06/01/2016 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me, Karin Giannone.

The headlines: North Korea announces it's taken a giant stride in testing

But the claim is met with scepticism and unanimous condemnation

North Korea needs to end these provocations, needs to commit

to a denuclearised Korean peninsular.

They're meant to be saving the lives of migrants crossing

the Mediterranean but now Turkey says it's confiscated more than 1000

Now German police actions on the night are called

And for all the star-gazers amongst you, we look ahead to the top five

space stories to look out for in 2016.

The shockwaves from what seems to be North Korea's latest nuclear test

Now the UN Security Council has been meeting to discuss the situation.

It's not clear yet if that is true but seismologists did detect a large

earth tremor close to one of North Korea's nuclear sites.

Just to explain an H-bomb, or hydrogen bomb, thermonuclear

weapons use a two-stage process to create a massive explosion.

Tests have shown a blast 25,000 times the size of those

which destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the Second World

Until now, only six countries were known to possess thermonuclear

weapons - the US, the UK, Russia, China, France and India.

Analysts will be working hard to confirm whether or not

North Korea has now joined that list.

There has been worldwide condemnation.

Even China, seen as Pyongyang's closest ally, said it firmly

Our correspondent, Rupert Wingfield-Hayes,

At 10am, North Korean state television made the dramatic

A successful hydrogen bomb test has been carried out,

On the streets of Pyongyang, crowds had been marshalled to watch

the announcement and to do their patriotic duty.

The United States is the aggressor with all kinds of nuclear weapons

waiting to invade our country so having a hydrogen bomb

Across the border in South Korea, they measured a man-made earthquake

It was not very big and it remains unclear whether this latest test

really was a hydrogen device as Pyongyang claims.

So what is the difference between a hydrogen bomb

Atomic bombs were first dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

The blast is created by splitting an atom,

releasing the huge amount of energy contained inside.

Hydrogen bombs use an atomic bomb to force elements together,

creating what is called a fusion reaction.

The resulting blast is thousands of times more powerful

But hydrogen bombs are much more difficult to make.

North Korea's soldiers may be good at goose-stepping but a hydrogen

bomb would put this impoverished country in a different league.

The main beneficiary would be its young dictator,

In October, he paraded the huge war machine he commands,

including North Korea's latest long-range missiles which,

one day, could carry nuclear warheads.

For the young Kim Jong-un, nuclear weapons are about one thing,

Perhaps Kim Jong-un wants to tell his domestic constituents

that he is powerful, strong, in control of his regime

that he just took over a few years ago.

He also seems to be trying to tell the international community

that his country is a nuclear weapons state.

That means that his country is a nuclear power.

For people living here, the idea that North Korea,

just 30 miles away to the north of here, may now have a hydrogen

But the question remains, what can the world do about it?

Sanctions have been tried and have failed.

Maybe it is now time for the world to engage with North Korea but it's

very hard to see how any Western leader can engage with a regime that

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described North Korea's behaviour

On the ground, the nuclear test announced by the Democratic People's

Republic of Korea on the 6th of January is deeply troubling.

This test once again violates numerous Security Council

resolutions despite the united call by the international community

It is also a grave contravention of the international norm

This act is profoundly destabilising for regional security and seriously

undermines international nonproliferation efforts.

Turkish police have confiscated more than 1000 fake life jackets made

for migrants wanting to cross the Aegean Sea to Greece.

In a raid on a workshop in the port of Izmir,

they say they found life jackets stuffed with packaging rather

About 1264 of these fake life jackets, pictures show the police

inside the workshop. The life jackets were piled all around. The

police asked one of the workers, how long will they survive in the water?

The worker said, all I did was stitch it together. He says they

were able to make the jackets for about $1 apiece and they might be

sold for more than that but they would have provided no protection

whatsoever to anyone who bought them. We understand that particular

workshop had been in operation for two weeks. We don't know exactly how

many they wouldn't sold migrants. Looking at the pictures, how

professional does it seem? It looks from those pictures pretty

ramshackle. Another detail the police have told us as they believe

to underage Syrians, girls, were also working there, perhaps ditching

the life jackets together as well for their fellow migrants. But there

is no suggestion this was a Syrian run operation. The suggestion was

that this was run in Turkey, selling those jackets to mostly Syrians or

Afghans. The German Interior Minister,

Thomas de Maiziere, has strongly criticised the police

for their handling of sex attacks by gangs of men during new year

celebrations in Cologne. At least 100 women say

they were assaulted There've only been a handful

of arrests so far. Witnesses say the attackers were

North African or Arab in appearance. Last night these women came together

to support those who had Starting on the square in front

of Cologne Cathedral, Measures should be taken and we

should show solidarity amongst each other against violence.

Starting on the square in front of Cologne Cathedral,

hundreds then made their way through the city where dozens

of women were sexually harassed, assaulted and mugged on New Year's

Jenny had a firecracker put into her jacket and then her phone stolen.

TRANSLATION: Then I heard a sizzling sound in my hood and I tried to get

it out of my hood and then it fell into my jacket

The attackers who also targeted this area outside the main station

are described as young men of Arab or North African appearance

which has led to anti-migrant campaigners claiming this is proof

Germany is letting in too many refugees.

One woman who was there though said they looked like regular pickpockets

and leaders are urging people not to come to foregone conclusions,

TRANSLATION: This morning, we developed measures which prevent

It is also important that we don't let it take away from celebrating

carnival because of such incidents. Despite there being no

suspects or arrests, the event has clearly

shocked so many. Police now need to find out

who was behind the assaults, First of all, where are we with the

dimension of crime. First of all, where are we with the

police investigation? Today we got the information that for young men

have been arrested. They have African roots, North

have been arrested. They have To have been free again

have been arrested. They have evidence was not strong enough.

Those four men have been caught pickpocketing but there is also

evidence pickpocketing but there is also

sexual harassment as well. But even though they are migrants, there is

no organised crime. The police deny any

the angle we are seeing. The organised crime. The police deny any

of the attacks themselves but also at the handling of this by the

authorities. Well, the problem is most of those women were not

directly from Cologne but tourists. It took awhile to collect all the

reports and get the full picture. The question is, why are there so

many people in those small places? It is always happening in big

events, the example New Year's Eve or Carnival which is up. This is a

problem, but too many people gather in small places and you cannot

control what is going on. There is a certain amount of anger. You can see

on social media but the fact that this story would normally make

headline news straightaway but only really started to emerge a days

later. That's correct. The police first reported directly on the 1st

of January that everything was fine and all the information came in

later because it took a while to collect the reports to get the full

picture. Not everybody went to the police directly. Right now, women go

to the police to say, this happen to us as well. We realise that in

Dusseldorf in hamburg, the feeling is that most of the women were not

going to the police directly because maybe they were ashamed not sure but

now that it is getting bigger and bigger, more and more women are

going to the police as saying, this thing happened to me. Are people

accusing the authorities of being too reluctant to publicise what is

going on in this investigation because of fears of sensitivities

over immigration, given the number of refugees that Germany is taking

in and debate around that? The police are accused of acting too

slow to coordinate and they did not have a good overview of the

situation and also, the head of the police in Cologne is reluctant to

leave. The discussion is very big about refugees. There is no proof

those attackers were refugees but they look like migrants so it is

still a discussion that the right-wing populists use for their

thoughts. Thank you for taking the time to put to us in Cologne.

In Washington, a White House spokesman said its initial analysis

of North Korea's nuclear test was inconsistent with Pyongyang's

claim to have successfully exploded a hydrogen bomb.

What is true is that North Korea continues to be one of the most

isolated nations in the world. And their isolation has only deepened as

they have sought to engage in increasingly provocative acts. These

include not just nuclear tests but some ballistic missile tests that

have attracted attention over the years as well.

Let's hear now from the BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Washington.

Interesting to have all permanent members of the Security Council

standing as one over this. That is how it appeared an hour ago and

certainly the statement that came out of the Security Council looked

that way. It called this a threat to international peace and that there

was a unanimous feeling that something had to be done immediately

in terms of imposing further measures on North Korea to ensure it

did not continue to violate Security Council resolutions. Since then, we

have heard from different ambassadors to the UN, firstly the

Japanese ambassador. It was interesting to listen to him.

Japan's efforts to engage with North Korea, to economically cooperate

with North Korea, and saying that did not work, so was time to impose

further sanctions. Then we heard from Russia's ambassador, saying it

was going too far that Russia supported further sanctions but what

we have heard is that during that meeting, nobody disagreed or voiced

their opposition to further sanctions. Somewhat unified response

from the Security Council but as well as these measures, the Security

Council is talking about coming up with individual countries looking to

impose further measures on North Korea. A lot of people will look at

Beijing, which has condemned this act by North Korea to look to see if

Beijing will put its own economic pressure on North Korea. How have we

seen China's stance change regarding North Korea, especially what it said

straight after this announcement? Well, North Korea has been defying

Beijing for some time. There were six party talks to try and end North

Korea's nuclear development but North Korea pulled out of those and

in spite of Beijing's efforts to try and engage more with North Korea, we

have had the North Korean leader rejected invitations to go to

Beijing, for example, and now this. And we have heard that China did not

know that this test would take place and Beijing has condemned this test.

So it does appear that Beijing has certainly been angered by this and

the question is, does North Korea care about that? You heard the White

House spokesman saying it is one of the most isolated country's honour

but that has not stopped it continuing its nuclear development

and it would have known in doing this what only members of the UN

Security Council and its neighbours and one of its only allies in

Beijing, that it has not stopped it. It will be interesting to see what

kind of measures the UN comes up with, or individual countries come

up with, that will have any kind of response from North Korea in terms

of its stopping its nuclear development.

Iranian diplomats have left Saudi Arabia amidst a fierce

diplomatic row between the two countries.

Meanwhile, the Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, has called for those

who attacked the Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital to be

prosecuted swiftly in what appears to be an attempt to keep

The latest developments follow Saturday's execution by the Saudis

So what impact this could have on the world?

Saudi Arabia and Iran are the rival military power in regional conflicts

which have killed hundreds of thousands. They view themselves as

defenders of Sunni and Shia Islam respectively and mean the tensions

between them are fuelling sectarian divisions across the Middle East.

The country is not at all directly but fighting on opposite sides

elsewhere in proxy wars. Both countries are crucial to any

solution to the war in Syria. Iran is a key ally of President Assad was

Saudi Arabia supports rebels trying to overthrow him. There was a big

breakthrough last year. The Saudis drop their objections to Tehran

involved in negotiations but the recent breakdown in dangerous UN

involved in negotiations but the and run would be at the main table

but it is hard to see any credible deal be made without their consent.

Iran could also deal be made without their consent.

affected. -- Iraq. Anything that increases

affected. -- Iraq. Anything that it even harder to build on success

and it even harder to build on success

soul, vital if Islamic State is to be defeated.

soul, vital if Islamic State is to campaign to stop the Sufis taking

power. Recently, the Saudi led coalition and the end of a ceasefire

that neither side had either observed so will this row push both

sides further apart now? Tensions have also increased in Lebanon where

the spill-over from the Syrian war has heightened sectarian rifts in

recent years. Countries have been without a President since May 20 14.

Recent efforts to elect one had been derailed so the breakdown between

the Saudi kingdom and an is already having huge consequences throughout

the Middle East and that means intern that the whole world will be

profoundly affected. Coca-Cola has apologised

to the people of Russia and Ukraine after a map in its New Year

advertising campaign ended up In its greeting on a social media

website, the soft drinks company published a festive map of Russia

in Coca-Cola's trademark red and white colours but the map

excluded Crimea, the Ukrainian Stung by a barrage of Russian

criticism over the omission, Coca-Coca republished

the map including Crimea. Coca-Cola has blamed its Russia

marketing agency for adding Crimea The French conductor and composer

Pierre Boulez has died He was famous for never

using a baton and had celebrated stints with orchestras on both

sides of the Atlantic. He also had a passion

for experimentation Here he is conducting a BBC

orchestra in Russia in 1967 with one 2015 was a momentous year for space

exploration with high-profile missions to Pluto and Ceres giving

us unprecedented images but what does this

year hold in store? Rebecca Morelle looks

to the skies for answers. I am the BBC's science

correspondence and these are my top space stories to look out for in

2016. Nasa's Juno spacecraft is closing in on Jupiter. It is not the

first time we visited the solar system's biggest planet but this

probe gets us closer than ever before. It will look in detail at

Jupiter's polar regions as well as the planet's giant red spots, a

colossal storm which has been raging on the surface of years. 2016 could

also be the year that we get the first direct evidence of

gravitational waves. They are ripples of energy that distort the

fabric of space and time at these were predicted by Einstein. Now

scientists in America and Italy had been switched on. They believe this

could be our best chance ever seen these cosmic curiosities for the

first time. The Falcon heavy rocket. A US company tried to launch its

giant rocket up into space. If it succeeds, it will become the most

powerful operational launch in the world. It has got a triple set of

boosters and can carry a very hefty 53 tonnes of cargo. It could also

take humans into orbit in the future. The XO Mars mission.

Europe's last mission to Mars was in 2003. It carried the ill-fated

rocket but now the European Space Agency is going back. It launches in

March. It will look for signs of life. It will also land a probe on

the planet's servers to test the technology for a roller -- rover

that will set down. And finally, Fairwater Rosetta. Remember the

excitement of the 2014 mission where scientists made history by landing a

probe on a comet? In 2016, the spectacular mission comes to an end.

The team will attempt to land the mothership. It will most likely kill

the spacecraft that gained last blast data, helping the mission to

go out with a bang. Photographs have been released of Prince George to

mark his first day at nursery. The slabs were taken by his mother, the

Duchess of Cambridge. They were taken near the family home in

Norfolk. The couple are staying in Norfolk but not when they are in

residence at Kensington Palace in London.

Next the weather but for now, from me, Karin Giannone,

Still looks pretty unsettled over the next few days. Further spells of

wind and rain. We will take a look at the satellite sequence which

shows a lot of cloud coming in from the Atlantic. It is rain bearing

cloud and