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world needs a broader mix of energies. that's why we're supplying cleaner burning natural gas to generate electricity. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol, a biofuel made from renewable sugar cane. >> a minute, mom! >> let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go. >> and now, bbc world news. >> local government budgets cut. subsidies as spain's miners will based glass. they are converging on the madrid, saying tens of thousands of jobs will be lost.

t.llo and welcome to gm i am george alagiah, with a world of news and opinion. contraception takes center stage. the gates foundation planning to donate millions of dollars. police probe the mysterious death and arrest her husband. it is midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, and 1:00 p.m. in madrid, where thousands of miners from across spain are gathering to protest against plans to cut subsidies to the mining industry. they say it will cost tens of thousands of jobs. it follows prime minister mariano rajoy's latest austerity measures announced just a few hours ago, which include a 3% rise in sales tax and deep cuts of 3.5 billion euros and local government budgets. it's all designed to reduce

public spending by 65 million euros. without these measures, spain would not be eligible for the recently agreed bailout. prime minister mariano rajoy told parliament there making decisions which will determine spain's future. >> [speaking foreign language] >> one has to be realistic. the way to build europe has never been easy. we have agreed on a strategy. we have agreed that it is the time. we have seen and we will continue to seek attention. difficult, unanimous votes, and many troubles. at least we have already decided where we want to go and that we want to do it as soon as possible. >> tom joins me now from madrid. these latest austerity measures -- we've seen and heard about the miners protesting. what has been the wider

reaction? >> i'm sure there will be anger among certain sectors of the population. others in spain will recognize spain has no choice. the crisis here, the situation, not only with the banks, but the wider economy, means that spain does have to keep cutting. at the same time, i'm sure we will see demonstrations further down the line. the demonstrations with the miners are large today. there are people who will be unhappy about the measures that have come out today, such as increasing the sales tax. that will affect everyone here. reducing local government by 1/3, and also taking away from civil servants, people like police officers and workers in the health sector. they will lose their christmas bonuses. that will be controversial. >> i suppose it's a similar problem -- here, there are cuts

to local governments. local governments in spain have quite a lot of power. >> they do. you are exactly right. local mayors have been quite powerful in the past. a lot of them now are not in office, it has to be said -- racks up big debts, which they are now struggling to pay off. there are a lot of levels of government. ask people in government at the moment and ask people on the streets. they will tell you there are numerous levels from town halls to regional governments right through to the central government. there's an understanding that the spanish state has decreased to some extent. these measures, for example, increasing the sales tax, on top of all the measures we saw months ago -- income tax increases on gas, electricity

-- people really losing out across the board at a time when so many people are out of work and there is so much less money going around. those measures will be controversial and i think the government will come under pressure from home. of course, it all goes out to the bailout. >> tom, it has to be said the prime minister is taking quite a gamble it. the unions say the cuts could lead to even more jobs lost. he is facing probably one of the highest unemployment rates in the eurozone already. he has got to hold all of this leads to some new growth. >> he does. there are lots of people who think spain and other countries are cutting too much and that will only compound their problems. --course, spain's problems the unemployment means people will have less money. the government is receiving less

money in terms of income tax and paying out less in terms of benefits. the government is sort of struggling to balance its books. is under pressure from brussels to do that. that's why we've seen some of these measures today. on top of that, the doom and gloom economically and spain. the fact that we have so much unemployment and we're in a recession basically means the government is struggling to balance its books even further. that's why it feels it has to take these measures. >> thank you very much. thank you. now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world today. just yesterday here on gmt, we were talking about contraception and the number of lives that could be saved around the world if more people had better access to it. that is the goal of the london planning family summit, which is under way today. britain is pledging $2 billion over eight years. the gates foundation is ready

with its own cash. >> it is shot in the arm for family planning to the aim of the london conference is to reach millions of women like this one in a remote afghan village. she is pregnant, but her baby is dying. she had no access to contraception, nor choice to how many children she has. the gates foundation has now adopted family planning as a mission, along with their global vaccination program. melinda gates is rallying others to pledge money and political commitments. >> all a foundation can do is be a catalytic wedge. we can put in a certain amount of money, but but the causes we picked around the world, they are so enormous that they take governments to come in. a foundation can take some of the risk out of the equation. >> it looks like governments are

responding to it in africa, a woman dies every two minutes of pregnancy-related complications. most at risk, teenage mothers. the legal minimum age of 18 for girls to marry. india has pledged universal access to family planning by 2020, helping 64 million women. possibly boosting economic development, with these women better able to access education. >> in america, the religious right has long opposed government money going abroad to fund contraception. the gates foundation says they are moving with the tide of public opinion. >> 90% of americans think contraceptions are morally acceptable. 82% of catholics think contraceptives are morally acceptable. to me, that is not controversial. >> the conference was to help

millions. supplying them with contraceptives may only be the first step. changing the culture so they could use them is another battle. >> the united nations says it has redeploy its troops in the democratic republic of congo to reinforce its presence in the eastern town. the u.n. representative said he was determined. the united nations accuses rwanda of supporting the rebellion. thank you for being with us on gmt. how serious is this situation? >> the situation in goma is

quiet. people are going about their businesses. this morning, we had [inaudible] not to conduct business. people are going back to normal. everything is quiet now. >> you say the situation is quiet at the moment. is the u.n. basically going to hold its positions in goma until they come closer, or are you able to preempt this possible attack? >> [inaudible] we are searching along the outskirts of goma.

[inaudible] all the intermissioinformation r activities. >> ok, thank you very much for that. i must apologize. if you found it a little difficult to understand on that line. islamist militants have been destroyed two ancient tombs in mali, a 14th century mosque in the mali city of timbuktu. militants linked to al-qaeda say they will destroy all mausoleums that do not comply with sharia law. u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton has arrived in the

communist country, the first 97 years. she is set to discuss concerns about a controversial dam. she will also discuss the be and not more, and during which the u.s. dropped two million tons of bombs on laos. britain's coalition government -- more than 90 conservative members of parliament opposed plans for a mainly elected house of lords. liberal democrats warned of consequences, if there coalition partners failed to back the bill. police in london have arrested a man in connection with what they're calling the unexplained death of one of the world's richest women. she was found dead at her home in an exclusive london neighborhood. officers have refused to comment on reports that a 49-year-old man arrested in connection with the death is in fact her husband.

jason has more. >> her body was found an exclusive area of london by police who were investigating drug allegations against a 49- year-old man. he is believed to be her husband, the son of a man who turned the swedish packaging firm from a small family company into a global giant. the couple, who had four children, met in a rehabilitation center in her latest country, the united states. since then, their lives together have been blighted by drugs. they were both cautioned by police in 2008 after she was caught trying to smuggle class a drugs into the american embassy in london. her death is being treated as unexplained. a post-mortem examination has failed to confirm how she died. the man being held on drugs charges was later arrested in

connection with her death. he is currently being treated as a medical -- treated at a medical facility. they had donated millions of pounds to charities, including organizations to promote drug awareness and to help addicts. in a statement, her family described her as a devoted wife and mother, and said she had bravely fought her health issues for many years. >> we just got some breaking news coming into us. a blast has hit the yemeni police academy. it saw dozens are dead. this is according to police. a large explosion, believed to be a suicide bombing in the capital. that is on wednesday causing dozens of casualties, according to the police. we will get more on that just as soon as it comes in to the

studio. still to come on gmt -- korean women who will not go back to work and the government officials trying to buck the trend. how do you hang on to old traditions in a modern world of rapid social change? it is challenged four mongolians who have been celebrating their traditional way of life, hoping that will help preserve the rituals of nomadic life. >> showing of their prowess, a festival to celebrate all things mongolians. for those who wind, the chance to dance around the national flag. the winners are -- lion. >> i have been wrestling for 10 years.

am mongolian. we mongolians always wrestled. >> is a chance to do exactly that. as well as the wrestling, there is marjorie, and the crowd favorite, horseracing. horses are considered good luck in mongolia, as is their sweat. this 72-year-old explains -- i was enjoying it, mainly because of the horse racing. not only is it exciting, but it brings people good fortune. >> this festival is also an important way to keep nomadic traditions alive but a time when economic growth spurred by the mining industry is drawing people away from the cities. >> southeast asian foreign ministers are meeting in cambodia for the 45th

conference. under discussion is a proposed intergovernmental human rights agreement. there are already complaints the proposal is too weak and has been written without adequate consultation with civic society groups. >> this is gmt from "bbc world news." i am george alagiah. the headlines -- subsidies to spain's miners will be cut. they converge on madrid, saying tens of thousands of jobs will be lost. hundreds of millions of dollars are pledged to promote family planning in the developing world. time now for the business news. jamie is here with me. we've just been talking to tom in spain. these latest austerity measures from prime minister mariano rajoy. how are the market's reacting? >> cautiously, but with a little

bit of positive movement. we are above 7%, which is the danger zone. it really is not sustainable for spain to keep on borrowing. it is only a very small kind of relief that we are getting. i think what is important from what has been agreed -- obviously, with the european union, about the changing of their targets for reduction of the deficits. instead of reducing the deficits, they will just reduce it down to 6.3%. next year, 4.5%. things are a little bit more relaxed. whether this will actually worked -- if you put out vat, you will make it much harder for people. you will make it much more likely they will cheat.

if you are faced with something -- it's much easier just to sell stuff on the black market. how much will actually be raised? an economist at rbc capital markets, this is what he said. >> he talked about liberalizing service sectors. he talked about opening up bids and privatizing air, rail, and ports. these things will take time and it's probably not the most favorable time to do this. having said that, with the extra year to smooth out this fiscal consolidation, it gives spain in little more time. >> just a little bit more time. that is really what they need. this is a crash course in austerity. >> one could say the key to all of this is growth.

that is the magic ingredient. the report said some salvation in the form of the middle class. >> not europe. they are really talking about asia. they're saying the middle class will bounce them and carry them through the next 25 years. that is saying within 25 years, they will basically be over- consuming the west in all areas. here's one of the authors. here is what he said. >> between now and 2020, over the next eight years, you will see the middle class double. the middle class is consumers with access to incomes of $30,000 or more. they will double to 150 million

households with that kind of income. that means more than in europe or in the u.s. . >> might send some things that are made in europe. >> now, the body of the late palestinian leader is to be exhumed after quincy was poisoned. he died in 2004, age 75. recent documentary has claimed high levels of radioactive substance were found on his clothing. >> eight years since the former palestinian leader was laid to rest. now his body is to be exhumed to find out if there's any truth to the allegations made in a television documentary that yasir arafat was poisoned. the program based allegations on research done in switzerland, which found high levels of the

material on his clothing. his widow says a number of doctors examined her husband's body, but she supports the decision to disturb his grave in order to determine the truth. >> they've done all what they can do. maybe at the time, it did not occur to them to search radioactive elements in his body. it is nobody's fault. it is nobody's fault. >> her lawyers say the evidence uncovered so far raises serious questions about the exact cause of his death. >> [speaking foreign language] >> there is suspicion that he was poisoned. that is the fact, poisoning. there would be poison in his body. as soon as there is poison in his body, there's a hypophysis we cannot escape from, which is there was someone who tried to poison yasser arafat. at the moment, we have enough

evidence suggesting that might be the case. >> even after his body is exhumed and numerous tests are carried out, it may be impossible to tell if the late palestinian leader was in fact poisoned. if the material was present when he died, it will have long since disappeared from his remains. >> there's a major push in south korea to get more people into work. the country's labor force is shrinking because of an aging population. the pressure is on to get more from mothers returning to work. that is proving to be quite a challenge. >> she does not look like a woman about to go into battle, but this government-sponsored class is to put her against some of'south s most entrenched cultural values. she is looking for a job.

specifically, one that will also allow her to see her 3-year-old son. >> [speaking foreign language] >> i need to work around my child's schedule. he goes to a nursery, but there's a limit on how long he can stay there all day. it's really hard to find a job that works for me. >> less than half of south korea's female work force are employed. many who are in low-paid or temporary positions. the government is keen to get more mothers working. it needs of the taxes to pay for its aging population and expanding welfare. south korea's stubbornly long working hours are only one part of the problem. long working hours are not only for grown-ups. academic achievement is a national location here. a big part of south korea's academic success is due to the

so-called helicopter mother, who hovers over her child to study. >> [speaking foreign language] >> the reason why south korea as education and manpower is so high because the support children get from the mothers at home. now there are new demands for workforce.oin the reforest shorter working hours for women, and men womentoo, so they can be there to help bring up the kids. >> shorter working hours and being more flexible could help boost the number of mothers in work. changes like these are also likely to cost companies more. in the current economic climate, many people find that idea unattractive. >> as the aging population starts to grow, south korea faces a choice between its economic health and its corporate culture. this a simple choice may end up changing a whole lot more. >> before we take a break, a

reminder of our top story here on gmt. thousands of spanish miners have gathered in a protest against plans to cut subsidies to their industry. the demonstration comes as prime minister mariano rajoy has announced a new austerity package. package. spain is