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>> and now, "bbc world news >> hello and welcome to news on the bbc. i'm in singapore. >> i'm in london. the headlines. >> president obama sets out his plan for fixing the world's biggest economy and calls on political rivals to help him. firefighters in texas struggle to contain a huge wildfire that has already destroyed hundreds of homes. >> documents alleging to show complicity in the transfer of terror suspects are discovered. libya extended the deadline for progaddafi forces. >> it is 11:00 a.m. here in singapore. >> it is 4:00 a.m. here in london. broadcasting to pbs around

america. welcome. >> president obama has appealed to the opposition republican party to back its plans to boost the u.s. economy ahead of a major speech to congress on thursday. speaking at a labor day rally in detroit, mr. obama said he would announce measures to get america back to work and challenged republicans to put their country before their party and support him. adam brooks has more. >> detroit, a city ravaged by economic downturn. mr. obama is on friendly grounds here. he offered infrastructure projects to get workers back into jobs, tax and mortgage relief. >> a lot of folks have been looking for work a long time here in detroit and all across

michigan and the midwest and the country. we have a lot more work to do to recover fully from this recession. but i'm not satisfied just to get back to where we were before the recession. we've got to fully restore the middle class in america. [applause] >> but this is just a preview. later this week mr. obama will formally unveil his job creation plan. will he be able to force it through congress and the hostile republicans? >> if you need to register, move to the right. >> unemployment in america remains stubbornly high. over 9%. dangerously high for a president seeking re-election. job seekers say companies just are not hiring. and the republican candidates who seek the presidency are busy this week too. at forums and debates hammering

mr. obama as an overspending, overtaxing liberal. >> we have raised taxes, mr. president. you raised taxes $500 billion. >> candidates who say they can and will bring the economy around. will mr. obama be able to get this jobs creation plan with all the costs past congress and past furious republican opposition? the outcome of this battle will be a vivid measure to have strength to have obama presidency just as he starts his bid for re-election. adam brooks, bbc. washington. >> let's now have a quick look at the market. fears that not enough jobs being created in america and that the economy will be falling into a recession. you also have concerns that europe's sovereign debt trouble is currently hurting asian stock

markets. regional independence sis are down 3%. japan, south korea and australia are all in negative territory at this hour. worries in the united states and europe pulling oil prices lower in regional trade with crude trading between $83-$84 per barrel and brent crude at $110 per barrel. major economies continue to struggle with the dollar/yen continuing its strength at 76.86. those are the markets. let's move on the developments in the state of texas where firefighters are struggling to contain a huge wildfire that has already destroyed 300 homes. officials say it is moving so quickly that it cannot be tackled from the ground and aircraft are being scrambled to drop water on to it. >> 60 wildfires are raging

across texas, but this one is vast and burning out of control. 26 kilometers across spreading fast through tinder-dry grounds in an area suffering its worst drought in 50 years. tackling it from the air is the only option. it is moving too quickly and ferociously to be fought on the ground. >> we committed everything that we have in this state. we have hundreds of fires burning across the state where we're losing home after home. we have over 1,000 fire fighters in the state of texas working these fires. >> thousands of people have been evacuated interest their homes. a tropical storm was too far away to provide desperately needed rain but close enough to create high wind, which was spreading the fire. >> telling everyone to leave. evacuate now. kept coming up and down street

getting louder each time. i was at work and a phone call to come get my stuff because they were evacuating. >> much worse, a larger scale.ñ we're asking for the community just to work with us. >> a 20-year-old woman and her baby were killed after being trapped in their mobile home. national guard helicopters and planes have been dropping fire retardant powder to stop the flames but it still continues to spread. >> and an investigation has been announced in the u.k. into british links into libya. >> it is said to examine allegations that the british intelligence services were complicit transfering suspects to libya while gaddafi was in power.

saying security forces traded information in return for intelligence extracted from detainees under interrogation from libyan prisons. >> libya was an important ally for britain and america after colonel gaddafi agreed to give up weapons of mass destruction in 2003. but the documents found in tripoli suggest in their eagerness to get his help in fighting the war on terror, the mi 6 and c.i.a. were embarrassingly close to the colonel and his regime. the british embassy in tripoli was looted in may by a regime that felt befrayed. this is a bridge head in a land of opportunity. all of that changed very quickly. by the time a regime mob came to attack the building during nato

bombing campaign, the businessman and the diplomats and the spies were long gone. he was colonel gaddafi's last foreign minister. he is knew prisoner. he claimed there were spies here working with the regime until the revolution. >> were mi-6 still here until january of this year? >> yes. >> what were they doing? >> they are not in charge, directly. >> a commercial flight to london. >> military commander of tripoli is at the center oast of the row about the documents now kept at his h.q. the allegations is r-that the mi-6 joined the rally when he was a suspected al qaeda ally.

the document seen by the bbc is a memo from mi-6 dated march 14, 2004. headed to the head of libya's police state. in it, mi-6 is eager to claim a key role. it said it is the least we could do for you and libya to demonstrate the remarkable relationship we have built over recent years. the document is inside "m." m was mark allen, head of counterterrorism with mi-6. now he is with the company in won a huge contract with libya in 2007. >> he was very important.

>> so he was really involved in all sides of this? >> yes. yes. >> what's he like? i don't know him. >> what you would expect a spy to be, you know? >> tripoli has a new start without colonel gaddafi. there could be a last revenge on countries that became his last enemies. >> on the ground, the libyan forces are sounding increasingly confident about taking control of the town of bani walid, one of the final strongholds of gaddafi supporters. >> so now at least these rebels are not fighting but singing their songs of victory and

liberation. even so, they know they cannot yet claim that all of libya is free, not until they have dealt with the final few pockets of gaddafi resistance. one fighter told me he fears sooner or later there will be to be a battle for this town. >> what are you waiting for exactly? >> a signal, do we inter? wait on -- do we enter? wait on our time? >> are you ready to fight? >> of course. we're ready. >> are there many gaddafi people in bani walid? >> sure. not all of them are -- >> we have some inside now >> negotiations are continuing but some of the rebels here appear to be losing patience. they stay humanitarian situation in the town is deteriorating rapidly with food and water running out. so the rebels have moved closer to ban been a. their morale is sky-high.

they easily outnumber the gaddafi loyalists and are ready to storm bani walid the minute the order comes through. right now they seem desperate to avoid a blood bath. >> ben brown reporting there. just want to bring you some of the latest news coming to us. saying a large convoy of vehicles has arrived in the area. as many as 200 strong in a northern town. it reportedly had a military escort accompanied by well-armed tribal fighters. colonel gaddafi's head of security crossed into that town with a party of other libyans on sunday. that just coming to us. we will bring you more on that as soon as we get it.

>> you're watching youth day on the bbc. live from singapore and london. still to come on program, bomb threat in sydney. police cordon off an area in the city. >> more now on the independent inquiry which will examine allegations that the british security was complacent while colonel gaddafi was in power. it will be carried out by a retired judge who is investigating whether the u.k. was involved. >> did british intelligence get too lows to their libyan counter-- too close to their libyan counterparts? he said in 2003, just two years after 9/11, there were terror groups in libya allied to al

qaeda. >> they are trying to work for the good of the country to keep us safe. britain should never be complicit in torture and it is very important that we make sure that is the case. >> the allegations were serious. >> given the serious nature of these allegations it is entirely right they should be examined in every detail. >> the task of going through these records over the weekend, they are looking at allegations that terror suspects have been mistreated abroad. >> the unlawful kidnap of people, carrying them across borders and putting them into jurisdictions where it is known perfectly well they will be mistreated. the british government also condemned that. which is why it would be so serious if it turned out that agencies answerable to british government had been engaging in that behavior.

>> david cameron said allegations must be condemned and investigated but his officials accept when fighting terrorism sometimes britain has to deal with regimes that do not share its values. trib investigated. it is not -- it will be investigated. it is not clear when that inquiry will start. >> the headlines at this hour. >> president obama has sent out his plan for fixing the world's biggest economy and called on his political rivals to help him. fire fighters in the u.s. state of texas are struggling to contain a huge wildfire that has already destroyed hundreds of

homes. >> police in australia have closed streets in a sydney suburb after a man entered a courthouse in what they describe as a hostage situation. reports said the man strapped a device to himself and is holding his 11-year-old daughter. we're speaking with a correspondent in sydney. have negotiations started between authorities and the hostage taker? >> the police are not releasing very much information to be honest about this whole incident, which has been going on in sydney for about three hours. it is taking place about 45 minutes west of sydney. we have reports this morning of a man who went into the court building with a young girl, demanded to see somebody in the building. the receptionist said he wasn't there. didn't know this man. the man then asked to see the attorney general because he said he was carrying a bomb in his backpack. it was at that point this emergency began. in the past few moments we have

had pictures of the man appearing at a window wearing what appears to be a lawyer's wig, a barrister's wig. the man is shirtless. plays around with this wig at the window. there is no sign in these pictures of the actual device, if it is a device, if it is a bomb that the man claimed it can be but the police are certainly taking this very seriously, of course just coming a month or so after a similar citizen where an 18-year-old girl had a bomb device strapped to her neck. the court building itself has been evacuated. the streets have also been sealed off because the police are taking this seriously and this is an event that is still going on. >> thank you so much for that update. meanwhile indian prime minister visiting bangladesh today aimed at improving relations.

it is the first visit in 12 years expected to produce keyboarder and trade agreements. joining me is the former head of the bangladesh division of the minister of external affairs. how significant do you think is this visit of an indian prime minister? the first in 12 years in bangladesh? >> this visit could be a real game changer in the troubled relationship between india and bangladesh. if they are able to conclude a boundary agreement, a line boundary agreement then they can on to include the maritime agreement which would then free up both countries to explore more seriously for gas. as well as oil. unfortunately, the decision over the chief minister not to support the shailing of the waters has taken the shine off a

little bit but we hope that that can be smoothed out a little bit later. >> because the prime minister of bangladesh visited india in january of 2010, and from then until today, not much progress has been made on a lot of arrangement between the two countries. you see that significant movement in these -- do you think that significant movement in these agreements will be pushed through? >> they have take an very strong position against -- operating against india, safe havens in bangladesh. they have handed over some of the most senior figures. that has enabled them to have a safe election which returned to congress a large majority. there has been a lot of progress in the transit arrangement and

there is hope there will be some more agreements signed during this visit. on the indian side, i think perhaps we are being slower in the $1 billion credit that was offered to strengthen transport links and we need to get on with that. >> all right. we'll have to leave it there. former head of the bangladesh division of the ministry of external affairs joining us in india. we have more now on the situation o n libya. >> speaking to a professor, an expert on north africa at cambridge university, he explained to me significance of the standoff in the town of bani walid. >> well, i think what you're seeing is an extremely complicated situation emerging. it consists on one hand of remnants of colonel gaddafi's forces who were defeated there and are not willing to give up

the fight partly because they fear they will be killed if they do. associated with them are elements of the tribe, one of libya's largest tribes in support to have regime. but there is an even bigger number of people from the same tribe opposed to the gaddafi regime. that poses great mention the been a band a major problem -- great tension in bani walid. it fears it may actually have to fight. >> colonel gaddafi himself, where do you believe him to be now? >> that is a very interesting question, and in some respects, i think everyone would like to know the answer to that. the latest information i have come across is he is not actually in bani walid. he is to the south of it. somewhere between aljaffra and

an oasis there. he is guarded by forces and has bodyguards. if that is the case, that means there is a major problem ahead for the national transitional council as they will have to chase him around the desert. >> what do you think will be the biggest challenge facing the national transitional council in stabilizing libya in a post-gaddafi era? >> well, i have to say i think there are two major problems. someone trying to restore the economy and the security of the major towns. that really means bani walid and tripoli and the towns around them. -- ben gaza and tripoli and the towns around them. but in a sense, it is not the most important noun that respect. it is going to be -- town in that respect.

it is going to be where the final remnants of the regime lie. no doubt they will do it but it will take a very long time. i think that is going to pose a major security problem and tension for the council over the coming weeks and months. >> now thousands of cubans cued for hours to pay tribute to the late defense minister who died over the weekend of a heart attack. he was a close associate of president raul castro. his death puts a focus on the fragility to have cup's aging leadership -- of the country's aging leadership. >> one of the original revolutionary fighters. his death was marked with full military honors. throughout the day, thousands of cubans of all ages filed past his portrait in the lobby of the ministry of defense. outside the line stretched as far as the eye could see.

julio rigero was a trained accountant who gave up his job in the late 1950's and headed to the mountains to join fidel castro's rebel army attempting to overthrow dictator bautista. he was 75 years old. he was one of the younger leaders in cuba. his death has brought into focus that there is no clear plan for a transition to a younger generation of leaders. president raul castro is 80 years old and so is his number two. if i had el castro who no longer holds any official position, is 85. he has not been seen in public since this appearance in april. congress did elect a number of younger members on to a central

committee of the communist party. that's where many expect cuba's future leaders to come from. after this generation, there are many more ready to continue fighting for the revolution, this man told me. the revolution continues, this woman said. the old led by example, it will be no problem. the changeover is assured. but without a clear line of succession, any future transition may not be as smooth as when raul castro took over from his brother, fidel. >> you have been watching news day on the bbc. >> just a quick reminder of our main news this hour. president obama set out of his plans for fixing the world's biggest economy calling on his political rivals to help him. thanks for watching.

see you again soon. >> 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.

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