hello. i'm david eades with bbc world news. our top stories. america considers expanding operations against islamic state militants. is it time to take them on in syria? >> they're beyond just a terrorist group. they marry ideology, a sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowl es. this is beyond anything we've seen. after the kremlin called intolerable delays on the

boarder in ukraine. five weeks after the downs of mh 17, malaysia brings home its victims. and the vacuum with too much suction power. why authorities are pulling the plu plug. hello. thanks for joining us. the united states warned the threat from islamic state militants is the most dangerous it's seen in years. efforts to defeat them will need to extend to syria, the heart of the base. chuck hagueel has described it imminent and beyond anything we've seen. the u.s. army has said efforts

to defeat the group would have to extend into syria describing the border between the two as essentially non existent. >> how should america and allies tack ale the islamic state? during recent months, militants have been gaining ground in syria and iraq seizing towns, killing those that refuse to convert to their brand of islam. britain and america are hunting for the man that killed james foley. they threatened another hostage contingent on what america does next. u.s. defense officials said two weeks of american air strikes had helped break the islamic state advance. they gave a bleak picture of the threat jihadist pose. >> they're beyond just a terrorist group. they marry ideology,

sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowless. they're well funded. this is beyond anything we've seen. we must prepare for everything. the only way you do that is take a cold, steely, hard look at it and get ready. >> but get ready for what? so far the united states has focused on containing militants in iraq rather than defeating them. the pentagon is now hinting at a wider strategy giving few specific details. >> this is on organization with apocalypse end of days that has to be defeated. can they be defeated without addressing that part of the organization that resides in syria? the answer is no. that will have to be addressed on what is at this point a non

existing border. >> president obama described the islamic state as a cancer. the question is how to cure it when there is so little domestic appetite for another long war. officials say they're not ruling anything out. bbc news, washington. let's go to our correspo correspondent in baghdad. i wonder how much, how far will the iraqi government welcome greater american intervention? >> reporter: i'm sure they will. the iraqi government whether the outgoing government of maliki or the government in the making of the next prime minister has been asking for more significant american support but on the ground if we talk about what's happening on the ground, the iraqi troops now are trying and actually have been trying to retake the city of tikrit for weeks. the hometown of the form her

president hussein. without ground support and success that we have seen from the american forces up north and specifically to support the efforts of the kurdish troops in retaking areas in the north. of course america made it clear in early stages of this crisis they would be waiting to see progress on the political scene here in iraq in term temperatures of forming an inclusive government in order to make their support more effective. >> air strikes clearly have their place don't they? if we look at what's happened around the mosul dam. i guess the question for the iraqi government whoever is heading it, do the forces themselves have the way to keep

tikrit and mosul dam if they get it back? >> of course that's the question. they have a long way to go. they haven't retaken any major city or town from those that they have lost to isis over the past two to three months. that will will take more significant support whether from the american forces, more american air support and of course more unity and coordination between the iraqi troops and the kurdish fighters, peshmerga forces. more significantly from within the sunni communities. this is a problem that started and still happening within the sunni community here in iraq and a significant change is needed within the community in order to defeat the islamic state. >> thanks very much. he's in baghdad for us. united nations human rights

chief has strongly condemned the u.n.'s security council for what she called a failure to deal with conflicts in a speech she made days before she stands down from her post. it says if security council had been more active, hundreds of thousands of lives could have been saved. she said the council too often lacked the resolve to end conflict. >> short term go political associations and national interests defied have taken precedence over intolerable human suffering and long term will threats to international peace and security. i firmly believe that greater responsiveness by this council would have saved hundreds of thousands of lives. >> iran's trucks have crossed the border into ukraine. those are heading towards the

rebel held city of luhansk. the convoy was traveling with the red cross. the aid agency said security concerns prevented them from accompanying it. we've got pictures of where that is leaving from. we can speak to our correspondent daniel sanford. daniel is in moscow for us. we got the picture up of the location of where the trucks have headed off from. they must have made their way towards luhansk. what sort of distance does it have to go? >> it's not very far. it's typically less than an hour's drive in normal time. the problem is that there's a kind of double front line between the border and the city of luhansk. the area around the border is controlled by the pro russia gunmen. they're in control of the border points and around area it. luhansk is controlled by pro

russian gunmen. in between those two areas controlled by pro russian gunmen, it's a line of ukrainian government forces. they've basically cut that road from the board torder to luhans. if that goes up the board tore li -- board tore lirder to luhans going to bump back to the territory. they're under the red cross convoy. red cross has nothing to do with it now. ukrainians have a decision to make about the convoy. will they stop it and say it can't proceed? what kind of reaction will that provoke from moscow? will they shoot at it saying it's a mohostile set of vehicle? would they allow it to go across

the front line. russians will then argue there's a humanitarian operation going on in lieu happens. ukrainians should cease fire. >> one way or the other with moscow saying blow this for r hanging around, we're just getting on with it. that's bound to raise suspicions again. >> yeah. the russians put out a very strong statement before the trucks even started moving through the border post. they said there are more and more artificial demands and excuses. it was becoming a mockery. it was impossible to tolerate the lawlessness and blatant lies and unliability of their negotiation partners. that's language from the russian foreign ministry. then addressing the possibility of some kind of attack on the convoy or even i suppose it being stopped, they said. responsibility for the possible consequences of an act of provocation against the humanitarian convoy will fully and completely lie on those that

sacrifice people's lives as a warning moscow may take action if the convoy is disrupted. there's a lot of risks at the moment around this operation of things escalating badly. we'll keep close tabs on it. thanks very much indeed. let's catch up with business news. aaron is with us. when ever the americans are thinking about interest rate, we all take note. everybody stops and watches it watching for a rise from over there. what can we expect in term ts o the speech given by the big boss, janet yellen due to give the speech at the world central bankers and policy makers meeting held in ohio. investors will be watching for clues on the likely timing of an interest rate rise. the latest fed minutes released wednesday indicated that a majority of central bank policy

makers in the u.s. believe if the economy is improving enough for cost of barring to rise sooner than previously thought. all eyes and ears on janet later on today, this friday. how about this? did you know poland is the world's largest producer of these apples? until this month's russian import ban, it was poe land, the biggest supplier to that russian market. while moss cow's embargo may be hitting growers everywhere on the continent, it's problematic because apples are 90% of the annual sales to russia. 340 euros, $350 million. it's a race against time to decide what can be done with all those apple crops. we're going to keep a cross on that story. here's a story that really sucks. anyone wanting to buy -- not as

much a laugh as last time. anyone wanting to buy the powerful vacuum cleaner only has nine days. come september 1st, companies will be banned from importing vacuum cleaners with an engine with output of 1600 watts. hoover says most are in that category. one study finds five of top seven cleaners had motors more powerful than 1600 watts. why is this happening? the new european rules that are part of the directive design to help tackle climate change doesn't stop there. from september 1, 2017, all vacuum cleaners have to have an engine with less than 900 watts. lots going on. tweet me on twitter @bbc aaron.

phil has a hair drier with 1100 watts. with hair like that, you're going to need it. >> aaron, thanks very much indeed. thanks for being with us on bbc world news. plenty more to come including what they make of these chaps. they've had enough of them or some of them. are they going to ban them? we'll find out. the new samsung galaxy tab s, the worlds most entertaining device with a color... colorfully brilliant screen that blows the competition out of the water. what is this? i thought i was doing the announcing... stunningly thin and effortlessly light..." i was literally about to say that. it certainly has the best screen of any samsung tablet. and i would add... or of any tablet, period. or of any tablet, period. see, buddy... teamwork. introducing the galaxy tab s with twice the resolution of hdtv, it's the world's most entertaining device.

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and a third simply doesn't want to be here. ♪ until now... until right booking now. ♪ planet earth's number one accomodation site booking.com booking.yeah! you're watching bbc world news. i'm david eades. the u.s. says the fight against the islamic threat is for the long term. trucks from a russian aid convoy stream into ukraine without permission after russia accuses ukraine of obstruction. it's a day for malaysia to

come to something of a stand still and observe a national day of mourning to mark the return home of remains of first 20 victims from the downing of flight mh 17 over ukraine last month. 28 of 43 malaysia victims have been identified now. our correspondent jonathan head told me about one of the funerals taking place in kuala lumpur. >> we're down at what will be several funerals going on in kuala lumpur today. this is the funeral of a 37-year-old flight after tttend mother of two. her family just buried her. funerals will go on in other parts of malaysia when bodies are flown back to their hometowns in distant parts of malaysia. this is marked a national day of mourning. bodies were greeted and almost given state funerals, full state

honors. that's a reflection of what this country has had to endure, at least the aviation industry. two catastrophic accidents bringing down it would have large airliners of the state and national airline, loss of more than 500 lives, 93 malaysian. they've made the coming home of these 20 victims the first from mh 370, the plane that went missing. these are the first from either plane to come back. they're making this state occasion. flags at half mass. we watched the coffin draped with the malaysian flag brought in by malaysian soldiers. it's a big day for them and marks a dreadful year in aviation for malaysia. the united nations says more than 190,000 people have been killed over the course of a three year conflict in syria. that's double the number a year ago. the figure is the first to be

issued by the human rights office since july 2013. it documented then that 100,000 people had been killed. our middle east editor has the assessment of the past year. there are disturbing images from the very start. >> in three horrific years in syria, no incident is worse than the chemical attack that killed and injure sod many in the rebel held suburb of damascus a year ago. the west and rebels blame the assad regime. it denied the charge. americans threaten trouble and specify if mass casualties are specified by chemical weapons. when these people were killed,

u.s. military action against the regime looked certain. in damascus at, supporters of president assad were volunteering for militias amid real anxiety about what americans might do. the war seemed to be at a turn thing point. in britain, parliament was recalled and voted against joining the americans in syria. it was a big factor in america's decision to cancel the air strikes at the last minute. >> i think the policy that the american government followed on syria, everyone before the chemical attacks was tentative and indecisive. i think it sent a signal to people in both moderate rebels in syria and particularly extreme rebels in syria we were not prepared to reengage in this region. >> for president assad's supporters, volunteering as human shields had potential

targets in damascus. the deal looked good. syria would give up chemical arsenal to lift the threat of an american attack. the assad regime recovered its nerve and believed the americans had blinked first. history is full of "what ifs." a direct reason there's no been no direct intervention in the syrian war has been fear of consequences. not just getting sucked into a political and military problem, but actively making matters worse not better. what if the americans had bombed assad's men? it would not have ended the war, but it might have changed the balance of power. it could have been the catalyst for more american support for syrian insurgents who were also opposed to the jihadist group then called isis. >> that's certainly what syrian fighters hoping for more western

support believes. >> if american strikes had happen, the regime wouldn't have been strengthened. islamic state wouldn't have been strengthened. air strikes didn't happen. now it's having to fight regime and islamic state. >> the conflict in syria has evolved into a ln overlapping o civil wars. you could see it in aleppo this summer. the syrian government fights insurgents. sometimes the insurgents fight each other. isis now rebranded as islamic state came to syria from iraq as al qaeda offshoot. it's fought the antiregime forces more than it fought the syrian regime itself. the rise of isis in syria gave it a launch pad to storm back to

iraq. it captured large amounts of american weaponry from the iraqi army. iraqi security forces were strengthening their positions on the edge of baghdad in july against the islamic state advance. i asked as exploited anger of sunnis furious of the way iraqi shias have power. the best hope is it will offer enough to turn them away from i.s. that won't happen easily. >> translator: we will not fight isis or any other terrorism as long as haven't received our rights. we will not fight terrorism or what is known as isis as long as the government has not stood up to terrorist militias that butchers sunnis. >> the west is deeply involved in this crisis even though it

would prefer to stay out. britain's deliveries of humanitarian aid could turn to a deeper military role. perhaps directed at several thousand british and other european men who fight for i.s. in damascus this morning, families displaced by three years of fighting were going home after a local truce in their suburbs. as the syrian regime calms capital, it's hoping for tat of alliance against the islamic state. that would be a remarkable turn around for president assad who may already be the leader who's done best out of the last year. jeremy bowen, bbc news. let's move onto something completely different. the monkey is probably the greatest tourist attraction. most of the 200 or so spend

their time up on the rock. some have been getting more confident, cheeky perhaps. in search is of food, they adventure to town. locals say they're invading their space and becoming too aggressive as well. authorities are having to work on i a plane to move some of them to animal sanctuaries. not all however. now if you've ever wondered what an exploding star looks like, we can help you. here we are. the big bubbly cloud here is a shock wave generated by the explosion which took place around 3700 years ago. those bits you can see, that's where the debris hits other clouds of gas and dust ripping them to shreds as they do. this is an awful long way away. it's not going to do planet earth any damage it says here. let me remind you of our main story. that's the warning of washington about militants calling themselves the islamic state.

u.s. says they are the most dangerous threat to the country in recent years. america's defense secretary said air strikes helped to break the islamist advance in iraq, but the militants could be expected to regroup. thanks for being with us. (vo) if you have type 2 diabetes, you may know what it's like to deal with high... and low blood sugar. januvia (sitagliptin) is a once-daily pill that, along with diet and exercise, helps lower blood sugar. januvia works when your blood sugar is high and works less when your blood sugar is low, because it works by enhancing your body's own ability to lower blood sugar. plus januvia, by itself, is not likely to cause weight gain or low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). januvia should not be used in patients with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. tell your doctor if you have a history of pancreatitis. serious side effects can happen, including pancreatitis which may be severe and lead to death. stop taking januvia and call your doctor right away if

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on the border. weeks after downing of mh 17 over ukraine, malaysia brings home the first of the victims. would you drench your cell phone for charity? the ice bucket challenge is flooding the internet, but has president obama got cold feet? hello. the united states has warned the threat from islamic state militants is the most dangerous it's faced in recent years. there's a growing recognition in the west that efforts to defeat them will need to extend to syria. the heart of their power base. the u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel described that threat as imminent. he also said in the news conference they are beyond just a terrorist group beyond anything that we've seen. the u.s. army's senior general

says the efforts would have to extent into syria describing the border between as essentially non existent. we have this report from washington. >> how should america and allies tackle the islamic state? militants have have been gaining ground in syria and iraq, seizing towns, killing those that refused to convert to their brand of islam. britain and america are hunting for the man that killed the american journalist james foley. he also threaten another hostage based on what america does next. officials said two weeks of american air strikes helped break the islamic state advance. they gave a bleak picture of the threat jihadist pose. >> they're beyond a terrorist group.

they marry ideology, sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowless. they're are tremendously well funded. oh, this is beyond anything that we've seen. so we must prepare for everything and the only way you do that is take a cold, steely hard look at it and get ready. >> but get ready for what? so far the united states has focused on containing the militants in iraq rather than defeating them. the pentagon is now hinting at a wider strategy giving few specific details. >> this is an organization that has an apocalypse end of days strategic vision that will have to be defeated. to your question, can they be defeated without addressing that part of their organization resides in syria? the answer is no. that will have to be a distressed on both sides of what is a non existent border.

>> president obama has described the islamic state as a cancer. the question is how to cure it when there's so little domestic appetite for another long war. officials say they're not ruling anything out. bbc news, washington. now, after days waiting at the border, a steady procession of some 70 russian trucks with food, water, generators on board of crossed into ukraine. the latest reports we had said around 90 trucks were heading toward the rebel held city of luhansk. the convoy was supposed to be traveling with the better national red cross. the agency said security concerns are preventing them from accompanying it. we've got pictures for you of lorries heading on their way to luhansk. as we look at those, i'm joined by the analyst alexis. took an awful long time for them

to start rolling, but there's huge tension straight after way that they have gone. >> yes. the the tension is no longer what's inside the trucks but the way the convoy was put together, potential risks it created. part is controlled by rebels, part by the ukrainian army. it's not clear what sort of guarantees the russian federation has from rebels. they say it's not their guarantees and responsibility of russian side. this convoy creates potential risks. if anything happens to it, the russian government indicated it will blame the ukrainian side for something that god forbid may happen with the convoy. the ukraine crane side has not formulated the position. are they going to stop it, escort it? if it's going to the city of luhansk itself, there's very severe fighting reported this

the city. the shelling, certainly the rebels and russian media blaming the ukrainian side. ukrainians say the rebels are shelling. there's blame game in front of the convoy. >> that's typically the problem isn't it? we can't know for sure whether a full verification is carried out or not, whether ukrainian authorities are holding it back a bit or if russian authorities are pushing it through come may. >> i think the russian line certainly from the statement of foreign ministry this is a pure humanitarian aid. the ukrainian position is this is a humanitarian invasion. they're fearful this could be a pretext for something more sinister. the timing is also very important. 24th of august is the independence day in ukraine. ukrainians want to have a big parade in the city center. the russian ministry says this is the reason they're preventing the convoy from entering luhansk. they want to finish the

operation there. chancellor merkel is coming to kiev tomorrow. there's the meeting plan between president putin and poroshenko. there's talk of this on tuesday. so, politically, it all creates a very, very big area of tension when many people thought diplomatically there could be some kind of movement. >> our focus obviously on this convoy. it's a visual element of the story. it slightly takes our eye off the ball of what is going on around luhansk and donetsk. what's the situation? >> the situation is intense. there's heavy fighting in the place which is half way through the corridor that cuts donetsk away from luhansk. now the two seem to be separated by ukrainian forces. there's heavy loss of lives including civilian life. roughly 60 people a day are dying in the area. there's a lot of loss of ukrainian military. today they reported for instance, the downing of another military helicopter with the

crew being killed. this happened two days ago and only reported now. there are also reports of a loss of regular russian troops sported in the area. there's very little hard evidence to prove that this is large numbers. at least the ukrainian officials have produced some evidence of armored personnel carriers with russian documents, driving licenses, military cards inside. the russian defense ministry defenses that as yet another provocation. one more illustration to the blame game and one more illustration of how tense the situation is and how difficult it is to resolve it. convoy doesn't add to resolution. it may not alleviate the aid situation, but it creates additional area of tension. >> thanks very much indeed. malaysia is observing a national day of mourning to mark the return home of the first 20 victims from the downing of flight mh 17 over ukraine last

month. 43 in all amongst the passengers that crashed. the bodies are still being identified in the netherlands where most the victims are from. jonathan has this from kuala lumpur. >> reporter: finally home. these were the first malaysia victims of flight mh 17 to be identified. they were welcomed with a full state ceremony reflecting the sorrow here not just for passengers and crew and their families but also the extraordinary double strategies which have struck this country's aviation industry this year. malaysia's top leaders were all here along with politicians and diplomats. later, the bodies were reunited with their families. in some cases flown by military aircraft to hometowns in more distant parts of the country. ten more bodies are due to come

back this weekend. the task of identification has been complicated by continuing conflict in eastern ukraine. investigators have been unable to get to the crash site for the past two weeks. the remains of some victims have yet to be recovered and identified. the families of flight mh 17 victims though can at least start to mourn their loss. for those that lost family members on board the earlier malaysia airliner, flight mh 370 which vanished without trace in march, yet there's no closure. bbc news kuala lumpur. some faces for you here. heavy rain is delaying the search for more than 50 people believed to be buried under a landslide on the edge of the japanese city hiroshima. the death toll stands at 39 and expected to rise. rescue workers fear the continuing rain could set off

further landslides in the area. our correspondent is in tokyo with the latest on the number missing. >> this changed dramatically overnight. yesterday at this time we were talking about 39 people dead, but only a few more, six or seven many more recorded as missing. now authorities are talking about more than 50 still misses. they had yesterday hugely underestimated the extend of this disaster. as they're going through house to house they're realizing -- i think the situation is they're realizing whole families are buried under mudslides. no one had reported people missing before. they've been waiting for relatives to turn up at these mudslides and tell the authorities who lives in these houses. that has made numbers go up dramatically. we're hearing how fast, dramatic and awful these mudslides were

on wednesday morning. one description of people seeing a mother standing outside her house as frantic digging took place to get her children out. then bringing out two small children, one two years old, one 11, both lifeless. then the description of another father who handed his small child to a rescuer thinking the res cuer was going to be able to take the child to safety. the rescue her and small child were engulfed by a secondary landslide. horrific stories of these people trying to escape and having no time to do so as the enormous volume of mud and rocks swept down the mountain side. >> stay with us here on bbc world news. still to come on the program, could the ocean be helping to slow down the pace of climate change? we'll take a look beneath the surface in a moment. m so glad we could be here for larry.

i was surprised to hear there was no life insurance. funerals are so expensive.

you're watching bbc world news with me david eades. the latest headlines. the united states says the jihadist group islamic state is the most dangerous threat the u.s. has faced in recent times. trucks from a russian aid convoy stream to ukraine without permission after russia accuses ukraine of obstruction. for the last 15 years or so, scientists have been puzzled as to why average global temperatures have been going up more slowly. the number of theories are put forward to explain this pause ranging from volcanic activity to pollution. new research published in the journal science found hit might be caused by seas and atlantic ocean in particular. let's get the thoughts of the professor of climate change.

thanks very much for joining us. if it's the oceans, is this all together a bad thing if they're taking up slack? >> i do think it certainly isn't a bad thing at all in terms of the idea that this ocean could be giving us a bit of rest bite from the global warming. >> when you say rest bite, does that mean a good thing in itself or something that's going to turn around and bite us later? >> it's a good thing for the time being. it has been keeping temperatures relatively cool for the last 15 years period, but we expect that

might reverse within the next couple of decades. we could expect global warming to come. >> given we've found it difficult over last 15 years to work this out, what gives the confidence to say we can forecast it will reverse over the next couple of decades? >> well in fact i think this work is particularly impressing because it really does indicate we're looking at something that is quite distinct from our estimates of long term global warming. we have a relatively robust understanding of the long term and global warming. this is more to do with the

ocean fixing heat more internally. this work is a real indication that we are looking at quite a different mechanism than this overall long term trend caused by our activities. >> sorry to interrupt you. we'll have to stop it there. thank you very much for joining us. well as we've been heari ii the advance of the islamic state sent ripples across the region. two weeks ago, groups affiliated to i.s. and other movements clashed with the army raising fears the islamic state which controls large sways of territory between syria and iraq could expand to lebanon. >> from these mountains across the lebanese border, the first

battle between the army and jihad groups operating in syria was launched. just two weeks ago the border town saw fierce battles between the army and jihad fighters following the arrests of the jihad leader who pledged allegiance to the islamic state. this lady from the town is still traumatized by the bomb that hit her house. she feels the threat is not over. >> i didn't see it coming. i see it that more is yet to happen. >> the lebanese army had found itself joining other armies in the region in the fight against jihad groups. western powers including the u.s. and uk have pledged military aid to both serve the army. >> lebanon faces a new wave of regional islamist terror which

is a mounting challenge which creates great anxiety here. in that context, we decided to prioritize what we can do to support the lebanese state but most particularly the lebanese army. one of the uniting groups within the country. the army that's proven effective so far. >> but the army is not only the lebanese force fighting such as the islamic state. long before the lebanese army confronted the jihad group in lebanon, the shia party went to syria to be along side the regime. it's always claimed the objection of many that it had to do so to send them off. >> today the fight against the islamic state is central to the party's narrative. scores of members had been dieing in syria battling jihads. they are seen as a threat for lebanon and wider region.

from iraq also came hundreds of christians who fled the onslaught of the islamic state fighters to become refugees in lebanon. the recent battle and images of atrocities coming from syria and iraq have all sent shock waves across lebanon. bbc news beirut. now just adding to the situation in syria, the united nations now says more than 190,000 people have been killed over the course of three years of conflict in the country. that is almost double the number being put out a year ago. the figures, first to be issued by the human rights office since july 2013. at that point it was documenting more than 100,000 killed. i want to remind you as well you can find more on the conflicts in the middle east including a special report on the background of islamic state. the militant group.

if you go to bbc.com/news. these days big island or grande off the coast of rio is a popular tourist destination. one prisoner remains. he arrived on the island in 1958 at the age of 27. now 83, after serving his time reportedly for multiple murders, he's been given release to remain until this year. bbc went to meet him at home in the shadow of the ruins of his old prison.

from being surrounded by water to being covered in water. something wet and cold. it's the ice bucket challenge that's fast become a worldwide internet phenomenon. if you missed it, this is what you do. you drench yourself on camera. here we have manchester united going through the challenge. few more favorite names for you. justin timberlake with his tour team. also the singer taylor swift and a friend of hers. you're then allowed to nominate someone else to repeat the defeat. even the ice bucket challenge has reached a limit. president obama is saying he's not going to drench himself for

charity. ben moore has the story. >> he tried his hand at most things, but when it comes to the ice bucket challenge, president obama seems cold on the idea. the president's predecessor wasn't so shy. george w. bush was soaked by his wife laura. it's unclear exactly who's challenge the president is refusing. >> i nominate ellen, president obama. >> justin bieber was the first to nominate him. >> 87-year-old kennedy family matriarch also nominated him. mr. obama won't be alone in staying dry. the u.s. government says an ethics code means officials are

ban ed from the stunt. the white house won't become the wet house. the charity says the president donated an undisclosed sum. ben moore, bbc news. >> pretty much everyone else has had it. nominations for the challenge, get in touch with us here on twitter. i'm @bbc david eades. thanks for watching bbc. what is this? i thought i was doing the announcing... stunningly thin and effortlessly light..." i was literally about to say that. it certainly has the best screen of any samsung tablet. and i would add... or of any tablet, period. or of any tablet, period. see, buddy... teamwork. introducing the galaxy tab s with twice the resolution of hdtv, it's the world's most entertaining device. get it now at amazon. discover light & fit greek nonfat yogurt.eal pleasure? irresistible flavors, like toasted coconut and vanilla, with a delightfully thick creamy texture. light & fit greek. taste satisfaction without sacrifice.

♪ dannon

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hello. welcome to "gmt" on bbc world news. i'm stephen sackur. our top stories. united states raises the the stakes in the confrontation with the islamic state militants labeling them a group that must be destroyed. america's top military chief says the jihadi threat can't be defeated without eliminating the strong holds. >> can they be defeated without addressing that part of their regime in syria? the answer is no. a massive aid