>> 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." >> i tried to avoid a war. the words that brought of and carriage says as he begins his defense at the hague. -- the words of radovan karadzic. >> instead of being accused of the events in our civil war, i should of been rewarded for all the good things i have done. >> welcome to gmt. i am david eades. it was a 60,000 ton oil spill

off the spanish coast 10 years ago. only now does the trial begins in the sinking of the prestige. rising demand and a growing concern for how we see world food day. it's midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, 1:00 p.m. in the hague, where a 20-year search for justice in the former yugoslavia has reached a defining moment. wartime leader of the bosnian serbs has begun his defense, denying all charges against him. crimes against humanity, mass murder, rape, genocide, the list is long. in his opening remarks, he told the court that he succeeded in reducing the suffering of all civilians. now this report. >> the opening day of the defense. until now, this tribunal has been hearing the prosecution's case of a former bosnian serb

leader being a key architect of one of the worst atrocities committed in europe since the second world war. now it was his turn to have his say. he offers a dramatically different portrait of his role. >> instead of being accused of the events in our civil war, i should of been rewarded for all the good things i've done, namely that i did everything in human power to avoid the war, that i succeeded in reducing the suffering of all civilians and the number of victims in our war was 3 times less than the numbers reported in the public. >> he was leader of the bosnian serbs when the country was torn apart by conflicts. forces loyal to him were accused of ethnic cleansing, a devastated seed and the shelling of the capital sarajevo, and the massacre of 7000 bosnian men and

boys, muslims. he was a fugitive practicing alternative medicine until he was arrested in 2008. now he has laid out the themes of his defense, but he was a mild, moderate demand, defending his people under threat, who not know at the time the crimes of which he was accused. >> there was no indication anybody was killed. i never once receive information concerning that either verbally or in my hand. >> it's the culmination of a tribunal process which remains a significant development in the search for international justice and accountability. bbc news reporting. >> an, this is a tribunal that over two decades has seen tragic

days. in terms of trauma, perhaps nothing > this. >> this is a man that so many of the victims blame as the one responsible for their suffering. today he painted a very different picture of himself. he talked about being a children's poet. he told the court that he has a bosnian hairdresser and could not be responsible for these crimes. this was his opportunity to present his character defense. the first witness was called by his defense. >> it could go on as long as two years. he can have the same time as the prosecution. what is the level of interest today around the court? >> a huge amount of interest from the people who have come from bosnia to see him in court. he was a political leader at the

time of this conflict. they believe it was his policy is responsible for their suffering. i was speaking with one of them earlier talked about a death camp. he said they were forced to eat the grass. he told a prison guard he could not eat it because something was in the way and then the guards smashed his face. the people have such experiences that seeing him in the dark gives them a sense of justice. 300 hours worth of evidence. they think it will be worth it in the end. >> thank you very much. let's look at some other stories making headlines around the world. the u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton has said that she accepts responsibility for security failures at the u.s.

consulate in benghazi. the building was attacked and a full you are american citizens, one of them the u.s. ambassador, was killed. she said she was focused on cracking -- tracking down the killers and bringing them to justice. the captain of a cruise ship which sank off the coast of tuscany has arrived for the second day of the hearing. these accused of multiple manslaughter charges after 32 people died on the costa concordia when it ran aground. in cambodia, people have been mourning the death of the former king who died in beijing on monday. officials expect thousands to line the streets when his coffin is taken from the airport to the royal palace. we have seen droughts in the u.s., rainfall being poor in rarussia and a dry monsoon in other areas. this affects what we eat.

it's a world food day today and we are looking at how different countries are coping with rising food prices. first, argentina. we have been to a grocer in buenos aires. >> there is a place like this in almost every corner of every neighborhood in the country. people buy fruits and vegetables and even chicken and eggs. but these places don't escape the rising food prices in argentina. the standard food basket has risen 15% in the last year. sometimes there are sharp increases in the value of some items on a monthly basis. onions have risen 12% since august. one of the most consumed items in argentina is the potato. these have risen 10% in the last two months. argentina has one of the highest

inflation rates in the americas. according to the government, it is 10%. many economists have called this into question and they say it is double at over 20%. events anywhere near lunchtime in mexico, but means just one thing for millions of people -- tacos. the corn tortilla is the staple food for millions of people in this large country. in recent years the price has been creeping up. it has gone up 60% under this government alone over the last six years. the mexican government has had to start importing corn needed to make tortillas. and has come at a cost of $1.5 billion or more per year for the mexican state. it's not just at the tacos stand where prices are going up. it's also on the supermarket shelves and in the market. meat and terry have gone up over

a third in the past six years. the price of the basic food baskets has risen by 50% or more. it's having a major effect on poor mexican families who previously relied on avocados, tomatoes, eggs. johnputting them towards thune del prado mexico is the second fastest -- fattest nations on earth now. >> later, we will discuss some issues around the rising food prices with a senior figure from the united nations food and agriculture organization. amen. accused of causing one of europe's worst environmental disasters going on trial in northwest spain. -- three men are accused. the prestige oil tanker sank off the northern coast of spain 10 years ago. tom is in madrid for this. you better remind us of just how

bad this was. it was a long time ago. >> it was november 13, 2002, when the prestige oil tanker off the coast of northern spain in the northwest of the country ran into trouble in a storm. there was a time of six days until it finally split in half and sank, killing 64,000 tons of crude oil into the sea, which is then washed up on the beaches all across the north of spain and the southern france, causing huge amounts of environmental damage and affecting the fishing industry, which is crucial. a huge amount of people, tens of thousands of people depend on the fishing industry in that part of spain. 10 years on, after a complicated legal process which involved parties from different countries, france, spain, civil claims, fishermen, the companies which ensured the boat as well,

finally three men have been sitting in court this morning accused of causing that oil disaster and the sinking of the ship. >> this is a criminal case now? or are the authorities still itching for the compensation many fishermen feel they deserve? >> it is both. we have the criminal case against the three defendants. the greek captain of the ship, the head of machinery on board the ship, and the former head of the merchant navy in spain. the reason why he is involved with this case is that the trial will look at why the prestige was not brought into harbor either in france or spain for that six days. the accusation has been that the decision to keep it out to sea fails to contain a potential oil

spill, far out to sea and then was spread over kilometers and kilometers of coastline across spain and france. also be the civil case. the spanish government initially launched a claim of around 2 billion euros. they did provide some compensation for the fishermen affected at the time. the report presented in court this morning by academics on behalf of the legal representatives of the galician government has put some figure of potentially damages in total of around 4 billion euros. a lot of discussion on that. the main part of the trial will be next month when the three defendants in court today will give their side of the story. >> thanks very much. thanks for watching bbc world news. coming up in a moment -- once thought to be the only planet of its

kind, 5000 light years away. building in portugal after a public response to the latest government tax increases. a number of police were injured during the standoff outside parliament as protesters demanded an end to austerity. >> protesters occupying the square in front of parliament after the government submitted its budget for next year. the document has tax increases and some spending cuts totaling 5 billion euros, almost $6.5 billion. most of that is in higher income tax, taking the equivalent away of a month's salary for many workers. >> the. for 2013 -- a state budget for 2013 is a difficult budget with a significant increase in the tax burden. all income is taxable and in a

progressive way. >> but austerity is already weighing heavily on the portuguese economy, with unemployment hitting a new record high in september. further tax further tax increases will not help. >> portugal, the more it cuts, the deeper the recession is likely to be, which makes the budget deficit gap even larger. >> criticism of austerity has come from a different order now. the international monetary fund managing director of christine lagarde said that the time might be right to ease up on austerity. in portugal, that was a cue for the president to join the fray on his facebook page. with doubts growing about the appropriateness of current policies, there's pressure on

the government from all sides that's not likely to let up anytime soon. >> this is gmt from "bbc world news. i'm david eades. these are the headlines. the former bosnian serb leader denied charges of genocide in his war crimes trial in the hague. 10 years after the prestige oil tanker disaster, a trial finally gets under way in spain. let's have a look at business news and talk about cars hitting full tilt the downhill with no brakes. >> the european new-car sales over the edge. new-car sales plunged the most in almost two years. that has left pretty much every major brand nursing double digit declines. if we look at the 27 nations

within europe, new-car registrations fell 11%. germany, always talked about as a par house, it fell 11%. in france, 18%. italy down 26%. spain down 37%. no surprise, given the recession in spain. if we look at the car makers, the top three brands, volkswagen, which has always been doing very well, it's been gaining market share, but it fell 14%. ford, 15%. renault has plunged 33% for the month of september. what are the car makers doing? over the past few years they have gone through restructuring, cost-cutting. one would imagine there's not much fat left to trim. what do the car makers do? and how do they handle this

decrease in sales? >> bear was all the capacity in europe. -- there was all the capacity. sales down 20% in italy. that will hurt fiat. opel down 15%. the industry is in trouble. one analyst said to me the situation they are in, that all the european car manufacturers need to close one factory each to deal with the overcapacity. >> the one market in europe that sold great was the u.k. >> and google got a slap from the european commission. >> into an investigation on how it collects information from us every time we go online, the

european union has ordered the company to change the way it collects information, to protect the privacy of of all of its users. in march, the company decided to change its privacy policy. it had 60 privacy policies. all the information was held in 60 different buckets. in march it said it would only have one privacy policy so all the information will be held in one big bucket. the european union has always been concerned about what google would do with the information and how it would protect the information. google is all about advertising. information is very valuable. it's crucial for google to almost personalize ads to individual consumers. many critics were hoping the european union would deem google actions as a legal or impose a fine. they ordered them to change the way they collect information.

>> there's a feeling google has been trying things out a little in europe to see how it meshes in with european rules and to see if that would work across the world. there's been a break for them. there's no big fine. ofs one of a number regulatory battles. there's a big antitrust case against it in europe. >> so it's not the only case google is facing. in terms of privacy laws, there are other countries going through similar investigations. it will be interesting to see their findings on top of what we heard today from the eu. >> doctors in england preparing to conduct reconstructive surgery on the school girls shot by the taliban in pakistan last week. 14-year-old malala yousafzai on

forflown to britain treatment after the taliban shot her in the head after her campaign to promote female education. she is in stable condition. >> she has had a comfortable night. initial assessments have been undertaken by the neurosurgeon. we still have some detailed assessments to undertake from specialists teams who may be involved later on down . we are very pleased with the progress she has made so far. she is showing every sign of being every bit as strong as we have been led to believe she is. >> later today on bbc world news you can watch a documentary made in 2009 about her and her father that follows the family in the days before the taliban closed bryzgalov. watch for that. -- before the taliban closed her

school. it is 50 years since the cuban missile crisis. u.s. spy plane spotted a military base equipped with nuclear weapons capable of reaching washington and beyond, starting up a crisis again. was cuba fearing the u.s. would invade? crisis averted. but that system is still in place. >> taking a ride back in time on the trail of the cuban missile crisis. i came to the countryside looking for traces of october, 1952, where the world came the closest ever to nuclear war. -- 1962. shelter made to shelte store nuclear warheads. and a trek into the hillside.

this is where soviet troops planted missiles toward america, each 1 80 tons more destructive than the bombs of hiroshima. this historian tells me the whole crisis could have been avoided. >> i think the soviets could have hidden the missiles if they had asked for help from cuba. they could disguised the missiles with tobacco or something else. they barely took any camouflage measures. >> the military base was spotted by the americans. 50 years ago, this huge heap of concrete was the silo where soviet troops kept of nuclear warheads. this was an act of self-defense for cuba, but it brought the superpowers at the time to the brink of nuclear war. six days after seeing aerial images, president kennedy announced a naval blockade of cuba.

>> i direct the following initial steps be taken immediately. >> castro wanted to protect the cuban revolution from u.s. aggression, but it was a high risk strategy. the launch site, locals recall the tense days that followed kennedy's broadcast. >> if something had gone wrong, it was all over. >> these were two huge powers armed. it was serious. no more so than when a u.s. spy plane was shot down over cuba. cooler heads prevailed and a deal was struck two days later to remove the soviet missiles. in return, president kennedy promised not to invade cuba. >> i think we emerged from the crisis a lot stronger and have won another battle. the americans did not bomb us, we are just a little island. they are the most artful country

in the world, but we are still here. -- they are the most powerful country. >> it could have ended differently. >> there's a new feature in the night sky which has killed the imagination of many and has astronomers very excited around the world. two amateur astronomers have discovered a planet that is lit by 4 different suns. >> the plan is are betting -- is orbiting two suns. orbiting.net is the data was collected by nasa's space telescope. a group of amateur astronomers identify the planets on a web site. humans are much better at spotting astronomical objects than computers.

>> it took us nearly a year to confirm the data. we found what we thought was a planet about six months ago. we have had all that time to try to thatit astudy it. the more we looked, the more interesting it became. >> the discovery raises new questions about how and where planets can form. >> quite a finding. let me remind you of our top story. we can take you to pictures from they, where the tribunal for the former yugoslavian leader is under way as the former bosnian serb leader radovan karadzic is on trial for charges of crimes against humanity, and rape and murder in the 1990's. he said that he was a mild and

thomas mann and that instead of being put on trial he should of been rewarded for the good that he's done. that's all for the moment. -- he said that he was a mild and tolerance man. that's all for now. do stay with us. >> 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.