>> this is "bbc world news." funding for this presentation is made possible by greemgreem -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, and anvar yunusmetov. >> at ubaldo jimenez, our relationship amongers use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you?

>> and now, "bbc world news." >> president obama demands a full investigation into the killing of an unarmed black teenager in florida. >> all of us at are -- as americans are going to take this with the seriousness is deserves and get to the bottom of what happened. >> a russian banker is under guard after a suspected assassination attempt. thousands of welcomed the pope to mexico. he has begun his visit. hello and welcome to "bbc news." broadcast on pbs in america and around the world. on this program, hunting the taliban in a capsule. paula comes face to face with the men who raise funds for the militants. >> we are on our way to find

out more about how the militants make money here. it is not easy to track them down, and this meeting is risky. >> hello and welcome once again. president obama has described the shooting of an unarmed teenager in florida has a tragedy that needs to be investigated urgent hi. 17-year-old trayvon martin was killed by george zimmerman, a neighborhood volunteer, who claims he acted in self-defense. >> near miami, pupils walked out of school to protest. in new york they gathered in the hundreds. in virginia there was a vigil. and at a mass rally in the town where the shooting happened, a civil rights leader expressed the anger felt right across the

state, that any black teenager could have been a target. >> trayvon could have been any won of us. trayvon represents a reckless disregard for our lives that we have seen too long. and we come to tell you tonight enough is enough. >> president obama said america needed to do some soul serving. he identified with the dead boy's family powerfully and personally. >> if i had a son, he would look like trayvon. i think they are right to expect that all of us as americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves, and that we are going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened. >> trayvon martin was shot walking to his father's house in a neighborhood by george zimmerman, who told enables he

was following a suspicious black man. neighbors called emergency services as they had a struggle. >> what is the nature of your call? >> gunshot. >> he said he shot in self defense, legal under florida law, and they accepted his word. the church has become the center of the protest. >> he had children. i think there was a feeling of compassion there. >> if he didn't speak, what would we say as a people? our president not even getting involved in a situation where this is not just for here. this is global. >> america's first black president rarely speaks about race. it has such potential to cause problems. dedicating this monument and praising the civil rights movement is about all. it is potentially explosive,

but the. has decided to speak out about what it means to be black in america today. the risk and the rarity add to the power. "bbc news," washington. >> a wealthy russian bank ser in a coma after being shot several times. he was attacked as he entered a block of flats in a business district on tuesday. police are treating his shooting as an attempted murder. our correspondents at metropolitan police headquarters in scotland yard has more. >> he may not be a well-known figure here in the u.k., but in russian he is a high profile banker who has run banks in russia and muldova. he was a witness in the investigation into the assassination of another banker in moscow in 2009. now tonight scotland yard is saying it is far to early to

connect that event. this investigation is being treated as gang related, and executives here are talking to their counterparts abroad. right now they are looking for a tall white man about six feet tall seen running from the scene of the crime. >> he does say the role as a key witness to that attempted murder in moscow could be linked to this attack. >> he was a key witness in a very important criminal case connected to the attempted assassination of a russian leading banker, alexander antonov, the father of the person who owns a football club. this case was reopened. it was closed in 2009, but it was reopened on march 2 this

year. so he was actually a key witness in a very important investigation where more facts have surfaced and more names have been named as people behind that attempted assassination. so we may conclude that it has something to do with this investigation. it is difficult, obviously, to say now how this investigation is going to develop, but i suspect that the british police are in close contact with the russian police. the russian police obviously do have certain facts that the british police would like to know and maybe even help in finding this person. but what is important is that he has been saying publicly through his lawyer, which was in the papers in russian, that he knows of people who might have been linked to this attempted assassination. so we might conclude that it has some sort of a link with this attack on him. >> the european naval force operating off the horn of

africa has been given a new attack policy, allowing to attack pirate botas on land. they have the authority to attack somali pirates on beaches. they are the official in charge of counterterrorism operations says the leader of the rebel resils ands army has three choices, to surrender, be captured, or be neutralized. >> video footage has been released of the apartment of mohamed merah, who shot several people. the police stand off services ended in his death. the police are being criticized. >> these are the first pictures of the apartment where mohamed merah barricaded himself in for 32 hours.

on the walls, evidence of the gunfight that raged here. he had been hit by 20 bullets. police forced to justify why they didn't capture him alive. >> imagine a flight set up like an assault course. furniture was turned over to allow him to hide. he shot up all my staff. i gave the order not to use firearms. we tried to shock him with grenade. he chose his own destiny. >> it is not just the police who are on the defensive. the intelligence services are under pressure, too. many in france are now asking how is it that a moon who had been under intelligence surveillance, who traveled to afghanistan and pakistan and was on america's no-fly list was able to amass a large cash of weapons and kill seven

people? >> there was no information enabling us to apprehend mohamed merah. we don't have the right in a country like ours to do permanent surveillance without judicial order on someone who has not committed crimes. >> people gathered for a rally in the main square, and there was a mint silence. there may be relief here that the killings are over, but that is not all they are feeling. >> to lose a usually quiet city , is in pain, sorrow and who are owe. >> as if more evidence was needed that this was a city on edge, this was the scare -- square later, evacuated so a package could be looked at. >> the wife of the syrian president has been banned from visiting the european union. it is part of a rift of new e.u. sanctions, including the

freezing of assets. because she is a british citizen, she can't be stopped from returning to the u.k. on the ground in sir ra, the violence continues. >> about at least 19 tankersley entered the city of hama. the 4th division of the syrian army entered. they went to the eastern and western sides of hama, and they shelled houses. the army burned many houses there. this came against the regime. we have heard of a clash between the syrian army and some did he effect tors of the army who were protecting people there. electricity is cut in those areas.

what we have seen, and we filmed all of that. we filmed some bodies and corpses left in the street. the humanitarian situation is bad in the street there. is no bread. there are injuries that cannot be treated. field hospitals -- they destroy any field hospitals with its equipment. they have executed people in the streets. they were defectors, and they have been executed on the streets. there were children injured, and some of them were babies injured. all that is documented, and the movement of the tankersley were documented. >> pope benedict has arrived in mexico on his first official visit to spanish-speaking latin america. thousands of people gathered at

the airport to welcome the pontiff who was using his visit to condemn drug violence in the region. our correspondent is there with the latest on the pope's itinerary. >> later on saturday he will be meeting calderon, the president. that is a very important meeting indeed. we have alluded to the key topic between the two men, which is surely going to be the drug violence in this country. 50,000 dead in the past six years. already it has been discussed by the pope before he arrived in mexico, and there is no doubt that that will be at the top of the agenda. after that he will be addressing the faithful from a balcony not far from here. there is expected to be literally tens of thousands of people in this small town. very small streets. there will be a lot of color and a lot of happiness for mexican catholics who have been waiting for the visit for the pontiff since he became pope. >> there is "bbc news." still ahead, out in the open,

australia's $11 million plan to spread the passion for opera. >> in the u.k. the average cost of unleaded gas has hit another high of one pound 40 a liter. it has been caused by the rising cost of crude oil. it is also proof the government needs to reconsider a planned rise in fuel duty this city. the government has been accused of wasting taxpayer money by opening schools in areas not needed. he will tell delegates that the policy of free schools is deeply an unequivocally immoral when schools are facing cuts. the all home buyers now will have to pay a 1% tax when buying property worth more than 15125,000 pounds.

the government has launched a new scheme to help new buyers on the property ladder. >> hello. this is "bbc news." our main headline in hour, president obama has described the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager in florida as a tragedy that needs to be investigated urgently. trayvon robinson was killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer. let's stay with that story. ralph harvey is from the u.k., but he is now living in fort lauderdale tail. i asked him if there were many people prepared to defend him? >> they are in the minority. it is almost uniting people, i think. the racial issue is obvious and well covered, but i think as his parents pointly pointed out, this is about right and

wrong as much as anything, and it is about accountability. of course there are the extremists as always. but generally the people i have been speaking to are absolutely astonished and appalled at what has happened. >> how do you explain why it has taken to long? it was the 26th of february when this shooting happened. >> it was indeed. i think it was because, in a way -- it is a lack of accountant -- accountability in broward cowen and other cowens. in this law, the stand your ground defense has created a huge ambiguity. i think they tried to see if they could get away with it, and you could see that from the duration of time that the chief stayed in there. and even at this point thinks

he is only temporarily detached from his role. i would suggest that is likely a longer term detachment. so it is about accountability. we are naive when we came here, expecting the same kind of quest for truth that we get in britain. i am not saying justice is 100% perfect. there singleton that quest here. >> tell me about this rally that you are attending. who is organizing it? where is it taking place? any special speakers there? >> at the moment there is a rally on monday morning down towards miami gardens. to correct your intro, i am about 20 or 25 miles away from where trayvon lived. there are rallies down there

that are being orchestrated over the weekend. we intend to show part because i have three children myself. what is appalling to us, if you shoot somebody, it is difficult to put their point of view across. this is not what this particular law was about. that is what i will be showing against. >> to pakistan, where there is evidence the taliban are raising millions of dollars by turning to organized crime. our correspondent reports on how the taliban are making inrhodes into pakistan's financial capital. >> night falls in karachi, and it is time to hunt for the taliban. we got rare access to the anti-terror unit who battle the militants. they are muscling in on the karachi underworld. we head for one of their

strongholds. in the lead, a police chief who fights fire with fire. >> we are ready to die for this country, he says. we are not scared of these people. they should be scared of us. >> the raid got results. police arrested a militant without a shot being fired. the suspect is believed to be a bank robber. in this sprawling mega city of 20 million, there are rich pick things for the insurgents. bank houstons, abductions and protection rackets. we are on our way to the outskirts of karachi to find out more about how militants make money here. it is not easy to track them down, and this meeting is risky, but we have made arrangements through a trusted

local contact. >> we met an insurgent who works for the taliban finance department. when the militants come calling, they donate willingly or otherwise. >> we raise about $80,000 a month from students and businessmen. they give freely. we use the money for our wounded and other means. >> behind bars across town, two taliban foot soldiers. they are accused of five abductions. when families don't pay up, hostages don't survive. >> at the police station we met their latest victim, a doctor snatched at gunpoint last month. he was held almost a week before police stormed the militants' hideout.

>> those six days were like 60 years. i couldn't see the outside world from morning until night. when the raid started, they were planning to kill me, but i got away. >> the doctor is now back at work, but he is varying his routine, making his movements less predictable. he knows the taliban could try again. "bbc news," karachi. >> well, it was almost 100 years ago that the polar explorers set out across the antarctic. when his ship sank, he and his team traveled 800 les miles to seek help. >> in the sunlight cloisters of south college in london, a gift one-on-one of the schools most famous old boys. the james cad lifeboat life

safer, looking much as she did when she was carried south on the trance antarctic expedition. it has been reborn to retrace one of history's greatest heroic stories. back in 1915, earnest's expedition went disastrously wrong a year after it set sail. the photographer filmed these images as sburen began to break up in pack ice. forced to abandon ship. 28 men were trapped for six months and facing certain death. the only option was for shackle ton and five other men to attempt the 800 michael journey to a whaling station on south georgia. 800 miles by sea and more than 30 over icy mountains with virtually no equipment. >> with the kit, equipment, food and sustaining yourself in

that environment for that period of time, absolutely phenomenal challenge. >> a challenge that this expedition intend to replicate in every detail. the new vessel renamed after the explorer's granddaughter is a mirror image of the predecessor. the only protection against the elements is a cabinned roof. where are it is difficult to conceive what that journey must have been look. 17 days spent largely below decks in cramps conditions. mountainous he seas, hurricane force winds threatening to tip the boat over. if that happened, they would likely not have survived. they knew had to make it for the sake of their 22 come raid. >> every hour of every day brought danger, especially when it came to wedging a lit primer stove between their feet to

provide hot food and drink. >> this has dried beef in it. you put it in a pan with hot water. you would throw one of these in, one per man three times per day. >> another party reached for the south magnetic pole. >> he remains one of the great heroes. this expedition it a tribute. >> everybody pulling together try to achieve goals against insurmountable obstacles is good. >> no one in this expedition is under any illusions. they, too, may need the will to survive. robert hall, "bbc news." >> the opera is a sensation in many different settings. but the city of sydney is going one step further.

hero is duncan kennedy. >> the tragic love story played out on an open air stage. but this is opera on the ocean. a giant floating platform in sydney harbor across from the iconic opera house. but as this last dress rehearsal showed, open air means open to the elements. there was a frantic effort to sweep the stage and keep it dry. they are trying to sound positive. >> it puts us in a difficult position. >> certainly the crowd didn't seem bothered. >> it was beautiful. the weather was ugly. >> it is disappointing with the weather there. but the chandelier itself -- >> i am amazed at the sound in the open air. >> the giant stage with the chandelier seemed to weather the weather well. >> the challenge is we don't

have any seats so the entire infrastructure of a theater and auditorium had to be inserted. >> it opens on saturday night for a three-week run. an $11 million production that, if all goes well, could become an annual fixture in sydney's cultural life. >> the dazzling production could be seen by 3,000 people a night. and all of it, hopefully under stars, not clouds. "bbc news," in sydney. >> a brief reminder of our main news. president obama has described the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager in florida last month as a tragedy that needs to be investigated

urgetly. you are watching "bbc news." go to our website for more. >> 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. >> at union bank, our relationship managers use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global network to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you?

>> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.