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>> north korea and the -- in morning as the body of kim jong- il is carried through the streets. his son and successor leads the mourners as tens of thousands watch in an outpouring of grief. arab league observers in syria trying to verify whether the crackdown has ended. welcome to the bbc world news. also coming up, argentina's president cristina fernandez de kirchner is to undergo surgery for cancer. why austria may never have been so hazardous.

in heavy falling snow lining the 40 kilometer route of a funeral procession, north koreans have been paying their respects, weeping and wailing. as kim jong-il was transported through pyongyang. he ruled the country for 17 years. is dennis son and presumed successor walked alongside, and giving warner is one of their first glimpses of their next leader. lucy williamson has this report from south korea. >> the funeral of the most secretive leader, broadcast live on north korean tv. a glimpse into a country usually shrouded from view. the slow funeral procession through the streets of

pyongyang, a sign that stability is crucial now. whatever the private feelings of the crowds that line the path, this is a moment of uncertainty for this nuclear-armed state. kim jong-il was portrayed as a demigod for 20 years, a fatherly face and a protector. his death has left a vacuum which this man must fail. his youngest son, standing between the elderly power brokers. he is not yet 30 years old. standing between the lines of military generals, he will depend on his family ties to secure his position. which of these men will he rule with? will he have a choice? >> let's speak to leucine now who is in south korea.

that hysteria, built on the mythical status of their leader or fear? >> difficult to tell. probably a mixture of both. north korea is not unified. it holds different experiences depending on where you live and who you are. if you are in pyongyang, and most images have been from pyongyang, you're likely to be an elite. you are likely to have a good. the army had a prominent role and first call on a lot of resources that came into the country. those scenes of soldiers expressing grief may be based partly on that propaganda that has created this mythical figure. was not forget that a high in the scenes this was a brutal government that held tens or

hundreds of thousands of people in prison camps. over the course of the last two decades has experienced energy shortages, food shortages, even famine. a are many reasons why people might be crying today. >> very carefully staged. we get that and the role of each individual in that profession is equally important. >> that is right. this is an attempt to reassure people that despite the sudden death of the man they come to believe was invincible and was their savior, or at least that is what they have been led to believe, this was not going to mean that north korea would be cast into chaos. there would still be someone with their hands on the leaders of power. -- levers of power. kim jong un is not a man in

north koreans know well. he has only had a year in which he has been introduced to the population. he is still in his 20's. he has not had much experience. there are people who are nervous around the region about what is a rule will mean. whether he will be able to draw together the different factions within the difficult scene. >> thank you. more on him in a moment but first let's get the perspective from china. we are in beijing. this is a very much a home grown funeral procession. no foreign delegates but how is it being perceived in china? >> a spokesman from the foreign ministry said the chinese ambassador to north korea would be attending, or did attend the funeral. there was no foreign delegation,

including china, which is north korea's main backer. a few days ago we saw china's president and prime minister going to the embassy to pay their condolences. i do not think beijing would have been surprised by any of the scenes we saw today. there is concern that there could be a power struggle on the peninsula. that is the last thing they want to see. they want to see stability. >> that is the view from the macro image. you have been to the border as well. what are people saying there? >> i was there about one week ago. almost everybody was dismissive. a woman told me that kim jong-il was a bad leader.

that was her words. i also spoke to a tour guide who took tourists into north korea and he said it was like stepping back in time. he told me something interesting. he believes the grief that would have been felt was a genuine. he compared it to the death of chairman mao in china. obviously china has come a long way since then. many in beijing will be hoping that north korea follows this path of development. >> thank you very much for that. with me in the studio is our correspondent through the 1990's. you're forced -- first today was his funeral. is that right? >> that is right. it is interesting to see this procession because the template was set what -- was set by what happened in the 1990's.

there was one difference, the successor, kim jong un, was front and center. he was standing beside the hearse as it went through the streets. then at the end and he was flanked by the key officials of the party. >> i was going to ask you about kim jong un. for a lot of north koreans, today is the best opportunity to see who this guy is. >> a few years ago, most had never heard of kim jong un or had any idea about who the successor was going to be. kim jong-il left it very late to introduce it into the party. it was noticeable the state television kept a referring to kim jong un as the great successor. the supreme commander already. he does not have those formal positions but that is how he is being described. >> he is younger, still in his

20's. the infrastructure around him is going to be extremely important. possibly managing a puppet show? >> it is very much looking at the personality. so far it has gone as expected. it had been assumed that his uncle would be the key man in the transition. there he was standing right behind kim jong un as he walked with a procession. on the other side was the army chief of staff who is another key figure. there were no surprises about who is flanking the man they call the great successor. >> his remarks when they went to the border, st. kim jong-il was a bad leader. from within the country, i do not suppose anyone could make those claims anyway, such as the nature of the regime. how was he perceives it? we can look outside but

presumably they look at things that have enhanced to north korea. >> yes, they made a great play of giving them nuclear-weapons and his diplomatic victories and standing up to the united states. he was portrayed as a great general. no doubt among the members of the elite in pyongyang, there probably is some concern about the future, whether patronage is going to come. as far as the ordinary people, the people who bore the brunt of the famine, we have been hearing from defectors that they had no respect for kim jong il and yet they would still talk in a respectful terms of his father. >> charles, thank you very much. it has been an extraordinary day in the history of north korea. hosni mubarak has been brought back to court in cairo for the resumption of this trial.

he arrived in an ambulance before being carried on a stretcher. familiar scenes. he is 83 now. he was overthrown in february accused of complicity in the death of 800 protesters. there will be long queues outside spanish embassies as people try to be to the deadline for citizenship. 300,000 descendants of people exiled during the civil war have been given the right to become citizens of their home country. one of the biggest retail chain says it is closing 120 stores as a result of poor sales figures. sears and kmart have over four thousand branches. analysts expect more in the year ahead. you are watching bbc world news. plenty more to come including, italy plans to borrow billions. how much will the markets want

in return? now for a tale of those who landed on normandy beaches on d- day and fought at the battle of the bulge and yet when they came home were treated as traders and put on a blacklist. some 5000 soldiers deserted from the irish armed forces to a list with the british. >> the people of dublin turned out for the parade on st. patrick's day. >> 1939. as the world plunged into war, the leaders of ireland decided to remain neutral. more than 10% of the irish army deserted to join the fight against fascism. on their return, they were punished for serving in the armed forces of the old enemy. dismissed without pay, they were placed on a blacklist, ban them from entering the -- any government job. among them this man.

>> the war was over. >> although he served with honor, there was no heroes welcome at home. >> we were treated as traders. and i knew in my heart we did the right thing. we liberated camps. our would do it again all over again. >> at parliament, demand for action. >> what happened was a vindictive measures. i believe the government must resolve this matter and provide a part in to these men. >> there is no mention of the national memorial to its defense forces and those men who deserted to fight fascism in the second world war. the government says it is considering a pardon but for those who survived, time is running out.

>> you are watching bbc world news. the headlines this hour. north korea marks the death of kim jong il with his son and successor kim jong un leading the funeral ceremony. hundreds of thousands of people braved temperatures below freezing to line the streets to watch the funeral procession. arab league observers have started what is the second day of their mission as serious as they try to verify whether bashar al-assad is complying with an initiative to end the crackdown. they had a turbulent first day as tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the street and some of them confronted the team to demand international protection. russia has also urged the government to cooperate with the observers and allow them to work

as freely as possible. let's get the latest from our correspondent who is in beirut. i think the head of the group yesterday described it as a good day. it seems to be a turbulent one. any hint as to what the plans are for today? >> it seems that according to the general, i think they will also follow up in homs. 20 observers will stay there for a long time. they are also sending people to the the turkish border. and it down to the south, all of these been known hot spots where a lot of people have been killed. there are also going to deploy around damascus in the satellite towns and so forth. there has also been a lot of

trouble. it looks like they are going to be active in getting around the various countries where there has been turbulent. >> i am showing pictures of some of these protesters getting involved, getting in discussions with the observers. would they have accepted they would come this close? they are face to face. they are hearing it from the mouths of the protesters. >> absolutely. that is the idea they would get on the ground and talk to everybody. just before they got engaged, the government's office was giving the government line. they are supposed to engage with all factions, free to talk to whomever they like. whoever talks to them will not be subjected to reprisals later on. there are lot of issues. the general was aware of that,

of accusations the syrians had taken tanks off the streets and hidden them around the corner. he did say they saw some armored personnel carriers. he is aware that things happened after they were in there. as he stressed, these are early days. there is a long way to go. more investigation is necessary. >> thank you. it has been announced that president cristina fernandez de kirchner has cancer and will have an operation next week. the argentine government says she has cancer of the thyroid gland but it had not spread to other parts of her body. she began her second term after another victory. the announcement came as a surprise to many in argentina. >> she took over a second term and started with an enthusiastic

program, passing several controversial laws through the argentine parliament just in the last couple of days. she has been traveling around the country. there was an announcement from the spokesman that he will be having surgery on the glands next week on it january 4 and will then have to take a 20 days' rest and recuperation. her team has gone to lengths to state she is fit and the cancer is isolated. with this operation she will take 20 days off and be back in action shortly afterwards. they are trying to allay those fears. if anything, she has sympathy. she is mourning the death of her husband in october of 2010. she still wears black and is in mourning.

i think this will add to the sympathy and the support that she won in those elections in october of this year. >> it feels like safe old territory. you need to raise how much? >> $26 billion in. that is what it really needs to raise. another critical test. let's not kid ourselves, a test of the eurozone. just to see where the confidence is with this particular economy, the eighth largest in the world. today they are going to raise short-term -- they're going to sell $15 billion worth of short- term debt. tomorrow the big test is the 10- year. it falls down to what the investors will demand it agreed to pay in interest. the yield as we always say.

we want 7%. that is what the 10-year rate hit yesterday, 7%. that is an unsustainable level. next year, between february and april, italy has to pay off 200 tend billion dollars -- $210 billion. >> that is a way to restore confidence. the japanese are having a go. >> japan's prime minister is talking about the economy in asia, they have a long way to go. what they hope to do between the trade to raise the figure to $25 billion in 2014. they have a long way to go because in 2010 the trade was

only around $15 billion. trade between in japan and china is $300 billion. a lot of focus is on infrastructure. i will have more on the world business report a in about -- nine minutes. >> thank you for that. 2011 was a disastrous year for u.s.-pakistan relations. mistrust is at an all-time high, you might think, and threatens to jeopardize their cooperation in the so-called war on terror. our correspondent looks back at a year when these supposed allies went from crisis to crisis. >> to turbulent year for pakistan-american relations. they got back into a bill -- a backd start. there was a route between

washington when he was taken back to the u.s. instead of facing trial in pakistan. outrage and protests across pakistan. the theory was directed not only at the u.s. but at the pakistani government for what many saw it is a subservient relationship with washington. all the sentiment would only intensify, the drama would soon follow. >> tonight i can report to the american people and to the world that united states has conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden, the leader of al qaeda. >> it was with a sense of shock that pakistan greeted the news been a lot and had been found -- osama bin laden had been found in a town home to the military academy. many suspected pakistani collusion. >> this one incident has brushed

aside the whole tenney year record of pakistan fighting along a against al qaeda. i think it the largest number of oxide operators ever captured have been captured with pakistani help. >> while the compound is still standing, it is still sealed off. there are many here who do not believe he was ever there. some do not acknowledge he was killed. much of the debate across this country has not been about him but more how the americans geared to carry out the raid they did without asking permission. anti-u.s. feeling went up another notch in september. america's senior military officer pointed the finger at

pakistan for a truck bombing in kabul. >> the haqqani network acts as an internal service intelligence agency. without support, haqqani operatives planned and conducted that attack as well as the assault on our embassy. >> 2011 has ended with another serious blow to relations. 24 pakistani soldiers killed in a nato attack. the cliche that both sides need each other two months -- too much is looking vulnerable. in a year where they have looked more like enemies than friends, demonstrations and pakistan were only getting bigger and more voices calling for a split. bbc news, pakistan. >> if you want an excuse not to

cut the grass, an australian city says it is impossible to cut the grass as a saltwater crocodile pinched the lawn mower. he has a reputation for causing trouble. he lost two teeth as he snatched the machine. dnieper's distracted him to get the mower out and grabbed his teeth which they described as unusually big. >> they came out when he bit the mower. we would leave him in the pool. they are abnormally large. half the size of these. look at that. >> never mind the lawn mower. bbc.com pour more on all of the stories you have seen in this program. analysis to boot.

thank you for watching. >> make sense of international news. bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, and union bank. >> you are no longer in the service. only an outsider can find the double agent. >> i'll do my utmost. >> from the bestseller by john le carre -- >> all i want from you is one code name. >> it will take a master spy -- >> you are alone. >> you can't mention me. >> to catch a spy. >> you have to assume they're watching you. >> what the hell are you doing up here? >> things aren't always what they seem. >> "tinker tailor soldier spy." >> rated r.

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