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>> a sweeping financial reforms in the u.s., congress passes the president's plans for tough new regulation of the banking industry. stopped at last, the oil leaking into the gulf seems to have stopped since bp began testing its cap on the leaking under seawell. the bed and kinds of its regulations dealing with the abuse of children by priests. welcome to bbc world news, a broadcast to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. coming up later for you, a special report from jerusalem. we reveal how israeli activists are offering a large sums of money is to palestinians for private property. and are the back for good? this time, robin williams is with them. take that is performing.

♪ >> hello. some call it the most profound overhaul of american financial regulation since the great depression. after many hurdles and much tussling, the financial regulation bill will finally become law. in a narrow vote, the u.s. senate has passed a bill to president obama first proposed the reforms more than a year ago and said he wants to sign it into law next week. going to our new york bureau now. this has been hard fought. how big a deal is it? >> it certainly has been hard fought. and the fact, they only managed to get 60 democratic votes to get it through in the senate. the have been trying to get it for a long time. all of this is designed to try and stop the financial crisis that we saw start in 2007 and 2008. >> it does not mean there will

not be future crises. it may mean that the implications are less severe, presumably. >> well, in theory, it to end -- it should try to stop some of these symptoms and the causes of the problems we have seen. already, critics are coming forward and complaining. for example, that it does not address the problems in the housing market. in particular, the lending practices of the housing giant fannie mae and freddie mac. people are saying this does not necessarily go far enough. on the other hand, we have already heard from the national association of manufacturers. they're worried that this bill, if it chokes off lending by the banks, that could hurt manufacturing, and again stifle growth and lead to higher unemployment. >> if the administration wants to use this as a springboard to go further, is that going to be possible or are the battle lines firmly drawn now? >> i think politicians definitely will have an eye on the midterm elections.

the democrats will try to use this to say, look, we are the friends of main street, and we're working for you. if of course, on the other side of the aisle, the republicans will say that the government as possibly overreached in this instance, and they will try to said that it does not actually address the symptoms in the cause of this crisis. so i think that is the kind of conversation you can expect living towards this november midterm election. >> many thanks for that. as the hunt goes on at 4 renegade afghan soldier who killed three british troops in helmand province, immense and he is the soldier has contacted the bbc service in kabul. he said he was acting alone but has since joined the taliban. we go to our correspondent in kabul. tell us what this man said to the bbc. >> he was in conversation with the bbc service here in kabul.

he was connected with them through the taliban. he says -- he is a 21 year-old man, and he says he's the one who murdered the three british soldiers at the army base in helmand earlier this week. he said he did this because he was angry the way british forces were behaving in afghanistan. he said they were not here to help bring peace, but there were here to divide muslims. he also accused the british government of committing atrocities here in afghanistan and killing civilians he said he wastctíz not a member of the tn prior to >> , and he only joined the taliban subsequently, after the attack. and they have given him shelter. >> thank you very much. on around the you globe. at least 20 people killed. more than 100 wounded in the twin suicide blasts in the southeastern iran. it is in front of the shiite

mosque. just as worshippers was celebrating a birthday of the rivera imam. a facebook page dedicated to the british killer has been removed by its creator. the prime minister of britain are among us to have criticized it. two more men have been questioned on suspicion of helping the gunman. an iranian nuclear scientists to disappeared a year ago resurface this week in washington has now returned to tehran. iran says that he was kidnapped by the cia. that allegation is rejected by washington. he says he was subjected to extreme mental and physical torture by the americans. three high court judges and a prostitute had been arrested in taiwan on suspicion of accepting bribes. they took the money to reverse a 19-year jail term, and it went down to a legislator for corruption. it is the third of its kind in the history of taiwan's high court.

now trying to fend off accusations that it is complacent about child sex abuse, the vatican has announced it will fast-track investigation into pedophile priests. it will not the fine job pornography as a crime recognized by the catholic church. the new rules also designate attempts to ordain women priests as a grave crime. the same praise used to describe the abuse of children. from rome, bbc. >> the new vatican rules will speed up procedures for defrocking priests found guilty of sexually abusing children and will extend the statute of limitations for prosecuting such crimes from 10 to 20 years. monsignor charles is a senior vatican official who prosecutes a pedophile priests under church law. he admitted that new guidelines for bishops may not be enough for the scandals that have hit

the church in recent years and months. >> this is a very important step for canon law from the technical point. the document is always a document. it does not solve all the problems. it is a very important instrument, but it is the way you use the instruments, as it affect. >> the new rules also declared that possession or distribution of joe pornography by priests to be a crime under church law as well as invisible wall. well as invisible wall.