19/11/2013 BBC World News

Hello. This is BBC World News. The top stories: A group in Lebanon

linked to Al-Qaeda has just said it carried out the double suicide bomb

attack on the Iranian Embassy in Beirut that left 20 dead.

A manhunt in Paris - police still search for a gunman who shot a

journalist. At least 17 people killed by

flooding after a cyclone hit the Italian island of Sardinia.

We visit a makeshift hospital in the Philippines city of Tacloban left

devastated by Typhoon Haiyan. Iran's ambassador has accused Israel

of being behind the attacks on its embassy in Beirut, in which at least

20 people died. In the last few minutes, a group linked to Al-Qaeda

has said it was responsible for both attacks. Explosions blew the main

gate off the embassy at the beginning of the morning. They

caused extensive damage within the embassy compound. A huge column of

smoke rose from the scene which is in a preDom -- Shi'ite area.

Carine Torbey, who is in Beirut, gave us the latest details. We have

seen attacks on several parts of Lebanon earlier this year, but this

seems to be taking everything one notch up. As you can see, the place,

the scene of the explosion is still sealed off. There are security teams

trying to assess the damage, to clear any injured persons still on

the ground. Emotions are running really high here. It is a very dense

area of south Beirut which we can see behind you, yet this is also a

very highly-secure area with masses of CCTV monitoring devices, yet this

could still happen? Exactly. There is nothing they can apparently do to

stop suicide bombers getting in here. This is a heavily-secure area.

There are Hezbollah members on the ground searching every single person

trying to enter this area. Despite all security that must be stepped

up, it still happened, which shows how dangerous the situation has

become in Lebanon. This is really a diplomatic and political hub for

Iranian foreign interests, particularly in Lebanon,

particularly in south Beirut, particularly in south Lebanon with

Hezbollah, but also because of the weapons shipments and supplies and

support for Syria. What therefore might the strategic implications of

this be? Well, I just asked this question, I put it to one of the MPs

of Hezbollah, who visited the site. He said - this is definitely a

message. He said this is a message. He also said that what Hezbollah

says that the only solution for the conflict in Syria is a political

one. I also asked him what he said and he said no comment. To Paris

where police are stationed outside all main media offices in the city.

One person was seriously injured on Monday when the man opened fire at

the headquarters of Liberation newspaper. He also opened fire at a

bank in Paris main business district, before disappearing

somewhere on the Champs Elysees. Here is the BBC's Christian Fraser

with the latest from Paris. Of course, it is a very busy time in

Paris, lots of tourists and a Christmas Market on the Champs

Elysees. That was the last position the gunman was seen at yesterday. We

have armed guards outside all the major news agencies in Paris. A

certain apprehension outside those offices today and perhaps at the

banks as well, because we know he headed from Liberation to La

Defense. What is striking about all the reports in the morning

newspapers is the way he carries himself, the witnesses talk about

this sort of intent on his face, the calm and deliberate way he goes

about his business. Obviously, there was a certain ruthlessness to the

way he shot this 23-year-old photographer yesterday in the back

twice with buckshot without saying a word. I think that is what alarms

police. It is not an isolated incident. It is a series of events.

It is someone with a grudge and perhaps a hatred of the media and

the financial institutions. He also believes - and we have been seeing

the closed-circuit television picture - he believes it doesn't

matter that with a hat on, he is being filmed in many parts and

locations where he is going? Yeah, that again will be cause for

concern, because now that he's shot and he shot to kill, presumably,

there will be a fear that he might be trigger-happy, that the net is

closing in on him. There may be another incident. There will also be

a sense of desperation on his part as well as that net draws in. So, it

is the most dangerous time. Minds here in France will turn very

quickly to the events in Toulouse a couple of years ago when one man

went on the rampage there. We had one shooting, then four days later

two paratroopers were killed. That is what they are seeking to prevent.

Christian Fraser. Now to Canada. The increasingly beleaguered Mayor

of Toronto, Rob Ford, has been stripped of most of his powers. This

follows his admission that he took illegal drugs and drank heavily. In

a stormy session, the city council voted in favour of cutting his

budget and taking away his main law-making powers. David Willis is

in Toronto with the latest twists in this political drama.

Only hours after losing much of his power, Toronto's Mayor and his

brother debuted on their own current affairs show on Canadian TV. If

counsel wants to strip all my powers, they have their rights and I

think it is wrong, I think it is illegal... The channel's owner

believes the beleaguered but larger-than-life Mayor could be what

they need to boost ratings despite all his setbacks. I admitted I had

done drugs. He never had intention of going quietly. Counsel

proceedings became heated after the Mayor traded barbs with observers

and then charged towards the public gallery. Mayor Ford may have

marginalised by his inappropriate behaviour, but there are still those

who believe the people and not the politicians should decide his fate.

I want to thank the thousands and thousands of e-mails and phone calls

that I'm getting to continue on and to stay the course. The Mayor's main

cheerleader, his brother, Doug. It's an overthrow. This would never

happen in the UK. It would never happen in the United States. It

shouldn't happen in Canada. He's brought it on himself? You have to

separate the personal issues from the statue, the provincial statue.

An opinion poll revealed that more than three-quarters of Toronto's

voters now believe the time has come for him to step down. Mr Ford's

response? He said he hopes to one day be Canada's Prime Minister.

Now to the recovery effort in the Philippines. It is picking up

momentum. It is ten days since that super-typhoon hit the centre of the

country. There is criticism of the government's slow response. The

BBC's correspondent has been to a makeshift hospital in the city of

Tacloban. He found dozens of people waiting in line for treatment.

Some of these people have been waiting in line for more than three

hours now. It's warm weather as well. They are not waiting for food

or water. They are in line for medical help. This is a field

hospital set up jointly by the Germans and the Belgians and it is

the only medical facility in this area after the local hospital was

destroyed by the typhoon. Every day they see 250 people in this

facility. When they get in, the first stop is this tent. They get

their symptoms checked out. There is something wrong with his leg so they

are going to stretcher him off and take him down into the facility. In

this centre, they check for infectious diseases. We are ten days

in and people have been living in unsanitary conditions, their immune

systems have been compromised so epidemics could spread. In this

treatment room, this man has had a wound to his finger. They are

telling me he's already been in and this is a check-up three days later.

Can I ask what is wrong with this guy? He has a big wound on his

finger. We see much bigger wounds also. This is manageable. This has

to be a fully self-contained facility. This is the pharmacy. It

gets regularly re-stocked. There are eight doctors working here. There

are 24 nurses. There is an operating theatre and they see all sorts of

things. In fact, the other day, they had their first baby born, the

mother called him Gregory. You are with BBC World News. Still

to come: The world's largest refugee camp in northern Kenya - why so many

refugees don't want to go home. The UN's chief climate negotiator

has called on countries to stop burning coal because of the scale of

damage to the environment. Well, environmentalists from Greenpeace

stormed the meeting. This is the blanket of smog that

coats this city. 35,000 residents keep their home fires burning with

coal. This is the result. Campaigners say it is the equivalent

of smoking 2,500 cigarettes every year. You can see the tremendous

smog here. Medical doctors say several hundred people die each year

because of this smog that you can see. Policymakers, they haven't done

anything about this. Poland's coolness on banning the burning of

coal is part of a bigger fight with the EU who want to cut its use

because of the large amounts of Co2 emitted. They have just opened a

hi-tech facility to test new ways of removing carbon. This hard, black

Polish coal is a miracle of nature. It was formed over millions of years

by geological pressure acting on organic matter. Scientists are now

trying to reverse engineer that process. They have built this

machine that will cook coal like this under high pressure and high

temperatures to produce gas. They believe this type of technology will

make coal useable across the world. With shale gas in Poland seen as a

busted flush, there is more pressure on researchers to clean up coal. We

can produce greener coal. We can call it green, but owing to smaller

emission, lower emission from coal using new technology, we can say so

that it is greener. Researchers know the extraordinary power and dangers

posed by just a few kilograms of coal. Scientists say the dangers it

poses to the climate are greater and coal use must be curbed. With

economic concerns more pressing than ecological worries, governments are

unlikely to give up easily the world's most carbon-dense fossil

fuel. You are with BBC World News.

A group in Lebanon linked to Al-Qaeda has said it carried out the

double suicide bomb attack on Iran's embassy in uth Beirut, which has

left at least 20 dead. So, who might have done this and why? I'm joined

by the BBC's World Affairs Correspondent.

There is a long list here. We have had a Lebanon-based Al-Qaeda

affiliate. Who might gain from this? Well, the brigade, as you say, have

claimed responsibility for this attack. Others have pointed the

finger else where. The Iranians have pointed the finger towards Israel. I

think this sort of group is a strong possibility. This is one more

example of the spillover of the crisis in Syria into Lebanon. Eye

rain an its Hezbollah allies being very strong supporters of the Syrian

government -- eye rain. And thus shun any groups, who are alive

fighting against the Syrian Government clearly might well have

been one of the likely perpetrators of this attack. This is not just

Iran in a capital city. This is a main conduit from the power reaching

out from Tehran both to Hezbollah in south Beirut and southern Lebanon

and weapons supplies into Syria. Absolutely. The very close

relationship between Iran and Hezbollah is of crucial strategic

importance to Hezbollah. This is its main weapons conduit, its main

political backer. It really highlights the extraordinary high

stakes gamble Hezbollah has made by throwing in its lot zrectly with the

Syrian regime. It has done this for its own interests and Iran's

interests as well. But the risks, it is taking inside Lebanon are

significant. Theoriesks which are both political but also practical,

and, in security terms, as this attack today shows. Are there any

signals, yet, of how Tehran is going to react to this or is reacting.

After all, there is - and it is difficult to put this in a very

calibrated form, but there is at least a different view from the

precedency now. Well, there is a different view, and that has

manifest itself most significantly in the continuing nuclear talks

between Iran and the West, which will be getting under way again in

Geneva tomorrow. I think tack when you are talking about events which

are direct attacks on Iranian facilities and personnel, I think

there is inevitably going to be a rather different attitude. It is

clear, as I said earlier that Iran's almost natural riposte is to say

that it was the Israelis, the Zionist agents who were behind this.

But I think Iran will clearly be aware of the risks it is taking in

backing the Syrian regime and clearly, this is one of the

difficulties that it might face. Quickly, this highly defended,

protect protected area, with a mass of close circuit television and so

be o, with cameras watching what is happening around that compound --

and so on. Well, it is a well-secured area. Hezbollah itself

is well-organised, well-armed and has many people on the ground. The

fact that an attack like this has got through, doesn't really tell us

anything we don't know already. We have seen attacks of this kind

throughout the region in Iraq and elsewhere. Even the very best

security forces can't really stop this attack getting through. Thank

you for joining me. 17 people are now thought to have

been killed in a powerful storm on the Italian island of soar dippia.

Cyclone Cleopatra was the worst storm to hit the island for years.

-- soar dippia. Hundreds have been left hopeless.

-- homeless. This was a deluge no-one here had ever seen before.

Overnight months of rainfall in just an hour-and-a-half. The streets

became muddy rivers. Houses and cars were completely submerged. Most fled

but tragically, some people became trapped. One family of four drowned

in their ground floor flat. By morning the rivers and roads were

still dangerous. The Government declared a state of emergency to

help the rescue effort but bridges had been swept away, making access

even more precarious. This man said he was having lunch

when suddenly his feet were covered in water. This woman said she was

trapped in a bus for three hours and has still not been able it reach her

house. Many have been rescued but residents here say the toll of dead

and injured could have been lower if there had been better warnings.

Although even the meteorologists have been surprised at the strength

of the cyclone. The warm water of the Mediterranean

sending up big thunderstorms through the atmosphere and this is causing

absolutely torrential rain. We have a biblical amount of rain in

Sardinia in the last 24 hours. Something like 400 millimetres which

fell in just a few hours. Out in isolated villages, the scenes

are certainly dramatic. Animals and people are having to fend for

themselves. Hundreds of residents have been evacuated, but no-one

knows how many others are still trapped in their flooded homes.

The scenes there in Sardinia. Now let me take you to the world's

biggest refugee camp. This is only a small part of the sprawling complex

at Daddab in northern enKenia. This was originally set up to house

thousands fleeing across the boarder from somal why's civil war in 1991.

But deepening inability right across this region meant the population at

Daddab has kept swelling. Look at the size of the camp now. It covers

a total area of 50 square kilometres. Now the UN wants to know

from residents there, if with greater be stability in Somalia,

they'd go home. Originally 90,000 people - that was the planned

capacity when the UN set up the complex of three camps back in 1991.

The reality - 20 years on - is currently around ?400,000. Although

the UN says it has no idea of the precise number in Daddab. That

400,000 includes around 10,000 third generation refugees. They were born

in Daddab, to refugee parents who were also born there, themselves.

Well, the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse is in Daddab and reports on the

challenges surrounding this enormous camp today. An official in the camp

has told me that fewer than 100 people out of a total of 350,000

have asked to go back. One of the reasons why they are reluctant is

the primary school. More than 2,500 kids get an education in English,

French, maths, in swa Healey and other subjects. Lots of parents

believe their children wouldn't get the opportunity to get an education

like that if they went back to Somalia.

This man has 21 children. Yes, that's right, three wives and 21

children, almost all of whom were born here at Dodd be a. For them,

this isn't a refugee camp. -- Daddab. For better, or for worse. It

is home. TRANSLATION: When I talk to my children about going back to

Somalia, they get scared. They think it is a mad idea. They can't get

work here in Kenya, but they can't go back to Somalia. The only hope

they have is education. Daddab is the largest refugee camp

anywhere in the world. Since 1991, when Somalia began to collapse into

anarchy, hundreds of thousands of them fled and ended up here. Along

with refugees have come some troublemakers and extremists. One

evening last month a group of local men had gathered here to watch a

football match on the television. Suddenly at about 9.00pm, gunmen

burst in, masked and sprayed fire and bullets indiscriminately into

the crowd. Fortunately on this occasion, nobody was killed but six

people were injured and one is still in hospital. TRANSLATION: They are

worried. Night-time nobody is coming. We are very afraid of... Why

do you think they attacked? Maybe like just what has happened at

Westgate. Without asking anything, they started shooting. Some Kenyan

politicians have said that Daddab has become a nursery for extremists

and it's time that the people here went home. Well, on the ground

things seem to be carrying on very much as usual. This timber merchant

here continuing to pass out wood which will be continued to be used

in construction. Daddab seems to be becoming more permanent by the day.

Something different. I have done T as you can see here, this is a

self--y. It is the taking a picture of yourself like this on a camera

like that. -- selfie. To have the Pope and Michelle Obama and

countless popstars and many of you. It is so widely used in the basic

language it is being called "word of the year by those who compile the

objection for the English Dictionary.

-- Oxford. The word of the year doesn't

necessarily have to have been around all that long, as long it has shown

longevity all that year. Even if it has been around, it doesn't mean

it'll get added. Even if it is popular, it might die off. But

selfie has been around a long time. We found evidence of it going back

to 2002 in an Australian forum post where somebody posted a picture of

the injuries they sustained while drunk and apologised for the quality

of the picture because it was a selfie. It is only in the last year

that it has taken up in the mainstream. How do you work out how

many know what a word means, when you use oar word like selfie. It

takes a certain person with a smartphone. We don't look at how

many people know what it means but we look at how many people are using

it. We track uses of language from all over the English language all

over the web, and see the frequency of how people are using it. Selfie

has been used hugely in the last year. That's why it has been made

Word of the Year. What were the other rivals. There was twerk, the

dance move. And binge-watch and smeat, like

synthetic meat. And for those who don't underline what twerking is. We

have images. Why did this not qualify? It did make a shot. But I

suppose selfie is so ubiquitous, because people can take the images.

Not many people do twerking themselves. Finally, what kind of

qualification is there for a word to become a Word of the Year which then

enters the dictionary? We would want to see it stick around a little

longer to make sure people are using it in a wide variety of sources. And

that it has just stuck around for a little while. I have to tell you,

though, there is no twerking here. I leave you with images of the eye

Iranian Embassy in Beirut, hit by two suicide

'We wanna do a science fiction series.'

CS Lewis meets HG Wells meets Father Christmas, that's the Doctor.