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>> danger in the dust, sand in europe, russia $1 billion per year, the bbc investigates. more sanctions are imposed on north korea following the sinking of a south korean war shot -- worship. president obama signed into law the most wide-ranging financial reform since the 1930's. welcome to "bbc world news." broadcast to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. coming up later for you, digging up romania's dictator, another milestone for facebook. the internet giant has signed up half of a billion users.

experts have warned in an increase in deaths over the continued decades because of the use of asbestos in the developing world. investigations by the bbc and international consortium of investigative journalists have promoted the sale of asbestos. india is a leading consumer and imports much from canada, zimbabwe, and russia. we have a report from the biggest producer in russia on the dangers in the dust. >> this old soviet propaganda film expels the wonders of the product that gave the city its name, asbestos.

from around the world they are lining up to purchase an asbestos simulator. the supplies and less. today they say that russia rather than the ussr are holding the ground more than 10 kilometers long. this is still the biggest asbestos mine in the world and in full operation. half of a million tons are pulled out every year. europe may have banned asbestos, but in russia it is still easy to find. it is extremely dangerous, which is why i am not getting any closer than this. even the smallest particle could cause long-term illness or cancer. yet here it is, openly available for sale and all over russia, still vary widely used in the

russian building industry. >> i have been handling it all my life, i am not scared. we are russian, not afraid. >> i have used it many times. look at me. i am fine. >> at the labor hygiene research institute, the extremely long crystalline structure, russian scientists said that concerns over asbestos are exaggerated. >> the answer is not scientific. it is commercial. certain people want to block russian asbestos from the international market. >> they earn $1 billion for year

in revenue. no one here is in any hurry to close them down. >> you will find lots more coverage on that website, bbc.com/news. you'll find more stories about the use of asbestos as well as a series of documentaries looking at the dangers of the product. targeting leadership and assets, that was the message from hillary clinton as the secretary of state announced further sanctions against north korea. tensions in the area have been rising since the sinking of the warship in march. >> hillary clinton was given her own up close glimpse at north korea and america's old

adversary was watching back. the company by the defense secretary, robert gates, it was all part of the symbolism of the trip. a show of support for the south korean allies. at the start of the press conference, mrs. clinton made clear that there was substance. >> today i am announcing a series of measures to increase our ability to prevent north korea's proliferation, halting their illicit activities, discouraging further provocative actions. first we will implement new country specific sanctions aimed at north korea's failed procurement of arms related material. >> the measures are punishment for their alleged did torpedoing of this south korean warship in march.

north korea is already one of the most heavily sanctioned countries on the planet. these new sanctions announced are meant to squeeze its arms proliferation activities even harder, placing further restrictions on its imported luxury goods. the measures, according to mrs. clinton, were not directed against the people of north korea, but the misguided actions of their leaders. she said that there was still a chance that north korea could choose a different path, to have sanctions lifted and energy assistance provided. >> what really happened when they were executed in 1989? officials in the country are trying to confirm by exhuming the body is to double check

their identities. >> the unassuming grave of nikolai charchsku, the dictator of romania for many years. but there is uncertainty as to whether they are his remains. after years of campaigning, the families have been allowed to check. the bodies are believed to be of the end of his wife, lifted out of the ground, taken and sealed in plastic bags. >> until we have the final results, i cannot be certain. >> there are lots of doubts regarding the idea.

they did like the use in the night. >> they kept an iron fisted rule over romania with oppression and strange ideology. couples were taxed if they did not have children. food was exported while romanians were rationed. they drew inspiration from north korea. he even tried to prove his cold war independence by hosting president nixon during a lavish visit. in december of 1989, it unraveled. his security apparatus turned against him. immediately afterwards, they

were shot. the tents have been taken and their bodies are in the ground. one family member said that the bodies were wrapped in the black winter coat that he wore the day that he died. romania is now a emerging democracy, the execution of the charchesku's was the last time that the death penalty was used. >> barack obama has finally signed into law a bill on financial reform. the most sweeping change to the way to the banking system operates. insuring that no single company's failure could endanger the economy. >> the fact is that the

financial industry is related to our nation's ability to grow and prosper. there are a lot of bankers out there that want to do right. this reform will help sponsor innovation, not hamper it. it is designed to make sure that everyone follows the same set of rules and that firms compete on quality, not on tricks and traps. demanding accountability and responsibility for everyone. it provides certainty to everyone, from bankers the farmers, business owners and consumers. unless your business model depends on cutting corners or building your customers, you

have nothing to fear from a form. >> hollander international was once the world's third largest newspaper group, but he was convicted of defrauding shareholders by $6 million. >> conrad black, from the day that he was sentenced to six years in jail. sheller -- shareholders in his company were defrauded of more than $6 million. security camera pictures helped to convict him. >> a shareholder said that he was stealing from the company. the jury found he was stealing from the company. he found a way to discover that u.s. law has used against him was somewhat unconstitutional.

irrepressible in the way they tried to come down the mountain. >> t outmanoeuvre the paper's owners. the telegraph became the centerpiece to the world's largest newspaper empire. but they are long gone now. >> his business success brought membership in the house of lords. >> the trusted conrad black. >> while some admire the achievements, others found them extravagant. saying that he was living a billionaires' lifestyle on a millionaire's salary.

he spent the last two years in a florida jail. what now for conrad black? >> he has been vindicated and stays out of jail. those that have attacked him in this city should look out, conrad is back. >> for now he has been told that he must stay in the united states or forfeit bail. >> you are watching "bbc world news." rare access to secret kurdish guerrilla camp in iraq. telling the bbc that they could be willing. british astronomers say that they observe the biggest start detected anywhere in the universe, more than 250 times the mass of our son.

>> in a galaxy far away is a giant sun. 300 times larger than our own. 10 million times brighter. it sounds like the start of a science-fiction story, but they have discovered a star that is so large and hot it would burn any plan that are routed to chris. -- around it to a crisp. >> this one is 320 times the size, which is unusual. it has given an entirely new view of how sons are formed. >> devours is the large meeting largest in our solar system -- >> our son is the largest in our solar system, this one is 143 times that size. it used to be even larger.

our own sun is twice the size of the average sought -- average star. but there is nothing in our galaxy as large as a new start. >> we are trying to work out if it is because they have blown up and are no longer here, like in large galaxies as in our home. >> a few years on the blink of an eye on the cosmic time scale. leaving nothing behind and all, eventually. >> you are watching "bbc world news." a bbc investigation finds that

sales of asbestos in russia are at $1 billion each year. sanctions are imposed on north korea as the u.s. secretary of state looks to impose the demilitarized zone on a visit to south korea. the leader of the kurdish pp cakk rebel group has told the bc that it is willing to disarm at the turkish government meets certain demands. they're listed as a terrorist organization by most governments. our correspondent traveled to kurdistan to meet the leader. >> somewhere in the mountains,pkjk fighters are training. turkey says that these men are

terrorists. the u.s. and european union agreed. here is why. a splinter group has admitted to carrying out the attack. this has been going on for 26 years. >> we were invited to visit one of their camps a secret location in the mountains of northern iraq. around one-third of the fighters are women. for more than one decade they have used these mountains as the base for executing attacks inside turkey, challenging their leaders and justifying killing. telling me that the group was willing to disarm. the turkish government, if they agreed to a cease-fire. >> they warned that if their

demands were not met, there would be more killing. >> we will go on, there will be other sacrifices. >> this war is being fought on two fronts. turkey to the north, iran to the east. artillery bombardments and air strikes, you can see the results of some of this in a massive crater, deeper than i am tall, towards the end of june 1 night it dropped two bombs. one of them here, one of them over there. shrapnel was scattered all over the place. you can see it over there, in

those houses. here are some of the victims of this for got more. -- forgotten war. >> what can we do about it? they are armed. as sporadic shelling continues, these farmers can do little more than pray that they can go home soon. >> some more top stories for you this hour, chances that they will not arrest the sudanese president. he faces two or arrest warrant from the international court. it is the first time he has

visited the country that is a full member of the united nations since he was indicted. a car bomb to the north of baghdad has killed at least 11 people. the blast brought down a number of buildings in the area. bp's oil spill in the gulf of mexico could be halted within two weeks if a storm does not disrupt the work. a relief tunnel should finally reach the oil well by the weekend. the news comes as bp announces the sale of assets to meet a part of that cleanup bill. the energy correspondent for "the wall street journal" said bp has improved its financial position. >> they raised $7 billion from the sale to apache. that was a substantial chunk of

cash. one month ago they had announced plans for $10 million in assets. >> in the figures and descriptions of we can get, how much smaller does bp have to get to survive? what does this say about the oil industry? >> actually, bp is going to be disposing of a lot of assets that are not the main focus of the company and not real broke barriers. bp has really focused in the last year on places like the gulf of mexico, angola, the deep water provinces that are producing a lot of high margin barrels. what it has on the table now, they are not central to the business. they're not going to have as

much of an impact. i do not think that it will really have as much of an impact on bp they're hoping that they will still be able to maintain their position in the areas that really matter. >> what is your sense of tony a word? the prime minister or president, when they say that about a cabinet colleague, usually their costs within a matter of weeks. >> it does not mean anything great for saying in the job beyond christmas. you detect a real groundswell of opposition among shareholders, but i think that there is when you talk to them privately. there is a sense that they will have to do a root and branch

over all. it is unclear at the moment the timing of that. tony a word is unlikely to stay in his role. we'd just do not know when it will happen. >> facebook's meteoric rise has hit another extraordinary landmark. today they got their 500 million to usurp -- 500 millionth user. as katherine jones reports, not everyone sees it as a cause for celebration. >> 500 million different people socialize their. -- there. it started in 2004 at harvard university and spread the

campuses across the u.s.. up to 20 million people by 2007. by july of 2009 they had 350 million members around the world. for the users it has begun to reach into every area of their mind. >> it is a clever product enabling people to create their own communities. >> facebook did not invent social networking. my space was huge for a while, particularly in the u.s.. but it faded, leaving facebook

as the undisputed leader. as it continued to grow, so did concerns over two issues. >> this parent wishes to remain anonymous as he fears repercussions for his daughter. >> how many million are underage? in my daughter's class, 58% are age 10 to 11 on facebook. these underage users do not necessarily know how to handle things when they go wrong. an achievement that stands to make him more than half of a billion dollars. >> time for a quick reminder of our top story, it deaths linked to asbestos particularly in the

developing world. >> hello and welcome. >> see the news unfold. get the top stories from around the globe and click to play video reports. go to bbc.com/news to experience the in-depth, expert reporting of "bbc world news" online. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. and union bank. >> union bank has put its global

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