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we put our extended global network to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to majorwhat can we do for you? >> and now "bbc world news." >> the afghan parliament calls for the trial of an american soldier accused of shooting dead 16 people. opposition activists in series syria say women and children have been killed. a un report that the world's water resources are strained. also, a severely disabled man who wants the right for a doctor to legally be allowed to kill him. tiger woods limbs out of his latest golf tournament.

the of canada and parliament has called for a u.s. soldier accused of killing 16 civilians to be tried -- the afghanistan problem and has called for a u.s. soldier accused of killing 16 civilians to be tried. president obama has described the killings in kandahar as shocking and tragic. >> anger at an atrocity committed by an american soldier who was there to protect them. as afghans cover the bodies of civilians, in washington, president obama sought to calm a volatile situation. he phoned president karzai to extend his condolences to what he called a shocking and tragic incident. >> this was an individual acting alone, not with authority. we also have the individual in

custody, in u.s. custody, and he is being interrogated by army investigators as we speak. >> the suspect has been described as a 38-year-old married man with children. this was his first deployment to afghanistan. he had previously served three tours in iraq. while that will raise questions and self, the more urgent issue is how to stem public outrage among the afghan people. last month, angry protests after u.s. troops accidentally burned copies of the koran. these murders threaten to inflame them once again and the real progress. >> americans are also frustrated. the latest polls suggesting that 60% believe the war has not been worth fighting. this is it is likely to intensify support for the withdrawal of combat troops as early as possible, even before the deadline set for 2014. bbc news, washington.

>> speaking earlier today in kabul, a nato spokesperson said it will be investigated and expressed deep regret at the news of civilian deaths. >> we were shocked and saddened to hear of the shooting incident yesterday in kandahar province. our deepest regrets and condolences to the victims and their families. we pledge to all the noble people of afghanistan our commitment to a rapid and thorough investigation. >> our correspondent in kabul -- i see that those killed yesterday have now been buried. what is the reaction, the mood in afghanistan today? >> the mood in kandahar is one of anger and sadness. i was speaking to several tribal

leaders who say they have been speaking to president hamid karzai and have asked for an immediate end to operations, both at the hands of afghans as well as nato forces. they now say they hope for a very transparent and open trial. one of the tribal elders told me that apologies were not enough. words were not going to bring back those who have been killed in his family. >> does this feel like a potential turning point in the presence of u.s. troops? this is such a big loss of lives in an indiscriminate way. handing over an american soldier to afghan authorities for trial seems extremely unlikely. >> it is a huge blow to the already fragile relationship that's their between kabul --

that is there between kabul and washington. it also puts president hamid karzai in a very difficult situation. kandahar is his home province. karzai will have to go back to those tribal leaders. one of his aides say president karzai simply does not have an explanation anymore. a lot of these incidents have been happening. not long ago was the burning of the koran. aids say he is now speaking to senior officials in kandahar, as well as tribal leaders, telling them that the person who has done this will not be able to get away with it and that justice will be done. it is also a huge propaganda victory for the taliban .nsurgents we've

we've seen pictures of the victims on their website and pictures on twitter. >> we've also seen the visit to afghanistan by the german leader, angela merkel. talking about that troop withdrawal -- the weekend events obviously mean tensions between coalition troops between outside forces and afghanistan are much more strained. >> what this incident has done is made the battle for hearts and minds extremely difficult. remember in the district -- it was a nato forces that had kicked out the taliban from this area. they have urged the villages to come back because they have promised protection from the taliban. the challenge for nato would now

be too give that kind of assurance to the people. >> thank you very much for that. we are just seeing pictures of angela merkel in her one-day trip to northern afghanistan. activists in syria say it has been another gruesome massacre in the city of homs. reports suggest up to 47 people may have been killed. the country's state television blamed armed terrorist gangs for the killings. lina sinjab is in damascus to give us the latest details. >> in homs, this massacre -- a horrific attack. accusing what they call the government thugs of conducting this massacre.

they say that some were burned alive. some were beaten to death. news coming out from homs -- the government is accusing armed gangs of doing this massacre today. >> what will be behind -- if it is the government responsible, why are they attacking women and children? >> it has not been the first time where women and children have been attacked. more than 300 women have been killed since the uprising and more than 400 children were also killed. remember, the uprising -- at first, because of children being arrested in deraa. it is not the first time there have been such violations against women and children. in homs, where the massacre took place today, another massacre took place -- whole families

were stopped and killed, according to the opposition, they were killed by the government militias and security forces. >> when it looks as if the state forces are possibly moving to different areas of the country, it presumably impossible for those families to flee to any kind of safer area. >> there are many families who have fled homs. most of them went to lebanon. many families, thousands of them, are displaced within syria. some are here in damascus. -- mostaring reports of of the areas that have been attacked by government forces, the residents had to be displaced and moved from their own homes. >> lina sinjab in damascus there.

two palestinians have been killed and at least 25 injured on the gaza strip in overnight air strikes. it is really military spokesman said the air strike targets a weapons facility in northern gaza strip. the french president has threatened to pull out of europe's open borders the zone unless the eu does more to stop illegal immigration. he warned france could withdraw from the agreement within a year. jamie has been here. >> quite interesting one. in terms of prime ministers -- what is he being accused of? he is accused of not holding a meeting at the right point.

he is the person of the top. the buck is meant to stop with him. it is said that he did not inform ministers of the problems within the financial system. perhaps key to it, he is accused of failing to take measures that were recommended by a government committee in 2006 to strengthen the economy. i think a lot will hinge on that. today, we will see the heads of three of the biggest banks in iceland who will be testifying. they will really be saying that he recklessly, they say, recklessly, the regulatederegule financial system. that will be key to whether the case has any traction at all. >> japan? >> japan, a year on from the tsunami, and how it is recovering. in many ways, it's not surprising, because of the infrastructure rebuilding that's going on and the amount of money that will be pushed into the

economy. the economy will gather some momentum. the question is whether it can continue. there have always been, for the last 25 years, structural problems within the japanese economy, the way in which it is no export dominated. those are things which people are hoping will be tackled with this rebuilding of the infrastructure. until we see that happening, it's a matter of doubt as to whether the economy will continue beyond the period of reconstruction. >> a silent revolution taking place underground. that's the warning of the u.n. report on warsaw, which says demands on the world's supplies -- report on water. the growing population numbers and climate change. the report is released on the eve of the world's water

meeting. some international aid organizations have challenged some of the report's findings. one of them attended the forum -- thank you very much for joining me. what do you dispute about these figures? >> the fact that the u.n. figures say that by 2015, -- this target has been achieved, 89%. it did not say that the figure is based on improved access to water. that does not mean that this water is safe to drink. that's what we are challenging. >> you say the water is not safe to drink. >> we did not know that, actually. this figure does not let us know. improved water access. that means protecting sources of

water. this is the figure they have been using. we do not know how long this water is going to be accessible. we do not know that people have access financially to it. at the same time, the sanitation is not going well at all. that means the environment is not very good. that is still a big challenge for us. >> in your press release, you said that seven people die every minute from unsafe drinking water. there's not a minute to lose. do you think this meeting will achieve anything? clearly, it will be attended by people with the same aim. >> that is why we are here today. this is the week of solution, as they say. i really expect this forum to bring forward innovative solutions for access to water, especially for people in crisis. >> can you give us an example of

the sorts of innovations that you want to see and where they should be targeted? >> it's not so much technical innovation as much as real involvement, especially those people in crisis countries. the emergency reaction after an earthquake or disaster, but what we've seen lacking for years is the link between the emergency relief -- and that which enables people to have access to safe drinking water. >> we will have to lead it there. thank you very much. you are watching "bbc world news." she had no opponents at home, so a young female boxer from afghanistan has come to britain to train for the olympics. more than 1500 peruvians have been left homeless after a fire north of the capital of lima.

it spread quickly among houses in the shantytown. the venezuelan president says he is to begin radiation therapy within weeks to treat his cancer. mr. chavez is currently in cuba. speaking in a recorded television address, he said he plans to return to venezuela in the coming days. he is hoping to stand for reelection in october. just a bit more now on the latest violence in syria. an activist, a member of the syrian national council was in homs until last week. >> will up with very bad news from homs. my friend and woke me up from homs.

now more than 3000 families -- only 500 left. [inaudible] they burned the bodies. they killed the kids. more than 30 kids were killed by the assad regime last night. also, they are robbing the womaen. >> this is "bbc world news." the headlines for you.

the afghan parliament calls for an american soldier accused of shooting dead 16 people to be put on public trial. opposition activists in syria say they have evidence of massacres of adults and children in the city of homs. >> in britain, a high court judge has decided that a man with locked-in central should have his case decided by a court. tony nicklinson wants doctors to be able to end his life without fear of prosecution. he is physically paralyzed from the neck down. his mind remains fully functional. our correspondent has more details on the ruling released in the last hour. >> this morning, tony nicklinson has won the right to have his case heard. he is seeking a declaration from the corps that any doctor who ends his life, is charged with

murder, will have a defense in that charge, the defense of necessity. tony nicklinson is a 58-year-old man who in 2005 suffered a severe stroke. he is very severely paralyzed. what that means is that he is unable to accept assistance to commit suicide himself. this is not a case about assisting a suicide. he is too severely paralyzed for that. he is seeking a declaration that if a doctor were to end his life and that doctor was then to be charged with murder, the doctor would have a defense to the charge of murder. the defense of necessity. this morning, he effectively won his case against the ministry of justice. they have said, such a declaration would change the law on murder and the only place where the law on murder could be changed is in parliament. the judge has disagreed with

that this morning. he said mr. tony nicklinson has an arguable case and he is entitled to bring that case to court. what will happen now is there will be a hearing in to court, a full hearing, where medical evidence will be heard. it's possible and being explored at the moment whether tony nicklinson himself can take part in that hearing. at present, he can only communicate through a eye blink computer or an alphabet board where he indicates letters. this is a major, major advance in the challenge to the law relating to the right to die. it's not about the right to assisted suicide. it's about the right to a doctor ending the life of someone who is so severely paralyzed that they cannot assist in their own suicide. >> we are joined now -- we were

going to the families themselves, to the wife of tony nicklinson. we will try to speak to her in a few minutes. catching up on sports. golf and tiger woods. >> thank you very much. tiger woods is not having much luck with injuries thus far. in 2008, he had to undergo knee surgery. the former world's number one has now had a problem with his achilles' tendon. he had to withdraw from the cadillac tournament in miami because of this injury. awful timing for tiger woods, coming less than a month before the masters which he has won four times. >> a better day for justin roads. >> he became the first european to win the cadillac tournament

in florida. up by a one-shot lead. watson was the american that he had to overcome and he did just that, leading by a stroke, climbing up to seventh in the world, eventually finishing on 16 under par. >> just a quick look at the olympics. >> yes, the olympics. 10,000 people crossed the world have been surveyed on whether the olympics and the parallel vix should become one. the polls largely divided 47% say yes, 43 percent say no. more evenly divided the two of the most successful olympic nations, md usa, a fairly resounding no. >> staying with sports now.

among the thousands of athletes trying to get a place at the london olympics, aaron competesadaf rahimi hoping to in the inaugural women's boxing competition representing afghanistan. >> before the glory, the grind. over the past fortnight, 17- year-old sadaf rahimi has spent 12 hours each day presenting her dream of representing afghanistan on the olympics team. she has no opponents she can fight back home. she has traveled to gain skills at cardiff. >> a joke that i do not want to sit next to sadaf. i am scared that she might punch me. >> this is where she once trained, where public executions were once held.

afghanistan may have changed since those dark days, but not completely. >> [speaking foreign language] >> you must not train girls. they even called my father to threaten him. however, my father is happy that i practice boxing. >> boxers from around the world at a training camp at cardiff university. to one of the coaches, her progress is remarkable. >> she's a very smart person. that makes her a makesboxer. i love the story. i love the things she brings to the sport as a boxer. i believe that people from afghanistan should already be proud of the achievements she has made. >> this training camp makes it more likely that sadaf rahimi will qualify for the olympics, but there are no guarantees. even if she does not make it, she believes her efforts have proven that women can be equal

to men in afghanistan, countering just as big. >> many afghan girls are married by the time they reach her age, more concerned with appearances than punching power. this teenager has other aspirations, and not just for herself. >> [speaking foreign language] >> i think i must make progress in sports. i will not marry soon. afghan girls should show the people of the world that we can progress, that women can advance, as well. >> her boxing hero was mike tyson. she admires his punching power, his ability to reach the top against the odds. it must seem familiar, as well. >> much more, of course, at the website, bbc.com/news. more on our top story. the afghan president has passed a strongly worded resolution about the killing of 16 civilians by a u.s. soldier. he said the people have lost their patience for the actions of foreign troops and says the

soldier must be tried publicly in an afghan accord. karzai earlier ordered a senior delegation to kandahar province to investigate the killings. many of them were children. bbcnews.com. >> make sense of international news. bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu newman's own foundation >> at union bank, our relationship managers use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global

network to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles.