investments along the way, refocus as careers change and kids head off to college, and revisit your plan as retirement gets closer. wherever you are today, fidelity's guidance can help fine-tune your personal economy. fidelity investments -- turn here. >> 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." >> hello. you're watching gmt on bbc world news. don george alagiah.

our top stories. venezuela oppose the election was much closer than anyone predicted. his master's voice. nicolas maduro was the heir to hugo chavez, so why did so many votes for the opposition? john kerry says north korea must engage in real talks. we speak to the u.s. secretary of state. >> ♪ latestth africa's spectator sport left and interpret -- left our interpreter in a spin. .> he has promised to be gentle >> aaron has the latest on business. and in order from the french president to his ministers -- show me your money.

>> he tell the socialist party to tell us about your property, cars, antiques, and bank accounts. he lied about his secret bank account in switzerland. >> it's midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, 6:30 in the morning in caracas, where nicolas maduro has won a narrow victory in the presidential election. he ran on a promise to continue the policies that saw president chavez win election after election. but the results this time was a lot closer with capri less losing by 2%. capriles losing by%.

>> supporters of the winning candidate made no secret of their jubilation and relief after a long, tense wait for the election results. >> then-candidate nicolas 50.66%.with with 49.07%.iles >> the margin was tighter than predicted. two narrow to accept. sabetha to the government that according to our accounting, the results were different than what was announced tonight. in the name of democracy and

peace and the commitment we have with venezuela, we want an audit, for it to be counted votes by a vote. >> for the crowd in front of the presidential palace, the victory was clear and it was to be dedicated to hugo chavez. >> we are happy because we fulfilled the wish of our president. maduro is for the poor people. we will stay with him and we will follow the revolution. >> nicolas maduro, the self- proclaimed apostle of chavez is the next president of venezuela people. a celebrating tonight outside the presidential palace. once the party is over, tough times lie ahead for mr. maduro. challenges that he will face are clear even if the opposition accepts his victory. venezuela is one of the world's

highest inflation rates and and it has one of the highest murder rates in the world. the toughest of all for the newly elected president, living up to the memory of his mentor, hugo chavez. with me now is yolanda from our spanish-language service. what are the chances that this result could be overturned, the opposition still being concerned? >> it's very slim. they will try to open the boxes with all bowl receipts from the electronic voting, which is something they do only on a number of boxes. they want to in this case open all the boxes. that's not likely to happen. people from maduro's side are saying that will not happen. there is an official challenge of the election appeared that a

long process that might take years to resolve. >> it was a very close race. a 2% margin. what about answering the central question -- is it likely to lead to maduro's amending his policies? >> that's not the idea. the reason why he was chosen was to follow what they called a socialist plan, which has already been laid out through 2019. the whole idea of this presidential theory was to implement key socialist reforms to put venezuela in the plan of socialism the way that he had not previously done. >> maduro could say the election victory is not what we expected and maybe the people want something different. >> experience says that chavez park supporters just take a

majority as it is, even if it's just one vote. in the past, they cannot really paid much attention otherwise. of mr. maduro, although he's on a different side, he has already said we need to review these results because we need to do a reflection on what. what. whether that will be translated into taking into account the opposition's view, it is not likely. >> what is the reason it was so close? why did so many voters go to the opposition? >> it's because mr. maduro is not chavez. he's not the extraordinary politician that his predecessor was. and his campaign was not up to snuff. >> thank you very much. in the right circumstances,

there could be talks between the u.s. and north korea, but only if p'yongyang agree to dismantle its nuclear program. those are the words from u.s. secretary of state john kerry as he ruled out holding artificial talks. that does not seem likely at the moment. pyeongchang is marking its 101st anniversary of the birth of its founder kim il-sung. that is a time for rhetoric rather than realism. >> on this sensitive anniversary, north koreans pay their respects to the nation's founder. there is a devotion to the country's leaders. p'yongyang,comes to it is refusing to about to international pressure. the u.s. secretary of state john kerry said that the the u.s. was serious about its north korea gave up its nuclear weapons.

>> we do not want to go into another round of artificial talks that are clearly calculated to try to play a game. we cannot continue this charade and we cannot and policy of rhetoric about denuclearization. there have to be real steps. >> he met with the japanese prime minister earlier today. kerry stressed that china must do more to resolve this conflict. >> china is the key ingredient. china is the lifeline for north korea. china has the most trade and gives them the most fuel and support and their banking system supports them. there are many different ways in which china has the ability to make a difference. >> china says that its influence over its ally remains limited. the north korean regime believes only nuclear-weapons can ensure its survival. during his visit to the region,

the u.s. secretary of state appears to exchanged washington's approach to p'yongyang. the u.s. has torn down its statement and john kerry has repeatedly stressed that talks and not threats are the only way to resolve this crisis. bbc news, tokyo. >> no business news with aaron. i guess we are about to find out how wealthy the french ministers are. >> francois hollande, elected less than a year ago, promised voters a government that would promote morality and integrity. yet so far he has had a couple scandals on his plate. not looking good. they are being called the caviar left, the socialist ministers of the french president, after a series of revelations about their personal fortunes.

he has ordered these ministers to publish details about their wealth by the end of today, monday, in an effort to restore his government's reputation. this comes after the president's former budget minister, the man responsible for tax evasion, public spending, and so on, named jerome. he admitted hiding 600,000 euros in a secret swiss account. up to a have fessed designer chair worth more than 4.5000 euros. euroslion declared by another man.

>> savings accounts, cars, flats. when it's all posted online later today it will be exciting. a broader issue is what is troubling many people in public life, some people say this is what other countries to, we're just catching up with the transparency that prevails in other countries. but i'm not sure this is entirely true. member of the government stating precisely what they own. president has his way, there will be a new law in which every deputy, will have to do the same. >> we will keep across that list when it is revealed later today. let's talk about the pace of economic growth path in china. it has slowed in the first three months of this year. it comes as a shock to many economists and market experts who had forecast the chinese economy would continue to decelerate after the slowdown last year.

the economy grew at a rate of 7.7%. for most countries, that would been very happy news. but it's a different story for china. it has to maintain a faster growth rates to maintain the growing income and job opportunities for nearly 1.4 billion population. it is a slowdown also from the end of last year when growth was 7.9%. china opposes current priority is to try to balance its economy. let's listen. >> the new measures have just been introduced to cooldown overspeculation in the real- estate market. that will also be a drag on growth. going forward, i think the central government is keen to rebalance the economy. therefore, they are supporting consumption of low-income families. they are cracking down on corruption and luxury spending. in the meantime, they're trying to control industry over expansion and overcapacity.

so it is a balancing act. >> the markets are down off the back of that china story. i will be back in a half hour to about how more and more of us are reading more obscure, electronic books. books./eading more >> three times as much opium is being produced in helmand province as when the british troops arrived. most illegal drugs for sale on british streets actually comes from afghanistan. the un drugs and crime agency says "it is a worrisome situation." it's forecast to rise right across the country for the third year in a row in afghanistan. now this report from kabul. >> by mid afternoon every day, an estimated 1 million afghans are lost to the world. smoking raw opium in squalid

streets like this one, alongside an open sewer in the war ravaged streets of kabul. afghan opium refined into heroine destroys lives in britain as well. that's one of the reasons tony blair said that britain went to war in afghanistan in the first place and sent troops south to helmand province in 2006. but the british troops senior patrolling with afghans by a field of opium poppies and harvest time last year have failed to stop the crops. in forecasting an increase in production this year, the u.n. blames corruption and insecurity but also failure to help farmers grow other crops. building an alternative to the drug economy in helmand. alternative crops like cotton have failed to find a market. farmers i met have all year.

cottonaid the price of is so low that they have to sell it at a loss. and the drug trade has put down deep roots in afghanistan. >> we did not provide a meaningful alternative crop or livelihood. there's no determination on the afghan government side. >> as international troops prepared the winddown combat operations in afghanistan, they leave behind for a bigger open a problem than when they started. , country of 1 million addicts still supplier of most of the world's illegal heroin. >> stay with us on bbc world news. new hope for transplant patients. u.s. scientists have grown an artificial kidney in the laboratory.

parkinson's disease is a devastating and incurable condition. the symptoms of illness can lead to prejudice from other people. it makes a trip out in public and ordeal. in a new survey in the u.k., almost half of those with parkinson's disease say they are being discriminated against. >> even a simple shopping trip can be exhausting for mark. he was diagnosed with parkinson's disease five years ago. >> it is the shaking. is the slurred speech, been unsteady on your feet, loss of balance, loss of cognitive skills, to construct a sentence being quite hard. >> he tries to hide the physical manifestations of his illness, but often has experienced prejudice. he's not alone. today survey suggests people with the illness suffered distressing levels of discrimination and experience verbal abuse and feel isolated in public.

marc had an extreme case of his illness being misunderstood at the olympics last year. it happened as he was about to what the cycling road race. >> as the race approached, i was grabbed by two police officers and one of the officers said words to the effect of you are not through any anybody's day to day, sunshine. about toting you with cause a public offense or disorder or something like that. watching youe been and you have not been smiling. i said, i have parkinson's disease. prexy was held several hours before being released without charge. police said that he was standing near a group of protestors and his behavior was causing concern. basic police recruits receive disability training and they support raising awareness of medical issues. now he wants police and society at large to become more aware.

i am george alagiah. the top stories. celebrations in venezuela as hugo chavez's chosen successor wins the presidential election by a narrow margin. the opposition is demanding a recount. the u.s. secretary of state john carey tells north korea to stop the nuclear surveyed and start meaningful negotiations. -- john kerry. scientists in the u.s. have created a working kidney and successfully transplanted the organ into a rat. it is a first for the world that could bring new hope to millions of people waiting for an organ donation predicted he was grown in a lab and the results are said to be encouraging. our health and science reporter is following this medical development. james, what have these scientists done?

>> it started with an old kidney. they wash it with a detergent. it removes the old cells. would it leaves behind is a glorious scaffold. it has the entire structure just with no living material. then they use the blood vessels and feed new cells in. they cook it for about 12 days in a biological oven. then eventually you can start to filter and blood and produce urine. why did you attempt to start with one kidney to produce another? a half million people die each year in the uk alone, but the number of transplants is about 3000. what this does its it allows you to use the organs that are not being used. readramatically could inc se the number of organs

transplanted. >> the problem is rejection. >> if you needed a kidney transplant and i said, and wash out all of my cells. then they put some of your cells into my kidney scaffolds and build a george alagiah kid the out of it. >> let's not get carried away. we are talking about rats at the moment. and they did not perform brilliantly. >> they produced around 25% of natural kidneya would prevent after the transplant, 5%. that would not be enough to keep a rat alive. but this is the first step on a long journey. >> what are the other steps? >> there will be to increase the efficiency so it can produce more urine.

t? that is still in a ra >> yes. the bigger the organ, the harder and harder it is to get millions of cells into place to function. and to make sure it works in the long-term. for a couple days they have shown that it can produce urine, but it needs to produce that for decades it can produce urine. >> we are years away from this being a bill to humans? >> yes. >> thanks. in other news, reports from iraq suggest as many as 31 people have been killed in a series of bombs across the country on monday morning. 200 have been injured. or blasts in baghdad including two at the airports in the town and tuz khurmatu north of the capital and another city nasariyah to the south. australia -- an australian golfer named adam scott has won

the masters for the first time after beating an argentine in the playoffs. both had finished the tournament in augusta on 9 and departs. another australian finished third. 9 under par. daring stunts used to be a ritual experienced by south african gangsters. now it's legal. motor spinning has become one of the country's fastest-growing spectator sports. our correspondence has thenteered to get into passenger seat in johannesburg. >> look away now. townships,rica's spinning is the big craze. this gives burning rubber and new meaning. they take their

driving passions to daring levels in spectacular fashion. >> it started in the township many, many years ago. specificnot one township that started the sport. informal settlement has a spinning crew and a spinning legacy and someone that people regard as a legend. [buzzing sound] with one ofe car south africa's finest spinners. for thed not been sport, he said his life would have turned out differently. >> i started by stealing my father's car when i was young. i used to go around the block a

few times. i enjoy the sport. it's better than during all the wrong things like drugs and breaking into houses and stealing and all that stuff. i enjoyed this sport. that keeps mejoy off the streets. >> it has become a illegalized spectator sport. it started as a gangster ritual in the country's townships, giving it a fearsome reputation. in the 1990's, when a gangster was killed, his friends would steal a car, spin it at his funeral, and then set it ablaze as a sign of respect. ofind the scenes, an army mechanics are working constantly to maintain a high standard of these spinning machines. but it's not just about the engines revving, it's about a

fa -- about the fans. >> i will not jump out of the car. sorry. [screeching noise] >> the spinners never stop giving as the temple rises and tricks become crazier. -- tempo rises. >> don't go away. we have justin bieber and another controversy, coming up in the next half-hour on gmt. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity

and pursuing the common good for 30 years. union bank, fidelity investments, >> your personal economy is the things that matter to you most, including your career. as those things changewe can help you adjust your retirement plan, rethink how you are invested, and refocus as you move forward. wherever you are today, the fidelity ira has a wide range of choices that can fit your personal economy. fidelity investments -- turn here. >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.

coming up, judy valente talks to a chicago priest who brings attention to an often taboo subject, domestic violence. and bob faw talks to an orthopedic surgeon who sees treating the severely disabled as his ministry.