:00:15. > :00:20.Strikes sweep across Europe as millions of workers protest against
:00:20. > :00:26.unemployment and austerity. In is the scene live in Spain, where
:00:26. > :00:30.unions say there is an almost total stoppage. We will have the latest.
:00:30. > :00:35.Reports from Israel say Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas could be
:00:35. > :00:43.toppled, if he achieves observer status at the UN. More problems for
:00:43. > :00:47.Toyota, as the car maker announces another big car recall. Welcome to
:00:47. > :00:51.BBC World News. Also in this programme. We will have a special
:00:51. > :00:56.report on why the officially Japanese Government is building
:00:56. > :01:06.more and more warships. Getting a better boardroom mix, the European
:01:06. > :01:17.
:01:17. > :01:24.Commission will propose its plan to Hello and welcome. Millions of
:01:24. > :01:27.people across Europe, are joining protests against austerity measures
:01:27. > :01:31.imposed by Governments. In Spain and Portugal strikes have hit
:01:31. > :01:37.public transport systems hard, with more than 600 flights cancelled
:01:37. > :01:42.just in Spain. Strikes have been called in Portugal, Italy as well
:01:42. > :01:48.as Spain and other protests planned in Belgium, Germany, France, the UK
:01:48. > :01:53.and eastern EU states. Wednesday's action has been called for by the
:01:53. > :02:03.European Trade Union Confederation, which issued a statement saying
:02:03. > :02:08.austerity is a dead enand must be abandoned. -- dead end. Strikers
:02:08. > :02:12.occupying the main train station in the Spanish capital Madrid. Part of
:02:12. > :02:17.the co-ordinated action Anne across much of the European Union. Here, a
:02:18. > :02:21.lot of anger focused on the banks, which are being bailed out while
:02:21. > :02:26.ordinary people feel the impact of Government spending cuts and job
:02:26. > :02:29.losses. TRANSLATION: Stop stealing and do
:02:29. > :02:32.something useful, but do not steal from us, there are have needy
:02:32. > :02:40.people, it is a shame. It is a shame to see how they will leave
:02:40. > :02:45.the country. Already, the anger has been spilling over here, with some
:02:45. > :02:54.confrontations with the police. Dozens of people round Spain have
:02:54. > :02:59.been arrested. And yet, on Tuesday, the police themselves were out on
:02:59. > :03:04.the streets in Barcelona, demanding better pay and conditions. They
:03:04. > :03:09.were off duty. It is illegal for them to take part in today's strike.
:03:09. > :03:13.Across many European countries, commuters have faced disruption to
:03:13. > :03:18.public transport. Here in Paris, there have been delays to trains
:03:18. > :03:22.travelling to Belgium, Germany and Holland. The disruption and these
:03:22. > :03:27.demonstrations will continue throughout the day. An indication
:03:27. > :03:35.of the level of anger with Governments, which continue to
:03:35. > :03:41.pliment tough austerity measures on their populations. Industrial
:03:41. > :03:45.action is being held in Italy among other country, live to Rome and our
:03:45. > :03:53.correspondent Alan Johnston. Going by the pictures we are seeing,
:03:53. > :03:59.there has been a huge turn out the major trade union confederation
:03:59. > :04:04.has called for a series of four hour rolling stoppage, through the
:04:04. > :04:08.day. We are supposed to be half way through a strike of air traffic
:04:08. > :04:13.controllers and from 2.00 the train workers were supposed the walk off,
:04:13. > :04:17.ferry departures were supposed to be delayed and dock walkers to take
:04:17. > :04:21.four hourts out. That rolling programme makes the strikes
:04:21. > :04:26.difficult to assess the impact of the action, but I have to say the
:04:26. > :04:30.early signs are it has been quite limited. We are not hearing of any
:04:30. > :04:35.serious air traffic disruption, what I think is much more
:04:35. > :04:38.significant and interesting in the course of today, will be the nearly
:04:38. > :04:43.90 rallies and demonstrations that are planned by the unions up and
:04:43. > :04:49.down the length of Italy, and you are perhaps seeing pictures there
:04:49. > :04:54.of some of those strikes, rallies going on here in Rome, and at those
:04:55. > :04:59.rallys you will hear speakers make the point you hear the union leader
:04:59. > :05:06.make again gvings and again, the poorest people are being asked to
:05:06. > :05:10.make too many of the sacrifices for austerity economics. Is it
:05:10. > :05:17.austerity full stop they are against, or the fact it doesn't
:05:17. > :05:23.seem to be working? Well, certainly, the union leaders argue that not
:05:23. > :05:28.only is austerity bringing misery to countless family, particularly
:05:28. > :05:33.crippling the prospects of the youngest generation one in three
:05:33. > :05:39.young Italians are unemployed at the moment, but they say that the
:05:39. > :05:44.actual austerity measures that the tax hike, the price rises, the and
:05:44. > :05:47.so on, are actually worsening the situation. They are actively making
:05:47. > :05:51.the situation worse, the union leaders would argue, of course the
:05:51. > :05:54.Government is seeing things very differently indeed. They would say
:05:54. > :05:59.look, a year ago this country was on the point of going the way of
:05:59. > :06:04.Greece, and the Government would say it has certainly pulled Italy
:06:04. > :06:08.far back from that, that it has restored confidence in Italy in the
:06:08. > :06:12.international money markets, that a raft of reforms are being put in
:06:12. > :06:16.place, along with the austerity measures, all that will take time,
:06:16. > :06:19.the Government would argue. There are so very many problems in the
:06:19. > :06:26.Italian economy, they won't be solved overnight. We have to stick
:06:26. > :06:32.with this course. The Italian leadership would argue. Thank you.
:06:32. > :06:35.Reports from Israel say that the foreign ministry has proposed
:06:35. > :06:38.toppling Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas if a Palestinian bid
:06:38. > :06:42.for state observer status at the United Nations is approved later
:06:42. > :06:45.this month. A draft document expected to be approved by the
:06:45. > :06:51.Foreign Minister says that any other option would mean admitting
:06:51. > :06:55.the failure of the Israeli leadership. The paper suggests
:06:55. > :07:01.Israel may threaten to nullify its 1990s agreement with the
:07:01. > :07:04.Palestinians. Joining me now from Jerusalem is Wyre Davies. The
:07:04. > :07:09.Palestinian Authority due to present its bid to the UN at the
:07:09. > :07:14.end of November, and Mr Abbas said he would begin negotiations with
:07:14. > :07:19.Israel the following day if successful. Well, the background to
:07:19. > :07:23.this as you say is at the end of the month the Palestinians want to
:07:23. > :07:28.apply to become non-member observer status at the UN. Israel is opposed
:07:28. > :07:33.to that move, saying it is a unilateral move in contravention of
:07:33. > :07:37.the 1993 Oslo Accords. What has happened is this internal document
:07:37. > :07:42.has circulated. Leaked from the Israeli foreign ministry which says,
:07:42. > :07:46.if our efforts do not succeed Israel lvings must extract a is
:07:46. > :07:48.heavy price from Mahmoud Abbas, including the possibility of
:07:48. > :07:50.toppling his Government and dismantling the Palestinian
:07:50. > :07:55.Authority. That doesn't mean that Israel is going to topple Mahmoud
:07:55. > :07:59.Abbas or try to dismantle the PA but this is a policy document
:07:59. > :08:03.regarded as a threat to the Palestinians. We have to be mindful
:08:03. > :08:08.of the fact there is a general election in Israel at the end of
:08:08. > :08:12.January. This is a position being taken by the foreign minute ster
:08:12. > :08:16.Avigdor Lieberman to strengthen his position ahead of that election.
:08:16. > :08:21.does show, despite optimism what Mr Abbas is up against. It is not just
:08:21. > :08:24.Israel, is it? Well, know. A lot of the international community, the
:08:24. > :08:27.Americans in particular, some European countries are opposed to
:08:27. > :08:31.the Palestinian move. They have taken the Israeli position that the
:08:32. > :08:34.way to solve the Middle East peace process what is left of it, is
:08:34. > :08:39.through negotiation, but the Palestinians are saying while
:08:39. > :08:42.Israel is continuing to build settlements and expand in the West
:08:43. > :08:46.Bank, that can't happen, that is why the Palestinians are going down
:08:46. > :08:50.this route to get observer status at the UN. We don't know what will
:08:50. > :08:53.happen if at the end of the month the Palestinians continue with that,
:08:53. > :08:57.whether Israel will carry on with this threat, but it should be seen
:08:57. > :09:01.as a threat, the Palestinians have responded by saying that they
:09:01. > :09:06.regard it as a personal threat against Mahmoud Abbas himself, so
:09:06. > :09:11.the two sides are quite far apart at the minute, but the background
:09:11. > :09:14.to this is it is in Israel's interest to have the PA operational
:09:14. > :09:16.in the West Bank, if the Palestinian Authority wasn't there
:09:16. > :09:19.it would mean Israel would have to take responsibility for what is
:09:19. > :09:29.going none the West Bank and the daily lives of the Palestinians
:09:29. > :09:35.
:09:35. > :09:40.there as well. Thank you. Now, let us look at all the business news
:09:40. > :09:45.with Aaron and Aaron, Toyota, it seems in trouble again. Another
:09:45. > :09:53.recall. These aren't just small recalls. They are not small recalls.
:09:53. > :09:56.Toyota recalled 2.77, nearly 3 million vehicles, I mean if you a
:09:56. > :10:02.Toyota executive in the last 12 months it's a tough old time! This
:10:02. > :10:07.is off the back. You mention another recall. Last month seven
:10:07. > :10:13.million vehicles. Last month it was to do with an electric window. This
:10:13. > :10:21.particular recall is to do with water pump ow or steering problems.
:10:21. > :10:24.1.5 million vehicles affected were sold in Japan. People keep buying
:10:24. > :10:28.them It's a very popular car but one of the questions you want to
:10:28. > :10:34.ask is how long can you keep going? What does this mean for the company
:10:34. > :10:39.and the brand? Toyota gets back up on its feet, it doess thing well
:10:39. > :10:42.but when you keep on having recalls, the Chinese boycott, the strong yen,
:10:43. > :10:49.from all fronts at the moment I should stress that Toyota is saying
:10:49. > :10:56.there is no accident or injuries to do with these latest recall. But
:10:56. > :11:03.let us get more and join our motoring correspondent. Good to see
:11:03. > :11:06.you and good to have you with us. 7 million cars recalled last month.
:11:06. > :11:13.From a company that was once applauded for its safety standards,
:11:14. > :11:18.what is going wrong with Toyota? is obviously not going to help
:11:18. > :11:23.their reputation in any way. The recall so far this year have topped
:11:23. > :11:29.10 million now, which is not all that far from what they recalled a
:11:29. > :11:32.couple of years ago, with the accelerator pedals and the floor
:11:32. > :11:37.mat issues. Now, that the time the recalls were linked to, or it is
:11:38. > :11:41.claimed to be linked to fatal accidents, on this occasion they
:11:41. > :11:47.are not. So the consumer response is probably going to be less fierce
:11:47. > :11:50.this time, but of course, it does do the company any favours.
:11:50. > :11:55.doesn't. Correct me, I have heard from some other experts today,
:11:55. > :12:00.saying that this, the problem here with Toyota comes down to a period
:12:00. > :12:05.of time, the early 2000s, to the mid or late 2000s when Toyota was
:12:05. > :12:10.focused on growth, becoming the biggest car maker in the world. It
:12:11. > :12:14.was build, build, build. It is that time when Toyota dropped the ball.
:12:14. > :12:18.You could certainly say this is a historic problem. The company has
:12:19. > :12:26.done a lot to address it. One of the things they have done following
:12:26. > :12:29.the scandal really, two years ago, is to devolves a lot of -- desolve
:12:29. > :12:36.a lot of the managial responsibility and allow people to
:12:36. > :12:40.take into account what is going on in local markets. They have been
:12:40. > :12:45.employing local executives, and European executives, and so on.
:12:45. > :12:52.They have done a lot to improve safety, and also, to work on the
:12:53. > :12:55.immanage of the cars, make them sportier, more driver's cars, less
:12:56. > :13:00.dull. It takes a long time for these improvements to filter
:13:00. > :13:04.through. In the meantime you will have the problems crated years ago.
:13:04. > :13:07.Briefly, you touched on it, that the communication last month, the
:13:07. > :13:11.communication this month with the recalls, certainly a lot better
:13:11. > :13:17.than a couple of years ago when they had something like 12 million.
:13:17. > :13:21.But for a car company, maker, it is a case of getting these problems
:13:21. > :13:25.sort before you have any injurys or accidents. It is an interesting
:13:25. > :13:28.point. Toyota always said this and they keep saying this, that it is a
:13:28. > :13:36.sign of a responsible company to recall cars early. The moment you
:13:36. > :13:41.discover that there is a problem, you make a recall, and they sort of
:13:41. > :13:46.allude to how some other rivals might not be so quick off the mark,
:13:46. > :13:53.and might try to fix stuff quietly rather than doing all out recalls,
:13:53. > :13:58.the way Toyota does it. appreciate your update, thank you.
:13:58. > :14:03.Let us move on. Proposals for new legislation that would force all
:14:03. > :14:07.publicly listed European companies to reserve at least 40% of non-
:14:08. > :14:10.executive board seats for women by 2020. It has been agreed by the
:14:10. > :14:14.European Commission. The draft directive would allow member states
:14:14. > :14:18.to decide on sanctions for those companies who fail to reach the
:14:18. > :14:21.quota. I should say the legislation still needs to be approved by the
:14:21. > :14:28.European Parliament, as well as the council of ministers. Let us listen
:14:28. > :14:32.to what the EU Justin commissioner had to say earlier. Well, we did it.
:14:32. > :14:38.-- justice. Nobody believed there would ever be a European law on the
:14:38. > :14:45.table, everybody has briefed that it will be a complete failure.
:14:45. > :14:55.Today the college decided to have a European law, to have quotas for
:14:55. > :14:56.
:14:56. > :15:01.women in the boardrooms of the big listed companies. 40% by 2020. This
:15:01. > :15:07.is a breakthrough initiative. has to be passed as we said or
:15:07. > :15:10.voted on. Let us look at the markets because they have fallen
:15:10. > :15:14.further south, certainly since I have been on air over the last
:15:14. > :15:18.couple of hours. The markets are focused on what is happening round
:15:19. > :15:23.Europe of course, masses, a unified strike involving hundreds of
:15:23. > :15:27.thousands of people, pretty much in every country across the region.
:15:27. > :15:30.They are focused on the news coming out of Greece and further new, bad
:15:30. > :15:36.news for Greece, because we have learned that the third quarter,
:15:36. > :15:41.that is three month period up until September, in Greece, the economy
:15:41. > :15:47.there shrank. I shrank again, it was a whopper of a shrinkage. 7.2%,
:15:47. > :15:54.that is what the Greek economy fell and we expect the Greek economy for
:15:54. > :16:00.the whole year to have shrunk by 6- and-a-half%. Those people on the
:16:00. > :16:08.ground protesting will say they are not working, take a look at what is
:16:08. > :16:12.It has emerged that an investigation has begun at a
:16:12. > :16:16.hospital in Ireland following the death of the woman refused an
:16:16. > :16:21.abortion. Savita Halappanavar died after suffering a miscarriage and
:16:21. > :16:25.septicaemia. She went to University Hospital in Galway and ask for her
:16:25. > :16:29.pregnancy to be terminated several times because she had severe back
:16:29. > :16:32.pain and was miscarrying. Her husband claimed that medical staff
:16:32. > :16:38.told him that termination was not possible because Ireland was a
:16:38. > :16:42.Catholic country. And we are just a day away from
:16:42. > :16:48.China announcing its new leadership. The handover has been protracted
:16:48. > :16:51.but not exactly democratic. Damian Grammaticas has been talking to
:16:52. > :16:57.China's most famous dissident artist, Ai Weiwei. He began by
:16:57. > :17:07.asking whether the Communist Party needed to adapt. Yes, I think in
:17:07. > :17:14.many ways the country and the economics and the whole conditioned
:17:14. > :17:23.is dragging the party to make a change. It will come to a moment
:17:23. > :17:32.that they will have to make a change. If they do not, it will not
:17:32. > :17:36.be good news for them. What changed do you think China needs? What is
:17:36. > :17:44.necessary is to have clear, independent judicial systems.
:17:44. > :17:52.Nobody believes that justice is done. That is a tragedy for a party
:17:52. > :18:02.which has been rolling for 60 years, that it cannot establish trust. And
:18:02. > :18:04.
:18:04. > :18:07.another is freedom of expression, which is the foundation for a civil
:18:07. > :18:12.society. If they do not let those things happen, this nation is
:18:12. > :18:16.coming to a dead end. You're watching BBC World News. Still to
:18:16. > :18:24.come: Is a shining example of how to make money, the huge diamond
:18:24. > :18:28.which has just sold for a record amount at auction.
:18:28. > :18:36.Wouldn't you like that to be your best friend? 10 years since
:18:36. > :18:40.Sangatte, the asylum centre in northern France were shut. It had
:18:40. > :18:43.become a magnet for illegal immigrants looking to store cross
:18:43. > :18:48.to Britain. But the problem of migrants in the area has not
:18:48. > :18:53.disappeared. Their numbers may have dwindled,
:18:53. > :18:58.but their determination has never gone away. Every day, around 300
:18:58. > :19:08.migrants hang around the port waiting for any opportunity to get
:19:08. > :19:12.to the UK. I tried 14 times. I got under the car. Sometimes I have
:19:12. > :19:16.tried to go in a small hall in the top of the car. The refugee camp
:19:16. > :19:19.was closed into this and then to to try to stop the swell of illegal
:19:19. > :19:23.immigrants crossing the CAC channel -- crossing the Channel. Today,
:19:23. > :19:29.local charities are taking the strain, with few volunteers and
:19:30. > :19:35.scanned funding. They are struggling to cope. At least when
:19:35. > :19:39.we had the immigration camp, there was access to medical care. Now it
:19:39. > :19:45.is more difficult. One of the migrants showed me their squalid
:19:45. > :19:48.living conditions. French police frequently destroyed their camps.
:19:48. > :19:54.The local sorties say that if Britain was as tough on illegal
:19:54. > :19:58.immigrants, fewer would use Calais as their springboard to the UK.
:19:58. > :20:03.TRANSLATION: The British need to take a more determined move towards
:20:03. > :20:06.immigration, as we are doing here to the best of our ability.
:20:06. > :20:13.controls are tougher than ever but the temptation to cross the Channel
:20:13. > :20:17.remains. A group of doctors in Britain say
:20:17. > :20:23.that they had managed to stop the spread of an outbreak of MRSA by
:20:23. > :20:27.cracking its genetic code. MRSA can affect patients in hospitals and is
:20:27. > :20:31.difficult to treat because it has become resistant to some
:20:31. > :20:38.antibiotics. Researchers say they were able to use the genetic code
:20:38. > :20:41.to identify in member of staff who was unwittingly spreading the
:20:41. > :20:45.disease. Four people are reported to have
:20:45. > :20:48.been killed and 10 wounded in western Mexico after gunmen opened
:20:48. > :20:53.fire at their wedding reception. Mexican state prosecutors say that
:20:53. > :21:03.the guests were cutting the cake when it two men entered with
:21:03. > :21:05.
:21:05. > :21:08.handguns and began shooting. This is BBC will is. Here are the
:21:08. > :21:12.headlines: Strikes is -- strikes are being staged in several
:21:12. > :21:16.European countries and to -- in progress of austerity measures
:21:16. > :21:19.imposed by governments tried to cut public debt.
:21:19. > :21:29.Reports from Israel say that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
:21:29. > :21:34.is to be toppled if he wins or observer status at the UN.
:21:34. > :21:40.Have you ever wondered what $21 million could buy you? How about
:21:40. > :21:45.this? A flawless, 76 carat diamond sold at auction in Geneva on
:21:45. > :21:49.Tuesday. For that record amount. It has got a name, it is known as the
:21:49. > :21:55.Archduke Joseph diamond. It is named after the Austrian ruler who
:21:55. > :22:00.once owned it. The new buyer has chosen to remain anonymous. Dr Jack
:22:01. > :22:07.Ogden is with me now. He is a historian and former CEO of the
:22:07. > :22:10.Gemmological Society. Is the diamonds only worth what someone is
:22:10. > :22:17.willing to pay for it? I think it is worth what two people are
:22:17. > :22:23.prepared to go for. How do you vile you a diamond? -- how do you value
:22:23. > :22:28.a diamond? Is it priceless? Smaller diamonds, there are a formula for
:22:28. > :22:32.working it out. But one -- but once you get to that size, it is an
:22:33. > :22:37.exceptional market. There are some stones that have set benchmarks for
:22:37. > :22:41.high prices. This one fetched what was expected. Men often tell ladies
:22:41. > :22:49.that it is not the size of the diamond, it is the quality of the
:22:49. > :22:55.diamond. The one last night, it had everything. It had size, quality,
:22:55. > :22:57.historical perspective. Tell me more about the history. We do not
:22:57. > :23:01.know its history. That is intriguing and frustrating. We
:23:02. > :23:06.cannot trace it back before the 19th century. Unlike some of the
:23:06. > :23:11.other large diamonds which we no date back to the 1600s. Somewhere
:23:11. > :23:16.out there, there will be a record of it. It must have weighed
:23:16. > :23:20.somewhere between 100 and 150 carats before it was cut. Somewhere,
:23:20. > :23:30.there will be a record. Are there other diamonds that we can compare
:23:30. > :23:32.
:23:32. > :23:37.it to? In May this year, another diamond sold at Sotheby's in Geneva
:23:37. > :23:43.for $9.7 million. There have been Ofwat coming out of the woodwork,
:23:43. > :23:49.fetching very high prices. It would make someone a varied good friend.
:23:49. > :23:54.Thank you very much. As China's leaders prepare to hand
:23:54. > :23:57.over control to the next generation, outgoing President Hu Jintao has
:23:57. > :24:01.stated explicitly that China intends to become a maritime
:24:01. > :24:05.military power. His speech came on the back of two months of Chinese
:24:05. > :24:08.incursions into Japanese controlled waters in the East China Sea.
:24:09. > :24:18.Right-wing Japanese politicians are calling for Japan to radically
:24:19. > :24:20.
:24:20. > :24:24.reassessed its relations with China. For a pacifist country, Japan has a
:24:24. > :24:32.pretty serious looking Navy. It has some of the most modern destroyers
:24:32. > :24:35.and submarines in the world. This is its flagship, the 19,000 ton
:24:35. > :24:42.helicopter carrier. Japanese people have not seen anything like this
:24:42. > :24:45.year for a very long time. Officially, this is called a
:24:45. > :24:50.helicopter destroyer but as the saying goes, it looks like a duck
:24:50. > :24:54.and it quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. This is
:24:54. > :24:57.essentially a small aircraft carrier, the first to be built in
:24:57. > :25:01.Japan since the end of the Second World War. And this is just the
:25:01. > :25:06.beginning. Two more of these, twice as big as this, or currently under
:25:06. > :25:13.construction down the coast. The questionnaires, why has Japan
:25:13. > :25:23.decided that it needs to build aircraft carriers? It is getting
:25:23. > :25:30.more and more nervous. The Chinese are more active day-by-day. He is
:25:30. > :25:35.talking about this, the Siniakou Islands as they're known in Japan.
:25:35. > :25:39.Japan controls them and China wants them. The man who will probably be
:25:39. > :25:44.Japan's next Prime Minister says it is now time for Japan to scrap its
:25:44. > :25:49.pacifist constitution. TRANSLATION: China is increasing its military
:25:49. > :25:53.spending by 10% of the year. It is aggressively pushing for control of
:25:53. > :26:00.the South China Sea and now the East China Sea. Like any country,
:26:00. > :26:05.we should be able to use our own military to defend ourselves.
:26:05. > :26:11.Japanese still support the pacifist constitution, but there are signs
:26:11. > :26:17.of change. The students belong to a nationalist group called "Students
:26:17. > :26:20.for the future." on Sunday afternoon, they are out recruiting.
:26:20. > :26:25.This woman likens the island dispute to Britain and Argentina's
:26:25. > :26:29.fight over the Falklands 30 years ago. TRANSLATION: The Japanese need
:26:29. > :26:32.to see these islands like marcher - - Margaret Thatcher did with the
:26:32. > :26:40.Falklands. The need to have the determination to protect the
:26:40. > :26:43.islands. There is an undeclared arms race going on in East Asia,