17/06/2014 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me Philippa Thomas.

More clashes on the road to Baghdad between Iraqi government forces

and the militant fighters sweeping south.

As the two sides clash, fears grow that Iraq could split apart.

We'll get the latest live in the next few minutes.

The British Foreign Secretary says he'll re-open Britain's embassy

in the Iranian capital, Tehran, three years after suspending full

A major pipeline in Ukraine carrying gas from Russia to the rest

of Europe has been hit by a blast, though the cause is not yet clear.

We are live in Brazil. I am Ben Brown reporting live from Rio where

the excitement is building because, coming up, it is Brazil against

Mexico. We start with

the unfolding crisis in Iraq. People in the capital, Baghdad,

are stockpiling food and water as militant Islamists forces move

closer. Members of the Sunni Islamist group

ISIS have got as far as Baqubah, that's a city of nearly half

a million people, less than 60 ISIS fighters and other armed groups

are understood to have attacked some of the suburbs overnight

before being pushed back by government forces, forcing many

people to flee their homes. From Baghdad,

Jonathan Beale reports. Iraqi forces are taking

the fight to the Sunni extremists. In Kirkuk,

they were using tanks to target ISIS fighters but even heavy armour can't

hold the violence spreading through We travelled out of Baghdad north

towards the city of the Baqubah, the new front line for the ISIS

jihadists, and just 60km away. This is one of the main routes

into Baghdad, and, behind me, about 30 kilometres in the distance,

is the city of the Baqubah and we are told that ISIS forces have

already entered parts of the city. Of course,

if they take by Baqubah then it is We went as far

as we were told it was safe to go to He told me it was going to be a

bloody fight between Sunni and Shia. And he warned it would soon

be happening in Baghdad, too. Now back home with his family,

he is a policeman injured while Thankful that,

unlike some of his comrades, TRANSLATION: They shot at a convoy

of civilians. One of them shot at the tyres

of a bus and killed everyone in it. The bus was carrying 24 men

and they killed them all. Ibrahim doesn't believe that ISAs

are strong enough to take Baghdad but, today,

another bomb went off in the city Even if ISIS have not yet reached

the city, there are signs that their Let's go live to the BBC's Jim Muir

in Irbil. We are hearing that the Iraqi Prime

Minister is having something of a shake-up of security. That's right.

He has fired some of the top army commanders, including the commander

of the third division. And various others, who are deemed to have

fallen short. When Mosul fell on Tuesday, he said there is a

conspiracy, and these officers, some of the ordinary men we have talked

about here who had deserted or fled, they said that officers

betrayed them, they disappeared before the battle began. So there

was obviously a command failure, and he was holding people to account.

Just on the level of trying to deal with this crisis, I understand both

-- also there is a political meeting in Baghdad involving a Shi'ite Prime

Minister, along with Kurdish and also some Sunni representatives, so

they are probably trying to thrash some way of getting out of this

crisis, try to find some common ground. I know you've been talking

to the Kurdish leader in Iraqi who might feel that the state cannot

hold together. That's right. The Kurds feel that Iraqi is

incompatible, there is no point in return -- there is a point of no

return. The rebels have moved rapidly through Sunni territory.

What the Prime Minister here in Iraqi Kurdistan was suggesting is

that maybe the Kurds should -- the Sunnis should take the same route

the Kurds have taken and have fun autonomous, self ruling region

within Iraq, and the burden would be on the thumb to control and isolate

and eliminate the terrorists, the hardliners of ISIS. He thinks that

is the only formula for a stable future, and that they have to reach

a new coexistence formula. You have been reporting on this crisis since

the ISIS fighters went into Mosul, what are we hearing out of that city

about the way that people have been treated there? Frankly, you get

conflicting accounts, but most people regard it as stable. We

haven't heard a lot of reports of fighting or trouble there. It is

quite difficult because there is a lot of propaganda involved. Some of

the government side are saying that is a reign of terror and so on, but

most people seem to be going about their business. Some of the refugees

that flooded out of their last week have gone back. But I think it will

be awhile before we have a comp offensive picture of life because

people too nervous to go there. It is definitely still a danger zone.

Understood. Thank you for bringing us the latest.

Well, here in the UK, the government has announced that it's re-opening

the British embassy in Iran as part of its response to the upsurge

There've also been calls for Washington to hold formal talks

with Tehran, as they have a mutual interest in stalling

Here's our Political Editor Nick Robinson.

What a difference three years can make. This was the British Embassy

in 2011. A mob ransacked offices, smashed pictures of the Queen and

John to death to England. The building has been closed ever since,

but that is about to change, along with this country's troubled

relationship with Iran. It is right to rebuild that relationship. We

have been doing that anyway, irrespective of what is happening in

a rock. But what is happening in a a rock. But what is happening in

rock has convinced the West to improve relations with Iran. These

are pictures of ISIS, which is now fighting 40 miles from Baghdad. This

is the most serious threat to Britain's security that there is

today. The number of foreign fighters in that area, the number of

foreign fighters including those from the UK who could try to return

to the UK, this is a real threat to our country. And this is the man

that written and the United States had they can do business with. Once

a student in Glasgow, used his Twitter account to show he is a

different sort of Iranian leader, a man who watches his team play in the

World Cup. This morning in America, people are

watching the news and they're having to think the unthinkable. The

history of the rift between the US and Iran dates all the way back to

the Islamic Revolution 35 years ago. And the capture of 52 American

hostages, only freed after 444 days. Even without all that history,

there'd be problems, not least this, Iran's nuclear programme. They say

it is peaceful but others aren't so sure. And doubts have been seen in

the Commons. Is it not necessary to reassure our closest allies in the

Middle East that there are very severe limits for the foreseeable

future as to the kind of relationship we can have with Iran?

Is not going to be the kind of relationship is the West had with

the Soviet Union? On the streets of the Iranians capital, the embassy

stands empty, waiting for diplomats to return. Students aren't

protesting today. This one says good relations with the people and

countries of the world can have a great, positive effect on the

advancement of our country. You know the old saying dash my NME's enemy

is my friend. A cliche because it is proved true. Today, Iran didn't

become a friend of Britain's. She became a little less of an enemy.

Russian media is reporting that a Russian state TV journalist has

been killed in a mortar attack near a village outside

Igor Kornelyuk died in hospital after the attack

near Metalist, while a colleague, sound engineer Anton Voloshin,

And we don't know what happened to the cameraman

This comes as an explosion hit a pipeline carrying Russian natural

gas across Ukraine to Europe in what the Ukrainian interior minister says

What are you seeing there? A further militarisation of this contact --

conflict. It is noticeable how much more military the checkpoints are,

no men with sticks any more, all of these men with guns on both sides.

We came through Ukrainian military checkpoints within anti-aircraft gun

mounted on the checkpoint. Has been fighting here in Donetsk, and also

particularly down in Luhansk. The army are trying to push through and

get stranglehold around the areas held by the rebels and also to seal

off the border between Luhansk and Russia to try to stop this revolt

spreading. They are having some success, at their rock continuing

casualties, including that Russian TV correspondent today. His sound

man is missing and possibly believed dead, and just another couple of

examples of the death toll this conflict is taking. Whilst this is

happening in the east, we're getting reports about this pipeline

explosion, we're not quite clear why. Well, it is not clear why, and

there is one theory from the Ministry of interior that it was an

act of sabotage, or what they call an act of terrorism. There might

have been some explosions just before the gas pipeline exploded

itself, but either way, there was a huge flames shooting into the sky

from the pipeline and it took a couple of hours for them to put it

out. The pipeline is disabled, but there is a parallel spare, and the

gas has been diverted around the damage. And, so, the gas flow into

Europe does continue. There is no gas currently being supplied to

Ukraine from Russia after talks broke down, but the gas flow through

to Europe will continue. You've been going back and forth to Donetsk and

around the region. Are people so scared that they are hiding? Or is

there a sense of people trying to get out, refugees? Well, I think

both. I spent quite a bit of time today with some people who have come

out of Sloviansk. That is where some of the most heavy fighting has been

seen. They have fled. They have described witty bad scenes of

shelling. The food is running out in the shops, the water is running

out, the electricity is running out. They also say that more than half of

the population is still there in the city. They are hunkering down

because although there is regular shelling, it tends to be targeted at

certain points in the city, and some people are feeling it is safer to

stay at home and protect their property rather than risk crossing

the checkpoints and coming out in the city, and some people are

feeling it is safer to stay at home and protect their property rather

than risk crossing the checkpoints and coming out into safer parts of

the country. Also, they are so held in in Sloviansk, they don't know

what is going on in the rest of Ukraine, which is much more peaceful

than the city where they are living. Thank you very much.

Some other stories making the news this hour.

Renewed anti-Muslim violence has flared in southern Sri Lanka

in the worst outbreak of sectarian unrest for years.

Four people have died in the attacks, which have been blamed

A security guard was the latest victim.

And three Muslims died after a Buddhist rally on Sunday.

There are reports in Pakistani that scholars have issued a decree which

says that polio vaccines can be used. They said the vaccine was

effective and didn't contain any harmful ingredients. Seven people

have been killed in clashes between Pakistani police and supporters of a

scholar. Police fired shots and tear gas to disperse protesters. The

scholar is based in Canada but plans to return to Pakistan next week to

lead a crusade against corrupt politicians.

The French President Francois Hollande,

has condemned a savage attack on a Roma teenager in a Paris suburb.

The 16-year-old boy is in a critical condition after he was beaten by a

mob from a local housing estate, who suspected he was behind a burglary.

The President said it was an 'unspeakable

The families of asylum seekers from Iraq and Iran,

who drowned trying to reach Australia, are suing the Australian

50 people died in 2010, when their flimsy boat crashed into

rocks off the remote Australian outpost of Christmas Island.

Australia has called the claim shameful and offensive.

Art experts have found a hidden painting beneath one

of Pablo Picasso's early masterpieces, The Blue Room.

It's long been suspected there was something under the surface

But it wasn't until recently that improved infra-red imagery revealed

a portrait of a bearded, bow-tied man - leaving art-lovers with the

The United States has captured one of the 2012 leaders. The suspect was

apprehended on Sunday and is currently being held outside Libya.

We can find out more from Washington while we can go to David Willis. A

little bit more about the man and how they seized him. Ahmed Abu

Qatada was captured in Libya over the last couple of days and has been

held outside of the country and will be brought here to Washington, DC

where he will face charges that will include murder. The President and

several other key senior parts of the administration have all issued

statements hailing the capture. The irony is he was apprehended not far

from the scene of the attack and the British Consulate in Benghazi. There

is more than a dozen people who were implicated in that attack who are

still at large. The President said all efforts will be made to bring

them all to justice and that it was an important role and thing for the

administration to do. This incident has dogged President Obama's second

term in office. There have been accusations that the administration

was negligent in terms of providing protection for those in the

consulate at the time. Interesting he is not apparently being taken to

Guantanamo Bay. It is part of an effort to try terror suspects on

American soil. A lot of surprise raised about that and they are

saying he will be brought here to Washington, DC where charges were

laid on Sunday against him. Charges include murder. Three charges are

standing against him but it is expected that that charge sheet will

grow. It is of course the World Cup and if you are thinking about

getting to the tournament, there are a number of different ways to go.

But four Englishmen decided to get there, from Argentina, on foot.

They walked 1966 kilometres, significant because it was in 1966

Here's the story of the footsore football fans.

My name is Adam Burns and I'm from Newmarket, Suffolk in England.

We also wanted to help the people of Bahir and the charity

which is very close to our hearts, the J de V Arts Care Trust.

So we set out to walk 1966 kilometres from Mendoza

in Argentina, to Porto Alegre in Brazil.

The last time England won the World Cup was 1966.

It a very iconic number for England fans.

Part of me didn't really know what to expect.

It was my first time in South America.

The reality was that it was really, really gruelling.

We walked three days through a desert in Argentina.

35 degrees heat, no shade, with the biggest mosquitoes I'd ever seen.

And we had to sleep in abandoned train stations, we've been charged

We went over cobbles and sleepers with our golf carts

for about five kilometres and then realised this was ridiculous.

We were walking through a field, a farmer's field, really thick,

Me and Dave tried to lift the fence up and put our golf carts under.

We both got electrocuted and then nearly vomited.

So, when we were walking through a Uruguayan quite town,

what we thought was a stray dog began following us.

It wasn't until three days before we finish the walk that we

found out that, actually, Jefferson wasn't a stray dog.

We got a message from a guy called Nacho, a Uruguayan

guy, whose friend spotted Jefferson in a local newspaper.

We told Nacho our plan to finish the walk in Porto Alegre,

Walt Disney couldn't have written a more perfect end to the story.

It was definitely a journey that's taught me

No doubt those fans will be looking forward to the England game in Sao

But first, it's Brazil that's taking on Mexico in just under an hour's

time and Ben Brown is in Rio as the whole country gears up for their

The atmosphere is fantastic here in Rio de Janeiro. We have those

protests in the run-up to the tournament and we still have

sporadic protests but Brazilians are getting into the spirit of this

tournament and getting behind their team. Their team are playing Mexico

shortly. This is the scene. It is absolutely packed. Lots of the

yellow jerseys of Brazil in there. It will be a great game. We have had

one game that was a 3-goal thriller. So many games have produced three

goals and it was Belgium to, Algeria, one. Algeria went ahead

with a penalty. That was their first goal in a World Cup 28 years.

Belgium, who are the dark horses this team -- this World Cup, they

equalised with a header. Belgium beat Nigeria.

There is something for England fans to look forward to, we think.

You are being optimistic. England lost in the Amazonian raise --

rainforest to Italy. Disappointment for that. A lot of plaudits for

England and a lot of people saying they did really well. Plaudits, but

no points. They are back in Rio de Janeiro and have been training again

today. Tomorrow, they will set off for Sao Paulo. The next game is

against Uruguay and Luis Suarez will be playing if he is fit. England

have got it all to do. They have to win against Uruguay and then against

Costa Rica. A lot of talk about Wayne Rooney. Is he on form? Was he

played out of position against Italy? Many think he is more

effective behind the striker in the number ten position. We will wait

and see but a crucial match for England. There was a lot of talk

about the stadium is not being ready. From what you have seen so

far, has it gone relatively smoothly?

I think it has. There has been a few problems. At one stadium, the pitch

was immaculate but there were pictures emerging of one game there

where people were going in on a wobbly walkway into this should --

stadium. It looked unsafe. Then there was the pitch for Italy

against England. It was burnt out as they used too much fertiliser on it.

It will not be perfect in every stadium and it is a thrilling

tournament so far. Lots of goals. I can hear the music behind you.

Thank you for bringing us up to date. We woke up you you up-to-date

on another of our stories. In Kenya, 12 women were abducted on the latest

attack on the east coast. The Kenyan President has said the attacks of

the work of local political leaders and he is insisting this can't have

been the Somali Islamist group, Al-Shabab. Political networks have

been blamed. Opposition politicians are saying he is not in touch with

reality. In Iraq, the militant defences have reached a city 40

miles from Baghdad. Armed groups are understood to have attacked suburbs

before being driven back. In the lap -- in this last half-hour, the Iraqi

Prime Minister has dismissed several of his senior force commanders.

Thanks for being with us. It was the warmest day of the year

so far in Scotland with temperatures reaching 25 Celsius. We have humid

sunshine across Scotland and Northern Ireland. England and Wales

will turn cloudier. We have the risk