A bad week for planet Earth

Last Modified: 16 May 2008
By: Newsroom blogger

Inside the morning meeting...

China and Burma jostle for space at the top of the programme. In China, President Hu Jintao is making his first visit to Sichuan province, and amazing footage is coming out of the country - children being pulled from the rubbles, days after the quake.

Amazing footage also from Burma, although whether we can show it tonight depends on whether we manage to get through to our reporter, who is on the ground but cannot be named.

He has shocking pictures of the cyclone as it struck, but is currently uncontactable.

With nine hours to go until we go on air, we will have to hope technology comes through. "We are in the hands of what we can get out," says the programme editor.

At home, news has just broken that MPs will have to disclose their expenses after a high court freedom of information battle.

We will be following the story - how much coverage it gets depends is likely to depend on how many concrete details of the claims actually emerge today.

British Airways has announced huge profits, although chairman Willie Walsh has waived his bonus. "Is it a full-on story?" asks an editor.

BA may just be one company, but there are interesting angles to pursue - not least what it means for the UK's bonus culture.

Last night we broadcast an exclusive interview with FSA chief executive Hector Sants, in which he criticised big city bonuses.

Another story of interest is the news that between a quarter and a third of the world's wildlife has been lost in since 1970.

"It's been a bad week for planet Earth," says our reporter: world carbon dioxide levels have hit a new peak, food is in scarcer supply, and animals are faced with extinction. All symptoms of population growth - how long can it go on?

Some light may come from the 65th anniversary of the World War Two Dambusters mission. Sixty-five may not be the most obvious anniversary - but there is great footage of a 19-plane fly-past.

But should, as some fear, a dam burst today in China, that will be where our focus will shift.