>> tonight on "worldfocus" -- in indonesia, suicide bombers posing as guests strike at american luxury hotels in the capital. killing at least eight people and wounding more than 50. in tehran, tens of thousands of protesters take to the streets today after calls from a senior cleric to release political prisoners. in the middle of summer, you might not be thinking about flu season but in britain they are. and the warnings about the potential death toll from swine flu are staggering. and then from turkey, an ancient town lost more than 2,500 years ago has been found. beneath the sea, thanks to some israeli divers. we'll tell you how it happened. from the world's leading reporters and analysts, here's what is happening from around the world. this is "worldfocus." made possible, in part, by the following funders --

good evening. i'm martin savidge. they posed as guest at a luxury hotel in jakarta, indonesia. and today the worlded just learned what business were in. the, of terrorism. the men blew themselves up this morning with bombs that they had assembled in that room. one attacking the marriott, the other the nearby ritz-carlton that killed at least eight people and wounded more than 50 as they brought terrorism back to the world's most populist muslim nation for the first time in four years. at least eight americans were among the wounded. some of the victims were australian. and in tonight's "lead focus" we turn to our partner, australia's abc for its coverage of the bombings. with jeff thompson of the network's "late line" program. >> reporter: this may be the man responsible for the attack on jakarta's ritz-carlton. captured here on closed circuit television entering the hotel restaurant at breakfast time

with a backpack on his front and wheeling a suitcase behind. a minute later the blast. this is the scene then outside, workers and guests scrambling to safety. away from the second attack of that morning. the first was at the j.w. marriott hotel across the road. >> i heard a big explosion. i looked out the window. building shot even from the 17th floor and i looked out my window and on the left-hand side i saw this big plume of smoke rising and there were people walking out from the marriott at that stage. walking wounded. people blood splatters and things like that. >> reporter: up to nine people are dead and 55 injured. the worst fears are hilled for three australians. >> i have grave concerns for three australians following the terrorist bombings in jakarta earlier today. one of these australians is an

australian embassy official. these figures may be the subject of further change. >> reporter: it's believed that among that number are senior australian official craig singer and businessman nathan barretty. new zealand's also been touched by the attack. >> i've been advised by the embassy in jakarta that's claimed the life of one new zealander. it is extremely sad news for new zealand. and equally sad news for the people of indonesia. >> reporter: police believe that the attacks were coordinated and that marries with eyewitness accounts. the first blast was at the marriott at 7:40 a.m. and the second at the ritz at 7:45, says this man. they were four foreigners i helped. one was on unconscious and the rest had broken legs. all burnt skin, he says. police say men posing as guests used a room on the 18th floor of the marriott hotel as a command and control center where an unexploded device was also found. indonesia's president has hinted

that some of his political opponents could be involved. >> translator: it is assumed that the attack that happened this morning in jakarta was carried out by a terrorist group. so it is not known if they're from the same network as previous attacks. >> reporter: no one has yet claimed responsibility. but immediate suspicion has fallen on indonesia's well-known terror outfit jemaah islamiyyah. answering to fugitive terrorists mohammed -- jeff thompson, "light line." in iran, tens of thousands of antigovernment protesters took to the streets of tehran once again today. they called on president mahmoud ahmadinejad to resign and they were met by police and militiamen who fired tear gas. one of the top country's religious leaders himself voiced new doubts about the recent presidential election which returned ahmadinejad to power. he said "those doubts are now consuming us." warning that the iranian republic faced a crises.

ali akbar hashemi rafsanjani wasted time on attack the government ever its handling of the disputed presidential election. >> translator: the situation created by the election results has been a bitter one. now all of us have lost. we all were losers. today's address by rafsanjani has been long-awaited. he head iran's powerful assembly of experts and is a key opposition leader of mousavi. mousavi was at today's prayer service. the iranian state media did not show his image. it was left to an iranian student news agency to release this picture. and in a departure from normal iranian television did not carry today's service live. boris is the middle east correspondent for "the los angeles times." he's been monitoring today's events from beirut, until recently he was in tehran. >> he was head on.

he talked about justice and even the prophet mohammed had the respect of those he ruled and making these inferences. and in the more political part of the friday prayer sermon, he discussed the issue of political prisoners. he discussed the shuttering of newspapers. he talked about the importance of allowing dissent. >> outside tehran university where the prayer service was held, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets. it was the biggest demonstration since those which took place in the days immediately following the election. this grainy video said to be of today's protest was posted on the website, youtube. >> this showed that this green movement despite some people's doubts remains a potent force. it has not subsided. that there's a huge number of people who are willing to risk life and limb and liberty by going out into the streets. this must be very worrying for the elders of the islamic establishment. >> in photos released by the

associated press, members of the hardline basij militia can be seen on their now familiar motorcycles confronting the militias. at one point charged the crowd firing tear gas. one photo shows a protester trying to kick a canister away and as at previous demonstrations, today there were injuries. another photo shows this man bleeding from the head. now for more on today's protests and that address by former president rafsanjani we turn once again to ervand abrahamian, a distinguished professor at the university of new york. he was born in iran and written several books about that country. welcome back. >> thank you. >> it's been several weeks now of course since we've had this election and the protests. where do things stand in iran right now? >> well, the resentment is still very much there but of course the costs of expressing it in the streets are heavy -- has broken bones. so i would say the opposition is more tempted to go in other directions. today of course some of it came

out into the streets but on the whole i would say the opposition to the elections still remains there. of course it's not in a situation -- it's not an environment where a million people can come out to demonstrate. >> why would the government allow mr. rafsanjani to deliver the prayers today when they must know that it would draw the demonstrations? >> i think it's an attempt to tell the opposition that there is someone within their lead that still speaks for you. it's a way of channelling the opposition into the republic. i don't think it really will succeed because people can see what it's doing because really no concessions are being made to the opposition. it's one thing to say, well, you have someone like rafsanjani whole express your views in the

power elite but it's another thing to actually share power. and i don't think of cour the supreme leader and ahmadinejad are willing to share powers. >> it was not televised. and usually these prayers are on a friday. why was that? >> because they weren't sure what was going to happen. they weren't sure what rafsanjani was going to say. what they'll probably do is take excerpts of tomorrow and televise that. >> and then we had the announcement yesterday of the head of the nuclear program in iran resigning or being replaced. what do we make of that? >> that's very serious because it means there are changes being made in the nuclear program. until now the policy of the republic was that the nuclear program was really directed towards civilian use. that it was not a weaponized use. and i think some of the people like running the program were sincere in that. if ahmadinejad is going to run the nuclear program, we could see the danger that -- a

weaponization will become much more important in it. >> ervand abrahamian, thank you. >> thank you. the u.s. military in iraq said today three american soldiers were killed last night in an attack near the southern city of basra. it happened as their base came under mortar or rocket fire. last year iraqi forces with u.s. support drove shiite militias out of the area but the military says some extremists have returned. the americans, you'll recall, took over supporting iraq's military in the basra area after the british ended their mission earlier this year. while the british have left some of those who have assisted them have not and they're fearing for their lives. we're talking about iraqi interpreters who worked alongside the british as they do the americans. while more than 200 of them have been relocated to britain and many more have received cash compensation, about 25 others are suing the british government saying that they've been abandoned.

we get more on the interpretation from nadine baba of al jazeera english. >> reporter: ali is an iraqi who's lived in northern england since 2008. for years he worked as an interpreter for british troops in southern iraq. >> after 2006 it was like a bloody war. we were being shot by everything. stones. snipers. gunshots and everything. >> reporter: he says he's grateful to be allowed to live in britain but without a job it's a struggle. he hopes that he and others like him will soon be given compensation. who is representing 25 iraqis who worked as interpreters in basra says britain bears a legal responsibility to them. >> a lot of the army people that we've been speaking to who were active on the ground are actually very vociferous about the cases and very supportive because they also feel that not enough was done to support these very key workers for them. >> reporter: one former interpreter now in hiding in iraq says he's terrified that militiamen will kill him.

they call us agents and spies because we worked with the occupation forces. i try to tell my boss that i need to leave iraq but he said such a procedure had not been established yet. >> reporter: now britain has gone to asylum to some iraqis who have worked with its troops. those left behind often live in mortal danger. >> i don't know where they are now. interpreters i have worked with. i know the people who got killed because you know you can -- when you ask about them, they said, "oh, they've been assassinated." and they work quiet a lot unfortunately. >> reporter: the iraqi's lawyers hope to reach an agreement with the uk government. if they can't they say they'll take the case to the u.s. supreme courts, al jazeera. as for the united states, the state department told "worldfocus" today that more than 800 iraqi translators who worked for american forces haven't issued visas to come to the u.s.

? >> u.s. health officials say the number of cases of h1n1 swine flu have surpassed 40,000 confirmed and probable cases with 263 deaths but they estimate that many more people have been affected with the virus. the number of h1n1 cases is growing in britain where 29 people have died from the swine flu and health authorities are preparing for a worst-case scenario. that if one-third of britain's population becomes sick, deaths from the swine flu next winter could reach 65,000. we get more in how britain is racing to open call centers to counsel people about the disease from julian rush of itn. >> reporter: the move to use the internet and to set up call centers where staff who haven't been medically trained, diagnose swine flu wasn't meant until october. delays getting phone lines installed meant it wasn't going to be ready. but numbers are rising so fast 2,000 operators will start work next week. the aim is to relieve the

pressure on gp surgeries and hospital a & d departments but it does mean that antiviral drugs will be given out to anyone. and it will be difficult to check if they're genuinely ill or have not delivered the questions deliberately just to get their hands on the case. even though there is enough to go around. just over a week ago in england, only london and the west midlands were hot spots. swine flu had really yet to make its mark at all in yorkshire and the humber. and this jury hotspot. yorkshire is now seeking advice. as the virus spreads, it's becoming clearer children are the most affected. adults tend to acquire a degree of immunity as they get older and densely populated city areas are where most are consulting doctors with flu like symptoms. talks about the hot spots. >> there's no doubt that viruses like flu, like crowd places, they like to be able to spread quickly from one person to another.

if you're building a bonfire, you want to put lots of sticks on them. that's sort of situation we've got. >> reporter: the latest nu from government's flu surveillance teams suggest some 55,000 new cases in the last week alone. children under 14 most affected. and the nhs is planning for a peak of up to 9% of the workforce of sick in the next month. planning is everything. plan for the wor-case scenario and you don't get caught out flu killed. and the nhs is planning for a worst case of up to 60,000 deaths in this pandemic. double that of past flu pandemics. the rapid rise in infections is happening of course before any vaccine is available and in spite of recent reports from the world health organization that some vaccine manufacturers are getting low yields in their production. the department of health insists the first batch of vaccine will be available at end of next month but they don't have it today. it won't be enough for everyone in the at-risk groups. the first mes who gets priority are happening now.

and when the vaccines do arrive they'll go through a fast track safety approval process that could take as little as five days. the government's still confident they will still have some 60 million doses by the end of the year, enough for half the population. >> julian rush of itn. one of our "worldfocus" bloggers, nina hachigian argues that global pandemics like the h1n1 flu virus have turned to a national security for the united states. you can read her blog and let her know if you agree at worldfocus.org/pivotalpower. it is time for our friday roundtable discussion of some of the week's top stories. we'll look at escalating war and increasing casualties in afghanistan. with the murder of a top human rights advocate in the russia.

we'll look at human rights as part of the u.s. foreign policy commitment. has it been decreased? and as secretary of state hillary clinton begins a five- day trip to india, we look at her policy speech this week and her role in u.s. foreign policy. joining us tonight we welcome back carla robbins, deputy editorial page editor of the "new york times" and gideon rose editor. gideon, start with you. let's start with afghanistan. we're on the way now to perhaps the deadliest month for coalition forces. is it just the simple fact that we boosted the number of troops thereby we should expect more casualties as a result? >> well, it's not just the number of troops it's also the rules of engagement and the strategy that they're using. you can have a lot of troops there and if they're not doing anything, if they're hunkered down in bases or bombing from 30,000 feet, you're not going to have any casualties. at least of ours. so it's partly a function of the new strategy as well as the new

number of troops. >> you have to get the troops out there? >> you have to get the troops out there. and frankly it's not just our casualties that are important it's the local casualties and one of the reasons we are engaging in a more direct way with the war and fighting it in a more hands-on way is precisely so we can reduce local civilian afghan casualties and therefore make the war effort more sustainable and get the population on our side. >> well, what about the partners in this effort? great britain suffered, i think, it was eight casualties in the span of 24 hours. you had that very dramatic scene of the hearses going through towns. how long can they sustain that in public opinion? >> well, i think the brits are pretty dowdy. the brits are tough. and certainly there's been a great deal of resistance from iraq after a while and they did finally do that but i think that the brits are committed. i think the frustrating thing of course is the rest of nato is not committed to it. you do have other troops there in less dangerouause the rules of engagement are so -- you know, let's not take casualties. let's not kill anyone. it raises very big questions about the alliance and the long run. now does the united states have enough troops do what it needs to did and does president obama

have the will to put in a lot more troops? there's also question here domestically. >> and what do you think the answer to that is, gideon? >> i think the real question is about whether the strategy is going to be working and showing results. my reading of history and of the science -- the social science literature on this is if people can accept casualties when they think something is getting done and they get very upset not just with absolute number of casualties but with casualties that seem to be expended for no good reason so the question is not just higher uptick of casualties but of whether we're actually making progress. is the situation stabilizes? we don't quite know that yet but we'll that in a few months. >> although if there is perceived progress in iraq, i think that people will be more tolerant of what's going to in afghanistan. people will remember how bad things were in iraq and perhaps more tolerant and also i think there's a feeling that because afghanistan's against taliban and al qaeda that this is the good war, the right war. so i think that there's also that tolerance for that, at least for a while. >> all right, let's move on to the issue human rights.

we the murder of nadia. she was a staunch reporter of human rights. she had supporters in chechnya. russia said that there is going to be a deep investigation. that they will find somebody here. are we really supposed to believe russia when they say this? >> no. >> anything more that you wish to add? >> no. it's horrible. it's horrible. it's horrible for investigators, it's horrible for journalists. it's just a terrible, terrible thing. and you know this government in russia, they're just not knocking off journalists and human rights people and lawyers right and left. it's just a terrible thing. >> so what should the obama administration do? >> it's very interesting because the "times" had an editorial on this very morning andeven they didn't suggest that the obama administration do something different about the subject. >> gideon, you're reading. >> the fact is this is a tragedy. and there are a lot of human rights abuses in chechnya. there have been for many years of course. and not much that the united states can, or frankly in my

opinion, should sort of do on an actual policy level. the difference between obama and bush on this is that bush basically talked a bigger game but didn't do anything. the obama administration has even dropped the talk. they're very festidious of what they will do to someone else. we'll not torture now but happily shake the hand of people who do torture. >> wait a minute, i think that's a little extreme. i think as we mentioned when we were here on the anniversary of tiananmen, the administration did have a quite strong statement that came out. it is a challenge to balance the fact that there's an enormous they want to get done with. the russians, it's an awful corrupt government there the. repressive government there. i don't think that they won't lift a hand to comply. i think it's a little harsh. >> i don't think it's harsh at all and i'm not saying that they're wrong in doing that. we mentioned tiananmen. we just had some sort of replay in iran and what did the administration do? stay on the sidelines. stay out of it and waited to see who would win so they could basically deal with whoever won. that's a good thing. that was the right thing to do.

>> i don't think that's what happened. >> that is cold. these people have ice in their veins and that's what you need to run a very successful foreign policy. >> i'm not trying to defend them but i will say in iran they made a very clear decisions as they have made as arcanist as it may sound and in honduras, they didn't want to broadcast story. they did not want to give ahmadinejad an excuse. i think generally when it comes to china and russia they have downgraded the human rights. i think they did it exactly right in iran because they did not make it about the united states. they made it about the opposition. >> we're almost out of time. i want to bring in secretary of state hillary rodham clinton. she's begun her trip to india, she's arrived. she may was described as a major foreign policy speech in week. gideon, was it? >> you could sum it up as saying that the obama administration compared to bush, old line jaw jaw is better than war war. we'll be cooperative, multilateral, new partnerships and so forth. but really i don't think that these speeches mean anything quite frankly and i always tell foreigners better to watch american foreign policy with the

tv with the sound turned off. watch what we do, not what we say. you could essentially ignore this speech. it wasn't a bad speech but you could ignore it entirely and still see american foreign policy play out and get a better reading by reading "the new york times" and watching events as they flow out. >> a lot of the pundits were focusing on more on what not what she said but where she's been. >> a wonderful parlor game. who's up? who's down? is she is a powerful? not powerful? she's been low-key, no question about it. and she's had very high-profile envoys there. a very self-confident woman who have richard holbrooke to run afghanistan and pakistan and we'll only know in time. once the discipline comes out, how many positions, strong positions that she's taking behind the scenes. my money's on hillary. >> we have no idea what's going to behind the scenes and the number of high-profile speeches are not a reflection of an actual influence on policy. >> i have to end it. carla robbins, gideon rose, thank you both.

finally tonight we want to take you back in time to 700 b.c. when scientists believed a massive earthquake caused part of an ancient side to fall into the aegean sea. that city is in western turkey. where marine archaeologist from israel have begun to recover the remains of that port. we hear about it from our newest partner, the israeli broadcasting authority. its report has been translated from hebrew by our israeli producer. >> reporter: off the shores of the west turkish town liman tepe, an ancient port used more than 2,500 years ago has been discovered. unt its existence had only been rumored but then turkish researchers decided to investigate the matter. they enlisted the help of israeli archaeologist to search for artifacts hidden deep under the ocean. >> translator: since we're

experts and ocean excavations, port excavations they asked us to work with them and teach them and that's what we did. >> reporter: students from haifa university traveled to the town. off to painstaking dive in murky conditions they discovered the artifacts. they are beautiful, important, and unique. >> translator: we found vessels and yearns. massive containers that sunk into the sea. they had arrived at port from the black sea from greece. maybe even cyprus. >> reporter: the most important find of all is this anchor that was used by one of the merchant ship. this is probably the oldest anchor ever discovered. >> translator: we took it to a lab and they dated it shortly after 700 b.c. this means that we're dealing with an anchor that is at least 2,650 years old. >> reporter: next month the researchers from haifa will fly to turkey for another round of

dives at leiman tepe. perhaps joint projects like will this lead to warmer relationships between israel and turkey. >> and that's "worldfocus" for this friday evening and for the week. if you missed any of our programs this week, you're in luck because that's why the web was there. you can watch them again at worldfocus.org. i'm martin savidge in new york. as always, we thank you for watching and we'll look for you back here on monday. in the meantime, have a great weekend. "worldfocus" is made possible, in part, by the following funders -- "worldfocus" is made possible, in part, by the -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com