:00:11. > :00:17.These are our top stories: Russia expresses its disappointment at the
:00:17. > :00:20.plans by the EU to lift its arms embargo on the Syrian rebels.
:00:21. > :00:24.Australia's playing down a report that Chinese hackers stole the
:00:24. > :00:30.blueprints for its new intelligence headquarters.
:00:30. > :00:35.On alert -- the authorities in Chile and Argentina -- on alert
:00:35. > :00:39.# The authorities in Chile and Argentina living close to a volcano
:00:39. > :00:49.to leave their homes. And plants frozen in the little Ice
:00:49. > :01:02.
:01:02. > :01:06.Age in Canada, have been observed Europe's ban on supplying weapons to
:01:06. > :01:12.the Syrian opposition is over. But nothing will be sent just yet at
:01:12. > :01:17.least, after lengthy and at times acrimonious talks, member states
:01:17. > :01:22.decided to wait until August at the earliest before they actually decide
:01:22. > :01:25.whether to send in weapons and critically, to whom. Sanctions on
:01:25. > :01:30.the regime will be maintained. That decision hasn't pleased Russia at
:01:30. > :01:33.all. Moscow says it will undermine the chances for an international
:01:33. > :01:37.Peace Conference which Russia and America are planning to hold next
:01:37. > :01:41.month. Let's bring this all together now and talk to our Middle East
:01:41. > :01:46.correspondent, Jim Muir, who is monitoring events from Beirut. We
:01:46. > :01:51.may well be talking to you in Beirut, because this morning we've
:01:51. > :01:58.had another incident which could suggest that the conflict in Syria
:01:58. > :02:08.is spreading over into Lebanon. That's right. Early this morning or
:02:08. > :02:08.
:02:08. > :02:13.in fact during the night, a Lebanese army checkpoint to -- in the Bekaa
:02:13. > :02:18.Valley was attacked. Three soldiers were killed according to the army.
:02:18. > :02:21.The attackers are unknown. They've fled to what's described as an
:02:21. > :02:25.unknown destination, possibly across the border into Syria. A very
:02:25. > :02:30.serious incident because tension was already very high in that area
:02:30. > :02:35.between the town itself, which is a Sunni town, very sympathetic to the
:02:35. > :02:40.rebels and who have been allowing itself to be used really as a
:02:40. > :02:46.launching point for a rebel supply route across the bored to the rebels
:02:46. > :02:51.in Syria. People come and go all the time with arms, ammunition etc.
:02:51. > :02:56.There was an earlier incident with the killing of Lebanese army
:02:56. > :03:01.soldiers. At the same time, in the Bekaa Valley in a Shi'ite area,
:03:01. > :03:06.where Hezbollah holds sway, more rockets falling there. Some fell
:03:06. > :03:13.late yesterday. That's Monday. They killed a woman and wounded three.
:03:13. > :03:23.Now aparents aparentsly more rockets fired from inside Syria onto the
:03:23. > :03:28.town or the air -- onto the town. Whilst all this is occurring, we
:03:28. > :03:32.hear that senator John McCain of the United States has had a secret,
:03:32. > :03:38.top-secret, very brief visit to Syria itself, actually venturing
:03:38. > :03:44.into Syrian territory, the visit lasting an hour. That's right. He
:03:44. > :03:54.dipped his toe in the water. He went across to a place just inside Syria.
:03:54. > :03:54.
:03:54. > :03:59.Obviously, in conditions of great secrecy. He is an advocate strongly
:03:59. > :04:04.of arming the rebels. Presumably he will have had that view reinforced
:04:05. > :04:11.by his brief visit. Presumably he will be pleased by the decision by
:04:11. > :04:16.the EU to lift an arms emboringo, albeit with nothing -- embargo,
:04:16. > :04:20.albeit with nothing happening until August. At the moment the Peace
:04:20. > :04:23.Conference seems to be very much in doubt not least because the
:04:23. > :04:28.opposition itself is in total disarray at the moment. The Russians
:04:28. > :04:33.have been very quick in coming out with criticism at the EU Foreign
:04:33. > :04:37.Minister's action to lift the arms embargo opening up the possibilities
:04:37. > :04:42.of sending arms to the rebels in Syria. That's right. They've been
:04:42. > :04:46.very critical. They said this will complicate the efforts to get that
:04:46. > :04:50.international Peace Conference off the ground. Presumably by
:04:50. > :04:54.encouraging the rebels to think they're going to get a deluge of
:04:54. > :04:57.weapons and therefore it makes it more of a waste of time to talk to
:04:57. > :05:02.the regime. That is presumably the thinking of the Russians. Meanwhile
:05:02. > :05:08.they've also said, their representative to NATO has said that
:05:08. > :05:15.Russian sales of S300 ground-to-air missiles to the Syrian government
:05:15. > :05:18.will go ahead. That could be seen as a bit of an escalation. They had
:05:18. > :05:22.been apparently, there were reports they were holding those back in
:05:22. > :05:27.exchange for an Israeli commitment thot carry out more air raids into
:05:27. > :05:32.Syria. That seems to have broken down, if it existed. The Russian
:05:32. > :05:36.step could be seen as a bit of an escalation. For now, Jim, a very
:05:36. > :05:39.complicated situation. Thank you very much.
:05:39. > :05:46.Now to Australia where there are reports today that it has become the
:05:46. > :05:50.latest victim of a wave of Chinese hacking attacks and that what's been
:05:50. > :05:54.stolen is the blueprint for the country's new spy headquarters. This
:05:54. > :05:58.is coming from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that says
:05:58. > :06:01.details of the building have been illegally accessed from China.
:06:01. > :06:06.Security officials in Australia have refueled to confirm or deny the
:06:06. > :06:12.claims. These were revelations that aired on
:06:12. > :06:17.a big current affairs show on the A BC show. They said Chinese hackers
:06:17. > :06:20.had managed to get the blueprints to the floor plans of this multimillion
:06:20. > :06:25.dollar headquarters for the national National Security Agency. They've
:06:25. > :06:29.found out where the servers are, where a lot of the IT things are
:06:29. > :06:34.going to be based. So really sensitive information that would
:06:34. > :06:37.open up that building to all sorts of electronics, eavesdropping and
:06:37. > :06:42.infiltration. The Australian government in the form of the Prime
:06:42. > :06:47.Minister has said that report is inaccurate. But she hasn't said
:06:47. > :06:51.which bits are inago rat. She hasn't denied the main thrust of the
:06:51. > :06:54.report. Neither has the Attorney-General either. He said the
:06:54. > :06:58.policy not to comment on these kind of things. At the moment the
:06:58. > :07:03.Australian government giving no confirmation that this has actually
:07:03. > :07:07.happened, but at the same time, they're not issue -- issuing firm
:07:07. > :07:11.denials. The Prime Minister was in China quite recently. Relations
:07:11. > :07:18.between the two seemed to be very warm, certainly on the economic
:07:18. > :07:22.front. Yeah, I mean, we've been reporting for a number of years now,
:07:22. > :07:25.Australia still looks for its security from Washington but looks
:07:25. > :07:30.to China for its prosperity. It's a significant relationship. The Prime
:07:30. > :07:37.Minister went there recently. She put talks between China and
:07:37. > :07:41.Australia on Animal Kingdomual footing. -- on an Annual footing.
:07:41. > :07:44.The foreign affairs minister has come out today saying the
:07:44. > :07:51.revelations or allegations won't affect that relationship at all.
:07:52. > :07:56.China is such a key part of the Australian story now. But while
:07:56. > :07:59.Australia's wary of China's rise it's dependent on China's rise as
:07:59. > :08:03.well. It has an almost recession proof economy at the moment. One of
:08:03. > :08:08.the reasons why is the rise of China and the demand for Australian
:08:08. > :08:12.resources. In Malaysia it seems 21 people are still missing after an
:08:12. > :08:15.overloaded ferry capsized on a river in Borneo. Officials say the boat
:08:15. > :08:19.was carrying more than 200 passengers, that's three times the
:08:19. > :08:25.number it should have been carrying. More than 180 people managed to swim
:08:25. > :08:29.to shore when the boat went down near Belaga.
:08:29. > :08:33.Police in southern Spain say they believe two bodies found in a lemon
:08:33. > :08:36.grove are likely to be the Dutch volleyball star Ingrid Visser and
:08:36. > :08:40.her boyfriend. The couple were reported missing two weeks ago when
:08:40. > :08:44.they failed to return to Amsterdam. Three people have been arrested, one
:08:44. > :08:49.Spaniard and two Russians. Heavy fog has blanketed the city of
:08:49. > :08:54.Sydney and its airport on Tuesday causing some international flights
:08:54. > :08:57.to be diverted to other cities. Some flights, which were diverted to
:08:57. > :09:04.Brisbane, were then stuck in a holding pattern over the city's
:09:04. > :09:10.airport for over an hour. Now Chile and Argentina have ordered
:09:10. > :09:15.thousands of people, who live close to the volcano to leave the area.
:09:15. > :09:21.They've issued a red alert, that's the highest possible, say saying it
:09:21. > :09:26.could erupt again. Last December, it started spew spewing ash and gas
:09:26. > :09:32.with smoke rising more than a kilometre in the sky. Here with me
:09:32. > :09:37.now is Carolina Robino from BBC Mund o. When we are saying that this
:09:37. > :09:41.could be imminent, it could happen very quickly. Or it could never
:09:41. > :09:46.happen already. -- also. The authorities are managing information
:09:47. > :09:50.that it could happen randomly or it could happen in 20 days. The problem
:09:50. > :09:57.is they cannot risk the life of people. They are due to start the
:09:57. > :10:00.evacuation in half an hour. But the local media have said pregnant
:10:00. > :10:05.women, blind people and people with disabilities have already been evam
:10:05. > :10:10.waited. Are talking about two countries, Argentina and Chile.
:10:10. > :10:14.of the people are in Chile. There are about more than 2400 people and
:10:14. > :10:18.500 in Argentina. If you think it's a very isolated area, we are talking
:10:18. > :10:22.almost of all the population in those areas. And where are they
:10:22. > :10:29.moved to? How far away? They are moving to shelters in schools, in
:10:29. > :10:34.gyms, in the nearest cities. The cities themself will be guarded for
:10:34. > :10:38.a while bit militaries to make sure there won't be any vandalism. People
:10:38. > :10:45.are very used to this kind of thing. Chile is a country that has seen the
:10:45. > :10:50.force of nature so many times, that it will be a very smooth evacuation.
:10:50. > :10:54.We are looking at pictures from last December. When that occurred, we had
:10:54. > :10:59.this enormous amount of ash and gas coming out of the volcano, but
:11:00. > :11:03.actually it didn't erupted, am I right? It didn't. This time they
:11:03. > :11:08.don't know, but you have to take into account that the ashes are
:11:08. > :11:11.toxic and even if they don't erupt sometimes they cause lots of
:11:11. > :11:16.economic problems because the ash is going to the harvest and all the
:11:16. > :11:19.things that are around there. once people are moved away from
:11:19. > :11:23.their livelihoods and their homes, it takes some time before the red
:11:23. > :11:30.alert is removed and they can return back to making a living. They said
:11:30. > :11:34.that they will be there for five days in the shelters but the -- it
:11:34. > :11:37.will be evaluated for every 24 hours. Thank you very much. We'll
:11:37. > :11:41.keep an eye on that. Carolina Robino, thank you.
:11:41. > :11:46.Now, let's go to Iraq, because at least 66 people are now thought to
:11:46. > :11:51.have died in a wave of car bombings in the capital Baghdad. Doctors say
:11:51. > :11:54.many more people were wounded in the attacks in mainly Shia areas.
:11:54. > :12:01.Sectarian violence has been on the rise in Iraq. More than 300 people
:12:01. > :12:07.have died in the past two weeks alone.
:12:07. > :12:10.This is the district in eastern Baghdad, one of the mainly Shia
:12:11. > :12:14.areas struck by a series of explosions.
:12:14. > :12:18.TRANSLATION: We left the car here and crossed the street where a car
:12:18. > :12:22.picked him up. I told people there was a bomb here. The blast went off
:12:22. > :12:27.as people ran away. Bombs went off in ten districts with civilians
:12:27. > :12:31.hardest hit bit violence. TRANSLATION: What crime have those
:12:31. > :12:36.innocent people committed? Children, four years old were killed. What
:12:36. > :12:40.crime have they done? As well as today's attacks, there have been
:12:40. > :12:46.attacks in Sunni districts. But there are efforts on both sides to
:12:46. > :12:50.prevent this leading to sectarian Civil War.
:12:50. > :12:54.More to come here at BBC World News, including this: Opening the door to
:12:54. > :13:04.girl power in India. We hear from one woman who's decided to become,
:13:04. > :13:06.
:13:06. > :13:12.Hundreds of cyclists have started a six-day charity bike ride from Paris
:13:12. > :13:18.to London. Among those taking part are 30 injured servicemen from the
:13:18. > :13:22.UK, the US and can da. The event raises money for Help for Heroes.
:13:22. > :13:25.It's being given added pine yansy this year because of Drummer Lee
:13:25. > :13:35.Rigby who was wearing one of their T-shirts when he was murdered
:13:35. > :13:38.brutally on a London street last week. Racing to recovery, soldiers
:13:39. > :13:46.injured in Iraq and Afghanistan have been cycling for the charity since
:13:46. > :13:50.it launched its first race in 2008. The annual e event also brings the
:13:50. > :13:54.chance for reflection. When those taking part this year signed up
:13:54. > :13:58.several months ago, they had no idea they'd be marking the momentary of a
:13:58. > :14:03.British soldier, killed on home soil. What happened in Woolwich, the
:14:03. > :14:08.other week, it's, it just brings it home actually, our troops are in
:14:08. > :14:10.danger all the time, at home and abroad. His family need support.
:14:11. > :14:17.Help for Heroes will be there for his family like they were there for
:14:17. > :14:21.me. It's very important. The Royal Family has offered its support with
:14:21. > :14:26.Prince Harry and the Duke of Cambridge meeting some of the
:14:26. > :14:30.cyclists at a Help for Heroes recovery centre earlier this month.
:14:30. > :14:36.Later today it will be the Duchess of Cornwall waving off the riders in
:14:36. > :14:41.Paris as they begin their 350-mile journey to London. These final
:14:41. > :14:45.preparations follow the stabbing of a French soldier high in Paris on --
:14:45. > :14:50.here in Paris on Saturday and police revealing what appears to be an
:14:50. > :14:53.attack by an Islamist extremist in -- on an officer in the south of the