>> tonight on "worldfocus" -- they are a major element of america's new war strategy in afghanistan. tonight, we visit a far-flown u.s. outpost where the taliban are so close the soldiers write them letters. as the fight in afghanistan intensifies the real threat to american troops isn't taliban bullets but bombs. tonight, join a patrol on the hunt for ieds. a new report says israel used reckless power and human shields causing needless deaths in its war in gaza. the accusers, more than two dozen israeli soldiers. and truly horrendous, that's how one british union describes the latest jobless numbers, as uk unemployment sees its biggest quarterly jump on record. from the world's leading 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 beginning tonight in afghanistan, where the steadily expanding war against the taliban is turning increasingly deadly. just halfway through this month of july, 46 coalition troops have died, 24 americans, 15 british, four canadians, two turks and one italian. that number equals what had been the highest full month casualty count. in our "lead focus" tonight, we begin on the newest battlefront where special teams are being deployed to dismantle bomb, those so-called improvised "the new york times" james dowd reports from southeast of kabul. >> what else do you need? ssary.l be calling that up if

>> reporter: during the past week i embedded with a special counter ied team under lieutenant james brown. this team has been deployed to tackle a growing threat. combat deaths from ieds or improvised explosive devices are projected to set a record in 2009. already they have killed at least 46 american troops this year. i was with lieutenant brown's team when an emergency call came in. an aggressive afghanistan police commander and close ally of the americans had been killed. >> not sure what the ied was at this time. it hit the truck, killed all five of the officers at the time. including -- he was one of those few good guys i was telling you about. we've done a lot of missions with him. >> reporter: more than 15 counter ied teams are deployed

around afghanistan to dismantle unexploded bombs and to collect evidence from bomb sites. they're compiling up a forensic database in hopes of identifying the taliban cells that are building and planting the explosives. >> we've seen in a lot of places last year. now evolving more rapidly. look at kandahar which has taken three years is now occurring here at three months. you see the increase of number, different types and now we're seeing multiple initiations. >> what i've got my crew doing right now, team leaders down there. as you can see just one guy. one man risk. he goes down. confirms the site is clear. checks for secondaries. usually out to about 25 meters but it can be more than that based on the terrain. once you've completed that and then we'll go in do a post blast.a?n3g we'll take soil samples, if nothing left we'll figure out what time explosivhe used and try to determine the type of device. >> reporter: lieutenant brown's

team continues its work but they worry the ieds are becoming more sophisticated and deadly. >> james dowd with "the new york times" reporting. all across afghanistan, soldiers are tasked with turning the tide against the taliban insurgency that's dug in and well organized. al jazeera reporter clayton swisher seen embedded with a u.s. army. stationed on the afghanistan/pakistan border where the daily battle is focused on winning over hearts and minds despite enemy fire that never lets up. >> reporter: just two kilometers from pakistan, the u.s. army is making a modest attempt to deny insurgents the best fighting terrain in the world. afghanistan's hindu kush mountain range is littered with natural hideouts. peaks that are impassable for most u.s. soldiers and trees that provide excellent concealment from overhead american drones. to an outsider fighting the taliban in these mountains along the af/pak border might seem

like a nightmare mission but to this 25-year-old west point grad it's the opportunity of a lifetime. >> this is a platoon's dream. you can't get any closer to the bad guys. pakistan's spitting distance from us so everything that's getting staged and funded and supplied is coming from there and we're right on the border of it. >> reporter: this is outpost dangum. >> this mountain right here to our east up along that ridge, they'll shoot at us. up to the north here up on that second peak, they'll come down just below peak. there's an old house foundation in there. they'll sometimes run in there and attack and if you look all the way across here, the far left, the top and the far right, they'll attack from all three positions and sometimes they'll do all three mountains simultaneously. >> reporter: the vulnerabilities here at dangum are understood all too well by kirst top commanders. the army recently had a smaller outpost overrun by the taliban not far from here. three u.s. soldiers were killed, and ever since frontline units

including kerns, need permission from higher-ups to even set foot here. he has mend long for the chance to stay and fight. they've been digging in just in chase their superiors change their minds. >> this outpost is in the forefront in the fight against the taliban. the afghan and u.s. troops here frequently come under attack and then makes a transition to counterinsurgency all the more complicated. it's hard when you're in an offensive to get down and meet locals much less win their hearts and minds. >> reporter: these are the afghans that they rely on when they're under threat, their names were included on the taliban hit list and that's something kurt takes personally so this infantryman prepares an unusual correspondence to his taliban foe. >> the people listed to especially are good examples for other people to follow because they're patriots for their country and for islam. >> reporter: kern's platoon gives the taliban a show of

force from time to time. firing at known fighting positions where goat herders dare not roam but their temporary presence that the outpost signals a weakness in a war where the locals hedge their bets on who will outlast the other. clayton swisher, al jazeera, kunar province, afghanistan. >> that was clayton swisher of al jazeera english reporting from afghanistan. the war on taliban is also a war on al qaeda and today the terrorist organization issued what appears to be a new audio message calling for pakistani muslims to fight. and afghan muslims to rise up and fight americans. al qaeda's number two leader ayman al zawahiri speaks in english by a recording obtained al zawahiri and osama bin laden are thought to be hiding in pakistan near the afghanistan border. tragedy in iran today.

a russian-made plane carrying 168 people crashed. shortly after takeoff from tehran airport killing everybody on board. the caspian airlines jet was headed to armenia's capital city. and most of the passengers were reportedly armenian citizens. the wreckage covered a dirt field northwest tehran. the witness reported that plane's tail appeared to be on fire and that it seemed to be circling shortly before the crash. secretary of state hillary clinton stepped up pressure on iran today reminding that country's leaders that they have only a limited amount otime to accept the united states' offer to begin face-to-face talks. iran has so far refused to discuss or even scale back its nuclear capabilities. many experts believe iran is several years of being able to build a bomb but in a report in the german news magazine "stern" today, german intelligent source are quoted as saying there is evidence that iran could have a nuclear bomb within six months.

in what was built as a major foreign policy speech this afternoon, secretary clinton let no doubt about the obama administration's position. >> iran does not have a right to nuclear military capacity and we're determined to prevent that. but it does have a right to civil nuclear power, if it reestablishes the confidence of the international community, that it will use its programs exclusively for peaceful purposes. neither the president nor i have any illusions that dialogue with the islamic republic will guarantee success of any kind and the prospects have certainly shifted in the weeks following the election. but we also understand the importance of offering to engage iran and giving its leaders a clear choice. whether to join the international community as a responsible member or to continue down a path to further isolation. we remain ready to engage with iran, but the time for action is now. the opportunity will not remain open indefinitely.

>> joining us now to talk more about secretary clinton's speech and developments in u.s. foreign policy is reginald dale. a senior fellow with the center for strategic and international studies. thanks for being with us. clinton, again, called upon iran to engage in good-faith talks with the united states or face isolation. how long do you think the u.s., their offer, at least, is likely to stand? and what sort of penalties might the u.s. try to impose if the t >> well, secretary clinton didn't actually add anything to our knowledge of that today but it has generally been said in washington that the united states is hoping for some movement by iran by september or failing that, december, at the latest. and the idea, then, is that having shown that the united states was ready to engage and negotiate and gone to the limit of that that there would be more sympathy among america's allies for tough sanctions if those talks were to fail.

>> so that's what we're talking about, tougher sanctions, then? >> yes. and the key figure in that is russia. and in fact, though, when president obama was there just recently, they did not yield one bit on that point. >> do you think it's likely that iran will respond to this call by the secretary of state? >> well, i don't think it's very likely that it will respond positively because it basically had that offer on the table of isolation or cooperation for a very long time. i mean, that was there even under president bush and so far the iranians have shown they would rather have isolation with a bomb than cooperation without it. >> i want to talk about the secretary of state s-ly. recently there's been speculation that clinton has assumed a diminished role in american foreign policy. what has her role been? >> well, i don't think assumed it. i think it's been rather thrust upon her. i think it was a rather brilliant move by president obama to cooperate with the

administration and then park her at the state department and then provide to run foreign policy from the white house which is what has been all happening all through envoy, special envoys in the state department, who are rather like his so-called policy czars on the domestic side which are people who look after the nuts and bolts of policy without responsibilities to the cabinet. and i think she has been rather cut out of it by these various white house maneuverings. >> reginald dale, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. one of the most pressing issues for the secretary of state is the complex between israelis and the palestinians and today a new report on the israeli invasion of gaza last winter is adding fuel to the fire there. more than two dozen israeli soldiers say their army used excessive force including the use of civilians as human shields in the fighting. abc australia's ben knight has the details in this report for

the late line program. >> reporter: israel was heavily criticized during this war for the number of civilian casualties which the army said had did its utmost to prevent but a new report quoting interviews with israeli soldiers who fought in gaza is telling a different story. [ speaking in native tongue ]. >> reporter: 26 soldiers were interviewed. many are still serving and can't be identified but their testimonies are clear. their instructions were to protect their own lives at all costs. >> translator: i heard a brigade commander say at least once, this is war. no civilians are to be taken. you shoot anyone you see. >> reporter: one says that included the use of human shields to enter houses. [ speaking in native tongue ].

[ speaking in native tongue ]. >> reporter: soldiers sa they were told to systematically destroyed a policy known as "the day after." >> translator: even if you justify a war that doesn't mean you have to justify all in it>> prepared for a group of four former israeli soldiers. called "breaking the silence." >> the challenge of this book is to please tell israeli public what happened, what was the strategy. >> the report is not a serious one. there is no specification of the name the soldiers, their ranks, whether they were reservists or regular. what areas. what places did the so-called incidents take place. therefore, we cannot investigate a single detail here. >> reporter: among the testimonies is this one, where a soldier says his commanding officer refused to allow a warning shot to be fired at a man walking towards their

position at night. that man was then shot dead and found to be unarmed. one guy said he just couldn't finish this operation without killing someone. so he killed someone. i can definitely say he was not armed. another soldier told us vandalism by troops who took up positions inside of palestinian houses. in one house we entered i saw guys who were defecated in drawers. there was drawings and graffiti on the walls. others felt arab rabbis were using religious language to demonize the enemy. [ speaking in native tongue ] >> reporter: this war had enormous support among israelis who were fed up after years of rocket attacks out of gaza on nearby towns and cities. both israel and hamas have been harshly criticized by amnesty and human rights watch for their

conduct in its war but it's the first time such detailed criticism over israel has come from within. be ben knight, >> you can find out more about israel's conduct during the war in gaza our website, worldfocus.org. turning now to the latest on the state of the global economy. as we've been reporting there are glimmers of hope lately but many experts predict that this will be what they call a jobless recovery. today there's another sign of that. this time from great britain that rising unemployment is becoming a fact of life. itn's andrew thomas has the latest facts and figures. >> reporter: any green shoots of economic recovery seem to have just been squashed. today's figures revealing the recession is far from over. 281,000 people joined the ranks of the jobless in the three

months to may. the highest number on record. unemployment is now 2.38 million, a rate of 7.6%, the highest level for more than a decade. but the monthly rise in the people who are claiming benefits was lower than expected. in june, it rose by 23,800. >> these are unprecedented figures. we've seen the largest quarterly rise in the number of people who were unemployed since record began, record began. and we've also sadly seen the largest poor in the number of unemployment since the record began and this is grim number for individuals and families up and down the country. >> unemployment is still rising and likely to increase that with pay growth slowing. i think that's going to constrain how much to spend and therefore when the company emerges from recession any recovery will be very sluggish and protracted. >> reporter: an electric bus manufacturing plant is where the business and climate change

factories chose to trumpet their new carbon and emission reduction's strategy. they're keen to stress new jobs in green industries. but even as they broke the news of job losses, britain's biggest manufacturing plants to close with the loss of 600 jobs. there is this though this discrepancy, the worst-ever quarterly rise in unemployment, but only a modest monthly rise in those claiming benefits. >> this really reflects the the headline rates of unemployment is picking up at a three-month period and we saw a very large rise in unemployment in february. that's still being captured in that headline rate, whereas the more timely. the more up-to-date account claiming measure rose by a smaller amount and that suggests the outlook going forward is much better. >> reporter: is already famous for his multiple government jobs. today he seems to be trying out for another one. all members of the government

will be hoping that in the coming months will be growing o public, too. >> that report from andrew thomas. it's just part the fallout from the economic slowdown in britain, as we hear now from deutsche welle, because there's also a credit crunch hitting consumers. and that is making pay day a very profitable day for some high-interest lenders. >> reporter: these shop windows were once full of posters advertising low-cost loans but in the current crisis, british banks have become much more restrictive. the days of quick and cheap consumer credit are over. >> i've got friends who got -- when they have money trouble, they've said, well, let's just get another credit card and get another one and put it out for the maximum level and you just keep going. you have to stop somewhere. >> you've been asked to, you know, to, like, to work out expensive, expensive sheets and balances and it's really restrictive. so in the past, you didn't even

are to get to that stage. all you needed was a job in some cases and that was it. >> reporter: credit is drying up because the government wants banks to build up more capital reserves, leaving less cash for loans. banks now also regard the growing ranks of jobless britain's credit risks. so a number of less conventional institutions like the money shop have become popular since the credit squeeze took hold. money shop customers can get credit on the basis of their paychecks. but the loans have punishingly high interest rates. >> you take out one check and then you get paid but then you have to cover the check that you previously took out, and then the cycle continues. >> hello, consumer credit counseling. david. >> reporter: debt counselors are concerned the preference for easy credit will only make things worse. instead, they say, conventional institutions should relax their loan terms. >> we don't want to go from a

situation of feast to famine becse this is much consumer detriment. if you're forced to go to lenders who have very, very high interest rates and maybe aren't as careful in their collection practices ake that as main street creditors would expect it to be. >> reporter: the market for alternative loan providers is expected to continue thriving as long as regular british banks continue to turn customers away which can even happen nowadays to those well placed to repay their loans. >> that was germany's deutsche welle tv. we can't leave europe without reporting on the ending to a story that was supposed to be near its beginning. in 2006 a spanish woman flew to los angeles, convinced a fertility clinic she was only 55, became pregnant after in vitro fertilization and gave birth to twins that december. maria del carmen busata turned out to be 66 years old making her the oldest woman ever known to have given birth. despite fierce criticism she

argued that because her own mother had lived to 101 she'd be around long enough to raise and care for her two children. today the world's oldest mother died at age 69. no word on who will raise the now 2-year-old twins. finally, we have an excerpt tonight from a new edition of the pbs series "wide angle." it's called "birth of a surgeon." the story of a remarkable familiar mozambique that trains midwives to take on the duties of a surgeon. one year after the struggle of amelia to train for her new duties "wide angle" returns for an update. >> reporter: two weeks since the midwives first arrived and none of them is any closer to meeting

the requirement of 100 surgeries for their training. >> i haven't done. even to watch them. to see them. you have also people who don't understand. what is really the idea of training this group of professionals? >> we have some who agree with us. who support us. but there are some who are not happy. but we're not too worried about who is not happy. we're worried about who can save lives. >> i don't know why they say it is not for midwife because we are women. [ speaking in native tongue ]

>> reporter: but she has no intention on waiting. she calls her program supervisor

to discuss the problem. [ speaking in native tongue ] >> i don't take personal for hiding these things. i say what i feel. >> check your local television listings for "wide angle's birth of a surgeon." and you can also see it online.

that's at pbs.org/wideangle. and that's "worldfocus" for a wednesday night. a reminder to visit our website, that's worldfocus.org, where you can find last night's blog talk radio show about the recent coup in honduras and how the media there is struggling to cort story. i'm martin savidge in new york. as always, thank you very much for joining us. we'll look for you back here 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