BBC World: news

Peter Dobby, the BBC presenter:Hello and welcome! Thanks for choosing BBC World. This is our top story:

NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels are considering how to step up civilian and military assistance to Afghanistan. The Unites States has already announced it’s planning to pour an extra ten and a half billion dollars into its Afghan effort. NATO officials say the body is willing to provide more money and support, although no firm commitments have been agreed.

What are NATO’s foreign ministers bringing with them as they arrive in Brussels? More ten 5 years after the Taliban government in Afghanistan was toppled, NATO is still wondering how the Taliban can be beaten. The United States has now promised more troops and more financial aid for Afghanistan. But will other countries follow suit? For NATO’s Secretary General it’s a key question.

NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer: Afghanistan – NATO’s top priority – is about building schools, roads, power stations, democratic institutions. But is also, of course, about conducting military operations to support the elected Afghan government and allow reconstruction to go forward.

Chris Morris, the BBC correspondent: So, is Europe doing enough? Well, there are plenty of European troops in Afghanistan but requests from military commanders for more have been falling on deaf ears. No one wants Afghanistan to slip away from them. The Afghans themselves are warning that more needs to be done to defeat the Taliban and that doesn’t just mean NATO.

Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta:If we bring all of necessary efforts together, if Pakistan co-operated in this process, I think, the problem of Taliban we can loose during two or three years. For that we need one comprehensive strategy. Chris Morris, the BBC correspondent: So focus on reconstruction and on persuading ordinary Afghans that the billions of dollars being spent can actually help them in their everyday lives. But the reconstruction to succeed you have to have security – and that battle has yet to be won. Now NATO wants to pre-empt any spring offensive from the Taliban. It knows it has a challenge on its hands. Chris Morris, BBC News.

Peter Dobby, the BBC presenter:And in just ten minutes time I’ll be talking to our Washington correspondent Jimmy Coomarasamy about that NATO meeting.

The Special UN envoy Marti Ahtisari has been outlining his long-awaited plan for the future for the future of Kosovo. He presented the plan by enclosed doors in Vienna to the six nation contact group comprised of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the US Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority is pushing for independence from Serbia, while Serbian leaders and the province’s Serb minority want to remain within Serbia’s borders.

Soldiers continue to patrol the streets of the Lebanese capital Beirut after yesterday’s clashes between Sunni and Shiite Muslim supporters and opponents of the government. The clean-up process has now begun after the violence, which saw 4 people killed and more than 150 injured. Shops have reopened in many parts the city but traffic appeared lighter as many people chose to remain at home, schools were closed.

Police in the Iraqi capital Baghdad say that 15 people have been killed in an explosion in a busy market. 35 others were injured – all of the civilians in the popular Gaziel market, which is famous for its Friday sales of pets and animals. A witness said, a man arrived with an egg cartoon containing pigeons for sale but it exploded after he walked away to get a drink.

Peter Dobby, the BBC presenter:Well, stay in the Middle East now because while most of the attention is focused on the continuing violence in Iraq. Another human tragedy is unravelling. It is the mass cross-border exodus of people out of the country into its near neighbour’s. So far an estimated 2 million people have left the country. The BBC’s Jon Leyne is the only TV correspondent covering the story. He’s on the Syrian side of the border with Iraq.

Jon Leyne, the BBC TV correspondent ( via mobile satellite TV unit, thus some words way be unintelligible on the phonogram ): This is the world’s biggest single refugee exodus, probably the most neglected and the most sudden. Just behind me these are hundreds of vehicles waiting to come across into Syria. Hundreds or, possible, thousands of Iraqis are here today with their belongings piled high on the roof, in the back of the cars. And they are fleeing, they are all fleeing the violence, of course, in their home country. Let me show what happens here: they came here for processing and this is why they then come to sort out their vehicle documents. They take them here for processing before they’re allowed to drive into Syria. And even before they can do that, they’ve got plenty of queuing here – these vehicles have been here for really several hours. Walk around now with me to the other side of this border post and you’ll see the scene here – how many Iraqis there are waiting here. There’s a long, long line here round the immigration point. Maybe several hundred, I would think, of people there would just tell that their turn has slowly come round and then they are trying to get in if they can. There are hundreds and hundreds of people waiting for their passports to be processed by the Syrian authorities. At the moment Syria is letting most Iraqis in – that’s in contrast with Jordan – a few days ago when Jordan, Jordanian border guards, has almost entirely closed its border. Jordan has accepted up to a million Iraqis, they’ve been very patient but even Syria is beginning to tighten up on the regulations. And the Iraqis, which were spoken to here, they say there are, perhaps, as many Iraqis displaced within Iraq as well because of the Sunni-Shiite fighting.

Peter Dobby, the BBC presenter:Jon Leyne was talking to us just a little earlier.

Pakistani officials say a security guard at a five-star hotel in the capital Islamabad has been killed in a suicide attack as he tried to stop the bomber from entering the building. The explosion at the Marriott Hotel took place just hours before diplomats from the Indian High Commission would use a hall to function there. The bomber was also killed in the blast and at least 4 other people were injured. Our correspondent Barbara Plett now reports from Islamabad on why the bomber may have chosen the Marriott as a target:

Barbara Plett, the BBC correspondent: Well, I think many people are strongly suspicious that would have been targetingthe Marriott because it is a place that foreigners frequently visit. In the past there have been attacks carried out by Jihadist groups, not so much in Islamabad because it’s heavily guarded, but in other cities, who are angered by President Musharraf’s support for the U.S.-led war on terror and his efforts to make peace with India. And so, that means that sometimes foreigners come under attack. Now, the Indian High Commission was due to host a function at this hotel later in the day but it could be if indeed this attack was targeting foreigners – much more general target because there has been a security alert in Islamabad that’s related to army operations in the tribal areas near the Afghan border and threats by the militants there avenge them possibly by attacking Westerners. So, I think, that’s one scenario that the police are considering but, again, they say – they don’t know for sure.

Peter Dobby, the BBC presenter:Barbara Plett…

Spain is to overhaul its clothing sizes for women as part of a government drive to ease pressure on young girls over their body size.

There are fears that efforts to conform could be leading to eating disorders. The move follows Spain’s ban on ultra thin models on the catwalk during the Madrid fashion week last September. One change will be that shop with the mannequins will get bigger.

There’s new evidence that traffic fumes can seriously harm children’s lungs. A study in California has found that children, who grow up very close to busy roadways have much poorer lung functions by the time they reach 18 then those, who live further away. The US researchers also found that children, who are exposed to fumes, are more likely to suffer respiratory and heart conditions problems later in life.

OK, Jamie’s joined us. We’re talking Tesco just getting bigger and bigger, and bigger…

Jamie Robertson, the BBC presenter: They all are, actually. This is not just Tesco, but this story is particularly about this company – the British supermarket chain. Tesco has just opened its first supermarket in China. The UK retail giant is the latest Western company trying to get front hold in what is already one of the world’s largest consumer markets. But Tesco, which together with a Chinese partner, already operates 46 stores under the Lagoo brand, is off against some big players: rivals WalMart and Carrefour are already well-established in China.

Another Western company going East – British business from Richard Branson is reportedly in talks to build a massive casino in the city of Macau in Southern China.

According to the Financial Times the Virgin Group is close to securing a prime property on which to build three hotels and a casino. Branson has quoted the same, that is, all will open in three years. Macau is now the world’s biggest gambling city, bigger even than Las-Vegas.

New York stock exchange is to announce plans next week to link up with the Tokyo stock exchange. Chief Executive John Thain talking in Davos World Economic Forum said it would not be a merger like the deal it’s already done with Euronex. Thain also said the NYSE was looking to include other European stock exchanges within that Euronex merger.

Peter Dobby, the BBC presenter:Stay with BBC World!

This is BBC World. These are the main news headlines:

NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels consider a US plea for more support in Afghanistan.

And the US Senate has unanimously confirmed the nomination of Lieutenant General David Petraeus as Commander of the US forces in Iraq. The announcement comes as President Bush is building up American forces there – something widely opposed in Congress. Now, in testimony to Congress earlier in the week General Petraeus described the situation in Iraq as “dire” but said, he believed President Bush’s new strategy there “would work”.

Well, the US has also announced that it’s planning to pour an extra ten and a half billion dollars into its Afghan effort. Let’s take you live now Washington. We’ll talk to my colleague James Coomarasamy.

– Jamie, this new Commander going into Iraq – something of a poison chalice – and yet he believes he can get it, ant it down right.

– It is. He does. I mean, he described the situation in Iraq as “dire” but he believes it can be turned around. He’s some with a lot of experience in Iraq. He is someone, who came out his time there training Iraqi troops with pretty good reports here in Washington. So he has been endorsed by the Senate but, as you said, a lot of the Democrats in particular and the growing number of Republicans are extremely sceptical that this plan to pour an extra twenty-one and a half thousand troops into the country will work.

– So, what does he bring to the job that his predecessor lacked in effect, I suppose?

– Well, I suppose – the fresh pair of eyes on that particular job because he’s coming with a completely new team. The new Defence Secretary Robert Gates will be giving his first briefing to reporters today in his new capacity. They have looked at this problem, they have studied it. He obviously has the experience of being there and working with training Iraqi forces which, of course, is one of the goals of the Bush Administration – to get more Iraqi forces trained. But obviously his immediate, pressing interest is to get this security situation sorted out in Baghdad. It is not an easy task, a poison chalice in many ways but he believes he can do something with it.

– Mrs Pelosi is in Baghdad today as well, Jamie, as we know. To what extent is that the Democrats are wanting to be seen to seize the initiative?

– Oh, I think, it certainly is. But, of course, the Democrats now have control of Congress. Although President Bush, as he reminded people today, is the person, who takes the decisions, who authorises the troops going in as Commander-in-Chief. The Democrats now have a real stake in the political process and I guess it was important for Mrs Pelosi in the delegation to be seen, to be in Iraq, to be taking part in this and not to be on the sidelines. We have next week in the Senate a vote on this non-binding Resolution that was passed last week that basically condemns the President’s strategy. The Democrats politically, at least, want to be part of a decision-making process.

– James Coomarasamy in Washington, thanks very much!

Peter Dobby, the BBC presenter:Stay with BBC World!

Russia’s Gazprom sought to assure jittery Europeans today that new deals for the sale of natural gas to Belarus and Ukraine would prevent any more disruptions to Western Europe. The BBC’s Jonathan Charles in Davos at the World Economic Forum and met Gazprom’s Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Medvedev and asked him if the Gazprom can be relied on as a supplier.

Alexander Medvedev (Gazprom, Russia): We have nothing to [be] ask to be excused for. Moreover, we should be proud with what we are doing and what we have done recently. Essentially, what we have achieved – we have now avoided all the risk related to the transit of the Russian natural gas to our customers in Europe – both through the territory of Ukraine and the territory of Byelorussia.

Jonathan Charles, the BBC correspondent: So you believe now that you’ll be a much more reliable supplier because you have the ability to control the flow through the pipes?

Alexander Medvedev (Gazprom, Russia): Yes, because we have supported this transit with a solid contractual base on international principles – it’s a medium-term arrangement for five years.

Peter Dobby, the BBC presenter:Alexander Medvedev has been talking to my colleague Jonathan Charles.

BBC World, 26.01.2007, http://www.bbcworld.com