this is "bbc world news america," reporting from washington. i am jane o'brien. hauled alive from the rubble -- a frantic search after an earthquake in turkey kills at least 270 people. the united states and brings its ambassador -- united states brings its ambassador out of syria. the global population get set to hit a 7 billion. we look at what that means for families in the poorest parts of the world. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and also around the globe. rescue teams in turkey have pulled more survivors from the rubble after the strong earthquake that hit the east of the country on sunday.

at least 2 minutes 70 people have been killed, but it is feared -- 270 people have been killed, but it is feared death toll will rise. the city of ercis was the worst hit, with almost 1000 buildings destroyed. from there, daniel sandford send this report. >> hammering, clawing, cutting, pulling frantically at the ruins. the generic people love -- the ordinary people of ercis were helping the official rescue teams. a 29 -year-old man has been in the rubble for over -- 29-year- old man has been in the rubble for over 24 hours. his brothers are helping to get him out. they have formed a human chain, pulling rubble away from their

injured brother, slowly making space for him to be brought out. with exhaustion, his mother waited patiently nearby. we have all been here since yesterday, she told us. we sat here overnight. no food has passed any of his brothers' lips. this 6 -year-old girl is also summer under the -- six-year-old girl is also somewhere under the ruins. dead sister's husband is under the rubble. we were burying him for his funeral. we just got back here, hoping the kid will come out, hopefully, no matter how serious the injury, burt alive. >> overnight, a small boy was found alive. his rescuers pleaded with him to be patient while they worked to get him out. in ercis, this toddler was

successfully pulled out alive by emergency workers. this tv footage has emerged, which shows the moments the powerful earthquake struck. the shaking stopped this couple in their tracks. late tonight, the man whose brothers had never given up was lifted from the rubble. the 29-year-old, with several broken bones, was carried off the concrete which could have been his tomb, and down past his mother, before being loaded into an ambulance. he had survived. >> for the latest on the situation in ercis, spoke to daniel a short time ago. daniel, it is an extraordinary scene. hopes are there for finding further survivors at this -- what hopes are there for funding for their survivors at this stage? >> it is still possible. we saw someone being taken out

alive just hours ago, pulled out of a hole, passed on to rescuers, taken off into an ambulance, his family weeping as he was taken away. it is quite possible there are more survivors. clearly, as time goes on, the chances become less. people are badly injured under the rubble. they need treatment. if they have not had driven in the first 24 hours, their chances of survival -- if they have not had treatment in the first 24 hours, their chances of survival decrease. there will be more people coming out of the rubble in the next day or so. >> course, it is dark and extremely cold where you are right now -- of course, it is dark and extremely cold where you are right now. how was not affecting the rescuers and the survivors -- how is that affecting the rescuers and the survivors? >> the chances of those surviving -- it drops when it goes below zero.

it got below 0 last night. i think some people will not survive denied because of the cold -- to night because of the cold. many people do not have homes. many people have been sleeping on the street. it is making conditions very tough. i think they are only going to get worse. they're talking about snow later this week. it is very important that people are brought indoors into the best possible accommodations, tents with kind of heaters. otherwise, people will start toppling very badly from the cold. >> thank you very much for joining asper. moving -- joining us. moving away from turkey, the united states has brought its ambassador home from syria because of concerns for his safety. the state department is blaming syrian authorities for a campaign against robert bork. he was pelted with tomatoes and

eggs -- robert ford. last month, he was pelted with tomatoes and eggs. syria has withdrawn its ambassador from washington. i spoke to the former u.s. ambassador to syria. he is just saying that he has been brought back for consultations. it is not a formal recall. if that is the case, how serious is this in diplomatic terms? >> it is certainly not as serious as a formal recall or certainly even a break in relations. neither of those events that happened. it is not unprecedented, hardly unprecedented, to recall ambassadors for consultation. however, in this case, they said there was incitement and threats against the ambassador. he is already experienced several incidents in which his car was attacked and the like,

as you point out. >> why would assyrian authorities bother with this campaign of incitement if they could -- the syrian authorities bother with this campaign of incitement if they could just throw him out? >> that is a question that many people have been asking. clearly, there is value to showing that there is an american embassy, french embassy, british embassy. this regime and the father before bashar were isolated in the past and have lived, clearly, to fight another day. they want to give a sense that things are going to return to normal in a period of time and this is just a passing storm. >> do you think they seriously believe that, when they must be looking at events in libya, seeing what happened to colonel gaddafi? there must be a sense that time is running out for them. but not necessarily. these regimes have a way of being -- >> not necessarily.

these regimes have a way of being self-delusional. syria has a very professional army, an army that is loyal, as far as we can see. the same thing for the intelligence services. unlike in libya, where they did not have a competent army and the armies but very quickly, you have not seen any senior defections from the inner core of the regime, whereas libya saw that early on. >> do you think the ambassador is likely to return anytime soon? >> i think the state department will try to return him. whether the permit that remains to be seen. >> what about the syrians calling their ambassador of washington? is this tit-for-tat? >> we pulled our ambassador out in 2005 and did not have their ambassador -- and ambassador there for over five years, and the syrians kept their

ambassador in washington. they did not always play by the same rules. >> i'm sure we'll have plenty more to come. thank you. in libya, reports are emerging that more than 50 per-gaddafi fighters may have been massacred in the sirte, the city where gaddafi was captured -- in sirte, the city where gaddafi was captured last week. from sirte, our correspondent reports. you may find some of the images in this report distressing. >> there was heavy fighting, loss of life, and want and destruction throughout this libyan conflict -- and wanton destruction throughout this libyan conflict, but nothing like what happened in sirte. a vivid and grotesque example today. the bodies of 53 gaddafi

supporters were discovered shot with their hands tied. the manner and aftermath of the dictator's death continues to fascinate. the interim authorities have finally stopped the increasingly mccotter public -- macabre public viewing of his body. it was that this modest mansion that gaddafi fled after the fall of tripoli. plenty of food for a long stay, even an exercise bike. when the fighting began to intensify, he had to move from home to home and cellar to cellar. caught in the middle of the assault on sirte, civilians. we visited this home that was abandoned two weeks ago. no chance of moving back in here. >> [sobbing] >> their 4-year-old

granddaughter is also missing, not seen in the panic and confusion for days. they hope she is alive somewhere with her father. "i do not know how to appeal," -- to feel," says the grandfather. "i have been living in this house for 30 years. we have nowhere to go. it certainly feels too early to talk of reconciliation with iraq -- reconciliation." some people say that the city should not be built -- rebuilt at all, but should remain as a memorial to gaddafi's victims, left to be eventually consumed by the sands of the desert. >> from picking up the pieces in libya, we turn now to neighboring tunisia, where the first ballots of the arab spring have been cast. they praise the election on

sunday, describing it as a shining example. the country's authorities say 90% of registered voters turned up the car of their -- cast their ballots. official results are expected tomorrow. there has been another grenade attack in the capital of kenya, nairobi. the explosion went off at a crowded bus stop, killing at least one person and wounding 8. it was the second explosion in the city. 13 people were wounded in an attack on the bar earlier on monday. the iranian-american suspected of an alleged assassination attempt needed -- pleaded not guilty in the new york courtroom today. he is charged with trying to blow up the saudi ambassador at a restaurant in washington. he was arrested last month and faces life in prison if convicted. the whistle-blowing group wikileaks says it is suspending its publishing operations because of a financial problem. it said it would launch an aggressive fund-raising

operation. the move follows what the group called the financial blockade by u.s.-based companies, after it published hundreds of thousands of secret american government files and diplomatic cables on the internet. in just one week from now, the world population will officially hit a staggering 7 billion people. that is the estimate from the united nations. with a number of people on the planet rising by about 80 million people per year, along with rapid population growth, the u.n. warns that a growing threat -- that is a growing threat to many poorer countries, especially in sub-saharan africa. in zambia, the population is projected to triple by 2050. >> welcome to the world. like each and every one of us, these newborns help make up the 7 billion people on our planet. she has just given birth or the four time -- for the fourth

time, to a daughter. hours' old, she doesn't have a name yet. despite living in poverty, the parents want more children. they are ambitious for their future. "i want my daughter and sons to become important people," she says, "then they can help me. but i do not know if there will be enough money for them to go through school." most women do not use modern contraception. for some, it is because they cannot afford to travel to health clinics. the families are the -- big families are the norm. zambia's population is projected to triple by 2050 and keep rising. half the people here are aged 16 or under. more and more families are leaving the countryside to live in the capital, lusaka, in

search of work. population growth can be good for the economy, with a young work force and relatively few elderly, but the increase. so rapid that it could perpetuate poverty -- the increase here is so rapid that it would perpetuate poverty. how do you encourage the young have fewer children than their parents? agencies say it starts with more rights for women. >> if you decide to have 10 children, you have no -- if you are married to a man who decides to have 10 children, you have no say. we need to empower women so they can make decisions about their lives. >> what can the new government do for you girls? >> that begins in the classroom, where attitudes are changing. these teenagers want careers

first and motherhood second. >> i want to have one boy and one girl, just two kids. >> zambia is a big country -- three times the size of britain -- so there is plenty of room, but the expanding population will need more schools, jobs, hospitals, and homes it is to be lifted from poverty to prosperity. bbc news, zambia. >> that is the first of our special reports this week on the global population of 7 billion. you're watching "bbc world news america." still to come on tonight's program, dancing into the bolshoi's top slot after years of practice. an american is breaking barriers to grace for a moscow's greatest ages -- grace one of moscow's greatest ages.

cristina fernandez-kirchner has won the election in argentina. she won with 54% of the vote. she told supporters in the capital that she wants to ensure argentina keeps growing. >> cristina fernandez -- >> she is the first woman to be reelected as president in latin america, and thousands celebrated her victory in the district of the capital -- in the streets of the capital. it is a bittersweet moment. her husband, the former argentine president, nestor kirchner, died last october. she paid tribute to him in her speech, laws which -- speech, which was shown on the screen. >> i have achieved things i never thought i would.

not only did i have the honor of being the first woman elected president, but they also have the honor of being the first woman reelected president. i want nothing more. what else can i ask for? >> she has not always been as popular, but her ability to keep the country's finances stable impressed voters and persuaded many who doubted her to give her a chance. this supporter says argentines' are celebrating what he calls the triumph of the -- argentines are celebrating what he calls the triumph of the modern government. another says that this victory means the people are behind her. the official results are yet to be published, but, according to exit polls, it appears that ms. fernandez won by a landslide. bbc news.

>> this is a family tragedy, which reads a bit like a hollywood script. in russia, an investigation is under way after it has emerged that the babies had been mixed up in the birth in a maternity hospital 12 years ago. the two families involved have launched a civil case against the hospital. we have that story. >> family photos normally bring back happy memories. for this woman, the past has turned into a nightmare. she is discovered the 12-year- old daughter is not her daughter. >> i took him to court to prove he was the father. we did dna tests, but the results were a total surprise. not only does my ex-husband have

no biological ties to her, neither do i. >> police believe there was a terrible mixup at local maternity hospital -- that he the babies had been given the wrong name tags and the wrong parents -- that two babies had been given the wrong name tags and the wrong parents. >> first, i thought it was a joke. i could not stop crying. the world had been turned upside down. i kept thinking about my real daughter. maybe she had been abandoned, put in an orphanage, or betting on the streets -- she was begging on the streets. >> if she had been given the wrong baby, where was her real doctor? she was desperate to find out. she went to the police. they began a search for her biological daughter. within weeks, they found her, leaving just a few miles away, in this house. she had been brought up a devout muslim.

she thought her father was this man. when the police told him about the mistake at a maternity hospital, he did not want to believe that -- at the maternity hospital, he did not want to believe it. >> then the detective showed me a photo of the other girl, the one they said was my real doctor. -- daughter. when i saw her face, it was like seeing myself. my arms and legs began shaking. it was awful to see that my child had grown up with another family and that i had brought up someone else's daughter. >> the two families have now met and are getting to know each other. together, they are suing the hospital and struggling to come to terms with what has happened. >> we are trying to show -- i am trying to show her motherly love, but she does not accept that. we do not really understand each other.

when your own daughter looks at you like a stranger, that is so painful. >> it is difficult. they are christian. we are muslim. we have different customs. i'm worried that my girl will end up drinking in bars, that she will stop praying and working hard. i am frightened she will lose her religion. >> the girls say they do not want to swap parents. they are just happy to have found each other. >> we were a bit shy at first, irina says, but, now, wea re -- we are the best of friends. they wwere -- were born 15 minutes apart. now the truth of what happened at the hospital has brought them together. >> hard to believe how that can happen. we're going to stay with russia. changing the pace considerably

to look at one of the country's most prized possessions -- the bolshoi ballet achieved worldwide acclaim with dancers like baryshnikov and nureyev, but now it is a south dakota native who is poised to make history when he takes the bolshoi's top spot. 29-year-old david hallberg starts this season in moscow in november. >> i am the first foreign premier dancer, which is the top position. i feel quite ready, but there are always some nerves. i started ballet when i was 13, which is quite late. boys usually start around age 8. i had a very good teacher. he realized that i was starting ballet late, but he also

realized, i think, my natural talent for classical ballet. he said, ok. we're going to work really, really hard. are you up for it? i just knew that i loved it. you did not question that. you just do what you want, and what i wanted to do was be in the studio, not having that kind of normal childhood. i did not come up for air, really. six days a week from 2:00 in the afternoon until 9:00, 10:00 p.m. it was probably the hardest four years of -- obviously of my training, but of my dancing career. ♪ i am the cliche artist. i love all forms of art, really. visual, architecture.

it is nice to really have that balance, i think, to be in the dance world, but then to also stepped outside and see what is going on outside -- step outside and see what is going on. lady gaga is someone that inspires me. what attracts me to dance now, what attracts me to ballet is the work, the hard work, the sweat, the fact that it is never -- it is never enough. >> the talented david hallberg bringing today pop show to a close with a flourish. you can be constantly reminded of what we're working on by going to our web site. i am gillibrand. or all of us -- i am jane o'brien. for all of us at "bbc world news

america," thank you for watching. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. union bank. and shell. >> this is kim - about to feel one of his favorite sensations. at shell, we're developing more efficient fuels in countries like malaysia that can help us get the most from our energy resources. let's use energy more efficiently. let's go.

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