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>> the international red cross is denied access to the syrian city of homs, but the refugees fleeing the city under cover of darkness bearing tales of revenge and retribution. we have a special report from inside syria. >> it is freezing. a house with no electricity. they are wondering what has happened to their father. >> hello and welcome. a world of news and opinion. also, there's mounting criticism of russia's presidential election. international monitors say that vladimir putin's victor was not

fair. >> although all contestants were able to campaign, the conditions were clearly still in favor of one candidate. >> barack obama's message as he prepares to meet the israeli prime minister, now was not the time to strike iran. it's midday in london, early morning in washington, 2:00 in the afternoon in the syrian city of homs. the international red cross and red crescent have been denied access to the city for a fourth day. and therefore you are-we bombardment until rebel fighters pulled out last week. fears that the syrian troops might seek revenge on those still left in the city. men are being dragged away from their families and being killed opposition. activists say that 4000 people have left the city. our correspondent and cameramen have sent this exclusive report

from the outskirts of homs. >> on a road out of homs, , just part of the exodus. they had weeks under bombardment and then fled, panicked before troops arrived. >> we are homeless. why? because we asked for freedom? >> people are terrified of what the government forces will do now. this group walked three days to avoid the soldiers. >> here's why. whoever is taken as a checkpoint will be killed. >> they took our husbands at

the checkpoint. they will slaughter them like sheep. >> everyone shares the same fear that their husbands are not coming back. for now they are on their own with nothing. it is absolutely freezing. the kids us tonight in a house with no heat or electricity more. than that, they are wondering what on earth has happened to their father. this family says they have witnessed the massacre. on friday, troops took 36 men and boys from one district, killing them all, they say. cut. son's throat was he was 12. >> one soldier held each of them

down with a boot and the other came with a knife at her husband. he was hiding 50 meters away. i could hear their screams, she said. i begged my father not to open the door, she said. he said, why, i have not done anything? i saw them pushing him to the ground and killing him. four men were taken from her house, saisehhe said. >> my father is just one of many who died. >> can such horror stories be true? these men defected from an elite army unit last week. they told me that civilians were targeted, prisoners killed. >> lieutenant gave us the orders. we were told in this operation, shoot at anything that moves.

civilian or military, shoot at it. >> an old man was arrested, he told me. an officer made him kneel. he put a gun to his head. he said this is for freedom, and he shot him. the people say that they are victims of a crime. the outside world will want proof. briefly they defied the regime. now they are scattered, their uprising crushed. there is international outrage, but no agreement about how to bring it to an end. bbc news, outside homs. >> let's look at some other stories. observers from the organization for security and cooperation in

europe have described the voting that returned vladimir putin for another term as russian president as clearly skewed in his favor. at a news conference held in moscow, the observer's spokesman said there were serious problems with the democratic process. >> although all contestants were able to campaign, the conditions for the campaign were clearly skewed in favor of one candidate. also, overly restrictive, candidate registration requirements limited genuine competition. while all candidates have access to media, only one candidate, the current prime minister, was given a clear advantage in the coverage. state resources were mobilized at the regional level in his support. >> that was some of the monitors speaking. vladimir putin has yet to respond to. those to but he claimed a resounding victory. he had tears in his eyes as he

spoke to supporters in moscow. the opposition if is calling for a mass demonstration in the city later on monday. this report. >> apparently with tears in his eyes, russia's strongma vladimir putin was quick to appear before his supporters in moscow and declared victory. >> we have won in an open and honest struggle. >> crowd chanting his name. >> i promised you we would win, and we have one. glory to russia if. >> not far away in the moscow cafe, one of his most threatening opponents was also holding court. a blogger and opposition leader pledging mass protests in the coming weeks and months.

>> a substantial number of russian citizens, first of all residents of big cities, do not recognize these elections as legitimate and do not recognize vladimir putin as the president of the country. the authorities have resorted to an unprecedented falsification and rigged elections. >> the opposition has held a series of demonstrations in recent months, unprecedented in size. these are sparked by evidence that the parliamentary elections in december had been rigded. this evening they will be the first protests following sunday's votes. in the capital of siberia, the opposition had been hoping to hold their protest in this square. but in one has become a familiar tactic, if the authorities say they cannot because the square is reserved for a rally by the ruling party. bbc news, russia. >> let's get more analysis on this.

we will speak with the vice president of the russian center for political studies and has also worked with the ruling united russia party. thanks very much for being with us. what is your reaction to what the monitors have been saying? >> we must take into account the presidential elections in the past 20 years, these elections were the most free in the history of modern russia. this happened thanks to the enthusiasm and zeal of tens of thousands of civic activists who participated as observers. for international observers, this is a happy hour and they have performed their job. nobody denies that the election system and system of democracy in russia should be further improved and become more sophisticated. >> but there were problems. >> of course there were problems.

some opposition leaders say that 3000 or 4000 cases of fraud and violations occurred. but everybody understands that and everybody recognizes that fraud could not have a substantial or significant impact on the overall result of the election. >> would you expect that president putin will order an investigation into these thousands of allegations? >> of course he should do that. he spoke many times during the campaign to the mayor russian public that he is the last person who would like to have an unfair elections. he is not interested in rigging. his signal today was clear. he would like law enforcement agencies to start the investigation. >> we just heard our

correspondent saying that the opposition wants to hold a rally and suddenly they are told the ruling party supporters will hold a rally. it may not be fraud, but it's giving advantage always to the manpower. -- man in power. >> democracy in russia is young and is progressing. i'm sure that even opposition leaders would like to have demonstrations. they can do it tomorrow or the day after tomorrow or any day this week. and there will be a chance to speak for anyone. that's for the ruling party and for the opposition. >> thanks very much for being with us. iranian nuclear program will dominate talks between the u.s. president and the israeli prime minister later. president obama used an address to pro-israel lobby group to

pledge his support for israel but has warned against talk of war with iran. >> for the sake of israel opposes security and american security and the peace and security of the world, now is not the time for bluster. now is not the time to let increased pressure sink in and ad sustain the brought - international coalition we have formed. now's the time to speak softly, carry a big stick, in the words of teddy roosevelt. >> joining me from jerusalem is a correspondent for the economist magazine. david, there's president obama saying to speaks softly but carry a big stick. he is saying let's hold on. is that message likely to be

taken by prime minister benjamin netanyahu? >> it have to be given the sense of dependence is rail has of united states. it cannot go ahead against the expressed wishes of the president of united states. at the same time -- and this is the exquisite balance which was noticeable in the president's speech yesterday, president obama said at the end of the day it is up to benjamin netanyahu to decide what is the ultimate national interest, so leaving the door slightly ajar. he has to do that. he must keep the pressure on iran to keep diplomatic and economic actions working. so there's that balance. rael's said "is

dependence." many people would be surprised that an independent state cannot go off and decide to strike iran, that is too dependent on america to do that on its own. people would be surprised at that. >> i would go beyond that to say ultimately if it is planning a iran,gy of aattacking it would hope to draw the united states into the conflict. it could begin an operation against iran, but if it were to have long-term success and it really suppress the iranian nuclear program and nuclear ambitions for a long time, they would have to get the united states engaged. that is the basis of the eight israeli strategy and underpins the poised dialogue between

obama and benjamin netanyahu. >> thanks for joining us. we have to leave it there. still to come,'s premier wen opens the national people's congress as he paves the way for new generation of leaders. premier.s now a brief look at stories making headlines around the world. let's begin with the moscow times, its front page dedicated to of presidential elections in russia. it reported allegations it fraud spread rapidly by social networking web sites. the china daily looks at beijing defense spending ahead of the annual national people's congress. military spending has increased but not by as much in previous years. there's a striking image on the

front page of the gulf news purportedly showing children fleeing a neighborhood in homs. the article says china has called for an immediate cease- fire in syria but remains opposed to any international intervention. the financial times says the european union will press ahead with plans to increase the proportion of women on corporate boards with quotas. this is gmt. the headlines -- as the people of homs flee the city, the lacrosse is denied access for the fourth consecutive day. international monitors say that vladimir putin's victory in russia was not fair. time for business news. jamie is here. you want to stay with russia.

>> the russian stock market is up the last seven months. it has done well. they like the idea of stability. but there has been worry about vladimir putin's ability to deliver on economic reforms. that the economy is still very export-oriented, very dependent on the oil price. whether he can start to change that and diversified economy, which has been talked about a great deal, but whether he can get around to doing it is a different matter. the way in which he actually tries to transform the economy will require increased taxes and possibly taxes on oil exports, and it is not clear at the moment exactly how he will be will to do it or whether he can do it. this is what an analyst talked- about, the possibility of

russians perhaps withdraw investments from russia, taking money out of russia and what the consequences would be. >> russians don't trust their government and don't trust the economy. if russians are taking money out, what does that mean for russia? it's not but there's not enough money. what it means is there is less modern technology and less and less managerial tactics are coming into russia. >> the consequences of that, people withdrawing cash and investments from russia, could be quite severe. it's long some worries and not immediate worries. >> in china, the premier has been talking about the growth rate of 7.5% and is disappointed. >> yes, we would love to have 7.5%. you need about 8% in china

because of the growing population. if you do not produce 7.5% or 8%, it's difficult to know whether the country can thrive on that. >> these things give us insight into the direction of the country, the way the country is going and gives us insight into what they are concerned about. one of the concerns is inflation. we read almost every day about uprisings in the chinese countryside. what really keeps chinese leaders awake at night is what could potentially go on in cities if on incap inflation. if they cannot cap inflation of people that earn salaries and live in cities, that could cause major disturbances in chinese cities as we saw over 20 years ago. >> it is important what you said, because we tend to think of china as an ever-growing

economy? with no problems. under the surface there are serious borrowing problems that the government is trying and succeeding at the moment to keep under control. >> thanks very much. we will stay with china. prime minister wen has opened the annual session of parliament with what is largely regarded as a state of the nation speech. his report touched on the economy, land rights, and military spending. but the undoubted focus of the meeting will be the leadership transition. he on the verge of retiring away from the public eye. senior officials will be jockeying for places on the standing committees of the politburo, the nine member team that effectively runs the country. a professor of history and politics of modern china at oxford university is joining us. thanks for being with us. i want to get on to the politics, but very quickly, it how worried do you think the

leadership would be enough with this growth rate? we have just heard jimmy robertson talking about that it needs to be 8% just to keep providing what it has already provided its people? >> i think they will be concerned, but not hysterical. they know china still does not have full democratic legitimacy and nobody voted for these people. economic growth is central to them keeping their right to rule. they will keep a close eye on that question. >> i mentioned this mentionedperiod i that we thisn, it has always been managed beautifully as far as the leadership there is concerned, they have managed, you might say. is it going to be that smooth? it's a tricky at times making transitions? >> probably in the autumn of this year the transition will be pretty smoke. one of the improvements of deng xiaoping was that he managed to move from the cultural

transition of mao with a lot of peace.e to there's the question of social unrest and whether or not the system can last another 10 years as it has done for the last 20 or 30 years. >> at the moment it seems to be it if you keep the economy you ng to extend use ex, suppress the frustrations rather than political reforms. >> i think there will be political reform but not as we know it. not so much the introduction of multi-party elections. but maybe the media may have the next task for the party, opening up social media.

very different party from the party of chairman mao. i would not bet against them being able to find some way to do it, but they will have to keep a lid on social dissent. >> very briefly, what difference would it makes for those of us living outside china, the rest of the world? >> we need to look out for china taking bolder steps in technology, the environment, becoming more of a global citizen. we should welcome that but make sure the rules are understood the same way on all sides. >> thanks very much for being with us. gunman in iraq disguised as police have killed at least 25 members of the security forces in attacks on checkpoints anin homs and haditha before dawn this morning. our correspondent in baghdad and

has more. >> started at 2:00 in the morning when groups of armed men stormed the town of haditha in western iraq. apparently their main ry of theiraqi minist interior officers. both men were killed as a result of the attacks along with more than 20 officers -- 20 police personnel and three of the attackers who managed to withdraw almost safely except for those three men from the city. attackers were wearing the uniform of the special forces of the iraqi ministry of the interior. they were traveling using suv's usually used by the iraqi ministry of interior, which raises questions about the abilities of those troops. there was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the targets, the two officers

killed, were very well known for their fighting against al qaeda in iraq during its time controlling the city as part of its present control of large parts of the sunni parts of iraq. there was a curfew imposed on the town of how deep the right away and the attacks ended at 4:00 in the morning -- in the .own morni -- the town of haditha. the international red cross has arrived carrying food for several and thousand people. that does not mean they will be allowed in the area they want to go. that's all for the moment. stay with us. there's plenty more to come.

>> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding for this presentation 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 use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global network to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you?

>> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles.