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>> and now, "bbc world news. >> the headlines this hour. anchor in athens. the european union welcomed an austerity vote. venezuela suspends a regional summit, adding to speculation over the health of president hugo chavez. saudi arabia says that it will no longer issue work permits for domestic workers from indonesia and the philippines. in bahrain, the fallout from recent anti-government demonstration continues. we report from the capital.

welcome to "bbc news the." there was a vote in parliament. the vote was passed by just 20 votes. outside on the streets of athens, police fought running battles with hundreds of youths protesting against the proposed cuts. the reports from athens. >> fierce clashes continued tonight in athens after greek mps have a threatened to impose a tax cuts and spending increases. in the square and outside of parliament, protesters hopes to interrupt a vote that would print in hard-line austerity

measures. fights with police quickly broke out as thousands of protesters gathered outside of parliament. >> there was teargas being in debt the crowd. the crowd has a sense of tension, knowing that within an hour, the mps have to vote. >> the violence was more serious than yesterday. protesters were injured. there were running battles with protesters charging police lines. the police used tear gas and stun grenades. the fighting spread to nearby neighborhoods. inside parliament, the greek prime minister said that it was time to face up to a historic challenge. the greek people and not what this government to fail because it is buying these measures fail, greece will fail. in the event, the austerity

measures passed by a handful of votes, greece is a able to receive the 10,000 pounds of the emergency loans and avoid bankruptcy. the response on the streets was one of fury. this woman said, and that the prime minister come down here and see there spang he can live on 300 euros a month. this was good news for europe in the euro zone. that may be true in the short term, but these budget cuts have very little popular support. these crowds heading into the mattress station and the police showed little restraint. the government won, but there are doubts whether the austerity measures can be fully implemented. >> let's get some reaction from the u.s. on the situation in greece. we are joined from somebody from

the university of maryland. he is a former chief economist. this is giving the euro zone a but a breathing space. this is just a short term effects, is it not? >> these budget cuts will raise the money initially. these will essentially calls greece to grow slower so that there will be less taxes over time. the debt relief is simply not enough. greece is a functionally solve the country. >> there is continued nervousness that breeze might default. do you want to show the eurobanks are not that exposed to what is going on in europe. >> we are not that exposed to greece. the thank you start adding up what happened to spain and portugal lined up.

that is not so much the loans we have given, but the insurance contracts they wrote on their debt. and thank those countries fail, california, pennsylvania, all in trouble. maryland could be in trouble. >> what is the solution? does the eu and imf he bailing out greece? do we keep finding money to help them out? >> we need to recognize that the euro is a failure as far as greece those. they should stay in the european community. they shall let its currency fall in value and have them cut the payment. that will make exports more competitive and allow it to grow more rapidly. creditors would take less than a hair cut that way. he has given the greek people a false choice. bankruptcy or austerity.

the bank they leave the euro zone, they escape this. he is more loyal to brussels than the people of athens. >> the greek economy, the exports, does it really make up that much of its gdp? >> of the end of the day, the greeks have their -- have to pay their debts of two foreigners who they owe money. they spend that adopted the drachma and let the currency fall in value, it would reduce the value of the debt they would have to pay back. it would generate more export revenues. they would generate more money to pay their debt. the euro is undervalued for germany. it is overvalued for greece. they suffered. this is a -- very much a transfer problem after germany

had to pay reparations after world war i. >> good to talk to you. thank you for your time. here in the u.k., the government austerity measures have promised a walkout by hundreds of thousands of public servants. they are going on strike because of changes to their pensions. the impact will be felt later in the morning. trafficked by air and sea may also face an obstruction as order control is away from work. a top official of the african union has condemned a unilateral decision by france to a supply is this -- weapons to libya and rebels. it was dropping 40 tons of

weapons out of the capital of tripoli. they have agreed to set up a demilitarized zone. the agreement signed and talks were mediated cloudy african union comes after weeks of violence at two or regions. they have entered the final day of campaigning for the absolute power. the one to give more wide- ranging powers to the prime minister and parliament. the president of tunisia and egypt. those will take place on friday. you have some news about the state of president chavez's health. >> of venezuela has suspended a regional sub-summit scheduled for next week over speculation over the health of hugo chavez.

he is having medical treatment in cuba. he appears to be having a smooth recovery. >> spending time with his friend fidel castro in cuba, this is a photos of him recovering from his surgery. 24 hours later, the picture had changed again. government officials released a statement postponing a regional meeting of heads of state cute to be held in venezuela next week saying that the president's recuperation have to come first. >> i hope he comes back soon. he needs to look after himself. we cannot have another president. >> i hope he recovers quickly and god protect them.

>> president chavez has done away from venezuela for almost a month. he is usually a public hungry politician, appearing often in public. they insist that he is recuperating and will return shortly. >> president chavez is in the process of a full recovery. he has not stopped working. he has not stopped exercising his constitutional duties. >> they know little about who is running the country. >> it is a profoundly irresponsible president who did not face venezuela and the country is in a chaotic situation. >> venezuela is asking the snb president can recover. a time of celebration marking 200 years since the separation

from spain. >> indonesian and saudi arabia and the officials have been meeting to discuss the workers of workers in their country. this is after an inmate has found guilty of killing their employer. she'd call me button to add to the ban -- she will tell me what lead to the ban. >> both countries have over a million people working in saudi arabia. they have the work, -- asking for better conditions. better pay, more guarantees. back here in of these countries, people are really scared if

thank the to countries like saudi arabia, they may be mistreated. they are asking for better pay and better conditions. they are saying that we can get helper's from other places. >> domestic workers have contributed the. what impact is this ban going to have on workers? >> that is going to have a huge affect on domestic workers. the want them to get decent pay and decent conditions. that is why they are fighting us. that are talking to saudi arabia and tried to get better conditions. there are people here who desperately need the money. saudi arabia is one of the places think o2. they do not really have many other options.

some people were rested in the airport who dressed up as nuns. they were trying to get out of the country to work in other places. the government did not want them to work there. that is not saying that the government to stop one q to work in these countries. the people here do not have many other options. the worked out the low pay and very limited guarantees it is better than nothing. >>n q. are greater than newday from the bbc. president bashir is visiting. a chinese actress found success in both asia and hollywood.

the home secretary has expressed her concern about the legal ruling shortening the amount of time that a suspect can be held on bail. >> when it comes to crime, politicians of all sides talked tough. there is the prospect of criminals walking free. following the initial questioning, many suspects are released on what is called police bail. there will be a decision on whether to charge. among the established system in england and wales, that means that the people can be held for a total of 96 hours and thbe bailed in between.

they far tighter time frame when it comes to gathering evidence and deciding whether charges should follow. on top of this, suspects can only be re-arrested under the new evidence. this reverses 25 years of police practice. >> it is not desirable to put these people back on the streets. >> while all those involved couple with the ruling, some lawyers claim that the police have complained fast and loose with the bail system. >> that have been extremely concerned over the period of the past few years that bell has an extended an extended period -- extended. they are calling for a swift

ruling. >> our main headlines this hour, the spice of violent protests on the streets of athens, the european union has welcomed votes in the streets apartment. sudan's president comes after a day that must be a successful visit. that is about to become independent. the visit remains controversial. he is wanted for genocide in the international public court. china is not a member of the

court. running a spell is mackey mcdonald, the research analyst at the center for chinese studies. thank you for joining us. how controversial was this for china? >> good morning. controversy is more centered in western countries. that is less of an issue in china. the policy of non-interference has stayed with a standout -- with it. in terms of the interest of china has in the sudan, this would be in the bilateral relations. they would not too easily parish

with the international security around president bashir. >> in the chinese energy sector, we think there are some attached to these investments by the chinese such as stopping the violence and going back to the negotiating table? >> i think his visit can be very firmly part of foreign policy. i think that china and genuinely wants a policy of non confrontation. they can exercise its relations. i do not think that they would necessarily allow outside interests to hijack them.

certainly, it is in issue that concerns its own foreign policy. >> the thing by allowing mr. bashir to visit china that would affect the chinese push to become a more important player on the international stage. >> from an objective perspective, it does have an issue. that would be aware of that.

>> thank you so much for joining us in south africa. doctors returned to court on thursday accused of taking over a hospital during the anti-from a protest in march and using it as a rebel base. he sent us this report from the capital. >> if you try to get to the site of the protests in bahrain, this is what you'll find. the military is in control. the voice of opposition silenced. inside this house is the wife of one of the doctors now on trial for sedition. she is too scared to show her face. she says that her husband has been systematically tortured for making a confession. >> they torture him a lot.

for the last three weeks, since they took him from the first day, they did not allow him to sit for three weeks. he was standing all the time. there was no sleep because he was standing. >> in march, government troops moved in to smash street protests. the data and injured were rushed to bar rain's biggest hospital. that is where the big caution doctors all worked. this is where the trial began last week. >> behind me is the courthouse. that is a military building. we are not allowed to film it. high was allowed inside of the building to see the doctors. here are the allegations against them, which are extremely serious and difficult to believe.

this is the government's evidence against the doctors. in this video, one of them can clearly be seen leading anti- government protests outside of the hospital. >> now for something in the collider. how hollywood is trying to reach out to china. >> the world's biggest film market is now in china. jet li is somebody that has found success in both countries. he asked him about the differences between working in hollywood and asia. >> you always think, action movies and special effects. the practice is different, but i think thegoal is the same.

everybody wants to make the movies. there are a lot of hollywood producers that will come to china. >> china has 1.3 billion people. chinese film and its influence extends beyond that. do you see this as a form of soft power, the ability of china to influence culturally as opposed to through economic mike? >> yes. we had a movie, it is a local chinese film. it made, only in china it made 100 million u.s. dollars. that this tremendous success. i think more and more people

care about movies, even though we still have a lot of piracy. that bothers the industry a lot. people have this extra money they want to spend. the movie is the best way. they enjoy a chinese movies. >> do you think that piracy is holding back the chinese movie industry? >> the very much so. each time we make movie, the producers or the finance here, they get a return. that is something that i think we have a long way to go. i do not know. hopefully soon the government

will have something to do with this. that is very strong. after a new movie comes out in the theater, the b-1 week, you can get a $1 dvd. that is pretty sad. >> staying with entertainment, the international media giant news corp. is giving up on its investment in the myspace site. that has sold a majority. "the wall street journal" which is owned by the same company put the price at $35 million. that is a fraction of the price they had paid six years ago. cuts i am in singapore. >> in a quick reminder of our main news. there is a controversial austerity package in greece.

the cause them to avoid a very grave scenario of the fault. -- default. >> 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. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news america" was presented by kcet los angeles. presented by kcet los angeles.