>> this is wbs news. funding for this presentation is made possible by -- [funding for this presentation was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, the newman's own foundation and 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? >> and now "bbc world news." >> in singa important, the headlines in this hour, accused of slaughtering his own people, western leaders urge syria's president to step down as the bloody crackdown on protestors. libian rebels close in on tripoli taking control of the capital's oil supply. another dark day for world markets. shares take a back swing in u.s. with banks badly hit. one million affected and 2,000 displaced, a year after the worst floods in pakistan, they return. >> broadcasting to viewers in the u.k. and around the world, this is "newsday."

>> welcome and we start the program with some breaking news from the middle east. israeli fighter jets have been bombing gaza overnight after a string of attacks on israeli. three egyptian guards were killed as they chased militants on its border. israel says the attacks on its territory were launched and so far killed at least seven palestinians. and we will monitor that situation for you and bring the latest for you. we have some images already. but we will monitor that situation and bring you more as and when we get it. now, in other news, for the first time, america, france, germany and britain and e.u. have called on president assad

to step down and tried to end his rule. washington has announced that it's imposing more sanctions on damascus and united nations said up to 2,000 people have been killed since the violence began five months ago. >> they will not go to waste, the crowd chants. this video apparently taken in a syrian city, shows one of the latest funerals of civilians killed in protest against the regime over the past five months. finally, the obama administration is now calling directly for him to go. >> the transition for democracy in syria has begun and time for him to leave. it is time for them to chase their own leaders based on the rule of law and dedicated to

protecting the rights of all citizens regardless of ethnicity, religion, sex or gender. >> for months washington resisted, fearing that he could cling on endlessly, but now that most of the arab world condemns his regime, the tide is turning. >> the syrian uprising has proved its staying power. and today, europe's leaders coordinated their tough talk with washington. the leaders of britain, france and germany telling president assad, we call on him to face the aatlanta of his rejection of his regime by the syrian people and step aside for the unity of its people. violence must stop now! united nations now believes over 2,000 people have been killed in the uprising and judges that the regime's actions may rise to

crimes against humanity, and regime violence has raised against protests and has been spreading bringing public rejection close to the centers of power. president obama is introducing sanctions of against syria. no more exports to syria or imports of oil and gas and something europe will consider. but they are not expecting immediate results. >> he still has the loyalty of his security services. it may be he is mortally wounded and may take time from a political standpoint. >> so as syrians cry out to the world for help, the president is under substantial new pressure, but so far, the regime has always judged that its survival is paramount, whatever the cost.

>> breaking news at the top of the program, israeli fighter jets have been bombing gaza overnight. the bbc is there. tell us, what is happening at the moment? >> the strikes are continuing for the last moments or so. the training site and military compound has been hit by an israeli fighter. and sources said that people are injured. they were hit in a house close to the military compound. [inaudible] >> the bbc correspondent giving

us the latest situation from gaza there. thank you very much. now, some of the day's other news, in libya, rebel fighters have taken control of an oil refinery in the town of subsidy -- sa weea. the rebels are continuing their advance and now say they occupy a town, which is south of the capital. our correspondent has sent this report from zawiya. >> we push north towards the coast. not sure what we'll find. last week, this road was controlled by gaddafi's forces. now we passed bans of rebel fighters. as we enter the city, one of gaddafi's tanks lace abandonned.

on street corners, groups of rebel fighters are in control. do you think it's near the end now? >> yes. because we know. we know that. strong people. very close to tripoli. >> the edge of the city of zawiya and behind me here, the bridge you can see is the highway between tripoli and the border. the rebels are in control of this highway and tripoli is cut off from the outside world. and you can see smoke from a rocket that landed here just about 10 minutes ago. we were told that this place was safe. but clearly, it's still under attack from gaddafi's forces. the battle is the control of this vital highway. this was colonel gaddafi's last link to the outside world.

six weeks ago i drove down here and it was crammed with cars and ladened with food and supplies. look at it now. on the edge of zawiya, a group of rebels take me to see the latest prize, the city's oil refinery and drove gaddafi's troops out of here yesterday. and there is a desperate shortage of fuel. now it will be worse. in zawiya, intense street fighting continued. gaddafi knows he cannot afford to lose this vital town. the rebels know if they can hold on here, they will have gaddafi cut off and surrounded. >> let's talk to one of the founders of the association, a group that works for human rights in libya. he joins us zpr manchester now.

your family is in zawiya. you are in constant touch with them. what's their assessment of the situation in this town? >> their assessment is dwsh they are -- you know, 80% and the freedom fighters control and the gaddafi forces are in the owner gate and still occupying the hospital and street -- and they are shelling from their positions to the houses indiscriminately. so the people, led the city. but other people are still there. >> do you think the rebels will be able to get full control of

zawiya? >> yes. of course, they will, too. their spirit is very, very high. and they have, you know the a.m. -- ambition, because they are looking for freedom and what other people are looking for. so everyone in zawiya are in the full hope that they are going to win this war, going to hold zawiya. remember, back in march when they had not had enough weapons, did not have enough people and they stayed there more than a month without nato. nato is helping, yes. and also the other cities have

fallen. all these cities -- and zawiya, last week, been liberated and tripoli being surrounded. >> and tripoli being the main target that the rebels want to get their hands on so they can maintain control of zawiya. the main target. and all people, not just the freedom fighters in zawiya but other cities and all the front lines, their final gate is tripoli and eventually tripoli will fall, yes. >> thank you for speaking to us. now you have more on the turbulent world markets.

>> they are set to be turbulent again. asian just opened and all lower. japan and australia down 2%, korea down 4% and after union and u.s. falls. and down 47 and-a-half% and shares failed to recover. the dow ending more than 3 1/2% down. for more analysis. the editor of 24/7 wall street in new york. markets are having wild fluctuations that are investors were hoping to be over. what needs to happen for markets to settle down? >> earnings' season is over, so you aren't going to have the benefit of any good earnings now. the next month or two, the question is going to be, will

the desell ration of g.d.p. and u.k. and e.u. and u.s. continue or will you get flatening out of that and the markets will remain unpleasant between now and then. >> unpleasant you say, but what are investors telling you? why this mentality we have been seeing? >> everybody sees the same thing right now in the united states, just today, one of the regional indexes, the philadelphia fed numbers has been as bad as the recession itself. housing has slipped back to the numbers we were seeing in 2009 and one of the car research firms just slashed the numbers of cars they say will be sold in the united states. so this was sort of a trickle of bad news a month ago and it has become something of a torrent.

>> certainly, the concerns about the u.s. economy, european debt concerns, they have been around for quite a few months now. why investors reacting suddenly now in august? >> well, i think there are two things. one is that there is still a huge concern that france and germany are at odds about how to solve the euro debt problem which the capital markets don't think has been solved at all. the second thing is that you could say a month or six weeks ago, the data in the united states about the economy was mixed. and the impression has changed sharply. the feeling now is that july may have actually been a month where the economy was in recession, and that may have been followed by a worsening this month. >> you have been watching all of

this closely. when do you think some semblance of normality will return? >> this is going to be a long wait, because none of the indicators in europe, in the u.k. or u.s. is up now. maybe six months ago, you had some up and some down, but there has been a tremendous revolution to everything being read. so as along as that continues and i suspect that will be at least into the fall, the markets will remain very unpleasant for investors. >> we'll leave it there. now you are watching "newsday." still to come on the program, india's anti-corruption crusade, the nation awaits the release of

an activist. huge floods in the country. >> emergency workers affected by last week's riots. firefighters were pelted by bricks as they tried to put out the fires. >> over to the road to the shops, a day out for the prince. harry went to see some of the businesses that had been damaged. support for a community that got caught up in chaos. >> this visit was intended to boost morale after the violence of last week, but seeing a royal after the riots didn't impress

anyone. >> end of the day, why can't they come and look. >> aside from the repairs, there are problems that will take time and money to fix, including unemployment and anti-social behavior. >> you need more community centers. there is nothing here. nothing for people to do. >> that doesn't excuse what happened last week and how to prevent trouble is the subject of every street. those on the front line were recognized today. each of the emergency services. the firefighters that prince harry has been meeting were directly involved in dealing with the disorder. greater manchester, more than 300 fires and several crews came under attack. >> house fires. vehicles were attacked with bricks. >> many of those who met the prince and tackled the trouble

are from this community and they say the rioters don't represent the residents. >> this is "newsday" on the bbc. the headlines this hour. western leaders have urged syria's president to step down as the bloody crackdown on protestors. >> libian rebels are closing in on tripoli taking control of the city's key port and oil supply. detained indian corruption active it has agreed to a over to go on a hunger strike. he is due to leave prison on friday to begin the hunger strike. he vowed to remain in custody unless he was permit todd resume

the protest which triggered his arrest on tuesday. joining me now from washington is a senior fellow of global economy and development at the brookings institution and expert on global corruption. how has the indian authorities been perceived in the handling of this case? >> obviously, very negatively. the great news is that india is becoming a major emerging power with major socioeconomic conditions. and the middle class which has become more sophisticated has understood that. the failure on two major respects, first, not understanding as part of this condition, democracy is much more than just holding elections. holding elections, peaceful demonstrators will want to protest and show the basic

principle. and second, the other important aspect of any major transition to an industrialized power is to understand that leadership and integrity at the top is much more than individualizing it and personalizing as to whether the prime minister is seen as corrupt or not. the prime minister was seen as incorruptible, but there has been no action on his part over the past year in terms of providing leadership to address major corruption in the party, even in government. and that has basically undermined his reputation. >> the indian government seems to be taking steps and high court judge is going to be

impeached for crups. are they doing enough? >> they are beginning to take steps now and very encouraging that the government after the missteps decided to basically accommodate some of the requests from the demonstrators and from hazare and the fast will be allowed to proceed tomorrow. we don't know yet, but they may adopt a bill eventually that is much tougher in terms of the ombudsman bill that is important that the impunity at the top where they have been exempted from being investigated, top officials, which that addresses, which is a major demand from the demonstrators. >> i'm sorry to interrupt, but we have to leave it there. thank you very much for that. we have more of the other day's

stories. >> let's start with belgium, three people have been killed after a stage collapsed at an outdoor festival and came down during sudden storms. >> it was early evening when storms swept across belgium bringing disaster. the skies blackened and winds whipped up. staging collapsed, rigs were tossed aside. hundreds ran as structures came down. some couldn't escape. >> we were in one of them. and the storm and the rain was coming in, and we saw the -- one of the rigs fall down. >> tens across the festival were

cut out. around 60,000 people were at the site when the violent storm tore through. emergency teams had to negotiated buck willing structures and the site turned to mud as they worked to turn to those in need. the less badly injured taken to a sports center for treatment. 20 ambulances dispatched to help. this is one of the biggest and most popular open-air festivals. food fighters was one of the groups. the event has been suspended. >> the u.s. computer giant hollywood it pack card will start making i-phones and start producing software. they have become less and less profitable. >> rain has caused severe

flooding in southern pakistan with nearly 1 million people affected by the rising waters. more than 50,000 people have been evacuated to temporary camps. we have reports. >> pakistan's rainy season has arrived, and this is the result. families go to safety, their homes flooded. >> it's under water. >> our entire village was hit by floodwater and lost our livestock and crops. >> across southeast pakistan, villages and fields lie under water. nearly one million people have been affected. the army has begun rescue operations and moved the displaced to temporary camps. >> all three districts, we started out with medical support. >> these tent villages are now home and no one knows when they

will be able to go back to their normal lives. pakistan still recovering from last year's disastrous floods, the worst in the country's history. 20,000 people died then and millions were left homeless. many are living in emergency cam presidents. this year's floods are not on the same scale but have caused millions of dollars of damage and leave some of pakistan's poorest people struggling to survive. >> a reminder, one of our main stories, the united states, britain, france and germany have demanded that president al-assad leave office because of the protests. and it has been promised that they will be able to go anywhere it likes. that's all from london and singapore.

thanks for watching bbc " newsday." >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. [funding for this presentation was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, the newman's own foundation and the john d. and catherine t. macarthur 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" is presented