>> "bbc world news" is presented by kcet, los angeles. funding for this presentation is 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 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." >> when you question the news, we question the newsmakers. >> what have you got to say to the viewers? >> all smiles at the table. can the israeli and palestinian leaders turn a handshake into lasting peace? >> mr. prime minister, mr. president, you have the opportunity to end this conflict and the decades of enmity between your peoples once and for all. >> the international cricket council has charged three pakistani players under its anti-corruption code. hurricane earl approaches america's eastern seaboard.

emergency workers in the u.s. have put out a major fire at an oil platform in the north of -- in the gulf of mexico. welcome to "bbc news," broadcasting to our viewers around the world. israeli and the palestinians have held their first direct peace talks in almost two years. benjamin not in yahoo! -- benjamin netanyahu and mahmoud abbas met in washington. the two sides will meet again later this month. jeremy is in the washington. >> the motorcades brought them into the state department in washington for the latest installment in what has turned into a 20-year middle eastern saga of lost hope.

in the public part of the meeting, they said negotiations to make peace one year from now would not be easy. plan was tons' always be in the room. the top diplomats said there was no time to lose. >> the core issue of the center of these negotiations, territory security, jerusalem, refugees settlements, and others, will get no easier if we wait. they will not resolve themselves. >> netanyahu said president abbas would have to recognize israel as the jewish homeland. he said the middle east was changing and so were the security guarantees israel would need. >> we have had the rise of i ran and it proxy's. a peace agreement must take into account security arrangements against these real threats. >> the prospect of new buildings

for jews in the occupied territories as the first aspect of the talks. diggers were at work today. israel says it will not renew the freeze when it ends in about three weeks. this is the land in gaza that the palestinians want in their state. israel suggested it build only on the occupied land it plans to keep. the biggest settlement blocks include those in east jerusalem. the palestinians want to stop all settlement activity, which breaks international law. president abbas says he will walk away from the talks if the construction friezes not extended. >> we call on the israeli government to move forward with

its commitment to end all settlement activities. you completely lift the embargo on the gaza strip. >> of this one fails, the next time will be harder. the conflict is changing. it is not simply nationalists fighting over land. a religious war is grasping onto that. people on both sides think they are doing god's will. netanyahu's government includes ministers who do not want jewish land to go to palestinian. mr. abbas cannot speak for all of his people, and mass which condemned his presence here. they all looked relaxed as the journalists were ushered out. they won't be behind closed doors. bbc news, washington. >> our correspondent is in washington. i asked him about the sense of urgency for the israelis to stop building settlements.

>> i think the message from the americans is this might be the best chance you get in a long time to reach a peace deal. down the road, you are going to have to reach an agreement with each other. do it now. that is the message from the obama administration. it is something the president addressed from the first day of his presidency. previous u.s. president took up the cause late in their term and ran out of time. the degree of optimism from the americans is that it can be done within a year. the stumbling block is there. there is the moratorium on settlement-building in the west bank that is due to expire. palestinians are saying clearly that if the moratorium is not continued, they will walk away from the talks before they got off the ground. >> do you think 24 hours have made a difference in the feeling of optimism in the united states and around the world as leaders

watch the talks? >> veteran middle east watchers are still to be convinced. they are still to be convinced there is substance here. they will wait for progress on the settlement issue before they even decide whether more can be achieved. the americans are talking pretty optimistically. however, they have a sense of what they're aiming at. that is a framework agreement. that is what they are saying they can reach within a year. it is more than a vague declaration of principles but less than a full treaty explaining who has which land and where. in other words, it is an agreement on the main issues in principle. that is what the americans think they can achieve and they say the israelis and palestinians have signed on to that goal. it will be difficult to bear. >> what happens next? >> the prime minister's go home now, having established what was called a cordial relationship.

and they have known each other for many years. they spent a few hours alone together. they will meet again in roughly two weeks. the key deadline is september 22. that is when the issue of settlements has to be settled one way or the of the. >> what were your feelings with this crucial date? what do you think will be the rest of it? >> if there were to be a deal, it would possibly be a rather quiet deal, where the palestinians would perhaps be persuaded by the americans to net that date in return for the israelis not starting any new construction immediately. that is their position publicly. you wonder what the compromises the americans are aiming for behind the steve -- behind the scenes. >> international cricket council has suspended the three pakistan

players accused of being part of a betting scam. the icc charged salman butt, mohammad asif, and mohammad amir with various offenses under an anti-corruption code. a pakistani diplomat says he believes the three were entirely innocent. david reports. >> after a day of drama, perhaps the most significant development in cricket's bidding scandal yet. >> we were able to charge the three players, salman butt, mohammad asif, and mohammad amir. we provided them with that charge and suspended them, giving them the opportunity to respond within 14 days. >> are you going to quit? >> earlier, the three players at

the center of the controversy are arrived at the chaotic scene at the pakistan high commission to be questioned on their alleged involvement. they had left their teammates behind. by mid-morning, it was clear they would not be returning to the squad again on this tour of england. >> we will get another three to make it 16. very simple. >> the crisis was sparked by this man, a cricket agent, whose -- to the news says was paid 150,000 pounds to 0 range and deliver it -- to arrange deliberate no-balls. it was suggested the newspaper might have faked the videos. >> no-balls, we have not seen videos, with the time, what the

date is. >> you are saying the players have been set up? >> yes, i would say that. >> big money can be made. >> the news of the world called the allegations ludicrous and the police and the international cricket council believe the video to be authentic. on atan's players put united front today. following the decision to drop them, the tour will go ahead without any further disruption. by suspending them under the anti-corruption code tonight, the governing body of world cricket sends the message that they are prepared to take tougher action. >> hurricane earl has been downgraded to a category two storm and we'll pass close to the east coast of the united states within the next few hours. the outer rings of a hurricane are currently closing --

currently passing close by south carolina. our correspondent is on the north carolina coast line. >> it does seem like the weather has slightly lessened. it is not being considered a major storm, more of a powerful storm. the eye of the storm is getting close. it presents a fairly potential danger, i think. it will have northward toward places like long island in new york, martha's vineyard, places like that. 30,000 residents have been evacuated. a huge relief along the eastern seaboard as the storm has been downgraded to a 2, sustaining winds of 160 kilometers per hour. people will still be on high alert. they will watch the storm carefully. it has weakened considerably. >> how much damage will the

storm finally put out when it arrives? how much damage as it's supposed to wreak? >> the damage could be less. it is a fairly huge storm. it is larger than the size of california. over the next few days, once it reaches the shore line, it will not hit the shore line. it will go for up the eastern seaboard. as it heads toward the densely populated areas, people have been watching for the high winds and the high tides, and potential flooding. >> we mentioned that many people have left the area. some residents have been ordered to evacuate. some are staying at home as well. >> there are a lot of people who have decided to stay. they have been through storms like this before. many of them were buying food and water, and alcohol to throw

hurricane parties. they have seen hurricanes like this before. they decided to hunker down and write it out. it seems that may have been a good decision for those people because the storm has weakened. it is a broad and dangerous storm. people are being advised to watch it closely. >> you are watching "bbc news." competitors give the ipad a run for its money with new touch- screen computers that take photographs. in mozambique, the government says a 30% increase in the price of bread will not be reversed. it comes amid the second day of riots, which have claimed at least seven lives. hundreds of people have been injured in the demonstrations. the army is being deployed to restore calm in the capital as

our correspondent reports. >> the people of mozambique have been pushed to their limits. they are angry at the rising cost of living. the cost of bread has gone up by 30%. what rent fuel have also become more expensive. -- water and fuel have also become more expensive. the result is riots on the streets. after the authorities blocked off many of the roads, the situation has been calmer. many people are scared to leave their homes. some have still ventured out to throw stones at the police. it follows wednesday, when at least six people were killed. shops were looted. now, in a bid to restore calm, the government deployed the army. there was an announcement that

the price increases will not be reversed. despite media reports, -- media reports say they're working to improve the problem. most of the population lives on less than $1 a day and can scarcely afford any increases in the costs of living. two years ago, rioting caused the government to abandon plans to increase food prices. a similar reversal this time is not likely. tensions may remain high. bbc news. >> you are watching "bbc news." the israeli and palestinian leaders have held their first direct talks for nearly two years. hillary clinton called it an important step toward peace. three pakistani cricketers accused of taking part in a betting scam have been charged with corruption and suspended by the international cricket council.

downgraded to a category two, hurricane earl approach is america's eastern seaboard. -- approaches america's eastern seaboard. the fire on an oil platform in the gulf of mexico has been put out and all 13 workers were rescued. the coast guard says there was no evidence that pollution is spreading. mariner energy said there had been no explosion and no blow out. >> reports of an explosion on an oil rig in the gulf of mexico sparked a huge rescue operation. five ships were called in to douse machinery while helicopters carry workers to safety. initial fears the disaster -- fears about the disaster were unfounded. >> the responded to the preliminary reports on the platform in the gulf. the initial report that we got was that 13 persons -- 13

people were on the platform. they are accounted for. one is injured and on his way out of that area. >> the deepwater horizon raid exploded in april and killed 11 workers. because they 206 million gallon spill it. there were no signs of a spillage. >> there were no signs of a spill around the facility. we will do another one later today. the standard procedure in this type of incident is to evacuate the facility. >> in the end, it emerged there was not even an explosion. a fire had broken out from the same floor as the living quarters, which the crew had not been able to extinguish. bbc news. >> the mexican army says it has

killed 25 suspected members of a drug cartel in a clash in the northern state. the patrol came under fire as it approached a training camp. two soldiers were wounded in the pie tin. -- in the fight. the too-big-to-fail problem must be solved. that was the message from ben bernanke testifying before a panel. he says regulators must be ready to shut down large institutions if they threaten the entire system. when it comes to the failure of lehman brothers, there was a sharp split between the chairman of the federal reserve and the former ceo. >> the former chief executive of lehman brothers always argued that his bank could have been

saved. the chairman of the federal reserve disagree. >> there was no other option. >> besides putting rescue packages together for other banks, ben bernanke told the commission that the situation at lehman brothers was hopeless and that his hands were tied. >> i wish we had saved lehman brothers, and we tried very hard to do so, but it was beyond our ingenuity or capacity to do ait. we were willing to be creative -- >> you did see it coming. >> we saw there were a lot of risks in laymen and other companies. the actual failure was not preordained. >> it was a sorry sight, staff leaving offices after the sudden collapse of the bank. the bankruptcy of the firm that once called this its headquarters stands out as an incident where the government did not step in.

the financial system nearly collapsed. some on the commission had questions about how the bailouts were handled. >> there certainly seem to be political considerations. i do not necessarily mean that the fed, but among treasury, white house. people are trying to wave the mood of the country. >> new financial reforms passed since the collapse of lehman brothers give ben bernanke in a final -- enough authority to wind down. >> we have to end too-big-to- fail. we now have the tools to address that. >> the economy staggers forward and everyone hopes he is right. bbc news, new york. >> rescuers are searching for dozens of people missing after a landslide hit a village in southern china. at least four were killed when rain triggered the landslide in the south what -- in a

southwestern province. more than 20 were pulled out from beneath the rubble. there has been a setback in the bid to rescue the 33 miners in chile who have been trapped underground for nearly three weeks. drilling has had to be halted. the chilean president said he hoped they would be home by christmas. engineers have drilled for 20 meters of rock so far after beginning work on monday. a rescue attempt is expected to take up to four months. there are fears about solvency in the central bank in a rock. the bank was providing more cash to reassure depositors that their money was safe. burger king is being sold to 3g capital.

the fast food change with 12,000 outlets worldwide has been the subject of the takeover. it floated on wall street in 2006, four years after being bought by a group of private equity owners. the ipad has been yet another runaway success for apple. it is no surprise that rival firms are trying to take a share of the market. toshiba unveiled rival tablets. our technology correspondent investigates the rapidly changing face of the touch- screen computer. >> when it comes to new gadgets, one company has been king for a decade. first the ipod, then the iphone, now ipad. other big names in the gadget world believe apple has gotten away too long for selling

products that are overpriced and appeal to their looks rather than the technology. they are starting to fight back. >> as one of the world's biggest gas it shows get under way, there is a new tabloid computer. -- biggest gadget shows gets underway, there's a new tabloid computer. here is a key question. >> is it going to be cooler than the ipad? [inaudible] >> fantastic. >> the ipod dominate bemp3 -- dominates the mp3 market. android phones are beginning to

overtake apple. over 3 million ipads have been sold since the spring launch. rivals have been quicker to respond. one firm believes other firms have learned a key lesson from apple. >> the tablets, the phones, it just works out of the box. that is something apple has been offering. >> toshiba has unveiled a look- alike here. there are tablet computers here in all shapes and sizes. they have one thing in common. almost all of them are likely to be much cheaper than the apple ipad. >> all of those gadgets might come in handy if you are stuck on a certain road in china. a traffic jam stretching for 75 miles has formed on a major highway between inner mongolia and beijing.

the route has been turned into a virtual parking lot. the start on tuesday after traffic restrictions weren't forced. were -- were enforced. a volcano has erupted again. it erupted for the first time in 400 years on sunday, catching many scientists off guard and forcing thousands of people to be evacuated. finally, it is the beginning of a new term at the school for pandas in china. just like human counterparts, the youngsters can get a little bit unruly. the scales were meant to waive the young pandas, but they found other ways to play that were more fun. it is one of the biggest breeding centers in china. the israeli and palestinian leaders have held their first face-to-face talks in nearly two

years in washington and will meet again later this month. >> 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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