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>> raids in france in the hunt for islamist suspects. most of the raids are in the southwest city of toulouse. hello and welcome to gmt. also coming up in the program -- the toughest budget since the death of the franco. spain set to unveil new austerity measures. strikes and running battles between protesters and police. we take a look inside a london mansion that has been seized by libyan authorities. just who did it belong to? >> hello.

it is midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, and 1:00 in france, where police have arrested 19 suspected islamists and seized weapons in raids across the country. most of the arrests came in the southwest city of toulouse, the home of mohamed merah. president sarkozy says more arrests are planned. our correspondent, christian fraser, sent this report. >> the early hours of the morning, acting on information from the domestic intelligence agency. they arrested the leader of the extremist group linked to mohamed merah. 3 rifles, a glock pistol, and a grenade were recovered. there were other operations in toulouse, the scene of last week's attack. president nicolas sarkozy has

warned the opposition will continue to guarantee public security. >> [speaking foreign language] >> what happened in toulouse is profoundly sad. i do not want to compare the horrors of terrorist attacks, but we're suffering what they suffered in new york and the wake of the 9/11 attack. >> police are still searching for an accomplice who may have helped mohamed merah. these arrests are not thought to be directly linked. >> christian fraser reporting there. now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world. it's billed as the toughest budget since the death of the franco. in the next half an hour, we should hear more about the deep cuts the spanish government will have to make to meet tough deficit targets in the eu. it expected the only to cut the budget between 40 billion euros and 50 billion euros. health and education are unlikely to escape the cuts,

which is one of the reasons for the protests. cuts to welfare and additional increases in vat have already been voted down. let's go to brussels. we can speak to jackie davis, our commentary an analyst on european union affairs. there billion this as the toughest budget since the franco era. they've got to reduce this deficit by significant amounts. is it possible? >> it will certainly be very tough. what we are seeing is a repeat of what we saw in greece. when they introduced extremely tough measures of this type, europeanupoinsisted upon by the union, there were riots in the streets. a similar backlash. the question everyone else at this moment, while finance ministers may be sitting around a table today and denmark assessing where to go next with the crisis, the big question is just how far they can. push the. just how much will the public

accept? most countries recognize the have to take these tough measures in order to get finances back and order. the public backlash is a cause of mounting concern. >> they are in recession again. they have the highest rate of unemployment. is this going to lead to growth? >> that is exactly the problem. in other countries, we have seen countries and other difficulties. over the last couple of years, portugal, spain, italy, and so one. the big question is always -- if you impose these tough cuts, if you impose all this this plan, are to simply on a downward spiral where you get no economic growth and less money goes into government coffers, then you have to make more cuts. in the european union, you see an increasing effort to talk about two things at once. yes, measures to prevent the crisis, but also an increasing focus on what we can do to get

growth and jobs back. is there another side to the point? it cannot be austerity all the way. >> when you look at government ministries of 15%, that's really going to bite. >> absolutely. governments often like to say -- we can make efficiencies savings. nobody is presenting that any of this can be done in that way. it has to be done through significant cuts in things like welfare benefits. in many countries, in portugal, where they're introducing tough labour reforms, as well, and in italy, where they are doing the same, trade unions are starting to say -- what is happening is you are killing the european welfare state, what is known as the european social model. that's why, as the talks go on about how to make sure the crisis does not spread any further, there's a sense of relative calm at the moment that the euro is no longer on the brink of collapse. everyone knows there will be more tough medicine to come. the question is, how do you

convince the public that's a pain worth taking? that's what they are wrestling with right now. >> what are the odds of them needing to go cap in hand for more money at some stage of this year? >> there is a suggestion that the spanish banks may be the reason why they would have to go cap and hand -- cap in hand, similar to ireland. they are trying to avoid that possibility. they do not want to get the tough controls that greece has seen with the economy, effectively running from outside. it's far from certain they could do it. the big test would be italy. if italy had to go cap in hand, then the euro would be in serious trouble. >> that's to do with the property collapse, the overexposure. >> exactly. that's more of a concern right now. that's the real concern. can the banks survive without an injection of money? in both cases, people are hoping they will not have to go for a bailout. nobody is willing that out.

nobody believes this crisis is over. many people now think the euro can and has been saved, but the crisis has some way to run yet. >> jackie davis, thank you very much. very good to speak to you. you will be covering the start of the budget in spain. that will be starting in about 20 minutes. in other news, the outspoken anti-work critic george galloway has won a by-election in the u.k. in a huge shock for the opposition labor parties. he won his seat for the majority of more than 10,000 votes. he is known for the strident opposition to the u.s.-led invasion to afghanistan and iraq. japan has officially ordered its military to shoot down in north korea rocket directly threatening japanese territory. p'yongyang is pushing ahead to use a rocket to launch a weather satellite. in eastern afghanistan, shot

dead nine of his colleagues as they lie sleeping inside a checkpoint. his motives unclear. afghan officials blame the taliban. demonstrations are taking place across israel and the palestinian territories to mark the loss of arab lands to israel in 1976. these are the scenes live on the west bank. organizers said they wanted this process to be peaceful after friday prayers. there have been running battles, you can see, with security forces. tear gas has been fired. also, rocks thrown by demonstrators. let's go to john, who is on the non border.ba this is commemorated every year. are we seeing more people out on the streets this year? >> given the year we have had in

the middle east, there is perhaps an expectation for palestinians that they might be able to mobilize better and really capitalize on the mood across the region in terms of public protest. you are right. these demonstrations have been every year. there has been an effort this year to regionalize the demonstrations a little bit. we understand there are relatively large demonstrations in lebanon. there was talk of the same thing happening in syria. also, egypt. so far, relatively small scale. certainly here, we have not seen any attempts by people trying to cross into israel, which has happened in the past, which has led to violence. >> this all happened 36 years ago. six palestinians killed. hundreds wounded. how much does this play in the

psyche compared with other grievances palestinians feel? >> land day is specifically about that event back in 1976, but it has come to signify for palestinians the whole occupation and the whole conflict really that they feel palestinian land, in their view, has been stolen from them. while the demonstration is held on march 30, because that's the day 36 years ago when those six people were killed, broader than that, it's really a chance for palestinians to get out and push their grievances at a time when there's no progress whatsoever in terms of israel-palestine in negotiations. the >> thank you very much. 45 seats are being contested in bi-elections in burma this week.

aung san suume kim jong kyi is a candidate. rachel harvey reports. >> aung san suu kyi has had to get used to all of this. it's the first time she's ever run for political office. her campaign has attracted worldwide attention, but it's taken a toll. >> i'm feeling a little delicate. any tough questions and i shall [inaudible] [laughter] the humor masked a genuine concern. the grueling schedule has left her exhausted, but still determined. tens of thousands have turned out to greet aung san suu kyi on the campaign trail. heif this translates into votes, she is surely unbeatable.

this, the man with the unenviable task of running against her. born and bred in the local constituency and candidates for the military-backed party. in other circumstances, he would be issuing -- a shoe-in. the odds seem stacked against him. this old soldier is up for the fight. the >> [speaking foreign language] >> this is very easy. >> you really think you can win this battle, as well? >> yes, i can win. >> how do you compete with an icon. aung san suu kyi, even ideologirregularities. >> they are irregularities when

elections take place. what has been happening in this country beyond what is acceptable for democratic elections? >> aung san suu kyi has made clear her skepticism about the election campaign. all eyes now will be on polling day itself. if the voting goes smoothly, will this election still be seen as an important step forward on burma's road to democracy. >> still to come on gmt -- inside the magical world of "harry potter." we speak to one of the film's stars. west african nations have given the leaders of a coup in mali 72 hours. >> airport security mali-style.

the airport was meant to be receiving five african presidents. instead, members of the military to. the leader tried to persuade them that talks were worthwhile. >> we would never be able to achieve this without our african brothers, sitting around a table with them to tell them what's going on and what the people want. >> what the people what is far from clear. they're certainly not united. this, a rally in the capital by coup.opposed to twoo the >> subordinate the constitution that they broke themselves. >> the chaos shows how far mali has fallen. until last week's takeover by soldiers, it was held up as a shining example of democracy in

west africa. it was anchored that the government was not doing enough to help the military, a heavily armed rebels in the north. the red carpet was finally rolled out in ivory coast. from there, they issued the ultimatum. military leaders. mali have three days to restore the constitution or face diplomatic isolation. it's not hard to a imagine who would bear the brunt of those sanctions. this is the north of the country, already reliant on international food aid. the fear is that the longer the crisis goes on, the greater the suffering of mali's people. >> you are watching gmt from "bbc world news." raids in france and the hunt

for islamist suspects. spain is set to unveil tough new austerity measures in a day after clashes between protesters and police. a lot of people watching what will happen in spain. aaron heslehurst is here. they've agreed to this new firewall. >> we're talking about the war chest. call it what you will. finance ministers are meeting in copenhagen today to increase the money to 800 billion euros. 300 billion of those euros is already being spent on bailout. we are left with a pot with a fresh 500 billion euros. here's the problem. earlier this week, we heard from the oecd, which said the eurozone needs of the mother of all fireballs. what they meant was one trillion

euros needs to be in the pot. markets and investors will breathe a sigh of relief. let's not kid ourselves. it will not last for long. at the end of the day, what's in that popped right now is still not enough money. having listened to this. >> this will protect one additional country, a large one, spain. this is small enough to fit into this, if necessary. it will also show that germany continues to back the european rescue operations, which is also a positive sign. in the past, german politicians resigned over europe. germany would continue to support the euro area. that's a positive. the rescue fund will not be enough, for instance, to protect italy. >> and there is the problem. not enough to rescue italy. the markets will eventually turn

their attention on that. >> 800 billion is eight times what apple's got in terms of cash reserves. >> you want to talk about apple? we're talking about the most valuable company in the world. apple is sitting on a cash pile of more than $100 billion. apple has more money than poland. a report came out last night highlighting significant issues woodworker practices at the foxconn factories in china. these are the factories that apple uses. to be fair, along with a lot of other companies. apple uses them to make ipads and i phones. some of them working 60 hours a week, 6. last year, there was a spate of workers suicide. the question really, how damaging is this report for

apple? >> this is an independent report. they were sent in by apple themselves. there's no way they can deny what this report says. in fact, they've accepted the findings and i think it does highlight that there has been a lot of truth behind the picture painted, but it also highlights the fact that these factories make not just apple products, but they produce these goods for just about every major manufacturer. the spotlight will now be on apple's rivals, as well. >> our technology correspondent joins us. apple, as he said, commissioned this report. apple fully accepts their recommendations. they want to be a leader in the supply chain for all the electronics and technology giants. that's it for business. >> thank you very much. a multi-million dollar london mansion belonged to one of in one ofddafi's sons

the city's most exclusive neighborhoods. the first successful asset recovery case brought to the u.k. core by countries swept up in the arab spring. a look around. >> one of the most affluent areas in one did. -- areas in london. nestled in a quiet cul-de-sac, sadi gaddafi's mansion. the property, with luxuries like an indoor cinema, a sauna, and a pool, expected to be in the hands of libya's new authorities within weeks. sadi, who had a reputation for being a playboy, was rarely seen him. one person told us, when he did come around, it was with a big

entourage and a big limousine with blacked out windows. we are told the house is likely to go on sale. it has been valued at up to $16 million. who would want to live in a house like this? >> it's not dripping with gold everywhere. it is quite an understatement. it's a proper home. it's not a palace by any means. >> the former libyan regime and members of the gaddafi family were not only interested in buying the properties in the quiet residential area, but they were also interested in commercial investments, much like this building here in london's busy. . it's not always easy to track down these assets. much like gaddafi's mansion, it could have been bought by an offshore company. last week, a libyan diplomat received a tipoff claiming this

white ferrari seen in london belonged to the former regime. it's now under investigation by libya's new government. the gaddafi leadership also has bank accounts, shares, and investments in the u.k. and other countries. >> these assets are really difficult to find. also, difficult to claim back. we are working with private firms, individuals, and also seeking assistance and cooperation from other governments to find a property first and to claim them back. >> the recent high court ruling on this controversial property is seen as a landmark case in asset recovery, the first of its kind since the arab spring. it could set a precedent for similar cases in the future. >> this weekend, "harry potter" fans will finally get a chance to dive into his magical world.

visitors can walk through the iconic sets. our entertainment report went for a sneak peek and caught up with one of the three main stars, rupert grint. >> you must feel like you almost grown up here. what will it be like to feel like the public will be going through your house? >> it's quite weird to see everything in this perspective. i mean, every set, every prop, is embedded with our 10 years of memories. it would be terrible if everything got put into a container and forgot about. it is really been put to good use. it's really special. it's hard not to be taken a back when you walk through the door into this huge space.

it reminded me of when i first went in there as a 10-year-old. just amazement. >> you spent so long riding along on those broomsticks -- you complained it was quite painful. now the public is doing it. >> it made me quite uncomfortable. >> of course, one place to spend a lot of time was the common room, and not just when you were filming. you guys used to hang out there ordinarily. >> that was a great set. we always used to spend a lot of time there. just looking at my bed. i have actually slept there many times for real. now it is kind of in this attraction. >> what was it like having sometimes in a real rat to play

with? >> i quite liked the rat. i did break the robot once -- a few times. >> you must sometimes be sitting at home and one of the early films, television. do you switchover and watch? >> i never really watch the films since we finished. >> and then we play. >> it's very hard for me to go watch myself. watching myself gradually grow up is a very surreal thing. that kind of catalogue of our life on film. yes, it's very special. >> a quick reminder of our main story. french police have arrested 19 suspects, suspected islamists, and seized weapons in raids across the country. most of them came in the southwestern city of toulouse.

>> 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

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