BBC World News on Video

>> North Korea agrees to close its main nuclear reactor in exchange for fuel aid. Bomb blast kill three people on a pair of buses traveling towards the Lebanese capital. Opinions count, so much so that the German icon Volkswagen might be taken over. This is the bbc world. A very warm welcome. Also in the programme, 2 million refugees have fled Iraq. Should the U.S. be taking care of them? The amazing story of a man who fell to earth and lived to tell the tale.

>> Hello to you. After lengthy talks in Beijing, North Korea has agreed to begin dismantling its nuclear weapons program. The Chinese envoy as the six-party talks says North Korea will shut down its main nuclear reactor, Yongbyon, within 60 days, this in return for fuel oil or the equivalent economic aid. The shutdown is to be monitored by international inspectors. North Korea and the United States will also embark on talks aimed at restarting diplomatic relations.

>> The agreement reached in talks between North and South Korea, Japan, China, the United States and Russia means North Korea will be reward with much-need nuclear aid if it halts its nuclear weapons programme. North Korea would shut its Yongbyon reactor complex within 60 days, receiving fifty tones of fuel oil or the equivalent in other forms of assistance. As the North takes further steps to disable its nuclear capabilities, it will go on the receive a far larger portion of economic aid equivalent to 950,000  tones of fuel oil. It would have to include a complete inventory of stocks of plutonium, the fuel used in North Korea's test explosion.  

>> Later in the programme we'll get analysis from Seoul, the South Korean capital, and Beijing on what this means for the region. A suicide bomber has detonated a van packed with explosives in west Baghdad. He's killed at least 16 people and wounded 45. The van exploded in a parking lot next to a private university in a residential district. This is a poor mixed neighbourhood with large Shia population. It's the first substantial bombing on the west side of the river this year. A gunman in the American state of Utah has killed five people and injured several others before he was shot dead by police. Authorities in salt lake city say the gunman opened fire randomly in a shopping centre. The victims were found throughout the complex. A witness said she heard at least 20 shots fired. The gunman was killed by police when he was cornered inside a children's clothes shop. Japan has called a special meeting of the international whaling commission. Several countries, mostly against whaling, are refusing to attend. They're protesting that Japan wants to restart commercial whaling. Japan is currently hunting down hundreds of whales every year ostensibly for scientific purposes. There have been violent clashes between Japanese whaling ships and conservation groups. And we'll get more from our correspondent in Tokyo on the importance of whaling to the Japanese people just later in this bulletin. Security officials in Leban  on now say three  people have been killed in bomb blasts on two buses east of the capital, Beirut. At least 20 people were killed when the bombs explode near the mainly in the Christian town of Ain Alaq.  The bombs come just a day before the second anniversary of the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

>> One explosion wrecked a minibus packed with passengers in a mainly Christian area of  Lebanon. Another blast damaged a second minibus nearby. The attacks came a day before the second anniversary of the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri. Officials counted the dead while casualties were rushed to hospital. There have been fears of more violence in Lebanon since clashes last month between supporters and opponents of the western-backed government. It's not known who was behind of the attack on the bus and why. There was a series of bombing in Lebanon mainly targeting ant-Syrian politicians. Syria has denied any involvement in the killing of Rafik Hariri or subsequent assassination in Lebanon, including that of Pierre Gemayel in November. The United States is investigating the whole area of assassination.  

>> Well, Jim  Muir is in Beirut. He gave us this update.

>> Well, it's a very ominous development for the Lebanese. This was a kind of  randomly targeted attack, which is very unusual. There have beem bombing attacks last few years, but they've been assassination. Is was apparent that aimed at a killing of ordinary people on board. This is possible this is very provocative. The area is the heartland the -- pierrel clan. A rather unusual assassination it was carried out by gunmen rather than by  anonymous bombings that had carried away quite a number of people, including the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri. And the timing of this in that respect is also very significant. Tomorrow, Wednesday, is the anniversary of that assassination. Very big demonstrations planned here in Beirut. Things very, very tense. This is a provocation aimed at exploding a very, very tense situation.

>> Jim, there was a thought at first that perhaps the buses weren't the target. Perhaps somebody else on that road was the target. Is that now being dismissed?  

>> Well, the evidence seems to be that the bombs were on board these buses. I mean, if you see one of them is completely wrecked, and the other has been damaged apparently from an explosion inside, which blew up the tail end of the bus. So it seems that the explosions... all the reading of it at the moment seems to be the explosions took place actually on the buses and the victims were just ordinary passengers. Most think this was a targeted assassination gone wrong.  

>> Jim Muir in Beirut. An update on a story we broke earlier. The bomb attacks near three police stations about 100 kilometres east of the Algerian capital. The Reuters news agency is now saying at least four people were killed in those explosions. The attacks not claimed so far. Residents are blaming islamists rebels. Now, to an almost unbelievable story of survival. A man who fell four kilometres, 4,000 metres and lived to tell the team. That's what happened to Michael Holmes, a brit taking part in a parachute jump in New Zealand. When he leapt out of the plane, he discovered his parachute didn't work.

>> Just imagine this: You've jumped out of a plane, you're plummeting to earth at incredible speed, your parachute doesn't work. Or you have to watch your friend spinning out of control as you realise something is terribly wrong and there's nothing you can do. This happened to Michael Holmes. His first parachute failed to open properly. He tried to open his reserve but the ripcord wouldn't work, so a final word for posterity.

>> Bye.

>> A shadow getting every larger and then gravity caught up with him. His friend Jonathan had to watch all of this unfold as he glide in behind him. A frantic search in the bushes fearing the worst.

>> You breathing, man?

>> Yeah.

>> Can you talk to me?   Talk to me, man? You okay?

>> No.

>> Amazingly he only suffered a broken ankle and a punctured lung. A former champion skydiver, a veteran of thousands of previous jumps, he says this brush with death won't put him off. But Michael Holmes knows just how lucky he was. He says his life didn't flash before his eyes. He simply thought this would have been a frustrating way to die. Tim alman, bbc news.

>> Incredibly lucky Michael Holmes, what a fantastically restrained last word for Boston patient. How can breaking a law change Volkswagen?

>> This is all about the golden rule that stopped Volkswagen from being taken over, a matter of national interest. Today an adviser to the E.U.'s top court said this German law breaks the European Union's regulations. Porscha, which has a 27.4% stake, can only have up to 20% of voting rights. They have welcomed the view. It's likely Porscha will now raise its stake in Volkswagen, but it's unclear when that will happen. While the opinion of the advocate general isn't binding, everyone is asking if the door is now open to a full takeover.

>> Usually the judges follow the opinion of the advocate general and they basically then tell the member state in question to get rid of the law that's been stripped down. So they can actually procrastinate, but obviously there will be huge pressure, political pressure and also pressure by Porscha to get rid of this very soon.

>> Very interesting story to watch. Actually that law was put together back in the 1960's. Now, cost cuts at airbus are back on the agenda in Europe. British union officials are travelling to Paris to meet senior airbus executives. They want reassurance that 12,000 jobs in the U.K. Are Safe. Wings for airbus planes are made in Bristol and Wales in the U.K., But it's feared airbus may want to save money by switching that work elsewhere. That's it for me for now.

>> Thank you very much. Do stay with bbc world if you can. Still to come on the programme, why the United States is coming under growing pressure to aid the thousands fleeing Iraq. Now the mother of the Scottish school girl, Molly Campbell, has told the bbc how she had to give up the custody battle for her daughter to save her mental health. This is her first television interview. Louise Campbell has said she feared a long legal case would leave her so stressed she'd be unable to take care of her remaining baby daughter. The high-profile began when Molly ran away to la hor with her father.  

>> It was a custody battle played out over two continents, but when Molly Campbell, also knowns a Miss Byarana left her mother in Scotland to live with her father in Pakistan, it became a dispute between the two parents over a girl's identity. Married for 16 years, Louise Campbell converted to Islam. She says concerns about bringing them up in any faith led her to fight to keep her daughter in Scotland.

>> I brought them up completely Muslim. Looking back, I wish I had let them choose for themselves when they were a bit older.

>> The custody fight was played out in full view of the international media.

>> If I could back, I know when I go into the house...

>> There were times when Louise Campbell thought she would get her daughter back, but with the stress taking a toll on her health and ability to look after her baby daughter with a new partner, she decided to give up the fight.

>> I'm scared if I don't stop fighting for Molly I'm not going to be well enough to take care of Rachel.

>> Molly remains in Pakistan. Her mother says she's hopeful despite the long, acrimonious legal battle they will stay in touch. Lorna Gordon, bbc news.  

>> This is bbc world. The main news this hour: A deal to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programme was reached at six-party talks in Beijing. Explosions have thorn through two buss in Lebanon. At least four people have been reported killed. Our correspondent Daniel Griffis has been following events in Beijing. Charles Scanlon is in Seoul. I ask them both what they make of today's announcement on North Korea's nuclear programme and the chances of the agreement lasting.

>> I think we've got a long way to go yet, Mike. Certainly what this is a very important first step. There's no doubt about that. Bear in mind we've had more than three years of talks without any major progress. Now for the first time the North Koreans and the other countries have signed on the dotted line. The North Koreans have committed themselves to shutting down their main nuclear facilities. They've committed themselves to opening up those facilities to international inspectors, as well. So these are pretty big steps. But we still have a long way to go, a lot of unresolved questions because, of course, the North Koreans are talking about shutting down their nuclear reactor. What happens to those weapons that most intelligence agencies believe the North Koreans already have in their nuclear arsenal? No mention of those in any final agreement. So this is an important step forward, but there's stale long way to go, Mike.

>> Let's head to Charles Scanlon in the South Korean capital. Are you getting any sense about what happens just for one question to the weapons that North Korea allegedly already has?

>> Well, I think that's the whole point really. What we're looking at now is a containment exercise of North Korea. That plant at Yongbyon is churning out enough plutonium for about one weapon a year. When the possibility of a freeze was raised last year, the United States wasn't interested in the freeze. They wanted to roll back the whole North Korea nuclear programme, but they've considerably softened their position now. They've decided that a freeze of that plant is better than nothing and hopefully a first step to something more substantial. But as far as North Korea is concerned, this is a very big diplomatic victory because they're in a much stronger position than they were a few years ago, and, of course, it's only a few months since they tested that nuclear device.

>> Charles, what do you think makes this deal different? In a sense we've been here before in 1994 with the Clinton administration in Washington. Very similar deal in some respects but it's foundered because most people feel Pyongyang was using it as a cover to pursue its programme.

>> A lot of people in this region will be asking lots of hard questions to the United States because they'll be saying that you through away the agreed framework back in 2002. People here would say it wasn't perfect, but at least it did contain the North Korean nuclear programme. There was some ambiguity about North Korea's nuclear capabilities. What they've done is used the last four years of confrontation to push ahead with the extraction of plutonium. They've tested a bomb. They now may have eight or nine nuclear weapons, and now we're going back to a freeze. People in the region will say it's been wasted four years and the United States' policy really hasn't helped.

>> Daniel, in Beijing, if it is for real, do you get a sense of what it was that plead the

-- that made the difference?

>> I think certainly the Chinese have played an important role after the test at the end of 2006 that Charles was talking about. The Chinese went to Pyongyang and really read the riot act to the North Koreans, pretty much demanding that they return to the negotiating table. So that has certainly been an important factor. And the Chinese will be happy that at least some sort of agreement has been reached, but as Charles was pointing out; there really is still a long way to go, and the Chinese will feel that really they want to see much more of a commitment from the North Koreans, as well, because as we already discussing really in that sense, it's a victory for the North Koreans more than anything else. At the moment they get to hang on to the nuclear weapons they already have in their arsenal, and really in that sense it is a real victory for the North Koreans. Certainly the Chinese will want to see more from them in that regard, as well.

>> Daniel griff et cetera there in Beijing and Charles Scanlon in Seoul. The American secretary of state, Condoleezza rice, will meet the united nations high commissioner of refugees tomorrow to discuss the growing refugee crisis in Iraq. More than 2 million Iraqis have plead the country, -- have fled the country, but the trust has given asylum to fewer than 500. Now it's coming under growing pressure to do more.

>> We all got our first communion in the church where we got baptised.

>> This woman has a few photos on her laptop computer to remind her of a happier life of Baghdad.

>> This shows one of the churches that got bombed.

>> Her family, Christians, are now separated, having been forced to flee the down terrorism rand herself was threatened with kidnap and rape. She's one of the lucky few. She made it to America. Most Iraqis have been turned away.

>> I was one of the people who gave flowers to the American army when they came into the country, but now I am a victim from all what happened. There are millions of Iraqi people who are as victim as I am who have no one to help them.

>> Today our committee will focus its attention on the current refugee crisis.

>> Congress also has been asking why America's ignored Iraqis who have put their lives on the line. Sammy gave evidence from behind a screen, a caution because he'd been targeted as a translator for U.S. troops.

>> My name was listed on the doors of several mosques call for my death. A suicide bomber in a car directly behind me blew himself up. I was hit by shrapnel in the face, bloodied and dazed. I am fortunate to be alive.

>> These are the scenes outside a Baghdad passport office. Around 100,000 Iraqis are now fleeing their country every month. 2 million have already crossed the border into Jordan and Syria.  Their lives in limbo while they wait for the world to respond. Here at the department of state, Condoleezza rice has set up a taskforce to address this refugee crisis, a sign of the growing pressure to do much more. So far the United States has only given asylum to 460 Iraqis since the war began. Yet last year alone it left more than 20,000 vacancies for refugees unfilled. Why? Echoes of defeat in the Vietnam war may provide an answer. The last time the U.S. helped in mass exodus of refugees was just before the pull out of Saigon.

>> I think if we acknowledge there's a refugee crisis that it's a failure of our ability to provide security and safety to the people of Iraq, which is one of the prime goals of our mission there.

>> This time America does not want to signal defeat. But nor can it ignore a crisis that's the consequence of its own military action. Jonathan Beale, bbc news, Washington.

>> Stay with us here on bbc world. Still to come on the programme: Japan wants commercial whaling back on the menu. Do the Japanese want it on their plate? Counterfeiting has long been a problem for the film and music industry. From Rolex watches to Prada and Gucci handbags. Police in Brussels say they've broken a major counterfeiting ring.

>> It started as a normal counterfeiting operation. The Belgian police confiscating thousands of bootlegged DVD's destined straight for the market. But what also came to light was a forgery ring, turning out unlicenced copies of tin-tin figurines. There's money to be made in tin-tin memorabilia. Created in 1929, the escapades of this intrepid foreign correspondent have captivated successive generations around the world, some 120 million books sold in dozens of languages. There's plenty of official merchandising which these counterfeiters were cashing in on.

>> ( Translated ): Once word got around collection and dealers that there were fakes on the market, with we had to act quickly.

>> To help identify the forgeries, police turned to tin-tin expert change, her father was a friend of the author who gave his name to tin-tin's Chinese companion.

>> ( Translated ): It's shocking, really shocking. It's misleading. These cheap tin-tin items show a complete lack of respect for the man's work, the lines, the colours, the composition, they're all wrong.

>> Tin-tin, though, is no stranger to forgeries. In the book, the black island, he uncovered a German plot to flood Britain with counterfeit money. Once again it's case solved. Michael Voss, bbc news.

>> Now as promised, as the a whaling meeting goes on in Tokyo with Japan trying to convince other countries to sanction commercial whaling, we've been looking at the importance the Japanese place on whale meat.

>> This is Japans' fish market, a landmark here in Tokyo. It's where much of the fresh fish that's served throughout this city is sold. Now giant tuna waiting to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Japan insists on its right the catch whale meat for scientific purposes. Much of that catch is sold at stalls like this to restaurants and individuals. In some parts of the country. The arguments for whaling don't get reported here another. Small but vocal minority says this is a Japanese tradition. What right does any other country got to tell us what we can or can't catch and eat? In fact, if you think of the many ordinary people here in Japan, they seem unaware of the controversy this causes overseas.  

>> ( Translated ): I don't think Japanese people realise the controversy over this issue, but I think we should care about how other countries regard us.

>> ( Translated ): Japan has always had a tradition of eating whales. I know it's very hard for people from other countries to understand, but we wish to preserve our culture, to continue our traditions and for people from overseas to respect that.

>> The Japanese government invited all the members of the international whaling commission here to Tokyo it says to try end the confrontation and begin a conversation between pro and anti-whaling nations. It's clear what the Japanese want, an end to the moratorium on commercial whaling. But this could end up being a very one-sided conversation. Many of the anti-whaling nations just haven't turned up. Meanwhile, of course, the Japanese ships which left for the Antarctic three months ago are simply timing catch around l 50 minke whales -- 850 pinky whales, all in the name of science, of course. Both the pro and the anti-whaling nations have been accused of trying to buy the support of poorer countries for their cause. As a result, some members of the I.W.C. Don't even have a coastline let alone a whaling fleet. It's time to return this body to its roots. The I.W.C. should manage whaling, not seek to ban it. If it doesn't get its way, it will need to consider other options. And although it hasn't said right, that cou I Iceland and resume commercial whaling.

>> Analysis and background on all the main stories for you whenever you want it on our web site, in particular on this deal to end Korea's nuclear programme. Thanks for being with us.