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Greece 8, Us 7, Britain 6, Brussels 5, Italy 5, France 5, Spain 4, China 4, Ireland 4, Bbc News 3, Nasa 3, Paraguay 3, America 3, Lindsay 3, Europe 3, Tatsuya Ichihashi 2, Lindsay Hawker 2, Chris Morris 2, Vatican 2, Newman 2,
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  PBS    BBC World News    News/Business.  
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    July 21, 2011
    5:00 - 5:30am EDT  

>> this is "bbc world news." funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> union bank has put it global expertise to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you?
>> and now, "bbc world news." >> the future of the eurozone is at stake. leaders meet for an emergency summit to tackle the debt crisis. counting down to the end of an era, as u.s. space shuttle atlantis makes one final descent to earth. ireland's leader attacks the vatican for putting its reputation ahead of victims of sex abuse by priests. welcome to "bbc world news." i'm david eades. also coming up on the program -- why new research suggests there is a link between your height and your risk of developing cancer. also, number one. number 100 and number 2,000, why the cricket match between england and india is heading for the history books.
>> hello. an emergency summit ads eurozone leaders get underway in brussels shortly to try to resolve the debt crisis spreading across the zone. the most urgent need is to protect greece from defaulting on its debt, but the challenge is to strengthen the position of countries such as ireland and portugal and to avoid further contagion of this debt crisis to spain and italy. it's emerged that france and germany have agreed on the best steps ahead. from brussels, our europe correspondent chris morris reports. >> for the past year, whenever european leaders have met, there's been one issue at the top of the agenda again and again and again. trying to fix the euro. the survival of the single currency has now been called into question. there are increasingly urgent appeals to eurozone leaders to act decisively. >> they have said they will do what it takes to ensure the stability of the area.
well, now is the time to make good on that promise. >> all eyes on the biggest countries, france and, above all, germany. how much more will they fork out to help solve the sovereign debt crisis? can they bring all parties to an agreement on making private bond holders like banks pay their share? the eurozone can't take much more uncertainty. three countries have already been bailed out, greece, airland, and portugal. greece now needs a second bailout. if a deal can't be agreed, there are fears the debt crisis will spread to bigger economies like spain and even italy. that could be catastrophic. that is why clarity is now deemed essential. further delay could be very dangerous. >> postponing it over the summer, which was an idea just a couple of weeks ago, is ridiculous, and we would end up in a chaotic summer. it would open doors for speculation and actually for further problems in spain and
italy, and these problems would be so big that they could not be solved with a current instrument that we have. >> there is no simple formula, but patience is in short supply. and if the european union can't be made to work in its current form, then the alternatives are pretty stark. further integration, perhaps fiscal and, therefore, closer to a political union, all breaking the eurozone apart. finding a solution is one of the biggest challenges the e.u. has ever faced. chris morris, bbc news, brussels. >> the time is fast approaching when that summit will start and sum arrival is already taking place. james robbins is in brussels, and he joins me now. james, we've got certainly french and german banks with the most to lose with regard to greece, i suppose, and it's france and germany, the old motor of the european union, which, is it fair to say, is now driving what's going to be the answer to this problem? >> yes, whether it's the
answer, that's the very big question. you're right, france and germany are trying to drive the process of presenting at the end of today a credible and sustainable response to the greek crisis, because the lack of a credible and sustainable solution has been what's spooked the markets and put enormous pressure on other economies, particularly the italians over the last week or 10 days. it does seem from what's coming out from european officials that the most likely option today in among the package may be an emphasis on buying back greek debt that's in private hands, in the hands of banks and other investors. that's an effort to reduce the level of greek debt. the idea is that european funds and the central bank and for the european financial stability fund would be used to try and reduce the level of overall greek debt. the attractiveness of that idea is that it apparently would not trigger a default rating, that is, a failure rating, if you
like, by the major credit rating agencies. it would avoid further crisis of confidence in the eurozone. the downside of such a buyback is that, frankly, it wouldn't reduce the level of greek debt perhaps substantially enough to avert a future crisis, but it's one of the ideas that's very clearly on the table. i think the idea of a tax on all european banks is in retreat, not least because the banks regard it as grow terrifically unfair that they would be taxed because what's linked to the frequency, so that idea is slightly in retreat, but i don't know the details of the package and we won't know obviously until after these talks begin, because the path for france and germany is to persuade the other 15 eurozone countries that their plan, which they've apparently agreed, is the right one. >> james, thanks very much. that summit heading towards the starting gate as we speak. weep keep track of it. the united states now, where officials say they will allow
aid to be sent to the famine-affected areas of somalia, even though they're controlled by the islamist militia, just as long as none of that aid is used to benefit militants. that's a change of policy for the u.s. it previously refused to send aid to areas controlled by the group. an official said fwoo need the assurance that any aid would not be taxed by the controller of the regions affected by the famine. a prisoner in texas has been executed for killing two people, an act he said in retaliation for the attacks on 9/11. mark stroman, who's being interviewed by a bbc correspondent just a couple of days ago, targeted people he believed to be of middle east descent in the weeks after the attacks. his victims were actually from south asia. two of them were killed, one did survive. the u.k. inquiry into phone hacking by journalists may be widening beyond just news international. detectives have asked for records of a 2003 inquiry which
looked into the use of private investigators by reporters, and it found that journalists across the industry have been paying for illegally obtained information. the clock's ticking. it's the final countdown to what is the final landing, in fact, of space shuttle atlantis returning to earth in the next hour or so, and that will mark the end of an era of american dominance in human space exploration. it also leads russia's soyuz aircraft has the sole taxi to the international space station. our russian service has been taking a look at what it's like inside the soyuz. >> anyone can see only two or three times before the actual launch. here near moscow, a new spacecraft has been tested. technicians are working here. that's for the future mission. we don't know when the mission is going to blast off into space. there are thousands of modules
which need to be tested. anything which imitates the load is in rest. for example, this imitates the signals, which the antenna will be receiving during the flight. so the technicians and astronauts come by this hole. it takes them half an hour to get into the lower bell-shaped module right here. this is the main compartment which will be carrying these astronauts on their way into space and then back on the journey back to earth. of course, it looks magnificent from down below, but this is quite small compared to a shuttle. this is the russian way of doing things. it's very compact, relatively inexpensive to make and launch. and for each new mission, the new soyuz spacecraft is made. we're now in the museum, and this is the actual soyuz spacecraft which came back to earth in 1980. of course, compact is going to be very, very polite work for
the shape i'm now trying to take. one of the americans who flew on the space shuttle and soyuz compared the american-made shuttle to a grand oldsmobile and a russian-made space shuttle to a old car. and landing in this module, according to him, is like slow crashing the car. but nevertheless, all americans who flew it regard it very highly. they say for the purpose it's been made for, namely carrying people into space and then returning back to earth, it's a very well made machine. >> we do hope to go live to our correspondent, andy gallagher, who's at the kennedy space center in the dark a little bit later in the program. stay with us for more on atlantis. the roman catholic archbishop of dublin has said that he is ashamed of how child sex abuse cases were handled by sections of the church in ireland. his comments follow unprecedented criticism of the vatican by the irish prime minister, enda kenny.
mr. kenny called the church dysfunctional and elitist after the latest findings of an inquiry into sexual abuse by clergy were published. will grant reports. >> the church and the state in ireland have been linked for generations. but that close relationship appears to have changed with the publication of the report into child sex abuse in the diocese. the report found that the vatican had systematically blocked and frustrated an inquiry into the issue as recently as three years ago. he was scathing in his report. >> this shows the dysfunction, the elitism, the dominant culture of the vatican today. the rape and torture of children were downplayed or managed to uphold instead the institution, its power, its
standing, and its reputation. >> other deputies in the parliament voiced similar criticisms, and later, the hierarchy of the catholic church expressed deep remorse. >> i find myself today asking, can i be proud of the church? what i'm seeing, i have to be ashamed of. >> after so many clerical sex abuse scandal insist airland mark thought the worst had been exposed, but the report singled out a former vatican aide to three popes, father john mcgee, the dangerous failures after sex abuse cases were not reported to the police in county court. father mcgee resigned last year and has since admitted he could have done more to protect victims of abuse and apologized. but the alleged coverup seems to have been the final straw
for the irish government. will grant, bbc news. >> to other matters now. adnan is here. we were teasing about number one, number 100, and number 2,000. this is a test match about statistics as much as history, isn't it? >> it certainly is. i don't think we're going to get five days, because at the moment it's very grim out there. we're talking about london, and we're talking about the 2,000th test match in history. some say it's only the 1,999, but it's the true 2,000th according to the i.o.c. a thaw works better for the headlines. >> we're talking about the first, which was way back in 1877. the number 100 we're talking about is the number that they've never scored at the home of contradict. it's incredible. the english captain said yesterday, or earlier in the week, as far as he's concerned, this is the greatest test player of all time, and let's not bother to go through the names because there are so many who could contend for a particular title. but he's never scored a century
, and he is another legend who will be touring england almost certainly the last time. he made his press debut 15 years ago, and here he is back again, trying to do what they have never done before. india, the number one team in the world,ening and land trying to isurp them. >> it's going to be a fascinating series. we're heading towards the final of the copa america, another stage done. >> another stage done, but how paraguay reached it, no one can quite work it out. they drew three group games, and in the knockout stage, they did not score a single game. 0-0 here against venezuela. the venezuelans are in the darker shirts, hitting the bar on the post and dominating the pair asquarians, and then eventually it went to a penalty shootout. and paraguay, they haven't won since 1979. there were very unsavory scenes had he end. police had to escort both teams and playing stars and coaching staff off the pitch after that fight. but paraguay will play them on
sunday. >> they couldn't score there either. >> no, that's right. absolutely. >> you're watching "bbc world news." do stay with us if you can, because coming up shortly, as we've been saying, time to close the book on nasa's entire shuttle program as atlantis makes its way back down to earth. five politicians from the philippines have traveled to a group of islands in the south china sea on what they're calling a peace mission. they said it was a private trip to meet residents and also to support the philippines' territorial claims in the area, but china has said that it could sabotage the relationship between the two countries, as we get this report from manila. >> an island paradise, or it would be if it wasn't one of the most hotly disputed places on earth. it's a chain of tiny islands in the south china sea. six countries lay claim to them, not so much for the
islands themselves, but for the suspected oil and gas deposits around them. this is thought to be one of the first ever visits by philippine politicians. this congressman explains why he decided to organize the trip. >> for a just and peaceful solution in the end, we have to strongly assert our sovereign right. >> local filipinos told the congressmen in recent months china has made pneumonia incursions into what they see as philippine territorial waters. much of this visit was designed to bolster the philippine claim on the island. the visitors sang the national anthem, joined by locals. the surrounding south china sea was described by its new, more philippine-friendly name. but the threat from rival claimants is only too apparent. soldiers outnumber civilians on this island by more than 3-1.
china is angry about the philippines' recent complaints and now about this trip, too. and the troops are on alert for further incursions. the president has already admitted that there's not much the philippines can do if china decides to use force to take the island. he's just hoping that it doesn't ever get to that point. >> this is "bbc world news." the headlines -- eurozone leaders prepare to discuss new bailout plans amid calls for urgent action to prevent the debt crisis spreading further. space shuttle atlantis is returning to earth in possibly the next hour now, bringing to a close nasa's 30-year orbiter program. with a bit of luck, i'll show you the countdown clock in a moment, because as we say, atlantis is on its way back down to earth.
at the kennedy space center is andy gallagher with a clock in the background. that's 39 minutes, 57 seconds, is it? >> yeah, we are down to less than 40 minutes before the space shuttle atlantis slides gently back down to the kennedy space center here for the final time, drawing to a close 30 years of space history. and this craft has really become a symbol for human exploration. when it lands, it will be mothballed, kept here at the kennedy space center for tourists to come and see, and that's it. the shuttle program has ended. it also ends america's dominance of space exploration. they will now have to depend on the russian soyuz program if they want to return. it really is a bittersweet moment for people that have been involved in this program for so long. the orbiter fleet has achieved so many things over the past 30 years, it put about 200 satellites into orbit. it put the hubble telescope into orbit t. also built the
international space station, perhaps the crowning achievement. but tomorrow here at nasa, 4,000 people will be laid off, so while people are celebrating 30 years of history ask 30 years of achievement, there's also some sadness that so many people will now lose their jobs here. >> it's been part of a way of life, hasn't it, for many of us, this whole shuttle adventure. i suppose what is also difficult, andy, particularly for americans, is that this incredibly prestigious project as well suffered because of cost cutting. that's the bald truth of it, isn't it? >> it really is. president obama came here last year, i was here when he made that announcement that he was going to cut the shuttle program. we knew for a while that it was coming to an end, but i don't think anyone quite believed t. i think most of us have taken for granted watching these amazing spacecraft launch here from the kennedy space center do all those amazing things in space and then come back. remember, this is the first reusable spacecraft in human history. it has carried out countless missions. this is mission number 135, but
in the next couple of years, they hope the private sector will take over what is essentially a taxing service between the kennedy space center and the international space station. but really, this is a chapter-ending, an era-ending, and essential a lot of people will be very, very sad when those wheels finally come to an stop, and that's the end of the shuttle program. >> andy, thanks very much. in tokyo, a japanese man has been sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a british teacher, lindsay hawker. her body was found in a bath filled with sand as the 32-year-old, tatsuya ichihashi, his flat in tokyo in 2007. >> this was lindsay hawker, relaxed and calm in a copy shop with the man about to rape and murder her. 22-year-old lindsay had gone out to japan to teach english, but she never came home. her body was found in tatsuya ichihashi's apartment pal cone,
battered and bound, hidden in a bathtub and covered in sand in march 2007. ichihashi had gone on the run. when he was caught 2 1/2 years later, having had plastic surgery to alter his appearance, he finally admitted to raping and strangling lindsay, but claims killing her was never his intention. for lindsay's parents, the trial is the culmination of years of efforts to find out the truth and see their daughter's killer brought to justice. they traveled back and forth between britain and japan, but the case appeared to go nowhere. searching for the prime suspect and eventually getting to see him in the dark. bill hawker wanted the courts to give his daughter's killer the heaviest punishment possible. theoretically, that could be the death penalty, though prosecutors have called for life in jail instead. their daughter's killer has also written a book in which he details the crime and has promised the proceeds to lindsay's family. her parents have said they
won't touch the money and want nothing from him. >> a new study suggests that taller people are at greater risk of developing a range of cancers. the research in the lancet found that, in women, the likelihood rose by 16% for every four-inch increase in height. they said taller men were also at increased risk. our health correspondent, james hughes, has the details. >> we're all at risk of developing cancer, and rising rates mean four in 10 of us will get the disease at some point in our lives. but it now seems taller people are the most vulnerable. ed study looks at cancer risks over a single year. researchers say for small women, about five foot tall, about 750 out of every hundred,000 will develop cancer. for average size women, 5'4", 850 out of every 100,000 will develop cancer. whereas for tall women, about 5'9", that figure rises to
1,000 out of every 100,000. the same findings apply to men. but what is it that makes taller people more vulnerable to cancer? it could be the effects of fwrothe hormones when they were young or simple that will they have more cells in their bodies, raising their risk of developing cancerous cell changes. >> it's important to remember that the risk of cancer associated with increased height is actually quite small, and it's certainly not as big as the risk associated with things like smoking or drinking alcohol or being overweight, which we all can do something about. >> improved treatments mean more and more of us are surviving cancer. there's still a lot to learn about the condition, but experts say this study adds to their understanding. jane hughes, bbc news. >> we're going to get the latest on the situation in brussels. a meeting of the eurozone leaders are trying to thrash out a deal, not least to provide a second bailout for greece, but really, to establish some sense of confidence within the markets that they are dealing with this
growing debt crisis. we can speak now to the brittish chancellor. ed, thanks for joining us. should point out, of course, you and your counterpart in government not at the meeting because you're not in the eurozone. how critical would you say this summit is? >> well, the first thing i would say is british chancellors were at the meeting, and i'm very worried that they were not there. secondly, i think this is very critical indeed. i think the eurozone and europe and the global economy are on the verge of a big financial trench if it's not sorted out. it's good news there is a deal if it's a deal which delivers and satisfies market confidence that it's going to sort things out. i'm afraid part of the problem is too often it's been reported a deal is coming, and then when it comes to the meeting, the eurozone deal actually is just deferring the problem, not facing up to the reality of what needs to be done. if it's simply more liquidity
support for greece without getting to groups with the guarantees and a new way forward, then i'm afraid it will make the problem worse, not better. >> is that your suspicion? >> well, i hope not, although all the evidence in the last 12 months has seen a failure to face up to the need for action. the difference this time is one that the financial market problems in spain and italy are now very serious. secondly, i think the i.m.f. has been clear. i think the e.c.b. has been clear to leaders that just deferring the problem is now going to make things much, much worse. i think this really is in the balance. but let's see. i'm afraid, up to now, there's not been a willingness. in some way, for understandable fiscal reasons. you must share part of the burden with europe, underpinning guarantee for european debt. >> sorry -- >> it's going to get badly,
badly wrong. >> right, you brought in the need for the germans to do something. i take your point britain is not there, but obviously the greek situation affects britain as well. should britain be contributing to helping greece further? >> well, britain is very exposed as other countries are, especially if this threat north from greece and italy. i think it's accepted that while it's an important role for the i.m.f. and britain and america have contributed to the i.m.f., that this is a burden-sharing exercise for the eurozone. i don't think it's right to take the british taxpayer we should be financing this, not from the euro. that doesn't mean we don't have a legitimate interest whether a decision is made or not, a good deal and a bad deal, and the argument i've made here in britain is i think david cameron, our prime minister, should be honest with george osborne, bringing people together, but so far the eurozone has not been able to strike the deal which is needed. it's about leadership. >> we'll have to stop you there. thank you very much for joining us here on "bbc world news."
more of that story on the website, of course, bbc.com/news. >> 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. >> union bank has put its global financial strength to work for a wide range of

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