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>> with this is "bbc world news america" reporting from washington. fear and despair and homs, residence endure the heaviest shelling yet. >> it is not clear what the government is targeting yet civilians are bearing the brunt. >> political turmoil rocks the island nation of mali these after the president is forced to step down. leaving his mark all over moscow, one artist is protesting with paint.

welcome to our viewers on pbs and around the globe. security forces have shelled the city of homs. opposition activists say that the day was the heaviest shelling yet. this is a day after president assad assured the foreign minister of russia that he was ready for dialogue. people in the city of homs are seeing a very different reality. >> it began at dawn and for a fifth day homs is pounded. some say it was the worst day of shelling. the casualties are mounting. the people here both fear and

expect those tanks and ground troops to move and at some point. most of the people who died here were killed because they went out on to the streets. it is not clear what exactly the syrian army is targeting but certainly civilians are bearing the brunt and most of them are inside, just as we are. they have not been out to play since the uprising began. their mothers are in despair. >> the outside world will not help us. but god's vengeance will come down on the syrian president. >> the kalashnikov is of the free syrian army can do little against tanks. they hope the regime's forces will crumble from the inside. the syrian army's morale has

collapsed, says an officer who defected a week ago. they know they are killing civilians and they want this bloodbath to stop. the prevailing mood here is one of despair. people feel trapped and they believe that no one is coming to help. >> in response to the assault on homs, the white house told the bbc that there are not any tools left to stop the violence and it would be unrealistic to expect anything to be done. what steps can the international community take to deal with the assad regime? we are joined by a former adviser to the u.s. state department who currently serves as the president of the council on foreign relations. is the white house being too pessimistic or realistic when

they say that there are not any tools for the international community to deal with syria? >> they need to stop the bombardment of that is going on but they are being realistic. there is not much going on. what they can do on things that will perhaps have the desired effect over time through sanctions or some prefer a garmin and opposition. none of these will have a short- term or tactical impact. >> when they pushed for action against libya, they cited in benghazi and people killed in that city. you have people being killed than homs -- in homs, but there will not be action by the international community. >> syria is not quite the pariahs that the deal was under gaddafi. there is a bit of intervention fatigue and the kind of

intervention that one would have to imagine in syria is orders of magnitude greater, more risk, more casualties taken. it is harder to design and harder to execute. >> doesn't it suggest that the humanitarian barometer for international intervention is there. when you cite humanitarian reasons, you end up with this very murky decision. >> you can cite humanitarian reasons but every situation will have to stand on its own and the bottom line is that there will be in consistency. outside governments are more likely to intervene when they agree. secondly, when they have other vital interests at stake in addition to anything a humanitarian. thirdly, when they can do away when their costs are low and the likelihood of succeeding is

hard. virtually none of those factors is present in this situation which explains why the international community is not doing anything on the scale of what was doing in libya. >> let's try to be more positive on this. are there things that the international community can do and is doing that might put pressure on the assad regime to go sooner rather than later? >> what you want to do is to strip away the business classes from the regime and create that kind of popular discontent. you can try to be -- try to save some people through humanitarian aid. the only other option is building up opposition elements. this is always risky wants to give people guns, you don't know what you will do with them. some of these people might not be terribly desirable. but countries like turkey, qatar will do will be to arm of the opposition while the u.s.

focuses on putting diplomatic pressure on the regime. >> thank you for joining me. >> my pleasure. >> greek leaders are locked in late night talks struggling to agree on a plan for budget cuts. how can you fire 50,000 workers and still expect people to vote for you? this is a dilemma that underlines why it is so hard for european leaders to tackle the eurozone crisis. if the greek politicians cannot come up with cuts, they will not get any more bailout funds. if they do, they will see more protests on the street. we go to athens. how has the greek public been responding to these negotiations over the latest round of cuts? >> with a lot of anger and a lot of pessimism because this is a nation which feels immensely

squeezed by austerity and exasperated by the prospect of more cuts to come. the government looks likely to go on with the path ahead with more cuts and more austerity. this is $130 billion of bailout money which they desperately need. greece needs to go through the short term in tents paying in order to try to merge in a couple of years. -- greased these to go through the short-term intense pain in order to try to merge in a couple of years. thousands of people are out in the streets of athens. people are arguing against the cuts. the government will stick to its path because of the price of failure which would be a disorderly default and perhaps even an exit from the eurozone. >> agreeing to this plan is

inevitable, why are we having these delays? this is making world markets very nervous. >> it is. it is may journalists standing out here waiting for a deal very very cold as well. i think that there is all of this delay because the politicians have their eyes on a possible early elections in april and in no leader would like to be seen as the author of austerity and to throw their weight behind that unpopular measure. the eu and the imf said their message to greece and have said that the leaders need to sacrifice short-term political gain to save the economy in the long run. it is a difficult message for this nation that is squeezed to the breaking point. this is the worst economic crisis they have seen since the second world war. unemployment now is nearly 20%. this raises the question, is the

whole strategy wrong? is the strategy of more austerity coming? this is a path that the country will stick to. tomorrow, there could be a deal and there will be more austerity and more cuts to come and greece will be saved from the financial abyss, albeit at the 11th hour. >> we're grateful to you for standing out there in the cold. they've you very much. -- thank you very much. now to the indian ocean where an island nation is rocked by political turmoil. scuffles have broken out between police and the former president who was forced to step down. mohamed nasheed was the first democratically elected president

and the u.s. will be sending a senior envoy to the island this weekend. we go to the capital for this report. >> at the start of this week, he was just the vice president of the northeast. he was looking very pleased with himself as he arrived for his first news conference in the top job insisting he had not got it in a coup. >> do i look like someone who would bring about a coup d'etat? no this is an unfair statement. >> the man who used to be his boss thinks it it is and fair, too. the supporters of mohamed nasheed are treating him as a hero. he was forced from office at gunpoint. >> it was a coup and by any definition it was a coup.

>> on the streets, frustration turned to enter the. scuffles have broken out. -- frustration has turned to anger. others have intervened. suddenly, the tension has risen. the clashes spread and the former president was arrested and injured. he said that they were deliberately targeting him and other senior figures but the police in riot gear sealed off much of the city center. in the main hospital, he found one of the former president's closest aides barely conscious. the army said they would kill you? >> yes. >> the new government says that it is the old one that is responsible for the violence, accusing it of mounting an insurgency.

the future of democracy is suddenly looking shaky. >> in other news, the sudanese president has launched a new regional authority. it has been set up to oversee a peace agreement for the region which has been in conflict since 2003. the body has been rejected by the main rebel movement. police in mogadishu say a suicide car bombing has killed at least nine people. the blast took place in the government district. the islamist group al-shabab told the bbc they carried out the attack. the england football manager fabio capello has resigned. he has been in dispute with the football association after they removed the capt. without consulting him. john terry is facing charges of

racially of using another player. now to the election raging in the u.s.. just when the republican race looked settled, we have another change. rick santorum had an unexpectedly strong showing when he had strong victories in minnesota, missouri, and colorado. this gives mitt romney's campaign worries about uniting the party. you has been out on the campaign trail, do you think that the republican party is really ready to nominate rick santorum or is mitt romney still the man? >> i think that he is still the man. this is a narrative we have been arguing about since last year. how long can rick santorum go on? whether it is the angry evangelical south or a different brand in the midwest, voters are

looking for something else. that process looks like it will go on for a while. it means that for mitt romney that this is going on longer and this is something of an asset because the conservative vote is split between two or three alternatives. come november, this will be a problem. i have met people who say unlike most people who say, we put all of this aside, we will vote for wit other candidate -- for the candidate with the gop has nominated. many say no, they will not vote for mitt romney. >> what do republican voters say to you that they don't like about mitt romney? you keep hearing that he is not conservative enough. when you look at his policies, he is conservative. >> he is more conservative than john mccain was four years ago. clearly it is a lack of charisma.

there is a lack of a fire in the valley. perhaps also that the idea of being a good ceo does not seem quite enough, particularly if the economy is picking up. that obviously be a problem for romney. they want someone who is ready to go after barack obama. there is the desire to see the back of barack obama. many don't think that mitt romney has what it takes. >> the white house are watching this with smiles on their faces. >> they will be looking at some of the data which gives them some reassurance. since 2000, the percentage of republicans self identified as conservatives have gone up nine points, the number of identifying themselves as moderates has gone down 8 points. there has been some shift in the democratic party but nothing quite like that lurch in one direction that has gone on in

the gop. clearly, the white house is thinking about those undecided voters in november. that have to be good news. >> thank you very much for coming in. what a race. we will carry on watching. you are watching "bbc world news america," still to come -- beyond the glamour of the catwalk, the fashion industry's coming under pressure to fix some less than normal practices. a meter right that could help unravel the mysteries of mars is being examined by scientists at the natural history museum. this fell in a shower over morocco. this gives a unique insight into the red planet. they hope that this will provide insight into past conditions on mars and the possibility that it might once have supported life. kim >> as they hurtled across space --

>> they hurtle across space and then they crash to the ground. this one is from mars. >> this is the most exciting media right that i have come across in my career. -- meteorite that i have come across in my career. >> we might think that it have some of the martian atmosphere trapped in it. every clue we can get hopefully will help us to understand whether life might have existed on mars in the past. >> researchers use x-rays it normally -- use scanners normally used in hospitals to examine the rock. it could reveal what the plant was like in the distant past.

it is to try to support life. hundreds of millions of years ago, the meteorite might show that it had an atmosphere, water. gounod's, maybe plants and animals. >> scientifically, it is priceless. -- who knows, maybe plants and animals. scientifically, it is priceless. >> tomorrow, one of new york and anticipated -- most anticipated events will get off to start with the start of fashion week. the business is fighting allegations that those beautiful runway models are being mistreated.

>> models are the glamour is unattainable faces of fashion and they want to be heard. walking the runway is a sought after job but of the work that goes into creating these images can be long and hard. this model has founded an alliance to ask for better working conditions because of what she has witnessed for over 15 years. >> i saw how the industry sometimes disregards child labor laws, lax financial transparency, encourages eating disorders, and even tolerate sexual abuse within the workplace. >> models are independent contractors are under u.s. law said they cannot form a trade union. this fashion law expert has been helping the campaign and says that models need protection. >> a backstage privacy policies

of that women who are changing do not and up with their half naked photos on the internet. a policy to not hire young girls under 16. a policy that says, there is a place that you can call it something that does happen and you are uncomfortable with it. >> fashion is a multibillion- dollar industry. top models have become wealthy and can dictate their own conditions. this is a competitive field. can an alliance of models make a difference? one chronicler of the fashion world wonders how you can regulate in industry which is so subjective. >> there are few industries where someone can say no based on how you look and nothing else. it is hard to know what is discriminatory and what is not. the entire industry is based on a very discriminatory practice.

>> whatever the difficulties, workers' rights should extend to models, too. listed beautiful images that we create in our business -- >> the beautiful images that we create in our business need to be backed up by a moral code said that exploitation does not occur. >> the public might see models as having it all the many start off as teenagers in an adult world. the question is whether they would take kindly to this push for better conditions. >> that is a big question. in russia, the mysterious street artist is drawn comparisons to a british author after his work has popped up all over moscow. the work ranges from intricate spray-painted to complex combinations of fire, music, video. his true identity remains a mystery.

>> aggressive, defiant. and surprising, witty, the work of the moscow street artist. occasionally political, his work is part graffiti come apart installation. he is starting to be compared with the millionaire british street artist. -- his work is part graffiti, part installation. he agreed to take us across rarely used railroad tracks to what it is illegal galleries. this is a time of protest and discontent in russia, something that his art seems to capture. i asked if he saw his work as political. >> my work often addresses politics but for me society is more important. politics is a burning issue.

i don't like a lot of things in russian politics, in the politics of putin. >> one of his latest works addresses directly last december's election which many felt were blatantly stitched up. he often works with what he finds, filming himself as he goes. in this case, using abandoned concrete slabs to create diversions of water rush of's favorite chocolate bars. -- to create versions of russia's favorite chocolate bars. this is a unique atmosphere. he told me that he is aware of the british artist work he finds it odd that he is compared to a british a celebrity artists living on the other end of

europe. >> who ever it is, the art is fabulous. there is a last piece of video that we had to show you. first lady michelle obama is known for promoting childhood fitness. lately, she has been leading by example. here she is challenging comedian and at a late night talk-show host jimmy fallon and to exercise. she edged out the competition and here she is getting a first prize. that brings up the show to a close. you can get updates any time on our website. from all of us here at "bbc world news america," thank you for watching.

>> make sense of international >> 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 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

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