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>> and now "bbc world news." >> the deadline for troop withdrawal in syria arrived, yet the violence continues. damascus insists the some troops have been pulled back from cities but said armed terrorist gangs are stepping up their operations. what now for the peace plan led by kofi annan, a plan described by some as a last chance for syria? welcome to "gmt." i'm david eades. and all clear for extradition as the court for human rights says five terrorist suspects can be sent to the u.k. from the u.s. to stand trial. when hundred years to the day

since the unthinkable sunk in southampton, which lost more than 500 residents when the titanic went down. midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in the morning in new york and 2:00 p.m. in damascus where serious -- syria forces were supposed to the pullback. but no signs of a determined effort to do that. only more outbreaks of shooting and mortar fire. more recriminations and skepticism from the international community running out of diplomatic avenues. for first report is from our middle east correspondent. jim muir. >> this is homs, syria's third biggest city. with government tanks and weapons still being used, according to an activist, despite the fact i know they should have been completely

withdrawn from population centers. several quarters of homs where rebel fighters have been in trends has been relentlessly the board. serious says it has withdrawn from some areas but apparently not from some real trouble spots like here and many other places. in areas like this, tanks are still in position. activists say air power has also been used with gunships carrying out attacks in some places. >it is not just central cities where troops have stepped up control but also towns in the far north, where activists reported bigger attacks by troops, tanks, and artillery. the time line of kofi annan's peace plan has goals -- already come undone. now the question is whether key allies and protectors, especially the russians, can help salvage the plan that they

backed. there minister was slightly critical of the syrians. >> our assessment of the situation, we believe their actions could have had more resolve in implementation of the plan. >> but the syrian minister seemed to want to reconstruct the plan, suggesting a cease- fire should await the arrival of a u.n. team. >> i think basins -- cessation of the ongoing violence should be timely with the arrival of the international observer team. >> that is not the sequence mr. coffee and then had in mind -- mr. kofi annan had in mind. he was visiting a refugee camp in the turkish border. >> today is the last day of the cease-fire deadline given to syria. we are going to see what

happens. we share a 910 kilometer border and the only thing turkey wants is to stop the bloodshed going on in syria. >> but the bloodshed continues. whatever may have gone on behind the scenes, the moscow talks produced no visible evidence the peace plan has been rescued. if mr. kofi annan reports it has failed, the security council will have to think again. >> kofi annan is in turkey seeking support for his peace plan at the moment. and visiting refugee camps along the border with syria. jonathan head is at one of those camps on the border. >> there is no doubt, for thinking seriously about an alternative to the plan. turkish officials say they don't believe the plan has any life and. kofi annan is here and will try to persuade otherwise. saying, look, we have a deadline for the troop withdrawal, supposing -- supposedly to start

today. he will get a lot of angst, back from the turkish coast about the failure of the international community, and the amount of killing has increased from ever since the kofi annan plan has been officially accepted. he is coming to one of the oldest refugee camps, a longstanding one. it will be interesting to see what sort of reception he get. there will be quite rowdy protest because most of the refugees feel the international diplomacy has let them down. >> that is the view from jonathan head at the border. that is the view of what looks like from moscow. andrej stepanov we have seen sergei lavrov in the last couple of hours walking a diplomatic tightrope. visia's position vis a

syria -- what do you make a rush of's position at the moment with syria? >> what is most important is not what was said during the press conference but what was said behind the curtains, in the closed session. and i think the words were much more harsh than those pronounced during the press conference. i think that the point of russia's position as well known, just to prevent any intervention and any change of the regime imposed from abroad. but except that point, all venues are open. and i think concerning the kofi annan plan, which russia very willingly endorsed, i think that what was told to go visiting syrian minister was, first,

syria should strictly abide by kofi annan's plan, and seconds, -- second, syria should forget all the recent preconditions according to the obligations on the part of the opposition and surrounding states. and the third point -- i think if syria does not comply with kofi annan's plan, russia has nothing else to do to help syria get extricated from the quandary in which it has found itself. >> do you get any sense that those sort of harsher words behind the scenes are having any impact at all on a syria that obviously, most feel in the west, is intransigent beyond belief. >> we have to wait a few days.

but past experience tells us that the syrian authorities have been cheating all the time. they gave promises, they signed documents, they made obligations, but they never fulfilled them and probably never intended to. there are no guarantees the syrian authorities will listen to the russians, with their harsh talk behind the curtains. >> thank you, indeed, for your perspective coming out of moscow. let us take a look at some of the other stories making headlines. two suicide attacks in afghanistan. eight policemen were killed in the southern province of .ellman's -- helmand and nine people were killed in an explosion outside a district headquarters.

a court-appointed psychiatrist in norway determine the man who killed 77 people into an attack from the country last year, anders breivik, is sane. an earlier evaluation said he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. both assessments will be continued at his trial, which begins next week. a chinese court sentenced the stable -- disabled activists ni yulan to prison for creating trouble and destroying property. her husband received a shorter sentence. they are known for providing legal help for people whose homes have been seized by the government. 5 terrorism suspects living here in britain have lost their battle to avoid extradition to the united states. they include the radical cleric who is facing 11 terrorism- related charges. and also another, accused of raising money for terrorist groups. and two men allegedly involved in u.s. embassy bombings in

kenya and tanzania in 1998. the ruling is that suspects must not be treated inhumanely in america. in a typical tirade -- >> in a typical tirade, he calls for followers to kill. the european court rejected claims from him and other suspects that the sentences they would face would reach their human rights. in a statement, the court said having regard to the seriousness of the offensive in question, the court does not consider the sentences were grossly disproportionate for leading to in human or degrading treatment. base is this mosque in north london. in the late 1990's, the same work as a police informant inside the mosque. he said he realized abu hamza a

key figure in a circle of extremists. >> i described him as a terrorist. a very dangerous person. >> but that wasn't how the british authorities viewed him. >> he was seen at the time as a clown, bigmouth. >> after 9/11, authorities became alive to the danger he posed, especially when he used the first anniversary of the attacks to praise the hijackers. if you months later, the police moved in with an early-morning raid on the mosque. inside this building was a stash of what was seen as training equipment, including knives and firearms, as well as forged documents like passports. it had become a breeding ground for extremists and some of those who came under his influence went on to commit acts of terrorism. he was a bentley evicted from

the mosque and since then it has been under new management -- he was eventually evicted from the mosque. but he continued to preach and the prayers outside. in 2004, he was finally arrested. the americans want him over a plot in yemen in 1998 to kidnap westerners. four british tourists died in the gunbattle to rescue them. inside the united states he is accused of conspiring to set up an extremist training camp in oregon. for eight years the u.s. has been trying to extradite him. >> our extradition partners around the world can rest assured that the defendants, who are extradited, will receive fair and just proceedings in criminal cases in the united states. >> this is one of a group of other suspects who lost the extradition battle. >> we are very disappointed with

the decision of the european court of human rights. while the decision deals with the issue of prison conditions in the u.s., the fundamental question remains as to why this matter has even got to strasbourg and why it needs to be extradited to the u.s. >> his family says they intend to fight to overturn the ruling. >> i want to take you back to our main story, the situation in syria, inside syria itself. we can speak to an activist from homs. thank you for talking to us. given the situation we are in at the moment, tell us, first of all, what is happening? >> this is the center of homs, and since this morning i spoke to your radio around 9:30 a.m., and i said before you called me

and around 15 minutes, the shelling started -- and we received a lot of videos from the killed persons today. about 14 persons were killed and we documented them by name. today our organization -- this is our main work, to document all the killed persons, their location. and we always requested videos for those, and we are following the measurements for the human rights organizations. what we want to say -- >> just before we get to what you want to say. we are getting there for a clear suggestion there is still fighting, from government forces. but of course, for this cease- fire to work, and has to be reciprocal and we have reports of six soldiers also being killed by rebels in the attack.

>> we cannot trust at all what the government says, because we don't have any touch with the government. as everyone knows, the government prevents human rights organizations and prevents your know.check -- we don't maybe they were just killed by the government and they said the opposition killed them. how can we know that? if you want to know, you have to touch directly with the soldier and family to ensure that. >> we are getting that word from the serious observer -- syrian observer which is effectively the opposition. but given what you have seen during the course of the day, are you will bring out any hope at all that the kofi annan plan can still come to the wishes of? >> no, actually -- he is the

biggest player, bashar al-assad only agreed by signature, but on the floor, nothing has changed. yesterday, 136 civilians have been killed. and we're very sure. the day before yesterday, 84. yesterday there were several children killed. the tanks are still there. still preventing us from work.

no freedom at all. so, this is the reply of bashar al-assad to mr. coffee are non. -- mr. kofi annan. they were shelling and shooting rockets in several locations in syria, south of syria, and also a village -- >> the message clear from the activist view, the fighting just goes on. thank you very much, indeed. joining us from homs. plenty more to come from us. including, 100 years exactly since the titanic set sail from southampton. there is a ceremony taking place at the dock from where she sailed. we will bring you more. russia has criticized north korea's plans to launch a

rocket, accusing the country of disregarding the will of the united nations. china and south korea have also joined in the combination. so far pyongyang has shown little regard as it marks the 100th birthday of the reclusive state's founder kim il-sung. our correspondent is in p'yongyang, one of a group of journalists who has been invited in what is usually a very much closed country, to witness the event. but here in pyongyang, it is a gray and wet afternoon but at the west coast satellite launch center, it has been confirmed the rocket no. 3 applies to blast into space is undergoing final preparations and the satellite is being mounted onto the rocket today. we have been hearing from the deputy director of north korea's space program, and he has been saying that this is not, as some people screaming, a test for intercontinental ballistic missiles. he said the rocket itself is

small and could only carry a small payload. it only uses liquid, not solid fuel -- all reasons, he says, why this should not be seen as an intercontinental missile. he has often -- also given extra details, saying it carries a camera to take quite low resolution pictures of the earth, but saying that would be important for north korea's economic development and tackling natural disasters. also setting stages of the rocket will fall 100 miles out to sea. and he says in this launch this not a breach of international law. but he also then went on to talk about north korea's ambitions in space. he says there is a five-year program to build even bigger rockets from a stationary satellite, and all of that will happen, too. but in the meantime this launch is planned for before the 16th.

>> this is "gmt" with me, david eades. renault ends to the spiral of violence in syria with the shelling of city's continuing despite the u.n. peace deadline. russia needs the diplomatic effort as the foreign minister meets his syrian counterpart where kofi annan is in turkey. it's time for a look of the business news. aaron talking about the miserable performance of sony. >> sony came out and said all of last year it made a loss of $6.4 billion, a staggering sum. in fact, the worst ever for its record basically. in february, sony came out and said we are going to make a loss for last year, about $2.7 billion. what we saw today was more than double what they forecast only several weeks ago. how did they get it wrong?

sony said it had to make a tax payment in the united states. but the stronger japanese yen eating into profits. sony also have production disruption because of the floods in thailand. but one area where they are really hurting, sony television. it is part of the business that has not made any money for about eight years. listen to this. >> the problems for japanese companies and for sony, for television it faces falling prices and brutal competition from south korea, and south korea does not have the disadvantage of the very high japanese yen. but the real problem is even bigger. it has not been able to mold its creative content divisions with its devices. and that is what apple has been able to do and trounce sony into the carpet. >> we will keep our eyes on thursday. >> a bit of a gloomy bulletin.

>> can i say this? an expression in the airline industry -- how to make a million dollars running an airline? you start off with a billion dollars. for indian carrier kingfisher, it rings a little true. it has a debt of $1.4 billion. it ends all of its international operations today. but the problems really came to head windy authority -- when the authorities froze their bank accounts, so they had no access for money to pay staff, fuel, airport charges. those accounts have been unfrozen so at least the staff can start receiving will then resuming their salary. but for an airline which has never made a profit since it started and under immense pressure from lenders to inject new equity, the question is can kingfisher turn things around. >> in india, the major point is the customers are generally caused cundiff -- conscious, not brand conscious.

it is where they get the cheaper ticket rather than going with a popular brand. it does not care the brand image -- but it generally comes with a cheaper cost tickets. a very difficult business to do in india. then i should quickly stressed that all airlines in india certainly having a very tough time -- higher fuel, high taxes. five out of the six main carriers are losing money. >> thank you very much. 100 years ago today, precisely today, the titanic set sail for new york on that fateful journey which began at the english port of southampton. the anniversary has been marked with a minute of silence, that was just before we came on air, and there are ceremony still going on. we will give you a look at the dock here in southampton -- southampton. the titanic left that dockside 100 years ago and in a few

minutes time there will be a much of children through the streets, each one of them representing a dead crew member. there were more than 500 children in that march. as we speak, another ship is after retracing -- retracing titanic's last mortgage. -- voyage. our correspondent is there. >> yes, indeed. a century after titanic left the coast of england, the hms tomorrow is following the route that was taken all these years ago. there are plans for a memorial service. this ship has left the south coast of ireland, and that cove where the titanic made its final stop, there was a civic reception yesterday. people coming together to remember and pay tribute to those who died on the titanic back in april of 1912. as you mentioned, there are events planned for southampton and for both sides of the

atlantic. people wanting to come together and remember the 1500 victims of that tragedy. here on board, people have been talking and learning about the history. at the moment, for example, there is a lecture just below me about the history of irish immigration and the importance of that in the titanic story. but as for this ship, the focus will be on the memorial service that will be held on the weekend and the passengers are a mixture of excited and also quite a somber mood. >> thank you very much, indeed. the titanic did call in on the island on routes to new york on its way. if this is one of the things that fascinates you and so many people, have a look on our website because we've got a whole load of extra information for you on that infamous disaster. well worth having a look. thanks for watching "gmt." stay with us here on the bbc

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