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what can we do for you? >> and now, bbc world news. >> is syria heading for a ceasefire? the death toll at 30,000, the government says it is ready to stop the fighting for the holiday of eid. >> if the initiative succeeds, we hope to build on it and import and lasting and solid ceasefire. >> welcome. also coming up, recognizing generations of hurt for the roma community in germany, but will it help the roma of today?

and a scandal that is testing the bbc's reputation for independence and trust. it is midday in london, 7:00 a.m. i washington, and in damascus, there is a flicker of hope that a ceasefire, albeit a temporary one, could be brought about by the end of this week. there is a sign of readiness from some programs to halt the offensive during the holiday of eid, which begins on friday. >> following my recent visit to damascus, i would like to tell you that the syrian government has agreed to a cease-fire eid.g the i believe they will issue a statement to this act either today or tomorrow. most of the fighting groups our accepted to observe a ceasefire. this modest initiative succeeds,

we hope to build on it and aim for a lasting and solid ceasefire. >> syria has become an ever more dangerous country to report from, but our correspondent has been traveling in the north of the country, where rebel groups hold sway. first of all, we're just getting word of this potential cease- fire. it seems that the government is ready to go for it. rebel groups will have to go with that and come to a joint agreement, aren't they? >> the whole problem is in the idea of a joint agreement. there has never been a unified command structure for rebels. despite many attempts to create what, there still isn't. the most is is some umbrella formations that have started to emerge in some portions of the country, like one that has been prominent in fighting for the second city, aleppo. they are said to be better

equipped, for example, with small arms from the gulf and other groups. they control most of the territory north of aleppo, which is effectively prominently in rebel hands, although still in very heavy and indiscriminate government bombardment, which is what i found when i visited the small town of mara north of aleppo. the danger comes from above. the regime still ruled the sky. it rains down terror on towns like mara with indiscriminate strafing and bombing. this was a secondary school until a government bonmb hit. >> the fighter jets attacked, then they went away. then they came back and attacked again.

>> a few days passed without a funeral. today, they a burying a man who fired machine-gun fire from a plan as he drove his car through the town. uddenly, the mourners' attention turns from earth to sky could a helicopter is approaching. until it eventually changes course, they, too, are threatened with death. on the ground, at 3 syrian army soldiers govern and guard the town of mara now. foupious men, determined to bring social justice to syria. >> the new syria will be a assyria without corruption, without bribery. you will not have a system like under the old regime where everyone is corrupt. >> will the new syria keep women

in seclusion, as mara always has? this remains a deeply conservative society, even after years of rule by the baath party. but not all syrians rule like this, and many are afraid that when the regime collapses, another fight will break out as one part of the country tries to impose its values on others. the west has refused to arm rebels because it fears that weapons may fall into extremist hands. here they say that those fears are baseless. >> along with the conflict goes on, the more extreme it becomes spirit is up to the rest of the world to help us get rid of bashar. if we take a longer time, a lot more will be killed and people will become more extremist. for the west to not be helping,

that creates extremists. >> not much talk of how long postwar cancellation can survive. what they are sure of this death. the victims yet unknown. >> you mentioned to the challenges of postwar reconciliation. it must feel from your experience that seeing the disparate nature of these groups, any talk is an awful long way. >> a very long time away. everyone is talking of a single time we try to set an end to this struggle, we put it further and further away again bit every time we talked about trying to establish some kind of leadership for the rebels, it gets nowhere. if you compare this with libya last year, as soon as eastern libya, for example, was freed from colonel gaddafi's forces,

strip away there was a leadership position -- straight away there was a leadership position that the outside world can do business with a. we have this same a bridgehead in a geographical sense in northern syria. territory, the political as well as the military focus, for new leadership, but nothing of the same kind, no unity at all. >> it is only going to be over the period, if that happens, of eid, but one where he hopes for something more substantive could emerge. my guess is that you don't see it? >> it is pretty unlikely, really. there are some many rebels in this conflict going on, and certainly the people we found talk a great deal about the idea that it is only the regime that

says sectarianism and tries to pit one section of the syrian side against another, in particular sunni muslims against alawites. what they want in the end is an inclusive syria. the longer this goes on, the more the idea of an inclusive syria becomes more and more difficult. we talked a lot about sectarianism, but what becomes apparent when you go to rubble- held areas on the ground is that there is a strong social element of the struggle as well. with this ongoing battle in aleppo, the rebels fighting and not many times from aleppo themselves. there are from smaller, more rural, more islamic places, and they are angry with this in urban class that they feel when on supporting president assad too long. but that works in reverse as well. the more the people in the big cities feel there is a social

element of the revolution, the more they want to go on staying with the regime. >> thank you very much indeed. we will have a look at some of the others to was making headlines around the world. they have been described as the forgotten victims of the nazi holocaust, at least until today did half a million members of the roma, or gypsy community it murdered during the second world war have been remembered in a ceremony and memorial in berlin. it is surrounded by walls be telling the nazi persecution of the roma. it was held up by years of dispute over its design and cost. the german chancellor angela merkel open to the memorial. later in the program, we will be speaking to the lawyer who has represented traveler communities in roma in many high-profile

cases to gauge how they feel treated in a world evtoday. a world heavyweight boxing champion and a prisoner, both of them are vying to become the next president of the largest country in the continent, the ukraine. with the existing government accused of undermining the rule of law and democratic progress, is likely to be the ukraine's most interesting revelations since the orange revolution years ago. >> the winning world heavyweight boxing champion who has shaken up this campaign he and his party have fought their way to second place in the polls, with a promise to beat ramp in institutional corruption and strengthen ties with the european union. >> ukraine is part of europe mentally, geographically, historically, but everybody wants to leave a democracy with

the european standards. >> this could prove to be a key moment for the ukraine, whether it continues on the path to democracy or joins the european union, all at the moment when it goes back to what could be seen as a more russianstyle of politics. already, despite international condemnation, the most famous face of the opposition is behind bars, unable to campaign and furious at limited access to visitors. her supporters pointed out the window of the hospital where she is being held and traded at following her conviction last year in what ilargely viewed as a political trial. >> that she could win in the ukraine in any political battle, he understands that, and that is

why she is in jail. >> the prime minister defended the court that has killed his principal political opponent. the crime was buying gas from russia at too high a price. >> the damage he caused adds up to $5 billion a year. i am sure that the judicial system in great britain would have come to similar conclusions at the british prime minister cost the same amount of damage to the british state. >> that does not wash with a senior european politicians. the long serving a swedish foreign minister and former prime minister who has pushed for the ukraine to be brought into europe says that the plan is now on the furthest back burner. >> it should be the rule of law, the independent judiciary. if the judiciary is used for political purposes in a way that is obviously the case, that

undermines the european prospects for the ukraine. >> it is being painted as a battle for the soul of the largest country on the european continent. the ukraine shows the democratic path during the orange revolution eight years ago, but now under pressure from moscow, it is starting to feel more like russia again. >> the chairman of the bbc's governing body, the bbc trust, has reaffirmed the corporation independence from government over growing scandal over alleged child abuse by a former television star, jimmy sampvile. there is an unprecedented rise in the number of people reporting allegations of abuse. >> three weeks of sordid allegations against jimmy savile has had one positive consequence, say campaigners -- an unprecedented number of

people have come forward to report allegations of abuse. the prolonged publicity surrounding the former bbc presenter has given people the courage to call help lines and tell their own stories. speaking on one program, one victim, whose identity we are protecting by calling her penny, says she was attacked when she was 22 and an office on bbc premises. her words are spoken by an actress. >> this person got me on to the floor, and i protested very strongly and called out, saying "no, please, no," because i had someone guessed what was going to happen. >> the national association of people and abused in childhood says they have had 2500 calls over the past two weeks. they usually receive it seven honored over the same period. rape crisis centers are

reporting a 20% rise in colors. -- callers. >> there is double the number of the public calling us with reports of sexual abuse of children since this inquiry started. there has been a significant rise. >> it is and not just charities. this law firm, which specializes in sex abuse cases, has seen a fivefold increase in people coming forward with allegations unrelated to jimmy savile. >> that enables victims to say, yes, if i step forward and take that step, it will be taken seriously. >> but forces across the country could face unparallel pressures to investigate cases of child sex abuse, many going back decades. >> just to bring you up-to-date on that story, we have learned from the prime minister that the decision not to prosecute jimmy

savile back in 2009 will be reviewed. in 2010, jimmy savile was still alive. the alleged offenses all took place in the 1970's. still to come, following in the footsteps of the suffragette, the great granddaughter makes a stand for women's rights. it has been years since libya declared itself liberated after a western-backed rebellion ousted longest landin -- long- lasting leader muammar gaddafi. it started in the city of benghazi. >> people have gathered to mark the one-year since that libya was declared the bulleted -- is declared liberated after the war last year. some children who have gathered

here, there was a show or earlier where we saw men parachuting down from the sky, calving the libyan flight. we also saw the chief of staff of the army make a small speech and talk about security and emphasizing it, as well as at various military personnel also talking about unity rather than division. certainly a message that they are trying to get across. you also see various other people, if i can just show you, the veterans of the war, and clearly these are some of the people that took part in the uprising last year. it is a bit of a festive mood. a lot of hope for the future, despite the security issues that they have been facing. they recognize that they are facing a lot of security issues and they need to solve them, but they also feel they have come a

long way when you're on. says he willsident abandon plans to sell off state -- panama's president says he will abandon plans to sell off duty free is ounce after protestes. three people have died in the course of the clashes. this is "gmt," from a bbc world news. international envoys announced that the syrian government has agreed in principle to a cease- fire for eid. half a million members of the roma -- a memorial to half a million members of the roma

murdered by nazis has been inaugurated in germany. >> and this is a fascinating story. we're talking about rajat gupta, who immigrated many years ago to the united states and has been living the american dream. he reached the pinnacle of the u.s. corporate world. he was the chief executive of the consulting group mckinsey, he was on the board of directors of goldman sachs at proctor and gamble but in june of this year, that dream turned into an american nightmare for mr. gupta. he faces a judge for sentencing and possibly eight to 10 years in prison. in june he was basically found guilty of passing along company secrets, secrets that he obtained or gathered when he was on the board of goldman sachs. he passed that information to mr. raja rajaratnam, we use that

information to perform on the stock market. mr. rajaratnam is serving an 11- ye there were very prominent people who wrote in, like bill gates, the head of microsoft, kofi annan, former secretary- general of the u.n., and their letters were "let me give you a sense of the sky beyond his business career and talk about his humanitarianism." there was another group of letters from family and friends that talked about what a terrific person he was. >> interesting. we are in a very strange time. this iconic name, names that are part of our growing top, they are there and huge and in real trouble. you have another big one. >> a french carmaker, europe's second-largest -- like

vulnerable's carmakers, it is suffering, certainly in terms of sales come in europe. the government bailed them out to the tune of $9 billion. this aint' free money. the french prime minister said, but " my government has no intention of offering them a gift without any return." strings and conditions, with the s&l bailout. it is a three-year rescue package -- strings and conditions come with this bailout. it is a three-year rescue package. the problems are massive. let's have a listen. >> the european car industry is trying to sell cars to people who are grappling with financial problems, and in a time of austerity when people don't have a lot of money, the last thing on people's minds is going out and buying a new car. independent experts who spoke to the government ahead of this bailout said that the key problem is a restructuring, and that they are behind the times,

have not restructured very well over the past 20 years. that is the advice that has been given in terms of how the country should move forward in the coming years. >> we will watch that story and other struggling car makers. >> thanks a lot. more than 100 years ago, she led a famous march to parliament, calling for women to be given the rights to vote. today her great granddaughter will be following in her footsteps over concerns that women pause to equality is now being undermined. beingen's equality is now undermined let's look at key moments in the women's rights campaign. >> over a century of gradual change has seen key landmarks for women. she formed the women's social and political union in the 1900's, and the decades that followed showed many protests.

in 1918, over 80 million women gained the right to vote, but they had to be over 30, with property our position. 10 years on, all women over 21 were given the vote. finally giving them the same voting status as men. since then, women have seen the legalization of abortion in the 1960's, the equal pay act three years later, and greater rights and their marriages and their work, with the introduction of the sex discrimination act. in more recent years, public authorities are required by law to promote equality in the workforce. >> we can speak now to the great granddaughter of emmeline pankhurst, dr. helen pankhurst, outside the house of parliament. this is part of a drive to end

you are calling it the erosion of women's rights. are you seriously saying that women's rights are going backwards? >> there are worrying trends. austerity measures are cumulatively affecting women more than men, and also in terms of reproductive rights, there are rather worrying trends as well. >> such as? >> in terms of austerity measures, women tend to be predominately in the public sector work. they tend to be lower paid, and carersnd to tbe primary of households, the elderly, etc. all the services that are being cut without women taking on more of a bird with domestic activities, etc., and they are more likely to lose jobs --

>> just on that point, this is a time of economic hardship. isn't everyone having to take slight pain? >> absolutely, but is being an equally shared, and the poor and women are being affected more. because for a gender len -- call is for a gender lens, a check on how the measures are enacted. we have a parliament that is not representative of women. it is only 1/4, and not 1/2. our call is for greater political participation and representation of women in parliament, in the cabinet. we have got to move forward. otherwise, all sorts of policies -- the whole issues of violence against women and services for them of being caught, etc., could go on. >> i'm afraid you cannot, because we're coming to the end of the program. dr. pankhurst, thank you for

joining us from outside the houses of parliament in central london. plenty more to come on the bbc world news. >> make sense of international news and bbc.com/news. >> funding for this presentation is 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 use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global

network to work for a wide range of companies come from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >>