07/02/2012 BBC World News

Syrian forces continued to pound the rebel stronghold of Homs, for a

4th straight day. A resident tells us the world must act. In Damascus

thousands of Assad supporters line the streets to welcome a rare

foreign ally, in the form of the Russian foreign minister Sergei

Lavrov. The first democratically-elected

President of the Maldives resigns after weeks of public protest.

Welcome to BBC World News. I am Geeta Guru-Murphy. Also in the

programme: Another shut down in Greece. Unions strike over

austerity measures while ministers hold talks.

The ultimate fall guy. The skydiver planning to plunge 36 kilometres

Welcome. Russia's foreign minister has arrived in Damascus for talks

with Syria's President, even as the Syrian army continued to bombard

the city of Homs for a 4th straight day. These are the pictures that

are being streamed across the internet from Homs in the last few

hours. You can hear the shelling and the mortar attacks, the sound

of gunfire. Activists say the regime is also using tanks and

machine guns in a push to try and recover rebel-held districts. The

Syrian Government has been issuing defiant statements, saying the

attacks will continue until the armed opposition has been finished

off. These pictures are being shown on Syrian state television. They

say these are crowds waiting to greet the arrival of the Russian

delegation. In fact the delegation has already passed through Damascus.

Serco Lavrov is reported to have started talks with the Syrian

President, Bashar al-Assad. -- Sergei Lavrov. They say that he is

aware of his responsibility as President. There is no clarity on

what the message from Moscow might be out. The violence has continued

over the last few days. Paul Wood is in Homs with his camera man, has

-- and just to warn you, this report has distressing images.

Daybreak. The attack is just beginning. Dazed, this man is

steered to safety. In this part of the city, it is the worst they have

endured. God is great, he shouts, in defiance. The shelling is

constant now. We are hearing an impact every few seconds. In reply

you can also hear a little bit of Kalashnikov fire. It is a pretty

futile gesture. Eyewitnesses say that a field clinic was it. They

Over several days of this, most of the casualties have been civilians.

The houses do not have basements. There is nowhere to hide. Whereas

the Arab League, she shouts. -- where is the Arab League? This

woman's son is badly injured. Give us guns, she screams. We cannot

defend ourselves. Even in the middle of all this, most hide their

faces. They say there is no telling what the regime will do. The only

thing that we hoped for was the UN. We wanted the Arab League to give

our situation to the UN to help us but they abandoned us. Who is going

Some of the dead were armed. This man died attacking the Government

sniper position yesterday. The regime says the violence has been

caused by the fighters of the Free Syrian Army. The rebel commander

says no. Everything we do is to defend our people. The regime

cannot get to us, so would retaliate against civilians instead.

They are certainly paying the price. This shroud is for a seven year-old

Like all the dead here, she must be buried in darkness. Daytime is too

dangerous. There is no family, no prayers, and little dignity. They

have to hurry, even now they are attacked. There will be many more

such desperate and lonely burials. Paul Wood, BBC News, Homs.

The shelling has continued in Homs today and I have spoken to one of

the residents of the city, Abu Abdou. He told me what has been

happening in the last few hours. have been under fire for several

days. There are shortages of food and essentials like bread. We are

being bombed violently by Government forces. Tanks, heavy

weapons, mortars, explosives. Explosions can be heard all around

Homs. The rocket shelling has stopped about half an hour ago.

There is now an attack on the Baba Amr district. They using tanks and

machine guns for the attack. We have so many people injured. There

are so many mortars. We do not no accurate -- have accurate figures.

Can I ask you what you yourself have seen? Have you seen people

being injured? This morning there was a bomb. We tried to get outside.

There were injured people on the street. We managed to help just one

person but the others we could not. They started shooting at us. Most

of the buildings are shaking from the rocket bombing. We don't know

what to do. We don't know why the world is silent. What do you want

the world to do now? It is the obligation of every single human on

this earth and every single Government. Homs is being destroyed

completely. What are they waiting for? Abu Abdou, one of the Homs

residents, speaking to me earlier. The Russians and the Chinese have

been criticised for blocking the UN Security Council resolution. Sergei

Lavrov is now in Damascus. Steve Rosenberg told me what the purpose

of the mission is supposed to be. would say that expectations are

being kept pretty low. There are very few details about what will be

discussed. Moscow has said that it wants to secure some kind of rapid

stabilisation of the situation in Syria. It is not clear how it is

going to do that. We know that Sergei Lavrov is carrying with him

a letter from the Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, which will be

passed on to the Syrian leader later. We don't know what the

contents of the letter of. We will have a better idea later on about

what was discussed in Damascus today. Thank you.

In the Maldives, President Mohamed Nasheed has resigned. He confirmed

he was standing down after police joined protests against in that

have raged for three weeks. They have been violent clashes between

police and the military. A spokesman for the armed forces said

that the events do not represent a coup. The pro test in paradise that

proved too much for the President. This archipelago is no more as an

idyllic holiday destination. The Government arrested a senior judge

which they accused of political bias, and this turned into a power

struggle with the opposition. It came to a head when police and

troops clashed when the police mounted their own demonstration. On

national television, Mohamed Nasheed bowed to the pressure,

saying that staying in power would hit the citizens of the country and

he should therefore step down. With that he made his public exit. It is

all a far cry from 2008 when the former human rights campaign ended

three decades of rule by his political rival in the country's

first multi-party election. He had also worked hard to highlight the

threat to the low-lying Maldives of climate change and rising sea

levels. With more crowds gathering, there seemed to be no end in sight

to the unrest. For now the Vice President is expected to take over.

Greece's political leaders are holding what the finance ministers

have described as highly pressurised talks to try to reach

agreement on the conditions of the latest international bail-out.

Yesterday the Government confirmed that it is going to cut 15,000

public sector jobs. There is plenty of opposition to the measures.

Greece's main trade unions are holding a general strike today in

protest. These are live pictures coming in from Athens, from the

main square. Our correspondent told me that these latest demonstrations

are sending a clear message to the Greek Government. Very much a sign

of the continued opposition to the austerity measures here, the cuts,

that Greece is under pressure to pursue in order to receive its 130

billion of euros bail-out money, which are desperately needs by the

middle of March. That is when it has to pay out its bond redemption,

which it cannot afford. If they do not receive the money, they will

default on their debt and that could send the economy into a

tailspin. The Government is under pressure to make big cuts and

reforms in the public sector. We think they have agreed to cut

15,000 public sector workers this year. And to reduce the minimum

wage by 20%. Whether that will satisfy the IMF to release those

fans is not clear. -- those funds. On Syria, we are just hearing that

France have recalled their ambassadors from Syria for

consultations. Italy has done the same. There is a co-ordinated move

to put diplomatic pressure on Syria in the wake of that violence this

weekend. Now the business news. There is a

big mining deal. Why does it matter? It is a big deal because if

you think around the world to have a shrinking commodities market and

a company Grayrigg in its market, in the sense of its size and

control over the global commodity business. -- a company growing.

Glencore and Xstrata, a merger of the two, $90 billion. Xstrata digs

things out of the ground. They have vast reserves of copper and coal in

Africa, South America and Asia. Glencore does not dig things out of

the ground. It rates everything, from battles to minerals. They are

coming together. -- they trade everything from metals to minerals.

It is good news for shareholders and the company's executives. Not

very good for buyers of raw materials because prices could go

up and China is concerned about that. A raw-material costs will be

passed on to the end user, the consumer. I asked why this deal was

so important. It is important for everybody because it concentrates

control of the World Resources in an ever smaller group of people.

This organisation will have a huge number of mines and will be

responsible for trading them. China has a big appetite for commodities

and they were worried that it will be more expensive to buy key

resources now. It is a big deal in terms of the way that people can

seem key resources. Talking of the deal itself, good news for

shareholders, I am reading and for the executives of the company. But

there could be concerned in China. Can you explain it? Why would

prices go up off the back of this deal? Simply because the

organisation would have more pricing power because it would be

larger. It would consume a large volume of the world's resources and

key commodities. It seems that the management of this combined group

will be setting out on a plan for world domination. They will want to

buy up lots of mines, including another one called Anglo American.

There will simply be less competition in the market. And as

consumers, that will be problematic for us. If raw-material go higher,

that get passed on to consumers. And also there could be competition

grounds here. This is not done and dusted. Xstrata shareholders still

have to vote on it. It is not done and dusted. There's not much room

for manoeuvre. European Union already view this group as

operating as one because of the cross holdings that they have

always had. They do not have much leeway. Crucially because of

shareholders in Xstrata knowing that the company is keen to put the

deal through, they may push on price. Standard Life Investments,

one of the biggest stock market investors in Great Britain, they

have said they will vote against the deal. They think they can get a

bit more for the Xstrata shareholders. That is because of

the expectation of the growth of BP has raised its dividend to

shareholders by 14%, the first increase since the 2010 Gulf of

Mexico spill, following sharply higher profits. It reported net

profits for �23.9 billion dollars for 2011 compared to a loss the

previous year because of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Profits were

boosted through the three months of Their revenues have fallen back

because of their production. However, they have had to realise a

lot of money to put money aside for The company say they hope to

complete payment into that fund by this year, but there is also talk

of people saying they would not be surprised to see a financial

settlement between the BP and the US government this year? -- between

BP. You have the US, BP, Halliburton and Transocean. BP have

said we would be happy to make a settlement if we consider it to be

fair. But if we do not, we will fight it in the courts. A US

Commission has already said the blame should be split between you

all. Good profits, not remarkable but they are not out of the woods

Still to come... The skydiver planning to plunge 36 kilometres

With growing pressure on Seoul to reduce imports of Iranian oil,

South Korea's but didn't is embarking on a tour which will go

through a series of Gulf oil supplies. The trip includes stops

in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Veron this. -- United

Arab Emirates. Because Washington and Seoul are close allies, South

Korea feels obliged to act. But Iran provides about 10% of South

Korea's oil so Lee Myung-Bak is coming here looking for assurances

if he decides to trim imports from Iran. But Iran has been clear, it

does not want its Gulf neighbours simply rolling over and fulfilling

gaps in the market created by countries that no longer will by

Iranian oil. But Saudi Arabia has hinted it will do just that.

Remember when Libya had its civil war it was Saudi Arabia which

wrapped up production to meet the gap in the world needs. There was a

different situation. Lee Myung-Bak is not the first leader to come

here, Wen Jiabao was here and that visit was about China shoring up

oil supplies. But there are plenty of people here who will tell you

China will not cut its imports from around for no other reason than the

economy has grown so fast it cannot afford to take the risk. South

Korea might feel it is in a similar boat but for then it is not perhaps

so simple. Iran's parliament says it is ready to stop exports of oil

to some EU countries. Members of Iran's parliament said they would

speed up the passage of the Bill which would end export of oil to

some EU nations well before the embargo kicks in in July. As cold

weather continues at least eight people have died after heavy rain

and melting snow caused flooding in southern Bulgaria. The government

has declared a state of emergency and to massive floods are surging

towards Turkey and Greece. There have been blizzards across Italy

and the government there has taken emergency measures to try to

conserve gas supplies as consumption reaches record highs.

Floodwaters are continuing to rise in parts of eastern Australia.

Thousands of people had been evacuated from their homes in

Queensland. In St George the water levels are expected to peak at at

The headlines... Thousands of assets are boarders have lined the

streets of Damascus to meet Russian's foreign minister who is

holding talks with the President. The army bombardment has now

entered its 4th day. Mohamed Nasheed has designed follow weeks

of protest after he ordered the arrest of the country's top judge.

Warned Syria now and the decision by Russia and China to veto a

decision on China has led to strain between Moscow and the West. Russia

is Syria's most prominent ally and there are close economic ties

between the two countries. Russia's investments in Syria and

infrastructure are thought to be worth at least 20 billion US

dollars. Russia is expanding its use of a naval base and has

provided arms to Damascus throughout this crisis. Russia is

anxious not to have any foreign intervention in the region. I now

What do you think is the purpose of today's mission in at Damascus?

think he will try to talk Mr Al- Asad into some sort of negotiation

with their position because Russia also wants a settlement for this

crisis. Any victory for any of the sides means more unrest and

suffering for the country. Russia feeling humiliated, or angry

about the Western response to its veto? I think Russia does not think

it is an important issue for the country but we are remember that 20

years ago when the Soviet bloc was collapsing are Western partners

said it was all for Russia's good. So now when we hear from our

Western partners that Brasher's influence in the Arab world would

diminish, we all feel maybe we are on the right track, maybe our

influence will grow and we will see it on the streets of Damascus.

there seems coming from Homs must ultimately put pressure on the

Russian authorities. Do you think they will now try to manage some

sort of political transition that still favours Moscow? I do not

think Russia is in a position to manage any transition in Syria.

Only the Syrians themselves can agree for any sort of transition

but I would remind you that in Homs everything started when the

insurgents kidnapped 13 government soldiers. Just five years ago, five

Israeli soldiers were kidnapped in northern Israel, and Israel

destroyed half of Lebanon because of that. A You are surely not

denying that innocent people are being killed and injured by

government troops? I do not deny it. Nobody in Russia denies it. But we

would also like to stress that some innocent people are also killed by

the insurgents. The Islamist government in Syria would not find

it in the Western interest. We have This man will fall further than

anyone has fallen before. Later this year Felix Baumgartner will

jump 23 miles, he will fought so fast he may even break the sound

barrier. -- fought so fast. He will be taken at the edge of space by

balloon inside the capsule. When he jumps, all that will protect him as

a pressurised suit. This pressure chamber shows just what happens at

high altitude. Eric spans. That is why your ears can feel pain for

when you take off and land in an airplane. RAF fighter pilots have

to go much higher and are trained You need to be breathing out at the

point of compression. Felix will start his space died at higher

altitudes than any pilot would go. Four times higher where the risks

are much greater. Let's just see what happens at these extremely

At these height water turns to the paper so Felix's -- so if Felix's

pressure suit failed, his blood would literally begins to boil. So

the seat and capsule need to be checked and checked again.

Engineers have carried out their final tests and say they are now

ready for the jump. A passenger plane with technical problems has

made an emergency landing at Belfast airport in Northern Ireland.

The plane had taken off from the same airport this morning bound for

Tenerife but it developed problems shortly afterwards and had been

circling to try to loose fuel. Rescuers and Pakistan have pulled a

65 year old woman alive from the rubble of a factory 31 hours after

the building collapsed. Rescue workers have struggled to reach

dozens of people trapped in the rubble. Around 30 people are

thought to be under the debris still. The rescue brings the number