19/08/2014 World News Today

This is BBC World News Today with me Daniela Ritorto.

Hours before it was due to end, Israeli planes struck Gaza

after accusing Hamas of firing rockets across the border.

The Iraqi army goes on the offensive against Islamic State militants

but meets fierce resistance as it tries to recapture Tikrit.

The arrival of the National Guard in the Missouri town of Ferguson

has failed to stop another night of violent protests.

I refuse to allow criminals to define this neighbourhood and to

define what we can do to make this right.

The Israeli military says it's carried out air strikes in the

Gaza Strip in response to fresh Hamas rocket attacks,

breaking the latest ceasefire hours before it was set to expire.

These were the scenes in Gaza just a short time ago.

Hamas has denied firing any of the rockets.

Israeli officials say three rockets were fired towards the towns of

Beersheva and another two missiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome.

But Hamas has denied firing any of the rockets.

Israel has now ordered its delegation pull out of talks

in Cairo which were trying to broker a longer term truce.

The Palestinian delegation now also says the talks have reached

Both sides are blaming each other, let's here what they have to say.

Today's rocket attacks is a grave and direct violation of the

cease-fire that Hamas committed to. This is the 11th cease-fire that

Hamas has either rejected or violated and it is clear that a

cease-fire has to be a two-way street. It is not just that Israel

hold its fire, Hamas must hold its fire as well. Up until this moment

there is no progress and the situation is getting more

complicated. We have presented the Palestinian delegation position to

the Egyptian brothers a few hours ago and we are waiting for a final

answer. The Israeli delegation and maybe you have followed the

statements of the Israeli Prime Minister and they are now trying to

force what they want. This is impossible to accept as

Palestinians. With me now is Edgard Jallad from

the BBC's Arabic Service. Our correspondent Yolande Knell is

in Gaza for us. Thousands of people are fleeing the

Gaza Strip once again? Certainly people are leaving their homes.

There are neighbourhoods that have been targeted by Israel during the

military offensive that began on the 8th of July. People had really only

just returned to those homes in the past few days. Now we also have a

very clear picture of uncertainty that is emerging here in Gaza once

again. There were breaches of the cease-fire in the last few hours.

The expiry of the latest truce is supposed to be at midnight local

time but there have been about eight rockets fired from the Gaza Strip

into southern Israel, at least two of them intercepted by the Iron Dome

missile defence system and a series of Israeli air strikes -- air

up-and-downer Gaza strip mainly targeted urban areas and we have not

heard reports of serious injuries on either side but what is important is

the effect these are having on the talks that had been taking place in

Cairo, overseen by the Egyptians, taking place at the Egyptian

intelligence buildings and we knew there were big gaps remaining

between the two sides but now the Palestinians have reported that they

have reached a dead end and we know the Israeli delegation has left

Cairo. What has the intensity of the air strikes been like? Certainly it

has been karma for the last hour or so. There was a period where Gaza

took quite a pounding around sunset, looking across the Gaza

Strip from our rooftop position you could see the huge plumes of smoke

rising up in the area to the north and in the eastern border areas and

writes down to the south of the Gaza Strip there were a few light

injuries that were reported there, a couple of children were hurt. Hamas

has denied firing the rockets. Is there any chance they are telling

the truth and this is a rogue element? Well, there are obviously

other militant groups here in Gaza as well. Repeatedly when the truces

have proved to be shaky in the last couple of weeks it has been other

militant groups that have been responsible but they also have a

presence at the talks in Cairo. Israel says it holds Hamas

responsible for any rocket fire that comes from Gaza as it remains the

dominant political force here and in control of the Gaza Strip. For the

time being thank you very much. We will now get the analysis from

aired. It looks like the talks are over. Well, if you talk about

diplomacy, it is never over. Maybe yesterday it was like the opposite,

we were expecting a deal at the last minute and we were as journalists

preparing ourselves for positive breaking news and suddenly in just

ten minutes everything was back to square one. Now it is a matter of

immediate pressure. It is coordinated with some action on the

ground. I am not saying that the negotiations are on their way to

succeed or reach a point, on the contrary I cannot see why the

Israelis should give the Palestinians and Hamas what they

refused to give them years ago. There is no defeat here. The balance

of power is still in favour of the Israelis and Gaza is still the party

that will what will be destroyed. Israelis are still not suffering

from any casualties why they should now give Hamas what they refused to

them in the past? Do they have the upper hand? The balance is

definitely not established here, it is not equal between both parties.

Hamas confident that of course they have hit the Israelis hard this

time, much more than the previous two wars in the past years but if we

look at the situation now, regardless of the casualties, Hamas

is under extreme pressure because the situation is not sustainable

inside the Gaza Strip and people will start to turn against Hamas at

some point so they have to find something and they cannot just leave

the negotiations, giving up everything and leaving the Israelis

just saying they want peace. All of these talks only seem to have

achieved extending the cease-fire is for another few days here and there

but other than that they feel like a failure. We have to look at it from

a different angle as well. There is no appetite in both parties to carry

on fighting. As I said the Israelis have achieved what they wanted and

now they have thrown the ball -- ball into the hands of Hamas. They

can wait four months in this situation extending and extending.

On the other side Hamas is saying that at least now they did not give

up anything and they are trying to show the world and their people that

they are trying to get something out of this war so they have no choice

but trying to do something. Definitely both parties have no

interest in resuming the fighting, at least this is how we see now, the

picture. As always, thank you very much.

In Iraq, Government troops are now attempting to push Islamic State

fighters out of the city of Tikrit, the birthplace of Saddam Hussein.

Meanwhile the United Nations is mounting

a huge aid operation to reach more than half a million people who have

Many of the refugees have arrived in Dohuk near the Syrian border.

From there our correspondent Jeremy Cooke reports.

They say help is coming. It is desperately needed. In this wind

swept dust bowl in searing heat, the camps keep growing. In each tent is

a family and each family has time now to reflect on horror and loss.

This dad is called Henry, that is what the troops named him when he

was a translator for six years. Now he wants sanctuary for his whole

family, especially the kids. Where will you go? Anywhere. Any

country, Europe, Australia, Canada, America, anywhere. Children, there

are so many here, they have escaped and they are alive but they are

still traumatised and vulnerable after days without food and water.

The clinic is overwhelmed. From 50 patients a day it is now 500 and one

single doctor. Can you imagine a child is sick as these with no water

and no food and no drink, they are all vomiting and now you can see

this bed, one, two, three, three children on a single bed. This is

just one part of one camp and you really get the feeling that an

entire people have been displaced. Most of them are telling us that

they believe that they can never go home but how can they stay here?

Look at this family, this family, every child was ill. Hard to believe

but it can get even worse. The camps are so full that many are forced to

fend for themselves, out here, with temperatures nudging 50 Celsius. We

want a UN safe house for our children and our religion. You

understand? The camps are being improved and finally there is a

promise of a major aid effort. They will welcome shelter and food but

how can it begin to replace all that they have lost.

The capture of Mosul Dam by Kurdish forces is being described

as a major step forward in the fight against Islamic State militants.

Jim Muir is at the dam in northern Iraq, and sent this report.

This is the enormous lake that is backed up behind Mosul Dam, it is

something up to 11 billion cubic metres of water and feel was that

when the radicals took over the installation now might use it as a

weapon of mass destruction or it could get damaged because there

would be battles here in a few weeks. The Islamic radicals have

been pushed off but it was after quite a battle. All the approach

road show the fallout from that where positions have been hit by

mortar fire or blown apart by air power because the Americans have

been carrying out air strikes in support of this campaign by gorillas

and the government forces that are helping them. There have been

explosions from the south West over there and shooting. The fighting is

going on. You can see the guerrillas are very relaxed there. The battle

is going on further to the south west but in the meantime the dam

seems to be back in safe hands. It's been another night of unrest

in Ferguson in Missouri, the US town where black teenager Michael

Brown was shot and killed by a Last night the Governor of Missouri

called in the National Guard and President Obama called for

people to listen and not just shout, Michael Brown's family say getting

justice means arresting and charging Joining me now

from Ferguson is Yameesh Alsindoor. Despite the calls from Barack Obama

for calm last night was as violent as any other night with 31 arrests,

what is the mood like today? The mood today is calm right now because

it is daylight hours and this is typical of Ferguson now, having been

here more than a week, people are usually calm during the day and

there will be a few walking around protesting but the real issue comes

when it gets dark and people get rowdy and the police tell people to

go home and that is when we see clashes and violence and tear gas.

Right now Ferguson is calm but we cannot say it will be calm for long

because we do not know. You have been poor reporting on this -- you

have been reporting on this for some time so what is the reaction to the

Commons from the president? He says he understands the passion but

looting and attacking the police only raises attention. People really

agree with the president here. A lot of people that I talked to said that

the looters are really overshadowing the real message here and the real

message for people who are protesting is that they really want

an officer to be charged with the death of Michael Brown and they won

him to be charged with murder and they want people to know that these

protests are about police brutality and it is how black people are being

treated in America and it is about poor neighbourhoods and how poor

neighbourhoods are treated so people are really upset when looters come

along and take away from that message so people are very pleased

with what Barack Obama is saying and they are really hoping that there

will be changing Ferguson tonight. I can see people in military fatigues

uniforms behind you. What is it going to take for this to end, for

the protesters to go home and the police and the National Guard to go

home? If In my newspaper we did a story on that yesterday, and we

spoke to dozens of people about that. We asked people on both sides.

It comes down to whether this officer was going to be charged,

taken into custody and arrested. Then, people you might be calmed

down. People want to see action. Other people tell me that when

Michael Brown is laid to rest and his family are able to bury him,

that might bring some calm. Others say that it might be when the police

lead. -- lead. There are a lot of questions, about what it is going to

take for Ferguson to be calm, but for the majority of people that I

talk to, it is about indicting that offers around making sure that

justice is done, and justice, for them, is having this officer

indicted. Something like 80% of African-Americans say that this

issue has raised important issues about race. 37% of white people

thought the same in the same survey. And 47% of why people think that the

issue of race gets too much attention. I guess this shows you

how divided public opinion is on this. I am not surprised by those

statistics. USA Today did a study when the Trevon Martin case was

going on. In that case, like people said that it was a case of

providing, and are called into question race relations here. This

is typical of American society. Most times when there was a racial issue,

when there is somebody saying that they have been racially profiled by

the police, unfortunately, in most cases, blacks will say, this is

happening, we need to talk about this, and white people, identify as

white, but say no, that people are blowing this out of proportion and

that they are pulling the race card, so that is very typical of the

American public. -- they are playing the race card.

Now look at some of the day's the news.

The Liberian government says three African doctors receiving

the ebola drug ZMapp showing remarkable signs of improvement.

17 suspected ebola patients who had fled a quarantine centre

in the capital Monrovia at the weekend have now been found.

A court in India has ordered the release of an activist who's

Irom Sharmila was arrested in 2000 after going on an indefinite fast.

She demanded the repeal of a law allowing India's armed forces

to hold people without charge and shoot to kill in some situations.

She had been force-fed by the authorities

The American food manufacturer Heinz has recalled some baby food products

in China after local regulators said they

The company, known globally for its ketchup and baked beans,

said it had recalled four batches of a high-protein cereal product

Now, you might not have heard of Krautrock,

but in post-war Germany it had quite a following.

The musical movement had its roots in 1960s counter-culture

and it gave birth to bands such as Tangerine Dream, Can and

Kraftwerk, which had a big following right through the seventies.

It's also credited with inspiring a lot of modern dance music

Just in case you can't quite remember what they sounded like,

here's some Kraftwerk, from 1976, celebrating the joys of rail travel.

With me is the rock music writer David Stubbs.

His new book is Future Days: Krautrock

and the Building of Modern Germany.

It's the first large-scale survey of this type of music.

Can I ask you about the term, Krautrock? Some of the bands found

that insulting at the time. It was coined by a British journalist. But

it is a useful term. Although these bands were very diverse, what they

all had in common was various things. Firstly it was a tendency to

be innovative. They were the first post-war generation to come of age.

They kind of realised what had happened during the war. It had not

been mentioned by their fathers and grandparents or anybody in the

family. So there was a sense of new identity. Lots of people expressed

that through music. And not just Anglo-American blues. There were

American and UK soldiers posted in West Germany. There was a sense that

as well as being occupied in that sense, that they were kind of

culturally occupied because of things like the Beatles, just

imitating music from abroad. All of these bands where concerned with

creating music entirely new, which meant electronic music, which was

just beginning to come into play. It meant making music from scratch, as

if music had never been made before. That was what made it so

influential, because it was so innovative. We were watching a

little bit of Kraftwerk. You say that part of the title of the book

is building modern Germany. The irony is that these bands, in

Germany itself, they were very lightly regarded indeed. They only

got a hearing in France, initially, to be taken seriously, and then in

the UK. Initially, people in the UK thought that there was something

inherently unusual about Germans making music, hence the term,

Krautrock. It was seen as inherently comical. But there was much wider

respect for the music when David Bowie started taking it seriously,

he went to Berlin in the 70s. He thought that the people making these

records. And then there was a completely new attitude towards this

German music. If David Bowie says that it is cool, then it must be

cool. And what did the same to you? I didn't think it was a story that

had been properly told before. It is almost like a sort of posthumous,

most music tends to be celebrated as it is taking place, in its own time

and payday. But this was a music that, in its own era, was not taken

as seriously as it should have been. Neither time it started been taken

really seriously, it had kind of petered out for the most part, with

the exception of Kraftwerk. From the 70s, 80s, 90s, there have been wave

after wave, generation after generation, which has rediscovered

this music. Thank you for coming in and talking about the book. A

fascinating topic. New research suggests more of

Africa's elephants are being killed Nearly 35,000 elephants are

killed on the continent every year, And that if that rate of poaching

doesn't slow down, African elephants Our science correspondent Rebecca

Morelle reports. A giant that once thrived

across Africa, New research suggests they could

vanish from the continent forever. A trail of blood leading to a scene

that has become all too common. The animals' tusks have been hacked

off, their bodies left to rot. Poaching has soared in recent years,

fuelled by a rapidly growing The demand is

so high that a kilogram of ivory is The latest figures show that

the illegal ivory trade is having a devastating impact on Africa's

elephants. Since 2010, an average of 34,000

elephants have been killed annually. This means that every year 7%

of Africa's elephant population is being wiped out,

and that more animals are now dying At this safari park they say the

situation in Africa is critical. The fear is that one day

the only place left to see these Without these, a lot

of other animals will be affected They provide foot paths

for smaller animals, they knock food down for smaller animals, so not

only will elephants be affected, but a lot of other animals in the same

ecosystem will be affected as well. Conservationists say

urgent action is needed. Some ivory stockpiles are being

destroyed in an effort to curb the demand, but there are also calls

for greater protection for the animals on the ground,

and tougher penalties for poachers. If nothing is done and the

slaughter doesn't stop, scientists believe that Africa's elephants

could become extinct in 100 years. We have another animal story now,

something a bit more cute and cuddly. Cats and dogs are not known

to be the best of friends, but have a look at these. This is a three and

a half month cheetah cub which has a puppy for his best friend. The young

cheetah's mother had rejected him. It looks like a budding friendship

that seems to be a success. Don't forget you can see me, and the rest

of the team, on twitter. We look forward to hearing all of your

We will see a few more showers developing tomorrow. Probably not as

many as today. There is a good chance of staying dry, with sunny

spells. First thing in the morning, it will feel pretty