18/01/2013 BBC World News

Hello. This is BBC World News. Our First, the hostage crisis in a

remote part of Algeria. This is two days after Islamist seized workers

at a remote gas Park -- plant. Lance Armstrong admits about his

big ally during all seven of his Tour de France titles. The Jew ever

take banned substances to enhance your performance -- did you ever

take? The S. The Chinese economy picked up, but it BSO the weakest

growth for a decade. -- but saw the For the latest on the hostage

crisis in the remote Algerian desert. A large number of foreign

hostages are still unaccounted for after Algerian troops attacked

Islamist militants who seized the desert gas facility on the Libyan

border. But state TV says 600 Algerian nationals have been freed.

Details of what took place at In Amenas remain uncertain. But

reports suggest Algerian forces used helicopter gunships to attack

the militants. They were apparently about to move hostages from the

accommodation cabins out of the country. The Algerian government

said it rejected negotiations or blackmail until what it calls the

"terrorist operation" is "crushed once and for all". Some hostages

have been released unharmed. But, latest unconfirmed reports from

Algeria suggest that as many as 30 hostages may have been killed, with

another 22 unaccounted for. The Prime Minister has just made this

statement to parliament. He said extra protection had been added to

diplomatic post, and in energy facilities in Algeria. He is co-

ordinating closely with the Algerian prime minister.

Algerian Prime Minister has told me this morning they are looking at

all possible routes to resolve the crisis. Mr Speaker, last night the

number of British citizens at risk was less than 30. Thankfully, we

now know the number has been significantly reduced, and I'm sure

the House will understand why, during an ongoing operation, I

cannot say more on this at this stage. This speaker, our priority

remains the safety of the British nationals involved -- Mr Speaker.

The repatriation of those killed, and the evacuation of wounded and

freed her hostages. A rapid deployment team is on ruche -- on

route to Algiers, and we have been granted access to the consular

staff to fly south to support those involved. I have spoken with Bob

Dudley at BP, last night and this morning, and we are liaising

closely on the BP evacuation plans and have put additional civilian

aircraft on standby to assist them with their well thought-through

evacuation plans if needed. Mr Speaker, we need to be clear whose

fault this is. It is the terrorists who are responsible for this attack,

for the loss of life. At the actions of these extremists can

never be justified. We will be resolute and the determination to

fight terrorism and stand with the Algerian government to have paid a

mere -- heavy price over many years fighting against a savage terrorist

campaign. This is a continuing situation and we will do to keep

Parliament and the public updated. We hope this will reach a

conclusion shortly. Then there will be a moment to learn the necessary

lessons. David Cameron in Parliament a few moments ago. A

public admission after years of denials. Cyclist Lance Armstrong

has admitted he lied about taking banned substances to help win the

Tour de France. He said the interview with Oprah Winfrey was an

important step in repairing the damage done to the sport. He was

stripped of his titles last year after being labelled a serial cheat

For years, he deceived, now, finally, he confessed. The moment a

man wants a global hero admitted his success was down to drugs.

or no, did you ever take banned substances to enhance your cycling

performance? Yes. In all seven of your tour de France victories, did

you ever take banned substances? Yes. Armstrong said the battle

against cancer gave him a win-at- all-costs mentality and doping

everyone fell like cheating. keep on winning it, meant you had

to keep on using banned substances to do it. Yes, and I'm not sure

that this is an acceptable answer, but that is like saying we have to

have air in our tyres or we have to have water in our bottles. In my

view, that was part of the job. Armstrong admitted he was a bully

and his behaviour was inexcusable. He said he would be apologising for

the rest of his life. This is too late. It's too late for probably

most people. And that's my fault. You know, I view the situation as

one big lie. But one journalist to Armstrong once sued for suggesting

he had taken drugs was unimpressed. I was a journalist being paid to do

what I did, and it was my job, and are not looking for any thanks from

anyone or anything like that, I was doing my job. The only concern I

had it was for the sources to told the truth and were vilified for it.

Our Armstrong said he would now co- operate with the cycling

authorities, but the downfall of an icon is complete. It was this myth,

this perfect story, and it was not true. Some good news from the

world's second biggest economy, China. We knew that the growth

would start to accelerate, but it is the level at which it to

accelerate. Good news on the Chinese economy. Better-than-

expected growth. Wealth grew at a healthy rate of 7.8%, last year and

grew even faster in the last few months of 2012. But, China's

economy is undergoing a period of transition from heavy industry to

high-tech products and retail. Damian Grammaticus reports from

Central China's industrial hub, Through the grime, the sun barely

shines. The tower blocks on grey shadows. Polluted industrial well

and, on the banks of the Yangtze river. Chairman Mao built its giant

iron and steel works, the biggest in the world. They employ 80,000

people. As China boomed, so did this business. But now China is

slowing down, the City is struggling to make a profit. The

slowdown in China's economy means there is now just too much iron and

steel being produced. As a giant state-owned enterprise, it has been

told to cut production, but it cannot cut jobs to save money. It

is China's dilemma. The giant state firms still dominate parts of the

economy. Many are inefficient, and where will new jobs come from?

is like deep winter for the whole steel industry. It will last

another five years. To get through we need to reform and diversify.

Despite the problems at its biggest employer, the City is one of the

fastest-growing parts of China. China's relentless drive to

urbanised has reached the inland cities. It seems all of the city is

a construction site. China's new leaders know this building spree

cannot go on forever. The whole economy needs reform. So to replace

the grimy always, they are encouraging spotless new industries.

-- grimy old ways. Innovation and high technology are what the City

now graze. Here they make screens for mobile phones. High-skill,

higher-paid jobs. What China wants the future to look like. In the

past, china succeeded by producing on a massive scale. Low-quality,

but low cost. We are losing that advantage. In the coming 10 years

we have got to change. And China's new leaders want to see more of

this as well, a new upmarket shopping district. Western brands

like Marks and Spencers are opening, hoping the city changes will be

good for them. In future, China wants to rely less on exporting

overseas and more on its own domestic consumers. Rising incomes

should mean a rise in spending. China's new middle classes are

forging a new path for this city US safety officials have arrived in

Japan to inspect the Dreamliner forced to make an emergency landing

on Wednesday. The pilot of the All Nippon Airways plane was alerted to

problems by a flashing warning light and a smell of burning in the

cockpit. Our Rupert Wingfield Hayes in Tokyo, says the investigations

are focusing on a set of batteries on the plane. The American

investigation team has arrived and they are joined with the Japanese

investigation team, and the focus of the investigation is now the

battery from inside the 787 aircraft that was forced to divert

on Wednesday. That battery has been removed from the aircraft. We have

seen pictures. There is black charring around the box, black

liquid that has stuck to the side of the box, and according to the

Japanese investigation team, they made a statement saying that they

believe the battery overheated and gave off smoke due to excessive

electricity flow and electrical pressure. That is the initial

assessment, or what they need to do now is meticulously pull everything

apart and try to find out why. Why did this battery meltdown? The

Japanese manufacturer the battery - - of the battery, in a statement,

they said the company's factory had been vilified but it is only a part

of a whole system, so we are trying to find out where the problem is

with the system. That is essentially the problem that the

investigators face, is it just of the battery at fault, or is there

something wrong with a whole electrical system of the 787

aircraft? In the meantime, the planes remain on the ground and for

the Japanese airlines involved that means they are losing money. It is

estimated that All Nippon Airlines, with 17 of these aircraft is losing

more than a million dollars a day and cancelling a lot of flights.

They are saying they are fully behind the airplane and they think

it is a good aircraft and they will work harder with the investigation

team to get this plane back in the air as soon as possible. As if

Boeing doesn't have a big enough headache with the Dreamliner, it

could also be running into trouble with its workforce. The union

representing 23,000 engineers and technical workers is urging members

to reject the company's latest pay deal. Boeing says the deal is its

best and final offer. But workers want better pension provision. The

firm says it wants to wrap up negotiations as soon as possible in

order to focus on solving its Sales and profits slumped at the

world's largest maker of computer chips. Intel's net income for the

last three months of 2012 fell 27% to just under �2.5 billion. The

firm has been hit by the slowdown in demand for PCs as more and more

of us turn to smartphones and 5th day looking at the market,

after the Chinese numbers, we had a reaction from the markets which was

pretty subdued in Europe. In Asia, a different story. The FT-SE 100 is

only a par for %. We have had the miners responding pretty well, and

that accounts for a lot of the movement up. They were heavily

weighted in the FT-SE 100 index, but the rest of the European

markets are unexciting. In the Asian markets, almost up 3% in

Japan, and we have this accelerating growth. I think the

market might fall back sharply, but they will consolidate at least,

because people will look ahead to the corporate results in China to

see if there is any staying power for this growth which we are seeing,

the headline figures coming from the macro-economic statistics. That

is the businesses, the more later. Stay with us, we have a special

report from Syria coming up because after nearly two years of civil war

the BBC is there to reveal why the opposition, once regarded as

saviours, are losing support to We can take you to the Sundance

Film Festival, one of the top international showcases for

independent cinema. It has just got under way in Utah. Founded by the

actor and director Robert Redford, this year's festival will screen

119 films from more than 30 countries around the world. In

those snowy, beautiful wastes of Utah, the BBC's Tom Brock reports.

It takes place high in the mountains, a short drive from Salt

Lake City. Unexpected 50,000 festival-goers from around the

world are arriving in the ski resort for 10 days of screenings of

films made by independent directors. Robert Redford helped found the

festival more than 30 years ago. To him the festival has a mission.

think it is about diversity and the value of diversity. Mainstream

cinema is obligated to finding a commercial product. That is because

of the money. That's fine. But we're not obligated that way.

Because we are not for profit. We don't benefit financially from the

films, so therefore we just show what is out there and let the

At Sundance this year there are music films, documentaries and

experimental pictures. Human sexuality is a theme in many films.

Week Festival will close with a biography of Apple founder Steve

Jobs. There are more women directors than ever before. I think

it is exciting and I hope it is moving towards more visibility for

women and women's stories. That is part of the issue, the value we put

the women's stories. There is a shift towards people wanting to see

more stories that revolve around women. But there are big challenges

facing film-makers who come to Sundance at each year. What will

happen to their pictures when they leave the festival? Many will

struggle to get a viable distribution deal. Despite the

challenges, there are always Sundance successes. Beasts of the

southern wild was launched at Sundance last year but has now

picked up four Oscar nominations. It is a film which would have made

it difficult to find headway You are with BBC World News. These

are the latest headlines: The British Prime Minister David

Cameron has just told parliament the hostage crisis at a remote gas

facility in Algeria is continuing, with Algerian forces tracking down

his lack militants and possible hostages. The number of British

citizens at risk had been significantly reduced from the

previous estimate of 30. Seven other nations are involved in the

operations there. At least 11 people on a reported

dead due to heavy flooding in the Indonesian capital Jakarta. Some

20,000 people have abandoned their homes. The Governor of Jakarta has

declared a state of emergency. The BBC's Karishma Vaswani said

authorities are working to get emergency supplies to the people

who need it the most. We did not get a heavy rain we

expected overnight. There was a short, heavy downpour but it was

intermittent so as you can see behind me, this street which is in

the heart of the central business district, yesterday was inundated

with floodwater. Today, the water has completely receded. What we're

hearing in other parts of the city, in more low-lying areas, there are

still floodwaters there. The focus is on rescuing people who may still

be in these areas, trapped by the flood waters, recovering their

belongings and getting help to the people who need it the most. Many

last night spend their evening in government shelters, in mosques

taking refuge and in front's closes. The focus is on the rescue and

recovery operation and of course, if there is any further bad weather,

what to do in that situation. The Africa Cup of Nations kicks off

in South Africa this weekend. 16 countries taking part. Very

different from when the competition started back in 1957 with just

three. Zambia took the trophy last year. Who are the favourites this

time and white South Africa, this year? We can go live to our

reporter in Johannesburg. Milton, it was not planned for South Africa

all this year? Yes, South Africa won this

tournament in 1996, just two years after the advent of democracy here.

South Africans in their millions are hoping in the stadium behind me,

I don't know if you can see it, it is a bit grey and wet here, they

are hoping that the 90 capacity stadium will be filled to capacity

tomorrow. They are hoping that the local South African team will

change its fortunes. It is lagging a bit at the moment. They have had

a tough time in the game's leading up to this tournament. They are

hoping they will be able to win the tournament with 13th play in the

field. They think the crowds and the whole mood here will raise

momentum and give them a bit of zest. What are ticket sales like?

Is there a great legacy from the World Cup? Yes, that is a good

question. That have been problems with the ticket sales leading up to

the tournament here which starts tomorrow at 1,600. That is when the

kick-off happens, 1,600 GMT. The organisers, the local organising

committee say they have sold 4010 tickets and for the opening game

they are sold out completely. The Hape sabbath begins continue to buy

the tickets. In the beginning there was a very sluggish flocking to the

queues of the ticket sales and they are hoping this will change when

the South Africans play here. That will change the mood and encourage

the nation to see the 16 nations which have arrived in South Africa

from all over the Continent. We have the big players like Didier

Drogba who used to play for Chelsea, now based in Shanghai. He has

already arrived in South Africa and many other big stars who have come

from the European Football League and English football league in

particular. They are here and people are hopeful that Africa will,

for the first time, showcase its own football talent here at home,

than abroad. Milton, thank you for joining us on the eve of that big

events. And now, some remarkable pictures

which have emerged from Germany of a meticulously planned bank robbery.

Thieves used special tunnel boring equipment, probably over a period

of months, to get into a safe deposit box in Berlin. Lucas de

Jong has more details. It is an illegal withdraw from

actual hole in the war. An elaborate tunnel, almost 45 metres

and long, ducked by -- dug by thieves to gain access. The tunnel

is a feat of construction. They first used machinery to drill

through the thick concrete wall before painstakingly digging

through sand and debt. Side beams were installed to hold it

altogether. All of this was done with that anyone noticing from

above. TRANSLATION: The tunnel was constructed very professionally. It

was stabilised with beams and supports. Obviously, the suspects

spent months digging this roughly 45 metre-long tunnel from the

garage to the bank for stocked the tunnel starts in this parking lot

where the thieves rented a small garage. On Monday they used the

tunnel to break into an underground vault where safety deposit boxes

were being kept. What they took and how much it is worth is still being

calculated by police. My colleagues still have to secure evidence here

in the tunnel and continue the search for DNA and fingerprint

traces. Now the focus is on this man, a person police say has been

seen around the parking area. An unknown face, a mysterious loot and

a whole lot of questions. Quite an engineering feat. Let's

pick up on the latest from Algeria. Still difficult to piece together

what is happening to stop we have heard David Cameron explaining to

Parliament. There are details emerging from the remote desert

location. We can go live to the BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris.

Those who escaped are beginning to reveal what happened. Yes, they are

doing. Those French hostages who were there and the Algerians,

French-speaking Algerians, are speaking to the French media. In

the last few minutes, the French Prime Minister says he has spoken

to his counterpart at he confirms that this operation is ongoing.

Still a fluid situation there. The most detail as coming from a French

chef who trained in London. He works for a French catering company.

When the gunfire started, he ran to his room and hid under his bed. He

spent almost 48 hours there. He probably owes his life to his

Algerian colleagues because they refused to give him up. They

brought food to his locked door using a secret password. They were

the ones who freed him after the... There were British hostages hiding

in the roof of the same building where he was hiding. We do not know

about the fate of those Britons but there were hostages who were not in

the possession of the hostage takers. Some of the other details.

We understand from the Nigerian side that there was a negotiation

on going. This is speculation on my part, but picking through the

different reports, it seems there were two or three attempts to leave

on the part of the gunmen and when they tried to go in these five

vehicle convoy with the hostages, that is when the attack began. It

seems to have been gunfire from a helicopter. In the panic which

ensued, those Algerians who were in a different -- different part of

the plant, in a complex and campaign -- and canteen, burst out

of an emergency door. The gunmen lost control. That is why we were

getting conflicting reports yesterday but perhaps hundreds of

Algerians were getting out of the plant. It seems a number of them

escaped at the point where the attack began. Thank you for helping

to piece together the details from the remote desert location in

eastern Algeria. Far Ivory, fire crews in the

Australian state of Victoria are battling a large bush fire which is

burning out of control. The blaze, more than 45,000 hectares in size,

these flames are being fanned by a heat wave, temperatures heading

beyond 40 degrees Celsius. Hundreds of residents have been evacuated

from their homes and one small township was completely cut-off.

Let me build on the French perspective of what is happening in

the British -- in the desert. We heard from David Cameron. He said

seven other nations have nationals who were detained or missing, this