>> "bbc world news" is presented by kcet, los angeles. funding for this presentation is made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, and union bank. >> union bank has put its global expertise to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> and now "bbc world news." the great debate.

in what could be the run-up to the election campaign, three party leaders go head-to-head. it is officially a disaster, an oil rig in the gulf of mexico spews five times more oil into the gulf of mexico than previously thought. rioting in greece as details are hammered out on a rescue plan. welcome to "bbc world news," broadcast on pbs in america and around the globe. coming up later, the world comes to shanghai. and look at the future ahead of this expo. he says he has not eaten in 74 years. doctors try to find out if this could be true.

in britain, the final and probably most combative debate of the current election campaign has just taken place. the three main party leaders clashed over immigration, the state of the economy, and bonuses. many solid as the primer to the campaign before voters go to the polls next week. i>> one last debate, one more week, one final chance to speak directly to millions of voters who have yet to make up their minds. the first question asked for more detail on how they would cut spending. gordon brown attacked, warning his plans would shrink the economy. again and again that tory leader refused to engage, climbing this is desperate -- claiming this was desperate stuff from a desperate man. about what david would do is take 6 million pounds of the economy and put our economy at risk.

david, you just have it wrong economically and is the same mistake conservatives have made, the same old conservative party of the 1930's to the 1980's to the 1990's. >> every business leader says we have it right and the government is wasting money. let me tell you where i think we should start. we should start out with -- sheep we should start with welfare. there are people who could work who will train for work that we should say in our country, if you don't accept or, you cannot go on to get benefits. >> we are not going to be able to fill the black hole in our public finances unless we do it with fairness. people are not going to accept these difficult decisions unless we do it fairly. the difficult job of actually filling the structural deficit, we also need to introduce a big

tax break for people on ordinary incomes, low incomes, a big tax break back in their pockets so they did not pay income tax on the first 10,000 pounds earned. >> then the issue that ignited yesterday on the streets and ignited this debate, immigration. >> our politicians aware they have become removed from the concerns of the real people, especially on emigration, and why don't you remember -- especially on immigration, and why don't you remember? >> the reason i want to be in politics is to create jobs. when it comes to immigration, i want a situation where we increase the number of jobs as we lower the number of people coming into this country. that is why we have banned on skilled workers from outside of europe from coming into. -- unskilled workers from outside of europe from coming into britain. >> they chose not to address

the question directly but to attack each other's emigration policies. >> this is an important issue and people need to know what our in our manifestoes. people need to know that the liberal democrats have opposed amnesty for illegal democrats. that could mean 600,000 people who are here illegally would actually be allowed to stay here and given full citizenship. >> what i am saying is there is a layer of illegal -- >> give us the number. >> we have to deal with it. can you tell me, am i right or wrong, 80% of people who come here come from the european union and your path would make no difference? >> we should have transitional controls. >> yes or no? 80% come from the european union and would not be affected? >> it is affected by having transitions. >> so the question which

mainstream politicians have so long avoided arguing about in public exploded in this election. the final debate is now over, another week of electioneering has yet to come. many people have a decision to take. we go now live to our correspondent. now that they have done their part and the spin doctors are working, what are we saying? >> i heard somebody described as the spin cycle. both of the polls seem to have david cameron as the winner, by a large margin. he seems to have had a good night. gordon brown in third place in the polls. although he did put in it a good

performance than the other debates, the question is will it be enough to help him get the comeback that he needs in the final week of this election campaign? >> this was perhaps the most confrontational of all the debates we have seen, perhaps a reflection of how close the race is? >> yes, i think you could see in some of the language of the different leaders is getting quite tense, this race. we had david cameron describe gordon brown as a desperate man for desperate times. you could see from the rhetoric there there is a sense that this races on and it is so close, and gordon brown needs to break through in the next few days. >> give us a sense of what will happen over the next few days. presumably, this is the final war when the run around the country for the leaders? -- this is the final whirlwind run around the country for the leaders?

>> there is a bank holiday, but the politicians are not stopping. they will continue to campaign right up until polling day and there is a sense that the race is so close that many people expected to end with a hung parliament, with no one party having the overall majority, but it remains to be seen. we will have to look at the polls that come out. david cameron's performance tonight possibly help him push ahead of the liberal democratic leader who did so well in the first debate. >> busy day ahead for many people. many thanks. it is now officially a disaster, a state of emergency declared in louisiana after the beep the oil rig in the gulf of mexico oil slick could reach the coastline as early as friday. some are predicting an environmental catastrophe. andy gallagher reports. >> it has been over a week since

the deepwater horizon at oil rig exploded and sank below the waves and thousands of gallons of oil are still pulling out with no end in sight. experts say this has the potential to become america's biggest in farming bill disaster, making the exxon valdez tanker spill pale in comparison. only a quarter of local marine life survived that spill. the oil slick has changed in size and growth considerably over the past few days. it now stands over one-half miles at its longest, 40 miles at its widest, all the time steadily heading towards the shore line -- it now stands over 100 miles at its longest, 40 miles at its widest. it was initially thought 1,000 barrels of oil per day were being lost. a third leak was discovered today and estimate has jumped to 5,000 barrels per day, enough to fill up an average family car 10,000 times. >> we are fighting this in three different ways. the first is it we are using

skimmers. the second is we are using dispersant, put down by aircraft. yesterday, we tried a new technique which is burning. >> the u.s. military has joined the effort to control the spill. they're trying to stem the flow of oil using underwater robots but it may take weeks if not months. burning off the surface oil may just delay the inevitable. forecasters say a new weather front could push the oil slick faster toward the coast than previously thought. there's still no real plan in place to stop the oil. this delicate coastline and the waters around it sustains some of america's most important and ecosystems. the livelihoods of thousands are also now at risk. andy gallagher, bbc news. violent clashes between angry protesters and police outside of the finance ministry in athens. the police fired tear gas.

the unrest follows further warnings from the greek prime minister the country must make deep spending cuts to secure international loans. unions do not accept that and are doing all they can to pressure the leader to change his mind. >> anger over the economic crisis has turned into violence. a parts of protesters took to the streets of the greek capitol thursday -- hundreds of protesters took to the streets of the greek capitol thursday as they attempt to march to the minister of finance. the crowd was protesting austerity measures proposed by the prime minister. they include cuts in wages and pensions, a rise in income tax and sales tax. the unions have responded by calling a general strike. >> lenders are not only pressuring us, they are blackmailing us. this is a very difficult package of measures, measures that will

cause recession. >> meantime, the government has to work out how to repay its next debt. it has agreed in principle to borrow 45 billion euros from the imf and european union, but uncertainty over the deal has caused alarm on the markets. european union once the matter settled as soon as possible. -- european union wants the matter settled as soon as possible. >> we want this for every member state to safeguard the system in europe and globally which is important for our economic recovery. >> images of the latest violence in athens are likely to cause alarm on the financial markets. they have already fallen sharply around europe on warnings that greece may not be able to pay backed its enormous debt.

the american defense department says less than a quarter of afghan regions seen as fundamental to winning the u.s. military campaign against taliban support the government of president hamid karzai. the report by the pentagon blames government corruption and lack of efficiency. the security has improved in some areas, the report is the taliban has enough money, weapons, and recruits to expand into the north and west of afghanistan this summer. a computer hacker obtained passports and lock and the tells of 1.5 million users of the social networking -- the passwords and lock in details of 1.5 million users of facebook. it is feared this information could be used for crime, including identity theft. the european court of justice has ruled that the wives of suspected terrorists in the case should not face restrictions on benefits.

-- the lives of suspected terrorists in the u.k. should not face restrictions on benefits. belgium has moved a step closer to becoming the first european country to ban it islamic full face veils such as the burka. the lower house of the belgian parliament voted unanimously in favor of the law that would outlaw clothing that obscures somebody's identity. it has no binding power over the lower house of parliament. the head of the vote, one mp explain why he believes the law is necessary. >> it is a problem, and a problem for the muslims as well. there is secrecy, and security, and there is it -- in security, and there are a lot of accusations. people believe that all moslems are radicals and they are all

associated with those radical muslims. if we stop the use of the veil, that accusation won't be necessary or they won't be able to make that association. >> observers say the primary target of muslim women who wear the full veil in belgium. opponents say it bridges the women's rights to practice their religion. -- opponents say it preaches the women's rights to practice their religion. >> if you are not a threat to anyone, there is nothing wrong with wearing and showing who you are. it is the society we live in. we should respect each other's religions and culture. at that you are watching "bbc world news." funerals for 46 south korean soldiers after explosion that sent their warship that is still unexplained.

-- that sank their warship and a still unexplained. there have been calls for improved security at schools in china after spate of copycat stabbings. nearly 30 children and three adults were injured in the latest attacked. the man armed with a knife went on a rampage at a kindergarten, the third attack in just a month. >> a kindergarten is meant to be a place where children can play and learn, but the children at this school had a day of mourning turned into a day of horror when a man came in armed with a knife. first he stabbed a security guard who tried to stop him. then he went on to attack dozens of children and kill their teachers. >> it was too horrible to imagine. i saw blood everywhere, kids

bleeding from their heads. some of them could not open their eyes because of the blood. it was horrible. mi5 children are fighting for their lives in hospitals -- >> five children are fighting for their lives in hospitals. their relatives hope for the best. >> i don't know what i can do. the hospital is not giving me any information about my grandson. i hope he makes it. the hospital will not tell me if he is out of danger. >> back in the schoolyard, terrible reminders of the terror that has shocked many chinese. the alleged attacker is thought to be an unemployed middle-aged local man. nobody knows why he went on the rampage. experts believe he was a copycat, inspired by two similar attacks in the past month. whatever the motivation, the innocence of these kindergarten pupils has been irreparably shattered.

this is "bbc world news." three party leaders in britain's election have gone head-to-head for a final debate before polling days. the u.s. government has declared the oil spill in the gulf of mexico a national priority. thousands of south koreans attended the funeral of 46 sailors killed when their ship was blown apart and sank last month. speculation surrounds the sinking, but the north has categorically denied any involvement. >> the loss of the warship was a south korean military disaster. today, it was the deep personal tragedy on display.

the funeral service for the 46 sailors was held at south korea's second fleet command, the home port of the ship. among their naval colleagues, grief is mixed with a growing sense of suspicion. "we will track down those responsible and make them pay the larger price," the chief of naval operations said. the ship is being examined by an international team of experts. so far, they have found strong evidence of an underwater, non- cash attacked -- noncontact explosion, which has led some to suggest the ship might have been hit by a torpedo. this archive footage of an australian navy weapons test shows the damage a torpedo can do when designed to cause a non contact explosion, detonating a few feet away from hull. but as the 46 sailors are laid

to rest, there are still more questions than answers. despite the growing suspicions, there is still no direct proof of north korean involvement, no fragments of any weapons found close to the site of the wreckage. some analysts suggest there may still be a benign explanation. the ship could have, for example, simply hit an unexploded mine left over from the korean war. if proof of north korean involvement is found, then national grief could turn to anger and a south korean government may be forced to respond. the challenge, then, would be to do so without provoking a further dangerous military escalation. it is billed as one of the world's greatest world fairs ever in the chinese city of

shanghai. two years after the olympic games, it is a new opportunity for china to shine in the eyes of the world. security has been stepped up for the event. >> showing off what is best about countries. these are the national pavilions built for the expo in shanghai. almost no one dares to turn down china's invitation to take part in this event that celebrates each country's culture, technology, and style. >> we are bringing it on a journey. >> a diplomat shows me at around the australian pavilion. it may look like a museum, but this is a serious effort to win over friends. >> imagine the message that would send to the chinese. the relationship between china and australia is very, very

important, and we need to continue and grow and expand the relationship. >> the displays are bilingual. the australians hope she will make the attraction more accessible to ordinary chinese. >> it is a chance to see a different world. they are trying their best to show the best in their country. >> the millions of expected expo visitors are all potential customers. that is an opportunity nobody wants to ignore. these pavilions are evidence of china's growing importance. they show how hard other countries are trying to impress the chinese. that is an idea the authorities here are happy to demonstrate to their own people. the police seize this activist's computers in the middle of the night. he tried to set up an

alternative online expo, highlighting miscarriages of justice. now he is under guard. >> the shanghai authorities are very nervous about the expo. they promised it will go ahead without a hitch. they are under a lot of pressure. that is why they have taken extreme measures against people like me. >> six months, 70 million visitors. there is a lot that can go wrong, which is why they're trying their best to make sure everyone toes the line. the team of doctors and western india are carrying out a study on a hermit who claims to have survived without food and water for 70 years. our correspondent reports from deli on this medical mystery. -- reports from delhi. >> this is a holy man of the

chain failed to claims to have survived without food or water -- this is a holy man of the jane at faith, who claims to survive without food or water for 70 years. doctors admit they are baffled. >> we are all watching medical science. he has not drank a little drop of any liquid, but more importantly, he has not eaten anything. >> it has come to the attention of the indian military establishment, who have placed him under around-the-clock surveillance the next two weeks. they figure if they crack his secret, they can put it to good use.

>> they can look at strategies. for example, with national calamities, in these situations. if people are left in the desert or at high altitude areas. >> he says he relies on meditation and the power of his mind to get energy. although fasting is not unheard of in india, this is a case that is taking on new dimensions. the jane at religion is one of the oldest in the world, and holy men have been described as extraordinary in this part of the country. the distinction between myth and reality can often be blurred. for the first time, is being made to stand up to scientific scrutiny.

it is not a prop advertising a club or restaurant. this 56-year-old driver got his foot stock between the brake pedal accelerator as he tried to move into a parking spot in oklahoma, smashing through a wall. nobody was hurt. the police say several cars on the ground below were damaged by falling debris. the accident drew a large crowd as firefighters worked. you can get your headlines on line with our 1-minute news summaries and bbc.com/news. britain's party leaders have held their third and final televised debate before next thursday's election, clashing over how to fix the struggling economy. all that and more is on our website, bbc.com. >> see the news unfold.

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