>> 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 know your business, offering specialized solutions in capital to help you meet your growth objectives. 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?

>> and now "bbc world news." >> and member of the syrian government defects to the opposition. he says president bashar al- assad's regime is barbaric. he is a deputy oil minister. the new u.n. envoy urges talks with the regime. >> i am zeinab badawi. >> [inaudible] >> hello and welcome to gmt. i am george alagiah, with a world of news and opinion. also in the program, preparing for the biggest solar storm in five years. airline navigation systems and power grids could be affected.

japanese farmers trying to make a living a year on from fukashima. 2:00 in the afternoon in damascus, where the regime is no doubt trying to digest the news that abdo hussameddin defected to the opposition. it raises the possibility that others might follow. regime as assad's barbarism. speaking in cairo, he seemed to give the impression that there were still room for negotiations between the opposition and the government. here is jim muir. >> coming out the meetings in damascus, valerie amos did not say much, but what she did say

did not pull any punches. >> i was devastated by what i saw. excuse me. >> the un envoy was only able to visit the stricken quarter for 45 minutes, but it was clearly enough to impress on her the scale of the destruction wrought by nearly a month of bombardment. much of the superficial damage has been cleared away. the underlying devastation cannot be disguised. activists say many more were killed in summary executions after security forces moved in last week. one man who has had enough, the deputy oil minister, abdo hussameddin. he accused the regime of crushing the will of the people and taking the country to the brink of collapse. he issued a four-minute denunciation on you t. outube. >> i choose to join the voice of

justice, knowing that will burn my house, persecute my family, and fabricate lies against me. i advise my colleagues and those who have remained silent for a year about the crimes of this regime to abandon this sinking ship. the blood of the murderers will not forgive those that continue as accomplices of the regime on the grounds that they're just employees or obeying orders. >> the defection is good news for the opposition. its fighters, the free syrian army, have kept up herring government forces, like this attack and the northwest -- this attack in the northwest. the government continues to use its heavy weapons against towns and villages. this one also in the province, where resistance is encountered. it's looking increasingly flexible work. that is what the special peace envoy, kofi annon, wants to halt. he urged the opposition, as well

as the syrian government to cooperate. his is a balanced approach that he believes is the only practical way. >> we have to be realistic when we put proposals on the table to understand that it can be carried through and that it will yield the right results. otherwise, we create even more problems. >> annan has stature, experience, and why international backing. he cannot make a breakthrough, it's doubtful that anyone else can. jim >> jon leyne, let's pick up on that report. in a sense, he says, can kofi annan make a breakthrough? yet another diplomat calling for negotiations, calling for a ceasefire. >> i don't think anybody is coming into this with blinding

optimism. many are describing this as a mission impossible. kofi annan did say he believes he has the support of the entire international community. that is quite an ambitious belief. he says he has spoken to the members of the security council. he has spoken. it means presumably he has the russians and the chinese on board, as well as the western countries. as jim said, if anybody can do it, he is probably the best placed to do it with that type of support. i do not think anybody, despite all the, is optimistic. >> does he have the support of the opposition groups? his message appears to be that there's still room for talking. we know what the opposition thinks about the assad regime. it has been accused of being barbaric. >> i think that's a very important question, even if he

believes he has got the good faith of president assad in engaging in the political process, and that's a big if. i'm not clear what contact he has had with him just yet. i'm guessing he will speak to members in cairo, for example. let's wait and see. one could imagine conceivably a scenario whereby if there was actually a real cease-fire on the ground, that might change the situation for the opposition and they might believe the good faith of the syrian government. it's a very big if. i would say, let's give them a chance. >> let's have a quick look at the defection. you reported the libyan crisis very closely. there.were defections of do you think this might be the start of something? >> this is very critical. we do not know if we are. it would be extremely important. most of all, the most likely way the syrian crisis could end is

with the syrian government basically falling apart. so far, there's been no sign of that. quite unlike what we saw in tunisia, egypt, and libya. key players detected very early. that led to the downfall of the regimes. in syria, it's been very different. they haven't very united. the have not had defections from big players in damascus, partly because they've been under enormous pressure. you heard the debbie the minister say he fears his family -- the deputy minister say he fears his family and his house will be a tax now. >> jon, thank you very much. thank you. now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world. private creditors must announce in the next few hours whether they will accept a deal to cut greece's debt burden. in the the large majority of investors to go along with it. otherwise, fears would build

once again of an imminent greek the fall. the so-called hair cut, with creditors losing 70% of what they are owed would be the largest debt restructuring for any economy ever recorded. our athens correspondent explains. >> this is all about trying to reduce greece's debt mountain to a more sustainable level. a key part of greece's bailout, the private creditors, mainly european banks, with the except to write off nearly 100 billion euros. these private creditors have been considering whether or not to take part in the steel. they have to say by this evening -- to take part in this deal. they have to decide by this evening. if a majority say they will take part, the greek government says it will use a mechanism called the collective action clauses to forced the minority

to go with the majority. that becomes less of a voluntary debt restructuring and could trigger a credit default swaps, which strikes fear into the heart of leaks eurozone leaders -- of the eurozone leaders. if not, then the deal collapses. really, greece's financial future hangs in the balance with this deal. the >> scienti >> scientists say a huge sellers is racingm towards us and could disrupt electricity grids and even plane routes. it could also pay northern lights further from the poles

than normal. our science and environment reporter joins us in the studio. you have been following this. i set imminently, but we are thursday here -- it could be a few hours. >> we've seen what could happen. this big bubble of gas is hitting the earth right now. hitting, we still do not know that. that will be ascertained in the next few hours. all the things you talked about depend on how direct that below is. >> watching for all the equipment here. >> i think we will probably be ok. i'm not forecasting it. scientists say is looking like a direct hit. we don't really know. scientists and engineers have had years to prepare for things like this.

the have systems to cope. if it's really big, it could affect power lines and could affect gps. >> in the past, there have been side effects. >> in quebec in 1989, they took out the power for 6 million people. are we going to see something like that today? that's unlikely. it's also not sure if we will see beautiful lakes in the sky. most people say, enjoy this. they could bring the auroras in the north and south closer to people. >> we're in the middle of a huge amount of solar activity. the peak is two years away. >> 2013. we've been quiet for a couple of years. >> a lot more. >> thank you very much. this sunday, japan will remember the victims of the earthquake and tsunami that hit the northeast coast one year ago. some 16,000 people were killed when towns and cities were

devastated. tens of thousands more were evacuated when the fukushima nuclear plant suffered a radiation leak. people in the region still live in fear of radiation. >> i am zeinab badawi. >> [speaking foreign language] >> they've come to the store especially to buy vegetables growing and the other end of japan to the use to buy local protests -- of japan. they used to buy local produce. now many worry food in this area is no longer safe. >> we need to stop kids from eating contaminated food. they were already exposed externally after the explosions as the nuclear power plant. we need to prevent them from being exposed further. we cannot trust the government. >> that sense of mistrust seems to be shared among the many

people here in fukushima. unlike the areas that were also hit by the earthquake, there's no major physical damage to any of the buildings here. residents live in fear of radiation. of the debate on whether it is safe to live here seems to have divided the community. >> they are still trying to reduce the level of radiation. the government says outside the exclusion zone, it's safe to live in fukushima, that there are no immediate health risks. this family lives 70 kilometers from the power plant. for generations, they've done farming here. many fellow farmers have quit their business. they decided to stay. even in the winter, under blankets of snow, the soil produces frufood.

they suspect it is contaminated. he has seen a sharp fall in sales, even though he has all his products checked regularly and no radiation has been detected at all. >> [speaking foreign language] >> i respect people's choice not to the products from here. it feels like people only talk about fukushima in numbers and date of these days. i want people to know there are people behind those numbers who are simply trying to recover from this disaster. >> he says he will recover, growing and selling his vegetables. as he washes off the dirt, he hopes public opinion will soon change. it is a huge challenge. one year on from the disaster, the battle to regain trust has just begun. >> bbc news, fukushima. >> still to come on gmt --

british scientists cleanse and test kidneys before their transplanted into patients. an australian man has pleaded guilty to fastening an apparent bomb around the neck of an 18- year-old girl in sydney. he was extradited from the united states last year for breaking into a house and detaining the girl in an attempt to extort money. experts spent 10 hours trying to remove the device from her neck before discovering it did not in fact contain explosives. sarkozy has put immigration at the center of his reelection campaign. the french president made a series of comments on television, including a claim that there are too many foreigners in france. he is currently behind his rival in the polls and has to compete with the national front for the conservative vote.

the head of libya's national transitional council has said he's willing to defend the country's unity by force, if necessary. he made the comments the day after tribal leaders and militia commanders in eastern libya declared the region to be semite autonomous -- to be semi- autonomous. >> this is gmt from "bbc world news." i am george alagiah. syria's deputy oil minister refineresigns. preparing for the biggest solar storm in five years but airline navigation systems and power grids could be affected. time now for the business news. hello. this is a big day for greece. we've been reporting on the kind of deal with the private creditors and so on. the whole of the eurozone is kind of hanging on this deal,

wondering what will happen. you've been talking to the head of the wto. >> absolutely. i was talking with him for the year. he is in the u.k. i was talking to him about the eurozone and how he sees the problems and issues moving forward. he basically said that he believes that the eurozone will survive in its current form, but not enough money is being spent in europe on infrastructure, on education, on things that will pull your out of the debt problem -- pull europe out of the debt problem. he says he does not believe european leaders have really done enough so far to deal with the problem. have a listen to what he had to say. >> i think they've not done it quick enough. it has been a bit all over the place. it has not been driven very nicely. ofre's no real narrative what's happening, when it's

happening, where you are coming from, or where you're going. muddling through, i think they are pointing in the direction. of course, the fact that germany now seems to be ready for one more step of federal integration in europe -- is probably the real determining factor. >> he described it as muddling through. quite critical words. >> eads, defense systems, they come out with numbers. >> they made profits in 2011. things are going well for them. they doubled their orders in 2011. they're also about to have a change at the top. their current executive is stepping down shortly. he will be replaced by the current boss of airbus. he will have his work cut out for him. one of the big stories right now is airbus safety. let's have a listen to what one

analyst said about this. >> he is inheriting a good product line. now he has got to be able to deliver it on time and the quality. that is the key issue that perhaps needs addressing. boeing has had problems with that. there i say airbus -- dare i say airbus has before. >> plenty of interesting things happen with eads happening today. >> thank you very much. thank you. scientists have made a breakthrough that could help patients needing a kidney transplant. repairing and reviving damaged kidneys before their transplanted. it's hoped the new technique will make more kidneys suitable for transplant and reduce complications after surgery. di>> leicester and professolestr

nicholson are in the middle of a kidney transplant. the patient come in her 30s, is getting a candy from her best friend. >> when it comes from live donors -- the majority of operations use organs from people who have recently died. >> and using kidneys from dead donors has always had one significant problem. >> sometimes the kidneys do not work very well. it's often difficult to tell before transplantation how well the kidney will work, or if it will work at all. >> a research depository. she is hooking a pig's kenny to a so-called provision -- a pig's kidney to the machine. in just over a year, the team has been putting human kidneys

for the same process. >> we can take the kidney. rather than transplanting it, the kidney is perfused with blood outside the body. >> as well as testing the technique, this technique means repairs can also be done. it means fewer kidneys are thrown away. she is the first of 17 patients so far to get a kidney using this technique. her kidney have been rejected by five different hospitals before it was passed as viable here. >> it did not bother me that i would be the first in the world. i just thought, let's get going. i was not worried. i have nothing to lose. >> what difference has it made to your life? >> amazing. absolutely amazing. how i feel -- my stamina, my

energy, it's equal to what i was before. this year, i'm having my first holiday for firsmany years. i'm looking forward to that. >> per operation is almost done. professor nicholson's work has been funded by kidney research u.k., who now wants to carry out a full-scale trial. the hope is the number of kidney transplants will increase by 20%. an extra 500 patients per year whose lives will be transformed. >> china is to consolidate police powers to contain this dense. the country's parliament has unveiled a draft law that says suspects can still be held without their families been informed. china's police already has brought legal powers to detain government critics. torrential rains in australia have reached sydney. the heaviest rain falling five years disrupted flights, closed

railway lines, and cut dozens of roads. flood waters also reached the town of force in the central west region of new south wales. 1000 people have been asked to evacuate there. queen elizabeth has started a monthlong tour of the u.k. to celebrate her diamond jubilee. she traveled by train to her first stop. her first engagement is a meeting with the students. our royal correspondent has more. >> this is a scene that was replicated across the u.k. a clear sign that the queen is on her way. >> here she is again. a steady queen with a ready smile. this vehicle has been on the

road for 60 years. it still runs smoothly. >> the royal parties first stop will be the university, where students have been designing shoes for a queen. there was no other potential new queen 10 years ago. then, all eyes were on her majesty. the queen visited a mosque for the first time treated she towned a multimillionaire pa the water project. culminated in a central jubilee weekend. that was also the case for the

silver jubilee. she towards the nation and also travel nearly 60,000 miles around the world. this time, there will be no foreign travel, but the queen prince philip will crisscross the country on a tour that will end in july. >> i will tell you what. we will give you some more of the queen's trip. we have some live pictures coming in. that is the entrance to leicester university. this is something we will have to get used to. people will enjoy this over the next few months as the queen marks her diamond jubilee. that is 60 years. there she is, doing incredibly well. the start of what will no doubt be -- stay with us for "bbc world news." 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 use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the 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.