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funding for this presentation was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vt., and honolulu, the newman's own foundation, and 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." >> president obama is going to tell congress that the time for bickering over health-care reform is over.

3 afghans and a british soldier died in afghanistan. china becomes the first country in the world to start matt -- a mass vaccination for swine flu. welcome to bbc world news. coming up later, the heaviest rain in years these parts of this temple under water. -- aniston ball -- istanbul under water. >> the next few hours but crucial for barack obama and the serious debate in the u.s. over health care reform. it is a measure of how high the stakes are.

a rare event for an american president. he wants to extend health insurance to 46 million who do not have it. their opponents have a bill to a campaign on unease over by government-run health care. this is crunch time. >> his big day opened with the heroes of 9/11 in new york, the last time the president called congress together for a special address was in the wake of the attack. he is in washington putting the final touches on the speech to sell this controversial idea that all americans should have helped insurance. -- health insurance. >> i want to give congress the ability to do their thing and not step on their toes, probably left too much ambiguity out

there which allow the opponents of reform to come out there and fill up the airwaves with a lot of nonsense. >> the public meetings over the opponents of health care reform made it clear that they were incandescent. >> i do not want this country turning into russia, turning into a socialist country. >> some compared it to communism, other said it was nazi. a government -- government run insurance plan in competition with the big companies. >> and august, the american people spoke loudly and clearly. they did not want government messing with their healthcare. >> we will not see a government auction. we will not see a government trigger. we will not see a government replacement of the health-care system in this country.

>> we do not want our health care hijacks. >> a student and part-time waitress from west virginia as part of the president's fight. she has called up for people to come forward with her own stories. she may look younger than her 24 years, but look at her hands. she has rheumatoid arthritis. her our original health-care plan would have paid $500 for prescription drugs per year. that would give her a two week'' supply of the most important drug that she takes. she had a car accident. >> i should have died. i had to get cut out of the car. it was horrible. michael thought process was that i cannot get in this ambulance because i cannot afford it. that is asinine. it is so selfish to think that

because somebody does not make as much money as them, they should die. >> politics is high wire public spectacle. >> iran as a package of proposals on its nuclear program to the six world powers most concerned. an agency said that they will be studied carefully and hopes that it will be constructive. iran may have a a enough enriched uranium to produce at least one that nuclear weapon. they said that israel was linked to the interception of a cargo ship. russia said that it was hijacked. they told moscow that they knew that the vessel was secretly carrying an air defense system bound for iran. israeli human-rights group is

saying that many more palestinian civilians were killed in israel's offensive on gaza and then the army has admitted. this research has established that more than 770 civilians were killed. 252 of them were children. a journalist kidnapped in afghanistan has been rescued in a raid by nato. stephen farrell was freed an unheard. an afghan journalist, two afghan civilians and a british soldier were killed in the operation. they investigated last week's nato air strike. >> stephen farrell, seen on the left and dressed in local close the day before he was kidnapped. this morning, munadi's body was brought to the senior the gun

battle. a british soldier died in the fighting. the prime minister paid tribute to him, saying that his bravery would not be forgotten. the afghan government and filled journalists are asking for an inquiry into the operation. >> we condemn this killing. this is a careless operation. they were not properly planning how to do this. >> the area was an insurgent stronghold. there was an area in which many afghan civilians were killed. with the journalist's car was found abandoned on the side of the road, efforts began to found them -- find them. british forces found whether two journalists were being held. we were all in a room. it was obviously a raid. we thought, would they kill us? there were bullets all around us.

i could hear british and afghan voices. he had been kidnapped briefly before in iraq and spoke about the risks that he faced. >> there are an infinite number of variables all the way to your colleague through the judgment in baghdad. there is no cookie cutter approach to this. you cannot have one approach that works for all. >> foreign journalists rely heavily on local staff. >> he is incredibly brave. we go places that i would not dream of going. when he does do that, if he finds out important pieces of information. >> the nature of this overnight raid sends a message to the hostage takers. the high price paid lives lost

was both british and afghan. >> when they were kidnapped, stephen farrell and munadi were reporting on the air strike that killed 70 civilians. pakistan's president told the bbc that there should be an international investigation. the question why to appeal fuel tech-tankers were targeted. he was speaking to someone from the bbc. >> they should do the investigation. i feel that they have it. these inquiries before. >> there is the outcome of the election and afghanistan. if hamid karzai is confirmed as the president, do you think the whole process will be tainted?

-- protest will be tainted? >> that is my position. >> you are not concerned about the serious allegations against the eight u.n. election commission saying that they have evidence of fraud? >> i think the judgment is still out on that. i trust that there are enough international monitors. >> pakistan's president. a judge has appeared in the supreme court in madrid as a defendant. a complaint brought by two right-wing organizations. there were investigating the unexplained deaths of 100 dozen people during the franco era. the british football fans -- 100,000 people during the franco

era. he has always denie somebody after a liverpool match four years ago. thousands of couples are rushing to get married. on sunday nights of the ninth months of 2009. in chinese culture, it allows longevity. health authorities in china are taking an aggressive stance on swine flu. it is the poorest country in the world to announce plans for mass back -- vaccinations and bassett-based on clinical trial. -- china is throwing everything it has got at stopping swine flu. the target is to vaccinate 65 million people by the end of the year, more than the total population of the uk. there is not an of faxing to go

round. millions of chinese schoolchildren will receive this. already trying to stop the spread of h1n1 among the people. >> they take their temperature every day before they enter the gate. i think the school is doing what they're capable of. >> hear the virus's spread quickly. the threat here is changing. before it was mostly foreigners like the british school that had the virus. now 95% cases are domestic. the chinese vaccine may have side effects. >> it has been proven safe in clinical trials on a small scale in a small group of people. when you administer it to a large group of people, some adverse reactions could come up.

>> the country is preparing for a national holiday, another opportunity for the virus to spread. they will be vaccinated before the big day. even that will not be enough to stop swine flu in its tracks. >> good to have you with us. sharper, brighter, better. the hubble space telescope it delivers never before seen pictures. authorities in paris are urging people to stop kissing. in some parts, and grazing with a kiss on the cheek has been banned because of swine flu. up to 20,000 french cases per week are being reported. >> paris, the city of romance where everybody is in the mood for love. all is not well. swine flu spreads rapidly across

the country. the french authorities have issued a health warning. kissing spreads germs and should be avoided. some schools and businesses have no bend the traditional peck on the cheek greeting used by everyone from children to presidents. especially presidents. they flew monitoring agency has just announced that france may have as many as 20,000 flu cases of swine flu each week. that is disputed by the health ministry. they are suggesting that handshaking and caressing it should be off-limits. >> office workers have agreed to take many different 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. while the french may be happy to give up their desks, they are unlikely to surrender their kissing culture so readily. while the french may think they're practicing a harmless social ritual, or are they offering new at the kiss of death? the government is suggesting is keeping up 1 meter between you and is suspected swine flu sufferers. >> president obama is about to tell congress that the time for health care reform is over. he is expected to demand immediate action on the issue. troops have rescued a british irish journalist kidnapped by the taliban. a british soldier and two afghan

civilians have died. hijacking of a mexican passenger plane has ended peacefully. security forces freed more than 100 hostages without firing a shot. the plane was only briefly hijacked. it was flown to mexico city. >> the drama and flow -- unfolded in the tarmac on a mexican airport. it left -- led several men from the airplane in handcuffs. there was concern that there was just one hijacker who was a bolivian national who claim to be on a divine mission. officials were unable to get access to the cockpit. the bomb squad and a controlled explosion was seen near the plane. speaking shortly after the incident ended, some of the passengers described their

ordeal to local television. this said that the hijacker did not communicate with them directly. she had not realized that the plane had been hijacked. a man carrying a bible was a board. the incident ended almost as soon as it began. passengers left the plane carrying hand luggage. >> flash floods swept through a turkish city on sunday. they killed at least 20 people. fueled by the worst rain in 20 years, it closed the highway conflict many vehicles over. rescue crews at scramble to the stranded people off of rooftops. it is described as a disaster. >> engulfed by flood water, and this man misses a lifeline by inches print his friends do not give up. moments later, he plunges into

this turbulent river, once a road. he is swept be on the rescuers. he is one of the survivors of the worst flooding in northwestern turkey has seen for 80 years. not everyone was this lucky. in this temple, several women drowned when -- distensible -- istanbul, several women drowned. survivors were left struggling to cope. >> it was shocking that water came from nowhere. >> helicopters and boats have been deployed to do with the disaster. the scale of which is plain to see. this is the second day in which it has been hit by torrential rain.

in the few places the water has already begun to recede. this woman says that she desperately needs help from the government. a government that is already facing questions about why these floods have resulted in so many dead. >> and emergency relief program across large parts of western africa. heavy rains have forced tens of thousands from their homes and left reliance on aid agencies to survive. she is bearing the brunt. the west africa correspondent has this. >> a scramble to rescue positions of some of the victims of the unusually heavy rain that his hit the region. that makes roads and accessible and destroying crops and causing havoc in a world struggling against poverty.

this has been one of the worst hit countries. people are hoping to get a break from the torrential downpours that have caused chaos and claimed at least eight lives. at least 100 people have died in sierra leone in recent weeks. the united nations say that this is the start of the rainy season back in june. about 6000 people have been affected. they have either been displaced or been able to get on with their lives as normal. much of the flooding has been in west african cities. some people have built this on on suitable land. all this region has been hit by floods, east africa is battling trout. twin problems which will become more prominent in due to climate change. >> we wanted to revisit for you a moment of great historical importance. they still resonates today.

on the night of the 10th of september 1989, hungarian authorities open their borders. he reported on the fall of the berlin wall at the time. he wanted to see why it had become so important in the revolution. >> she trained as a musician. despite his great history, aquino's -- saw no future of the communist rule. when he sought a chance to reach the west, and he fled. >> you could not trust your friends. some friends you trusted. you never knew who was a spy. that was quite awful. >> he joined thousands who took refuge in the west german embassy. they camped out until they were

offered safe passage to west germany. to save face, the east germans insist that they go through the territory. at dresden's station, the trains had five days of rioting. dozens of people wanted to get on board. they erupted with furious when they got back. police were stopped. >> it is not possible. >> people to not do that. >> never before. >> the people cried. we are the people. it is our country. we must have the government of this country, not the old man in berlin. >> they took the government for themselves because of this. >> a local communist leader was

a reformer. he negotiated with the protesters while the communist leadership stayed frozen within decision. >> between the leaders, there was an atmosphere of mistrust. no one would talk to anybody else. little groups started to form. there was no agreement. in this situation, nobody was talking. no decisions could be reached. no agreements on the reforms that were needed. >> that brought to the surface all of the despair felt by east germans. with this one spectacular miscalculation, the communist unleashed what they were tried to suppress. it created a popular opposition which spread until it blew away the berlin wall and then the entire country. >> keeler is being treated in the hospital for a minor stroke.

he is said to be making good progress. he had surgery to repair a valve. he is best known for his stories about life in midwestern america. the hubble telescope has been fitted with a new camera. its first images are brighter and sharper and even better and stunning. he has been looking as what has been beamed back. >> for years, the hubble space telescope has captured the beauty and majesty of the universe. these pictures are the best yet. this one is of a dying star. its contents spill out like the wings of a cosmic pulse of light. inside this cluster is a star being born. these are pictures taken using a new camera. it is able to see things in the universe that have never been seen before. >> these instruments give hubble

a fantastic capability it has not had before. it shows you more detail. it shows you a richness of phenomenon. it shows you the things that are further away and more exciting. >> three, two, one, liftoff of the space shuttle discovery. >> it was launched in 1990. it gave as a completely new view of the universe. hubbell or it's just a few hundred miles above the earth. it is able to capture stunning images of galaxies by our universe. some of them are so far away that they occurred billions of years ago, not long after the universe was formed. for years hubble has spent-cent bet pictures that have been iconic. to the public, the hubble is more than a space telescope.

>> it is ready to capture the enthusiasm that many of us have for astronomy. >> what a beautiful space ship. >> astronauts completed its final servicing mission earlier this year. before the telescope and its days with its new instruments, there are more stunning pictures to come. >> just before we leave you, a reminder of our main story. president obama is about to address the u.s. congress on health care reform. he says congress agrees on about 80% of what needs to be done. his ideas would incorporate ideas from both democrats and republicans. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vt., 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? >> public broadcasting does my source for news about the world. >> for intelligent conversation. >> for election coverage you can count on. >> a commitment to journalism. >> before deciding who to vote for. >> public broadcasting is my source for intelligence connections to my community.

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