>> "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. expertise 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." >> argentina mourns nestor kirchner. what now for his wife, who succeeded him as president? at least 282 are dead in indonesias tsunami, and thousands try to flee. >> everything here has been covered in volcanic ash. >> the chairman of british airways called some security measures at airports completely redundant. welcome to "bbc world news," broadcast around the globe. my name is mike amply -- embly. mexico's president says that demand for drugs north of the border pules the violence to the

south. james bond's super car has just been sold. find out who bought it and how much they paid. he was all set to challenge for another term as president of argentina, taking over again from his wife, who succeeded him in the post. instead, nestor kirchner has died of a heart attack at the age of 60. it is a family tragedy, but also raises questions about argentina's peter leadership and whether the president can both govern and grieve. the bbc is in buenos aires. >> nestor kirchner was not always a popular figure in argentina, but most recognized he helped oversee the country emerged from profound economic and social crisis, and his death

has shocked the nation. flags are flying at half mast across the country and mourners quickly gathered in the main plaza in front of the presidential palace. >> a conrad has gone. a friend has gone. a statesman has gone, a man who understood the needs of the people. >> nestor kirchner became president in 2003 and helped guide argentina back to stability after years of turmoil. he encouraged prosecution of those responsible for human rights abuses under military rule in the 1970's and 80's. he surprised many when he stood aside in 2007 to let his wife run for president, but he was widely expected to stand again in 2011. he did not arrest went out of office. he took control of the powerful political party, was elected as national deputy, and became secretary general of the south american regional body. his death will be deeply felt.

>> with my wife, we have developed a close and true friendship with the president and her deceased husband, and therefore i am deeply affected at a personal level. >> nestor kirchner was twice taken to hospital in the last year, having bypass surgery just last month. within days, against the advice of his doctors, he was back in action alongside his wife. nestor kirchner dominated argentine politics for more than seven years, first as president and then behind the scenes, as leader of the powerful peronist party and more recently in latin america. his death leaves a huge gap, which will require reassessment by his opponents and successors of the political landscape. bbc news, buenos aires.

>> thousands of indonesian villagers are spending a second night in emergency shelters, sent by warnings that the active volcano in central java may erupt again. at least 28 people have died. this just hours after a strong earthquake caused a tsunami which killed at least 270 people in remote islands off western sumatra. rachel harvey has this report. >> on an island paradise, ravaged by the force of nature, bald patches where palm trees once stood, and their foundations left exposed. this amateur video shows survivors of the tsunami picking through the remains of their shattered lives. these tourists rescued from the sea. their boat rammed by another. >> they were caught by the wave. they came surfing into us on the wave, hit us directly inside of the boat, piercing the fuel

tank. it caught on fire immediately. >> indonesia is no stranger to seismic convulsions, this the latest tremor along an unstable fall line. as the effects of one disaster come clear, another on a neighboring island is still unfolding. the mountains shoulders ominously, dominating the horizon. the volcano erupted on tuesday night. cars, buildings, and farmland are coded in layers of hot, gray ash. school rooms now bedrooms for extended families. thousands have been evacuated. her house is just 5 kilometers from the peak. "i heard the volcano explodes," then people were running and screaming, "it is raining ash." nature has a way of providing solutions.

the rain has arrived with a heavy downpour, something of a relief because everything has been covered in volcanic ash. it is a fine dust that catches in the back of your throat. the rain at least a clear the air. food provided by volunteers. welcome comfort before settling down to another nervous night, watching and waiting for the next move. bbc news, indonesia. >> the u.s. justice department is seeing a man has been arrested over a plot to attack substation's around washington, d.c. his name is farooque ahmed, a 34-year-old palestinian living in virginia. he is said to have planned a bombing in subway stations around the capital. at least 60 people have been killed as part of the building collapsed on guests in part of an afghan wedding in jelga, in

the remote province of baghlan. nigerian officials are considering putting some weapons on display in a museum. security in the capital has tightened since the bomb blast last month killed 12 people. the french parliament has approved the government's controversial plan to raise the retirement age. for weeks, france has been rocked by large scale, often violent strikes, affecting transport and to supply. there are signs the strikes are easing and the march is losing momentum. there is a sense now that president sarkozy may be winning a struggle that has seen off many a french politician. >> it is the boat the unions had sought to stop, a bill they despise and the end of a debate which almost brought this country to a standstill. today, the controversial pension reform bill was given the final

step of approval by france's lower house, clearing the last major hurdle before nicolas sarkozy signed into law. the president and supporters will view this as a major victory. it was a reform docked by previous generations. the unions will proceed tomorrow, but these are the final skirmishes in a battle lost. in the south, rep is collectors have returned to work. blockades have been cleared at the fuel depots. supplies are being restored. the only important exception are the oil refineries. seven out of 12 are still closed, including the major terminals in marseille. the supply other plants around the country. there is no sign yet the strikers are giving up. >> it is not over, and in any case if this reform is passed we will go to the end of the fight. we will do. but it is the youth who decides.

if tomorrow there are still millions of workers on the streets, the government will have to listen. >> until this week, polls suggest 70% of the country was behind the strike action, but more moderate unions recognize the risk of continuing what the public might consider to be futile blockades. for many, the issue is not pension reform, but frustration, anger at mr. sarkozy and his style, and his unwillingness to give way. for the president, that is the dangerous legacy of the last two months of demonstrations. bbc news, paris. >> that are an irritant for any traveler flying to the united states and make most of us feel a bit safer, but airport security checks will be massively scaled back in some of the biggest names in the british airline industry have their way. the chairman of british airways says some current checks forcing us to take off our shoes, for instance, are completely redundant.

he plans to look again at regulations imposed by the u.s. and the e.u.. tom simons reports. >> how do you stop an attack on an airliner? the answer -- a mixture of scanning technology and some of the toughest restrictions ever imposed on air travelers. but the chairman of british airways, speaking to an airline conference, has described many of the current measures as completely redundant. he says britain and europe were guilty of kowtowing to the americans, who increased restrictions on u.s.-bound flights. britain's biggest operator was supportive today. >> we could do a better job if we could redesign it with the end in mind and have a single coherent process. it would be better if passengers were not confused by having different arrangements at both ends of the journey. >> the chairman suggests many restrictions in europe are there

because of u.s. pressure. he believes lapdog should not have to be taken -- he believes laptops should not have to be taken out of the back for checks. he is also critical of some passengers having to take off their shoes for scanning, rules that again do not apply on internal u.s. flights. he does not mention another industry frustration, european restrictions on taking liquids on the plane. it is not due to be lifted until 2013. when you have just come out of security and put your shoes back on, most of us would say we would like less intrusive screening. but what if there had just been a terrorist attack? then, public opinion would be completely different. in manchester airport today, passengers were cautious about easing security. >> i think any situation is a good thing, protecting our lives. it may be inconvenient, but it is therefore a reason. >> at the end of the day, with our safety, that is important.

>> the government has announced it will give airports more control over the way they manage security procedures, but ministers cannot and will not overturn those checks agreed internationally with europe or the u.s. >> we all have a right to defend ourselves. the u.s. probably more than any other state has reason to be fearful of terrorist attacks, and i would not want to suggest that it is our place to tell the u.s. what measures it imposes on flights going to u.s. airports. >> change is slow in aviation security. we may be struck with the current restrictions for some time to come. tom simons, bbc news, at gatwick airport. >> don't go away. more to come, including -- you will never win in afghanistan, mchale gorbachev tells nato. just look what happened to us. first, israeli riot police have

clashed with arab protesters in northern israel. street protests broke out went far right activists tried to march through the mainly arab town. the group, called "israel, our land," is generally considered hostile by the arab minority. we were there as tensions erupted. >> under a barrage of tear gas and stun brigades, a young arab men flee an onslaught by hundreds of israeli riot police. it is a senior may think you have seen hundreds of times before, but this is not the west bank. this is israel. and the young men in their head scarves are all israeli citizens, arab israelis. they are protesting the arrival here of a group of right-wing israeli extremists. across town, under tight police guard, the jewish hardliners are

shepherded to buses. among them are several leaders who used to belong to a far right-party. before it was banned, it advocates the expulsion of israel's arab population. >> this is the second-biggest arab town inside israel, and the local population considers this protest to be a deliberate and extreme provocation. although there have only been about 50 israeli protesters to come here today, the local population is determined not to allow this protest to go ahead. the violence was more symbolic than real. 10 arab israelis were arrested and a handful of people might be injured. but the fact that seems like this are happening inside israel is symbolic of the growing tensions here between israel's increasingly powerful right and it's increasingly militant arab minority. bbc news in northern israel.

>> the latest headlines for you on bbc world news. the former president of argentina, nestor kirchner, has died of a heart attack. he was 60. an early warning system installed off the coast of indonesia was not working, it turns out, when the tsunami hit on monday. the soviet invasion of afghanistan started 30 years ago and ended nearly 10 years later in humiliation for moscow. now, gorbachev, the man who pulled soviet troops out of that country, has warned nato and military victory in afghanistan is impossible. an interview with steve rosenberg -- he said the best that could be achieved is to help afghanistan rebuild itself in what is a critical year. >> it was the soviet union kept vietnam. in the teniers the red army occupied afghanistan, around 15,000 soldiers were killed.

at the end of the 1980's, soviet leader gorbachev ordered the troops to withdraw. today, he believes nato should learn from moscow's mistake. >> victory is impossible in afghanistan. the best you can hope for is to help the country get back on its feet and rebuild itself after the war. obama is right to pull the troops out. no matter how difficult it will be. >> how difficult was the process of withdrawing the troops from afghanistan? >> it was very difficult. once the decision had been taken to withdraw, the forces who were against a peaceful solution to the conflict attacked our troops. but we had thought through our withdrawal very carefully and were able to defend ourselves. >> just two years after soviet troops completed their withdrawal from afghanistan, the u.s.s.r. fell apart and

gorbachev lost power. he had ended an unpopular war, but many russians have never forgiven him for losing an empire. >> some people like to put all the blame on me for destroying the soviet union, but that is just not true. i fought to save the u.s.s.r. until the very end. >> how concerned are you about the state of democracy in russia today? >> i am very concerned. we are only halfway down the road from a totalitarian regime to democracy and freedom, and the battle continues. there are still many people in our society who fear democracy and would prefer a totalitarian regime. democracy is experiencing problems. for example, russians no longer have the option to direct a select regional governments, and the ruling party led by vladimir putin has been doing everything it can to move away from democracy to stay in power. >> as for afghanistan, the man

who ended moscow pick war said the four nato, like for the red army, with a drawl is the only option. -- the man who ended moscow's war said for nato, like for the red army, withdrawal is the only option. >> a report on the nazi era has found extensive collaboration. we have the story from berlin. >> in the vaults of the german state lie the details of this nation's starkest past, the minutia of mass murder, the train timetables, the expenses. for decades, the country's diplomats airbrushed themselves out. at the foreign office, many stayed on after the war, but no mention was made of what they had done as not see ambassadors. now, the official report of the truth is about to be published.

>> the person that the foreign ministry tried to disseminate was that it was a clean ministry within a criminal regime. this self image is going to change or must change after reading this book. >> the detail is devastated. take this foreign ministry official. after going to serbia in 1941, he filed his expenses claim. it said, "liquidation of jews in belgrade." this is the jewish foreign ministry, the corridors of power. this building was built by the nazis. in this ministry, a lot of brand people came to believe they had nothing to do with the killing, but their hands were clean. this book snails that live. -- nails that lie? >> what about embassadors today? >> if you look at the past of

germany, we had a criminal regime from the years of 33 to 35. this means you have to see that it cannot -- you have to stick to the values. this is a lesson which is also there for the future. >> the mystery remains. how did this man persuade clever people the wrong was right? and why was silence acceptable after the war? the report breaks open the argument. steven evans, bbc news, berlin. >> the mexican president has told the bbc the united states must do more to force down the demand for drugs, which he blames for the violence and corruption escalating in this country. since felipe calderon declared war on drug cartels for years ago, at least 40,000 mexicans have died. steven has been in one of the drug gangs' battle grounds.

this report contains graphic images. >> this is mexico as mexicans would like it to be, a vibrant capital city, a growing economy, a latin american power house. but dig a little deeper and you find a country traumatized by violence and death. they call it narcoterror. as for the mexican security forces, one look at this police station tells you they are being outgunned by the drug cartels. even the station dog took a bullet. the town's entire police force has now resigned out of fear. mexico's president has vowed to eliminate organized crime. as the body count rises, so does the pressure. >> it is not going to be easy and it is not going to be fast. it is going to be painful, even, but we will prevail and we will defeat the criminals.

>> the wave of violence has not yet to hit mexico city itself, but it is getting closer. i am on the highway, heading south of the capital, and toward a town that is a favorite weekend retreat for middle-class mexicans. in the last year, it has been the scene of a vicious turf war between different drug cartels. >> just hours after we passed through, for more bodies were -- four more bodies were dumped on the side of this highway. it's still attract weekend visitors, but there is a wariness in the air. the gangs are mostly murdering each other, but civilians have been caught in the crossfire. >> the moment we got out we get frightened something might happen. for example, i had friends who were in a shopping center. suddenly, there was gunfire and the had to take cover.

we are living in a dangerous situation. >> tens of thousands of federal police and troops have been deployed to disrupt the cartel's supply lines. billions of dollars worth of drugs are going into the u.s. thousands of firearms are being smuggled in the opposite direction. mexico is desperate for more american help. >> they have a clear ability. they need to do a lot more to reduce their consumption of drugs and to stop the flow of weapons. >> you say they are not meeting their responsibilities. >> yes. on this particular matter, they do not. >> have you told barack obama that? >> yes, i absolutely. >> the president rejects talk of mexico as a failing state. he believes the war on organized crime can be won. but many of his people are filled with doubt. bbc news, mexico.

>> it has an ejector seat, machine guns, and the aston martin has a new owner. the most famous part in the world has been sold to a car museum for $4.40 million. it is the ultimate toy. [james bond theme] >> the sale. they lovely little runner. not too many miles on the clock. one previous owner. one or two fairly special features -- revolving number plates, extendible machine guns , and a bulletproof shield. they have apologized for the fact that the objector seat no longer functions. it is the most famous car from

that most famous of the series. two aston martins were used in the filming of "bold finger -- goldfinger" and "thunderball." one is lost. this is a unique purchase. >> it is rare and transcends the value of their regular car. it is the only one remaining of the cars that appeared in the movies. it is iconic and pop cultural. >> it has been in private hands since 1969. >> there are going to be tears tomorrow. the amount i think i am going to get for the car is going to put that in the back ground fairly rapidly. >> he is planning to use the money raised for charitable purposes. bbc news.

>> much more on that and all the international news anytime you want it, online at bbc.com. we are on twitter and facebook as well. >> 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 global financial strength to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> there is one stage that is the met and carnegie hall. >> o, that this too, too solid flesh -- >> it is the kennedy center. >> check, one, two. >> and a club in austin. >> it is closer than any seat in the house, no matter where you call home. >> the top of the world, and i'm there, i'm home. >> pbs -- the great american stage that fits in every living room. your support of pbs brings the arts home. >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles. presented by kcet, los angeles.