:00:16. > :00:24.World News. Our top stories: East Africa's biggest airport closes
:00:24. > :00:31.after a fire closes the arrivals hall in Nairobi. Details emerge of
:00:31. > :00:38.an Al-Qaeda attack. Scientists report the first likely case of
:00:38. > :00:42.person to person strain of bird flu. And how studying rocks below the
:00:42. > :00:52.Earth's surface could help scientists refine their search for
:00:52. > :01:02.
:01:02. > :01:06.extra terrestrial life. Hello, everyone. A huge fire has
:01:06. > :01:09.ripped through Kenya's main international airport, forcing it to
:01:09. > :01:16.close and disrupting air travel across the region. Jomo Kenyatta
:01:16. > :01:20.International Airport is East Africa's biggest. Plumes of the back
:01:20. > :01:24.smoke were visible several kilometres away. There were no
:01:24. > :01:29.casualties. The cause is still unclear.
:01:29. > :01:36.A huge inferno at Nairobi's main airport, usually the biggest
:01:36. > :01:41.aviation hub in East Africa. Smoke could be seen from many kilometres
:01:41. > :01:47.away as the emergency services rushed to try and put out the blaze.
:01:47. > :01:51.Evacuated passengers looked on in horror as the fire raged. When I was
:01:51. > :01:56.coming in there was a small smoke coming out of one of the buildings.
:01:56. > :02:01.There were so many fire engines moving in and out. When I was just
:02:01. > :02:07.about to board the plane, they told us move out. Within 30 minutes, the
:02:08. > :02:11.whole of arrivals was on fire. cause of the fire is not yet clear
:02:11. > :02:16.but the Kenyan airports authority said it had started in the early
:02:16. > :02:19.hours in the immigration section of the departure lounge. The Kenyan
:02:19. > :02:25.minister for transport and infrastructure told reporters they
:02:25. > :02:29.wanted to evacuate the whole facility. The message is simple, the
:02:29. > :02:35.airport is closed. There are no arrivals, no departures, so anybody
:02:35. > :02:39.who intended to depart cannot. Anybody who was coming here to meet
:02:39. > :02:47.anybody, people should not come to the airport. They should allow the
:02:47. > :02:53.emergency work to continue. Nairobi airport hosts over 5 million
:02:53. > :02:59.passengers each year. It serves 49 destinations in 23 countries across
:02:59. > :03:03.five continents. Given the importance of this airport, the
:03:03. > :03:08.incident will have a severe knock-on effect for Kenya's business
:03:08. > :03:16.community. But ministers say they cannot risk reopening the airport to
:03:16. > :03:22.quickly. We recognise the central role the airport plays in the
:03:22. > :03:25.economy of this country, and it is an area that we will bring to
:03:25. > :03:32.operation as soon as it is reasonably possible, but safety is
:03:32. > :03:40.paramount. The Kenyan president has already been to the scene to see is
:03:40. > :03:47.inspect the damage. The fire is contained but the disruption is huge
:03:47. > :03:53.with inbound flights being diverted to airports in Uganda and wonder.
:03:53. > :03:59.We can go to the BBC's Emmanuel Igunza. We can see smoke behind you
:03:59. > :04:06.but no flames so it is under control. The security minister is
:04:06. > :04:13.giving a briefing. What is emerging? Smoke is still billowing from the
:04:13. > :04:19.building. The extent of the damage is still being assessed by the
:04:19. > :04:22.security agencies and airport authorities. At this hour, the
:04:22. > :04:29.President and Cabinet Secretary are supposed to be issuing a statement
:04:29. > :04:35.to give further indications as to the real cost of the fire, which
:04:35. > :04:41.remains, it started at 4am and they managed to put it out for five hours
:04:41. > :04:47.later. The arrivals tilting is a big building, what is the information
:04:47. > :04:52.you have had so far on casualties or not? The interior cabinet secretary
:04:52. > :05:00.has been very clear that they have not been any casualties. Emergency
:05:00. > :05:04.service vehicles have been here. I can see ambulance vehicles and
:05:04. > :05:09.vehicles from the Kenyan army and the Red Cross, but so far there have
:05:09. > :05:13.not been any casualties reported from the fire. Despite the drama of
:05:13. > :05:18.what happened, it does appear from the information I have just got,
:05:18. > :05:22.that the airport can function again in part this afternoon. Cargo
:05:22. > :05:27.flights, particularly flowers and vegetables and also domestic
:05:27. > :05:36.passenger flights. That suggests there is a way round this to keep
:05:36. > :05:40.the airport open a bit? Yes, the information that the interior
:05:40. > :05:46.minister had issued earlier was that the airport would remain closed for
:05:46. > :05:49.some time. Has been a committee that is appointed look into ways that the
:05:49. > :05:54.airport can get into normal operation as soon as possible, but
:05:54. > :05:59.it is still closed to the public. There is no flight that has been
:05:59. > :06:03.coming in or flying out from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. We
:06:03. > :06:08.might get an indication as to whether they might reopen part of it
:06:08. > :06:13.later today from the press briefing that will be addressed by the
:06:13. > :06:18.President and the interior cabinet secretary. All right, Emmanuel
:06:18. > :06:24.Igunza, thank you for those details full top what is the impact across
:06:24. > :06:28.Africa? Because Nairobi is a central hub for all air traffic. There is
:06:28. > :06:34.another hub in South Africa in Johannesburg. We can get an
:06:34. > :06:44.assessment from Mark Lowen. What is being said about the impact on the
:06:44. > :06:52.
:06:52. > :07:02.air traffic around the continent? All the countries in Central and
:07:02. > :07:03.
:07:03. > :07:13.Eastern Africa... With Nairobi being closed now, that takes away one of
:07:13. > :07:21.
:07:21. > :07:26.the key gateways. That could have huge impact especially now as it is
:07:26. > :07:32.the height of Kenya's tourist season and also impacts on the trade of one
:07:32. > :07:35.of East Africa's key economies as well. One of the problems for Africa
:07:35. > :07:38.is it does not have good air connections and Nairobi was
:07:38. > :07:44.developing itself as a major hub worried people could at least fire
:07:45. > :07:50.round, dog legging across the continent. What does this mean for
:07:50. > :07:53.the future of the reliability of Nairobi? Nairobi airport has faced a
:07:53. > :07:57.lot of criticism for being outdated, for having antiquated
:07:57. > :08:02.infrastructure. A lot of people will say perhaps this will prompt the
:08:02. > :08:08.airport authorities in Kenya to give it a much-needed upgrade. Addis
:08:09. > :08:12.Ababa has been fighting with Nairobi for that hub into East Africa. I
:08:12. > :08:17.think Ethiopian Airways and Addis Ababa airport will be pleased that
:08:17. > :08:23.they may take some of the traffic that will go away from Nairobi. You
:08:23. > :08:27.are right to say that African airports do not have a good
:08:27. > :08:30.reputation in general. Addis Ababa, Johannesburg and Nairobi are the
:08:30. > :08:36.exceptions but with Nairobi now being closed for the next few days,
:08:36. > :08:41.that could have a major impact. Kenyan Airways shares have already
:08:42. > :08:47.dropped by 2%. This is seriously bad news for a key economy in Africa.
:08:47. > :08:50.There will be huge efforts to trying bring some of those flights back
:08:50. > :08:57.this afternoon. The freight, the cargo, there will be an attempt to
:08:57. > :09:02.speed that up. Flower exports from Kenya and mount to 35% of imports
:09:02. > :09:05.into the European Union. There is a huge need for Kenya as an economy,
:09:05. > :09:12.as one of the key economies in Africa, to open up Nairobi airport
:09:12. > :09:17.and make some of the flights available as quickly as possible.
:09:18. > :09:22.The BBC's Mark Lowen in Johannesburg. A suspected US drone
:09:22. > :09:28.strike has killed Al-Qaeda members in Yemen. The Yemeni government says
:09:28. > :09:31.it has foiled a sophisticated plot by Al-Qaeda to blow up vital oil
:09:31. > :09:35.pipelines and sees several key cities as well as major parts of the
:09:36. > :09:39.structure in the country. Written and the US have evacuated
:09:39. > :09:42.diplomatic staff from their embassies in Sanaa over the past few
:09:42. > :09:48.days, because of intelligence reports of an imminent terrorist
:09:49. > :09:56.attack. We can now go via Skype to Sanaa where I am joined by the
:09:56. > :10:01.journalist Adam Baron. You are there in the Yemeni capital, what rating
:10:01. > :10:05.do you put on this information which has come from the Yemeni government,
:10:05. > :10:12.about a massive Al-Qaeda operation to try and sees part of the into
:10:12. > :10:19.structure? To be honest, it is hard to view it without a decent degree
:10:19. > :10:27.of scepticism. We have heard claims about plots by Al-Qaeda to seize
:10:28. > :10:30.control of major cities, one of them see coastal city in the south-east.
:10:30. > :10:35.The government made claims two months ago and nothing came to
:10:35. > :10:42.fruition. Additionally, when it comes to the into structure
:10:42. > :10:45.attacks, attacks on an oil pipeline are extremely common, but while
:10:45. > :10:50.Al-Qaeda may prove a convenient scapegoat, the bustard wrote of
:10:50. > :10:54.times, when he have people attacking and saying, we will build pipelines
:10:54. > :10:59.in Yemen, they are simply disgruntled tribesmen with
:10:59. > :11:04.motivation to have little to do with Al-Qaeda whatsoever. You are based
:11:04. > :11:10.in the capital itself, but there is a vast inhospitable area, where not
:11:10. > :11:14.a lot of people go these days, and certainly, the Americans are very
:11:14. > :11:17.suspicious of who really is occupying this kind of territory.
:11:17. > :11:23.What is known from your perspective, of the threat coming
:11:23. > :11:27.from those different provincial areas?
:11:27. > :11:36.These areas are often referred to as ungoverned which is a simplistic way
:11:36. > :11:43.to put it. You have eventually areas in the middle of the country and
:11:43. > :11:48.beyond. These are areas where they have the reputation of Al-Qaeda
:11:48. > :11:56.taking refuge, finding a place to hide out where government and tribal
:11:56. > :12:04.control have sort of broken down. I was in a province last month. On the
:12:05. > :12:13.surface, it looks like desert is pockmarked with a few oases. It is
:12:13. > :12:17.not a war zone. But the issue have in desert areas, Al-Qaeda operatives
:12:18. > :12:22.take the opportunity to hide out there. In more populated areas,
:12:22. > :12:26.there is so little government control that in some cases, members
:12:26. > :12:34.of Al-Qaeda are effectively able to hide out in the open. Adam Baron,
:12:34. > :12:44.thank you for joining me. To Greece, where there are ports of
:12:44. > :12:45.
:12:45. > :12:49.an earthquake near the city of Patras. There are no reports of
:12:49. > :12:55.damage. Tremors were felt in the capital causing buildings to shake
:12:55. > :13:02.for several seconds. Still to come: Hailing a cab in Cuba takes you back
:13:03. > :13:10.in time. In New York it is still an app click away. We have the latest
:13:10. > :13:14.in our series of comparing the cost of taxi rides worldwide. In the
:13:14. > :13:16.latest issue to hold Wall Street accountable, US regulators have
:13:16. > :13:20.filed lawsuits against the bank of America.
:13:20. > :13:29.They are accusing the bank of lying to investors about the quality of
:13:29. > :13:33.mortgage-backed securities sold in 2008. The bank denies the charges.
:13:33. > :13:38.The second biggest bank in the United States is being sued for
:13:38. > :13:43.fraud. The US government has filed two lawsuits against it. They relate
:13:43. > :13:51.to the bank sale of mortgage bonds worth around $850 million in 2008.
:13:51. > :13:54.The government says the company knowingly and wilfully misled
:13:55. > :13:58.investors about the quality and safety of their investments. They
:13:58. > :14:05.said when the mortgage bonds collapsed, investors lost more than
:14:05. > :14:10.$100 million. The government says it wants justice for those affected.
:14:10. > :14:15.The bank of America has denied the charges. It has blamed the housing
:14:15. > :14:22.market collapse saying this caused mortgage loans to default at
:14:22. > :14:25.unprecedented rates and the bonds to lose value. It says these were prime
:14:25. > :14:31.mortgages sold to sophisticated investors. The government has not
:14:31. > :14:35.said how much money it is seeking, but it is likely the bank could face
:14:35. > :14:38.significant financial penalties. The action against the bank has followed
:14:38. > :14:48.years of criticism that the government has failed to do enough
:14:48. > :14:52.
:14:52. > :14:55.to hold accountable the companies which contributed to the crisis.
:14:55. > :15:03.Taiwan's defence minister, Andrew Yang has stepped down after only a
:15:03. > :15:08.few days in the job. Reports that a book published in his name had been
:15:08. > :15:12.plagiarised. He has apologised for his mistake.
:15:12. > :15:18.The United States has said it will go ahead with a high level meeting
:15:18. > :15:22.with Russia this week despite tensions over Edward Snowden. He was
:15:22. > :15:31.granted asylum by Russian authorities last week, despite
:15:31. > :15:35.reaping -- repeated requests by the US to return him.
:15:35. > :15:38.Buddhists are flocking to the holy city of Lhasa in Tibet for an annual
:15:38. > :15:41.pilgrimage. But for some pilgrims, travelling to the city just isn't
:15:41. > :15:45.enough. All aged over 60, they have spent over two months so far,
:15:45. > :15:48.crawling on their hands and knees for thousands of miles from their
:15:48. > :15:55.homes in a neighbouring province, as a way of showing their faith to
:15:55. > :16:05.Buddha. The latest headlines: A has gutted
:16:05. > :16:09.Nairobi's main airport. Flights will restart later in the day.
:16:09. > :16:14.Unprecedented numbers of security personnel are out in force in the
:16:14. > :16:19.capital of Yemen following the threat of an Al-Qaeda attack.
:16:19. > :16:23.Yemeni's government said a suspected US drone attack killed seven
:16:23. > :16:28.Al-Qaeda members the other day. A new strain of bird flu has
:16:28. > :16:33.probably been passed from one person to another for the first time. More
:16:33. > :16:38.than 130 people in China have been diagnosed with the new H7N9 strain
:16:38. > :16:42.of bird flu. Most cases have been traced to contact with infected
:16:42. > :16:50.poultry. But now authorities say a woman infected and died this year,
:16:50. > :16:56.seems to have caught the disease from her father. I asked Professor
:16:56. > :17:01.from Saint Mary's School of medicine about this latest discovery?
:17:01. > :17:07.ratchets up the warnings. If you have a Richter scale of danger, I
:17:07. > :17:12.don't think we should ignore it. No one is ignoring this. This was
:17:12. > :17:21.between a father and a daughter. it a small cohort, or could this
:17:21. > :17:27.happen between any human being? These viruses, not only H7N9, but
:17:27. > :17:31.H5N11 come from the middle east. When they are emerging, they find
:17:31. > :17:35.difficulty in spreading, so they have to mutate. The danger with this
:17:35. > :17:42.one, not only has it shown to mutate in this particular case, because
:17:42. > :17:45.they must have been close together, 32-year-old daughter helping her
:17:45. > :17:52.father in hospital. He coughed, infected his daughter and they both
:17:52. > :17:59.died. This virus is not a small affair. And it can transmit. We have
:17:59. > :18:04.to be careful. But there are implications that it could go beyond
:18:04. > :18:10.families, anyone who is treating someone with it? In the hospital,
:18:10. > :18:16.always with these new outbreaks, and this is fairly new, because this
:18:16. > :18:20.case was in March. We only knew about this virus in February and I
:18:20. > :18:25.was in Shanghai in February and did not know anything about it. But this
:18:25. > :18:34.poor man in hospital, his farmer comes -- daughter comes in to help,
:18:34. > :18:42.and she catches it. Nurses and doctors, they tend to go down with
:18:42. > :18:47.it very fast. Can I ask you about the implications? Prevention is key.
:18:47. > :18:52.What has happened, there has been a mass killing of poultry. What do you
:18:52. > :18:58.do for human beings to prevent others from getting this now?
:18:58. > :19:04.had a ticket for Beijing or Shanghai, I would go. It has not
:19:04. > :19:09.reached the stage of not going. But keep away from the bird markets.
:19:09. > :19:18.Keep away from someone with a cough. Get six feet away from someone with
:19:18. > :19:22.a cough and do a lot of hygiene. This is preventative stuff? I am on
:19:22. > :19:26.the hygiene Council. And the standards of hygiene, people washing
:19:26. > :19:33.their hands properly, which would kill the virus, is pretty low.
:19:33. > :19:38.it is about the epidemiological implications of this, this is a new
:19:38. > :19:48.scale, you are saying? There is a publication in the British Medical
:19:48. > :19:51.
:19:51. > :19:57.Journal of 42 Chinese authors about nature. Warning us this virus has
:19:57. > :20:02.special genetic characteristics. It is capable, unlike bird flu, H five
:20:03. > :20:10.and one, this new one can jump from a chicken into a human. And it does
:20:10. > :20:14.not kill chickens. New have no warning. The poor 60-year-old had no
:20:14. > :20:24.idea because all of the chickens were perfectly fine, except they
:20:24. > :20:28.
:20:28. > :20:32.were spreading the virus. Is there anyone out there? Learning
:20:32. > :20:35.whether life exists beyond our own planet is one of the biggest
:20:35. > :20:38.challenges of science. But now it seems the best place to start could
:20:39. > :20:41.be right here on earth. Scientists have begun a new research project
:20:41. > :20:45.deep underground in England's North East. As our science reporter,
:20:45. > :20:48.Rebecca Morelle, reports, it could tell us a lot about the sort of life
:20:48. > :20:55.which might thrive on other planets. On a journey beneath the earth. I
:20:55. > :21:01.descend into one of Europe's deepest mines. We are more than a kilometre
:21:01. > :21:07.underground. Here, miners have been extracting salt and potash since the
:21:07. > :21:14.1970s. Yet, these underground rocks hold something more. Down here it is
:21:14. > :21:18.dark, hot and dusty. You can even taste the salt in the air. But this
:21:18. > :21:27.extreme environment is just like those found on other planets.
:21:27. > :21:32.Scientists say examining the little organisms down here, would tell them
:21:32. > :21:39.if life could survive up there. the water is a saturated salt
:21:39. > :21:43.solution. This place is teeming with life. Microbes in visible to the
:21:43. > :21:49.naked eye are everywhere. If you look on Mars, you find table salt on
:21:49. > :21:56.the surface. If you look at Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter, you
:21:56. > :22:00.find a salty ocean. There is salt all over the universe. If you want
:22:00. > :22:07.to find out if life can grow in these extra terrestrial
:22:07. > :22:11.environments, you need to come to a dark, salty environment. The samples
:22:11. > :22:16.were taken to the subterranean laboratory. It is early days but the
:22:16. > :22:22.tests are revealing unusual species in the mind. The hope is, if life
:22:22. > :22:26.can cope with the tough conditions here, they can cope beyond the
:22:26. > :22:30.Earth. It seems like a contradiction you can do that and we have the
:22:30. > :22:36.questions of what the universe is made of, is there life on other
:22:36. > :22:39.planets and what is it like? Here we are, underground, but that is what
:22:39. > :22:45.is happening. This environment allows you to do that sort of study
:22:45. > :22:50.extremely well. Scientists say the best way to understand
:22:50. > :22:53.extraterrestrials I've is to start in places like this. While there
:22:53. > :23:03.might be intelligence, advanced beings out there, the chances are
:23:03. > :23:04.
:23:04. > :23:08.aliens might be simple bugs like the ones found here.
:23:08. > :23:12.For many, taxis are an expensive luxury. But if you are in a hurry
:23:12. > :23:15.they are often a necessity. Here on BBC World News we are comparing the
:23:15. > :23:19.costs of taxi travel worldwide. We've already compared the cost of a
:23:19. > :23:22.ten kilometre ride in Athens, Tokyo, London and Kampala. On the third and
:23:22. > :23:26.last day of our "On the Meter" series, Sarah Rainsford, travels in
:23:26. > :23:31.style in Havana, and Michelle Fleury, hails a big yellow taxi in -
:23:31. > :23:35.where else - New York. Most New Yorkers know that once you
:23:35. > :23:41.leave Manhattan and outside certain hours it can be hard to find a ride.
:23:41. > :23:46.Luckily I have an app. This software can tell I am in prospect Park in
:23:46. > :23:55.Brooklyn. It says there is a taxi for minutes away. Now all I have to
:23:56. > :23:59.do is wait. In her manner, catching a taxi has become a common way of
:23:59. > :24:03.moving around. There is no underground system, so you either
:24:03. > :24:13.stand for hours at a bus stop like this one, or you can put your hand
:24:13. > :24:25.
:24:25. > :24:29.ride, you will get a ride back in time. Most of these taxis are
:24:29. > :24:37.classic American cars. Normally there would be up to five passengers
:24:37. > :24:47.crammed into the seats and each paying a fixed fare. Hello. Where
:24:47. > :24:51.
:24:51. > :24:58.are you going to? Columbus Circle, please.
:24:58. > :25:03.TRANSLATION: taxis are the people who don't live on state salary. Lots
:25:03. > :25:07.of people rent out rooms, all run restaurants, and they can afford to
:25:07. > :25:13.use taxis. Lots of Cubans have relatives living abroad and they
:25:13. > :25:21.send them money. There is lots of demand for taxis now. What is the
:25:21. > :25:29.best tip you have? A very nice man, $4 on the meter. In the end he
:25:29. > :25:34.handed me $140. I am going to pay by credit card? That is fine.I have
:25:34. > :25:39.reached my destination, it cost me more than $60 to travel nine miles.
:25:39. > :25:44.The average journey in New York involves less traffic and is a lot
:25:44. > :25:50.shorter. The average fare is close to about $15. But I am off to run
:25:50. > :25:57.some errands. Arriving at our destination. Around
:25:57. > :26:02.15 kilometres we have travelled and that will cost around 80 cents.
:26:02. > :26:05.Cheaper than a taxi ride in New York. Official Valerie is here are
:26:05. > :26:15.around $20 a month. If you are a tourist you will pay a lot more for
:26:15. > :26:30.
:26:30. > :26:37.Out of the six, New York City was the most expensive and Cuba was the
:26:37. > :26:41.cheapest. Breaking news from Egypt, saying
:26:41. > :26:46.plans to break the stand-off between the Muslim Brotherhood have failed.
:26:46. > :26:50.There have been talks to mediate between the two sides and that