>> tonight on "worldfocus" -- >> fire! another deadly day in afghanistan. two u.s. marines killed while in great britain. in france, laid off workers at a bankrupt auto parts factory are threatening to blow up the building unless their demands for a better severance package are met. >> who pays? people in england may be asked to take out insurance to pay for long-term care in their old age. and a controversial commercial from israel. is it a feel-good ad or the opposite? let's just say the answer might depend on which side of the wall you live. from the world's leading reporters and analysts, this is

reporters and analysts, here is what is happening from around the world. this is "worldfocus." made possible, in part, by the following funders -- good evening. i'm martin savidge. we're going to begin tonight with some important developments in the war in afghanistan. as the united states, with about 57,000 troops in that country, engages in the biggest offensive against the taliban since the start of the war. today, the military reported the deaths of two u.s. marines, in what it called a hostile incident. for its part, britain said it was sending 140 additional troops to afghanistan. joining more than 9,000 british soldiers already there. and then for the british, the impact of the war hit home again today, as the remains of eight british troops were returned to england and large crowds came out to pay their respects. in this country, president obama said today that all of us want to see an effective exit strategy where increasingly the afghan army, police and government take more responsibility for their own security. but for now, as you're about to

see in tonight's "lead focus," it is a tough, sometimes frustrating battle for the americans. we take you once again to kunar province in northeast, afghanistan, where clayton swisher of al jazeera english is with a u.s. army company. >> fire! >> go, go, go. >> check. check. [ gunfire ] >> fire! >> reporter: happy artillery pounds an afghan mountainside. the americans never imagined weapons like these would still be necessary. nearly eight years since the war against the taliban first started. >> the biggest difference between afghanistan, iraq is i think the enemy's much better here. he is tactically sound. he's well rehearsed and he has years and years and years of experience so this is a much better enemy that we're fighting

and these guys are true believers. >> reporter: witjust over 100 men, a few dozen afghan troops and helicopters weren't available, captain brian charlie's company is expected to control a 240-kilometer stretch along the afghan border with pakistan. from this outpost in kunar province, the army's up against an enemy that shows no sign of letting up. that's partly why they've come to rely on artillery. >> quadrant 377. >> reporter: but that's if they can get approval to use it. these soldiers have taken cover from an early-morning attack. they wait in frustration, while officers two hours away decide if they can fight back. >> you guys are firing back? >> no, no. >> you should be firing back. >> we should be firing back, but -- >> we had a call in down to the battalion. get something together,

clearance to fire and even though we're getting shot at. >> just took five incoming rounds. >> reporter: from outside the bunker captain brian prepares a response. army commanders have been directed to avoid civilian casualties even if it means putting their own at risk. >> kicked out straight to the back where we believe that they're firing from. we have three that impact on the far side. >> are you all right? >> yeah. >> the far side of the building. we're going to go down there, check. make sure that the people are okay. make sure that they know that we haven't forgotten about them. >> reporter: this soldier is trying to determine if they hit their intended target but they probably did not. later that night, the enemy strikes again from the same direction at an even closer range. six months into their one-year deployment and their procedures are familiar. these soldiers far prefer fighting when it's dark. they've got a clear upper hand with laser guided systems and

night vision goggles but still they must wait. >> still for 40 minutes when the taliban first started these soldiers with mounting and countereffect is not as easy as it seems. there are layer and layer upon of rocks that they have to go through just to countereffective even when the talibans have fired on them first. >> reporter: finally authorization is given. it may be too late. >> i'm pretty sure they split up. one heading off up towards the more populated area. we didn't see those with our indirect fire. we don't have any collateral damage. >> reporter: the dilemma's facing these soldiers are real. >> he's loading. he's loading. >> reporter: if they don't return fire the locals think they're weak. >> let them know. >> reporter: if they fire too soon at an elusive enemy, they risk killing civilians. the stakes could not be higher for these troops. clayton swisher, al jazeera, kunar province, afghanistan.

we turn now to the global economy. and although the recession is still very much a fact of life, there is one astounding piece of good news today. it's about goldman sachs. that's the big wall street firm which reported second quarter earnings were up 65% over last year. here's how britain's "guardian" newspaper began its story, "the investment bank goldman sachs delivered a clear signal that the good times are returning on wall street by milking the recovery in financial markets to generate profits of $3.44 billion, raising the prospect of average pay packages of as much as $900,000 for its employees." goldman, you'll recall, did receive a $10 billion government bailout but it repaid it last month along with hundreds and millions in dividends. while there may be exuberance in one quarter of wall street treasury secretary timothy geithner tried to temper expectations today.

he did so in saudi arabia, telling some the country's business leaders to expect what he called a gradual recovery with more than the usual ups and downs and temporary reversals. and yet he pointed to some hopeful signs. >> decline in economic activity has slowed. business and consumer confidence has started to improve. the housing markets are showing some signs of stability. the cost of borrowing, the cost of credit has fallen significantly. credit markets are opening up and these improvements have been more substantial and have come more quickly than many of us expected when they were designed in december and january. >> for more on the treasury secretary's trip to the middle east, we are joined again by fadel gheit, a managing director and senior oil and gas analyst at oppenheimer & co. thanks very much for being with us again. i want to start right away by asking you geithner's trip to the middle east seems largely aimed at keeping those countries investing their oil profits in the u.s. so how important are those

investments to the u.s. economy? >> it's very important. they are one of the largest you know treasure paper. they hold a huge amount o of dollar and combination. they're investing in physical assets. so definitely a very big factor and we need them on our side. >> what is it that secretary geithner is likely to tell them that will convince them that america remains the best place to put their money? >> well, couple of things. one, there has been a lot of pressure on opec to try to move oil out of the dollar denomination, if you will. a lot of people are saying, let's have an international currency including the euro and the suisse frank and so far. but have been adamantly against any move to delink, if you will, dollar and oil.

this is -- this is something that has been going on for many years. the iranians, the venezuelan, the russians even, and the chinese -- they wanted to separate the dollar from oil pricing. i don't think it will work. i do still believe that all the countries in the middle east will have tremendous impact. when the saudis decide on something that what will take place. >> how important is it to stabilize the price of oil, say to the world wide economic recovery? >> it's very important. the bubble that was created by the financial speculator last year, really did not do us any good. it hurt us in the long term. and it also hurt investment in the oil industry. a lot of companies are waiting for oil prices to stabilize to see whether we have $30 oil

going forward or $150 going forward. so it was not a good move to create a bubble and really destroy the market as we've known them for many, many years. >> so it would seem that the saudis are very much interested in stabilizing the price? they aren't necessarily looking to charge whatever the market will bear? >> well, correct. it's in their long-term interest to see $100 oil and the oil -- are seeing how effective the oil is. so they're saying now that the oil price should be about $75. so my view here is that oil prices will probably be between $50 and $70 in the next few months. and unless the global economy picks up steam, i think oil pri lower. >> fadel gheit with some optimistic news, thank you very much. >> thank you. in central france, tough times have led to extreme measures by laid off employees of an auto parts maker that went bankrupt and shut down.

more than 300 workers are threatening to blow up the plant which supplied renault and peugeot unless the car companies provided severance packages that the workers are demanding. we get more tonight from deutsche welle. >> reporter: workers have threatened to blow up gas canisters lined up around the factory if their demands for compensation are not met. they're calling for 30,000 euros severance paper, each employee. they've already demonstrated that they mean business. >> translator: we have burned some milling machines to demonstrate that we're serious and if renault and psa do not give in, they will not get their machines and equipment back. >> reporter: new fabris closed the factory in june putting more than 360 employees out of work. 90% of its business came from renault and psa peugeot citroen, who aren't ordering anymore. workers are demanding, in fact, car giants compensate them for their jobs.

>> translator: in a way this company is our war chest. we hope that sometimes soon renault will need the machinery here and will come back for it. >> reporter: workers have hung up mock tombstones at the factory to symbolize their job losses. french officials have dismissed their threats to blow the factory up but for now the standoff continues. >> that was deutsche welle. what about retired workers? well, we were struck by a proposal today in britain for a new national care service to look after the elderly. the idea is to ask people to take out insurance to pay for long-term care in their old age. it comes as the current system there, as you're about to hear, struggles to cope with an aging population. we hear about this story from james blake of itn in this report that was filed earlier today. >> reporter: david recently had to move out of home into shelter accommodation so he could be looked after. at 74 he needs help to get in and out of bed, to wash and feed himself. at the moment he paid about 600 pounds a month for accommodation

and care. it comes out of his savings which he says will run out in two years. >> they don't give you an option. they just say, that's your care plan. this is your care plan. this is what you're going to have to pay. it's more or less on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. i've got no property to sale. and this puts me in a very difficult situation. it puts everybody in a difficult situation. i'm not running this -- i'm not running a personal crusade or campaign against the authorities but the system has got to be looked at very seriously. >> reporter: 1 in 3 people over 65 need care. at the moment in england, anyone with assets over $23,000 pounds has to pay for care. it means about 45,000 elderly people every year end up selling their homes. the government predicts that in 20 years there will be a 6

billion pound funding gap in social care so their green paper today is expected to propose a few alternative systems for england. people may be expected to pay a lump sum up to 20,000 pounds on retirement or the sum could be deducted from inheritance after death, or the retirement age can be delayed, or a new social insurance scheme set up. >> these are lots of choices and i wouldn't demise the scale of the choices and people have to weigh them up. the fact is, though, the average care cost is 30,000 pounds today. so that's what we all possibly can expect to pay over our lifetime. >> reporter: in scotland, longtime care is being free since 2002. people are given 210 pounds each week on personal and nursing care but it costs the scottish government an extra 97 million pounds each year for residential homes and 224 million pounds to care for people in their own homes. >> we would like to see both an income base payment across people's lifetime and then some kind of payment later on in life to top that off.

does recognize the people who do have access can afford. >> reporter: there's no suggestion that england may copy scotland, it's just too expensive. but this is a very major issue and labour knows get it wrong it could lose them a lot of votes at next election. turning to africa. we've been telling you about that intensifying conflict in somalia and tonight we want to bring you an update. one more example of just how dangerous that country remains. in the capital, mogadishu, two french security advisers were kidnapped by about ten gunmen. it happened at a hotel where the gunmen first disarmed the guards. and then knocked on the door on the room where the advisers were staying and then abducted them. the frenchmen or a mission to train somalia force. the hotel manager said that they

had registered at journalists. as we mentioned yesterday, african union peacekeepers got involved over the weekend in the fighting between somalian government forces and islamic militants close to the presidential palace. today, uganda, whose troops make up part of that peacekeeping force, asked for a change in its mandates so that the troops can engage in battle. a spokesman said, right now we're engaged in peace kaiping where there is no peace. the former president of liberia testified at his war crimes' trial today. charles taylor said the case against him was built on lies and misinformation. prosecutors say taylor led an armed rebels to gain control of neighboring sierra leone in the civil war in that country from 1991 to 2002. the aim to strip from its vast mineral well. taylor is charged with 11 counts including murder, torture, rape and using child soldiers. today he denied the charges. >> i'm a father of 14 children,

humanity i have fought all my life to do what i thought was right in the interest of justice and fair play. i resent that characterization of me. it is false. it is malicious and i stop there. >> liberia, itself, was consumed by years of civil war and the legacy of that conflict is the subject of tonight's "signature story." during 14 years of civil war in liberia some of the victims were young, young women, girls actually who were captured, forced to fight and, worse, as "worldfocus" special correspondent lynn sherr first reported for us earlier this year, many of them continue with their struggle to recover and forget. >> reporter: after class in cosmetology on the outskirts of monrovia in liberia, mercy mcculley is learning to make women beautiful.

she was just a child when rebel soldiers, during a series of barbarous civil wars captured her family, killed her father and raped her mother. mercy and her four siblings watched. the children were left on their own and the memories are still raw. >> i say no. i just want to help. running. no food, nothing. we jumping from places to places. >> reporter: what happened next was unthinkable. the soldiers put a gun in her hands. >> so i have no choices. >> reporter: so they forced you to hold the gun and you had no other choices? >> yeah. >> reporter: right. how long did it last? >> it last a long time. until we grow up.

>> reporter: how many years? >> two years. >> reporter: what would have happened if you had said no? >> i would be dead. >> reporter: mercy was just 9 years old. she is one of an estimated 15,000 liberian youngsters, girls as well as boys, who were violently conscripted and forced to take up arms during the 14-year civil wars that nearly destroyed the soul of this country. it was especially fears om from the young women whose vulnerability was compounded by their sex. they were used as everything from soldiers to housekeepers to sex slaves. jackie redd was just a few years older than mercy when the rebels stopped her on the road and subjected her to an even more brutal fate. >> yes, they say -- [ unintelligible ] >> reporter: at 14, when she

might have been in the ninth grade, jackie was forced to do the bidding of three men for the rest of the war. >> i confident. and after that, you go with it. they will tell you, sit. you cock like this. earn you put your hands. >> reporter: what kind of gun was it? did you shoot it? >> i shoot it. i won't lie. >> reporter: did you kill people? >> i never kill anybody. >> reporter: still all these years later, people like jackie and mercy who were associated with either charles taylor or the rebels who fought against him, are shunned which is why jackie is speaking out about her experience. here at a recent women's conference, she wants to set up a support center to help other women like herself ease back into a society that can't understand why they took part in the war.

>> women of liberia, as the women of liberia. we know we have pride. we're shooting and screaming at our own people. we're shooting. and they are screaming. you are afraid. you are dead. >> reporter: fighting that discrimination is a constant battle. they call themselves ex-combatants, not child soldiers, but when that label showed up on these t-shirts at mercy's new training center the women blacked the word out. they couldn't bear the stigma because so many liberians can't forget. >> get the training. because these guys kill us. then why do you guys keep sponsoring them? why do you keep giving them the training? why? >> reporter: and the answer is? >> we are all victims. >> we're all victims. >> if they can understand, they are victims of war. just a different kind of victim.

>> reporter: liberian pastor eric sumo and canadian fund-raiser helen fletcher of village ministries have set up centers for all those affected by war to provide a future for these victims of the past. the rules are clear, if you had a weapon, turn it in to be re-educated for a piecetime career. in this case, hairdressing and sewing. this isn't so much retraining as training. as the president had pointed out, because of the war, this is the first time in history that the younger generation is less educated than the older. mercy and many of her classmates never got to finish their schooling but this new chance at an education can go a long way to help her erase the gruesome past and there is comfort month among the friendships. >> i find peace. try to forget about the past.

do one or two things together. you know? >> reporter: mercy and her classmates hope to open up their own salon one day to start building a new life of themselves. but while they'll learn an living on the outside, fixing up on the outside the pain of what's inside may never disappear. >> when we come to this school, we say forget about that and that was then. you have to start thinking about your future. what to do in your future. sometimes when i think about what happened to the past? i sit there and i cry. >> reporter: i'm lynn sherr for "worldfocus" in monrovia, liberia.

finally tonight we're going to give you a minute to think about the conflict between palestinians and israelis in a way we think that might surprise you. it prompted a lot of us here to discuss it. and it might even prompt you to share your thoughts with us. an israeli cell phone company began broadcasting a new commercial this week, said at the so-called security wall. that's the wall that divides israel from the palestinian territory. designed to sell phones. but many palestinians see that wall as a hated symbol of occupation. so when the ad ran, it provoked some angry words about what some palestinians say is a one-sided picture. ♪

> a simple game? not here, and not for many people on the opposite side of this wall who are never seen and immediately demanded to be heard. >> dreadful from an israeli company to say palestinians like this. >> the cellcom phone company said it had no political agenda and wanted to show that "when people separated by religion, race and gender want to communicate, they can under any circumstances." the announcer ends by saying "what is it we all want? to have some fun." so go and look again for yourself. the complete ad is at our website, by the way, that's worldfocus.org. the comment section's wide open and we will let you know what we hear. in the meantime, that's "worldfocus" for a tuesday evening.

don't forget to tune in tonight for our online radio show. we'll look at the political crisis in honduras, the crackdown on journalists, and how latin american media had been covering that story. you'll find it at worldfocus.org. i'm martin savidge in new york. as always, thank you very much for joining us. we'll look for you back here again tomorrow and anytime on the web. until then, have a good night. "worldfocus" is made possible, in part, by the following funders -- -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com