:00:14. > :00:20.Hello. Welcome to BBC world news. The top
:00:20. > :00:23.stories: A huge explosion at a fertiliser factory in Texas caused
:00:23. > :00:27.many casualties. The police say between five and 15 people have
:00:27. > :00:31.been killed. More than 160 are injured.
:00:31. > :00:35.Concussion and the pressure impact if that is the correct wording,
:00:35. > :00:39.literally destroyed homes in and around that plant.
:00:39. > :00:43.? A court in Pakistan orders the arrest of the former military ruler,
:00:43. > :00:47.Pervez Musharraf. He says he will appeal.
:00:47. > :00:50.Accusations of a dodgy deal between left and right as Italian
:00:50. > :00:54.politicians meet to elect a new President.
:00:54. > :01:00.And Israel's Prime Minister, tells the BBC of his concerns about the
:01:00. > :01:05.flow of arm floos Syria. Changing the balance of -- arms into Syria.
:01:05. > :01:11.Changing the balance of power. We are Al-Qaeda, we have Hezbollah.
:01:11. > :01:21.Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets into our city. It is
:01:21. > :01:28.
:01:28. > :01:33.committed to our destruction. So is Good morning.
:01:33. > :01:37.Police in Texas say at least five people are feared dead and more
:01:37. > :01:43.than 160 injured in a huge explosion at a fertiliser factory.
:01:43. > :01:48.Mown of the dead are thought to be firefighters, on the scene in the
:01:48. > :01:52.town of West, not far from Waco when the explosion happened. The
:01:52. > :01:56.factory is only a few hundred metres from houses, a school and a
:01:56. > :02:03.nursing home. Eyewitness reports say that several blocks have been
:02:03. > :02:07.devastated. The merge encey services are going door-to-door to
:02:07. > :02:14.find survivors. Peter Bose has this report. A violent explosion,
:02:14. > :02:21.sending the flames shooting into the night's sky. It was heard up to
:02:21. > :02:26.45 miles away. People likened the blast to an earthquake or a bomb.
:02:26. > :02:30.Debris rained down on a nearby residential area. These images were
:02:30. > :02:35.filmed by a man thought to be a safe distance from the plant.
:02:35. > :02:38.We were playing basketball. We moved out. We were watching the
:02:38. > :02:44.fire, then all of a sudden the explosion happened. We hit the deck.
:02:44. > :02:48.We ran from there as fast as we could. At the retirement home it
:02:48. > :02:52.was chaotic. There were people in wheelchairs. Others were trapped in
:02:52. > :02:56.the rooms. They had rock on top of them. You are to remove that. The
:02:56. > :03:01.ceilings were down, even in the howls -- halls. The there was a
:03:01. > :03:04.water if you were standing in the water, the wires were hanging down.
:03:04. > :03:09.The explosion sparked many fires and destroyed buildings over a wide
:03:09. > :03:12.area, including a nursing home. More than 100 patients, some in
:03:12. > :03:15.wheelchairs were evacuated from the building. Many were moved to a
:03:15. > :03:19.large tent where they were given treatment.
:03:19. > :03:24.A huge rescue effort has been under way for many hours. It has been
:03:24. > :03:28.hampered by the intensity of the fire. A series of power cuts have
:03:28. > :03:32.also occurred in the area. There are also concerns that strong winds
:03:32. > :03:35.and a severe thunder storm could blow toxic fumes into the
:03:35. > :03:41.residential areas. The American Red Cross is sending
:03:41. > :03:45.volunteers from across Texas to help. The state's governor, has
:03:45. > :03:50.promised to mobilise additional resources. The town of West is not
:03:50. > :03:54.far from Waco, the scene of a violent siege that ended exactly 20
:03:54. > :03:58.years ago. There have been many casualties. Officials confirmed
:03:58. > :04:02.that some people have lost their lives. So far, it has been
:04:02. > :04:07.impossible to put a precise number on the fatalities. Officials say
:04:07. > :04:11.that the fire is contained but smoldering. It will be hours before
:04:11. > :04:15.the full extent of the devastation is known.
:04:15. > :04:18.A short while ago, Sergeant William Swanton of the Waco Police
:04:18. > :04:24.described the scene of the devastation near the factory.
:04:24. > :04:28.I will tell you that area down where the fertiliser plant is shut
:04:29. > :04:32.down that neighbourhood is shut down. I talked to the county chief
:04:33. > :04:37.deputy there who has his troop there is. He told me that some of
:04:37. > :04:41.the devastation that his troops are seeing is that there are homes
:04:41. > :04:45.levelled. There are businesses levelled. Ehe says that it looks
:04:45. > :04:50.like when the blast occurred, that the concussion and the pressure
:04:50. > :04:56.impact, if that is the correct wording, literally destroyed homes
:04:56. > :05:01.in and around that plant. We are again in the process of
:05:01. > :05:05.searching and rescuing that is going to continue for some time. We
:05:05. > :05:10.are hoping that we will recover folks that may be have not been
:05:10. > :05:14.able to get out from under the rubble but that process is ongoing.
:05:14. > :05:19.At some point, this will turn into a recovery operation, but at this
:05:19. > :05:24.point we are still in search and rescue. I know that the area is
:05:24. > :05:30.going to be shut down. They will not give me a time on how long. I
:05:30. > :05:34.don't ex pect them to be able to give you a time -- I don't expect
:05:34. > :05:39.them to give you a time any time soon. In these types of
:05:39. > :05:41.investigation, there is no hurry, short of getting the injured out
:05:41. > :05:45.and treating the wounded to complete anything. They will take
:05:45. > :05:50.the necessary time that they need. They will keep that neighbourhood
:05:50. > :05:55.shut down. I will tell you as media, I know you are itching to go there
:05:55. > :06:00.but it is not a good idea. Sergeant William Swanton there.
:06:00. > :06:05.Nick Childs is with us. The police have also said that they are
:06:05. > :06:09.treating this as a crime scene but there is no evidence of criminal
:06:09. > :06:14.activity is that confusing? That will raise questions, but as the
:06:14. > :06:19.police are saying that this is a precaution. The sequence of events
:06:19. > :06:24.was that there was a fire. There were emergency services on the
:06:24. > :06:28.scene dealing with that. Clearly some of those reresponders appear
:06:28. > :06:32.to be amongst the fatalities, the casualties. Then there was the
:06:33. > :06:37.explosion. So there are question marks over how the fire started. It
:06:37. > :06:42.has been raised as to whether it was a criminal activity or whether
:06:42. > :06:47.it was just an industrial accident. One senses from the way that the
:06:47. > :06:52.emergency services are responding, from the eyewitness accounts is
:06:52. > :06:57.that the belief is that it was a dreadful accident. That is clearly
:06:57. > :07:01.the balance if you like, of the sentiment, but until they know
:07:01. > :07:06.exactly... We don't know for sure. Anyone tuning in to see piece
:07:06. > :07:10.pictures, given what has happened in the US this week, given the Waco
:07:10. > :07:15.anniversary tomorrow, it is bound to raise a few eyebrows? Yes,
:07:15. > :07:18.indeed. The United States was reeling from the Boston Marathon
:07:18. > :07:24.blast. There are lots of unanswered question there is. Nobody is sure
:07:24. > :07:27.what was behind that, what the motives were. Then to have this
:07:27. > :07:31.bewildering catastrophe, suddenly visited on a small community in
:07:31. > :07:34.Texas, it may have a lot of people in the United States, perhaps
:07:34. > :07:40.further afield, asking what is happening here. There is no reason
:07:40. > :07:45.to believe that there is a connection, other than dreadful
:07:45. > :07:49.coincidence, but clearly... what about the ricin letters in
:07:49. > :07:53.Washington? Well part of the problem is the scale of the
:07:53. > :07:58.catastrophe. To some extent it has probably
:07:58. > :08:03.overwhelmed the emergency services, although they responded quickly.
:08:03. > :08:07.There were a huge number of ambulances and medical workers on
:08:07. > :08:12.the scene from the town and also from further afeed, including Waco,
:08:12. > :08:17.but this is a small community. 2,800 people, as we have been
:08:18. > :08:21.hearing so. Clearly it is a huge event for them to cope with.
:08:21. > :08:27.That is why they are being methodical in the way that they are
:08:27. > :08:32.providing the ngs, and also in what they say, as far as they are
:08:32. > :08:35.concerned is a search and a rescue operation. The effect of the blast,
:08:35. > :08:39.that the local Mayor compared to that of a small nuclear explosion,
:08:39. > :08:47.was that the shock waves were similar to a small earthquake, has,
:08:47. > :08:50.as we have been hearing, hit much of the surrounding neighbourhood.
:08:50. > :08:54.Something like 757 homes and businesses have been levelled. This
:08:54. > :08:58.has been going on through the night. So picking through the chaos to see
:08:58. > :09:00.if there are survivors and casualties, has been a huge task.
:09:00. > :09:04.Absolutely. Thank you very much.
:09:04. > :09:07.Now, the Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has told the
:09:07. > :09:14.BBC that Israel reserves the right to prevent weapons from fall fooing
:09:14. > :09:18.the wrong hands in Syria. In a rare sit-down interview with the BBC's
:09:18. > :09:21.Chief International Correspondent, Lyse Doucet, he warned that the
:09:21. > :09:25.flow of arms from Syria could change the balance 6 power in the
:09:25. > :09:28.Middle East. We have Al-Qaeda there. We have
:09:28. > :09:33.Hezbollah. Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets into our city.
:09:33. > :09:40.It is committed to our destruction so, is Al-Qaeda. There are elements,
:09:40. > :09:46.believe it or not in addition to them inside Syria. Obviously we are
:09:46. > :09:49.concerned that the weapons that are ground-breaking, that could change
:09:49. > :09:55.the balance of power in the Middle East, if they fall into the hands
:09:55. > :10:00.of these terrorists. We always reserve the right to act to prevent
:10:00. > :10:05.that from happening. Like when in January when Israel struck a Syrian
:10:05. > :10:09.government weapons convoy, said to have been heading to Hezbollah in
:10:09. > :10:13.Lebanon? I am not confirming news reports.
:10:13. > :10:17.Ehud Barak did. He said when Israel says something that it mean it is.
:10:18. > :10:22.Well, I am the Prime Minister, I tell you that I prefer to state our
:10:22. > :10:27.policy. That is our policy. It is clear cha this is a series
:10:27. > :10:31.challenge -- it is clear that this is a serious challenge. By the way,
:10:31. > :10:35.not only to us if chemical weapons fall into the hands of Al-Qaeda,
:10:35. > :10:39.that is a challenge to Britain, to Europe, to every Arab country in
:10:39. > :10:48.the Mohammad Sidique Khan. What did you say to David Cameron in the
:10:48. > :10:56.talks? Did you ask him not to lift the embargo when arming the reps?
:10:56. > :11:00.- rebels? I can assure that we want to prevent further terror and
:11:00. > :11:04.bloodshed in Syria. It is a complicated picture. We have the
:11:04. > :11:09.bad fighting the bad. Did you urge the British Prime
:11:09. > :11:14.Minister to be cautious? The being armed is what concerns us. The arms
:11:14. > :11:17.that are also in Syria. These are anti-aircraft weapons, chemical
:11:17. > :11:20.weapons and dangerous weapons that could start changes.
:11:20. > :11:25.So what happens next? There are reports that Israel has reached out
:11:25. > :11:29.to some of the groups, that you are even arming some of them? Did you?
:11:29. > :11:32.If we did. I am not confirming that we did.
:11:32. > :11:36.It would make sense to anybody touch? It would not make sense to
:11:36. > :11:41.talk about it, even on the BBC. I am not confirming that we are doing
:11:41. > :11:46.that we are careful. I said that the arming of rebels presents a
:11:46. > :11:50.question of which rebels and which arms. That is a complicated
:11:50. > :11:55.question for every country, including my country, Israel.
:11:55. > :11:59.Is Israel planning a more aggressive operation in Syria?
:11:59. > :12:03.are not aggressive, but we are prepared to defend ouvs if the need
:12:03. > :12:08.arises. I think that people know that what I say is both measured
:12:08. > :12:13.and serious. What does that mean? That means
:12:13. > :12:17.that we are measured and serious. Do you have a new plan? With we
:12:17. > :12:24.have a constant plan to defend our country.
:12:24. > :12:28.Binyamin Netanyahu there, talking with Lyse Doucet. To Pakistan and
:12:28. > :12:33.television reports is a I -- say that the police have reached Pervez
:12:33. > :12:37.Musharraf's house to arrest the former President, after the
:12:38. > :12:42.Islamabad High Court cancelled his bail and ordered his arrest.
:12:43. > :12:47.Mohammad Vaziri was there when the arrest was ordered. He joins us now
:12:47. > :12:53.from the Islamabad bureau. A dramatic scene, some may say
:12:53. > :12:57.farcical. What happened in court? It was really dramatic, as you said.
:12:57. > :13:02.Pervez Musharraf came in with tight security.
:13:02. > :13:07.He has his own personal guard. Nobody could move him. They went
:13:07. > :13:13.into the court. Basically, when the verdict was announced by the judge,
:13:13. > :13:17.he, it was unexpected for him, to his lawyer there. At that moment,
:13:17. > :13:23.as the order was to arrest him by the police, his security guards
:13:23. > :13:27.whisked him away and went away. A couple of hours ago, right after
:13:27. > :13:33.this dramatic scenes in the High Court, I talked to one member of
:13:33. > :13:42.his legal team. I spoke on his reaction to what
:13:42. > :13:47.happened in the High Court. He told me... The High Court level, I mean
:13:47. > :13:52.it is never heard in available case that bail is rejected. That is
:13:52. > :13:57.something that is new in the judicial history of Pakistan. Now
:13:57. > :14:03.our position is that he, the court has said to arrest him You know,
:14:03. > :14:08.this is not, Pervez Musharraf is not a Tom, Dick and Harry, that
:14:08. > :14:14.some police can send warrants to the station house of the police and
:14:14. > :14:19.he carries out the warrant. He is a man with an international clout. A
:14:19. > :14:23.former President, a former army chief. For, that you see, the
:14:23. > :14:29.intelligence agencies will give feedback what could be the
:14:29. > :14:32.reaction? What could be the fall- back of this order? Then this order
:14:32. > :14:38.will be implemented by the Cabinet. The Cabinet will take a decision.
:14:38. > :14:42.This is not an ordinary matter where the police start moving on.
:14:42. > :14:45.It seems businessa that a former President can escape the High Court.
:14:45. > :14:49.It raises questions about the security there, but we are hearing
:14:49. > :14:54.that the police have reached his house to arrest him. Are they
:14:54. > :14:58.likely to force an entry? Well, apparently the police are there. Of
:14:58. > :15:04.course, he is protected by his personal guard and the rangers.
:15:04. > :15:10.There is a report, I cannot confirm it. We are hearing it on local
:15:10. > :15:14.media but hearing that the station police officers, the commanders are
:15:14. > :15:21.all across Islamabad have been replaced. We cannot confirm that
:15:21. > :15:26.but it is seeming that there are things like that going on.
:15:26. > :15:31.There are reports that there is a meeting of judges today. Of course
:15:31. > :15:35.another piece of information I have received, is that the lawyers of
:15:35. > :15:38.Pervez Musharraf have moved to the supreme court on appeal. We have to
:15:38. > :15:48.wait to see how the confrontation moves on.
:15:48. > :15:54.
:15:54. > :16:04.We hear what Egypt's people think of the harsh medicine prescribed by
:16:04. > :16:11.
:16:11. > :16:15.That is all to come. Before that, don't call me your Majesty, use my
:16:15. > :16:19.first name. That is the unusual message on the man who is about to
:16:19. > :16:23.become king in the Netherlands. Crown Prince Willem-Alexander has
:16:23. > :16:30.been giving his last major interview before he succeeds his
:16:30. > :16:32.mother. Susana Mendonca has more. A man seen to be king, but this
:16:32. > :16:39.future monarch is promising a more laid-back style than his
:16:39. > :16:44.predecessor. In an interview ahead of his inauguration, he said that
:16:44. > :16:49.it begins with what he will be called.
:16:50. > :16:53.TRANSLATION: Firstly, my name is Willem-Alexander. I have spent 46
:16:53. > :16:59.years as Willem-Alexander. I find it strange to have to abandon that
:16:59. > :17:03.because I am king. His mother, Queen Beatrix, is abdicating after
:17:03. > :17:09.more than 30 years on the throne. There have been calls for the
:17:09. > :17:12.future monarch to stick to ceremonial duties alone. If the
:17:12. > :17:17.law-making process is democratic and constitutional, I will accept
:17:17. > :17:22.everything. I have no problems with that. That is why I am keen. If my
:17:22. > :17:31.signature is needed, I will sign. With a new king will come a new
:17:31. > :17:35.queen. His glamourous Argentine- born wife is the most popular royal
:17:35. > :17:39.in the Netherlands. Her popularity comes in spite of the family's
:17:39. > :17:42.background. When she married Willem-Alexander, her father was
:17:42. > :17:46.not on the guest list. That was because of his links to the
:17:46. > :17:51.military dictatorship that ruled Argentina in the late 1970s and
:17:51. > :17:56.early 1980s, in which he served as Agriculture Minister. He has not
:17:56. > :18:00.been invited to this month's in operation, either. Maxim mark his
:18:00. > :18:07.foot in Dutch and said that becoming queen were not changed her.
:18:07. > :18:11.-- maxima, who is fluent in Dutch. I will not act differently, and of
:18:11. > :18:16.course my background is Argentinian. I love to dance, I love music, and
:18:16. > :18:21.I will keep on doing that. But I will stay the same. When Alexander
:18:21. > :18:29.says he is now ready to take on the role he has been groomed for. --
:18:29. > :18:32.A quick piece of news the Mississippi. A man has been
:18:32. > :18:42.arrested in relation to a letter sent to President Obama containing
:18:42. > :18:45.
:18:46. > :18:53.The latest headlines: there's been an explosion at a fertiliser plant
:18:53. > :18:56.in Texas. Police say that between 5 and 15 people have been killed. A
:18:57. > :19:00.Pakistani court has ordered the arrest of the former military
:19:00. > :19:10.leader, Pervez Musharraf, over action he took against judges while
:19:10. > :19:10.
:19:10. > :19:14.Now, Italian politicians have begun the process of trying to choose a
:19:14. > :19:18.new President, which it is hoped may unlock the process of forming a
:19:18. > :19:22.new coalition government. No party has been able to form a majority
:19:22. > :19:30.administration since elections at the end of February. Let's go live
:19:30. > :19:35.to Rome now. It has been a difficult situation there. What is
:19:35. > :19:39.expected there in the next few days? Well, we are in the throes of
:19:39. > :19:46.a major political occasion here in Italy. Both houses of parliament
:19:46. > :19:50.and dozens of representatives from around the regions have gathered to
:19:50. > :19:55.choose the next head of state, the person who will feel the
:19:55. > :20:00.presidential palace for the next seven years and play a major role
:20:00. > :20:04.in the aspects of Italian national life. This would be an important
:20:04. > :20:08.process at any time, but it is particularly significant at the
:20:08. > :20:13.moment because we are in a state of party political paralysis in Italy.
:20:13. > :20:16.It has been impossible to form a new coalition government in the
:20:16. > :20:21.aftermath of February's general election. But it is hoped that the
:20:21. > :20:26.kind of dialogue and consensus- building surrounding the effort to
:20:26. > :20:31.end at a new president will make it easier for the major parliamentary
:20:31. > :20:39.blocs to co-operate further and perhaps eventually throw up a new
:20:39. > :20:44.coalition government. Any names coming up to the fore? Late last
:20:44. > :20:48.night, in talks between the major parties on the left and right, the
:20:48. > :20:52.leadership of those two important factions fell in behind one
:20:52. > :20:58.candidate, a man called Franco Marini. He is a former Speaker of
:20:58. > :21:04.the Senate, a former union a man. He would be the front-runner at the
:21:04. > :21:09.moment. The voting is going on as a speech. It is possible that he
:21:09. > :21:18.might win in a first round. But there are many on the left of the
:21:18. > :21:23.political spectrum who are very much opposed to this candidacy. His
:21:23. > :21:27.being put forward has exacerbated tensions within factions. Nothing
:21:27. > :21:35.is clear. The voting is by secret ballot. We are not sure where it is
:21:35. > :21:43.going to go. Back to the US, and we are going to take you to a news
:21:43. > :21:53.conference in Texas by the Paul Lamb of West, the place that was
:21:53. > :22:00.
:22:00. > :22:06.There has been a thorough check of the neighbourhood. That is
:22:06. > :22:16.continuing as we speak. For those who are missing a loved one or need
:22:16. > :22:17.
:22:17. > :22:23.information, we will have a line set up at the West Community Centre.
:22:23. > :22:33.That is after 9am. We will have another press conference at 4
:22:33. > :22:35.
:22:35. > :22:43.o'clock. Thank you and I asked for Just a few words there from the
:22:43. > :22:47.mayor of that small town in West, where we have seen that huge
:22:47. > :22:52.explosion. We still believe that between 5 and 15 people have lost
:22:52. > :22:56.their lives. The former Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, has been
:22:56. > :23:00.transferred back to prison from a military hospital within the last
:23:00. > :23:06.couple of hours, on the orders of the country's top military
:23:06. > :23:11.prosecutor. But he did has many other problems. Its economy is in
:23:11. > :23:15.freefall. -- but Egypt. It is asking for a loan of $5 billion
:23:15. > :23:23.from the IMF. In return, the IMF wants big reforms. But it could go
:23:23. > :23:27.down badly with ordinary people, as Aleem Maqbool reports. Amazingly,
:23:28. > :23:33.10 of these in a government bakery in Egypt cost less than 10 American
:23:33. > :23:38.sense. That is extraordinarily low because the government here spends
:23:38. > :23:44.nearly 30% of its budget on keeping goods cheap for its citizens on
:23:44. > :23:51.subsidies. He did not just food, it is fuel as well. Here, petrol
:23:51. > :23:56.starts at less than 20 cents per litre. But there's pressure here to
:23:56. > :24:00.change things. It wants a loan from the IMF, and for that, the IMF
:24:00. > :24:06.wants reform. It wants the subsidies to change. But Egypt has
:24:06. > :24:11.tried to do that before, a long time ago. In 1977, the then
:24:11. > :24:16.president decided that he wanted a loan from the World Bank. The World
:24:16. > :24:22.Bank needed subsidies to go. So that is what he announced. But
:24:22. > :24:26.there were riots across the country, including here. Dozens were killed.
:24:26. > :24:30.The President had to reverse his decision because of the same
:24:30. > :24:34.pressures the government faces right now. It needs reform. It has
:24:34. > :24:42.pressure from the IMF, but on the other side it has pressure from
:24:42. > :24:46.Egyptians of things to say the same. -- for things to stay the same. It
:24:46. > :24:50.has been a difficult week for the US. Officials investigating the
:24:50. > :24:55.Boston Marathon bombing say they have a potential suspect. Photos
:24:55. > :25:02.are being circulated to enforcement agencies across the US. Three
:25:02. > :25:08.people died and many more were injured in two explosions. It is
:25:08. > :25:12.one of the largest manhunts in American history. More than 1,000
:25:12. > :25:18.law-enforcement personnel are trying to solve the mystery of the
:25:18. > :25:21.worst terrorist attack on US soil since nine level. Monday's
:25:21. > :25:27.explosions were captured by surveillance cameras, news crews
:25:27. > :25:30.and people at the scene. The FBI is currently reviewing footage which
:25:30. > :25:36.is thought to show a possible suspect planting the second device.
:25:36. > :25:40.It is said to be the best source of video evidence so far. Nonetheless,
:25:40. > :25:47.the Massachusetts Governor told the BBC that investigators still have a
:25:47. > :25:53.long way to go. There's and ongoing investigation. It is a very
:25:53. > :25:57.thorough investigation involving several blocks that are being
:25:57. > :26:01.investigated a quarter inch at a time. The FBI has recovered the
:26:01. > :26:06.remains of one of the bombs, a stainless steel pressure cooker
:26:07. > :26:10.which had been packed with nails and ball bearings, along with a
:26:10. > :26:17.rechargeable battery and circuit board which formed part of the
:26:17. > :26:23.timing device. The Governor court today's dizzied by the present part
:26:23. > :26:30.of the healing process. -- visit. But President Obama will visit a
:26:30. > :26:35.city that is still nervous and on the lookout for answers. Of course,
:26:35. > :26:39.our top story is in Texas today. Police say that between 5 and 15
:26:39. > :26:43.people are feared dead in a massive explosion at a fertiliser plant not
:26:43. > :26:47.too far from Waco. Police say that many of those who died were