13/04/2016 World News Today

Have the authorities in Nigeria given up, in their hunt

for the school girls, abducted by Boko Haram.

The BBC travels to Chibok - and hears the agony

In China - a gay couple lose their fight to be

recognised as married, in the country's first ever court

A disastrous day for America's biggest coal producer as it

And a robotic submarine searching for signs of Scotland's Loch Ness

monster has found a long-lost model of the mythical creature.

Hello and welcome - I'm Geeta Guru-Murthy.

The authorities in Nigeria promise they are still looking -

The reality though, is that two years after they disappeared,

they are no nearer finding the 200 schoolgirls kidnapped

The global condemnation and star-studded campaign to free

As did a major army offensive against the Islamist group -

The only constant in the story - is the agony endured

She was such a hard-working girl, she loved jokes.

She begged me to buy her a sewing machine.

TRANSLATION: Before going to school she was

These were the last moments I had with her.

I pray that my daughter will come back alive, but

if not, I hope that her soul rests in peace.

The girls were taken from Chibok on the night of 14th of April 2014.

Over the 24 months since they've been abducted, there've been many

claims of the Chibok girls being seen.

Initially villagers living in the Sambisa Forest said they saw

the children being taken into neighbouring Chad and Cameroon.

In May of 2014 though, the governor of Borno state

in Nigeria said he had seen the girls in Nigeria,

About a year on, in April 2015, a woman in the village of Gwoza

in north-eastern Nigeria told the BBC she had seen 50

And minister in and says they still have no idea where the girls are. We

don't, I think we've had lots of information and many leads and

everyone of them is followed through, but of today, sadly, we

don't have good news, which would have been wonderful. We continue

with the strategy we've had since we came in, which is to deploy all of

the collaborations and security that we have the look across the border

within the country. The anniversary coincides

with an event in Washington hosted by the World Bank where global

leaders are pushing for improvements Michelle Obama, the First Lady

of the United States, Why do we still talk

and value girls simply for their bodies instead

of better investment for families

to marry off their teenage daughters And finally, why would

grown men storm a school bus and shoot a 15-year-old

girl in the head just for speaking Why, two years ago,

would terrorists be so threatened by the prospect

of girls going to school that they would break into dormitory in

the middle of the night and kidnap I think we can all agree

that the answers to these questions aren't

just about resources. Because our global failure

to educate adolescent girls isn't just about whether we have

adequate funding or sufficient It's also about whether we truly

believe that girls are worth educating

in the first place. Amit Dar is the Director

of Education at the World Bank, A Chinese court has

ruled against a gay man, In what is reported to be China's

first same-sex marriage case, a 27-year-old has failed

in his attempt to force his local authority to issue

him and his partner, Here's our Beijing

correspondent John Sudworth. Sun Wenlin, an internet company

employee and Hu Mingliang, a security guard, have lost a legal

argument, but they are still Their case has generated widespread

publicity and a few hundred supporters were there to celebrate

the fact that even getting the court to hear the case is a sign that

attitudes in China might be Mr Sun has attempted to argue

there is nothing in Chinese law that specifically prohibits

same-sex couples from marrying. TRANSLATION: Our country has never

had any written legal term that forbids the marriage

between people of the same sex. Nonetheless, the court ruled

in favour of the local Government in the city

of Changsha that had refused to issue

the TRANSLATION: This is not

the beginning and not the end, no right is

achieved overnight. I believe as long as we try together

we will finally realise Relaxing at home before

the case, Mr Sun and Mr Hu had already decided

they would appeal if the ruling TRANSLATION: We don't really need

a marriage to prove our love, but we just want to

be treated equally. They may face a long legal fight,

but in raising the issue and placing it firmly onto the public

agenda, supporters say they are already changing minds

in one important place - Now a look at some of

the day's other news. Spanish police have arrested a man

suspected of supplying arms to Paris gunman Amedy Coulibaly,

who murdered four people at a kosher Antoine Denive, 27, was detained

in a joint Franco-Spanish raid on a house in Malaga,

Madrid authorities say. The Frenchman is suspected

of fleeing France weeks after the 9th of January supermarket

siege. A senior conservative politician

in Germany has called for mosques to use the German language

and said their foreign financing from countries such as Turkey

and Saudi Arabia must end. The general secretary of the CSU -

Christian Socialist Party - said political Islam was undermining

integration and Europe should Two former coalition partners

of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff say they will vote for her

impeachment on Sunday, over claims she manipulated

government accounts. The Progressive Party,

which quit the coalition on Tuesday, says most of its 47 MPs would vote

for the action. President Rousseff says her

opponents are plotting a "coup". The world's biggest

publicly listed coal firm - the American giant Peabody -

has filed for bankruptcy protection. Analysts say Peabody didn't foresee

the boom in shale gas, and under-estimated public concern

about climate change It's the 50th US coal firm to file

for bankruptcy in Here's our Environment Analyst Roger

Harrabin. The fuel that drove

the Industrial Revolution, brought millions out of poverty,

but it is the dirtiest fossil fuel, and with fears about climate change

and Stocks in coal firms are down nearly

80% in just eight years. Peabody is the grand

old man of American coal, Peabody is the biggest private coal

firm in the world, but it lobbied against climate science and it

didn't foresee the glut in the cleaner fuel, gas, it has dried up

and Peabody began to sink. We have a lot of sympathy

for the 8000 workers potentially made redundant,

but not They are on the wrong

side, officially backing climate denial even

last year and as coal from renewables and gas,

the market has disappeared. Peabody hoped China would provide

new markets, but that As China tackles climate

and air pollution, it is shutting 4300 coal mines and cutting

annual output by 700 million tonnes. Cheap renewables are

also challenging coal - solar power is now cheaper than coal

in sunny countries. And in Europe, one quarter

of nations are banning coal for electricity because of

damage to the climate. The headquarters of the World Coal

Association overlook one of London's most

prestigious streets. They are not ready to

give up the ghost just Coal is playing a big

role in the world's energy mix today, it

is 41% of the word's electricity and

70% of the world's steel and 90% of It is a key ingredients

to the world's energy mix and will be

for the foreseeable future. This was to be the future of coal,

technology to capture carbon emissions and and bury them,

but the UK and US governments pulled The coal industry is not

dead yet, but its dominance of world energy

is on the way out. Security forces in Jordan have shut

the headquarters of the main opposition movement,

the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. Officials from the group

saus that the building, in the capital Amman was sealed

on the city governor's orders and that no reason was given

for the closure. David Schenker is the director

of the Program on Arab Politics He joins us from our

studio in Washington. Thank you for coming in. What is

behind disclosure? Earlier this year the Government declared the Muslim

Brotherhood in illegal in Jordan, saying they were not licensed

properly and had been be hauled into a foreign individual to the supreme

guide optimism about road from Egypt. They closed it and made it

illegal and turned over the group's assets to another Muslim Brotherhood

organisation that is more amenable to the Government. How worried are

governments like those of Jordan now about the Muslim Brotherhood? Of

course, it had had support in the past. The brotherhood does have

support, residual support. There is no doubt about that. The problem for

Jordan is a have about 1.4 million Syrians and close to 50 Jordanians

have died in combat fighting in Syria, they are worried about

radicalisation, so they want to move the mouse and brotherhood -- Muslim

Brotherhood to a more moderate place and did that by creating alternative

organisations at home. This is a problem of encountering a violent

and -- extremism and take it seriously and want to deal a blow to

the brotherhood which was very amendable to Hamas in Palestine for

this. In terms of the threat, of course, some will say the

governments have said this, Saudi accused very much of feeding these

ideologies and now worried about a hydra headed monster they cannot

control. How much of a worry is it for Jordan? Radicalism is a huge

threat, particularly with the war in Syria going into its 50 year and

boring on that, -- country, poor economics in Jordan and some support

for the rebellion against Assad. More than that, this is a country

that is very immoderate and has a moderate mate regime and they view

the brotherhood as not helping the problem here. The real concern is

whether by attacking this organisation and putting all of this

pressure right now that the people that are supporting the brotherhood

will go underground and become more radical, that is the open question.

And making it illegal is one thing, where is its funding, for example,

coming from now? Well, this is another big question, they have

domestic support and charitable organisations, they all property and

the organisation has been in existence for 70 years but by making

it illegal the Government, there had been a success brotherhood

organisation, they have been split between what they called the Hawks

and the doves, the Government allowed the doves to essentially

found a new Rizla brotherhood and transferred all of the assets,

probably tens of millions of dollars to the new Rizla brotherhood

organisation. Is this the only source of radicalisation aspires the

Government see it in Jordan? No, they view the brotherhood as one

component, particularly this strain, the people who are more amenable to

Hamas and the Palestinian issue in Jordan, they view them as part of

radicalisation but the really big problem is the war in Syria and the

people that have gone and joint minister or Isis in Syria and have

returned home, the online radicalisation and the regional

trend toward Sol offers. There is a rather thin line between solitary

and solitary jihadi. That is the main concern rather than the Muslim

Brotherhood. This is part of an overall new counter radicalisation

strategy by the Government of Jordan. Thank you.

As the political fallout from the Panama Papers scandal

continues, the anti-corruption organisation Global Witness has said

today that an area more than three times the size of Greater London

is owned by secret companies in offshore tax havens.

The group claims high-end properties in London are being used

by corrupt politicians, drug smugglers and criminals

All made possible because the offshore companies

are not required to reveal who the owners are.

Our correspondent Richard Galpin has been on a tour of

All aboard for a bus tour like no other in Britain.

It's early morning in central London, and journalists

from around the world are being taken by anti-corruption campaigners

to see a series of multi-million pound properties bought by offshore

We want to shine the light onto the flows from global

kleptocracies, Russia, Nigeria, countries in Asia and Latin

America, the kleptocrats steal from their countries and launder it in

offshore vehicles and bring it here to invest.

Back on the bus, the tour continues through the heart of

With activists giving details of specific properties whose

owners allegedly include Russians close to President Putin

It is claimed some of the purchases used dubious money.

And what is particularly striking is the scale of what is going on.

According to the campaign group Transparency International,

more than 36,000 properties here in London are owned by offshore

companies in places like the British Virgin Islands.

In Westminster the concentration is particularly high,

one in ten of the buildings here belong to those offshore companies.

Of course, many of those London properties will have been bought by

perfectly legitimate offshore companies investing in Britain.

But it is also alleged that London has

become a magnet for those with questionable cash to spend.

One of the reasons people come to London is

that there is an army of estate agents and lawyers and banks and

financial institutions all helping to facilitate this activity.

I think the time has come when we should

consider a sanction and a penalty on all of those advisers

who knowingly during their work are

helping money-laundering here into the UK.

On the bus the activists hope the current focus on offshore

companies will lead to action by the Government

to ensure the names of

the companies' owners are made fully public.

They say that could help prevent billions of

pounds being laundered in this country.

The Bulgarian government has promised to crack down on vigilante

groups who try to detain people they suspect of entering

Online video footage of three suspected Afghan men being roughly

tied up has provoked anger in Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian interior minister has appealed to the public not

The authorities had initially welcomed the creation of civilian

volunteer groups along Bulgaria's border with Turkey.

A paralysed man has regained control of his hand after being fitted

The man's thoughts are interpreted by a computer which sends impulses

Scientists in the United States say the pioneering technology

could eventually help many other patients.

Our medical correspondent Fergus Walsh reports.

Ian Burkhart is playing a guitar video game.

Using the power of thought, is paralysed fingers can

move as a result of, hands from his brain

said into a computer, which

then stimulates his muscles via these sensors on his arm.

Ian was paralysed below the elbow in a

diving accident six years ago, but is slowly relearning to use his

Now it's just something that's so fluid, kind of like it was

before I had my injury where I just think about what I want to do and

The key to this technology is a tiny computer chip

which surgeons implanted on the area of the brain motor cortex which

When he thinks about moving his fingers and hand,

those messages can't travel down his injured

spinal-cord, so instead they bypass the injury.

The computer interprets the signals and then send

impulses to the sensors on his wrist.

Ian's movements are still slow and deliberate, but his

He can demonstrate practical tasks, like swiping a bank card.

Engineers hope he will eventually be able to

The biggest dream would be to get full function in my

You know, because that allows you to be a lot

more independent and not have to rely on people for simple

day-to-day tasks that you take for granted.

Several more patients are lined up to receive the device in Ohio.

This really provides hope, we believe,

for many patients in future, as this technology

involves and matures, to help people who have disabilities

from spinal-cord injury or traumatic brain injury or stroke, to allow

them to be more functional and more independent.

This technology is developing fast. Four years ago are paralysed woman

control a robotic arm using her thoughts. A different approach is

spinal repair, this paralysed patient in Poland had a cell

transplant and can now ride a bike. This latest research in the journal,

nature, is restricted to the laboratory but the Demon Hohaia what

the technology will eventually be wireless and allow patients greater

independence. The Duke and Duchess

of Cambridge are on safari in India, as their tour

of South Asia continues. The royal couple are visiting

Kaziranga National Park, They're hoping to draw attention

to the plight of endangered animals, including the park's population

of rare one-horned rhinos. Our royal correspondent

Nicholas Witchell sent On safari in Kaziranga National Park

with the Cambridges - Has something been spotted

lurking in the bushes? But no, on the road

just ahead, the Indian one-horned rhinoceros -

just one of the wild creatures

in these parts. In fact, there are lots

of rhinoceroses here, some 2,000 of them,

as well as Bengal tigers, Not for nothing is this

a World Heritage Site. But animals like that

attract the unwelcome William and Catherine met some

of the park rangers, who try to keep Do you patrol in pairs or just

one of you at a time? The park authorities believe

they have the upper hand, despite the fact that the horn

of the Indian rhino is marketed - bogusly, of course -

as being more potent than that It's a continuing struggle

to protect the park's wildlife. After a quick change out

of their safari gear, William and Catherine

went to a local village. There were welcoming garlands

and a quick lesson in weaving. At a centre for wildlife

conservation they were shown baby Animals, some of which,

have been orphaned by poachers. Touching images, which will be

on many front pages, but there is a serious point

to all of this - to highlight the damage being done by poaching

to creatures like these. Up to now, William's

anti-poaching charity has been He now knows the scale

of the problem here in India. Nicholas Witchell, BBC News,

Kaziranga National Park. Nessie has finally been found

in the mysteriously dark waters of Loch Ness -

but all is not what it seems. A robotic submarine searching

the lake for signs of the mythical beast has found a long-lost model

of the monster, originally built It sank to the bottom of the loch

on its first outing, Our Scotland Correspondent Kevin

Keane reports. No, it is not a creature

from the deep, it is the device A million pounds worth

of scanning technology mapping On the boat, a real time view

of what it is capturing - Not the flesh and blood version,

unfortunately, but a 30-foot long One story is that the film director

Billy Wilder asked that the humps be removed and the story goes,

that they were associated And well, the inevitable

happened and down she went. Her understudy continued with

the filming in this Sherlock Holmes And Nessie is big business here -

worth an estimated ?60 million I love the idea, it is a very

mysterious place and I am At first it sounded a bit ridiculous

about a monster, but now, like, all the sightings

and all the photographs, I think So no sign of Nessie herself on this

occasion, but this is I think that little boy is

absolutely right. Let me know what you think. I'm on Twitter. We have

the weather coming up. For now, goodbye.

We will see some big changes in the weather can the weekend, it will be

chilly for everyone. Ahead of that have a battle continuing between

warm are coming up from the south and cold are coming down from the

north. That is generating weather fronts