>> "bbc world news" is presented by kcet, los angeles. funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. the john d. and catherine t. marthur daun.foonti and union bank. >> union bank has put its financial strength 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." >> three days after the u.s. raid that killed osama bin laden, strains between islamabad and washington. today and the capital, pakistan's foreign secretary downplayed the tension, but said pakistan is determined to uphold its sovereignty. >> welcome to gmt. i am naga munchetty with a world of news and opinion. also in the program, and joy and relief for more than 1000 refugees as they escaped by ship from the besieged libyan town of misrata. we speak to the activists working with women in what is

called the rape capital of the world. >> is now noon in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, and 4:00 in islamabad. in a country where the senior military political figures are still coming to terms with a controversial and covert raid three days ago that killed osama bin laden. it was a raid that was conducted, reportedly, without pakistani involvement or even knowledge. that has caused growing strains in this crucial relationship between islamabad and washington. a short time ago in the capital, the foreign secretary has tried to play down the tension, emphasizing that the two countries have to work together. he said he hopes that the covert raid would not have been again.

more than three days on, a lot is still unknown about a rate that is causing great discussion and debate, not just here, but around the world. the full story is still unclear and controversial. access to what was osama bin laden's last refuge is now tightly controlled by pakistani security forces. the first photographs have emerged, that show the grounds outside the compound after a covert raid that killed osama bin laden and three others. one of the helicopters deployed by the navy seals crashed on its approach. the images add new details to what has been the only video so far. this is said to have been filmed by a cameraman who was able to get inside the compound after an

operation that lasted about 40 minutes. the pictures were first broadcast on monday. it was reportedly conducted without pakistani knowledge. it has caused major damage to america's relationship with it. allied. in islamabad, pakistan's foreign secretary, salman bashir, played down the notion. >> the notion that relations have nosedived is not quite our understanding. pakistan considers its relations with the united states as of high importance and significance. >> president obama has also tried to diffuse tension by not releasing the last photographs of osama bin laden. they have been described as gruesome. >> there's no doubt that we killed osama bin laden.

it is important for us to make sure -- very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head -- are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence, as a propaganda tool. that's not who we are. >> many here say they will not believe the al-qaeda leader is dead until they see proof that the world's most wanted man died here. atlet's take another look this extraordinary raid and the fallout, political and diplomatic. we are now joined from washington by the former cia officer who set up cells to track down osama bin laden. he is author of a book on osama bin laden. i must first ask you -- we heard barack obama say there's no doubt osama bin laden is dead. i've been talking to people and

islamabad and none of them say they will believe it until they see a picture of his body. do you think the u.s. president took the right step in not releasing its? >> i don't know if it was the right decision or not. the grounds that it was sorry -- anyone who lives in america can see more gory things on television. at the end of the day, i think they will still have to release the photographs, not only for the muslim world, but because so many conspiracy people are at work in america. i think it will become very hard for the president to withhold the picture. >> how hard is this going to be for these two countries to maintain an absolutely crucial relationship and continue their cooperation in fighting against islamic militancy after the criticism we're still hearing from where you are? >> the u.s. congress is a

collection of windbags. the fact of the matter is that pakistan has the whip hand in this relationship. the nato contingent is dependent on its ability to use karachi harbor as a naval base. without that port, there's no war in afghanistan. that is the first point. the second point is -- american aid and other country's aid is designed to make sure pakistan does not collapse. it has a nuclear arsenal, which is substantial, and we do not want that to collapse. i really think senator mccain, dianne feinstein, and others

just blowing off gas. they are embarrassed that the american people have been -- they have been lying to them. >> do you have a version of events the you are now comfortable with? in pakistan, there are so many different accounts. some believe osama bin laden lived only a few days in the abbottabad compound. others say five years. some say a few months. do you have something that you are comfortable with? >> i believe he is dead, not because the president said so, but because the military and the cia has confirmed his death. i'm getting a little to trust politicians anymore. i have no idea how long he was there. i'm understand from the reporting that it was a safe house, also. if that was well known, he was probably not there for very

long. i have no way of knowing for sure. >> do you believe that pakistan's intelligence agency had no knowledge that osama bin laden was there? >> over the past decade, some parts of the intelligence service and the army probably knew where osama bin laden was or had a good idea where he was. i think that is something the american government also knew. the reality of the situation is that our interests and pakistan's interests are not at all congruent. they have a problem with the taliban because they helped us. they help us to the point where they have a civil war on their own territory. our leadership is still caught up in the cold war. we're looking for proxy's to do our dirty work. this is a case where we finally decided to act as adults and to

our own dirty work. >> michael, i must ask you -- were you surprised by what is now emerging of osama bin -- livingst days there with his family? and it seems he was not armed. >> i believe he was comfortable and safe there. his style of living in terms of not having many guards around him and living with his family is very similar to the way he lived in afghanistan in 1997 and 1998. i was not really surprised. i really thought that for a long time, the prime ministers of europe and the presidents of the united states were really

misleading the public by saying he was running from cave to cave. as you know, if a fugitive is running around a lot, he makes a mistake with communications. he makes a mistake with travel patterns or cars that he uses and he is caught very quickly. the fact that bin laden eluded us for many years has proven that he did not move around a whole lot. >> michael shore, former cia officer, and author of a book on osama bin laden, thank you very much for joining us with your reflections on this story that continues to unfold in pakistan. they are still trying to piece together the full story in the united states, where they now have what they described as a trove of intelligence details.

the pakistanis say they also collected valuable documents from the compound after u.s. forces left. no doubt there are still many more details to emerge from this story that is already causing ripples across the world. we will keep an eye on the story. for now, back to you in london. >> thank you very much. she has been busy in islamabad, as you have been seeing. she has also been speaking to people in islamabad to gauge their reaction. let's listen to what they said. >> three days on from this extraordinary raid that killed osama bin laden, the story is still being discussed everywhere you go at every level of society. the focus is on analysis and arguments, speculation, talks of conspiracy, and a decision not to release the photograph of the

former al-qaeda leader. i went to a busy market to find out what people are thinking. hello. president obama says he is not going to release the photograph of osama bin laden because it is a security risk. what is your reaction? >> we need the proof of osama bin laden -- if he is murdered or not. >> they say the photograph is too gruesome and that people get angry if they saw the photograph. >> why would people get angry? every person knows that he is a terrorist. if they cannot release it, then every percenperson will believes not murdered. many people believe he was killed before that. it would remove the doubt.

>> we want to know. we want to make sure that the man they killed was osama bin laden and not somebody else. >> you do not believe the american president. >> we do not believe. we do not believe obama or anybody else. >> for some people around the world, it may seem clear that obama announces osama bin laden is dead and so we must be. not in this country with a history of crises and conspiracy. many pakistani people say they want proof. until they get it, the story will not go away. >> still to come on gmt -- we speak to activists trying to stop the violence against women in the democratic republic of congo.

the united states has once again urge the government of sri lanka to initiate an independent investigation into war crimes. the call came from the u.s. assistant secretary of state on a visit to sri lanka. our correspondent reports from colombo. >> days after the publication of the u.n. report that sent the allegations that war crimes were committed during the final stages of the civil war in sri lanka, which ended two years ago. and also, and nearly 300,000 displaced people.

he also pointed out that the u.n. report, talking about finding a durable solution to the sri lankan issue -- he urged the government to share more powers with the tamil minority. he also called for in an independent investigation. >> domestic authorities have a responsibility to ensure the those responsible for violations of international humanitarian law are held accountable. international mechanisms can become appropriate in cases where states are either unable or unwilling to meet their obligations. >> the government of sri lanka has rejected calls for an independent, international investigation into what had happened in the final stages of the war in 2009. it rejects allegations that

soldiers are responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians. >> you are watching gmt on "bbc world news." i am naga munchetty. legal questions are raised about pakistan's sovereignty after the u.s. operation to kill osama bin laden. in a ship carrying more than 1000 refugees from misrata has arrived in benghazi. afp news agency is reporting that the convoy of military vessels have gone out of the town of deraa in syria. it has been reported that soldiers have stormed an area in damascus. thousands of people held a protest march in the area last friday, demanding the removal of president bashar al-assad. jim is watching the situation

from beirut. foreign journalists are not allowed into syria. what is the latest you're hearing about the troops moving out of deraa and into the damascus? >> there's no great contradiction there. they feel they have done the job. they have captured well over 500 of them. and a lot of arms and ammunition. they have also killed at least 50 or more. meanwhile, of course, there's more work to be done elsewhere in terms of trying to head up demonstrations, perhaps, on friday and in the suburbs of damascus itself. the regime is very careful that there should not be big trouble in the capital. that's why they're focusing on the suburbs, to make sure that people do not march into the center of the city from the outlying towns. as they went into this place in

the middle of the night, they rounded up quite a number of people, a list of wanted people from the known activists -- some are 70 or 80 years old. they do not really fit the profile of the armed terrorists they say are behind us uprising in the latest syrian narrative. there's no contradiction. they've finished the job in one area and they're focusing on other areas now. >> thank you. in libya, a ship carrying more than 1000 people rescued from misrata has docked in benghazi. the ship was forced to leave the besieged city with 200 fewer people than planned after heavy shelling from forces of colonel gaddafi. >> wounded, some of them seriously, have been taken off

first, followed by the tyrant. hundreds of refugees, mainly migrant workers. this ship is now pretty much the only lifeline to that city and the outside world. it was held off for a number of days because of concerns that forces loyal to colonel gaddafi had been minding the porch. it was met by a barrage of rocks and fire -- of rocket fire. some believe it was a deliberate attempt by colonel gaddafi's forces to target their aid mission. in the chaos and confusion, we understand that a number of people are reported to have been killed in and around the port area. ck twice had to redo because of the confusion and a

number families got separated. it was initially understood that it left with slightly fewer people on board than planned. the shipping company says it took out 1300 people and has now brought them to safety in benghazi. leading thery's military action against colonel gaddafi forces in libya are meeting in rome today. speaking at a press conference before the meeting, u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton said the group needs to increase the pressure on colonel gaddafi's government. >> we will be discussing how better to increase the pressure on gaddafi and those around him, diplomatically, politically, economically. how we can bring about the outcome that the people of libya and the international community seek. an end to the violence against civilians and the beginning of a democratic transition to a better future.

>> in other news today, french rescue crews have discovered the first bodies from the wreck of the air france jet that crashed in 2009 off the coast of brazil. 307 people were killed. the last known combat veteran of the first world war has died. he joined the british royal navy at the age of 15. he went on to the great war. he then served with the australian navy in world war ii. in australia, a record of two letter 39 kilograms of methamphetamine was discovered. police say they were working for a global syndicate.

they say the maximum penalty is life in prison. workers have entered the reactor building at the damaged fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant for the first time since the day after the march 11 earthquake. the workers for tokyo electric power company say they were installing machines intended to reduce radiation levels inside the building. time for some business news. it is all about portugal. >> it's all about portugal and also all about interest rates, as well. two big subjects. europeans from the e union have announced the terms of the bailout for portugal. measures to rein in the dead will see sales tax and loss from -- to bring in the death will see sales tax.

the finance minister confirm that the portuguese economy will now contract by two percent this year and then another 2% in 2012 before starting to grow in 2013. from lisbon, the attention turns to helsinki. buying a few minutes ago, the european central bank holds its meeting. ecb pressed ahead with a rising interest rates because of growing concern about inflation in the eurozone. there may be strong signals another rise could be on the cars as early as june. the bank of england holds off from raising rates today. the african mining firm -- profits for the first quarter were up 92% on the same period last year. the rival miner are many -- the center is rising because of

the soaring price of gold. there are big problems to overcome in order to maintain the output. >> economic uncertainty continues to push investors for the traditional safe haven of gold, driving up the price of the precious metal. that has been a boost for the mining companies. the business is fraught with risk in africa. output in ivory coast is expected to increase as peace under alassane ouattara brings swift economic recovery. world's gold miners are determined to maximize output to take advantage of the record bullion prices, driven up by nervous investors. >> investors have lost confidence in paper currencies and lost confidence in governments' abilities to manage debt levels. that even applies to the

chinese, who have huge cash surpluses. they're concerned about their own banking systems and some of the government's within that. >> the gold mining industry is also looking forward to economic recovery. that would underpin demand from the jewelry industry. improved economic conditions in europe and america will also mean more demand for car manufacturers and computer makers. they use the precious metal in a range of technology components. >> that is the business use. >> thank you very much. there is much more on the death of the al-qaeda leader, osama bin laden, on the bbc web site. you will find an by minute coverage, reaction from around the globe. you can also get in touch with us. we are on facebook and twitter. that is all for us. stay with us on "bbc world

news." >> hello and welcome. >> see the news unfold, get the top stories from around the globe, and click to play video reports. go to bbc.com/news to experience the in-depth, expert reporting of "bbc world news" online. >> funding for this presentation was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. and union bank. >> union bank has put its global expertise to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you?

>> "bbc world news" w on presented by kcet, los angeles.