:00:04. > :00:14.the latest headlines from BBC World news. Now it's time for the latest
:00:14. > :00:16.
:00:16. > :00:20.financial news with Sally and World Hello and a warm welcome, you're
:00:20. > :00:24.with World Business Report. These are the headlines: From Stockholm
:00:24. > :00:29.to Seville, and you austerity protests are planned across Europe
:00:29. > :00:33.today, but will they achieve anything? -- ante austerity. The
:00:33. > :00:42.European Commission will propose its plan for greater equality in
:00:42. > :00:52.the boardroom. I'm Rico Hizon in Singapore, the stock price of
:00:52. > :00:58.
:00:58. > :01:02.Japan's share makers saw. Good to have you with us. As you
:01:02. > :01:05.have been hearing Labour organisations and workers' parties
:01:05. > :01:10.will be on the march in almost every country in the European Union
:01:10. > :01:15.today. Even in London unions are planning a lobby of the European
:01:15. > :01:25.Commission building in Westminster. But does it achieve much? Nigel
:01:25. > :01:28.
:01:28. > :01:32.Cassidy has been finding out. They have been on the streets all over
:01:32. > :01:39.the country, Workers' Party say the pressure should be on the bankers,
:01:39. > :01:45.who they think are responsible for Europe's financial crisis. Singling
:01:45. > :01:49.out City bankers and organising protests on the same day in many
:01:49. > :01:53.countries are different ways of getting a message across. But the
:01:53. > :01:58.reality is even trade unionists can be reluctant to take part in ante
:01:58. > :02:06.austerity protests, for example calls for national strikes all over
:02:06. > :02:10.Europe have and entirely been heeded. -- haven't. Spain, Portugal,
:02:10. > :02:15.Greece and Italy will see more strikes today. Elsewhere the action
:02:15. > :02:20.is, like this, only symbolic. So does this mean most Europeans
:02:20. > :02:24.reluctantly accept the need for cuts? It's not that they accept it,
:02:24. > :02:28.if you're following what has happened in Spain since last year,
:02:29. > :02:36.there are lots of protests on a daily basis, including trade unions,
:02:36. > :02:40.civil society organisations and other people. The battles are
:02:40. > :02:44.escalating right now. We are highlighting the point that the
:02:44. > :02:51.government will collapse like previous ones. All of this has
:02:51. > :02:56.helped to slow the official timetables for cut their deficits.
:02:56. > :03:01.-- for countries to cut. So far they have not persuaded a single
:03:01. > :03:04.European government to cancel cuts, though. For this German banker the
:03:04. > :03:09.latest backlash against austerity among public sector workers is
:03:09. > :03:13.unsurprising. The first to be affected were temporary workers and
:03:13. > :03:17.young people who lost their jobs first and where unemployment rates
:03:17. > :03:22.really soared. That's what we have seen last year, a big protest
:03:22. > :03:25.movement in Spain and other countries, of young people. Now the
:03:25. > :03:30.austerity is getting serious the public sector is the most affected.
:03:30. > :03:33.It is not only protesters who feel austerity is part of the problem
:03:33. > :03:37.and not the solution to the financial problems. But what is
:03:37. > :03:45.certain is that falling living standards may be unavoidable for
:03:45. > :03:49.Later this morning the European Commission will present its plan to
:03:49. > :03:52.boost the number of women on company boards in Europe. Earlier
:03:52. > :03:57.proposals had been watered down, but the European Commission still
:03:57. > :04:02.wants companies to have women in at least 40 % of their non-executive
:04:02. > :04:12.board positions. It will be up to individual countries to enforce the
:04:12. > :04:13.
:04:13. > :04:20.laws and the timetable has been eased. Thank you for joining us.
:04:20. > :04:25.Tell us more about what's going to be presented today. The 40 % quota
:04:25. > :04:30.does still stand for non-executive directors on boards of larger
:04:30. > :04:33.companies. We were never talking about small companies and small and
:04:33. > :04:38.medium-sized enterprises. We are talking about companies with a
:04:38. > :04:44.turnover of more than EUR50 million a year. That 40 % quota for women
:04:44. > :04:50.still stands. But the difference is that this time where countries,
:04:50. > :04:55.member states, can show they are on course to meet that 40 % target by
:04:55. > :04:58.2020, the procedures in the new directives will be suspended. Where
:04:58. > :05:03.member states are doing it they will be allowed to go on doing what
:05:03. > :05:08.they are doing. It sounds like a bit of a fudge to me if you don't
:05:08. > :05:13.mind me saying, there's not going to be a legally binding scenario
:05:13. > :05:18.where sanctions are enforced? in the original proposals sanctions
:05:18. > :05:22.were down to the member states, that was always the case. Obviously
:05:23. > :05:27.there will be sanctions if the companies do not meet the quotas.
:05:27. > :05:33.But member states will have the responsibility of imposing them. So
:05:33. > :05:36.no, it's not as strong as it was. What is directed shows is that
:05:36. > :05:40.there have been discussions within the European Commission about this
:05:41. > :05:50.proposal. -- what this directives. And a solution acceptable to
:05:51. > :05:54.
:05:54. > :05:58.everyone is certainly come out to obit. I'm sure you're a aware of
:05:58. > :06:05.this being the right way forward -- come out of it. You only have to
:06:05. > :06:11.look at the statistics to see how bad the position is. Across Europe
:06:11. > :06:19.15 % of non-executive positions are held by women. When you come to
:06:19. > :06:22.executive directors it is 5%. We need to take strong measures.
:06:22. > :06:28.terms of how large companies operate, because this is what we
:06:28. > :06:33.are talking about, do you feel that it needs to start further down the
:06:33. > :06:37.ladder, as opposed to concentrating on the board? Perhaps if women were
:06:38. > :06:42.more supportive and the work environment was easier for women
:06:42. > :06:47.further down, they can work their way up and remain in their careers
:06:47. > :06:51.when they have children and therefore get to the board?
:06:51. > :06:55.completely agree. We need to do much more to support women and we
:06:55. > :06:59.particularly need to make sure there's childcare in place and
:06:59. > :07:04.there's proper maternity provision and adequate maternity leave. Also
:07:04. > :07:08.when women get back to work having had a break they are able to resume
:07:08. > :07:13.their careers. There's a lot to look at. If we implemented all of
:07:13. > :07:17.those things better women would stand much more chance of getting
:07:17. > :07:22.to board level. But that's a long process. Some of those things are
:07:22. > :07:27.in place. But we need to take action now to ensure that women
:07:27. > :07:31.break through the glass ceiling. Because until we do that women will
:07:31. > :07:39.still face discrimination and that simply not right in this day and
:07:39. > :07:44.age. Thank you for joining us. Now, for a change, we're talking about
:07:44. > :07:51.shares in the Japanese TV maker Sharp going upwards, they jumped
:07:51. > :07:55.almost 8% after a report the struggling firm might receive
:07:55. > :08:04.investment from two big US technology companies. Let's speak
:08:04. > :08:12.to Rico, a glimmer of hope for Sharp? Yes. Potentially two white
:08:12. > :08:17.knights, Intel and another company could invest 40 billion yen or 500
:08:17. > :08:21.million US dollars in these struggling consumer electronics
:08:21. > :08:25.manufacturer. Sharpe faces a lot of problems, you have mounting losses
:08:25. > :08:34.and falling sales. It issued a warning about its survival earlier
:08:34. > :08:38.this month. The strong yen has increased its manufacturing costs
:08:38. > :08:43.in the face of competition from foreign rivals like Samsung. They
:08:43. > :08:47.were forced in September to seek a bail-out from its banks. Analysts
:08:47. > :08:51.say the company needs investment with sources saying that they could
:08:51. > :08:55.get an agreement by the end of the month. But a spokeswoman from the
:08:55. > :09:02.company said that no decisions had been made about accepting
:09:02. > :09:06.investment from other companies. Sharp was in talks for months with
:09:06. > :09:09.another company but negotiations stalled and they say they are
:09:09. > :09:14.looking at other alliances. Thank you for joining us. Let's have a
:09:14. > :09:20.look at more stories now, Argentina will appeal to a UN court on
:09:20. > :09:25.Wednesday for the release of Navy training ship that had been seized
:09:25. > :09:30.in Ghana -- a Navy training ship. It was seized as collateral for
:09:30. > :09:35.unpaid debts from the economic crisis ten years ago. Argentina
:09:35. > :09:39.pose the investment firm $350 million. -- a ruse. Shares in Cisco
:09:39. > :09:43.Systems jumped in after hours training after the US maker of
:09:43. > :09:53.networking equipment reported better than expected results. It