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>> and now, "bbc world news." >> hello and welcome. sharma.abita assad callssident al- for national dialogue but protests continue. 35 years in jail for tunisia's ousted president and his wife, but will they ever face justice? >> marine life faces extinction. the grim conclusions of a new report. burma's opposition leader delivers a series of lectures to bbc audiences. it is 9:00 a.m. and singapore. >> 2:00 a.m. in london. broadcasting on pbs and america and around the world, this is

"newsday." syria's president al-assad has offered to engage in dialogue on the countries future. he urged thousands of syrians that fled the country to return. international journalists are banned from syria. >> president al-assad's audience chanted they would sacrifice their blood for him. his family's role is being challenged like never before. protesters, calling for reform, blame him for the violence in syria. he has a different view.

>> we should bring to account the saboteurs that are terrorizing people. how can you deal politically with those to keep on killing people? >> he said 64,000 people are on the authorities most wanted list. 1/3 of them have been arrested. he promised reforms. the audience applauded. the protesters took to the streets. in several cities, including the capital. if president al-assad hoped his speech could stop this, he is seriously out of touch with many of his people. and in the refugee camps, this was one reaction. >> i do not believe al-assad, and assyrian nation does not believe him. he is a traitor. my brother was arrested and beaten and given electric shocks.

because of things like this, we cannot believe the government. >> today became clear how great the golf is between what the serious opposition wants and what the regime is able to deliver. that is dangerous. it is a country with sectarian differences. the longer this goes on, the greater the chance of a deepening civil conflict. in this area, thousands still live out in the open, where details of army brutality are fueling resistance. one man told us soldiers shot at this bus as it carried civilians. we cannot verify that, but his anger is clear. >> all people do not love you, al-assad. >> in but turkey this evening, they were clearing land for another refugee camp. they must believe present al- assad did nothing today to end the violence. nothing to stop his people fleeing in fear of their lives.

match the price, bbc news on the turkish-syrian border. >> finding out what's happening in this area is no easy matter. western journalists have been prevented from reporting openly. sue lloyd roberts has been undercover. she spoke to me about her experience inside the country. >> president al-assad was talking about conspiracy and sabotage. there is a tremendous sense of paranoia. they suspect everyone. it does not make it very easy to the local people. it makes it difficult if you are a journalist, because foreign journalists are not allowed to be there. any foreigner is regarded as a spy. carrying a camera is as bad as carrying a gun. it is a criminal offense. >> how did you get access to people and their opinions and their views when there were there? >> with the difficulty. i cannot move around a lot.

i had good contacts in the country. they got me to people's houses. most of the prominent political activists are in hiding. there was a lot of going between the suburbs, often at night under cover. i got to talk to a surprising amount of people. >> president al-assad does have support in certain quarters. support that is concentrated in the army, which is a powerful institution in itself. >> i cannot talk to the army or any of the elite who think along the same lines as the present. what i did ask people is up until now it was thought that it leased al-assad did guarantee some form of stability for the country. so the business community were in support of him. many people i spoke to in the business community said that is no god. there is so much corruption there. the country cannot develop.

it can not move until this problem is solved. it can only be solved by the regime going. >> did you see any evidence or hear of many people talking about defections from the army to the protesters? >> yes. i was in lebanon. i met a defecting soldiers. there are a number. they are counted in dozens not hundreds. but he said that he was instructed to fire indiscriminately by his commanding officer on women and children and on defenseless civilians. he could not do it. he shot up into the air. he knew when they discovered he was not shooting at people, that he could be killed. so he left the country. we are hearing more and more of these kinds of stories. >> what was your overriding feeling when you're there? >> it was very tense. the people of syria are extremely tense. they are chain-smoking all the time. looking over their shoulders. a feeling that they are on a winning path.

three months on, the thousands dead, thousands and present -- who is winning? they all said without hesitation, the people paire. >> the court has sentenced the ousted president and his wife to 35 years in prison. the couple were tried in absence. and also fined more than $65 million. >> the legal proceedings against al-assad took less than a day. -- against ben ali took less than a day. there were charged for theft and illegal possession of cash and jewelry. outside the court, protesters called for mr. ben ali to be brought back to tunisia to face the charges in person.

he is in exile in saudi arabia. earlier this year, protests by young and unemployed tunisians forced out after 20 years in office. now, as well as the prison sentence, he has been ordered to pay more than $65 million in fines. but his lawyer, speaking from lebanon, where he is unable to obtain a visa, said it was politically motivated. >> there is a cfact that any fair trial should be pared without defense, what defense might be issued at the end of this process, in my opinion, does not meet the requirement for australia. >a trial. >> he defended his time in office. meanwhile, the caretaker

administration is facing rising anger at the slow pace of change since ben ali was forced out. they hope that the swift resolution of this corruption trial would be roundly welcomed across the country. will grant, "bbc news." >> 44 people have been killed after a plane crashed in northwestern russia. it came down on the highway near the airport. russian authorities say the plane had 52 people on board and caught fire. it was traveling from moscow to the city of -- to a northern city. the libyan mission to china is under way. what can you tell us? >> it may be a tall order to win over the chinese, but you have libyan opposition leader traveling to beijing for towo days of talk. china has not taken a firm side,

but has urged the two sides to resolve the issue. martin, what is the likely outcome of these talks? >> apart from a one line statement on china's foreign ministry, we do not have many details. we know that he will be in beijing for two days of talks. he is the opposition leader, and china's position has long then there needs to be some kind of negotiating settlement in libya. we know that china voted against -- abstained against the resolution authorizing force and libya. its position has long been that these two sides need to talk and in some way reach a political agreement. china has not called for the overthrow of colonel gaddafi and has criticized nato's bombing campaign in that country. >> but martin, by allowing the

libyan opposition leader to visit china, does this basically represent a shift in policy for the chinese and libya? >> i think it is significant. china as a country does not interfere in other countries affairs, but here we have the leader of a rebel opposition movement in libya in beijing holding talks. it perhaps reflects the changing reality in libya. there is a realization by chinese officials that colonel gaddafi's days are numbered. they are saying that they want to negotiate the settlement. but things are changing in libya. china has interests, oil interests. when this conflict started, they evacuate 30,000 chinese workers from the country. >> in beijing. he was so much for the update.

meanwhile, euro-zone finance ministers have told greece it must implement further austerity measures before it receives an next installment of emergency bailout funds. athens has two weeks to approve cuts in return for another 12 billion euros in aid. it is been described as the worst crisis since the second world war. in pakistan, three people have died in a car bomb attack in a northwestern city ethics peshawar. of bill: was detonated remotely outside of the house of an opposition leader. at least three people were wounded. and the largest such a discrimination ever brought before the court, the u.s. supreme court ruled in favor of walmart. 1.5 million women working for the company brought a class action accusing walmart of painewebber and less and giving and fewer promotions, but the court dismissed their claims. you are watching "newsday."

our series of asian megacities continues. what is the secret of singapore's success? >> the world's oceans are in even worse state than previously thought. a new scientific report. we have the latest. now in the uk, there have been disturbances in northern ireland. it was a group of men and parts of east belfast. are ireland correspondent has details. >> in east belfast, what is called a flashpoint area, where a nearly catholic area meets a merely protestant area. there has been trouble. a lot of youths wearing masks, throwing missiles of bricks and stones. some loyalists have thrown at

petrol bombs and peat bombs. sin fein are saying that a number of nationalist residents have been injured. the sad realities of life in northern ireland, even a new northern ireland is that the summer tends to bring some form of writing in different parts of belfast. that would not be by northern ireland standards of full-scale riot. is more of a mini-riot. it happens incidently only about this timer soar fr from -- last night was a scene of joy as people celebrated northern ireland's favorite golfing greats, rory mcilroy winning the u.s. open. at a party atmosphere, 5 miles up the road last night. here again, once again tonight, the images of northern ireland

and no one wants to seek. this would put it into context. as you can see, again by northern ireland standards, this is not a huge public situation. the police seem to be confident they can bring it under control. >> this is "newsday." >> the headlines this hour. syria activists say their anti- government protests will continue. the rejected a speech by president bashar al-assad. >> a tunisian court has sentenced exiled president ben ali and his wife for corruption for 35 years in prison. in burma, the opposition leader likened her campaign for democracy to the uprising in the middle east.

she gave the first of a lecture for the bbc broadcast by satellite link. in rangoon with john simpson. >> in the drenching monsoon heat, rangoon feels deeply cut off from the outside world. but burma has oil and gas to sell. even in the seven months since she was released, you can see signs of growing investment from outside. because of foreign journalists are barred from here, bbc technical team came to rangoon secretly to work with their issue recorded your lectures. >> to be speaking to your notes to the bbc is a very special meaning for me. it means once again i am officially a free person. >> her words will go around the world and people here will listen to them with great care. she has a lot of support in

burma. the general feeling is that her campaign has stalled. she knows all of this perfectly well. the people closest to her are hoping very much that by recording these brief lectures right under the doses of the government, she would be able to reignite her campaign, give back for followers the kind of fire that they use to have. i went to her house. last november, when she was released from house arrest, she walked along the pathway to the gates to greet her followers outside in the streets. since then, there have been no big challenges to the burmese regime, in spite of the revolution's elsewhere. there are people who say you yourself are not doing enough. he should be out there with banners on the streets. >> of course i think about that because people talk about that so much. i do not think that in politics

you can ever say that there is only one way. there is never just one way in politics. >> the difference between burma and countries like tunisia and egypt that have thrown off oppressive regimes she said is that the army did not open fire on demonstrators there. it has here and is prepared to do it again. >> the problem in burma is fear rather than the feeling that the security -- is a feeling of fear that is so terrible in our country. people do not feel secure, but they are frightened. it is insecurity which is keeping the people under repression. thehe isn't afraid in slightest. but her lectures make it clear that rather than force a violent showdown with the regime. she would prefer to take a long road. >> in the second of our series

on asian megacities we look at singapore. its government foresaw the need to house many of the people on limited amounts of space decades ago. it went about making it one of asia's most planned cities. >> construction never stops here. another building joins the thousands of skyscrapers that dominate this island landscape. singapore is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. more than 7000 people per square kilometer on the island. already independent 50 years ago, the authorities knew meticulous planning would have to be at the heart of their urban future. reality is an exact match for the scale model of singapore's master planners. in water and waste management, singapore has been named one of the most efficient in the world. they have plans for everything

from land sales to parking lot maintenance. even away from the city center, tall buildings by for space in the suburbs. what you see here are apartments built by the housing development board and subsidized by the government. it is where the majority of singapore's 5.3 million people live. this is one of the new or estates. they have been building these estates all over the island since the 1960's. a former master planner is the man behind it is public housing. >> we were very conscious of the fact that we were limited in land. if we made a mistake in not building to a density to accommodate everybody, there is no way out. from an early date, we calculated how much density we needed to maintain in order to

house everybody. >> but not everyone agrees. one architect says this urbanization has a downside. >> a singapore is touting the notion that megacities can work, but i think singapore is making it, contrary to some of the problems. >> how so? >> because we are exonerating the ideas that there are no limits to high-density living. and that the city is the primary center for human development. is not. i want to see the realization of cities. i want to see the urbanization of the country -- and ruralization of cities. >> as the sun sets, the bright lights of this city cast a spotlight on the reality that there is hardly any countryside left.

unlike other asian megacities, it does not have to make way for migrants dropping into the city from a distant land. >> you have news of a startling warning about the future for oceans. >> is a new report on the fate of the world's ocean war in the marine life is likely to become extinct better rate unprecedented in human history. the study by the international program on the state of the ocean concludes that the world waters are in a worse state than previously thought. dr. alex rogers is the lead author of the report and scientific director of it. he joins me from new york. thank you for joining us and welcome to "newsday." use a oceans are in a worse

state than expected. -- tyyou say oceans are in a worse state than previously expected. >> we met with a panel of experts in oxford a couple of months ago. we looked across a broad range of different areas of marine science. and what we discovered is that changes were happening much more rapidly than we expected. so this is in relation to climate change effects. these are occurring at a rate that is unprecedented in past history. at least that we can tell from the record of the past. >> sorry to interrupt you. under the report is detail. i want to pick up on a couple of points. the accelerated changes you highlight include the melting of degree land and ice sheets.

what are they contributing factors to the accelerating changes ? >> ocean warming is one of the obvious factors leading to accelerating a melting of the arctic and sea ice and also rising temperatures associated with climate change. rising much more than the global average at the polls. that is why we are seeing greater rates of melting at the poles than previously predicted. >> you are presenting a report to the u.s. and later on this week. what are you hoping will happen, and how you think there will act on this report? >> i think this report really tells us that the changes that people have been predicting will happen in a lifetime of our children or our children's

children -- are happening now before our eyes. we really will be calling for a major action on a range of different issues, particularly carbon dioxide emissions, management of fisheries, management of pollution, and of course, we have this very important summit next year in rio, which will really asking the oceans be pushed up on the agenda at rio. >> we have just run out of time. thank you very much for joining us. >> you have been watching "newsday." >> just a reminder of our headlines. syria's president al-assad has addressed his nation and offered to engage in dialogue. you are with the bbc.

stay with us. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> union bank has put its global financial strength to work for a wide range of companies.

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