hello. i'm jake me menendez with "bbc world news." another message has been revealed. within the past hour malaysian officials revealed that the disappearance of flight mh 370 was an accident and that there were no survivors. the world health organization says new cases of ebola in west africa have fall opinion below 100 a week for the first time in six months. and the "star wars" toy that a collectible for just over $2 35 years ago has just gone on sale for some $27,000.

>> it's no contest, really. a very warm welcome to the program. the japanese government is trying to verify a new message apparently recorded by the journalist being held hostage by the islamic state group. the message from kenji goto says the new deadline or release a convicted suicide bomber. if she's not handed over it will kill a jordanian fighter pilot who's also being held hostage. in the past few hours, japan's chief cabinet secretary has had this to say about the ongoing negotiations. >> we are working continuously with the jordanians. the situation is constantly changing. so in that sense, we don't

believe that we should comment on the position of the government. but we can say that things between japan and jordan are moving forward, in the atmosphere of trust. >> now, this is the second japanese hostage under threat this past week. on sunday isis claimed they killed haruna yukawa after claiming $200 million in. >> reporter: another morning has brought another audio tape reportedly from kenji goto. he's not entirely sure the tape is from mr. goto. we are currently urgently analyzing the new message released on the internet, he says. due to the nature of the issue, i cannot tell you exactly details, but the government will continue to do its utmost to gain the early release of mr.

goto. but in a briefing a short time later, japan's chief cabinet secretary appeared to contradict the prime minister. >> we are currently trying to confirm the authenticity of the latest audio message. we think there is a high probability that this is the voice of mr. goto based on various information. >> in the new audiotape, the voice thought to be mr. goto says that in return for his life, this woman, convicted suicide bomber must be brought to the turkish syrian border by sunset this evening. if not, it says this man, jordanian air force pilot will be killed immediately. the jordanian government says it is ready too a prisoner swap but it first wants proof that its pilot is alive. in the jordanian capital, the pilot's father told a crowd of supporters, he has been personally assured by jordan's king abdullah that his son will

be brought home alive. >> translator: his majesty sends his greetings and he reassures us, i delivered your message to him and he read it carefully and put it in his pocket. please rest assured. >> reporter: in japan, there is no such certainty that this is going to end well. the japanese government is now effectively a spectator in this drama, wile the life of kenji goto hangs in the balance. rupert wingfield-hayes, bbc news tokyo. >> i began by asking rupert if the japanese have managed to verify that voice recording. >> reporter: well we've only got what we've heard from the chief cabinet secretary there, james, where he says he's fairly certain. he wouldn't say what information that's based on. obviously, they'll be doing a voice match, an audio match from previous audio messages that have been posted on the internet, and previous videos. i mean mr. goto is a television

journalist, so there's plenty of material for them to do matches. so they haven't given us the final confirmation yet but the likelihood is, they say, this is from him. >> and turning to you, yolanda, in the jordanian capital amman, what more about the negotiations? what are you hearing from the government there? >> reporter: very little new from the government here in the last few hours. we know there are direct talks going on involving religious leaders and tribal leaders. we've just spoken to a coven of the jordanian pilot. he told us again that they have been given assurances by king abdullah himself that he is handling this and that he will do everything he can to bring this captured pilot back. and the jordanian army spokesman really saying that this remains the priority for the jordanian government. there's a lot of frustration here that the latest messages have come from islamic state have only promised to spare this

pilot's life not to release him. and the jordanian officials reiterating that his release must be part of any kind of deal involving this prisoner this iraqi woman prisoner who is held in a jordanian jail. >> because there has been a bit of vagueness about any possible deal hasn't there? have they clarified the government, whether if they were to let that woman go, whether kenji goto and the pilot would both have to be released? >> well what the foreign minister has said is that the priority is the jordanian pilot, but of course the japanese hostage would also be part of the deal. we know that jordan has been involved in negotiations on behalf of tokyo as well. but, really, it would take organization and time to move this woman from prison. we were told that she has not been moved from prison earlier, to get her to the turkish border by sunset. no indication of whether that

could happen at all. >> just back to you, rupert in tokyo, how much control over this does the japanese government have or are they having to leave it mainly to the jordanians? >> it's very hard to tell from the statements being made by the japanese government. they keep really repeating the same thing over and over again, saying they're working closely with the jordanian government a deputy prime minister in amman, meeting with them every day, and they're doing everything they can. but i've spoken with some analysts today, and they say really japan does not have much leverage in this situation. they only have economic looench over the jordanian government and essentially the japanese government is now more of a spectator than an active player. and it is really up to the jordanian government to decide how they're going to move forward with this prisoner swap. >> and one final word from you, owe lan, how much pressure does the jordanian government feel over this domestically

particularly? >> well, king abdullah of jordan is a staunch u.s. ally and a key member of the coalition against islamic state, and he had his own domestic reasons to be part of that. these are militants just across jordan's borders, both iraq and syria. but what's really happened with this whole deal it's hardened public opposition here against that bombing campaign and it's also having an impact on military morale. >> jolanda in amman, and rupert wingfield-hayes in tokyo. so the disappearance of mh370 was an accident and there were no survivors. the plane disappeared last march with 239 passengers and crew on border. malaysia's department of civil aviation made a statement with an update on the missing the flight. >> after 327 days and based on all available data as well as

message, the survivability in the defined area is highly unlikely. it is therefore, with the heaviest heart and deepest sorrow sorrow, that on behalf of the government of malaysia we officially declare malaysia airlines flight mh370 an accident. >> a short time ago, i spoke to our correspondent in kuala lumpur, jennifer pac, and put it to her that this announcement wasn't what the relatives of those on board wanted. >> reporter: no it's been an extremely tough day for them and in the lead up to this announcement, there have been rumors that malaysian officials were going to announce something definitive about mh370, and many of the relatives say they reject any of that because there has

not been any kind of physical evidence. and we have to add that although malaysia's government the civil aviation department general just said that they have exhausted all resources, that based oon the very limited data that they have they have to conclude that the plane has been lost it is an accident and that there is no possible way that anybody could have survived that. well, there are lots of family members who don't buy that because they have not seen a shred of physical evidence and they say until then, they will not be satisfied with the government's conclusion. >> and what is the sort of procedural reason for this? is it to open up that process of starting the compensation claims? is that what it's about? >> indeed that's what the official has mentioned, that they need to start on the compensation process. but i must say that malaysia airlines has already given out or offered initial compensation to some families to help them. because, remember some of the missing passengers, they were the breadwinner in the family and it's been extremely tough for the families more than ten

months on without that kind of income. however, there have only been a handful or at least a very limited number of families who have actually taken this initial compensation. many of them refuse to take it on because they worry that the government will then take it as a sign that they can move on and stop the search. malaysia's government says they are still committed to searching for this aircraft. that only 30% of the search areas that they have been looking in the southern indian ocean have been pored over and that they're going to continue until it finishes. but in this case the announcement means that they can start this compensation process, something which many families say they are unwilling and not prepared to do. >> jennifer pak in kuala lumpur. and scientists tracking the ebola outbreak in west africa told the bbc that the virus has mutated since the first cases were identified last year. researchers are trying to figure out if this is making ebola more

contagious. they want to learn if the mutations could have an impact on how the virus is diagnosed and how it responds to drugs including potential vaccines. well ebola has killed more than 8,000 people in west africa, but the world health organization says the number of new cases fell to below 100 for the fist time last month. the w.h.o welcomes the news. >> i think the world health organization is pleased about this. really, the lowest number of new cases since june is kind of significant. you've got that under 100. it looks like now this is a doable effort now to bring ebola down to zero. but they would also caution that bringing the disease down to zero hasn't been done yet. and in addition talking to senior w.h.o officials just in the last couple of days that with the new cases coming up, over half of them are from places where they haven't necessarily expected it, not

from contacts of current ebola patients, which they're tracing rigorously, as we know. so there is still no reason to relax, no reason for complacency. and i think health experts would be very concerned were people to think, okay cases under 100, now we can relax. that would not be the case. >> indeed it's about now, now that we're into the new year, that some of those treatments are being tested, some of those trials are getting underway. >> well, that's right. and i think the vaccine, that are being tested some of them here in switzerland, will be very useful in the future. not necessarily really ready in time for this ebola epidemic. they have months to go. so the effort still has to be controlling this epidemic on the ground, not allowing it to come roaring back as one w.h.o official said, there would still be a danger of that. that is why the effort really needs to remain very strong.

israel says it's received a message from the lebanese militant group hezbollah that it does not want violence after a day of escalation of tension on border with southern lebanon. israeli defense forces remained on alert following the killings of two soldiers by hezbollah. local media say that israeli war planes continue to fly over villages along the border. the european prime ministers are going to meet in brussels in a few hours' time to discuss sanctions against russia. that's following an upsurge in violence in eastern ukraine. 30 civilians were killed by shell fire and russian-backed rebels over the weekend. these pictures show the aftermath of that attack. time for the business news now. and aaron is here. hello. oil, the big oil crash how is it affecting those big oil firms? >> shell has kind of been considered the canary in the

coal mine it's the first major. the oil giant is slashing its spending over the next three years. of course as if like many others grapples with the plunge in the price of that black stock. shell says it's cutting its expenditure down by $15 billion between now and 2017. it also says that it's profiting the fourth quarter by that three-month period. with 4.2 billion, not as good as some were expecting. and shell, yes, like its rivals have already announced some cuts in exploration and production projects, because of falling revenues. shell shares opened down by just under 4%. and how about this facebook has reported its fourth quarter. that three-month period its profits up $701 million. that is a 41% increase on the year before. advertising revenue grew by an impressive 53%, with most of that coming from mobile ad sales. that was very key for facebook. the social networking giant

boasts it now has 1.39 billion active users each month. that's a lot, and more than the population of china, and a 13% increase in 12 months. so why aren't investors pleased or impressed? because facebook shares fell about 2.6% in after-hours trading on wall street. we'll have more on that when the markets open in the u.s. later on today. now, how about this one? as royalty schemes go we all love it. we bought into the idea of collecting miles or points to get free flights in the future. you can get them for buying a loaf of bread now. but it seems that the programs and the bonuses are all changing. british airways is just the latest airline to announce a shake up to its program which starts from april the 28th. let's just take a look at the details. british airways is slashing by 75% the air miles you collect for the cheapest economy tickets, while it's adding more guaranteed frequent flyer seats to each flight.

so that's good news. the cheapest basic economy class ticket from london to new york from the 28th of april, you will earn just 865 air miles. that is down from what you used to be able to earn which was close to 350,000. business and first class passengers are some of the big winners from the changes. travelers who turn left when they board a plane and enjoy that flat bed experience will see their points rise by as much as two-thirds. although let me stress, depending on the ticket price, what they paid for that first or business class ticket. british airways is also introducing peak and off-peak pricing for reward flights for periods such as christmas or during the summer school holiday. here's an example. a single flight from london to rome will cost you around 750,000 points in july. peak, off-peak, 250,000 points. that's what it will cost you in january. more on this coming up on "gmt." what do you think about that? tweet me on twitter. you can get me @bbcaaron. that is it with the business. >> do you want to buy my air

miles? >> that's the problem! they say it's going to be easier. >> a special price for you, aaron. stay with us here on "bbc world news." still to come this hour the announcement of new research on medicines that treat the genetic causes of many serious diseases. nth on the dot. you're like the poster child for paying on time. and then one day you tap the bumper of a station wagon. no big deal... until your insurance company jacks up your rates. you freak out. what good is having insurance if you get punished for using it? hey insurance companies, news flash. nobody's perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance.

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you are watching "bbc world news." i'm james menendez. our headlines so far. the japanese government is issuing a new voice recording apparently issued by isis. it sets a new deadline as sunset tonight for a hostage deal. and malaysia officials reveal that the disappearance of mh370 was an accident and that there was no survivors. the british drug company astrazeneca has revealed research for a new generation of medicines that treat the causes of genetic diseases.

it's a new technique to snip out specific genes. as our science correspondent, paula ghosh explains. >> in 2000 there were high hopes for the human genome project. >> with this new knowledge, humankind is on the verge of obtaining new power to heal. >> a medication in science whose implications surpass antiviral medications. >> reporter: but 15 years on there hasn't been much progress. now one of the biggest drug companies in the world believe they have found a way to deliver the medicines that the human genome project once promised. think of this ivy as a strand of dna and the leaves as individual genes. in diseases some of these genes go wrong, and the idea of the research project is to snip out some of them and test out different drugs on them to see which one of them solves the problem. recently, researchers have

developed molecules that work just like scissors here cutting the genes. and the technique is cheap and quick. it's the first time that there's been such a concerted effort to snip out specific disease genes, in order to discover new drugs, and begin to develop many of the medicines that we'd hoped for after the decoding of the human genome. now, if you have any old toys gathering dust in a forgotten corner like these youb might want to dig them out and take another look. that's because one "star wars" toy that cost just over $2 u.s. when it originally sold 35 years ago has gone under the hammer at auction here in the uk for over $27,000. graham thatcher reports. ♪ >> reporter: not so long ago, in an auctionhouse not that far away, some little plastic things

and their owner ss. the force is strong in this one. craig is selling his "star wars" collection. why? >> these boxes take up a lot of space. there's no contest, really. it's time to move to a new house, a new life with my wife and it's time i think. >> reporter: this is the star attraction. >> he's a cult figure. he had three minutes of screen time or less in the film. but it's been a huge thing ever since. >> reporter: really? why is this plastic figure potentially worth thousands? the cinema store in the west end of london, it's an aladdin's cave of film memorabilia. hans, batman, star wars. >> here a couple of characters out of their original packaging from "star wars" movies circa

1977. however, they're not in their original nalal packaging, so therefore they're worth quite literally nothing. packaging is everything. i hate to say it it literally is 99.9% of it. it shows that they've been untouched, unused, unplayed with it. it's as if you walked into a shop in 1977 made the purchase off the shelf, and it belonged to you from originality. >> reporter: so packaging, okay. but what about all these figures in their packaging. >> elsa dolls, we've got 40 different styles. too many different types for it ever to retain any value. it's a beautiful thing, but it's not going to make you any cash. >> reporter: and there's the rub with this one. in this condition, it's unique. >> you compare this with a modern-day constable or van gogh or a warhol in this space, it's

absolutely acceptable, because it is the only one of its kind. >> it's getting tense. will the force be with craig? >> reporter: not bad. it's amazing for something that cost 1.50 food in 1977. it's the reason you are desperate, they've got one at the cinema store. it's much bigger and even on sale. yours for just 35 kid. graham satchel, bbc news. >> should have kept mine in boxes. now scientists have developed a new way of monitoring how much ice has been lost to the rising global temperatures, by listening to icebergs. working in norway the researchers from poland have different types of icebergs generate unique sounds as they

fall away into the water. glaciers are monitored by satellites, who can stop large breakups, but they say listening for acoustic signals in the ocean could help detect the formation of smaller icebergs. don't forget keep in touch on twitter @jamesmenendez is my twitter handle. more headlines coming up in just a moment's time.

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giada. sajida. rishawi.within the past sthour hour, malaysian officials declared that the disappearance of mh370 was an accident and there were no survivors. another message claims to have the voice of kenji goto. and ukraine foreign nirns discuss further sanctions against russia. and the world health organization says new cases of ebola in rest africa have fallen below 100 a week for the first time in six months.

a very warm welcome to the program. malaysia has officially declared that the disappearance of flight mh370 was an accident and that there were no survivors. the plane disappeared last march, with 239 passengers and crew on border. ma malaysia's department of civil aviation gave this update on the missing flight. >> after 327 days and based on all available data as well as come centers earlier, the survivability in the defined area is highly unlikely. it is therefore, with the heaviest heart that on behalf of

government of malaysia we officially declare malaysia airlines flight mh370 an accident. >> well, let's go to kuala lumpur and talk to bbc's jennifer pak. how have some of the relatives on board that flight received this news? >> reporter: well, the relatives of the missing passengers have highly anticipated this announcement. some of them even showed up for the briefing. but then when they turned up the department of civil aviation abruptly canceled the press conference and then showed a pre-recorded statement instead. many of the relatives are angry, saying that the malaysian government has been uncaring towards their feelings something which officials have denied. but a lot of them are not expecting the news and they feel that it was insensitive for the malaysian government to make such a big announcement, since many of the relatives are chinese and they are preparing to celebrate the lunar new year

this new announcement comes at particularly a tough time for them. so they have said that it was rather uncaring for the government to actually announce this right now. >> jennifer what does this mean in terms of the compensation process? >> reporter: well, it means that malaysia airlines can go ahead with it. already, they have started giving out initial compensation but many of the families in fact, have refused it because they worry that once they take the compensation it means the malaysia government will stop searching for the aircraft something which malaysia's government says they are not going to do despite this announcement today, that the disappearance of the flight has been ruled as an accident. chiefly, though it doesn't really answer any of the key questions that the families have, which is where is the plane and why did it disappear? more than ten months on their agonizing wait continues, and they're no closer to understanding just what happened to their loved ones. some families yes, will be

interested in compensation but a lot of them feel that by not taking compensation they are putting on pressure on the malaysia government because at this point in time they have very little trust in the officials. >> bbc's jennifer pak with that update from kuala lumpur. the japanese government is trying to verify a new message, apparently recorded by the japanese hostage being held by the state group. the group says if a suicide bomber is not handed over the group will kill a jordanian fighter pilot who's also being held hostage. with me here in the studio is an editor from bbc arabic. thanks very much for joining us. bring us up to date where we are in terms of the negotiations. there has been this meeting of the jordanian government. >> yes. the jordanian government is actually is in a very awkward situation now. the latest recording released

around midnight last night sets deadlines in sunset iraq time today, which is in about three hours from now, to release this suicide bomber in return for releasing the japanese hostage. and the problem for the jordanian government now is that they are -- japan is a major donor for jordan and it has pledged even an additional $150 million to help jordan deal with the refuges from syria, which is estimated to be around 600,000 now. and the jordanians have a pilot, a fighter pilot, who is imprisoned or captured by islamic state group, and they want him back. so the jordanian government is torn between the japanese government demands for cooperation to release their hostage, and the family of the pilot, who wants the government to put him as a priority in any

hostage deal. >> the sort of pressure domestically seems to be growing within jordan. >> yes, there's a lot of sympathy among jordanians with the plight of the jordanian pilot. and in addition, what could be more worrying for the jordanian government, is that their participation in this war against the islamic state group has been brought into question even by the family -- of the family of the pilot and other jordanians. >> do we know how these negotiations are being conducted, presumably through intermediaries. >> yes, this is how it usually gets done not through direct talks, but through intermediaries, sometimes, multiple intermediaries. >> so we've got just a few hours to go. has it been clarified, just briefly, whether the two hostages would have to be released for sajida al rishawi to be released in exchange the suicide bomber? >> the messages coming from the islamic state group says it's a straight swap between the

japanese hostage and sajida al rishawi, but the jordanian government wants to include the pilot in this swap. >> mohammed thanks for joining us bbc arabic editor. let's take a look at some of the other news this hour. the air asia plane that crashed into the sea was being flown by a french copilot at the time. a preliminary report into the disaster it said. officials said it's still too early to determine what caused the fatal crash last month, with the loss of all 162 people onboard the plane. the flag-draped coffins of more than 40 philippine police commanders killed by muslim rebels have been flown to the capital of manilla. weeping relatives of the dead were joined at the airport by cabinet ministers and senior police officials. an inquest into the 16-hour siege of a cafe in sydney in december has determined that one of the two hostages that died was killed by fragments from a

police bullet or bullets. it's also revealed that police stormed the business after they saw the gunman shoot the cafe manager in the back of the head. european foreign ministers are going to meet in brussels to discuss further sanctions against russia following an upsurge in violence in eastern ukraine. the humanitarian situation on the front line continues to cause grave concern. the medical charity has been distributing supplies to local hospitals. the staff can't get to some places, including the town of debal' tseve. >> these are the kit that's supposed to treat 50 patients. >> how necessary is this medical

equipment and supplies for the hospitals here near the front line? >> completely necessary. the hospitals, a lot of the medical staff have left because of insecurity. the hospitals are many times under fire themselves. and the supply lines have been distributed because of the security. so much more demand from the patients. >> and the hospitals, themselves, sometimes are coming under attack. >> the hospitals are coming under attack and this is something completely unacceptable for us as i say. >> yesterday, the hospital was hit by a shell, and one of the medical personnel died. of course the hospital was completely empty all the patients were not here. and the hospital is now needed the most is not functional anymore. >> the fighting has really intensified in the last week the last four or five days. how does that affect the humanitarian situation on the ground, in the places closest to

the fighting? >> actually the problem that this creates for us is access. we cannot go to the places we are northeast needed because of insecurity. all the front line is inaccessible from both sides of the conflict and shelling is happening every day. it's completely impossible to predict where or where it will happen or what's the place to be safe. >> and how worried are you about the people that are inside those places? >> we're very worried. very worried about them. they have zero access to health care and they cannot get out right now. >> we have over here big piles of blankets. these are going to be ideally used for people displace requestedby -- >> a group of people the internal display population. the information we have is that almost 1 million people have left their homes and we are giving blankets like that and you can go well below zero.

so it's very needed to be at least. nearly six months after asher afghani was named as the winner of the afghan presidential election, only one third of his cabinet has been approved. the political uncertainty combined with the withdrawal of combat forces has had a terrible impact on the country's economy. david lang reports now from kabul. >> reporter: it is before dawn in kabul and ten men who share one mud room make themselves ready for another day. they share the same cup of tea and piece of bread before setting out in the cold. they walk more in hope than expectation that today will be the day they get work and even when they do work, they own theearn the equivalent of less than $4 a day. most days they go empty-handed.

he says his family wants him home, but he doesn't have money for the bus. with the government still not in place, business confidence has collapsed. >> the business community needs a strong legislation. the power of law and rule. without that the market economy will not work. >> reporter: and at the moment you don't have that. so people will get poorer? >> we do not. we help our economy based on international donations. the other economy. >> reporter: he was asked by president ghani to head a delegation of business leaders to negotiate new oil and gas deals, but with no explanation, the president went on his own at the last minute angering those people he most needs to rebuild the economy. these trucks should be full of goods, but instead, are parked up. construction, industry and trade are all at a standstill.

now the wartime international money has gone this year could see zero growth. drivers say they can never remember a time like it. >> this is what an economy at a standstill looks like. afghanistan has been hit by a perfect storm of factors. the withdrawal of international troops led to a loss of tens of thousands of afghan jobs. at the same time as political dithering has led to a collapse of business confidence. >> reporter: and as the unemployed bed down after another day without work this continuing crisis can only help the taliban. david loin bbc news kabul. >> do stay with us here on bbc "world news." still to come exclusive footage of a former chinese government official meeting the dalai lama. we'll find out what was going on. you show up. you stay up. you listen. you laugh. you worry. you do whatever it takes to take care of your family.

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you're watching "bbc world news." i'm james menendez. the headlines so far. malaysian officials declare that the disappearance of flight mh370 was an accident and that there were no survivors. japanese government is analyzing a new voice recording, apparently issued by the militant group islamic state. it sets a new deadline of sunset tonight for a hostage deal. the world health organization says the number of new confirmed cases of ebola in west africa last week fell to below 100, the first time that's happened since last june. scientists tracking the ebola outbreak in west africa tell the bbc that the virus has mutated since the first cases were identified in march last year. our global health correspondent, schulip melinda has more. >> reporter: we're here at one of the laboratories in paris. this is where scientists have

helped discover some treatments and cures for some of the most the deadly viruses in the world. and at the moment they're working on trying to find treatments and vaccines for ebola. well joining me is professor of immunology here professor james desanto. tell us where you're up to in your research of finding a vaccine. >> so we put a task force here at the institute, which has different approaches to try to understand this current outbreak of ebola, including diagnostics, and also some aspects related to trying to develop vaccines that will help us to prevent further outbreaks. so we're developing two outbreaks here. one is a preventative vaccine based on the measles virus, which is a virus that is already used widely in the world, and will help them to prevent further outbreaks of ebola. the second is a lengthy viral

vector approach for people who have already been exposed to the virus, so this is a therapeutic vaccine, which will hopefully allow people who have been exposed to be protected and survive. so these two approaches are being developed here at the institute. >> reporter: and for the first time you're able to analyze hundreds of blood samples from ebola patients what are you trying to find out? >> so these are krell critical samples, because they teach us so many things. one of the things we know is that if you're infected by the virus, only some of the people will be able to survive. so something about the immune response in some individuals allows you to survive. and having access to those samples will allow us to dissect and to try to understand what are the important things we need in order to survive the infection. so this could be antibodies or this could be a particular kind of cellular immune response. and being able to analyze those different parameters in a large number of samples will give us clues about what it is that allows people to be survivors of

the ebola infection. and that will be important for future outbreaks. >> reporter: scientists here will be analyzing around 600 blood samples in the coming months and there's hope that will help them find that vital key, that vaccine for ebola. >> tulip menendez there. we're getting reports that chad's army has captured a town in northeastern nigeria, which had fallen to boko haram insurgents. last week they said the army would be fighting on nigerian soil. for more we can go to kabul abu bakr who's in abuja for us. what more details do we have cara? >> well the details that we have are that both ground and air troops are involved in this assault. the capture of a small town on the western shores of chad came after two days of fighting between syrian troops and boko haram insurgents.

the nigerian officials say fighting is still going on at the moment. the headquarters of the local government. the general authorities say chadian troops were moved across the border after the attacks. >> how significant is this? it's not often that we're able to report on reversals against boko haram and this sort of military victory, if that's what it is. >> reporter: the significance of this, in fact has been unable to achieve such a feat. but rather the chadian troops seem to be gaining more ground against the insurgents. likewise, the cameroonian troops, anytime they engage the insurgents, they already have an upper hand against the insurgents, which has been very

very difficult for organized troops to achieve. >> many thanks for joining us. now, the cuban president, raul castro has urged president obama to use his executive powers to bypass the u.s. economic embargo on cuba and suggested that the process of normalizing diplomatic ties wouldn't make any sense unless the embargo was lifted. the bbc's will grant reports now from havana. >> reporter: from the start, both washington and havana said they knew there'd be bumps in the road ahead, but perhaps not this early in the journey. speaking at a summit of the selloutsell celac group of nations, president castro quashed any ideas of a breakthrough with new ties with the united states. the principle problem has not been resolve, the economic commercial, and financial block blockade that provokes enormous

human and economic damage is a violation of international law that ought to be overturned. the blockade he was referring to is the u.s. economic embargo on cuba, in place since 1961. while it was always clear that the embargo was a stumbling block to normal ties mr. castro added it wasn't the only one. guantanamo bay is the other key obstacle. the establishment of diplomatic relations is the start of the process towards the normalization of bilateral relations. but this won't be possible while the economic blockade exists or a territory illegally occupied by the guantanamo naval base does not return. >> his comments come just days after the u.s. state department and the cuban government sat down for historic talks in havana. at that meeting, both sides indicated the progress albeit slow was being made. mr. castro suspected that

diplomatic ties could be reestablished without these steps being taken, but he urged president obama to wield more of his executive powers to bypass the embargo. >> the bbc has been given exclusive footage of a former chinese government official meeting the dalai lama. there's been no formal talks between the two sides since 2010. but the video dated two years later provides a rare glimpse of a communist party member making a direct overture to the spiritual leader of tibetan buddhism, a man officially viewed as a dangerous separatist. here's our shanghai reporter. >> reporter: china controls tight control over tibetan monks and monasteryies. even a bad word against the dalai lama can result in a prison sentence. this is rare footage, indeed. recorded in 2012 it shows a

meeting between the dalai lama in india, his place of exile, and a former senior chinese government official. it is mr. ciao who has given the video to the bbc. at one point, the dalai lama can be heard worrying about footage in china being exploited by fake monks. mr. ciao's answer to a man long-vilified as an enemy of the chinese state is extraordinary. that's why we're really in need of buddhist leader, he says adding, i think your holiness can play such an important role. mr. ciao denies he was acting as an official chinese envoy, but as well as releasing the video, he has another surprise up his sleeve. in his beijing apartment, he's built his own buddhist shrine a

portrait of the dalai lama. with regard to the political problems between the dalai lama and beijing, we british don't judge, he says. we only view him in relation to our buddhist practices. >> practicing buddhist is impossible to imagine any former chinese official who would have the confidence to invite the media into their home to record such a remarkable scene. and indeed, there are unsubstantiated rumors that connect him through family background to president xi jinping himself. so despite his denial from being seen as carrying a message to one of buddhism's most important figurehead. recently, there's been talk of

other secret talks and the possibility of the dalai lama being allowed to visit the tibet. the release of this video may be designed to show that china really has been softening its stance or perhaps designed merely to give that impression while the harsh tibetan policies continue. john chadsworth bbc news shanghai. scientists have developed a new way o monitoring how much icing is being lost to the rising global temperatures by listening to icebergs. in norway the researchers from poland and britain found different types of icebergs generate unique sounds as they fall way from glaciers into the water. glaciers are monitored by satellites, which can stop large breakups, but the scientists say listening for acoustic signals in the ocean could help stop the formation of smaller icebergs. let's just recap our top story this hour the malaysian

authorities have declared the disappearance of malaysian airlines flight mh370 an accident and they also said there were no survivors. get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter. i'm at james menendez. stay with us here. "gmt" is coming up many just a moment. push your enterprise and you can move the world. ♪ ♪ but to get from the old way to the new you'll need the right it infrastructure. from a partner who knows how

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hello. you're watching "gmt" on bbc world news i'm lucy hockings. our top story, skepticism and dismay from the relatives of those missing on mh370. the officials declare that the crash was an accident and those missing are dead. the hostage standoff continues. jordan under huge pressure now to save the lives of a jordanian pilot and a japanese journalist held hostage by islamic state. we'll bring you the latest from tokyo and amman on the negotiations. and a look a