central europe braces itself for further flooding as the danube approaches record levels. there are fears the hungarian capital may be next. and 30 years of marriage and much speculation, vladimir purr tin announce says his divorce -- putin announces his divorce on russian tv. >> in the weeks that the royal family came together to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the coronation, prince philip, the queen's husband, has been taken into a private london clinic for surgery. buckingham palace says his hospital admission isn't an emergency. he'll undergo an exploratory operation today under general anesthetic. the queen will carry out her engagements as normal, including a visit to the bbc

headquarters in central london within the hour. andy moore has the latest. >> he knew he was going into hospital in just a few hours' time. but guests at the buckingham palace garden party had no idea. they said the duke seemed in good spirits and totally unconcerned. >> the duke looks in excellent form. he was ram-rod straight. he was talking, chatting, joking as he always does. none of the 8,000 guests, none of us had the faintest inkling he might be on his way to hospital. >> on monday, the duke missed an engagement because he lost his voice. but on tuesday, he was back in his normal place alongside the queen in westminster abbey for the 60th appear verse are you of her coronation. on wednesday, he seemed spritely enough as he toured a victorian steam ship, the s.s. robin, in london's east end. the palace is keen to say the duke is in good health and this was a planned admission. the duke is likely to spend his 92nd birthday in hospital, but

he showed little sign of slowing down recently. in april this year, he was in canada for a military presentation. he had bruising around one of his eyes, but the palace said there had been no accident. twice last summer the duke was in hospital suffering from a bladder infection. the first bout came after the downfall that accompanied the queen's celebration. the duke had his most serious health alert in hadn't requires when he was emergency surgery for a blocked artery. today the queen will be formally opening the bbc new headquarters in central london. the duke was due to accompany her. instead he'll be just a short distance away in hospital undergoing surgery under general anesthetic. andy moore. bbc news. >> we'll be getting the very latest from our correspondents, one of our correspondents, who's outside the clinic in central london where the duke is being treated, but that's just a little later on in the program. in the meantime, the queen

herself, she is going to carry on with her commitments today alone. obviously the duke was expected to be with her. she visited us here at the bbc's new london headquarters. she's going to officially open our new state-of-the-art broadcast center, which has been home to "bbc world news" since the start of the year, you may have noticed. she'll be shown around by the bbc's new director general, tony hall, and meet journalists in the world's largest multilingual newsroom. now to turkey. two demonstrations in istanbul have shown just how divided turkey has become over the past few days. tens of thousands of supporters of the prime minister, recep erdogan, turned up at the airport in the middle of the night to greet him at the end of his four-day trip to north africa. just a few miles away, rival protesters were calling for his resignation. we have more now.

a defiant return for a leader who knows he still has the support of his loyal backers. they turned out in tens of thousands at istanbul airport to greet him, and he made clear he isn't backing down. >> we can't allow anyone to behave in an unlawful way in this country, to vandalize, to destroy cities, private properties, and to hurt our people. >> but recep erdogan also talked of brotherhood, saying that he was prime minister not just for the 50% of people who voted for him, but for all 76 million turks. an attempt perhaps to quell growing divisions here. on the other side of the city, a party atmosphere of a different kind. these people are angry. they've occupied taxing in

protest at a government they claim is becoming increasingly authoritarian. >> thousands started camping out here after police used water cannon on protesters who had been trying to save the nearby park from being redeveloped. now the issue has escalated into something far wider and has highlighted divisions across turkey. >> we heard some rumors that the police and the people were going to march here. against the crowd over here. but i'm not sure whether that will happen or not, because we didn't see anything last night. but we're going to keep on coming here, and we'll see. >> the mgs conservatives who

backed the government say the protests which started over the future of a park has been hijacked by pro vock tours. for the prime minister refusing to change tack, the protests show no signs of fizzling out. >> all right, let's update the situation affecting a large part of central europe, where severe flooding has been sweeping across this part of the continent for nearly a week. the floodwaters appear to be receding, like in dresden, germany. the city center thankfully has been spared. huge areas around dresden, they were engulfed with water, but now there's concerns that the hungarian capital, budapest, where the danube is expected to rise to almost record levels, and our correspondent there right on the danube is nick. he joins us live now. tell us what the situation is where you are. >> it's round about eight meters high, the danube, as you can see just behind me here.

many of the boats moored along the shore, the gangway reaching out to them, completely covered by water. they had to stretch across to them for passengers to go ashore. obviously that's the capital city, also the lower embankment all closed to traffic. and a sense of expectancy here, margaret island in the middle of the river, but further up the river from here, the island already cut off by the floods. people there have combevpb up trying to defend the village as such, one of the most exposed villages there. they're packing sand banks around their individual homes to try to keep the floodwaters out. >> a state of emergency has been declared in hungary. what does that entail? what are people doing in order to protect themselves and their property? >> basically it involves perhaps tens of thousands of volunteers, the army, the

emergency services, they've set up camps up along the danube. the local authorities in each time along this very long river stretching across the whole of hungary effectively packing sandbags, preparing for their homes. hungarians have been the advantage of seeing what the devastation further upstream in germany and in austria is, so they're pretty well prepared for this. they've seen it coming from a long time, but obviously huge amounts of water, and sometimes you just cannot resist the waters. evacuation plans being drawn up for some of the more exposed places. >> nick, thank you. we'll check in with you later. syrian government forces have been consolidating their hold on villages around the strategically important town of qusair. they retook it from the rebels on wednesday. the battle lasted three weeks in the fierce fighting, reflects its strategic importance. it hit from a key route north from damascus, and it's very close to the border with

lebanon. our chief international correspondent is one of the first western journalists to nter the town. there's more traffic on the street, but it's almost all soldiers taking away whatever they can find in whatever way hey can. we saw almost no civilians in qusair, except this one family, and they're not staying long. they fled a year ago and came back to find their home was unrecognizable. it had been occupied by the rebels. a symbol of the free syrian army far ook bringing aid. upstairs, i was shown what the fighters have left behind. a rifle scope, clothes still hanging on hooks, and on the wall, a list of their blood groups.

we're not here long, and syrians turn up, now working side by side. we spoke to some hezbollah off camera, and they confirmed they're now doing regular rotations into syria. they come across the border. it's so close, you can even see it from the edges of qusair. that's why the battles here have been so fierce over the last 18 months, we the government deployed overwhelming force. we saw some of the make-shift weapons. we're told by soldiers these barrels are packed with explosives. these men wave us down. they want us to see other improvised devices. this is what the rebels call freedom, this man says. they hate us. before, qusair was plunged into wall. this was a city where syrians

of many beliefs lived together. the church was not just estroyed, it was desecrated. the physical destruction in qusair is immense and shocking, but something even more worrying has happened here. the social fabric has been ripped apart. rebuilding qusair may just be a matter of time. rebuilding trust, that may never happen. lyse doucet, bbc news, qusair. >> we stay with syria. the french president, francois hollande, has been calling for the immediate release of two missing french journalists. they were working for the french radio station europe one, which says it's heard nothing from them for 24 hours. it's thought they were on their way to aleppo. president hollande has said it's not clear what's happened

to the two men, but they don't represent any state, and therefore, must be allowed to get on with their work as journalists. lots more to come here at "bbc world news" this morning, including an update on the health of the duke of edinburgh from the london hospital where he's being treated. and the queen, who's carrying on with her official engagement s, is expected right here for an official opening ceremony within the next few hours. >> hi, i'm ros atkins. it's now much easier for you to give us things you've seen or questions or comments about the day's news. in fact, some of you are using it already. >> i'm from pakistan. >> my name is bruce. i live in canada. >> i'm from melbourne, australia. ll all you have to do is go to worldhaveyoursay.com. i recorded this on my phone.

once i've done that, i come here, click on upload, select file, and that was. that >> or use a web cam through any computer. just go to the same page. when you're there, click record, say what you've got to say, then stop, scroll down, click submit, and we'll do the rest. bbc video uploaders, get it at orldhaveyoursay.com. >> you're with "bbc world news." i'm martine denis. these are our top stories this morning -- the duke of edinburgh is to spend up to two weeks in a london hospital. he'll be undergoing an exploratory operation on his abdomen. the turk irk prime minister has told supporters demonstrations must stop, but opposition protesters are continuing their call for him to step down.

coming up in half an hour -- a bolt from the blue. justin gatlin leaves usain trailing in rome as he makes his track comeback. the spurs take the heat out in miami and steal an early lead in the seven-game nba championship series. and manchester city signs a brazilian star for $46 million. hat's in 30 minutes with me. >> yes, that's right. doctors will assess this morning whether they feel they can go ahead with the operation, and i suspect they will want to get on with it sooner rather than later. the plan is for him to have that exploratory surgery at

buckingham palace. over the course of the past week, he has come to the hospital once for tests, and doctors looking at the results of those tests felt they needed o take it a stage further. it will be done under general anesthetic, which is quite a challenge for somebody who is almost 92 years old, and buckingham palace says that -- think that the duke of edinburgh could be in hospital for up to two weeks. now that would clearly give him time to recover from the anesthetic and the surgery. it would also give doctors time to assess the results of the surgery and what, or if they to do something more. up to two weeks in hospital, the duke of edinburgh, i have to say, is probably something of a reluctant patient, not keen to be sitting still and not doing anything. but this is clearly serious enough for him to realize he has to be here and spend some time resting and listening to medical advice. >> an update on the situation

regarding the duke of edinburgh. the queen is going to continue with her engagement, as per usual. just a couple of hours from now, she's due to visit us here at our new headquarters in central london, which you have been seeing since january when our amazing new newsroom was unveiled. we started broadcasting from here around then, and the queen is going to get her own personal tour today, and she's going to be shown around by our new director general, tony hall. we now get this report on what he queen is likely to see. it's a project that was 10 years in the making, bringing the bbc's journalism together under one roof and harnessing every inch of expertise and global insight. it is also time to say goodbye to this studio at bbc's

television center. >> it meant saying goodbye to our old studio, which had played an important role in the history of television in britain and opening a new chapter. hello and welcome to a brand-new look for impact and bbc. it's our first day on air from this studio, and we hope you like what you see. >> coming up, you've seen the results already, a fresh look to our program, more vibrant, more visual with just a touch of the unexpected. >> thank you very much indeed for being with us. >> the new look is on your screens across the globe, and this is very much a working live newsroom. but today's royal visit sees the queen having the guided tour. >> many of you watching around the world might feel you know what that is like, because this is an era of unprecedented openness about our giant news operation. getting so many journalists

together in one place means we re forging connections and we've got room to play. >> beyond the tv studio, this is also the home of radio and online and of all our language services. they're at the heart behalf we do here every day, sharing stories, knowledge, and know-how. >> we call it the world's newsroom, a truly global news operation fit for the 21st century and a fast-moving world. fit for bringing the best of he bbc to you. >> you're with "bbc world news." we're going to take you now to just outside our building, where we are awaiting the arrival of the queen.

as we said, she's due to be carrying out an inspection of our new headquarters of which we're so proud. and her husband, of course, won't be joining her. as you also know, he is in a central london hospital. that's the scene live outside our new broadcasting house, which is our new central fration for the whole of the bbc involving so many thousands of us, many different services, many different languages, all nder one roof. we should have been preparing to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. instead, vladimir putin and his wife have gone on tv to announce they're getting divorced. the couple made the announcement in an apparently choreographed interview. they've barely been seen together in public for several years now, and that, of course, has led to intense speculation over the state of their marriage. well, we can continue that

speculation with the bbc's correspondent of our russian service. how unusual is this for a russian first couple, if you like, to announce their defending divorce on the television. >> this is very unusual indeed. and in a way, it's sensational, and, you know, even it's not the fact that they divorced, because speculations were in place for quite a while, but the effect that putin went live, but went on state television to speak openly about that, and this is the main point of discussion in russia. it's a moment, i think. >> and why do you think they decided or at least the president decided that that was the way they were going to deliver the news to the russian people? >> well, i can speculate here as well that i think that you were correct. they were not together for

quite a while. the last time it was about a year ago when they were brought in in the president's election together, but which was really weird pictures where they were sitting in an empty flat, empty, like no one would live it e, and you could see from the very beginning. i think they pride themselves of their family, their marriage, around questions and world media, why mr. putin did alone. >> if you think about it, he's known them the world over, but very little seems to be known about his wife, lyudmila. very rarely have they been seen together. what about family life? do they have children? >> yes, they two grown-up daughters. and they mentioned it yesterday in that interview, but that's true. mr. putin, from the very beginning, when he came to power in 2000, he immediately

took this position that his family and his private life would be something else. he never went public about his private life unlike the previous president, boris yeltsin, whose family was all over the media and often in the middle of canada. >> i've got to ask you, of course there's been speculation about other relationships for the president. what do we know? >> honestly, we know speculation, but frankly, it's such a sensitive and closed topic, so no one can say for sure, but social media, especially these days, are full of various aversions and ideas and candidates probably, but no one knows at the moment. >> i mean, it's a case of watch your space, isn't it? thank you very much indeed, pablo of the bbc russian service. now let's have a look at some other news in brief. seven georgian soldiers have

been killed in an attack in southern afghanistan. several others were injured when a suicide bomber drove a truck into the base in homeland province. around 1,500 georgian soldiers are there as part of the nato-led force. in bosnia, about 1,500 people have been freed from the parliament building after it was besiege bid protesters demanding a new i.d. law. babies born since the old run in february have no legal documents and they formed a human cordon to allow trapped lawmakers and other officials and foreign visitors to actually get out of the building. here's a sobering prediction. within the next decade, people living here in the u.k. will have a 50-50 chance of getting cancer at some point in their lives. that's according to the charity, mcmillen cancer support. two decades ago, just over three out of 10 people experienced during during their lifetime.

this has risen to more than four out of 10. mcmillen estimates that by 2020, the figure will be close to five out of 10. well, with improvements in treatment, the charity also have more people to survive. the professor of the chief medical center at mcmillen cancer support. >> the majority of cancers are in older age, and many of them are related to lifestyle changes. so not smoking, a healthy lifestyle, physical activity. some of these things are things that can help to reduce the risk of cancer, but nevertheless, the prediction does show that the cancer instance will increase and that the number of survivors will also increase, so we really need to pay more attention to after-care and recovery to make sure that cancer survivors live a healthy life.

>> and a quick reminder then of our main story today. queen elizabeth's husband is due to have a private operation later today. buckingham palace says the duke's hospital admission is not an emergency. he was reported to be in good spirits at the palace garden party that took place yesterday afternoon. now he's going undergo exploratory surgery on his abdomen, and he'll have a general anesthetic. we're going to keep you posted as to how prince philip gets on today after his surgery, and remember, the queen is visiting us here at the bbc. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. union bank. and united healthcare.

>> 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.

hello. you're watching "newsline." i'm shery ahn. let's get started with a look at the headlines. officials from the two koreas agreed to meet for their first talks after months of tension. chinese president xi jinping has arrived in the u.s. for talks with president barack obama. they will discuss cyber security, north korea, and possibly forging a new

relationship. and in her latest documentary, an american film director is using photos of cherished objects to remind people of the threat of war. officials from north and south korea appear to be heading back to the negotiating table. the two countries are expected to hold working-level talks as early as sunday. the talks come before a meeting between government ministers proposed for wednesday next week. officials from south korea proposed a ministerial meeting in response to the north's invitation for talks. pyongyang suggested the two koreas suggest a resumption of the kaesong complex. on friday, north korean officials proposed that the working-level meeting be held in kaesong on sunday. in a statement, they said they welcome the south's positive and immediate response to their proposals. north korea also said it's reinstating a hotline connection with south korea. the two