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what can we do for you? >> and now, bbc world news. >> embroiled in a scandal, the german president is to make a statement shortly about his position. this is the scene live as we await what we expect to be his resignation. dozens of ancient artifacts stolen by armed robbers from a museum in olympia in southern greece. syria deaf to u.s. condemnation as its bombardment of the city of homs is unrelenting. welcome to "bbc world news." i'm david eades. also coming up -- a landmark deal set to be signed by sarkozy and cameron which may see new power stations on the mainland. libyans mark the first anniversary of the uprising that toppled colonel gaddafi.

>> hello. thanks for joining us. there is mounting pressure on germany's president. that's christian wulff. mr. wulff has become embroiled in a scandal over favors that he allegedly received before becoming head of state. we can show you the scene. that's the podium where we expect mr. wulff to come out any minute now to deliver his statement, which we do expect to be one of resignation. he's doing any wrongdoing, but he is under pressure, not least because the public prosecutor in germany has been calling for a lifting of his immunity to face certain charges and allegations against him. chancellor merkel herself has delayed her plans to go to move. she's due to meet mario monti there. she will also be making a

statement after the president. with me here in the studio is our berlin correspondent, stephen evans. you know better than anyone, this has been, in some respects, a long time coming. it's been building a head of steam. >> yes, and as ever with these things, it's the coverup which does the damage. the allegation was that he took a holiday with a friend, it was paid for by the friend, he was then asked by local lawmakers in his territory at the time, was there any business connection between you and the friend, and he said no. he then made the mistake of calling up the editor-in-chief of the country's biggest selling paper and leaving, according to with a paper, built a very threatening message on the voicemail of the editor-in-chief. of course, they take things like democracy and freedom of the press very seriously in germany, and he didn't like being told what to do by the president, so it then took against him. what's now changed -- what's now changed is the prosecutor

is basically saying there are initial suspicions, and we want to investigate. >> right, we're just seeing some movement here now, as what looks like a statement being laid out on the podium there, possibly christian's resignation statement, just if he emerges through the door. indeed, here he is. so we shall stay with these pictures and pick up on christian wulff as he makes an announcement on his position. >> dear citizens. i was glad to accept my election as a federal president, and i did my the host to do my job. it came from the bottom of my heart to strengthen the cohesion with and also society. everybody who lives in germany should feel accepted, should be

able to go to school no matter what roots they have. we are together shaping our future. i am convinced that germany can develop its economic and cultural strength, and indeed, to pay its contribution if interrogation inside of the society functions. the republic needs a president who is able and willing to face these tremendous challenges inside and outside the country. the president, who doesn't only enjoy the confidence of a small minority, but the confidence and trust of the overwhelming majority of the population. the last few weeks have shown that this confidence and trust have been damaged.

it is for this reason that i'm unable to cover the office as a federal president, and it is for this reason that i resign from my post as federal president in order to enable a speedy transfer. my colleague is going to act as the interim president, and the federal chancellor, mrs. merkel, is going to speak on my behalf at the memorial service for victims of dreadful attacks. i am convinced that the investigation will lead to my total exoneration in my offices. i've always acted without fault, and i've always been honest and upright. the media coverage that we have

experienced over the last two months have violated and hurt my wife and me. i thank the citizens who are engaged in our society, and i thank the colleagues who work in the president's office, and i thank everybody who i have experienced to be an excellent member of the staff. i also predominantly thank my wife, who is a wonderful representative of a contemporary and modern germany. she has always, and in particular over the last few months, given me a lot of support and assistance. i wish our country, from the bottom of my heart, a political culture that is in acceptance of the democracy as a very high

wealth. and i wish every citizen in this country unto whom i feel responsible. i wish them a very good future, and i would like to include you , dear journalists, expressly. thank you very much. >> so there we have it. christian wulff, as expected, has announced his resignation, saying that he clearly doesn't have the confidence and trust of an overwhelming majority of the population, and handing the reins in the interim to the head of the sister party from bavaria and also in the coalition government. steve evans is with me here. steve, well, falls on his sword. >> yeah, absolutely. the phrase was confidence and trust damaged irretrievably. and there has been an absolutely relentless stream of coverage against him on the pages of bulletin in

particular, new revelations. now, you might ask, what does it matter? the head of state is completely symbolic, and that is absolutely true. he shakes more hands on this planet than anybody else i can imagine. that's what does he. he greets people coming down the red carpet. but if he were this greece and germany was exhorting you to sort out your corruption, maybe you say, hold on a minute, who are they to tell us about corruption when their own president has resigned over allegations of corruption? it matters in that context. it's also a headache for chancellor merkel. he's very much her man. she fought to get him there. a lot of people want a much more consensual, nonpolitical character. she fought to get him there, and now he's gone. so she's got the problem of how you replace him. having said all that, she's riding a tide as well as you can get in the opinion polls.

her ratings are up there with what they were just after she was elected. it's the kind of headache you don't want when you got bigger fish to fry. >> absolutely. we'll see. thank you very much indeed for that. we'll have more on that story a little bit later in the bulletin, but i want to bring some news of another breaking story, and that is of armed robbers who have stolen dozens of artifacts from the antiquities museum in olympia in greece. this is the birthplace of the ancient olympics. it's reported an employee was tied up in the raid. the culture minister has submitted his resignation already as a result of it. mark lowen is our correspondent in greece. he's on his way to the museum, in fact, but joins me now. mark, how much do we know? mark lowen? >> it's a site of immense importance here, the site of the ancient olympic games. what we are being told is that

the incident happened at 7:30 a.m. local time. that's 5:30 g.m.t. two men are reported to have broken in and spoke known broken greek. they're said to have asked an employee for various objects. she refused. she was then said to be tied up, and the men were said to have started to smash glass cabinets. apparently between 60 and 70 statue thes were seized, mainly we think in bronze and clay. the culture minister, as you say, has submitted his resignation, which has not yet been accepted by the government. the prime minister is is currently studying the case. he's on his way to the museum to assess the damage and to assess quite what exactly what happened. but all of this does raise immense questions about museum security in greece, because around about a month ago, the national gallery was alsoburg he willed here in greece -- was also burgleed.

so, at the time when greece is facing immense problems in the financial sector, there are, again, questions about other elements here of security in museums, which house some important treasures. awe mark, thanks very much indeed. we'll have more, of course, on that story throughout the day here on "bbc world news." going to bring you the latest from homs city, the syrian city which has had two weeks of bombardment from government forces. some people saying that this is the heaviest yet. the onslaught by president assad's forces coming despite that u.n. general assembly condemnation of human rights violations in the country and the call there for an end to the violence. i've been speaking to an eyewitness for the latest violence in the city itself. he told me what had been happening in the last few hours. >> unfortunately, through 7:00 a.m. in the morning, forces, they continued their shelling,

and the shelling is continuous. they're using rockets and now they're using more problems which are falling on people, in people's houses, we have houses that destroyed -- the damage is so huge. we have no support, and we have lack of medical support. there's no bread over here. >> right. we're just looking at some of the pictures that have come in to us of buildings collapsing. are the residents of residents being hit hardest, have they all moved out? >> well, mostly they were

moving from the city, they clock the city, some people, they try to smuggle, they try to smuggle and they get killed or sometimes we have families who try to smuggle. >> that is the very latest situation from homs. thanks for being with us, i'm david eades. you're watching "bbc world news." we've got a lot more to bring you, including this. they say silence is golden. well, not for charlie chap chaplin. we report on how the americans tried to get the british to keep tabs on him. forensic experts in honduras are still trying to identify the bodies of more than 350 people who died in a prison fire on tuesday. official records show many of those killed in the blaze were

awaiting trial. they haven't even been convicted. israeli leaders met to discuss ways of exploring huge gas fields recently discovered in the eastern mediterranean. israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, said developing relations between the two countries should be in the interest of the region, but turkey opposes any attempt by the government to explore the gas reserves. the "new york times" correspondent, anthony shadid, who twice won the pulitzer prize for his coverage of iraq, has died during an assignment in eastern syria. an american of lebanese descent, mr. shadid was 43. it appears he died from an asthma attack. he died paying tribute at the time to the executive editor, she said he died as he lived, determined to bear witness to the sweeping transformation in the middle east. >> you're watching "bbc world news." i'm david eades.

germany's president announced his resignation live on television. he said confidence in him had been damaged over the last few weeks. chancellor merkel is due to make a statement shortly. dozens of artifacts have been stolen from a museum in olympia, the birthplace of the ancient greek olympics. let's get some more now oned reds ignition of christian wulff, the german president. the bbc's tristana moore joins me from berlin. perhaps now we have that resignation, so can you give us some appreciation as to what this means in party political terms? how damaging is it for the government? >> well, it's extremely damaging for chancellor merkel. because after all, christian wulff is a member of chancellor merkel's conservative christian democratic union party. and actually, he was selected by chancellor merkel as the candidate to be president a

couple of years ago. so this is an extremely serious blow to chancellor merkel and to the coalition government. and when this scandal first erupted in december, chancellor merkel of the always standing behind christian wulff and supporting him and saying that she had all the trust and confidence in him. this was really yesterday the final straw when the prosecutors in hanover said that they wanted to start this investigation, a criminal investigation, against christian wulff and have asked the lower house of parliament to lift his immunity. so, obviously the pressure had been just growing all the time over the last few months. there had been a steady drip of corruption allegations against christian wulff, and it was quite clear that this final move yesterday by the prosecutors in hanover was just the final thing that really made him go. he's now announced he's going to resign. chancellor merkel has called off a trip to italy, and she's

due to give a statement shortly. >> ok, we wait for that. in the meantime, tristana, thanks very much. pakistan's president zardari has reportedly offers assurances to iran that his country will not provide any platform for the u.s. to attack iran. he's hosting a trilateral summit with president ahmadinejad and president karzai of afghanistan, who has already called on pakistan to help negotiate a peace deal with the taliban. speaking to the media through a translator, the iranian president said all problems in the region were the result of foreign interference. >> there is no fundamental problem in the region. all problems are coming from outside.

they don't want to allow nations. >> that's president ahmadinejad. let's get the latest from our correspondent, aleem maqbool, who is in islamabad. foreign interference, the root of all evil, seems to be the message from mr. ahmadinejad there. what is the tenor of these discussions? >> well, the discussions are about trade. they were supposed to be about ways to stop drug smuggling or people trafficking across the borders between these three countries. but i was at that news conference, and it really did become the kind of platform that president ahmadinejad has seen so many times in the past, relishes the international platform to be able to say some of the stuff you just heard. he talked a lot about the fact that these three nations were standing together and all the problems here were because of outside interference.

he said that we know who they are, and they want to keep us poor so that we depend on them, but that they stood united. certainly it is, it was the picture opportunity that he wanted as well, the three of them at the end of that press conference holding hands, with their arms around each other. and remember, of course, as we talked about throughout this summit, that these are two of america's allies in this region. so something of a coup for president ahmadinejad. >> yeah, an extraordinary family photo really on that basis. aleem, thank you very much. want to throw over for a moment to berlin again, because angela merkel may not be in the picture yet, but she will soon. she's going to make a statement of her own about the offer of resignation of christian wulff, the german president, should be heading for rome for a meeting with mario monti, the prime minister there. but clearly matters at home are going to dominate certainly her day. so as soon as she comes to the

podium, we will join her and hear what she has to say. britian has not developed a nuclear power really for a generation. france hasn't stopped. the two country's leaders are meeting to signing a deal. in the last half-hour, britain's prime minister, david cameron, arrived at the palace in paris for talks with president sarkozy. these pictures from just about 20 minutes ago. mr. cameron says the arrangement with france could eventually be worth up to $90 billion, creating something like 30,000 jobs. well, the agreement may also go some way to improving recent strained relations between the two countries. you'd hardly know it from that picture, the picture of smiles, but they've had their differences, notably over the eurozone. those discussions now underway. our paris correspondent, hugh schofield, explains how this

could benefit britain. >> france, which generates electricity via nuclear power, has done for 50 years, made a strategic decision back in the 1960's, and the goal is the preeminent player in the field of nuclear power. britain wants some of that, and it's developing its own nuclear stock because it has to abate its energy supply network, so it's building, and it wants french know-how. it also wants to start building up its own know-how, building up its own capacity to generate nuclear technology to export nuclear technology. so this is not just about buying into the french, it's also about building up british expertise. >> libyans are marking precisely one year since the start of the revolution which toppled colonel muammar gaddafi. he was ousted from power after more than 40 years, of course. celebrations planned in towns and cities right across the country.

that is amidst fears of instability there, largely because some of those brigades of former rebel fighters have still not handed over their weapons. gabriel gatehouse is in tripoli and described how the celebrations were getting underway. >> well, the interim government for the national transitional council says there aren't going to be any official military parades, they say out of respect for those who lost their lives during the revolution. that's known as the brigade of former fighters you were talking there, who still haven't handed in their weapons. i've seen a column of cars, some of them still are anti-aircraft guns we would welded to the back, driving slowly along the highway, honking their horns. things are just getting going now, really. this is a friday, a slow start across the middle east in libya. but i think later on in the day, we'll see quite a lot of celebrating, as we did last night as midnight struck on the 17th of february. lots of fireworks, some shooting in the air, although i

have to say, i was quite impressed by the restraint of how little they were shooting. more fireworks and bullets going up into the sky last night anyway. >> gabriel gatehouse in tripoli. the silent movie star, charlie chaplin, became the subject of a british intelligence investigation after the united states pushed britain for evidence linking him to communism. this all coming out of files released by the u.k.'s national archives, and our security correspondent has been taking a look. >> he was the world's first hollywood superstar. in his silent films, british-born charlie chaplin created an iconic character, still instantly recognizable around the world. so, why did mi5 open a file on him? today that file, running to more than 100 pages, is being made public for the first time. what's clear from here in the national archives is that it was the americans who were

pushing mi5 to investigate charlie chaplin, to find evidence he was a communist. >> if i had my way about it, they'd all be sent back to russia. >> in the early 1950's, anti-communist fever gripped washington with the mccarthy hearings delving into the left-wing sympathies of hollywood. chaplin was alleged to have given money to communist causes back in the 1920's. so, when chaplin arrived in england in 1952, the u.s. announced he'd be banned from returning there. the f.b.i. then asked mi5 to find any evidence proving he was a member of the communist party. >> the british, it's all about, is he a security risk, whether he's a member of the party or not. on top of that, they find no proof he's a security risk. >> it would be many years before charlie chaplin returned to america, but his star never faded. >> a little bit of news from here in london. rupert murdoch has arrived at

his newspaper headquarters in east london, where he's due to address the staff of the "sun" newspaper where, of course, 10 former and current journalists have been facing questions from the police. i want to move on also now to the situation regarding president obama. a private aircraft thought to be carrying marijuana has been intercepted by two american air force fighter planes after it entered the same airspace as a helicopter carrying president obama over california. the two air force fighters were scrambled from a base to the east of los angeles and forced the plane to land. the secret service said the president was never in any danger, and there's no apparent intention to harm him. and let's have another look at the situation in berlin. as i say, chancellor angela merkel is due to pitch up at any moment to deliver her statement after christian wulff, germany's president,

announced his resignation, having lost the confidence and trust of the german people. >> 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 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? >> bbc world news was presented by kcet los angeles.