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>> and now, "bbc world news." >> on strike. the british public sector workers staged the biggest walkout in ae g neration. nearly all the schools are shopper the day as all non- emergency hospital operations are postponed. heathrow em cowboy airports appear to be going well. >> we will love solve the problems of our economy by hammering down the living standards of 6 million public service workers. >> the strike will not achieve anything. it will damage the economy and cost jobs at a time when british -- britain cannot afford that. >> hello, welcome to "gmt." coming up in the program, a diplomatic storm in tehran.

the ransacking of the syrian embassy. what consequences? and bringing a positive note to the community, the power of music to inspire young children. hello, it is 7:00 a.m. in washington, 8:00 in the evening in beijing, midday in the u.k., where an estimated 2 million public-sector workers are taking place in the biggest strike in the country in 30 years. the unions have called for the action to make the government contribute more towards pensions. around 400,000 paramedics, nurses, and health care workers are staying away. in england alone, close to 90% of schools have closed as the teachers' union is walking out.

there are delays, but barred nearly as bad as being -- as were feared, at the airport. this report, from mail me. -- naomi. >> midnight, the walkout began. hospital workers in bristol left their place to cheers. as many as 2.5 million public- sector workers may stay at home in protest of pension reform. making it the biggest strike in a generation. as a result, most schools will be closed. job centers will stand empty. even the country's airports could be affected. early signs from heathrow suggests that the situation may be [unintelligible] in the meantime, ministers are condemning the union. >> it will love achieve

anything. will damage the economy and cost jobs at a time when britain cannot afford that. >> what, exactly, is the government proposing pelham ministers say that to balance the books, public-sector workers must put aside 3% more for their pensions. the retirement age will have to rise to 66 by 2020. pensions will be based on a career average, not final salary. ministers say that it is only fair that public-sector workers should face reform similar to those that the private sector have already seen. union bosses have seem -- seemed particularly bruised. >> we are not going to solve our problems in the economy by hammering down living standards of 6 million public service workers. what our economy actually needs

is demand and confidence. >> hinging a great deal on public opinion, polls suggest that there is broad sympathy with the union, urging more disruption on such a big scale, which may change. >> let's go to heathrow airport and get the latest from ross atkins. how bad are things there? >> it to put it bluntly, they are not as bad as everyone was expecting. looking across the u.k., almost everywhere has been given a full and clean bill of health. a number of the main airports are coming out and saying -- no problem. things are moving as you would expect. anecdotally, lots of people coming through the airport behind me here.

others saying that it is easier than it normally is, because many have stayed away. you could see that as a triumph for the government in a blow to the unions. the unions are, however, highlighting the destruction despite the fact that things are moving relatively smoothly, saying this so the airlines are not even flying into heathrow today. they say that airlines like virgin have advised passengers to stay away. it is worth adding that it is a beautiful, clear day in london, making it easier to get the planes in and out. >> the government had a mad scramble to try to get more government workers in. do we know how successful they have been in getting people trained up? >> the figures that we have are that there are two-thirds, 65%, a 66%, of the starting workers

we have recommended. one chunk of those two-thirds are people that would not normally be doing these jobs. civil servants being trained up on virtually short notice to do the job. anecdotally, if you look at what passengers are saying to reporters in sharing on twitter, they have not have a -- they have not had any problems as they would have expected. however, it is worth saying that we are running at 65% of regular capacity. >> thank you very much, ross. taking a look to the other stories making headlines around the world, britain has withdrawn its embassy staff from the iranian capital after its diplomatic compound was stormed by protesters on tuesday. britain has warned the islamic

state that they face serious consequences. >> this morning, the newspapers in tehran who reflected on the storming of british compounds. reports say that more than 10 people have been charged. but that many more were involved. demonstrators pushed past the police and into the embassy and onto a private compound. the british staff had to hide inside of buildings. the government has called the attacks outrageous and indefensible. foreign governments have criticized the actions of the protesters. >> the united states condemns this attack in the strongest possible terms. it is an affront, not only to the british people, but also to the international community. and we stand ready to help in any way that we can to make the point as strongly as possible

that the government's 08 duty to the diplomatic community to protect life and property. and we expect the government of iran to do so. >> i would like to point out that china advocates the safety of diplomatic institutions and personnel. this does not comply with international laws or standard international relations and should be handled properly. >> the iranian government has promised to hold an investigation into the protesters incursions'. they also said that they found the actions unacceptable. an explanation that does not much satisfy the british government's. -- government. >> "bbc world news," is being blocked in pakistan, in response to a documentary that question mabad b -- islam abaddo

documentary questioning commitments. in central criminal court, charges against humanity, mr. baggio was " -- flown to the netherlands overnight. he is set to appear in court next week. nine people have been killed and dozens injured in a fire in downtown hong kong. flames ripped through stores in the world's most densely populated area. [unintelligible] in the hall of africa has been broken according to the early warning system that monitors weather patterns. kenya and ethiopia has received

over 400% of the rain needed for growing crops. the downside is that hindering rain can stop humanitarian relief work. skimming comprehensive data on the dangers of pregnancy and childbirth in afghanistan, the survey found that one out of five children would die before their fifth birthday. complications from pregnancy and childbirth account for two of five deaths of women between 15 and 49. an afghan woman dies every two hours from pregnancy related causes. thank you very much for joining us on the program, doctor. these figures are still extremely alarming. but could they have been worse?

>> first of all, those figures show remarkable progress over the last 10 years in the attempts to alter and in mortality -- in -- infant mortality and maternal mortality. still, it is the highest in the region. however, we are not where we were 10 years ago. eight years ago we showed that a woman dies from pregnancy every half-hour. now it is every two hours. this is a tremendous achievement that we have all done together in the last decade. >> how much of this improvement is linked to the improving security sector in parts of the

country? >> of course, security plays a role. security in terms of providing health care and having female midwives in the provinces. that is why it is very important now, with the challenges that we have, that we sustain his achievements. >> you talk about sustaining achievements. you have a conference next week, do you not? are you perhaps worried that funding will be curtailed because of the economic situation around the world? what is your message in terms of health care funding projects? >> our message is that health care is an area where investment has shown results. we have shown that investment in

health-care can bring results for women and children. that is the message that we want to get across. this is a case where financial assistance from the international community can make a great difference in the quality of life of others. >> doctor, thank you very much indeed for joining us here on "gmt." still to come of the program, the world's next economic powerhouse. where are the bricks heading next? -- brits heading next? >> and not many people in the lead up to christmas are likely to said they do not want presence. certainly not in my family, anyway. that is the message coming from the british armed forces in

afghanistan. they are asking well-wishers that send unsolicited parcels to think again. >> and delivering the christmas post on time is a challenge for any post and. it is a risky business for the helicopters to take the letters and parcels from loved ones to their -- to the front line. the post arrives at the main sorting office, where the women are facing a growing challenge, quite literally, to get all of this out to the troops on time. they are putting out an appeal to the public to not send goodwill parcels, but to donate to military charities instead. and >> [unintelligible] used as base for people's

personal mail. >> -- use that people's personal mail. >> you can see that his male getting to the forces, rather than the things said by the general public, it is the things from the family. in summer, they have 3000 bags of mail. christmastime? 12,000 bags. no easy tax. >> [unintelligible] christmas wrapping. never forget that it is christmas. >> opening these letters from their loved ones is the biggest boost to the forces that opposed drops in on christmas day. >> you are watching "gmt," from "bbc world news."

british public sector workers go on the biggest strike in decades against planned pension reforms. diplomatic fallout continues on tuesday after the sacking of an embassy in tehran. aaron, in terms of preparation for the breakup of the euro zone, this is something that people are now planning for. claps absolutely, the company is preparing action plan -- >> absolutely, the company is preparing action plans. last night we had the euro zone finance ministers meeting. again, the market is very disappointed from what was delivered, or the lack of what was delivered. they did in greek -- they did agree to rescue the effs. nowhere near what the markets needed on their part to handle it. to handle the pickups -- pickups

that were sustained. -- hiccups that were sustained. they did guarantee that the money to partially be used for investors if they lost on bonds, but the worry is what they started to see on the sidelines. let me explain, european banks have started to show a lot of money into the european central banks, seen as a safe haven. last night they deposited 300 billion euros into the ec be. the banks would rather do that and put their money to work, lending to each other. >> is that money drying up? >> that is what leads to a credit crisis. the banks can then not lend to consumers or businesses. some say that we are looking down the barrel of another financial crisis. on top of that, european officials are starting to use

stark warnings. >> we are entering the critical period of 10 days to where we have a complete crisis response on the european union. we have to continue to work on two fronts in an order to ensure that we have sufficient incredible fire walls. at the same time, we need to further enforced economic governance. >> that is a warning. -- that is the warning from world leaders back in september. these world leaders are all looking at contingency plans, if the euro zone was to break up. let's talk about bricks. it has become a household term

to describe the world's fastest growing economies. where did the term come from? it was coined, invented, 10 years ago today by a british economist in a research paper that had very little recognition at the time. our chief correspondent has been talking to the man himself. >> brazil, with an economy bigger than italy. russia, fueled by vast oil and gas reserves. india, becoming an economic powerhouse. china, getting close to becoming bigger than the u.s.. the term, brics, was invented by jim o'neill of goldman sachs. he told me that back in 2001, when he coined the term, his prediction did not have much impact. >> it was only in 2004 when a

multinational started to say -- hang on, this could be big for business if the entire thing took off. the big store was not paid attention to for a couple of years. >> but they are paying attention now. bric's a share of the global economy has jumped to 19% this year. jim o'neill predicts they will announce -- account for one- quarter of the world's economy in a year's time. some question russia and whether they might outgrow it. >> russia might be, at some point in the future, because of the others, but people are ignoring the simple fact that russia is 2.5 times bigger than anywhere else. >> he says that the biggest

issue for the world economy is where china goes next year and whether it faces growth based on the new world consumer. >> a couple of other business stories making headlines around the world, the credit worthiness of the world's biggest banks are being downgraded. 15 financial companies, including citigroup, bank of america, and hsbc, have had their ratings lowered. samsung has won a major battle in its ongoing tussle with apple. an australian court has overturned a ban on the galaxy tablet in the country. apple had won the injunction back in october. samsung has since resigned its tablet. this is the asian market, the european market. they were down a while ago in the trading session. they are now up at the moment. all eyes are of course on the

euro zone and the next page in that one. >> thank you very much, aaron. music, changing lives. a scheme to help children in the most deprived neighborhoods across england, using a system developed in venezuela, where even the youngest children are given intensive music instruction. they tried it out in scotland. we went to see how it worked. >> five years ago, one child learned to play an instrument. today, there are 450.

the town on the edge of the sterling has a reputation. however, it is now becoming famous for music. bass group -- a school christmas concert might appear on remarkable -- ♪ these two sisters are in the school orchestra. at home they practice among stepbrothers, sisters, their mother, and their musical family. >> i never thought that this kind of music [unintelligible] >> of the story is repeated again and again. four of the children are learning to play. >> the orchestra is everyone. >> katie is learning, much to

her mother's surprise. >> did you learn, when you were at school? >> never. this is the first kid. [unintelligible] ♪ >> it begins when they are toddlers. total immersion. >> four days per week, hours every day. >> former musician of the year, she is a regular tutor. >> i am emotional when i come here. it is a fascinating thing to say -- see. they are grateful for me giving up my time, but i am grateful for them letting me see this happen. this proves that it can work. >> next year, this field will the opening concert for

the olympic festival. the search -- the research shows that the children are happier and better able to concentrate, but the real research is yet to come, to see if it can change their lives. >> wonderful story. a chinese farmer has become a local celebrity for his striking resemblance to the russian prime minister. people travel for miles to see the vladimir putin look-alike. depends on the angle, does it not? he said he thought he was looking at himself when he saw vladimir putin on tv. his doppelganger does not quite get the female admirers, saying that he is still looking for

love and hope to start a family. for now. maksense of intertional >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank.

>> union bank has put its r abal strength to worfo wide range of financial companies. >> bbc world news was presented by kcet los angeles.