>> with arab league observers still in the country, syrians fire on anti-government protesters. turkish kurds voice their anger at a airstrike that killed 35 civilians. welcome to bbc world news broadcasting on pbs in america. high winds and heavy rain as a deadly cyclone hits india's southeastern coast. netting a small victory against malaria. is there too much emphasis on this one solution? now in syria, hundreds of

thousands of protesters have taken to the streets to show the level of anti-government sentiment. they fired on the protesters. at 35 were killed. the united states has called upon the syrian government to give observers access. >> a mass turnout of anti- dormant protesters are across the country. -- anti-government protesters across the country. as has been the case all week, and violence. this is a suburb of the capital damascus. demonstrators have running battles with security forces. people did the best that they could to help the injured. nearby, there appear to be a large number of arrests.

what happened to these men is not known. we cannot verify these pictures. across syria, activists say that dozens were killed today. all this under the eyes of arab league observers, surrounded by people desperate to tell their story. activists say that over 150 people have been killed. protesters have reported clashes across the country. more than 60 monitors on the ground have managed to visit a few of these places. exactly what they saw it is not clear. whatever they say is unlikely to be agreed upon by both sides. many opposition activists have fled to lebanon on. they do not believe the observers are doing their job. >> the violence against

civilians in syria. this mission must go to ensure their safety. this is not happening. i think this is being understood. >> today, state television showed pictures of pro- parliament rallies in the capital of damascus. they say that they are facing a terrorist insurgency. syria is divided, edging towards civil war. the arab league has been there to bear witness. what will it say? >> earlier, i spoke with our correspondent in damascus. i asked if the country has slipped into civil war. >> it is hard to say it has been a civil war. civil war -- it is a neighborhood against neighborhood. the situation is different on the ground.

unarmed civilian forces are taking to the streets and voicing their opinion. that is how the protesters and activists are saying this. the government consistently said that it is either facing armed insurgency. in the last few months, we saw more and more army defectors joined the civilians by defending from the army. i would not say this is turning into a civil war? >> what is state tv saying about this? >> the same message we have been hearing from the syrian government since the start of the uprising back in march. armed groups and armed gangs. some times they blame all tied up, sometimes they blame other countries.

sometimes they blame the israelis. it is hard to tell a clear-cut line by the syrian government. they do not want to see this as an uprising inside the country. sometimes, they do confess that there are some legitimate demands by some protesters. by and large, this is aimed at dividing and destabilizing the country. >> the arab forces are said to deliver in the few days. the events of the past few days should color what they are seeing. >> the mission will conclude that the protesters are not happy with what they are saying. at the end of january, this is the time when we will discover what they're thinking about. there has been some confusion

about some statements they have issued. they have managed to conclude their mission. >> protests are being held across yemen by tens of thousands of people continued to demand that the president be put on trial. speculation grows after he agreed to step down. he may soon be leaving the country, possibly to go to the u.s. hundreds of protesters are marching in bahrain because of refusal to take actions against the security forces. they have given here gas, most likely the -- mostly in shi'ite neighborhoods. the official said that the u.s. ambassador to cairo at bed ensure that the property seized by egyptian security forces during raids on thursday would be returned.

there has spent an explosion of the marketplace in in northern nigerian city -- city. telling the bbc and was a major incident. he also said there had been casualties. the army is holding an islamist group responsible. he gave us this update. >> we are hearing from residents of that there was a blast that happen near a mosque killing four people. they say that an explosion occurred during a shootout between security forces and armed robbers. what is clear is that the daily attacks are happening. the city is getting increasingly unsafe every day. >> what is it about boko haram that it seems that they can do whatever they want whenever they

want. >> this group is faceless. they do not consider those who do not follow their strict ideology at infidels whether they are christian or muslim. they seem to be expanding their attacks across northern nigeria. on christmas day, there were five bombings in four parts of the country. the group seems to be intensifying its attacks every day. the group seems to be quite a handful for the government. >> are people losing their faith in ability to deal with this? >> absolutely. nigerians have lost faith in the president and his government. they had a meeting with top security chiefs. it is not clear what they came up with. it is not the first meeting of its kind that they are having. boko haram seems to be proving

more of a stronger force than the government. the government is not able to handle the attacks. >> july is set to close one of its most popular -- chile is set to close one of its most popular tourist attractions because of fire. chile is sending more firefighters and soldiers to hamper the fire's advance. officials believe that human negligence is because of the blame -- the flames. world stock markets are closed. u.s. stocks ended the year above where they started. masking the tumultuous ups and downs of 2001 -- 2011. the hang sang fell by 20%. they have warned that the budget deficit will be much bigger for

2011. the conservative administration is promising structural reforms as long as cutting -- as well as cutting public spending. the hon gary and government is cutting central bank reform. the law gives the right wing government more control over government management. the president of the bank says that the changes amount to a government takeover. a cyclone has brought heavy rain and gale force winds to india's se course. it struck near this town on friday morning. >> cyclone thane made landfall near an industrial city on the south coast, battering it with

industrial winds. the cyclone damaged houses, uprooted trees, and brought down electricity. according to some officials, the deaths were caused by a collapse is an electrocution. management teams have an sent out to the coastal districts. the cyclone is weakening as it moves west. with storm surges rnc, fishermen have been advised not to move out. hundreds of people from fishing communities have moved to school set up as relief centers of the weather system passes. the bad weather has hit trains and flights in the region. the local reports put on high alert and ships moved out to a safe distance. officials expect heavy to very heavy rain in the neighboring states.

india and bangladesh are hit regularly by cyclones that develop in the bay of bengal between may and september which typically cause widespread evacuations, damage to homes and widespread fears. >> you are watching bbc world news. one man and his dog are halfway up a cliff. this is a precarious rescue. police say that a car bomb in a pakistani city has killed one person and injured nine more. fire broke out after the blast in the nearby buildings that were damaged. 14 people from the same family have been killed in a dispute over land in central pakistan. most of them were burned alive in their own homes.

here is our pakistan correspondent. >> they have gathered to mourn after a horrific domestic tragedy. 14 members of the same extended family killed in a dispute. most of them women and children. >> my grandsons, granddaughters, and nieces and nephews were wiped out. my entire family. two men had been killed earlier in the day. in retaliation, gunmen attacked four homes. shooting indiscriminately. the youngest victim was just six months old. >> the victims were all from the same family. the land dispute have been going on for a long time. >> witnesses say the gunman went waited outside to make sure that nobody escaped alive.

four people did survive. many lives had already been lost. i was at school monday inflicted so much cruelty on my mother. i saw it on the television. and now i have seen it for myself. feuds that go on for generations are not uncommon. rarely do they erupt in this way. bbc news islamabad. >> this is bbc world news from london. these are the top stories. syrian security forces are reported to have killed at least 35 people, for opening fire on large anti-government protests. in nigeria a blast kills four people and injured many others.

one of england's major cities could have gone into unmanaged decline in the 1980's. margaret thatcher and her government considered letting liverpool run down after major riots racked the city. >> in july, 1981, eight days of fighting saw more than 17 buildings burned down in liverpool as tensions boiled over between the black community and the police. the prime minister at the time was advised that regenerating the area afterwards was a waste of money. it is a revelation that is of little surprise to many who live in the area and remember the trouble. >> the government had to deal with militancy and the strikes. in their eyes, they were losing ground. that cannot get folks in

liverpool anyway. for them, there was nothing to lose. >> the government documents refer to advice given to the prime minister. he warned mrs. thatcher not to overcommit scarce economic resources to liverpool. the option of managed decline is one that should not be forgotten. the chancellor at the time said economically abandoning liverpool was never seriously considered. >> i was not advocating managed decline. there was a misunderstanding of specific objectives. >> following the riots, the conservative leader did visit liverpool and support regeneration. what the cabinet documents to reveal is financially abandoning a british city over a period of time was discussed at the highest level. >> the president and the prime

minister of turkey have expressed regret and sadness at the deaths of 35 civilians killed in an air force attacked. thousands of people attended funerals for the victims. the smugglers were thought to be mistaken for kurdish separatist guerrillas. >> thousands gathered for the funerals of 35 people killed. they went up is not in past to get fuel and cigarettes. they mistook them for kurdish rebels. they were taken on the past one last time. many of them were not yet 20. the ministry has issued official condolences for the families. it is an unusual art reached for the armed forces. it is unlikely to impress many people. the president has expressed sadness. they said that the results of

the inquiry would be made public. >> 35 citizens have died. one injured. we are truly sorry. the investigations are under way. the situation will be clearer after the investigation. >> throughout the day and the kurdish southeast, people have been taken to the streets in protest. there have been several clashes with police. as evening falls, thousands demonstrate on the streets of istanbul. there is incomprehension and anchor of the government and military ally. the conflict has raged here for more than 20 years. the prime minister has granted the kurds crater rights. fighting has escalated in recent months. public opinion wants a tougher line against the kurds. resolving this conflict remains

one of the toughest challenges facing turkey. courts in china, photographs of what was once thought to be octuplets have sparked debate on the one child policy. the pictures were from a studio portrait session. the law in china prohibits of hospitals from providing surrogacy medical procedures. >> these photographs have grabbed the attention of china, but not for being cute. the babies are believed to be members of a royal family. it limits most couples to all the one child. confusion remains over exactly when the babies were born and who gave birth to them. a well-off couple spent about 160,000 u.s. dollars and unlisted two surrogate mothers

to have the four boys and two girls. the biological mother carried two of the babies about two surrogates' gave birth to the rest in september and october of next year. 11 nannies were hired to take care of the children. some suspect a hoax. chinese officials are investigating the couple and whether some hospitals are offering illegal surrogacy procedures. >> we are looking at hospitals doing these sorts of things. once we do, we will punish them in the harshest way. we will revoke the hospital and the doctor's licenses. >> parents were concerned about the paula -- quality of life for the baby. he does not know whether the children will grow up properly. you cannot treat children like pasts.

the effects on the mother after they give up their children might be serious. it is against the law for medical institutions to perform surrogacy in china. agencies are allowed to advertise on mine, using an underground market. the debate continues about the legality of their birth. >> china says are around 44,000 entrant bruins, temples, and other cultural sites have disappeared around the country. the first census for 20 years down that many such sites were unprotected and are being demolished to make way for construction projects. malaria is one of the world's biggest killers in parts of africa. one child dies of malaria every minute. the report shows that significant progress is being

made against the disease thanks in part to bed nets. in some places like the debit -- democratic republic of the congo, the problem will not go away. >> a scramble, not for food, but foreign debts. cheap, simple, mosquito nets. this is the chief weapon in the campaign to prevent malaria. in the congo, the disease remains the no. 1 killer. he is getting enough nets to enough people and teaching them to use them properly. in some places they're using them for fishing instead. >> the nets do work. they reported that cases of malaria dropped by more than a

third. not alone will not win the war against the disease. that is because congo is a hard place to help. it has been tormented by conflict and chaos for decades. the overall number of malaria cases does not seem to be dropping here, unlike in other parts of africa. >> malaria kills more than 2000 kids a day. >> it has gathered huge momentum. in congo, there has been too much focus on the nets and not enough on tackling the poverty, security, and the swabs that allow the malaria to spread. >> do you think there's too much focus on bad debts? >> sometimes. >> malaria has already killed one of her babies. for the first time in her life,

she has been given a net to sleep under. >> i have lost one child. i know i must use the nets to save the children. there are 12 of us in the house and we only have one net. even this will not be enough to wipe out malaria for good. >> let's get you an update on a story out of california. we will show you pictures of a pretty dramatic rescue. this took place on thursday. he had become trapped trying to rescue his dog. his father had thrown a bottle over the cliff. the dog followed. they slid down the cliff in the sanford in valley. firefighters tried to hoist sally to safety.

the dog is safe. a son of man is safe. >> she is calm and relaxed right now. >> hopefully, she will not do it again. new year's celebrations are getting under way. we are not far away from the new year, particularly in scotland. more than 6000 people carrying torch's were led by vikings and pipe bands through the streets of edinburgh. this comes before tomorrow night's traditional party. about 80,000 revelers are expected to bring in 2012 in the scottish capital. will it be as good as sidney? watch this channel. we will keep you posted.

>> make sense of international news. bbc.com/news. >> funding for this presentation is made possible by -- the 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. >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.

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