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chemical weapons use. and the president says it is worth taking another look at closing guantánamo down. and could it be the future of money? , we will take a look at a virtual currency, the gbit -- the bitcoin. welcome to our viewers on public television in america and elsewhere around the globe. for a second day, bombings have brought a civil war to the heart of the capital. an explosion in damascus has claimed the lives of at least 14 people. within 17 were injured in the blast, and here in washington, it is the use of chemical weapons that is gaining attention. in a news conference today, president barack obama warned that it confirms" assad

government is using weapons, the u.s. would have to rethink its options. >> we have evidence that chemical weapons have been used inside syria, but we do not know how they were used, when they were used, who use them. we do not have a chain of custody that establishes what exactly happened. decisions am making about america's national security and the potential for taking additional action in response to chemical weapons use, i have got to make sure i have got the facts. >> for the united nations, the syrian ambassador says there is proof that chemical weapons have been used, but he put the blame on the opposition rebels. >> the syrian government has always emphasized in damascus, the capital, as well as here

any it will not use and i stressons, this point, which has been andly controversial reported by the enemies of syria to serve their hidden agendas. >> for more on the situation in syria and the decision facing the white house, i spoke a short time ago to a former national security adviser to president george w. bush. you have been inside the white house in situations like this. how will the president go about determining in what way chemical weapons were used in syria? >> the president has a bit of a catch-22 problem, because he says we want to be sure, do the forensics, and get the evidence, but, of course, the evidence is

largely or all in syria. controls most of the ground, and he has said that the u.s. cannot go in, so the box the president is in is in some senses a familiar one. a power that is misbehaving, you need to get the evidence, and the power that misbehaves is not going to cooperate in that process, so it's sort of leads you to a situation where you either have to indeterminate the stretch out the process, or you have to decide at the end of the day to hold their non-core operations against them and act anyway. the president is not there now, but six months from now, that is where he could be. >> it has been demanded that the u.n. investigate what the syrian government says is an alleged attack of chemical weapons that it blames on the rebels, so this is going to get

very complicated and murky. >> very complicated and murky. you can depend on that. there are really two problems in terms of the red line with the chemical weapons. one, it is murky. it will be hard to get any factual basis. but if you think the line has been crossed and that the problem is chemical weapons, there is really only two things you can do. you can attack them from the air, which is a problem -- >> which has been ruled out pretty much. >> this is the problem the white house has. they have said a red line, and the remedy of a breaching of the red line is two things that have said they do not want to do, which risks destroying toxic material, or putting boots on the ground, neither of which the president wants to do. >> what are the options then realistically for the u.s.? >> i think the u.s. needs to define what it means by the red

line. there was a comment that my friend condoleezza rice made. he has gone from a tyrant, oppressiveness people and using violence against his people now to international a lot. the outlaws against chemical weapons are quite clear. >> what would that allowing him changing the description? >> what it allows, if they want, is to go to the international community and say that his status has changed. >> the international criminal court? >> no, in the region, and says, we are now prepared to get more active in support, including arming the opposition because we are now -- >> and then you have the problem with you are the opposition. many are groups that are distinctly unfriendly. >> that is a problem we have now. there are an enormous amount of weapons. certainly, the russians and iranians are providing weapons

to the syrian regime, and there are arab countries that are providing weapons to some, and most of the extreme elements, and those elements of the opposition, like the free syrian army, they support a conclusive political outcome. they are starved for weapons. we need to start farming those elements that actually have a vision for syria that is consistent with ours, rather than sitting on our hands, so all of the weapons are going assad regime or elsewhere. that is the situation on the ground right now. >> thank you. as the conflict in syria widens, some are being drawn into the fight. the leader of the lebanon hezbollah group says that syria rebels will not be able to defeat the government military. our correspondent was looking at

how they can avoid being dragged into the war next door. >> heading north through the lebanon valley, along the frontier with syria, a narrow stream marks the porous border, where constance patrolled just kilometers from the front line. supportersovernment are increasingly reliant on hezbollah. >> morally and politically, hezbollah helps us, but they are not militarily involved in our fight. we are defending our land from those bombing our villages. >> they will get what is coming to them. >> in this area, both sides of this completely open border between syria and lebanon are now controlled by hezbollah and its syrian allies. they claim to be gaining the upper hand, but there are concerns the two-year-old

conflict in syria is increasingly spilling over into lebanon itself. it is already happening. one town has been deliberately targeted because it supports the façade regime across the border. in syria have repeatedly shelled them. this deals with the resolve of the factions, including hezbollah, to step out of the conflict. fault lines between lebanon and sunni and shia muslims are being dangerously exposed. both sides are being drawn into the syrian more on a new, alarming level. mosques in lebanon, young men are being radicalized, calls from the sunni clerics 4g todd, holy war. a necessary response to the

.ezbollah role fatwa. is a legitimate there are oppressed people in syria. women and children are being raped, killed, and expelled, so we should help them and be rewarded by god. >> the own future of the lebanese is threatened by the turmoil in syria. the longer it continues, the more nervous the army and the increasingly divided factions on this side of the border will get. bbc news, northern lebanon. >> president obama also said today that he wants to renew its efforts to close the guantanamo bay detention center near cuba. prisoners there are staging a massive hunger strike. he called on others to help find a long-term solution to the problem. 21 prisoners are being forced fed by medical staff.

a report. >> it is where the u.s. military acts as a dealer, judge, injury to those captured in the president bush war on terror. some have been left in legal limbo for more than 10 years. when heis first acts became president was to sign an order to shut guantánamo down within a year. five years on, and it's still has not happened, but today, he has insisted he is not giving up. >> i am going to go back at this. i have asked my team to currently review everything that is going on at guantanamo, and i will re-engaged with congress to try to make the case that this is not something that is in the best interests of the american people. >> this is why he has had to renew old blouse. a growing protest with prisoners now refusing food. visitedast, when i

guantanamo, medical staff were well versed in explaining how they dealt with those on a hunger strike. >> this is passed through the nostril into the throat and into the stomach. >> we saw the chair in which the prisoners are restrained and force fed, but this is on a much larger level. some say it is a sign of growing despair. >> six people have committed suicide. that is not very good for bringing justice to america. he doesdent obama says not want anyone to die, and there is a report that now has been sent to deal with the protests. he finds it harder to persuade a skeptical public to close guantánamo, when the alternative is bringing prisoners closer to home. >> i think in the american public, out of sight, out of mind, and they bought into the narrative because safe, and as

they view this as an up or down proposition, the public does not seem to care a lot. >> congress blocked his efforts to transfer some prisoners for trial at the u.n.. the president says he will talk -- start those talks afresh, but so far, his words have not been matched by deeds, and for now, closing guantanamo remains a promise unfulfilled. bbc news. >> now, to another part of the fight against its enemies. drone strikes or the killing of osama bin laden. cia operations are not just about gathering intelligence anymore. the cia has become more of a paramilitary organization. questions are being raised. in a new book, a "the new york times" reporter takes a look at how the cia has changed. i spoke with him earlier. how did 9/11 change the picture

so that the cia got back into the business of killing people? >> after 9/11, a few days after september 11, president bush gave the cia is broad authority to go around the world and capture, kill, and hunt al qaeda operatives and other operatives. legal authority the cia had not had for years, and in many ways, they were unprepared for this new authority. at the center of these secret wars, and what we have seen in the more than a decade since is that the cia has not only embraced that authority, but this sort of killing aspect of what the cia does has become the focal point of the work of this agency, and it transformed the cia really into this hunting and killing machine. >> it happened, did not, because of the criticism of a cia program put >> as you point out, the early years after 9/11, the cia was focused on detention and

rendition, picking up people, putting them in prison, and interrogating them for intelligence. around 2004, there wasn't increased scrutiny in the program. a tremendous amount of controversy about the techniques used, like waterboarding, and fears within the cia that this was going to come back and haunt them. there was an internal report in the cia, raising the question that these could be criminal acts, war crimes trials, and what you see, not too direct a mine, you start to see a diminution of the program for detention and interrogation, and an increase in targeted killing, which is today, the cia is pretty much out of the detention business and very much in the killing business. >> the use of drones in pakistan, not so much in the u.s., but people like the fact that u.s. soldiers are not being killed. where is that going to go now? is that ultimately counterproductive? >> i think there is increased

attention to the program, increased scrutiny and a question about whether drawn strikes are having a blowback or could have a blowback, where the costs in terms of radicalization might outweigh the benefits of killing lower and lower level people, let's say, particularly in pakistan and yemen and in parts of africa, so i think there are questions in the obama administration about whether the cia should dial some of this back, whether some of it should migrate to the military. i do not believe that the cia will give this up. i think president obama and the future president will preserve the option for the cia to do these targeted killings, because it can be a very seductive thing for presidents to have these things done in secrecy. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> you are watching "bbc world news america." still to come on tonight's program, crowds welcoming the

force dutch king in more than a century. -- the first dutch king. and the birth of the universe. this time, working on the internet instead. 18 at a nuclear research center in geneva has recreated the first-ever on the world wide web. a warning, there are flashing images in this piece from our correspondent. the web is now so much a part of our lives, we use it to shop, to learn, and to work. it is now so ubiquitous, so normal, it is hard to imagine a world without it. in 1994, it was all very new. this was the very first bbc television news report on the emergence of the web. >> things are only now being

realized. cyberspace. >> back then, very few people had heard of the web. now, anyone with a computer. this was the machine on which the very first web page was created to help researchers at the subatomic physics laboratory. at the time, no one knew how important it would be. >> the story of how this came to physics academic research lab is incredible, and i think it is also important as a cultural icon, actually. >> this is the european organization for nuclear research. >> brain to the other physicists from different parts of europe. the web was developed in 1990 to help them share their scientific results. three years later, they gave the web to the world for free. involved in the

restoration project, it is about enshrining a powerful idea about the original libertarian values. bbc news. >> there is a new currency that is growing in popularity. it is even being called the future of money. is not controlled by a government or a bank. it is a virtual currency, traded on the internet, but it can create a very real wealth. we explain all. >> the world is teeming with currencies, but bitcoin is like no other. it is virtual money, free from regulation, and it only exists on line. nobody knows who created the computer program that generates bitocin, but it is so sophisticated and seemingly secure that the currency is

taking off. i met a bitcoin millionaire. he started america's first bitcoin exchange. how do we do it? >> we are on this, and you see the current market. >> it is as easy as buying any foreign currency. the transfer in cash and get it on your laptop or phone. >> the great valley is it is a technology that no one person controls, so the banks do not interfere with it, the government does not interfere with it. you control your own money. you can send it anywhere you want. >> it is invisible and not traceable , so the criminals can use it online. even in technology savvy areas, only if you take it. >> all i have to do is stand that. push send, and there we go.

famous hackers could not hack it. he says it is pretty secure. >> we actually went inside the software to look at the quality of it. it is alien technology. it is really written to a standard of quality that you just do not see in most software. >> so who records and verifies every transaction? not who you might expect. >> a standard pc, but it has a graphics card. >> a bitcoin miner. he and others like him use their upgraded computers to do accounting, to double track -- to double check them. and every now and then, he is getting money. he now has it for helping to secure the system. people still trust the money in

their pockets, and bitcoin is very volatile, but the potential of a currency independent of banks or currencies already has investors interested. bbc news, san francisco. >> maybe i should get some. do you have any proof and then at a historic transition in the netherlands. q's crowds to catch a glimpse of the first dutch king in more than one century. alexander took his crow when his other, queen beatrix, abdicated. -- he took his crown. >> it was a day for dressing in orange. the national caller dominated the square in front of amsterdam's royal palace. this is an informal country with an informal kind of monarchies. there was little ceremony. her majesty's simply signed herself off the throne.

job tor, passing on the the sun. [cheers and applause] 123 years. king in the power goes to the eldest child, regardless of gender. >> this is once in a lifetime, and this is why i wanted to be here today. very republican. i think it is a very good thing. this goes on is a sign to about down-to-earth the family is, or at least once to appear to be. they do not have the same untouchable feel about them. he has already said he wants to be seen as a man of his people and will not stand on ceremony. the guests filed in, not by tradition for a crowning but rather an in operation. among them, another future king,

almost 20 years older than it alexander. the monarch and his new queen, an argentinian board economist. his mother said it was time for a new generation. this was his message. i would like to encourage people to actively use the opportunities available to them. however great our diversity, however different our convictions and dreams may be, everyone is allowed to make their voice heard. >> but the pomp did not last long. this evening, the king and queen were affected in a frenzy -- were feted. and in the city built on water,

they held a river pageant. this appears to be a marquee at ease with itself and a country largely at ease with having a monarchy, and now, a new king. bbc news, amsterdam. >> well, that brings today's shows to a royal close. you can find more news on our website. from all of us here at "world news america," thank you for watching. tune in to mar. -- tomorrow. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, united healthcare, union bank, and fidelity investments. >> your personal economy is made up of the things that matter most, including your

career. as those things change, fidelity can help you adjust your retirement plan, rethink how you are invested and refocus as your career moves forward. wherever you are today, a fidelity ira has a wide range of investment choices that can fit your personal economy. fidelity investments. turn here. >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.