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>> hello and welcome. >> the headlines this hour. damage control, the u.s. promises of full investigation after disturbing photos are published involving american soldiers in afghanistan. >> that behavior that was depicted in those photos absolutely violates both are regulations and more importantly, our core values. >> members of the u.s. secret service leave the agency following a scandal involving prostitutes in colombia. >> abortive competences lawmakers expressed outrage over his alleged lavish lifestyle. and the battle against breast cancer. a break through study could change the way it is treated. >> is to in the morning here in london.

this is newsday. -- it is 2:00 in the morning here in london. >> hello and welcome. the timing could not have been worse. just days after a major military attack in kabul, and as nato ministers discussed their withdrawal strata, pictures of american soldiers posing with the body parts of afghan suicide bombers are published in america. the images appeared in the "los angeles times" the spot request not to publish them. >> the photographs are graphic. american soldiers pose with the dead body of an afghan fighter. the paper said it has 18 photographs, all relating to a single platoon. the incidents took place two years ago. the obama administration has been swift to condemn it.

it violated american rules and core values. >> this is war. and i know that war is ugly, and his co-pilot. and i know that young people sometimes caught up in a moment -- and is violence. sometimes make foolish decisions. i am not excusing that. i am not excusing that behavior. but neither do i want these images to bring further injury to our people or to our relationship with the afghan people. >> the american military's reputation in afghanistan is on the line. january, a video on the internet showed marines urinating on the dead bodies of afghan insurgents. in february, violence corporate jet erupted after the burning of

korans at a u.s. airbase. all isolated incidents, all damaging in their own way, but the administration says its strategy in afghanistan is clear. the latest episode is ugly and embarrassing, but is unlikely to change much. >> as the u.s. military deals with this latest setback, nato ministers are maintaining the war is still on track. there are hopes afghan -- it fears that holds afghans may be able to assume control may be unrealistic pierre >> here in eastern afghanistan, this u.s. bases being torn down and returned to the desert. it is the biggest base to close yet. the soldiers doing the job have to lay down their weapons, stop patrols, and get their hands dirty. it means the soldiers here are less of a deterrent to the taliban and more distant from

the afghan people. >> it is sad to see this key training go, however i am confident we will be just as effective, if not more effective, once this is gone. >> that have disabled 70,000 vehicles. the afghans do not have the ability to keep it going. the battle here is moving from the south of the country to the east. the bite is becoming harder rigidified is becoming harder for the men of this company could have fewer soldiers. by october, one-third of the american forces will have gone home. the british soldiers will be hard on their heels. there is an even greater problem, the relationship between president karzai and his

nato allies is disintegrating. it is characterized by threats, insult, and deep mistrust. the collapse in the partnership may be an even greater threat to this nation than the taliban who roam the hills behind me. a weariness has set in here. hope and ambition are on the wane. the soldiers remain focused on the fight in front of them. they know that the american public has turned its back on this war. >> when i go back, the people i hang out with, they do not really ask me about the war because they do not know. they might even be shocked that there is a war still going on. there is a disconnect back in the states. that is what i have seen. >> this beshear may now be at odds with itself. nato troops have to do three things, battle the taliban, reduce ordinance, and train

afghans. the soldiers only have to do one thing, and that is fight. >> the u.s. secret service has ordered three agents to leave their jobs following an alleged incident with prostitutes in colombia. other aides are on administrative leave. an official -- >> this was a mixed group of secret service agents and uniformed u.s. military personnel who had gone to cartagena in the days leading up to barack obama's visit there. he arrived last friday night for the summit of the americas which took place last weekend. it is lead set a week ago, these men went out to strip clubs and then went back to the hotel with then at the secure perimeter, the american area, the hotel

where many government officials were staying. it is alleged they went back to that hotel with around 20 women who were said to be prostitutes. one of them telling her story to the new york times, an unnamed 24-year-old escort is said she got into a route with one of the americans who had agreed to pay her for her services, then tried to lower it the next morning. that is how the scandal began. >> if true, this is highly embarrassing for the obama administration. it is not really surprising that some of the agents have had to leave. >> the surprising thing about it is the director of this -- remember, there were 11 secret service agents withdrawn from that summit, plus the 10 members of the u.s. military. while the investigation is going on, director sullivan is telling us that three of them are going

to lose their jobs, two of them supervisors, and one who is being allowed to retire. but third ward jr. secret service agent has resigned. the point of all that -- a third more junior secret service agent has resigned. they want to show barack obama that they are taking decisive action and they can clean up their own house. >> the norwegian killer, anders breivik, has made a surprise statement after his latest court appearance. >> he claimed that the best penalty was a full acquittal, the logical outcome of his killings of 77 people. he faces 21 years in jail. norway does not have capital punishment. on the third day of his trial, he was questioned over claims that he was linked with other far right extremists. matthew price is in oslo. >> under tight security, they

drove him to court this morning. as a country held its breath, waiting for more revelations. it is impossible to know what is going on behind the eyes of anders breivik. hard to see if the evil he carried out of him. whether he is it is whether he hears the screams of those he killed. he maintains that his horrific attacks came after he joined a network of like-minded nationalists. the police here doubt such a network exist, but breivik insists he attended a meeting in the u.k. and which some english nationalist were also present. under cross-examination today, he said anyone could do what i did. he spoke of nationalist training sessions that would deal with everything from rhetorical strategies to production of bombs. but as the prosecution tried to expose his real involvement with other nationalist, he countered,

saying your purpose is to shed doubt on whether the network exist. at times, anders breivik appeared irritated with the line of questioning today. prosecutors simply do not believe that he is part of a wider net worth. he sat in his chair, fiddling with his pen, and complained that he was being ridiculed. his answers were often contradictory and confused. breivik posted this on the internet before his attacks of images from an organization called the knights templar. is this a fantasy? one sociologists had this to say. >> when he puts on his uniform, he is no longer the loan, slightly unsuccessful gunmen from the west end. -- slightly unsuccessful a young man from the west in.

>> tomorrow, anders breivik is likely to answer questions about the bomb attack in oslo. he has told the court that there are only too desirable outcomes to this trial. he should either be acquitted course sentenced to death. matthew price, bbc news, oslo. >> the american television presenter at dick clark, who show "american bandstand" has died at 82. he was a longstanding host of the annual new year's eve broadcast from times square in new york. >> the united states has expressed concern as a white house spokesman described the insincerity of the syrian authorities regarding the cease- fire agreement. at this video shows government snipers firing at the crowd in a

damascus suburb. activists said that dozens of people have died in the latest showing up opposition areas in central syria and in the north. can you describe the situation as it is right now? >> birds, in the damascus suburb scott -- first, that was not a crowd, that was a group of protesters. about eight hours ago, [unintelligible] the city has had severe shelling today and the day before yesterday. people are watching the situation. the government are watching the situation.

they are shelling buildings, on crowd, on people that have nothing to do with the revolution. on babies. snipers are shooting babies. today over 16 people have lost their lives. under instructions from the syrian regime. they have nothing to do with the revolution. they are just sitting inside their house. they are being shot in from their families. two of them were killed through a severe shelling on the building, inside their homes. young babies. this is happening daily in syria.

over 33 villages and cities reject four of them are being severely shelled constantly, throughout the whole day. buildings are destroyed. people were slaughtered for no reason. the government is giving more time to kill. over 13,000 innocent protesters have been killed in the past one year and one month. even animals are tied up and tortured and killed. >> what you want from the international community? >> i am going to say now, we ask for a long time ago, a couple of months ago.

we want international -- we want the government to go into syria and see what is happening. we want international intervention. thousands of people have lost their lives. over 300,000 people were killed just for their political opinions. [unintelligible] we want action. we do not just want words. people are dying. babies are being killed. women are being raped. >> thank you very much for sharing your thoughts from an area that activists say is being shelled in syria. >> you are watching newsday on the bbc, live from singapore and

london. less than 100 days before the london olympics gets under way. >> let's take a quick look at what is making front-page news from the world. the first rounds of the french presidential election is just days away. one in four voters is still undecided. spain's king juan carlos after his televised apology for going elephant hunting in botswana where he broke his hip. the paper says the fiasco has shocked spaniards, given the hard times many are experiencing due to the economic crisis. the potential times looks at the imf global financial stability report, which warns that european banks are set to drastically shrink their balance sheets, which could jeopardize economic growth in europe and beyond. the unprecedented move by hsbc in london to issue bonds denominated in the chinese yen

is a sign of the u.k. ambition to become a leading business center, says the south china morning post. those are the papers from around the world. >> this is newsday on the bbc. >> our headlines this hour, the u.s. and nato have condemned the actions of american soldiers who were shown in photographs with the remains of suicide bombers in afghanistan. >> the u.s. secret service has said three agents are to leave their jobs following alleged involvement with prostitutes in colombia. breast cancer is not one disease but 10 different diseases, according to an international study. the categories are identified to help tailor and drugs for patients reset by breast cancer.

it could take up to three years cause breast cancer is different for everyone it affects. now looking inside individual cells, scientists have established that those differences add up to least 10 distinct types of the disease. at the cambridge research institute, they analyzed almost 2000 different breast cancer tumors and track the progress of the disease in each woman enrolled. this is a completely different way of looking at breast cancer. it goes right inside the molecular structure of the tumor. each of these represents an individual gene and is the difference in the way those genes the hague that enable scientists to identify these 10 different types of breast cancer -- the way these genes behavior. this is how the differences between the tumors look, map with colored bar codes. it is dotted permission that

will change patients' lives just yet, but it has enormous potential for the future. >> for some women, we are identifying groups with such good prognosis that we could spare them therapy because they might not benefit from it. in contrast, there are others whose current treatments are very poor, and therefore we should target those women for novel treatments. >> taking her daily cancer medication commodore ian jones is one of those involved in the trial. she has responded well for treatment, but it does not work for everyone, which is why it more effectively target of treatments are needed. >> in the future, there will be held for a lot more people. i am so glad i was part of it. >> there have been huge a advances in cancer treatment over the last few decades. these findings are being described as another landmark moment. >> we will effectively from tomorrow start designing

clinical trials to look at these new subsets so that we can come as quickly as possible, determined for each of these different subsets which treatments they should be getting. >> that could mean a revolution in breast cancer care, which could translate into new treatments for other cancers, too. jane hughes, bbc news, cambridge. >> preparations for the london olympics games have entered the final stretch. wednesday marked 100 days to go until the opening ceremony. there is a small display at kew gardens of 20,000 flowers fashioned in the shape of the famous olympic rings. david was there for the celebration. >> the idea that there are just 100 days left before london host the olympic games will seem to many athletes around the world, to many organizers based.

london, where frighteningly short time. i am on the street with someone who knows all about that sort of preparation. he is a triple jump gold medalist world record holder. 100 days is nothing, is it? >> it is nothing at all. i can remember during interviews of 200 days ago on the border of the olympic park. i cannot believe it was only 200 days to go. the next 100 days will fly by. we have the torch relay coming up in a few weeks. there is still a huge amount to do, and the world is watching. >> a lot of people in britain are still watching. in times of economic hardship, $15 million is the overall cost. that is a ridiculous amount to pay. how do you persuade those people that is not, it is worthwhile?

>> 7.5 billion pounds, at a time when things have been very difficult, and has actually been good for the u.k. we would have been struggling had we not had the olympic games. across the u.k., and has not just been in london. >> atoll for london is, as is often the case, about providing something for the next generation, about legacy. that is the hardest thing to achieve, isn't it? >> it is. what has happened, the transformation of the east end of london, has been breathtaking. you have new housing, new schools, new health facilities, sports facilities. i think that will be the jewel in the crown of legacy. a huge amount is happening

within schools across the country. many projects, getting young people involved in sports. i think it will have a very positive legacy to tell. >> we have not quite gone to the games yet. just working out a time line from london was awarded the games back in 2005. if you converted that into a 100 meter race, we would now be four meters from the finish line. that is how frightening it is. >> hongkong legislative council is meeting for a vote of confidence on the outgoing leader. taking a closer look at what is behind the vote in february, details emerged in hong kong media of a luxury trip to macau on a businessmen's yacht that has led to calls for an investigation of corruption.

he said he paid for the trip. now he faces a confidence motion, the first such vote since the hong kong handover. let's get more from our correspondent in hong kong. how much of an embarrassment is it? >> it is terribly embarrassing. as you mentioned, he faced lawmakers and he was shouted at for a couple of hours, as the lawmakers demand to know details of the trips he has taken, what he has done, who he is friends with, whether or not he received any favors from these tycoons. there is a lot of concern at the moment in what appears to be collusion between politicians and the tycoons, especially property developers. there is concern that hong kong, which prides itself on having a

squeaky clean civil service, may be edging ever closer to make mainland style protocol system where the two are very close. so it is very embarrassing, at a time when he is leaving and hoping to polish his image. >> briefly, how likely is this confidence motion to pass? >> this is the first time the chief executive of state has faced a motion like this, and it is not likely to pass. he has already essentially been tried in the court of public opinion and he has already lost. >> thank you so much for that update. thanks for joining us on bbc news day. >> i am kasia madera in london. thank you very much for joining

us. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/ne >> funding was made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, union bank, and shell. >> this is kim, about to feel one of his favorite sensations. at shell, we're developing more efficient fuels in countries like malaysia that can help us get the most from our energy resources. let's use energy more efficiently. let's go.

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