rhetoric a day after being slapped with new sanctions. now it's scrapping all peace packets with the south. and as the cardinals in rome set a date for the conclave, we look at one of the major challenges facing the church here in the u.s. welcome to "bbc world news" america," live in venezuela. chavez always had a great sense of political theater and his memorial service today was appropriately dramatic. tears from distraught venn zwailens and somber tributes from world leaders from. nearby cuba to distant aaron, they came to say goodbye. our correspondent ian with our coverage. >> i love you, chavez. i'll meet you in heaven.

they knew this day was coming but that hasn't made it any easier. this week hugha chavez succumbed to the cancer he couldn't beat and today they cried his name and swore to keep his spirit alive. people have poured into the capital from across venezuela to pay their last respects to president hugo chavez. you can see the passion here in the crowd. rare is the politician that commands this kind of respect and adoration. >> he was the best president and we know that everything loved chavez. everything loved chavez forever! >> we're going to every day think about what he do and going to say that we can never say thank you for all the stuff he did.

>> hugo chavez was an outspoken, controversial leader, championing the underdog at home and abroad. the guest list at today's funeral reflected that. in part, a who's who of america's least favorite leaders. ahmadinejad. nt raul castro, cuba's leader and left wing activists like sean penn also came to pay their respects. the economy suffered under chavez and the system he bequeathed favors only the party faithful. >> he was a laborer who said he was blacklisted after he signed a petition against chavez. >> after the first few years it became a disaster for everyone. confrontation between brothers

and fronalds. >> his supporters will remember him as a revolutionary who fought for the poor but questions about how he governed and the mistakes he made means history may not judge chavez so kindly. >> in caracas and a dramatic time for the people of venezuela. i'm joined by nelson. an influential journalist continuing getting scoops. nelson very well connected. what did chavez mean for the venezuelan people? >> there's before chavez and afterchavez. he was a great team for the poor people and he was the hope that they didn't have. he was the familia for all these poor people. that's why they were crying because he really touched him and touched more than the poor. he touched a lot of people with

his sentiment and desire to give them solutions to the problems. maybe he didn't accomplish all those solutions. his successor will inherit some of those big problems that he left but he was a great charismatic leader. >> there's no doubt that all of the displace of grief i've seen here have been very genuine. what happens next the for the people of venezuela? what is their future? >> the future with the president, his successor has not the charisma. his campaign will be this funeral, these emotions. the emotion part of the people is not the reason. and then they will have to confront the problems that chavez left. the economy, the prices of many things going up. the dollar -- you know, the

increase of inflation has been terrible and will be more. they don't have chavez to help. >> nelson, you and i before were talking about all of these world leaders who showed up today and a lot of people from around the world are asking what happens next in venezuela and they're asking that in washington tonight. do relations with america change? >> it was a surprise to hear jesse jackson praying and then he asked got to build bridges between the states and venezuela. the states are the only ones who pay cash for 3,000 barrels. the others are interchanged with china, russia and places in the caribbean. there's a hate and love relation. whenever it's going to be better then the government says that the yankees cater to chavez and they fire our

assistant to chavez here. but i think his successor must be more conciliatory. i think the surprise was jesse jackson and maybe he was surprised that someone asked for better relations with the states. they were helping a lot on establishing relations. >> you mentioned the oil and, of course, america is the biggest importer of venezuelan oil. it has to have good relations with this country but it is looking for an alternative to this system of government. do you think now the opposition in venezuela could have success? >> it would be very difficult. the emotion on chavez, the sentiment and the government controls all the power. there's no separation of power here. the army, the whole military

and army, it will be a very, very difficult task and i think the emotion that stays seven more days helps to build up the emotions for the campaign for meduro. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much for you. >> thank you. clearly a complicated time and a complicated legacy from hugo chavez. the outpouring of grieve as i've seen in that coup waiting for people who want to -- in that queue is absolutely genuine. on the other hand, you have an economy with 30% inflation, a currency that's been devalued and rising violence. those are the problems that face chavez's successor. whether there will be a real change of government in this country is a question being asked now here and around the word. >> thank you. just a day after the united nations imposed fresh sanctions

on north korea, an angry response from pyongyang. it says it's closing the joint crossing area between the two countries. the sanctions passed by unanimous vote on thursday target the funding for the north's nuclear ambitions. from seoul, lucy williamson has more. >> this was the moment north koreans learned ha their truce with the south was ending. relations are instead being dictated by this man. somewhere between a king and a demigod. he told frontline troops today to be ready to annihilate the economy. his first year in power has marked a low point with north korea's dealings with the outside world. the actions yesterday were backed also by its main alloy, china.

the country is withdrawing from all nonaggression packets designed to withdrawal disputes with south korea. the regime has also cut off the north-south hotline, a means of direct communication at times of tension. north korea's forces are numerous and well-trained and reports from the capital say public transport has been fitted with camouflage netting but north korea's troops probably don't have the commitment to match their leader's fiery claims like the threat yesterday to launch a preerive military strike against the u.s. >> we don't make empty threats. if we say we'll strike, we'll strike. if we say we'll fight, we'll fight and be victorious. >> south korea, too, is training its forces in annual joint exercises with the yivements. the government here says they could be turned straight into a

counter attack. south korea is talking touch to try and prevent another attack by the north but with pyongyang increasingly isolated. this could leave both sides with no way back. and if north koreans go into the icy waters, other nations are left to wonder. how do you deal with a statesman who threatens the world's only superpower with nuclear attack and with an army that literally will not let him go? >> in other news, the result of kenya's presidential election will be announced on saturday. five days after kenyan's voted. more than 90% of the con skip owensy is delafered. atest tallies show him holding 55.8%. he might avoid a runoff. the jobs market in the united

states improved more than expected in february. according to official figures, the number of people with jobs increased by 236,000. with the unemployment rate falling to 7.7%. he was one of america's most wanted men. but today osama bin laden's son-in-law has appeared in court in new york city, just a few blocks away from the site of the world trade center. he plotted not guilty to plotting to kill americans. .s. officials say ali larayedh conspired to kill americans. i spoke a brief time ago with the bbc's steve kingston. have an aleved role in the 9/11 attacks? >> if you look at the evidence, no, he's not directly aaccusinged of involvement with

the attacks. instead, immediately after 9/11 bin laden called up his son-in-law. the following day he appeared in a video with bin haden and essentially threatened further attacks, so the nature of this charge threatening to kill americans and the nature of the argument is he tried to incite further attacks. >> where he -- has he been since 9/11? >> he went from afghanistan to iran. he stayed in iran for about 10 years before leaving iran. again, it's not quite clear how. at the beginning of this year he went to turkey. the f.b.i. made the turkish authorities aware that he was there. it was in jordan that he came into f.b.i. custody and brought to the u.s. >> is there any conspirey about

his trial being held in new york? >> the obama administration has said that the administration collectively think that a federal court is the place to do it. i think in part because they believe they can get a conviction. there are videos of sulaiman abu ghaith. of course, he's pleaded not guilty. >> that trial is due to start in? >> the next hearing is in april. it's expected to last about three weeks. >> you're watching "bbc world news" america." still to come, measuring the ice in antarctica. it's taken scientists half a century to survey the area. what does it tell us about the future? today in cities around the world, events are being held to commen rate international women's day. in delhi hundreds of women used

the opportunity to highlight the issue of sexual violence. the protest comes in the wake of the fatal rape last december of a student on a bus in delhi. that brought the issue to the forefront. our bbc reporter was on the scene of the rally. >> women have come out in protest on the streets of delhi on international women's day, for example to push for justice in the december gang remain which outraged indians, but also to focus on the issue of how women are treated in india. we have protests like these on a regular basis since december but the intensity, the outpouring of emotion and the anger is still very, very strong. what the december attacks have done is brought women out on a regular basis but also highlighted the frightening reality of wait means to be a woman in india. every day since december four

rapes have been errored from delhi. those are government statistics. what it's done now, it's forced the government to confront this. they're pushing for stronger legislation and what everyone here wants is the treatment of women in india to somehow change and for their voices to be heard. >> that report from delhi. in burma today, the opposition party opened an historic conference. the national league for democracy has been in existence for nearly 25 years. they've been much on that time excluded from the political province. the meeting was held in a staurant and the sitting leader is expected to be re-elected. the committee will then elect an executive. if you haven't heard already, there's a rather important vacancy at the catholic church.

pope benedict left his post last week and today we heard from the church's cardinals that they'll begin selecting his replacement on tuesday. i spoke to our correspondent in rome alan johnston. there must be a sense of great excitement there. what's the process? >> well, you can imagine huge all-consuming interest. an army of journalists from all around the world gathering in rome now. since the preliminaries are over, we've seen a period of a week of preliminary meetings the cardinals have had and produced this date. we know now it's on tuesday afternoon. this college of cardinals, 115 from all around the catholic world will retreat to the splendor of the sistine chapel and there on tuesday afternoon they'll begin the process of casting ballots for the man among them who they believe is

best capable of taking on the challenges that confront the catholic church in the years ahead and you can imagine the interest here and all around the world will be huge when eventually one man emerges on the balcony behind me. >> and who are the frontrunners to emerge onto that balcony? >> we hear a lot of talk or four or five or six men. we hear a lot of talk about cardinal scola, the strongest of the italian candidates. talk of cardinal ouellet. the real possibility that the pope might be the first in years to come from outside europe. but these cardinals are capable of turning up a complete outsider, very much less well known figure as pope.

>> we'll be looking for you to interpret the white smoke for you. as romen catholic cardinals prepare to make the momentous us choice, one of their key concerns will be the continued fall outfrom a series of sexual abuse scandals. serious allegations emerged a decade ago in the united states and soon spread to many other countries. in america the legacy of cover-ups has cost the church dear, in dollars and in reputation. jane little reports from los angeles. >> sunday mass in beverly hills. the faithful have been coming here since the early days of hollywood. the funerals of valentino, sinatra and hitchcock took place here. today its congregation is diverse. this morning prayers turned to rome. >> and for the cardinal elek toirs who -- electors who begin their work this week in rome --

>> here in the city of angels, where 40% of the population is catholic, there's a strong sense that the surge lim needs first to reform itself. this archdiocese was one of the worst affected by the sexual abuse crisis and it's only this year that the cover-up and its own cardinals have come to light. before his retirement, cardinal roger mahoney was the popular arkansas bishop here, but in january a court ordered release of thousands of church files showed he did much to protect priests accused of abuse, shielding them and their files from the police. he's been stripped of all public roles, yet he's at the vatican and will vote in the conclave. >> i think it is a slam in the face to us victims. i think it's a way for him to vote with his feet and say i really don't care about you guys. >> esther miller is one of more

than 500 victims of abuse, to whom the archdiocese of languages payed a record-breaking $660 million. >> i don't believe mahoney has the moral authority to vote for reform, to vote for the next poem that should have transparency, because we wasn't himself. >> since the worldwide crisis erupted in boston in 2002, the american bishops have led the way in creating stict -- strict new rules for dealing with accused drinks. for some catholics, the scandal reflects a broader crisis of lim. sister judy runs a shelter for homeless women and children. she says the hierarchy has lost the mission of the faith to serve the poor. >> even in their numbers and members we are not reflective of the church. we are the church. the people are the church.

it has to be different. because for me, the church has become irrelevant. >> confidence may have been shaken but there's no strong evidence that the abuse scandal has driven many from the faith. >> it is a major cries for the church but the church has weathered crisis. after all, the roman emperors were saying the church is finished. it wasn't then and i don't think it is now. >> america's catholics are watching and waiting to see in which direction the church is heading. jane little, los angeles. >> and next week we'll have ive coverage from rome at that all-important conclave to select the next pope. a project that has taken 50 years and involved more than 60 scientists from 14 countries. the task? to calculate how much ice ask in antarctica. it will allow more accurate predictions to be made about the ice sheet in the future,

given -- giving an estimate of potential rises in the sea level. our correspondent reports. >> pristine and largely untouched by human activity. it's still unclear how climate change will affect antarctica and if the ice melts, how much of it will cause sea levels to rise. researchers have created a detailed map using a combination of satellite data, radar from airplanes and ground surveys and this is what they found. take the ice away and a hidden landscape of mountain ranges, hills and plains cut by steep gorges. we see deep valleys much deeper than on any other continent. but t the ice back and scientists see there's more of it than previously thought, around 5%. the downside, it's vulnerable to climate change.

>> we found that much more of the antarctic ice sheets are resting on a bed that which is below sea level. this means they're potentially more vulnerable to the ocean currents melting them from underneath. >> it may well be that antarctica might not be affected too much by climate change but this is the most alarming scenario from scientists. >> there could be an insta ability in the -- instability n the ice sheet and that the antarctic recedes deeper and you could see much higher rates of ice lost. >> and russian researchers say they discover -- discovered a new bacterial life form in a giant lake in the ant ashtic. after a century of exploration, it is only now we're really finding out been this mist

tears continent. >> that brings today's broad cavs to a close but continue watching -- broad cavs to a close but continue watching "bbc news" for updates. go to twitter. we're at bbcnewsu.s. for all of us here at "bbc news" america," have a great weekend. >> funding of this presentation the freeman ble by foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, zte, and union bank.

♪ > bringing you closer. z.t.e. >> your personal economy is made up of the things that matter most, including your career, and as those things change, fidelity can help you readjust your retirement plan, rethink how you're invested and refocus as your career moves forward. fidelity has a wide range of investment choices to fit your personal economy. fidelity investments,

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> brown: a surge in hiring produced the best jobs report in four years with unemployment dropping to 7.7%. good evening, i'm jeffrey brown. >> suarez: and i'm ray suarez. on the "newshour" tonight, we look behind the job gains to see which sectors of the economy are on the mend and how the american workplace is changing. >> brown: then, margaret warner examines the charges against sulaiman abu ghaith, an al qaeda spokesman and son-in-law to osama bin laden, who appeared in a new york court today. >> suarez: from caracas, matt frei of "independent television news" reports on the state funeral for venezuelan president hugo chavez, attended by dignitaries from more than 50 nations. >> this feels less like a funeral and more like a celebration of immortality. the government has taken the decision not to bury him, but to

embalm chavez, and keep him lying in state forever. >> brown: david brooks and ruth marcus analyze the week's news. >> suarez: and we close with a writer's reflections on the earthquake and tsunami that hit japan two years ago. >> i felt the need to go, and it's been this lifelong thing about japan that has called me. i wanted to hear the stories. i wanted to help people. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> support also comes from carnegie corporation of new york, a foundation created to do what andrew carnegie called "real and permanent good." celebrating 100 years of philanthropy at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and fo