>> worppedworpped is present 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, union bank. ♪ >> union bank has put its global expertise to work for a

wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news." >> so much closer to rescue. drilling teams are within meters of breaking through to the trapped chilean miners. middle east peace talks on hold. the arab league backs the palestinian stance in israeli settlements in occupied territory. the nobel peace prize goes to a jailed chinese dis, and the united states calls for his release. >> this is "bbc news." coming up later in the program, 184 million gallons of toxic sludge, the full scale of the clean up operations face the authorities in hungary. if you go down to the auction house today, you are sure to find a big surprise. the teddy bear collection that could fetch millions.

>> it is so close that they can actually hear it, the drill known as plan b is heading their way. after 64 days underground, escape is approaching for the trapped miners. rescuers are hours away from a breakthrough. still, engineers will have to assets how stable the rescue shaft is before they can start bringing men to the surface. that they hope will be done by tuesday. here is a live report from the mine in chile. >> going down and one final push and the rescue shaft can reach the miners. >> when you are drilling without drilling material, after you have the rock, you go into the earth, and that can be

complicated. it can be very complicated after the work that we have done that you try to hammer and lose the hole. we have to be careful that we do it slowly and in a controlled way. >> this is how things that proceed at the mine. 64 days after the spiraling access shaft collapsed. three drills are racing to the bottom. the second one, plan b is in pole position. it is expected to reach the men in the next few hours. engineers will inspect the entire length of the shaft by video. rescuers are planning to line the first part of it with steel tubing because the rock is weaker and might collapse. if that is all the reinforcement the tunnel needs, the rescue may start in three or four days. but if it needs more, it could take 10 days to start bringing the men out. above the hole, a giant crane is poised to start haulings

miners up. they will be protected inside one of these escape pods nicknamed the phoenix. >> some of them have a high heart rate, so we have to prepare them. also we have to give them food and medication and vitamins in order to prepare them for the final operation. >> after so long without sunlight, the miners will also be given these special glasses to protect their eyes when they reach the surface. we may be half way up a desolate hillside in the andes, over the past few months a small town has built up here. their children now have a school to go to here. the cafeteria, clinics, offices, and of course the rescue workers themselves, and now half the world's media drawn here by this extraordinary tale of survival.

>> for the families, the struggle now is to stay patient. >> we are all a bit more nervous this morning, he says. we are trying to find ways to keep calm. some people are pacing up and down, but i'm just trying to stay still. >> 700 meters down the men are keeping busy clearing rubble and making sure they stay slim enough to fit through the narrow rescue ton el when freedom finally beckons. "bbc news". >> we are getting reports of another attack on a supply convoy. they were parked around 100 kilometers from a western city. the convoy was carrying oil to troops in neighboring pack staun. the pakistani taliban has carried out a series of similar tax -- attacks since last week.

>> the arab league has backed the palestinian decision to suspend negotiations with israel until it has resumed the freeze on constructing new settlements in the occupied territory. they said there is still time for the united states to save the talks and put pressure on israel. here is our report. >> putting a brave face on things. according to some, he was at the end of his tether and ready to walk out, not only on the peace talks, but the palestinian leadership as well. the issue of rebuilding in jewish settlements on palestinian land has threatened to derail negotiations. israel says it does want to continue talking to the leader. only last week, the lynne

leaders reiterated their position that first building had to stop. the palestinian presidents came here to libya to address fellow arab leaders, seeking their support over the stalled peace talks and supporting his stance that while building continues in the settlement, the negotiations cannot resume. but as they came to this extraordinary meeting in this libyan town, arab leaders were hardly in a positive mood. >> we are studying all the conditions, and they are all negative. whether they are suspended or not, they cannot accept any negotiations on the engroachment of the land that is supposed to be the palestinian state. it would be very harmful if we accepted it. >> against such a fragile background, the united states special envoy george mitchell was busy came geology leaders before this summit.

>> we are determined to continue, and we are continuing our efforts to find common ground between the parties. >> a frustrated president urged the foreign ministers to strongly support his position, saying it would meet again in a month to review the situation. the arab committee blames israel for the impasse. with no direct talks between the two sides, they said it was time for the united states in particular to bring pressure to bear on the israelis. "bbc news." >> president obama has called on china to release the jailed dissident, liu xiaobo, who has just been awarded the nobel peace prize. the chinese government has responded angrily to the award, calling mr. liu a criminal. the prize is awarded by the norwegian committee. liu xiaobo was imprisoned for 11 years.

from beeng, here is our report. >> no one has seen liu xiaobo for the past two years. he has been locked up in a chinese prison. the government here says he is a subversive criminal, a threat to the state. but to his supporters, he's a brave advocate for democracy and human rights. today he has been honored with the greatest recognition of his work, the nobel peace prize. >> for over two decades, liu xiaobo has been a strong spokesman for the application of fundamental human rights in china. >> born in 1955, liu xiaobo was an academic who became an activist during the 1989 protests in tiananmen square. he was jailed for nearly two years on charges of counterrevolution. after his release, he continued to call for greater human

rights. two years ago he helped draft charter 08, a manifesto that demands peaceful political change in china. he was arrested and jailed again, this time for 11 years. >> he was spoken to before he was detained, and he explained the motivation for his struggle. >> in china i just wanted to be an honest and dignified writer. if you try to do that, you will definitely clash wii the political system in this country. >> this was the scene outside the flat wherer wife still lives when the result was announced. the police who watch her around the clock struggling to retain control. she wasn't allowed to speak to me, but a family friend passed on this message. >> it is a great encouragement to the people pursuing freedom, democracy and rule of law.

>> this is what the nobel peace prize does. it draws the attention of the world to the plight of liu xiaobo, and that will make the authorities uncomfortable. president obama, himself a former nobel laureate, called on china to release liu xiaobo. but so far, china shows no signs of bowing to the pressure. "bbc news," beijing. >> the united states national security advisor james jones is to leave his job, the latest member of the administration to do so. the departure may have been hazened by comments he made for a journalist. he is replaced by tom donilon. last week president obama's chief of staff, rom manuel -- emanuel resigned to run for

office. >> 184 million gallons have leaked out of a tomentic oil sludge. authorities face a massive clean up operation, but they insist the river danube hasn't been contaminated. duncan kennedy reports. >> one of europe's biggest post war environmental clean-ups is underway, the result of a torrent of caustic slurry that claimed lives, removed houses and left a tomentic footprint. thousands of police, soldiers and volunteers have been trying to soak up the pollution before it reaches the danube. this is the home of clara, now a landscape of poisonous sludge. it is finished, she says. she took me to her garden, mud

choking everything where life had ones flourished. she knows she cannot stay. the scale of the disaster is still being calculated, but it is thought 180 million gallons of the sludge escaped, nearly as much oil as leaked into the gulf of mexico. it covered an area 16 miles in size. it has claimed seven lives and injured 150 people. as for the chemical examination situation, nearly half is made up of iron oxide, known as rust. 15% is another oxide which can cause cancer. another 11% is silicon dioxide, which can cause lung cancer. in all the tributaries to the danube, you can see how the ground is rust-colored from the

contamination. here is a dead fish. authorities don't know when all this can be cleaned up. the small rivers that feed the danube continue to be tested, some every hour, buckets scooped out, check for their alklein levels. this one registering 9.4, still polluted enough to kill fish. just like the one year by. the hungarian government confirmed the danube had been spared the worst of the pollution. the full horror of the spillage could be seen. >> it is now desperate enough where dogs are trying to salt lake their thirst in the sludge. duncan kennedy, "bbc news," in western hungary. >> you are watching "bbc news." still to come, we investigate an ambitious plan to save the

world saltiest sea from drawing ought. >> it has been a full week of sporting competition of games in delhi. >> action in the boxing ring. india's star boxer, a favorite to win the gold medal at the commonwealth games, and everyone solidly behind him. but it is not quite the sell-out crowd you would expect. the action is heating up in the ring, and they are cheering for their home favorite. but even here where you would expect a full house, there are still some empty seats. not because of public apathy, but it appears mismanagement by the organizers. outside the stadium people are being turned away. there is a problem with the ticketing, so the bottom office is shut. some are lucky, but many others aren't. >> i am not being able to get any ticket. i am here for the last 45

minutes. no tickets. somebody said it is all booked, and i saw it was all empty. >> they say everybody should come out, no problem. >> it has been a troubled week of the games of the first day of competition on monday, the top athletes performing in front of empty stands, most indians choosing to stay away. a day later, urgent repairs to the main athletic track from the opening ceremonies. it is completed hours before the first competition. >> tests carried out of the water in the pool were safe. despite the hiccups, crowds are streaming in. it has been a day of rifting action with 44 gold medals up for grabs. it finally seems the games have

caught india's imagine nation. "bbc news." >> you are watching "bbc news." the headlines this hour, rescue teams in chile trying to free 33 minuters trapped underground for more than two months are within meters of a break-through. arab foreign ministers have backed the palestinians' decision to suspend peace talks with israel while israeli settlements are being built on occupied territory. u.s. officials are celebrating the arrest of a congress lease person suspected of leading an attack that ended in the mass rape of more than 300 women. he is suspecting of leading the attack in the democratic republic of congo. >> this was an easy yet rare

catch. the atrocities of which he is accused brought condemnation around the world. but it was here in his own camp that justice began. the man was handed over by his fellow fighters. he has been taken under the escort of u.n. peace keepers to face a military prosecutor in the capital. >> one of these armed groups are held responsible by many for the massacre that occurred. they offered to hand over one of the senior officers, who would have been the leader in the rapes that occurred where 300-plus women were raped. >> that lies 30 kilometers from a u.n. peace keepers base. it became a site of a

gang-rape. doctors who visited the victims of the attack said the rebels had come in peace and only began raping after being given food by the villagers. among them are women the u.n. says will identify the colonel as one of those responsible. >> this operation is important in the sense it will send a very strong signal that their action will not continue unpunished. >> the u.n. mission in the country admits it did not do enough to prevent the attacks. though they have 20,000 peace keepers in the region, they are spread too thinly. the u.n. mission sees the arrest of the colonel as just one step in their goal of ending systemic rape in war. >> in a bbc global debate,

china's tom man said the devaluation of the yawn would not happen rapidly. michelle reports. >> as the global recovery moves forward, it seems as if it is every country for themselves. finance ministers and central bankers meeting in washington this week, can they work together? >> the man in the hottest seat is zhou xiaochuan, the finance minister. they have come under fire for not allowing the country's currency to rise fast enough. >> the word coming from here is you should be re-evaluating. what is the position of beijing? >> you know we want the authorities to have the

exchange rates reform for a long time. gradually is good for such a large economy. otherwise it may be dangerous for the largest economy. >> that will be a disappointment to china's critics, who want more rapid action. but they want support from one u.s. economist. >> the concern is the focus just on the exchange rate has been detracting attention from more fundamental issues that are much more important for the functioning of the global economy. yes, there needs to be an exchange rate adjustment at some point. but if it does it in a disorderly way, millions of people could be out of work in china. that is not good for global stability. >> they said that china needs to move away from its export-led economic growth, but didn't expect it to happen

overnight. >> it goes on as it started, with the chines authority focusing on their own economy looking inward, consumers, creating millions of jobs inside and outside of china. >> for all the talk of cooperation, the i.m.f. is worried that governments no longer have the appetite to work together. >> water levels in the dead sea are falling sharply. lying in jordan's risk valley, it is the world's saltiest sea. they have come up with a plan to pump water through a pipeline from the red sea -- see. >> it is more than 1,000 feet below sea level, making this the lowest place on earth. but as the water reseeds, goes

getting lower. five years ago the water level is up here. now it is all the way down here. the water is falling at about a meter per year. by 2050 it could have disappeared altogether. and this is why. many local rivers that should throw into the sea have been diverted. this dam takes water from this one on the banks of the ded sea and pumps it north to the capital. all around this area farms and businesses are taking water from the rivers, and it means less is reaching the sea. >> 60% to 70% of the water is used by agriculture, converting -- contributing to 1% to 7% of the g.d.p. of the region. >> worries over the dead sea aren't just limited to rivers

and streams. this is a small farming village on the banks of the dead sea, but as levels fall, massive sinkholes are opening up. this one is where the land has dropped away about 40 meters. in the background is the remains of a farm house that simply collapsed when the land disappeared. across this area, the land is now being scarred by these massive sinkholes. >> it is a problem that meant the end of this business. this factory once made cosmetics from the dead sea products. the owners were forced to move the business elsewhere. but without compensation, the company itself came close to collapse. but with ever-growing demand for water here and in the capital, finding a solution is vital. that is why this is an international problem. the dead sea lies between

israel and juror, but syria also uses some of its water. finding a plan that suits all three countries won't come easy. ben thompson, "bbc news," the dead sea in jordan. >> one of the world's best collections of teddy bears is being sold at auction in london. it is worth an estimated $1.5 million and put together by a disgraced hedge fund imagine manager. >> strictly speaking, it is still a bear market. sales of vintage toys dropped in the downturn. but this crowd ask being sold in a hurry after its american owner was convicted of a multimillion dollar fraud. he spent years and a fortune building up an extraordinary collection which is now expected to fetch $1.5 million. >> they are all by the leader manufacturers, and they are some of the best examples that have ever come on to the

market. they range from the very early period right up until the 1960's. it is some of the rarest things that have been on the market for a very long time. >> sadly perhaps, their rarity and age mean many of these toys are far too expensive to be left to the mercy of a child's embrace. >> perhaps the rarest is this harlequin bear, which is a red and blue teddy bear. he is from the 1920's, and he was probably never actually manufacture , and he is expected to make between 50,000 pounds and 80,000 pounds. >> others have stories, too. this is a titanic bear made in black after the transatlantic liner sank in 1912. they are now a joy for collectors, which just may cling to their values. >> breaking news this hour. there are reports that gunmen have attacked and torched 29

nato oil tangers in southwest pakistan. >> 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 reporting of "bbc 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, union bank. ♪

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