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>> sf area's -- syria's cease-fire is on the brink of collapse. syrian troops are reported to have opened fire on russ gees trying to cross into turkey. the muslim brotherhood calls it an insult to the egyptian people as hosni mubarak's former spy chief runs for president. south korea's police chief is resigning over the bungled response to a deprizzly rape and murder. welcome to "bbc world news." i'm adam parsons. also in this program -- a terror suspect says colonel gaddafi's regime sues british intelligence services over their role in his rendition to libya. and the american golfer bubba watson wins the masters after a sudden-death playoff over the south african, louis oosthuizen.

>> let's start with some news that has been coming in in the past few moments. those are reports that syrian troops have opened fire on refugee who are trying to cross the border into turkey. i'm hearing that at least five people have been wounded, including turkish nationals. this comes as syria's foreign minister visits russia for key talks on the failing cease-fire. we will be returning to the border between syria and turk toy speak to our correspondent, jonathan head, in the next few minutes. let's look at those other diplomatic occurrences around the cease-fire proposals and the foreign minister of syria is to visit moscow for key talks, as hopes of a u.n.-backed cease-fire appears to be in at that timers. russia has been a crucial ally to damascus in recent months, but supporters of the peace plan did seem to be on point of collapse on sunday. syria's government demanded written guarantees from the

opposition to end attacks. meanwhile, another syrian ally, china, has urged damascus to respect tuesday's peace plan deadline. our correspondent, jim muir, in beirut, and daniel san ford in moscow, have been following today's visit by the foreign minister. i spoke to them earlier and began by asking jim how syria was likely to react to international pressure. >> we'll have to see exactly what the pressure amounts to. the russians have said very little so far. i don't know whether they were taken aback by this syrian position announced at the weekend, demanding written guarantees not just the opposition with a sight fire, but also ready to disarm and that countries backing the opposition will sign papers agreeing to drop that support. in other words, that the other side has to capitulate completely in advance of any kind of settlement talks. we'll have to wait to see just how strongly the russians feel about it. they had backed the peace plan. they had specifically backed the idea that the syrian

government, as the stronger party, should pull troops and tanks and heavy weapons out of cities by tomorrow, tuesday. that protest was supposed to be finished by tuesday, and that was endorsed by the u.n. security council, including the russians and chinese. it seems that even by their standards, syria must be seen as being out of compliance. it remains to be seen just how strong the russians will be with moscow today. >> let's put that very question to our correspondent in moscow. how strong do we think russia's stance will be? >> well, it's not clear yet. first of all, i should say while they arrive today, he may meet tomorrow, so we're probably not going to get much more light shed on this today. the russians find themselves in a very difficult position. they put an awful lot of their diplomatic energy behind the

kofi annan plan, saying which was the right way out of the crisis in syria. this should be a cease-fire that should then be negotiations between all sides, and they now find themselves in the position where it may be that the syrian government is in effect refusing a cease-fire. it is certainly a big, big decision moment for russia as to whether they continue to oppose any moves against the syrian government. you have to remember, the way the russians have played this right from the very beginning, they've avoided the sort of moral approach which was taken by many other countries to this. they adopted very much a diplomatic and strategic approach. they regard syria as being an important country for them strategically and also the whole issue of outside interference toppling regimes as being a very important issue. they don't think they should be changing regimes within

countries. so whether or not the syrian -- the syrians are going back on their cease-fire and will change the russian position, it's going to be a very interesting question. >> daniel, thank you. jim, daniel was mentioning the diplomatic efforts going on, led by kofi annan. he's witnessing a refugee camp today. how important, how significant a role can he still play in this process? >> well, in the sense that if he now certificate fries back to the security council, his plan has come up against a syrian butler, then the security council, as it said in its unanimous statement last thursday, would be obliged to look at further measures as appropriate. so he is the man who will call the shots. we haven't heard his reaction specifically to this syrian demand. we know there's been a lot of traffic between him and damascus, and presumably the syrians have been putting these demands to him for written

guarantees. bit as i say, those guarantees they're looking for amount to a complete capitulation by the opposition in advance of any kind of talks. this plan is very balanced and basically called for a cease-fire with u.n. observers going in and then talks starting up. it doesn't say anything, at least on paper, about the opposition side being expected to disarm and let syrian government forces just walk in. >> that was jim muir and daniel sandford talking earlier on. south korea's national police chief is resigning following a public outcry over the case of a woman who was raped and murdered. the victim made a photograph to police before she chose and one man said he took full responsibility. lucy williamson has more on the case from seoul. >> crimes seem to be a particularly gruesome one, which is why it raised public anger in this way. the woman in question, a

28-year-old woman just south of seoul made the emergency call to the police. in fact, the police say she was just a few minutes' drive from the houses that she was in, but police officers took 13 hours to find her, by which time she had been raped, killed, and dismembered. >> and the resignation of the police chief was presumably not a huge surprise on the basis of that? >> not a surprise to many people, no. we've now heard the president has accepted that resignation. he said he was going to take full responsibility for what he calls the horrendous result of the carelessness of his force. >> do you think that will actually asage public anger? presumably people are astonish that had 13 hours could have been spent looking for someone just a few minutes away. >> well, what reportedly happened, the police were searching the wrong area, completely different area to the one the woman was in, even though she was so close.

at the moment, there were reported reasons why that happened. some communication problems between the emergency call center and the police, what he called bureaucratic problems. we haven't really got to the bottom of why this happened yet. so i think you're right. the resignation will go some way toward public anger. but there are going to be further questions about this, and let's not forget there's a general election in two days' time. >> lucy williamson in seoul. the british government was involved in the rendition of a terror suspect to the gaddafi regime in libya. evidence emerged during last year's libya complicate that mi-6 was part of the rendition of a man who claims he was for toured by the libyan. he's now suing an mi-6 officer and the british government. peter taylor reports. >> the successive british governments have always insisted that they were never complicit in the illegal rendition and torture of terrorist suspects. but a letter unearthed in the

rubble of libya's spy headquarters, bombed by nato last year, suggests this may not always have been the case. it was written in march 2004 by the senior officer. the letter was addressed to the head of libyan intelligence. mark congratulated him on the safer rival of the air cargo. >> the air cargo was hakeem, the leader of the libyan islamic fighting group. mi-5 believed the group was close to al qaeda and recruiting muslims in the u.k. to fight jihad in iraq. when mi-6 learned that they were in malaysia and planning to fly to london, it tipped off its intelligence partners. the c.i.a. then rendered him to libya. >> of course, the service is considered a major player, and

this act has caused me harm and suffering. >> but it's not as simple as that. mi-6 does not act unilaterally. >> we operate within the law, and there's a process, but internally for seeking ministerial approval that ensures that that's the case. >> the then-foreign secretary denied on bbc radio that his government had any involvement. >> we were opposed to rendition. we were opposed to any use of torture or similar methods, and not only did we not agree with it, we were not complicit in it, nor did we turn a blind eye to it. >> we also added -- >> nobody could know all the details of what intelligence agencies are doing at any one time. >> i spoke to mr. straw's office and was told he had nothing further to add. i understand that mi-6's action was authorized by the labour government. at what level, we do not know.

ironically, abdul is now a senior military commander in the new libya that britain helped create, and he's suing sir mark allen and the british government. meanwhile, the metropolitan police is investigating his allegations, a controversy is far from over. peter taylor, bbc news. >> there has been a thrilling finish to one of the world's four major golf tournaments. the u.s. masters. we go to our sports center, and we have a new name on the winner's board. >> yes, new name, and a refreshing name. an unconventional winner, bubba watson, at the most -- well, one of the homes of golf, where tradition is absolutely key. yes, bubba watson won it on a sudden-death playoff. he's become the third left-hander to do it. he's a buccaneering, big-hitting player. he goes for the pin every time. he doesn't like playing safe. it's cost him in the past.

he lost a playoff just a couple of years ago in the u.s. pga championship for that very reason. taking too many chances. but says even if he lost this one -- and he won the playoff against louis oosthuizen, it wouldn't have mattered much. >> golf is not my everything. if i would have lost torked i'm not going to pout. i'm going to think about the great times i had, the chance i had to win. somehow i won. i get to go home and think about that. but tomorrow, there's going to be a new tournament. y'all are going to write about other people. y'all are going to forget about me tomorrow, you know what i'm saying? and so, i'm going to keep living my life and doing everything, but for me to come out here and win, it's awesome for a week, and then get back to real life. i haven't changed a diaper yet, so probably going to change a diaper very soon. >> with all the money and seriousness involved with golf at the moment, it's nice a player claims he's never had a

lesson, swing coach or psychologist, can do this to win his first major title. >> aaron, thank you very much indeed. let's return to the situation in syria with reports that syrian troops have opened fire on refugees who have been crossing over from syria into turkey. we can speak now to jonathan head, our correspondent, who is in that area. and jonathan, what more can you tell us? jonathan, can you hear us? >> this is the first time that we've heard of people being hit on the turkish side of the border. certainly on this side, we've been able to hear gunfire, and syrian forces have been coming closer and closer to the border. refugees reporting they've been consistently fired at by soldiers on the ground and by helicopter gunships. in this particular incident, it's actually a little way from where i am now, near the border crossing a bit further north

from where i am in the border province. some refugees were very close to the camp. we think the shooting actually -- the people were hit very close to the camp itself when bullets came across. one turkish translator and two syrian nationals were hit and wounded. beyond that, we don't know any more about it. the turkish government is considering what kind of official statement and action it will take, but it comes at a time when the turkish government is becoming increasingly belligerent about the killings in syria and insisting something has to be done and getting very frustrated over the lack of any international action. it will be interesting to see what effect this particular incident has, given this is the first casualties on the turkish side of the border. >> andion than, as a precipitation for action, it's hard to think there's nothing else that will push a government more than another government hitting its civilians. >> the syrian forces have taken care not to do that. throughout this long conflict,

up until the last few weeks, syrian forces have stayed one to two kilometers away from the border. there's a very strong turkish military presence on this side. i think they clearly wanted to avoid provoking any incident. having said that, the turkish government has been contemplating what it can do, including possible military intervention to establish a safe zone, for a long time now. it says now it's far more serious about exploring that option now, but sending its troops over the border is a very, very big step. it's not something they will do just over one shooting incident. but it will certainly sharpen the mood, and i think increase those in government who feel that if the annan plan fails, which it seems likely to do as the syrian government has more or less bailed out of it, then if there isn't an international diplomatic plan, turkey will have to think of what it does itself. it's a very long border as the security situation deteriorating. it will be affected anyway. i think this harden the

position and certainly harden the planning for some kind of military option. >> jonathan head there from the turkish-syrian border. you are watching "bbc world news." still to come -- 100 years on, we're on bored a memorial cruise retracing the ill-fated last voyage of the titanic. more than three million people are heading to the polls in indonesia to elect a new governor. elections are only the second to be held since a long conflict was ended between the indonesian government and rebels back in 2005. our correspondent is there. >> we're expecting one of the key contenders in the race, the incumbent for governor, to cast his vote a little later today. and really, this election is being seen as a race between him and another former rebel. remember, both of them were part of the resistance movement

against indonesia during that long insurgency for so many years. the other contender is from a party called the r.t. party, created by the now-defunct movement. but certainly the issues that are being talked about in this election, you mentioned one, sharia law, islamic law, although that hasn't been one of the main key focuses for most of the voters we've been talking to today. they're extremely concerned about the state of security in the province. as you say, it's been a hard piece and only seven years of the sort of fragile peace that's been through decades of war. people here still remember that. it's also been through and still is recovering from the 2004 indian ocean tsunami, and certainly there is a sense that they want to put all of the troubles of the past behind them and get on with the process of trying to make this province more economically viable. >> and that was our report just

a little bit earlier. the u.s. presidential hopeful, newt gingrich, has acknowledged that his rival, mitt romney, is, as he says, far and away the most likely candidate to receive the republican party nomination. mr. gingrich said that running for president had turned out to be much harder than he'd expected, but he did insist he would stay in the race despite trailing a distant third. you're watching "bbc world news." i'm adam parsons. these are our headlines. as the syria cease-fire plan feeters on the brink of collapse, the syrian foreign minister visits moscow. the muslim brotherhood says that egypt could be plunged into new turmoil if hosni mubarak's former spy chief does become president. and we're here with all the business. we got the inflation figures from china, always been an issue for the chinese, but they're beginning to drift up. >> yeah, absolutely.

there were huge issues last year when we saw inflation peak above 6%ful then we saw beijing and the government implement certain monetary actions, monetary policy actions, and that's going to bring the inflation down. but it is creeping back up again. we got a reading for the month of march of 3.6%, up from february's 3.2%. you can say in the picture there, food prices certainly becoming, creeping back into becoming a problem once again, and, of course, fuel prices, the global oil prices, just since january, have risen. crude oil has risen some 15%, 16%. could be a bit of a headache, because a lower interest rate in china would have allowed the beijing and the government in china to loosen their monetary policy, allow the banks to lend more, maybe cut interest rates. but given it could be creeping up again, it may restrict any movement. so there are concerns, many asking around the world, is the party in china over? in the last quarter of last year, growth came in at 8.9%.

that's fantastic growth. >> wouldn't it be nice? >> for china, it was a two-year low. i'll have more on the "world business report" on that story. >> in terms of economies, they really are struggling. i know you're looking at the european economies. >> youth unemployment is soaring in southern europe. we've got a very interesting piece, quite possibly a bad piece though, about the portuguese. the portuguese were some of the first europeans to sail to the new world for a new life, and it looks like history is repeating itself, because youth unemployment is around 31%. greece is 46%. a lot of these youth are looking for new opportunities in places like angola to brazil. but again, swreel more on "world business report" in about 125 minutes' time. -- in about 15 minutes' time. >> almost a century after the titanic set off on their maiden voyage from england to new york, a memorial cruise is

retracing the route of the ill-fated voyage. it's due to arrive later today. titanic's last land fall before the disaster. our correspondent is among those on board, and he can join us now. this must be a pretty emotional voyage for those on board who have relatives on the original voyage. >> absolutely, adam. 1,300 passengers on board this ship altogether, but i think about 60 or 70 of them have direct family links to passengers who were aboard titanic. for them, leaving south hampton dock yesterday, just as titanic did 100 years ago, heading now to queenstown, as it was a century ago, as titanic docked into the atlantic, the direct site over the next days. it is very emotional. as we left yesterday, there were lots of smiles, fancy dress.

but i think the last few hours, certainly this morning, things have called down, become much more sober and reflective on board. >> and john, what is the background to this voyage? >> it was a british travel agent who had an idea about five years ago, what if he could go back to the wreck site in time for the 100th anniversary of the disaster. i think it was suggested from one of its customers initially, but he looked into it and drafted this boat, a cruise ship, and then put tickets on sale. the tickets sold out about 2 1/2 years ago, such was the demand. he said he could have filled it several times. so that's the background to it. as i say ark lot of people on board have direct links. y been wandering around some of the decks just now, and some of the bars and cafes and restaurants on board, people are gathered in small groups, sometimes informally, just swapping stories, what was your link? why are you here? getting to know one another. but i just, for example, met a

group of about 40 norwegian passengers, and here here to remember the 13 norwegians who were aboard the titanic, many traveling third class. and they said, look, we often get distract by the big names of guggenheim and astor, strauss, those big international names, the lives that were lost famously. but they're here to tribute those norwegians. >> john, thank you very much. that's our correspondent on board the cruise ship. egypt's muslim brotherhood has warned of renewed turmoil if the country's former spy chief succeeds in a bid to become president. omar suleiman submitted his bid just before deadline on sunday. the muslim brotherhood candidate describes it as an insult to the egyptian people.

>> an impassed appeal. official election campaigning for the new president hasn't started yet, but you wouldn't know it from scenes like this. as the top candidates have been to register at egypt's election headquarters, their supporters have turned out in crushing numbers. the muslim brotherhood is offering up one of its leaders after previously saying it wouldn't compete for the top job. however, strict election laws could still disqualify him, as well as this man. another prominent islamist, the favorite. ultraconservative. on the secular side, the former foreign minister and arab league head is running. and the one-time vice president and chief was a last-minute industry. he handed him his papers less

than a half-hour before the nominations closed. this election set islamists against officials who served under hoss no mubarak. with very little campaign time, it's not so much policies as personality and religious values that will decide who wins. people across egypt mainly voted for islamist parties when they went to the polls to select a new parliament after last year's popular uprising. now they're weighing their options again. >> i would like the political masses with good international and domestic relations. >> we want a president who fears god, who is pious. i hope this will make things better in egypt. >> for thousands of years, egypt's been ruled by strong leaders. whoever comes next faces huge challengs and high expectations. >> that's all for the moment, but you are watching "bbc world news."

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