31/01/2014 BBC World News

Hello. Welcome to BBC World News. Our top stories. As American troops

prepare to leave Afghanistan, President Karzai, talking to BBC

World News, defends his refusal to sign a security deal with the US.

Immediately, it is not my decision. It is what I want from this

agreement with the Americans, to bring to the Afghan people. An

opposition activist in Ukraine who disappeared a week ago is found

badly tortured on the outskirts of the capital Kiev. The family of

murdered British student Meredith Kercher have said their search for

the truth goes on after the reinstatement of convictions against

Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. It may be the fact that we don't

ever really know what happened that night. And despite the historic

levels of rain and floods across southern England, how the harnessing

of solar energy is happening. Hello, everyone. The President of

Afghanistan Hamid Karzai has been talking to the BBC about the US

troop withdrawal from his country. All international combat forces are

due to leave by the end of this year after 13 years in Afghanistan. But

President Karzai has still not signed a follow-on security deal. It

would agree the framework for a handful of troops to remain in an

advisory role. BBC World News' Yalda Hakim asked President Karzai if he

was reluctant to sign because he is concerned about his own personal

legacy. Of course I should be concerned about my legacy. If

signing the agreement is a good thing, why should there be this

question of my legacy in the minds of those who accuse me of thinking

of my legacy? Of course I'm concerned about my legacy. Of course

I don't want to sign something that I don't think is good for

Afghanistan under the circumstances. So if it's a question of my legacy,

it's legitimate. Why would a leader be considered badly in terms of his

legacy, by signing something? It means there is a doubt even in the

minds of those who talk about it as a positive thing. But, no,

immediately committed is not my legacy. It is what I want this

agreement with the Americans to bring to our country. With me is out

World Affairs Correspondent, Jonathan Marcus. I thought this deal

was in place last year. What's going on? I think the Americans thought a

deal was in place. Clearly a gathering of elders and significant

political figures in Afghanistan had urged the president to sign the

deal. He's playing a very high stakes game here. I think, largely,

for personal and domestic political reasons, he wants some of the

clauses that agreement to be changed now. The Americans are saying it's

far too late for that. Do we know what changes he wants? Not exactly.

There's a lot of sense when you speak to experts in the region that

what is actually doing is trying to influence the context and the

environment in which the presidential election takes place.

He wants to be able to have something to hold over the

Americans. He can't stand but as brother, for example, is standing.

Politicians close to him standing. If there is any of his legacy he is

interested in, it's probably retaining some element of the

influence he has had in the past. The problem for the Americans, and

for him, if you cut of American troops, you will cut off any more

NATO troops, and you will turn off probably the pipeline of

international funding to a significant extent to Afghanistan so

the stakes are very high indeed. Very high stakes, but could it be he

and anybody as he supports in the election simply do not want Allied

American led troops to remain in the country beyond January next year? I

don't think he thinks that, although clearly we don't know his innermost

feelings. There are people in Afghanistan who do think that, but

you only have to look at the situation in a rock, where, perhaps,

many people never thought the Americans would leave but they did

-- Iraq. The situation has worsened dramatically for the Americans had

lot longer time to negotiate a deal there, an agreement which will allow

their forces to remain, around 10,000 American troops, that would

stay if it's agreed. Plus other international troops? Of course, the

real risk now it Hamid Karzai seems to want to put it beyond the

forthcoming presidential election if a decision is taken, then there is a

distinct possibility could end up with no US troops there, no NATO

troops there, and a significant impact on the future funding of

Afghanistan from the international community. Jonathan, thanks very

much indeed. The family of Meredith Kercher, the British student

murdered in Italy nearly seven years ago, have said they may never know

what happened the night she was killed. On Thursday an Italian court

reinstated convictions for murder against Meredith's flatmate, the

American student Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend Rafaelle

Solecito. Within hours, he was arrested by Italian police within 40

kilometres of the border with Slovenia. Alan Johnson was in court

in Florence. After considering the evidence for 11 hours, the judge

returned to court. For Amanda Knox and her former lover, the verdict

was devastating. The judge believed they had been involved in a sexual

assault and murder of Meredith Kercher. She was only 21 when she

was killed. A student whose life ought to have stretched out before

her. Full of promise. Her sister told of her feelings. I think we are

still on a journey to the truth, and maybe the fact that we don't ever

really know what happened that night. Which is obviously something

we have to come to terms with. As you ask before about the length of

the case, that also quite hard to deal with, because you can't ever

really get to a point where you can kind of start to remember Meredith,

because it's following the case, travelling over to Italy and every

thing associated with it. Scene after the murder, Amanda Knox and

Raffaele Sollecito were accused of being involved in forcing Meredith

Kercher into a sex game that ended in the killing. Amanda Knox couldn't

be compelled to attend the hearing in Italy but stayed here at home in

America protesting her innocence. Now there may be an attempt to

extradite her. And she spoke to the Guardian in the days before the

verdict she dreaded. I am a marked person, and no one who is unmarked

is going to understand that. But even now, this extraordinary case,

there's another phase yet to come. It will be taken back one more time

to Italy's Supreme Court. So still, there will be legal wrangling is

over exactly what happened in this house. The scene of the murder of

Meredith Kercher. To the Ukraine now, where a prominent opposition

activist who disappeared a week ago has been found badly tortured on the

outskirts of the capital Kiev. Dmytro Bulatov is the leader of

Auto-Maydan, a motorists' protest movement. He says he was kidnapped

and repeatedly beaten. TRANSLATION: I was crucified. I have

got holes in my hands, part of my ear was cut off. They cut my face.

There is not a spot on my body that hasn't been beaten. I couldn't tell

who they were, as it always dark where they were, Adams always dark

with a cap to me that the accident was Russian. I will tell you more

later. Now I can't see very well because I'd been in darkness for so

long. This is awful. With me is Olexiy Solohubenko, the BBC's Global

News Languages Editor. What is your thought about this? This is a

revolting attack on one of many? It is one of many that the second

high-profile case where it's been proven that a lead of the protest

movement has been abducted, tortured and beaten up by who, we don't know.

The accident as part of the story but it's difficult to prove. He

mentioned that he thought the people who were torturing him were speaking

with a Russian accent. Obviously there are lots of Russian speakers

in the Ukraine. Whether you can pen and accent to another country, we

don't know. There's lots of rumours about Russian special forces but

nothing has been proven. Inside the country itself, the police, the

units, the special riot police have been located in quite a lot of

brutality so it's very difficult to say who did it. But the fact that he

has been tortured and this is the second most prominent leader of the

protest movement in the Ukraine have been beaten up and tortured and now

has undergone surgery today. He is recuperating in hospital after

intensive care now. It proved a lot of dark forces have been at work. I

interviewed the then Ukrainian Prime Minister and put this point to him

about dark forces may be from outside the country. He said they

have full control over the security services and the paramilitary

forces. Should we believe somebody at that level, the Prime Minister? I

think he probably engages in a propaganda war as everybody else

does. I think it's very, very difficult to prove what he's saying.

There's lots of video evidence, lots of evidence that police and riot

police have been engaged in very brutal beatings of many protesters.

Official figures give you the number of over 1000 people who have been

badly beaten. 100 off than hospitals. Of course the radicals on

the opposition. The anarchist, neo-Nazi groups, quite a combination

of those people who have been attacking police and violence have

been on both sides. It appears the president might be fit enough by

Monday to re-enter the political frame, having his high temperature

and flew going down. Italy back in the frame? Yes, because now the

country is in limbo for sub all the laws which have been repealed by

parliament last week, even the amnesty law, controversially, needs

his signature. So far, it's not clear what's going on. The

opposition wanted a big rally on Sunday. So probably the rally will

be cancelled but without the president and his participation, the

legal limbo will continue and political tension will continue.

Thank you very much. Still to come. We've the latest on Syria's mass

migration. First they fled to Turkey. Now many have crossed the

border into Bulgaria in the hope of moving to other countries in Europe.

And we stay with Syria. The diplomatic persuasion and

brinkmanship on all sides took well over a year. For the last few days

they have at least sat in the same room. The first round of peace talks

on Syria finishes today. A series of meetings behind closed doors has not

achieved what negotiators hoped just might be a quick breakthrough. That

is a humanitarian deal to allow food into the besieged city of Homs. I

asked out Middle East Correspondent, Lina Sinjab, for her audit on how

the talks had gone if anywhere at all. As you rightly said, not much

has been achieved this week about the fact that they are still in

Geneva, no one pulled out and said they weren't continuing, that's a

breakthrough. Yesterday, in the morning session, for the first time,

they stuck together and had a silent moment commemorating the attack in

Syria on both sides. That was also something like a step forward. In

terms of the achievement, no one was expecting much to happen on the

first round, especially when it took the International committee 19

months to convince both sides to come to the negotiating table, so

the very fact the first round went out with neither side pulling out is

an achievement. We can see the formality of the United Nations

building behind you. What happens in these kinds of meetings is what

happens in the margins, bumping into each other in hotels and so on.

Could it be, at least, there are contacts going on which otherwise

would never have been possible? Well, I have been talking to some of

the negotiators yesterday and the format of the talks is, although

they sit in the same room, don't actually talk to each other. They

address the mediator by passing messages. But today, the mood is

getting better and they are starting talking to each other, although

there are still some tension there. But, for the first time, we have to

acknowledge for the Syrian government they have called this a

conspiracy, and calling people traitors and terrorists, and now

they are considering them as partners and sitting next to them on

the negotiating table and that is a big achievement in the Syrian

crisis. This is BBC World News. The latest

headlines for you. As American troops leave Afghanistan by the end

of the year, president cars I talking to BBC World News defends

his refusal to defend a security deal with the US -- Hamid Karzai.

Raffaele Sollecito, the former boyfriend of Amanda Knox, has been

stopped by police in Austria. Their convictions were reinstated

yesterday for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher. The family

say they are searching for the truth and it goes on. After three years of

increasingly brutal civil war, more than two million people have fled

Sir why. Many crosses the border to Jordan, Lebanon and turkey. --

tucky. -- Turkey. 6,000 have made their way into Bulgaria. It's the

poorest member of the EU and least-able to cope with so many new

arrivals. From Harmanli in Bulgaria, we have this report. In the EU's

poorest country, Syrian refugees wait ng. They had arrived illegally

from Turkey and now stuck in this camp near the border. . A lucky few

are getting a document, allowing them out of the camp. They've been

waiting for months. We want to get out of this country. More pract kele

problems -- practical problems need to be dealt with. Jill is a British

woman who retired to a house nearby two years ago. Now she volunteers in

the camp every day. The hot plate isn't working and there's no heeRT

and two families in here and they are families that I've got a big

star against, which means they have absolutely no money. Behind every

door, a story. This is Walat, born here in Europe 11 days ago.

TRANSLATION: I want him to have a good life, a good future, a good

home. Not like us. It's below freezing today, but people say

conditions in the camp have improved over the last couple of months. The

trouble is, they are all in limbo. They can't go back to their past

lives and they have no idea what the future might hold. Another camp in

the capital. More frustration. European money has been slow to

arrive to make life a little better. TRANSLATION: We are doing our best.

But there are many problems here. The heating isn't good enough. This

used to be a school, not a place for people to live in. The electrics

need a bit of work too. And there are more than 40 people living in

the sold school gym. They are safe, but this is not the Europe they

thought they would find. We are running from Syria. We don't have

money. We don't have anything. We come here. You thought Europe would

be better? Yes, I hoped. They tell me it will be better. When we come

here, it's a poor country and they cannot help us. Outside, some light

relief in the snow, but this situation is frustrating for

everyone, Syrians and Bulgarians alike. When the snow melts, more

people will try to come. The US Attorney General has said he's going

for the death penalty against the surviving suspect in the Boston

Marathon Bombing trial. Dzokhar Tsarnaev, who's 20, will go on trial

in Boston itself. The death penalty has been abolished in the state

Massachusetts, but this will be a federal prosecution. As Beth McLeod

reports, it could become a very divisive issue. Accused of carrying

out the bombing, the death penalty could a 20-year-old Dzhokhar

Tsahnaev if he's convicted. The terrifying moment the first of two

home-made bombs exploded, killing three people and wounding more than

260. The other suspect, his older brother, was killed in a shootout

with police a few days after the attack. The US Attorney General said

after considering the relevant facts, he wants the death penalty to

be pursued, because the nature of the conduct at issue and the

resultant harm compel this decision. Dzhokhar Tsahnaev was arrested after

one of the biggest manhunts in US history, which left the area in

lockdown. The city is the capital of one of the most liberal states in

the country, which abolished the death penalty 30 years ago at State

level. As you all know, as a State representative I voted against the

death penalty. If I were asked to vote today, I would vote the same

way. This is not my vote to cast or decision to make. The support the

judicial system and process that the Secretary of State put on told. --

today. Nine months after, the city could be divided over this

announcement. A newspaper poll found that 57% of Boston residence

favoured life imprisonment for Dzhokhar Tsahnaev. Only 33% want the

death penalty. It will be up to jurors from the area to decide his

faith. This Sunday is the Super Bowl, the National Football League's

yearly championship in the US. It's been a very wet few weeks here in

the this country. Some homes and businesses are still installing

solar panels to try to shave money off their energy bills. How much can

you save? We have been finding out. This is an old World War II airfield

near Loughborough and it's used for moat racing and the odd -- motor

racing and the odd grazing sheep, but now it's the UK's largest solar

farm. 150 acres, 125,000 panels and it generates enough power for 8,500

homes. Even grey skies can generate green energy. That's right. A great

day to talk about solar, windy and raining, but it's producing 40%.

It's ahead of the expectations, around 15%, so very happy with it.

This power station was built in just seven weeks. The low-grade

agriculture land that isn't overlooked. Elsewhere, though, solar

farms have been far less welcome. Transforming green and pleasant land

into black, glass fields has been strongly opposed. And newsing the

right location is essential. We believe that it's important that

high-quality agricultural land isn't taking away from food production and

given over to large solar farms, but again, this old airfield is making

good use and we believe that should be prioritised along with rooftops.

What about this? City skyscrapers with their glass-coat panels. It

means the Shard could power 1,000 homes. We have developing a coating

for glass and it's transparent and generates electricity exactly the

same was as the panels on the roof. It's great with diffused light.

Thinner, cheaper, more flexible, it's easier to use and that's the

future. In certain parts of the world now it's actually cheaper to

generate power from solar panels than it is from buying from the

Grid. In southern California, parts of Arizona and it's already

happening there. Is that because it's so sunny there? They do have

good sunshine, so they have maybe three times that of the UK, but the

UK is a very good location for solar panels. You generate the hot water

through a coil. As an engineer, Keith is fascinated by the roof

panels that heat the water and generate electricity and even

washing days depend on how much power the sun provides. I don't tend

to think about it. It's been excellent. Tell me why you are such

big fans? Energy costs. From May to October the boiler never runs. All

the water is generated through solar. What sort of difference has

it made to your heating bills? Heating bill -- it's chopped it by

half. Changes in subsidies and the price paid to owners has seen the

industry speed up and slow down overee vent years. At times, it's

been very unpredictable. Just like the great British weather.

In China, people hoping to enter the new year with a bang are having to

scale back celebrations. Normally days and nights are filled with the

sound of fair works and crackers being left off, but due to pollution

people have been asked to scale back that tradition for the year of the

horse. Chin knees new year and the skies

are a sea of colour. It's believed here that fireworks ward off evil

spirits and bring good luck. We are at one of the stalls that dot

Beijing and there's a huge variety of fireworks on sale and just behind

me, a few last-minute customers, but the stallholder here says the sales

are down one third. One of the reasons is that the authorities want

to curb the sale of fireworks and they've also said that if pollution

peaks in the city over the new year period, then people won't be allowed

to let off the fireworks, because it would worsen the pollution. This

young boy's having to pick carefully. Previously, he would have

been allowed to fill three baskets, but now, on his dad's orders, he's

only getting one. TRANSLATION: I feel incredibly special when I let

off a firework. His father doesn't want to spoil the tradition, but he

says that everyone is disgusted by the pollution and that's why he's

scaled back this year. Firework fans may be in luck. This rare blue-sky

weather in Beijing. Fireworks may briefly add to the pollution here,

but you get the sense that people will put up with it, because, let's

face it, fireworks are a lot of fun. Finally, fear of in the mountains,

but hope it will never happpen - a huge boulder smashed through a farm

in Northern Italy after being dislodged by a landslide. The

massive rock narrowly missed the farm house, destroyed a barn, and

stopped in a vineyard at the property in Ronchi di Termeno. A

second giant boulder detached during the landslide stopped behind the

house. The family living there was unharmed. Thank you for joining me.

Back at the