>> 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." >> has sudan declared war on

its southern neighbors? the president of south sudan says yes. calls for a ceasefire fall on deaf ears. >> hello and welcome to gmt. i am david eades. also coming up in the program, james murdoch's evidence at an inquiry on press standards. also, how cash-strapped filmmakers turn to the internet for funding of their movies. it is midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, and 2:00 in the afternoon in the south sudanese capital, juba. president salva kiir has described the latest attacks on

his country as an act of war. the u.n. has condemned the bombings by sudanese war planes in three areas of south sudan, and at least two people hover probably been killed. the countries are fighting over the disputed oil rich heglig region, which the cells captured two weeks ago. withdrew troops on friday. joining me from the south sudanese capital is james. james, you have also been right in the thick of the action, if i can put it that way. a declaration of war, is that what you have experience? >> there is a lot of conflicts happening and there has been for the last two or three weeks since south sudan took those oilfields, to great international condemnation.

my sense is these countries have been fighting a low-level, and declared war for some time now. when south sudan became independent in july, both sides were accused of supporting proxy groups on the other side. there were also periodic clashes along the border. there has been an escalation of tension with these incidents in heglig and we're hearing of new bombings in south sudan a few hours ago, too. it is not an all out war yet. >> is it possible to place more blame on one side than the other? khartoum hadlly, kandah has been given the brunt of the blame. there has been an about turn in recent weeks when south sudan took control of the heglig oilfield, such an important part of the sudanese economy -- it

was condemned. ban ki-moon of the u.n. said it was not a legal operation. they withdrew troops. the sudanese say they were kicked out. the recent events, in the view of policy makers around the world, have been south sudan's fault. south sudan claims heglig. they're not getting much luck in pushing that argument internationally. there were talks about a long history of provocation of sudanese attacks on south sudan that they have not responded to. at the moment, sudan seems to be winning the diplomatic work. >> thank you very much. now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world. the pro-government television station in syria says a car bomb has exploded in central damascus, wounding at least three people. the explosion was based on --

was blamed on armed terrorists. international monitors were sent to syria to observe the cease- fire. as jim muir reports from beirut, as soon as the observers move on, the violence erupts again. >> this is a suburb northeast of damascus. it has defied the government for months britt heavy weapons that should have been withdrawn -- four months. heavy weapons that should have been withdrawn weeks ago under the kofi annan plan. the troops and armored vehicles are still there, too. a day earlier, a handful of the u.n. observers were in the area. further north in hama, they buried their dead in mass graves. local activists named 40 people they say were killed on the attack -- killed in the attack

on monday. some by shelling, others executed, they said. one day after a brief visit by the un observers, state media pursued what they call armed- terrorist groups. clearly, the party of un observers cannot be everywhere at all times. they're also trying to set up contacts and procedures for the full deployment of 300, who should be arriving in the coming weeks. >> it is the same kind of activities. basically, a meeting with all the parties, looking for the logistics' that will be the necessity for the larger amounts coming in. all these things are being done. in the process, observing the situation. >> that evidence so far is suggesting that when the monitors are on the ground, the violence dies down.

sunday unarmed observers into an unstable situation is clearly a gamble. the hope is that they will tip the bell is away from conflict and towards dialogue. -- they will tip it away from conflict and toward a dialogue. >> rupert murdoch's providing evidence in an inquiry in britain into ethical standards and the media. the inquiry was established in the light of phone hacking scandals, in particular surrounding the murdoch newspaper "the news of the world. " he said he was not aware of any endemic phone hacking. he has also defended the size of competition payoffs made by the company to phone hacking victims. it is pretty complex stuff here. it feels a little bit that they are picking up where the

parliament left off last year. >> that is right. it is the big question. who knew what, and when, at news international about how widespread phone hacking was? rupert murdoch and james murdoch have continued with their defense that they did not understand the full picture of it. james murdock was explaining a bit about what happened in 2007 when he took over at news international. he was explaining a bit about the kind of corporate governance that was in place there. >> it was clear to me and the question became -- in the newsroom, in the past, it had not been tight enough. that is why a new editor was appointed. the new editor, who i thought had no skin in the game in the past, was there. the newsroom governance, again,

was really an issue for the editor and the legal manager to be responsible for. those assurances were clear that they had strengthened the government's to be able to catch these things in the future. it was my understanding that the implication of that was the previously, in 2006, they have not been. their position was that they did not know about it. >> as we heard from james murdock, hindsight is a wonderful thing. that has been expressed. the interesting -- the point that they were buying of reputation by throwing money at this victims. >> in one case, he agreed a huge out-of-court settlement to pay this guy off. he wanted to sue "the news of the world." why would he agree to such a pay

off if it was not for the fact of the phone hacking being widespread, and that he himself knew about it? his defense is that he did not read all the mail sent to him by his lawyers and they did not like how serious the situation was. >> a lot of the real attraction at the moment is about the influence of newspapers over political parties, which was spelled out yesterday by "the daily telegraph." >> we just got into the connections that james murdoch had with david cameron. interestingly, what has just emerged is that after mr. cameron came into power, he did meet james murdoch at a dinner party, where rebecca brooks was also present.

james murdoch did bring up the question of the bskyb bid. murdoch owned a stake in that, but they wanted to launch a takeover bid. he is admitting that social life, politics, and the business of the murdoch empire does come together here. >> thank you very much. the former international -- the former chairman of news international also said he thought phone hacking was a thing of the past when he took over the newspaper. let's move on to fighting in pakistan. exodus of refugees near the country's border with afghanistan. thousands of people streaming into refugee camps every day. pakistan's army recently stepped up its long-running fight against the islamic militia group. around 200,000 people left their

homes because of the violence. the refugee camp that has taken in most of those refugees -- >> it is a familiar story of people being displaced after a new operation started by the pakistani army. this is the refugee camp. at the moment, around 10,000 people per day are thought to be registering after new fighting. with me is the operations director, the united nations agency. sir, it is very difficult to look after people like this when you do not know how long they are going to stay here are welon the next operation will begin? >> i have to say that i'm very impressed with how we are responding to this unexpected influx. it is very large, as you say.

it's testing everything from our food distribution to sanitation and medical facilities. at the end of the day, it also comes down to the funding of that one needs to have to be able to continue to sustain this level of operation. >> you talked about the problems with beating these people, with hygiene, and you are also asking for more money from donors. of course, there are people who are watching who would have seen displacement camps all over the world. how do you compete, if you like, with all the other crises? >> this is the key. we do not want to see it as a competition for resources. the people here are absolutely destitute and need our help. for them, this is their reality right now. we have to help them with food. we have to help them with medical supplies. we have to help them with shelter.

yes, absolutely, in this world of ours today, there are people suffering in enormous numbers. it is a huge demand on the donor community. at the end of the day, that's what we have to do. we have to meet the needs of people and look at the underlying causes and tried to address those. the first instance, the human need has to be addressed. in this world where you have a lot of high-profile crises -- those that are not on the television screen also have to be attended to and receive the support that they need. >> thank you for being with us on gmt. still to come -- we have a special report from the republic of ireland.

people of given money to the charities supported by a runner who died during the london marathon last sunday. since the news of her death emerged, donations have been flooding in, reaching at $1.100 per minute. now, it has raised half of $1 million. that figure keeps going up. >> attributes have been pouring in, but so have donations. she had set out to raise just 500 pounds for the cause. she was one of 70 runners in this year's marathon taking part on behalf of the samaritans. she collapsed with 1 mile to go. over the last 48 hours, there's been an extraordinary reaction to her death on the sponsorship website she joined. >> to give you an idea of the rate, every time i click refresh on her page, the number of

donations just about 25 new additions every minute. these are not people giving amounts. fund this clause is giving -- >> others have gotten in touch from australia, new zealand, and tokyo. >> we are desperately sad that it has come under these circumstances. obviously, what is paramount to us at the moment is that we are making sure her family has the support that they need. we are overwhelmed with the support. >> claire is the first woman to die in the london marathon since the race began in 1981. many of the tributes described her as an inspiration, as the money continues to flood in foreign charities. charity.

>> this is gmt from "bbc world news." i am david eades. the president of south sudan has described the latest attacks on his country from the north as a declaration of war. james murdoch gives evidence about the newspaper operations at the inquiry on press standards. aaron heslehurst is with me with the business news. austerity has never seemed such a dirty word. >> i will tell you what, david. markets are watching very closely. to be frank, they do not like what they're seeing. a market trader told me today that things are going in the wrong direction once again. they're looking at chinese manufacturing. it continues to slump. in april, worse than expected. after that, a new report that shows that european government

that continues to pile up despite all the severe cutbacks. after that, the uncertainty over france. the question is, could there be a new and very different french leader, certainly different to mr. sarkozy? to add to all of that yesterday, the collapse of the dutch government. it a very stable eurozone member, the netherlands. many are asking if eurozone can continue on the path that it has currently been on. >> the path knell for the eurozone has been dictated -- the path right now for eurozone is dictated by germany. the governments who signed up to that, in a few months, they nomight not be in power anymore. all of a sudden, things were agreed to in december all the sudden do not have a political

mandate in the member states anymore. >> we had more debt auctions today. spain's interest rate nearly doubled once again. >> all this uncertainty. give us an old-fashioned -- once a trailblazer. >> if you are a follower of fashion, and i know you are, david, it is very interesting story. the man who founded the fashion house 47 years ago is now stepping down, handing over the reins to his son, who is the current vice chairman. we're talking about a company that is iconic for its bold colors and controversial ad campaigns. recently had to apologize to the vatican for use in the picture of the pope.

profits last year slumped 30%. soaring cotton prices and tough competition from zara and h&m. >> they could make some advances in asia. there are plans of looking into the possibility of more shops in china. the whole franchise business will have to be looked at very carefully, i think. it was interesting that the family decided to de-list the company from the milan stock exchange. it is still very much in italian dynasty. i do not think it will be this. anytime soon. -- i do not think it will be disappearing any time soon. >> thank you very much. one of ireland's key plans to pay off its massive eu-imf

bailout loan -- the government wants a tax that is being resisted. up to three-quarters of the people living there have simply refused to pay. >> a land of desolate hills in the remote northwest. it's almost ireland's forgotten country. the government has recently been reminded that the people here are often the most defiant. they are angry and get another new tax. this time, a blanket 100 euros per household. correct people are leaving. there are no jobs. there are no opportunities. during the boom years of the celts and tiger, thousands of new homes sprang

up out of this barren countryside. >> many of them now lie empty, such as been a devastating effect of immigration. 75% of people have failed to pay the tax. what will local authorities to win faced with that level of refusal. >> we do not want to prosecute. the legislation allows for that. di>> the people, however, are nt returning. >> the cannot even afford to run the country as it is. >> the house will levy was designed to help ireland pay back its multi-billion pound bailout from europe and the imf. the strength of the defiance could get put in jeopardy other plant taxes on water services and waste management. >> more news for you now in brief. two top officials in southeast

china became a symbol of resistance against land grabs by local leaders. they have been expelled by the communist party over a legal landfills. the village became known across the world when its inhabitants staged a series of protests over land seizures. six other officials have also been punished. independent film makers are increasingly turning to their potential public to fund their work. it is a concept known as crowd funding. tom brooks has this report from the tribeca film festival in new york. >> the director with his cast that the world premiere. this black comedy is one of the dozen films that tribeca financed through a crowd funding. andrew went online to the

funding platform, kickstarter, and created a page explaining his film, including a self- made video. individual donors responded and he raised more than $10,000. >> crowd funding was essential to executing the project and the way we wanted to. if it had not been successful, i do not know if we would have a film at all. >> what is it that people get out of donating? >> people want to donate products like cars because it feels good. >> in addition to the satisfaction of giving, donors can get rewards, t-shirts, dvd 's, and perhaps the opportunity of appearing as an extra in this film. workers here have seen almost

$60 million raised for films. the company gets by through a 5% commission on donations. donors are giving to film makers not to make a financial investment, but because they want to see a product come to being. >> 99% of our ideas will never make money. what do we want to see? what do we think will be cool and interesting? >> "nancy, please" is one of 5000 films raising money from kickstarter. >> it has really helped a lot of people. i participated in it. i will go on to kickstarter and

contribute to movies i think should be made. >> there is little oversight. the filmmakers may fail to deliver the product, or use the donations for a different purpose. in the world of independent films, crowd funding has become a much valued and exempted component of the money-raising process. >> a reminder of our top story on gmt. the president of south sudan has accused its neighbor, sudan, of declaring war on his country. kiir made the remarks to the chinese president during an official visit he was making to beijing. officials in south sudan said the sudanese war planes have again bombed its territory. -- wounding a number of people, including soldiers and farmers. that's it for the moment. do stay with us on "bbc world news."

>> 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 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? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles.