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>> unn bank has put its financial streth to work for a wide rge of companies,from small businesseso major corporations. wt can we do for you? >> andow "bbc world news." at least 95rekilled, hundreds injed in a series of bombs outsid of government bldings in baghdad. security is tight as the taliban threatens more violenc on the eve of elections in afghantan. and we are reporting from libya. welcome to "bbc worl news,"

broadcast onm pbs in america and around the globe. coming up, unlocking the informionaults, the swiss banks agree to give the american authities the names o thousands customers. and theicnic at on the first holes in the in curtain. ello. baghda has seen its bloodiest dasince american forces withdrew fr iraq cities at e end of june. 95 dead, hundds injured, it unrmines the governme's insisten that security is under control. the biggest blastas near t foren ministry, so powerful it damaged buildings inside it.

other truck bomb exploded close to the finance minist. the iraqi prime minister has blamed sunni insurgen and ordered a reviewf security. >> the blast was felt aoss baghdad, a meeting of tribal chie disrupted by the massive explosion. no to terrorism,they chanted. th bomb went off sot -- went fust gets out of the conference hall. it wasesigned to kill and injure oa massive sle. d it did. >> were sitting inhe kitcn when suddenly we were showered with glass from the ndows and doorsere knocked down >> with dozens dead, huneds injured, it was the worst attack baghdad has seen in mohs. therwere at least five other explosions. the government seems to have been a clear target

e got -- the bondjust outside of the ministry of finance destroyed a major road. officials have blamed groups linked to al qaeda for the bombs. the hospitals have been receiving casualty'all day. many of them are injured. thisan ce looking for his other who had be injured i the blast. "our security servicesannot defend us. the suation is getting worse." u.s. troops stopped patrolling streets of baghdad at and other cies acrossraq less an two months ago, and many people here say these attac conrmed their wors fear that without the americs help, there and security serviceare not capable of protecting them. -- their own security svices are no capablof protting them. this was baghdad six year ago, an explosion killing 22 u.n. workers. it was the first large-sce

attack. er the years, itas been followedy many more. not event the heightf the violce have so many people been wounded in baghdad in ju one day. with t number of the dead still rising, everyone here reminded o just how little iraq has changed. more violee in afghanistan on the eve of elections. the tabanas pledged to disrupt the vote and security forces killed three insurgents o had oupied a bank in the capital. >> the police surrou the bank in kabul. taliban fighters have oupied the buildi. a gun battle lves three insurgts and one policeman dead. until recentl thisas a relatively fe haven from the violence. not anore. for no there remain on gh alert, in effect around the

city. curity forces have been deployed elsewhere in the country,oo. what isifficult to quantifys the extento which people will be put off from voting by t security measures and e threats from the taliban. every car and driver is under suspicion. the liban has teatened the police, the government and even voters. hey claim to have ev re fighterseady to attack. now one of the most wanted insurgent aders have spoken to the bbc. he is a former anti-soviet commander an expert minister. we submitte questions. theanswers were giveon camera weeks later warng the fighting will continue til foreign troops pull o. >> my ssage is it the foreign foes are ready to leave our ountry and not insist on occupation, if ty want to end thewar, and look for exit, w

can help. if they insist on continuing the war, we do not have any other way of fighting. >> thounds of civilians have been killed, some from coalition mbs,most fro insurgent attacks likehese people. but they deny responsibility. >> its aaseless claim. there is no truth to it. % of the civilians have bee killed athe hands of the foreigners. they mbed the bridges, mosques,crowded places. the militants these thgs far ay from the villages >> the truth is the violence here affects everyone. afghanisn is scarred by 30 years of war and casts a brooding shadow ov tomorrow's elections. some othertories aund the world, nigeria'central

bank hasamed some of the wealthiest busines people that were responsible for taking the baing system to the bnk of disaster. e list includes m who owe billns of dollars to five nks the governmenwas forced toail out lasteek. eysaid they must pay teir bts or faceriminal charges. it is repted that police and zimbabwe have arrested 10 membe for the movement of democratic change. the circumstanceare still not clear, but the arrests are seen an attempto erode the pition of the party. an investigation has revealed a sha rise in elephant poaching and soh africa. conservation groups are concerned tt the international dend fm ivory is behind it. 98 elephants were lost to poachers in 2008, up from 47 the ye before. south koan officials have

postponed the fit launch of eir space rocket befe liftoff. it is no clear when itill ppen. south korea hes to jn north korea as one of e few ountries t laun a satellite from its own territory. the scottish justice secretary hasade his decision on the fate of the libyan man coicted of the 1998ockerbie bombing. he will annoce thursday whether heill be fed from prison on compassiate grounds. most of the victims were american, and the u.s. administtion opposes any early lease. >> th decision has beade. what ever is, hi fate has r reaching imications. in the last few days, the scottish justice cretary has foun himself at the center of international tug of war. om washington, tre have been pulng hard for the lockbie bombr to remain- for the lockerbie bomber to remained in

il. a m i think it is wrong for hm to be released -- >> i think it is wrong for him to be relsed, baseonevidence of his involvement in sucha horrendous crime. >> in tripoli, the anticipion is growing will be anunced tomorrow his coming home. it woul be an enormous coup for lonel gaddafi on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the revolution that brout him to power on the ont page the triple thpost is an intview with th man's aging not -- aging moth, who awts his return. his form defenseawyer is pleased he may sn be outand says hisormer clients mu remain quiet. >>most important to hims that it be that he is cleared from ts accusation, and he cannot be cleared or considered

innocent if he is not retried. >> you are connced that he was pressured to drothe appeal? >> sure. >> the petrodollars that followed have quickly transfmed the economy. libya has a business proven oil reserves and africa, and everywhere aroun tripoli is evidce of e new money pourg in. since 2007, somef britain's largest companies -- bp, shell, and bg --have been signing new exploration deals. iteems the continued imprisonment briin's the future oil dls. >> they are all here, you name them. the russiansreere. ma no mistake, there is competition. just imagine bp would like to concentrate on what it speciizes in.

>> we re told that the possible transfer was discussed with gordon brown. for both parties, it is a lingering cpter of the old relationship, one that t british governme would lik to arly) but -- one that the british govement would dearly like to close. thswiss banks have agreed to hand over details tomerican tax authorities of over 4000 accot holders and consider reques about clients of oer bank suspected of t fra. this is lely to blow a hole in switzerland's retation for keeping secrets close. >> it was the swiss gornment said clash of jurisdictions. the united stes wted the names of 52,000 citizens believ to have committed tax evasio by hiding their money in it ubsank accounts. this was said at would viate

their client confidentiality. aftereeksof intense negotiations, a de has instruct. not 52,000 names, just 4500 o the st blatant tax evaders. and a costly court se has been avoided. >> we were ae to avoid the legal spute between switzerland and the.s. t general contions were stabilized and we we able to solve the existing threat to ubs. >> the swisgovernment is hailing the agreement as a success. after all, ubs haso hand over less than 10% of bank account details that the u.s. had originallyrequested. neverthele, the idea that a swiss bank is handing over any information would ha been unthinkable a year o. where does the agreement lieve th swisbanking secrecy?

it has beenteadily ering for months. this was agreed last mch to quell. in ces of tax evasion, b the details of ubs evasion on iled, other countries can safely assume that if the, looking foridden tax revenue, switzerland will providehe informatio it is a bighange, but the swiswelcome it. good to have you with us. stay with us. still to come, the latest insights into how life began on earth and where ee. first, taiwan's dense minister has offered to resign in the face of public anger over the slow officialesponse to e typhoon. the ce foreign minister has already spped down. around five of the people he died sincthe storm struckwo weeks ago.

for now, the focus is on recovery and resettlement. >>he grim taskf recovering bodies begs. soldiers g ready to dig out remains at the villagethe worst hit area. ound 400villagers are believed to have been buried by a massive mudsde. der intense public pressure, the prident is also the viage. he listenso victims' retives, upset that their ved ones' bies have yet to be rovered. nobody i happyt the touch here even though it was dangerous locat in th mntain inhe narrow vall, the defense ministeris the latest to take the blame, offering to resign for not sending soldier until the third day of the typhoon.

he governnt says the fus now should be on heing tens of thousands of peopleescued. in some places, there is nothing for them to go back to tire villages are gone,buried in mud reconstructionf daged roads, idges, and homes expected to cost $3 biion u.s. and take as lg as three years. cash donations andrelief suppes are pouring in, including from thailand's foer rival china. r many survivors ad victims' families, tumatized and in decrease, itould take much morehan money and aid t put their liveback together. >>see the news unfold. go to b.com/news to seek pert reporting on line. watch o minute world video summaries.

re the latest headlines. at t top stories from arnd the globe. watch the veo reports. scover more about the subjects th interest you and t issues that the world is talking about right now. go to bbcom/news. the latest headlines -- at lea 95 people havbeen lled, hundreds wounded in a sees of bomb blasts icentral baghdad. targeting high-profile buildings. heavy security in afghastan on the eve o palestinian -- on the eve of nationaelections. the man in charge of meeting the challen, the american coander of nato forces, has told the bbc hislanning radil changes. our world affairs editor reports.

>> speciaforces commander and now the man i chae of the faltering mpaign in afghantan. very much the thinking man's soldier, whos planning to change tngs. to change things in iraq by tracking down saddam husin d catching him, but afghanistan a far tougher proposition. >> t situation iserious an we need tourn the mmentum of the enemy. e afghan people did nolike the taliban it is not popur. we ne to correct some of th ways thawe operated in the past andhow t resolve that will take andmagination to operate smarter d do this right. >> he soon h a chance to show what he meant. we have come tthis town east of kul it has been bad trouble sp. > one of the things, arrting

people witho good information. >> they have becomplaints. the y that made no arrests innocent people who then languied in jail without trial and sometimes for appareny indisiminate bombings -- the y tha made no arrests innocent peopleho then langsh in jail -- the way that na arrests innocenteople. a demo have mad tremends efforts and progress, paicularly in the use of leal fire. >> this is french foreignegion territy. almost exactly a year ago, 10 french soldiers were killed and mutilated near he. t the general midi point walking aund town. -- but the general made it a poin of oking around the wn. it is surpsing, really, to find the cmander of the

inrnational rce can simply walkown the street here thout body armor, admtedly guarded by dozens of afgh and frenchnd american troo. to y the situations serious, are you going to win it? > were. > when? >> thais difficult to predict. i thinkhen we connect to enou of the afghan people where the have fally said enough >> the general hasaid he will give himself two yrs to see if the approach works. it was a decision that picked one of the first polls in e iron curtain. years a, opposition groups in hungary organized a picnic near theorder. it becam knowns thean- european picnic, allowin hundredsf east germans to leave comnist eastern europe.

new carlorp reports from dapest. -- nick thorpe reportsrom budapest. >> happened here in these peaceful meadows. hungy h unoffially pierce the on curtain several months earlier. what hpened here washat ordinary people found a new chink in the curtain and tore big hole. the border guds had not been given new orders. he should have tried stop them. he decided no to. 10,000 people came heren the day of the picnic to press for reunification of europe. but but the easgermans took advantage of the eventto reach austri then west germany. >> what happened here was an important part of the european revolution for eedom, mocracy, coming togetherand

ntinues to shape ourpart of the wor and inspires so many othe parts of the globe. >> after the picnic, it only tookungary three more weeksto oficially opened the full border at auria. the athorities in east rmany, czechoslovakia, and elsewhere were furus but powerless to interfere. once their own peoe could ravel freely, the power collapse today, a single watchtower and eight few rands of barbed wir emain as reminders oougher times -- ana few strands of baed wire remain as reminder of ugher times. its ruggedoastline makes it a favite summer destination, but holidaymakers are being wned to stay away fr certain beach in the french region of northern britain.

tons of potentlly lethal gen aae has swapped ctain ars. one man whonhaled fumes fr the seaweed waseft seriously l. > a single tractor in the sea of green. this mechanic beast represts the only fight against toxic aweed it in places likthis. but i is aosing battle because no sooner it that the greenery is roved. more gws. -- no sooner ist removed that more is able to ow. hexplains how wn the seawee is broken, trapped gases eape which can be not just humans and anims. -- trapped ses escape which

can be poisonous to humans and animals. it wod ago, a hor died from the fumesand the rider wa injured. the incident has highlhted the problem of tic seaweed. but it is not only a new issue. and local man has bn battng agast this for years. enviroentalists believe the unprecented amount of seaweed has be caused by nitrates runng off farmland into the sea. the local mayor ss he is powerless to do anything about that. while many beaches are untainted, residents and local authorities beeve the problem is getting worse and onlthe french goverent can put a stop to the toxic green sludge that is bleing britney. the ameran spacegency nasa discovered compelling evidence tha life may inde exist on other planets. tres of checals essential

for creating life have been found in a dust cloudf a comment millions of les from earth. >> is this h life began on earth 4.billion years ago? back en, our solar system w a dangerous place. plane were bombarde by comets. scientists lieve it brought with them complex chemicals, essential to life. toest this, nasa send a spacecft which passed thugh the dusty ta of one of them anscooped up me of the materi. the stardust spacecra was sent to the very ee of the solar syem 10 years ago. a coected particles from a coat -- from a commt. returned in 2006. since then, scientists have been carefully analyzing the particle now, after all these years, they have the results they ve been waiting for.

>> what we found pieces of the comet or extra trestrial materialthat are the building blocks -- were extra terrestrial materials that are the building ocks of life. they may he helped seedhe pool of material so that life on earth was originad. >> the is lots of evidence we have been hit by comets d steroids in the past. there iso reason to believe other pnets uldot have been hits well. >> it points to th idea that life may be fairlycommonly distributed throu the univse. we have not found any yet, but myunch is it is only a matter of me. the debate is all ki of lfe, how sophisticated, but it does suggest a simple life is widespread. >> if they did give birth to kickart with life, there is a chance ty did elsewre in the galaxy -- if they did giveartj

ha kicstart with life, there ishance they did elsewhere in the galaxy ao. these people are jumping betwn platforms in dog high- speed you turns as part of a moh-long military dri th showcases china's miliry power ahead of tir 60th anniversary before we go, ir's prime minier has ordered a riew of securit after 95 pople were killed and a seriesof bo attacks in bhdad. tnk you for ing with us on "bbc world news." >> funding was me possible by the freeman foundation of ne york, stowe, vernt, and honolulu the newman's n foundation. the john d. and cathere t. macarthur undation. and union bank.

>> union bank s put is financial strength to work f a de range of companies from all businesses to major corporations. at can we do for you? >>'m julia stiles. >> i'm kevin con. >> i'm kim cattll. >> hi, 'm ken burns. >> i'm li taylor. >> i'm henry los gates, jr., and blic broadcasting is my source for news about e world. >> for intelgent conversation. >> for election coverage you n count on. for conversations beyond the sound bites. >> commitment to journalism. >> for deding who to vote for. >> i'm kerry waington, and public broadcasting is my urce for intelligent connectis to community. >> "bbc worlnews" was presend by kcet, los angeles.