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>> and now bbc "world news." damning report on libya a year after the revolution, the company awash with unruly militias. amnesty international said torture in the case of the militia carrying out a vendetta against gadhafi supporters. >> hello, welcome to "gmt." i'm george alleghi with news and opinion. another day, another city. syrian forces target dara on the jordanian border. in the next hour, we'll be talking to the princess. hamid karzai is in pakistan. can islamabad bring the taliban to the table? good day here in london,

early morning in new york, 2:00 p.m. in libya. where on the eve of the first anniversary of the uprising against colonel gadhafi, there's a warning about the statef the company. the rights group amnesty international said armed militias have threatened the security of libya. they say the rebel brigades that helped to topple gadhafi are now torturing those accused of supporting the regime. it accuses the national government of the lack of political will to deal with the militia. the bbc's gabriel gatehouse sent this report to tripoli. in benghazi, the celebrations have begun before the anniversary of the revolution that toppled gadhafi. but for thousands of people held in dell tension accused of loyalty to the regime, there's little to celebrate. amnesty international cataloged evidence of wide spread torture including beatings and whipping, people suspended in contorted positions and subjected to

electric shocks. in 12 case, human rights groups say prisoners have died under torture. amnesty international accuses the militias to be behind the abuses of the brigade rebel fighters who operate independently across the country. >> and they are not being held accountable for what they're doing and -- >> in the past few week, the bbc has seen corroborating evidence of torture and detention. this man, ibrahim mohammed ibrahim said he had been beaten with stick, chain, and metal pipes. he feels held in a town south of tripoli, he said, accused of being a gadhafi loyalist. in misrata, we vitzed inmates who said they were taken away and tortured. they were asked to patch up

torture victims. amnesty international is calling on the libyan government to rein in militias, take control of them. most of the armed troops obey nobody's orders except for those of their own commanders. one man told me in mizrata -- the man with the gun is the man with the power. gabriel gatehouse, bbc news, in tripoli. take a look at the other stories making news around the globe today. finance ministers calling for greater oversight for the 130 billion euro bailout package. he called for budget cuts last night. the whole process angered greeks as we've seen and the president has voiced his displeasure. the president hit out at the prime minister saying he was insulting greece. now there's suggestions but the ill feeling might be mutual.

stefani flaunders here. is there a change a suggestion to that it's time to let greece slip away. >> there's a feeling that they've gone to a death spiral, it's an exaggeration. but the dark rhetoric we've had from the germans and the others in effect cranking up the conditions on the greeks and they needed to if possible defer their elections and make sure they stuck with it made it that much harder for greek politicians who probably still do want this deal to go through to make the case to push it through. on the side of the european, there is a feeling that for them the perceived cost of the risk of allowing the greeks to default and leaving the euro are greater than they were a few months ago. banks reduced their exposure to greece, the market is singling greece out from the other, italy and spain may not be so

vulnerable. and the german, the cost of sticking with greece of allowing them to take the money when they feel that the greeks have not come through on their side of the bargain, they feel it's high now. the status quo is looking worse. >> all of this six months ago would have been unthinkable for people to think about this way. >> it's one of the things that couldn't be uttered out loud. but the central bank pumped more money to the system. so the fear we had at the end of last year that banks in italy or spain might run out of money if there was a panic, well, that has now receded. in a way, it made greece more vulnerable. the other countries have bought some time. greece looks exposed. >> there was a theory that if you let greece go, spain is next, italy. the whole domino thing, everything collapses. >> some say they're being a bit too -- i think most people, most european officials would rather not have this happen tomorrow. they do worry about europe having another lehman's moment,

remember when the american investment bank went, people thought that the markets were prepared for that. they thought they could control the contagion. turns out, they couldn't at all. the fear of the unknown is still there, but the fear of what's going on right now is high as well. >> on balance, your judgment, despite this war of words, they want a deal -- they want the greeks inside the tank as it were. >> they want a deal. but this atmosphere is starting to make it harder. they're starting to lose control of the timetable and the details. you have a complex negotiation of private investors trying to lower the debt stock of greece and at the same time lowering the negotiation of the bailout. it's a complicated thing. if they want it to happen, you fear that the rhetoric and the timing is allowing a lot of rumor. >> thank you. the afghan president hamid

karzai said the government and the united states started talks with the taliban. it's the first time he acknowledged publicly that talking to taliban is taking place. until then, the taliban refused to have any dealings with mr. karzai's government describing it as a regime. he's talking to pakistani leaders and president ahmadinejad of iran. the key question with the trilateral meeting with the isrealies, the pakistanis in pakist pakistan, is pakistan willing and able to deliver the taliban to the table? is it in their power to do so? >> well, in terms of what it's able to do, it probably is. it has considerable sway over not just elements of it in the taliban in terms of the hakani network, for example, who have bases within pakistan, but also

has senior leadership on the taliban as a whole, more likely to be present here in pakistan. so they probably do have that capability. that's why hamid karzai seized them as key in this process and this process will fail without pakistan onboard. but whether they have the willingness of pakistan to put pressure on the taliban, up until now, it's been uncertain. but the mood here appears to be they are starting to ask those senior leaders here in pakistan that perhaps participating in this process might be a good idea. but perhaps also that pakistan and afghanistan themselves need to look at a parallel process through a talk to the taliban which doesn't involve the americans. >> isn't there a suggestion that within pakistan, there are differences of opinion? i mean, this is crude, but largely the difference between the political class and the military over what to do with

the taliban? >> absolutely. when we talk about putting pressure on the taliban, we talk about the military and the intelligence agency, the very powerful intelligence agency. to some extent, the political class is showing themselves to be an irrelevant really when it comes to those talks with the taliban in the past. but, you know, as you said in the introduction, there are many in the taliban who still do not see the need to talk to the kabul government and the americans. they feel they can go the whole way when the international troops leave in a couple year's time and they can control afghanistan again. there's no clarity about what the end result can be. is it reconciliation that the taliban has given. you see in the cabinet in kabul or regions of kabul to govern. we're in the embryonic stages at the moment. there's no certainty that the process will produce results.

>> all right, thank you very much. thank you. the u.n. general assembly is set to condemn the violence in syria to be held later in new york. the measure is almost certain to pass although it doesn't carry the same weight of a security council resolution, it's a show of support for an arab plan for transition in syria. in other news, foreign minister discussing in syria the chinese counterpart said it's sending a minister to the country to negotiate the violence. let's deal with this u.n. general assembly vote. i mean on the ground, it's largely irrelevant. just symbolic? >> that's right. it's not going to make any difference at all. what it will do is re-emphasize once again the sharp differences dividing the security council

for both. and, of course, the russians and chinese featured a very similar resolution there. the russians are going to change that the resolution is before the u.n. general assembly. but it's doubtful that the arab league would want that to happen. but it's the same issue with russia and the chinese trying to protect the regime from any suggestion of imposed regime change from outside. that is what it is about. the russians want to see that. and they will do everything as far as we can see just like the french foreign minister meeting with the russian counterpart very shortly despite all of those pressures. the russians show no sign of flinching from the basic strategic objective. >> what do you make of this from the deputy foreign minister of china now going to damascus? >> well, i think obviously the chinese don't want to see as purely tagging along with the russians. they want to be seen as trying

to do something. they held talks last week in beijing with one of the syrian opposition factions. so they're talking about trying to play an immediatating role. they're not quite as ambitious to think they could pull some rabbit out of the hat. they want the meeting to be healthy. they are promoting dialogue. the word dialogue has completely disappeared from the lexicon of the syrian opposition or indeed of the western powers supporting them. they're not talking about dialogue, they're basically saying that the regime has to go and we can talk about transitional arrangements after that. >> briefly, jim. what about the suggestion on the ground. we heard reports that dara now again focusing the attention from the syrian security force s? >> that's right. it's practically all points of the compass, the hostility is going on, dara in the far south where the whole thing began in the middle of march up further north near hama, a town called fern nabud has been the place of

quite a battle. the syrian army, eight or ten there, plus civilians. more shelling, and also reports of violence near the border with iraq in the east. so pretty much all over the place, or certainly in many, many places. and syria prepairing for a referendum on a new constitution in ten days' time. >> all right, jim, thank you for that update. dozens of tibetan activists have attacked police outside of the complex in delhi. they were prevented by entering by police forces. after a brief scuffle, they were detained and taken away. tie labbed's police chief confirmed that the iranians arrested after setting off an explosive cache in bangkok were

trying to attack an israeli diplomat. eight palestinian children were killed when an israeli truck hit a school bus on a road in the west bank. a spokesman said 30 were injured. the wounded were taken to hospital in the west bank city of ramallah and in israel. still to come on "g.m.t.," north korea plays homage to its leader, kim jong-il, in what would have been his 70th birthday. let's take a look at what newspaper headlines are around the world. the international herald tribune warns europe that iran can cut off experts if sanctions for the nuclear program. iran unveiled what it claims are technological advances. who will lead the world bank after robert zelick steps down in june.

growing economies like china are likely to call for a break in that particular tradition. we're covering nicholas sako's presidential campaign saying he wants reforms for a strong front. the president announced his candidacy on wednesday night. women in britain are losing their jobs at a faster rate than men according to a column in "the independent." female unemployment is at the worse in 23 years. the moscow times will discuss what will happen after hiv programs are phased out in russia. this is "g.m.t." from bbc world news. the headlines -- amnesty international said armed militia groups are acting with impuniti, threatening the security of libya. as the opposition continues the strong holds in syria, china

wants to send an envoy to mediate. time now for the business news, juliet foster is here. let's turn to moody's. the credit rating agency. it's giving a warning about 17, right? >> 114 european financial institutions, hardly a surprise given what's happening in the wider group picture. that justification, the credit worthiness of the country in which some of these institutions are faced. to give you an idea of who the banks are, we're talking about the likes of barclay's, the likes of goldman sachs. we're talk ugh about credit suisse, for example. now, it's interesting because the timing is bad, but the concern that moody's is that countries that are very, very vulnerable which needs to borrow money, like italy, for example, the whole business will raise the cost of their borrowing. that's the point at a time when

the talks recently were going down. >> we see the italian ten-year sovereign debt yield drift down from 7% back down to the low 5% region which means it's slightly cheaper for italy to borrow money. we refocus on greece in the slight fears of contagion, the domino effect saw that yield creep back up again to 5.7%. >> moody's said they might downgrade. so if the revolution is found in the greek situation, then maybe it could be contagious. we'll have to wait and see. >> we see the friction between argentina and britain on the falkland islands. there's a report groeling a grenade in the whole thing. >> looking at the falkland's future, if you like. a lot of it is derived from agriculture and fishing, etc. a research company looked at the work of a number of different

companies. they looked at the prospect of oil. they found two fields in the north. sea lion has the capacity to produce 120 billion barrels in the next 20 years. but the field in the south has everyone excited. he said the potential in the south is massive. >> the yield is going to be the southern basin and the two companies there going to be drilling four wells into those places. that's kicked off at the end of january. over the next six months, they're going to be targeting 8 billion barrels of oil, 20 times what was previously discovered. >> remember, it would be a risky investment if it happens. it's forecast to back off because of bad politics between britain and argentina. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. 24 hours after a fire that killed more than 350 inmates at prison in honduras, relatives are still waiting to hear who's died and who's survived. the world's worst disaster for

more than a century. in its wake, the director of the prison system and the governor of the prison have been suspended. from the scene, will grant sent this report. >> 24 hours on from the firing and the dead are still being brought out. more than 350 inmates lost their lives in the blaze in one of the worst ever prison fires. this is the grim scene, body bag after body bag loaded to trucks to take to the morgue. just a few hundred meters outside of the burned out system, the loved ones of the prisoners are waiting december prittly for more news. the prison system is one of the worst in the world. and many believe an event of this magnitude is always waiting to happen. but that little comfort to these people. [ speaking spanish ] >> not many survived and i

didn't find his name in the list of survivors. i expect a miracle from god he's not dead. >> but as well as grieving, the families are also angry. they say the authority did not do enough to save their loved ones. once the fire was out, they accused them of holding information. conflicting stories have emerged and some officials saying the blaze was started by the inmate, others suggesting it ma have been an electrical fault. the president has promised a full investigation. other members of the country has not tried to defend the inadequate prisons, but they freely admit they are overcrowded and in need of complete reorganization. >> there's no room for trying to avoid responsibility as a country. this is a lesson that we have to learn. and this is as the president say, we cannot accept this and

we will not accept this. that's why we have to go very deep into details to exactly what happened, why it happened, to avoid that it doesn't happen again. >> the human rights groups say the honduran government has been here before. as recently as 2004, there was a prison fire in which 100 inmates died and the then government promised there would never be a repeat. a horrific fire which got this small rural community under the global spotlight suggest those lessons have never been learned. will grant, bbc news, honduras. and from more on the honduran prison fire, head to the website. we put together a selection of powerful images showing the rescue of some of the inmates who were fortunate enough to escape that inferno. now, a court in china sentenced the former top football referee to five years

in jail for taking bribes to fix matches. twice named referee of the year by the asian football federation, he dubbed the golden whistle, admitted taking more than $100,000 in bribes to fix the results of seven games including international friendlies. our correspondent michael bristow was more. >> he was china's top football referee. for two years, he was awarded the referee of the year by the asian football confederation are. he's also the first chinese referee to take charge of a world cup match in 2002. he's now being sent to prison, though, for 5 1/2 years for accepting bribes totalling more than $100,000 to fix seven top flight football matches here in china. he's one of nine people, including other referees and football administrators who went on trial in the northern city of

dandong. his trial one of many pending at the moment. and it's the result of an investigation launched by the chinese football association to clean up the support here in china. for years, it's been blighted by allegations of match fixing. companies withdrew sponsorship. fans transferred their support to fallen team, even in europe. and the broadcasting company refused to show top flight matches here in china last season. there's renewed interest in the support here in china. and the chinese football association will be hoping that this conviction today and others which could follow over the coming weeks will mean corruption will be put behind football and they can look forward to a better game in the future. >> north korea is marking what could be the 70th birthday for

kim jong-il who died in december. his son has been a leading in the military parade in the capital of pyongyang where the statue of the late leader was unveiled. >> north korea is having to pack a lot into the ceremonies these days. here on the 70th anniversary of his birth, the country's late ruler back to share the limelight with his youngest son. he has big shoes to fill. events like this designed to help him do it. so, today, on his dad's birthday, north korea's new leader got a pledge of allegiance from the army. his dad got fireworks and flowers. kim jong-il has already received several birthday gifts from the nation. a big bronze statue in the capital, commemorative gold coin, a giant carving in the

side of the mountain, as much about bolstering his son's hold on power as honoring the dear leader, some say. but kim jong-il has looked thoroughly at home in his new role, taking the standing ovation in stride, even motioning to those standing behind be him. it's impossible to tell from outside of the country, even from here in south korea, just how much influence kim jong-en has over his father's come raids. but it's a chance top emphasize yet again the unique authority of the kim family name and the thin but priceless credentials of the new young leader. bbc news, seoul. that's all for the moment. stay here with us on bbc world news. i'll be speaking with prince's son of jordan about the unfolding crisis in neighboring syria.

>> make sense of international news at 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?

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