>> 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, and union bank. >> at union bank our relationship managers use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global network 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."

>> six british soldiers are reported missing, presumed dead, in afghanistan after their vehicle exploded in helmand province. a super tuesday for mitt romney as he wins the key republican primary in ohio and five other states. >> our campaign is on the move and real change is finally on the way. >> unions in south africa planned protest marches against planned road tolls. welcome to bbc news. after 20 years of economic stagnation in japan, we hear the voice of a lost generation of 20-year-old who have never known secure work.

six british soldiers are missing in afghanistan believed killed. it happened in the south of the country. there was an explosion near an armored vehicle on tuesday. the families have been informed. it brings the total number of british soldiers killed to more than 400. we will show you pictures of those soldiers in a moment. first, our defense correspondents has details on this new attack from the ministry of defense in central london. >> there's still some confusion as to what exactly happened. at is in part because we understand this warrior vehicle, the six soldiers were travelling in near highway 1 near candy kandahar, they have not been able to get to the vehicle yet because of bad weather and they

have not identified the bodies yet. they say the soldiers are missing but believed dead, so their families will have been informed. six soldiers, five of them came from the third battalion yorkshire regiment. one of them was from the duke of lancaster's regiment. they are still trying to get to that vehicle, still trying to find out what exactly happened, whether it was anti-tank mines. the facts have to be determined. we have gone beyond 400 british troops killed in afghanistan now. this is the biggest single incident in terms of deaths and previously there were five killed, but six were killed yesterday.

defense secretary philip hammond condemned this attack and made clear that those responsible will be held to account. >> thank you. our other correspondent quentin sommerville is in afghanistan and we hope to get to him in a few minutes. will also hear from david cameron, the british prime minister. mitt romney has moved one step closer to becoming the republican presidential nominee, but his campaign failed to deliver the knockout blow on super tuesday. he won six of 10 states, up for grabs but had a narrow margin of victory in ohio, which is seen as a key indicator, of a candidate's chance of winning the white house. as well as winning ohio, romney won virginia, vermont, massachusetts, idaho, and alaska. social conservative rick santorum is promising to fight on. he was first in tennessee,

oklahoma, and the lakota. newt gingrich won his home state of georgia. ron paul did not win anywhere. now this report from washington. >> a smiling mitt romney, but this was a long, nervous night for the republican front-runner. they shouted, go mitt, but super tuesday was slow going and he went on stage with ohio still too strong call. >> we have taken one more step towards restoring the promise of tomorrow. tomorrow we wake up and start again and the next day we will do the same. we will go day-by-day, step-by- step, heart to heart. >> love is proving hard to come by. he did win early on in four states. >> the next president of the united states -- rick santorum.

but santorum responded with three victories, courtesy of blue-collar voters and evangelical christians. >> we have won races all over this country against the odds, when they thought he's finally finished, we keep coming back. >> from alaska to massachusetts, they voted. from the industrial rust belt to the bible belt in the south. in 10 states together carrying more weight than all previous contests. it was in the south that to newt gingrich triumphed, winning his home state of georgia. >> with your help we are going to go on to tampa and win the nomination. >> that seems unlikely. but his campaign has come back from the dead before. he will fight on. >> thank you. >> super tuesday showdown.

romney is the apparent winner of the all-important ohio primary. >> he reached the winning post late into the night. ohio matters because no republican nominee has ever won the white house without it. romney remains on course to face barack obama, but bloodied by an internal fight that is not yet over. bbc news, washington. >> what's the reaction from the democrats? barack obama is seeking a second term in office. who would he be happiest to face in the elections in november? >> the assumption in the white house was that mitt romney will likely be the nominee at the end of the day. the sense is the white house probably would rather not face mitt romney. he is a businessman and somebody who will appeal more to the center of independent voters,

theoretically. a third of voters consider themselves independent. the white house would be delighted if it was newt gingrich or rick santorum. santorum, because they could compartmentalize him. gingrich, because he has a lot of baggage and a checkered political career. so i think that the white house would be delighted if it were gingrich. it will probably be mr. romney. >> let's get up to speed on events in afghanistan. six british soldiers are missing, presumed dead. the vehicle in which they were traveling has yet to be recovered. such is the atrocity of the explosion yesterday. we received these comments from the british prime minister david cameron. >> this is a desperately sad day for our country and desperately

sad for the families concerned. it is a reminder of the huge price we are paying for the work we are doing in afghanistan, the sacrifice that our troops have made and continue to make. i do believe it is important work for our national security right here at home, but this work would increasingly be carried out by afghan soldiers. we all want to see that transition take place. >> now to helmand province. quentin sommerville it, a reminder of how dangerous this area can be. >> that's right. over the past year the british forces have had a far fewer number of attacks. what happened was 40 kilometers from where i am in lost a, lashka e kyber.

it must've been a huge explosion, because it killed everyone inside. the vehicle has not yet been recovered. we saw flags flying at half mast. there is recognition that there will always be fatalities. but losing six british soldiers in one incident, we have not seen something like that in at least six years in afghanistan. >> put this in context, but there has not been one single loss of life is that since the summer of 2009? >> i believe it was 2006 towards

the end of begin in canada are province -- kandahar province where 14 soldiers were killed in that incident. the number 400, over 400 british deadnow 404 british service members killed in this war in afghanistan. there's a level of frustration among some of the officers i have been speaking to. they point to the progress, more commerce on the street, people moving far more freely, but at the same time they still are afraid. there are still plenty of improvised explosive devices out there. >> thank you very much.

our correspondent in afghanistan. i apologize for the delay in . he line.h in south africa tens of thousands of trade unionists are marching. protests have been ordered by the labor federation. here's what the people on the street had to say about the march. >> the march is about tolls on the highway. i worked in johannesburg and lived in pretoria. we already pay high taxes. this toll is ridiculous. >> the government needs to get more revenue.

they should spend the money more efficiently. hopefully this will change the mind of a government in the future. >> these are pictures from johannesburg where the protests have been kicking off. they were supposed to start at 10:00 a.m. local time, 800 hours gmt. we will speak with our reporter milton. these marches are planned across more than 30 towns and cities. when it comes to getting their message across, they are pretty well organized. >> very much so, peter. they're under the banner of south africa's trade union. the biggest in the country. they claim to have more than 200 members. they've brought their people out in red t-shirts. -- 2 million members. they are protesting against the

electronics road toll system. the people say they aborted pay for the roads through their normal taxation system. they don't want to pay every time they use public roads. >> are the unions still open to the idea of talking with the government or have they gone beyond that now? >> i think it is getting to a point where there is no longer a window of opportunity for talks. although they are in alliance with the governing south african congress. so there is a chance they can still talk. but the idea that they are already on the streets protesting against e-tolling and labor brokering means it is very difficult at those talks >> . thanks very much.

norway officials are expected to list formal charges of a man accused of killing 77 people in attacks last year. anders breivik is accused of the deaths of 77 people last july. a car bomb exploded in the capital of oslo killing eight people of before another 69 died in a shooting spree on an island retreat for young labor party members. the charges have been delivered to women prison by his lawyers in the last hour or so. much more still to come on bbc world news. don't forget the website bbc.com/news. do stay with us. let's look at some of the news organizations across the states are reporting the super tuesday republican primaries, starting in mitt romney's home state of massachusetts. he was the winner there. but his rivals are still hanging on and he lost four of the other nine states. one of the states where he lost was tennessee. rick santorum's victory there along with his two other wins is

likely to prolong the battle to become the republican nominee. another state to reject mr. romney is georgia, favoring newt gingrich. ohio was won by mr. romney. and mr. romney was declared the winner of super tuesday by the washington times but it says that rick santorum has solidified his claim as the conservative alternative in the american heartland. get lots more on our web site bbc.com. updating the top stories on bbc world news. six british soldiers have been caught in a bomb attack in afghanistan. they have likely been killed. flags are flying at half mast. on the biggest day of primary elections, mitt romney has strengthened his position but failed to secure the nomination

outright for the republican nomination in the united states. more on the events in afghanistan, six british soldiers missing, believed killed. it happened in helmand province in the south of the country? when there was a big explosion near an armored vehicle on tuesday. the families of the soldiers have been informed. that brings the total number of british soldiers killed during the conflicts in afghanistan to over? 400. jonathan beale reports. >> british troops have been in afghanistan more than a decade. fighting and dying in a conflict that has already lasted longer than the two world wars combined. politicians may be focused on an exit, but back home they are still counting the dead. 400 british servicemen and women have now lost their lives. conrad lewis was just 22 when he was shot dead by a taliban sniper.

he was number 353 of british fatalities, a number etched in memory of his family along with -- >> they were waiting for me to come home, but i was working. sandra had to ring me. i will never forget trying to say on the end of the phone that he was dead. >> to honor his memory and all those who sacrificed their lives, if the family set up 353 to raise money for various soldiered charities. >> it represents a person's life, a person's sacrifice and the sacrifice of everybody else who has given their life in this particular conflict. >> the hopes they will not have died in vain. >> the tragedy would be that if we had left them before the

state had its own level of security. if the police and afghan national army were not in a position to make sure that they have an element of control on that country, then i would start to think that maybe there'd been a tragic loss of life. >> no doubt helmand province has seen improvements. over the past year there's also been a dramatic fall in british casualties. but with all combat troops to leave by the end of 2014, time is running out to leave a lasting legacy. the family of conrad louis already have one reminder of his time in afghanistan, a stray dog that rescued has now joined them back in the united kingdom there it is sacrificed and all the 400 who died will amount to a great deal more, they say. >> time for business news.

we are talking about olympus. >> the latest installment in this story is the accounting scandal at the camera maker olympus. we have last night heard there have been charges against six of the former executives. one of them is a former chairman of olympus and another is a former auditor. what we know is: does has admitted hiding losses at its company more than 20 years. one of japan posted biggest corporate scandals. prosecutors have now charged these people in the $1.7 billion accounting cover-up. the scandal came to light when the british former ceo of olympus claimed that he had of speaking out against the accounting practices at the firm. it will be interesting to see what the next installment is. >> ipod the australian economy -- we had been told for years that because of the mining sector, is doing rather well, but it is not.

>> the economy relies heavily on the mining sector, but on the flip side is looking at a weaker business spending, retail spending, and the housing market. it does rely heavily on mining. the latest figures from australia for the last quarter of 2011 showing the economy gewe rew by 0.7%, but the country was expecting a little better from the economy. it is very dependent on mining and dependent on india and china for demand for commodities. and the euro zone crisis has had a big impact on those countries. australia is expected to grow in 2012. more on all the stories later. >> 200 million people around a world are not employed. over a third of them are between ages of 16 and 24, being called a lost generation. japan has seen 20 years of economic stagnation. more than one generation of kids and people have come of age with

little hope of a well paying job. a 24-year-old college graduate give us a glimpse of his life. cor>> at first glance he has all the time in the world and can do anything, but let's not the case in the recession. especially young people trying to look for jobs like i did are having a hard time. i just recently graduated college. this is the story about my situation. i for started job hunting when i was a junior in college but i

did not know what i was looking for, so i consulted my professors. i had high hopes because i was able to speak english and japanese and had experience in the u.s. as well as japan. i thought i was going to have a better experience finding a job than other people do. as i was searching for jobs, i started to understand that was not the case, so i started interning at places. i understood that interning was not very useful as well. my friend who went to the same school i did was experiencing a lot of the difficulties in job hunting as i did, even though he was doing internship's. >> ipod internship would be helpful to get a job in japan, but it is not really helping. the japanese job hunting system is quite different. even though i have experience or

some knowledge, they don't -- the companies don't really care. so it is pretty hard. >> with everything that is going on in the world today, especially the recession, it is all the more difficult to find a job here right now. i kept on getting the client for jobs. i started to lose confidence in myself. within the earthquake happened and that changed everything. because of the earthquake, the companies had to push everything back, job interviews, information sessions. but that did not really matter, because the people in the region were experiencing hardships i could never imagine. as things started to settle down a little bit, i got back on my feet again and started job hunting. i got lucky and got hired into a small information technology a smal.

we are a lost generation because so many of us are lost and don't know to do with our lives -- don't know what to do with our lives. we still have hope for the future as long as we are live. >> prince harry has made a personal tribute to his grandmother the queen describing her as a wonderful caring grandmother. if he was speaking in jamaica to mark her diamond jubilee. music has helped define jamaica. it was on display at this new project in the described this -- in a deprived district of the capital kingston. there was bob marley music playing on the dance floor. ♪ >> he is not used to the style of reggae music dance, but i think that he did well. 8 out of 10.

>> and bob marley and song inspired parts of the prince's speech at a state dinner held in his honor. >> her majesty extends her greatest wishes to you all and is sorry that she could not be here with me. but don't worry, because every little thing is going to be all right. [laughter] >> he paid tribute to a woman who is still the queen of jamaica. >> she combines all of her virtues as a leader and as head of state with those of being a wonderful caring grandmother to whom we,, her grandchildren, are utterly devoted. >> after the state dinner we saw the prince of wales in action. he visits and army camp -- an army camp.

>> check out the headlines, bbc.com. and click on the icon for a text message. >> 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. at union bank our relationship managers use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global network 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.