>> "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 baying has put its financial strength to work for a wide range of companies.

what can we do for you? >> the american after threatening to burn the karan canceled a plan. the botched rescue in the philippines. did police shoot some victims. a new band of brothers of the u.s. troops surge in afghanistan peaks. are we finally saying goodbye to the super skinny models?

the pastor of a small church in florida has been planning to burn a copy of the koran. he now says he has called off the protest. they say a deal has been raised to move the center away from ground zero. the organizers have denied any such agreement, but here is what the pastor had to say. >> i will be flying out there on saturday to meet at the ground zero mosque. he has agreed to move the location. that cannot happen overnight, but he has agreed to move that.

we felt that would be a sign that god wants us to do that. the american people do not want the mosque there, and muslims do not want us to burn the chiron -- karan. we have agreed to cancel our event, and saturday i will be flying of there to meet with him. >> pasteur jones making that statement. this story gets no less bizarre or confusing. >> let's try to break this down in what we know if the moment. he made the statement that he had been looking for a sign from god to not go away -- to go ahead with the burning of the koran. he said he has had an agreement

to move the location. within minutes, the islamic cultural center said they have no plan to move the unbuilding two blocks from ground zero. we are not quite sure what he thinks has been agreed, but he will fly to new york on saturday. we have to assume he has some agreement they are denying. we can see him making another statement. we're not going to hear what he is saying, but we can only assume he was sick to his agreement to not burn hundreds of copies of the crown and -- carranza -- koran. up a call from robert gates pleading with him not to go ahead with the plans.

he has come up with a huge amount of pressure, not just from the obama administration, but there are people coming in. he has caved in to the pressure. he will not go ahead with the plans because the islamic cultural center has agreed to moves. they say that is not the case. >> another turn possibly reinforcing the position. the florida imam has been telling reuters news agency that a commitment does exist from new york to discuss moving the islamic cultural center away from ground zero. >> it seems that is a different story. it looks like they are meeting in the middle.

they have not committed to moving the cultural center, but they say they will discuss it. this is a pastor who runs a tiny church. he has brought the entire attention of the media. he has brought securities, of such millions of people. people say what he is doing is irresponsible it puts innocent american lives in danger, so i think whatever happens, this man will beat a social pariah. he is speaking now. we can confirm you will not carry out his plan saturday. >> he has the attention of the president and many others.

it is the merge some of -- in has emerged some of the killings may have come from police. eight tourists died from the rescue. investigators say there is a strong possibility they were killed by friendly fire. >> they tried to smash stairway end. -- smashed the way in. the entire saga is broadcast on live television. but the time it was over, eight hostages lay dead. the philippines government launched an inquiry very good ballistic experts brought in

from hong kong to health. initially, philippines police said the victim could be killed by the hijacker, but the evidence said some may have been accidentally shot by the police themselves. >> not all came from the snipers. we know where the snipers were. >> the inquiry has not reached its final conclusion, but the president said anyone found to have failed in duties would be held to account. answering questions put to him by a panel of a journalist, the president talked about the strain the incident had placed on relations with hong kong, saying some criticism had been insulting, but he promised he and his administration would learn from the mistakes.

>> we can prevent this from happening again. >> it has been a testing time for a new president who came to power promising to restore law and order >> mozambique is still reeling from last year. they forced an official u-turn as well. the government has agreed it will subsidize the price of bread. mozambique is one of the poorest countries in the world. after years of flood and drought, they are heavily reliant on wheat and imports. >> mozambicans trying to salvage a little pride. they are celebrating victory

gave. the consequences have been deadly police opened fire last week. these are the poorest people in an already poor country, angry at the rise in the price of bread. the government backtrack to hold prices down. 90% of the week in this thread is important. when international price shocks hit commodities, the effects are dramatically multiplied.

most wheat is driven across the border from south africa. his meager salary remains the same, while the cost of living is on the rise. having to make sacrifices, they need meals for family every day. it is hard to change, and with limited infrastructure and farm land, it is actually cheaper to buy wheat from overseas. >> it is appropriate to produce wheat inside the country.

>> the future looks fry child. many years to come, it will be filled with grain. >> the latest violence in a war- torn somalia of, a suicide bomber has detonated a car bomb. reports suggest somalia's president was at the airport at the time. >> the attack came after she had taken a trip. two gunmen spurring, opening fire as they make their way from

the terminal. when they could give no further, the gunmen blew themselves of your your -- blew themselves up. they vowed to step up attacks on the country's government. it remains a luxury most people can only dream of. analysts say as long as peacekeepers are on the ground to protect the government, it will not be easy to take the capital.

>> still to come, the grim reality of a baghdad bombing brought to a british museum, ny larger models will be on the catwalk. first, the euan's new aid coordinator spent her first day on the job training pakistan. the latest figures suggest 8 million people are still in need of emergency aid. it is estimated 1.8 million homes have been damaged or destroyed. >> a baptism of fire. it is one of the biggest crises they have seen.

valerie wants to see for herself what their real needs are. politics is never far away. some people say their firms have been -- their firms have been flooded. >> the key has got to be that we save as many lives as possible. >> the long-term economic future depends on canals designed to

control the flow of water. aid is crucial to saving lives here. in the long term, the mainly rural economy will depend on better management of the country's water. >> the american pastor who has been threatening to burn copies of the chiron -- koran says he has canceled his planned. a bitter twist in the philippines bus hostage crisis. an investigation suggests some of the victims have been shot by the police. public transport in el salvador has been disrupted by a third successive day by a strike ordered byron -- ordered by a criminal street game. the new law would make membership in the gay and a

criminal offense. -- in the game in a criminal offense. -- gang a criminal offense. >> it was enough to bring most public transport to a halt. many businesses have closed to avoid violent reprisals. the government brought the army onto the street and provided military trust to get people out to work. >> we have deployed a sizable force that i think the population has notice. >> the gains ordered the shutdown, which makes membership in a gang a criminal offense.

they burn 17 passengers alive. the law in parliament seems to have anchor in the gangs, -- angered the gangs, and we're the ones who face the consequences >> with -- who face the consequences. >> they have grown to become powerful transnational criminal organizations with thousands of members. the army discovered two buried oil drums stuffed with millions of dollars, which they believe for the fruits of organized crime syndicates. the gang specializing thin arms, and this says stephen of salvador one of the highest murder rates in the world. >> let's take you back to our main story with some breaking news.

a pastor in gainesville, fla., has been threatening to burn copies of the karan. he has canceled his plans. he is going for talks in new york instead, because he said he had an agreement steffy fin islamic center senior ground zero is not going to happen -- an agreement that the islamic center near ground zero is not going to happen. he said, i am glad he has decided not to burn any more korans. he says, i am surprised by their announcement. we are not going to toy with their religion nor any other. we are here to extend our hand to provide peace and harmony. we will bring you up-to-date with more soon.

in afghanistan, a surge of american troops is now at its peak. the final american deployment was the airborne division. for some, it is their first tour of duty in the nine-year war. what is their position, and what is the moves? >> there on the move. -- they are on the move. they said their goodbyes at fort campbell, ky. they are the last of 30,000 american troops arriving here and hope to end the 9-year-long war. these infantrymen say they are undaunted. >> i realize we are in a hostile environment.

i trust them. i trust their judgment. >> it does take into weeks to get this far. how have you filled the time? >> thinking and praying, trying to make the best of it. we do not have a lot of down time. >> older hands from the regiment were already on the front line. they have been swept by from the surge. this is easy company, but for most it is the second or even third tour of duty. the mission is to drive the taliban from these mountains. >> they know they will not be able to stop the insurgents from coming across the border, but we're hoping we can curtail

them, and this will make locals feel safer. >> the surge has brought sgt caldwell for a third term. he finds the taliban are more fearsome than ever before the reagan >> -- never before. >> they have been fighting for almost 10 years now, and they know how we fight and are more prepared than we used to be. >> they are calling themselves the new end of brothers. >> a karzai event from a historic by van market is joining on sale -- it is going

on sale. >> it has come a long way, this car, a very long way. burned and main gold thousands of miles away, and -- and main gold -- mangled thousands of miles away, it is now a museum piece. what do you wanted to convey? >> it says different things to different people, but i think it speaks of civilian casualties as opposed to military casualties, and it talks about the force of an explosion, of the nature of conflict is changing theory but >> at the statistic, -- the

statistics for the beginning, but now it is 90%. this is where the car was destroyed in a central baghdad. at least 38 people were killed and 100 wounded. it is a date seared on the memories of those that were there that day. he was caught in the attack that day. >> i got hit on the back of my head and thought i was going to die. i think the exhibition is a good idea, because it will bear witness to what happens when innocent people were attacked. >> the car is part of the permanent collection. it is a symbol of civilian suffering in war.

>> new york fashion week opens today, and for the first time, the fuller figure is being not only acknowledge but celebrated. size 16 models will show off a new design tailored for the larger american woman. is fashion now obliged to embrace curves to reflect the high number of obese in the u.s.? >> she is not the traditional shape for a model, but she will be center stage in new york this week. the fashion is beginning to reflect the fact that not all women are altria fin. >> it is a great step in the right direction, and i hope retailers are starting to say this is a successful fame. >> they are recognizing the larger women want to be fashionable, too. >> a size too woman might be

able to look of the size of zero women. size 14 or 18 really cannot. >> they are casting curvy women in the runway show, and they insisted is not as another fad. >> isn't -- it is a healthy trend. >> is it really healthy if they are getting fatter? >> it is about enjoying life and not minding a little bit of curves. >> 50% of american women are plus sized. not everyone is so positive about fashion's relationship with a fuller figure. this is a triumphant moment for her. figures like hers are no longer being shunned by the fashion world.

>> you will find much more on that and the fashion world at bbc.com/news. >> see the news unfold. get the top stories from around the globe and click to play video reports. experience the in-depth reporting on line. >> funding for this presentation 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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