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 help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> and now "bbc world news." >> the deal that fell apart. the chinese dissident, chen guangcheng, now says he wants asylum in america. hillary clinton called it a diplomatic storm, striking a balance between trade and human

rights. >> hello and welcome to gmt. i am george alagiah, with a world of news and opinion. also in the program -- no knock- out punches in the french presidential debate. francois hollande and nicolas sarkozy fight for every vote. can edvard munch's "the scream" really be worth $120 million. it is midday in london, 7:00 7:00 in washington, and en the evening in beijing. this time yesterday we reported there was a deal between china and the united states, allowing chen guangcheng tuesday in the

country in safety. mr. chen says he fears for his family. the china break the deal, or was america too keen to be rid of an embarrassing problem? martin patience, what is the latest? >> this is a remarkable story that keeps developing. earlier, u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton was speaking about human rights. then we hear from the man who is dominating this. at a beijing hospital, this is the man at the center of an extraordinary diplomatic dispute. chen guangcheng angered china's showing thatafter exploitin thousands of women were forced to have abortions. he took refuge at the u.s. embassy, triggering a diplomatic

standoff. chen guangcheng would stay in china, his safety guaranteed. he was accompanied to the hospital by the american ambassador, who approved of the deal. now the activist has changed his mind, fearing for the safety of his family. he wants to go to america. >> i am zeinab badawi. [speaking foreign language] >> i feel very unsafe. my rights and safety cannot be assured here. >> his comments, as hillary clinton met for china's leader for high-level talks. under pressure, she addressed the issue of human rights. >> as part of our dialogue, the united states raises the importance of human rights and fundamental freedom. we believe that all governments do have to answer to citizens' aspirations for dignity and the rule of law, and that no nation

can or should deny those rights. >> chen guangcheng claims he was pressured to leave the embassy. that has been denied by diplomats. well, they were confident the crisis had been resolved. now with chen guangcheng effectively seeking asylum in the u.s., his case is becoming a growing problem for washington. >> thank you very much. thank you. now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world. candidatesesidential have gone head to head on a fiery debate on french television. mr. hollande accused french president nicolas sarkozy of ruining the french economy. sarkozy defended his record, saying he kept france out of recession to at times, both accused each other of lying. socialist candidate francois

hollande goes into sunday's vote as the favorite. >> no matter what comes along, you are happy. the french people are safe. you are happy. >> you are and scrupulously -- scrupulously scr lying. it is a lie. it is a lie. >> quite a contrast last night -- not just in demeanor, as we policies. >> yes, very much so. i thought francois hollande really exuded the confidence of a man who is six points ahead in the polls. also, he learned some lessons

from 2007 from his former partner, who many believe was roughed up by sarkozy in that debate. did not do her any favors in the polls in 2007. last night, mr. hollande more restrained, focusing on the issues he wanted to concentrate on to the level of debt and unemployment in france and now they have both risen in five years under sarkozy. it depends which camp you are standing in. this paper tends to be right wing. you can see a rather good picture of the two men debating. on the bottom, george, the editorial. it says, "the ancient and modern." it says the president is the forward looking one and hollande is the backward looking socialist. this is a regional paper.

i think this is the best front page i have seen today. it boils down the debate into two quotes. the president and mr. hollande on the front page again. hollande saying, "it is never your fault, is it, mr. president?" the president says, "mr. hollande, i am not your pe upil." in 2007, there was a feeling that sarkozy was condescending. this time, mr. hollande has the confidence of a candidate. >> a key battleground now. >> if i can just show you the scene here -- we have 2,000

years of history next to me. in all the example of roman architecture. it tells you that the history in this part of france -- the old industries dominate here. firming, winemaking, textiles. there is a high unemployment above the national average. villages around places like me that the voters in the first round of the votes -- of course, they did well. it was here that they enjoyed their biggest success. the question we will be asking all day, what does the debate mean to people here? will those votes go to either of the two candidates? the simple answer is there is huge and disillusionment here with the mainstream. they do not think they've gotten the answers from mr. sarkozy or mr. hollande. le pen said they should go

with their conscience. my feeling is that many will decide to abstain. a> in some ways, it's european issue. >> very much so. george, in this part of france, you get a reflection of some of the concerns of other european countries. we're in the deep south and we are close to italy. i told you about the traditions. they feel their traditions are threatened. when you look at the mass of france, the fm did well in the east of the country. also near the borders. you can make what you will about that. people feel their lives are under threat. they do not feel that it is creating a better quality of life. earlier i said -- if this vote

is about anger, it is also about nostalgia. they told people what france used to be like. they show them what it is like under globalization and europe. that's not a picture people like. >> thank you very much. thank you. egypt's in military council says it will hand over to civilian rule by the end of next month, despite the death of at least 20 protestors on wednesday. it said it deeply regretted the killings. it is not clear who the attackers were. they were armed with rocks, firearms, and shotguns. fugitive af iraq's vice-president will start today over charges of murder and terrorism. s the sunni member is not

expected to attend the court. at least 12 people have been killed in a gunbattle between the mexican army and a suspected drug gang. detectives say they were ambushed by gunmen armed with grenades and automatic weapons. it is one of the worst affected areas for drug-related violence. to the president's race in the united states, where newt gingrich has officially ended his bid for the republican nomination. only managed to win two state contests, but he did not immediately endorse his rival, mitt romney. from washington, here is the bbc's jane little. >> in the end, newt gingrich formally ended a yearlong campaign that enlivened the republican contest. >> i could never have predicted

in their the low points or the high points. it was all sort of amazing an astonishing. >> it was also true to character. early on, his senior campaign staff resigned. later, he came back with a vengeance. in january, he took south carolina after stron. >> he said u.s. church to enter into an open marriage -- said you asked her to enter into an open marriage. >> its never endeared him to the conservative, christian base, which went for rick santorum his departure left month left mitt romney. >> i mass sometimes, it's mitt romney conservative?

my answer is simple. compared to barack obama -- this is not a choice between mitt romney and ronald reagan. this is a choice between mitt romney and the most radical leftist president in american history. >> the obama campaign compiled a gingrich video with which to attack the republicans. >> are you calling mitt romney a liar? >> yes. >> the former house speaker and author of the contract with america has left the public stage before. he is now seeking help for his campaigns $400 million dead. -- million debt. newt gingrich signals that he intends to be back again. >> still to come on gmt -- a step in the right direction for tourism in wales.

i you can take in the sides of the entire country by foot. five years ago, they were in average family enjoying a holiday in the sun. all that changed when madeleine mccann when missing from a villa in portugal. >> thank you very much for taking time for us. if i could first ask you about the image that people are now familiar with, which is the age progression image. we can see that behind you. when you first saw the picture, what did you think? >> i was relieved when i saw it. when we did it previously, was probably not in the right kind of place except her as being

older. i felt relieved and i felt quite happy about it, actually. >> is it also in your head that if madeline is alive living somewhere, that she, too, might see this image? >> it has happened with other cases. at this stage, probably what is more likely is other children who see her in this image. children look at the image in a different way. for the image does not have to be an exact from zimbalist'. resemblance. >> for police are looking at many lines of inquiries. floyd does that mean to you? as we know the genuine, new

information fled has come into the inquiry and of investigation have been identified from the difference of information in a file. >> this is gmt from "bbc world news." i am george alagiah. chen guangcheng confirms he wants to leave china, saying he is concerned about his family's treatment. ''s to the presidential candidates have accused each other of lying on the only television debate of the campaign. time now for the business news. let's start with the european central bank. they are holding a board meeting, i think. they are holding it in barcelona. >> today, they are holding it in barcelona. fear of the recession. we've had her read this unemployment figures.

there have been some real problems. people protesting against the austerity cuts that the government is imposing. cuts the ecb are supporting. we're looking for one of three announcements from will there be a change in interest-rate? we are not expecting a change on that. will there be a change on policy on buying bonds? that is something the spanish government would like to see the ecb do. again, we're not expecting to see any movement there. in the past, it has come back up. the third area where we might seek movement is the availability of cheap loans, the ltro program. they did it in december and february. fed did help boost the banking -- did boost the banking industry.

>> we have the one move in december and february. yes, the ecb takes more risks. two, there is this risk that if a lot of liquidity comes into the economy, we see inflation. right now, this risk is very small. inflation is probably the smallest concern we should have in a situation with the eurozone economy. i think the risks are there, but they should be limited. >> we are expecting a decision in the next hour. >> the battle of the smartphone. samsung versus apple. >> we're hearing that this will be the official phone of the olympics. samsung has overtaken nokia as the biggest seller of mobile phones. they have really given ample a run for their money. they are being really tight lipped.

we asked him if we are expecting any changes in the physical handset. >> there's not much dilution in the design of -- much evo lution in design of the handset s. now, what are the offering in the cloud? >> we're hearing that it would be available in white or blue. >> thank you. ever fancy taking in the sights of an entire country by foot? final preparations for opening a footpath around wills. it takes everything from nature reserves to steal works. it will offer people a continuous path around the country's coast line. our correspondent for us this

morning -- why did you tell us about some of the sites? >> george, and this is in north wales. let me show you some of the sites you might see. down to that direction, we have the start of cardigan bay. behind it, the world famous mountain. they're hoping more people will come to experience this beautiful coastline. further in that direction, out into the irish sea, plenty of rugged, rural landscapes. >> what kind of tourists are they trying to attract? people from the rest of britain or international? >> i think it is a mix of everyone.

already, people do come to wales to walk and climb. it's worth about 600 million pounds to the welsh economy every year. this part of wales, rural areas, struggle at the moment. what we do have to sell to the rest of the world is this kind of landscape and scenery. they're hoping that this path will bring plenty more people to tread the steps. >> thank you very much. thank you. they were hailed as heroes, but few of the japanese workers have never spoken publicly about the terrifying days after the tsunami triggered nuclear crisis. our correspondent has been to meet one of them and ask him about the moment the building exploded. >> [speaking foreign language]

>> i was in the earthquake- resistant control room building at the time. we had been feeling a lot of aftershocks. when the explosion happened, it was so strong that i jumped out of my chair. at first i thought it was another earthquake, but it was just one shake. we wondered what had happened. at the same time, a soul on a tv monitor that the nuclear reactor -- at the same time, i saw that the nuclear reactor building had exploded. i did not know if the reactor itself had exploded and the radiation had spread, or it was just the building itself and the containment vessel was in f tact. >> eerie feeling that you had to stay there to save japan -- was there a feeling that you had to stay there to save japan? >> i do not know what went through everybody's mind at the time. we have been operating the nuclear power plant safely until that point. then we encounter this accident

that was beyond imagination. we felt it was our responsibility to stop the radiation spreading. we did not want to cause any trouble to the local area and the region. for 40 years, we've been running our nuclear power plant safely. there's been a regrettable accident. operators inside japan and alcyone to learn from it to run power plants safely. as for the existence of nuclear energy in japan, i think we need to discuss it widely in the future. i want to wait to hear what decisions people make. >> that was roland burke. >> edvard munch's "the scream" is arguably one of the most recognized images in art history. it is also very much a

part of pop history, used on everything from cartoons to t- shirts. now it has become the most expensive, fetching $120 million. >> edvard munch's "the scream". >> the unmistakable image of edvard munch's "the scream." of the four images that exist, this was the most sought after. he wrote a poem on the frame. it was auctioned in an evening in new york. the timing was delivered to heighten the sense of occasion and attract wealthy investors in asia who were just waking up. seven bidders began competing. the opening offer was $40 million. the price just kept on going up. >> $106 million.

>> it was an intense competition between two telephone bidders for 12 tense minutes that drove the final selling price to eight high.ia historic it was sold for $120 million to an unnamed buyer. the price far exceeding the auction house estimates of $80 million. the seller was a norwegian businessman. his father was a friend of the artist. more than 100 years after edvard munch created it, his capacity to astound has reached new heights. bbc news, new york. >> just before we take a break, let me tell you about the first u.k. clinical trials of an electronic eye impact which has exceeded all expectations.

that's according to scientists. two people with a genetic eye condition were fitted with the wireless device in april. now they can detect light and find like objects on a black background. a reminder of our top story on gmt. chinese dissident chen guangcheng says he has been unable to meet u.s. officials to discuss his desire to leave the country. that is all for the moment. do stay with us on "bbc world news." come. is plenty more to compan >> 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 use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended, global network to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles. presented by kcet los angeles.