>> a wave of bombings have killed 60 more. opportunity. france and britain signed a 50- year cooperation pact. what next for yemen, after the air cargo bombs? the frustration of the people on the streets of the capital. a very warm welcome to "bbc world news," broadcast to our viewers on pbs in america and elsewhere around the globe. my name is mike embly. the people in the united states will look to give major losses to the party of president obama, so what are his options now? and a new study about drugs to defeat the common cold.

hello to you. there have been 12 explosions across baghdad, most of them in mainly shi'ite districts of the city. the number of casualties are still unclear -- most of them in mainly shia districts in the city. it is thought that the number of dead could be much higher. >> it was clearly a coordinated campaign, the russian bombs going off all over town in a short space of time. many of them were car bombs, with no particular target other than to cause as many casualties as possible. it came just hours after many of the victims from sunday's outrage at the catholic church were buried. it left this woman a widow. she is not alone. there are dozens here who have

been suddenly widowed or have lost a son, a daughter, a best friend. they did not discriminate. it took the two priests. they were leading prayers. they were among the first to die when the gunmen burst into the church and took the worshipers hostage. a fresh wave of grief as more coffins came in, one after another. everybody here seems to have lost someone important to them. church officials say out of 80 hostages, just one dozen escaped unscathed. they have been through a lot since 2003, but this is undoubtedly the worst disaster to befall them by far. it has been felt throughout the community here and well beyond. it is not just christians morning here. among many others, there is a spokesperson for a secular

coalition and the leader of one of the shiite factions. most of iraq seems united in grief and condemnation. the hope is that this will unite, not to fight. -- not divide. >> everyone is rejecting this, so maybe there will be some action from others to protect the people, in general. not a definite community or a definite part of the country, no. this is what i really hope. >> protecting the people is on everybody's mind in baghdad after this latest spate of bombings. with no new government nearly eight months after elections, people here are getting increasingly jittery. bbc news, baghdad. >> the french president and british prime minister signed two defense treaties, which they

say marks a new era of cooperation militarily. it is the first time they have promised to work more closely. david cameron and prisons sarkozy say it will save money without undermining national sovereignty. nick robinson has this report. >> marching forward together, british and french forces for the next 50 years. that was the plan unveiled today by a new coalition. it was between the men who call each other david and nickoli. pledging their armies, navies, and air forces to work together, and cooperation on nuclear defense. >> this is not about sharing our nuclear deterrent. let me say this plainly. britain and france are and will always remain sovereign nations, able to deploy independently and

in our national interests. >> david cameron stressed what this deal was not, but his guests praised his courage and his vision. >> merci, david. it shows the level of trust and confidence unequaled in history. this is what they agreed to today. to form a joint expeditionary force. british and french troops will train together and be deployed together under a single commander if both governments agree. british and french nuclear scientists will work together to share the huge cost of the safety tests they carry out, but both countries will maintain separate deterrence, and they will use the others aircraft carrier when their own is being serviced, and that one will always be there. both governments say they will maintain control as to where their ship is.

>> a crisis in, say, the south atlantic, what do you say? >> we would only jointly commit a task force if we jointly agreed on the mission, but the idea of having a task force is, i think, an excellent idea, because in so many parts of the world, we are working together. >> to imagine that our british friends could face a crisis so great that it would require them to send out an aircraft carrier and that that would not affect france -- >> the coalition now sees france as a friend, welcome news to labour, not so much to the tory skeptics. >> strategic objectives on the world stage. >> it is important to the they

have been cooperating. we need an absolute guarantee that the decisions to deploy forces and military assets are absolutely 100% for the british government and not for the french government. >> who would have thought it? just yards away from trafalgar stair -- square, treaties that say for the next 50 years, their forces are more likely to battle together, and david cameron says today was just the start of this relationship. nick robinson, bbc news, westminster. >> more parcel bombs have been discovered in the greek capital after a number of devices were intercepted. small bombs exploded outside of this was an russian embassies, and suspicious packages or detonated outside several locations. here is our correspondent. >> for the second consecutive day, bomb and anti-terrorism

squad forces were chasing after booby trapped parcels. the first one went off at the swiss embassy. they say the security staff discovered metal inside the package, and there was an explosive flash as it was being examined. no one was hurt. the second was at another place. the bomb squad were on the way to neutralize the suspicious device when it blew up. the chilean ambassador had something destroyed outside parliament, where the worried courier had stopped and alerted police. similar devices were sent to the german and bulgarian embassies. on monday, the intercepted a package scented to french president nicolas sarkozy. two men were arrested on monday after an explosion at the offices of the delivery company were taken to court to be questioned by prosecutor. they are suspected of belonging to a left-wing group, which has

declared its intention to commit a revolution in greece during the current economic crisis. one terrorism expert described as coordinated campaign against international diplomatic targets as a training exercise by young people who are testing their military capability. he said at the moment, the operation was comparatively unprofessional, because they had been unable to avoid police surveillance, but there may be something more serious. bbc news, athens. >> a parcel bomb has been intercepted by staff at the offices of angela merkel in berlin. postal employees raised the alarm over what postal authorities have confirmed has been an explosive device. the package was labeled as coming from the greek finance minister. angela merkel was in belgium at the time. an association representing more than 200 allies has warned

governments against overreacting against last week's bombs on aircraft air freight has been banned from yemen, and germany has banned flights from yemen, and the netherlands has also taken steps. we have this report. >> the country is on high alert. it is all over the city. at this trial today, the in any american is wanted. he was prosecuted in osseshia -- the yemeni american is wanted. he was prosecuted in absentia. >> all of that being stopped, all of that is being pushed away. that is a problem.

by force alone, we will never succeed. there will be more sympathizers. we have to move the country forward and increase the country rather than isolate it. >> security measures are taken on all levels. as you can see, fedex and ups, and they will have more searches on cargo and at international airports, but they seem to be frustrated on how yemen has been labeled in the international community. here in the market, people are frustrated. how they are against terrorism but also against american interference. >> the message is echoed everywhere we go, and everyone we have talked to, they say they are against terrorism, and there

are members that are here, but it is not fair that all of the countries and the people will pay the price. the economy is already suffering in the country, and poverty is really high, and with this embargo from the international community on yemen, the economy will be more affected, and in the end, the people will pay the price. bbc news. >> the former oil billionaire mikhail khodorkovsky was speaking at the end of his second trial and said he is willing to die in jail. our correspondent has more. >> mikhail khodorkovsky, russia's most famous prisoner. today, he arrived in court with a final chance to speak out

against the charges of in puzzlement, which could keep him in prison for another seven years -- charges of embezzlement. he used it to make a passionate appeal about this country's future. he said he was ashamed of those currently in power, particularly those in the security services, who were undermining the rule of law, and he said his trial would show whether there is hope that russia could become more civilized. but defense lawyers are convinced this trial will end with mr. khodorkovsky being found guilty. >> this punctuates the problem that russia is facing. it is the absolute symbol for the corruption that has been recognized as an affecting this country, and it is impossible for president medvedev to make

any headway on his into corruption policies as long as this trial continues and khodorkovsky and lebedev are caught in this type of justice system. father, odorkovsky's already elderly and frail, he fears he will never again see his son out of prison. the family will have to wait until at least mid december before the judge finally delivers his verdict. but in reality, the only question now is how long the new prison sentence will be. richard galpin, bbc world news. >> no peace between arabs and

israel. but first, thousands of people have been rescued. heavy downpours in the south of thailand follow weeks of rain in the north, and more than 100 died there, and damage was widespread. >> just a week after there were massive debts in thailand, they were hit by a heavy rainstorm. -- there were massive deaths in thailand. as a precaution, some electricity supplies have been cut off. the mayor says the water level had reached 1.5 meters in low- line areas, and 100,000 people had been affected. residents have been stranded in their homes, and we always services were suspended in some areas. -- and railway services were suspended in some areas.

unseasonably heavy monsoon rains brought chaos to large swaths of thailand, and more than 100 people died there, and millions were infected. more rain was forecast for the south of the country, with the emergency services warning of a flash floods and advising people to stock up on emergency supplies. bbc news, bangkok. >> the votes have now been counted in tanzania, where an albino has been elected to parliament for the first time. there was the opposition party, caf. there was a widespread persecution in tanzania, where they have recently campaigned against such discrimination. and the oil giant b.p. was back in the black in september, reporting just under $2 billion for the quarter. in june, it lost $17 billion, do, of course, to the gulf of

mexico is built. the latest headlines for you this hour on "bbc world news." a series of bomb explosions across baghdad have killed at least 63 people and injured around 285. europe's two biggest military powers, britain and france, have signed a landmark treaty on the closest defense cooperation in 50 years. well, after a long and sometimes poisonous election campaign, american voters have gone to the polls, and how they vote could dramatically affect the balance of power in the country. a former strategist for the democrats and an adviser to al gore and john kerry joins us. peter, thank you very much for your time. how bad do you expect it to be, and why is that? >> i think it will be pretty bad for the democrats.

the fact is that most folks believe that the house of representatives will switch from the democratic to republican party. they think there is even a possibility if republicans run the table that they can pick of the 10 senate seats needed to switch the senate from the democrats to the republicans. that is a little less likely but still possible. what you have here is you have the economy. you have a situation where the american people in 2008 were angry and scared and want to change and elected barack obama, and in 2010, and they are angry and scared and now want change. the pendulum has swung very far, very fast, and i think voters are coming out, especially those who are against barack obama, and i am not sure if the folks

that voted in 2008, there were 15 million new voters, in that year, and we are afraid that those voters will not turn out in as great of numbers as you need them to to support the democrats. >> peter, you will know, of course, there is a lot of talk among the democrats that this kind of disaster is only a disaster if you're a democrat and can bring out the best in politicians. some say it did in bill clinton. do you have these hopes for barack obama? >> i think president obama is not the ideologue that some make him out to be, not to the far left president. he is a very pragmatic president. he wanted to accomplish great things. that is what he pushed through health care in what he thought it was important to do the tarp program to bail out the companies that were going down and the stimulus package, but if you look at bill clinton, he adapted to. he moved.

this is a president who adapts and moves, as well, and if you look at ronald reagan, there is another example. there are the two examples, reagan and clinton, whose popularity ratings were lower than barack obama's today, and there were defeats in 1982, were the republicans lost 26 house seats in the congress, and there was the debacle in 1994 with the democrats for clinton, and i think this president wants to work across the i know, wants to get things done, once a compromise and work with the republicans, and it will happen very quickly. i think he is going to put out an olive branch to the republicans. >> peter, we shall begin to see soon enough. thank you very much, indeed. we have much more on the u.s. amid terms on bbc news. -- on the u.s. midterms.

now, the prime minister of lebanon has warned the mideast is headed for disaster, his words. no comprehensive peace between arabs and israel. he said that absence of peace, it is helping al qaeda and others. we have this report. >> there was the visit of the iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad. this was a rally close to the israeli border. the other half was deeply suspicious of a man who won critics said was inspecting his troops in his standoff with israel. one man was in the suspicious part. he said that they had changed for the worst, in he said the absence of peace was during iran and anti-western forces. -- fuelling iran and anti-

western forces. >> the three of those were not there in the 1990's. if we had achieved peace in 1991, we would not be here today. >> do you consider koran to the danger in the middle east, like many of your allies do -- do you consider iran to be a danger? >> the danger is in not really achieving a comprehensive peace. there is an initiative on the table, and what has israel done with it? leaving this peace talks going like they are going today, we are headed to a disaster. >> the attack in beirut in 2005 forced one into a political career killed his father, the former prime minister, along with many others. a tribunal established by the

u.n. has been investigating what happened and is expected to have a decision by the end of the year. the leader of hezbollah has reacted furiously to reports that members of his movement, which is the most powerful force in lebanon, could be indicted in the killing. he said all lebanese should cut ties with the tribunal. >> the tribunal? >> yes. >> you are not going to cut links with it? >> no. >> is that not dangerous for lebanon? >> no, i think what is dangerous is not to dialogue about the issues that are really difficult in the country, and i think this is one. >> so he will not budge, and today, hezbollah warned that indicting its people would be like lighting the fuse for an explosion.

new drugs to be illnesses, just the common cold. we have the details. >> it has long been a dream, a cure for the common cold. they study the effects of the virus. it closed after 40 years. now, scientists at cambridge have in laboratory tests discovered a hitherto unknown means by which our bodies can fight infection. this fundamental research could change how we understand our new system fights. the viruses are going through the bloodstream, and dead bodies in yellow, latching on to them, trying to destroy them -- antibodies in yellow. the cambridge team has shown that a antibodies -- the

antibodies attract a protein, shown in blue, and this was the equivalent of a waste disposal machine, disposing and shredding the virus piece by piece. this is before the virus has a chance to take over the cells. if they could boost this natural mechanism, it could lead to several treatments. but not all. >> it will not work and viruses such as the hiv virus, but it will work on many other viruses, including those that commonly affect people in the u.k., once you are most likely to be exposed to, things like rhino viruses or rotavirus or nor ovirus. >> you will find much more on vec.com. we are on twitter and facebook,

as well -- you will find much more on bbc.com. >> 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.

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