tv BBC World News PBS September 21, 2011 12:30am-1:00am PDT
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>> and now, "bbc world news." >> hello and welcome. >> the headlines. >> afghanistan post a tragic loss after the assassination of burhanuddin rabbani. a warning for the world economy. economic woes could cause stagnation and a return to recession. >> the promise for libya. the ntc is 10 days away from forming a new government. palestinians push on with their bid to the united nations. israel's defense minister tells the bbc the move is a mistake. >> it might create friction.
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>> it is 0:00 here in singapore. >> broadcasting around the world, welcome. >> a suicide bomber has killed the man leading the efforts to negotiate with the taliban. burhanuddin rabbani, a former president, died in his own home during a meeting with members of the taliban. from the afghan capital, and davis reports. >> heavy security tonight outside the house in campbell -- kabul where he was killed by a taliban fighter with a bomb in his turban. rabbani was a divisive figure.
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and a surprise appointment to lead the council set up by hamid karzai to talk peace. the afghan president heard the news in new york could just before he met president obama. >> the the actions he took was good for the security and peace of our country. we will miss him very much. >> burhanuddin rabbani may have died trying to bring peace but he lived as a warrior. he was the founding father of the afghan fighters to pressed back russians in the 1980's. he led the country as president in 1992. it was divided by 1992 and -- by fighting.
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his death will send shockwaves across the country or not by war. whoever was responsible for carrying out this attack tonight was sending a message that they believe there is more fighting to be done before there is peace in afghanistan. >> the imf has warned the global economy is entering a dangerous new face. it says the united states and the eurozone aren't a risk of falling back into recession. this could damage and other economies. the imf says there is a danger that a steep cuts will further weaken the economic outlook. here is our economic editor. >> they have taken a long look at the economy and sounded day a scary place. the report stocks of a dangerous new phase in what may be a week and bumpy recovery with many
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economy is facing an anemic growth. it is a big change from a few months ago. nor has the outlook change faster than italy. today the the credit rating had been cut for the first time in five years. italy's is paying a price because of athens. students took to the streets to protest government cuts. >> there is a difference between greece and italy. the lack of clarity on increase -- greece is affecting the credibility when it comes to judgment. >> the crisis is one reason why the fund has lowered its growth forecast. expects eurozone to grow by 1.6% this year and the u.s. tour by want 0.5%. half as fast as a master. -- as last year.
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the budget assumes growth of 1.7%. the other big danger in this report is in the u.s. territory's the battle between the congress will de rel. the recovery -- derail the recovery. president obama sounded like he was reading the fund's script yesterday announcing his plan. >> we need to invest in hiring and gross now while still providing the confidence that will come in reducing our deficits or the long term. >> opponents know that talks of jobs strikes a chord. joe had a comfortable home and two cars. now all of that is gone. his wife and sons are living in his mother trailer while he works a double shift at a local
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restaurant. >> i am trying not to show my emotions. i do not want to fill my husband -- my husband to feel defeated. it is hard to look at my kids every day and know that we have filled them in some way. >> the imf has a difficult balance. they need to sound the alarm but they do not want to damage confidence. of all the things it will give america is ordinary people feeling gloomy about prospects and deciding to slash spending now. in that sense, the greatest fear over the economy may well be fear itself. the imf post of chief economist at myths that george osborne is walking a fine line. >> at some point one has to reconsider plans. the loss of credibility when you establish a plan and you need to
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change it, at some point you have to do it. the threshold is higher. >> the watchdog sees the danger all around us. it does not want anyone to press the panic button. >> moving on to our other stories, the -- let's crossovers you for the latest developments in libya. >> a it has been a crucial day for the national transitional council. the interim prime minister says a new government will be announced within seven to 10 days. president obama joined a world leaders in welcoming him as the ntc to the united nations. president obama praised the libyan people's achievements in
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operating their country. on the ground, the fighting continues. people are fleeing sirte as fighters loyal to the council prepared to launch fresh assaults, to find the capture the town. -- finally capture the town. >> they have the firepower. their shells are bombarding the desert state of sirte. a pack of front lines, they have taken control of another village. "we pressed ahead to the edge of the fighting." >> stay down. get down and stayed down.
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>> we have gone further down the road. the ntc has been fighting over this help. a couple of rockets came in. everyone is nervous. there is a strong defense from the pro-gaddafi lines. >> every town needs to be carefully managed. meetings with the elders to establish the new order. big changes, high expectations after four decades of dictatorship. this is being built for them by gaddafi before the revolution. they made a sudden switch of loyalty for survival. many people came here to flee the fighting. who do you support? >> everybody. >> something was not quite right. she used the old salute.
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>> gaddafi, know. -- no. >> there were probably saying "rebels, no" just a few days earlier. >> we are related to gaddafi. >> this is why you get good houses. >> you can say that. those people who suffer from gaddafi needs to forget everything and to forgive us. >> every day brings progress. beyond the war, reconciliation will be key. if the credentials of action, the new freedom may be short- lived. >> you're watching the bbc from london. thousands of victims of india's earthquake remain cut off.
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heavy rains hinder the operation and. >> the defense minister tells the bbc he hopes israel has not missed an opportunity by opposing the bid for statehood. to the fighting in libya, there was some concern over the historical treasures. most seem to have survived including the jewel of the crown, the ancient roman city on the mediterranean. we went to visit it and were shown around by a man who was lived there all of his life. >> welcome. it is the second city behind rome. my name is -- i have lived all of my life here as a tour guide. we can see the great fountain of the city.
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the public fountain. a very big tower, two floors. i was looking after the sheep. gadhafi's to come here very often. -- used to come here very often. he would come but we are not allowed to get near. now we are standing in front of one of the monuments which is called -- we have come to the hot rooms. this is not only entertainment but work.
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we are expecting good things. like athens or roms or something like that. people come and go and see the heritage. >> the headlines for you this hour. afghanistan's chief peace negotiator with the taliban burhanuddin rabbani has been killed at his home. >> the imf says the world economy is entering a dangerous new face and warned that the u.s. and europe risk falling back into recession. among the latest forecast made by the imf was the prediction that japan will contract by 0.5%. i'm joined from our tour " studios by martin -- tokyo
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studios by martin. do you believe the economy will contract? >> yes, absolutely. there is no other way in terms of recovering for japan. we had a huge hit earlier this year. now with the world economy cooling, it is basically our forecaster up the year. we have more for next year. >> it does not help japan but the august trade deficit came in better than it -- bigger than expected. this puts the recovery in doubt. >> absolutely. what japan needs for recovery is exports. this is where the economy starts to grow we are not seeing this right now. demand from asia is still
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comparatively strong. they are cooling. now it sentiment in the u.s. and europe hitting the bottom, this is bad news for asia. >> a new administration, a new economic thing. can they do much and for the economy? >> this is what we are hoping for for the last quarter this year. a reconstruction work will get going and get started so that to japan gets a bit of its own reconstruction business cycle. so far not much has been happening. sentiment is depressed. the main reason is we had a blockage between the government and the ministry. this seems to be fixed right now with the new government coming in. there is some room for optimism that they will get something going.
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>> thank you, for your insight. and the pakistan air force has flown its first mission to deliver relief supplies to people hit by flooding in the south of the country. helicopters were used to drop aid to villages in the worst affected province. 3 million people in pakistan are running desperately short of food as a result of the flood. almost 60 people have died and a million homes have been evacuated after rain and flooding in china. rains have swamped the three provinces in the southwest center and north of the country. river has swollen to about 7 meters above danger levels. there are concerns the flooding made the worst since 1847. troy davis has a lost an appeal
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and is said to be executed on wednesday. the case has attracted attention because seven of nine witnesses have since recanted their testimony. davis was convicted in 1989 for killing a police officer. now to london for more news. >> thank you very much. israel's defense minister told the bbc he hoped israel had not been opportunity by opposing the palestinian membership application. he was in new york where he had been attending the general assembly and he was speaking to the bbc. >> when we look at it honestly, it does not serve the palestinians. we are not in a position to judge. it is up to them. it will try to replace the
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natural solution which is going to be negotiation by trying to a -- >> they say they still believe in negotiations. it would like to internationalize things through the u.n. >> when she recognize a state, it will raise the probability of friction. a state might try to apply them on the ground that will meet with our control of the area. it might create friction. i do not see it as a positive development. >> even if they get a visa, they have taken the initiative in the way they haven't in the past. that must be some kind of victory. >> to a certain extent. we're trying to convince the
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mainstream of europeans to emphasize the need for negotiation rather than the condition of a palestinian state. >> have you missed an opportunity? you could have said, ok, joined the un and come back to us with the details. >> i hope we did not miss one. we have a duty to always be stronger, open, no illusions. the recent arab spring showed us how isolated israel can be in this turbulent area. a person cannot choose his parents. a nation cannot use its neighbors. we have those neighbors. we're trying to be strong and always stretching our hand toward the neighbors to try to make peace. i hope we will succeed. >> you may have missed an opportunity.
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>> i think we did not. and do not pretend to be able to judge from an objective point of view. >> you face a massive amount of uncertainty in many challenges. >> never a dull moment. we're cursed. >> rescue workers are struggling because of heavy rain to reach thousands of victims of the powerful earthquake. at least 50 people were killed in the quake. the indian government has deployed 6000 troops to dig through mudslides and clear away the rubble. get the latest on this. he joins us from the regional capital. thank you for joining us. tell us how the relief operation
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is proceeding. >> at the moment the relief operations are doing well. we are coordinating with the army. the civil defense and the disaster management team. >> where are the challenges you are facing? a >> coordination is moving ahead a rapid pace. we have been able to evacuate in number of people. we've sent a number of helicopters into service because the situation is set the road connectivity has been pretty badly hit. travelling by road -- has been
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cut off. to road connectivity is in a state of total damage. the only way to move is for helicopter. we have it delivered essential goods and services. >> thousands of people have been affected. many have been displaced and are not able to gain access to the supplies. what are you doing to ensure they are getting the help that they need? >> some people have been trapped. we have used the army to go on foot patrol. they are being airlifted and brought down to the capitol for treatment.
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the number of people who are in inaccessible areas is now -- it will take a few more days before we get a complete evacuation. >> we know the bad weather is still forecast for the north of the region. how much longer do you think that you will be under this bad weather situation? >> in the eastern hamadi is, it is unpredictable. by the afternoon you get a a big cloud cover. we are not able to comment on the weather conditions. as of now it has been pretty good.
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we do as much as we can when the weather is good. >> thank you for joining us. the chief secretary of the state. the united states is expected to announce whether it will sell its fighter jets to taiwan. there's speculation that washington will not sell its fighters and instead it will offer to refurbish its existing fleet. >> taiwan has been trying to upgrade its fighter jets for five years. some of the aircraft 35 years old. it says it needs new jets to defend itself against an attack by china. even though relations have improved recently, china continues to build up its military strength which is seen as a threat by taiwan. china seized the island as one of its provinces and watson
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unified. despite the growing tilling -- military, it has been reluctant to sell big-ticket items to taiwan for fear of upsetting beijing. they're trying to cooperate from trade to north korea to buying bonds to do with the debt problem. there are worries about the balance of military between taiwan and china. china and its commitment to helping taiwan defend itself. >> you have been watching newsday from the bbc. >> a reminder of our main news. hamid karzai is cutting short a visit in new york after his main representative with the taliban burhanuddin rabbani was killed in a suicide attack. you have been watching newsday from the bbc. thank you for joining us.
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