>> this is "bbc world news." funding for this presentation is 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 financial strength to work for a wide range of companies from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you?

>> and now, "bbc world news". >> the world's worst national disaster claimed more than 400 claims. president rousseff promises to rebuild devastated areas. after days of rioting over corruption and the economy, the president of tunisia said he will not seek re-election. welcome to "bbc world news." coming up later for you, chickens that could make bird flu harmless and tough times in mexico. people trading in valuables to survive in the midst of the global economic crisis.

more than 400 people have been killed by flooding and mudslides in brazil. thousands have been made homeless. president rousseff called the damaged areas north of rio de janeiro and vowed there would be action by the government. local authorities are blamed for allowing poor buildings and illegal occupation. more remote areas are yet to be reached by relief workers and there is fear of more landslides as the rain continues. >> here in the mountains around rio de janeiro, landslides swept away entire weeks. barely two weeks in office, brazil's president has been brought down to earth by natural disaster. a visit to the affected area was a chance to reassure local

authorities. >> we will work with the state government and the city halls in rescue and rebuilding efforts but we will also carry out prevention measures. we are here to guarantee that the rebuilding is used as an opportunity to prevent future disasters. >> this is a poor region and the flimsy buildings pirched on the hillside doesn't stand a chance. more than 400 people have been killed and yet there are extraordinary tales of survival, like the woman stranded as her house collapsed around her. a lifeline is thrown. she takes the plunge. people plead with her to hold on. and slowly, painfully slowly, she is hauled to safety. but many others were not so lucky. some of those swept away may

never be found. heavy rains are nothing new here but the problem is often made deadly by overcrowding and illegal construction in the mountains. >> the soil there is unstable, saturated by too much rain, too many people living in housing that are built out of code. they are on hillsides and this is, obviously, something unmanageable. >> there have been some successes. here, a baby boy was found alive after 12 hours trapped by the rubble. his father survived, too. his mother is feared dead. >> while lucas lebarry lives in myrna sort of sao paolo, and joins me now. tell me how the floods are affecting the area you're living

in. >> thank you for calling. i'm calling from americana in brazil and the situation here in brazil, as you have seen, is really sad. you see people dying. and the authorities are doing nothing to stop that. my area is not just rio de janeiro, but i see people dying every single day in my area and unfortunately, the authorities don't make nothing to stop them. >> i understand that many houses are built very close to mountains and that contributes to the problem. >> could you say that again? >> many houses are built very close to the mountains and the flooding comes from the mountains which contributes to the problem. >> definitely, because the

people are just build the houses just close to the mountains. this doesn't happen in my area, but as you can see rio de janeiro, it is very common, people build the houses just close to the mountains and when the rain comes, the houses just fall down the it's very common here, unfortunately. and another thing that makes this much more serious is the people usually are throw away things on the river, like a sofa. you see people throwing things on the riv like a sofa and in my opinion, the authorities must do something about this situation. >> lucas rivera, thank you very much for joining us from americana. residents of brisbane, australia's third largest city,

are also counting the costs of floods that have hit queenland. tens of thousands of people have seen their homeland engulfed by muddy water and hundreds have died, including a boy who saved his brother from the rushing flood. >> residents are slowly returning home to see what sort of hand nature has dealt them in the past few days here in the queensland state capital. some will face the utter destruction of their property and their belongings. thousands of people have seen their homes and businesses u.n. dated. others will be lucky. what we're seeing is that the brisbane river is slowly receding, the levels are slowly going down. that will give the community some respite but of course what

now begins is a huge reconstruction effort. state officials here in eastern australia say that will effectively amount to post-war proportions given the scale of the cleanup and reconstruction. >> i understand some 3,000 people have been forced into evacuation centers. how soon before they can return to homes or houses that at least may replace those that have been lost? >> some people may never be able to return to their homes that they left in such a hurry. those properties will probably have to be rebuilt and that could make many, many months. we understand that emergency shelters are brought in from around australia to house those people who have been displaced. and in other parts of the country, there are other flood warnings. to the south of brisbane, a river there expected to peak some time this afternoon and water defenses levees just about

holding and the official word is that those levees will hold. further south in the southern states of victoria and tasmania, flooding there, too. last year was a very wet year in australia and this year is following that same pattern. >> we're reporting at the moment that at least 25 people have died. these figures surely are likely to rise. >> we just don't know and we have the authorities saying that as the cleanup continues, we're likely to have the authorities engaged in the grisly task of finding some of those people who are listed as missing. the authorities in australia say that 55 people are officially listed as missing. they hold grave concern for a dozen or so of those so we often see that the picture of the physical devastation but

it's the dodge community and of course the damage to human life and families that is really at the heart of this crisis in australia, dealing with floods, droughts and bush fires has made australia extremely resilient to these natural disasters. that resilience is hard wired into the australian icke, if you like -- psyche. but dealing with that loss of life will test that resilience to the limit. >> sri lanka has also been hit by severe flooding affecting about one million people. at least 21 have died and the camps set up to house the displaced have been flooded. the rain has stopped but water levels are rising with many towns and villages completely cut off. the labour party in the u.k. has won a seat in northwest england.

it was the first poll since the formation of the coalition government last year. labour's candidate, debby abraham, was ahead by more than 3,500 votes of the liberal candidate. last year's contest was void after finding that the labour winner had made full statements without the liberal candidate. the sheriff's department of tucson, arizona, have released audio recordings of the calls made to emergency centers after the shooting. earlier, i spoke to our washington correspondent. >> the police have released about 6 1/2 minutes' worth of audio. it's communications between the control room in tucson and police cars out in the field who were called to the scene.

this is the first 6 1/2 minutes after the police got word of the shooting. it is all audio. there are no images of what took place. police are still looking at surveillance video. but it nonetheless paints a pretty vivid portrait of the mood in those first crucial moments and the sense of emergency of those who rushed to the scene. >> i saw a shooting at the safe way. a man there with a semi-automatic weapon. a car is reporting a shooting with a semi automatic weapon. he shot at people and was last seen headed toward the walgreen northbound from the store wearing a black jacket and blue jeans and we have a witness that says gabrielle giffords was shot, multimel victims. many people were shot. >> responding to the shooting.

suspects -- let me rephrase. customers have tackled the suspect. they are holding him down at the safeway. >> and a note from the police, another development here this evening, they've confirmed that a bag has been recovered which is being linked to the suspect, jared loughner. the police in tucson saying that inside that bag was a quantity of ammunition and further tests are being conducted on it. >> give me an update on congresswoman gabrielle giffords. we heard from president obama that he'd visited her. >> president obama broke the seemingly incredible news that gabrielle giffords opened her eyes for the first time. neurosurgeons have said that she his repeatedly opened her eyes up to 15 minutes and she's been able to move her arms and legs at the request of surgeons who are saying that this is, in their words, a great leap

forward. clearly, they are being cautious with that, saying there is an awful long way to go in terms of the congresswoman's recovery. >> news from tokyo. japan's cabinet has resigned ahead of a reshuffle in which the premier was expected to appoint several new ministers to help push forward new trade policies. why these chickens represent a significant breakthrough for british science. >> police have revealedy that mckayla mcgreevey whoa was murdered on her honeymoon was strangled for her purse containing a small amount of cash. her funeral will take place on monday. >> the coffin containing the body was driven away from the hospital mort mortuary this

morning. it passed almost unnoticed save for the reporters following the story. yesterday, the three hotel workers charged in connection with the murder appeared at the local district court. one of them gave a statement to police implicating the other two men. the police say this morning, one of the two men charged with the murder confessed to his part in the killing. >> they went inside the room. she kept the wallet and while she was going to share the money, at the very moment, they entered the room. as she entered the room, she asked him, what are you doing? you are a thief? if she wanted to escape, she would have had time. >> three days after the murder and the body of mckayla mcgreevey has left the mortuary at victoria hospital.

this marks the first stage in the long journey home. it's a tragically different homecoming than the one planned by mckayla, her husband and their families when they set off as newlyweds on their honeymoon. >> colombian police say they have captured a notorious drug trafficker with links to mexican cartel. according to police statement, julio enrique, was in charge of getting planes to land on illegal runways in order to pick up cocaine. this is bbc news. the headlines this hour, brazil's president has promised to rebuild homes and towns devastated by floods and landslides which have claimed more than 500 lives. arizona police have released tape recordings of the moment officers were alerted to the tucson shootings that left six people dead.

tunisia's president has said he will not seek a new term in office following widespread protests which have left at least 23 dead. zine al-abidine ben ali also ordered police to stop using live ammunition against demonstrators. earlier, security forces opened fire on demonstrators in the center of tunis, apparently killing or wounding several of them. the international community has criticized the government's response to the unrest. you may find some of the images distressing. >> gunfire and violent street disturbances have shaken the capital of one of africa's most stable nations. protest and anger from young tunishians who feel cheated and marginalized by what they call corrupt rurals. none of us have any work or

money, this man told me. we've had enough and we'll carry on protesting until we bring down the government. demonstrations began a month ago and have escalated to a crescendo. today, protestors paralyzed the center of the capital, tunis. this is the culmination of years of resentment, resentment about unemployment. many of these are graduates, they come out of university with no jobs. it's resentment about price inflation, basic food stuffs like flour and oil. these people are angry and feel the government simply doesn't care about them. tunisian authorities say 24 people have died in four weeks of disturbances. government attempts to control the flow of information have been circumvented by people using social media web sites. these pictures in a hospital have been widely circulated on

the internet. after an emergency cabinet meeting this afternoon, president zine al-abidine ben ali spoke on television to a skeptical audience. he told the army not to fire ammunition and said he would tackle inflation. this semi-deserted market, evidence fish sellers say that few people can buy fish because they can barely afford basic food stuffs. people are frightened to voice descent. >> this trader told me he has no faith in the government because of unemployment and corruption. tonight, a second dawn-to-dusk curfew in tunis, a city heavily reliant on tourists and the money they bring in, the second largest source of revenue for the country, now, perhaps, under

threat. >> united nations secretary general ban ki-moon has strongly condemned attacks on unipeacekeepers on ivory coast. followers blame the u.n. for arming opposition supporters. >> this is the latest trophy for lauren bagbo loyalists, a u.n. vehicle set alight by angry youth in the commercial capital, abidjan. these men despice the peacekeeping troops of the u.n., whom they claim are backing bagbo's rival. >> it is an opportunity for us to show that with our bare hands we can also take action. each day we hear shooting, we will burn 10 anunsy cars.

>> three u.n. peacekeepers have been injured in the past few days, a move that's been strongly condemned internationally. u.n. troops protecting mr. watara now find themselves dragged into ivory coast crisis. watara is considered by most of the world by the legitimate winner of recent elections, but his rival refuses to cede power. security forces sealed the area off and moved in with heavy weapons, hunting down rebels, they claim. this has been seen as one of the most provocative acts in recent weeks and in time the u.n. is left impotent and forced to retreat. u.n. patrols have been restricted in the wake of the attacks. with u.n. forces now considered

a legitimate target by lauren bagbo loyalists, the political stalemate has ended a new phase. military chiefs plan a meeting next week to review their threat to send in troops and are likely to respond to calls for action to stop ivory coast from slipping into further violence. >> british scientists say they've genetically modified chickens to prevent them from spreading bird flu. >> with a growing population and greater demands for meat, scientists have to find new ways to feed the world. here, researchers in edinboro are inserting an artificial gene into this embryo. the genetically modified chicken doesn't spread bird flu, a

disease that's killed millions of birds across southeast asia. >> it will protect a whole flock from infection from bird flu. this is really exciting because bird flu is a real challenge to production of poultry and if this was introduced into poultry breeding, then it would protect our large-scale poultry production flocks from avian influenza. >> anyone coming into contact with the g.m. birds has to scrub up. this is to protect any farm animal from viral disease. this chicken could be the first from the new generation of farm animals genetically modified to be resistant to diseases. the technology has the potential to increase food production and reduce the cost to the farmer, but is it something that consumers will accept? in europe, there's resistance to

g.m. crops. >> we have to have a big debate, i think, in society, as to whether society itself wants to have transgenic animals even for this very good potential benefit. >> organic farmers say it's better to avoid diseases in the first place than to create disease-resistant farm animals. >> we don't suffer much from diseases on this farm anyway and we believe that organic husbandry doesn't encourage disease. if the animals are well spaced enough, they live in a natural environment and eat normal foods mostly grown on the farm, a lot of the diseases which are prevalent in conventional farming should not be apparent to us at all. >> swine flu resistant pigs are next on the list of animals that could be developed and despite reservation, many scientists believe g.m. animals will be needed to feed a hungry world.

>> economic crisis has hit mexico hard and hundreds struggle to make ends meet. in desperation, an increasing number of people are turning to pawn shops and selling everything they can. >> hundreds stand in line waiting and hoping that the jewelry they've brought with them will be worth something. once they reach the valuation window, gold chains, rings, hair heirlooms and treasured gifts are weighed to determine value. this is no time for sentimentality. >> i'm going to pawn my jewelry to pay for my ticket fares and food. it's a difficult situation but i need to come here. >> it's one of the fastest financial resources available. it's difficult to get money and the economic crisis everywhere is critical. >> this pawn shop has 85

branches nationwide. last year, it loaned $1.7 million to people who were desperate. mr. mendez says his company provides a service and he expects business to be better in 2011. >> we cover a niche of economic needs similar to those offered by banks but money is more accessible here than other institutions. >> the store charges 4% interest a month on goods traded and some will likely buy them back but with unemployment in mexico hovering around the 6% mark, the needy will be joining the queue for a long time yet. >> that story and all of the others we've been covering can be found on the bbc news web site for further information.

>> see the news unfold. get the top stories from around the globe and click-to-play video reports. go to bbc.com/news to experience the in-depth reporting of bbc news 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 financial strength to work for a wide range of companies, from

small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, l.a.