21/10/2013 World News Today

This is BBC world News today. The mysterious case of the young girl in

Greece. Aroma couple appear in court charged with her abduction. -- a

Roma couple. The couple said they adopted her as a baby and loved and

cared for her. The hunt for her real parents begins. A female suicide

bomber attacks are bash -- at tax a bus in Russia. Will this raise

concerns ahead of the Winter Olympics? Coming up: A weather

warning in Australia. High wind is forecast. Three wildfires threaten

to merge into one. This meeting of the Central committee... 50 years

on, we look back in the archives to see what it was like for the first

BBC correspondent to report from behind the Iron Curtain.

Welcome. She is blonde, blue-eyed and her name is Maria. The

authorities in Greece want to know how she ended up in a Roma community

in the country being raised by a couple who are unrelated to her as

DNA tests proved. Today, the couple were charged with her abduction

They say they adopted her, but questions remain as to her true

identity, and there are also has been questions about the issue of

child trafficking in Greece. She was discovered during a raid last week.

Loving adopted parents or the abductors of Maria? The first images

today of the couple suspected by police of kidnapping a little girl

for unknown reasons. They have now appeared in court to face charges

that they deny. Maria was, they say, given to her by someone who could

not look after her. Members of the Roma community rallied in their

defence. The house where they lived was locked up today. No answer at

the door. Just signs of a child s life strewn across the front porch.

A neighbour said the couple was taking care of her well, she was

crying when the police took her So what if she was blonde? In the next

workshop, this shop owner said he phoned her presents unusual. He did

not know how she ended up here. We tried to film in the larger Roma

community over there but we were attacked and chased away. They

believe they are marginalised and negative stereotypes of them will

only be reinforced. Many Greeks say it is the involvement of some of

them in illegal activity which created that perception. Either way,

the case has exposed the lack of social integration. What now of the

search for her biological parents? She's one of 250,000 children who go

missing in Europe every year. An international appeal to find her

family is gathering pace. She is very happy, feeling well,

communicating and playing with her toys. We will try to see if there

are specifically that would be useful for the police. There are

probing questions. How a seemingly out of place little girl lived here

so long? What there is something sinister involved? How far across

this community doesn't stretch? I am joined in the studio by the Chief

Executive of a missing Persons Charity. What is the likelihood of

Maria's true mother or father being found? We would hope with the

extensive publicity, which, for any missing child is absolutely key to

get the message out there, and somebody watching broadcast

somewhere is going recognise her. I know that smile of the child, who

are looking after her, have received thousands of calls. There has been

called across Europe and it shows you the pan-European response. Build

up a picture. Typically, in Europe and beyond, what are the numbers of

missing children? What age are they? Or are they teenagers? Viewers might

be surprised to know that 250,0 0 missing children are reported across

Europe every year, in the UK, 140,000 go missing. Do we make up

140,000 of 250,000? It is an interesting statistic. We need to

look across Europe to make sure the data collection is synchronised We

are a member of an organisation which makes to appeal for children

and provide helpline services and we are calling for some kind of

synchronisation of that data. This 250,000 children who go missing are

the abducted or do they run away of their own accord? The reasons are

quite extensive. It is unusual of a child of this age to go missing

Many of these are young people who have ran away from home. Some of

those are classed as abduction, and we collect that information in

different ways. Some of the children have been abducted either by

appearing to someone known to them, or in some cases by a stranger. We

cannot comment on this because we do not have the exact facts, what the

Roma couple say they adopted her. That is not child trafficking as

such but is illegal. There are theories and speculation. We do not

know the details. Looking at the photos, we have an honourable girl

who has been missing. We need to find and reconcile her with her

natural parents and find out. Does it raise questions about the issue

of child trafficking? I think it does. Any missing children raises

that. We know this is a global issue. Some of the children who go

missing will have been the victim of trafficking. In this case it is

usually the other way round. Impoverished Roma families will give

up a child to other families. It is interesting this is the other way

round. It is, and it is quite unusual. It is usually the other way

round. We do not know where they are. This turns it around. We did

not even touch on the issue of missing adults. Thank you for

talking to us. Now to the growing issue of migrants risking their

lives crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe. Today in Italy, a

commemoration ceremony was held for the hundreds who died when their

boat sank near the tiny island of Lampedusa. There was anger for some

who broke through the gates of their detention centre when they were told

they could not attend the event in Sicily. It fell short of the state

funeral promised by the Prime Minister. The recent tragedy has

highlighted the plight of thousands of migrants desperate to escape for

a new life in Europe. All this week on BBC world News we are reporting

on the perilous journey they face and the challenge for European

governments. Some migrants begin their journey from war-torn

countries like Syria, they head for Egypt or Olivia hoping to board a

vessel to Italy, Malta or Greece. -- Libya. Rough seas lash the shore in

Alexandria. This is the only escape route for many Syrian refugees.

Smugglers take them on a perilous voyage. Some pay with their lives.

For others, the dream of a new life has ended in police stations like

this one, where we managed to film covertly. Hundreds have been

detained without charge. Among them, this baby. He has been held by

Egyptian police for the past month. Half of his short life. This woman

is stranded here, a prisoner of her grief. Wrapped in white, the bodies

of three of her daughters. They died in a shipwreck ten days ago. I was

kicking and kicking and trying to stay afloat. I looked over and I saw

my handicapped daughter was gone. She went under the water and did not

come. Goodbye, my child. My other daughter held onto my neck and said,

where is my sister? Did she drowned? I had to tell her she was

saved. Suddenly, water came on top of us. I saw three white lights I

did not know then my third daughter was also gone. Across town is

another police station, war-weary citizens are jammed in. Egypt's says

the refugees are treated decently. Critics say they are treated like

convicts. Human rights activists claim they are, in effect, forcibly

deported, sometimes back to Syria. We have cases where even they do not

get the food aid, or get the food at all. They stay for two days without

food. There is pressure to find ways to leave the country. In recent

months, more and more Assyrians have been fleeing these shores. --

Syrians. They said everything changed when President Mohammed

Morsi was ousted. They have been accused of backing the Muslim

Brotherhood. Many refugees say they have no choice but to risk their

lives and go. This is one of them. We are concealing her identity

because she still has family in Damascus. The 23-year-old student is

ready to risk everything. I think the sea will be more merciful to us

than the people here, she says. Once you get to Europe, you become a

human being. Now we are not human. She knows she could be cheated by

the traffickers, arrested by the police, or drowned at sea. But

better death, she says, than life without dignity.

That report on the difficulties for migrants. Now to Russia, where a

suspected suicide bomb attack on a bus in the southern Russian city of

Volgograd has killed six people and injured more than 30. We can now

show you these pictures, which I should warn you are distressing

They were captured on a dashboard camera in a car behind the bus.

Anti-terrorism officials said an explosive device was detonated by a

female suicide bomber. She is from the province of Dagestan

in the North Caucasus. This has raised concern ahead of the Winter

Olympics in such a, which is at the western end of the Caucasus. --

Sochi. We are joined by the Russian ambassador. The authorities were

quick to name this bomber. -- Russian commentator. There was a

quickness to this, but they probably had some clue to the identity. It is

definitely a disturbing element because we have not had such

terrorist acts in Russia for quite some time, apart from Dagestan and

the neighbouring province, where you have a low intensity guerrilla war

going on between the state and the Islamists. I think that this is

something that gives you food for thought. This is what you could call

an attack on the Russian mainland. Do you think coming ahead of the

Winter Olympics in 2014 the security forces will be raising their game?

It looks like our commentator has frozen. The joys of the webcam, I'm

afraid. We will just try one more time. He seems to have disappeared.

He did give a rather full and so right at the beginning, from Moscow.

-- answer. The suicide bomber who killed 16 and injured 32. It is one

of the worst disasters in New South Wales for decades. A blisteringly

warm spring made conditions perfect for bushfires. Hundreds have already

lost their homes and weather forecasters say worse could be

coming. High wind is making it harder for the firefighters. The

badgers have reached 37 Celsius The worst threat in the area is the Blue

Mountains. It is feared that two huge blazes could merge together.

New South Wales has declared a state of emergency. Around the clock,

firefighters here are battling for control. But the task is massive.

The biggest fire in the Blue Mountains has a perimeter stretching

almost 200 miles. This is probably one of the biggest fires around here

in the 24 years I have been working. Here, we have fire on all sides of

you. Some of the site is being carried out by the error. On the

ground, thousands of firefighters, most of them volunteers. What they

are doing here is back burning fighting fire with fire, basically

controlling fires to burn of vegetation before the dangerous

fires can get here. What they are worried about is if several of these

huge blazes merge into one big fire later in the week. The weather is

not helping. Temperatures today rose into the high 30s. The real fear is

the arrival of strong winds, forecast from Wednesday. Many living

here have been watching nervously to see if the fires can be held at bay.

I have been really anxious for them to burn it because we can then stop

worrying about it. We have been watching the fire for two days,

creeping this way. It is not just his home under threat. Nearby,

firefighters discovered a pet possum, injured but still alive It

is not known what damage it has wreaked on this country 's wildlife.

Hundreds of houses have already been lost. Families have been left with

nothing. Many more homes could go before this emergency is over. 0

miles away, Sydney, Australia 's biggest city is cloaked in smoke. A

reminder that these fires are uncomfortably close. All this before

a summer has even started. Nuclear power is controversial. It

stirs passionate debate amongst its advocates and critics. In Britain,

nuclear power is part of the energy mix and today Hinkley Point C, the

first nuclear power station to be built in Britain for a generation,

was given the go-ahead. Hinkley Point C will take ten years to

build. It will generate 7% of the UK's electricity supply. It is

expected to create around 25,00 jobs during construction. I'm joined

now by Ian Fells, Emeritus Professor of Energy Conversion at the

University of Newcastle. He has also worked as an energy consultant

including British Nuclear Fuels Caroline Lucas from the Green party

says the money would have been better spent on energy efficiency

and renewable energy? Energy efficiency is a very good thing

Renewable energy, we are going at it as hard as we can and it is very

heavily subsidised. But there is no way that renewable energy can

provide for all of our future needs as far as electricity is concerned.

It just cannot be done. I used to be the chairman of that so I can tell

you with some authority, we will never be able to produce more than

20% of our renewable electricity from renewables. We need nuclear

power and actually, in terms of this, it is more reliable than

renewables. When the wind does not blow, it has to be backed up from

somewhere else, and secondly, the subsidy for renewables is much

bigger than the subsidy that will come in as a result of this deal

with nuclear power. When you look at other major European countries

saying, we don't want nuclear energy. Even in France weather has

been a lot of nuclear energy, even they are receiving from that so it

is with those who are more reluctant to use nuclear energy? As far as

Germany is concerned, they had a very successful nuclear programme

providing about 32% of their electricity and then as a result of

Fukushima, they behaved, in my view, quite hysterically. They suddenly

said, we will not use nuclear power any more. This was disastrous for

the people around the nuclear power stations who lost millions of

euros. They found, although they have a lot of renewable energy,

there is no way that can replace them, so what are they doing? They

are building five coal-fired power stations. When you look at the cost

of Hinkley Point C, they have quadrupled from the original

estimate of ?4 billion, that will put a lot of people of nuclear

energy? It might well put the investors off! I have to say that it

started off with a price tag of ?5 billion and then it rose to ?14

billion up to two days ago and now the price tag has been increased to

?16 billion. I find that extremely unsatisfactory. Newly emerging

nations around the world are beginning to look at building their

own generation of nuclear power is. Do you see the attraction for

emerging nations like this to go down that path, in other words we

will see nuclear energy absolutely chipped there in stone before the

world? There are 450 nuclear and actors around the world at the

moment, providing about 18% of the world 's electricity. There is

nothing new about it. It is just going to grow. The alternative is

burning more gas and burning more coal and the price of gas has gone

up and up and up and we have a real problem with that in the UK. It does

seem to me that as far as the future is concerned, it will be a big slice

of nuclear power. France has summoned America's

ambassador in Paris in response to newspaper reports that the US

National Security Agency secretly recorded millions of phone calls in

France. The interior minister has described the allegations carried in

the newspaper, Le Monde, as shocking.

Two people have been shot dead and two more are injured in a shooting

at Sparks Middle School in Nevada. Students from the middle school and

next-door elementary school were evacuated to the nearby high school

and classes were cancelled. The European Court of Human Rights

says Russia has failed to explain why it kept key files secret when it

investigated in 1940 Katyn massacre of more than 20,000 Polish war

prisoners. But the court said it cannot rule on the case because

Russia only signed up to the European Convention of Human Rights

in 1998, eight years after it began the investigation.

Reports from South Sudan say the number of people killed in a

massacre on Sunday in Jonglei state has risen to 78. 24 children have

apparently been abducted. Survivors blamed members of the Murle ethnic

group linked to the rebel leader, David Yau Yau.

A German bishop who has been widely criticised for lavish spending has

met the Pope in Rome to discuss his behaviour. Franz-Peter

Tebartz-van-Elst who has been labelled the Bishop of Bling has

faced calls to resign. He has been accused of lying about the cost of

his official residence in Limburg along with a first-class flight to

India to visit the poor. He was the man who went into the

cold during the height of the Cold War. 50 years ago, Erik de Mauny

became the first resident Moscow correspondent for the BBC after the

Communist authorities eased censorship. Our current Moscow

correspondent, Steve Rosenberg, looks back at the life and

adventures of a Cold War correspondent.

It was the BBC 's Russian Revolution. 50 years ago, Erik de

Mauny became the BBC 's first resident correspondent in Moscow.

The Soviet union had relaxed censorship and he was allowed behind

the iron curtain. Erik de Mauny once said he felt sheer exhilaration when

he arrived here but reporting from Russia in 1963, that was challenging

to say the least. Back then, foreign correspondents were not allowed to

travel more than a few kilometres out of Moscow without special

permission. They had little choice in where they wanted to live and

getting to know ordinary Russians was incredibly difficult with the

KGB breathing down your neck. Coverage was not all cold war. My

wife and I will be watching the show together. They seem to have produced

extremely well-designed clothes Some excellent men's clothes also.

At the microphone, Erik de Mauny was always calm and cool, sometimes very

cool. Off-camera though, his life in Moscow was as thrilling as John

McCarry novel. One of the many adventures he had took place right

here. This is the residence of the British ambassador in Moscow. It

used to be the British embassy building and this is where he came

one morning after he had landed a giant scoop. He had managed to track

down the former British intelligence officer turned spy who defected to

the USSR. The two men spent six hours drinking together the night

before. Erik de Mauny decides not to put his story in London. He comes

here, scribbled down on a piece of paper, I just met him and I thought

you might like to know about it He spirited away to speak to the

ambassador. A couple of days later, Erik de Mauny is at home when

suddenly someone hands him a note. It is from the British ambassador

about Kim Philby. London advises, brick of contact. 50 years on,

Moscow correspondence are still chasing spies. Espionage did not end

when the Cold War did. When I read his memoirs, what struck me most is

what has not changed here in 50 years. It is still at times

incredibly hard to do with officialdom and many Russian

officials still are suspicious of Western journalists. As we try to do

our job, reporting on Russia. That's all from the programme. Next,

the weather. From me and the rest of the team, goodbye.

There was plenty of rain across the country today and there is much more

to come this week. A classic October week with spells of rain often

accompanied by a strong and gusty wind. These weather fronts will

continue to throw rain across the UK. A wet start in most areas.

Perhaps a dry in the East. Brighter for Northern Ireland by the

afternoon but for much of northern England, it will be great with

further outbreaks of rain. A wet start probally for the South West of

England but as you can see, the