08/07/2014 BBC World News

A powerful typhoon hits Japan's southern islands - more than half

a million people are urged to leave their homes for safety.

A report into the South Korean ferry sinking blames official

corruption and negligence - almost 300 people died in the disaster.

Hamas says Israel should shoulder its responsibility for the

escalating violence in Gaza after a major military operation there.

and we meet the young woman who defied her disability to add to the

titles she won in Australia and France.

Hello and welcome. It is one of the strongest storms to sweep the

Pacific in decades. These are the latest pictures of

Japan's southern island of Okinawa where people are beginning to feel

the brunt of Typhoon Neoguri. More than half

a million people are leaving Flights

in the area have been cancelled, sea lanes closed and around 70,000

homes are without power. The storm will be at its most

powerful as it passes Okinawa. Officials warn it could bring waves

up to 14 metres high and wind gusts This gives you an idea

of just how big this typhoon is this is a view from

the international space station. Typhoon Neoguri stretches

from Southern Japan to Taiwan. The typhoon is expected to gradually

weaken gradually over the next 24 to 48 hours but they are

still expecting a lot of rain. The islands south of Japan

and southern Japan itself could see That could cause flash floods

and landslides. Neoguri is expected to track north

then east, Then it should make its way up

the main island of Honshu Our correspondent in Tokyo says the

storm remains a big concern. It was a super typhoon. It is now weakening

but it is still a really huge weather system. It is carrying a lot

of wind and a huge amount of moisture. The latest reports I have

seen on the television I have seen from Okinawa show a lot of

structural damage. All the traffic lights are out. There are widespread

power cuts. All the things you would expect to see in a storm of this

scale. The good news is there are no reports of fatalities so far. It

looks like people in Okinawa are riding out the storm so far quite

successfully. Japan is a wealthy country with well built strong

buildings. People are staying inside and it looks like by and large they

are staying safe. Japan does prepare for typhoons well because they

experience them a lot, doesn't it? Japan is a country which prepares

for all sorts of disasters. It sits in the typhoon region of the western

Pacific. It is also right on the Pacific Ring of Fire so it is used

to earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes. It is a country which

thinks very well and builds buildings to withstand these kind of

disasters. It is very different from what we saw in the Philippines when

the typhoon struck last year. Here, the instructor is much better and

can with and the storm is much better.

We will be keeping across that storm to find out what damage it causes.

Let's stay in the region. A South Korean government report into the

ferry thinking which killed almost 300 people back in April, has

pointed to official corruption and negligence -- the ferry sinking. The

release comes as the trial of the captain and some of the crewmembers

resumes. Video footage will be presented in court from the day the

sinking. The BBC's Lucy Williams is outside the court and she says there

have been some distressing scenes. Inside the court there has been a

lot of footage of the captain and crew and also footage from inside

the ship, shot by one of the schoolchildren who died in this

disaster. That footage shows him and his classmates gathered in the

corridors of the ship, wearing their life jackets, laughing and joking,

not understanding the gravity of the situation. The prosecution was

insistent that this was important footage to show because it indicated

how close the exit doors were for many of the children on board. They

are making the case that none of these deaths needed to happen if the

captain and crew had acted differently. The judge said he

understood this would be very distressing footage, particularly

for the families of many of these young victims, who come here every

week to watch the proceedings. Indeed, there were many tears in the

courtroom as the footage was displayed. One woman was seen

outside the courtroom breaking down in tears, screaming again and again,

give me back my children. All this comes on the same day that an

interim government report spread the blame for this disaster much more

widely, calling into question the actions of the Coast Guard,

regulators, inspectors. 11 officials have already faced corruption

charges and the South Korean president all this time is vowing to

clean up these lax regulations and inspections and make South Korea

safe for its citizens. Lucy Williamson there.

Let's bring you the latest on the Middle East. Israel is taking other

measures in case it decides to send ground troops into the Gaza Strip.

The situation on the ground has becoming creasing utensil.

Overnight, Israel carried out air strikes towards 50 targets in Gaza.

Doctors say women and children were injured. Israel says the action is

aimed at stopping the barrage of rockets being fired by Hamas.

Earlier I spoke to Sir Peter Lerner. He said they had not ruled out

sending in ground troops and He said they had not ruled out

sending in ground troops they are targeting Hamas strongholds. The

situation where Hamas chooses to infiltrate the structure is a huge

challenge for us. We have intelligence and we are striking the

heart of that organisation, its operatives, its infrastructure, the

rockets which are being poised and prepared to be launched at our

towns. Will you use ground troops? I say that we hope not. We have to be

prepared for that escalation. Indeed, we are preparing, we have

called up some reservists and we are taking the necessary steps around

the Gaza Strip to be prepared for that option. That is not a DS

collation, is it? No, that is what we call for last week. They have

escalated the situation and forced us to a situation where we have no

choice, we have to respond. That was Sir Peter Lerner from the Israeli

defence Force speaking to me early on.

The Australian government have refused... A legal challenges the

latest development in a growing controversy when Australia confirmed

that a boat with more than 40 other Sri Lankan asylum seekers was

intercepted at sea and turned around on Sunday. Phil Mercer is in Sydney

and he has been following the latest developments. The High Court here in

Australia issued an interim injunction against the transfer of

asylum seekers from this second vessel, apparently intercepted by

Australian authorities near Christmas Island in the Indian

Ocean. The full hearing resumes in the southern city of Melbourne

today. At issue, exactly where this asylum boat was stopped by the

Australians. The government insists it was picked up outside of

Australia's territorial waters, therefore the passengers on board

are not able to claim asylum in Australia. Refugee lawyers have a

very different view, they believe the boat was intercepted in

Australian waters, therefore those on board can seek asylum here. It is

a very conjugated Kay said it has been adjourned for about three weeks

but that raises big questions. What happens to these asylum seekers in

the care of the authorities for the next 21 days, while they are still

being kept on the high seas. The issue of asylum seekers and

immigration is very big in Australia. This episode plays into a

wider context of tough measures taken by the government. The

Conservative Prime Minister was elected in Australia in September of

last year, and part of his election campaign was promising to stop the

boats. That was Mr Abbott's mantra, the boats being vessels carrying

unauthorised maritime arrivals into Australia's northern waters. In

recent years we have seen a steady flow of those boats. Mr Abbott

brought in the military to try and fortify Australia's northern

maritime borders. Offshore detention camps were opened as a deterrent for

asylum seekers. Some very hard-line measures pursued by the Australian

government. Many voters agreed with Mr Abbott but there is a part of

Australia that believes that Mr Abbott is behaving unfairly harshly.

Till Mercer in Sydney now. The defence team of Oscar Pistorius

has ended its case. The prosecution finished cross-examining the final

defence witness yesterday. Mr Pistorius denies murder. He claims

he shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp when he shot her stake for

an intruder. Milton Nkosi reports. As you can see, the packing up as

begun. The judge said they would reconvene here on the 7th of

August. We do not know when... expected to ask for money so that

detention centres can be built for the children and officials hired to

look after them. It is all about the children.

Outside the White House, opponents of plans to deport unaccompanied

child migrants raised their voices. For them, this is a simple

humanitarian issue. Some of them do not know what is happening. They

said, you go with these people. On the other side of the argument,

passions are just as strong. These are anti-immigration protesters in

California last week, angry at the number of immigrants entering the US

illegally. Since October, 52,000 unaccompanied children from

Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras have been caught entering the United

States. That is double the figure from the year before. According to

the White House, those who can prove they are suffering at home can stay.

the president. Bill Clinton 's runs throughout Washington DC during the

morning rush hour probably presented the Secret Service with its greatest

challenge during my protective career. We went out the same gate

and ran the same routes. When you become predictable that's when the

real danger comes in. become predictable that's when the

real danger comes The qualities that make a really good Secret Service

agent is first of all, the ability to with stand a lot of hardship, a

lot of physical discomfort, but the will to do the job. You are not

going to get a lot of thanks, you are not going to get any

recognition, but what you do get is a feeling of accomplishment, of a

job well done when you go home at the end of the day and the president

is still alive. Retired Secret Service agent

Dan Emmett there on what it takes