To let the u. S. Use its military bases for air strikes against i. S. And scuffles on the front line in hong kong where prodemocracy protesters were attacked by groups trying to pull down the barricades. Reporter hello. Welcome back to pretoria. Oscar pistorius is back in court. Day 44 of these court proceedings. Today, the start of the arguments around his sentencing. What punishment he should receive for unlawfully killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The defense are bringing witnesses to try to show the court that Oscar Pistorius has suffered enough already, that he should not receive a custodial sentence. But weve heard from a psychologist. His personal counselor. And now were hearing from the department of correctional services. Lets just listen in. Okay, we seem to be having some problems with our pictures from inside the court. But lets just turn to events a little bit earlier when we heard from dr. Lloris hartsenburg. She has been with Oscar Pistorius counselling him regularly over the last 18 or so months since the aftermath of the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp, and she went into extreme detail about the trauma she believes he has suffered mentally since that day of the shooting. Frequently, he was too emotionally drained for therapy to commence, and sessions had to be rescheduled. He frequently spent sessions weeping, and often had to exit or excuse himself from a session due to wretching. This mainly occurred when recounting his sensory perceptions of the shooting incident. Besides the wretching, he presented with obvious physical symptoms of perspiring, trembling, pacing up and down, which are all typical signs of anxiety and trauma. Point three. Recurring therapeutic themes. 3. 1. Loss of miss Reeva Steenkamp. Mr. Pistorius was deprived of the opportunity to mourn the passing and loss of someone he loved immediately after the incident. As a result of the charge of premeditated murder, as well as the everpresent media focus on him, he was certain that he could not attend ms. Steenkamps Memorial Service and funeral. This would usually offer closure to a grieving person. Reporter so the mornings proceedings so far have been all about that particular witness, dr. Hartsenburg and her description of how Oscar Pistorius is suffering and has suffered, but she received a very tough crossexamination from the lead counsel for the state, for the prosecution. It sounded a bit like what we became used to hearing how he performed during the trial itself. He was very aggressive questioning her, and asking her why she should be focused on Oscar Pistoriuss grief, and not that of the family of the victim Reeva Steenkamp. But right now we have this witness, if you can see the live court pictures, hes arguing for correctional supervision for Oscar Pistorius. Hes from the department of correctional services. So the defense are bringing him to say that Oscar Pistorius would be far more suited to a Community Service punishment rather than a custodial service. This is all the defense is trying to do in this presentencing mitigation, trying to say Oscar Pistorius should not serve a prison term. Lets talk to jeanjacque cornish. Were you surprised at how tough he was on the previous witness . Now that hes diminished in status, having lost, hes more the yorkshire terrier. But he really was nipping at the heels of hartsenburg. She was simply arguing that he had gone through a tough time. He wept and she simply held him. That was the kind of emotional import she was giving to it. He had to shoot this down. I think he only knows one speed and thats fullout. Rush at the fence barking, and for all hes worth. Now, that didnt go down well with the judge in the main hearing, and i dont know if that means that its going to affect her judgment this time around. She should be above it in every case. If she were to be affected, for example, by Public Opinion, then we know then Oscar Pistorius has to go away for a long time. But she shouldnt allow that to affect her and we believe that she should be above it, and indeed i believe she is above it. So hes got to go at everything that comes his way. It will be interesting to see what he does with this prison official. Is he going to savage him as well . The prison official saying that oscar should have a form of house arrest or house imprisonment. And essentially the defense is saying this is a young man who has done an enormous amount for the country. He made a mistake. Accepts it now. And this should be in mitigation. He should be getting a lighter sentence. So that is why these proceedings are going to last over days because he introduces and then nell has a full go at whomever he does. It certainly makes for the kind of drama that weve got used to. So harry nell was trying to insinuate at the end of the crossexamination of that previous witness that she was biassed because he said you were crying in court. Youre clearly swayed by his emotion. She did cry. She said when he had to remove his prosthesis and walk on his stumps in court. I think youd have to be a pretty hard individual not to be moved by that. And thats the point she was trying to make. I think she stood up fairly well to harry nell. Because as i say, everything she had to say, he went back at her twice as hard. I dont imagine, though, that that would have swayed judge masipa and that is the person who has to be impressed by whatever harry nell does. Jeanjacque, thanks very much. And we are going to watch the rest of these witnesses, because were expecting this mitigation to happen over the forthcoming hours. Then that will be followed by aggravation of sentence. The prosecution bringing the witnesses they think will add to that conviction they want to create that Oscar Pistorius should serve a lengthy jail term. Well be following the trial from here in pretoria. Back to you. Speak to you soon. If you want to see what karen is saying, she is, of course, on twitter along with our other correspondents in and out of the courtroom. So do keep in touch. More, of course, on the website, too. Lets move on to our other top stories today. The Ebola Outbreak has already brought parts of west africa to its knees. Now it threatens to get potentially worse because Health Workers across liberia are planning to go on strike. Theyre demanding a risk fee to be paid to those workers treating victims of ebola. 95 of liberias Health Workers have already died from the disease. In madrid, European Health Officials Say a nurse probably infected herself accidentally. Her condition is described as serious but stable. And american Health Officials say a breach in protocol is to blame for a nurse becoming infected after treating an ebola victim in texas from dallas. Reporter the key thing here at the hospital is the investigation into what went wrong. Essentially that this Health Worker was able to be infected by mr. Duncan while attending to him, which she did quite regularly. Now, she was questioned. Her fever was very low. The virus was caught in its very early stages. So she was able to talk to the investigators and said that she didnt realize when that moment might have been. There was no risky period when she could have become infected. So, of course, all eyes are on those other people who have been involved, who have been dealing with mr. Duncan before he died last wednesday. They, of course, are monitoring themselves to see if they have a fever. Obviously there was always a sense that there was a risk that someone else would be infected with ebola when mr. Duncan arrived here and developed the symptoms, but it was thought there were 48 people who had close contact with him in the four days when he was contagious, before he was admitted to the isolation ward here. He actually came to a doctor with a fever and was sent home. There were mistakes made in the process that led to him being looked after here. And it was thought that those people who again are being monitored for 21 days to see if they will actually get a fever and develop the virus, that perhaps they were most at risk. But now all focus is on trying to make sure that those protocols arent breached again, that everything here is done effectively with this Health Worker whos been infected, to ensure that no one else here in dallas at least contracts the ebola virus. As weve been telling you, of course, Health Workers in liberia are holding a National Strike because they want more protective equipment and an increase in their risk fee. Another group at great risk are the teams that have to dispose of the bodies of the ebola victims. These are the difficulties reporting the story, Many International broadcasters are sharing material. So were bringing you this report from voice of america in liberia, who went out with the men who have to bury the dead. Oh, yes. Reporter a woman died. Her brother is heartbroken. A local burial team is getting ready to remove the body from the village in the Community Near liberias international airport. Emanuel, the man with the little camera, is the head of the team. Removing dead bodies infected with ebola is a risky job. Filming it is a difficult one. You cant move quickly in a suit like these men are wearing. The gear needs to be covered and later disinfected, like Everything Else around here. The undertakers start with a hearse and then take on the womans house. You have to disinfect everything without mistakenly getting in contact. You cant touch anything in there. Its crazy. Like all the people, the guys around us, they have no protection at all. Its the problem in liberia. Most people are not believing that the virus is real. Reporter the young woman lived in this tiny hut with just a bed, some cooking pots, some firewood. She lies on a mattress on the floor and is covered by clothes. Shes a baby mother and the child is just 3 months old. Refusing to take the baby for treatment. The child is not eating right now. Reporter after disinfecting the body, the undertakers are preparing themselves to put the body into the body bag. At this point is the risky part. Only touch the body one time and that is by taking the body from the ground. That is the only time you want to be in contact with the body. Reporter when the men are disinfecting themselves, the father sheltered them. The husband can only watch how the undertakers are carrying his dead wife away. The burial team takes the body to a nearby village. The undertakers bury the body far into the bush, after more than 200 burials since the Ebola Outbreak in the area, none of the team has gotten sick. But their job not only comes with health risk, its also an emotional strain. Out of respect for the dead woman and her family, they dont want me to film how they have to put the body into the ground. The men say they are not scared, they need to do it because if they didnt, more of their people would get infected and die. Well, of course, it is such a difficult situation still unfolding. If you want to find out more, do go to our website and also today at 1830 gmt, were going to bring you a special program with the very latest on the outbreak. That program will be airing daily this week right here on bbc world news, just bringing you basically an ebola update on all the very latest thats going on with it. So do stay with us for that if you can. First of all, lets catch up with all the business news. Aaron is here. And looking at russia and china today. Big visit by the chinese in russia. Very important relationship indeed. Thanks very much. Hello there. The chinese premiere began his threeday visit on sunday. With russia looking east for new markets for its gas, there are about 50 deals expected to be signed in the next few days in the likes of energy, high Speed Railways and sentence between the russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev and his chinese partner. Also, the uk government is seeking buyers for its 40 stake in the crosschannel train operator eurostar. All of this to help boost the uks public finances. They have the intention to sell. That was actually set out last year in the National Infrastructure plan. Under that plan, the government hopes to raise around 20 billion pounds, just over 30 billion from corporate and financial asset sales by 2020. The labobour party, they have voiced concerns about selling off, right there, the eurostar. How about this . When you think of opening a nice bottle of wine, i think its fair to say that you probably think of, i dont know, a nice french one, preferably an aussie one, of course. What you dont think of is english or welsh wine, right . But here is the surprise. Because the popularity of english and welsh wine is on the up. Demand is such that the number of new producers is growing by almost 50 in the past year. And apparently they cant keep up with demand. Weve got an english wine producer coming up on gmt in just over an hours time. And we may even yep, we may even have to sample some of that stuff right there. Ill take one for the team. Ill do that. Lots going on. You can find geetas just follow me on twitter. More on gmt and all that wine stuff. Youve already had some. I think youre slurring your words already. Stay with us here on bbc world news. Much more to come. The latest on north koreas elusive leader kim jong un. Hes not been seen in public for one month. We hear what the governments explanation is. S gratifying. S gratifying. Goal is to grow. Gotta get greater growth. I just talked to ups. They got expert advise, special discounts, new technologies. Like smart pick ups. Theyll only show up when you print a label and its automatic. We save time and money. Time . Money . Time and money. Awesome. Awesome awesome awesome awesome all awesome i love logistics. Ye yes we have the new iphone. How cause everyones coming in for the new iphone. Whwhat. Kind of service plan can you get . Well right now if you select the 15 gig plan well double your data and make it 30 gigs for the same price. Well that great youll take it. In head are you inside my mind right now . Nope where was. Albuquerque who was the porcupine what is my fave hollandaise sauce no way. The new iphone is here and now you get 30 gigs of data to share starting at 160 dollars a month. Break the ice, with breath freshening cooling crystals. Ice breakers. This is bbc world news. Im geeta gurumurthy with the latest headlines. The South African athlete Oscar Pistorius who was convicted of culpable homicide last month for killing his girlfriend has returned to court for sentencing. Liberian nurses and medical assistance are on National Strike even as the ebola epidemic continues. The u. S. Led coalition is reported to have launched seven more air strikes against Islamic State militants, trying to capture the kurdish town of kobane in northern syria. The battle for the town has been going on for weeks. In a positive development for the kurdish, susan rice says that turkey has now agreed to let americanled air forces use military base on its territory. With me is the head of the turkish service. Thanks for joining us. Weve seen this incredible resistance, havent we, of turkey to get involved. Weve seen the tents literally parked on the lawn overlooking kobane. Weve got some shots of the latest thats going on in kobane at the moment. Where are we in what turkeys position is . Its a bit muddled at the moment, because we havent heard anything from turkey yet. The only announcement came from the american side saying that turkey has agreed to let the other turkish bases to be used by the Coalition Forces. Now, so its really difficult to say because turkey didnt say anything, and we dont know what theyre getting in return. Because their conditions are still there, and in fact, the Prime Minister gave an interview to a turkish paper yesterday. He was quoted saying that they wont let the u. S. Base to be used unless their conditions were met. One thing which we also hear from the americans is that turkey will be training moderate opposition. That may be part of the bargaining because that has been supported by turkey for a long time. Some experts say they were doing it anyways. Some firing we just heard, by the way, there. I dont know thats been going on for a long time. In kobane, the fighting going on as fiercely as before. You can see some smoke rising. And we hear that the Coalition Forces are bombing isis positions. And that its going into a stalemate situation because the kurdish fighters have regained some of the ground inside the city. But again, thats a very one thing that just even taking into account turkeys own position. Every country has got its own strategy, its list of demands, etc. But even in terms of pure selfinterest, is turkey not now worried as many other people are about the power of i. S. And that it will be destabilized, even if, you know, it has been using i. S. To a degree as buffer, where its been seen as a buffer against other forces that turkeys worried about . What the turks are saying is that it will be still be power if we get rid of isis. So the coalitions objectives include Bashar Assads regime. That is one of their conditions. They say we wont move ourselves, but if there is a buffer zone created and a nofly zone, then they may consider doing something. If those conditions havent changed as far as we know. But we think the americans will now be allowed to use those bases. That is what the americans are saying, but we havent heard anything official coming out of turkey, not even leaks at the moment. Okay. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you. Now, the north korean government has told the bbc that the countrys leader kim jong un is in good health. Mr. Kim has not appeared in public for more than a month, leading to speculation that hes ill. The ambassador also defended the countrys human rights record. The u. N. Has accused north korea of systematic extermination, torture and rape. Heres our korea correspondent steve evans. Reporter on the subject of the moment, the presence, or rather the nonpresence of the leader of north korea, not seen in public now since september 3rd, the ambassador was short and blunt. He said, our respected leader, comrade kim jong un, is healthy. No doubt about it. Thats all he said. He devoted more words to the questions we in the bbc put to him about human rights abuses in north korea. He said, such allegations were false and driven by the united states, which wants to bring down the regime in pyongyang. He said in response to those questions put by the bbc, that it was the united states, which is the main violator of human rights. The ambassador took particular exception to the idea that there are labor camps in north korea. He said, there are no labor camps and there are no political prisoners. There are, he said, institutions which rectify peoples behavior by labor, through labor, but they do not amount to labor camps. He told the bbc that kenneth bae, for example, the american missionary incarcerated in north korea is in one such institution, but that isnt a labor camp. Now, these words of the ambassador to the bbc have to be put in a wider context. Of course they do. The united nations, for example, found in february that there were widespread and very serious abuses of human rights in north korea. Arbitrary executions from the u. N. Political prisoners on a large scale. Starvation used as a punishment. The North Koreans are very, very worried that kim jong un will find himself indicted in front of the International Criminal court. The response of the ambassador to questions put by the bbc about human rights has to be put in a wider context. And that is that outside organizations, particularly the united nations, have recently found widespread abuse of human rights, serious abuse of human rights, to be taking place in north korea. Steve evans there. Well, were just going to leave you with some pictures of the Oscar Pistorius case because he is back in court in pretoria. Theres the judge, of course, who is going to decide over the next three or four days about sentencing. At the moment, she is hearing evidence from both sides. The defense for pistorius want him to walk free, saying he should not be put into a custodial sentence at all, and the prosecution would potentially challenge that if that was the verdict. The maximum he can receive is 15 years. That is another part of the testimony thats coming in there now. Were back in a few minutes with more on pistorius and his case and all our news. Stay with us if you can. This is bbc world news. [ male announcer ] give extra. Get extra. Rejoice for you have entered the Promised Land of accomodation booking. Com booking. Yeah and for grandpa moving in with us for a few, uh, months. Hes such a wonderful role model for little jimmy. And, uh, i think were all very excited. [ male announcer ] kraft macaroni cheese. You know you love it. Our top stories, Oscar Pistorius is back in court in south africa to be sentenced for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. His defense say he shouldnt be jailed. Liberian nurses and medical assistants are threatening a National Strike. They want more money to take the risk of treating ebola patients. We look at the significance of turkey agreeing to let the u. S. Use its military bases for air strikes against i. S. And scuffles on the front line in hong kong. Prodemocracy protesters are attacked by groups trying to pull down the barricades. Hello, and welcome. Well, today we are focusing on the pistorius case because the athlete Oscar Pistorius is back in court in pretoria. Lets have a look at the live pictures coming into us from the courtroom. Because the judge, of course, has found him guilty of culpable homicide rather than murder. Is now hearing evidence from both sides about what sort of sentence he should be given. This will go on for about three or four days before sentence is passed. Lets listen in now. To raise awareness in various aspects of things like malaria, hiv aids awareness campaigns, also what role and predominantly what role sport can play in the upliftment of communities and that sport is actually a unifier and it can change the world. And when you act as an ambassador in that capacity, do you get immunerated . Theres no immuneration whatsoever. Mr. Pistorius did accept the position after he received a sports award in 2012. Then you referred to unicef. What is unicef . Unicef is one of the biggest global organizations taking care of campaigns, mainly focused on children. Tied in with unicef, whereby they wanted to use mr. Pistorius closely to work with kids with disability, mainly in countries that had severe civil war incidents. And did the accused do so . Mr. Pistorius did, in fact, start doing some work already for unicef where he went to tanzania in the beginning of december 2012. Well come back to that later. A home in the uk also for disabled people where mr. Pistorius, whenever he was in the uk, visited the home and did various awareness campaigns and charityraising events for them. The next one . The next one is the kayly campaign, a foundation by a young girl based in capetown and mr. Pistorius was the patron of that, and also mr. Pistorius conducted various events for them to raise awareness and also raise funds for the kaley campaign. I assume every time free of charge. Free of charge on his own cost and time. That is Oscar Pistoriuss manager giving evidence. Lets go over to pretoria. My colleague Karin Giannone is in court. Its been an interesting morning so far. Reporter it has, geeta. Were on to witness number three. As you said, Oscar Pistoriuss athletics manager. Earlier in the day, we started with his personal counselor and psychologist. Since the day he shot Reeva Steenkamp. She spent quite a deal of time on the witness stand. Then we heard from the department of correctional services, or the prison service, and one particular witness who the defense brought who recommended that Oscar Pistorius was not given a custodial sentence. Instead, served a Community Service order. This is a little of what he had to say. How many years did you have in mind . In terms of . 276c. How many years of correctional supervision . 27618 you mean . Yeah, sorry. Youre right. Im sorry. Okay. Youre welcome. Three years. And you think that is in the interest of society, that reflects the seriousness of the crime, that somebody should be sentenced three years correctional supervision for having killed an innocent woman in her house . Basically, the issue here is that not only retribution is considered when sentencing. We are also looking at the issue of reforming the accused. In the interest of society as well. For the wrong that he has done, he will be compensating society by doing Community Service. This is to be taken into account. Sir, to even suggest three years 276c is shockingly inappropriate for what happened in this matter. Shockingly inappropriate. I wouldnt say that, because his movement is basically limited. He is going to be put within his home environment. He will not do as he wishes. He always has to ask for permission. And also, he has got to attend to the programs which are aimed basically at reforming him. The basic issue, i suppose, in terms of consideration of the criminal, when we speak about the issue of reformation is basically affected. We are not saying that he should be destroyed, because he will still be coming back within the community. So what we are doing is to reform a suitable, responsible citizen. Reporter the department of correctional services. Another witness brought by the defense to try to convince the judge that Oscar Pistorius should not go to jail. So were looking at the testimony now, the witness stand has Oscar Pistoriuss trainer and manager through his athletics career. Lets talk to jeanjacque cornish about what were seeing today. What would be the point of bringing his manager on the stand . I think he is testifying what oscar has done, the amount of charitable work hes done for children, unicef, and others. What a role model he has been. What a hero he has been. The very thing that its come down to now and i suppose by implication, just what how much oscar will have suffered, whatever sentence judge masipa passes on him. But essentially they want to show him a man whos done an enormous amount for the community and that is something that harry nell is going to erode with all that he has in him. Harry nell went at the counselor at the beginning. Enormously. He savaged her, or attempted to. He even went at the prison official who said that correctional supervision, house arrest effectively would be an appropriate punishment, four years of it. Three years. He said shockingly inappropriate. And repeated that word. Shockingly. It would be for him. Harry nell wants oscar to go down for as long a time as possible and it has to be said that in the court of Public Opinion that is what is expected, too. But judge masipa cannot be swayed by that, cannot let that affect her. Shes taken an enormous amount of flak for not having found him guilty of murder. Indeed, there may be an appeal on that matter, but i think she still has to keep her counsel and be as brave as she needs to be to pass the sentence that she believes is appropriate. So these are defense witnesses in mitigation. Well expect the opposite from the states witnesses in aggravation. The very opposite. Harry nell has gone on about it to calling oscar a mean, mean, mean person, saying that he is selfish, irresponsible, arrogant. Believes himself to be above the law. And those are the kind of people that hes going to bring up. Barry rue has distinguished himself in this trial by methodically, quietly working at these things. His methodical work on the time line at the time of the shooting indicated that there was no proof whatever that the couple had had a row, and that was the cornerstone of the prosecution argument. So i think this is what hes going to work on, too. In every case, hell go to the prosecution witnesses, the witnesses in aggravation, and make them admit to things that oscar has done that has been for the good of the community. Hes going to show another side of oscar. Its going to be an interesting battle the next couple of days at the pretoria high court. Were not expecting the steenkamps to actually take the stand. Its our understanding that they thought it would be too hazardous. Certainly barry steenkamp, the father of reeva. He has had a heart attack and a stroke. It would be way too much for him, and the mother who sits there quietly gl lly glowering r all the time, i dont think she is up to the talk. Thank you very much. We can continue to watch the relatives of the two sides, the victim and the defendant, the convicted Oscar Pistorius there watching the proceedings so intensely. And we will carry on bringing you live coverage here in pretoria throughout the forthcoming hours. Geeta, back to you. Thanks very much indeed. If you do want to keep up to date, of course, do follow all our team who are inside and outside court. Karin is there, of course. Also andrew harding. That is our team on the ground in pretoria. Lets get some other news now. Donors at an International Conference have pledged 5. 4 billion to help rebuild gaza. At least 100,000 gazans lost their homes in the 50day conflict between israel and hamas earlier this year. All of the key donors said their efforts would be futile without a Permanent Peace between israel and the palestinians. A powerful typhoon has made landfall in japans main island after injuring hundreds of people in okinawa. More than 100,000 people are told to evacuate their homes. Hundreds of flights have been cancelled. Waves nine meters high have been reported in the east china sea. Nationalist candidates for bosnias presidency are in the lead. National, regional, and local elections, including the three separate presidencys that represent the countrys communities. It was perceived by the failings that brought an end to the bitter civil war of the 1990s. The Ebola Outbreak has already brought parts of west africa to its knees. Now it threatens to get a whole lot worse. Health workers across liberia, one of the countries hit hardest by the epidemic, are planning to go on strike. Theyre demanding a risk fee to be paid to those workers who are treating victims. 95 of liberias Health Workers have died from the disease already. In madrid, European Health Officials Say a nurse probably infected herself accidentally. Her condition is described as serious but stable. And american Health Officials say a breach in protocol is to blame for a nurse becoming infected after treating an ebola victim in texas. Another group at great risk of the teams who have to dispose of the bodies of the ebola victims. Just because of the difficulties in reporting this story, Many International broadcasters are sharing material. So were bringing you this report from voice of america in liberia, who went out with the men who have to bury the dead. Oh oh, yes. Reporter a woman died. Her brother is heartbroken. A local burial team is getting ready to remove the body from the village near liberias international airport. Emanuel, the man with the little camera, is the head of the team. Removing dead bodies infected with ebola is a risky job. Filming it is a difficult one. You cant move quickly in a suit like these men are wearing. The gear needs to be covered and later disinfected, like Everything Else around here. The undertakers start with a hearse and then take on the womans house. You have to disinfect everything so that we dont mistakenly get in contact with anything. All the people, like the guys around us, they have no protection at all. Its a problem that weve got in liberia. Most people are not believing that the virus is real. Reporter the young woman lived in this tiny hut with just a bed, some cooking pots, some firewood. She lies on a mattress on the floor and is covered by clothes. Hes disinfecting the body. Shes a baby mother, and the child is just 3onths old. I dont know if the bfamily is refusing to take the baby for treatment. Reporter after disinfecting the body, the undertakers are preparing themselves to put the body into the body bag. This part is the risky part. Only touch the body one time, and that is by taking the body from the ground, straight into the body bag. Thats the only time to get in contact with the body. Reporter while the men are disinfecting themselves, the father shouts at them. The husband can only watch how the undertakers are carrying his dead wife away. The burial team takes the body to a nearby village. The undertakers bury the body far into the bush. After more than 200 burials since the Ebola Outbreak in the area, none of the team has gotten sick. But their job not only comes with health risk, its also an emotional strain. Out of respect for the dead woman and her family, they dont want me to film how they have to put the body into the ground. The men say they are not scared. They need to do it because if they didnt, more of their people would get infected and die. With me to talk about this appalling situation still unfolding is ibrahim. The people who have gone on strike, have they started or what . Theres a standoff impasse of this strike in liberia. What do they want exactly . They want the risk fee because they are treating people affected by ebola. That fee to be increased. And those who want more protective equipment for those people who are dealing with ebola. What is the state of their equipment . Were seeing cases where protocols are going wrong in the u. S. And spain. Then you can imagine how difficult it is for these people to have different equipment in different days. So they want more equipment adapted to their situations for this region. And the government is saying what . The government is saying they have to be patient with them. Because, you know, because of the closure and also travel restrictions. Some of the equipment order are not able to reach. Even this morning, i was reading that a ship of wfp was on its way to go to sierra leone and liberia. So these are slowing the whole process of assisting these people in the field. Is it not being looked at, the emergency, western aid for kit and equipment and all the rest of it being delivered . Because even if you stop general movement in, that you cant get exceptional specially chartered planes in. Yeah, you could, but some of these because of the size and everything should have to top somewhere and go down in sierra leone, for example, or liberia. That would make the International Movement difficult. In the last couple weeks, the message was to allow these countries to be able to reach these countries. I just want to mention that the w. H. O. Director general has had a speech released saying hes never seen a health event threaten the very survival of societies and governments in already poor countries, never seen Infectious Disease contribute so strongly to potential state failure. Is that what were looking at . Its a strong statement, but if you take the history of the countries, guinea, which most of them have gone through civil war. And then you have these diseases affect attacking the core of the societies, then you can imagine the impact can be much more robust, if the response is not at that level. The world is illprepared to deal, to respond to any severe sustained and threatening Public Health emergency. A very strong statement. Its really worth people reading. And the countries are more illprepared for this kind of situation. I remember having the swrooutbr in guinea and the consequence on the population. And this disease, which has never happened in that part of the continent, you know, especially in the part of the continent who had several outbreak of ebola. But west africa, this is the first. And we can see that we are not prepared at all to face that magnitude of the outbreak. No. Really alarming. Thanks very much indeed. Stay with us here at bbc world news. Much more to come. Turkey tells america that u. S. Fighters can use their bases in the fight against i. S. We will be live in istanbul. [ female announcer ] we love our smartphones. And now telcos using hp Big Data Solutions are feeling the love, too. By offering things like onthespot data upgrades an idea that reduced overcharge complaints by 98 . No matter how fast your Business Needs to adapt, if hp Big Data Solutions can keep wireless customers smiling, imagine what they can do for yours. Make it matter. This is bbc world news. Im geeta gurumurthy with the latest headlines. The disgraced South African athlete Oscar Pistorius whos back in court for sentencing has been described as a broken man by his defense team. Liberian nurses and medical assistants say theyre holding a National Strike even as the ebola epidemic continues. Fierce fighting is under way in kobane in northern syria. The u. S. Led coalition has also reported its launched more air strikes on the border town which has been fought over for weeks. In a positive development for the coalition, the u. S. National security adviser susan rice has announced that turkey has agreed to let americanled air forces use military bases on its territory, including the air base. Lets find out what that means. Mark lowen is in istanbul. What does this statement mean from turkey about the u. S. Uses its bases . Reporter its a little more nuanced, in fact. What we heard from susan rice last night is that turkey has agreed to use for its territory to be used for the training of moderate Syrian Opposition groups. Now, that is something new, because last week, we knew that turkey was going to be involved in the training. But at that stage, we thought that it would not take place on turkish bases. We thought it would take place in saudi arabia. But now after the u. S. President ial envoy john allen was in ankara last week, we understand an agreement was reached that that training can take place on turkish bases itself. About ten days or so ago, the Turkish Parliament approved its troops to be sent in to syria and iraq, and it also authorized Foreign Armed forces. We understand that ankara that there will be a president ial team in ankara again this week to discuss exactly how the Training Program could work. Is it possible to give us any sort of sense of an overview as to the campaign on i. S. . Because weve heard i know from various correspondents that people are calling for more on the ground and the air strikes actually still are not going to be enough and that is the sense that theyre getting. That is certainly the problem at the moment, that the air strikes do not seem to be sufficient to drive Islamic State back from kobane and to stop what many feel is perhaps the inevitable fall of that town. Now, the focus in the last few days has been very much on turkeys role, because this is a country which borders both syria and iraq. There has been a lot of pressure from nato allies for turkey to get more involved in the fight. Turkey is reluctant to get more involved, to send certain troops on the ground. It doesnt want to do that. Partly because of its vulnerable border. Partly because it wants assad. It also wants a nofly zone. And also because turkey is unwilling to help the kurdish fighters in syria for fear of reviving the kurdish insurgency back here in turkey. What the turkish government is saying is look, both america and britain do not want to send Ground Troops into syria. We dont want to do that either because we fear retaliation. So turkey is trying to strike some kind of compromise with the nato alliance, that by allowing training of moderate opposition groups on turkish soil, that could show that theyre moving forward a little bit in the involvement in the coalition. But its clear that the air strikes alone are not going to win this fight. So now a lot of discussion is under way as to what more assistance can be provide sod that kobane does not fall to Islamic State. Mark lowen in istanbul. Many thanks. Prodemocracy demonstrators in hong kong are flocking to the main protest site after an eventful day that started with police removing some barricades. Scuffles broke out there after prodemocracy protesters clashed with groups of masked men. The angry crowd tried to charge barricades, but were held back by police officers. The demonstrators are calling for beijing to grant full democracy to the territory. A spectacular show has marked the end of the Albuquerque International Balloon Festival in the united states. The festival began with balloons being inflated at public schools, and then throughout the week, the new ones taking to the skies in all sorts of shapes and colors. The event has been running for 43 years. But the sight of hundreds of balloons becoming airborne at the same time on the last day never fails to impress. Well, of course, that is a lovely sight. Were going to just leave you with those pictures over in the u. S. On a day when, of course, the news has been pretty difficult across the rest of the agenda. If you want to find out more on whats going on, do go to our website, bbc. Com or bbc. Co. Uk if youre here in the uk. We have a special program on ebola here on bbc world news thats starting today. Its going to be a tenminute update every night. Do try and catch that if you can. 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