10/10/2013 BBC World News

Hello, I am Nik Gowing with World News, our top stories:

Hello, I am Nik Gowing with Lydia's Prime Minister Ali Zeidan is

reportedly freed by a government rebel group which sees Tim earlier.

The US suspends more aid to the Egyptian government and the man's

credible progress towards democracy. End of a cricketing hero, Sachin

Tendulkar says he will retire after his 200th test next month. And have

you ever tried a cronut? How about a dozen? We will give you a taster of

the new crossover culinary craze spreading around the world.

Let's update you first on the rapidly moving story which we have

been following this morning. This is Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan,

who has been set free after being seized earlier by a rebel group.

This picture appears to show him after he was taken from his hotel

room where he has also got an office. A rebel group calling itself

a crime-fighting unit said that it took him, apparently as reprisal for

the Libyan government's role in the US capture of a senior Al-Qaeda

suspect on Saturday. This is from the BBC's Nick Childs.

The Libyan Prime Minister, it seems, following his seizure. He had

apparently been taken to the Interior Ministry amid confusion and

concern over what was behind this thematic turn of events. This is the

luxury hotel where he had been staying in triply and from where he

was grabbed by gunmen in the early hours. Initially, the government

said he had been taken for unknown reasons, but a group supposedly

attached to the government said he had been arrested. Supposedly the

hotel offered secure sanctuary for government officials and foreign

diplomats, but what unfolded here underlines the turmoil of security

in Tripoli. TRANSLATION: People came, with a paper from the

prosecutor general, with an order for the arrest of the Prime

Minister. They showed it to the guys, they were revolutionaries,

they entered and capture the Primus. Ali Zeidan heads a week and power

structure that has grown up following the ousting of Muammar

Gaddafi. -- weakened. The authorities issued this statement.

TRANSLATION: The Libyan government holds the kidnappers responsible for

the Prime Minister's safety and they should release him immediately. This

crime will not impact on government work or legitimacy. The government

cannot give in to blackmail. With the official security forces in

disarray, many militia groups hold sway in Tripoli and elsewhere,

supposedly enlisted to prop up the government but in most cases mostly

loyal to their own leaders and their agendas. Precisely why the Prime

Minister was taken may remain murky, but it is thought many militias were

angered by the Beeston seizure by US forces of an Al-Qaeda suspect and

accused the government complicity, although it has denied this. Britain

was to condemn what happened, underlying concerns about what it

says about stability in Libya. It does appear that the interim

Prime Minister has been released, because we can show you the images

that are coming from Tripoli of those who are waiting. There is a

red carpet in front, as they wait for the Prime Minister to arrive to

show that he is actually free. Those are the images, we have no idea when

this might happen, but on the other hand this is the kind of level of

confidence that there is that the Prime Minister has been released,

indicating that he will appear to show he has been released, he is

free. There is Libyan television at the moment. Sir Dominic Asquith was

the British ambassador to Libya in the aftermath of the uprising two

years ago. I asked him what this morning's seizure of the Prime

years ago. I asked him what this Minister from his hotel signal about

the state of government in Libya now. Well, it reflects two enduring

problems. One is a security problem, the other political. The security

problem reflects the lack of capacity to provide security, and

that is fundamentally a training problem, but it will take time to

address. The underlying problem is the lack of political unity and

cohesion, both within Parliament, within the Congress, and within

government, and between the two institutions. If there is one real

wake-up call that this one gives, this incident gives, which is

deplorable, it is that there has to be a political vision, and agreed

political vision between the leaders and an agreement to work together.

Otherwise, these armed groups are going to exploit the political

paralysis to entrench their agenda. Sir Tom and, you were involved on

behalf of Britain in trying to help Libya create a new system of

governance, which made it a democratically governable country,

what is your assessment of the state of governance or not? This is a

transition process, a long one, given the past history of Libya. We

will go through, I am sure in the future, more problems, both of a

security and of a political nature. We have to stay with the elected

authorities, those charged by the elected authorities to carry out the

duties of government, and provide the assistance and advice that we

have been doing up to now, and we will need to do so for some time,

because this will take time. Who controls the government? The Prime

Minister should run the cabinet and his ministries, or is they a degree

of unilateralism within the ministries according to rebel

affiliations. It goes back to that lack of cohesion between the elected

representatives in Parliament and the government itself. Within

Parliament, there is a sort of competition for political

dominance. That has to end at this stage, they have to work together

within Parliament about an agreed way forward for Libya, and with

government, to support government in doing what government should be

doing, which is the executive power in the country.

Britain's recent ambassador to Livia, Sir Dominic Asquith. The

former president of Liberia who has been convicted of war crimes is to

be transferred to a prison in Britain to serve his sentence.

Charles Taylor will serve 50 years after he was found guilty of war

crimes during the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone. He is expected to

be transferred within the next few days to a high security jail in

Britain. Also in Africa, the United States

says it is suspending a large part of its aid to Egypt until it makes

credible progress towards free and fair elections. The US has been

under pressure to respond to the ousting of Egypt's first-ever

democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, earlier this year.

Aircraft, tanks and missiles are being withheld, and so is a

substantial amount of cash aid. Katy Watson has the details from

Washington. The army continues to divide people

on the streets of Cairo. On Wednesday, these Egyptians stood to

remember 25 people killed during a military crackdown two years ago.

Since that event, the violence has only continued, especially since the

ousting of President Morsi in July, but was some pin the blame on the

military, others still see it as the country's saviour. As far as

Washington is concerned, it is not taking sides, but the violence of

the past few months has certainly changed the relationship with Cairo

that it considers important. We have to calibrate that policy with what

that it considers important. We have we have seen on the ground over the

last few months. We have certainly made it clear that some of the

actions that different sites, quite frankly, have taken over these past

few months are not acceptable. And so the US says it is withholding

future deliveries of tanks, fighter aircraft, helicopters and missiles,

as well as $260 million in cash. Perhaps no surprise. The US said

back in August it would review its military aid and halted a delay of

fighter jets and cancelled a joint military exercise. Our overriding

interest throughout these past few years has been to encourage the

government that legitimately reflect the will of the Egyptian people. We

will continue to work with the interim government to promote our

core interest and support areas that benefit the Egyptian people. But

while Washington makes the cats, Egypt will not be short of cash.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have given as much as $12

billion to the new government. The US may be retrial braiding its

military aid, but Egypt is recalibrating its financial

backers, too. -- recalibrating. The father of former US intelligence

contractor Edward Snowden has arrived in Moscow to meet his son.

The 3rd-year-old former computer analyst is charged with violations

of the US espionage act. -- 30-year-old. His whereabouts remain

secret. Snowden's father said that his son is not planning to return to

the United States. A one-day strike by air traffic

controllers in France means that flights face disruption. Airlines

including easyJet and Ryanair will cut about 30% of flights. Flights

through French airspace to other destinations may also be delayed.

One of the final contingent of British troops in Afghanistan is

beginning its tour of British troops in Afghanistan is

Its main role is to pack equipment in preparation for the final

pull-out of Western combat troops at the end of next year.

Now to the member of the French parliament who faces a hefty fine.

Why is that? He disrupted a female colleague's speech by clucking like

Why is that? He disrupted a female a chicken. Really Blu-ray's heckling

stopped the speech dead in its tracks and caused a national outcry.

-- Philip Blu-ray. The French parliament is discussing pension

legislation when it begins. A Green Party MP is interrupted by clucking

noises. TRANSLATION: That is enough, stop, I'm not a chicken.

In France, the word is often used as aid to Robert Terry -- a derogative

return for a chicken. Le Ray was the man responsible. He has been fined a

quarter of his monthly salary. TRANSLATION: He called to apologise,

but it is a bit too he's -- a bid to easy at Olly Foster that has been

made. TRANSLATION: It is pathetic, female politician still have to

fight for respect. Another MP blamed it on boozy dinners. In protest,

some women MPs arrived late for the following morning's session. This

show of support from their left-wing colleagues, and in response a brief

walk-out from those on the right. There has been catcalling in

Parliament before. Last year, deputies hissed at a minute,

apparently because she was wearing a dress. One said, maybe she wore it

so we would not listen to what she had to say.

Stay with us on BBC World News, still to come: The man who calls

himself the memorial militia, keeping Washington's landmarks clean

despite the US Government shutdown. In the Middle Ages, the bubonic

plague claimed the lives of nearly half of Europe, and now the

international committee of the is and the Pasteur Institute warned

that bubonic plague is still a threat. -- the international

committee of the Red Cross. Imagine folks has details from Madagascar.

-- imagine folks. This main jail is overcrowded, but

the 3000 prisoners are not the only inmates. For hygiene and lack of

space are causing a major health hygiene. -- poor hygiene. It is a

disease that many thought this appeared in the Middle Ages but it

is spreading here, bubonic plague. Last year, Madagascar have more

cases. 56 with 60 deaths. Unlike the prisoners, the rats do

not have to stay in prison, they can take the Belak on to the city

streets. -- the plague. If the blade is in the prisons, there could be an

streets. -- the plague. If the blade explosion within the town. --

plague. We need to do something for humanitarian reasons.

And so the Pasteur Institute and the international committee of the Red

Cross are working in the prison to combat plague, but it is more

complicated than simply catching the rats and killing them. The fleas

which transmit the plague will just move elsewhere, to human beings, so

they have to be removed and killed as well. Out in Madagascar's rural

areas, there is little understanding of the disease and a little

accessible medical care. Bubonic plague can be treated, but it has to

be caught early. That was not an option for this man's daughter.

TRANSLATION: Her temperature went up a lot, and she became delirious, and

then she died. And after she died, they prevented us from taking her

body. They buried her. October's warm, wet weather marks the start of

plague season in Madagascar. The eradication process in the prison is

in full swing. The goal is to get rid of plague, both inside the jails

and out, before the disease which many of us thought was gone for good

comes back with a vengeance. This is BBC World News. I'm Nic

Gowing. The latest headlines: Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zeidan is

reportedly freed by the group that seized him this morning. The US

suspends military aid to the Egyptian government and demands

credible progress towards democracy. India's record-breaking batsman

Sachin Tendulkar is to retire after playing his 200th Test match next

month...Tendulkar - the highest run-scorer in the history of Test

cricket - says it's been a huge honour to have represented his

country and played all over the world... Let's take a look at his

impressive record. He made his international debut at the age of

16. He has made more than 100 centuries over the course of his

career. And made nearly 16,000 runs in Test matches. Let's go to Nick

Marshall MacCormack in Salford. I also see he is the only person to

have made a double century in a one-day international. That is

right, Nick. When it comes to statistics, this man has it all.

They call him the Master blaster. If you love cricket, you love this man.

He just has the knack of the game. He has such a beautiful style to

watch. His shotmaking is delicious. You mention some of the statistics,

and if you want another one, the other day he just went past 50,000

runs in all forms of the game, including a class test cricket as

well as one-day internationals and test matches. As such intent all

pronounced this today, in his statement, he said all my life I

have dreams of playing cricket for India and I have lived this dream

everyday to the last 24 years. It has been hard to imagine a life

without playing cricket because it's all I've ever done since I was 11

years old. So what does he do now? I guess he can revert to a coaching

role. There are a lot of Indian players who look up to him and you

think about all of the games of cricket in the backyard across the

world where people are doing role-play, and we always wanted to

be such intend orca, because he was just a fine illustration of the game

of cricket -- Sachin Tendulkar. just a fine illustration of the game

Outside the Australian statement was the statue of Don Bradman. We will

he be remembered as the Don Bradman of India? It is funny you bring him

up. I think about five or six years of India? It is funny you bring him

ago, Don Bradman was watching such intend on television -- Sachin

Tendulkar. He said I don't normally watch myself, but I'm watching this

guy and he looks a lot like me. He has the same compact style, the same

unique style. So to have that tribute from Sir Donald Bradman is

really putting him up there in the echelons of the greatest men in

cricket. Plenty of statues going up across India I would imagine. Nick,

thank you very much indeed for joining us. Turkey has lifted rules

banning women from wearing headscarves in the country's state

institutions - with the exception of the judiciary, military and police,

ending a decades-old restriction. The announcement was made by Turkish

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as part of a package of liberalising

reforms aimed at bolstering democracy. But critics of Mr Erdogan

say the move is another attack on the secular rules by which Turkey

has long been governed. Guney Yildiz reports.

has long been governed. Guney Yildiz I sure is a qualified teacher could

say she has not been allowed to work in a state school because rules have

banned women from wearing the headscarf in government buildings.

The ban was in fermented by the secular establishment who fear the

rise of political Islam in the country. I tried my chances in the

private sector because I could not work as an English-language teacher

in state schools with my headscarf. The headscarf ban, lifted this week,

has kept women working as civil servants in Turkey, but secularist

critics of the president see the repeal of the ban as yet another

move by the government to impose an Islamist agenda along with the

restriction on sale of advertising of alcohol, and the introduction of

more teaching of the Koran. They also accuse the government of

undoing the secular principles of the Republic. Mr Purdy Gann denies

this is the case. -- the Prime Minister denies it is the case. The

hide scarves are as much part of the public as those who do not have

them. She thinks returning she could return to have a career in the

public service. With the situation is changed and women with

headscarves can work in state schools I can imagine applying back

to the public sector. -- if the situation. There has no -- been no

strong opposition to the lifting of the ban, but there is a suggestion

that Turkey's society is becoming more conservative. In the United

States a woman who went missing from her hospital bed more than two weeks

ago has been found dead in a stairwell in the hospital. San

Francisco General Hospital has confirmed that the body they found

was that of 57-year-old Lynne Spalding. She had been receiving

treatment for a bladder infection. From California, Alastair Leithead

reports. Linda Spalding had been in hospital for just two days, being

treated for an effect -- infection, but within minutes she vanished from

the room. The hospital was searched and the police opened a missing cert

-- persons investigation. Friends tried to find her. A Facebook page

was launched to try and track her down. They even searched the

neighbourhood. But then, 17 days after disappearing, her body was

found in an outside fire exit stairwell on the hospital's fourth

floor. It was rarely used and supposed to be locked and alarmed.

At this time we don't know what happened. We are here to provide

patient care and security to 100,000 patients and their families each

year. Nothing like this has ever happened before. There is no

precedent for this. Miss Spalding had been reported as being affected

by the medication she was taking. But it was thought she was in good

spirits. It is not known how she died. There is one line missing from

the statement from San Francisco General, everything stated in it is

fact, but the one glaring omission is how a woman was missing for 17

days in San Francisco General Hospital. The truest statement just

issued is, steps must be taken to make sure it never happened again. I

hear that the San Francisco Sheriff 's Department initiated a search,

and evidently was not a good one. Miss Spalding was British but had

lived in San Francisco for many years, working in the tourist

industry. She leaves to children. When you're buying a cup of coffee

you might be faced with a new question. Would you like a Cronut

with that? Or maybe a Duffin. It's a matter of months since a bakery in

New York decided to take some croissant dough and deep fry it,

they called the result, a Cronut. Since then, the idea has spread

around the world and started a craze for innovative baking. Tim Muffett

has more. Cronut Is a full-blown craze. It's a cross between a

croissant and a doughnut, and each morning the queue to the New York

bakery stretch around the block. Why do you want to eat a cronut? Why

would you not want a weak one? It is a bandwagon that Baker is across the

world have leapt on. They are heavy, greasy, but they are night. Within

weeks of it first being in one little bakery in New York it has

become huge. It's in bakeries in Japan, all over America. You had

people talking about them because of the queue is appearing, and it

spread very fast. I think social media has played a big part in it.

To make them unique croissant dough -- you need croissant dough, but

then you fry it as you would a doughnut. Cream and chocolate can be

added later. It is not one of your five a day. This bakery in London

typically sells around 80 every morning at around £4 50 each. They

look like them, and they taste like them, but we are not allowed to call

them a cronut, because the man who came up with the concept in New York

has made a trademark of the word. It is odd that a food can be

trademarked, but we have just created our own word, which is

cor-donut. It might sound like an odd idea, but Bake Off and cooking

competitions have inspired people though years. We've always had a

history of innovation, looking back to the 1950s, the million-dollar

prize Bake Off, they are about encouraging people to create and

invent new types of deserts and idea. In the UK, it is different.

The most recent invention over their would probably be that not the

party, which came around in the 1970s. But combining two products is

not always straightforward. She says she was making a duffin two years

ago, part a doughnut, part of them, but last month the word was

trademarked by Starbucks, although they insist they will not stop her

from selling her version. Another big seller here is the county, half

a Brownie, half tart. -- the townie. In our opinion inventions are not

copyrightable. Even so, you might be missing a trick. Could you combine a

muffin and a biscuit for me? A muffett!

Thank you very much. Not bad, all I need now is a good trademark lawyer.

What might become of a fajita or a crock assurer sandwich? The main use

this power, the Libyan government says the Prime Minister has been set

free. -- the main news this hour. People are expecting to see Ali

Zeidan shortly, arriving after he had been set free after being held

by a group sponsored by the Interior Ministry. Those are the two images

of the Prime Minister when he was held by the group, acting on half of

the interior ministry acting on behalf of an anti-crime unit. This

is file footage of the Prime Minister, so it's unclear quite why

this has happened, although those who seized him, the Libyan

revolutionaries operations room, paid for by the government, paid for

by Parliament, and they said that they were doing it to uphold the

Libyan people code. Thanks for they were doing it to uphold the

joining us. Goodbye.