tv BBC World News WHUT January 25, 2012 7:00am-7:30am EST
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>> this is "bbc world news." 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 know your business, offering specialized solutions in capital to help you meet your growth objectives. we offer expertise and tailored solutions for small businesses and major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now "bbc world news."
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>> the daring u.s. special forces raid rescues two hostages held by a somali kidnappers. jessica buchanan and paul tisted are safe after a shootout in which several somali gang members were killed. >> hello and welcome to gmt. i am george alagiah, with a world of news and opinion. also in the program -- state of the union speech or election opener? barack obama accused of class warfare after he calls for the rich to pay more taxes. at davos, we will have the latest on the gathering of the rich, famous, and powerful. one year since the egyptian uprising began, we hear very
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different views on whether it has been a success or not. it is midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, and 3:00 in the afternoon in the east african state of djibouti. jessica buchanan and paul tisted, a danish man, were rescued. is this the way to deal with the growing problem of kidnapping in the horn of africa? frank, what do we know about what happened last night? >> this was a very during nighttime raid that took place overnight. u.s. special forces, navy seals, the same group that took part in the killing of osama bin laden in may of last year. we're told they parachuted in to a point near to the camp where these amendments were keeping
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these two aid workers -- where these kidnappers were keeping these two aid workers. because one of them is a u.s. citizen, the u.s. mustered the resources, exchanged fire with the bandits. they had been chewing the narcotic leaf in the previous evening and nine of the bandits killed. both of the aid workers were rescued unharmed and taken to nearby djibouti. it has been called a success because both hostages were rescued unharmed. we're told at least eight pilots were killed. that still leaves over 150
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hostages, mostly sailors, held by somali pirates. there ransoms are well into the millions of dollars. george, to put this in perspective, this is a high- profile, very dramatic rescue, this will not solve the problem of piracy. if anything, it could drive some of the pirates towards more of violent action. there's an unconfirmed report going around today that pirates have amputated the arm of a sea captain as punishment because his company will not pay the ransom. a really terrifying ordeal for offle held by pirates somalia. >> barack obama, the president, has to behave presidential. barack obama, the politician, has to go after the opposition. more fair america,re
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where the rich carry what he called a fair share of the burden. bluntly, more taxes. "class warfare" shouted his opponents. let's go to washington and our correspondent, adam brooks. which president did we see more of last night? >> that's what everybody was asking. it was a bit of both president obama president has to defend -- it was a bit of both. president obama has to defend his three years in office and he has to campaign for reelection. much of it was aimed at the man whom the white house considers to be the most likely challenger, the former governor of massachusetts, mitt romney, a very wealthy former businessmen. without ever hearing the name "mitt romney" much, you could
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tell much of the speech was directed towards him. he said the rich should be paying more taxes than they are, which was directed at mr. romney, who we discover yesterday earn more than $20 million, but paid only 40% in taxes, which is a pretty sweet deal. >> from over a year, it's all beginning to sound rather un american. dare i say, it feels a bit european. >> it feels different than the last two years, but it harkens back to an earlier period in america, i think, where the concerns of the working man and organized labor occupied a larger stage. president obama is trying to drop a clear distinction between himself and his potential challengers for the presidency next november. he is trying to draw on a sense
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of national grievance that is out there at the moment -- just how much people are hurting because of the recession and how many people have lost their homes. he is trying to tap into the anchor that has led thousands of people into this -- the anger that has led thousands of people into the occupy movement. >> thank you very much. thank you. a gloomy tone to this year's gathering of the world's richest people in davos. more than 2600 delegates have come with fresh warnings that the global economy is in danger. joining me from davos is daniel gros, the economics editor for yahoo! finance. plenty of rich people are around you at davos. are they going to hear what barack obama was saying? are they going to go along with
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him? >> in washington, we talk about the 1% and the 99%. i think this is the 0.1% of the 1% hee. they do have a lot to lose -- 1% here. they do have a lot to lose. it's not just a matter of that these people as individuals may be paying more taxes, but many of their businesses are unpopular. policy may be going against them, as well. >> davos does not make any decisions or anything, but how will they come out of this? do they get this fairness thing? >> i think they realize that they ignore it at their own
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peril. if you take the two big portions at davos -- europe. this is a european project. you have unemployment in spain and 20%. you have the u.k. with the austerity. the second driver is the u.s. and the issues they have. they are keeping a low profile here. i think they understand there something politically a foot and they are in a fair amount of political peril. it goes beyond simply the bank said the financial institutions to the corporate world generally. there are great questions being asked now about how companies can be so prosperous while they're not creating any jobs at home. the jobs they are creating are low-paying. >> i do not know how much of the state of the union speech you saw or read about, but do you
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think the president is going to mind this class warfare tactic some people are trying to hang over him? >> i find it kind of comical when people talk about class warfare in the context of the united states. there was russia in 1917. there is hugo chavez in venezuela. places where they are nationalizing industries. in the u.s., they're talking about returning tax rates to where they were in the reagan administration, and to where they were in the clinton administration. the people on the political right see that as the second coming of stalin. the economy did well in the 1980's and 1990's when tax rates were much higher. the highest marginal rate was 39% in the 1990's. 36% now. there's something very
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overwrought when we talk about is the rich should pay a little more. for most of history, they have paid substantially more. the tax cuts were meant to be temporary. >> thank you. thank you very much. thousands of egyptians have returned to tahrir square in cairo one year after the start of protests that overthrew president hosni mubarak. this is the scene live at the center of the egyptian capital. it's the scene of two different gatherings. one is calling for a revolt against army rule. another is about to celebrate the changes that have already been achieved. our correspondent in the square says its dominated by the muslim brotherhood, just like the parliament. the so-called facebook generation, mainly young people, they are somewhat lost in the crowd apparently.
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the fact that the muslim brotherhood one the most seats in egypt's free elections was hardly surprising. the real surprise was the second place, a party virtually unknown one year ago. they are a hard line islamist group. >> this is where the future of egypt will be decided, not in tahrir square, but in the thousands of villages where most egyptians live. the deeply conservative and a long way from cairo. this is the heartland. [speaking foreign language] he and his wife -- the egypt they want is very different from the young activists on tahrir square. >> [speaking foreign language] >> islam is clear.
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if someone steals, his hand will be cut off. killers will be killed. >> sitting next to them is the village english teacher. he has studied in england, but it has not softened his views. >> the crime in saudi arabia is less than the rate of crimes in [inaudible] what is the frontier? only one thing. the system in saudi arabia, when you steal, your hand will be cut. >> 20 minutes away, the ancient ruins. this place dross of thousands of tourists from across the world. a group of german tourists are brilliant the newly elected --
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are grilling the newly elected mp. he is from the muslim brotherhood, the biggest party in the parliament. >> that is something that has to be handled. cutting the hand is not the end in itself. the essence of it protect the larger society. >> the german tourists do not look reassured. since last year's revolution, a touristourists have abandoned e. i just set down at this cafe on the waterfront and open the menu. there's a whole page of alcoholic drinks. when i tried to order a beer, i was told they no longer serve alcohol here. it later said they are scared of what he called the men with beards. >> the men with beards would certainly not approve of this or anything like it. the village in was teacher has
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this prescription for the thousands of tourists visiting egypt's beaches. >> why not have separate speeches for women to swim and separate beaches for men? >> it may not be what the liberals of egypt want to hear. out here, these views are extremely common and can no longer be ignored. >> still to come on gmt -- a novel way to tackle elections. the installation of webcams at the polling stations. as austerities starts to bite into the british military, it has emerged that front-line personnel will bear the brunt of the cuts. >> the ministry of defence has
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announced two rounds of redundancies for thousands of military and civilians, just half of the cuts needed to get spending under control. are those in uniform being treated unfairly when compared with those civilians. mp's say there's a shocking and protegrotesque disparity. 40% of the redundancies in the armed forces have been compulsory. >> that difference, that the disparity between those who go to afghanistan and fight for their country and those who do not, struck us as grotesquely unfair -- in that requires a really good explanation. since we got two different explanations, neither of which we really accepted. we said the whole thing needed to be looked at again. >> mp's said more should be done
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for the chance to retrain. the defense secretary says that exactly what has been offered. philip hammond said the committee's report is simply wrong. he said every opportunity is being given for military personnel to retrain for alternative roles in the armed forces or in civilian life. >> once again, the mp's criticized the state -- highlighting concerns, including equipment, such as night vision goggles -- items that are often never recovered. >> this is gmt from "bbc world news." i am george alagiah. the headlines -- u.s. special forces freed two aid workers being held hostage by somali
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pirates. nine captured or killed. the state of the union speech. perot, accused of class warfare after he calls for the -- barack obama accused of class warfare. aaron is here. let's stay in britain. economy went into reverse at the end of the year. >> the last time we were here was that the end of 2010. in the last three months of last year, 2011, the u.k. economy contracted or fell by 0.2%. it shows this sharp drop-off in economic activity from around the summer of last year, where we had growth of 0.6% 3 we've got into the negative. all sectors in the economy fell. the services are down. we are a service-led economy.
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that pretty much ground to a halt. the real question now, what does it look like going forward? the experts say it does not look good. listen to this. by the're very concerned output, not only the domestic economy, but also the european economy more widely. for consumers, they are also beginning to hold back. they can see that unemployment is on the rise. precautionary savings is up, as well. that means it's negatively affecting the retail sector by holding back spending. it can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. >> the international monetary fund has been revised down its forecast. they have said now it will only be 0.6%. the eurozone crisis is a big
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worry, as well. >> here is a story we've never done before. a trade deficit in japan? >> unless we were sitting here 32 years ago, we werhave not said that. imports rose. exports fell some three% three let's not kid ourselves. japan had a horrible year last year. the earthquake and tsunami. to add to this, the japanese yen has been rising because investors have been buying it as a safe haven and that has eaten away at the profits of the japanese exporters. i asked one expert with this represents a fundamental change to the japanese economy. this is what he had to say. >> more companies will suffer from a rise in these prices along the strong yen. obviously, there will be a transition. i think it's far-fetched when
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people say that japan will be totally in deficit. basically, the high-end value. it's far-fetched to talk about pulling out of the industry totally. >> far-fetched. he said that a couple of times. the japanese exporters are also watching the eurozone crisis, as well. >> thank you very much. just over five weeks to go before russia's presidential elections. russian authorities have begun installing web cameras at polling stations. it follows widespread reports of election fraud in last month's parliamentary poll. our correspondent was there to see the first webcams installed 500 kilometers northwest of moscow. >> this is where local parents bring their children to learn chess, or ballet.
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this place will be transformed into polling station 278. the last time russians went to the polls in december to elect a new parliament, that election was marred by widespread allegations of vote rigging in favor of putin's party. he has said that the next election will be free and fair. he has come up with appears to be a high-tech idea and with the russian authorities claim is a world first. they have ordered webcams to be installed at polling stations across russia. that is around 200,000 webcams that more than 95,000 polling stations but if anyone will be able to log onto the internet and see what's happening at any of these precincts across russia. the amount of video that will be available that day is staggering.
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it has been estimated it will take you 490 years to watch all the video that is produced at these polling stations. >> this is crucial for russia to show that on show4 -- to show on march 4. >> here we are outside another polling station about a half an hour's drive away. the problem here is, there's no internet network. that's exactly what these engineers are trying to vix. -- trying to fix. they're trying to create an internet that works. the big question is, will these webcams make a difference? will they be able to prevent election fraud after the -- prevent election fraud? there were some claims after the last election that some of the
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results were simply written, the numbers changed to boost the party in power. the webcams will not be watching to see whether that happens. >> one way of finding a trip to the african nations is to get your country's rulers to pay for it. the president of 7 go has done just that. they watched their side beat zambia. wednesday's match is against the co-host. >> a really important match coming up, one that they have to win. they have invited the fans to watch. they have been singing and dancing and having plenty of fun.
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they're watching the training session. star names. senegal did not perform that well in the opening match against zambia. these fans are hoping for better things to come. they are hoping they will stick around to watch their team even longer. >> , any of you are there? >> 200 supporters. >> 200 supporters. >> [inaudible] >> why don't we go see where all the senegal fans are staying? here is the villa paid for by the country's president. let's go see what's happening inside. >> the back garden also doubles as a kitchen. lunch is on its way. can you show me? wow. that's a big pan of rice.
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underneath? >> fish stew. >> they will need plenty of food in order to cheer their team on. >> this is one of the bedrooms where they sleep. it's fairly basic. there are mattresses on the floor. there's an empty pan and cup. clothes all over the place. sver here are the hardeartist waiting to practice the head of the big game. -- practice ahead of the big game. >> that is all for the moment. stay with us on "bbc world news." there is plenty more to come.
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>> make sense of international news. bbc.com/news. >> 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. relationship managers work hard to know your business, offering specialized solutions in capital to help you meet your growth objectives. we offer expertise and tailored and major corporations. what can we do for you?
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