01/11/2013 BBC World News

warm with nine to 15 Celsius. Hello, I'm Nik Gowing, with BBC

World News. Our top stories: Death in the desert - survivor tells us of

the migrant convoy which broke down in the Sahara desert, leaving more

than 90 dead. After a day, my second sister died. On the third day, my

mother died. I buried all of them myself.

Doubts over the Syria peace conference - the international envoy

tells the BBC it is not certain that it will take place let this month.

We are making progress. Whether that will be enough for the conference to

take place soon is not certain. The fugitive intelligence contract

Edward Snowden offers to travel from Russia to Berlin to help investigate

allegations that the US armed Angela Merkel's mobile phone.

And obesity becomes a worldwide epidemic. The authorities are

increasingly looking at taxing sugary drinks.

Three days of national mourning have been declared in Niger after the

bodies of more than 90 migrants were found in the Sahara earlier this

week. The group, mainly women and children, died of thirst when the

convoy they were travelling in broke down in the desert. But against the

odds, some migrants survived. Our reporter in Dakar in Senegal has

been hearing their stories. The local authorities and rescue

workers are still trying to pin down exactly what happened in the past

few weeks for these migrants, who went across the Sahara desert to

reach Nigeria. We have the account of one of the survivors. She is 18

age, a 14-year-old -- Shias a teenager. TRANSLATION: We waited in

the desert. No food, no water, before we decided to start walking.

Some vehicles passed us. We tried to stop them, but no one would stop. We

sat under a tree, and that was when one of my sisters died. We buried

her there. Then we continued walking, and after a day, my second

sister died. On the third day, my mother died. I buried all of them

myself. I am living with my aunt. I heard that only myself and a little

girl and 18 men survived the journey out of more than 100 of us. So

horrific account from a 14-year-old who survived this ordeal in the

Sahara desert. They could not find any water. We were told she has now

been sent back home to her village in the south of Niger.

What about what this reveals about the scale of this migrant path

across various parts of the desert, the number of people taking the risk

who do get through, or others who don't? We are told by those who took

part in the rescue operation that they had never seen anything on this

scale, especially the fact that more than half of the 92 people who were

found dead were children. They said they do find dead bodies here and

there sometimes, but they had never found that many. So clearly, this is

a real tragedy. Hundreds of thousands go across the Sahara

desert each year through northern Niger, either into Libya or Algeria,

hoping to reach the North Africa and Coast and perhaps get on a boat

across the Mediterranean Sea and then reach the gateway to Europe,

hoping for a better life. Now to Syria. The UN and Arab

League's special envoy to Syria has told the BBC that progress is being

made towards a peace conference. But Lakhdar Brahimi says he's not

certain whether the talks as Geneva two will take place as planned in

just over three weeks. Lakhdar Brahimi has been on his first visit

to Damascus in nearly a year. He met President Assad. The BBC's

correspondent is also in Damascus. She asked him how successful his

visit had been. We are making progress. Whether that will be

enough for the conference to take place soon is not certain. But we

are having meetings in Geneva to prepare. Meanwhile, a US official

has confirmed to the BBC that Israel used its warplanes to attack a

military base in the Syrian city of Latakia. The area is a stronghold of

President Assad's Alawites community. It is believed the target

was a consignment of Russian-made surface-to-air missiles being

shipped to the militant Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah. So what

is the view from Lebanon and Israel? Jim Muir in Beirut, what is known

about events in Latakia? The Syrians are saying nothing. The Israelis, as

always, are completely mute on their actions outside their borders. So

nothing official. All we have is the word from American officials and

some information circulating on Arabic satellite stations and some

activist groups, indicating that there was some kind of strike near

Latakia at a Syrian air base. The assumption is that anti-aircraft

missiles, possibly on the way to Hezbollah, which was the target. It

may have been an Israeli strike into Syria. Not on the same scale as the

most spectacular one inmate, when the whole sky around Damascus was

lit up by a massive explosion which shook the capital, which the Syrian

regime had to acknowledge and threaten reprisal for, should it

happen again. This time, it is not on that scale. It has gone

completely unannounced by either side, which means the repercussions

may be less unless there is something we don't know. Kevin

Connelly injuries shall, anything from the Israeli government?

Nothing. It is of course Israel's long-standing policy not to give any

running commentary on specific operations. We do know that in

general, Israel is comfortable with the idea that its capabilities to

carry out these operations are clear to its enemies . and Israel also has

what it calls a red line. It has said repeatedly that it will not

allow the Assad regime in Damascus to transfer dangerous weaponry to

Hezbollah, the Shia militia in southern Lebanon, which is the Assad

regime's Allied and has the capacity to target cities in Israel. The

speculation here is that the operation was designed with that

goal in mind. But as Jim was saying, this all takes place in what I have

heard described as a zone of deniability. It has become a strange

sub bot of the Syrian war that Israel carries out these attacks

without saying it has done so. And generally, Syria absorbed the

attacks without saying that Israel has done so either so that it does

not feel so obligated to respond, because Syria of course does not

have the capacity while fighting a civil war to engage in any kind of

confrontation with Israel. Jim, let me pick up on what we heard from

Lakhdar Brahimi saying in Damascus. Mr Brahimi has been in Damascus for

the last couple of days. He saw President Assad. What is your

reading of his language to Lyse Doucet? He has confirmed a trend we

have picked up on, which is that the Geneva talks, which were possibly

set the 23rd of month, look likely to slide. It is not in Damascus that

he will get a breakthrough on that front. The real problem is with the

Syrian opposition, as he indicated. Even if they could assemble a

delegation, how credible would it be and could it deliver in a situation

where the bulk of the fighting forces on the ground say that

anybody who goes to Geneva is a traitor, and they don't want to

negotiate with the regime? It is a very tricky situation, and how you

assemble a credible opposition delegation at this stage is very

hard to see, especially when you have all these fundamentalist groups

who do not believe in democracy, don't want to negotiate at all,

apart from the mainstream ones, which also have reservations about

Geneva. Now to Thailand, which has taken the

first steps towards a political amnesty. It could pave the way for

the former prime minister Paxson should know what to return from

exile. He was deposed in a military coup seven years ago and charged

with abuse of power. Critics fear that the amnesty will let him return

to Thailand without serving a two-year jail sentence. Our reporter

is in Bangkok. I asked him, what is the origin of this amnesty? They

have been talking about this ever since the terrible events here in

2010, when we saw more than 90 people killed in clashes between

government troops and pro-president demonstrators. Ever since he was

ousted by a coup in 2006, the idea of an amnesty is that a lot of

ordinary street protest have spent time in jail and it would be helpful

in the process of reconciliation. It started off as a modest ill that

would only have affect did ordinary people, but was suddenly expanded

two weeks ago to include anybody who was investigated by bodies set up

after that coup in 2006. That would include the former president, the

figure at the very heart of Thailand's divide. It would

potentially invalidate the conviction against him in 2008 and

would allow him to come back from five years in exile. But it is a

whole different ball game, and has sparked off furious opposition from

the main Democrat party, who are determined that he should not come

back, and other groups as well. Many say a blanket amnesty simply

whitewashes all the things that are happening, including some of Thaksin

Shinawatra's supporters, who were killed. It is a controversial

proposal. It has gone through Parliament. The next age is the

Senate. They will start considering it extra week. It is possible that

this bill could go through in the next few weeks.

Now to Germany, where a member of the Bundestag, the German

parliament, says the fugitive intelligence contract Edward Snowden

is willing to help investigations into claims that Angela Merkel's

mobile phone was monitored by US intelligence. The Green Party MP is

at this moment giving a briefing in Berlin. He is speaking after

travelling to Russia to meet Mr Snowden. He says the former NSA

contract is even willing to travel to Germany, at his lawyer has told

the BBC Mr Snowden would not be able to leave Russia because it would be

a breach of his temporary political asylum status. Let's go to the

BBC's Steve Evans. What is the Green MP saying? Some interesting things.

He says Mr Snowden told him he would come to Germany, knowing that he

could not go back to Russia, if he was sure that it was not then going

to be extradited to the US. He also said Mr Snowden told him he would

like to talk to the US Congress, clearly, that was not possible. So

we are seeing an attempt by Mr Snowden to look at life beyond

Russia, should his visa not be extended in June, and also to start

becoming more public in his stance and start saying to people, that is

what I did and I am prepared to talk about it. Do we know where he met Mr

Snowden in Russia? We don't know. Mr Stroebele has described a long and

tortuous journey. I don't mean days. He said he had had his bags

packed for some months, waiting for permission to go. Then it suddenly

came, and he stayed in a hotel in Moscow and then was taken in a car

for some distance. It is not clear from listening to the German MP

whether that meant a trip out of Moscow. It must be in the environs

of Moscow, because we are talking about a few hours in a car. But

whether it is the centre of Moscow is not clear. Finally, I have just

received sight of the English letter from Mr Snowden, dated yesterday, in

which he makes an appeal and says his position is clear about what he

has done and what he would like to do next. That is right. He seems to

be saying that the allegations that he has spilled treasonous secrets

are not valid. He stands by his position as what you might call a

noble whistle-blower, in that traditional reaching trust because

of a greater good. Had been still to come: We preview the battle of the

African giants of club football at Orlando Pirates prepare to take on

the Egyptian side. What is the point of going to church

if you don't believe in God? There is a new nonreligious church in

Britain that thinks there is one. Aiming to attract former believers

and no, sir tal Joint Intelligence Committee believers.

-- nostalgic believers. They are meeting in a church and

they have a choir. They also have moments of quiet

contemplation. They even have a collection.

The one thing they don't have, however is any reference to God or

religion. Sanderson Jones is the cofounder of

the Sunday Assembly Movement, so no surprise, the gatherings are

peppered with humour, he is a comedian.

Just because you are doing something serious, does not mean you can't

have fun. We are changing the world. That is a big claim, changing the

world, how? We started off with zero assemblyis in January, there are 35,

there may be 40 by the end of the year. Imagine what could happen if

30% of the people in Britain who are nonreligious and don't have a

church, what happens if they get inspired to not only help each other

but to help in the community? Do you class yourself as an atheist, a

humanist or some other label? I don't think labels are helpful. We

celebrate one thing we have in common, that is that we are alive.

So, he is clear about why he is here but what about his first

congregation. I think it would be nice to harness

the goodness in people, without using religion to do it. I am hoping

to find out what this is about and feel a bit of love.

Now you may be asking, a congregation who do not believe in

God, a service without religious content, so why choose a church for

their inaugural meeting? Well, apparently this was the only space

available tonight. However, they say, it is not the building that

matters, more what goes on inside of it.

You are with BBC World News with me, Nik Going. The death in the desert.

A teenage girl tells of the convoy that broke down in the Sahara

desert, leaving more than 90 dead. There are doubts that a Syrian peace

summit will take part later this month.

Now to the ba thele of the African football giants, Orlando Pirates has

once again reached the African Champions League final. Facing the

legendary seven-time winners, the Egyptian side. Well Orlando Pirates

have been visited by Milton Nkosi. He found there is only one story in

town. Orlando Pirates, the players, they

are put through their paces ahead of what is likely to be the biggest

game of the careers for them. It is the African Champions League final.

Their coach, a former goalkeeper for the national team. Told the BBC that

the game is not just about the Orlando Pirates.

It is nice for us to meet the Egyptians and others, it is the

opportunity it has given us from the first go. We say to the players to

measure ourselves, to see where we are against the so-called giants of

African football. We can match them step for step. It is great that the

players are starting to believe that there is a confidence in the squad.

The Buccaneers have once won the title in 1995. For that, they end

this championship star on the badge. Now they are chasing the second one.

Seven-time African champions, who will it be? Africa's renowned sports

caster, says that the stakes could not be higher.

The Egyptians are coming here limping, with blue eyes, how do you

take advantage of a person that is coming through as injured as they

are? They want to prove a point. They have a reputation. They have

the stars lined up to say that they have done this seven times.

So, as you can see, the Buccaneers' training session is in full swing.

They are going for gold, but what do South Africans on the streets think

about the importance of this game? This particular game, it is not

representing just the Pirates but South Africa as a hole. The

Egyptians are strong but we know that the Pirates can win. If they

lose, I don't know. The people have nailed their colours

to the mast for the sea robbers but remember, the second leg of this

final, will be played in Egypt, where the Red Defendant yells will

be just as confidence. -- confident.

Now more people in the world are looking like this, as the waist

lines continue to expand. The world's population is getting larger

and larger because of what people eat and drink. One option is to tax

these, the fizzy drinks, those packed full of sugar or sweeteners.

Here in Britain, let me give you the data, around one in four of the

population is obese. The British Medical Journal says that a 20% tax

would reduce sales of fizzy drinks by 15%. Cutting the number of obese

and overweight adults by about 285,000.

Mexico, has already approved a tax of 8 cents per litre on fizzy

drinks. In New York, the Mayor, Michael bloomburg opposed a tax but

the Supreme Court declared it illegal as it did not apply to all

food establishments in the city. We asked some of you on Facebook in a

tax like this could work in in your country? It has been said that it

has been done in Portugal and seems to work.

Well, let's hear what the doctors say. Dr Mike Rayner is the director

of British Heart Foundation Health Promotion Research Group. He joins

me from Oxford. Dr Mike Rayner, are you telling me that spending

patterns, raising money and raising taxes will stop people drinking

fizzy drinks or limit the consumption or not? Yes, basically,

we are saying that, yes. Do you have evidence of that? There

is lots of evidence. Evidence done in canteens, with vending machines,

showing if you raise the price of food in those settings then people

cut down on the food that you raise the prices on. There are studies

from experiments done in Ireland, around the world, showing if you

raise the price of foods through taxation, you can affect

consumption, the greatest example is the Danish fat tax. And a study, one

of which we have published today, bringing together a range of

evidence from a range of sources to come to conclusions about what would

happen if you raise the price of things like fizzy drinks.

So, what you are saying, Dr Mike Rayner, that for medical conditions,

pricing is critical, whether it is for fizzy drinks or three for two,

in other words, pricing affects what people buy? Of course, yes. Ask

anyone in the street that question, if they are affected by the price of

booze, they will say yes. What about the implications of

285,000 that could be saved from becoming obese. Is there that level

of cause and effect between pricing and increasing obesity? Yes, when

people have looked at the modelling studies and examined what happened

in real life, this have come to the conclusion that the studies do were

dekt what happens in real life. So the studies done around the Danish

saturated fat tax predicted we could get about a 4% drop in saturated fat

in Denmark and indeed they have that drop in saturated fat in Denmark.

Finally, Dr Mike Rayner, how serious is this now? Is it really an

epidemic? One in four in Britain, we are seeing it everywhere in the

world? Yes, in Mexico it is really bad. In lots of developing countries

obesity is rocketing. We have to do something about this. In the study

we have published today, we are saying that this is one of the

things you can do to prevent obesity. It is not the panacea. It

will be one of all of the things we must do to combat the epidemic.

Dr Mike Rayner from the British Heart Foundation Health Promotion

Research Group, thank you very much for joining me on BBC World News

from Oxford. Thank you.

Finally, let me show you pictures from the US where ten children and a

school bus driver were pulled to safety. That is after their school

bus toppled into the water and landed half submerged on its side.

The accident happened outside of a small town in Kansas. The children

aged 13 and younger, clambered through a roof hatch to await for

rescue it is unclear how the accident happened.

And the main news: Three days of national mourning have been declared

in West Africa, after the bodies of more than 9 o -- 90 migrants were

found this week in the Sahara. The group died of thirs when the convoy

that they were travelling in broke down in the desert. -- tlirs. Niger

is a major migrant route between sub-Sahara and Africa and Europe.

Also Lakhdar Brahimi has been in Damascus, he says that he doesn't

see much chance of a national conference on Syria later this

month. Thank you very much goodbye.