>> this is "bbc world 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. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to know your business, offering specialized solutions and capital to help you 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." >> nicolas sarkozy trails the

socialist into the second round of the election. it will go head-to-head in two weeks. we wilsupporters of the far rigt national front, record-breaking marine le pen could hold the key. >> national front voters must be respected. they've made a choice. why insult them? >> hello and welcome to gmt. i am george alagiah, with a world of news and opinion. also in the program -- fears of a new sudanese civil war in the making. the aftermath of a sudanese air raid on the south. burma's parliament opens, but

where is aung san suu kyi? her national league for democracy stays away in a row over a single word. it is midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, and 1:00 p.m. in paris, where nicolas sarkozy looks like he will have to fight like he has never fought before after he became the first sitting president to trial in the first round of the election. in the next two weeks, he will go head-to-head with the first place so foolish, francois hollande -- first place socialist, francois hollande. marine le pen is knocked out, but who will her supporters go to now? let's go to paris. >> george, thank you very much. welcome to a stormy paris. in some ways, the results were expected. on another level, it was truly exceptional. the worst showing by a sitting

president in over 50 years. the national front getting one in five of the voters of the french public. francois hollande is out on the road already. he is in italy. nicolas sarkozy is traveling. they will be crisscrossing the country in the coming weeks. perhaps the most decisive moment might come when the two face each other and a television studio, or if nicolas sarkozy has his way, 3 live tv debates. let's get a report from our paris correspondent. >> 10 presidential candidates, three months of debate in one moment of trauma. the provisional results sent the supporters of marine lefrancois hollande and two wild celebration. the camp was more muted for

nicolas sarkozy. the biggest shock of the night was the support for the far right. one in five french people appears to have voted an end to the euro, close borders, and protectionism. marine le pen's third-place presents a major challenge to the two main street candidates. francois hollande is now bidding to become the first socialist leader of france in 17 years. he simply said, "either we continue with the policies that failed, or we rebuild the country with a new president who will unite the republic ." nicolas sarkozy hardly looks like a man contemplating defeat. he will start again tomorrow, he said. "for five years i have done this job and believe me, i'm up for

the challenge." >> nicolas sarkozy knows that if he is to pull himself up, he needs to start punches, which is why he has challenged mr. francois hollande to three debates. he is the most unpopular french president to run for reelection and he has just two weeks to turn it around. bbc news, paris. >> one of the key issues will be the battle that we just heard. nicolas sarkozy saying that he is the man of experience. he has five years under his belt. francois hollande has never been a minister. there is another factor in france, which is this really strong antithesis of toward nicolas sarkozy.

much more directed to him personally than in some ways to his policies. i guess you are a well known blogger and political columnist in france. how do you see the next two weeks? >> it will be tough. the gap is shorter than expected. nicolas sarkozy has failed [inaudible] is not far from francois hollande. it has no reserve of voters. hollande can count on the far right, the environment, at least. nicolas sarkozy has to depend on the far right -- marine le pen's voters, and the center. these are very different. >> held the you appeal both to the center and the far right? >> it is almost impossible.

he would have to radicalize his speech on islam, the fear of borders, to convince the far right, and then you have to be reasonable for the center. i think that's probably where he will have to lose. >> francois hollande -- the national front is now 20% in france. presumably francois hollande has to go after those as well. >> the left has made a strong showing. he does not mean much to get the majority. as you mentioned, [inaudible] francois hollande has to turn the second round into a referendum for or against nicolas sarkozy. >> if he turns it into a personal referendum, is there a risk that francois hollande looks like he has nothing positive to say, that he's just been negative about sarkozy.

>> he will be elected and that's what he's aiming at. he has made proposals. he has made proposals. he is not just a negative campaign. he has said austerity is not enough. that something you can hear all over the place in europe at the moment, that the austerity programs backed by europe are not enough. he is insisting that there should be a growth package. i think that is appealing to people who are suffering in these austerity programs. >> you've talked about the financial crisis and all that's going on in the eurozone right now. does it matter in france that francois hollande has not even been the most junior junior minister? >> nicolas sarkozy can claim a lot of experience. in the eyes of a majority of the french, he has failed. he has failed in his behavior as a president. i'm not talking about the impact of his policies. francois hollande, by saying,

i'm a normal man, i'm like you, is probably what people want. >> thank you very much for being with us and putting up with the rain in paris at the moment. george, back to you in the studio. >> now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world. sudanese warplanes have attacked a town in south sudan on the second day of renewed clashes between the two countries. a south sudanese official has described it as a serious escalation and a clear provocation. family began in reports -- emily buchanan reports. >> the shuttle of war looms and its forces are gearing up for actions. there has been tension with the north over the border in over the sharing of oil revenues. one flashpoint is the strategic oil region of heglig, which this

out recently took over. >> independent, we took what belonged to us, of course. that is the oil. >> with war looking imminent for themselves, under pressure from the international community, has tried to ease pressure with heglig, which is not popular with local people. >> i'm not happy with the withdrawal. the sudanese armed forces were in the areas of south sudan. they should be told to withdraw their forces. the land belongs to us. >> before the official withdrawal, northern forces went into heglig and drove out the southern army with many casualties. now the north has bombed the iu, inside south

sudan's border. >> we were on the ground listening to the anti-aircraft fire. we heard two bombs drop. there was another bomb that had fallen on the corner markets, where three stores were completely destroyed. the charred body of a young boy was brought out. >> peace between north sudan and south sudan took many years to negotiate. now, to growing national concern, it appears to be unraveling. >> the european union has suspended its sanctions against burma but will retain an embargo on arms sale pris. opposition leader aung san suu kyi and her fellow pro-democracy to attend the first

day. rachel harvey has the report. >> uniforms, both civilian and military, on display here. the speaker of arrived to oversee proceedings. the stage is now set. the star of the show is missing. aung san suu kyi did not like the script and so postponed her parliamentary debut. the pro-democracy i can't let her party to a sweeping victory -- pro-democracy icon led her party to a sweeping victory. the party is refusing to take the seat until the parliamentary oath of office is changed, with just one word, to allow them to respect, rather than safeguard the constitution. the party spokesman seeks to play down the current confrontation.

no one seems quite sure how to do it. changing the oath may require parliamentary approval, which would mean the support of the military, whose powers it wants to curb. the timing of all this is awkward. the european union met today to decide whether to ease sanctions on burma. the british foreign secretary pointing to the outcome, a delicate diplomatic balance. >> great progress has been made in burma, but we remain concerned about conflict and human rights abuses in some ethnic areas of burma. there are still political prisoners. there is a dispute today about the swearing in of opposition members to the parliament. i think this all illustrates why it would be right. >> after weeks of international encouragement and signs of genuine progress, burma's

beensophy iblossom mean reforme snagged by semantics. >> still to come on gmt -- london's globe theater's staging shakespeare's 37 plays in 37 languages other than english. north korea has warned it will soon launch what it warrants is an unprecedented act against the south korean government. the statement carried by the state television channel said the north would destroy south korean targets in minutes. it also showed north korean soldiers shouting the word "kill." --ongyang says lucy william since says the

latest rhetoric shows -- >> the latest warning says that north korea's special operations unit will launch an unprecedented action against the south, reducing its target to ashes in three to four minutes. it has already named the south korean president, the defense minister, and the country's conservative broadcasters, which the north accuses of obstructing fair minded opinions. the statement does not say what the action might entail. the rhetoric has been getting sharper this month after it was widely criticized for breaking a u.n. ban on ballistic missile launches an inquest has opened in london over the death of a british code-breaker, whose body was found locked inside a sports

bag. the family says they do not exhibit the claim by british authorities that his death was unconnected to his work. aid agencies say they are struggling to raise enough money to tackle the food crisis in africa. they say that unless more money is found, two million hungry people across seven countries could be deprived of emergency aid. british aid charities say it has theed morless than 1/3 of funds needed. >> this is gmt from "bbc world news." i am george alagiah. the headlines -- the battle for france's leadership. up after nicolas sarkozy loses the first round election to the socialist rival. fears of a new sudanese civil war in the making after an air raid on the south. time now for the business news and aaron heslehurst is here with me.

nether land. i think i've got this right. the prime minister is about to put in his resignation. quest the dutch government is on the brink of collapse. we knew that the dutch prime minister lost the majority in parliament after several weeks of talks over cutting 16 billion euros. the parties could not agree. the government was proposing things like increasing sales, tax-cutting, and freezing public servant pay packages. they cannot come to any agreement. george, the problem, so say the eurozone watchers, if this could happen to a good stable member like the netherlands, it could make it difficult for other politicians in other member states to convince their voters they also have to make these cuts. at risk now for the netherlands is losing its aaa credit

rating. it is one of four in the region to still have it. >> we had one of the three main rating agencies already put the aaa rating on a negative outlook for the year. last week, another one made a comment that it was on the edge of some sort of negative action. it depends on what the agencies do. there has always been the political risk with a minority government. it's a question to whether they will be on that and look at the structural strength of the economy. >> george, we've already seen the cost of borrowing for the dutch going up. that is certainly a concern. >> wen jibao is in germany. two of the world's biggest exporters had a meeting. >> chancellor angela merkel and premier wen talking trade. it's all about trying to increase bilateral trade with

germany to about $280 billion by 2015. for germany, the relationship and trade with china is much more important. 6% of all german exports go to china. gdp is made up of shipping stuff to china. one concern for investing in china is hanging onto the international property rights. we know beijing has said it will protect those rights. is that enough to appease the germans? >> with germany depending so much on china, it is also a bit of a two-sided soared. they are importing the latest machinery and all that. they have a history of importing things and then copying them after. german companies are worried about that. any steps the chinese made to make the property rights more

sustainable and accountable is a big step forward, of course. >> the also know that chancellor merkel and premier jiabao will be talking about a healthy global economy. they rely on it. >> thank you very much. thank you. there are warnings that the south china sea is becoming an area that could trigger an incident that could bring china and the united states into a crisis. the number of hostile incidents in the region has increased dramatically in recent years. our correspondent analyzes the tensions. >> senior filipino army generals are welcomed onto the bridge of a u.s. navy ship on the exercise in the china sea. china has called these drills dangerous meddling, because they send a clear message.

>> the united states and the philippines have a mutual defense treaty. ok, that mutual defense treaty guarantees that we get involved in each other's defense, and that is self-explanatory. >> china claims almost all of the south china sea and the thousands of tiny uninhabited islands as its own. differ.rneighbors beg to the number of hostile incidents has increased dramatically in recent years. in the past few days, for example, chinese and filipinos ships have been involved in a tense standoff in a small set of islands. for those who make their living on the south china sea, these are anxious times. the abundant fishing grounds, along with the potential gas and oil reserves, are the very reasons why competition with the resource-hungry china is likely

to intensify. >> [inaudible] they pursue actions against smaller countries. >> the potential for an escalating conflict is made worse. international crisis group reports because of chinesa is forcing neighbors to look elsewhere for reassurance. >> this military exercise takes place in the philippines every year. it's important not to overstate its significance, but the context is interesting. china's growing assertiveness has been deeply troubling to its neighbors. america has taken the chance to strengthen old friendships and gain strategic advantage in the region. the u.s. is insisting there will be no new cold war with china, but these troubled waters may

present the first real test of how peaceful the shifting balance of power will be. >> in florida, the neighborhood watch volunteer accused of shooting dead an unarmed black teenager has been released on bail of $150,000. george zimmerman is awaiting trial for the murder of 17-year- old trayvon martin, who was fatally shot in a gated community by zimmerman. zimmerman maintains he fired the gun in self-defense. israel's finance minister has condemned a move by egypt to scrap its longstanding contract to supply natural gas to israel. 40% of the gas needed by israel was supplied under that deal. the pipeline has been attacked repeatedly since the fall of mubarak. anders breivik has apologized to those injured or killed whom he did not consider his enemies when he bombed an oslo government building, but he maintained he was not sorry for

killing 77 people and injuring hundreds of others in twinned terror attacks in norway last year, giving a fifth day of evidence. he said he considers islam, communism, and nazism -- the world's three eight ideologies. events across britain to celebrate the life and work of shakespeare. all 37 plays will be performed at the london globe theater and 37 languages. >> [speaking foreign language] >> the famous line, "to be or not to be." >> today is the first day of the shakespeare sonnet has been

n.anslated to simoleosomalia >> shakespeare has traveled far. >> not just the fact that so many countries do shakespeare, but the fact that shakespeare means 70 different things around the world. >> [speaking foreign language] >> lithuania's biggest rock star has also been playing hamlet for 50 years. shakespeare is a symbol of freedom. >> there were always secret messages. there's no need for that now because you can openly say what you need to say. it is more entertainment now. >> it goes even further. >> if you go into the countryside, you find people that are called shakespeare --

their first name. actually, the most famous footballer, his middle name is hamlet. >> here, the prince of denmark and danish. >> a reminder of our top story on gmt. nicolas sarkozy has challenged his socialist rival to public debate on the policies before the decisive runoff in the french presidential election. for more on the french presidential election, go to our website. bbc takes a closer look at the contenders. log on to bbc.com/news. that's all for the moment. stay with us on "bbc world news." there is plenty more to come.

>> make sense of international news. 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 use their -- and help provide capital for a key strategic decisions freely offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> "bbc