>> "bbc world news" is presented by kcet, los angeles. funding for this presentation is 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. >> union bank has put its financial strength to work for a wide range of companies, from

small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now "bbc world news." >> japan shows its concern about china's growing power with hot and military shakeup. beijing cause the military buildup irresponsible. elections here this weekend but is this a final fling for alexander look a shinto, the european dictator. alexande-- alexander lukashenko. the founder of wikileaks says that many more leaks are to come but that the u.s. is trying to

extradite him. mothers forced to abandon their babies. it is the reflection of the new tensions and one of the world's pressure points, the recent military buildup in north korea and china has raised such alarm over security that japan has announced a major reconfiguration of the defense forces. they describe to p'yongyang as a great source of instability. the chinese -- the japanese foreign minister has responded to the criticism and has affirmed that they are not a threat to anyone. >> they are affirming the shifting balance in asia. they are standing their forces in the south closer to the

growing might of china. the defense will also be strengthened to guard against an unpredictable north korea. >> we have been able to perform a defense policy which includes troops with mobility. that is appropriate for the tough security environment and the new era. >> when a chinese trawler collided with a japanese patrol ships, relations were strained. the fishing captain was arrested. china broke off contact claiming that the islands where the attack took place were rightfully chinese. there was alarm over the growing activity in china at sea. >> china's lack of transparency and its military spending as well as the fact that we had to protest against them at several points throughout the year have become a matter of concerns. >> days after japan and the u.s.

held their biggest ever joint exercise, the relationship was described as indispensable. the japanese government had wanted to be less dependent on the u.s. and closer to their asian neighbors. now they are calling for the u.s.-japan allies to be strengthened. in reordering their defense, they are moving back to the cold war era and recognizing the new challenges of emerging. the prime minister said that they're not a threat to any other countries that are their neighbors. the new strategy will be watched closely by the region. japan's wartime aggression is neither forgotten nor forgiven. >> the chinese prime minister is on a three day visit to pakistan where he is due to assign billions of dollars worth of trade deals and to reassure his post that beijing still sees pakistan as an important partner.

historically, the chinese relationship with pakistan was founded on military links. this is a development that will cause some size of a weary resignation, for others it can be a matter of life and death. the president of zimbabwe's says of the power-sharing government said that this should not continue. he said that there should be elections next year. he is also threatened to seize western-owned businesses as retaliations for sanctions. >> despite being forced to share power, he arrived with the red carpet treatment. this is the last conference before elections. in a rabble rousing mood, he sounded the death knell for the power-sharing deal, a deal that was put together for the sake of peace.

the marriage between two parties has been fraught with difficulties. promised electoral reforms are not in place and the expiration of the power-sharing deal could not come soon enough, say many here. there are pledges that foreign assets will be transferred into the hands of the citizens of zimbabwe and this is used to win support among the party faithful. there is the promise of land to secure votes, now it is minerals and other riches. >> we must read the riot act to the british and say to them that this is only 51% we are taking a less and you remove sanctions, we will go 100%. >> outside of the conference, there was no hint at all that elections could destabilize the country, a worry for many of the

residence of zimbabwe. >> we are ready. there's nothing to stop us. we need an inclusive government. we want to be stable now. >> president mugabe has fired the starting pistol for an election campaign and his name will be to recover the lost ground from last time around. as one delegate said, this is an unstoppable mission. to some people, this sounds like a threat. >> president of the ivory coast is under new international pressure to step down. his rival is internationally recognized as the winner of last month's presidential election. the prime minister of kenya has said that the african union should use military force to remove the president. president nicolas sarkozy says that they could face sanctions.

30 people were given 13 years to life for their service of pinchet. caps on migrant workers introduced by the british government have been called on lawful by the high court in london. the law tried to forgo parliamentary scrutiny. now belarus holds a presidential election this weekend and there are few doubts about the outcome. for the fast 15 years, the company has -- the country has been ruled by alexander lukashenko. they were once seen as a partner to russia and a counterweight to the emerging democracies in eastern europe. he is giving the opposition candidate to greater freedom to campaign. they are planning mass demonstrations when his expected victory is declared.

>> out on the streets, campaigning is slow. the residents seem to be more concerned with christmas shopping. protesters did not call them apathetic. >> people to not believe that their vote will count. this has been going on for many years. people do not believe that we live in a democratic country. >> this is the charge that the current president lukashenko had to face while in office. he was presenting himself as a force of stability and a defender of strong ties with russia. the image was tainted by the fight over russian fuel supplies. just a week before voting, lukashenko presented another deal with moscow which will secure oil imports. now belarus is looking to the west. abdeh have removed some of the opposition -- they have removed some of the opposition to other

candidates. there is no doubt who gets the better coverage. the vast majority of all broadcast and print covers what the president says and does. in this newspaper, page after page of the speeches, letters from grateful citizens. opposition supporters have no illusions. this man is very concerned. he said that the observers from europe will not protest the election even though there is wide vote rigging. six of the nine candidates for people to come out to the main square of immediately after the polls close to demand a new vote without mr. lukashenko. the outcome of these elections will be disputed here. the authorities have turned this square into a large skating rink. if disillusionment over lukashenko is as large as the

opposition says it is, this could be the largest protest in years. >> the opposition in the ukraine is demanding a criminal investigation into how several of their politicians came to be injured in a brawl. the mps exchange blows for several minutes with supporters of the opposition leader and former prime minister. the group have blocked the main rostrum out of protest. the united nations is that in up a special panel to investigate claims that their peacekeepers were responsible for the outbreak of cholera in haiti. it is estimated that it has killed 2000 people in two months. australian security forces have recovered 30 bodies off of a boat that sank off of christmas island. protests have been held inside of the center which holds migrants. the trustees appointed to

recover money stolen by bernie madoff has reached a multibillion-dollar settlement. this is the biggest single beneficiary. the founder of wikileaks has warned that there are many more revelations to come despite the fact that the u.s. is going to try to extradite him. julian assange is wanted in sweden. he was placed under house arrest. >> julian assange this afternoon reported to his local police station, a condition along with being attacked if he fails. his -- -- his relief at being freed was all too evident. >> i have been in a black hole for 10 days. >> yesterday, he had woken up in

prison. this morning, he stepped out as a country house belonging to one of his supporters. the world media is here for the wikileaks founder. >> he is still facing an extradition request on sweden from sexual assault charges. >> the swedish prosecutor in its representation to the british government says that they did not need to provide a single shred of evidence. they have provided nothing. >> even while he was in custody, the revelations continued from his website including in today's papers. >> india uses torture. there are nearly 12 and cases of torture in kashmir. the important revelation from this material continues to come out and we are approximately

2000 tables. >> the ongoing hemorrhage of the american diplomatic cables means that the pressure is continuing in washington to try to find some way of stopping julian assange. the swedish charges are personal allegations against him but the americans are looking for some way to charge him for the leaks of the documents. they are focusing on his relationship with a former army intelligence analyst who is this -- was the source of the cable. >> there is some evidence that he was in direct communication with the source of the leaks. if that's the case, that makes the prosecution much more likely. >> he might be enjoying his freedom for now but an extradition battle with sweden

and america looms. >> stay with us if you can on bbc world news. -- has been named to the bbc african footballer of the year. the british prime minister has said that he has won the agreement of germany and france to freeze the european union budget to six years to 2014. they also agreed to set up a permanent mechanism to bail out any member state. >> it was this that the leaders of europe about to protest, the currency in the tools of 16 countries and in the pockets of 330 million people, a currency under threat. in the meeting rooms of brussels, they debated how best to make sure that the road does not fault. their solutions changing a

couple of sentences. that will be enough to set up a permanent mechanism in 2013 to allow countries using the euro to belt out other nations in trouble. it is not clear how much money there will be and how will it be decided to be spent. maybe most difficult of all, will any of this be enough to reassure the markets? there's also pressure from some countries that are making cuts and the eu should keep a closer eye and its own budget. >> all around europe, countries are tightening their belts. europe cannot be a immune from this. we want to see real budgetary restraint and that is why the text we will publish talks about in real terms freeze in the budget for that time. >> germany and france will join

the campaign but some less wealthy states will argue for more money. there is not much to say about how much of the european union spends and how its currency can survive. >> to bring you up-to-date on the latest headlines, japan is showing its concern about china's growing power with a major military shakeup. beijing has called the new defense policy irresponsible. president mugabe has declared the power-sharing government is finished. russia has called on south korea to abandon a live firing artillery exercise planned on an island near the sea border with north korea. the north has warned that they will attack if the exercise it goes ahead. north korea shelled the island last month. that has brought a surge of new

recruits to the south korean armed forces, many women among them. this has renewed a debate about who and who should not play a part. >> here, like anywhere, the military is -- but this shows how things are changing in south korea, these are the newest recruits. they are the first female students allowed onto a military training program. this is part of the military's plan to double the number of women in their ranks. this is probably the first time anyone war eyeliner at the enrollment ceremony. since north korea attacked the southern island last month, the reality of what they're signing up to has become much more apparent. >> before the attack, i always

thought of them as our brothers. after the shelling, i have become a lot more alert about the threat. as a woman and now as a member of the military, i need to be more vigilant. >> the attack on the island presented south korea with pictures that they had not seen for the past 50 years. applications for their elite marine unit have spiraled. they were slow to respond to the attack. many believed that the army needs to get much tougher. there is lots of military experience here and they have brought their own uniforms. there's just one problem, they are banned from joining the army because their number 3 in.

-- because they are from north korea. all of these men and women escape from north korea and are living here in the south. this man served the north korean army for 16 years. he says that the south korean army has gone soft and they need to toughen up. hawkish attitudes are essential to these veterans with dark glasses. many are calling not just for a stronger response but to a pre- emptive strike. south korea is not ready to let a former enemy soldiers in to their army, so the commanders spend their time giving power point presentation is on the abilities of the north korean military. the colleagues will share the task of defending the streets. public support for a tougher start might be growing but among the army's newest recruits, it is not just the women who

confessed to being scared. >> the tokens left behind by mothers forced to abandon their babies in 18th-century england have gone on display at the museum in london. thomas coram was supported by the artist william hogarth among others in his founding of the hospital. >> here, every page in every book is infested with a motion. each one recalls the moment when an impoverished mother handed over her baby to the hospital. unable to write, the mother would lead to a scrap of material so that one day she could identify her child.

among the 50,000 children abandoned, only 152 wherever reclaimed by their mothers. abb called charles was one of the lucky ones. -- a baby called charles was one of the lucky ones. >> she had sewn in a heart so that when she came back to claim her child, not only was the fabric back together but the heart was rejoined. >> the huge numbers of children dying on the streets of 18th- century london have sparked a new wage of finance to be -- a new wave of philanthropy. >> this is a very facile place to visit. they needed to attract people in. once they were here, they acted as a way of saying, what are going to give? >> the hospital continued for

more than 200 years. it was closed in 1954 when local authorities took over protecting vulnerable children. many former residents have painful memories. this woman was abandoned by her mother. >> i did exactly as i it was told. i walked up to the stage and i turned it around and i saw that my mother had gone. she had not said goodbye, or anything at all. i have only seen her once since then. >> the hospital failed to cater for the emotional welfare. back in the 1700's, this was a lifeline preventing many thousands of infant deaths. this exhibit gives an insight into the hidden corner of

british social history. >> a voter from donna has been named the bbc africans footballer for 2010. >> there was one ambition that he had, to get to the finals of the world cup. something to celebrate now, he got his hands on a different trophy, the bbc african footballer of the year. >> i really appreciate this. i think about my family back home. i think about all of the africans and all of my fans. i appreciate this. >> in august, gyan signed a deal worth $20 million for a british

club. it was also keen in helping ghana to become the third african country to make the world cup. he would have gone further if he had scored a penalty against uruguay. this was enough to catch the eyes of the black hats. >> he is an individual player, he can do something different. he works hard, he plays hard, and he has a tremendous enthusiasm. i was originally engage to his overall enthusiasm to play up front for his own -- on his own. i've been chasing him now for two or three years but could never have enough money to buy him. >> gyan says it was his dream to play in the british premier league and has a lot to learn.

>> some seasonal pictures from rome. below freezing temperatures have turned many of the city's landmark fountains into dice. snow and sleet is forecast to the capital. other parts of italy are feeling the brunt of the frosty weather with snowfall in the southern regions. this is a reflection of the new tensions in one of the world's pressure points, the recent military buildup and north korea and china has reached such alarm that it seems that japan has made a major reconfiguration of their defense forces. tokyo described p'yongyang in particular as a great source of instability. beijing has criticized the

military changes and says that it is irresponsible. you can get that and much more news anytime on bbc.com. you will find us all on twitter and facebook as well. thank you very much for walking. -- for watching. >> hello and welcome. >> see the news unfold, get the top stories from around the globe and click to play video reports. go to bbc.com/news to experience the in-depth, expert reporting of "bbc world news" online. >> 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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