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>> union bank has put its financial strength to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news." >> and a dire warning from the european commission. economic growth in the eurozone is at a standstill. the commission says it is now time for action. >> the recovery in the european union has now come to a standstill and there is a risk of a new recession unless action is taken.

>> welcome to gmt. i am george alagiah, with a world of news and opinion. also in the program, and dozens still trapped as turkey's earthquake zone is hit by a massive aftershock. nine people killed. south africa's ruling anc suspended hotbed youth leader for five years. what is next move is. it is midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, and 1:00 in the afternoon in brussels, where the european union economy commissioner has just thrown a verbal grenade into what's already a pretty explosive economic crisis. olli rehn says growth in the eu has stalled. the latest forecast, powerhouse germany, suggesting growth of 1% next year. add to that the still unresolved political crises in greece and italy and you can see were

commissioner rehn is coming from. >> as the eurozone is enveloped by a storm of uncertainty, there's intense debate about the way forward. the prime minister of italy stepped down, as promised. how much longer will it take greece to form a new government? the international monetary fund is seeking clarity. >> political clarity is much needed in greece. it is much needed in italy. there are clearly some rumors, allegations, trepidation, expectations. no one really understands who is going to come out as the leader and winner. i think that confusion is conducive to volatility. >> in greece, more talks under way on naming the new prime minister. the front-runner a right to see the president this morning, but there's a dangerous power vacuum and greece is running out of

time. in italy, people have been left guessing what they're politicians will do to resolve the crisis. there have been efforts to calm the money markets after its borrowing costs rose to levels regarded as unsustainable. the president has said there should be no delay in passing the economic reforms demanded by italy's eurozone partners. elsewhere in europe, there's a mood of anxiety about what is happening in italy. >> its current state is a clear and present danger to the eurozone. the moment of truth is fast approaching. if the leaders of the eurozone want to save their currency, then they, together with the institutions of the eurozone, must act now. in brussels, the latest forecast delivered by the european union's monetary affairs chief is one of gloom. >> this forecast is in tax bill last -- is in fact of the last wake-up call. the recovery in the european

union has come to a standstill. there's a risk of a new recession, unless determined action is taken. >> there's fresh talk of a 2- speed europe and changes to the eu's treaties. the president of the european commission has warned that a split union simply will not work. >> if europe is to bow out greece and italy, one of the most crucial affairs will be germany. german chancellor angela merkel insists that helping others must not endanger her country's economy, but what about the cost of not helping? joining us from berlin is one of the so-called five wise people who advise the german government on the economy. thank you very much for being with us. what's your message as an advisor to german chancellor angela merkel right now? >> our message is that the only solution for the euro area is to

act united and to try to do something. we have made a proposal for a joint liability fund supporting especially italy. the fund would have volume of about 2.3 billion euros. only with this will it be possible to get more calm and to the markets. >> let's leave that aside for a moment. the talk of united action -- you are whistling in the wind. the greeks have had four days to choose a leader. there's no reason to suppose italy is suddenly going to implement the kind of policies that are clearly needed. >> i think as far as italy is concerned, if you compare italy

with the united kingdom, they're much better than the date of u.s. or japan. it's a clear case of hysteria of the markets. is not justified. >> 7% interest rates compared to 2% interest rates. >> there is a difference between italy and united kingdom, is there not? there's a government in the united kingdom that seems very clear on the policy it wants to implement. it is in fact implementing it at some cost. it is doing that. that's very different from the picture in italy. absolutely not, if you compare the deficit data. italy is in much better shape this year and next year. >> i am talking about the policy is the italian government is implementing an needs to implement in order to get out of it. it cannot really do that while it has all this political instability. >> what matters in the end are

the deficit day that. they are much better for italy. >> let's move on. how frustrating is it for germany that so much of its own economic future really now depends on what goes on in countries that it has no control of? >> i'm talking about greece, italy, and perhaps others. >> for germany, of course, there's a difficult situation. on the other hand, having the euro area exporting without any negative effects on foreign- exchange markets. we had huge profits. i think we will the profits in the future from this. nevertheless, you are right. it is difficult to convince. the council is absolutely convinced this is worth it.

>> we will leave it there. thank you very much. now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world. at least nine people have been killed and up to 100 more are believed to be trapped in rubble after an earthquake hit eastern turkey causing buildings to collapse. the earthquake struck the city of van with a magnitude of 5.7. over two weeks ago, an earthquake hit the same region, killing more than 600 people. jonathan now reports from turkey. >> battered, cold, but very lucky to be alive. a 60-year-old man is extracted from the ruins of what was a popular six-story hotel. these are painful scenes for the people of this eastern city, which was badly shaken by the larger but more distant earthquake two and a half weeks ago. many of those trapped here our rescue workers and journalists who have been working out of van since the last tremor.

overnight, this japanese volunteer was pulled from the rubble, suffering only minor injuries. a male colleague was less fortunate. he died after being rescued this morning. both have come to help the victims of last month's earthquake. once again, emergency teams had to work through the night to try to reach the dozens of people. their recent experience will tell them that they could be digging here for several days to find survivors. with hundreds of aftershocks recorded since last month, it's also clear that many of the building still standing are probably too unsafe to use. that presents authorities with a huge logistical challenge, how to house the tens of thousands who cannot use their homes. the tense cities that have sprung up since last month may not be adequate. turkey has asked for

international assistance in putting out more substantial temporary shelter for the displaced population. it must also turn its attention to the tens of thousands of substandard buildings in the rest of the country which could be just as vulnerable as those that have just collapsed in van. >> the israeli supreme court has upheld the conviction of the country's former president. he's now expected to begin serving his seven-year prison sentence in the coming weeks. he was found guilty earlier this week of breaking a fellow worker -- of raping a fellow worker during his time as president. in egyptian pipeline carrying natural gas for export to israel and jordan has been blown up in northern sinai for the sixth time this year. flames could be seen. witnesses say they spotted armed men in the area. the executive chairman of news international, james murdoch, is

being questioned by mp's for the second time about phone hacking at "news of the world." still to come on gmt -- british scientist find a weak point in the spread of malaria. could this be the first set to even indicating that diseases? -- to in eradicating the disease? australia has come one step closer to banning all branding on cigarettes. the senate has passed a law requiring cigarettes be sold in plain packaging together with images of people suffering from smoking-related illnesses. the bill goes to the lower house next. tobacco companies say they will continue to fight this, as it infringes their trademarks. duncan kennedy has this report. >> cigarette packs as you know them and as you do not. shocking photos with no

branding. australia has passed a law to remove all logos, replacing them with plain packaging. it bans all advertising on packs to try to cut the annual 15,000 smoking-related deaths. >> i make the rules around here. >> tobacco companies have tried to fight this, accusing the government of creating a nanny- state. >> they also say banning branding infringes their intellectual property rights protected by international law. >> you may not like it. sympathy for no sense o us, but you cannot just take people's property. >> the governogovernment says hl always trump profits. >> they have picked the wrong

government. >> in the future, all these colored packs will be illegal. the step is being watched by many other countries. the new law takes effect december of next year. the tobacco companies say that far too soon. the government says in the interest of public health, logo- free, plain packaging for cigarettes cannot be stopped. duncan kennedy, bbc news, sydney. >> the leader of the african national party youth league, julius malema was charged with division within the anc and bringing the party within disrepute. milton has been following

the hearing in johannesburg. how divided could this decision now be for the party? >> george, it's very hard to say. in the anc, in the past, we've seen very prominent people expelled. when the fear was that there would be divisions, the party continues. as you probably know, george, the anc in january, in two months, anc, will be 100 years old. the message today is that this old party, this party of nelson mandela, wants to draw a line in the sand to say they will never take unruly youth to rule this historical movement. >> the party has always shown a remarkable ability to stay united. surely mr. julius malema is somewhat different. some of the things he has said

is suggesting he is much more of a hot head then some of the others you mentioned. >> very much so. the biggest challenge president zuma is facing is that next year, exactly in one year, the anc leadership goes for reelection. julius malema wants jacob zuma to be replaced. the difficulty is whether the people supporting julius malema will continue to support jacob zuma into the second term. that's critical to see. >> milton, nkosi from johannesburg, thank you very much. this is gmt from "bbc world news." i am george alagiah. economic growth in the eurozone is at a standstill and urgent action is needed. rescue workers are trying to free dozens of people still trapped as turkey's earthquake zone is hit by an aftershock.

nine people have been killed. time now for the business news. >> thank you very much. italy's 1-year borrowing costs hit a 14-year high on thursday. it sold 5 billion euros added punishing rate of just about 6.9%. the longer-term borrowing rate is currently paying about 6.98% on 10-year bonds. that's similar to the levels that greece, portugal, and ireland were being charged just before they were bailed out. compare that with germany's borrowing costs. the eurozone's biggest and strongest economy pays just 1.68% on the 10-year bond. italy needs to borrow billions more euros in coming weeks and the current rate could make this unaffordable. >> at the level we're talking about, it's basically saying

that your implied cost is 2 euros for every five euros of revenue you received. 40% just in your borrowing costs of all your income. if you are looking at italian growth of half of 1% in the following year, the question is, where's the money going to come from? >> a number of eurozone countries in trouble. the parliament of portugal are set to talk about next year. it's also trying to renegotiate the terms for its euro 70 billion bailout. increasingly, commentators are betting on these periphery economy's been forced to exit the eurozone. ncker tried to reassure them that brussels was behind them. >> they should not have the

impression they're totally isolated. there is no euro without portugal. >> let's have a look at what else is on the business agenda. china is feeling the effects of a weakening global economy, according to the latest trade figures. export growth was the weakest in eight months and close to the levels of 2009. in mports surged, though. the man from emerging economies like china has been given a boost to germans industrial giant, siemens. it has reported weaker than expected quarterly profits, but said revenue was up 12% in asia, supporting a 5% rise across all markets. new orders were down, but there were also a bit better than expected.

i want to show you how the markets have been reacting to the italian bond auction. at the start of the day, they were pretty weak. the european markets have moved a little bit higher. the figures you've got for asian trading were before all that happened and they were following on from a big fall on wall street on wednesday. that's it for me. >> thank you. greek politicians are holding a fourth day of talks to name a new prime minister. greek media now reporting that the former european central bank vice-president has reemerged as a favorite to take the top job. the turmoil has led to intense concern on markets and international pressure for a quick resolution, as we have been reporting. president of the chamber of commerce joins me in the studio. i'm going to borrow a phrase. this is a case of athens is

burning and the politicians are peddling away. four days and they have not found a leader. >> it is 5 days and still counting. the good thing about this political soap opera -- the greek people are finally fed up with the political system. why do i say this is good? the greek problem is a problem of an ineffective government. let me use a very clear example. if you will remember back in 1989, germany was split in two. it was a totally different world. the fact that a lady born only 10 years after i was born and aew up froin east germany becae member of the party, became a prominent politician in germany

right now, which means the city -- >> this in decisidecision that'e got, what effect it's having on the economy? >> it is totally destructive. nothing works. this is not a problem for greece, but for europe, as well. greece is overtaxed and overregulated. >> this is what the politicians have cultivated. >> 15,000 top taxpayers. >> this is the position the politicians are cultivating. corruption is at the top party political levels. imagine -- the two main parties

now been summoned to find a solution. yes, there's tax evasion. that's normal in the country with a very high percentage -- over 50% of the greeks -- in greece, it's not the private sector that a lien. it's the public sector that's sucking dry the whole liquidity. >> in the meantime, there's some evidence that many greeks that have money are losing faith in moving their money out of greece. >> not more than the italians and spanish are investing. london is a booming city. the markets are not just demonized -- your money, my money -- what greece can do to achieve growth, because of the requirement in greece right now is gross, is to make a very reasonable environment that you

and everybody else would consider safe to invest. >> we will have to leave it there. thank you very much. >> the wild rhino no longer exist in west africa, according to the latest study. it also reveals that 25% of mammals are now considered to be at risk of extinction. here is our environment correspondent. >> conservation projects like this one in kenya are relocating rayhinos. in west africa, it's been a different story. the species of the black rhino has now been declared extinct. in asia, another species is reduced to one small population. they are among thousands evaluated by the international union for conservation of nature and update this list with the help from scientists from around the world.

>> unfortunately, the trend is still in decline. this is due to habitat loss, which is one of the main threats. >> the number of species on the list is growing all the time. it's not just about monitoring those, but there are also success stories. >> extinct in the while in the 1990's, now reintroduced in central asia. despite progress for some species, the list of those in trouble is still getting longer. >> british scientist studying malaria say they've made a discovery that could lead to a vaccine being tested on humans within about two years. in the journal nature, they say research in cambridge reveals a weak point in the way the malaria parasite enters red blood cells. the professor is the head of the malaria program.

thank you very much for joining us. frtell me what it is you have discovered. >> malaria kills about 1 million children each year in africa alone. we know that one of the crucial things about malaria is it invades the red blood cells in the body. when billions of parasites invade our red blood cells, that's when people experience malaria. malaria can also cause complications that killed many children. >> we've only got about 45 seconds. >> a great mystery has been how malaria gets into the red blood cell. we've been discovered a lock and key mechanism. the recent discovery is a specific key the parasite gets in and of the red cell. this will be the focus, the new strategy to prevent the disease. >> i am really sorry about this,

but we do have to leave it there. we've run out of time. good luck. that's all for the moment. stay with us on "bbc world news." there's plenty more to come. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. union bank. and shell. >> this is kim - about to feel one of his

favorite sensations. at shell, we're developing more efficient fuels in countries like malaysia that can help us get the most from our energy resources. let's use energy more efficiently. let's go. >> u