the bbc is in so many ways in the middle of british national life. >> charlie: it is the most important british institution as someone said. >> well, i think once you take the government >> "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." >> an imprisoned chinese dissident winds the nobel peace prize. hailed as a campaigner for human rights and political freedom. the nobel committee now ready for a backlash from beijing. >> the wide-ranging struggle for a human-rights in chinato. >> welcome to gmt, with a world

of news and opinion. also in the program, battling the toxic red tide to protect the river danube from poison. "pirates of the caribbean " star in a classroom in south london. midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, and 7:00 p.m. in china, where this year's winner of the nobel peace prize is languishing in jail. the political dissidents, liu xiaobo, whose campaign for political reform goes all the way back to tiananmen square in 1989. in the last few minutes, chinese officials described the award as an obscenity and said it would damage china's relations with the home of the nobel committee, norway.

>> the warning from china not to honor liu xiaobo. as the chairman of the nobel committee explain, in their view, he was a worthy winner. >> for over two decades, liu xiaobo has been a strong spokesman for the application of fundamental human rights in china. he took part in the tiananmen square protests in 1989. he was bleeding author behind -- leading author. >> the reaction of china was blunt. liu xiaobo is a criminal who violated the chinese law. awarding the prize to him runs contrary to the principle of the nobel peace prize. liu xiaobo is a writer in prison in china for inciting subversion.

to his supporters, he is a great advocate of democracy and human rights. in 1989, he joined the protests in tiananmen square. he helped save many lives by persuading some of the students to leave the square hours before the authorities moved in to clear it. >> liu xiaobo says the events of that summer in tiananmen square left a deep impression on him. he was jailed. when he released, he continued to criticize the chinese authorities. two years ago, he helped dropped a manifesto for political peaceful change in china. he was arrested and jailed before his detention, he explained the motivation for his struggle. >> in china, i just want to be an honest and dignified intellectual writer. if you try to be that, you will definitely clash with the political system in this country.

>> chinese officials award the nobel committee not to award the prize to liu xiaobo. he violated chinese law. he was sentenced, the foreign ministry spokesman said last month, what he did contradict the principles of the nobel peace prize. >> in tiananmen square in 1989, lots of people lost their lives, but he survived a massacre, so he has to speak out for those who are dead and cannot speak for themselves. >> china is angry that liu xiaobo has been honored in this way. his heavy jail term, supposed to be a warning to others, instead, has helped draw attention to his cause. >> joining me live from beijing is our correspondent. we know the chinese government went to great lengths to try to avoid this outcome. what is the very latest reaction from the authorities in beijing? >> a statement has just been

posted on the web site of the chinese foreign ministry. it reads that liu xiaobo is a criminal who violated chinese law. awarding the prize to him runs contrary to the principles of the nobel peace prize. it goes on -- the nobel committee awarded the peace prize to such a person also lowers the peace prize itself. certainly, strong condemnation from the chinese authorities, who as you pointed out, put strong pressure on norway and the nobel peace prize committee not to award this price to the chinese dissident, liu xiaobo. >> liu xiaobo is in prison. is there any news as to whether he knows he is a new nobel laureate? i know his white said she was surprised. they know if she has been able

to speak to him? >> we do not know. he is in prison in the northeast of the country. it's not clear if he has heard as of yet, or if, or when, he will here. in many ways, the chinese authorities want to try to silence this man. attack but he has just won the nobel peace prize -- the fact that he has just one of nobel peace prize means everyone is talking about him. >> i wonder what impact this will have across china. i'm assuming it will not be reported by the state media. will people know about this? what might be their reaction? >> generally speaking, the authorities here have not cover the activities of liu xiaobo in the past. i do not think it will give great coverage now. one of my colleagues was just speaking to chinese citizens and about liu xiaobo. most of the people here have not heard about him. the chinese authorities are

certainly angry that he has won this price. they will try to keep the news as quiet as possible. liu xiaobo stands for ideas, the promotion of democracy. what he stands for, in many ways, challenges what the communist party wants to try to dampen. they do not want any challenges to their authority. in many ways, that's what's liu xiaobo and this price represents -- prize represent. >> thank you. the hungarian government says it is now confident that it can prevent the waters of the river danube being poisoned by the toxic red sludge that spilled from an industrial plant. environmental campaigner suborder of high levels of mercury and arsenic. a fit person has died as a

result of the initial flood of waste -- a fifth person has died as a result of the initial flood. confident comments coming from the hungarian interior minister. do you get a sense of the ground today have a grip on this problem? >> the reason for this confidence is the slight drop of the levels. that is very important for the authorities. they feel they are beginning to turn the corner, because the alkaline levels had been increasing to slightly above the danger level, there for killing the more sensitive fish species already in the danube. it is not out of danger yet. the second danger that is emerging is this issue of heavy

metals in the red sludge, in the disaster area i'm speaking from now. as the sun is shining quite rightly, that is drowning the red mud. that is turning into a dust and floating through the air. >> what are they going to do about that? they have emergency teams on the ground, but how will they clean up the area? >> they have been trying very hard, basically with bulldozers, earth moving equipment, or anything they can bring into the area. it is a massive clean-up operation. they are trying to dump it into trucks and drive it to disposal sites elsewhere.

there's still a great deal of this stuff around. all they can do is tell people to wear face masks. >> apologies for the poor quality of that line. the russian spacecraft carrying members. an american astronaut and two russian cosmonauts are on board. once the u.s. shuttles retire next year, this will be the only way for americans to go into orbit. the united nations say gunmen in sudan have kidnapped a member of the un peacekeeping force in darfur. it coincides with the visit of a top-level u.n. security council mission to the town. the prime minister of zimbabwe has expressed his disgust with president mugabe for ignoring the power-sharing agreement with

his former opponent. he said he would not recognize any key appointments made by the present in the past eight months. the governor of province in northern afghanistan has been killed at an explosion in a blast. at least 14 others died in the blast. for the latest, i'm joined by our correspondent in kabul. this sounds like a very big bomb on friday during prayers. i suppose it was aimed specifically at the governor. what impact do you think it will have in afghanistan? >> this was targeted against the governor of kunduz, governor muhammad omar. it happened in the capital. of course, he is the governor of kunduz. so far as we understand from

police and security officials, 15 people were killed and 20 were wounded. perhaps those figures will change as the day progresses. what impact will this have? this is a remote part of northwestern afghanistan. it is relatively peaceful until recently when there has been increased violence and increased activity by nato and afghan forces. perhaps significantly this week alone, 16 insurgents have been killed in operations in this northern afghanistan area. it may be that this is a response by the insurgents. no group has said that a carried out this attack. no group has said it was behind the attack. the taliban and the islamic

movement of is pakistan have both been active in this area in recent times. >> thank you very much for joining us. johnny depp makes a surprise guest appearance in a london school. we will have more. >> he is currently on trial for inciting hatred and discrimination, but the dutch politician will now get a say in the policies of the government in the netherlands under a coalition agreement formalized yesterday. >> when the queen formally opened the new dutch parliament last month, there were 150 mp's, but no government.

thanks to a spectacular inconclusive election. the winner was this man. his right wing pro-business party won the most seats and he is set to become prime minister. his night of triumph in june turned into a long, drawn-out negotiation. he tried to find a winning coalition party. he finally teamed up with the former prime minister, who resigned after his kristin christits cris -- t an democrats. the new coalition government is already facing criticism because of its reliance on this man. the leader of the anti is long and anti emigration party in more than doubled its number of seats -- anti islam an anti-

immigration party. he has not been offered a job in the new cabinet, but has been agreed to vote with the new coalition. many in the netherlands, a country famed for its tolerant liberalism, worry that someone with such extreme views has got so close to power. >> this is gmt on "bbc world news." >> this year's nobel peace prize has been awarded to jailed chinese dissident liu xiaobo. china says the prize honors a criminal. experts are monitoring the buildup of toxic levels in the river danube from the hon. industrial sludge spilled. >> and now the business news.

all eyes are on the latest u.s. jobs numbers. >> absolutely. we need an optimistic u.s. consumer, not one worried about jobs. unfortunately, the september job rate are not likely to hold good news. it is the last jobs report before the very important midterm elections in november. jobs or the lack of jobs have been the key issue during campaigning. the unemployment rate is likely to rise from that record high of 9.6% that it in august. two very different new york neighborhoods. >> the biggest problem facing president obama and this country. 15 million americans are out of work. at the new york public library, they have been trying to help the unemployed new yorkers. there's still a feeling of self- reliance among many, even when they are struggling to find a job. >> i got laid off.

that's when i started job searching. that was about one year ago. >> we would like to look to the administration for help, but i think it's very much in the individual's hands. >> in the tougher neighborhoods, like in the bronx, greater frustration. unemployment is leading to rising homelessness and a spike in poverty. >> obama was trying to help us get more jobs. nobody has seen jobs. he is cutting down welfare, the recession -- it's not right. >> it has not been a disappointment, but i have not seen any improvements, especially with the drops. people need jobs. >> others in this heavily democratic leaning states are still supportive of the president. >> you have to give him a chance. he came in with the economy already destroyed. >> and the poverty expert says this high unemployment will

have big consequences. >> what you see in the united states is the beginning of what we will call a notch down generation. the generation of people experiencing a change and the other lifestyle for the worse, not the better. it will be a least a generation to go. >> there is little doubt the lack of jobs will damage the president in november's election. making a dent in joblessness will take much longer. >> the world bank chief has told the bbc the war over currencies could overshadow a recovery. the meeting is taking place this weekend. he has been speaking to the bbc. >> there are clearly currency tensions. one of my main messages is that people have to keep these managed and under control because this is a fragile recovery. we do not want this to undermine

confidence. >> why do you think some developing countries are so resistant to the idea of allowing their currencies to rise, which would have the effect of allowing consumer spending to rise. >> most of them have allowed it. if you look at india, and i was meeting with the south africans yesterday. this is the issue with brazil. the reason why they're sensitive is that as their currency rises, that means that their exports are more expensive compared to others. in that environment, their export industries will be under more competitive pressure. the question they have to face is -- under onwhat circumstances will they welcome the inflow of capital, and under what circumstances will it interfere? >> regulators in the united

arab emirates have backed away from a ban on e-mail and web browsing services. regulators now say they will operate as normal. the cabinet in japan has approved a plan to spend more than five trillion yen on a new economic stimulus package. it's part of an attempt by the prime minister to prop up the struggling economy of japan, which has been hurt by inflation and the rising yen that just a 15-year high. the markets are mostly lower. investors pared their bets ahead of that very important jobs report that is out in just over one hour. the yen trading at a 15-year high against the dollar. that's it with the business. those jobs reports are out in about an hour. >> thank you very much. when students of a school in

london set out to arrange a pirate style mutiny against their teachers, of course there was only one man the could call on. an unexpected visit by a hollywood star went down as the best school assembly ever in south london. it was quite a shock for the parents, one of whom was the bbc's own reporter, richard. >> behind that curtain, they're filming "pirates of the caribbean." i live around here. when they're not filming, you can walk through. the scale is incredible. everybody has been watching for johnny depp, especially the women, for some strange reason. my doctor comes back from school and says, the famous pyrite -- my daughter said the famous by irate came to my school.

we did not believe her. [inaudible] >> can you believe it? johnny depp doing an assembly. it was all thanks to -- she shwrote her a letter. >> we're having a bit of a trouble with a mutiny against our teachers. we would love it you would come and help, from beatrice, a budding pirate. >> i was talking to my friend. >> you sang him a song? >> yeah.

♪ >> when he came in, people are still talking about it. it will probably be the highlight of the whole year. [applause] >> the best we ever got at a school assembly was a farmer who brought in a lamb. >> thank goodness the girl in that report had not just watched "silence of the lambs." i initially, engineers are getting ever closer to reaching the 33 miners who have been trapped since august -- in chile. officials are warning that it could take much longer to bring them to the surface. our correspondent is there now

with the very latest. it is all coming down to a question of meters. how close is the drill hole to the chamber where the men are? >> the last we heard, it was about 74 meters. they are breaking through the tunnel. that was several hours ago. we're expecting the drilling team to break through to the area where the miners are sheltering in the next 24 hours. the mining minister says it should happen sometime on saturday, or possibly late on friday night. we are down to the last few meters. >> the key question seems to be when that hole has reached the men, whether they have to incase the aligning with some kind of metal. what is the latest? >> they will drop a camera down the shaft when it is complete. they will inspect it and try to work out how solid the rock is.

it is solid, they may decide not to case it with this metal sleeve. we could be looking at a rescue on monday or tuesday. if they decide to take a precautionary measure and to use some tubing, it will push everything back by four or five days. >> thank you very much for joining us from the site of the mine. that is almost it for gmt. a political dissident in jail in china has been awarded this year's nobel peace prize. liu xiaobo has been a champion of human rights. a chinese official describes the award as "an obscenity." coming up, why did the best have gathered in kentucky. we will speak to the current european champion of equestrian faulting. that's it for "bbc world news."

for us here on gmt, thank you for watching and good bye. >> 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.

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