tv BBC World News BBC America September 25, 2014 6:00am-7:01am EDT
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no, it -- [laughs] -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com this is bbc america, and now, live from london, "bbc world news." hello, i'm david eads with "bbc world news." i'm top stories. 12 oil refineries in syria held by islamic state are attacked by the u.s.-led coalition. a cruel and cowardly act, the killing by jihadists of the tourist in nigeria provokes fury from france's president. a third of sierra leone's population is now effectively in quarantine as the government steps up the fight to contain the ebola virus. and why are democracy activists in hong kong holding a
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civil disobedience campaign on china's national day. hello, thanks for being with us. united states has carried out a third night of air strikes against i.s. militant positions in syria. 12 small scale oil refineries in three parts of eastern syria were attacked in a bid to damage the group's financial assets. here we are, one, two, three areas there. the u.s. department of defense estimates that those refineries have been making the militants something like $2 million a day. it also confirmed that war planes from saudi arabia and the united arab emirates were involved in the attacks, and reports suggest 14 jihadists along with five civilians have been killed. those u.s. air strikes have gained further international support at the u.n. general
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assembly in new york. and we will be bringing you all the latest in the course of the next 15 minutes here on "bbc world news." as clive murray joins us on the turkey-syria border. >> reporter: yes, hello to you. and welcome to the turkey-syria border. just behind me, beyond the razor wire there, and the railway line running in between is syria. one of those u.s. coalition led air strikes last night actually hit one of those oil refineries, only about 80 or so kilometers from our position here. david cameron is now saying that the uk is ready to play its role in air strikes. though limiting itself certainly in the short term to attacking targets in iraq, rather than over there across the border in syria. now, speaking in new york, yesterday, david cameron said islamic state were an evil against which the world must unite. he also made it clear that he was going to recall parliament
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tomorrow, friday, to vote on plans for britain, joining the u.s.-led air strike campaign in iraq. and david cameron said that past mistakes, referring, of course, to the previous war in iraq, should not be an excuse for failing to act. the main opposition party will support proposed air strikes. meanwhile, of course, overnight, u.s. and arab jets have continued to bomb targets against islamic state. 12 of them small oil refinery locations in areas of northeastern syria. as i say, one of them just 80 kilometers from our position here. those targets included oil strikes on al mayadin, al hasakah, and abu kamal. let's get the latest on the situation in iraq and syria. >> we must be inclusive. >> reporter: he may have been at the united nations, but david
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cameron was very much addressing a home audience. >> but we must not be so frozen with fear that we don't do anything at all. isolation and withdrawing from a problem like isil will only make matters worse. we must not allow past mistakes to become an excuse for indifference or inaction. >> reporter: he'll be making the same case on friday in parliament, asking for approval for british participation in strikes against islamic state targets in iraq. last year, parliament failed to support strikes against syria, but mr. cameron is confident he will get approval for this mission. american jets have already been targeting the islamic state in iraq since early august, and on monday, they went after the islamic state in syria. @barack obama has slowly been building a coalition. >> what brings us together today, what is new, is the
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unprecedented flow of fighters in recent years to and from conflict zones. >> reporter: president obama worked hard here all day to emphasize unity. but there are divisions in this coalition, particularly when it comes to military action beyond iraq in syria. for now, european nations are only giving political support to american air strikes there, and the prime minister has made very clear that for the uk, syria will be a separate debate. bbc news at the united nations. >> reporter: so, what's the view from baghdad to the prospect of the uk taking part in air strikes on iraq? lyse doucet is in the iraqi capital. >> reporter: the government of iraq has formally requested britain, united states, other countries to come and assist it in tackling the threat posed by the fighters that call themselves islamic state. the government in syria has not
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done the same. when the united states began the air strikes on monday, it simply informed the syrian ambassador at the united nations, it did not consult. so this is very messy legal ground, which is why when david cameron goes to the british parliament on friday, we understand he will ask for authority to take part in the air strikes in iraq and not in syria. >> lyse doucet in baghdad. let's get the latest from westminster. alex forscythe is standing by. we know that david cameron is going to recall parliament tomorrow. one assumes he believes that he's got the necessary support for attacks on targets in iraq. but he's not going to be asking for permission to go into syria. >> reporter: that's absolutely right. david cameron's taken this process slowly. it's certainly not been an overnight decision, because he wanted to be sure that he had the support he needed to get parliament's backing, parliament's approval for any
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intervention. you remember he was defeated last year when he tried to win support for intervention in syria amid the allegations that the assad regime was using chemical weapons. he failed to do so. he didn't want a repeat of that. labor leader ed miliband has only made clear he will support air strikes in iraq, because there has ban request from the iraqi government, therefore it gives it a sound legal basis. that's why david cameron has been very clear that when it comes to parliament tomorrow, that's what he will ask parliament to consider. it does seem increasingly likely that parliament will give backing to britain's intervention in iraq, because it's been a cross-party consensus on it, the leadership of the labor party. and the liberal democrats have said they will support this motion. when parliament convenes tomorrow to discuss this, if they approve that motion, we know those air strikes could happen very quickly. >> reporter: alex forscythe, westminster. thanks, alex. let's have a chat with the
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professor of studies at the university of buckingham. thanks very much indeed for joining us. it looks as if the coalition raged against islamic state is getting bigger, it's growing. plus 50 countries now it would seem. but all the talk so far has been of air strikes. is that going to be enough to tackle islamic state? >> i don't think it will be, i'm afraid. i am gratified, but also very pleased that the coalition against these brutal murderers is now as strong as 50 states. but the bottom line is that air strikes alone, whether air strikes in syria or air strikes in iraq and the british government -- if it does commit to air strikes seems likely to commit only to air strikes in iraq, are not going to be enough. they're going to have to be boots on the ground. if only to ensure that the air strikes are properly directed at
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islamic state fighters. >> reporter: and one supposes that special forces have been on the ground perhaps directing some of those air strikes as well. but david cameron in his speech to the united nations general assembly in new york made it clear that he didn't feel that the past mistakes in iraq should prevent the uk from getting involved in this coalition against islamic state. do you think the experience in iraq over the last decade is going to weigh heavily on the minds of mps when they meet in parliament tomorrow? >> i don't, and i think it was a curious thing for the prime minister to say, to be honest. because the mistakes that were made are either the idea that it was a mistake to get rid of saddam hussein in five weeks in 2003, or that it was a mistake to leave without ensuring that the new state of iraq properly represented all the people in
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iraq. so i'm not sure what the prime minister actually thought. in my view, though, the problems we face today are not the problems that come from intervention in 2003. they're the problems that come from failing to intervene last year and the year before. we have seen how the islamic state has grown out of the front, which itself grew out of al qaeda and al qaeda affiliates. and with every day that the west, that the united states, the united kingdom have allowed the islamic state to consolidate its position, we have found it -- are beginning to find it harder indeed to get rid of these murderous thugs. so the prime minister's caution, i think, is politically understandable, but also historically unclear. at the end of the day, though, i
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think there's no doubt whatsoever, and the opinion polls show this is the case, that the vast majority of british people, whether they're muslim or not muslim, want to see these sadistic medieval killers and their state destroyed, and they're up for it, and i don't believe that britain can continue to claim that it's a global power with all that goes with it, defense spending and so forth, had we continued to sit on our hands over this. the prime minister has been very reluctant. he said no boots on the grouchbld i think he's going to be wrong about that. but we've also seen ed milliband changing his view. just a week ago, patty was saying it's not our fight, it's got nothing to do with britain. today much more correctly, he's saying there is a british dimension to what's going on and we need to get in there. >> right.
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okay, professor anthony glees from buckingham university. thanks very much indeed for joining us. it's fairly quiet here along the turkey-syria border at the moment. over the last few days, we've had hundreds of thousands of refugees crossing over. of course, fleeing the fighting across the bash barbed wire ove there. that flow of refugees has seemed to have stopped and people are beginning to return back to their homes. but the longer the conflict continues over there, then the worse it could become for this country, turkey, here. and with that, it's back to you. >> clive murray there on the syrian-turkish border. the french government has also confirmed that militants linked to islamic state have murdered a tourist they were holding in algeria. the group released the video showing the man being beheaded. president hollande described the murder as a barbaric act and said france would never give in
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to blackmail. >> reporter: this man once say his two passions in life were travel and photography. here in algeria, he was abducted in syria by the group linked to islamic state militants. they threatened to kill mr. gordel unless france stopped air strikes in iraq. now they've carried out that threat. the news was confirmed by the french president. >> translator: gordel was killed because he is french, because his country is fighting terrorism. he is dead because he is the representative of a people, ours, that defends human dignity against barbarity. my submission is total and this attack only reinforces. >> reporter: the killing of another hostage has caused
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international shock and anger, but nowhere is his loss being felt more than here in his hometown near nice, where people were visibly moved as they found out the news. as one community grieves, another is praying. for the safe return of british hostage alan henning, who is currently being held by i.s. militants. his family say they have received a recording of him pleasing for his life. and now, in another worrying development, a hard line militant group based in the philippines say they will kill two german hostages unless germany pays a ransom and ends support for the ongoing air strikes. the barbaric killing of ervay gordel will no doubt ramp up concern for the safety of those still being held. do stay with us here on "bbc world news." still to come in the program, a bit more banana than apple.
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liberty mutual insurance. the latest headlines. american planes supported by aircraft from saudi arabia and the uae have attacked 12 small scale oil refineries run by islamic state in remote areas of eastern syria. the french president francois hollande has condemned the beheading by algerian jihadists of a french tourist. time to catch up on the business. aaron's here for that. >> hello, mate. we're going to talk bendy phones. you have a bendy phone? >> never. >> do you want a bendy phone? i can find you one. let me explain. we start with apple, and of course, the huge commercial
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success of its iphone 6 launch last week that now is really threatening to turn into a bit of a public relations disaster. apple was busy, we saw this on monday, haling its best weekend of sales, something like 10 million. then what's become known as bend-gate. a spate of complaints that the new iphone 6 can easily get bent if you put it in your back pocket. don't put it in your back pocket. this video by the tech review site unbox therapy has been watched more than ten million times on youtube. it shows how apparently fragile the phone is. in the last few hours, apple has had to withdraw a software update to its ios 8 after it rendered some users' phones unable to make phone calls. that's a bit of a problem. we're going to keep our eye on it and have more on "gmt" in just over an hour's time. we're also looking at this. spain's prime minister is in china for a three-day visit. trade and tourism high on the
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agenda. china is now spain's largest trading partner outside of the eu. and more than a quarter of a million chinese made the trip to spain in 2013. he has been touting spain as a land of opportunity for chinese business leaders and promoting his economic reforms. he is there with cap in hand, i think. lots going on. follow me on twitter. tweet me. i'll tweet you back. you can get me @bbcaaron. more on "gmt" in just over an hour's time. >> we're going to make a little hop now from mainland china to hong kong, because preparations for a civil disobedience movement known as occupy central is under way there. the campaign is due to start on the first of october. that's china's national day. there are thousands of people expected to take part in a demonstration aiming to put pressure on the chinese government to allow a greater degree of political control to be handed to the citizens of hong kong. as the bbc's julianna lu reports. >> reporter: on a day when
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university students in hong kong are continuing their week long strike, protesting against the chinese government's new rules of governing the next chief executive elections here in the city, the organizers of a civil disobedience movement called occupy central have called on the public to join them as early as next week. as part of the preparations, the movement has published a manual of disobedience, outlining the nonviolent position, as well as the laws under which protesters are likely to be arrested. now, they've advised the participants to bring a change of clothing, warm jackets, and enough food for two to three days. >> as a responsible organizer of an occupation movement, we've got to let people understand the legal consequence of their occupy actions. and in order to keep the action in a peaceful and order manner,
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we have to let everybody understand the groups, so that people can uphold the principle of nonviolence. >> reporter: many of these students have already pledged to join occupy central. it's a controversial movement, not everyone supports it. in fact, some have criticized the organizers for deliberately trying to antagonize the chinese government or even of trying to harm the economy by paralyzing the streets of the main business district. but with a campaign now likely to begin on a public holiday, the financial cost to hong kong may be minimal. >> julianna liu reporting there. the world health organization has released new figures showing the death toll from the ebola outbreak is still on the rise. the number, 2,917 to be precise. that's the number who have died. but that's out of 6,263 cases across the five west african countries affected by the outbreak. the w.h.o. also says the
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situation is getting worse in sierra leone. let's catch up on those figures. just under 3,000 deaths. when you look at the number affected, it amounts to one in two of those affected are losing their lives. that's the figure we're getting from that. the w.h.o. also says the situation is getting worse in sierra leone and liberia, although it does appear to have stabilized, at least in guinea. well, sierra leone has now announced a further lockdown in its bid to battle the disease. with immediate effect, it's quarantined another three districts. 12 tribal chieftons and puts more than a third of the country's population in quarantine, something like 1.2 million people. now, over the last few months, we've been reporting, of course, on the death toll in eastern ukraine, which has risen above 3,000 so far killed in fighting between russian-backed separatists and government forces.
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at the start of this month, a cease-fire was announced, and now, just over three weeks on, the ukrainian president petro poroshenko says it has finally begun working. for the first time in many months, there were no deaths or wounded reported in the past 24 hours. a u.s. man sentenced to six years of hard labor in a north korean prison has been speaking publicly about the ordeal he's facing. matthew miller was arrested in april shortly after arriving as a tourist. north korean authorities claim he tore up his visa and demanded asylum. mr. miller was speaking to an ap television crew about his imprisonment under the close supervision of officials. >> prison life is eight hours of work per day. mostly it's been agriculture, like in the dirt, digging around. other than that, it's isolation. no contact with anyone.
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but i have been in good health and no sickness, or no hurts. let's get the latest on the situation in sierra leone. the ebola outbreak. this is affecting a lot of people, isn't it? >> reporter: hi, david. it is. the president addressed the mission last night, and he took further actions on the measures in the country. he says three of the countries' districts are in immediate effect and they indefinitely very cordoned off. nobody's allowed to enter them nor is anybody allowed to leave them. and this adds to two earlier democratics being barricaded. that was six weeks ago.istricts. that was six weeks ago. it's a widespread measure in stemming the spread of ebola.
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>> so what does that tell us about last week's lockdown? three days. it was billed as a great success. i mean, where are we? >> well, it simply means that it wasn't as effective and as thorough as the organizers had wanted it to be. they put on some very brave face saying it was a huge success. i mean, clearly, lots have said that nobody spoke to them. so apparently, this new district, particularly the north, areas that are recording some very high figures. and one of them is particularly significant. it is where you have the two biggest iron ore mining countries. it's very significant in economic terms. >> thanks very much for bringing us right up to date as the death toll just about to top 3,000. that's the official figures as well.
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our main story, the pentagon saying war planes from saudi arabia and the uae have been helping in an attack on 12 small scale oil refineries in syria. it's part of u.s.-led air strikes on islamic state. of course, they draw a lot of their funding from revenue from those oil mines, something like $2 million a day. thanks for watching "bbc world news." there's a well-established script... for building a crossover. we decided... ♪ it needed a major rewrite. ♪ stray the course. the agile all-new audi q3. unexpected luxury starts at 32,500. ♪ maestro of project management. baron of the build-out. you need a permit...
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our top stories. 12 oil refineries in syria held by islamic state are attacked by the u.s.-led coalition. a point by point refutation as the ideology championed by islamic state militants is circulated by 100 muslim scholars. asamoah gian denies the rumors that he's linked to the death of his best friend.
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and not being john malkovich. photos that have gone viral around the world. the united states has carried out a third night of air strikes against i.s. militant positions in syria. 12 small scale oil refineries in three different parts of eastern syria, as you can see there, were attacked in a bid to damage the group's financial assets. the u.s. department of defense reckons those refineries are worth something like $2 million every day for islamic state. it also confirmed that war planes from saudi arabia and the united arab emirates were involved in the latest attacks. reports suggest 14 jihadists and five civilians were killed. the u.s. air strikes have gained
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further international support at the u.n. general assembly in new york. our correspondent mark lowen is on the turkey-syria border. he says some people who fled from syria are, however, starting to return. >> reporter: this crowd of people behind me are syrian kurds who have crossed from kobane into turkey in the last few days and many of them are now trying to go back. you can see this pretty disorderly crowd here of men, women, and children carrying what belongings they can as they try to go back to kobane. some trying to fight the kurdish michigan on the other side, to repel islamic state. others simply trying to see family and friends in kobane. the numbers are still very, very small in comparison to the huge swaths, the huge influx. but you're beginning to see traffic in the other direction. i suppose a sign that people are beginning to feel a little maybe
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more degree of safety in going back. whether that is down to u.s. air strikes or because they feel the determination to go back. it's still unclear at this stage. but clearly, this will be welcomed by the turkish authorities who are feeling pretty overwhelmed by that huge, huge wave of refugees that have come in the last five days. >> that's mark lowen there. got some fresh news to bring you from london. london's metropolitan police say that officers have arrested nine men as part of an investigation into islamist related terrorism. the men aged from 22 to 51 were detained during raids in london in just the last few hours. this radical preacher is understood to be among them. officers are now searching premises across the capital and in the north of england. muslim scholars and leaders worldwide are also being asked to put their names to an open letter denouncing islamic state militants. more than 100 have offered the document so far.
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it offers a religious point by point argument against the group's ideology. they say military campaign would not be enough to defeat the group. with me is jonathan marcus, the bbc's defense and diplomatic correspondent. so it's a battle of minds as well. it's gaining some traction, it would seem. >> it is gang some traction. we've seen on social media, young people saying things like not in my name, in the wake of the beheadings of western hostages and so on. this i think is an interesting document for a number of reasons. a, because as you say, this is as much a battle of ideas as it is a military campaign against islamic state. what these scholars do, the document was released at a press conference in washington. they set out point by point why islamic state's ideology in their view is entirely against the mainstream of islamic thinking and islamic thought. they say things, for example, that it is forbidden to kill emissaries, ambassadors, or diplomats. that extend that to aid workers
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and journalists. it is forbidden to kill a caliphate, without the consensus from all muslims and so on. it's written in a very approachable way. the english translation is very simple. it's something that would be useful i think to muslims in trying to extend the argument there. but equally, it would be important i think for nonmuslims who perhaps have very little understanding of islam to be able to read this set out in such simple and clear terms. >> i suppose to be realistic, any argument coming from the west is going to be laughed at. anyone can understand that. i suppose this is really much closer to home, to be criticized from within. >> it is indeed. i think it's interesting, although it was released in washington, as i say, it has the names of many islamic scholars from around the world. many of them in the middle east. it is interesting, though, many, many in egypt, of course a country which feels itself threatened by islamic state. far fewer names that i can see
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from the gulf or from saudi arabia. but as you said earlier, the idea now is that others should be able to put their names to this document as well. >> does this have in any shape or form a western backing? or is it very clearly an independent initiative? >> from what one can see, this is an independent initiative from scholars. many of the names come from people who are by no means active in western countries, although of course there are muslim academics studying these issues who have their names down there as well, who do work in western universities. >> okay, great. interesting development. jonathan, thanks a lot for that. the french government have confirmed militants linked to islamic state have murdered a tourist they were holding in algeria. the group released a video showing herve gourdel being beheaded. president hollande described the murder as a barbaric act. he said france would never give in to blackmail. a little bit earlier, i spoke to an algerian journalist. he told me a little bit more
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about the algerian jihadist group that killed herve gourdel. >> jund al khilifah, it's a new section of caliphate, who have been operating in the mountains. so these groups, it's dissidents and they join islamic state recently, and they operate the first time appear with this operation. so it looks like this group led by this young guy, 37 years old, he was in prison in late '90s and been released during the
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process of national reconciliati reconciliation, and now he's operating in those mountains. it's a huge manhunting operation, so the algerian army, over 2,000 soldiers and paratroopers with full military equipment. they're doing a huge operation right now in order to search the group and to destroy. breaking news from france for you, as the country has announced it's to introduce plain cigarette packaging and to ban electronic cigarettes in certain public places. it's all to try to reduce high smoking rates among the under 16s in particular. france is the first country to take these steps. the health minister said that cigarette packets would be the same shape, the same size, same color, same typeset to make smoking less attractive to young smokers. stay with us, we'll bring you more on that story as it comes in to us.
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brazilian researchers in rio de janeiro have released thousands of mosquitos to help tackle dengue fever. they're a special breed infected with the bacteria that suppresses the fever. the initiative is part of a program which is also taking place in australia, vietnam, and indonesia. here are the details. >> reporter: this is a big moment, a bunch of dengue mosquitos being released out into the open. you'd think people would be running away from this, but this media circus, all the attention that this is generating is because these are actually special mosquitos. they're the same kind that transmit dengue fever, but they were brought from a lab. they have been infected by a bacteria that keeps it from transmitting the dengue virus, and is then being tested as a way to avoid dengue fever from spreading, which is a big problem here in brazil. and this is happening here, the very first place in brazil and
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in the american continent to receive these mosquitos. this is patrice, she has a daughter that's now 21 years old and she had dengue three times in the last three years. patrice, are you happy about this project being here? [ speaking foreign language ] she says she's very happy with this project being here, because they believe this will really help to end the problem of dengue here, and she's even opened up her house for researchers to set up a trap to collect dengue mosquitos so they can keep track of the population. i'm here with the head of this research here in brazil, he has a little pot full of mosquitos flying around. what is the timeframe for this project? how long will it take for residents here to start feeling
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an effect? >> until maybe the end of the year. next season, we will probably see a reduction of dengue cases happening. >> reporter: next year already? >> maybe. >> reporter: last year, brazil had a million and a half cases of dengue fever in the country. the bacteria in these mosquitos that are being released is actually common. it's present in 60% of insects in nature, but it can't infect humans. they now represent a new hope to eradicate dengue fever in this community and perhaps in the country. do stay with us here on "bbc world news." still to come, the peril for consumers of pesticide users. international agencies move to tackle residues in food. we take a look at india, where the danger is not widely recognized.
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we've got some more news for you here. this is breaking news, just coming in to us from paris, as the french government is quoted as saying it has led further new air strikes, these are against islamic state militants in iraq on this occasion. we've heard about the u.s. striking for the third day running in syria. this is the french saying it's been leading air strikes in iraq. now, the u.n.'s food and health agencies are expected to make new recommendations to deal with residues of pesticide in food. the continued use of highly hazardous pesticides in agriculture remains a major problem in some developing countries. the u.n., though, thinks the biggest challenge they face is in india, where a lot of banned products are still widely used. here's more. >> reporter: the united nations are pressing many developing
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countries to ban the use of old and harmful pesticides in fields like these, due to their effects on human health and the environment. whilst many asian countries such as china, thailand, and vietnam have been complying, some haven't. here in india, old pesticides are still widely used. some farmers say they have personally suffered the consequences. >> translator: our air, water, and food, everything has become poisonous and that has affected our health. my sister and wife both died of cancer. pesticides have played a major role in all this. >> reporter: these fields were transformed in the 1960s by india's green revolution. an all-out attempt to become self-sufficient in basic food crops through the application of modern agricultural techniques. green revolution. that is what this indian state
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punjab is known for. also called the bread basket of india, it has played a leading role for the country's food security. but now there are fears that punjab may be paying a high price for that achievement. pollution from old and harmful pesticides is said to have become a major problem. pesticides, considered extremely dangerous, are still available in shops here in punjab and used in the fields. but the government claims india's needs are different from other countries. >> the international community, international bodies that banned it, i think india government does not necessarily have to ban it in the same way. because india is a diversified crop, and the agriculture system also different. >> reporter: it's not only about food security, needing to feed india's massive 1.2 billion
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population, but also about business. india is a multi-billion-dollar exporter of pesticides. and industry representatives deny there is a problem. >> i would like to clarify that not a single hazardous or banned pesticide is used in india today. it is bogus stories. >> reporter: but here we met farmers who are still using both internationally banned pesticides and those which are outlawed in india. despite their obvious effects, the farmers say they simply don't have a choice. it seems as though a 21st century green revolution where obsolete pesticides are replaced by safer alternatives the, for india at least, a long way off. the captain of ghana's football team asamoah gian says that claims that he killed his
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friend as part of a ritual sacrifice are wild and absurd. the man went missing in july, he was on holiday with gian. allegations suggested the disappearance was suspicious. let's get some more on this, because joining me here in the studio is louise hosy. first, let's get the detail from on the ground. samuel dakah joins us now. this is just the most extraordinary story. can you give us a bit more background here? >> reporter: yes, indeed. it's a trending story in ghana. what happened is that in july, castro and asamoah gian, who are musicians, both of them sing and they've done a lot of collaboration, they decided to -- they went on a holiday at a particular beach here in the capital, and then they went on a jet ski. then castro is suspected to have
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drown, and since july, police and rescue missions have been searching for him and he's not been found up until now. rumors went wild. a lot of people have said asamoah gyan have had a few people around him, his mother dies, either before or after a tournament and they have suggested that he could have been using these people for rituals. i mean, this is a wild allegation, but believe it or not, people here will hold him to it. so people have been expecting him to talk about it. but a journalist with the national newspaper decided to pose this daring question to asamoah gyan before they played a qualifier, and then his brother, who is also an ex-player, got infuriated. and so this is how come asamoah
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gyan decided to organize a press conference where his lawyer decided to speak for the first time about this matter, and the lawyer has said that asamoah gyan has no role in the disappearance of his music partner castro. >> i've got to cut you short there. it's the most extraordinary and convoluted story. obviously a full investigation taking place. but that's what it's about. with me is louise now. no wonder, they're going bonkers on social media on this one. >> yeah. football and footballers are huge in ghana. asamoah gyan is extremely well-known. he has nearly 300,000 followers on twooitter and he's often kno to tweet details about his life. ever since this rapper and his partner went missing, these rumors have started circulating on social media. they've built up in previous weeks. and they've gathered pace to the point where he's had to take the unusual step of addressing these
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claims. with the perez cress conference went on twitter to announce news of the conference, in which he tweeted, time to speak up on salient issues. he then tweeted yesterday after the press conference had been heard in which he tweeted, it has been long in coming, but better late than never. i hope this helps. and he was also actually playing -- he was back on the football pitch last night, in which he scored a goal and assisted in setting up two others. and again, he put out another tweet, again alluding to what happened earlier that day in which he said another goal and two assists on such a day. thank you, god. >> it's just extraordinary he can focus on the football at all. thanks very much. i'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more on that story here on "bbc world news." the hollywood actor john malkovich is featured in a series recreating more than 40 iconic photos, each of them taken with incredible detail and
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care about the photographer sandro miller. he started this project to fight back against what he sees as social media's negative effects on his art form. >> wait a minute. this is malkovich. this isn't warhol. the project, it's truly about me paying homage to these 30-plus photographs that over my 40-year career has completely changed the way i look and think about photography. my mind began to think, what if? what if i recreated those images with john malkovich? john is willing to experiment and has no fear. and when he would get in front of the camera, i would see john with the fullest of confidence transform himself in to marilyn monroe, betty davis, the migrant mother, salvador dali, picasso.
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every single set was recreated. the hair and makeup. randy wilder who did the hair and makeup. he researched that hair. we brought hair in from all over the country and we had to have a seamstress build each of the clothing. we took every shot. we needed to dissect that shot, take a look at it and really figure out where was that photographer at that time. what kind of light was he using? my goal was to stay as true to what a photographer could use back then. most of the time, getting ready for each of these shots would be about a two-hour time for hair and makeup. and john would study these photographs that we'd put on the mirror and i could see john go there, he would go to that time, he would go to that place and he would become that person. i think one that really, really amazes me is the diane arbis twins shot. just to see the difference in the mind of both of those twins. one accepting the photographer. and actually maybe enjoying the
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moment a little bit. while the other one showed fear and hesitation. well, john nailed both of those expressions from those twins beautifully. in today's world with the internet, we are absolutely bombarded with imagery. you know, everyone's become a photographer. instagram has gone actually crazy. it's tough to see all this work come out and most of it with no thought behind it. i was hoping that maybe i might be able to recreate a little bit of awareness, again, of classic moving iconic imagery. not just putting images out to put an image out. but let's think about it. let's think about what we're doing. let's think about what we're capturing here. let's have an idea. >> sandro miller there. the office of the british prime minister has announced that david cameron is to offer an apology in person to the queen after he was caught on
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camera giving details of a private conversation they had had. the audio is not great here. hence the subtitles. but you can see what he's saying. microphones just picking up saying the queen was purring down the line when he phoned to her with the result of the scottish referendum. bit of an oops moment. i spoke to the editor-in-chief of "majesty" magazine to get her take on his sleep-up. >> i think that perhaps david cameron was a little naive to think his conversation wouldn't be picked up, but it's also slightly boastful, isn't it? like her majesty was so relieved. it's slightly boasting, which was quite unnecessary. and i think he actually feels genuinely ashamed, cameron, that he made this gaffe. >> i mean, gaffes are made from time to time. what sort of reception will he get, do you think, from the queen? >> well, politically, no prime minister has ever meant to disclose anything about his
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conversations with the queen. and that's because the queen is above politics. we have no written constitution. so she's above politics. she is the head of state. but no politics. so from that constitutional point of view, it is a big gaffe. but knowing the queen and her sense of humor, she's an 88-year-old lady. he's her 12th prime minister. there's been mistakes before and i really think she's not going to harangue him like a schoolteacher. >> right. it would be a shock if she was anything other than relieved and perhaps purring down the line as well, wouldn't it? keeping the united kingdom together is part of her heritage. >> well, yes. she is the queen of the united kingdom, and although she really wanted the best for the scots people because she loves them, you knew that this was what she wanted. she wanted to keep the kingdom together. >> just give us an idea, if you can, from the depths of the past of how -- i don't know if touch
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is right. how sensitive you do have to be about protocol around the queen? >> you have to be extremely sensitive if you are her prime minister. and, i mean, the queen, as she's aged, needs a few musing instance to happen to her. she likes the odd gaffe. but with the prime minister, it's different. >> ingrid stewart there. the audi a3. now available in tdi clean diesel.
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hello. you're watching "gmt" on "bbc world news." i'm tim wilcox. our top stories. hitting islamic state's financial empire. among the targets overnight, oil installations by the group that target tens of millions of dollars each week. >> i'm on the turkey-syria border. one of those air strikes hit an oil refinery just 80 or so kilometers from our position here, but just how successful will those air strikes be in disrupting islamic state's
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