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union bank has put its financial strength to work for a wide range of companies from small jo inesses tma corporations. what can away do for you? >> and now, bbc world news. >> india makes it seven billion the u.n. says we have more than doubled in number in 50 years. too soon for snow? as a america's northeast storm leaves nine dead, three million homes without power. a warning from britain's intelligence service. cyber attacks are reaching disturbing levels. welcome to bbc world news. also in the program unesco votes on whether to admit the palestinian authority as a member. and chasing the dream. we follow the british girls

pursuing huge twisters across the united states. >> today is the day our planet has hit an unprecedented milestone. in the last few hours the total world population has moved past the seven billion mark. that is according to the u.n. it will carry on climbing. we have a picture of the seven billionth as designated by the united nations. this is danika born in a public hospital welcomed with a chocolate cake mark ed 7-b to recognize her. also a gift certificate for free shoes. there is the chocolate cake and the 7-b. but the figure continues to rise.

that baby is being born into a world with ever more people in it. welcomed in some corners, not in others. duncan kennedy has this from australia. >> alice sarah born 6:31 today the 31st of october, 2011. she doesn't know it but alice is a mail stone baby. she will go down in history as the seven billionth person like all the others to arrive on this exceptional moment in human development. >> i think it is evolution. that is very positive. some say the glass is half full. anyway, you have got to have an opportunity to be a mom. >> i like being alive. and i think it is good to be alive and experience life.

it is a beautiful world. we think it is good. i think it is positive. i'm happy we are in a good country. >> as the landmark number of seven billion is reached it can seem that humans are speeding out of control. this number is a threat. but our recognizable lives are being overtaken and we can't keep up with the pace of population growth. but here in australia they see it differently. they yearn for more people and not fewer. where managed immigration and natural population growth is applauded, not feared. seven billion people might seem like a worrying milestone for some but not everyone. >> in large part because of the sheer size of the place and ability it absorb people. compare it with singapore which is more than 7,000 per square kilometer one of the highest densities anywhere. in britain it is less but the number stands at 246 people per

square kilometer. look at australia. roughly the size of america but only three people for every square kilometer. one of the lowest densities in the world. it is why democratic experts say more population doesn't always equate with greater pressure. australians will be much more relaxed about the prospect of population growth domestically than most other countries around world. a targeted population growth is a deliberate policy through immigration. and there are many benefits that come from this population growth. >> she just is perfect. >> become in the maternity union the grandparents share in the joy of the new arrival. any fear about their granddaughter's entry into a crowded world are set aside in a moment of elation.

>> i believe that the world will out anyway. and it will eventually sort itself out. there won't be too many people. >> australia has congested areas and concerns about food security and climate change. it is also one of those places that embraces the future. seven billion, a special moment for alice and her parents and an historic one for the machine net. duncan kennedy, bbc news. >> more to come. with the seven billion and counting series. some other news, nato is officially ending its seven-month mission in libya. it began in march a month after the uprising against colonel gaddafi got under way. the new transitional authority have asked nato to maintain a presence in the country. the u.s. state department says

there are discussions going on at the moment emphasizing nato's expertise in areas like military training, also decommissions of weapons. the arab league has proposed a plan to end the bloodshed in syria. the proposal calls for the withdrawal of tanks and military vehicles in the streets and talks to take place between the syrian regime officials and opposition figures. the syrian delegation itself had agreed to respond by today. >> a suicide bomber carried out an attack near a u.n. build ing in kandahar. five were killed one a policeman. police say two others opened fire on the security forces. the australian airline qantas says all international flights will be back to normal by the end of tuesday. it follows a weekend of disruption which brought misery to up to 70,000 people as they were stranded around the world as a result ofville action.

>> we have the business. on the day jean-claude trichet takes a bow with a few words of his opinion and how everyone has coped. >> he's been defending his position as the president of the european central bank and the way the e.c.b. handled or is handling the sovereign debt crisis. after eight years he is stepping down and today there will be focus on the legacy that he leaves behind. it is a rather interesting story because the first half of his reign he was the euro zone saw some credible growth. inflation was moderate, which is the central bank or role of a central bank to keep inflation under control. also during the first half the financial system was stable. no doubt that will be overshadowed with the sovereign debt crisis. all eyes are on the italian who

has been viewed with high regard how he took charge of the italian central banks. it will be interesting to see if keeps the eurozone on the same path. > we are quick to say he is italian when there is something they don't like. >> you have a example of a bit a casualty. >> we will touch on this on the world business report but m.s. global a u.s. financial brokerage firm could be the first u.s. casualty of the eurozone debt crisis. they could be filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. they made some bets on the debt crisis and those bets have gone wrong. they lost about $6 billion. i will have more on that. that.nks for you could say unseasonably cold, more than three million homes

are without power in the united states after a snowstorm blanketed the northeast of the country. nine are counted to have died in accidents related to the snow. we have been rounding up the details. >> it has been cold october. southern freakish snow that rained down on 16 million americans. could mother nature have been playing a spectacular halloween trick. at least four times in the past 135 years has new york's central park seen snow this early. >> i hate it, hate it, hate it. i can't express how much i hate it. >> it has blown us away. misery has been felt from maine to maryland as downed power lines knocked out three million people's electricity. >> you see a flash in the sky and a neighborhood would go out. >> for many it could be days before the power is back. nine people died in the storm as

roads became treacherous. more than 1,000 flights were canceled and some passengers were trapped on grounded planes for hours. >> bathrooms hrobgtd, people upset. someone else called the state police. >> we sat on the tarmac about 4 1/2 hours. airport.eep in the >> the white house trees were proof that the president had in the gotten the date wrong. >> this is not ideal. >> and the first family was still needed to preside over trick or treat. the weather didn't prevent him from doing his job, for many mericans it will take time for their lives to return to normal. whatever that now is. >> from very heavy snowfall to very heavy floodwaters. causing havoc in much of

thailand. water hitting cities. the city of the capital does appear to have escaped the worse. this is despite very high tides. just have a look for the scene as it is live. obviously dusk settling there as have the waters. but this is not the center of bangkok and it does appear as if that much at least has been saved. but that is not much comfort for those who live in the suburbs. they have to worry about disease as well. rachel harvey is there and sends us an update. >> it now looks like the center of bangkok has been spared the worst of the flooding. the government says this weekend inner e critical to the city but a combination of high tide and runoff from the north but as you can see it is dry. the defenses broadly have held. there's been some flooding around the river and a few locali localized breaches.

but on the hole the defenses have largely held. but there is no relief because in districts that have been inundated in the central provinces to the north of bangkok, in suburbs and areas north and west of the city they are in water in water chest deep and it is getting increasingly dirty. that raises health issues, things like assume and waste building up in the water, snakes, mosquitos and crocodiles in some cases. so there are threats that need to be managed. humanitarian organizations are saying this is still a crisis. there is no room for complacency. even though these barriers may look to have been needed thailand is still facing a national crisis and it will do for months into the future. >> you are watching bbc world news. a lot more to get through including storm chasing across the u.s.a. the british girl pursuing her

dream and it is against the odds. >> the british pr promises to take tough action against authorities in england that fail to deal swiftly with adoption cases. they could have control of their adoption services taken away. roger and helen are an adoption success story. they adopted three children through an agency but they first approached the authority and were told that roger's age would count against them. >> the fact that i was older than the average adopter, i was well into my 50's at the time, this was held by them to be a complete and utter disadvantage and they couldn't even countenance the idea of taking it further. >> councils that project people because of their age or

ethnicity are a frustration to ministers. add the difference in speed that they are placed. they are trying to get the worst performers to improve. this shows which were top placing those destined for adoption in the legal time scale of 12 months. hackie and brent were bottom. some like devon did well over the three years but performed poorly last year. david cameron raised the issue at his party conference speech earlier this month and today he is launching a campaign to encourage more to adopt. he says it is shocking only 60 babies were adopted last year out of over 3,600 in care although many of those would have been des continued to return to their birth parents. the association of directors of children services agrees that council's performance was patchy but said decisions about adoption needed great care.

>> you are watching bbc world news. these are the headlines. the world population has passed the landmark figure of seven billion today. the u.n. says it doubled the last 50 years and will carry on climbing. at least nine have died and more than three million homes are without power in the united states after an unseasonable snowstorm blanketed the northeast. cyber attacks on british governments and industry have reached disturbing levels according to the director of the country's communication intelligence agency. its director made the remarks in an article in the times newspaper in britain. in that piece he wrote that the volume of e-crime and attacks on government and industry systems continues to be disturbing. he said gchq were aware of

techniques played to acquire sensitive information from british government computer systems. we got more from our correspondent. one target seemed to be the british fortune office. i can understand the worry for that. do you get a sense of impending and mounting concern? >> the concern has been growing. it is the range of cyber attacks card by credit criminals but increasingly the high end if you like, which is high end intellectual property. for instance stealing design secrets from companies, defense companies, engineering companies like.he also targeting governments for their secrets. attack on out this the foreign office. there have been previous attacks we heard about. the u.s. government has been targeted with e-mails which unlock their systems to intruders. clearly the concern about this kind of attack is mounting and

about the range and spread. that is one reason there is a conference opening in london tomorrow to look at some of the issues surrounding cyberspace. >> as technology moves, there are always the breakers that are of the game and i assume that is the cause of considerable concern and catching up with the level of sophistication. >> yes, you have a mix in which you have hackers who are doing it for fun, business groups who are, if you like, almost criminal business groups using industrial hacking and selling that on the black market through to states and those states often employ hackers or subcontract work to carry out the activities. you have a plethora of threats which commingles and is making it challenging for governments to work out how to respond to keep pace with the attacks. >> it makes from some individuals' point of view in sounds frightening. how much regard should we take

of this? is it time to lock down on the internet? >> a lot of the low end problems can be dealt with by changing a password or keeping the virus up dated. the high end stuff that the government has to deal with at the top end of cyber crime and hacking but there is a low range individuals can take a certain amount of responsibility for. >> thank you for that. the united nations cultural and scientific body unesco is due it take a vote in paris on whether to admit the palestinian authority as a member. this is part of a campaign it gain recognition as a state. a month ago the palestinians applied for full membership of the united nations itself. joining me from ramallah in the west bank is john donaldson. this would be a significant day because i see reports in which israel has pretty much resigned to the palestinian authority getting their way here.

that's right. we understand that the vote in paris is imminent. as you say, israeli officials in paris and here are saying they have pretty much given up and accept the palestinians will get the votes they need. 193 member states will vote and the palestinians need a two-third majority and they think they will get it. what is significant is this is happening despite an enormous amount of diplomatic pressure from the u.s., israel and european union who didn't want the palestinians to go ahead. it looks like they will get their victory. >> will it be a pyrrhic victory you have the americans in particular saying look, this is prematureers, it is not helpful? >> well, it certainly put unesco in a difficult position. america has a laws passed in the early 1990's that says any u.n. body that admits palestine as a full member will have its

funding cut off. unesco gets about $70 million a year from the united states, about 20% of its budget. so if this happens and palestine is admitted they are going to find themselves somewhat strapped for cash. but i think palestinian leaders do see this as prart of their broader campaign and we have it vote coming up in the united nations security council next month where the palestinians hope to force the americans to veto a bid to be a full member state. i think they think this unesco move will increase the pressure. thank you, john. we have the sport. tennis in particular. caroline wozniacki number one how much longer? >> you wonder because she's got what seems like a genuine rival kvitova has had a fantastic rise this year and just ended by winning the wta championships. fine victory for her against

victoria azarenka in they sets. hard fought but just marks the end of what has been a fantasticier for kvitova. she won her first grand slam title in july when she won wimbledon. it seems she is towered ever since. wozniacki may end the year number one but kvitova is hard on her heels. there are 10 nationalities in the top tennis which is good. >> you had the dominance of the williams sisters for so long but they have had a lot of injury problems and it seems like it has opened up for the rest. we have a good marathon story. >> absolutely. this is the frankfurt marathon from sunday. you see the winner in the second fastest marathon time ever. he beats his own personal best by 1:15 but if you are seconds short of the world world title.

fantastic effort. >> that is a real showbiz finish. you very much. now, storm chasing is not an easy thing to do and dangerously chasing huge tornadoes is a hobby many pursue especially in the united states. manual how much harder it would be if you also have a rare medical condition and you live in britain. samantha hall has a rare skin condition that causes painful blisters and sores but she is per suing her dream. -- pursuing her dream. that her track a tornado devastated joplin. >> with it turning toward them she is in a great position to see the tornado but there is the danger of being caught up in a violent twister. it is confirmation of the

emergency radio. >> definite tornados on the grou ground. so you rain and hail can't see it. that is why it is dangerous. >> she certainly is enjoying herself. she explained some of the doing things f like that while suffering from the disease. >> it is a very unpredictable condition. you can be fine one minute and not the next. you get blisters in your mouth and throat and i'm lucky i have kept my teeth for a long time. many lose their teeth early. it is difficult but life is too short to not do what you love to it is only three weeks of my life and it is important. >> that is a great attitude. get into the we actual storm chasing how it impacted on you during the course of that storm chase. how does it affect >> the skin disease?

several things. i have to take an extra whole case of dressings that we cut up to fit the contours of my body from here down. they have to be taken. i have to take medicine for the skin condition. my handsuld be even if are out we don't have fingerprints and getting in immigration is difficult. so they are great at providing things. there is a lot of preparation. >> a lot of hassle but you love storm chasing. where did that come from? >> it basically i have loved the weather since i was a child watching documentaries. didn't realize people storm chased until i got dramatic film and it is not exactly what we do but then i realized people do chase storms and i got into it from there and also from a tornado that went through our

village in northwest england. so, i got to be interested from that. >> we have had a story about the snowstorms in the northeast coming desperately early. is that part of what interests you? is it claimant change -- climate change of the whole thing? >> climate change is a big debate. it is my personal view that it isn't caused by man. but that is my personal view. just from research that i have done. because the ocean transmits 95% of green house gases and we have more ocean than land. but the big snowfalls are happening in the states, i think it is something to do with the la nina phase which might indicate that it could be another severe season for tornadoes next year. quite an extraordinary young woman. our main story is about population growth.

seven billion and counting. we have the seven billionth on the planet now. this is the u.n. figure. if you look at the figure on the end, that is the clocking up of more people being born all the time. when i started on the shift at 3 1/2 hours ago we were 32,000. 62,000 now. mounting fast. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. the newman's own foundation. union bank. and shell. this is kim. about to feel one of his favorite sensations. at shell aware developing more efficient fuels in countries like malaysia that can help us get the most from our energy resources. let's use energy more

efficiently. let's go.