they've only been on the job since the beginning of october. the deadline is the middle of next year. yet the nobel committee says the prize is in recognition of the opcw's long-standing work. since 1997 from its headquarters in the netherlands, the opcw has worked to make sure countries comply with the u.n. chemical weapons convention, and it successfully monitored the destruction of large amounts of poisoned gas. but these shocking pictures from near damascus in august were a reminder of the effect of chemical weapons, and they also brought an urgent and enormous new task to the opcw, a point not lost on the nobel committee. >> the work of the opcw to define the use of chemical weapons as a taboo of international law. the recent event is syria, where condemn caleds weapons have again been put to use, have underlined the need to

enhance the efforts to do away with such weapons. >> so now an organization just starting its most crucial work has been recognized with a major prize. the opcw will inevitably be judged on its work in syria. some may ask the notice belle committee acted too soon. >> now to chew over some of the issues brought up by this award of the notice belle peace prize, i'm joined by professor paul, a former director of arms control at british manipulate industry of defense, and also by bruce kent, one of britain's most prominent peace campaigners, a former chair of the campaign for nuclear disarmament. i'm going start with you, professor, if i may. you've long been intimately involved with disarmament efforts. do you think the opcw deserves this prize? >> they are a good institution. they're an important enhancement to what the world can do with weapons of mass destruction, but so far what

they've done has been relatively routine. yes, it's true, 80% of the world's arsenals have been destroyed, but they haven't done it. it hasn't been their job. it was the russians and the americans mostly, but also the indians and southerns doing it themselves on a kind of industrial scale. >> one question i have, they've got this award. do they really have the powers and the mandate to go in and rid the world of chemical weapons, fine the owners of those chemical weapons don't want them to? >> no, not if there's assistance. for example, they can't go into north korea, which has a lot of chemical weapons, is not a member of the convention. they have no standing. syria says it is now it is part of the convention and will cooperate in getting rid of it the question is how far that's going to be true. and even if the syrian regime does want to cooperate how that will be in a civil war. >> a quick thought on syria, the

opcw is funded to the tune of roughly 75 million euros. not a huge amount of money, they have huge staff but thinly spread. do you think they have the resources to get this done? >> a number of countries have said they will give more money. the germans have, and other europeans, i suspect, money will be made available. it won't be a lack of money. that's not going to be the problem. the problem is going to be testing the good faith of the syrian regime, overcoming the physical obstacles and finding some way in which you can get rid of the thousand tons, that figure's not been verified, all chemicals quickly without damaging the environment because in iraq you would get rid of it largely by cowboy methods like

burning them in the desert. i don't think it will be possible this time around. >> bruce kent, i want to turn to you. you in the past have been a critic of some of the choices made by the nobel committee, suggesting they didn't fit with the ideals behind the prize. do you think this time they've got it right? >> yes, i do, i think it's quite encouraging, whether pressure from outside, but i think it's within the terms of the will which is a great step forward. >> do you think there's a danger when you get this high profile sort of war, excellent, we're making such great progress of ridding the war of chemical weapons when in fact the truth is even when they've done their turn in syria, chemical weapons will pose a lethal threat in a number of countries. >> the glass is office half full or half empty and i'm a half full. i think it-points that this kind of inspection is possible and most people don't realize it's possible. so i think it's a positive, mental step forward.

>> this big word proliferation, it continues perhaps particularly and most importantly in the nuclear field. >> well, it will. if we continue as we are, not that this is the subject, but if we are continuing to say we want to be nuclear armed i can see no logic in saying other countries can't be. so that is proliferation. here today we have an international body saying we can actually internationally move towards the elimination of something rather horrible. i think that's great. are you a half full sort of guy on these issues? >> i think half full and maybe the award will help increase the level of optimism in the glass. because this is going to be a tricky operation. i want to emphasize it's going to have to be judged at two levels. there will be very available destruction of things. that's pretty clear. and there will be footage of explosions and bulldozers driving over missiles and

everybody will applaud that. but behind that, the bigger, more difficult question which will be critical for the way processes this event, whether intelligence agencies and watching government departments judge that this has really been done. that's not just about the outward signs of destruction, it's about checking through the syrian declaration, comparing that with what evidence has been collected. and to make sure the archaeology of this program -- >> so real verification not an easy issue. >> not an easy issue and a lot will involve import, possibly from russia, possibly from egypt, in the past when it was still legal but very sensitive to disclose. >> i thank you both very much for joining me. thank you very much. now, in other news, two british men who took part in a green

peace protest at an arctic oil rig have been refused bail by a russian court. all 30 of the green peace crew members have been charged with piracy. the spanish formula one test driver has been found dead in a hotel. she was 33. one of the few women drivers in formula one lost an eye in a test track. spanish police believe she may have died of natural causes but they can't yet confirm that. the vatican have drawn a set of medals because of a spelling mistake. officials noticed that the j in jesus had been replaced by an l. only four sets had been sold before the mistake was spotted which makes them highly collectable. they're a useful source of income apparently for the vatican. the campaign group human rights

watch has accused syrian rebel groups of carrying out war crimes during an offensive in august. in a detailed report, the group says rebels killed more than 190 civilians when they catched a number of villages near the turkish border, sometimes executing entire families and taking hundreds of civilian hostages as well. james reynoldses has this report. >> humans right watch filmed these pictures in northern syria. the end of a two week rebel offensive in august. the organization accuses islammist rebels of executing entire families and taking more than 200 civilians hostage. >> what we found when we entered the villages is that homes had been destroyed, homes had been burned and for the most part the villagers had not been returned. a number of villages we spoke to

explained to us what they found when they returned to the area on august 19 after government forces had gained control of the occupied villages. and what they told us was that a number of family members that they had to leave behind were executed. >> here, humans right watch follows this man, whose wife and disabled adult son were killed by rebels. graffitti shows the name of the rebel group allied to al qaeda. human rights watch accuses this group, and several others of carrying out the attacks.

he one of many different movements which make up the syrian armed opposition. its tactics include indiscriminate attacks and bombings. for this reason the west has designated the group a terrorist organization. the rebel attacks against the villages highlight the increasing problem faced by countries which oppose president assad. the rebels whose cause they share and now accused of the same kinds of crimes as the president they're trying to bring down. >> do stay with us here on bbc world news, still to come, football fever sweeps across afghanistan. we look at a welcome taste of normality being enjoyed by the afghan people. one of america's first

astronauts scott carpenter has died after suffering a stroke. he was 88 years old. commander carpenter was an astronaut and explored boldt the depths of the oceans and the heights of space. he's best known as the second american to orbit the earth. he went to space in 1962 as part of the mercury space program. here's a look at his life. >> he just turned 37 and he'd also just come from space. scott carpenter was literally on top of the world. an original member of mercury 7, nasa's first group of astronauts, he helped pave the war for space explore ration. he became the second american to orbit the earth in 1962. pilotting the spacecraft through three revolutions of the earth he landed in the caribbean overshooting his landing spot by nearly 480 kilometers panicking

found by the navy floating in a life raft feet propped up. equally comfortable at sea, scott did not go into space, but joined the navy sea lab 2 project. he spent 30 days exploring the depths of the ocean off the california coast. >> so nice to see -- >> a true explorer to the end, his wife said he died on denver in thursday following complications from a stroke last month. he was 88 years old. on social media, a constant stream of messages thanking him for being a pioneer as well as con dell lenses from familiar faces. buzz aldrich, who successfully made it to the moon as part of the apollo 2 mission called him a dear friend who will be missed very much. aquanaut, he and will be remembered for his contribution to splorly splorings both above and below the earth's surface.

>> under taliban rules, sports stadiums in afghanistan staged more executions than football matches, but times of course have changed. today the afghan premier league season reaches its climax. ahead of the game, our chief correspondent met the teams involved to find out how football is helping to shape national identity inside afghanistan. >> football training as it sounds anywhere. pass the ball, the coach shouts, as prepare for today's game. but in a country divided by war, this is more than just sport. footballers like this 26-year-old are inspiring in national spirit at the very stadium where the taliban once

carried out harsh islamic punishment. at home with his family, he remembers those years as the worst in his career. >> before one match the taliban brought in a person and shot him four times. then two others were brought in. the hands were a.m. tated. after that, no one was interested in seeing football in the stadium. >> now a nation is watching, including the president. on the other side of kabul, the rival team is receiving a last pep talk. we've come a long way, says the coach. his team is from the north, but it cuts across ethnic lines. >> we're all afghan, we don't think about which province each player comes from. we feel like brothers and we play well together. >> the creators of this new premier league hope the power of sport can change afghanistan's turbulant politics too. >> do you think there's a lesson

here for afghan politicians? >> of course. teamwork, transparentity, and goal oriented projects, and thinking -- >> as a popular kabul cafe, they expressed hope that football can help drive political change. >> 11 men who brought pride to 32 million people and none of those 11 men were actually holding a gun. what you're seeing is a new narrative of what it means to be a hero. i hope our leaders actually realize that. >> today, it's football that matters. but no matter who wins or loses the final, these players know the goal that matters is for fghanistan to succeed. >> now, this week on bbc world news, we've launched a season that we're calling 100 women, focusing on many of the issues

surrounding gender equality. part of our coverage today we're looking at education, specifically the lack of women training in science and technology. that's a theme that's also being addressed by the u.n. today in what they've called the day of the girl child. here are some recent statistic on women in the technology industry, they make for interesting reading. in 2010 only 15% of u.s. computer science undergraduates were female. only 10% of internet entrepreneurs across the world are women. and yet 30% of the best paid jobs for women are in the technology sector. so, to discuss how we can get more girls, and young women interested in science and technology, i'm joined by belinda palmer who is c.e.o. of lady geek, an agency that makes technology more accessible to women and girls. i'm also happy to say we've got a 13-year-old student and a participant in one of those miss

geek campaigns. i'm going to get to the part of that in a moment here. but i'll start with you, belinda. is this really necessary? do you need to work very hard to get young women into science and technology? interested in it? >> absolutely. in the u.k., only 17% of the technology workforce is female, that's bad enough and it's going down each year. if you look at the number of levels being taken by girls, it's lower and lower i've year so there's a real crisis. >> yet girls, i see it around the world, maybe not in the u.k., but in most countries in the world, are now outperforming boys in the sciences at schools. so, two questions, what's going on in the u.s. and the u.k. to make girls still have a problem in this area? and second of all, why is it that there isn't the followthrough from doing well at school to getting the jobs in science and chnology business? >> you're right, girls do outperform boys, but one of the

biggest issues is the image problem. the image of girls is of people who work in technology are pizzaa guzzling nerds that can't get girlfriends. that's the perception we're changing, we're doing that through school and working inside the school to really change that perception because technology is a wonderful career and that's what we need to do. we need to inspire girls to change the world through technology. >> let's talk to a girl, who's here. when did you decide to embrace your inner geek? >> well, when belinda came to my school for a workshop, i just like was able to see a fun side of technology that i hadn't seen before because as belinda said, it's just like people who sit and watch a computer screen all day, are not very cool. but then when they showed us that it could actually be fun, i just thought this is something that maybe i want to do. >> you have done it in a big way. i know you've worked on an app that has great potential.

tell us about the particular project you've been on. >> we started a project called apps for good. we have to create an app that would solve the problem, and the app me and my friends created was about recycling and it's actually gone very well. we're just carrying on building it now. >> it sounds fabulous. it sounds amazing. would you like yourself now to develop on the skills you're requiring and make a career in science and technology? >> definitely, because from what they've shown me it's a really exciting industry and i personally would like to get rid of the stereotype and just show that girls can do it as well. >> getting rid of the stereotype is such an important point. belinda you've got the little miss geek project to try to make this happen. what are the key things you are doing? >> one is working with governments who really try changes in policy and get the government to take this issue seriously.

secondly is going into the actual schools and having a big impact on the way technology has fought, revolutionizing the way it is taught. one woman said i.t.c. stands for i can type. so that's sad. and also giving teachers resources. >> something we'll follow up coming up in months. thank you both for coming into the studio. great to meet you. elephants are supposed to never forget, but it seems they are brainy in other ways too, maybe they're not geeks, but it turns out they understand what people mean when they point. scientists from the university of st. andrews in scotland have discovered the animals followed human pointing gestures in order to find food. it could be another reason why elephants and humans do form such close bonds. victoria gill reports. >> they're nature's giants,.

african elephants are already famed for their intelligence but scientists have seemed to discover they understand a very human gesture. in this test, researchers from the university hid food in one of two identical buckets. when scientists pointed to the bucket containing the treat, the elephants followed the gesture and found their reward. >> it's already widely accepted that these giant animals are capable of deep thought and emotion, but new research suggests an evolutionary explanation of how humans and elephants bond so closely. the scientists think it's the innate understanding of gestures that enable people to work so closely with elephants, despite their intimidating size. that's something elephant keepers who interact with elephants every day attest to. >> i definitely think to have an interaction, when you work with them, when they have an off day, you can feel it. and when we have an off day they

can sense it. and especially the training sessions that we do aren't always as productive as they could be because of that interaction and that bond. >> the scientists next step is to try to find out if elephants might even use those impressive trunks to gesture to one another in the wild. finding a hidden elephant sign language though is likely to require a little more than two buckets and a hidden treat. victoria gill, bbc news. >> that's it for this edition, but do stay with us. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding of this presentation s made possible by the freeman

foundation. newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years. nd 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.

welcome back to "newsline." here's some of the stories we're following this hour. republicans and democrats in washington are struggling to

reach an agreement on the national debt with a dead rhine looming. financial leaders from china are growing frustrated as their counterparts at the international monetary fund try to limit their economic clout. and loaders across asia and elsewhere are trying to move forward in their efforts to resolve territorial disputes in the south china sea. republicans in the u.s. house of representatives have revealed a plan that could end a standoff over the national doubt. they're at the white house with president obama. they proposed legislation that would allow for a short increase in the debt ceiling. >> we had a very useful meeting. it was clarifying, i think, for both sides as to where we are. and the take away from the meeting was -- >> the government needs approval

from congress to borrow more money. otherwise, by next week, they might not be able to pay its bills. the white house released a statement after the meeting saying that they did not reach an agreement. finance minister and the central bank managers are wringing their hands over the debate. the financial chiefs are concerned about the potential impact for global markets and emerging economies. ministers from the group of seven nations held their own meeting. the governor at the bank of japan is doing what he can to calm concerns. kuroda told members of the council that the boj will keep using u.s. bonds as collateral as it pumps cash into the

economy. >> first, i don't expect a u.s. default. even if it happens, that does not affect our political policy. >> investors have become jittery, pushing the u.s. short term treasury yield to a five year high. but kuroda sent a message that they can help shore up the u.s.'s credit rating. >> we know, and you know by now, that failure to raise the debt ceiling would cause serious damage to the u.s. economy but also to the global economy as a result of the spillover effects. >> lagarde said imf members need to speak with their counterparts to help them prepare for

possible consequences. those from china believe they a their standing within the organization should increase. ep hk has more from washington. >> reporter: obtaining a greater voice at the imf is a major challenge facing emerging economies. this is especially so for china, the world's second largest economy. three years ago, imf officials classified the amount of money each member contributes. its board made china the third largest contributor after the u.s.