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the start of the olympics have been called off. turkey opposes economic sanctions against syria by closing its side of their border to commercial traffic. the family of an afghan soldiers sentenced to hang for killing five french troops tells the bbc why he should be scared a mental health -- spared on mental health grounds. >> hello, and a warm welcome to our coverage of the olympic park in london. a big day for london 2012 because with 48 hours left before the games officially open, today is actually the first day of sporting competition. it kicks off with the opening match of the women's football, between britain and new zealand in cardiff. more than 30,000 people are

expected to be there to watch. here in london, many athletes are making themselves at home in the olympic village. the full dress rehearsal for the opening ceremony will take place behind the leader. the olympic park is being readied for the arrival of thousands of spectators. let me show you another view of what it is like overlooking the park. there you can see the canal that is on one side of the park. it is being swept daily for security reasons. to the right of the structure affectionately called the marshmallow is the basketball arena and in front of it, the structure of some of the tv studios. so, you get a full sense of one side of the olympic park. major changes to london's road system came into full force. one of the conditions of being

an olympic host city is the requirement to provide traffic- free routes for athletes and officials to get around. there are 170 miles or 280 kilometers of the limbic route network in place -- olympic network in place. 48 kilometers is designated lane only open to athletes, vip's and accredited media. if you straight into there, it will cost you 130 pounds. as you can imagine, it is not necessarily popular with london's drivers. here are what the lanes are looking like in practice. the white car is an official olympic transport vehicle managing to make its way past the traffic elsewhere in the city. making faster pro -- progress. there has been a protest by the london famous black cab drivers who have been trying to bid for

the right to take their vehicles into those lanes but they have not been given permission to do so. well, one of the issues lately has been the planned strike by u.k. immigration officers to coincide with the start of the olympics. that has now been called off. the members of the public and commercial services union was due to stage a 24-hour workout on thursday, a day before the opening ceremonies, but it has been cancelled following talks between the union and government. some good news ahead of the opening ceremony. as it happens, although the opening ceremony does not take place until friday, the competition actually starts today, and it is women's football that has the honor of kicking off action. it is one of the events taking place around the u.k. -- not just in london -- and this first game, britain versus new zealand, is taking place in wales, the flag ship millennium stadium in cardiff.

a few hours until kickoff. >> it is not just the players sweating over the very first game of london 2012. at cardiff's millennium stadium every blade of grass needs to be pristine. the stands have to be purchased with advertising. >> it is very, very different. i am not kind of a sentimental person generally, but we take a picture of everything and are sending it to friends and family. i feel very humbled and privilege to be here. >> cardiff has been scrubbed up like never before for its part in the olympic games. but organizers have not clean up on ticket sales. convincing people to watch women's football and the titular has been difficult. there was a time when a women's game could draw 50,000 spectators, but attitudes change

is since 1921 -- changed in 1921 when they were banned from playing at league grounds. here, it feels like the start of something special. >> let's go live to cardiff and .oined the bbc's sean lloyd what is it like? ? thehe sun is shining and festival atmosphere is picking up. street performers -- i am sure you can hear some of them -- and one of the key messages of the olympic games is to inspire the next generation. that is what is going on right here at the moment because youngsters are getting an opportunity to try for football, rugby, hockey, tennis, and even zumba will go on later. let us get a chat with hugh

thomas. what a day for you. >> cardiff is really ready for the olympics. >> not all of the tickets have been sold. we hear about 38,000-40,000, so the millennium stadium will not be full by any means. will that be disappointing? >> we are expecting a lot of people to decide on the day. they are encouraged by the weather and the kind of atmosphere and we expect more people will turn up. but it is a great number turning out to see the opening game of the olympics. >> people are actually queuing up to buy tickets. a lot going on here in cardiff at the moment. these guys behind us, it is their job to encourage grassroots sports day in and out, but it is a very important day today. >> the legacy is a key to the olympics. we are keen to make sure that we had a legacy going forward to

encourage kids to participate in sports in a young -- at a young age. we have gotten the athletes going out to schools and talking to kids about their experiences. >> counselor thomas, thank you very much. the kickoff of the first game at 4:00 this afternoon. >> just ahead of the first olympic sporting action. let's crossover to the olympics sports desk. it will be good to see the actual sporting side of the games. >> it is unusual having some of the matches starting before the opening ceremony, which is friday. right behind me you have the olympic stadium, where the opening ceremony will be. and just behind it, the best of all agree that is also in the olympic park.

it is nicknamed the wash malloux -- marshmallow. overall favored to win basketball gold is the united states. lebron james and kobe bryant -- they completed their olympic warmup with 100-78 victory over spain in what was a repeat of the gold medal game in beijing four years ago. the u.s.a. had not look too convincing in the previous game. the jump shot, 22-30 lead -- 32-30 lead in the first quarter. but then the american stretch their lead to 10 points for the half. the americans in the third, they caught a lot of the spanish mistakes down to the other end of the court to score. james hit 25 points in the game, including a 3-pointer in the

final quarter but can't believe the top scorer as the u.s. -- anthony was the top scorer for the u.s. for the players it is a time to return to the famous than you the only visit once a year. the u.s. and a post a strong team -- the williams systems, and the roddick and john is there -- the williams sisters,and andy roddick and jon isner. that is all for now. back to the show. >> major action at wimbledon in just a few weeks. let us bring you up-to-date with major international news from elsewhere. turkey closed its borders to syria to all but refugees from the fighting.

restrictions, amid news of two more defections from damascus. the syrian ambassadors to the united arab emirates and cyprus. they are husband and wife and they defected to qatar, according to the syrian national council. in syria, thousands of government troops are reporting to be amassing near alecto and attack helicopters are said to be deployed -- aleppo. let's speak live to the reporter who has been on the turkish border for some time. what is the latest on this move by turkey as far as closing the borders? >> that is no surprise. the turks have long been quite anxious about the knocking -- knock on the fact, not only the shooting and killing of syrian citizens but also the impact on the neighbors. this is a refugee camp behind

me. it is already acquiring an air of permanence. over 12,000 people in this refugee camp. they are very concerned about the destabilizing effect of what is happening in syria. they closed all of the borders except for refugees coming out of the country. because of what happened yesterday in aleppo, it is expected more refugees will arrive. i spoke to one family about an hour ago and the woman told me graphic details about how people were being left to die and the families cannot take them from where they were killed. such was the ferocity and intensity of the shelling. of course, ground troops are thought to be going into aleppo today to clean up and get rid of all the fsa fighters. >> what are you seeing in terms of the provisions being made on the turkish side of the border? the flow is only likely to

increase. >> two issues -- the humanitarian side, not just in turkey but lebanon, jordan, and iraq, absolving ever greater number that refugees, perhaps more they can cope with. un ravi de agencies doing its best. but up words of more than two -- 2 million displaced, these countries are saying enough is enough. then the turkish security cabinet has been meeting as we speak. and there are issues as well for turkey's own defense and security. these borders have been strengthened in recent weeks. there was a shooting, accidentally, emerged of a turkish jet by the syrians a couple of weeks ago. all the escalation of violence in syria, just about 30 kilometers from the border, is worrying the neighbor to the north. >> thank you very much, our bbc

on -- bbc team on the border. still ahead -- we take a look back at the olympics where engineers shared the glory with the athletes. that is in our next olympic postcard. nasa says its satellites record of what it calls unprecedented surface melting in green land. they did not know whether this is a rare natural event or due to global morning -- they do not know whether this is a rare natural event or due to global warming. >> of this dramatic footage of a glacier collapsing in green land two weeks ago. the owner of the boat managed to escape just-in-time from the huge waves it produced. scientists believe this collapse is a sign of a much bigger problem very nasa says its satellites have recorded what it called unprecedented surface melting.

these images show the surface ice on july 8, but only four days later, something extraordinary happened. almost all of it melted, exposing -- 97% of green land was affected. usually about this time of year, about 40% of the ice experience is melting. even greenland because a call this the high spots are affected, something that has not happened since '89 -- gronlund's coldest and highest spots are affected. scientists say this happen before and estimate it occurs once every 150 years. but it has yet to discover whether what happened two weeks ago was a real natural event or the result of global warming. >> japan has posted its biggest ever trade deficit for the first six months of the year. nearly $40 billion. the main reason was the need to

import oil bank and liquefied natural gas to fuel power stations. all but two of the country's 62 nuclear reactors are currently off line after the safety checks following the food hiroshima disaster last year. -- fukushima disaster last year. you are watching "bbc world news" live from london olympic park. residents of syria's second city aleppo says large army reinforce ears are moving to put down an uprising. at the same time, turkey has effectively impose economic restrictions against syria on their common border. emigration's that have called up the one-day strike which could have affected our arrival for the olympic games -- immigration workers have called off their strike. the olympic torch has been making the rounds -- it's rouse, carried by thousands of people

to the olympic stadium. now 48 hours to go until we actually see it arrives. one of the torchbearers and the last few hours is a south korean ambassador to the u.k., one of the lucky ones. he joins us live from wembley stadium. welcome to our coverage, ambassador. how did it feel to be carrying the torch? >> i think i am the luckiest ambassador in the world. as you know, ambassadors come and go, but i am the only one and ask -- ambassador with the torch today. >> very unique, indeed. have you already welcome your very own olympic team to london? >> south korea is also hosting the games in 2018 -- so we are very proud to be a part of the

olympic games and look forward to hosting those games as well. >> will you be going to allow big football? i have to tell you the only olympic tickets i were able to get word to a football game between your team and gabon. would you be there yourself? >> can you say it regain -- again? >> will you be going along as your footballers play gabon. >> we have very impressive players in shooting and swimming and gymnastics and weightlifting, so i am proud that we wei -- will be having korean version of andy murrays. >> thank you very much,

ambassador, for joining us. let us take into afghanistan and a case that is continuing to abide opinion. a former member of the afghan national army is currently awaiting execution after being convicted of killing five french soldiers. his family is calling for his life to be scared, claiming he has mental health problems. but it has also emerged he has a history of violence. a report from kabul. >> french troops have faced some tough battles here, but being shot by the afghans they are supposed to be supporting led france to decide to pull out troops earlier than planned. the new president francois hollande accelerated it as a made his first visit here soon after the election. the killing of five french soldiers and one incident in january turned out to have the most political and back of all the way you've of the tax. >> the brother of the man who

shot the difference -- french soldiers showed me prescriptions that were always needed by his brother to stop him from being violent and unpredictable. >> he was in a very bad condition. i had to bring him back in chains and bring them to hospital. we realized his condition was getting worse. he grabbed the rebound the throat and punched me in the face. he was my own brother. >> mahama at one of his brother to have medical treatment rather than being hanged -- mohammad once his brother to of medical treatment. >> we provided all the documents to show them he is sick, and doctors said he has a mental problem. >> screening of new recruits is supposed to be tightened up. this case asks urgent questions about how a man with a history of violent and emotional disorder was able to join the afghan army. bbc news, kabul.

>> if you have been with us the last few days you know about our olympic postcard, looking back at game's past and their legacies. in 1928 the host city was amsterdam. it's autumn but marked the first time women athletes competed on the track -- it's olympics marked the first time women athletes competed. it was not only the athletes that completed fantastic feats. >> this was built on reclaimed marshland. some complain the track would be so soft -- to stop so dutch engineers had to work hard to insure it could take the pressure. it was the first time they used a 400-meter track which became standard for all future games. and it wasn't just used by men. this was the first time women were used -- allowed to compete in track and field. the modern olympic flame was first will it in amsterdam in 1928.

sparking a tradition being continued by all hosts ever since. but it wasn't all plain sailing. the wasn't enough accommodation for all of the athletes, so some of the teams had to sleep aboard their ships instead. wives and girlfriends, not allowed. inside the stadium, there is now a museum displaying a which a way of sporting treasurer. -- rich array sporting treasures. this is the outfit of one of the greatest medal and long-distance runners, known as the flying finn, and he won 9 of the big gold medals. this is used to encourage and nurture the next-generation of dutch sports stars. both these young competitors and many of the traditions we see at the london games were born in amsterdam.

>> let's go. >> so, women have come a long way at the olympics. one competitor about to go even further. malaysia's -- is going to compete in the 10-meter air rifle. the twist to her story is she is eight months pregnant. our correspondent net her before she settled in london. >> it is an event all about pellets', precision, and practice. but for this woman, getting a shot at olympic glory men doing all that with pregnancy thrown in, too. >> some of the people say that i am crazy, some of the people say i am too selfish. but i just ignore what others say can just concentrate on what i want to do and what i dream of. >> that dream is malaysia's first ever gold matter in

saturday's 10-meter air rifle. there have been at a handful of pregnant the libyans in the past, but none quite as pregnant as suriani. when she competes, the birth of her child will be just over a month away. cents an early bout of morning sickness, the 30-year-old naval officers as the pregnancy has had little effect of the training. she thinks the bump out front has improved for stability. the biggest thing is the baby kicking which she holds her breath to shoot. so, each time before she competes she has a little chat with her future daughter. >> on the morning of the competition is usually i will say to my baby, ok, mommy is going to compete today, so the competition is one hour and 15 minutes. so, i need you to be calm and not so active, just for a while

and then afterwards if you want to get active, it's ok. >> at the club where she trains and across malaysia, the level of expectation is growing. >> will you have any pressure on you that so many people are looking at you, especially the prime minister? >> having won medals at the commonwealth and asian games on her own, the vote -- difficult questions are being asked about the practicalities of olympics success. >> you are getting the metal and the baby is inside the -- how do with are the medal baby? >> for malaysia's mother-to- be. >> all the best and we hope with god's grace you will come back with a medal and your little one will be as healthy as ever -- as ever. >> bbc news, kuala lumpur. >> sounds like a very obedient

baby in the womb at least for the moment. back here at the olympic park, the final rehearsals for the opening ceremony will be taking place in this stadium. lots of spectators will be coming along -- organizers are worried that they will let out the secrets of their is a campaign to save the surprise of the people who have been lucky enough to go and have been tweeting about it -- said they did not give too much away. did not give too much away.