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growth objectives. we offer expertise and tailored solutions for small businesses and major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news." >> an official report in japan's says last year's nuclear disaster was man-made. the meltdown that threatened a nation. reports say relations between the government, the regulator, and the fukushima company were too cozy. >> hello and welcome to gmt. i am george alagiah, with a world of news and opinion. also in the program -- anger

among wildlife activists. europe's tallest building at more than 1,000 feet, built in london but designed by an italian and funded by qatar. it is midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, and 8:00 in the evening in tokyo, where an official panel has said last year's fukushima nuclear crisis was avoidable. that is quite a testament given no one predicted the earthquake or tsunami. parliamentary investigation has set a cozy relationship meant there had been poor planning for the disaster. it will have serious implications as japan seeks to bring nuclear power generation back on line. just a warning, the report does contain some flash photography. >> march 11 of last year, the tsunami crashed into japan's

eastern coastline. this was a natural disaster. what follows, says a japanese parliamentary report, was man- made. the water shut down power at the fukushima nuclear plant and o wrecked the backup generators. the result -- a catastrophe. explosion after explosion, high radiation levels, and raising questions about the future of nuclear power. now, some answers in a report handed to the speaker of the japanese parliament. it spoke of a multitude of errors after investigators interviewed more than 1000 people. >> [speaking foreign language] >> the accident is not over. the recommendation should be implemented one after another. this is the duty of every member of the legislature and every person of the nation.

>> there was collusion between the government and tepco, the operator. the disaster could have been foreseen and prevented. they failed to adopt global standards. there was unforgivable arrogance and ignorance. sways of land around the site remain contaminated. tens of thousands have been forced to leave. governments around the world are still deciding their own nuclear futures. the report says japan have a right to be safe from nuclear accidents, and that wright had been -- that right have been abused. >> let's go to tokyo now and our correspondent, mariko oi. what is the reaction there? >> one of the ministers said it

was questionable this was a man- made disaster. as you said, the report, which was expected to use strong language -- i do not the in many people expected it to be this harsh. the report said it was very critical of the then prime minister and his government's handling of the crisis immediately after. it also said the disaster was made in japan, that some of the fundamental reasons or causes could be found in japanese culture, such as people's reluctance to question authority. was a very harsh report. >> how is it one to play into this ongoing debate, the protests about bringing nuclear power generation back,? >> anti-nuclear activists are welcoming this report. one interesting thing about this

report, as well, is the report found there was some evidence that the fukushima power plant was possibly damaged by the earthquake itself. the government has said it was just a tsunami which damaged the nuclear power plant, and that's why the government approved restarting two reactors a few weeks ago. it was restarted over the weekend. one of the reactors has the started generating electricity in japan. the report suggesting that the earthquake can damage a nuclear power plants. it does raise a question of whether the government's decisions are really safe. >> in terms of regulations, given that the report said it was too cozy a relationship, are we likely to see new regulations? >> one should hope so after such

a harsh report. it has been a traditional or historical relationship between the public and the private sector. it is called a descent from heaven or a golden parachute. sometimes retired bureaucrat to get jobs at related private companies that they used to supervise. one expert that i spoke to said that could often lead to too cozy of a relationship, when bureaucrats could look the other way when there are issues of private companies. the report is saying that all that kind of tradition -- accumulating, and combined, it resulted in this horrible accident in fukushima. >> thank you very much. thank you. now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world today. south korea has come under international pressure from outraged governments and environmentalists to scrap plans

for whaling. the government is citing scientific research. mimics loophole already used by japan. critics say it's just an excuse for commercial wailing. >> the international moratorium on whaling is more than 20 years old, but there are loopholes. japan and now south korea say they need to do it for scientific reasons. officials say whale numbers have risen and that fishermen are -- at least one group is severely depleted. south korea's proposal has already drawn sharp conclusions. >> i am very disappointed by this announcement by south korea appeared we are completely opposed to whaling. there's no excuse for excusewhaling.

i have instructed our ambassador in south korea to raise this message today at the highest levels of the korean government. >> south korea says it will submit a formal plan for scientific whaling next year. south korea has a long history of beating whale meat. while this proposal is likely to be popular with locals, it's also likely to put a dent in south korea's international image. >> we offer your comment on this story. to bring you some of the sources on our facebook page so far -- she is from india. she says, it's this is truly scientific research, why can it not be done using non invasive methods. he says, "do not completely

blame the japanese and south korea. it is the bureaucrats who have not closed the loophole, who we also need to criticize." "there should be a total world ban. most importantly, it is very barbaric." those are some of the comments. you can continue to have your say on those stories and others. if you are a twitter fan, we are @bbcworld, and also our facebook page. according to opposition activists, homs has come under heavy shelling. amateur video shows thick, black smoke and flames rising from buildings in the city. syrian troops have been pounding several districts in homs in the last several days and 19 people have been killed. one of the heaviest hit areas

was the rebel-held district where the watchdog says living conditions are deteriorating. the head of the u.n. monitoring mission says the task is continually changing, but it will not give up on the syrian people. >> we cannot and we will not turn our eyes and ears away from your plate. ork onl continue our w peaceful resolution to the crisis. >> in the u.k., a major motorway has been shut in both directions, the m-6, following a police-led incident in the north of the country. police say armed officers are dealing with the incident after a coach stopped when one of its passengers was acting suspiciously. police have not confirmed whether it is a counterterrorism

operation. trucks carrying nato supply is have began crossing from the pakistan border to afghanistan. it follows a deal reached with the u.s. this week ending a standoff over the killing of pakistani soldiers by u.s. aircraft last november. thousands of people are at risk in somalia as the continuing conflict threaten recovery from last year's damage. the charity says dale is in somalia are still unable to cope and called for an increase in aid. it's one of several agencies to call for more help for the country in recent months. more then have the votes cast in mexico's presidential election are being recounted following reports of fraud. the leader of the left wing prd party who came the second has demanded a total recount.

will grant has been speaking exclusively to the man who won sunday's poll, pena nieto. >> the confusion continues to deepen. almost as soon as the polls close in sunday's vote, supporters of the left-wing candidate, lopez obrador, began to report irregularities. within days, the former mayor of mexico city presented his case to authorities. they included serious allegations of vote buying by pena nieto and his party. now it seems the country's electoral body agrees there's enough evidence of wrongdoing to order a recount of more than half the votes cast. for the left, the decision is welcomed the news. for mr. pena nieto, who considers himself to be the next president of mexico, the allegations are unfounded and politically motivated.

>> [speaking foreign language] >> look, we have seen these kinds of things in every election. they are nothing new. i regret that the candidate of the left in our country does not recognize the country and does not even choose to take the right institutional channels. >> so, you, sitting here today, can say the pri did not spend money on a single vote in a single state and a single municipality? >> [speaking foreign language] >> i am totally certain that the in the law. with an thank you it spent only what is permitted under the law. >> the recount is very frustrating to mr. pena nieto, who was hoping to be declared the winner of the elections soon. he may now be looking at a long legal challenge to his legitimacy. following a similar situation

six years ago, many mexicans were hoping to avoid any further uncertainty this time around. it may be weeks before any candidate is officially unveiled as mexico's president-elect. >> still to come on gmt in the next few minutes -- >> who is excited about the olympic games? >> not everyone agrees. we meet the children who are praises of thepraise olympics. french aircraft investigators have concluded that a combination of human error and technical failures caused loss of an air france flight the plunge into the atlantic in 2009. all people on board were killed. here is our transport correspondent. >> paris, june 2009, and

families faced a harrowing weight. air france flight 447 had simply vanished on its way from brazil to france. there were 228 people on board, including nelson's son. >> [speaking foreign language] >> there were documents from other organizations that show it was not a human error. the french government is trying to avoid its responsibilities, anding to pin the blame on hi human error. it was not. there was something wrong with the plane. >> the families have had a long way. took nearly two years. full of clues, the black box flight recorders were two and a half miles down, scattered on an underwater mountain range. >> it was very deep water, up to 4600 meters. somebody described it to me as trying to look for wreckage in switzerland at night with a

torch. >> the report last year details how problems with the air speed indicator, which switched off the autopilot -- one of the pilots put the plane into a climb. despite repeated alarms, none of the crew realized the plane had stalled. in just three and half minutes, it had dropped from the sky. the report is not expected to reveal any new charges. it could signal criminal involcharges. >> we will be in paris live for the latest on that report. >> this is gmt i am george alagiah. an independent report on the fukushima nuclear disaster criticizes former prime minister kan.

south korea announcing it wants to start hunting whales. let's catch up on the business news now with aaron. in about half an hour, the ecb is expected to talk about rates, expecting a cut. >> absolutely, george. huge expectations that the ecb will make an interest-rate cut of about one-quarter of 1%. we've never seen it that low before. even though inflation is still remaining quite steady across the 17 countries, every day, we see further and further evidence that the region is slowing down. in particular, the powerhouse, and the core that is germany. everything that is business and consumer sentiment -- down. manufacturing is pointing downward. here is the big question the markets are asking. will the ecb do more than just make a rate cut? for example, will they make more

money available? will they start buying some of the troubled eurozone government debt from some of the peripheral economies? that's the question we're asking. let's listen to what our economics editor had to say earlier. >> there's a lot of focus after the summit of european leaders last week on what the european central bank might be willing to do to help some of the governments that are under pressure, and help the banks. a few weeks ago, they did make it even easier for banks to get emergency borrowing from ecb. they once again light and the collateral. you can pretty much bring them anything and get money in return. there's questions on whether they will do this long term. remember, in november and also in the spring, they provided this very long term for central bank financing to banks in trouble. we know those kinds of measures,

they do not want to be letting banks or governments off the hook. >> while we're talking about central banks, the very own bank of england, it was their decision to keep rates on hold. they're starting in the printing pressure again. they have already pumped in $500 billion. they have announced they will add almost $80 billion. >> let's talk about barclays. bob diamond before parliamentarian's yesterday. moody's has issued a warning about barclays in his absence. now, standard and for. >> we are keeping an eye on you, barclays. they've put them on credit watch, basically. we thought you were stable and now all of this kind of negative. that is on the path to a credit rating downgrade for the bank. he is the reason why. not so much because barclays

was in the wrong with misrepresenting the lending rates, but because it lost its chief executive officer, its chairman. >> the top three. >> how do you replaced three senior executive vis? how do you replace the ceo with the credibility and the ability to get the bank of of all these problems? the question on the actions by the agencies, will it do any further damage? >> i do not think it will be especially damaging to it will not have much of an impact in early trading on the share price. i think it's fair to say that having been behind the curve for most of the financial crisis, the ratings agencies can now err on the side of caution. barclays is in turmoil at the

moment, but this specific piece of news does not tell us anything new. >> back with 25 minutes to take a look at what the ecb is doing. >> let's go back to that story i brought you earlier on a major motorway in the uk that has been shut in both directions following what is described as a police-led incident in stafford. that is the county in the north of the country. our correspondent is on the scene at the m6 tollway. ben, what exactly are we to get from this phrase, a police led incident. >> police have brought this incident to us this morning. at 8:20 uk time. you have seen fast flowing traffic for the toll booth here.

police identified a vehicle, a coach operated by a company called megabus, which was on the hard shoulder. the report was that a passenger on board was being an incident. the actual bus was pulled over with its hazard lights on. police and emergency services arrived at the scene. now, emergency service vehicles and contamination units. we understand that between 40 and 50 passengers have been questioned by officers, some of them armed this morning, to see what has happened. we are waiting for an update from british police. this is a contain the incident at the moment, albeit surrounded with emergency services. we do believe this incident is

over. we will get clarification on that soon. >> there's bound to be speculation that this might be something to do with terrorism. everybody is on their guard. the olympics are coming along. >> yes. some people have said, will we see more of these emergency reaction procedures ahead of the olympic games? we have no confirmation from the police that this is a terror incident. we've had reports from eyewitnesses. they have suggested that this may be a passenger on these vehicles that has hidden a bottle of liquid in that vehicle. there is suspicion. that suspicion has led to the emergency presence here. it's hard to say exactly what happened premier waiting for news. >> thank you very much. thank you. the tallest building in europe

officially unveiled today. it stands 310 meters. a look inside. >> we are in the 69th floor, about eight hundred feet in the air, taking in the extraordinary views of london this morning. let's try to take a quick look. amazing day to be up here today. if we come back along the thames, we can see the cathedral. a quick look down pat i hope you do not have vertigo. you can see the commuters and london travelers in the city of london, which is almost directly opposite us. if we come back, you can see the

cluster of tall buildings in the middle. one of the reasons the shard has proved controversial for some, it goes against most planning rules. it is covered in 8,000 panes of glass. the architect is battalion. the money that has a bankroll the this building has come from qatar. it has divided opinions. some say they love it. others say it dominates and ruins the skyline. let's come around this way a bit more. we will try to show you another quick view of london. you may be able to see this down here. this tower bridge.

the shard is inaugurated later today and will be open to the public. you will be able to come where we are here now next february. it will cost 25 quit, but the view is spectacular. >> we will be back very soon. >> makes 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, we work hard to understand the industry you

operate in, working to nurture new ventures and provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was brought to you by kcet, los angeles.