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 taylored solutions in a wide range of industries -- tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news." >> hello and welcome. >> here are the headlines. >> australia's prime minister calls for a snap election for the labor leadership following the resignation of foreign minister kevin rud. >> for far too long we have seen squabbling within the labor party which has obscured

the government's achievements in what we are doing to build a stronger and fairer australia. >> a bloody week in the besieged syrian town of homs. 60 die on wednesday. two fornl journalists are among those killed. >> a rush hour train crashes into a station terminal in buenos aires. 49 people are killed. at least 600 more are injured. former president led not guilt to -- guilty to charges of alleged election rigging. >> it's 10g in the morning here in singapore. >> it's 2:00 a.m. in london. this is news day d. >> australia's prime minister

julia gillard has called a leadership election following the resignation of her foreign minister. kevin rudd stood down while on official business in washington. he told reporters he could no longer serve without the confidence ms. gillard and her senior ministers. she ousted rudd in 2010. >> this all takes place at 10:00 on monday morning, sydney time, and is expected to take about an hour or so, just over 100 votes to cast. but already the gloves have come off. we've had julia gillard supporters calling kevin incompetent, disloyal and dysfunctional. supporters for rudd has said she must go before the nex general election because she simply can't win it. rudd hasn't declared that he is standing in this election but already this morning the prime minister has been outlining what she thinks of it all. >> i have decided that at 10:00

a.m. monday morning a ballot for the labor leadership will be conducted. following kevin rudd's resignation yesterday, i have formed this view that we need a leadership ballot in order to settle this question once and for all. i believe it is in the interests of the labor party that it be determined once and for all. but much more importantly i believe it is in the interests of the australian nation. >> there's been speculation about this for months and months and months. would kevin rudd make a challenge against julia gillard or not? what's this all about? it's all about kevin himself who was ousted by the prime minister from the job of prime minister in june, 2010. and he's never got over it. he remains bitter and angry about that and he wants his job back. a short time ago mr. rudd spoke about his intentions. >> i am pleased and encouraged by the amount of positive support and encouragement of me to contest the leadership of

the australian labor party party. i have many more calls still to make. the overall argument to me is that they regard me as the best prospect to lead the australian labor party successfully to the next elections, to save the australian labor party at those elections and to save the country from the ravages of an avid government. >> the leadership contest is on monday. does gillard or rudd have the numbers? >> it's hard to say at the moment. i think julia gillard is the favorite. but it depends on the size of her victory and more importantly the size of kevin rudd's loss. if he is totally decimated to get the handful of votes, well then it's curtain for him and back to the back benches but if he gets in the 30's or 40's number of votes from his back bench m.p. supporters, then that's a different matter. he could still go back to the back benches but from there he could continue the sniping and still try to undermine julia gillard. this is all about kevin rudd

and the future of the labor party, the future of australia. so it's important that as for the numbers we won't know until mid morning on monday. >> that was duncan kennedy in sydney. the syrian government is facing international condemn nation. >> it is because for yet another day the syrian city of homs has come under sustained assault and this time two western journalists were among the victims. american-born marie colvin, a veteran war correspondent, and also the french photo journalist, remi ochlik. they were both killed when the building they were in was she'lled by syrian government forces -- shelled from syrian government forces. we begin our syria coverage. >> today's shelling of homs. relentless, indiscriminant.

it's been like this every day for almost three weeks. syria's regime is trying to crush the revolution. district of about a about a ama is holding out but only just. houses have been reduced to rubble. this was the base of the few foreign journalists here. many people died when the building was hit. among them marie colvin, one of the most respected war correspondents of her generation. speaking to the bbc yesterday, she described an attack on a city of cold and hungry civilians. >> it's absolutely sickening. i mean, just today shelling started at 6:30 in the morning. i counted 14 shells hitting just this civilian area within 30 seconds. there's a small clinic, you

can't really call it a clinic. it's an apartment. you have plastic bags hanging from coat hangers. i watched a little baby die today. absolutely horrific. just a 2-year-old, been hit. they stripped it and found the shrapnel had gone into the left chest and the doctor just said, i can't do anything. his little tummy just kept heaving until he died. that's happening over and over and over. no one here can understand how the international community can let this happen. >> the french photographer remi ochlik was also killed and the syrian video journalist ramial side. their deaths were a reminder that scores were dying every day. the white house spoke of shameless brutality in syria. such words are welcome in homs

but you must move quickly, begs this activist. the british photographer paul conroy was injured. there are efforts to get him out with a wounded french journalist. but the ferocious bombardment is making that difficult. international committee of the red cross has called for a humanitarian ceasefire. for all the victims of this conflict. >> international community has often seen -- seemed paralyze over sir yafment the demand for a ceasefire may well attack support from even those nations which back the regime. but with bombs continuing to fall on homs, the question, whether the syrian government is listening.

>> marie colvin was one of the world's most respected war correspondents. described as one of the most talented reporters of her generation. tributes have been pouring in from her colleagues who have remembered her courage, her humor and indeed her style. our middle east editor reports. >> marie colvin was a great foreign correspondent. she was devoted to reporting the news, to shining a light into the world's darkest corners. marie wanted her readers to know the truth. especially the truth that powerful people wanted to keep hidden. the middle east was her specialty. >> she believed she was a witness there to report things that other people couldn't do. and she believed in getting into places where people, no other people could go and she would stay there and report it and try and make a difference. >> marie colvin lost the sight of an eye covering the civil war in sri lanka in 2001.

the experience was traumatic but she went back to work. >> if you are going to cover a war, you always weigh the risks. i mean, i had shrapnel in my eye and lost the sight in my left eye. there was no way to go, you know, without taking that risk. >> her mother said marie was about to leave homs and she died doing what she loved. >> i know she did. i know she did. she was totally, totally committed to what she did. and the importance of, you know, telling the story and writing it and getting it out to the world, no matter what. that was her life. she told him that she was on a story that was important and she wanted to finish it and she would leave today. and that's really hard because it was just one day. >> marie was a generous colleague. in tripoli a year ago, colonel gaddafi's people asked us to nominate two reporters, to

interview him alongside her. >> hi, marie colvin, we've met before. nice to see you. >> she chose me and christian amenpour. >> marie spoke with the fierce urgency of right now. she was a warrior for the truth, she was on the front lines of getting the word out. and the word about the people who she was covering. that was the most important thing for her. >> on monday marie sent me an email from homs talking about the powerful piece she'd filed for the previous day's "sunday times." she wrote, yesterday's piece was one of those we got into journalism for. they're killing with impunity here. it is sickening and angermaking. >> members of the house have also seen the reports that the talented and respected foreign correspondent marie colvin has been killed from the bombing in syria. this is a desperately sad reminder of the risks that journalists take to inform the world of what is happening and

the dreadful events in syria and our thoughts should be with her family and with her friends. >> hear, hear. >> in her email to me, she had a chuckle about the way she was smuggled into syria. she wrote, it was kind of fun speeding across the fields on a dirt bike. as long as you didn't look left to the syrian post about 200 yards away. hope to see you soon. >> marie colvin. in the buenos aires, 49 people have been killed and at least 600 more injured after a commuter train cashed as it arrived into one of the city's busiest stations. an investigation is now under way to try to establish the exact cause of the incident. >> train arrived at rush hour, packed with commuters. as these pictures show, it was unable to stop before smashing into the buffers. the second carriage crunched through the first. the authorities said -- then approached at normal speed but

at the last minute was unable to slow down. >> people start to break the windows and get out however they could. then i saw the engine destroyed and the train driver trapped amongst some steel. there were at love people hurt. a lot of kids, elderly. >> transport officials are trying to work out what caused the crash. they say it may have been break failure. they're not ruling out driver error. the man at the controls was young and had just started his shift. he was seriously injured and an investigation is under way. for rescue workers, getting to those trapped alive was the priority. hundreds were injured. many of them were examined by medical staff at the scene to check for whiplash and possible broken bones. nearby the main national cathedral, mourners gathered to pray. the archbishop described the

incident as senseless and inexplicable. whatever the cause it has shocked the local community. one now seeking answers to the country's worst rail disaster in more than 30 years. >> you're watching "newsday" on the bbc. still to come on the program, denying any wrongdoing. the former president of the philippines pleads not guilty to charges of electoral fraud. >> and on the frontline in so malyafment how the conflict has shifted from the capital to the surrounding countryside. >> now it's time for a newspaper review. let's look at some of the stories that are making headlines around the world. we'll begin with the "times which "-- "times" which pays tribute to one of its own. marie colvin, who has been killed in syria. the times says she paid the price of truth when she was

killed there. the paper accuses the syrian army of deliberately targeting her and her colleagues. the french newspaper reports on the gestures coursing through the effort to restructure greece's massive debts and the danger that poses the success of the country's second bailout. the royal bank of scotland salary scheme is on the front page of "the financial times" which claims the bank's efforts to cut bonuses, that it's been offset by the increase in the pay of its investment bankers and what's in a name? reporting on the intense firing dispute between american technology giant apple and a technology over who owns the rights of the name of the famous ipad. >> this is "newsday" on bbc. >> these are the headlines. the us a craletralian prime minister has called a ballot

for governing labor party to settle a question over its leadership. in syria the intense bombardment of civilian areas continues, two foreign journalists are among the dead. >> the former philippine president, gloria arroyo has appeared in court where she has pleaded not guilty to alleged election rigging. she was the country's president for almost a decade until he her term ended in 2010. she was arrested last november shortly after she attempted to leave the philippines for medical treatment. our correspondent is at the courthouse in manila. she told me the former president's court appearance was brief. >> really this is only the very beginning because this is likely to take several years prove sess. trials in the philippines take a very, very long time. and her predecessor was also on trial after he left office. and that took six years. so she's probably getting very used to this building.

>> and according to the court, the trial will begin on the 19th of april. what rleal analysts telling you? how long do you think will this whole trial procedure last? >> it's anybody's guess, to be honest. some experts are saying it's likely to take at least several years. mrs. arroyo has some very good lawyers, in fact she's got the same lawyers that her predecessor has so they've got a lot of experience at this sort of thing. and trials anyway in the philippines take a long time. the supreme court justice is being tried in the senate at the moment. there's another trial happening in the philippines and that's taken several years and not got anywhere yet. that's going to take another couple of years. so this is likely to be the beginning of a very, very long process. >> indeed, a very long process. you have the trial of the former president, arroyo.

you also have the impeachment trial at the senate of the supreme court justice and this is all part of the president's anticorruption campaign. >> it is, exactly. i mean, there's nobody probably more significant than the president himself. he really wanted to see this day, to see gloria arroyo in court. to face the charges against her. at the moment she's been charged with electoral fraud. there are a lot of other accusations against her but the only thing that's season -- she's been charged with at the moment is electoral fraud. it's no secret that there's no love lost between the president and gloria arroyo. so he's definitely going to be pushing for this trial to go all the way and to make sure that she really is investigated properly for what happened during her 9 1/2-year term in office. >> and that was in manila. in other news, norgsers from the united states and north korea are due to meet later on

thursday for talks about the north nuclear program. the talks in beijing are the first since the country's new leader came to power in december. the long-term aim is to restart six-nation talks on disarmament which north korea abandoned in 2009. the world ocean summit is under way right here in singapore and over the next few days more than 200 global leaders from government and business to international organizations and n.g.o.'s will be debating how to use the ocean's richest in a more sustainable manner. for more on this issue we're joining singapore. we are talking to the chief executive officer of the world's largest international organization dedicated to protecting the world's oceans. thank you so much for joining us. first off, please tell us, how serious is this problem of overfishing? >> it's serious. we have seen in the world a decline in the catch.

you see -- add up the weight of all the fish caught in the world, it grew year over year over year up until the late 1980's and then it began to decline and we're on that downward path very sadly right now. >> what has caused this? >> overfishing is a good summary word. taking too much fean out -- too many fish out of the ocean. can you think of the ocean as aback -- you can think of the ocean as a bank account. >> withdrawing too much. >> you're either living off your interest or burning off your capital. >> living beyond your means. is there a way of eating wild seafood sustainably? >> indeed. we believe that this is something we it turn around. and that by rebuilding the capital in the oceans, getting more fish in the oceans, we could be eating sustainably at current levels and even at higher levels than we're seeing right now. so we need -- we can take some steps to do that. we need to have scientific quotas, we need to protect nursery hand at that time and reduce bicatch. >> what about the average consumer like you and me?

what can we do as individuals to personally contribute to the sustainability of the wildlife seafood? >> two things. learn about which fish are abundant and which are depleted so when you're ordering your delicious fish dinner with the chardonnay and everything on the side, that you're eating a fish that's in abundance and can you get that information online from a number of sources. and it's good for people to do that. but also you should let your policymakers know, the people who set the quotas, the people who protect the nursery habitat, that they need to do a better job. >> and indeed you are in singapore talking to business leaders, n.g.o.'s, basically policymakers. what will you be telling them tomorrow during your talk and how we should deal with this problem? >> i'm bringing a message that's half part negative and half positive. i'm saying we're headed toward a plan wet nine billion people by the middle of the century.

we have to feed all those people. ocean, wild fish need to be a big part of how we feed people in the middle of the century and we need to turn around this collapse and we need to rebuild our ocean stocks and make sure there's food for billions of people, it's healthy and abundant from the oceans. we can do, that we got to get our policymakers to set scientific quotas, got to protect nursery habitat. we got to stop overfishing. >> has to start now. it should have maybe started yesterday. the c.e.o. of ociana. thank you for joining us. a key victory for pro-government forces in southwestern somalia. >> that's right. the city, that is a major strong hold of the militant islamist group although had has come under somali government control without a single shot being fired. they in response have said they're going to start a guerrilla war after the loss of its base there. meanwhile the u.n. security council has voted to increase african peace keeping forces

from 12,000 to just under 18,000. the frontline of the country's conflict, that has shifted from the capital mogadishu to the surrounding countryside as we discovered. >> is this the moment that a ruined city is brought back to life? this was us in mogadishu in the bad, old days. a battle around every corner. today it's transformed. whistles instead of gunfire. the sound of building and money. the islamist militants who held half this city for years have been driven out. >> now everything's good. >> comfortable life. >> so you're optimistic now? >> yes, yes. >> a politician takes a stroll,

unthinkable a few months ago. but almost everything needs fixing here. and on the outside world. >> no running water, no electricity, no schools. what we expect from london is a real plan to reconstruct the city. >> you want money? money? >> of course. >> how much? >> money, billions. billions. >> but somalia's long wars are not over. the front lines have simply shifted outside mogadishu. these african union and somali government troops are now launching new offenses against the militant group al-shabab. >> it's getting easier, of course now we are moving out in the open ground. in the open ground they cannot match us. we have more fire power than al-shabab. >> and so more families are on the move. what you see coming down the road behind us heading into mogadishu, a convoys, thousands

of trucks and vehicles carrying civilians who are fleeing what they fear is an imminent offensive against al-shabab. >> somalis have been running like this for 20 years. it's very hard back there, he says. no food. we're afraid of al-shabab. some of those fleeing are getting outside aid now. the turkish are here in force and urging other nations to step up. >> there's nothing to be scared here. when you come with good feelings and when you want to do something for these people, they're ready to work. so i want all the members of the international community to come. >> needs are still staggering. thousands of families waiting for aid. this city may be calmer now, a safe haven. but the politics remain

chaotic. rival clans vying for power across somalia. two decades of anarchy cannot be wished away. >> you've been watching "newsday" from the bbc. >> our main news, the australian prime minister has called a snap election for their leadership of the labor party to end a damaging split that will take place on monday morning, australia time. >> that's it from us for the moment. we're back in a few minutes with "asia business report." bye-bye. >> 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. >> 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. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.

>> susie: a rough quarter for hewlett-packard's new c.e.o. earnings beat expectations, but sales slip and the tech giant's turnaround still has a long way