tonight, on "worldfocus," -- >> the latest road block for toyota. a new recall of hundreds of thousands of cars. and a new apology from the chairman. from africa, new allegations and pictures that may implicate nigerian security forces in the killing of civilians during a battle with islamic insurgents last summer. and in our signature story, an update on a big idea. making electric vehicles more practical by creating a vast network of charging spots. are they the service stations of the future. from the different perspectives from reporters and analysts from around the globe, this is worldfocus. major support has been provided by rosalyn p. walter.

and the peter g. peterson foundati foundation. for addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. and additional funding provided by the following supporters. good evening. welcome to "worldfocus." i'm daljit dhaliwal in new york. we start with the largest automaker, toyota and its attempts to fix its cars and its reputation. in tokyo today, the company announced its latest recall more than 400,000 prius and other hybrid vehicles worldwide. to fix problems with the brakes. it was accompanied by a new apology by toyota's chairman who said the company will face up to the facts and correct the problems putting consumer safety and convenience first. the number of vehicles recalled by toyota has now grown to 8.5

million. and as you're about to see in tonight's lead focus, the impact obal. from london, itn shows us how some british toyota owners are dealing with the recall and reacting to it. >> together we will do everything in our power to regain the confidence of our customers. >> reporter: another apology, another recall. toyota's president announced that 437,000 prius and other hybrids areaffected. 8,500,000 are here in britain. this breakdown was unrelated, but these scenes were not the kind of publicity toyota needs. some prius owners believe the response has been hopelessly inadequate. >> i think their communication has en appalling. it's wrong that all the information is c through the press and media. that can't be right. >> there is a false element here.

i think toyota should have been more upfront and explained even the technical points to the general public. >> reporter: prius drivers say this affects in cold and bumpy situations. toyota are stressing that there have been no casualties. unless, of course, you count their reputation. toyota estimates the recalls will cost around 720 million pounds. they say sales could be hit by as much as 574 million pounds. toyota share prices down 22% in less than a month. >> it's all part of a frantic public relations exercise here in britain. >> reporter: this is an industry where brands can be irreversibye damaged. they played on the brands'

previously dismal republican tags. reputation. they say the cars are safe to drive and a software upgrade will take around 40 minutes. this comes as the repair shops, along with the customers' loyalty, are already under pressure. chris joy, itv news. >> how big a blow is all of this to toyota? for that, re turn to roben farzad for bloomberg "business week." welcome back to the program. how much more of a battering can toyota take? lation after another.d >> very much delayed reaction here. it's coming out in the painful dollops. a brake issue, gas pedal issue. the prius is the gold standard for hybrid vehicles. we're getting revelations about potential delays in terms of regulator warnings, both in japan and the united states. so this story still has legs. >> what do you make of the way in which the company has gone about handling, about

communicating all of these problems to the public? >> what we're seeing this week is a very japanese contrition, and almost a self-flaj i lags, how could we have done this. you've seen it on tv, ad airwaves, you're seeing regulators step forward in japan and say you need to be more forthcoming. the u.s. department of transportation echoing those concerns, the ambassador to japan, and vice versa to the united states. if you're a competitor, to toyota, you're loving this. because for once, the teacher's pet, the "a" student is getting reprimanded. >> who are the winners in this story? >> i would say if you look at a car company like hyundai, which is korea's national champion carmaker, they've benchmarked themselves and gave themselves to match or exceed toyota in quality. this is a huge opening for them, especially because their momentum has been great. in the united states, ford is at the advent of the big three

hybrid technology. if you're a dealership in the market nor a hybrid, they could very easily cast dispersions on the toyota vehicle, such as i'm hearing x, y and z, even though it's a 40-minute fix at the dealership for the recall. you're going to run into these issues. i think that power of negative pr, word of mouth is extremely dill ter yufls. >> in coming back to toyota, do you think it' actually done enough to meet the public safety concerns? >> this is a learning experience for toyota. this has never happened to toyota on this scale. in the way that it really just hit them in a way they thought maybe itould be a glitch that would have a one-week news cycle to it. toyota's out there, it's learning contrition, learning pr, giving a second look at its re veered manufacturing process. which, by the way, is shocking that something like this could get through the rigorous envied manufacturing system where even if one person on the assembly line sees an error, he's instructed to pull the cord and stop the entire factory.

so it's really shocking, even to toyota, that this was allowed to get through. >> in terms of what may have caused these problems, is there something in the manufacturing process that led to this? >> there's an array of problems so far. we're seeing the brake level, gas, you know, things about carpets getting stuck. but when you have broader computerization of next generation vehicles, you're bound to run into these hiccups. >> whas causing that? >> it's a learning curve. once you have the fleet of vehicles, the prius hybrid, the camry hybrid, suv hybrids out there for three, four, five years, these problems come to the froe, and it's a learning curve. hopefully they can recov from it. >> roben farzad, thank you very much. we also want to know what you think. our question tonight, what do you think about toyota's response to the problems that it's having with its cars? you can tell us what you think by going to the how you see it section of our website, and you can find that at worldfocus.org.

in southern afghanistan, today u.s. and afghan troops launched a preliminary operation in support of a planned offensive on the largest taliban-controlled town in the region. about 400 u.s. troops, 250 afghan soldiers and 30 canadian trainers moved into positions outside the town of maja in hell mond province. the offensive has been anticipated for weeks. and today u.s. and afghan troops got a pep talk from their general. >> again, we've talked about it's the last refuge of scoundrels, the last place they are that we can't get to, until now. this is a day with destiny.

for the rest of your careers, you will be known as margin marines. no regrets, right? >> iran apparently made good today on its promise to start enriching uranium to a higher level which it says is for medical uses. the move comes over objections from the united states and other countries that fear it is a step toward producing nuclear weapons. ir iran's state television it has facilities in towns in central iran. for those calling for new sanctions against iran were president obama and israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu who claimed they are racing forward to produce nuclear weapons. >> i believe that what is required right now is tough action from the international community. this means not moderate sanctions, or watered-down

sanctions, this means crippling sanctions, and these sanctions must be applied right now. >> they have made their choice so far. although the door's still open. what we are going to be working on over the next several weeks is developing a significant regime of sanctions that will indicate to them how isolated they are from the international community as a whole. >> in the ukraine, opposition candidate continues to lead in that country's presidential electionith the official announcement os expected tomorrow. as thousands of his supporters rallied outside the central electi election commission, his opponent said she will file a legal challenge. international monitors praised the election as and fair and the united states called it another step in the consolidation of ukraine's democracy.

we turn to africa now, where the parliament of oil-rich nigeria empowered the country's vice president goodluck jonathan to take over until the ailing president returns from saudi arabia where had has been getting treatment for a heart condition since last november. and we want to look beyond the headlines tonight to what happened in nigeria last july. four days of violence between security forces and a militant group trying to impose strict islamic law. the fighting was sparked between the arrest of several leaders. an estimated 700 people were killed. ever since there has been concern that the security forces may have killed many innocent civilians.

and now as you are about to see in this report from mike hanna of al jazeera english, there is new video purportedly showing such attacks, and we want to warn you that some of the images in his report are graphic. >> reporter: the bodies left in the streets, in july last year. it was a scene at the major battle between the nigerian government forces and the separatist group. the headquarters reduced to rubble. the military and police operation came in the series of attacks on police stations and other civic buildings by the fighters. men intent on establishing an islamic state in another nigeria that rejected of what they called all things western. but it was marred by allegations that the forces deployed also killed large numbers of civilians with no connection to this man.

this man was a respected community figure that his family says was shot by police. >> he was killed. he was killed. that's what we believe. he was shot. >> reporter: claims of executions by the police and army were at the time strongly rejected by the authorities. >> they are the people who are paid by taxpayers' money to protect our lives and property. they're soldiers. and they're killing ordinary citizens. >> reporter: but this footage clearly shot with the knowledge and permission of a senior army commander would appear to confirm the allegations of cold-blooded killings that could legally be defined as murder. it shows that once the fighting was over, elements of police and army engaged in a follow-up operation in which house-to-house searches were conducted and individuals

selected at random were escorted back to the police station. in full public view, a number of unarmed civilians were made to lie down in the road outside. the exact spot where the family of this man say he was killed. this is what followed. report another two civilians next to the bodies. made to lie one of the officers called out, shoot him in the chest, not the head. i want his hat.

still, the executions continued. this man is told, sit properly. we want to take your picture. as shooting continues, the crowd gathers furtheup the street in front of the police station. voices are heard to say, no mercy, no mercy. more shots ring out. and as the crowd disperses, a badly mutilated body is discernible on the ground. the face is identifiable as the leader. the nigerian police on record as saying he was killed while attempting to escape. but clearly evident the fact that had died with his handcuffs still on. only a few hours earlier he had

been interrogated in the presence of reporters inside the police station. in this footage that was made public at the time, he's asked a series of questions about the organization he led. he responds readily without hesitation. his bodying fresh contusions. it's not known whether they were caused during fighting, arrest or detention. this army officer who appears to have been in charge of the operation is seen to be handing over command to a senior policeman. both men are clearly identified by the name tags on their chest, and their badges of rank. at this stage, though, it was not possible to tell who was a fighter and who an unarmed civilian. or indeed who did the killing and how. among the bodies recovered was that of muhammad. his family had given their story to the government commission set up to investigate the events that took place here.

but they, along with the relatives of hundreds of others apparently unarmed civilians who were killed, are still to receive an official explanation for the deaths. mike hanna, al jazeera. the nigerian government says that it is investigating the reports that civilians were killed. for more on all of this, we're joined from washington by eric guttschuss, a researcher on nigeria with human rights. thank you very much for joining us on the program. >> thank you. >> is the report that we just saw clear evidence that extra judicial killings were carried out by nigeria's security forces? >> we've seen the footage and it's very disturbing and shocking. however, we're still reviewing the source of this information. it unfortunately is not surprising. we have called on the nigeria government to investigate the killings that took place during this violence since july 2009.

there is clear and cdibredible evidence that they were killed by the police in custody, including the leader of bokaharam. >> these alleged killings occurred last summer. you have prompted the nigerian government to do something to investigate this. what exactly has been the response of the nigerian government? >> president yar'adua has issued a statement to the high commissioner for human rights, condemning the unfortunate circumstances of the killing of muhammad yousef and others in police custody. after this investigation is completed, those responsible will be held to account. the president stated in august of 2009 that he expected the report to be completed within one week. it's now six months later and not one police officer has been

held accountable for these very serious crimes. >> how much control does the central government have over the various security forces in nigeria? >> both the military and the police are federal agencies. they're controlled through hierarchy that goes through the central government. nigeria's a federal -- it's a federal government, so there is various state governments. but the security forces are controlled by the federal government. the responsibility for holding members of the security forces accountable for these abuses squarely rests on the federal government. unfortunately, they have not acted to date. >> what is happening on the international level? has the international community, for instance, become involved in this issue? >> we have called on the international community to speak out more forcefully on these abuses. unfortunately, in august of 2009, u.s. secretary of state

hillary clinton visited nigeria just two weeks after the killings, and while she spoke out forcefully on corruption, when asked publicly to comment on the killing of muhammad yousef and other members, she chose not to comment. the u.s. government and nigeria's foreign partners have to end this violence and speak out forcefully, calling on the anigerian government to . >> eric guttschuss, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. on a day when toyota and its hybrid cars are very much in the news, tonight's signature segment is a follow-up on a story we first brought you last year on an israeli company with a bright idea to develop a large network of charging stations to

power electric cars. the company is called better place. a couple of weeks ago it received a major new round of funding from investors. a $350 million vote of confidence. how does it work? here's michael greenspan's original report. >> reporter: the best car in the world. the best car for the world. by now, the idea of an electric car is not nearly as miraculous as it once was. so when you look at the israeli electric car, you might think, what's the big deal. well, it turns out the big deal isn't the car, but a system this man has created to keep it and hundreds of thousands o other electric cars running all at the sa time. and also going greater distances. >> we'refestively a new kind of mobility company. the first generation of mobility companies were cell phone companies. they sold you minutes on a device you talked on.we sell yo you drive in. >> reporter: electric cars today, like this test model, can travel just over 100 miles on a

full charge. that's why the hybrids you see on the road rely on both an electrical charge and gasoline. but the new car from better place, with its unique recharging system, is meant to extend that range. >> the main goal is to give the user a feeling that he can drive anywhere, anyplace, with no limitations. >> reporter: drivers will find a few differences, like this combination gps and computer, which will be fitted into the car's dashboard. before beginning the day on a full charge, you punch in your intended destinations. while you're on your way, the system transmits the data to a service center, which calculates your energy requirements. afteyou pull in to park, you then plug in to charge up. one end of the car, the other end into one of these charge spots. within two years, the people at better place say they're going to have several hundred thousand of these installed in israel

through a test basis. it's here where they say the real revolution begins. depending how long you remain parked and how many other cars are charging, they plan to keep your car sufficiently charged. it will update you on the charge status via text messages. most chargingwill occur at night when people are parked at home and the electricity is plentiful. if that's the case, a writer on energy at forbes magazine, who needs better places for costly infrastructure. >> ipeople can recharge at home, you might not need a better place. most people don't go more than 20 miles in a given day. they don't need a vast network of charging stations. >> reporter: but what happens when you want to take a trip beyond battery range and don't have time to recharge. better place says its technology will tell you where to stop along the way, in or out of town, to have a robot replace your battery with a fresh one in about the same time it now takes

to fill up at the pump. the batteries are freef and recycleable. like at the charge points, you only pay for the electricity you use. after testing this concept in israel, better place plans to do the same in denmark and australia. it has already signed deals with those national governments, with the province of on tar yeah, with the state of hawaii and municipalities in the bay area of california. >> being successful often means that you understand what's coming. >> reporter: shipping magnate and business tycoon is convinced better place will succeed. so convinced in fact that though his israel corporation owns the country's largest oil refinery, it sunk $130 million of seed money into better place. an investment he says in the future. >> we are reducing our dependency on oil. and we are reducing c02 emissions. this is a great thing. >> reporter: sounds good. but the doubters ask if that's really the case. >> in the u.s., certain parts of

the country are very coal intensive. like the northeast and mid-atlantic states. if you convert the entire fleet to electric-powered cars charging off the grid, off of coal, you actually end up with a worse environment than you would otherwise. >> reporter: the better place people dispute that. >> our job in btter place is to make our solution usable. and affordable. >> reporter: and to convince both policy and carmakers, that instead of bailing out today's failing automotive industry, they should be investing in tomorrow's. to that end, he's been showing off his test cars to everyone from the presidents of france and israel to the governor of michigan. >> we're not against it. we're actually for it. without the detroit three going out and producing millions of cars, electric cars, that fit this model, we don't get the u.s. off oil. >> reporter: this is michael greenspan reporting for "worldfocus" in israel. and that is "worldfocus" for this tuesday.

but don't forget, you can get more news and perspective at worldfocus.org. and be sure to drop us a line about the program. i'm daljit dhaliwal in new york. good-bye. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com major support for worldfocus has been provided by rosalyn p. qualter, and the peter gt peterson foundation, promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. and additional funding is provided by the following supporters.