>> this is "bbc world news." >> funding for this presentation is 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?

>> and now "bbc world news." >> the american suspect in the killing of 16 afghan civilians is named. a disappointing response, kofi annan says there is little movement towards a cease-fire in syria. the world -- the head of the worldwide anglican communion is set to step down. hello, welcome to "bbc news" broadcasting to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. we will have a special report on the iran watchers as revealed by wikileaks.

the american soldier accused of murdering 16 civilians in afghanistan has been named as staff sgt robert bales. he has been taken to a maximum detention base in the u.s.. afghan officials have accused the u.s. of failing to cooperate. hamid karzai has met the relatives of those who died. >> the blood of afghans still inside of their bombs. they were killed mostly by a single shot to the head. the gunman, an american soldier, it is believed it. he gathered together their bodies, including children, and burned their bodies. they started with a prayer when the villagers came to the presidential palace. 11 people were killed in one home, said this village elder.

they were acting like animals, smashing down doors. president karzai listened and appeared to agree that this was not the work of a single attacker. >> we believe it is not possible for one person to do that. in four rooms, people were killed. they were all brought together in one room and then put on fire. the afghan investigation team did not receive the cooperation that they inspected. >> the international mission has always known that the afghan people would only tolerate their presence for so long. the two events in quick succession, the accidental burning of the koran and the killings of poisoned that relationship. the army staff sergeant who was named as robert bales is heading

to this maximum-security prison. this is a long way from afghanistan, but the fate of the soldier will not be far from the minds of the afghan people. >> our washington correspondent has more on this story. >> i think in one sense, the american authorities will be relieved robert bales is back on u.s. soil. they did not want him to remain in afghanistan in casey became a focal point of retaliation by the taliban or an obstacle to ongoing dialogue with the government. relief that he is back here tempered by concern about what hamid karzai has been saying. he has been listening to the families of the people that died. he has echoed their concerns.

he is due to appear before a military magistrate some time before sunday. the magistrate will make a decision on whether or not he remains in custody. perhaps before that, we should get a former list of charges from the prosecutors. -- a formal list of charges from the prosecutors. >> the new united nations team is set to arrive this weekend. they warned of the impact to the region is the situation was not handled properly. >> in the northern city of idlib, opposition protests early this morning. this in a place for the government is believed to have gone full control. they are calling for foreign intervention.

in the capital, more demonstrations. their chant "assad is god's enemy." "we call on russia and china to get assad out of the intensive care room so that he can die in peace." video posted by opposition activists showed thousands of people marching and then apparently government troops opened fire. kofi annan, the international envoy to syria, briefed the u.n. security council on his progress in pursuing a peace plan. >> i discussed with the council, proposals i made to the syrian government that were aimed at

stopping the violence, accelerating humanitarian assistance and establishing credibility and confidence for the political process when it is initiated. i will be sending in 18 this weekend to pursue the discussion. -- i will be sending in a team this weekend. at the private time, when i team that progress has been made, i will be prepared to go back to the region. >> he spoke of getting strong support and despite differences of opinion from russia and china, he said that he hoped the council would soon speak with one voice. he warned of a serious impact on the region if the crisis was not handled carefully but he offered no immediate solutions.

on the ground, there is no end to the violence in sight. political talks seemed far off. much of the syrian army's focus has been on the southern town of deraa. opposition activists say that these pictures show security forces opening fire on activists yesterday. the u.n. will send a humanitarian mission to syria over the weekend but it can only get aid in if it is safe to do so. >> the leader of the worldwide anglican community, rowan williams, has announced that he will resign at the end of the year. he is the leader of the church of england. you'll be taking up an academic post at cambridge. our religious affairs correspondent has more.

-- he'll be taking up an academic post. >> even as he demanded to be let into canterbury cathedral, reverend williams was a reluctant leader of the church. >> this is why the christian will engage with passion in the world of society and politics, a real hunger and thirst to have the destiny of human beings to become gods sons and daughters come to life. >> dr. williams said he wanted to capture the imagination of the public for christianity. >> let us greet our newly enthroned archbishop with great gladness. >> from the start, he had to contend with deep divisions from the church of england about homosexuality. >> it is unfortunate that he came to be the archbishop at a time when there was issues of

human sexuality. what he's trying to do is to hold the church together, whatever his own personal views. >> the ordination of jean robinson as bishop of new hampshire threatens the union with disintegration. a crisis which dr. williams has had to manage for a decade. >> he is not only working in this country with a western liberal people but the international as well. he is trying to keep the community together with both american liberals and american conservatives. many resent the liberal reinterpretation of the bible that they see in the west. it was dr. williams credits achievement that he held at the communion together. he would not stay much longer. >> i said that i did not stick

to the want to be the president of the next conference. i have done that the ticket the dog for the church. -- i have done that before for the church. >> i can understand that he wants to move on. i pay tribute to what he has done for the country and for the church. >> anglican snow that he will be very hard to replace. >> hugo chavez has returned from cuba almost three weeks after undergoing cancer surgery. he had a second tumor removed. he will undergo radiation that there be treatment. he is due to stand for reelection in october. the french police said that a man has been killed and another seriously injured when a man

injured and moscow and attacked worshipers. the suspect is a frenchman of moroccan origin. a local islamic leaders said he had a history of mental illness. 10 soldiers stationed in the southwest of the country are reportedly told that they're not allowed to wear uniforms off base. the same gun was used in the killing of another off-duty paratrooper days before. a quarter of a million u.s. diplomatic cables were released by the website wikileaks. we have spoken to key members of the u.s. government about the leak. >> a huge trove of document released just hours ago. >> the 28 of november, 2010,

the day julian assange and his wikileaks website shared the secret with the world. >> the release another pile of documents. >> the man accused of the leak is bradley manning, a u.s. army intelligence analyst. at the time, robert gates was the u.s. secretary of defense. is this embarrassing for you personally? >> of course. it was hard for me to look secretary clinton in the eye when she asked how did this happen because it did come out of the department of defense. >> read the cables in detail and some issues never go away, like what to do about the iranian nuclear program. the cable shows that from as far back as 2008, there was the encouragement for the u.s. to use military power.

>> people were pretty aggressive. >> who was it? >> i will not go there. [laughter] >> the u.s. was desperate for any intelligence. they created a network of iran watchers whose job was to gather any information they could. the cables show that there was a good source. >> he gave me a lot of information. i met an american diplomat and we talked about it. >> we met with those in the state department that received intelligence. >> they have improve the

understanding of iran within the u.s. government exponentially. >> what is clear is that the debate about the nuclear program was always a live in the white house. michael hayden was a director of the cia. >> i have three american presidents saying that iran getting it weapon is unacceptable. >> the cables reveal america's secret concerns and a succession of u.s. illustrations have been haunted by iran with a bomb. >> this is "bbc news" still ahead -- what saturday is st. patrick's day but how many will be able to celebrate in the irish language? they can in this american classroom.

some news from the uk. the prime minister has held talks with the chancellor's and his liberal democrat coalition partners to seek agreement on the budget. it has been suggested that mr. osborn is arguing a cut for the top tax rate in order to promote enterprise. the former head of the u.k. border force has reached an out- of-court settlement with the home office. there is constructive dismissal after stepping down last december after relaxing immigration checks beyond what had been authorized. 8 men have been charged with the death of a man in a nightclub in the early hours of christmas day. he died from a stab wound in his back while he was at a party in the club. one man has been charged with murder. seven other men have been charged with violent disorder.

this is "bbc news," these are the headlines -- the suspect in the killing of 16 afghan civilians has been named by the united states. kofi annan, the special envoy to syria, has warned that the situation in the region could be affected if the situation in the country is not handled properly. let's get more on the announcement that dr. rowan williams is to step down from his job after 10 years in charge at the end of 2012. we can speak to the president of the divinity school in berkeley, california. there have indeed been differences in the divergent way that the communion are around the world approaches certain subjects.

we know about the ordination of openly homosexual priests, about the interpretation of certain passages of the bible, etc.. how do you think that dr. rohan williams has come out of these discussions? -- dr rowan williams has come out of these discussions? >> andsurely rowan williams -- surely rowan williams has presided over a very difficult time in the worldwide communion. the episcopal church in the united states has taken a very different position and a position of different consequences from the archbishop. he has let in a time of fierce opposition where he could not have pleased everyone in the

worldwide communion of the anglican church. >> he said he had much to do in the month that he had left in the job. what more is there to do? >> well, i think that his leadership will continue. he has had a great passion, which i have is admired and i will always admire. he will pursue this with the same kind of leadership and persistence that he has given over the last 10 years. this has not been an easy time. our church has disagreed with the archbishop with consequences that one cannot help but admire his passion and leadership. >> what about the challenges for his successor? do you foresee other challenges on the horizon? >> it is hard to read that. i think that we will have to wait for time to tell on that question.

i do hope and one of my sadness is is quite frankly that during these last 10 years when the issues that have preoccupied his leadership has been so intense and rather narrow that we have not been able to enjoy the range of his capacity to lead as the teacher on a variety of issues. i remember moderating the conference at trinity church just two years ago where he was a principal speaker on the topic of theology and economics. he is a police leader and i thought at the time, what we are missing by not opening the range to a wider scope of gifts that he can bring to us. i hope during his time as archbishop that he will offer that kind of pastoral and theological leadership. >> we appreciate your time. thank you very much indeed.

>> thank you for having me. >> voting is underway to choose a new president. the incumbent is up against 1100 other candidates. this is seen as a key test and stability.'s there was a day of mourning to remember the victims of a bus crash in switzerland. the flags were flown at half mast as the country observed 8 minutes of silence. a former university student has been convicted of a hate crime after using a web camera to spy on his roommate who then killed himself. dharun ravi was found guilty of 15 counts including bias and intimidation. he filmed tyler clementi in a game counter and subsequently

showed the video to other students. people in morocco have protested a new law which allows a rapist to marry the victim as a way to avoid prosecution. a woman was forced by a judge to marry the man that rate ter -- raped her. >> a mother weeks at the grave site of her daughter. she took her own life a week ago. she was raped when she was just 15 years old. in conservative parts of morocco, it is unacceptable for a woman to lose her virginity before she is married. the marriage restored the family honor but the family of the man that raped her daughter were not interested.

he brought disaster upon my daughter. i was obliged to marry her to him because i could not permit my daughter to have no future. i went to talk to this family, they said that he would not marry her and that she was a s lut. they said, go complain to the authorities. >> that is what she did. when the case went to court, the judge ruled that the man who raped her could only avoid prosecution if he married her. her daughter told her that she was being badly treated. >> he raped and mistreated my daughter. she complained she was mistreated. i told her not to be afraid, to be patient, to be very patient.

>> the suicide has brought shot in morocco and women's rights activists are stepping up their campaign to scrap a law that allows rapists to go free if they marry their victim. >> st. patrick's day is a time when americans have long acknowledged that their in their irish roots, whether they are real or imagined. -- their irish roots, whether they are real or imagined. a teacher at washington d.c.'s catholic anniversary is teaching gaelic lessons. we caught up with him on why he is trying to keep gabelich alive. -- gaelic alive. >> the reason that i teach irish is that i am given the opportunity to help people connect with their identity. people have a real interest in

irish language, culture, music. for me, i have an opportunity to teach them something about language. there is an old latin name for ireland. learning the language, many people have a chance to connect with something from their past. most people who come to my classes have either the parent who is from ireland or they have friends that are from ireland. they recognize the language and the heritage. there are so many irish words in english like galore, whiskey, balarney. students who are learning irish

, we will go out after the class and celebrate and we will chat in a social environment. this is what language learning is about, to use this in a basic level. i am looking forward to st. patrick's day and the celebration of all things irish. going to some houses, having dinner together. those kinds of things that i enjoy. >> -- has become the first player to score 100 international. everyone knew that he would eventually reach the unprecedented landmark. that does not detract in any way from how brilliant he truly is.

he made his debut as a 16-year- old in 1989. >> 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.