:00:00. > :00:11.Hello, welcome to BBC World News. Our top stories. The leader of the
:00:12. > :00:16.Central African Republic is under pressure, as sectarian violence
:00:17. > :00:19.threatens to tear his country apart. Afghanistan's president says a young
:00:20. > :00:25.girl forced to wear a suicide vest should return home - but only if her
:00:26. > :00:28.safety can be guaranteed. Thousands of civilians flee fighting
:00:29. > :00:34.in South Sudan, as government troops try to recapture a rebel held city.
:00:35. > :00:42.And could this be the world's scariest bridge? We'll take you on a
:00:43. > :00:56.stomach-turning journey up the Swiss Alps.
:00:57. > :01:03.Will he stay or will he go? The man who's been president of the Central
:01:04. > :01:06.African Republic for the past ten months, will come under heavy
:01:07. > :01:09.pressure to step down at a summit of African leaders today. Michel
:01:10. > :01:13.Djotodia came to power following a coup in March last year. Since then,
:01:14. > :01:17.the country has descended into chaos. Nearly a million people have
:01:18. > :01:19.been forced from their homes by fighting between the country's
:01:20. > :01:23.Christian majority and Muslim minority. Many are now living in
:01:24. > :01:28.overcrowded and insanitary refugee camps. Paul Wood and cameraman Fred
:01:29. > :01:38.Scott have sent this report from the capital, Bangui.
:01:39. > :01:42.Dramatic evidence of how the crisis in the Central African Republic is
:01:43. > :01:52.deepening. In one month, this camp has grown from a few thousand people
:01:53. > :01:56.to perhaps 100,000. They hope French troops at the airport will provide a
:01:57. > :02:04.measure of safety. Almost half of the capital has fled. These are
:02:05. > :02:08.Christians. They told us that Moslem selector commission -- that Moslem
:02:09. > :02:13.militia had gone from house to house killing young men. Alan's son was
:02:14. > :02:21.shot dead in front of her. A second son was killed with a machete this
:02:22. > :02:30.morning. Many people had similar stories. The car here is deceptive.
:02:31. > :02:35.Last week there was sniping which killed two children, including a
:02:36. > :02:37.six-month-old baby girl. There are barely enough international troops
:02:38. > :02:41.to secure this place. There is certainly not enough to use. The
:02:42. > :02:46.blood-letting in the capital or in the countryside beyond. -- there is
:02:47. > :02:55.certainly not enough to stop the blood-letting. People are terrified
:02:56. > :03:02.to go home. It could be the calm before the
:03:03. > :03:07.storm. Nobody Bluenose. -- nobody really knows.
:03:08. > :03:17.The camp was visited by the Archbishop of language. -- Bangui.
:03:18. > :03:25.He has issued an appeal for peace. TRANSLATION: Revenge is never the
:03:26. > :03:31.solution. You kill someone from my family, I kill someone from yours.
:03:32. > :03:38.The cycle of violence continues. We have do and that cycle.
:03:39. > :03:43.-- we have do end that cycle. The mainly Muslim militia, accused
:03:44. > :03:48.by Christians of mass murder. They say they are defending their people
:03:49. > :03:52.from Christian vigilantes. The killing is sectarian as part of a
:03:53. > :03:55.power struggle. If the president resigns, you fear this country would
:03:56. > :04:01.be engulfed in its worst violence yet.
:04:02. > :04:03.The Afghan government says the young girl who was caught apparently
:04:04. > :04:07.trying to carry out a suicide bombing at a police station, will be
:04:08. > :04:10.returned to her family. The girl, who's thought to be about ten, had
:04:11. > :04:15.appealed to the country's President Hamid Karzai to find her a new home.
:04:16. > :04:25.She says her brother coerced her into the attack.
:04:26. > :04:30.TRANSLATION: If I go back there, they will make me where the suicide
:04:31. > :04:34.vest. I will not go back there. God did not make me be, suicide bomber.
:04:35. > :04:37.Adela Raz, the spokesperson of the Afghan president, spoke to me
:04:38. > :04:41.earlier. I asked what the Government would do with this little girl.
:04:42. > :04:49.It was a very unfortunate and traumatic story for us and for his
:04:50. > :04:56.Excellency, the president. To see how young kids have been manipulated
:04:57. > :05:02.and forced into something that is against the culture of this
:05:03. > :05:09.country. So the story of this young girl is something that is
:05:10. > :05:14.heartbreaking. The president recently asked the Ministry of Ian
:05:15. > :05:24.to -- the Ministry for the interior, to rescue this goal.
:05:25. > :05:27.They are planning to send her back if they can get safety guarantees.
:05:28. > :05:30.Thousands of people in South Sudan are reported to be fleeing in panic,
:05:31. > :05:32.as government troops advance on rebel-held positions in the
:05:33. > :05:35.country's Northern oil fields. The government's trying to retake the
:05:36. > :05:39.regional capital, Bentiu, which has been held for the past couple of
:05:40. > :05:42.weeks by forces loyal to the former Deputy Prime Minister, Riek Machar.
:05:43. > :05:45.That's despite peace talks, which are still underway in neighbouring
:05:46. > :05:52.Ethiopia. Alastair Leithead is in Bentiu - he described the military
:05:53. > :05:56.exchanges he's witnessed there. We heard a huge range of explosions
:05:57. > :06:03.not too far away from the UN compound. Heard a few things flying
:06:04. > :06:09.overhead. When we filmed from one of the check posts here, it seems, from
:06:10. > :06:16.what the commander has been telling the United Nations, that they are
:06:17. > :06:22.rebel held base on this side of the small bridge, they are destroying
:06:23. > :06:27.their own ammunition. Quite dramatic it is as well. Shelves, explosives,
:06:28. > :06:32.you can hear them quite a distance away. You can see huge plumes of
:06:33. > :06:37.smoke. We have seen a number of people coming up the road to try to
:06:38. > :06:42.get into the UN compound for safety. We do not know how far the army are
:06:43. > :06:47.away from here, whether they are close. We expect them to come down
:06:48. > :06:51.the road. We expect to see them. The commander says they are destroying
:06:52. > :06:56.their own ammunition. Presumably they could then retreat over a
:06:57. > :07:01.bridge. They cannot carry the ammunition. Presumably that is where
:07:02. > :07:06.they will take up positions to fight government troops. The people
:07:07. > :07:10.clearly expect something to happen. Obviously the rebel forces expect
:07:11. > :07:13.something to happen as well because they are destroying ammunition. We
:07:14. > :07:18.saw thousands of people heading out of the area to the south. Obviously
:07:19. > :07:22.when the fighting does come, that would put those people under a lot
:07:23. > :07:28.of pressure. They will have to be out, presumably, in the bush. They
:07:29. > :07:32.will not have very much with them. All they will have is what they can
:07:33. > :07:37.carry, which does not seem to be a great deal. If this battle is big,
:07:38. > :07:41.if it goes on for a long time, there will be even more pressure on the
:07:42. > :07:46.United Nations and aid agencies to try to help those people. Presumably
:07:47. > :07:53.there will be areas where we will see a need for people to be given
:07:54. > :07:57.clean water and assistance. People have been here for a couple of
:07:58. > :08:02.weeks. Conditions here are stable. They have got clean water and food
:08:03. > :08:06.supplies for now. Obviously the fighting intensifies, and if it goes
:08:07. > :08:12.on for a longer period, more people will find it a challenge, and the UN
:08:13. > :08:13.and other aid agencies will find the same.
:08:14. > :08:16.Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has defended his government's
:08:17. > :08:20.refusal to give details of border protection operations. That's
:08:21. > :08:23.following reports that asylum seekers were mistreated, and their
:08:24. > :08:26.boats were turned back to Indonesia. The opposition Labour Party has
:08:27. > :08:29.attacked the government's silence, but Mr Abbott said he did not want
:08:30. > :08:33."provide sport for public discussion".
:08:34. > :08:36.North Korea has released pictures showing that the US Basketball
:08:37. > :08:42.player Dennis Rodman DID have a face to face meeting with Kim Jong Un on
:08:43. > :08:44.Wednesday. Rodman, who's been in Pyongyang to stage a basketball
:08:45. > :08:47.exhibition match, sang happy birthday to the North Korean leader
:08:48. > :08:51.before the match started. It wasn't clear if Mr Kim was in the crowd -
:08:52. > :08:54.but these pictures show Rodman apparently presenting him with a
:08:55. > :08:58.30th birthday present in the form of these bottles.
:08:59. > :09:02.The big freeze which has brought record low temperatures to large
:09:03. > :09:06.parts of North America for the past few days, is finally beginning to
:09:07. > :09:10.thaw. Forecasters say temperatures should return to normal over the
:09:11. > :09:18.next few days across the US and Canada. At least 21 people have died
:09:19. > :09:22.in the cold, since Sunday. In Japan at least five people have been
:09:23. > :09:25.killed in an explosion at a chemical factory. Many others are also
:09:26. > :09:30.reported to have been injured in the blast at a plant run by Mitsubishi
:09:31. > :09:33.Materials in Yokkaichi city. The company says the explosion had taken
:09:34. > :09:36.place during maintenance work at the plant, which manufactures silicon
:09:37. > :09:39.products and car parts. Stay with us on BBC World News,
:09:40. > :09:42.still to come: Georgia embraces foster care by being the first
:09:43. > :09:53.ex-Soviet republic to abolish orphanages, but is it enough?
:09:54. > :09:58.FIFA has moved quickly to play down claims from its own general
:09:59. > :10:03.secretary that the Qatar 2022 World Cup will NOT take place in the
:10:04. > :10:06.summer. In an interview with a French radio station, Jerome Valcke
:10:07. > :10:09.said the best conditions to play in would be between mid-November 2022
:10:10. > :10:20.and mid-January 2023. Chris Mitchell reports. Since December 2010 when
:10:21. > :10:23.cutout was awarded the rights to stage the tournament, it seems
:10:24. > :10:26.everybody in world football has had their say on when the World Cup
:10:27. > :10:35.should be played. On Wednesday it was the turn of FIFA general
:10:36. > :10:39.secretary Jerome Valcke. TRANSLATION: The dates for the World
:10:40. > :10:47.Cup will not be June or July. It will be held between November and
:10:48. > :10:50.January. If you play between the 15th of November at the end of
:10:51. > :10:54.December, that is the time when the weather conditions at the best. When
:10:55. > :10:58.you can play in temperatures equivalent to a warm spring season
:10:59. > :11:00.in Europe, averaging 25 degrees, that would be perfect for playing
:11:01. > :11:05.football. It appears that he may have
:11:06. > :11:11.overstepped the mark. FIFA certainly reacted swiftly to his Commons. The
:11:12. > :11:15.precise event dates are subject to an ongoing consultation process,
:11:16. > :11:18.they say. They insist no decision will be made until after the World
:11:19. > :11:27.Cup in Brazil. What we are seeing our talks between
:11:28. > :11:32.FIFA and stakeholders such as the Premier League, the other big
:11:33. > :11:35.leagues, advertisers and sponsors. They are all getting involved to see
:11:36. > :11:39.how our practical solution can be found. That will go on until March
:11:40. > :11:46.or April of this year, and we should hear in December on the outcome.
:11:47. > :11:51.Qatar won the bid with traditional summer dates. Soon after that,
:11:52. > :11:56.doctors, including the chairman of the FIFA medical committee, said
:11:57. > :12:01.temperatures were too great, with temperatures reaching as high as 50
:12:02. > :12:06.Celsius in June and July. FIFA vice president Jim Boyce said he was
:12:07. > :12:12.surprised by the statement made by Jerome Valcke. The organising
:12:13. > :12:15.committee is in Qatar said regardless of the outcome of the
:12:16. > :12:17.consultation, they will be ready to host the World Cup, whatever the
:12:18. > :12:35.dates. This is BBC World News. The
:12:36. > :12:37.headlines: the interim leader of the Central African Republic is expected
:12:38. > :12:42.to face pressure to step down over his failure to stop sectarian
:12:43. > :12:46.violence. And Afghanistan's president says a young girl detained
:12:47. > :12:53.20 carry out a suicide attack, should return home if possible.
:12:54. > :12:58.In Baghdad, a suicide bomber has killed at least 13 new Iraqi army
:12:59. > :13:03.recruits and injured more than 30 people. Police say the bomber blew
:13:04. > :13:14.himself up near a military compound. Let's hear more on this
:13:15. > :13:23.from our correspondent in Baghdad. The death toll is 13 people. 13 new
:13:24. > :13:30.army recruits. And more than 30 people have been injured. Word
:13:31. > :13:39.spread that the army was recruiting to support its effort in its battle
:13:40. > :13:50.in western Iraq. Now we have this attack targeting this gathering in
:13:51. > :13:55.western Baghdad. In the cities in western Iraq, which became a front
:13:56. > :14:04.in the battle against Al-Qaeda fighters and Sunni tribesmen, the
:14:05. > :14:07.situation is not clear. An agreement was declared invalid Jet two days
:14:08. > :14:15.ago allowing local police to come back to work. -- in Faloon Jeff.
:14:16. > :14:22.What more have we learned about the militants? Well, right from the
:14:23. > :14:29.beginning there were two forces that controlled the city. One is a tribal
:14:30. > :14:36.alliance of people who oppose the rule of the Shia Prime Minister.
:14:37. > :14:41.They had a long-running protest and grievance against the Government.
:14:42. > :14:45.There were also the fighters of Al-Qaeda who occupied a special
:14:46. > :14:51.sector, sectors actually, in that city. It is not clear whether the
:14:52. > :14:54.tribes have decided to fight Al-Qaeda or not. For them it is
:14:55. > :15:02.actually a question of who you hate more. Is it the Iraqi government or
:15:03. > :15:07.is it Al-Qaeda? Most of those tribes turned against Al-Qaeda in 2007.
:15:08. > :15:18.That was one of the main factors that turned the tide in the Iraq war
:15:19. > :15:22.and increased the violence. For the first time, a strain of bird
:15:23. > :15:25.flu has claimed a life in North America. Officials in Canada have
:15:26. > :15:28.confirmed that a person, so far unidentified, died after falling ill
:15:29. > :15:31.on a flight from China. Tests show they'd contracted the H5N1 strain of
:15:32. > :15:35.the virus. Transmission of this particular bird flu from human to
:15:36. > :15:38.human is very rare. But when it is contracted, according to the World
:15:39. > :15:41.Health Organisation, there's a 60% chance it will prove to be fatal.
:15:42. > :15:44.So where was this infection acquired? Well, the victim had just
:15:45. > :15:48.returned from China, where bird flu is most commonly found. Experts
:15:49. > :15:52.think it spreads from poultry kept in homes or in markets. But
:15:53. > :15:55.worryingly there's no immediate evidence the deceased was exposed to
:15:56. > :15:58.infected birds or travelled outside Beijing, and the Chinese authorities
:15:59. > :16:03.will now be anxious to track down the source of the infection.
:16:04. > :16:15.Canada's Deputy Chief Public Health Officer gave this statement. It is
:16:16. > :16:20.not the same seasonal flu. This is the first only confirmed case of age
:16:21. > :16:26.five anyone in North America. The risk of transmission is very low.
:16:27. > :16:29.There is no evidence of sustained human to human transmission. No
:16:30. > :16:33.other illnesses of this type have been identified in Canada since the
:16:34. > :16:36.traveller returned from China. This is an isolated case.
:16:37. > :16:39.I'm joined now by John Oxford, Professor of Virology at the Queen
:16:40. > :16:45.Mary University of London. Thanks for joining us. What do you know
:16:46. > :16:51.about how this man might have contracted this if he hasn't been in
:16:52. > :16:58.contact with poultry? Is there a risk he has got it from another
:16:59. > :17:05.human? I hope not. As the deputy said, in Canada, it is not easily
:17:06. > :17:09.transmittable. I hope they are not going to uncover some human cases in
:17:10. > :17:15.China. I doubt it. It is more likely this person has picked it up,
:17:16. > :17:22.inadvertently going to a live bird market or by getting into contact
:17:23. > :17:26.with somebody they don't know who is keeping chickens themselves. There
:17:27. > :17:30.is often a situation with these viruses that nobody has been in
:17:31. > :17:33.contact with a chicken but they have caught it. They must have been in
:17:34. > :17:40.contact with a feather or a chicken in some kind of way. Having said
:17:41. > :17:45.that... I would congratulate the Canadians of picking it up, and
:17:46. > :17:48.particularly the laboratory. This person comes into Canada, ill, and
:17:49. > :17:55.four days later they are dead. Now they have got the virus isolated.
:17:56. > :18:04.They are doing extremely well. But you can just catch this by coming
:18:05. > :18:08.into contact with a further? Yes, it is often a feather or a bit of
:18:09. > :18:12.feather dust that enables the transmission. There have been very
:18:13. > :18:17.few examples of person to person transmission. The first examples...
:18:18. > :18:22.There was one in Afghanistan. This is mainly family members who catch
:18:23. > :18:29.it. Cousins, relatives who are living together. There is a degree
:18:30. > :18:32.of closeness needed to catch it. Everybody is worried about catching
:18:33. > :18:36.it on the plane. The Canadians have done very well. They are going to
:18:37. > :18:40.trace everybody on those two aeroplanes and keep them under
:18:41. > :18:46.observation. The chance of picking it up randomly on a plane,
:18:47. > :18:49.fortunately, is very low. It is all mathematics. We know the virus is a
:18:50. > :18:53.threat. It is on the threat list of every country in the world. In
:18:54. > :19:00.Britain, we have got a vaccine stored away against it. We have got
:19:01. > :19:07.medication. We are prepared. It is all mathematics. The more chance of
:19:08. > :19:22.people catching it, the more chance it has of mutating. Thanks very much
:19:23. > :19:25.indeed. Georgia has become one of the first
:19:26. > :19:28.former Soviet republics to close down its state orphanages. For many
:19:29. > :19:32.children it has meant a new life with a new family. But for disabled
:19:33. > :19:37.orphans the prospect of life-long isolation from society remains. From
:19:38. > :19:45.Tbilisi, Rayhan Demytrie reports. In this household, there's plenty of
:19:46. > :19:49.help at hand. This lady is a mother of three and a foster parent for
:19:50. > :19:54.four other healthy children. TRANSLATION: Orphanages were closing
:19:55. > :19:59.down, kids needed families to have normal conditions for growing up,
:20:00. > :20:03.and my husband and I decided to help the children. Thanks to families
:20:04. > :20:08.like this, Georgia has managed to close off most of its orphanages.
:20:09. > :20:15.Thousands of children have been reunited with their families or
:20:16. > :20:28.found new homes with foster carers. Out of 49 orphanages in 2005, only
:20:29. > :20:31.three remain. This is one of them. A report by disability rights
:20:32. > :20:37.International says George's childcare reform has left behind the
:20:38. > :20:43.most vulnerable. What you see here, this is his life. This is all he
:20:44. > :20:47.does. The staff often say these children can't be integrated into
:20:48. > :20:51.the community because they have too many problems to live successfully
:20:52. > :20:58.in a family. We have just seen time and time again that that is not
:20:59. > :21:03.true. A family can do amazing things. But the government denies
:21:04. > :21:09.children with disabilities are being ignored. TRANSLATION: Children with
:21:10. > :21:13.disabilities are included in the second stage of child welfare
:21:14. > :21:20.reform. The priority for next year is to close down the remaining
:21:21. > :21:23.institutions. Still, campaigners say an unaccounted number of children
:21:24. > :21:29.remain hidden in church orphanages that are unrelated by the state.
:21:30. > :21:32.They claim that the vast majority of disabled children still end up in
:21:33. > :21:38.institutions like this one upon reaching adult hood. The majority of
:21:39. > :21:41.children in this social care home were transferred from orphanages.
:21:42. > :21:47.When children with disabilities reach the age of 18, coming and
:21:48. > :21:50.living in places like this is their only option. For many of them, it
:21:51. > :21:57.means living in isolation for the rest of their lives. Adult
:21:58. > :22:03.institutions have not been included in the reforms. This home houses 69.
:22:04. > :22:09.We were told that, with a right support, some of them could live in
:22:10. > :22:16.the community. Back with a family, the cake is ready. Everyone here
:22:17. > :22:20.gets an equal slice. There is reason to celebrate. These children have
:22:21. > :22:21.been given a chance to wrap in a family and be independent in the
:22:22. > :22:37.future. They are the lucky ones. A counter-terrorism operation is
:22:38. > :22:39.underway in Russia after five people were shot dead close to Winter
:22:40. > :22:42.Olympic Games venue. Thousands of security forces have been deployed
:22:43. > :22:45.just three hundred kilometres from the Black Sea resort of Sochi, the
:22:46. > :22:49.venue for next month's Olympics. This is one of the biggest security
:22:50. > :22:57.operations in Olympics history. Our Russia correspondent, Steve
:22:58. > :23:02.Rosenberg, gave me more detail. Russian security officials say that
:23:03. > :23:09.yesterday, five bodies were found in four cars in different locations in
:23:10. > :23:14.southern Russia. All of the victims had been shot dead. They have also
:23:15. > :23:19.-- there have also been two explosive device found. One had gone
:23:20. > :23:23.off, although there were no casualties. The other device was
:23:24. > :23:26.made safe. It seems to be the discovery of these bodies which has
:23:27. > :23:33.sparked this anti-terrorist operation in two districts of the
:23:34. > :23:38.region. It is not that far away from Sochi. We are talking about 300
:23:39. > :23:43.kilometres from the venue of the Olympics. Nobody knows whether this
:23:44. > :23:48.is linked in any way to the Winter games, which begin in less than a
:23:49. > :23:54.month. But the Russian authorities now that the Chechen rebel leader
:23:55. > :23:59.has threatened maximum force to disrupt the Winter Olympics. There's
:24:00. > :24:06.a lot of nervousness after the two suicide bombings involved low-grade
:24:07. > :24:18.at the end of last year. -- in Russia at the end of last year.
:24:19. > :24:21.A court in France has approved the extradition of a billionaire from
:24:22. > :24:24.Kazakhstan to face charges of embezzlement on a huge scale.
:24:25. > :24:27.Mukhtar Ablyazov is wanted by Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine on
:24:28. > :24:30.allegations he stole up to ?6 billion from his former Bank, BTA,
:24:31. > :24:33.which operates in all three countries. A judge in France, where
:24:34. > :24:36.he had been in hiding, said he should be extradited, preferably to
:24:37. > :24:46.Russia, but if that was not possible, then to Ukraine.
:24:47. > :24:49.Winter has arrived in the Alps in all its glory. This week's clear
:24:50. > :24:53.weather has been perfect for winter sports. But what can you do in the
:24:54. > :24:56.mountains if you don't want to ski or snowboard? Imogen Foulkes has
:24:57. > :24:59.been sampling the latest attraction on Mount Titlis in Switzerland. You
:25:00. > :25:02.don't have to be especially sporty to do it, but you will need a cool
:25:03. > :25:07.head. Welcome to Europe's newest and
:25:08. > :25:13.highest suspension Bridge. Altitude 3000 metres, high above the Swiss
:25:14. > :25:16.resort, it is not for the faint-hearted and certainly not for
:25:17. > :25:20.those who are nervous of heights. But if you love the mountains,
:25:21. > :25:26.there's no better place to enjoy them from Barnard here. This bridges
:25:27. > :25:35.100 metres long but just one metre wide. You get the true meaning of
:25:36. > :25:39.the word suspension when you are out here. There is no support in
:25:40. > :25:45.between. It is suspended. When you walk, you do bounce up and down a
:25:46. > :25:51.little bit. But the barriers are high. There is no danger at all, I
:25:52. > :25:55.am told, of falling off. And once you get out, come along a bit more,
:25:56. > :26:03.to the middle, their views are truly spectacular. Over here, you can see
:26:04. > :26:08.all the way to Italy. Down there, 500 metres down into the glacier.
:26:09. > :26:14.And over there, all the way down into the valley towards the next
:26:15. > :26:20.region. Although this has been called the scariest bridge in the
:26:21. > :26:23.world, it is well worth the visit. Once you are here, you're not
:26:24. > :26:32.scared, you are really on top of the world.
:26:33. > :26:36.She sounds like she is having fun! Another one high in the air. You may
:26:37. > :26:40.remember the former US Congresswoman who was shot and severely wounded.
:26:41. > :26:45.She has marked the anniversary by doing this. Look, she is
:26:46. > :26:51.paragliding, skydiving, taking to the skies, apparently, with an, and
:26:52. > :26:55.apparently had a fantastic experience even though she is still
:26:56. > :27:00.struggling to walk and Spieth. She landed, I can tell you, safely.
:27:01. > :27:01.Congratulations to her. See you