13/03/2016 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today, broadcasting in the UK

A massive car bomb has hit the main square of the Turkish capital,

Ankara, killing 34 people and wounding many more.

The Turkish government bans access to Facebook and other sites

to prevent images of the attack being shared on social media.

In Ivory Coast, there's been shootings at a resort popular

with tourists, with at least 16 people killed.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb says it carried out the attack.

They killed a child, despite him kneeling

I swear, I heard them shouting "Allahu Akbar."

Exit polls in regional elections in Germany suggest heavy losses

for Chancellor Merkel's ruling Christian Democrats and major gains

And the family cat who has helped a little girl with autism start

The Turkish government has accused Kurdish militants of being behind

a deadly car bomb attack in the capital Ankara

in which at least 34 people have been killed.

In the past few minutes, the Turkish Health Minister has

announced that at least one or two of the dead

The blast could be heard across the city,

sending a huge plume of smoke into the air and setting vehicles

on fire in the busy Kizilay district.

As well as being a transport hub the area is also

Rescue workers arrived at the scene quickly.

At least 125 people have been injured, although that figure

The blast happened at 6.40pm local time.

Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, convened

an emergency security meeting after the bombing.

He has been receiving advice from security chiefs.

Today's explosion comes with the country already

An attack last month on a military convoy in Ankara killed 28 people.

Panic as emergency crews respond to an explosion in the city centre.

A car blew up near a bus stop, a bus destroyed, vehicles burnt out.

The blast could be heard across the city.

TRANSLATION: It came next to us, the second past. There was a lady near

us and her seat catapulted. Something hit my forehead. A car

exploded. Five or six people on board

the bus died, I saw it. Something hit my forehead

and my shoulder. Police sealed off

the scene of the blast. With many already confirmed dead,

the number killed is likely to rise. The explosion happened

in the Kizilay district, there are government

buildings nearby. Just two days ago, the US

Embassy in Ankara warned Last month, 29 people died in a car

bombing and a Kurdish militant In October, a double suicide bombing

blamed on so called Islamic State Authorities are now investigating

this latest attack. So far no group has

claimed responsibility. Our Turkey correspondent Mark Lowen

gave us this update from Istanbul. This looks like being a very

serious attack in the heart As the casualties rise there will be

questions as to who carried it out. Turkey faces multiple

security threats. Three separate bomb blasts in Ankara

over the last six months, one in October killed over 100

people, blamed on so-called Islamic State and one last month

close to the site of today's bomb blast that killed 30 people

was blamed by the Turkish government on a Syrian Kurdish group

but responsibility was claimed by separate Kurdish group, one based

in Turkey although the Turkish Turkey is involved in the coalition

against so-called Islamic State, it is fighting IS in Syria and Iraq,

making it liable to attacks, and is fighting a renewed insurgency

in south-eastern Turkey with PKK Kurdish militants, leaving it open

to attacks by Kurdish This country for so long

considered the stable corner of the Middle East, the West's vital

ally in a volatile region. Today's attack, the third

attack in six months, raises serious questions

about the government's ability to maintain security in the heart

of the capital and shows once again how dangerous a moment

this country now faces. With me now is Ibrahim Dogus,

director of the Centre for Turkey Thank you for joining us. No one has

yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but where are the suspicions

falling? Turkey has become very vulnerable to terrorist attacks over

the last 15 months and a lot of that is to do with the Syrian policies

and the Kurdish issue. Last month in Ankara there was an attack against a

monetary convoy which was claimed by TAK, claiming they did the attack in

retaliation for Turkish operations against militants in the Kurdish

region of Turkey. Who is TAK? As far as we know it is a group that split

from the PKK, the main Kurdish militant force in Turkey who have

had negotiations with Turkish authorities. TAK claims the

negotiations are not going to work for Turkish people and they say that

the PKK is a very passive organisation. They are claiming to

represent the desires and wishes of the Kurdish people. They are known

to be using terrorist tactics and violence to reach out. Today's

attack comes as Turkish authorities have launched a renewed offensive, a

crackdown against the PKK party, the pro-Kurdish party. Turkey has

changed its policy on Kurds over the last 15 months. There have been

similar attacks against civilians in Turkey. The most recent one was in

October in Ankara, which was blamed on Islamic State and prior to that,

suicide attacks elsewhere which were blamed on Islamic State. If this

attack was an attack against civilians, then we shouldn't rule

out Islamic State's involvement yet but if it was aimed at military

personnel, it is very likely to be carried out by TAK. The Turkish

government was in serious negotiations with the Kurdish people

and the PKK, indirectly through elected officials.

Turkey plays an important role on the international political stage,

it is part of the coalition against IS. I'm afraid we have to leave it

there. Thank you for joining us. Huge but peaceful protests have been

taking place in cities across Brazil to demand the resignation

of President Dilma Rousseff. The opposition accuses Ms Rousseff

of mishandling the economy and of involvement in a massive

corruption scandal, which has also Tens of thousands of Islamists

in Pakistan have held a rally in Karachi in protest

at the execution last month of Mumtaz Qadri, a former bodyguard

who killed a provincial governor for criticising the

country's blasphemy laws. The head of the Conservative

Jamaat-e-Islami party described Mr Qadri's death

as judicial murder. A Palestinian teacher has won

a prestigious education award worth a million dollars,

described as the Nobel Prize The Varkey Foundation Global Teacher

Prize was awarded in Dubai to Hanan Al-Hroub, who works

at a school near Ramallah Ms Al-Hroub has developed a unique

approach to teaching, using co-operative play

to counter violent behaviour. The president of Ivory Coast,

Alassane Ouattara, says 14 civilians and two soldiers

were killed in a gun attack at a beach resort at

Grand Bassam near Abidjan. The resort is popular

with Western tourists. The government says six attackers

were killed by security forces. An offshoot of the Islamist militant

group al-Qaeda claimed The country's interior

minister, Hamed Baka-yoko, went on television to announce

the attack was over TRANSLATION: Three hotels in Grand

Bassam, not far from Abidjan, were attacked early morning on Sunday the

13th of March by armed men. The Ivorian defence and security forces

intervened immediately. They were able to neutralise six terrorists.

Searches are underway. A detailed report will be communicated in the

next few hours. We ask people to stay calm.

The gunmen targeted a holiday town with no history of terror attacks

The BBC's Will Ross has this report.

An eyewitness trapped in a hotel room films the confusion and terror

People fleeing from the beach in search of safety.

The sleepy resort of Grand Bassam has never witnessed

One eyewitness said the gunmen were masked.

They killed a child, despite him kneeling

I swear I heard them shouting, "Allahu Akbar."

The military are coming now, as you can see.

The government appealed for calm as heavily-armed soldiers took

They also helped drive people away from the scene to places

Medical staff helped those injured, including some children.

On the ground, evidence of the attackers.

Other images, which are too graphic to show, are of bloodied bodies

A BBC colleague at a different coastal resort spoke to people

who had been relaxing in Grand Bassam when the gunmen struck.

Friends who were there at different hotels have told me they heard

the shooting, they heard big bang sounds.

The army came in and swooped up quite a lot of people and put them

My friend could not tell me where she was on the phone

because the army said the terrorists could be listening.

Although Ivory Coast has a history of political turmoil,

this looks like yet another terror attack in the West African region.

With me now is Will Ross, former BBC correspondent in west

What's the latest on this? We have had a group called Al-Qaeda in the

Islamic Maghreb saying they carried out the attack and another Al-Qaeda

linked group have also said that it sent the gunmen to this resort. What

is very clear is that this is of great concern, not just to Ivory

Coast, which has never experienced anything like this before, but to

the entire region because this is the third to mellow style attack

since November in West Africa. Mali was targeted, its capital was

targeted and we had Burkina Faso and 30 people were killed in this

attack. There is a lot of concern about the movement of jihadists

across the porous borders in the region. We have heard that

authorities are using the phrase "Have neutralise" the attackers.

They say that six of them were killed but we don't know if there

were any more. We had a comment from the French president Francois

Hollande calling it a cowardly attack and saying that France is

going to bring in logistical support and intelligence and will intensify

its fight with partners against terrorism. It is no coincidence that

this is the third former French colony that has been targeted.

France has huge interest in its former colonies, business interests

in particular. France is playing a lead role when it comes to the

military fight against Jihadist groups across West Africa and

certainly the comments that have come from Jihadist groups in the

past are that they are going to keep targeting them until they pull out

the troops. The Ivory Coast became the base of the French fighting

against IS in 2014, didn't it? It has other bases, in Chad but also in

Mali, the French troops have played a key role in stopping the spread of

the Jihadist insurgency that came down from the North. It was the

French who led the attempt to stop the Jihadist is taking over even

more territory. So they have really spread across the region and they

are seeing this as a key priority. Francois Hollande says they are

going to beef up the effort rather than being put off by such attacks.

Thank you for joining us. Exit polls from state elections

in Germany suggest the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel,

the conservative Christian Democratic Union, has

suffered significant losses. The votes have been seen as a test

of Mrs Merkel's refugee policy. The anti-immigration

Alternative for Germany party, the AfD, looks poised to enter three

regional parliaments, and could surpass the 20%

mark in the eastern The exit polls also suggest

that the Green Party is on track The AFD has demanded that

Germany closes its borders. Mrs Merkel has said the AfD stokes

up prejudice and division. Stay with us on BBC

World News, still to come. The family cat who has helped

a little girl with autism start The numbers of dead and wounded

defied belief. This worst terrorist atrocity on European soil in modern

times. In this than 24 hours, the Soviet Union lost an elderly Sikh

leader and replaced him with a dynamic figure 20 years his junior.

We hope these gunshots. We were petrified. James Earl Ray, aged 41,

sentenced to 99 years, due for parole when he is 90, travelling to

Nashville State prison in a convoy. Paul, what does it feel like to be

married at last? Fine, thank you. Is it going to change or life? I don't

know, I've never been married before!

A massive car bomb has hit the main square of the Turkish capital,

Ankara, killing 34 people and wounding many more.

In Ivory Coast there's been shootings at a resort popular

with tourists, with at least 16 people killed.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb says it carried out the attack.

The German pilot who deliberately crashed an airliner

into the French Alps last year killing all 150 people on board

had been told by his doctor two weeks before the tragedy

that he needed treatment

Andreas Lubitz, who had a history of severe depression,

never told airline bosses of his doctor's recommendation.

The final report by French investigators into the tragedy

says there must be "clearer rules" on the lifting

Every life that ended here began with one locked door.

The last deadly claim of privacy for a man in the grip

After locking his fellow pilot out of the cockpit,

Andreas Lubitz aimed the plane he was flying directly into a remote

part of the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board.

In the face of all that can't be changed, investigators today focused

TRANSLATION: Our first recommendation is a balance

between medical secrets, confidentiality, and public safety.

We want clear rules to require health care providers to inform

the authorities when a specific patient's health is very likely

Andreas Lubitz had battled depression for years and had seen

several psychiatric doctors in the weeks before the crash,

one of whom recommended he be treated in a psychiatric hospital,

information that was not passed to his employer.

By the time Mr Lubitz sat behind the controls a year ago,

The cockpit voice recorder registered only his level breathing

Doors that had been strengthened in the wake of 9/11

against hijacking by passengers now proved fatal when the threat

To this, investigators said there was no easy answer.

Relatives of those who died have expressed their disappointment

Almost everybody, completely unsatisfied with the answers that

Most of the people who were present didn't understand the reasons given

A year ago, one young co-pilot spread pain across Europe.

The question of who could have stopped him will haunt it for a long

FA Cup football to come but we start with rugby union because England

Scotland beat France by 29-18 in Edinburgh

which means England have an unassailable lead at the top

It was Scotland's first win over France in a decade.

So, a good day for Scotland and a great day for England,

crowned Six Nations champions for the first time since 2011

and just four months after Eddie Jones was

Here's conformation, with two points for a win,

England can't be caught at the top of the table.

They will head to Paris next Saturday night looking

Our reporter Sonja McLaughlin has caught up with the England coach

and asked him, now with the Championship assured,

whether he thinks they can make it a clean sweep.

If we prepare well then we can do the business.

France are always going to be a difficult side and they showed

at times today that they can play some sublime rugby.

Other times it isn't so we have to make sure they don't have too

You just said that you were talking to Dylan and what did you come up

with? We have our normal squad meeting

after dinner and we might go down to the bar and have

a couple of beers. Football

now and after winning the last two FA Cups, Arsenal have been dumped

out of the competition, beaten 2-1 by Watford

at the Emirates. It was a thrilling quarter-final,

with Watford taking This strike by Odion Igahlo

putting them ahead. scored this absolute screamer

to double their advantage. Danny Welbeck got one back

for Arsenal, but it's Watford We felt that our performance

deserved a victory but let's give credit to Watford for

the chances that they took. Maybe we've made one or two

mistakes defensively. Overall, we put in

a decent performance. Our run comes to an end,

it is very sad. We had a chance to equalise

in the last minute. will need a replay to decide

the last FA Cup semi-final spot minutes, a magnificent free-kick

from Dimitri Payet looked put West Ham on course

for a semi-final at Wembley. But Manchester United keep

pushing for an equaliser and Anthony Martial provided

it for the home side It was a fantastic match between two

good sides. And I'm very happy that my players could show their spirit

again, especially after a very nasty week, where we lost against West

Brom and Liverpool. Then we have shown this.

Premier League leaders Leicester after a 2-0 win away at Aston

Harry Kane scored the goals either side of half time.

Villa had just two shots on target and remain eight points behind

Newcastle at the bottom of the table.

We created more chances and we played well. Always difficult to

play in the Premier League, against a team who are playing for survival

it is difficult. I think we took the game in the right mentality and the

right way. I am very pleased. are through to the Super 10s stage

of the Twenty20 World Cup in India. Tamim Iqbal guided them

there by hitting the first century They beat Oman by 54 runs

in a rain-affected game. As winners of Group A,

Bangladesh join India, Australia, South Africa and Pakistan

in the next group phase. Six-year-old Iris Grace is severely

autistic and spent the first half of her life trapped in her own

world, barely communicating. Her mother Arabella Carter-Johnson

explains how her cat, When we got the diagnosis of autism,

the doctors were quite depressing in what they thought was possible. She

was severely autistic and they said that she may never talk and may

never be able to develop relationships that a normal child

would have. When we got Toola, everything changed, it was a

remarkable difference. She was able to communicate with us what she

wanted. She started off by saying to Toola more cat and giving it is

drugs and is. She has a large following in America on our Facebook

page and it was suggested that by put up a list of the traits that I

wanted in a cat and then we found Toola. She can come and sit on

Iris's leg and that helps. They are very friendly, they are interested

in the activities. In the home-schooling, she will join in

with whatever we are doing. As soon as I set out, Toola will be there,

playing and it's just amazing. We've got the saying that different is

brilliant and I really mean it. Autism, to me, is brilliant. It

doesn't have to be this grim diagnosis. It can be very, very

challenging at times but I feel that if you work with the child and work

with their interests, you will see a progression, you will see changes.

Inspiring stuff. If you want to get in touch, you can always use

Twitter. Thanks for watching. We're already getting a first set

again across rural East Anglia, so the temperatures are dipping away.

This is one view of the sunshine across the Midlands from one of our

viewers.