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♪ >> and now bbc world news. >> in misrata, hundreds of people are evacuated from the besieged libyan city but thousands more seek help. a presidential plea, goodluck jonathan calls for an end of violence in nigeria following his election victory. syria's interior ministry says anti-government protests now amounts to an armed insurrection. there's reports of fresh violence overnight. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers on pbs in america and also around the world. changing times in cuba, the government says people will now be allowed to buy and sell their own homes. and commerce or communication, events of the internet says big business is threatening the freedom of the web. ♪

>> a ship chartered by an aid agency evacuated about 1,000 people from the libyan city of misrata which is under constant siege by colonel gaddafi's forces. thousands more are waiting to be rescued in what they described is an increasingly perilous situation. some of those fleeing made it to benghazi where we have this report. >> a safe harbor, at least, for evacuees from misrata. docking tonight in the rebel capital, benghazi. most onboard were migrant workers. but there were libyan casualties, too, and among the walking wounded, 9-year-old mohammed. his father told us he was playing outside when a bomb exploded nearby. shrapnel tore through his flesh. he can hardly bear for the doctors to touch his face.

mohammed el-masti told us he'll go straight back to the front as soon as he's treated. the international organization for migration got these people out and they're going back for more. >> the worst of the wounded are now being taken away on stretchers and brought to hospitals for further treatment. this is the second major evacuation from misrata in recent days. more than 2,000 people have now been brought out but thousands more are still waiting. and desperate conditions, hoping for an escape. >> another young fighter showed me the tail end of a rocket that landed near him and a group of his friends. >> there were six of my best friends. and i just followed them. [inaudible] >> one of them, his leg is

severed. >> this is the kind of fighting allah was involved in. the battles in misrata now are street to street. he says the rebels have so few guns, sometimes they have to share. back onboard, attempts to comfort gamal, an egyptian migrant worker who is weeping for his four children. they're all alone, he says, with no one to help them. he shows me their photos. somehow they got put on a different boat. he doesn't know whose or what country it's going to. an ambulance was waiting for mohammed. it was a chaotic departure. his father says before all this, he was just a typical boy, football crazy. his mother and six brothers and sisters are still at home in misrata.

no one knows when the family will be together again. bbc news, benghazi. >> the libyan government has promised aid workers access to areas under its control but hasn't guaranteed to stop the fighting. a u.n. correspondent is in new york. >> well, i think u.n. officials see this as a step forward but there's still unanswered questions. what's happened is the government allowed to allow the u.n. to set up a humanitarian presence in tripoli and will allow aid workers to enter and exit the country freely, to bring in the telecommunications equipment and to have access to areas under government control and also to ensure security for aid workers in areas under government control. the problem is that misrata is not under government control. it's a rebel held town under heavy bombardment by forces loyal to colonel gaddafi. and the libyan authorities have

not agreed to a cease-fire which is in essence what is needed in order to have a truly effective humanitarian mission to misrata. so it's not clear how this is all going to work out in practice on the ground for international efforts to help the people there. libyan government official has been quoted as saying libya is willing to put up some sort of safe passage or corridor to help get people out of misrata and help get supplies in but again, it's not at all clear what that would mean in practice. >> has there been much talk at the u.s. headquarters about the confines of nato's military campaign in preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the people that need it most? >> well, not so much about the confines of the united nations resolution. it was -- it gave quite sweeping powers to protect civilians, but this was all an air campaign, strikes against ground forces and a no-fly zone to prevent strikes by air forces. but i think it's become clear that strategy has not worked as

might have been thought because it needs the rebels actually to repel colonel gaddafi's forces or at least needs to have crippled colonel gaddafi's forces to the point they're not able to attack civilians in the way they are. since that is the case, unless there are ground forces, it seems there really are dependent on the government to call a cease-fire and allow the access and that is what they're pushing for now. >> at the u.n. in new york. dozens of people have been wounded in the yemeni city in classes between security personnel and anti-government protesters. hundreds of thousands of demonstrators packed cities around the country to denounce the president. more than 100 people have died in protests there. the international credit ratings agency standard & poor's has downgraded the u.s. outlook from negative to stable.

it's based on the large deficit and lack of claire frit washington on ways to handle it. the european union pledged more than $150 million to a new shelter over chernobyl, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986. the existing concrete cover has become dangerously unstable. the commission president made the announcement to join talks with the ukrainian president. >> nigeria's newly elected president goodluck jonathan appealed for an end to what he calls unnecessary violence and killing in the north of the country. there are many supporters of his defeated presidential rival, muhammadu buhari. they say it was a rigged poll. >> writing and burning in northern nigeria as gangs of young men took to the streets. houses with banners supporting the president, goodluck

jonathan has been attacked and all the cause is nigeria's election results. >> goodluck jonathan of p.d.p. has scored the highest number of votes, is hereby declared the winner. >> in this divided country, the southern president mr. jonathan is disliked in the north though he's popular in the south and the country has been gripped by fear of violence throughout the elections. but results eventually announced from behind the military line. a peaceful vote, the freest and fairest election in nearly two decades say the moan tores. they're calling on political parties to behave responsibly. >> we're very disturbed by the reports we are hearing. we do not have an independent means to verify them. i made the point in my

statement to quote from the code of confidence signed by all party leaders indicating they would not resort to violence. >> that seems to be a message for mr. jonathan's defeated rival buhari who accused the president's party of vote rigging. despite numerous calls for calm it depends now on what mr. buhari says and does next. >> the bbc says there is a long record of political competition between the north and south of the country. >> absolutely. i mean, nigeria has had a history of conflict and it's taken political dimensions and has religious perspectives as well but i don't think you'll find a nigerian who was expecting the day to end thrike and comes after the election that most of the international community has said was the freest and fairest in nigeria's history and the results were

strikeling in slowly after the election on saturday and it was clear goodluck jonathan was going to win. early on monday we saw developments in the north that i think have pretty much troubled all nigerians, thousands of youth in kano and other states, the big states in the north were, you know, just shaken by riots, young people on the streets initially just burning tires and we're hearing reports they are attacking homes that had posters of goodluck jonathan on them. there have been fatalities. we can't confirm how many but the red cross is reporting at least 15,000 people have been displaced as a result of what's happened in northern nigeria today. yes, you are right there. there's been a history of conflict between christians and muslims and there's always been a fierce political competition between the north and the south, and unfortunately, that has played out in a very violent way today.

reports from syria say security forces fired shots at hundreds of protesters gathered overnight in the city of hom. a human rights campaigner is quoted as saying a member of the sexuret police addressed the protesters through a loud speaker asking them to leave and then the forces opened fire on them. while earlier the syrian interior ministry declared the protest in the country results in armed protesters. >> protesters in the central town have taken cover. and taken casualties. these unterrified pictures have been posted on the internet by opposition activists. images from all over the country tell the same sorry story. the protesters demand more freedom and sometimes the soldiers respond with force.

where the protests began, people called for the president to go. with each funeral procession like this, the demands seem to harden. the president has tried to reach out to the protesters, although he insists syria is facing a conspiracy by its international enemies, he also says he wants to satisfy the people's demands. he has promised to repeal the country's long-standing emergency laws and says the government will either consider multiparty politics. but many syrians say they've heard it all before, and that bashar al-assad's words in the past haven't been followed by action. so if he wants to reform, they ay, now the official syrian news agency says calm is prevailing in most parts of the country because

citizens are satisfied with the government's reform package but the opposition says it's not like that at all. and it says the protests will continue. bbc news, beirut. >> in a move aimed at breeding new life in the communist system, the cuban government says it will allow people to buy and sell their homes for the first time in 50 years. since 1953, cubans have only been allowed to pass on their homes through their children or swap them through a complicated bureaucratic and often corrupt system. our correspondent is in the cuban capital havana and explains the new move to private property ownership. >> cuba's communist party congress agreed to allow cubans to buy and sell their homes for the first time, marking a return to private property for the first time since the revolution. most cubans do have title to their homes and can pass them on to their children. there is also a swapping system. it's cumbersome and

bureaucratic. while no money is meant to change hand, it's infamous for the bribery and corruption involved. there are no details yet on just what this new system involved but president raul castro in his opening address, the congress warns it would not allow the concentration of property. congress has also started voting on the new central committee of the communist party which will go on to select the new party leadership. in a surprise move, raul castro announced in the future, political leaders would only be able to serve two five-year terms. he's also called for a new younger generation of people to come through. now, remember, his brother, fidel castro, ruled cuba for almost 50 years until ill health finally forced him to step down. in a newspaper editorial, fidel castro did endorse the changes his brother is pushing through and says that the new generation of leadership should

correct some of the errors of the past. there are no clear frontrunners, though. it will be interesting to see which younger politicians will be elected to the communist party's inner cabinet. >> this is bbc news. still ahead. unearthing the middleton family tree, the remarkable ancestral journey from the coal mines of durham to westminister abby. >> tributes have been paid to two young british holidaymakers shot dead in florida. a 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder. james cooper and james kouzaris in their 20's were murdered in their streets of a deprived city of sarah societya 3:00 saturday morning. police said it was very unusual for tourist to venture to the area of sarasota. >> it was supposed to be a holiday in the sunshine state

but for close friends james cooper and james kouzaris, something went wrong when they ended up in the rundown neighborhood of sarasota. >> i heard one of them yell wyo, as if they were trying to get someone's attention. it was 2:45 in the morning and they walked on by and after they walked by, as i said, i was peeping out the door. actually, one of the kids was so visibly drunk, they were stumbling and as they walked by, one of them banged on the trunk of my car. >> i came outside and i actually saw two bodies laying on the ground. and i saw the police, the ambulance, and yellow tape. >> by the time the police arrived here in the early hours of saturday morning, it was already too late. the key to this investigation is now establishing just how and why these two experienced travelers ended up 12 miles from their hotel in that dangerous neighborhood, according to local police, they came here of their own free will. 24 hours after the two britains were killed, local police arrested 16-year-old shawn tyson, just 10 days ago, he was

charged with aggravated assault with a handgun. >> we already arrested a 16-year-old. the investigation is ongoing. and we do believe that there are more facts that will be forthcoming that will help us in this investigation. >> when the case come comes to court, the teenager who was arrested could be tried as an adult. if that happens, he may face the death penalty. andy gallagher, abc news, sarasota, florida. ♪ >> good to have you with us. a reminder of the headlines this hour, a thousand people evacuated from the besieged libyan city of misrata arrived in the strong hold of benghazi. nigeria's newly elected president goodluck jonathan appealed for an end to the violence in the north of the country. the british scientist credited

with inventing the worldwide web is warning the freedom of the web is being put at risk by the demand of big business. the companies which want to control the traffic on the internet to make it less free and open than he had originally intended. we spoke to our correspondent. >> two decades after its birth, the worldwide web is changing lives, transforming businesses, and driving political change. but the man who invented it sees threats to its future. >> i think that it's such an empowering thing for humanity to be connected, it becomes a human right. but at the same time, because it's so powerful, it becomes also very -- a very powerful tool for either government or a large company to be able to get control of it. >> today an oxford conference debated the web's future. its creator is worried in particular about a threat to a

principal known as net neutrality which he believes keeps the web open and honest. the internet has grown much like a road system where everyone has the right to drive where and when need like. but as the traffic gets heavier, the internet service providers would like the right to control it, perhaps even building special lanes where you pay more to go faster. the net neutrality debate ranges from the like of virgin media which runs the roads like the bbc and skipe which puts lots of traffic online. he says managing that traffic is fine, favoring one player over another is not. >> what you lose when you do that is -- what the companies gain is they get complete control of you and they can control which ads you see and rapidly learn which movies you like and rapidly learn a lot about you. >> the government asked him to negotiate an agreement on the neutrality between the two side. he says if that fails, a law

may be needed but some fear that would pose a bigger danger. >> it sets a precedent for regulating the internet and content online. at the end of the day that could be absolutely dangerous for the future of the internet and the worldwide web. >> recent events in the middle east have shown the power of new technology to rock the established order, but the web's founder says we need to be vigilant if our online freedoms are to be preserved. bbc news, oxford. >> people have returned to school in a poor neighborhood in rio after a gunman went on a shooting spree. days ago children were killed as a former pupil opened fire in the classrooms and later turned the gun on himself. will grant reports. >> back to school for these children in rio, but their short break from their studies has not been a welcomed one. the school has been closed since gunmen wellington olivado

ran amuck 12 days ago, killing four pupils before killing -- turning the gun on himself. most of the children and staff kept quiet about going back to the classrooms after the horrors they'd witnessed. the school principal said the students were mainly doing therapeutic work such as painting and poetry following the violent attack. for the grieving parents, the grief is still raw. >> i've not been able to sleep for a single minute because i've been crying over the loss of my daughter. all the mothers are suffering. i'm suffering. this is the first time i've come to the school. my other little daughter is still in the hospital and is horrified. >> the police recently released photos and a video of the man who brought such devastation on this community. deeply disturbed and angry the

man took out his fury on the school he once studied. in the aftermath of the attack, the community pitched in to repaint the bullet ridden walls. two of the classrooms where the worst of the violence unfolded has been refurbished in the library. however, the children's emotional damage can't be patched up so easily. will grant, bbc news. >> from deposed rulers to a royal affair within just a week and a half to go before the wedding of prince william and kate middleton. no detail is being overlooked and that includes tracing the bride's family tree. in three generations the middleton family has gone from a mining village to the royal palace. the bbc's world correspondent has a slower -- closer look at the journey and some warning, the feature contains some flash photography. >> she's about to step in one of the most exclusive families in the world. the story of katherine middleton is remarkable enough as it is but how much more remarkable it becomes when you trace her family background,

because the line through kate's mother carol's side of the family leads back in just three generations to a pit village and to a family of coal miners. this is in county durham, for generation this is was a coal mining community and for generations kate middleton's ancestors lived here and worked down in the mines. yes, kate middleton, the future queen of britain is the great granddaughter of the family of durham coal miners and it's thanks to generations of formidable women her family has moved from coal pit to palace. kate's great grandmother elizabeth temple was shirley's aunt. she remembers her determination to find something better. >> it was auntie elizabeth. she wanted to go away from the northeast and she wanted to better herself, and the women of the family, have been -- how

can you say this? >> driving force. >> the driving force, yes. >> so it was with elizabeth temple's daughter dorothy, kate's grandmother, perhaps the most determined of them all. 's jean harrison is another of kate's cousins and has been invited to the wedding and has clear memories of kate's great grandmother elizabeth, lily, and her grandmother, dorothy. >> lily and dorothy had one ambition in life, and that was to get on. lady dorothy, she was known as. i don't know why, but we always called her lady dorothy. >> dorothy harrison died five years ago but not before she knew her granddaughter was romancing a future king. now the family of katherine middleton who still in what was once the durham coal fields feel immense pride. >> oh, i think it's going to be wonderful.

i think she'll bring a breath of fresh air to the royal family and think she'll do a wonderful job. >> kate middleton, the latest in a line of women who in the space of 90 years have made the extraordinary journey from the coal fields of durham to the balcony of buckingham palace. bbc news. >> are you excited about the big day? if you need to know more information, visit the bbc news website. there you'll find everything you need to know about the wedding itself and you can also find out what kate middleton's title may be after she ties the knot. just log on and take a look for yourself. don't forget, if you want to stay up to date with what we are doing while we are on air, you can follow me on twitter, the address there on your screen, twitter.com/bbc. stay with us. plenty more to come.

>> hello and welcome. >> see the news unfold. get the top stories around the globe and click-to-play video reports. go to bbc.com/news to experience the in-depth reporting of bbc world news online. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. and union bank. ♪ >> union bank has put its global expertise to work for a wide range of companies.

what can we do for you? >> bbc world news was presented by kcet, los angeles.