tonight on the show -- president karzai pledges to clean up corruption in afghanistan. but will he take the necessary steps to restore confidence in the west and among his countrymen? we'll put a human face on the war there by bringing you the remarkable story of a british soldier who dismantled dozens of ieds before being killed by one. in our signature series, we'll take you to the philippines, where being an investigative journalist can cost you your life. and what's this? it's fencing. in africa. it's off to togo we go. from the world's leading reporters and analysts, here's what's happening from around the world. this is "worldfocus." major support has been provided by rosalind p. walter, and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. and additional funding is provided by the following supporters -- good evening. i'm daljit dhaliwal. when hamid karzai was officially declared the winner of afghanistan's presidential election, president obama and other western leaders urged him to root out corruption. today, karzai resp acknowledging that afghanistan does have what he called "a bad name from corruption." he promised to deal with the problem, but a great deal of skepticism remains. that is our lead focus tonight. we begin with jonah hull of al jazeera english. >> hamid karzai's first appearance since being declared president. it seemed a carefully judged affair. not exuberant in victory, but humble, in the knowledge perhaps he'd won by default. >> we are aware of the difficulties of our governance and environment in which we live. we'll keep trying our best to address the questions we have facing afghanistan and to make sure that the wishes of afghan people come true towards an effective, clean government. >> international reaction to president karzai's win has been unanimous in support. but also straightforward in outlining expectations. form an effective cabinet. try and draw in former rival dr. abdullah and his supporters. stamp out corruption. president karzai may be willing. many believe he is too weak and hamstrung by promises made to powerful allies. and already seen in some quarters as a puppet of the west. hamid karzai says the winner is not the president but the country and its people. but there's a price for that y, the price afghans have had to pay in their loss of faith in the democratic process. and the price president karzai is now expected to pay to restore that faith. in short hamid karzai must act to restore unity, order and stability in the face of a growing taliban threat. in a statement the taliban called mr. karzai a tool of the we. the president has in turn vowed to bring moderate taliban elements into government. among afghans the predominant sense is likely to be one of relief, that a protracted political crisis is over. also disappointment that votes cast, in many cases at considerable risk, were lost to fraud. many feel hamid karzai has failed to meet their needs in the past eight years. he now has five more tchange all that. jonah hull, al jazeera, kabul. >> meanwhile, the war is expanding and becoming deadlier. often this is a conflict that is seen in the abstract. numbers of troops in afghanistan, casualty figures on any given day. but tonight, we want to put a face on the war. he was a britisholdier. staff sergeant olaf schmid from the royal logistics corp in his case logistics meant defusing roadside bombs, which now account for up to 80% of the casualties in afghanistan. sergeant schmid had disarmed more than 60 of them in southern afghanistan. and then there was the one on saturday. and it was to be his last. tonight an appreciation of a brave man, from jonathan rugman of itn. >> reporter: he stared death in the face every day. and was tonight described by a senior army officer as simply the bravest man he'd ever met. buomb the staff sergeant defused in afghanistan just before he went home on leave turned out to be his last. these pictures show him on a training exercise with the royal logistics corps in essex earlier this year. the bomb that killed him on saturday was in far away helmand. a legend. mr. morale, his commanding officer called him. but back in march he just sounded anxious to get the job done. >> obviously it's a dangerous job. however, a culmination of all the training that we have certainly as a team has prepared myself for this deployment in absolutely the best possible way. i feel absolutely confident about the job and the task i'm expected to do and that of my team members as well. >> reporter: the staff sergeant was killed near the town of sangin. it was in sangin back in august that his courage entered a league of its own. because schmid discovered 31 improvised bombs in a single operation to clear just one road. the heroism of a 30-year-old originally from cornwall, saving both british and afghan lives time after time. >> i was talking to his commanding officer earlier this evening. the most extraordinary character. he was described by him as mr. morale. a real live wire. but also a real professional. someone who was hugely proud of his achievement in passing the very demanding high threat bomb disposal course that qualified him to come out here and do his job. >> another bomb disposal expert filmed here was killed in july. he had personally defused more than 50 bombs. british troops have found around 1,200 improvised devices this year alone. with explosions accounting for some 80% of british deaths. >> at the moment, we don't have the aviation assets. we don't have the helicopters to physically get the troops on the ground so they can dominate the ground. more importantly we don't have the unmanned aerial vehicles and thsurveillance platforms to be able to, if you'd like, dominate the ground from the air to identify when the taliban are placing the devices. >> the staff sergeant leaves behind a wife and a stepson in wilshire. mrs. schmid issued this statement tonight. "he was my best friend and soul mate," christina schmid said. "the pain of losing him is overwhelming. i take comfort knong he saved countless lives with his hard work. i am so proud of him." schmid was the 87th british soldier to die in afghanistan this year. though that statistic is lost on those who served alongside him. "better than the best of the best," one officer said. "though superlatives do not do him justice." >> that was itn's jonathan rugman reporting. by the way, our partner itn asked on its website whether sergeant schmid died in afghanistan just to keep a corrupt president in power. it's a theme that takes us to a deeper discussion of the corruption issue. for that we turn to karin von hippel, who follows afghanistan closely. she's a senior fellow at the center for strategic and international studies in washington. thank you very much for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> one european diplomat said the west would like to see president karzai deliver, and i quote, high profile heads on a platter. is this something he is likely to do? is hgoing to go around and arrest his close allies on charges of corruption? >> i think they would like a symbolic gesture. maybe up to five or six of the really most egregious war lords and criminals. i think he should be encouraged to do this. on the other hand, if it's true the u.s. government and other allies are also supporting some of these allies, remember that story in "the new york times" only recently how president karzai's brother down in kandahar was on the cia payroll, if those stories are true, we also need to stop doing that as well. >> take us through some of the consequences if he doesn't. does it mean the west and, of course, the ordinary afghan people are going to end up losing any remaining faith that they have in his government? >> well, he certainly does not have a lot of legitimacy. i think most afghans viewed the election as fraudulent. turnout was low in august. i was there as an observer. i was supposed to go back for the second round. people anticipated turnout would be even lower the second time. he doesn't have legitimacy. he isn't delivering services and security. he does need to turn tngs around and do basic things like basic governance. >> over the past eight years, what concrete steps has he taken to ensure the credibility of key organs of the government and judiciary? >> the whole system isn't corrupt. there are parts of the government running well. the national solidarity program. education and health care have been going very well. it isn't all parts of the government. it's certainly the case there are warlords in key ministries, in key provinces that are in charge, should be removed. and corruption really does filter down to the lowest level. people have to bribe police officers just to get bic administrative functions delivered. so it really needs to be cleaned up at many different levels. >> what would the consequences be if he refuses to act strongly against corruption? how would it affect the west's ability to continue to fight on in afghanistan? >> i do think this is really the last chance karzai and his government is going to get by most of the west. not just the united states, but the canadians and the europeans. they're all getting very disillusioned. they're spilling blood and spending a whole lot of money on a government that isn't seen as legitimate by its own people. i think this patience is wearing thin across the board. >> all right. thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. a senior israeli military official warned of a new threat from hamas militants in gaza. the head of military intelligence, major general amos yadlin, said today hamas has test-fired an iranian rocket in recent days capable of flying 37 miles from gaza to tel aviv, israel's major metropolitan area. until now, rockets fired out of gaza have only reached up to 25 miles. he also said hamas is currently not interested in confrontation with israel, butather is devoting its energies to solidifying its rule in gaza while continuing to smuggle weapons into the area. and on that rocket disclosure, we want to know what you think. our question tonight, how do you think israel should respond to the latest disclosure that hamas has a missile capable of hitting tel-aviv? you can give us your opinion by going to the "how you see it" section of our web site. that's at worldfocus.org. instead of flying home from the middle east, secretary of state hillary clinton made an unscheduled stop in cairo today. she held meetings with egyptian leads on the stalemate over restarting peace talks between israel and the palestinians. for clinton it was also a damage control mission after comments this weekend in which she praised israel for offering to cut back, but not stop, the building of jewish settlements. the comments continued to draw strong reaction today in the arab world. the main headline in the syrian newspaper al-wattan, "clinton tries to contain arab anger and disappointment about her statement on settlements yesterday, we asked you if the united states was being even-handed in dealing with israel's settlement policy, we got a very enthusiastic response from our viewers. many thought that the u.s. learned more towards israel. here's what one had to say. after following the after following the israel/palestine issue for many years, i am convinced that the u.s. policy favors israel. as to the constant mantra by the pro-israel crowd in the united states that insists that the palestinians recognize israel's right to exist, i think the palestinians are recognizing israel's right to exist when they agreed to consider a two-state solution. but another viewer said, "the u.s. has become one of the biggest appeasers of the arab world. it has recently placed tremendous pressure on israel, while ignoring 60 years of arab military and political action to destroy a tiny jewish state." some other global news you might not have heard about. from tanzani a team of scientists predicts that climate change will make the snow on the top of mt. kilimanjaro, the continent's highest peak, disappear within 20 years. they say kilimanjaro's vast ice fields are melting faster than at any time over the last century and have lost 85% of their ice since the early 1900s. from italy an uproar tonight over a ruling italian schools should remove crucifixes from classrooms. it was made by the european court of human rights that has influence but can't enforce its rulings. it says crucifixes could disturb some children who are not christian. the ruling comes as italy experiences a growing population of immigrants, mostly muslims. the government called the ruling shameful and absurd. in tonight's signature story, we return to the philippines. yesterday you may recall we explored the country's close relationship with the united states and the strong american influence. but tonight we look at one area of society that has had a very different experience from that of the united states. freedom of the press. it is something that we take for granted here. but in the philippines, as you're about to see, robust reporting can be a very dangerous profession. we show you the real risks some reporters face trying to the their job. >> on the vast island of mindanou, the bustling port town's tiny radio station dxmd has a reputation for tough reporting. and highly critical editorials. it's where anchorman dennis would like to say he was going after the big fish. exposing local corruption and abuse of power. one year ago after repeated threats to his life, he was shot to death on this street in broad daylight. witnesses id'd the gunman as a relative of the town mayor. no one has ever been arrested. he left behind a family with seven children. his wife. >> he was not afraid whenever he discovered something. he would really tell in the radio. >> he was not afraid? >> he was not afraid. even in his death. >> for journalists, not just another homicide, but a frightening reminder that freedom of the press in the philippines comes at a steep price. it wasn't supposed to be this way. in 1986, millions of filipinos rose up against the dictatorship of fern demand marcos. the modest widow of a sln opposition leader leading a peaceful, people power revolution that restored democracy to the philippines. with it, the liveliest press in asia. today in the philippines, there have never been more newspapers in print or more points of view. broadcast journalism has never been more influential. yet in the 23 years since people power, more than 70 journalists have been murdered for doing their job. >> the irony that the biggest one of the two places in asia where you have actual legal protection for press freedom, but it is also one of the few places in asia, or it is the only place in asia where you have that many journalists being killed. >> he heads the philippine center for media freedom and responsibility. a group that keeps exhaustive records on the murders of journalists. murders almost always tied to reports on corruption. the philippines consistently ranks as one of the most corrupt countries in asia. those murdered over the last two decades have risked their lives reporting on government and illegal business activity. in one of the most high profile cases, an investigative journalist also from mindanou, exposed a scam involving two regional officials of the philippine department of agriculture. she was shot to death in her own home while eating dinner with her children. garcia's death put intense pressure on president arroyo, who promised the nation she would protect reporters and track down their killers. in a rare victory, the three hired assassins were caught and convicted. but the two officials alleged to have hired them are well connected and they remain free. >> although the president may order the police to run after the killers, despite that, what usually happens is that the orders are ignored or the orders are regarded as not serious. >> it's not that journalists haven't raised the alarm themselves. this dramatic documentary by a reporter graphically illustrated how the murders threaten journalism itself here by intimidating reporters into second guessing or censoring themselves. >> i think in general it's had a chilling effect on our profession. how free can journalists really feel if there's this threat of being killed for something that they write or air? >> the documentary also raises the controversial debate over whether journalists should arm themselves. many here have already undergone weapons training. an urge i felt at times in the philippines following death threats i received in 1990 while covering a string of military up risings here. this is one of the blunt threats that was slipped under my hotel room door here. these four cigarette burns, i'm told, are symbolic of the four bullets that a group of disgruntled military officers were going to put into me. of course, i was able to leave the country until things cooled down. howie and other journalists rarely have that option. >> i get scared. i get scared for myself and for my family. fear makes you more careful. i haven't stopped doing what i'm doing. but i have had to exercise extra precautions. >> still, there are times when caution is put aside. down in general santos city, he's keeping up the drum beat, demanding justice for his friend, dennis, the former anchor at dxmd, the murdered father of seven gunned down here one year ago. at great risk to himself, gonzalez even led us to local police headquarters to ask why an arrest warrant for the suspected gunman in the case hasn't been acted on. why can't he be arreed if this was issued one month ago? he's hiding? you can't find him? >> we can't find him. >> it's probably no surprise that the crime status board here shows no unsolved cases. the small staff at dxmd radio says that's the way it always is in the philippines when the victim is a journalist who's been warned to lay off the big fish. juan gonzalez, choking back the tears, saying he won't be silenced. neither will gloria, who has also received anonymous threats and warnings to stop pursuing her husband's case. are you proud that your husband was a journalist? >> yes. for me, he's a hero. he did his job well. >> gloria and her seven children are now under the protection of bodyguards 24 hours a day. for worldfocus, the philippines. and before we go, here is something that we didn't know. the sport of fencing is alive and well in africa. in fact, it is practiced in almost two dozen african nations. one of the latest to embrace fencing is togo in west africa. there are a growing number of youngsters who are shouting unguard. our partner, africa 24, takes a look at this new enthusiasm for a very old sport. >> she lunges and strikes. this 17-year-old, seen here in yellow, she's attacking her opponent with determination during a training session in togo's capital. she's one of the best fencers in togo and was one of the first to take up the sport when it was first taught here six years ago. right now there's training twice every saturday, morning and evening. today, for example, we got here at 7:30 and then we went back home at around 11:00 a.m. now we are back again for more training. it's the same on wednesdays. >> the origins and rules of modern fencing date back to 17th century europe. it's one of the very same sports which has been featured in every olympic games since 1896. 23 african countries have fencing federations, including togo, since 2003. the most popular sport here by far is still football. very few people have even heard of fencing. >> no. i don't know anything about fencing. >> in africa, it's pretty rare, especially here in togo. >> the man who brought the sport to togo is victor, a sports coach who learned how to fence himself and then started teaching it here. >>