We offer expertise and tailored solutions for Small Businesses and major corporations. What can we do for you . And now, bbc world news. Hello. Youre watching gmt on bbc world news and with me, zeinab badawi. Breaking news. At least one person has been killed in a blast in the turkish capital outside the u. S. Embassy. Smoke has been seen from the Side Entrance of the building. We will get the latest from the scene. A motorway bridge collapses in china, where a truck packed with fireworks exploded. In mexico city, 25 people have been killed in an explosion at the state oil company. Rescuers are trying to help the many that were trapped. Can australian do enough to stop the United Nations from stripping the Great Barrier reef of its World Heritage status . Also, looking at whats happening in Business News. And jobs in the usa. The American Economy is shrinking. Employment, hoping for 160,000 new jobs to have been created. We will get the manufacturing reports later today as well. Its 12 noon in london, 7 00 a. M. In washington, 2 00 in the afternoon in turkey. If we start with breaking news. Theres been an explosion in front of the u. S. Embassy in turkey and one person has been killed. Theres no indication as to what caused the explosion in a neighborhood thats home to a number of foreign missions. Lets get the latest from our correspondent outside the u. S. Embassy. Tell us what you know. One person killed. I have also seen reports saying possibly and two dead. It is impossible for me to get official confirmation. The place is swarming with police. Police are limiting access to the immediate area where the explosion took place. I spoke to a witness earlier, an iranian gentleman who runs an office outside across from the embassy. He said that he saw a man on foot, but he was not sure, walking on foot up the road. And he saw a body being taken into an ambulance. When i got here, i saw the ambulance. I see a security van has pulled up and there are many white overalls stepping outside that van. It is a very busy area swarming with cabinet ministers and lots of police. Pretty surprising. The u. S. Embassy is a very heavily guarded building in aunt ankara. N it is a very large place. Not easy to see from the main road. Its a very busy area of the city. I walk past this embassy every day. Its obvious to everyone where it is, but there are several entrances, which is not unusual. The explosion happened near gate 3. The road where the explosion took place is a side road, off the main road. You pence a traffic is undisturbed to some extent on the main road. People were completely unaware that this has happened, but they could see the smoke. Turkey is a country that is accustomed to this kind of attack, but its usually associated with actions by its kurdish minority. Obviously, it shares a border with syria. There is speculation at the moment, but who do you think the main suspects will become . It is very difficult right now. One can only speculate. Turkey has been at war with turkish separatist kurdish separatists in the southeast on and off over 30 years. A previous explosion took place in the past and that was attributed to that grouped. I cannot confirm right now what is behind this blast or whether it was a suicide bomber. It is a very sensitive time for turkey in terms of security. They are also dealing with the spillover of the crisis in syria across the border into turkey. The situation is becoming increasingly complex. Sensitivity is very high here with the killing of three kurdish activists weeks ago in paris. It remains to be seen. The members of reasons behind this are obvious and are unlimited. Thank you very much, thats from the u. S. Embassy and in turkey where theres been an explosion outside the u. S. Embassy. We also pay one person has been killed. We will bring you more as we get it. In china, a Central Province of henan where rescue workers are trying to find survivors of a deadly explosion. A track worcarrying fireworks exploded and sent 25 vehicle plummeting 30 meters to the ground below. John, tell us more. Footage from the scene shows a large section of the modern way viaduct collapsed on to the countryside below. The mangled wreckage of cars and trucks. Amount the robocall. There has been confusion about the death toll. Initial reports on state media suggesting that there had been 26 fatalities. That has since been revised downward. The latest reports i have say that eight people have been confirmed killed and 13 injured. The truck laden with fireworks was passing over an elevated section of the road when it exploded. A force of the last blue the cars into the air. Others came down with the collapsing highway, falling 30 meters into the valley below. China opposes official stage one news agency reported that a total of 25 vehicles had been involved. Chinas official state news agency. Theres a new demand for fireworks in the runup to the Chinese New Year is festivals. A storm explosion in the same province in 2006 killed 36 people and injured dozens more. A store room explosion. The holiday sees tens of millions of Migrant Workers returning to their home villages. And this is one of the main eastwest highways in china. We should say that 3 dont know exactly what happened. At the moment it does look as if the explosion on this truck seems to have brought down the bridge. Dont forget, and has a record of bridge collapses often caused by shoddy engineering. There may be speculation that the bridge collapse could have come first and the explosion was secondary. Thanks very much. That was John Sudworth bringing us the latest on that explosion. Another deadly explosion, in mexico. Rescue workers in mexico city searching at the state Oil Company Pemex where 25 people have been killed in an explosion during the companies try to find out how the explosion happened and up through 13 people could still be trapped. Our correspondent has the story. The blast took place at the worst possible moment, in the middle of the afternoon and just as the shift was changing. Workers at the staterun energy giant in the lobby were caught in the explosion which tore through the ground floor and the mezzanine above. The red cross attended to many of the injured outside the building. Others were taken to nearby hospitals. The building was evacuated. It soon became clear that the blast had caused significant loss of life and damage. We saw the explosion and all the windows in the tower came down. It was very strong. They evacuated the tower and i was trapped in elevators. That scared me. Large numbers of troops and police have been deployed to help with the rescue operation with authorities concerned there were people trapped under the rubble. The president and the mayor of mexico city have visited the scene. The mexican capital is used to experiencing a earthquakes. Authorities appeared well prepared for search and rescue work. Sniffer dogs are being used to look for survivors. So far, the authorities have remained tightlipped about because of the blast. Local media are reporting it might have been caused by an electrical gas leak in an adjacent building. But theres been no confirmation or denial of that from pemex. Behind this police cordon, operation is continuing and preparing to carry on throughout the night. There are family members of missing workers on the scene, desperately waiting for news of their loved ones. Either way, this is the worst explosion in mexico city in 30 years. Will grant, bbc news, mexico. Now Business News with jimmy robertson. More news about the worlds biggest economy, the United States. Some of the Economic Data we have heard recently has been pretty weak, but it has not shown through on the markets. The markets are doing very well. The dow jones had its best january in 20 years. Until this week there was a sense of optimism building about improving health of america. The u. S. Gdp unexpectedly shrank in the three months through december. Official u. S. Unemployment figures always closely watched by Global Financial markets. A great deal of attention attracted by this. They expect employers will have added 160,000 jobs in january. That is not enough to make a significant dent in the unemployment rate. That currently stands at 7. 8 . We spoke with an investment editor. We asked him what the markets are expecting. The Market Sentiment would suggest these numbers might surprise on the upside. We are expecting 160,000 jobs to be added. Because of some other data recently, there is a possibility it could be more. If we got less than 150,000 jobs added, that would be received very negatively by the market. It would start to create the impression there was a picture growing about slowing economic growth. The imf executive board is meeting later on on friday. One of the thorny issues theyre expected to discuss is the accuracy of argentinas inflation and growth figures. The official figures do suggest prices have increased by 70 since 2007. However, private estimates the figure could be over the thousand . While prices are rising, workers are missing out on wage growth, pensioners are losing out because the savings are being eroded while prices grow around them. It is a controversial issue. Many in argentina still blame the imf for causing the financial crisis in 2001. The former head of the Argentine Central Bank is critical of the imfs approach. There have been discussions on the statistics. There have been meetings from washington to argentina. Rainout it is a matter of discussion right now the matter is on the table to be discussed. When you have a subject that is being argued and we are trying to find out a solution, it can. Be can we will have more Business News later. Thanks very much. Do stay with us on bbc world news. The Great Barrier reef, could it be about to lose its . World heritage its it must do more to protect a unique underwater area. The delay hostage crisis at a gas plant in algeria raised questions about how to tackle the rise of islamist extremism in north africa. Richard galpin visited the remote facility in the sahara desert. The funeral in scotland of kennesaw, one of the british hostages murdered at the gas plant in algeria. Kenneth. Today we traveled to the southeast of algeria to see the plant for ourselves. Now theres a heavy military presence here. Soldiers demonstrating that theyre in control, unlike two weeks ago. The islamist militants broke into this accommodation area searching for senior foreign managers. We were told many more hostages died here at the Gas Processing center. The black and that towers, evidence of a bomb detonated and next to a group of foreigners chained to a mental work. Blackened towers. Some employees are back looking at how to repair this. There will be to get it up and running as soon as possible with all the employees returning including the expatriates. For the foreigners in particular, they will want reassurances that the security here has been improved. They want to feel safe. The general manager says what is needed is a Permanent Military presence here. I ask the military and my company to keep a military presence here. The decision of whether the soldiers will stay on guard here will been taken by the government in the coming weeks. I am zeinab badawi. Lets remind you of our breaking news. Were hearing that at least two black and killed in a suspected suicide blasts at the u. S. Embassy in the turkish capital. This is the scene live. Emergency services at the scene. Several people reported to have been injured in the attack which targeted a Side Entrance to the heavily fortified building. Lets skip the latest on that from our correspondent James Reynolds in istanbul. What are you hearing from your sources . We understand that local media are reporting two people were killed. As a possibility one of those may have been a Security Guard at the Side Entrance. The other may have been a bomber. We dont have any more on that at the moment. The United States embassy would have been strongly guarded. In 2003 there was an attack against the british consulate in istanbul and against hsbc bank. Foreign embassies know that they need extremely high security. This comes at a time when a lot of western institutions there has been a gas plant incident in algeria, warnings about libya. Its a very tense time in the region. You have been reporting a great deal from the turkeysyria border. Theres speculation at the moment that any number of people could be behind us. I pity you have suggested right, that any number of groups could have carried this out. In turkey, the immediate suspicion will fall against al qaedainspired groups. Those groups carried out attacks at the end of 2003 against jewish synagogues, against the u. K. Consulate in istanbul, and against a bank. That is speculation at the moment. Turkey is watching very closely what happens on its border into a war with syria. Its trying to stay not involved. But now theres a major security problem in its own capital. The turkish government, Prime Minister has been a very vocal critic of the regime in damascus. That also perhaps raises the temperature again. I think that turkey is looking an increasingly difficult place now. Its former friendship with syria is now has now evaporated and watches with deep concern about the war at the border. Now it worries about this attack in the capital. Turkey has had an important relationship with washington. President obama made this one of his first foreign visits in 2009 after he was sworn in as president. I think that turkey will want to reassure the u. S. That the Alliance Remains strong and that ankara is capable of protecting u. S. Diplomats in this country. Thank you for that report and the background to the explosion outside the u. S. Embassy. Two people have died in turkey and its believed to be a suicide blasts. In cambodia, thousands of mourners watched as their former king is carried away. He remains an influential figure 2004. Te thi he has begun his final journey amid the kind of formality that was often missing awhile he was the monarchs. The body was followed by his wife and family. There was a parade around central areas of town. Theyre saying goodbye to the man they called the kings father king father. Little else has been symbolic but his rulership. He was captivity inside the palace. Sometimes he was infuriating to those who had to deal with him. If he was also a charismatic man. For some cambodians it was a golden period of peace and simplicity before the war is that destroyed their country. Bbc news, bangkok. Lets bring you some other news. Police and those theaters in the u. S. State of alabama have been talking to a man who has taken a 5yearold boy hostage in a standoff which is now entering its fourth day. The man boarded a school bus on tuesday and allegedly killed the driver before dragging bill will point to an underground bunker on his property. Negotiators have used a ventilation pipe which leads to the bunker to communicate with the man. An indian court has ruled a man will be tried for homicide over his involvement in the fatal Road Accident more than a decade ago. He drove his car into a better rate in mumbai, killing a man sleeping on the street. He faced a letter to charge and could now face 10 years in jail. Lesser charge. The former mayor of new york has died. Ed koch was a democrat and became the mayor in 1978, served three terms, and saved the city from bankruptcy in the 1980s. The was admitted to the hospital on monday suffering from shortness of death. He was transferred to an intensive care unit on thursday. Ed koch was 88. The company which makes black cabs in london has been bought by the chinese car manufacturer. Imore than half of the workers lost jobs. The deal will now safeguard production of the cars in britain. Australias Great Barrier reef is considered one of the worlds natural wonders. But now the government in australia is taking steps to beef up its protection of the cold reef to try to prevent it losing its un World Heritage status. Unesco raised concerns about it last year when it sent a team to queensland to investigate the likely impact of expanded development and shipping along the coast. Now the story. A staggering spectacle of the Great Barrier reef. It is one of the natural wonders that makes australia so beautiful. But it is threatened by one of the things that makes australia rich, its resources sector. The coral reef was granted World Heritage status in the early 1980s. But unesco has expressed concerns about the impact on its delicate ecosystem of expanded ports and increased shipping that it will bring. After making a monitoring visit to the queensland coast last year, it gave the Australian Government a separate deadline correspond to its concerns. The un morning came with a threat, thats the real estate as could be downgraded to a World Heritage area in danger. Status could be downgraded. The government has delivered its response and has pledged to stop developments that would cause unacceptable damage to the cold reef. Its one of the most prestigious Precious Places on earth and destroy and government has a clear commitment to protecting it. People should be aware it does not matter whether you are a business or Mining Company or you are the premier of queensland, anyone who wants this government to cut corners on the Great Barrier reef will be sorely disappointed. The developments in the port are monks projects raising environmental concerns. Green groups believe the expansion of the resources sector, fuelled by the rise of china, will bring in thousands more ships. They claim the government does not done anywhere near enough to curb pollution. Protecting the environment at the same time as boosting the economy is a tricky balancing act for the Australian Government. The preservation of the Great Barrier reef most vividly highlights its didilemma. That report in one of the worlds Natural Heritage sites in australia. Lets remind you of our top story. You are looking at live pictures pin the turkish capital, where at least two people have been killed in an explosion outside the u. S. Embassy. A Police Official says a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device at the entrance to the embassy. He said that a bomb appeared to have exploded inside the security checkpoint at the entrance of the embassy. The u. S. Embassy building its heavily protected and its near an area where several other embassies including that of germany and france are located. Thats all for the moment for me on gmt. Goodbye. Make sense of International News at bbc. Com news. Funding of this presentation is made possible by the Freeman Foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newmans own foundation, and union bank. 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