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>> and now, "bbc world news." >> yemen claims it has killed one of al qaeda's most influential figures, anwar al-awlaki. a filipino maid makes legal history in hong kong, possibly paving the way for permanent residency for thousands of foreign domestic maids. burma's president orders a halt to a controversial dam project. he says it's contrary to the will of the people. hello and welcome to "bbc world news" with me, david eades. also coming up in this program -- spain works towards building the first-ever old people's home for gay pensioners where occupants can feel free to be themselves. and how do you deliver the mail in a city without a map and without any street names? well, we're out with the postman of kabul to find out.

>> thanks for being with us. we're going to start with that news, which has just come to us, that the defense ministry in yemen has told journalists that anwar al-awlaki, an american-born clerwhoik became one of al qaeda's most influential figures, has been killed. this report has not yet been independently confirmed. nonetheless, we obviously are working hard on it, in particular with our security correspondent, who's with me now. gordon, how much can we be sure? >> well, we can't be sure yet. this news appears to have to come in the last half-hour in a message from the yemen defense ministry and sent out to journalists there, saying that anwar al-awlaki was killed, apparently in an air strike on two vehicles, we understand, in the marie province. this has not been confirmed yet, and we have to be clear about that. officials have not been able to confirm it yet.

there have been false rumors in the past about people being killed. obviously confirming who was in the vehicle if indeed it was hit by some kind of missile, it's often very difficult. so it hasn't been confirmed yet, but the yemeni officials do seem to be saying that. >> tell us a bit more about it, because he is a man who president obama himself gave the authority for the c.i.a. to chase down. >> which is significant, because this is someone who was born in the u.s., a u.s. citizen, but who has become one of the most influential figures in al qaeda after the osama bin laden, who is now, of course, dead,. al-awlaki is really significant because he's a radicalizer. he's been able to reach out, particularly to those acceptable to radicalization in the united states, brings an, and other countries, through his use of the media, through his use of sermons, his ability to speak english fluently. he's been very effective at inspiring people to fight for

al qaeda, linked to far fort hood shooting in the united states, linked to the printer cartridge plot, which targeted the u.s. particularly. but also, a number of other issues, the so-called underpants bomber. all of these plots came out of yemen in the last few years, and yemen has been seen as one of the most dangerous places for al qaeda to be operating. >> perhaps in a political domain here as well, because president saleh looking for friends, that's the onus on the international stage at the moment, pretty good timing from his perspective. >> that's right, because there's been pressure for him to go, from within the country but also diplomatic pressure. yemen has been getting violent again. i think there has been concern in water about the impact of that political crisis, on the ability to go after al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. and so, one thing i would be cautious about is here it's being said that yemeni forces

carried this out. i think there might be suspicion it might have been a u.s. drone strike. that will be a suspicion. as i said, early days. >> important details. gordon, thank you very much indeed. as we build up that story, we'll bring it to you here on "bbc world news." burma's president has ordered a halt to work on a controversial dam in the north of the country. the chinese-led project, which had threatened to display thousands of villages along the irrawaddy river. in a note, the president said construction of this dam, $3.6 billion, was contrary to the will of the burmese people. pro-democracy leader, aung san suu kyi, had joined calls for the project to be scrapped. joining me from bangkok is the bbc's rachel harvey. rachel, tell us a bit missouri about the potential damage that people believe this dam project would have done. >> well, in terms of the environment, that's very difficult to gauge, because

there is no legal obligation in burma to conduct an environmental impact assessment, any kind of study, although we're told that the chinese company that was involved in this did do its own. it commissioned its own study. but that study was never made public. there have been huge concerns about the potential damage, because we're talking about, for instance, creating a reservoir that would have been 766 square kilometers big. i mean, that's an area that is a little larger than the whole of singapore, a huge area that would have been flooded, thousands of people would have had to have been displaced. people are also worried about the flows down stream. there's been apparently no research done on that at all about the possible impact on fisheries and livelihoods. but it wasn't just conservationists that were worried about this. there was political opposition to it, not least from the ethnic kachin community, under whose land this thing was going to be built. in fact, construction has already started. it will now be put on hold, but

there has been work already underway. it was due to be completed in 2019. there has been a kind of concession by the burmese authorities in the face of a growing public opposition, a well-coordinated, increasingly well-coordinated campaign, against a huge investment with china's backing. this is unprecedented territory. >> rachel, thank you very much indeed. i asked why this decision is so significant. >> it's very significant in the sense that the parliament, in its early state, has met a big public challenge, and this is gathering a lot of momentum among the public, activists, environmentalists. so, the comment has to listen to what the people are seeing. at the same time, they have strongly put their weight

behind this project, and i think it's a big step for the people. >> it's very easy perhaps for us to think, oh, aung san suu kyi raising protests about this, therefore, she has forced a change. is it that straightforward? >> no, actually, it's not very straightforward, because this project is a very controversial project happening in the zone, and recently the construction materials cannot be conveyed to the site, because there was an ethic strike going on. so they're taking into consideration all the tensions happening around the country. and the irrawaddy, which flows from the north to the delta, covered the whole country, so the people who would be affected in the area are really ang are you about this. and this is the right time to

listen to the people, regardless of chinese influence. >> now, it's not every day that a housemaid takes on the government and wins, never mind a foreign housemaid. but in hong kong, a filipino maid has won a landmark legal victory which could benefit tens of thousands of foreign domestic servants. the courts ruled a law which banned them from getting permanent residency is actually unconstitutional. hong kong has nearly 300,000 foreign maids, most of them from the philippines and from indonesia. anne marie evans is our correspondent in hong kong, and she was at the court hearing. >> well, it's the first stage in a legal bid in order to try to achieve permanent residency. this doesn't automatically make her a permanent resident, but, of course, from the legal perspective, it's a victory for her, but there might still be a long legal road to go for her to actually achieve permanent

residency for herself and all the others who are all ineligible. >> how much support is there behind her? we're talking up to 300,000 foreign domestic servants in the country. you can imagine why the government would wish to fight long and hard to stop this from going through. >> well, there's 300,000 maids, but actually the number that would have been lived here more than seven years are 120,000. that doesn't mean that all of them would be able to necessarily apply for permanent residency. there might be other reasons why they can't. but certainly, a lot of support has come from activists. as many people as i was talking to outside court, who were very pleased, say this is basically a strike against the kind of discrimination that you have in hong kong against filipinos and you understand netions. from that point of view, it's a victory. it's also the first stage, the likelihood is the government will appeal this. they've got two more courts

they can go through. also, there will be another meeting on october 26 when it will be decided whether ms. valejos can go ahead with her permanent residency application. what the court decided today was that it was unconstitutional, this law within the basic law, from the immigration, that barred domestic helpers from applying for permanent residency. but as i mentioned, there are still several stages that she would have to go through. >> and we'll keep across every stage for you. aaron is here now, keeping across all the news -- well, give us the news. eurozone inflation. >> yeah, unfortunately, jumped 2%, 3%, a startling 3% for last month. this is certainly higher than expected. it really puts the european central bank in a real pickle. 2% is the target set by the european central bank, so it's 1% above that. but in the sense, it puts them into a pickle because this year we've seen fairly aggressive moves on raising interest

rates, and, in fact, yesterday, i was sitting here talking about the ernst & young eurozone autumn financial report, and part of that report, the actual -- those who compiled the report actually criticized the european central bank for raising rates in april and july because they say next year, the eurozone is going to see anemic growth. now, what does the e.c.b. do? you don't normally cut rates when you've got inflation rising, but they really, many will say they can't afford to raise interest rates at the moment when you've got growth, especially in the core front and germany, which contributed about half of all economic output for the eurozone, you can't really try to raise interest rates when you've got growth stalling there. >> so inflation is going up there. german sales figures, what are they doing? >> retail sales figures, these are all signs showing that the slowdown and problems in the periphery are really taking solid root in the core. retail sales in august and germany fell by 3%.

big worry. we know we've got business sentiment in germany, consumer sentiment, and trying to convince the germans, the public about yesterday's vote to increase, of course, the rescue part to try and save the likes of greece is a problem. greece, of course, will be on the agenda. i'm going to be talking, in fact, to the financial advisor of the greek prime minister, george papandreou, in about 15 or so minutes on the "world business report," get the view on where things stand. >> the greek pot boiling. it's not going away at the moment. now, a politician's obligation is to break deadlocks, according to the leader. governing party in south korea, which is why the chairman of the grand national party is visiting north korea. the visit is just part of the latest effort to ease tensions between the two countries. south korea blames the north for a torpedo attack last year, which you may remember killed 46 sailors. the north denies involvement

nonetheless. our correspondent, lucy williamson, is in seoul. she says the suggest suggests foreign policy on both sides may be changing. >> it's another sign that the policy makers are shifting their position slightly, although there hasn't been an official change of policy. i'll give you an example of how things are changing. president lee came to power four years ago saying that he expects the north to give clear signals to earn their right, if you like. he wasn't going to pursue the sunshine policy of his predecessors, wasn't going to give things away without north korea earning them. now the chairman of his ruling party has gone to north korea and has come back and said that he believes the time is right to change from strict reciprocity to a more flexible reciprocity in dealing with north korea, and we've been seeing these kinds of subtle changes quite a lot over the past few weeks and months, hard-line unification minister who deals with north koreaian affairs have been replaced, and there have been other leaders who have said they believe it's time to have a more flexible

approach as well. >> you're watching "bbc world news" with me, david eades. got a lot more still to bring you, including this -- we know you're out there, but can controls from new year gentleman really put a stop to -- controls from nigeria really put a stop to pirates? jurors at the trial of michael jackson's personal physician have been told that the singer's bodyguard was ordered to pick up vials of medicine before calling for an ambulance. alberto alvarez described the frantic scene as dr. conrad murray was trying to resuscitate the pop star. peter bowes reports from los angeles. >> at the time, i knew it was a medical emergency. >> alberto alvarez was the first person to see michael jackson in his bedroom after conrad murray called for help. he said the doctor was using one hand to pump the pop star's chest, but the singer, who was lying on his back with his eyes open, didn't respond. while this desperate attempt

was being made to save michael jackson's life, mr. alvarez told the jury he was asked by dr. measure toy gather up several vials of medicine and put them into a bag. >> i was standing at the foot of the bed. he reached over and grabbed a handful of vials, and then he reached out to me and said, here, put these in a bag. >> he said he was also asked to remove a saline drip and put it into another bag. that's when he said he spotted a bottle containing a milky white substance. the prosecutor identified it as the drug propofol, which caused the singer's death. about a minute passed before the bodyguard says he was asked by dr. murray to call for an ambulance. it is then that he said he noticed two of michael jackson's children in the doorway. >> and they were right behind me, and paris screamed out, daddy. >> the trial will continue with more evidence about those frantic few minutes which two

paramedics arrived to try to revive michael jackson. >> nearly 50 people have been killed in anti-government protests in syria in the last two days alone. that's according to human rights activists. the u.n. estimates almost 2,700 people have been killed since the crackdown began. you're watching "bbc world news" with me, david eades. the headlines this hour -- yemen claims it has killed one of al qaeda's most influential figures, anwar al-awlaki. burma's president orders a halt to a controversial dam project. he says it's contrary to the will of the people. adnan is with me now. an hour ago, we were enjoying the earliest stages of south africa. fill us in. >> now they're into the last 10 minutes. it's 13-5 south africa, and they're both down 14 men.

one has been sent out for punching a officerian in the face. the south african captain is also gone, deliberate knockdown of the ball as the samoans were attacking. south africa should hold on to win it, and that would almost mean a final on october 9 against australia, so one of the big big heavyweights is going to go out before the semifinals. but still, there's a few minutes to go here. we'll see what happens. >> you never quite know with samoa. england versus scotland, no one will expect quite the same kind of slowing. >> that is the big deal, isn't it? what if scotland got -- they say they've got something up their sleeve, and it will need to be something pretty special, because overall, when you look at the two squads, really, england will be heavily favored, probably scotland's best hope is the weather, which is expected to be pretty poor,

get in amongst them, just disrupt the england game, and hope that they can sneak a try and then basically just close out the english team. the big problem has been really what happened in the previous game, because argentina, you know, scotland, the second most successful team, but as they tackled the argentine, who got their try, that basically led to scotland losing the game, and scotland wouldn't be in this position. they can actually afford to lose against england. it's now looking very good for argentina. if england beats scotland, it's going to be argentina and england through. argentina would play new zealand. >> lovely. adnan, thanks very much indeed for that. in spain, plans are well underway for the country's first-ever old people's home for gay pensioners. some activists say that elderly gay people living in care are often, as they put it, forced back into the closet by the intolerance of fellow residents. sarah rainsford has this report from madrid. >> it's just a scruffy plot of

land for now, but there are grand designs for it. this is the site for spain's first-ever gay old people's home. plans are well underway for a project the man in charge says is desperately needed. >> we want to make sure old people who are gay can live out their life freely with dignity and among equals, not have to return to the closet and hide their true identity. >> it's 32 years since the law against homosexuality was lifted in spain, but fighting prejudice is slow work. this man now lives in a retirement home, where life has been miserable ever since the other residents realized he was gay. >> they started to ignore me. they wouldn't talk to me. and they insult me, even though my room has two beds, no one wants to share it with me because i'm gay, so i am alone,

and it's really bad. >> so federico is busy trying to get investors. talk of a retirement community rather than a care home is enduring. the plan is for construction work to begin here in just a few months' time, transforming this whole empty space into 115 smart new apartments, the kind of place where people can grow old in comfort and without hiding their sexuality. the drive now is to gather enough would-be residents and their cash for a bank to back the project, and then get digging here. sarah rainsford, bbc news, madrid. >> we hear a lot about somali pirates. well, nigeria has joined naval patrols to try to prevent it around their coastal waters. guinea has seen a big increase

in attacks. our nigeria correspondent joins one of the patrols. >> searching for pirates off the coast of west africa, the nigerian crew are out apatrol. they're part of a new joint naval operation with neighbors, benin, aimed at stemming a worrying rise of piracy in the gulf of guinea. the targets have been huge oil tankers and cargo ships, the lifeblood of the region's economy. the mission's nigerian commander is making bold promises about tackling the pirates head on. >> what we see is taken by pirates. we are breaking, and the public.

so regarding the piracy attack, it we go out. >> nigeria will dominate this operation with a former u.s. coast guard vessel, the largest ship taking part. the statistics are alarming. there have already been more attacks off west africa this year than took place in the whole of 2010. but the waters are now rated by insurers as being as dangerous for shipping as the somali coast. west african pirates are adopting a different technique to their somali counterparts, where the somalis generally take the crew hostage and hold them for ransom, but the pirates here are much more interested in stealing the cargo. and that increased risk of robbery at sea is, according to ship owners, scaring business away. >> some shipping companies have

refused to come to west africa. those will come. they take special premium, and this in turn affects the goods and services in west africa. >> for confidence to be restored and to return, west africa's high seas must be purged of the pirate threat. >> how often have you cursed the postman for delivering mail to the wrong address? well, if you live in kabul, you might be a little more forgiving. >> kabul's central post office, but from here on, this story becomes much more complicated. >> some of them are really -- it stays behind, so these guys are really good. you find these addresses, or let me see, look at this one, the address on this one reads a

high school in kabul, with no number, no code or nothing. >> so it's a real challenge for the postman to deliver letters with such obscure addresses. to find out how he gets on, i decided to accompany him. the letter has come from america. perhaps i can help track down its final destination. virtually all of kabul's streets have no name and no signs, and there are no numbers. >> sometimes because of this, they only have a vague address. for example, the sender of this letter is here, there's no phone number or house number. >> we cycled for two hours in the heat, asking local people for direction. and finally, we find i mission accomplished. >> there is one man in kabul

who has made the job for postman easier. abdul sells signs for streets and houses. >> i noticed that the streets here have no names, and even if they do, there are no signs with the names on. people need to have exact addresses in order to find the places they're looking for. i've sold 1,350 street name signs and house numbers for this area. >> the afghan post office also has a mosque to plan. >> we've just started using post codes. they have four numbers. we'll use different numbers for the city and surrounding districts. once our customers get used to the new system, it's going to make things much easier for the post service. >> but it will be a very long time before kabul becomes fully mapped out. until then, this postman needs to rely on the local to hand

out his letters. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank.

>> union bank has put its global expertise to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> bbc world news was presented by kcet los angeles.