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>> protesters are still on the streets in egypt, where the ruling military has apologized for the deaths of protesters in recent violent demonstrations. >> activists here in tahrir square call today the last chance protest, the last chance for the military to hear their demands. >> at least -- an exclusive insight into the free syrian army, the new armed opposition against president assad. welcome to "bbc world news" with peter dobbie in london and my colleague, lyse doucet, who's in cairo. the other top stories this hour -- the big heathrow halt. industrial action next week at one of the world's busiest airports, we'll have a live update. and the big retailers open up in india, but traditional markets are affected.

>> ok, let's cross live to tahrir square in cairo. the egyptian capital, showing you what's going on there. protesters are hoping that big numbers of people will join them in tahrir square after friday prayers. crowds again remaining in the square overnight, despite the former prime minister has agreed to form a new government after talks with the ruling military council. life to my colleague, lyse doucet. it certainly appears as if they are getting more support. >> well, friday prayers is taking place right here in tahrir square, because i can see right in the square behind me, they're all kneeling in prayer. of course, the player is very political.

they're chanting "god is great," but they're doing it in a place where they're surrounded by huge, new banners, some of them saying leave, leave, the military must leave, the people are the red line. i have to say, it's pretty full now. if previous days are repeated here, it will grow steadily larger and louder by the day. the big question, of course, is whether the clashes that we've seen through most of the week will stop today because a truce was arranged along the main street running to the square that leads to the interior ministry. it has been holding. let's see what happens today. >> so many contradictory signals, lyse, coming from the military and also from the protesters as to whether they want the elections to go ahead or not. what do we think will happen over the coming three or four days?

>> well, it's a very, very unpredictable time. the military has said the elections will definitely go ahead. they don't want any more suspicion, that they want to hold on to power. the ministry of the interior had raised questions about whether or not they could guarantee security. the military says every effort will be made to do that. but when you talk to activists in the square, they say a huge shadow has been cast over these elections because of the brutality over the past week, which has seen thousands of people injured, dozens killed in the clashes between security forces and police. we know that at least one party has decided to withdraw from the elections, saying now is not the time to hold talks. we've heard from one of the political leaders, the presidential hopeful, mr. baradei, that he's going to be attending the prayers today to show solidarity with those who have been injured or killed in the protests. and some of the activists say they're very saddened, because

egypt has waited so long for something approaching a free and fair election, and now they're heading towards these polls, and it's all at a time of great uncertainty and tension. >> lyse, for the moment, thanks very much, least douse he will there on the -- lyse doucet there on the balcony. let's just listen in now. >> the the head of egypt's government from 1996 until 1998 under hosni mubarak not being welcomed by the protesters. for the second time, they're going to depend on the old guard, according to one protester in tahrir square. activists, many of them looking at friday, the last chance for egyptians to demand an immediate transfer of power. the back story to that being that the elections that kick

off on monday should take anywhere between three and four months because of this hugely complex system and presidential elections are scheduled to happen. he's not getting back as the possible candidate. another labor rights group calling for a general strike to back the protests. they have offered compensation to families of the people who have been killed since the violence kicked off more than a week ago now. we move on. syria has just one hour to agree to an arab league observer mission to be allowed into the country. it's already suspended from the organization because of its violent crackdown on anti-government protesters. if it doesn't put the mission in, the league will meet on saturday, discussing in person sanctions. meanwhile, the bbc has obtained firsthand evidence that the struggle for democracy in syria

is becoming an armed insurgency. the free syrian army is made up of pro-democracy protesters and soldiers who defected from the syrian army. they're calling on the international community to impose a no-fly zone and to create a safe area near turkey. our correspondent, paul wood, and his cameraman, fred scott, smuggled themselves into syria from lebanon. they spent the last week undercover in hom, the first journalists to have spent time with the army inside the country. earlier i spoke to paul about his experience, which began across the border in lebanon. >> there is a pretty efficient route now for smuggling weapons in and casualties out. it's not easy. the syrian army has tried to seal the border, planting land mines, sending out a lot of patrol, so i think pretty much every day you're seeing covert traffic across the border. he went in with a group of activists who were the end of the logistics supply chain for the free syria army. they were taking in a couple of

each, and one sign of how this conflict is deepening and spreading is the fact that a black market now costs them $1,200. such is the demand in syria. we went past one group of activists all the way into the city of homs, the center of opposition to the syrian regime and where there are increasing numbers. we saw this ourselves, the syrian army defectors moving into areas that the opposition would like to hold, and from time to time, manages to push back the official forces trying to establish safe areas within those cities. it's extremely precarious, though, and everywhere we went in homs, we saw checkpoints, gunfire. it was quite a terrifying experience at times, as it was random, unexplained gunfire, people being shot and wounded pretty frequently as far as we could see. >> paul wood in beirut. aaron joins us with business news, talking about olympus.

mr. woodford facing the people that got rid of him. >> yeah, you'd love to be a fly on the wall. we knew that he was the c.e.o. of the japanese camera maker, olympus, returned yesterday to tokyo, the first time since he basically got out of tokyo when he was fired. he faced the board members at olympus. again, as you said, the very same people that fired him after he started raising questions -- and this is the background to the story -- raised questions about this $1.3 billion that had been paid out to, as advisory fees to rather obscure company, also money that had been spent on takeovers that were subsequently and largely written off. back at that time, olympus denied any wrongdoing, but they later admitted that, look, they were basically covering up huge investment losses that had been going on for decades. so we know three directors of the firm have resigned. the whole world for olympus has tried to prevent it from being delisted on the tokyo stock exchange, which obviously would

be devastating for the company. that's the word going forward on that. >> now, it's black friday in america. why is it called black friday? >> for the retail, one of the biggest days of retail. as the year progresses, this is the first time when the retailers start going into profit, into the black as opposed to being in the red. but a very big day, the day after thanksgiving. of course, retail, u.s. consumer spending hugely important, makes up 3/4, almost 2/3 of the u.s. economy. been a little sluggish, but they're holding out high, high optimism that they'll see the very busy christmas period sort of a pickup. they're hoping 2% to 3% growth on last year's retail christmas sales. but a very big day in the u.s., so we'll have more on that on the "world business report," also i'll look at the markets, and again, the eurozone crisis, really, the worries, the global markets have turned their back

on the euro. >> yield at 7% yesterday. >> yeah, i'm waiting for it, italy went back to the bond market to raise 10 billion euros. again, no surprises there. markets are fed up with the whole eurozone mess. they've kind of turned their backs and going, you got two options, either the eurozone breaks up or the european central bank steps in in a big way, but the stumbling block to that is angela merkel, the german chancellor, who is adamant, no, denying the e.c.b. will be the lender of last resort. >> talk to you later. the united nations enjoy to north korea has appealed for more humanitarian aid to be delivered to the country. he said vulnerable groups in the north needed food relief. south korea has been sending medical supplies to the north over the past few weeks, but has not sent food, saying it risks being diverted to feed the army. the prime minister of trinidad and tobago, kamla persad-bissessar, says the police have thwarted an assassination plot against her.

at least 12 people have been arrested, including members of the army and the police. six convicts have attempted to escape from the colony off the coast of mexico in a jail break reminiscent of the movie. the men used plastic containers and wooden planks to stay afloat and got around halfway toward the resort of peurto vallarta. they were described as sunburnt and unhappy. ok, there are fears that heathrow airport, one of the world's busiest, could grind to a halt middle of next week as immigration officers go on strikes over pensions. the heathrow operator holding talks with airlines and the u.k. board of agency to try to minimize the impact of that public sector action. heathrow, one of the busiest in the world, 8,000 people per hour travel through the airport. our transport correspondent has some breaking news for us on that. what do we know now? >> i just received this letter from the chief operating

officer of heathrow airport. this was released to all the airlines that use heathrow, and it was released yesterday. they say, he says in this letter that based on the modeling that thee done about what will happen next wednesday during the strike, they could be looking at delays of arriving passengers up to 12 hours. he says there's a real health and safety danger here, because if the immigration arrival gets completely full, people will have to be held on the planes that they've arrived on. that could clearly create absolute chaos in the airport. >> surely that's not at least unsafe, but it must be illegal. if you've got a 12-hour back log, it's around the city of london, so where are they going to park the planes? where are they going to keep the people? they're going to have very angry people on board the aircraft. >> you're completely right. b.a.a. is trying to head off what they see as an absolutely dire situation, as you just spelled out. what they are saying to the airlines is, can you please find a way to maintain the number of flights, but reduce the number of passengers?

the letter says we're requesting all carriers to reduce passengers on each international flight arriving into heathrow next wednesday to 50% of normal level. >> so unless airbus and boeing use ejector seats, not going to happen. >> certainly the airlines will lose money if they have to find other ways for passengers to travel. what the c.o.o. from heathrow is saying is that perhaps you can make it easier for passengers to rebook their journey. they might not want to fly into heathrow next wednesday anyway given their choice, so please find other ways to move those passengers who would otherwise be coming in. >> but the knock-on effect will be huge, because the wrong planes will be in the wrong place, crews will be out of hours, and then it just continues for a bit. >> well, what b.a.a. is trying to do is minimize the zrucks by saying keep the same number of flights so the same number of planes come in. that way the planes will be where they should be for subsequent planes. >> richard, thanks very much. you're watching "bbc world

news." still to come on this program -- we explain why some of the biggest names in food will soon be allowed to trade in india. here in the u.k., the government is to spend a billion pounds subsidizing low-paid jobs in an attempt to tackle new unemployment. the deputy prime minister, nick clegg hopes to give training to 4,000 young people. he says the aim is to help young people before long-term damage is done. but the opposition labor party is raising questions on how the government can afford such a scheme. here's our deputy political he had -- political editor. >> there are now more than one million young people out of work. the government knows it has to act. there's a date the deputy prime minister nick clegg will announce a new scheme dubbed the new contract that he hopes will make a difference. they've been given a subsidy of more than 2,000 pounds for each

unemployed 16 to 24-year-old may take up to six months. firms could also get 1,500 pounds for every apprentice they employ, and there will be cash too to subsidize a quarter million work placements lasting up to eight weeks. the price tag for all this is a billion pounds over three years. the ministers insist the new money could come from squeezing tax credits n. all, they claim it will help more than 400,000 young people find work or training. the unions are doubtful. >> what we have to do is ensure that in making these new opportunities, for example, work experience opportunities available, we absolutely ensure that young people aren't allowed to be exploited by a scrupulous employer, so there are some who will treat them in that way. so, yes, we welcome, of course, any action to address this problem, but we still need to do more than this. >> the ministers insist the scheme will get every unemployed young person earning

or learning again. they make clear that it's a contract. anyone who drops out of their subsidized job or work placement without good reason will lose benefits. >> unions in the czech republic are to stage a protest in prague against government corruption. they're expected to call on the coalition government to raise living standards. the bbc's rob cameron in prague says there's widespread anger over corruption in the czech republic. >> demonstrations in the czech republic are usually quite modest affairs. the unions said they'll bring prague to a stand still so that's want going to happen, perhaps 5,000 people will attend these demonstrations, but there is a real -- the extent of public feeling about corruption in this country, i think, is quite wide spread. so when they say we'll go out on the streets and we'll march to the parliament and deliver a petition calling for a special commission to tackle corruption in this country, i think a lot of people -- that would resonate with a lot of people.

>> don't forget the website, get your headlines with our one-minute news summary, bbc.com/news is the address you need. you can also keep a rolling log of our most viewed and emailed and shared stories as well. "bbc world news" with me, peter dobbie. top stories this hour -- growing numbers of people are offering friday prayers in tahrir square right now. protesters are calling for another mass rally to protest againsted continued military rule in egypt. and the bbc joins the free syrian army as it tries to clear safe areas in homs. time for sports news. russell joins us. >> it's march, the last time that he scored an international century, which means he's still stuck high and dry on 99 international century. nice play to be stuck, but frustrating for him, because he's hoping to become the first

man in history to score 100 international or one-day cricket. he was out for 94, so one big shot away from the hundred against west indies on his home ground in mumbai. 20,000 people were suddenly silent. they thought they were going to witness the moment. it may come into one-day series, although he's now rested or not to play in the one-day series. he's the ripe old age of 38. if it didn't happen then, it will be a four-set match series in australia, which starts in melbourne just after christmas, december 26. >> mr. nadal, what a shame. is this the venue, though? some sports, people at that level, they get freaked out because it gets an association with them. it's that kind of, well, i can't do well here. >> i think it's more the time of year. this is the world tour finals, and the elite eight players -- in many ways, that's it. he plays such a high-impact game because he is always on

the defense, chasing down every ball. it starts to take its toll, and he lost his second in three matches in the round-robin stage. jo-wilfried tsonga, high, overhead backhand, a little drop volley, and he wins the match in three sets. so tsonga, he qualifies from that group, along with roger federer. but yes, rafael nadal is out, and his individual season has come to an end. >> oozing sympathy there. talk to you later. moroccans are vote nag general election today, brought forward in response to what's been going on across the arab world. they are the first under a new constitution as proposed by the king which gives greater powers to the prime minister and the parliament. our reporter in the capital, nora akim, says this would be a big test about public opinion about the political reforms. >> the turnout rate is probably seen as a response -- people

trust it will actually -- they're not to vote, -- >> do people believe this? >> they're saying that moroccans will change and the same people will be in power, and he will not give up much of this to elected officials. >> nora there. large international supermarket chains such as wal-mart have opened in many countries, but up until now, they weren't allowed to sell directly to shoppers in india. all that set to change after the government decision to change existing rules and open up the country's multibillion dollar retail market. >> this is how indians shop, in

congested markets, haggling for the best price. the produce gets here after passing through many hounds. a cumbersome supply chain that has somehow survived. but it's also unregulated. the poor infrastructure leading to huge losses. it's a scene that you can see outside many markets in india, large rotting food and vegetables left in the open, exposed to elements. it's estimated up to 40% of india's produce is wasted because of poor storage facilities. a sign of things to come. a massive cash and carry store, offering a wide range of products. but at the moment, only to wholesalers. with the rules changed, they'll son sell directly to consumers. at a farm outside delhi, a bumper crop, meant for the

wal-mart cash and carry store. the company sources directly from the farmer, monitoring quality and cutting occupy the middle man. the farmers earn considerably more. >> we had to deal with middle men. we never used to get good rates. now the company takes over from here. >> but these are the ones who are threatened. the local vegetable vendor, earning sub cyst incident wages. there are about 20 million of them in india, taking care of the country's demand for fresh food. with international giants coming in, many fear they'll be wiped out. >> it will take a wal-mart-sized store that will displace about 11,000 people

from the traditional shops. that's the calculation we have done in our study. >> another day and a fresh load of farm produce arrives at delhi's main wholesale market. it's a scene that may soon fade out and change the way indians shop. >> the authorities in western australia say cooler weather is helping them in their struggle to contain bush fires that have been spreading in recent days. the fires have destroyed dozens of properties on the coast near the river. one resident stays behind to protect his house. he found a novel, scary way to survive the fire involving a supermarket trolley, some scuba diving gear, and his neighbor's swimming pool, as he told australian media. >> i stayed basically on the

bottom for five minutes. i remember looking at my watch, and just looking up and seeing the red and black going over the top, and i stuck my head up, and i had a direct view of the house, and i was absolutely amazed there was no flames coming from it. >> well, now you know how to survive a bush fire. the full extent of the damage from the blaze, sparked by employers from a controlled burnoff in one of australia's national parks about 170 miles south of perth, started it. nobody's died here. friday's mild conditions and today helping firefighters strengthen the fire defenses around the fire, and at the moment, we've been told that no homes or properties are directly at risk. that's the latest on bush fires in australia. we'll close this half-hour with the latest pictures coming to us out of cairo's tahrir square. friday prayers in full swing now.

>> much of the recent violence not taking place in tahrir square, it's adjacent to tahrir square. some of the government ministry buildings, four to six people, according to some reports, hundreds have been injured. state newspaper are saying on their website that they've agreed in principle to be the national salvation government after meeting field marshalls and talking about this a lot earlier in the week. two people from the military, absolutely not. he's distancing himself from the regime of hosni mubarak. he has been suggested as a possible presidential candidate. lots more on all our top

stories and the latest from egypt on the website. >> make 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. >> union bank has put its global financial strength to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you?

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