03/10/2013 BBC World News

Our top story: A boat packed with illegal migrants from Africa since

of Italy after catching fire. More than 80 people have drowned,

hundreds are still missing. The deputy leader of Greece's far-right

party Golden Dawn is remanded in court.

There has been a new lick of contaminated water from the

Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan. And the family of Michael Jackson

loses a negligence claim brought against its concert promoter, AEG

Live. We start with breaking news from

Italy. A bird packed with migrants from North Africa has caught fire

and sunk off the southernmost island of Italy. Italian rescue

services have launched a major rescue operation just off the

island of Lampedusa. At least 80 people are dead. Nearly 200 people

have been rescued, but the Coastguard says it still leaves

many unaccounted for. It is believed up to 500 migrants from

North Africa were on the boat. They were Eritreans coming via Libya. As

many as 30 of those who died were children. These are the latest

images from Lampedusa, which is an island halfway between Italy and

Libya, which is under regular pressure from the number of

migrants trying to get there and into the European Union,

particularly from sub-Saharan Africa. The worst story is what we

are not seeing. It is the number of people on the boat which caught

fire one: Otter of land. There are said to be several hundred people

who are missing. I got the latest from the BBC's Allan Johnston in

Rome. This is a major disaster and we are still finding out the full

scale and the dimension of it. What we know so far is that this was a

vessel carrying hundreds of people, it may be as many as 500. They were

mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, from places like Eritrea and

Somalia, and they got into trouble 12 hours after they left the Libyan

coast. A fire broke out, we are not sure how. One report suggests there

was an effort to set off a flair which sparked the fire, that is

unconfirmed. The Birt blazed and sang, and the people were forced to

fling themselves into the sea. Coastguard boats and helicopters

raced to the scene and they have managed to rescue dozens of people.

But dozens are dead and the fear is that many more may not be found. At

one point we heard rescue workers saying there were bodies everywhere

in the sea. Those that have been brought ashore are being lined up

on the breakwater at the island of Lampedusa, which has seen so many

on the breakwater at the island of of these kind of tragedies. As we

look at the video which is now arriving from Lampedusa, it is a

small location, but something very much in the sides of the people

smugglers and the migrants coming from sub-Saharan Africa hoping to

get into the European Union. How big is the problem for Italy down

there? You are right. At this time of the year, late summer and autumn,

when the Mediterranean is calm her, on a daily basis you have boats

loaded with migrants trying to make that crossing, often coming from

war zones and from areas of economic hardship. People are

seeking a better life in Europe, but so often in our crowded and not

seaworthy vessels, numbers have died over the years when the crafts

have sunk beneath them. Lampedusa is on the frontline of that

migration process and it is an island under huge pressure on a

daily basis dealing with the influx of migrants and sometimes having to

bring in tragically those who have died on the route. There are

pictures in Italy of the Mayor of the island of Lampedusa in tears as

she looked at the bodies on the breakwater. More information is

coming from the Mayor of Lampedusa. She has said there are 82 dead

bodies, mostly from Somalia and Eritrea. She said, quote, it is

horrific, like a cemetery, they are still bringing them out of the

water. There were between 405 hundred migrants on the boat when

it sank. They are quoted as saying 150 have been saved so far. That

means maybe 300 are possibly unaccounted for. That is Lampedusa

in the south of Italy. A multi- million dollar lawsuit against the

firm was organised by good Jackson's final concerts has been

thrown out by a jury in Los Angeles. The Jackson family sued the

promoter AEG Live for compensation. They accused it of negligence

because it hired the doctor that caused Michael Jackson's death.

Waiting for a verdict outside court, the difference between a $1 billion

pay cheque from concert promoters AEG Live, and the Jackson family

getting nothing came down to two simple questions. Question number

one, did AEG Live higher the doctor Conrad Murray. Answer, yes. Conrad

Murray was Michael Jackson's doctor and was convicted in 2000 and at 11

of giving the singer a fatal dose of anaesthetic, but was the company

who hired him responsible? Was Dr Conrad Murray unfit or incompetent

to perform the work for which he was hired? Answer, it Noble stock

to perform the work for which he and that brought the case against

AEG Live tumbling down. After five months picking through some of the

sordid details of Michael Jackson's private life, the jury decided AEG

Live were not responsible for the singer's death and the family

should not receive compensation. The jurors explained why they did

not consider the man who killed Michael Jackson to be incompetent.

He had a licence and graduated from a credible college. We felt he was

competent to do the job of a general practitioner. That does not

mean we felt he was ethical. The lawyer for AEG Live or welcomed the

verdict. These are real people who are being accused of killing

Michael Jackson. For many people think it is a faceless, corporate

entity, but there are many people behind these actions to er be

accused of doing something they did not do. This was Michael Jackson's

last rehearsal before he died. Format used on the Jackson family

must decide if they want to keep fighting for compensation in the

courts and launch an appeal. There is more ominous news for the

crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan. The operators have said a

storage tank has overflowed. They fear a small amount of radioactive

water may have leaked into the Pacific Ocean. Let's go to our

correspondent who joins me from Tokyo. This is after guarantees

were made to secure the Olympics by the Japanese Prime Minister of and

also after the company running Fukushima said it was going to put

an enormous, frozen casket around the leaking water. That is right

and also after there was a much larger water leak in August, which

caused a major stink and a major scandal ahead of the Olympic

decision. It was much bigger, 300 tonnes. Today we are talking about

430 litres, a much smaller amount. But after that last leek in August,

the companies said they were going to address the problems and they

were going to put gauges on all of to address the problems and they

the tanks, said they knew exactly how much water was in the tanks.

Today we found out there was no gauge on this tank and they did not

notice the leak was taking place for about 12 hours. There are also

questions over why they filled the tank so full so that it overflowed.

It suggests they do not have enough tanks for the water they have to

store, so they are selling the tanks up to the brink. It raises

all sorts of questions over the operation in Fukushima and why they

have not managed to get it under control. What is the confidence

level in the company given Bano the enormity of what they've says, but

they keep trying to give certain commitments and guarantees that

they are keeping a grip on it all. Confidence has been pretty rock

bottom for quite a long time, for at least the last year or two.

There has been a series of problems, one after another. The original

disaster itself was because the plant had not been designed

properly and had not been designed to withstand a tsunami and they did

not have the back-up systems in place and they did not have a

disaster plan. Confidence is place and they did not have a

already at rock-bottom. People were hoping that the fact they got the

Olympics the Japanese Government would step in and take control of

the situation. That is happening, would step in and take control of

but it will take time for it to work its way through. This is an

unprecedented situation and very complex and with the best will in

the world there are going to be problems. Let's go to the US where

hundreds of thousands of US federal Government staff face a third day's

unpaid leave and the prospect of many more. President Obama has

signalled things could get even worse. The latest talks between the

Democrats and Republicans broke up worse. The latest talks between the

without agreement. There is a danger the US Government will

simply run out of cash two weeks from now.

The Government shutdown is entering its third day and the two sides are

as far apart as ever. There were hopes that a White House meeting on

Wednesday evening between the President and congressional leaders

would lead to progress, but those hopes were dashed when the meeting

wrapped up and it was clear no side was willing to compromise. There

were four different proposals and they rejected all of them. We have

asked to sit down and try and resolve our differences, but they

will not negotiate. We had a nice, polite conversation, but at some

point we have got to allow the process that the founders gave us

to work out. At the heart of the political stalemate is President

Obama's Health Care Act. The Conservative tea-party Republicans

Obama's Health Care Act. The want a delayed to the law as a

condition of passing the bill. Democrats are resolute in saying

noble stock Fradley, that is not what our constitution had in mind,

that if you do not like something, you threatened to shut down

Government. It is not that kind of a system. It is a situation that is

frustrating the President as he explained in an interview. During

the course of my presidency I have bent over backwards to work with

the Republican Party and have purposely kept my rhetoric down. I

think I am pretty well known for being a calm person. Sometimes

people think I am to calm. Am I exasperated? Absolutely because

this is entirely unnecessary. He may be irritated by no action, but

it gives him a reason as well. If by 17th October Congress cannot

agree on raising the amount of money the Government can borrow to

pay its bills, the country risks defaulting on its debt and that

says President Obama is an even bigger threat to the global economy.

In Greece where the deputy leader of the far-right party Golden Dawn

has begun appearing in court in Athens. He is one of a number of

Members of Parliament arrested over the weekend. That follows the

murder of an anti- racist musician two Wizard air. The party leader,

Nikos Michaloliakos, was denied bail at a court hearing, which

lasted into the early hours of this morning. Let's go to our

correspondent in Athens. What is happening in court now?

The deputy leader is presenting his defence. The individual -- accounts

include a money-laundering. The leader's testimony finished early

this morning. The first time that a party leader and several MPs have

been arrested, charged and held in custody. I can show you the special

court. This is the building where he is currently testifying. Just

right of that, police buses with riot police, armed at the ready.

And to the right-hand side of the road, it is a quieter and smaller

situation than yesterday, when the party leader was in court.

Yesterday, we had 200 supporters and a lot of people waving flags

and chanting party slogans. The party insists they are simply proud

nationalists, and free of the criminal allegations the

prosecutors have filed against them. The leader and deputy leader only

face charges, along with others, but what is the impact on the party

and its political standing? Politically speaking there will be

an impact if there are convictions of the MPs because they have 18 MPs

in Parliament. If any of these MPs who have been charged are convicted,

they will lose the right to sit in Parliament and that will mean by-

elections. The Government is confident it would win those. The

interesting thing is the impact on public opinion. There has been a

series of damaging disclosures. We had ran access to a former

supporter of the party who told us she had been to party meetings when

she had seen weapons, she had heard she had been to party meetings when

talk of beating up people. And how somebody came to talk to her to

offer services for somebody hassling her. He said that breaking

offer services for somebody an arm and leg it would cost 300

euros and to burn a car 1,000 euros and 1,500 euros to put somebody in

hospital. The Government is confident these disclosures might

turn the public against the party. What will be interesting is to see

how it fares this weekend in the opinion polls, is it down below the

how it fares this weekend in the level it got in the election last

year? Has its popularity been dented? Racing to see Banksy's

first work in New York city before it disappears. Budget airlines are

first work in New York city before ideal for low-cost city breaks. But

security agencies say many criminal gangs in Eastern Europe are taking

advantage of them too. Europol is warning that the criminals are

flying in and flying out the same day. That is after they've carried

out illegal activities like credit card cloning. There's no suggestion

the airlines are doing anything wrong. The BBC's Anna Holligan has

details from the Hague. These are the perfect getaway vehicles. That

is according to Europol. It says low-cost airlines unwittingly carry

pickpockets and people who commit fraud across borders, creating

concerns about a new type of high- flying criminal. At the

headquarters, detectives workout New Cross continental ways to help

domestic police tackle super speed criminals. They are hitting targets

domestic police tackle super speed in one day and getting home by the

end of the day. His this problem more prevalent among a particular

group? This phenomenon we have seen across many countries. It is a

particular trend in some areas of criminal activity in parts of

Eastern Europe, but also gangs from the Irish

-- the Irish Republic have been involved. At Amsterdam and London

have been identified as vulnerable because they attract big spenders.

We are talking about traditional crime. Cashpoint machines,

criminals used hidden cameras, attached to the top of the machines

and they can capture the numbers as customers enter them. The

difference is that the gangs armed -- they are using the low-cost

airlines. Some now include more than 60 nationalities. Sharing

knowledge extends their power. Europol say police must do the same

to intercept these airborne criminals.

I have the latest headlines. More than 80 people have drowned off the

Italian island of Lampedusa after fire broke out aboard a boat packed

with illegal migrants. It's thought hundreds more aboard are missing.

The deputy leader of the Greek far- right party, Golden Dawn is

appearing in court. Last night its leader was remanded in custody

awaiting trial. This is the President of the West African state

of The Gambia whose government has made a surprise announcement, to

withdraw from the Commonwealth, apparently without giving the

organisation any warning. An announcement on state television

branded the Commonwealth a neo- colonial institution. That is a

reference back to its roots decades ago in the British Empire. The

President came to power in a coup almost 20 years ago. The Gambia has

a long history of tension in Britain and he frequently accuses

London of backing political opponents. It is one of Africa's

smallest countries. The Gambia enjoyed long spells of stability

since independence from Britain in 1965. But the British Foreign

Office has singled out The Gambia for its human rights record, citing

unlawful detentions and illegal closures of newspapers and

discrimination against minorities. The Gambia executed nine people

last year, criticised by Amnesty International and others. It is

sensitive about the colonial roots and dropped British from its title,

even though Queen Elizabeth is its figurehead. Also it dropped

allegiance to the British crown from the statute. The last nation

to leave the Commonwealth was Zimbabwe. The co-founder of the UK

campaign for human rights in The Gambia spoke to me. I was -- I

asked him if he was surprised by the announcement. I am not

surprised, I am disappointed. We have seen this coming. The Gambian

President does not take criticism as far as press freedom is

concerned. Recently we have seen the Commonwealth being active in

engaging the Gambian government. One to establish a human rights

organisation, the Commonwealth has been active on. At the General

Assembly there was a sideline meeting we understand with the

Gambian government about human rights in the country. The

President is unpredictable. I think he must have sensed something. That

is why he withdrew The Gambia and without informing the, well. I am

disappointed because there have been discussions between the

Commonwealth and the Government in The Gambia. The reaction to the

decision by The Gambia to leave the Commonwealth. Reports from Pakistan

say at -- own least 12 people have been killed in an attack that

targeted a militant commander. It was in a remote area. Russia says

gunmen have attacked its embassy in Libya. The compound in Tripoli came

under fire as the attackers tried to enter the premises. There is

currently a heavy security presence at the scene. But the situation

appears calm. Russian embassy staff are thought to have escaped the

assault unharmed. He paints on walls. A new work by the British

street artist Banksy always turns heads. So when one of his grafitti

murals appeared overnight in New York, it caused a stir. It showed

two boys holding a spray can. It appeared on Tuesday in Manhattan,

where Banksy is beginning a residency. But it fast disappeared

under a layer of whitewash. What has been the reaction?

Hello, welcome to Lower Manhattan. Before you, you will see work by

the artist Banksy. Maybe not, it has probably been painted over by

now. I wanted to catch it but I just missed it because it was

painted over. I was fortunate just missed it because it was

enough and I saw it yesterday and I came after work to see it.

Unfortunately, it is not here any more. I'm not sure whether it was

done by the City or another artist who does not like his work. I came

done by the City or another artist about 100 miles. I am a real estate

developer in Brooklyn. We are putting street art on our projects.

It is a wonderful amenity for tenants and it creates a vibrant

neighbourhood. New York is about walking on the street. You are

looking at a type of picture called graffiti. The children, in this

case, represent youth. I have taken a lot of photographs

of graffiti and when I read there was a Banksy, I thought I do not

have any of his work in my collection so I wanted to come out

and take one. I like to find the pictures on my own as I walk

and take one. I like to find the through the streets, but if they

keep painting over all the Banksys, I might have to buy one! It is like

a rebel movement, a rebel feeling. He pushes boundaries and makes art

work that make people think about things in a different way. This

interview, I don't know whether that is this -- is his idea. I know

he posted a picture of the West Side. I do not know the vacation. I

know he is here for a month. I look forward to seeing the other art

work. I can give you the latest from southern Italy and the island

of Lampedusa. 80 bodies have been discovered and several hundred

might be missing after a boat capsized having caught