>> "bbc world news" is presented by kcet, los angeles. funding for this presentation is made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, and union bank. >> union bank has put its global financial strength to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you?

>> and now "bbc world news." >> the reluctant witness supermodel naomi campbell has her day in court to answer questions about blood diamonds she was given. >> i've never heard of the term "blood diamonds" before. >> four million people hit by the pakistan's floods, the u.s. flies helicopter relief missions into the country. >> russia bans the export of grain. >> welcome to our broadcast broadcasting in america and also around the world. >> my name is mike emblye. ahead of rwanda's election, the government rejects sni involvement in political killings. >> japan marks the 66th anniversary of the world's

first atomic bomb attack. hello by any standards, it was an unusual spectacle a supermodel at a war crimes discussing diamonds or dirty-looking stones as she called them. naomi campbell summoned as a reluctant witness. they were hoping that the former president of liberia used the blood dimets to hem fund a brutal country in neighboring sierra leon. james was at the hearing. >> i certainly hope miss campbell has not been conveyed from her hotel. where is she? >> irritation from the presiding judge, naomi campbell a most reluctant witness was late in court.

she only came because she was subpoenaed to tell her story about the name someone center about uncut diamonds. >> i will speak the truth, the truth and nothing but the truth. >> the dimet came from this man, charles taylor charged with war crimes. this was in 1997. she met charles campbell for the first and only time. >> myself, charles taylor, mr. mandela. >> pointing to the photograph, she identified him next to her at a charity dinner hosted by nelson mandela. >> she said men knocked at her door. >> when i was sleeping, i had a knock at my door and i opened my door and two men were there and gave me a pouch and said a gift for you >> but naomi campbell didn't

know who the men were or who sent the gift. >> do you recall why it is you didn't ask them why they were giving this pouch to you? >> i don't recall. i just took them. it's not about noral to get gifts. i get gifts at any hour of the time. it's quite normal for me to receive gifts. it was only the next morning she looked inside. >> i saw a few stones and they were very small, dirty-looking stones. over breakfast she told the story and someone else suggested she -- it must have come from charles taylor. >> and the judge asked -- >> i just assumed. i never heard of the country liberia before. i never heard of the term "blood dimetsdz."

so i assumed it was. >> charles taylor now faces 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over his alleged war orchestrating the civil war in neighboring sierra leon a conflict which costs tens of thousands of lives. he's accused of buying blood diamond. so for the prosecution lawyers linking charles taylor directly to uncut diamonds is important in building their case. they hoped that naomi campbell could put him there. >> are you a bit nervous? >> no, well, i didn't really want to be here. i was made to be here. i'm wanting to get this over with and get on with my life. this is a big inconvenience with me. >> one person said she flirted

with charles taylor. >> you flirting with charles taylor, that's a complete lie. >> when i'm with miss mandela, my attention focus is with him. >> after two hours, the questioning was over. but for naomi campbell this may not be the end of the story. next week two other people with charles taylor, mia ferrell will give their testimony and it will contradict what the supermodel said today. >> b.p. has pumped cement on top of the heavy mud that's already been injected. yesterday it was announced that three quarters of the spill has been cleaned up. the pentagon has demanded the wikleak hand over 15,000

unpublished documents on the war of afghanistan. the documents detail hundreds of incidents including military operations. >> one of saddam hussein's most loyal deputies has given his first interview since he was captured and imprisoned after the fall of baghdad. speaking to the british newspaper "the guardian" he said iraq is in a worse state than before the war. he said the withdraw would leave the country to the wolves. >> the u.s. has flown u.s. relief mission to pakistan. hundreds of thousands of people remain in desperate need of food, drinking water, and shelter. or our correspondent reports from pakistan's northwest. >> they plead for help by the side of the road. but the traffic keeps on going.

we found 13-year-old shakil armed with his banner. it says "victims of the flood." >> it might come again and to take us away. it might take my parents and what's left of our house. just down the road others reaching out for help. aide has come but there was only one truck. and there was 1,000 people. homeless, hungry and reduced to fighting for meager donations. it was chaos over a few packet of biscuits. the weakests left to fend for themselves, desperation written on many faces. one -- in the the last few

minutes the situation has become really chaotic. people are desperate to get their hands on water and food. food arrives every day but they never know when it's going to come or how much it is going to be. try as he might, this little boy couldn't even get some water. so when a bottle fell, he scavenged on the floor. there wasn't enough to go around here. the aide was from local do nors, not from central government. they've given us nothing, this man says. we're starving to death. >> no clean water for drinking, no food, no electric. >> but help finally came for some today in the form of u.s. army helicopters. the shi nooks flew their first rescue mission evacuating

hundreds from the swamp valley. a humanitarian response and a chance for america to win a friend in a country where it hasn't got many. back in the squalor of the camp we found twins abdula and bellau born of their house filled with water. they are children of the flood. for one family, new life and new hope in a time of suffering. >> russia one of the world's biggest wheat producers is banning the export of all grains because of the drought and wildfires crippling the country. that decision has had an immediate impact on global food commodity markets. >> the first pictures of the fires in one of the most secret locations in russia. not far from this burning forrest is the country's most

important nuclear research center. no wonder that as they try to make fabric to stop the flames, the authorities announced they were moving all the nuclear material to a safer place. but now fears are also mounting for the face of russia's rain crops, another precious commodity. the heat wave has killed 12 million hectors of wheat fields, leading to the decision to stop all exports of grain. [speaking foreign language] >> due to the abnormally high temperatures in drought, i believe it is reasonable to produce a temporary ban on grain and wheat products ex-pored from russia. >> we need to preconvict a rise in domestic food prices. and today, the fire got even worse. those monitoring this grain disaster from the sky say there are now almost 600 fires burning in central and western

regions. the authorities are losing the battle to contain them. the unfolding crisis is leading to rare and very sharp criticism of the government. >> everyone is suffering because of the lack of action by the authorities and because of the authorities are more worried about themselves rather than about the country and the people. >> the president of kenya has called for national unity as the country's referendum backed, a new constitution designed to previcinity a violence that followed the last elections. the views of those who voted against will be respected. peter reports. >> when he arrived at his

victory rally he was unequivocal about the significant of what his country has just achieved. welcome the provisional results of the referendum. the historic journey that we've begun over 20 years ago is now coming to a happy end. but that happy end was by no means guaranteed. when kenians went to the poll, they put out 6,000 police. instead of trouble, kenians voted with extraordinary enthusiasm in the election which wasn't about who wins political power. it was about recasting the future of the country. in long peaceful cues they placed ballot after ballot for the scrution that redistributes power away are the presidency. it establish as bill of rights.

it create as senate to deal with the most contentious deal of all, land. more than 67% in favor of the document as much as the most optimistic campaign that they could have hoped for. >> kenya has been promoted. >> the vote was not unanimous. this valley experienced some of the worst angry in the votes of the next constitution. they have rejected the documents. >> the rift valuey wasn't the only province to reject the constitution it did it with a 2-1 majority. that must worry people that want a unified kenya. kenya has a long way to go. but it's also made a big stride

forward. >> still to come for you on b "bbc world news." the national archives reveals just how seriously the government used to take apparent sitings of u.v.o. -- u.f.o.'s. >> the judge agreed with the argument that ban was discriminatory therefore unconstitutional. supporters of the ban plan to appeal the ruling. >> outside the port in san francisco, supporters of gay marriage welcomed the ruling. >> we're one step closer to the quality that we absolutely deserve. >> despite symbolic ceremonies

afterwards, gay people cannot get married yet. the judge must decide when his ruling must come into effect. parties celebrated what they sa is a victory for their civil rights. so today we begin the process of equality. marry who you wish to marry. religious groups made their continuing opposition clear. they will appeal against the ruling. >> i am saddened and, but i know that god cannot be shaken. >> most americans oppose it. many say it goes against tradition. five states allow it. in california it was legal for a few months until the ban known as proposition eight came in two years ago. now the issue could ultimately be decided by the u.s. supreme

court with implications for the whole country. >> and you're hearing much more background and analysis on that story on bbc.com/news. you'll find more articles on same sex marriages across the different states. >> latest head lines for you on bbc world news. the supermodel naomi campbell has told a world crimes court she received dirty-looking stones which she assumed were diamond from charles taylor. >> four million people now affected by the floods in pakistan. they now move toward karachi. >> for the first time the

united states will be represented at the ceremony. about 140,000 people were killed or died within months when the american plane dropped the bomb in august 1945. let's go to hi row shim -- hiroshima. what's going to be happening there? >> every year since the bombing in 1945, the people of hiroshima have gathered to remember the dead and to call for world peace as well. this was a bustling shopping district but everything apart from that skeletal dome was obliterated, was destroyed. and this place has been left as a peace park, a memorial to the dead. >> i know there's an american presence there for the first time as we've been saying

there's a presence of japanese people that hope that president obama come for the first time. >> other nuclear powers have sent ambassadors to. and ban ki-moon is attending. no u.n. secretary general has been here before. he said he's comes here to show solidarity with the survivors. he said having heard their stories, he's going to push for the elimination of nuclear weapons. >> how strong is the feeling that wants to hear an apology from the united states and how likely is that? >> i think it's pretty clear there won't be an apology. the american ambassador has been refusing interviews because he might be asked that very question. but for the message that hiroshima wants to send, what they call the spirit of hiroshima is because they want

world piece -- peace and they don't want nuclear weapons again. now there are some questions about whether young japanese learn much about japan's record about the war as they do about the bombing, but they agree that this should never happen again. >> thank you very much, indeed, for that. >> rwanda's president is standing for we election on monday. days before the vote, the government has issued a strongly worded statement denying any involvement in killing political opponents. the comments were in response during allegations during a bbc investigation that he had ordered assassinations. rob walker has the details. >> this man who's ruled rwanda virtually uncontested for more than a decade. he's brought stability and he's helped build a country destroyed by genocide. now the president wants more

year in power. but his government has been accused of crushing opposition and even ordering the assassination of rivals but that they have seriously denied. in june, the former head of the rwanda army was shot in the stomach in johannesburg. he survived and accused the president of ordering the shooting. six days later, a journalist investigating that attack was shot dead outside his home. he claimed he hader evidence that the rue wan dan government was behind the assassination attempt. then three weeks ago, the body of an opposition politician was found almost decapitated near the town of putari. but the president ridicules claims that the government was

involved in that attack. >> why would the government be that stupid? i never knew i would be in a government that would be seen that stupid. >> he believes his record speaks for itself. a national health system the envy of many african countries. these women are now less likely to die giving birth. children will be vaccinated for free. it's a move that has brought him a lot of praise. supporters flocked here to help him rebuild the country. development first, democracy later. there's plenty of development but finding progress towards

real democracy is getting harder and harder to see here. there's little space for critical voices. two independent newspapers have been suspended in recent months. many journalists have left the country. since you bring independence, they see you as -- as a negative journalist, as a person who was dead. >> the president's political opponents complain of being harassed and intimidated. >> this man says he was beaten up after trying to join the opposition. >> we were beat within clubs on the head and all over our bodies. they smashed my head against a brick wall. >> but the government rejects these claims and said people are free to speak and to criticize as long as they don't threaten stability or push the country back towards ethnic

violence. there's no question about the outcome of this election. the president faces no general opposition. the real question for rwanda is when the president will the allow challenges to emerge in the years ahead. if he doesn't, the frustrations already evident will begin to threaten rwanda. >> files just released reveal how seriously the british government took sitings of unidentified flying oments in the 1950's. senior intelligent experts met to discuss the issue. documents were released today. >> if the truth of u.f.o.'s are really out there, the closest we can get to it is here. the results of government investigations into hundreds of sitings made public for the

first time. why were the fighter planes not scrambled to investigate this? an unexplained light filmed in 1996 matched a blip on an air traffic control radar. this is in fact, planet venus. and a blip just a permanent echo from a tall church expire. we know that in 1957 they took u.f.o. sitings so seriously they were discussed confidentially. they changed radically after the cold war. >> by the time you goat the 19 9 o's. you get massive amounts of interests. aircrafts no longer investigate things. over the next year, the m.o.d. will release thousands of documents about u.f.o.'s.

some of the most interesting ones are yet to come. and they're going to find out whether the m.o.d. really believes that u.f. ose's from outer space really exist. -- u.f.o.'s real from outer space really exist. >> hippos in -- are one of the most heaviest animals. you should meet this one. she ways 16 kilos. she is at the zoo in sidney. it is believed there are no more than 3,000 pygmy hippos left in the wild. >> we figured you rather look at her than at me because she just is cute, isn't she? you have much more online. you'll find us on twitter and on facebook as well. thanks for being with us on "bbc world news."

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