11/08/2014 BBC World News

Hello. Welcome to BBC World News. Our top stories.

Iraq's highest court upholds Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki's calls to

form a new government. But the US voices concerns over the process.

There will be little international support of any kind whatsoever for

anything that deviates from legitimate constitutional process

that is in place and being worked on now.

As a three-day ceasefire in Gaza continues, an Israeli delegation is

in Cairo for talks on a longer term solution to the conflict.

Turkey's newly elected president the outgoing Prime Minister Recep

Tayyip Erdogan calls for a new period of social reconciliation.

"We did not abandon our son." The Australian couple accused of

turning their backs on a baby born in Thailand with Down's syndrome

Iraq's highest court has ruled in favour of the caretaker prime

minister, Nouri al-Maliki, in a dispute with the president.

The court said that Mr Maliki could retain his position.

The president must now ask him to form a new government or he

This ruling comes as Iraq continues its battle with

Islamic State militants in the country's north and west.

Another US airdrop to those in desperate need sheltering those

exposed on Mt Sinjar in northern Iraq.

There have been for such missions to deliver urgently needed supplies.

The plight of those on the mountain, mainly from the minority Yazidi

sect has refocused international concern on the threat

from fighters from what is now known as the Islamic State.

In Baghdad heightened security because the political crisis

The Prime Minister announced that he was taking the President to court as

Our final illegal complaint against the president

of the Republic for committing a clear violation of the Constitution

That Parliament has backed the Prime Minister and will ask him

John Kerry has urged Nouri al-Maliki not too stirred tensions.

Washington sees the Iraqi Prime Minister as an obstacle

to a broad-based government in Baghdad that is necessary to

There will be little international support of any kind whatsoever

for anything that deviates from the legitimate constituency

process that is in place and being worked on now.

They need to finish that now and give a new government an opportunity

On the front line in northern Iraq fighters are ready to defend

It is reported that Washington is directly supplying

There are reports that Islamic State militants have captured the town

of Jalawla, northeast of Baghdad after weeks

The seizure of Jalawla, about 115 kilometres from the Iraqi capital,

comes a day after a suicide bomber killed 10 Kurdish fighters there.

With me in the studio is Mohamed Yehia of BBC Arabic.

Let's begin with that court ruling in favour of Nouri al-Maliki. At the

moment details are still unclear. This court ruling was announced on

HEV channel controlled by the military government. In the last few

minutes we have heard a denial of that from the spokesman of the court

saying that they have suggested to the president that the biggest bloc

should form the government but they say that they did not name which is

the biggest bloc so there is a bit of confusion about this news and we

need to treat it with caution. We are hearing about the deployment of

troops in Baghdad. What is the significance of that? Is Nouri

al-Maliki trying to shore up his position? We have heard this from

inside and outside. Nouri al-Maliki is insisting that he wants to form a

new government and get a third term. But there are voices even from

within the Shia community which want to see a replacement because he is

accused of adopting sectarian policies that favour shears at the

expense of Sunni Muslim. That is one of the reasons that Isis has made

these games. He denies that. He says that he is the protector of the

country against the Islamic State militants. He has been accused of

alienating both Sunni Muslims and Kurds in the past. What do you make

of this statement by the Islamic militants? It is another expression

of the fluidity of the situation. You have the militants from this

group the Islamic State nicking and choosing targets across a large

swathes of land that they have captured within the last few days.

They have several towns in the north. Sinjar mountains and

Qaraqosh. Hundreds of people have fled from them, including the Zaidi.

Now we hear this report of the Islamic State capturing Joe Marler.

-- Jalawa. The more the ability of the government to confront this

security threat is necessary. Israeli negotiators are in Cairo for

indirect talks with Palestinian groups, aimed at finding a long-term

solution to the conflict in Gaza. The three day ceasefire

between Israel These are live pictures from Gaza.

In fact, the latest pictures, not life pictures. As you can see, there

are signs of normal life returning to the streets after weeks of

fighting. The ceasefire should allow more

humanitarian aid into the territory, where thousands have been left

homeless. And there's also growing hopes of a

long term deal to end the fighting. But the diplomacy in Cairo

remains dependent on the current Figures suggest more than 1,900

Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a month of fighting with 67

Israelis also losing their lives. Many Israeli homes

near to Gaza were evacuated, but in the last few hours, some

Israelis have been taking advantage For more on the situation

in Gaza go to the BBC News website. There's full background

and analysis. Let's have an update now on Ukraine.

Fighting is continuing between government forces and pro-Russian

rebels in the east of the country. This is Donetsk in the last few

hours. Shortly after a Ukrainian military spokesman said government

forces were preparing for the final stage of recapturing the city. The

spokesman said that Donetsk was now cut off from the other main rebel

held area. We will bring you more on the developing situation. The newly

elected president of Turkey says he wants to start a new Eire of social

reconciliation after becoming the country 's first directly elected

head of state. He has already served three terms as the country's Prime

Minister. He told thousands of supporters in Ankara that his

victory was for all Turks. TRANSLATION: I speak from all of my

heart, today is the day that we initiate a social reconciliation

process. Please leave aside the old discussions, old disputes, old

tensions in the old turkey. Let others leave all these virtual

problems and conflicts in the old Turkey. We just heard their heard

there from the new president using a previously unknown reconciliation

tree tone of voice. He has used a conciliatory tone but nobody

believes that there is going to be social reconciliation with him in

office. He remains a divisive character. How much power will a

president have? In the past, it has been a largely ceremonial role. Yes,

it has. Before the election he was really excited to have much more

power than the previous presidents in Turkey. Now everybody is

expecting, waiting to see what he is going to do. He can change the

constitution to have more power but the percentage of votes that he got

may not be enough to change the constitution. He remains a divisive

character and huge swathes of Turkey remain sceptical about what he will

bring to the country as president. Actually, it is maybe a little bit

early to say that but we will all see what is going to happen. They

should decide about the Prime Minister and ten months later we

have a general election. It is going to be a very tricky process.

Stay with us on BBC World News, still to come:

How Uganda has resisted an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus

Chinese people around the world are beginning to celebrate the hungry

ghost Festival, a time when I'm friendly spirits are released from

the underworld and cause just -- cause mischief. But a fashion

designer in Hong Kong is challenging those traditions. In the seventh

month the Chinese often burn paper offerings for the dead. It is meant

to come evil spirits who might otherwise cause trouble during the

hungry ghost Festival. Just to be safe, the living maintain many

traditions including elaborate operas to entertain wandering souls.

They are giving the best music, food and gifts. Belief in the

supernatural is so strong that this month is considered a bad time to

get married, sign contracts or even go swimming. To challenge traditions

based on fear, for the first time, a fashion show featuring female

clothes. The organisers of the event believe that Hong Kong people are

too superstitious. This show is meant to give the agent hungry ghost

Festival a very modern update. The models are showing off classical

Chinese clothing with a contemporary twist. The woman behind the show

tells me that she believes the ghost Festival is taken too seriously. Why

do we need to be scared of a custom? A Chinese traditional

festival. I have no idea. I thought, why not just throw a party, a

fashion show to cause interest and inspire people to more discussions.

The models are not worried about upsetting ghosts. They say it is

time to shake up the age old Festival. Welcome back. The latest

headlines: Iraq's Supreme Court upholds interim

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's It says Mr Maliki could retain

his position. Egypt's state news agency said that

talks between Israeli and Palestinian representatives have

begun. They are aimed at trying to bring an end to the conflict in

Gaza. We will bring more on the outcome of the talks as soon as we

have it from correspondence on the ground.

The Ebola outbreak continues to spread in West Africa,

with the Nigerian authorities having just confirmed a new case,

The virus kills between fifty and 60% of those who catch it and there

Uganda is not affected by the current outbreak

but has had to deal with dozens of cases in the last decade.

Catherine Byaruhanga is in Kampala and sent this report.

On the lookout for Ebola. The authorities are worried the outbreak

could spread. At the International airports, passengers are screened

for the virus. These peacekeepers have arrived from the Democratic

Republic of Congo. Since 2000, Uganda has had the highest number of

outbreaks. This history has made the country a centre for Ebola experts.

Over 20 health workers are being sent to west Africa to help with the

epidemic. This doctor is one of them. With years of experience

handling the disease, he knows what needs to be done. You need to accept

that Ebola is with you at the beginning, that is important. It has

spread out. It is like a bush fire. We are going to do firefighting. An

outbreak centred in the north of Uganda in 2000 killed more than half

of the people infected. Like the epidemic in west Africa today, the

authorities found it hard to react. That picture has changed. In the

first outbreaks, samples were sent to the United States for cases to be

confirmed. Now it takes 24 hours at this American funded laboratory. I

am in an airtight room. I am not allowed to cross over. Some of the

most dangerous diseases are being tested for, including Ebola. This is

one of a handful of laboratories on the continent. This man is a lead

scientist and worked on the 2000 outbreak in Uganda. He thinks

education is key. First of all, Ebola is real. They need to report.

People cannot survive Ebola. Government campaigns have raised

awareness about the virus. Uganda is not wealthy, but it has made the

most of what it has to stop widespread outbreaks. This should

give hope to others. The Ebola outbreak - the worst ever

- is centred on Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, but has spread to

other countries in recent months. Nearly 1,000 people have died

and 1,800 have become infected. Liberia's information minister has

admitted that the country's health With me is Cokie Van Der Velde,

a water and sanitations specialist with the medical charity

Medecins Sans Frontieres. She's just returned from Liberia,

and has recently spent a month Thanks for joining us. Your

organisation has described the situation in library area with

regard to the health service as falling apart. -- Liberia. The

situation is dire. Statistics do not show how bad it is. You were in

Guinea, as well, how would you describe your experience and compare

the two countries? The situation in Guinea seems to be improving with

not as many new cases coming forward. In Liberia, there were only

a few cases in July. When I left at the end of July, they were

overflowing with patients. Tell me some of the things you saw. What are

people dealing with? There is great fear. Some people do not want to

accept it exists and deny it exists and as a result, come late to the

clinics. If they come early, there is a chance of survival and the

fatality rate is 50%. If they come late, it is 95%. What are the main

challenges? Is it raising public awareness, education as to how it is

spread? Said many aspects need to be covered. We do not have the number

of people on the ground to do this. There is community education and

mobilisation and alert and response to new cases. The setting up of

treatment units and training staff. So much needs to be done. What are

your thoughts on the experimental drug we are hearing about, which has

not been tested, but which has been used on the experimental drug we are

hearing about, which has not been tested, but which has been used onto

American aid workers? If there is the possibility of a treatment it

would be great but there needs to be a proper framework so it is tested

and results are made known. We wish you and your organisation luck in

tackling this awful outbreak. The Australian couple accused

of abandoning their baby with his Thai surrogate mother because he

was born with Down's Syndrome have David and Wendy Farnell deny

the accusations saying they felt they had little choice

but to leave Thailand with The case has drawn international

attention to the lack of regulation Baby Gammy surrogates mother has

accused the couple of callously turning their backs on a child born

with Down's syndrome and returning to Australia with his healthy

sister. Not so, say the couple, who, in an interview on Australia's

Channel nine, alleged that the surrogates mother refused to let

them take Gammy home. We wanted to bring him and things were happening

that we could not bring him. We asked her... Can you please give us

back... Please give us our boy, we want our boy. She got very angry.

They say they left Thailand in a panic, fearing they would not be

able to leave with the twin sister. The surrogates mother wanted to take

our girl. -- surrogates. We were getting scared we were going to lose

her. We had to try to get out as fast as we could. The story of claim

and counterclaim has another twist. The woman who gave birth to the

twins in December admits she did not let the Australians take baby Gammy,

because she feared they would not look after him. TRANSLATION: I never

said I wanted to keep their babies. I did not allow Gammy to go with

them. That is the truth. It is because they would put him in an

institution. I just hope my daughter is safe and they will keep their

word. Authorities in Western Australia are

investigating the safety and well-being of the other baby because

of David Farnell's convictions for abusing young girls. He was jailed

for offences in the 1990s. The 56-year-old was rigorously challenge

during the TV interview about his criminal past. He insisted he was no

longer a danger to children. The case has prompted a review of

surrogacy laws in Thailand but it remained smothered in confusion. Now

to a roller-coaster ride that did not turn out as expected. Passengers

on the ride in Maryland in the US were left stranded at the top when

it wrote down. They were rescued four hours later. This is the jokers

jinx, an ironic name if you are one of these people. Passengers trapped

at 23 metres in the air, for several hours. Emergency officials said the

roller coasters malfunctioned, leaving them stuck near the highest

point of the ride on Sunday. If hanging precariously was not

enough, the scorching heat meant that rescue workers had to give out

umbrellas for protection. The company said it is not clear what

caused the ride to stop, but it has a computerised safety system that

performed as designed. It comes after passengers were freed from a

roller-coaster as another part in California. In this latest incident,

the ups and downs of the roller coasters have ground to a halt in

definitely. The company said it will complete a thorough investigation.

Stargazers in the northern hemisphere have been taking images

of a supermoon. The Moon appears 40% bigger and brighter than normal as

it reaches the point in its orbit closest to the Earth. It is a

perigee moon. If you missed it, the next is due in early September.

Before we go, an update on breaking news. Talks between Israeli and

Palestinian representatives to try to end the conflict in Gaza are

reported to have started. The news come from the Egyptian run state

news agency. More on that and all of the stories we are covering on the

BBC website. That is all this hour. So far, the Scottish referendum

has focused on whether independence is good or bad

for Scotland.