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the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. and union bank. >> union bank offers unique insight and expertise in a range of industries. what can we do for you? >> and now "bbc world news." >> this is "bbc world news today." a budget or a fiscal manifesto? the chancellor makes a case for korea electing labor -- for reelecting labour.

>> to invest in our industrial future. >> they are just going to carry on spending, carry on farming, and carry on failing. -- carry on borrowing, and carry on failing. >> a security crackdown. militants are suspected of plotting attacks on key installations. and women and a talent show, attacking the radical muslim clerics. a powerful message could win her more than $1 million. hello, and welcome. the chancellor of the exchequer alex darling has said that labour has steered us out of

recession but says that could be threatened by short-sided spending cuts. he said that he would urge finance ministers to go for a global tax on banking -- threaten by short-sighted spending cuts. they said the biggest risk was another several years of gordon brown. >> in normal times, alistair darling's box holds a budget, but this is something like a manifesto. a simple message to voters instead. do not trust the tories. back me to lead us out of the recession. >> we are at a crossroads. this budget will set out a route for the country for long-term prosperity. we have been reminded of the force for good that governments

can be in protecting people. the role of government is now equally critical in regulating the global financial system and putting in the right foundations for future growth, jobs, and prosperity. >> so he promised modest support for business by cutting tax rates and a green investment bank to encourage investment in high-speed rail and how our stations, and 20,000 extra places at university, with promises for trading for the under 24's. >> i will double the stamp duty level for first-time buyers from midnight tonight to 250 thousand. >> herar, hear! >> mr. deputy speaker, this means that nine and 10 first-

time buyers will pay and a stamp duty of all. >> but for house is worth more than $1 million, the stamp duty would go up. -- but for houses worth more. another duty will be phased in gradually. this is paid for largely by a tax on the rich. there was a jab at the torrie p eer. as for government borrowing, it is less than expected but still at record levels. >> i know there are some demanding immediate cuts to public spending, and i believe that such a policy would be both wrong, and it would be dangerous. >> hear, hear! >> to start cutting now risks

derailing the economy. even so, from 2011 onwards, it will be very tough, the toughest of decades. >> this afternoon, a press release after press release arrived, giving details about where cuts were coming. 4 billion from health, 1 billion from the school's department, $500 million from more and pensions, and 700 millions from the home office. >> to support those his policies would suffocate our recovery order to support our government which has been right about the recession, right about the recovery, and build a prosperous future, and i commend this budget to the house. >> not so, said the tories. have they failed to tackle the deficit. >> labour's big idea is

involving housing. where did they get that one from? that has been toward policy for three years. he came in as chancellor -- that has been a tory -- been tory policy . the only good things are coming from this side of the house. >> they wanted action to get the economy moving, but the government was just crossing its fingers. >> he is rising 19 billion pounds of extra taxes, many of them charged on business. why? because they fled the difficult decisions on spending, and they are raising tax after-tax after- tax. the conservatives are talking tough to cover the truth. they offer more of the same. we needed to have honesty and spending and fairness in tax. we got neither. >> this will hit everyone of us, and a personal tax allowance has not gone up -- and our personal

tax allowance has not gone up. the worst is the fuel duty increase. >> they said it was designed to help labour recover. bbc news, westminster. >> the vatican has accepted the resignation of a senior irish bishops, whose handling of child sex abuse allegations was severely criticized -- a senior iris bishop. he previously served as a senior aide to three different popes. the resignation of john magee comes just after apologies. >> john magee was a senior figure in the church. he was a bishop in ireland, but today, his resignation was accepted by the pope. he is the latest bishop forced

out this position by a scandal that has left the catholic church having to apologize for decades of abuse. irish catholics were given a letter written by the pope and read out to congregations across the country. it acknowledged that serious mistakes have been made in the allegations of abuse had been handled. >> he recognizes the deep shock of parents and the terrible things that took place. >> which reports that brought to light a secret history of sexual abuse, some in church-run schools and homes. -- the report brought to light a secret history. in a statement today, bishop magee took responsibility for failing to deal properly with claims against two of his priests. while there has not been a public apology to victims and ireland, some say it has not gone far enough -- why there --

while there has been a public apology. the child sex abuse scandals in our land and other countries have done damage to the catholic church -- in ireland and other countries korean -- and other countries. >> suspected militants linked to al qaeda have been arrested in saudi arabia. the interior ministry said the three cells or plotting acts of terror, targeting key areas. there were cameras, weapons, and computers which were seized. more from our correspondent in cairo. >> while not an enormous amount of information now from the interior ministry, but they have confirmed 101 arrests, 47 of them saudi, the rest from somalia, yemen, bangladesh, and elsewhere. they say they have been trailing

the ringleaders for some time, and they say that some of these men have been prepared for suicide missions, but we have not been told yet what installations they were targeting or if they were being run by western companies, although i guess that is a fair assumption, given the amount of those companies that operate there. >> a suspected smily pi rick has been killed during an attempted hijacking at seat -- a suspected somali pirate. a spanish naval vessel patroling as part of the into piracy task force arrested six men and destroyed three of pirate ships. lawyers for american talk-show host oprah winfrey say she has reached an out-of-court settlement in a defamation case brought forward by a schoolmistress she founded in south africa. there are allegations that another teacher had committed child abuse. she claimed the statements by

oprah damage to reputation. -- damage to her reputation -- damaged her reputation. improving relations between two countries. there were talks in washington between u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton and the visiting foreign minister from pakistan. he claimed that the u.s. suspicions that pakistan had gone away, it was now completely different. >> the armed forces of pakistan had shown the resolve, the determination, and a commitment -- have chandra's off -- have shown the result -- resolve. with the grace of god, we have a clear objective. we have a plan. we have a strategy, and that strategy is working, and today, we of the partnership, and

hopefully, this partnership will turn the tide in our favor. hopefully in our mutual favre. >> the pakistan foreign minister speaking there in washington -- hopefully in our mutual favor. this new mood in washington. >> i think what we have seen is a concerted attempt by the united states to persuade pakistan that the american commitment in that part of the world is not only about afghanistan and not only about al qaeda but is about a broader engagement and that the americans are going to stay put for a good, long time. among skeptics, as soon as america's security concerns are sorted out in that region, the americans will go home and never be heard of again, and the americans are very key to persuade the pakistanis that they are around for the long haul and to say that this relationship is getting bigger

and broader and deeper, so agreements on fast tracking sales and energy and infrastructure, a building of a diplomatic mechanisms between the two countries, -- the building of diplomatic mechanisms between the two of your countries, is bigger than just tackling al qaeda in pakistan -- between the two countries. >> are they likely to get that in the long term? >> what we did see is an agreement on rehabilitating a load of big firms plants in pakistan to try to ease their electricity crisis there -- a load of big plants in pakistan. starting to state to pakistan, a country that has been at the forefront of proliferation of new kidder weapons in ukraine -- in recent years, that we're going to go ahead with some big

nuclear partnership -- a country that has been at the forefront of proliferation of nuclear weapons in the area. >> thank you very much. this is "world news today." coming up, it is the top talent contest in the middle east, but rather than a pop idol, they are searching for something else. two years ago, he was resigning after a conviction of tax evasion, and now, he is back to become chairman of the flagship electronics firm, the world's biggest producer of memory chips. our correspondent reports. >> in south korea, he is an

almost mythical figure, an economic person widely credited with transforming samsung into the global giant that it is today. but two years ago, some of that loss came off. he resigned in scandal, bowling deeply, live on television korean -- bowing deeply, live on television. in december, he was given a presidential pardon for his role in helping south korea make its bid for the 2018 winter olympics, but, of course, with the eagles lit wiped clean, it also left him free to return to the border -- with the legal slate wiped clean. few are in charge of such companies of such importance to their national economies. samsung is one of the woods biggest manufacturers of televisions, mobile phones, and computer chips and is responsible for a sizable chunk

of their exports -- samsung is one of the world's biggest manufacturers. they say they will help the company focus on long-term strategy at a time of global economic uncertainty, but there are voices of concern. south korea's just man, who once reported to have rented three full ski slopes in the alps for his personal use, will be seen by some as this country's failure to deal seriously with white-collar crime. bbc news, seoul, korea. >> this is "world news today." the main headlines this hour. britain's chancellor of the exchequer, alistair darling, says he has to tackle deficits in a way that does not jeopardize the economic recovery. more now on that story. earlier, i spoke to an associate

editor and a columnist for the london evening standard. i began by asking if this was more of a political manifesto rather than a budget. looking for forensic details, today was not the day to turn up in the house of commons, but, really, it was laying out some of the arguments going into the election campaign, basically saying we should be grateful to labour. they have steered us through the recession pretty well. do not trust these people opposite who do not have a clue about trying something daring. there were a few things thrown in, but reticulate that the lower middle england homeowners or prospective homeowners -- but mainly the lower middle-income homeowners. the story is that labour is the good guys, and if you fall for the tory tricks, that will not

be good. >> it was a very political, because, of course, the general election in six weeks away. it will be may 6, and labor is of a sudden beginning to develop this narrative -- and labour is all of a sudden beginning to develop this narrative. he is now about 45 points behind david cameron, and the store used to be that labour was very poor. the economy had gone into the free fall -- and the store yesterday -- the story used to ber that laboutr was very poor -- labour was very poor. there were the recessions of the early 1980's and 1990's. the story is, stick with

labour. do not throw it all away, is the alistair darling line. elections are choices. the electorate will be asked to choose between labour and the conservatives, the city would have done it differently. >> do you think the conservatives will be rattled -- who say they would have done it differently. >> do you think the conservatives will be rattled >> we do not know if we really are out of it yet -- the conservatives will be rattled? >> we do not know if we are out of it yet. after may 6, if something else comes along, sometimes things do go wrong. i think the problem is it really did not address the underlying issue that britain has, and that is the size of the debts. -- debt. >> we were told that things that

an improving a bit faster than expected, but nothing was put into perspective about what lavour would do -- things have been improving a bit faster than expected, but nothing was put into perspective about what labour would do. i think the voters might be what to count their spoons in terms of the economic guarantee. -- might be right to count their spoons. >> everybody wants to cut, but nobody will say what. >> their dancing around the issue. chancellor of alistair darling said they would be -- they are dancing around the issue. chancellor alistair darling made some statements. david cameron, the conservative leader, was talking about that it was cowardice not to make cuts now. he has softened that.

he was talking about age of austerity, and he has softened that, and the reason was that it frightens off voters. they are more concerned about the services about the services and benefits they get. >> now, kuhl it's in the middle east are akin to rock stars. -- poets in the middle east archenteron stars. -- are akin to rock stars. one woman has a poem that attacked the muslim clerics for frightening people with their fatwas. tensions will be running high tonight when one of the female contestant gets out on stage. dressed in the full lengths a buyout -- the following address, the saudi mother of four has been making waves with her verse.

set against competitors from all over the world, she is thought to have a good chance of winning the prize. there was also the style of a recitation. -- of her recitation. >> [speaking foreign language] >> but she attacked the rise in extremism and fatwas which encourage strict segregation between the sexes. >> and a time, what is lawful as confused with what is not lawful. barbera in thinking and action, angry and blind -- barbera and thinking. -- barbaric in thinking.

the voice of courage ran away, and the trick is cornered in silence, when self-interest prevented one from speaking the truth. >> last week, the panel of judges gave her the highest score, and recognition of the courage she showed in tackling such a controversial topic in the muslim world. earlier, i spoke to an arab media expert at stanford university, and i asked her if this was a version of "idol." >> it mixes reality television with a more traditional forms of expression. and it is a particular -- >> and it is a typical sort? >> actually, the show can feature both, but what has become more popular is what is known in the gulf as the more colloquial form of poetry, which is often improvised.

>> are the sort of stories men? >> some of the poems are stories. others are just expressions of emotions -- of this story is -- >> are they sort of stories sent -- and then -- then? >> some of the poems are stories. >> is in very much in keeping with that style of poetry, which say? -- is it? >> in terms of style -- would you say? >> in terms of content, she has steadily pushed the boundaries in terms of what has been presented on the show and in terms of what saudi women have been saying in public about this issue. >> symphony among saudi women for her views? >> i think so -- sympathy among saudi women?

>> i think so. including the position she is taking against extreme fatwas. if you go on-line, you will see posts expressing great support about which represents and for her poetry and for her stance. -- about what she represents. >> what about the place of poetry in the arab world? because we could never have a show like that in the west. well, we could, but very few would watch it, and i know that millions tune into this show. >> that is because poetry has always been one of the most prominent forms of expression in the arab world. the interesting thing is that now, this more traditional form has, you know, a place on mainstream television. we have had television shows in the arab world featuring poetry competitions before, but now, it

is being done on a much bigger scale. now, it is being done through satellite television. it goes to people in the arab world and in the diasporas, and it ultimately can be seen as bringing poetry back to the forefront -- in the diaspora. >> this is "world news today." coming up here on bbc world, we will have the latest. for now, for me and the rest, goodbye. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. and union bank.

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