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February 6, 2007

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Headline News of February 6, 2007

A fan is led away after violent scenes at the Catania-Palermo match FROM BBC SPORT >>
 
Italian football could restart on Sunday, according to the commissioner of the Italian Federation.

 
A US woman astronaut is charged with trying to kidnap a rival for the affection of a space shuttle pilot.
Some 23 politicians leave South Korea's increasingly unpopular ruling party, ahead of presidential elections.

 


 
BBC news transcript with photos
Transcript in the news of February 6, 2007 

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>> The video the U.S. Wouldn't show. Now a British newspaper publishes the evidence. An Iranian diplomat seized by gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms. Palestinians hope for an end to factional violence. Can new talks brokered by the Saudis succeed? This is bbc world. A warm welcome from me, David Yields. Also in this programme, not so slick. Profits fall at B.P. And exiled billionaire says he'll talk to Russian investigators about the death of Alexander Litvinenko. A newspaper here in Britain has published a cockpit video recording of the moment that U.S. Warplanes attacked a British convoy in Iraq, killing a soldier. The American authorities had refused to allow the tape to be shown at the inquest into the death of lance corporal Matthew Howell in 2003. The British Ministry of Defence says the recording couldn't be released because it was classified a secret by the U.S. Military. The bbc's defence correspondent Paul Wood. 45C87C39.JPG

>> For four years the cockpit video shows the American planes closing in for the kill. The pilots was tragically unaware that this was the British troops.

>> Get him, get him.  Age 25, this corporal Cannon, M the British soldier's location was known to the U.S. Military, so why didn't these two pilots know? Why didn't they see the orange panels on the battlefield?

>> There are no bradleys this far north on the ground.  

>> Quite frankly British army vehicles look nothing like flatbed trailers. They have the orange markers on, which are the NATO symbol for friendly forces. Eventually they were firing smoke and being talked to on the radio because the controllers are all netted together. So it really is a chain of events which I think demonstrates that the Americans still haven't got their recognition sorted out. 45C87C82.JPG

>> The pilot did get a radio signal to abort, but seconds too late. They heard weeping, apparently remorseful and your rid about the consequences. The MOD has had this tape for three years. This recording is the property of the U.S. Government said a statement. The MOD doenssion. Been any intention to deliberately deceive or misleadlands corporate hull's family. But lance corporal hull's widow, didn't en nc revealed at the inquest last week. The coroner, Andrew Walker, has now had the chance to view the cockpit video in private. He adjourned the case and the footage was crucial evidence and must be seen in open court's, but the tape is classified and while the pilots may not be prosecuted, the pentagon says whoever leaked the video will sun" newspaper stands by its decision to publish that materialment we'll be hearing from the paper's defence editor later in the bulletin. Do stay with us for that. This is a roadup of other stories now. Condemned Israeli excavation work on a bridge leading to one of the holy sites in Jerusalem. Israeli police have been guarding reconstruction workers near one of the most sensitive Muslim shrines, al-aqsa mosque. It's built on the compound revered by Jews as the temple mount. The Israelis say they're fixing a weather-damaged walkway. Palestinian religious leaders 45C87CE6.JPGsay the work is threatening the site's foundation. The Indonesian authorities say severe flooding in the capital Jakarta has caused damage worth at least $430 million. Some 36 people are believed to have died in the course of these floods. They started again overnight. Health officials are fearing an outbreak of disease, as well. 200,000 people are still without shelter. 340,000 were forced to leave their homes. Firefighters in central Colombia -- the other side of the story -- are battling fires destroying hundreds of hectares of forest. Hot and windy conditions are being blamed for this. More than 200 hectares of forest have gone up in flames so far. One fire is still burning out of control in South of Bogotá. At least here there have been no reports of injuries. The hopes of ordinary Palestinians for peace between warring factions and the possible end to a western aid embargo in the future are all resting on a meeting taking place later in Saudi Arabia. 90 people have been killed in fighting between the Islamic Hamas organisation and Fatah since December. The Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, will meet with Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and Hamas' leader in the holy city of America camp. They'll try to work once again towards a new government of national unity. Alan Johnson is in Gaza. He told me there are one or two optimistic signs before the 45C87D40.JPGtalking starts.

>> The mood music going into this really critical meeting in Mecca has been good for both camps. There is talk of real progress having been made in the discussions running up to this meeting. One very senior Fatah man talking about a deal being likely on the formation of a government of national unity. Now I have to say we've been here before a number of times as the positive talk ahead of these meetings in the past, and each time they've come to nothing, leading to disappointment and a deepening of the crisis. Perhaps this meeting will be different. The situation here on the ground really is very grave. Gaza, the streets around me came very close to something like all-out civil war just a few days ago. There is huge domestic and international pressure on these parties for a breakthrough. At the same time, the Saudi Arabians are involved in this. They have real financial and political muscle and perhaps they can succeed where other mediators have failed in the past. 45C87D7F.JPG

>> It's being seen as a setback to critics of President Bush. Republicans in the U.S. Senate have blocked a debate on the Iraq war, and the President's strategy to send thousands more troops. Democrats have said they're not going to give up trying to force Mr.. Bush into changing direction. Our Washington correspondent James Westhead has been watching the debate.

>> In Washington a momentous demand. These books are president bush's budget request. For a mind-boggling $2.9 trillion. Much of it to continue fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the Senate, the demand was tiny by comparison, just for a debate on the war in Iraq, and a symbolic vote criticising the President. But even that was too much for republicans, who blocked the move despite angry pleading from democrats.

>> They can stop the debate by getting 41 votes, but they can actually engage in debate and try to defeat the notion when the message of this resolution is, Mr. President, stop.

>> The escalation is President bush's plan to send 20,000 more troops to Baghdad. There's fierce opposition from democrats and from many republicans, but formally voting against their President is another matter.

>> Everybody is in dangerous waters because it's like that moment in the Alamo when the line is drawn in the sand. These resolutions are saying, which side are you on? Let's see your true colours. Politicians often like the camouflage themselves. They don't have that opportunity anymore.

>> With the debate blocked for now, negotiations continue behind the scenes, possibly watering down criticism of the President. This is a setback for the democrats who are furious. They're supposed to be in charge of the Senate, but they're fast discovering how hard it can be to ral lay congress so bitterly divided over the president and the war. James Westhead, bbc news, Washington.  

>> They can't get Iraq out of the headlines in the U.S. For the first time a serving American army officer has been put on trial for refusing to go to Iraq. The first lieutenant says he's willing to go to fight in Afghanistan, but he regards the U.S. Military involvement in Iraq as illegal. There's been violent rioting in Ecuador after residents took over city hall, demanding the resignation of the mayor. Five people injured after protesters took over and ransacked government building. They accused the mayor of corruption.

-- Now, Tony's here with news of B.P. They're making a lot of money in some people's eye, but it's not good. 45C87E25.JPG

>> It's not on the way up. This is the second largest oil company in the world. The price of oil has been high, so you'd have thought they've been doing better, but they've had a lot of problems. It had a bad towed last year. Net profitings in the last three months fell by 12% shortage of $4 billion. In addition to boosting revenue, B.P. Now has the difficult task of restoring investor confidence. It suffered a series of high-profile blunders including a deadly refinery blast in Texas, and a giant oil spill in Alaska. The company's boss, John Brown, is to step down in July over a year earlier than originally planned. And the ink cartridges for your printer that don't cost an arm and leg. That's what the camera maker Kodak is promising. It's launching a new product. And when it comes to buying replacement ink cartridge, they'll cost 50% less than rival products. The aggressive strategy is aimed at taking on more established printer makers such as Canon. It's lost out on its original business with the increase in popularity of digital cameras. The head of Kodak's Europe says there is strong demand for low-cost printing. 45C87E6E.JPG

>> Customers have been paying too much for ink. 70% of people would print more if ink was less expensive. We're launching a new line that will deliver premium inks for basically half the cost.

>> The future for Kodak, very interesting to see how it takes on Hewlett Packard and Canon.

>> Thanks very much. Stay with us here on world. Still to come in the programme, exiled Russian billionaire says he's got nothing to hide. He's ready to talk to Russian investigators about the death of Alexander Litvinenko. There really should be a time of hope in the democratic public of Congo. A newly democratically elected government has been appointed, and that's after decades, of course, of wars and political instability. Amd yet its first task will be to deal with rioting taking place in the west of the country. Around 100 people are believed to have died after clashes between police and supporters of a local religious sect after allegations of election rigging. The new Interior Minister has promised an investigation will take place. 45C87EB6.JPG

>> Security forces have retaken control of the town, but the human cost is high. Riots have killed ten policemen and soldiers, but the repression was even worse. More than 75 were killed by the security forces. This is the first time such violence erupts in the west of the country. Members of a religious and political organisation, its popular leader accuses the authorities of having sparked violence. This is an oppostion's stronghold, but surprisingly a government supported by the ruling party has been recently elected. The rioters say the authorities have used money to change the outcome of the vote. In place of the violence, the new Interior Minister says an investigation will take place. 45C87EEB.JPG

>> ( Translated ): If this is the result of police misbehaviour, it is very serious. The authors will be properly punished. If this is political manipulation by people who give chance to their followers and make them believe they are immortal and they can destroy official buildings and confront armed security forces, then it is a real shame.

>> Congo's recent election were supported by the United Nations, but diplomats and observers here now fear that a new allegation of corruption of the electoral process might threaten Congo's ability. Bbc news, the republic of Congo.

>> The exiled Russian billionaire Boris Berovosky has said he would be happy to talk about the death Alexander Litvinenko. He says he has nothing to hide. Scotland yard is considering a request by Russian police for assistance in their investigation.

>> Ever since Alexander Litvinenko died in a London hospital bed, a victim of radioactive poisoning, there have been obvious questions. Who killed him? How did they do it? And why? Someone with possible answers, Boris Berozovsky, a friend and former employer of Alexander Litvinenko, who is now in exile. In an interview with the bbc, he said he had no doubts who was behind the murder.

>> Russia is in very serious trouble now and particularly Putin himself because definitely polonium, when they tried to organise this murder.

>> The Russian government has always denied any involvement. British police have already visited Moscow as part of the investigation. Now Russian detectives have asked the home office if they can make the return trip to speak to a number of people, including Mr. Berovosky.

>> I am absolutely open to meet people from Russia if it helps to investigate Alexander's case.

>> Last week Scotland yard handed its evidence over to British prosecutors. They will decide if any charges are to be brought. Tim Alman, bbc news.

>> A gunman in Iraqi army uniforms have kidnapped an Iranian official in Baghdad. The diplomat, a second secretary tear at the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, was snatched on Sunday. I'm joined on the phone from the Iranian capital, Tehran, by our correspondent Franes Harrison. Frances, I suppose that is the key, who took him. But what more can you tell us about this?  

>> Well, here in Iran they've confirmed he has been kidnapped and they've pointed the finger of blame at the United States saying that these Iraqi military were acting under the command of the Americans, and we've had the foreign ministry spokesman strongly condemning the attack saying it's a violation of all international norms and the Vienna convention and saying that they hold the Americans and the Iraqis responsible for this man's safety. We've also had Iran's ambassador to Baghdad talking about how he thinks it's maybe the terrorist act, as he calls it, may have been committed in the framework of President Bush's order to kill or capture Iranian agents inside Iraq, and he says the intention behind this act is to escalate the confrontation with Iran.

>> A political message out of this. We're looking at pictures of the street where he was kidnapped. Can you give us more, Franes Harrison, about how it happened?

>> Well, obviously from Tehran it's difficult to know exactly what happened, but we understand there were two vehicles and somewhere up to 30 gunmen dressed reportedly in Iraqi military uniforms who abducted this diplomat. Some reports say the second vehicle was apprehended by security forces in Iraq, and some of those people were detained. It's very unclear exactly how this happened, but certainly it's interesting that this time the Iranian government, the foreign ministry have released the name of the diplomat and confirmed the name because remember last month there were five people arrested by the American military in Irbil and those names have still not been released by the Iranian government. But the Iranians are insistent those were also diplomats, and that, of course, raised tensions and another abduction like this, if the Iranians continue to point the finger at the United States, that will make things much worse.

>> Clearly. Frances, thanks very much indeed for the latest from Tehran. This is bbc world. The main news here again: A U.K. Newspaper has published pictures of a friendly fire attack in Iraq which killed a British soldier. The United States had refused to release the video for an inquest in Britain. After months of in-fighting , the leaders of hamas and fatah are meeting later in the holy city of Mecca. We're going to get more now on what is our main story, the video of an American friendly fire incident in Iraq. It killed a British soldier. Well, the footage has been published by the Sun newspaper, and the paper's defence editor has been defending their decision to publish in spite of the Americans insisting it was classified information.

>> Clearly we viewed it thoroughly, spent some considerable time going through it. We even gave a copy of what we had to the Ministry of Defence yesterday to make sure that we weren't breaking any form of secrets, we weren't upsetting any operational security. They came back to us with a big fat zero. We're 100% classified. There is nothing secretive at all.

>> Which sounds like the ministry of defence have no problems you putting it out.

>> Well, they've had knowledge that we were planning to do this for almost 24 hours now. You can see they haven't injunted us, a clear passage available to them. You have to make your own conclusions from that.

>> Let me ask you about the mod's position. It's a difficult one in relation to a key ally, I suppose, but the MOD also says it's had no intention to deliberately mislead or deceive lance corporal Hull's family, yet the family said it didn't even know this existed.

>> I honestly think the mod are between a terrible rock and a terrible hard place on this one. They have the Americans, their major allies on one side, the entirety of British public opinion, the sun newspaper, the bbc on the other. Perhaps this is their only way out. Whether or not they misled Matthew Hull's widow Susan we don't know. She said they did. They say they didn't. I think it's an appalling muddle. They have found themselves in this out of their own making. 45C88094.JPG

>> Now, talk about bizarre, an American astronaut has been arrested on charges that include attempted kidnapping and battery. Florida police say Lisa Nowak, who flew on a mission to the international space station last year, confronted another woman she considered to be a rival for the affections of a male astronaut. Police allege that Mrs. Novak was disguised in a wig when she attacked the other woman with chemical spray. Stay with us here on bbc world. Plenty more still to come on the programme, including a London museum honouring a queen and her consult. Should the v and a really be paying tribute to a princess of pop? The Italian government has announced tough new proposals to stamp out violence on football stadiums. The Italian interior minister said that venues deemed to be unsafe will stay closed to the public and football matches will be played behind closed doors. Currently only nine of the country's stadiums were considered safe. He said that crowds would only be allowed into the other stadiums once improvements had been made. Now, these moves follow the death of a policemen who was killed during post-match rioting. 45C880E1.JPG

>> This was a different sort of crowd in Catania. Thousands of people came to mourn the police officer. Among them his youngest son. The death of one police officer shocking a nation and bringing its favourite pastime to a halt. In Rome, ministers met football officials, trying to work out what to do next. The game will restart, although still no word as to when. Strict new controls will be introduced.

>> ( Translated ): Fans will only be allowed in those stadiums that meet security measures. The other stadiums will be allowed to host football matches but behind closed doors. I won't send anyone to risk his life again.

>> It was during these riots on Friday that the officer was killed and the sport shamed. Violence in Italian football has become a growing problem. The authorities determined to do something about it following an example of other European countries that have tried to curb hooliganism. Some new security measures may be introduced before next season, but in the meantime, many grounds just aren't ready. So across the country, empty stands could become the norm for some time yet. Richard Forest, bbc news.

>> Now picture this: You fancy yourself as a biker. You have your black leathers on. You're ready to impress your friends as you roar off into the distance. The only thing is your motorbike makes about as much noise as a home computer. Let me introduce you to the green machine.

>> This is the envy, a mission neutral -- an emission-neutral vehicle, the world's first purpose-built hey degree general motorcycle.

-- Hydrogen motorcycle. 50mph, 100-mile range. Oh, and no gears. What's it like the ride? Well, in a word, surreal. It's quick off the mark. It's really smooth, but listen. There's no noise. People don't hear you coming. They certainly stair once you've gone past. I can hear all you bikers scoffing right now, but I promise you, it's very easy and it's a lot of fun to ride. Okay. Now the science bit. The fuel cell works by feeding hydrogen into a chamber about the size of a briefcase. It reacts with oxygen, producing electricity. That's what powers the bike. Exhaust fumes, the only by-product is water vapor. The this is the exhaust pipe. It is switched on. You won't do that with your normal bike, would you? Toyota, Honda, G.M., Ford all plan to mass produce hydrogen cars over the next few years. The envy could be in U.K. Showrooms by Christmas. Richard Westcott, bbc news. 45C881B6.JPG

>> From low octane to higher octane I suppose, hot pants, feathered headdress and a sequinned corset are some of the items in the wardrobe of a pop princess. The costumes worn by Kylie Minogue are going on display at London's Victoria and Albert Museum.

>> The Victoria and Albert Museum, a treasure trove of artistic masterpieces and today's Kylie's hot pants, kylie's sequinned corset and the dungarees she work in "neighbours." This cat suit became famous in the song "can't get you out of my head." Now you can see it up close. The V&A show says it's about showing how the modern concert is put together.  

>> It's quite real. Being on a tour, I think everyone feels a little out of their depth in some ways, the V&A, this is really serious. 45C881EE.JPG

>> Here it is, a life in pop told through her outfits and more than 500,000 sequins. They've already sold more than 4,000 tickets. David sill let toe, bbc news.

>> You're watching bbc world. Stay with us. <

 

* This transcription on this site is occasionally not without minor errors.

 


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