our middle east correspondent quentin sommerville and cameraman tim facey are the first broadcasters to be imbedded at the air base, and they have sent this exclusive report. >> reporter: at the air base, they are fighting for their lives and the future of iraq. as every hour passes, the so-called islamic state moves closer. the base is being encircled. the front line was 20 miles away. 48 hours later, it's less than six. they've only just survived a surprise i.s. attack, and the strain is beginning to show. these soldiers have just arrived from the front line and their furious. they say there have been no american air strikes in the past 40 hours. the consequence of that, the islamic state have moved through village after village unchecked. the soldier tells me, we stood our ground, but i.s. advance with tanks, we only have humvees. what we need are helicopters, combat aircraft. we need aerial support. i don't know why the planes didn't come. they're saying the conditions were wrong, but the weather is fine now. we stopped the i.s. offensive. they are terrorists. we suffered many ca

quentin sommerville, bbc news, northern iraq. >>> the duke and duchess of cambridge are still in new york where they've attended a basketball game. there were protests outside the stadium over the decisions not to indict white policeman who killed unarmed black suspects in separate incidents in ferguson and staten island. this report from nicolas mitchell does contain some flash photography. >> back in new york after his brief visit to washington and the white house and reyoited with his wife, and once again william was spreading the message about the importance of wildlife conservation. they joined hillary clinton and her daughter chelsea at a reception in aid of wildlife charities supported by william. and once again, he spoke about the threat posed by the illegal trade in wildlife. >> these are being illegally butchered. it's easy to blame others for the problem. demand in southeast asia. not enough protection on the ground and so on. but if i may say, we could start with looking closer to home. our own nations still have thriving black markets in these products and we have to rai

quentin sommerville, bbc news, ma'n in jordan. >> we've just had news through the world food programannounced it is suspending critical food aid to more than 1.7 million syrian refugees in neighboring countries. this includes refugees in jordan, lebanon, turkey, iraq, and egypt. it says that without food aid, many families will go hungry this winter. do stay with us here on "gmt." plenty more to come, including the business in the next half-hour. mmm, a perfect 177-degrees. and that's why this road warrior rents from national. i can bypass the counter and go straight to my car. and i don't have to talk to any humans, unless i want to. and i don't. and national lets me choose any car in the aisle. control. it's so, what's the word?... sexy. go national. go like a pro. 58 seconds on the clock, what am i thinking about? foreign markets. asian debt that recognizes the shift in the global economy. you know, the kind that capitalizes on diversity across the credit spectrum and gets exposure to frontier and emerging markets. if you convert 4-quarter p/e of the s&p 500, its yield is doing a

. >> can you see quentin sommerville. he could not keep it together. on a pile of burning narcotics, close enough he got a contact high and he ended up in a complete giggle fit. i'm not sure he was able to file the story. >> was he live or just trying to tape it and got the yips? >> i feel for the poor producer who is like get him off the air. >> was he okay? >> the producer was probably like this. >> how many brain cells never came back? >> opium contact high is different than a marijuana contact high. >> i don't know that any contact high elicits that sound. >> he goes hoee hee. what is that? >> that was my christmas tape for the day. >> i may have to make that a ringtone or something. >> please give us more details as you get them. >> i will spend all the rest of the morning investigating the fine details. >> see how he feels about the gas prices. >>> more news breaking overnight, former president george h.w. bush taken to the hospital after complaining of shortness of breath. the doctors at houston methodist say they'll keep him there just as a pre