>> this is "bbc world news." funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. shell. and union bank. ♪ >> union bank has put its financial strength to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you?

>> and now, "bbc world news." >> scraping through, the greek prime minister narrowly survived a no-confidence vote. >> i set it before and i will say it now, i do not care if i am not selected as prime minister. >> a motor crash in southwest england involving 27 vehicles. new attacks are reported in the city of homs. welcome to bbc news. coming up a little later, in libya, hundreds of protesters are being released by the new government. what everyone in britain will make some noise when the games began. -- begin.

the greek prime minister papandreou has survived a confidence vote. he asked parliament to back him so we could begin plans on forming a new coalition government. he ruled out the possibility of early elections. he said there would be catastrophic and would jeopardize the country's bailout deal. >> [applause] >> it was close, but he did it. 153 voted in his favor. 145 voted against. 2 did not vote at all. papandreou's political career was firmly on the line, and he knew it.

his proposed referendum had done little to bolster support -- bolster support. on friday, the euro zone offer might be the only way that greece and its economy could survive, he told them. >> perhaps it is the last opportunity to build our country on a more solid basis. this agreement must not be lost. otherwise, it would be historically responsible. >> the prime minister said it was time to look to the future. he was convinced that the content of the eu agreement would help increase its back on its feet. -- grace get back on its feet. >> the operation of the country, the pensions that were threatened. an agreement that allows us to pay it very little interest and

tax for this payments. it makes our -- and makes it much easier. >> papandreou also launched a bitter attack on previous government. blending them from the debt -- for the debt crisis -- blaming them for the debt crisis, saying it would take years to undo the damage. at the end of this speech, mr. papandreou called for unity and said he would talk to the greek president on saturday about forming a coalition government. there are a number of unresolved issues. paul will lead the new coalition? will the parties be able to agree on a way forward? can the new government succeed where mr. papandreou failed? and convinced the greek god -- the greek public to accept years of sacrifice? >> let's go live to our

correspondent in athens. given that mr. papandreou has won this vote of confidence, academies safely make to assumptions? the first -- time we safely make two assumptions? that there will be a new coalition government and the new government will stick to the bailout agreement without a referendum. >> given this incredibly unstable wheat in greek politics, i think we cannot make any assumptions. what we know is that george papandreou us has said that he will begin talks on forming a new national unity government. he intends to go see the president in advance later on on saturday. probably about lunchtime to inform him of that decision. we think that will start very soon. the problem is, the opposition party, a new democracy, has called for his resignation. they will not be happy with him

staying on as leader. if there is a national unity government, presumably, it would have to have somebody else at the helm. would there be an agreement on the ratification of the bailout fund? there was an important message from new democracy a couple of days ago. they would be happy to ratify the bailout agreed in brussels last week. that is a change of position. earlier, a few months ago, new democracy said they wanted a renegotiation of the bill out. they were unhappy with the austerity measures. it seems now there would be a consensus on the bailout terms. that consensus would be pushed through by a caretaker national unity government in time for elections as early as january or february. who would win the elections? would it be new democracy, mr. papandreou's party under a

different leader? it is just too early yet to tell. >> a new coalition, a unity government, that would only last until february. a new government could come and and reneged on the deal. >> yes, in theory, but if there is a broad consensus in the coalition government that could last until february, there would be an understanding that that would be carried through into a majority government or a one- party government. there would be a lot of pressure from the euro zone partners to maintain the bailout package. angela merkel and nicolas sarkozy have made it pretty clear that greece will not continue to receive bailout money from the first two bailouts negotiated after the

last 18 months unless it sticks to the terms of this latest package. the pressure on a greased to stay the course is immense. this country -- on the greece to stay the course is immense. businesses are closing, there is a lot of hostility on the street. there is also be understanding if greece were to renege on the latest package, the money would dry up. they would not receive the next installment of money and it would have to declare bankruptcy as early as december or the beginning of next year. a lot of pressure as greece tries to ride out this political storm. >> thank you very much. we have some breaking news. reports from colombia city had of the guerrilla group have been killed.

-- deborah aborted $4 million for any make -- and the information of the capture of the leader. there has been a big accidents near bridgewater in somerset in southwest england. 27 vehicles were involved. 35 people were injured, some have died. the report contains some strobe lighting. >> brought to a standstill on a motorway in southwest england. in the near distance, the flashing blue lights of emergency vehicles and the clouds of smoke. the scene of a fatal crash. it happened near the town, police believed at least 27 vehicles were involved in the incident. in a pileup involving cars and lorries. >> i saw the blue lights in the distance. at the time, everything just

came to a halt. engines, police cars were going past. >> we traveled the other way. it is pretty horrific. >> this was just part of the aftermath. fire crews having to use special gear to try and free those trapped inside. ambulances ferry people to nearby hospitals. it is not yet clear what caused the crash, although there has been heavy rain and fog. stranded i witnesses, many stock in their cars for hours as the terrible event took place. >> a lot of people are walking up and down. people are walking back with their heads down.

it is quite obvious that it was really bad. >> this stretch is expected to be closed for at least the next 24 hours. police tried to find some clue as to why this crash happened. in a crash described by many as the worst they have ever seen. >> if you are concerned about anybody, athere is an emergency phone number that you can call. medical officials have told the bbc that the hospital has received more than 100 corpses and the last 48 hours. officials have condemned the crackdown sent damascus is breaking the commitment to an arab league peace plan. our world affairs editor reports.

>> the city of homs today, civilians been shot down in the streets. nothing has changed even though the syrian government has promised to uphold the troops out of places like this. the targets are the same. ordinary people. pictures like these are being carefully gathered and scrutinized by a london-based supporters of the protesters. people here in this west london office all have family links with the city of homs. >> the videos, all you could hear was shelling and mosques calling for help. >> it was only two days ago about the arab league reached an agreement with the syrian regime.

the army would pull out of rebellious towns and cities. how come nothing seems to have changed in spite of wednesday's agreement? basically, it is the ruling -- though -- the ruling assad family is split down the metal. bashar al-assad, not exactly the background of a dictator. he has never been able to run syria his way. it is much -- is is much tougher younger brother, who sent and the troops and orders them to shoot. that is not working. in homs, the crowds were larger to debt -- larger than ever. soldiers are going over to the demonstrators outside and a spokesman for the so-called syrian free army gave this disturbing morning. >> this regime reaches the

conditions set by the arab league, we will be obliged to protect the protesters. and topple the regime by force, whenever the price may be. >> if the government does not pull out its forces and does not stop shooting civilians, as promised, syria will take another and much bigger step toward open civil war. >> this is bbc news. just back from mars, will sort of. -- well, sort of. the home office has suspended the head of the u.k. board after allegations of scaling down some identity checks. prodi clark was suspended. staff working for the border

course are responsible for checking passports and carrying out immigration rates. we have more details. >> yesterday, officials at the home office became aware that the head of the u.k. border course is responsible for that job of making sure undesirables do not get into britain, had edmonton scaling down or opening up the borders in a way that ministers would not have agreed with, and did not agree with. that caused a flurry of movement within the home of this -- home office. prodi clark -- brody clark has been suspended. another man has been suspended, and another at -- a number of other people. stafford told at certain times -- staff were told at certain times not to check passports. it has a picture of your face inside it and that can be used on the screen to compare with

your printed version. to tell of the passport is fake. it is a good check. what the home office does not know is when this is scaled down, why and what the security implications might be. it is a pretty serious security incident for the home office. they have ordered to investigations. want to find out what the risks were and an investigation into the u.k. border agency. the home secretary reaction is set to be in credulity. >> you can get more on all of our stories by going to our website. have a look for yourself. >> the greek prime minister has narrowly won a confidence vote. he has promised to put together a coalition to save the latest

bailout deal. a huge crashed in southwest england has injured at least 40 people. several are thought to a been killed. more now on our top stories. the greek prime minister's narrow victory in the confidence vote. despite the vote, his country is effectively still in the hands of its lenders. >> we wonder weather this becomes a precedent for some -- whether this becomes a precedent for more some changes. if they do not like the situations in other countries. they will pretty much handle things as much as they can. the only possible answer, it would be much easier if there was more legitimacy. the problem we have here with

the existing parliament is that it is the kind of democratic deficit. it was elected -- the elections of 2009 at a time when was a normal country -- when greece was a normal country. all of the problems were along these lines. papandreou comes to power and the country is not as nice as it seems. we have a huge debts and everything changes. there is a new government here. the current parliament does not reflect the situation, political dynamics, of the country as it is now. the parties today never presented any kind of program relative to the situation. when they were elected, the situation never existed. >> we have some breaking news

from china. rescuers have pulled 44 miners to the surface. more than 36 hours after more than 50 of them had been trapped following a cavemen at a coal mine in the center of the country. this -- falling to a cave-in at a coal mine in the center of the country. those attempts are continuing. seven other miners were pulled out alive on friday. that is in central china. in libya, hundreds -- hundreds of prisoners are being released from jail. the national transitional council has agreed to let some suspected gaddafi fighters ago. it will detained foreign mercenaries -- mercenaries. our african correspondent has this report. >> this makeshift jail,

relatives wait. news has filtered out that prisoners are to be released. many it -- men who were caught with gaddafi forces and the final days of battle. outside, i meet 01 and waiting for her nephew, just 19. the only volunteered to carry a weapon for three days. just before nightfall, freedom at last. 60 days in prison, mohammed is coming home. he is among the 200 released from this jail alone. hundreds more such free in cities across the country. as the men shot allowed to face a new libya, where gaddafi is no more, there is no sign of anger or fear of revenge.

they treated us well, no one tried to beat us, he said. the prisoners being released here are all libyans. the authorities have told us they are holding alleged mercenaries, african nationals. they say it is a sign that they intend to release them soon. the question of mercenaries is a sensitive one. other down libyans, we're holding africans from chad and niger. they still need to be processed by the courts, he says. lydia's new leaders know the treatment of detainee's is being closely -- libya's new leader is now the treatment of detainees is being closely monitored by the world. >> imagine being stopped in a sealed container for 17 months ending completely cut off from the outside world.

that is exactly what six people put themselves through as part of an important experiment to see how human beings would cope with a long space flight. reports from moscow. >> it was the drawer that had not been opened for 520 days. behind it, six men, who only had each other for comfort for 17 months. then they started to emerge. they had been on one of the strangest space missions of recent years, a voyage to know where, but simulating a journey to mars. >> it is really great to see you again. we have achieved the longest space voyage ever so that humankind can meet a new dawn -- reached a new dawn on a new

planet. >> the idea was to test weather the men couldn't door of the stress of a long voyage -- to test whether them and called in door of the stress of a long voyage. scientists insist this was a serious experiment. the most exciting much for the men was stepping out here on to this pile of sand, a simulation of a walk on the surface of mars. the experiment had major shortcomings. there was no weightlessness,radiation, and they were never in any real danger. so far, man has only been to the moon. it took three days to cover 320,000 miles. just getting to mars will take at least 250 days. it is a minimum of 35 million miles. astronauts say it is within reach. >> we will make a big effort starting today, i think we can do it and 10 or 15 years.

>> for decades, morris has been a distant dream for those interested in human -- mars has been a distant dream for those interested in human space flight. >> mars may be far away, a series of olympic posters have been unveiled in london. there are 12 posters and they are designed by leading british artist. they will be showcased across the country. there is some flash photography in this. >> here they are. the posters that will promote the line in 2012 olympics games to the world. britain might have a global reputation for its graphic design agencies. it was 12 of the country's artists who brought -- and got the job of providing the visual images for next year's sporting extravaganzas.

this painting suggest a swimmer. >> a lot of people said that i would be able to do it, for some strange reason. i made about six before i came up with this one. this is two birds speaking, kissing, sending the message. >> this is an energetic collection of posters. it captures the nature of the games. there is something odd about them, you need even. not one of these posters references to the u.k. or london, which is where the games are taking place. this poster is an abstract propagation -- representation of big ben. you would not necessarily know what great things were different in 1948, when london last hosted the games.

why no obvious reference to a location this time around? >> the artist for act -- were asked to reflect the values of the olympic games. they also have the option of thinking about london. >> artists have been associated with previous olympic posters. this was for the 1972 games in munich. >> in the beginning, posters were needed to give information about a place. now, of course, all that kind of information is relayed electronically. posters can take a different role. one more like metaphors for the games. >> the organizers hope people will be dazzled by the 12 posters. they might find there are some who are left a bit puzzled. >> you are watching "bbc news."

>> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. union bank. and shell. >> this is kim - about to feel one of his favorite sensations. at shell, we're developing more efficient fuels in countries like malaysia that can help us get the most from our energy resources. let's use energy more efficiently. let's go. >> union bank has put its global expertise to work for a

wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles. usic] ♪ >> good morning, sir. >> inspector... >> i have a couple of questions i'd like to ask you, >> sir, if the stuff was in the wine, he'd be dead too.