hello, i'm david eades with "bbc world news." our top stories. rescuers reach a ship full of migrants left adrift. there are 40 children onboard. the first photo of the vessel now under tow. this is the second time in days that people smugglers have used cargo ships to get migrants to europe's shores. the search for wreckage from the missing airasia plane moves under water using specialist equipment to scan the sea floor. a new study says most types of cancer are the result of bad

luck, not genes, environment, or lifestyle. hello. hello. a major rescue operation is under way off the italian coast yet again. this time, to help about 450 people believed to be migrants who are onboard a crewless cargo ship. the italian coast guard has told us that 40 children are among those onboard. in fact, they've sent us some images from their hospital. they've been winching down some of their team to help onboard. they're towing this ship into port now. no power on the boat. no crew either. just leaving those on the vessel to drift helpless in what have been some pretty heavy seas. the boat is said to be around

about 65 kilometers from capo santa maria, and this is the second migrant ship in a week, adrift with no crew in choppy seas. around about a thousand migrants, most syrians and kurds, had to be rescued on wednesday from another ship. that was the blue sky m. earlier, commander andrea tassara from the italian coast guard gave me this update. >> yes, good morning. the condition of migrants onboard the vessel are good, but there are about 40, 4-0, children onboard. there is not food, water, and so on. so, we try in this moment, we are trying to manage a transport of the food, milk, water, and so on, onboard the merchant ship.

this transport will be made by a adopt, and italian coast guard patrol boat. it's another very difficult day for italian coast guard personnel, but we are trained for this, and we are sure that the operation will be good and in the future we'll be finished in a better way. >> that's commander tassara. certainly a challenge for the coast guard. looks like pretty callous actions from the traffickers themselves as well. william spindler is the spokesman for the united nations refugee agency. he describes this as a worrying new trend. >> it seems to be a new trend where hundreds of migrants and refugees are crammed into cargo

ships and sent without a crew in the direction of italy. and the conditions in which these people travel are appalling. there are men, women, some of them pregnant, children. many of them are refugees from the war in syria. and these people who have already lost so much, they have lost their homes, in some cases members of their families, are now in danger of losing their lives. because of the way in which they put their lives into the hands of smugglers, simply to find protection in europe. >> do you know how much they are expected to pay up? i mean, when they're brought in, presumably, they're questioned about this. how much are they paying to get what they think is some sort of safe passage out of wherever they're coming from? >> this is a very well-organized

operation by people smugglers. and we have seen different reports in the media on how much they are charging. but the sums involved are considerable and they could be as high as seven or 8,000 u.s. dollars. and when you're talking about hundreds of people in one of the ships, the figures involved are very important. and this, of course, just feeds into this illegal trafficking of human beings. so this needs to be combatted, but at the same time, the victims who are the refugees, they need to be protected and saved. >> absolutely. you say this needs to be combatted, that is crucially important. we've seen the italians have said look, we cannot fund this whole patrolling exercise on our own anymore. frontex, the european system, it has to come center stage. but it doesn't seem to have the

effect that the italians could have, does it? >> well, people who are desperate and who are fleeing for their lives will always find a way to find safety. and if they can't come through the door, they will try to come through the window. so in our view, what needs to be done is to find safe, legal ways for refugees to come to europe, either through resettlement programs, through humanitarian admission programs, through family reunification, or other ways. they don't need to risk their lives in this way. >> yeah, that's not going to happen, though, is it in the numbers required if you're going to accommodate this extraordinary influx of refugees. >> well, we have asked for europe to take 130,000 syrian refugees this year. so far, many european countries have pledged to received syrians, syrian refugees through resettlement programs. >> what sort of total have you got pledged so far for this year

then? >> so far, we have around 100,000 places for syrians pledged, and we hope that more places will be pledged. this will send a strong message to people who are finding it really difficult to live as refugees, that they have not been forgotten. >> that was william spindler. in the same neck of the woods, in fact, the norman atlantic ferry, you'll recall that was damaged by fire, has now been towed within sight of the italian port of brindisi. a tug boat pulled it across the adriatic sea to the italian coast overnight after setting off on thursday afternoon. the ferry caught fire on sunday. at least 11 people were killed. an unknown number missing. the investigation into the airasia crash is now turning to the ocean floor. search teams are braving some pretty bad weather there to deploy sonar equipment in the

java sea off indonesia to try to locate the bulk of the wreckage from the plane. the aircraft was flying from surabaya in indonesia to singapore. 162 people were onboard when it vanished on sunday. 22 bodies have so far been recovered. rupert wingfield-hayes reports. >> reporter: this is now the operating base for the operation to search for and recover debris from flight 8501. you can see behind me here there's troops getting ready, waiting for another helicopter to come in with bodies onboard it. what we've seen here today is a u.s. helicopter from the u.s. navy coming in here from the uss sampson, a ship that's taking part in the search and rescue operation. and it had four bodies onboard. they landed here. the crews here behind me then went out on to the runway with stretchers.

they brought the bodies off the helicopters, took them away in ambulances. those bodies have been taken off to a local hospital to be cleaned up. they will then be brought back here and put on this plane to be flown to surabaya, where they will be formally identified at the hospital there and eventually handed over to their families. when they first found wreckage on the sea out there a hundred kilometers away on tuesday, there was a real sense of optimism that this investigation was moving forward fast, that they would find the rest of the plane in a matter of days. i have to say today there is much more of a mood of pessimism. they're now talking about a week or maybe more before they find those black boxes. and the reason for that is the weather. it's been stormy here. the seas are churning. there are large waves and it's making it really difficult for them to see down into the sea and for divers to get down into the water to search for the plane. >> that's rupert wingfield-hayes. a pretty harrowing time for the loved ones of those onboard. many have been gathering in surabaya waiting for more news. >> reporter: this is the room where the relatives of the

passengers and crew from the aircraft is getting a regular briefing from officials from the government, the police, and airline officials here. compensation package is starting to be discussed here. what we've been hearing from the relatives here is that their main priority is just to get the bodies of their loved ones back as soon as possible. they're getting increasingly worried that the longer it takes for the bodies to be retrieved from the water, the more likely the bodies will decompose and it will make it difficult for them to be identified. we know that today among the bodies that have been identified is one of the flight attendants from the aircraft. and it's been a slow progress for the relatives here in terms of bodies to be retrieved from the water. there's an increasing suspicion that the reason why authorities have not been able to find more bodies is because most of the passengers are still strapped in their seats inside the aircraft, and that's why it's crucial for the rescuers to find the aircraft as soon as possible, and indonesia is getting help

from a number of countries, including britain, the united states, and singapore with specialist equipment to detect signal from the aircraft, but at this point, no signal from the aircraft has been detected just yet. the former new york governor mario cuomo has died at the age of 82. mr. cuomo was a member of the democratic party. he was governor of new york from 1983 through to 1994. he was known for his opposition to the death penalty and to liberal gun laws. now, he twice turned down the opportunity to seek the democratic nomination to run for president. the family of one of the three al jazeera journalists jailed in egypt says that they are now a step closer to getting justice following a court's decision to order a retrial. relatives of peter greste say they hope to get him back to australia. on thursday, egypt's highest court ruled that the three journalists would stay in jail at least until the start of a new hearing. from sydney, jon donnison reports.

>> reporter: jailed for doing their jobs, still behind bars, but for mohamed fahmy, peter greste, and baher mohamed, at least some hope. these pictures are from an earlier hearing. the three al jazeera journalists weren't in court yesterday. but with their original trial now ruled invalid, a retrial is expected to start in a month's time. that's the earliest they could be granted bail. but peter greste's family are hoping new laws in an egyptian presidential decree could see him home in australia sooner. >> we view this decision as a positive step in the legal process, one step closer to justice being served. following instruction from peter and the family, peter's egyptian lawyer lodged an application with the egyptian attorney general's office to have peter deported. pursuant to a presidential decree that was issued in november. now that peter is an accused person, we will be making an attempt to this application

seeking his deportation. >> reporter: producer mohamed fahmy tweeted from hospital where he's being treated for an old injury, that this was a milestone towards victory. outside court, his fiancee said he remained defiant. >> he's not only fighting for his freedom, he's fighting for the freedom of press and freedom of expression. >> reporter: the three journalists have already faced more than a year in jail. they perhaps now have more reason to feel optimistic. but they don't have their freedom yet. jon donnison, bbc news, sydney. do stay with us here on "bbc world news." still to come, a special report for you from china's border region where airing a political grievance can lead to many years in jail. stay with us for more.

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onboard. 40 of them children. the italian coast guard has told the bbc. the operation to find wreckage from the missing airasia plane has moved underwater with specialist equipment to search the sea floor. china says it's facing a growing threat from militant islam. it's in the midst of a year-long crackdown on what it describes as terrorism driven by religious extremism. the campaign is focused on the western province of xinjiang, that's home to china's uyghur ethnic minority. they are predominantly muslim. despite doubling the policing budget and jailing hundreds of uyghurs, violent attacks have continued, and critics say china is exacerbating its problems by religious repression. widespread intimidation makes reporting from the region very difficult, as our china editor has been finding out.

>> reporter: closer to baghdad than to beijing, xinjiang is home to ten million uyghurs. in language, culture, and religion, they're different. and china doesn't trust them. every crowd has its informers hunting down traitors. you walk through this night food market, you'd think it's a normal, relaxed society. but uyghurs cannot express a political grievance, a religious grievance or criticize the government without risking many years in jail. so i can talk to them about the food that they're eating, or the hats they're wearing, but i cannot ask them about anything else because it's simply too dangerous. the surveillance state. beijing says terrorists must be chased down like rats in the street. and the police budget has doubled. counterterrorism trumps civil liberties. the moment beijing's patience snapped.

tiananmen square, october 2013. the attackers came 2,000 miles to strike at the heart of the nation, killing and maiming innocent tourists before setting their vehicle on fire. they filmed themselves before the attack. brainwashed, says beijing, by jihadi videos from abroad. but is that the whole story of their radicalization? i heard reports the government had destroyed part of their mosque, and they had vowed revenge. i'm trying to get to their village and talk to those who knew them. our car was turned back by police. our second attempt on a public bus. beijing fears religion breeds terror. for anyone under 50, beards are not allowed. veils discouraged.

he confirms that government officials are not allowed to pray in mosques. at police check points, young uyghur men are targeted. now it's their mobile phones that are suspect. they have to check the phone cards to see that they don't have any illegal materials on it. apparently almost anything of a religious nature is now unacceptable to have on your phone. no shooting. so the village where the tiananmen attacker came from is just on the other side of that police cordon a couple of miles. we've come a couple of thousands of miles and we're stuck here now because they've taken our passports from us because they've made it quite clear that we're not going to get there. the state fears uyghurs, and uyghurs fear the state. walls have ears, and no one

dares speak up, when beijing makes no distinction between those who voice a grievance and those who resort to terror. punishing the many for the violence of the few risks a war of attrition with china's uyghurs. carrie gracie, bbc news, xinjiang. now, most cases of cancer are the result of sheer bad luck rather than unhealthy lifestyles, diet, or even inherited genes. those are the findings coming from a study in the united states, which found that random mutations that occur in dna when cells divide are responsible for 2/3 of adult cancers across a wide range of tissues, as kate bee explains. >> reporter: it's generally agreed that avoiding smoking, eating a balanced diet, and getting enough exercise will offer some protection from cancer. but just how much protection has

never been entirely clear. the team at johns hopkins university says the answer lies in the way the body regenerates. old, tired cells are constantly being replaced with new ones made by dividing stem cells. each time a cell divides, there's a danger the letters of its genetic code will become jumbles, leading to an increased cancer risk. overall, the study found that around 65% of cancers were caused by random mutations that cannot be prevented. it's down to biological bad luck. but, the research concluded that a third of cancers, including skin and lung cancer, can still be prevented by lifestyle changes. >> if there's anything wrong with our diets or exercise habits and so on, in order to not increase our risk of cancer, but this just says that there is

a component that's bad luck. that is not our fault. and it just happens. >> reporter: writing in the journal of science, the report authors say that as most cancers can't be prevented, there should be more focus on spotting them early. kate bee, bbc news. steven gerrard, captain of the english premier league football team liverpool has announced he's leaving the club at the end of the season. now he's believed to be considering a move to the united states. gerard is 34 now. he scored two penalties in the premier league on sunday. still very much a part of things at the moment, but he is free to talk to foreign clubs now about his next move. he has been captain at anfield since 2003. he made his debut for the club way back in 1998. to afghanistan now, where for many years, all forms of music were banned by the taliban, who ruled from 1996 to 2001. a new generation of musicians is

helping to ensure that afghanistan's cultural traditions can go on, and the bbc's mike wooldridge has this report from kabul. >> reporter: they live in a city and a country full of uncertainties, but the students in this free class at the music school in kabul are developing into assured players of one of afghanistan's traditional instruments. this 15-year-old says he thought the classes would be really difficult, but with the teacher's support, he's managed it. it is my country's own music, and this is my country's own

music, he says. i'm learning it, because it's good for our culture. in another room, these experienced players practice for musical events in pakistan. many afghan musicians sought sanctuary in pakistan, from the destruction by rival forces of this district of kabul that was famous for its music. and later to escape the harsh taliban rule when music was forbidden. i was here within weeks of the fall of taliban to witness music's emotional revival. now, firmly rooted here again. >> we don't need to go very far to generate the interest. the interest exists. i think people are very keen to come learn about music, whether it's to eventually go on to become performers of traditional music, or whether it's to learn the instrument.

>> perhaps nothing more profoundly reflects the soul of afghanistan than its music. enjoyed by its people today in many different forms. in cities, especially wedding parties in halls like this, big business for the country's bands and singers. of this wedding inside the hall, men and women separated as has become the custom, but contemporary music, the bridge between them. and back at the music school, every sign that tradition will continue to flourish. bbc news, kabul. just time to remind you of our main story, the italian coast guard has taken control of a merchant chip with 450 migrants onboard, which have been abandoned by its crew.

it's a sierra leone vessel being towed to port in southern italy with around 40 children or so onboard. that's what the commander of the italian coast guard has told us. thanks for watching "bbc world news." (vo) nourished. rescued. protected. given new hope. during the subaru "share the love" event, subaru owners feel it, too. because when you take home a new subaru we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need.

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