>> this is "bbc world news." funding for this presentation is 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 global expertise to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you?

>> and now, "bbc world news." >> brussels or bust. the stakes could not be higher as union leaders debtor -- european leaders gather for a summit. the vix, with a drag a global economy down with it? -- will is a drag the global economy down with it? >> [unintelligible] >> hello, welcome to "gmt." also in the program -- remember those ash cloud delays? the military technology that could soon be helping civilian aircraft. and --

♪ >> sesame street as you have never seen it before. pakistan's version of the show, and to make children more open and tolerant. it is midday in london, 1:00 in brussels, where the final preparations have been made for the latest crunch summit on the euro zone crisis. with each summit, the stakes appeared to get higher. the french european ministers said that the euro could explode. the key issue -- should brussels have greater control over natural fund? -- national funds? the german and french leaders are finalizing their joint position. >> they are preparing for a better -- a battle royal in brussels. if there are inside the goshens to be hadn't inside of the site

-- inside negotiations to be had, it would be here. this is the chance to hear the concerns of smaller euro zone nations. one of them is island, opposed -- ireland, opposed to a host -- wholesale change. >> it is a red line issue for us. i think that the u.k. is probably on a similar message. it is not as simple as a couple of member states as saying that they have to do this in an unrealistic fashion. >> on the eve of their arrival, the french and german officials sent an uncompromising letter. they are sticking to their demands for a new treaty. the one mandatory penalties for those that brakeman's and deficit targets, committing government to balancing budgets. the european president is urging

restraint and compromise. >> it is too important that we, altogether, show that europe is reversible. that we are standing and supporting the euro. my strong appeal is to show this commitment to a common currency. >> it is not only island that has reservations. -- ireland that has reservations. euro zone states may have to go their own way, drafting a deal outside of the existing treaty. meanwhile, timothy geithner has been playing a quiet role of intermediate, but he has now left for milan. his grand tour of europe and in italy today. his line is the concern for the

white house. you do get the impression that for all the optimism surrounding the franco-german proposal, there are doubts. all euro zone nations have agreed that they need tougher rules. they have all agreed that we need to deal, quickly, with a harsh complexities of euro zone negotiations. in a recent meeting, 25 out of 27 ministers still have reservations about a complete treaty change. >> well, david marsh is from the official mountain financial institute for the group that advises and represents banks and sovran well funds. i am not sure if he would have heard christian's last words there, but basically he said that 25 of the 27 leaders have reservations about it.

we should not be holding our breath? >> no, this is a very scrappy state of affairs. i was at the conference 20 years ago. it started off at your may -- started off the journey. that is when they coined the phrase, 12 dimensional chess. we have heard about the well moment misgivings from david cameron. everyone has their own position. everyone has misgivings along the line. this is a fairly fractured and irritated bunch of people. france and germany have got diametrically opposite views on whether or not this is necessary. germans say that there needs to be a treaty change to impose a supranatural lot on this ragamuffin bunch of states, and the french say that they are all for discipline, but that they

want this to be done by an intergovernmental change. >> it is interesting, you say to go back 20 years, but the problem has not changed from those days. how do you impose a discipline that you need if you want a single currency? >> this is the delightful thing about the whole thing. nothing has changed in the last 50 years, ever since the germans started talking about a single currency. there has always been this block. the irresistible force and the immovable object on sovereignty. many of the meetings have come to blows over this issue. however bad your position is, however wonderful and seductive the fairy lights of brussels car, i cannot imagine that they will suddenly get their act together and we will leave -- and we will live happily ever after. >> the bottom line is that you have got to be able to unleash

the power of the european central banks. what has to happen tonight, and tomorrow, to enable that? >> if i am -- i am sorry. if this rests on the power of unleashing the european central banks and having them propped up the central banks, this is that going to happen. they would only come in as a smoothing operation. you might say that they are just playing a game, but i would not bet on that. it is not just the germans who have been steely. what is needed is a comprehensive package that contains is markets that they are serious about cutting budget deficits. it has to be accompanied by some sort of action, police by a supranatural body to be set up in brussels or whatever.

it was all a very good idea for the long term. it may work for a body of convergent, like-minded states. >> i am glad to see that they're not listening to you before the meeting. thank you very much, anyway. let's take a look at some of the other stories making headlines around world today. the russian prime minister, vladimir putin, has accused the united states of encouraging protests over that last weekend's parliamentary election. in his public remarks, he alleged that the vote was fraudulent and unfair. vladimir putin said that's -- said that hillary clinton gave a signal to kremlin opponents. he called for a dialogue of opposition, warning of those the break the law must face consequences.

steve, it is a bit like the old days. a russian leader blaming it all on the americans. is it going to watch? >> a few days ago, vladimir putin's spokesman said that the world would see a new vladimir putin. kind of vladimir putin to 0.0. these strong anti-western comments we have heard today are all kind of software. the kinds of comments we have heard from them over the past few years. in the past he has been accused of fanning the flames of revolution on the russian doorsteps. it seems he has reached the conclusion that america is trying to get rid of him as well. there were strong comments directed at the u.s. state department, accusing them of funding, setting the tone, giving the signal to russian opposition leaders to start their work, as he put it. he called for a tightening of laws against those russians that

were working for foreign governments. to change the situation here. >> when he talks about there being consequences, it does not bode well for russian politics between now and the elections he is facing. >> it does not. he has messaged to opposition leaders that you can only protest according to the law, and if you break the law, the with the consequences. >> thank you. the skies over europe were closed for days. airlines lost millions of dollars. all because of a volcanic volcano in iceland. scientists think they have come up with a device that could prevent it from happening again. we went on a test flight to see how it works. >> when this icelandic volcano erupted in april last year, it looked like the end of the world. for the 10 million passengers

affected by a week of canceled flights, it felt like it as well. imagine if there was a way that planes could monitor these eruptions and keep flying. mount etna is europe's most active volcano. they have been collecting data for weeks. >> we are caught -- flying toward the ash plume. knowing that there is volcanic activity in the region, without knowing how dense the clouds are, and the pilot could face this threat. this could help the pilot navigate his way. >> the research is being funded by easy jet. eventually, the pilot will see a screen like this, showing how much ash is in the air and how far away it is. >> in the moment, there is no means for detecting ash in

flight. nothing on board the air flight -- aircraft. so, it is a big change. it is almost like the chains that happened when we had weather radar introduced. >> if we had had this on board, 90% of the impact would have been avoidable. >> iceland is reporting intense activity at an even bigger at that -- bigger volcano. no one knows when it will route, but they know for sure that it will. bbc news, mount add up. >> still to come on "gmt" -- they are playing the percentages today at a european bank. will there be another cut in interest rates to help the euro zone? >> here in the u.k., the body that regulates the school exams

for england said they could order a rewriting of next summer's exams. one examination board ran seminars offering guidance about the questions likely to come up. >> footage from this undercover meeting for teachers, examiners are allowed to give support and guidance about syllabuses. hear, the examiners appear to go further. >> probably the regulator will tell us. >> examiners told the teachers what areas the students were likely to be questioned on. watchdogs say that there's a clear long -- a clear line between what they should and should not do. >> it is not right if they are

selling privileged access to insider information. >> they said that their systems work with your risk, by no means secretive, and that the telegraph did not understand the advice given by the examiners. but the education secretary said that the current system was confirmed and discredited and asked for a report back in two weeks. >> the former governor of the american state of illinois has been sentenced to 14 years in prison after being found guilty of corruption. rod blagoevich was found guilty of trying to sell barack obama's vacant senate seats in the white house.

>> this is "gmt," from "bbc world news." the headlines -- european union leaders are preparing for a make or break summit to say the bureau. the russian prime minister, vladimir putin, is accusing the united states but charging protests over the parliamentary elections of the last week. well, iran is here with at the business news. tell us about the action from the european central bank. >> a lot of pressure. many are reminding us that the ec be as the only institution with the firepower to solve this mess. let me explain. in the next half-hour, the ec be is expected to take pressure off of the european banking system. another cut in that interest rates is on the table. it also changed their lending criteria to banks, boosting the flow of money to head of the

worry of a credit crunch. many experts tell us that this focus will not be so much about interest-rate moves, but more on what the bank will do in terms of bond buying. we know that the ecb is under intense pressure to purchase debt, but the president is unlikely to declare any significant increase in support for bond markets, having stated that an agreement between leaders on tightening spending would be a prerequisite. earlier, christian schulz told me how he thinks today is going to pan out. >> it looks like we will see an interest rate cut. 25 basis points is what we are expecting. and they are going to add to the existing tool kit with which they are supporting the banks in europe. that would be to lend money to the banks for a longer time. maybe two years instead of the one year that we have a moment.

the banks are doing everything possible that they can. >> briefly, i would imagine that this is important, because the big worry over the last several months has been the financial crisis in europe turning into a major crisis. we have already seen banks lending between each other starting to dry up. >> absolutely. we have had the action on the dollar funding a couple of weeks ago, which now really seems to work. in a sense, they are just working on the symptoms of a crisis. the banking crisis comes from the sovereign crisis. the ecb is doing everything that they can to help the banks, but not the sovereigns. >> interest rates have been held at that record low by the bank of england's monetary policy committee. the euro zone debt crisis means that economists had expected rates to remain unchanged.

they have been kept at half of 1% since march of 2009. let's move on. the chinese rating agency says that it has cut its sovereign credit rating for france as the deepening euro zone crisis is threatening the solvency of paris. adding that a further downgrade was possible. of course, the move comes just one day after the chinese foreign ministry told a press conference in germany that his country has confidence in europe and the hero. he also said that china would use various means to support european nations. a bit of a mixed bag, a mixed message, coming out of china. asia came down off the back of machinery orders. that was certainly not helping and it does not bode well on the

general health of the economy. nothing to say about your up at the moment except all eyes are on this summit and, in particular, this meeting that was taking place. of course, right wing arose on politicians that germany and france want on board before the summit takes off later today and tomorrow. i will be back with you in about half of an hour to take a look at the action. >> i am looking forward to it. with just two days left at the climate change conference, it is becoming clear that african nations stand to lose the most if the meeting breaks up without an agreement. that is because they have been somewhat slow in securing investment to the u.n.-sponsored scheme for development. we have the report on how legos is having to come to terms with its own environmental issues. >> these streets have been turned into rivers.

changes in the nigerian climate mean that floods are becoming more frequent, lasting longer. the people that live here have no choice but to adapt. >> from my house to my office, i come this way. >> the house has been underwater for the lasted two weeks. this mother of three says that the water has brought diseases, but she cannot afford to live anywhere else. >> if you enter my room right now, everything is so with water. we manage ourselves. nowhere to go. this is what we are doing because of this water. i cannot move anywhere. >> the geography leaves it vulnerable to rising water levels. its population of 15 million people almost all near a river,

lagoon, or the sea. scientists are predicting that things will get worse. >> one of the climate change impacts is that this area in nigeria will get more wet. if it gets more wet, it means more flooding. if there is more flooding, it you will have this kind of devastation. >> flooding is not the only effect of climate change in legos. changes in weather patterns mean that the sea is rougher. meaning more erosion of the coastline in people being displaced from their homes. >> in nigeria, the government has built some defenses, but say that they need foreign assistance to do more. >> people are living alone lines. -- on the of low lines.

going to the beach along the eastern part, you can see that a whole community is in danger. we need to develop a see barrier. >> even if the funding does go, it would not be quick. for millions of people here, life will remain a daily struggle of coping with the effect of a changing climate. >> and now, relations between the united states and pakistan may be in crisis, but children there are about to be introduced to an american favorite. a locally produced version of the educational show, sesame street, goes on there there on saturday. it did not come cheap, though. the u.s. agency for international development committed $10 million to the project over four years. singing] ♪

>> meet the cast of pakistan's sesame street. elmo is here, but he is surrounded by new friends. at pakistani village has been created and set. full of local characters and local concerns. here is the star of the show. energetic and curious. she looks to the daughter of the village schoolteacher for help. the 12-year-old who plays her says that the puppets are like family. >> i feel like they they tell me a lot, they are learning from you. >> do you think that the children watching the show are learning a lot? >> they will learn a lot. they would get more agitated.

>> creators hoped that the strong female lead will win over the next generation in this conservative society. >> in schools the girls take a step back. but if they see ranni, being strong headed, not afraid to ask questions, i am hoping that the children will find it relatable and maybe take some courage and start to love her for that. >> the theater company behind this production knows about courage. they have been bombed by militants in the past. they want a brighter future for pakistani children. >> in the scene that is being reversed, ranni asks where the sun goes at night. the program aims to answer the questions that children ask, providing basic language and math skills. the americans have made a very big investment in all of this.

they are hoping that it will also teach lessons in tolerance. blacks elmo and friends will celebrate holidays marked by different -- >> elmo in friends will celebrate holidays marked by different religions. many in pakistan never get a chance to learn. one-third of the children do not go to school. this program might be their only teacher. bbc news on the pakistani "sesame street." >> a reminder of our top story, european union leaders are prepared to gather in brussels for the latest meeting of the euro zone crisis. this time it looks like france and germany want to go further than before. that is all for the moment. stay with us here on "bbc world news."

more to come. seak>>ofnse >> make sense of inl news at bbc.com/news. >> 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 global >> union bank has put its

global strength to work for a wide range of financial companies. what can we do for you? >> bbc world news was presented by kcet los angeles.