>> 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 work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key, strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you?

>> and now, "bbc world news." >> guns and talk -- syria resumed its pounding of the opposition stronghold of homs as russia's foreign minister arrives in the country. the syrian interior ministry vows to continue its campaign against what it calls armed terrorist gangs in the city. huge crowds greet sergei lavrov in the mass of but can russia turn good will into peace on the grounds? hello, and welcome to "gmt." i'm george alagiah. also on the program -- paradise lost. maldives president resigns amid a wave of protest. the onetime human rights

campaigner accused of trampling human rights. libyan war casualties still waiting for the treatment they were promised. non-combatants jump build -- the accused. it is midday in london, 8:00 in the evening in hong kong and 2:00 in the afternoon in damascus where russia's foreign minister has just arrived. thousands lined the convoy on his way to meet president bashar al-assad. before the good will russia had been before the veto of the resolution there remains a straightforward question -- but that has the power or influence to stop escalating violence? mr. lavrov has to show there is an alternative to the condemnation needed by the others at the u.n. >> welcome the like a conquering hero. of all the stops were pulled out to give the russian minister and an impressive welcome in

damascus. state tv said a million turned out to thank him for the veto that protected syria at the security council. activists suggested that many of the crowds were virtually forced to take part. but the regime still has its supporters. >> we have come here to welcome the foreign minister, sergei lavrov, and the intelligence chief, and to thank them for their support of syria. >> the russians will be able to see that we are living in safety. the saboteurs have destroyed our country. >> it was not just in the capital. a similar rally was held in the country's second city up in the north. like damascus, it has been relatively little touched by the uprising so far. until these two big cities join in, the regime will not be in imminent danger. but the third biggest city, homs, is the bigger -- is a different story. shelling has continued. it has been a hotbed of the

finance four months. armed rebels from the free syria army are increasingly active. the interior ministry has said a crackdown will continue until all the opponents are finished off, in all of homs and surrounding provinces. many people here are cursing the russians and chinese, calling them accomplices. mr. lavrov is said to be carrying a plan for a political solution, but he said little about it. he does want president al-assad to move more swiftly on reforms and he would also like to get a dialogue under way between its regime and opponents. but most of them regard russia as part of the problem, not the solution. bbc news, the roof. >> sergei lavrov's mission to damascus comes just days after russia vetoed a u.n. security council resolution, attracting a great deal of criticism from the west. russia is serious's most prominent ally and there are close economic ties between the

two. a russian investments in syrian infrastructure are thought to be worth at least $20 billion. russia is expanding its use of the syrian naval base and has maintained arms supplies to damascus throughout this crisis. with me now from the city of .oms is of the bbc's paul wood tell us what the situation is like on the ground now. >> we just heard another artillery in fact. -- impact. pretty consistently from about 6:00 a.m., very much from the pattern of yesterday. we heard a lot of heavy machine gun fire as well. and that, we are told by local people, our tanks using the heavy machine guns to fire. and we have seen somebody just came in with pictures film within the past hour of four

russian tanks. and another two tanks some 400 meters away at a children's playground. i spoke to members of what is called the military council, part of the free army, they call themselves, who say they fought an engagement with government ground troops yesterday, preventing an incursion. they did not believe there will be another incursion of the moment. the sanctions are either use as artillery platforms or to fire heavy machine guns. >> at the moment, as you say, it is artillery, whether it is from tanks or not. but were there to be foot patrols coming in, it would change the whole collection of what is already, as you have been painting in the past couple of days, a very dangerous and difficult situation. >> that is what everybody fears here, that there will be a ground incursion. in fact, they expected.

i am not sure what the syrian government intends, whether they would risk this mounted infantry going house-to-house -- it takes a highly trained and motivated forces -- or continue heavy artillery or perhaps, in, and the scene and other parts, using armored vehicles and shooting from those vehicles. i put it to one of the free army fighters -- he had been a full colonel in the syrian army and only defective four days ago, which i think tells you something itself. he told me with in the syrian army, more rouse is collapsing. people do not like to see all of the civilians being killed. and in his words, they want to end the bloodbath. that is the hope he is putting in the situation because it is difficult to fight tanks and artillery when you just have a few rocket-propelled grenades. >> clearly your movements are restricted. but i just wondered if you have any sense of what it is like for the civilians you have been

talking about. how do they go about getting food, water, shopping, those kinds of things -- medical treatment, perhaps? >> to be very honest, we have been extremely cautious going out. those people who were killed have been on the streets. using things like airburst mortar shells to explode in the air and spread fragments everywhere. we have seen damage to this building and the building in this block. small children, as you can imagine, very distressed. things like bread -- they have to go to another part of homs and cross a junction. the man who transport to the injured and sometimes the bodies made a very daring dash -- da lesssh mike, somebody called in a suicide mission, across the

gentian to get a truck load of bread which is being distributed this morning. >> thank you very much and to stay safe. thank you. joinsc's steve rosenberg me now from moscow. steve, sergei lavrov, of the russian foreign minister, he arrived in damascus. we just heard from paul wood that the violence is still ongoing. he is taking a political risk because he could come away empty -- empty-handed. >> yes. and i have to say expectations are very low. the russian delegation may have been greeted as heroes upon arrival at damascus, but the arrival is easy. the difficult it is talking. moscow says it wants to secure a rapid stabilization of the situation in syria, but no detail how he is going to do that. we know sergei lavrov has brought with him a letter from president medvedev to president al-assad. we do not know what the contents are but the russians will hope

these talks some can lead to a normalization of this. -- normalization of syria. >> a carrot, if you like. do they have a stick that they can wave to damascus? >> russia believes it has a degree of influence on syria. relations have been pretty good and there was some speculation ahead of sergei lavrov's visit that the russian foreign minister may attend to persuade president assad to step down but it has been vigorously denied by the syrian ambassador in moscow today saying it will not happen, not in russia's plans, and that russia, he believes, simply wants to normalize the situation did >> all right, thank you very much. let's take a look at some of the other stories making headlines of from the world. the president of the maldives mohamed nasheed has resigned. he made the announcement on national television following

weeks of protest at the controversially ordered the arrest of the country that a top criminal court judge. as our correspondent reports, a remarkable fall from grace for a man who was once a political celebrity. >> protest in paradise have proved too much for the country's president. there have been weeks of political turmoil of this indian ocean archipelago no more as an idyllic holiday destination. the protest was sparked by government order to arrest a senior judge it accused of political bias and turned into a power struggle. it came to a head after troops and the police clashed when the police mutinied and announce -- made a demonstration of their own. the president was forced about the pressure. >> citizens of the maldives, as i feared i remain as president, there would be numerous repercussions and damage. for this reason i resigned as president from today.

i wish everyone a better future, and i have never believed in remaining in power by the use of force. >> it is all a far cry from 2008 when the former human rights campaigner and the three decades of rule by his political rival in the country's first multi- party election. he also worked hard to highlight the threats to the low lying maldives from climate change and rising sea levels. he famously conducted and underwater cabinet meeting to dramatize the issue. but with the television pictures showed more crowds gathering and reports of troop joining the protest, there seems no end in sight to the political standoff. the vice president has already been sworn in as the new leader, but in its new doubts about the maldives hopes for establishing a stable democracy. bbc news. >> the report in to terrorism threats in britain is warning of the growing danger of the so- called loan will operators. the report by the london think tank of the royal united services institute is one in

british militants fighting alongside extremist groups in somalia and nigeria or yemen may become a threat once they become -- returned to britain. the former president of cuba's fidel castro has made a rare appearance on television to promote his memoirs. 85-year-old also spoke about current issues, saying what happened in libya would not have been in a cuba. floodwaters are continuing to rise in parts of eastern australia. thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in queensland. the town of st. george from the worst hit. water levels are expected to peak today at least 15 meters higher than normal. now, no one said it was going to be easy but talks to secure a new international bailout for greece are proving even more difficult than expected. the country's own finance minister caught between the maneu for painful reforms and internal resistance to more austerity has called them highly pressurized. unions have called -- called a

general strike as leaders of the ruling coalition look for solutions to sign off the new financing deal. with me from athens is our correspondent. mark, firstly, the demonstrations, however going? >> it is awful weather here today in athens. so, the demonstration came and went pretty swiftly. a few hundred people gathered in the square from where i am speaking to, but scared off by the rain. a few small crowd still there with police guarding parliament. but the strike is still very much underway, 24-hour strike in the public and private sector, still showing the depth of anger and opposition. >> there is plenty of anger on the streets, but as greece -- do the negotiators really have a choice? >> in theory, they do, because

if greece were to not meet the conditions of the imf and eu of this country could have a disorderly default perhaps in three or four weeks and could eventually drop out of the euro. that is the theory. in practice, it is very unlikely to happen, partly because of the fear of what might happen were it to take place. the fear is that banks here would collapse, that savings in your larose would become worthless, as banks will send list of lending to greece and what not able to access the market. and beyond the borders, the fear among the is in eu lead to contagions and other indebted countries like portugal and ireland, they might look and say if greece can default on its debt -- debt, why can't we? a general lack of lending to countries like ireland, portugal, perhaps even italy. that is why it is not going to happen here because the fear of default, greece leaving the bureau, is simply too great at

this stage. >> thank you very much. still to come on "gmt" -- falling further than anyone has fallen before. it daredevil's -- a daredevil prepares for his latest stunt. a jump from the edge of space. >> time now for a quick look at some newspapers from around the world. the wife of syria's present a brief silence on the violence gripping the country in "the times of london." the paper says the british-born woman sent a carefully worded in the two officers in which she appears to offer support for her husband and calls for dialogue. the international herald tribune focuses on life in iran as well -- western-bank -- western- backed sanctions begin to bite. some panic in tehran were some people are apparently spun toward food and fuel. the gulf news reports on greece's missed the deadlines on the austerity measures, saying

there is still hope for a deal despite delays. and "the financial times" writes about dogfight over d. ehlibae -- over delhi, b. i.t. -- b to whenae and in dollar tender. is" from "gmt bbc world news. i'm george alagiah. our main store. in syria, thousands of us out supporters have lined the streets of damascus to greet russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov who is holding talks with the president. the army bombardment of the city of homs has not entered its fourth day. time now for the business news. .aron is here merger, xstrata

these are two giants in the industry. >> everything to do with this deal is big. glencore, the world's largest commodities trader timing up with xstrata. in this deal will create a new powerhouse in the commodities market and one of the world's largest producers of coal and zinc, and the largest producer of copper. and we know it is good news for shareholders, we know it will be good news for the executives of the companies, but not necessarily good news for the buyer of the loss of, china. china is concerned this deal will push up prices. the question i put to one expert -- why will this deal may commodity prices higher. here is the answer. >> simply because the organization will have more pricing power because it would be larger, would consume a larger volume of the world's resources, and because it seems that the management of this combined group -- a plan for

world domination. they will want to buy a lot of minds, they may want to buy another big mine called anglo- american. were read there was simply being less competition. >> also talked and european commission may be concerned. they may look at this deal on competition grounds. we will keep our eyes on that. >> bp -- a couple of years ago, deepwater horizon drowning in people accusing it of all sorts of things. now they have some -- profit figures out of looking good. >> staying with stuff that comes out of the ground. bp return to profit with a bit of a bang -- it made $7.6 billion and over all $24 billion, and a respectable turnaround given in 2010 they made an overall loss of 5 billion. no doubt, higher oil prices last year, which remained about $100 a barrel -- but they are not out of the woods yet when it comes

to the liabilities connected to what you mentioned, the 2010 gulf spill. bp hopes it will finalize the payments but there is a lot of legal action in particular with the u.s. government. >> thank you very much. tens of thousands of people were injured during libya's eight- month conflict last year. with proper treatment hard to come by in the country, the new interim government has promised to send abroad for treatment. but thousands of people will never saw combat have jump the queue, receiving free medical care and companies like egypt, tunisia, and jordan. jonathan had reports from tripoli that corruption is being blamed. >> libya's war may be over but not the ordeal of its wounded. this person tells his story. his cal was sprayed with bullets -- calf was sprayed with

bullets, shattering his leg. he has been waiting three months to get it fixed abroad. day after day they come here to the committee that decides who gets sent overseas. today only this doctor has shown up. he is besieged by angry patients. they protest that only well- connected people have been chosen. it is about -- what about us, they ask. >> this is my job. >> where is everybody else? and i don't know. >> these people need an answer, they need to know of faking the treatment and not. >> i don't know. >> thousands of libyans have been able to go abroad at the government's expense. tripoli airport is a busy place these days with more and more flight, enormous amount of libyans wanted to travel overseas. many of them have been traveling to take advantage of the generous government-funded medical treatment and for hospitals.

but, as it turns out, only a small proportion of those were actually wounded in battle. >> of these passengers have come back from jordan. for three months, the hospitals there have been filled to capacity with libyan patients. but most of them are families who went to jordan with routine ailments. some surprise to learn they can get all of their costs covered. >> give us all of the requirement money, hotels -- it has helped us really. >> the the government has now been forced to halt the scheme. it has been embarrassing and expensive blunder. you know how much money has been spent on this? >> yes. $800 million. >> that is a huge amount. >> it is. >> and we have 40,000 people -- >> and a lot of them all the wrong kind of patience. >> i would say at least 50%.

if you talk about wounded, about 10% or 15% were wounded. >> after all of the hardships, libyans expect a lot of the country. treating the wounded was supposed to be a top priority. but it went so wrong it has badly shaken confidence in the new era. >> it is the ultimate skydive. and austrian adventure is making the final preparations to jump from the very edge of space. he will leap from a balloon 23 miles high, 37 kilometers above the ground at the very point where the atmosphere ends and space begins. our science correspondent reports on this incredible challenge. >> this man will fall further than anyone has fallen before. later this year, felix will jump 23 miles. he will fall so fast he may even

a break the sound barrier. he will be taken up to the edge of space by balloons and side a capsule. when he jumps, all that will protect him is a pressurized suit. this pressure chamber shows just what happens at high altitudes. air expands. that is why your ears can feel painful when you take off and land in an airplane. raf fighter pilots can go much higher and are trained to cope. >> you need to be breathing at the point of decompression. >> but felix will be starting his based dive -- at much higher altitude than any pilot would dream to go -- four times higher, with the risk altogether are much greater. let's just see what happens at these extremely high altitudes. at these heights, water turns to

vapor. so, felix's pressure issue -- if it fails, his blood would literally begin to boil. >> you are doing great. >> so the suit and the capsule needs to be checked and check again. engineers have carried out their final test and say they are now ready for the jump. but even if the equipment all works, there will still be risks. >> he will be falling very fast, and he has to be sure that he remains stable so he does not spin, for example. as he falls through the atmosphere, although the temperature is very low at the altitude, as he falls through the atmosphere, the friction against the air itself may well have a heating affect on the suit. so, all of those have to be considered in the design and operation of the support system, which he has to wear. >> 50 years ago, captain joe -- of the u.s. air force said the current shrek or -- record of 20 miles for the highest ever

parachute jump. there was a leak in his right glove and he lost the use of his hand. but somehow he managed to deploy his chute and laid it safely -- just about. he had 1960's technology. felix baumgartner has much more. if anything does go wrong, he will have to rely on his wits as well as his equipment to keep him safe. >> incredible. a reminder of our top story on "gmt" -- russian foreign mr. sergei lavrov has been meetings. 's president bashar al-assad in the moscow -- in damascus. it comes as france and italy because their ambassadors the same day britain did the same in the united states closed its embassy in damascus. steering state television had shown crowd on the streets to welcome the russian foreign minister. that is all for this part. stay with the bbc world news

plenty more to come. >> make sense of international news -- at 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. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries.

what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles. presented by kcet los angeles.