06/08/2013 BBC World News

leave Yemen because of security concerns. Python strangles two

Canadian children in their sleep after escaping from this pet shop.

Massive flooding in Pakistan claims many lives... And we have details of

who spent $250 million of his personal fortune to buy the

nonemergency staff from its embassy in Yemen because of what the state

department called the continuing potential for terrorist attacks. The

US has now advised all citizens to leave Yemen. This, as an intercepted

conversation between two Al-Qaeda leaders. Ayman al-Zawahiri is the

man who took over the running of Al-Qaeda from some of the lard.

Intercepted communications from him are thought to lay behind the most

widespread closure of US diplomatic missions ever. Ayman al-Zawahiri,

based in Pakistan, was reportedly in contact with this man, Nasser

al-Wuhayshi, head of Al-Qaeda's most full and active affiliate Al-Qaeda

on the Arabian peninsular, which is based in Yemen. Members of Congress

who have been briefed about the intelligence talk of a potentially

massive terrorist plot now in its final stages, possibly the most

serious attack against American interests since September the 11th.

Yet the timing and the target of the attack remain a mystery. We know

that the threat emanates from the Arabian peninsular but it could

potentially be from beyond that, or elsewhere, so we cannot be more

specific which is why we have made the statements we have made.

American diplomatic missions in Africa and the Middle East including

the one in Yemen remain closed for the rest of the week out of what the

US State Department is calling an abundance of caution. The Obama

Administration admits that despite its success against Al-Qaeda's core

leadership in recent years, affiliate groups in countries like

Yemen and Somalia continued to pose a threat. The international police

agency Interpol reported at the weekend that a large number of

prisoners had escaped from Middle East and jails in a series of jail

breaks that are thought to have been orchestrated by Al-Qaeda, as if to

add to America's concerns a number of convicted Islamic terrorists are

now roaming free. Staying with the threat of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, and

drone strike has killed four suspected members of the group in

Ma'rib province. One of the dead was a senior Al-Qaeda figure in Yemen

and there have been four drone strikes in the last two weeks. I am

joined by my correspondent. The fact Ayman al-Zawahiri appears to be on

the Afghan border and having this level of communication intercepted,

what is your reading on this? clear he is somewhere on the border

since the Taliban regime was collapsed in 2001. He is there, but

nobody can say a specific place, and about this contact, still I am not

sure. The research I have done, I have worked on Al-Qaeda for years,

and I would not think they will call, they will contact, they will

chat on this type of thing and they will ask their affiliated group to

attack some place in a week's time. But the Americans are indicating

there was contact between him and the Al-Qaeda leader in Yemen.

will not pass their chat information like this. If there was still any

threat, it is creating havoc among people. It should have been dealt

with secretly. Al-Qaeda achieve their goal this way. You raise an

intriguing possibility that somehow the Americans, as they did before

they tracked Osama Bin Laden two years ago, that somehow they may

have intercepted other forms of communication by Ayman al-Zawahiri

inside Pakistan. It is a big possibility. That could be a

possibility, but still I am saying that it would have been good if they

had dealt with it in a way that could not create problems for common

people. It is good they have taken measures and nobody can say that

Nasser al-Wuhayshi, who was secretary to Osama Bin Laden, he was

in Pakistan and in Iran, and then he broke free from jail and went in

hiding, so we see these tactics they are using but still I am not sure

there is something serious. Measures should be taken, but in this way

they are not operating. Thank you. snake has killed two boys in eastern

Canada aged just five and seven, and they have been sleeping in an

apartment above a pet store. It appears the snake had escaped. The

boys were found dead early on Monday morning. The police investigation is

still under way, it is believed the snake escaped through the

ventilation system to the flat above. It's thought the boys were

strangled in their beds. A friend of the boys were sleeping in another

room but he The local mayor named the boys as Noah and Connor.

snake is between 12 and 15 feet in length. You said it was an African

python? It is an African rock python. Experts say these snakes are

not normally aggressive. Snakes only constrict for food, so was it

hungry? Absolutely. That doesn't mean this snake was neglected and it

was not fed enough. It is natural for a snake to eat, to be full, and

then potentially be hungry for a period of time before they eat.

Autopsies are due to be carried out on the boys and police say they are

in the early stages of an investigation and it is too early to

say if charges will be brought. India's defence minister has just

said five people were killed among the disputed border of Kashmir. He

told parliament he blamed heavily armed terrorists and people in

Pakistani army uniforms. Pakistan has categorically denied its troops

were responsible. An official told the BBC India's allegations about

what happened on the line of control between Pakistani and Indian

administered Kashmir was baseless as no fire took place on their side.

Let's go to our correspondent. was a very interesting choice of

words you have described already, he said some of the men were dressed in

Pakistani military uniform. Just to recap, earlier in the day the Indian

army basically said its five soldiers, who were part of the

patrol along the line of patrol, the southern part of the state, came

under attack from what it said was a unit of elite Pakistani commandos

who had breached the line of control, come inside and attacked

the Indian patrol. It is something the Pakistanis have denied, it has

led to a strong reaction here, and the Pakistani Deputy High

Commissioner was summoned by the foreign office here in Delhi, which

lodged a strong protest against the attack. If you unpack the words,

there is still a huge question over what happened and who was to blame.

The line of control between Indian and Pakistani at ministered Kashmir,

is the line clear so anyone who crosses it knows what they are

doing? It is very clear for almost the whole stretch except for a

little bit in the far north-west. Most of the line of control is now

fenced so it is very clear which side belongs to the Pakistani part

and which side is the Indian side. Despite that, this is not the first

violation that has taken place. There have been a number of attacks

along the line of control, exchanges of fire between the two sides. In

January this year some strong fighting which led to the deaths of

some soldiers on both sides, so this is something we have come to

expect. The timing is not particularly good. There is a new

Pakistani government in place since June which has promised to do more

to improve relations with India, but the Indian home Minister and the

chief minister of Indian Kashmir both saying that incidents like this

do not help improve relations with Pakistan. Thank you for joining me.

Torrential monsoon is across eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan have killed

at least 100 people and destroyed hundreds of homes in Pakistan. The

army is helping to drain floodwater in the worst hit regions, including

Karachi. Forecasters are warning of more heavy rain over the next few

days. The family shopping trip that ended

in tragedy. This car was carrying a man, a woman and a child when flash

floods hit the city of Karachi in southern Pakistan. All are thought

to have died. The car was sinking. We heard cries, says us, save my

child. We gave them sticks to hold onto but the car sank into the

garbage in the meantime. Some neighbourhoods were submerged waist

deep in water, sewage overflowed, scores of people were electrocuted

or drowned, and the heavy rain did not spare the rest of the country.

There has been flooding in the north and west, particularly the city of

Peshawar. Five provinces have been badly hit. In this province of

Kabul, hundreds of people have been displaced. Across the country, vast

swathes of farmland has been destroyed. Dozens are thought to

have died with many more missing. The rains have now begun to ease and

the clean-up is well under way. In Pakistan, forecasters are warning of

more thunderstorms and heavy rain over the next few days. This

devastating monsoon season is not over yet.

Still to come, the Washington post has been making a loss, but that

hasn't stopped one billionaire from shelling out $250 million of his own

brought more foreign politicians to Cairo. With thousands of protesters

still on the streets, two leading American Senators are hoping they

may be able to force a breakthrough. John McCain and Lindsey Graham are

holding talks with supporters Mohammed Morsi and the army-backed

interim government. From Cairo, While these very public protests

continued, behind closed doors, American and European

representatives are trying to smooth a path to avoid bloodshed. Diplomats

hope to persuade the brotherhood to have up their demand that President

Morsi be reinstated. The foreign affairs chief became the first

person outside to visit the ousted president following his removal

after huge popular protests against him in June. Adding to the

diplomatic push, two senators who have made several trips to Egypt.

They could try to exert pressure on the military to compromise by making

clear that America's $1 billion in annual aid to Egypt 's armed forces

could be conditional. Even as Muslim Brotherhood supporters continued to

show enthusiasm for the sit in, the group is navigating its own

difficult path. Ending the setting could alienate its supporters. But

staying on the street could further alienate the public and increase the

prospects of a violent end to A gunman in the United States has

opened fire in rural Pennsylvania, killing three people and injuring

several others. Police in Ross Township say the man began shooting

through a wall of the municipal office. He was eventually wrestled

to the ground by two bystanders and taken into custody.

Lloyd's of London is offering more than $1 million for information

leading to the recovery of jewels stolen from the French resort of

Cannes. Last month's raid took place from an exhibition, in the middle of

the day, at the prestigious Carlton Intercontinental Hotel. An armed man

walked in and took the jewels worth a more than $100 million. It's one

of the world's biggest jewellery thefts.

This is BBC World News. The latest headlines: The United States has

ordered all its citizens to leave Yemen.

The State Department says there is the threat of an al-Qaeda attack.

Britain has pulled out all its embassy staff.

A python that escaped from a pet shop has killed two boys in the

Canadian province of New Brunswick. The boys, aged five and seven, were

staying at a friend's apartment the Washington Post for �163m. The

ailing newspaper has struggled to modernise, and has been hit hard by

falling advertising revenues. Mr Bezos said that he understands the

Post's "critical role'' in Washington, and confirmed that he

has no intention of changing the papers core values. With me now is

Kevin Anderson, a freelance journalist and a digital strategist.

It has to be said he has paid 1% of his fortune to buy this paper. He

isn't going to be out of pocket. Someone was contemplating he could

lose 100 million for 250 years, and still see the end of his fortune.

This isn't just about a newspaper, this is about digital content. What

is interesting is, this is about the assets which he has bought, the

newspaper assets, he didn't buy the magazine, other digital assets. Just

the newspapers. The Washington Post and some local newspapers around

Washington. He didn't buy the digital assets. He did by the

Washington Post website but not the digital side. Can you see, the New

York Times has posted $75 million from its digital circulation

revenues, a profit this year. Can you see them Washington Post moving

in that direction? -- the Washington Post. I don't think it is too late.

Most newspapers in the United States are rushing to do this. They are all

moving towards this. You get a sultan number of stories free every

month then you are asked to pay for an online subscription -- you get a

certain number. So, I think the Washington Post, they have resisted

this for a long time. But finances have pushed them in this direction

now. The Boston Globe has recently been

sold. Can you see a new mix where the Washington Post can monetise its

brand and reputation? The New York Times, not only is it a national

newspaper, it has international ambitions. The Washington Post over

the last decade has moved to very much a regional and local newspaper.

So, in some way, it has two reach out to its existing subscribers but

even beyond that to people interested in politics in

Washington. If you had 269 in, would you have bought the Washington

Post? I would probably have bought a digital start up first.

Thank you for joining us. Other Pakistan's former military ruler

Pervez Musharraf has failed to make a scheduled court appearance. Police

in the city of Rawalpindi said it was not safe enough to bring him to

the hearing because of threats to his life. Musharraf was due to be

charged with abetting the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto

in 2007. The leader of the Afghan Taliban,

Mullah Omar, has said that they will not seek to monopolise power when

foreign troops withdraw from Afghanistan next year. In a speech

marking the Muslim festival of Eid, he said the Taliban will try to

reach an understanding with the Afghan people for what he called an

inclusive government based on former US army psychiatrist, who

killed 13 people in a rampage in Texas in 2009. Major Nidal Hasan

admits the killings. He argues he was protecting Muslims and the

Taliban in Afghanistan. The BBC's Nick Bryant is at Fort Hood.

The makeshift memorial at Fort Hood in Texas. Outside the nondescript

building which in 2009 witnessed the worst noncombat attack in history on

an American military base. 13 people were fatally wounded. 30 others

injured. The self-confessed shooter was Major Nidal Hasan, then an army

psychiatrist about to be deployed to Afghanistan. On the day of the

shooting, he allegedly shouted, Allah hu Akbar, God is Great. Then

started shouting -- firing indiscriminately. He said he did it

because he wanted to protect the Taliban from US forces. He will

defend himself at the court-martial. What has angered the victims is the

pentagram describes what happened not as an act of terrorism but an

act of workplace violence. They are alarmed that the major will

personally cross examine some of the people who try to kill. The nearby

facility where the court-martial will take place. Encased in blast

walls, turned into a virtual bunker. It is believed military

prosecutors will present evidence that the American-born soldier

became radicalised and was on the Internet searching for words like

jihad and Taliban. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty.

Taxis come in all shapes, colours, and sizes. They vary as much in

looks as in price, depending where you are in the world. Six of our

correspondents are comparing cab rides in various cities, and the

cost of a 10-kilometre journey. On day two of On The Meter, Tulip

Mazumdar samples one of London's black cabs. Gabriel Gatehouse is on

terrible traffic. The good thing about Kampala is this. Hello, I am

Gabriel. How much? I need to go to the oasis maul. 10,000. Let's go. --

Oasis Mall. of this, as we weave in and out of

the traffic here. But, I have a copy of the blue book right here,

remember this? Why do they call it the blue book? It is lost in the

mists of time, no one knows. Sometimes, the traffic is so bad,

even this bike can't get through. Apart from accidents, what other

kinds of problems do you face? We have thugs who steal our bikes,

they end up taking our bikes, after hitting you with a hammer on the

head. Seriously? You either die or you survive. It is all bad for us.

One of the banes of my life, jumping the lights. The cyclists. They have

pay you. Expertly driven. 10,000 shillings? Thanks a lot. That's

about $4. For a five kilometre journey, this really has to be good

That journey cost us $50. Thank you. Come with me, I'm about to show you

look at that view. Almost worth the Tulip Mazumdar in London and Gabriel

Gatehouse in Kampala. His journey has been the cheapest so far.

Tulip's trip through London makes her taxi ride the most expensive,

behind Athens and Tokyo. Tomorrow, we are in the Americas, to

compare New York with Havana. A reminder of our top story on GMT:

America has ordered all its citizens in Yemen to leave the country.