In response to military offenses in North Waziristan and the kiber region. We will bring you full coverage, speaking to our correspondents at the scene and bring you reaction from throughout pakistan. Its midday here in london, 7 00 a. M. In washington, and 5 00 p. M. In peshawar, pakistan, where taliban gunmen have launched a horrific attack, and this time, the target was children. Gunmen stormed an armyrun school and killed 126 people. Most of them were pupils. Eyewitnesss say the attack began when five or six armed men wearing paramilitary uniforms scaled the school walls, entered the building and opened fire. Pakistani security say they have rescued many other children trapped inside. The army says most of the schools 500 students have been evacuated. Five gunmen have reportedly been killed. We have heard from the taliban. They have been speaking to the bbc and have told our correspondents that this attack is in retaliation for Army Operations in North Waziristan and other areas, thats where hundreds of taliban fighters are thought to have died. With this update, heres the bbcs paul adams. Reporter pakistani troops rushing to contain the situation, but apparently too late to stop a massacre. Taliban gunmen wearing Army Uniforms burst into the militaryrun school in the morning. Army commandos arrived soon afterwards. Fierce gun battles followed. This man is an assistant in the physics lab. He says when the shooting started, everyone ran from their classrooms. He saw six or seven attackers entering every class and beating the children. As news of the attack spread, anguished parents rushed to the scene, not knowing if their children were alive or dead. The military said a rescue operation was under way and that most students and staff had been evacuated. But as the day wore on, grim details started to emerge. Of a grenade thrown to distract guards and attackers blowing themselves up inside the school. This man waits for news. One son safely out. Another missing. I dont have any information, he says. My relatives are checking the hospitals but they cant find my son, dead or alive. And the hospitals are full of the injured. Students and staff, many were gunshot injuries. They speak of panic in the school. Of children falling and screaming. Amir had just finished a chemistry exam and was sitting in the lab when the firing started. He said gunmen came in and opened fire on the students. He said they killed a 2yearold who just happened to be there. A taliban spokesman told the Reuters News Agency his group had chosen the armys school because the government was targeting taliban families. Revenge, it seems, for an Army Offensive in North Waziristan but began in summer. We want them, he said, to feel our pain. Paul adams, bbc news. Lets bring you right up to date and cross over to the bbc editor in islamabad. Can you tell us whats happening at the school right now . The latest is that over the last few minutes weve heard from the army that they have gunned down a sixth attacker. This morning, the reports were that that was the total number of attackers, but the army is not yet saying that the school has been secured. We also heard that the school, which is basically roughly divided in four blocks, the army had declared three of the blocks secure. A couple of hours ago. And it is now expected that over the next hour or so, they will be able to announce that the last of the attackers have been killed and the school is now secure. And whats the latest on the casualty figures . Do we know how many children have been killed . The latest casualty figures that we have from all the hospitals in peshawar is 132. We still do not have details of how many of them were children. But their number is thought to be well over 100, with the rest including some of the school staff and many, many teachers. Im just reading a quote from a parent, who said, my son was in uniform this morning, he is in a casket now. My son was my dream. My dream has been killed. How is pakistan even starting to make sense of what is happened in peshawar . I can tell you that pakistan is in a state of shock. Earlier on, when the attack when the news of the attack first came, it did seem like a day not very different from the many that pakistan has seen over the years, when the day started typically with news of some attack taking place something, and it was only several hours later that the skcale of this tragedy started becoming apparent. And immediately one could feel a sense of shock descending across the entire country. All Major Political leaders, they cancelled their commitment and rushed off to peshawar. Pakistans army chief was down in karachi addressing some military function. He quit all his other engagements and rushed off to peshawar. One of pakistans main political leaders, the cricketer turned politician imran kahn who had given the strike call against the government, he has called off that strike. They are now heading from various market associations, from all walks of society really that pakistan is in all likelihood going to be shut down in mourning tomorrow for a day unlike any that it has seen in the 13 years of this war, starting after 9 11. Im not sure if nawaz sharif has arrived in peshawar yet. That was his intention to go there. He straight away came out and said this is a national tragedy. What will his priority be now . Not only that hes described it as a national tragedy, i think weve also heard the first unequivocally and the first categorical statement from the pakistani Prime Ministers, that theyre not going to tolerate any shade of militancy in the country. Bear in mind, this is a deeply divided society, where the governments policymakers have often argued that one of the major stumbling blocks in forming decisive policy against the various shades of militants present in the country has been the support that they enjoy in not only in large parts of society in general, but also in key institutions of the government. That is the key thing that is likely to change from now on and i think the army will finally find the Political Support that it has been looking for for several months since it started its military operation in the tribal areas. The Pakistani Taliban actually called the bbc to claim responsible for this horrific attack. That must have been an incredibly chilling phone call for your colleagues to receive. What did they actually say . Well, its not the first time that they have done that. We have often received phone calls from them claiming responsibility for some attack, but this definitely was perhaps the most chilling one given the scale of the attack. And the swiftness with which the call was made. Within half an hour after news of the attack break broke, they called our correspondents in peshawar and said six of our people have entered an Army Public School and this is in retaliation for the military operation going on for the tribal regions of waziristan and kaibur. He did say that the army has killed more than 500 of our fighters and this is how we are now going to hit back. Thank you for joining us with that update. We can actually take you live now to the scene. We do have a live picture coming into us from peshawar, where you can see here an balance outside the exclusion zone that the military has set up. You see all the people gathered there. It looks reasonably calm, but a few hours ago, we were getting reports of absolutely distraught participants desperately trying to breakthrough that cordon and find out more about what had happened to their children. It must have been so horrific for them. But balance is on the scene. Apparently weve been speaking to the red cross in peshawar. They say at the moment the hospitals are coping. Many people have come to the hospital volunteering to give blood and to help out. The sense that we get from medical officials is despite the fact that this is a truly horrific situation, the hospitals are actually coping. Lets take you to peshawar now. We can talk to sharine. Her friends daughter was in the school when the attack happened. Thank you for being with us. Tell us about the experience of your friend and her daughter. Her brother was in that building, and she went to get him. But all she could see was gunfire, gunshots being fired and bloodshed everywhere. So she had to go there and escape somehow, but she had to get her brother somehow, but she couldnt. And then they thought she was dead, they turned away and that is how she managed to escape. And how is her brother. She couldnt find him. So we dont know how he is, whether he survived . No, we dont know. What a terrible, terrible time for the parents. Is anyone helping them, talking them through about what could have happened and whats going on . No, the parents the mother was actually glad to get the father back home. Theres no news of the son. And are you hearing news of what is happening at the school at the moment . Is it over . Have they killed the last of the taliban gunmen . No, its still going on. The operations of the army are still going on out there. And shireen, what was your reaction when you first heard of what was happening there . That a school with children inside was being attacked in this way. We started hearing the sirens and gunshots being fired. And suddenly the word started spreading around that theres some operation going on in a public school. And by operation, they actually meant some terrorists dressed up in Army Uniforms. They tried to get hold of the people there. What would you like to see your government do now . Instead of taking it personally, they should do something about the people here. Its the most vulnerable that pay the price. What was their point why were they killed for that . I would say the government should focus more on the people rather than their own fortunes. Im very pleased your friends daughter is safe and i hope indeed that they do find her brother as well safe and well. Thank you very much. A short time ago, i spoke to someone from the red crescent society. Hes been at the hospital from peshawar and this is what he told me. We hear the blast going on. There is still one block of students in class. Just a little while ago, we talked to the shorts and apparently its 126 dead bodies are reported so far. They are trying to cope with the situation. Hundreds of patients injured, but the exact number are still not known. You can hear the blast going on. Theyre still officially going on inside the school. They are ready to serve. But the situation is very critical. Nobody knows what is happening, how many students are still inside. So that is the situation so far. Its obviously critical for everyone there that the hospitals cope with the flood of injured and people who are coming in. Have you got enough supplies in the hospitals, enough blood . Have you got enough people to even care for all of these injured people . Yes, actually. Along with our health team, along with our donor volunteers, along with the medic volunteers. It seems that they are at the moment capable of coping with this situation. So they dont need any Blood Donation or support being offered by Pakistan Workers and organizations. What is being done to help the participants . We understand that many distraught parents have gathered outside the school desperate for news of their children. Theres a large crowd outside the School Waiting for their near and dear ones. We have witnessed so many of the parents who recently got news about their children. Still 100 or so people waiting outside. Just to know what is actually happening. So its quite a its not very clear actually to anyone what number of students are still inside. The highest section of the school is still not clear. Can you give us a sense of how youre feeling today after what youve seen and what youre experiencing at the moment and the pain of those parents of course . Looking at the School Children, starting from primary, to middle and high school. One cannot explain actually the feeling. Its really painful. Theres so much upset. Until now, the situation is still not very clear. Especially for those children who are still stuck. As he was saying in, the situation still unclear. From what we understand, there is still a military operation taking place at the school. We understand a sixth attacker has been killed. There is a perimeter that has been set up around the school, but there are still explosions and gunfire being hear at the scene. As soon as we have more details, well bring them to you. This is the live shot you can see right now. Things looking reasonably calm, but this is the edge of the perimeter in peshawar. Evening, of course, drawing in. Everyone in pakistan, but theyre particularly trying to digest the horrors of the day, as we now understand at least a hundred children have been killed in this attack. Just a short time ago, we heard from a student, a political activist on his way to peshawar. He wanted to donate blood, and he explained the scale of the attack. These kind of attacks have happened, but this one was the most horrific one. We have so far never seen this kind of attack, where innocent School Children were attacked in such huge numbers. The last one year or so, it was quite peaceful in peshawar. It wasnt like that. People were feeling confident. They were still cautious about things. But unfortunately, because of the operations which are going on all around peshawar, because its just nearby the tribal area. We were expecting this kind of backlash, but not to be honest, not on innocent children. We thought the forces might be attacked. Turning briefly live to peshawar. We can see the edge of the security cordon there. Just to remind you of all the latest lines were getting from pakistan. The Security Forces there are still trying to regain control of the school in peshawar hours after it was stormed by taliban militants. We are now hearing that about 126 people have died and what the authorities are saying is that possibly over 100 of those who died were children. Many, many more are injured. Some pupils who were escaping who escaped from the classrooms have been talking to the media, and just telling some absolutely horrific stories of the fact that the taliban came into the school. They were shooting at children indiscriminately. One student said, when we were coming out of the classroom, we saw dead bodies of all our friends lying in the corridors. They were bleeding. Some were shot three times, some four times. I saw six or seven people walking from class to class and opening fire on children. That is a quote coming to us from one of the children who managed to escape. The bbc has been contacted by the Pakistani Taliban and they have told us that they were responsible for this attack. They said it was in response to an antimilitant offensive in North Waziristan and the khyber region, so that is the scene live in peshawar at the moment. Were going to keep you up to date here on gmt, so do stay with us. You two had been through everything together. Two boyfriends. Three jobs. Youre like nothing can replace brad then Liberty Mutual calls. And you break into your happy dance. If you sign up for better car replacement, well pay for a car thats a model year newer with 15,000 fewer miles than your old one. See Car Insurance in a whole new light. Liberty mutual insurance. Break the ice, with breath freshening cooling crystals. Ice breakers. Welcome back to gmt. Lets take you back to peshawar now. Pakistan Security Forces still struggling to regain control of the school there in peshawar. This is hours after it was stormed by taliban militants. 126 people were killed. Most of them children. Now pakistan, we understand, of course, is a nation in shock. Nawaz sharif, the Prime Minister, has said this is a national tragedy. Many political leaders coming out to condemn what has happened there. Also indias Prime Minister tweeting, saying this is a senseless act of unspeakable brutality that has claimed lives of the most innocent human beings. Young children in their school, just coming to us from Narendra Modi on twitter. This is a horrific attack and we are still getting details of what happened and waiting to hear from the Security Forces. We understand they are still trying to bring this to an end at the school in peshawar. With me is the bbcs own bennett jones. Can you give us some context about the Pakistani Taliban . Theyve claimed responsibility, but who are they . There are three main groups. You think about the afghan taliban, the Pakistan Taliban and these punjabi taliban. The army has been fighting the Pakistan Taliban for some years now. And this is the first major act of retaliation for a couple of years that have come from the Pakistan Taliban. Has the military been successful in their operations recently . Is that the difference, that they actually have managed to clear them out and shut down their operations . There was a big offensive in North Waziristan in these tribal areas and there is still conflict going on there, but by and large, those areas have been cleared. Many of the Pakistan Taliban fled to afghanistan. Others obviously were in peshawar and have mounted this attack. Its worth making this point, i think. Some people on social media and so on are talking about this being an attack from india. No doubt, well hear soon that it was the United States who did this. There is a sense of denial in pakistan that these are indigenous forces. These taliban are local people. They are from the community, from that society. And they have mounted this attack. It is a civil conflict in pakistan, and maybe this event will help people understand that. Nawaz sharif promised when he came to power that this would end, that he would be the one to bring about an end to this kind of violence. What can he do now . He said hed bring dialogue and that failed. Many people thought it was bound to fail. That process was allowed to run by the army. It has come to its final conclusion and then the army moved militarily. So now there is the question mark. Will the politicians swing behind the army . The army have complained for years that they havent had the Political Leadership they want. They havent had the politicians going to the society saying look, we have to confront this problem. This may change that. Weve got the Prime Minister speaking in favor of the airplane. We have the Opposition Leader calling off one of his protests. It may just be that this event is a Tipping Point and that the politicians do more decisively back the army in its battle over taliban. So have all links between the Pakistani Army and the taliban been receivered . Pakistan taliban. So youve got the groups in punjab. But the confrontation with the Pakistani Taliban is clear, it has been clear for some time and they have been in direct confrontation and this is part of it. How big a role do you think Public Opinion will have . Surely it will swing in behind the Prime Minister and the army and their operations because they are so horrified. That will make it easier for both. The last army chief have been saying we want the public behind us. Theyve been complaining. For example, in North Waziristan, they suffered significant casualties, and yet the Prime Minister and the ministers dont even go to the hospitals to visit the wounded soldiers. Will that change, there there be a greater sense of urgency. There are many divisions. Nawaz sharif thinks the army is trying to get him out of power. There are lots of politics behind this. Lots of uncertainties. But this is obviously an horrendous event which may swing some of the politics in a new direction. Thanks for putting that all into context for us. You can see the live shot that we have from peshawar. We are still waiting to hear whether the army has managed to gain control of that school. The last we heard from our correspondents is that six militants have now been killed, and of course pakistan grappling to come to terms with what has happened there. Well have more for you coming up. Choosing is half the fun. Because theres a Little Something delicious. For everyone. Hersheys miniatures, choose your own delicious. Wellllll. Earlyfit latefit risefit fallfit ballfit wallfit pingfit pongfit pingfit pongfit rowfit throwfit slowfit olliefit oopsfit otisfit thiswayfit thatwayfit daddyfit pappyfit datefit weightfit goalfit gooooooalfit stepfit stairfit smartfit heartfit spinfit bikefit hikefit yikesfit wheeeeefit wowfit whoafit findyourfit its all fitbit make the best entertainment part of your holidays. Catch all the hottest handpicked titles on the winter watchlist, only with xfinity from comcast. Welcome to gmt on bbc world news. Im lucy hockings. In this halfhour, a horrific attack on an armyrun school in northern pakistan. The taliban kill at least 126 people, most of them children. Eyewitnesss say five or six armed men scaled the schools and opened fire on pupils. Security Officials Say they rescued many children trapped inside. Welcome back. Taliban gunmen have launched a horrific attack in pakistan targeting Young Children. Gunmen stormed an armyrun school and killed 132 people, most of them pupils. This attack took place in the city of peshawar. Thats in the countrys northwest. The gunmen entered an armyrun school and began to open fire. Six gunmen have reportedly been killed. One in a suicide blast. The taliban have spoken to the bbc, they have claimed responsibility for this attack. And said the retaliation is for Army Operations in North Waziristan and other areas where hundreds of taliban fighters are thought to have died. Lets remind you of exactly what we know so far. At 10 00 in the morning local time, militants wearing security uniforms attacked the school in peshawar. Three and a half hours after the attack began, reports said 20 people had been killed. Most of the 500 children were evacuated. But the chief minister said 104 people were killed, including 84 students. An hour later, more explosions were heard at the school and the latest reports we have say 132 people have been killed. Most of them children. Were just hearing from the Nobel Prize Winning laureate malala yousafzai. She has commented on what has happened in peshawar today. We just wanted to bring you her comments. She said, i am heartbroken by the senseless and coldblooded terror that is unfolding before us. Innocent children in their school have no place in horror such as this. I condemn these atrocious and cowardly acts and stand united with the government and armed forces of pakistan whose efforts so far to address this horrific event are commendable. I along with millions of others around the world mourn those children. My brothers and my sisters. But we will never be defeated. Those comments just coming to us at the bbc from malala yousafzai. Lets take you to islamabad now. Im joined from there by a retired general. General, thank you for being with us. We understand the Army Operation is still under way in peshawar. Can you shed some light for us on exactly what will be happening there, what theyll be doing . Well, i think they are trying to make sure that there are no militants left, and they are also trying to see if there are any bodies left, so this is at the moment a cleaning operation, but it is so unfortunate the way that these people were able to deceive the School Security by wearing uniforms. They entered the school, and the way they fired so brutally. It was a dastardly attack. And perhaps the worst in the last several years. Pakistan has been experiencing some terrible attacks but not of a kind like this because it is the most inhuman attack. They have been attacking the military installations. They have attacked the navy, the air force, the army installations, their headquarters. They have attacked everywhere, but, you know, they have attacked the politicians, but they have never sort of gone to that extent. So they have stooped really low. I think the army will intensify the operations, and i also see that there will be a greater mobilization of the civilian support and the way that some of the politicians have been wavering or ambiguous, i think they will try to sort of unify them and go with a much greater resolve and determination, because there is no way out other than this. Do you think its time now for some of these soft targets like schools to be better protected, to have higher security at the school . Well, i think they definitely need to, especially in areas as sensitive and as close to the tribal delta as this school was. It was only a few miles away from khyber, which is where the tribal bell starts. So i think they should have been more careful. But perhaps they took it for granted that they will never commit an offense of this nature, such horrendous nature, so i think they were relaxed on that. And what is surprising is that most of the time, intelligence does filter in. That there is going to be a likely attack. So this times it seems there has been an intelligence and security failure of a type and it needs to be investigated as to whether the intelligence did alert these people or they were not alerted at all and the Intelligence Department know that this was beginning going t. Do you think now the only way to deal with these militants is to continue to do so through force . Because it seems here that they are not only trying to retaliate for the militarys operation, but to test the militarys resolve. Absolutely. I think it will intensify their resolve. It will make them more you know, they will go all out, i think, and they will also try to get the maximum support from the politicians. And i think the politicians also need to realize that this is a great moment of challenge for them, because the way that they have been neglecting fighting militancy and have more or less outsourced it to the army or to the military, which is really something which is very disappointing, and now its time to mobilize the entire nation, and that can only happen if the Political Parties and the politicians, especially the leaders like imran kahn and the Prime Minister nawaz sharif, instead of quarrelling amongst themselves over petty issues, which in comparison to the challenges that the country faces are minuscule. They are fighting over those issues rather than really addressing the real problems of security and economy, and the threats that are internal. They should face those and mobilize Public Opinion. If they would mobilize Public Opinion and have their support, i think they can turn the tables against the militants. But if they continue to fight amongst themselves, the military can only do that much. You need the support of the people all the time. And that is the best intelligence you can get from the people, and that is not happening. And i hope that should happen after this, and this should be a gamechanger. There has been a distinct lack of trust over the past month between nawaz sharif and the army. He very clearly thinks that the army doesnt want an empowerer. Do you think such deep and divisive issues between the army and the Prime Minister can be overcome . Yes. I think so. You could see immediately as soon as this incident took place, both the army chief as well as the Prime Minister went and visited the site and tried to sort of console the participantparents so that was a good gesture, but the country wants much more resolve and determination on the part of the civilian leadership. And they want them to stop fighting amongst themselves. And the full focus should be against militancy, against radicalism. It has to be a very comprehensive effort on the part of the gunmen and that is lacking. In the sense that it is not just the military operation alone. It has to be the radicalization of the society. It has to be a very comprehensive approach, which has been lacking for the last several years, and nothing seems to move. The only hope that these children who have sacrificed their lives and lost their lives, the parents, they have been so badly hurt, which they will never be able to overcome. I hope these sacrifices will not go to waste. Thank you very much for joining us from islamabad. Lets bring you up to date now with the huge amount of social media reaction weve had to this attack. The Prime Minister of india, Narendra Modi tweeted saying it is a senseless act of unspeakable brutality that has claimed the lives of the most ne innocent of human beings, Young Children in their school. This one from pakistans largest Islamic Party saying we strongly condemn the attack on peshawar school. Attack on innocent children in the name of religion is not acceptable. And this just to bring you from an ordinary pakistani who says, i am ashamed to call myself pakistani. What has happened to our country . How did we let this barbarism take root in our land . One comment im seeing on twitter from francois hollande, the president of france, saying i strongly condemn this despicable attack against a school in peshawar. Weve got all the news for you on our website. Weve got a live reporting page for you, just collating and bringing to you all the news were getting. The photos, the tweets, the news from our correspondents. Weve got quite a few on the ground in karachi and islamabad. Were putting it all together for you on the website at bbc. Com news, so do log on and take a look. You go to twitter as well. The very latest on our bbc breaking twitter page, too. Just bbcbreaking. We will keep you up to date with all developments in peshawar, but for now, lets break away and bring in aaron with all the business news. There is a lot happening with russia, the ruble, the price of oil. Let me start by saying this. At the start of this year, the Interest Rate in russia was 5 . Today, lucy, its 17 . Let me explain whats going on. Thanks very much. Hello there. Certainly in an emergency Interest Rate rise in russia, it had failed. Certainly failed to hold the currency slide. With the russian ruble hitting new record lows against the u. S. Dollar as well as the euro, russia is being hit hard. Weve been talking about this by those western sanctions imposed over the conflict in ukraine, and of course by the plunging global oil prices. Brent crude oil actually dropped below 60 a barrel today, tuesday. We havent seen these well, we actually havent seen those sort of prices since june of 2009. More than five years. Meanwhile, russias main stock markets also seeing some very large falls. In an effort to stabilize the ruble, the bank of russia, the central bank raised Interest Rates from 10. 5 to this, 17 . They did this overnight. The currency did jump 9 , so it worked initially. Certainly against the dollar. Gained 9 against the dollar in early moscow trading, but now its lost all of those gains and has gone the other way. So far this year, the ruble has shed around 50 of its value, but the head of russias central bank, shes defended the russian economy. Listen to this. Translator we have recently seen sharp and substantial falls in the National Currency. The main reason for this is the drop in oil prices and a lack of International Financing resources for our banks. The fall of the National Currency has many effects on the russian economy. It also gives the chance for import substitution. To minimize the negative effects on the National Economy and inflation, we have already taken the decision to raise the key Interest Rate from 10. 5 to 17 . The big bsz of russia central bank. Russian Domestic Television has played down the mounting crisis. And on the streets of moscow, the reaction has been rather muted. Translator who is to blame . The states have imposed sanctions on us. This is probably where it all comes from. Am i worried . Not at all. I am absolutely calm. Whats going to happen will happen anyway. Translator well, i am somewhat worried. The ruble is falling and salaries havent been raised yet and most likely wont be raised. Because of this, i will have to cut my spending, tighten my belt, deny myself something. Traveling probably. Reconsider my budget. Translator i dont think anyones to blame. We have enough, thank god. Thats what id say. Our salaries are enough. Everything is fine. Translator i can easily calculate that ive been robbed twice. My parents pensions have halved. No one will raise my salary either. Ive become twice as poor. The view from the streets on moscow. Kathleen brooks is the research director, joining us from our bbc central newsroom. Great to have you with us. Last week, i was up here talking about it. We saw russia raise rates by 1 . It Department Stop the slide and everybody was saying its because were expecting it. We wanted to see something more dramatic, more aggressive. You cant get any more dramatic and aggressive than what were seeing today, so why is it still falling . In this environment, yes, a raise of 650 basis points for an Interest Rate sounds huge, but if we look back at 1998, they had to raise Interest Rates to over 100 . So theres still a long way they could go. I think the market recognizes that. I also think it doesnt help that weve seen large decline in the oil price today, and obviously were getting thinner and thinner liquidity in markets because were getting to that christmas season. Unfortunately, thats all working against russia at the moment. If you look at it, russian government bonds, which is basically government debt, of course, for our audience, priced at junk status. Youve got inflation more than 9 . The economy heading for recession. It is a mess and seems to be getting worse. Was this a move of desperation for a desperate situation . Absolutely. I mean, it was a midnight meeting of the Interest Rate Setting Committee in russia. You probably dont get more desperate than that. Everyone knew they had to do something, because you cannot sustain having 10 falls in your currency in one day, which is what we saw yesterday. To be quite honest, though, the best thing for russia would probably be for opec, the oil cartel, to step in and start cutting production and boosting the oil price. I think the market also sees that. As long as oil declines, so will the russian ruble, no matter what the Russian Central Bank does. Well, thats interesting, because at the moment we know in saudi arabia, of course, keeps reiterating they are not cutting production at the moment whatsoever. But thats interesting, buzz it is the fall in the ruble if you look on a graph, it follows the fall in oil prices. Im wondering, is there any repercussions for the Global Economy . If you look at russia, i was looking at foreign banks, for example, have Something Like 360plus billion of exposure to russia. Youve got that. Youve got these fastfalling oil prices. Could there be an impact on the Global Economy . I think more than likely that there will be. Russia has been a big purchaser of goods, be it goods from germany, be it houses here in the center of london. Thats just not going to be the case anymore, particularly the real wealth coming from the oil industry in russia and thats not there anymore. I think the other thing that you have to remember is that when youve got such a large economy like russia, basically on the brink of collapse, the impact that has on confidence for all economies, particularly for economies nearer the region like the rest of Eastern Europe going into the eurozone as well, that is beginning to be huge and its beginning to take a hit especially as we move into 2015. As i briefly turn back to the ordinary russians on the street, were hearing things like russian shops are now pricing goods in conditional units. And to add to that, there is a danger of Interest Rates at 17 . Its a lot more expensive now for businesses and consumers to br r borrow money, right . Absolutely. Theres this huge growing middle class in russia. Higher Interest Rates combined with a falling ruble is going to be disastrous and could leave to a wave of default, Something Like we saw in 1998. Kathleen, great stuff as always. We appreciate your time. Let me just touch on some of the other stories making headlines around the world. With currency, norways currency has hit an alltime low, today, tuesday. Another result of Falling Crude oil prices. The norwegian crown has dropped to its lowest level in more than a decdecade. Norway is a Major Oil Producer thanks to all that black stuff in the north sea. Activity in chinas key Manufacturing Sector is shrinking. It is the first contraction in seven months of hsbcs flash manufacturing purchase Managers Index and a further indication that the worlds second largest economy is slowing down. So news like that is certainly not helping the markets. There is the russian markets. We saw large falls. Lock at that. Nearly 11. 5 down today, but its having an impact around the globe. As i mentioned the slowdown in china. This weak growth in the euro. Were heading towards the end of the year with not great news whatsoever in terms of the Global Economy. You can see the ruble there to the dollar, and of course the dow not open yet. Thats open in just over an hour or so. Well keep across that for you. Follow me on twitter. Tweet me. Ill tweet you right back. You can get me bbcaaron. That is it for the business right now. Do stay with us here on bbc world news. Still to come, were going to update you from peshawar. This is the scene at the moment. From what we understand, the military operation is still under way. It is now dark. We understand that six taliban have been killed. But that the operation does helicopter, and i can confirm we are now hearing 132 people have been killed in this attack by the taliban. Most of them were children. Well bring you up to date coming up. Do stay with us. For over a decade, doctors have been prescribing im lucy hockings. Thanks for being with us on gmt. Our main stories this hour. 132 people have been killed. Most of them children. As taliban Militants Attack a school in peshawar in pakistan. As authorities move to secure the school, pakistans Prime Minister nawaz sharif calls the massacre a national tragedy. Lets bring you more on the ongoing situation. The military has established a perimeter around the school in peshawar, but the operation is ongoing. We understand six militants have been killed. With me in the studio, a woman who grew up in peshawar and knows the region well. Just tell us a little bit about what we can see here, because this is one of the main roads in peshawar, isnt it . Yes. It is one of the main roads inside the city. Peshawar city is a very, very busy city, especially that time of the day. Its a shock. I have spoken to many of my friends on facebook mainly, because most of them are journalists for local tvs in peshawar. And they just cant explain the level of shock and the level of upset, because an attack to this extent on a school and many children dying, its unprecedented. It has in the past, schools have been attacked but not to this extent. Many families are mourning and many of my friends are mourning. I am actually very upset because i grew up in this city. It was very peaceful. I went to school in this city. Today it is just so upsetting. Theres one comment that a father made thats been printed that i just think sums up the horror of what so many parents are going through. He said my son was in uniform this morning and he is in a casket now. My son was my dream and my dream has been killed. I mean, how terrific . His 14yearold son killed. Is it the entire country now really, are you seeing them perhaps unite behind nawaz sharif . What is the feeling as he tries to unify the nation . It depends who you speak to in pakistan. What region you speak to. Especially in peshawar, like many of the people from the tribal region, many of the pashto speaking people. What are they looking for from the Prime Minister . Many people want peace, stability, and their kids to go to school in a peaceful situation, like it used to be in the past. And it is just unbelievable. Do people in peshawar worry that Something Big was going to happen . Theres been this ongoing military activity clearing out the taliban from these tribal areas. Were they worried of retaliation . A lot. Because for a while, peshawar was stable and peaceful. I was actually speaking to one of my friends there a while ago, and she said life is coming back to peshawar after the many attacks that happened in the region, or in the city. But she said, like, i dont feel comfortable because this is not the norm, especially when military operation goes, and an analyst was telling me that their military operation has not dismantled the taliban network. It has spread them. Some has flown to afghanistan, the border area. Some has come to peshawar city, which is very close. Hours drive. This was a big worry for many people. Stay with us. Shazeb jillani joins us now from karachi. We havent heard anything for about half an hour or so. We can see live pictures. The perimeter is still in place. Military vehicles there. Whats happening at the school, do you know . We are expecting the army to secure the area, to clear the area. They are saying they have killed six gunmen in all. We know from taliban themselves, when they called us earlier in the day and they said theyve sent six of the gunmen to attack the school. So if all of the attackers are now dead in the next few hours, we will see the army clearing the area, and more details of what went inside that school compound for a couple of hours earlier today. More details will emerge. Okay, thanks for that. Lets bring you right up to date before we finish gmt on exactly what we know. Shazeb jillani saying the militants have been killed, but we are hearing of many, many children dead. Over 100 now. 132 people killed. And those children are really telling horrific stories. They are describing seeing their friends shot dead in front of them. The bodies of many children just lying in the floors of the classroom and in corridors. Gunmen chasing children as they tried to flee. So well continue to keep you up to date with events in peshawar. Thank you for being with us on gmt. Yeah so with at t next you get the new iphone for 0 down. Zero down . Zilch. Nothing. Nada. Small potatoes. No potatoes. Diddly squat. Big ol goose egg. The new iphone, zero down. Zero. Zilch. Said that already. Zizeroni. Not a thing. Zamboni. Think thats a hockey thing. You know what, just sign us up. Okay this way. With at t next get the new iphone for 0 down. Now get a 150 credit for each line you switch. Woman [u. S. Accent] when i was a child, my favorite story was about a man who lived forever, but whose eyes were heavy with the weight of all hed seen, a man who fell from the stars. [ processing ] i knew youd find me, eventually. [ panting ] make peace with your gods. Once, they were your gods, too. Not anymore. [ shuddering ]
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