:00:00. > :00:10.This is BBC World News Today with me, Philippa Thomas.
:00:11. > :00:13.Baghdad has formally called on the United States to launch air
:00:14. > :00:17.North of Baghdad, the two sides have been fighting for control of Iraq's
:00:18. > :00:23.Iraq's Prime Minister vows to drive back Islamist militants.
:00:24. > :00:26.Meanwhile, President Hamid Karzai tells the BBC the escalating
:00:27. > :00:30.sectarian violence in Iraq will not be repeated in Afghanistan.
:00:31. > :00:35.Also coming up: Ending his reign with a hug and a kiss. Spain's King
:00:36. > :00:44.Spain's King Juan Carlos signs the abdication act that will give
:00:45. > :00:55.The throne to his son. And I am Jon Sopel in Brazil, where
:00:56. > :00:57.the Netherlands look certain to progress after beating Australia,
:00:58. > :01:02.which means Spain, the world champions, must avoid defeat to
:01:03. > :01:08.ensure staying in. The Iraqi Government has formally
:01:09. > :01:21.called on the United States to strikes against jihadist militants.
:01:22. > :01:24.A battle is being waged over Iraq's biggest oil refinery as extremists
:01:25. > :01:28.and government forces fight to take control.
:01:29. > :01:30.The government claims it has now driven out ISIS extremists from the
:01:31. > :01:33.refinery which lies about 100 miles north of the capital Baghdad in the
:01:34. > :01:36.town of Baiji. But some rebels have claimed they hold three-quarters of
:01:37. > :01:38.the plant. The Iraqi Prime minister Nouri
:01:39. > :01:40.Maliki has again urged his countrymen, in a televised speech,
:01:41. > :01:42.to unite against ISIS. My colleague Yalda Hakim is charting
:01:43. > :01:46.the progress of the ISIS forces from Irbil in northern Iraq, not far from
:01:47. > :02:02.Mosul, the first city to fall in Yalda, over to you.
:02:03. > :02:08.Well, we spent the day on the outskirts of Irbil, 40 minutes away
:02:09. > :02:13.from Mosul, which is where the insurgents in ISIS are at the moment
:02:14. > :02:23.and have control. We saw so many people leaving Mosul for a safe
:02:24. > :02:28.haven in Irbil. There are concerns this could lead to all-out sectarian
:02:29. > :02:33.war, the kind of fighting we saw in 2006 and 2007. Across the country,
:02:34. > :02:39.the battlefield keeps changing and the situation is very fluid at the
:02:40. > :02:47.moment. Just south of Kirkup, in bhaji, there has been fighting
:02:48. > :02:55.between Sunni insurgents and the Army -- Baiji.
:02:56. > :02:57.Another day, and another assault by ISIS.
:02:58. > :02:59.These images seemed to show the Sunni extremists triumphantly
:03:00. > :03:01.entering Baiji, around 100 miles from the capital,
:03:02. > :03:03.and making the most of the military equipment they have
:03:04. > :03:08.Baiji is home to Iraq's largest oil refinery and in the past 24 hours,
:03:09. > :03:12.We can't verify these images but they appear to show smoke rising
:03:13. > :03:20.We were taken by the government to the west of Baghdad.
:03:21. > :03:23.To see their special forces in action.
:03:24. > :03:25.They were carrying out vehicle checks.
:03:26. > :03:27.They appeared well armed and equipped
:03:28. > :03:32.and said they were already battle hardened and ready to take on ISIS.
:03:33. > :03:38.We fight them in Ramadi, Fallujah, we fight in Samarra too
:03:39. > :03:45.So any time, you know, anywhere, we go and we fight them.
:03:46. > :03:47.Do you think they will come to Baghdad?
:03:48. > :03:52.This is a carefully choreographed media opportunity by the Iraqi
:03:53. > :03:59.government to show off their best troops, their special forces
:04:00. > :04:01.and to underline that they are in control of the capital Baghdad.
:04:02. > :04:12.The reality is, though, that ISIS is still fighting
:04:13. > :04:19.These are the latest volunteers for the Iraqi army.
:04:20. > :04:22.They are still learning to march and how to fire their weapons.
:04:23. > :04:25.And so far, government forces have proved unable to halt the advance
:04:26. > :04:32.There is still evidence too of a sectarian divide.
:04:33. > :04:34.They are chanting the name of the leading Shia cleric.
:04:35. > :04:37.Yet Iraq's Prime Minister, addressing the nation,
:04:38. > :04:41.still insists that despite failings, they are united.
:04:42. > :04:45.TRANSLATION: Not every setback is a defeat.
:04:46. > :04:52.This has allowed Iraq to recovered national unity.
:04:53. > :04:54.This has allowed Iraq to recover national unity.
:04:55. > :04:56.Not a single Iraqi would benefit from this crisis.
:04:57. > :04:59.Only the terrorists will benefit and those who trade in arms.
:05:00. > :05:01.Those who start the fire are burned by fire.
:05:02. > :05:04.But if anyone thought ISIS was a disorganised, disparate group,
:05:05. > :05:07.here is some evidence to make them think again.
:05:08. > :05:10.This is their annual report for 2013, a slick document that
:05:11. > :05:18.boasts of over 1,000 assassinations and more than 500 car bombings.
:05:19. > :05:20.For Iraq, it is now a fight for survival.
:05:21. > :05:22.Here, Kurdish militia are seen taking
:05:23. > :05:30.Even if they can be defeated, ISIS has already opened up a sectarian
:05:31. > :05:48.Today in Irbil, we have been hearing about people returning to Mosul,
:05:49. > :05:50.trying to find some normality in their lives, but the crisis in Iraq
:05:51. > :06:06.continues. Back to you in London. Yalda, thank you very much, from
:06:07. > :06:09.Irbil in northern Iraq. With me in this year is professor Ali Ansari, a
:06:10. > :06:12.specialist on Iran from the University of St Andrews in
:06:13. > :06:13.Scotland, and joining me from Washington is David Gordon, head of
:06:14. > :06:19.research with the Eurasia Group. He's worked at the highest levels
:06:20. > :06:20.of foreign and national security, including the US State Department
:06:21. > :06:22.and the National Intelligence Council.
:06:23. > :06:33.Welcome both to world news today. -- World News Today. President Obama is
:06:34. > :06:40.talking through with congressional leaders right now whether there
:06:41. > :06:43.should be as strikes? Right, and I think the president's intention is
:06:44. > :06:49.to walk what is going to be very tough line to walk. On the one
:06:50. > :06:55.hand, I think that the United States is extremely worried about ISIS and
:06:56. > :07:04.about the prospect of ISIS carving out large sections of northern and
:07:05. > :07:10.western Iraq as an area that is a no-go zone for governing. On the
:07:11. > :07:15.other hand, I think the president is very wary about getting involved
:07:16. > :07:22.directly in what is increasingly looking like a sectarian civil war,
:07:23. > :07:25.and so I think that the military option is that the United States is
:07:26. > :07:31.going to get to hear are really going to focus on degrading ISIS and
:07:32. > :07:41.particularly the ISIS leadership capabilities through drone strikes
:07:42. > :07:46.and such activities, rather than engagement in the actual military
:07:47. > :07:52.campaign on the side of the Iraqi government. Ali Ansari, if the US is
:07:53. > :07:58.seen to be making common cause with Iran on tying to -- trying to
:07:59. > :08:03.degrade ISIS, that will cause political problems in Washington
:08:04. > :08:09.too. Is it likely to happen? This is not entirely new, we have seen
:08:10. > :08:13.similar conflicts of interest with the Taliban in Afghanistan. We have
:08:14. > :08:15.seen it where the United States and Afghanistan, for different reasons,
:08:16. > :08:23.have approached the same targets and it has worked, in some ways, over
:08:24. > :08:29.the last decade, in Iran's favour but in this case, it would be
:08:30. > :08:32.interesting to see what sort of cooperation, and I wouldn't want to
:08:33. > :08:37.say it is direct or intimate in any way, but what it would do to the
:08:38. > :08:39.mood in Tehran itself, because obviously they view toward the
:08:40. > :08:44.United States in official circles has been deeply antagonistic, but
:08:45. > :08:51.the United States could be of assistance here. He gets the point
:08:52. > :08:56.you are talking about the object, I suppose. America is talking about in
:08:57. > :09:14.a future Iraq and Iran would be looking towards Shia interests. I
:09:15. > :09:18.think divergences... The immediate problem is getting rid of ISIS and
:09:19. > :09:22.we are looking at trust building, and we had to be quite modest in
:09:23. > :09:25.what we can expect but there is the possibility that something could
:09:26. > :09:29.emerge from this. David Gordon, you are talking about the limited
:09:30. > :09:33.American appetite for military intervention. If getting that limit
:09:34. > :09:41.means turning a blind eye to what Iran is doing, saying to -- say to
:09:42. > :09:48.protect Shia shrines, cannot work from an American perspective? I
:09:49. > :09:58.think the US here is not going to want to be seen at or as working
:09:59. > :10:02.directly or even in the same course as Iran, and that is what this fine
:10:03. > :10:07.line that I was talking about before means. -- same cause. The United
:10:08. > :10:17.States is going to engage you in a counterterrorism operation, rather
:10:18. > :10:21.than abroad operation to support the Shia dominated government and, of
:10:22. > :10:32.course, President Obama made very clear last week that what he is
:10:33. > :10:40.urging on Prime Minister Maliki is to build much more consensus -based
:10:41. > :10:45.political centre in Iraq. That is not going to happen. I mean, right
:10:46. > :10:49.now, for Maliki, the only part way forward is to mobilise the sheer
:10:50. > :10:59.face, both in the conventional forces and through trying to -- Shia
:11:00. > :11:03.base, both in the conventional forces and militias that are being
:11:04. > :11:12.formed to support the army, so I don't see any US collaboration here,
:11:13. > :11:16.even at the level of rhetoric, with the Iranians. It is true, and Ali
:11:17. > :11:24.Ansari is right, that both the US and Iran share an interest in
:11:25. > :11:32.degrading ISIS, and that is true. The hope for the United States...
:11:33. > :11:38.Let me just bring in Ali Ansari on this a game, is there an Iranian
:11:39. > :11:45.interest in Iraq holding together or not? I think there is at the moment
:11:46. > :11:51.and one of the reasons is that Nouri al-Maliki is seen as Iran's man
:11:52. > :11:56.effectively, so why sees any part of -- sees any part of Iraq when you
:11:57. > :12:00.have what you may see as a client there. What you do have in the
:12:01. > :12:04.United States is that Nouri al-Maliki hasn't done a terribly
:12:05. > :12:08.good job, he has been fairly exclusive and alienated the Sunnis
:12:09. > :12:12.and it will be interesting to see if they look at this in Tehran with a
:12:13. > :12:18.little more sober reflection and say, we have troubles in Syria,
:12:19. > :12:21.prolonged in in a prolonged struggle there, so we don't need anything on
:12:22. > :12:24.our doorstep even more messy, so what sort of political arrangements
:12:25. > :12:29.do we need to need to make to make sure this doesn't happen? Ali Ansari
:12:30. > :12:37.David Gordon, sorry to cut you off, but thank you both for your insight.
:12:38. > :12:40.It does seem as if Iraq has erupted after a delayed three years after
:12:41. > :12:49.the American troops left. National Intelligence Council.
:12:50. > :12:52.Is there a danger that something similar
:12:53. > :12:54.could happen in Afghanistan, where US troops are due to finish combat
:12:55. > :12:58.operations by the end of this year? Every morning, President Karzai
:12:59. > :13:00.walks to the office with bodyguards He lives and works inside this
:13:01. > :13:03.heavily protected palace. Taliban threats mean he very
:13:04. > :13:06.rarely leaves his fortress. The men in his security cabinet have
:13:07. > :13:09.worked alongside NATO forces for more than a decade, but like Iraq,
:13:10. > :13:12.foreign combat troops are pulling out and there is concern Al-Qaeda
:13:13. > :13:20.linked groups could make a comeback. So many around the world are now
:13:21. > :13:23.asking, Afghans are asking, whether what is happening in Iraq
:13:24. > :13:25.could happen in Afghanistan. I am confident about the Afghan
:13:26. > :13:35.people. Yes, we do need international
:13:36. > :13:37.support, where we don't have That is welcome,
:13:38. > :13:42.for that we are grateful. But the keeping of the country,
:13:43. > :13:45.the protection of the country, This government refused to take up
:13:46. > :13:50.the offer of a strategic pact with the United States
:13:51. > :13:52.which would have meant a long-term But the two men vying to be the next
:13:53. > :13:59.president have both said they will sign the deal and that could help
:14:00. > :14:03.Afghanistan avoid some of the worst For years,
:14:04. > :14:10.many doubted there would even be Now the president checks goodbye
:14:11. > :14:15.letters he will soon send to foreign leaders, including this one to
:14:16. > :14:20.David Cameron. Mr President, what are you going to
:14:21. > :14:23.say to the British Prime Minister I will thank him,
:14:24. > :14:29.and the British people, for the help You have said that NATO forces have
:14:30. > :14:35.done nothing good for Afghanistan, I said, as I have done on lots
:14:36. > :14:44.of occasions, that the war on terror was not to be fought
:14:45. > :14:50.in Afghan villages or Afghan homes. That the real war on terror is in
:14:51. > :14:58.the sanctuary is beyond our borders. But as far as Mr Cameron is
:14:59. > :15:21.concerned, he has been a good friend As the president walks home, his
:15:22. > :15:26.aides discuss her insurgents chopped off the fingers of 11 Afghans who
:15:27. > :15:28.voted in last week's elections. " What is happening in this country?",
:15:29. > :15:33.he sighs. As Hamid Karzai prepares to move out
:15:34. > :15:35.of this palace with his young family, his country moves
:15:36. > :15:38.towards an uncertain future. Without the peace he
:15:39. > :15:40.and his allies promised planning on the lateral cease fire
:15:41. > :16:17.this. With me is the author and Washington
:16:18. > :16:19.Post columnist, Anne Applebaum. She's written extensively about
:16:20. > :16:51.Eastern Europe. --unilateral My school began the
:16:52. > :16:55.fighting in the first place. --Moscow The military operations of
:16:56. > :17:05.Ukraine where design to defend their country rather than than to attack
:17:06. > :17:11.people. Is this because the sanctions are hurting? I am not sure
:17:12. > :17:16.President Putin has agreed and the Russians have been very quiet about
:17:17. > :17:22.what the well will not do and have been trying to keep the conflict
:17:23. > :17:28.under the radar. We know that the sanctions have had an impact, more
:17:29. > :17:35.indirectly, on business confidence and general confidence and he may be
:17:36. > :17:38.feeling some of that or maybe feeling that the attempt to create a
:17:39. > :17:45.separatist movement in eastern Ukraine has failed. It is very
:17:46. > :17:54.different to Crimea, from his point of view? We do not know how the
:17:55. > :17:57.Crimea situation will end either. But in eastern Ukraine they have
:17:58. > :18:03.failed to achieve what they seem to set out to achieve. There may be all
:18:04. > :18:09.this talk about the temperatures that it depends on what separatist
:18:10. > :18:14.this site to do? Yes, the satirists and people who are funding them and
:18:15. > :18:20.arming them. When they cease to have that support it becomes a very
:18:21. > :18:34.different operation. Do you think they are centrally controlled rather
:18:35. > :18:39.than more tournaments? --autonomous? Some of them are local and are also
:18:40. > :18:50.some from outside, from places such as Russia. All the ammunition is
:18:51. > :18:55.coming from Russia. It may be coming from different sources but it is
:18:56. > :19:01.coming into the country from Russia. Another thing that is coming in from
:19:02. > :19:09.Russia may not be as gas. Yes, the dispute on gas is an old one. This
:19:10. > :19:14.is the third time that Russia has cut off gas from the Ukraine. It is
:19:15. > :19:20.a very conjugated negotiation involving questions of high payments
:19:21. > :19:40.are being used and I would not wonder one to get into this. --want
:19:41. > :19:49.to get into this. Now a look at some of the day's
:19:50. > :19:53.other news. There's been a sharp increase
:19:54. > :19:56.in the number of people who have died from the outbreak of Ebola
:19:57. > :19:59.disease in west Africa. Figures from the
:20:00. > :20:00.World Health Organisation show that in the past week a total of nearly a
:20:01. > :20:04.hundred people were recorded to have died in the three countries affected
:20:05. > :20:07.- Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. This compares with
:20:08. > :20:09.a cumulative total of 337 deaths At least 21 people who were
:20:10. > :20:26.watching a World Cup match have been killed in a bomb blast
:20:27. > :20:28.in northern Nigeria. The attack happened in Yobe state,
:20:29. > :20:30.with witnesses saying a suicide bomber
:20:31. > :20:32.on a tricycle taxi in Damaturu detonated explosives as people
:20:33. > :20:34.watched Brazil's match against China's continuing programme
:20:35. > :20:42.of economic modernisation will open up enormous opportunities
:20:43. > :20:44.for British firms, according to He was speaking alongside British
:20:45. > :20:47.finance minister George Osborne on the final full day
:20:48. > :20:49.of his visit to Britain. He described the opportunity
:20:50. > :20:54.as "win-win co-operation." Prince Felipe of Spain becomes king
:20:55. > :20:57.at midnight - that's four hours from now in a country still
:20:58. > :21:00.scarred by years of economic crisis. Juan Carlos signed a bill formally
:21:01. > :21:04.abdicating power, at the royal palace in Madrid. Our Europe
:21:05. > :21:20.correspondent Chris Morris is in This is a last act of a man who has
:21:21. > :21:30.been on the throne of Spain for four decades. He helped free Spain from
:21:31. > :21:33.the dictatorship of General Franco. There was applause for the long
:21:34. > :21:38.reign to come to an end. The king said it was time for a new
:21:39. > :21:45.generation take over. This historic Royal palaces will soon welcomed the
:21:46. > :21:50.new King after he is sworn in as head of state on Thursday morning.
:21:51. > :21:53.There will be no correlation and no foreign dignitaries royalty have
:21:54. > :22:08.been invited. It is all deliberately low-key. This is the new king, he is
:22:09. > :22:12.46-year-old. The Royal family has been hit by scandal and the last few
:22:13. > :22:17.years and the country buffeted by economic crisis. He will have to try
:22:18. > :22:24.to rehabilitate the image of the monarchy as a unifying institution.
:22:25. > :22:29.He does not have the historical baggage which is father has and will
:22:30. > :22:33.be able to perform this role again, the idea that the monarchy can help
:22:34. > :22:36.to keep together the different territories and peoples and the
:22:37. > :22:41.different nations that make up the Spanish state. That is definitely a
:22:42. > :22:48.key role for him to try to play. There are those vocal and quite
:22:49. > :22:52.substantial minority, who want a referendum on the future of the
:22:53. > :22:57.monarchy. Many of them are supporters of republicanism. These
:22:58. > :23:00.are challenging times and it cannot be business as usual for the new
:23:01. > :23:04.cane but the Spanish flags are flying and most people here seem
:23:05. > :23:22.prepared to give the new King chance.
:23:23. > :23:25.Day Seven of the World cup, and it's already hotting up in Brazil.
:23:26. > :23:27.It's do-or-die for defending champions Spain and a definite
:23:28. > :23:30.contender for goal of tournament in the early match between
:23:31. > :23:33.Let's go to Rio and join Jon Sopel later, for the
:23:34. > :23:45.In the latest World Cup game, which finished half an hour ago, the
:23:46. > :23:53.two. to beat Australia by three goals to
:23:54. > :24:09.Arjen Robben opened the scoring as he sprinted clear from halfway and
:24:10. > :24:19.seconds before Tim Cahill responded with a stunning volley. 1-1 at
:24:20. > :24:21.halftime. The underdogs then took the
:24:22. > :24:37.lead as Jedinak scored for Australia from the penalty spot after Janmaat
:24:38. > :24:38.was adjudged to have handled the ball.
:24:39. > :24:40.Again the lead was short-lived, as
:24:41. > :24:41.Robin Van Persie scored for the Dutch.
:24:42. > :24:43.And it was Van Persie who scored
:24:44. > :24:55.Coming up next, a must-win game for Spain against Chile at the
:24:56. > :25:00.the group A game in Manaus between Cameroon and Croatia - the loser
:25:01. > :25:25.A number of Chilean fans without tickets have stormed in the press
:25:26. > :25:29.centre press centre. The authorities are trying to restore some order
:25:30. > :25:33.they are but that game is due to kick off in about 35 minutes and we
:25:34. > :25:49.will keep you fully up-to-date with that. It is really crucial for
:25:50. > :25:52.Spain, is it not? Spain come in as the champions and the other
:25:53. > :25:55.fantastically gifted side but they were made to look absolutely
:25:56. > :26:29.ordinary by the Dutch when they lost five goals to one. If chilly winter
:26:30. > :26:39.night they when --Chile win. Then they will head the group. It is
:26:40. > :26:48.hoped that a man in a cave who was trapped underground will be back
:26:49. > :26:59.over ground in a couple of days. Thank you for watching, now time for
:27:00. > :27:03.the weather. Yesterday Scotland and Northern Ireland had the highest
:27:04. > :27:10.temperature of the year so far. We have had similar temperatures today
:27:11. > :27:12.and I have been hot and humid days across Scotland and Northern Ireland
:27:13. > :27:13.but this has