hello. you're watching "bbc world news." we are continuing this live coverage of the oscar pistorius trial, now into the third day of the defense case. cross-examination has started. a day of dramatic evidence including a video showing oscar pistorius on a shooting range firing at a watermelon. saying it was softer than brains. the court was then shocked as the prosecutor showed an image of reeva steenkamp's head just after she had been shot in the head. stay with us for this continuing

coverage of the oscar pistorius trial in pretoria, south africa. >> bring the fan in and close the sliding doors. the blinds and the curtains. then i quote from the affidavit. i heard a noise in the bathroom. so you were here on the balcony and you heard a noise on the bathroom and realized somebody was in the bathroom. that's what he said. that's what he said. but that's not your version today, is that so? >> it's not his version today. it was not his version then. in all fairness, what was the version then? the implication is that then that was his version but today it's different. and i invite mr. nel to read the bail application. the affidavit. to see what he said. whether it was ever said that he was on the balcony when he heard the noise. >> i will do so, milady. i will read the bail affidavit. page 64.

you said, the early morning hours of 14 february 2013 i woke up, went on to the balcony to bring the fan in. and closed the sliding doors, the blinds and the curtains. i heard a noise in the bathroom and realized somebody was in the bathroom. >> if i could just turn the page, milady. >> okay. read it, please. do you see that? >> that's correct, milady. >> but there's something wrong with that statement today? >> i don't see anything wrong with my statement today. >> except that you didn't go on to the -- on to the balcony. >> i don't follow what mr. nel

is asking me, milady. >> we'll go through it again. i just offered one more question. it reads, during the early morning hours of 14 february 2013 i woke up, went on to the balcony, went on to the balcony to bring the fan in. that's not true. >> i picked the fan up which was on the balcony and brought the fan in. >> maybe take the lunch adjournment? >> court will adjourn. >> the court in pretoria adjourns now for a lunch break. having run over a little longer than it has in previous days. let's just remind ourselves of

what has happened in what has been an extremely dramatic day of evidence, legal arguments and aggressive cross-examination by the prosecutor, gerrie nel. the very latest from my colleague, karin giannone who joins us from pretoria. karin, perhaps one of the most explosively dramatic days in this trial so far. >> reporter: yes. we've been saying that till the end of yesterday the evidence was the most dramatic so far. today even more drama from the courtroom. oscar pistorius becoming hysterical and shouting back at prosecutor gerrie nel. because of what gerrie nel had put to him. and it really was the most dramatic moments of this day so far. because the court had to adjourn. oscar pistorius was let out of the courtroom. his sobs, his howls were heard along the corridor by

journalists there. a recomposed oscar pistorius coming back in to resume his evidence a few minutes later. but now under, again, fierce cross-examination from gerrie nel. in a slightly less aggressive style but a very forensic style. very, very -- picking detail after detail. trying to get oscar pistorius to admit to a discrepancy between what he told the court about what had happened that night in an earlier statement and what he is saying now in this, his evidence given to his murder trial for the first time in person verbally in front of the court and the judge. so he was trying to allege that oscar pistorius did go on to the balcony or did not go on to the balcony in a different form of events to the events that oscar pistorius had talked about previously. let's just talk about the very first minutes of that cross-examination. because he went in straight away in a very hard style as we've

been anticipating from prosecutor gerrie nel. right in there with a very aggressive questioning of oscar pistorius about what he'd done that night. >> mr. pistorius, you were and still are one of the most recognized faces in the world. do you agree? >> i agree, milady. >> you are a model for sportsmen, and able-bodied sportsmen, all over the world. >> i think i was, milady. i've made a terrible mistake. >> you made a mistake? >> that's correct. >> you killed a person. that's what you did, isn't it? >> i made a mistake. >> you killed reeva steenkamp. that's what you did. >> i made a mistake, milady. >> what was your mistake? >> my mistake was that i took reeva's life. >> you killed her. you shot and killed her.

won't you take responsibility for that? >> yes, i did, milady. >> say you did. say yes. i shot and killed reeva steenkamp. >> i did, milady. >> okay. >> reporter: you can hear gerrie nel's aggressive tone there. but it got worse for oscar pistorius. gerrie nel, the state prosecutor, introduced a video to the court. there was some objection to this from the defense. in the end it was shown. a video that was shown on media before oscar pistorius's trial began of him at a shooting range. in that video he is seen firing bullets into a watermelon. and commenting that -- there's laughter in this video. then commenting that it was softer than brains. and gerrie nel used that video in very unrelenting and uncompromising style to say, this is what you did to a watermelon. and then this is what you did thereafter to reeva steenkamp.

and at that point, the court was shown a picture of reeva steenkamp with a very serious head wound. and this is what the exchange between the two sounded like. >> i've taken responsibility. but i will not look at a picture where i'm tormented but what i saw and felt that night. as i picked reeva up, my fingers touched her head. i remember. i don't have to look at a picture. i was there. >> reporter: you can hear oscar pistorius, extremely distressed tone having heard that accusation from gerrie nel regarding the shooting of reeva steenkamp. comparing it to that watermelon video. dreadful scene in court. but let's talk to an applicant here in south africa. what was gerrie nel trying to do in that very, very difficult exchange? >> what gerrie nel was trying to do was to show to the court that

when oscar pistorius caused at target practice, he does so with the intention of using his weapon against humans. and as he has indicated before or when he's on his behalf, that he is aware of -- in south africa. protect himself. using a watermelon as a target which is very similar to the size of a human head. and his comment that it's softer than brains seems to link his targeting to targeting a part of a human body. >> reporter: what has been the point of the last set of evidence you've been hearing before the lunch break? gerrie nel trying to go over this fine point about whether oscar pistorius was on the balcony or wasn't on the balcony when he took the fans in before the terrible event that happened

afterward? >> one of the objectives of cross-examination is to pick on inconsistent evidence or statements made by a person who's testifying. so he's going through his bail affidavit, and he is going through his plea explanation, and he's going to go through his evidence to show inconsistencies. for the purpose of suggesting to the court that he -- >> reporter: thank you very much, indeed. that's the scene in pretoria as the court adjourns for lunch. we're expecting more cross-examination, more very tough, very aggressive cross-examination from gerrie nel when the court resumes after lunch, tim. >> karin giannone in pretoria. thank you very much, indeed. in a dramatic escalation of tension in ukraine, the country's interior minister has said that the crisis in eastern

ukraine will be resolved within 48 hours either through negotiations or by force. pro-russian protesters are still occupying some government buildings in donetsk and luhansk which they took over on sunday. meanwhile president putin is meeting officials in moscow to discuss russia's economic ties with ukraine, focusing on energy and gas. let's go to david stern who joins us live from kiev. these comments by the interior minister, david, have these talks begun? >> reporter: well, no. they have the authorities outside of the security services building in lia gans k. that's where the activists have taken over. they allegedly have hostages and are wired for explosives. the activists deny they have hostages. they also deny they have explosives. but they do have arms. they have opened up an arms

cache and they seem to be very heavily armed. it's difficult to say exactly what the situation between the two sides are. if negotiations are begun or if the authorities are just trying to frighten the activists. but, as you say, they have set down this ultimatum. this ultimatum for the eastern part of the country. we also have another building that has been occupied. not by -- not in the same way, but in donetsk there's a group that's barricaded themselves in. they've declared a people's republic of donetsk p p that's for the region. there are two standoffs causing great concern to the authorities here. the question is if they decide to take force or if, indeed, they decide to negotiate how they're going to solve this problem. >> great concern, of course, internationally as well, david. at the same time, you've got president putin meeting senior government leaders, looking at the economic links between ukraine and russia. and potentially that could be extremely damaging to ukraine, couldn't it?

if, for example, there were bans put on certain trading agreements? >> reporter: indeed. as you pointed out before, very much the focus will be on gas and on energy. ukraine gets the majority of its gas from russia. it's a very gas-dependent economy. russia has already raised the price in recent days of ukrainian -- that ukraine pays for russian gas by 80%. ukraine has said they are not going to pay this price. they say the previous price was perfectly fine. but the russians say now that the ukrainians have not paid their bills for the previous month. the question is now, what sanctions or what actions the russians would take, could take against the ukrainians. of course, we've seen them turn off the gas valves to ukraine in the past. the so-called gas war in 2009. that also has a knock-on effect in europe. europe also has a large amount of gas coming from russia. when russia turns off the gas to ukraine it also affects europe's

supply. obviously everybody watching this very closely and the ukrainians also very concerned because this will very heavily impact their own economy. >> david stern in kiev, thank you very much. you're watching "gmt" on bbc world news. stay with us. coming up we're live in delhi bringing you the latest from day three of the indian elections. good job! still running in the morning? yeah. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. [ female announcer ] f provokes lust. ♪ it elicits pride...

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it is day three of our coverage of india's elections. and voters in four northeastern states are casting their ballots today. here's the world's biggest democracy. more than 800 million people are eligible to vote in these elections. it's so huge the ballot needs to be phased over five weeks. bbc is bringing you all the latest from india's giant general election. let's head to delhi a.

gosh, you're getting around a bit, john. explain what's happening there. >> reporter: yeah. welcome to delhi. we were in mumbai last night. we're in delhi today. fantastic crafts fair with goods from all over india. in the past few days in our coverage we've concentrated on the two big beasts in this election. the bjp who hopes to displace the party. there's a third figure worth concentrating and spending a little time on in india politics who emerged here in delhi a little over a year ago when he won elections against the kind of odds and seemed to surprise everybody with his common man party. he wanted to stand out against corruption. he is fighting this election and hopes that they will become a third force in indian politics. as andrew north reports.

>> reporter: a new force for change in indian. he and his anti-corruption party is the wild card in these elections. after his surprise triumph in delhi last year, everyone was taking notice. bribe taking stopped while we were in power, he tells the crowd. but since i resigned, corruption is returning again. his confrontational style only brought chaos, say critics. during his brief stint running the capital, this is a protest he organized against the central government early this year which brought the city center to a standstill. he makes no apologies. telling us in a recent interview, he's trying to break up india's old order. >> india is a first class people who are suffering.

today indians, if you go abroad, if you go to america, to london, india's shine in those areas. they are the top in almost all areas. in their own country they're not allowed to prosper. >> reporter: a former task inspector, he's now known as the broom who promises to sweep away corruption. rickshaw drivers, amongst his supporters. more than a year after he founded his party, he's shaking up indian politics. he's not just attacking corruption. but the whole way the country is run. and that struck a chord with voters from all walks of indian life. some say his party is also clearing the way for new people to gain power outside the families who've long dominated indian politics.

>> they've given a lot of people the belief that they, too, can stand for election. and that they, too, can fully participate in the democratic process. this is a very -- in a country where die nastick politics has a stronghold. >> reporter: and he's aiming high. he's standing against the front-runner in these elections. he believes me can do serious damage. but whatever the result, the new face of indian politics has already left his mark. andrew north, bbc news, in delhi. >> as we were hearing there, he's made his mark here in this particular city, in the capital. but there is voting taking place somewhere else in india. the place is nagaland. right in the northeast of the country. about 1,500 mimes from here. if you went any farther, you'd be in myanmar or burma. we've been monitoring polling

there. after the record turnout, i wonder what voting has been like where you are today. >> reporter: john, i'm at a polling station which has been set up inside a primary school here in nagaland. you can just look at very typically the scene behind me. it's been about 45 minutes since the polls closed. the officials have just been gathering all the paperwork. sealing the ballot boxes. in this case electronic voting machines. ready to take them away. and we have these fantastic -- to take all the officials and also all the armed policemen and soldiers. you can just see them over here. they've been standing guard all day. this is, after all, a somewhat sensitive area. you've already talked about the fact that we are very close to myanmar. they've been on duty all day. not having much to do, really. because it was a fairly sedate day when it came to voting here. now, i was saying to you a couple of days ago from asam, the neighboring state, where i witnessed massive turnouts. really enthusiastic crowds.

lots of women braving the heat to try and get to the polls. there were quite a few people here but that same level of enthusiasm was missing. a lot of people i spoke to basically said that given the fact that nagaland sends only one member to the indian parliament, it really didn't account for much. the general sense of frustration, the sense of they're really far away from all the action here in india and in many ways have been left out and neglected, you get that sense when you speak to people here. just to find out what they're thinking before they head into these elections. >> thank you very much, indeed. i'm joined here by a journalist who spent a lot of time in the northeast of india. why is it so strategically important? because i think as we were hearing there -- >> it is one of the most -- strategically one of the most important areas. because that region, though it

has about seven states, you know, share very sensitive and sometimes contested international borders. and one of the borders is, of course, china. india lost its only war out there in china in 1962. that area still remains, as far as china is concerned, the border is not demarcated. there are other sensitive borders. myanmar. a lot of narcotic arms running continue. that area as far as india is concerned is very important for india to actually develop this area, maintain that area. so all the boxes can be ticked. environmentally, these are biodiversity hot spots. politically very sensitive. strategically very important. >> how does it compare to other parts of india? i think the unemployment is very high. very poor infrastructure. >> very poor infrastructure. the population density is very

low. so if you see the standard of living compared to various other parts of india, it's actually pretty good. there's a lot of westernization there. some people speak in english. english is one of the family languages there. education level is very high. in some of the states almost 100%. it doesn't really translate when it comes to daily living. because underdevelopment is almost all over the place there. there are other development -- which are -- and there's a legitimate institutionalization of extortion and abduction. extortion particularly by armedmy mily shah which operate in the area. >> we know the head of the bjp has gone out and made a speech near there. warning against chinese expansionism. it could become a tense area if there was a bjp government and there was a kind of more assertive indian foreign policy. >> unlikely. in fact, you know, yesterday

china for the first time reportedly said that -- that they assert -- that territory is disputed on a line of demarcation. but they say that people on both sides need to develop. which is a welcome, you know, thing coming from china. but for the fact, as we said, it could be sensitive. not really so much in the sense that it's always been -- >> we have to leave it there. grateful to you. thank you very much, indeed. a lot more from us here in delhi in this fabulous market where, of course, delhi votes tomorrow and we'll be at the polling station during the day tomorrow. for now, tim, back you in the studio. >> much more on the indian elections later as well. john will be back to continue

this special coverage. much more, as always, on the website. special section opened up on the website. more than 800 million voters. going to be lasting five weeks. bbc.com/india. that's it for this part of the program. stay with us, though. because we're back in just a few minutes' time. (vo) you are a business pro. maestro of project management. baron of the build-out. you need a permit... to be this awesome. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. and only national is ranked highest in car rental customer satisfaction by j.d. power. (aaron) purrrfect. (vo) meee-ow, business pro. meee-ow. go national. go like a pro.

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[ brakes screech ] flo: unh... [ tires squeal, brakes screech, horn honks ] ooh, ooh! [ back-up beeping, honking ] a truckload of discounts for your business -- now, that's progressive. welcome to "gmt" on bbc world news. in this half hour, venezuela's opposition group begin to talks after the worst political unrest in a decade. prince george carries out his first royal engagement. a royal crawl about. also on the program, aaron is here on the catwalk. >> absolutely, tim. the world's biggest car maker has announced the world's biggest recall. 6.5 million toyotas around the globe are heading back to the garage with a range of faults.

but with no deaths or injuries linked to these problems, we're asking the question, is the japanese giant being too careful at the expense of its bottom line? hello. talks to end weeks of violent unrest in venezuela should begin season. president nicolas maduro and the main opposition group agreed to meet. clashes between security forces and pro-government militants on one side and opposition demonstrators blocking streets oen the other have swept the country since mid-february and left nearly 40 people dead. from the capital, caracas. >> reporter: pitched battles in downtown caracas. since the clashes began, almost 40 people have been killed.

both sides, but in particular government forces, using live ammunition. this should be one of the world's richest nations thanks to its vast oil revenues. but the petrol now fuels molotov cocktails. this is now what's happening virtually every night here in the capital, caracas. and in virtually every other city across venezuela. running battles in the streets between the heavily armed government troops and their opponents, running down the alleyways. it's been going on like this for about two months. it's affecting the lives of everybody here in the capital. by day, reasons for the unrest become apparent. huge queues for basic goods as the economic crisis deepens. there's no sugar, says this man. shortages, inflation and shocking levels of violent crime are everyday concerns for more

and more venezuelans. in a western city they're now clearing away the barricades after weeks of intense clashes. it was here the protests began after a student demonstration against rising crime was brutally crushed by the army. the military is back in control. the cost for some has been high. carmen gonzalez holds the bloodstained glasses her son was wearing when he died. she insists he was shot by the army while protesting on the street. the government says his death was an accident. she tells me, he loved his country. but couldn't live in a dictatorship and felt he had to do something about it. the government will pay for what they did to my son. opposition rallies call for the downfall of what they say is an

increasingly authoritarian, even dictatorial regime. calls rejected by government officials who say venezuela's democracy is being deliberately undermined. >> translator: these calls for the overthrow of the government are hostile and totally unacceptable. because in venezuela we have democratic checks in place to change our government if that's what people want. >> reporter: the government draws its support from working-class suburbs. but hugo chavez spent millions of social projects. devotees pay homage at a shrine to the former president. but his dream of a socialist utopia has faded and venezuela is still divided by class and ideology. bbc news, caracas. >> the situation in venezuela. aaron is back. aaron, you're talking about toyota and this recall. it's massive, isn't it? >> it is a massive recall. but if you add this recall to

the total in the last two years, toyota has recalled 25 million vehicles just in the last two years. i'll explain more. thanks very much, tim. the japanese car giant toyota is recalling this time almost 6.5 million vehicles. certainly as we keep saying, one of the largest recalls ever made. it is for a variety of problems. kind of across the board. in fact, it's across 27 different models in countries ranging from japan, the united states and europe. the world's biggest car maker is recalling some of the models involved, the yaris, urban cruiser, rav-4. more than 3 million. more than 3 million vehicles have a potential problem with their air bags which may not inflate in a crash. that's a bit of a problem. there are also faults with some seats, steering and starter motors. however, toyota says it isn't aware of any injuries or deaths caused by any of these problems listed. let's get more. david bailey, professor of industrial strategy at ashton business school joins us.

let's be frank. it's a heck of a recall, this one. nearly 30 models involved. and it sort of makes you wonder, what happened to toyota's quality control? >> it's another big one. we've been on several times discussing big recalls from toyota. this really goes back to that period of massively overrapid expansion of toyota from 2002 through to 2009 where they themselves said they put growth ahead of quality. that then led to all sorts of quality issues. the big problems they had in 2009 came with ak sexcceleratoa. in the last two years 25 million cars recalled. in this case they're dealing with it very well. they've identified a problem or problems and fixes. i think consumers will be forgiving. the question is, how many more of these are there to come? >> absolutely. you say they're handling it very well. you and i have talked over the last couple of years about toyota's handling of recalls. if you compare it to general motors, gm, you know, kind of in trouble for dragging its feet on recalling, i think, 1.5 million cars with a problem that had

been linked to 13 deaths, here no deaths or injuries for these particular problems for toyota. some may say is toyota being too careful at the expense of its bottom line? >> i don't think so. ultimately consumers want to see car companies are transparent, honest. if they identify a problem they can identify a fix and minimize any hassle for consumers. they're doing exactly the right thing, i think. and i think consumers are forgiving of that. you combine that as well with a big investment in new technology. i think this is fundamentally a good company going in the right direction. contrast that at the moment with general motors where they're now being fined for not releasing information to the regulator. and there's a feeling that this company knew about some of these problems potentially a long time ago. that is not good for their brand. that could damage them in the long term. >> briefly, what sort of money are we talking about? 6.5 million vehicles recalled. what will this cost toyota? >> back in 2009 it ran into the billions. certainly hundreds of millions. i don't think it'll be quite as expensive as 2009. but it will impact on the bottom line. >> david, great stuff as always.

we appreciate you as always. david bailey from aston business school. let's talk about this. bosses of some of europe's biggest companies could be in for a bit of a tough time on pay. today the european commission will release a set of proposals that will give shareholders the right to vote down the ratio between board pay and the average full-time worker. in recent years, companies have often come under fire for the huge, huge inequality between executive and staff pay. for example, the commission says that in france, director pay rose 94% between the years of 2006 and 2012. not my director, she says. even though the average share price of companies at that same time, look at that. they fell by a third. salaries up 94%. shares down 33%. here in the uk the ftse 100 chief executives, total pay in 2013 was 120 times the average

earnings of their employees. that figure is up from 47 times back in 1998. just to give you an example, the eight directors of prudential received total composition of $78 million. that is up by $15 million in just three years. nice if you can get it, right? alex edmund, professor of finance at the london business school and an expert in pay and bonuses joins us. alex, great to have you with us. let's start with that. is any group of directors worth an increase of $15 million over a three-year period? >> normally i'm a strong opponent of directors getting paid millions when their firms have done badly. this is a rare case where the firm actually did very well. roughly speaking the value of pru den shl went from $25 million to $50 million. over that three-year period not all of that is going to be down to the directors. let'sy conservatively 1% was down to the directors. that's still 250 million. it's actually not too outrageous

for directors to get, say, 15 million of that. >> alex, i know you're pro -- you support executive pay being linked to performance of a company. >> that's correct. >> i think you've said over the past, you know, if the company performs well, then ceos, executives, should be paid multiple times their salary. who draws the line on that? multiple what? two times? three times? four times? ten times their salary? >> there's no hard fast rule. i know that policymakers like to make executive pay formula linked. it's much more complicated than that. it will depend on circumstances. it will depend on the extent to which is performance is down to the industry doing well. the bottom line i think shareholders should be given a lot of say to decide, well, how much of the increase in performance should go to the ceo. but there's no hard and fast rule. regulations saying it should be ten times or 2.3 times, that's the thing to do is to give shareholders greater power to decide how much of the performance should go to the ceo. the right benchmark here is not

how much other people within the same firm are guessing but how much value the ceo has created. >> what's the problem, though, with linking executive pay to -- sort of to the medium salary of workers in that same company? what's the problem with that? >> that's a good point. there may be some unintended consequences. one thing ceos might do is they might hype up certain parts of the business. particularly parts of business with lowly paid workers in order to increase the median pay. or we don't know what's the median worker. is it a full time worker or part time worker? if only full time workers are taken into account, maybe they'll make some of these low pay jobs part time instead. that will worsen income inequality. i understand that one of the reasons for this proposed regulation is to increase equality. but this is something that might actually backfire. >> if we saw executive pay linked to performance, should we also see the flip side to that? if the company performs badly, the ceo or senior executives should be prepared to give up

some of their pay? >> definitely. that's what i'm a strong advocate of. we've seen this recently. the ceo of jc penney, his pay went down 95%. he was eventually fired. we see ceos pay to performance because they have tremendous amounts of stocks and options linked to their company. stocks and options become worth very little if, indeed, the firm does badly. >> alex, great stuff from you. we appreciate your input and time. thanks for joining us on "gmt." follow me on twitter. tweet me. i'll tweet you back. get me @bbcaaron. did you see how directors -- not us, no. meltdown in the gallery. we're in the wrong business. >> we are, indeed. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come, the rising influence of hispanics. california becomes the second american state after new mexico where the ethnic group has overtaken whites. good job!

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hello. welcome back to "gmt." i'm tim willcox. top stories this hour. oscar pistorius has broken down again. this time during cross-examination when the prosecutor showed a picture of his girlfriend after she'd been shot in the head. ukraine's interior minister says the crisis in the east of the country will be resolved in 48 hours using force if necessary. teams searching for the missing flight mh370 say a ship has detected two more signals which could have come from the plane's flight recorders. the size of the search area is being reduced edreduced, but t submersible submarines hasn't been deployed to check the

seabed. our correspondent sent this report. >> reporter: deep beneath the indian ocean, an australian navy ship has again made what could be a critical breakthrough. the ocean shield has heard two more acoustic noises in the same broad area where other stronger transmissions were recorded over the weekend. engineers say the earlier signals were consistent with those from an aircraft black box flight recorder. >> i'm now optimistic that we will -- we will find the aircraft, or what is left of the aircraft, in the not too distant future. >> reporter: earlier this week, recovery teams were scouring a stretch of ocean almost twice the size of great britain. the new target zone is about two-thirds smaller. the challenge now for investigators is to re-establish contact with those signals far off australia's west coast. if and when the location of those unknown pulses is sufficiently narrowed down, a

deep sea drone will be deployed. only then will the underwater search for wreckage begin. australian authorities do warn, however, that more days of slow and pain staking work are still to come. 239 passengers and crew were onboard the flight from kuala lumpur to beijing. most were from china. some of their families believe there's been a coverup by malaysian authorities. a search for the truth is not just for ourselves, said a representative of the chinese families. but also so that this kind of disaster can be avoided in the future. the mood within the australian-led recovery mission has never been more positive. but the batteries from flight mh370's black boxes are almost certainly starting to fail, if they haven't already. far out to sea, the search continues for any trace of the plane that simply vanished. phil mercer, bbc news, perth.

the world health organization says it is facing one of the most challenging outbreaks of ebola the international community has ever fa faced. more than 100 people have died in guinea and liberia during a recent outbreak. bbc reports on the rising concerns. >> reporter: the deadliest strain of one of the deadliest viruses known to man. the strain of ebola kills up to 90% of those infected. two months into this outbreak, it's refusing to be stamped out. since spreading from the remote southeast area of guinea to the capital, 20 people have been infected. the world health organization says the geographical spread of the virus is making it one of the most difficult outbreaks ever. >> there are reasons why this is one of the most challenging outbreaks is that first we see a

wide geographic dispersion of cases. so this has come in from a number of districts as well as a large city in -- in guinea. two, as you know, when dealing with ebola we're dealing with a quite lethal infection. >> reporter: misinformation and the death toll now hitting over 100 in guinea alone is raising the levels of fear and anxiety. medicines in the southern district had to evacuate their isolation facility after residents attacked it believing the medical charity actually brought the virus to their area. the world health organization is again urging people to remain calm. it says ebola is a known virus which health officials are working hard to contain, but it admits there could be many more cases to come. and dealing with this outbreak could take months. bbc news.

in other news, 18 people have been killed in a series of car bomb attacks in the iraqi capital baghdad. more than 70 were injured. the blasts appear to be targeted at mainly shiite neighborhoods. today marks the 11th anniversary of the fall of baghdad during the u.s.-led invasion of 2003. at least 20 people have been killed in pakistan after a bomb hidden in a fruit box exploded in islamabad. the third blast taken place this week. the italian navy rescued 4,000 migrants from boats trying to reach europe in the last two days. the interior minister called for help from the rest of europe. italy stepped up patrols in the mediterranean after more than 500 migrants died when their boat sank last october. one of america's most celebrated wrestlers, the ultimate warrior, has died at the age of 54. his real name was james hellwig. more famous for his intensity in

the ring and bouts with hulk hogan. just last weekend he was inducted into the world wrestling entertainment hall of fame. in march, hispanics were projected to become the largest ethnic group in california. overtaking whites for the first time in the state's history. well, that makes california the second u.s. state after new mexico where hispanics are the largest ethnic group. where california leads, america often follows. as we report from los angeles. >> reporter: behind the scenes at america's most popular local tv station. and it's in spanish. kmex channel 34 is in los angeles where the hispanic population is already bigger than any other ethnic group. the whole of california is now passing that landmark. >> this is the first step of

many in what will definitely be a century that we will be significantly altered by hispanic opinion, hispanic public opinion and hispanic political involvement. >> reporter: but it goes beyond the spanish language. and the biggest media market out there is latino. most are young and speak english. brand-new stations like el ray know their target audience. >> it's the people's network. >> reporter: it isn't the first time hispanics have outnumbered non-hispanic whites. less than 200 years ago, alta, or upper california as it was known back then was part of mexico. this is one of the remaining spanish missions built by the colonizers to bring christianity to the native americans. after mexican independence in 1821, these became privately owned ranches to try and attract

mexican settlers. but after just 25 years, the united states invaded. and won a war which went on to create california as its 31st state. then came the gold rush and the proportion of hispanics here dropped dramatically. today, you're as likely to see mcdonald's as you are a mexican fast food joint in l.a. the two cultures have quite obviously been growing together for years. >> it is the new normal. the eyes of the world are on california. this morning, the children that went to school in los angeles, over 72% of the children are now latino origin children. they are the future cops. they are the nurses. they're the doctors. they're the lawyers. they're the soldiers. they are your future citizens. >> reporter: and don't the politicians know it. >> hi. i'm tim donnelly. i'm running for governor. >> reporter: this tea party republican wants illegal

immigrants deported. but also wants the latino vote. that makes it awkward. california isn't keeping up with its changing face. latinos lag behind in political representation and education. something the news channel is trying to change. bbc news, los angeles. the youngest member of the british royal family has carried out his first official engagement on tour of new zealand. prince george crawled and played with some of the babies at a wellington nursery. while the duke and duchess of cambridge chatted with parents. our own correspondent has the story. >> reporter: duty calls when you're 8 1/2 months old if you happen to be third in line to the throne. george had been brought by his mom to a specially convened play group at a government house in wellington to meet ten other babies who were born at around the same time as him. an occasion fraught with all kinds of possibilities for things that could go wrong.

but for a little boy who probably hasn't met many other children yet, he's certainly going to have to get used to brief encounters like this. he seemed to cope with it all pretty well. nobody had any major tantrums. and the special guest didn't say or do anything inappropriate, so far as we could tell. pretty good, then, for a royal meet and greet. little wonder that mums are pleased while dads chatted to some of the other parents. one thing was established. george is definitely crawling. and according to witnesses, he wasn't averse to taking a rather pro priortorial approach to toys. a polite way of saying he sought off anyone who wanted to have a go with his. for reports he's walking, it may not be long. but all of that will have to wait for another time. because after a few minutes of scrutiny, george was left to play with his rattle. that's really the last we're going to see of george for a few days. he'll be out of sight while his mom and dad visit different

towns and cities in new zealand. bbc news in wellington. you're watching "gmt." much more coming up on bbc world news throughout the day. but for me and the team, but for me and the team, bye-bye. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com nature lover... people person. ♪ and you put up with it all... because he also booked you a room... at this place. planet earth's number one accomodation site: booking.com booking.yeah! [ female announcer ] f provokes lust. ♪ it elicits pride... incites envy...

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