:00:09. > :00:15.You are with BBC World News. Our top stories: A hot air balloon
:00:15. > :00:19.explodes in mid-flight near the Egyptian city of Luxor. Political
:00:19. > :00:22.stalemate in Italy, no clear winner emerges from the general election.
:00:22. > :00:26.The world's financial markets take fright.
:00:26. > :00:33.French anger after video is posted online of seven members of the same
:00:33. > :00:43.family kidnapped in Cameroon. The emblem of of a Afghanistan
:00:43. > :00:55.
:00:55. > :01:00.womanhood, why have sales of Hello. At least 18 European and
:01:00. > :01:09.Asian tourists have been killed after the hot air balloon caught
:01:09. > :01:13.fire mid-flight near the ancient Egyptian town of Luxor. Officials
:01:13. > :01:18.say the balloon exploded as it came in to land towards the end of its
:01:18. > :01:23.dawn flight. It caught fire at an altitude of around 300 metres, then
:01:23. > :01:28.plunged to a sugar cane field. Richard Lister has more details.
:01:28. > :01:32.The balloon came down in fields west of Luxor, a tourist adventure
:01:32. > :01:36.that ended in carnage. This mobile phone footage shows rescue teams
:01:36. > :01:40.and ambulances and in the distance what appear to be bodybags, one
:01:40. > :01:44.report says those who survived had jumped from the basket as it
:01:44. > :01:48.plummeted to the ground. A photographer on another flight from
:01:49. > :01:52.the same departure point took these photos as they took off this
:01:52. > :02:01.morning, he was in front of the balloon that crashed. We were
:02:01. > :02:06.approaching the end of our flight. It was more what we heard. A loud
:02:06. > :02:10.explosion, and then a lot of smoke behind us. Our first feeling was it
:02:10. > :02:13.couldn't be a balloon, but it turned out actually to be
:02:13. > :02:18.unfortunately this tragic accident. Dawn balloon rides over some of
:02:18. > :02:21.Egypt's most famous sites are still a popular tourist attraction. This
:02:21. > :02:24.This footage was shot by a passenger last year after stringent
:02:24. > :02:28.new safety controls were put into place following a string of
:02:28. > :02:32.accidents. But other passengers have spoken of their concerns about
:02:32. > :02:37.the safety of these flights. There was a limited amount of explanation
:02:37. > :02:42.as to what was going on at the time. We were going fairly close to
:02:42. > :02:46.pylons, for example, close to trees below us and that made it a nervous
:02:46. > :02:51.experience for those in the basket. Investigations at the crash site
:02:51. > :02:55.are continuing. It's thought a gas cylinder may have exploded.
:02:55. > :03:02.Whatever the cause, it's one more blow to Egypt's tourist industry
:03:02. > :03:06.and a lasting tragedy for the families of the dead.
:03:06. > :03:09.You heard there Christopher Michael, he was the photographer in a
:03:09. > :03:14.balloon which was landing ahead of the balloon which then had the
:03:14. > :03:20.accident. These are pictures he took just before the flight at the
:03:20. > :03:25.take-off point. He says he heard a loud explosion
:03:25. > :03:31.from the balloon behind his as he landed and he saw smoke. I spoke to
:03:31. > :03:38.him by telephone from the scene. Well, we were approaching the end
:03:38. > :03:45.of our balloon flight heading in to Luxor and it was more of what we
:03:45. > :03:49.heard, a loud explosion and our first feeling was it couldn't be a
:03:49. > :03:52.balloon, it turned out actually to be, unfortunately, this tragic
:03:52. > :03:59.accident. Any estimate of the height at which
:03:59. > :04:05.it was flying at that time? It's difficult to say.
:04:05. > :04:10.We were travelling about three minutes behind, maybe five minutes
:04:10. > :04:17.from landing. A couple of hundred feet. What were you were you able
:04:17. > :04:21.to see particularly of the basket where all the tourists were,
:04:21. > :04:24.because there are reports of an explosion. We heard an explosion
:04:24. > :04:27.and I saw smoke but I didn't actually see the basket.
:04:27. > :04:32.Tell us about the security and safety briefing that you had before
:04:32. > :04:37.you got on board your flight. that's a great question, I just
:04:37. > :04:40.flew in a balloon in Burma and we had an English pilot and it was
:04:40. > :04:45.excellent safety and one of the things that surprised me when we
:04:45. > :04:49.went out to the balloon was how chaotic it was before we took off.
:04:49. > :04:52.Yesterday I cancelled a flight, there was an argument between it
:04:52. > :04:56.looked like airport officials and the balloon people, we decided not
:04:56. > :05:01.to fly. We went today. No safety briefing. Basically everyone
:05:01. > :05:06.climbed aboard the balloon. We took off, and the only thing he really
:05:06. > :05:11.said around safety was to look forward just before landing and
:05:11. > :05:21.that was just about 30 seconds after we heard the explosion. I was
:05:21. > :05:23.surprised to see kind of what I perceived to be a lack of
:05:23. > :05:27.professionalism,... I flew with a different company. There were about
:05:27. > :05:32.eight or nine balloons, it looked like each one was its own company.
:05:32. > :05:38.The reason I am asking you this is because there was a very bad
:05:38. > :05:44.accident in 2009 and balloons were grounded for a long time to improve
:05:44. > :05:51.the training of those who were flying them.
:05:51. > :05:59.Yes, I read about it. Our balloon flight seemed fine, the condition
:05:59. > :06:04.was just OK, it wasn't the same quality I have seen in Burma.
:06:04. > :06:09.Finally, what is the situation where you are at the moment after
:06:09. > :06:13.the accident? Interestingly enough the balloon set down right where I
:06:13. > :06:22.was staying and I asked a lot of questions from our pilot who was
:06:22. > :06:26.saying nothing and we heard lots of sirens, I went back to the hotel.
:06:26. > :06:30.For probably the next hour lots and lots of sirens. They seem to be
:06:31. > :06:35.coming over a long period of time, I don't know if there was a lack of
:06:35. > :06:38.availability of resources, but it seemed like this was taking
:06:38. > :06:47.sometime. Photographer Christopher Michael
:06:47. > :06:49.there in Luxor. No clear winner - but stalemate and
:06:49. > :06:51.weeks, maybe months, of uncertainty and political manoeuvring. Those
:06:52. > :06:55.are the results of Italy's general election. The centre-left coalition
:06:55. > :06:58.did win the vote for the lower house, but could not get a majority
:06:58. > :07:01.in the Senate. The right-wing bloc, led by the former prime minister,
:07:01. > :07:05.Silvio Berlusconi, says it's open to an alliance with the centre-left,
:07:05. > :07:08.but not with the outgoing Prime Minister, Mario Monti. There are
:07:08. > :07:14.fears the deadlock will cause instability not only for the
:07:14. > :07:19.Italian economy, but for all countries using the euro. Katya
:07:19. > :07:23.Adler is following the implications of the election in Rome and I asked
:07:23. > :07:27.her what are the prospects for any Government soon? Definitely no
:07:27. > :07:33.prospect of an immediate Government. The word on the streets, including
:07:33. > :07:37.here in Rome's central flower market, is ungovernable. We do have
:07:37. > :07:41.a narrow majority for the centre- left in the lower House, but in
:07:41. > :07:45.Italy the upish House -- upper House carries equal weight and
:07:45. > :07:51.there, there is deadlock. What can we expect? The financial markets
:07:51. > :07:58.are watching, as well. Joining us now is a political columnist at a
:07:58. > :08:02.newspaper. Now you went to bed last night there were two versions of
:08:02. > :08:08.your newspaper, how unclear the result would be. Yes, it is unclear
:08:08. > :08:12.today, as well, because there is an official victor but we don't know
:08:12. > :08:15.if it will mean we can form a kpwoft. -- Government. There is a
:08:15. > :08:19.question mark on the future of Italy. You say there is a victor
:08:19. > :08:24.but in the Senate it's not that clear, is it? There appears to have
:08:24. > :08:29.been - very little in it between centre-left and centre-right? Yes,
:08:29. > :08:34.no party got more than 25% of the vote. There is no possibility to
:08:34. > :08:39.form a majority, because the parties are very much in conflict
:08:39. > :08:45.against each other. I think that the most important thing is a
:08:45. > :08:51.correct reading of these elections, but the outcome is still very
:08:51. > :08:54.difficult to understand. That's a disaster for Italy, but also surely
:08:54. > :08:59.the eurozone, this is the third largest economy in the eurozone. We
:08:59. > :09:03.have already seen the financial markets acting rather spooked. What
:09:03. > :09:09.can they expect now in the coming weeks? I wouldn't like to say that
:09:09. > :09:16.it is a disaster, but actually I am afraid it is. I think that what we
:09:16. > :09:21.must hope for is a unity Government in Italy, but I don't think...
:09:21. > :09:24.Including centre-left and centre- right? Yes, but of course your
:09:24. > :09:34.question implies that it's very difficult, so we don't know
:09:34. > :09:39.actually what is going to happen. I think that they'll have a tough job.
:09:39. > :09:44.Overall, Euro-scepticism and lack of confidence towards democracy
:09:44. > :09:54.might be the first outcome, so a bad signal for the whole of Europe.
:09:54. > :09:55.
:09:55. > :10:01.If we look at at Mario Monti, he will remain as caretaker, he was
:10:01. > :10:06.slammed at the polls. Italians said a big no. Yes, that's the very
:10:06. > :10:10.outcome. Italy say no no to European measures of austerity and
:10:10. > :10:14.that means that populism has won in Italy and that's a very bad signal
:10:14. > :10:22.for the rest of Europe but I would say for Italy, as well, because as
:10:22. > :10:29.we are seeing this morning the spread is growing very fast, very
:10:29. > :10:32.quickly. Monti will stay there, but of course we are going to a
:10:32. > :10:40.different season. The second Republic is over. We don't know
:10:40. > :10:45.what will be the next. Absolutely. Another big unknown is Beppe Grillo
:10:45. > :10:48.the comedian who did so well in these elections. His politicians
:10:48. > :10:58.are complete unknowns, nobody knows how they will act in parliament,
:10:58. > :11:08.either. Stay with us, lots more coming up:
:11:08. > :11:21.
:11:21. > :11:24.Iran says it has new proposals as Is this really beef? Or is it
:11:24. > :11:26.horse? A question attached to ready meals supplied by many household
:11:26. > :11:29.names caught up in Europe's horsemeat scandal. European
:11:29. > :11:32.agriculture ministers are meeting to try to come up with a solution
:11:32. > :11:35.to the problem. That could mean better testing of meat products to
:11:35. > :11:40.find out what they actually are. Anna Holligan has been to a
:11:41. > :11:46.laboratory in the Netherlands to find out what that process involves.
:11:46. > :11:50.Horsemeat, or beef? That is what these are designed to determine.
:11:50. > :11:53.The Netherlands relies on trade with Europe for 80% of its exports
:11:53. > :12:03.so it's in this country's economic interests to show that the meat
:12:03. > :12:03.
:12:03. > :12:10.that's coming from the Netherlands is free from horse DNA. Here, Reece
:12:10. > :12:14.is testing meat tape from super-- taken from supermarkets to
:12:15. > :12:21.slaughterhouses. They all have a unique number. Two types of tests
:12:21. > :12:29.are being conducted across the 27EU member states. The first is for the
:12:29. > :12:32.presence of horse DNA. The second, for the horse painkiller, bute.
:12:32. > :12:37.Scientists tell us they're going beyond European requirements.
:12:37. > :12:45.Because we don't want to miss out anything we have looked at what are
:12:45. > :12:49.common used drugs for racing horses. When you think of risk of food
:12:49. > :12:53.safety, you think of meat that is usually not allowed in food chain.
:12:53. > :12:59.This is the part where they do the final testing for the horse DNA.
:12:59. > :13:06.The meat has been cut up downstairs. It's ground and put into these tiny
:13:06. > :13:09.trays which are put inside the machines and they're then able to
:13:09. > :13:16.electronically assess the results and determine whether or not the
:13:16. > :13:21.meat contains horse DNA. Out of the 203 samples assessed so far no new
:13:21. > :13:24.horse DNA has been dedetectived in the -- detected in the Netherlands.
:13:24. > :13:28.There are still more samples waiting to be chopped, but these
:13:28. > :13:33.initial results will be reassuring for an industry still struggling to
:13:33. > :13:43.calculate the real costs and convince customers it's safe to put
:13:43. > :13:54.
:13:54. > :13:57.This is BBC World News. The latest headlines:
:13:57. > :13:59.At least 18 foreign tourists have been killed in Egypt, when their
:13:59. > :14:02.hot-air balloon exploded in mid- flight. Italy faces political
:14:02. > :14:12.deadlock following a general election which has delivered no
:14:12. > :14:23.
:14:23. > :14:26.clear overall winner. Apparently towards nuclear weapons. Iran's
:14:26. > :14:29.nuclear ambitions are the subject of more talks, a fourth round, that
:14:29. > :14:32.are happening now in Kazakhstan. The new US secretary of state John
:14:32. > :14:34.Kerry has warned of terrible consequences if they fail to stop
:14:34. > :14:37.Iran's progress towards nuclear weapons. Our chief international
:14:37. > :14:40.correspondent, Lyse Doucet, is in Almaty in Kazakhstan. I spoke to
:14:40. > :14:42.her when those talks started. The talks have just got under way. They
:14:42. > :14:44.are said to have started in a good atmosphere but we're getting no
:14:45. > :14:47.details yet from inside the discussions which are certain to be
:14:47. > :14:52.a long and difficult. They are saying that they will go beyond a
:14:52. > :14:57.first day as these spokes people said they will talk as long as they
:14:57. > :15:04.need to talk. An Iranian official has been briefing Iranian media
:15:04. > :15:07.here and the liner would come out of his comments is that Iran's
:15:08. > :15:14.delegation has brought a number of proposals to these talks. And
:15:14. > :15:18.depending, they say, on what is presented from the summit, Iran
:15:18. > :15:27.will respond with its own proposals but they are making it clear Iran
:15:27. > :15:34.has a right to enriched uranium and it will not verge from this.
:15:34. > :15:38.spokesperson has said no one expects a fully done deal, as he
:15:39. > :15:44.put it. What kind of progress might therefore be seen as something
:15:44. > :15:49.which is, at least, a positive direction? Western officials say
:15:49. > :15:53.it's a marathon, not a sprint. I think they are taking it one small
:15:54. > :15:57.step at a time. The talks have begun for the first time in eight
:15:58. > :16:04.months, I think if they ended it tomorrow with an agreement to meet
:16:04. > :16:08.Again, and if, as they have indicated, to meet again more often,
:16:08. > :16:11.to have technical experts meeting to establish what is being
:16:11. > :16:18.described as a momentum, they will consider that to have been a
:16:18. > :16:22.success. The international community is very much aware there
:16:22. > :16:26.are two elections although Western officials say the leader of Iran is
:16:26. > :16:36.not going anywhere so they think they can have some decisions here.
:16:36. > :16:43.
:16:43. > :16:45.And, of course, you can follow Lyse John Kerry, the new US Secretary of
:16:45. > :16:48.State, is meeting the Russian Foreign Minister today, with
:16:48. > :16:50.relations between to the two countries at their lowest since
:16:50. > :16:53.President Obama came to power. There are severe disagreements over
:16:53. > :16:55.Syria. And the Russians accuse America of interfering in their
:16:55. > :16:57.domestic politics. And, as our Moscow Correspondent Daniel
:16:57. > :17:00.Sandford reports, the latest flashpoint was the recent death of
:17:00. > :17:04.a young boy who was adopted from Russia to America.
:17:04. > :17:08.This is the three-year-old boy whose death the Russians said it
:17:08. > :17:12.would be a key issue in today's talks with the new American
:17:12. > :17:19.secretary of state. A tragedy which the USA accuses Moscow of
:17:19. > :17:25.sensationally exploiting. The young boy, who came from Russia, lived in
:17:25. > :17:31.Texas with his adoptive mother and father. But last month, he died.
:17:31. > :17:34.It's not yet clear why. There was some bruising, in various places.
:17:35. > :17:39.Whether they had anything to do with his cause of death, we won't
:17:39. > :17:45.know until we get the autopsy report back. Despite investigations
:17:45. > :17:49.caution, Russia's outspoken children's commissioner led a
:17:49. > :17:55.government propaganda charge, saying outright that the adoptive
:17:55. > :18:02.mother had murdered him. We went to see the children's home in north-
:18:02. > :18:06.west Russia that he was adopted from Thorpe Bay said his original
:18:06. > :18:11.name. He had a chaotic start to us live with narcotic mother who
:18:11. > :18:20.neglected him. This was his final home in Russia before he set off to
:18:20. > :18:23.America. To a new family and a new life. His death was seized on by
:18:23. > :18:29.the Russian government as a justification for its recent ban on
:18:29. > :18:35.adoptions to the USA. One senior politician even said Russian
:18:35. > :18:39.children were going to certain death in America. The natural
:18:39. > :18:49.mother was paid to appear on state TV, saying she wanted his brother
:18:49. > :18:53.to be brought back to Russia. But we tracked her down. People told us
:18:53. > :18:58.she has a terrible reputation for drinking and, despite her putter
:18:58. > :19:03.stations to us, they said she has not stopped. If he comes back, what
:19:03. > :19:06.were you do to change your life and become a good mother?
:19:06. > :19:11.TRANSLATION: I will change everything in my life, do
:19:11. > :19:15.everything for him. I have already stopped drinking and I'm looking
:19:16. > :19:20.for work. Everyone agrees it's a tragedy that a young boy who left
:19:20. > :19:25.neglect and poverty in Russia for a new life in America then died
:19:25. > :19:35.within months. But US diplomats say they are troubled by the way his
:19:35. > :19:37.
:19:37. > :19:43.death has been used by Moscow. More now on the balloon accident. The
:19:43. > :19:46.Governor of Luxor has banned hot- air balloon flights. That's after
:19:46. > :19:53.18 European and Asian tourists were killed when their hot-air balloon
:19:53. > :19:59.caught fire, and exploded mid- flight. Let's get a view from an
:19:59. > :20:04.expert. He joins me now from Bristol in the south-west. The
:20:04. > :20:09.details are critical because time matters but what are you reading
:20:09. > :20:13.into the way this has happened? Well, of course, we don't really
:20:13. > :20:20.have sufficient details yet, to make any firm judgement about what
:20:20. > :20:25.might have happened but a fire in a balloon is certainly the most life-
:20:25. > :20:28.threatening element of any kind of balloon accident. What has been
:20:28. > :20:32.reported as well is an explosion which suggests there could have
:20:32. > :20:36.been a problem with the gas canisters. Well, that's a
:20:36. > :20:43.possibility but equipment failure is quite rare in the balloons, very
:20:43. > :20:48.rare, so probably something calls that failure -- calls to that
:20:48. > :20:54.failure, which is external, but we don't know that at the moment. It's
:20:54. > :20:58.probably more than just exploding spontaneously. There was an
:20:58. > :21:02.incident in 2009 and a large number of balloon companies were grounded.
:21:02. > :21:08.What is your reading of what has been done on safety in Egypt since
:21:08. > :21:13.then? Well, following that accident and the subsequent grounding, I was
:21:13. > :21:19.asked by the Egyptian government and the Civil Aviation Authority to
:21:19. > :21:25.review safety procedures. I flew with 36 different commercial pilots,
:21:25. > :21:32.in Egypt, and made assessments of their capabilities and of the
:21:32. > :21:37.oversight structure which existed at that time. The outcome of that
:21:37. > :21:43.report I made is unclear, so I'm not quite sure how much of it was
:21:43. > :21:48.taken into account. What did you say about safety? Did they added
:21:48. > :21:52.two basic principles of balloon safety? I think there were rules in
:21:52. > :21:58.place but they weren't necessarily appropriate rules. They were rules
:21:58. > :22:06.that perhaps were more appropriate to fixed-wing aviation helicopters,
:22:06. > :22:08.and hadn't been modified in a way to take account of the specific
:22:08. > :22:13.behaviour of balloons and the best way in which to oversee their
:22:13. > :22:18.safety. It's a very popular thing for a large number of people now.
:22:18. > :22:23.They turn up at the hotel desk and say they want to go ballooning. Are
:22:23. > :22:26.you comfortable with the level of Balloon flights for tourism? Yes,
:22:26. > :22:31.this many places in the world where you can take a balloon flight for
:22:31. > :22:36.tourism, the UK, Egypt, Turkey, but most of them are very well
:22:36. > :22:41.regulated and the levels of safety are extremely high, so ballooning
:22:41. > :22:45.is a safe activity, but, as with any form of transport, there are
:22:45. > :22:49.occasional accidents and this tragedy is terrible, but not
:22:49. > :22:54.symptomatic of the flat balloons are not safe. What should and
:22:54. > :22:57.member of the public know when they turn up just before dawn it and
:22:57. > :23:05.want to ride over these macabre this and ancient sites in a place
:23:05. > :23:10.like Egypt? -- magnificent. They should get a comprehensive briefing
:23:10. > :23:15.on the procedures for entering the basket, for landing, things like
:23:15. > :23:19.smoking, telephones, all these things which need to be addressed
:23:19. > :23:27.prior to the flight. I think one of the biggest problems I came across
:23:27. > :23:31.was that, whilst the Egyptians to this, this spoken English is not
:23:31. > :23:34.necessarily Clare and a lot of the customers who travel with them are
:23:34. > :23:39.not English speakers, native English speakers, so it may be
:23:39. > :23:44.difficult for them to understand fully the implications of the
:23:44. > :23:51.briefings. Philip, thanks for joining me from Bristol in the West
:23:51. > :23:53.of England. France says it will not negotiate with the gunmen who have
:23:53. > :23:56.posted images online of a French family kidnapped in Cameroon. The
:23:56. > :23:59.video shows the family, including four children, surrounded by masked
:23:59. > :24:07.men. The gang say they belong to the Nigerian Islamist group, Boko
:24:07. > :24:11.Haram. Tim Allman reports. Video post on the internet
:24:11. > :24:16.appearing to show the French family kidnapped last week in Cameroon.
:24:16. > :24:21.Their faces obscured. A male hostage identify his pick it up as
:24:21. > :24:25.by the Arabic name for the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
:24:25. > :24:29.A hostage says the group is calling for the release of its members
:24:29. > :24:35.detained in Cameroon and Nigeria. The four children, aged between
:24:36. > :24:41.five and 12, sit silently as gunmen stand by. The family live in the
:24:41. > :24:45.Cameroon capital where the father worked for a French gas group. They
:24:45. > :24:49.had been returning from a visit to a national park when they were
:24:49. > :24:55.kidnapped by men on motorbikes last Tuesday. French authorities believe
:24:55. > :24:59.they have been taken over the border into Nigeria.
:24:59. > :25:04.TRANSLATION: We have information Boko Haram is claiming the
:25:04. > :25:07.detention of the hostages who are probably being held in Nigeria. The
:25:07. > :25:12.video that you know what is currently being analysed by our
:25:13. > :25:17.services, examining the nature of the claims. The French authorities
:25:17. > :25:21.are in tight, permanent and intimate contact with the Nigerian
:25:21. > :25:26.and Cameroon in authorities. This kidnappers highlighted the risk to
:25:26. > :25:34.French citizens in North Africa. The decision by Paris to send
:25:34. > :25:39.troops into Mali has prompted threats of retaliatory action by
:25:39. > :25:43.Miller test groups. Boko Haram has caused havoc in Nigeria, Africa's
:25:43. > :25:47.most populous country, with a wave of bombings. It promotes a version
:25:47. > :25:51.of Islam which makes it forbidden for Muslims to take part in any
:25:51. > :25:55.political or social activity associated with Western society.
:25:55. > :25:59.Those with knowledge of the region say a way must be found to
:25:59. > :26:08.negotiate with the kidnappers. were to advise the French
:26:08. > :26:16.government, it would be to talk, talk and then more talk. To try to
:26:16. > :26:20.find in direct dialogue going. Securing the release of hostages is
:26:20. > :26:24.always a high risk, high pressure task. With young children involved,
:26:24. > :26:33.the French authorities will be acutely aware that an urgent
:26:33. > :26:38.resolution is now paramount. At least 19 tourists have died in
:26:38. > :26:43.Egypt when their hot-air balloon exploded in mid-flight. The head of