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tv   BBC World News  BBC America  January 6, 2015 9:00am-10:01am EST

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this is bbc america, and now live from london, "bbc world news." hello, i'm kasia madera with "bbc world news." our top stories. american firm spacex prepares to launch a mission to land a rocket on a barge. rallies for and against with many thousands taking part. >> reporter: shocked and perplexed the authorities are, the sheer number here. modern germany is not used to scenes like this. recovery teams looking for
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wreckage from the airasia flight say they may have spotted the tail section where the black box flight recorders are located. a campaign promised to restore sport to the heart of fifa. the vice president of world football's governing body says he'll stand against. hello, and welcome to the program. spacex is attempting to revolutionize commercial rocket launches with its latest unmanned cargo mission to the international space station. but this time it's not the takeoff that has space fans waiting with baited breath it's the landing. the 14-story booster will soar about 240 kilometers high before flying down back and attempting to settle upright on a
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football-sized pitch floating in the atlantic ocean. now, just off the coast of florida, this is no mean feat. spacex admits the odds of success are not great, maybe around 50% at best. let's get all of this in perspective. the bbc's science correspondent jonathan amos is here for us. this is a football-sized platform that this enormous rocket has to land on and even spacex are saying it's 50/50. >> very difficult indeed. we don't recycle rockets. they're expendable, just like disposable razors so to speak. they go up into the sky, we dump engines to save the wait, to finally put a satellite in orbit. in this case it's a cargo ship. but wouldn't it be great if you could recycle some of that material have it back on earth, refurbish it refly it. imagine taking a jumbo jet to
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l.a. and throwing that jumbo jet away every time you do that flight. that's effectively what we do with rockets. so is there a way that we can recycle them? they're going to send the rocket up. once the bottom half of a rocket the first stage as we kl it -- call it they're going to try and fly it back down to the atlantic ocean, to this floating barge, which is about 300 kilometers off cape canaveral, and see if they can land it in the middle of that barge. no mean feat, as you say. it's an unmanned barge. it's got to cope with waves and currents. it has tluszers ser thrusters, but they'll see if they can put it back on that barge. >> we are watching live images of cape canaveral. we're expecting that launch in around 17 minutes time. as jonathan was saying it's the landing of that part that we're particularly interested in. jonathan will stay with us to watch all of this.
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but now let's just take a pause and bring you some of the day's other news. we will, of course, continue to monitor that for you. but now focusing on germany, because protests there against immigration and the influence of islam have attracted their largest crowds so far. 18,000 people attended an anti-islamization rally in the eastern city of dresden but thousands more have taken part in counterdemonstrations in other german cities. the lights in the cathedral in cologne were turned off. our correspondent jenny hill reports from dresden. >> reporter: we are the people they shout. and their voice is getting louder. germany for germans, he says. no mosques in germany. no mosques in dresden. >> you won't see, you won't hear a german word. and it's not a good situation.
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if you have four daughters, four blonde, long-haired daughters. >> reporter: immigration is at a 20-year high in this country. the group behind this demonstration claims to be anti-islamist. it's called pagita and it's increasingly popular. what shocks and perplexed the authorities are the sheer numbers are. modern germany is not used to scenes like this. and they've provoked disgust and shame. the lights of cologne cathedral put out in protest. counterdemonstrations were held in 11 german cities. among those publicly condemning pagita the german chancellor. don't follow these people, angelina jolie says. too often they have prejudices coldness, even hatred in their hearts. but the voices persist. immigration is expected to be high on the agenda when the
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chancellor visits britain later in the week. these scenes make many in germany, but they can also no longer be ignored. jenny hill, bbc news, dresden. recovery teams looking for bodies and wreckage from the air arab flight airasia flight may have made an important discovery. so far 37 bodies have been recovered. the remains of most victims are thought still to be on the aircraft. a short while ago, i spoke to our correspondent in jakarta about the latest news that recovery teams may have spotted the tail of the plane. >> here we are told that they
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are unable to confirm those details just as yet. they've been hopeful for the last couple of days that they've been able to find some of the most critical parts of the plane's wreckage. of course the crucial thing for investigators and for the search teams is to find that black box, recover all the bodies that they can under the waters, but it's been very, very difficult for them. it's been an extremely challenging search mission. they've been hampered by bad weather conditions. the weather improved slightly today and divers, we've been told were able to get under the water and try and get down to the bottom of the ocean's floor, but still no confirmation yet on whether that part of the wreckage that they believe they found is indeed the tail of the plane. >> karishma reporting from jakarta. the difficulties in finding the wreckage have raised questions about whether we should be able to track airliners in realtime.
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standard international practice is to monitor air space using two radar systems. primary radar identifies the approximate position of aircraft using reflected radio signals. secondary radar relies on planes having a transponder, which can transmit additional information such as a plane's identity and altitude. the problem is that radar has a limited range, so air crew have to keep in touch with air traffic control using high frequency radio. aircraft use gps to show pilots their position on a map but this data is not usually shared with air traffic control. it is possible to send an aircraft's gps position via radar to traffic controllers, but due to the limited range of radar, this is not possible over the oceans. it should be possible, though, to broadcast an aircraft's
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position over oceans via satellite, but it's expensive. the free consequence of incidents is so low that the aviation industry is reluctant to invest heavily in this industry. we are continuing to monitor the search for the airasia flight. but let's get to business news. oil prices dropping stock markets fluctuating. what's going on? >> we were saying how low can those oil price goss go? they just keep dropping. stock markets have declined sharply as the plunging oil price -- i tell you what, it is really spooking investors. shares in tokyo slumped by more than 3%. certainly all of the european markets following suit. the price of the black stuff is continuing to slide today. with u.s. oil prices falling below that -- it's very symbolic, that threshold of $50 a barrel currently it's $48.50
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a barrel. brent crude is almost at about $51 a barrel. but look the falls in prices -- let's say it. they have been dramatic. certainly to say the least. the price of a barrel of oil has now lost more than half half of its value in the past six months. the middle of 2014. so, we've been talking about it a lot. i certainly have. what is behind the sudden drop? a sharp rise in production as a result of fracking combined with opec's refusal to cut supply. that has just led to an apun dance. the world is awash with oil at the moment. now, you take all of that supply out there and you combine it you combine with what's happening to the global economy. economies across the world have basically slowed their once ferocious demand for oil. and that's certainly what's been
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giving global markets the problem at the moment. low demand, lots of supply. that's the picture. let's talk about this. the boss of sony has made his first public comments since last month's computer hacking attack on sony pictures. the u.s. government blames north korea for the attack which was seen as a response to sony's comedy "the interview" a fictional plot to assassinate kim jong-un. he said he was proud of sony staff who stood up against what he described as the extortionist tactics of the hackers. here's a little teaser of what he had to say. >> sony pictures entertainment, former employees, and certainly current employees, they were unfortunately the victim of one of the most vicious and malicious cyber attacks that we've known certainly in recent history. >> there you go. just a little tease. more of the big boss of sony coming up on "gmt," as well as more on oil and the markets in just over an hour's time.
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follow me on twitter. tweet me. i'll tweet you back. you can get me @bbcaaron. i'll see you soon. back to you. >> we will see you soon. thank you very much. as always, don't go away for now. we've still got lots more to come on this program. the role of trained medical staff in fighting the spread of ebola. the world health organization tells us there's a continuing need for volunteers. give you 37-thousand to replace it. "depreciation" they claim. "how can my car depreciate before it's first oil change?" you ask. maybe the better question is why do you have that insurance company? with liberty mutual new car replacement, we'll replace the full value of your car. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance.
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you want an advanced degree, but sometimes work can get in the way. now capella university offers flexpath, a revolutionary new program that allows you to earn a degree at your pace and graduate at the speed of you. flexpath from capella university. you are watching "bbc world news." i'm kasia madera. our main headlines for you. american firm spacex prepares to launch a mission to land a rocket on a barge. it's an experiment that could slash the cost of space travel. protests in germany against the influence of islam have attracted their largest crowd so far, but there have also been big counterdemonstrations. the world health
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organization is urging international medical staff to continue to volunteer in ebola-hit countries. it is after a nurse from scotland contracted the virus while working in sierra leone. she's being treated at a hospital here in london where her condition is said to have stabilized. the w.h.o. spokesperson in sierra leone told our global health correspondent tulip mazumdar why they still need medics to help fight this outbreak. >> i think everyone has to think very seriously about the risks that are involved. but health care providers are used to taking risks. and i think it often strengthens our resolve to work harder to fill the shoes of someone who's gone before us. and i'm hoping that people will continue to come. it's the one piece that we continually will need help with. you know we can have the hospitals, but we still need staff to come and people keep turning over. a lot of businesses will only let their employees go for a month, and if there's
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restrictions like quarantine measures when the people go back, that factors in to how long people can stay here and really help us with the struggle. so all of these factors -- you know, we're going to continue to need help for a long time to come. >> that was winnie romero speaking to tulip mazumdar. the mayor of new york bill de blasio has rebuked the city's policemen who turned their backs on him as he spoke at the funerals of two murdered officers. he said the act of protest was hurtful to the families. some officers accused de blasio of inciting the shooting over remarks. the retrial of guatemala's former ruler has collapsed after his lawyer said one of the judges is biased. he was accused of implementing a scorched earth policy in the bloodiest phase of the country's civil war. his previous conviction for ordering mass killings in the
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1980s was overturned on procedural grounds. u.s. prosecutors have charged two men with conspireing to overthrow the government of the gambia in west africa. the u.s. justice department says the men, u.s. citizens of gambian decent went there to launch the coup of the president. now, let's return back to our live images from cape canaveral canaveral. there we're expecting a rather experimental phase of spacex's new launch. they're hoping to launch this rocket that is going up to the international space station. a standard procedure which takes place relatively often, but what is not standard is that a part of the capsule going up will then come back to land on a football-sized pitched barge. in the middle of the ocean, something even the company says
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has a 50/50 chance in actually taking place. somebody far better qualified to talk about this is our science correspondent jonathan amos. jonathan, so just put this into context for us. just how difficult is this procedure expected to be? >> well nobody's ever really tried this before. if you think about rockets, they're disposable. we dump stages as we call them the segments of the rocket as we go up. the reason we the that is because we need to save weight. in order to get the satellite, in this case a capsule taking cargo to the international space station to get it into orbit. it's very very difficult then to try and bring something back into the earth's atmosphere. the velocity means you get extreme heating. you'll tumble if you're not careful. you'll start to break up. that's what happens to most rockets. what they've done with the bottom half of this rocket that we can see on a launch pad here is that they have given it so fuel reserved some fuel.
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they've also given it some guidance systems to bring it back through the atmosphere. once it's done its job of getting the main part of the mission up off the launch pad and pushing it upwards it's then going to start to try and come back through the atmosphere. it will fire its engines again. a few times. three times in total. trying to get to this floating platform that's about 300 kilometers off the coast of cape canaveral there in florida. it's only about 100 meters across. and so it will be very very difficult. you can see now the rocket. the capsule itself that's been i think about six or seven times now. this part of the mission very standard. they do it all the time. it's the bit that comes next. >> what we were watching there were images of previous -- as jonathan was saying these are
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standard expeditions out to the international space station, previous launches. it's this particular one that we are expecting to be very exciting. in just under i believe a minute's time. we'll bring you the launch live. but u.nfortunately, we're probably not going to see the remaining part come down on that platform, are we? >> this platform is about 300 kilometers beyond the cape. it's below the horizon. they don't have the telecommunications infrastructure in there to relay it to us live. but they are promising a recording, radio cameras on the platform. and they hope to get those to us later in the day. >> let's have a listen. let's see what we're hearing. >> verify the alarms clear the
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rocket. >> expecting the launch to take place any moment now. >> ready. >> copy. >> give us an indication jonathan, once this launches, roughly how long for that section to then come apart and then come back down, hopefully on to this platform? >> just got a note they've got a scrub at the moment. they've obviously got a technical issue with the rocket so it's not going to go at the moment. not sure the next time they can do this. probably tomorrow, i would think. because they're chasing the space station. in effect that's the main part of the mission. space station would have flown over the cape about an hour ago. the rocket would have gone off, and then the capsule would have raised itself towards the space station. the fact that they've now missed this is very narrow window to get off the ground means that they'll have to step back probably a day or so. >> so literally that one-minute window -- because we were expecting this to take off roughly 60 seconds ago.
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it hasn't, so that is all it takes, that one minute? >> and this just underlines the complexities of flying rockets. you have to be absolutely sure that when it goes up, it's going to work. because you've got, you know maybe 100, 200, $300 million worth of hardware on the top. it's very valuable. you know, we would love to get to the stage where we could fly rockets like we fly airplanes. you know at the home what we do is we buy an airplane and then we throw it away. that's effectively what we do with rocketry. is there a way we can get flight time we can get knowledge about the systems, that we can fly them regularly enough that we can have confidence that they will work every single time. you know the record of air flight now of getting in an airplane, you know this when you get in a passenger plane, it's the safest way to travel. and that's because we've built up the experience built up the history. we know how these systems work. with rockets they're always a little bit uncertain. we really need to get past that to be able to bring the cost
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down, to be able to do more things in space, to be able to go much deeper into the solar system, for instance. at the moment, those kinds of missions are very very expensive. but, you know just this program itself is broadcast on satellites. we would like to make that much cheaper as well. >> disappointing, but officially we are being told countdown has been aborted. jonathan, thank you so much for being here and talking us through that. but disappointment there, that attempt aborted for the time being. moving on the fifa vice president of jordan has announced that he will stand for election as leader of football's world governing body. the 39-year-old prince has declared his intention to run against set blatta. set blatta has led for 17 years and has recently pledged to make a fifth mandate at the age of 79. a short time ago, our sports correspondent told me more about
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the decision to contest the fifa election. >> encouraged by europe, who have been very critical of set blatta's leadership. the man who led an investigation onto that bidding processry sign ry resigned. certainly those within europe wanted somebody to stand against set blatta. they've got their man, but apart from europe it's difficult to see where his support will come from elsewhere, even in asia. that said there are 209 votes. he'll get a good chunk of the 54 from europe. he needs to sway the vote in asia to stand any chance of getting past set blatta. >> any other challengers, do you think? >> we know jerome champagne has said he will stand, but he has yet to. he's got until the end of the month to publicly do that so at
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the moment it's just prince ali. it's a multi-billion-dollar industry. lots of federations have done well under set blatta. he is still the hot favorite. >> alex capstick there. we couldn't bring you the pyrotechnics from cape canaveral, but how about this instead. amazing, extraordinary pictures from colombia. this is what happened when a film crew went to report on a fire at a fireworks factory. just can't imagine something worse, outside the capital of bogota. a local cameraman, and other people had to -- who stopped to watch, were even blown off their feet when that exploded. the bystanders had to take cover behind their cars as fireworks rained down on them. ten tons were stored at the factory and 30 firefighters took
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more than six hours to put that blitz out. i am very reliably told luckily that nobody was hurt in that. much more as always on our website. and don't forget, you can also get in touch with me and the team via twitter. would be great to hear from you. for the time being, thanks very much for watching "bbc world news." bye-bye. what makes it an suv is what you can get into it. ♪ [container door closing] what makes it an nx is what you can get out of it. ♪ introducing the first-ever lexus nx turbo and hybrid. once you go beyond utility there's no going back.
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i found one. see? what do you think a wifi hotspot smells like? i'm thinking roast beef. want to get lunch? get the fastest wifi hotspots and more coverage on the go than any other provider. xfinity, the future of awesome. hello, i'm kasia madera. our top stories. the american firm spacex has just aborted the launch of a mission that could have seen the cost of space travel slashed. we will bring you the very latest. rallies for and against the anti-islamization group have been held in a number of german cities with many thousands taking part. >> reporter: what shocked and perplexed the authorities are the sheer numbers here.
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modern germany is not used to scenes like this. the campaign promised to restore sport to the heart of fifa. the vice president of fifa's governing football party says he'll stand against. ashraf ghani's government is in deadlock. we look at the changs he faces keeping the taliban at bay. hello, and a warm welcome to the program. in the last couple of minutes, the american company spacex has had to call off its flight to the international space station. it was supposed to blast off before sunrise on tuesday, but the countdown was actually halted with just one minute
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remaining. let's take a look live at the images from cape canaveral there, but as you can see, that all in place. we should have had the launch the cakeoff around 11 minutes ago, but in the very last moment the launch had to be postponed for that commercial cargo rocket which was destined for the international space station. nasa said that the mission had been put on hold. literally with one minute to spare. now, the launch -- we were told the launch was aborted because of a vehicle issue. and as jonathan amos was saying the window to launch that can sometimes be -- can sometimes be stopped within just one minute. the launch was actually part of an experiment to land the used rocket booster on a barge floating in the atlantica. a barge no larger than the size
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of a football pitch. it would have been the first time that such a maneuver had ever been carried out. but unfortunately, that launch postponed for today. protests in germany against imgrigs and the influence of islam have attracted their largest crowd so far. 18,000 people attended an anti-islamization rally in the eastern city of dresden, but thousands more have been taking part in counterdemonstrations in other german cities. the lights in the cathedral in cologne were turned off. our correspondent jenny hill reports from dresden. >> reporter: by now, i'm sure you've seen the pictures. dramatic scenes here in dresden last night, as thousands of people marched chanting through
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these historic streets in support of this movement called pegida. pegida claims to be against the islamization of the west. they say they're not a racist organization, but they are concerned about high levels of imgrigs heremigration here in germany. ism inauguration is at a 20-year high. they say they're not racist. that said, there were certainly some right-wing views being espoused amongst the crowds. one man said to me we don't want muslims, we don't want mosques here in dresden. germany should be for germans. there's certainly growing support for pegida. what really rattles them i think is the fact that the people they describe as ordinary working men and women are supporting pegida. they may not be racist themselves and many people say they're not here to support racism, but they are here because of their concerns about
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immigration. the political establishment is hitting back. the chancellor of germany angela merkel has publicly condemned pegida. she has said over the new year in a special new year address that the people behind pegida have hatred coldness and prejudice in their hearts and those are sentiments with which many germans agree. last night, we saw plenty of counterdemonstrations taking place in some 11 german cities in places like berlin people came out, took to the steets streets to protest against the pegida movements. the lights of cologne cathedral were switched out in protest against this movement, which many germans see as a source of deep shame. >> jenny hill reporting there from dresden. the boss of sony has made his first public comments since last month's computer hacking attack on sony pictures. the u.s. government blamed north korea for the attack, which was
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seen as a response to sony's comedy film "the interview" about a fictional plot to assassinate north korean leader kim jong-un. he said he was proud of sony staff who stood up to what he described as the extortionist tactics of the hackers. >> sony pictures entertainment, former employees, and certainly current employees, they were unfortunately the victim of one of the most vicious and malicious cyber attacks that we have known certainly in recent history. but i have to say that i am very proud of all the employees and certainly the partners that we've worked with as well who stood up against some of the extortionist efforts of the criminals that actually attacked sony pictures and its employees. and worked tirelessly literally 24 hours a day, sometimes on days on end to bring the interview to audiences here in
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the united states and also up in canada as well across online venues, as well as in motion picture theaters across the united states and canada. and i have to say that freedom of speech freedom of expression, freedom of association, those are very important lifelines of sony and our entertainment business. now, afghan president ashraf ghani has marked his first 100 days in power, still struggling to form a government. the political deadlock has underlined the challenges of running a unity government, and is threatening the economic stability and security of afghanistan. so what challenges does ashraf ghani face? perhaps the most difficult is to maintain his fragile partnership with his former presidential rival, dr. abdullah abdullah. mr. ghani has pledged that his first reforms will improve the rule of law and tackle corruption. that is a key element in his
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plan to boost afghanistan's weak economy. now, another uphill task is to improve security in the country as nato combat troops withdraw. and a final challenge surrounds the role of women including that of his very own wife who has had an unusually high profile so far. the bbc's david loyn reports from kabul. >> reporter: now that the u.s.-led forces have formally handed over combat responsibility to afghanistan, i join the head of the afghan army on his first trip out of the capital since the handover. our destination, close to the volatile border with pakistan. general carimi is tipped to be the defense minister. >> to pick up the right people to select individuals that are good for their job professionally and from other point of view, you know, to be the right person, it takes time.
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>> reporter: taking a long time. >> well we agree with you. i agree with you that it is taking a long time, but it won't be very long. soon you will hear the new cabinet. >> reporter: 100 days have passed since the new president ashraf ghani agreed to share power with the runner-up in the election dr. abdullah. government across the country is paralyzed. in the western province officials from the governor down to district level have been fired. but no one appointed in their place. >> people are tired. very much tired of waiting for development of the government the cabinet, for example. the question today in afghanistan is about the cabinet. >> so are they losing hope in the government? >> they are losing. every day they are losing hope. >> do you think this will strengthen the taliban? >> of course when you have weak government, the taliban is getting strong. >> reporter: everywhere, people
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are talking about the failure to form a government. this man said he would take his vote back if he could. the barber didn't vote but blamed worsening security on the failure of the government. and the man having a haircut said the economy was suffering because of the political failure. it's a hard time for those in the front line. this force is now fighting the taliban on its own, without u.s. and other international support, and without the backing it really needs from a strong government. and amid the political paralysis, the afghan army is still taking heavy casualties in a war that's not stopped just because foreign forces have gone. david loyn, bbc news, kabul. let's go back to our breaking story, the launch of the spacex rocket attempt. unfortunately, it was aborted today. apparently down to some technical issues with a vehicle -- or actually down to
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the acuator drift on second phase. i've got no idea what that means. jonathan amos hopefully does know. why and when can we expect it to try again? >> the issue was with the upper part of the rocket. the vector control system. so they would have had a problem steering the upper part of the rocket they think. they need to check that system out. if they can check it out and be happy with it then they will come back on friday. i think the time you have it there, which is about nine minutes past 6:00 in the morning local time florida, which is just after 10:00 "gmt" on friday. and we'll try all over again. >> and the whole point of this is this kind of mission takes place quite frequently, but the fact that this time they want to bring back a part of it which could save many millions. >> yeah we're trying to reuse rockets to refurbish them put them back on the pad and use them for another mission. imagine taking an airplane from
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los angeles to london, and you throw that airplane away when you get to london and buy a new one. that's what we do with rockets. we dispose of them as we use them. obviously every rocket is expensive. if you could somehow get a second-hand rocket, a third-hand rocket maybe, it would bring down the cost of the mission overall. some of the satellites that we launch, they cost hundreds of millions of dollars themselves anyway, but then to put the rocket underneath them costs another hundred million or so. you see how the money is restrictive. it stops us. is there another way? >> are there any issues about reusing these rockets? any safety concerns? >> well, there are a number of issues to get past. i think over the last 60 years, we've got used to working a particular way. one thing is you have to make sure that the economics stack up. i said buying an airplane and
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throwing it away every time. but if the cost of servicing that airplane are more than buying the airplane there's no point doing this. we saw that with the space shuttle system. that used to go up and come back down. then they used to spend a couple of months taking it all apart, putting it back together. they save no money whatsoever. a very expensive way of doing it. there are attitudes out there in the market that will need to be confronted. if i have spent 2 million or $3 million to deliver television to south america, do i want to use a second-hand rocket or a third-hand rocket? i might want a brand-new one. so these are some of the issues that they will have to address down the road. but ultimately we do have to get past this idea that we spend 50 $100 million on a rocket and use it only once. got to get past that. >> thanks for putting that into context. next chance is at 10:09 gmt. we'll hopefully bring that live to you. don't go away.
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we've got lots more still to come including the role of trained medical staff in fighting the spread of ebola. the world health organization says there is a continuing need for volunteers in ebola-hit countries. visit us today for legal help you can count on to start and run your business. legalzoom. legal help is here. you want an advanced degree, but sometimes work can get in the way. now capella university offers flexpath, a revolutionary new program that allows you to earn a degree at your pace and graduate at the speed of you. flexpath from capella university. [container door opening] ♪ what makes it an suv is what you can get into it. ♪ [container door closing] what makes it an nx is what you can get out of it. ♪ introducing the first-ever lexus nx turbo and hybrid. once you go beyond utility there's
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you are watching "bbc world news." our kasia madera. our main headlines for you. the american firm spacex has postponed the start of a mission to land a rocket on a barge in an experiment that could slash the cost of space travel. protests in germany against the influence of islam have attracted their largest crowd so far, but there have also been big counterdemonstrations. graphic photographs taken inside syrian government jails are going on display in washington. the photos were taken by a syrian military photographer who documented hundreds of deaths by starvation and torture.
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he defected this summer and brought his pictures to the united states. from washington, a report and a warning that her report understandably contains some disturbing images. >> reporter: the haunting faces of those who lost their lives in the worst horrors of the past. at the holocaust museum a pledge belied by the tragedies of the present. on display now here, photos of torture and starvation inside government jails in syria. gruesome pictures smuggled to the u.s. by former military photographer. the museum leadership felt compelled to bear witness. >> showing these pictures is really part of our mission. it's to remind people that genocide didn't end with the holocaust. that this is not merely a 20th century problem. it's a 21st century problem. >> reporter: the defector testified in front of horrified members of congress this summer. the syrian government insists the photos show fighters killed
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in combat. but survivors of torture, like 24-year-old syrian activist, who escaped to the u.s. are also speaking out. >> every time i would tell someone about what i witnessed inside about how systematic the torture is inside. everyone would say, like no way this could really happen. but when those pictures came out, like i was saying like this is what i've been telling you about. i was lucky that i got out, but i witnessed people dying, like in front of me because of this. >> reporter: the state department believes the pictures are authentic but the wheels of justice turn very slowly. >> if you have the evidence, you have the survivors you have the commitment of major countries like our own, the day will arrive where we'll find a place to present this evidence against those that are responsible. >> reporter: but regardless of the work of the state department or the display here at the
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museum, there is no denying that four years into the syrian conflict, the attention in washington has shifted to fighting the islamic state. and those syrians who suffered at the hands of their own government are feeling abandoned. >> people here are really driven behind all of what isis is doing. who cares about 200,000 people got killed or like 100,000 people are in prison. all of those people like ten million refugees who lost their houses. it seems no one really cares about them. >> the only hope left is that wars do eventually end. and the memory of those who died will be kept alive for future generations. bbc news washington. the world health organization says that the global death toll from the ebola outbreak has risen to 8,153. with all but a handful of the
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recorded cases in west africa. sierra leone has overtaken liberia as the country with the most infections, with nearly 10,000 recorded cases. let's talk to sarah robinson a nurse who has returned working for the british red cross. thank you for coming in. you've just recently returned. you're planning to go back out, aren't you? just talk us through some of your experiences out there. >> experiences out there are very up and down. there's some very very sad things which we see, and some very, very good things, which i think are a testament to the work that the international federation of the red cross is doing out there along with the national nurses. the virus in conno has taken quite a hold. the center in kenema is getting lots of patients from there. but they're car ruing --
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carrying on their work. >> what made you decide to go? >> i've always had an interest in tropical and infectious diseases. i got some experience in acute medicine and then as soon as i saw the advert for the ebola outbreak, i just thought, i want to go. i'm quite passionate about the humanitarian work, so i saw it and i didn't really think about not doing it. i just applied. >> well, you're not worried? we have heard about what have happened to other people who have contracted this disease, this very, very awful virus. were you not scared? >> i wouldn't say i was scared. i had a very thorough training in geneva before i went, about wearing protective clothing all the safety protocols to follow. and those humanitarian workers across the world at the moment in places of conflict where there's bombs going off and gunfire. and there's a lot of risk for
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those people and they're doing humanitarian work every day. whereas at least with this ebola outbreak, we know what precautions we can take. we know that we can wear the ppe, the protective clothing. we know that we can wash ourselves with chlorine when we come out. so we know that the risk is very small. you have a small part in the back of your mind where you have to keep making choices and know that you have to stay safe. but i wasn't worried particularly. >> when you were out there, you saw some difficult things, difficult scenarios. just talk us through some of the moments that really made you think twice. >> there were two moments, which really stick in my memory. one was a little 6-year-old girl who had come in from a local village. none of the nurses there spoke the language that she spoke. so it was very difficult to communicate with her.
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she was very anxious when she came in. and i went to see her the next day and i hoped maybe she'd have calmed down a bit and we could get some sort of rapport going. i went in there and i just knew that within 15 or 20 minutes she would pass away. so i sat with her. while she was taking her last breaths. and she just had tears running down her eyes down her face. it was verymoving. and it really brought home the nature of the virus how it can affect people. one was another baby that i looked after as well. the sad thing with babies and young people and older people as well. their immune systems are not as advanced, not as developed. so the sad thing is when a baby gets ebola there's more of a chance that they won't pull through. so i think those were the two moments that really stuck with
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me. that i'll remember forever probably. >> and something that i suppose urges you to go back. >> definitely. it's not just the sad moments there. are some really happy moments as well. the international federation is doing an excellent job out there. the international staff and the national nurses are all working together in a wonderful team and there are people being discharged from the hospitals and those are the sorts of things that make it worthwhile when you see a mother reunited with her child, or you see a family get to go and you see how happy people are that they've beat the virus and that they can go home and carry on with their lives. that's what makes it worthwhile. >> sarah robinson thank you for finishing on such a positive note and we wish you -- really do wish you the best of luck when you go back to sierra leone and volunteer with the british red cross again. thank you very much for coming in to speak to us. >> thank you. now, before we leave you,
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let's just bring you up to date with the day's other news. the mayor of new york bill de blasio has rebuked the city's policemen who turned their backs on him as he spoke at the funeral of two murdered officers. he said that the act of protest was hurtful to the families. some officers accused de blasio of inciteing the shootings. charges of genocide has collapsed after his lawyer said one of his judges is biased. his opponents accuse him of implementing a scorched earth policy in the bloodiest phase of country's civil war. his previous conviction for ordering mass killings in the 1980s was overturned on procedural grounds. fifa's vice president of jordan has announced that he will stand for election as leader of football's world governing body. the 39-year-old prince has declared his attention to run against current president set
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blatta when fifa presidential elections take place. sep blatta has pledged to seek a fifth mandate at the age of 79. here is a report from melbourne. >> prince ali has been a member of the executive committee for four years. he says he's been mulling over this decision for some months. and his backing will come from the european federations in fifa who don't want sep blatta to remain as president. but in challenging sep blatta prince ali goes against the wishes of the president of the asian football federation who said recently that his confederation will back blatta and he doesn't want anybody else to stand against him. ali bin al hussein is also involved in the country's intelligence service and he's been involved in dealing with the threat posed by islamic state. now he's taking on sep blatta.
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hello. you're watching "gmt" on "bbc world news." i'm lucy hockings. our top stories. after months of intense fighting kurdish forces appear to be making significant gains against islamic state militants in syria and iraq. street by street fighting in sinjar has paid off for the peshmerga. we have a special report for you from inside the town which was home to the persecuted yazidis. >> they have captured and killed many yazidi women. i am here

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