30/01/2014

:00:00. > :00:11.Hello. This is BBC World News. Our top stories: Security forces

:00:12. > :00:14.surround a government building in Baghdad after it was earlier stormed

:00:15. > :00:17.by up to eight militants who've taken hostages.

:00:18. > :00:21.Ukraine's embattled president Viktor Yanukovych goes on sick leave, with

:00:22. > :00:24.the country's political crisis in stalemate.

:00:25. > :00:29.A critical year for Afghanistan: the massive withdrawal of troops and

:00:30. > :00:34.equipment is underway. We've a special report on the hopes and

:00:35. > :00:37.fears of ordinary people in 2014. And the gay daughter of a wealthy

:00:38. > :00:39.Hong Kong billionaire businessman makes a public plea to him. Stop

:00:40. > :01:06.trying to find a man to marry me. The security forces in Baghdad have

:01:07. > :01:09.sealed off a government building which was stormed by militants. Some

:01:10. > :01:12.reports suggest that several members of staff are being held hostage in

:01:13. > :01:15.the building, which is operated by Iraq's Ministry of Transport. It's

:01:16. > :01:22.believed that the attack was mounted by up to eight armed men. Four are

:01:23. > :01:29.known to have died, but it's not yet clear what's happened to the others.

:01:30. > :01:33.In the latest development, four of the attackers have been killed by

:01:34. > :01:39.security forces while for others remain surrounded in the building,

:01:40. > :01:46.together with a number of the hostages -- four. The spokesperson

:01:47. > :01:54.of the Ministry of interior is has said that all hostages had been

:01:55. > :01:58.released, but this is not true as we have learned there are number of

:01:59. > :02:05.civilian hostages who are still surrounded with the militants inside

:02:06. > :02:11.the garage facility belonging to the ministry of transport. Is there a

:02:12. > :02:17.need -- is there any indication about who is involved and why? There

:02:18. > :02:23.has not been any announcement or declaration of responsibility as

:02:24. > :02:30.yet, but as we know, the country is under the shadow of a severe crisis

:02:31. > :02:43.in the province, where the government said a number of militant

:02:44. > :02:53.groups, such as the Islamic state, and other Al-Qaeda affiliated groups

:02:54. > :02:58.are very active in the provinces next to the western borders between

:02:59. > :03:02.Iraq and Syria. So the obvious accusation would point towards these

:03:03. > :03:06.people, but however there has not been any confirmation from either

:03:07. > :03:11.side, the government, or the attackers, as do stands behind the

:03:12. > :03:17.attack or indeed whether there has been any motive confirmed. After

:03:18. > :03:23.weeks of protests on the streets of Kiev, the Ukrainian President Viktor

:03:24. > :03:30.Yanukovych has gone on sick leave. His office says he has a high

:03:31. > :03:33.temperature and a chest infection. On Wednesday, Ukraine's parliament

:03:34. > :03:40.approved the latest of a series of concessions to demonstrators, an

:03:41. > :03:44.amnesty for protestors. It will only happen if the barricades come down,

:03:45. > :03:46.and if the protesters leave many of the buildings they've occupied.

:03:47. > :03:50.President Yanukovych has yet to formally sign the bill into law. Our

:03:51. > :03:55.correspondent Matthew Price has been out on the streets of Kiev gauging

:03:56. > :04:02.reaction to that amnesty vote. This is the front line outside dynamo

:04:03. > :04:07.Kiev football stadium. This is the area where several days ago

:04:08. > :04:12.protesters battled for and essentially won it. They dug in

:04:13. > :04:15.here. To give you a sense of the geography, parliament is over this

:04:16. > :04:18.front line, just a few hundred metres behind the trees, and is

:04:19. > :04:22.there that the amnesty bill went through. The political opposition

:04:23. > :04:26.said they did not support it and it does not go far enough. Let's ask

:04:27. > :04:31.around the front lines. Excuse me, the amnesty bill, does it go far

:04:32. > :04:43.enough and do what you want? You don't accept it? No, not at all. The

:04:44. > :04:48.president should go back to jail. You want the president to go to

:04:49. > :04:52.prison? Well, that is the message. This is part of the weaponry. This

:04:53. > :04:58.is a catapult that they can pull right back, and they put these in

:04:59. > :05:03.them, cobblestones. Those of course could kill someone. The last few

:05:04. > :05:07.days they have held off, but all they need is an order and they will

:05:08. > :05:08.start it all up again if they feel they are not getting anywhere with

:05:09. > :05:21.their demands. Under the amnesty law, the

:05:22. > :05:25.protesters have to leave the front line, but they do not have to leave

:05:26. > :05:28.this, the main Independence Square where they have been based for the

:05:29. > :05:32.last two months. They have to get out of all of the buildings they

:05:33. > :05:38.have occupied across Ukraine, apart from free. This is one of those

:05:39. > :05:42.buildings. -- apart from three. This is one of them, and in here you get

:05:43. > :05:48.a sense from -- of how organised this revolution is. A very broad

:05:49. > :05:53.church of society. There are more middle-class people providing

:05:54. > :05:56.supplies to sustain what is going on, not just the hardliners on the

:05:57. > :06:02.front line. If you wander through here, you will get a sense of what

:06:03. > :06:06.is happening. People have been donating drugs, so this is a sort of

:06:07. > :06:13.hospital, a pharmacy, where the people on the front line come to get

:06:14. > :06:16.fixed. You really get a sense in here that despite everything the

:06:17. > :06:19.president is trying to do to change the situation, they are in it for

:06:20. > :06:34.the long haul. Matthew Price in Kiev. Now to Afghanistan, 2014 is a

:06:35. > :06:37.massive logistical challenge. Tens of thousands of troops must fly or

:06:38. > :06:41.drive out. It is the same for hundreds and thousands of tonnes of

:06:42. > :06:46.valuable military equipment like this, accumulated over 13 years of

:06:47. > :06:52.conflict. The two preferred access routes are overland, from Pakistan

:06:53. > :06:56.to the port city of Karachi for onward shipping by sea. But in the

:06:57. > :07:00.past these border areas have been sealed by Pakistan during political

:07:01. > :07:05.tension with NATO nations. The other option is to go to the north of

:07:06. > :07:10.Afghanistan. They use a network of road and rail through Central Asia

:07:11. > :07:15.to eventually reach the black and Baltic Seas but these are long and

:07:16. > :07:19.time-consuming route and after a complex negotiation with the transit

:07:20. > :07:26.countries it is difficult. The current US air bridgehead is Manas,

:07:27. > :07:38.until it closes in July. This is an airport check line like

:07:39. > :07:41.no other. After having small amounts of liquid is taken off them, like

:07:42. > :07:44.any airport in the world, and making sure their pockets are empty and

:07:45. > :07:50.sorting out all their kit, these soldiers come through and are

:07:51. > :07:55.allowed to take weapons, unusually. That is as they head back to the

:07:56. > :07:59.US. Some of these troops have been in Afghanistan for seven, eight,

:08:00. > :08:10.nine months, as they finish their tour, then they spend a couple of

:08:11. > :08:21.days here in Kyrgyzstan, as America draws down its forces in Afghanistan

:08:22. > :08:34.at the end of its longest war. Related to Afghanistan, the RAF's

:08:35. > :08:38.617 squadron, "The Dambusters", who 70 years ago helped turn the tide of

:08:39. > :08:41.the Second World War with their daring raids over Germany, have

:08:42. > :08:44.flown for the last time in Afghanistan before they disband. Our

:08:45. > :08:48.defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt joined them in Kandahar just ahead

:08:49. > :08:54.of their final flight. Soaring through the Afghans guys for one of

:08:55. > :08:58.the final mission -- missions of the Dam Busters. This is one of their

:08:59. > :09:03.Tornado jets being refuelled by an American tank whilst in the air. A

:09:04. > :09:09.move that requires precision when travelling at 450 mph. This country

:09:10. > :09:12.is a beautiful country. There are mountains, Greenlands, snowcapped

:09:13. > :09:17.hills. In a day when the sun is shining, it's a beautiful place to

:09:18. > :09:21.look at. The view from my office is one of the best in the world. Even

:09:22. > :09:25.on the days when the weather is not nice, when things are going wrong

:09:26. > :09:29.and it's becoming hard work, it's not about what we are doing, we are

:09:30. > :09:33.supporting the guys on the ground who are in a far more vulnerable

:09:34. > :09:37.position than we are. Day and night for the past four months, these

:09:38. > :09:42.aviators have provided cover for NATO and Afghan troops. Now all of

:09:43. > :09:46.the squadron will move on to new jobs with different squadrons. The

:09:47. > :09:53.planes themselves will be handed on to the squadrons taking over from

:09:54. > :09:57.617, but for many women and men in the Dam Busters it is in the end of

:09:58. > :09:59.an era. It is the last time they will fly these tornadoes and

:10:00. > :10:07.foremost, if not all of the squadron, it is their last tour of

:10:08. > :10:11.Afghanistan. -- and for most of. Adam Crocs all is on his third tour

:10:12. > :10:17.of Afghanistan. Home is now just days away -- Croxall. It's always

:10:18. > :10:22.good to go home. I'll be happy. It would be good not to come back here

:10:23. > :10:28.again. These fighter jets have been in service for some three decades.

:10:29. > :10:33.Future runways are likely to be dominated by unmanned aircraft. But

:10:34. > :10:37.not for a while. The 617 squadron will be back again when the UK's

:10:38. > :10:43.newest fighter jets come back into service. Until then, they and

:10:44. > :10:47.several other pilot it will continue to fly the Tornado jets, albeit with

:10:48. > :10:52.another squadron. It's a poignant time. We are drawing to an end of

:10:53. > :10:56.the Tornado era of the Dam Busters but there is a bright future. The

:10:57. > :11:06.Dam Busters will reformat the end of the decade and 617 squadron will

:11:07. > :11:09.reform with new aircraft. As the squadron says goodbye, there will be

:11:10. > :11:17.sadness as they fly their separate ways. Formed for just one task in

:11:18. > :11:24.1943, the Dam Busters have endured. One day, they will fly again.

:11:25. > :11:28.And there's much more on the intrernational effort to counter the

:11:29. > :11:37.Taliban and Al-Qaeda on our website at bbc.com/taliban. Stay with us on

:11:38. > :11:41.BBC World News, still to come: the BBC obtained documents suggesting

:11:42. > :11:44.British prosecutors asked Pakistan to trace two individuals suspected

:11:45. > :11:50.of involvement in the murder of a Pakistani politician in the UK.

:11:51. > :11:59.Chinese communities across the world prepare to mark the New Year. 2014

:12:00. > :12:02.is the Year of the Horse and the BBC's Ali Moore has been finding out

:12:03. > :12:08.how Singapore is getting ready to celebrate. The year of the horse.

:12:09. > :12:12.You can't miss it. Here in Singapore's Chinatown, the horses

:12:13. > :12:17.everywhere. 88 of them to be precise, galloping to prosperity

:12:18. > :12:20.down the middle of the busiest road on the island. It was the year of

:12:21. > :12:26.the snake, not so hard, snakes are small. The year of the Rabbit, the

:12:27. > :12:33.rat, the monkey, but the horse, that's a whole different story. And

:12:34. > :12:37.it is a challenge that fell, as it has the last 14 years, that fell to

:12:38. > :12:43.Jennifer Lee. Am I right? Was this one of the toughest projects renew

:12:44. > :12:47.year? The street lighting has always been a tough job for the Chinese New

:12:48. > :12:50.Year festival, but as the year of the horse, the horse, as an animal,

:12:51. > :12:56.that is something that the Chinese like. -- as for the year of the

:12:57. > :13:02.wars. We think it is favourable to the Chinese because it is powerful

:13:03. > :13:09.and it represents speed. Nobody minded 88 of them coming down the

:13:10. > :13:12.street? The more the merrier. The theme is really about a thousand

:13:13. > :13:18.horses galloping down Chinatown, so that is what we wanted to have for

:13:19. > :13:24.it this year. How many hours of work involved? It took about 15,000 man

:13:25. > :13:28.hours and we invited 55 craftsmen from China to come down to Singapore

:13:29. > :13:35.and do the 88 horses on site, right in the heart of Chinatown. So what

:13:36. > :13:38.does it take to design each of these horses as they galloped down the

:13:39. > :13:44.street, leaving Bridges as they go? That was the job of a group of local

:13:45. > :13:49.university students -- leaping bridges. Added to up with this

:13:50. > :13:54.design? -- how did you come up with this design? The theme was galloping

:13:55. > :13:58.to prosperity and we wanted to bring out the dynamism of the horse. We

:13:59. > :14:03.thought that the quality of ribbons brought out that idea. Also we

:14:04. > :14:09.wanted a lot of horses to be running along, so this idea of racing and

:14:10. > :14:16.galloping towards success was the inspiration. Every year, organisers

:14:17. > :14:19.face a nervous wait to find out what local businesses think of the

:14:20. > :14:25.lights. Good decorations are good for prosperity.

:14:26. > :14:37.This is BBC World News. The latest headlines: Security forces around a

:14:38. > :14:41.government building in Baghdad, after it was stormed by up to eight

:14:42. > :14:46.militants who have taken hostages. Up to 18 people have been killed.

:14:47. > :14:52.Ukraine's embattled president is reportedly on sick leave. That is

:14:53. > :15:01.with the country's political crisis in stalemate. Some news just in from

:15:02. > :15:04.Michael Schumacher's manager saying that Michael Schumacher's sedation

:15:05. > :15:08.in hospital, where he's in an induced coma, is being reduced to

:15:09. > :15:13.allow the start of the week up process. She said it may take some

:15:14. > :15:19.time. This communication has only come through once the process has

:15:20. > :15:23.been consolidation. Now let's move on. The gay daughter of a wealthy

:15:24. > :15:28.Hong Kong businessman has made a public plea to him to stop trying to

:15:29. > :15:31.find a man to marry her. Gigi Chao has written an open letter to her

:15:32. > :15:35.father, Cecil. He's been offering a cool $130 million dowry to any man

:15:36. > :15:39.who could successfully woo his daughter. I spoke to Gigi while she

:15:40. > :15:43.was celebrating Chinese New Year in Hong Kong, and asked her why she

:15:44. > :15:55.decided to release the contents of her letter. I released this open

:15:56. > :16:01.letter to daddy because I was receiving a lot of criticism for his

:16:02. > :16:07.actions, for doubling the so-called dowry or bounty, or his attempts at

:16:08. > :16:17.buying me a husband. It was attracting a lot of anger. Just

:16:18. > :16:22.general negative comments from a lot of netizens on the world wide web. I

:16:23. > :16:29.thought it appropriate for me to set the record straight and let the

:16:30. > :16:34.world at large know more about our relationship and the strength of the

:16:35. > :16:40.relationship we have, and how a lot of the misunderstanding really comes

:16:41. > :16:49.from the differences of my father and I, the age and generations that

:16:50. > :16:52.we come from. That was Gigi Chao. Documents obtained by the BBC's

:16:53. > :16:55.Newsnight programme identify two men suspected of involvement of the

:16:56. > :16:59.murder of a Pakistani politician here in London. Imran Farouq was a

:17:00. > :17:03.senior official in the MQM political party. He was stabbed and bludgeoned

:17:04. > :17:14.to death outside his home in North London in 2010. Owen Bennett Jones

:17:15. > :17:21.reports. An office in Karachi, a college in east London and a murder

:17:22. > :17:27.in Edgware. The British police are trying to work out possible

:17:28. > :17:32.connections, and a Pakistani politician is complaining of police

:17:33. > :17:37.harassment. Al Tuff Husein has lived in North London for over 20 years.

:17:38. > :17:41.He has been accused of no -- numerous murder cases back home.

:17:42. > :17:46.When he gives a speech down a telephone line to Karachi, thousands

:17:47. > :17:50.gathered to listen. It is remote-control politics. As the MQM

:17:51. > :17:55.leader, he is a hugely powerful figure in Karachi representing, he

:17:56. > :17:59.says, the secular middle classes. And he's not happy with the

:18:00. > :18:04.investigation into the murder of one of his party officials, Imran

:18:05. > :18:09.Farouq. A senior MQM official, he was bludgeoned and stabbed to death

:18:10. > :18:13.after walking to his home in September 2010. It has been a

:18:14. > :18:17.massive investigation, more than 4000 people have been interviewed.

:18:18. > :18:26.And for months now, Hussein has been complaining. MQM officials say they

:18:27. > :18:30.want to cooperate with the murder enquiry but complain of police

:18:31. > :18:36.harassment. The only person so far arrested in the case is Husein's

:18:37. > :18:40.nephew, if Thakkar, who is now on police bail. He was arrested on

:18:41. > :18:44.suspicion of conspiracy to murder. Police believe the case will be

:18:45. > :18:49.unlocked in Pakistan. Officially, the police will neither confirm nor

:18:50. > :18:53.deny that they have asked for Pakistani assistance in the case.

:18:54. > :18:59.But Newsnight has learned that the UK Crown Prosecution Service has

:19:00. > :19:03.formally requested that Pakistan give access to two suspects. And

:19:04. > :19:14.documents obtained from Pakistan named them. The two men flew from

:19:15. > :19:22.Pakistan to London. The first to come, sired, arrived in the UK in

:19:23. > :19:26.February 2010. Khan Kamran came a few days before the killing. In the

:19:27. > :19:29.evening of the murder they flew to Sri Lanka and then on to Karachi,

:19:30. > :19:34.where the Pakistani authorities picked them up on the airport

:19:35. > :19:39.tarmac. It is thought they are still being detained in Pakistan. But how

:19:40. > :19:44.did they get to the UK? The two suspects were meant to be studying

:19:45. > :19:47.at the London Academy of management sciences in east London. Documents

:19:48. > :19:52.obtained by Newsnight say the visas were endorsed by a Karachi

:19:53. > :19:59.businessman who was in regular contact with Husein's nephew

:20:00. > :20:06.throughout 2010. The visas were then processed by an educational

:20:07. > :20:09.consultant in Karachi. He told Newsnight he was not an agent of the

:20:10. > :20:16.college and said he didn't know either of the suspects. The MQM

:20:17. > :20:26.denies any link with the murder case. This murder of Imran Farouq,

:20:27. > :20:30.it could be a small old mugging, or it could well be that it some

:20:31. > :20:37.conspiracy hatched by our political enemies abroad. They are attempted

:20:38. > :20:41.to slap the blame on us. As well as the murder enquiry, the UK

:20:42. > :20:46.authorities have three MQM related investigations. One is into

:20:47. > :20:50.Husein's speeches, and whether these statements amount to incitement.

:20:51. > :20:55.Then there's the matter of barely half a million in cash found in Mr

:20:56. > :20:59.Hussein's home and the party headquarters. UK bank accounts are

:21:00. > :21:05.being closed down and there is an unpaid tax. MQM insiders admit they

:21:06. > :21:08.face a massive back tax bill. The MQM is under real pressure now and

:21:09. > :21:13.the question is whether the Pakistan government will give the British

:21:14. > :21:20.access to the two suspects. Politically, Husein's supporters say

:21:21. > :21:29.his power base is intact. But his opponents say his grip on Karachi is

:21:30. > :21:32.loosening. Latest reports from Baghdad suggest the members of staff

:21:33. > :21:37.are being held hostage in the garage building, which is operated by

:21:38. > :21:41.Iraq's Ministry of transport, and that they have been freed. According

:21:42. > :21:44.to Reuters, at least 18 people are known to have died, but it's not yet

:21:45. > :21:47.clear what has happened to the others. It is operated by Iraq's

:21:48. > :21:49.Ministry of transport, and that they have been freed. According to

:21:50. > :21:52.Reuters, at least 18 people are known to have died, but it's not yet

:21:53. > :21:54.clear what has happened to the others. It's believed the attackers

:21:55. > :21:56.have been killed. Financial markets around the world have reacted

:21:57. > :22:00.nervously to the latest move by the US Federal Reserve to wind down its

:22:01. > :22:05.economic stimulus package. It has cut another $10 billion from its

:22:06. > :22:08.operation to buy up bonds. Our correspondent has travelled from

:22:09. > :22:13.small-town America to big-city Indonesia to find out how it could

:22:14. > :22:22.affect businesses worldwide. January, on Merlin's Eastern Shore.

:22:23. > :22:27.Like many other places in the United States, this still lies in an

:22:28. > :22:31.economic deepfreeze. Kind of take one day at a time. Eugene Evans has

:22:32. > :22:36.been building and repairing boats here for over 30 years. He's hanging

:22:37. > :22:41.on but has had to let go of most of his workers. What the Fed has done

:22:42. > :22:50.doesn't make optimistic. I don't really see anything that would

:22:51. > :22:54.encourage me to go out and borrow extra money to do extra things, to

:22:55. > :23:00.put extra people to work. I don't see absolutely nothing. This

:23:01. > :23:06.small-town has everything we've come to expect since the financial

:23:07. > :23:09.crisis. High unemployment, lots of home foreclosures, and empty main

:23:10. > :23:16.street. But things have been bad here for a long time. We all know

:23:17. > :23:20.it's been bad. We can see it, we see it on TV. But when you get down to

:23:21. > :23:24.us, there was a joke you used to tell around here. If we had a

:23:25. > :23:31.depression, it would take is ten years before we knew it because

:23:32. > :23:35.we've been depressed for so long! That's our situation. That is a

:23:36. > :23:38.situation that has caused the Fed to pump in cash for the past five

:23:39. > :23:43.years. And now they are cutting back. Even though all of the

:23:44. > :23:48.attention is on the Fed's tapering, or cutting back, its cash

:23:49. > :23:51.injections, what matters for the fragile recovery is where interest

:23:52. > :23:57.rates are headed. Managing that will be the Fed's biggest challenge. If

:23:58. > :24:01.rates start to rise, people who are struggling could struggle more and

:24:02. > :24:09.the recovery could be over just as it has begun. For the world economy

:24:10. > :24:12.the Federal Reserve's actions are watched like no other, especially in

:24:13. > :24:19.emerging markets such as Indonesia, which are specially vulnerable and

:24:20. > :24:24.fragile. A measure of fragility is how comfortably a country can manage

:24:25. > :24:29.its debt. And Indonesia has a lot of it. 4% of GDP is owed to foreign

:24:30. > :24:33.creditors. With its currency at a five-year low, it now means that

:24:34. > :24:39.burden is getting harder and harder to manage. The hard at work in this

:24:40. > :24:43.plastic factory but this country is considered a member of the fragile

:24:44. > :24:49.five, because it imports more than it exports, so it goes a lot more

:24:50. > :24:53.than it earns. Still, the government is confident that no matter what the

:24:54. > :24:58.Fed does, investors will still think they are worth the risk. Our

:24:59. > :25:03.long-term growth is around 6.5%. While those in the US are around 3%.

:25:04. > :25:08.In terms of growth, we are offering a better return. I believe the

:25:09. > :25:16.improving global economy will improve confidence of global

:25:17. > :25:23.investors to invest in a more risky country. The good times, cheap money

:25:24. > :25:30.was always going to end. Emerging economies now need to convince

:25:31. > :25:33.investors to stay put. Actress Scarlett Johansson has quit as an

:25:34. > :25:38.ambassador for the NGO Oxfam after a row over her support for an Israeli

:25:39. > :25:42.company. She is brand ambassador for SodaStream, which has a factory in

:25:43. > :25:46.the occupied West Bank in the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim. Oxfam

:25:47. > :25:48.opposes trade from settlements, considered illegal under

:25:49. > :25:53.international law, but that's something Israel disputes. The

:25:54. > :25:55.actress's spokesman said she had a "fundamental difference of opinion"

:25:56. > :26:06.with the humanitarian group. Researchers in Cambridge in Britain

:26:07. > :26:10.believe they've made a breakthrough in developing a treatment for

:26:11. > :26:14.children with severe peanut allergies. Scientists say the

:26:15. > :26:18.success came after feeding their minute traces of peanut protein each

:26:19. > :26:22.day. They stress this is an experimental treatment administered

:26:23. > :26:29.in hospital. It must not be tried without medical supervision. More on

:26:30. > :26:33.the condition of Michael Schumacher now. Doctors treating the seven time

:26:34. > :26:37.Formula One world champion will begin lowering his sedation level.

:26:38. > :26:42.That this in order to start the process to wake up. He has been an

:26:43. > :26:45.artificially induced coma in a hospital in the eastern French city

:26:46. > :26:50.of Grenoble for more than four weeks. That is after his skiing

:26:51. > :26:54.accident off-piste in late September in Meribel, when he slammed his head

:26:55. > :27:01.on a rock whilst skiing off piste. Even though he was wearing a helmet.

:27:02. > :27:02.Thanks for joining me. Same time tomorrow, goodbye.