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>> and now "bbc world news." >> hello and welcome. >> the headlines -- syrian refugees accused of atrocities including the execution of children. >> we managed to cross the checkpoint. two of my brothers were detained. i managed to save one. they took one with them and killed him. >> shared concerns over iran's frozen nuclear program. president obama urges caution after the u.s. and israel holds key talks. >> hundreds protest against vladimir putin's reelection. prince harry jump ship. why the royal visit to the caribbean was not plain sailing. it destroyed in the afternoon here in singapore. >> it is 4:00 in the morning

here in london. welcome to "news day." people who have escaped from the syrian city of homs have given horrifying accounts to the bbc of atrocities committed there by the security forces. they accuse them of slobbering dozens of men, boys, and cutting the throat of prisoners. the claims cannot be independently confirmed. activists say thousands of people have fled homs, many from the baba amr district. our correspondent paul wood set this exclusive report from the outskirts of homs.

>> on the road out of homs, just part of the exodus from baba amr. they endured weeks under bombardment, then fled, panicked, before troops arrived. homeless, she shouts. why? people are terrified of what government forces will do now. this group walked for three days to avoid the soldiers. here's why. whoever is taken at a checkpoint will be killed, he says. they took our husbands, she cried. they took them at the checkpoint.

everyone shares the same fear, that their husbands are not coming back. for now, they're on their own with nothing. it's absolutely freezing here. they have spent a night in a house with no heat or electricity. more than that, they are wondering what on earth has happened to their father. this family say they witnessed the massacre. on friday, troops took 36 men and boys from one district, they say, killing them all. she shows me how her son's throat was cut. he was 12. the soldiers held people down with their boots, like her husband. they killed them like this.

their hands were tied. hiding 50 meters away, they could hear their screams. i begged my father not to open the door. he said, why? i have not done anything. i saw them pushing him to the ground and killing him. four men were taken from her house, she said. can such horror stories be true? these men defected from an elite army unit only last week. they told me that civilians were targeted, prisoners killed. the lieutenant davis the orders, he says. we were told, in this operation, shoot at anything that moves.

this soldiers on old man arrested. an officer pulled a gun to his head, he says. the officer said, this is for freedom. he shot him. he had not done anything. the people of baba amr say they are victims of a crime. the outside world -- briefly, they defied the regime. now, they are scattered, their uprising crushed. there is international outrage, but no agreement about how to bring this to an end. paul wood, bbc news, outside homs. >> a member of the syrian revolution general commission said it was difficult to authenticate information coming out of homs. >> sometimes, we get video recording that is smuggled out. people that are fleeing the town are telling us of stories of

field execution, where entire families are being -- standing in the middle of the town and they are being shot at, killed in front of everybody. also, what is very terrific, are the stories of rape that tare taking place in homs. females are being raped in front of their husbands and children, while they are only begging to maintain their children's lives. however, they kill the husbands, they kill the child in front of the wife, and they rape her. they take turns on raping her. these are stories that are being reported to us on a daily basis. >> what are you calling for? what is the next stage? >> i don't know what the next page is, except a godly intervention. if the united nations, if the your counsel, if the united states will not interfere, i don't know what can be done for the people in homs.

there out of water. they are out of electricity. they are out of food. >> there is the syrian revolution general commission. what are you advocating? what are you asking the international community to do? >> they are advocating an international effort -- intervention. we would like the army of the united nations to interfere. we would like an air attack or a no-fly zone. however, the syrian people are very capable of fighting their own battles, should they be just equipped with the right military equipment. they have no military equipment. they have nothing to fight with. >> i want to ask you, what would you say to the argument that the opposition are not well coordinated enough to be given some kind of military backing? they are not unified, and there are merely pockets of the resistance in these particular

heavy conflict zones, as a -- as opposed to a coordinated response. >> the opposition groups are very much on target. they may have different political views, however, they all have one mission, which is to topple the regime, to stop the killing of innocent people. any kind of support or help that can be offered to any opposition group would finally end in one unified mission, which is to stop the killing of innocent people in syria. >> eurostar has apologized to customers who have been stuck on trains for up to 11 hours because of line problems near paris. a cable fell onto the high speed line, causing some trains to be diverted to a slower line. some trains have been canceled in the morning. i spoke to someone who had an eight-hour train journey into london. >> we arrived at the station in

paris this evening to be told we should probably be on the 1813. we got on the train. we did not move for awhile. we did not have any announcements for about 20 minutes. and we were told we would be slightly delayed. we left an hour after. we were heavily delayed all the way through until we finally arrived almost six hours after we left paris. then we were held for 45 minutes before we were allowed to enter the tunnel. we arrived just under an hour ago. we finally made the way. >> from what i understand, you were chatting with your husband, who is in a wheelchair. >> yes. he is in a wheelchair. the staff for fantastic. they looked after as really well. they have limited resources. obviously, they are only there to cater to people for two and a quarter hours.

yeah, it is certainly not what we planned for our wedding anniversary. >> there has been a meeting of the white house between two important men. what happened? >> the israeli prime minister has told barack obama that israel must always remain the master of its fate. the president was discussing with netanyahu iran. they have differed on over the past on how to respond to iran's developing of nuclear weapons. >> the israeli prime minister heading for the white house, something he is headed for is war, as well. there are serious concerns about the military dimension to iran pose a nuclear program.

the two men put on a deliberate display of agreement, but the stress was real different. president obama said there was a window of opportunity for negotiations with iran. >> i say all options are at the table. i mean it. having said that, i know both the prime minister and i prefer to resolve this diplomatically. we understand the costs of any military action. i want to assure both the american people and the israeli people that we are in constant close consultation. >> benjamin netanyahu listened intently, nodding from time to time. his emphasis was on the president's acceptance that israel has the right to act. >> israel must have the ability always to defend itself by itself against any threat, and that when it comes to israel posed a security, israel has the right, the sovereign right, to make its own decisions.

>> the atmosphere of their last meeting was much worse. awkward, embarrassing, netanyahu lectured and uncomfortable obama on israel history. no one wanted to repeat that. there is a real difference in their approach to iran. the big divide is over america and israel's red line, what they will not tolerate. obama has said iran must not see a nuclear weapon. israel will -- israel is worried that when it has enough enriched uranium, the program will be unstoppable. that could happen this year. >> it is a huge difference. in that respect, israel is somewhat isolated in taking that position. the last few weeks have been more about, how does one restrain israel, then how does one restrain iran? >> american troops are practicing for action in somewhere similar to the strait of hormuz. the top brass is dead set against another war in a volatile our region.

they do not want another iraq or afghanistan. president obama hopes his warnings of the danger of bluster and the loose talk of war -- the last thing he needs is a messy conflict in a difficult region in an election year. bbc news, washington. >> 65 people have been killed after tropical storms struck the indian island -- indian ocean island of met a girl a scar -- madagascar. the storm has now hit mozambique, where at least one person has been killed. live from singapore in london -- and london. still to come, a record turnout in india pose a regional election. -- india's regional election. >> let's take a brief look at the stories making headlines. obama reassures netanyahu.

the u.s. president is trying to seize tensions between iran and israel, but as america will use all means to stop iran developing nuclear weapons. spain is on a collision course with the european commission. it comes after the prime minister said the government could fail to meet deficit targets and instead set his own goals. premier wing ching bow -- premier zhao -- jinbao makes an announcement. "the times" -- protests broke out after the providential election. there are calls for more anti christian protests.

>> i am in singapore. >> i am in london. the headlines for you. people in homs. >> president obama met with benjamin netanyahu at the white house to discuss concerns about iran. russian police have arrested hundreds of people who were taking part in protest in moscow and st. petersburg against the election of vladimir putin as president. he won 63% in the official poll. independent observers have criticized the election as unfair. our world affairs editor has more from moscow. >> the government had promised there would be no crack down tonight. when some people in the crowd refused to leave, the end -- at

the end of the demonstration, the police moved in in force. in the scrum on the right is the emerging leader of the protest movement. he was marched away by the police. otherwise, the demonstration had passed off entirely peacefully. moscow was the only place in russia which did not give vladimir putin 50% or more of the votes in this election. these people, mostly but not exclusively middle-class, are starting to click political musters. this is just the beginning, says the man in the march. this year will be very hot. before his arrest, i asked the leading figure in the protest if he was worried that people would get tired of demonstrating. >> there is no question of that.

people are fighting for their rights. >> the choice of pushkin square for the demonstration was deliberate. in the 1970's and 1980's, i used to come here to see very small numbers of dissidents making their protests against the prominent government. now, there are tens of thousands of people here in the square. here's the kind of thing that infuriated the crowd. this man is being accused of organizing buses yesterday to ferry people from one polling station to another to vote again and again. the man they presumably voted for was celebrating today with various stars who backed his campaign. he has claimed several times it was open and honest. >> it is quite clear. >> no, no. it was same time.

one very simple thing. everybody know that vladimir putin really -- >> 250 were all arrested. alexey navalny has now been released. it is going to be a long, drawn- out battle here. bbc news, moscow. >> votes are being counted for elections held in five states, including the largest state, where turnout was reported to be 60%, with 112 million voters. it is seen as a political bellwether for the next general election due in two years. the government has been under pressure over corruption and the economy. to tell us more about the election, our correspondent. when do we expect the initial results to be coming out?

>> we have already got some initial trends. four other states have been voting. it is not looking good for the federal congress party. they are currently placed in fourth place. that is no improvement from their position earlier. they staked a lot in these elections. they put in some of their top leaders. at the moment, they're doing quite poorly in the state. in punjab, a state they were hoping to regain, once again, it looks like they're slipping. they are losing ground to the main opposition party, which has been in power for the last five years. if this trend continues, it is going to be a bad few days for the congress party. these elections are seen very much as having a national impact.

>> what to do the results for the congress party-led the central government, what does it mean for them ahead of the vote in two years' time? >> basically, the next general area general elections early 2014. for the last nine months, the congress party has been under pressure because of a number of corruption scandals, because of a slowing-down of the economy, inflation has been a massive issue in these elections. some of the smaller parties have been piling on pressure on the congress government because a number of key decisions and programs have been put on hold. if these trends continue and congress does as poorly as expected, we can expect the pressure to continue, some people suggesting that maybe there will be forced to go to early elections, not wait until 2014. india might be looking at a

sooner general election. >> there was an effort to revive the congress party presents, but it looks like that did not really matter. >> yes. it just means that the amount of time the family spent in the state's -- he is the latest person to inherits the legacy. he is seen as a dissident leader, somebody steeped in indian politics. if these trends continue, certainly, there will be questions over his ability to lead the congress party. perhaps some people within the party even suggesting that maybe he could step aside and make way for his sister, who is seen as much more charismatic. >> thank you so much for that

update. >> emergency workers in the republic of congo say it is too dangerous to enter the capital after a series of devastating explosions on sunday. there could be hundreds of bodies buried in the rubble of surrounding buildings. more than 200 people were killed, and an emergency cabinet meeting has issued an appeal to -- for international help. >> the devastation of sunday's explosion is clear to see. people who had little have now been left homeless and completely destitute. this man says, we lost our mothers, we lost our children, and that hurts us too much. incredibly, those who -- are the lucky ones. the series of blasts at an arms depot killed more than 200

people. many more have been left badly injured by what the president has described as a tragic accident. the eu commissioner traveled to one hospital and described a dire and deteriorating situation. >> there is a potential impact on the population in the area. this hospital needs blood, needs additional doctors, nurses, to be able to cope. >> that is the situation for those who managed to escape. hundreds are still believed to be trapped under the rubble. help cannot come soon enough. >> unesco has arrived in northeast australia to investigate possible damage to the great barrier reef from coal

exports and oil and gas exploration. they're concerned though reef's safety could be jeopardized by an expanded shipping plan and mining operation. prince harry has hit choppy waters after a trip to the hamas to mark the queen's diamond jubilee. -- to the bahamas to mark the queen's diamond jubilee. the boat he was traveling in broke down. >> it was a small maritime mishaps that brought cavalrymen to harry on an unscheduled stop of his tour. when the defense force rescued him from the ship the breakdown, he was forced to join the media. he may have been left feeling a little nervous. crisis averted. he sped off to his next engagement. this is tiny harbor island,

where the prince was a big hit. he was met by a noisy array of well-wishers, all desperate to welcome the queen's grandson. on nassau, east by the picture of his grandmother and quipped, "i have seen that woman before." later, he joked about the hard work he was enduring on this stunning island. >> i will certainly be showing off about it to my brother and sister-in-law when i return home. >> it is clear that his first time representing the queen here has been a success. next stop, jamaica. bbc news. >> you have been watching "news day." >> a reminder of the main news. people who have escaped from homs have given horrifying accounts to bbc news.

thanks for watching. we will see you again soon. >> 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 use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global network 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.