14/03/2014 BBC World News

meets Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Ukraine at the US

ambassadors residence in London. Malaysia Air's Prime Minister joins

prayers for the passengers and crew of flight MH370 one week after it

disappeared. A court in Pretorius are shown

victors of Oscar Pistorius input change shorts as his murder trial

continues. -- in bloodstained shorts.

And three years on after the start of the conflict in Syria, what is

daily life like in the capital? This report from Damascus.

The United States and Russia are holding an emergency meeting in

London at this moment over the crisis in Ukraine, a last chance

face-to-face dialogue for US Secretary of State, John Kerry, and

his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. It is before Sunday's

hastily organised referendum in Crimea, which will ask the people of

Crimea if they want to join the Russian Federation. It has been

widely condemned internationally. Within the past you Mormons, the

British Foreign Secretary has said that the talks on Ukraine will be,

coat, formerly difficult because of the enormous gulf between Russia and

the United States. There is enormous tension in Crimea and the OSCE has

been tried to enter Crimea but with great difficulty. Their ambassador

joins me now live from Vienna. What is the status of your observers that

have been authorised to go in to give independent information on what

has been taking place? Our observers are in eastern Ukraine. Yesterday,

they were in Donetsk but now they are gaining access to military

installations for observation purposes. At the same time, we have

been having aerial observation flights over the region and there is

an ongoing discussion on a monitoring operation in Ukraine, a

longer term endeavour. Discussions are ongoing. Some observers managed

to get up to the Russian border, accompanied by a Ukrainian military.

-- the Ukrainian military. How are your observers being viewed within

Ukraine? They are supported by the authorities and they do not seem to

have encountered any difficulties. They are now in the process of

observing. There are no particular obstacles. Here we have video of

them close to the Russian border. What are they reporting back to you

and how easily be able to operate in Ukraine? They are not indicating any

operational difficulties at this moment and I am looking forward to

hearing their report. What about your efforts to get into Crimea,

which is after all part of Ukraine? Of course. This is part of the

negotiation we are having within the organisation. We hope we will be

able to achieve an agreement soon on the terms of the monitoring mission

which should then involve more than 100 people in Crimea and Ukraine. On

Monday, we expect to have access to Crimea and we will start reporting

on developments there. You always have to operate in a permissible

environment. Have you got agreement of those who are more sympathetic to

the Russian Federation that you can enter Crimea at some point because

of the referendum? The mandate will be agreed by everybody including

Ukraine and Russia. We expect that once everybody agrees to this

mandate, we should have access. If we do not, we will consider the

situation at that point. You say that, but you are pushing very hard

to have the kind of observers we have just seen at the Russian border

actually entering Crimea at the same time so that they can monitor that

part of Ukraine? Of course. We tried and we failed. We expect these

negotiations to result in an agreement with everybody. And that

should be the basis for operations. At this point we are optimistic that

we should be able to gain access. You say you are discussing with the

Russian Federation but what are you discussing with them? Aren't there

are sticking points at the moment? -- are they are sticking points.

There are issues to do with the scope of the operation and the terms

of reference and the description of certain technical aspects, I would

say. But as always, the devil is in the details. We need to iron out

these differences because we need clarity in terms of the mandate for

the people on the ground. Secretary general, thank you. We wait to hear

what happens with your observers. Nearly a week after the

disappearance of a Malaysian airliner with 239 people on board,

the search area has been widened again. The plane disappeared in the

early hours of Saturday morning, just an hour after taking off from

Kuala Lumpur. Rescuers began their search in the South China Sea. But

they've expanded that area several times. First to the Straits of

Malacca. And now, with reports that so called "pinger" signals may have

been detected from equipment on board, the US has said it's shifted

focus toward the Indian Ocean, towards the Andaman Islands. The

Malaysia and Transport Minister give this update. Ladies and gentlemen,

there has been a lot of media speculation today after comments

from an unnamed US officials. These suggested that the plane may have

travelled for some time after we lost contact. As is standard

procedure, the investigation team will not publicly release

information until it has promptly been verified and corroborated with

the relevant authorities. Nor do we want to be drawn into specific

remarks that an unnamed officials have reportedly made in the media.

Since Sunday, we have worked closely with our international partners

including the US team. Officials have been you on the ground -- here

on the ground in Kuala Lumpur. Since Wednesday, the US has been sharing

specific information as soon as it becomes available. Our team have

nothing to confirm at this moment but we are looking at a lot of

information. Widening the investigation, the search area is

expanding and the aircraft is still missing. Two days ago, the search

area was widened to include the Andaman Sea. Together with our

partners, we are pushing east into the South China Sea and further into

the Indian Ocean. We want nothing more than to find the plane as

quickly as possible but the circumstances have forced us to

widen our search. A normal investigation becomes more difficult

with time. As new information focuses on the search. But this is

not a normal investigation. In this case, the information that we have

forces us to look further and further afield. How enormous is the

task facing anyone in this massive search operation? Died Whittington

is the Chief Executive of the UK flight safety committee and when he

was a pilot for the RAF he flew NATO missions for many years, aircraft

which has a digital electronic system aboard to try to find out

what is happening for miles over the horizon. I asked him what his

thoughts were about the search that is underway. If that original search

had started around the last known location, with an aeroplane

travelling at 500 mph, you are looking at something equivalent to

throwing a 5p coin into the Olympic Stadium and then looking for it in

the dark with a torch. It is a tough task. On the half of the nuclear

force and NATO, you have been up there, involved in massive

operations to try to detect stuff which is happening before the people

on the ground know that it is happening. But when you look at the

reality of what is visible, particularly for aircraft which you

are responsible for, flying backwards and forwards across the

Malaysian peninsula and Indian option, what is in your mind about

flight safety? -- Indian Ocean. It is not a safety issue in that part

of the world. Until we work out what has happened to this aircraft, it

will be difficult to say what particular action should be taken.

In terms of the search and rescue operation, and it is a search and

rescue operation at the moment rather than a recovery operation, is

trying to find some means of focusing the senses you have

available in the right area. Because we could be talking about, in UK

terms, looking for a ship that has sunk in the channel when actually we

meant the channel between two of the islands in the Faroes. It is a huge

area we are covering. There are lots of areas of their -- aeroplanes up

there, lots of vessels using sonar and radar to try and find some sort

of debris. If this aircraft has actually crashed into the water,

something will be floating somewhere. It is just a question of

finding it. Finally, help us understand, these are complete

electronic issues, however everything is switched off for some

reason in the cockpit, and we know that the last signal was at 107 PM

from the engines and 1:31pm from the transponder, all that was switched

off some reason but somehow signals are being received in a passive

way, being broadcast by the fuselage? How does that happen? The

locator transmitter is automatic and it is tripped by impact. The flight

data recorder, again, is tripped by impact and will have a water

activated location device. To reach that, you have to be within range of

them. And the range will be affected by how the wreckage is distributed,

and water depth and temperatures. It is still a tough task. I think the

mark of that was the Air France accident in the South Atlantic were

those recorders took two years to find and recover. It was a very

expensive, huge task. Other news in this hour, a seven

story building has collapsed in the Western Indian city of Mumbai. There

are fears that several people are trapped under the rubble. A resident

in the area says that the local municipal corporation had teamed the

building unsafe for living and had given several eviction notices to

the residents. I'd US Airways plane has collapsed

on the runway at Philadelphia International airport. 149

passengers were evacuated. The landing gear fails, forcing the

pilot to avoid take-off. Six people have died in a Chinese

city after men armed with knives attacked people on the street.

Please have shot dead one suspect. There are reports that the incident

was triggered by a dispute at the market. Stay with us on BBC World

News, still to come: We have a special report from the Thar desert

region of Pakistan where a severe drought has claimed the lives of

more than a hundred children. Four people have been killed in a

helicopter crash in the east of England. Among those who died was

the Conservative Peer Lord Ballyedmond, the chairman of

Norbrook, the largest privately owned pharmaceutical company in the

world. The helicopter came down in thick fog last night, shortly after

take-off. This report from Fiona Irving does contain flashing images.

Thick fog still shrouds the site where the helicopter came down at

around 7:30pm last night. Four people on board died. This morning,

air accident investigators will begin examining the scene.

Investigators are waiting for the fog to lift and will be a search

process to follow and establishing the size and location of the site.

And then there will be a systematic search which will present

information and evidence for us to look at.

One of those killed has been named as Lord Ballyedmond, thought to be

Northern Ireland's richest man. Tributes are being paid to him as an

entrepreneur known for leadership, integrity and global vision. The

crash happened just north of the village of Gillingham in Norfolk.

The Conservative peer owned Gillingham Paul, a cyclical nearby.

Witnesses say that there was this thick fog in the area at the time of

the accident. But it is too early to say what caused the crash. Police

said the wreckage is spread over a wide area and investigators will

start the process of gathering evidence to find out what happened.

Officials in north-west Pakistan say a suicide bomber has blown himself

up near a police armoured vehicle killing at least seven people. The

attack took place in the suburbs of the city of Peshawar. An official

said most of those killed were civilians but that there were police

officers among the nearly 30 injured. Security forces have

recently stepped up their patrolling in the area due to threats from

militants from the nearby Khyber tribal region. No one has admitted

responsibility for the attack. This is BBC World News. Our main

headlines... It is the 10th day of the trial of Oscar Pistorius, for

the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. The police officer who

initially investigated the crime is again being cross-examined. He told

the court that Oscar Pistorius had blood on his arm after shooting

Reeva Steenkamp. A photograph was shown in court. Mr Pistorius denies

intentionally killing his girlfriend. We can now go to Nomsa

Maseko, who joins me from outside court in Pretoria. The defence

lawyer has been really challenging the police about the way they have

handled the evidence? That is correct. The police work is under

scrutiny today, because the defence attorney has been wanting out some

discrepancies in the way in which evidence was handled. He also made

allegations that the police stole two wristwatches, very expensive

watches, belonging to Oscar Pistorius, and how the evidence was

actually preserved. He went back to how the door, which had bullet

holes, which is in the courtroom, where and how it was restored, or

put together, in storage. As we heard this morning, the police

officer in court today said he locked that door in his office

because that was the safest place that he could put it in the police

station. He also said it was not tampered with. We also heard from

him, saying that things were shifted and moved around at the crime scene,

because of the way in which the police has exhibited photographs of

the crime scene. We have seen some different ones, with a cellphone in

one, and in another there wasn't. The court is on lunch, and will be

back later. The Pakistan government has

confirmed that more than a million people have been affected by a

drought in the country's southern province of Sindh. Children are

beginning to die of starvation in the Thar desert. And the authorities

are coming in for heavy criticism, as Saba Eitizaz reports from

Tharparkar. This lady is pregnant. She should be

eating for two, but she is starving. Village customs demand that she

should feed her family first, and eat what is left. But there has been

no rain, and that means no leftovers. Her mother-in-law eats

this one meal of the day. There is also a thimble full of milk for her

eight-month-old daughter, the only food she will get for the rest of

the day. Imagine her hunger pangs as she sets off in search of water. She

tells me, we had 20 goats. Now, the drought has killed them all, except

one. What will happen to us if that one also dies? How will I feed my

daughter? The women here walk for miles to find water. Now, there is

little left. It has not trained in the harsh desert since August.

People depend on it for crops as well as water. 200,000 people are

fleeing because the crops are dying. And so are the animals. The

sudden media attention on the issue brought on the abrupt arrival of the

Prime Minister, and the leader of the Pakistan People's Party, whose

party has always been in power here. Many here say that the aid being

announced now was needed earlier. It is political face saving in a crisis

which could have been avoided. Doctors at the hospital say hundreds

of patient have been running the hospital for several months now.

TRANSLATION: Malnutrition is a big problem. It is a problem all over

this region. I see 250 people a day at this hospital. Many of them,

sometimes as many as 40%, our children. The hospital has been

declared an emergency zone. What the government and the media are

focusing on right now is these problems, but they will not go away

with short-term solutions, particularly as temperatures rise

and the drought gets worse in the scorching desert summer, just two

months away. The administration says there is enough food to go around to

feed these babies, gasping for breath. So why were hundreds of

children allowed to die, still waiting for that one morsel which

could have saved them? Syria's conflict is one that neither

diplomacy - nor fighting - have managed to end. Three years ago

protests in the southern town of Deraa marked the start of what's

become a brutal civil war. The country remains divided against

itself. Since March 2011, an estimated 140,000people have died

within the country. 6.5 million are trapped inside Syria itself. Nine

million people are displaced. Two and a half million have fled across

borders. More ominously, the conflict's sectarian nature - Sunni

rebels fighting government-aligned minorities - shows signs of

destabilising the entire region, well beyond Syria's borders. In

contrast, the Syrian capital seems to be regaining a semblance of

normality. The BBC's Rami Ruhayem sent this report from Damascus.

Three years on and still no end in sight to the unrest which has become

a full-blown war. As Syria approaches the fourth year of

conflict, Damascus appears full of contradictions. Some areas on the

edge of the capital, under opposition control, are besieged and

under attack. But in the rest of the city, things appear to be going

relatively well. In fact, government-held areas in Damascus

are swelling with new arrivals, seeking normality. I changed my

school, my friends, my house, my whole life. But now, I have a new

life. In this country, or this... It is better than before, because it

isn't safe. It is a safe place, we can go out even in the middle of the

night to have a walk, or have parties, or have new friends, than

before. But there are still things to complain about. Two years ago,

people used to stay until three o'clock in the morning or four

o'clock in the morning. Now, maximum, 12. They come early, they

go early. Prices in the bar? Yes, of course, they have doubled, tripled,

not doubled. Even food. As prices shot up, the government intervened.

TRANSLATION: The government had to reverse the policy of market

liberalisation. We began by setting price ceilings for food items. We

studied the cost for traders and we set a fair profit margin.

Subsidies are also a pillar of government policy. Today, bread

produced in government bakeries costs consumers as little as it did

before the war, and the state pays the difference. As it increases

pressure on rebel held areas, the government is on a charm offensive

on its own turf. The discovery of oil and gas in

Kenya's north-western Turkana region has been hailed as a game-changer

for the country. Experts say the initial findings look promising and

the first barrels of oil could be commercially produced within a few

years. But tensions are running high among locals as they grow impatient

about benefiting from this new-found wealth. The BBC's Emmanuel Igunza

sent this report. This is a far-flung tourist attraction, and a

rich source of fish for locals. But these waters are beginning to

interest different companies. Some believe black gold lies under the

surface. Initial surveys have already been conducted. But on the

land surrounding the lake, exploration has already begun. One

British firm has dug seven Wells in the area. This is the latest site

where it is drilling for oil. The company says initial signs here are

promising. By the end of this year, it plans to have 30 other sites like

this one across the Lake Turkana region. We have had a lot of

discoveries, which we the next phase is further exploration. This is an

appraisal well. We are excited about the prospects. This is one of the

poorest parts of Kenya. The discovery of oil has raised

expectations among the locals that their lives could change for the

better. Here, poverty levels remain high. There are not many formal

jobs. Gates of underdevelopment have left the locals feeling neglected by

the central government, and they feel the discovery of oil should

benefit them more. Last year, protesters halted operations

altogether. And recently, there have been more demonstrations. When you

see this place, the benefit that we have been asking for, we are not

getting it. It is like they are coming to benefit from our country,

and they left us hungry, hanging around, no jobs, no benefit that we

are getting from the company. But the country manager for the company

disputes this. He says the company is doing all it can to provide more

jobs for the community, despite a huge skills in the Lake Turkana

region. Out of 2000 places, we have got in excess of 1000 200 people. In

Nairobi, out of 100 people, we have localised around 70% of it. So there

is indeed a significant component of people from the area of Turkana

already in our operations. While production in Turkana is not

expected to start until 2018. But when it does, it is hoped that the

fortunes of this for nomadic community will be transformed

forever. Stay with us for the latest on the Malaysia aircraft,