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>> and now, "bbc world news america." >> from new nukes, to a mutual defense, britain and france, cross channel cooperation. common solutions to pressing problems. welcome to gmt. also in the program, out of office and under investigation, the german president christian wulff quits and lance -- lance angela merkel with a headache.

it is midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in new york. britain and france are, it seems to mike eager to bury their differences in a new era of cooperation. the prince conference -- the press conference is continuing, and we can fit into it now. >> [speaking french]

of course, and sure you understand what i mean by the revolution. if the opposition does not unite and organized, it will not help them. we will not accept that a dictator is allowed to massacre his own people, but the revolution cannot come from the outside. it must be born from within. that was the case internees' yeah, egypt, libya -- in tunisia, egypt, libya. of course, we are always willing to do more, but our message to those who wanted to bring about democracy in syria is to gather together and organize and we will help them, and we will. we never could have done what we did in the be at our friends from the national opposition council and those in ben ghazi

had not taken the initiative of the uprising. the people in syria have displayed extraordinary courage. regarding your question about europe, we must learn from one another. we have to be true to the laci -- the legacy. british confidence in traditions are fearless, even though the english language as perhaps, the most widespread in the world, i have -- the question was what i admired most among the british. there are extraordinary aspects

of british culture. the english language is spoken to route the world. -- throughout the world. tradition and modernity are quite remarkable. in the referenced c a lavrentis -- see a momentous event in the olympic games. i have a very fond memory of the welcome that her majesty extended to us during 2008 with our official visit. we have great art -- aberration

-- admiration with the way she responded to a spirited -- to us. it goes to show the fabulous spirit of that nation. and perhaps it is the common point that we share with the british, the pride that we take in our legacy, our history, even though we must always embrace modernity. >> there we have it, nicolas sarkozy, a president not known for his short answers, are responding to what has been achieved today in a series of cooperation agreements, in particular, a nuclear deal, which will see half a billion

pounds worth joint operations. is the one year anniversary of the overthrow of muammar gaddafi. also talking about syria, trying to get food aid into the worst hit towns by the violence and in syria. also talking about iran, the need to maintain sanctions on the iranian regime. it prefers, real breakthroughs. -- breakthroughs, real breakthroughs. we will bring you more as we wrap up the news conference a little bit later on. david cameron is still talking and for the time being.

germany's president christian wolff has resigned following a steady stream of press allegations he received favors from powerful friends. his political ally, chancellor angela merkel said she regretted his resignation. >> happier days, president wolf is germany's head of state, the symbol of the nation. chancellor merkel is the political power and he represents the country itself. but he is very much her man. she fought for him to get the job. two years later, it is a job he has given up amid scandal allegations. >> the development of the past few days and weeks have shown

the people mistrust, and thus, my effectiveness is seriously damaged. by resigning today from the presidency in order to swiftly free the way for my successor. >> the allegations against him are that he was not open when questioned about holidays with a business friend and home loans and favorable terms. but he also made a phone call to the country's biggest newspaper. only a week ago, though country's biggest cars right the berlin film festival, but it has been an uphill battle to stay in office as the country's media has turned against him. it is ancellor merkel orda uphill battle i she now tries to find a replacement amid the

greek crisis. >> i have accepted the announcement of the president. christian wulff and dedicated himself noin his time in officeo the best interest of the country. >> president wolf was the man who greeted the pope. his job was a symbolic, but the symbolism matters. he symbolizes the morale of the of the nation, and that matters as -- the morality of the nation, and that matters as germany urges agrees to make cuts. >> reports from the city of hims suggest it has taken its

worst shelling in weeks. there are calls from mr. assad to stand down. here is this report. [gunfire] parts of -- >> parts of homs have been battered like this for weeks as they tried to free the free syrian armor, -- army. government forces have yet to make a big push on the ground to wipe out all resistance, as they promised to do. this is far from being the only trouble spot. activists say at least 15 men were captured near the northern border with turkey. they say they were taken away and summarily executed. these claims were not verified, but these pictures would be hard to fake.

what is happening with the general assembly is not affecting what is happening on the ground, but it gave a chance to air their views with the russians and chinese. >> in order to resolve the syrian crisis when there is a need to uphold the two principals, namely, the violence must be stopped by all sides, and it must be led by the syrian people itself -- themselves. >> china is willing to maintain communications with the government and various factions within syria. china will play a positive and constructive role in resolving the issues in syria. >> as the syrian state tv show the funeral of a loyalist imam it said was affected by terrorists on wednesday -- was

killed by terrorists on wednesday. their meeting in damascus for talks. successful mediations right now seem very slight. there will be stepped up support in tunis for the revolution. >> the iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad has condemned what he called "foreign interference" in the affairs of iran and pakistan and afghanistan. he made the comment at a summit in islamabad where the government there stressed importance of a peace process in afghanistan. armed robbers stole olympic

artifacts in olympia. the thieves reportedly used hammers to smash their way in. they tied up the museum employee, and the local mayor said the items stolen were of incalculable value. the libyans are celebrating the start of the revelation -- revolution. there are fears of instability, largely because of significant numbers of former rebel fighters have yet to hand over their weapons to the government. this is a german filmmaker who spent the last year and reporting in libya and is with us in studio. i know you are back from your most recent trip and have been looking at conditions on the ground in tripoli and beyond. what is your impression of the level of civility? >> it is not great.

on any given day you will hear gunfire in the capital. there are checkpoints every several meters when there is uncertainty. the government is unwilling to make decisions about the future of the country. many libyans have been described it as being in limbo. >> what we have heard from formal -- former brigade leaders is that they have no contract -- contact with the central authority, the central authority has no new libyan force. is there tension there? >> yes, i spoke with some ministers and they said they are unwilling to do things because they're worried about these militias. and they said they have very little relationship with them. there is no peace. no central army, no sense of an authority that will take control of them. >> when you walk around the

town and you are trying to do interviews and whatever, who seems to be in control? we were there -- >> we were there and the militia fighters were not happy with it. there is no one to appeal to. the man with a gun are in charge. -- the man with the guns are in charge. >> the oil industry must be finding difficulties, too. >> i would think so. they're not used to seeing guys with guns as watering around this city. -- swaggering around the city. without that improving, they do not see things improving. >> i heard the deputy prime minister saying is true that there is so much optimism in the country. they realize there are issues, but they are confident things

will get better in the next year. do you think that is true? >> i think it is. but we are worried about a certain number of things, one of which is the insecurity and of also potential corruption. the government does not have command of these militias, which is of major importance. >> still to come on the program, clashes in northern lebanon as tensions in northern syria spill over the border. >> lets take a look at what is making headlines in newspapers around the world. the financial times is looking at the strict terms athens will have to abide by it if it receives a second bailout. the paper says it will be unprecedented controls on how the money is spent.

european investment in china has plummeted. the china daily has taken a look at how that affects for an investment, and says the short term outlook is grim. sarkozy and cameron are putting their differences behind them. the leaders are going to agree on on a new generation of fighter drones. also, a significant new cooperation on nuclear power plants as well. youth unemployment in britain is at its highest rate since 1992. this is emt from bbc's world news. the headline -- a landmark deal is to be signed between mr. sarkozy and mr. cameron will see a new generation of power stations on the british mainland.

and fresh attacks on opposition strongholds of a day after the u.n. general assembly called on president bashar assad to stand down. as the violence and instability intensifies in syria, so the apprehension level rises in lebanon. hundreds of refugees have fled across the border into lebanon. a pro and anti government factions have fought battles on lebanese soil. >> the lebanese city of tripoli, not far from the city on the border, and heavily influenced by what happens with its much more powerful neighbor. it surprises no one here when clashes break out on the streets of tripoli between pro and anti

assyrian militias. -- syria and militias. heavy gunfire was exchanged on the streets. in a small city where opposing communities live cheek by jowl, regular patrols are made and there are narrow cease-fire lines. they are wary. few expect this truth -- of this trutce to hold. lebanese troops are keeping the peace, but the tensions here and the dividing line among the community are very real. it is the sinews that dominate here in tripoli.

sunni religious leaders are in no doubt who is to blame for the violence. >> the asada regime in sierra is sending aid to deliberate -- a move deliberately create tension .erido >> leaders of this largely secular minority reject allegations that their proxies of a foreign government. >> we are first and foremost lebanese, and cannot be used by anyone. but we are all part of a wider coalition of resistance. we did not start this. our opponents did. >> the syrian conflict is mirrored on either side of a

small hillside in lebanon. as the situation across the border deteriorates, the fear is the violent here will inevitably escalate. >> it is time now for the business news. juliette has join me. i am puzzled. the markets have been a relatively positive for the last few days, and we have no resolution in the greek crisis. >> believe it or not, there are some reasons for this. everyone has been speaking with forked tongue. the prime minister of france has been trying to get everyone talking with a united voice. he has said it is not in anyone's interest to get a great default. it is bad news for europe. some german ministers have compared it to a black hole. others have said it is time to let chris go.

you have also had some good economic data coming from the u.s. leaves cooper, who is a bbc partner, she said investors are skeptical. >> i would caution on the equity rally because the bottoms traders have not been great. the amounts of shares have traded both in the u.s. and in europe since the beginning of the year have been quite low. that shows there is not a lot of conviction to the rally. >> and we have to ask ourselves what will happen next week. it was brinkmanship this week, and we get more of the same on monday? >> at the top of the are we heard messieurs at cameron and sarkozy talking about this deal being done. they talk about it being positive, but it will be controversial, won't it? >> it will be.

in japan we saw the appalling tsunami and damage to the nuclear plant. unfortunately, that released ready your active material into the water and the air. that has raised concerns about the safety of nuclear reactors and the cost of actually making them going forward. but do not forget that the germans responded to this. dave faiz doud a program by 2002. -- they phased out a program by 2022. given what has happened today, that the pro-nuclear standard is unstoppable. >> thank you. the silent movie star charlie chaplin was investigated by british intelligence after the u.s. government became convinced

he was a closet communist. that is according to the files released by the u.k. national archives. gordon corera has been taking a deeper look. >> he was the world's first hollywood superstar. in his silence films -- the silent films, charlie chaplin created a recognizable characters are round the world. why did the five run a file on him? that file is being made public for the first time. what is clear in the national archives is that it was the americans who were pushing mi5 to find evidence he was a communist. >> if i had my way about it, they would lobby sent back to russia. >> in the early 1950's, anti- communist fever gripped washington with mccarthy delving into sympathies over hollywood.

chaplin had given money is at 2 communist causes in the 1920's. when he arrived in england in 1952, the u.s. announced he would be banned from returning. they asked mi5 to find evidence proving he was a member of the communist party. >> the question was about whether he had ever been a security risk, whether he had ever been a member of the party or not. they found no proof of either. >> it was the 40 years before he would return to america, but his star and never faded. >> and before we go, a reminder of our top story. a landmark deal will be signed today between french pres. sarkozy and british prime mr. david cameron peridot there is also new defense cooperation between former -- between britain and france.

there's more to come. thanks for watching. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> 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 presented by kcet los angeles.