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what can we do for you? >> and now, bbc world news america. >> welcome to newsday on the bbc. >> here are the headlines. egypt's military rulers promise to speed up the transition to democracy. this is the scene live in the square with thousands of demonstrators are demanding an immediate end to military rule. one of the most senior members of khm embing r rouge defended the regime at the genocide trial in cambodia. and amazing escape, how one helicopter pilot walked away from this. it's 12:00 noon in seung pore. it's 4:00 a.m. in seung pore. welcome to newsday.

>> egypt's military council responded to the mass uprising of the past four days by promising a faster transition to democratic rule. they promise that presidential leches would be heldly the end of union next year. s the scene live where thousands remain on the streets of central cairo. protesters say they will not move until all their demands have been met. >> they used to drum on the fences during the revolution as an alarm when mubarak's men were coming. now they're doing it again because the po testers here believe the old regime lives on, killing people for protesting. the funeral of one of the dead came through the scare this morning. the young men fighting the riot police want to fin herb the job this time. many egyptians don't like the street violent. but they don't always like the

military and police trampling over human rights either. and the man protesters hate most is the head of the ruling military council. >> that's how it will go. >> the field marshal appeared on egyptian tv defending the military and talking elections. >> i am committed to holding parliamentary leches and elect the president of the state by the end of june, 2012. >> before he spoke, they hanged his effigy from traffic lights. bringing elections forward a year 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 morge wear.

see, he says, there are people in all the freezers. my son is here. and for everyone, the euphoria was gone by the summer, they're more interested in finishing the revolution, not in military pomses they don't trust. >> nothing has changed. we don't want to go, we know the elections we have next yeek -- next week, it's a sham, in my opinion. nothing is going to cheaning. >> this man is a candidate. >> there's no appetite to talk to people about leches when people are being killed inside. >> a few hundred yards away, riots went on, casualties rushed away for dream. they believe they won their rights as citizens on the streets and this is the place to defend them. they want the military to hand over power now and they're furious about a country that can't give them decent jobs.

they felt they defeated the regime back in february, now they feel they have to beat it all over again this crisis has been brewing for month. the gas tears at the skin and the eyes and makes it hard to breathe. demonstrators always come back for more, though. egypt is in a deep cry sess. egypt's revolution inspired uprisings in syria, bahrain and india, now the egyptians are leading the way again, showing how hard this is going to be. >> now, we've got more details of a historical criminal case under way in the philippines. >> that's right. authorities in the southern philippines say they've defused

five roadside bombs near the site of the massacre, the worst case of political violence in philippine history. members members of the clan are on trial accused of murdering 57 people in 2009. but the pace of the criminal trial is frustratingly slow. the victim's relatives are also filing a number of civil cases, the latest of which targets the former president and claim she is could have prevented the killings. this report contains flash photography. >> two years ago on a hillside in the philippines, 57 people were brutally massacred. their bodied dumped in a specially prepared mass grave. the victims were the relatives of a candidate for a forthcoming election and more than 30 journalists traveling with them. the candidates election rival is the main suspect for the murders.

he's now on trial, as is his father, but of the 19 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 relative the process is frustratingly slow and nerve wracking as there are still so many suspects on the loose. >> we're sad because we're 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 is following us. i'm especially worried about my mother. she's depressed and i can't sleep. >> the long wait for wrussties has prompted relatives to turn their attention to the president at the time of the massacre. they claim she should have known the group was a danger and that she ignored the warning signs and cultivated

ties with the family. mrs. array yow is currently in hospital, suffering from a bone disease. but she's recently been arresteden charges of helping the family when an election in 2007. but whether she could have prevented the killings or not, there's no suggestion she was actually involved in the massacre. what the relatives of victims really want is for the mayne perpetrator to be found lt -- -- is for the main perpetrators to be found guilty. they're determined to carry on, no matter how many years pass from the death of their loved ones. >> one of the most senior members of the khmer rouge which ruled cambodia in the 1970's has defended the regime at his trial for genocide. he was second in command to pol

pot. we go live now to our reporters outside the courthouse. you've been there pretty much all morning. can you tell us what's been going on in the tiles today? >> we've seen the other two men who are standing trial alongside him talking in court. the former foreign minister gai a brief statement in which he said he was disappointed to be on trial because he received a royal pardon more than a decade ago and he wanted this supreme court chamber here to rule on that before the trial went forward. the former head of state came and read a very long statement in which he said the cambodian people supported the regime in the 1970's as they ousted a government which had come to power through a coup d'etat supported by the united states. once more, two khmer rouge leaders showing no remorse at all for what happened when they

governed the country in the late 1970's. >> is there much hope for these trials amongst cambodians? are they hopeful for convictions? >> just the other side of this camera there are hundreds of people sitting, watching the proceedings on big screens. inside the courtroom, that's packed, hundreds of people have come in from all over the country. they are interested enough to come and see what the leaders have to say for themselves. they're hoping these trials are completed or at least one of these trials is completed before one of the defendants dies. these men are very old and some in ill health, that's a concern pressing on everyone's minds. >> thank you for that. india struggles to keep inflation under control, it's the rural poor who are hit the hardest. the government recently introduced a controversial new

way to recognize poverty which doesn't recognize many low income people as poor. to get a real sense of the challenges they face, our reporters went to live with one family in central india. >> it's only -- everyry -- early winter. they start before dawn, warming up to a hard day's work for millions of farmers in india. struggling to make ends meet. inside, the first meal is being prepared. it's the staple diet. food prices have stretched many families beyond the breaking point. feeding a family of eight is a day-to-day challenge here. at times, having nothing to eat at all. >> things were better earlier,

essential food prices were not expensive. now we earn more but inflation made everything unaffordable. we are very worried. >> increased fuel costs have added to their home and left little money for food or hospital. the government says anyone spending about 50-cents a day is not poor. he spends more than that, so this is very difficult for him and his family. empty homes lost and deserted. poverty driving millions out of their homes. those left behind live in uncertainty. haria will get cash fromer that peanut crop but it's not enough. they have to look at other means of funding to feed themselves and look after their farm.

>> whatever money we make by selling crops is invested back in agriculture. we borrow from the money lender to buy fertilizer and seeds and repay what we owe them. >> despite a string of good seasons, it's a cycle they cannot escape. life is far from easy for those who work the land and rely on it to earn a living. >> you're watching news day on bbc live. still to come, it sounds like the stuff of science fiction. nasa unveils its latest mars rover. and the british comedian steve ku fwmbings an tells the inquiry into media ethics that reporters rifled through his rub herb bin.

-- rubbish bin. his days as prime minister may be over but burlesconi is still in the spotlight. he is facing tax evasions charges and he's reviving one of his passions outside of politics, releasing a new album of love songs. >> 10 days ago, sylvio burlesconi was running italy. today he was heading for a courtroom where he's fighting allegations of tax evasion. the case is just one of three he faces. he's also charged with having sex with an underage prostitute, a nightclub dancer, calling herself ruby. now that he's no longer prime minister, mr. burlesconi can't argue he's too busy to come to court. he denies all 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. mr. burlesconi just brought out this c.d. he doesn't actually sing on "the true love," but the words are all his. not everybody is impressed, though. >> i wouldn't buy it, ever. it just isn't my style. not only musically, i wouldn't buy it. >> i don't like him as a politician or song writer. he's disgusting. >> for sylvio burlesconi, muse exbrings back memories of his youth and less complicated days when he made a hiing crooning on cruise ships in the mediterranean. >> more on that story by visitting the bbc news website. if you're online join us on twitter, you can get in touch with myself, the address on your screen.

>> this is newsday on the bbc. good to have you with us. the headline this is hour. egypt's military rulers promise to speed up the transition to democracy. protesters are demanding an immediate handover of power. one of the most senior members of the khmer rouge has defended the regime at a trial in cambodia. the latest survey of land mine use around the world has found that more countries used the weapons last year than at any time since 2004. the report from land mine monitor says the spite record levels of funding for mine clearance, thousands were still skilled -- killed and injured by the weapons in 2010. mary is with land mine monitor. welcome to the show. in your report, you say a record amount of money is being

raised to get rid of land mines, yet more are being laid all the time. is it a struggle to keep up? >> it's a struggle to create a mine-free world which is what we're seeking to do through the international campaigns and the mine ban treaty that 158 governments have joined. the new land mine use that we're seeing in 2010 and 2011, with countries outside of the mine ban treaty, gaddafi in libya, thousands, if not tens of thousands of land mines were laid across the country. israel refurbished etc. mine feel with anti-personnel mines. myanmar, burma, continues to use land mines. so it's an exception, though,

rather than the norm. the land mines are used by groups and a couple of governments who buck the trend but overall we believe that we're winning this battle against land mines because the vast majority of countries in the world have rejected it. >> it doesn't help that more are being produced all the time. monitors identify 12 producers of anti-personnel mines, many here in asia, including the likes of china, india, burma, singapore. how can governments be convinced to stop producing these? >> a considerable number stopped back in 1980 when the campaign was not even begun. we believed that land mines were being produced by 50 countries. that number has dwindled to a dozen, several in the asian-pacific -- asia region.

of that, only a handful are actively produce, india, pakistan, myanmar, and several of the countries that produce weapons have put an export moratorium or ban on exporting the weapon overseas. land mine production is a concern, including production by rebel groups who make mines from locally available material bus the mass produced, factory-made mines is becoming a thing of the past. it's still not completely ceased yet, though, especially in asia, a region where we need to do more work. >> you talked of the mine ban treaty, a total of 15 governments, about 0% of the world's nations have signed up to the treaty. it prohibits anti-personnel mines, require clearance as well and assistance to survivors. what can be done for the 20% of countries that haven't signed up to it? >> next week we're heading to cambodia for the mine ban

treaty. we are expect manage of the countries to join the treaty to be there. we know at least a dozen countries are still going to be at that meeting, talking about what steps they're taking to clear mines to assist victims and join the treaty. we know that finland and poland have parliamentary processes under way to yone the mine ban treaty next year and we understand that other countries are actively considering it. we talked about land mine use in libya earlier this year. it's important to note that the national transition council issued a pledge early on in the conflict stating they would not use land mines and any future government of libya should join the mine ban treaty. we see positive movement by a number of countries as well as in the united states where there is a policy review under way at the moment. we'll see many of those countries at the treaty meeting next week. but this is an ongoing process and we're making headway, though.

>> all right. we'll leave it there. thank you so much for your insight, mary wareham, the editor of "land mine monitor." another actor voicing his view of the brit herb press. >> that's right. britain's tabloid newspapers have been accused of acting like the maff -- mafia and bullying victims into silence. that was part of the evidence presented by actor and comedian steve kugan at a hearing here in london. >> he's a public performer who says he's not interested in fate, whose best known character is a bumbling reporter. he said he's lot count of the kiss and tell scenes. one involved the editor of "news of the world" who became

advisor to the prime minister. >> there was a girl who was going to speak to me on the phone, phone call would be recorded, and she would try to entice him to talk about intimate details of -- me to talk about intimate details of my life. >> he said it was time for britain to have privecy laws. >> -- privacy laws. >> in the interest of protecting public interest, that's why we need privacy laws, so genuine news is not affected. mary ellen field was accused of -- was affected by this muck raking. >> i said, you can't haul me in

here, tell me i've done somethinging and not tell me what i've tone. >> later it emerged that "news of the world" phone hacker had targetted el mcpherson but mary ellen field was sent for psychiatric treatment and made redun dan. newspaper reports affected one family so that their son committed suicide. >> just because a person died, their reputation shouldn't die with them. it shouldn't be besmirched at the will of some journalist. >> one other thing that exercises the inquery, the outspoken response from the mail on sunday to claims yesterday from actor hugh grant. they said the press needed to be careful about attacking witnesses who have given

evidence in good faith. >> in a ha -- nasa has unveiled its latest mission to search for signs of life on the red planet. the rover spacecraft is due to take off on saturday. >> for centuries people have wondered about life on mars. now nasa is launching its largest, most expensive mars rover mission ever to try to find the answer. nicknamed curiosity, the new rovers cost over $2 billion to design and build. it's as big as a car and nearly double the size of its predsosesestor. it will be embarking on one of nasa's most complex missions. after entering the martian at mo moss fear, it will deploy a parachute to slow it down, it will hover before slowly lowering the rover down. just before it lands, wheels will be deployed to allow tote

range over large distances. the rover will spend nearly two years on mars. it's armed with drills, lasers, and a range of scientific instruments to analyze rocks and soil. scientists are hoping the mission will tell them whether mars has or ever had what it takes to nurture some form of life. >> it's going to be a challenge to recognize it, even if it ends up being life like we know it here. it uses different materials, forms different structures, that's going to be a challenge. >> just getting to mars is a notoriously difficult journey. there have been many failures. russia's latest mars probe remains stuck in orbit around earth after its failed launch two weeks ago. but nasa has had much more success and if all goes well, the rover will reach mars next august. hopefully it will help 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 was used to try to put up a christmas tree in auckland. amazingly, the pilot escapes without serious jer and nobody on the ground was reportedly hurt. the footage shows the pilot slowly descending from about eight meters when the chopper's blades, i think we're going to see it again, when the chopper's blades got caught up in the cables attached to the scaffolding which would be in place of that christmas tree. the rear of the helicopter snaps and is toss about as the helicopter smashes into the gound. amazing stuff. >> a lucky escape. a lucky escape for newsday as well. >> don't go anywhere. we will most definitely be back. headlines on the way next.

stay with us. >> 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.