:00:13. > :00:17.$:/STARTFEED. Hello, this is BBC World News. Our top stories:
:00:17. > :00:21.Rescuers in Mexico City search through the night after an
:00:21. > :00:25.explosion that's killed 25 people with more than 100 injured.
:00:25. > :00:30.A motorway bridge collapses in China when a lorry packed with
:00:30. > :00:34.fireworks explodes, sending other vehicles plunging into the valley
:00:34. > :00:38.below. Francois Hollande will visit Mali after a three-week military
:00:38. > :00:44.campaign to oust Islamist rebels. And Hillary Clinton waves goodbye
:00:44. > :00:54.to her job as US Secretary of State but what will it be next, the White
:00:54. > :01:03.
:01:03. > :01:09.Before all that, we are just getting in news from Turkey, from
:01:09. > :01:15.the capital Ankara, as reported by Reuters, of an explosion in front
:01:15. > :01:18.of the US Embassy in Ankara. Reuters is quoting the Turkish news
:01:18. > :01:22.agency and says that several ambulances have been sent to the
:01:22. > :01:27.area and also it's reporting several people have been wounded.
:01:27. > :01:31.We will bring you more on that as soon as that news comes in, but
:01:31. > :01:34.reports of an explosion in front of the American Embassy in Ankara in
:01:34. > :01:39.Turkey. Our other main news: The search for
:01:39. > :01:42.survivors of an explosion at an office complex in Mexico City
:01:42. > :01:47.continues through the night. Rescue workers with sniffer dogs are
:01:47. > :01:52.hunting through the debris left by the blast at the headquarters of
:01:52. > :01:59.the state oil company Pemex. More than 100 people were injured and 20
:01:59. > :02:02.died. It happened in a building next to a skyscraper. The area was
:02:02. > :02:06.busy when it happened due to a shift changeover. The Mexican
:02:06. > :02:15.President warned people not to listen to rumours about what might
:02:15. > :02:19.have caused the explosion. TRANSLATION: I don't have a
:02:19. > :02:23.conclusionive -- conclusive report so I suggest we do not succumb to
:02:23. > :02:27.speculation. We should wait for the investigations to be carried out.
:02:27. > :02:35.The Director of The Interior Ministry is leading this
:02:35. > :02:41.coordination. They don't interrupt relief efforts. All the support
:02:41. > :02:46.staff should be deployed to rescue those who could be under the rubble.
:02:46. > :02:50.A truck carrying fireworks for the Chinese New Year has exploded in a
:02:50. > :02:54.highway in central China. There are reports of many deaths there. Cars
:02:54. > :02:59.were swept off the road by the blast that ripped apart an elevated
:02:59. > :03:05.section in he nan province. More vehicles were sent plunging 30
:03:05. > :03:12.metres to the ground as the carriageway collapsed under them.
:03:12. > :03:16.Henan. Rescue efforts continue. Initially reports on China national
:03:16. > :03:25.radio were putting the death toll as high as 26. There appears now to
:03:25. > :03:29.be a rowing back from that initial early account and the official
:03:29. > :03:35.statistics on the state news agency puts the death toll at the moment
:03:35. > :03:41.at six. But it looks as if some very unfortunate timing has added
:03:42. > :03:46.to the very serious consequences here. It looks as though the
:03:46. > :03:51.explosion took place just as the truck, laden with fireworks, was
:03:51. > :03:54.crossing a high elevated stretch of carriageway and a large section of
:03:54. > :03:58.the highway has been brought down. Eyewitnesses suggesting the force
:03:58. > :04:01.of the blast itself lifted some cars clear of the road and other
:04:01. > :04:06.vehicles coming down as the road collapsed.
:04:06. > :04:10.How difficult a time is this year anyway with fireworks, accidents? I
:04:10. > :04:15.was reading that people have been asked to set off fewer fireworks at
:04:15. > :04:21.the moment because of the whole environmental problems there?
:04:21. > :04:24.That's right. There has in recent days been a debate about where the
:04:24. > :04:30.people should set off less fireworks because of the pollution
:04:30. > :04:34.that they cause. Of course, what we have here is a very different type
:04:34. > :04:39.of consideration completely, but it's a very serious one. This isn't
:04:39. > :04:43.the first time in which there has been a number of deaths caused by
:04:43. > :04:49.fireworks, either transported or often stored in poor conditions. In
:04:49. > :04:54.the same province, in China's central Henan province in 2006, 36
:04:54. > :04:59.people were killed when a store room of fireworks exploded. Of
:04:59. > :05:03.course, at this time of year in the run-up to lunar New Year, that
:05:03. > :05:07.danger is always present. On this accident, any questions about the
:05:07. > :05:12.safety of that infrastructure, obviously also a very difficult
:05:12. > :05:17.place to get for the rescue services, I imagine?
:05:17. > :05:21.It's close to a main city in the province of Henan and it looks as
:05:21. > :05:24.if fire crews were on the scene fairly quickly. The rescue being
:05:25. > :05:29.made more difficult by the fact that the section of road which
:05:29. > :05:32.collapsed was some 30 metres above the valley below and the pictures
:05:32. > :05:37.from the scene make it look likely that people may have been trapped
:05:37. > :05:40.in their vehicles. We understand that the rescue efforts are still
:05:40. > :05:45.ongoing. John Sudworth there. France's
:05:45. > :05:48.President, Francois Hollande, is to fly to Mali for a meeting with the
:05:48. > :05:55.interim president. French forces have been engaged in three weeks of
:05:55. > :06:00.military action to drive out Islamist rebels from the town. Mr
:06:00. > :06:04.Hollande will be accompanied by his ministers for defence and Foreign
:06:04. > :06:08.Affairs. With Timbuktu and Kidal out of militant hands, France says
:06:08. > :06:11.a turning point has been reached but the fighting may not be over.
:06:12. > :06:18.Our correspondent in the capital there says France is likely to be
:06:18. > :06:26.happy with the operation so far. The main urban centres of the north
:06:26. > :06:30.are now being taken. Timbuktu, Kidal and Gao. The French
:06:30. > :06:35.intervention seems pretty successful. Now there is ongoing
:06:35. > :06:40.debate because the French forces entered Kiddal with African troops
:06:40. > :06:47.from Niger and Chad, but the Malian Army wasn't involved there and the
:06:47. > :06:51.reason why is that the fighters that had been occupying the city
:06:51. > :06:56.said they would cooperate with the French and the African forces but
:06:56. > :07:03.not with the Mali Army. The Ain Amenas has asked for a political
:07:03. > :07:09.solution of the conflict. That option was approved yesterday to
:07:09. > :07:17.the it is may of many. For part of the population, Ain Amenas was part
:07:17. > :07:22.of the problem and is still part of the problem because its alliance on
:07:22. > :07:24.Islamists that actually caused this. There is a debate on whether the
:07:24. > :07:29.government should negotiate with Ain Amenas or not, but of course,
:07:29. > :07:32.the French are encouraging that dialogue so there's really ongoing
:07:32. > :07:36.debate about that. Can I ask you about the suggestions that the
:07:36. > :07:45.French President is due to be flying into Mali tonight? Any idea
:07:45. > :07:50.at all about what that might mean? Well, we do not have any
:07:50. > :07:54.information about what this visit is going to be about, but I'm
:07:54. > :07:58.guessing that this visit of French President, Francois Hollande, is
:07:58. > :08:04.probably going to be about encouraging and congratulating the
:08:04. > :08:10.troops about their great advance in the north and also consolidating
:08:10. > :08:13.dialogue between the mannian government and some of the rebels,
:08:13. > :08:18.like I said most probably Ain Amenas rebels of the north.
:08:18. > :08:26.Just back to the top story, the reports of an explosion in the
:08:26. > :08:32.Turkish capital Ankara outside the US embassy there. We have a
:08:32. > :08:41.correspondent in Ankara for us. What do you know? I'm outside the
:08:41. > :08:45.embassy. Approximately 20 minutes ago, I heard the explosion
:08:45. > :08:50.extremely loudly from my flat ten minutes walking distance from the
:08:50. > :08:59.embassy. The embassy building is a massive compound situated on one of
:08:59. > :09:04.the main roads to Ankara, also home to lots of ministerial buildings.
:09:04. > :09:08.Right now, it's too soon to know whether anyone's been hurt and
:09:08. > :09:12.whether there are any casualties or fatalities. Can you describe what
:09:12. > :09:20.you are seeing there? The place is swarmed with police. I'm directly
:09:20. > :09:25.in front of a police cordon. They've barricaded the part of the
:09:25. > :09:28.road, the area of the street, the entrance to the embassy where the
:09:28. > :09:37.explosion happened. There are ambulances here, there are a huge
:09:37. > :09:47.amount of cameras. There is a fire truck as well and there are police
:09:47. > :09:47.
:09:47. > :09:53.running about all over the place. It's chaotic. This is, I believe,
:09:53. > :09:58.the first blast in Ankara for I think just over a year. I know you
:09:58. > :10:01.said it's too soon to assess whether there are any injuries but
:10:01. > :10:09.there have been reports of a number of people wounded. Is this a very
:10:09. > :10:17.busy part of town? It is quite a busy part of town. It's quite a
:10:17. > :10:21.central part ofen Kara. It's a busy part of town, but this road in
:10:21. > :10:31.particular comes from a main highway where the US embassy sits,
:10:31. > :10:34.
:10:34. > :10:39.it's situated in a busy area simply because the embassy is a busy area
:10:39. > :10:42.-- Ankara. The US embassy is obviously usually massively secure
:10:42. > :10:47.isn't it? I haven't had any confirmation by officials, but
:10:47. > :10:51.speaking to people here, it seems it was a bomb. As I said, I haven't
:10:51. > :10:56.managed to confirm that and it's very soon, it happened about 20
:10:56. > :10:59.minutes ago, but it doesn't appear to be something like a gas
:10:59. > :11:03.explosion, for example. Thank you very much. We'll come
:11:04. > :11:06.back to you if there's any more that you can help us with.
:11:06. > :11:12.Police in Pakistan say 20 people there have been killed and more
:11:12. > :11:15.than 30 injured in a suicide bomb attack in the close to the border
:11:15. > :11:19.with Afghanistan. It happened outside a Shia mosque but it was
:11:19. > :11:24.close to a Sunni one and exploded as people were leaving after Friday
:11:24. > :11:28.prayers. It's close to Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt, the
:11:29. > :11:36.base for the tall band and other militant groups. No groups have
:11:36. > :11:40.said it's responsible for that. I spoke to Orla Gearin in Islamabad.
:11:40. > :11:49.We have been told the death toll's risen to 20. One of the dead is a
:11:49. > :11:53.police officer and more than 30 people have been wounded. The
:11:53. > :12:00.attack was timed to coincide with Friday prayers. The bomber struck
:12:00. > :12:05.in a laneway which combined two mosques, a Sunni mosque and a Shia
:12:05. > :12:09.mosque. Police say Shias were the kargt this time and most of the
:12:09. > :12:13.victims are from the Shia minority -- target. There are also Sunni
:12:13. > :12:17.Muslims among the victims according to the local police chief because
:12:17. > :12:22.their place of worship was so nearby. Last month, more than 90
:12:22. > :12:26.Shias were killed in a double bombing in Quetta. Last year, more
:12:26. > :12:32.than 400 were killed in attacks around the country, sectarian
:12:32. > :12:35.attacks like this are increasing. This latest attack in Hangu comes
:12:35. > :12:41.as the Human Rights Watch based in New York has accused the Government
:12:41. > :12:51.of failing to provect this vulnerable minority, of effectively
:12:51. > :12:56.
:12:56. > :13:01.turning a blindy -- protect. It says -- turning a blind eye.
:13:01. > :13:08.Very difficult presumably to bring any kind of security to these sorts
:13:08. > :13:12.of areas? There is a double risk in places
:13:12. > :13:16.like Hangu. It's close to the tribal areas along the Afghan
:13:16. > :13:20.border. That's an area where the Pakistan, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda
:13:20. > :13:24.are known to have strongholds, it's easy for them to pass from the
:13:24. > :13:27.tribal area into the settled areas and to carry out bombings. This is
:13:27. > :13:31.a pattern we have seen here over the past four to five years. In
:13:31. > :13:35.addition, we have this element of sectarian groups who're increasing
:13:35. > :13:39.their violence and targeting the vulnerable minorities. Shias are
:13:39. > :13:43.complaining that the Government's not done enough to protect them.
:13:43. > :13:48.Human rights campaigners are urging the government to show some
:13:48. > :13:51.backbone, that's the phrase being used by Human Rights Watch, and to
:13:51. > :13:55.use protection. Some believe the government's afraid to tackle the
:13:56. > :14:00.groups, that they are too powerful, threatening and sinister. An
:14:00. > :14:06.analyst told us ministers are afraid to say the word "Shia" in
:14:06. > :14:11.case they would be taken as sympathisers or in case they might
:14:11. > :14:15.be charged. Now, could the great barrier reef
:14:15. > :14:25.be stripped of its world heritage status? Find out more in the next
:14:25. > :14:29.
:14:29. > :14:33.The deadly hostage crisis at the gas plant in Algeria raised many
:14:33. > :14:37.questions about how to tackle the rise of Islamist extremism in north
:14:37. > :14:42.Africa. The BBC's Richard Galpin, is one of the first reporters to
:14:42. > :14:52.visit the remote facility in the Sahara.
:14:52. > :14:53.
:14:53. > :14:58.The funeral in Scotland of Kenneth Whiteside, one of the men murdered
:14:58. > :15:03.at the gas plant in Algeria. Today, we travelled to the south east of
:15:03. > :15:09.Algeria to see the planned for ourselves. There's now a heavy
:15:09. > :15:14.military presence here. Soldiers demonstrating they are in control,
:15:14. > :15:18.and like two weeks ago. When the Islamist militants broke into this
:15:18. > :15:26.accommodation area with ease. Searching for senior foreign
:15:26. > :15:32.managers. We were told many more hostages died here at the gas
:15:32. > :15:37.processing centre. The blackened towers evidence of a bomb detonated
:15:38. > :15:44.next to a group of foreigners chained to the metal work. And yet
:15:44. > :15:47.some employees are now back, looking at how to repair the plant.
:15:47. > :15:53.The goal is to get this whole complex up and running as soon as
:15:53. > :15:57.possible, with all the employees returning - including the
:15:57. > :15:59.expatriates. All the foreigners in particular, they will want
:15:59. > :16:06.reassurances that security here has been improved and they will
:16:06. > :16:16.therefore feel safer. The general manager says what is needed is a
:16:16. > :16:21.permanent military presence here. personally ask the military and my
:16:21. > :16:24.company to keep a military presence here. I officially asked for this.
:16:25. > :16:34.The decision whether these soldiers will stay on guard you will be
:16:35. > :16:35.
:16:35. > :16:40.taken by the government in the We want to show you these pictures
:16:40. > :16:46.taken from a NASA spacecraft. It shows a giant plume of super hot
:16:46. > :16:50.plasma erupting from the San's surface. Scientists nicknamed the
:16:50. > :17:00.erection as Dragon's tail, as it showed a 10 role of solar plasma
:17:00. > :17:02.
:17:02. > :17:08.extending across the north-eastern The latest headlines. A reminder of
:17:08. > :17:10.our main story. Reuters is reporting an explosion. Our
:17:10. > :17:16.correspondent has confirmed that there has been some sort of
:17:16. > :17:21.incident. It looks like a blast in Ankara in Turkey. Reports are that
:17:21. > :17:24.ambulances have been seen in the area outside the US embassy.
:17:24. > :17:30.Reports coming in to us that several people are wounded, but we
:17:30. > :17:33.cannot as yet confirm that for you. Smoke seen coming out of the side
:17:33. > :17:39.entrance from the US embassy. This is the first picture coming into
:17:39. > :17:45.was from Ankara. You can see some sort of damage there. It looks like
:17:45. > :17:49.some sort of a bomb has gripped the side of that war. Not clear at all
:17:49. > :17:58.who might be behind that. These are the first pictures coming into was
:17:58. > :18:03.Now we move on to another piece of news coming into was from the US.
:18:03. > :18:08.It is Hillary Clinton. It is her last day in post as Secretary of
:18:08. > :18:11.State. She was once seen as a very divisive and polarising figure in
:18:12. > :18:15.American politics. Now she is one of the most recognised and
:18:15. > :18:19.respected women in the world. After four years she leaves with high
:18:19. > :18:24.approval ratings and almost 1 million air miles under her belt.
:18:24. > :18:33.But what is her legacy as America's diplomatic teeth and what to have
:18:33. > :18:39.plans for her future? -- diplomatic chiefs. It is incredible how her
:18:39. > :18:44.image has changed. If we go back to the political scandal around her
:18:44. > :18:46.and her husband when he first came to power, his behaviour towards her,
:18:46. > :18:51.the divisiveness over the election and now she goes out with these
:18:51. > :18:54.huge approval ratings. One of the things in this media saturated age
:18:54. > :18:58.is sometimes you just have a chunk of time where you can actually do a
:18:58. > :19:05.job, instead of being commented on constantly from the sidelines. But
:19:05. > :19:09.it is a remarkable transformation. If you look back to 2008 and think
:19:09. > :19:13.about the events that led up to Barack Obama's election. Hillary
:19:13. > :19:17.Clinton pretty much thought she was going to be the nominee. Then this
:19:17. > :19:24.insurgent from nowhere, Barack Obama, seized the ground at the
:19:24. > :19:29.last minute. The bitterness between the two Camp's cannot be overstated.
:19:29. > :19:32.And yet the President said, I will bring you in and you can the
:19:32. > :19:35.Secretary of State, because she campaigned for him. From that
:19:35. > :19:41.moment on they formed a remarkable double act. I want to emphasise
:19:41. > :19:44.that I do think it has been a double act because, as we know,
:19:44. > :19:48.President Obama has a very tight inner circle that helps him make
:19:48. > :19:54.decisions. Hillary Clinton isn't part of that, but she's been the
:19:54. > :19:58.most visible face of his presidency to the world at large. But people
:19:58. > :20:03.are saying, what has she actually achieved? The Middle East peace
:20:03. > :20:07.process, she's given the impression of being everywhere. She says she's
:20:07. > :20:12.had to combat the Republican legacy of American politics, which wasn't
:20:12. > :20:17.great. It depends on how you look at legacy. The Washington Post had
:20:17. > :20:19.an article saying, unlike George Mitchell, she did and oversee the
:20:19. > :20:24.Good Friday Agreement or Henry Kissinger that the open into China.
:20:24. > :20:28.I think that is spurious. These achievements often the real work of
:20:28. > :20:33.other people, then somebody comes in and get the glory. She and her
:20:33. > :20:38.husband, obviously the power politics couple. A of the world. Is
:20:38. > :20:47.she really going to stop now? All things being equal, that means
:20:47. > :20:50.her health being good, she will be 69 in 2016. I fully expected to be
:20:51. > :20:56.running for President. What are the signs she is doing that, is she
:20:56. > :20:59.fund-raising? No, she's going to take time off. She should. She
:20:59. > :21:03.worked herself to exhaustion, she had a blood clot on the side of her
:21:03. > :21:07.head. Let's say she gets past all that. The idea of recharging. What
:21:07. > :21:11.we know of her from her youth is a year of recharging will drive a
:21:11. > :21:18.crazy and she'll be back in the mix. Two years from now, she will be
:21:18. > :21:24.forming... We will see the signs. Again, her being a team player,
:21:24. > :21:27.which is what came out in this first Obama term. Obama has this
:21:27. > :21:32.two you window to do something. I think she will step back from the
:21:32. > :21:35.headlines. 18 months from now you will see for stories about fund-
:21:35. > :21:39.raising. She will be appearing here round there. Her husband has this
:21:39. > :21:42.huge network through the Clinton global initiative, she will be part
:21:42. > :21:47.of that. You will see that the money starts coming in and the work
:21:47. > :21:52.will start. In America, you start running for President seriously two
:21:52. > :22:00.years before the election, and I expect her to be there. It will be
:22:00. > :22:04.fascinating to watch her. An iconic woman. The Australian government is
:22:04. > :22:08.increasing its protection of the Great Barrier Reef, to prevent the
:22:08. > :22:12.United Nations from stripping it of its World Heritage status. Some
:22:12. > :22:16.green groups say it is not doing enough. During protests in Sydney
:22:16. > :22:21.and Brisbane, they demanded greater protection from proposed coal and
:22:21. > :22:25.gas developments. The staggering spectacle of the Great Barrier Reef.
:22:26. > :22:30.It is one of the natural wonders that makes Australia so beautiful.
:22:30. > :22:34.But it is threatened, according to UNESCO, by one of the things that
:22:34. > :22:38.makes Australia Bridge, its resources sector. The reef was
:22:38. > :22:42.granted world heritage status in the early 1980s. But UNESCO has
:22:42. > :22:45.expressed concerned about the impact on its delicate ecosystem of
:22:45. > :22:50.expanding coal ports and the increased shipping they will bring.
:22:50. > :22:54.After making a monitoring visit to the Queensland coast last year, it
:22:54. > :22:58.had given the Australian government a February deadline to respond to
:22:58. > :23:02.its concerns. But the when warning came with a threat. That the status
:23:02. > :23:07.of the reef could be downgraded to a World Heritage area in danger.
:23:07. > :23:10.Calling it an iconic Australian environmental asset, the Girard
:23:10. > :23:15.government has delivered its response and pledged to stop
:23:15. > :23:19.development that would cause unacceptable damage to the reef.
:23:19. > :23:21.The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most precious places on earth.
:23:21. > :23:26.Australia and Australian government has a clear commitment to
:23:26. > :23:32.protecting it. People should be on notice that it doesn't matter
:23:32. > :23:36.whether you are a business, say a mining company, or whether you are
:23:36. > :23:39.the premier of Queensland. Anyone who wants this government to cut
:23:40. > :23:43.corners on the Great Barrier Reef will be sorely disappointed.
:23:43. > :23:47.development of the port of Gladstone is amongst the projects
:23:47. > :23:50.that is raising environmental concerns. Green groups believe the
:23:50. > :23:54.expansion of the resources sector, fuelled by the rise in China, will
:23:54. > :23:59.bring thousands more ships to the reef. And they claim the government
:23:59. > :24:02.has not done anywhere near enough to curb pollution. Protecting the
:24:02. > :24:06.environment at the same time as boosting the economy is a tricky
:24:06. > :24:15.balancing act for the Australian government. The preservation of the
:24:15. > :24:18.Great Barrier Reef most vividly highlights its dilemma. Some news
:24:18. > :24:23.coming into this. The Crown Prosecution Service in London has
:24:23. > :24:31.decided not to bring charges over the hoax telephone calls to the
:24:31. > :24:34.King Edward VII hospital, against Mel Greig and Christian, both radio
:24:34. > :24:38.presenters in Australia. They made back phone call to the hospital
:24:38. > :24:43.when the Duchess of Cambridge was having treatment for her pregnancy.
:24:43. > :24:48.They pretended to be members of the Royal Family. Subsequently, a nurse
:24:48. > :24:52.at the hospital who took that phone call, Jacintha Saldanha, she had
:24:52. > :24:56.put that phone-call through. She tragedy took her own life. The CPS
:24:56. > :25:01.have said that, however misguided the telephone call was, it was
:25:01. > :25:04.intended as a harmless prank. It is not possible to extradite
:25:04. > :25:11.individuals from Australia in these cases. But the case is still very
:25:12. > :25:18.sad. Did she or didn't she? Yes, she did. The singer Beyonce admits
:25:18. > :25:22.she indeed mind the words to the Star-Spangled Banner at President
:25:22. > :25:26.Obama's inauguration. She has another high-profile gig coming up
:25:26. > :25:36.this weekend at the Super Bowl in New Orleans. This time she says she
:25:36. > :25:38.
:25:38. > :25:43.It was the show-stopping moment on a day of political theatre. But it
:25:43. > :25:53.wasn't what it seemed. Yes, that was Beyonce's boys all right, but
:25:53. > :25:54.
:25:54. > :26:02.he now admits it had been pre- recorded. -- voice. Take two was
:26:02. > :26:10.live. An attempt by the singer to make amends and to explain. I did
:26:10. > :26:13.not have time to rehearse with the orchestra. It was a live television
:26:13. > :26:18.show and a very important emotional show for me, one of my proudest
:26:18. > :26:24.moments. Due to the weather, due to the delay, due to no proper sound
:26:24. > :26:27.check, I did not feel comfortable taking the risk. A multiple choice
:26:27. > :26:32.of explanations, and she insisted he had at least sung along to the
:26:32. > :26:38.backing track. Then the burning question - would Beyonce be singing
:26:38. > :26:41.live at Sunday's Super Bowl? I will absolutely be singing live. I am