hello and welcome to "gmt" here on bbc world news. our top stories, slashed in the face. the american ambassador to south korea is attacked by a militant nationalist. >> i need an ambulance, fast. get me to the hospital. >> okay! >> a sea of boots, 3,000 delegates gathering at china's national congress. but is this the moment they'll thwart out china's choking pollution? go! >> we spend time with a pakistani female commandos,

preparing to fight the taliban on the front lines. also in the program, alice is here counting down to the ecb rate decision. alice? >> you're right, cara. world markets waiting for the european central bank to unveil exactly how and when it will try to trigger growth in this stagnant block. but is it too little too late or are investors confident that mario draghi's plan will provide much-needed economic stimulus? hello, midday here in london. 7:00 a.m. in washington. 9:00 p.m. in seoul, where an attacker has slashed the face of the u.s. ambassador to south korea. it was at a breakfast meeting that mark lippert was knifed by a man, calling for the reunification of north and south korea. it left him needed 80 stitches. the north has described the

attack as just punishment for u.s. warmongers. our correspondent in seoul is stephen evans. >> reporter: the attack was vicious and serious. ambassador lippert was struck with a knife at a breakfast meeting the at an arts center in the south korean capital. a 55-year-old man lunged at him, slashing him twice, once in the face and once across the body. >> i'm bleeding here. i'm bleeding here! >> okay. >> i'm bleeding here! >> reporter: bleeding from his face the ambassador was rushed from the building and taken to hospital. the attacker was arrested and pinned down. he'd shouted that he wanted a unified korea. he also voiced anger at the large u.s. military presence in korea. american troops and south korean troops have just started a joint exercise involving 200,000 personnel.

the south korean government was swift to condemn the attack. >> translator: our government is shocked by the harmful act which occurred against ambassador mark lippert. such acts against the diplomatic delegation will not be accepted for any reasons and we are taking this especially seriously, as it was committed against the ambassador to the u.s., our most important ally. >> reporter: the ambassador, when he took up his post indicated he wanted to be much more open out there with the people. that policy will now be rethought. >> reporter: in seoul, pro-u.s. demonstrators came on to the street to condemn the attack. north korea said it was appropriate punishment of the americans. and some south koreans also voiced sympathy. >> i think many patriots in this

country would agree that the attack on the ambassador was a good thing. the americans came to this country 70 years ago and divided the peninsula. the attack is a reflection of the grief. >> reporter: at the hospital the ambassador had 80 stitches inserted. but his life is not at risk. he has survived what could have been a fatal attack. from his hospital bed, he tweeted that he would be back as soon as possible to improve the alliance between south korea and his country. stephen evans, bbc news, seoul. >> and in the last few minutes, the south korean authorities have released pictures of the knife used in that attack. you'll see just exactly what was used to cut mark lippert on his face, on his left hand leaving him needing those 80 stitches and those pictures just coming out in the last few minutes. let's talk to danny kim, who is the asp reporter in seoul. he joins us from there vieya web

cam. and danny kim, thank you very much for talking to us. how are you viewing this? is this very embarrassing for the south korean authorities? >> good morning. thank you for having me. yes, it's very embarrassing as you've said. none of the previous ambassadors have been attacked like this so it's pretty shocking news for the entire country. >> how prominent is this voice of reunification in south korea? i mean to see this militant person going as far as attacking a u.s. ambassador but when and how much do you hear voices calling for the north and south to be one again? >> it's quite tricky because this morning's case was by a lone maverick. he acted solely on his own. and you know south korea, as its, is a pretty divided

country. and we have some activists canting for reunification. but, you know, it's not a simple matter. >> do you think this -- will the coincidence that this came at the time of those military exercises going on jointly between the united states and south korea? >> yes, i believe so. because annually at this time of the year joint u.s. and korea exercises are,, you know -- it can quite upset the activists. >> yeah, we've heard the north being pretty strong in what it's saying about the attack. what do you think the repercussions of this attack will be on the south, the north, and u.s. relations? >> it will be troubling, for sure. you know attacking an ambassador like this is not just personal, it can mean many more things behind besides this one

individual going after another. >> and that's how this individual is being seen as you mentioned earlier, somebody who was acting alone. there is no evidence of any particular connection to north korea, as far as you know? >> as far as i know i don't think so, no. >> danny kim, thank you very much afp reporter in seoul, joining us viea skype. now, let's -- turn to the praekbreaking news. we have breaking news to bring to you about the ebola situation in europe. we're just learning that the associated press is reporting that liberia has released its last ebola patient, who is a 58-year-old english teacher. she was released from the chinese-run ebolabla ebola treatment center in monrovia and she told the associated press she is one of the happiest people on earth

today. what this means is that once this last patient is released liberia has to now begin to count 42 days to be declared completely ebola free in keeping with world health organization protocols. so liberia has released its last ebola patient from a center in monrovia. now, it's a figure that finance ministers in the west can only dream of but for china's premiere li keqiang, the new growth target of 7% reflects an economy that's slowing down. mr. li has been setting out the prospects for the coming year and the communist party's priorities to the annual meeting of the national people's congress. let's go over to the bbc's martin patience in beijing. martin? >> this is the one time of the year that you get at least a glimpse of the workings of the chinese government. the man in the spotlight was

china's premiere, li keqiang, and much of his opening address, his speech was dominated by the economy. as you were mentioning he says that china now needs to get used to slower but more sustainable economic growth. it's a political spectacle on a grand scale. from all corners of the country, from many walks of life the delegates flock to the opening of china's annual parliamentary sessions. china may not be a democracy, but the ruling communist party wants to show its responses to the public. but there's uniformity here consensus within the ranks. this is a system that rarely springs any surprises. and as expected china's premiere announced a lower growth target saying the economy must now chart a different course.

zplt the target growth rate of approximately 7% takes into consideration what is needed and what is possible. this target is both aligned with our goal of finishing creating a moderately prosperous society and is appropriate in terms of the need to grow and upgrade our economy. >> china's turbo charged development has devastated the environment. this chinese documentary of an air pollution released just a few days ago, is now an internet sensation. viewed more than 200 million times. facing a growing public backlash the premiere made this pledge. >> translator: the environmental pollution is a blight on people's quality of life and a trouble that weighs on their hearts. we must fight it with all our might. >> reporter: what was striking

about the premiere's speech was his stinging criticism of china's economic performance. he now says the country will pursue smaller economic growth as it carries out reforms, but saying it and actually doing it are two very different things. and he'll face stiff resistance from those who have gotten rich their way of doing things. now, 7% would be the envy of most countries, but one thing you have to remember is that china has become used to double-digit growth. and this represents a significant slowdown. one economist said that it would feel like a recession. that may be an exaggeration, but it will take some getting used to. >> martin, thanks very much. martin patience there in beijing. let's bring you up to date other news. the u.n. refugee agency called for more assistance to be provided to merchant ships that change course to rescue migrants crossing the mediterranean.

they told the bbc a compensation scheme should be set up and docking fees should be waived. he also called for more robust search and rescue operations. an australian prisoner swap proposal to save two of its citizens from the death penalty have been rejected by the indonesian government. the australian men who are the ring leader of the so-called bali nine have been moved to a prison island where they're due to be shot by firing squad. tony abbott has suggested that the search for the malaysian airlines plane which disappeared almost a year ago may be reduced in size. mr. abbott said australia was taking every reasonable step to find the jet, but he couldn't promise the search would continue at its current intensity forever. stay with us here on "gmt" on bbc world news. still to come the controversy continues in india over the new delhi bus rape documentary. how now the country's home

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now, the controversy in india over a documentary featuring one of the men convicted of the fatal gang rape in delhi in 2012 shows no signs of abating. the indian authorities have banned the film "india's daughter," which was commissioned by the bbc, from being shown in india, but on wednesday, bbc broadcast it in the uk and that's angered india's home minister. he's warned he'll take further action. let's get more from delia arlia who's in delhi for us. is there any indication what that further action might be? >> reporter: the home minister has not specified exactly what they plan to do but he did express clear displeasure with the action of bbc, of bringing the date of broadcast further and actually going ahead with it.

and he said that they had informed the bbc to not go ahead with it and they will now see what further action they need to take. he also said that they are looking at what action they need to take against the officials who did give permission for the interview of a convicted rapist in the prison. but, again, he did not say what that would be. >> now, the film has been scheduled to be shown in india this coming sunday on ndtv. that's being stopped because of a police injunction. >> indeed. that has been stopped, also the film became available on youtube, but the youtube authorities have also taken it off, and when you access it try to access it vieya youtube, it says because of the court order, this video has been removed, though it was shared a couple of hundred times, not massively, not widely before the video was removed, so there are deferent ways to still access it but officially, no channel can broadcast any part or the whole of the film in india. >> how split is indian public opinion over the rights and the

wrongs of this documentary? >> pretty much in the middle. half of the people would say that, yes, it is important to see these views being expressed, even though they are widely understood that any person would commit a heinous crime like rape would have such backwards views, and it is a way to show a middle to the indian society about what needs to be done still with regards to violence against women. but the other half have been saying that this is something that we do not need to know again and again, and it can express children especially because it is for general viewing at the end of the day. and there is no guarantee that people will not look at these people who are giving these views and look at them as heroes. >> divya, thank you very much. divya was talking about lots of reaction to the documentary. on social media, people have been giving their view on whether it should have been banned.

the indian activists said the culture of banning things is the one thing that should never be in our culture. everything else we can, so stop banning now. indian writer commented, ate beef on monday clicked on a link to watch a banned documentary on thursday. being a rebel is not quite what it used to be. an indian writer thinks people should forget the ban #indiandaughter is a much watch. anyone who watches will understand devastation caused by reaggressive it attitudes. face it fix it. but indian writer sunny singh disagreed with the documentary's premise saying "again, not sure why indias daughter is platforming a convicted rapist." now, there's growing concern of iraqi civilians as government forces press forward on the fourth day of their offensive to recapture tikrit. the united nations has sent eight convoys to thousands of people who have had to leave the

city, which is under occupation by islamic state militants. the white house has warned against the danger of sectarian reprisals by the iranian-backed shia militias playing a major role in the offensive. let's get the latest from the bbc's jim muir who's in beirut. jim, has there been much movement on the ground? >> reporter: well apparently not. the last couple of days there's been very few reports of actual movement by the iraqi government forces and allied shia militias who are pressing in around tikrit. they seem to be mainly shelling carrying out air strikes for the moment, possibly trying to soften up the resistance by the islamic militants, moving into the areas they've been controlling really since last june has proven a tricky business. this has been established from previous campaigns, because the militants leave behind them many, many booby traps and other hidden bombs, which make advancing a very perilous business, or advancing safely.

so the tactic that seem to be adopting the attacking forces is to encircle the whole area, and then slowly start moving in or even storming it. but it is -- it was clear from the beginning, this would be a long drawn-out campaign and very much of course a kind of dress rehearsal it's being seen as for a much bigger operation later in the year perhaps, to take back mosul, the second biggest city in iraq which is quite a long ways to the north, and which will obviously present even more problems. >> jim the fact that shia militia backed by iran are involved in this fight to a significant degree how uncomfortable is that diplomatically to the united states? >> well it has created a very awkward situation, because the americans and iranians although they're fighting proxy wars you could say in syria, for example, or in iran backed the government, whereas the americans are backing the

opposition. here in iraq or there in iraq they are essentially on the same side of the fence, against i.f. which is the major preoccupation there for both of them. so they're on the same side, but the americans have refrained on this occasion from joining in with coalition air support for this ground movement, where the iranians are very much involved at the head of their force is on the ground expanding some operations with and he has been instrumental in putting together these shia militias. so it's a situation the americans are quite sensitive about, obviously, because mr. carrie for example, the secretary of state currently in saudi arabia reassuring the saudis and other sunni groups leaders from the gulf cooperation council, the gulf states, that the american nuclear talks with iran which are sort of coming to a head are not going to mean a kind of total mt. rushmore between the two sides. and yes, they are on the ground in iraq essentially on the same side. so it is a very delicate situation and the americans are

watching very closely, what's happening with these shia and militias backed by iran as they move into heavily sunni areas. and there's a lot of old score settling from previous massacre of shia that they fear they may be looking for vengeance for. so it's a very very tense situation. >> jim, thanks very much. jim muir in beirut. and jim mentioned the that john kerry is in saudi arabia. we'll bring you any developments there. knew to the fight against militants in pakistan. this one involves women. from the most conservative region in the country, an all-female group of female commandos has been trained to fight in the front line against the taliban. at a police academy, they're hoping to become part of an elite force deployed in the northwest. our correspondent spent the day with them. >> reporter: women with guns. not a common sight in pakistan.

but these police officers recruited to the elite forces are determined to be on the front line in the war against the taliban. the 35 new recruits get the same six-month training as their male colleagues. in class, they learn how to handle and dismantle the weapons they'll need in special operations. in house searches the women will go in first, clearing the way for the men in their unit. >> when we enter the house as regular police we couldn't fight women terrorists, but now with this elite training we can face them and fight them and kill them. >> reporter: sadia is 26 and mother of a 2-year-old. >> what's your favorite class in this course? >> weapons. >> reporter: the weapons? >> weapons. >> reporter: weapon training. she misses her daughter, but her husband is very supportive. the physical training is harder

than anything these women have to do in the regular police force. from light weapons to heavy machine guns, these women are going to be doing it all. they're pashtun, from the most conservative part of pakistan, and yet they're here with the support of their husbands and fathers. and that tells you something about the very slowly changing mind-set in this country when it comes to fighting radical militants. they've long been criticized in being selective in its fight against militants. after the horrific massacre in december of children in a peshawar school just half an hour away there appears to be more resolve. this training started before the tragedy, now there's even more support for it. and the commander is impressed. he's got a long list of women volunteers waiting to enlist. >> after this training and you

have also witnessed a level of fitness in training that i feel very confident that if there is no male member of the elite police, we can simply induct the lady elite to that house and they'll undertake the position. >> reporter: if the male recruits are hesitant about women in their unit, they certainly don't show it. who is in favor of women in the elite commando force? in a province that's wore the brunt in a war, the women now want in on this fight. now, lots to bring you coming up in the next half hour here on "gmt." made in china, but born in the usa. there's going to be a crackdown on so-called maternity tourism, allowing chinese women to get american citizenship for their

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welcome back to "gmt" on bbc world news. a knife attack on the u.s. ambassador to south korea by a militant nationalist is being investigated. north korea calls it just punishment. four years on and the war in syria is far from over. we hear from the u.n.'s top diplomat to syria over his failed plan to stop the fighting in aleppo. concerns for the welfare of tea workers in india. there are fears hundreds of thousands are being exploited. and also in the program, alice is here looking at how

many women have made it into the boardroom. alice? >> that's right, carin. it seems after years of promising progress companies in japan and western europe are still failing to promote women in the workplace. less than 50% of board room positions are filled by women, but there are some glimmers of hope. russia and the eastern european countries, they're leading the way. and we'll find out why a bit later in the show. hello. bbc investigation into what's being called maternity tourism has found many chinese women who travel to the united states to give birth have two aims. trying to get around their country's one child policy and qualify their newborn babies for american citizenship. authorities in california have launched a major operation against companies who charge tens of thousands of dollars to organize all-inclusive maternity

trips. from los angeles, alastair reports. >> reporter: federal officers streamed into more than a dozen apartments on the hunt for evidence. it's their biggest crackdown so far against so-called maternity tourism. package deals for pregnant chinese women so they can give birth to american babies. that's not illegal, making false visa claims is. >> these people were told to lie, how to lie, so that their motives for coming to the u.s. wouldn't be questioned. >> reporter: in the fancy palm-lined suburbs, a local lawyer has been leading the search for maternity hotels. >> this is one here that has been reported and a formal complaint to the city council. they're essentially motels, where they rent out three to four rooms in the home to pregnant women that are coming from china and giving birth to get the dual citizenship. >> and there's a few in this one little estate? >> yeah, three in a couple yards from one another.

>> we knocked at one of the places she identified. the residents didn't want to go on camera, but confirmed friends had come, paid to stay here, and had their babies in order to get an american passport. neighbors notice many different pregnant women staying in one house. >> what i've kind of seen, they're just here for a brief time, until they have children, and then they leave, and within the same day, other families move in. i think they're circumventing our legal process to become citizens and to use some of the benefits that this country provides. so i don't think it's right. >> reporter: and this building is often the first port of call. every week, dozens of chinese women with newborn babies come here to get american passfort for their children. few families wanted to be identified, but said their motivation was china's one child policy. >> i'm here to deliver a baby, because in china, they don't allow to have a second baby.

the u.s. passport is not important. >> reporter: others admitted the lure of citizenship was strong. having an american passport, she said, he can make his own choice in the future about where and how to live when he's an adult. new mothers coming to the u.s. brings the local government many benefits, she said. it's not a burden, it's mostly a benefit. but undercover agents have been investigating three named individuals for more than a year and are trying to close a loophole in the law. now, india is one of the world's leading tea producers, but there are concerns about the welfare of hundreds of thousands of tea workers. hunger disease, and exploitation are widespread in many remote communities and the u.s. is now working in dozens of

villages to protect the welfare of families. humphrey huxley reports from west bengal. >> reporter: tea is a global industry that generates billions of dollars a year. planters deliver freshly picked crop to this factory in northeast india from where it's exported all over the world. workers live and raise their families on the estate. for every part of their lives, they rely on the tea company. conditions here are good. but in many they're not. remote and cut off, few outsiders know how dependent families are and how dismal life can become. the owners closed this estate because it was losing money. the people mostly illiterate and poor had little idea of how to fend for themselves. the community was suddenly abandoned. the school and hospital shut

down. christian is only 28. a year ago his wife says he was healthy. >> he can't swallow food. and he's hurting in his arms is and legs. he can't bend. he's having skin disease too. >> sickness is rampant. fujita says she's only 40 years old. he's very ill and his wife and daughter died last year. aid workers have written on his behalf. he's asked for help from the government sheet after sheet of documentation has been sent in but he says he's still hungry and he's still sick and for some reason, that help isn't getting through. but it's not only there.

even in the thriving profitable tea gardens, the united nations has found so many human rights issues that it's said it needed to intervene. the health of the families was appalling. >> the health issue that the community faced were most of water-born diseases, jaundice and the malaria was quite rampant in this area as well. >> reporter: this company in neighboring issam is now working with the u.n. it's been exporting its luxury brand for decades. >> have you been doing it wrong in the past? >> i'm not doing wrong, but we were not doing certain things. primarily, what we are doing may not be total right, but not interesting. >> these are the people responsible for some of the finest cups of tea. now how they're treated is under international scrutiny. humphrey huxley bbc.

>> you're watching "gmt" here on bbc world news. here in the uk children up and down have been celebrating world book day. many will be dressing up as characters ss from their favorite stories and mine it's been quite a challenge to get them out of the house on time. but with so many forms of digital entertainment now competing for young people's attention, how difficult it is to be a children's author these days? the bbc's tim muffet has been finding out. >> reporter: inspiration for a story can come anywhere, anytime. during crystal mccaul, it was during child holidays. >> the vikings really believed that dragons existed. i spent time writing and creating and drawing actually pictures of dragons. >> reporter: in 1998 she started turning them into stories. 11 books and two hollywood films later, the "how to train your dragon" series is about to end

its tale. >> i'm writing book 12 which is the last book in the series which is called "how to fight a dragon fury." >> when you finish the series how are you going to feel? >> i'm going to feel pretty emotional and sad, because it's been -- you know, it's 1998 17 years of my life. children's authors have got very good about what we're doing. we know what the opposition is and the opposition is incredible film, incredible telly, not to mention ipads and the internet. and so we've got to make our books so exciting so visual so funny, in order to compete with children's attention. >> ebooks haven't hit print sales in the way some predicted. it seems parents tend usually to still like paper and ink. for the children's authors, the job itself seems to have changed. writing a book is one aspect of

a much bigger marketing industry that has boomed. >> reporter: holly snails' latest novel rolls off the press. the end of one chapter, but the start of another. book signings personal appearances, meeting the fans. >> i'm interested in telling a story i want to tell and in my own head and it hasn't even occurred to me that should that become successful i would have to go out and deal with the real world, so it's been a bit of a surprise. >> we get them out into bookshops, look to get them into schools. if you can get kids talking about books in schools and recommending to each other, obviously a lot of groundwork has been done for you there. being prepared to kind of put yourself out there and promote yourself, as well as your book can be really powerful. >> although there is a downside. >> we might be losing out on you know interesting writers who don't necessarily like to perform, but we have to do that. we need to be visible. we need to be heroes for

children. >> and with book sales of over $7 million, she knows full well every good story needs a hero. tim muffet bbc news. now, four years since the war in syria began, efforts to agree a freeze on hostilities in one area of the conflicts are proving difficult. the u.n. envoy to syria says a plan for a local cease-fire in aleppo was to serve as foundation to move toward broader political negotiations to end the war that's already taken more than 220,000 lives. with me is the bbc's chief international correspondent, lees doucet. what is the feeling among people trying to get some sort of beginnings of peace, like stefan? >> well, it's a measure of how difficult it is because he's the third u.n. envoy who -- and his predecessors tried to get proper political negotiations on trying to end this devastateing conflict. he has now focused on something he calls a freeze, to make it

different than the other cease-fires, which essentially were surrender by the opposition forces. but even the effort to try to get a cease-fire in one city an iconic and important city in the north, aleppo, is proving difficult. so this morning here in london i asked -- to be clear, what exactly -- who's agreed to what i began by asking him, what has president assad agreed to? >> president assad agreed to respond to my request to all sides, including, obviously, assad and the government, to stop heavy shelling aerial bombing, which means also very much bombing. all over the city of aleppo during six week when the u.n. will try to show to the local population on all sides the benefits of what does it mean an escalation of the conflict. the most aggressive part of the conflict, the one which has

killed most of the people has been heavy weaponry. on both sides, by the way, but particularly the aerial bombing. >> but he has only agreed to a six-week suspension of the bombing in the city not in the north, which has seen the worst of the bombing, including the barrel bombs that he denied to the bbc even existed. and the cease-fire you're talking about, the freeze is only in one neighborhood of a city. so it's far less than you originally envisioned. >> well let me be precise on that. what i asked is to allow the u.n. more security with u.n. aid to both sides. the cease-fire or the freeze as we call it because we want to make a distinction from what you and i saw in homs is all over this city. what we mean by all over this city is automation is now going to assess. >> and in other questions to him, i put it to him, two days ago, the new council for the opposition forces at least some

of the opposition forces around aleppo flatly rejected it. they said we will not accept a freeze or cease-fire in aleppo. there has to be a comprehensive plan, which has to include president assad's departure. and of course, that isn't on the table now. so i said your peace plan is dead. and lebshe said, it's not dead. and they are going to continue to do everything possible. and he showed his most compelling reason why he's doing it, he held a book of the dead syria's dead 100,000 people. only half of the people who have been killed. and we'll have more of that on bbc later today. >> elise doucet thank you. more of lee's interview throughout the day here on bbc world news. stay with us here on "gmt." still to come we're going to have more business news including the european central bank announcing whether or not they'll keep interest rates on hold.

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hello. you're watching "gmt." our main story, the u.s. ambassador to south korea has been slashed in the face with a knife during an official meeting. he was given 80 stitches in hospital. he has tweeted to say he's doing well. china's premiere has cut the economy's growth target to 7% saying the slowdown is part of what he says is the new normal. let's stay on an economy business theme. alice is here, alice is here with the european interest rates. >> we have just heard from the european central bank, literally in the last minute or so. it's just announced that it is keeping rates at the record low level of 0.05%. now, this was expected but all eyes now are on what the central

bank will say about it the $1 billion stimulus plan. in around 45 minutes from now, the project of large scale quantitative easing that's essential printing new money, is one of the reasons that investors have been polishing the euro on foreign exchange markets. the euro is currently at an 11.5-year low against the dollar. that's 20% lower than it was last year and this is how european markets have been reacting with all eyes on the ecb press conference coming up in about 45 minutes, as i was saying. well simon smith is head of research at fx pro, foreign exchange currency trading platform. thank you for joining me here on the program, simon. that bench marc rate 0.05%, that's been kept. what do you make of that decision, of course, wildly expected? >> it was wildly expected. what investors will be focusing on today is a press conference as you said and more details of that bond firing program, which will be repurchasing $60 billion

of bonds a month, up to september 2016 next year or until they feel that inflation has recovered enough that they can be more comfortable. >> well on that last point, simon, do you think mario draghi is doing enough to combat inflation in the eurozone? >> they're certainly coming later than other central banks. as you know, started quantitative easing back really six years ago today, actually. when the bank of england jumped in with both feet. the yield on bonds return to investors are already negative after landing seven, six years in germany. even in spain, they're already incredibly low. what they want to do is buy those bonds, push yields lower, which will affect lending rates for households and businesses elsewhere in the economy. but it certainly is how far can you push the bond deals further lower, when they're already negative in germany and already so incredibly low, much lower than the u.s. and nearly about

0.8% really 1% lower in italy and spain versus what we're seeing in the u.s. at ten years. and that's a big, big difference. >> and all the question of how low can you go the euro at an 11 1/2-year low against the dollar. this is the sort of competitive edge for our exports here in the eurozone that many governments and central banks have been longing for. and do you think that just the idea of quantitative easing is what's given this currency a boost? and is it all good? >> generally, yes, a weaker currency does help it makes exports more competitive and that can naturally help the recovery process. i think what's interesting is the sort of more granular details today, on who will be selling those bonds. will it be sort of domestic investors overseas. and if we see more overseas investors selling, there tnd to be more holders of the peripheral market and spain, et cetera.

then there would be a greater push down on the euro to these levels, even though the market isn't very -- anticipated much of this. if we do see them overseas investors selling, that will be a further push lower on the european currency which is a boost. and naturally, against berlin we're up 3.5% this year. you know we're up a good deal over the last year as well from 120 to 135. so if you go on holiday, it's naturally great from that perspective. >> all right, good to get your analysis on this. simon smith, ahead of research at fx pro. and details of that plan comeing out in about 45 minutes from brussels. the world's largest restaurant chain mcdonald's, says it's going to stop buying chicken from suppliers who use antibiotics who are also used to fight human infections. the birds are given the drugs to help them grow faster but there's concern that that could reduce the effectiveness of the antibiotics when they're then used to treat humans.

>> reporter: an order of nuggets without a side of antibiotics. that's the new promise by mcdonald's, the worlds biggest restaurant chain says within the next two years, it will only use chickens raised without antibiotics that are important to human health. many animal producers give their livestock antibiotics to make them grow faster and ensure they are healthy. but the practice has become a public health issue. >> experts fear overuse of antibiotics could be hurting their effectiveness in fighting disease in humans. this decision by mcdonald's is about perception as the company tries to win over people drawn to foods they think is healthier. >> i think what mcdonald's is doing is trying to play catch-up in an industry that has started to get rid of hormones and antibiotics in a lot of the supply chain proteins like chicken and beef. so they're playing catch-up to brands like chipotle which has really done a great job of

bringing better ingredients to the marketplace. >> reporter: while the shift doesn't apply to its beef burgers, mcdonald's is now the biggest company to make this kind of commitment on drug use in livestock. a move that could help kick-start a broader food industry response. laura westbrook, bbc news. now, on to a subject that's fueling debate right around the world, despite years of the startling commitments to improve, western europe and the u.s. are still struggling with gender equality in the boardroom. so rich areas of the world have more women in the top jobs, and leading the way are eastern europe. research reveals that 40% of business roles in russia are occupied by women and that's the highest in the world. by contrast the u.s. is at around 21%. and western european nations are really lagging behind with germany, down at just 14%. japan is at the bottom of the list, with just 8%.

so what's going on? with me here in the studio is wendy nichols with the group behind that search. wendy, what is about the communist legacy as well as the aforementioned countries, as well as those like georgia, that are doing so well for women? >> it's interesting. we've been doing our research for about a decade now and found that these countries have consolidated their position at the top of the table. perhaps something about the legacy of the communist ideal, but also we think there are other factors at play including the encouragement of girls to study the stem subjects science, technology engineering, and math so that women are doing well not just in traditional female industries like hospitality, but also in other industries, such as financial -- >> but wendy, a country like japan is a country that very highly prizes education and technology it's at the forefront of those sorts of things so why do women tend to

fair so badly in their board rooms? >> there's a lot of japanese companies, which don't have any women on their boards. and it's a cultural thing. i think it will take a long time to work its way through. we've heard that the japanese prime minister is trying to push a cultural change but, you know, these things move very slowly. >> and also the u.s. western europe we culturally seem to have something that we can learn from these eastern european nations. >> and some of the western european countries are doing a little bit better. so, france for example, is reasonably high up there with about 33%, compared to the global average of 22. and that could be partly to do with encouragement by the french government for, you know, quotas. >> okay, wendy, we'll have to leave it there. fascinating stuff. that's all the business for this hour. thanks for being with us. >> alice, thanks very much. plenty of women in the studio today, at least. if you want to get in touch with us here at bbc world news you

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