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world needs a broader mix of energies. that's why we're supplying cleaner burning natural gas to generate electricity. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol, a biofuel made from renewable sugar cane. >> a minute, mom! >> let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go. >> and now, bbc world news. >> egypt's ousted president, jose mubarak, is critically ill. he has been moved from prison to a hospital. -- hosni mubarak.

hello, and welcome. also in the program, julie at a in limbo.sange no numbers or timetables. activists say it is too weak. mid-day in london. 7:00 in the morning in washington, and 1:00 in egypt where hosni mubarak is critically ill in the military hospital after suffering from a stroke. he was moved late on tuesday. the uncertainty over his condition and arguments it has rivalked has added to in the government. let's join our reporter in cairo. >> welcome to another blazing hot summer day in cairo.

on the surface all seems as normal. now, this is a country waiting. waiting for news of hosni mubarak, described as critically dead for more than 12 hours ago and now critically ill in hospital in cairo. this is a country waiting for news from the supreme council of armed forces, which promised they would give the nation the most detailed information on the condition of the former president. the egyptians are waiting to find out who will be their next president. last night the square was full of thousands of supporters of the muslim brotherhood, declaring their candidate has won. rival supporters say they are the ones that will be the next president. for the most part, egypt wants to see progress in this uncertainty. for now, all eyes are focused on

the military hospital. my colleagues but much of the night there. >-- spent most of the night there. >> mubarak supporters began gathering outside the hospital where the ex-president is reported to be close to death. not just his supporters. [inaudible] >> an angry shouting match soon broke out, of those that would be happy to see the old dictator dead. the small crowd gathered here outside the hospital is as deeply divided as the rest of egypt about whether mubarak is a god or a doublevil. one thing that does unite them is the total lack of information by the state media. >> i came here to get news about the excess president, because i president, because i

wanted to support him. >> what is true is he is lying close to death. he is an old, sick man who has just been sentenced to life and death. his imminent demise has been reported so many times before, that many here will not believe it until they see a dead body. >> that is the kind of news we heard around tahrir square in the early hours of the morning. egyptians have heard so many rumors before about their former president of 30 years covering for weeks between life and death. many said we are waiting for the military to hand over power, for egypt to move towards a real democracy. so they are still waiting. we will keep an eye on everything happening here in the uncertainty. back to you in london.

>> now the look at other headlines around the world. negotiators from three greek political parties are trying to form a coalition government ce in thep gree eurozone. they will soon announce a new center-left coalition. toward me from athens, margolmak louis. what is the latest? >> we're also playing the waiting game here, but getting close to the announcement of a new government. there have been meetings of through the morning between the three party leaders that are likely to form the next coalition government. we have heard the leader of the center on new democracy party, which won sunday's election, is planning to see the president this afternoon, possibly with

two other party leaders. presumably that would be to inform the president that a deal has been reached, and therefore, just hours away from the announcement of a new government. it will comprise three parties, but the two other parties probably will not actually form -- will not actually have mp's in the cabinet, because the government will have to take a very unpopular decision in more austerity cuts and spending cuts, and they do not want to be burned by the decision. they will not take part in the cabinet, but they will probably still drama center-right party in the coalition. >> that is not say much for the coalition government if they do not want to sit around the same table. >> i think it is an indication of just how difficult it has been to reach an agreement on the issue of the bailout, because as that is going to be the focus of the new

government, how to respond to the bailout, how to renegotiate terms of the bailout with brussels and how to push through the austerity measures and spending cuts that are still going to be under pressure to do so here. for example, tomorrow there is a meeting of eurozone finance ministers. next week a meeting of heads of state in brussels. that is where the government will try to renegotiate terms of the bailout. already on july merkle has said greece must follow the commitments it has made. -- on july merkle has said greece must follow the commitments it has made. -- angela merkel. the thrust of the bailout commitment, spending cuts, greece will still have to live here to those. that will go down pretty badly here in greece, and that is why even these two parties that will join the new democracy are and willing to throw their

weight behind it. -- unwilling to throw their weight behind it. when austerity is pushed here, we will expect many more months of strikes and demonstrations to come. >> thank you. in france, a hostage situation appears to be developing. these are the latest pictures of a scene where a man claiming to be a member of al qaeda has taken several hostages in the bank in the southern france city of toulouse. we're joined now with our reporter in paris. this is the same city where we had the shootings also buy and al qaeda sympathizers supposedly just a little while ago. >> that is right. some of our viewers may remember a very tense 32-hour siege between police and an al

qaeda member back in march. he killed three jewish children and a rabbi. that ended with the shooting death of him. we believe this morning a gunman went into a branch of cic, just streets away from where the other al qaeda member was shot dead. initially we're told he demanded money. it went wrong in the siege developed. from that point he has told police he is inspired by al qaeda and demanding to speak to the same police unit that was involved in that incident. we understand a shot was fired. four people are being held hostage, including the branch manager. >> it has to be set, france not a country like britain with these kinds of situations. >> no, in recent weeks there has been a zero tolerance policy related to anyone who was

inspired by the web sites and might have used the same web sites or belong to the same group he was said to have had allegiance to. they arrested 19 people in march. 13 were said to belong to that group. we do know from the investigation subsequent to his death, that there must have been an accomplice within the muslim community, because someone send the video tape of the shootings to british police. they have been working -- looking for people connected. the other thing to say is there is a lot of anger among friends and families of that man. he was surrounded by a 200 armed police. they have begun the legal proceedings alleging he was murdered and police could have taken him alive with the shooting him in the head. >> thank you very much. thank you. >> of last has kill the least 10

people in afghan city. the suicide attack targeted an international military convoy in mid-day on wednesday. reports said at least 13 other people were injured in the attack. the directive -- the director of the city hospital said civilians are among the dead. still to come, seeking silence. julian assange is seeking asylum in ecuador's london embassy. beenrvers have repeatedly targeted by house by a crowd in shot out. the general has been briefing the u.n. security council. >> general mood explain to the security council why he had decided to suspend patrols. he said the level of violence escalated to such a degree that

unarmed observers were facing serious risks and they had been directly targeted 10 times. he said that does not mean the observers were abandoning the serious -- syrian people. but that certain conditions would have to be met before they would decide to resume operations. >> the first indicator that will lead to a discussion to resume normal activities is sick of the debt reduction in the violence. the second element is the commitment by both the government and opposition to the safety and security and freedom of movement of the observers. take of the general said the government had made a clear statement to that effect in recent days, but opposition had not yet. no immediate plans to modify the mission, but u.n. is conducting a review of what options it could take when the mission's mandate runs out near the end of july. he pointed out there are still

diplomatic initiatives underway to try to find a political solution to the crisis. the view here is that followed -- although there no longer having an impact on the ground, they would be crucial for implementing any political solution, if one were to be found. i do not think anyone wants to give up on that yet. >> up to seven u.s. troops could face disciplinary action over the burning of the koran in afghanistan. >> this is gmt from bbc world news. egypt's former president, hosni mubarak, who was sentenced to life in prison last week is reportedly close to death. political party leaders increase are trying for the third day running to form a new government before tonight's deadline.

time now for the business news. looking at the g-20 summit. a very broad statement, but on the sidelines, something more interesting going on. of s will come to the aid a spain and italy. to go on monday in a site meeting, the italian prime minister suggested that we have this year rose on rescue fund, $550 billion that is sitting there. he says why don't we use some of that money to buy up government debt from the troubled military and economies within the eurozone? in return, these countries would receive billions of dollars, and they would write an iou to the rescue fund. the theory is it would bring down the crippling borrowing costs for the government. spain had to pay more than 5% to borrow money for one year.

-- term paying more than 7%. now we know the new president as oliver the idea. he loves it. >> kind of thing he was talking about in the campaign. >> on the flip side, the german chancellor is being rather mute about it. non-committal to the plan. the reason being is if you give it billions and by government debt from italy and spain, basically it is a back door bailout. listen to this. >> i think there is a fear of back door discounts transfer to the south. they want more fiscal discipline first. they want more political integration and more powers given to brussels. also, to move more towards the school integration. now the southern countries are not necessarily willing to accept this fiscal discipline,

so we have a blockage here. >> what is happening in europe is very key for what is happening in america. today the federal reserve winds up its two-day meeting. >> absolutely. and all eyes and ears will be on ben bernanke. a man who some say looks like a knight in shining armor. the markets are counting on him to gallop in and rescue the struggling economy. consumer confidence in the u.s. is down. industrial production is down, a long shadow on that side of the atlantic. today we will hear what their record to do about interest rates. not a lot of movement on that, but will they announce any new economic stimulus measures? republicans in congress says the fed has already done too much

for the economy, where as the market say they have not done nearly enough. the other question, has the u.s. economy gone to a point where the feds have to act and act now? some of the people we've been speaking to say yes. >> i do sense of anxiety. the economy has been weaker than the four tested for three years in a row. they are not forecasting a to recover for three years or more. that is unprecedented. i think they are really wondering what else they could do to help the economy move, and whether they can do it and what the politics are. >> they may extend the current program, which is operation twist. it is a bond buying program basically. the fed buying u.s. bonds. >> thank you. the man behind the wikileaks web

site has taken refuge in the ecuadorean embassy in london he is facing extradition from the u.k. to sweden following allegations of sexual misconduct. police said he will be subject to this as the as reached bail conditions. >> i am sorry, we do not have that report. we can now go to the central london studio to talk to our legal expert, joshua rosenberg. i do not want to spend too much time on this, but legally speaking, what happens next? >> the police, as you say, have announced this morning that he has broken his bail conditions. those conditions required him to stay at a specified address between the hours at 10:00 at night and 10:00 in the morning, and he did not stay there.

he stayed overnight at the embassy of ecuador in london. they say he faces arrest. we're not going to go into a foreign industry, but at some point he presumably has to come out. when he comes out, i would of thought there would have come out and arrest him. quite soon, he would be on a plane to sweden. >> downing street saying they are in discussions working with the equity in -- ecuadorian authorities to fix this. not a lot they can do. >> i wonder how much they want to upset the united kingdom, the us. the eu, the it may well be the ecuadorian one to sort this out as soon as possible and hand them over to authorities. >> what he says is if he went to

sweden, he would face extradition from there after dealing with the sexual assault charges. he would face extradition to america on treason charges where he would face the death penalty, and that is what he is worried about. take of that is what he says. the americans have not even said he is facing charges. that may well be true. they do not have to announce it. the swedish authorities cannot send him straight off to the united states. they cannot use their request for him to stand trial in order just to send him off to the united states. that would be a breach of the european 0 west -- arrest warrant. if they were to not face charges in sweden, or indeed if he were to be tried and convicted in sweden and serve a prison sentence there, the question in his mind is what would happen to him then. certainly at that point he might be sent to the and i did states

if the americans asked for his extradition, but he would not face the death penalty, because countries that are signed up to the council of europe will not send somebody to a country where they may face the death penalty. >> thank you for clearing it all up. thank you. delegates at the summit in brazil have agreed in text that is meant to lay out goals to put the global economy on a more sustainable path. the agreement due to be signed by world leaders on friday was immediately criticized as the weak compromise. the text has no clause calling for governments to phase out a possible fuel subsidies, which have nearly tripled 2009, despite the pledge to eliminate them. no decision on creating a government structure for the high seas. that has been postponed for three years. activists and civil society groups of praise the proposals

on protecting the world's oceans and for centering the environment program. >> on the beach at rio, the protest about the direction of the economy and the impact on the natural world. the environmental campaigners demanding an end to the subsidies given to fossil fuels. years ofwas 20 their real hosted the famous summit. the promise was made to tackle climate change. the summit this week is spent to revitalize the agenda, but many of the key points are being watered down. >> any progress you hear about in a press conference is about progress to water down the text to avoid commitment and reality is governments are here to do nothing and commit to doing nothing. >> the aim is for this

generation to live in a way that is not correct things for the next one. for example, this mine is right in the middle of the rain forest. we all make use of iron, but there is a cost to nature. the summit will talk about all of this. a firm agreement is not likely. >> the bbc and garment analyst is with me now. -- environment analyst is with me. those characters are not there, obama and david cameron. >> know, they are not. the backdrop is totally different with the economic crisis going on in europe, and events in the middle east. the backdrop is different. the one thing that has happened in real this time around, which is an interesting development, is the brazilians have taken hold of this as the host of the conference.

despite absence of the world leaders you just talked about, they have forced through a draft agreement that has been made by the officials. when the leaders turned up, they will have something concrete to discuss. >> but they forced through a draft agreement, which says it is along the suicide note in history. >> it is short on environmental goals and sustainable double of it -- development goals. very short on the timetable and dates. i will give you one that particularly struck my mind. the nation's note there is a huge problem in the oceans with debris coming off plastics in the pacific. they say they're really want to tackle this. here is the caveat, by 2025. it is staggering. it is hardly surprising with that sort of thing that environmentalists are angry, although one could say it is

better than nothing. >> the other thing different is this time around you mention brazil and what it is doing, but the emerging nations like china, south africa, and even some of developed countries, they are much more powerful this time around. what impact does that have? they are more powerful than 20 years ago. even then they went to rio with a very strong environmental agenda. they got pushed back his head -- they got pushed back by those that said this is a developmental agreement. you can imagine in any conflict in which people are pitted against nature, someone will be able to save look here, the u.n. says nature should take the fall. the truth is nature normally takes the fall anyway. >> thank you. the olympic torch is making its way from york to carlyle in

northern england. 85 torchbearers gave up running to donate part of her long to her sister. they will carry her between the national new york museum in for station in north york sure. -- north yorkshire. hosni mubarak critically ill in a military hospital. please stay with us on bbc world news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. union bank. and a shell. -- and shell. >> at shell, we believe the world needs a broader mix of energies. that's why we're supplying cleaner burning natural gas to generate electricity. and it's also why, with our

partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol, a biofuel made from renewable sugar cane. >> a minute, mom! >> let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go. >> bbc world news was presented by kcet los angeles.