tv BBC World News PBS May 9, 2012 5:00am-5:30am EDT
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>> the airline plot of the double agent. and the radical left in greece challenges the mainstream party to ditch their commitment to austerity. the jailed former ukrainian prime minister transferred to a hospital amid a growing diplomatic row over her treatment. welcome to bbc world news. i am david eades. are london 2012 olympic games achieving their aim of inspiring a new generation to take up sports? and people on the pacific islands of guam fight back against an infestation of snakes.
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a double agent posing as a suicide bomber has been credited with porting an al qaeda plot to blow up an airliner. the agent was entrusted with the device that is a nonmetallic bomb, which he then passed on to the cia. >> the bomb being analyzed by the fbi is an upgraded version of this one. the device carried onto a plane by the would-be suicide bomber in december 2009. it failed to go off. subsequent test by fbi technicians showed the power of the explosives. the new improved device reportedly had two detonators. underwear bomb as were made by al qaeda's, most actors and dangerous affiliate's based in yemen. it now appears the terror cell had been infiltrated by double agent working for saudi
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intelligence and the cia. officials say the double agent was sent to yemen to pose as a volunteer suicide bomber and that he was so convincing that al qaeda off in the arabian peninsula supplied him with the new underwear bomb. instead of continuing with a plot and try to blow up the u.s.-bound aircraft, the double agent left yemen and delivered to the device to the cia. he also provided intelligence that led to the targeting of this man -- fahd al-quso, a top al qaeda operatives killed by a drones strike on sunday. but there was no lead on the whereabouts of ibrahim hassan al-isiri, al qaeda's feared bomb maker. travelers were never in danger and american airport screening would probably have detected the new device, but that leaves concerns about non-u.s. airports and a lingering question of how
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many more bombs might be out there. bbc news, washington. >> a young man holds the fate of greece in his hands. alexis tsipras is the leader of the coalition wanting to abandon the country's commitment to austerity. he has a couple days in which to put together a parliamentary majority. if he cannot, new elections will have to be called. we can speak to mark in athens following this story. do you think there's any chance he can pull together even one more than he needs? chance, i very little think, david. a demand thatt the man they will and all their signatures on the loan agreement
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that they struck with the european union a couple years ago. and has already been flatly rejected by new democracy, who says that will be the destruction of greece. he would have to get one of those pro-bailout parties on board. hopes are fading fast. the possibility of fresh selections are seeming evermore inevitable. this is the man trying to form a government, alexis tsipras, there is a casting of him as moses with the demand that he is placing on the other parties. the headline in the biggest daily newspaper says that he has on realistic terms for the pro- bailout parties. another big daily newspaper is talking about the games of
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terror with the demands for those poor-bailout parties. the last daily newspaper says that the solution lies with the freshent order in selections. the president would have to summon all the political parties and try to form a national salvation government. failing that, there would be fresh selections if. >> a suitable level of turbulence. it did seem to me that the way in which he spoke about pasok and new democracy, he is not holding out a hand. \ >> he is simply wrapping up the rhetoric ahead of possible elections. many here believe that if there were to be an election in
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june, it would mean people are not listening. if there were to be another election, he possibly could come first. the big question is this, could any future government renegotiate the austerity that many believe has brought this country to its knees and yet keep greece in the euro? that's the challenge facing country and the challenge facing european leaders at the moment. it has brought instability throughout the euro zone. >> thanks for that very much. let's go to portugal. the country has announced four of 14 public holidays are to be
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scrapped. this is part of the austerity drive. it is the second most financially battered euro zone nations after greece. two of the holidays coincide with catholic festivals. their removal and has been negotiated with the vatican. the government in portugal has tough cuts to try to comply with the terms of its bailout. now reports coming from syria. an explosion in front of a convoy carrying u.n. monitors. six soldiers were wounded in the attack near the southern town of dhahera. another report says eight syrian guards were wounded. now to the ukraine, the jailed opposition leader has been taken to hospital. it is thought that she has agreed to end a hunger strike she began three weeks ago. she is to be treated at
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hospitals and possibly by german doctors, this after authorities banned her from going abroad for treatment. she was jailed last year for alleged abuse of power while she was prime minister. she has allegedly been beaten in prison and recently and needs hospital treatment for chronic back pain. difficult to get a very accurate picture as to what is going on. what can you tell us about this? >> it needs to be pointed out that most of the international news is from her family and her relatives. they are saying that she is suffering from back pain. there were reports in the press that she has a herniated disk. she is spending most of the time in bed and cannot really move. after 20 days of hunger strike which she announced last month,
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she is now saying that she only wants german doctors only wants -- only once german doctors to treat her. we are getting reports that she will also be examined by ukrainian doctors. it was one of her demands that only german doctors are allowed to examine her. >> these are pictures of the alleged injuries that she sustained. do we know for certain that she has ended her hunger strike? >> we don't know at the moment. she agreed to do it, but we will see what happens today. she was moved early in the morning to the hospital at 7:00 a.m. and at the moment we are
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only having reports from the ukraine which say she was moved to the hospital, but no other information. we don't know actually what happened yesterday. in terms of ukrainian doctors being there and examining her, we will see what will happen in the next few hours. it's a public holiday in ukraine today, so maybe we will know about it tomorrow. >> we will watch closely. thanks very much. judges from the european court of human rights are to meet to decide whether the radical cleric abu qatada can appeal against deportation from britain. to britainhe is contesting the court ruling that he would not face torture if he went back to jordan. now more. >> he leaving his home in london last month on his way into a legal hearing that resulted in
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being returned to prison. ministers hoped this was the first phase of a 1-way journey out of the country, but then his lawyers launched an appeal at the 11th hour. today in strasbourg, a panel of judges will meet to decide if he can go ahead with an appeal to the highest european court, the grain timbre --- the grand chamber. the home secretary has denied her department jumped the gun when they began the deportation process. there have been questions about whether they should waited another 24 hours. this has led to a dispute over whether abu qatada was inside the deadline for appeal. >> he has to get over the hurdle of convincing the court that the appeal was brought on time. second, he has to convince the court that this is an important point of law that they want to
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hear more about in the grand chamber and only a very small portion of cases reach the gramm chamber on that basis. >> for decades he has been battling to stay in the u.k. once again it will be in europe which decides his fate. >> now look at business. you will focus on toyota. there were recalls about a year ago, a very gloomy picture. it has been a u-turn. >> it has been. all pistons firing. had soft to toyota. it was a terrible year for the japanese manufacturing giant, but fourth quarter figures -- first quarter figures, they made a net profit of $1.5 billion. because they've got fourth quarter figures, that gives us the full year picture for last year. their profits dropped 30% off the back of not so much the
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recalls but the disasters, the japanese tsunami, the earthquake that destroyed production plans, and the floods in thailand, and the strong yen not helping. going forward, all pistons firing. the boss of toyota says the plant makes 8.7 million cars this year. that's 1.5 million more than last year to. they will see growth in all of their regions, asia, and america is doing well, toyota sales up 11.5% in north america. >> i think you want to show was the markets as well. >> the asian markets playing catch-up. they are catching up with the u.s. and europe over the worry of greece. greece is the major concern. alexis tsipras setting yesterday he wants to form a coalition government, but a coalition
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government that would agree to tear up the bailout. the next french president francois almanza says that he wants to renegotiate the euro zone financial pact. investors believe all this political wrangling will delay for some time the debt crisis in the euro zone. >> more on these stories in about 20 minutes on world business report. thanks a lot. thanks for watching bbc world news. still ahead, a wartime stowaway overran the pacific paradise island. and the urgent need to revise the british economy is of the central government posing new legislative program. the queen will unveil plans to help families and tackle excessive executive pay, in a speech to parliament. >> this is the sovereign entrance to parliament. usually the queen comes here once a year to set the agenda.
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there is not in the queen's speech there for two years he and a lot has happened since then. the coalition government are proud of taking more people --the government will have to show it is in control of events and not at the mercy of a disappointing election results last week. >> i think it is survival or death based on being able to reestablish an impression of competence and of managing the economy effectively. it is notable that the proportion of voters who believe the government has lost control of the economy has crept above 50%. >> there will be more focused on
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voter concerns with the economy at the top of the list. they want to cut red tape and business and there's also a bill for banking to encourage a landing -- encourage lending. and a law that would outlaw driving under the influence of drugs. today david cameron and nick clayton will display unity and will be judged on how they managed economy. -- nick cleg. >> these are the headlines. reports from the u.s. say that a double agent posing as a would- be suicide bomber helped to foiled plot to bomb an airliner. the radical left liter increase gives the mainstream parties a
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deadline to abandon their commitment to austerity. >> coming up in a half-hour, head to head for the board on wednesday night. the record-breaking 6 final in the european tournament between two spanish clubs. and the world number one in tennis overcomes daniel at the madrid open. a former england cricket captain speaks candidly about his struggles after retiring from his role with the national team. that's coming up and 30 minutes time. >> bbc can reveal for the first time that the secret cia videotapes of the water boarding of kabul as a beta, the man alleged to be the chief recruiter for al qaeda, shows him vomiting and screaming. the tapes were destroyed by the head of the cia's counter- terrorism center, was given an
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exclusive interview to bbc's peter taylor. >> water boarding, simulated drowning, was the most extreme technique in the cia post highly controversial interrogation program designed to break al qaeda detainees. jose rodriguez was the man who ran it. for many, the techniques were tortured, but rodriguez says they were approved of the highest level. >> we went to the president of the united states and the directed us to proceed. >> abu zubayda was water board ed 83 times and it was videotaped. up until now, what was on the tapes had remained a closely guarded secret, but it is a secret no more. i understand they show him
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vomiting and screaming as he is being water boarded. >> it is not a pretty sight when you are doing this to anybody or using any of these techniques. let's be perfectly honest. >> john was the cia post atop lawyer who made sure the government legalized the techniques. a colleague watched the tapes and reported back. >> he was experiencing some physical difficulties, as you can imagine. >> but the tapes are no more. jose rodriguez destroyed them. they would have been devastating had they ever become public, but he remains unrepentant. >> i am proud of the decisions that i took, including the destruction of the tapes to protect the people who worked for me. i have no regrets. >> peter taylor, bbc news.
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>> you can see his full report on the world program on friday, may 11, 1330 gmt. you'll get another opportunity on saturday, 11:30 gmt and again at 23:30 gmt. the man accused of killing 77 people in separate attacks in norway last july has arrived at the oslo district court where this trial goes on. the court today is expected to hear eyewitness testimony from some of the survivals of anders breivik. there he is. he carried out the massive shooting massacre on an island where 69 people lost their lives. the other eight people were killed in the bomb attack then he launched in oslo. the trial is set to determine whether he is criminally insane and should serve his time in a psychiatric facility rather than in prison. one of the big legacy promises
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of the 2012 olympic games in london is to inspire a new generation to take up sport. this week the u.k.'s school games is open to do precisely that. talented youngsters competing in london. our olympics correspondent has been taking a look at the action. >> attention is the same. so is the fierce competition. and the frustration when things don't work out. many of these youngsters, this event has the feel of the olympics. 1600 of the top young sporting talent in the u.k. gathered for the school games. 12 sports across six different venues in east london. this is where they are going to have the olympic table tennis events this summer. it is important for the youngsters to get the experience of a multi sport event. if they are going to be successful in the future, they will have to perform well at them. >> it's been very exciting at.
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quite overwhelming. >> people watching and you focus more. >> it gives you that little bit more inspiration to do it because you have seen it and you want to go up and up. >> that the idea. preparing athletes for the day when they might represent britain at the olympic games. everything you should experience as an athlete at a top-level olympic games is replicated in these school games, from drug testing to the opening and closing ceremonies, to make sure the young men and women have a real taste of what competition is like at the highest levels. they participate by a lottery and at a major supermarket. all the competitors get free accommodations and kits from the organizers. that matters to parents often have to spend a lot of money to fund their children's sports.
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>> it can be very expensive indeed, entry fees, equipment, and just the cost of accommodation in. it makes a really nice change. >> the event has grown dramatically in the last few years. bbc news reporting. >> if you fancy your homeland as a paradise, it does not help if you have an infestation of snakes. that is the situation for the tiny pacific territory of guam, which is getting the nickname of snake island. it is swamped with venomous brown tree snakes. for the locals, enough is enough, it seems. our reporter rebecca has been there to find out what they are doing about it. >> it all started with one stowaway snake, but today on this tiny pacific island there are millions. the brown tree snake might not look like much of a menace, but this unwelcome guest has become a nemesis. >> there he is.
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this is a very typical sized for the brown tree snake. let me know when you feel comfortable. you've got him. >> this snake is one of the most successful in case of species in the world. he arrived on the island six years ago and has decimated the local wildlife. this area used to be full of sounds and now it is silent,. no more than 6000 snakes per square kilometer on the island. >> it has now gone after everything it can acquire to feed on. we thought that the bird populations would decline, so then it switched to rodents, lizards, and across the board -- we thought that the snake population will decline after the birds were gone, but the snakes and started eating
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rodents and lizards and across the board. >> parachutes are the latest weapon. it is a battle on two fronts. conservationists are trying to stop the reptiles from spreading to neighboring islands as well. they have been trying to sniff out any unwanted hideaways. it is a huge task. cargo is checked before it leaves the island. but letting the snakes escape is not an option. the infestation here is on such a colossal scale that it may be too late to bring it under control. for now, says this is an example to the world of what happens when an invasive species takes over. bbc news. >> now to remind you of the situation in syria, there's been an explosion at aimed at a convoy carrying u.n. monitors. they have not been harmed.
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there's more to website. -- on the web site. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding 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 use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended, global network to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was
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