>> union bank has put its financial strength to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news america." >> this is a special edition of "bbc world news america," reporting from the united nations. iran releases a pair of hikers that have been held in prison for a little bit over two years. the standoff intensify as at the u.n..

the palace in bid for statehood, president obama says this is not the way. -- the palestinian bid for statehood. >> it was that easy, it would have been accomplished by now. >> 1 british couple got more than they bargained for in the amazon sparking an international rescue effort. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and also around the globe. we are coming to you live from the united nations. today, after more than 80 years, a pair of american hikers are enjoying their freedom. -- today after two years. the families of shane bauer and josh fattal rushed to meet them.

>> camera crews waited at the release of the american hikers. shane bauer and josh fattal are finally free. we obtained this exclusive footage of the pair. the iranians wanted to show that they were treated well in detention. they were detained with another american more than two years ago in the on march region between iran and iraq. the iranians accused them of spying but the americans said they were simply hiking. one was released last year on grounds of ill health. she said that none of them could have been supplies. >> we had no equipment on us. we had no intention to come into iran and we are no threat. >> the families were allowed to

meet shane bauer and josh fattal last year. >> iran's president said this before the release. >> we did not make this decision under pressure. this is a humanitarian decision. >> this has only deepened the mistrust between iran and washington. iran says that their nuclear program is peaceful. western countries suspect iran of wanting to make a nuclear bomb. there has been problems with relations since the 1979 revolution. tehran and said they did it for better relations. >> they want to be a part of the world. they want respect for their civilization and culture, their way of life. they understand that there are

great powers. >> because the u.s. does not have diplomatic relations with iran, this office is all they have in america's capital. the question is whether the release of the hikers is an olive branch by iran or just a gesture designed to make president ahmadinejad looked good before he appears that the u.n. >> president obama released a statement. he welcomed the release of the two men. he said that america is thinking of their families. joining me now from washington with more on today's activities is an associate at the carnegie endowment for peace. a few weeks ago, these two were sentenced to 8 years in prison. now they have been released. what is going on? >> that is par for the course.

we have seen this in the past when people have been accused of espionage, they are given very long sentences and then they are properly acquitted. in the case of these two young men that were detained for 26 months, they were part of the internal political battle. the person that was their champion in iran was mahmoud ahmadinejad. he was trying to win their release. this case prolonged much longer than it should. >> it is a fascinating to watch the last couple of weeks. you have mom -- you have mahmoud ahmadinejad say that they will be released and then the court said that they would not sanction that timetable. it looks almost as though ahmadinejad was undermined by members of his own government. >> i think that is right.

the real power in iran belongs to the supreme leader. he has an interesting model of ruling. he likes to wield power without accountability. in order for a supreme leader to wield power without accountability, he needs a president like ahmadinejad. this is a delicate balance which he must strike. on the one hand, he really wanted to be emasculate ahmadinejad on the domestic conflict. i don't think that he would like to render him totally impotent. if he is rendered an impotent lame duck, it is hard for ahmadinejad to assume responsibility. we have to know that these two young men would have not been detained for 26 months had it not been for the ayatollah and they would not have been released now had it not been for

the ayatollah. >> put this into the context of the border relationship, how badly has it affected relations? >> if the confidence that 1.5 out of 10, it has become one out of 10. iran did not accomplish anything as a result of this except for the fact that they have eclipsed north korea as the world's least favorable country in opinion polls. >> quite a feat there. thank you so much. now to advance here at the net in nations where president obama spent 40 minutes addressing the u.n. general assembly today and only about seven minutes will get any attention. that is when he forcefully rejected the palestinian bid for membership of the world body. he insisted that the u.s. is committed to the creation of a

palestinian state, he just does not think this is the way to get there. >> peace will not come through statements and resolutions at united nations. if it was that easy, it would have been accomplished by now. the palestinians and the israelis must live side by side. it is them and not us too much meat -- who must reach agreements on issues that affect them. ultimately, peace depends on a compromise, among people that must live together long after our speeches are over, long after our votes have been tallied. >> president obama addressing the general assembly. he also sat down with talks with prime minister benjamin netanyahu. >> i know he is under enormous pressure and from personal experience, i can tell you that the automatic majority is against israel.

standing your ground and taking this position on principle, which is also the right position to achieve peace, i think that this is a badge of honor. i want to thank you for wearing that badge of honor and to express my hope that others will follow your example, mr. president. >> a badge of honor, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. the palestinians -- we heard president -- we heard prime minister benjamin netanyahu said that it was a badge of honor to reject the bid for palestinian statehood. >> this is a president who began his presidency by making a phone call to president mahmoud abbas. he came out very strongly against settlements. he condemned home demolitions.

now, he has completely backtrack from that. he did not mention settlements. we saw more than 6000 housing units approved recently. the speech had nothing to do with palestine and everything to do with u.s. domestic consideration. >> president obama has a point when he says that the vote is taken here and it gives the palestinians recognition of statehood, nothing actually changes. >> he is right. the one thing that will change is that it will allow palestinians to avail themselves of the international criminal court and to seek some legal redress against israel for their violations of the law. >> isn't the part that the americans have said only going to succeed if it is because of direct negotiations? why come to an added nations, which is what president obama said, to come to the u.n. to ask for a state could --

why come to the u.n. had asked for statehood? >> we have seen more than a doubling of the number of settlers living in the territories. going back to the negotiations will only be a definition of insanity. >> could coming here weaken mahmoud abbas? >> i am less concerned with mahmoud abbas and more concerned as to whether there will be a new strategy put forward in order to try to challenge israel and their ongoing roll over the palestinians. it does not matter to me of the president comes back weekend, what does matter if there is a new strategy that comes into place. this aim said taking it away from negotiations and focusing on boycotts, sanctions, and challenging israel legally. >> surely it matters to you if

it sparks and a tub of violence for those who say that diplomacy has not worked. >> certainly. i don't think that there will be violence. people will be challenging the leadership and say it is time to pursue a different strategy. he has banked on negotiations for his entire career. that has been his only strategy. it is now time for him to show us a new path. if he walks away, time for a new leadership. >> thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. >> hundreds of migrants have clashed with italian police. the migrants fear they will be forcibly sent back to tunisia. the island has had an influx of migrants fleeing violence and turmoil. more than 40,000 have arrived in

boats. campaigners are holding last- minute rallies for troy davis who is facing execution. most of the witnesses have changed their minds about his guilt. more than a million people have signed petitions calling for a pardon. china has summoned the u.s. ambassador to protest against fleetto upgrade taiwan's' of fast-16 planes. the deal would undermine bilateral ties and security cooperation between china and the u.s.. for the people of greece, the last few months have been full of austerity measures and it is about to get worse. it was announced that more civil servants will be suspended than originally planned and new pension cuts in the plants. will it --

new pension cuts are in the works. >> with the eu, ecb, and the imf backing athens, greece has hours to convince its lenders of last resort to keep the country afloat with another 8 billion euros. greek papers have forecast the wholesale sacking of state workers, wage cuts, civil servants, and an increase in the fuel tax. >> the danger is not that our income has been reduced, the danger is not that the pensions have been reduced or the value of property. it is not that the real-estate market might disintegrate or we will have problems. the danger is for the whole system to collapse. >> a potential collapse is desperately warring portugal, one of the next in line on the credit-starved periphery. >> we are on the edge of a

situation of great uncertainty. we are talking about a possible default of the european union state. this could bring disastrous consequences to portugal, particularly in terms of finance, banking, and our economy. >> back in the greek capital, protesters were out in force today showing once again that workers are defiant and don't support the government efforts. they are trying to destroy our lives and those of our children. everyone must join the fight. united, we will win. later, others marched to demonstrate that they will not pay a emergency property taxes. a stark reminder for greece's lenders that the government can accelerate its austerity program but they might not be able to deliver all of it. >> joining mean more -- joining

me for more, the bbc's economic editor. let's start with the eurozone. there is debate on whether greece will defaults to when it will default. >> the greeks will be disappointed to hear you say that when they announced the cuts that they will make which they hope will secure the next lies of money. they will have to wait a few weeks to find out if it is enough. you are right, everyone has said it might not be over this slice of money but maybe the next after that. something will go wrong, probably in the near future. that would cause a disorderly defaults for greece. the repercussions are that many people are extremely worried about what that would be.

there is confidence in the global economy. that was something highlighted by the international monetary fund. we would not want to see that kind of car wreck for greece. the european officials have not yet shown that they have a plan for avoiding it and they can get over the political of full- -- ged fa they can get over the political issues. >> they've announced $400 billion a day was spent to try to drive down interest rates. -- that they will spend it to try to drive down interest rates. >> the fed is to support the u.s. recovery and the european situation is a big worry for america but frankly, the big concern is that the u.s. economy is not delivering the kind of

growth that the fed or president obama, or anyone else would like to see. there was an operation that was first named when they tried to do this in the early 60's. this is to reshuffle the balance sheets of the central bank to try to push down long-term interest rates further without actually putting more cash into the economy. it is striking that you have had such bad news about the economy, they have not come out more money in. that tells you something, we are all turning to central banks for support in response to the slowing recovery. even the central banks have less room to room -- have less room to maneuver. that is a bit worrying. >> thank you so much for joining us. you are watching "bbc world news

america." hitting a major travel glitch. on the unlikely source helps one couple out of a sticky situation. a former south african gold miners are suing a subsidiary of a gold giant. they allege that they suffered lung problems because of exposure to dangerous levels of dust. >> all that glistens is gold. for an industry that was once the mainstay of the south african economy. miners who work underground exposed to dust and dirt and are left with a grim legacy. the south african subsidiary of

the company that once employed them is now being sued for negligence for allegedly flouting safety rules. >> this is a serious public health epidemic in south africa. >> with thousands working in the minds until the late 1990's, this could have widespread implications. the company said that they do not believe that they are liable for the claims by the former gold workers and they are defending the actions. the gold companies, which employed the mine workers, were responsible for the health and safety of the employees and they took reasonable steps to protect them. as many as one in five of the miners has the disease according to a series of medical studies. boyles will argue that the risks have been known for decades. -- lawyers will argue that the risks have been known. now, it will be argued in britain. the case could turn out to be

one of the biggest of its kind. before any testimony is heard from the south african miners, we could seek technical arguments of the legal jurisdictions of the british courts. >> in japan, natural disasters have already brought amazing devastation this year. now, a powerful typhoon had struck the country bringing heavy rains and floods. it continued to the capital of tokyo. then it moved to the northeastern coast line which is already damaged by the earthquake and tsunami. so far, there have been no problems reported at the fukushima plant. >> heavy seas heralded as the approach of the typhoon off of

the japanese southeast coast. a massive storm threatening the country's biggest island, bringing high wind and torrential downpours. workers are 55 to strengthen flood defenses. some parts of japan were warned to expect a month's worth of rain in just 12 hours. -- workers worked to strengthen flood defenses. >> we are working to defend against strong wind and high seas. >> the nuclear power station of fukushima is still leaking radiation after the earthquake and tsunami earlier this year. elsewhere, the storm soon caused flooding. some streets were need deep. the emergency services used boats to rescue people. -- some streets were knee-deep. >> many people were caught unaware during the disaster.

i did not want that to happen again. i decided to get here as early as possible. >> the water levels got to write under the bridge. i was taken aback. i thought there was an evacuation advisory. >> this is the second typhoon to hit the country in months. this one is not bearing on the northeast coast. for japan, this has been a year of disaster. >> a lot of wind and rain. now, for an international rescue operation which was sparked by nothing short of a travel nightmare. a four-year adventure in the amazon got stuck.

they contacted their family in east sussex who in turn contacted the coast guard. then it became an international affair. >> he is a photographer, she is a retired air hostess. they have to been touring latin america for the last five years in their beloved camper van which bruce sold his home to buy. traveling on this the drizzly difficult stretch of road in a remote part of the amazon, a bridge collapsed beneath them and they got stranded in a ravine. their vehicle came off of the road 200 miles from the nearest city. because they were carrying a satellite phone, they were able to call relatives 5,000 miles away and give them their precise coordinates. those relatives contacted the dover coastguard? then alerted the coast guard in

cornwall. then the international liaison contacted the brazilian coast guard. they are used to rescue ships from water, not of vehicles with wheels that come off of the road. >> it is unusual for us to be dealing with anything in land. especially, a car accident. >> late this afternoon, they were located and rescued by helicopter. they are said to be on injured. back home, the friends who have toured with them in south america are relieved but not surprised. >> i think you would have to -- >> do you think this would stop them? >> nothing would. this is part of the journey. >> the most recent internet diary entry was last thursday.

she talked about going spotting butterflies in the rain forest. she talked about all of the shredded tires that they saw on the roadway. they wanted an experienced it would never forget. they got one. -- they wanted an experience they would never forget. >> that brings us to the end of "bbc world news america." thank you for watching. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank.

>> union bank offers unique insight and expertise in a range of industries. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news america" was presented by kcet, los angeles.

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> ifill: president obama rejected palestinian plans to seek statehood through the united nations and he called for a return to direct peace talks