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in capital to help you meet your growth objectives. we offer expertise and taylored solutions for small businesses and corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now "bbc world news." >> welcome to london live, here on "bbc world news." the syrian prime minister defects to jordan. there are ols reports that other ministers have followed. we'll have the latest. one correspondent has been to the outskirts of damascus to speak to rebels who are living to give their lives to oust president al-assad. >> they are adamant they will try again to push into the capitol.

>> usain bolt successfully defends his olympic title. see how that went down in jamaica. michael jameson will join us live to tell us what it's like to win an olympic gold medal. and nasa land a robot on mars. the mission, to look for plans -- to look for signs that the planet may have once had life. >> hello and welcome. it's day 10 of the london 2012 games. perhaps it feels like the morning after the night before. but there are golds to be one today, as well as in the stadium behind me. but with all due respect for

today's winners, everyone is still talking about you know who. usain bolt clocked 9.63 as he won the 100-meters again. we all have stories where we watched the race. i was in a jamaica bar in south london. you can tweet your stories. in a minute, we'll see how the big man's fans reacted at his own bar in kingston and we'll take a more detailed look at the day's sporting schedule. first though we must turn to the situation in syria. the prime minister riad hijab has defected to jordan. also claims that other ministers have followed suit. but we'll hear from jim muir in a moment. our correspondent paul word and cameraman fred scott have been with rebel forces on the outskirts of damascus where reporting is severely restricted.

this is their exclusive report for the bbc. >> we're in president assad's backyard. his palace is little more than three miles away. but here you find rebel fighters, not government troops. the rebels can't really be set to hold this ground. they only fear as long as government forces are not. but still the rebel forces are adamant they will try again to push into the capitol. for the time being, they wait. someone's home is now their bar racks. fresh recruits arrive every day, so many there's hardly room. ali, who's 18, was send by his parents to jordan for safety. they think he's studying computer science. he joined in a cheeky song addressed to the president's mother. who gave birth to a donkey, they

chant. such words would once have been a death sentence. the small taste of the freedom they're fighting for. but many don't know the first thing about weapons. and soon they'll be thrown into battle with what you see here. the last assault ran out of bullets. this morning ali called his family to tell him he's back. his father didn't take it well when he said he was here to help over throw president assad. >> i'm ready to die for that goal. >> did you tell your parents that? >> about i'm ready to die? i wouldn't tell them because our generation is more brave than my father's generation in the fighting the regime. >> the commander says they

learned the lessons of the last chaotic assault. we reached the beating heart of damascus, he said. that was a victory. but this time we'll be better planned. we'll take more territory. all of damascus will move together. for so long people fled to damascus for safety. now they're running from it. the opposition says two million people have been displaced in this conflict. we were hysterical with fear, this mother of five said. there was shelling and snipers and government militia roaming everywhere. each time the regime uses greater violence, it only strengthens the uprising. these are sunni muslims. if the wars do simply become sunnis against the regime, it

will be over for president assad. paul wood, "bbc news," damascus. >> let's get more with jim muir who joins me on the line from bay route. jim, give us an idea of how significant the prime minister was in the power structure? >> well, the prime minister do not carry much power. cabinets are basically doing the bidding of the inner power circle which is president assad and his immediate family and the inner circle around him. however, that's not to say this is not an important defection, it is hugely important. this is riad hijab, the prime minister, had only been appointed two months ago following general elections under the new constitution, what is supposedly part of president assad's reform process in may. so he had only been on the job two months. the government had announced he was fired and in fact he was

told that last night. they're trying to suggest that anything that happens, that we learn about now, such as defection, is reaction to being fired. but in fact when people defect, it's something na the pipeline for a very long time beforehand. so this was the government trying to save face in what is an extremely embarrassing defection. very high level, the prime minister, who was regarded as a party loyalist, a safe pair of hands, but at the end of the day he's a sunni, as was the syrian ambassador in bag dad who defected a few weeks ago. people like him are finding the strain of this too much to bear. >> and we're getting reports of an attack on the television? >> yes, a bomb went off on the third floor of the tv station in damascus itself causing a lot of superficial damage. but not many casualties. a few people were slightly hurt. tv itself was broadcasting

footage the damage which i say was sort of superficially impressive, but not deep damage. and with the information minister who was in the building, saying that basically we will continue, et cetera. but the first announcement they've made after that was that the prime minister had been fired. so, really dramatic day in da mass us showing that we can expect more surprises as this crisis deepens because the strains inside the regime are really starting to tell. >> jim, thank you very much indeed for beirut. >> let's turn our attentions back to the olympics. usain bolt is an incredible athlete but jams is not a one pernt sprint team and there's just been a big, big shock in the women's hurdles. >> yes, a contrast to what happened. bridget foster hilton from jamaica was a favorite, stumbled

midway through and clipped a hurdle. she won't qualify for the finals so that's a blow to the sprint team, of whom, you said there are many. lola jones is through for the united states, as is dawn harper. sally pierson is the fastest in this race. of course australia not having the best olympics compared to recent years. so a lot of attention on her. >> i'm rooting for lola jones from beijing, when she was favorite, gold awaiting her and she hit it and dealt with it in a very graceful way, so i'm kind of hoping she makes amends. we'll talk a little bit more in a moment. but, the bbc's nick davis is based in kingston. for the big race last night, he went to usain bolt's bar, as you can imagine, the race received a raptureed reception. >> this was the place to watch

the race. it's a bar high in the capitol that bears his name. you could have been mistaken to think that he had already won. but they were about to prove how loud they could really get. this is absolutely crazy! [inaudible] >> if you're struggling to hear, so was i. when things calmed down just a little, i thought up with the fans. >> i was nervous. i was so nervous watching him run, but then he won and it was like heaven.

he was wonderful. he's amazing. >> it was great the guy represented, everybody wanted usain to win. the question mark was there and he laid it to rest. he's the most dominant runner of all time. that's it. >> what were you saying? [laughter] >> jamaica's love their sprinters, and their love affair with usain bolt just got a bit more passionate. >> usain bolt a hero for a generation around the world. but for me, the focus is -- >> jamaica's streets are now bursting with dance and song, as the country celebrates its 50th anniversary of dependence. with the remarkable success of their biggest star athlete, it will be the biggest party this country has ever seen. >> looked like nick was having good fun there. well, one of the great things is

that the action just keeps on coming. off we go again. what have we got in store in the stadium today? >> i'm going to keep a close eye on the pole vault with a russian vaulter. she's got the ability to produce performances almost on demand. sin nicks will say when their sponors would like a new world record, she can deliver. >> so did sergei. >> absolutely, he did the same. men's 400-meters hurdle, felix sanchez, the 2004 champion up against the great britain champion -- >> caught in by the skin of his teeth. >> yes, i think he came in fourth in his race. so, wondering if he can step it up. >> terrible lane, though, which is never going to help. >> that's true. he's got a lot to prove because he looked like he was out and he was crushed. as well as woman's shotputt, as

well as gymnastics and women's football. >> not many people beat the u.s. in women's football. many many goals and many many sports being won today. we'll have more here on "bbc world news." now, one olympic games is always a good excuse to look back at games gone by. if i said l.a. in 1984 to you, i'm guessing you would think carl lewis, mary decker and that guy with a jet pack in the opening ceremony, right? well, for our latest olympic postcard, we're back to the stadium where it all happened. >> the 1984 olympics here in los angeles was dominated by a

boycott and drama on the track. l.a. was the only city to bid and california did it on the cheap, using the coliseum which had previously hosted the 1932 olympics, and relying heavily on corporate sponsorship. but they made huge profits and became the model for future games. it was the height of the cold war. four years earlier, america had led a boycott of the moscow olympics. so it wasn't surprising that the soviet union did a similar thing. in 1984, 14 countries stayed at home. among them, iran, libya, cuba and east germany. ♪ a hundred,000 people were -- a hundred thousand people were here for the grand opening, including a rocket man, and beneath every seat was a card and when held up and pieced together displayed the flag of every nation taking part.

it was here the american sprinter carl lewis won four gold medals. britain's sebastian cow won. and on this track, bird and decker so famously clashed. 1984 is considered financially one of the most successful modern olympic games. >> if you saw a story about a bottle being thrown before the beginning of the finals had the bad luck of being sit next to a dutch judeo champion. call it poetic justice. these are our lead stories. syria's prime minister has defected from president assad's regime. opposition activists say other government ministers have also left their posts. and usain bolt has run into the record books by successfully defending his title as olympic

100-meters champion. there have been huge celebrations at nasa's mission control in california. this after the latest probe from mars touched down successfully. the robotic vehicle is called curiosity, and it landed after a 570 million kilometer journey from earth. the rover will look at conditions on the red planet and see if maybe at one stage it was able to support living organisms. >> we have a connection, but we actually do not have any data yet. >> nasa scientists describe the last stages of the landing mission as seven minutes of terror. that tension could be seen on the faces of those in the control room in california, as curiosity went through the many stages of its complicated landing. >> everything was fine, as expected. >> then, it came to rest on the surface of the red planet.

>> touchdown confirmed. [cheers and applause] >> curiosity's mission is to explore if there ever has been life on mars. it's known that the planet did have liquid water on it for prolonged periods around three billion years ago. where there's water, there may have been life. and it's traces of tra which curiosity is looking for in its two-year mission. getting the one-ton rover onto the surface was its own mission. a sky crane lowered it down and remarkably within a minute came the first image. this clear picture sent a short time later shows the shadow of curiosity on the ground. the rover then tweeted from mars i'm safely on the service. curiosity, the most sophisticated rover ever built is now on the surface of the red

planet where it will seek to answer age old questions about whether life ever existed on mars and whether the planet can sustain life in the future. >> this is the fourth rover landing on mars, but by far the most complex and detailed. it's exploring a crater in the center of gale crater. it means that this mission could last as long as a decade and is hoped to reveal any secrets to life on mars. keith doyle, "bbc news." >> let's have a look at the other main developments around the world today. china is preparing for its third typhoon in a book after nine people were killed and several were reporting missing over the weekend. more than a million people have been evacuated with the typhoon expected to reach the coast on tuesday. india's prime minister is shocked by the attack on a sikh temple in wisconsin. six people were killed.

the gunman opened fire on worshippers who gathered for morning prayer in the city of oak creek. unidentified government attack a military base off the ivory coast. u.n. peacekeepers have been deployed into the area and they say the situation is under control. now, the president of egypt has promised that egyptian forces will take full control of the peninsula after its border guards were attacked. gunmen killed at least 16 guards stationed on the border with israel and israel said its found the body of eight gunmen who attacked the checkpoint. israeli authorities say it was an attempt to attack civilians. our middle east correspondent has been following events. >> security in the north was quickly stepped up in the wake of this attack. but overnight, border guards

were caught off guard. they were breaking for ramadan when heavily armed men opened up fire. israeli officials say militants plans to use stolen vehicles targeting israeli civilians. one vehicle blew up at a crossing point and the other was destroyed by the israeli air force. as the search continues to find those responsible, egypt has closed its rafa border crossing with the gaza strip. in the past year there's been growing concern that militants have gained a foothold in this resstive region. this is more worrying evidence of the threat it poses. >> well, let's switch our attention back to the olympics. there's a top five nations in a any great surprise. china and america in the top two positions, as ever. great britain in third, possibly punching a little bit above its

way. south korea and france. the only surprise is that australia isn't featuring. all of these countries have big populations and they spent an awful lot of money developing their athletes. but there might be another way to drum up success at the olympics. the guardian newspaper is using people to compile data, to gage on more than just the number of medals have been won. look at what happens when you factor in the wealth of nations. not a bad result when you consider the u.s. has a g.d.p. of around $15 trillion. you go by population size, jamaica still tops the table, compare that to a regular table lead of china which has around 1.3 billion.

followed by denmark and hung rhode island. france is one of the matchups that i've been looking forward to the most may happen later on. well two of them actually. the men's sprint on the track and fingers crossed, meirs versus pendle ton incredible rivalry that has gone back years. >> victoria pendleton due to retire, and in great form. the funding of sports can be related directly to britain's success in cycling. up until the funding kicked in, they were nowhere. now it's not only the olympics we have star names, we have a tour de france winner in bradley wigens as well. you can see the results, but pendleton against mears will be a ding-dong battle. that rivalry has gone back and forth two or three times. >> we might be getting slightly

ahead of ourselves because they're not in the final yet. she led the attack out and got completely washed away. so it's not a guarantee she'll make it into the final. i think borejay and kenny, both a lot faster than their rivals. >> he finds degrees, it comes a lot down to how people are feeling mentally as well. >> 6,000 people making an awful lot of noise there. we talked about the football, let's also mention the gymnastics, thrills and spills over the last few days. now the individual events. this is where the uneven bars, the floor, and there's a gold for each. >> indeed. we had a great week in the gymnastics with gabby douglas of the united states. who was just wowing the crowd. the home crowd will be behind beth twittle, another woman who has had a terrific career but needs a good olympics. >> this is it right?

>> this is it. now we can chat about this later with michael jameson, but the commitments that people put in in their prove lives. we just see the glory, these people are doing it seven days a week, 12 hours a day. an enormous commitment. you can't blame a person like michael phelps, after 18 gold medals saying i'm gone. >> we've also got greco roman wrestling. i'm not going to expect you to explain that, but quite a spectacle. i was watching it last night trying to work out what was going on, not really having a clue but still enjoying it. >> when would you and i ever sit down and watch that, or double trap shooting, as i think gary and i were discussing in some detail last week. >> yes. >> but you know, this is the joy of the olympics. when you can punch up as many as 27 sports on an internet feed, a tv feed and watch things like yes, greco roman wrestling. >> god to see you francis. if you're watching, you're

thinking what is is it? it's explained in a very simple but detailed way on our website. you'll get all of the explanation, and also all of the results as well. and i'll quickly just remind you of our main news here on the bbc, away from the olympics. and that's that in syria the prime minister, not a member of president assad's inner circle, but still a significant figure, has defected. he has gone to jordan. reports that three other ministers have defected but we've not been able to confirm that. there's also been a bomb attack on the state television third floor. details not particularly clear but we do know that a bomb has gone off. and if you didn't see the report for the bbc's paul wood and fred

scott our cameraman filed from the outskirts of damascus with the rebels, you can also get that on our website. the address is bbc.com/news. you can also get me on twitter, you can also get me on twitter, @bbcrodatkins.