hello, you're watching gmt on bbc world news. i'm david eaves. our top stories, sending young men to syria to fight in the middle east sending a verdict on 46 accused. the leader of the group, sharia sharia4belgium is sentenced to 12 years in one of europe's biggest cases. we'll be looking at the effect of such groups and what can be done to stop them. >> some are youngsters and not only my son but hundreds of

youngsters. as people are killed is this the day to sit down and end the conflict? the captain of costa concordia, the cruise ship that ran aground with the loss of 32 lives await the verdict for his trial in manslaughter. also aaron is here for that great europe showdown. >> david, whether you see it as standoff or russian roulette. greece is ready to play hardball with europe. and russians are resisting any changes to changes. russia confirms it would consider coming to greece's rescue. sharia 44belgium, is the name of the group a terrorist

organization for supplying jihad jihadist jihadists to syria and elsewhere. all were found guilty and given prison terms between three and 12 years. among them the leader of that group was given a 12 year term for radicalizing and recruiting muslim men. but only eight of the accused have actually been in the court in antwerp. the rest were thought to be either in syria or dead. our correspondent is in antwerp for us. the verdicts are pretty clear. what was the reasoning given? >> reporter: david yeah the judges sitting up in this court went out -- they went all through theirreasoning, said absolutely convinced this group, sharia 4 belgium disbanded a couple years ago, came under pressure from authorities, convinced it was a terrorist

organization, what it was doing was radicalizing young men, some not muslims, young men, teenagers who were targeted at troubled times in their lives. some of them converted to islam, then radicalized and encouraged to go to the middle east syria and iraq where they then joined up with groups al qaeda linked and also islamic state. the judges said they were absolutely convinced that's what the organization was doing and convinced this 32-year-old belgian moroccan dis scent was the leader. he got 12 years and even others got handed 15 years heavier than him. of the of. >> i guess there was a

considerable amount of frustration about those sentenced before the court. >> reporter: there is. frustration on the part of the authorities that they wanted they said there was evidence that they believed that those people were still alive and that's why they pursued the cases against them. frustration on their part they couldn't bring them to court today. interesting, frustration from some of their families. at least one of those men, he is believed to still be in syria. his father is here and said he doesn't know if his son is alive. he thinks the results of this verdict, his son got five years is there is no way his son will now come back to syria from belgium if he faces this. he was very upset clearly and said my heart has been ripped out. when will i ever see my son again now? i don't know. >> damian for now, thanks very

much indeed. it brings up all sorts of manners and difficulties. i'm jeaned from strasbourg from the alliance of liberals and democrats, thanks very much for joining us. 45 people found guilty. how much of a breakthrough do you see this from a belgian perspective? >> it sets precedent and shows we are facing head on those people trying to denigrate and bring youth in the wrong direction. it sets a case not only for belgium and the rest of europe we are tackling this issue, we are not allowing people to brainwash our young people and convincing them to fight as fighters in syria and iraq and i hope this is a start in other countries to start tackling this problem. >> what are the lessons you say other countryies can learn from belgium because it is tackling a

problem bigger than any other western nation. >> reporter: many of our cities and towns, people now talking to young people who they see being cut off from their friends having contact with some islamists. in the first instance looking at prevention. this trial also shows you have to be forceful in prosecuting those people leaders trying in an organized fashion to cut off people from their home trying to convince them to go fight for the islamic cause in countries they don't belong. i hope the combination of both can help and serve as a template in other countries. >> don't go away. i'm joined also in the studio by ross director against violence extremism network and for strategic dialogue. you heard the message very clearly. you've got to be tough. you've got to get tougher. is that the way to deal with this? >> obviously we don't think you

can avoid having criminal sanctions for isis or other terrorist organizations. we want to make sure we're balancing this with the knowledge we're not going to be able to prosecute every one. we need to prevent people from going and even people there, we need to get those people home. while coming dow upeing down hard seems reasonable in some respects we have to try to get those home and put in criminal sanctions when necessary and reintegrate into society. >> rehabilitation is clearly a very important worrying concern for many families. do you feel that is the right path also for belgium? it certainly isn't the flavor of the month in the uk at the moment. >> reporter: i . >> i think in belgium we have tried to look for a comprehensive task force and in that sense doing prevention and cracking down on people trying to convince people to commit

terrorist attacks and focus on terrorist rehabilitation for those coming back they are terrorists homegrown not foreign fighters on our soil. >> can you say both we need to crack down on those who come back and at the same time we honorable tate them? >> yes. because the crackdown serves as prevention and those recruiting if we cut down on those organizations, those islamists trying to convince young people to fight abroad we can see rehabilitation will be much easier and the process afterwards the state is making to providing those people a new future here in europe and i think also be supported in that way. >> a suggestion coming from the former head of the intelligence services here in the uk that actually we should be much more lenient to particularly disillusioned young men coming back to the uk. that's not the policy here or belgium or many other countries

at the moment. do you see the sense in that? >> absolutely. we work against extremism with hundreds of former and rehabilitated extremists. we know it's possible to bring people back from the edge here. the problem we see when we come down very hard from these people and their family it creates a divide. families become afraid to speak to authorities and say, my son is going to be locked up for 10 years. we heard the father speaking in the segment before we spoke afraid his son wouldn't come home now that he has this hanging over his head. >> the message possibly is that's just tough? >> not really. we need to make sure families aren't afraid to come forward to the state to get help for these young people. for the people actually coming home there's no better counter narrative than a fighter who returned from isis and stands up and says listen i was there and here's the reason i left. it's not islamic utopia. that's not what it was, they're

lying and don't let it happen to you. all sorts of reasons for providing security and prevention to working in a more nuanced way on this and working with families not against them. >> phillip, perhaps a belgian point, this is a country with many divisions, a lot of issues in belgium, a lot of people feel young people are not very well represented in the country. do you see it partly as a bell belgium economic problem? >> i think probably a much broader perspective. these are people indoctrinated by some other people and convinced to fight abroad. it really is an effect on our society and we have to do everything we can to fight it. first of all, prevention talking to those families at a very early phase to try to convince those people not to go stay here and follow a route of rehabilitation at the same time those organizations who still continue to entice and try to affect our democratic values,

crack down on them very hard and that combination, prevention and a very staunch approach from the state will help solve the problem. >> the debate will continue. thanks very much indeed and thanks for joining me here in this studio. the united nations refugee agency says more than 200 migrants are thought to have drowned over the last few days as they try to cross the mediterranean. survivors picked up by the italian coast guard. >> reporter: those survivors are nine in total. two were passengers of a rubber dinghy with 105 people on board. the other seven were on board with another boat with 107 people on board. that makes 203 people lost at sea today. the bad news but this is not confirmed yet, based on the report of the survivors, there was a fourth boat that left

libya on saturday together with the others which is completely disappeared in the mediterranean. two men in australia have been charged with planning an im imminent terrorist attack. the police say they seized a hunting knife, machete and israel flag. they said the arrests had prevented something catastrophic. a top malaysian political cartoonist has been arrested after criticizing the person on trial for sodomy charges. he suggested the judges in the case have been told what to do by their political masters. now, on the day world leaders prepare for peace talks in ukraine, in the east the death toll just continues to rise. more than 20 people have died in the latest violence.

at least two were killed in the city. several more injured when a shell hit a bus station in rebel controlled donetsk. 19 soldiers were killed there, many in the down of debaltseve. on the day of negotiations between diplomats, ukraine, france france, germany and russia plan to hold talks. the last talks in september concluded in a deal to end the fighting and frankly failed rather miserably. will this attempt prove any more successful? not a lot is known about the new french and german proposal but many expect it to be based on a peace plan from last year. the main sticking point is whether line of control will be placed. this is the separation line which was agreed back in september. it's believed the new plan will involve a battle zone many kilometers wide which separated

the rebels from the east from the ukrainian force in the west. that would make sense. if the zone is based on september separation line it would also require the rebels to pull back from their current positions. there's also the contentious question who will police the buffer zone. james reynolds is in the biggest rebel held city of donetsk. it feels a little bit like the conversation we had only yesterday. still, the talks there, hours away and the fighting it seems, goes on. >> reporter: particularly as you mentioned, in and around debaltseve. that is a government held town but the rebels want to take it. they have almost encircled it and some suggested they have and cut the government off because it would link the territory they hold in the south with the territory in the north and connect the territory and that will afford better ac snemts they wan it possibly -- afford

better access. they want it because it is under one belief if you take territory, you may not have to give it back in the end. >> on the basis they would have to agree on the terms of the september minsk deal would it be true say the separatist be the ones who have to give the most back? >> reporter: that's our understanding they have to withdraw from places they took in recent weeks. when i spoke to rebels when we went to the front lines a few days ago with my colleagues they said not only they had no intention of withdrawing and had every intention of going further forward. that's the ambition they have and i think it will complicate police negotiations in minsk. >> let's get to minsk. because our correspondent is there and joins me on the line now. richard, we've been ticking off the list of those leaders

saying yes we're going at least. it seems they're ready to do that much. i see an angela merkel spokesman saying there is a glimmer of hope nothing more. is that how you would characterize it? >> reporter: yes. i think that's absolutely the mood surrounding this summit and the ukrainian president poroshenko is in support of peace but at the same time ready for war, to be able to defend the country to the last breath as he put it essentially we need to do both things. clearly the ukrainian government size is very much hedge k its bets. there are an awful lot of obstacles to overcome before there can be an agreement in minsk. >> the fighting is bad enough. when you hear the diplomatic language batted back and forth whether across europe or the

atlantic hardly raises much call for hope. >> reporter: absolutely. it seems a robust phone call made by the american president barack obama yesterday, when he called his russian counterpart in britain and quite bluntly said mr. putin should seize this opportunity to opportunity for peace otherwise russia will face mr. obama puts it increasing costs if aggressive action in ukraine continues. tough words on the american side. the russians, of course have already said vladimir putin said this crisis is all the west's fault in particular saying what he described as a cowit was at the behest of western countries. absolutely very strong words and all the issues. you look at what ukraine wants out of it restoring its

authority over donetsk and enhanced regions over eastern ukraine and rebel held regions. rebels already declared independent and want to be independent from ukraine. another massive massive issue is the border between ukraine and russia ukraine saying it wants to restore its control on its side of the border there, obviously stop troops ammunition ammunition from coming into ukraine. how will they stop it? it happened before. if it is possible to have a buffer zone around the border who will monitor that. >> a lot of questions. in theory in an ideal world those leaders will settle down to talks in less than three hours of time. richard, thank you. much more on ukraine on our website. we have a breakdown there for you, what the different parties want with the crisis talks. head to the bbcnews.com/news.

do stay with us on "gmt." still to come after the costa concordia came to ground the captain is on trial and we'll get the latest live from the court. you want an advanced degree, but sometimes work can get in the way. now capella university offers flexpath, a revolutionary new program that allows you to earn a degree at your pace and graduate at the speed of you. flexpath from capella university.

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now, lawyers for the captain of the capsized costa concordia cruise ship will be making their last ditch appeal. this is the captain charged with manslaughter among other charges. 32 people died in the disaster. the costa concordia itself left its planned route sailing for a sail by in january, 2012. the captain did spot the rock but it was too late. it ripped a gaping hole in the stern of the boat and water

escaping in the hole and the power failed. it was only by luck the ship drifted back to the reef where it then tipped violently to its right side. that's the detail of the incident. the bbc alan johnson is in the city where the trial is being held. how's it going? >> reporter: david in the last hour, we had the man at the very center of this affair address the court for one last time. he was speaking in the moment before the judges were to leave and go and consider their verdict. in the aftermath of the disaster after it became apparent he had abandoned his ship when so many passengers were still in danger the captain became something of a hate figure here in italy. speaking in court he complained of his treatment at the hands of the media. he said it had put him through what he described as a meat

grinder. the captain is by nature a rather confident swaggering figure, you might say and there was an element of his personality on show in court today when he said there had been improvements in security arrangements for cruise ships as a result of his disaster and he seemed to seemed to suggest he almost deserved credit for that but he struck a different much more remorseful contrite tone when he said on the night of the disaster parts of him had died too. as he referred to the pain that he felt he broke down and couldn't continue to read his statement. the prosecution has said he acted with gross negligence and they have demanded he spend 26 years in jail. >> alan thanks very much indeed alan johnston. well now, it's been running year after year since 1956. to some it's pretty much the greatest party on the planet. to others maybe not. still, a song contest is about

to celebrate its 60th anniversary. it's had more bizarre entries than we could ever mention. now this milestone, australia is being invited to compete for the first time 15,000 kilometers from europe but it's been given a wild card entry to the final. ♪ >> reporter: we should probably expect surprises from a contest that's been won by a bearded drag queen from austria and featured two russian sisters on a seesaw. >> this year for the very first time, an australian artist will be competing in the grand final. >> reporter: on social media, some are already speculating who might represent them and others asking does australia host next year if it wins. >> if it should happen, they would -- we would find a european broadcaster that we would partner with and we would hold it there. but, hey, that's further down the track. that is the possibility, yep, we could win, who knows?

if that happens, we don't expect everybody to get on planes and come here. it is a long way. >> reporter: the song contest is a huge television event. each year around 180 million people tune in to watch. it's been going for 60 years. if you watched every year you'll have seen more than 1,400 songs performed. participating countries normally have to be in the european broadcasting area. at 10,000 miles away australia falls a little outside that but has been allowed a one-off entry. they may not have entered before but the aussie influence has certainly been felt. last year they performed in the interval and don't forget australian born olivia newton john and gina have both represented europe and others have been in the contest. >> people say why are we going there? the european aspect went a long time ago.

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on "bbc world news," i'm david eades. this hour the capital in yemen means security crisis and britain, france the united states are all closing their embassies and urging their citizens to get out. the phony anchor who told you everything you needed to know jon stewart, host of "the daily show" steps down. and a far from phony anchor -- >> be careful there. the cars of the future are fast

becoming the cars of today. in a breakthrough for the self-drive market britain is now allowing these to be tested on roads without the need for a special permit. we will find out if this lights out regulation could help britain become a global leader in driverless cars. >> there is a sense of acute urgency hanging over yemen. the u.s., britain and france all say they're suspending operations at their embassies in the capital and because of the deteriorating security situation. statements from the countries say they're withdrawing all diplomatic staff and urging their citizens to leave immediately. the u.s. state department said te heighten eded heightened change was as a result of unrest and the

unstable security situation. reporting from the yemeni capital just a couple days ago, sally, give us a sense of that move and anxiety you felt. >> reporter: yes. actually there are different interpretations for this move taken recently by britain, france and u.s. and reports saying germany is on the way as well to shut down its embassy. according to some analysts i've spoken to this morning, they see perhaps these countries are worried that yemen is on the brink of a civil war. just last night, they managed to take over southern yemen and according to analysts this is the first step towards the south of yemen. this is pretty worrying because the successionists will not accept them and why they are

concerned the country is on the verge of civil war. on the other hand, we have another interpretation because some analysts see perhaps some western countries are trying to put pressure on the houtis to give concession. and they are aware they cannot rule yemen alone without financial aid from financial partners like saudi arabia without international recognition. they need the international community if they want to stay in power. if they want to rule yemen, they have to accept partnership and perhaps the western countries are trying to push them forward. just last night the head of the houthi group said there are less western interests in yemen and if the western countries and gulf countries try to pressure us from an economic perspective they have to know their economic interests in the country might be in danger in and implied

threat to these countries trying to put pressure on the houthi group. >> thanks for that assessment on the ground. part of the bbc's a richer world series, we're looking at what it takes to get ahead in the united states. for the most part that requires a university degree. but they don't come cheap. george washington university in washington d.c. has been one of those leading this trend of rising price ss, as the bbc's katty kay reports. >> reporter: it's a real treat to go to an american college. the education is world class. the facilities are spectacular. there's almost nothing a student at george washington university can't study or do. but every treat has a price. >> i currently work two part-time jobs. i work a lot of night shifts usually about three to four shifts and about four hour shifts. >> reporter: these students don't come from wealthy families so they have to find other ways to pay the high fees.

>> usually every semester i do 30 hours of work whether one or two jobs on campus. >> i've been working two to four jobs a semester. >> reporter: you have $60,000 of loans today. when you finish college how much do you think you will owe? >> 126. >> reporter: the high fees don't just go on teaching. u.s. colleges come pete to provide the best possible extras. here, that means basketball. it's not cheap to have top notched sports. in 2008 this stadium got a $43 million face lift. george washington university costs about $48,000 a year. by comparison a british student can attend edinboro university for around 14,000 or you can go to the heavily subsidized serbane in paris for $5,000. which begs the question are private universities really worth it? i will admit i have a vested

interest in this story. my family has done an experiment. i have one child who's been to university in the uk and one to the university in america. it's pretty clear the quality of education is better here in the states. there's simply more teaching going on. what's less clear to me is whether it's worth the enormous extra cost. fees at george washington doubled in the last 2 1/2 decades. it was a deliberate strategy to make the college more attractive. because humans are complicated animals, it worked. >> reporter: is it worth the money? >> who knows? is it better to drive a cadillac than a chevrolet? both get you from point a to point b. >> reporter: the university's former president oversaw an investment boom here and has no regrets about run away fees. >> if they can find a job and are able to practice their profession and they can make a living, well then the university has served the purpose presumably they wanted society wanted. if they can pay the debt back it's not a problem. >> reporter: eventually

competition will cap college fees in america and it won't come from buildings and stadiums and beautiful dorm rooms, it will come from the web. today, more u.s. schools offer online classes virtually for free and more students are saying that's a very good deal. katty kay, "bbc news," washington. time to catch up now on the business news. aaron is here. showdown in brussels. end of the shadowboxing possibly? >> it's who will blink first, what everybody is waiting for. thanks very much. whether you see it as a mexican standoff or a game of russian roulette, greece is ready to play hardball with its creditors when youreurozone's finance managers meet in brussels today. following a confidence vote on greece's bailout packages. we are not negotiating the bailout. it was canceled by its own

failure. with germany not willing to negotiate either it seems today's meeting will be a showdown of stubbornness. the eu portion of the $30 billion bailout is due to expire the 28th of february 17 days for athens and brussels to reach a compromise or risk seeing greece to crash out of the euro. greece is asking for more time proposed a six month transition period in order to issue new longer dated gdp-linked bonds the money they pay back when the economy starts growing. in transition period it wants a short term debt to run a smaller budget surplus as well. germany and others have just said no to this idea. is there a plan b? if greece doesn't get a deal it says it will ask the u.s. russia, or china to fund it instead. i tell you what. a couple of hours ago, actually russia's lever offoff said he would

consider any calls, the foreign minister, would consider any help from greece. and from the chamber of commerce, he joins us. great to see you! listen, this shakes things up a bit, doesn't it? what's going on? i'm wondering if the greek government is trying to antagonize its european partners by -- i guess by entertaining the idea of a russian rescue. >> nice to see you, too. it seems there is quite a polemic attitude towards today's meeting later on at the euro group. i can say that initial voices pre-election voices concerning the so-called debt are no longer apparent. what they're looking for at the important your ro group meeting is a prom -- euro group meeting is a program of technical

assistance. the so-called new deal new program greece wants to propose and the new government wants to propose enhancing growth and reducing austerity, i have to say, has taken its toll taken quite often in the past and we know that austerity upon austerity simply won't bring the necessary results. essentially, they're looking for technical assistance which includes the 8 billion that the greek government wishes the ecb to provide permission to be released and also the 1.9 billion profits that have come from the greek bonds, which is part of the initial agreement. >> greece wants that but we keep hearing that germany and the others are still saying no you've got to stick to those conditions. all that money you received you have to stick to the conditions. briefly, do you think -- it's kind of like waiting for somebody to blink first.

do you think a deal can be reached? >> i think a deal can be reached, aaron. the only problem against greece at moment is bad timing in the sense that spain has similar problems. there is a new party radical left party there they've got elections in september. we have italy that needs to cut 51.5$51.5 billion for austerity measures for 2015 and another coming out of the program but still maintains several programs in the program. it would be difficult on the one hand for germany to give in to the greek demands although most german politicians recognize the move austerity to growth simply because other stronger voices from spain, italy, potentially france might be hurt following an agreement with greece. of course the problem there is much larger because greece represents only presidentialapproximately

2% of the dgdb and italy and 1/1/6th from the spanish economy. if they can go over details and get something logical overall that this is a european union and not an economy problem. do we have a european union or a german vision that's the question. >> thanks constantine, for joining us. we've been told it could be a school run or take home the shopping without any to control it. up till now driverless cars haven't seemed like a reality. as of today, driverless cars can be driven in the uk. it's the first to allow autonomous cars to drive on the road without special permits.

currently germany and italy has strict geographic locations to be tested and the uk hopes it will make it a global leader in driverless development. our correspondent has been playing with these things all day. great to have you with us. we talk a lot about driverless cars on this program and when we do we talk u.s. or google. not the uk. this is a massive leap for britain. >> there is. what they're saying we have the right regulations in britain to test streets and pavement. we'll get the car going in a second. weaving in and around people. britain is well set up to change the law and trying to attract the business all the different companies to test their cars here. we will get it going in a second. first, we get all a look at what it is like in action.

funny how we'll happily let a computer take charge of this yet people worry if they think a computer might be driving them in one of these. this is the first look at one of the driverless cars that will soon be on britain's public streets, weaving in a mongs the people and push chairs and shops. now, we're looking at the car's eyes using laser radar and cameras. this is how it avoids collisions. >> 90% of road accidents have human error associated with them. safety of the devices, understanding the environment and the obstacles is the primary benefit of this kind of technology. >> there will be issues clearly in the development testing. we want to iron out as many of those issues as we possibly can. nothing is risk-free.

>> please announce your destination. >> reporter: the government is putting 19 million pounds into driverless technology, launching new trials in bristol, coventry and here turning heads in south london. this is a driverless car they're going to be testing in greenwich. it's not remotely controlled clearly driven by a computer looking all around it using lasers on the corner here. the idea is you turn up register on a website, call it over with an app and it takes you on a local journey. the big question is what happens if somebody does this. >> obstacle. >> reporter: luckily, it stops. of course i'm not the first reporter to film a robotic car. i've always had a sneaking desire to have a car with a chau chauffer. but never did i believe i'd have

no driver at all. it's believed they'll change the world, save millions of lives and cut pollution and keep the elderly and disabled mobile. in the end, it's people that will need convincing. experts still say it will be a decade or more before you and i can walk into a showroom and buy a fully robotic car. okay. sorry. we will just get this little thing going now. i will click start. the doors shut. this is with me from trl on board because this is your baby. obstacle detected. okay. off we go. basically anybody will be able to come down here any member of the public come down here and register it up and call it over with an app. >> that's right. you register and come down and get the experience. we want people to understand and trust them and accept this technology. >> reporter: we will put the camera around. you can see people's faces.

they didn't even notice us really. see how they react. the whole point of this experiment is what do people think when they see this thing driving when obviously there is no one at the wheel. >> just to reaffirm you haven't hit anybody today, right, richard? >> reporter: no. very good. i did test it yesterday. i was a very grave boy and stood out in front and it stopped. i know you've seen this. >> good idea richard. health and safety. health and safety. it is the bbc. tweet me and i'll tweet you right back. get me @bbcaaron. do you trust it? >> in time. still to come celebrities and politicians can breathe a sigh of relief as award winning jon stewart says he's stepping down from "the daily show."

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hello again, i'm david eaves. the top stories this hour. 45 people have been found guilty of terrorist offenses as a belgium court rules the group called sharia4belgium supplied jihadist fighters to syria. the president of russia will attend a meet ging and ukraine says it is prepared to commence martial law if the talks fail. he's been told as one of the most trusted sources in. and jon stewart is stepping down

and said it has been an absolute privilege to be host of the show since 1999. he will be leaving later in the year. his razor sharp wit and observations helped make him a tv favorite. >> well the comedian there took some time away from "the daily show" to direct his first film "rosewater" last year. here he is speaking to the bbc. >> i should explain "the daily show" is how many americans get their politics these days. >> all americans. >> all americans. part of the problem is a lot

have had in a disconnection with politics is that the public are not really interested listening to politicians except occasional politicians at length and so you bring in humor the whole time. is there a danger you're actually trivializing politics as a result? >> it's interesting. politics does such a good job of trivializing itself i don't know that -- it's interesting, there's always people say to comedians where do you draw the line, as though we are the ones that can cause the greatest damage to discourse and those types of things. >> that's jon stewart there. with me is this american culture and politics commentator, mike carlson. you enjoyed that little bit of him. he didn't have a huge audience doesn't have a massive audience. what is it that has made him such an influential key figure? >> he's so influential primarily is because the mainstream media has basically ab brigaded their

responsibility to bring the news in such an interesting and rational way. they play up the tropes over and over again. it's not politics that puts people off, the way politics is covered that puts people off. >> do you think it was touched on there by jon stewart, that humor is a way in which americans will get the heaviest- >> it's a huge show and the tradition of satire goes all the way back to that was the week that was and a show a huge hit in america almost immediately, it's a way of present k stories to people and ideas to people they wouldn't necessaryily get much less understand if they were presented in the normal way. as you say, it's a small audience because the tv market is so fragmented. basically, the problem with this is comedy is always safe in the sense it's not necessarily going to change people and making it worse, it's only watched by the people who get the joke. the rest of them are watching fox news.

>> he seemed very comfortable with his one lines or two lines as well. very natural deliverer of those stingers. >> very well briefed and graded ad-libs. one of the great things to watch was the little debate he had with bill o'reilly from fox news who kept trying to put him in the distorting news. he said i'm a comedian first and foremost. fox is funnier than he is by the way they distort what he is. >> another thing tongue-in-cheek and an element of truth he brought foreign news to the united states. >> i worked for one of the american networks in the '80s. we were tremendous in covering foreign news. the market that shrunk. when i go back to the states now and watch the "nightly news," it's really about crime, natural disasters, the weather, trying to keep people safe in their homes watching television. to get a worldwide perspective when our biggest stories are all over the world, our economies,

wars happening outside the world is essential. >> if he's stepping down from "the daily show," can this joker turn more serious? do you think he has an interest in politics? >> that's an interesting thing. you already have one satirical comedian, senator from minnesota. i don't think that's the way he wants to go. i think making this film is probably an idea he has more to express in an artistic sense. he came into "the daily show" just before the 2000 election hanging chads, the fixed votes, voting rolls scrubbed of any who might vote democratic. i think that was comedy gold. he's played that out about as long as he can. >> he's done it. thanks for joining us here on gmt. that's it for today. but what's coming up on "impact." >> coming up on "impact," we'll

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