>> pakistan's former president is now a wanted man after a court orders his arrest. >> this is al-jazeera live from doha. also ahead -- he's taking refuge at his farmhouse on the outskirts of the capital. e'll be live in islamabad. a massive explosion at a factory in texas has as many as 5 dead, more than 150 injured. u.s. investigators identify an image of a potential suspect in the boston marathon bombing.

and new zealand has legalized same-sex marriage, but its neighbor to the north may have different idea. >> between five and 15 people have been killed, as well as injured more than 150 and five fighters are missing. the blast has set off tax i am fumes fanned by high winds and leveled homes and businesses nearby. tom ackerman has the latest. >> local firefighters were summoned to the plant to put out a blaze, then came the explosion. the blast in the small farming community of west near the city of waco leveled an apartment complex and damaged a nursing home located next to the plant. the explosion was felt more

than 100 kilometers away, and the u.s. geological survey registered it as magnitude 2.1 on the earthquake scale. >> right now, we have a tremendous amount of injuries, probably over 100 injuries at this time. we do have confirmed fatalities. the inform is not current yet. it could go up by the minute. we're in there certaining the area right now. >> first responders evacuated half the residents of the town of 2,600, but as wind gusts carrying ammonia fumes shifted direction, they feared more people would have to be moved. the facility stored up to 20,000 kilos of ammonia, according to the company's emergency planning report t. said in the event of an accident there would be no risk of fire or explosion. the exact cause of the blast was undetermined. >> there is quite a bit of devastation in that area.

there are victims that were in homes. there are victims from the nursing home, and there are victims also from an apartment complex. >> hospitals across central texas took in an estimated 170 injured. a house-to-house search for more victims went on through the night. authorities said the casualty toll will only be determined after daylight. tom ackerman, al-jazeera. >> let's take a look at exactly where the explosion took place. it was in the town of west in texas t. went off at about 8:00 p.m. local time at a firlingtsizer plant. there are only 2,800 residents, so it is a small community, but the damage appears to be extensive. the school next door is reportedly ruined. emergency crews have set up at a high school football stadium. police say a nursing home has collapsed next to this hospital nearby. one person said she heard several explosions as far as 20

kilometers away. we got this report a short while ago. >> what's happening here where we are, this is the area, we're across the highway, perhaps about a mile or so from where this situation happened. what's been happening recently, you see the stacks of water and the toiletries, things like that. there are people from the community showing up at this early hour or late hour for those who have not yet gone to bed. they're bringing me supplies for first responders for all of these untold numbers of people who likely do not have a home to return to in the morning. we're told specific when will it comes to mornings that sunrise here is the next big key indicator for when they will ultimately be able to have a much better idea of just what has happened here. >> just in the last few minutes, the town's mayor has given this update. >> approximately 50 to 60 houses in a five-block area radius were damaged, heavily damaged.

west is located a couple of blocks from the fertilizer plant, was in the process of being evacuated due to the fire when the explosion occurred. the rest home, nursing home has evacuated and taken all their patients out to safe locations. all residents in that area have been evacuated and are in a safe location. i do not have an exact number of casualties at this time or hurt. we took over 160 to the waco hospital, the area hospital, for treatment. >> to other news now -- investigators in the united states may have images of a potential suspect in the boston marathon bombing. they had reportedly found video footage showing a man carrying a bag which may have contained a bomb. alan fisher has more. >> there are reports that

someone had been arrested, quickly dismissed by f.b.i. and boston police. but there have been significant developments. cctv recovered from a department store just across the road from the second bombing scene, enhanced by f.b.i. experts, shows someone carrying a very heavy bark putting it into place. this man, they can identify the clothes he was wearing. there might even be a face to be seen. what they don't have at the moment is a name. the police believe that the forensic examinations they've carried out over the last 48 hours have been vitally important and that every hour they're getting closer to piecing together exactly what happened on monday and who was responsible. >> meanwhile, the f.b.i. has identified the man suspected of an attempted biological attack on the u.s. president. he was arrested in the southern state of mississippi in the last few hours. obama and senator roger wicker was sent letters containing what is thought to be ricin, a ighly toxic substance.

he once ruled pakistan, but now pervez musharraf is a wanted man. he had been living in self-imposed exile in dubai and lone don't past few years and only returned to take part in elections. it seems that was a miscalculation. stephanie reports. >> push after ar had come to court -- musharraf had come to court, hoping his bail would be extended once more. instead he was forced to flee. the judge refused to listen. he's accused of treason relating to his decision to suspend the constitution and declare a state of emergency when he still ran the country in 2007. the week has gone from bad to worse for musharraf, who returned to pakistan last month in the hope of making a political comeback. on tuesday, a court in peshawar disqualified from running in the parliamentary elections in may.

now he finds himself effectively on the run. lawyers at the islamabad high court want the former president as he went through court, crying out, "look who's running away." >> i expect that that musharraf by the police. >> musharraf has gone to his farmhouse on the outskirts of islamabad, but is protected by high walls, razor wire, and guard towers. aside from the treason case, the former president faces several other legal charges, including the assassination of former prime minister, bhutto, and the murder of a nationalist leader. some analysts cannot understand why musharraf would want to come back, given those challenges. he was only met by a few thousand people on his return in march, and a few days later,

an angry lawyer threw a shoe at him. tephanie skowen, al-jazeera. >> we're going to islamabad. he walked out of court, didn't he, despite all of that security and the warrant for his arrest. will police go after him at his farmhouse? >> well, they did exactly what the police had done, the senior police official of islamabad has revisited his residence. he is still there, according to the report that we are hearing. the press asked the police officer who was entering the farmhouse as to whether they had come there three times however, they did not reply and did not say anything and went in. so there was an anticipation that perhaps musharraf may be held in detention at his farmhouse. his lawyers had gone to the supreme court asking for an

arrest. but however, the important thing to note here is that the court objected to that, saying that there were no orders attached to that plea, that he should be given bail before arrest. so musharraf in all sorts of trouble. >> taking this warranty for his arrest into consideration, the fact he's been disqualified from the election when he said he came back to save pakistan, how ill-advised was his return home, do you think? >> well, first of all, he had tried to do the same thing last year when he said he would come back to pakistan. however, at that time, the situation in pakistan was extremely sensitive, and the military, as well as the intelligence told him not to come back to pakistan. and, of course, even influenced him in not coming back. however, this time despite advice from some of his things that things may be dangerous in

pakistan, musharraf said he was willing to face the court of law and he was even willing to go to jail if necessary. so he's come back and wants to fight it out. however, this would be one disappointed man given the fact that you saw in that report he's been disqualified from all people. so a major setback for musharraf. >> that's our correspondent joining from us islamabad. thank you. egypt is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, and yet not everyone is impressed with billions of dollars pouring in from some neighboring countries. that story is coming up. plus, the drugs in west africa, find out why nigeria has becoma. >> there was just a major, major explosion. >> police in texas say an explosion at a fertilizer plant

has killed as many as 15 people, as well as injuring more than 150. local emergency services are treating the victims from the nearby stadium. investigate -- investigate tords may have found i amages of a potential suspect in the boston marathon bombing. a court in pakistan has ordered the arrest of former president, pervez musharraf, local tv showed him leaving the court after the ruling. musharraf has been accused of treason for imposing emergency rule and arresting judges in 2007. now germany's lower house of parliament is due to vote later n an e.u. law to cyprus. the german finance machinester is urging parliament to pass the bailout despite an uncertainty of the euro crisis that they are going in the right direction. an aid package could save the debt-ridden country. eurozone finance ministers

already agreed to a $13 billion bailout for the mediterranean island last week. >> cyprus is in a dramatic situation. it's had practically no access to the markets for a year and a half, and if we don't help, then cyprus will inevitably go bankrupt. >> we're going live to berlin. is the outcome a surprise? >> this is the latest news we have. 602 members of parliament, 487 by d in favor, so it passed very large minorities. it's not a surprise given germany got what it wanted. there was a time when it looked like there was not a bail-in, there would not be cypriot depositors bailing them, and many german members of parliament were really reluctant to bail out another country. germany decided much of the details of the bailout package,

insisting there be a bail-in. consequently, the opposition was brought on board. the majority is on board. and angela merkel can only be happy with the outcome. she got what she wanted, which is the bail-in, as well as structural reform within cyprus, an overhaul of the tax system in the island state. it's important, because there's a wide spread perception in germany that cyprus serves as a money laundromat for russian interests, for the russian mafia, for wealthy people, and it was a pretty hard political sell for angela merkel and her party to propose another bailout when there's a perception in the german public opinion that there's ill-gotten gains in that country's banks. >> of course, the opposition, green social democrats in favor of this bailout, but how are germans themselves feeling about it? >> there's a lot of bailout fatigue here. just last sunday, a new anti-euro party was founded.

it's called alternative for germany. it's not anti-european. we went to the foundation congress, and the members told us we're committed to europe. we think european integration is a good thing. but we want to go back to the deutsche mark, because the you're very hurting the poor countries in the southern rim of europe, just as it's hurting countries like germany that have to keep bailing them out. so there's been growing skepticism about the euro and the euro project. however, angela merkel's hard-line policies with her european neighbors has made her the most popular politician in this country. it's a little bit schizophrenic. the germans have been questioning the euro, the european integration, european monetary union, but they support how angela merkel has been defending it. the latest poll we have, 2/3 of germans had r still happy to be within the eurozone cancer a zone. >> nick, thank you. aurp egypt is facing its most serious financial crisis this

decades. four countries have come to the rescue with generous multibillion dollar loans. they find out that's enough to keep egypt afloat. >> egypt is running out of dollars. they're down to $13.4 million, enough for just three months, food, gas, and oil imports. but poor countries have thrown egypt a life line. number one is qatar with loans and investments worth $8 billion. but that's left some egyptians questioning whether one country should suddenly acquire so much nfluence, they broadcast a horale salute. >> then there's libya. in march, egyptian security forces arrested three wanted members of the gaddafi regime after a gun battle in cairo and

deported two of them back to libya. three weeks later, libya deposited $2 billion in the egyptian central bank. both governments denied the events are related. >> he was on the board of the national bank of egypt. she says far too little is known about the government will use these loans. >> this complicates the problem in the future. >> egypt's third would-be savior is turkey, giving egypt $2 billion in aid, but only if egypt welcomes the army of turkish businessmen who travel with prime minister erdowan and if they buy turkish exports. so many egyptians are asking, what is the quid pro quo? what price is egypt going to have to pay for getting all

these dollars? then there's another problem. egypt has to service the $36 billion in foreign debt it already owes, and it's going to need some of those libyan and qatari dollars to do that. so effectively, it's borrowing to pay its debt. and as any shopkeeper will tell you, that's a bad position to be in. but the government says it's managing a crisis. >> we are facing a problem. the government has to do something about it and not to wait until the bank balance is zero. >> there's one vital commodity the egyptian government needs right now to get its house in order, and this is what the loans buy -- time. >> seven members of an al qaeda cell have reportedly been arrest in the united arab emirates. authorities say they were plotting attacks in the gulf federation. they're one of the most stable countries in the middle east and has so far not seen any

attacks by al qaeda. opposition leaders in bahrain are planning to step up protests ahead of this week's formula one race. a major demonstration is expected on friday as activists demand the race be cancelled because of the country's poor human rights record. formula one officials have promised the grand prix will go ahead. u.s. president barack obama has criticized republican senators for rejecting gun control legislation. the bill would have extended background checks on gun buyers. victims of gun violence were on hand to witness the bill's defeat. >> those campaigning for tighter gun laws always knew they'd face an uphill battle in congress. even to push through one of the least controversial measures expanding background checks on people who want to buy guns. it got a majority, but still failed because republicans forced what's known as a super majority, 60 votes. >> the amendment is not agreed

to. the mother of one gun atrocity victim yelled out her dismay. >> shame on you! >> at the white house, a frustrated president obama blamed the defeat in part on the efforts of pro-gun groups to misrepresent the legislation. willful lies, he called it. >> and unfortunately, this pattern of spreading untruths about this legislation served a purpose. because those lives upset an intense minority of gun owners, and that in turn intimidated a lot of senators. >> joining obama were parents of children killed in last december's school massacre in the state of connecticut. they spearheaded the national campaign to tighten gun control and hoped that overwhelming popular support for universal background checks would have swung enough votes for passage. they pledged to fight on. >> we are here now. we will always be here because we have no choice. we are not going away. and every day, as more people are killed in this country

because of gun violence, our determination grows stronger. >> but defeat of the senate measure effectively blunts the drive enact significant gun control at the national level. although some states are looking at or have passed tighter restrictions. since the connecticut tragedy, at least 3,400 more people have een killed by guns in america. >> on wednesday, new zealand became the first country in the asia pacific and the 13th in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. but across the tasman and australia, it's a different story. andrew thomas reports. >> lisa and lizzie have been together for five years. in january, they had a wedding, but they're not actually married. they live in sydney, and australian law doesn't recognize same-sex marriage, so their wedding was simply symbolic. >> of course there's something missing. we don't have the legal side, which gets us equal rights to

all of the elements that people kind of forget that come alongside marriage. >> later this year, lisa and lizzie plan to travel to new zealand to have another wed which will mean actual marriage. >> ayes are 77, noes are 44. >> new zealand's parliamentary vote on wednesday means gay marriage will be legal there by august. gay new zealander are celebrating, and hundreds of couples in australia also now plan to marry on the other side of the tasman sea. there's because little little prospect of it becoming legal in australia. all new zealand hers a free vote, and the prime minister personally backed gay marriage. >> all conservative m.p.'s are instructed by party bosses to vote against and m.p.'s of the governing labor party were given a free volt, but enough voted against to block a change

in the law. >> there have been 26 ayes, 41 nos, the matter is resolved in the negative. >> prime minister julia gillard was opposed then and is unmoved now by the idea that australia should follow its neighbor. >> on same-sex marriage, marriage equality, i doubt we're going to end up agreeing, i'm sorry. >> lisa and lesee's new zealand marriage still won't make any difference in australia, but having a legal marriage somewhere matters to them. >> crazy thing is that, from a society perspective, it's so similar to australia, and yet one government is being really progressive and pushing it, and the other seems to be lagging behind t. just makes kind of a crazy situation. >> one irony is opinion polls show support of same sex marriage at about 60%, actually higher than in yd, where it's about 50%. politicians may say it's not based on opinion polls, so though australia and new zealand are often two countries that go hand in hand, on this

issue they're firmly divorced. andrew thomas, al-jazeera. >> the united nations says the global trade is now dominated by methamphetamine. nigeria is no longer just a stopping point. the company's anti-drug agency says it's producing meth on a large scale. the drugs, known by several names, including meth, ice, and crystal, is usually injected, but it also be smoked or inhaled. mild doses can increase alertness and concentration. but high doses can cause psychological problems, including paranoia and hallucinations and is highly addictive. nigeria used to be a transit point through which illegal drugs from mexico passed on their way to europe. but in the past year, nigeria's anti-narcotics agency has shut down five illegal meth apple get pine production centers. the authorities say that's proof that nigeria's now part of a worldwide production

network. >> in new year's capital, security open firbleds come through a crystal meth amphetamine factory. they found chemicals. they also are there for the workers who included three nationals. they show the synergy. there's factory, it's a fifth such illegal methamphetamine laboratory to be discovered in the past year, signaling a disturbing new chapter in the ucrative drug trade.

the method of concealment for the drug dealers are as diverse as the narcotics they traffic, from hiding them within containers and factory equipment to shipping them in motor vehicles. officials say the drug traffickers are becoming more inventive by the day. this was important. if you look at it, you open it from the insight, but we have to break it open like this, hat just to recover, you know, it looks like ice cream. >> of the airport in legos, bags of cocaine, heroin, and meth amphetamine are marked evidence and carefully stored away. these are drugs impounded in the past two weeks alone. they will be used in court as evidence against suspected drug