he ♪ ack! guy ] male annou the foat 500l. ♪ ack! guy ] it ♪igger [ godzil [ male ] at fiatusalla. hello. you're watching "gmt" on bbc world news. i'm lucy. the nigerian government says all options are on the table in the search for the missing schoolgirls. parents have been identifying the girls in the video as u.s. surveillance aircraft fly over the area where boko haram may be holding them. as the search continue, we get access to boko haram's hot land where we find anger from locals who's village came under attack. >> the governor and all the rest of us are being thrown out by

the anger of the crowd. we're having to get back to our cars quickly. >> international efforts intensifies to find a solution to crisis in ukraine. we find out what the referendum looks like for the rest the country. we'll investigate how rhythms dominate our health as part of the bbc day of the body clock. we are joined to look at the fight ongoing between pfizer and astrazeneca. >> that's right lucy. facing intense questions from politicians. if successful, the bid would be the largest take over of a uk firm. would it be a good thing for britain? it's midday here in london.

7:00 a.m. washington, 12:00 in nigeria where american supply planes are looking for 200 girls kidnapped by boko haram. u.s. is flying manned surveillance missions and sharing satellite imagery with the nigerian government. the girls were taken last month. it is believed they're being held in the sambisa forest, area twice the size of belgium. we'll bring you more details on that u.s. operation in a moment. first our world affairs correspondent john simpson in nigeria. he's been given rare access of the boko haram activity. >> good morning. thank you very much. this whole part of nigeria is boko haram territory. to get around it, you need fire power, lots of it.

we had 40 official vehicles packed with armed men to guard us. we're going with a local governor who's heading off to the scene of one of the worst attacks here. it happened last week. it was scarcely reported even within nigeria. this is hostile territory. the road we're driving on would normally be very busy. in fact it's almost empty because no one wants to drive here after the boko haram a attacks. we've been passing villages which are desserted because people are scared of boko haram. >> after a couple of hours, we reached the çvre]+9ó the bridge outside had been blown up last wednesday. two days earlier, the town was hit by the army of boko haram men. they're they arrived at 1:30 in the afternoon. we counted hundreds of burned out cars. boko haram didn't want anyone

following them afterwards. and they massacred 375 people. again, almost unnoticed in the outside world. the town's center was simply destroyed. the sheer scale of the destruction here is quite extraordinary. i hadn't expected this. you have to remember all the attention around the world has been on the abduction of nearly 300 skill gichoolgirls. this is going on all the time in this part of nigeria. the governor came to offer help and money, but the survivors are working themselves into a frenzy of anger. the nigerian government should be doing so little to fight boko haram. i have to ask you.

the crowd is getting quite angry. is there a cause of danger still? >> we are going to compensate them for all their losses a reassure we'll talk with the president. >> are you frightened? >> i am not frightened. there was no kaucalming them. the governor was lucky to gate way unhurt. this is extraordinary. the governor and the rest of us are being thrown out by the anger of the crowd. we're having to get back to our cars pretty quickly. all this anger isn't surprising. people here feel utterly abandoned. they can't understand why a world which cares so much about the missing schoolgirls seems to care so little about the

destruction of an entire town. bbc news borno state in north eastern nigeria. we'll take you to abuja and join our editor in abuja. we know these international teams on the ground looking for the girls. what about the broader fights against boko haram? is the nigerian government wanting international help to tackle that? >> i think yes. government welcomes the help from the international community to secure release of girls and help bring an end to the violence that is perpetrated by the islamist group boko haram. the help is welcomed from u.s., france, china. there's going to be a meeting next weekend in france in which goodluck jonathan is going to attend and talk about the wiede

aspects of war. i think the international help is not just about securing the girls. yes, it's the priority at the moment. the goal is to fight against boko haram and bring an end to the violence. >> there's been a bit of contradiction in the government's tragedy in trying to get the girls back. are they generally exploring all options. is everything on the table? >> well according to the latest report from the government is they're continuing to explore all options meaning they are ready to enter negotiations with the group boko haram. earlier on there was a statement from the minister of interior which outright he rejected possibility of negotiation. hours later there was a new statement which seems to

contradict that. when i spoke to him, he told me this is the front of government exploring all options. everything is on the table which means they can enter negotiations with boko haram. >> briefly, the video is so powerful of the girls we've been showing. have parents looked at this video. have they been able to identify their daughters? >> yes. parents have seen the video and we have spoken to a local community leader who said the three girls that came -- that appeared and spoke on the video were identified by parents. in fact we understand those three girls taken to the state were -- the parents of three girls were taken to understand how the girls are so they can establish these girls actually

are among the girls abducted from the school over four weeks ago. >> thanks so much for joining us from abuja. germany's foreign minister has met ukraine's interim prime minister the kiev. he said it was crucial for the sides to talk. he's going to visit odessa where over 40 were killed earlier this month. let's take you now to richard who joins me from donetsk. russia's next move will be critical. what's the latest line from moscow? >> reporter: that's interesting. the russian foreign minister has been holding a meeting with delegation in moscow. he also is stressing that moscow wants there to be negotiations. he's saying at the moment the problem lies with the government

in kiev. they're not serious about negotiations. he says talks must get underway between the government in kiev and pro russian separatists here in the eastern regions. i think the goal for russia is that there should be a change to the constitution as long as possible so that essentially power is much more involved around the country. regions here in the east would have much more power. as far as russia is concerned, that would mean the ethnic russian population would have better rights. rights would be protected. of course it would mean russia itself, moscow itself would potentially have more influence here in the east and further into ukraine. >> richard, turnout wasn't that high on sunday's vote. with these issue, is it possible to assess the true mood of the public, how people are feeling there? >> reporter: it's quite difficult to be honest. certainly following the

declaration of independence yesterday, nothing has changed here. you don't see anything different at all. what we have been picking up over the past few days is fear growing among the ukrainian speaking population. particularly now the pro russian gunmen militants have effectively declared their own state at which they are in control. in their apartment here in the city of donetsk, oger and her daughter read a book by the famous ukrainian poet. ogre is a strong supporter of ukrainian unity and now fear remain siles for the safety of her family. >> if there's a separate donetsk people's republic founded i'll have to leave. i won't be able to speak ukrainian, my native language.

a lot of my friends are selling their houses and moving to western ukraine. people are afraid for their lives and families. the thought of leaving is scary. freedom is the most important thing to me. >> when the official report of the referendum in donetsk was announced monday by pro russian separatist leaders, their plans became very clear. it was declared the region was now independent sovereign state. he went further calling moscow to make it part of russia. for him, the fears of the ukrainian speaking population seem of little concern. what about the impact on the economy of declaring independence? this region is ukraine's industrial heart land covered with mines and factories. dating back to soviet times in

need of much investment. >> if we became completely independent, it would be very difficult. where would the salary payments come from? a budget hasn't been worked out. it would be difficult to survive without kiev or moscow. >> while ethnic russians have been celebrating the declaration of independence, he must be aware their absolute dependence now on moscow. >> now i think the key thing overall now is it does not look like russia will respond to the requests from pro russian militants here this area should become part of russia any time soon. seems like the russians are more focused at least for the moment on motions. >> richard, thanks for joining us with that upday.

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. the former prime minister of israel has been sentenced to six years in prison for corruption. he was convicted of accepting bribes linked to a property deal while he was mayor of jerusalem. he's already said he'll appeal. with the details from jerusalem. >> reporter: corruption cases aren't unusual among israel's political elite, but this is something new. it's the first time that a former prime minister has been convicted of bribery and jailed. the judge at the court in tel aviv said that all the former officials involved in this case had betrayed public trust.

>> punishment is very severe. mr. olmert claimed several times that he didn't take bribes, and he wasn't bribed by anyone and that he is going to appeal to the high court of justice. >> reporter: olmert was found guilty of accepting $160,000 to support this luxury housing development in jerusalem when he was the city's mayor. the high-rise holyland housing project here in south jerusalem has long been seen by locals as a blot on the city's historic skyline. but now it's known to have been at the center of one of israel's worst corruption scandals. planning and zoning laws were changed so that it could be built. he said he'll appeal, but this conviction looks set to end any prospects of a political comeback for 68-year-old mr. olmert. he was israel's prime minister for three years in 2006. during that time he conducted intensive but ultimately fruitless peace talks with the

palestinians. and he took the country into two bloody armed conflicts. this war with the lebanese militant group hezbollah and a three-week invasion of the gaza strip that began in late 2008. 1,400 palestinians were killed and 13 israelis. >> the justice system finally doing something about a politician. they think that they're above the law, they think that they're exempt from all consequences, and now there's some consequences. >> olmert did a lot for this country. nobody takes it from him, but what he did was wrong. it was criminal. >> reporter: but it was corruption allegations that forced ehud olmert to step down. and many israelis hope his conviction is a sign that the country is now cleaning up its political culture. bbc news, jerusalem. >> for the first time, a doctor in egypt is to stand trial on charges of female genital mutilation following the death of a 13-year-old girl. the girl's father who is accused

of taking her for the operation is also being tried. this is a landmark prosecution. around 125 million women and girls in africa and the middle east have undergone female genital mutilation or fgm. it's been outlawed in most of the countries in which it happens, but those laws are poorly enforced. in egypt where the practice is illegal, 91% of women have been subjected to the procedure. our correspondent reports now from mansoura which is north of cairo. >> reporter: egypt, a landscape still shaped by faith and tradition. among the age-old practices that persist, female genital mutilation, or fgm. the victims are usually between 9 and 13 years old. it's done in the name of promoting chastity. some see it as a religious duty. prosecutors say it claimed the

life of 13-year-old sahar al bata, one of the top students in her class. outside her home near mansoura, relatives told us her death was god's will and say the doctors were not to blame. without circumcision, girls of full of lust, said her uncle hassan. in the countryside, this has been done for a long time. but her best friend told us she had a feeling of foreboding and didn't want the operation. it's a very bad thing for girls, said amira. there's no need for it. it's wrong because it's dangerous. it's also illegal but still enjoys widespread support, even after her death. 1,000 girls have been

circumcised since then, the old lady said. hanan, the local vegetable seller, told us she would take her little daughter, farrah, for fgm when she's in her teens. "in the past, there was ignorance," she said, "and people brought barbers to their homes to circumcise girls. now we're more modern. we take our girls to the doctor." that's what her father did. he brought her to this private clinic where locals told us many girls had the operation. well, we've just spoken to the doctor in this case here at his clinic. he wouldn't appear on camera, but he denied carrying out an fgm procedure on her. he said he treated her for something else, and she died because someone gave her penicillin to which she was allergic. she's buried close to her home.

friends told us her dream was to be a journalist. campaigners say it will take a lot more than one prosecution to spare other girls. bbc news, mansoura. let's talk now to julia. she was ceo and founder of the project, a charity based here in the uk that works on bringing an end to fgm. julia, thanks for being with us. let's talk about the language around the situation first. you don't call it fgm. you call it fgc. why is that? >> we use fgc, which stands for female genital cutting simply because the communities that we work with across africa, across the world have asked us to do that. if you go into a community and ask why have you mutilated your daughter, you very quickly get shown the door, and you have no further dialogue. as you've just seen from that clip, we're dealing with a desperate situation here. we prefer to work towards positive change to ensure that

we can talk openly with communities and language allows us to do that. >> julia, how do you even begin that conversation and dialogue with these parents obviously who believe that they are doing the right thing? >> the thing that you've got to start working with is human rights. the projects we work with start with working with the entire community, men, women, girls and boys, and discussing what human rights are and what they mean to participants. you don't even start talking about the concept of fgc until much later on. and then you can start talking about health rights. you can start discussing what the practice actually means. by that point people have come to terms with being able to talk about their bodies. this may never have happened before. >> i mean, how taboo is it generally in some of these communities to even talk about fgc? >> it's hugely taboo. what i say is even a generation ago in our cultures, we wouldn't talk about our own genitals, our

own periods, things like that. so it's not that surprising, but it is a very, very taboo issue. >> how receptive are people to that message? >> what we try and enforce is we're not coming bringing messages. we're bringing empowerment, education, understanding. we will help work with communities to come to that point when they recognize the harm done and women themselves start talking about issues that they've had, they themselves will choose to abandon the practice. >> just looking at this case in egypt, how important is it that there are prosecutions that take place? >> there are very many different pieces of the jigsaw. and to have a legal response is very important. but equally important is the enforcement. however, until you've got what we call the social norm shift where you've got the society recognizing the practice is wrong, that is when the legal issue can really come to the

fore. >> because obviously very difficult, in the case of some prosecutions, because these girls are being asked perhaps to testify against someone they trust or a parent. >> that's right. that's right. and it's a classic form of child abuse in a way because then the girl themselves is complicit in that, and it's a very difficult question we're asking. >> julia, thank you very much for joining us with your thoughts. thank you. just time before we go to show you some rather extraordinary pictures that we've received from america. they're from ohio. these have been doing rounds on social media because they're so magnificent. two babies, identical twin girls. they were delivered by c-section. when they came out, as you can see, doctors discovered that they were holding hands. jenna and jillian both suffering from a rare condition which meant that they were delivered early at just over 33 weeks. but the good news is, they are now breathing on their own, and their parents have been able to hold them for themselves. wonderful pictures there of these baby twins and particularly the moment that they were shown holding hands

when they came out. we have breaking news to bring you, sports news coming to us, we're hearing from english premier league team tottenham. tottenham hotspur. they have fired their manager, tim sherwood. the announcement just coming to us from the club's chairman. more coming up in the sports news. anks feing wus. (mvo)en iregn gotc whao wi i n ew wha do wi

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tingvege ery l runn can the mng? yeah [ ttingld'vr vegea v8es every? i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for elicious [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. ♪ wo full se♪vings of vegetables ♪

[ he ♪ ack! guy ] male annou the foat 500l. ♪ ack! guy ] it ♪igger [ godzil [ male ] [ hoking ] fiat famil lot biggethan you t ch .com/godzi family at fiatusa.com/godzilla. i'm lucy hawkings. in this half hour, scientists say we've become supremely arrogant by ignoring the importance of sleep. some are even calling for doctors to prescribe sleep. we'll be looking at how the body clock dictates our behavior. and gocould soldiers be replace by machines on the battlefield? robots of war. also coming up, alice joins us. you're looking at maternity rights around the world.

>> absolutely right. we're looking at where in the world do women as well as men get the best deal when it comes to taking time out of their career to look after your child. you may find the results surprising. how much sleep did you get last night? chances are it wasn't enough. doctors are now warning that we have become supremely arrogant about the amount of sleep we need. they say the way we live our lives and our internal body clocks are drifting further apart. and that has serious consequences for our health. well, today we are following the body clock here on the bbc. and i'm pleased to say that with me here in the studio is science reporter james gallagher who has been investigating sleep patterns and joins me now. james, thanks very much for being with us. i mean, it's interesting, isn't it. it's 12:00 here in london. obviously people watching at different times all over the world, but let's take midday.

how are we to be feeling right now? >> at the moment, a little bit tired to be honest. we've reached the middle of the day in london, and we're entering the phase known as the biological siesta. a lot of your body is geared towards processing food and we get a little tired. around this time of day you tend to see a few more accidents on the road particularly older people because they're a little more tired while driving. those are the key things happening in our body now. >> let's have a look at what's happening at this time of the day. >> welcome to your body clock. it's that time of day when most of us are thinking about lunch. eating leads to an increase in digestive activity, but this soon adds up to the lunchtime dip in alertness known as the biological siesta. and there's a noticeable rise in the number of deaths on the road after 2:00 p.m. particularly in older people. >> just taking us through it, but what about the scientists and what they're saying? doctors particularly now talking about prescribing sleep.

what are the implications if we don't get enough sleep, james? >> in the short term, you're just a little bit tired and grumpy. but in the long term, there's this gradual attrition on the health of your body over decades. it's not just getting enough sleep, it's also sleeping at the wrong time of day. things like cancer, type 2 diabetes, obesity and heart problems are all linked to not getting enough sleep. and the reason is, your body's dna also is quite active. it has a rhythmic pattern. it goes up and down in its activity through 24 hours of the day. sleep isn't happening properly. then it disrupts that rhythmic pattern. then it leads to these diseases over a long period of time. >> some of you may be watching in the united states. and if you're in washington right now, it's after 7:00 in the morning. let's have a look at how you're meant to be feeling. >> it's early morning, and it's a time of real change as our body clock controls the transition from sleep to waking. melatonin production is ending. however, this is a time to be careful as your blood vessels are stiffer and more rigid. your blood is thicker and

stickier, and your blood pressure is at its peak. it all adds up to the highest risk of a heart attack you'll face today. >> how do i know, then, james, because i often feel a bit tired. does that mean that i'm tired? >> that's one of your signs. do you use an alarm clock in the morning? >> yes. my alarm clock is my children. >> but if you don't wake up naturally, that's almost certainly a sign that you're not getting as much sleep as your body needs. i think most of the world needs an alarm clock to get up in the morning these days. other signs are if you really, really need tea or coffee or something, really caffeinated drink in the morning, that's another sign you're not getting enough sleep. if you are noticeably irritable and maybe slightly have more risk-taking behavior than you would if you had a lot of sleep, then that's another sign you're not getting you have sleep. >> if you're in karachi right now, you're in your post-lunch slump, you're probably feeling quite good. let's have a look at how you'd

be feeling at 4:00 in the afternoon in pakistan. >> in the afternoon you're actually becoming more physically powerful. your core body temperature increases like a natural warm-up. you have your best lung and heart function all day. muscles are 6% stronger than at their lowest point in the day. some people have even tried using this athletic sweet spot to increase their chance of beating world records. >> athletic sweet spot, i have to say, are we meant to be getting eight hours a night, james? or does it differ? you hear some people say i don't need eight hours. i'm good to five. >> it will change throughout your lifetime. a lot of it comes down to individual preferences. if you've got young children, then you're never going to get as much sleep as you really want to. if you're needing an alarm clock, if you're needing to take caffeinated drinks in order to stay awake in the morning, then that's the sign you're not getting enough. there is no preisnscriptive, bu

you need to assess your own amount of sleep and are you currently getting enough? >> i'll have to give it some thought. james, thank you very much. it's a fascinating topic. there's so much more information for you on sleep and how it impacts your body on our website including an interactive page that tells you how you should be feeling like we just saw at certain times of the day. and the all-important quiz, are you an owl or a lark? do go onto the website, bbc.com/news. alice is with us now for all the business news. an owl or a lark, alice? >> i don't know, but if the number of cups of tea that you have in a day is any game of how much sleep you're getting, i don't think i'm doing very well. i think i've had about four so far. here in business, the top story for quite a few days has been this tussle between pfizer and astrazeneca because the u.s. drug giant says that it's not possible to say at this stage

whether its proposed taker of rival astrazeneca could lead to job losses in britain or not. in re who is being questioned today about the deal said it would be an opportunity for pfizer to strengthen science in the uk. but mr. reed has admitted that the research and development budget of the combined businesses would be lower than what it is now. let's have a quick listen. >> it's not the percentage of sales we spend on research, it's how productive it is. so i do not expect that the combined total will remain the same. i suspect it will be lower. how much lower, at this stage, i cannot give a figure on that. >> mr. reed there being grilled by politicians here in britain who are worried that if pfizer's bid succeeds eventually, it could pare down astrazeneca's research bases in britain and sweden, and that in turn could jeopardize dozens of other smaller biomedical companies. now, the areas around london and university cities of oxford and

cambridge are known as the golden triangle of biomedical research in europe. jeremy howell begins this report in cambridge. >> reporter: i'm in the laboratories of discover, a small company based in cambridge, one of the cities in the so-called golden triangle of biomedical research. scientists here are working on developing drugs to counter the so-called superbugs, bacteria, common in hospitals right now which are currently drug resistant. the prospect of a merger between pfizer and astrazeneca worries discover's chief executive, dr. david williams. he sells his discoveries to big pharma companies to turn into marketable drugs. if pfizer were to swallow astrazeneca, it would mean one less company in europe for him to sell to. what does that mean for a company like discover? >> well, it means that we have to look elsewhere in terms of where we market, and it could mean that we have to move to the

u.s. where we're in an environment where there's more critical mass. there's a big collection of pharma. there's a lot of customers interested in our product, and there's a big market. >> reporter: the past decade has seen a decline in uk medical research. pfizer left its research base sandwich, glaxo smith kline closed its research center in harlow, and astrazeneca closed its center in loughborough. it still does research in sweden and building a new research base in cambridge which pfizer says it would keep open. many politicians and scientists are skeptical about that. but professor bantra of oxford university says britain needs to grab the offer pfizer is making to invest in the country. >> i would rather see pfizer put that money you sboo the uk as opposed to invest it in germany or singapore or china because if we push them away from the uk, that's exactly what will happen. they've got all these offshore

funds, and they're looking to invest them. if we don't give them that opportunity in the uk, they will go elsewhere. >> reporter: professor bountra is hoping a merger might be matched by a new wave of investment in british medical research from fund managers and venture capitalists. but investment depends a lot on confidence and for astrazeneca seems to have created a lot of uncertainty in the sector. jeremy howell, bbc news. now, at least 830 million women workers still don't have adequate protection when they have a child. that's according to the ilo. now, the amount of time women get off work and the amount of money they earn when they have a child is failing to provide enough security. while maternity rights have improved overall, the gulf in global standards especially between europe and asia and africa continues to grow. let's take a quick look at some of the figures now. this is europe, really does lead

the way with croatia having the highest maternity leave in the world with an impressive 58 weeks. followed closely by australia and the uk with 32 weeks. but then at the other end of the spectrum, we've got africa with the lowest official maternity leave in tunisia with just four weeks followed by new jeeigeria four weeks. the u.s. also only gives 12 weeks. when it comes to paternity, slovenia and iceland give a jeb russ generous 90 days. let's talk to professor kim hawk who's an expert. he joins me now. professor, why do maternity standards and rights matter for working women, and also the economy as a whole? >> clearly for working women, women who want to progress their careers in organizations, women who want to get on, they need to have the guarantee, you know, if

they leave the labor market to have children or they want to start a family, they're able to come back. they can come back into the organization, and they can come back at a level which is similar to the one that they were at before they left. not come back into lower-level work. so, you know, clearly for women, this is a right which is very important to them. but of course, if you think about the broader economic arguments for this, women are becoming increasingly well skilled, highly trained. if you look at the uk as an example, we have a situation where, you know, women, for a long time, have been outperforming -- girls have been outperforming boys at pay level. women are doing increasingly well relative to men in terms of degrees. now, it makes absolutely no economic sense to lose those skills, those abilities, all of that training, all of that productivity, if that's lost to the labor market, if women decide not to go back into or

not able to stay and work as a lack of maternity rights, that's a significant economic cost. >> as you say, lots of time and money being invested in women to get them to the standard to which so many rise. so where does the responsibility lie with employers or with governments to do more? >> well, i think ultimately it's got to be both. i mean, certainly for employers, for a long time, these issues, not just to do with maternity rights but to do with equal opportunities, policies more broadly, these have been seen as a cost. they've been seen as a cost to the employer. increasingly a view needs to be adopted that there are business benefits putting these sorts of things into place. clearly if you've been investing in your female work force, if you've been training and developing them, it makes absolutely no sense to you as an employer, should a woman decide that she wants to leave the workplace to have a child, for that woman just to be lost altogether. if she just come back into the workplace, it's likely to be for one of your employers.

that's a significant loss to you. so clearly for employers, you know, there's clearly a benefit for employers if they pursue this sort of policy. >> fascinating topic. professor kim hawk, many thanks for joining us here on the program. now, let's move to australia, shall we, because conservatives there in the government of prime minister tony abbott have announced the details of the first budget since coming to power late last year. australians are facing higher taxes, cuts to welfare as well as a proposed rise in the retirement age to 70. in a bid to almost half its deficit which currently stands at $46.6 billion. well, our correspondent in sydney told us that the budget was a brave move. >> reporter: well, for a first budget from a government that was elected on the promise of no surprises and no rise in taxes, i think this budget is probably pretty brave or possibly fo

foolhardy. we have a new deficit tax that's a tax on high earners. people earning more than $180,000, new taxes on fuel, the pension age is going to rise from 67 to 70 by 2035. and there are also going to be additional feese the aim of this budget is to reduce the deficit, but the deficit in australia is only 3%

of gdp which many countries around the world would be pretty envious of. now, the interesting thing, i think, is going to be is how this pans out over the next few years. we're going to have 16,500 jobs cut in the sector, and if the economy responds well to this budget, then the government's going to look pretty clever in a couple of years' time. if things don't go so well, then when we have the elections in a few years' time, they're going to have problems. and i think you're going to see both parties battling in the coming hours, the coming days to produce their own spin on what is the first budget of this right wing coalition government. >> difficult for australians, then. okay. that's all the business news for now inspect back to y now. back to you. still to come, are you sega or nintendo? we look at the console wars which industry. odern gaming

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hello, i'm lucy hawkings. our top stories this hour -- nigeria says all options open to secure the safe return of the kidnapped schoolgirls. ukraine says it's considering holding a national referendum on the devolution of power for the region. killer robots. they could one day be a reality of war. and a debate over the use of weapons that can shoot at targets without any human intervention is happening at the united nations. they dodge currently exist, but technology is bringing them even closer to reality. critics say a total ban is needed to avoid a future where machines, without compassion, decide who to kill on the battlefield. that debate is taking place in

geneva. we can take you there now and speak to a professor who is professor of intelligence and robotics at the university of sheffie sheffield. professor, thank you very much for joining us. just how close -- >> you're very welcome, lucy. >> -- are we to having killer robots? >> well, we're as close as we want to be. we could have them tomorrow if we wanted because it's just a matter of whether we want them to be completely indiscriminate or not. and i think what's holding it up is just this lack of discrimination. so at the moment, robots could not comply with the laws of war at all. they can't distinguish between competent and a civilian or tell if somebody is surrendering. >> but what you're saying is that at the moment, this is not just science fiction. in laboratories somewhere, they actually have robots who can do this? >> well, not just in laboratories. i mean, the uk have the tyrannus god of thunder which they've tested in australia which is an

intercontinental combat. it's very similar in the u.s., they have submarine- -- autonomous submarine hunters, autonomous trucks. so these things can all operate on their own. none of them have had weapons on yet. the hard part is the only part we're concerned about, which is their ability to select a target on their own and kill it or attack it with silent force. >> why a complete ban? why not just a moratorium? >> well, a moratorium would be a short pause, but we believe that the problem with this is that people talk about using it in very limited circumstances. at present there's no way it can comply with laws of war. but the problems are it can't -- robots cannot dleliberatively reason. they can't check the legitimacy of a target. so this should really be banned. and the problem is that people aren't thinking about -- and i'm glad we've got all of these nations discussing it here today because if all the nations, it

will proliferate very rapidly throughout the world, and then we've got the full automation of warfare, a very unpredictable future. these weapons are unpredictable, and we can't guarantee that they can comply with international law. >> what are some of the big countries like america that are militarily strong saying about this? i noted one comment from the u.s. said no matter what, we'll always have humans in the loop. >> yes, they say that. and so do the uk, in fact, say they'll always make humans in the loop. but not always. they say for the time being. we want to know what they mean. is that someone to program the robot? is that someone to press a button to send it off? is that someone who can just veto an attack before it happens and give them ten seconds to veto it? so just saying there will be someone in the loop is insufficient. and what happens when other countries get these weapons? will we still keep with that with someone in the loop? i don't know. i don't think so. >> professor, thank you very much for joining us from geneva. for the very first time nations

gathering around the table to talk about it. well, from the technology of the future to something rather more dacent. if you were into computer games in the '90s, you might remember the battle between nintendo and sega. the two giant console makers at the time. now it's become the subject of a new book, "console wars." it also says today's modern gaming culture began back then when sega came to prove that computer games were not just for kids. >> you'd better get ready for the most challenging nintendo system ever. >> the sega genesis has blast processing. super nintendo doesn't. >> what's great about the battle is it really is a battle between two companies with very different philosophies. the story is sort of the transformation from these video games being childish play things into big business, and that really formed the backbone of the modern video game industry. ♪

sega knew that they needed what they called a mario killer. so they held an internal mascot contest. and this resulted in all sorts of, you know, bunnies, bears, little eggs. and one of the characters, the one that won, was a hedgehog named sonic. this was the game that really helped put sega on the map. it was just the fastest thing that people had ever seen in video games before. in a sense, he was just hypnotic. ♪ sega did a great job of tapping into the mtv generation and turning them into gamers. ♪ they were always trying to challenge consumers and take them to this next level, whether it was offering 16 bits when nintendo offered 8. they really sort of created the hollywoodization of the video game industry with release dates and teasers and leadup to launches and making it seem like

these were big must-have titles that you have to go on opening day to see. ♪ it probably wasn't until mortal kombat that sega actually surpassed nintendo and became the new market leader in the video game industry. these two warring companies were both going to be releasing this very, very popular game on the same day. and whoever sold the most games was going to probably be the winner of the 16-bit battle. nintendo sort of adhering to their family-friendly wholesome image decided to censor the game and remove the blood. not only did sega outsell nintendo 5-1 and become the leaders of the video game market, but interestingly, nintendo got thousands of angry letters from parents. as much as it is the story about sega and nintendo and the battle for the specific console generation, it was the transition and evolution from video games as this wild, wild

west industry with no rules and anything-goes mentality into sort of what we have today where video games have become a mainstream activity. >> oh, it takes me back to video games. i actually remember and recognize. thanks for being with us on "gmt." see you again tomorrow. do stay with us on bbc world news. ding lawnw did ed o it so lastult. get a load of this bad boy. feeding your lawn need not be so difficult.

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salutations. this is sally calypso with the traffic news at 10:15. we've got reports of a multiple stackpile at junction 509, with a spate of carjackings reported on new 5th avenue. so you take care now. drive safely. [ creature snarls ] they're going to get in. there's no stopping them. the police are on their way, i promise. i've sounded the alarm. repeat -- this is car 1-0-hawk-5. we have a problem. require urgent assistance. thank you for your call. you have been placed on hold.