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what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news." >> time to turn the page, president obama marks an end to combat missions in iraq. >> because of our troops and civilians and the iraqi people, iraq has the opportunity to embrace a new destiny. >> four israelis are killed in the west bank. on route from the caribbean, the east coast braces itself for the arrival of hurricane earl. this is "bbc world news."

president obama has told the american people is time to turn the page and concentrate on rebuilding the u.s. economy. the president said the u.s. paid a huge price in order to give iraq a new beginning. now it has to look to its own future. >> tonight i am announcing the american combat mission in iraq has ended. operation of iraqi freedom is over. the iraqi people have responsibility for the security of their country. >> it took 15 minutes for president obama to put an end to a conflict that lasted seven years. an end of sorts. that accounts for his subdued tone tonight. >> violence will not end with our combat mission. extremists will continue to attack iraqi civilians and spark

strife. >> obama was determined to -- the premature mission accomplished declaration of 2003. what a long time ago that seems. >> ending this war is not only in iraq plus interest, it is in our own. the u.s. -- not only in iraq's interest. we persevered because they believe we shared with the iraqi people, a belief that a new beginning can be born in this cradle of civilization. >> but can it? the situation in iraq is fragile which is why america's vice president flew to baghdad to mark the moment in the pressure nouri al maliki to come up with a stable political settlement. >> speaking on television today,

maliki said his country is an equal partner with the u.s., iraq is sovereign and independent. it is also safer. there is occasional violence but a semblance of normality has returned. it is a far cry from the brutal years after the invasion when insurgents may iraq one of the most violent places in the world. i iraqis grew painfully used to burying their dead. the numbers are disputed but at least 150,000 iraqis are thought to have died since the invasion. in 2008 u.s. policy changed, a surege of american troops brought greater stability and the political opportunity for president obama's speech tonight. >> this should serve as a reminder to all americans that the future is ours to shape.

if we move forward with confidence and commitment, it should serve as a message to the world that the u.s. intends to sustain our leadership in this young sentry. >> but obama's leadership is being tested at home in the ranks of the unemployed. to show that he is consumed with his own voters number one priority, obama made a necessary but clumsy segway from war to work. >> another task is to put the millions of americans who have lost jobs back to work. this will be difficult, but in the days to come and it must be our essential mission. my essential responsibility as president. >> obama campaigned and won that presidency on the promise of bringing american troops home from iraq. today is an important milestone.

the next comes at the end of next year when all american troops are due to leave. there is little reason to believe that target will be met as well. >> joining me from the u.s. is a political pollster and chief executive of a polling firm. what will this speech do for president obama's popularity? >> i suppose it will stabilize. right now he is at a low. he is at 44% approval. essentially there was a message to his liberal constituency, that they wanted to hear. he kept a promise he made as a candidate to set a timetable to withdraw troops, that he has met that and the war in iraq as a

combat mission is over. you will see him climb a couple of points. >> what will it do for the polarized nature of the american public on this issue? >> we have to come to grips with the reality and that is 44% of american voters do not like barack obama. they are energized and hopelessly for the polarized. that is what i mean when i say there is not much room for growth. he will pick up a couple of points and energize some liberals. let's talk about something else, but there are no big bumps to come. >> what will improve his popularity before the midterm

elections? we saw that when he talked at length about these domestic economies. >> he made the segway to the domestic economy. now the next two months are critical. can he reestablished himself as a communicator that can generate hope? that can generate this sense he is in command? secondly, are americans teetering on the brink? will they see some progress? there is still less money to be spent on the green jobs, a high- speed railway, computerization hardware, that sort of thing. will americans feel it? the stimulus money thus far that

has been spent has been spent not to stabilize the economy but prevent it from a free fall. that is nothing that americans can feel with 9.7%. are those unemployment numbers going to move a little bit? those are the things that will turn at around. >> this is not the end of the story in iraq? how much do americans care about these foreign policy matters? >> we care very much. iraq has been of center stage as far as the american people are concerned, but afghanistan is front-page news. next to the economy things are going sour in afghanistan can

hurt this president. this is his war. many of these troops have been redeployed. a very risky strategy and some would argue a hopeless strategy for fighting arms comments against the taliban and afghanistan. bottom line is that the economy will define this election, but things going sour could hurt the president even more. he turned this into a big wave election, meaning for standard historical amounts of republican victories in the house -- turning into 40 plus seats that would mean the house is republican controlled. >> thank you very much for talking to us. the israeli prime minister

ordered security forces to respond without diplomatic restraints to the killing of four is released in the west bank. mr. netanyahu said the shootings underlined the idea that to compromise security. -- not to compromise security. >> this car was raked with automatic fire. the dead are two men and two women. one was pregnant. israel launched a massive manhunt, closing off roads. angry settlers already taking to the streets demanding a price for a jewish blood. the attack happened in a volatile area of the west bank. settlers were ambushed here. it is believed they were on

their way home. close by is hebron, a major flashpoint for problems. the timing of tonight's attack is no coincidence. it comes on the eve of the first face-to-face talks between the israeli government and palestinian leaders. whoever carried out the attack wants to derail talks. the prime suspect is hamas. tonight, hamas called its supporters to celebrate. a spokesman called the attack a natural response to israeli occupation. as he is headed to washington, benjamin netanyahu condemn the killings as a heinous crime. many are already saying it has little hope for success.

>> the memoirs of the former british prime minister tony blair were published on wednesday. in his book he also criticized his successor gordon brown for abandoning the labor party's core policy. our political editor gave us more details about what the memoirs revealed. >> absurd sarbanes give to the newspapers. our own interview will air tomorrow evening. what is clear is that tony blair's says labor should have won a fourth term, but it moved in mm away from labor and the pledges he had to deepen welfare reform and public service reform. what will become clear for the first time in the book and in that interview is how difficult

their relationship with gordon brown was in the later years. very difficult is tony blair's phrase. he thought of sacking gordon brown as chancellor but feared he would be let loose or become a far more damaging flores. according to one version of the book, they say tony blair took to the bottle in his last years, relying on drink as a support to deal with the pressure from gordon brown. >> as efforts continue to rescue thee's trapped miners, owners asked for forgiveness. the european union's unemployment rate is at a record high. 16 million people still don't

have a job. spain is still the worst place to look for work, but germany and austria and saw a slight fall. >> unemployment has eased very slightly in the euro zone, but the number is waiting in line for work remain high. for the fifth month in a row spain remains one of the largest countries where the total is soaring. the other end of the spectrum, the netherlands with an unemployment at a modest 3.8%. somewhere between the two is italy. a rate -- industry has managed to hold on to more workers. >> high unemployment is putting downward pressure on the growth rate in compensation.

my guess is that will continue. the european central bank will maintain its low level of interest rates for time to come. >> the monthly fall in consumer prices for august was welcomed in europe as a step in the right direction. july's figure was the highest for 20 months. it further convinced financial markets decd will not be raising its borrowing cost this year -- the ecb will not be raising its borrowing costs. he oil prices have remained slightly weaker. >> this is "bbc world news." president obama announced an end

to the combat missions in iraq. four israelis have been killed in the west bank, threatening the relaunch of peace talks. serious questions are asked about american airport security after two men from yemen were arrested in amsterdam. they were arrived on a plane even though a mobile phone was found taped to the bottom of one man's luggage. >> the moment two yemeni nationals were confronted aboard a flight to amsterdam. they are still being held on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack. the fbi concludes their journey was not a dry run designed to test airport security. the two men had flown from chicago and their baggage went without them to dallas on which they were supposed to be

traveling, but now it emerges both missed their flight and were rerouted to amsterdam. when customs official discover their bags without them, they opened them to find mobile phones strapped together. there were also said to be washes and knives. dutch police said they were still questioning the two men. >> monday morning men were arrested by the border police. they arrived on a flight from chicago which landed from amsterdam. the arrest took place on the basis of information provided by u.s. authorities. the two men of the yemeni nationality were supposed to be traveling home to yemen. >> security is tight on this route. last year a nigerian student was

arrested on a flight traveling the other way. he was charged with attempting to detonate a bomb on board. there were two federal air marshals on the flight. the two men sat close to each other for were not known to have known each other. perhaps some uncomfortable questions for airline security to answer. as regard to the content, officials say it is not unusual for mobile phones and watches to be braque together, particularly on a flight bound for yemen. >> the hurricane that has caused a damaged in the caribbean is still heading to the u.s. hurricane earl is due to reach the eastern u.s. on friday. officials warned it could cause flooding and ordered the

evacuation of an island off the coast of north carolina. >> even at a safe distance from the storm, earl's power was clear. on tuesday the north coast of the dominican republic felt its force. >> the caribbean is stormy. it took the entire side of our home, a fire would and our house. the only thing that can happen is for it to take our home. >> the sea gave a hint of these firms to fury. the island was lashed by rain and strong winds. earl is still a category four hurricane. >> it is a fairly large storm. most of the time they grow larger in area, so we are

looking at a large circulation feature moving across the atlantic ocean right through saturday. >> but next in line are the turks highland. boat owners hope their knots wil hold. now people in the eastern u.s. are being warned to prepare as the hurricane heads their way. >> three people have been arrested in london with connection to the pakistani cricket saddam. people reacted with aner over the latest news -- people reacted with anger. >> cricket is not the only first time going on in the back streets. it may be illegal here, but

secretly and apartments are gamblers and bookmakers. as soon as it gets dark we go to meet some of the notorious hokies. -- notorious bookies. big money coming from the gulf and india. you can never stamp out match fixing. every big bookie has links to one player or another. it has been going on for years. a cricket administrator is based here. they determined to root out bedding scams, but maybe it is asking too much to get a country to stamp out corruption in cricket when it pervades society. it is not just pakistan, alleged

match fixing cast a shadow over the indian premier league season. there were many reports of players being approached by bookies. >> some players have admitted they have been approached. players said they have not succumbed to it. it would be naive to think no player would succumb to it. >> but most pakistanis v recognize something drastic has to be done. they field damage has been done to their reputation -- they feel damage has been done. >> trade unions representing places in africa -- south africa are considering new wages. [unintelligible] after jacob zuma called for reconciliation.

the former cuban president said he was responsible for the persecution of gay men and women after the revolution of 1969. del castro said persecution has been a great injustice, -- fidel castro. drilling has begun on the rescue shaft to free miners trapped underground in chile. union activists have been lobbying to shut the mine down over its safety record long before disaster struck. >> this is a moment the drilling of the rescue shaft began. you can see how happy it made the engineers. this afternoon we watched work continued.

engineers say they hope to dig 15 meters. said theyvernment rescued could take three months to complete. the plan is to drill a narrow shaft half a mile below. a larger shaft will be created. with thousands of tons of debris falling down will have to be cleared away by the miners. rescuers will lower a cage to bring up a-. experts from nasa have arrived to give rescuers advice. >> what we want to avoid is any kind of situation of hopelessness. all the interactions so far in trying to provide them with food and water and contact with families is working towards keeping their spirits up. >> copper mining is now chile

makes money. the price of copper has risen dramatically. that means that mines have reopened. this mine was actually closed in 2007 because of accidents, but was allowed to start up again one year later. that is where these miners have worked for 14 years. >> we knew that an accident would happen. he warned the company about it, but no one listened. the owners have asked for forgiveness. the families waiting outside, that may not be enough. >> we will all be following the progress of those rescue attempts over the next few

weeks. this is "bbc world news." thanks for watching. >> 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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