they have had more than 20 this year, but none of this strength. people across the philippines are facing a difficult night. the capital of manila has avoided the runs of the damage. the damage could be unprecedented. homesds of thousands of could have been damaged or destroyed. here haveany families lost everything. it may be days until we know the full extent of the damage and the number of lives that have been lost. course, we will bring you all of the latest information from the philippines when we get it here on bbc world news. hopes are rising that an international deal to limit your on's nuclear ambitions-- iran's nuclear ambitions could be

reached in geneva. john kerry is meeting with benjamin and two yahoo!. benntimate netanyahu -- jamin netanyahu. james, what is the mood right now where you are? is there a feeling a deal is close. would not say people are celebrating already. the atmosphere is remarkably and strikingly different from any of previous rounds i have attended. john kerry has decided to cancel what he was doing and come to geneva to take part in these final days of talks.

let's remember this. even if they find some kind of a court, it is likely to be a series of confidence -- some kind of accord, it is likely to be a series of confidence events. >> can you give me a sense of what the outline of what this opening accord would look like? >> you gave hands in your introduction very eloquently. to limit theree scope of its nuclear program. it might agree to stop installing new centrifuges and stop enriching uranium. ofhas been enriching 20% uranium. here is an interesting point. it looks like iran may get to keep lower enrichment.

trimestery israel's is so furious. he came out and said -- israel's prime minister is so furious. he came out and said this is a very bad deal. >> thanks for now. we can take you to jerusalem. john kerry is heading to geneva from israel, where he had talks with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. thisl has been watching process for an awful long time with a great deal of concern. i wonder why your prime minister chose to come out and declare he was extraordinarily worried and that he felt a bad deal was in the offing when he does not know what is in the deal. we have received clear indications. we hope it is not true. the fax seem to present --facts

that we seem to present are headed for a bad deal. make cosmetic concessions that don't mean anything at all. in return, they get the sanctions lifted. regime is the only reason there was movement. if they are removed, they have no reason to follow through. >> you used to though were dismantled. it is an historic moment. iran is willing to limit the enrichment and to invite international monitors in a way they never have before. is israel not finding it

within itself to welcome those moves? >> because they are meaningless concessions. even the president himself has said if iran maintains the uranium, theyich still have nuclear capabilities. 17 countries on this planet have peaceful nuclear energy programs. you only need enrichment if you want to bomb. sot is why the iranians are steadfast and not giving up enrichment. un security council resolutions are black and white. we fail to understand why we are back tracking on the un security council resolution. surely, all of the major

powers involved in these talks understand the issues. are you not satisfied to trust john kerry, the united states, germany, and let them decide what is a safe deal for the world? concernsassure you our are shared by iran's other neighbors. >> address my point. john kerry has just been to israel. he has just talked to benjamin netanyahu. he has outlined the united states' position. is it possible you have got this entirely wrong? do you reserve the right to bomb iran? is that what you are saying to the u.s.? of the deals us

with north korea in 2005, which everyone celebrated as a great romantic victory. the north koreans exploded their first nuclear device. -- everyone celebrated as a great victory. that is why they want enrichment . they are building a heavy water reactor or. -- reactor. the proposals on the table do not stop the heavy water reactor. >> what you are saying to me can only mean one thing. there is a profound crisis and the united states. your views are diametrically opposed. >> all indications at this

moment are that we are going to get a ad deal out of geneva. >> you have made that point. inthere now a crisis relations between israel and washington? these proposals are adopted, it is a dark day, it is a ad day. it is a -- it is a bad day. iranians get their yellowcake and they can eat it too. they get the sanctions lifted and they make no meaningful concessions whatsoever. topet's go back to our story, the superstorm causing widespread damage on its path through the philippines. we have just managed to get a telephone line to the town hit by the typhoon.

bad the damage is. what is the situation where you are right now? there are strong winds and heavy downpour. areost areas, they experiencing a power outage. bad.ricity is already shops are closed. there is a long queue of , people who did not prepare.

they are preparing for the damage caused by typhoon haiyan. >> we know the government tried asevacuate as many people they could and people were advised to seek shelter. is it fair to say at the moment that the casualty toll is not as bad as people feared it might be? my observation just a while is that most people are going back to their houses.

what i saw near the seaport were individuals who are trying to cross. i am not sure yet about the other areas. we don't have communication with aid workers. communication is down in some other areas. we thank you so much for talking to us during what is clearly a difficult day in the philippines. get our information. .tay with us on bbc world news still to come, palestinian officials say israel is the only suspect in yasser arafat's death. >> the cold war has ended.

nato no longer considers russia a threat. still worry about their neighbor to the east. the largest military exercises under nato command for almost a decade. our correspondent reports. more than 6000 in 20 countries do exercises on this muddy field. explosions and smoke as a result of this exercise. simulating an attack on the nato member states and seeing how their forces would respond. a similar exercise to place in russia that involved 40,000

troops. clearly, this is a demonstration of power and resolve as far as nato is concerned. nato pulls its troops out of afghanistan next year. they set up this mobile headquarters in the forest in to respond to any crisis, whether it be a cyber or nuclear crisis or chemical warfare. the war in afghanistan winds down. the fact that this exercise is taking place here gives you some idea of what the new members of nato are worried about, and that is their neighbor to the east, russia.

yassir arafat did not die a natural death. that is the conclusion of a palestinian committee set up to investigate the death of their former leader. speaking at a conference earlier, palestinian officials say israel is the only suspect in the death of mr. arafat in 2004. there was a report by swiss scientists that concluded mr. arafat's remains contained high levels of radioactive polonium. israel disguised any -- did nine's any involvement -- denies any involvement in arafat's death. >> it is the first time we have heard the official response from the palestinian investigation team since this new research

into yasser arafat's remains. we heard from swiss scientists it this committee has seen and had a chance to discuss it with us with scientists. there was also a russian report. were taken when his body was resumed. they went to three different teams of scientists. notar, the french have returned their results. the swiss and russian teams showed a large auditing of the substance polonium 210. they believe that is strong evidence that he was poisoned. we heard this new accusation once again, an accusation that israel was responsible. >> the russian and swiss reports what the ongoing investigation has reached as

well. number one, yassir arafat did not die because of old age. arafat did yasser not die because of ill health. three, yassir arafat not die a natural death. the language being used by the palestinians is more direct and much more accusatory. how far did they take their level of accusation? >> toward the end of the news theerence, they addressed subject of who might be responsible. they only came up with one name. it is not important for me to say that yasser arafat died

because of loaning them or because of another cause. the elements i have at my disposal because -- -- died of numberm or because of a cause. the elements at my disposal say that israel killed yasser arafat. out with aas come statement saying they did not kill yasser arafat. the foreignng from ministry. they say the palestinians need to stop leveling these accusations. enough is enough. >> thank you for joining us from ramallah. now we go to a round up of other news. the french government says it is by standard & poor's decision to downgrade its credit rating.

says it is acting because of the country's inability to enact reforms. this latest downgrade puts it two notches below neighboring germany. police have arrested a man in connection with a series of explosions. it was outside the committee of the communist party and taiwan. police found self made bombs in the man's residence. couldis a fear that polio reemerge in europe because of an outbreak in syria. the vaccination's used are not as effective as those used in other parts of the world. refugees may spread the disease while it is still incubating. masters champion adam scott leads in the australian championship.

he is two shots clear and 10 under par. when actors need to fight on stage or screen, they have to be taught how to fake it realistically and safely. she became britain's first ever female fight director. lookector told her you feminine, but you fight like a man. she is one of the leading teachers on how to slap, punch, and use a weapon in the name of drama. she has been telling us about her work. >> you come in earlier. it is understanding choreography. it is understanding motivation. it is teaching people and getting them to perform as best they can.

a fight director is someone who choreographs fights for plays. we teach actors how to fight. give your break a bit as you leave. part of your training to be an actor is an stage fighting. my stunt director said you are feminine, but you fight like a man. i resisted the temptation to first slap him and took his -- to slap him and took his advice. please go slowly and carefully and make sure everything is accurate. it is being done by the youth the editor. i am rehearsing their fight to make sure it is safe before we do the tech call. we only have time to run each fight once. sword now falls.

>> you read the script first so you understand the story and undetand the characters and why they are fighting. you meet with a director and ask them what the overall view of the story is. from talking to the actors, you try to draw the fight from them. you get more realistic action. >> last night, your mother. that wrist.eak >> i have been around quite a long time. no reason girls cannot do this just as well as boys.

thanks very much. well done. >> coming up in the next half mt, china is meeting to hammer out the broad economic agenda for the next decade. we will explore why it matters to china and the rest of us as well. stay with us here on bbc world news. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, 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?

welcome back to "newsline," i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. police in central china have detained a man in connection with a bombing outside a communist party building. a series of bombs went off on wednesday in the city of taiyuan. one person was killed and eight others injured. police found evidence in the man's home, including a device to set off bombs and the car

they believe was used in the incident. the agency says the man is in his 40s, is from the city and has been convicted in the past for burglary. the man admitted to the crime. now people in the philippines are running to find shelter. the strongest storm in the world this year has slammed into the coast. typhoon haiyan rolled in and strong gusts and heavy rains caused blackouts and disrupted communications. it forced more than 120,000 people across the country to leave their homes. a powerful storm struck the philippines in december of 2011 and another hit a year later. more than 1,000 people died in each of those storms. now let's turn to our meteorologist sayaka mori who's been tracking the typhoon for us. >> clouds from the typhoon are

covering the majority of the philippines. now this is the strongest typhoon on earth so far this year. the pressure is less than 900. we seldom see this number. sustained winds are over 230 kilometers per hour. the last year when we had a typhoon which caused a significant loss of life, the winds were over 185 kilometers per hour. and this time, much higher than that. so you can imagine how powerful this system is. gusts are already reaching 320 kilometers per hour near the center of the storm. so catastrophic damage could occur. on top of that significant storm surge is likely. waves could hit as high as 10 meters. and rainfall of about 100 to 200 millimeters are likely on already saturated ground. now stormy conditions will prolong in the main islands of the philippines throughout your friday. the system will likely head

towards the west and probably hit the central parts of vietnam by sunday. it could be the strongest typhoon to hit vietnam at least in a century. >> and sayaka will be joining us later in the program for more in world weather. government troops have taken control of an opposition stronghold south of damascus. opposition feeters have used the town as a base to attack the capital, but the state news agency says the syrian army has retaken the area. an opposition units have reportedly been forced to pull out. activists say hezbollah and fighters from iraq supported the government troops. they have been trying to bring officials from the government and the opposition together for peace talks but they have not been able to work out the details. inspectors overseeing the

destruction of syria's arsenal of chemical weapons have just one site left to check. they couldn't get into a couple facilities. the syrian government provided them with video of one of the sites. inspectors wanted to visit 23 sites. the syrian government had declared they were be used for storing and produce chemical agents. but fighting prohibited them from getting into the last two so they missed a deadline. they concluded that the production equipment had been removed and dismantsed. the facility was reportedly destroyed during fighting. and inspectors have turned their attention to the last site. they believe the equipment there has also been removed and dismantled. but they say they need to verify the information.