hello. i'm james menendez with bbc world news. our top stories -- >> we're leaving here. leaving here. >> okay. >> america's ambassador to south korea, moments after he was attacked in protests at the u.s./south korea military exercise. australia warns it may have to scale down the search for the missing malaysian airlines flight, mh-370 almost a year after it disappeared. china's premiere says now his vision of the new normal which includes cutting the economy's growth target down to 7%. and a big police operation in california where it's claimed that chinese women are

booking package deals in order to have their babies in the u.s. a very warm welcome to the program. now, a korean nationalist has slashed the face of the u.s. ambassador to south korea at a breakfast meeting in seoul. this is video of the immediate aftermath of the attack on mark lip lippert. he needed 80 stitches. pyongyang said the attack was the punishment that the united states deserved. police in south korea are now searching the home of the attacker. from seoul, steve evans. >> reporter: the attack was vicious and serious. ambassador lippert was at a

breakfast meeting when a 55-year-old man slashed him twice, once in the face and once across the body. the attacker was arrested and pinned down. he'd shouted that he wanted a unified korea. he also voiced dwrir at the large u.s. military presence in korea. american troops and south korean troops have just started a joint exercise involving 200,000 personnel. the american embassy is a fortress, like all american embassies, but the event the ambassador was attending is just across the street walking distance, in the same neighborhood, and that may have led to a false sense of security. the ambassador when he took up his post indicated he wanted to be much more open out there with the people. that policy will now be rethought. the ambassador was taken to hospital, but his injuries are

not life threatening. all the same the attack highlights just how strong emotions about a divided korea remain even though the civil war that splits this peninsula ended with a cease-fire more than six decades ago. >> a short time ago, stephen, our seoul correspondent, gave me an update on the incident. >> the ambassador well he's clearly not very well after the attack. 80 stitches. but he's tweeting and he's tweeting that he's going to be back asap to keep working on the alliance between his country and the republic of korea. we are having more reaction from pyongyang. or the first reaction from pyongyang. and the statement from pyongyang says that the attack was just punishment on the united states. so pretty brutal words from pyongyang. the police here are now in the process of getting warrants to

search the assailant's house and also to work out if there are any absolutely close ties between the assailant and the regime in pyongyang. so at the end of it all, a very serious matter. not life threatening, but certainly a dent to the already bad relations between washington, on the one hand and pyongyang on the other. and i think an illustration of just how deep feelings run here about the american presence here. minority feelings it should be said. but certainly, deep feelings in that minority group, who feel very, very strongly about the american presence and the divided countries, the divided peninsula. >> the bbc's steve evans in seoul. now, the australian prime minister tony abbott has suggested the search for the malaysia airlines plane that went missing almost a year ago may be reduced in size.

he said he couldn't promise the search would continue at its current intensity forever. the flight which disappeared on route from kuala lumpur to beijing had 239 people on board who are presumed to have lost their lives. vessels have been using sonar to scour a priority search zone looking for wreckage. so far, just over 43% has been completed. but covering an area the size of latvia isn't cheap. so far the australia and malaysian governments that set aside $93 million for the search. well tony abbott described the disappearance as one of the great mysteries of our time. >> i have to admit to the house that so far, we have not found any trace of mh-370. but i do reassure the families of our hopes and expectation that the ongoing search will succeed. i can't promise that the search will go on at this intensity forever, but we will continue

our very best efforts to resolve this mystery and provide some answers. >> tony abbott. well, i've been speaking to desmond rossen an aviation expert, based in sydney about the financial restraints of carrying out a search like this forever. >> my understanding that it costs around $120 million u.s. is budgeted for this between australia and malaysia. now, it can't continue forever. the search will continue even if it's on an occasional basis. and i'm confident that some day, somebody will find something. >> are they looking in the right place? >> i don't think so. but that's a gut feeling. that's my instinct as a pilot who's flown around the world. and i've actually flown through that area that they're searching on our helicopter and i don't like the chances of finding anything in those waters. but my instinct tells me it's not even in that area. >> and why not, exactly? they would say, i guess, that they've traced as much

information as they can to pinpoint roughly where it's going to be. i mean where else should they be looking? >> you know, the mathematician, the rocket scientists out there in london have made calculations that are significantly above my level of mathematical skill, and they've come up with these conclusions. but themselves have said that there's no guarantee that they're 100% correct. look the reality is that years ago, when aircraft went missing, you started searching in its last known position the last positive position you had and you expanded the search around that area. it's immensely disappointing that the malaysian military waited to tell us four days they were tracking it by radar. if they would have sent up an intercepter that night, we would have found it that night. another aircraft could have followed it and at least established where it was going. >> are you surprised that no

piece of wreckage has washed up anywhere. is it only a matter of time do you think? >> this is part of the logic that i don't think it's in the right area because in the roaring '40s and above that even the area that the current flow around the area if there's anything at all in that water that floated, i believe that one year later, there's a fair chance it would be on a beach somewhere and someone would come across it. i'm of the view that we might still find it one of these days in the jungles of malaysia. >> desmond ross in sydney. now, a bbc investigation into maternity tourism has found many chinese women are traveling to the u.s. to give birth. it seems they're trying to get around china's one child policy and qualify their children for american citizenship. there's an operation against companies who charge tens of thousands of dollars for these maternity trips. from los angeles, alice

phillippe reports. >> reporter: federal officers streamed into more than a dozen apartments on the hunt for evidence. it's their biggest crackdown so far against so-called maternity tourism. package deals for pregnant kooinz chinese women so they can give birth to american babies. that's not illegal, making false visa claims is. >> these people were told to lie, how to lie, so that their reason for coming to the u.s. wouldn't be questioned. >> reporter: in the fancy palm-lined suburbs, a local lawyer has been leading the search for maternity hotels. >> this is one here that has been reported and a formal complaint to the city council. they're essentially motels where they rent out three to four rooms in the home to pregnant women that are coming from china and giving birth to get the dual citizenship. >> and there's a few in this one little estate? >> yeah three in a couple yards from one another. >> we knocked at one of the

places she identified. the residents didn't want to go on camera, but confirmed friends had come paid to stay here and had their babies in order to get an american passport. neighbors notice many different pregnant women staying in one house. >> what i've kind of seen they're just here for a brief time, until they have children and then they leave, and within the same day, other families move in. i think they're circumventing our legal process to become citizens and to use some of the benefits that this country provides. so i don't think it's right. >> reporter: and this building is often the first part of court. every week dozens of chinese women with newborn babies come here to get mesh passports for their children. few families wanted to be identified, but said their motivation was china's one child policy. >> i'm here to deliver a baby because in china, they don't

allow to have a second baby. the u.s. passport is not important. >> reporter: others admitted the lure of citizenship was strong. having an american passport she said he can make his own choice in the future about where and how to live when he's an adult. new mothers coming to the u.s. brings the local government many benefits, she said. it's not a burden it's mostly a benefit. but jrnd cover agents have been investigating free named individuals for more than a year and are trying to close a loophole in the law. ukraine's president, petrov poroshenko, has declared a day of mourning after at least 32 workers lost their lives in an explosion at a coal mine in donetsk on wednesday. the blast took place more than 1,000 meters underground at a territory held by pro-rebels. the mine has a history of o

accidents, including one in 2007 when more than 100 workers were killed. there's growing concern about the plight of iraqi civilians as government forces press forward on the fourth day of their big offensive to recapture the city of tikrit. the united nations has sent eight convoys to thousands of people believed to have been displaced from the besieged is city, which is held by the islamic state group. the white house and international human rights organizations have also warned against the dangerous sectarian reprisal by the iranian-backed shia militias who are playing a major role in the offensive. bbc's jim bay in beirut has been giving us the latest on that offensive. >> well it seems to have ground to a halt. there's been little movement on the ground, a lot of shelling a lot of bombardment by iraqi government helicopters and airplanes and so on. but not much actually movement on the ground. their tactic seems to be to want to encircle the whole of tikrit

and neighboring district called door, for example, and then move in once they've gotten kind of sealed off spop. so that is one reason why people are worried increasingly about the plight of civilians who may be trapped there, and nobody knows how many but quite a number has fled already, and the u.n. is trying to get supplies for something like 20,000 that they believe are on the loose, as it were after being displaced. so as i say, this is going to be a long-running offensive, because moving forward into ground control, by i.s. the islamic state, so-called since last june is a very tricky business. they do a lot of bombs, roadside bombs, booby traps, and so on which makes advancing very perilous and areas have to be painstakingly cleared if ground forces are to move forward safely. >> i mentioned the role of iranian-backed shia militias in this battle. just looking at the regional picture, it's a bit of a problem, isn't it for some members of this coalition, not

least the united states. >> that's right pip mean it's a pretty uncomfortable situation, where the u.s. and iran find themselves, basically on the same side of the fence in iraq. that there were some offensives last year when the americans were actually bombing in support of shia militias on the ground backed by iran, those very same militias who only a few years ago were kidnapping and killing american soldiers. so it's an uncomfortable arrangement. meanwhile, the american secretary of state, for example, is currently meeting with from gulf leaders in saudi arabia who are very worried about the talks between iran and the americans who have been holding talks in geneva on the nuclear issue. it's a very delicate situation diplomatic politically, and militarily. the americans are not taking part in the current offensive in tikrit, but they are joining in one further to the west in al

anbar province which is going on at the same time. and of course they're bombing elsewhere. so they're watching very carefully to see what happens with the shia militia on the ground as they push into heavily sunni areas, where there's a lot of scores to be settled. >> jim muir in beirut. stay with us here on bbc world news. still to come we'll be meeting the ethiopian director of this film, "the power of love." the ones who choose to go big or stay home. ♪ come with me now ♪ where every amazing, despicable wizarding adventure reveals moments that are truly epic. this place is made for those who do more than just vacation ... ♪ whoa ♪ ♪ go with me now ♪ it's made for those who vacation like they mean it. universal orlando resort. no one thinks they're going to be in an accident. which is why no one wants insurance. so we go cheap.

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you're watching bbc world news. i'm james menendez. our headlines so far. the u.s. ambassador to south korea was slashed in the face during an official meeting. he had to be given 80 stitches in hospital, but tweeted to saying he is doing well. and australia says it may scale down the search for the missing malaysian airlines flight mh-370 almost a year after it disappeared. time for a look at the

business news. alice is here. alice, the new normal? >> that's what people are saying about the state of the chinese economy. a little tease there, james. absolutely right. our top story on business today. china, we're looking out, because premiere li keqiang addressed 3,000 people at the npc. it sets out the policies of the ruling communist party for the year ahead. as for the financial market the focus has been on economic growth. china's now growing at its slowest pace in 24 years. so how will the world cope with this -- james said it -- the new normal? that's one of the questions we'll try to be later on. but we're also talking about the european central bank. it's preparing to give details of its trillion-euro stimulus program, to kick start the world's economy in a meeting just a couple of hours' time from now. the prospect of large-scale quantitative easing, that's the printing of new money, to punt

into the financial system is one of the reasons that investors have been punishing the euro on foreign exchange markets. currently, it's at its lowest level in over 11 years against the dollar. plus on to a subject now that's fueling debate right around the world. despite years of discussion and commitments to improve, the latest grand thought of women on the border makes rather depressing reading. japan has only 8% of women in top jobs. western europe isn't much better. at least there's a glimmer of hope from the u.s., which is improving is slowly. now, a fifth of the roles are filled by women. however, the real hope comes from eastern europe. here, 40% of women are in leading roles. so why are these ex-communist countries doing so well? that's something we'll be digging into later in business as well. i'll see you later on in the day for that hopefully. >> alice see you later. let's take a look at some of

the other stories this hour. the indonesian government has predicted a prison swap in an attempt to save two of its citizens from the death penalty. the australian men who are the ring leaders of the so-called bali nine group of drug traffickers have been moved to a prison island where they're due to be shot by firing squad. the u.n. refugee agency has called for more assistance to be provided for merchant ships who can change course to rescue migrants trying to cross the mediterranean. there should be a compensation scheme and that docking fees should be waived. on the final day of his visit to china, prince william has called to an end for the international trade in ivory. he spoke after seeing a sanctuary for wild elephant in the southern province of unan where the remaining elephants are allowed to roam free. he's campaigned against the illegal trade in elephant ivory. our china editor carrie gracie

sent us this report. >> reporter: there's no protocol for receiving carrots from royalty. prince william saved the best till last after a busy schedule of diplomacy. but he met ram-ram, a 13-year-old rescued from a poacher's trap. elephants once owned these hills. now, there are uhher of them 300, in the wild. but while their east african cousins are dying to provide ivory for the chinese market these elephants are well protected. it's their habitat which is in danger. nearly 30 years ago, william's grandfather, prince phillip, came to admire the rain forest and his visit inspired a new generation of chinese wildlife enthusiasts to try to protect this habitat. he was one of them but it's a lonely battle guarding this

primeval forest from human pressure. >> translator: what people do makes me sad. i want them to know they shouldn't cut down the forest just to make money. >> reporter: but for most of southwest china, it's too late. rain forests have made way for rubber plantation. good money for the rubber planter, nothing for an elephant. which is why the elephants are raiding the pumpkin harvest. he tells me he's piled his crops ready for market but the elephants ate it. to him, elephants are a pest. and to some of china's growing middle class, they're entertainment. a show for tourists have the same nature that prince william visited. but he was not introduced to these elephants. are they thinking about the threat to wild elephants at home or in africa? this is the audience the prince

wants to reach. >> it is appalling that elephants and many, many others may be extinct in the wild in our lifetimes and that we seem to be hurtling towards that tragic outcome. >> coming downhill is a challenge when you're only 3. he's never known the wild. and unless the prince's message gets through, there'll soon be no wild for him to be released into. carrie gracie bbc news. >> now, africa's equivalent to the oscars is currently being held. at least 150 movies from around the content have been entered to the finals commonly known as fespaco. "power of love" is a comedy drama directed by only one of three women directors short list listed out of 20. >> my name is hermone, i'm a filmmaker in tokyo, and i made

three movies for the last ten years. it's about a young taxi driver. he falls in love with a beautiful prostitute. the way they meet it's like he's working at the outside of club and she is fighting with one customer and he's trying to help her, and they stuck together. in the process they just fall in love. and he was grown up with a prostitute mother also. and he has like anger with his mother. it's an old story, but showing them gives you like remember how to treat a prostitute you know? like, it's not like -- blaming is not solution. giving love for those people treating other women, you know,

being close for those people that's better than like blaming and avoiding. but the nomination, i'm very excited. because, you know, it's one step achievement. i make three movies here so two of them there was good in the local market so now the third one, when we get this kind of chance, we can move forward. we don't have to be always making movie and reliving for the local market only like the nigerian industry and the ethiopian, south african, kenya, you know? we are working together. we have the promo of the film history also in ethiopia. so to do that we have to work in the quality of movie and we have to take our stories, like what kind of issue we can share to the other world. >> the ethiopian film director

hermon hailey there. you can get in touch with me and the rest of the team my twitter handle is @jamesmenendez. stay with us. i'll be back in just a moment with more headlines and more news. bye-bye. you can call me shallow... but, i have a wandering eye. i mean, come on. national gives me the control to choose any car in the aisle i want. i could choose you... or i could choose her if i like her more. and i do. oh, the silent treatment. real mature. so you wanna get out of here? go national. go like a pro.

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i'm james menendez with bbbc world news. >> i'm bleeding here. >> america's ambassador to south korea, momentums after he was attacked in protest for joint military exercises. australia warns it may have to zalscale down the search for the malaysian missing airs flight mh-370. >> i can't promise that the search will go on at this intensity forever, but we will continue our very best efforts. china's premiere sets out his vision of what he called the new normal which includes

cutting the economy tease growth target to 7%. and a huge police operation in california where it's claimed chinese women are booking package deals so they can have their babies in the u.s. a very warm welcome to the program. a korean nationalist has slashed the face of the u.s. ambassador to south korea at a breakfast meeting in seoul. this is video of the immediate aftermath of the attack on mark lippert. he needed 80 stitches to wounds on his face and also his wrist after being stabbed by the man. he was calling for the reuniany indication of north and south korea. pyongyang said the attack was the punishment the united states deserved. police in south korea are now searching the home of the

attacker. from seoul, stephen evans. >> reporter: the attack was vicious and serious. ambassador lippert was at a breakfast meeting where a 55-year-old man slashed him twice, once in the face and once across the body. the attacker was arrested and pinned down. he'd shouted that he wanted a unified korea. he also voiced anger at the large u.s. military presence in korea. american troops and south korean troops have just started a joint exercise involving 200,000 personnel. >> the american embassy is a fortress, like all american embassies. but the event the ambassador was attending is just across the street, walking distance in the same neighborhood, and that may have led to a false sense of security. the ambassador when he took up his post indicated that he

wanted to be much more open out there with the people. that policy will now be rethought. >> the ambassador was taken to hospital, but his injuries are not life threatening. all the same the attack highlights just how strong emotions about a divided korea remain even though the civil war that splits this peninsula ended with a cease-fire more than six decades ago. >> steve evans reporting there. a short time ago, steve gave me this update on what had happened. >> the ambassador well he's clearly not very well after the attack, 80 stitches, but he's tweeting and tweeting that he's going to be back asap to keep working on the alliance between his country and the republic of korea. we are having more reaction from pyongyang, or the first reaction from pyongyang and the statement from pyongyang says that the

attack was just punishment on the united states. so pretty brutal words from pyongyang. the police here are now in the process of getting warrants to search the assailant's house and also to work out if there are any absolutely close ties between the assailant and the regime in pyongyang. so at the end of it all, a very serious matter. not life threatening, but certainly a dent to the already bad relations between washington, on the one hand and pyongyang on the other. and i think an illustration of just how deep feelings run here about the american presence here. minority feelings, it should be said. but certainly, deep feelings in that minority group, who feel very, very strongly about the american presence and the divided countries, divided -- the divided peninsula. >> the bbc's steve evans in

seoul. now, australian prime minister tony abbott has suggested that the search for the malaysian airlines plane that went missing almost a year ago may be reduced in size. he said he couldn't promise the search would continue at its current intensity forever. the flight, which disappeared en route from kuala lumpur to beijing had 239 people on board, who were presumed to have lost their lives. vessels have been using sonar to skewer a priority search zone looking for wreckage. so far, just over 43% has been completed. recover but covering an area the size of latvia isn't cheap. so far the australia skpn malaysian governments have set aside $90 million for that search. well tony abbott described the disappearance as one of the great mysteries of our time. >> -- have to admit to the house that so far, we have not found any trace of mh370. but i do reassure the families of our hope and expectation that the ongoing search will succeed.

i can't promise that the search will go on at this intensity forever, but we will continue our very best efforts to resolve this mystery and provide some answers. >> tony abbott. well, i've been speaking to desmond ross an australian aviation security expert based in sydney about those financial constraints in carrying out a search like this indefinitely. >> my understanding, and i think it's been published, that it costs around $120 million u.s. is budgeted for this between australia and malaysia. now, it can't continue forever. the search will continue even if it's on an occasional basis, and i'm confident that some day, somebody will find something. >> are they looking in the right place? >> i don't think so. but that's a gut feeling. that's my instinct as a pilot, who's flown around the world, and i've actually flown through that area they're searching on our helicopter and i don't like the chances of finding anything

in those waters. but my instinct tells me it's not even in that area. >> and why not, exactly? they would say that i guess they've traced as much information as they can to pinpoint roughly where it's going to be. i mean where else should they be looking? >> look the mathematicians the rocket scientists out there in london have made calculations which are significantly above my level of mathematical skill and they've come up with these conclusions. but it's very tenuous. and even in marcet themselves they've said there's no guarantee they're 100% correct. the reality is years ago, if an aircraft went missing, you started searching at its last known position, the last positive position you had and expanded the search around that area. it's immensely disappointing that the malaysian military waited to tell us four days to tell us they were tracking it by radar. if they'd sent up an interceptor aircraft that night, we wouldn't have this mystery on our hands.

they would have found it that same night. another aircraft, an intercepter, could have followed it and at least established where it was going. >> are you surprised that no piece of wreckage has washed up anywhere? is it only a matter of time do you think? >> well this is part of my logic that i don't think it's in the right area because in the roaring 40s and above that even the area that the current search, if there was anything at all in that water that floated, i believe that one year later, there's a fair chance it would be on a beach somewhere and someone would have come across it. i'm of the view we might still find it some day in the mountains or jungle of malaysia. now, it is a figure that finance ministers in the west can only dream of but for china's premiere li keqiang, the new growth target of 7% reflects an economy that is slowing down. mr. li has been setting out the

prospects for the coming year to the annual meeting of the national people's congress pap short time ago, i spoke to the bbc's ceila hatton in beijing and she told me although the chinese premiere admitted the economy is slowing, there are plans to boost it. >> reporter: well premiere li keqiang certainly took pains today to show that he wasn't very worried at all. he did admit that there were some serious problems with the chinese economy. he said that investment was sluggish. he acknowledged that chinese's economic growth model was inefficient. but then he took great pains to spend a lot of time explaining what they will do what the beijing leaders will do to shore up the economy, how they will restructure the economy, to make it more sustainable. so yes, economic growth is slowing down to 7% but according to li keqiang, he expects that this growth will last for many years to come and he believes that it will be a more sustainable, more solid growth. >> ceila, of course one of the consequences of the growth we've

seen in the past few years has been pollution and environmental problems. what did he have to say about that? >> well that was certainly the secondary focus of premiere li's speech. he used the most emotional language in the speech was reserved for his section on the problems with pollution. he said that he acknowledged that chinese people that they felt that environmental pollution was a trouble that weighed on their hearts. he said that the government would fight it with all its might. so very plainspoken language. and this is really clearly responding to very serious concerns held across the chinese population that pollution is simply out of control. >> ceila hatton. now, in eastern ukraine, a fragile cease-fire between government and rebel forces does appear to be holding. but the organization responsible the for monitoring the truce says it needs more information before it can be confident that weapons are being properly withdrawn. as david stearn reports now from kiev, the lack of fighting is giving the government valuable

breathing space. >> reporter: guns on the move in eastern ukraine. for the moment they're silent as a shaky cease-fire takes hold. rebel leaders say these weapons were used in the bitter fighting around donetsk airport. on the other side of the front line government forces have begun their own fallback. overseeing it all are monitors from the organization for security and cooperation in europe. but the osce says it needs more details from both sides. the cease-fire has provided a boost to president petrov poroshenko. still, repeated military defeats and an ailing economy has damaged his popularity. but top officials say there's zero prospect of their being toppled from power. >> we will fight for our

country. >> reporter: the cease-fire in the east appears to be largely holding and as a result, president poroshenko and the government here in kiev have some political breathing space. but fighting could erupt at any moment, and if the army were to suffer another major defeat, mr. poroshenko could find himself under increasing pressure. on ukrainian tv adverts drum up support and money for the country's military. behind the patriotic fervor lies a hard truth. the government cannot supply the majority of equipment its forces need. instead, charities and volunteer groups are filling the gap, providing everything from body armor to medical equipment. >> ukraine has introduced a general conscription hoping to boost the army to 250,000, but the call-up has been met with a chilly response by some like

dmitry. he asks not to be identified and said if drafted, he will not serve, for fear of becoming cannon fodder. >> nobody who's being called up right now has had anything to do with war, has ever held a gun in his hands. i fear i'd get little training. quite simply i fear for my life. i want to have a future. >> reporter: dmitry and many others hope a path is now clear to a political settlement. a few here are optimistic. david stearn bbc news, kiev. and do stay with us here on bbc world news. still to come we'll be meeting pakistan's women commandos, being trained to fight on the front line against the taliban.

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you're watching bbc world news. i'm james menendez. our headlines so far. the u.s. ambassador to south korea has been slashed in the face during an official meeting. he was given 80 stitches in hospital, but he's tweeted to say he's doing well. australia says they may scale down the search for the missing malaysian airlines flight mh-370, almost a year after it disappeared. . now, a bbc investigation into maternity tourism found that many chinese women are traveling to the u.s. to give birth. it appears they're trying to get around their country's one child policy and qualify their babies for american citizenship. federal agents in california have launched an operation against companies who charge tens of thousands of dollars for these maternity trips. from los angeles, alastair reports. >> reporter: federal officers streamed into more than a dozen apartments on the hunt for evidence. it's their biggest crackdown so far against so-called maternity tourism.

package deals for pregnant chinese women, so they can give birth to american babies. that's not illegal. making false visa claims is. >> these people were told to lie, how to lie, so that their modus for coming to the u.s. wouldn't be questioned. >> reporter: in the fancy palm-lined suburbs on the edge of l.a. county a local lawyer has been leading the search for maternity hotels. >> this is one here that has been reported and a formal complaint to the city council. they're essentially maternity motels, where they rent out three to four rooms in the home to pregnant women that are coming from china and giving birth, to get the dual citizenship. >> reporter: and there's a few in just this one little estate here. >> yeah, three just a couple yards from one another. >> reporter: we knocked at one of the places she identified. >> hello, sir. hi, there. >> reporter: the residents didn't want to go on camera but confirmed friends had come paid to stay here and had their babies in order to get an american passport.

neighbors noticed many different pregnant women staying in one house. >> what i've kind of seen is that they're just here for a brief time until they have children, and then they leave, and within the same day, other families move in. so i think they're circumventing our legal process to become citizens and to use some of the benefits this country provides. so, don't think it's right. >> reporter: this building is often the first port of call. every week dozens of chinese women with newborn babies come here to get american passports for their children. few families wanted to be identified, but said their motivation was china's one child policy. >> i'm here to deliver a baby because in china, they don't allow to have second baby. >> the u.s. passport is not important. >> others admitted the lure of

citizenship was strong. >> having an american passport she said he can make his own choice in the future, about where and how to live when he he's an adult. >> new mothers can leave the u.s. brings the local government many benefits, she said. it's not a burden it's mostly a benefit. but undercover agents have been investigating three named individuals for more than a year and are trying to close a loophole in the law. some of the other news today, the indonesian government has rejected a prisoner swap proposed by the australian government in an attempt to save two of its citizens from the death penalty. the australian men who were the ring leader of the so h calf uled bally nine group of drug traffickers have been moved to a prison island where they're due to be shot by firing squad. the u.n. refugee agency has called for more assistance to be provided to merchant ships which change course to rescue migrants attempting to cross the mediterranean. the agency's director of

international protection says there should be a compensation scheme and docking fees should be waived. the former u.s. secretary of state, hillary clinton, has called for the swift release of thousands of her e-mails. it comes after her private e-mails were subpoenaed by a congressional committee. it's investigating the deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in the libyan city of benghazi in 2012. the alleges e-mailed to conduct official business, breaking federal law on recordkeeping. let's turn to pakistan now, where a group of women from the most conservative region in the country are training to fight on the front line against the taliban. at a police academy near peshawar, the unusual recruits hoping to become part of an elite police force, deployed in the restive northwest. our correspondent spent the day with the women. >> reporter: women with guns not a common sight in pakistan but these police officers

recruited to the forces are determined to be on the front line in the war against the taliban. the 35 new recruits get the same six of h month six-month training as their male colleagues. in class, they learn how to handle and dismantle the weapons they'll need in special operations. in house searches the women will go in first clearing the way for the men in their unit. when we enter the house as regular police we couldn't fight women terrorists. but now with this elite training, we can face them and fight them and kill them. >> sadia is 26 and mother of a 2-year-old. what's your favorite class in this course? >> weapons. >> weapon training? she missing her daughter but her husband is very supportive. the physical training is harder than anything these women have

to do in the regular police force. from light weapons to heavy machine guns these women are going to be doing it all. they're from the most conservative part of pakistan and yet they're here with the support of their husbands and fathers. and that tells you something about the very slowly changing mind-set in this country, when it comes to fighting radical militants. pakistan's long been criticized for being selective in its fight against militants. after the horrific massacre in december of children in a peshawar school just half an hour away there appears to be more resolve. this training started before the tragedy. now there's even more support for it. and the commander is impressed. he's got a long list of women volunteers waiting to enlist. >> after this training and you have wanted to witness the level

of training. if there is no male member of the elite police we can simply conduct the elite into that house. and they'll undertake the entire position. >> reporter: if the male recruits are hesitant about women in their units, they certainly don't show it. >> who is in favor of women in the elite commando force? >> reporter: in a province that's born the brunt of the war against radical militants, the women now want in on this fight. the mayor of ferguson missouri, has announced a series of measures in response to evidence of widespread racial discrimination by the city's police force. it follows the department of justice investigation into the shooting of an unarmed black teenager in ferguson last year which found patterns of systemic racial bias. the case in ferguson has opened up a national debate over policing and race in america.

well, all this week the bbc has been retracing the civil rights march from selma, alabama, to montgomery, 50 years after that historic event. today, illm looks at the issues that the ferguson case has exposed. >> reporter: well, throughout our journey, people in alabama have been welcoming and generous, but it is very clear that the issue of race is very divisive. there is a debate for example, about whether or not the criminal justice system in america is inherently racist. here's what one man had to say. he's a man called professor brian stevenson and we met him during our travels. and he's a man called by desmond tutu america's mandela for his work on civil rights. >> every level of the state, the process, at arrest at conviction, and at imprisonment there are these huge disparities based on race. the police are going into minority communities, they're doing these stop-and-frisks, they are targeting communities of color. and i don't think there's actually much that can be

disputed about that. it is true that we have higher rates of offending in some crime categories but none of it explains this extraordinary overrepresentation of people of color in the criminal justice system. >> we have to look at how all of this has affected one young person. we're here to meet kenny. he's been in and out of trouble and looks like you've been in some trouble just in the last few days. i know you got shot and pretty lucky to be here. >> yeah i am pretty lucky to be here. i've been through a lot in my life. >> look, i was saying you've been in and out of trouble with the law. what do you say to those people who say, this is not a black and white issue, this is not about race, if you don't commit the crime, you won't go to prison. >> that's easy to say when you -- when you've been living good all your life and it's easier for you to get a job, because you haven't been in trouble. >> so how do you prove it is about race? how do you see it's about race? >> think about how many black people are locked up compared to any other race. you don't think that they got so

many black people out there because they're being targeted? we ain't all doing crime. >> when you talk about race the biggest story of the year in america was the police shooting of the unarmed black teenager michael brown, in ferguson missouri. department of justice has just come out with a report that says the police there and the criminal justice system showed racial bias. we asked a judge from selma what he found here. >> i want to say this emphatically. selma is not ferguson. we are not ferguson. our police chief is african-american. 80% of our police force is african-american. we have problems just like every community has, with crime and poverty and those kind of things. everybody has that. but those aren't particular to selma and dallas county in this area. they're everywhere. and what the world needs to know is that we are not the same community we were in 1965.

>> that's the latest installment on his journey from selma to montgomery. do keep in touch. i'm @jamesmenendez on twitter, but for me, for now, bye-bye. this year, make every amazing, despicable wizarding second of your vacation count by staying where the adventure never ends. ♪ come with me now ♪ two theme parks. spectacular resort hotels. more epic than ever. don't just vacation... ♪ whoa, go with me now ♪ ... vacation like you mean it. universal orlando resort. go big with epic vacation packages starting at just $139 per night including park admission.

hello and welcome to "gmt" here on bbc world news. our top stories, slashed in the face. the american ambassador to south korea is attacked by a militant nationalist. >> i need an ambulance, fast. get me to the hospital. >> okay! >> a sea of boots, 3,000 delegates gathering at china's national congress. but is this the moment they'll thwart out china's choking pollution? go! >> we spend time with a