04/12/2015 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me, Tim Willcox.

An apparent link between one of the attackers in the Californian mass

The woman involved is said to have pledged allegiance to the leader

It comes as television crews, including the BBC,

It is quite extraordinary really, isn't it, that, as I say, so much

mayhem and misery was plotted from this really very ordinary

German pilots prepare to join the international fight against IS, but

For too long a time, we have denied our responsibility.

Now we have to live up to what is our responsibility in Europe.

Also coming up, a cult leader from North London is convicted of raping

his followers and imprisoning his daughter for decades.

And how London is calling, a new generation of African artists as

auction prices for their work soars. There's growing evidence that

the mass shooting in California, which left 14 people dead,

was linked to Islamist extremism. It's reported that one of the

killers, 27-year-old Tashfeen Malik, had posted on Facebook during

the attack, pledging allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader

of so-called Islamic State. Now a news agency which supports

Islamic State has posted on its website that followers of the

group had carried out the attack. She and her husband Syed Farook

carried out the massacre on Wednesday in San Bernadino,

before being killed Our North American correspondent

David Willis has just been given David. Yes, and we are expecting a

lot more clarity on all of this in a news conference which is due to get

underway a short distance from here any minute now. We will cross to

that and bring you that live as we get it. But this, for all intents

and purposes, has been the centre of activity this morning, the hosts

were this couple were holed up before they carried out their

murderous rampage on Wednesday morning, a short distance from

here. Physical, the FBI over the last 24, 36 hours, -- basically, has

been removing evidence from the scene. Amongst that, 12 pipe bombs,

a veritable arsenal of ammunition, and several hundred tools which they

thought could have been used to make bombs, were all removed from this

fairly small apartment behind me. Then, they sealed it up, and the FBI

regard it no longer as a crime scene, they handed it back and a

short while ago, he opened it up, we went in with a number of other media

folks to find out what lay inside. This, for those of you who have just

joined us, is the apartment that was occupied by the two suspects in this

attack on Wednesday. A lot of media interest, as I was mentioning. Let's

have a look upstairs. Apparently, quite an ordinary apartment

building. Going into the bedroom here. This is on the second floor.

You can see a copy of the Koran here. You can see various other bits

and pieces that have been left here, it looks as though it had been

well searched by members of the FBI, they recovered, removed quite a

lot of pieces of evidence yesterday, including, it is thought, some

computer files and other information that was stored on computer, that

they are looking to analyse, and to take it back to Washington, DC for

firm and analysis. Let's move down now and go... I think if we can lead

you in here, this is the front room. This is the front room of the

building. There are various documents here. This was a couple,

of course, let's not forget, who had a 6 -month-old daughter. They

dropped her off with their grandmother on the morning of this

attack on Wednesday morning -- her grandmother. Syed Farook went to

work, had a disagreement, apparently, and after that, came

back here to this house, assembled an arsenal of weapons and went with

his wife back to the workplace and shot the place up, killing 14 people

and injuring 21. We will move out of it now so we can give you a little

bit more context, perhaps, on this, as far as the pictures are

concerned. Some tools no doubt left behind by the FBI. Moving into the

kitchen, it is a small, two-storey, two-bedroom apartment. Engaged in

ordinary domestic activities, quite extraordinary, really, when you see

this, all the weapons that have been found, just extraordinary that it is

alongside the apparent preparations for a terrorist rampage, the place

is boarded up, of course, the FBI in the last 36 hours, have been very

busy. This is it, quite extraordinary, really, isn't it,

that as I say, so much mayhem and misery was plotted from this really

very ordinary apartment, two-storey apartment, in a leafy domestic

street in the quietest town and possibly, you could find in Southern

California. Really quite extraordinary scenes. We saw a bomb

factory become a garage sale as people were kind of falling over

themselves to pick up various bits of evidence. But you saw there, this

life of domestic tranquillity, juxtaposed with all that we hear

about the bombs that were being made in there, there were examples of

baby food and all those things, really quite surreal. We are

expecting that news conference from the FBI and we are expecting that

they may well say they are taking over this entire investigation and

that they are guarding it as what some are saying might be described

as an act of home-grown violent extremism, which of course ruled out

any possibility of this being a workplace dispute. There is no

evidence, I am told, that this couple were involved in

international terrorist organisations, certainly at this

point in time, although who knows? But it is possible that this man's

wife, she had radicalised him. There is evidence on the ground here that

he suddenly changed his demeanour after returning from Saudi Arabia

last summer. It was there that he met his wife and this apparently

meek and mild and well liked man in the workplace somehow set about

plotting this rampage. David, 20 very much. We will be returning to

that FBI press conference as and when that starts.

Within the hour, the White House spokesman, Josh Earnest,

While not being able to confirm recent reports into

the suspects' possible connections to terrorism, he did say that law

enforcement were looking at all possible motives for the attack.

The FBI is leading this investigation, as the President said

yesterday, because of the possibility that this is a terrorist

attack. And the President summoned his national security adviser, his

top counterterrorism adviser, his Attorney General, the Director of

the FBI, and the deputy Director of homeland security, to the Oval

Office yesterday to get an update about what exactly transpired. And

to make sure they understand how determined he is to get to the

bottom of what exactly transpired. And that is exactly what the FBI and

law enforcement officials, intelligence officials and others

are doing, they are using the significant resources of the US

Government to learn as much as they can about what exactly transpired.

And the President has been giving recent updates, including as

recently as this morning but it will be the responsibility of the

investigators to make information public when they have concluded that

it would not harm the investigation to do so.

Belgium's prosecutor has announced they are searching

for two new suspects, considered armed and dangerous,

who are wanted in relation to the Paris terrorist attacks.

They are accused of using fake ID papers to help wanted man

Salah Abdeslam travel to Hungary in September.

One of these identity card was also used to wire money to the ringleader

of the attacks' family, four days after the massacre.

Three weeks on from the devastating attacks in

Paris, international action against militants from

so-called Islamic State is beginning to take shape.

Earlier this week, the UK Parliament voted to launch

And now the German Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to join

the campaign, although in a non-combat supporting role.

Damien McGuinness reports from Berlin.

Just hours after Germany's Parliament approved military

involvement in Syria, the German troops started preparing Tornado

jets for take-off. This will be Germany's largest current military

mission abroad, but these warplanes were not -- will not launch bombs

themselves, or other help identify the targets for American, British

and French bombers. Which is exactly what is lacking at the moment, say

German military leaders. TRANSLATION: We are making a very

meaningful contribution to the existing reconnaissance system

because with the Tornados we can make available highly detailed

images of large areas in a short period of time. To support the fight

against IS, Germany will send a frigate to assist a French aircraft

carrier off the Syrian coast, six Tornados, as well as refuelling

planes. 1200 German military personnel will also head to the

region. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has so put -- support for the

mission within her governing coalition and with a strong majority

in Parliament there was never any question that she would not get

approval from MPs for the mission. According to some polls, a majority

of voters agree. But traditionally in Germany, military action is

controversial. Left-wing opposition MPs voted no. TRANSLATION: You can

be sure that the bombs in Syria killed more civilians than the

barbaric attacks in Paris and the mothers of Raqqa are crying for

their children. A war bombs also terror. Any Germans say the military

mission is not well thought out and could make Germany more of a target

for terrorists. But there are signs that the opposition to air strikes

is dwindling. That is partly because of a sense of solidarity with

France, and is the Paris attacks. Something which French resident

Francois Hollande welcomed as he visited the carrier Charles de

Gaulle. But also, Germans are feeling the impact of the conflict

in Syria also to home. Almost 1 million refugees and migrants have

arrived in Germany so far this year, many of them from Syria. Germany's

government view is that without destroying the threat of IS, that

flow of people will continue. This threat coming from Isis and Assad

has caused the death toll of hundreds of thousands of people, and

it is a challenge for Europe and for too long a time we have denied our

responsibility. Now, we have to live up to what is our responsibility in

Europe. Although German troops will not be bombing Syria, they will be

in danger. There is a risk that German reconnaissance planes could

be shot down by IS. If that happened, the growing support among

Germans for military action in Syria is likely to suddenly evaporate.

This is well used today. -- this is World News Today.

Floods have brought the Southern Indian city of Chennai,

formerly known as Madras, to a standstill after

Around 280 people have died in the floods over the past few months.

Rescue teams have been trying to get food and medicines to thousands

But it has started to rain heavily again.

The waters have been receiving all day because -- but just in the past

couple of hours we have had some intense showers and you can get a

sense of it behind me, just the pace at which the rain is coming down, it

is very intense. I was told by eyewitnesses it was even worse

earlier in the week when Chennai experiences heavy and intense

showers. The huggers at the moment, unless this gets much worse, is to

begin the whole process of relief and rehabilitation. There are many

people who went home today for the 1st time after the rains let up for

the 1st time since the waters receded. Just to get a sense of the

damage to their houses and property. Many people I spoke to said they

would have to rebuild their lives all over again because they had

something lost so much. People living and working in the

neighbourhoods where the water has reached after the 1st level of their

homes so everything inside was completely destroyed. The priority

for the administration at the moment is to try and get the infrastructure

back up and running, phone lines have been down for days and it is

difficult to communicate so that is a priority. The airports have been

shut for most of the week. We understand there have been some

clearance for civilian suit -- civilian aeroplanes. Some people are

combining of major shortages particularly essential supplies such

as milk. Looking ahead, the long-term impact of this is

something that will have to be assessed, this is India's fourth

biggest city, a major industrial base, the damage it has gone through

in the last few days has been immense.

A self styled cult leader here in London has been convicted

of raping and indecently assaulting two of his followers,

and imprisoning his own daughter in the commune for 30 years.

Aravindan Balakrishnan used violence and sexual degradation to keep

the women under control for several decades.

Our correspondent Tom Symonds reports.

Captivity, year after year, three decades in all

Aravindan Balakrishnan's bizarre cult dominated the lives

It became clear that the victims were so conditioned that

they truly believed he was all powerful and all seeing.

Some shared his politics but this young woman was his daughter, born

into the cult and hidden from the world. What I first learned to write

was about the love of Allah. My mother was saying, he is God, he is

the star of our life so we have to watch him. This is her first ever

interview. She told me he demanded loyalty. He is in charge and

everyone is basically his slave. -- the love of Comrade Bala.

Balakrishnan courted Chairman Mao and later the brainwashing started,

that he had supernatural powers. -- quoted. There were always rules,

work for the collective, forget your family. The doors were often locked,

going out alone was frowned upon. Because of the risks outside on the

British fascist state. Because of the risks outside on the

We can go straight to California now. There have been some concerns

in the area, people talking about law-enforcement not sharing

information, and a potential at a movie theatre summer --, something

of that nature. I want to address that right now. On Monday night,

Tuesday morning, before the incident, November 30, December one,

right around midnight, one o'clock in the morning, there was an

incident at the Regal Cinema, and what that case was is that the

gentleman who was described as appearing to be Middle Eastern came

up and spoke to the security guard around the time the theatre was

closing and he was asking the security guard questions about the

movies and things like that but the security guard but it was odd. That

person ultimately left in a silver Volvo 4-door vehicle, 2012, 2013, we

do not have a plate. A security guard thought it was weird. Shortly

afterwards, the guard noticed another car driving around the area

with another person that was possibly Middle Eastern in

appearance, that appeared to be taking photographs in and around the

theatre. The security guard checked up and notified the police

department. We have gone out that night, we took a report and we put

that out to every law-enforcement agency in the county, simply that

there were suspicious circumstances that were noted. That is all we have

on that. Then, it went into the regular investigative channels and

protocols with local authorities not. They are following up and

looking at videos, trying to determine that there is a real

threat or seeing if there are any crimes associated with those

vehicles. At this point we have zero connection, 0 evidence or

information, that connects that event of what happened here on

Wednesday morning. I want to make that clear. But as a result of what

happened on Wednesday, the police department has been on a tactical

alert situation, we have every officer in the department working on

12 hour shifts, we will maintain that until -- until we think it is

appropriate to stand down. We do not have credible information to

indicate there is a threat to this region right now. But I wanted to

address that because of some things that came out to imply we were

hiding information. We are not hiding information from anybody.

Lastly, what I want to do right now is, this is going to be an official

transfer of this investigation in terms of information and how it is

going to flow on this, to the FBI. We have talked a lot about what that

partnership is, I want to make clear our agency, the up other federal

agencies investigating, continue to watch over the shoulder on this

investigation to make sure we are doing the best job we can. But in

terms of information, regarding the investigation on this incident, the

search warrants, the officer injured as a result of this, this is an FBI

investigation, they will be the lead on that. Myself and the sheriff will

be the lead talking about local safety measures and security. With

that, I will phone over to the assistant Director in charge from

the FBI. Thank you. Good morning. First off, I want to stress again to

the families of the victims, to the friends of the victims, to remember

they are first in this scenario. We had victims who lost from one

gentleman lost six children, one gentleman lost a baby and he was

taking his first trip to Disneyland next week. Other people did not have

the chance to have that. Every one of those lives can get and we want

to offer our sincere prayers to those families. Secondly, I want to

stress the partnership, you have seen this united front which is

incredibly important for an investigation, of this complexity.

This is a very conflict investigation, it is a very

long-term investigation. My partners from the sheriff' Department, the

San Bernardino police department and the ATF have been incredibly

important in this investigation. We are lockstep in how we are handling

this matter. I want to go forward today and tell you that as of today,

based on the information and the facts as we know them, we are now

investigating these horrific acts as an act of terrorism. We have

uncovered evidence that has led us to learn of extensive planning,

obviously we have uncovered evidence of explosives, multiple armaments,

you know that, you know the ammunition that was out there, the

high-powered weapons, the explosive devices, we are continuing to go

down the path is to ensure that we find all of the evidence that

pertains to this matter. We have also uncovered evidence that these

subjects, they attempted to destroy their digital fingerprints, for

example, we found two cellphones in a nearby trash can. Those cellphones

were actually crushed, we have retained those and we continue to

exploit the data from those cellphones. We do hope that the

digital fingerprints that were left by these two individuals will take

us towards their motivation. That evidence is incredibly important. I

want to ensure that everyone understands that just because the

FBI has taken the leadership based on the trajectory of this case, we

are not just taking this on our own, we will continue down the same path

we have been, which is a lockstep operation with these partners, that

is important. They are the protectors of this community. We had

a mandate to investigate terrorism to its fullest extent. We are

working hand-in-hand with our other federal, local and state partners

and hand-in-hand with our foreign counterparts to ensure that we find

any connections that pertain to this matter. Next, I would like to

introduce you that we have established a national task force,

sorry, a national hotline, that I would like to invite the public to

call if they have any information that pertains to this. I would ask

the public to please be judicious and make sure that even though, if

it is small, send it to us, please do not send us things that are

obviously not pertinent to this matter because we have a lot of work

to do in the future, but if you think in any fashion that what you

have to offer pertains to this matter, please call us and give is

that information, it is important. One 800 two to five 53 24. You can

choose option for, which will take you to where you need to be stopped

and I want to ensure to the public that your local state and federal

law enforcement officials will continue to uncover Evaristo and to

ensure that we find all the facts that pertain to these two

individuals, I do not have all the answers now, I will take some

questions. Are there other suspects? Can you give us any

examples? We have been listening to this press

conference from the FBI, about the mass shootings which left 14 dead,

very convex investigation. They are treating it as an act of terrorism.

This is BBC World News today. Severe weather warnings have been

issued due to intense rainfall. It looks likely to affect the North

West of England and Western Scotland through the course of