it really would. well, certainly, if the place burns down, it was always going to be the thing i rescued first. i might come back for my partner, but i'd take the souza. it's a terrific picture. everyone who comes along to the roadshow is secretly hoping that the item they bring will be something of real value and importance. it doesn't happen that often. when it does, we all get rather excited. like that painting by an indian artist, bought a few years ago for a couple of hundred pounds, and now worth £100,000. that's what i call an investment, and it could comfortably find itself a place on a wall in an art gallery in india. from an art gallery in dulwich in south london, good-bye.

>> this is "bbc world news america." funding for this presentation is made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu newman's own foundation focus features and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to know your business. offering specialized solutions and capital to meet your growth objectives, we offer expertise and tailored solutions for small businesses and major corporations. what can we do for you?

>> and now, "bbc world news america." >> with arab league observers still in the country, syrian troops fire on government workers. an explosion kills four people and injured many others. 14 people are dead and most burned alive in their own homes. welcome to bbc world news america broadcasting around the globe. is there too much emphasis on the one solution for malaria? is this a hoax? could these babies start a new debate over china's one child policy?

>> it has been another day of violence in syria. activists set up to 45 people were killed. united nations say they expect the observers to be given unhindered access and full cooperation. our report comes from their roots. >> anti-government protesters across the country participate in friday prayers. as has been the case all week, violence. this is a suburb of the capital, damascus.

demonstrators forced running battles with security forces. people did the best they could to help the injured. nearby, a large number of arrests. what happened to these men is not known. we cannot verify these pictures. across syria, activists say dozens were killed today. all of this under the eyes of arab league observers surrounded by people desperate to terror -- to tell their stories. over 150 people have been killed. numbers are difficult to confirm. more than 60 monitors on the ground have managed to visit a few of these places. exactly what they saw and what

they conclude is not clear. >> this mission must go to insure their safety. they have been misunderstood. >> state television shows protesters in the capital, damascus. the arab league is there to bear witness. but increasingly, what will it say? >> we spoke with our correspondent in damascus.

we asked if the country is headed toward full-blown civil war. >> it is hard to say if there is a civil war. the situation is different on the ground. there are unarmed civilian forces taking to the streets to state their opinions. they are being fought by security forces. the government consistently says they are controlling armed insurgencies. these factors have joined the opposition to defend civilians from the army. i would not say the situation is turning into a civil war. >> what is state tv saying about this? >> what the government is saying

since the start of the uprising is that they have armed gangs. sometimes they blame other countries for trying to divide the country. sometimes they blame israelis. they do not want to see this as an uprising inside the country are acting for change. they admit there are some legitimate demands by protestors. largely, they say this is aimed at dividing and destabilizing the country. >> the monitors are due to deliver their initial thoughts in a few days. the events in the past few days must complete the color on what date are planning on staying. >> there are views on what the

arab league mission will conclude. at the end of the day when they deliver their report that the end of january, this is the time we will discover what they are thinking about. there has been confusion over statements they have issued. >> wrapping up some more top stories for you. thousands of people continuing to demand the president be put on trial. he agreed to step down after months of massacres. hundreds of protestors have marched in bahrain for failing to take action against security forces or torture and other abuses.

security forces fired tear gas into crowds. it will stop raids on the office of democracy and pro human- rights groups. the property seized by egyptian security forces will be returned. there has been an explosion at the marketplace in northern nigeria. the nigerian spokesman told bbc it is a major incident and he said there has been casualties. the bbc correspondent gave us this update. >> we are hearing from residents that there was a blast that happened near a mosque killing four people. the police view has been different. they are saying the explosion occurred during a shootout

between security forces. these daily attacks are happening and the city is getting increasingly on save every day. >> what is it about this group that they seem to do whatever they want whenever they want? >> this group considers people who do not follow the strict ideology as infidels whether they are christian or muslim. they seem to be expanding their attacks right across northern nigeria. on christmas day, there were five bombings in four different parts of the country. 40 people were killed. the group seems to be intensifying their attacks. they are quite a handful for the government. >> our people losing faith in their ability to deal with this? >> absolutely.

nigerians have lost faith in the president and his government. yesterday, the president had a high-level meeting. it is not clear what they came up with. it is not the first meeting of this kind they are having. the attacks are not being shown because these attacks go on and on. they are proving more of a stronger force than the government is able to handle. >> chile has had to close one of this most popular tourist attractions because of wildfires. it is the national park in patagonia and it has been destroyed. the city is sending more soldiers to help the fire fighting. it is believed that negligence is because of the blaze. temples and other cultural sites have disappeared across the country. 1/4 of those that remain are in

poor repair. some have been demolished to make way for construction projects. 200,000 culture recites are believed to be gone. still to come on this program -- >> malaria kills more than 2000 kids a day. >> it is too much emphasis being placed on one single solution to malaria? >> one of a land's major cities could have -- en all-outglan -- england's major cities could have been allowed to go into decline. margaret thatcher considered letting liverpool run down. >> in 1980, 8 days of rioting as

tensions built between the black community. it is being revealed that margaret thatcher was advised that regenerating the area was an advantage. it is a surprise to those who live in the area and remember the trouble. >> the government was trying to deal with militancy. in their eyes, they were losing ground no matter what they did in liverpool. there was nothing to lose. >> government documents referred to advice given to the prime minister. she was warned not to overcommit and send economic resources to liverpool. the option of decline here 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. it was a misunderstanding of specific objectives. >> following the riots, the conservative leader this is in liverpool and supported degeneration. what the documents do we feel is that financially abandoning a bridges city over a time was discussed at the highest levels. >> this is bbc world news. top stories at this hour. syrian security forces are reported to have killed at least 35 people. an explosion in nigeria kills four people and injured many

others. the hungarian parliament passed a controversial law on central bank reform faced with fierce criticism from the european commission and european central bank. the new law gives the government more control over policy matters such as interest rates. they are currently set by the bank. the current president says its results in a government takeover. the new banking law took into account criticism from the ecb. he does not think hungry will have trouble negotiating financial support from the government. >> in the process of this preliminary phase, we have agreement over certain issues, among them the new law.

there have been continuous negotiations with the european central bank and the european union. of the 15 suggestions, 13 have been implemented in this new law. there are two legal questions that remain open. it ine ready to go for the european union. >> or give me a i sound sarcastic. -- forgive me if i sound sarcastic. if i am the imf, you want me to build it out if your economy is in a bad way. why should -- bail you out if your economy is in a bad way. why should i bail you out? >> we are looking forward to this negotiation without conditions. meaning there are no conditions

on either side. we would need financial assistance because of the pressures on the hungarian economy and the european economy and in the eurozone. it will be great help for hungry. hungry would like to finance itself. hungary would like to finance itself. >> an explosion killed nine people and injured many more. it took place at the house of local politician. he is the son of a former federal government minister. the explosion was felt some distance away. staying in pakistan, 14 people from the same family have been killed over a dispute about land in the central part of the country. it happens in north punjab.

here is our pakistan correspondent. >> a horrific domestic tragedy. 14 members of the same extended family killed in the dispute. most of them women and children. >> my grandsons, nieces and nephew. they have wiped out my entire family. two man had been killed earlier in the day in retaliation. shooting indiscriminately and setting them on fire. the youngest victim was just six months old. >> the victims and the attackers were from the same family. the land dispute had been going on for a long time. gunmenesses say begthe waited outside. some survived until the

emergency services got there, but many lives had already been lost. >> they inflicted so much cruelty on my mother. i saw it on television. now i am see it for myself. >> feuds that go on for generations are not uncommon in this part uof punjab. but rarely do they erupt in ways that are so barbaric. >> a child dies because of malaria every minute. significant progress is being made against the disease. in some countries, the problem will not go away, as our correspondent reports. >> a scramble. not for food, but for nets.

cheap, simple mosquito nets. they have become a weapon in the fight against malaria. >> the problem is getting enough nets for enough people and teaching them to use them properly. >> after big distribution in this neighborhood, reported cases of malaria dropped by more than 1/3. that is not going to win the war against the disease. that is because the congo is a hard place. the decades have been tormented by conflict and chaos. today, the number of malaria cases seem to be dropping again,

unlike other places in africa. the mosquito net campaign has gathered momentum. some say there is too much focused on the nets and not enough on the swaps that allow the disease to spread. >> it will help it is used appropriately. >> do you think there is too much fault is on nets? >> sometimes, yes. >> malaria has already killed one of her babies. for the first time in her life, she has been given a net. >> i must use it to save my other children. there are 12 of us in the house and we only have one net between us. >> the congo needs more nets.

even that would not be enough to wipe out malaria for good. >> in china, there is a debate about the country's one child policy. the law in china prevents hospitals from providing surrogacy medical procedures. the agencies can still operate online. >> they have grabbed the attention of china, but not for being cute. they are believed to be the members of a family in a country where families are limited to one child. it has been reported that couples spend $160,000 to help them have four boys and four girls. chinese media sets the

biological mother ^ two of the babies. -- carried two of the babies. some suspect a hoax. chinese health officials are investigating the couple and whether or not some hospitals are operating illegal surrogacy procedures. >> we are looking into hospitals doing this kind of things. we will revoke the hospital and the doctor's license. >> parents are concerned about the quality of life for the babies. this father of a 7-year-old boy does not know if these children will grow up properly. you cannot treat children like pets. this mother says the effects from the server gets on the mothers with -- but there --

sarah gets -- surrogates will be difficult. whatever the future holds for these babies, the debate continues about the legality of their birth. >> turning our attention to the london olympics, with just seven months to go to the games. hopes fade in the face of an injury. much of the country's that it hopes rests with a splinter -- sprinter. >> her road to the olympics has not been easy. she has been battling injuries. and also loneliness and despair. the 20-year-old spent much of 2011 at a training camp organized by the ioc.

injured and homesick, she found her preparations for london ground to a halt in the indian ocean. >> it would make me unhappy and i would get depressed. i would mostly want to be on my own. >> did it feel like our chances of competing were slipping away? >> yes. i thought they were slipping away. >> she is feeling the frustration all athletes seem to know. she is not running as fast as she used to. she needs to to qualify. she is also feeling the barn of kinetic sessions -- burn of kinetic sessions to be her

recovery. london late in up being it a game too soon. -- london may end up being a game too soon. >> we are putting too much pressure on her. she has six months to get it all together. it will be difficult to peak in london. >> sunday means rest and church. it is clear that her sporting strain comes from this church.

and she will need plenty of strength in 2012. she is running out of road. >> opposition activists in syria says security forces have opened fire to stop protesters. i did this sector to five people were killed. in one other story in nigeria, a big explosion at a marketplace. witnesses say there has been a bomb blast. the army says it was probably

carried out by the islamist group that carried out a series of deadly attacks on christmas day. >> 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. >> rated r.