:00:12. > :00:15.This is BBC World News Today. Airlift from Yemen. The US and
:00:15. > :00:19.Britain evacuate diplomatic staff amid fears of a significant terror
:00:19. > :00:25.attack in the Arab nation. British and American citizens are also told
:00:25. > :00:28.to leave immediately. Reports say Al-Qaeda was planning one of the
:00:28. > :00:34.most serious plots against Western interests since 9/11.
:00:34. > :00:37.Let's talk. Two days into his new job, Iran's president calls for
:00:37. > :00:40.serious negotiations with the West over the country's controversial
:00:40. > :00:46.nuclear programme. Also coming up, a silent killer in
:00:46. > :00:49.eastern Canada. A python escapes from a pet shop and strangles two
:00:49. > :00:54.children as they sleep. And China gets a taste for French
:00:54. > :01:04.wine. But it is not just bottles they are snapping up, it is an
:01:04. > :01:12.
:01:12. > :01:17.Hello and welcome to the programme. The US and UK are warning of an
:01:17. > :01:22.extremely high terrorism threat in Yemen and have began evacuating
:01:22. > :01:28.diplomatic staff following the sudden closure of 20 US embassies
:01:28. > :01:33.and consulates on Sunday. Both countries advise citizens in Yemen
:01:33. > :01:37.to get out immediately. The US has intercepted conversations between
:01:37. > :01:43.two senior Al-Qaeda figures, including top leader Ayman
:01:43. > :01:49.al-Zawahiri and their representative in Yemen. The warning to leave Yemen
:01:49. > :01:54.came shortly after a US drone strike killed four suspected Al-Qaeda
:01:54. > :01:58.militants. The BBC's Yalda Hakim is just back from Yemen after speaking
:01:58. > :02:04.to people whose family members have been killed in what they say are
:02:04. > :02:09.drone strikes. Yemen is one of the front lines in
:02:09. > :02:16.America's war against Al-Qaeda. The number of don't strikes has tripled
:02:16. > :02:22.between 2011 and 2012. -- drone strikes. That is according to a US
:02:22. > :02:26.think tank. But for this farmer, it comes with a high human cost. He was
:02:26. > :02:31.working in the fields one day when he heard the blast, we went to see
:02:31. > :02:41.what happened and when he got there, he saw that two missiles had
:02:41. > :03:09.
:03:09. > :03:15.killed in the Yemeni town last September. This footage was given to
:03:15. > :03:25.us by a local journalist. Survivors said they saw at least one drone and
:03:25. > :03:42.
:03:42. > :03:45.Al-Qaeda leader travelling on the same stretch of road. The United
:03:45. > :03:50.States has never officially acknowledged that it carried out the
:03:50. > :03:56.strike, the Yemeni government paid $75,000 in blood money to the
:03:56. > :04:01.families. With drone strikes an established part of US strategy to
:04:01. > :04:08.combat Al-Qaeda, a Yemeni youth activist has a worrying message for
:04:08. > :04:14.Washington. The United States thinks it understands Yemen, but drones of
:04:14. > :04:20.been one of the most effective tools for Al-Qaeda to succeed in Yemen. A
:04:20. > :04:26.big part of Al-Qaeda's pirate at the moment is convincing Yemeni people
:04:26. > :04:30.that they are at war with the United States. -- Al-Qaeda's pirate.
:04:30. > :04:35.the Yemeni Foreign Minister rejects this analysis. I have heard this,
:04:35. > :04:41.and there might be some truth in it, but the fact is that if your targets
:04:42. > :04:46.are Al-Qaeda leaders, and if they are in danger in the security of
:04:46. > :04:51.your country, there is no alternative. The Foreign Minister
:04:51. > :04:55.also says the accidental killing of civilians is an unfortunate
:04:55. > :05:01.side-effect of war, but that is little comfort for the ball like
:05:02. > :05:08.this farmer, who knows his fight for justice is a long and lonely one.
:05:08. > :05:10.That was Yalda Hakim reporting. Anthony Cordesman is the Arleigh A
:05:10. > :05:14.Burke Chair in strategy at their Centre for Strategic and
:05:14. > :05:19.International Studies and is in Washington for as. Good to have you
:05:19. > :05:24.there. I am not sure if you could hear another report the analysis
:05:24. > :05:28.that these drone attacks, and there was another one, is perhaps
:05:28. > :05:35.providing some sort of order or incentive for Al-Qaeda in Yemen to
:05:35. > :05:41.attack US interests, what do you think? Firstly, this is the same
:05:41. > :05:47.reaction everywhere that they are used. A lot of it is straight
:05:47. > :05:53.propaganda. You have a target in Al-Qaeda, who do all they can to
:05:53. > :06:00.make this into an attack on the local population. They will stage
:06:00. > :06:04.people to appear in crowds, to be spokesman to the media, who claim to
:06:04. > :06:10.have had civilian casualties, and there are real civilian casualties,
:06:10. > :06:15.but the fact is this is war. If you are going to deal with a terrorist
:06:15. > :06:23.movement, which in many ways is an insurgent group, that hides behind
:06:23. > :06:28.the billion areas, that locates itself with women and children. --
:06:28. > :06:33.hides behind civilian areas. That attempts to move in ways that there
:06:33. > :06:37.is no ability to distinguish between military and civilian targets, the
:06:37. > :06:44.drones offer advantages no other method of attack does. It can loiter
:06:44. > :06:48.for a long time, can observe what is happening on the ground, bring in
:06:48. > :06:54.other intelligence sources, because unlike a combat aircraft, you can
:06:54. > :07:00.take the time and loiter over the target. That does not mean there
:07:00. > :07:07.will not be tragedies, or innocent civilians, but in a war, the fact is
:07:07. > :07:13.that the enemy is going to get killed. If you...And if the enemy
:07:13. > :07:18.fights this kind of war, there will be cases, tragic as they are, we're
:07:18. > :07:24.civilians died. You describe this as a war, so how credible do you
:07:24. > :07:28.believe this threat to be? And why has the US moved to shut embassies
:07:28. > :07:32.in 19 other countries? I think the problem we have is the New York
:07:32. > :07:38.Times and other papers have basically focused on a possible
:07:38. > :07:43.communications link between the head of Al-Qaeda, is essentially in
:07:43. > :07:47.Pakistan, and the head of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen,
:07:47. > :07:56.but what none of those now is what really is the mixture of sources and
:07:56. > :08:00.methods. You almost never react to one indicator to date. Behind this,
:08:00. > :08:06.what no one will say, because it will give away sources and methods,
:08:06. > :08:09.is probably a history of weeks or months of build-up, a whole set of
:08:09. > :08:15.additional indicators, which can be anything from imagery of what is
:08:15. > :08:18.happening on the ground, to pattern analysis, to something like
:08:19. > :08:23.money-laundering or the movement of weapons, or simply patterns of
:08:23. > :08:28.immigration that no one will disclose. But you do not do this
:08:28. > :08:32.simply because you have one indicator. You do this because you
:08:32. > :08:36.have a mixture of indicators that there is a truly serious threat.
:08:36. > :08:43.Anthony Cordesman, we shall leave it there, thank you for your analysis
:08:43. > :08:48.from Washington. Let us move on to Iran, where the
:08:48. > :08:50.new president is showing signs that he wants to open talks with the
:08:50. > :08:56.international community of his country's controversial nuclear
:08:56. > :09:05.programme. Hassan Rouhani says he is ready to start serious talks and
:09:05. > :09:13.without wasting time. TRANSLATION: I do not think that the
:09:13. > :09:17.West has heard Iran's message. I do not think that the West thinks that
:09:17. > :09:24.continuing their sanctions and threats will bring them to any
:09:24. > :09:34.conclusion. Interaction and constructive talks, to resolve
:09:34. > :09:35.
:09:35. > :09:39.mutual concerns, guarantees both sides' interests and we are after
:09:39. > :09:45.the win-win game. And this is possible. Let us discuss the
:09:45. > :09:50.significance of this by speaking to Amir Paivar from BBC Persian TV. We
:09:50. > :09:58.heard those comments of a win-win game, and it being possible, what do
:09:58. > :10:06.you think? I think it is possible. It would not have been any easier,
:10:06. > :10:09.or the state would not have been better set than it is now with the
:10:09. > :10:19.government of Hassan Rouhani, but it does not mean it will be an easy
:10:19. > :10:25.ride, because in Iran, the last word is that of the supreme leader. The
:10:25. > :10:30.country would not want to be seen as losing too much with no negotiations
:10:30. > :10:34.with their nuclear programme. So there is the opportunity there are,
:10:34. > :10:40.but it would be a difficult task. Just on that point about the supreme
:10:40. > :10:45.leader, is there any chance that perhaps the new president is taking
:10:45. > :10:49.instructions from him to open up talks or is this coming from Hassan
:10:49. > :10:55.Rouhani himself? It could not have come from Hassan Rouhani alone. The
:10:55. > :11:00.general understanding is the supreme leader is backing this initiative.
:11:00. > :11:07.The question is how far each of them would want to go. For the survival
:11:07. > :11:11.of the regime, that is paramount to the supreme leader. But that is
:11:11. > :11:17.undermined because of the current stand-off, and that is what the
:11:17. > :11:21.supreme leader would want fixed. But for diplomats, such as Hassan
:11:21. > :11:28.Rouhani and the people around him, they would want to go further, which
:11:28. > :11:31.is weird difficulties would start. But to start negotiations, to talk
:11:31. > :11:37.to world powers over Iran's dossier is what the supreme leader once as
:11:38. > :11:41.well. Very briefly, Hassan Rouhani spoke about the election
:11:41. > :11:46.consolidating the process of democracy in Iran, what do you
:11:46. > :11:55.think, is that true? You see people from conservatives, from centrist
:11:55. > :11:58.and reformists in his cabinet. This is a national unity cabinet and will
:11:58. > :12:01.probably decrease the infighting within the regime and bring more
:12:01. > :12:09.stability. On those terms, I think he is right.
:12:09. > :12:14.Thank you. A brief look at some of the other news. A series of car
:12:14. > :12:19.bombs has gone off in the Iraqi capital Baghdad killing at least 20
:12:19. > :12:23.people. The blast targeted markets and shopping districts and other
:12:23. > :12:29.latest in a sting of attacks which have risen since the start of the
:12:29. > :12:33.year. July was the deadliest month since 2008 according to the US.
:12:33. > :12:40.A former US Army psychiatrist has gone on trial in Texas over the
:12:40. > :12:47.deaths of 13 people at Fort hood in 2009. He is accused of the worst
:12:47. > :12:51.noncombat attack on a military base in history. He is representing
:12:51. > :12:57.himself and told jurors the evidence would show he was the shooter, but
:12:57. > :13:04.would not tell the whole story. Now to Canada where two young boys
:13:04. > :13:08.have been killed by an rock python. It escaped from a pet shop and
:13:08. > :13:12.police say the 16 foot snake coiled itself around the five and
:13:12. > :13:15.seven-year-old boys as they were sleeping. It had apparently got into
:13:15. > :13:20.their flat through a ventilation system.
:13:20. > :13:25.Seven-year-old Connor and five-year-old Noah adored one
:13:25. > :13:31.another. Sleepovers were a regular treat, but yesterday, a visit to
:13:31. > :13:33.their best friend's home turned into unimaginable tragedy. The police
:13:33. > :13:38.sealed off the New Brunswick building where the brothers were
:13:38. > :13:42.killed. They had spent the night at the flat above the pet shop where
:13:42. > :13:47.their friend lived. It is believed the snake kept on the ground floor
:13:47. > :13:52.of the shop slip out of its cage, travelled through the ventilation
:13:52. > :13:56.unit and into the room the boys were sleeping. The shop owner, a family
:13:56. > :14:01.friend, discovered the children. thought they were sleeping until I
:14:01. > :14:05.saw the hall in the ceiling. I switched on the lights and saw this
:14:05. > :14:12.horrific scene, and the snake was gone. When I found it, it was
:14:12. > :14:17.underneath a spot, and I pinned him down, put him in a cage. The snake,
:14:17. > :14:21.similar to these, is thought to be an African rock python,
:14:21. > :14:25.approximately four metres long, and it had wrapped itself around the
:14:25. > :14:30.children. By the time the emergency services arrived, the boys were
:14:30. > :14:35.dead. Experts say incidents like these or error. Was the snake
:14:35. > :14:40.Hungary? Absolutely. That does not mean that it was a snake that was
:14:40. > :14:44.neglected. Nevertheless, one Canadian media report claims
:14:44. > :14:50.customers had previously complained about the conditions at the shop and
:14:50. > :14:57.a question hangs over whether the shop was properly licensed. Tonight,
:14:57. > :15:01.the boys' mother is described as grief stricken.
:15:01. > :15:05.The European Commission is to send a team of monitors to the border
:15:05. > :15:09.between Spain and Jabbar author as the row over the British territory
:15:10. > :15:12.continues. As macro Spain and Gibraltar. The Spanish government
:15:13. > :15:16.says it may introduce a fee to cross the border and close Spanish
:15:16. > :15:19.airspace to flights bound for The Rock. The monitors are expected to
:15:19. > :15:29.arrive in the next month or so. From Gibraltar, Tom Burridge sent this
:15:29. > :15:32.
:15:32. > :15:39.report. They are disputed waters between Spain and Britain. As you
:15:39. > :15:42.can see, we are not far from the Rock and according to the Gibraltar
:15:43. > :15:49.government we are clearly in their waters, but the Spanish government
:15:49. > :15:56.disagrees. Hello ask is the source of the tension, the row between
:15:56. > :16:03.Spain, Gibraltar and Britain. -- below us. Seven days ago Gibraltar
:16:03. > :16:07.says it has created an artificial reef, Spain says the blocks were
:16:07. > :16:14.dumped in the sea to keep Spanish Fishermens away. In the morning mist
:16:14. > :16:19.we found these Spanish fishermen preparing their nets. It's madness,
:16:19. > :16:25.says this man. For years we have got on well and now we have fallen out
:16:25. > :16:30.with our neighbours. Their Gibraltar neighbours have set -- live in a
:16:30. > :16:34.small slice of Britain for 300 years. Spain gave Gibraltar to
:16:34. > :16:44.Britain in a peace treaty but has since claimed it should be given
:16:44. > :16:44.
:16:44. > :16:54.back. Spain has threatened a 50 euros charged to cross the. --
:16:54. > :16:58.charge to cross the border. This is really so totally contrary to the
:16:58. > :17:07.Freedom of Rome but we believe this will be illegal and therefore it
:17:07. > :17:12.cannot be made to work. -- that we believe. There has been tension in
:17:12. > :17:16.these crowded waters before. People on either side of the divide our
:17:16. > :17:25.friends, colleagues and neighbours, but the three governments on this
:17:25. > :17:28.issue for now can't get along. Europeans have enjoyed wine for
:17:28. > :17:33.centuries and now it seems the Chinese have developed a taste for
:17:33. > :17:39.the tipple, so much so that French Vineyards are being bought by
:17:39. > :17:42.Chinese investors, but are they maintaining quality? In a moment we
:17:43. > :17:47.will hear from Celia Hatton in Beijing but first here is Christian
:17:47. > :17:57.Fraser in the French city of Bordeaux.
:17:57. > :17:58.
:17:58. > :18:08.That or it's of Chateau de Pique date from the 14th century. -- the
:18:08. > :18:09.
:18:09. > :18:16.turrets. TRANSLATION: the French have been
:18:16. > :18:19.waking wine far longer than the Chinese. You have to recognise that
:18:19. > :18:23.expertise and I hope to maintain that.
:18:23. > :18:31.But a large part of what is produced in the Chinese owned Vineyards is
:18:31. > :18:36.destined for the Chinese alone. There is no reflection about
:18:36. > :18:44.quality, they just want to buy a brand and make money from it.
:18:44. > :18:50.region of 8000 chateaux, the Chinese owned less than 60. What is far more
:18:51. > :18:56.significant is the trade. Last year they bought 21 million bottles of
:18:57. > :19:04.wine. The middle-class in China will grow to some 300 million people in
:19:04. > :19:14.coming years, and that is of value to Chinese investors who want to
:19:14. > :19:15.
:19:15. > :19:19.control the tyre supply train from production to the consumer.
:19:19. > :19:22.Chinese usually reach for French wine when they want to enjoy
:19:23. > :19:26.something. Chinese wine is a different story. Many believe they
:19:26. > :19:33.can't compete with their rivals in the old world. Someone to change
:19:33. > :19:40.that. In a region better known for mining coal than growing grapes, one
:19:41. > :19:48.winery has won over the world's toughest critics. These wines are
:19:48. > :19:51.picking up scores of international awards and lots of local fans. It
:19:51. > :19:57.has European touches including oak barrels from French forests but the
:19:57. > :20:04.work that sets its wine apart is all Chinese.
:20:04. > :20:10.You have been dating for people to buy your wine so you are used to
:20:10. > :20:16.begging, and now we don't need to beg any more. Since 2008 the
:20:16. > :20:21.vineyard sells all of its wine every year, 2 million bottles. Most of the
:20:21. > :20:26.wine is consumed inside the country. Chinese drinkers, it seems, are
:20:26. > :20:35.learning to look past their French favourites to Smith, swirl and
:20:35. > :20:39.swallow a local success story. -- sniff.
:20:39. > :20:47.I did not know that the Chinese were wine drinkers. Has this been going
:20:47. > :20:53.on for some time? It is a fairly new experience for the Chinese. They
:20:53. > :20:58.made wine 4000, 5000 years ago but they have really concentrated on
:20:58. > :21:03.spirits made from grains and it was not until the 1980s that the
:21:03. > :21:08.government decided to get behind grape wine because they were
:21:08. > :21:12.concerned about the amount of alcohol being consumed. How much is
:21:12. > :21:22.this a status symbol and the new middle-class wanting what Westerners
:21:22. > :21:28.wanted? The top end of the market certainly is but at the lower end it
:21:28. > :21:32.is very much about changing drinking habits. To show how quickly China
:21:32. > :21:38.has developed, within 30 years they have now become the sixth largest
:21:38. > :21:45.wine producing country in the world, they are looking at becoming
:21:45. > :21:54.maybe larger in the next five years. That is extraordinary. They are
:21:54. > :22:04.having to groan their own wine, white? -- grow their own wine,
:22:04. > :22:05.
:22:05. > :22:10.wine? -- why? If you have a lot of money you like to own your own
:22:10. > :22:14.Vineyard and in some cases that is what is happening in Bordeaux. The
:22:14. > :22:22.Chinese economy is one of the few that is still working so they have
:22:23. > :22:29.some money and they are investing, partly to meet the demand back home.
:22:29. > :22:35.Have you tasted any Chinese wine? have tasted a few, we are still
:22:35. > :22:41.trying to find the right one to put on display. Two years ago a Chinese
:22:41. > :22:51.wine one Trophy at one of the biggest wine tasting competitions.
:22:51. > :22:54.
:22:54. > :22:58.-- wine won a trophy. I wonder if... I don't know if cultural
:22:58. > :23:04.cringe is the right word but 30 years ago Australian wine was seen
:23:04. > :23:12.as inferior. Do you think we will be any position where drinking Chinese
:23:12. > :23:22.wine will be second nature? -- in a position. I think so. The Vineyards
:23:22. > :23:22.
:23:22. > :23:27.and the experience are both quite underdeveloped. They are learning
:23:27. > :23:34.and their wines are getting better year in, year out.
:23:34. > :23:39.A year ago today the Mars rover Curiosity was touching down on the
:23:39. > :23:44.Martian surface. So far over 70,000 images have been sent act to Earth
:23:44. > :23:50.and we have learned a lot more about the red planet. Our science editor
:23:50. > :23:55.David Shukman has the details. It began with a high-speed approach
:23:55. > :24:03.and then a nail-biting descent. One year ago in NASA's most
:24:03. > :24:06.sophisticated rover successfully touched down on Mars.
:24:07. > :24:13.Mission control erupted. Years of planning had paid off and a series
:24:13. > :24:20.of discoveries was to follow. This sequence of pictures shows how
:24:20. > :24:26.Curiosity got to work exploring the landscape of the clues about whether
:24:26. > :24:31.it ever could have supported life. Let's imagine we could be on Mars
:24:31. > :24:34.right side Curiosity. The most striking thing is its sheer size but
:24:34. > :24:39.this allows it to carry more instruments than ever before to see
:24:39. > :24:45.if life could ever have existed. The first discovery was on the surface
:24:45. > :24:55.itself. Curiosity was among rocks that had formed a bit of a stream.
:24:55. > :24:56.
:24:56. > :25:03.-- aid head. -- a bed. It attempted something never tried before, to use
:25:03. > :25:07.a drill on the end of the arm to dig below the surface just a couple of
:25:07. > :25:13.inches, but the results were amazing. The drilling revealed a
:25:13. > :25:18.kind of clay which could only be formed in water with the right
:25:18. > :25:21.chemical balance for life. In fact the water would have been
:25:21. > :25:30.drinkable, proof according to NASA of the first discovery of a
:25:30. > :25:36.potential habitat on a world beyond our own. Rock from an old stream in
:25:36. > :25:44.Britain, very similar to what has been found on Mars. This man from
:25:44. > :25:47.NASA's team says this is extremely significant. This would have been
:25:47. > :25:54.sweet water which on earth is perfect for life to thrive. On Mars
:25:54. > :26:00.we have rocks perfectly conducive for life in the ancient past.
:26:00. > :26:05.Curiosity is on the move again. Water once flowed here and we now
:26:05. > :26:11.know that life at least had a chance.
:26:11. > :26:14.Before we go, let's remind you of our top stories. The US and UK
:26:14. > :26:21.governments have withdrawn diplomatic staff from Yemen and
:26:21. > :26:27.urged their citizens to leave it security concerns. -- amid security
:26:27. > :26:34.concerns. This was after recorded conversations between two senior
:26:34. > :26:38.Al-Qaeda figures. The Iranians president says that he
:26:38. > :26:45.is determined to resolve the long-running dispute over the
:26:45. > :26:55.country's nuclear programme. From me and the rest of the team, it
:26:55. > :27:04.
:27:04. > :27:14.weather has really calmed down. Most places are set fair for the rest of
:27:14. > :27:14.
:27:14. > :27:19.the week. In the August sunshine it will feel warm with temperatures
:27:19. > :27:24.around average or above. Low pressure is close enough to throw us
:27:24. > :27:28.a few showers. We will have cloud in Northern Ireland and the northern
:27:28. > :27:35.half of Scotland. We will have rain turning more fragmented into the
:27:35. > :27:41.afternoon. Across northern England, very isolated showers, most places
:27:41. > :27:48.dry and bright. Showers across the coast of East Anglia and on the
:27:48. > :27:51.south coast. The showers on Tuesday across Devon and Cornwall will be
:27:52. > :27:58.well scattered, still plenty of sunshine lifting the temperatures to
:27:59. > :28:03.20 or 21. That is what we will see in southern Wales as well, one or
:28:03. > :28:07.two isolated showers. A cloudy start from Northern Ireland, one or two
:28:07. > :28:15.heavy showers possible and even across central and southern