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>> europe and becker is over the greek bailout. italy pushes for a deal, but germany refuses to budge until austerity measures are put in place. omar al-bashir is to clear the outright winner in sudanese elections. and the british ambassador in yemen survives as suicide attack on his convoy. the government blames the al- qaeda. welcome to "bbc world news," broadcast to our viewers on pbs in america, also around the globe. coming up later for you -- with just 10 days until the general election, we hear from some of the most marginal seats in britain. and forgotten victims of world war ii -- egyptian veterans living among the mines. -- egyptian bedouins living among the mines.

pressure -- pressure is mounting to seal the deal and bail out breeze before it puts more pressure on the stability of the year wrote zone -- euro zone. german says it is committed to offering -- germany says it is committed to offering a helping hand, but only once austerity measures are in place. we have this from steven rosenberg. >> ah, those were the days, when europe had something to celebrate. fireworks greeted the birth of the euro, the common currency that was supposed to forge a european unity. they celebrate in athens. they celebrated in berlin. but they are not celebrating now. the greek debt crisis has not

only sealed bthe euro, but it has highlighted how divided europe is. the front pages told the story. the german government is not rushing to the rescue. later, angela merkel explained the german government was prepared to offer a helping hand, but only once degrees amends its ways. >> germany will help when conditions have been met. it is only if this program is effective and long-term that we have a chance to -- germany feels a huge responsibility for the stability of the euro and will contribute. it is not possible increase does not do its part. -- if greece does not do its part. >> this is one reason for the delay in the bailout package.

this is westphalia, the heart of germany's industrial center. it goes to the polls soon. mrs. merkel is less than keen to sign a check until after the election. as european union foreign ministers met in luxembourg, there was criticism of germany. berlin is accused of intransigence. and in greece, the cost of borrowing has reached record levels. there was disappointment. >> as we are members of the e.u., it stands to reason the germans should help us out. if there is a problem in the family, you help, do you not? that is how i see it. >> this growing concern that the problems of greece could spread to other members of the european union family -- portugal, spain,

the ireland. that is germany's worst ireland. -- that is germany's worst nightmare. >> the president of sudan, omar al-bashir, has been declared the winner of the presidential election. the first multi-party poll in 20 years. there were widespread allegations of vote rigging. in the south, salva kiir 1. my colleagues report. >> reading the results of the election -- a formality. there was never any doubt who would win the presidential race. >> omar al-bashir. quest -- >> as expected, the president who came to power in a bloodless coup in 1989 when the first multi-party elections in a quarter of a century. he won with 68% of the vote

feet. the toll might have been higher, -- if his opponent had not withdrawn. the people's liberation movement leader was reelected with a massive 98% of the majority. there have always been allegations of voter irregularities. though he is also the first vice president, salva kiir's did not contest the elections in the rest of the country because they believe the poll is not unfair. salva kiir disputed assertions that his candidate withdrew to give president bashir a clear run. >> we do not have a deal with the party of bashir. so, we -- it was our own

decision to pull out. >> since the election earlier this month, this picture emerged, evidence critics say of irregularities in the voting process. international authorities say that the poll did not meet international standards but they have stopped short of calling the results invalid. in the eyes of omar al-bashir, the elections and was -- elections have validated the hold on power. the question is how the international community will respond. >> israeli forces have killed a senior hamas militants in a raid on a house in the palestinian west bank. witnesses say he was carried out of the badly-damaged building at the end of the operation. he had been wanted for six years by the israelis in connection with the killing of a border guard.

a sandstorm continued to pummel northwestern china. the thick yellow dust -- beat san storm delayed flights and delivering relief supplies to areas trying to recover from earthquake that hit on april 14. memo noriega is being extradited to france. noriega ruled panama until he was deposed and arrested by u.s. forces in 1990. his attorneys unsuccessfully argued he must be sent back to panama. britain's ambassador to yemen escaped unharmed after a suicide bomber blew himself up in the capital city. he was traveling to work in an armored car when the attack took place.

the government blames al-qaeda for the blast. >> the investigation, which has already started, will need to establish how the suicide bomber manage to be in the right place at the right time to try to kill the british ambassador. this protection team includes yemini as well as british -- yemeni as well as british bodyguards. this was a display by yemeni security forces in january, just after al-qaeda claimed they would destroy an american airliner over detroit. these men were trained by american and british advisers. >> yemen is isolated, but it has serious problems.

the government says more serious problems and the threat of al- qaeda. there is a separatist movement in the south, and water is running out while the population expands. yemen is a complex tribal society. trying to improve its peoples hard lives might be the best way of thwarting al-qaeda recruiters. >> it is going to backfire in yemen. yes, you may be able to get rid of the al-qaeda leadership, but at what cost? you turn the entire population against you. that will undermine other projects better of much greater significance in the long term. >> yemen is not a failed state, but it might become one. is a place where the local version of al-qaeda is able to operate, so it will stay high on the list of security headaches and the assassination attempt means western embassies -- such as britain's -- are likely to

look even more like fortresses. bbc news. >> now, 10 days to go until the u.k. votes and a general election, and it will not change parliament and assemblies in scotland, wales, and northern ireland. it was the labour government that delivered on promises for devolved government. but 13 years on,labou supportr in south wales -- 13 years on, labour support, in south wales appears to be eroding. >> voting for labour runs in the family. they are lifetime supporters. but opinions have changed. >> there was a generation where you were welch and you had

certain values. -- welsh and you have certain values. ec the apathy. it has all changed. >> the elections in wales has been poor, and they have been forced to share power in the national assembly. >> and the only reason people will look at their security is because they are fed up with voting labour. >> how about conservative? >> i could vote conservative, but -- >> the norman invasion made it this far to south wales, but no further, and democrats support means marching on into labour territory will not be easy for

the tories. the object is not only to capture states like this one, but your march further to territories held by labour for decades. at the local labour club, they expect support tuesday solid. >> i am quite angry. >> this is the election where we say to people -- it is time to come home to labour. >> ready to move away from tradition. and wales like never before -- every vote will count. >> the opinion polls are suggesting overall -- the attention is now being focused on at the voting system. the liberal democrats have traditionally been the third party, but as our correspondent explains, while they may need to

win more votes, that will not necessarily mean more seats in parliament. >> a huge issue is how difficult the liberal democrats find it to convert votes into mp's. here is on a map from the last general election in 2005. conservative and the blue, labor in red, liberal democrats in orange, and so on. you see the individual constituencies. in each seat, there is a battle for first place. what the liberal democrats find as they can pileup votes, but not necessarily get the mp's. will show you exactly what i mean. let's have a look at the last general election results. so, you see tony blair's labour winning. the conservatives have 32%. in third place with just over 1/5 of the vote, the liberal

democrats with 23%. just over a fifth of the vote. who would have guessed? this is the result binding mp 's. -- this is the result in the mp's. the liberal democrats -- less than 62 mp's. 10% in the house of commons. let's look at why this happens. let's go back to the map here. what works for the other parties is concentration. the conservatives concentrating in the vote in the south. labour very strong in the urban heartlands, manchester, liverpool. ok, they're strong in the southwest, but they could surge all over these constituencies here and get into second place. in our system, at second place is nowhere. it does not when you a seat. the danger for the dems is

without concentrating the surge in particular parts of the country, they do well in votes, but not so well in terms of mp's in the house of commons, which is where it counts. >> you were watching "bbc world news." still to come -- facing the future with confidence. the 12-year-old advocate of serbian liberalism. they are called the ladies in white, a group of wives of political prisoners in cuba. for years they have staged weekly marches in the capital of havana. on sunday there were blocked and taunted by government supporters and finally led away to a police bus. from havana, we have the story. >> this was meant to be a day for the cuban government to demonstrate its democratic credentials, with a massive turnout at the polls for a nationwide municipal elections. instead, it turned into a stark

reminder of what happens to those who oppose the system. when the ladies in white, a group of political prisoners' wives, tried to hold their weekly protest march, there were confronted with angry government supporters. they now needed permission to march. they were pushed off the streets into a nearby park. for the next seven hours they were forced to stand facing the revolutionary chants, insults, and sexual taunts. >> i think that the government is desperate. so many people, mainly men, -- confronting mainly women. is against human rights. it is against our principles. >> there is still very much sympathy for their cause.

but the intimidation and violence is seriously damaging. >> the cuban authorities deny there are political prisoners, calling them mercenaries paid by the united states to undermine the system. president castro recently accused the west of launching a campaign to discredit cuba by promoting such incidents. michael voss, bbc news, havana. >> this is "bbc world news." the top stories so far -- europe bickers over the greek bailout. germany refuses to budge until strict austerity measures are put in place. and omar al-bashir has been declared the winner of the elections in sudan despite facing war crimes charges. serbia is a country where nationalism still runs deep. there is public support for nato

membership. but the minority has a vocal new advocate, a 12-year-old boy. -- there is not public support for nato membership. our belgrade correspondent has the story. >> the author inspects his work. he may be just 12 years old, but he has published his first book on u.s. presidents. but it is his blogs call in for serbia to join the european union and nato that have not gone down well with internationalist's here. he has received violent threats. -- that have not gone down well with nationalists here. >> i am fighting for its human- rights. i have received many threats, even some death threats. i do not care.

i will just continue fighting for civil rights and democracy in this country. >> and-western sentiment is easy to find any street -- anti- western sentiment is easy to find on the streets of belgrade. one liberal keen to move on for the past, the others still fiercely -- the others still fiercely nationalistic. >> the nationalist groups are most visible, there anchor stoked by the west -- there anger step by the west. they say serbs supporting the west are traitors after nato bombed their country during the war in kosovo. >> i hope because he is their young there is enough time for him -- because he is very young, there's enough time for him to understand he is very wrong. there is time for him to come

out better people, a better serb, a better christian, a better person. >> he has his math homework to finish, supervised by his mother. in his life has an unusual shape indeed. bbc news. >> the leader of poland's opposition party, jaroslaw kaczynski, says he will run in the presidential election in june. the poll was called on his twin brother lech died in a plane crash in russia earlier this month. his main rival will be the acting president. the king of belgium has accepted the resignation of the prime minister after failing to resolve disputes between dutch and french speaking members of parliament. the vatican says the pope's visit to britain will not be affected by the disclosure of a

foreign office memo that appeared to mock the catholic church. the document suggested britain should mark the visit by asking the pope to open at an abortion clinic, bless the marriage, and launch a line of condoms. >> october 1942 saw a panicles struggle of world work ii. the british eighth army defeated egyptian and italian forces. today unexploded mines and shells still peppered the land and in the area, and it is the bedouin living there that deal with the consequences. >> the british army called it "the devil's garden." of vast stretch of the samara peppered with mines and booby traps. -- a vast stretch of the sahara. >> at this farmer lost his leg while grazing his sheep.

he stepped on a mine buried beneath the sand. world war ii is still taking its toll here. this year there has been one fatality and four serious injuries. in october 1942, it was the stage for a decisive battle in the north african campaign. the british eighth army under the command of general left in its general montgomery faced with a field marshal rommel. -- faced off against field marshall rommel. so intense was the fighting, they estimate some 16 million unexploded devices remain on this battlefield stretching from the devil's garden to the border with libya. since then, the mines and munitions have shifted in the sand. there are no accurate maps available.

the bravery of the men who died on this battlefield will forever be remembered in three cemeteries. but it is those and were still being injured today by unexploded munitions to are the forgotten victims of this war. no proper record has been kept up how many bedouin have been maimed or killed since 1942, but the number is likely to stretch into the thousands. today, musicians are scattered across 2.5000 square kilometers of desert. often in fields where children play. she was a keen it footballer until she kicked what she thought was a tin can. it blew her foot off. >> i am sad. i cannot play with the other children anymore. >> of course, it has destroyed

our lives. it is the british must be held responsible year. they brought the war to eject. >> but the explosive that removed her foot could have been of italian or german origin, and there is the complication for any future legal claim. the bed when say there have been chronic -- there has been chronic underreporting of these incidents over the years. an expert on mine clearance is building a case, door-to-door, while at the same time raising awareness. >> when will it be finished? it is dangerous for us. we want to carry on our live. it is our right -- we want to carry on our life.

>> the group has already approached the british government and prince andrew during his recent visit. the next step, they say, is the courts. in response the british government give is the statement. "united kingdom contributes $15 million a year globally to this problem, support directed -- to this problem. support is directed at countries that have participated in the ottawa convention. so far egypt has refused to sign up." >> for the allies, it was a victory that turned the tide of war. but the lasting legacy for the bedouin is cruel and never ending, and from one generation to the next, their battle goes on. bbc news. >> bbc world news.

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