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small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news." >> reports that syrian army defectors have brought the violence closer to damascus. foreign ministers gather in morocco. . is committee and the chair for the syrian republic in the arab a graphic illustration of the way this crisis is shaping the arab world -- is shaking the arab world to its core. >> welcome to gmt. i am george alagiah, with a world of news and opinion. a grand assembly of politicians

for the u.s.aders inn ll to stop its f controversial nigt raids. barack obama in promised closer military ties, likely to ruffle feathers in beijing. it is early morning in washington, 8:00 p.m. in hong kong, and midday in london. foreign ministers of the arab league are gathering. the meeting will probably confirm last weekend possible suspension of syria from the league. nothing has happened in the last few days. likely to boost confidence that president bashar al-assad is closer to opening credible dialogue. there have been dozens of deaths and army defectors have launched their most audacious raid yet. we just saw you there talking about the empty seats, where a

syrian delegate is likely to be. what do you think will be the most likely outcome out of this meeting? >> can you hear me? >> no, okay, we will leave it then. thank you. we will move onto another story. president barack obama has announced plans to station more american troops in australia. at the start of a two-day visit to the country, he's a u.s. marines and military planes would be deployed there through next year. duncan kennedy reports. >> only four other presidents have made this journey. in prime minister julia gillard art, the president has a political partner to press home his wider mission. we are engaging in foreign policy in the aging -- in the pacific region.

stationing 2500 marines and texter aircraft around it. china was not mentioned by name, but the president's security message was clear enough. >> with my visit to the region, i am making it clear that the united states is stepping up its commitment to the entire asia- pacific. this work february deeply grateful for our alliance with australia and the leadership role that it plays. as it has been for six decades, our alliance is going to be indispensable to our shared future. the security we need and the prosperity that we see, not only in this region but around the world. >> america and australia already carry out military exercises together. this represents a much more muscular presence in the region. the signal to allies they have a reliable friend and to china they cannot act alone. america has already had disagreements with china over trade policy and currency, and

it does not want that to escalate into anything more dangerous. president obama says it has nothing to fear with china. by linking comers and security, united states is saying prosperity -- with prosperity comes village -- vigilance. >> afghan president hamid karzai has told a meeting of tribal elders that the security pact with the u.s. is in the best interest of both nations. reconciliation with insurgents is also on the agenda. our correspondent joins me live from kabul. i didn't hamid karzai saying he wanted security pact with americans, but there were strings attached, were there not? >> he later about his conditions today before this assembly at

the traditional gathering. he said if america wanted to have bases on afghans total after 2014, there would be terms. he spelled out there could be no more night raids had no searches of afghan homes, and note u.s. detention centers -- and no u.s. detention centers. he stressed that if the bases could remain, the bases would be bringing in money and the training would be brought in for afghan troops previous trying hard to sell this idea. he wants an endorsement from the jirga that would allow him to continue negotiations, but even though the terms may have gone down well with his audience, and are far less likely to appease the americans, and there already have been nine months of the negotiations and the argument, and it still has not been finalized. >> what about the other risk,

which is what to do about the taliban, to open up in the form of negotiations, that kind of thing? how do you think that will go down? >> it is quite an irony that reconciliation with the insurgents is high on the agenda for this meeting. at the very moment when the taliban are stressing to attack us. a 28-page document that they claim was the official security for the event has been denied by official sources and by the police, but nonetheless there is extraordinarily high security, not just around the jirga gathering but around the city, and there are reinforced checkpoints come additional patrols, and troops and police out in the streets. many businesses are closed, and we are driving around kabul, which is normally a bustling city, now deserted in places. to appoint a new head for

president karzai's peace council. the former was killed in september by someone claiming to be a taliban peace envoy. the delegates have to decide how to try to make progress on reconciliation at the same time that traders said targets have been named. >> thank you very much. 20 people including preschool children have been killed in a bus crash in western china. the minibus hit a truck head-on. two adults were killed in the crash, and many children were injured. the van designed for nine people was carrying 64 passengers. the new greece prime minister -- a vote will follow in the next couple of hours with the government defending a large

majority. it is not widely expected to pass. police in australia have swooped down on the occupy melvin -- the occupied campaign. campers were given -- within one dozen protesters were pulled away by officers and later released. let's return to our top story. i division -- opposition activists in serious a army defectors have attacked a military complex. the defectors are calling themselves the free syrian army. they are reported to have fired rockets and machine guns at the base in the harasta district. joining me is a member of the opposition group, syrian national council. before we get on to the wider question of the arab league

summit, can you shed any light on this so-called syrian free army attack and what it amounted to and how significant it was? >> i think it is very significant. what we're seeing at the moment is the formation of a very clear and solid nucleus of the next syrian army, formed by defectors from the syrian army who are refusing to carry out the syrian army leadership in terms of targeting civilians. these people are defecting because they are not going to kill their people, and when they defect they become straightaway a target for the syrian army, and as a result, they seem to get information in order to protect themselves and also to protect the administration -- to

get in formation in order to protect themselves and also to protect the administration. the syrian national army is gaining in strength. >> what can you say to me that the syrian free army is there and is growing? what evidence is there? >> well, every day we see youtube videos for both the normal soldiers and officers who come on tv can and they display id cards and announce their defection. this is happening on a daily basis. since a few months ago. we also have had a meeting last week between the snc and the leader of the national army. >> ok, i take your point. let's move on to a wider

question. what do you want from the arab league summit? >> well, two things. i hopefully will cover two main points in the meeting. first, to reinforce the resolutions that have been taken in cairo a few days ago. based on the fact that the syrian regime has not really fulfilled its promises whatsoever regarding the initiative. secondly, the arab league, in cooperation with turkey and that other regional power -- with turkey and other regional powers, this is very important because in the syrian national council we think this is the main priority, which is to protect our people. >> how do you expect civilians to be protected? what are you talking about?

the only example we have in recent months is what happened in libya. >> well, exactly, and this i think he is giving the idea of civilian protection a dvd view. the idea of protecting civilians -is enshrined in international law. it is for all governments in the region and the international community, and protecting civilians does not really mean conflict -- an end to the conflict straightaway. it has to be implemented. we think it starts with deploying both civilian and military monitors on the ground from the arab league. it can go up to an exclusion

zone. >> all right. >> the option is not -- >> sorry to interrupt, but we have run out of time. thank you for being on gmt. still to come, the dangers of smoking in cars. why british doctors are recommending a complete ban. after decades of digging, three english counties have been linked by a vast network of underground tunnels running to nearly 100 kiloliters in land. >> you have got yourself in the front because he wanted it first. >> is the breakthrough they have spent decades working for, and look at the conditions. lancashire, yorkshire, finally joined together underground.

>> we have now opened up a whole. -- we have now opened up a hole. you can see what is happening at the other end. >> congratulations. >> now, i went down the cavings super system last year, and even though i am very brave, it is a very intimidating place to crawl around. >> we dug out. >> is not just the narrowness of the gap. to think all of this was under water, so they had to explore places like this under water. back then they only had 20

meters to go through, but with claw hammers, their hands, it took them more than a year. it is all done to a passion for exploration. would you have thought of squeezing into gaps like these for a hobby? unveiling the ljungqvist system in -- the longest cave system in britain, one of the longest in the world. >> this is gmt from bbc world news. i am george alagiah pre the headlines -- foreign ministers are gathering in morocco to discuss new measures to stop the violence in syria. the afghan president hamid karzai has outlined conditions for american military bases to remain in afghanistan for the long term. time now for the business news.

peace will be on jobs, or rather the lack of them. >> we are staring down the battle of another global jobs recession. it is not good, george. let's start with the u.k. because the number of people out of work has hit a 15-year high. 2.6 million britons are now unemployed. the bigger worry is the number of young jobless has soared to all-time high, 1 million. the uk job market has been fairly resilient compared to those of neighboring european economies, but unemployment is a lagging indicator. the head of the employment trends unit at the international labor organization says the youth unemployment numbers across europe may be even higher than the official figures suggest. >> we have not tried to take into account the fact that many young people are dropping out of the labour market.

the unemployment figures look much worse then in the books. a lot of young people are not seeking any more for jobs, not holding out hope for future job market changes. >> shares in qantas, the australian carrier, rose to their highest level in three months. the airline was hopefully to reach an agreement with its employees by the deadline. one was illustrated last month after it grounded all of its aircraft because of the -- one was left grounded last month after the ground and all that's aircraft because of the strike. the pilots union said last week it had launched legal action challenging an order for it to and industrial stoppages. although its members stress they remain fully committed to the negotiations.

the qantas chief executive says he is optimistic an agreement can be reached by monday's deadline. it was said by a workplace tribunal following the airline's spectacular decision to ground its entire fleet in an effort to end a long-running dispute with workers. tens of thousands of passengers were left stranded. after two days of chaos, independent panel ordered the planes back into the skies and ruled that industrial action had to stop. the unions are la pupat at plany heinz's to cut costs and open new businesses in asia. the management insists that without such changes committee flying kangaroo will not survive. talks that fair work australia can be extended beyond this week passed deadline before -- if settlement cannot be reached to the workplace empire has the power to impose a settlement.

>> we take a look at other stories taking headlines around the world. two million members of the british airways air miles rewards will have to take -- to pay taxes and charges on flights. software giant fap will hire almost 2000 more staff and open five or six new offices in china by 2016. the new offices will focus on developing solutions tailored to meet the requirements of its clientele in china. europe's second biggest chipmaker has reported a fall in profits, making under just under one of the $71 million in the fourth quarter. revenue would fall next year as computer sales across europe slumped due to, no surprises, the bigger crisis. bnp paribas is axing 1400 jobs,

according to the bank's trade union. bnp and other banks have been hit hard by the debt crisis. we cannot escape it because that is exactly what the markets once again focus on. they continue to focus on the amount of debt that some of the eurozone countries are sitting on. this is what europe is doing as we speak. they have shrugged off those better than expected u.s. retail sales numbers in the u.s., and better than expected, they are focused on the eurozone, in particular focus on italy. and mario monti and the selection of his new cabinet. >> thanks very much. >> prime minister mario monti is expected to unveil his new cabinet. on wednesday morning he left his hotel in rome to brief the

president of the full list of ministers. his government must receive votes of confidence in both houses of parliament to steer the eurozone's third largest economy through its debt. our correspondent in rome is alan johnston. we have been saying all morning that mario monti's unveiling of his cabinet has not happened yet. do you read anything into this delay? >> still we wait. mr. monti has had more than two hours of talks now with the head of state, president giorgio napolitano. giving us the rundown on the team he has chosen for his cabinet. there is going to be a lot of interest in whether that entire team will made it -- will be made up of technocrats,

economists, judges, and so on, where men whether there will be one or two figures in senior positions. we can only wait. >> we are looking at pictures of the presidential palace, where we expect to see mario monti, while i am talking to you. as far as we know, mario monti has been assured the support, so can i take it we will not be getting any huge surprises? >> absolutely. after discussed days of intense talks with every party in the italian parliament, and with union representatives and business leaders and so on, he is confident that he has a cross-party support. almost all parties say they will behind the -- they will be behind the monti government. the question is, how long will they stay behind him, if he is

using measures that cause a great deal of pain? >> thanks very much. alan johnston there in rome. doctors here in the uk say no one should be allowed to smoke in a car, even when driving on their entry the british medical association argues a ban should be enforced because people in smoking cars -- in smoky cars are subject to high levels of toxins. --this is a t-- a test tobacco smoke contains 69 potentially cancer causing chemicals. even after a short drive in the single cigarette, the levels of toxins are high. secondhand smoking in a confined space like this can cause lung cancer, asthma, respiratory infections, and can

increase the risk of sudden infant death. opening the window only goes some way toward lowering the harm, and there is evidence that suggests the toxins stay around long after the cigarette has been put out. smoking in cars carrying children has already been banned in south africa, most of australia, and parts of the u.s. and canada. northern ireland is considering the same thing. >> the fact is that cars are a restricted environment in the air gets very concentrated in there. if somebody's smoking in the car, there are high doses of the cancer causing agents in cigarettes. >> some say cars are private spaces and this would be a step too far. >> if we introduce a ban on smoking come of all cars, irrespective of who is in the car, it is a very small step to

banning smoking in the home as well, and i think that is a dangerous step to take. >> they are working to raise awareness of smoking risks. >> we will go straight to the presidential palace in rome now. there he is, mario monti. just talking about him a little while ago with our correspondent alan johnston. an incredibly short address, by the looks of it. we did not miss much. they are due to unveil the long- awaited cabinet, in the eurozone's third largest economy. alan johnston was saying the big question is not really whether he would get a cabinet or whether it would be supported, but to what extent it would be a cabinet of technocrats and how many politicians there might be. that is pretty much one of the most important stories we have been covering today. stay with us on bbc world news.

there is plenty more to come. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. union bank. and shell. >> this is kim - about to feel one of his favorite sensations. at shell, we're developing more efficient fuels in countries like malaysia that can help us get the most from our energy resources. let's use energy more efficiently. let's go.