>> this is "bbc world news." funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. shell. and union bank. >> union bank has put its financial strength to work for a wide range of companies, from

small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news." >> seven billion and counting, the world population hits a landmark figure. the u.n. says it has doubled in fewer than 50 years. the center of bangkok escapes the worst of the severe floods which have hit other parts of thailand. these pictures live. also, too soon for snow? well, not in america's northeast, as an unseasonally early storm leaves nine dead and three million homes without power. hello. welcome to "bbc world news." i'm david eades. also coming up in the program -- chasing the dream, as we follow the british girl who's hobby -- whose hobby is

pursuing huge twisters in the united states. also, mexico security forces and a drug gang battle it out in a shopping center. >> hello. today is the day our planet has hit an unprecedented milestone. in just the last couple of hours, the total world population has hit the seven billion mark, according to the u.n., and it's going to carry on climbing. we've got the figures that the u.n. are putting out for us. as i say, they're just over seven billion and some 50,000-odd as well. let's have a look there, 41,384 at the moment, and the ticker just goes on and on. but even as the rising figures trigger concern in many quarters, they are nonetheless welcomed in some other parts of the world, as duncan kennedy

found in australia. >> alice sarah harmony, born at 6:31 today, the 31st of october, 2011. she doesn't know it, but alice is a milestone baby. she'll go down in history as the seven billionth person. just like all the others to arrive on this exceptional moment in human development. >> i think it's just evolution. i feel very positive. yeah, i am. i've always kind of said the glass is half full anyway, so, you know, got to have an opportunity to be a man. >> i like being alive, and i think it's good she can be alive and experience life. and it's a beautiful world. yeah, everything's good. i think it's positive. i'm very happy with where we

are. >> as the landmark number of seven billion is reached, it can seem that humans are speeding out of control, that this number is a threat, that our recognizable lives are being overtaken and that we can't keep up with the pace of population growth. but here in australia, they see things differently. here, they yearn for more people and not less, and where managed immigration and natural population growth is applauded, not feared. seven billion people might seem like a worrying milestone for some, but not for everyone. why? well, in large part because of the sher size of the place and the ability to absorb people. compare it with singapore, which is more than 7,000 people per square kilometer, one of the highest entities anywhere. in britain, it's less, but the number now stands at 246 people per square kilometer. but look at australia, roughly the size of america, but only

three people for every square kilometer, one of the lowest densities in the world. it's why democratic experts say more population doesn't always equate with greater pressures. >> australians will be much more relaxed about the prospect of population growth domestically than most other countries around the world, targeted population growth is a deliberate policy through immigration, and there are many benefits that come from this population growth. >> she's just perfect. >> back in the maternity unit, grandparents jillian and dennis share in the joy of the new arrival. any fears about their granddaughter's entry into a crowded world set aside in the moment of elation. >> i believe that the world will sort itself out anyway. it will eventually sort itself

out. there won't be too many people. >> australia has its congested areas and concerned about food security and climate change. it's also one of those places that embraces the future. seven billion, a special moment for alice and her parents, an historic one for the planet. duncan kennedy, bbc news, in pert. >> well, that's the view from pert. -- the view from perth. you can go to the other extreme. the bbc's ros atkins is in the nigerian city of legos with a mother and a newborn baby, one of today's milestone babies. >> here in legos, the nigerian population is expanding at an incredible rate. it's estimated that this day next year there will be five million more nigerians than they are at the moment. one of them will be this gorgeous little boy who's just

been born in the last few hours. congratulations. >> thank you. >> first of all, i should ask how you're both doing. >> we're fine. >> have you got a name? >> not yet. >> that's got to be sorted out. >> yes. >> and is this your first baby? >> it is. >> and how many children do you think you want to have? >> three. >> three? >> yeah. >> that's quite low by nigerian standards, isn't it? do you think that nigerians have families that are too big? >> not really. it depends. the civilization now, people tend to have little family because education is not easy. >> and when you were a teenager, do you remember any pressures or expectations that you received from your family? >> no, not at all. >> but some people here in nigerian clearly feel they're experiencing that. >> yeah, i do not want that. >> and how long are you going to be here? >> in the hospital?

>> yeah. >> i'm want sure. >> i should say that we had to drag you out. >> yeah. >> we're going to let and you your gorgeous new son get back inside. thank you. >> you're welcome. thank you. >> nigerian population at the moment is 166 million, some experts say it could in the end pass america's population. that's the concern among many nigerians here. >> that's rob atkins there. if did you to our website, you can get this -- just put in your date of birth, and that is mine there, and i come in at the 3,208,362,756th person on the planet. now, i put in my father's as well, and he was around two billion. then i put in my son's, and he

was nearly six billion, which just gives you an idea of the scale of which we're growing at the moment on the planet. but do have a go, have a look at that, play around with it, because it's fascinating reading. and it's on our website, bbc.com/news. i want to move on now, because we've got live pictures for you coming in from thailand, from bangkok, of the floodwaters still causing havoc across much of the country. all the fear that they're going to get right into the heart of bangkok itself, authorities are now saying the very center of the capital does appear to have escaped the worst of the floods. this is despite high tides coming up from the south, more rain having come from the north. not much comfort for people living in outer suburbs. their worry is about issues like disease now. the bbc's rachel harvey is in bangkok. she says it does appear there is some respite.

>> the center of bangkok appears at this stage to have escaped the worst. the worst-case scenario was the business district, the main sort of command and control of the capital, if you like, would themselves come under water. but i'm talking to you from an area of the city now that remains completely dry. having said that, there is still a huge volume of accumulated floodwater to the north of the capital that is being fed down both by the nature of gravity, but also through pumps and canals and rivers to the east and west of the capital. so, if you look at a satellite image, you still see this picture of the center of bangkok surrounded by a sea of blue. so, although the center of the capital appears to have escaped the worst, that's precious little comfort to those living in the suburbs or provinces that are now inundated. there is one other piece you might be able to see behind me, blue skies. we haven't had any heavy rain for a few days now, so what they're dealing with is the

accumulation of water that's built up over a few months. fingers crossed we don't get too much more rain to add to that. >> it's one thing to deal with something like this for a matter of a few days, but when it's weeks stretching into months, how is the government coping? >> well, it depends who you ask, but there is no doubt at all that the criticisms of the government have been mounting, particularly in terms of its messaging and communication, that it hasn't always been consistent. we have heard different messages from different parts of the government and from the government and the local bangkok metropolitan authority. they were all clear in saying the past weekend was a critical moment, that if bangkok, at least the center of bangkok, could escape the worst when the combination of high tides and that floodwater runoff was combining, then hopefully it should have gotten through the worst. that appears to be the case. but you're right in saying that there are still communities that are chest-deep in places in water, so they're not far from where i'm talking to you

now. we're talking maybe 10, 15 kilometers in some places where people have had to abandon their homes, where they will be under water for several weeks, where water-borne diseases are an increasing concern. add to that the economic impact because of the number of factories that have had to close, and this will be a long-term crisis for thailand. it is also an ongoing pressure on the government. they've been criticized for their handling of the crisis. can they do any better in terms of the recovery when that matter comes? >> rachel harvey. let's get some other news from around the world now. nato is officially ending its seven-month-long mission in libya. the operation began back in march. that was a month after the uprising against colonel gaddafi got underway. libya's new transitional authorities have asked nato to keep a presence in the country, though. the u.s. state department says discussions are going on now and also emphasize nato's expertise in issues like military training and the decommissioning of weapons. a suicide bomber has carried

out an attack near a u.n. building in kandahar in southern afghanistan. four people were killed in the attack, one of them a policeman. police say two other armed attackers opened fire at the security forces. the aid agency says at least three people have been killed and more than 50 wounded in a kenyan air raid in somalia on sunday. the attack aimed at militants of the al-shabab movement, happened at a camp for displaced people. kenya said 10 militants were killed. sally is here to catch up on the main headlines of the business world. and the japanese yen is being shifted around. >> it is indeed. the japanese government taking steps again, the second time in less than three months, to try and weaken the yen because it's just remaining resilient and strong certainly versus the u.s. dollar and euro. it makes it very hard for the likes of nintendo, sony, can

on, toshiba, panasonic. there are so many big exporters who are really seeing their profits being hit significantly because of the strength of the yen. some of them today have come out with results and have been talking about this very problem. panasonic, for example, reporting a net loss today in the six months to the end of september. that's partly why -- of course, they had the tsunami as well earlier, all of it making very tough for japanese companies. >> very briefly, we're going to talk about qantas and the problems they've had, but they're not alone. >> no, i just wanted to let viewers know about what's happening with air france k.l.m. it is europe's biggest carrier. they are saying they expect 15% of their flights not to take off today because of a three-day strike action now being taken by cabin crew. they're having to cease without pay and the usual shenanigans there. so they have got a limit on the number of flights that can take off today as well, partly because of international safety

rules as well with not enough staff in tow. it's a tricky situation. >> awful sinking feeling as they walk into the airport and look at the board. >> you see the queues and think i'm not going anywhere. >> thanks a lot. now, you are watching "bbc world news." we've got a lot more still to bring you, of course, including storm chasing across the u.s.a. the british girl pursuing her dream rather against the odds. the british prime minister is promising to take tough action against local authorities in england who fail to deal swiftly with adoption cases. authorities performing badly could have control of their services taken away. >> roger and helen are an adoption success story. they adopted three children from an agency and have never looked back. but they first approached their

local authorities and were told in no uncertain terms that roger's age would count against them. >> the fact that i was older than the average adopter, i suspect, well into my 50's at the time, this was held by them to be a complete and utter disadvantage, and they could not even count on the idea of taking it any further. >> councils which reject some adopters are a source of frustration to ministers, as is the difference in speed with which people are placed for adoption, so they route them publicly in a bid to get the worst performers to improve. the lead table shows that some people came top over the last three years for placing those destined for adoption with families in the legal time scale of 12 months. some, like devin, did well over the three years, but performed poorly last year. david cameron raised the issue

of adoption at his speech earlier this month, and today he's launching a campaign to encourage more people to adopt and to foster. he says it's shocking that only 60 babies were adopted last year out of over 3,600 in care, although many of those will have been destined to return to their birth parents. he says the directors of children services agreed that council's performance was patchy, but it said decisions about adoption needed great care. >> now the head of one of britain's main intelligence agencies said cyberattacks on the government and industry have reached disturbing levels. the director of gchq said that authorities had in recent months foiled one attempt to attack the british foreign office. i want to bring you pictures here, because we've got the situation in thailand, particularly in bangkok. it is miserable, inundated, as you see, after weeks and weeks of heavy rains and flooding.

no hint of normality in life there, except there is, because against all the odds, one thai person is carrying on his daily rounds, an extraordinary scene. but somehow he's doing all he can to manage the rounds. did he have one thing to say. he said it's become difficult for me to do my job, it usually takes me a short time to do the rounds, but you know i've got to walk rather slowly now. i don't want to come here at all, he says, the water's too high, but i've got to because people need their bail. bravo him. you're watching "bbc world news." i'm david eades. these are the headlines -- the world's population hits the landmark figure of seven billion. the u.n. says it's doubled in the last 50 years and will carry on climbing. the center of thailand's capital, bangkok, escapes the worst. severe floods which have hit other parts of the country.

now, this is a figure for you. more than three million homes without power in the united states after a snowstorm blanketed the country's northeast, far too early in the season you might think, but at least nine people have died in snow-related accidents. from washington, we have a report. >> it's being called shock-tober, southern, freakish snow that has rained down on 16 million americans. could it be that mother nature has been playing a spectacular halloween trick? she's certainly broken records. only four times in the past 135 years has new york's central park seen snow this early. >> i hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it. i can't even express how much i hate it. >> it's just blown us away. we're shocked. >> his have been has been felt from maine to maryland as downed power lines knocked out three million people's electricity. >> you see a flash in the sky, and then a whole neighborhood

would go out. >> for many residents, it could be days before the power comes back. nine people died in the storm as roads became treacherous. more than 1,000 flights were cancelled and some passengers were trapped on grounded planes for hours. >> bathrooms are locked, people are quite upset. someone else called the state police. >> we sat on the tarmac for 4 1/2 hours. we may be sleeping here in the airport. >> and the white house trees were proof that the president hadn't got the date wrong. >> it's not ideal, but it's ok. >> and the first family was still needed to preside over trick-or-treat. >> it's halloween. >> whiles the weather didn't prevent him from doing his job, for many americans, it's going to take time for their lives to return to normal. whatever that is. >> now, thunderstorm chasing is

never an easy thing to do. you can imagine why. it's very dangerous chasing huge tornadoes through -- it's something of a hobby for many people, particularly in the u.s. how much more difficult is it then if you have a rare medical condition at the same time, and what's more, you live in the wrong country, in britain? well, samantha hall has a rare skin condition which causes very painful blisters and sores, but it hasn't put her off pursuing her dream. in a new bbc documentary, her journey across missouri shows how she tracks a tornado that devastated the town of joplin earlier this year. we have a look at that. >> with a storm churning toward them, they're in a great position to see the tornado. but there's also the danger of being caught up in a violent twister. as the air trickles with energy, sam hears confirmation of the emergency radio. >> definite tornado is on the ground, about four possibly on the ground right now. there is so much rain in there and hail so you can't see it.

that's why it's so dangerous. but it's coming through! >> she was very excited. samantha, thanks for coming in. tell me about your condition, which makes life difficult, let alone doing things like that. >> it is. it's very unpredictable. you can be fine one minute and covered with it, and it's internal as well, so you can get blisters in your mouth and throat. i'm very lucky. i've kept my teeth for a long time. many people lose their teeth at a very early age, and it's difficult, but life is too short to not do what you love to do. it's important to me. >> well, that's a great attitude. just tell me before we get into the actual storm chasing, your interest in meteorology, how it impacted on you during the course of that storm chase. how does it affect you doing that? >> well, several, several things. i have to take an extra whole case of dressings, packs of dressings that we cut up to fit the contours of my body, from

here all the way down, proper dressings. i have to take medicines with me for my skin condition. people with e.b., even in my fingers were out straight, we don't have fingerprints. so obviously you get through immigration without fingerprints is difficult, that's why the medical records and things like that. there's a lot of preparation. >> and a lot of hassle. you obviously love storm chasing, but the weather, where did that come from? >> basically, i've loved the weather since i was a child watching documentaries and so on, didn't realize people storm chased until "twister." that's the very dramatic film, and it's not exactly what we do, but then i realized people do chase storms, and i got into it from there, and also from a tornado that went through our village in northwest england. so i got to get into it from that. >> we have a story about the

snowstorms in the northeast coming desperately early as well. is that part of what interests you? is it climate change, that whole debate? >> climate change is a very big debate. it's my personal view it isn't caused by man, but that's my personal view, just from research i've done, because the ocean transmits 95% of greenhouse gases, and we're more ocean than land. but the big snowfalls that are happening over in the states, i think it's something to do with the la nina phase, which might indicate that it could be another severe storm for tornadoes next year. >> now, which you perhaps don't mind in some respects, you don't mind getting pretty up close in the thick of it, do you? >> definitely not. we want to see a beautiful tornado lit by the storms, going through the fields. we do not want to see what happened this year.

for no rhyme or reason, there's no reason for it. but this year for some reason, tornados are going through major cities, including joplin, and there's no reason for it. >> this is joplin, isn't it? >> yes, that's right. when we went to visit joplin five days later after everything had called down, because we hadn't witnessed that tornado ourselves at the time, honestly, nothing prepares you for what you see there. even five days later, they were searching with rescue dogs. it was horrible. i lost control of my emotions. >> i'm not surprised. extraordinary pictures there. samantha, thank you very much indeed for coming in and talking with us. we were doing this thing about the world population, seven billion and counting. you've given us your birth date. there you are, 4,689,963rd person on the planet. >> well, i think they can work out my birth date from that.

>> there will be people trying. >> thank you very much for having me. thank you. >> the australian airline, qantas, says all its international flights will be back to normal by the end of tuesday. it followed a weekend of disruption which brought misery, dropped 70,000 people were stranded around the world as a result of the industrial action. right now, we're going to have a look at the situation in mexico for you, because really quite a story here. just show you the pictures, if we can, for a moment. this is cabo san lucas in mexico. we've got armed police carrying a little baby, with very good reason. very heavily armed because there was what looked to be some sort of attack on a shopping mall. now, there were two suspected drug traffickers who went into the mall. hundreds of shoppers inside and a sense of ang excite and panic right across the board. there was a gun battle as well.

military troops arrived to help the local authorities to tidy up their situation. two people arrested, and gratifyingly for one and all, nobody hurt in the incident. more on the website, bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. union bank. and shell. >> this is kim - about to feel one of his favorite sensations. at shell, were developing more efficient fuels in countries like malaysia that can help us get the most from our energy resources. lets use energy more efficiently. lets go.

>> union bank has put its financial strength to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> bbc world news was presented by kcet los angeles.