started about 25 minutes ago. it was such a contrasting picture on the left side, four young men, one woman wearing black t-shirts saying freedom now. they're the students representing the thousands of demonstrators who are still on the streets and on the other side, again four men and one woman representing the hong kong government, looking very official, and of course decades older than their rivals on the other side. the positions, of course, are still very different. we'll have to see over the next two hours whether those differences can be narrowed at all. the students want to push for public nomination, allowing the public to have a say in who becomes the next -- who can run for the position of the next chief executive of hong kong. the government has said that this is not allowed. but in a short interview with the journalists before the talks, the current chief executive cy leung, who is not
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talking part in these talks that you're seeing right now, said there could be room for compromise. there could be room for making the nomination committee, which has to nominate the candidates. there might be some room for making the composition of that committee more democratic. he had hinted at this before. especially last week during a standoff with reporters. but this is the first time i think he's used those words democratic, making them more democratic. that's one possible way in which the both sides can compromise. >> you've been covering this story from the start. just very briefly, do you think that will be enough to compromise or, of course, appease those student protesters? >> reporter: it's very unlikely, i think, to achieve that in essentially less than two hours, or two hours of debate today. i think the students have been insisting on multiple rounds of talks because they don't think that there will be any kind of solid agreement to be achieved tonight. >> we're going to leave it
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there. juliana lui, thank you very much. that's all from us here on "bbc world news" for now. you can keep in touch with me and the rest of the team via twitter. thanks very much for watching. 3rd and 3. 58 seconds on the clock, what am i thinking about? foreign markets. asian debt that recognizes the shift in the global economy. you know, the kind that capitalizes on diversity across the credit spectrum and gets exposure to frontier and emerging markets. if you convert 4-quarter p/e of the s&p 500, its yield is doing a lot better... if you've had to become your own investment expert, maybe it's time for bny mellon, a different kind of wealth manager ...and black swans are unpredictable.
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go to cars.com go to ziprecruiter.com/offer300. . hello. welcome to "bbc world news." i'm karin giannone in pretoria where oscar pistorius has just been sentenced. the south african athlete is given five years in jail for killing his girlfriend reeva steenkamp. >> a noncustodial sentence would send the wrong message to the community. on the other hand, a long sentence would also not be appropriate. >> he can be out after a year or
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so. >> doesn't matter, he's going to pay something. >> do you think justice has been served? >> yes. >> the international paralympic committee say they'll ban oscar pistorius for from competing for five years. here are the top stories. hong kong's government is holding talks with pro-democracy campaigners in a bid to end weeks of street protest. and pioneering new surgery has allowed a paralyzed man to walk again. >> reporter: hello. welcome to pretoria. in the last hour, we have come to learn the fate of oscar pistorius, the fate that we've been waiting for for the last seven and a half months since this trial began. 49 days of the court sitting,
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and now it is over. oscar pistorius sentenced to a five-year minimum term. but we've also learned that the terms of that sentence mean he could be out of jail in as little as ten months. paul adams has this report. >> mr. pistorius, please rise. >> reporter: the final moments of a trial that's gripped south africa and much of the world for the past seven months. oscar pistorius already convicted of negligent killing in court once more to learn his fate. >> count one, culpable homicide. the sentence imposed is the maximum imprisonment of five years. >> reporter: and then with reeva steenkamp's listening intently, the second charge, unlawfully firing a gun in a restaurant. >> the sentence imposes three years imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years. >> reporter: oscar pistorius and reeva steenkamp were a
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high-profile couple, but he shot her on valentine's day last year. he said he mistook his girlfriend for an intruder, shooting her through a toilet door. as he arrived at court in pretoria, he knew the judge faced competing claims. the prosecution arguing for a tough sentence. the defense saying he's full of remorse and shouldn't go to jail. in home run lengthy preamble, judge masipa seemed to acknowledge that not everyone would be satisfied. >> society cannot always get what they want, as courts do not exist to win popularity contests, but exist solely to dispense justice. >> reporter: as the court adjourned, legal experts said oscar pistorius may be eligible for house arrest in just eight months. but his former girlfriend's parents seemed satisfied. >> he could be out after just a year or so. >> doesn't matter, he's going to pay something. >> do you think justice has been
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served? >> yes. >> reporter: acceptance too from the pistorius family, albeit with a note of defiance. >> one of the most distressed parts for me of this whole trial was how the truth became totally irrelevant to make premeditated murder stick. the court has now handed down judgment and sentence, and we accept the judgment. >> reporter: and so oscar pistorius left court to a mixture of jeers and cheers. this dramatic trial is over, leaving debate, unanswered questions, and a tragedy in its wake. paul adams, bbc news. >> reporter: well, it is over, and there are unanswered questions. one of those unanswered questions is whether the state will appeal the conviction itself for culpable homicide.
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of course, the state, you'll remember, pursued a premeditated murder charge. they did not succeed in getting oscar pistorius convicted of premeditated murder. instead, the lesser charge of culpable homicide when he was convicted last month. but i've been speaking to the spokesperson for the national prosecuting authority about the plans that the state has to appeal. >> we believe that as the npa, we have done all we could to get to where we are. but of course, we have already stated before that we were not entirely satisfied with the outcome of the case in as far as the judgment is concerned. we indicated that we are disappointed, because it was not what we had, you know, set out to achieve for that purpose. so now that sentence has been delivered, we are going to have to go and study the judgment, study the part of the sentence that was imposed today, but also, you know, go and study the case law that is relevant, to
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see if indeed it would support us in the event that we take the matter forward. there is an appetite. we do believe there is something that you can work with. but of course, we were not going to hastily take that decision. we have 14 days within which to indicate to the court that we are going to appeal the matter or not. and at this point in time, the prosecution team will try to make sure that when the decision is taken, it's based on law, other than the feeling that we have at this point in time. >> reporter: what would you say the probability is therefore that you will pursue an appeal to the conviction? >> well, as i said, the appetite is there. but we are guided by the law and we have to make sure that the law is on our side. we will, of course, not just take the matter to court if we know that we're not going to be successful, and that will have to make sure that we study the judgment, and as i said, all the relevant case law within the
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next 14 days before we make that decision. >> if the sentence had been heavier today, would you still be saying this? >> absolutely. it has nothing to do with the sentence. of course we will take the sentence into consideration, and we are satisfied with the sentence in that we find solace that it is a custodial sentence. it is not what we also argued for after the conviction and culpable homicide, but it is something that we at least we did argue for. it's half of what we argued for. but as i said, you know, the question of appeal or not appeal has nothing to do with sentence. it all has to do with the fact that we wanted a conviction on murder and it's not what we got. >> reporter: so there we have it. the state possibly pursuing an appeal. they have to do that within 14 days. with me is mannie witz, a lawyer. i wanted to get your reaction. >> reaction is simple. if you've been defending like
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i've been celebrasel defending, celebrating. you have to be very careful to appeal a sentence like this because it could be increased. so he's done very, very well for his client and i wouldn't appeal if i was him. >> we're hearing from the pistorius family that they accept it. >> they couldn't have gotten a better sentence. the judge, it was the judge's discretion. she gave the maximum that she could in term of the criminal procedure act. so it means he goes into jail for five years, but he only serves ten months inside jail. after two years and five months, the balance gets converted to corrective supervision, house arrest, community service, various social programs. so it's a good sentence. he got the maximum in terms of that act. >> so he could get out after ten months, but it would turn into a correctional supervision.
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>> definitely, you're not free at all. in fact, you're under more severe restrictions. and being who he is, and the personality that he is, he's going to be under the public eye and under corrective supervision. if they see him playing golf, walking around like other people. so i think they're going to monitor him more than anyone else, and i think what your viewers need to know, corrective supervision, it's not a slap on the wrist. it's not an easy sentence. you've got to be there every night between 6:00 in the evening and 6:00 in the morning. you're allowed out for work, for religious service to attend on a sunday or depending on what your religious denomination is. i can tell you what, you sit the next four years and two months, you think about it every day because you're under the eye of corrective supervision. you don't run around on parties and holidays. your life comes really to an end. you can work so that keeps you a little bit sane and you can attend a religious activity. she gave him the maximum that she could. if she gave 2761-h, the judge,
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then i think there would have been a severe public outcry because that's a maximum of three years but noncustodial. that means you gate taste of what it's like in prison, you go through the prison doors, treated like every other prisoner, same food, same conditions. obviously because of his personal disability, they treat people with disable. but thereafter when you get released, not an easy sentence to undergo. >> looking at the reaction, people are saying this is a slap on the wrist. >> it's not really a slap on the wrist. i've had a lot of cases like this. it's manslaughter, culpable homicide. it's not murder. so the judge had the options open to her. we've actually said she could give direct imprisonment or go this route. i think she balanced up and extended mercy and said i think this will satisfy everybody. i know i won't get an appeal from the defense and i doubt i'll get an appeal from the state and i think it's a suitable and appropriate punishment. so the outcry is because everybody automatically thinks you shot somebody, you killed somebody, how can you get a slap
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on the wrist? i've had a lot of cases, it's not an easy sentence. it looks easy from the outside, but you have to undergo it. it's not such an easy sentence. so that's really it. >> mannie, thank you very much. defense lawyer here in south africa. just before we hand back to london, let's just show you where oscar pistorius is heading right now. we can show you the live shot of pretoria central prison. it's just a very short journey from here in central pretoria. oscar pistorius will be near his family, but that is the building where oscar pistorius will be spending his first night in custody tonight as a convicted killer. we will see him arriving there very shortly. he left the court here in the last half-hour, but a short journey in an armored car with a huge clamor as he left outside the back of court a short while ago. but for now, from pretoria, back to london. >> karin, thank you very much. now, a year ago, a charity in the netherlands created a fake profile of a 10-year-old
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girl nicknamed sweetie, to pose in teen chat rooms. more than 20,000 men got in touch, a thousand of whom offered to pay to watch her perform sexual acts. one year on, a man in australia has become the first to be sent to prison as a result of the undercover sting. angus crawford has the story. >> i'm not real. i'm a computer model. >> reporter: posing as prey to catch a predator, but sweetie never actually existed. the abuse she exposed, though, is all too real. thousands of men contacted her in chat rooms, asking her to perform sex acts in front of a web cam for money. now, though, one of those men has been brought to justice. thanks to sweetie, and the team of researchers at the charity, today in brisbane in australia, scott robert hanson pleaded guilty to sending obscene pictures via the internet and possession of images of child
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abuse. >> it was used by the australian police as a basis to carry out their own investigation and that's exactly what we set out to do. use the information, carry out your own investigations, find out what these people are doing, find out what is on their computers. >> men think she's sitting in front of a web cam in the philippines. >> reporter: one conviction today, but a total of a thousand men were identified, including 110 in the uk. sweetie's job may be done, but her work now falls to police forces around the world to continue. angus crawford, bbc news. the hong kong government are holding talks with student leaders as pro-democracy street protests continue into their fourth week. the protests have blocked key parts of the city. the students want the public to have a say in who can run for the position of the territory's chief executive. but beijing wants to be able to vet the candidates first.
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let's just go straight to those live pictures. you can see that is one of the student leaders. of course, they are holding talks with the government. really just to try and come up with some sort of solution with regards to the constitutional reform. you'll remember what's now dubbed the umbrella movement, have been there for weeks. there have been some quite violent skirmishes between the police and the protesters. up until now, beijing, though, refusing to change their stance. but potentially might be some room for compromise when it comes to how a candidate could be picked. so some suggestion that the candidate would still be screened, but saying that there might be a little bit of flexibility when it comes to the nomination committee. so you're just watching pictures of student leaders talking to the government. let's just have a little listen in now.
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>> translator: we do think that the riot on that day is not fair and is not really democracy. what our people living in hong kong know that the government -- you know that the actual policy cannot face for the current hong kong situation, and it cannot solve any problems by the government and society.
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i hope other government sitting here today in the meeting can solve these problems. >> translator: first of all, i would like to say thank you to the students sitting here today and appreciate their opinions. >> so there we see pictures of the government holding talks with student leaders. let's join our correspondent juliana lui who joins us live from hong kong. it's significant that we've got student leaders talking to the government first of all. >> reporter: yes. extremely significant. as you know, the talks had been called and called off twice before this. the fact that the two sides are able to even sit down together is seen as something of a victory. right now, i believe the justice secretary is speaking in response to the students who
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have been speaking before. they're in the middle of a 90-minute essentially free discussion, free debate period, in which each side is making their argument. earlier we heard from nathan law, one of the representatives on the students' side. he made the point that social problems here in hong kong have their roots in an undemocratic system. we also heard from his colleague also of the hong kong federation of students. she said that the decision at the end of august by the chinese government severely limiting who can run for the position of chief executive in three years, which is what brought so many people on to the streets the last three weeks or so. she was arguing that that decision can be changed, can even be cancelled. this is something that the government has said cannot be changed, so right now they're arguing on both points of the political argument in terms of
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the future democratic development of hong kong. of course, the students want public nomination. they want the public to have a say in who can run for the position of chief executive. the hong kong government and the chinese governments have said the past few weeks that this is not possible. speaking just before the talks, the current chief executive c.y. leung, who's not taking part in these talks directly, did tell a small group of reporters there could be room for compromise in the coming months. there could be some room for compromise on the composition of the nomination committee, the people who he believes should legally be choosing candidates in three years. >> some hope there at least. let's leave it there. juliana lui joining us live from hong kong. thank you. do stay with us here on "bbc world news." still to come, where faith and fashion collide. a new range of halal makeup targets india's huge muslim market. (door bell rings)
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here are the latest headlines. oscar pistorius has been sentenced to a maximum of five years in jail for killing his girlfriend reeva steenkamp. judge masipa said a long custodial sentence would send the wrong message to the community. meanwhile, his athletic career may be over as the international paralympic committee says they'll ban pistorius for competing for five years, the whole length of his sentence. a paralyzed man has become the first in the world to walk again after a pioneering therapy. the breakthrough involved transplanting cells from his nose into his severed spinal cord. surgeons in poland carried out the treatment in collaboration with scientists in london. the bbc was given unique access to the research progress over the past year. fergus welsh has this exclusive
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report. >> reporter: these remarkable images show derek after a pioneering cell transplant. he'd been paralyzed from the chest down, but now movement and sensation are slowly returning to his lower body. scientists used cells from one of his olfactory bulbs shown in green, part of the sense of smell. because nerve fibers there constantly regenerate. surgeons in poland injected the cells into the gap in his damaged spinal cord to stimulate repair and regrowth. the results published in the journal's cell transplantation have astounded the lead uk scientists. >> you are making history now. to me, this is more impressive than a man walking on the moon. >> reporter: it's crucial that derek's treatment is repeated in other patients, in a controlled clinical trial, to show
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definitively whether it be help to reverse paralysis. more than a million pounds of the research funding was raised by chef david nichols after his son daniel was paralyzed in a swimming accident. he aims to raise millions more to ensure the work continues. >> if you want science to progress, you've got to make it free, you've got to make every aspiring young scientist leaving university saying this is the breakthrough. we're at the point now of where bernard was with the first operation. >> reporter: the scientists are planning to treat ten more paralyzed patients in a carefully controlled clinical trial. fergus walsh, bbc news, poland. >> india has the second-largest population of muslims in the world and is a growing consumer society. but some muslim women who want to wear makeup have struggled to find products that they're allowed to use, according to
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their faith. this may be about to change, though, as the bbc has been finding out. >> reporter: trying on the latest makeup and seeing what works, just like women on a shopping spree everywhere. but these women are making a little bit of history, as they are using the first ever beauty products produced in india and aimed at muslim customers. >> everyone can use, because in many families, people don't allow them to use cosmetics. they're not allowed to use any perfumes. but now iba is something, it's like a stamp, halal. >> reporter: two sisters opened the shop just four weeks ago selling their special products. they saw a gap in the market, as many mainstream cosmetics contain alcohol and animal by-products, which are forbidden by islam.
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>> translator: the customers were coming to us, muslim and non-muslim. then they get to know that the products aren't just halal, but they're really interested. >> reporter: halal makeup is a fast-growing sector, valued at just over $8 billion globally. the rise of the muslim middle class in malaysia, indonesia, and pakistan has seen a surge in demand. india is the latest country to tap into this trend and has its own halal certification bodies. just because these products are certified as halal in india, that doesn't mean they can be exported to any other muslim country. there's no common standard for halal across the world. while the debate over halal standards will continue, india is at long last catching up with the rest of the world, where brands see the muslim community as a growth market.
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>> now, let's just remind you of our top story here on "bbc world news." oscar pistorius has been sentenced to five years imprisonment for the manslaughter of his girlfriend reeva steenkamp in february last year. those are the pictures when he was leaving court on his route to prison in central pretoria. he was, of course, accused or found guilty of culpable homicide in september. though he was cleared of murder. well, today judge masipa said she accepted that the athlete was indeed remorsed as he showed in court, but she did say that the defense had overemphasized his vulnerability, certainly regarding his disability. the parents of reeva steenkamp, they have said they were happy, though, with the sentence, and really relieved that the case was over. we did also hear, though, from the uncle of pistorius. he said it had been a painful
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process for everyone involved. let's just have a look at the live shot, though, of the prison. that is where oscar pistorius will be spending at least ten months of that five-year prison sentence. you've been watching "bbc world news." thanks very much for watching. o] some come here to build something smarter. ♪ some come here to build something stronger. others come to build something faster... something safer... something greener. something the whole world can share. people come to boeing to do many different things. but it's always about the very thing we do best. ♪ bu(receptionist)about tgunderman group is growing. getting in a groove. growth is gratifying. goal is to grow. gotta get greater growth. i just talked to ups. they got expert advise, special discounts,
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you're watching "gmt" on "bbc world news." our top stories. oscar pistorius gets five years in prison for killing his girlfriend. the paralympic athlete could serve as little as ten months behind bars. his victim's family say it's the right sentence. >> he could be out after just a year or so. >> doesn't matter, he's going to pay something. >> do you think justice has been served? >> yes. >> reporter: i'm karin giannone

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