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what can we do for you? >> and now "bbc world news america." >> welcome to news day on the bbc. >> the headlines. military rulers promise to speed up the tran situation to democracy. this is the scene live intake rir square where demonstrators are demanding the end to military rule. one of the most senior members of the camirruge. an amazing escape one pilot walked away from this. 10:00 a.m. here in singapore, and from pbs in america and around the world.

>> welcome. egypt's military council has responded by promising a faster transition to democratic role. they promised the presidential elections would be held by the end of june of next year. these are the live pictures from tahrir square, where thousands remain on the streets of central cairo. protestors will not move until all their demands have been met. we have the latest. >> they used to drum on the fences during the revolution as an alarm and now they're doing it again, because the protestors intake rir square believes the old regime lives on. the funeral of one of the dead came through the square this morning. the yung men fighting want to finish the job this time. many egyptians don't like the

street violence but don't like the military and police trampling over human rights and the man they hate most is the head of the ruling military council. >> today, or tomorrow. you will see in two days. >> the field marshal appeared on egyptian tv defending the military and talking elections. >> i'm committed to holding parliamentary elections on time and to select a president by the end of june, 2012. >> before he spoke, they hanged his effagy from the traffic lights. bringing presidential elections will satisfy some egyptians but didn't seem to change many minds in the square and among the families of the dead.

this is the mort tu area. see, he says, film, there are people in all the trenches. my son is here. and for everyone intake rir, they are more interested in finishing the revolution, not in military promises they no longer trust. >> nothing has changed. and these elections that we have in the next week, they are a sham in my opinion. >> and this man is a candidate. >> there is no appetite to talk about the elections when people are being killed. >> few hundreds of -- away, there are casualties. they believe their rights are on the streets and this is the place to defend them. they want the military to hand over power now and their fear is about a country that can't give

them decent jobs. >> they say they have to fight all over again. this crisis has been brewing for months. >> the gas tears at the skin and the eyes and makes it hard to breathe. the dem administrators come back for more. -- dem administrators come back for more, though. egypt is in a crisis. when it got dark, there is no let-up. egyptian's revolutionary are leading the way again showing how hard this middle east is going to be. >> let's bring you those pictures, live shots we can see from the square. as you can see, thousands of people in the central square gathered there and 4:00 a.m.

local time. and we are on the line now and our correspond ept is heading to the square shortly. thank you for speaking to us. just tell me what you are expecting to see when you get there, because the mood remains very tense, doesn't it? >> well, from what i have seen, those people aren't going home, that similar willing. i mean, i have been among all the chaos and the people that i have been interacting with are educated people to an extent more or less and they are unemployed and they are outraged. let me tell you this, it's if they have nothing better to do. and in addition, of course,

there is crisis between the egyptians and police in general and aggravated the situation as the police is like an injured lion. all the realm napts of the old regime are still there and taking charge of the minister of interior. and looking for a chance to retaliate. the same again on the other side, since the attacks that had happened and took place two days ago, three days ago, and then the people who got injured and again this took place during the revolution in january, all that led to people to fight back. they are going back and forth and they are doing that in a very dramatic way. they do not have weapons whatsoever. they only have substance to

neutralize the effects of the gas bombs. so every problem they face with the police, but they aren't letting the police go home and as soon as they go, they go forward. and so on. and they aren't planning to go home whatsoever. they are very outraged about the events that took place, applying the emergency law which is the main reason why the general has acted in the first place and all the practices that the military council has applied are really the same practice that mab applied by the mubarak regime and not accepted any more. >> you gave us an interesting account in setting the scene for

us. thank you for joining us in cairo and stay with the developments in egypt and bring you any latest developments as soon as we get it. you've got more on the genocide trial in cambodia. >> one of the most senior members of the khamir ruge that ruled cambodia has defended himself. he was second in command to pol pot. we go to our correspondent who is outside the courthouse where these trials are taking place. how significant were these statements from him? how are they being greeted there? >> i think it really shows he does president have any remorris over the actions he took in the 1970's. a film was released called

"enemies of the people" saying he took the actions he did. the people would have been destroyed and it was shown in court again on tuesday and very clear from his opening statement as well that he saw himself or betray himself as the people in cambodia which he says was under threat from outside forces from the united states in the late 1970's and viet in a meese -- vietnamese. and that is strong defense. no remorse at all and there were atrocities committed under him and the policies and the other senior leaders which caused terrible events. >> guy, we'll leave it there. he is following the trial of the

khamir rouge. they diffused five roadside bombs near the massacre, the worst case of political violence in philippine history. members are on trial accused of murdering 57 people in 2009. the pace of this trial is frustratingly slow and the victims' relatives are filing a number of civil cases. there is a claim they could have prevented the killings. >> two years ago, on a hillside in the southern phillipines, 57 people were brutally massacred, their bodies dumped in a special prepared mass grave. the victims were the relatives of a candidate for a forthcoming election and 30 journalists who were traveling with them. the candidates' election rival,

is the main suspect for the murders. he is now on trial, as his father, but as the 197 people accused of being involved in the massacre, only 93 have been arrested and only one in six of the prosecution witnesses have testified. for the relatives of the victims, the process is frustratingly slow and nerve wracking, too, because there are so many suspects on the loose. >> we're sad because we are still waiting for justice for my father. we don't feel safe at all. every time we go out of the house, we feel someone's following us. i'm especially worried about my mother. she's depressed, and i can't sleep. >> the long wait for justice has prompted the relatives to turn their attention to the president at the time of the massacre. they claim she should have known

they were in danger and she ignored the warning signs and instead, cultivated ties with the family. she is currently in hospital, suffering from a bone disease, but recently been arrested on charges of helping them win an election in 2007. but whether she could have prevented the killings or not, there is no suggestion that mrs. arroyo was involved in the killings and they want the perpetrators to be found guilty. they are determined to carry on the fight for justice. no matter how many years pass from the death of their loved ones. >> you are watching live. still to come on the program, sounds like the stuff of science fiction, nasa unveils its land

recover. and reporters are vital to his rub bish bin. >> the days of prime minister of italy might be offer but he is in court, the latest appearance on tax evasion charges and reviving one of his passions outside the realm of politics, releasing an album of love songs. >> 10 days ago, he was still running italy and today he was heading to a courtroom on allegations of tax evasion. the case is just one of three he faces. he is charge charged with having sex with an underaged prostitute, a nightclub dancer. and now that he is no longer prime minister, he can't argue

that he is too busy to come to court. he denies all the allegations against him and despite his legal and political troubles, the party-loving ex-prime minister is still in the mood for music and love. he just brought out a cd and doesn't sing on "the true love," but the words are all his. not everybody is impressed, though. >> it isn't my style. i just wouldn't buy it. >> i don't like him as a politician or a songwriter. he's disgusting. >> for him, though, music brings back memories of his youth and less complicated days when he made a living crooning on cruise ships in the mediterranean. >> and if you are online follow

myself on twitter. >> the headlines this hour, egypt's military rulers promise to speed up the transition to democracy. the protestors are demanding an plead handover of power. one of the most senior members of the khamir rouge is defending himself. been a year since north korea pro vowvoked international outrage by shelling the south korean island. the attack the first on the populated area.

our correspondent is in seoul and said south korea is exercising military exercises near the border with north korea. >> it is a painful memory and not the many people thought the way they would mark it. they decided to re-enact that attack by a live fire exercise and going to stimulate the first wave of shells that landed on the island this afternoon and going to respond in the way they wished they had responded at the time. and they're going to simulate use of more air power, expand the exercise, as i say, really an exercise of what should have been. the defense ministry said it's about testing the new defenses and about the mind of people, the lessons they learned a year

ago. >> as ibbed india struggles to keep inflation under control, the poor have been hit the hardest. the government recently introduced a controversial new way to measure poverty which doesn't recognize many low-income people as poor. to get the real sense of the challenges, our correspondent went to live with one family in a village in india. >> it's early winter. it's before dawn, warming up to a hard day's work, he is one of millions of farmers in india struggling to make ends meet. inside, the first meal is being prepared. vegetables has become the staple diet. soaring food prices have stressed many families beyond breaking point. feeding a family of eight is a day-to-day challenge, at times

having nothing to eat at all. >> things were better earlier. though wages are less, essential food items were not expensive. now we earn more, but inflation has made everything unaffordable. we are very worried. >> increased fuel costs have added and left little money for schools or hospitals. the government says, anyone spending 50 cents a day is not poor. he spends more than that. still survival is very difficult for him and his family. empty homes lost and desserted. driving thousands of people in this region out of their homes. those left behind live in uncertainty. there is some hope.

he will get cash from their peanut crop, but it's not enough. they have to look at other means to feed themselves and look after their farm. >> whatever money we make by selling crops, we borrow from the money lenders to buy fertilizers and seeds. >> despite a string of good monsoons, the price of commodities has risen significantly. it's something he cannot escape. life is far from easy for those who work the land and rely on it to earn a living. >> and another actor is describing their view of the british press. tab bloid newspapers have been accused of acting like the

mafia. that is part of the evidence presented by the actor and comedian here in bond -- london. our correspondent listened to the exchanges. >> he is a public performer who says he is not interested in fame. he is best known as a bug willing member of the media. steve cougan played himself and said he lost count of the tabloid stings, one of them involved the former editor of "the news of the world" who became a adviser to the prime minister. >> there was a girl who was going to speak to me on the phone, phone call being recorded, and she would try to entice me to talk about intimate details of her and my life. >> he said it was time for britain to have privacy laws.

>> in the interests of protecting genuine interests, for that reason, there needs to be privacy laws so people are attacked. >> she was a business adviser to the super model but when stories appeared, the super model accused mary ellen field of leaking them. >> i said you can't pull me in there and not tell me what i have done. she said i'm not allowed to tell you. >> it emerged that the phone hacker had been targeting elle, but mary ellen field had been sent for psychiatric treatment. and there was the story of the

watsons and their daughter was stabbed to death by a pupil at their school, but newspaper reports were derogatory that their son committed suicide. >> it shouldn't die with them. >> one other thing that exercising the inquiry, the outspoken response from the mail on sunday that claimed access from hugh grant and said the press needed to be careful by attacking witnesses who had given evidence in good faith. >> nasa has unveiled its latest mission to search for signs of life on the red planet. >> for centuries, people have wondered about life on mars.

nasa is launching its most expensive mission ever to try to find the ever. it costs over $2 billion to design and build and as big as a car and nearly the size of its predecessors and will be embarking on one of nasa's most complex missions. after entering marches marso officer, it kill deploy a parachute and hover above the surface of mars. before it lands, wheels will be deployed which will allow it to range over large distances. the recover will spend two years on mars, armed with drills, lasers and a whole range of scientific instruments to analyze rocks and soil. scientists are hoping the mission will tell them that mars had or it has to nurture some form of life. >> there is going to be a challenge in recognizing it,

even if it ends up being life as we know it here and there is a question what if it isn't like life as we know it. it forms different structures. that's going to be a challenge. >> just getting to mars is a difficult journey and there have been many failures. russia's latest mars' probe remains stuck in orbit after its failed launch two weeks ago. but nasa has had much more success and if all goes well, the recover will reach mars next august and hope to reveal the secrets that lie beneath the surface of the red planet. >> take a look at these remarkable pictures from new zealand when a helicopter tried to put up a christmas tree. amazingly the pilot escaped without serious injury and nobody on the ground was

reportedly hurt. the extraordinary footage of the pilot slowly descending about eight meters when the chopper's blades appear to get caught in cables which were attached to the scaffolding of this christmas tree. there, you can see the rear of the helicopter snapped and the pilot and the helicopter smashes into the ground. a remarkable escape. close one indeed. >> reminder of our main news this hour, the leader of egypt's ruling military council has promised a faster transition to civilian rule. this is the scene live intake rir square where thousands are taking their place in the protests. stay with us.

>> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stow vermont, and honolulu, new man's oun foundation and union bank.

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