>> shot dead by his bodyguard, one of pakistan's most outspoken moderate voices in silence. as the australian military rushes to help queensland's flood stricken residents, there are snakes and crocodiles lurking in the waters. police released new pictures of the nightly air to the british throne who was caught up in london's student riots. welcome to bbc world news, broadcast to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. coming up later for you, this genetically fortified pig, will it save bacon or prove to be no more than a pig in a poke? and under the crescent sun, stunning pictures of the -- the partial solar eclipse. hello, it is an assassination

that has shaken the already turbulent world of pakistani politics. as he got out of his car in islamabad,the governor of punjab, salman taseer, has been shot dead by his own security detail. he was a well-known figure on the liberal wing of politics with outspoken secular views. he recently made a stand against the country's blasphemy laws. a report now from the pakistani capital. >> this is the popular shopping district where the governor was shot dead in broad daylight. the enemy was within. police say the killer was an elite commando from his own security team. police are now gathering evidence here at the scene in the heart of the capital. it is just a short time since the attack took place the

governor of the punjab province was at a cafe. he was attacked as he walked back to his car. and he was shot repeatedly at close range. one official says he bragged to police about killing a blasphemer. salman taseer was in the firing line since the calling for the release of a christian woman who was sentenced to death for blaspheming muhammed. he condemned his country's controversial blasphemy laws. he vowed to fight on even if he was the last man standing.

>> before i was going to say this, a lot of people said to me that you are making a mistake. do not do it. and i said, no. if i do not stand up, then other people who think like me will not be able to stand up either. >> human rights workers say pakistan has been robbed of a rare voice of courage, a champion of women's and minority rights. it is the most high-profile assassination since the killing of the former prime minister, benazir bhutto, in 2007. the country's government is hanging by a thread and the killing of salman taseer will add to its insecurity. the country has been robbed of an outspoken liberal, human rights workers say, a rare voice of courage is gone. >> a picture tells its own story, but the rising waters seem to be reaching their peak in australia. in queensland, a week's worth of rain is making its way to the ocean. floods have cut the town's air, road and rail links for the 75,000 inhabitants of rockhampton.

from there, the bbc's nick bryant. >> this is the day that rockhampton has been bracing itself for, with flood waters expected to peak over the next few hours. these are the low lying fringes. 150 houses are already under water. more than 500 people have either fled or been rescued from their homes. a coastal city at the mouth of the swollen fitzroy river, this should be the last stop before the flood waters reach the ocean. but rockhampton could be under water for the next 10 days. when last hit by flooding in 1991, it became an island city for a fortnight. >> you could be forgiven for thinking this is the major river running through rockhampton when, in fact, it is the major highway, the main link between this regional center and brisbane, the state capital much further to the south. it is completely inundated with water. it is one of australia's most

important arterial routes. the fear is that it could be that way for more than a week. >> from the south, the only way in is by sea -- normally sparkling, but right now, murky brown. these are those returning from christmas trips who found themselves stranded. these waters are riddled with venomous snakes and crocodiles. it is a very australian flood. >> what can you do? it is not like you can put your hand up and stop it. it is just going to come. it is just the way it is. it rains, floods come, and they go. rockhampton has seemed to become an island and the water breaks behind us. maybe one day you may be able to see the peaks of the city, but at the present time, many residents take it for granted and we just prepare for it.

it is life in queensland. >> never before in queensland have all three river systems flooded at the same time, which is why the crisis has been so bad and widespread. even after the waters peak, this state will be affected for months. bbc news, rockhampton. >> some of the day's other main -- we have a very extraordinary photograph. it is a picture taken by a philippine politician moments before he was shot dead. he was taking a photo of his family outside their house on new year's day. unknown to any of them, he captured a man who had raised his gun to fire. police have now detained a man on suspicion of murder. a russian ice breaker has now worked its way through heavy snow in an attempt to reach five

ships trapped in the ice. it is hoped the icebreaker will reach them by thursday. bank robbers in argentina have tunneled into a vault and indeed more than 100 safe deposit boxes. it is thought that the thieves spent six months digging a 30 meter tunnel complete with lights and a ventilation. the alarms went off several times overnight, but police saw the doors to the bank shut and took no action. no one knows how much was stolen because what was in the boxes was confidential. the united states has repeated its calls for the president of the ivory coast to step down. claude gbagbo is still clinging to power even though his rival was recognized as the winner of the last election. our africa correspondent erin harding sent this.

>> they used to call this the power of africa. not anymore. the weeks of post-election violence here. and we found more trouble and fear on the streets of abidjan today. police stormed this opposition party building. it is too dangerous for us to film with anything but a mobile phone. >> the situation here is very tense, very unpredictable. we are having to be discreet about how we film and how we act because there is the feeling that things could explode at any moment. >> it could get worse and worse and we do not know what could happen tomorrow. that is why we are afraid. been >> all of this because two men claim the presidency. the world says gbagbo lost the election, but he refuses to give up power.

instead, he has laid siege to his rival, trapped inside this hotel. foreign leaders as a peaceful they insist that he must quit and not hold out for some zimbabwe-style power-sharing deal. >> the man himself still has plenty of supporters here in abidjan and they are not prepared to give up without a fight, they say. >> behind the defiance lurked the bitter ethnic rivalries that cause the recent civil war here and could recently -- and could trigger another round. >> [unintelligible] i will kill him. >> such threats stoked fears of many here. we found immigrants from liberia

seeking protection outside the u.n. >> there is the threat of being massacred here. because of the threat we continue to receive. >> her husband is missing. it is hard to see a quick or painless way out of any of this. andrew harding, bbc news, ivory coast. >> police in london have released new cctv pictures of last month's attack by students on a motorcade carrying the air to the british throne, the princes -- the prince of wales and his wife, the duchess of cornwall. >> it was a serious breach of royal security. these new cctv pictures show how protesters surrounded the convoy and hurled things at the cars. police are trying tod8pu crack n

-- track down those involved, this woman in particular. here she is again running behind the rolls royce and hitting it. scotland yard is hoping that released pictures of the woman will lead to someone revealing her identity, or that her companion will come forward as a witness. police also want to trace this man running alongside the royal car and hitting it. and a third man ran alongside before seeming to use a camera to take pictures. charles and camilla were not injured, despite a stick being poked through the window. the cctv images shows armed officers stayed in their cars, getting out to deal with the protesters. >> the metropolitan police commissioner saidqwwfñuñ the(q:n 3

restraint. an investigation has not been published, but it is reported to say that the convoy took this route despite being warned that there were bands of protesters roaming the area. >> so far, 198 people have been arrested in connected -- connection with the protest. hours of video footage is being rolled through to a defied those involved. scotland yard says it respects their right to protest, but will do all it can to ensure offenders face the consequences. >> coming up on the program, stay with us if you can -- >> drafting "the king's speech" and the 11th hour discovery that gave good material to this oscar hopeful. first, anchor in italy against the brazilian government over the decision not to hand over a wanted fugitive has spilled out

over into the streets. david collins has this. >> the case has blown up into a fierce fight between italy and brazil. it is over the decisionctv0$ noo hand over the fugitive. angry crowds held banners and chanted slogans outside, calling for hisueébc' extradition. he is wanted in italy for four murders committed in the 1970's, a violent time when he belonged to a far left group. one of the victims, who himself was disabled in the shootings, said he would press to bring the fugitive back to an italian prison. >> we will fight to achieve justice. we want to is a raid by t. stead -- we want him to come back and serve the punishment. he is a real criminal.

>> batiste denies the crimes of which he is accused and says he is being persecuted in italy. he became a fugitive after escaping from an italian prison in 1991. he lived in freedom in france for 26 years and was only arrest in brazil in 2007 after a tense to apprehend him. italy wants his extradition, but his lawyers say they expect him to be freed as soon as possible, following the decision not to concede to italy's request. the government insists he must be kept behind bars. whether he is allowed the freedom to enjoy political asylum granted by the brazilian government is now a judgment for the country's supreme court. bbc news. >> the latest headlines for you this hour on bbc world news.

one of pakistan's's best known politicians, the governor of punjab has been shot dead. in australia, floodwaters are expected to soon peak. 75,000 people there are cut off. harsh winter weather has been disrupting transport and travel in southwest china. local authorities have dispatched teams to provinces and regions. from beijing, a report. >> it is the same story across much of southwestern china, snow and freezing rain paralyzing the transport network. the authorities here have been trying everything to get the trains moving. on the road, there is also gridlock. thousands of motorists have been stranded because of the bad weather. many people spent the night in

their vehicles or at service stations in nearby villages after roads were closed. no one is going anywhere fast. authorities say thousands of emergency staff were deployed to ease the travel chaos. power supplies were also affected by the cold snap. while conditions are slowly improving, the weather is set to worsen again by the end of the week. bbc news, beijing. >> it has just emerged in the past hour that the chief executive of northern ireland has resigned from his post. lord mackenzie has been under fire for his company's handling of a recent water crisis. there are still many without water, but that is down from tens of thousands of the christmas holiday. the scottish singer jerry rice for the has died at age 63. he was most -- jerry trafford niehaus died at age 63.

he was most famous for this song. ♪ plus, the signature saxophone solo. it reached no. 3 in the u.k., no. 2 in the u.s. where it sold 1 million copies. also in the 1990's, "stuck in the middle with you." that song was picked up by quentin tarantino for the film "reservoir dogs." 1:snonscientists are always loog for ways to feed this pennant -- this planet's growing population. genetically modified animals are being developed. one of them, a pig from canada. >> in that deep freeze of the canadian winter, something is stirring. this could be the planet's first

genetically -- genetically modified farm animal for human consumption. they call it enviro-paid. they look like normal pigs and behave like normal pigs, but they are living and breathing wonders of modern science. each one contains imogene's of mice and e. coli bacterium, which went -- contains the genes of mice and the e. coli bacterium,. >> it is one of the only -- of this technology. it is mind-boggling when you think about it. >> it is mind-boggling, but i will try to explain. normal pigs cannot consume phosphates. that means the stuff that comes out of the back and can be a toxic levels for the environment. these pigs can digest phosphates. no more pollution and cheaper to feed.

the science of genetic modification is moving fast. from these early days when it was slow in the dark mice and cats to these fastqh54md growi- glow in the dark mice and cats to these fast-growing salmon. it is hugely controversial stuff. in this, gm the free supermarket, the very notion of -- gm -- free supermarkets, the very notion of genetically modified animals is horrifying. >> we are about to break open a whole new era of application of this technology. we never imagined it could be possible. >> the argument about gm meat and fish is essentially the same for gm crops, a polarized debate locked in stalemate. but this new wave of transgenic science comes as the world agriculture is faced with the

mass of time -- challenge of feeding its rocketing global population and doing it sustainably. >> these may be among the first gm farm animals, but certainly will not be the last. >> one of america's most senior navy officers has been relieved of his command over a series of lewd videos shown to his crew with the knowledge of pentagon top brass. a when honor's made and starred in some of the weekly videos, which featured anti-gay slurs and suggest a shower scenes. firefighters have been battling massive delays in new jersey that broke out early on tuesday morning in a large condominium complex that is still being built. firefighters had difficulty controlling the flames. they were burning fiercely throughout the trees-story building. no injuries reported.

-- the three-story building. no injuries reported many people run a world where able to see the partial solar eclipse. it was visible as far west as of africa and as far east as china. >> a golden dawn greeted sweden's eclipse hunters -- eclipse hunters. it was so low in the sky that it could only be seen away from buildings and trees. it was most visible in sweden, covering almost 90% of the sun. >> it is an incredible experience to watch. it became a smiley straight ahead. the light and shadows were totally different than normal, magic. >> the swiss alps were bathed in a rosy glow. the skies darkened as two-thirds of the sun disappeared behind the moon. there will be four partial solar eclipses this year.

that is the most for a decade. sadly, others will be in largely uninhabited places, so these czech children wanted to make the most of it. across north africa from morocco to the egyptian pyramids, astronomers and amateurs gazed in all. >> i guess if they were your 1000 years before they would see the exact same. it is nothing to do with technique. it is a wonder of nature. >> in iran, too, the eclipse drew clouds to telescopes. this students in tehran were given an outdoor astronomy lesson. in great britain, the eclipse was a sad disappointment. typical january whether prevented -- the typical january weather prevented most people from seeing it. but if you can get to the arctic on june 1, you'll get another chance. >> somehow, films with a starring laurel caught -- a

starring role of the british royal family seemed to have a track record in hollywood. "the king's speech" tells the story of the current queen's father as he struggled to overcome a speech impediment. >> my husband is -- >> there is the public speaking , and then there is very public speaking. if you have a speech impediment it can seem more pronounced. "the king's speech" is about george vi's stammer and his relationship with his speech therapist, lionel logel. -- lytal rove. very little was known about

their private sessions until nine weeks before the film was due to go into production. that is when they discovered this, the archives that had only been recently found by his grandson in the attic. for the director and actors it was a revelation. he goes into enormous detail and has hundreds of letters between the two men. and here is his medical card on the king. about his mental state it says, "quite normal, but accused attention to -- acute tension. he has a good bill, but the waistline is flabby. >> colin firth plays george vi and is in no doubt of the archive's importance. >> it is like finding the rosetta stone. biography in my life until i took this were at -- this role on. i had to start from scratch on any informational knowledge i had. >> these fresh insights help

colin firth and geoffrey rush develop a powerful on-screen chemistry. but it cannot have passed you by, the oscar talk again around this film. how does that feel? >> i do not think anything quite prepares you for it because it cannot but make you feel giddy. >> and he certainly has the support of his queen. >> he was a quite superb. >> to act with, he is a dream because you have absolute belief in the person opposite. he takes you there. >> we will have to wait and see about the oscars, but there is one thing for certain. "the king's speech" has people talking. >> much more on that and olli international news on bbc.com. we are on twitchell and facebook as well. thanks for being with us.

see you again. >> hello and welcome. >> see the news unfold, get the top stories from aroundízgm)> +e globe and click-to-play video reports. go to bbc.com/news to experience the in-depth, expert online. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. and union bank. ♪ >> union bank has put its global expertise to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you?

>> "bbc world news" was brought to you by kcet los angeles.