02/04/2017 World News Today

This is BBC World News, broadcasting in the UK

I'm James Coomarasamy. The headlines.

Rescue workers in southern Colombia are searching through tonnes of mud

and debris for survivors of a huge landslide.

At least 200 people have been killed.

20 people are drugged and murdered at a Sufi shrine in Pakistan.

Theresa May tries to reassure the people of Gibraltar saying

Britain will work with the territory to get the best

And how one photographer has tried to change the way the world sees

babies and childbirth through her unique images.

Rescue teams in Colombia are trying to find more than 300 people

-- rescue teams in Colombia are continuing to search through tonnes

of Monday before anyone who survived devastating mudslides in the Amazon

basin. At least 200 people have been killed but with hundreds of others

injured or missing, the Colombian president says it is impossible to

know what the eventual death toll will be. The torrent of mud engulfed

the town of Mocoa, where rescue efforts are being hampered by bad

weather. Richard Lister reports. When the rolling wall

of water and debris rushed through here on Friday night,

it swept away houses, The painstaking search

for survivors is continuing. Rescue workers moving quietly

through flattened neighbourhoods hoping for signs of life

in the wreckage. With every hour that passes,

hopes of finding more Within hours of the deluge,

message boards went up listing Many of those unaccounted

for are children. "We are searching for a baby",

she says, "a little baby, "I hope somebody has her", he says,

"she's called Luisa". Closest to the river,

the streets are now boulder fields, full of people trying to retrieve

what they can of their lives. The shock of this disaster

is still sinking in. The rains that caused this flood

were unusually heavy, but deforestation upstream played

a part, too. This town of 40,000 people is still

without power or fresh water. The homeless need housing,

the infrastructure needs to be Deep in the Amazon Basin,

Mocoa was hard to reach before. Now, with roads and bridges washed

away, the challenge is even greater. Earlier, I spoke with

Dimitri O'Donnell, a journalist in Bogota who's following this

story, and who gave me this update. President sandals has returned to

Mocoa in the last couple of hours and released the latest official

figures from the grief stricken region, saying 207 people are now

confirmed dead. They have identified 85 bodies, 43 of whom are children.

There are still more than 300 people missing and 400 people are reported

injured. There's a big team of estate agencies in Mocoa right now

-- state agencies. 1200 at the last count including the army, police,

Navy, civil defence and the Red Cross and they are doing all they

can to coordinate their efforts. For example, the armies have been based

at different road junctions around Mocoa, trying to rebuild them as

quickly as they can to speed up the access of humanitarian supplies to

the region which was delayed in the early hours of the search and rescue

operation. It has been described as the worst that will disaster in

Colombia in decades, certainly the worst since 1994 and overnight, the

army and the air force took out 22 people, airlifting them to hospital,

13 of whom were children who were said to be in a very serious

condition and the operation are still ongoing today. Some individual

stories coming out from the region as well? That's right, as the rescue

operation continues, stories have been emerging of the desperate

lengths some survivors are going to to locate their loved ones. One of

them is a mother of three, Maria, and she has been beamed all over

Colombia, on TV, radio, people talking about her on Twitter. She

was not at home in her village on Mocoa on Friday night when the

avalanche of mud and water struck but her three daughters were. They

are aged four, 13 and 22 and the eldest was pregnant. Everything was

wiped away in the village, one of the five destroyed villages, and

Maria has not been able to find her three daughters since Friday night.

Images of her desperately searching through the rubble in muddy clothes

have been shown all over Colombia. They have really touched the hearts

of Colombians. She has been giving interviews, saying she's not going

to give up until she finds her girls. She says they were all she

had and they had big dreams and she is going to stay on site until she

locates them. That is just one story of the many people that are still

looking for loved ones in Mocoa this afternoon.

Police in Pakistan say at least 20 people have been killed

by the custodian of a Sufi shrine close to the Pakistani city of

The victims, who are said to have been his spiritual disciples,

include five members of the same family.

With the details, here's the BBC's Secunder Kermani in Islamabad.

A place of worship turns to a scene of horror.

Followers of a local saint were reportedly drugged,

20 bodies were brought to hospital late last night,

after four people managed to escape and raised the alarm.

The killer is believed to be this man, Abdul Waheed,

the custodian of the shrine, arrested by police along

TRANSLATION: The three accused, who are under arrest,

As they kept arriving, they were torturing

In Islamabad, mourners gathered to pay their respects at the home

of one of the victims, Asif Bid Ali.

The shrine where this attack happened was

The suspected killer was one of his followers.

TRANSLATION: Waheed used to take care of this shrine,

There had been reports that devotees at this shrine would be regularly

In Pakistan, some spiritual leaders have been known

to abuse their position but this mass killing has

Secunder Kermani, BBC News, Islamabad.

The Iraqi army is making progress in its fight against the so-called

Islamic State group in its one-time stronghold of Mosul.

As the battle continues in the residential parts of western

Mosul, one of the challenges is stopping the group's car bombs.

The BBC's defence correspondent Jonathan Beale sent this

They are just building barricades on these streets which have recently

been liberated from so-called Islamic State, to prevent car bombs.

There is one that didn't go off round the corner.

They managed to kill the driver before he detonated it.

This is just a few hundred yards from the front line.

We can occasionally hear gunfire from so-called Islamic State.

The streets are wide enough to drive armoured vehicles up,

trucks and the like, but when they get into the old city

itself, there are narrow alleyways where they won't be able to drive

armoured vehicles at all and the fighting

there is going to be much, much harder.

The Serbian Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vucic, is projected

to have won a clear victory in the country's

If early results and exit polls are confirmed,

Mr Vucic will have averted a second round of voting by

The post of president has been largely ceremonial,

but analysts believe it would become more influential under

Mr Vucic, who's been Prime Minister since 2014.

People in Ecuador are voting to chose a successor

to President Rafael Correa, who's leaving office

The left-wing candidate Lenin Moreno narrowly failed to win

outright in the first round, but his opponent Guillermo Lasso has

the backing of other opposition candidates.

Firefighters in Dubai battled for hours to contain a blaze

at a 60-storey tower that was under construction.

Roads in the area, which is popular with tourists, were closed.

The authorities say no-one was injured.

Several tall buildings in Dubai have caught fire in recent years,

leading to stricter safety regulations for new structures.

A Brazilian reconnaissance aircraft has joined the Uruguayan navy

and several merchant ships in the search for 22 missing sailors

The sailors were on board a South Korean cargo vessel

Two Filipino crew members have been rescued from a life raft.

The Prime Minister Theresa May has told the people

of Gibraltar that the UK would "never" allow it to slip

from British control against their will.

In a telephone call aimed at reassuring Gibraltar

about its future after Brexit, Mrs May said Britain

Here's our political correspondent Iain Watson.

Legend has it, when the Barbary apes leave Gibraltar,

Well, they are still here, but the 30,000 human residents

of the Rock who want to remain British are worried that the Spanish

government could soon have more say over their lives.

The EU has said that after Brexit, London will have

to talk directly to Spain about the territory's future.

A former Conservative leader said the UK's commitment to Gibraltar

would be no different than its commitment

Another woman Prime Minister sent a task force halfway

across the world to protect another small group of British

people against another Spanish-speaking country.

Four days after triggering the Brexit process, there is no

serious talk of conflict with a Nato ally.

In fact, Spain appears more interested in talking about trade

than seizing territory, perhaps raising questions

about Gibraltar's low tax regime and its policing

The BBC has been told that Gibraltar did ask Downing Street specifically

to mention its interests in a letter the Prime Minister sent

to the European Union to trigger the whole Brexit process.

Well, of course, we know that did not happen.

But today, Theresa May got on the telephone to the most senior

politician in Gibraltar and pledged her steadfast support,

not just for the Rock's sovereignty, but also for its economy.

And the Chief Minister of Gibraltar seemed reassured.

When the time comes, we will be making the right

decisions with the Prime Minister leading us in those negotiations,

which will be in the interests of the people of Gibraltar

But Labour say the Brexit process still poses

How will the deal that we come to with the European Union affect

So to what extent will they have access to the single market

and the customs union, because their economy

could be strangled if the negotiations go wrong.

This is just the start of the process of leaving

Downing Street has moved to defuse any row with Gibraltar,

but difficult negotiations with the European Union

Our correspondent Tom Burridge is in Gibraltar, and he gave

us his thoughts as to how people there are reacting to the debate.

People are worried here in Gibraltar.

I do not think Brexit really impacts the debate over

Britain and Spain will probably never agree on that.

What this claim by the European Union, that Spain can decide whether

or not a deal between Britain and the EU in a future will apply to

Gibraltar or not, the European Union seems to be suggesting that

Gibraltar is a bargaining chip in the wider Brexit negotiation and

that really puts in jeopardy the whole Gibraltar way of life, if you

like. The economy here, the relationship Gibraltar has enjoyed

as an overseas territory with the rest of the European Union, which

has been distinct from the rest of the UK. So as you say, nothing new,

in a sense, this argument, but what about the sabre rattling we have

heard from Lord Howe and the former leader of the Conservative Party?

Where people at that? I've covered Gibraltar for a few years. Basically

the rhetoric coming from Madrid and the threats, the criticism, the

claims of questioning Gibraltar's British sovereignty, are

predictable. People here are used at that. And they are also used to the

British government sticking up for them. The language, of course,

coming out of some British politicians today is probably a

notch up, but that is not you know, surprising, that kind of rhetoric. I

think what is interesting now is how much Gibraltar is a part of that

wider Brexit negotiation between Brussels and London. The border we

are on, there's spin traffic flowing out of Gibraltar into Spain freely

this evening. That is normally the case and that is all crucial for

Gibraltar's economy. It is one of the most affluent places, GDP per

capita, in the world. And if Gibraltar wants that to continue,

then it needs to have a favourable relationship with the European Union

wants Britain exits. And it's Spain has that leveraged and can say,

"Actually, we are not happy that the wider deal Britain has got applies

to Gibraltar", well, that makes things here very complicated and the

wider Brexit negotiation between Britain and the EU even harder.

Still to come: We'll have all the sports news for you -

including the highlights of this year's Oxford and

The accident that happened here was of the sort that can add was Prydie

is a meltdown. In this case, precautions worked but not quite

well enough to prevent some old fears about the safety features of

these stations from resurfacing. The Republic of Ireland has become

the first country in the world to ban smoking in workplaces, from

today, anyone lighting up inside will face a heavy fine. The

president was on his way out of the Washington Hilton Hotel where he had

been addressing a trade union conference. The small crowd outside

included his assailant. It has become a symbol of Paris, 100 years

ago, many Brazilians wished it had never been built. The Eiffel Tower's

birthday is being marked by a re-enactment of the first ascent by

Gustave Eiffel. This is BBC World News.

I'm James Coomarasamy. In Colombia, hundreds of rescue

workers and troops are continuing to dig for survivors in the torrent

of mud and water that's obliterated 20 people have been murdered and

others wounded at a Sufi shrine in Pakistan's Punjab province.

Russian police have arrested at least 40 protesters,

following another anti-corruption demonstration in Moscow.

The authorities say the latest protests were unsanctioned,

and that they had warned people to stay away.

More than 1,000 people were detained in Russia a week ago

after larger-scale protests across the country.

From Moscow, Sarah Rainsford reports.

The latest protest was small, but the police response was heavy.

Officers began making arrests as soon as the crowds moved down

Moscow's main street towards the Kremlin.

Others were detained near Red Square.

This was nothing like the scale of last weekend's mass

rallies that took place across Russia against corruption.

But the fact so many people were arrested,

at even a minor event, suggests concerns that

TRANSLATION: Roughly speaking, the scale

The issue is that people have questions and they are not

If there were any questions over the protests the other week,

whether it was related to Navalny and so on, now it is obvious

the problem has escalated, because there are so many

Police had issued warnings ahead of time that this rally was not

A criminal investigation has been opened, targeting

whoever posted information about the protest online.

If they are found, they face prosecution for inciting

Thousands of demonstrators have much to the streets of Budapest in

support of the US registered Central European University. It is

threatened by draft legislation which would ban institutions

registered outside the European Union from awarding Hungarian

diplomas. Roger Federer has beaten

Rafael Nadal in straight sets to claim his third Miami Masters

title and first since 2006. The Swiss was a 6-3, 6-4 winner,

and it's the third final this year where Federer has beaten

the Spaniard, having won the Australian Open

and Indian Wells Masters For Nadal it's also a fifth loss

in the final of this event, while the 35-year-old Federer,

who returned at the start of this year after a long-term injury

lay-off, will move to fourth when the latest

rankings are released. To the English Premier League

where Arsenal missed the chance to move to fifth after their 2-2

draw with Manchester A win would've taken Arsenal manager

Arsene Wenger's side, who are currently sixth,

ahead of Manchester United but a draw may have sufficed

in the end after Leroy Sane gave City the lead after

just four minutes. Theo Walcott equalised

in the 42nd minute before Sergio Aguero handed his side

a 2-1 half-time advantage. Shkodran Mustafi scored the only

goal of the second half but there was controversy late

on when Nacho Monreal appeared to handle the ball in the penalty

area which wasn't given. So Pep Guardiola's side remain

fourth in the table. Monreal said he touched the ball

with his hand, yeah? Yeah, but he said to me in England, that kind of

situation is normal. I said to the referee, what did I say? I said to

the referee, that's all. I said to the referee he saw what happened. At

Tottenham, I said before, I don't think I'm here to talk with the

referees, but given what Monreal said...

It was a game where we were not completely at our best

on the fluency and the technical front because we were under

pressure, but we showed strong mental resources and we refused

to lie down against a team who is always dangerous going forward.

At the end of the day we got a point that will help us,

even if mathematically it is not the best solution for both teams.

But for us it was important today as well.

The early kick-off was the relegation battle

between Swansea and Middlesbrough which ended in a 0-0 draw.

Boro desperately needed the win and they missed the best chance

of the game at the end through Rudi Gestede,

who put his header wide, meaning they remain in the relegation zone,

In Spain's Primera Division, Real Madrid are five points clear

In Spain's Primera Division, Real Madrid are two points clear

of Barcelona at the top after a 3-0 win over Alaves at the Bernabeu.

Barcelona are away to relegation threatened Granada and winning 2-1

with 14 minutes remaining. Elsewhere, Sevilla and Sporting

Gijon drew 0-0 and Valencia beat Oxford have won the 173rd Boat Race,

beating Cambridge by just over After defeat last year,

Oxford pulled away in the opening couple of minutes, and whilst

Cambridge never lost touch, It's Oxford's fourth win

in the last five years, Meanwhile, Cambridge

won the women's race, It was effectively over as a contest

after the very first stroke when Oxford's Rebecca Esseltein

got her oar stuck, and as she battled to regain control,

Cambridge sprinted off It's the first time since 2012

that the Light Blues have won the race, and comes a year

after they almost sank. And in the first women's

golf major of the year, the ANA Inspiration in California,

American Lexi Thompson will tee off in the coming

hour in her final round. Thompson won this event three years

ago and holds a two-stroke lead, with defending champion

Lydia Ko of New Zealand with It's often said that a picture

is worth a thousand words. And the Australian-born photographer

Anne Geddes has changed the way the world sees babies and childbirth

through her images. Her new book, Small World,

looks at her 30-year career. I'd worked with the same

props and styling person Dawn McGowan, my props person,

my partner in crime, we call each other,

because we've worked together for so long,

we kind of read each other's minds and know what we both

bring to a scenario. The peas that surround

the babies are real peas. You have taken a lot

of pictures of pregnant women. It is obviously the

beginning of the babies. My whole philosophy around my work

is the importance of babies, what they bring to families,

the miracle of conception I had two babies myself and I've

photographed a lot of pregnant women throughout my career and tried

to also portray with the newborns what it must be like in those

weeks before birth, how the babies are curled up

as they would have been. A lot of the pregnant images in this

new book, Small World, I really see the connection

with nature and pregnant women. And so I've styled a lot of these

women in line with elements of nature that bring forth

a new life. What I was trying to say to people

is it is around you all the time, it's in your backyard,

and we take so much My creative world is very much tied

up with nature itself. From someone who takes photographs

to an artist who made a famous painting based on a photograph and a

painting by Andy Warhol of Chairman Mao has been sold at auction in Hong

Kong. Based on a photo from the Little red book, it is among the

most famous images of the 20th century. It sold for just under 100

million Hong Kong dollars, about $12.7 million. The painting is in

the same style as Andy Warhol's pop Art portraits of Marilyn Monroe.

Now for something you don't see every day.

This a 44-metre high factory chimney in the city

Here, it's being moved from one site to another.

We've speeded up the process for you because the distance of 450

metres took the chimney on wheels four-and-a-half hours to complete.

The structure is seen as an icon of the city and is part

The company sees the chimney as an important industrial heritage site.

The top story, authorities in Colombia say 207 people are known to

have died in a city of Mocoa, with scores more still missing, many of

them children. Rescue teams are continuing to comb through tonnes of

mud and Abery in their search for survivors. The Colombian president

says it is impossible to know what the eventual death toll will be.

That's all for now. Thanks for watching us here on BBC world News.

Good evening. It has not been too bad a weekend for most