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>> and now, "bbc world news." >> and historic act of reconciliation as the queen needs a former commander of the paramilitary ira in northern ireland. the handshake sets a course for a peace process. the market and a once terrorist. hello and welcome to tnt. i'm george alagiah with a world of news and opinion. the syrian government claims an attack on a state run tv channel leaves up to seven dead. the president says the country is now in a state of war. need to south africa's one woman

anti-corruption fighter and darling of the nation. it is early morning in washington 2:00 p.m. in damascus and midday in belfast, where a simple gesture of a handshake has marked progress in northern ireland peace process. the queen should cans with the deputy first minister, but once the commander of the ira, the paramilitary group responsible for the decades-long bombing campaign. the queen's own cousin was a victim. correspondent,ur mark sinton. it just a few years ago this would have been unthinkable. >> absolutely. the queen, of course, is the head of state in britain. they are a always regarded britain as the enemy. martin mcguinness was part of the ira.

they tried to attack members of the royal family and even kill the queen's cousin in 1979. not so long ago, such a handshake would have been unthinkable, unbelievable, inconceivable. but in recent days it has become inevitable and as you said, it happened in the last hour in belfast. they met for eight minutes at a private meeting at which the first minister of northern ireland was present and the irish president was also present. it lasted eight minutes, i am told by people close to martin mcguinness. it is a very cordial meeting. they talked about the victims of the troubles in northern ireland. is killing cousin was not mentioned during the meeting. >> as you mentioned to my game refuge symbolism, but politics

can never be far behind these kinds of occasions. why haven't sinn fein done anything? i'm sure there are still some around you think it is pretty repugnant. >> absolutely, there will be some people in sinn fein, former members of the ira, leave martin mcguinness has sold out and that britain should have nothing to do with northern ireland, never mind shake hand of the british queen. shindell -- sinn fein have moved into the political mainstream in northern ireland. there are one of the main opposition parties at the moment in dublin. they believe there will be votes for them in this in the irish republic. being seen as being able to do to close -- diplomacy and being statesmanlike when she comes to this part of the world, it is a benefit for sinn fein. it could mean votes for them in

the next general alexian. >> -- a general election. >> do we know what martin mcguinness said to the queen? we saw him say something. >> he spoke in irish and then in english. he translated for the queen. he said, blessings and goodbye. and the queen smiled. it was a very normal, very dignified, cordial meeting. but when you think were those two people came from, it was extraordinary. >> thank you. let's take a look at some of the stories making headlines around the world. violence in syria has now matched or exceeded the levels at seen before if -- as seen before the april ceasefire agreement. the past seven days have been the deadliest so far. there seems to be no sign of the violence abating.

a pro-government of vision station was attacked this morning on the outskirts of damascus, with reports of seven people killed and journalist kidnapped. >> the violence seems to be creeping ever closer to the center of power. this tv station in the damascus suburbs was stormed by rebel gunmen in the early morning hours. it was blown up, ransacked, and set on fire. those in the media said the guards were tied up, shot in cold blood. e.u. sanctions were applied to this television station just last week. the attack came only hours after president assad had told his new cabinet that it and the rest of the country were now on a war footing. >> we are living in a real state of war in all aspects, in every meeting of the word. when in a state of war call

policies and orientations and sectors must be directed toward victory in that war. >> and a real war it is. in most parts of the country, including the far northwest. this village house hit by a government mortar and its occupants are paying the price. robo 5 is -- rebel fighters and activists said they were attacked by an army position. the u.n. finds itself powerless to stop the carnage, which has grounded to observers and made it impossible for civilians to escape. >> we are disturbed by the reports of an upsurge in violence and escalation of fighting by government forces and other armed groups. innocent civilians are trapped in a line of fire. the observers of the u.n.

mission are at serious risk, too. >> this bbc footage filmed in northern syria provides further evidence that the armed rebels of the free syrian army are getting more organized and active by the day. they are heavily outgunned, but despite the government's efforts to wipe them out, they just keep coming back. international diplomacy has no attraction. president assad is clearly preparing for the long haul. >> the australian government has said it more the 130 migrants were rescued after their boat capsized. up to 150 people were reportedly on board when this accident happened just north of christmas island in the indian ocean. let's go to our correspondent in sydney. bring us up-to-date on this incident. >> it has just come through in the last few minutes from the

home affairs minister, j. sinclair. he is concerned that 130 people have been rescued, one confirmed dead. but he thinks 150 may have been on board. there is another 20 possibly and accounted for. a search is still going on, but hopes are fading of finding anyone still alive. it comes a week after a similar and even worse tragedy when 17 people were confirmed and more than 90 went missing. a major disaster there, two in the space of a week. the boats keep coming and they do not know how to stop them. they are all generally overcrowded, were run by smugglers, charging people to come to this austria. -- come to australia. many of them are not seaworthy vessels. >> it is a human story.

but there is no question that asylum speak -- asylum seekers is quite a political one in australia. >> we have just come to a passionate debate in the lower house over what to do about this. there were tears by some members of parliament urging their colleagues to come up with solutions to stop these people and to keep them from drowning at sea. it will go to the senate tomorrow, where they will almost certainly lose. that means there will not be any legislation. the big dipper to between the parties is that -- the big difference between the parties is that the government wants it to fall to malaysia. malaysia's says no. the opposition to the government opposes that, saying they will not get their free rights in malaysia.

if we do not have any legislation to my formal servin in boats will still keep coming and there will be more accidents -- any legislation, it will almost certainly mean votes will keep coming and there will be more accidents. >> it british charity says more than 1 million teenage girls die or suffer serious infection and disease every year because of pregnancy and childbirth. rosemary to young and become pregnant before their bodies are ready to become pregnant and bear children. it urges contraception and advice on the health benefits of later pregnancies. how common is this? >> it is a massive problem. both culturally and in so many countries around the world. it is 1 million girls who are

dying through childbirth every year. this is a huge problem. >> and you yourself have just come back from one of the countries, avenue? eops. >> yes, i was just in ethiopia and was greeted with so many stories about girls who got pregnant at -- who got married at 12, get pregnant shortly afterwards, and end up dying or living in poverty. to one ofave a listen the people you met on your trip. >> i was not married, but had a boyfriend who live nearby. he promised he was going to marry me and we had sex. then he told his parents he was going to marry me, but they said no. he left me what i was four months pregnant. sex is a big mystery. we never talk about it with

sisters or at school with friends. i always wanted to ask someone, but i was shy and no one was around for me. i wish i knew more about contraceptives and i have not had a child. i still feel like i'm too young. it gets a tragic story, and quite revealing. she says we never talked about sex. that is a health issue, but also a cultural challenge. >> especially in ethiopia from what i saw. it is never talked about. parents do not tell their children about contraception. they do not know it is available. often, they do not know what sex is. all of this mystery means the issue is hidden. it is killing people. >> you mentioned contraception, but my sense is that the last few years there has been less emphasis on family planning, contraception, especially in the

kind of aid community. is that right? >> there is a different emphasis. we think is a massively important issue, but there will be so much hosted by the u.k. on the 11th of july to talk about this issue and bring it back onto the agenda. family planning and contraception and the education surrounding it can save lives. if the girl that you saw there had access family planning, she would have been able to carry on her education. she would not have had the child. and she could have gotten a job and maybe not been stuck in the cycle of poverty. and many girls have children too young and then they die or are given disabilities for the rest of their lives. family planning is such an important element and can change and save lives. >> thank you. still to come, a race against time in pakistan to preserve one

of the world's most ancient cities. >> the hollywood writer and film director nora ephron has died. she was 71 and had been suffering from leukemia. she wrote films such as "sleepless in seattle." >> nora ephron died from leukemia. the eldest child in a family of writers, she was a journalist, playwright, and best-selling author. but she made her name in movies. "soak would," starring meryl streep, was her first. she followed carl bernstein's affair with the wife of the british ambassador to the u.s. in journalism. but it is open " when harry met

sally" what -- that recast her in the modern romantic comedy. it was a massive hit at the box office. she followed it with open " sleepless in seattle. derouchie directed as well as co wrote. it proved such 8 -- she directed as well as co-wrote. it proved such a hit for tom hanks and meg ryan that they followed it with "you've got mail." she directed meryl streep in her most recent film, a biography of the chef julia child. she talks of her admirer. >> what is he would really like to do? >> eat. >> it received the best reviews of her career. one of the most successful

screen writers and filmmakers of her era, nora ephron was 71. bbc news, los angeles. >> this is emt from bbc world news. i'm george alagiah. history in the making, queen elizabeth ii and shake hands with the former ira commander martin mcguinness, who is now one of northern ireland's political leaders. let's stay with that story. in the last few minutes, martin mcguinness was asked how the meeting went. let's listen to what he had to say. >> hello. good, it went really well. >> [inaudible] >> very nice.

>> very nice -- those were martin mcguinness's words, i think he said. it is time for the business news. let's look at google, because they brought out this tablet computer taking on the ipad. >> it is difficult to know where they will be in the market. there are about to announce it today or in the next day or so. no idea on what is going to be called yet. the price is around the $200 mark. it will not be competing directly with the ipad. more likely to be competing with the amazon kindle fire. which means it is a different segment of the market. however, the ipad and the candle -- the kindle fire dominate the market. one thing that is interesting is

that it is using the android operating system, which has been used by a lot of other manufacturers. it is trying to bring it back home to master more of its own destiny, to be able to actually control the way in which it is used. there seems to be some dissatisfaction about the way it is used elsewhere. this is our technology analyst. this is what he said. >> they brought out the android software devices and they were not pleased as to how the members were acting compared to how they reacted to apple products. they were looking for ways to get consumers to use and toward projects -- products directly and not go to rubble. -- use android products directly and not go through at all. >> the company in japan the run the fukushima power plant in the midst of that disaster has been

sidelined. >> shareholders have agreed to accept $13 billion. so far, the government has put in three times the into fukushima. the cleanup costs will be massive. there is this worry amongst shareholders, amongst the public, about whether the nuclear plant should be restarted. two are likely to be restarted in the next few days. many of the shareholders are saying this is not the way we want to go. we want to go to conventional power stations. but one of the reasons this is in such dire straits is because of the cost of importing gas and oil. there are no nuclear power stations working at the moment. >> in south africa, a one-woman corruption buster is shaking the

establishment to the core as the ruling party, the anc, prepares for a leadership battle later this year. south africa's chief of police, an investigation of him led by her led to his being fired. she has also become the darling of the nation, looking to put an end to corruption at the crossroads. >> johannesburg, a post of party, free, but host to corruption. south africa has reached a dipping point. 2.5 billion pounds in lost revenue every year. all due to corruption. she is a one-woman corruption buster on a mission to turn things around.

>> if we act decisively on the case is at hand, we may show others this will not be tolerated. >> her title may sound mundane, but she is shaking up the a establishment. already, one police chief is in jail for corruption. another has just been child -- been fired over suspect dealing. it is grass-roots corruption that is attracting attention. >> this is a poor neighborhood on the edge of this township. home to about 40,000 people and within one square mile, you can see the stark affects of bad administration and plain old- fashioned corruption. the bbc asked her to accompany us back to where she grew up.

the halls of several best fight against white-minority rule is not ashamed. >> i will talk to the council immediately, and i mean, on monday. i will speak to them and request that we come here. >> there were it -- was a flurry of local news roof boards after our visit, criticism -- local news reports after our visit, criticism that things have gotten worse. >> as government had to or as officials, they should realize their role is not to feed their families and friends, but serve the public good. >> independent and driven, she has become a darling of the south african public. ministers insist she will be allowed to do merge job,

whatever investigations revealed -- she will be allowed to do her job, whatever investigations revealed. >> rpo august -- archaeologists are saying they are doing their best to save one of the most important archaeological sites in pakistan. there is fear it could soon be lost. >> it should be a site that is cherished. it is one of the first cities to have been created anywhere in the world. it once housed tens of thousands of citizens at the end of civilization. it is arguably the most advanced architecture of its time, 4500 years ago. there were double story homes, each with their own water supply and sewerage system. only around 10% of the vast site has so far been excavated.

the most impressive are the street and urban planning. there is a lower town for working glasses and an upper town for the wealthy. you can see the splendor of the city. believe it would have lived over there. some -- the e. lee to would have lived over there. over the last 10 years or so, some of the walls have crumbled and are now nothing more than a pile of bricks. there are concerns that without proper conservation, more of this incredible sight could go the same way. salt, atmospheric moisture, and rain are leading the way -- eating away at the base of the walls. the pakistani authorities have done little to effectively protect them. even the museum here was loaded with many of the most valuable artifacts going missing.

this doctor is one of pakistan's's most imminent archeologist. she has looked on in despair at its decline for many years. but the deterioration has accelerated of late because of poor conservation. >> it is very upsetting for an archaeologist. not only me, but any archaeologist would be upset to see a sight like this. if things go on like this, it will not survive more than 20 years. >> the local government here says it is now forming a plan to save the site. but time is fast running out to stop pakistan's greatest archeological treasure being lost forever. bbc news. >> berkely, a reminder of our top story. queen elizabeth has shaken hands with a former ira leader,

martin mcguinness, was now ireland's deputy foreign minister. it was seen as a symbolic moment in the peace process. do stay with us. >> makes 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, we 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 brought to you by kcet, los angeles. to you by kcet, los angeles.