>> 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." >> scientists say they have discovered the so-called god particle, the one that makes sense of the universe. >> i think we have it. do you agree? >> yes. [applause] >> decades of surging, and now the discovery will be asking whether it matters to you and me -- decades of searching, and now the discovery will be asking whether it matters to you and me. hello and welcome to gmt. i am george alagiah, with a world of news and opinion. also in the program -- bob diamond prepares to face british lawmakers over the re-rigging

scandal. there is speculation that he will dish the dirt on others. gay couples in france get the right to marry and adult children. why has it taken france so long compared to other european nations? it is midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, and 1:00 p.m. in geneva, where scientists say they have discovered what some call the god particle. that's because its existence will help explain the mysteries of the universe. the european organization for nuclear research has shown the existence of the higgs boson, named for the physicist who first showed it existed. the theory describes the web of particles, but forces, and interactions that make up the universe.

the director of cern has been outlining this. there. it is clear this is the beginning of a new journey. >> we have discovered a new particle of higgs boson. we have to find out which kind of higgs boson this is. what are its properties? at least we now know that it can soon close part of the chapter of the model. we have now found the the last missing cornerstone of it, i think. >> to find out the significance of that discovery, i'm joined by our correspondent, jonathan amos. i am going to ask you what this is, this higgs boson, this so- called god particle.

explain to me like i am a 10- year-old. " we have a beautiful explanation of the way the universe is put together -- >> we have a beautiful explanation of the way the universe is put together. it is called the standard model. have a hole in it that we have been trying to fill pier we've been trying to describe -- to fill. we've been trying to describe why particles have mass. >> it makes things stick together. >> if they did not come together, there would be no stars, planets, no george alagiah. we've been smashing together small particles to see the building blocks of nature inside. out it pops this particle, the higgs boson.

this particle relates to a field. they call it the higgs mechanism. as other particles travel through this field, they have drag. this is our understanding of how mass works. this shows us that this is real and we can close this mathematical model. >> you can see why this is quite challenging for the layperson. when people try to go to the moon and apollo 11, we knew that was huge. when we read about penicillin been discovered, we knew that was huge. why is there any practical way in which this could be huge? >> first, there is a philosophical answer to that, which is, i want to know why i am here. let's throw all of that out and just look at the engineering and technology. go back 100 years to the first

elementary particle that was discovered, the electron. all the other elementary particles -- we understand how the realm of the very small works. what does that give us? it gives us electronics. think about the computing that has gone into making this discovery. it is immense. what do we get out of cern? they wanted something to handle that they appeared what did they invent? the world wide web. a lot of the detective technology that goes into particle physics finds its way into hospitals and is used in the diagnosis and treatment of coancer. look at the high tech. look at the technology. that's why we invest billions of euros into these types of projects. >> in practical terms, it has taken hundreds of scientists and

billions of pounds and dollars. >> yes, it has. i think it's a triumph of a global corporation. yes, it's based on the franco- swiss border just outside geneva, as i said. the americans have put step into this, the indians -- everyone from all over the world has put their expertise into building the large hadron collider. no one country could have done this on their own. the big outstanding questions in science today require huge machines. the large hadron collider is the largest of them all. >> the large hadron collider. thank you very much. thank you. the spotlight in britain's banking scandal will stay on bob diamond today, one day after he resigned as the head of barclays. he will face questions at the british parliament before the treasury select committee. he will be quizzed over his bank's role in manipulation of

lending rates. pressure has been building up on barclays since facing fines on submitting false reports. >> yesterday marked the end of his career at barclays. today marks the start of the questions about what on earth was going on when he was there. for bob diamond, that means two to three hours in front of across party group of mp's, in public and in front of the tv cameras. what do they want to ask him? >> i want to know how much the management knew. they told us it was just the supervisors who knew. i cannot believe that. other people higher up must have known exactly what was going on. they need to be clear about that. >> expect plenty of questions about conversations bob diamond had with the bank of england. what did they discuss about the interest rate known as libor?

what does he believe the government at the time wanted? in short, it boils down to this. who knew what, and when? plenty of questions to come this afternoon and plenty more to follow. what should be done about the banks is a question that will be something of a big deal here for quite some time. >> joining me from central london with more on this is our correspondent ourrob -- our correspondent, rob watson. bob diamond is in the hot seat today, but the focus appears to be shifting away from barclays to the politicians and the unseen people in the civil service. >> that is right, george. it may not be quite as dramatic as the unfolding of the secrets of the universe. no doubt the questioning of bob

diamond promises to be a lively affair. not just because of who he is -- a prominent and aggressive banker -- but a much wider question about banking and about politics. no doubt the mp's will be wanting to get to the bottom of this suggestion that perhaps the bank of england and so-called senior figures in the government machine were somehow have before barkleys to say it was borrowing money at a lower interest rate that it possibly was -- have for barclays to say it was borrowing money at a lower interest-rate than it possibly was. the undermining of the economic credibility. >> you mentioned economic credibility. yes, the politicians will have a claim and a counterclaim on this. i am the end, and, after all,

there are people over the world watching this. the reputation of london as the financial sector is at stake. is it not? >> absolutely. that will be a key motivating factor behind how mp's handle this. bob diamond is the man who appeared before this committee just last year to say it was time for bankers to apologize and time to get behind the banking industry. mp's were very worried about the damage to london as the financial sector. they know the public, not just in this country but around the world, are very fed up with bankers. they also note in this country that the kind of tax revenues that the city of london generates are extremely important. >> thank you very much.

thank you. we have more on our website about the bank interest-rate scandal. barclays was fined for attempting to manipulate a key lending rate called libor. why is it so important? we take a closer look at the issues involved. go to our website to get more on this. now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world today. a car bomb in iraq has killed at least three people in the eastern shia town. it comes one day after at least 40 people were killed in bomb blasts across the country. it comes just ahead of a shia religious pilgrimage in iraq. religious leaders in kenya's say they united and will act to prevent sectarian violence. it follows last weekend's attacks on churches that killed at least 15 people. the head of the intra religious

council said they would form vigilante groups to help guard churches. australian authorities responding to a distress call from a boat carrying 180 asylum seekers. it comes just one day after leaders of the two countries agree on closer cooperation on people smuggling. two boats carrying asian smugglers capsized last month while attempting to reach christmas island. the first over the counter self- testing kit for aids has been approved for sale in the united states. the product uses a mouth swab. it gives results in no more than 40 minutes. a report now from washington. >> the new testing kit is being hailed as a major step in expanding hiv testing. people who suspect theithey are

infected can now find out in the privacy of their home. it can produce results in less than 40 minutes. the stigma of testing for hiv remains to this day. the food and drug administration hopes the new kid will -- new kit will reach populations at risk. testing is key to stronger rate of new infections. an estimated quarter of a billion people in the united states are not aware that carry the virus. 50,000 new people get infected every year. clinical trials show that the results are accurate 92% of the time. people who receive a negative results will still need to be tested again after three months. bbc news, washington. >> still to come on gmt -- a mysterious way of a suspected poisoning at a girls' schools in afghanistan. the government makes its first arrest.

german librarians have discovered a rare 16th century map. it is by the man credited with naming the americas. it was found between the pages of a book in a music library. only four other copies of the men are known to exist -- of the map are known to exist. >> it's amazing what you can find in the library. how about america's birth certificate? ? discovered in this old 19th century manuscript. >> [speaking foreign language] >> it is the birth certificate of america. we regard this as especially valuable. the differences between the mpas enable us -- the maps enable us to learn how the

world has changed. >> what made a special was its shape. for the first time, travelers were able to create an accurate globe. there are other copies, though, like this one that sold for half a million pounds in 2005. until this time, it had been thought only four copies existed, until researchers stumbled onto this one. >> librarians found two prin ts together. at that time, they did not know about the significance of this map. therefore, it was kept here. no one knew about it. >> now they do, and just in time for american independence day.

>> this is gmt from "bbc world news." i am george alagiah. the headlines -- scientists say they have discovered a new subatomic particle, bringing them closer to ever to explaining the nature of matter itself. the former chief executive of barclays, bob diamond, faces questioning by british mp's on the interest-rate-rigging scandal. time for the business news. aaron heslehurst is here. while everyone else in europe is talking about cutting -- hollande is talking about spending money. >> they submitted this revised budget to cabinet today. george, this budget is getting rid of a lot of the measures that were put in place with the previous sarkozy government.

this socialist government came to power on the promise of no more austerity. the focus was going to be growth. let's not kid ourselves. it will take one heck of a juggling act. france has one of the highest levels of public spending in europe. one expert told me not long ago that hollande will need to be a political houdini to pull this off. we know there will be more hiring of teachers and police, creating ,150,000 state jobs. the french government needs to cut $50 billion -- or, save $50 billion. the question is, where are they going to get this money from? taxes. they're going to go ahead with that 75% tax on the super-rich who earn more than 1 million euros.

is it going to work? >> we will see. there is a risk that this tax can be seen as anti- institutional. on top of this tax, you would have to pay social contributions, which would raise the actual tax rate to something like 95%. that is in contradiction with french legal principles do we will see how this pans out. >> sounds like it will be an argument. manchester united. it needs more money. it will be listed on the new york stock exchange. some people thought it would go to asia. it is big in asia. >> this puts the end to speculation. you mentioned that it is a global brand. here is the number. 660 million is the size of the

fan base around the world. $660 million is also the size of the debt it faces. the idea was to raise money on the singapore market and then on the hong kong market. the scrapped that idea. now, it is new york. i asked the question. why new york? why reduce it fro? >> the reduced amount shows the need to generate cash flow in order to service the debt, rather than sell the company. secondly, there are enormous advantages by listing in new york. they can list as an emerging growth company. that means they do not need to tell us about how much manchester united has traded in the past. they do not need to tell us what happened in the future. for five years, they do not need to watch will accounts going forward. there are massive advantages to this. >> this by going public, they do

not need to be as transparent as many would think. >> gay couples in france will be allowed to get married and to adopt children. a number of european nations, including germany, sweden, and britain already allow gay adoption. presently, only married couples and not civil union couples in france. david joins me. david, on gay marriage, as i said, france is kind of playing catch-up with the rest of europe. >> yes, a little bit. gay couples, like heterosexual couples, have been able to enter into civil unions in france since 1999. the problem that gay couples. in that is that they do not benefit from the same inheritance laws and they do not have the right to adopt children. these are things that they would like to do. i've spoken to one of the gay

rights associations this morning. obviously, they are welcoming this change. they say this is long overdue. they say there will be a long line of couples waiting to get married next year when the new law comes into place. >> also, adoption. before we talk about this, we have some facebook comments from various people. this is frederick from france, in fact. he says, "there's a natural consequence to it. you cannot create children." someone else has said, "does the government even consider the emotional and psychological trauma this will have on adopted children?" in terms of public reaction, how representative are those kind of comments? >> all the opinion polls show that while an overwhelming majority of french people to

support gay marriage, fewer people are in favor of gay adoption. it is still well over 50%. most people, i think, would like gay couples to have the same rights as heterosexual couples. the reason i think people are a little more reserved when it comes to adoption is because the idea of, say, a male gay couple adopting a child is difficult for some people to accept because of the notion that men are more likely to be sexual predators. the gay rights groups answers that by saying -- why is a gay man anymore likely to be a sexual predator than a heterosexual man? >> thank you very much. the afghan government has blamed the taliban for a wave of suspected poisoning at girls' schools. no one has died. gross had fallen ill -- girls

have fallen ill in dozens of cases. the government has now made some arrests. >> the day begins differently now. when the girls arrive to the classroom -- two months ago, class after class became ill. poisoning was suspected. >> [speaking foreign language] >> first, one or two of the girls were sick and then it interest-free one of my classmates was in the school garden. she fell down. they took her to the hospital. >> hundreds of girls have been taking ill across afghanistan.

the government blames the taliban. no physical evidence of poison has been found. the girls usually leave the hospital shortly afterwards. parents began to ask questions. suspects in the poisonings are held.g >> [speaking foreign language] >> he says he gave two bottles of poison and money to two girls to use. >> did you not think it was wrong to target these young women who are just trying to attend school? >> [speaking foreign language] >> it was wrong. it was unislamic. it was my fault. i made a mistake. >> he denies that he was involved. >> what do you say? who was giving this poison?

>> [speaking foreign language] >> it came from pakistan. i do not have more information. how can i explain it? on the radio, the taliban has denied it. >> the men were led back to their cells. >> others question whether these attacks are real, or whether mass hysteria is to blame. >> [speaking foreign language] >> it is basically a psychological issue. the medical and criminal investigations indicate mental harm, not physical harm to the victims. afghanistan has been at war for 30 years. people here are suffering under great stress. >> at the school, all the girls have returned. >> there. we will lead itdo stay with us -- we will leave it there.

do stay with us on "bbc world news." there's plenty more to come. >> makes 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, we 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 brought to you by kcet, los angeles.