-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com hello, i'm nik gowing with "bbc world news." our top stories. beijing under a thick cloud of hazardous smog. scientists say it's likely to be deadly. ukraine's elite police units accused of killing protesters during the overthrow of president yanukovych have been disbanded. >> reporter: i'm jim wilcox live on independence square where later potential cabinet ministers are expected to be paraded before the crowds. violence as the prime minister resists calls for his

resignation after what he says are fake audio recordings. what are these fossilized remains of whales doing in a south american desert? hello everyone. let me take you first to the chinese capital beijing today. there it is, you can't see much. that's because the smog hanging over the city is the thickest ever, so thick that it's literally off the scale. it's now so bad that hundreds of thousands of people are fearful of doing this, of leaving their homes. that's because of the i'm pafkt of breathing the air on their health. this latest pollution has already lasted a week. so how bad is it? well, to the irritation of the chinese government, the u.s. embassy in beijing is tracking

air quality from its building with gradings from good, green air, to hazardous at the bottom. this is the embassy website of daily data, the current reading is right up beyond hazardous at over 500 gramts per cubic meter. these are the latest readings taken today. the level at which america starts classifying air as unhealthy is 150, that's there. this is the current level almost 560 to 600 right through the day. scientists say the impact of this toxic mix of particles can be deadly over the long term. here is the bbc's martin patience in beijing. >> reporter: china's capital shrouded in a toxic smog, its skyline barely visible. normal life hasn't completed ground to a halt, but some of those dancing are taking precautions and with good reason. we're here at a busy beijing

hospital where we're going to meet a doctor who is on the front line when it comes to dealing with pollution. dr. chang was worked here for 30 years, he's never been busier, seeing up to 30 patients a day. >> translator: as the air pollution is getting worse it's causing more difficult si ceases, linked with pneumonia, brorn kai tis and lung cancer. >> reporter: ironically when the smog hits there normally isn't a surge in admissions as the null verbal are warned to stay indoors. one of those who has ventured out is ms. wong. she's suffering from asthma. her chest is tight she says, and she's finding it hard to breathe. the impact of china ease pollution is being felt in hospitals across the country. according to a study air

pollution here contributed to more than a million deaths in 2010. china's economic development may have been remarkable, but it's coming at a huge cost which is proving deadly. martin patience, bbc news, beijing. well, what's behind it? i'm joined by chris falx from the bbc's weather center. it's almost the end of winter. what's happening. >> they've had weeks and weeks of this smog ki weather laying down near beijing. it's a result of, one, what we're putting into the atmosphere in this part of the world, the kind of pollutants, burning no, sir sill foods, carbon monoxide. the next is pm 2.5, they're the minute particles in the air that can get into the lungs and cause things like heart disease and cancer. that's a major concern at the moment. but the weather plays a big role actually in trapping these

pollutants near the surface. beijing lies close to the range of mountains. we can get cold air that pools and sits around in the lowest part of the atmosphere an isn't mixed around a lot because of the topography and geography. it's helped by an inversion where you have a layer of warm air sitting off the ground. it traps the dirty air near the earth's surface. we're going to see a significant change to the weather in china. what we've got going at the moment is a cold front is moving eastward across china. it's going to cross beijing at 10:00 local time. this is a satellite sequence. if you look carefully at the cloud, i've drawn on the weather front as well that you'll see in a second. the weather front is significant because behind that front we've got cleaner air coming down from siberia and northern stretches of china. that will move across beijing

about 10:00 local time. as it moves through, it will change the structure of the atmosphere, becoming more convective, mixing vertically. that will mean the air pollution mixes through and conditions improve at the surface. >> the problem is it may be about to clear for a few days. the trouble is there's so much being pumped into the air and the authorities in the communist party admit it, it remains a permanent feature of life in beijing and right across that northern industrial belt. >> of course, china is growing at breakneck speed. that's part of the story. china is trying to do something to address this. they're one of the biggest users of green power. >> they're not doing it at the moment. there's the forbidden city and the picture of chairman mao at the surface. >> they are making strides to address the problem. as they continue to grow at such a breakneck speed, there's an

insatiable demand for energy. they unfortunately are forced to use coal and that creates the dirty air. 1950s in london we had severe pollution problems that killed people until the clean air act came in and then we saw significant improvements. >> i know quite a lot of people don't want to live in beijing anymore because it's a daily risk. let's move to ukraine. the interim authorities have ordered the riot police and marks men to be disbanded. they were seen to be responsible for the targeting killing in kiev last week. russia appealed for international condemnation for what it says is increasing, as it put it, neo fascist sentiment in the west of ukraine. the foreign minister sergei lavrov says there's an attempt to turn russian-speaking residents into non-citizens.

live to independence square, tim willcox. >> reporter: this national unity government is expected to be announced tomorrow. parliament is sitting today. we're expecting remarkable, extraordinary scenes later on. the potential cabinet ministers are due to be paraded on the stage just behind me here in independence square. at 7:00 local time, in some sort of x factor style, reality tv parade so the crowd can hear who they are and presumably cheer or boo if they are unhappy. then those cabinet ministers will be voted in, or perhaps not, by parliament tomorrow. you were mentioning, also that the riot police, the marks men, the snipers who many here believe were responsible for the deaths last week, that unit is to be disbanded and the interim president, oleksandr turchynov, will be assuming control of the armed forces. that will be quite a key moment

as well. at the moment, buildings here in central kiev are being gartded by the protest groups and demonstrators. i went to the parliament building today. >> reporter: we're outside the ukrainian government building. this is being guarded by self-defense groups. you can see them scattered around the main courtyard area. parliament isn't sitting today. they're putting together the new interim government. if you look around here, you can see the various groups, they've got their food. camped out 24 hours a day. let's go across and speak to some of them. all of them are men. hello, you're on bbc, what's your name? >> oresta. >> reporter: you're the only woman in this group? >> yes. >> reporter: how long have you been camped out here and describe what has happened in the last few days.

>> from the first day after the blessing of people and here i will be until the finish, until when they were do the old administration. >> reporter: you lost friends and colleagues in your group from the fighting. >> i lost two friends, but not this group. but there we had many different people, even the old people, old women and some students. they blessed all people. >> reporter: thank you very much. if you look around the square, you can see just on the military truck some more tents have arrived. people here are saying they're going to be in charge in guarding this parliament building until elections are held. they are adamant that they want to see these changes go through. >> tim, so there's been the disintegration and disappearance of every vestige almost from the top layers of the previous government. what is emerging particularly

that there may be any trace of former prime minister yanukovych. >> reporter: no trace. he is the most wanted man. we heard they hope to take him to the international criminal court although there will be problems with that because ukraine isn't a signatory to the icc. a lot of rumors swirling around about where he may be and indeed some other key members of his regime. we had heard yesterday that one of the presidential aids had been shot and wounded in the leg. there's some rumors he might be at hospital in kiev. nobody knows, nobody has tracked them down. i think the interesting side of this now is that the government here or the interim government, interim president wants to get things back on a strong footing so they can run this country again. they need to get financial aid very quickly as well. this country is broke and, also,

face down those separatist issues which some in the east, for example, aren't saying they want to be separate from the west, but they're concerned about being ruled by an organization by the protesters movement and demonstrators here who they don't recognize. >> the bbc's tim willcox, thanks for joining me life from independence square. i see the acting president has been declared by decree the new commander of the security and armed forces. let's move on with the business. aaron joins me. because of banks between switzerland and the united states, what's going on there? >> have you ever had a bank statement delivered to you personally inside a magazine from your bank? >> in a magazine? >> inside a magazine. let me explain. hello there, yes. we have heard a lot about dodge gee bankers. this story could be right out of a bond film. u.s. officials have release add report describing the cloak and

dagger swiss bachb, helping to evade tax. according to a u.s. senate panel credit suisse bankers traveled to the united states on tourist visa and solicited clients in high society new york parties as well as florida golf outings. one client said he received his bank statements inside a "sports illustrated" magazine. now, the report claims that the bank b opened swiss accounts for more than 22,000 u.s. customers with assets toelting some $12 billion. a lot more on gmt coming up. out of all the large european companies france is yet to show itself pulling itself out of the meyer. one sign would be a fall in the initial number of job seekers. hollande says he should be kujed

on his success of getting french people back to work. the figures have gone from bad to worse. no one is holding their breath in paris. well over 3 million french people are actively looking for work. private firms are finding it hard to pay their labor bills and rise above those latest tax increases. more throughout the rest of the day on this story as well as this one. the european jet maker airbus reported a very goodyear. a rise of 22% in profits. that number coming in at 1.5 billion euros, that's $2 billion for all of 2013. the company which competes furiously with boeing for large civilian aircraft, it forecast jet deliveries to remain about the same level this year as last year when it actually delivered -- airbus delivered 626 aircraft. when these makers deliver the aircraft, that's when they get paid. in contrast, boeing has forecast a 10% rise in its delivery numbers this year to around 725

jets. that battle between the two plane makers continues. i'll be speaking the the big boss of airbus on gmt very soon. you got any questions? follow me on twitter. you can find me @bbcaaron. back to you. to venezuela where the opposition leader enrique caprice yas says the government of nicholas maduro is on its death bed as he put it. at least 13 people have been killed during weeks of protests in the country. it started when students took to the streets angered by venezuela's high crime rate. i'm joined by bbc munn dough's yolanda valerie. so is this on his death bed, is that his wishful thinking or is there clear evidence that that is the case, the president? >> this is a crucial moment for

president maduro's presidency. it's very difficult to predict which way it's going to go. >> is there clear evidence from the streets that his presidency is, quote, on its death bed? >> i'll say that's credit to the wishful thinking you were mentioning. so far president maduro has been able to control the situation and even though there have been some nights and some dates where the situation has gotten a bit worse, he's still in power and apparently the whole control of the government is taking place in venezuela. it's hard to see where he says that. it's a way of him speaking the his audience because there's a lot of anger on the streets, a lot of impatience on the part of the opposition people who believe there's no way out of this situation at least in the short term. >> what about the numbers, enrique ka pril las, the opposition leader, is there evidence that he's succeeding in galvanizing an anti maduro kind of spirit or not?

>> it's a tricky situation for cap pril las, the street demonstrations are not his call. he's stim the visible head of the opposition. he never wanted it to go out of control on the streets. there are other opposition leaders leading this situation much more than caprillas. he's trying not to be out of the picture really. speaking to his audience on the wake of people really being i'm patient and wanting this situation to change. >> yolanda valery of bbc munn dough. stay with me here on "bbc world news." still to come. the world renowned spanish guitar rift paco delucia who has died at the age of 66. eyes, or a million sleepless nights. whether it's building the world's most advanced satellite, the space station,

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the chinese capital beijing and much of northern china under a thick cloud of dangerous smog. it's now so bad hundreds of thousands of people are fearful for leaving their homes because of the impact of breepthing on their health. ukraine's enter richl authorities say they've ordered the units of riot police and marks men to be disbanded. there have been angry protests in turkey where the prime minister's opponents are calling for him to resign. erd wine may come under pressure in which the prime minister orders his son to dispose of millions in crash. he described them as a fake. he faces allegations of widespread corruption. >> reporter: protesters demanding the resignation of prime minister rah jeep type

erdogan. riot police respond with water cannons and teargas. it's further followup of corruption scandal where there were arrests on corruption. this week what appears to be a recorded conversation between the prime minister and his son was posted online. in it the prime minister is allegedly ordering his son to get rid of millions of euros of cash from the home during a corruption allegation. he flatly denies the allegation and condemns the recording as a fake. he says the leaked audio is a shameless montage by political rivals to bring them down. >> translator: this is a treacherous attack against the prime minister of the turkish republic. i would like to underline this is not an attack against erdogan

or the leader of the party. this is a callous attack against turkey's prime minister. >> reporter: on the street some voters are not convinced. >> translator: there's no smoke without fire. i'm sure the recordings are real. >> reporter: the recordings couldn't be independent verified, but the inquiry is a major challenge to mr. erdogan's 11 years in power, ahead of key local elections in march. now to one of the most astonishing fossil discoveries of recent years, a graveyard of whales found beside the man american highway in chile's desert. scientists think they can explain how so many came to be preserved more than 5 years ago. evidence suggests they ingested toxic algae.

i'm joined by our science correspondent jonathan amos. this is in the atta karma desert. how do we get there. >> the coastline was slightly different, the sea level was slightly different. much higher. that explains why you find marine fossils, ocean fossils at different levels than you might expect if you were walking along the coastline today. the atta desert is one of the largest on earth. if the whales are lifted out maybe by a storm surge, something like that, on to land, there's very little to come and scavenge those bodies, pinch some of the bones, take them away. the remarkable thing about this assemblance of fossils is the whales are very nearly all there, intact, every single bone virtually. >> there's something which we know about whales is they all

come together and almost commit suicide in times like this. is this symptomatic of why these whales are probably together? >> that's certainly part of it. they do swim in groups. there's something else about the modern experience we have when we sea whales strand as well. large whales like this when they die suddenly at sea they tend to flip over upside down so when they watch onto the land, that's the position, the configuration we have. that's precisely what we see here as well. they're all facing broadside so to speak of what would have been the coastline, again, irn dickive of the idea that they've been washed onshore by the tide. >> big chance i see here amazing, in 240 meeters of cutting a road, we sampled all the superstars. >> not just whales, other marine creatures as well. the aquatic sloth which is a

remarkably big kre tour that used to graze on the seabed. doesn't exist today, but more than 5 million years ago you would have found it in south america. >> jonathan amos, thank you for that. finally the world renowned spanish guitarist paco de lucia has died at the age of 66. he's credited with promoting flam men co-music. he died while playing with his children on the beach in mexico. i leave you with his music. ♪

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you're watching nik gowing with "bbc world news." our top stories, beijing under a thick cloud of hazardous smog with scientists warning it could be deadly. the new ukrainian authorities prepare to announce the proposed new cabinet in independence square later. violence in turkey as the prime minister resists calls for his resignation over what he says are fake audio recordings.

world renowned spanish guitarist paco de lucia dies at the age of 66. hello everyone. welcome to the chinese capital beijing. today you can't really see much. there, a large six-lane highway. that's because the smog hanging over the city is the thickest ever. so thick that it's literally off the scale. it's now so bad that hundreds of thousands of people are fearful of doing this, of leaving their homes because of the impact of breathing on their health. this latest pollution has already lasted a week. so how bad is it? well, to the irritation of the chinese government, the u.s. embassy, there is their logo in the top left-hand corner tracks

air quality from its building with gradings from good, the green there, right down to hazardous at the bottom. it publishes this data daily. this is their website. the current reading is beyond hazardous at over 500 micrograms per cubic meter, it's way down there. these are the latest readings today. there it is, almost 600 right through the day, 560. the level at which america starts classifying air as unhealthy is down here at 150. scientists say the impact of this toxic mix of particles can be deadly over the long term. this is tiananmen square today. this is the picture of chairman mao, barely visible through this smog. the bbc's martin patience is in beijing. >> reporter: china's capital shrouded in a toxic smog, its skyline barely visible. normal life hasn't completed ground to a halt, but some of

those dancing are taking precautions and with good reason. we're here at a busy beijing hospital where we're going to meet a doctor who is on the front line when it comes to dealing with pollution. dr. xiang was worked here for 30 years, he's never been busier, seeing up to 30 patients a day. >> translator: as the air pollution is getting worse it's causing more diseases, linked with pneumonia, bronchitis and lung cancer. >> reporter: ironically when the smog hits there normally isn't a surge in admissions as the vulnerable are warned to stay indoors. one of those who has ventured out is ms. wong. she's suffering from asthma. her chest is tight she says, and she's finding it hard to breathe. the impact of china's pollution

is being felt in hospitals across the country. according to a study air pollution here contributed to more than a million deaths in 2010. china's economic development may have been remarkable, but it's coming at a huge cost which is proving deadly. martin patience, bbc news, beijing. the interim authorities in ukraine have ordered the country's elite riot police and marksmen units to be disbanded. they were seen as responsible for the violence and targeted killing in central kiev last week. it's being confirmed by decree that the interim president, oleksandr turchynov is head of security forces. the new cabinet will be presented to the crowds in independence square later. my colleague tim willcox is in tiananmen square. >> reporter: the unity government is expected to be announced tomorrow. we're expecting extraordinary scenes a little later on. the potential cabinet ministers

are due to be paraded on the stage just behind me here in independence square at 7:00 local time in some sort of x factor style reality tv parade so the crowd can hear who they are and presumably cheer or boo if they are unhappy. then those cabinet ministers will be voted in or perhaps not, by parliament tomorrow. you were mentioning also that the riot police, those marksmen, the snipers who many here believe were responsible for the deaths last week, that unit is to be disbanded, and the interim president, oleksandr turchynov, will be assuming control of the armed forces. that will be quite a key moment as well because at the moment buildings here in central kiev are being guarded by the protest groups and demonstrators. i went to the parliament building today.

we're outside the parliament ukrainian building. this has been guarded by self-defense groups. you can see them scattered among the main courtyard area. parliament isn't sitting today. they're putting together the new interim government. if you look around here you can see all the groups, they've got their food, camped out 24 hours a day. camped out 24 hours a day. let's go across and speak to some of them. all of them are men. hello, you're on bbc, what's your name? >> oresta. >> reporter: you're the only woman in this group? >> yes. >> reporter: how long have you been camped out here and describe what has happened in the last few days. >> from the first day after the blasting of people and here i will be until the finish, until when they were do the old administration. >> reporter: you lost friends and colleagues in your group from the fighting. >> i lost two friends, but not

this group. but there we had many different people, even the old people, old women and some students. they blast all people. >> reporter: thank you very much. if you look around the square, you can see just on the military truck some more tents have arrived. people here are saying they're going to be in charge in guarding this parliament building until elections are held. they are adamant that they want to see these changes go through. >> tim, so there's been the disintegration and disappearance of every vestige almost from the top layers of the previous government. what is emerging particularly that there may be any trace of former prime minister yanukovych? >> reporter: no trace. he is the most wanted man. we heard they hope to take him to the international criminal

court although there will be problems with that because ukraine isn't a signatory to the icc. a lot of rumors swirling around about where he may be and indeed some other key members of his regime. we had heard yesterday that one of the presidential aides had been shot and wounded in the leg. there's some rumors he might be at hospital in kiev. nobody knows, nobody has tracked them down. i think the interesting side of this now is that the government here or the interim government, interim president wants to get things back on a strong footing so they can run this country again. they need to get financial aid very quickly as well. this country is broke and, also, face down those separatist issues which some in the east, for example, aren't saying they want to be separate from the west, but they're concerned about being ruled by an

organization by the protesters' movement and demonstrators here who they don't recognize. >> tim willcox in kiev. we'll revisit with one protesters among colleagues during the shooting last week. president obama has told the military to plan for a complete troop withdrawal from afghanistan. hamid karzai is still refusing to sign a long-term security agreement ahead of april's elections. any agreement would define how many u.s. forces remain after combat operations end in december. if there is none, there are fears a power vacuum will be filled by insurgent groups. from washington, the bbc's barbara pet usher. >> reporter: for american troops, the afghan war will be over at the end of this year. the question is how they will go. they've been hoping to leave a small force in place. now president obama has asked the pentagon to drop plans for a

possible full withdrawal. that's because mr. obama has failed to convince afghan president hamid karzai to sign a bilateral security agreement, bsa, leaving the u.s. without a framework for continued operations. mr. karzai's relationship with the u.s. is at an all-time led. his decision to free alleged taliban militants against american wishes is a blatant sign of what he calls mutual distrust. he said even if they approve the security agreement which they did, he'd leave the signing until after presidential elections in april. that significantly narrows american options. >> the longer we go without a signed bsa, by necessity the more narrow in size and ambition the mission for a post 2014 force would be. >> reporter: few think that afghan security forces can hold

back the taliban without u.s. support. the military and police here urgently want to finalize the deal to assure continued training and funding. the americans also want to keep access to afghanistan as a staging ground for counterterrorism missions, afraid of leaving a security vacuum like they did in iraq. but the fact the u.s. did pull all its troops out of iraq because of no security deal means it's not an idle threat in afghanistan. barbara plett usher, bbc news washington. at least 13 people have been killed during weeks of protests in the country. it started when students took to the streets angered by venezuela's high crime rate and economic problems. the government blames the shortages on sob tours and what it calls profit hungry corrupt businessmen. stay with us on "bbc world

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you're with "bbc world news" with me, nik gowing. here are the latest headlines for you. the chinese capital beijing under a thick cloud of smog. it's so bad that hundreds of thousands of people are fearful of their health and, therefore, of leaving their homes because of the impact on their breathing. ukraine's interim authorities say they've ordered the units of riot police and marksmen to be disbanded. the new authorities will also announce a proposed new cabinet to ukrainians in independence square at 1700 gmt, five hours from now. let's get more on ukraine.

we've been heard that riot police and marksmen are being blamed for the deaths of around 100 people in and around independence square last week. the protesters say they're staying put in the square. they say they cannot forget what happened. one of them took us to the scene of the violence last week. >> reporter: these were blocking the streets so people couldn't get to the parliament building. police were behind them. special forces got onto the roof of this building and threw stun grenades on people. i think there were about 500 to 700 people on this side of the street.

stun grenades exploded at the feet of people. they shoot at all parts of your body. they just didn't target your back or legs. after their forces became bigger, they started pushing us towards madan. people ran, crushed each other. people were falling. others stepped on them and special forces beat them up ruthlessly. some people ran through a ditch which is about three meters deep, so not all could get there. i used those trees next to the barricade. i climbed using them and got over on the other side. those who didn't escape from below, descended through this

hi hill. there are even more people there now, maybe twice as many. we got to this barricade. i know i was with the second unit of protesters. they stood with the shields on the front and i stood a bit below. when they started storming from the other side, an armored vehicle crushed into us here. we were at the barricade. i don't understand why they sent it into the crowd. it didn't manage to get through the barricade. i think a dozen people would have died because we were so many here. all further attacks happened here up to the 20th of february. they couldn't push us any further. >> piecing together there what happened in independence square in kiev at the end of last week.

to turkey where there have been angry protests where the prime minister's opponents are calling for him to resign. erdogan may come under more pressure when parliament discusses online recordings in which the prime minister asks his son to dispose of millions of dollars in cash. mr. erdogan says the recordings are fake. here is the bbc's ma reek coy. >> reporter: protesters demanding the resignation of prime minister rayjiip erdogan. riot police respond with water cannon and teargas.

riot police respond with water cannons and teargas. it's further followup of corruption scandal where there were arrests on corruption. this week what appears to be a recorded conversation between the prime minister and his son was posted online. in it the prime minister is allegedly ordering his son to get rid of millions of euros of cash from the home during a corruption allegation. he flatly denies the allegation and condemns the recording as a fake. he says the leaked audio is a shameless montage by political rivals to bring him down. >> translator: this is a treacherous attack against the prime minister of the turkish republic. i would like to underline this is not an attack against erdogan or the leader of the party. this is a callous attack against turkey's prime minister. >> reporter: on the street some voters are not convinced. >> translator: there's no smoke without fire. i'm sure the recordings are real. >> reporter: the recordings couldn't be independent verified, but the inquiry is a major challenge to mr. erdogan's

11 years in power, ahead of key local elections in march. across europe politicians are gearing up to what amounts to the world's second biggest exercise in democracy. in three months half a billion citizens of europe's 28 countries have the chance at least to elect members to the european parliament. it holds wide-reaching powers over national correspondents. our european correspondent matthew price is at the european parliament in strassburg. >> reporter: this is one of the more boring buildings i've been in, but probably one of the more important institutions in terms of the lives of half a billion europeans. it debates legislation, laws which then affect 500 million european citizens. one of the biggest problems this

place has is many in europe simply don't feel adds engaged with european politics as they feel engaged with their own national politics. in a moment i'm going to chat to one of the meps based here in stras boring. first take a little explainer about what european parliament actually does. the european parliament represents the largest democratic electorate in the world ap poort from india. meps, as they're known, are elected from 28 countries. the latest to jin the union was croat croatia. arlment works in 24 different languages creating 1.76 million payables of translation a year. there are 766 members of parliament, sitting in political groupings. the largest are the socialist and the center right people's party in blue. now, laws are produced by the european commission, the executive. parliament has the powers to

amend, reject or pass those laws which all eu countries have to follow. among the issues at this election are the fallout from the economic crisis, immigration and the power of the eu itself. held every five years, the next european parliamentary elections will be between the 22nd and the 25th of may this year. so let's bring in one of the members of the european parliament from poland, polish conservative mep. first of all, why is this place important. what's the european parliament ever done for us? >> first of all, we are kind of a european westminster. we represent the people of europe. we legislate, serve the budget and put directions towards foreign policy. >> national parliaments could do that and do that as well. >> no, they couldn't. every single member state is unable to do properly the things which people need. >> what areas? >> foreign policy, environment,

economics, all that goes beyond the front tears of nations of europe. that has to be done on the european level. we are doing that. >> give me a concrete example of something you're proud of, that the european parliament has done in the last five years? >> security, assistance in times of crisis, energy policy and security of gas deliveries, that's what we do. >> how has that worked better on a european level than it would with your country, poland saying, right, this is where we'll get our energy. >> if you put together your reserves, if you negotiate together and bargain on behalf of the bigger group of countries, you're much stronger, you get better prices, better conditions. >> let me ask you a question. you mentioned foreign policy there. you just got back from ukraine. that's our top story here on bbc world today, the crisis in ukraine. first of all, a european parliamentary delegation going to kiev, what can you hope to achieve? you don't have particular weight in terms of foreign policy. it was the foreign ministers

last week who were on the ground doing something. >> it is us who decided on an association agreement, we ratified. it is us who will decide about visa free regime. it is us who will set financial assistance program for ukraine and so forth. all those decisions are being taken, together with the council, which is member states, by this house. >> and you say it's you who are involved in the association agreements or the agreement between ukraine and the european union which actually was partly the real cause of all this. i know it runs deeper than that. on the wider question of ukraine, do you think it's useful that the european union is getting so heavily involved. there are fears of a split, of a tussle between russia and america and the eu. is the eu's presence useful in ukraine? >> it's absolutely necessary because, if we want to be secure and live in prosperity here in europe, we have to have peace and security at our borders,

otherwise we'll suffer. so we have to help them to choose democracy and market economy and be friendly with us, which means an association agreement. >> in your country, poland, you know all too well the weight of russia and russia's influence in that part of the world. if the eu gets too heavily involved, doesn't it risk helping to lead towards a potential split in ukraine? >> no. there's no danger of splits. there are fears of split, but no danger. secondly we should confront russia, insisting that those countries and those peoples have the sovereign right to choose their way of life and they're free to do that. europe should be on their side. >> thank you very much for both that and the explanation about european parliament. we'll be here all day at the european parliament talking to various colleagues of the meps here. as you see, the place starting to fill up now. what they are doing inside this part of the european parliament is debating all sorts of different measures which do, as

i said at the beginning, directly affect the lives of europe's citizens. >> thanks, matthew. within the last few moments it's been reported by news agencies in moscow that president putin has ordered an urgent drill to test the, quote, combat readiness of the armed forces, that in western russia, flexing moscow's military muscle with tension. i'm reading here, in the accordance with an order from the president of the russian federation forces are put on alert at 14 0 gmt today, in a couple hours. that's quoting enter fax, quoting the defense minister. finally the world renowned spanish guitarist paco de lucia has died at the age of 66 from a suspected heart attack. he's collaborated with jazz and classical musicians. he died while playing with his children on a beach in mexico. as i say good-bye to you, the

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hello. you're watching gmt on "bbc world news." i'm david eades. our top stories, a peace conference called by venezuela's president as protesters threat en to bring down his government. vt president maduro seeks to calm weeks of anger and street violence. is his brief tenure at the top in jeopardy. so bad you can hardly even see it, the smog in beijing hits record levels. also how uganda's drastic new anti-gay laws could cost