>> 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. 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. >> at least eight palestinian schoolchildren killed as their bus is hit by an israeli truck on the west bank. amnesty swernt says armed militia groups are threatening the stability and security of libya. the man they call the golden whistle, china's top football referee, is jailed for taking bribes to fix matches. welcome to "bbc world news." i'm david eades. also coming up in the program -- uganda considers harsh new laws against homosexuality, prompting a gay exodus. and kim jong il is dead, but north korea celebrates his 70th birthday in style. what's the profile of his son, a new leader, kim jong un?

>> hello. thanks for joining us. at least eight palestinian children have been killed, this after an israeli truck hit a school bus on a road in the west bank. the bus was carrying at least 50 children, some of them just 5 years old. we understand at least 30 were injured. they've been taken to hospitals in the west bank city of ramallah and in israel. a short time ago, the palestinian president, mahmoud abbas, declared three days of mourning. joining me from jerusalem is the bbc's john donneson. pretty horrific crash. can you give us the details? >> well, what we believe is that this crash happened on a pretty busy road just outside ramallah. we understand that the school bus was carrying around 50 children. palestinian police say some of them were as young as 5 or 6 years old.

we understand it collided with a truck, the bus flipped over, and then burst into flames. i should say, there's been very, very heavy rain overnight in this part of the world. the roads were wet, some of them were flooded. i was actually driving in on the same road this morning and got held up in the jams or obviously a lot of the emergency services there. but the road conditions were pretty treacherous. >> three days of national mourning says it all, doesn't it? this is a country in shock. >> it is. and certainly, you know, this is one of the serious, most serious road accidents for palestinians in a long time. one thing that should be pointed out, the number plate of the truck was israeli, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it was an israeli truck driver. in fact, many palestinians or arabing living in israel will drive trucks with an israeli number plate, so i don't think we can read too much into that. >> john, thank you very much

indeed, the latest on that dreadful road accident on the west bank. armed militia groups are threatening the stability and the security of libya. that's according to the rights group, amnesty international. they're saying that the same rebel bringing aids which helped to oust muammar gaddafi are committing torture and detention, indeed, even execution. it comes as libya prepares to celebrate the anniversary of the beginning of the revolution this friday. gabriel gatehouse is in tripoli, and i asked if this is a sign of things getting worse. >> i think what apple nest sea detailing is evidence they picked up over the last few months, so i hesitate to say it was getting worse. what we can say is it's pretty bad at the moment. they detail extensive cases of torture and detention, whipping, beating, people being held in stretched positions, electric shocks and the like. and these are things that we ourselves have seen over the past few weeks when reporting

from libya, both in the city of misrata, libya's big city, and elsewhere. i myself went to see the body of a man in the mortuary who has the marks of torture, beatings, and according to the nurse who conducted the autopsy, electric shocks. i think the problem here, which is also reflected in amnesty's report, is a lot of people are being detained by militia who are just commanders, and the officials, such as they are here in this country, really having a very difficult time in controlling them. >> yeah, i was going to say, what does it say about efforts to demilitarize all these militia? is there any effort going on still? >> well, there is an effort. the authorities say they're very keen for all these militias to disarm. there are opportunities to come in and join the national army or other national security

forces. however, in an interview earlier this week, the chairman of the n.c.c. said that he saw that only 10% of armed men have so far done so. he has them all to come in and join in, but there are persistent protests from some of these soldiers. they're not getting paid. so, i think in part they'll be detering some people from joining up. normally, pretty much all of these fighters pledge their allegiance to the new government. they say they're all on board, but in actual practice, when you speak to local authorities in towns and villages around the countries, they'll admit that they're unable to control these men. >> the afghan president, hamid karzai, says his government and the united states have started talks with the taliban. it's the first time he's acknowledged publicly the contact with the taliban is taking place. up till now, the taliban has refused to have any deegs with mr. karzai's government, describing it as a puppet

regime. the disclosure came as mr. karzai prepared to travel to islamabad for talks with pakistani leaders. let's go over to kabul. we're joined by our correspondent. can you flesh out what mr. karzai did say? >> well, mr. karzai admitted that contact had been made with the taliban in the presence of the americans, which is something that he's never said before. but we also understand from senior officials close to the president that, in the last few weeks, face to face talks, telephone conversations, as well as a variety of messages were being passed between senior afghan government officials and senior taliban officials. >> i don't suppose there's any great surprise that there are back channels open. but coming public on it does raise the question what sort of level these talks are taking place. do we have any idea yet?

upe according to the president, this is a very senior level talk. senior members of the insurgency, but bear in mind that kabul is hoping islamabad would allow direct access, perhaps to someone like his deputy and facilitate talks. that itself mr. karzai is wish on his truck to is lad abam. >> has it made his announcement on the back of the trip that he's just about to embark on, in fact, these trilateral talks on a variety of issues, but, of course, talking to the taliban is one of them, with the likes of pakistan, afghanistan. >> well, president karzai has always said pakistan is key to any peace talks. he believes that pakistan has considerable influence over senior taliban leaders. the president leaves that

pakistani security agencies are protecting, as well as providing support to senior members of the taliban who are inside pakistan. one of the complaints that you keep hearing from senior afghan officials, including president karzai from time to time, pakistan is not allowing direct, face-to-face talks between the afghans and the senior leadership of taliban based inside pakistan. and kabul hopes that eventually pakistan would allow direct access to the other commanders. >> thanks very much. we're just seeing some pictures now actually of president zardari and, of course, hamid karzai in islamabad, and i think president gilani is there as well. i didn't catch him there. i think he's in the shot. it's the start of these trilateral talks, which are taking place under the auspices -- there they are, the three of them -- under the auspices of pakistan on counter terrorism

issues. let's move on now. a court in china has sentence the the country's former top football referee, lu jun, to just over five years in jail for taking bribes to fix matches. twice named referee of the year by the asian football confederation, lu jun, known as the golden whistle, admitted that he took more than $100,000 in bribes to fix the results of seven games in all, including international friendlies. the bbc's michael bristow is in beijing following the story for us, and he says the scandal itself has been rumbling for some time. >> for years, chinese football has been plagued by these accusations of corruption and match fixing, which has led many fans over the years to really support european teams. that's why you get so many supporting teams in italy, spain, and england, because they can trust the results which have gone on there. three years ago in 2009, the chinese football association wanted to clean up the game, so

they launch an investigation which has then snagged referees, players, coaches, even senior administrators in the football federation association itself. this is the latest trial to finish as part of that investigation, as you said there in the report. it ensnared lu sw un, the main referee, revered man here in china. he was the first chinese referee to take part in the world cup in 2002 when it was held in south korea, in japan. so great national pride to china. now he's been found to have taken more than 100,000 pounds in order to fix the results of seven particular matches. reputation is in at that timers. the chinese football association will be hoping this verdict and others which will probably follow over the next few days, will restore the reputation of football here in

china. >> it's going to take a long time, because as you say, not act ago lone. what is it, nine of them? >> well, in this particular case, there was nine people, and this trial took place in the northeast of china. there is another case of pending nearby that includes other officials, and there's some more very senior officials from the chinese football association who haven't even gone on trial yet, and they're expected to receive, if found guilty, even harsher sentences. as i say, the chinese football association and football clubs generally have invested a lot of money over the last year or so to try to get more interest in the game. they're hoping to put this behind them. the former chelsea player has just arrived here, and he'll be playing for the shanghai team this year. they're hoping this kind of bad news will be all put behind

them, and they can look forward. >> michael bristow there. juliette is here to have a look at the business news. the financial institutions are on the rampage once again. >> we have a credit agency, and we are here toward the end of it, and moody's is at it again. this time they have got 17 banks under their spotlight and 114 financial institutions, and they're going heavy on these downgrades. it's interesting if you actually look at the banking list. we've got the likes of barclays. remember, barclays posted their results last week. yes, they came in slightly below expectations, but overall, that bank, that balance sheet not looking too bad. b.n.p. paribas also on the list. they took a massive loss on their greek debt, although they did take money from the central bank, so they have this facility up for grabs in december, and they were using that to prepare their balance sheet. we also have results coming 6:00 again. but you trace these anxieties, they go all the way back to

greece, and it's reflected in europe. they opened for business a couple of hours ago. hopefully we should see the screen, and the numbers really speaking for themselves. but it's these dual pressures, but unresolved situation of the greek crisis. >> another unresolved situation is olympus and this massive fraud investigation. that's moved on a peg or two, hasn't it? >> it has, because the former president has been arrested in tokyo, along with several other top executives. it's really about activities which happened at the company many decades ago, resolving around accusations that you had a $1.7 billion loss, which was on the balance sheet, and it was basically hidden away, along with other charges. if you remember, it was blown apart when you had a british executive who was brought in to run the company. he lost his job, and really, it seems from what's happened today that the skeptics and shareholders have been vindicated, but these are accusations. no one has been convicted.

>> important to make that point. thanks a lot for that. and thank you for watching "bbc world news." i'm david eades. in a moment, we'll be telling you about the situation as it is now in honduras. they've suspended ton prison officials after a fire killed more than 350 inmates. the chinese vice president who's visiting the united states at the moment has called for greater strategic understanding between the two pacific powers. mr. xi, in the one formal address in his five-day trip, repeated his position that china did welcome america's constructive role in asia, but said the countries should respect one another's core interests. >> we hope that the united states will adhere to the joint communiques and the one china policy, oppose taiwanese

independence, and support the peaceful development of relations across the taiwan straits with concrete actions. we also hope the united states will truly honor its commitment of recognizing tibet as part of china and opposing tibetan independence and will handle tibetan independence in a prudent and proper manner. >> you're watching "bbc world news" with me, david eades. the headlines -- at least eight palestinian schoolchildren have been killed after their bus was hit by a truck on the west bank. amnesty international says that armed militia groups are being allowed to act with impunity, threatening the security and stability of libya. relatives of prison inmates caught in a massive fire in honduras are still waiting to hear who died and who survived. the director of the honduran prison system has been suspended, as has the governor

after more than 350 prison inmates remember confirmed dead. will grant has this report. >> 24 hours on from the fire, and the dead are still being brought out. more than 350 inmates lost their lives in the blaze in one of the worst-ever prison fires in latin america. this says the grim scene which has been unfolding for hours here. body bag after body bag loaded on to trucks to be taken to the morgue. and yet, just a few hundred meters outside the burnt-out prison, the loved ones are waiting desperately for more news. >> the prison system in honduras is one of the worst in the world. many believe that an event of this magnitude is always waiting to happen. but that is of little comfort to these people. >> i think not many survived, and i didn't find his name in the list of survivors. i expect a miracle from god

that he's not dead. >> but as well as grieving, the family's also angry. they say the authorities did not do enough to save their loved ones, and once the fire was out, they accused them of withholding information. conflicting stories have emerged with some officials saying the blaze was started by the inmates, others suggesting there may have been an electrical volt. the president, meanwhile, has promised a full investigation. other members of his government have not tried to defend the country's inadequate prisons. rather, they freely admit they are overcrowded and in need of complete immunization. there is no room for he trying to avoid responsibilities as a country. this is a lesson that we to learn, and this is, as the president say, we cannot accept this and we will not accept this. that's why we have to go very

deep into the details to determine exactly what happened , why it happened to our boys, that it doesn't happen again. >> but human rights groups say the honduran government has been here before. as recently as 2004, there was a prison fire in which 100 inmates died, and the then-government promised that there would never be a repeat. the horrific fire, which has put this small rural community under the global spotlight, suggests those lessons have never been learned. will grant, bbc news, honduras. >> right, we're going to move on to sporting matters now. well, sporting matters, sporting sensation the like of which we've never seen before, says the hyperbole, but it's not far off, isn't it? >> no, we're talking about jeremy lin, the newest sensation in basketball in america. he's come out of nowhere, didn't really come the traditional way into the nba, was cut by two teams.

he actually went to harvard to play his basketball. but he was picked up by the new york knicks. he's played six straight games, and he scored 136 points in his first five games. he scored 10 again yesterday. that's more than michael jordan, it's more than shaq o'neal. so people are making a lot of fuss about this guy. as i say, lin-sanity is what they're talking about, and he's been speaking about how it's been affecting him. >> i want to be the same person before and after. and, you know, that's where i want to be. i don't want to let anything affect me or this team and i think playing in new york is a big stage, and that's obviously a temptation and the danger. >> he sounds grounded. what is his background? >> he's been billed as the american chinese-american star, so he's home grown. he thinks he would have been a better path to the path if not

his background. but he's breaking boundaries, and new york is the place to do it. they love him there. >> absolutely. living the dream. good on him. thanks very much. let's move on now. the ugandan parliament is considering a bill that proposes harsh penalties for gay people. homosexuality is illegal in uganda, but increasing levels of homophobia have caused some people to flee the country. here's our east africa correspondent, will ross. >> two ugandan men living in exile. they told me they were forced to flee to kenya after being physically attacked for being gay. still fearing repercussions, they did not want their identities revealed. >> people screaming, oh, you need to kill me, they walk into my house, so that's when the police came for intervention. >> and you saw this mob shouting, "we want to kill you." what sort of people were in

that group? >> all men, women. >> women as well? >> yeah, just screaming for my blood. >> he told me when he went to record a statement with the police, he was jailed, humiliated, and abused. and what did the police say to the other people who were locked up in the cell when they took you in? >> he's gay. he loves fellow men. oh, you love fellow men, you're gay, so we should treat you that way. so i was abused by almost 50 people in that room. >> so they were beating you up? >> beating me up. >> and they sexually abused you? >> yeah. >> there's strong support for an anti-homosexuality bill, which calls for life imprisonment and, in some cases, a death sentence. >> five weeks of detention. >> danny worked with american activists to oppose the bill. he told me this led to arrest,

torture by soldiers, and exiled. if the law is passed, danny says the gay community will be hunted down. >> they're going to promote homophobia, whether it will give the ordinary people the confidence and the legal mandate to pass this group. >> there's no doubt that the gay community in uganda is living in fear. the ugandan government told the bbc it had no information about any people being detained or tortured because of their sexuality. across much of africa, homophobia is rife and changing attitudes may take generations, but those forced into exile haven't given up hope of returning home. >> i have to keep running. i have people on the run to save my life, but my hope is that someday be able to leave and claim my right back as a ugandan. >> will ross, bbc, nairobi.

>> the leaders of 15 west african states have r meeting in nigeria to discuss a number of regional issues. the summit is going to focus on insecurity caused by the thousands of weapons that have been smuggled into the region from libya. hearsay is also on the -- heresy is also on the agenda. there will be new funds to cope with displaced people as well. a delegation from the european parliament has met burma's opposition leader, aung san suu kyi, at her home. the group also visited the country's president. the e.u. is due to review its sanctions on burma later in the month, earlier this week, they announced an aid package for health and education projects in the country. north korea is marking what would have been the 70th birthday of its former leader, kim jong il, who died in december. now, his son, kim jong un, has been leading a parade in pyongyang, where a bronze

statue of his late father was unveiled. the bbc's lucy williamson has this. >> north korea is having to pack a lot into its ceremonies these days. here, on the 70th anniversary of his birth, the country's late ruler has to share the limelight with his youngest son. kim jong un has big shoes to fill. events like this are designed to help him do it. so, today, on his dad's birthday, north korea's new leader got a pledge of allegiance from the army. his dad got fireworks and waving flowers. but then kim jong il has already received several birthday gifts from the nation, a big bronze statue in the capital, commemorative gold coins, a giant carving in the side of a mountain. as much about bolstering his son's hold on power as about honoring the dear leader, some say.

but kim jong un has looked thoroughly at home in his new role, taking a standing of his stride, even motioning to the ranks clapping behind him, enough, sit down. it's impossible to tell from outside the country, even from here in south korea, just how much influence kim jong un has over his father's calm raids, but these celebrations are a chance to emphasize yet again the unique authority of the kim family name and the thin but priceless credentials of the new young leader. lucy williamson, bbc news, seoul. >> it's a fascinating few days actually coming out of pyongyang. the ceremonies and commemorations, we've been following them here on "bbc world news," of course, and we've got more on the website, bbc.com/news. more for you there also on what is our top story at the moment of the palestinian children, eight at least have been killed after being hit by a truck in

the west bank. and there are fears that that number of dead will rise further, as 30 or so are injured as well. but the details are on the website. >> 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 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? >> bbc world news was presented by kcet los angeles.