20/01/2014 BBC World News

50 are killed in renewed sectarian violence in the Central African

Republic - just as its parliament prepares to elect a new leader. And

scientists are waking up a spacecraft from deep space

hibernation to complete its mission to land a probe on aim comment. --

on a comet. Hello and welcome. The United

Nations nuclear agency has said Iran has started to shut down some of its

enrichment programme. It is a key part of its agreement that should

lead to the easing of economic sanctions. For years, Western powers

have accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons -- nuclear weapons, but

Tehran insists its intentions are peaceful. Iran has said it has

halted its enrichment of uranium above 5% purity. In return, world

powers will not impose further nuclear power related sanctions, and

will suspend certain sanctions on trade. Our correspondent is in

Vienna at the headquarters of the IAEA. She says the start of the

process is now being seen as a major step. I've seen a copy of the

content -- of a confidential report issued by the IAEA saying that Iran

has halted its sensitive uranium enrichment work above 5%. People

were concerned about Iran's ability to have high enriched uranium,

because while low enriched uranium is something used in power plants,

Iran has been able to reach up to 20%, which could potentially allow

it to enrich to the very high levels needed for a nuclear bomb. Iran has

said its nuclear work is peaceful, but under the terms of this deal, it

is now porting its enrichment and work for six months. The report also

says Iran has made arrangements with the IAEA for its inspectors to go

more frequently to these nuclear sites, including on holidays, and

this is part of the IAEA's verification work. Our correspondent

from our Persian services here. Exactly what is it mean to say that

the 20% enrichment is going to be scaled back? It means it will be

much more difficult to use its full potential weapons grade facilities.

Right now, Iran has a stockpile of close to 416 kilograms of uranium

that has been enriched up to 20%, and they have promised to scale back

down. They can do that in three different ways. Oxidising it, or

turning it into powder, or turning it into yellow cake, or turning it

into a delighted that into a diluted liquid. And what will happen to all

that? They are going to keep them within the country, but they will

create much lower grade, 5% to 9% maximum, which means it will be much

more difficult to enrich it further. It is reversible, of course, but we

are not sure Iran has the facilities to reverse that process that

quickly. The lower levels of enrichment are fine for energy

production, but not for weapons production. Yes. What is the

reaction to this in Iran today? Many people in Iran have been waiting for

this moment. They are calling it a turning point politically and

economically. You can already see the effect of that, even though

nothing much has happened yet in terms of embargo is being lifted.

You can see that in the psychological effect in Iran in the

stock market, and the rays of the exchange rate against the US

dollar. The psychological effect is huge because people have been pretty

much blocked from imports and exports and dealing with the rest of

the world for the past two years because of very strict embargo is,

both in petroleum products of Iran and with the barking -- and with the

banking system. It will change the livelihoods of people very soon.

What is your sense of why we have got to this incredible place? When

you think back to the rhetoric of the George Bush era, and other

Iranians Presidents, it is a massive turning point, potentially. And

we're about to come to the Geneva talks on Syria again, and Iran's

potential role in that. Is this because we were pushed to potential

military action over Syria with the United States? That surprising

change of attitude is the same in Iran as in the West. There are many

inside Iran who cannot believe why Iran has given up all of its what

they called in alien or rights to enriching nuclear facilities and

nuclear uranium. They cannot understand why they have suddenly

agreed to give it all up. One conservative newspaper in Iran has

got a black and white issue, like a mourning issue today, and the

headline says, nuclear holocaust. They think it is going to be a

loss, this agreement. Thank you. The main Western backed Syrian

opposition says it will suspend its participation in the Geneva to

meeting, after the UN invited the Iranians to take part. A

spokesperson for the Syrian National Coalition said it will not join

talks until Iran withdraws its troops from Syria.

It was unusual. A press conference called on a Sunday evening, hours

before the Secretary-General was due to fly to Switzerland. But Ban

Ki-Moon must have understood the controversy surrounding what he was

about to say. I believe strongly that Iran needs to be part of the

solution to the Syrian crisis. Iran understands that the basis of the

talks is the full implementation of the 2012 Geneva Communique. A short

time later came the fallout. Syria's main opposition group, seen

here voting in favour of attending the peace talks, has now threatened

to pull-out. The bitter relationship is partly down to what is happening

here on the battlefield. Iran is an ally of President Assad, and has

sent military support to the Syrian Army. The Syrian National Coalition

backs the rebels, and it's not just the SMC who are annoyed by the

invitation. In a statement, the United States has said:

Whilst this diplomatic spat plays out, the heavy loss of life

continues. This unverified video claims to show the aftermath of a

government bomb attack. Hopes for these people that talks can bring

meaningful peace have never looked so far away.

Meanwhile, the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been speaking to

a news agency ahead of the conference. He says its primary goal

is to discuss the fight against terrorism in his country.

TRANSLATION: The logical thing that we've been talking about

continuously is that the Geneva conference comes out with clear

results in relation to combating terrorism in Syria, especially in

terms of pressurising the countries that export terror to Syria, sending

money to terrorist organisations, and particularly Saudi Arabia and

Turkey, and of course the Western countries that provide a political

cover for these terrorist organisations. This is the most

important result that can come out of the Geneva Conference. Any

political outcome that may emerge without combating terrorism will be

worthless. There cannot be political work while terrorism is rife

everywhere, in Syria and in neighbouring countries. On the

political side, it is possible for the Geneva Conference to be a

catalyst for dialogue within Syria. There has to be a process taking

place within side -- within Syria, and the Geneva Conference can help

that. But it cannot replace talks within Syria between Syrians. In

other news, at least 14 people have been killed in Pakistan by a

suspected suicide bomber in the city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad. Eight

soldiers were among the dead. The attack comes a day after another

Taliban bombing killed soldiers in the north-west.

Ten people in Japan and four in China became ill after eating

poisoned dumplings. A food worker admitted injecting the dumplings

with insecticide in 2008 after a problem with his employer over pay.

The trial of two French footballers accused of having sex with an

underage prostitute is due to begin in Paris. Franck Ribery and Karim

Benzema deny knowing the woman, who is aged 18. They both face jail time

and fines. President Barack Obama has said he

does not consider marijuana to be more dangerous than alcohol for the

individual user, but warned it was wrong to think that legalising

marijuana would solve any social problems. You'll Athe parliament in

the Central African Republic has been voting to elect a new interim

president. The international community of the Red Cross has said

that at least 50 people were killed in the country over the weekend. Our

correspondent is in the capital, and told us there was hope that the two

leaders could be brought together again. There were eight candidates

who were pre-selected for this election. We are to hold that each

of them has 15 minutes to sell themselves in front of the

lawmakers, who will then cast their ballots. We expect a vote early in

the afternoon here. Obviously, we have been covering the ongoing

violence in the Central African Republic. What hope now of peace?

And of the extra peacekeepers coming in? All eyes are on the parliament

right now. People are waiting to hear who will be there next interim

leader, who will lead them towards an election next year, a popular

election where people will be going out to vote. Some people are saying

they are hoping this will ease the tension, this will bring some kind

of order in the capital, but also elsewhere in the country, where

violence hasn't stopped. Many fear, depending on who was elected today,

the country could sink into further chaos. The European Union is

debating in Brussels today, with the foreign Mrs -- foreign ministers

addressing the situation in the central African republic, and we

expect them to approve the deployment of up to 1000 soldiers in

the country here by the end of February. The African peacekeepers

are here, but whether they have enough troops on the ground is a

question that needs to be answered. Thank you. The AFP news agency is

reporting that voting is starting for a new interim president there.

Much more to come here on BBC News. We look at the Swedish town

struggling to cope with the influx of Syrian refugees, and residents

who want to send them away. And a moving tribute for our much

loved colleague, from one of his last interviewees. He was truly a

shining star of Africa. One of the great orchestral

conductors of recent decades, the Italian conductor, has died. He had

conducted across Europe with numerous orchestras. He had been ill

for several years, and had made hundreds of recordings from the

classical repertoire. A really, really significant figure. Both

Opera and orchestral music. An early career in his home city of Milan,

and then this remarkable set of performances with London, with

Vienna, with Berlin, and with his own orchestra. What did he bring to

the skill of conducting? It's an extraordinary range of music that he

conducted. There was a really special... He tried to talk about

his musical quality, but a deep musicianship. Orchestral and is

talked about the fact he said very little in rehearsal. It was all

there in the performance. An extremely elegant conductor, and one

who was very supportive of musicians. Deeply aware of all sorts

of musical styles, from Italian opera to the great classical work,

but very committed to new work as well. The way that the music is put

together changes, and audiences have their favourites, was he widely

loved? Enormously. Particularly by his colleagues. This orchestra that

he created was made up of orchestral musicians from Vienna, Berlin,

really famous soloists, well-known quartet players, they just came to

make music with him. He worked with him yourself, he has been at the

Proms. Yes, I worked with him at one of his major recording companies, I

had the pleasure of seeing a lot of that work. One of the great things

is the legacy he leaves behind. He was last at the Proms in 2007, an

unforgettable performance, and those performances with his orchestra are

going to be one of the great legacies of his work.

This is BBC World News. The headlines.

The United Nations nuclear watchdog reports that Iran has halted its

most sensitive uranium in Richmond work, it is part of a deal which

will use to an easing of sanctions against the country.

Syria's main opposition group says it will boycott talks over ending

the Civil War. Some Swedish towns are struggling to

find the resources to cope with a steady inflow of Syrian refugees

after the government in Stockholm made them an offer of guaranteed

asylum. The Swedish Democrat party claims ethnic Swedes are angry at

the cost of social benefits and rising pressures on schools, housing

and health care. In the past eight years, Sodertalje has accepted three

times more refugees than Sweden's biggest cities.

Sodertalje's reputation as a haven for Middle Eastern Orthodox

Christians has made it a magnet for Syrian refugees. But beneath a

hospitable air, Sodertalje is struggling to accommodate 1000

Syrians who arrived in 2013. The mayor would like to remove the right

of newcomers to choose where to live so that other towns can share the

burden. The difficulties of getting jobs, poverty, more children that

cannot get a good education, because they do not arrive here at six years

of age. Many refugees here live in cramped conditions, with families

and friends. With her three children and husband, this woman fled Aleppo

when the fighting became unbearable. TRANSLATION: Being a refugee is

horrible, but compared to people living in tents and in bad

conditions of a freezing to death, they do not have any food, people

dying, we have it good here. Nowhere is the welcome better than in

education. At this school, 98% of the pupils are from immigrant

backgrounds. Only five indigenous Swedes remain after parents of 24

ethnic Swedish seventh to ninth graders withdrew their children.

There is a belief in society today that foreigners or refugees are

going to affect their kids, and that is not the case, it is almost the

opposite. A school with a mixed combination of kids give the best

results, all the research shows that. That is why the segregated

society is very poor for everybody. Sodertalje is expected to receive a

further 2000 Syrian refugees during the course of the coming year. Those

numbers will automatically add to the unemployment rate of 14% in this

region, which is twice the national average. To the indignation of

right-wingers like this man, that means more generous welfare checks.

Many ethnic Swedes feel they are being betrayed by the government. We

cannot afford to have an open door policy, because in the long run, it

will take more and more of the country's resources. With no end in

sight to the one-way traffic, the government has promised extra cash

to municipalities, but it will not restrict refugees' freedom of

movement, so the expansion of the town will continue.

The European Space Agency says its Rosetta spacecraft has come out of

hibernation. The probe, which has travelled 800 kilometres through

space, -- 800 million kilometres through space, will attempt to make

contact with a comet, something that has never been done before.

A giant mass of ice and rock hurtling through space. Comet 67P

hails from the dawn of the solar system, and is the target for one of

the riskiest missions ever attempted. The Rosetta spacecraft

launched a decade ago, the start of an epic journey. For the last two

years, it has been put in the space hibernation, with its instruments

shall town to save energy for the final phase of its mission. Now, it

is time for it to come back online. Let's use our virtual reality studio

to understand how this spacecraft wakes up. Now, it is more than 800

million kilometres away from Earth. First of all, and internal alarm

clock goes off, triggering its heaters so it can warm up. The craft

stops spinning by firing its thrusters. Once it is stabilised, it

uses its navigational instruments to find Earth and angles towards it.

Then, it sends its message back home. For the scientists who built

some of its instruments, it discovered to be an anxious wait.

Everything rides on this particular stage of the mission being

successful. We have to get control but of the satellite so that we can

start it on its journey to rendezvous with the comet. It should

catch up with the comet later this year. Then comes the most perilous

stage, dropping a lander onto the comet as it is travelling at

incredible speeds. It will have to bolt itself down onto the icy

surface summit is not fly off. Nothing like this has ever been

attempted before. We are excited, because comet act as a time travel

Capshaw, from the start of the solar system. They contain the earliest

water and organic material that was there before the planets formed.

Understanding comet could and so some of the biggest questions in

science. If Rosetta can pull this off, it could chat light on how our

planets came to be, and even how life started here on earth.

We are getting reports from Iraq that there have been a number of car

bombs across several neighbourhoods in Baghdad. Killing a number of

people, reports of 16 people being killed, but to 24 being killed, and

40, 50, 60 reported injuries. That is in a number of different parts of

the capital. We will bring you more on that as soon as we can. The news

agencies are just bringing news of half a dozen bomb explosions in

Baghdad, possibly 24 people killed. Here, we have been remembering our

dear friend and colleague Komla Dumor, who died at the weekend. Any

of you will have seen his reporting following the death of Nelson

Mandela, and his family asked to pay their own tribute to him. Nelson

Mandela's daughter told our correspondent that the news had come

as a shock to her family. There was lots of shock and sap is

amongst us. -- sadness amongst others. He was a shining store -- a

shining star of Africa, he came into our lounges, bedrooms, everyday, at

the same time. He was Africa, in every essence.

When you met him, it was at a difficult time, you had just lost

your father. But he described to me how he felt like he was part of the

family when he came to offer condolence to your family. He came

into my house and called me an endearing term. In West Africa, that

is what we call elder people. We talked about everything, I was very

comfortable. That is the type of person, professional journalist,

that he was. As I said, you have people that have charisma, who have

that presence that makes you happy, even if you are sad, it kicks you a

warm feeling inside, and for me, even when I was in my saddest

moment, I felt confident. Was it about -- what was it about him that

made him special? What makes these people have a presence? I do not

know. He said to my husband that he was a suave dresser, with his

impeccable suits! Most of the BBC journalists are suave dresser is,

with ties and handkerchiefs! He was always well put together, even if he

was in the field, with casual clothing, the presence, his

tallness, the way that he carried himself, he had a glow on his face

all the time. Well coming into your home somebody you have known for a

long time. Makaziwe Mandela, the daughter of

the former president, remembering our friend, Komla Dumor.