on there in decades. polls say the ruling conservatives and their labor rivals arnett and neck but smaller parties could tip the balance. a france -- a french court rules taped phone conversations between nicolas sarkozy and his lawyer can be admitted as evidence in court. a coalition deal in israel sealed two hours before the deadline. prime minister benjamin netanyahu lines up the slimmest majority with the backing of the far right.

coming up, the troubled french nuclear company areva says it is slashing thousands of jobs to plug the hole in its finances. we will have the details in business. the spanish football season could shut down completely in a battle over tv rights. that and more on the way. ♪ genie: voting is underway in the u.k. in the closest election there in years. polls seem to say no party would come out the clear winner. conservatives and labor seem to be at and neck -- seem to be no and neck.

luke brown is covering the vote for us at a polling station. he joins us now. this is such a tight election where every seat counts. luke: you're quite right. at least 40 years in the united kingdom. the party leaders crisscrossing the country on wednesday after the final hours of the campaign which has now ended. perhaps an admission from the main leaders ed miliband and david cameron, neither of them are really -- neither them really has a clear advantage. the fragmented political landscape and system in the u.k. it used to be created -- useful to create stable government. that is not necessarily the case anymore. both of the big parties have got their targets. every seat is a battleground seat. about 100 swing seats for each party. if the label -- if the labour

party were to win, they would form a majority. they would need to get the swing , between 1% and 7%. given the polls have given them and neck -- both of the party leaders come of the most unlikely outcome is that hung parliament -- the most likely is hung parliament. that means even when the polls close and the votes are counted through the night or into friday morning, no outcome -- no clear outcome could be decided for weeks. genie: you have been talking to voters at that polling booth where you are. what have they been saying about the election? luke: the dominant theme that keeps coming back when you speak to the you have been talking to voters at that polling booth where you voters, issues such as the economy. it really chimes in with what the big parties have been talking about. some say they want the tories to keep going. other people complain the tories

have not been sufficiently sharing of the wealth that has been created at the top. that is chiming in with the labor policies. the other issues, immigration which has pushed the u.k. party up in the polls. other questions such as europe. if the coalition is to be formed , or even the scottish problem. the rise of the scottish national party. that does indicate that this is unlike any election before for many years. from the postwar period until 2010 the two party system really dominated. three party system came out well in 2010. it is a multiparty system this time. it is uncharted water for pretty much all of the leaders involved. genie: thank you for that. luke brown reporting.

in greece, close to 70 members of the extreme right political party golden dawn were back in court today. they have been linked to the 2013 death of an anti-fascist wrapper. today's session has been adjourned until next week. reporter: described as fascist and neo-nazi, old and dawn is one of europe tossed most controversial parties. the group was arrested after an anti-fascist rapper was stomped to death by a golden dawn supporter. a trial officially began just over a fortnight ago. it was quickly adjourned because one of the defendants not have a lawyer. the hearing was marred by tension as the party supporters and anti-fascism demonstrations gathered outside. translator: we believe golden dawn should not exist at all

let alone in a parliament. there no to a committed crimes. reporter: officials say at least one witness was hospitalized after coming under attack by the party's followers. old and dawn used to be on the fringes of greek politics but as the country sank further into hardship, it's popularity soared. it is now the third biggest party in the greek parliament with 17 mps. members claimed this trial is a case of political persecution rather than political prosecution -- rather than prosecution. >> the legal political party were being unfairly tried. reporter: if found guilty the defendants could face up to 20 years behind bars. genie: an appeals court in france has ruled that secret wiretap recordings of the former president can be used in court. those conversations between

sarkozy and his lawyer can be used as evidence in an oncoming -- an ongoing corruption investigation. the former president is accused of talking about getting a magistrate a lucrative job in exchange for inside information on another investigation. that one is related to the financing of his failed presidential campaign. i'm joined by mark perelman. this seems to be another step in a move to bring nicolas sarkozy to trial. what is the likelihood of that happening? marc: his lawyers have appealed that decision in front of france's highest court. we will rate for the result of that appeal. this was unexpected news. nicolas sarkozy was confident that the court would decide that those wiretaps were even legal could not be used against him. this is not what the judges have ruled this morning. the words are important because

he is put under formal investigation for "active corruption and influence peddling." if the highest court confirms that decision, it is likely he will be sent to court in the coming month or year and have to respond to such accusations. this is not something he wants especially because his name is now to become president once again in 2017. genie: given that this was so unexpected, how bad might this be for sarkozy politically? marc: it is bad politically. his defenders are already saying this is about politics, not justice. they thought they had a strong case and the fact that it went against them, they are saying thisese ruling socialists are behind it. they want to prevent nicolas sarkozy who has had a good run

lately. his party has one recent elections. changing the name of the party preparing for a primary. things are looking good for nicolas sarkozy right now. just as he is about to take off the justice system prevents him from doing so. clearly this is a legal fight but it is also a political fight and we are going to hear a lot more about this in the coming weeks as nicolas sarkozy will fight legally and politically against that decision. genie: good to have you staying on top of this. in israel, benjamin netanyahu finally sealed a government deal hours before the final deadline. that coalition brings together five conservative parties including the far right jewish home. it only gives that coalition a one-vote majority to rule. reporter: seven weeks after a

decisive election victory and two hours after a final deadline, benjamin netanyahu has formed a coalition. joining those loyal to the israeli prime minister is the jewish home party, and outspoken in support for israeli settlements in the occupied palestinian territories. translator: i am sure that no one is surprised that these negotiations were lengthy. no one is surprised that they ended by the deadline on time. we have a lot of work ahead of us. there's a lot to do. reporter: in return for his eight seats in parliament, naftali bennett demanded the justice ministry. he will be charged with ratifying capital approved legislation. bennett is a strong supporter of the bill promoted by netanyahu that would act -- that would

enact the status of israel as the nationstate of jewish people. while a deal has been struck, it is doubtful netanyahu got what he wanted. he called the election in the hope of forming a more stable government. the coalition leaves netanyahu in command of just 61 members. translator: it will be a fragile government. this election was called to avoid this very situation. now netanyahu finds himself with a government that is weaker than the one he had in march. reporter: for that reason netanyahu's work may not be over . he described the deal as a good start but still intends to widen the coalition's knife edge majority. genie: protests in burundi are still underway. one photographer has said at least three people have been

killed so far in the capital today. protesters are angry over that move by the president to run for a third term. critics say that violates the constitution that sets the limit at two terms. the violence has pushed over 35,000 people to flee. many of them, to rwanda. the u.s. secretary of state has spoken out on the humanitarian crisis in yemen. john kerry is in saudi arabia for talks on solving the situation in yemen. rebels have taken over the capital as well as large parts of the north. kerry talked about implementing an "humanitarian pause in the fighting." >> we have urged anybody involved to comply with humanitarian law and to take every precaution to keep civilians out of the line of fire. as well as to provide the

opportunity for humanitarian assistance to be delivered. genie: as the fighting goes on in syria, government troops have had a series of setbacks over the past few days, losing a number of key regions they previously held. bashar al-assad was quick to dismiss those losses. he said his army may have lost the battle but it will win the war. oliver ferri has the details. reporter: setbacks are a normal part of any war. bashar al-assad made a rare television appearance in damascus. translator: we are waging a war not a battle. wars and battles are different. or is a succession of many battles. when we are talking about a fierce war like the one happening in syria, across thousands of square kilometers

we talk not only about dozens, but thousands of battles. reporter: hundreds of thousands of battles. his remarks come after a series of defeats in formerly government held territory. the province had been hard-hit. assad's forces -- local media is reporting that they have targeted a military base along the border with syria. this coming a day after the al qaeda affiliated group launch their own attack on hezbollah. hezbollah leader said on tuesday that if attacked they would not hesitate to respond but did not give details. translator: when this operation begins, it will be announced to the media and everyone will know about it. concerning its goals, limits, and where it is heading, this will be left for the right time

and we will not declare it now as it is not in our interest to announce everything. reporter: repeated attacks close to the lebanese border, prompting fears that lebanon could get dragged further into the syrian conflict. genie: there is bad news for spanish football fans. they could be left without their favorite game as of next week. the country possibly football federation has taken the measure of suspending all league and cup matches. protests over a proposed law on tv rights. the strike is open ended. the last two rounds of the spanish league could now not go ahead. the u.k. is voting in the closest election in decades. polls say the ruling conservatives and their rivals are neck and neck but smaller parties could tip the balance. a french court rules taped phone

conversations between nicolas sarkozy and his lawyer can be admitted as evidence in court. that is linked to a probe into the former president's campaign financing. a coalition deal in israel sealed two hours before the deadline. benjamin netanyahu lines up the slimmest majority with the backing of the far right. we will start with a look at business news with stephen carroll. stephen: that story about the united kingdom. it is interesting to watch what is happening. we're about the midpoint in the trading day. we've seen shares turn significantly into the red in the past couple of hours. london ftse 100 is down about 1.6% this midpoint -- 1.4% at this point in the trading day. that's partly due to uncertainly

-- uncertainty due to the elections. paris down 1.2%. the other market to watch is a currency market. key to see what will happen to the value of the pound. what sort of uncertainty might follow elections. one pound can you about one euro, $.34. genie: what else do have today? stephen: we're going to go to areva, the french nuclear giant. they have announced they will cut up to 6000 jobs worldwide to plug a hole in their finances. in france between 3000 and 4000 jobs will be lost. areva reported record losses of almost 5 billion euros last year . the job losses are part of a restructuring at the company. reporter: it has not turned a

profit since 2010 and now it's employees are paying the price. on thursday paris vanessa plans to slash up to 6000 members of its workforce. more than 10% of its domestic personnel. company helps many will leave voluntarily. translator: around 10% of our employees are over 57 or 58 years old. i'm confident we will be able to go ahead with this plan to reduce the workforce. reporter: areva has seen its business plummet since the 2011 fukushima disaster. last year it reported nearly 5 billion euros in net losses. areva is 87% owned by the french state which suggested it should sell its reactors unit to eds another state owned energy group that is areva's biggest remaining client.

investment could come from abroad. three chinese groups have expressed interest in areva. unions are a guest -- are against the tie up and concerned with outside involvement. translator: we don't know whether half the group will be sold. what will happen with edf or the chinese? we know the employees will be the ones to suffer. reporter: areva has about 42,000 employees in total. more than two thirds of them in france. they will find themselves increasingly caught in the crossfire as areva tries to salvage its future. stephen: other business headlines. siemens has announced it will cost another 4500 jobs. that is on top of the almost 8000 jobs that were announced in february -- job losses i should say.

most of that coming down from the sales of assets. the french technology firm alcatel lucent its report of net losses more than 615 million euros in the first quarter of this year. more than three times the lawsuit report -- a loss report this time last year. the japanese gaming company nintendo has turned its first annual operating profit in four years. the firm said lower cost helped to compensate for slower increase in revenue. sales fell 4% during nintendo cost last financial year. genie: there has been somewhat of an embarrassing turnaround at the top of one company in india after the chief executive sent a resignation letter. stephen: proving you come back from almost anything. the property website housing.com, a private -- a

prominent start up. including this sentence, i don't think you guys are intellectual capable enough to have a sensible discussion anymore. he went on to say he does not want to make -- does not want to waste anymore of their life working for them. about a day later there had been an egg knowledge meant that he had resigned. he announced he was staying with the company after healthy discussions with the board. i can only imagine what was said in those discussions. housing.com is a prominent start up. they're worth more than 200 million euros. genie: nice to know a conversation can bear some fruit. thank you for that. time for the press review. genie: a look at what weekly news magazines have been saying.

courier international which is focusing on president barack obama and his policy on drone warfare. florence: interesting investigation. it talks about barack obama cost secret war, drone warfare. the president has long championed wrong warfare, the new form of warfare without combat or collateral damage. the white house is increasingly coming under fire because hundreds of civilians have died in drone attacks. all of this raisings -- raises the question about the real price of this new form of war which up until now has been conducted in a secretive way out of the spotlight. interesting report with interesting photos. it has a report i an italian photographer. he reported on the situation in pakistan where several hundreds of civilians have died because of drone attacks. very moving series of portraits

of pakistanis who have lost their limbs, lost loved ones and live in constant fear of drone attacks. genie: let's turn to french politics. charlie had focusing on the family feud between the leader of 90 le pen and her father. florence: things got ugly this week. you can see father and daughter looking similar. what they are saying is -- this week he was suspended from the party that he founded. this in response to controversial remarks he made. he reacted furiously to the suspension. he lashed out against his daughter, the leader of the party saying, i am ashamed she has the same surname as me. he went on to say that he hopes she will get married so she can change her last name. genie: very familiar face on the cover. florence: it is the ecology

minister. familiar face in french politics. this is calling her the vice president. more wishful thinking than reality. the secret weapon the president needs if he wants any chance of running for reelection in the next presidential election. this is a come back after she and francois hollande were partners. they went through a bitter breakup while she was running for president back in 2007. now she is really the best person cut out for attracting voters, especially lower-class voters. she is the best person to fix francois hollande's reputation. genie: speaking about women in politics. several french female political journalists wrote a manifesto in

a left-leaning paper where they condemned the sexism they report from male politicians. florence: these are 40 female journalist who pulled together a list of all the routine sexism they have to face on a daily basis. luke comments, incessant text messages asking for dates. they say we have a lot of work to do to get rid of that kind of behavior. they are focusing on what they call -- benevolent sexism or well-meaning sexism. according to causette it is essentially sugarcoated sexism. anyone who tries to hide their sexism with claims they are being gentlemanly but essentially still treat women as inferior and put them down. genie: a word on the new baby british princess.

florence: princess charlotte. here she is on the front page. they have a photo of her the day that she was born, may 2 in london. princess charlotte is already a superstar. there she is with her mother on the first page of paris match. a very interesting investigation on how to make your children happy. it talks about babies but also teenagers. what is the key to this positive parenting? no real shocker. it is really all about love. genie: that is a lovely mes

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