£2,000. however, we have a small problem. i hope you haven't found any cracks or... there were cracks once upon a time but those cracks have been very cleverly concealed. really? it has been restored. once upon a time there were actually two cracks to the body. what was once a large, curved crack running all the way around. i didn't see it. and at the back, you can see on the inside, there's been a long crack restored going down inside the body. well, i didn't notice the cracks. but then you have better eyesight than me. you're younger aren't you? and also, i suppose i am trained to find these things and it's been done very, very well. not necessarily to deceive. somebody actually valued this enough to get it restored once upon a time. as a result, i've gotta bring myself back a little bit. not too far.

i won't go back too far. i think, with the damage you'd be looking more like £600 to £800. on a good day, it might get itself up to the £1,000, which, let's face it isn't bad. you've still gone ten times profit. that's not bad going. that's not bad going. the thing is, you obviously love it and enjoy it so hopefully, i've not spoiled it for you. thank you very much. how nice to see two rather unusual works by rex whistler. i only know him as a painter of murals. we can see it's clearly signed here. r. whistler. rex whistler. and a date, 1921. so he must be very young because he was born in 1905. yes, he was about 14 when he did this at school with my father-in-law, and he was his fag at haileybury. he used to, in lieu of beating him

he used to make him draw pictures. it's straight out of tom brown, isn't it? absolutely. tom brown. the fag system was a public school term for... barbaric stuff. when you acted as a servant to a senior boy. polished the older boy's shoes. or did, but they don't anymore. he must have been a very interesting man because i don't know many schoolboys who could draw this beautifully. and the detail is phenomenal. it must've taken hours. he must've done something terribly bad. but these are scenes from arabian nights are they? i think so. studying for o levels. i think it must've been something like that. and the intricate scene going on in the background. a bit of beardsley isn't it? beardsley, dulac. but he was a great illustrator. he illustrated gulliver's travels and a number of others. okay, this one i love. it's got a great sense of humor. the sheik with his fingers in his ears, listening to one of his wives or trying not to listen to one of

his wives. but the color's very vibrant and very strong. i just think this is just... i love it. it is absolutely stunning. the thing about whistler they're surprisingly difficult to value because, in a way, for me i want to see murals. so very few drawings do appear at auction. and when they do some sail away like hot cakes and others don't. there was a portrait of cecil beaton not long ago that made a very high sum of money. but because the sitter was so interesting the combination of whistler and beaton. these are more difficult. and i would say, this one, which is wonderfully intricate, is about £1,500, £2,000. and this one being a bit larger maybe £2,000 to £3,000. something like that. but that sort of price. i'm gonna keep them anyway. quite right. it's a wonderful story. thank you so much. thank you.

i have to admit, i don't play. i assume you pick it up like this and if you're very expert, you can make a wonderful sound. yeah. unlike that. when you look at that, you think, well, did somebody bring it back from their craft woodworking evening? it's so basic, it's so simple. and when you flip it up, there is the magic. the omega label. this was obviously the bargain of the century. this must be £1,000 plus. you probably paid... nothing. yeah. i paid £40. now i've got all the items on this table. just like that. this evening wrap, it takes me right back to the glamorous days of the 1920's. does it make you feel very glamorous in it? yes, but i think perhaps somebody more elegant may look better. i think it's wonderful. a silk wrap

to go to the theater to go for cocktails, and these fabulous tassels. and they actually give us a little clue to who it was made by. a liberty wrap. so the top fashionable store, the one that all the ladies who did anything went to. yes. as well as that, you have what every lady needs. the little black dress. absolutely. and look at this dress. but it does hold a little secret, this dress. inside, it has the most wonderful silk maps. tell me about the maps. well, during the war the second world war because this was a '40s dress the paratroopers or soldiers were given maps, but they were given them in silk or material and they were stitched into their uniforms so that they were secret and couldn't be taken away from them.

and then they sent them back to their lady friends when silk was very much in demand, not much around. no material. why don't we think the lady who actually wore the dress was a spy? oh, yes. and this was taken into asia to let her know where exactly installations were. do you think that's a better idea? it is an asian... china. it's an asian map. and of course, who would check a lady's top half? it was a wonderful place to hide the map. my goodness, we may have discovered the real mata hari. here we are, in dulwich picture gallery but i think possibly i'm being a little too romantic. no, not at all. but they're fabulous things. vintage fashion now is all the rage. people love it. this, i think, is sensational. by liberty the colors are fabulous. just a wonderful piece. and certainly, £300, maybe £400. and our little black secret dress

much less, i'm afraid. probably 40 to 60. but a lovely piece of history anyway. it is, yes. i think the war museum would probably like it. absolutely. these are fabulous things. i may follow that up. good. hilary, your turn this week to be confronted with a nightmare scenario. if your house should suddenly go up in flames god forbid and you had to run out clutching two objects... one of them is presumably not my husband. he's escaped. and he's left you to it, so you're running behind him with two objects. you brought these along, two very different things, aren't they? they are, and i suppose one is about the past, and one is about the future maybe. the past represented by my grandfather's microscope. which, really, the reason that i'm here is due to my grandfather's microscope, because one of the things that i looked forward most when i went round to my grandparents' house

was to play with the microscope. and in a way that could have gone either way. i could have been interested in what i was looking at through the lens or interested in the object itself. do you like it? i think it's a beautiful thing just to look at, actually. but what struck you about it was the mechanics of it. exactly. and i can only put it down to the fact that all the members of my family going back were chartered engineers. and i guess that's where it came out in me in that i love the way the thing worked, you know. the rack-and-pinion focusing the whole fine engineering of it. what's fascinating and i liked it as that i liked it as a piece of sculpture i liked it because it did interesting things, so that really got me into a passion for mechanical objects, mechanical antiques, and that's really where my career started. it started with scientific instruments is that right? exactly so.

tell us about this one because here you've got something of some degree of antiquity and it's hard to find a more modern-looking thing than this. it's true. it is completely different and people who know me well will know that glass is not a thing i should be collecting. i'm incredibly clumsy. but this object just spoke to me and it's about where i want to be really. i aspire to living the life that that vase would fit into. sort of cool and minimalist. cool, minimalist scandinavian blonde,. well, you're there. halfway there. and this i picked up in denmark. it's a great piece of scandinavian design. it's from the kosta boda factory. it's designed by vicke lindstrand they're top designer. and it is all about, yes, the ultimate lifestyle for me. i actually wouldn't mind if the house burned down with everything in it.

oh, my goodness. because it would mean i could start out again and just fill my cool white glass windowed box with objects like this. that's certainly one way to de-clutter your home. so is your house now or moving towards a kind of ultra minimalism? i have to say, a lot of old stuff has gone. this is really what everybody wants and i'm just, i guess, caught up in the whole zeitgeist of the movement. thank you. when i looked at these the first thing, i thought, what a huge pair of pistols. the bores on them are so big. you had to be careful when you were loading them because you could've fallen down the barrels. what did you think they were for? basically, i originally thought they were dueling pistols. but i thought they might be campaign pistols, or gentleman's traveling pistols. that's why i thought i'd come and see you to find out.

they're certainly not dueling pistols. everybody always thinks you get a pair of pistols in a box they're dueling pistols. they're not. the size of the bore which is 12 or 13 bore depending on how you measure it suggests these would have been carried by an officer, and an infantry officer at that, who thought, "i'm not going to take anything to chance. i'm going to have the biggest, meanest set of pistols." truly man stoppers. i'd think you'd stop an elephant with those. so, really large officer's pistols are very rare, 'cause most of them are 16 bores. these are to be used at very, very close range. they were not the sort of things that people took deliberate aim with. they'd have been used in a melee actually for personal protection. they're made about 1825 by william reeves of london, who was a famous maker producing very very fancy guns. he also had the ear of royalty because he sold some antique guns to the prince regent. oh. brilliant. where did you get them from, because

they're very interesting. i wonder if you knew anything of their origin. from a friend of mine, oh, 20, 30 years ago i was told about these pistols, and he said he had two sons. and he was gonna save them from them as an heirloom. anyway, about two or three years ago he saw his two sons, and they said, "dad, you're not making as much money as you used to. sell the pistols and keep the money for yourself." and i was fortunately in the area when it actually happened. wonderful. it's always a case of timing, isn't it? i think that other than the fact they're by a pretty important maker, i think they've got a certain amount of potential importance in their own right. the first thing i ever do when i see a good pair of pistols where this little silvery sketch on, i look on the crests. and they have two crests on them not just the one. there's a dog, which is called in heraldry, a talbot and there's also an arm cut off

holding what looks like a bunch of flowers. flowers or shamrock things or leaves or... i thought they were shamrocks or trefoils or something like that. northern irish pistols. could be. irish family. yeah, yeah. now you said you bought them from a friend. what did you pay your friend? i paid for three pistols. there was another pistol. i paid £3,000. so these are slightly less than £3,000. yes. yeah. i'm delighted to say that you're obviously a man of taste and judgment, because these are in fantastically good condition. they probably look very much like they did when they walked out of mr. reeves' very posh shop in henrietta street. just the sort of thing collectors like. and on that basis, i think that, today, you would have to pay £10,000 for them. they're just a fantastic pair of pistols. ( laughing ) they're the biggest pair of these i've ever seen. i know. they're very, very large. you've shocked me now. what a nice gentleman you are.

thank you. and to you for bringing them. i think they're fantastic. i can tell from the outside of this box that it contains a jewel by carlo and arthur giuliano and there it is, an enameled cross. tell me about it in your family. it was given to me as a christening present but it belonged to my great-aunt who was given it probably for her christening present as a very small child, by my great-grandfather. it must have been 1904 in london. yes. entirely consistent with the lid satin which stands for carlo and arthur giuliano. by this time they were quite anglicized. they're an italian family. and they were revivalist jewelers. they were looking at earlier styles and as a result of that, they were the haunt of the pre-raphaelite artists. they were haunt of heinrich schliemann, who took the treasure of helen of troy to the shop to have it analyzed. so it's a great delight for me to find it. it's very rare that i find giuliano jewels on the antiques roadshow,

and it's actually been a personal study of mine for decades. and so, i'm very excited to see that. are you excited about wearing it? i haven't worn it for ages, actually i'm afraid to say, i think the damage was me. i used to be allowed to wear it when i was a very small child to birthday parties. and i'm not sure but i have a horrible feeling i did that. frankly, one doesn't expect antique jewelry to be in absolutely pristine condition. i think it's come right through enormously well. little green chrysoprase endings, and ruby terminals. and nice design, not only on the chain, but also on the body of the jewel here. so one really can't ask for it to be anything better. what i think is absolutely the greatest discovery for me is this little poem that you brought to me here. what's it made of? i think it's horn, but maybe it's plastic or something. i don't know. no, it's certainly not plastic. it is stained horn and of course, horn is a material that in the 19th century really was conspicuously lacking in value. it was available in enormous quantities and to bring it into the world of jewelry

really didn't happen until in paris japanese craftsmen were brought and this is a ravishing example of it. i think the composition of it is breathtakingly beautiful too, because it's freesias, isn't it? and here it's been stained. the stems are stained green. and the flowers beautifully evoked in three dimensions via this very skillful possibly japanese craftsman, who's raised every detail. he's shown full-blown ones here with tiny buds, too and there's an asymmetry to it, which is everything that art nouveau is about. but look here, too at the stamens. they're not ordinary stamens, are they? what do you think those are? they're twinkly. whether they're real twinkles or not. they are desperately real twinkles. they are. oh, good lord. they're tiny, tiny tiny rose diamonds in little gullies of gold, which are just enough to draw the attention onto what is a towering little work of art. redolent of gaia. and it's gaia that i think is actually the author of this piece. and it takes my breath away, actually.

you haven't been wearing that, have you? i do occasionally wear it to parties. you'd rather i didn't ever again. i'd very much rather you didn't. it's very fragile. that's so sad. i grew my hair especially. well, i must say it was a very spoil-y thing to do. i just could hardly bear you to wear that again. i think if it broke, it would be an absolute tragedy. it's in perfect, perfect order. and it's redolent of paris at the turn of the century fin de siecle paris, and i really don't have words to praise it any more. they're both ravishing. and this is a very light easy-to-wear example and its intrinsic value is negligible, but its artistic value and its collector's value is really quite high. and so, i don't think i'd be wrong if i valued that at £5,000. oh, gosh. but the real value to me, is in this one a carved horn comb by gaia, at least attributed to gaia. it isn't signed. maybe £3,000.

quite a lot to wear in your chignon, isn't it? but actually, i have to say, it's rare as hen's teeth. it's the most marvelous object. and thank you very much for bringing it to me. it's a masterpiece. thank you very much indeed. when you brought this costume in this afternoon i was really excited because i thought this takes me right back to my childhood. when we were at home we had on the wall wonderful prints of penny plain, twopence colored-- theatrical people all covered in sequins. and suddenly it all comes to life. now here we have this wonderful thing and we're even luckier to have rupert miles' daughter who, of course luckily was here and is gonna demonstrate it and bring it to life. give us a twirl. so the back is wonderful the front is wonderful. this combination of harlequin-esque features is just fantastic. it is the 1840's print brought to life, isn't it? it is, and the reds, the yellows, and the blue are colors that are such stage colors.

it's a completely theatrical piece. what are you a stage collector? when i bought this i was designing operas and i lived near sadler's wells theater. i'd already designed an opera at sadler's wells. and i saw this one day in an antique shop and i couldn't believe it because to me, as you say it was the classic commedia dell'arte harlequin costume, and why it hadn't been ruined or cut up in the 19th century, i didn't know. it's right back into early pantomime. it is, and what i find interesting is that the leg-- none of the materials are stretch, and yet they fit absolutely to the leg. i have to say, we've got the perfect model. it should have been worn by a boy, but... if you see the back, i think that... yes. is like a toreador costume. and you can imagine that kind of... commedia dell'arte position. there's not an awful lot of room in the seat, so i think it's...

principle boy. and the fact that all the lozenges are different shapes is incredible attention to detail. have you ever seen anything like it? there is one in the theater museum which i've seen, but the waist is different. i think this-- there's something about the shape of it which i think is quite early-- 1830's or 1840's. i'd go with either of those. i think just the waistline here is more 1840's than 1830's. the higher waist but the trousers are very, very high. what we're looking at is a vision of how theater was in that period. all the workmanship, all the fabrics, are clearly of that period. it has come out, it's hardly been worn, it's been put into a box and then magically you save it from that box years and years later. let's be practical about this. this is a great rarity. what did you pay as a serious collector? when i bought it it was ten weeks' rent. it was £100, and that was about 1979.

so it was expensive then. but you couldn't not have it. i felt really stupid spending that much money on an old costume in a junk shop but i think if i'd have missed it, it would have been-- i would never have seen another one. have no doubt. you did the right thing. thank you very much. because i'm going to say £2,000, probably more. because it's such a survival. it's a unique thing from that time. unadapted, original. wonderfully made. and as i say out come all those great performers of that time and it's so wonderful seeing a living person in it. the coloring is... it comes to life. go on, give us a twirl. there it is. look at that. it's not been on a person's back more than twice in 30 years. and there it is. so relive that great theatrical experience. you were brilliant to get it. thank you very much for your advice. these photographs are the five children of tsar nicholas ii.

each one is signed apart from the young man in the middle. the daughters of tsar nicholas ii all signed this concertina frame of photographs. how has it come into your possession? they were given to my three sons by their grandmother and their step-grandfather. they came through the family of the step-grandfather, whose father, we understand, was a cavalry officer in the private army of the tsar. and this was given in recognition of his services to the tsar. to russia. a marvelous provenance. direct family descent. you don't get much better than that. exactly. the boy didn't sign it. as far as we know, young boys weren't taught to read and write. it was only the young girls. he was the heir apparent and the daughters were all killed in ekaterinburg in 1918. 1918. all murdered. and the tsar nicholas ii,

he abdicated in 1917. well, there's a huge amount of interest in the tsar nicholas ii and all the surrounding mystery and rumors around his death et cetera. there was even some speculation that anastasia may have survived. is that not so? i think, no. i think that was ruled out probably a year or two years ago. it's an absolutely wonderful set. it's the family history that we've got behind it. so they don't mean a lot to you apart from the history that everybody's interested in. and my son has been to ekaterinburg and been to st. petersburg and followed up all the history. from what you say, i don't think these are ever gonna come on the market but i should give you a valuation for them. anything russian these days is making a lot of money. a reasonable auction estimate would be between £7,000 and £10,000. that's very interesting. thank you very, very much. thank you for bringing them along. it's a pleasure.

what a great big splotch of color. it really is, isn't it? it's so in your face. this is a painting by souza which hangs on the bedroom wall, so i've been sleeping underneath it for most of the past ten years and i'd never really looked at it simply because not that much light falls on it. i was completely unaware of this green. i mean, you see the red. but because it's not a very well-lit room because my partner has so much stuff, everything jostles for space. stuff everywhere. let's look at the way it's painted. after all, it's quite complicated under this. you've got this blue that provides a kind of an armature, a drawing around the picture but it seems to be over a lot of the color. in other words the drawing has happened after the color's been applied. a lot of this white at the top is almost to throw the rest of the painting which is much lower down, forward. it's put on with a spatula very very quickly. so much so, it's even lifting it in parts. but then, in and amongst the blue, this armature that i've been talking about he's smeared these big big sways of primary color

and then here, he's kind of used a dirty palette knife, and he smeared a rainbow of color right in the middle of that shape there. it's abstract, but it's done with enormous vigor and energy. it only really resolves itself when you step right back from it. and then, in amongst these colors he's left the canvas almost completely bare just the grain showing through. you can see areas of it here and there. in other words, it's a very individual way of painting. there isn't anyone quite doing work in this way. as you can see it's signed up here, souza, and dated 1963. do you know who souza was? i know he's indian and i think brought up in bombay for the first exhibition 1949. and died just after 2000 in mumbai so same place, different name. but spent 20 years in this country, or maybe more. yes, about 20 years. and then, he went to new york after that

before going back to india. so there's no whiff of the colonial about this? the fact that his first exhibition was 1949 means he's-- post raj, post partition. and of course, he was at art school then. he was in mumbai as it's now called. and there, he started a new movement or he founded almost single-handedly a new movement called the progressive art movement. and to it, he adhered very quickly an indian artist called hussain and then later another indian artist called raza joined it. and what they were trying to do was bring in outside influences from all over the world. they weren't looking towards britain and the raj. but they wanted, at last finally, to establish a new mode of expression that is purely indian, that is significantly nationalistic. and for that reason, now, indians look at him, really as their first painter. their first truly indian painter. and that's what he's been doing, and that's what we're looking at here. even though it's probably an english house or houses.

it's the style in which it's painted that's so distinctive. how did you get it? my father has the eye for everything. he paid £200 for it. i imagine, as it was during souza's lifetime, but late on in it, it's a time when he was more or less eclipsed or somehow in that trough that you get before and after you die before the value of your early work in particular is established. he just liked it and certainly thought it was worth £200. and it sits on the wall very happily. well, £200. it was a good buy. because i think, if this was at auction it would be estimated at something between £60,000 and £80,000. and if it was retail it would probably fetch about £100,000. it really would. well, certainly, if the place burns down, it was always going to be the thing i rescued first. i might come back for my partner but i'd take the souza. it's a terrific picture. everyone who comes along to the

roadshow is secretly hoping that the item they bring will be something of real value and importance. it doesn't happen that often. when it does, we all get rather excited. like that painting by an indian artist, bought a few years ago for a couple of hundred pounds and now worth £100,000. that's what i call an investment, and it could comfortably find itself a place on a wall in an art gallery in india. from an art gallery in dulwich in south london good-bye.

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solutions for small businesses and major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news america." >> this is "bbc world news america." conflict not celebration in tahrir square. protesters in egypt say nothing has changed in the two years since the revolution. we travelled to homs a city divided. those who are with assad live a normal life. those who oppose him have been devastated. opposition fighters glide downey's lanes.

so do civilians contract in the middle. >> record profits for one stock while apple takes a plunge. what is shaking the world of tech? welcome to our viewers on public television in america and around the globe. in cities across egypt today thousands clashed violently with police. protesting the lack of change since the revolution began two years ago. the tear gas, street battles and slogans are the same. the demonstrators say the politics are the same, too. we go to our correspondent in tahrir square tonight. >> a short while ago the entire area behind me was shrouded in tear gas.

the thousands of protesters have thinned out because of that. there are still hundreds in the square behind me. a lot of the protests across the country have turned violent. we have had confirmation from the health ministry the over 200 people have been injured in protests. we have had confirmation of five people having been killed in a demonstration. all this on the day president morsi said he wanted to be a day of peaceful celebration. there were signs early on it could turn violent. this is not what the revolution aries imagined. two years on, instability violence, and division. in tahrir square, we saw clashes with police and protesters. huge crowds filled the square

after friday prayers. opposition supporters been betrayed -- feeling betrayed that the goals of the revolution were not realized. they are calling for the new president to go. mohammad morrissey and the muslim brotherhood preside over a country where huge splits have been exposed between islamists and levels. they had promised a country where all the egyptians would prosper. >> morsi and his brother who are the same as mubarak. it is exactly the same thing. >> there is not any change. not anything happened. just words. >> the revolution took the cover off so we could see everything bad. now we have time to correct it. we have to correct it. we will correct it. >> it is not just cairo.

people took to the streets in other cities. demonstrators attacked police trying to protect government buildings. inevitable retaliation by security forces reminiscent of the protests of the past caused new anchor. -- new anger. this evening, there is news of more clashes in cairo and elsewhere. more injuries and no deaths as well. a historic day, but this is no celebration. a lot of parallels have been drawn between what happened today and two years ago. a lot of the slogans in tahrir square were remarkably similar. in the city of suez there were five us today. two years ago, there were three

deaths that ultimately toppled the ministry. >> two years ago, the protests in egypt led to the overthrow of hosni mubarak. what impact do you think these protests might have that we're seeing now? >> president morsi and the muslim brotherhood will be nervous about what they have seen today. it is important to say while there is disillusionment things have not gone as people fought -- thought he debuts ago. the pace of change has not been great. we're talking about a split between the liberals and those in the support the brotherhood on the other. it is the liberals who are mainly taking to the streets today. two years ago, we saw all of egypt coming out onto the streets. another half is sitting at home

saying there has been an election. our side won. why are you on the streets? the president says give me time. i have had seven months on the job. people say he has had time. they worry about the agenda being pushed. they do not want the state to be made at the beginning. what is difficult to see is how the two sites will be brought together. neither the authorities nor opposition have come up with a clear vision as to how to do that. >> thank you very much. while egyptians are raising their voices two years after rising up against hosni mubarak in syria the defiance has not shifted president assad. homs has seen some of the worst fighting. our reporter has returned for this special report. >> some of the heaviest fighting happened here.

this neighborhood came to symbolize a brutal conflict. a ferocious government offensive after the opposition, it was an assault on an entire community. after nearly one year, life is slowly returning. rubbish collectors are on the job. a small sign the government is back on the street. some families are starting to come home. how is life here, i asked. could not be better, he replied. he gives an anxious look at the soldiers escorting us. a repair shop is back in business.

it is not much of a bicycle, but he makes it work. it is what life is like here. >> services are very good. before, life was more difficult. things are getting better day by day. >> it is still a fragile calm, but good enough for children to play on the street. even they do not take notice when guns go off in the distance. it is part of their life now. scenes like this make you wonder. what is it like to grow up here? [gunfire] the opposition is still present still fighting in other parts of homs. even in areas closer to the city center, it is like a ghost

town. the battle for homs is not over. no one is really winning or losing. last spring, this was no man's land. it's still is. the government on this side. deep inside, this is the historic old city. it has been under siege for months. you can hear the crackle of gunfire right now. opposition fighters slide down these lanes, but so do civilians, trapped in the middle. the old city has long been cherished by the people of homs. look at it now. we could not travel in. this video posted on youtube shows the toll of your long siege has taken on the heritage and the people who still live here in dire conditions. eight agencies have been trying to get in for months. -- aid agencies have been trying to get in for most. minutes away, it feels like a

different city. it is hard to believe there is a war. most of the people who live here back the government. it is predominantly the same sect as assad. the pizzeria seemed to be doing fine. the owner tells me in the areas will to the government, life is good. even here, they feel the effects of the war. >> not a month goes by without having to close for three or four days. there is no gas or people are not going out. >> there is a place to complain. at the governor's office, local people air grievances to the man in charge. this man tells the governor we have several requests. the most important is spread --

bread, plus gas fuel, and water. that covers pre much everything. the governor reassures them that their needs will be met. then it is my turn to ask questions. pi put it to him that he is running a divided city. >> can you judge the situation by looking at a couple of neighborhoods? homs is a big province the size of holland. if you could not visit one street, does that mean all of it is troubled? >> we tried to visit the mainly sunni area, but the government told us it was too dangerous even though the army took it back last month. much of homs is under control again, for now. so much has been lost here. there is of little trust. -- it is so little trust.

there is a checkpoint now on almost every corner. this one is being manned by women. they call themselves the lionesses, loyal to a president whose name means the lion. part of popular committees set up by the government to reinforce security. they are putting a brave face on the war. there is no hiding what has gone on in homs, what has happened across syria, and what more is still to come. >> homs is the city completely divided between those who support assad and those who oppose him. north korea has hit out at south korea over the tightening of u.s. sanctions. they threatened unspecified physical countermeasures if south korea participated in sanctions. a state run chinese newspaper has warned beijing would not

hesitate to reduce aid to north korea if it carries out another nuclear test. a judge in america has sentenced a former cia officer to more than two years in prison. he was found guilty of leaking the name of a covert intelligence officer. his supporters argue he was prosecuted for revealing controversial interrogation practices. prosecutors say he was motivated by fame and money. president obama has named a longtime foreign policy aide to be his next white house chief of staff. the president described him as a close friend not afraid to deliver a straight talk. mr. obamas said he played a key role in every national security decision of his administration. in northern mali islamist militants destroyed when a strategic bridge. it is the bridge that thousands of african troops were planning to use to reinforce the battle against the rebels.

even as the french-led military operation gathered strength, there are warnings of a humanitarian crisis. 350,000 people have been uprooted by the violence. we have this report from the central town. >> they may be hundreds of miles away from home, but these children still find a reason to play. 10 months ago their family was forced to flee their home. armed militants were threatening them. the workforce in the women to cover their faces. this young unmarried woman says she was taken away and interrogated after she dared to speak to a male neighbor. >> they came and put their guns in my face. i followed them. they kept me for more than four hours asking me how i know this man and why i talked to him. everyone has fled.

why do i stay? and got really scared. i told a friend. he gave me some money to come here. >> she fled with her sisters to family. they have relied on the generosity of relatives for rent. food is becoming scarce. >> the displaced do not have any medical assistance. now even lack food. the world food program was distributing food. it stopped two months ago. there is no more food distribution here. >> one morning, they all fled as armed rebels were entering the city. >> i saw them a ride. i knew they were coming for war. my wife had been sick. we fled.

>> he does not know if his house is still standing. he hopeds he can soon go back home. in the meantime, the young ones are taking advantage of any opportunity they get to make this a home away from home. bbc news in mali. >> mali is now a war-torn country. still to come, the winter of europe's content. in belgium, more people turn to handouts to survive the growing economy. -- the grim economy. the russian parliament about a draft law banning homosexual propaganda. there was only one deputy that voted against it in the lower house. outside, passion spilled over to scuffles on the street. police made arrests after the

gay-rights supporters were insulted by opponents. steve rosenberg reports from moscow. >> ahead of the debate inside the russian parliament, there was drama outside on the street. gay-rights activists. police detained 20 people. later, military police turned their attention to the controversial bill. pass the first hearing by a huge margin. it will prohibit the spread of homosexual propaganda in the wording which presence of children. it would mean across russia public events promoting gay rights could be broken up and the organizers find -- fined. >> we see open propaganda that harms. young people will decide on their own how to live in the

future and what orientation to choose. >> this draft bill sends a bad signal to society of repression and limitation of civil rights guaranteed by the constitution of the russian federation. >> several russian cities have already passed similar local laws. the move to legislate on the federal level enjoys popular support. surveys showed 2/3 of the russian public find homosexuality morally unacceptable. the bill has been criticized by human-rights groups, including the kremlin's human rights council. bbc news in moscow. >> stocks rose today as the euro hit an 11-month high. investors took heart that europe's financial crisis may

have eased. it is ironic as the situation improves, the real economic situation for many europeans its worst -- gets worse. the british economy shrunk more than expected. the belgian economy is just as bleak. throughout northern and southern europe the fear is losing your job. >> the fire has been burning for three months fell, who arming the striking workers. they are the latest victims of europe's economic crisis. say goodbye to the sprawling ford factory in eastern belgium. it is shutting down. with europe in recession, they are not selling enough vehicles. >> is a disaster for the region. 11,000 jobs were lost.

we hope there are other jobs. >> i am feeling very insecure. i am feeling very insecure for the future. >> insecure and angry which is why the workers have impounded 7000 cars. it is a new bargaining chip in their negotiations. what is happening shows how the eurozone debt crisis is becoming an economic and social crisis across the whole of europe. the last few years were about helping the heavily indebted countries in the south of the continent. the next few years are also going to be about helping these the core economies. it is not only the big firms in trouble. this family chemical business is struggling. it is just as bad here, they believe, as it is in spain. >> if you see the number of unemployment and bankruptcy of

companies, the difficulties are the same situation. >> in belgium? >> absolutely. >> northern belgium is still one of the richer regions of europe. unemployment is far below the record levels in southern europe. even here, more and more are coming to the food banks for handouts. among them, a single mother whose benefits will soon be cut as the government reduces spending. >> i see it is getting worse. there's a lot less food to go around. there are more people. it is really difficult to find work. >> difficult for many. in nearby brussels officials speak of signs of improvement. on the streets the big economic freeze is setting in. now the price, bbc news

belgium. -- matthew price bbc news, belgium. >> live continues to get harder for many. one company currently experiencing surprising growth is samsung. it has announced record profits driven by impressive sales of smartphones. success is putting pressure on apple which lost its slot today as the most valuable company in the world. our technology correspondent reports. >> six years ago, the iphone was unveiled by steve jobs and went on to define the smartphone industry. now samsung has grabbed the lead. it is a giant conglomerate that makes everything from televisions to washing machines. it is smartphones that have transformed its fortunes and now contribute more than half the profits.

their offering new smartphone users the same experience as apple for less. >> we're offering an attractive experience at an affordable price. for those who want to use facebook and e-mail, they do not need to pay the top of the range to get those services. >> apple has delivered outstanding results this week, but its shares have slid amid worries of its ability to come to something new. in the last quarter of 2012 it made over 8 billion pounds in profit and sold a record 48 million iphones. analysts reckon samsung sold over 60 million smartphones. it is grabbing a bigger share of the market. apple is still making more money. the competition is set to get fiercer as smartphones into more areas of people's lives. within half of all british consumers now own a smartphone.

they are using them for everything from paying each other to control in the television. >> we have more computing power than when they put men on the moon. our phone is not just about making calls and texting. we're making music and movies. we are connecting with people socially. we are navigating. >> as the smartphones revolution gathers pace, the competition is heating up. samsung and apple. fine pressure from other rivals -- could find pressure from other rivals in china. >> that is amazing. more tech in our pockets than the astronauts on apollo. that brings the program to a close. you can continue watching "bbc world news" on our 24-hour news

network. you can get all our stores as well on our website. you can find us on twitter as well. thank you for watching. have a great evening. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding of 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 work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture

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