:00:07. > :00:15.This is BBC world News. The top story: The United States is accused
:00:16. > :00:19.of violating international law by carrying out drone strikes which
:00:20. > :00:25.kill unarmed civilians. John Kerry beats other in Western leaders in
:00:26. > :00:30.London -- meets other Western leaders to take part in peace talks.
:00:31. > :00:37.We will continue to help them in many ways and to persuade them that
:00:38. > :00:41.this is the only way to solve this tragic and bloody conflict in Syria,
:00:42. > :00:48.that there has to be a political process. Drama at the Bolshoi
:00:49. > :00:54.Ballet. A former dancer stands trial for an acid attack. And no place for
:00:55. > :00:57.a dinner party. We visit the restaurant in New York where talking
:00:58. > :01:15.is forbidden whilst eating to aid the taste.
:01:16. > :01:23.Welcome. Human rights groups have accused the United States of
:01:24. > :01:30.violating international law by killing innocent civilians in drone
:01:31. > :01:32.strikes. Report by Amnesty International say the US officials
:01:33. > :01:35.responsible for drone attacks on military targets in Pakistan and
:01:36. > :01:40.Yemen could be committing war crimes. As short time ago, I spoke
:01:41. > :01:45.to one of the authors of the Amnesty report. I said although nobody wants
:01:46. > :01:50.to see innocent civilians dying, there seems to be no alternative to
:01:51. > :01:56.drone strikes. First of all, let's talk about those cases we have
:01:57. > :02:00.found. What we have found is an old woman, 68-year-old woman picking
:02:01. > :02:04.vegetables in the field, surrounded by grandchildren, was blown apart,
:02:05. > :02:09.her children injured. Of course we don't want to see that happen, but
:02:10. > :02:15.we also don't want to see armed violence happening. The Pakistan
:02:16. > :02:20.government has done little to ensure that those committing crimes in the
:02:21. > :02:24.north-west are being brought to justice. We would rather see
:02:25. > :02:30.Pakistan taking further action to bring people to justice as well as
:02:31. > :02:33.the USA assisting. Is that not incredibly naive? This report is
:02:34. > :02:38.typical of Western liberal coverage which does nothing to address the
:02:39. > :02:43.real problem. Critics of the Pakistan government say they are
:02:44. > :02:46.causing the problem by setting up and funding the Taliban and the
:02:47. > :02:53.militants who carry out terrorist attacks. In any war, you will get
:02:54. > :02:57.innocent casualties. First of all, Amnesty International has focused on
:02:58. > :03:03.violence by armed groups in the past, we have looked at the violence
:03:04. > :03:07.by Pakistan forces. Why don't you criticise the Pakistan government?
:03:08. > :03:12.Let me and so your question. You ask me why we are focusing on this. Is
:03:13. > :03:20.it a Western agenda. It is not. People are being attacked on all
:03:21. > :03:25.sides. You suggest nothing as a real alternative to the growing problem
:03:26. > :03:29.of militancy. One alternative is for the USA to ensure that its actions,
:03:30. > :03:35.themselves, if we tackle each perpetrator that is causing abuse in
:03:36. > :03:42.the country, one of them is the USA. We're not seeing all strikes in the
:03:43. > :03:49.are unlawful. To college abuse... We are seeing some of the strikes look
:03:50. > :03:54.like they have been unlawful. Under international humanitarian law, we
:03:55. > :04:04.recognise and the law recognises that some competence, it is lawful
:04:05. > :04:13.for them to be attacked and civilian injuries might result. -- fighters.
:04:14. > :04:17.President Obama has called to the French president to discuss growing
:04:18. > :04:22.anger that the NSA recorded millions of French phone calls. Francois
:04:23. > :04:27.Hollande says it is unacceptable and he demands the United States
:04:28. > :04:32.explains why French citizens were caught up in the surveillance net. I
:04:33. > :04:38.did speak to our French correspondent, but I'm afraid we do
:04:39. > :04:42.not have that. That has been an ongoing diplomatic row between the
:04:43. > :04:47.French and the Americans in the last couple of days. Australia now, and
:04:48. > :04:52.firefighters are preparing for the worst as dangerously hot weather and
:04:53. > :04:57.high wind continues to fan bushfires. Hundreds of families in
:04:58. > :04:59.Australia have already lost their homes and residents have been
:05:00. > :05:06.advised to leave their homes by the morning. Hopefully we will speak to
:05:07. > :05:20.our next guest, in the Blue Mountains. Tell me how you and your
:05:21. > :05:26.family are coping. I'm at Blackheath. What has happened to
:05:27. > :05:35.your family? My family is in Sydney, I run a business up here, a fish and
:05:36. > :05:41.chip shop, and we are on the highway so we usually are fairly busy.
:05:42. > :05:52.Basically, we have just been selling to the firemen. How difficult is it?
:05:53. > :06:00.Can you describe how people are feeling? Very worried. I know many
:06:01. > :06:11.people who have left town, they have moved, they have gone away for a few
:06:12. > :06:15.days to see what happens. Basically, there is fear in the town. What
:06:16. > :06:25.about your own family and your own safety? I've been in this town for
:06:26. > :06:34.many years, since I was born. I've seen bushfires come and go over the
:06:35. > :06:41.years. The firemen are very effective, and they do a lot of
:06:42. > :06:47.backburning. The town has never had great losses of homes in the past so
:06:48. > :06:50.I'm hoping that happens again. You must be quite worried or you are
:06:51. > :06:55.putting all your faith in the emergency services. I am putting my
:06:56. > :06:59.faith in the emergency services. There is no doubt that if the wind
:07:00. > :07:09.tomorrow is what they predict and they get up to 100 kilometres per
:07:10. > :07:13.hour, the Commissioner of the firemen has said that if that wall
:07:14. > :07:20.of fire is to break they will have to abandon the job of stopping the
:07:21. > :07:28.fires. -- too big. That is the worst case scenario. I hope it is not that
:07:29. > :07:35.bad. It depends on which direction the wind goes because if the wind
:07:36. > :07:43.blows it further in to where the Bush is, that fire will keep
:07:44. > :07:50.burning. -- bush is. If rain comes in the next week, that would stop
:07:51. > :07:56.it. The worst fear is if the wind blows it towards towns in the Blue
:07:57. > :08:07.Mountains such as black teeth, -- Blackheath, Katoomba... They are big
:08:08. > :08:15.tourist destinations but there is also a large population. We wish you
:08:16. > :08:18.well. Thank you. Western and Arab leaders are meeting senior Syrian
:08:19. > :08:21.opposition figures in London to try to persuade them to take part in
:08:22. > :08:29.planned peace talks next month in Geneva. Opposition elements said
:08:30. > :08:33.they are unwilling to top two representatives of the government
:08:34. > :08:38.but the Western leaders say they need to be united if the discussions
:08:39. > :08:42.are to succeed. The British Foreign Secretary has been outlining his
:08:43. > :08:47.message ahead of talks. There are different views ahead of -- of
:08:48. > :08:52.opposition groups, we will welcome the National coalition, the
:08:53. > :08:58.president of the National coalition. He has said that he has committed to
:08:59. > :09:03.the security council to attend the Geneva process, the Geneva
:09:04. > :09:07.discussions, but there are differing views within his supporters, among
:09:08. > :09:12.his supporters. We want the moderate opposition to know that we are
:09:13. > :09:15.behind them in going to Geneva, that we will continue to help them in
:09:16. > :09:22.many ways. We will persuade them this is the way, the only way to
:09:23. > :09:29.solve this tragic and bloody conflict in Syria, that there has to
:09:30. > :09:36.be a political process. I will welcome today John Kerry who will be
:09:37. > :09:39.arriving, leading foreign ministers from the Gulf and other European
:09:40. > :09:43.countries, the Foreign Minister of Turkey, we will be discussing these
:09:44. > :09:49.things together. Of course, we are also engaged in making sure that the
:09:50. > :09:54.chemical weapons of the Syrian regime are disarmed and destroyed
:09:55. > :09:57.and the humanitarian efforts to relieve the suffering of Syrian
:09:58. > :10:04.people are stepped up. But this political process, assembling a
:10:05. > :10:07.peace conference in Geneva with the participation of the regime of the
:10:08. > :10:14.opposition is the main focus of the discussion today. William Hague. The
:10:15. > :10:16.British Foreign Secretary. Syria's president speaking on Lebanese
:10:17. > :10:23.television has cast doubt on whether the Geneva discussions could
:10:24. > :10:27.succeed. There is no date and no factors helping in holding it now if
:10:28. > :10:32.we want it to succeed. Who are the parties participating? What is the
:10:33. > :10:35.relation of these forces? Are they representing the Syrian people? Are
:10:36. > :10:42.they representing the countries that made them? How can this power be
:10:43. > :10:46.represented if it lives abroad? There are many questions about this
:10:47. > :10:50.conference on the table. What is the structure of this conference?
:10:51. > :10:58.President Assad giving an interview earlier. The Civil War in Syria has
:10:59. > :11:02.displaced millions of people already and many of them are making their
:11:03. > :11:06.way to Europe. Yesterday we reported on the perilous trip some of them
:11:07. > :11:11.make across the Mediterranean Sea, and reaching land is just part of
:11:12. > :11:24.their journey. After leaving ports such as Lampedusa, many heads north
:11:25. > :11:27.through Italy up to Austria. I met these four Syrian men just after
:11:28. > :11:33.they had been deported back to Italy from Austria. They were trying to
:11:34. > :11:38.get by train to Germany, but did not get far. 20 kilometres into Austria,
:11:39. > :11:44.they were caught by the Austrian police and sent back to Italy. This
:11:45. > :11:49.is the last stop in Italy before you get to Austria. It is a sleepy
:11:50. > :11:52.little minds in place but it is changing because more and more
:11:53. > :11:56.migrants coming here to and leave the country. I have just seen a few
:11:57. > :12:00.trying to get on a train going north. There is no official passport
:12:01. > :12:07.control here because of the Schengen agreement. But the Italian police
:12:08. > :12:11.are clearly on high alert. In theory it is easy to cross the border here.
:12:12. > :12:15.But the atmosphere at the train station is very tense. I have just
:12:16. > :12:19.been checked by the Italian police for times and the Austrian police
:12:20. > :12:25.are also increasing their checks on this train line. It was here that
:12:26. > :12:30.the Syrians were caught. Those who were deported off and try again.
:12:31. > :12:36.Some pay criminal gangs to drive them over at the motorway. Thousands
:12:37. > :12:43.of cars pass along here every day. It is very hard to control.
:12:44. > :12:46.Politicians in Italy want Austria to let more migrants through but the
:12:47. > :12:53.Austrians say they are just enforcing the law. One of Austria's
:12:54. > :13:01.top policeman said it needs a Europe wide solution. Those difficult
:13:02. > :13:04.journeys are part of our special reports on migration on the website,
:13:05. > :13:11.you can get lots of analysis and commentary including a look at all
:13:12. > :13:17.the routes and dangers of migrants crossing the Mediterranean.
:13:18. > :13:29.The Australian capital Territory has become the first part of the country
:13:30. > :13:35.to legalise same-sex marriage. The act was to allow gay couples to
:13:36. > :13:39.marry. After a short debate today, it happened. The local law will now
:13:40. > :13:43.be challenged in court because it is not consistent with federal laws
:13:44. > :13:48.which they marriage must be between a man and a woman. News still to
:13:49. > :13:52.come: Continuing the 100 Women series, we hear about six years in
:13:53. > :14:03.captivity in the Colombian jungle. An option in Brazil for the rights
:14:04. > :14:08.to develop one of the biggest offshore oilfields on the planet has
:14:09. > :14:16.been run by a consortium of five big oil companies. -- won. There were
:14:17. > :14:23.far fewer bidders banned the government hoped for. -- than the
:14:24. > :14:28.government. Just another day on the beach in Brazil. Sun, sand and riot
:14:29. > :14:34.police. There were several lines of riot squads. They needed no
:14:35. > :14:37.invitation to open fire. A few hundred striking oil workers
:14:38. > :14:42.threatened to disrupt one of the biggest oil options ever. The most
:14:43. > :14:47.bizarre scenes today is not far from the hotel where the discussions are
:14:48. > :14:50.taking place. Riot police firing stun grenades toward the protesters
:14:51. > :14:55.and onto the beach here where there are holiday-makers and tourists
:14:56. > :14:59.watching incredulously. Some of them are still sitting there whilst these
:15:00. > :15:06.fighting clashes are going on. The government insists the process was
:15:07. > :15:10.good for Brazil. Most locals we spoke to simply don't trust the
:15:11. > :15:19.politicians after years of corruption to act in their interest.
:15:20. > :15:24.TRANSLATION: I'm the Brazilian, I pay taxes, and this is a country
:15:25. > :15:32.with no help system, education or security. As Brazilians, we pay and
:15:33. > :15:35.the politicians are already. Inside the hotel it went ahead and
:15:36. > :15:39.disturbed. After initial hopes there would be dozens of bidders, what was
:15:40. > :15:44.billed as one of the biggest oil cell Observer was won by a single
:15:45. > :15:49.bid, a consortium of Chinese, Brazilian, French and Anglo Dutch
:15:50. > :15:53.companies. Nonetheless, delighted officials declared the proceedings
:15:54. > :15:57.an overwhelming success. We have international oil companies from
:15:58. > :16:07.Europe, we have national oil companies from China. We have very
:16:08. > :16:10.good partners to help Brazil to develop. Already a medium-sized oil
:16:11. > :16:19.producer, Brazil is set to become one of the world's against exporters
:16:20. > :16:24.when the Libra field comes online. The winning bidders will hand over a
:16:25. > :16:36.large proportion of profits to the Brazilian government and operate
:16:37. > :16:40.under strict conditions. This is BBC World News.
:16:41. > :16:42.The United States is accused of unlawful killing of unarmed
:16:43. > :16:51.civilians during drone strikes against militant targets in Pakistan
:16:52. > :16:54.and Yemen. And John Kerry meets William Hague
:16:55. > :17:05.and other leaders from the West and the Arab world for a meeting in
:17:06. > :17:08.London on Syria. ?NEWLINE It's the final week of the
:17:09. > :17:11.BBC's 100 Women season, where we've explored the modern challenges faced
:17:12. > :17:14.by women around the world. This Friday, 100 inspiring women from
:17:15. > :17:18.around the world will gather for a special event here at the BBC's
:17:19. > :17:21.London headquarters and take part in a day of debate and discussion. One
:17:22. > :17:24.of these women is Ingrid Betancourt. Once a presidential candidate in
:17:25. > :17:27.Colombia, she was kidnapped by FARC militants in 2002 and spent six
:17:28. > :17:33.years in captivity. Here she explains how those years in the
:17:34. > :17:40.jungle transformed her. My name is Ingrid Betancourt, I'm a
:17:41. > :17:45.French-Colombian woman. I was held hostage for nearly seven years in
:17:46. > :17:51.the Amazonian jungle. And now I am a student in theology here at Oxford
:17:52. > :17:56.University. After going through the ordeal, it seemed to me that the
:17:57. > :18:00.most important thing was to understand who we were as human
:18:01. > :18:03.beings, and it is impossible to understand who we are if we don't
:18:04. > :18:10.take into consideration our relationship with God. What kept me
:18:11. > :18:16.going was first love, and whenever I was mistreated or abused, I always
:18:17. > :18:23.brought back that love into memory. In order to recall myself, that even
:18:24. > :18:28.if I was humiliated or abused in that present moment, I could just
:18:29. > :18:34.grasp the moment where I had been loved. Loved, cherished and
:18:35. > :18:40.respected. True freedom comes also with the acceptance of death. Once
:18:41. > :18:46.you accept that death is part of who you are, then you can live fully
:18:47. > :18:51.your life. Because you cannot be blackmailed with the option of
:18:52. > :18:57.death. That was my situation. I was blackmailed with death every day. If
:18:58. > :19:03.I hadn't had this whole ordeal, I think I would have a very spoilt
:19:04. > :19:10.brat, and I really thank God for what I lived. When I came back, my
:19:11. > :19:15.husband had left, my children were adults. The only important position
:19:16. > :19:21.I took at that moment was that I want to be a mum. The most difficult
:19:22. > :19:29.part was to rebuild an intimacy with them, to rebuild confidence, to
:19:30. > :19:36.break the wall of time that had built distance between the three of
:19:37. > :19:42.us. In Colombia, there is a law that entitles the victims of terrorism to
:19:43. > :19:48.economic compensation. All my fellow hostages before me had applied to
:19:49. > :19:53.those compensations, and they had had them with no problem. But when I
:19:54. > :19:58.applied for them, I think it became a political issue. Some people in
:19:59. > :20:08.the government at the time were very nervous to see me getting importance
:20:09. > :20:13.in the political stage in Colombia, and so they wanted to really kill me
:20:14. > :20:19.- kill me in a moral way. It was like a sniper. Now I am a strong
:20:20. > :20:23.woman again. But it took me five years.
:20:24. > :20:26.To find out more about the BBC's 100 women season and to see who'll be
:20:27. > :20:29.taking part in our debate this Friday, head to the website - the
:20:30. > :20:41.address is bbc.com/100women. Ingrid Betancourt and her remarkable story.
:20:42. > :20:44.One of the stars of the Bolshoi ballet goes on trial in Moscow later
:20:45. > :20:47.accused of masterminding an acid attack on the ballet's artistic
:20:48. > :20:50.director. Pavel Dmitrichenko denies organising the assault on Sergei
:20:51. > :20:53.Filin early this year, which exposed bitter behind the scenes rivalries
:20:54. > :20:58.at one of Russia's greatest cultural institutions.
:20:59. > :21:06.With me is Famil Ismailov from our Russian service. Sorry about that, I
:21:07. > :21:11.can't pronounce the name! This is really quite a chilling case, it has
:21:12. > :21:18.had a lot of attention. It is in court, what have the prosecution
:21:19. > :21:21.said? They believe that Pavel Dmitrichenko was really behind the
:21:22. > :21:30.attack. There are accomplices, one was a former convict, a neighbour of
:21:31. > :21:33.Pavel Dmitrichenko, who threw the acid in the face of Sergei Filin.
:21:34. > :21:37.And another was behind the wheel of the getaway car for the person who
:21:38. > :21:42.did the attack. The prosecutor demands the highest possible prison
:21:43. > :21:48.term for Pavel Dmitrichenko, which is 12 years, if he is considered
:21:49. > :21:53.guilty. Has the prosecution outlined why they believe this happened? They
:21:54. > :21:57.interviewed Pavel Dmitrichenko, they are going to present evidence today
:21:58. > :22:02.in court and it will take a while for the evidence to be seen, for
:22:03. > :22:08.deliberations to go one and the arguments from the defence team.
:22:09. > :22:11.This has had a huge amount of publicity and exposed a lot of
:22:12. > :22:17.difficulty behind-the-scenes that have been hinted but had not
:22:18. > :22:20.emerged? The behind-the-scenes rivalries in the Bolshoi were always
:22:21. > :22:25.known to be there, we have known about them, people would find broken
:22:26. > :22:30.glass in their ballet shoes. That sort of thing has happened. It is
:22:31. > :22:35.really, really bitter. But this is the first time when we had seen the
:22:36. > :22:44.rivalry come up as a criminal case on that kind of case with the public
:22:45. > :22:49.attack using acid. It happens only on the seems of your TV screens.
:22:50. > :22:52.When people see how public and open it is, now they are discussing what
:22:53. > :23:01.is going on in Bolshoi behind-the-scenes. We will follow
:23:02. > :23:06.this case. Thank you very much. A second huge snakelike fish has
:23:07. > :23:10.washed up on the coast of southern California. Oarfish are very rarely
:23:11. > :23:14.seen and can grow up to 56 feet long. They are thought to have
:23:15. > :23:21.inspired sailors' tales of sea monsters. The latest discovery was
:23:22. > :23:24.made on a beach in California. Like a creature from ancient myth or
:23:25. > :23:31.legend, the oarfish usually lives deep in the ocean, but this 13 foot
:23:32. > :23:37.long specimen is revealed in the Los Angeles sun. Quite a find for a
:23:38. > :23:43.school field trip! I was like, wow, that is an oarfish, because we are
:23:44. > :23:47.studying it in class. I was amazed. I was thinking, I have no idea what
:23:48. > :23:54.that is. It looks like a snake, but it kind of looks like a giant eel.
:23:55. > :23:58.Oarfish usually swim 3000 feet below the ocean surface. Their strange
:23:59. > :24:02.looks and giant bodies means that it is thought they are the source of
:24:03. > :24:06.many sea monster myths. In the whole history, only a handful have washed
:24:07. > :24:11.up. We don't know a lot about them, we know they live in deepwater and
:24:12. > :24:16.on things like plankton, small animals and shrimp. We feel
:24:17. > :24:21.fortunate that they have washed up, now we get a chance to study them.
:24:22. > :24:26.This is the second such discovery this month. Last week an 18 foot
:24:27. > :24:29.long fish was dragged onto the shores of Santa Catalina Island.
:24:30. > :24:37.They thought it was very rather first time, these two events we have
:24:38. > :24:42.heard of in the last few weeks are the only ones I have ever heard of.
:24:43. > :24:49.The oarfish will be taken for examination - once it is decided how
:24:50. > :24:52.to get it off the beach! If you have ever found yourself in a
:24:53. > :25:01.restaurant which was too noisy or hectic, we might have the place for
:25:02. > :25:10.you. One in New York offering silent meals. The theory is that eating in
:25:11. > :25:15.silence means you will be able to enjoy your food better.
:25:16. > :25:18.When you go to a restaurant you usually want good food, a good
:25:19. > :25:21.atmosphere, and the chance to enjoy witty conversation. That might not
:25:22. > :25:25.be so easy at Eat in Brooklyn. Several times a week the restaurant
:25:26. > :25:29.serves what it calls a silent meal. That's a meal ate in, well, complete
:25:30. > :25:32.silence. The chef came up with the idea while living in a Buddhist
:25:33. > :25:36.monastery in India. It seems too much noise means not enough taste.
:25:37. > :25:39.It's like when you take a piece of lettuce and you put it against your
:25:40. > :25:43.lips, there are an incredible number of sensations going on that we are
:25:44. > :25:46.not paying any attention to. And I think that's just a microcosm of our
:25:47. > :25:49.entire experience in which our perception and our consciousness are
:25:50. > :25:57.always confronting the world with the five faculties of the senses.
:25:58. > :26:01.The proof of the pudding is in the eating, so what did the patrons have
:26:02. > :26:05.to say - after they left, of course? I actually liked it. I thought it
:26:06. > :26:08.helped me slow down and think about every bite, instead of just
:26:09. > :26:14.devouring it and then realizing it was gone. So I really enjoyed it.
:26:15. > :26:18.And it brought out a lot of the flavour in the food and it was good.
:26:19. > :26:21.It's tough. I really missed the conversation, but the food was
:26:22. > :26:26.great. But I like talking to people as much as I like eating food, so I
:26:27. > :26:28.like both together. It's hard to separate them.
:26:29. > :26:32.Keeping schtum while filling your tum is apparently pretty popular
:26:33. > :26:44.round these parts. At this resturant, silence really is golden.
:26:45. > :26:50.We will leave you with pictures of one little chap who probably doesn't
:26:51. > :26:56.need any conversation whilst he is eating. This is a 6-foot alligator
:26:57. > :27:00.outside a supermarket in Florida. Police had to chase them away.
:27:01. > :27:01.Goodbye from us today, thanks for