>> this is "bbc world news." funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to know your business, offering specialized solutions and capital to help you meet your

growth objectives. we offer expertise and tailored solutions for small businesses and major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news." >> the red cross launches its first-ever appeal for money to help deal with spain .haire hundreds of thousands have been pushed into poverty by spain's economic crisis. hello and welcome. i am gaenor howells. -- i am george alagiah with a

rolled of news and opinion. one member of punk band pussy riot has been freed, but another must remain in prison, in russia. in pakistan, a 13-year-old has been shot in the head by the taliban. >> we are in a global race today. that means an hour of reckoning for countries like ours to sink or swim, do or decline. >> it's midday in london, 4:00 in the afternoon iis, bad. 1:00 in the afternoon in madrid. the spanish red cross has launched its first campaign to help those living within property within its own borders. in the past its helped poor people around the world.

last year the charity helped 2 million people in spain. but the harshest economic crisis has pushed another of 300,000 into poverty. tom is in madrid. >> the spanish red cross is one of the best known charities here, known for helping international causes, disaster- stricken or property-stricken countries abroad. it's the first time they've launched an appeal to help spanish people affected by spain's economic crisis. 300,000 people in spain are now very vulnerable and need help in the form of food handouts. it represents the work of many other charities across the country which is increasing because of the economic crisis. this is food destined for people in spain who need help. this is a food bank on the edge of madrid. double the are doing som

work they were years ago because of the economic crisis. volunteers will low tens of food and drinkf ton today. this food bank supplies 400 spanish charities. but they have a waiting list of 40 charities which for now they simply cannot attend. >> a rise in the number of people rely on food handouts has led the spanish red cross to launch a campaign. aid charity known for helping international causes as for the first time made an appeal to help spanish people and home. a video released by the red cross as part of its campaign shows a spanish family with the refrigerator empty and a father and son and daughter on the edge before foods from the red cross arrives. 300,000 vulnerable people in spain need help. that figure is increasing

because of high unemployment and the austerity. the effects of the financial crisis in spain will be felt for years to come. >> your report depicts a very graphic picture of what the problem is. what are people in spain making of its? is there shame attached to all of this? >> the people i spoke to in madrid last night really felt this is no surprise. one girl said to me when i'm out of work i don't need food handouts for the moment but in and a few months i will have nothing. another guy said that he's not affected by his family and is down in murcia and they went from having a good income to having nothing after the housing bust. so it's a rising number. the red cross last night spoke

about a rising phenomenon which is elderly people in the family are often the ones now in spain with money left over, money they have saved. now they're often the ones to the younger members of the family are dependent on. an elderly lady went to their office at the red cross crying, saying she used to have a good standard of life and now she is struggling to survive because she not only has her son depending on her but also her grandson. >> thanks very much. one member of the russian congress banned pussy riot has been freed by a moscow court. the women hugged and cheered in the courtroom when the decision was announced. but the other two women, the sentence has been upheld. prison for performing a song that mocked president putin in moscow's main cathedral. let's talk to our correspondent in moscow, steve rosenberg.

one of these women was freed. what the difference between the two cases? >> the new defense lawyer for her argued that some would say they took part -- that she had not taken part in the anti-putin prayer because she had been ejected from the cathedral beforehand, so she said her client was not guilty. it seems the appeals court listened to that and decided to commute to that to a suspended sentence. it decided to release her. but the prison terms in relation to the other two pussy riot activists remain and they will be sent to a prison colony. >> this protest that took place in the main cathedral in moscow, there had been some suggestion from the church that if the willing tobeen build

repent, they would have had a less punitive sentence, but the women were uncompromising. >> all three remained speechless today, saying they would not resent. they did not see themselves guilty. the collective message they put out today was that there prayer had been a political action not motivated by religious hatred. therefore, they did not see themselves guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. >> thank you very much. doctors in pakistan have removed a bullet from the injured schoolgirl and education rights campaigner malala yousafzai. the 14-year-old was shot in the head on tuesday on her way home from school in the northwest region. the taliban, will pose girls attending school, have said they carried out the attack.

for more on this story we can speak to the bbc's aleem maqbool ashais on his way to push war. >> we are just outside the combined military office, which is where she is being treated. we have spoken to one of her cousins who says that she is stable. a few hours after the attack on yesterday the situation became very critical and there were very worried. but there was an operation overnight and the bullet was removed. for the time being it does appear she is stable. doctors have been warning that she is not get out of danger. >> i have been reading there's been lots of condemnation of what took place. do you think this will have a wider effect on the way in which people view the taliban, on the way people view islamic

extremism? >> there has been occasion where that has happened, where a particular case has galvanized people's feelings toward the taliban. we remember the shocking video a few years ago. a lot of people don't have faith that this outrage will turn into anything concrete. there has been condemnation from most of the political parties, from all the politicians, and it does feel for the moment the country appears united in their shock about this case. but whether that will translate into anything, people are not sure. they want that to translate into militants being prosecuted once they are found to have carried out attacks or planned attacks. that does not happen enough here. and they want policies to change and for this lead to concrete progress in trying to

end militancy. >> briefly, the government will have to show it can protect this girl. the threat has not been lifted. >> that's right. we have heard statement after statement from the pakistani taliban justifying how they carried out the assassination attempt on a schoolgirl, saying they had held a council and decided because she had harmed their cause through her work, that it was illegal to kill her in its long. they said they will not spare her. -- that it was legal to kill her in islam. so she is still in danger. >> thank you. still to come, we bring you a special report from western syria in an area which remains largely untouched by the violence. away from danger. the mexican authorities are concerned that the leader of a

notorious drug cartel has been killed. while admitting that his course has been stolen, they said forensic tests have proved the identity of the man who led the it task cartel before armed gang snatched his body from a funeral parlor. -- the zetas. >> the news from the mexican government point of view was mixed. on the positive side, they brought down a major player in the drug war, in a shootout. the head of the feared criminal network of the zetas. they confirmed the bulletin body was that of the drug kingpin, one of the most wanted men in mexico. a team of forensic experts carry out a comparative analysis of the body with a photograph expert, resulting in a positive match.

that result was been confirmed when the fingerprints of the deceased were compared to those of the national fingerprint database. >> but what followed was cause for dismay and some embarrassment among local and federal authorities. his body was snatched from the funeral home where it was being held by an armed gang, presumably members of los zetas. what the government hoped would be a powerful example of its military strategy against the drug gangs will only further influence the power that the ield. wheele they are deeply frustrated that the authorities don't have the body. the gang is now a shadow of its former self and lacks a clear leader. bbc news, mexico.

>> this is gmt from bbc world news. i am george alagiah. the headlines, the red cross makes its first ever public appeal in spain to help those affected by the economic crisis. a pakistani schoolgirl cent of the taliban is in a stable condition after surgery to remove a bullet. let's catch up on business news with aaron. let's start with toyota. another recall. >> 2009. >> no 7 million cars. spec 7.4 million cars around the world in the recall now. it is the biggest single recall in history apart from ford in 1996. the problem is an electrical problem that has to do with the buttons for the electric window.

yarus, camera, rav4, models built between 2005 and 2010. 00 camry. this will cost toyota a bit of money to do the recall. experts say we have to put this into context, that it's nowhere near in severe if in terms of risk to drivers and passengers as the 2009 recall. >> that was the sticky accelerator. >> with this, no reports of -- no reports of accident or injury this time. a lot of criticism faced toyota back then. they were fined by u.s. regulators and the company head eventually apologized to the world's. this time the experts say they are doing it right and they are up front and the communication is good. although this recall is a problem for toyota right now, it's not the problem for toyota.

>> i think the most serious issue, aside from the recall, is there is a spat with japan and china. we are looking at a situation that's ongoing and deteriorating. toyota's exposure in that market along with the other japanese manufacturers is quite considerable. that will most definitely impact their financials. clerk toyota said sales of its cars in china in september down 40%. >> this will sound like an alphabetical puzzle. bae merging with eadf, the merger deal being on the rocks. >> the british aerospace group and the defense group has been in talks with the parents of airbus. it would be a megamerger to the tune of $45 billion if the two

came together, that would be the largest defense group in the world. the board on the british side had long said if we need to a merger, the french and german governments -- and the governments have a stake in these companies -- that the french and german governments can only have up to 9% each in a controlling stake. the reason, the united states. bae as a very good working relationship with the pentagon. even though the u.s. is cutting back on defense spending, they are still the biggest defense spender in a world. bae does not want to ruin that relationship. at the end of the day, the deal was always going to be problematic, given the sensitive nature of the industry. listen to this. >> defense manufacturers tend to be seen, even if the companies are privatized, as national assets.

therefore governments are loath to agree to external ownership of companies that deal in defense. that's true for the u.k. government, the friend, the german, or the u.s. government, with which bae has very strong contacts. >> the deadline, 1600 gmt today for the british and european companies to decide. they either go with it or pull the plug. >> need to watch that one. >> thanks very much. british prime minister david cameron is a dire warning on the talent is faced by the u.k. in turbulent economic times. in his keynote speech in birmingham he reaffirmed his determination to stick to his plan of deficit-reduction. he says britain can no longer assume it will remain a major industrial nation. >> and as we showed determination and imagination, britain may not be in the future what it has been in the past. because the truth is best, we

are in the global race today. that means an hour of reckoning for countries like ours, or swim, do or decline, to take office, to become the government at such a moment is a duty and an honor. and we will rise to the challenge. today, i want to set out a serious argument to this country about how. we do how about how we compete and thrive in this world. how can we make sure that in this century, like the ones before, britain is on the rise? -- rise? nothing matters more. >> our political correspondent, naomi, joining me. is it sink or swim? the country might feel parlous

and depressed after listening to that. >> i think he does not want to have any false hopes for people. i think he is paving the way for an announcement that we will get later this year where he would tell the british people that austerity will last even longer than they thought. originally it was gone to last until 2015. then it was moved to 2016. it may even last to 2018, as the financial times said this week. he basically said that he's leveling with the british people. >> he would probably argue it's a realistic message. but there was another matter. boris johnson, the mayor of london, big personality, we saw him during the olympics. he gave a very upbeat picture to the party faithful. >> that's right. he had his party literally

laughing in the aisles. even the press corps could not keep a straight face. he's very good at delivering very funny speeches. his approval ratings at the moment are plus 30. minus 21 for david cameron. goore's johnson could make a bid for price minister. -- boris johnson. many say that david cameron needs a strategy to deal with johnson because he's well liked by the british public. david cameron is trying to be serious in order to draw the comparison between johnson who likes to do jokes and then the more serious prime ministerial effect. >> the other thing cameron was trying to do is a contract but is also trying have a comparison to the other parties.

the conservatives are the grown- up party. >> that's right. there's been a passage about deficit-reduction and he said the labor party just wants to keep borrowing. he says if you look at the two sides of the world there's china which is much more lean and has proper education and infrastructure. if you look at the west, he says you've got overregulated, welfare system, there's too much fat. i think he's trying to urge the british people to realize they need to change or they will join the slide. >> thanks very much for that. as the conflict continues in syria, activists estimate the death toll is 32,000 and there is a staggering damage to the country's infrastructure, the economy, and culture. a region in western syria along the mediterranean remains largely untouched by the

violence. the ancestral home of president assad's family and his minority alawite people. >> another day dawns along the mediterranean. ease in manyd parts of syria anymore. the only fighting is between friends on jet skis on this part of the coast. i arranged to meet a group of him students at a popular cafe. they come from the many ethnic and religious groups. they coexist here. it's hard to believe there is war raging just an hour's drive away. >> i like my town. >> what if they say it is too dangerous to come to syria? >> no, there are people shopping and playing and living.

>> there's nothing happening, no problem here. if you say there's a problem in damascus, it's not all of damascus, just one area. not the whole city. >> this place is not shut off from the rest of the country. from -- when siri's uprising began 18 months ago there were also contests here in the main square, but they were forcefully put down. aside from an occasional demonstrations or an explosion since then this remains one of the most peaceful areas in all of syria. and the authorities are determined to keep it that way because this region is too important to lose. this is the ancestral home of the assads. they are large minority in this

city and they dominate the hills beyond. bashar al-assad's father is buried in these hills. we were given rare access to the family mausoleum. from poor roots, he died in 2000 as an all-powerful president. it's often said that his son is under pressure to preserve his legacy. the town was quiet when we visited. but since then there have been reported clashes between leading alawite families, a measure of growing unease over their place in syria's troubled future. this region is still regarded as the president's last holdout. there's even been speculation it could form a breakaway state. war has reached part of this area. this amateur video claims to show destruction in largely

sunni muslim communities towards the turkish border. rebels now control some villages. the war is often described as a sectarian conflict. >> this man wants his identity hidden. and alawite, he has long been in opposition. >> of course it's nonsectarian. this is the work of the regime. from the beginning they have been trying to create fear among to keepwites them faithful. >> other parts of serious thought they were special too. this town states also responsible the war beyond. >> a reminder of our top stories on gmt. the red cross in spain for the first time will make a public appeal for money to help the spanish people affected by the

country's economic crisis. paternity is asking for donations to buy food for 300,000 of the country's most vulnerable families. that's all for the moment. stay with us on bbc world news. there's plenty more to come. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding for this presentation was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture

new ventures and help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.