i am george alagiah. the headlines -- u.s. special forces freed two aid workers being held hostage by somali pirates. nine captured or killed. the state of the union speech. perot, accused of class warfare after he calls for the -- barack obama accused of class warfare. aaron is here. let's stay in britain. economy went into reverse at the end of the year. >> the last time we were here was that the end of 2010. in the last three months of last year, 2011, the u.k. economy contracted or fell by 0.2%. it shows this sharp drop-off in economic activity from around the summer of last year, where we had growth of 0.6% 3 we've got into the negative. all sectors in the economy fell. the services are down. we are a service-led economy. that pretty much ground to a halt. the real question now, what does it look like going forward? the experts say it does not look good. listen to this. by the're very concerned output, not only the domestic economy, but also the european economy more widely. for consumers, they are also beginning to hold

i'm george alagiah with a world of news and opinion. also -- mitt romney and head in the polls as florida's republicans choose a presidential candidate. but newt gingrich says win or lose, he will fight on. dozens left dead across eastern europe as temperatures plummet well below zero. the elderly and homeless the most at risk. it is midday here in london, 8:00 p.m. in hong kong and early morning in new york where negotiants are on the way -- behind-the-scenes negotiations are underway on a security council resolution on syria. russia and china fear any move might provide cover for a military intervention, what bela last year. france and britain say they are simply backing terribly calls for a transfer of power. what seems beyond doubt is the situation on the ground is getting ever more desperate. >> the arab spring's most intractable conflict once again forced its way on the agenda of the security council. for nearly a year they have been not able to agree on what to do. western states have been putting pressure -- pushing for pressure

i am george alagiah. the headlines -- the u.s. military is investigating a video that appears to show american marines urinating on the dead bodies of taliban fighters in afghanistan. haiti is marking two years since the earthquake that killed 300,000 people, but half of 1 million people are still living in tents. time now for the business news. we have aaron. quite a lot happening in europe. italy and spain had a bond auction. the ecb. >> let's start with the bond auction. it was a real big test of the troubled economies of italy and spain. they returned to the international money market for the first time in 2012 to sell debt and raise much-needed funds. so far, so good. italy raised $11 million. the good thing, the yield. the interest rate investors demand these governments pay them to take on their debt dropped significantly. here is the thing. both countries are only selling short-term debt. it's a lot easier to get higher investor confidence on the short-term debt. the european central bank made available half of one trillio

i am george alagiah. the headlines -- two men convicted of the racist murder of british teenager stephen lawrence had been given prison sentences of 15 years and 14 years. in the first race of the republican presidential election, mitt romney beat rick santorum by just eight votes. joining me now from bristol is dr. richard stone, an adviser to the stephen lawrence inquiry. we are going back to that story. the two men were found guilty of murdering stephen lawrence. mr. stone,t for being with us -- mr. stone, thank you for being with us. what is your reaction? >> two people have been convicted and given reasonable sentences. there we are. that's the way the law is. that is the way it has to be. i have strong views. i'm delighted they will be behind bars. one of them may have it reduced a little bit. it could be on the streets in 10 years. that is not long. >> for the full benefit of our viewers around the world -- you are on "bbc world news." describe the effect this case has had on british society, on it

i'm george alagiah. the headlines. police in france have arrested the head of a company over a scare of breast implants. australians are forced to abandon a ceremony that was disrupted by aboriginal activists predict a 20-story building has collapsed in the city of rio de janeiro. rescuers have pulled four people from the rubble alive so far. others remain trapped. daniel griffin has the latest. >> in downtown rio de janeiro, a street turned to rubble. cars buried where they were parked. all of this in just a few devastating moment. >> i was walking on the path when suddenly the building collapsed. it was connected to the other building and it just collapsed. so we ran out. we try to see if there was anybody inside, but we could not tell. >> at first, i thought someone was trying rubble, that it was nothing serious. then i started to take some steps back and suddenly, the building collapsed. it came down completely. >> emergency services have begun a rescue operation. some people have been pulled alive from the wreckag

i am george alagiah. a scientist working at a nuclear plant in iran has been killed by a bomb attached to his car. mitt romney wins in the new hampshire primary, taking him a step closer to securing the republican presidential nomination. time now for the business news. aaron is here. get onto this thing on the desk. the german economy posted growth. the >> the core of the eurozone grew by 3% last year. these are preliminary numbers. not as good as the 3.7% growth in 2010. george, we are focused on the last three months of last year, where it suggest the german economy contracted by a quarter of 1%. no doubt that the eurozone crisis is hitting the german door basically. going forward, it does not bode well. the forward looking orders are suggesting -- if germany's economy falls again, technically, it is in a recession again. experts are quick to remind us we're still talking about europe's strongest economy. >> let's not forget where germany is at the moment. germany has had 3% growth. its economy is abou

i am george alagiah. the headlines -- as aung san suu kyi's party gets approval to participate in elections, the pro-democracy leader said she trust political reform will continue. in iraq, bomb blasts have killed dozens of people and left many more injured. he made a grave mistake, but he will not resign. that is the position of the german president, christian wolff, who has admitted his error. in an interview on german television, he said he has not broken hill law and the situation had to be seen in human terms -- broken the law and the situation had to be seen and human terms. >> [speaking foreign language] >> you have to stand in front of your family and explain how intimate details -- how private things -- when that gets dragged into the public eye, one has defense mechanisms. you feel helpless. i asked the publication to be postponed by one day so that we could talk about it, so that the publication would be factually correct. >> our correspondent in berlin says it is unclear to what extent his rep

i am george alagiah. the headlines -- the search for survivors has been suspended on the cruise ship that ran aground off the italian coast. rescuers say the vessel is still slipping into the sea. nigeria's president goodluck jonathan has partially rescinded fuel subsidies protests after subsidies against rising fuel prices. let's catch up on the business news. aaron is here now. i want to go back to the stricken ship. i know it is still a human story. there are still people and accounted for, but there are business implications. >> we have been looking at the carnival cruise line and the implications so far. this is the largest cruise ship operator in the world. it runs 11 brands, including the costa concordia, the ship that sank over the weekend. carnival share prices have fallen around 20%. more than $1 billion has been wiped out the company's market value. on top of that, the company has said that this particular disaster could cost them $19 million. experts say this could not have come at a worse tim

i am george alagiah. the headlines -- rescuers blast holes in the capsized italian cruise ship as they continue to search for survivors. the european court of human rights has ruled that radical cleric abu qatada cannot be deported to jordan. the speaker of the iranian parliament has repeated the accusation that israel was behind the assassination of a nuclear scientist last week. he said several suspects have been arrested and promised iran would respond to the killing and what he called a non-terrorist matter. fears of tension between iran and israel could blow into a major conflict are far and wide. joining me now is the israeli deputy foreign minister. thank you for being with us on gmt. the assassination of the scientist last week -- britain has condemned the killing of civilians. america has denied any involvement in this. israel, as far as i know, has said nothing. the >> we do not make comments about events that happen in faraway places. i can say that the eye physicians are completely baseless. >