14/11/2012 BBC World News

Strikes sweep across Europe as millions of workers protest against

unemployment and austerity. In is the scene live in Spain, where

unions say there is an almost total stoppage. We will have the latest.

Reports from Israel say Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas could be

toppled, if he achieves observer status at the UN. More problems for

Toyota, as the car maker announces another big car recall. Welcome to

BBC World News. Also in this programme. We will have a special

report on why the officially Japanese Government is building

more and more warships. Getting a better boardroom mix, the European

Commission will propose its plan to Hello and welcome. Millions of

people across Europe, are joining protests against austerity measures

imposed by Governments. In Spain and Portugal strikes have hit

public transport systems hard, with more than 600 flights cancelled

just in Spain. Strikes have been called in Portugal, Italy as well

as Spain and other protests planned in Belgium, Germany, France, the UK

and eastern EU states. Wednesday's action has been called for by the

European Trade Union Confederation, which issued a statement saying

austerity is a dead enand must be abandoned. -- dead end. Strikers

occupying the main train station in the Spanish capital Madrid. Part of

the co-ordinated action Anne across much of the European Union. Here, a

lot of anger focused on the banks, which are being bailed out while

ordinary people feel the impact of Government spending cuts and job

losses. TRANSLATION: Stop stealing and do

something useful, but do not steal from us, there are have needy

people, it is a shame. It is a shame to see how they will leave

the country. Already, the anger has been spilling over here, with some

confrontations with the police. Dozens of people round Spain have

been arrested. And yet, on Tuesday, the police themselves were out on

the streets in Barcelona, demanding better pay and conditions. They

were off duty. It is illegal for them to take part in today's strike.

Across many European countries, commuters have faced disruption to

public transport. Here in Paris, there have been delays to trains

travelling to Belgium, Germany and Holland. The disruption and these

demonstrations will continue throughout the day. An indication

of the level of anger with Governments, which continue to

pliment tough austerity measures on their populations. Industrial

action is being held in Italy among other country, live to Rome and our

correspondent Alan Johnston. Going by the pictures we are seeing,

there has been a huge turn out the major trade union confederation

has called for a series of four hour rolling stoppage, through the

day. We are supposed to be half way through a strike of air traffic

controllers and from 2.00 the train workers were supposed the walk off,

ferry departures were supposed to be delayed and dock walkers to take

four hourts out. That rolling programme makes the strikes

difficult to assess the impact of the action, but I have to say the

early signs are it has been quite limited. We are not hearing of any

serious air traffic disruption, what I think is much more

significant and interesting in the course of today, will be the nearly

90 rallies and demonstrations that are planned by the unions up and

down the length of Italy, and you are perhaps seeing pictures there

of some of those strikes, rallies going on here in Rome, and at those

rallys you will hear speakers make the point you hear the union leader

make again gvings and again, the poorest people are being asked to

make too many of the sacrifices for austerity economics. Is it

austerity full stop they are against, or the fact it doesn't

seem to be working? Well, certainly, the union leaders argue that not

only is austerity bringing misery to countless family, particularly

crippling the prospects of the youngest generation one in three

young Italians are unemployed at the moment, but they say that the

actual austerity measures that the tax hike, the price rises, the and

so on, are actually worsening the situation. They are actively making

the situation worse, the union leaders would argue, of course the

Government is seeing things very differently indeed. They would say

look, a year ago this country was on the point of going the way of

Greece, and the Government would say it has certainly pulled Italy

far back from that, that it has restored confidence in Italy in the

international money markets, that a raft of reforms are being put in

place, along with the austerity measures, all that will take time,

the Government would argue. There are so very many problems in the

Italian economy, they won't be solved overnight. We have to stick

with this course. The Italian leadership would argue. Thank you.

Reports from Israel say that the foreign ministry has proposed

toppling Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas if a Palestinian bid

for state observer status at the United Nations is approved later

this month. A draft document expected to be approved by the

Foreign Minister says that any other option would mean admitting

the failure of the Israeli leadership. The paper suggests

Israel may threaten to nullify its 1990s agreement with the

Palestinians. Joining me now from Jerusalem is Wyre Davies. The

Palestinian Authority due to present its bid to the UN at the

end of November, and Mr Abbas said he would begin negotiations with

Israel the following day if successful. Well, the background to

this as you say is at the end of the month the Palestinians want to

apply to become non-member observer status at the UN. Israel is opposed

to that move, saying it is a unilateral move in contravention of

the 1993 Oslo Accords. What has happened is this internal document

has circulated. Leaked from the Israeli foreign ministry which says,

if our efforts do not succeed Israel lvings must extract a is

heavy price from Mahmoud Abbas, including the possibility of

toppling his Government and dismantling the Palestinian

Authority. That doesn't mean that Israel is going to topple Mahmoud

Abbas or try to dismantle the PA but this is a policy document

regarded as a threat to the Palestinians. We have to be mindful

of the fact there is a general election in Israel at the end of

January. This is a position being taken by the foreign minute ster

Avigdor Lieberman to strengthen his position ahead of that election.

does show, despite optimism what Mr Abbas is up against. It is not just

Israel, is it? Well, know. A lot of the international community, the

Americans in particular, some European countries are opposed to

the Palestinian move. They have taken the Israeli position that the

way to solve the Middle East peace process what is left of it, is

through negotiation, but the Palestinians are saying while

Israel is continuing to build settlements and expand in the West

Bank, that can't happen, that is why the Palestinians are going down

this route to get observer status at the UN. We don't know what will

happen if at the end of the month the Palestinians continue with that,

whether Israel will carry on with this threat, but it should be seen

as a threat, the Palestinians have responded by saying that they

regard it as a personal threat against Mahmoud Abbas himself, so

the two sides are quite far apart at the minute, but the background

to this is it is in Israel's interest to have the PA operational

in the West Bank, if the Palestinian Authority wasn't there

it would mean Israel would have to take responsibility for what is

going none the West Bank and the daily lives of the Palestinians

there as well. Thank you. Now, let us look at all the business news

with Aaron and Aaron, Toyota, it seems in trouble again. Another

recall. These aren't just small recalls. They are not small recalls.

Toyota recalled 2.77, nearly 3 million vehicles, I mean if you a

Toyota executive in the last 12 months it's a tough old time! This

is off the back. You mention another recall. Last month seven

million vehicles. Last month it was to do with an electric window. This

particular recall is to do with water pump ow or steering problems.

1.5 million vehicles affected were sold in Japan. People keep buying

them It's a very popular car but one of the questions you want to

ask is how long can you keep going? What does this mean for the company

and the brand? Toyota gets back up on its feet, it doess thing well

but when you keep on having recalls, the Chinese boycott, the strong yen,

from all fronts at the moment I should stress that Toyota is saying

there is no accident or injuries to do with these latest recall. But

let us get more and join our motoring correspondent. Good to see

you and good to have you with us. 7 million cars recalled last month.

From a company that was once applauded for its safety standards,

what is going wrong with Toyota? is obviously not going to help

their reputation in any way. The recall so far this year have topped

10 million now, which is not all that far from what they recalled a

couple of years ago, with the accelerator pedals and the floor

mat issues. Now, that the time the recalls were linked to, or it is

claimed to be linked to fatal accidents, on this occasion they

are not. So the consumer response is probably going to be less fierce

this time, but of course, it does do the company any favours.

doesn't. Correct me, I have heard from some other experts today,

saying that this, the problem here with Toyota comes down to a period

of time, the early 2000s, to the mid or late 2000s when Toyota was

focused on growth, becoming the biggest car maker in the world. It

was build, build, build. It is that time when Toyota dropped the ball.

You could certainly say this is a historic problem. The company has

done a lot to address it. One of the things they have done following

the scandal really, two years ago, is to devolves a lot of -- desolve

a lot of the managial responsibility and allow people to

take into account what is going on in local markets. They have been

employing local executives, and European executives, and so on.

They have done a lot to improve safety, and also, to work on the

immanage of the cars, make them sportier, more driver's cars, less

dull. It takes a long time for these improvements to filter

through. In the meantime you will have the problems crated years ago.

Briefly, you touched on it, that the communication last month, the

communication this month with the recalls, certainly a lot better

than a couple of years ago when they had something like 12 million.

But for a car company, maker, it is a case of getting these problems

sort before you have any injurys or accidents. It is an interesting

point. Toyota always said this and they keep saying this, that it is a

sign of a responsible company to recall cars early. The moment you

discover that there is a problem, you make a recall, and they sort of

allude to how some other rivals might not be so quick off the mark,

and might try to fix stuff quietly rather than doing all out recalls,

the way Toyota does it. appreciate your update, thank you.

Let us move on. Proposals for new legislation that would force all

publicly listed European companies to reserve at least 40% of non-

executive board seats for women by 2020. It has been agreed by the

European Commission. The draft directive would allow member states

to decide on sanctions for those companies who fail to reach the

quota. I should say the legislation still needs to be approved by the

European Parliament, as well as the council of ministers. Let us listen

to what the EU Justin commissioner had to say earlier. Well, we did it.

-- justice. Nobody believed there would ever be a European law on the

table, everybody has briefed that it will be a complete failure.

Today the college decided to have a European law, to have quotas for

women in the boardrooms of the big listed companies. 40% by 2020. This

is a breakthrough initiative. has to be passed as we said or

voted on. Let us look at the markets because they have fallen

further south, certainly since I have been on air over the last

couple of hours. The markets are focused on what is happening round

Europe of course, masses, a unified strike involving hundreds of

thousands of people, pretty much in every country across the region.

They are focused on the news coming out of Greece and further new, bad

news for Greece, because we have learned that the third quarter,

that is three month period up until September, in Greece, the economy

there shrank. I shrank again, it was a whopper of a shrinkage. 7.2%,

that is what the Greek economy fell and we expect the Greek economy for

the whole year to have shrunk by 6- and-a-half%. Those people on the

ground protesting will say they are not working, take a look at what is

It has emerged that an investigation has begun at a

hospital in Ireland following the death of the woman refused an

abortion. Savita Halappanavar died after suffering a miscarriage and

septicaemia. She went to University Hospital in Galway and ask for her

pregnancy to be terminated several times because she had severe back

pain and was miscarrying. Her husband claimed that medical staff

told him that termination was not possible because Ireland was a

Catholic country. And we are just a day away from

China announcing its new leadership. The handover has been protracted

but not exactly democratic. Damian Grammaticas has been talking to

China's most famous dissident artist, Ai Weiwei. He began by

asking whether the Communist Party needed to adapt. Yes, I think in

many ways the country and the economics and the whole conditioned

is dragging the party to make a change. It will come to a moment

that they will have to make a change. If they do not, it will not

be good news for them. What changed do you think China needs? What is

necessary is to have clear, independent judicial systems.

Nobody believes that justice is done. That is a tragedy for a party

which has been rolling for 60 years, that it cannot establish trust. And

another is freedom of expression, which is the foundation for a civil

society. If they do not let those things happen, this nation is

coming to a dead end. You're watching BBC World News. Still to

come: Is a shining example of how to make money, the huge diamond

which has just sold for a record amount at auction.

Wouldn't you like that to be your best friend? 10 years since

Sangatte, the asylum centre in northern France were shut. It had

become a magnet for illegal immigrants looking to store cross

to Britain. But the problem of migrants in the area has not

disappeared. Their numbers may have dwindled,

but their determination has never gone away. Every day, around 300

migrants hang around the port waiting for any opportunity to get

to the UK. I tried 14 times. I got under the car. Sometimes I have

tried to go in a small hall in the top of the car. The refugee camp

was closed into this and then to to try to stop the swell of illegal

immigrants crossing the CAC channel -- crossing the Channel. Today,

local charities are taking the strain, with few volunteers and

scanned funding. They are struggling to cope. At least when

we had the immigration camp, there was access to medical care. Now it

is more difficult. One of the migrants showed me their squalid

living conditions. French police frequently destroyed their camps.

The local sorties say that if Britain was as tough on illegal

immigrants, fewer would use Calais as their springboard to the UK.

TRANSLATION: The British need to take a more determined move towards

immigration, as we are doing here to the best of our ability.

controls are tougher than ever but the temptation to cross the Channel

remains. A group of doctors in Britain say

that they had managed to stop the spread of an outbreak of MRSA by

cracking its genetic code. MRSA can affect patients in hospitals and is

difficult to treat because it has become resistant to some

antibiotics. Researchers say they were able to use the genetic code

to identify in member of staff who was unwittingly spreading the

disease. Four people are reported to have

been killed and 10 wounded in western Mexico after gunmen opened

fire at their wedding reception. Mexican state prosecutors say that

the guests were cutting the cake when it two men entered with

handguns and began shooting. This is BBC will is. Here are the

headlines: Strikes is -- strikes are being staged in several

European countries and to -- in progress of austerity measures

imposed by governments tried to cut public debt.

Reports from Israel say that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

is to be toppled if he wins or observer status at the UN.

Have you ever wondered what $21 million could buy you? How about

this? A flawless, 76 carat diamond sold at auction in Geneva on

Tuesday. For that record amount. It has got a name, it is known as the

Archduke Joseph diamond. It is named after the Austrian ruler who

once owned it. The new buyer has chosen to remain anonymous. Dr Jack

Ogden is with me now. He is a historian and former CEO of the

Gemmological Society. Is the diamonds only worth what someone is

willing to pay for it? I think it is worth what two people are

prepared to go for. How do you vile you a diamond? -- how do you value

a diamond? Is it priceless? Smaller diamonds, there are a formula for

working it out. But one -- but once you get to that size, it is an

exceptional market. There are some stones that have set benchmarks for

high prices. This one fetched what was expected. Men often tell ladies

that it is not the size of the diamond, it is the quality of the

diamond. The one last night, it had everything. It had size, quality,

historical perspective. Tell me more about the history. We do not

know its history. That is intriguing and frustrating. We

cannot trace it back before the 19th century. Unlike some of the

other large diamonds which we no date back to the 1600s. Somewhere

out there, there will be a record of it. It must have weighed

somewhere between 100 and 150 carats before it was cut. Somewhere,

there will be a record. Are there other diamonds that we can compare

it to? In May this year, another diamond sold at Sotheby's in Geneva

for $9.7 million. There have been Ofwat coming out of the woodwork,

fetching very high prices. It would make someone a varied good friend.

Thank you very much. As China's leaders prepare to hand

over control to the next generation, outgoing President Hu Jintao has

stated explicitly that China intends to become a maritime

military power. His speech came on the back of two months of Chinese

incursions into Japanese controlled waters in the East China Sea.

Right-wing Japanese politicians are calling for Japan to radically

reassessed its relations with China. For a pacifist country, Japan has a

pretty serious looking Navy. It has some of the most modern destroyers

and submarines in the world. This is its flagship, the 19,000 ton

helicopter carrier. Japanese people have not seen anything like this

year for a very long time. Officially, this is called a

helicopter destroyer but as the saying goes, it looks like a duck

and it quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. This is

essentially a small aircraft carrier, the first to be built in

Japan since the end of the Second World War. And this is just the

beginning. Two more of these, twice as big as this, or currently under

construction down the coast. The questionnaires, why has Japan

decided that it needs to build aircraft carriers? It is getting

more and more nervous. The Chinese are more active day-by-day. He is

talking about this, the Siniakou Islands as they're known in Japan.

Japan controls them and China wants them. The man who will probably be

Japan's next Prime Minister says it is now time for Japan to scrap its

pacifist constitution. TRANSLATION: China is increasing its military

spending by 10% of the year. It is aggressively pushing for control of

the South China Sea and now the East China Sea. Like any country,

we should be able to use our own military to defend ourselves.

Japanese still support the pacifist constitution, but there are signs

of change. The students belong to a nationalist group called "Students

for the future." on Sunday afternoon, they are out recruiting.

This woman likens the island dispute to Britain and Argentina's

fight over the Falklands 30 years ago. TRANSLATION: The Japanese need

to see these islands like marcher - - Margaret Thatcher did with the

Falklands. The need to have the determination to protect the

islands. There is an undeclared arms race going on in East Asia,