the uk a libya have been doing this for abo a decade. t how influential a commercial considerations where it is business fit in this complex mi libya is an exciting new stination for british business but did that extement influenc the decision to releeabdelbaset al. megrahi, the man convicted of the lockerbie bombing. scottish and british government say, absolutely not. but al megrahi's f and new business oppornities have alwa been part of lateral negotiations. 2007, lonel gadhafi'segime sought to re-enterhe inteational community after three decades of sanctis and the thenritish prime minister tony blairoffered a hand. they signed a nber of agreemen. making prison transfer deal, a massive oil contract involving bp folwed immediaty. this is a so-called package deal? >> a so-called deal in th desert, two things erged. one was a huge trunchf opportunity in the libyan oil industry for a very well-known international oil company. and e quid pro quo perps was the agreement thategrahi would be returned, i'm speculatg when i say th, but it does

people art chanting the slogan, down with the uk. death to the uk. i tell these brothers of hours to think of their responsibility. they are responsible to god. that will be asked here after about their performance. i asked them to remember what imam has recommended in his will. the lot is the source of reference for everyone. what is an election held for? what is the reason for holding an election? all the differences should be settled at the ballot boxes. that is what the elections are for. ballot boxes determine what people want and what they do not want, not on the streets. if after every election those who have lost votes, if they take to the streets, take their supporters to the streets and protest, and those who have secured the votes, if they also have their supporters on the streets, what on earth hold elections, then? people are having their business in the street. they live there. we should not go to the streets and show off our supporters to people. for a terrorist agents, an insider who is going to deal a terrorist blow, that is not a po

it is a gathering point for many immigrants hoping to reach the uk. the move will send a strong message to people who are traffickers and they can no longer use the port as a smuggling route for britain. it is a question puzzling some observers in the u.s., why are the protests so angry against barack obama? one former occupant of the white house thinks that he has the answer, racism. this has sparked controversy all of its own. >> -- you lie. >> protesters against the president have accused him of tyranny. some protesters claim that they will recapture their country for freedom. jimmy carter says that this is different, this is about the election of the first black president. >> i think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity towards president barack obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he is african- american. >> he was focused on one south carolina congressman, jo wilson, who shocked the establishment shouting out at the president. >> the reforms i am proposing would not apply to those who are here illegal

>>reporter: despite widely held concerns work continues in the uk to broaden out that legislation. reportedly, the home office is currently consulting on its interception modernisation programme, which will require isps and telecommunications companies to collect increasing amounts of data and make it availableto british intelligence agency gchq and its various authorities. >>stephens: my concern is that the access to that data will be uncontrolled. just as we witnessed with the regulation of investigatory powers act, that the number of authorities that can gain access to the interception data - and the purposes for which they can gain access - will become broader and broader overtime, until it effectively becomes public domain information. >>reporter: despite taking precautions it's inevitable that some personal information may leak onto the web be used by criminals. >>russell: you might think your private data is very valuable - and of course it is to you. but the criminal market for this kind of information works on mass sales rather than high value returns. you might be surpris

he was born in the uk. let's look at the rest of the news. u.s. forces doling with sig kansas. five miss i'lls. the attack comes as u.s. marines continue to push deeper into the taliban strong hold. 4,000 marines are spear heading the operations. british units have suffered the loss for the most senior officer of their crew aid. here is our afghanistan coor respond enter. this is a major serve. the mage trust of operation panther claw. the job is to clear the taliban from this area and make it safe ahead of elections in august. they may be young but have been hore before. >> most of the trips have seen most of the activity and they know the realities. they know the score and the pobblingt that's come with it. this is now the fourth year british troops have been fighting in the heat of summer. commanders now admit that there is something a trageegyick stale mate geps the taliban troops palestine to change that in what could be a desicive summer calm pain. >> in kabul, following the latest developments. joot massive u.s. operation in the south province is still going on. the earl

. >> what's the exposure of, say, european banks, pks banks in uk? world bank of scotland, some have$2 billion, $3 billion at least, they are owed byubai rld. >> bas that havetheir own problems? >> absolutely. so we don't think there wi be as muchf an issue with u.s. banks. but we don't know. markets ha certainty. d they don't know that actually's rallng the markets now. how much 0 an impact do the fact that ameran markets were cled yesterday for the thanksgiving holiy, how much coulthat have fed into the fear? >> it may have fednto it a lo wehad very shin ththen trading yeerday. in the u.swe were csed. was only eupe, some extent asiareacted much less sterday, reacted mo day. wall street, we saw w down today and rcovered a little bit. still today, the dayfter thanksgiving,ou havevery thin trading wall seet. we won get a sense abo what the markets fe about th until monday, when ty reopen. >> whas the long-term prnosis? how does dubai continue to pay its debts? it's hard to imagine abu dhabi will have to rescue dubai world and dubai. it's not good n an

the uk and libya have been doing this for about a decade. but how influential are commercial considerations? where does business fit in this complex mix? libya is an exciting new destination for british business. but did that excitement influence the decision to release abdel basset al megrahi, the man convicted of the lockerbie bombing. scottish and british governments say absolutely not. but al megrahi's future and new business opportunities have always been part of bilateral negotiations. 2007, colonel gadhafi's regime sought to re-enter the international community after three decades of sanctions and the then british prime minister tony blair offered a hand. they signed a number of agreements, including a prisoner transfer deal, a massive oil contract involving bp followed immediately. was this a so-called packaged deal? >> a so-called deal in the desert, two things emerged. one was a huge traunch of opportunity in the libyan oil industry for a very well-known international oil company. and the quid pro quo perhaps was the agreement that

. >> what's the exposure of, say, european banks, banks in uk? world bank of scotland, hsbc, these are banks that have some $2 billion, $3 billion at least, they are owed by dubai world. >> banks that have their own problems? >> absolutely. so we don't think there will be as much of an issue with u.s. banks. but you know what? we reay don't know. markets hate uncertainty. and they don't know that actually that's royaling the markets now. >> how much of an impact does the that that americans marks were closed yesterday for the thanksgiving holiday, how much could that have fed into the fear? >> it may have fed into it a lot. we had very then trading yesterday. in the u.s. we were closed. it was only europe, some extent asia, reacted much less yesterday, reacted more today. wall street, we saw, was down today and recovered a little bit. still today, the day after thanksgiving, you have very thin trading on wall street. we won't get a sense about what the markets feel about this until monday, when they reopen. >> what's the long-term prognosis? how

we've heard tough wds from the prime minister in the uk. wee waitinto hear what esident obama has to say. described the election is this wk as msy, quite an understatement. e hope is he's being tougher in private. the bush administratn enabl rzai for all of thos years. president bush, everyone said, was st of the deskfficer for afghanistan, he keptelling theme was doing a heck of a jobover there. question now is whether karzai thinks h owns us or getshe idea tt perhaps we're not going to be in for the long haul if he doesn't clean up hs act. >> right. you lived for many yearsn the united kingdom. give us a sense of th kind of dete being held there. ere was poll yesterday sang an extraordinary numr of brish people who were polled, 73%, are now in favor of british troops being pulled out of afghastan. i mean, of course thisomes on thwake of an increang killingf british forces. do you see afghastan being something that t united states is going t be perhaps having to look at, look after solely within, say, a year? >> it's getting ther and it's

a suggestion that people in the uk don't care enough, elderly people. that they make these kind of brutal, ruthless judgments, death panels as sarah palin puts it. and it's not the nhs that people know and understand in the uk. >> well, there have been suggestions that these attacks in the nhs have somehow managed to bring liberals and conservatives together in great britain, is that true? >> that's absolutely true. we had one outliar, one right-wing conservative politician who i think made some comments on american television saying he would rather have health care in the u.s. and he was slapped back into line very rapidly and very aggressively by the leader of the conservative party. it's a good sense of sensitivity on the issues in the uk because under margaret thatcher back in the '80s and '90s spending was cut back quite heavily and services suffered. so the conservatives are very keen to make clear, but they would still -- they would still guard the nhs, it would be safe in their hands if they were to win the next election. >> i presume though tha

and you're seeing that in the uk which made a decision to pinpoi stimulus for t banks, what wh the bail jut of ral bankf stland and nortrn rocking and now gordon brown is being second guessed for not recting stimulus more to consums. >> did he make mistake? >> well,you can't sayade a mistake. hindsight obvious wills 20/20. the banks need it. the banks were in dang of taking down the entire global economy. it very wel vincates this critism not enough was done, something should havbeen dod out to companies that britain should have had a more ambitious cashor cnkers program directstimulus, i know it doesn't sound great, but cutting out chec to tax pay to get th to spend again. >> the united states and britain don't have aig trading relationship but they do have a very tight relationship when it comes to the banks. is this going to expose t u.s. economy to the poblems in the itish economy? >> not necesrily, you' not going to see reverb. you can arguethe united states has a far moor ambitio fiscal and monery response to the cris there. both ecomies are seeing zero inrest rate pocy. string.in

good news for thousands of german car workers, a worry for more in the uk. >> clear and convincing evidence of fraud forces the afghan election watchdog to cancel results from dozens of polling stations. rivals and religion. a special report on the growing influence of rabbis in the once secular israeli army. welcome to "bbc world news." i am mike embley. coming up later 40 -- three months after the election, abandoning efforts to build a government in lebanon. what happened with a pigeon took on south africa's internet. hello to you. the german chancellor had staked her political fortunes. it looks like good news. 20,000 car workers in germany. in europe, car workers are worrying about jobs that their plans. general motors has agreed to sell a majority stake of its european subsidiary opel to ma gna. we have more from berlin. >> angela merkel had not -- could not wait to announce the deal. this was our chance to take all the glory. >> good day, ladies and gentlemen. i inform you a short time ago the chancellor's office was informed that gm's governing board voted to sell opel to magna. i a

this is a person who had been banned from travel to the uk even though he had completed studies there for three years because allegedly he had given a name of a college that didn't exist when he tried to gain re-entry into that country. but because it wasn't for a terror-related reason, it didn't rise to the level of the uk sharing that information internationally. that's a process that's being looked at right now. we know that because his parents raised a red flag to officials in nigeria, and to the u.s. embassy in nigeria, he was on a u.s. watch list but along with 550,000 other people. not rising to the level of affecting his valid visa or any of his travels. again, under review. chris? >> michelle, thanks very much. >>> let's go to "dateline" nbc's chris h chris hansen who's here in the studio. >> the fbi is now saying that the suspect was wearing a loose-fitting sort of like boxer short over his briefs. this was specially made to secrete the petn explosives that he had on his body. apparently at one point, as we know, he tried to inject this syringe into the slowsive. they still

security in the uk has said that three-quarters of those terrorist plots that they have seen have some kind of connection pakistan. different forms of connection. so, this has been a major concern. the only thing that might have changed is that in the last few years there have been some changes. the attacks by creditor drones are putting pressure on the area, making it hard for them to plan this kind of attack. i think that there is someñ sene that it may have got harder for them to carry out attacks. >> it is a delicate and sensitive thing to be doing, is it not? >> it is. the cia never comments on them directly. never confirming whether they actually carry them out. very sensitive to the pakistani government, because those attacks are not popular in some parts of the country. the question of whether or not the government has authorized them is very difficult, particularly when there is a perception that there might be some pressure being put on. casualties do occur when al qaeda is suspected to be inside and others are often killed. >> thank you very much, gordon. at least 35 people

our health care in the sysm in uk has been scribed as orwelln, as socialist. even by some as evl some way. so reallwhat started out as a debate of hoyou pay for something has turn into something far more ideologic where seems have created a massive gap in understding ross the atlantic. >> what do britonsake of suggestions that thehs would people like nator kennedy or ke stephen hawking die witho getting any treatment? >> i think thas caused a great deal of astonishment. i mean, rst off, it's simply untrue. senator kennedy, who had exaly the same treatnts. as a 77-yearld as a -year-old or a 30-year-old. the only criteria apied would be whether his body is robust enough to takeertain aggressi tactics. bureally i think people see that aan attack not just on the nhs but on the integrityf the uk, as a suggestion at people in the ukon't care enoughelderly people. that they make tse kind of brutalruthless judgments death panels as sarah palin pts it and is not the nhs that people kno andnderstand in thuk. >> well, thereave been suggtions that these attacks in the nhs

the conflict has led to the deaths of 1079 uk service personnel and 150,000 iraqi civilians. their loved ones want to know the cause of this war and why their loved ones failed. if every evidence session is held in private, that may not be possible, so will the prime minister think again about holding a secret inquiry? is the wrong thing to do. >> mr. speaker, i disagree. the inquiry has to take into account the issue of our national security, as to look at the issues that reflect on the capability and a plan of our troops, in a way it may not be best made public. it also has to get people to talk frankly about what they believe are the lessons to be learned from this inquiry, surrounded by lawyers and everyone else in a public arena is more difficult, i think you have to acknowledge. i believe this inquiry will be thorough and independent and i believe the results will be reported to this house. i think it's quite extraordinary that for weeks and months people have been calling for a francs style inquiry and now they have a franks style inquiry, they are trying to oppose it

. >> his hero's return for the man convicted of the uk's worst terrorist atrocity praise on the minds of many. this brings up questions of the libyan sensitivity, but it appears colonel gaddafi was not listening. what does he understand how much the decision has angered the majority in scotland -- >> does he understand how much the decision has anchor the majority in scotland? does he seem to be aware of the issues in releasing a convicted bomber? >> questions were also raised about the role of the british government in the release. gordon brown met gaddafi last month, in so far he has not commented on the controversy. >> this is an extraordinary silence on the part of the prime minister, gordon brown. this decision has significant implications for foreign policy and trade. what joint efforts are now being undertaken by gordon brown to limit the damage? >> mr. macaskill repeated that he had fallen due process. he suggested that -- he said that suggestions that al-megrahi could have spent his final days in hospital work the crest. bbc news. >> at least 20 people have been killed in bom

and now the uk is closing 52 pubs ery week. the total number o pubs in this country has dropp by nearly 205,000 in thelast 12 mths to a totalf around 355,000. this says an awful lo about incomes, jo insecuty and financial insecurity in britain's householdst the moment. the reason they're not gng to the pubis not cause they dn't like the pub, it's becausehey fl they ne to hang on to their cash. >> but back in the 19th century it was theub where people went when times were tough. backin the mid1900s there was one on every street corner. thendustrial v brought together large numbe of me in factories who would worknd drink togeth. it as the pub whre they preferred to be. >> our homesere kind of ld and dark and you wouldn'teally end time there unles you were eating d seping. and in the last years or s if you thinkabout the 1920s withi a space of ten yea weot centra heing, electricity and things like radio a home. sthe home stuffad beco ch more of a pla whre you wouldpend your leisure time. >> repter: and why pubs were popular in t 2

some in the uk decided to opt out of the system and pay for private medical coverage. it is available. but anyone taking on private medical care has to opt out. a telling point is, in the last decade, they're offering it as a recruitment perk for their employees. >> one of the things that's become critical clear here that we've reported on denmark, canada and the uk, this is not a simple issue. and it really puts into stark contrast this idea of rushing through legislation, when all of these other programs, we're only coming to terms with a broad understanding of what universal care and national health care really entail. >> yeah, even the countries that have it are still trying to adjust it to meet the needs of the people that they're trying to cover. so it really needs a lot of adjustment. a lot of tinkering and we should not be rushing through. >> this is fascinating. excellent reporting. thank you, kitty. >> kitty pilgrim. we're going to be looking next at france and its health care system. >>> we'll continue our special reporting, as i said, we'll examine the qual

in europe, led by gordon brown and the uk, they are actually blaming the united states for not being ambitious enough. blaming china for not being ambitious, not setting high enough targets. and also there is a general sense that gordon brown is talking about the ransom that china joined together with south africa, brazil and india and essentially forged a deal with president obama that the uk wasn't at the table. the european union wasn't at the table. they don't like it. it has consequences from their point of view. this is pretty profound. >> what does it mean for great britain? they feel out of the process. it looks like what's happening, what is emerging is in united states and china is major players on the world stage, not only when it comes to global warming, but perhaps future trade pacts. these will be the two powers in front. >> i think that's right. in the last -- in recent years back to the early 1990s, this effort to reach a global trade agreement has been done through the u.n. there have been 15 a such meeting like copenhagen. copenhagen was going to be a climactic meet

through 2013 but the reason 2005 is important that was imports and of the glen eagle summit in the uk which the gh made a commitment to sustained increase contribution to polio eradication until the job was finished. as you can see the proportion they made that commitment as a proportion of the contribution to the program they went from a peak of 62% with the overall funding at 43% and down 20% what is confirmed in the current period for the program you just not have to have only a very, very aggressive advocacy agenda to maintain funding streams but also other funding streams for problems like the. >> a seventh lesson is protect your gains progress we move forward in international public health we move on to the next thing and taking our attention away from our success is only to see them dwindle again and perhaps the most striking example in polio eradication is that we have not been able to protect polio free areas because of chronic gaps of routine immunization the service is. you can see the spread internationally a poliovirus from indiana and nigeria of the last five years, this

we knew we could not pass again a uk way and nor did we want to go that way, but we wanted to pass something to protect seniors who were terrified that if they went into a hospital they would go bankrupt. so we passed medicare and we also passed medicaid to be a safety net for people who could not afford private insurance. the same argument we're hearing against medicare are the same arguments we are hearing now. the same arguments against medicare are the same arguments we are hearing now. government-controlled, centralized bureaucracy, ho, hum, hum, ho. we've heard that before and yet you try to cancel medicare. and also in came private insurance with med igap. well, we all know what happened in the '90s. it didn't turn out too well, but now we have a chance in the 21st century. so we have tried at every time to come up with new ideas. they have served the public well. they often require requirements and refinements and this is the time now where we close the gap and we build on what we know we can do. public and private options, a public option that holds the private options couldable so

. >> the uk has 20 transport helicopters in afghanistan. they will send an extra 14. this is in contrast with those available to the u.s. marines. today, the government went on its own offensive. the helicopter that we filmed on is one of five that should see service there. we are wondering why the helicopter fleet is not on the front line. >> they never told us that they were happy on any front. i never told my commanders i was happy. people always want more. >> taking the fight to the enemy makes this one of the deadliest month for british soldiers. no where else are the questions more serious than in britain. there are more questions for the prime minister. >> just over a month now since iran's disputed election sent massive street protests in which 20 people were killed. the bbc has been unable to report from inside the country. we have some eyewitness accounts of what has been happening in iran. >> ever since the iranian government cracked down on the protesters, it has been hard to find out what is going on inside of iran just across the border there. outside of

> we're sending 17% of our oss national product on heah care and we'reess healthy than u are in the uk. we don'tive as long. on most metcs -- >> but you can getare in this cardlogy unit you can't getn britain. >> right. i want to have the bes of both worlds and i beeve it is possible. we have to elimite waste. if we don't spen 29%f evy dollar on ministrative costs for r health insurance programs, that money can be used to maintain the standard of care. >> in the cardiac unit, the da vin si rot performs hd surgery. thmachine costs almost $2 million. president ama must convin american tt is his reform will retain this high thnology and providinsurance toore people. but a cost the countryan afford. lindsey lsum, channel 4 news cleveland, ohio. >> if you saw president ama's speech lt night, then you will recallhat outburst b one republican who accud the present of lying when he sai democratic pposals would not cover illegal immigrants. as we continue our look at how other countries provide health care, we want to tke you to argentina, whi provides care for all,ncluding foreigners. that sto

supplies clean wer by pipelines thousand still dend on gound water pump we took samples to test in the uk. we found tremely high concenations of poison, nearly 1000 tim the wor health orgization's maximum. 25 years on,his plant, or what left of it, has become an enduring symbol of wat big copanies can getway with when theyo business in theoor world e anger rains undiminished. increasingly, that and theris not directed against union carbide, againsthe indian thorities themselves. theeople in the affected areas are sti fighting. if they accused thei own chief misterf betraying the poor by ignoring the problems. the chief minister dismissed their cims, insistinghe union carbid plant had made prarations. but is it not rather a shame that after some yes after that rrible tgedy, poisonous chemicals were sti there? >> no. thereas chemical waste there. and it was decided that the rest would be dposed of according to e instrtions of the supme court. but there w no dger to human life the. >> 25 ars on, no one has been psecuted. but the shadow cast by what happened here beaches and down the decades

with the pope scheduled to visit the uk next year, this latest breach of security will prompt a review on how best to protect him. >> the u.s. military has condemned the taliban for releasing a video of an american soldier captured in afghanistan earlier this year. it sent the video of the man who -- [unintelligible] it was a horrible act that exploited a young soldier. >> i was born on march 28, [inaudible] >> there is no way of telling when this u.s. soldiers' statement was recorded, but its release was time for christmas day. >> he was captured on june 30 and afghanistan. after leaving his base with three afghan colleagues. >> [inaudible] >> the 23-year old attack u.s. leaders for their treatment of moslems in iraq and afghanistan. he wants -- he says the american military is no match for the taliban. >> i am afraid to tell you that [inaudible] it will be the next vietn unless the american people stand up and stop this nonsense. >> in dabel has released a statement in response say -- nato has released a statement in response saying this was a soldier reading a prepared statement. it

inhe uk last year, a third of all honeybees di. it's a woying situation, and britais first professor of beekping is trying to find the solution to the plig of bees. that's what it's all about. >> the two main things threatening bees are diseases and lost of forest, so we're focused on tse particular things. wee trying to breed disease-sistant honeees. we areooking at the control of specific pests of honeybeesnd we're also deteining where the honeybs of foraging. man is certainly responble for probms farming now so tensively that vast partsf the country arfull of plants but not any plants that are any good to bees or insts because there are not flowers. >>eporter: their numbers y be dwindlg across the country but there isoneerhaps surising place where bees are thving, and that's lonn. colonies like thisne have been springg up across t city's rotops. these beehives are on top of the department store in pickly and the honey made by its bees is then sold in the sp. for more and me londoners, te declining numbs are deciding keep bees. l

the prime minister also discussed how the government was responding to recent floods in the uk. >> questions to the prime minister. >> mr. speaker, before i begin, i am sure the whole house would like to join me to pay tribute to sgt dixon from the second regiment royal military police who has died in afghanistan. we send our sincere condolences to his family and friends. he and the sacrifice he has made will not be forgotten. all of us will also want to pay tribute to police constable bill barker who died in the course of duty, serving the community he was so committed to. also those a lost their lives in the recent floods. and with all those affected by the serious flooding, you will have our support now and into the future. let us as a house also paid tribute to the emergency services of the armed forces and all those organizations that have been doing an outstanding job working around-the-clock to help those areas of our country affected by the floods. >> can i began by associating myself with the comments that the prime minister has made regarding started dixon. as the prime minister sa

very skeptic about ongoing immigration but alsokeptical about the integrion of minority groups in the uk as well. >> delay gusten, thanks ve much for joining us. >> thank yo. >>> we would ao like to know whatou think about this issue. our question tonight is should muslims and other imgrants do more to fit into their new countries or should ose countries do moreto makethem fe william? uáó+ can tell us what you thk by goingo the "how youee it" section of o website, an you can find th at3hcwwñ worldfocus. >>> it was muslims who were largy the victims of arutal three-year war inosnia in the 1990s that left more than 100,000 people dead. today, the man charged with orchestrating ma of those deaths went on trial at the inteational criminal tribunal in the nethlands, though he refused appear. ong other thing radovan karadzic, the bosnian rb leader at the tim is accused of being behind the maacre at srebrenica that killedthousands men and young boys. it was aong time ago, but as you will hear in this report from itn'sindsey hillson, the memories a very much alive for those who are still see

. >> the uk inquiry into the iraq war has heard evidence from the former ambassador to the united states. said that tony blair's regime change hardened after a private meeting with president bush. he said the rubble of war so short circuit the work of inspectors looking for weapons of mass destruction. the investigation into whether iran has the nuclear weapons programs is now at a dead-end. to iran is not cooperating. china is the latest country to say it is considering sanctions. pakistan is concerned about the expected surge of troops in afghanistan has forced taliban said insurgents to cross the border. this is a scandal threatening to become a major embarrassing -- investment for the german government. the head of the german armed forces and a senior defense ministry official have been forced to resign. the military withheld details of a deadly air strike. this is from the berlin correspondent. >> this is the ew from an american jet over afghanistan on september 4th. a german newspaper obtained the video. down below, you can see two fuel trucks with people are around them. they have

reports okay uk both in separate play. >>> a devastating profile in london sunday times describes lindsay lohan. lines etched into her freckled forehead make her look ten years older. the writer says, quote, when she snifs, which is often, she refers to my allergies. as for lindsay, well, she got a new tattoo and it reads, stars, all we ask for is for our right to twinkle. all we ask for is for your right to twinkle. >> it almost sounds like an editorial by paris hilton. similar to the stuff she said. >> it would probably apply, right? >> yes. >> this comes from khas tv news 5 in hastings, nebraska, where in nearby york, one competition was a screeching success. blood-occurred elling sounds filled the air at the third annual scream of the square contest let loose with their lungs. judges weighed the intensity of the scream and of course facial expressions. one crucial factor of course is whether the scream makes your skill crawl. creepy. >>> i'm christina brown, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. >> good morning, everyone. we will be deal

we've been showing you video of the floods across northern uk. they've seen 13, 14, 15 inches of rainfall in a three-four-day period and they have their own troubles as well. things have diluted. we have a couple of systems to speak of. one's out here, one is here, with this low making its way towards the eastern seaboard. as that happens we're looking for rainfall to stretch from d.c. up through philadelphia in through new york city. i don't think the rain will get up here until later in the day. as it does so we may see a problem. dallas, we've got fog. where it's not raining, we have a problem with visibility. love field, dfw, atlanta seeing issues and charlotte 30-men delays at this hour. this storm out of the rockies gets into the plains and the biggest issue wednesday will be the western great lakes and the midwest for travel. just be aware of that. we'll tweak that forecast, of course, this entire week. >> absolutely. rob, thank you. >>> it is a potential danger that could literally be all around you in your home. later this morning the go

authorities should have been informed abdulmutallab was on the uk's list. tom aspell is live in london with the very latest. what more can can you tell us? >> reporter: hi, monica. umar farouk abdulmutallab was on britain's watch list after they denied him a reentry visa in may this year. now the british are trying to find out more about his past. >> whether he was part of a wider plot, that's all the subject of the intensive inquiries that the americans in particular are making at the moment. we're piecing together what happened when he was here to see whether that can help authorities in their wider investigations of this plot. >> reporter: after finishing studies at london university college in 2008, he entered a u.s. visa from the embassy here. he left london the same year. now his parents living in northern nigeria suspect he might have gone to the mideast and then to yemen. he bought a round-trip ticket from lagos, nigeria, to detroit. according to nigerian authorities he then re-entered nigeria december 24th and left the same day to amsterdam carryin

the two service personnel killed yesteay brought the total number of uk csualties since operation began in afghanian in 2001 to 191. >> for re on afghanistan, we're joined once againby anthony cordesman f the iernational for stregic and ternational studies. mr. cordesman rently returned from afghanistan where we work und an advisory board to under stanley mcchstal. comnder of u.s. fces in afghanistan. thank you for joining us agin. >> pleasure. >in a rert that you wrote about yourrip you say that the taliban and al qae areinning in afghanistan. how so? >> they've beenin a position where the lose when they actually encounter nato and -- forces. but at the same time they have steadilexpand the areasthey occupythey've expanded their political infence, they've expanded their contr over the economy. in my parts of the country, they effectively run the justice system. they're the onlyreal visible presence of government. and they move from areas along the east and the south up into the center into e west, in t valleys inhe north. when you look at map of afghanistan in 2005 and2009, the area un

the uk's climate change secretary is quoted by the bbc as saying the idea that they could derail the conference is in his words, nonsense. ma mary snow, cnn, new york. >> let's go to phil black who is in copenhagen. phil? >> reporter: here in copenhagen just hours before the climate change conference opens, united nations officials admit that climate-gate is already being discussed by delegates here. the u.n.'s climate change chief says the issue of those e-mails from the university of east anglia will be addressed directly in speeches during the opening ceremony. i asked him what he makes of the allegations. and he said he believes there is a positive side to this scandal. >> i actually think it's very good that what has happened is being critically addressed in the media. this process has to be based on solid science. if the integrity and the quality of the science is being called into question, that needs to be examined. >> reporter: many climate scientists believe those e-mails were deliberately hacked and leagued to destabilize the negotiations here. they say the e-mails do noth

and the uk, so they are already showing signs of recovery. the banking sector does not have any toxic loans. they've been increasing lending rapidly, driving growth. >> simply spending more money on stimulus packages in europe and america would not help things because of the other two things you spoke about. >> that's right. china does not suffer as many problems as the u.k. and the u.s. does. the banking sector is largely state-owned in china. the government got the banks to start lending. >> what about the pitfalls? authorities there, themselves, suggest there are problems ahead. >> this is not the broad based recover china needs. exports are still weak. until they start to recover, then china will say its recovery is no longer patchy. some of the money is going to the stock market's. finally, most of their recovery is being driven by government spending. until the private sector improves, it won't be a full- blown recovery china and the world needs. thank you for your time. the number of foreign troops who've been killed in afghanistan is

did, they hacked into thousands of e- mails between climate change scientists and the united states, uk, and abroad and these e-mails show that a lot of the climate science that we have been basing global warming on has been either falsified, manipulated, massaged, a lot of the decent has been crushed or silenced, peer review has been manipulated. the questions that sarah palin is raising here is this, is global warming happening? is it manmade or not and is it out of the ordinary in the thousands of years of the earth's history or not? and those questions, john, have not been settled by the science and that's a debate we need to have. >> the united nations has a climate panel and the principle research feeder to that climate panel is this east science group. does that mean that this is a very serious problem? >> it's serious in that it's an embarrassment, but all of the questions that monica just raised have pretty much been answered in the sense that there's a consensus around the world that climate change is a problem. climate change is something that the world needs to work together

and you're seeing that in the uk which made a decision to pinpoint stimulus for the banks, what with the bailout of royal bank of scotland and northern rock and now gordon brown is being second guessed for not directing stimulus more to consumers. >> did he make a mistake? (p''t say made a mistake. hindsight is obvious 20/20. the banks needed it. the banks were in danger of taking down the entire global economy. it very well vindicates this criticism not enough was de, something should have been doled out to companies, that britain should have had a more ambitious cash for clunkers program or direct stimulus. i know it doesn't sound great, but cutting out checks to tax pairs to get t again. >> the united states and britain doesn't have a big trading relationship, but they do have a very tight relationship when it comes to their banks. is this going to expose the u.s. economy to the problems in the british economy? >> not necessarily, you're not going to see a rever been. you can argue the united states has a far moor ambitious fiscal and monetary response to the crisis there. both ec

uk which are better than expected. any impact you've seen from those numbers? >> yes. we've broke continue narrow trading range that we've seen this morning by another 0.5%. so we're trading around the 47, 57 level. it will be very interesting to see throughout the day whether this trend will continue and indeed will make new highs or higher highs than we have seen last week, which is around the 4794, 4800 level. it will be interesting to see whether that continues or not. >> in the mining sectors, metals and mining stocks are looking pretty strong on the uk markets. we did have results from rio tinto, as well. what have those earnings told us? are they helping the sector in general? >> they certainly are. i don't think it needed any help today, anyway, purely because of the strong asian markets and the bounce in commodity prices. they did have them a lot. rio has been reducing debt over the last 18 months or so which is very useful to see. like i said, the mining sector today is specifically does not need that and it

this is a u.n.actio obviously nations such as rush vse russia veto utthe uk and wants to have. even if obam can get everybod togeer to say yes thetime has come to ke further steps you have the problem wit the russians and the iranians, as we know sent the propols, which are very vague, but ateast whe obama said in this inaugul addrs i'll hold out an open hand, they are offeringto talk. you say shoulde ener talks? >>what happens to that whole idea of, you know, here's an olive branch, let's do away with the clench fi, iranians are saying yes with a package of proehl. s the united states wants diplomacy. where is theiplomacy fromoth sides. >> i think the obama's administration inclination,ts announced inclinatn they do wanto talk with ir but something happened dhat was e june election. the denstrations in the street. suddenly you're deali with ahmadined in a way which he's no longer seen oin a decreasing legitimacy that he had before, in a realy contested eelection in a royaling publ that wants chge and america's suddenly caughtn its foreign policy. the obama admintration has to

the rwanda mine clearance team were trained and partially paid for by the uk. >>it's good news not just fo britain, but good news f those people w will not have their legs burnedff or get killed in different countries. let's remember the are millionsnd millions of these terrible weapons still lying, hidden in th soil in many countrs the world over. so we have to help tese cotries to make the mac efrt to get rid of them. >> reporr: the rwanda message helps kick off the land mine confence in colombia to review the success of the land mine ban treatyrought in in 1997. 156 couries have signed it, including brain, but some of the biggest stockpiler of mis aren't. the u.s. estimated to have arou 10 million land mines, russia0 million, pakistais estimated to have ound 4 millio as is india. chinhas an estated 10 million but it'she u. in finds it several intense lobbying in activists looking for shift of policy under rack. so far thaseems unlikely. >> the intent of the conventio we overwhmingly suort. and i saide put more money than anyone else into counteracting the hu

ey're caught few e willing to cim asylum in france, referring instead to continue tryingto reach the uk. so thiss where they no end up. it's n a detention center. this is retention center. >> jus after this jungle situation, there was arrested three or four times a eek, then afr that, then right now the french theyetain them athe detention center and plano return them to eir country. >> repter: the french government says i was inhumane to let people ve in the conditions that existedin the jule. this is what left ofhat camp toda it maynowe less obvious. it may now hide uer a bridge. but e proble as they call it, is sll here. hamish macdonald, jazeera, calais. >>> for much more about this portant and, we think, underreported story, are joed tonight by irene khan, born in bangladesh, the first man, the first asian, toirst muim to hold the titl of secretary-general of amnesty international. she spent 20 years wi the ited nations high commiioner for refugees. welce. >> thank you >> let's start wh a big cture question which is essentlly how severe ishe refugee proble around the worl and where

recently revealed figures showed since 2001 140 inmates were allowed to die of cancer while serving in uk jails. under this government, is it one rule for british inmates and another one for libyan mass murderers? >> mr. speaker, as he knows, the decision on libya was made by the scottish administration. it was their decision to make. it was not our decision to make. >> roger barry. >> mr. speaker, my constituents are extremely concerned about the impact of global warming and wants speedy action to deal with it members opposite in their european allies. will my right honorable friend assure the house that he has been doing everything possible so that both developed and developing countries can look to a deal at copenhagen? >> well, we are in the happy position of being able to work with the rest of europe to get a climate change agreement and in the position to work as europe with the rest of the world to make sure that we can move forward. and the talks that are taking place now including at the commonwealth conference are a desire to bring together the richest countries who will have to

in fact, the oacd had good reports for the economy toy, but less goodews for the uk if they e right -- the u.s. and the euro ar are growing, but ey do not expect britain will see growth until next year. whh may explain why the fren had bee more keen to clare war on bankers' bonuses in the lad up to this mting. but tod, gordon brown cogned a measure with the ench president's nicos sarkozy, talkingeriously about wh banks can spd on paid. >> some people are getng boses that are su a height she of theurnover, there's a risk. we want to have rules forhat. we want there be rule internationay, as well as in britain,o deal with the oblem. >> we have seenvery leaders communicate before on this issue. th real test will come at the end of the year. will say whether gordon bro hasbeen successful. >> the u.s. es not want to p the amount firms spend on pay, and that may kill the idea in the end. but the prime minister will b expting presidentbama's support when h says the risks o the global economy had not gone away. bbc ws. >> more toptories for you. rescuers in indonesi's ate hopesf finding survi