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what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news >> hello and welcome to newsday on the bbc. >> here are the headlines. there is a humanitarian crisis in sudan. tens of thousands flee as the government continues their strikes along the north-south border. warning of a financial meltdown in the u.s. the central bank chairman says the country's borrowing limits must be raised. and as part of our season why taiwan's increasing prosperity comes at a price as we talk exclusively to the president. >> during the course of economicic development the gap in income will widen and no country in the world has a

narrowing gap. >> it is 9:00 a.m. here in singapore. temporary is 2:00 a.m. here in london. this is newsday. the u.n. accused sudan government of carrying out a bombing campaign near the north-south border. tens of thousands have fled their homes and urged the government to let them in to help victims of the fighting. the south is due to become independent next month. >> homeless and helpless, these are some of the tens of thousands people displaced by the latest fighting in sudan. they have taken shelter outside the local united nations headquarters. the u.n. is handing out food

and other supplies. workers say they are being denied access to the areas of heaviest fighting. >> we know about 60,000 people who have had to flee as well as knowing that there must be tens of thousands who have fled into the mountains as well as on the roads to the north. >> people have been on the move in this disputed border area for month. the fighting has grown ever since the south voted for independence from the north in january. and all of this less than a month before south sudan finally becomes a new nation. the leaders of the two sides are meeting with other african politicians in eeth open yeah. they appear to be making progress. the fighting continues, it will

be a nation not at peace but at war. >> america's creditworthiness is at risk if the country's borrowing limit sent raised. the chairman of the u.s. federal reserve and members of congress will vote. if an agreement sent reached by early august the united states could start defaulting on their obligations. >> president obama has already warned that unless america's debt ceiling is increased there is a risk of another global financial crisis. now the latest to weigh in is the head of the u.s. federal reserve, america's central bank. he says america's creditworthiness is at stake. what happens is that the government takes in less money than it is spending running a deficit.

they borrow money. the government can only borrow so much money before it has to go to congress and get approval to borrow more money and that limit is set at $14.3 trillion. america is set to hit the limit sometime in the next few weeks. and that is why ben ber nankee is urging republicans to raise the debt ceiling. otherwise america will not pay back the money that is owed. all of it as joe biden and a bipartisan panel try to coming to the come up with a solution that would get the deal done. >> now some libyan rebels criticized the level of support they are getting from nato. what can you tell us? >> well, we have new developments over the last few hours. loud explosions have shaken the libyan capital of tripoli.

there are no reports so far of any casualties. while the tug of war continues between rebel forces and the troops who remain loyal to colnel gadhafi. opposition forces are calling for more alied assaults to crush gadhafi's troops. >> we are with libya's rebels a mile away from colnel gadhafi's forces. the rebel fight has broken out. now they are struggling. the new frontlines here, the rebels have been making some progress, but it is very slow

and utterly dependant on nato and their support. the air support, the rebels say, is not coming fast enough. while gadhafi's forces are continuing to attack this position. >> rocket launcher. is nato doing enough? nato does not seem to strike very often here. that rocket launcher has been pounding us since early this morning. we can't understand why they do not take it out. in the past few days the fighting here has been severe. and for the rebels, costly. they are still besieged. they just lost 40 men.

above us a rare glimpse of nato jets bombing colnel gadhafi's positions here but failing to silence this gun. but a poorly trained rebels and plenty of civilians, here is the result. >> we see a lot of patients due to rockets. i think nato should do something to stop it. in the meantime the daily skirmishes go on. nato is making a difference here but not yet a one. >> new republican leadership in the u.s. congress called on president obama to explain the

legal grounds for america's military involvement in libya. the speaker of the house says as of this sunday the administration risks being in breech of the law. he was referring to a resolution that set a time left for the president to seek congressional approval for military action. now we are joined by steve. legally speaking, what is at issue here? >> what is at issue here is the war power resolution of 1973, a congressional resolution that essentially gives the u.s. president 60 days to seek authorization from congress for a war when military action begins and then there is a further 30 days built into that resolution to withdraw. so, a 90 day clock for a president to go to congress and seek authorization. the 90 days will expire.

what the speaker is saying to president obama, if we get to sunday and you have not sought our authorization you are in breech of that resolution. so what is your legal just iskeds for that. >> steve, legal arguments aside, do the republicans support the role in libya? >> the republicans are divided. 24 hours ago we had the first debate. some of them are opposed to u.s. involvement in libya. remember, the u.s. is playing a supporting role now having led the initial bombing raids. and those republicans say all of this is too costly. the u.s. national security interests are not at stake in libya. john mccain was defeated by barack obama for the presidency they have interests in libya and the u.s. should be leading rather than following and john

mccain would like to see greater military involvement. >> what does the white house say tonight about what the republicans are saying? >> the white house, like previous white houses does not think that the war powers resolution is binding. it will not go and is congress for formal authorization but barack obama's people point out that it notified congress. they say there has been a series of hearings and private briefings to lawmakers about it and say by sunday the white house will provide a detailed legal justification as required by the republicans in congress but will stop short of asking for congress' permission. clashes have continued between rebel fighters in burma. more than 2,000 others displaced during four days of vinals.

the fighting near the border is some of the worst seen in burma since last year's election. police say they have arrested a militant suspected of involvement in the bombing attacks of 2002. it is alleged he facilitated the bombing by buying electronic equipment for the bombers. 202 people died in the blast. this statement by the foreign minister of beijing came after they called for multi negotiations. washington drew criticism from china last year by asserting the u.s. has a national security interest in the region.

>> we will have more on that. you are watching bbc news. to come for you. the ash cloud from chile's volcano spreads. and focused on facebook. a contempt of court case involving the internet. the red carpet has been rolled out in puerto rico as barack obama became the first u.s. president to visit in 20 years. while they listened to his support it may have been the main target. >> during a visit in 2008 barack obama has pledged to return to puerto rico. expectations here were huge. u.s. president do not come to this territory very often.

>> the residents of the island can determine their own future. when the people of puerto rico make a clear decision my administration will stand by you. >> that was music to the ears of the people of puerto rico who sometimes feel ignored by washington. >> it has been a long time that we had a president come to puerto rico. it shows that they are interested in what happened here. >> the eyes of the world are on us right now. >> but beyond the historic visit, many are aware of the fact that it could have impacts on the long-running debate about the political status of the island. >> many think the main objective of the visit lies somewhere else. they do vote in presidential

elections in key swing u.s. states. officials hope the visit will continue to raise the profile of the cause. for the time being it appears that it will be up to new generations to decide what they are and more personal what they want to be. bbc news, san juan. >> this is newsday on the bbc. >> the headlines this hour, tens of thousands of people fled fighting and bombing as the government of sudan carries out air strikes along the north-south border. >> nato launched fresh attacks on tripoli. it is almost a year since the island of taiwan signed a

landmark treaty with china, the most obvious sign of the change in politics. after years of prickley relations with beijing taiwan is encouraging tourism from china and reducing trade tariffs but it led to fears that taiwan's sovereignty may be under threat. she put to to him as taiwan's economy is growing, so is the gap between the rich and the poor. >> during the course of economic development the gap in income will widen and no country has a narrowing gap. even if we did not build the closer relations with the mainland the same thing would occur. after we increased our exchanges with mainland china, the biggest exchange was the

number of mainland tourists visiting taiwan. it grew from a bit more than 100,000 visitors 10 years ago to 1.8 million last year, an increase of more than tenfold. when they come and spend in taiwan the people will enjoy greater income. you can say the benefits of tourism extend to every sector. >> you talk of the quality of influence that you hope taiwan might be able to have on mainland china through this relationship. i am puzzled as to how this can be an equitable relationship when china is pointing missiles at taiwan. how can you negotiate with that implicit threat hanging over the relationship? >> over the last 10 years

mainland china has increased their missile deployment. taiwan is not in a position to engage in an arms race with the mainland nor do we want to. >> if you look forward to the future, say 10 years from now, where do you think taiwan will be? will it be an independent country recognized as such in the world or will it be part of a unified china? >> the respect of china has been an independent, sophsovereign nation and we explained to the international community we do not need to declare our independence a second time and no country in the world ever has done such a thing. we stress to the world that we have sufficient autonomy.

we elect our president and legislature and handle our own affairs. >> keep up-to-date as our power of asia season continues. on our website you will find a look at how google is trying to appeal to the diverse asian region. a volcano in chile has wreaked havoc on the residents near the eruption and the ash cloud continued to spread east causing disruptions to flights as far away as australia and new zealand. passengers can expect another week of disruption in their air space. the ash cloud now reached western australia. >> the airlines are stopping flights in and out of perth, which is obviously the capital of western australia.

it has gone from one side of australia to the other. remember at the start of the week melbourne was shut down. and then it moved. now it is right across this vast continent over to perth. and it is still causing trouble on the eastern seaboard as well. some flights still cancelled from other places over to new zealand. and tasmania is still affected too. a lot of people are stranded in australia and the island states of tasmania at the moment. >> while syria's political unrest prompts activists to call for more help, more now from london. >> government troops are pushing into northwest syria. thousands have fled to turk tow escape the vinals.

many have described seeing astrosities committed. for more on that we are joined on the line by a human rights activist and joins me on the line from there now. thank you very much for speaking to us. just tell us what the situation is like at the moment where you are. >> a woman in the suburbs. also in the backyard -- there

was a huge protest today. calling the army not to in the city not to make any armed protest against the people and kill the people on what happens. they also made a statement at times by the people calling the army not to repeat what happened in syria. there was also worry >> the area seeing the most number of people fleeing.

all people actually worried about her going tout protest against the regime or are they still defiant? we see the people under the siege of the army. there was today in protests and there was heavy gunfire against the protests there. so the people are going and protests around the country, actually. >> we have to leave it there but we really appreciate you speaking to us. a member of a jury who used facebook to discuss the case of a defendant faces up to two years in jail. it is the first time anybody has been prosecuted in the u.k. for contempt of court for using

the internet. because of the defendant was still on trial the judge decided to discharge the jury and the case collapsed. >> a century's old system of jury trial now threatened by the modern world of social networks. at the heart of this story a juror on a multibillion pound drug trial. and in the same court, this woman. jamie stewart. a defendant in the drugs trial. both guilty of contempt of court for discussing the case midtrial on facebook. despite clear rules forbidding jurors from talking to others, by this time jamie stewart had been acquitted but wanted to know what the jury thought of another defendant in the trial. what is happening with the

other charge she asked. the juror replied can't get anyone to go. no one budging. please don't say anything because jamie, they could call a mistrial. i know i wouldn't do that to you. don't worry. in another exchange don't worry about that charge, no way it can stay hung for me. this is the second time isn't it. at least then you are all home and dry. the defendant replied you are mad. i really appreciate everything. and added later, keep in touch and i will get you a nice present. >> she has made legal history as the first juror guilty of contempt of court for using the internet, a modern twist on an old crime, one where the court is increasingly worried about. >> what i expect will emerge from the hearings is a more focused direction, particularly

to deal with social networking. >> as mother of a young child jamie stewart was spared prison with a suspended sentence. asked if she still used facebook. >> she had broken every rule in the juror's book and is facing a jail sentence of up to two years. >> you have been watching newsday from the bbc. >> tens of thousands of people fled bombing in sudan over the past 10 days. the military stepped up their air strikes against groups in the region allowed to south sudan. that's it from london and singapore. back in five minutes with the asia business report and more news on the way.

>> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank.

>> union bank has put its global expertise to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news america" was presented by kcet los presented by kcet los angeles.