tens of thousands of homes without water in northern ireland. doctors warn of a public health emergency. a failed mediation, but west african leaders say they will return to the ivory coast as the international community steps up pressure on laurent gbagbo. welcome to "bbc world news," broadcast to our viewers on pbs in america, also around the globe. coming up later for you -- crackdown on corruption, but can china reverse something that critics say is deeply ingrained in its bureaucracy? and 70 years on, how firefighters and winston churchill saved st. paul's cathedral from nazi bombs. the danish authorities say they have managed to stop the internet terrorist attack in the capital of copenhagen. the target was the newspaper which outraged many muslims by printing the pictures of the prophet mohammed. they have arrested five men who planned to shoot as many as possible. we have this from mike will bridge. >> this is one of the two places in the danish capital where the police swooped up suspects in a plot they described as "terrifying." >> we

tens of thousands without water in northern ireland. authorities warned of a public health emergency. and one leader says they are going back to the ivory coast. the international community's steps of the pressure. welcome to "bbc world news," broadcast to our viewers on pbs in america, also around the globe. coming up later for you -- crackdown on corruption. and it summed up the spirit of an nation. 70 years on how firefighters saved london when the nazis bombs. -- when the nazis bombed. the danish authorities say they have managed to stop an imminent terrorist attack in the capital of copenhagen. ed this was to be carried out against newspaper that outraged muslims by printing cartoons of the prophet mohammed. they planned to shoot as many people as possible. we have this report. >> this is one of the two places in the danish capital where the authorities swooped up suspects in up what they describe as terrifying, probably the most serious terror attempt in denmark to date. >> we've been following them very closely. today, we believe

this is for half of northern ireland. overnight snow is also forecast for wales and the southwest of england. in some places, it started already. >> the chinese prime minister is in pakistan for a three-day visit where he will sign billions of dollars worth of trade deals. he is expected to reassure pakistan that they are an important partner despite the growing partnership between china and india. >> there is no diplomatic -- here, pakistan and china are close allies. they consider washington to only be a fair weather friend but china has always stood by their side. they're likely to be more convinced by that after this visit after the new trade deals. the oil and gas sector, i.t. and telecom, mining, and a nuclear power program are all likely to benefit further. they have been facing frequent gas and electric's -- and electricity shortages. maybe trade is the focus of this visit, historically the foundation of the relationship between the two countries has been military links. china has provided pakistan with military h

>> the honorable gentleman makes a good point about the economy in northern ireland. want to see it recover and grow, but everyone in northern ireland knows that the size of the state-the size of government-in northern ireland has become too big, and we have to see a private sector recovery. we are looking at all sorts of ideas, including the enterprise zone to which my right honorable friend the secretary of state for northern ireland referred. i should also like to put on record my thanks to those northern irish members who are going to support what we are doing to help the republic of ireland in its time of need. >> the people of bromsgrove are immensely proud of our brave servicemen and women. that is why bromsgrove district council has decided to give the freedom of the district to the mercian regiment next month. will the prime minister join me in congratulating the decision of the council, and does he believe that we can all do more to honor our heroes? >> i certainly join my honorable friend in doing that. bromsgrove is absolutely right to honor the mercian re

if they had listened to the atheist community in northern ireland, which is a real thing, and if they had listened to the secular movement in northern ireland, which is a real thing and i know many people who have suffered dreadfully from membership in it, not excluding being pulled out of a car by a man in a balaclava and being asked, are you ... are you a protestant jewish atheist or a catholic jewish atheist? you laugh, but it's not -- [laughter] so funny when the party of god has a gun in your ear at the same time. and that was in britain, and still is, to some extent, until recently. rwanda, do i say that there would be no quarrel between hutu and tutsi, people in rwanda. belgian colonialism made it worse, but there are no doubt innate ethnic differences ... most christian country in africa.

the crisis surrounding water supplies in northern ireland has gone into an 11th day. tens of thousands of people are still without running water. northern ireland water has been criticized. they said it miserably failed the country's citizens. it could barely next week before everybody is reconnected. >> the huge job of repairing the many burst pipes and leaks is under way. but finishing the work is a long way off. for many families to more days of desertion lie ahead. and all the time, water is leaking away on the streets across northern ireland. >> there are dozens of bursts' being reported every day. with our resources, we're trying to get as many of those done. we're trying to keep the shut- downs to wear short as possible. >> but families who have lost their supplier beginning to lose their patience. >> if it continues for another few days, it will probably come to the stage where we would of route ourselves. we would go to friends and family with running water. sort of the pilgrimages to get fresh water. >> it is not just homes that have been affected. it is hos

right, but you couldn't ignore the politics of the situation in northern ireland, it was to do with the relationship between britain and ireland goi back over many, many centuries. so my point is very simple, of course religion has played a role and sometimes a very bad role in these situations, but not only religion. and what is at the heart of this is we wouldn't dream of condemning all of politics because politics had led to hitler, stalin or indeed what has happened in rwanda, so let us not condemn the whole of religion or say that religion, when you look at it as a whole, is a force for bad, because there are examples of where religion has had that impact. so my -- i think actually rwanda and northern ireland are classic examples, even the middle east peace process, i mean yes, i agree, you can look at all the religious issues there but let's not ignore the political issues either, and frankly at the moment the reason -- and i can tell you this from first hand -- well, but i can tell you from first hand experience, the reason we don't have an agement at the moment between palest

. >>> there is growing unrest in northern ireland where people have been without water for more thaneek and we're warned the situation could continue for several more days. the executive is to hold an emergency meeting thursday amid accusations of underinvest metropolitan in the the company. >> for some this feels like a new nightly routine and a most unwelcome one. filling up and heading home. it's the only way they can be sure of having water. in thousands of home in northern ireland, turning the tap does little. >> you have to sterilize everything, like for the bottles and stuff. it's really, really hard. it's too hard. >> thungs -- things are improving, but at the peak of the current problems, around 50,000 homes were without water. in 80 towns and villigse, some haven't had a supply for 11 days. this doctor is warning that unless something is done quickly, it could be serious for public health. >> we now have a serious public health emergency in northern ireland because so many homes have been off supply for so long. the key to good health is hand washing and cleanliness and peo

but the economic indications in northern ireland are that northern ireland is still in decline and that the economy is insisting of a boost. could ask the prime minister for his assessment of the possibility of a boost to the north island economy to tax is being reduced? >> the honorable member makes a good point about the economy and northern island of we want to see it recover. we want to see ago but i think i put in northern ireland knows a summit of the state, government in northern ireland has gotten too big and we've got is a private sector recovery. we are looking at ideas including the enterprise of that my right honorable friend referred to the i would also like to put on record my thanks for the northern irishman who will support us in what we're doing to to help the republic of ireland in its time of need. >> the people are immensely proud of our grade -- brave servicemen and women. will the prime minister join and congratulate this decision of the council and does he believe we can all do more to honor our heroes? >> i certainly join my honorable friend and i think they are

ministers are criticizing northern ireland's water. it could be early next week before all are reconnected. >> the huge job of repairing the many weeks is under way, but finishing is a long way off. for many families, more days of disruption lie ahead. >> there are dozens being reported every day, and with our resources, we are trying to get this done. we are trying to get it as short as possible. >> families who have lost the supplies are beginning to lose their patience. >> if it continues for a few days, it will be a problem. further afield they will have running water. it will beat a pilgrimage to get some fresh water. >> it is not just homes that have been affected. it is hospitals, too. goothe burst pipes have affected businesses, and the problems continue. at this hair dressers, many customers have been turned away. >> people are getting water wherever they can. they have been using backups from the sea to flush his toilets. the big question -- how long are people going to have to carry water home? >> we are hoping in the east b

all parts of northern ireland have been affected and are likely to remain so for days to come. and dean martin, bbc news, belfast. >> andy martin, bbc news, belfast. >> there is new evidence that neanderthal man eight cooked vegetables and cook their food. >> this is the vegetable of neanderthal succumb and there was no chemical analysis of their bones. atis perceived reliance on mee has been put forward as one of the reasons they became extinct, as large mammals declines. but now, fossilized grains of vegetable materials have been found in their teeth, and some of it was cooked. this is the latest study to suggest that far from being british savages, the neanderthal as were more like us than previously thought. >> the english cricket team are on the verge of retaining the ashes going into day four. four more of ricketts -- four more wickets. one could already be in the bag because ryan harris is expected to be unable to bat after he picked up an injury during day 3. it was another day that england dominated. 204 the six runs behind england for australia. 246 ru -- 246 runds be

frustration mounted in northern ireland today over a water crisis. up to 36,000 people have had no water for more than a week after severe cold heavily damaged aging pipes. we have a report from jane deeth of independent television news. >> reporter: many people in east belfast haven't been able to shower or even flush the toilet for a week. g.p.'s warnings that being without water to wash and rising cases of flu and the winter vomiting bug could combine to create a public-health emergency. it's already a headache. >> not able to put the dinner on. going on stuff that's in the freezer. it's just the disruption of normal day to day living. >> reporter: when northern ireland thawed out after the deep freeze, pipes began to burst all over the government-owned water network. reservoirs have run dry. northern ireland water says people have to take it in turns without water to conserve what there is. northern ireland's deputy first minister, martin macinnes said the company has let people down. >> we're as angry as anybody else about the situation that has

i know how difficult the security situation is in northern ireland. i pay tribute to police on both sides of the border for the brilliant work they do and, of course, we always stand ready to help but we did made quite a generous settlement and that should be the first call of resources. >> richard. >> in afghanistan on monday the prime minister said british troops could start coming home from afghanistan as early as next year. that is major policy shift. which of our allies did he discuss this decision? and does he envisage the gap will be filled by the afghan army or by the u.s. army? >> what i said in afghanistan is what i said before i went to afghanistan and what i'll happily say again today. which is the whole of nato and the isaf nations involved in afghanistan are all committed to transition to afghan control between the start of 2011 and the end of 2014. as that happens, clearly there will be opportunities either to reinvest troops into training missions or indeed to bring them home. and what the chief of the defense staff and i both said at

and water rationing in northern ireland. hello, and a warm welcome. england has retained the ashes in australia for the first time in 24 years. the victory means that they have a 2-1 lead in the five match to take the ashes back to england. on the fourth day, still to hundred and 46 behind england. they lost an early wicket with some resistance that soon passed the partnership. finally, the victory prompted ecstatic scenes from fans at the cricket ground. the british prime minister has sent his congratulations. it was a very special and to the year and a very late christmas present. our sports news correspondent saw the victory had told me that depending on how they get the ashes back, england will enjoy the moment. >> i am standing among the army. halfway across the world, there are thousands of them here. england fans are trying to get into this. they are celebrating and they're going to be here for some time because this is really a great victory. there are noisy people, but the atmosphere is quite extraordinary. they have found themselves over the

in northern ireland, we reached peace, but there never was and still isn't an agreed outcome. in other words some people wanted a united ireland, some people want a united kingdom. at least here with the israel/palestine situation, there is in principle an agreed outcome. so the complexities are of a different order and you've got many different regional issues not least the role of iran and so on, but actually in one sense, it is possible to see a future state of israel and state of palestine because that's, in fact, what both sides say they want to get to. >> larry: while we have you, a couple of other quick things. secretary of state clinton called the wikileaks publication of thousands of diplomatic cables an attack on the international community. what's your view of that? >> well, i agree with her totally. i mean, the fact is for people to be able to conduct international affairs, they've got to be able to do so with some level of confidentiality. that's not secrecy or hiding things from the public. any person of common sense can sit down and work out that if you're dealin

. >> the dissident terrorist threat is a continuing problem in northern ireland, and we have seen somevidence of the terrorists' capabilities in recent months. will the prime minister ensure that if additional resources that were not previously envisaged are deemed necessary by the chief constable to deal with such a threat, he will ensure that they are provided without delay? >> of course we keep a very careful eye on the situation in northern ireland, and on whether additional resources are required. we stuck to the pledges made by the previous government about properly funding the devolution of policing and justice. i think that decisions are better made locally, which is why that was the right step to take. i know how difficult the security situation is in northern ireland, and i pay tribute to police on both sides of the border for the brilliant work that they do. of course we always stand ready to help, but we did make quite a generous settlement in terms of devolving law and justice, and that should be the first call for resources. >> richard ottaway. >> in afghanistan on monday

in the case of northern ireland, which principles for the principal consent, in other words, northern ireland remains part of the u.k. as long as the majority people want it and then it returns two that come you call it the injustice between the unionist and nationalist between protestants and catholics. so there is a basic framework of principles that we got people attract it to. the second thing frankly is never give up. you know, never give up how difficult it is, no matter how hard can it keep going. we used to have this phrase if you can't love it, manage it. do not solve it, manage it. one final thought, when i finally got to spain from the spanish prime minister eventually have my family and i'd be staying in for three days and i haven't been there. so i go in and finally get there and go into the room and there he is sitting at the breakfast table with my mother-in-law. [laughter] she says to me is becoming. no need for you to be here. i said what have you been talking about? just your brother. [laughter] as i remarked in her book i thought she may have had as good of an answe

he really was bringing about peace in northern ireland was to get the united states involved. to that point the united states has always respected the wishes of great britain, that it stay away. bill clinton saw that with the cold war over that special relationships between the u.s. and the u.k. was no longer sacrosanct, and he could take the risk of entering prime minister john major and the world would not and, and it didn't. second, he crushed an entirely new approaches. up until that time the british tried to make peace by focusing on the middle and keeping out people like gerry adams, the president of the political arm of the irish army. people in a similar position. what clinton did was bring these people and from the cold. he said if you will seek your goals through ballots and not bullets i will put my presidency on the line and support you. it worked. it culminated in the good friday agreement. there were setbacks along the way to the agreement and afterward as the party's proceeded with the agreements of the implementation. basically the agreement itself. bill clinto

right, but you couldn't ignore the politics of the situation in northern ireland, it was to do with the relationship between britain and ireland going back over many, many centuries. so my point is very simple, of course religion has played a role and sometimes a very bad role in these situations, but not only religion. and what is at the heart of this is we wouldn't dream of condemning all of politics because politics had led to hitler, stalin or indeed what has happened in rwanda, so let us not condemn the whole of religion or say that religion, when you look at it as a whole, is a force for bad, because there are examples of where religion has had that impact. so my -- i think actually rwanda and northern ireland are classic examples, even the middle east peace process, i mean yes, i agree, you can look at all the religious issues there but let's not ignore the political issues either, and frankly at the moment the reason -- and i can tell you this from first hand -- well, but i can tell you from first hand experience, the reason we don't have an agreement at the moment between pa

but you couldn't ignore the politics of northern ireland to do with the relationship between britain and ireland going back over many centuries. so my point is very simple. of course, religion has played a role in -- and sometimes a bad role in these stwagse situations. but not only eare dream of condemning all of politics, because politics had led to hitler or pistol inor indeed, what has happened in rowanda. so let's not condemn the whole religion. i think actually rowanda and northern ireland are classic and teeven middle east peace process. yes, i agree you can look at all the religious issues there but let's not ignore the political issues either. i can tell you this from -- i can tell you from firsthand experience it's the reason when he don't have an roment -- so it's my branch that has to take the blame for that. i would say i actually think of course, a lot of these conflicts have religious roots. i actually think it's possible for a religion to play a positive part in all those. but in the end it's the politics and religion to try to work out a way in which religion in a wor

in the case of northern ireland, which principles for the principal consent, in other words, northern ireland remains part of the u.k. as long as the majority people want it and then it returns two that come you call it the injustice between the unionist and nationalist between protestants and catholics. so there is a basic framework of principles that we got people attract it to. the second thing frankly is never give up. you know, never give up how difficult it is, no matter how hard can it keep going. we used to have this phrase if you can't love it, manage it. do not solve it, manage it. one final thought, when i finally got to spain from the spanish prime minister eventually have my family and i'd be staying in for three days and i haven't been there. so i go in and finally get there and go into the room and there he is sitting at the breakfast table with my mother-in-law. [laughter] she says to me is becoming. no need for you to be here. i said what have you been talking about? just your brother. [laughter] as i remarked in her book i thought she may have had as good of an answe

the main utility northern ireland water struggled for a ninth day to repair pipes that burst in lasteek's cold. we have a report from lewis vaughan jones of "independent television news." >> reporter: this is what counts as bath time in belfast. he's three, she's had a vomiting and diarrhea bout for days, all without running water in the house. >> insects, -- >> reporter: this is how so many families across northern ireland are now living. and the morning routine starts here. collecting water, and even washing at the local place. >> we have to get water to flush the toil it's and make sure you don't mix the drinking water with the dirty water. so it's been terrible. >> just come here to shower? >> yes, have you to come here to shower. >> reporter: so people here are still coming to places like this to collect their water. the only difference is this water is now from scotland. the donations from the government there. ministers here are now trying to work out what they should be doing. this evening the number of homes without water doubled. to nearly 60,000. and as the leaks continue

i do not deny it is a challenge for the northern ireland -- for northern ireland, -- that will 0.5% rate northern ireland, about 12.5% rate. >> will this not create new opportunities for tax avoidance? >> i can assure that we will seek to avoid that -- tax avoidance. it is there to keep pace with the changes in corporate tax regimes, which have been introduc in many other countries. ireland is just one that we've been talking about. you see th in belgium and the netherlands, where they also made corrate tax changes to attract international companies. we have to keep pace with those chges. that is why we are taking the measures that we are. >> george mahmudi. >> the chancellor -- george moody. >> official said this is because of a lack of serious content. -- officials say that this is because of a lack of serious content. >> we have published a series of documents. some of them on corporate tax reform, some on intellectual property, and some on the budget -- that is what the white paper does. proposes measures that will then be legislated for. we'll have measures to address the competitiv

a participant from northern ireland? the young man there, with the blue tie. >> i would like to say that i do not see there is any way honor can be preserved when innocent lives are being lost in afghanistan. where is our honor when we stand there killing innocent civilians? it is a disgrace. in northern ireland there have been numerous protests to bring british troops from both sides of the argument. what i propose is that a gradual withdrawal is much more efficient than having a set date. while we, as a people, have the duty to go out and defend, we also have the right to preserve life, stand up for people who want to carry on with their lives. they did not choose for britain to invade. the afghan civilians, despite hamid karzai's please, they did not ask this to happen we should preserve their lifestyle. [applause] >> thank you. i would like to hear someone from wells. who are we waiting for? yes, the gentleman there. >> thank you, mr. speaker. when we went to afghanistan, we made a pledge to their government. we woul

cables from wikileaks travels around the murder of a catholic lawyer by protestant gunmen in northern irelandn 1989. the u.s. memos say that security services offered to hand over secret files about the killings. this is all very murky, mark. >> potentially it is significant because it looks as if back in 2005 previously secret intelligence files of the british government, they were preparing to release them to a public inquiry. what we do not know is if this water under the bridge and the change of government, if there is going to be a future inquiry and we do not know if those secret files will still be available. many things still up in the air on that one. >> why would security forces have colluded with murderers? >> it depends how far back you want to go. certainly there were informers within the republican movement. with in the ira. there were also informers within the pro-british organization as well. the delegation has always been that in order to protect their source within the loyalist community, the government took a soft approach to the killers and the real killers got off scot- f

. >> australia may have too much water, and parts of northern ireland do not have any, at least not running water. the winter freeze left tens of thousands of people without water for over a week. people are standing in line at emergency stands to fill up bottles. drinking water has been shipped in to alleviate the problem. the french fashion model who once called herself an ambassador of anorexia has died. her family announced she died in november. she was 28 years old. three years ago, isabel caro appeared in a controversial ad campaign to raise awareness of the eating disorder. at the time, she weighed 31 kilos. the book does help grow public debate on the pressure on women to keep their weight down and prompted some fashion houses to stop employing dangerously thin models. a fifth ski jumping vtory of the season in the opening event of the annual for her roles -- for hells tournament in germany. the austrian team is in a class of its own this season. >> the austrians continued to dominate, with five team members placing in the top 10. manuel fedner placed third, barely edged out by finl

so far as they are concerned and we are trying to work together with them in northern ireland and with some success, too. >> are you surprise that there's no more of the bombings going on? >> well, there are still a small element who i think would like to try and get the bombings going again. but they've not got much popular support even with the elements in irish society that would have been in favor of basically united ireland. so i think so far things are reasonably under control. but, you know, it's been a lot of hard work gradually getting things going again. >> that was a party event, the conservative party meeting? >> it was the annual convention basically. yes. >> how many people were killed? >> five people were killed in the hotel i was in. it was -- because i was the government chief whip at the time i was next room to mrs. thatcher. it was mrs. thatcher no doubt they were after but the bomb went off in the room above and i fell four stories in the hotel. so they dug me out seven hours later from the hotel. and the only reason i survived was really luck. a girder from the hot

northern ireland has seen its heaviest snowfall in 25 years. in scotland, temperatures plummeted to minus 15. though the snowfall has now eased off in central london, many of these minor roads are virtually impassable. that's simply because no effort has been made to salt or grit them. >> we do come under fire for salting and gritting. they don't understand why residential roads aren't done but there's only so much we can do. >> reporter: the last weekend before christmas is usually the busiest of the year for travelers heading home for the holidays, but those still stranded are getting a rare glimpse of britain's most famous landmarks covered in snow. nbc news, london. >> as we noted back in this country, the holiday rush is already on. as for weather, it could cause chaos in the west tomorrow. heavy rain and mountain snow, up to 15 feet in some areas, is forecast from california to western wyoming and the colorado rockies. today, there was a lot of activity at major airports, including chicago's o'hare. not surprisingly, according to aaa, whi

many of the undocumented from ireland are from northern ireland. they are both irish citizens and u.k. citizens. we have tried to engage the u.k. government in pressing for this, and they have had no interest. there are thousands of undocumented citizens of the united kingdom in america, and the united kingdom government has no interest. i would urge you to press that. there are bilateral trade agreements and millions of people working. press the slew. one final point, i would challenge the bill. at would price do we have comprehensive immigration reform. i would ask the question at what price can we not have it? >> so you would give them all the bad stuff just to get the good things? >> no, i wouldn't. but i'm reminded of what voltere said, which is let not the perfect be the enemy of the good. by holding out for the perfect, there are 12 million in a bad way in this country. >> what is the difference between imperfect and the atrocious. >> i would ask you to not let the perfect outway the we. thank you for having this commission tonight. someone

in northern ireland, the school run was canceled for pupils at 600 schools. but in scotland that's borne the brunt of the latest weather and the chaotic cause is not over yet. >> president juan manuel santos of colombia has urged the evacuation of the hillside neighborhood near medellin that was hit on sunday. more than 30 bodies have been recovered from beneath the mud and rock that engulfed part of the town of bajo and more than 80 people are still missing. president santos said further landslides in the area were a real possibility. and promised to rehouse people who had lost their homes. the daughter of peru's former president alberto fujimari will run and said her government would follow the right wing properties of her pare. fujimari has been serving a 25-year sentence for two massacres carried out by an army death squad during his first government. analysts say she might pardon her father if elected. for bans of the beatles wednesday is a day of remembrance. it's 30 years since john lennon was shot and killed outside his new york home. tom brook was th

were we committed says the twenty six boxing day and we're going to northern ireland to belfast to buy a heathrow so we have so we were at the airport when their electricity went off. all flights were cancelled we were told to fly yesterday which is council were on a flight this morning which is counsel them are we being put onto the ten o'clock flight which is obviously being delayed so honestly what do you think about how the airport has been dealing with the problem. actually not very well but i don't think any reporters are very well with these problems as we're seeing across europe and other local schools bs is top three minutes of an airport which didn't have any electricity blackouts also faces how to delay suppose some seven thousand passengers many of them have been kalash with the representatives of companies and with police they tried to still impossible to control zones they blocked blogger cherice and try to stage protests and system to meet the hand of the apples people mostly complain that they were denied hotel baths and they ended up sleeping on the floor so so far why

flight where are you going to we're recommitted says the twenty six boxing day and we're going to northern ireland to belfast to buy a heathrow so we have so we were at the airport when their electricity went off. for consultation we then were booked onto a flight yesterday which is council we're on a flight this morning which is counsel them are we being put onto the ten o'clock flight which is obviously being delayed so honestly what do you think about how the airport has been dealing with the problem. actually not very well but i don't think any your port deals are very well with these problems as we're seeing across europe . i mean i think it's just a lack of information as well which stuff we're here this morning that night disappeared so nobody knows we can only hope that there's a period on at three o'clock that's what we've been told but nothing official and other local schools bs is top three minutes of an airport which didn't have any electricity blackouts also faces how to delay suppose some seven thousand passengers many of them have been clashed with the representatives up and compani