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foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, the newman's own foundation, the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, and union bank. >> union bank has put its financial strength to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, bbc world news. >> this is world news today. i'm george alagiah. a special 4 -- a special forces raid to free a journalist in

afghanistan. gunned down in a firefight between his caliban captives and the nato forces. sultan mottaki was working as a freelance translator for the times. we will be asking if local recruits -- recruit enough protection in the war zone. african leaders call for an end of sanctions against zimbabwe. we will ask of robert mugabe has done enough to win a reprieve. a key speech for barack obama on health care. it will have to be good to get his plans back on track. money for the moon. the white house panel says private sector cash is one way out of the funding crisis at nasa. it is 7:00 a.m. in washington, midday here in london, 3:30 in the afternoon in kabul, where the details of a mission to

rescue a new york times reporter and his afghan colleague have raised questions about the role of reporters in war zones. stephen farrell and a local journalist had been kidnapped by the taliban last saturday. in the mayhem of the military operation, the british soldier and the translator were killed. ellen r. wilkinson reports. that this is stephen farrell, a now freed british reporter, rescued last night by a nato forces. a rescue which involved a dramatic gunbattle. during the raid, a british soldier lost his life. his family has been informed. sultan munadi, an afghan journalist working with stephen farrell, also died. the two men were taken on saturday. you can see the shattered glass. they had been in the north of the country reporting on the aftermath of an air strike on

the hijacked fuel tankers. dozens of civilians reportedly died in the attack. on the "new york times" website, stephen farrell described last night's dramatic rescue. he talked about there being bullets all around, and he could hear british and afghan voices. >> hurry up. >> it is not the first time the 46-year-old has been kidnapped. in 2004 he was taken at gunpoint in iraq. >> i was driving on the outskirts of fallujah, with guys wearing masks and scarves, shooting the tire out, dragging us off to a safe haven in the middle of nowhere. after three or four hours, i very much felt unless we mess this up, we have got a good hand to play and we can get out of it because the civilians were journalists. >> it seems stevens carelephen s report on the dangers of

journalists. >> our correspondent chris morris is in kabul. details obviously emerging as we speak. do we know much more about what happened in this raid? >> not a great deal more, george, no. it happened under cover of darkness last night. stephen farrell and sultan munadi were killed that only four days ago. work had been done to discover where they were. a decision had been taken to launch this operation. they were not transferred or sold on from the people holding them perhaps to even more inaccessible locations and perhaps a more hard-line group of insurgents. one of stephen farrell's colleagues said he was held in seven months when he was kidnapped last year. i think there was probably concern to ensure this did not drag on for such a long time. >> obviously stephen farrell is

free and people are very happy, no doubt about that. but his translator, sultan munadi, was killed. are there any questions about the local recruits being hired in this situation? >> well, it is a difficult relationship. many western journalists clearly relied, most western journalists rely on the knowledge and skills of their local colleagues. steven and sultan would have known the risks in a place when there would have been a spike in attacks in the last few months by taliban-led insurgents. this is a long way from the hardline in the south and east of the country. it is up in the north by catholic and stalin. -- by -- it provoked the new air strike -- the nato air strike.

clearly a lot of afghan journalists are dismayed by the death of sultan munadi. it is not the first time that the kidnapping of this sort has ended with a foreign reporter being freed, but sadly his local colleague dying. >> chris, thank you very much. heavy overnight raids in turkey have flooded parts of its biggest city, istanbul. one road connecting the city to the airport was completely underwater, disrupting traffic. the water level rose to two meters in some sections of the highway. dominic cain reports. >> the force of nature -- roadways become raging torrents as some of the suburbs are submerged. in places, the strength of the water overwhelming. in some cases, people rescued moments from disaster. this water, the result of heavy rain overnight across northwestern turkey, and

already the human effect of the flash flooding has been felt. officials saying lives have been lost. when the deluge struck istanbul, it cost two street -- it caused two streets to overflow, causing drivers to abandon their vehicles. this man was separated from his friends, his car seemingly moments from being swept away. his only chance, is desperate leap into the floods. in the maelstrom, he reaches safety. the relief obvious. but some people have not been so lucky. officials say they have already recovered bodies from flooded buildings. >> the sad part is the loss of lives. we do not have the chance to bring them back, but the rescue work is going on. >> with water levels more than 1 meter high in places, the only

way to evacuate some buildings has been from the air. and as the floods in istanbul recede, so rescuers are making grim discoveries. with further heavy rain forecast to the area they may get hit harder still. >> president obama's political fight will take another step forward today, as he is preparing to take another address on health care to both houses of congress on wednesday evening. the president will be seeking to flush out the details of his proposals and answer the criticism he has been too vague to set up his goals. >> it has been a summer of discontent. the opposition to the president's health care reform, following approval ratings, and policy seemingly hanging by a thread. after a break, barack obama can

now that came out confronting his critics. >> what are you going to do? what is your answer? what is your solution? >> pettitte and obama's solution is to extend health-care coverage to every american, 47 million currently have no insurance. but republicans now backing congress have been sharpening their attacks, too, focusing their firepower on the public option. the government run scheme for those who cannot afford private insurance. >> you can call it the government option, a co-op, you can call it a banana. but the fact is is government intervention into the free marketplace. >> most democrats called socialized health-care talks as fear mongering, anxious that the president may be preparing to back down. >> for too many weeks now we have been watching the white

house seeming to be on both sides of the public option that idea. he needs to draw a firm line in the sand, saying i need it, i want it, and i am prepared to fight for it. >> the president's promise to take the poison out of politics has so far come to a little. but his speech to congress will -- in my >> to make sure that people are clear exactly what we are proposing. to make sure that democrats and republicans understand that i am open to new ideas, that we are not being rigid and ideological about this, but we do intend to get something done this year. >> of course barack obama is not just addressing congress. he is also talking to a deeply divided nation. his rhetorical skills have certainly helped him in the past, but the big question tonight is will they be enough to help him turn the tide in this crucial debate.

jonathan beale, bbc news, washington. >> there will be two bbc news special programs covering president obama's speech, at thursday at midnight, and 2:00 gmt. we will have a business record in 25 minutes. jamie is here. will you be talking about greenspan? he has given an interview, hasn't he? what is he planning for the crisis? >> human nature. a lot of play has been thrown at him because people felt that he kept his opinions down too long. there was a housing boom and that -- that he kept interest rates down too long and there was a housing boom that collapsed. behind it he says the room was really the huge imbalance of trade between china and the u.s., but basically the u.s.'s

imbalances. he says the trigger point was very much the subprime housing boom and bust. i think most people would agree that was the trigger point, but he said anything could have done it because there were global imbalances in the system that were going to cause a problem. he says -- >> he says everybody's human nature, but not his own. >> it is the idea, but when you have prosperous times, people become reckless and they speculate. he says that is something you cannot avoid. >> we look forward to that. thank you. this is "world news today." coming up, will the next bend on the moon be privately funded? nasa's search for billions to fund more space exploration. authorities in paris, the french capital, taking an unusual step

in combating swine flu. they have and kissing -- they have banned kissing. >> paris, the city of romance, where everyone is in the mood for love. but all is not well with passion as swine flu spreads rapidly across the country. the french authorities have issued an urgent health warning. kissing spreads germs, and should be avoided. some schools and businesses have no band the traditional pack on the cheek greeting used by everyone from children to the president's. especially presidents. the flu monitoring agency has just announced that france may have as many as 20,000 new cases of swine flu each week. that is disputed by the health ministry, but it's hot line is

still digesting handshaking and caressing should also be off limits. -- is still suggesting handshaking and caressing should also be off limits. office workers had agreed to take many measures to stop the spread of the disease, such as constant hand washing and even wearing masks. many people have been given laptops to work from home in the event of a serious outbreak, but while the french may be happy to give out their desks, they are unlikely to surrender their kissing culture so readily. so are the french simply practicing a harmless social ritual, or are they offering the kiss of death? the government is taking no chances, even recommending keeping a one-meter buffer zone between you and the suspect swine flu sufferers. indigene kirby, bbc news, paris. >> this is "world news today"

from bbc world news. i'm george alagiah. the main headlines -- a nato operation to rescue a poor reporter -- a reporter in afghanistan has killed a british soldier and an afghan journalist. african leaders have called for an end to sanctions against zimbabwe. more now on our top story and the death of an afghan journalist following a nato special forces operation which freed a british journalist working for "the new york times." what are the parameters for reporting in a country like afghanistan? stephen farrell, the journalist who was freed, had travelled to kunduz in the aftermath of the nato airstrike. i am joined by events from the paris organization, reporters without borders. thank you for being with us. should soldiers be committed to mounting this kind of rescue operation when there is a war going on? >> i mean, i guess the decision

to prepare this operation came from the top level of the government, so i think first of all we should pay tribute to the british soldier and the journalist who died this morning. he was a great man, a great individual. we spoke with his colleagues this morning, and they are very shocked and upset by his killing. >> now, you represent all reporters working in war zones. there will be a suspicion, i am sure, in afghanistan, that this kind of raid would not have been mounted had it simply been an afghan journalist who found himself in this position. >> yeah, of course. it is exactly what the afghan journalist told us this morning. it was a british journalist working for one of the most famous newspapers in the world.

they are mad because he was a foreigner. but there is a need for a commitment from the afghan government and international forces to protect the journalists, but officially i think the main responsibility came from the taliban who kidnapped both of them. so this kidnapping strategy by the taliban and groups in afghanistan is putting a lot of pressure on people who want to cover the issues of the killing in the nato bombing. >> but do you think organizations like yours do enough to protect local recruits after all of us that have been out in the field know we would simply not be able to do our jobs without people like sultan munadi? >> there are a lot of things to do. i think the afghan government and all the other countries

should respect its own journalists, has to respect foreign journalists. in afghanistan, we have been monitoring a lot of cases where the police have been treating better the draw -- the foreign journalists and the afghan journalists, so that comes from the government but also the other organizations. they are very crucial to the work, and they should pay a lot of attention on them. it also comes to the point of the training. but most of the local journalists working for them are not -- do not receive the same training. so there is responsibility shared by many people, and the fact that he was killed this morning is a new example of how risky it is for afghan journalists to work for foreign media. >> thank you very much. spain's best no judge, the office are gas own -- balthazar

gaston -- a group has accused him of exceeding his traditional powers. steve kingston joins us. steve, you had better just give us the background to this case first. >> the back story is that around this time last year, judge garzon, one of the most famous public figures in spain -- an investigation into the death of more than 100,000 people has never happened before. garzon was later forced to defend his idea when prosecutors and other judges said it was not within his responsibility to investigate, andhas been a complaint motivated by two far right groups in spain who say that garzon broke the law by trying to investigate the civil war, that he was breaking the

law by demanding historical documents from town halls and government departments, and he should not have done that. he has been brought before the supreme court to explain himself. >> there is a lot of the judicial process to go yet. what is the public reaction? >> there is a huge feeling about this civil war issue, seven decades long. garzon is a divisive figure, but certainly international human rights and legal groups are aghast that the man paying attention to investigating atrocities is himself being forced to justify his actions in court. there are a lot of people at the supreme court who lost relatives during the war, who never found out what happened to those people, presumably murdered. to them garzon is a hero. i think we should say that it is probably unlikely that he will be prosecuted. the very fact that he has had to come to court today has made something of a spectacle. >> steve, thank you very much.

a panel of experts appointed by the white house has warned that current plans to send astronauts back to the moon in preparation for missions to mars are not liable. billions of more dollars are needed, and nasa may need to work with private companies if their vision is to be realized. starting with the private-sector involvement, historically there has been little or no private sector involvement in these missions? >> private industry builds the rockets for nasa, but they are nasa project and nasa directs the whole thing. this would be a great departure. nasa would in essence would buy services from the commercial sector, so that would be different. the industry itself will be responsible for coming up with a design, building the rocket, and servicing them. it is a completely different relationship from what we have seen in the past. if you go back to the apollo era, that was a wholly in house

project that nasa drove. yes, they went to the big companies like lockheed martin raytheon, i. >> the delays involved, the cost overruns and so one, why do they think working with private companies will be better? >> well, there are some new entrants coming in now, which is interesting. these are not the traditional figures we have grown up with, companies like boeing. these are people who made their money elsewhere. a classic example is a man called eelam mask, who made his fortune on the internet. with the paypal financial system that we have all brought goods and services online with. he has invested a considerable amount of his own money in designing a new rocket that could conceivably take astronauts to the space station. that is the time with it -- that is the type of thing that this panel things if a little more money was pushed in that direction, there might be

savings with this of entrepreneurial spirit. >> there is a gap between the shuttle program, which is what we have now, which we are very familiar with, and whatever comes next, so what is going to happen in that gap? >> if you go back to the shuttle disaster in 2003 when columbia and burnt up on reentry, it was president bush that said we need to retire this concept of the shuttle and do something different, be more adventurous, go back to the moon. we need new rockets and a new capital to do it. that was fine, but since then they have had to battle with budgetary problems and technical issues, and that means the new system will take longer to introduce. they are going to retire the shuttle in 2010. if they keep it, the new system , going out to 2010 -- 2012, 2015, this panel is saying it will not come until 2017. to americans, that is just horrific. they cannot imagine that.

>> thank you. let's catch up with sport now. >> hi there, george, thank you very much indeed. the defending women's champion, serena williams coming in the semifinals. williams tested somewhat by the italian member can see, panetta. she is chasing a 12-grand slam title. one grand slam singles match all season. she will be up against a player providing one of the best stories of the tournament so far. the player from belgium returning to the game after a two-year absence. >> i just saw how well she moved. she is faster than what she was before. i was thinking that maybe i should have a baby and i would come back faster. that was my observation. i am thinking about it. >> hundred agassi and john mcenroe -- andre agassi and john

mcenroe were among those -- the world number two has been a finalist as well. he lost in the top 22 tillage. 35 winners, the croatian has. murray was simply out of touch. he wasted seven break points, had 41 unforced errors. the last to the bill sets, very straightforward to the no. 16 seed. mary says it was the worst defeat of his career so far. marurray says it was the worst defeat of his career so far. no change with the new york and he's jerry jeter. derek jeter. he has 2718 hits, but in terms

of the home game against tampa of the home game against tampa bay raise