>> 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.

>> this is "bbc world news." i'm r -- we're bringing you the latest developments in france's presidential election. the fight for france now intensifies after president sarkozy loses the first round to his socialist opponent. he's now forced to woo the numerous voters of the far right. >> welcome to "bbc world news." i'm geeta guru-murthy. also -- breivik wanted to apologize for killing innocent people in his oslo bombing, but offers no apology for the massacre. aung san suu kyi and her party refuse to take their seats in a new burmese parliament. we find out why. an unprecedented act against the south korean government. and how do you put snoring to

bed? we test the top 10 home remedies to see if they really work. >> hello and welcome. the french socialist leader, francois hollande, is in the lead for the presidential race after narrowing beating nicolas sarkozy in the first-round vote. let's go live to paris. >> well, it was a night of drama, and the french are waking up this morning to a very new political landscape, and the gloves are off between nicolas sarkozy, the current french president, and francois hollande, his socialist rival. the two men in two weeks going through to that decisive second round of the presidential election. with the votes now pretty much all counted, this is where the top candidates stand. in first place, the socialist

fran choice hollande with 28.6% of the vote. nicolas sarkozy has 27.1%. the far right leader on a record 18%. the far left on 11.1%. now, these are the numbers from the interior ministry, so we can pretty much rely on those. now, the two candidates have to garner the support of voters for the smaller party. the far left has already promised support at fran choice hollande, and now it's up to nicolas sarkozy to woo the far right. christian fraser reminds us of last night's events as they unfolded. >> 10 presidential candidates, three months of debate, instilled into one moment of pure drama. the provisional results unveiled on primetime television last night sent the supporters of fran choice hollande into wild celebration. the response was more muted at

the camp of nicolas sarkozy, but it could have been worse. the biggest shock of the night was the support for the far right. one in five french people appears to have voted for an end to the euro, close borders and protectionism. the highest score was secured for the far right in any presidential election, and her third place presents a major challenge to the two mainstream candidates. mr. hollande is now bidding to become france's first socialist leader in 17 years. >> the choice is simple, he said, either we continue with the policies that have failed or we rebuild the country with a new president who will unite the republic. it's the first time an incumbent has failed to win a first-round vote since 1968, but mr. sarkozy hardly looks like a man contemplating defeat. he'll start again tomorrow, he said.

for five years i've done this job, and believe me, i am up to the task. there now follows an intense campaign in the runup to the second-round vote. nicolas sarkozy knows that if he's to pull himself up, he needs to start landing punches, which is why he has charged mr. hollande to three televised events. in the days ahead, mr. sarkozy will fight toward leadership and the economy, but he is the most unpopular french president to run for re-election, and he has just two weeks to turn it around. christian fraser, bbc news, paris. >> as christian says, just two weeks t. may seem like a short time to you, butter it can be a very long time indeed in politics. in french history, it shows even if you come first in the first round of a presidential election, it doesn't mean that you necessarily come first in that decisive second round. so what is exactly going to happen? i'm joined by a socialist

m.e.p. the socialists, huge scenes of jubilation last night. are you going to do it? >> well, definitely we need to do it, because this is what is the solution for france, but also for u.k. and for europe. i have no doubt about it. >> how can you say that? there's a lot of concern in the international markets amongst the politicians elsewhere in europe that a socialist president will just complicate things in difficult economic times. >> this is, this is surprising, because first, look at what nicolas sarkozy has been doing for five years. obviously he didn't do it. now look at all the signals coming out from the i.m.f. and so on, arguing even the "financial times" arguing this is not making it. and third, look at french history. as you mentioned in the beginning, each time the country has been in a desperate situation, it's the left who has fixed the situation. that was true in 1981.

that was also true in 1997. >> >> well, it's all very well a promise to fix the situation, but how are you going to fix it? a lot of french voters have complained that neither sarkozy or hollande are really coming to grips are how they're going to balance the budget and improve the economy. you can speak of growth, but how are you going to create it? >> first restore confidence in the driver and its capacity to also -- an alternative to change. this is exactly what one campaigner for hollande has been since the beginning. he has stuck to his engagement, which are very balanced, on the one side for fiscal discipline, but on the other side to allow fiscal discipline and job creation. >> he wants to renegotiate that very difficult fiscal european pact. he wants to open up that

pandora's box. >> well, where's the pandora's box? tell me what's been fixed by the couple since it's burst. is the situation in spain better? no. definitely we need another policy once more for france, but also for europe. >> thank you very much indeed. the socialists, of course, feeling absolutely buoyant after their election win last night, but nicolas sarkozy is going to be driving home the message that he alone in this race has experience in national politics. that's something that francois hollande cannot boast. back to you. >> some of the rain has started to falling. more from france throughout the day. other news now -- the man accused of committing the worst attacks in norway's modern history has begun giving a fifth day of evidence at his trial in oslo. anders behring breivik has

already admitted carrying out the attacks that left 7 people dead last july. the norwegian court is to decide whether breivik was sane at the time of the attacks. we're live outside the court in oslo. our reporter has given a -- he has given a partial apology of sorts, hasn't he? >> this is the first time we've heard an apology from breivik. he apologized to victims and injured in the bomb blast, which he started his twin attacks with here in option low on the 22nd of july last year. but not to those he defines as his own enemies, but what he called innocent bystanders. but he has not apologized, and indeed, he has said he was not sorry for any of those he killed or any of those he injured who he deemed to be legitimate targets, in his own words, i.e., people affiliated with the labour government.

>> he's been inside earlier today, or spoke ton those, can you give us a sense of the mood inside the court at the start of the second week? >> well, the mood is, of course, very somber after friday's evidence, which was very harrowing in which breivik , step by step, told the prosecution how he carried out the killings on the utoeya island, where he killed 69 people. just a few minutes ago, some of the survivors who are in the courtroom behind me here where he's being questioned now have actually moved from the back rows to the front rows to see clearer and hear clearer what he's telling prosecution. some others have left the courtroom. this has been going on for a few days now, but some survivors find it too traumatic to be in there while he's giving evidence. they leave, and then they come

back. >> i'm just looking at richard galpin's comments saying he would have carried this atrocity out again, even though 40% of the people were under 18 years old. this is the sort of line we've been hearing. how is this case going to unfold now over the remaining eight or nine weeks or so? >> that's right. he has shown no remorse, and he dwibes his own enemies, what's going to happen after today is that we'll have some technical evidence tomorrow, on tuesday, about the bomb attack here in oslo, and then we also start hearing some of the post mortem evidence from the victims from that bombing. on wednesday, breivik might be called to the fund again to talk more about how he assesses himself t. of course, his psychiatric state is central to this case, and the court at the end of it will have to decide whether he is sane, in which case he could be sentenced to prison, or whether he's insane,

in which case he will be going to a psychiatric ward. >> ok. thanks very much indeed. just to let you know, the european union has confirmed it will suspend most of its sanctions against burma for a year in recognition of the reforms that have been carried out. this is under the military-led government. the decision will go into effect later this week. it was widely tabled last week, and it is seen as being a balance of rewarding a shift in government and the opening up in the governing process in burma, while still retaining some pressure. more from burma a little later in this program. let's catch up now with all the business. aaron is here. netherlands in trouble. >> yeah, absolutely. this is a very interesting development, very risky development for the wider eurozone. let me try and explain. the prime minister of the netherlands and his

administration last the majority in parliament over the weekend after talks collapsed. these talks have been going on for some weeks. the talks are all to do with trying to cut around 16 billion euros from the annual budget. the prime minister and his administration were proposing things like increasing sales tax, cutting and freezing public servant pay, etc., but the parties just could not agree. now, this is what it means. it could mean that he may even resign. that would mean an election later in the year. that would just add uncertainty to the picture. got to remind everybody, we're talking about a very stable eurozone partner, the netherlands, one of the core of the eurozone and one of only four countries left in the eurozone that holds on to its a.a.a. credit rating. that could be now in jeopardy. we know the dutch borrowing costs are on the rise, but the bigger picture for the eurozone say, here's the worry. if this had a can happen to the netherlands, it will be very difficult for other politicians in other stable eurozone economies to push through these

type of cuts and convince voters that they must do it to meet these e.u. targets. >> and we've had official confirmation that spain is now back in recession technically. >> surprise, surprise. i mean, it's a very sad picture, but yep, we just heard from the spain central bank that spain's economy fell .4%. now, in the last few months of last year, the fourth quarter, it also shrank. so technically, they are back in a recession. as i say, it's not a surprise. there's a monumental task in front of us, 23% unemployment, highest in the industrialized world. billion upon billion of euros in debt. the the other peripheral economies are watching very closely. i'll have more in 20 minutes' time. >> you're watching "bbc world news." still to come -- these troops seem to be engaged in all-out war. sudanese aircraft launch a fresh bombing raid on south

sudan a day after the south withdrew from a disputed border region. an incredible artistic marathon begins today. all 37 shakespeare plays will be performed at london's globe theatre in some 37 languages. >> it is, of course, the famous line -- to be or not to be, in finnish, romanian, somali. >> today has been the first day of shakespeare has been translated to somali ever. >> and you did it? a yeah! me of all people. i'm feeling really happy about that. >> 70 productions, a million tickets, shakespeare has traveled far. but it's not just the fact that so many countries do shakespeare. it's the fact that shakespeare means so many different things around the world.

this man is lithuania's biggest rock star. he's also been playing hamlet for 15 years. and here, shakespeare is a symbol of freedom because of the soviet era, that were hidden extras in the play. >> there were always little secret messages from the artist to the audience, and somehow there's no need for that now, because you can openly say what you want to say. it's more entertainment now. >> in armenia, it goes even further. you go into the countryside in armenia, you find people that are called shakespeare. that's their first name, because he's kind of a jairo. -- a hero. the most famous footballer's middle name is hamlet. >> south sudan, zimbabwe, the first shakespeare.

and here, the prince of denmark in danish. >> this is "bbc world news." i'm geeta guru-murthy. the headlines -- the battle for france's leadership heats up after president sarkozy loses the first-round elections to a socialist rival. and anders behring breivik tells a court he wanted to apologize for killing innocent people in his oslo bombing, but offers no similar apology for the utoeya massacre. >> coming up in sport today -- the jail sentence for fans involved in disturbances. the players were forced to remove their by angry supporters. >> the destination of this year's english premier league title could come down to next monday's match between manchester city and united.

and it's bahrain, as the driver wins his first grand prix of the season. that's all coming up in around half an hour's time. >> more now on burma. we have heard that e. diplomats have agreed to suspend sanctions against the country, but they will keep an arms embargo in place. the measure has been formally adopted by the foreign ministers, and the foreign policy chief is saying she wants them to support the country and the progress made that it becomes irreversible. she is going to go to burma this week. meanwhile, aung san suu kyi and her fellow pro-democracy m.p.'s have refused to attend the opening session of parliament. they object to the wording of the oath of office, which commits them to safeguarding the constitution drafted by the former military government. rachel harvey, our correspondent, is following all the events from thailand. >> it's already been brewing for some days, but they flag up

in advance that it wasn't prepared to take its seat in parliament. both the national and state parliament unless the wording of this was changed. they have written to the parliament. they've written to the president. they've been to the constitutional tribunal, but so far with no success. the president, who's on a visit to japan, has today told reporters that he's not going to weigh in and try and change this oath, and it's not at all clear he has the authority to do so anyway, because in the burmese political system, there is a strict separation of the legislative and executive branches. so, if he can't do it, if the constitutional tribunal has said that it's not prepared to do it, then presumably that only leaves parliament itself to be able to vote for some kind of amendment to change this oath. but not at all clear they might wish to do so. so, we've got this impasse at the moment. the m.l.b. says it's still confident this will get sorted out in a matter of days, but when and how is still an open question. >> rachel harvey. north korea has warned it will

soon launch what it calls an unprecedented act against the south korean government. a statement carried by the state news agency gave detailed information about an attack it said was soon carry out. this was also screened, showing north korean soldiers shouting the words "kill" and attacking of gees of the south korean president. pyongyang says that the north was recently insulted over kim ill sun's 100th birthday. lucy williamson says the latest warning shows a significant ramping up of the rhetoric from pyongyang. >> threats against south korea by the north are nothing new, but they're rayly as detailed or specific as this one. the latest warning says that north korea's special operations unit will launch an unprecedented action against the south, reducing its target to ashes in three to four minutes. it directly names the south korean president, a defense minister, and also the

country's conservative broadcasters, which the north accuses of obstructing fair-minded public opinion. the statement doesn't say what the action might entail, but north korea's rhetoric has been getting sharper this month, ever since it was widely criticized for breaking its ban on ballistic missile launches. lucy williamson, seoul. >> explosions at a chemical plant in western japan have killed one worker and injured 17, including nearby residents. the blast happened in yamaguchi prefecture. the cause of the blast is being investigated. the controversial formula one grand prix in bahrain has finished without any major incident. heavy security forces had been on standby amid fears that anti-government protestsers would disrupt the event. the crown prince said the race is aimed at uniting the community. the man who was arrested after disrupting the annual oxford-cambridge boat race two weeks ago has been charged with

causing a public nuisance. the race had to be restarted after a 35-year-old man dived into the river thames and disrupted that race. he said that he was taking a stand against elitism. sudanese aircraft has launched a fresh bombing raid on south sudan, a day after the south completed its military withdrawal from a disputed border region. at least one person was killed and several injured in the attack in the oil-rich border state of unity. south sudan and sudan are said to be edging closer to all-out war in their disputed border after the south withdrew from the oil-producing region of heglig. >> the latest is that the hospital is saying that there are 10 people who have been injured, three of them children. we were crossing the bridge from an area to bentiu which

two fighter jets came. we were on the ground, lying on the ground, listening to anti-aircraft fire, and we heard two bombs drop, one which was about 50 meters from us, which we think was targeting a bridge. there were two bombs that fell near the bridge. and then there was a large plume of gray smoke in the distance. we drove towards it, and there was another bomb that had fallen on a market, where three stores have been completely destroyed, and the charred body of a young boy was brought out. the army and the hospital are saying that they are both sending teams to what they said was three bomb sites, four bombs in all, to try and find out whether there were more people that were killed, that they suspect that more people were burned in the shops and the markets where the bombs fell. >> how close is this situation to all-out war? >> well, the army is saying

that serious escalation, they're also calling it a provocation by sudan to try to draw them back to the war. they have said they are not going to attack. they are not going to advance towards heglig at the moment, but the mood is very tense, and the mood on the street is also extremely tense. we have to leave the market because people were extremely angry. they thought that we were from the u.n. and they are very angry that the u.n. -- they think the u.n. made south sudan pull out their troops from heglig, and now they are seeing an attack on their town. so there is a lot of resentment here about south sudan's decision to pull out. >> hannah there. now, it's an unpleasant bedtime partner, someone snoring. now a british survey of 2,000 people tried out the top 10 old wives' remedy for stopping it. >> my name is belinda.

and i snore. i have a list here from the national snoring association of some amazing remedies that are supposed to somehow help people with snoring, and we're going to have a go and try them out. eating horseradish. disgusting! didn't work. phonetic exercises. ♪ ah ♪ quite fun, but actually didn't work. water under the bed. totally pointless. gargling with garlic.

kind of disgusting, but didn't work. sleeping without pillows. just uncomfortable. right, no, didn't work. rub tooth past under the nostrils of snorer. might have worked for prince charles, but sadly, it didn't work for me. sucking a dummy. felt like an idiot, didn't work. nothing worked at all. and i suppose i'll just have to continue to snore. >> brave lady. much more, of course, at the website, bbc.com/news.

>> 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.