>> this is bbc world news. funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. the 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. >> afpg officials visiting the sreupbvillage where a u.s. sold kill 16. facebook accused of infringing performance. israeli and palestinian up to four days of violent clashes. welcome to bbc world news. also taking slices off your life. a new study suggest the risk of eating too much red meat may be deadlier than thought and a middle age commentator attracts a pop star following. >> militants in afghanistan have

opened fire on a government delegation visiting one of the villages where an american soldier is suspected of killing 16 civilians on sunday. afghan troops returned fire when the envoy came under attack in a village in kandahar. an afghan soldier providing security was reportedly killed and others were wounded. the delegation included two of president karzai's brothers. speak it on we will our correspondent who is in kabul. what are the latest details? i know they are still coming in. >> the latest details are one afghan national army guard were skilled and three others were injured including the intelligence police and army. according to senior defense officials there was a 10-minute gun battle. he described it as an ambush by the taliban tiring from a

distance but firing where villagers were also taking part in prayer services and senior members of the delegation including two brothers of president hamid karzai. >> any attack is bad and seen as unwelcome. is it striking there hasn't been the response, militant response or angry reaction that might been expected after the weekend compared it, for example, what happened after the koran burning incident? >> it has to be said that president karzai and his aides were personally involved because his own province and where he has a number of close relationships with people and he has been speaking with personal friends, family, friends and they have been working around the clock to talk to those people to tell them the soldier will be brought to justice and

taking part in violent demonstrations is not in the of the afghan people or the government. but president karzai also tasked security ministry to assess it. >> we have some protest pictures co coming in if i can show people from ang. there is a meeting today between david cameron and president obama in washington with talk potentially of withdrawing u.s. troops and coalition forces from possibly by next year or to is start that withdrawal more urgently now. >> well, the issue of the two dimensions, one in the eastern city and another in kandahar, those are over. the effigies of president obama were burned. death to obama, death to

america, death to president karzai were the shouts that were heard. as far as withdrawal is concerned, i have been speaking it senior members of the afghan government and they say any quick decision will undermine the entire mission. the only people who will benefit would be the taliban both in terms of a propaganda victory and actual victory. you have to remember the afghan national security forces are still heavily dependent on nato forces, whether that is in dealing with roadside bombs, one of the most deadly weapons. so the country's security forces a number of challenges and the afghan government is hoping that a solution would be a speedy trial of the soldier, a trial which would be open to the media and perhaps take months, not years. >> thanks very much.

as we have been saying, afghanistan likely to be high on the agenda when david cameron meets president obama today in washington. during the three-day visit they will discuss plans it withdraw troops from afghanistan by 2014, possibly earlier. we have this report from washington. >> david cameron and barack obama prepare to meet once again in washington and they are saying the world relies on the alliance between britain and america. >> we enjoy a truly special relationship. >> that was president obama the last time he received mr. cameron at the white house. now the two leaders have written a joint article saying what makes our relationship special and unique and an essential asset for our nations in the world is we join hands across so many endeavors. include afghanistan where the volatile situation and prospect afghans taking full control of

their own security by 2014 will be discussed. syria will be high on the agenda of the two men as well. and the bloody crack down on the president's opponent and containing iraq's nuclear program will be a pressing topic. the visit is making headlines here. american reporters want to know where the president is taking mr. cameron to a basketball game. >> it is an opportunity for the president and prime minister to spend time together outside of the official trap beings of washington and the white house. and an opportunity for the president to show the prime a slice of american life. >> yet conservative critics of barack obama say he's taken time to appreciate britain's importance. >> i think that all u.s. presidents eventually come to the conclusion that britain is absolutely vital to american interests. it is important strategically. >> the red carpet is being

rolled out and a state dinner held in his honor. hear the words special relationship a lot from u.s. officials told me. yet in a changing world britain is far from being the only country with a close connection to the u.s. >> the u.n. and arab league envoy to syria is planning to meet members of the syrian opposition today. the president says a number of people killed in the syrian uprising is more than 8,000. police in bangladesh say at least 150 are missing after a ferry carrying 200 passengers capsized and sunk. about 35 survivors have been found. it is believed it collided with an oil tank er about 20 miles south of dhaka. >> a shiite moslem has been killed. it he died trying to put out a

fire. >> european fire fighting. >> absolutely. we mentioned before that it is down to junk because of the exposure to the greek economy. that was by moodies. .> it is a very small reminding you of the fallout from the swaeuituation as far a greece is concerned. but it passed another hurdle in getting that cash. you said yesterday when will it get the money. we keep talking about the bailout being approved. it has a couple other hurdles. euro mores have to sign up on it tomorrow and day after that the i.m.f. board will vote on their contribution to bailout. then they will get some of the money hopefully the first tranche in a few weeks. >> all of this has been signed off politically they said last night and been going on in

brussels, the euro group meeting yesterday and today. today one issue will be the financial transaction tax which is one of the ideas to raise funds. getting a little friendly jostle from the head of the euro group. spain managed to work on their deficit target. >> another little tussle between yahoo.k and >> yes. yahoo has launched a legal kiss suing facebook for the fringement of 10 patents. cover various things. one of the elements is how the likes of facebook and other social media track what users are doing and searching for how advertisers can get the information they need to be specific about that advertising to users. -- we are ys we will

surprised by the action and they don't believe they have a case. they deny any infringement of yahoo's pontificates but a legal battle and one of the tpeufirst patent cases. >> now after four days a new cease-fire between gaza militants and israel to halt military activities. israeli air strikes have killed 25 palestinians and more than 200 rockets have been fired into israel by gaza militants. the cease-fire was brokered by egypt. i asked our correspondent in goes why the cease-fire has come about now. >> the authorities here in goes the hamas islamist government in gaza has been trying to cobble together a cease-fire we understand through the egyptians since saturday night. difficult proved more than was initially hoped. hamas and israel do not speak to each other so they

have to go through the egyptian intelligence services. we understand:they reached a deal last night. the sticking point was getting israel to commit they would not carry out any more targeted killings against senior militant leaders here in gaza. once they got that commitment from israel they were able to go forward with a cease-fire during the night and came to basically 1:00 this morning local time. >> after a difficult few days in the region can you take us back and explain what has been happening since friday, what are the causes of this? >> it began on friday yaafternn when an israeli air strike hit a car in southern gaza which was carrying the leader of the militant group the popular

resist tpbs committee. israel claims that it had intelligence that that group was about to carry out an attack on israeli soil via the sinai peninsula. so, they said they had a legitimate reason to carry out that strike. the israelis clearly knew that that would cause retaliation from gaza and indeed it did. over the weekend, as you said earlier, more than 200 rockets were fired back at israel from gaza mainly fired by islamic jihad and popular resistance committee militants. israel struck back at the militants who were firing rockets repeatedly. we saw a couple of those yesterday where a rocket goes out, went out into the sky over gaza toward israel and within a minute an israeli air strike coming in and targeting those militants had fired the rockets. o, that is the pattern we have

seen the last few days. the problem is getting both sides to call a halt. who will call a halt first and under what conditions. >> you are watching bbc world news. still to come, why these diplomats have been scuffling at a u.n. meeting in geneva. stay with us. a long lost letter from the titanic 100 years ago is to be returned to belfast where the ship was built. it was written by one of the doctors on board to his mother. it was sold this month for nearly 22,000 pounds but a mystery purchase are is bringing belfast.t mark simpson who is related to the doctor has more. >> one of the surgeons on the titanic was dr. jack simpson. three days before the ship went doubt he wrote a two-page letter to his mother elizabeth in

belfast. >> dear mother, i traveled from liverpool. >> his family has a copy of the letter but three don't have the original. it went on sale in new york this month and was expected to be snapped up by a titanic enthusiast this america. but a mystery buyer stepped in. now the family has been told the letter is going back to belfast to be put on public display. >> when i got the phone call i had to sit down very quickly. it i was just that i was so delighted, slightly light-headed and had to ask the person to repeat the news several times to make sure that i heard him correctly. >> last night he shared the good news with the belfast titanic society. there are plenty of copies of the letter but now members of the family are looking forward to seek the original including me. dr. simpson was my great grandfather's cousin. but who actually bought the

letter remains another titanic mystery. mark simpson, b.b.c. news. >> much more at bbc.com/news. you can find out the latest on what is going on in afghanistan. >> this is bbc world news. the main headlines, militants in afghanistan open fire on a senior government delegation in the village where an american soldier killed 16 people. two internet giants go to court as yahoo accuses facebook of infringing 10 of its patents. eating red meat can dramatically increase your risk of dying prematurely according to scientists in america. researchers found regular consumption of red meat, sausage and bacon increase the risk of

ha heart decease and cancer. >> it has been generally accepted that too much red meat isn't good for our health. this study the risks may be greater than previously thought. scientists look to the data over 120,000 people over a number of years. they found eating an extra portion of red meat each day increased risk of death by 13%. eating an extra portion of processed meat each day increases the risk by 20%. >> both processed and unprocessed red meat am higher risk of pre matumature death. processed meat was definitely higher. >> the advice is it could be part of a healthy balanced diet but those who eat a lot should consider cutting down. the advice from others varies widely. the world cancer research says they should avoid processed meat entirely. the meat advisory panel an

expert body funded by the u.k. meat industry challenged the results of the research. it said meat was an essential part of a nutritious diet and this shouldn't be used to persuade people to reduce intake. >> now to the story of folk magic. how do you ward off evil spirits? researchers in australia think they have the answer. duncan kennedy explains. >> a world famous bridge. an ancient country house. and an old convict prison. what links these three sites? practice of magic in 19th century australia. began hear in rural tasmania. it is where an historian was invited by the owner allen cooper to give his opinion on some strange discoveries. >> you work here? >> yes. a little more since the last area. >> during some renovations they

came across some remarkable items. dozens of shoes, toys and clothes dating from the 1820's. for ian it was the start of a six-year investigation into the ancient practice of hiding artifacts to wartd off evil spirits. >> they do their best to provide protection in the form of shoes and other objects relating to the people and which would serve it decoy the evil spiritual beings from the people and avoidance from which they could not escape. >> researchers working on the project say they found hidden at more than 100 sites in australia in every conceivable building. found any in this one yet over here. it is a different story. landmark workers dug this tunnel. they made another find.

>> a shoe. discovered in 1998. check out this little piece here. it is either a child or a young person, certainly not an adult and not one of the workers. was put here it during construction of the brim in the 1920's to fight evil spirits. here at the convicts prison under these stairs another revelation. >> this is it. a convict shirt. >> every kind of artifact hidden by all kinds of people, a practice brought by settlers from britain to australia to protect their families. >> they did not have available to them the medical practice and knowledge which exists today. they lived in constant fear of the illness that would take their child. is

>> immigrants in a strange land relying on familiar cultural practices to find comfort. >> now, let's get to sport in the bbc sport center. a big night of european chan football. >> yes, in fact the that finalists from 2010 are both in action this tuesday evening and both of them trail by a goal to nil. we will take a look at munich who faced basel going into the game and they have a home advantage. add an incentive where the final of the 2012 champions league will be played. so, heartbreak for if they are not thrt basel unbeaten in for champions league games with this crucial one goal league. but the predictions are that it will about bayern munich's way.

>> and inter who ises marseille. both are struggling in their respective domestic leaks. before three won they were on a run of nine matches without a win. they finally won at the weekend. but of course inter won this in 2010. beat theille aiming to last eight since they won this in 1993. both teams there have everything to play for. marseille has the advantage. >> to something more familiar for me i have to confess, tennis. djokovic shows why he is number one. >> luckily he is trying to avoid extending through indian wells. the defending champion and world

number one djokovic did show why he is the world number one. to progress to the fourth round. >> thanks very much for that. now, south korea is in the grip of an unlikely political agitator as it prepares for elections next month. a weekly podcast of conversations between four middle age political comment state o stators. the tone is irrefuse rant and antigovernment and audience largely young, politically disaffected voters in their 20's. our correspondent has been to meet the men behind it and the fans they are bringing back to politics. four men with e shaggy hair produced this kind of reaction they turned out to be the biggest music celebrities in the world. but these guys are not the beatles. they are not even pop stars.

they are middle aged political comment stators with an -- a knack for government satire and a show. how do they get 1,000 young fans to turn up on a saturday night? >> they are willing to say anything. they do not try to hide and they are honest and they do not try to hide their feelings against government and what the government is hiding. criticize lling to for us. >> since listening to them she has begun protesting everything from japan's war thyme things to free trade agreement with the u.s. today she joins other fans on a tw two-hour journey to jail where one of the show hosts is serving time for slandering south president.

>> she regularly -- they regularly make serious allegations. it has been banned by the military and judges have complained of being penalized for using its catch phrases. is its appeal just the noxious lawyer of gossip? >> that is what our critics always say that we are spreading false rumors, taking advantage of the freedom of speech, that we are lying. but a lot of things we say may turn out to be correct. people who criticize us are simply afraid that what we say is true. >> but what really makes these unlikely celebrities frightening to the establishment are their fans. they may hold the key to the upcoming elections and many are discovering politics for the

first time. in the crowd of students, entrepreneurs, even some civil servants most of them have never taken part in protests before but this little piece of counterculture has created thousands of new political activists. >> 25 years after democracy began hear in south korea political debate just got a whole lot more interesting. >> something that might prove fodder for those political commentators diplomats who normally pride themselves on their smooth and unroughlied behavior that was not the case when officials from north and south korea met because scuffles broke out in geneva. it was about china sending defe home.ors back you can see security will it intervene. not quite sure how it all will

end. much more at bbc.com/news. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. the newman's own foundation. and union bank. our union bank 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 from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you?

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