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>> and now "bbc world news". >> hello and welcome. now the headlines. america." homs and are of the heaviest bombing. >> the one thing you hear is they feel abandoned by the outside world. >> the england manager quits after a row with the football association over his trace of capt.. maryam in the maldives after the president is forced to step down. police clashed with his supporters. inflation in china rises slightly breaching 4.5%. it is 12 noon in singapore.

>> 4:00 a.m. in london, broadcasting to viewers in america on pbs and around the world. this is "mewsnewsday". >> in the past few hours the un secretary general ban ki-moon has condemned what he calls the appalling brutality in the syrian city. for five days now government forces have been shelling the city. opposition activists say the assault was the heaviest bombardment so far. the latest attack came a day after president assad show the russian foreign minister he was ready for dialogue. a homs, they're experiencing different reality. we spent several days inside the besieged city.

>> it began at dawn. for a fifth day, the city was under bombardment. some said it was the worst day of shelling. syrians roamed menacing. people are afraid the regime is intending a final push to crush the uprising. the casualties are mounting. but undoubtedly, most are civilians. they have put their hopes in a u.n. resolution but has been vetoed by russia and china. they are bitter about that. >> they got in his house.

is that wha tht the un has waited for, until they kill the children and the woman? >> homs is shattered and terrified after punishing days of this. hundreds of shells and mortar bombs have been fired at this place. amid the grief and the panic the one thing you hear over and over again from people is they feel abandoned by the outside world. they have not been out to play since the uprising began. their mothers in despair. prexy outside world will not help this, she says. god vengeance will come down on

the syrian president. the kalashnikovs of the free syrian army can do little against tanks. they hope the regime's forces will crumble from the inside. the syrian armies morale has collapsed. says an officer who defected. they know they're killing civilians and they want this bloodbath to stop. as the bodies pile up, the prevailing mood here is one of despair. people feel trapped and they believe no one is coming to help. >> paul has left homs and is now in beirut. he describes how the people of homs have been dealing with the shelling by government forces. >> there is very little escape

rate we manage to slip out last night during a pause in the bombardment. nice to get out of syria this evening. last night more the only people to get out and i saw on the way in medical supplies and blood donated by people in the villages around homs which was held up, the could not get it in. people who are in homs, the people we stayed with said this was the worst bombardment they had experienced. that must have been pretty heavy because we -- hundreds of mortar or shelling every day. >> you mentioned the blood. i was going to talk to about whether the emergency services were even able to operate inside the city. a half ha -- and controlled by the government? >> what you have in places like

the neighborhood we were staying in is a few very small, very ill-equipped field hospitals with very brave and very committed doctors but who are immensely over-stretched. with dozens of casualties this morning and in addition to the tens of dead. we heard figures over when -- 5100. people are tired and there are complicated surgery. we have heard some horrific injuries caused by artillery exploding. heating homes with civilians in including young children. often these people are stabilized and requiring complicated surgery which is not available. >> members of the free syrian army with their kalashnikovs. i'm wondering if you're able to get an idea if there was any justification for the syrian government, what they're saying. they are facing an armed uprising of armed terrorists. >> you hear two things from the

syrian government. the first of which is there is no attack on homs or parts of homs. they're telling people to do things like telling people to light fires on their roofs. we saw them coming in. the other argument is there are armed gangs and they have to restore order. the argument in reply to that from the free syrian army is that they are defending their people. the government finds it hard to target them so engages in some collective punishment, shelling wide areas of homs. certainly we saw civilians bearing the brunt and damage over a wide area. >> the england football manager fabio capelli has resigned.

he had been in dispute after they removed john terry as the england captain without consulting him first. fabio capelli publicly criticized the decision on john terry who is facing charges of racially viewing -- abusing a player. >> his face betrayed no emotion, fabio capelli is driven away from wembley having shocked football by resigning as england manager. four years earlier his arrival felt very different. he was supposed to be the no- nonsense italian who would sort out the country's underperforming stores. instead fabio capelli he leaves -- leaves. here is why. an exchange between qpr and john terry. this trial has been adjourned until july but david bernstein

decided to strip him of the captain's sea now. >> this decision has been taken due to the high profile nature of the captain's c on and off the pitch and additional demands and requirements. >> fabio capello wasted little time in expressing his views. telling italian television -- >> i did not agree at all with the decision. civil justice, not sports justice will rule whether john terry committed the crime he is accused of. i think is right that john terry should keep the captain's armband. >> today following an hourlong meeting at wembley, bernstein issue the following statement. i would like to stress that during today's meeting at her out his time as england manager, fabio capello has conducted himself in an extremely professional manner. we have accepted his resignation agree this is the right

decision. we would like to thank fabio for his work and wish him every success in the future. >> it was dignified, and in the end, there was a handshake and fabio moves and the fa have to move on quickly. they have a game in three weeks. >> early optimism for england at the word -- world cup quickly evaporated with tensions running high as tensions mounted. it was the single story in the end. defeat against germany and the second round prompting calls for him to resign then. he stayed but only because the fa could not afford to pay him off. english football has made little progress on the -- under fabio capello. he has been paid almost 24 million pounds, a staggering amount which will lead to fresh questions about the way the football association has been run.

>> with the john terry issue, fabio capello wanted to make the stand and the football association was to make a stand and they could not agree. fabio capello has decided to resign. havepose the fa's going to to make a decision on who is next. fabio capello has a reputation as a man who enjoys the finer things of life with an appreciation of higher culture. he is not the first manager to fall afoul of the culture of the english game. david bond, abc news. >> now to the indian ocean where the maldives are being rocked by political turmoil. >> that is right. skulls have broken out between police and supporters of the former president who was forced to step down earlier this week. mohamad nasheed was the first democratically elected president. the u.s. said it would be

sending a senior envoy this weekend. we are in the capital and filed this report. >> at the start of this week he was vice-president of the maldives. he was looking very pleased with himself as he arrived for his first news conference in just the have not got his job in a coup. >> do i look like someone who would bring about a could fatah? i think this is an unfair statement. >> the man who used to be his boss thinks it is unfair. some are treating him as a hero. he city was forced to resign at gunpoint. >> it was a coup. illegal and the government is illegal. in the streets frustration

turned to a banker. >> scuffles have broken out. attacking police officers along the route. suddenly the tension has risen. this is the beginning of trouble. >> the former president was arrested and injured. he says they were targeting him and other senior figures. soldiers and police in riot gear sealed off much of the city center. in the main hospital, we found one of the former president closely -- barely conscious. >> this guy must -- [unintelligible] >> they said they would kill you. >> yes. >> the new government said it is the old one that is responsible. accusing it of mounting an insurgency. the future of democracy in the

maldives is suddenly looking shaky. >> you are atchin watching "new. russian scientists find a leak buried under an the antarctic. -- a lake buried under the antarctic. making his messages across the russian capital. time now for an international news pay-per-view. england expects said "the times" -- the links to the speculation that the englishmen harry bregmredknapp would become [unintelligible] the u.s. is a thing like the

bull in a child -- in a china shop. prince harry is going to return to the front line in afghanistan as the co-pilot of an apache helicopter. china daily focuses on the visit to beijing by stephen harper in which both countries signed off on a series of trade, energy, and investment agreements. this is "newsday". >> these are the headlines. the opposition activists say government forces have mounted their heaviest bombardment so far. the english football manager has resigned. fabio capello quit after route with -- a row with fa over the

stress of capt. inflation has an edge up again in china. figures show prices rising 4.5% compared to the same month last year. that is higher than the rate in december which was 4.1%. the jump is the result of chinese new year because traders tend to push prices higher in the week before the festivity. our correspondents says strong efforts have been made to control the cost of living. >> the chinese government has been working hard over the last year were so to get inflation down. they reached high in the middle of last year and the chinese government introduced all kinds of measures to bring that down and curb soaring housing prices. it restricted the amount that banks could land in an effort to bring inflation down. the governments across the world do not like inflation. it reduces the amount of money they earn and their purchasing

power. the chinese government has got a grip on inflation that these figures for january regardless of the fact it might have been because of the chinese a year. they have not quite tamed and the beast just that. >> the biggest state election in the world is under way in india. the state is home to around 200 million people. the election will take place in five stages. the results could have wider implications either reenergize in the congress party or giving the party of the current chief minister the chance to bring -- play a bigger role on the national stage. to tell us more about the vote, i am joined by our guest, senior fellow at the observer research foundation think tyktank in new delhi. there is traditionally a low turnout. what would it take for people to go to the polls and vote?

>> ester de are the first phase of the election. the turnout has been over 52%. the real figures are yet to come out but all media reports suggest it is over 52% which proves people [unintelligible] democratic processes an institution which is great news. the second thing of yesterday's polling is there is a close contest between the political parties. in my understanding, there is a large contest with the ruling [unintelligible] and the former chief minister

and the congress and the part y conducting very close fights. >> it is a very important election for all the parties involved. whoever wins this election, what will this mean particularly for the congress party and their political standing by in parliament and in the country. >> undoubtedly this is a crucial election. because congress -- [unintelligible] has been facing a lot of problems in 2011. and now if the message goes that congress is reemerging as it did

in 2009 general elections, when it went down [unintelligible] and repeats the performance of 2009, and beat predictions that it will remain in 22 assembly seats is going to be a very clear message that congress is well in command and has not lost its touch with the people. with this being the biggest state sending a member parliament [unintelligible] in delhi, the upa coalition will be able to [unintelligible] and economic reforms that are

needed. >> thank you very much. we will have to leave it there. thank you for joining us. he is a senior fellow at the observer research foundation think tank in new delhi. russian scientists have been drilling for two decades in the antarctic. tell us more. >> they have been drilling there too late for kilometers under the antarctic ice -- there for a lake four kilometers under the ice. >> there are more than 300 sub- glacial lakes. most have not frozen due to heat at the center of the earth. the russians have had to pierce through 3,000 meters a vice. now the scientists say they have made a breakthrough. reaching a lake six times the size of luxembourg.

>> we do not know what the climate was all that time ago. what sort of bacteria existed then. how the genesis of life was happening. the answers could be there. >> the scientists said they cannot take samples immediately. there is a risk they would be contaminated by the chemicals they use to drill. that is precisely the reason why in burma analysts are skeptical. >> this set of risks which can damage the sleek and some of them connected with the lake -- other stuff can get into this lake. >> the russians say they are the first to reach any of the lakes beating off competition from british scientists. it could take months for the russians to get their samples back from the laboratory. this is the only -- the only way

to transport them to russia is by boat. quex a mysterious 28-year-old street artist is being held by some as the russian [unintelligible] there are more complicated works that use fire and videos set to protest music. he protected his identity and calls himself pavel 183. he agreed to a secret meeting. >> it was a visit to an art gallery and like no other. a hike past abandoned trains and across rarely use railway tracks. what we found there among the spray-painted graffiti tags was work of a much higher quality. the artist is a kind of russian -- and chooses to remain anonymous calling himself pavel

183 . he progressed to what he called street art. >> graffiti ought to exist only on trains. we see everywhere is 40. street art is more interesting because it opens up more techniques than just putting on the wall. ♪ pavel 183 photographs his installations because most are transient. he often works with what he finds, filming himself as he goes. in this case, using abandoned concrete slabs to create a giant versions of one of russia's

favorite chocolate bars. simple, veryart is accessible. you start to think about it. it is very beautiful. it has its own unique atmosphere. at this time of political discontent, pavel 183's work reflects the mood of defiance. he is anti-putin but his work is about a deeper problems in society, he said. abc news, moscow. >> you have been watching "newsday". >> a brief reminder of that is. in homs, government forces have had their heaviest bombardment. 50 people killed on wednesday. far from tanks and mortar, artillery, and heavy machine guns. thanks for much indeed for your

company. goodbye. >> make sense of international news. 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. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key, strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries.

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