like your fancy watches and your big cars, one day you realize that what matters is not the size of your car. it's the size of your yacht. ♪ hello. you're watching gmt with me, david eades. our top stories. iraq thrown into civil chaos with islamic militants tightening their grip on the country's second city. half a million people flee mosul after army troops abandon their positions. and these are the men who tossed them out. we'll discuss what isis is and what it stands for. >> also, with the world cup

kickoff just a day away, a festival. in the program alice will be taking a look at what's happening in business. trouble with the tax man. >> you're right, david. european commissioners investigating whether a decision was made by tax authorities in ireland, the netherlands, and luxembourg comply with rules on state aid, and it's about a deal they struck with apple, starbucks, and fiat. hello. it's midday here in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, 2:00 p.m. in the northern iraqi city of mosul where half a million people have been forced to flee following its capture by the islamic militant group isis. families, women and children, among those making their escape. the iraqi army and police are believed to have simply

abandoned their post in the end after four days of violent clashes in the city. just what is isis? who are they? what do they want? the name itself stands for the jihadic islamic state of iraq and levamt. the group is relatively wrung. it was formed in april 2013 as an off shoot of an al qaeda group, but just over a year it's already become responsible for scores of deadly attacks across iraq and syria. as for the motive aiations behi those attacks, they're fighting for a state that would straddle the borders of both countries and across the eastern mediterranean. we'll have more in just a moment. first, paul evans brings us up-to-date on the fall of mosul. >> reporter: the exodus from mosul goes on. perhaps as many as half a million people fleeing the violence that's gripped iraq's second largest city. roads clogged as families flee

into nearby kurdish areas. in mosul itself the smoldering aftermath of a battle that didn't take long. the militants attacked just five days ago on monday, the provincial governor urged residents to hold firm. hours later he was gone. iraq's out gunned security forces weren't far behind. militants now control government offices and banks too. in january another major city, fallujah, fell to the same hardline group, the islamic state in iraq. the government has tried and failed to take it back. tens of thousands of people have fled. isis now controls a broad swath of territory across the middle east. in iraq's anbar province fallujah is still in rebel hands and has been fighting in ramadi too. in syria the group is involved in fighting in alleppo and has a regional base in more ok wroe

they have months you'll too. >> tens of thousands of them now have a territory. they control territory. they control border crossing points. they control oil resources, mineral resources, trade income. they have a base in the middle of the middle east. >> reporter: the government in baghdad has declared a state of emergency, but is struggling to confront the militants. for a while it seemed isis fighters were in control of the town, a major oil refinery that supplies much of the country. these unverified pictures appear to show fighting before the militants reportedly left. meanwhile, more dramatic images from the situation around mosul. civilians crossing the tigris river to escape the fighting. iraq is now in the grip of a crisis as bad as anything since the americans left in 2011. let's get a sense of the significance. we were speaking just a moment

to chris doyle about the extent to which western intervention in the region has perhaps led to this situation. first, though, let's get a little more on isis itself. what it stands for from bbc arabic. you are from iraq yourself. >> yes. >> let's start with the origins of this organization. it's a real -- >> it is. it formed in april 2013, and the ideology is very similar to that of al qaeda, but they have so many problems and issues with the main al qaeda geology in syria and iraq. they've actually become a bigger power bringing in jihadys, the foreign jihadis abroad, actually. >> so they're actually antagonistic, would you say? >> they are. they have a lot of problems. the main problem was that they -- the main head of al qaeda said that he wants them to focus on iraq and leave syria

alone. that's not something that they wanted. they wanted to be involved in iraq and syria both at the same time. >> right. and across the bay. >> yes, yes. some have stayed in syria and -- in iraq and syria. what they want is a wider domination, actually, over the region, and they have managed actually. there are reports saying that they have around 11,000 armed fighters. they do attract a lot of foreign fighters. >> well, that was a point i was going to ask you, actually. where do they all come from? clearly not just iraq and syria. >> no, of course not. i mean, you would think that the majority of them actually -- especially in syria, 60% of them, the fighters, are syrians. iraq, it might be slightly different situation, because not only have they atracked people from iraq itself, like locals, who were fighting at the beginning of the u.s.-led invasion. then they started actually fighting iraqis and everyone who they thought was against them.

they also attracted people, fighters, from the afghanistan. they've attracted people from the middle east. it's worldwide. it's not just local syrians and iraqis anymore. >> it feels like -- i guess it's been seen as something of a coup for them. let's take a look at how this has happened. there are bound to be those that say, well, the americans pulled out. mayhem ensued. >> those who say that say they should go back in, and then there are those that say if they hadn't gone in there in the first place they wouldn't be facing. al qaeda was not there in iraq in 2003. i think that ignores a cold reality, and that is that the west collectively has failed iraq not just since 2003, but going back decades, and it's really particularly the united states really has never put

together a scratch sheet for iraq that puts iraq first rather than say commercial interests, oil interests, or short-term interests. so what we see now is a local failure in iraq itself, whether it's a government under nouri al-maliki has profoundly sectarian, that has aliened a huge swath of iraqi society that is sunni, in the way it was denouncing and also alienated the shia population when he was in power. >> that point there, you can't argue. you can have the broad brush blame on the western allies, if you like, but nouri al-maliki's handling of his time in power equally has to be held up and accountable for this. >> absolutely. there is that local failure. he really has failed to bring together sunni arab pole tigs in iraq. >> it's bigger than that now, isn't it? >> absolutely. >> take us through the region, and we see a failure to deal with other crisis. there has been spillover from

iraq and syria now. in all of these crisis, there doesn't seem to be the sort of leadership to address these issues, so into that vacuum, that political failure, groups like isis, that was referred to within syria, have managed to step forward and fill in that vacuum. >> what about the idea -- we've heard newer a al-maliki saying basically all of you out there, grab a gun come and help. it sounds a desperate measure. we've also got a kurdish community saying we are ready and want to help as well. is there a way, do you think, of overturning the isis position, of regaining, taking control back of mosul and, indeed, the whole province? >> well, short-term there may be a military option, but with foreign national aid and assistance and a combination of a central government forces and kurdish forces could perhaps, you know, knock isis back. if that happened without the

political framework as a track sheet to reunite iraq, this is just a very short-term fix-it, and if the situation in syria continues as well, remember that mosul is closer to baraka that controls isis and syria than it is to baghdad. we've seen fighters and arms going across that border. we need to see some solutions to these crisis internationally. we need to be working together. we need to see the major powers taking this extremist -- it's no longer just a crisis in iraq. we're seeing the sorts of large numbers of displacement of people that we've also seen in syria. >> you will have to see how much attention is being paid to that on the ground in the real level. thanks very much, indeed. chris is the director of council for arab british understanding and -- well, let's get other news for you now. it's just the last hour, the spanish parliament is overwhelmingly voted to approve

changes to constitution, which would allow the king to abdicate, so his son, prince philippe could take the throne. spain's two main parties backed a bill that some smaller parties did oppose it. they said they wanted a referendum on the future of the monarchy, which has been tainted by a series of recent scandals. thousands of police have raid aid religious commune in south korea in the latest attempt to find a fugitive billionaire who is wanted in connection with the sinking of the sewol ferry in april. police failed, though, to find the leading member of the evangelical baptist church of korea at his complex south of seoul. his family owns the ship, which sank with the loss of 300 lives. the harry potter author swrchlt k. rowling has donated $1.6 million to the campaign to keep scotland in the united kingdom. she says she is concerned those in favor of independence are minimizing and even denying the risks of splitting with the u.k.

swrchlt k. rowling was actually born in england, but has lived in scotland for 21 years. now, whether you love or hate football, brace yourself. just a day to go until the starting match in brazil. after hosting an international event like this one, the country wants the tournament to show off all its potential. intended to be poor planning of protests, which have stolen most of the headlines. speaking on national tv tuesday night the president said her country is ready and also said the critics of brazil are already losing. katie watson has this report from sao paulo. ♪ >> reporter: it's meant to be a song to get people in the mood to kick off and showcase the best of brazil. when the official world cup tune was released, it received a lot of criticism.

people here complaining it's full of stereotypes. a cliche of summer and football many brazilians have to shake off. i asked people on the streets of sao paulo what they thought of their country's image. >> translator: brazil is a country of summer and football. i lived in spain and france. people like brazilians. we're really friendly and warm. >> translator: brazil is going through a very difficult period, and it's going to get even worse. >> reporter: so brazil is more than just beaches. in the past decade the economic growth has proved the country's potential, but the past year has also revealed the frustrations. each protester in recent weeks hasn't exactly been promoting the country the way brazil is. brazil hopes that having the world cup would be a positive

image for the country. these are the images people are seeing, growing frustration for the funding of the world cup. it's having an affect on business decisions too, according to some experts. >> the world cup is a very unpopular brand. brazilians are not like fifa. they associate exactly now -- that's a big brand, and that's a popular brand for us. >> the negativity here has been shown the world over. will it alter people's view of brazil? >> everyone thinks of them being a wonderful country that you can escape to in their mind. they're very attached to that. i think even if it takes a bit of a dip, it will probably go back again to being positive. >> after a difficult year, that positivity will be a welcome relief. the hope is that everybody will get behind the tournament. that many people think it will only happen if brazil scores a victory on the pitch.

katie watson, bbc news, so paul wroe. >> i wish to tell you now, before it all starts, you get all the latest on our website, including a special live page where you can find details with every fixture and also the latest on the built-up to the tournament itself. bbc.com/world cup. i've got some breaking news for you coming out of iraq now as the news agency says that jihadists have killed 15 iraqi security personnel in the course of the day in areas of the northeastern province of kirkuk. that was seized by militants just a day before. we have this backed up by a senior police officer and local officials according to afp. six of them killed in the riyadh area, another four in assad. five more at a checkpoint. that is a total of 15 iraqi security personnel being killed by jihadists, according to afp and sources in kirkuk province

in iraq. troubled times in the country. do stay with us, though, here on bbc world news. still to come on gmt, as british court professor ruled on whether afghan interpreters who served with british forces should be allowed to now settle in the u.k. we speak to one interpreter live here on gmt. ng out on the couch, you could be hanging ten. what are you waiting for? seize the summer with up to 40% off hotels from travelocity.

>> for just about as long as british forces have been involved hundreds of afghans have interpreted. for those still working after 2012, they've been entitled relocate. all the others have been denied that opportunity. that has become a case of discrimination for some of them who fear for their lives at home.

>> we just get the silhouette for reasons of rafy's security. huh for joining us on gmt. could i just ask you, first of all, when did you work with the british forces? >> hi. thank you. i'm glad to be here. actually, i started working for the british forces in 2004 and continued until june 2011. >> sorry. so you finished before that what seems like a critical day to december 2012, and, yet, you're in birmingham, you're in the u.k. how did you get there? >> well, i came through channels. i came to the country, to the u.k. illegally only because i was at risk. my mother was at risk. my family's life was at risk.

>> what did the ministry of defense say to you then at the time many which you were talking about your own safety concerns? what was her advice to you? >> well, their advice was that i should move to a different location. i should hang my car, my telephone number. i should not go home. >> you thought you capitol just do that and expect to remain safe. tell us about that, the swrrny you had to take then to get to birmingham. >> well, i spoke to the military offices, the intelligence officers and the british forces in afghanistan that this is a situation. had he came back with me to the same answer saying it's quite serious, and you should be

careful with yourself, and there isn't any formal procedures where you could find and we could take you to a safe place, and all we can do is suggest to you these precautions, and it came to a point where my life and my family's life was so at risk, and i had to flee the country only to save my family's life. >> right. that process has taken you a long time to establish yourself here. >> yes. once we got to italy from there, two of the days i suffered in the little boat, i went to france, and from france i was living in the -- for a week. i sneaked into the u.k.

>> ultimately, you have been granted permission to stay, haven't you, which seems an iron where i given that the sort of letter of the law you weren't working for the forces for long enough. i just wonder then, what do you feel about the situation that those interpreters have taken to the high court now is. >> well, let me go back to how did the residency appear m u.k.? >> well, really we're pressed for time now, but i do just wonder, do you feel that you and your colleagues, frankly, can overturn this rule and deserve to? >> well, yes, of course. this is the legal and moral responsibility of the u.k. government because these few hundred afghan interpreters served the british forces, helped people in afghanistan among the 13 million population of afghanistan. we were the only people to help

them, and now it's a moral obligation of the government. tloo they do say you could apply for asylum under an intimidation policy. >> the policy is so far every single interpreter has been refusing afghanistan. the process which is running there is not fair. it's not just. who is running it? it's the people who are refusing the help for he's interpreters. >> rafa, thank you very much, indeed, for joining us. rafa, an interpreter with the m. o.d. right. a british photographer is putting together an illustrated glossary of the landscape around him. his name is dominik. he is on a land reader project. have a look. dawn, the deep-sided coastal inlet. swrak jackstraw. the storm tangle of trees. there's something nice about knowing that word for that being in that place. >> the land reader project grew

out of an idea i had a long time ago to produce a glossary of british landscape. i'm dominik, and i'm a photographer. we are going to go into a landscape feature called castle rock. ♪ >> i like traveling around the united kingdom and look at different landscapes, and when i tried to find some of the journalies, i didn't have the vocabulary to make any description. i thought there must be a resource out there somewhere to kind of provide this glossary of landscape, and i couldn't find it, and it seemed to me this is a bit crazy omission. >> there are quite a few similar rocky features in similar valleys. a lot of them called castle rock. obviously at some point someone decided that's what that kind of

rock should be called. >> over the course of it i realized that when we don't have language for things, we treat them differently. when we can't adequately describe the landscape, we can't adequately connect with the landscape. the importance of the project is to try and reintroduce them to words that we had, the infamous connected words for landscape features, and by doing that to make possible a more intimate and connected relationship of the landscape. >> so this is a sun wheel. small piece of snow on a steep slope. it accumulates other snow as it goes. eventually it gets to the bottom, and you have had sort of disk shape, and you can see the trail. they're rocks with holes. i'm guessing that the glossary will have about five of those by

the end of the we're. the breaking news in the program. news agency reporting jihadists have killed 15 iraqi security personnel in areas of kirkuk province in northeastern iraq. stay with us here on gmt. coming up in a moment, cabs and their problems. when i was pregnant... i got more advice than i knew what to do with. what i needed was information i could trust on how to take care of me and my baby. luckily, unitedhealthcare has a simple program that helps moms stay on track with their doctors and get the right care and guidance-before and after the baby is born. simple is good right now. (anncr vo) innovations that work for you. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

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>> welcome to gmt here on bbc world news with me, david eades. in this half hour the taxi wars come to a capital near you. taxi drivers across some of europe's biggest cities strike in protest of the app which they say is taking away their fairs. they lower your cholesterol, reduce your blood pressure, so why are some doctors saying steer clear of statens? also alex is having a look at

what's happening in business. >> even more waves than usual. the first marketplace in the u.s. for allbaba. it's even fast and even better hand other global names like amazon and ebay. hello. as many of you have seen here in london, you know it's a city full of icons, many of them from the past. we have the famous red phone boxes, of course. tourists tend to take pictures in them, though they never would make a call on them. once responsible for safeguarding the british crown jewel, now very much a tourist attraction in their own right. another icon, the black cab. still serves a purpose, but for how much longer because today across london the city's black

cab drivers are going on strike against a smart its phone app called uber that allows you to call on other taxi drivers, not the black cabs, to get you from, say, from point a to point b. the app wants to change how taxis are ordered many the u.k. and indeed across the fwloeb. today's protest is being mirrored in many other capital cities and follows some other pretty ugly clashes between taxi and uber drivers in places like new york, sydney, paris. we're going to be asking you technology is taking over the taxi business. first, though, let's go over to look where lucas who is out on the street. >> absolutely, david. you can see we're about an hour away -- hour and a half away from he's protests. police have already erected barricades and right down the mountain. that leads down to buckingham palace down that way. there is definitely an increased

police presence. you can see one of the black cabs here already making their way to the zone. the police have started to gather in this area. now, they're expecting anywhere between 3,000 to 10,000 black cabs to converge on this zone. coming from buckingham palace right the way down up here through trafalgar square before going to westminster abbey as well. it's all because of an app that uses a cell phone inside the cars to figure out just how far and how long a trip will take a person and clat the price. black cabs, they think that's like a meter, and if you are in the u.k. and here in london and you want to have a meter in your car, you have to be a registered black cab to do so. earlier on we spoke to one uber driver and black cab driver about some of their concerns around the industry. >> we have a problem. the fact is they come into london and have gone straight through here. they've been licensed. over use the system with an i

poen. >> the app works in such a way that where your car is, you can actually track it real-time on the map. >> it states quite clearly that anything that can be undertaken, should be done from an obvious place, and it's not. >> you can tell them what the destination is. your destination can change, and it's calculated on the gps system. >> they'll say there's a meter. it's not a meter because it's not connected to the vehicle. that means it's a meter, you know? >> it's more like a gps tracking system. >> we're highly regulated, and they're not. you know, you just wonder why. >> the process is very simple. it's a view in which they explain what uber is it and they check and then you'll handed an iphone and an app. you're free to sign on and receive jobs. smoo when you are picking

members up off the street, you need to know that that guy is picking you up -- >> everyone has heard of the black cab's position, because they are an institution. >> we just want them to be treated exactly the same as we are. that's all we ask. >> well, you can see there's a few black cabs making their way past me at the moment. we're definitely seeing a few more gather in this region. an interesting development this morning. uber is going to allow the black cabs to access new customers. they're going to have a black cab edition of the -- are there black cabs that make use of that in london? all eyes are on this region on cabs like this and in about an hour, hour and a half time all this area should be very much gridlocked with them all making their way here. >> that will be fun, won't it? thank you very much, indeed. let's just have a look at what this might amount to. with me here interests an internet investor and entrepreneur that knows very much about this industry. not the least with a cabby, that

is a sort of to compare the market. we'll come to that in a moment. i mean, you presumably see this just as the natural order of things in modernizing world. >> well, i think so. there are several examples of other industries that are disrupted and technology is disrupting transportation. in particular, private park. it's been happening in london for the last two or three years without such -- i think uber has really touched a nerve because of its charging mechanism. the black cab drivers are saying breaches the current regulations put in place by transport for london. >> it would seem that they have a point? >> well, i think they have got a point, and one would really look at the regulation and say is it fit for purpose for the 21st century, because when it was drafted, no one anticipated the rise of the smartphone and such apps that come in, and i think transport for london is taking quite a hands off approach. they've put it in the hands of the high court, but they need to have a fresh look at licensing laws to embrace such

technologies and allow everybody to operate on a fair playing field. >> it's a classic case of the speed of movement of this world being far, far more than regulators can deal with. i can imagine what black cab drivers are saying to uber saying, don't worry, come and join us. that will go down well, won't it? not. where do you think this is going to go? are we going to have to go through some pretty unpleasant industrial times because the regulators won't change overnight, will they? >> i think that's part of the challenge. i think we're seeing the start of a battle that's going to run and run, and we're seeing it run in very many major cities around the world. we're seeing similar problems in france and new york and san francisco in particular, but i think part of the beast that the taxi drivers have, the black taxi drivers, is the three years that had he had to spend taking the knowledge, where a lot of uber drivers coming in -- >> knowledge being to know absolutely every which way to get around. >> exactly. it's a three-year training program. the argument that they have is somebody can come in, be a mini

cab driver in a far shorter period of time, and if a new app is allowed to charge in a similar way, ie, on a meter where there's no defined pricing, they're saying what is the point for us spending that time, effort, and money to become a black tax driver? >> tell me a bit about cabby then because that's not uber, clearly. you give people what? the whole gambit of options? >> well, in effect. they'll take the very best mini cab fleet, and they'll compare their prices and the time of arrival and give you a choice of up to ten choices when you book your cab, and you can book it with a predefined time and a price. i think the difference with an uber is you don't know what you are going to be charged, and you can't prebook it. there's a significant proportion of the market that do want to know how much a taxi is going to cost and what time it's going to arrive, and that's a differentiation. >> make sure everything you do work with is regulated and up to the swrob. >> well, exactly. you know, the evidence there is on the minicab companies, but

they rate every swrurny that you have as rated, and if a minicab company doesn't cut the mustard, they're removed from the platform pretty swiftly. >> thanks very much. >> thank you, david. okay. alice, over to you. more business. >> thank you very much, david. we start with problems with the tax man for some major companies out there because the european commission has opened three investigations into decisions by tax authorities at ireland, the netherlands, and luxembourg. it wants to examine how much tax is paid by the wrld's biggest brands. we're talking about apple and starbucks and fiat. our correspondent is in brussels for us. chris morris. chris, the question being asked here is whether european union rules on state aid has been breached. >> the commission is very clear. it's not investigating the entire tax regime that the three countries concerned, ireland,

netter land, and luxembour fwsh. >> it's whether companies such as apple and starbucks, among the biggest mamz in the world, have been given preferential tax treatment, which gives them unfair petive advantage over others. that's how they would break e.u. rules. tax is not an issue of e.u. confidence. it's an issue of marshall government competence. when it comes to issues of -- then they do have a real roll to play, and commissioner in charge of these things has made it very clear today that they have serious doubts about these three specific cases and this is only the beginning of their investigation. >> chris, this isn't the first time that question marks over the tax affairs of apple and starbucks and fiat have been raised, is it? >> no, it's not. it's a big international political issue now for the g-20, for the oecb. these are things which are being investigated in various

quarters. what the commissioner has is a real power to force countries to change their policies if they're found to have breached those state aid rules. i think that's important to emphasize. it is really in a sense the country's tax affairs rather than the companies themselves that are under investigation here. had those countries offered companies things they shouldn't have done, and that, of course, gets into the issue of potential recovery. well, in theory yes, it does. it's often been the case, and companies haven't had to pay, and it's been taken an offer from a country.

we'll have to see how that progresses. chris morris there for us in brussels on that. china's retile giant allababa is making bold moves to expand. it's launching a u.s. island to be branded as a more higher coast for boutique real he retailers, but it's one of several news agencies for the group. it has investments totalling $6.7 billion in the past six months alone. all before it's planned many new york, an initial public offering that could value the firm as high as $150 billion u.s. there are those of us across the

globe that have not heard about them, but we'll hear about them soon. >> allababa is the world's dominant e-commerce player. especially in mainland china. they've got higher margins hand facebook, and they're probably going to have at least $150 billion market cap when they go public in new york later this year. the rest of the world has to start to get ready to see alibaba as selling services throughout the world. they just bought several million -- coastal service system because they want to sell more products in southeast az wra. they've been making a lot of acquisitions in the united states, and they're about to launch 11 main that's going to be an on-line mall-like experience selling to middle class americans from small and medium size retailers. the world better get ready for alibaba because it's becoming a global player and innovative player. >> it's been going on a spending spree ahead of its launch in the united states. it's going to buy all the remaining shares of the mobile

brand uc web, which is about to make it the biggest merger in chinese internet history. the sums involved are huge. what are these chinese brands doing differently or even better than their other, perhaps, more traditional e-commerce rivals like amazon or ebay? >> that's a great question. i think a lot of people think that chinese companies are copycats. had he sort of take what worked in the west and the united kingdom or america and bring it into china. that was largely true about ten years ago, but what we've started to see in the last two or three years is that chinese internet players are focused on innovation, and right now they're focused on innovation into china. alibaba has been going out, and you can buy wealth management products through your mobile phone, so over 700 billion worth of products are sold to chinese consumers. about 88 million chinese bought these products lou their mobile phones from alibaba.

they've allowed for payment systems that can use escrow to get over some of the trust issues within the chinese internet community space. when you are starting to see now is billions of dollars are involved. chinese firms are looking to ininnovate not just for china wraen more, but for the world. that's happening in a mobile space where we're seeing the most venture capital money going in and most of the entrepreneurism going in. >> bidu, a copycat of google, just spent $1.9 billion to buy an app store called 91 app. >> the message is watch out, alibaba is coming. sure. many thanks to sean there. author of end of copycat china. okay. that's all the business news now for this hour. back to you. >> thanks very much, indeed. thanks for being with us here on bbc world news. coming up in just a moment, we're a day away from the start of the world cup.

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>> you're watching gmt with me, david eades. the top story this hour. militants have reportedly now with traun from the strategic town of ba somewhere i after they've taken mosul where half a million have fled. days ago now before the world cup kicks off in brazil. the country is under the spotlight more than ever before. now, for years british doctors have promoted taking statens as an effective way to reduce blood pressure, decruise

the risk of heart disease. in february the u.k. government has -- virtually all men over -- to be encouraged to take this cholesterol busting tablet. well, a group of nine medical experts is now opposing the instructions for doctors to overprescribe statens. at least seven million british adults already take the drug. there's no dispute, though, that high risk of heart attack or stroke do benefit from statens, but the government health body has proposed a further five million people, as lower risk, should also be prescribed. the staten. a group of leading doctors say the drug's side effects actually outweigh the small benefit that statens would achieve for low risk patients. that's a conundrum. with me here is health correspondent nick. there will be seven million adults saying surely we can't be wrong. they're not wrong, are they in. >> no. that's right. they are the higher risk groups, and doctors estimate that for

every 10,000 people regularly using statens, 450 heart attacks and strokes will be prevented every five years. this controversy surrounds the extension of the use of statens. it's just a proposal at this point to extend their use for people who have a 10% risk. >> and this doctors are saying this is not a good idea. as they got evidence to back that up? >> they point to studies that show the side effects have been grossly underestimated. one of the major concerns is it's medicalization of five million people who are essentially at the moment healthy. now, like any drug, statens have side effects. they've been reported to be kidney and liver problems, diabetes, and muscle pain. the question doctors always ask is do the benefits outweigh the risk? >> what this sort of thing for getting in the gym, keeping fit,

eating more fruit and veg and less of the bad fats and all that sort of stuff. nonetheless, the national health service has to consider the cost equation, and i presume that's why there's a suggestion more people should take statens. >> one of the things is that as generic versions have become available, the cost has fallen. in the last leyears the cost has fallen three-fold, and it's now just over $150 million a year spent on statens. this is allowing them to extend the use of statens, but they do say that is up to doctors and patients themselves to work out what is the risk and whether hangs to an individual's lifestyle will actually reduce the risk enough to avoid the use of drugs. >> and, of course, doctors will take advice from the authorities. just give us a sense. you're talking about the u.k. here. what is the global reach of statens now? >> well, statens are the most commonly prescribed category of drug in the world. there's more than 200 million

precipitationings each we're. there is a press debt for what the nhs in the u.k. is trying to do. in the u.s. they have started prescribing statens for people who have a 7.5% chance of developing cardiovascular disease in the next ten years. they're proposing it to be 10%. this is happening in other places. >> wide spread spraed. that's for sure. nick, thank you very much, indeed. whether you love or hate it, i should say brace yourself. just a day to go for the start of the world cup's opening match in brazil. all eyes on the national teams taking part. now, pakistan is not actually one of them, but the country is right in the thick of the action. pakistan making the footballs used in every game. we went to visit a factory in the northeast region making those balls. these footballs will be used in

world cup matches hit by some of the most famous footballing feet on the planet. this factory in northeastern pakistan is one of two factories in the world who have contracts to make footballs for the world cup. the other one is in china. these footballs are -- it means brazilian. the balance of the ball diz plays the colors of the brazilian flag. these represent the mighty colored risk bands that brazilians often wear and these white stars are a reference to the country's -- and five-time fifa world cup winners. footballs like these used to be hand stitched, but pakistan got left behind when the technology developed polishing stitching. it took ten years for the factory here to catch up to its competitors, and that meant a decade without a contract. >> the technology changes, and -- >> translator: pakistani companies didn't have the most up-to-date technology.

the chinese companies got smarter and advanced. they were eager to produce more footballs with that technology at good prices. lots of buyers went to china. >> it took a $1.1 million investment to upgrade the factory. now the new machines are in place. the contract has been renewed, and the footballs are coming off the production line. had he say it will be a moment of glory to see the footballs in the stadium in brazil. >> translator: it takes a lot of hard work to make these footballs, and we will be proud that our footballs will be going to brazil for the world cup. i'll be watching the game on tv with my family. >> pakistan is better known for its cricket. the country has a long way to go before it puts itself on the football map. for now these balls have put the country back in the beautiful game.

bbc news. >> we'll take all the blame when that ball goes in the wrong direction, which happens every time. don't forget, you want the latest on the world cup? we'll provide it for you on the website. including a special live page where you can get details of each and every fixture. also, the latest on the build-up to the tournament itself. bbc.com/world cup. for a reminder, the top story here on gmt. it's estimated half a million people have fled from in and around the iraqi city of mosul after it was captured by jihadist fighters long into the islamic militant group isis. the group is said to be processing ahead with its advance. gunmen reported to have taken control of the oil refineries and neighboring province. according to afp jihadists have killed 15 iraqi security personnel from wednesday in areas of kirkuk province.

those -- that is coming from senior police and local sources. nouri al-maliki, prime minister due to talk later. we'll keep across that for you here on bbc world news. thank you. it's a known fact that 100% of the swordfishes

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