relationship managers work hard to know your business, offering specialized solutions and 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." >> the south african ruling thety gives jacobs amozuma thumbs-up. popular and populist, his man of the people reputation wednesday. some are saying that they overlook corruption allegations. >> the past five years have been bad for south africa.

the unresolved allegations of corruption are as unsuitable as the leader. ♪ >> hello, welcome to "gmt." a violent setback of the rise against polio in pakistan. five health workers were killed following criticism of the vaccination program. seen but not heard, the queen sits in on a cabinet meeting at downing street, the first floor and i and 200 years to do so. it is midday in london, 7:00 in the morning in connecticut, 2:00 in the afternoon in south africa, where the president has survived a challenge from within

the ruling african congress. he was reelected at a park -- at a party conference, making him the overwhelming favorite to win the nationwide general election next year. home and dry, plenty of people think that the allegations of mismanagement that followed him make him and unsuitable man to be presiding over the party that nelson mandela once led. our bluebird -- our editor, john simpson. >> the first world. clean, tidy, prosperous. even the bicycles are the top of the range. the black middle class in south africa is now 3 million strong. this place is where the amc was founded centuries ago. today the leaders enjoy the trappings of power. they remain remarkably relaxed.

not even the discovery of a white extremist a bomb plot will shake them. still, all is not well for the party. the affable president has been challenged by his deputy. the president himself has been strongly accused of corruption. >> we can stop corruption in its tracks. >> one senior figure things that the corruption comes because the movement has attracted the wrong sorts of people. >> it has become something where people feel they can accumulate wealth and create opportunities for themselves and their families. that is a detriment for the movement. >> it has been years since the

historic deal between nelson mandela and the other regimes. >> corruption is now out of hand. the past five years have been bad for south africa. the unresolved allegations of corruption have made them unsuitable as a leader for the next generation of leaders. >> only a short drive from their conference call is this place, a depressing squatter camp. a single tap service 700 people here. corruption is not their only failing. they have failed to sort out key problems like this one. squatter camps are supposed to be phased out within two years, but it is obviously not going to happen. no one from the anc has been

near this place. >> we do suffer. with the air, with the water. >> that is not how the founding father of the new south africa wanted things to be, of course, but the real achievement of nelson mandela is the normality here. people used to be afraid that when he died, the country might fall apart. well, there is real anxiety about his health now, but no one thinks the south africa is in danger. >> let's go live to the conference to speak to milton. i and the end, the vote was not that close, was it? -- in the end, the vote was not that close, was it? >> in the end the president was

elected by over 2000 votes. only 900 for the challenger. it is clear that they want him to lead south africa for another seven years. >> let's look at the process that got him there. but we have heard criticisms. what does the process tell us about the state of this amazing party once led by nelson mandela? >> this process tells us one thing, that the party of nelson mandela was plagued by sectionalism and serious allegations of corruption, which is how we got to this conference. there were accusations that president jacob zuma, for

example, took public funds from the state coffers and renovated his private home. they are currently leading an investigation into that allegation. >> the president himself did address corruption in his speech on sunday. a difficult question for you to answer, but are there any signs that anything will change in terms of policies? >> well, policy is difficult, because in this conference they were reelecting the leadership only. the political decisions have been taken, back in june, during the policy conference. now they are hiding out. the african national conference believes that south africa is facing a super challenge of

inequality and high unemployment and they feel that the programs that were ratified now are the ones that the president would implement, surprise and millions of south africans who are still languishing in poverty because of the politics of apartheid. >> all right, nelson. thank you very much. we all know that pakistan is not immune to political violence, but it was thought that health workers were safe. apparently not. five women working on a polio vaccination campaign were killed. the attacks happened in three separate areas of the biggest city there. the world health organization this week launched a nationwide drive to vaccinate children against the disease. officials say that the campaign has been suspended and that pakistan is only one of three countries in the world where polio is endemic.

these appear to have been coordinated attacks. >> i just spoke a short while ago to the pakistani government. while they expressed concern and regret, they were not sure that this was because they were administering polio vaccine and that they were not just accidentally caught up in the violence of the city. the evidence does not support that, police said that this was four shooting incidents where four women were shot dead and injured, it all happened in the space of 20 minutes. it very much seemed like a coordinated attack. in the past the taliban said that they would issued threats against these workers because they feel they are working for western interests, somehow

gathering intelligence for foreign spy agencies and perhaps these health workers are somehow administering some kind of mitigation to sterilize muslims. they have an increasing presence in certain areas, which is where a lot of these incidents took place. >> you mentioned the taliban and what they think about these things, but none the less our viewers listening to you, it would be quite shocking to hear health workers going about their business have become targets. let shocking indeed. but the military groups of pakistan have proved in the past that they have very few limits. remember the case of the 14- year-old school girl who was shot? there have been attacks in sports venues and mosques. in terms of the threats against

health workers, many of these groups have justified what happened in the case of the osama bin laden raid, when they showed the csa trying to employ a doctor in a fake vaccination program to gather intelligence. that is how these groups are justifying their threats. even so, charities still attempted to save children from what is a debilitating illness in polio. ultimately it will help to impact the health of the children across the area. >> thank you. now, let's take a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world today. president obama has become this -- begun discussions on how to

reform american gun laws following the school shooting in connecticut on friday. many americans are now calling for stricter controls on weapons. two democratic senators that had previously been supporters of the gun lobby are now calling for change. here is our world affairs correspondent. >> a candle lit vigil as the grieving goes on for this small town in connecticut. shock waves for the shooting in newtown continue to reverberate. president obama has held talks on possible gun control measures. the white house has also declared the issues complex. >> we ask everyone present to rise and observe a moment of silence. >> a public gesture from the congress. then the stirrings of what would be an emotive debate. two senators that supported the at that -- nra say that new town

has changed things. this is one of them. >> i am an nra rated member and i believe that enough is enough. we need to come to the table and come with restrictions and what they would be planned to be. that is a part of the process. >> the demonstration outside the offices in washington and underlined how feelings were running high. but the right to bear arms remains deeply embedded in the american psyche. yesterday saw the first of what would become a heartbreaking procession of funerals for the victims. on the day of the shootings, many distressed families gathered at the firehouse as the enormity of what unfolded started to dawn. >> impatience is growing. uncertainty is growing. in the and one mother yelled out

-- are any of them still alive. that is when they realize that no one was. >> what would the lasting impact of that be? the question is if there is a real sea change in political and public attitudes to some greater gun law restrictions. >> the former congolese rebel leader has been acquitted of war crimes by the international criminal court. judges said prosecutors failed to prove that his troops including child soldiers were responsible for the massacre in the northeast of the democratic republic of congo in 2003. rebels in syria report that they have made fresh gains and stormed an army brigade. this comes amidst a warning of

fuel shortages that jeopardize the delivery of aid to people in syria. the iraqi president has been taken to hospital and the prime minister's office is calling it strap. egyptian public prosecutors, offering resignation after just weeks on the job. appointed by president mohammad morsi after he awarded himself sweeping new powers. the effort comes after protests from members of the judiciary. still to come on "gmt," downing street was rolling up the red carpet for a special visitor. the queen drop in for a cabinet meeting. now, a play that re-enacted the famous meeting between the head of the imf and dominique -- and a chambermaid is in paris.

our correspondent has been to see it. >> all resemblance to living characters is entirely intentional. to a to 06 is not a crew replay of that inappropriate sexual encounter in that manhattan hotel. more a look into the psychological motives of a man who may be dominicks strauss con. >> we have very little idea of what he is really like. everyone has his own fantasy of this man who is insidious, but no one has seen him in action. we have an image of him, but no one has seen him in private, so everyone has fantasy. >> it is a debate about male and female, rich against poor,

western domination, and submission. all inspired by what the director said was one of the most emblematic news stories of our times. >> when we think of him walking out of that prison in new york, everyone remembers where they were when it happened. it affected us all, everyone, almost as much as september the 11th. >> in the play we never do find out what happened. it all finishes rather oddly. >> then again, in real life we will never know either. in return for a lot of money, the civil charges against him have been dropped. in real life and the play, the truth remains an enigma. ♪ >> this is "gmt" from "bbc world

news." headlines, the south african president has been reelected leader of their national congress, virtually guaranteeing him another five years in power. gunmen shot down five women working on a polio vaccination campaign in pakistan. pakistani leaders have previously said that it was a cover for spies and a ruse to sterilize muslims. let's catch up on business news with iran. -- aaron. do we do when you approach the cliff? >> step back from the cliff, georgie. [laughter] >> right answer. president obama, coming to a compromise? >> there has been a long standing deadlock. we keep using the word fiscal cliff, and what we mean by that is that on the 31st of december,

if an agreement with republicans and democrats is not work -- is not reached, there will be automatic big tax increases and spending cuts kicking in. cuts in defense, social security, etc., and many are worried that that could send the u.s. economy back into recession. president obama even said look, if we want a big bargain, we have to give some. the deadlock has always been that the democrats want the richer to pay higher taxes. republicans said they did not want that, they wanted higher spending cut. republicans then said that those who earned $1 million would pay a higher tax. >> president obama said he would increase the threshold from $250,000 to $400,000 and we will see cuts in social security and tax cuts for the middle class.

a big chunk of the population. president obama has long said that he would try to protect them. but really, it comes down to the spending cuts. where are they going to come from? listen to this. >> this is the right direction, but we sti long way to go. in terms of spending cuts, we focused a lot in the recent hours on the tax increase and threshold. in terms of spending cuts, we have not even really started the debate of where it is going to come from. a thing it is a step in the right direction. both parties clearly have their constituents to talk to and deal with. there is something about not reaching a deal too fast. >> it continues. they also told me that they could run into january the first or second. >> days, basically?

>> 13 days until the deadline. >> u.s. trade with china, the two sides are talking? >> it kicks off today and tomorrow, crucial talks between the world's no. 1 and #two. the u.s. and china have a lot to tackle, because as you mentioned it has been longstanding trade problems and restrictions with those two. but we could be entering a new era. but you have got a new chinese leader waiting in the wings. i have got a list here, the u.s. wants china to drop restrictions on agricultural products. the u.s. wants china to do more about counterfeiting of u.s. goods. they also want them to allow their currency to appreciate. on the flip side, china wants

the u.s. to address its budget problems, the fiscal cliff we just talked about. we know they want the west to stop blocking certain high-tech chinese goods from entering the u.s.. we also know that they want a stop on the chinese investments. takeovers, so to speak. lots to talk about. this is what the experts told me they were looking for. >> there is the currency issue. 10% since the chinese government came in. the u.s. government still feels that their currency it -- the chinese currency is undervalued. there is a lot of political pressure on them to continue pushing that. from the chinese perspective, they have a more immediate issue and interest in the fiscal cliff discussion because of their large holdings of central debt. >> there you go, china holds all

the u.s. dollars. >> it is of course very important that these to have solid trade. the world number one and #two economies. >> absolutely. thank you. now, david cameron has only briefly given up his seat in a cabinet meeting to make room for a more senior visitor, queen elizabeth herself. this is the first time the monarchs has been in cabinet during peacetime for more than 200 years. >> from first light this morning, downing street was getting ready for a very special guest. cabinet ministers peaked in for their weekly meeting and it was a humbling thought.

he is her 12th prime minister. her first was winston churchill. david cameron brief term majesty on the historic facts and opinions seemed divided on who the last monarch was to attend the cabinet. >> during the war for independence. >> then it was down to business. among the things discussed, new changes to the royal exception rule, allowing the a girl to become head of state, even a sheet has a younger brother. as head of state, the queen must remain neutral in politics.

her visit may have been shocked. they have seen politicians come and go for 60 years. >> for some towns in the u.k., christmas is turning into a season of taking rather than giving. several police forces are reporting a rise in shoplifting. they might have been the kinds of things that could be given as gifts, but now it is groceries. chris has been to the north of england, an area that was hit hard by the economic downturn. >> with christmas days away, the streets are filled with shoppers. watch closely, you will see this woman with a bike and a basket.

he leaves without going into the till. also of concern is the growing number of people who appear to be committing the crime because they're desperate. >> forcing it on a small number of individuals, including young mothers. >> if you look at powdered milk , the expense of things coming into the household. >> makes sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding of this presentation was 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? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.

building a coalition. politicians in japan worked to form a new government under the guidance of the man who will soon take over as top leader. shinzo abe is wasting little time getting back to the job he once held, japanese prime minister. his liberal democratic party clinched a landslide