it's the human face of the global recession. unemployment, and the numbers keep rising. tonight a look at how europeans are trying to stem the tide. could a tactic of a war in be behind a sexual assault of an 8-year-old girl in the united states? as authorities investigate, we look at what's being done to combat race in liberia. and from australia, scientists report a modern-day mass extinction of animals is under way, and they know what's behind it. you won't like what they found. good evening. i'm martin savidge. we begin tonight in iran, where a memorial for victims of the violence that followed last month's disputed elections turned into another day of protests by thousands of people,

and yet more violence. they're increasingly angry, not only about the government's crackdown but the treatment of those detained and held in prison. trials for some of those people will begin this weekend. and iran is our lead focus once again tonight. today's demonstrations began at a bass cemetery in southern tehran. there thousands of people gathered to mark the end of the 40-day mourning people for neda soltan. soltan is the young woman whose death had a protest in late june and has become a rallying cry for the opposition. this internet video is said to be of today's event. in it, protesters can be heard chanting, don't be scared. we'll all together. opposition candidate mir hossein mousavi tried to join the mourners but was turned away by a force of several hundred police. iranian state television reported they used tear gas and batons to disperse the protesters.

it released these images from the cemetery. however, it's unclear just how severe the clashes really were. borzou daragahi is the middle east correspondent for "the los angeles times," based in beirut. >> at first there was a clash between the demonstrators and the police. eventualr of the demonstrators so overwhelmed the security forces, that security forces ended up helping people get to the demonstration site, realizing there was no use trying to beat back this crowd. >> today's demonstrations come on the heels of a decision earlier this week by iranian supreme leader ayatollah khamenei. to close down one of the most notorious prisons used to hold protesters who have been arrested. the iranian government also said they would release 140 of those currently in custody. >> beating, jailing, harassing, intimidating, threatening the protesters doesn't seem to be getting them to stop, so they're confused. they're issuing contradictory messages. they're trying to figure out what to do to stop this thing. they don't quite understand it.

it's not like anything they experienced before. >> to take a closer look at today's demonstrations in iran and the ongoing political turmoil there, we joined by afshin molavi, an expert on iran and from the american fellow foundation. he joins us from washington. welcome to the program. >> thank you. >> how significant were today's demonstrations compared to those that followed last month's disputed elections? >> well, i think these were significant, martin, because today was the 40th day after the killing of neda allah soltan. you recall the woman that was shot, she became kind of a global, iconic symbol of iran's protesters and the brutality in which they were met. so it was significant religiously because 40 days after a death in shia islam is known as the arbien and mourning ceremonies take place. but i think it was also significant just because it took place and it shows that the protests are continuing, despite the enormous brutality that is being meted out against the iranian people. do i think that has enormous

significance as well. >> do you think that these anti-government protests are likely to continue, perhaps even intensify? >> i think the level of anger is so high, particularly sense we're hearing about all of these new revelations emerging from how many of the protesters that were imprisoned were treated, this massively brutal beatings. there were killings. there were children who were turning up in body bags. but the question remains, martin, is how high a cost are people willing to pay and the authorities have shown they are willing to mete out severe violence against protests. it's important to think of this as a marathon and not a sprint. and i see similar tensions flaring up in these kind of protests over the next six months to a year. >> at the same time we learn about internal political struggles that take place outside of the camera's view in iran. what can you tell us about that? >> it's very important.

what we have seen in the past 40 days or so is the regime versus the regime in many ways. lions of the revolution of 1979 really turning against each other. but broadly, it was a reformist, modernist coalition, centrist coalition versus the hard-liners. but what's interesting here, he had a bad week. he pointed somebody to be a vice president. the supreme leader, khamenei repudiated him. he to step down from that, and then he appointed that same person to be his chief of staff. so ahmadinejad and khamenei are at loggerheads right now and that doesn't bold well for ahmadinejad. ahmadinejad without the support of khamenei is like a ship without an anchor and a ship without guns. >> we only have about 20 seconds left. i'm wondering how does this instability affect the u.s.' desire to open a dialogue with iran? >> i think secretary of state clinton but it well when she said there's so much crisis in iran that it's very difficult for her to imagine a unified response from iran at this time.

i think they're going to have to wait and see how this all plays out. afshin molavi, thank you so much for speaking with us tonight. >> thank you. the government of iraq confirmed today that seven people have been killed in clashes with security forces at a camp where thousands of iranian exiles live. that camp is north of baghdad. it was set up in 1986 for iranian fighters who were siding with saddam hussein in the iran/iraq war. the fighting, seen in this amateur video, broke out earlier this week when the government tried to set up a police station inside the camp. the united states and other governments fear that iraq will send the iranians back to their country where they are considered terrorists. as the war in iraq winds down for american forces, the war in afghanistan is expanding for the americans and the british of the casualties are increasing substantially, not

just those killed in afghanistan but those who have been wounded. britain's defense ministry said today that 57 soldiers were wounded in the first two weeks of this month alone. the government's trying to deal with the fallout on several fronts, as we hear from jenny wivell of itn. >> reporter: the rate soldiers being wounded in action in afghanistan has almost doubled in the last year. alongside the 22 service personnel killed in afghanistan this month, 16 troops also suffered serious injuries that put their lives at risk. there are troops like lieutenant guy disney, who lost a foot when he was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in helmand. >> instantly i felt searing pain, not pain but heat in my leg. i looked down and there wasn't much left. just a little bit holding it on but it was still there. and then quite quickly got chucked in the back of the vehicle, which probably saved my life. >> reporter: troops are being wounded of a rate of about one every other day. but in the last six weeks it shot up to almost one every day. since operation panther's claw

began, there's been a sharp increase in the number of casualties. >> we had our moments. we had days when the casualty load has been intense and days when the surgical's team been working full on, all of our teams have been working full on. they have done extremely well and i believe delivered a standard of care second to nothing. >> reporter: earlier this week the m.o.d.'s decision to fight the compensation claims of two injured soldiers provoked outrage of those serving with the armed services. many of those left comments on a forum. >> translator: some m.o.d. civi clocks got nearly half a million for a typing injury. look how little the wounded guys get. it's pitiful. >> what we all want is to be treated fairly, paid and looked after when we're injured. >> the worst thing about this is the effect it could have on morale. >> reporter: with casualty figures now climbing at an alarming rate, the defense secretary has admitted it was possibly a mistake to seek to reduce the payouts. the government has brought forward the review of the

compensation scheme, which was due next spring. the armed forces have suffered heavy losses in afghanistan. 191 service men and women have died since operations began in 2001, but with the operation now over, it's hope that at least for the present, the hope is the worst is behind them. >> jenny wivell of itn. in africa, a wave of violence continues in nigeria. security forces hunted for members of an islamic sect in a northern town after storming the group's mosque and headquarters last night. the nigerian governor said more than 100 members of the sect were killed and then late today it said the leader of the sect had been arrested and was shot and killed while in police custody. the human rights group charged that security forces have also been killing innocent civilians over the last four days as they cracked down on the group, which wants to expand islamic law. spain was hit by another bombing today, the second in as many days. it happened on the island of majorca and is being blamed on the basque separatist group eta. two police officers were killed

in today's bombing, which targeted their car. planes and ships were blocked for a time from leaving the resort island as police hunted for the suspects. yesterday, you will remember in northern spain, a car bomb destroyed a police barracks, injuring some 60 people. and it, too, was blamed on eta. even as the global economy starts to show signs of recovery, people are still losing jobs. germany said today that its unemployment rate rose to 8.2% this month. still, the government's top labor official said the effects of the downturn have been comparatively moderate. he pointed to a program in which almost 2 million people are working fewer hours with the help of government subsidies. in an effort to help companies avoid big job cuts. but now as we hear from deutsche

welle, even some companies who have benefited from the program are finding it hard to continue. >> reporter: this electrician is out of a job. the official notice came this morning. he and 80 of his colleagues will have to leave the lisa and voga steel plants in western germany. they have been on reduced working hours for six months and thought that, that would save their jobs. >> translator: many of us were taken completely by surprise. the government has extended the shorter working hour scheme so companies can use it for up to two years. we thought that is what they would do, that the company would keep on trying. but apparently not. >> reporter: the plant's employees have only been working half weeks since january. there's not much to do. the firm's turnover is down by 40%. under the reduced hours scheme, they pay about 60% of the normal wages.

most of the rest is paid by the state, but now the company can't even afford that. >> translator: until now we've managed to avoid redundancies with this solution. but in the long term, it works out as too expensive and has finally led to layoffs. >> reporter: this is the employment agency in isalon, their hometown. the staff here used to know all of the short-time workers personally. now their files fill two entire offices. one-third of all of those employed in the region are on reduced working hours. their numbers are going down, but only because some of them are losing their jobs completely. >> translator: i've never experienced anything like it. i went through the first crisis in 1967. that wasn't so bad. i experienced the oil crisis, and that had an impact. and i was here after the period of reunification and everything

got worse, but i never experienced anything like this. >> reporter: neither have the workers. the electrician who's just lost his job has little hope of finding new work. but he says he will start writing job applications anyway, and his colleagues are hoping they won't be next. >> translator: you can't let it get to you, or you just wouldn't be able to sleep at night. i think it will worry everyone here. >> reporter: they say they can't exclude the possibility of more layoffs if the situation does not improve. >> view from germany's deutsche welle. now let's go to great britain, where the unemployment rate, 7.6%, is the highest in a dozen years. but that figure masks the suffering of the group hardest hit by that downturn, that's britain's young people. now the government is trying to give them a helping hand, as we hear in some report of john sparks from itn. >> reporter: on a fashionable square in a trendy corner of london, the lunchtime service has just finished. the employees here, all young and ambitious, are busy cleaning up. but not so long ago, they were unskilled and unemployable.

no employer would go near them. >> the harm was there. the economy hit and it was just terrible, terrible timing. >> you wake up in the morning and you think, have i got money to eat? have i got money for the rest of the week? about 80,000 until the next time. and it's like you're stuck. there's no way forward. >> reporter: in for a dose of reality at the oxton apprentice restaurant is the business secretary, lord mandelson. he arrived before lunch with a new scheme that intends to provide 40,000 jobs for young people. one condition, it's for those who have been looking for work or training for more than one year. >> we have to get them into training and internships, a whole variety of different kinds. >> reporter: in 2009, young people are bearing the brunt of the jobs downturn. employment across the economy has fallen by 1.8% since the recession started.

but among 18-year-olds to 24-year-olds, it dropped by more than 6%. and for 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds, employment has dropped by an incredible 16%. more than 900,000 people in these age groups are now unemployed. >> we've got hundreds of thousands of young people due to leave universities and schools this year. employers aren't recruiting and this leaves a huge challenge for policymakers and young people entering the jobs market. >> reporter: and that can be a major problem with the government scheme. it wants to create job opportunities in areas like tourism and small business entities. but people like charles wonder, who runs a solar energy firm, doesn't need unskilled employees. mr. wonder needs special people who really want to work for him. >> i think it's far easier to -- to take on somebody who's inspired by it all than it is to be -- have someone foisted on you that perhaps hasn't even thought of what they want to do in life.

>> reporter: critics say the government's new job scheme for young people will create soft jobs with little long-term value for employer or employee. but is a soft job better than no job at all? north korea's economy relies on outside help to feed its 24 million people. but some of them are getting their first taste of fast food. no, it's not mcdonald's or burger king, at least not yet for the authoritarian communist country. but north korea's first fast food restaurant is serving up hamburgers and french fries. the burgers cost $1.70. that's more than half the average north korean's daily income. the signature dish is known as minced beef and bread. calling it a hamburger, just too american, we're told.

the story you may have heard about caught our attention here this week. in arizona, an 8-year-old girl, an immigrant from the west african nation of liberia, was allegedly raped by four liberian boys two weeks ago. it caused outrage here and far beyond, partly because the girl's parents blame her for bringing shame to the family. this reminded us of a signature story we brought you earlier this year on the issue of rape in liberia, which was pervasive as that african nation struggled with years of civil war. here again is lynn sherr's report on some of the women fighting back against sexual violence against women. >> reporter: like everything else in liberia today, the national police force is trying to rebuild. these are the latest recruits -- the new face of the nation resolved to enforce security. and the very newest faces are these, female recruits, now some 13% of the entire force.

the goal is 20%. they are lured and encouraged by the top cop, beatrice muna brown. as the inspector general of the liberian national police, she is leading the fight against the country's worst crime problem, rape and sexual violence against women. during three waves of civil wars that killed nearly a quarter milon people and wasted liberia's homeland, wars fought, it is said, on the bodies of women, rape was used with appalling repetition as a weapon. where the fighting was fiercest, more than half the women experienced sexual violence. the war ended in 2003, but even now in peace, they say rape is the highest reported crime in the capital city monrovia. more than half of the cases involve girls 10 to 14. >> i think it's an issue of violence. it's an issue of power. sometimes i would say it's a sickness perhaps. >> reporter: deputy justice minister eva mappy-morgan said the key is exercising the strength of women. >> the fact that we in post war doesn't mean that those issues

that men have, have been dealt with. we have to examine ourselves, see what it is we want to do so that we are not continuously blaming these people, these men, for victimizing us. we have to see ourselves now as being our own advocate. >> reporter: in that spirit, the ig is taking the message of women's power to local communities. and counting on her female officers to help change the face of law enforcement in a country where women have long been treated like property. >> you have a country in a time where a female comes up and says, i have been abused by my husband, and a male officer downplays it. they look at it, like, well, is your husband so bad? you don't get that attention. you need until maybe somebody's hurt or dead. but now the females are

listening to them. >> reporter: the parade of female strength extend to the military and the united nations peacekeepers, where an all-women contingent from india underscores the government's commitment to law enforcement and its zero-tolerance approach to sexual violation. liberian president ellen johnson surley was swept into office, promising swift punishment for crimes against women. four years ago a new law was passed broadening the definition of rape and making it punishable for up to a life sentence, and the president has made it such a priority that the anti-rape message is now being marketed as aggressively as soda pop and cell phones. it's all part of a very public campaign to encourage open talk

about sexual violence. some men are already getting the message. for those who are not, there are constant reminders. >> gentlemen, behave yourselves, correct yourselves. think about it. we are your daughters. we are your mothers. we are your wives, and we are your sisters. so when you violate any one of us, you violate your mother. you violate your wife. you violate your sister. you violate your daughter. so get on the bandwagon with us. >> reporter: that's just what these women in chocolate city, an area outside monrovia, are hoping the men will learn from this event sponsored by the international rescue committee. the women can learn from it, too. that's a woman playing an abusive mate, driving home the message that sexual violence is unacceptable. that is news to many of these women, and they've taken up the

cause with energy and humor. "my breasts are mine" she sings, "don't touch. my butt is mine. don't touch." i'm looking at your headgear. it says, report all rape cases to the police. now, during the war you couldn't do that, of course? >> no. >> what would happen? >> they might have killed you in the process. >> reporter: who would kill you? >> the men, the rebels. they would kill you. >> reporter: that's precisely what inspector brown and her new beefed-up police force are changing. the ig is determined to get more women in uniform, because women, she says, are perfectly suited for the job. >> men, you give that in life like your mother.

as soon as you place that child into her hands in the hospital, we can empower you guys to protect the whole world. >> reporter: i'm lynn sherr for "worldfocus" in liberia. >> for more on women fighting rape in liberia, including a web exclusive interview, go to worldfocus.org. finally tonight, we go to australia, where there's a new warning of mass extinctions of plants and animals in the broad south pacific region known as oceana, unless there are major changes to protect the environment. the warning comes from scientists who have reviewed

thousands of search studies in the region and insist the impact of humans is the cause. we get more on this from shane mcleod of abc in australia. >> reporter: going back through the fossil record, scientists are still uncertain about what caused the five or six mass extinctions in earth's history. events like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. with the number of extinctions rising alarmingly in decades, scientists are worried. >> most biologists believe now we're into our sixth greatest extinction event, and it's really down to one species, and that's human. >> reporter: and oceana is no different. scientists have reviewed more than 24,000 conservation research papers across the region. they've found environments as diverse as australia's outback and the pacific islands affecting many of the same survival challenges. >> unequivocally, it's the role of humans that's determining what's happening to the biodiversity conservation in our region. and it's fundamentally due to

increasing population rates and our consumption. >> reporter: habitat destruction, overfishing and hunting and pollution are among the most devastating along with the looming threat of climate change, and some of the species that have arrived, along with humans, are having a dramatic impact. the prescription, the scientists say, is a better coordinated response. while national parks and protected zones are on the rise, there's still not enough to protect ecosystems from the threats. >> such as land clearing, logging, building dams and diverting water out of rivers. >> reporter: but most of all, they say, human behavior has to change. shane mcleod, abc news. and that's "worldfocus" for this thursday evening. don't forget, go to worldfocus.org for much more global news and to watch the program any time. i'm martin savidge in new york. as always, we thank you for joining us. we'll look for you back here again tomorrow and any time on the web. until then, have a good night.

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desert rivers sometimes give rise to towns, which rely on their waters for survival and for irrigating crops. the rio san miguel in northwestern mexico has done just that for centuries.