Browse content similar to 02/11/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Tonight at Ten: On the eve of the G20 summit the crisis talks are | :00:11. | :00:15. | |
already under way. France and Germany are fighting to save the | :00:15. | :00:18. | |
euro rescue package agreed last week. They've summoned the Greek | :00:18. | :00:22. | |
Prime Minister to explain his decision to hold a referendum. It | :00:22. | :00:26. | |
could be a long night. We are working in a co-ordinated fashion, | :00:26. | :00:31. | |
OK. There's a work to be done, a lot of it, but bear with us. | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
will have the latest where the summit opens officially tomorrow. | :00:35. | :00:40. | |
Also: A new pensions offer to public sector workers. Unions | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
aren't impressed. Ministers say it's the best they'll get. This is | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
a strong set of pension reforms that will give you pensions that | :00:46. | :00:50. | |
are still better than anything available in the private sector. | :00:50. | :00:54. | |
After months of protests in Syria, the regime promises an end to the | :00:54. | :00:58. | |
violent crackdown. The Archbishop breaks his silence | :00:58. | :01:03. | |
on the St Paul's demonstration. He says the protesters do have a case. | :01:03. | :01:07. | |
And David Beckham tells us about his hopes of competing in London | :01:07. | :01:13. | |
2012. We all dream about it, we all think about it. If it happens, then | :01:13. | :01:19. | |
I would be honoured. I will be here with Sportsday later, | :01:19. | :01:23. | |
including the best of the goals from tonight's Champions League | :01:23. | :01:33. | |
:01:33. | :01:46. | ||
matches on a great night for City Good evening. Leaders of the | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
world's richest nations, the G20, are in the south of France for a | :01:50. | :01:52. | |
summit that starts officially tomorrow but crisis talks are | :01:52. | :01:59. | |
already under way. The French and German leaders have summoned the | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
Greek prime minister to explain his decision to hold a referendum on | :02:02. | :02:09. | |
the latest bail-out package. Live to Cannes for the latest with our | :02:09. | :02:14. | |
Europe editor, Gavin Hewitt. Well, the big showdown meeting | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
between the French and German leaders and the Greek Prime | :02:19. | :02:23. | |
Minister is over, tough words were spoken. There was a lot of | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
irritation expressed at the decision to hold a referendum, but | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
there is a huge frustration that essentially everyone's going to | :02:30. | :02:35. | |
have to learn to live with uncertainty until the Greek people | :02:35. | :02:41. | |
have cast their vote. Some of the world's most powerful | :02:41. | :02:46. | |
leaders and officials arrived in Cannes ahead of the G20 summit, but | :02:46. | :02:50. | |
hanging over the meeting the latest crisis in the eurozone. We are | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
going to do a little bit of business here, OK. The French | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
President was playing host, and found himself waiting for ten | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
minutes for the Chinese President, but on his mind was the shock | :03:00. | :03:05. | |
decision by the Greeks to call a referendum on the bail-out plan. It | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
put in jeopardy the entire agreement reached by the EU last | :03:09. | :03:16. | |
week. So, before the summit he and the German Chancellor and European | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
leaders held an emergency meeting. The Greeks would be told there | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
would be no reopening of negotiations. There were also | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
strong hints that Greece might not get its latest tranche of bail-out | :03:28. | :03:33. | |
money until after the referendum. When the Greek Prime Minister, | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
George Papandreou, arrived there was no French President to greet | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
him. Europe's leaders are furious with him. If the tkpraoebg people | :03:41. | :03:45. | |
vote no it could lead to a Greek default with enormous consequences | :03:45. | :03:51. | |
for Europe. The French Prime Minister, Francois Fillon, said | :03:51. | :03:56. | |
Greece had to decide where its future lay. TRANSLATION: | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
The Greeks must understand that Europe cannot spend long weeks | :03:59. | :04:03. | |
waiting for the response they will give at the referendum. The Greeks | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
must thus say quickly and unambiguously whether or not they | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
are choosing to keep their place in the eurozone. | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
Back here in Cannes, George Papandreou is being urged if there | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
is to be a referendum, hold it as quickly as possible, don't wait | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
until the new year. There is also pressure over the question that | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
would be asked, the Greek Government insists the people would | :04:27. | :04:31. | |
simply be asked whether they approved of the bail-out deal. The | :04:31. | :04:34. | |
French, in particular, would much prefer a question that asked the | :04:34. | :04:39. | |
Greeks whether they wanted to remain inside the eurozone, or | :04:39. | :04:44. | |
outside. There are limits to what pressure can do, however, it would | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
now be almost impossible for the Greek Prime Minister to back off | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
holding a vote. The fear is that until the referendum is resolved, | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
there will be uncertainty and that's damaging to the world | :04:55. | :05:02. | |
economy. Well, the Greek Prime Minister, | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
George Papandreou, will leave here, he won't be attending the G20 and | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
on Friday he faces a vote of confidence. It will be very tight, | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
it will be something of a cliff- hanger. If he was to lose that | :05:14. | :05:17. | |
almost certainly would trigger elections and that, of course, | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
would lead to further instability and uncertainty. All of that will | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
be very much on the minds of the G20 leaders when they gather here | :05:25. | :05:33. | |
tomorrow. Thank you very much. | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
The impact of a 'no' vote in any Greek referendum and a consequent | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
failure by that country to pay its debts is already being considered | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
in European capitals. Such an outcome would certainly have | :05:42. | :05:44. | |
implications for the British economy, but, as our business | :05:44. | :05:47. | |
editor Robert Peston explains, it would be an event of global | :05:47. | :05:53. | |
importance. The eurozone's financial crisis | :05:53. | :05:58. | |
started in Greece 19 19 months ago and is still in Greece but has | :05:58. | :06:04. | |
spread to Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, and perhaps most worrying | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
of all, Italy, with its huge Government debts. | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
So why does it matter that the Greek referendum could lead to | :06:13. | :06:21. | |
Greece unilaterally regeging on its debts or withdrawing from the euro? | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
You can't really get this one country out and say the rest does | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
not have similar implications. This is one of the crucial problems that | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
other countries have similar, not as massive problems as Greece, and | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
as long as you have this threat investors will think about it. | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
point is that last week's painfully negotiated eurozone bail-out | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
package doesn't have the money to cope with the stresses and losses | :06:44. | :06:47. | |
this will be generated for countries and banks by a Greek | :06:47. | :06:52. | |
default or exit from the euro and it's Italy that looks most | :06:52. | :06:57. | |
vulnerable. It le's -- lit's problem is the Government debt is | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
huge. A fifth higher than economists see | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
as healthy. Creditors have become nervous about whether they'll be | :07:04. | :07:08. | |
repaid so they're charging Italy record amounts to borrow an | :07:08. | :07:14. | |
interest rate of more than 5% for a one-year loan, more than the 0.3% | :07:14. | :07:20. | |
paid by Germany. Disaster for Italy which has to borrow around 300 | :07:20. | :07:24. | |
billion euros next year would be if investors took fright and stopped | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
lending. So it's vital for Europe's bail-out fund to have enough money | :07:27. | :07:34. | |
to fill that gap. When it's one trillion euros of firepower enough? | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
One trillion is probably not enough. We have seen the spreading of the | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
crisis of the last few months to countries like Italy and Spain and | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
even before that crisis spreading to those countries we thought that | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
two trillion was probably already necessary, so one trillion not | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
enough to stablise the situation I am afraid. The Italian Prime | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and his cabinet under pressure from | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
Germany and other eurozone members to accelerate moves to improve | :07:59. | :08:04. | |
Government finances have been meeting in emergency session today. | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
We as the Government are doing everything that was agreed with | :08:08. | :08:13. | |
Europe. As for Greece, well the IMF is threatening to turn off its | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
financial life support machine until after the referendum result | :08:17. | :08:20. | |
is known. Will such pressure persuade Greek people to vote for | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
the new bail-out package which would see Greece staying in the | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
eurozone circle or will Greece break the circle with who knows | :08:28. | :08:33. | |
what painful consequences for it and for us? | :08:33. | :08:36. | |
Let's explore the impact of this crisis in more detail. Stephanie | :08:36. | :08:41. | |
Flanders, our economics editor, is in Cannes for us tonight and our | :08:41. | :08:44. | |
political editor is in Downing Street. Nick, a new dimension to | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
this row tonight with direct implications for the British | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
taxpayer. The British Government is preparing to lend more money to the | :08:53. | :08:56. | |
International Monetary Fund knowing that it in turn will lend more | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
money to stricken eurozone countries, perhaps to Greece, | :09:00. | :09:03. | |
depending what happens in these talks in the next few days, to | :09:03. | :09:08. | |
Italy and to Spain. David Cameron heads to those talks in Cannes | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
tomorrow with a solution that he hopes for, that the eurozone gets | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
its act together and gets that deal back on the road, one that he fears | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
that the Greeks pull out of the euro, causing possibly awful | :09:19. | :09:23. | |
economic dislocation around the globe and finally, that one he is | :09:23. | :09:28. | |
preparing for, giving more money to the IMF. Now this is very delicate | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
political territory for the Government. The Chancellor has | :09:32. | :09:34. | |
consistently said British taxpayers' money would not go to | :09:34. | :09:39. | |
the eurozone direct, not via the IMF to the eurozone. How do they | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
get around this problem? Well, what he is likely to argue is that the | :09:43. | :09:46. | |
International Monetary Fund just needs to be bigger, to help other | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
countries, like Mexico, not just the eurozone countries, but in | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
reality, British taxpayers' cash will end up going to those | :09:53. | :09:59. | |
countries and the Government will only have to say we hope, we | :09:59. | :10:04. | |
believe, we will get it back. Stephanie, how do you see the | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
impact of all this, not just for Britain but for the global economy | :10:08. | :10:14. | |
really? Well, I have actually just come from a big room where many, | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
many journalists from all over the world are waiting for President | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel to give a joint statement, presumably | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
to report on their meetings with the Greek Prime Minister, the | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
managing director of the IMF I am told is meeting with him right now. | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
All of this is about trying to salvage something from this summit | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
which President Sarkozy had such high hopes for. He thought that | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
there were going to be rewriting the rules of the global financial | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
system, changing the approach to economic development. Instead, the | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
whole thing has been blown open by a country that's not even in the | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
G20, Greece. I think what we are seeing now with these meetings | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
before the formal proceedings begin is effort to put the summit on the | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
right foot and I think to put the emphasis to go back to what Nick | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
was saying, put the emphasis not so much on Greece, but on what is | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
going to be done to protect our countries from the fallout of what | :11:03. | :11:05. | |
happens in Greece. There is a feeling with officials around here | :11:05. | :11:08. | |
that Greece is nearing the end of the road and what's really crucial | :11:08. | :11:13. | |
is to be able to say tomorrow or Friday credably to the financial | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
markets in a way that European leaders were not able to say last | :11:16. | :11:20. | |
week, look, we are not sure what's going to happen to Greece but we do | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
know we have the capacity, the financial capacity, to protect | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
other countries from any contagion from what happens in Greece. People | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
watching at home might not care what happens in Greece, a lot of | :11:30. | :11:35. | |
people in the eurozone might not care, but we all care about that | :11:35. | :11:45. | |
fallout, that contagion being contained. Thank you. Public sector | :11:45. | :11:47. | |
workers have been offered a new deal on their pension. Ministers | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
say it's their best and final offer. The unions say it's not enough and | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
they're still planning a day of strikes at the end of the month. | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
Under the latest plans, workers retiring in the next ten years | :11:57. | :12:00. | |
would be protected and new pensions would grow more quickly. But staff | :12:00. | :12:03. | |
would still have to pay higher contributions and many would have | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
to work longer. Our chief economics correspondent Hugh Pym has the | :12:06. | :12:15. | |
details. Today a new front opened up in the | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
battle over public sector pensions, with the results of a ballot on | :12:18. | :12:21. | |
industrial action by one union due tomorrow the Government has come up | :12:21. | :12:31. | |
:12:31. | :12:32. | ||
with a new offer, what it's calling a very big move. Everyone will keep | :12:32. | :12:34. | |
what they've built up so far. Anyone within ten years of | :12:34. | :12:36. | |
retirement will see no change in their pension pension arrangements | :12:37. | :12:39. | |
and people in the public sector will actually still get far, far | :12:39. | :12:43. | |
better pensions than people in the private sector. Under the new | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
proposals public sector workers aged 50 or over won't have to work | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
longer, they'll get the same pension as before. The value of | :12:50. | :12:53. | |
pension benefits will rise faster across the board, Government | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
contributions will be higher. But there is no compromise on a change | :12:56. | :13:02. | |
to a less generous inflation measurement or on higher employee | :13:02. | :13:05. | |
kbgses - contributions. Those under 50 will have to work longer before | :13:05. | :13:10. | |
getting a full pension. At the TUC union leaders gave this reaction to | :13:10. | :13:16. | |
the proposals. We want to resolve this by negotiation without the | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
need for further industrial action, that's -- that's always been our | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
position. But there's no doubt there are very, very big barriers | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
still in the way of us being able to reach an agreement. | :13:27. | :13:29. | |
Union leaders acknowledge that the Government has made concessions, | :13:29. | :13:33. | |
but they say the detail will now need to be looked at and how it | :13:33. | :13:36. | |
applies to different bits of the public sector like health and | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
education. At this stage there's no suggestion that the day of action | :13:40. | :13:45. | |
and planned walkouts for the end of November will be called off. | :13:45. | :13:48. | |
The Government's made a couple of concessions, they're not willing to | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
give ground on the question of member member contributions, that's | :13:52. | :13:56. | |
the one concession they're still looking for. Ministers say the new | :13:56. | :14:00. | |
offer could be withdrawn if there's no agreement. They also acknowledge | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
that even if ballots deliver strike mandates for the end of this month | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
talks will continue beyond then, but they'll have to be a cut-off | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
The Arab League group of nations says that Syria has agreed to its | :14:13. | :14:16. | |
appeals for an end to the violent crackdown on protestors. The UN | :14:16. | :14:18. | |
estimates that 3,000 people have died in seven months of anti- | :14:18. | :14:22. | |
government protests. According to the prime minister of Qatar, Syria | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
has been told to take its tanks off the streets, release political | :14:25. | :14:27. | |
prisoners and allow foreign journalists into the country to | :14:27. | :14:37. | |
:14:37. | :14:39. | ||
monitor events. Jeremy Bowen is with me. Will it work? The question | :14:39. | :14:43. | |
no one knows. If it doesn't work, he will make more enemies than he | :14:43. | :14:53. | |
:14:53. | :14:53. | ||
already has. He also says that... The thing about President Assad, he | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
has made earlier promises to do things like pull back the army and | :14:56. | :15:00. | |
he hasn't done that. In this, he might feel he has room for | :15:00. | :15:08. | |
manoeuvre. He says that violent extremists and criminals are trying | :15:08. | :15:11. | |
to take over Syria and he is fighting against them. Other | :15:11. | :15:14. | |
questions, how do you fire -- defined a political prisoner before | :15:14. | :15:20. | |
you release in? Free movement for journalists, will they be able to | :15:20. | :15:24. | |
go around and report what is happening? If this goes ahead as | :15:24. | :15:32. | |
expected, or as wanted by the Arab League, those demonstrators may | :15:32. | :15:37. | |
well parade in their thousands and declare victory and what does the | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
regime do then? Your Coming up on tonight's programme: | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
After Beckham in Beijing, all eyes on London 2012 as he reveals he'd | :15:45. | :15:54. | |
:15:55. | :15:56. | ||
As the G20 leaders gather in the south of France and Europe's | :15:56. | :15:59. | |
economies slide towards another crisis, the search for a solution | :15:59. | :16:04. | |
has led many to look towards China. With plenty of cash from its huge | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
export industry, China is seen as a promising source of help with the | :16:07. | :16:11. | |
euro bail out scheme. Our China correspondent, Damian Grammaticas, | :16:11. | :16:12. | |
has visited the country's manufacturing heartland in | :16:12. | :16:15. | |
Guangdong to see if China really can provide a solution to Europe's | :16:15. | :16:25. | |
:16:25. | :16:31. | ||
The peaceful canals of Venice. Not quite. This is China, with enough | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
cash to recreate gondolas in a shopping mall. In its hour of need, | :16:35. | :16:40. | |
Europe is hoping China will sail to its rescue. The problem is China | :16:40. | :16:43. | |
has already said it would be Europe's saviour. This country is | :16:43. | :16:48. | |
starting to get rich, but has a host of problems of its own end you | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
only have to look at this place, some people call it the great | :16:51. | :16:56. | |
shopping mall of China, to see why. It's empty. Built six years ago to | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
be the biggest mall and the world, the few shops that moved in have | :17:00. | :17:05. | |
mostly closed. If Europe thinks Chinese consumers are the answer to | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
its economic woes, it needs to think again. I certainly don't | :17:09. | :17:15. | |
think China could actually save the world or on its own. Chinese | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
consumption is big and it is increasing and everybody forecasts | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
it to be growing at a very high rate, but still it is a very small | :17:23. | :17:28. | |
part of global consumption. China was a bright spot when the global | :17:28. | :17:33. | |
crisis hit three years ago. Then it pumped money into its economy, | :17:33. | :17:37. | |
cities like this all the way. China may not be able to repeat that | :17:37. | :17:42. | |
trick. Now it is trying to rein in inflation, but the building blimp - | :17:42. | :17:47. | |
- boom is slowing. You can see the impact here. Recycling scrap metal | :17:48. | :17:54. | |
used to be profitable. China's economy is poor. Metal demand has | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
gone down. International prices have gone down and prices in China | :17:58. | :18:04. | |
have dropped. For and a slowing China is vulnerable, especially if | :18:04. | :18:09. | |
there's a downturn in Europe, its major overseas market. Choi was | :18:09. | :18:13. | |
biggest export fair, on this week, the turnover is roughly equivalent | :18:13. | :18:18. | |
to the turnover of a small nation like Lithuania. But Europe's crisis | :18:18. | :18:23. | |
is already hitting orders. Some of them don't attend. Some of your | :18:23. | :18:28. | |
buyers are becoming? Sure. And the people who are here, are they | :18:28. | :18:34. | |
buying much? I don't think so. course many malls in China are | :18:34. | :18:37. | |
doing well, but at the Great Mall they are having to let some shops | :18:38. | :18:43. | |
stay rent-free just as fill space. TRANSLATION: There are fewer and | :18:43. | :18:47. | |
fewer people coming. I think the economy is getting worse. Sunday's | :18:47. | :18:53. | |
not a single person even walks into this shop. -- summer days. Like its | :18:53. | :18:57. | |
shoppers, China may decide it is better to hold on to its cash in | :18:57. | :19:03. | |
uncertain times rather than bail out Europe right now. Paddy | :19:03. | :19:05. | |
The Archbishop of Canterbury says the protestors camped outside St | :19:05. | :19:07. | |
Paul's Cathedral are expressing 'a widespread and deep exasperation | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
with the financial establishment'. Dr Williams has broken his silence | :19:13. | :19:17. | |
on the crisis at St Paul's by calling for a new tax on financial | :19:17. | :19:19. | |
transactions and insisted that the protestors had little faith in the | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
current pace of reform. He spoke to our religious affairs correspondent | :19:23. | :19:33. | |
:19:33. | :19:34. | ||
A protest about banks became a debate about whether the Church was | :19:34. | :19:38. | |
standing up for Christian values. Today its leader tried to wrest | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
back control of the debate. Dr Williams said people were | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
frustrated by bankers irresponsible behaviour and their soaring bonuses. | :19:47. | :19:51. | |
People still feel that the public is very more of the cost and they | :19:51. | :19:57. | |
should. An occasion like a protest outside St Paul's has been a focus | :19:57. | :20:01. | |
for people's feelings. Even if they haven't known exactly what they | :20:01. | :20:06. | |
have wanted. What would you say to criticism that you have been slow | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
in exercising your own leadership, two weeks on. Judging the right | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
time to say something is always difficult and it may not have got | :20:13. | :20:17. | |
it right. This is what I would like to say now. The protest at St | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
Paul's as well as the wider economic crisis represents an | :20:21. | :20:26. | |
opportunity as well as a danger. He wants the Church to seize back the | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
initiative, but Christian concern for the Palace at the centre of the | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
debate. So today he has challenged the government to use the upcoming | :20:33. | :20:38. | |
meeting of the G20 to back controversial proposals for a tax | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
on financial transactions. The so- called Robin Hood tax would place a | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
levy on millions of share, bond and currency transactions. Dr Williams | :20:47. | :20:52. | |
said the tax could answer the campaigners's moral agenda. When | :20:52. | :20:57. | |
you have a scheme like this that is backed by a lot of very serious | :20:57. | :21:04. | |
economists, people who can't be represented as antique applet to | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
lists, there has to be something said for it. Protesters welcomed | :21:08. | :21:14. | |
the intervention. A lot of powerful interventions -- individuals are | :21:14. | :21:18. | |
starting to raise questions. People have a real sense of zeal and | :21:18. | :21:21. | |
commitment and it has a nice answer to the critics saying this is a | :21:21. | :21:27. | |
pointless exercise. Protesters claim tonight the City of London | :21:27. | :21:29. | |
Corporation had delayed legal action, allowing them to stay until | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
the new year. That call for a new tax on | :21:33. | :21:36. | |
financial transactions is also being backed by one of the world's | :21:36. | :21:40. | |
richest men, Bill Gates, the former head of Microsoft. He'd like some | :21:40. | :21:43. | |
of the billions raised to be spent on helping the world's poorest | :21:43. | :21:46. | |
communities. It's a message he's taking to leaders at the G20 summit | :21:46. | :21:49. | |
in Cannes tomorrow. He spoke to my colleague George Alagiah before he | :21:49. | :21:58. | |
Bill Gates is arguably the businessman of his age, the big | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
beast of the information era. It made him one of the world's | :22:01. | :22:06. | |
wealthiest men. But now he has turned his attention to the plight | :22:06. | :22:12. | |
of the poor. Today he told me that helping them was in our interest. | :22:12. | :22:17. | |
Not caring about the instability of these countries really would hurt | :22:17. | :22:24. | |
our economic future quite dramatically, whether it is unrest, | :22:24. | :22:29. | |
disease. On the other hand, if you bring these people into the world | :22:29. | :22:35. | |
economy, then you get this very positive cycle. Few have now come | :22:35. | :22:41. | |
to support something called the attacks on financial transactions. | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
The Archbishop of Canterbury has come out today in support of that. | :22:45. | :22:52. | |
Is that really something that will fly given the opposition? I don't | :22:52. | :22:58. | |
know. It is clearly a political question. When we talk about the | :22:58. | :23:03. | |
financial transaction tax, there's many flavours of this. What I was | :23:03. | :23:08. | |
looking at, are other ways for countries that are falling a bit | :23:08. | :23:13. | |
short of their aid commitments, are there ways they could raise money | :23:13. | :23:18. | |
to get to those commitment levels? My expertise is being able to say, | :23:18. | :23:25. | |
if you apply it to development aid, it will have a fantastic effect. | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
For Bill Gates accepts these are tough and volatile times for the | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
global economy, but he insists that the poor should not be sacrificed | :23:32. | :23:42. | |
:23:42. | :23:44. | ||
to save the rich. I think steps have to be taken to restore | :23:44. | :23:48. | |
confidence and vigour -- in the Government's paying their debts. I | :23:48. | :23:54. | |
do think we can come out of this without taking the % or so that | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
goes to the poorest and using that as a way to solve the problem. | :23:58. | :24:03. | |
time tomorrow, Bill Gates will be at the summit in Cannes. He is | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
determined to ensure that the voices of the poor are not | :24:06. | :24:09. | |
forgotten when the world's most powerful politicians sit round a | :24:09. | :24:12. | |
table. George Alagiah with the former head | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
of Microsoft, Bill Gates. David Beckham has no plans to | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
retire as a footballer in the foreseeable future and he hopes to | :24:20. | :24:24. | |
represent the Great Britain football team at the 2012 Olympics. | :24:24. | :24:27. | |
Beckham, who's currently with Los Angeles Galaxy, also says he will | :24:27. | :24:32. | |
probably buy a US football franchise in the years ahead. He's | :24:32. | :24:40. | |
been speaking to our sports editor For decades, people have been | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
making the pilgrimage to this city seeking fame and fortune. When he | :24:45. | :24:50. | |
came to Los Angeles five years ago, David Beckham already had both. His | :24:50. | :24:55. | |
dream was to use his celebrity to help transform a nation of sporting | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
habits. This season it has been his form on the pitch which has got | :24:59. | :25:04. | |
Tinseltown talking. Guiding his club, the Galaxy, to within three | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
games of the American title. But with his contract up at the end of | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
the month, his time here could be coming to an end so has he helped | :25:12. | :25:17. | |
football to break America? When I first came here, I always said it | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
is not going to be a huge success in a year or two, there might be a | :25:22. | :25:28. | |
buzz, but that has to continue. There was the buzz at the start, | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
there's been new stadiums built, new franchises coming to this | :25:32. | :25:35. | |
league, new players coming into this lead in this country, but | :25:35. | :25:39. | |
there's still a way to go. David Beckham's time in America may not | :25:39. | :25:43. | |
have completely delivered on all the ambitious targets he set | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
himself, but he remains one of world football's most valuable | :25:47. | :25:51. | |
brands. The question is, at the age of 36, how long he can continue | :25:51. | :25:57. | |
playing. There is still interested in signing Beckham in Europe, most | :25:57. | :26:02. | |
notably from Paris St-Germain. That is why he insists he is not ready | :26:02. | :26:06. | |
to quit just yet. I think it is always difficult when you come | :26:06. | :26:10. | |
towards the end of your career. It is always difficult making that | :26:10. | :26:14. | |
decision about stopping. But I don't think I will have that | :26:14. | :26:19. | |
problem. I will know when I need to finish. But that's not yet. To the | :26:19. | :26:25. | |
City of London. As part of the London 2012 bid team, Beckham | :26:25. | :26:30. | |
helped bring the Olympics to his home city. Now he is focused on | :26:30. | :26:36. | |
playing a key role in the British football teams push for gold. | :26:36. | :26:40. | |
still a kid when it comes to leading my country or playing for | :26:40. | :26:46. | |
my country. Yes, we all dream about it, we all think about it. If it | :26:46. | :26:51. | |
happens, I will be honoured. people will think it is a bit of an | :26:51. | :26:54. | |
indulgence, we should be picking other players, we want the best | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
team and maybe the youngest team. Maybe people will say that, but | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
people have been saying that about me for the last 10 or 15 years and | :27:02. | :27:07. | |
I have continued to play for my country. David Beckham could have | :27:07. | :27:11. | |
used his time in LA to gently wind down after a long career in the | :27:11. | :27:16. | |
spotlight. Instead, this American adventure has left his footballing | :27:16. | :27:21. |