07/08/2013 BBC World News

World News. Our top stories: East Africa's biggest airport closes

after a fire closes the arrivals hall in Nairobi. Details emerge of

an Al-Qaeda attack. Scientists report the first likely case of

person to person strain of bird flu. And how studying rocks below the

Earth's surface could help scientists refine their search for

extra terrestrial life. Hello, everyone. A huge fire has

ripped through Kenya's main international airport, forcing it to

close and disrupting air travel across the region. Jomo Kenyatta

International Airport is East Africa's biggest. Plumes of the back

smoke were visible several kilometres away. There were no

casualties. The cause is still unclear.

A huge inferno at Nairobi's main airport, usually the biggest

aviation hub in East Africa. Smoke could be seen from many kilometres

away as the emergency services rushed to try and put out the blaze.

Evacuated passengers looked on in horror as the fire raged. When I was

coming in there was a small smoke coming out of one of the buildings.

There were so many fire engines moving in and out. When I was just

about to board the plane, they told us move out. Within 30 minutes, the

whole of arrivals was on fire. cause of the fire is not yet clear

but the Kenyan airports authority said it had started in the early

hours in the immigration section of the departure lounge. The Kenyan

minister for transport and infrastructure told reporters they

wanted to evacuate the whole facility. The message is simple, the

airport is closed. There are no arrivals, no departures, so anybody

who intended to depart cannot. Anybody who was coming here to meet

anybody, people should not come to the airport. They should allow the

emergency work to continue. Nairobi airport hosts over 5 million

passengers each year. It serves 49 destinations in 23 countries across

five continents. Given the importance of this airport, the

incident will have a severe knock-on effect for Kenya's business

community. But ministers say they cannot risk reopening the airport to

quickly. We recognise the central role the airport plays in the

economy of this country, and it is an area that we will bring to

operation as soon as it is reasonably possible, but safety is

paramount. The Kenyan president has already been to the scene to see is

inspect the damage. The fire is contained but the disruption is huge

with inbound flights being diverted to airports in Uganda and wonder.

We can go to the BBC's Emmanuel Igunza. We can see smoke behind you

but no flames so it is under control. The security minister is

giving a briefing. What is emerging? Smoke is still billowing from the

building. The extent of the damage is still being assessed by the

security agencies and airport authorities. At this hour, the

President and Cabinet Secretary are supposed to be issuing a statement

to give further indications as to the real cost of the fire, which

remains, it started at 4am and they managed to put it out for five hours

later. The arrivals tilting is a big building, what is the information

you have had so far on casualties or not? The interior cabinet secretary

has been very clear that they have not been any casualties. Emergency

service vehicles have been here. I can see ambulance vehicles and

vehicles from the Kenyan army and the Red Cross, but so far there have

not been any casualties reported from the fire. Despite the drama of

what happened, it does appear from the information I have just got,

that the airport can function again in part this afternoon. Cargo

flights, particularly flowers and vegetables and also domestic

passenger flights. That suggests there is a way round this to keep

the airport open a bit? Yes, the information that the interior

minister had issued earlier was that the airport would remain closed for

some time. Has been a committee that is appointed look into ways that the

airport can get into normal operation as soon as possible, but

it is still closed to the public. There is no flight that has been

coming in or flying out from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. We

might get an indication as to whether they might reopen part of it

later today from the press briefing that will be addressed by the

President and the interior cabinet secretary. All right, Emmanuel

Igunza, thank you for those details full top what is the impact across

Africa? Because Nairobi is a central hub for all air traffic. There is

another hub in South Africa in Johannesburg. We can get an

assessment from Mark Lowen. What is being said about the impact on the

air traffic around the continent? All the countries in Central and

Eastern Africa... With Nairobi being closed now, that takes away one of

the key gateways. That could have huge impact especially now as it is

the height of Kenya's tourist season and also impacts on the trade of one

of East Africa's key economies as well. One of the problems for Africa

is it does not have good air connections and Nairobi was

developing itself as a major hub worried people could at least fire

round, dog legging across the continent. What does this mean for

the future of the reliability of Nairobi? Nairobi airport has faced a

lot of criticism for being outdated, for having antiquated

infrastructure. A lot of people will say perhaps this will prompt the

airport authorities in Kenya to give it a much-needed upgrade. Addis

Ababa has been fighting with Nairobi for that hub into East Africa. I

think Ethiopian Airways and Addis Ababa airport will be pleased that

they may take some of the traffic that will go away from Nairobi. You

are right to say that African airports do not have a good

reputation in general. Addis Ababa, Johannesburg and Nairobi are the

exceptions but with Nairobi now being closed for the next few days,

that could have a major impact. Kenyan Airways shares have already

dropped by 2%. This is seriously bad news for a key economy in Africa.

There will be huge efforts to trying bring some of those flights back

this afternoon. The freight, the cargo, there will be an attempt to

speed that up. Flower exports from Kenya and mount to 35% of imports

into the European Union. There is a huge need for Kenya as an economy,

as one of the key economies in Africa, to open up Nairobi airport

and make some of the flights available as quickly as possible.

The BBC's Mark Lowen in Johannesburg. A suspected US drone

strike has killed Al-Qaeda members in Yemen. The Yemeni government says

it has foiled a sophisticated plot by Al-Qaeda to blow up vital oil

pipelines and sees several key cities as well as major parts of the

structure in the country. Written and the US have evacuated

diplomatic staff from their embassies in Sanaa over the past few

days, because of intelligence reports of an imminent terrorist

attack. We can now go via Skype to Sanaa where I am joined by the

journalist Adam Baron. You are there in the Yemeni capital, what rating

do you put on this information which has come from the Yemeni government,

about a massive Al-Qaeda operation to try and sees part of the into

structure? To be honest, it is hard to view it without a decent degree

of scepticism. We have heard claims about plots by Al-Qaeda to seize

control of major cities, one of them see coastal city in the south-east.

The government made claims two months ago and nothing came to

fruition. Additionally, when it comes to the into structure

attacks, attacks on an oil pipeline are extremely common, but while

Al-Qaeda may prove a convenient scapegoat, the bustard wrote of

times, when he have people attacking and saying, we will build pipelines

in Yemen, they are simply disgruntled tribesmen with

motivation to have little to do with Al-Qaeda whatsoever. You are based

in the capital itself, but there is a vast inhospitable area, where not

a lot of people go these days, and certainly, the Americans are very

suspicious of who really is occupying this kind of territory.

What is known from your perspective, of the threat coming

from those different provincial areas?

These areas are often referred to as ungoverned which is a simplistic way

to put it. You have eventually areas in the middle of the country and

beyond. These are areas where they have the reputation of Al-Qaeda

taking refuge, finding a place to hide out where government and tribal

control have sort of broken down. I was in a province last month. On the

surface, it looks like desert is pockmarked with a few oases. It is

not a war zone. But the issue have in desert areas, Al-Qaeda operatives

take the opportunity to hide out there. In more populated areas,

there is so little government control that in some cases, members

of Al-Qaeda are effectively able to hide out in the open. Adam Baron,

thank you for joining me. To Greece, where there are ports of

an earthquake near the city of Patras. There are no reports of

damage. Tremors were felt in the capital causing buildings to shake

for several seconds. Still to come: Hailing a cab in Cuba takes you back

in time. In New York it is still an app click away. We have the latest

in our series of comparing the cost of taxi rides worldwide. In the

latest issue to hold Wall Street accountable, US regulators have

filed lawsuits against the bank of America.

They are accusing the bank of lying to investors about the quality of

mortgage-backed securities sold in 2008. The bank denies the charges.

The second biggest bank in the United States is being sued for

fraud. The US government has filed two lawsuits against it. They relate

to the bank sale of mortgage bonds worth around $850 million in 2008.

The government says the company knowingly and wilfully misled

investors about the quality and safety of their investments. They

said when the mortgage bonds collapsed, investors lost more than

$100 million. The government says it wants justice for those affected.

The bank of America has denied the charges. It has blamed the housing

market collapse saying this caused mortgage loans to default at

unprecedented rates and the bonds to lose value. It says these were prime

mortgages sold to sophisticated investors. The government has not

said how much money it is seeking, but it is likely the bank could face

significant financial penalties. The action against the bank has followed

years of criticism that the government has failed to do enough

to hold accountable the companies which contributed to the crisis.

Taiwan's defence minister, Andrew Yang has stepped down after only a

few days in the job. Reports that a book published in his name had been

plagiarised. He has apologised for his mistake.

The United States has said it will go ahead with a high level meeting

with Russia this week despite tensions over Edward Snowden. He was

granted asylum by Russian authorities last week, despite

reaping -- repeated requests by the US to return him.

Buddhists are flocking to the holy city of Lhasa in Tibet for an annual

pilgrimage. But for some pilgrims, travelling to the city just isn't

enough. All aged over 60, they have spent over two months so far,

crawling on their hands and knees for thousands of miles from their

homes in a neighbouring province, as a way of showing their faith to

Buddha. The latest headlines: A has gutted

Nairobi's main airport. Flights will restart later in the day.

Unprecedented numbers of security personnel are out in force in the

capital of Yemen following the threat of an Al-Qaeda attack.

Yemeni's government said a suspected US drone attack killed seven

Al-Qaeda members the other day. A new strain of bird flu has

probably been passed from one person to another for the first time. More

than 130 people in China have been diagnosed with the new H7N9 strain

of bird flu. Most cases have been traced to contact with infected

poultry. But now authorities say a woman infected and died this year,

seems to have caught the disease from her father. I asked Professor

from Saint Mary's School of medicine about this latest discovery?

ratchets up the warnings. If you have a Richter scale of danger, I

don't think we should ignore it. No one is ignoring this. This was

between a father and a daughter. it a small cohort, or could this

happen between any human being? These viruses, not only H7N9, but

H5N11 come from the middle east. When they are emerging, they find

difficulty in spreading, so they have to mutate. The danger with this

one, not only has it shown to mutate in this particular case, because

they must have been close together, 32-year-old daughter helping her

father in hospital. He coughed, infected his daughter and they both

died. This virus is not a small affair. And it can transmit. We have

to be careful. But there are implications that it could go beyond

families, anyone who is treating someone with it? In the hospital,

always with these new outbreaks, and this is fairly new, because this

case was in March. We only knew about this virus in February and I

was in Shanghai in February and did not know anything about it. But this

poor man in hospital, his farmer comes -- daughter comes in to help,

and she catches it. Nurses and doctors, they tend to go down with

it very fast. Can I ask you about the implications? Prevention is key.

What has happened, there has been a mass killing of poultry. What do you

do for human beings to prevent others from getting this now?

had a ticket for Beijing or Shanghai, I would go. It has not

reached the stage of not going. But keep away from the bird markets.

Keep away from someone with a cough. Get six feet away from someone with

a cough and do a lot of hygiene. This is preventative stuff? I am on

the hygiene Council. And the standards of hygiene, people washing

their hands properly, which would kill the virus, is pretty low.

it is about the epidemiological implications of this, this is a new

scale, you are saying? There is a publication in the British Medical

Journal of 42 Chinese authors about nature. Warning us this virus has

special genetic characteristics. It is capable, unlike bird flu, H five

and one, this new one can jump from a chicken into a human. And it does

not kill chickens. New have no warning. The poor 60-year-old had no

idea because all of the chickens were perfectly fine, except they

were spreading the virus. Is there anyone out there? Learning

whether life exists beyond our own planet is one of the biggest

challenges of science. But now it seems the best place to start could

be right here on earth. Scientists have begun a new research project

deep underground in England's North East. As our science reporter,

Rebecca Morelle, reports, it could tell us a lot about the sort of life

which might thrive on other planets. On a journey beneath the earth. I

descend into one of Europe's deepest mines. We are more than a kilometre

underground. Here, miners have been extracting salt and potash since the

1970s. Yet, these underground rocks hold something more. Down here it is

dark, hot and dusty. You can even taste the salt in the air. But this

extreme environment is just like those found on other planets.

Scientists say examining the little organisms down here, would tell them

if life could survive up there. the water is a saturated salt

solution. This place is teeming with life. Microbes in visible to the

naked eye are everywhere. If you look on Mars, you find table salt on

the surface. If you look at Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter, you

find a salty ocean. There is salt all over the universe. If you want

to find out if life can grow in these extra terrestrial

environments, you need to come to a dark, salty environment. The samples

were taken to the subterranean laboratory. It is early days but the

tests are revealing unusual species in the mind. The hope is, if life

can cope with the tough conditions here, they can cope beyond the

Earth. It seems like a contradiction you can do that and we have the

questions of what the universe is made of, is there life on other

planets and what is it like? Here we are, underground, but that is what

is happening. This environment allows you to do that sort of study

extremely well. Scientists say the best way to understand

extraterrestrials I've is to start in places like this. While there

might be intelligence, advanced beings out there, the chances are

aliens might be simple bugs like the ones found here.

For many, taxis are an expensive luxury. But if you are in a hurry

they are often a necessity. Here on BBC World News we are comparing the

costs of taxi travel worldwide. We've already compared the cost of a

ten kilometre ride in Athens, Tokyo, London and Kampala. On the third and

last day of our "On the Meter" series, Sarah Rainsford, travels in

style in Havana, and Michelle Fleury, hails a big yellow taxi in -

where else - New York. Most New Yorkers know that once you

leave Manhattan and outside certain hours it can be hard to find a ride.

Luckily I have an app. This software can tell I am in prospect Park in

Brooklyn. It says there is a taxi for minutes away. Now all I have to

do is wait. In her manner, catching a taxi has become a common way of

moving around. There is no underground system, so you either

stand for hours at a bus stop like this one, or you can put your hand

ride, you will get a ride back in time. Most of these taxis are

classic American cars. Normally there would be up to five passengers

crammed into the seats and each paying a fixed fare. Hello. Where

are you going to? Columbus Circle, please.

TRANSLATION: taxis are the people who don't live on state salary. Lots

of people rent out rooms, all run restaurants, and they can afford to

use taxis. Lots of Cubans have relatives living abroad and they

send them money. There is lots of demand for taxis now. What is the

best tip you have? A very nice man, $4 on the meter. In the end he

handed me $140. I am going to pay by credit card? That is fine.I have

reached my destination, it cost me more than $60 to travel nine miles.

The average journey in New York involves less traffic and is a lot

shorter. The average fare is close to about $15. But I am off to run

some errands. Arriving at our destination. Around

15 kilometres we have travelled and that will cost around 80 cents.

Cheaper than a taxi ride in New York. Official Valerie is here are

around $20 a month. If you are a tourist you will pay a lot more for

Out of the six, New York City was the most expensive and Cuba was the

cheapest. Breaking news from Egypt, saying

plans to break the stand-off between the Muslim Brotherhood have failed.

There have been talks to mediate between the two sides and that