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>> and historic baghdad summit of the arab league with the violence in syria at the top of the agenda. a general strike in spain to protest government reforms aimed at cutting unemployment. and japan carries out its first executions in more than a year nafissatou diallo. welcome to bbc world news. on the run, how run elephant really did try to say goodbye to circus. just taking you live to the top of this half-hour to baghdad where the arab league is holding a summit for the first time

since the fall of saddam hussein. the arab league leaders have started to arrive. tight security is in place after bombings last week threatened to derail the summit. they are focusing on the conflict in syria. we'll have the latest from our correspondent in the iraqi capital. a general strike is underway in spain called by the union owes to oppose the government's labor reforms. we spoke about the timing of the strike. >> coming a day before the budget, is government will announce that new budget tomorrow and although this is a lot about the labor reforms the government brought in trying to cut that huge unemployment, this is also about the austerity measures that we expect tomorrow from the government. they are under huge pressure

from brussels to make more cuts. the new government only came in this december. they said our finances are much worse than we were led to believe by the previous government. the target they came up with is not good enough and there is a lot of pressure from brussles to cut even further. do we expect the get any surprises tomorrow when we find out how it stacks up? >> i don't think so. this strike is going to make no difference in what we plan to do. we're still going to make huge cuts to public services in spain. one economist said either there is going to be a big surprise in this budget for him or the budget won't be credible. so it will be interesting to see where these cuts come from. spain a rash of problems economically. their economy is in recession now. 1% to 1 1/2% of growth.

they are trying to keep borrowing. there is also the problem of regional debt. i went to a any is andalusia in the south of spain that has a big problem. >> most mornings they immediate. they make noise. and remind their bosses of the town hall they have not been paid for nearly four months. meet antonio. a marcher in the morning. by the afternoon, he is working. he still drives his bus despite the fact that he hasn't been paid. he says it is affecting life at home. now he can't even afford his

children's books for school. the problem that exists here is mirrored to a lesser and sometimes greater extent in cities, towns and villages across spain. this is part of the national economic crisis. the administration which racked up the debt has long been voted out of power. >> many of these new administrations might have to be bailed out by spain's central government. >> the unpaid bills about 50 billion euros. that is 5% of spain g.d.p. unpaid bills means smaller and mid-sized firms, which the typical suppliers for the municipalities. some of them are in deep trouble and some are going bankrupt because they are not getting paid. this is happen with the city is really famous for.

wine, which english speakers call sherry. a golden liquid which remembers when the city was not in the red. this is now a place where social workers camp outside the town hall waiting to be paid. a city rich in history and tradition. dire public finances are making some who work here increasingly poor. >> if you walk on the streets of madrid this morning, there is certainly less traffic, more rubbish, less police. the propaganda war has already begun the government saying it is business as usual. one thing that is certain is that we'll see hundreds of thousands on the streets as demonstrations build throughout the day. >> japan has carried out its first executions in more than a year and a half. three prisoners were hanged. japan has more than 100 inmates

on death row including the ringleader of the serin gas attacks on the tokyo subway. last year they didn't carry out any executions. i asked if we now know the names of the three people who were executed? >> we certainly know names of two of them. one was a man who went on a ram underage a train station in 1999 killing five people and another person who has been executed was the man who killed the parents of izz estranged wife and stepson. this is the first time japan has carried out the death penalty in 20 months. anti-death penalty campaigners had been hoping that perhaps the government that has only been in office for a few years was reconsidering japan's position on this. they are disappointed and protesting about the hangings carried out today.

>> these >> convicted convicts, murderers. death row in japan is particularly harsh. >> it is, according to amnesty international. prisoners spend almost all of their time sitting down in their cells. they have few visits and little exercise and they are also not told about the date of their execution in advance so they spend much of every day fearing that it might be their last. amnesty says that sends many prisoners into madness. most people here, about 86% of people, though, do support the death penalty despite the last justice minister who signed the death warrants in 2010, trite to prompt a public debate on the death penalty. she was a firm o pound of the death penalty and went to witness the executions. even so, the majority of the japanese support the death penalty. >> an american airline pilot

whose plane had to make a landing tuesday, is charged with interfereing with the flight crew. he was yelling about a bomb and urging people to pray. at least 70 people have been killed in several days of tribal fighting in southern part of libya. 1,500 government troops have been sent to the region. pope benedict has met fidel castro. footage has emerged from the syrian city of homs appearing to show continued government shelling despite the syrian authorities agreing to the peace plan to stop the violence. the united states has accused president assad of reneging on

the peace plan. this comes as an arab league summit is getting underway as we speak. this is a live shot out of baghdad there as various presidents and prime ministers gather. the syrian membership was suspended a few months ago. it was not ejected. it was merely suspended. washington in the past few hours or so calling on the arab league countries to exert pressure on syria. syria is not there. how do they do it? >> well, there is another question of whether they want to do it. syria is not there. syria has said it will not deal with any decisions from the arab league. izz hat only bilateral relations because it has been suspended. so far what we know is it will

probably reject foreign intervention in syria saying -- there will be language against president assad's crackdown on protests in syria. there will be support through the syrian people's right to choose their own leaders and their right to freedom. but at the same time, from what we hear so far in the iraqi press, there has been agreements yesterday in the arab foreign minister's meeting on the draft, the declaration which will oppose foreign intervention. not confirmed from any source yet except the official iraqi press. >> is the arab league as cynical as u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton is when it comes to accepting what bashar al-assad says when he says yes, we will go with the peace plan and then get this unconfirmed footage out of homs and it looks as though the syrian authorities are again targeting homs?

>> well, that is quite expected. words have very little impact on the situation on the ground. that includes whatever comes out of the arab league as well as what is coming out of the united nations and the security council for that matter. whichever way the arab league leans, whether in favor of president bashar al-assad or against, it seems unlikely that any statements will have an immediate impact on the ground. >> as far as iraq is concerned, they will address certain issues, broader regional issues like sunnis versus shias. that is very dangerous. this is highly significant for the iraqi government that they are staging this summit in baghdad? >> it is. ss very symbolic. they believe it is the end of a long period of iraqi isolation. all the way through the invasion of iraq by the united states in 2003 and the collapse of the central government.

they believe that iraq is staging a diplomatic comeback. yesterday the iraqi foreign minister said quite forcefully that iraq is back on the scene and it is reclaiming its regional role. everybody is watching to see exactly what role that will be and which way the iraqis will lean. they have good relations with the iranians and the americans and there has been recently a diplomatic drive to improve relations with gulf arab countries, especially kuwait but also saudi arabia. seven waiting to see what kind of balancing -- everybody is waiting to see what kind of balancing act iraqi will play but they are trying to play strong regional role. >> thanks very much. we're talking about a potential rival the the world bank. the bric nations getting together. >> it is a fascinating concept. we're talking took into account fourth summit of the brics starting today in new delhi. brazil, russia, china and south

africa which joined last year. a big group representing 45% of the world's population. makes up 25% of the world's economy, about $13.5 trillion dollars. we know the brics and other economies have been fed up with these political and financial institutions that were developed six decades ago. i'm talking about the world bank and the i.m.f. the world bank at the moment tussing for a new president. it will likely be an american president as it alwayses that been. they are talking about setting up their own development bank to rival the asian bank. i've been looking at comments from world political analysts and they say if they can coordinate, they would be far more powerful. jim o'neill, the chairman of goldman sachs asset management, who coined the phrase doesn't

believe it is possible to find common ground. what else? >> aaron talks more on the world business report. the cost of cotton has had a big impact. >> cotton, fuel, wages in asia have been rising. of course h & m hasn't put up their prices. they have kept their prices very low. they still made a profit. less than expects but -- he is looking at his watch. you give me a minute and a half to do all of this. i will have a lot more time in your business report in 15 minutes. >> talk to you later. you're watching bbc world news. still to come, a runaway circus elephant. prosecutors in chile say they

will seek murder charges against four suspects neo nazis accused of attacking and killing a gay young man. he was beaten and swastikas carved into his body by his attackers. he died on tuesday. >> he sold clothes for a living but dreamed of studying theater. prosecutors say the attack on him lasted an hour. he was beaten, burned with cigarettes and nazi symbols were carved into his body. outside the hospital, hundreds kept vigil as daniel laid in a coma. chileans were r were shocked. there is anger here too. the crowd shouted out murderers when a member of child's government visited the hospital. under pressure to show he is doing more to tackle hate crime, the president promised he won't rest until an

anti-discrimination law is passed. >> we're going to construct a better protected society with more love where no one is discriminated against for any reason because all chileans have the same rights. >> on tuesday, the day daniel died, his mother thanked those who had gathered for their support. >> i want to say on behalf of all of my family that we preesht appreciate all the support and beautiful things that you have given us here. >> four people have been jailed on attempted murder charges. it is not clear whether any of them have any links to neo nazi groups. >> a large fire has ripped through a plastics factory in the chilean capital santiago. nearby residents were evacuated. the city's mayor said the chemical content is not known but the authorities said the wind was carrying the smoke away from populated areas. lots more news and top stories of course whenever you want it on our website.

>> this is bbc world news. these are the top stories. an historic baghdad summit of the arab league with the violence in syria at the top of the agenda. japan has carried out its first executions in more than a year and a half. three inmates on death row were hanged . an american teenager is beginning a life sentence today for the murder of two british tourists in florida. james kouzaris and james coop we are killed after shawn tyson killed them while trying to rob them. >> shawn tyson will spend the rest of his life in jail. during sentencing, the convicted killer was shown a video tribute to his british victims and he

was confronted by their friends. >> every night you go to sleep and every morning you wake up, i want you to think of my friends who you murdered. their images will be imprinted on your conscious up until your very last breath in life. james kouzaris and james cooper will continue to inspire those who knew them. you might think being a man is about carrying a gun, but it is not. wearing a mask and shooting two guys in cold blood is being a coward. >> they were university friends who like a million britains every year had come here to florida on holiday. on a friday last april they went out for dinner and drinks. security cameras in one bar showed them chatting to women. they took these photos of themselves which were later released by the police. at closing time, they set out on foot into the night ending up 20

blocks away in a lew low-income housing project. local people heard gunfire. james cows aris had been shot twice. james cooper two times. both men were shirtless and their trousers had been lowered. police say that was to prevent them from running away. this key witness testified that shawn tyson had given him a gun to hide under his house. >> why did you bower it? >> he told me to. >> boasting i did that. >> just hours before the murders, tyson has been in custody after an earlier firearms arrest, but he was freed and the same night he ended the lives of two young men thousands of miles from home. >> the bbc has obtained new evidence which suggests british

honeymooner's alleged involvement in the murder of his wife may not be as clear cut as it was by south african investigatorses. the high court will rule tomorrow whether he should be extradited. tv footage not previously seen raises new questions about the prosecution's case. >> a just meard couple start a new day of their -- married couple start a new day of their south african honeymoon. the bride would be dead by tend of the day, executed, as it was said, on the order of her husband. >> this never before shown of the couple in their hotel captures the moment he is alleged to have commissioned his wife's murder. this cctv captures the moment

south african prosecutors believe he commissioned annie's murder less than avenue an hour after meeting for the first time in the airport. is he simply hiring the taxi driver or has he just commissioned his wife's murder? the following day, just hours before their taxi was hijacked, the cctv shows the couple affectionately kissing and posing for photos in the hotel bar. he became very agitated about the delay. >> he demanded to know what the holdup was and insisted that the act be perpetrated that very day. >> the cctv tells a different story. he can be seen calling tongueo at 7:45 with annie sitting beside him. he shows no sign overage tation. -- agitation.

the car they were traveling in was hijacked. they were ejected from the taxi and annie's body was discovered the next morning, killed by a single gunshot. he is currently sanctioned in the u.k. under the mental health act. his family told the bbc that he does intent to return to south africa to answer police questions just as soon as he is well enough. >> ok. time for sports news. four big names on wednesday's european champions league quarterfinals. >> indeed. for the first time in the season's competition, barcelona fails to score. trying hard to break the deadlock, sanchez is denied a penalty after being fouled.

munich against marseille. just before halftime. a second goal added in the 69th minute. the second night of both of those matches will be next tuesday. >> not an easy ride for him. >> it was a tough quarterfinal against tip air is vick. he made 34 unforced errors but he came out on top. he won 4-6, 6-3, 4uf6. he will face rafa nadal. who beat tsonga. nadal claimed a decisive third. he is chasing his first tournament win of the season and also it would be his first title in miami.

>> thanks very much. now an elephant in need of refreshment escaped from a circus in ireland and went on the hunt for what looks like a cup of coffee. she appeared out a big shopping center. >> what do you do with an escaped elephant wondering in the city's center fingerprint well, a little gentle persuasion was tried. that didn't work. there was only one option left. run. the elephant wasn't called nelly but she had lost the circus which was being stage nearby. eyewitnesses said she ran away at bath time. >> they were being washed. he didn't want to be washed. he just got all upset and broke the barrier and ran up the main road. >> it took a lot longer to convince her to return to the circus, but eventually she did. her keeper insisted there had

been no real danger to the irish public. >> you cannot say danger. they don't hate people. that you must understand. >> she is now up to her old tricks again. very old tricks. he is 40 years of age. they say elephants never forget. whatever the truth of that, the people will long remember the day the circus came to town. mark simpson, bbc news. >> back live for 30 seconds or so to the iraqi capital baghdad because arab leaders are there. it is on the other hand the first major international summit to be hosted in baghdad in 20 years or so. the u.n. arab league plan would see a u.n.-monitored end to the fighting. however, since having accepted that plan on tuesday, there is unverified footage of what looks like government forces going after the rebel city of homs one

more time. lots more on our 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. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you?

>> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles.