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news. >> the last day of campaigning and america divided. as it prepares for a photo finish result. last minute fran i think campaigning, both candidates head for ohio. the battleground state that could decide who will be the next president. hello and welcome. also coming up in the program, following hard on the heels of the u.s. results, a change in the top in china. what will this mean for the rest of the world? and terrible facts of life for one 15-year-old pakistani girl killed acid by her parents for looking at a boy. hello, it is midday here in london, 6:00 in the morning in madison, wisconsin where president obama is schedule told appear at the start of this, the

final day of campaigning, in what's been a grueling and hugely expensive 18 month battle with mitt romney a third of americans have already cast their votes lerl i. both men now have less than 24 hours to convince the undecided in a handful of swing states to come on boards. with the polls pointing to a dead heat, still everything to play for. let's get the latest from my colleague jane hill who joins us live from washington. jane, over to you. >> hello and welcome. the u.s. presidential election campaign has entered its final day with the candidates fighting for every vote in those marginal states which will decide who will spend the next four year in the white house. the republican challenger mitt romney has addressed a large rally in pennsylvania, which has traditionally voted democrat. president barack obama meanwhile has been trying to bolster

support in key states, including ohio. we'll have all the very latest here in washington. but first, let's get this report on developments so far from my colleague jane o'brian. >> fired up and ready to vote. legendary musicians stevie wonder exalting the democratic faithful in ohio to give the president another four years in office. ohio could hold the key to this election. one reason why president obama will be returning here monday. the final lap of a frenetic campaign trail before the country goes to the polls on tuesday. >> this is not just a choice between two candidates or two parties, it's a choice between two different visions of america. it's a choice between a return to the policies that crashed our

economy, or the strong, growing middle class based policies that are getting us out of a crisis. >> governor romney will also be back in ohio, but on sunday he was also focusing on pennsylvania, where he and wive ann arrived by bus. opinion polls show this to be a deeply divided state, that the former massachusetts governor will desperately needs if he loses ohio. >> now let's make sure that every single person we know gets out and votes on tuesday. you know what makes this rally and all your work so inspiring is that you're here because you care about america. a campaign about our country and about the future we're going to leave to our children. we thank you, we ask you to stay at it all the way until victory on tuesday night. >> the polls show the president with a slight lead, but the

percentage is small and voters are disgruntled. if there are any undecided americans out there, the next few hours will be critical to winning them over. jane o'brian, "bbc news," washington. >> well, it really is all about the swing states here. we heard about ohio there, for example. let's go to another key state. let's cross to florida and join john who's in tampa. john, hello. >> jane, thank you very much. if this seems a rather unlikely place to be a doing of series outside the live aquarium, you can see from the signs, tomorrow this becomes a polling station. let's talk for a moment about early voting here in this state because the numbers are staggering. here in this county which is the most keenly fought of all the counties, a record 41% of people have cast their ballots over the weekend, as we found out.

saturday in tampa, florida, these people are lining up to vote. so popular has early voting proved that democrats wanted it extended into sunday and today. the republican governor said no, and so with exos of 12 years ago when the entire presidential election was decided on disputed ballots from here, the lines are waiting. >> it just kills me as an american to try to prevent someone from voting. that's one of the most important things that makes america great. >> the thinking is that early voting favors the democrats. blue collar workers in poor areas like this, so the argument goes, won't find time on a week day to vote. this democrat party worker just prays for a clear-cut, loyal-free result. >> we don't know that! we've been through that before!

florida has a reputation and we don't need any more than that. >> hi, i'm volunteering with mitt romney and the republican party today. >> but in a nice edge state, clear cut seems the least likely outcome. >> i think myself, a chimp or karl rove can predict the race with the same amount of accuracy in every state and nationally, no matter who's ahead, it's within the margin of error. >> so the preelection poster battle is getting dirty. who's to say a post election legal scrap won't be every bit as rough? just to say a word or two about the polls, there were two yesterday, one showed president obama clearly ahead. this was the florida. the other one showed mitt romney clearly ahead. everything is very tight indeed.

i'm joined by professor mary anderson from the university of florida. i want to talk to you about the legal ramfications, just how tight do you recken this race is? >> it's very tight and it will be a result of get out the vote effort. which ever party can hit their target and get out their voters will be the one that will land florida. >> and it's a staggering number, the percentage of people who have already voted. but there was an argument, wasn't there, that the early voting should have gone on longer. >> yes, previously we had 14 days of early voting. that has been cut down to just eight days, including leaving out of a second sunday, and sunday of course is a big day chen churches would bus in people to the polls and things of that nature. i think the long lines we're seeing is a reflection of that shortening of the early voting. >> why was it cut from 14 to eight? >> you have to ask the florida legislator. >> and the governor is a

republican. >> yes. >> do you think that's suspicious? >> i think that's definitely in fact. legislators have said exactly that, they were cutting down on that and using different methods so they would have fewer democrats voting. democrats have been very, very -- pushed the polls in their favor so it had much more impact on democratic voters than republican voters. >> when i introduce you i said you were a voluntary lawyer, what does that mean, that you're on standby? >> i work the polls, i have done so for every year starting in 2000, 2004, been a poll watcher. after the 2000 debacle here in florida that caught the attention of the world when we spent several months waiting to see who would be the next president, lawyers throughout this area, and also throughout the state, organized so that we would be watching each individual poll place.

we have been very successful at getting democratic lawyers at each of the -- practically about 200 different polling places in this county alone for several years now. >> mary, there's a prospect that once again like 12 years ago, it may not be hanging chance this time, but that the lawyers will be, the people will speak, but the lawyers will sort of decide? >> i think it depends on how close the election is in the state of florida. in terms of early voting, democrats have a lead from 45%-to 36%. so the get out and vote has favored the democrats. overall in early voting, florida, the democrats are up about three percentage points. however, contrast that to 2008 when the obama campaign pushed really hard on voting they were up in early voting, but john mccain actually got more votes cast on election day. so if that holds true, if the romney camp can make up that

deficit in early voting on election -- >> so that's very interesting. although the obama camp may be ahead now because of early voting, it doesn't mean that much at this stage? the remainder which is tomorrow, election day. >> why is it the case, early voting, where is the evidence that says early voting favors the democrats? >> oh, well the numbers. the numbers show that. the democrats turn out more. we're registered by party here in america, well at least in florida, that's not always true. many, many more early voters turn up are democrats. >> why? because they're blue collar workers? >> they find it difficult to get off work. if you are a minimum wage worker if you take off work to go vote, which you're employer needs to let you do, but you don't get paid for those hours. the demographic that typically

favors the democratic party is the party that has the hardest time getting out on election day to the polls. >> and presumably, we've heard both the republicans and the democrats will have an awful lot of lawyers on standby watching everything. >> yes. >> but why is it that you have a situation from state to state the rules change about how an election is conducted? by county, i saw in miami-did, they extended voting because there were such long lines but not in this county. >> that's the way it is in our country, a state by state decision, as to how the election laws are written, how you govern, how you register, who can vote, which days, those sorts of things. some states have open primaries where anybody can vote. some states have closed primaries where only members of that particular party can vote. >> do you have a feeling in your waters, i know the polls are telling us neck and neck, what will happen here in florida?

>> i do believe that obama will win because i've been watching the swing states, and swing states he has been doing well, and since before the republican convention, florida i think -- florida's a hard one. >> it's going to depend on the hispanic vote in florida. i think that will be the deciding factor if the president will take florida. >> grateful to you both. thank you for being here on "bbc news." appreciate your thoughts. that's it from the aquarium, a lot more from us here in tampa throughout the day, but now back to washington, where i suspect it's not quite as warm as it is here, jane. >> thanks for making that point, john, thank you very much. he's quite right of course. alongside me, listening to that interview is a political scientist who has written books about early voting, so we have plenty to chew over, and i'll be talking here in just a moment. let's just remind ourselves what

we can gleen so fast, the past few weeks, the race for the white house has been described as neck and neck. been described as a phrase i have vowed not to use, but here it is already, too close to call. how many times will we say that? and it can barely split the pair. the bbc's poll of polls, president obama, as you see, just a fraction ahead of mitt romney, 49-48. but of course, president's not elected by that simple, straight forward national vote. it is the electoral college that counts with votes given to who ever wins each individual state. as we've been saying, there are practically as many as nine battleground states. the really, really key ones that we're all focusing on now, and it's there in those nine that people are really unwilling to predict the outcome. one of those has had more attention than most, as you will know if you've been following

this race. that is ohio, known as the bell weather state because it has picked the winner in the last 12 elections. just to tell you as well, a poll published sunday gave president obama a 2% lead there. a local poll there from the local regional media outlet there. so, let's discuss all of that with the guest i mentioned, the director of the democracy project at the bipartisan policy group. hello to you, john. and no better guest to begin our day with when we talk about the books you have written. it's quite extraordinary. let's talk. we get bogged down in polls but we've got to talk about it. you studied this a lot. are we closer at this late stage in the game than you remember before? or is that just the excitement of the last 48 hours? >> well, we are as close as you can get. really close to the national popular vote and close in a number of swing states. 2000 was very close going to

that race and ended up being a race we didn't know in december. i'm not predicting we'll go that far, but you can't get closer than the polls are showing today. >> a word about the electoral college because that's a system, that's how it works. each state has a certain of number of electoral college votes based on the size and population. >> there are really 51 different elections in the state and the district of colum beea. and based on population, they have a certain number of electors, it's winner take all. so really the candidates are focused on eight or nine states, that's where they've spent their money on. most of the states we know the answer will happen, but the key states, the floridas, the virginias, the colorados and of course ohios, very key. >> if you bump into someone from one of the states that "doesn't matter" they were feeling this time anoud.

this is so close, my vote doesn't count, what's the point in voting. let's talk about ohio because that's such a key area and the bell weather state. it has predicted presidents in the past. >> it has. it's always been a very, very close state. in a 50/50 election, it has typically leaned republican in a point or so. the interesting thing about the polls is that president obama's had a small lead there. if that holds up, if the election is really close, 50/50 and the president wins in ohio which is a little bit against expectations from history, that's very key for him. and likely is to be the state that they could win it for hip. there are some other combinations that mitt romney could put together, states like wisconsin and iowa, but those are more difficult for him. so ohio is really likely to be the key state. >> interesting listening to those guests there in tampa, florida, you get the sense and can tell from the way the candidates are cop rating today, monday, what it's about now is just getting people, anyone who hasn't voted already of course,

getting people to the voting booth. it is getting out the vote. that is absolutely crucial. >> yes, there are some undecided voters, very few at this point. but both sides are trying to turn out their base. we've had very high turn out in our last two elections, at least for america. 63%. if one side can turn out higher rate than the other in key states, that can make the difference. >> and the campaigning effort goes at that stage. you can feel it within both camps. >> absolutely, the on the ground, driving them to the polls, really door to door, the last push to get people to the polls. >> john, thank you very much for being with us. much more to discuss, and we will again. thank you very much for now from the bipartisan policy group. >> america is about to vote of course for a new president. two days later, international attention switches to china, where it's communist party will select its new leadership.

what will that mean for this major power player on the global stage? here's a closer look at the consequences. >> we're in chinatown in the very heart of london. a height of activity as people set up for a new day of business. you'll find as far as los angeles, manila and even dubai. as the world's second largest economy, china's influence is huge, not just affecting the food we eat, but what we buy, how much we pay for it, what languages our children learn at school and even the air with breathe with chine -- with china's huge environmental impact. up until recently, china has seemed to laugh in the face of the world economic downturn, providing a life line for high end department stores, like this

one. chinese tourist -- that's just here in europe. in asia, it's 50%. leather and jewelry are the biggest celeries. china already has more than one million u.s. dollar millionaires and what really excites retailers, the fast-growing middle class in china, going to be the world's biggest. and this is where that vast spending power comes from, trade. china's huge industrial engine, an end less supply of cheap labor has led to a global hunger for its products. when a british container, but china is a top trading partner if 78 countries worldwide, including the united states and the european leader as a whole. china's international economic

presence means they're becoming increasingly interested in its languages and culture. we're at the gallery for an exhibition of contemporary chinese art. 840 million people already speak mandarin chinese as their first language. china's been setting up to promote the language word wide. it calls this its peaceful rise. china's actions on the world's political stage can be seen as hard-edged. for example, as one of the five permanent members of the united nations security council, recently it vetoed a resolution for syria's president to stand down. they've become involved in regional territory disputes with japan and philippines, and as the biggest investors in africa, they have been accused of propping up people.

and increasingly competitive relationship growing between the united states and china. making china a key topic of debate in the lead up to this month's u.s. presidential election. >> now, how good profit wise? >> they actually rose about 10%, the company made about $775 million. helped by the fact that they've had a surge in patent traffic with lots of people who came over here to watch the olympic games. what's really interesting is the future. now, their rival is private tiesing 2006, and they made an attempt to get it but they failed. they didn't get the support of the irish government, they didn't have the support of the unions or u.n. regulators, but their boss is confident that this time around things could actually be moving in their direction. this is what he said to us.

>> if they apply the same ruling they did when the airlines were allowed to merge, then they must approve. we submit a package that involves multiple coming to ireland, providing competition and i think if the offer is set fairly by the competitions, then there's no doubt it will be approved. >> and absolutely, they actually came up with their latest numbers, they fell by 52%. by anybody's stretch is a lot of money, but it's small compared to the 5.2 billion they made and what's caused the drop, quite a few things. they had to find p.p.i. and allegations of laundering money from mexican drug cartels, they had to raise that to a staggering $1.15 billion. the big question is is that

going to be enough given the serious of those money laundering accusations. >> julia, thank you very much. a husband and wife arrested in pakistan on suspicion of killing their 15-year-old daughter with acid have told the bbc they feared she would bring dishonor on the family. they were arrested following the death of their daughter who had burns on 60% of her body. you may find some of this distressing. >> a mother and father in adjoining cells, accused of dousing their teenaged daughter in acid. her crime, looking at a boy. he approached our house, her father said. she turned to look at him. i told her before not to do that. i started beating her, then her mother brought the acid.

it left its mark on her mother who gives a chilling account of her desperate pleas. she said, i didn't do it on purpose. i won't look again. by then, i had thrown the acid. it was her destiny to die this way. the couple say an older daughter had already disgraced the family. they didn't want to lose face again. they showed us the remote village where the attack happened. they say the couple kept their daughter here for hours afterwards, in agony, denying her medical help. later they told neighbors she attempted suicide. at home, he pointed out the place where an atrocity was committed in the name of honor. i couldn't do anything, he claimed. her mother poured the acid on her. i tried to wipe it off.

his other children look for comfort. too young to understand what happened to their sister. a girl who was good at school and helped at the house work and was killed for looking the wrong way. >> after an 18-month battle, we are now in the final day of campaigning for the u.s. presidency. both candidates are targeting the crucial swing states with polls pointing to a dead heat. all the latest, every twist and turn of the final day of campaigning here on "bbc world news." that is it for me for now.

>> make sense of international news at bbc.com/international 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 use their ex per teed 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?

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