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>> is really out rage against ultra-orthodox jews, thousands rallied against the extremists calling for gender segregation. arab league observers began their work in syria. the u.s. accuses damascus of stepping up attacks against their people ahead of the rival. india has passed a landmark bill cracking down on corruption. hezare would like a tougher law. welcome to "bbc world news" on america at -- on pbs in america and around the globe. one of the strange occurrences reported in north korea ahead of wednesday's state funeral. watch it again, sam. why hollywood has become so obsessed with sequels.

the president of israel has condemned the behavior of ortho or -- ultra-orthodox jews whose campaign for gender segregation in public places has led to clashes. in beit shemesh, women have been subjected to harassment by ultra-orthodox men who claim they have not been properly dressed. the rally has highlighted the division between moderate jews and minority extremists and the issue of religious coercion. our colleague was in the town of beit shemesh and he told us about what sparked outrage. >> israeli television did a story on a family, and 8-year- old who had been getting abused

and harassment from middle age ultra-orthodox men accusing her of being dressed in a slutish way. i met one mother of four who said that she had a three young men spitting in her face accusing her of being a prostitute because she was wearing a short sleeve t-shirt. most people who live in beit shemesh are religious in some way. the people i have been speaking to call themselves as religious jews but they are not so conservative. >> the views of a resident of beit shemesh later. an pakistani military has been killed on the border of afghanistan and --

and israeli was killed -- the u.s. has accused syria of intensified its attacks against its own people ahead of the arab observers are arriving on the scene. the city of homs was the scene of the worst. >> the arab observers were eagerly awaited, especially here in homs. this is one of several district that has repeatedly seen attempts by the regime to crush it. when they reached one of the hottest areas, the observers, who depend upon the regime for transport and security, found themselves besieged by angry residents eager to better their ears and tell their stories. even as they were talking, gunfire rang out.

although the violence died down compared to recent days, residents of homs said that even when observers were there, people were still being killed. >> there are more than five people wounded. this increases the number of 8 people that have died by the security forces shooting directly at these people. >> in nearby hama, another defiant city in the north, there was more shooting as protesters tried to converge on the central square. under the arab peace plan that syria has signed, peaceful demonstrations are supposed to be allowed and certainly not shot at. the plan calls for all armed forces to be withdrawn. in places like homs, tanks have been used to shell residential

areas that have given resistance. some may have hoped that the arab nation would and sites like this. the first day has produced mixed results. this shows how deadly and complicated the situation is. >> just a reminder, for more on the international efforts to end the violence in syria, you can go to our website to find more analysis. on bbc.com/news. a chord in cairo has ordered a stop to force virginity tests on female prisoners in jail. this happened when the army cleared tahrir square by force and arrested protesters which caused uproar among activists and rights groups who said that the military has used this as a tortured.

the president of pakistan was addressing tens of thousands of his supporters to mark the fourth anniversary of benazir bhutto's death. the u.s. has called on ukraine to free the former prime minister from her seven year jail sentence. she was convicted of abuse of power. the u.s. state department says that she and other officials should be able to participate fully in political life. pirates have hijacked an italian ship with 18 crew on board. this was on tuesday just off the coast of oman. this is an area notorious for tax. they were selling from the uae to the the mediterranean. in the apostle or house of parliament has passed a bill -- india's lower house of parliament has passed a bill to

curb corruption. they hope this will bring to an end the protests. anna hazare is on a hunger strike. there could be chaos and anarchy if i'm elected activist force through change, -- is unelected activists force through a change. >> normally, i would welcome this move. i think the action by the lower house is not because they really wanted to do something about corruption. this is only because they wanted to be seen to be doing something. the debate in the parliament shows that all political parties are more interested in scoring political points rather than taking any effective action. the government ministers even said that we should be seen to be sending a signal.

what they did not say is that date should not do anything but a signal should be sent. >> there are fears in australia that hazardous substances might have been released into the huge flood waters covering parts of the country. a cyclone swept across the northern territory. thomas and joseph have the story. -- jonathan joseph has the story. >> people are fearful that some of the hazardous contents have been swept away. local reports suggest that this was tearing 120 tons of copper concentrate. it can be harmful to marine life, it is less dangerous to humans. their cautious about the exact nature of the hazard. >> we want society to go on and this is what we need to do. >> this bridge collapsed this

was destined for the port of darwin were many substances are exported. one politician said it was a scene of devastation unlike anything ever seen. this is likely to be echoed by the people of the territory. many have been cut off. the main road is under more than a meter of water. many had to be rescued from rooftops. >> it will be a while. >> what can we do? >> well the cyclone has been downgraded, it could strengthen again in the coming days and keep fresh misery on the residence of australia's northern territory. >> the death of kim jong il has driven north korean media into what appears to be a patriotic frenzy. they continue their very public morning. preparations are underway for

the state funeral. the body will be driven to the streets of p'yongyang. it usually features only positive reports of what the regime has been doing. in south korea, the broadcasts have taken on an almost supernatural tone. >> the north koreans are used to hyperbole in their nightly news beginning every night with a song about the magical qualities of their leader's birthplace. the place where he was said to be born, in the mountains. since kim jong il's death, strange natural phenomena appeared to have increased across the country. in the past week, north koreans have reportedly seen a giant lake of ice cracking in half, a red globe covering the mountain where their leader was born, and most recently magpies gathering together in greece, according to a party official. >> we cannot put this down to

just a natural phenomenon. this shows that animals -- >> the media is the institution most responsible for keeping their leaders in power. a myth-making factory focused on the ruling family. they are only a source of news. so highly controlled, says this former north korean state artists, that only a small number of people are allowed to paint the image of the country's leader. >> i locked all the doors and decided to draw him in secret myself. i wanted to prove to myself that i could do it. i burned it as soon as i was finished. if i had been found out, i could have been sent to a political prison camp or executed. >> that formidable media engine is turning its attention to the country's new leader.

a man in his 20's. he looks strikingly like his grandfather. untried and untested, he has to depend even more on the power of his lineage and the personality cult now being created by this unique machine. >> we will hold back on the hyperbole but we will have live coverage of the funeral here on bbc world news. the ceremony is due to begin just after midnight gmt. stay with us if you can. much more to come. the duke of edinburgh's move to rejoin the british royal family after four nights in hospital. the richest countries in the world are not doing enough to respond to large-scale disasters, so says the british government, which is of course one of them. the minister for international development is warning that the number of earthquakes and

humanitarian disasters is likely to increase next year. he warns the wealthy nations to coordinate their efforts into the united nations relief fund. last year, 263 million people lives were blighted by floods, famines, other natural catastrophes. here is drought in the horn of africa alone, it left millions fighting for survival. the british government says that with the scale of such disasters only likely to increase in the coming year, the world remains unprepared. without giving any names, it accuses some rich western nations of not doing enough to fund the un emergency response system designed to speed up relief to crisis zones with one central fund. many countries choose to give much of their 8 bilaterally.

despite the money given to leave the suffering of those in the horn of africa, the international system was slow to respond and put lives at risk. >> if you actually put money into a fund in advance of what is going to be more predictable emergencies are around the world such as floods and earthquakes, you can save a lot of lives by being able to respond very quickly as a result. >> britain has pledged to contribute 20 million pounds to the un emergency fund in 2012. the fund faces a shortfall of 45 million pounds. the government warns that future funding depends on an improved response to such crises. >> good to have you with us on "bbc world news." the israeli president shimon peres has lent his support to a

rally against ultra-orthodox jews who are in favor of gender segregation. let's stay with that story. i asked a rabbi who lives in beit shemesh about the protests and counter protest. >> it has been quite exciting for some people. not too much that goes on in beit shemesh usually. this is quite exciting. i would say that the vast majority of beit shemesh is not really affected by it. >> shimon peres, this evening's protest, he says, is about saving the majority from a tiny minority that ignores democracy. there is a religious debate going on. >> i think you are right. for me personally, i live in a

part of beit shemesh which is a very orthodox. i would say that hardly anyone there can relate to these extremists. if i can put it in another way, it is like football hooligans. most people like to go watch a football match and it is the question of a few, a very very small minority. >> it sounds as if you would not define yourself as ultra- orthodox. how do you see this playing out? >> i think the question at the moment i am not particularly shore. i think that some of the leading rabbis will give their stance on this. i have heard that they will. the crux is that people need to kind of respect other people's views and i think eventually that will happen. >> when elizabeth's husband, the

too good edinburgh, has left the hospital. he spent four nights in the hospital. -- queen elizabeth's husband, the duke of edinburgh, has left the hospital. he had been admitted to the hospital with chest pains. >> the duke left the hospital with a wave and feeling very cheerful according to house officials that were with him. he headed by a road back to the royal family's estate to rejoin the queen and the rest of his family. it will be much to their relief and to his that he is out of hospital and back with them. we don't know if he has returned home with any explicit advice from the doctors to adjust his workload. the duke remains remarkably active for someone in his 90's. he pursues many interests of his own, carriage driving, for example.

by far and away his most important role is to support the queen. his presence of is of great significance to her. as we approach the diamond jubilee, the queen will certainly be hoping that nothing will curtail her husband possibility to accompany her. ability toand's accompany her. the duke will hate the idea of people fussing over him. he will want to be at the queens side as he always have. they have been husband and wife for over 65 years. doody has always come first. maybe they will feel that safeguarding their health will come first. -- duty has always come first. >> hamid karzai will allow the taliban to open a liaison office in qatar. this is the first time that he has backed this in public.

our correspondent is in kabul and she gave us more details. >> the statement was one that he gave on television and it says that if the americans want to create an office for the taliban in qatar, the afghan government agrees for the sake of consolidating peace and stability. the statement goes on to say that they would prefer the creation of such an office in saudi arabia or in turkey but they are prepared to move forward the peace process. they want the office to be created as soon as possible to show the practical steps can be taken towards peace negotiations. this is different from the position a couple of weeks ago when the president was anchored by not being consulted by the americans and had gone behind their back and discussed this idea with the president of the taliban without involving him. >> the russian prime minister vladimir putin has dismissed his

country's opposition movement as lacking in goals and leadership. the country has seen its biggest demonstration since the fall of the soviet union. the protesters are calling for the rerunning of elections, this is something that vladimir putin is rolling out. -- ruling out. >> the message from vladimir putin is that he is not in the mood to compromise. the key demand made by the demonstrators on the streets of moscow was that the results of the parliamentary election should be cancelled and a fresh ballot held. mr. putin said that without happen. the elections have taken place, the parliament is functioning, there can be no talk of review. he went on the offensive criticizing the opposition. he said they have no united program and their aims were not clear. one other important development, the kremlin's chief strategist, a man who is described as the

top tier of the kremlin, has been moved out from the kremlin to the russian government. that marks the end of an era. this is a man who helped vladimir putin create the putin system of power, this very tight control system. this has to be the result of the political earthquake over the past few weeks. >> there was a time at the cinema when the words "at the end" meant precisely that. this year, it has meant, don't worry, there will be a sequel. hollywood released a record 28 sickles this year. we went to find out why they have put their faith in franchisees. -- hollywood released a record 28 sequels this year. >> there were no strangers in 2011. some faces were all too familiar. as expected, the eighth and final harry potter was the

biggest film of the year. all of the top 10 films of 2011 were sequels. apart from this one, this was the start. the year is not over yet. the fourth "mission impossible" debuts this week. >> there seems to be a huge move towards brand recognition these days and the people that controlled the movie industry think that people have to have heard of the film before they have seen it. that is why sequels and prequels and films based on board games come about because they have this pre-existing knowledge of what they are. >> our favorite film brands. they're making the fifth book pirates in the caribbean. look out for a third dark night. so far, only one girl with a

dragon had too. the pirate franchise has made $4 billion. >> this has something to do with the kind of situation with the audience because we don't go to the cinema as much as we used to. maybe we want to do something that we like rather than take a risk. >> where does this leave the industry? well polarized between blockbusters and movies cheap enough to get made. >> that middle ground is the area those those are the film suffering the most in the industry, the 35 million range. -- that middle ground in the middle, that is where funds are suffering the most in the industry. >> the lack of other films is driving up the quality of the blockbuster.

picky -- two top-quality actors made this movie a commercial hit. daniel craig signed up for the "girl with the dragon had to" franchise. >> what would be the point of taking the book and such a good story which has very adult subject matter at its core and then sanitize it? that would be a waste of time. i was very excited about the prospect of doing this and making this as big a market as possible but saying this is another adult film. >> next year repair not only for the dark night but also the men and black. -- next year, prepare not only for the dark knight but also the men in black. >> this game features a proper

regulation football but the players are elephants. this is a match of a team of elephants to took to the field for a match of kick about. there were about 50,000 people lining the field. there are two teams of four young elephants and their handlers. the elephants are trained from the age of four to take part in this. this is pretty extraordinary. they are kicking and running with the ball. this is in its eighth year. this is to help tourism and preserve the asian elephant. it also features elephant races and several other of fence. and all, 20 local elephants. it also features elephant races and several other events.

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