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>> and now "bbc world news." >> unfinished business. one year after the protests in bahrain, activists and security forces prepared for another showdown security forces are deployed around the country on tuesday. >> hello and welcome to gmt. i am george alagiah, with a world of news and opinion. also in the program -- europe goes capt. and hand it to china. warm words from beijing, but still those signs it will put up the cash to rescue the eurozone. the libyan town overwhelmed by african migrants inen route.

it is midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, and an 3:00 p.m. in bahrain, where there's a tense standoff between security forces and activists. thousands of police have taken up around the capital, manama, especially the square the became a symbol of resistance last year. the rulers still face pressure from the majority shia community of more calling for reform. >> tear-gas and grenades have marked the first anniversary of bahrain's uprising. thousands of mostly shiite protesters have been trying to converge on the site formerly known as pearl roundabout. it was supposed to be illegitimate, peaceful process of democracy. -- to be a legitimate, peaceful

process of democracy. many in bahrain have condemned the protest. >> there are two problems in bahrain. the first is the inequality between bahrainis [inaudible] all these issues are the major issues in bahrain. sometimes, there are wars. >> the king of bahrain commission and international report. it promised sweeping reforms. senior lawmakers and policemen have been brought in from outside. cameras have been installed and police stations -- installed in police stations. these demonstrators state some of those have still not been reinstated. the shiite majority suffered discrimination. the government has been slow to

redress this. the rest of the country is growing increasingly weary with the nightly clashes an ongoing civil disorder. >> with a man in the studio is a -- with me in the studio is a bahrain spokesman. it is the first anniversary. why is the government so worried about activists turning up at parole roundabout? -- at pearl roundabout? >> the government understands the difference. the government guarantees the right of freedom of protest, but there is a line. it does not condemn acts of violence. could simply going to pearl roundabout is not simply a

violent end. it is protesters wanted to go to the place where they gathered one year ago. >> that location is the gateway to the capital, the gateway to the financial sector. to disrupt the free flow of traffic and raise concerns about entering the area has a significant impact on the economy. it is almost similar to occupying actual wall street. it does more destruction than opinion. >> given what happened one year ago, what changes have taken place? what can you point to to say bahrain is a country on the road to change? >> a lot of people are claiming that not much has opened -- has happened. in the beginning, it was

initially extended and in february. that inquiry held that it could have led to significant political and economic reform. it was rejected. one of the reasons was the the opposition perceived it could have made more gains through the streets. >> to be fair, if the opposition were year, they would say they did not believe the dialogue would lead to any change. for example, the prime minister of bahrain has been there so long -- as long as anyone can remember. in fact, he has been there longer than the king. that is hardly democracy. >> it would be very difficult to argue that the political climate bahrain has remained stagnant. we had the constitutional amendment in 2002.

as a result of the national dialogue in june, we have proposed constitutional amendments, which the king announced last month in january, which is basically a reflection of consensus. >> would those constitutional amendments and lead to what the protesters want, which is democracy? in other words, they get to decide who is going to rule them. >> the king announced last week that democracy is not just a form of government. it is also a culture. it's not a threshold. it's also a process of transition. the of always valued the look and continue to keep the door open -- they have all les valued dialogue and continue to keep the door open. the opposition has been calling

for reform for years and it has rejected every reform initiative since february. it's hard to see that in the productive light, a constructive light. >> thank you very much for being on gmt. thank you. syrian troops have continued their assault on the city of h oms in what activists described as the heaviest shelling and days. these pictures were apparently killed in homs, in the center of the uprising. troops loyal to president bashar al-assad have been shelling for renee week -- for more than a week. the head of the the arab league has called again for the killing in syria to stop. >> what happens in syria is now something that we believe should stop. the killing should stop.

the main purpose of the revolution was to stop the killings renown. -- killing right now. the people have the right to demonstrate, but they should not be shot ouat. >> now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world. senior european and chinese officials have confirmed their determination to move relations forward as europe tries to tackle its debt crisis. speaking never talks in beijing with the chinese premier, the eu presidents of the two sides were committed to turning what he described as their in economic interdependence to the benefit of both china and the eu. >> we welcome the positive attitude and engagement in china and premier wen have taken

publicly towards the stability of the eurozone and the european union. we also welcome china's readiness to enhance cooperation of the stability of the eurozone. with premier wen, trade is a key component. >> of our correspondent joins me live now from beijing. martin, warm words, as you would expect from beijing. when it comes to the business of hard cash, we did not get much, did we? >> that is why warm words, but we did not see the chinese leader digging into his pockets. the eu leaders are in town. obviously, the back stroke is the continued economic crisis in europe. this summit was supposed to be held last year. it was postponed because of the financial crisis, which

is still going on today. what with european leaders like to see what would european leaders like to see? -- what would european leaders like to see? president obama has made very -- premier wen jiabao has made very warm words. as of yet, we've had no firm commitment that china is willing to invest in european government bonds. >> when van rompuy talks about interdependency, he has a point. there's not much for china's economy if the rest of the world and europe is going downhill. >> the eurozone is the biggest economy in the world. it is china's biggest trade partner. trade is over 1 billion euros every day. china is the largest exporter in the world.

interestingly, a report came out last week from the imf. it warned that if the eurozone crisis deepens, it could have a huge impact in china. it says the growth in china could be half this year, if the recession deepens within the european union. >> martin, thank you very much. thank you. police in thailand say a man they believe to be an iranian has lost both his legs in a bomb explosion. reports say he was carrying the bomb in the busy streets of the capital, bangkok, when it exploded. there had been to earlier explosions at the house he was renting in the city. our security correspondent is here. i know these details are still coming in. can you give us what we know so far? >> the has been an explosion in the house in central bangkok -- there has been an explosion in

the house in central bangkok. men have fled. we think they were carrying grenades. one exploded close to him and appeared to have taken his legs off. police believe they have found iranian identity documents. for a news -- >> do we know more than that? >> the police are suggesting that quite strongly. the house where the initial explosion was also written to -- also rented to iranians -- that is the thought. whether it was a large-scale terrorist attack, which got foiled. >> let's go down that path. if the thai police are right, there will be all sorts of connections to what happened in delhi. >> there was a group stopped in

january in thailand who were thought to be linked to iran and hezbollah. >> this is the arms cache. >> exactly. that was discovered the. this could be linked to them. yesterday, we had these bomb attacks on israeli diplomat cars in georgia and india. is what happened today part of that? yesterday, the israeli prime minister was clear that he thought those attacks were carried out by iran. is there a wider campaign going on? it is speculation of the moment, but it is certainly a possibility. >> gordon, thank you very much. thank you. still to come on gmt -- a body of whitney houston is welcomed home to the state of new jersey in preparation for her funeral later this week.

>> now it is time for a look at some front pages from around the world. the business section of britain's "daily telegraph" focuses on the warning from credit agency ratings agency moody's. the paper says germany once more information on the debt deal done in athens before it releases the funds. the international herald tribune business pages looks at calls for the chinese to purchase eu debt ahead of today's meeting. and forget chocolate and flowers. "the south china morning post" says chinese lovers are going for gold. the precious metal is a better symbol of long lasting romance.

>> this is gmt from "bbc world news." i am george alagiah. the headlines -- bahrain security forces ring pearl roundabout to stop protesters from occupying it on the anniversary of the uprising. looking for a loan? european leaders seeking chinese help in raising money for its debt bailout. time now for the business news, or an update, anyway. let's start with moody's. this is the ratings agency and it was struck their own. -- and it was struck down. >> to track this eurozone crisis. the markets have been unimpressed. they have always love to have been behind the curve. and they have not appreciated

the gravity of the situation. you have this gridlock between rock album and his congress basically over some money -- between barack obama end his congress basically over some money. tomorrow, you have the eurozone finance ministers meeting. jonathan though? >> finance ministers are meeting tomorrow discussing greece in will they approve the bailout? i could see this as a nudge. this is also good time for publicity for moody's, of course. i think we will see approval by the european finance ministers. whether it is related to today's news or not, i do not know, but i still think they have to make the move. >> timing is everything. it's worth noting that there are some italian bond auctions to be taking place against the backdrop of that damage. >> how about european leaders in

china? >> europe is a very important market. remember, 40% of china's gdp arises from exports, goods, and services. china is also one of the largest reserves of currencies. they need to have this whole situation stabilized. nobody wants to hold the money. the chun expert believes that if china lends this money, -- the chinese expert believes that if china loses money, they will do it through the imf, basically so they will get repaid. >> it's an uncertain structure governed by the european states themselves. if you contrast that to the imf , you're talking about in international organization. you have a cast-iron guarantee.

>> the imf is like the lender of last resort. if china does decide to dig deep, how much money will they throw into the eurozone pot? >> anything else about the markets? >> you would think that we would see them going down. the have not done that. if you look of the downgrade -- it is not inevitable that britain will lose its aaa rating to the legs of spain, portugal, and in believe -- tripling rating. for the likes of spain, portugal, italy, it's no surprise there. >> the person who carried out the bomb attack on monday was very well trained. israeli officials defused a

second car bomb in the georgian capital. the minister describe the deli incident as a terrorist -- the delhi incident as a terrorist attack. >> a very well-trained person has committed this attack. it's also credible to believe that the target was the israeli diplomats's wife. therefore, one has to proceed on the basis that it was a terrorist attack. >> authorities are seeking to question the former president over his decision to order the arrest of one of the country's top judges, which led to his else steve from power last week. police -- which led to his ousting last week. he has refused to give a statement. the nasa space agency says it will pull out of upcoming

missions to mars because of budget reductions. the agency says it will withdraw from joined voyages to mars with the european space agency scheduled for 2016 and 2018. these missions were to bring back soil samples in efforts to see if there are signs of life there. nasa says its new priorities are building a successor to the hubble telescope. >> dealing with a growing influx of migrants from sub-saharan africa. the authorities say they have been overwhelmed by the numbers of people crossing the border every day. those who are intercepted often end up isolated detention centers. correspondent met some of the detainees. >> the road runs south into the vastness of africa, bringing trade to libya, but also

growing numbers of illegal migrants. this is the main checkpoint between the desert in the capital of tripoli. they just felt a nigerian couple in this car -- just found and nigerian couple in this car with no visas. they question the man. they come for work, he says. nothing more. black africans are viewed with suspicion now. many of them fought for gaddafi. they cost more. the authorities here say there are hundreds trying to get through every day. they can barely cope. >> a little bit of money. >> he is 23. it is his first time and libya and he and his friends have paid a lot to come this far, all in

the hope of a better living. most of the africans we have seen detained here appeared to be no more than economic migrants desperate for work. understandably nervous -- among them, and there could be khaddafi loyalists coming in to cause trouble on the anniversary of last year's uprising. bay are running out of space to keep them. more than 600 are being held in this isolated detention center with just a handful of volunteers to guard them and very little fun the. funding -- very little funding. >> the, in big numbers. -- they come in big numbers. >> each of these still cautious -- these steel shed house about

50 men. >> no communication. we must communicate with their families so they know we are a life. >> [speaking foreign language] >> we do not get enough to eat and we're all sick, says this the sparing man -- this man. the guards say they are just as desperate to get these migrants of their hands, but they cannot simply release them. it's a humanitarian challenge. libya's leader are unequipped to meet it. >> the body of the american singer, whitney houston, has been taken from california to rome state of new jersey, where her funeral is expected to take place. the 48-year-old died on saturday after being found unconscious at a beverly hills hotel. >> a private plane brought whitney houston on her final

journey from los angeles back to her home in new jersey. her body was escorted to a funeral home ahead of the wake and service of remembrance, which are expected to take place in newark at the end of the week. in los angeles, fans continued to leave tributes outside the beverly hilton hotel where she died on saturday afternoon. although the cause of her death is not yet certain, police gave more details of how she was found. >> miss huston was apparently discovered in her bathtub by a member of her personal staff. this is information that was related to the first responder that came onto the scene. her body was pulled from the bathtub and when first responders arrived on the scene, she was unconscious and unresponsive. >> a los angeles coroner says some medication was found in her hotel room, but said it could be

weeks before toxicology results reveal the precise cause of her death. >> for remains have been removed. the family is taking care of her arrangements. >> they quickly took her body to the airport for the long journey home. there was speculation that the provincial center arena in newark could be where her family, friends, and fans go to pay their last respects. >> and now a reminder of our top stories on gmt there is growing tension in bahrain, where opponents of the government are marking the first entry of democracy demonstrations. bulletssed euro burubber against protesters. in the capital, manama, thousands planned to march around pearl roundabout, the focus of last year's demonstrations. that is all for the moment. stay with us on "bbc world news."

as ever, there is plenty more to come. >> make sense of international news. bbc.com/news. >> funding was 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.