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>> and now "bbc world news." >> welcome to "newsday" on the bbc. the headline this is hour. standing shoulder to shoulder, presidents obama and david cameron reaffirmed transatlantic ties and determination to stay the course in afghanistan. >> we want afghanistan to be able to look after its own security with its own security forces so we are safe at home. >> president obama warns iran that time is running out to find a diplomatic solution over its nuclear ambitions. >> the window for solving this issue diplomatically is shrinking. >> 28 dead, 22 of them children. as the probe into switzerland's tragic coach crash gets underway, family and friend of the victims express their

relieve. >> we don't know what's happening with the children. the older children have broken legs and arms. and our teacher and monitor, they are dead. >> one year after the start of syria's uprising, government troops renew their deadly crackdown against rebels. it's 9:00 578 here -- 9:00 a.m. in singapore. >> and 1:00 a.m. in london, broadcasting to viewers on pbs here in london and around the world, this is "news day." ♪ >> hello and welcome. president obama and the british prime minister david cameron have said that the international mission in afghanistan is making real progress. mr. obama said they remained committed to a plan to transfer full responsibility of security to afghan courses in two years' time. more details from our political

editor nick robinson. ♪ >> what will this president do to make his british guests feel at home? what happened today seemed to be almost nothing. the morning before the game and the night before the game david cameron was welcomed by a 19-gun salute, thousands of guests on the white house lawn and cheering english and american school children. the two leaders joked about the fact that 200 years ago visiting brits had tried to burn the white house to the ground. and the president even tried to speak english just like the english do. >> david, we are chopped at the bit that you are here and i'm looking forward to a great nadder. i'm confident together we'll keep the relationship between our two great nations absolutely topnotch.

>> call it special, call it essential, call it what you'd like, that relationship is, according to barack obama, the strongest ever, and its backbone, he said, is the military. this is a relationship between two countries, between two leaders, forged by wars, past, present, and with israel, considering military action against iran, perhaps future, too. today's talks in the oval office may have produced few new announcements but beneath the smiles, what these two leaders discussed could scaresly matter more. first, how to bring the afghan war to a close. starting next year, afghan troops will take the lead combat role, allowing more british and american troops to come home. >> we want caffingh -- afghanistan to be able to look after its own security with its own security forces so we are

safe at home. that's the key. >> we've been there 10 years and people get weary and note friends and neighbors who have lost loved ones as a consequence of war. no one wants war. >> maybe. but the two friends confirmed they examined military options to removing syria's president assad. for now, though, they're counting on pressure to bring him down. >> of course yours teams all the time, as i put it kick the tires, push the system, ask the difficult questions, what are the options, what are the things we can do and it's right we do that. it's not without its difficulties and complications as everyone knows, so the focus is transition and all the things we can do to bring that pressure to bear. >> finally, iran, whose nuclear program must, as the president said, must be stopped, not merely contained but he said time was running out. >> because we have employed so many of the options that are

available to us to persuade iran to take a different course, that the window for solving this issue diplomatically is shrinking. >> it is a dawning agenda for two countries which barack obama says stand together, work together, and bleed together. this is a visit memorable for its images, for its warmth, for munching hot dogs at the basketball. but what will matter much more are the decisions taken here about how to end one war and the possibility of one, if not two more. nick robinson, bbc news, washington. >> well, let's get the very latest from washington. we can talk to our correspondent, jonathan blake. jonathan, the dinner is taking place. it's a very, very lavish affair. >> yes, it certainly is. the obamas have rolled out the

red carpet in a way we haven't seen for some time, really, to welcome david cameron and his wife, samantha, to the united states. and it's really been striking to see just how far they've gone to make them feel at home. as you heard in that report there. and tonight state dinner really is a culmination of their time in washington. tomorrow they will leave for new york and they're surrounded by not only the great and the good of politics here in washington, but also high profile business leaders and several celebrities sitting down for dinner with the obamas and the camerons tonight, notably among them, george clooney, sir richard branson, sir jonathan ives, the designer of so many famous apple products. and also performing tonight to entertain those at the dinner will be the british folk band mumford and sons and also john legend. the whole evening has been designed to be a fusion of the best of american and british culture and we've seen that reflected in the menu provided to us as an interesting detail. the main dish will be bison

wellington, so an american spin on a british classic. >> there with, of course, a serious element to all of this. there are strong words on afghanistan and time running out for iran. >> that's right. at the news conference in the white house garden early on today we saw president obama and prime minister david cameron united in their message on those three big international issues which have dominated the talks the two leaders have held during this visit. on afghanistan we heard for the first time some clarity on u.s. and british forces moving to an assistance role next year ahead of their withdrawal in 2014. also, on iran, mr. obama said that the time was running out to resolve the issue peacefully. and on syria, we heard president obama urging caution, saying that the consequences of military action should always be considered but in his words, the american military plan for everything.

>> jonathan in washington, thanks very much. we can actually bring you the latest pictures from washington of that dinner that jonathan was describing, the meal, the bison wellington, of course, and the arrival to the state dinner for the actual meal. we can see president obama and the british prime minister david cameron now. and of course, the wives, the first lady michelle obama. and everybody watching what she is wearing because she's obviously incredibly influential in terms of american fashion. she's wearing a gown by giorgina chapman and jewelry but john benz and samantha wearing a address by alexander a reich. the american selleder accused of killing 16 afghan civilians has been flown out of afghanistan and there are reports he's been flown to kuwait and legal proceedings will now go against him outside

of afghanistan. nine of those victims were children. a member of the nato led forces in afghanistan has been injured in an incident involving a vehicle in a visit by the u.s. secretary of defense, leon panetta and it was reported the vehicle was driven on the main base of the bastion at the helmand province. the rating agency put the triple rating on the negative outlook and warns it could downgrade the u.k. in the next few years if the government does not contain the level of public debt, a credit rating in theory determines a country's borrowing costs. the american investment bank goldman sachs is doing its best to refute claims by a former manager that its working environment is toxic and destructive. greg smith who headed goldman's equities derivative business in europe said it was common to

hear markets talk about ripping off their muppet clients. the international criminal court at the hague found the congress lease -- congolese warlord guilty of using child soldiers in 2002-2003. it's the court's first verdict since it was set up 10 years ago. he'll be sentenced at a later hearing. you've got details of the tragic coach crash in switzerland. >> that's right. swiss prosecutors investigating wednesday's coach crash in the tunnel in the alps which killed 28 people, have said there is no evidence the driver was speeding. 22 of the dead were school children from belgium and the netherlands who were on their way home after a skiing holiday. 24 others were injured. the coach crashed into a wall in the road tunnel near sierra. from there, christian frazier has more. >> they worked long through the

night, searching for the survivors in cramped and traumatic conditions. embedded in the tunnel wall, the coach, filled with 11 and 12-year-old children, those who could had already climbed out of the wreckage but many of their friends were still trapped inside. over 200 emergency workers were called to the scene. there were 12 ambulances and eight helicopters that ferried the injured to hospitals. this pilot helped to fly out the most seriously hurt. he's a seasoned, hardened professional and struggling to come to terms with what he saw. >> when we saw the first patient coming out, this was the first horrific moment for us. then you could imagine how it would look inside the tunnel. >> the full horror of the accident was written in the wreckage they removed this morning, so violently impacted

the front 1/3 of the coach was ripped apart. in all, 28 people died, including 22 children, and both drivers. this is the opposite side of the tunnel that we drove through today. the coach hit the right hand wall before it collided head on with a concrete pillar that forms part of the emergency exit. it's unlikely driver fatigue will be to blame for the accident since the school party was just over an hour into their return journey. the weather and driving conditions were good, much as they are today. but in this tunnel, there is a steep curve which if you hit at speed would certainly throw the steering wheel and that scenario will form part of the investigation which is now underway. the victims were from the villages of lommel in planters and the children were from st.

lambertus primary. tharntse were still learning of the accident and some had confirmation their children survived but others left for switzerland without any news at all. >> we have 24 children here in our school, eight children we don't know what is happening with them. the older children have broken legs and arms. and our teacher and our monitor, they are dead. >> tonight, the families arrived at the hospitals where 24 children are still being treated. the belgian prime minister who also traveled said no words could define the pain the parents must be feeling and he's declared a day of remembrance for the whole country. in the church of st. pete in heverlee tonight the priest could offer little comfort. god bless us, he asked the congregation. it is a small community that

grieves but it is a nation that mourns with them. >> sierra, switzerland, bbc news. >> the state control media broadcast an election message by the pro democracy leader su-chi. they're allowing them to have brief slots on radio and television to promote the agenda and calls it freedom and an end to a independent judiciary. [speaking in foreign language] >> what do we do to ensure rule of law? we have to repeal immediately some of the oppressive laws not in accordance with the times and enact laws that protect the people. we have to ensure the judicial system is independent, full media freedom must be given. >> you're watching "news day" from the bbc live from

singapore and london. still to come on the program, stealing the spotlight, michelle obama and samantha cameron wow the crowds in washington. >> now some news from around the u.k., unemployment has risen to 2.67 million. official figures showed the number of people out of work went up by 28,000 between november and january. but the government says there are signs of improvement as it was the lowest increase in almost a year. hundreds of ex-service men allegedly made ill by nuclear weapons tests in the 1950's have lost a supreme court bid to be allowed to seek compensation. the court ruled it was too long since the illnesses, including cancer, had emerged but the claims against the m.o.d. to go ahead. although the judgment blocks most of the claims, a certain number can still proceed after an earlier legal ruling. three new cities have been announced to mark the queen's diamond jubilee. the winners out of 25 competitors, chanceford, perth

and st. assets which pair a population of 3.5 thousand and is home of the music festival launched in the 1970's. >> i'm in singapore. >> and in london, the headline this is hour. at a meeting in washington, president obama and david cameron have reaaffirmed their determination to stay the course in afghanistan. >> meanwhile, president obama has warned iran that time is running out to find a diplomatic solution over its nuclear ambitions. >> let's get more on that state dinner happening at the white house. joining us in the studio is dr. patrick bashon, president of the democracy institute, a washington based independent policy research organization. thanks for coming on to the bbc "newsday." we've seen lots and lots of

smiles but in theory, both of these men, president obama and the british prime minister are on completely different spectrums. >> you have a liberal and a conservative in the european sense and yet it's in their mutual self-interests to be buddy-buddy during this trip. president obama gets the plus of having a popular foreign leader who will happily trail him around and swing electoral states like ohio and prime minister cameron having a tough time at home gets to play the statesman and fly on air force i. it's lots of fun and lots of great pictures and obviously the optics, the visuals are great, the wives looking great, coming over great. >> this all sounds very great but if we were to be a fly on the wall, what do you think we would or wouldn't be hearing? >> i think we'll be hearing a lot more disagreement than the apparent, from the news reports. they completely disagree on economic policy. they have done for some time.

they disagree on the falklands and think there's more disagreement on afghanistan than has been suggested. and the most pressing issue in which the disagreement is on is what happens about an israeli strike if it happens against iran. president obama opposes that but electorally he'll have to support israel. prime minister cameron is in a different position and therefore he has far more flexibility in terms of whether he can sort of speak his heart and his mind on those issues. >> and of course discussions on afghanistan saying it's time now for the afghan army to take more control so the coalition can come out. it's a very difficult time. >> it's very delicate. i think prime minister cameron has a valid point. his concern is obama is so keen to get out quickly, or at least quickly now from this point on that british troops do risk being left exposed. and that is obviously both dangerous to the military but from prime minister cameron's point of view, dangerous to him

politically as well. >> and of course we're in a presidential election year. we've got the republicans searching for a nominee. what kind of a relationship do you think david cameron has or hasn't? >> the problem for david cameron is he doesn't have a relationship. on this trip, he is consciously snubbed the republicans, particularly mitt romney who will certainly be the republican nominee and quite applauseably could be the next president. it's very short term of cameron's strategy of exploiting his relationship with president obama because if mitt romney wins, it's going -- he's going to have to do some fancy footwork, cameron is, to sort of get back on side with someone ideologically you would assume would be in concert with and his party and the republican party in the states has very long historical sides. >> from a p.r. perspective, it's been an incredible, really good visit. >> big success. i think politically for cameron, short-term gain. in terms of diplomacy with

america, whether there will be medium to long-term pain. >> very good to talk to you to share those thoughts with you on what has been a successful visit so far. thank you very much. now campaigners around the world will on thursday mark one year of violence in syria by calling on russia to back united nations security council action to end the crisis. a coalition of 200 n.g.o.'s are demanding the u.n. security council immediately unite and pass a resolution calling on the syrian government to stop the indiscriminate shelling of civilian neighborhoods and other violations of international law. well, the human rights watch is one of the organizations calling for these changes and we're joined by their spokesperson on the phone from baltimore. a year on. let's just talk about the situation a year on in syria. what do you make of it now? >> well, it's pretty bad. after the fall of homs a couple of weeks ago, the syrian

security forces turned our attention to another opposition strong hold, the city of idlib. and just in the last four days, there has been a relentless assault on the city with machine guns, tanks, mortars, firing indiscriminately in civilian areas. we have spoken to syrian activists who have lists of 114 killed just in the last four days, reports of hospitals overflowing, and forces recently just in the last hours entered the city, and as they did so, they detained people, going house to house. they burnt down houses of known opposition activists. so it's a repeat really of what's been happening and what actually continues to happen in homs because there's resistance there still, a lot of violence. so the situation is really very, very bad and it's not just in these cities we've seen violence against peaceful protesters and against armed opposition.

it's a terrible situation one year on. >> in an ideal world what would you want to happen? >> well, it's very difficult. i mean, there's no kind of silver bullet for resolving this crisis. this is, you know, certainly the worst crisis of all the crises of the spring and each one has had a different track, libya had one track and egypt with another. and because of the peculiar situation of syria, it has its own track and it's very violent and very unpleasant and is going to continue to be a crisis for some time to come. what's essential at this point is that the united nations security council should really get together to give kofi annan a u.n. special envoy strong backing for his efforts to resolve the crisis. and should also send a very strong message to the syrians to stop this indiscriminate shelling of civilians in their cities and impose targeted sanctions and arms embargo and

also refer the serious situation to the international criminal court. so far what's been holding all that up is the russian opposition to any kind of consensus of the security council, and china, by the way. and so it's very -- it's essential russia should come onboard and should join in a strong united nations front in putting pressure on syria to stop the violence. >> from the human rights watch, thanks very much for that. >> the american actor george clooney had been giving a firsthand account to u.s. senate committee of the suffering that he witnessed in a recent trip to the south region of sudan and just returned from an eight-day visit to the region and told the committee the civilians have been caught up between the rebels and sudanese military. returning now to the visit of the british prime minister david cameron to the u.s. while he and president obama

have been taking center stage, their wives have been carrying out a carefullyly choreographed itinerary of their own. we have more on the other half of the special relationship. >> 24 hours in the spotlight, michelle obama and samantha cameron develop their transatlantic friendship. a rapport mirrors the warm relationship between britain and america that the white house has been so keen to project. >> i want to join in in also welcoming our very special guest, mrs. samantha cameron. >> samantha cameron hearing more about one of michelle obama's causes attacking childhood obesity and watched the athletes at the mini olympic games along with their celebrity guests. >> it was a great experience and one i'll remember the rest of my life. >> britain and america can get together that will help kids get together with friends and make better relationships. >> michelle obama is from the south side of chicago and

samantha cameron has an aristocratic background. despite the differences, the two high profile working mothers have bonded. these students are from the elizabeth garret anderson school visited by mrs. obama in london. now she's invited them to the white house. the girls have been getting advice from the first lady and mrs. cameron. >> i remember mrs. obama saying don't fail to get up. i took that in and know i should get up next time. >> you have to find your passion, you have to find it. that was the most important thing. >> in a visit showcasing britain's role as america's key ally, these influential women are reflecting the ties between their husbands and their nation. bbc news, washington. >> you've been watching "news day" from the bbc. i'm from singapore and >> and in london. there's much more on our website and we'll be following that state dinner but from

london and singapore, thanks for watching. >> 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. ♪