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range of companies. what can we do for you? >> welcome. >> here are the headlines. there is a humanitarian crisis in sudan. but ever meant continued their strike in the north border. financial meltdown in the u.s., the bank chairman says the country's borrowing limits must be raised. >> nato launches french attacks -- fresh attacks on tripoli. taiwan's increasing prosperity comes at a price. we spoke exclusively with the president. >> during the course of economic of rigid economic development, the gap will widen.

>> it is 11:00 a.m. here in singapore. >> it is 4:00 a.m. here in london. this is the news. >> the united nations has accused the sudanese garment of carrying out an intensive bombing campaign in the north- south border. tens of thousands of people have fled their homes and they have urged the government nearby to let them in. the south was due to become independent next month. >> homeless and help us, these are some of the tens of thousands of people displaced by the latest fighting in sudan. the had taken shelter outside of local united nations headquarters. the un is handing of food and other supplies.

aid workers say they're being denied access to areas of heaviest fighting. >> whether by road or by air, the security situation is very difficult and hampers significantly. militiamen who are armed have set up roadblocks. we need the support of the government. >> people have been on the mood in this disputed area for months. all this is less than a month before south sudan family becomes a new nation. they have been meeting with other african politicians in ethiopia. if they cannot come up with a solution to their differences, trouble lies ahead. >> i think this is not surprising. the issues that are being dealt with for now in ethiopia went

undecided in the last 12 months prior to the referendum. >> if that does happen, south sudan will be a nation not one of peace, but of war. >> the chairman of the u.s. federal reserve warned republican members of congress to vote in favor of lifting the current limits. if it is not reached by early august, the united states could start defaulting on its obligations >> president obama has already warned that unless the debt ceiling is lifted, there is a threat of another global financial crisis. then bernanke says that america

's creditworthiness is at stake. unless the government -- to fund the deficit, the government borrows money. but the the government can only borrow so much money before it has to go to congress and get approval to borrow more money. that limit is set at $14.30 trillion. americus -- america is set to hit that limit in the next few weeks. that is why bernanke hopes they can raise the debt ceiling. of course, we see the vice president joe biden and a bipartisan panel turned to come together over the next few days to try to come up with some solution that will get this deal done. >> jon huntsman has become the latest candidate for the 2012

nomination. he is seen as a long-shot candidate. there has been a series of explosions in a southern american said a louisiana. four people have been airlifted to why hospital for treatment for burns. government troops are reportedly pushing into northwest syria. southern's -- thousands have fled to turkey to escape the violence. thousands of people are waiting to cross over to turkey.

>> the protest in damascus, a woman protested in the suburb of damascus. the worry is about the army. there was a huge protest today in these two cities. people were chanting that the army and the people are one, calling the army not to intervene in the cities, not to make any armed purpose against the people and to not try to

kill the people in other cities. the also made a statement signed by the people telling the army not to repeat what has happened in other cities of syria. there is also worry because it is surrounded by the army. it is expected that it will be attacked by the army any minute now. >> are people really worried about going back to protest against the regime? or are they still really defined? >> actually, we see that people, even in the area are in siege of the army. they went to protest today even, even under army and security siege. there was a protest and heavy gunfire against the protest

there. if people are going -- people are going on to protest around the country, actually. >> there may be differences between both sides, but over the last few hours, loud explosions have shaken the libyan capital of aaa during a resumption of nato air attacks. there have been no reports so far of any casualties. meanwhile, this tug of war continues. opposition forces are calling for more help. >> just a mile away from colonel gaddafi forces, that is them behind the barricade, defending the road to tripoli.

the rebel fighters have broken out of the city of ms. roxana, but they are now struggling -- mizrata, but they're now shuttling to move farther. the rebels have been making some progress, very slow, and utterly dependent from nato air support. but it is not coming fast enough. gaddafi forces are continuing to attack this position. >> is nato doing enough to help you advance? >> nato does not seem district very often. that rocket launch has been pounding us since early this morning. i am sure that nato can sit.

what i do not understand is why they do not take it out for us. [gunfire] >> in the past few days, the fighting has been furious. [gunfire] >> and for the rebels, costly. they're still besieged in this corner of western libya and they just left 40 men to a dance, perhaps 1 mile. -- to advance perhaps 1 mile. a rare glimpse of nato jets bombing colonel gaddafi physicians here, but failing so far to silence all of his guns. for the poorly trained rebels and plenty of civilians, here is the result. >> we see a lot of patients do to rockets from the gadhafi army. i think nato should do something.

>> in the meantime, the daily skirmishes grind on. nato is making a difference here, but not yet a decisive one. >> of the republican leadership and the u.s. congress has called on president obama to explain the legal ground for america's involvement in libya. as of sunday, the administration risks being in breach of the law. it set a time limit for the president to seek congressional approval. >> what is at issue is the war powers resolution of 1973. that is a congressional resolution which essentially gives u.s. presidents 60 days to seek authorization from congress for war when military

action begins and there is another 30 days built into that resolution for troops, if need be, to be withdrawn. so there is a 90-day clock for the president to go to congress and seek authorization. the 90 days in the bill will expire on sunday coming. when john boehner is saying to barack, is to make you get to sunday and we haven't -- and have not sought our authorization, you are in breach of the resolution. so what is your legal justification for that? >> ash drifting from an erupting chile continues to disrupt air travel. there have been widespread flight cancellations and delays that have stranded thousands of travelers. police in indonesia say they have arrested a militant suspected of involvement in a volley bomb attacks in 2002. police announced that he had

been captured less thursday in a new town in central java. 202 people died in the blast. heavy rain in southern china has led to more flooding and landslides. more than 55,000 people have been forced to leave their homes. nearly 1000 or 100 people have already been killed in recent days as the belt of torrential rains spread across the central and southern regions. china told the united states not to get involved in the territorial disputes in the south china sea. they came after the american senator jim webb and called for multilateral negotiations. washington drew criticism from china last year by asserting that the u.s. had in national security interest in the region. you're watching newsday on the bbc, live from singapore and

london. still to come -- the name of the east. formountry's clamoring to a new middle lines. >> much under-used a red carpet has been rolled out in puerto rico as barack obama became the first u.s. president to visit the territory in 50 years. while residents listened to him caylee m.i.a. it is the key hispanic vote in the united states -- listen to him keenly, it is the key hispanic vote in the and it states that he is after . >> he had pledged to return to pr as a sitting president. u.s. presidents don't come here very often appeared >> the residents of the island can determine their own future.

and when the people of puerto rico make a clear decision, my administration will stand by you. >> that endorsement was music to the years of the porter ricans who sometimes feel ignored by washington. >> everybody listens. it has been a long time since we had a president that comes to puerto rico. >> the eyes of the world are on us right now. >> but beyond the excitement, the historic visit, many are aware of that a five-hour presidential visit could have little impact on the long- running debate of the political status of the island. many think that the main objective of the basic lies somewhere else. porter regions not on the island to vote in key -- poor regions

-- puerto ricans not on the island vote in key swing states. >> tens of thousands of people have fled fighting and bombing as the sudanese government carries out air strikes from the north-south border. they face a humanitarian crisis. >> nato launched fresh attacks on tripoli as rebels make new gains against government troops around misrata. it is almost a year since the island of taiwan signed a landmark trade deal with china. this is almost the obvious sign of the policy for the mainland under the presidency.

under -- after years of prickly relations with beijing, taiwan actively encourages tourism from china and reducing trade tariffs. but there is fear in new quarters that the taiwanese sovereignty may be under threat. our correspondent went to taiwan for a rare interview with president maung. >> during the course of economic development, the gap in income will gradually widened and no country in the world with a growing economy has a narrowing gap. even if we did not build closer relations with the mainland, the same thing would occur. for example, after we increased our exchanges with mainland china, the biggest change was not in trade, but in the number of mainland tourists visiting taiwan.

this grew from 100 visitors 10 years ago to one put 8 million visitors last year. that is an increase of more than tenfold. when these tourists come and spend in taiwan, the people here will enjoy greater income. you could say that the benefits of tourism extend to every center. >> you talk of the poverty of influence that you hoped taiwan would have with mainland china had of this relationship. i am puzzled though as to how this can be an equitable relationship when china is pointing missiles at taiwan. how can you negotiate with the that implicit threat hanging over the relationship? over the past 10 years, mainland china has increased its missile deployment. even though beijing claims that the missiles are not treated at taiwan, they can still reach taiwan.

-- arnote not pointed at taiwan, they can still reach taiwan. >> will it be an independent country recognized as such in the world or will it be part of the unified china? >> the republic of china has been an independent sovereign nation since 1912. as such, we have consistently explained to the international community that we do not need to declare our independence a second time. in fact, no country in the world has ever done such a thing. but we stress to the world that we have sufficient autonomy. we elect our present and legislature and handle our own affairs.

>> a summit of this shanghaied cooperation organization, a china-led security alliance which includes russia and the central asian states. iran, pakistan, and india are looking for membership in sco. could that alliance be the nato of the east? >> police in full dress are keeping tight security for the city. military drills are at the core of these groupings, a fight against what is called three evils -- terrorism, extremism, and separatism. for time, that means a close focus on what is seen as legal

activism and handing over suspects is part of the deal. central asia is home to a large ethnic group. but this group says that pakistan recently extradited a quigers. >> i was supposed to attend the world congress this may, but was stopped at the airport. the authority prevented me from leaving the country. >> human rights is not a party for the sco members. many believe that this organization has the potential to play a greater role in regional stability. >> as you know, the americans

have announced a time to withdraw from afghanistan. then we will need some other organization to step in. that could be the sco. >> the shanghai organization corporation is not the nato of the east. but with so many countries wanting to join, it could one day change the global balance of power. >> on our website, you can explore a variety of galleries. learn how this once cheap dining attorney -- dining alternative has been impacted. a space program and nuclear submarine will be receiving deshea, especially at the time -- reseeding british aid, especially at a time of prosperity. >> they say the british should

send aid, even though the country is regarded as a middle income nation and spending cuts are being made in the u.k. >> british aid is shaking up lives in india. the once struggle to feed their families. now they run their own business selling lentils. >> i used to stay at home. but now that it can work, i have money to pay for my daughter's education and do business. >> water is transforming the region. british experts have built irrigation channels and dug wells. survival was once a challenge here, but no longer.

>> we used to eat just one meal a day. what was very hard. now i grow three to four crops a year and my family can live more comfortably. >> with reservoirs now full of water and fish, the local economy has received another boost this is a success story. after 10 years here, they are finally pulling out and leaving the things in the hands of the local community. they have decided to copy what has happened here and replicate it over a much larger area. no shortage of money here. india has more millionaires than the u.k. and its own large foreign aid budget. so is this really a country that need help? they have enough resources

in the country and do not need the foreign aid. the real challenge in india is not the quantity of resources, but the efficiency of the use of these resources. >> with cutbacks at home, criticism of foreign aid is bound to continue >> you have been watching newsday from bbc. >> the united nations says tens of thousands of people. thank you for watching. we will see you again soon.

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