hello, you're watching "gmt" on bbc world news. our top stories, the judge in the trial of oscar pistorius dismisses all charges of murder against the paralympian. judge masipa will consider the charge of culpable homicide when the court reconvenes, and she delivered a damning view of pistorius as a witness. >> what we are dealing with here is the fact that the accused was, amongst other things, an evasive witness.

>> reporter: i'm live in preor thes you -- pretoria giving you the latest in the oscar pistorius murder trial. also, president obama promises air strikes in syria for the first time, as he steps up the fight against islamic state militants. >> we will hunt down terrorists that threaten our country, wherever they are. that means i will not hesitate to take action against isil in syria as well as iraq. and an environmental success story. u.n. scientists say the earth's protective ozone layer is starting to recover. it's midday here in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, 1:00 p.m. in pretoria, where the judge in the oscar pistorius trial has ruled out any verdict of murder. thokozile masipa said the prosecution failed to prove that

pistorius killed his girlfriend deliberately after an argument, but she also rejected the defense's argument that the athlete lacked criminal capacity. the judge said she was satisfied the accused could distinguish between right and wrong. the south african olympic sprinter denies murdering ms. steenkamp on valentine's day last year. he said he thought there was an intruder. the judge could also find him guilty of culpable homicide, or manslaughter in effect, for which he would face a long jail term. karin is back in pretoria, and joins us now. a hugely tense moment and the judge calls lunch. >> reporter: an extraordinary moment to call lunch, david, but what a fast-moving morning, and she's left it at this point where we now know she has two options, find oscar pistorius guilty of the lesser charge of culpable homicide, or to acquit him, and now we're left for an hour or so while that lunch

break continues, wondering and deliberating what she is about to tell us when she returns. but it has been such a fast-moving foreigning. we perhaps expected hour upon hour of very, very dense legal terminology, but she has cut through so much of the prosecution's case, so much circumstantial evidence, simply saying she cannot rely upon it. but she only wants to rely on facts, and that it has not proven to her beyond reasonable doubt the charge of premeditated murder that the state has been going for ever since the events of the early hours of february 14th last year. here's a little of what she had to say on that murder charge. >> an independent witness who was at the accused's house minutes after the incident had occurred stated that the accused looked genuinely distraught as he prayed to god. and as he pleaded with him to help save the deceased.

there was nothing to gain saying that observation and this court has not been given any reason to reject it and we accept it as true and reliable. it follows that the accused's erroneous belief that his life was in danger excludes dolus. the accused therefore cannot be found guilty of murder dolus eventualis. that, however, is not the end of the matter, as culpable homicide is a competent verdict. >> reporter: and there the story is left until the court returns from lunch. culpable homicide. that charge possibly hanging in the air. we'll find out what judge thokozile masipa will say about that in a few moments time. but let's talk to a lawyer here in south africa. michael, what an incredibly fast

morning, compared to what everyone had thought it might be hour upon hour of very impenetrable legal terminology. >> yeah. when you're rendering evidence, there's no need to regurgitate everything that was said. i absolutely expected it would conclude today. i didn't think it was going to go as fast as it is now, but certainly it was in line with my expectations. >> so what we do know for sure is that oscar pistorius will not be a convicted murderer. whatever happens from here onward. >> the fact that it's not premeditated murder, that was generally expected. i did expect that. the other one -- i did think that dolus eventualis would be a possible charge. you know, a possible basis for a conviction. so i'm very surprised at the fact that she was not convicted on that. >> i want you to explain exactly

what dolus eventualis means. it's a kind of murder. >> it's a kind of murder. it's a constructive intention. it's unlike when i have an intention, i take my gun, i pull my trigger and point the gun at a and he's dead. dolus eventualis is distinguishable from this because even though -- in other words, i intend to kill somebody, not -- so in other words, we constructed it. by you doing a certain thing. i'll give you an example. i think that's the best way to deal with it. if i set grass on fire and there are children playing somewhere there, the fact that i'm burning grass could be a simple act. but if a reasonable person should have foreseen that the grass could burn so much that it would burn the children nearby, that becomes dolus eventualis, and there's a foreseeability aspect to it and there's a fact also that despite the fact that i foresaw this possibility, i reconciled myself to that fact and i proceeded anyway. so that becomes dolus eventualis. >> and that is not what oscar pistorius will be found guilty of? >> that is surprisingly not what oscar pistorius is found guilty

of. in fact, there is noel. of contention for which he's found guilty of. we now face two verdicts. >> she's absolutely disposed with intention. >> intention is out. intention does take a number of forms. one being dolus eventualis. the other being dolus directis. the first one is the premeditated one. we're left with the possibility that he was negligent or completely acquitted. >> reporter: and the negligent part would be culpable homicide. >> absolutely. convicted of manslaughter. that would attract a sentence of ten years or less. >> that would be an extraordinary development in this case. >> it would be. and these other things that happen in the justice system, we all get surprised. but i think for me this is too much of a surprise.

i just think that firing four shots at a door would attract much more than negligence or even an acquittal. very surprised, but i'm not second-guessing the judge. but it is nevertheless a surprising one for me i didn't see it coming. >> reporter: thank you very much. we will bring you the very latest live developments from the courts here in pretoria. back to you, david, in london. >> extremely tense. very dramatic. i should say, as soon as they reconvene in pretoria, we'll be going straight there to pick up on the judge's verdict and through to its conclusion. but for the time being, let's go to the middle east. the u.s. secretary of state john kerry is in the saudi city now, meeting leaders from a dozen sunni arab nations. the u.s. wants their support for president obama's new strategy against islamic state militants. it was on wednesday night that he said america will lead a broad coalition against i.s., which now controls large parts

of iraq and syria. mr. obama authorized u.s. air strikes against i.s. targets in syria for the first time. >> reporter: for a month, united states has been taking on islamic state in iraq. defending populations under threat and securing america's own personnel in the country. now president obama said it was time to go on the offensive against what he calls isil. >> our objective is clear. we will degrade and ultimately destroy isil through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy. >> reporter: in syria, as in iraq, he said he would authorize military action if necessary. but this, he said, wasn't america's fight alone. >> in the fight against isil, we cannot rely on an assad regime that terrorizes its own people, a regime that will never regain the legitimacy it has lost. instead, we must strengthen the

opposition as the best counterweight to extremists like isil, while pursuing the political solution necessary to solve serious crisis once and for all. >> reporter: the president said he was building an sbrs ining al coalition. his secretary of state, john kerry, is already in the middle east to enlist support from saudi arabia, jordan and others. but the region is rife with sectarian struggles that could make this far from easy. already at home, there is cautious enthusiasm from both sides of the political divide for the president's plan. president obama's speech was in part a rallying cry, an answer to critics who'd said he'd been too hesitant in tackling the wider threat posed by islamic state. he said american leadership was a constant in an uncertain world and that it was america that had the will and the capacity to mobilize the world against the terrorists. and all this comes as americans fly their flags at half-mast, 13

years after 9/11. it was a poignant time for the president to warn people of the thought of threats they could face if islamic state goes unchallenged. bbc news, washington. >> well, mobilizing the world against i.s. depends in large part on the rest of the world. with me now is our correspondent gordon carrera. john kerry now has the unenviable task of trying to rally support. he's meeting 12 sunni arab state leaders now. he's got a battle nonetheless to bring them all together. >> president obama clear that coalition is vital for him in this intervention. so now we're waiting really to see what the detail of that coalition might involve. not just who, but what they will provide. so that saudi arabia might provide bases to train groups fighting president assad and who might take on islamic state, so kind of moderate rebels, if you

like. there might be further work in traying to restrict the money going into islamic state, whether it's from oil smuggling or private donors perhaps as well. so we're waiting really to see who's going to sign up and what they're going to provide and that is clearly crucial in america's mind to making this work. >> pumped out with quite some energy by united states, by obama, by kerry. but while this isn't leading from behind, it's not really leading from the front either. no boots on the ground. so it's going to take presumably a mighty effort in terms of convincing all these disparate countries that will is a common purpose. >> that's right. convincing the different countries. convincing them that the new iraqi government is one that they can work with. the saudis before were quite distrustful of the al maliki government and they seem to have more confidence in the new government. and it's going to be vital to take on islamic state, have support of some of the sunni tribes in iraq itself, for instance. and to be able to bring them onboard because of what defeated

al qaeda in iraq a few years ago was the so-called awakening when they were willing to take on then al qaeda. so i think there's a very complicated approach that's going to need to be undertaken over months, not just today. >> and we're already getting noises from syria. perhaps not surprisingly, but also from iran about suspicions as to how this coalition holds together and too many different personal interests almost, individual interests as to why they get involved. >> and that's one of the real tensions in this. you've suddenly got lots of countries who might have a reason to want to see islamic state defeated, that includes the syrian regime of bashar al assad. it includes the iranians, it includes the saudis. but these countries all have their own different interests and desires, and ways in which they would like to see america proceed. and so trying to keep some of those in the coalition, to keep others onboard or at least not stopping you in your policy, that's beginning to be a real challenge for american

diplomats, as well as the hard element of the boots on the ground, the humanitarian work, all the other things that are going into this quite broad-ranging strategy that president obama announced tonight. >> also presumably, we're stuck with this contradiction. huge sense of urgency about doing something, but you're laying out the complications of pulling together a coalition. do you think the americans will push ahead come what may any time now in terms of air strikes in syria? >> well, i think that's the next big stage. we've obviously had the air strikes in iraq. those air strikes in syria are really the next big step forward in terms of escalating what's happening militarily to see whether they're going to strike, what's going to be the reaction from syria, how are they going to strike, how broad is that going to be. i think we're not quite clear yet when that might be, but it could still be weeks away rather than moments, but i think that's really the next thing to look for. >> thank you very much indeed for that, gordon. let's get a sense as to what that might mean for iraq.

gordon carrera just spelling out that air strikes into syria, for example, could be weeks away, at least. so i just wonder what iraq's view is at the moment in terms of pulling that coalition together, because they'll want this much sooner rather than much later, wouldn't they? >> reporter: david, they've waited a very long time for this. iraqi's political leadership -- we're seeing a year, year and a half ago that the united states and the west had to do more to combat the threat of the overspill of violence from syria. i remember nuri al maliki, the former prime minister, telling me that iraq was at risk of busting asunder if more wasn't done to tackle the problems in syria. no one was really listening back then. nuri al maliki holds his own responsible for division in this country, which allowed isis, the islamic state, to then prosper.

there's a sense of relief that this action is being taken. but as you quite rightly point out and gordon indicates, there's also an indication that there needs to be more action, more air strikes, not just here in iraq, but also in syria, this is all part of the same problem. >> i was just wondering on that point, that is the absolute key for iraq to get a sense that america and allies are prepared to go to the source of the problem, as they see it. >> i think you're right, but also a big question mark over how inclusive is this government. will it heal those sectarian divides, because if it doesn't, it will be very difficult to see how you can combat the islamic state, still having a sunni and shia and kurdish divide here in iraq. iraq needs to come together to be able to face that enemy. >> do stay with us. much more still to come, including after many years,

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the earth's protective ozone layer is starting to repair itself, we're told. the main reason behind its recovery, they say, is the phasing out of certain chemicals like those used in aerosol cans back in the 1980s. the report says that international action on the ozone layer is a major environmental success story. here's our environment analyst. >> reporter: it was the first time many of us learned that our individual actions could harm the planet itself. hairsprays we heard in the 1980s were damaging the earth's protective ozone layer. the signs were evident over antarctica.

too much ultraviolet light was getting through. the ozone layer wasn't blocking it properly. it had an impact on health. people were warned to wear sunscreen to combat the rays from the unfeltered sun. as personal habits changed, world governments in 1987 agreed a ban on the chemicals causing the damage to ozone. the effects have been dramatic. this animation over icy antarctica shows the ozone hole from 1979. it shifted year by year, but the overall trend was bad. then first, it stabilized, and last year, scientists say the layer began to thicken. the healing process seems to have begun. >> humans have started to do the right thing in order to convert the chemical nature of the atmosphere back toward what it was before the industrial revolution started. >> reporter: it will be some time before scientists can

absolutely confirm that the ozone hole is actually growing over, but the signs are good. unlike that other global problem, climate change. people in the him leias struggling this week against the sort of weather scientists say will get worse as carbon dioxide levels increase. it's so much more difficult, our cars, homes, factories all contribute to heating the planet. this problem may not get solved at all. we'll bring you up to date on some of stories from around the world. starting in kashmir where officials are facing greing public anger about their handling of the flood crisis. some are being attacked by residents who say their response has been inadequate. in pakistan, thousands more people are having to be evacuated as flood waters continue to move south. more than 450 people have died across the two countries as a result of the crisis. poland says the gas it

receives from russia has gone down significantly since the beginning of the week. its state-owned gas company said the supplies were 45% lower than on wednesday alone. as a result, it's said it stopped supplying gas to ukraine, which depends on eastern europe for supplies, because russia providing gas from june due to a price dispute. and the fragile truce in ukraine appears to be holding. ambassadors are going to try to agree when to impose the latest sanctions against russia. germany's press for the penalty is to be put into effect. other countries say they want to wait while that cease-fire continues to hold. scotland's pro-independence first minister said that he's confident people will vote to break away from the united kingdom in next week's referendum. in a speech in edinburgh, he

said it was in term tall decline. he accused the british government of deliberately leaking market sensitive information about a decision of one of britain's biggest banks to relocate its headquarters to london. >> scotland is on the top of making history. the eyes of the world are on scotland. and what the world is seeing is a peaceful, energized debate. scotland will vote yes next thursday. and they'll vote yes because last-minute promises from the north campaign, which unravel the slightest scrutiny, will not fool anyone in this country and neither will the blatant bullying intimidation of the westminster government. the no campaign is in terminal decline. >> joining us now from edinburgh is norman smith. you've got to have a strong stomach in this independence

roller coaster ride. alex sammond looking great two days ago, now get iting buffett by the banks. >> reporter: the truth is the arguments over scotland's financial sector are absolutely critical because it is such a big part of the economy. but this is a campaign which goes one way one moment and then the other way the next moment, so we woke up this morning with the no side, these who want to keep the union encouraged by these statements coming out from some of the big blue chip financial institutions, here in scotland saying they may have to relocate their registered headquarters to london, citing that as further evidence of the doubts about the economic impact of a vote for independence. but a short time ago, alex hammond sought to turn the tables by suggesting that this information was actually leaked

by the government to journalists last night and he is demanding an official inquiry into the leaking of this information, which he says is a breach of marked sensitive rules. in other words, this information should have only been passed out for the markets at 7:00 this morning. for good measure, he's also waded into what he calls the metropolitan media, including the bbc, who i think he rather feels has unfairly treated the scottish nationalist party in the campaign for independence. this is becoming an increasingly tense and frankly charged referendum campaign. what he's trying to do is to present scotland almost as standing up to the big westminster parties and standing up to the big london-based media, almost to present

scotland as the underdog, taking on the big bullies from down south. >> it's going to be a hell of a week. norman, thank you very much indeed. let me remind you, the pistorius trial, the verdict, we'll get a conclusion pretty soon and we'll be bringing it to you here on bbc world news. don't go away. nineteen years ago, we thought, "wow, how is there no way to tell the good from the bad?" so we gave people the power of the review. and now angie's list is revolutionizing local service again. you can easily buy and schedule services

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in this half-hour, we'll take you back to pretoria, where the judge is handing down her verdict in the oscar pistorius case. judge masipa will consider the charge of culpable homicide when the court reconvenes. she's delivered a damning view of pistorius as a witness. and welcome back to "gmt."

we're going to go back to very much our top story, the verdict in the trial of oscar pistorius. judge thokozile masipa is still summing up her findings, but she has already rejected all possible murder charges. she said the prosecution had failed to prove pistorius intended to kill his girlfriend reeva steenkamp at his home in pretoria and she's now considering whether he is guilty of culpable homicide, or manslaughter. karin is in pretoria for us covering all the details. as we await the restart of this dramatic verdict. >> reporter: incredible moment to call a lunch break, david. an absolute cliffhanger, just as she had said that the charge of murder, first of all premeditated murder, and then murder without premeditation was effectively out, that she will now have two options to consider, culpable homicide, which is known as manslaughter in other parts of the world. or the other option for judge

masipa, to acquit oscar pistorius. but we don't know what she's going to say. she's called this the lunch adjournment and we are waiting if the court to to reconvene. unexpectedly fast, slicing through days of prosecution evidence, days of circumstantial evidence, discussions about screams heard by neighbors. discussions about even the contents of reeva steenkamp's stomach, and all that surrounding evidence, she has just said none of it is conclusionive enough to prove murder beyond reasonable doubt. murder beyond reasonable doubt. with me to discuss more, a lawyer here in pretoria. it was incredible the way she just went through -- we were here for weeks listening to hour upon hour of the intricacies of where the fans were in the bedroom. what neighbors said they'd heard, whether it was a man or woman screaming. why did it all fall down?

>> well, it didn't, because what the judge has to do is consider everything in context. it's incumbent upon the prosecution as well as the defense to put a story. they couldn't be as brief as the judge. they have to put together a story and allow the judge to look at that story in context and as a whoa. and that's what she said as well. in her own words, she said you don't look at the evidence in piecemeal fashion. you have to look at it as a whole. to do that, you would need a defense as well as a state prosecution to give you a story to work with. >> and the issue was all about intention. that's what the prosecution had to prove. we knew who fired the gun. it was what was going through oscar pistorius's mind. >> and when i looked at the trial for the whole, i don't know, 40 days, at all times, he was doing a good job. wasn't to say that he had established premeditated murder. certainly that he established murder afterwards.

so i'm so wrong about that, that i don't even know what's going to happen next. i can't tell you whether she's going to acquit or convict him of culpable homicide. >> just explain for us the charge of culpable homicide. what does it actually mean? >> the difference, i would have to distinguish it from murder. murder requires intention. so you must intend for the result. and with culpable homicide or in your jurisdiction you call it manslaughter, the requirement is negligence, so you may not have intended to kill somebody, but the way you conducted yourself is negligent. you have to fall short of the standard of a reasonable person. what a reasonable person does is he wouldn't arm himself going to a door and fire four shots and not expect to kill somebody else. so when you are a diligent person who exercises reasonable care, that's the test that we're looking at when we're looking at culpable homicide. so the question is will the judge find that he in this case

was negligent or not? or whether he acted as a reasonable person would. >> reporter: and the options are -- those two options we talked about. culpable homicide and acquitting of pistorius entirely, judge masipa has not pulled back from really criticizing oscar pistorius's conduct on the witness stand. >> yeah. and that also leads further, because everybody is in agreement that oscar pistorius was not a good witness. in fact, the witness who tenders more than one defense or really has put himself in a corner, that should be very difficult to come out. it would appear to me that oscar has come out of the corner, despite the fact that he's placed himself in the corner. so you can't on the one hand have done something for a reflex action and on the other hand have acted in self-defense. those two things are mutually exclusive. that already to me, if i'm judge masipa, that he doesn't know the

story. if you are acting in self-defense, you are acting in self-defense. if this was a reflexive action, it's a reflexive action, full stop. it can't be both. so very surprising to me. >> reporter: and the charges of culpable homicide carries a sentence of around -- it can be as much as 15 to 20 years. >> culpable homicide wouldn't go as much over ten. you're looking at less than ten years. and of course, there are many other sentences other than direct imprisonment. he could have placed on alternative sentences, which do not require direct imprisonment. he could not even serve one day in prison. >> if there were to be a conviction, the sentencing wouldn't happen today. >> no. >> it would be at yet another court date. >> because what you'd have to do then, you'd have to come back again, and the state on the one hand would have to show aggravating circumstances and the defense, on the other hand, would have to show mitigating

circumstances. and that would determine. >> very dramatic in the last hour, is that oscar pistorius, whatever happens in the next hour or so will not be leaving court a convicted murderer. >> absolutely. so he's not guilty of murder. certainly not murder. at least he's won that battle. >> reporter: okay, michael. let's just recap on what judge masipa had to say about the whole issue of premeditated murder and then another kind of murder on the south african law, dolus eventualis. >> an independent witness who was at the accused's house minutes after the incident occurred stated that the accused looked genuinely distraught as he prayed to god. and as he pleaded with him to help save the deceased.

there was nothing to gain saying that observation and this court has not been given any reason to reject it and we accept it as true and reliable. it follows that the accused's erroneous belief that his life was in danger excludes dolus. the accused therefore cannot be found guilty of murder dolus eventualis. that, however, is not the end of the matter as culpable homicide is a competent verdict. >> so those were the words that we were all left hanging over a cliff with as the lunch adjournment was called, whether judge masipa will find oscar pistorius guilty of culpable homicide or whether she will go on to acquit him. we were just also touching on the fact that this is an absolute historic case, but it's

televised. how much of a difference does that make? >> obviously it's trial and error, because no court is accustomed to this kind of publicity. the first fully televised court case. so it's unprecedented. we're all learning from this. we're all learning the advantages and disadvantages and how this case has been run will affect future applications for the broadcast of court proceedings. but i did hear the comments about the judge, but i don't think it will affect the future applicants, because in a bigger scheme of things, we have promoted access to justice. everybody has been able to access and understand things. i've heard as a lawyer never ask questions from laypeople arriving from this trial because it's educated people, it's no longer just about a question or guilty or innocence. it's gone deeper. these are the things that i

wished i got to learn and hear about before i was an attorney. >> so the south african public has become very engaged with the legal process, because it is fascinating. >> yeah, it wouldn't have been watched as much. the fact that it's a celebrity and a model and the personalities involved have made it somewhat of a great interest to south africans, but that has also allowed us to sneak in access to justice and all of that. so that's been wonderful for us. >> we talked a little later, what judge masipa had to say about oscar pistorius as a witness. it was not a positive account she gave of his time giving evidence. >> that this cannot be is clear from the steps that the accused took from the moment he heard the sound of the window opening to the time he fired the four shots. there was no lapse of memory or

any confusion on the part of the accused. on his own version, he froze, then decided to arm himself, and go to the bathroom. in other words, he took a conscious decision. he knew where he kept his firearm, and he knew where his bathroom was. he noticed that the bathroom window was open, which is something that confirmed his correctness about having heard the window open earlier. this is inconsistent with lack of criminal capacity. >> reporter: another area that judge masipa was speaking about in the last few hours was some of the evidence used by the state to try to prove that charge of premeditated murder. one of the areas was the sequence of text messages, one

in which reeva steenkamp talked to oscar pistorius and told him sometimes you scare me. the prosecution had made much of that, using that as their contention that the consumer were in a troubled relationship, and reeva steenkamp was in fear of oscar pistorius. this is what judge masipa had to say. >> the state also led the evidence of messages that went to and from the accused, a few weeks before the deceased was killed. the purpose of such evidence was to demonstrate that the relationship between the accused and the deceased was on the rocks, and that the accused had a good reason to kill the deceased. in a bid to persuade this court otherwise, the defendant, or the defense placed on record more messages that painted a picture

of a loving couple. in my view, none of this evidence from the state or from the defense proves anything. normal relationships are dynamic and unpredictable most of the time. while human beings are fickle. neither the evidence of a loving relationship nor of a relationship turned sour can assist this court to determine whether the accused had the requisite intention to kill the deceased. for that reason, this court refrains from making inferences one way or the other in this regard. >> reporter: so one example there of the way that judge masipa has disposed of various pieces of evidence that we've been hearing about throw the course of this trial. often over a course of hours and

days. disposes of it because she says it simply isn't strong enough to prove the charge of murder and premeditated murder. so that is the outcome of the morning's proceedings, and we're still watching and waiting for court to reconvene and for judge masipa to tackle the issue of the lesser charge of culpable homicide, or whether she will acquit oscar pistorius entirely. we will be bringing you that as soon as it begins to happen here on bbc world news, but for now, david, back to you in the studio. >> karin, what a time to take an extended lunch break, but of course, as karin said, we'll be straight back on the case as soon as we need. in the meantime, the u.s. secretary of state john kerry is currently in saudi arabia, he's holding talks with leaders from around 12 sunni arab leaders, looking for their support. mr. obama says america is going to lead a broad coalition against i.s. the leader of iraqi kurdistan says his forces are certainly

ready to take part in that coalition. the kurds have already been working closely with u.s. air forces to regain areas seized by the i.s. militants last month, including mosul dam. jim muir has this report. >> reporter: council of wartime for the iraqi kurds. barzani arrived in western kurdistan to plan operations on that front. all the top brass of the kurdish peshmerga forces were there. the focus was on pushing the isz lammic radicals of i.s. out of kurdistan they captured last month.islamic radicals of i.s. kurdistan they captured last month. but the kurds are signaling they're ready to go further. >> translator: the peshmerga have been able to get back most of the parts of kurdistan that were lost. definitely, there's a bigger and

broader plan to destroy the terrorists, the peshmerga are ready to play an active and major role. >> r >>. >> reporter: the dam itself was retaken recently by the kurds, with help from american air strikes. from here, the president could make out i.s. positions in the distance, improving slow going, dislodging the militants. they fight hard. some blow themselves up when they run out of ammunition. they also have access to advanced weapons that the kurds don't have. so the kurds are ready and willing to do their bit on the ground, no question about that, but what they stress over and again is although they appreciate american air support, what they really need is modern, more advanced and heavier weapons if they're to do the job properly. the kurds believe the americans are serious about tackling the

self-styled islam uk staic stat. they're determined to help uproot it. jim muir, bbc news, near mosul dam in northern iraq. >> you are watching "gmt." do stay with us here on "bbc world news." plenty more still to come. will you help us find a new house for you and your brother? ♪

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ashes of ground zero. marcus robinson has spent the past years filming. it's to be broadcast later thursday on the u.s. history channel. we have more on this artist's labor of love. >> reporter: towering above the new york skyline is one world trade center. these cinematic images of the rebuilding of the world trade center center are the work of a dedicated film maker, marcus robinson. >> because these images of the towers being destroyed were seen as it was happening around the world, i felt that the rebuilding was an opportunity to make something like an aligorical tale. >> reporter: the construction workers are the stars of robinson's documentary. for eight years, he filmed them day in and day out in all weathers. >> the men and women who are rebuilding the site have a real

passion, and they believe that the work they are doing is important, and that they are healing something in the sigh line of the city and healing something in the spirit of the city. >> reporter: what lengths did you go to personally in order to get some of these incredible shots in the film? >> having got to know many of the guys working on the site, they were able to help me get into positions that would be very difficult to get to without help. and in particular, some of the shots in the final part of the film where you see us going up the side of the building in a hoist, that was some of the hoist operators who took me up on the top of the hoist with the camera leaning over the edge getting these beautiful shots. >> what was it like that day when the top of the spire went on to the world trade center building? >> the sign of helicopters all around, and you had a sense in new york city that something very special was happening, and i was on the top of tower four and a lot of the guys i've known

throughout the years were also up there. so there was a real sense of heightened emotion. just technically for them to be able to put that on to the spire was an enormous engineering achievement and it was technically very difficult to do. >> reporter: what do you hope your film will achieve? >> i would really like the film to touch people in a very positive way, that the film can be a celebration of the diversity of new york city and the spirit of the working people who have rebuilt the site. >> marcus robinson's work isn't done. he intends to film until the renaissance of the world trade center site is complete. >> a familiar face, playing jaws in two of james bond fills richard keil has died at the age of 74.

he embraced the role of 007's nemesis. he had the menacing looks. we look back at his life. >> reporter: his steely smile and hulking frame made him one of the most popular villains bond ever faced over half a century of movies. most of the enemies only appeared in one movie. such was the appeal of jaws, he appeared in two, "the spy who loved me" and "moonraker." he was totally distraught to learn of richard keil's death. when i interviewed keil in 2012, i asked him what set jaws apart from other villains? what was it about your character that made him so popular that he was asked back to do another bond movie? >> jaws is entertaining. he was a fun character. he had a lot of personal qual y

qualities, perseverance, frustration, determination, and he was kind of like the energizer bunny, just kept coming back and wouldn't give up. >> reporter: at 7'2", he made an imposing figure on screen and his bond success led to roles alongside harrison ford and the voice of the thuggish vlad in "tangled." but to most, he will always be jaws, one of the most dangerous and certainly one of the most popular enemies 007 ever had to face. >> richard keil, who has died at the age of 74. i want to bring you back to what is very much our top story here on gmt, and that is the pistorius trial. the judge delivering her verdict in that trial of oscar pistorius has already rejected all possible murder charges. the judge thokozile masipa, she said the prosecution failed to

prove the paralympic gold medalist intended to kill his girlfriend reeva steenkamp at his home in pretoria. now, he has always maintained he mistook her for an intruder. the task for the judge now, we're awaiting the court to reconvene after what is proving to be a slightly extended lunch break, is she needs to consider whether he's guilty of manslaughter, what is referred to in south african justice as culpable homicide. the court adjourning for lunch, and we wait for more on that. as for oscar pistorius himself, we've seen him in court in the last few hours. these are pictures of him. he was sobbing there as she dismissed the murder charges in particular. but i should say also she described pistorius himself as an evasive witness. she wasn't convinced by the evidence he gave in court. in fact, she found the same for many of the witnesses, some 30-plus witnesses in all, and

she's been running through the course of the morning her views on their positions, many of which she found were perhaps struggling to get the whole story out. but as soon as this reconvenes, we will be back to it with karin in pretoria, so whatever you do, do stay with us here on "bbc world news." thanks for watching. eenie. meenie. miney. go. more adventures await in the seven-passenger lexus gx. see your lexus dealer.

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my name is rose tyler and this is the story of torchwood, the last story i'll ever tell. here we are, then. dad, say hello to rose. ain't she grown? welcome... to torchwood. they're cybermen. all of the ghosts are cybermen. that's not cybermen. oh, my god. exterminate! exterminate! this is the story of how i died.