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>> and now, "bbc world news." >> [speaking foreign language] >> north korea mourns as the body of kim jong il is carried through the streets of pyongyang. a successor on display, as his son, kim jong un,eleads the mournsers. >> more than 700 detainees have been released. welcome to "bbc world news." i am david eades. also coming up, a poor design blamed for the bullet train crash in china. the death of a legend. the chimp believed to be tarzan 's sidekick has died. >> having falling snow lining

the 40 kilometer route of the funeral procession. north koreans have been paying their respects. the coffin of kim jong il was transported through pyongyang accompanied by a huge smiling portrait. his younger son and successor, kim jong un, walked alongside. foreign media were not able to report. lucy williamson has this report from seoul. >> [speaking foreign language] >> the funeral of perhaps the world's most secretive leader broadcast live on north korean tv. a rare glimpse into a country usually shrouded from view. this even outside kim jong il's final resting place, a slow procession in pyongyang, all

signs that stability and control are crucial now. whatever the private millions of the crowds of mourners, this is a moment of great uncertainty. kim jong il was great for almost 20 years as a demigod and protector of the nation. his sudden death has left a vacuum which this man must fill. his youngest son, standing today between the country's elderly power brokers. he is not yet 30 years old, untried, and largely unknown. standing between the lines of political generals and military elite. which of these men will he choose to rule, and will he have a choice? lucy williamson, bbc news, seoul.

>> she said the scenes of hysteria in pyongyang were prompted certainly by grief and also probably by fear of the death of an almost mythical figure. >> north korea is not a unified state. if you are in pyongyang -- as of the scenes have been from pyongyang -- you are likely to be a political or economic elite. kim jong il -- the army in particular had a prominent role in first call and a lot of the resources that came into the country. the scenes of soldiers weeping and expressing grief may be based partly on that behind the scenes, let's not forget this was a brutal government.

over the course of the last decade or so, has experienced energy shortages, food shortages, and even famine. there are many reasons why people might be crying today. >> obviously, very carefully staged. we get that. the role of each individual in each place in that procession is equally important, it would seem. >> this was an attempt to reassure people that despite the sudden death of the men to come to believe was invincible in many ways and was their savior -- death of a man they have come to believe it was invincible in many ways this does not mean north korea is cast into chaos. there is still someone with their hands on the levers of power. they can still carry out this heavily orchestrated, big state occasion. it was also an opportunity to

show off his successor. kim jong un is not known very well. he has only had a year or so since he has been introduced to the population. he has not had much experience in government. in north korea and also -- around the region, if you'll be able to -- if he will be able to. >> if you one more on the situation in north korea after the death of kim jong il, have a look at the website, bbc.com/news. we have a look at the mythical personality in the strange phenomenon been reported since the former leader's death. that's all on the website. syrian television says the authorities have decided to release more than 700 detainees as the arab league's observer mission spent a second day in the country. they are assessing whether the

syrian government is implementing a peace plan, which includes the release of all prisoners. tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets. from our the latest correspondent, jim muir, who was in beirut. it seems like a significant figure, 700 detainees. >> not really. they have released several thousands of prisoners in the past. human rights activists say they're holding something like 40,000. there's a long way to go. human rights watch has only just issued a statement accusing syrian authorities of basically smuggling a lot of detainees onto military bases. this is a gesture. it is clearly aimed at going

through the motions of appearing to be cooperating with the arab league initiative. >> from that point of view, i guess it will hit its local market in terms of people looking on. today, how much further do you think observers will be able to go beyond homs? >> the plan is to go to three other now famous troubled spots. one is hama, a city with a great history of defiance. the province along side turkey, where there has always been a huge amount of trouble. in the south, they are going to deraa, which is where the uprising began in march and continues to be one of the focal points of the unrest. there's a lot of violence that has been going on down there and it remains one of the hotspots in the country. >> jim muir, thank you very

much. aaron is with me now with the business news. we are focusing on >> >. -- we are focusing on italy. >> you hit the nail on the head with this one. really testing investors' confidence. italy will try to raise $26 billion by selling its debt basically. today, it was short -- today, it was selling short-term debt. the interest-rate really dropped the last month, they held a very similar auction. the interest they paid was 6.5%, an outstanding level. today, investors only demanded 3.25%, which bodes well in the sense that investors are somewhat confident in the austerity measures. on top of the european central

bank, basically pumping out cheap money for the troubled eurozone economies. i was just talking to an expert in milan who said not to get excited about this. the big test is tomorrow, the long-term debt, where they're looking at interest rates around 7%. that is unsustainable. >> you have never had so much fun. we are looking at japan and india. >> very important. at the moment, they are focused on infrastructure. that will be the big thing. japan and india. the japanese prime minister is in japan meeting the indian prime minister. this is all about trade talks -- it is about infrastructure programs. they want to increase bilateral trade. in 2010, the trade between the second and third largest asian economies was only about $15 billion. that's a lot of money, but compared to the trade between japan and china, that was $300

billion. they want to increase this. they are hoping they will increase it by 2014 by some $225 billion there. >> smiling through the gloom, as always. off you go. let's move on to some other stories. in egypt, former president mubarak is brought back to court in cairo. his trial is resuming. he arrived in an ambulance. he was carried into the courthouse on a stretcher. he is 83 years old. he was overthrown in february's uprising and faces charges in complicity and the death of over eight hundred protesters. afghanistan has signed a deal with a state-owned chinese company giving it the right to search for reserve oil and gas. the exploration will take place in the relatively peaceful northeast of afghanistan. it is thought the region holds 19 billion barrels of oil.

it is the first agreement of its kind government itskabul has made with a foreign investor. in nigeria, his closest challenger claimed voting irregularities made the results on safe. the court ruling that. earlier reports by observers. long lines outside spanish embassies in latin america. people tried to beat the deadline for applying for stennis -- for spanish citizenship. more than three and a thousand have been agiven the right to become thousands. you are watching "bbc world news." i am david eades. a lot more still to come. is the english premier league becoming a three horserace?

>> soldiers from ireland fought across europe during world war ii, landing on normandy beaches and fighting in the battle of the bulge. when the campbell, they were treated as traders -- when they came home again, they were treated as traitors. >> once more, the people of dublin turnout. >> the leaders of the republic of ireland decided their country should remain neutral. over the next few years, more than 10% of the irish army deserted to join the fight against fascism. on the return from war, they were harshly punished for serving in the armed forces of the old enemy, britain. dismissed without pay and pension, they were placed on the blacklist, banning them from any job paid for by government funds. among them, men like 88-year-old

john stout. >> although he served at the battle of the bulge, there was no hero's welcome at home. >> i know in my heart that we did the right thing. we liberated the camps. i would never regret it. i would do it all over again. >> at the irish parliament, demands for action. >> what happened to these men was a vindictive measure, a stain on irish history. mention at the national memorial of the men who deserted to fight fascism in world war ii. the irish government says it is considering a pardon. for those who survive, time is fast running out.

bbc news, dublin. >> thank you for watching "bbc world news." i am david eades. these are the headlines. north korea marks the death of its leader, kim jong il, as his son and successor, kim jong un, lead the ceremony in pyongyang. hundreds line to the snow- covered streets. an official chinese government report into the bullet train crash that killed 40 people in july has blamed bad management and poor design. to a letter of other people were injured when two trains collided -- 200 other people were injured when two trains collided. our correspondent in beijing reported on the crash when it happened. he joins us now. that is a lot of people, martin. >> you are right.

what this report said was that it was caused by design flaws and poor management. the report back up earlier statements made by officials that one of the trains had stalled and there was a lightning strike, and a second train struck it from behind. you are right in pointing out that more than 15 people are taking the blame. they may faceorities. this is just a report, an investigation. it is likely that more than 50 people will be blamed. the minister is an interesting case. he was sacked before this accident. the reason he was sacked was because of allegations of massive corruption. the suggestion was that because of that corruption, some of the construction of this railway

network had been carried out properly. >> when we talk about the design at fault, what does that mean for the bullet train system in china? >> it is quite complex. we do not know exactly where the falult lies, and whether it is with the chinese or the foreign companies helping to design these high-speed trains. we do know there was a huge public outcry following this train crash in july. many chinese people voiced criticism. the authorities were forced to act. there were allegations that they jeopardized safety in a rush to develop. >> martin, thank you very much. it has been announced in argentina that the president has

cancer and will have an operation next week. the argentine government said she developed cancer of the thyroid gland. ms. fernandez recently began her second term as president after a landslide election victory. the announcement has come to a shock to many. >> she recently took over her second term in office and started with a very enthusiastic program, passing several controversial laws in the argentine government. in the past few days, she has been very active throughout the country. out of the blue, and ththe offil announcement that she will be having surgery next week on jan. 4 and then will have to take fou20 days of rest and

recuperation. her team has said that she is very fit and the cancer is isolated. she will take 20 days off and then she will be back in action very shortly after. they are trying to elay those fears. if anything, she is still mourning the death of her husband in october of 2010. she still wears black in mourning. this will add to the sympathy and support that she won in those elections in october of this year. >> russell is here now. often a defining moment, the christmas period, for the english premier league. things happening this time? >> may be reminding people it will not be a two horse race between manchester city in manchester united. 2-0 yesterday at norwich.

they do have a game in hand. clearly, they are in fine form. in bale, a player that has excited a lot of interest in clubs in spain. he scored twice. he has eight for the season now. the second was a wonderful run from the halfway line. redknapp says only real madrid and madrid could have fought him. categorically, bale is not for sale. >> in is amazing -- it is amazing. what a player. what an athlete. once he starts to run, no one is going to catch him. he has everything, absolutely everything. there's not a weakness in his makeup, in all honesty. he can dribble. he can shoot. he can do it all. >> lucky to have him. let's have a look at cricket, as

well. india versus australia. >> two important innings in what turned out to be a low scoring match and wellborn -- match in mel bourne, australia. 282 all out. australia with 27-4 before punting. they lead by 230 with two wickets in hand. they're hoping the last couple of tickets -- >> tomorrow morning will be crucial for us now. he will have to show that for us tomorrow morning and continue to keep pushing the game for word. 230 ahead now. it is a reasonable total.

ideally, we would like to make more. >> ironically, two old guard. being australia competitive. >> russell, thank you very much. u.s. military officials say they may yet take disciplinary action over the nato attack which killed 24 pakistani soldiers. it proved disastrous for u.s.- pakistan relations. are pakistan correspondent takes a look back at 12 months in which these two supposed allies -- >> a turbulent year for pakistan-american relations got off to a bad start in january when a cia contractor shot dead two pakistanis at this very junction. there was a diplomatic row. he was taken back to the u.s., instead of facing trial here. that caused outrage across pakistan. fury was directed not only at

the u.s., but at the pakistani government for what many saw as its subservient relationship with washington. it was a sentiment that would only intensify. drama soon followed. >> tonight, i can report to the american people and to the world, the united states has conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden. >> it was with a sense of shock that pakistan greeted the news that bin laden had been found, not in a remote area in the mountains, but in the pakistani town of abbotobad. many suspected pakistani collusion. >> this one incident some house sadly -- some how sadly brushed aside the whole 10-year record of pakistan fighting against al-

qaeda. the largest number of al-qaeda operators ever captured anywhere in the world have been captured with pakistani help. still laden's compound is standing and still sealed off. many people in abbottabad never believed he was there and many pakistanis never acknowledged he was killed. most of the debate has not been about bin laden at all, but held the americans dared to carry out the raid without the permission of the pakistanis. another notch in september. america's most senior military operation pointed a finger at pakistan after a truck bombing in kabul. >> the network acts as a veritable army of pakistan's internal service intelligence

agency. operatives plant and conducted the truck bomb attack, as well as the assault on our embassy. 2011 ended with another serious blow to relations. 24 pakistani soldiers killed in a nato attack on the border post. the old cliche that both sides need each other too much is looking vulnerable. in a year where they have often looked more like enemies than friends, anti-american demonstrations in pakistan were only getting bigger, and the voices calling for a split, lauder. -- a split, louder. >> i want to take you back to a blast from the past. remember the chimpanzee in the early "tarzana" movi" movies? he has just died.

it was on christmas eve at the age of 80. described by his caregivers as outgoing, and like finger painting. he certainly lasted far beyond year's expected of a primate held in captivity. 80 years old. one or two questions on whether he was the actual one, but nonetheless, he has passed away. some bizarre pictures. it would not expect these at christmas time. this is a view from the nativity in bethlehem as rival groups -- they have shared the administration. a clash in the dispute of the boundaries of the jurisdictions inside the church got heated and pretty violent before the police came in to try to restore a little bit of peace and tranquillity at christmas time.

you are watching "bbc world news." >> make sense of international news. bbc.com/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. >> you are no longer in the service. only an outsider can find the double agent. >> i'll do my utmost. >> from the bestseller by john le carre -- >> all i want from you is one code name. >> it will take a master spy -- >> you are alone. >> you can't mention me. >> to catch a spy. >> you have to assume they're watching you. >> what the hell are you doing up here? >> things aren't always what they seem. >> "tinker tailor soldier spy."

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