>> this is "bbc world news america." funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> union bank has put its global expertise to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news." -- "bbc world news america."

>> this is "bbc world news america." we are reporting from washington. assassinated in afghanistan, president karzai's half-brother is killed. who will fill the powerful politicians shoes? -- politician's shoes? former prime minister gordon brown is accusing them of breaking the law to gain access to his personal details. the u.s. is digging fast to catch up on rare-earth minerals. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and also around the globe. it was a brutal attack in afghanistan today which claimed the life of president hamid karzai's half-brother, one of

the country's most powerful and controversial politicians. the head of the provincial council had been accused of involvement in dealing with the taliban. yet the taliban is claiming responsibility for the assassination, which has opened a power vacuum in the country. this is our report. >> ahmad wali karzai live behind layers of security. he had many enemies. today, his enemy was his end. assassins struck here at his home. a trusted assassin, a bodyguard. another bodyguard shot of a killer dead. it was too late, ahmad wali karzai died almost immediately and the news traveled fast. in kabul, president karzai announced his death. >> this morning, he said, my

younger brother was murdered -- martyred in his house. this is the life of the afghan people. we have all suffered from the same pain. ahmad wali karzai was the most powerful player in kandahar. when we recently visited his compound, it was probably a day like today. he was the man to solve every problem. that created problems for him. >> this is for the big attacks, like suicide attacks. are two major suicide attacks on me -- on my office -- there were two major suicide attacks me -oe -- on my office. >> are they still happening? >> taliban pou >> he came under fire from his allies -- taliban. >> he came under fire from his

allies, too. there are reports that you support the taliban. >> that is in the past. >> never he did, -- whatever he did, ahmad wali was the point man for the allied forces. >> for more on the power vacuum the assassination leaves, i am joined by david ignatius. thank you for joining us. with ahmad wali karzai gone, who will fill his shoes? >> we do not know yet. the key strong man in this area of kandahar has been ahmad wali karzai. he said that wali karzai, who has been such a problem for the

u.s. and coalition -- a corrupt or lower, -- corrup warlord -t d -- with him gone, they will look for somebody else, but it is not likely they can fill the role quickly. >> why did he say they worked too closely -- he worked to closely with the taliban? >> we do not know that the taliban did this. it is entirely possible there is some feud we do not know about. there is an assassin -- the assassin was an elder from a village. it could be a very complicated dispute. one factor in the current relative stability -- one factor is that the current relative civility has been taken away.

>> do you think this will have any effect on plans to withdraw u.s. troops? >> no. i think president obama has been clear about a timetable. this does show the vulnerability of the u.s. and allies in afghanistan. many prominent people like ahmad wali karzai have been killed in kandahar and the north. protecting those people has been extremely difficult. i think that is the concern. absent the feeling of stability, not just for power brokers and warlords, but for ordinary citizens. >> is the political threat crowing? >> when the senior officials add up the numbers, it is about the same as last year, but there are some very -- the most powerful, the police chief, warlord, if you will, in the north, was

recently assassinated. that sent shivers in the north, where i also visited. there is a greater stability, but there is a sense that the people who are in charge are targets. >> david ignatius, thank you for joining us. now to the hacking scandal which continues to spread in great britain. "news of the worldwent even further = = -- "news of the world" went even further, according to gordon brown. >> there is some flash photography. >> here is gordon at downing street. on the top is rebekah brooks. for years, team brown stayed

close to teamer, but no more -- team murdoch, but no more. he is accusing "news of the world" of using criminals to investigate his private life. >> i had my bank account broken into, my files, i tax returns went missing -- my tax returns went missing. medical return -- medical records have been broken into. i do not know how this happens. but i do know that in two of these instances, there is absolute proof that news international was responsible for hiring people to get this information. the people that they work with -- and this is what concerns me most -- our criminals. >> are you considering resigning? >> he is not resigning. he said his newspaper has been down to bring him -- has been

out to bring him down. he attacks the way that it reported his youngest son was suffering from cystic fibrosis. he did not allege that his sons records had been stolen, but -- son's records had been stolen. >> your son will now be broadcast the media. we are incredibly upset about it. we're thinking about his long- term future. we are thinking about our family. there is nothing that can be done about it. >> they said they had been given the information by someone with experience with cystic fibrosis, and they said the article had been written sensitively. rupert murdoch, still in london, wanted reforms.

he, gordon brown, did not. >> when the record as my prime minister -- when my record as prime minister is in, it will show that i refused to support commercial ambitions when i thought they were against the public interest. >> they are facing allegations against the news of the world -- "news of the world." the attack has been pressed home by labour's current leader. the family of milly dowler, whose phone was supposedly hacked. >> i think what the public wants us to do, as the house of commons, is to say that it is not conceivable that robert murdoch could expand his reach in the british media while the issues that happened at news international, the issues of criminality are still being

investigated, while there is still news coming out day-by- day. >> this afternoon, the government has said they would back mr. miller band -- milliband. >> in other news, thousands of protestants in northern ireland have been taking part in traditional marches and its tightened it sectarian tension. parades' come after a night of violence in the capital -- the parades come after a night of violence in the capital of belfast. julian assange, the founder of the website wikileaks, has begun an appeal against extradition. he denies wrongdoing and says the case against him was politically motivated after is website published tens of thousands of leaked american e-

mails and cables. hundreds -- of 100 people died when the boat overturned -- over 100 people died when a boat riverrned on the volga on sunday. questions about the stability of spain and italy drove shares even lower. after the second day of talks, finance ministers still have to reach agreement over a second bailout for greece. from brussels, matthew price reports. >> europe's debt crisis spread to the third-biggest economy in the euro zone, italy. the interest rates have been rising sharply. let's hope we do not end up like agrees, this man said. spain faced similar pressure -- like greece, this man said.

spain faced similar pressure. in brussels, the european finance ministers gathered, not to discuss italy officially. there used to be an assumption that if the country uses the hero, lending money to the country was basically -- euro, lending money to the country was basically safe. the great crisis has now changed that -- greek crisis has now changed that and they are rethinking the terms by which they lent to other countries that are heavily in debt. that is why interest rates to italy and other countries are currently going up. sorting out greece is crucial. finance ministers have agreed to work quickly on a second bailout for greece. they said it would increase the size of the rest the mechanism currently in place -- they would increase the size of the rescue mechanism currently in place and make it cheaper for them to pay

off their debt. >> we have made significant progress yesterday. i am certain that, shortly, we will be able to present a concrete proposal so that the ministers can take the concrete decisions on this. >> that is an admission of how much work still needs to be done. there are serious disagreements within europe about how to help greece. all the while, other countries are getting dragged into the crisis. matthew price, bbc news, brussels. >> for more on the economic situation, i am joined by an economist. it seems like, every week, another country is involved. now it is italy. why has it in been drawn in to -- why has italy been drawn in to this?

>> when they were discussing the second bailout for greece, they made it a second condition -- a condition that you had this private sector -- it means that investors would not get all of their money back. the general repricing of the risk in the euro zone, including spain and italy -- on top of this, you have had some domestic, political problems in italy with respect to the finance minister. you also, on friday, you had a nasty probable economic shock with the very bad jobs report -- nasty, global, economic shock with the very bad jobs report. >> will it be as bak as a greased -- bad as greece? >> italy is not comparable to

greece. they have a primary surplus. they have a tight fiscal policy already. italy is not as dependent on foreign financing as greece was. it has more ability to fund itself from domestic sources. as a result of the last couple of days, we will see a very accelerated decision-making process in the european union as they tried to deal with this issue. i have been particularly encouraged by the fact that it seems like the european -- euro group is willing to consider having the so-called "bonds buybacks." that is back on the table. that is a significant development. >> the worst-affected countries are struggling. how far will this spread? >> i think, basically, this is

as far as it will spread. both spain and italy are countries that are too big to fail and they are too big to bail. there simply is not enough money in the system to save these countries. we need to solve these problems before they are in this situation that greece is in today. >> still to come, powering the future -- a rare-earth elements -- the rare-earth elements are crucial. america is picking production into high gear -- kicking production into high gear. in moscow, celebrations were under way for the anniversary of the cathedral, which is now being restored to its former glory. but it is being described as russian orthodox meats -- >> it is being described as russian orthodox meets disneyland.

bizarre ordered the eyes of the architects to be gouged -- the czar ordered the eyes of the architects to be gouged out so they would not be able to build anything more beautiful. >> it is six times older than the statue of liberty. it is even more important for russians and these objects for the americans -- than these objects for the americans. >> in 1812, napoleon tried to blow it up. luckily, torrential rain and put out the fuse -- rain put out the fuses. a century later, communists made plans to knock the cathedral down, but it survived. it has seen it all, from london to a faileduneral communist coup in 1991 to a

visit from the queen. it has received an eight-million pound renovation. it has taken years to restore the cathedral to its original beauty. >> we have used the technology to make it look like new. russia is not russia without this cathedral, which goes to show czar ivan may have been terrible, but he built a church which remains the symbol of russia. bbc news, moscow. >> it has been six months now since the uprising in tunisia, bringing down the government, sparking protests throughout the arab world. as some conflicts continue to rage, many people are still trying to flee the region. thousands of north africans, one

of the main exit routes, travel from libya to an island. gavin hewitt reports. >> the boat was hard to pick out in the darkness, but there were 300 people on board without any cover. then another boat -- all heading for an italian port. this is an african exodus following the current spring -- arab spring. these boats are all from the libyan capital, tripoli. for the 30-hour crossing, the migrants have been packed in tight. amongst them, very small children, a mark of the desperation that has driven these people to flee to europe. many of them said they were escaping the conflict. why did you leave libya? >> because of the fighting. >> [unintelligible]

no food, no water. >> the crackdown. they are bombing everywhere. i lost some of my friends. >> this man also hinted at being put on the boat by libyan authorities. we heard it from others. whether gaddafi is unleashing his threat of a wave of immigration to europe. this woman is heavily pregnant. this is the fifth boat to arrive here in the past 24 hours. in the first few months after the arab spring began, most of the migrants came from tunisia. theirs is an equally difficult, but different story. in the early months of the year, over 50,000 tunisians arrived.

they were mainly economic migrants. they began questioning europe's policy of open borders. these migrants had their hopes pinned on paris. we caught up with some of them on a piece of wasteland in the french capital. many of them were living rough. all of them told me they wanted to return to tunisia. this man said without papers, it is impossible to find work. many had paid smugglers to come to europe, but they cannot now find the money to leave. >> there is no hope. they have a dream. the dream is not coming true. >> young men in libya are walking to work, showing off hands eager to work. europe can be a hard place to invest in your dreams. gavin hewitt, bbc news.

>> thousands of people have held further protests in cairo, despite warnings from the government's military council against it. there were attacked by men in plain clothes -- they were attacked by men in plain clothes. the military has conceded that the parliamentary elections might be delayed. for countries around the globe, raw materials like oil have large been regarded -- long been regarded as strategic. the rare-earth elements can only be found in a few parts of the world. with 97% found in china, america is revising its own mines. >> in a dusty old mine, high up in california's mojave desert, america is digging to secure its

future. being cut from deep underground is a substance found in very few places. in these rocks are rare-earth elements, essential high-tech building blocks. >> we have done enough exploration to know that it will last at least 30 years. but this mine closed 10 years ago. with prices jumping -- >> this mine closed 10 years ago. with prices jumping, it is still viable. >> china is producing 97% of what the world needs, but they are starting to consume more of their own rare-earths and letting less of them be exported. we're looking at shortages this year and next year, which is why this mine is looking to get up and running an. >> there is an urgent demand for these unpronounceable aliments the world is fast becoming addicted to -- elements that the

world is fast becoming addicted to. from here, it turns into metal -- it gets turned into metal. our tv sets need rare-earth elements for a color picture. they are essential for many things today. the latest generation of wind turbines work more efficiently with rare-earth magnets. hybrid cars are full of them. guided missiles and fighter jets need them, too. that affects american security. >> we should be worried when any country completely dominates raw material supplies. i do not think china is uniquely at fault in this situation, but they are using the political leverage that derives from the corner of the market they have. >> these natural resources will

become more important. the competition for them could reshape global politics. bbc news, mountain pass, california. >> a rare sight in space -- a pair of astronauts floated outside the international space station on a repair mission before the special atlantis heads back to earth for their last time -- space shuttle atlantis heads back to earth for the last time. it will mark the retirement of the entire shuttle fleet. that brings us to the end of today's broadcast. you can always find updates on our web site -- website. to see what we're working on project out our facebook page -- working on, check out our facebook page. see you tomorrow.

>> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> union bank has put its global financial strength to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news america" was

presented by kcet, los angeles.