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>> over two months under brown, 33 chilean miners are about to -- the over two months underground, 33 chilean miners are about to get lifted to the surface. the operation is due to start in one hour's time. another day of protests across france where the government digs in its heels, vowing not to bought -- bowed down on pension reform. welcome to "bbc world news." coming up later for you, billionaires' boost the number of chinese super-rich, jumping more than 30% in one year. we take a hazardous walk around at the athletes' village. venomous snakes have become unwelcome guests.

hello. after 68 days belowground, the first of the 33 trapped chilean miners should soon be out. they have already survived twice as long belowground as anyone else. >> the men are preparing for the ascent. the chilean president arrived here about one hour ago. all of the trials and testing has taken place. at least one of these 33 men, we are told, will be on the surface this evening. extraordinary news for the relatives that have camped out here for the next couple of months. do not forget, they were told that these men might not be out until christmas.

originally the authorities thought it would be out by midnight, now we think that at least one could be out within the next few hours. let's get the latest on all of the day's activities. we have this report from andrew harding. >> emerging from the deaths, the rescue pot is on its final test run. massive technology, all in place for what has become a truly global event. the crowd here is in a frenzy of anticipation. what will the miners make of it all? what of their families? smartening up this afternoon for a long awaited reunion, some children cannot get back to school. others are in less of a hurry. wondering what kind of husband

might emerge from underground. >> he seems to have changed a lot down there. more humble melt. let's just hope that lasts. >> at the entrance to the triumphant tunnel, the final preparations. for now it is going like clockwork. >> we have different procedures to do it. we have the best people there. smart, prepared, ready for any contingency. >> for 17 days the world thought that they were dead, for 51 days they were kept alive by umbilical cords. just a few hours away from this climax. the very first minor should emerge just after nightfall. >> this is how should go.

after a medical checkup, the first minor will be strapped in to the phoenix escape capsules, slightly lower than a -- slower than a normal lift he will be raised up. 15 minutes later he will be on the surface. he will be taken straight to a triage area. after that, onto a field hospital next door where, if he is well enough, he will be reunited with no more than three relatives. all day helicopters have been rehearsing the next stage. a quick flight out of the desert. most of the men are said to be in surprisingly good health. one of them is diabetic. they will need some time to adjust. will they be given it? in town and across the country,

preparations for a serious homecoming party. the san jose mine, chile. >> july and television says that they know the names of the first three out. the first is florencio avalos, the official cameraman. no. 2, the official group spokesman has been talking to the camera over these weeks and months describing life underground. the third one, the only non- chilean, carlos manani. he is a libyan and we hear that the president will be flying here and possibly taking him back on the presidential jet if doctors give him the ok. >> many thanks indeed for that. earlier, the chalet and mining minister held a press conference, explaining details of the rescue.

>> the which can be controlled. we have programmed a speed of 1 meter per hour -- excuse me, 1 meter per second, which would be the total time for the trip, going down by gravity, you are not pulling the cage. it will be a slow live. taking 25 minutes, more or less, at least 25 to 30 minutes. they are working on their own things, for paring the moving, helping us with a platform that needs to be built into the tunnel, working with communications people, giving us

lines to establish television and video to where the phoenix will land. so, they have been very busy. >> [inaudible] >> any rescue process has a risk. we could have mistakes in the process. we have trained a lot and taken into consideration everything that could affect. we hope that nothing happened and that they are well preserved, that we will see the result of this preparation in a couple of decades. we have hundreds of different contingencies and we have established different contingencies to do it. obviously, if something different happens, we have the best people there, capable to

face any contingency. i think it'd is -- there is no need as we have done the job anticipating anything that could happen and trying to prevent it. >> of course, we will return to this story will later in the program for more on how the rescue is being carried out. live, this is the scene at the mine had. these miners have been trapped since august 5 under 7,000 pounds of rock. what is about to happen now is quite unprecedented and dangerous. there is a long way to go yet. the whinging mechanism is just

under there. taking perhaps 20 minutes, even an hour, to get them all up. a cargo plane has crashed into mountains near the afghan capital, killing all eight crew on board. nato forces are saying that the airplane was not one of their aircraft. pakistan closed access in the wake of a botched airstrike. in the united states a judge has issued a worldwide injunction stopping the enforcement of the military's don't ask don't tell policy, ending the ban on openly gay troops. the department of justice has 60 days to appeal the ruling. a new protective barrier is nearing completion in western hungary, designed to prevent the further a leak of toxic sludge.

found guilty of negligence due to the theft of a van gogh painting, sentenced to three years in prison for the lapses that allowed the poppy flower painting to be stolen in broad daylight. hundreds of thousands of people across france in the state pension system, key elements of the reform have been passed by both houses of parliament -- parliament. and their services have been heavily disrupted, stopping at oil refineries, forcing up diesel prices in europe. >> after four major demonstrations in one month, one might reasonably be expecting the french to be tired of this

battle. but this does appear to be the biggest protests so far. train drivers, postal workers, teachers, joining the nauert students. today the president insisted that there was nothing more to give, but in response to have scaled up the protest, train drivers and workers voting for open ended action. >> we must put pressure on the president to move. we are going every day, on the ceiling the government and parliament. >> the biggest pressure will come from the energy sector. workers at the oil refinery had been striking for two weeks. the oil lobby estimates that it will take a week for the

shortages to be felt around the country. >> this is exactly the show that the union was hoping for. willet carry the same level of support that will inevitably bring millions of computers around the country? the ball has already been approved by both houses of, -- parliament. last night the senate voted in favor of raising the age that workers can retire. the other key element, raising the minimum age requirement, had already been approved. president sarkozy says that the population is getting older. he also knows that his job is on the line. he was elected to reform the french economy. if he blinks first, his credibility will be severely damaged. at the moment he shows no sign of backing down. christian frazier, bbc news.

>> good to have you with us. stay with us, if you can. much more, of course, from the rescue operation in july. the rescue of the first minor is imminent. first, the second day of an inquest into how 52 people died in training and boston bombings in london two years ago. >> shedding more light on the confusion and chaos after the bombs went off. the first explosion, the court was told that the train driver could hear his passengers screaming, but he could not respond. the public address system had gone down.

the first ambulance arrived 24 minutes after the bomb went off. this is because the ambulance service had been given the wrong address by the underground network. the force of the blast was such that one of the six passengers killed here was blown through the side of the carriage. his body was found on the track. the largest number of casualties were in the explosion between king's cross and russell square. we are told that the fire brigade was an eastbound rather than westbound train. it was only when the first wounded passenger appeared that the alarm was raised. counsel to the inquest said that the central issue is whether it would have made a difference if those few minutes had not been lost. the final bottom went off one hour after the others -- the

final bomb went off one hour after the others. fear of a second device led to a suspect package being blown up. this morning footage has been shown from inside of the bomb carriages just a few hours after the explosion, edited out of the respect to the families. >> with the latest headlines, more than two months under brown, 33 july and miners may have spent their last night beneath ground. as we transmit these images, this is the scene where many politicians and medics await the rescue. chosen as the first minor to start the journey, 700 meters of words in sight of a tiny escape capsules.

how, exactly, do you go about bringing a minor up to the surface after two months underground? >> after the waiting and the fear, the last stage of the rescue is finally underway. 700 meters below the surface, the metal shaft is their best route to safety. a paramedic was sent down first to check the men's health and finalize the order. inside the capsule, each miner is equipped with biometrics that measure vital signs, heart beat, temperature, monitoring stress levels. they have been in constant communication with rescue workers and medics. each man has a specially made waterproof suits, they are wearing protective sunglasses.

there's also an oxygen supply to assist breathing. some of the strongest miners with the most technical skills were chosen to go first, in case there are problems. and there is a mechanism to detach the base, allowing a minor to be lower back down. there are still significant risks. in places of the shaft, it is not straight. the capsule will have to be checked to make sure that it is safe to go back down. even without unforeseen problems, it could take days before all of the men are safely above ground. >> earlier the chilean health minister held a press conference in which he explain to the state of the health of the miners and the finer details of the operation. >> they are in good shape, saying,, already prepared for this final journey.

the travel itself is going to take around 10 minutes to 15 minutes, because the lift speed is fixed to 1 meter per second. the machine itself could speed up, 3 meters per second. if one of the mitres is experienced by and something goes wrong, we will speed up the final average. >> [inaudible] >> that was the advice given to us from many different sources. we decided that is the right speed, a normal lift speed on any building in the city.

>> [inaudible] >> we have prepared them for that contingency and obviously the right answer is to try to speed up. we are ready to receive any minors, beginning yesterday night. therefore we feel we are already prepared for this final step of the operation. >> china is probably home to the largest number of billionaires in the world, surpassing the united states, as compiled by a

shanghai research institute, ranking in describing wealth trends in china with hints about the country's economic future. >> is the world's second-largest economy, as such china is believed to have the fastest growing population of wealth in the world. they want to attract anyone in china with a personal wealth of about 150 million u.s. dollars. no easy feat. tax evasion makes the number larger than officially documented. >> now we know of about 189. that could easily be doubled again to 500 billion u.s. dollars, which might make them the largest number of millionaires in the world. >> shooting to the top of the list is [unintelligible] with an estimated fortune of $12

trillion. he is the founder of the largest soft drink maker, making his first -- his fortune catering to the chinese thirst for drinks. tapping into an important theme. many of those that have done well have done so by catering to growing domestic demand. third on the list, an estimated wealth of $5.6 billion, making her china's richest woman. she made her fortune with the flying dragon paper co., another tycoon who has moved up in the ranking thanks to the appetite for shopping. >> 300 million people from the countryside moving into the city, they will need somewhere to live and work, somewhere to go shopping. >> with the first time a

property tycoon has not come out on top, perhaps the efforts to cool off the housing market are having an effect. >> football news for you, soccer depending on where you are, in liverpool football club, offered to be purchased for $507 million, but he must wait until the conclusion of the club's high court case to decide who has the right to sell it. he has already accepted a bid from new england sports ventures. fans themselves may think that before an offer is more attractive, providing the media with funds for new players. the owners, tom hicks and the left, attempting to stop the selling of the club to the american company. commonwealth games in delhi have faced a variety of challenges. food, water, accommodation

problems among them. now, deadly snakes in the rooms. no one has yet been bitten, likely because of one wildlife rescue team. >> a spectacled cobra. common in india, rarely have snakes received so much attention at a major sporting event. seven of them have been rescued from commonwealth games rescues. now the temporary accommodation is a wildlife officer in delhi. >> we were able to coordinate the entire rescue with the organizing committee. it was a very smooth or operation. within 20 minutes the teams would get to the locations, quickly getting in there and getting out within 15 minutes. >> this will snake is the latest

to be found. filmed by an entrance to the athletes' village. it's not poisonous, but it can bite. within minutes of being captured, this tiny animal was making a bid -- making big headlines across india. after the short stay in delhi, the stakes traveled to the outskirts of the city. the metal pole means that the team can keep their distance from the poisonous ones. then the snakes are released into the wild. some prefer the trees. some offered up steam. others took their time. the team is releasing a total of 15 into this sanctuary. the reason they chose this place

is it is the nearest place to central delhi that snakes would like to live. all of this dry ground with plenty of trees for shade and water nearby. all in all, it perfect new home for snakes. when the games started, the big story was rooms not fit for humans. now the stakes are back where they belong. >> taking you back to the scene at the mine, after 68 days belowground, the chilean miners should soon be out. they have already survived twice as long as anyone known to do so. the first should be lifted to the surface within the next few hours. there is excitement and

nervousness building at the camp. thank you for being with us. >> hello and welcome -- >> 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

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