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>> and now, "bbc world news." >> no end to the resident standoff. the senate votes against a republican bill. a day of mourning in norway after the first victims from the mass shooting are laid to rest. protest for a civilian government's actions. welcome to "bbc world news." im debra l. mackenzie. coming up, the ex military commander of rebels as idealizations that there was murdered by a man on his own side. in the warning from the united nations as it tries to attack the famine in somalia.

the u.s. senate has rejected a bill to raise america's debt ceiling passed earlier by a republican-controlled house of representatives. the vote has been expected. there are intense talks to reach a compromise. the leader of the democrats in the u.s. senate, harry reid, says it is typical. >> it is the worst possible time to conduct a filibuster. and they are forcing us to wait until tomorrow morning to have this vote.

our economy hangs on the balance. for the first time in history, we are headed for economic disaster if we do not reach a compromise. [inaudible] [unintelligible] there was a meeting in my office with republicans this morning that fell through. we have heard a lot of talk about being interested in a compromise, but they need to move forward. they are refusing to negotiate with us. all they do is talk. the house will hold an up or down vote i was told on my proposal. it is time for us to be adults, and come together in a

compromise for the american people. >> george is in washington and has been watching this unfold on capitol hill. >> america is kidding closer to a cash crisis, -- america is getting closer to a cash crisis. a bill could raise the debt ceiling. the democrat-led senate voted it down. there is more interest in a plan that would fund america for the next 18 months, beyond the next presidential election. it seems there is compromise on both sides. in six months, both sides would have a rematch of this very tricky issue. where we go from here, the senate will start looking at its own plan, but started very early sunday morning. they have accused some senators

up effectively delaying tactics in the senate so that they cannot hold that vote before then. the clock is ticking away in the meantime. it is only a matter of days before the u.s. treasury will start running out of cash on tuesday. it will affect financial markets all over the world. the resolution must come soon. >> the gun and bomb attacks that occurred in norway left many dead. hundreds of people attended a memorial service in oslo, organized by a norwegian naval party. >> the coffins containing -- the coffin containing the body of an 18-year-old is being locked out of the church to be laid to

rest. the family originally from iraq, mourning the loss of a daughter that had been leading a life in the muslim community here. exactly a week ago, she was shot to death, along with more than 50 others attending a youth camp on the island. she dreamt of becoming a politician. so many friends and relatives came to the funeral that hundred had to stand outside. >> she will be missed. the youth can use her as an example to go into politics and follow their dreams, because she was well on her way of becoming the perfect human being. >> back here in oslo, it has been a day of remembrance for those killed exactly one week ago. besides the crowds gathered

here, there was a number of poignant the event in this country. members of the government kicked gathered for an emotional reunion. the party that targets both attacks last friday, summer camp on the entire island had been affected. >> the prime minister says many of their finest young people were now dead. in unity, he said, we will manage to go on. as they mourned, the police said the man responsible for the property, anders breivik, had a second round of questioning. they have not found any evidence that he is part of a network of extremists as he claims. so far, there is no sign his killing spree will deepen

divisions within norwegian society. at today's funeral, christians and moslems, immigrants, and ethnic regions, side-by-side, exactly what anders breivik wanted to prevent. bbc news, norway. >> the turkish military has assigned a new chief of the armed forces. the original leader resigned along with the heads of the army. >> the country's senior military commander, seen here along side the prime minister, is the first to resign followed by the head of the country's navy, armed forces, and airforce. it is the latest in an ongoing rift in the government's armed

forces. the government says the military has been plotting a coup. some say they resigned after 22 of their fellow officers were charged by the courts and of trying to undermine the government. such a power vacuum could cause alarm. the prime minister has moved quickly. his office said the turkish armed forces would do their duty in a spirited away and have immediately named a successor to the head of the ground forces. on monday, there will be a meeting of the supreme military council. it is a state body composed of the president, the prime minister, senior military commander, to determine military hierarchy. there has been in an easing relations between the government and senior commanders.

>> in washington, the state to terminate its and " -- an equivocal backing. the u.s. and other nato allies hope that the turkish government can steady the ship without affecting the top military command any further. >> uncertainty surrounds the circumstances of the death of the libyas rebel commander. there are claims that he was murdered by people on his own side. his death adds to concerns about the rebels' ability to end the conflict and form a cosec -- cohesive government. here is a report from the area. >> it is the highest record of defection from the libyan rebellion. a man who held colonel gaddafi seized power more than that several years ago -- he gave

credibility to the fighters in the east. his experience made him the ideal man to lead the rebel forces. he could speak as an equal to the libyan leader. something he did in this bbc interview days before the conflict. >> my dear brother, i had hoped you would leave. stop the annihilation of our people. >> and his relationship with gaddafi arouse suspicion. some never believed that he really defected. others refused to obey his commands. rumors swirled that he was still in contact with the british union. he was gunned down on his way to answer questions about the front line. there were claims that he were killed by the very man sent to pick him up.

if that is true, it is not good. many are fighting on three major fronts. in the western mountains, rebels say they have during adopted forces from a key border town. in ms. rodham, they are planning they arezrata, planning an attack on an area miles from tripoli. what matters now is the impact it has on their struggle against colonel gaddafi. it feeds into the tribal divisions that have always exact -- existed in the rebel movement. some are already armed and angry about what has taken place. more importantly, it has a severe impact on the military struggle of colonel gaddafi forces. it is at a crucial juncture when they need unity and momentum.

in other ways, many commanders are leading the fight on the ground. the conflict has seen a series of local batters -- battles as well as a national one. this lt. colonel is another defector. he says the general's death will make them more determined to push on to tripoli. britain gave its full backing to the rebel government, and the west hope they are right. >> tens of thousands of syrians have turned out again for protest across the country, demanding the president resigned. it has killed elise four people. the biggest rally appears to be in hamas. there was a report of of fighting in several other cities. here we have this report from damascus. >> people chant for the sake of

god and we walk. people want the downfall of the regime. hear, the city that has witnessed the biggest conflict across the country, people have determined to they want the regime out. thousands of people took to the streets and decided that silence is killing us. -- here is a different scene. police used teargas to disperse protesters. this is it in a town that is a suburb of damascus. today, it blamed the past -- a blast for sabotage.

using heavy helicopters where people were killed in the early hours of morning by security forces. they want to crack down on protests and it seems -- it does not seem to be stopping people from celebrating their freedom. >> tens of thousands of demonstrators filled tire squareta -- tahrir square. some leaders were instigators. some want an islamic state. still to come, find out what has changed since caster has taken power in cuba. -- castro has taken power in cuba.

and a plane crash that happened years ago highlighted a number of errors made by a pilot. the plane was flying from rio de janeiro to paris when it fell 38,000 feet in 3.5 minutes, killing all 228 people on board. this is the first official report since the black box flight recorders were discovered. here is the latest. >> an important shift in the understanding of the aircraft crashed. new evidence from the flight recorders, investigators say there were mistakes in the way the crew, reacted to the initial technical problems. when speed monitors stopped functioning, the pilots called the plot -- put the plane in a state that caused it to stall. it failed to take the steps to correct its in its stalled state.

>> neither of the co-pilot had received training on recovery from a stalled status at a high altitude. >> of the investigation bureau insists it is not apportioning beno -- blame, just describing the circumstances. there are huge interests at stake. pilot unions are furious that the crew is on the firing line. the victims' families just want the facts. bbc news, paris. >> there are roadblocks set up in standoff with the nato peacekeepers. they are demanding that nato reverses its decision. it is regarding controlling two border crossings in kosovo.

but this is bbc news. our top stories, the debt standoff continues. the senate has rejected a republican bill passed earlier by the house of representatives to allow an increase to the government's debt ceiling. the first funeral of the victims has taken place after the shooting in norway. the lives of thousands of people in somalia are under threat from famine and the united nations is warning that the worst is yet to come. 30% of children south of the country are acutely mullers. many of the people affected across the border to the refugee camp in kenya. our correspondent reports from there. >> and still they come. the weary exodus of somalia.

1500 a day every day arriving at this refugee camps in kenya. there are empty water containers. this two-year-old has diarrhea and a fever. she says she has been walking with him for three weeks. as the drought continues in somalia, the conditions of those escaping is much worse. that is putting extra pressure on the aid operation across the border. more are on the danger list at this hospital, and the numbers have doubled. this person is three. his mother died on the way here. >> they are struggling.

the numbers change quickly. we are trying to mobilize resources and by more medical commodities. >> and where to house everyone? the camps are bursting. kenya does not want refugees to move into this permanent settlement and case they stay for good. thousands of these tents have been put up by the united nations. each family is here and these tents are filling up fast. showing me around is a young somali who fled here when war first came to his country. he has lived in this camp for 20 years. >> i am optimistic in the near future everything will be back to normal and we will be like citizens in our own country.

>> while one man dreams, and another somalian family arrives to this camp in the wilderness. the outside world watches the conflict in the famine. it cannot fix somalia. >> secret testimony from the disgraced former u.s. president richard nixon is set to be released to the public. president nixon testified to a grand jury investigating the watergate scandal in the early 1970's. he may have been to be involved in covering up an incident at headquarters. a federal judge has ruled that the testimony about -- far outweighs the arguments of keeping it secret. the united states has completed two days of talks with north korea, exploring the possibility of reopening discussions on the

weapons program. the u.s. says it is open to better relations and shows its commitment to dismantling the issue. neither reported any progress from the talks. >> [unintelligible] the idea was to explore if there is any basis to resume negotiations on the weapons program that broke down two years ago. they wanted an exchange on security guarantees. the americans were very cautious about what they hoped to achieve from this meeting. the outlook seems to be pretty good. both sides talked about construction.

this suggested that context would continue. they were trying to determine if any progress had been made. the americans said they wanted to see concrete steps from the north koreans to demonstrate their commitment that they made to reduce nuclear weapons. the path was open to resume negotiations. the americans said before they can make any further steps, [inaudible] they would have to see progress in the denuclearization talks. there are questions. the agency between north korea and south korea -- people are

relieved that there are signs that some tensions have waned. >> this weekend marks of five years since castro took over for his ailing brother fidel. cuba is the only communist-run country in the western hemisphere. >> this is one of a new breed of cuban business people. she opened a small restaurant in what used to be her front room last year. she now has three employees working in the kitchen, and a thriving lunchtime business. five years ago, i never thought i could do something like this. it just was not possible, she told me.

fidel castro has been the undisputed leader for almost half a century in cuba. his younger brother does not have his charisma or oratorical skills. after taking over the presidency, pilon to the first major overhaul -- he launched the first major overhaul of the economy. first came his agricultural reform. lance had been leased to private farmers to boost production and reduce costly imports. at the same time, he that it a whole range of petty restrictions. cubans can buy cell phones, dvd is, and computers, but to the internet remains tightly controlled. political reform was not on the agenda at this year's long

awaited communist party congress. instead, with the backing of his brother, he moved towards a mixed economy. change comes at a price. more than a million state workers are due to lose their jobs and to keep food on the ration card will be phased out. by now, there are tens of thousands of small businesses like this one sprint up all over the island. people will be allowed to buy and sell their homes. these are not chinese style free-market reform. in cuba, most of the economy will remain in state hands. as president, castro is trying to engineer a gradual change. at 80 years old, time may not be on his side. bbc news, havana.

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