30/06/2014 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me Zeinab Badawi.

News that's been confirmed within the last half hour... The bodies of

three Israeli teenagers who went missing more than two weeks ago have

been found in a pit near the West Bank city of Hebron.

The teenagers had been hitch-hiking in the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli army has now sealed off the Palestinian town of Halhul.

Iraqi forces say they are gaining ground in their efforts continue to

retake the northern city of Tikrit from the ISIS-led rebels.

Battles rage on in Iraq as government forces try to push

back Jihadi militants - who've declared their own Islamic state

The veteran television presenter Rolf Harris has been found guilty

And Oscar Pistorius leaves court after the resumption

A report concluded he didn?t have a mental disorder when he killed

And France are through to the quarter finals of the World Cup

Hello and welcome. We start with some breaking news.

A spokesman for the Israeli Defence Forces has confirmed reports in the

past hour that the bodies of three Israeli teenagers who went missing

more than two weeks ago have been found in a pit near the West Bank

city of Hebron. The Israeli Cabinet has been meeting in emergency

session and the army has sealed off the Palestinian town of Halhul.

Tensions are high and there've already been reports of clashes

between Israeli forces and Palestinians.

The Israeli military has set up blockades and closed down whole

areas around Halhul, a Palestinian town next to Hebron, just a few

miles from where the missing teenagers were last seen. The

turnoff for Halhul is off Route 60, the busy road used by settlers where

the young Israelis were hitch-hiking.

These are live pictures that we have got coming in now. This is the

scene, lots of security out in force after the Israeli defence forces

have confirmed that in the last 30 minutes, the bodies of those three

Israeli teenagers have been found in a pit in that West Bank city of

Hebron. This has been a huge matter that the Israeli police have been

keeping a great healer focus and attention on. The Israeli

government, the official view from them is that it is how mass that are

responsible for this, but they have denied any involvement in this

kidnapping, and it would now seem, the subsequent deaths of the three

Israeli teenagers. We will bring you more on this story live from the

region as soon as we can, but in the meantime, letters continued with

another major story today. That's the message from Iraqi forces

as they battle Jihadist-led Sunni Tikrit,

the hometown of Saddam Hussein, it's only 200km from the capital

Baghdad and the Iraqi military is trying to regain ground it has lost

to the militant group ISIS. The latest bout of clashes come

as ISIS declares the creation of an Islamic state, in the territory

it says it controls, stretching from Diyala Province in eastern Iraq

to Aleppo in northern Syria. We have the latest now from Baghdad.

The start of Ramadan, and for the Sunni militants, a gesture of

defiance, a decoration for independence, rebranding themselves

as a new Islamic State. This is the promise of God, a spokesperson says,

from the mouth of the profit, orders are being replaced by a caliphate,

God willing. Wild celebrations in this Syrian town under ISIS control

for the past year. And close to Aleppo, the fighters pledge

allegiance to the new Caliph, the elusive ISIS leader. They believe

they have upset the entire order of the modern Middle East. 11 years ago

in this very square, Saddam Hussein?s statue was knocked off

that pedestal by an invading army. ISIS believes that they have done

something just as dramatic, and needless to say, there has been no

mention on Iraqi state television, but thanks to Iraqi state TV, it is

reverberating across the Middle East. It has served them very well

in recruiting people to support their jihad drive. Where are they in

Iraq? They are gradually increasing their grip on northern and western

areas. They have already taking control of the Lodz, and recently,

Mosul and Tikrit, the government is trying take back. Their Islamic

State now travels across to Aleppo and across to an Iraqi province.

They are old orders in their path. In this video, a fighter, apparently

from Chile, he takes viewers on a guided tour of a border post

abandoned by the Iraqi army. The message is clear. This is the map of

the border, this is a sham. It is now one country. All around the

edges of the new Celtic did Islamic State, refugees do all that they can

to survive in the brutal height of summer. -- around the edges of the

newly setup Islamic State. Tensions are rising the time.

We will return to that story a little bit later on. In the

meantime, let us return to the top story, News in the last half hour

that the Israeli defence forces say the bodies of three teenagers,

Israeli teenagers that have been missing, they have been found in a

pit near Hebron. Our correspondent as injuries along, tell us what we

know about this so far? Just a brief statement has come through from the

Israeli military, they have said that three bodies were located, its

name is the three missing Israeli teenagers that they have been

searching for over the last two weeks, and it says that they were

found in an area to the north-west of Hebron. Earlier, we heard the

crash is between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians in the village of

Halhul, that is right next to Hebron. It is just a few amateurs

from the Israelis were seen. While the military surge has gone into

towns and cities, Palestinian areas across the West Bank, really, the

search has still been concentrated very much on this large city in the

southern West Bank, the city of Hebron. We know that the Israeli

security cabinet is meeting very soon, so we're expecting further

details after that. In the meantime, we're being told by the Israeli

military that they are carrying out frantic examinations of these bodies

and that indeed, the families of these three teenagers have been

notified that they are dead. Since the teenagers went missing, Israel,

the authorities, they have conducted intensive searches for them,

door-to-door searches, that kind of thing, and they had accused others

of being behind the kidnappings and their death. They had consistently

accused Hamas of being behind these kidnappings, a sworn enemy of

Israel, and they have carried out kidnappings before, but leaders of

Hamas said they had no information on this, but they did praise whoever

was behind the teenagers disappearance. There were two

suspects that were named by the Israelis as being their main

suspects. To this operation, it is happening in the West Bank, this

military surge, it had huge political imprecations. More than

400 Palestinians have been arrested during this operation. Many of them

are members of Hamas, and there had been five young Palestinians that

had been shot and killed by Israeli troops. The consequences of the

deaths of these three teenagers, both in terms of the political

impact that it may have on that issue between Hamas and the Fatah

amongst the Palestinians, but also the attitude of the Israeli

government to this Palestinian garment of national unity, it would

be quite, quite significant? , you are right. It comes two monster

stuck to the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke

down. -- it comes two months. There has been a reconciliation agreement

that was signed between the two main Palestinian factions, Hamas and

fatter, that is headed by Mahmud Abbas Khan and in the last few

weeks, since the new unity, a technocrat government was set up,

and the Israeli prime minister has called for Mr Urbas to get rid of

the new unity cabinet and really, too, and say that this was an

obstacle to war as any renewal of talks with the Israelis, and we have

had no developments on that. The Palestinians have continued with the

unity cabinet saying that they will not give in to pressure, but there

has been lots of personal pressure on the president. He condemned what

he called the kidnapping of the young Israelis, but there have

actually been protests by Palestinians against him, because

his security forces have been trying to help with the search operations

to try and find the missing teenagers. Thank you. Our

correspondent injuries and unfair. Let us return to our other story,

the battles between the ISIS led rebels in Iraq, and the Iraqi

army?s attempt to try and regain ground that the jihad as have gained

in this past couple of weeks. Can you tell us what we know about that

battle by Iraqi forces to try and regain the Creed, the hometown of

the late Saddam Hussein? -- regain the town of Tikrit. It is the first

major counteroffensive by the Iraqi troops to retake a major city, the

city of Tikrit, the hometown of the former Iraqi president, Saddam

Hussein. They are hoping that this might be the launch pad for them to

push back against the fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and

Syria, who of course, made significant advantages and

advantages and advances and occupied major cities in the last week. There

has been no significant advance for the Iraqi troops so far into the

town of Tikrit, the reports from anti-government, local sources,

saying that the insurgents are pushing back while the government

statement saying that they are actually in control, and this is

actually a multi-faith operation. So, as we have said, the second day

is over in this ongoing operation in the town of Tikrit. Meanwhile, ISIS

have declared an Islamic state in parts of Iraq and Syria that they

say that they are controlling and have made their leader the new

Caliph? That is correct. This was condemned, hobbies he condemned by

the Iraqi government which is now saying that ISIS is clearly a threat

to Iraq and other countries. -- this is no condemned. They want to see

how the local Sunni communities in Iraq and Syria will deal with this

declaration, will they recognise that it will not be easy? Well other

Sunni organisations recognise that ISIS is the ultimate ruler of those

areas? Thank you very much indeed. Amid the uncertainty of those

battles, one thing is clear, there will be death and suffering during

this conflict. Apart from the loss of life, archaeologists and

historians are also worried that the historical monuments and artefacts

in Iraq are in danger of becoming a casualty of this conflict. To talk

about this, live from Leeds in the North of England, the executive

director and founder of Iraq Heritage, firstly, what is there of

historical significance in these areas of conflict? Hello, firstly,

ISIS have taken over Mosul and the antiquities Ridge province in the

area. At the moment, ISIS have declared that they will destroy a

the monuments, they will destroy graves, shrines, any thing that will

go in place or in front of their extremist Islamic beliefs. Secondly,

we have the museum in Mosul that has been locked up by themselves, and

they are still awaiting the ruling from the Islamic leaders to see if

they will destroy or allowed these statues and monuments to stay in

existence. We have seen this before with Islamist militants in Mali. Is

he thinking that they do not want to see any remnants of Iraq's

idolatrous past? It is the fact that it is finance for them. Groups are

aiming to prevent, by working together with organisations and the

Iraqi people, to prevent our heritage and monuments from being

exported to tacky, Iran and other countries -- Turkey. UNESCO, from

its headquarters in Paris, has condemned any such move and has

appealed for steps to ensure the safety of what is a UNESCO world

Heritage site. Two sites have been taken and are now under the power of

ISIS. All that can happen now is for organisations to work together

regardless of belief and get the cradle of civilisation a better

future. Thank you for speaking to us about fears about the loss of

Iraq's Heritage sites, and in fact the United States has said the

declaration by the militants of an Islamic caliphate has no meaning.

That is the State Department spokesperson.

The veteran entertainer Rolf Harris has been found guilty of 12 charges

of indecent assault against four girls between the 1960s and 1980s.

The jury at a court in London had been deliberating

One of the victims was a childhood friend of his daughter.

During Rolf Harris's seven-week trial, prosecutors portrayed

the 84-year-old as a Jekyll and Hyde character with

Amidst the bedlam as a Rolf Harris left court, it was hard to fathom.

Part of our childhood for 60 years and now this. Predatory,

opportunistic, not the cuddly grandfather type that people

thought. I do not know how he lives his life day-to-day and I do not

know how he sleeps at night. His gaze was fixed, the only sign of a

motion a slight reddening and a hint of a tremble as the verdicts were

read out. A children's and 13 are found guilty of sexually abusing

children in the heart of this case goes back to the 1970s. At the time

he lived in South London, years later, a woman came forward saying

during those years Rolf Harris sexually assaulted her repeatedly.

She had been a friend of his daughter and he had known her ever

since she was a little girl and the abuse began when she was 13 years

old. It was back in the late 1960s when his daughter became friends

with the girl. It was this letter written to her father that was proof

of our relationship. He said she was -- he was sickened by his behaviour

towards her. She was told the BBC she was just glad it was over. This

was a man who fronted the campaign about child abuse, about what was

and what was not acceptable. He went on television to promote the

campaign but just weeks before that he had met a 15-year-old girl in a

pub. 20 years later she spoke out on Australian television. I was

absolutely petrified and I wanted to scream but I did not. I knew that

what he had done was wrong and I was embarrassed, but I thought, I did

not want to tell anybody that he touched me. There was a pattern.

Women have come forward across Britain and the world. One woman

said she was seven when she was assaulted asking for an autograph.

In Cambridge, a TV show in the 1970s, he denied even setting foot

in Cambridge and then this footage emerged. The list goes on, Malta,

New Zealand, Australia, one person said they had a name for him, the

octopus. Others are now coming forward. This, a BBC reporter. He

grabbed my face in his hands like that and told my face towards them

and forced his tongue into my mouth. Fame insulated him from suspicion.

Each victim described a similar pattern of behaviour unbeknown to

the others, that the man acting without fear the consequences. A TV

star since the 1950s but it seems we only saw the public Rolf Harris. A

little bit of childhood sheared innocence is gone. This is the

police mugshot of a man tonight facing prison. Let's go back to our

top story and the news in the past though from Israeli defence forces

that the bodies of three Israeli teenagers missing for a week have

been found in a pet near Hebron. -- pit. We can see the scene behind

you. As you can imagine, there is a huge security operation underway and

the security forces have it sealed off and then the darkness, and

special, delicate search is going on far evidence not just us to Foley

died but when they died, the cause may have been missing for more than

two weeks. We are still piecing together what we can of what

happened today from the limited amount we're being told the moment.

It is a pretty tense scene and across is people will be united in

grief as they had been united in hope. This just ahead of me in the

darkness, there's a small protest by right-wing Israelis beginning to

gather because they will be huge anger as well as grief at this

outcome. Indeed, and apart from the operation to find out more about the

circumstances, there will also be security operations to try to ensure

the tension does not get out of hand. Of course. The last two and a

half weeks have been very tense and defence forces have mounted huge

security suites in Palestinian areas looking for evidence, looking of

course for the three boys. There have been hundreds of arrests and

deaths or palate is that Palestinians who came to protest.

Tensions have been ratcheting up and this is the news of the Israeli

government, what they feared. It was never likely there would be a good

outcome and Israel was facing either the hostage crisis or the better

news on the three boys had met their death. Tonight, they have, but that

is really for now all we know for sure.

The disgraced Uruguay striker Luis Suarez has apologised for the bike

that saw him expelled from the World Cup. In a statement he said, I

apologise to him and the entire football family. He goes on to admit

the Italian had suffered the physical result of the bike and

finishes by saying, I voted the public they will never again be

another incident like it. It seems to be Europe versus Africa

in the World Cup today. It is France versus Nigeria

and Germany versus Algeria. Something of a grudge match later

on. The man following all developments

for us is Peter Okwoche. Tell us what the results are, in

case you do not want to spoil the fun for anyone not watching! The

Nigerian team have been knocked out of this tournament, beaten 2-0 by

the French national team. A great game to watch, end to end stuff. The

Nigerians came strongly in the first-half but fizzled out and

conceded late goal in the second half and then won a minute before

the end, an own goal was scored by the Nigerian captain. One of

Africa's two remaining sides in the World Cup has been knocked out. A

lot of the Brazilians got behind the Nigerian squad and unfortunately

they could not do it. If you just look down on the beach at

Copacabana, loads of French fans chanting for the team. We can call

down and talk to my colleague on the beach with some French fans. The

atmosphere was even more festive at the group stages, but in the

knockout stage everyone is very concentrated. Unfortunately for the

Nigerian cities the French celebrating. This father and son

have been travelling together. The match was great but very hard. We

are going to celebrate and we'll get into the water now. What has been

your highlight? The stadium, amazing. France will keep on

fighting to play that World Cup final in the iconic stadium and

later on we will see who they will play, Germany or Algeria. Like she

said, they will be waiting to find out who the play between Algeria and

Germany, that kicks off in just over an hour. That's it from the

programme, goodbye. For some of us it is warmer but for

others, when they are. Most will see a dry day. -- when they are. Cloud

and patchy rain and low pressure to the