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>> and now, "bbc world news." >> welcome to "newsday". >> >> i am babita sharma. 6 months since the start of the uprising, syria accuses western countries of trying to create chaos of the country. president obama warns europe's financial crisis is scaring the world. this as new worries emerged about greece. a typhoon, the largest storm to hit the philippines this year, forces 100,000 people to leave their home. >> it is 2:00 a.m. and london. broadcasting to viewers on pbs in america and around the world. this is "newsday."

welcome. syria has accused western countries of trying to create chaos that would dismember the country speaking at the general assembly, the syrian foreign minister extended his crackdown on protesters. >> any objective analysis of the events in and around syria will demonstrate clearly that the purpose of the anti-syrian campaign under way is to attack this model of coexistence that has been a source of pride to our people. how can we otherwise explain media provocations, harming religious extremism? what purpose could this serve,

other than total chaos that would dismember syria and adversely affect its neighbors? what else could the course achieve, other than spreading western hegemony over the countries of the mediterranean and serving israel's expansionist interests? i assure you that our people are determined to reject all forms of foreign intervention in their internal affairs. we will continue to pursue security and stability. >> the protests in syria began six months ago. the united nations says 2700 people have been killed. in the past few months, the bbc and other news organizations have made repeated attempts to gain official access. finally, we have been granted an exclusive report. >> we have been trying for months to take the road to damascus. we have spent hours at the border getting in.

they look through every page of our passports, every bit of equipment, but so few journalists are getting in to tell the story. the government complains nobody is telling their side. i've been coming to syria for years. so what is changed after six months of protests and a crackdown? you don't feel it in the heart of the old city. domestic has not lost its charm, but there are no tourists to enjoy it. business is suffering. i did not expect people to openly criticize the government with our official minder at our side. one man told us on camera there were no problems, later whispered to me that the could not tell the truth. intelligencethes agents are everywhere. there is clearly some genuine support for the president.

>> you are lying. everybody here, the population 1-3 million is [unintelligible] >> this is new footage of protests obtained by the bbc. it is this kind of video made by activists that the government calls lies. insists the protesters are terrorists. the problem is that they call everyone a protester and refuse to acknowledge that syria is facing terrorist fundamentalist groups . activists who did believe in dialogue no longer do. he tells me the government tried to force people off the streets with violence. it failed. this could be a moment of no return. but no one here can say when the and will come and what kind of

syria will emerge. >> let's bring you breaking news from two news agencie. an explosion has destroyed any egyptian a pipeline that supplies israel and jordan with gas. security sources say the explosion happened west of a city. 15 meter high flames could be seen rising from the pipeline. the cause of the blast is not known, but is soon as we get further information, we will bring that to you. now to libya. there has been fierce fighting in colonel gaddafi's hometown of sirte. sources loyal to the new authorities entered the city supported by nato planes. it lies 250 miles southeast of tripoli. it started a fortnight ago. colonel gaddafi loyalists have

been pushing up fierce resistance. >> today, the new libyan flag came a step closer to fly across the entire country. they gathered as they have every day to advance on sirte. civilians fled the city. they have been told the rebels would cut their throats cut, but instead, they were welcomed. some have lucky escapes. sirte will welcome you. they are waiting for you, he said. but the advance has been cautious. the first sign today was going to be different was a captured gaddafi tank. the second was the smoke coming from the city center, a nato bomb, tehhey said, but we did nt

see it hit. the green flag of colonel gaddafi was still flying, but it became clear there were entering the city. [machine gunfire] [chanting] this is the moment that they have waited for. it's a celebration. you see the flag. from here, it's into the city itself. but as the chips moves forward, we pulled back and take cover. -- as the trooops move forward. despite the civilians living in this city, both sides traded rockets and heavy gunfire. shells landed around this as they fought for control in the last hour of daylight. sirte will soon fall, unless colonel gaddafi fight to death. >> hundreds of u.k. royal navy

personnel, including some who risked their lives during the lead the campaign, will learn they have been made redundant later this week. it is believed that several dozen of the 250 sailors of hms cumberland which helped rescue british citizens from libya in february may be among those issued redundancy notices. more euro-zone news . >> that's right. it's president obama and the u.s. that is saying the continent's financial crisis is steering the world. his comments came as european officials admitted that there is a lot of work to be done before any plan is done to tackle the euro-zone debt crisis. the bbc's business editor has more. >> a respite today from recent markets.

european governments are inching toward a rescue plan. at the center of the plan, would be a 50% reduction in the greek debt. that would reduce the debt to 170 billion erdogans, buuros, bs losses would be negotiated. european officials say there is wide acceptance of that strike -hit recessionary greece cannot recover unless their debt is reduced in this way. the second element of the rescue package would be an injection of tens of billions of euros into europe's banks. most powerful investors worried that italian and french banks need to be strengthened.

these banks have found it harder to borrow, which is a serious problem because banks that cannot borrow are more vulnerable to collapse. but forcing the banks to raise capital, which is expensive, will not be easy. and the final element of the rescue package would be to increase the fire power of the euro-zone's bailout fund. so that it could provide finance years in countries like italy that are struggling to borrow from commercial investors. euro-zone leaders have already agreed that the bailout fund will have 440 billion euros to deploy. investors do not believe that is enough. the idea is to make 2 trillion euros available. that may worry euro-zone taxpayers, especially in europe's biggest economy germany. >> the biggest obstacle will be selling this ecb loans to the

german public and german politicians, because there is a notion that everything that involves the ecb is dangerous and could create inflationary pressure. >> but when markets are fearful that york in the u.s. are heading back to recession, a full-scale financial crisis could be calamitous. >> we could have an economic contraction that could turn into a depression. we had bank failures, social and political unrest across the continent. it is not a pretty sight. >> were leaders hope that an ambitious euro-zone rescued kennedy agreed in the next five- six weeks, but there are formidable obstacles, which means we will all live under a financial shadow of fear for some time yet. >> a look at the markets in asia that are open. 200, theikkei, the asx

kospi are making strong gains on the news of the rescue plans for greece and european banks that may be able to get a lifeline. all of that lifting sentiment. the nikkei as well as australia up almost 2%. the kospi is well up over 3%. the nikkei reversed its slide to its lowest close since april, 2009. u.s. stocks. a fairly choppy session. the dow is up 270 points. a powerful typhoon has hit the northern philippines, bringing with it winds of 140 kph. it is the largest arm to hit the philippines this year can and has forced the authorities to evacuate more than 100,000 people, close schools and ground flight. our correspondent joins us on the line two hours from the capital of manila. we know it made landfall. what can you tell us about

conditions there? >> basically, it seems to be traversing across the island, which is one of the largest islands in the philippines. half the entire population lives there. i am in the western area. it is not here yet. heavy rains for hours now. overnight, there has been heavy rain. electricity is out in many different places. i have been speaking to people in the area, which has been hit. and they said that power is completely gone. a lot of trees are down. houses have been damaged. we have a record of one death so far, but information is still coming through from the area. people are worried. it is all here -- people are really worried about this, it is obvious. >> this is something that has hit the philippines many, many times. there have been damaging

typhoons in the past. how have authorities restore damaged facilities? how quickly have they reacted? >> in the last year or so, there has spent a real effort by the government to try to preempt the disaster as much as they can, to try to safeguard life is much as possible. for example, at this time they had more than 100,000 people leave the eastern coastline in advance of the title. in previous typhoons, they have done the same thing. almost two years ago, a typhoon hit the capital of manila, and people were unprepared for it. a lot of manila was flooded and more than four moderate people died. this time the authorities seem to be much better at giving people advanced notice and getting people out as much as

they can before hand. >> we will leave it there. now, charlie is a resident of manila, which is on the main island. he joins us on from there. i believe you are also helping with the evacuation effort. what can you tell us about the rest emission. >> actually, i am here at the back of the hill. there is a stop where we are able to help the government to assess the damage and also to help the government to locate all necessary -- people who want or need help. we're just doing some assistance

to the government'. actually, this time the rain falls very heavily, and the winds are very strong. >> all right. we will leave it there. now, you are watching "newsday" live from singapore and london. tesco, the company that owns and japan's crippled nuclear power plant, is trying to make it easier to pay out billions of dollars in compensation. >> we speak to families and students in india who say that class division is a major cause of suicide. >> more than 2 million people have been affected by floods in india. torrential rain has blasted the north and east.

80 people have died. heavy monsoon rains have been battering india for a fortnight. >> waiting for help. these villagers are some of the 2 million people stranded by india's floods. their homes are underwater. this is now the only way to get around. heavy monsoon rains have been battering parts of northern and eastern india for the past fortnight. the government launched operations to help those of the worst hit areas. hundreds of boats are being used to ferry the stranded to safety. nassau rescue helicopters have been dropping food parcels to run but parts of the country. >> rescue operations are going on since yesterday, relief materials as well, and all steps are being taken by the administration to bring relief

to the people. >> but for those who do escape the floods, this is another life -- living out in the open with the few possessions they have managed to save from their homes. more heavy rains are forecast in coming days. many of these people were already living in poverty. now the floods have made their lives even more precarious. >> united nations security council has begun preliminary discussions of the palestinian people's application for full membership to the un. president abbas submitted the application on friday. no decision is expected for several weeks. if they secure the necessary votes, the u.s. is expected to veto the resolution. >> this is "newsday". i'm in singapore.

i am babita sharma. in london. six months since the start of the uprising, syria accused the west of trying to create chaos and the country. libya's new government has entered sirte from the east, as the assault on colonel gaddafi's stronghold continues. a company that owns japan's crippled nuclear power plant will be made to pay $50 billion in compensation to victims of the nuclear disaster. the company made the promise after criticism from the government of the laborious procedure is victims were required to go to. we have a journalist that he visited the affected areas and spoke to some of the local people involved in compensation claims. he joins me now on the line from tokyo. complaints from victims that the claims process has been hard. they have to fill up a 60-page

claim form. why the excessive bureaucracy? >> well, this is the big question is why is it so difficult? the document itself, the application document is 60 pages. the explanation document is 157 pages long. to give you an idea of how difficult it is, japan's trade minister, he used to be the chief government spokesman, he said he is a lawyer and he does not understand this compensation document. so this suspicion is certainly among the people who are claiming compensation that te pco has made difficult in order to cut down on the compensation plans, which are not that high. i spoke to one of the farmers up there. one man has been forced to evacuate his farm, which had then and the family for 100

years, take his entire family 35 miles away from the farm. he is only claiming 4 million the yen, which is 34,000 u.k. pounds. it is not a lot of money for someone who may never go back to that farm, who was forced to kill his cattle and raze his crops, and change his life. he is serious. -- he is furious. >> now, there has been a lot of criticism against tepco, but their cost is also rising. the latest report saying that the city is to announce a plan to decontaminate all 110 households. that will be a huge bill for the government. >> yes, it is an enormous bill, but i think the way for the government to look at this is that it could be much worse.

there are people in fukushima prefecture, 2 million people in total, who want the right for the entire prefecture to evacuate because they say the radiation is too high to live in. as you know, the government has said up a 20 kilometer exclusion zone around the power plant. what they discovered over the last six months is that there are areas outside of the exclusion zone where radiation is quite high. children in that city cannot play outside. a lot of the ceremonies that were held in the autumn had to take place inside the schools, with windows closed. if you can imagine a life where your kids cannot go out and play, it is a very difficult thing to have to endure. the way the government and tepco

needs to look at this is that it could be far worse for them. >> thank you so much for your insight. david mcneill in tokyo from the independent newspaper. you have details of a tragic side to india's universities. >> getting a place is seen as a class -- a way out of the lower class. in the past four years, there have been 18 cases of suicides by lower class students. two this year. year since the death of her 25-year-old son. he was the first in this remote village to have made it to the countries top college from madison. class discrimination is rife. to them, this was a dream come

true, but the dream turned sour. he used to tell us that he was hated to belonging to a large cast by his professors. used to sit at that back of the class. my son told me he was looked down upon because of who he was carried. >> this is one of india's top medical institutions. it reserves places for lower class students, offering them a new start in life, but this is where he ended his. under indian law, 1/4 of places have to be reserved to lower class students. but these policies have caused tensions across campus. lower class students say they are made to feel unworthy of their place. >> the teachers mindset is that lower class students do not study hard, so expel them.

they do not understand that unlike other students everything in our life rests on our selection. >> but officials reject this, saying that teachers ensure an atmosphere of healthy interaction. >> some students suffer from depression, and so was the case in this. and we take all precautionary steps and started anti-stress counseling for newcomers. >> despite these denials, three years before his death, a government inquiry concluded that students faced by is on the basis of their past. the lower class suicides had been reported at other elite institutions. there is some way to go to prevent more of india's brightest talents from taking their own lives. >> thanks for watching.

we will be back soon. >> 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" was presented by kcet los angeles.