>> "bbc world news" is presented by kcet, los angeles. funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. the john d. and catherine t. macarthur 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." >> was she killed by the people trying to rescue her? questions over the botched u.s. operation to save the british hostage in afghanistan. of the lab and into the hospital. the first medicine based on the stem cells of embryos. the rescue of the trapped miners in chile could begin as early as tomorrow. my name is mike family embly. microsoft unveils its latest bid to dominate the world. joan sutherland dies age 83. we look back at the life of "la

stupenda." president obama and the british prime minister had agreed to cooperate to establish how the kidnapped british aid worker died in afghanistan during a botched rescue by american special forces. linda norgrove died last friday. david cameron has revealed a fragmentation grenade set off by rescuers may have been the cause of death. frank gardner has this report. >> was linda norgrove's death last friday preventable? claim she was killed by her captors may be wrong. david cameron took an awkward

phone call from nato commanders in afghanistan and broke the news from -- to the public. >> general petraeus has revealed evidence that linda may not have died at the hands of her captors as originally believed. that evidence and subsequent interviews with the personnel involved suggest that linda could have died as a result of a grenade detonated by the task force during the assault. >> u.s. officers in kabul insist they had no choice but to rescue ms. nogrove. in the failure is weighing on the prime minister. >> i will go over in my mind 100 times whether it was the right decision. i believe it was given everything we knew about linda's triple situation, having been taken hostage. >> an elite forces team unsalted a hideout where her captors had hidden her.

the province where she was held is one of afghanistan's most rugged provinces. the u.s. military has been operating there for years, so the mission was given to them. the decision to go ahead was taken by the british embassy in kabul, signed off by david cameron and william hague. what led up to the spilled rescue attempt? the aid worker was taken hostage with her afghan colleagues on september 26 while driving to the opening of a new canal. british and u.s. intelligence tracked her down to the valley in east kunar province. because of fears she might be moved into pakistan, a rescue mission was authorized october 8. the next day, it was announced that her death in that mission was being blamed on her captors. now there is a full-scale u.s./british investigation headed by a u.s. major general who will look at their real

selves valence predict and take testimony -- look at aerial surveillance data and take testimony from all members of the team. to lose your daughter is a body blow for anyone. to not know how she died may be harder still. >> american scientists are reporting the most important step toward new medicines based on the embryonic stem cells. so far, research has been restricted to the laboratory, but trials on humans have begun. there are years of testing ahead, but it could mean revolutionary treatment for spinal injury. this is from our correspondent fergus walsh. >> these are stem cells derived from a human embryo smaller than a pinhead and grown into an endless supply of nerve cells.

for the first time, they have been injected into a spinal cord patient. >> embryonic stem cells are the most potent known. they can make all the 200 different cell types in the body. if this therapy is successful, which may take five to 10 years, we will be able to manufacture at the scale we need. >> in most spinal injuries, the court is not injured, but the protective coating of nerve cells is damaged, causing them to short circuit. in nearly paralyzed patient was injected with embryonic stem cells in the hope these might start to decode the nerve cells. in animal trials, paralyzed rats regained some movement. >> this is a basic science lab. >> last year, i visited labs in california where the embryonic stem cells were created. the companies involved are highly upbeat about their long- term potential for treating a host of diseases.

>> what stem cells promise for a heart attack, a stem -- a spinal injury, or diabetes, is you go to the hospital and receive these cells, then go home with a repaired or been. >> the first six final patience will receive only tiny amounts of embryonic stem cells to test the safety. no one can be sure the therapy will work at all in humans. but patient groups and scientists are eagerly awaiting the results. fergus walshy, bbc news. >> the palestinian minister has rejected an offer from the israeli prime minister to freeze settlement building in return for recognizing israel as a jewish state. they have said this would discriminate against 20% of the population which is not jewish. negotiations have faltered since the previous low down on settlement activity expired. police in hungary have arrested

the boss of the aluminum plant at the center of last week's chemical spillage and nationalized the company. eight people have died and there are fears of a fresh lake. the newest art installation at the tate modern is 100 million fake sunflowerseed, each ham made in porcelain and hand painted. the chinese artist had 1600 people working for 2.5 years to make them. visitors will be allowed to walk all over them. in chile, the first test has been carried out. it will be used to rescue miners who have been trapped underground for two months. the mining minister say the test went well. the capture was lowered 600 meters, slightly above where the miners work, without any problems. rescue teams decided not to send the capsule all the way to the minors just yet. >> it went down 610 meters, 12

major short of where the miners are. the mining minister was joking we did not go all the way around because one of them might want to jump on board. of course, they are not ready yet to take them up. they are logistically almost ready but they want a medic to go down to talk to the minors first, check them out, and decide who gets to go first and last. what is happening is a buildup of anticipation here in the camp, in this sprawling media caravan. it is an extraordinary marriage of digital technology and the world interest in this amazing human drama. probably by tomorrow midnight, or soon afterward, once the president has come back again -- this has turned into a political drama as well -- we can expect the first miners to come up, obviously to a rapturous applause. >> this might be unfair given all they have been through, but

there is cynical speculation there is jockeying for position over who comes up last. whoever is down there last will have a world record. >> there is a bit of that. to be honest, when they first started talking about the pecking order of who comes up first and last, there was an understanding that the shift leader at the time when the miners were down there on august 5 would be the last to come up. i gather that is still going to be the case. there has been a bit of jockeying not just for the pecking order of coming up but for what happens to them once they are back on planet earth, on the surface. that jockeying has taken place amongst the families. the families are beginning to disagree with each other about just what happens to their celebrity interviews and all the money that will inevitably come down this mountain and engulf these minors.

they themselves are in agreement about most of this stuff. they have decided, according to one report, that they will do everything together. they will write a book together. some of the families want it differently. that is hardly surprising. there is family politics involved as much as national politics. we are talking about 33 different families. you can expect quite a lot of that, i would have thought. >> matt frye at the san jose mind. the british ambassador to south korea has told us that food shortages in the country are causing chronic malnutrition, despite a celebration marking the 65th anniversary of the ruling workers' party. -- the british ambassador to north korea. >> in a city where there is nothing much to do, even a flower show can draw a crowd. today was a holiday in p'yongyang. we found people in joining it.

it honored their leader kim jong il and his father, kim il-sung, the dead but eternal president. flowers were named after them. >> this is a flower named after the great leader. this is the flower named after the great leader kim jong il. >> p'yongyang, the country's showcase. there are still signs of shock. women are scrubbing the streets by hand or digging for roots in a public park, a hint that some do not have enough to eat. the view is blocked by the government. the problem we have working here is that it is so difficult to get a real understanding of what is going on in the secretive state. our movements are restricted. we are accompanied by government minders at all times. that makes it impossible to talk with ordinary people. even when we give our minders

the clips, some we try to talk to are still uncomfortable. >> do you like that? >> if you are more brave, happy to pose for pictures. but nothing more. the british ambassador says what you see in the capital is only half the story. >> you have to separate the city from the rest of the country. this city is a showcase and people live well here in comparative terms. outside of the city, people have it tough. most of the industries are not working. there are shortages of food. there are people dying of starvation. there is chronic malnutrition. people have a very tough life. >> the cult of personality has served in north korea rulers well. it has helped them keep control. life in the city appears barrel for many. what is happening outside, it is

impossible to know. bbc news, north korea. >> stay with us if you can on bbc world news. still to come, and this is russia's latest secret weapon. is it just a load of hot air? we will reveal all. first, a greek police officer has been given life in prison for the murder of a schoolboy in athens two years ago. this prompted widespread rioting. civil unrest followed the death of the 15-year-old and went on for two weeks. it was the worst increase for decades. we have a report from malcolm brabant. >> this closes the darkest chapters in greece's recent history. the murder in 2008 ignited the worst social unrest in 40 years, with riots lasting for three weeks.

the court imposed the maximum sentence on the special guard, the elder of the two defendants, who was described by the victim's family as a monster and the rambo of the rebellious district of athens where the shooting happened. the family of the schoolboy has welcomed the conviction. during the trial, and the defense painted the teenager as a troublemaker, but the family believes his memory has now been restored. the verdict is a relief for greece's socialist administration, which is trying to keep social unrest to a minimum as it imposes stringent austerity measures aimed at reducing the country's financial meltdown. the anger and resentment of young people, which contributed to the riots in 2008, is still bubbling beneath the surface. the so-called december uprising was also a protest about low wages and poor employment prospects. since the austerity measures

were introduced, the minimum wage has gone down further, and unemployment among the under-30 has gotten worse. the frustrations of greece's youth has remained a powder keg which authorities ignore at their peril. bbc news, athens. >> the latest headlines for you on bbc world news this hour. the british aid worker, linda norgrove, may have been accidentally killed by u.s. special forces trying to rescue her in afghanistan. the first official trial using the embryonic stem cells for clinical treatment has begun in the united states. in the race for the funkiest smartphone, microsoft has made its first full-scale response to apple's iphone, google's android, and the blackberry. they have unveiled the windows

found 7 operating system, rebuilt to be more user unfriendly. >> still on more than 90% of desktop computers, the windows logo represents microsoft's dominance. all the action and innovation in computing has moved to mobile phones, and it is a different story. microsoft may dominate the desktop, but when it comes to smart phones, there are a host of rivals from apple through google who have raced away with the market. phones using windows mobile phone operating system have just by% of the market -- have just 5% of the market. here is microsoft's latest attempt to stake a claim in the mobile world. steve ballmer unveiled windows phone 7, promising this was designed to the light users. the new system look simpler and

more attractive than its predecessors, but there is a huge amount at stake. as one senior executive admitted. >> this is really important to us, the future of the internet. it is increasingly mobile and we want to be a serious player on that platform. >> with rivals like apple and google so far ahead in the smartphone stakes, microsoft needs to prove it has something special. [no audio] at the london launch event, there was a coup when actor stephen fry, previously a huge apple fan and microsoft detractor, turned up to praise the windows phone. >> my first feeling was that it was just fun to play with, and i know that is childish, but isn't that how you think of cars and many other things we spend our lives doing? is it fun to drive? >> michael's manage to get big manufacturers like samsung to build launch phones.

its rivals will not stand still. the smartphone wars are about to get even more intense. bbc news. >> moving to toys on a bigger scale, the new queen elizabeth cruise liner has been officially named by none other than britain's queen elizabeth. it is 72 years since her mother and launched the first queen elizabeth. >> under a brilliant blue october sky, and the fanfare for the queen in the shadow of another queen. a 400 million pound addition to the cunard fleet, with personal links to this does occur. >> the royal mother and her children pass beneath the towering skyscraper. >> when princess elizabeth stood beside her mother at the launch of the first step -- first ship to bear the name, it was the

largest passenger vessel ever built. her transatlantic crossings attracted the world's most famous faces, on board to simple luxury and personal attention. >> i used to sing songs in the shower, but not the words you and i know. visit offered an experience which is not available to the young princess. there have been many tours of many ships. this one was crammed with reminders of other maritime encounters. the launch of the qe ii, which would sell 6 million miles and transport 6000 troops to the balkans conflict. this ocean giant took shape in an italian doctor. britain has not built a passenger vessel of this size since the 1970's. but today's sendoff was british

through and through. >> i name this ship queen elizabeth. may god bless her and all who sail in her. >> memories of that first ceremony in 1938, and a changed world. cunard have no more ships in order for their u.k. operation. this one may be the last of her kind. bbc news, southampton. >> pavarotti said she had the voice of the century. dame joan sutherland said many fans would not disagree. the opera soprano and died in switzerland at 83. we look back on her life. [singing] >> joan sutherland singing "lucia di lamamour."

the performance had a 19-minute standing ovation. she had grown up in sydney, where her mother encouraged her to sing. she thought she would be a wagnerian soprano. >> i would sing duets and trios and so on. i was not trained by my mother. she said she never taught me. but she was a great singer herself and i listened to her. i cannot remember when i cannot -- when i did not listen to her sing and imitate her. >> it was her husband and manager, a concert pianist, who encouraged her to sing the leiter, higher roles which best suited her voice. [singing]

soon, she was appearing at all the world's top opera houses, performing show we coloratura bel canto roles in 18th and 19th century operas. >> i had such help. i would never have made the standard of anybody asking me to do "blue chia -- luci." >> the italians dubbed her "la stupenda." the main stock. her repertoire was immense. she could sing 54 leading roles by composers as various as handle, puccini, and verdi. she was modest and likable. the very opposite of a spoiled prima donna. >> she was more a comedian

because she has a wonderful sense of humor, always laughing at everything. it was all a laugh and a giggle. life was fun. >> her final public performance came 15 weeks from her death. [singing] >> joan sutherland dead at 83. the russian military is using an inventive way to deceive an enemy and save money at the same time -- in flexible weapons. they look like real ones but are easy to transport and deploy come from tanks to entire radar stations. all can be blown up in a constructive kind of way. >> the russian army has always been proud of its hardware, but modern warfare is not just about firepower. it is about fooling the enemy.

that is why the russians have developed this strategic weapon. not only is it easy to assemble and quick to deploy, you do not need any ammunition. just air. presenting the inflexible russian tank, prove that the russians have decided to blow up their own armed forces. it is not only tanks. there are floating rocket launchers to, like this one -- too, like this one, a cross between a missile silo and a bouncy castle. it tricks imaging systems and radar into thinking they are real. there are so lifelike they have their own site. -- they fooled their own side. >> he ran up and ordered us to lower our rocket. he refused to believe it was a

dummy because intelligence reports indicated it was loaded and ready to fire. >> what this incredible lax in firepower in more than makes up for inflexibility. it is easy to move around. the best thing is the price tag. it is 100 times cheaper than the real thing. >> russia's inflexible armed forces are stitched together outside moscow by an army of seamstresses. these women used to make hot air balloons. producing dummies for the military feels much more patriotic. she is selling an s-300 missile launcher. >> i am proud to be making in tire tanks and rocket launchers for our army. it is wonderful. >> there is just one problem. if you run out of puff, all those heavy weapons turn quickly into light artillery. bbc news, moscow.

>> we have much more for you on bbc.com, printer, and facebook as well. thanks for watching. >> hello and welcome. >> see the news unfold, get the top stories from around the globe and click to play video reports. go to bbc.com/news to experience the in-depth, expert reporting of "bbc world news" online. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. and union bank.

>> union bank has put its global financial strength to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> there is one stage that is the met and carnegie hall. >> o, that this too, too solid flesh -- >> it is the kennedy center. >> check, one, two. >> and a club in austin. >> it is closer than any seat in the house, no matter where you call home. >> the top of the world, and i'm there, i'm home. >> pbs -- the great american stage that fits in every living room. your support of pbs brings the arts home. >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles. presented by kcet, los angeles.