>> this is "bbc world news america." funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key, strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news

america." >> this is "bbc world news" america. iran announces it has made new strides in its nuclear program, striking a defiant tone against sanctions from the west. the u.s. called it hype. fire sweeps through a prison in honduras, trapping many in their cells. 350 are killed. getting ready for some linsanity. one basketball player is proving to be the top of the town. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe.

as of tensions between tehran and the west were not high enough, today iran announced in grand fashion that it has made two major advances in its nuclear program. president mahmoud ahmadinejad watched as the first reactor was reportedly loaded for the first time with domestically made fuel rods. the nuclear agency said that they had expanded their ability to enrich uranium and they seem to make a mockery of recent sanctions. >> president ahmadinejad occasionally enjoys playing the part of nuclear physicist. this afternoon, he unveiled what he billed as great achievements in the nuclear sphere. two years ago, iran said they could not produce the fuel rods on their own. now, they say they can't.

the message of this ceremony, sanctions will not stop their pursuit of nuclear power. >> they were strict scientific achievement for themselves, especially advanced science. they have used it to fight humanity. science should be invested in people's well-being and for organize international relations based on friendship, respect, and justice. >> the president and his colleagues paid tribute to nuclear scientists killed in iraq in the past two years. the president announced that iran will add 3000 centrifuges to its efforts. -- the president and his colleagues paid tribute to the nuclear scientists killed in iran. the west is concerned. >> as long as they are not abiding by their obligations, the u.n. security council resolutions, we are determined to continue to rally international support to raise

the cost on the tehran for failing to abide by its obligations. >> the west will study the details of the announcements. the international atomic agency has said that they are concerned about the possibility military dimension of the nuclear program. next week, its inspectors will get to pay another visit to tehran to ask questions of iran's nuclear scientists. >> in reaction to today's announcement, the u.s. state department dismissed the news saying that it is not terribly impressive and seems to have been hyped. i am joined by a senior fellow at the u.s. institute of peace and she has written extensively on iran. there is back and forth going on. was this diplomatic theatre? if so, who was the audience? >> there were two different audiences. one was a domestic audience. part of this was about john

starting iranian nationals and at a very important juncture. -- jumps starting iranian nationalism and a very important juncture. to the international community, which is where the real message was, it is a sense that we are persevering, you cannot intimidate us. we will be defiant. a lot of the things they have done are technically just for peaceful nuclear energy and fall under what is legal for iran under the non-proliferation treaty. >> the u.s. said there was little new in the pictures. this announcement that they are expanding their enrichment facility, is that more concerned? >> i have been in the research reactor. a lot of levels of questions remain from getting back to 2003

about what iran has been trying to do. they have not complied with weapons inspectors and a series of u.n. resolutions that the international community has passed. they were late in terms of these developments. they brag about doing this for a long time. they had to fess up to things that they found out that they were doing such as opening this new underground facility. >> does this make you think that they are further along in the process than they have let on about? for, that the sanctions are having no effect at all and that they are forging ahead? maybe there is another country helping them secretly. >> the sanctions hurt them. there is a real bite in tehran after years of being able to skirt a lot of the issues, whether it is the international banking systems cutting their central bank off from dealings with the rest of the world. they are really feeling the

pinch. not enough, necessarily. there probably will be another round of diplomacy. this is not over. >> there will be another round of diplomacy but this is happening against the backdrop of the bomb attacks against israeli targets around the world which were apparently in retaliation for the killing of the iranian nuclear scientists. both israel and iran have denied involvement. are we in the middle of a proxy war? >> that is a critical issue. the iranians feel that they are engaged in the shadows now. it is not just about the rhetoric that has typified the tensions between whether it is iran and israel or iran and the international community but it is playing out in the assassinations of its own nuclear scientists. or what iran might be doing in places like india, georgia, and thailand. >> we will be keeping a very keen eye on it.

thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> in honduras, more than 350 prisoners were killed when a huge fire swept through a jail on tuesday that. many victims were locked in their cells and burned alive. many are being treated for burns and smoke inhalation. the prison is in comayagua. >> it was an inferno, one of the worst prison fires and latin america. prisoners barely survived the heat and smoke and they managed to crawl out. others were less lucky and was trapped in their cells as the fire raged out of control. out of 350 inmates, it is thought about half may have burned to death. the bodies will be hard to identify. >> we could hear the screams of the burning people and everyone started fearing for their lives.

we did not know what to do. the only thing we were able to do was to stop breaking the roof apart. do we started to rip apart the ceiling above us. >> anxious relatives gather around the prison gates, and many not knowing whether their loved ones that survive or fled. some tried to force their way into the prison but were driven back by police firing tear gas. anchor here is being fueled as the fire department dealt with the delays. -- anger here is being fueled as the fire department dealt with the delays. >> we will have a full and transparent investigation to determine what occurred. we will find out whether responsibility lies. >> it is not clear whether a right or electrical fault triggered the blaze. the prison was chronically overcrowded and clashes between

rival drug gangs were common. >> awful scenes in honduras. now, to syria, where today president bashar al-assad announced a date for a promised referendum on the constitution. the white house dismissed this as laughable. the city of hamaa seems to be the latest target of a government crackdown. this is being shelled as the government -- as the opposition stronghold of homs has been. >> the visible symbol of a country deep in crisis. it is not the first time that this will be hit. as usual, the two sides blame one another. activists say it was hit by government shellfire. state television says it was advertised by terrorists. this runs close to parts of homs

which was heavily bombarded. this is not only the central city that are affected parent of the government confessed five soldiers killed in clashes in this town in the north. -- this is not the only central city that is affected. the government confessed five soldiers killed in clashes in this town in the north. they stormed houses and detained activists. against that turbulent background, president assad has ordered a popular referendum on the new draft constitution that was finished on sunday. it would allow any president to be reelected only once. russia, which backs a sought's reform process, welcome to the changes. - russia, which backs assad's reform process. >> we believe that introducing the pluralistic bases for the

new political system in syria is a welcome idea. >> the syrian opposition and its supporters are unlikely to be convinced. they regard the reform process as cosmetic and theoretical. they still want to seek a security council resolution that calls on bashar al-assad to go. with humanitarian conditions worsening all the time, the french are trying to get agreement at the u.n. but no outside countries are ready to step in to protect such corridors against the regime's will. >> event tearing corridor to thew the ngo's to reach places where the scandalous massacres have taken place needs to be done by the security council. >> the western powers and other opposition supporters will be holding a friends of syria meeting in tunisia just before the referendum takes place in

syria. it is hard to see how such a big operation could be organized and carried out credibly on the ground in such conditions. >> in other news, the chinese vice president has called for a deeper strategic trust between china and the united states. he was addressing business leaders in washington and said that china welcomes the constructive role by the u.s. and promoting peace in the asia- pacific region but he said that the u.s. had to respect china's interests in the area. the president of the world bank is to step down. he will leave at the end of his five-year term. in a statement, the bank said that they played a historic role during the global economic crisis. no mention of his successor who is traditionally dominated by the u.s. the head of the euro group has said he is confident that a decision on the second greek bailout will be taken on monday. he was speaking after eurozone

finance ministers held a conference call to discuss what more greece had to do to secure a bailout worth 130 billion euros. in france tonight, president nicolas sarkozy made the announcement everyone was waiting for, saying that he would stand for reelection this april and pledging that a strong france would protect people from global economic turmoil. he is currently running behind his main rival and his disapproval rating is 68% put it looks like a second term might be an uphill climb. >> it has been an open secret for weeks that nicolas sarkozy would be seeking a second term. the only question was when and how he would declare. in the end, it was in the classic setting, a stage manage it interview. >> yes, i am a candidate for

the elections. >> he said it was a duty. the captain of a ship cannot abandon the helm in troubled waters. he said there was plenty of work to do. already at the start of the week, the president was effectively in campaign mode. visiting an electronics factory, he looked confident. he even broke into english. >> i am very impressed. where do you come from? >> for all of his bravado, nicolas sarkozy knows that he faces a monumental task. the socialist is simply so far ahead in the polls. once written off as a genial not entity, he has gotten off to an impressive start. a successful campaign launched fixed him as a man that the french imagine one day as the

president. the financial markets might not like his program, that is not an argument that will deter many voters. in the multi candidate first round of elections, there will be other players, notably the national front leader riding high on economic gloom and the euro skepticism. if he is to have any hope, nicolas sarkozy needs to take a big bite out of her electorate which well might mean that we see his campaign and the way veering towards the right. -- underway verring towards the right. >> taking a turn behind the camera. we sit down with angelina jolie to discuss her directorial debut. a quarter of the world's children are undernourished and hundreds are dying of hunger every hour. those are the figures from the 8

agency, save the children. they say that things are getting worse. -- those are the figures from the aid agency. >> children with severe malnutrition are being treated in niger, one of the countries hit by a deadly combination of drought, crop pests, and soaring food prices. it is the record food prices of the past year that this new report from save the children focuses on. it says it has compounded the chronic problem of child malnutrition and forecasts terrible consequences if there is not more concerted action. >> we have made mass of progress to child mortality because of immunization for measles, smallpox but that will stall unless we deal with this problem of malnutrition. if we don't, 2.6 million

children will continue to die every year. >> in bangladesh, one of the countries where save the children carried out there survey, food prices have gone up 50%. this woman says that whenever she gets is never enough to feed her children properly. -- whatever she gets it is never enough to feed her children properly. classes to help mothers make new lows as the dishes as possible. millions have cut back on food for their families. the risk is that many more children will end up with physical and mental stunting. children have been dropping out of school to work to pay for school. the agency is proposing a world under summit with leaders are in london for the olympics. -- a world hunger summit when leaders are in london for the olympics. >> some mention angelina jolie,

her work in front of the camera comes to mind. now she's making a directorial debut with a controversial topic. "the land of blood and honey" is set against the backdrop of the serbian war. alan little, who covered the war for the bbc, met angelina jolie and he discussed why the film had been so divisive. >> for 40 months, the streets where besieged and bombarded into the memory is raw and ever present. 20 years on, sarajevo once its story told. it has found an unlikely new champion. the demand for tickets was enormous, so they moved the screen to a live exports' stadium. the warmth of their welcome was spontaneous and overpowering. this is not an easy sell.

it picks the brutal forced removals of non serbs. -- this is not an easy film. it depicts the brutal forced removals of non serbs. many felt that it had been told it with non sparing honesty. >> everyone that was here knows what has happened. it happened. >> we were here during this war. i feel this movie very deep. >> it was very good. i am very glad that they made it. >> angelina jolie wrote the script herself. she had been nervous about how bosnia's would react. >> these people would be reminded of the most painful time in their lives.

will they feel comfortable with this? will they embrace it? will they be upset? i don't know. i was terrified. i was terrified. when they stood up, i wanted to cry. >> the revisions were imposed that remain. go to this third half of the country and you enter a parallel universe. -- the divisions that were imposed remain. >> said never denied that crimes were committed by individuals, not by the nation. -- serbs never denied that crimes are committed. this depicts us as criminals. >> it should be 50/50. i understand that. the war was not that way. they're looking for a balance that did not exist. they don't want to see those atrocities and be reminded of

those atrocities. some people want to deny that it even happened. those people will be angry. >> outside the stadium, there is a starkly poignant place but the 20 years ago, it was a plain field. in 1992, it became a cemetery. we came to a lot of cemeteries here during the war. the cemetery itself was exposed to shell and sniper fire, so families would come and bury their dead quickly, say a prayer, and then hurry off again to find safety. by the time the war ended, this place was full. bosnia possible and have not healed. this film, for all of its honesty in brazil's the country still divided. -- bosnia's wounds have not healed. this film, for all the honesty,

reveals the country still divided. >> from one established celebrity, angelina jolie, to a new kid on the black. two weeks ago, jeremy lin was a relatively unknown basketball player. now, you cannot open a newspaper without seeing his image. now, he is on the first page. he might have been born and bred in the u.s. but that has not stopped his ancestral home of taiwan in praising him like a son. >> linsanity in action, jeremy lin doing what he does best. helping the new york knicks win their sixth straight match. an estimated 3 million people in taiwan watch every game.

the news channel cannot get enough of him. his parents were born in taiwan. although he was born and bred in america, he can speak mandarin and he has visited taiwan to coach young players. the taiwanese consider him a local son. even his relatives have become a media hit. there is even talk of his father's hometown making him an honorary citizen. one of only a handful of asian players to have made it to the nba, he has become an inspiration to youngsters such as these taiwanese college students. >> we feel very proud. perhaps we will have more opportunities to play in the nba. we will not be excluded. hopefully, we will see more and more asians playing in games. >> jeremy lin's success has prompted taiwanese society to

rethink their emphasis about education -- rethink their emphasis of education above everything else and the kurdish people to follow their passion. the man himself is keen to keep his feet firmly on the ground. >> this is a lot right now but i am getting used to it a little more and obviously spending as much time with my family. them constantly giving the advice and keeping me grounded and helping me with this whole transition. >> jeremy lin is not only popular because this great movement, he is also a source of tremendous pride because of his taiwanese karadzic. -- and taiwanese heritage. officials from taiwan's basketball association said popularity isin's linked to the sense of national identity.

they want a sense of nationality, not just the province of china. >> when jeremy competes, taiwanese families encourage other taiwanese to go to the game. this is helpful for our overall image. it lets everyone know that jeremy lin and taiwan are linked. >> this has bought only inspired youngsters but all taiwan to believe that a small islands can achieve anything that it sets its mind to. >> that brings the show to a close. remember, you can get constant updates on our website. to find out what we're working on, make sure to check out our facebook page. from all of us here at "world news america," thank you for watching. we will see you right back here tomorrow.

>> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu newman's own foundation and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you?

>> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles.