[speaker001:] Hello, and welcome to this review of the week from Independent Television News in London. I'm Brenda Rowe and these were the headlines. A second American hostage is released in Lebanon. Lithuania mourns its martyr for independence. And the space shuttle places the Hubble telescope in orbit. First, an American hostage, Frank Reed was freed in Beirut after more than three years in the hands of pro-Iranian kidnappers. His release came only eight days after another American hostage, Robert Polehill was set free. Washington sent a special team to West Germany to await Dr Reed's arrival at a military base there, he was handed over by his Shia Moslem captors to a Syrian army officer before being driven to Damascus to be met by American Officials. President George Bush thanked Iran and Syria for their roles in securing Dr Reed's release. Nick Gowing compiled his report on Monday.
[speaker002:] It was a re-run of events before the Polehill release eight days ago. The Syrian Foreign Minister emerged to predict a release within a few hours, underlining that such a delicate operation is being handled jointly both by Syria and Iran.
[speaker003:] Syria and Iran have been continuing their efforts to secure the release of other hostages.
[speaker002:] The release was first signalled by two notes and three photographs sent to a newspaper and newsagency in Beirut. The claim came from a previously unheard-of group, calling itself the Organization of the Islamic Dawn. They specifically denied they were the Arab Revolutionary Cells Group, originally believed to be holding Mr Reed. But the continuing confusion of the hostage situation, in Beirut and the Lebanon, was underlined by the claims of former hostage, David Jacobsen today, that Frank Reed had been held in a neighbouring cell and had tried to escape.
[speaker004:] I had knocked on the wall in code, one knock for a, two for b, and I knocked Dave Jacobsen, A U B, and the response came back, Frank Reed, I C. I was told by released French hostages that he did attempt to escape, that he was beaten very badly, and that basically his spirit at that time was, was, was broken; he didn't want to talk with the other hostages in the room and he pretty much had withdrawn.
[speaker002:] The Syrian President, Assad the release was aimed at reinforcing his determination to improve relations with the United States and the West in general. The same can be said for President Rafsanjani, Iran's moderate leader who remained determined to fend off the radicals and to end Iran's isolations. While Frank Reed's relations waited expectantly in both Damascus and the United States, there were however, ominous signs of the power struggle continuing in Tehran over the hostage issue. As Mr Reed's release seemed imminent, an unsigned statement on Tehran radio commenting on events since last week's release, said 'the United States has failed to reciprocate the goodwill shown by Polehill's captors; in view of Washington's position, resolving the hostage crisis is much slower than previously expected'. A further sign of pressure from Islamic radicals came today from Hussein Mussawi, in the middle here, a senior Shiite leader closer to Hezbollah fundamentalists, he opposed the release of another American and questioned the loyalty of those doing it. One view is that Frank Reed's release, the second in a week, may be the last for some time.
[speaker001:] Twenty thousand people took to the streets of the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, to mourn a man who became a martyr for the Republic's bid for independence from Moscow. The Lithuanian president, Vytautas Landsbergis, told the crowd that the dead man, Stanislovas Jamaitis was the first victim in the Republic's struggle for independence. Mr Jamaitis had set fire to himself in a Moscow square. Lithuania's deputy Prime Minister Romualdas Ozolas said the Republic was not prepared to suspend its declaration of independence, although it would negotiate on laws passed since, which have angered the Kremlin. Robert Moore, one of I T N's Moscow correspondents reported from Vilnius on Monday.
[speaker005:] The body of Stanislovas Jamaitis was flown in from Moscow, received by his family. No hint at the airport of the outpouring of emotion that was to come. At the cathedral square in central Vilnius, it was clear his suicide was being seen by fellow Lithuanians as the act of a martyr. His death has affected a nation which is already facing a crisis of identity, as Moscow refuses to recognize its independence. Among speakers, a new bitterness, some said the suicide was a cry of despair as the west turns its back on Lithuania.
[speaker006:] It's the only statement which Lithuania can make now. We are abandoned by the United States, by Great Britain, by Germany, by France, what else is left?
[speaker005:] The centre was brought to a halt as the procession made its way to the National Parliament. Few here had ever set eyes on the man they were mourning, but they saw in his act the ultimate sacrifice for their dream of independence. They responded in their thousands hearing President Landsbergis call Stanislovas Jamaitis 'an idealist'. His memory providing Lithuanians with a renewed sense of purpose as they continued to build their nation.
[speaker001:] I T N obtained an exclusive interview with the K G B in which the Soviet Security Department admitted actually stepping up their activities since President Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. But in the new spate of glasnost, or openness, one of I T N's Moscow reporters, Bill Meely became the first European journalist to be shown inside the Lubyanka, the K G B's headquarters.
[speaker007:] K G B headquarters. For decades, a symbol of repression in the Soviet Union and espionage abroad. In its prison cells, dissidents have been murdered. From here, an army of agents spied on the west. Today, the K G B is showing a new face. We were invited inside. The openness that has swept through every layer of Soviet society, has finally reached its Secret Police. Today, it admitted to the crimes and executions plotted in these corridors and carried out by its men under Stalin. Convenient scapegoats perhaps, but the K G B was open about today's activities too; Major General Alexander Karbalnov of the K G B revealed for the first time that seven hundred thousand people have been executed for political crimes since the revolution and that three-and-a-half million have been repressed. Since Gorbachev came to power, thirty spies have been arrested in the Soviet Union and all but a few executed. Under Gorbachev, the K G B is busier. 'The more the activities of foreign spies have increased'he says, 'the more our activities have increased, and over the past five years, we've uncovered more agents than in the previous fifteen'. As for internal dissent, 'We keep files on criminals, but mass files on ordinary people simply don't exist. You can say what you like against the state now, its what you do that's important'. The K G B's key task is State Security, but it's now cracking down on smuggling too. Officers showed us two-and-a-half thousand Russian icons which they seized in two swoops on illegal exporters. The haul, valued at one-and-a-half million pounds is one of many such seizures; of church property, of drugs, of guns, the K G B is now cooperating with foreign intelligence agencies against Mafia and drugs barons inside the Soviet Union.
[speaker001:] You're watching a review of the week's news from I T N. The caretaker Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Shamir, was invited to form a new government following the failure of the Labour Party leader Shimon Peres. Mr Shamir said he would stick to his promise not to make concessions to the Palestinians over the occupied territories. Mr Peres had tried for six weeks to persuade just one legislator to join his labour-led coalition; in the end he failed, but said 'it was worth the struggle for peace'. Vick Aiken compiled this report on Thursday.
[speaker008:] Shimon Peres' best chance of forming a government probably came and went when two members of an orthodox religious party caused an uproar in parliament while renegeing on a promise to join the Labour Party coalition. Since then, the fortunes of the party and Mr Peres as leader have gone downhill. The initiative has shifted to Yitzhak Shamir, and his right-wing Likud block. The caretaker Prime Minister will try to form a government this week. Mr Shamir has been hard at work consolidating his right-wing support and trying to win over independent conservatives; he has reiterated his determination to keep the P L O out of any peace talks and has steadfastly refused to consider any deal which would involve giving up territory for peace. Mr Shamir's building of new settlements in the occupied territories has also angered Israel's main ally, the United States. In the West Bank and Gaza, the uprising continues, people throughout the region were celebrating the end of the Moslem religious festival of Ramadan. The demonstrations soon turned into confrontations with Israeli police and army units, a number of youths were killed and hundreds of people injured. Mr Shamir now needs the support of small religious groups. The formation of a government can literally hang on the defection of one of these religious leaders to one party or the other. But the price of political loyalty is high. They want Sabbath laws strictly enforced, and a host of other minor legislation. That has started to alienate the secular sections of parliament as well as many voters.
[speaker009:] The right-wing Contra rebels in Nicaragua appeared reluctant to disarm even after the new American-backed President Violetta Chamorro was sworn in. They were angry over her announcement that a leading member of the outgoing left-wing Sandinista government would be retained as head of the army. The supporters of Senora Chamorro said the decision was vital to stop the country from sliding back into civil war. Derek Williamson compiled this report on Thursday.
[speaker010:] The United Nations reception centres for Contra rebels to return and lay down their weapons, opened for business in an atmosphere of hope rather than anticipation. The disarming process was due to begin from the moment of Senora Chamorro's inauguration and be completed by the tenth of June. But the commander of the estimated eight thousand rebels in Nicaragua Israel Galeano — now says his men will refuse to give up their weapons. The reason; President Chamorro's refusal to cite this man as head of the army, he's Umberto Ortega, brother of the out-going president, Daniel Ortega, and as inaugurations go, it was an inauspicious first day in government for Senora Chamorro. Some supporters of her National Opposition Coalition, known as U N O cheered dutifully, others booed her announcement that although she would take over as Minister of Defence, General Ortega was staying on. Earlier, Sandinista supporters threw water bombs as her motorcade arrived in the baseball stadium for the inaugural speech. Police tried to subdue the more unruly elements of the crowd. Outside, other Sandinistas denounced U S support for the new administration; Washington is refraining from public criticism of its first major decision.
[speaker001:] I'm not going to second guess her decision, we will work with her and we will work with her government.
[speaker010:] Privately, it's believed Washington put great pressure on President Chamorro to rid herself of remnants of the Sandinista administration. Clearly, her first attempts at national reconciliation have impressed no-one.
[speaker001:] China announced that it was ending martial law in the Tibetan capital Lhasa. It was imposed fourteen months ago, following nationalist protests in which about fifty people died. But Beijing pledged to continue fighting what it called 'foreign forces' plotting independence for the Himalayan region. Foreign residents in Lhasa said later that many of China's troops have been withdrawn and the security situation was more relaxed. Gaby Rado compiled this report at I T N on Monday.
[speaker002:] Violent anti-Chinese demonstrations in the Tibetan capital Lhasa, during which the people took control of the city for at least a day. But inevitably, the authorities regained control by force, it was a foretaste of what was to happen three months later in Tiananmen Square. Martial law was declared in Lhasa, enforced by a hundred thousand Chinese soldiers who made sure there was no repetition of the scenes on the anniversary last month. And now Beijing has announced that social order has returned. The exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama has had a high international profile since he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year; resenting this, the Chinese authorities may be looking for propaganda points of their own for lifting marshal law. And on a more mundane level, they may well want the tourists back, before martial law, Lhasa was becoming a sought-after destination for western travellers and for their dollars.
[speaker001:] There is growing controversy in East Germany over the future of the underground bunker in which Hitler is believed to have committed suicide forty five years ago. The bunker is situated on the Eastern side of the Berlin Wall. Some Berliners want it preserved as a historic site, others fear that it could become the focus for neo-fascist demonstrators. Ian Glover-James sent this report from Berlin on Monday.
[speaker003:] Beneath the skyline of modern Berlin, half hidden in a grassy wasteland, all that's left of the bunker where Adolf Hitler committed suicide. It stands right by the wall in a rabbit-infested wilderness, the no man's land between East and West. Most of the bunker was dynamited to build new apartments, inside lie some thirty underground walls on two levels. Here Hitler spent his final weeks as the Third Reich collapsed. Overhead, Soviet troops swarmed into the Reichstag, but at the bunker, all that remained was Hitler's charred corpse. For years, the bunker lay buried, German officials on both sides of the wall simply didn't like talking about it; these ruins are now entombed beneath new apartment blocks in East Berlin. But one section remains, jutting above ground by the wall. Rocker Schmisch was among the last of Hitler's bunker staff to escape from the ruins, fifty years ago; an S S sergeant, he was a telephone operator and bodyguard in the bunker. Now the Berlin wall is coming down, and with the two Germanies uniting at this very point, the big question is — what to do with the bunker?
[speaker004:] I think it should be maintained. History is history whether Hitler was a criminal or not. This was the end of his life, here he committed suicide.
[speaker003:] Others are wary, like this East German border guard responsible for the bunker.
[speaker005:] I think it should be left as it is, but this is a matter for the historians. It mustn't become a new focus for fascists.
[speaker003:] How should today's young Germans treat Hitler's legacy — should his bunker be bulldozered for good, or preserved as a warning of the evils he stood for?
[speaker006:] Either course will spark protest and that's why fifty years later, the ruins remain — a perverse tribute to the ruined state to which Hitler left Germany.
[speaker001:] You're watching a review of the week's news from I T N. Fears grew for the tens of thousands of pelicans which are in danger of dying of thirst in Australia, as the country began recovering from devastating floods. An estimated two hundred thousand birds, eighty percent of the country's pelican population, have made an unusual detour in their migration, stopping at Lake Eyre in south Australia. There the waters are evaporating and supplies of fresh fish are dwindling. Chris Clark compiled this report at I T N on Monday.
[speaker007:] Australia's newest and largest pelican colony in the normally dry saltpan of Lake Eyre in inland Australia. Filled for the first time in twenty years, Lake Eyre became a rich source of food, attracting tens of thousands of birds whose closest usual breeding area is five hundred miles to the south. But now the water's evaporating, killing the tiny fish that brought the birds here in the first place, and as the food source disappears, many birds are dying. The young, unable to fly away, must rely on their parents making a two hundred and fifty mile round trip to other lakes and rivers to find food. Fresh water from the recently flooded east coast of Australia is heading towards Lake Eyre, but this will take months to arrive and it'll be too late for many of the thirty thousand chicks in the colony. If the food supply runs too low, many of the adults will be forced to simply abandon their young. This mass migration to the inland has only been recorded three times in the past century, and scientists are tagging thousands of birds, you attempt to get a log of the pelican's travels and try to understand what makes them leave their normally safe havens.
[speaker001:] The Hubble telescope was put into orbit from the American space shuttle Discovery. Its two solar rings will give it power for fifteen years to send back the closest and clearest pictures of the universe ever seen. Ken Rees sent this report from the United States on Wednesday.
[speaker008:] For astronomers around the world, it was the moment of the century. It may have been seven years late and a billion dollars over budget, but the Hubble space telescope was lifting out of the shuttle cargo bay and on its way to orbit at last, ready to look back across the universe to the very beginnings of time. Before the telescope could be deployed, two huge solar panels had to be unfurled.
[speaker004:] Houston to Discovery. It looks like motion's stopped with just about one panel showing.
[speaker008:] Two astronauts stood ready for their space walk and repair mission, but the problem was solved and the solar rays rolled into position. It's now being moved into its final orbit, three hundred and eighty miles above the earth. The telescope is powerful enough to detect the glow of a firefly ten thousand miles away, but it will detect light from fourteen billion years away, close to the presumed creation of the universe in a giant cosmic explosion.
[speaker005:] Discovery, go for Hubble release.
[speaker006:] Okay we have a 'go'for release and we're going to be a minute.
[speaker008:] Soon the telescope should begin sending back extraordinary pictures of other galaxies. It's the biggest step forward in astronomy since Galileo first used a crude telescope four hundred years ago.
[speaker001:] Now, our special report in which we take a closer look at a topical issue. Architects and developers are submitting ambitious plans for what's become one of the most valuable stretches of land in Europe. One hundred and forty kilometres long and up to eight hundred and fifty metres wide, the no man's land between the east and west sides of the Berlin wall is now available for development. There is controversy over what should be built on ground which includes sensitive sites from Berlin's war time history. I T N's arts correspondent, Fiona Murch reported from Berlin on the search for suitable ways to link the two very different halves of the city.
[speaker009:] This century alone, Berlin has had an extraordinary history — a natural, social, cultural and political centre, because of its location at the crossroads of east and west Europe. The wall which divided the city limited its development. Now Berliners aim to realise the potential that's eluded them since the war, and the development of no man's land is crucial; the practical realisation of unification, and it's fraught with problems.
[speaker010:] Just as the wall belongs to every Berliner on both sides, East and West, so does the entire site which, which now is left fallow so to speak.
[speaker009:] At the time of division, the two halves of the city were very different; the Soviet east hung on to the imperial Prussian centre, the West acquired the western shopping and residential areas. Either side of the wall, architectural development matched politics; the free-thinking west versus the conformist east. The capitalist West of the city is happy to embrace the socialist East, but worries about the latter's commercial naivety. There's concern that the authorities in the East might be exploited by foreign investors racing to acquire parts of the increasingly valuable empty sites. To protect their joint interests, the West Berlin summit has detailed Rainer Emmenlauer one of their own development consultants to act as an advisor to their colleagues in the East.
[speaker001:] Our advice is to take time to find out what they really want before they give away the sites to the private investors, because when they have done this, they can't erm participate in what is really developing.
[speaker009:] The Reichstag, once the seat of government in a united Berlin, dominates one end of the most valuable tract of land under discussion. In the land behind me, in what used to be no man's land is hidden the bunker where Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide at the end of the war. There are still rooms underground. Ignored until now, redevelopment is forcing Berlin to confront its history practically. Build over and forget, or preserve and remember, there are dangers in both. It's an emotive issue and raises questions like whether it's appropriate that a company such as Daimler-Benz which played a major role in the Third Reich, should be allowed as they want to, to build their headquarters near Hitler's bunker. Controversy rages, but there is at least agreement that the sensitive sites should be preserved.
[speaker002:] Just in this area which has been the centre of terror of erm the nazis and of the Hitler regime. erm We should make our history visible.
[speaker009:] But before any dreams can be realised, there's the question of land rights to be resolved. Potentially the most valuable site in Europe, there are many claimants.
[speaker003:] For the area on the west side, we have different owners, erm but also erm the state of Berlin has an owner and for the east side, we also have different owners erm just like the others and this is a very acute legal problem for East Berlin and G D R.
[speaker009:] Architects on both sides of the wall are worried that racing to provide the new capital, the politicians are not taking time to consult Berlin's architects about the problems on either side of the wall. There'll be a competition to design the new centre, but the architects feel they should help establish the winning criteria. Just as the architecture built in the last thirty years in East and West Berlin reflects the different societies, so will what is to be built, play a part in determining the future of the united city. And so those architects who remember the Third Reich are fearful of the politician's desire to build on an imperial scale. But the pressure is on to re-create past glories, to think big like the extraordinary Grand Hotel in East Berlin, built just a few years ago. Ultimately, the decision rests with politicians, and they want a city that could be a great capital of Europe.
[speaker001:] That was a review of the week's news from I T N; from London, goodbye. [recorded jingle]
[speaker004:] Hello and welcome to this review of the week from Independent Television News in London. I'm Brenda Row, and these were the headlines: widespread protest in Israel and the occupied territories after Palestinians are killed by an Israeli; allegations of fraud as National Salvation Front wins Romanian elections, and seven die in an upsurge of violence in South Africa. First, there's been an increase in tension in the Middle East after an Israeli gunman shot dead seven Palestinian workers outside Tel Aviv at the weekend. At least fourteen more Palestinians were killed in subsequent clashes with the security forces and eight hundred were wounded; the clashes spilled over from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip to Arab areas of Israel. The army imposed curfews on the occupied lands, and one and a half million Palestinians were confined to their homes. In the Jordanian capital Amman, a Palestinian armed with a pistol and a knife attacked a group of French tourists, and the Jordanian police shot and killed two youths during a protest by tens of thousands of Palestinians. Brent Sadler sent this report from Israel on Sunday.
[speaker005:] Palestinian shock at the unprovoked killings quickly turned to anger. An eruption of violent anti-Israeli protest spread throughout the Gaza Strip where the Arab victims lived. Thousands of Palestinians fled their jobs in Israel and returned home, denouncing the shootings as a massacre of innocents, and calling on Arabs to observe three black days of mourning. Clashes with the army escalated rapidly; curfew orders were defied as stone throwers confronted army vehicles and pelted low flying helicopters with rocks; parts of Gaza blackened by burning protest tyres, were out of control. It was no different in the occupied West Bank where the protesters soon came up against army reinforcements. The Palestinian death count grew steadily, at least four were shot dead here in Gaza, and a line of stretchers, with hundreds more wounded Gazans piled into local hospitals. It was the bloodiest day in two and a half years of Arab protest against Israeli protest against Israeli rule, triggered off when a twenty one year old Israeli machine-gunned seven Arabs to death on a sandy road embankment outside Tel Aviv. Survivors thought their vehicles had been stopped for a security check; the shock of what they'd seen sent this young Palestinian into deep trauma. All the victims were shot from close range in the stomach and chest; the crime of a single madman according to Israel's Prime Minister.
[speaker003:] I hope that the Palestinian-Arab population will not erm utilise this atmosphere for increasing violence and bloodshed.
[speaker005:] No sooner had he spoken than Israeli peace activists enraged by the governments right wing policies, clashed with police in Jerusalem. The spectre of re-ignited conflict inside Israel, with Palestinian sorrow and fury outside, threatening to escalate violence and putting back the chances of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue still further.
[speaker004:] Several countries condemned the level of force used by Israel in the occupied territories. The American State Department said the lack of a viable peace process in the Middle East increased the danger that such incidents would provoke a spiral of violence. The United Nations Security Council met in special session to discuss the crisis. Liz Donnelly compiled this report in London on Monday.
[speaker006:] Israel's relationship with the United States is, just beneath the surface, under considerable strain. For the time being, the American peace plan has been killed off by the Labour Party's failure to form a government. Yet the United States subsidises Israel to the tune of four billion dollars a year, and Congress recently voted an extra four hundred million dollars in aid, to help settle the influx of Soviet Jews. The leading Republican Senator, Robert Dole caused uproar in Israel when he suggested this money shouldn't be taken for granted, but there's no sign the Bush administration is prepared to use this muscle. It is the lobby, in Congress and outside of Congress, it's still strong, the pro-Israel lobby, although now it's more divided than in the past, not unconditionally supporting everything that Tel Aviv does. On the other hand there's a certain inertia principle operating, it is always easier for an administration to do less than to do more in dealing with the Middle East, and especially with the central Palestine problem. Yitsak Shamir looks set to form Israel's next government; he's likely to take a hard line. Former Defence Minister Ariel Sharon discredited during the war in Lebanon, possibly back in a prominent post.
[speaker004:] President Mubarak of Egypt warned that the continued emigration of Soviet Jews to Israel, could spark a new war in the Middle East. He said the influx threatened the march towards peace, putting the whole region on the verge of a new bloody confrontation. Tim Ewart reported on Friday on the reasons behind the large scale emigration of Soviet Jews to Israel.
[speaker007:] Morning prayers at the Jewish synagogue; morning lessons at the Jewish school which operates on the balcony above. For years Judaism was suppressed in the Soviet Union, practised behind closed doors, and often in fear. The school was allowed to open only nine months ago. Glasnost has given Soviet Jews new freedoms, new confidence and new fears. These men are members of the anti-semitic Russian Nationalist movement, Pamyet, or memory; groups like this have benefited from Glasnost too. Prejudices, which in sterner communist days were officially taboo, have now burst into the open.
[speaker001:] It's a country where everybody hates everybody, for erm national erm point of view of your nationality, it's a hopeless situation.
[speaker007:] And so with most immigration restrictions now lifted, the Jews are fleeing. Fifty thousand went to America last year, the stricter regulations there have switched attention to Israel, which expects three quarters of a million in the next five years. They're fleeing a country where there are now frequent rumours of pogroms, and where Jews routinely suffer open abuse.
[speaker008:] On the wall opposite our windows there was an ins, an inscription erm made in English by the way — kill Jews.
[speaker007:] English teacher Natasha Kopilov, her husband Misha and fifteen year old son Yuri, leave for Israel next month. Defending a Jewish school friend has taught Yuri all about anti-semitism.
[speaker009:] His classmates started, started to curse erm to curse him and to humiliate him I think from the first or the second grade, and erm he was my friend, I had to, to fight for him.
[speaker007:] And so as their freedoms increase, their numbers dwindle. There remain just two million Jews in the Soviet Union; some predict that before long, there'll be hardly any at all.
[speaker004:] You're watching a review of the week's news from I T N. Official Romanian election results have confirmed a landslide win for President Ion Iliescu and his National Salvation Front. But the main opposition party say they may take legal action because they suspect fraud. International observers say the election was free from serious malpractice. Paul Davis reported from Bucharest on Monday.
[speaker010:] Celebrations began at the headquarters of the Salvation Front as the exit polls predicted more than eighty per cent of votes had been captured by Front leader, Ion Iliescu, in the three candidate race for the presidency. As counting got underway, the election was being given qualified approval by international observers.
[speaker005:] Five months since the most vicious dictator in Europe was in charge here, it's not surprising they didn't move to anything which was electorally perfect. I think it's a step towards the democracy the people in this country want.
[speaker010:] Present party leader Yon Ratiu continued to complain of dirty tricks by the Front.
[speaker001:] Cheating, I mean out and out cheating, that's what it is.
[speaker010:] In Bucharest's university square, scene of anti-front demonstrations for more than a month now, the debate continued with more accusations of electoral malpractice by the front.
[speaker002:] Judging from December, they, they started to lie, and they lied us again and again.
[speaker010:] In their encampment in the square, the hunger strikers said they would continue their protest against a new administration they describe as merely the old regime under a different name. Despite all the protest that his Salvation Front was too closely linked with the old communists, President Iliescu now almost certainly has a clear mandate to govern Romania. The first test of his promise that the bad old days are gone will be the manner in which he treats people like these, who continue to exercise their right to criticise his government.
[speaker004:] Nelson Mandela, the deputy president of the African National Congress, warned that efforts to end apartheid would collapse, unless the South African government ended violence by the security forces. Mr Mandela was speaking after the killing of seven blacks by police in a township near Welkom, in Orange Free State. Welkom has become a flashpoint in a nationwide confrontation between militant blacks and whites over President de Klerk's reforms. I T N's Southern Africa correspondent, Kevin Dunne, reported from Welkom on Monday.
[speaker003:] As the death toll rose from yesterday's police shooting, there were renewed clashes in Welkom's tense black township; youths burned and stoned vehicles, police responded with shotgun fire. Several more protesters were wounded, and a former local councillor was murdered by a mob for his association with apartheid authorities. Blacks accused the police of acting against them and not against armed white vigilantes.
[speaker010:] These erm white guys were shoot, were pointing firearms at our people. Instead of stopping them, they shot at our people who were not fighting. So all I mean is, erm these police are actually fighting us, in favour of the vigilantes.
[speaker003:] It was the appearance of the vigilantes in Welkom's white neighbourhoods, which heightened racial tension two months ago; blacks responded to vigilante attacks by boycotting white businesses, then last week on the goldmines, the flashpoint for tension — two white mineworkers were killed by black miners. The whites of Welkom buried those men today. It is in communities like these, Afrikaaner, deeply conservative, that opposition to President de Klerk's reforms is growing. So too is the threat of paramilitary force from whites who want to cling to apartheid. The violence and the killing are fuelling extremist factions and providing a pretext for men like vigilante leader, Hennie Muller.
[speaker004:] erm I think there's a war going on in Welkom now. In the black townships there is so much black on black violence, I think we can call it a war.
[speaker003:] And is there black against white warfare?
[speaker004:] erm Not at this time, but erm we expect them.
[speaker003:] Tonight the black township was sealed off to whites, but the potential for further clashes remained high. The government's fear is that there may be many more Welkoms waiting to happen, and if racial conflict does spread in South Africa, it could seriously unsettle a delicate process of change which is underway.
[speaker004:] The United Nations Secretary General, Javier Perez del Cuellar asked the Security Council to hold talks on a decision by the Nicaraguan Contra rebels to postpone their demobilisation. Meanwhile the new government of Violetta Chamorro successfully defused a week-long strike by leftist opponents. Rochelle Wilson reported last Thursday.
[speaker005:] It's estimated that some fifty thousand workers took part in the strike, which paralysed the country and threw the new government of Senora Chamorro into crisis. Factories were closed, industry shut down and central government came to a halt; there was no transport and the supermarket shelves emptied. The government accused the opposition Sandanistas of orchestrating the strike; they lost the February elections after ten years of socialist rule, but they still have supporters in key positions. Three days before the agreement was reached, the government tried strong arm tactics declaring the strike illegal and threatening to sack workers unless they returned within twenty four hours. But Senora Chamorro back-tracked and offered talks; the former left wing President welcomed the move.
[speaker001:] We are not interested in the collapse of this government, we're interested in the stability of Nicaragua, but not at the expense of the worker's interests.
[speaker002:] The national situation is very tense with these flights; if they keep putting kindling under the pot, it might explode.
[speaker005:] The talks produced a package including a one hundred per cent wage increase for public sector workers and a commitment that no strikers would be victimised. But the dispute also made it clear to President Chamorro that the Nicaraguan left is still a force to be reckoned with.
[speaker004:] Clashes between police and radical students broke out in the South Korean city of Kwangju. The demonstrations marked the tenth anniversary of an uprising when at least two hundred people were killed by the security forces. Student leaders vowed to continue anti-American protest because of Washington's alleged role in condoning repression. Caroline Finnigan reported on Friday.
[speaker006:] At least a hundred thousand people took part in a peaceful rally on the streets of Kwangju, marking the army's suppression of the nineteen eighty uprising. After the march came the violence as groups of students and other protesters confronted police; tear gas was used against them. At one point, a crowd ten thousand strong was involved in the clashes, petrol bombs and stones were thrown. Scuffles continued through the night. President Roe Tae Woo is not only facing such demonstrations, but an economy that is under severe pressure. Fifteen thousand car workers went on strike this week, the stockmarket fell to its lowest point in eighteen months and property speculation has forced rents beyond the reach of many. Massive economic growth made the country think it was going to be the next Japan. Public expectations ran high; consumerism reigned. Now workers say management created South Korea's problems by not investing profits into expansion; management say workers wanted too much money. Economic unease may be fuelling discontent, but ten years ago, the Kwangju demonstration was sparked by a crackdown on political dissent. The protest spread to the capital Seoul and other parts of the country. Officially the death toll was two hundred; unofficially it was estimated at thousands.
[speaker004:] Animal rights campaigners in the United States say fashionable breeds of dog are being mass-produced in kennels which are more like factory farms. They claim the animals often suffer from deformities and illnesses, and bitches are shot when they're no longer able to produce puppies. Ken Reece sent this report from the United States on Friday.
[speaker008:] The American Kennel Club registers one million new dogs a year. All, like these picture perfect Labradors, going to new owners who believe their dream puppy came to them from a caring environment. But most people never visit the actual kennels, buying their puppy in a pet shop, often on impulse; the original doggy in the window. Now a shocking report has revealed that most of these dogs are mass produced in hundreds of rural puppy factories, conditions have been likened to concentration camps for animals. The dogs live in appalling conditions, open to the weather, walking on wires, lying on excrement, they rarely exercise and often make pathetic attempts to escape. The woman on the right is rescuing a dog from a factory breeder, her vet found a listless, zombie-like animal with multiple problems.
[speaker007:] The ears are thickened, they're cracking, they're bleeding, they itch and they hurt; she almost scratched a hole on the outside of her ear because it hurt so much. As these little guys walk on, on solid ground, their nails push their wrists back, hyper-flex that wrist, and that is, that's almost crippling, they can hardly walk.
[speaker008:] And the puppies produced this way often have genetic defects from in- breeding.
[speaker004:] Thousands of illegal immigrants in Japan have surrendered to police and asked to be deported, before a new anti-immigration law comes into effect. The law will impose three-year jail terms and heavy fines.
[speaker008:] Every day, anything up to a thousand illegal Asian workers are crowding into Tokyo's main immigration bureau, asking to be deported. Many have been living for years in a shadowy, illegal world, doing the jobs that affluent Japanese now shun. For them, Japan was a magnet, promising them wages many times what they could earn at home, but according to one Pakistani worker who yesterday decided to speak out publicly, the reality was very different.
[speaker009:] They saw us just like we were jungle animals, jungle animals they treat us. We have no rights here, we have no liberty here, we have nothing here.
[speaker008:] But many Japanese industries are desperate for Asian workers, decades of economic growth have left the country with a severe labour shortage, the construction industry in particular, wants Asians to be allowed in legally, though many ordinary Japanese are horrified at the prospect of that.
[speaker010:] The annual frog-jumping contest in America's midwest suffered a plague of imposters this year. One owner imported giant African frogs to compete with the humble local bullfrogs. But as Roger Livingston reported on Friday, the final results surprised everyone. The Callaveros County frog jumping contest was immortalised by the American novelist, Mark Twain. They measure the total distance of three jumps by the frog, it doesn't matter how far the owner leaps. When the giant African frogs appeared, everyone thought this years contest was a foregone conclusion. Many feared they'd simply eat up the opposition, and with feet the size of human hands and powerful legs to go with them, the records looked set to be broken. But under pressure to perform, they flopped. All but three of the down-home American bullfrogs leapt further, creating waves of excitement. The eventual winner — Mr Wizard, his three leaps totalled just under six metres.
[speaker004:] Now our special report in which we take a closer look at an issue in the news. The latest problem to befall Mr Gorbachov's struggle to promote peristroika, or restructuring, has arisen in the vast Soviet agricultural community. Farmers in one of the most important regions are threatening a strike unless Mr Gorbachov meets their demands for higher prices. They also want more state investment in agriculture and an end to central planning. The farmers are the latest group of workers to threaten industrial action. David Smith reported on Monday from the farmlands of Yarislavl north of Moscow, where the unrest began.
[speaker001:] The old Russian city of Yarislavl once the country's cultural and religious capital; today a farming centre. This part of the Soviet Union, has always been self-sufficient, now people talk of hunger, even malnutrition. Shortages have become a way of life here, to find these people queueing for staple products shows just how desperate the situation has become. It's a crisis about to get worse, because the farmers of Yarislavl are set to go on strike, if their demands aren't met, then one of the largest agricultural centres in the country will cut supplies of milk, poultry and meat. It'll be the first farmers strike in the history of the Soviet Union, and it's already prompting strike calls elsewhere; in the farming capitals of the Caucasus and the Ukraine.
[speaker008:] The main reasons over their peasant's strike are: it is unjust, unfair prices, because the prices for the agricultural products and goods are too low and the prices for technics are too high.
[speaker001:] This is the Kratolsov collective farm, the biggest in the Yarislavl region. What's happened here is typical of the crisis peristroika has created; the farmers are caught in no mans land, between the free market and old style Marxism. Two years ago, such farms were told to be self-sustaining, self- financing, many state subsidies were withdrawn, yet here today they're still working to a central plan which dictates how much they produce and how much they're paid for it, so decades of mismanagement are compounded by a lack of funds. Pavel Penkin is the strike leader, what farmers want he says is a massive injection of state investment to enable them to compete in the new free market and improve their lot. If they don't, then he says the countryside will be stripped of it's most important resource — people to work the land.
[speaker002:] Speaks in Russian.
[speaker001:] The peasant class, the backbone of any revolution, feels exploited, and that's the basis for this revolt. Plus this means that the strike committee can go public with it's grievances, and in the past few days, the farmers and the authorities have been debating the issues on local television. The man representing the government washed his hands of responsibility, he could do nothing to meet the striker's demands, he said, because Moscow wouldn't let him.
[speaker009:] Speaks in Russian.
[speaker001:] If there's one hope in the farming community these days, it lies in the private tenant farming, which began under Gorbachov. The private farmers pay more for everything than the collectives, labour materials, taxes, yet they're beginning to turn a profit from the soil. In Yarislavl the cooperative farms now supply the small private markets that have grown in the past year, the quality and variety of the produce on sale here, clear evidence of the sad truth, that hunger in a place like this is a scandal. Yet even the cooperative farmers say they'll now support the strike. A year ago, it was the miners who went on strike, today it's the farmers who can wait no more.
[speaker004:] That was a review of the weeks news from I T N, from London, goodbye. [recorded jingle]
[speaker003:] Hello and welcome to this review of the week from Independent Television News in London. I'm Christabel King and these were the headlines: Boris Yeltsin wins crucial vote to become President of the Russian Federation; the I R A kills two Australian tourists in the Netherlands, and the opposition takes the lead in Burma's elections. But first, Boris Yeltsin the man sacked by President Gorbachov as Moscow Communist Party Chief, has been elected leader of the Russian Federation; Soviet Union's largest and most powerful Republic. Mr Yeltsin secured the required number of votes in his third attempt in four days, just as President Gorbachov flew off for a visit to Canada prior to his summit with President Bush in America. The result confirmed Mr Yeltsin as the leading figure among radicals who want to speed up the process of reform, and who believe President Gorbachov is not moving fast enough to dismantle the old system. Boris Yeltsin, a political outcast two years ago, was swept back into high political office; a unique and turbulent political career, capped now with the presidency of the powerful Russian Republic. Outside the Kremlin he was mobbed by supporters, for many, disillusioned with the system, cynical about Gorbachov's intentions, Yeltsin is their last hope for real political change. Supporters tearful, this woman saying that Russia had been reborn, that she'd never known such happiness. The vote, when it came, broke five days of deadlock for a post that will give Yeltsin no executive powers, but huge authority and the opportunity to help set a new political agenda for the Russian parliament. He responded with a warning and a promise; a warning he'll defend Russia's interests, a promise of dialogue with Gorbachov.
[speaker004:] If erm they would continue confrontation, erm it would be taken very badly by the population. If they, they demonstrate good consensus, they will both win in the public opinion enormously.
[speaker003:] Just off Red Square, crowds gathered to celebrate. Many expressed the feeling that Gorbachov is now more vulnerable than ever before, and that Yeltsin has a unique platform from which to attack the Soviet leadership. Whether Gorbachov's tattered image at home will benefit from his visit to North America, is increasingly in doubt; for those here, nothing can hide the failure of his domestic reform programme, and the economic part of that programme was again under debate in the Supreme Soviet. This parliament, which represents all fifteen Republics, voted to delay any decision to liberalise the economy, evidence again say Gorbachov's critics, that reforms are going nowhere fast. For the fourth day the Soviet Prime Minister Nikolai Ryskov, was still pressing deputies to accept a huge increase in prices as a painful first step. And so as the Soviet President left Moscow, shaking hands with Politburo members, he leaves behind a political challenge and an economic crisis; it threatens everything he's fought for. President Gorbachov left many other domestic troubles at home as he flew to North America. In the republic of Armenia, more than twenty people died in clashes between Soviet troops and Armenian nationalists. The clashes turned celebrations to mark Armenia's independence into a day of mourning. The worst trouble was in and around the capital Yeravan; Armenia declared itself independent in nineteen eighteen, but was annexed by the Soviet Union two years later. Derek Williamson compiled this report in London on Monday.
[speaker010:] The civil war in Armenia has now lasted over two years, and some Soviet commentators make bitter comparisons with Lebanon. Most of the latest casualties were civilians, shot by anti-riot forces sent in by the Kremlin, in advance of Monday's Independence Day celebrations. But instead of preventing bloodshed, their presence seemed to provoke it; two soldiers were also reported killed. Most of the deaths occurred in Yeravan's southern suburbs as Armenian militants tried to stop the advance of tanks and troops. Doctors who tried to help the wounded were caught in the crossfire, and in some places ambulances also came under attack. The mayor of Yeravan used his official car to evacuate some of the wounded. At the railway station in the centre of Yeravan, workers cleaned up after violence at the weekend; six militants died here in a shootout with troops. Tanks now patrol the city centre, and instead of a celebration of their Independence Day, Armenian nationalists were holding a day of mourning
[speaker003:] The Irish Republican Army admitted responsibility for the killing of two Australian tourists in the Netherlands. A spokesman for the I R A said its active service unit had tragically mistaken them for British soldiers. Dutch police believe the attackers had been confused by British licence plates on the car. Robert Hall reported from Roermond in the Netherlands on Monday.
[speaker005:] The party of young Australians had been out for a meal, and had stopped to take photographs, when Roermond's market square echoed to gunfire. Stephen Melrose and Nick Spanos died within minutes as a gunman fired at least twelve shots at close range.
[speaker006:] One man was outside, two were sitting inside, the men were completely black, so black trousers, black hats and they had a black cape over it, over their faces so you couldn't see who they were, and one of them just had this gun in his hand, and fired at this Citroen here located.
[speaker005:] The stolen Mazda getaway car was found burnt out two hours later. It had crossed the border into Belgium before police could seal the town; at a press conference there were denials that border security had been lax.
[speaker001:] Against erm murderers of this type where a certain insanity isn't erm far away, it's erm not very easy to erm protect ourselves.
[speaker005:] This attack will re-awaken criticism over the army's decision to issue service personnel with UK civilian style number plates; a scheme intended to offer extra protection, but which critics claimed would lead to civilian casualties.
[speaker003:] The military government in Burma said it would hand over power to the pro-democracy opposition which took an overwhelming lead in the elections for the National Assembly. The main opposition group, the National League for Democracy, said it expected to have an absolute majority when the final results are compiled in about three weeks. Rochelle Wilson in London reported on Monday.
[speaker005:] The first National Assembly elections in thirty years appear to have given the opposition an overwhelming lead. The military leader, General Saw Maung said he'd abide by the outcome.
[speaker006:] Whoever wins, that's not my business, [LAUGHTER].
[speaker005:] But the military were accused of intimidation by the opposition; their role in putting down the pro-democracy uprising in nineteen eighty eight, hasn't been forgotten. The election watchdog commission rejected the charges.
[speaker004:] We are confident that our elections are free and fair; it's nobody business outside Burma.
[speaker005:] Nonetheless, the opposition's most prominent figures were banned for standing. Aun San Suu Kiy the popular leader of the National League for Democracy, was kept under house arrest, though she was allowed to cast her vote in a sealed envelope. The military place strict limits on the size and location of election rallies, and campaign speeches had to be approved by government centres. You, you could call it fair, but erm it's rather restricted. Oh we can't do the campaigning like you do in the west. The opposition are by no means confident that the military leadership will hand over power once the results are through. They've promised to do so as soon as a new constitution has been written, but western diplomats say that could take up to two years.
[speaker003:] You're watching a review of the week's news from I T N. The winner of Columbia's presidential election has promised to continue the war against the country's drugs cartels. Cesar Gaviria, the candidate of the ruling Liberal Party, won forty seven per cent of the vote; the right wing National Salvation Movement had twenty four per cent and the former left wing guerrilla group M-nineteen, came in third with thirteen per cent. Colline Johnson reported on Monday.
[speaker007:] The relatives of the President elect were testing out their new roles at the victory party; Senor Gaviria now has a clear mandate to continue the crackdown launched by the outgoing President. In his acceptance speech, he called on industrialised countries to take steps to reduce worldwide demand for cocaine, he also ruled out pardons for drug traffickers, and said he'd maintain extradition agreements. This has been the bloodiest election campaign in Columbian history; in the last nine months, some two thousand people have died, including three presidential candidates. Several hundred thousand soldiers were deployed at ballot stations around the country, but less than half the eligible voters turned out. In a surprise result, the left wing M-nineteen group, led by Antonio Navarro, polled third place. If the government opts to include these former guerrillas in a National Unity Administration; the President will be free to concentrate efforts on dealing with the cocaine traffickers. But in the drugs capital of Medilline, the daily killings continue, the drug cartels are reportedly planning a fresh offensive, before the new administration can tighten its grip on the country.
[speaker003:] The South African President, F W de Klerk, accused the country's leading right wing movement of becoming irresponsible, undemocratic and dangerous. His attack on the Conservative Party followed the biggest ever rally in support of apartheid; tens of thousands of whites gathered in the capital Pretoria to denounce Mr de Klerk's reform programme, they called for elections to test its popularity. Kevin Dunn reported from South Africa on Saturday. In the shadow of their ancestors, right wing Afrikaaners muster to protest at their governments so-called betrayal of the white man, but the man responsible, President F W de Klerk, was himself being welcomed from a successful tour of Europe, where he said 'South Africa's commitment to reform was believed'. But beneath the monument to Afrikaanerdom, the racist right wing were staging their biggest demonstration yet. This is the culmination of a campaign to mobilise white opinion against President de Klerk's reforms, and to launch what they're calling the third freedom struggle of the Boer Nation. Their ideal is a white fatherland, the consecration of apartheid in their own nation, and they pledged to fight for it.
[speaker006:] We shall not accept the threatened destruction of our nation's freedom, but will fight to restore that which has already been unjustly, been given away.
[speaker003:] The response then of these people to reform and negotiation — a resounding No. The leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Yasser Arafat, accused the United States of providing flagrant support for the settlement of Soviet Jews in Israel. At a meeting of the Arab League in Baghdad, he attacked America for tightening its own entry policy, forcing the Jews to emigrate to Israel. Up to five hundred Soviets arrive every day, and it's the Israeli government's policy of settling them in the occupied territories of the West Bank that cause most Arab hostility. Brent Sadler reported on Tuesday.
[speaker005:] Within twenty five years, these Palestinian babies could live in a society where Arabs match Jews, one for one. Gaza women give birth on average, nine times, one of the highest birth rates in the world. Jewish mothers have no more than three children on average. Every one hundred thousand Soviet immigrants delays by one year the deadline, soon they will be pouring in at the record rate of twenty a thousand month. Danny Yushiskin and his wife in Tel Aviv await their parent's arrival from Leningrad; their home will be in the Israeli town of Ariel, a settlement town in the occupied West Bank. But according to Israeli officials, most of the Soviets choose to live here in Tel Aviv or Haifa in Israel proper, and that only a fraction, less than one per cent, go to the occupied territories. But even a trickle of new settlers like the Yushiskins, argue the P L O, is a serious threat.
[speaker010:] There will be a war between the Arabs and Israel; they are a threat to the Arab world. So that's the danger of these people.
[speaker005:] Israel is thrilled at the pace of absorption, and accuses the Arab world of manufacturing false conflict and fear; a conflict that is whipping up greater hostility among two peoples who claim the same land.
[speaker003:] You're watching a review of the week's news from I T N. Olympic officials in the United States have warned athletes that a wonder drug they're using to boost performances, could be lethal. It's been described as the perfect drug for cheats, but the International Olympic Committee has banned it. Ken Rees reported from the United States on Friday.
[speaker008:] Most athletes win honestly, but some will do anything to finish ahead of the pack, even using illegal drugs. Erythropoietin gives the cheaters a new and potentially deadly weapon; the synthetic hormone is used to treat kidney dialysis patients. It's ability to boost the production of red blood cells can also have an extraordinary effect on an athlete, increasing his aerobic capacity, and dramatically improving speed and endurance. I think it's a potential nightmare on the horizon. I think erm it's going to supersede erm anabolic steroids. Swedish researchers tested the drug on volunteers, like ten kilometre runner Manos Flink.
[speaker009:] I erm run about erm ten kilometres and with this E P O, I run about two and a half — three minutes faster than before.
[speaker008:] Such an improvement would rewrite the record books, taking perhaps ten minutes off a runner's marathon time, but E P O can also be deadly, leading to heart attacks and strokes in apparently healthy people. The mystery deaths of at least seven leading Dutch cyclists, led to speculation that some of those deaths might be linked to E P O. But now a test for the drug is years away, and for those athletes desperate enough to win, only their own sense of honour would stop them using it. Ken Rees, I T N, Washington.
[speaker003:] Immigration officials off the north coast of Australia have stepped up their efforts to intercept boat people arriving from Vietnam. In the late seventies, the authorities allowed many refugees to stay, but now they've adopted a tougher policy. Roger Maynard sent this report from Sydney on Thursday.
[speaker005:] Australia is used to refugees seeking sanctuary; thousands made their way here after the Vietnam War. Now, after a lull of several years, the boat people are heading for Australia again, this time from Cambodia. In the past few months, nearly two hundred have successfully made the dangerous voyage south; most head for the north-western Australia port of Broom, where they're interviewed by immigration officials. They have to prove they left Cambodia for political, not economic reasons, before being allowed to stay. It's a process that can take up to six months, but all this has not deterred hundreds more refugees from attempting the hazardous journey south. Australian coastguards make daily air patrols in an effort to spot incoming craft. Now with the monsoon season over, and several more boatloads of Cambodians reported on their way by Indonesian officials, Australian immigration authorities are preparing for yet another major influx of refugees.
[speaker003:] Fifty years ago, the British expeditionary force fighting the German army in France, was driven back to the beaches of the town of Dunkirk. An armada of small private boats and a flotilla of naval vessels sailed to the rescue; more than three hundred and fifty thousand men were saved, men who were able to return to the battle against Hitler's armies in Europe and Africa. Veterans of the evacuation held a commemoration ceremony on Sunday, and I T N's Robert Hall was with them.
[speaker005:] Fifty years ago they would have said this trip was impossible; crouching on beaches, men in their teens and early twenties had believed they would never see another dawn. Today, the near miracle of Dunkirk drew its pilgrims back to face their memories.
[speaker002:] erm It means a lot to me, the people we lost, and erm this is why it is a pilgrimage, for myself.
[speaker005:] On Dunkirk's sunlit main street, Sid Carter marched again with five thousand of those who did make it back; old friends reunited, new friendships established, and all remembering a very different June day. Off Dunkirk's beaches, a unique sight; fifty years on, the little ships were back, forming a circle to stage their own remembrance ceremony. Prayers too for those who were lost; the fire tender Massie Shaw, paying her own tribute. At the edge of the sands, men who were rescued, turning their heads towards the fleet and recalling once more lost comrades.
[speaker003:] Now our special report where we take an in-depth look at an issue in the news. The World Cup Soccer Championship begins in early June in Italy, and an I T N investigation has revealed that hooligans are planning big trouble. One of the main battlegrounds is expected to be the island of Sardinia, which will host England, the Netherlands, Ireland and Egypt. Groups of thugs, especially from England, openly boast that they're going to the World Cup to fight their rivals. I T N's Robert Parker went to the Netherlands, England and Sardinia to compile this report.
[speaker010:] Are you going to Italy?
[speaker008:] For the Holland game, yes.
[speaker010:] I mean, do, do you think there's going to be trouble?
[speaker008:] I hope there is.
[speaker010:] You hope there is?
[speaker009:] Italy are going to be defending their territory, they've got all these teams in their country, and like, some of them; England, Holland, German, they're going to like be there on Italian sort of territory and they don't want that, they're going to be, there's going to be trouble I think.
[speaker001:] English fans have at the moment, the reputation of being the top boys in Europe, and there will be others from Holland, Germany and erm let's face it, also Italy who'll be out to knock them off their pedestal.
[speaker010:] At the moment, most attention is focused on the island of Sardinia, where in Caliari, England will play Ireland, Holland and Egypt in the first round. The supporters from three of these teams have a history of violence; in Cairo, riot police are nearly always on hand, and even referees need protection from death threats. In Holland, supporters often use firework bombs, which have caused serious injuries; the violence of Dutch football supporters is just as great as anything in England, and with these two teams meeting, the expectation of violence is high.
[speaker002:] Contact has been made between the Dutch and the English hooligans and arrangements are in hand to erm effect meetings in Sardinia, yes.
[speaker010:] Is that a nice way of saying that there's going to be a lot of fighting, is that what they've been planning?
[speaker002:] Yes, yes, our intelligence is that erm planned meetings, in other words, planned violence is in the pipeline for Sardinia, which means the Dutch and English fans.
[speaker010:] But when we went to Holland, a rather different picture emerged. The Dutch are relaxed about many social issues, including it seems, football violence. At one of the most notorious ground in the Hague, fans have been allowed to celebrate the violence of the game in a graffiti art form around the north side of the ground. The fans are equipped with baseball bats and knives; the club's symbol, a pelican has a bomb attached to its foot, and this presumably rival supporter has had his eye gouged out. Surprisingly, the supporters who occupy these terraces, anticipate much less trouble than English supporters.
[speaker003:] I think they just want to see the football, I don't think there are going to be any riots; there's no organisation, no just going for the fun.
[speaker010:] I mean, it's said that some English and some Dutch fans are getting together to plan trouble. You haven't heard of anything like that at all have you?
[speaker003:] No, don't think it's true. I think it's rubbish.
[speaker010:] It's not just the Dutch fans saying this; amongst every Dutch crowd are plain clothes policemen, known to troublemakers. Information gained from this open contact suggests that no trouble is being planned, and there is no evidence, as the English police say, of any plot between the Dutch and English.
[speaker004:] We have information that the Dutch are planning trouble with the English, and my feeling is that erm that erm amount of Dutch supporters that could cause trouble will not be very high.
[speaker010:] But back in England, the view amongst English supporters is very different, for they seem to think that the Dutch regard the English fans as the number one target.
[speaker005:] What I hear, which was straight off the phone last night, is that the Dutch fans will team up with the English fans, and back the English fans on to the beach and they will try and drown a few of the English people and they will throw bombs at them.
[speaker006:] For the hooligans like, jealous of the fact that English hooligans have got all the erm the headlines over the years, and that, now they, they sort of think, well lets show them we can do it.
[speaker010:] Because of concern about the trouble, the British authorities have gone to great length to prevent hooligans getting to Italy. A government anti- hooligan committee has been sitting with the Football Association; they've drawn up a great body of information collated by the police football intelligence unit based in London. The unit has pulled together information from undercover work by police forces throughout the country, like here in Manchester. The police and football authorities now say they have a good picture of who's who in the hooligan world. The plan is that none of these people will be able to purchase any of the seven thousand tickets available to England for the first round matches. These tickets will only be available through the Football Association, or through a special package holiday purchased through two official travel agencies, the cheapest of which will cost about five hundred pounds. The Football Supporters Association says that the majority of English fans will travel to Sardinia without tickets and with nowhere to stay. If there's insufficient space for the army of fans, many of them might end up on the beaches, which the Italian police have expressly forbidden. The thousands of English fans arriving here hope to buy tickets from the Italians; if they succeed, that means they will all end up in areas reserved for rival fans, another pointer to problems. Perhaps the worst problem will come with the Italians fans themselves, on whose home ground the World Cup is being played. In nineteen eighty five, they fought with the English at Heysel, and this year, in their domestic league, a number of people have been killed; it doesn't bode well.
[speaker003:] That was a review of the week's news from I T N, from London, goodbye. [recorded jingle] Saddam Hussein claimed that God was on his side. Tornadoes devastated the American Mid West. First, Iraq has threatened to attack Israel and Saudia Arabia with missiles and bombs if war breaks out in the Gulf; the Iraqi News Agency said the warning had come from the country's Air Force Commander. In Washington President Bush said he would try to persuade other countries to help pay the cost of enforcing the United Nations sanctions aimed at making Iraq withdraw from Kuwait. But moves to find a peaceful solution to the crisis continue; in Jordan the United Nations Secretary General, Javier Perez del Cuellar held talks with the Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz. Meanwhile Baghdad radio reported that two hundred and thirty seven Western women and children were preparing to leave Iraq, twenty eight others said they wanted to stay with their men. A first group of western women and children was moved out of potential war targets to a hotel in Baghdad. In his first interview with American television, President Saddam Hussein told C B S News that he didn't want war with the west, but he claimed that God was on his side and said that Iraq would come out victorious in any conflict. We apologise for the technical quality of the interview with President Saddam in this report; which was filed by Alistair Stewart from Washington on Thursday.
[speaker007:] For C B S this was the greatest coup in the coverage of the crisis. Dan Rather asked if Hussein would withdraw from Kuwait.
[speaker008:] Kuwait is part of Iraq.
[speaker009:] Forever?
[speaker008:] We have said this.
[speaker010:] So did he fear a U S air strike to force him out?
[speaker008:] So, yes, the United States Air Force may be able to destroy cities, plants, installations and people, but it will never be able to be decisive in concluding the battle.
[speaker010:] And would Iraq's response be the use of chemical weapons?
[speaker008:] I haven't said this. What I'm saying is that Iraq is an independent state, an independent sovereign state, and whoever attacks Iraq to change the government or to destroy Iraq, then they should expect that Iraq is not going to be an easy bite to swallow.
[speaker010:] Rather asked Hussein about the pressures on George Bush and the prospects for any negotiations.
[speaker008:] If we were to have dialogue, if dialogue were to be opened between us and I am now talking about dialogue and not of debate, then erm it is only erm, I'm certain that there would be a great deal to, to say to him from us on our part, and I am also sure that he will have a great deal to say.
[speaker010:] Two senior Senators gave their reactions to Saddam's message.
[speaker006:] My own view is that the President and the other nations are to help Saddam wind up his regime, I would hope the Iraqis would do that, but if not, they, then we, that is the United Nations.
[speaker001:] The notion of removing Saddam Hussein is a more probable outcome if in fact we continue to move as a world effort rather than a U S effort to unilaterally move in military
[speaker008:] Do you think that?
[speaker007:] The White House view is that talk is still better, but force is available if need be. Alistair Stewart, I T N Washington.
[speaker003:] The European Community has approved emergency food aid for the tens of thousands of refugees arriving in Jordan from Iraq and Kuwait. Jordan is facing immense difficulties trying to provide food and shelter for the evacuees. Many Egyptians have left for home, but as they departed, a new wave of Asian refugees from Iraqi occupied Kuwait arrived. I T N's Charles Hodson reported from Jordan on Tuesday as the Jordanian government urged countries to repatriate their nationals more quickly.
[speaker010:] Nearly four weeks after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the flood of refugees continues. Up to twenty thousand a day are being allowed to cross into Jordan from Iraq, but thousands more are said to be waiting just across the border. A quarter of a million are expected in the next ten to twelve days, and the overall total of refugees from Iraq and Kuwait may amount to a full million. Foreign assistance has taken some of the strain off the Jordanian authorities; with Canada now pledging two point two million dollars in aid, and the European Community committing itself to sending a further three point seven million dollars in food aid. But police here say they've had growing problems in regulating the tide and have even ordered groups of refugees to return to the border post to allow time to clear bottlenecks further down the five hundred mile route to the Red Sea port of Aqaba. Refugee camps here in Amman are said to be crammed to capacity, the authorities are growing more and more concerned about the numbers of Asian refugees, Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Philippinos and Thais. There are now forty five thousand in Amman alone. Jordan is now expected to press Asian governments to act more vigorously to help repatriate their nationals, meanwhile reports that Iran is willing to open its border with Iraq to refugees, have been greeted with relief here, although it's still not clear whether the Baghdad authorities will cooperate with this. And a report that a Polish plane has conducted the first ever direct evacuation from Kuwait of a hundred refugees, have further raised hopes here. Charles Hodson, I T N, Amman.
[speaker003:] Kuwaitis left stranded in Britain following the invasion of their country at the beginning of August are helping to form a national resistance movement; in some cases, small groups of men have gained access to Kuwait to fight the occupying Iraqi forces. They claim that opposition to Saddam Hussein's troops is growing, as Tim Friend reported on Wednesday, one of the resistance fighters has recently returned to London after being wounded.
[speaker001:] Less than a month ago, Nasser al Marri was an investment analyst in the city. Now he says he's a veteran of the Kuwaiti resistance movement, with battle scars to prove it.
[speaker002:] In Kuwait, the resistance, we are not trying to kill them, we are trying to destroy their tanks, to destroy their erm bases, to take their weapons, and to bring them to our sides for to send them to Saudi.
[speaker001:] He says he was shot in a gun battle with Iraqi troops but escaped to Saudi Arabia. He claims the resistance movement is growing, using weapons bought from disaffected Iraqi soldiers.
[speaker002:] In every street in Kuwait there is a resistance, there are young guys, women, kids, you know there are many different kinds of resistance not to carry their weapons, but to say no to them.
[speaker001:] The campaign to keep the Kuwaitis plight in the public eye is organised from a semi-detached house in central London. In the kitchen they write news bulletins for a daily radio programme for exiles. Among the campaigners is this Kuwaiti princess, in London when the Iraqis invaded, she doesn't want to be identified because she fears for her life.
[speaker003:] I have to be very careful, not for myself only, it's for everybody else, every other Kuwaiti.
[speaker001:] Is it a realistic risk though, that erm you could come, you could be killed here?
[speaker003:] Well, considering the security here in Great Britain, I hope that they have taken a precaution for that, but then we're dealing with a person who does not go by the book.
[speaker001:] The campaign headquarters has helped hundreds of Kuwaitis stranded here, like fourteen year old Isham Fadel on holiday with his family and running out of money. Help has come partly from donations, but cash for a resistance movement in a drawn out conflict could come from the Kuwait investment office; it has a hundred billion dollars in foreign assets. Tim Friend, I T N central London.
[speaker003:] I T N would like to hear from anyone who's shot video pictures in Iraq or Kuwait since the Gulf crisis began. If you can help, please contact the foreign desk, Independent Television News, 48, Wells Street, London W1P 4DE Telephone: London oh seven one — six three seven — two four two four, that's oh seven one — six three seven — two four two four. And now the news from the rest of the world. More than twenty people were killed and hundreds injured when tornado storms struck the American Mid-West. Although the tornados struck south of Chicago, they did most damage in the nearby town of Plainfield. Rochelle Wilson compiled this report on Wednesday:
[speaker005:] Three tornadoes left a trail of devastation as they swept through the small town of Plainfield. Rescue services dug into the rubble to bring out the survivors and the bodies of the dead including the principal of a Catholic school.
[speaker008:] Half the school is just completely rubble. There are, there are people in there, they found almost everybody, they've found two people that the principal was buried with, they finally had dug her up — she's dead.
[speaker005:] Ten of the twenty four who died were in a block of three storey flats; children were among them, their bodies found in a nearby field. Officials say that nearly three hundred were injured in the storm, which reduced buildings to matchwood. But the counting of the dead and the search for survivors goes on, the residents of Plainfield, less than four thousand of them, are familiar with this sort of havoc; in nineteen sixty seven, a tornado killed thirty two people. Those who's homes were damaged, were just thankful to be alive, for many, there was nothing left at all, and they were moved to emergency shelters. The destruction area, spread across five miles, taking in some of the suburbs of Chicago itself.
[speaker003:] You're watching a review of the week's news from I T N. Right wing soldiers in the Philippines have written to national newspapers saying they intend to launch a bloodless coup against President Corizon Aquino, and to replace her with a military junta. The move comes after a spate of bomb attacks in the capital Manila. President Aquino has urged village leaders to fight what she calls the psychological terror spread by right wing rebels. This report was compiled in London on Tuesday by Gerry Armitage:
[speaker004:] Corey Akino has survived six previous coup attempts; the most serious was last December when more than a hundred people died and six hundred were wounded before loyal troops finally crushed the revolt. This latest open letter from the rebel leader, cashiered Colonel Gregorio Honason appears to confirm the government's belief that he no longer has the ability to launch another military uprising. But a string of bomb attacks in Manila in recent weeks has led many people to believe that a new coup attempt can't be far away. With business confidence in Manila at rock bottom, President Aquino is in a specially weak position; power shortages and blackouts are crippling manufacturing industry, and oil sanctions because of the Gulf crisis are exacerbating her problems. Defence Secretary, Fidel Ramos, says any reports the Philippines two hundred and fifty thousand manned armed forces would oust Aquino, are absurd. He claims dissident soldiers didn't have the ability to launch a coup, but he warned they could mount attacks against government officers and business establishments to cripple the economy.
[speaker003:] The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have agreed on a peace plan that could end more than ten years of civil war in Cambodia. All five members, the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France and China have at various times, armed and supplied rival factions in Cambodia. It's now hoped that China having fallen into line with the other four, will end its support for the notorious Khmer Rouge guerrilla army. This report was filed from Tokyo on Tuesday by James Mates:
[speaker005:] One of the Khmer Rouge leaders, Khieu Samphan was in Beijing last week, discussing China's future support. Its been men like Prime Minister Lee Phung and others in the leadership who have kept his army in the field ever since Vietnam invaded Cambodia back in 1979. Since that time, little has changed on the battlefield; with a plentiful supply of Chinese arms and money, and bases in Thailand from which to operate, the Khmer Rouge was strong enough to resist the Vietnamese, But when Vietnam pulled out last year, the stalemate was broken; Britain and the United States who'd been backing other less murderous guerrilla factions, began to tire of the war and withdrew their support. Cambodia's Prime Minister, Hun San backed by the Soviet Union, said he'd settle for elections if the U N organised them, which left just the Khmer Rouge blocking every avenue for peace. But there's a long way to go yet; U N observers were in Cambodia earlier this year, but without unanimous support, they achieved very little. The new peace plan envisages one of the biggest U N peace keeping operations ever mounted, and that again will require the support of all factions. But if China really is now backing peace and free elections, the signs are more hopeful than they've been for a decade.
[speaker003:] The freed Irish hostage, Brian Keenan has called on Britain and America to start negotiations to try to get other western hostages out of Lebanon. He said 'there is willingness, why not talk'. Mr Keenan was speaking during a news conference in Dublin in which he gave a moving account of his four and a half years in captivity. This report from Andrew Simmonds was sent from Dublin on Thursday:
[speaker007:] Free to speak his mind, Brian Keenan wanted to tell the world his graphic and compelling account of life as a hostage.
[speaker006:] Mostly it's a crucifying aloneness, there is a silent screaming slide into the bowels of ultimate despair. I feel no desire for vengeance, I feel no desire for retribution; I don't see those as positive.
[speaker007:] And Brian Keenan's return after four and a half years of captivity, carried this message for western governments:
[speaker006:] Time to talk, it's obviously time to talk. There is a willingness — why not talk?
[speaker007:] His most emotional words were about his fellow hostage and friend who he called John boy.
[speaker006:] How can I forget Johnny McCarthy whose humour, whose mimicry, whose abundant love of life on so many, on so many times seemed to diminish almost to extinction, those grinding moments of hopelessness.
[speaker003:] Now our special report where we take a closer look at one of the issues made from the news. In Johannesburg, in South Africa, the white-run council has voted to allow all races to live together in the city. The move challenges Pretoria's view about the pace of reforming apartheid. President de Klerk has said the city should not apply to become an apartheid-free zone before the relevant race laws are scrapped, probably next year. But, as one of I T N's southern African correspondents, Mike Hannah reports: 'this move by Johannesburg doesn't begin to address the root of the problem; the acute housing shortage for hundreds of thousands of black squatters, working in white areas' .
[speaker007:] In a final bid to stop the bulldozers destroying their shacks, the women of this illegal squatter community stripped to the waist. But their plea and their protest is futile. It's a scene that's repeated throughout South Africa and here, as on many other occasions, violence is the inevitable result as police disperse the squatters with tear gas. More than seven million people in urban areas live in what is euphemistically described as informal housing. At the root of the problem is the process of urbanisation; the mass movement of people from the impoverished rural areas to the cities. But it's a problem accentuated in a white ruled society that for decades regarded migrant blacks as temporary sojourners in urban areas, and little was done to accommodate them until influx control laws were removed four years ago.
[speaker005:] It was madness to begin with, the only trouble is, it took forty years for the government to discover it's own craziness and to begin to dismantle it, we are now reaping the legacy of that, of, of the, the accumulated folly of forty years is now bursting upon our cities.
[speaker007:] And as the pressure mounts, squatters are encroaching on what was once idyllic whites only areas and the residents of Hout Bay near Capetown are made increasingly aware that in this time of political reform, they are no longer sheltered from the reality of life in the black townships.
[speaker002:] There's no toilets, nothing for them, I mean they're doing everything in public, I mean it's not right, it's making life bad and this is meant to be a holiday resort.
[speaker008:] Well, I think they must get out, I mean they can't live like that. They can't live like that, neither can we live like that.
[speaker007:] But the squatters are adamant they will not be moved and argue they are testing the good faith of whites who profess to want change.
[speaker008:] We are also forcing the white people in the communities now to take a stand on the whole thing; they've always ignored us. We want to have a new South Africa. That's why we want to stay in Hout Bay and most of us are working for them here in Hout Bay; they should know that. They should also give their people a place to stay here in Hout Bay.
[speaker007:] It's a deep dilemma for a community that has traditionally regarded itself as liberal. The local residents organisation says it's opposed to laws that segregate residential areas on the grounds of race, but at the same time it accuses the state of appearing reluctant to apply laws governing squatting.
[speaker001:] So this is not a question of colour we're not against squatters, we're against squatting; there's a big difference. We're not against people, we're against what they're doing, and they are breaking the law.
[speaker007:] The bulldozers are increasingly ineffectual, as soon as they leave, new shacks spring up like mushrooms. For the de Klerk government it's a political as well as social problem and controlled black urbanisation is to the white right wing, a vivid example of the evils of political reform and will be a dominant issue in any election or referendum; but there appears to be no alternative. As temporary shacks turn into permanent dwellings, it's clear that the drive of people to have a home in the area they choose is unstoppable, and the cost of insufficient planning to this and future governments is incalculable. Mike Hannah I T N, South Africa.
[speaker003:] That was a review of the week's news from I T N, from London, goodbye.
[speaker009:] Hello, and welcome to this review of the week from Independent Television News in London. And once again it's been a week in which the events in the gulf have dominated the headlines. I'm Julia Somerville and these were the main stories. Refugees from Kuwait and Iraq threatened by disease and starvation. British evacuees return home after a gruelling journey across the desert. And, the leaders of North and South Korea finally shake hands. But first. Conditions in Jordan's desert camps worsened dramatically this week as internation aid agencies launched their biggest relief effort since the Ethiopia famine of nineteen eighty-four. More than one hundred thousand refugees from occupied Kuwait and Iraq are stranded in makeshift camps, where there's a desperate shortage of food, water and medicine. The majority of them are from Thailand, the Philippines and the Indian sub-continent. Crown Prince Hassan of Jordon said his country was facing a severe economic crisis. He accused the West of ignoring the plight of the Asian refugees and concentrating instead on the Western nationals held in Kuwait and in hotels in Baghdad.
[speaker010:] Thousands of evacuees are now being moved out of the appalling desert slum at Shaalan as the authorities try to ease the tension. Getting supplies to this place two hundred miles out of Amman has also proved a nightmare. Many are now being shifted to a new camp closer to the capital. Rachma'an or 'Mercy Camp'as it is in English has been established by church organisations and Save the Children to provide more comfortable conditions whilst these people wait for repatriation. But the volunteers have had to borrow one hundred thousand pounds so far to set it up.
[speaker001:] The response is coming through slowly, but we've had to take a lot of initiatives on our own and we are hoping that others will come and support and back these initiatives.
[speaker002:] Two more camps will be open by Monday with room for fifty thousand more. At last operation Airlift is beginning to work.. A Russian, the first of nine charter flights due to ferry in nine hundred tonnes of rice over the next two weeks. In return they will fly nearly three thousand people back to Bangladesh. In Amman, the lucky ones clammer to see if their names are on the list for repatriation. But the emergency is by no means over.
[speaker003:] I wouldn't say the worst is over. I wouldn't say that because still the problem is on the other side of the border and I have no indications of how many people will move, are on the move, are perhaps waiting to come in.
[speaker002:] The relief organisations are now preparing to house and feed a constant population of well over a hundred thousand every day for at least the next three months. The estimated cost of this operation is over sixty million pounds. So far they've got barely half that amount. Jeremy Thompson, I T N in Jordan.
[speaker009:] Two hundred and fifty British women and children who escaped on a convoy out of Kuwait, arrived back in Britain to be reunited with their families. the convoy had been organised by British embassy officials in Baghdad, with the backing of the Iraqi government. As the group arrived back in Britain, President Saddam Hussein said that Westerners trying to leave Iraq without permission could face life imprisonment. Western men are being forced to stay in Iraq and are being sent to strategically important targets to deter any attack from the multi-national force in the Gulf. Joan Thirkettle reported on the women and children's return on Friday.
[speaker004:] Home at last through the terminal building and straight into the arms of their loved ones. Deborah Hodgetts was a stewardess with Kuwait Airways. Like all the others she had no idea if she'd see her family again.
[speaker005:] Now you... soft sod.
[speaker004:] Outside there were tales of Westerners hiding in cupboards and vivid descriptions of Kuwait as a city under siege.
[speaker005:] I was able to travel quite freely for about a week, and then after that, I wasn't able to go out at all.
[speaker006:] So how were you getting food and water?
[speaker005:] erm People were bringing it for us, friends were bringing it into us.
[speaker006:] There was a lot of looting, erm a lot of burnt out buildings, erm ministry buildings, erm looting in those buildings. A lot of homes have been raided erm and I believe a lot of people have been taken, of all nationalities.
[speaker003:] Had to stay, stay away from the windows. Once when I was looking out the back of the palace and shots around the back and a shell hit the palace, so it came in my eyes and it hit
[speaker006:] Are your eyes alright now?
[speaker008:] Yes.
[speaker004:] The family of Captain Nash, who accused the government of issuing the wrong advice to Britons living in Kuwait, also got back today.
[speaker007:] Got the whole family home now.
[speaker004:] Did you feel that you were going to get out?
[speaker008:] Eventually, but it might have been in a couple of years I thought [LAUGHTER].
[speaker004:] Jane Copley, sister of Joanna Copley who set up the help line was in no doubt about what must be done now.
[speaker009:] It's wonderful to be back but it's also very sad because a lot of people are still in Iraq and Kuwait and they need to be got out. There's no prospects for instance for the men at the moment without strong negotiations.
[speaker004:] About fifty people due on the flight today were stopped at Baghdad airport by Iraqi authorities, it's not clear why they're being held. Joan Thirkettle, I T N, Gatwick.
[speaker002:] President George Bush and President Mikhail Gorbachev will meet in Helsinki this weekend to discuss the Gulf crisis. The Soviet government indicated that Moscow would be willing to provide troops for a U N peace keeping force in the Gulf, but urged Washington not to take unilateral action. Sarah Spiller in Washington examined the prospects for improved Soviet-American cooperation on the Gulf crisis and sent this report on Friday.
[speaker010:] To date the U S have been able to count on diplomatic backing from the Soviet Union over its stand against Iraq; but Bush would like them to take a more active military role in the Gulf. The Soviet Union has sent some naval forces, but that's about it. On the other hand, the Soviet Union have good cause to be worried about the military build up of troops in Saudi Arabia. Some inside the Soviet Union say the troops show the U S remain ready to use its military might. And there are problems closer to home. Any de-stabilization in the Middle East will extend to the Soviet Union's already restless Muslim population in Central Asia.
[speaker001:] Mr Gorbachev may not have the authority to send Soviet troops to non-Russian parts of his own country at this point, so it's very unlikely that he could or would try to send ground forces to the Persian Gulf.
[speaker010:] But while the two sides seem to have considerable ground to make up, both countries are aware of how much they still need each other. There's been talk of the United States sponsoring a joint western effort to provide fairly substantial economic assistance to the Soviet Union in return for a more active Soviet role in the Gulf. That's possible, although I think not likely, and if that happened, it would be a major development. However unlikely some kind of trade-off might be, both leaders are acutely aware of the possibilities of this summit. The most Bush can hope for is Soviet agreement for more help for the military blockade; what he'll probably achieve is yet another condemnation of Saddam Hussein. I T N would like to hear from anyone who's shot video pictures in Iraq or Kuwait since the Gulf crisis began. If you can help, please contact the foreign desk, Independent Television News, forty eight Wells Street, London, W1P 4DE, Telephone: London oh seven one six three seven two four two four, that's oh seven one six three seven two four two four. Other news now, and it's more than a thousand days since Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza strip began the Intifada or uprising which has cost hundreds of Arab lives. The Intifada has been eclipsed by the crisis in the Gulf and the Palestinian support for the Iraqi President have strained relations with western countries. Louise Bates compiled this report on Wednesday.
[speaker002:] The Palestinians deepest fear that their cause an independent Palestine was lost in world politics was just one reason for the launch of the Intifada nearly three years ago. Since then, around seven hundred Arabs have been killed and thousands more injured; but when one Palestinian falls there's always another ready to take their place. Israel's well-equipped military has managed to keep a lid on the uprising degenerating into chaos, but it hasn't defeated the armies of stone-throwing youths. More than a million and a half Palestinians live in the occupied territories, their treatment prompted repeated accusations by western governments as well as those in the Middle East, that Israel's crackdown has been too harsh, at times undisciplined; one image of violence by Israeli forces aroused world-wide condemnation. The situation in the Gulf may now dwarf the Palestinian issue, but no Middle East crisis can be seen in isolation; a thousand days of protest has assured the plight of Palestinians has rarely been off the world agenda. For the families the dead have left behind though, that's little consolation.
[speaker009:] The South African President, F W de Klerk announced he would meet President Bush later this month in the first visit to the United States by a South African leader in four decades. Meanwhile, in South Africa, Mr de Klerk held talks with the African National Congress to discuss the A N C's decision to suspend its armed struggle. The meeting took place against a background of increased factional fighting between supporters of the A N C and the conservative Zulu Inkahta movement. Mike Hannah reported from South Africa on Thursday:
[speaker007:] The suspension of the armed struggle just over a month ago was seen as a break-through, but within days, peace seemed as far away as ever. And what began as apparently inter-tribal friction developed into an on going township war between the A N C, the Zulu-based Inkahta movement and the State Security Forces. Within days too, came different interpretations of what 'suspension of the armed struggle'meant. Nelson Mandela's wife, Winnie angered the government by saying that it merely meant contemporary end to armed action and that the A N C reserved the right to reactivate its armed guerrillas at any time. Putting further strain on the talks are the hawks within government; in particular, Defence Minister Magnus Malan has been excluded from both the official meetings between the state and the A N C. He's been quick to make capital out of what he regards as the A N C's incomplete suspension.
[speaker002:] The Prime Ministers of North and South Korea shook hands in the South Korean capital, Seoul, in the highest level meeting since the country was divided at the end of the second World War. Unification if it happens, is likely to be a slow process, but the fact that the visit took place at all is a dramatic break through on one of the last frontiers of the cold war. James Mate sent this report from Tokyo on Tuesday:
[speaker005:] North Korea's Prime Minister Yon Hyong Muk stepped across a border normally so secure that neither letters nor telephone calls are allowed through. Symbolically, it was a significant moment, but it doesn't go much beyond symbolism. The chief reason for this visit happening at all is that the Soviet Union wants it to; Soviet Foreign Minister, Edouard Sheverdnaze was in North Korea, putting pressure on his fellow Communists to reform; the Soviets are fed up with subsidizing them and anyhow, want economic help from the capitalists in South Korea. This week's talks may lead to some reductions in American troop levels in the South, even to a scaling down of the military exercises that so infuriate the North, but it's unlikely anything will happen about the border itself, which will remain the most heavily fortified in the world. The North Koreans can't afford to open it. To allow large numbers of Southerners into their highly regimented society could unravel everything the Stalinist regime there has created in the last forty years. While Kim Il Sung, the self-styled Great Leader still rules what he calls 'Paradise on Earth'there's virtually no chance of the two Koreas following the path of the two Germanies.
[speaker002:] Protests by French farmers against low-cost imports of foreign meat have become increasingly violent. In one incident near Limoges in central France, farmers slaughtered nearly four hundred animals from a British lorry and dumped their carcasses outside the home of a local politician. I T N's Vernon Mann sent this report from France on Thursday.
[speaker003:] Evidence of the mounting anger and frustration felt by French farmers surfaced again today; this time in central France. Hijacked British lambs set loose in the streets of Bellac near Limoges. A British truck from York, stopped by local farmers, the driver was powerless to stop them. He is reportedly unharmed. The sheep were driven into the garden of the local Prefect. They were later slaughtered. The farmers gathered then at the gates of the local authority offices and forced them open. They dragged the carcasses inside, police doing little to stop them. Perhaps wisely they didn't react either, as farmers gathered noisily in the streets. Then the demonstrators set fire to a hedge and still the C R S kept their distance. Sheep farmers from all over France are protesting at cheap imports from eastern Europe, Ireland and Britain, they want government help, and until they get it, incidents like this will no doubt continue despite British appeals for police protection for British livestock drivers. Vernon Mann, I T N, Central France.
[speaker002:] The launch of the space shuttle Columbia was delayed for the third time since May following the discovery of a fuel leak near its engines. The American Space Agency NASA gave no indication of when the flight would be re-scheduled, and grounded the entire shuttle fleet pending an enquiry into the leak. Colline Johnson compiled this report on Thursday:
[speaker008:] We will be scrubbing this launch attempt for Thursday morning.
[speaker007:] Columbia was only eight hours from liftoff. NASA scientists had thought they'd solved the technical problems which have dogged the Space Agency. The hydrogen fuel leak is similar to one which grounded Columbia a few months ago.
[speaker004:] I don't believe it's a new leak, I think it's one that's been there all along.
[speaker007:] The postponement was a crushing disappointment to NASA engineers who were hoping that a successful flight would restore Congressional confidence in the Agency.
[speaker008:] Sure, we're all frustrated. We'd be lying if we didn't say that. But erm safety first.
[speaker007:] It was also frustrating for the scientists who'd been working on this project for more than a decade.
[speaker009:] We were extraordinarily disappointed at first about the delay but a cancellation would be just about too much to bear.
[speaker007:] Columbia's payload has been waiting for a shuttle ride since nineteen eighty six. If another launch attempt is not made in the next ten days, then it could face cancellation.
[speaker002:] And now our special report. Despite the Gulf crisis, petrol in America is still cheap. But dependence on imported oil has concentrated American minds on whether the United States should increase its own oil production or just use less. There are new oil fields off the American west coast, but environmental restrictions have made exploration and development almost impossible. However the conservationists and oil companies both agree that President Bush must now come up with a viable energy policy. I T N's Alex Thompson went to oil-rich California where the debate — to drill or to conserve, is at its most heated.
[speaker005:] Point Arguello on the Californian coast. An oil terminal built by Chevron lies quiet and unused. It's completed, it's ready to work, it cost two billion dollars and it's idle. Offshore, three oil platforms in the same state of readiness. At the turn of a valve, all this hardware could bring America one hundred thousand barrels a day of Californian heavy crude, as much as the country used to import from Kuwait. But California blocks any new oil development on environmental grounds.
[speaker006:] This environmental movement today is really saying to all of us, erm in order to avoid building platforms off the coast of the United States, we are willing to risk sending our sons to the sands of the Middle East to die perhaps for the preservation of a life style, that some of us are unwilling to develop here in our own country.
[speaker005:] Tell that to the people who live here on the coast in Santa Barbara. They've had oil exploration here for many years on a small scale, and this is the result: under every boulder, a thick coating of waste oil. They've decided they don't want any more oil exploration whatever.
[speaker008:] Both the beauty and ecological importance of this area of southern California are clear enough and just three months ago, George Bush, a former oil man, banned further oil development here as part of a general moratorium that covered several coastal areas. That was a gesture that took account of the political clout of America's environmentalists. Two hundred miles up the coast, near San Francisco, a conference on energy policy.
[speaker009:] What if something changes in the meantime, like an oil crisis, like an economic downturn.
[speaker008:] Because they're concerned about America's oil dependence, senior government officials have come to rub shoulders with the advocates of conservation and alternative power sources. And if you want to see what passed for America's energy policy, you're looking at it. Los Angeles. Huge freeways, cheap petrol, one person per car and no public transport system worth speaking of. Nobody cared and now nobody can even see clearly in Los Angeles where twenty-eight days spent in the city constitute a health hazard, and smog from car exhausts hangs over the L A basin from the San Gabriel mountains to the ocean. Delegates at California's energy conference point to various ways out of this chaos, from general policy to specific action. The Bush administration is now considering national petrol tax to encourage public transport where it exists. The oil crisis of the early seventies provoked a rush of decisions at federal and state level to find clean energy sources, and this is one result; the four thousand windmills that line the ridges of the Atamont hills in central California. There is now enough wind power in the state to light the whole of San Francisco.
[speaker009:] Tower eight one seven's on line.
[speaker008:] A computerized control room alters the direction and output of the lines of windmills, and each one is numbered with a figure giving its output in kilowatts. Inland, the Mojave desert now provides solar power integrated into the local grid system. It'll light half a million homes by the end of the year. Across the country, its estimated wind and solar power could meet a third of America's energy needs. The Bush administration has undertaken a national energy review which will report by the end of the year, and that may be the first step towards the national action to end dependence on Gulf oil, and to start what's always eluded this country — an Energy Policy.
[speaker007:] And that was a review of the week's news from I T N, from London, goodbye.