>> "bbc world news" is presented by kcet, los angeles. 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.

insight and expertise in a range of industries. what can we do for you? >> and now "bbc world news." >> in new starts -- a new start. the russian and american presidents agreed to cut their nuclear arsenals by 30%. is the biggest reductions is the end of the cold war. >> if the new start treaty is an important step forward, but it is one step on a longer journey. >> of political standoff in kyrgyzstan the president refuses to admit defeat.

the man who discovered the sex pistols as died in new york. very warm welcome to "bbc world news," broadcast to our viewers on pbs in america, also around the globe. my name is mike embley. coming up later for you -- could this be the missing link? the skeleton found by a schoolboy in south africa that could be a new species of human. and the eye in the sky on global warming. europe launches a satellite to melt the polar ice caps. >> they have picked up -- to measure the polar ice cap -- icecaps. >> they have picked up. they will find out if it will do what is meant to do, to measure the state of the polar ice. >> hello to you. the american and russian presidents have signed a treaty committing to the biggest cuts in nuclear weapons as the cold

war ended 20 years ago. long-range warheads have been cut by about a third. for many, the significance is not in the numbers, but in the new starts both leaders say it represents and the warning it makes for any nation seeking nuclear weapons. president medvedyev supported increased pressure on iran. we have this from prague. >> in prague, a day of history. the motorcades of two cold war adversaries snake through the old streets. the leaders of america and russia were here to sign the most comprehensive reduction in nuclear weapons in two decades. in the ornate surroundings, they signed a treaty that will reduce there are -- their arsenals by 30%. verification will be stepped up. there was real warmth between

these two men. president obama had promised to hit the reset button on relations with russia. that has clearly happened. >> i want to thank my friend and partner, dmitry medvedev. >> the american president said the treaty sent a clear signal. >> it demonstrates the determination of the united states and russia, the two nations to hold over 90% of the world's nuclear weapons. to pursue responsible globe or leadership. >> the russian president, too, saw this as an historic climate. >> the most important fact is that there are no winners or losers. it is what you might call a win/win situation. it is clear what happened. both sides have one. >> the message was sent to iran, which was suspected of seeking nuclear weapons. sanctions may be on the way.

>> my expectation is that we are going to be able to secure strong, tough sanctions on iran this spring. >> on and one level, to date changes very little. america and russia will still be able to wipe each other out several times over. it does underline president obama's ambitions for a nuclear-free world and that may pursue -- persuade other countries not to join the nuclear club. bbc news. >> de ambassadors of six world powers will be meeting in new york to discuss sanctions against iran over the disputed nuclear program. china and russia have so far refused to back the new measures proposed by the u.s. and some european delegations. iran insists it that their nuclear return program is purely for peaceful purposes. the prime minister of israel has

canceled his visit to washington next week, so when it president obama holds a security summit on the nuclear issue. mr netanyahu made the decision after learning egypt and turkey intends to raise the issue of israel's presumed nuclear arsenal. europeans financial markets have been hit by new fears regarding the state of greece's economy. the greek government's cost of borrowing has risen to record levels. when day after bloody clashes in the kyrgyz, he dissolved parliament reject -- and parliament been dissolved, he has refused to admit defeat. our correspondent reports. >> board of this revolution, onlookers are pushed away from a

government building. only the leaders on inside can carry on their work. the city remains a dangerous place. -- only the looters side can carry on their work. in the power vacuum, it has spread to the shops. >> this is a prime candidate for looters time like this, but the fact that it has been systematically looted shows how lawless the city has become. so far, no repeats of this. the guns on wednesday when opposition supporters took to the streets -- the violence on wednesday when opposition supporters took to the streets to topple the bridging. security forces opened fire, in just a few kilometers away from the bloodshed, this american air base. for the u.s. military is of

vital hub for transporting soldiers and supplies to the war in nearby afghanistan. today, opposition leaders tried to calm fears about instability, saying they are in control. but they are clearly worried president bakiyev is still at large. so these are days of great uncertainty for the people of kyrgyzstan. as a weak year whether there fallen president will admit defeat -- as they wait to hear whether there fallen president will admit defeat or tried to fight back. bbc news. >> there are growing fears many people have died in a massive landslide in brazil. more than 50 houses have been engulfed near rio. rescue workers have worked hard to pull people out alive, but the hope of finding more is fading. from rio de janeiro, we have

this. >> rescue workers began searching for survivors, but after the first few people were rescued, they already knew there was little hope of finding other survivors buried under the mud. it is the most recent of dozens of mudslides that had hit shantytowns. it is a torrential downpours that began on monday that left thousands homeless, and rescue teams that come from other disaster areas to help here. at daybreak, it was possible to see the true extent of the damage. mud and rock came crashing down in what was up an already unstable area. -- what was an already unstable area. the soil is extremely soft. for this woman, it was barely an escape. >> when it started to go, we

shouted "run, run, run." we ran and everything came down. the kitchen, my brother's room, the living room. then it stopped. we opened the window. we jumped and ran away. >> the government did not even know for sure how many houses were in this area. they had to use satellite images and count the roofs to evaluate the disaster. 4250 houses involved in mud with up to 200 people -- 40 to 50 houses engulfed in mud with up to 200 people inside. there is still the risk of new landslides. bbc news. >> and militant islamist groups in somalia has forcibly taken over the united nations compound

in the south of the country. they have this on the u.s. staff of the content and seized supplies from the world food program. -- they have seized the use it -- u.s. staff. spain and liberia signed a merger agreement. now it has to be approved by competition authorities and shareholders. the group will have a combined value of $7.8 billion to be known as international airlines group. a swarm of locusts has invaded at town in queensland, australia, stripping plant life there. residents report the residents appearing last thursday. by the weekend, most of the trees were bald. it is said to be the biggest storm to hit the region in 30 years. the man whose name will always be associated with the punk movement, malcolm mclaren, has died in new york.

he was 64. he had been receiving treatment for cancer for some time. as well as managing the sex pistols, the collaborate with the designer of vivian west would -- vivienne westwood. ♪ >> when this appeared in the charts, many realized something was afoot. punk had been born, in this man claimed to be responsible. malcolm mclaren managed the sex pistols, and he was the grinning heart of the cultural revolution. >> the popularity of punk rock was due to the fact it was made on disputable. nihilism led to an anti-design,

anti-fashion, anti-social, and that-establishment. "we hate everything and die." it became immensely and immeasurably attack debt. -- attractive. >> he became known for selling clothes on king's road with his partner. but his real skill was teenage rebellion. teatime outrage. >> are you serious? >> and best of all -- the myth of mclaren, the evil pops in fact -- svengali who invented pop. >> without malcolm, there would be no british pub. he was a complex man. it is a contradictory person. it to be charming. he could be difficult. he could be very supportive.

he could be quite dismissive. but that was who he was. >> bow wow wow courted outrage. his nude cover starr was a long way from -- star along with from a 13th birthday. punk could only happen once. without him, it would not have been the same. >> malcolm mclaren died at the age of 64. good to have you with us on a "bbc world news." still to come, a special report from khartoum. another opposition party have pulled out of the elections in to down before the historic vote. -- sudan before the historic vote. first though, it took 14 hours working in shifts. conjoined twins have been

separated in central london. the parents say the boys have won the battle of their lives, as jane hughes reports. >> for four months, these two little boys have lived face-to- face with each other. but today, they are part for the first time after the successful operation to sit -- separate them. conjoined twins are incredibly rare, developing in the early days of pregnancy from a single egg. initially, growth is normal, but around 11 days, a clump of cells tries to split in form twins. if it does not fully separate, distinct embryos growing in the balloon was still connected. the operation to operate took place at the hospital and lasted 14 hours. >> it is an incredibly delicate procedure. edward from the hospital is it all went well -- word from the hospital is it all went well. they are stable.

>> it will be awhile before they can be shown to the cameras again, but the parents said the sunshine was out for their children. abc news. >> -- bbc no. >> pakistan's national assembly has felt constitutional reforms, transferring important powers from the president to the prime minister and parliament. these include the power to dissolve an elected parliament and the right to foreign military. it was passed with the support of the president who described it as an historic moment for pakistan. in afghanistan, police have arrested five suspected taliban militants they say work planning suicide attacks in kabul. officials say the men were stopped trying to drive into the center of the capital. one main headline for you this hour on "bbc world news." president obama and president

medvedyev has signed an historic treaty to cuts long-range nuclear warheads by a third in the u.s. and russia. so at the pact is signed. how is it viewed in washington? our special correspondent philip thomas has been speaking to the chief -- philipa thomas has been speaking to the chief negotiator on the first start treaty. >> as president obama made clear in prague, he would like to follow up this negotiation with the new negotiations focused on a broader category of weapons, deeper cuts, the tactical weapons deployed in and around europe and the chinese border. he would like to count all warheads, not just the ones deployed on missiles. the ones in stockpiles. >> presumably a time scale that

would suit the obama administration would not be four years? >> they will have to focus on ballistic missile defenses in a new negotiation. that is a complicating factor. and the answer is yes. the president is able to get this treaty ratified, gets strong public support in united states and europe and other countries, i think it is in pop -- it's possible to get a new treaty before obama leaves the white house at the end of a second term. this coincides with the administration's new nuclear posture review. here he has made a very important argument. he says the role of nuclear weapons in this u.s. policy is no longer so much to deter a nuclear strike from russia or china, but it is to focus on the problem of the spread of nuclear weapons and terrorism. this is also another element that i think makes history very important.

it is almost a transformational approach to the role of nuclear weapons in american policy . >> the ambassador speaking to philipa. the first multi-party polls since 1986 in sudan. in the south after months of rising violence, the semiautonomous government has mounted an ambitious disarmament campaign. our correspondent is there. >> the legacy of africa's longest civil war. an arsenal of weapons that flooded into south sudan from around the world. but since the authorities are trying to claw back from the hands of civilians -- weapons the authorities are trying to claw back from the hands of civilians. these are just some of the weapons collected. the leaders are saying this

disarmament campaign is the only way to stop the rising tide of ethnic violence. >> we are giving the people here a deadline of two weeks. after that, anyone found with a gun will be jailed for five years and will have to pay a fine of 20 cows. >> south sudan is supposed to be at peace. five years ago, a deal was signed to end the war with the north. since then, violence within the south has spiralled dangerously. a threat to the new fledgling governments in the south and their hope for independence. easy access to guns has transformed conflicts between nomadic groups here. traditional clashes over cattle and grazing have turned into much larger military-style confrontations. and it is women and children who are often the victims.

>> our village is attacked. i ran for my life. they shot me in the leg as i was running. >> many are afraid of what disarmament will bring. they're unsure of how they will protect their livestock or their families. across much of south sudan's vast territory, there is no government presence whatsoever, and people here say that they hand over their weapons, they will be vulnerable to attack by neighboring ethnic groups. and that is just what happened at the previous disarmament -- after previous disarmament campaign. this man gave his guns to the government four years ago. last month, most of his cows were stolen. now he has picked up a gun again. >> the government takes away my gun. my cattle is stolen from me. this gun is my only form of

protection. >> there is no doubt south sudan mines government has collected an impressive number of weapons, but the problem is that guns are the symptom and not the cost -- cause of the rising violence in the south. sudan's coming elections of highlighted the deep political and ethnic tensions within the south, and a less these are dealt with, the danger is the new generation will grow up with a gun. bbc news, south sudan. >> now could this be the legendary missing link? it does seem to be a new species of human, perhaps 1.9 million years old. it was a chance fine in -- find in the area now known as the cradle of humankind. from there, we have this. >> from the cradle of humankind. beneath the soil, the mysteries of our ancestors.

>> i have not looked at them before. >> now, a little boy, his father, and his dog have stumbled across an amazing find. >> i turned the rock over, and i saw the collar bone here. i thought it was just in antelope. i called my dad over. he started swearing. i said "what did i do wrong?" he said nothing. >> what that you had tracked down was evidence of an earlier form of human. >> it was a person that lived about 1.9 million years ago. >> the venture did not end there. a few meters away in -- the adventure did not in there. a few meters away, matthew's father discovered the prehistoric skeleton of an adult and child. >> i found it right there where that blood is taken out. we would not find out for a

little bit -- the skull was just 50 centimeters above. they weren't there together. they knew each other in life and died at about the same time. -- they were there together. >> this cave was previously unknown to scientists. extraordinary detective work has revealed vital clues as to the exact shape of the human family tree. >> forevermore, this species will be defined by this little child. >> the skull of the child it out. >> is at the point where we transition from an ape that works on two legs to effectively us. >> it is a new species of hominid being called australopithecus sediba. >> we know they do not look like other things we have found at the same time period. things like homo have a list in might have heard all. -- homo habilus you might have

hurt up. they have hands like ours. >> replicas are being molded says scientists can study this new chapter in the story of human evolution. bbc news, johannesburg. >> this could revolutionize our view of global warming. scientists say the best way to monitor changes in the polar ice caps is from space, and a new satellite has been launched to do that. we have this from mission control in germany. >> our position is go for launch. >> the europe space control center in germany. the mission is to understand what is happening to the polar ice. lift off from an underground satellite -- silo in causing son, a satellite. -- silo in kazakhstan.

here we go again. he has waited 12 long years for this, but soon news comes through. the satellite is in orbit. [applause] there is relief all around. >> it was a very long wait. it is nice. >> the satellite will fly over the arctic and the antarctic and radar should give the most accurate picture so far of how these polar regions are changing, measuring the thickness of the ice. >> what we do know is that the ice in both polls is retreating. what we do not know is how fast it is retreating and we do not know how fast that is infecting the ocean as around the eyes. -- as affecting the ocean around the ice.

>> the note that it is on track. the next thing, to find out if it does what is meant to do -- to measure the state of the polar ice. at a time when climate is under pressure, this could give us a sharper view of what is really happening. europe's mission control in germany. >> more details at any time on bbc.com. thank you for being with us. >> funding was made possible by york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. and union bank.

>> union bank offers unique insight and expertise in a range of industries. what can we do for you? >> i'm kevin bacon. >> i'm lili taylor. >> i'm henry louis gates, jr., and public broadcasting is my source for news about the world. >> for election coverage you can count on. sound bites. >> a commitment to journalism. >> for deciding who to vote for. public broadcasting is my source for intelligent connections to my community. >> bbc world news was presented by kcet, los angeles. by kcet, los angeles.