>> this is "bbc world news." funding for this presentation is 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?

>> and now "bbc world news." welcome to bbc. >> the headlines this hour -- israel launches a wave of air strikes on gaza after attacks by gunmen left seven israelis dead. accused of slaughtering his own people, western leaders are asking the syrian leader assad to step down. >> another dark day for world markets, shares taking a battering, with banks badly hit. 1 million affected, 50,000 displaced. a year after the heavy floods in pakistan, the heavy rains return. it is 11:00 a.m. in singapore. >> it is 4:00 a.m. and london,

broadcasting on pbs in america and around the world, this is " newsday." hello and welcome. we start with an update on the breaking news from afghanistan. there have been two suicide attacks on a british cultural office and the capital, and we look at the latest pictures from kabul. a spokesman for nato forces at says the target appeared to have been the british council which specializes in educational and cultural exchanges. witnesses said one wall of the building has been destroyed and gunfire could be heard. an unconfirmed report said that to afghan policeman and eight municipal workers have been killed. we're also getting reports of a third explosion, and we will get

you more on that as soon as we have it. two explosions, reports of a third explosion, and it is feared three people have been killed. some of the day's other news, let me bring some of the other news. israeli fighter jets have been bombing gaza overnight after a string of attacks on israelis. three egyptian guards were killed as the israeli military chased militants along its border. air raids on gaza from which israel said that its attacks on israel were launched have so far killed at least seven palestinians. earlier, i spoke with our reporter who was in gaza for the latest. >> the air strikes have a target it similar institutions for the hamas movement which runs gaza. one was targeting a smuggling tunnels underneath the border

between gaza and egypt. it appears to be over tonight. the israeli fighter jets have left the skies after carrying out several attacks. for the first time, america promised germany, britain, -- america, germany, britain, and the you have called on the syrian president assad to step down. washington is imposing more sanctions on damascus. the united nations set up to two dozen people have been killed when the violence began. up to 2000 people have been killed since the violence began. blood will not go to waste, the crowd chants.

this video taken in syria shows one of the latest funerals of civilians killed in protests against the regime of the past five months. finally, the obama administration at is calling directly for him to go. >> the transition to democracy in syria has begun and it is time for assad to get out of the way. it is up to the syrian people to choose their own leaders. in a democratic system based on the rule of law and dedicated to protecting the rights of all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, religion, sex, or gender. >> four months, washington resisted spelling this out, fearing the president could claim that relentlessly. now that most of the arab world condemns the regime, the west has judged the tide is turning. the syrian uprising has proved its staying power. today, the european leaders

joined washington. they told president assad, "we call on him to face the reality of the complete rejection of his regime and step aside in the best interests of syria and the unity of its people." violence in syria, they say, must stop now. the united nations believes 2000 people have been killed. they may be crimes against humanity. that is partly because the violence has been used against protests were. has spread, and it has been spreading, bringing public rejection close to the centers of power. president obama it is introducing stronger sanctions against syria, even at the risk of hurting ordinary syrians. american investments are banned, with no imports or exports of oil and gas, which europe is considering.

washington is not expecting immediate results. >> assad still has the loyalty of his security services. it may be that he is mortally wounded, but it will take some time before he is over. >> as syrians cry out to the world for help, the president is under substantial new pressure. so far, the regime has always judged its survival is paramount, whatever the cost. do you have more on the turbulent world markets? >> that is right, the uncertainty that has caused turmoil in the market seems to have returned. most asian markets are following the u.s. and european counterparts lower. the japanese nikkei is down about 2%, the cosby hitting its lowest in several years.

-- the kospi is hitting its lowest in several years. bank shares tumbled on concerns of the eurozone debt, what economic concerns remain about the u.s. economy. shares failed to recover, with about ending 3.5% lower. investors are flocking to safe havens, so gold has hit another record high in asian trade. thousands are gathering in delhi to witness the start of a 15-day hunger strike by the anti-corruption campaigner hassare, who is due to make his way to an open space where the fast will take place. he is hoping to force the indian government to strengthen an anti-corruption deal that he says is too weak. he is an anti-corruption campaigner, and he joins me now from delhi. your one of the organizers

behind this campaign. what are the group's immediate plans now that hassare will join the protest? >> we will be asking the government to bring the strong anti-corruption bill to the parliament. we seek support and are expecting huge numbers of people to support the campaign. >> tell us, do you have an idea what his plans are specifically? >> there is no specific plan as such. the plan is that we want strong legislation against corruption, and we have drafted a bill. we want those provisions in the bill.

>> all right, thank you so much for that. you were watching "newsday," live from singapore and london. three people have died and dozens are injured after rate stage collapses and belgium. >> 20 years after the coup that caused the collapse of the soviet union, miguel corker just -- miguel gorbachev accuses vladimir putin of castrating publolitics. firefighters told prince harry how they had been pelted with bricks as they try to put out fires in the shops. >> over the road to the shops, a day out for the prince. harry went to see some of the

damaged -- some of the businesses that had been damaged, and visible show of support for a community that was caught and chaos. >> it is good for the community. >> this visit was intended to boost morale after the violence last week. seeing the royal after the riots did not impress everyone. >> at the end of the day, that is all it is about. >> aside from the repairs, they have problems that will take time and money to fix, including unemployment and antisocial behavior. >> you need more community centers. there is nothing here at all for people. >> that does not excuse what happened last week. how to prevent trouble is a subject of debate on every street. those on the front lines or recognized today. each of the emergency services

receiving a royal visit. the firefighters were directly involved in dealing with the riots. in greater manchester, there were more than 300 fires and several fire crews came under attack. >> there were fires in houses, vehicles targeted with bricks. >> many of those who met the prince are from the committee, and they say the writers do not represent the residence. this is "newsday." >> israel has launched a wave of air strikes on gaza after attacks on gunman left seven israelis dead. egypt says three's of its soldiers have been killed. >> western leaders have urged

the president of syria to step down over the bloody crackdown on protesters. u.s. vice president joe biden is expected to focus on the business climate in china with another day of talks scheduled in beijing. on the first stop of his war, he met with his chinese counterpart at a ceremonial welcome. and a few hours, he will join business leaders for talks on opportunities and obstacles. for more, we go to our correspondent in beijing. this has been touted as a chance for him to meet the next generation of chinese leaders. what are the sides pushing for? [no audio] >> we are having some trouble hearing you. can you hear us?

>> you are coming through now. i think you are asking about joe biden and the importance of his visit here? >> there has been tension over trade. any sense that some of these challenges may be resolved in this visit? >> i don't think we are looking at any particular resolution from this, but joe biden was very explicit in his meetings yesterday. he said he was here to talk about trade and jobs between the world's two biggest economies. he said cooperation between them was vital for the health of the global economy. he went on to say that what he wanted to discuss was the need to reorder the economy's. that is code for on the chinese side concerns about the state of the u.s. economy, about the

health of the u.s. economy, and about the chinese holdings, but the trillion dollars and more of u.s. debt and what will happen with that, the security of that. the americans had their run concerns. they say the huge global imbalances arise from some of china's own policies and china needs to change its ways, to rely less on selling exports to america and build more of a domestic consumer economy that would give america a market here. both sides are seriously concerned. after the meeting yesterday, both sides said the talks focused on those economic issues. they describe them as productive. >> we know the issue of u.s. debt has weighed on this trip. has it given china something of a high ground? >> there has been a lot of

commentary and the chinese press. ever since the downgrade we saw the u.s. credit rating, earlier last week. there has been a lot of call in the chinese press that the u.s. government had been addicted to debt, they need to mend its ways, blaming u.s. politicians for the mess they were in. what officials are saying is from the government to government level, as been different, much more cooperative and much more seeking common ground. these touche huge economies know they have these enormous overriding common interests. although there are calls even now in the chinese press during the visit for china to use its holdings of u.s. debt as some sort of leverage to press america to open its markets and sell more high-technology goods which are currently banned from being sold to china, what

officials are saying is the tone of the meetings are different. but they're looking for areas of cooperation. >> thank you very much for that, damien. torrential rain in southern pakistan, with nearly 1 million people affected by the rising waters. more than 50,000 people have been evacuated to temporary camps. >> pakistan's rainy season has arrived, and this is the result. families carried to safety, their homes flooded. >> our entire village was hit by flood waters. we lost our livestock and all of our crops have been destroyed. >> across southeast pakistan, villages and fields lie under water. more than 1 million people have been affected. the army has begun rescue operations and moved to displace people in temporary camps.

>> we also started off offering medical support and all three districts. >> for many people, these villages are now home. nobody knows when it will be able to go back to their normal lives. pakistan is still recovering from last year's disastrous floods, the worst and the country's history. at least 20,000 people died then and 1 million left homeless. many are still living in emergency camps. this year, the floods are not on the same scale, but they will still cause millions of dollars of damage. some of the poorest people struggling to survive. you have news of a tragic accident at a concert? >> 3 people have been killed after stage rigging collapsed at an outdoor festival in belgium. it came down during sudden storms.

>> it was early evening with the storm swept across belgium, bringing disaster to the festival. the skies blackened and the wind whipped hailstones 1 centimeter wide. the staging collapsed, letting rigs tossed aside, trees wrapped up. hundreds ran as the structures came down, but some could not escape. >> we were and one of the tense, and the storm and the rain was coming in. the fixtures and the rigging and the machines gave. we saw one of the riggings fall down. >> tents were brought down, with those inside having to cut their way out. about 60,000 people were at the site when the violence storm tore through. emergency teams had to negotiate buckling structures and the site turned to mud as the work to help those in need.

the seriously injured were taken to the hospitals. the less badly injured were taken to the nearby sports center for treatment. more than 20 ambulances were dispatched to help. this is one of europe's biggest and most popular open-air festivals. there are global names like the foo fighters and eminem. the three-day event has now been suspended. a british man was killed by a shark while he was on honeymoon. his wife described him at screaming for help as he was snorkeling just meters from the beach. >> this is one of the last pictures taken of the newlyweds. just days before ian was killed by a shark in a horrible attack. today, the police have been patrolling the beach where he was killed as authorities try to catch the deadly shark. at theife, not a widow

age of 27, is speaking to the bbc about what she saw. >> i could see the top of his face. i could follow where he was. all of a sudden, i hear "help." then i heard it again. it was the most awful scream. i can still hear it when i close my eyes. >> she does not blame anyone for what happened. she calls her husband's death a tragic accident on which she will continue to replay and her mind. >> i ran back to the boat. the man would not let me get to the speedboat. i screamed to him, it is my husband. he looked at me and said, belong, then. -- go along, then.

he looked up at me and i looked at him. i could see a mixture in his eyes of fear and a realization, relief that i was there. >> she is being supported by her parents who flew to be with her. she is touched by all of the support she has had from people on these islands. after nine years together, only 10 days as a married couple, she faces the difficult journey of taking her husband's body back home. miguel gorbachev has accused vladimir putin of castrating russia's electoral system and says he should not run in next year's elections. the comments came on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the moscow coup which out left -- led to the collapse of the soviet union.

we met with the former president. >> at a private dinner in moscow, miguel gorbachev outalks about what happened with old colleagues. it all snowballed, he says, starting from my opponents anger at the elections i brought in, which led to the coup against me. a dramatic showdown in the heart of moscow, with the future of the world at stake. as the moscow correspondent, i witnessed it first hand. it was here exactly 20 years ago in central moscow that the leaders made their move. when the orders of the vice president, the kgb chief and others, tanks rolled down the central thoroughfare towards the kremlin. the coup leaders said it gorbachev was too sick to rule and there were taking over power.

it looked like a classic soviet military crackdown, to roll back the reforms and reimpose hard- line control over the whole country. gorbachev was on holiday by the black sea. when he refused to join the plotters, he was under house arrest. >> they surrounded us with cars down by the seashore and everywhere. at the entrance, they parked cars and nobody could drive past. >> in moscow, crowds flocked to protect the fledgling democracy. the coup leaders panicked and their plot crumbled. in the aftermath, the soviet union soon collapsed and swept gorbachev from office. today in berlin, gorbachev is greeted as a hero in helping end the cold war and bringing down the berlin wall, but his concern now is russia's current prime minister, vladimir putin, who said he says -- who he says

should not stand again as president. >> putin and his team offer stability, but stability killed development and results in stagnation. the electoral system we had was nothing remarkable, but they have castrated it. i apologize for my choice of words, but they have circumcised it. >> russia, he says, needs to get back on the path to democracy, and put it is not the leader to do it. -- and vladimir putin is not the leader to do it. you have been watching "newsday" on bbc. there have been two suicide attacks in the afghan capital on british councils. the target appeared to have been the british council, which fossilizes in educational and

cultural exchanges -- which specializes in educational and cultural exchanges. witnesses said one wall of the building had been destroyed and gunfire could be heard. an unconfirmed report said that that two afghan policeman and at a municipal worker had been killed. fraud is a public holiday in afghanistan, -- friday is a public holiday in afghanistan, which marks the independence from britain in 1919. also, an update on the situation in gaza. the israeli military says it has fired at -- five rockets have been fired by gaza militants in southern israel. the situation, the ap giving us an update, saying that that is really military says five rockets have been fired by gaza militants, landed in southern israel.

from london and singapore, bye- bye. >> 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 financial strength to work for a wide range of

companies, from small businesses to major coporations. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.