we go behind the scenes with christine lagarde as she tackles the euro crisis. >> where is it going to stop? >> and big brother. google rolls out new privacy rules which will make your information unless private. -- less private. welcome to "bbc world news america," broadcast on to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. they have held out for four long weeks, but tonight syrian forces are withdrawn from the besieged city of homs. this among concerns that there are civilians still trapped there. our middle east editor jeremy bowen sent us this footage. >> the advance of the syrian army is an important symbol of resistance. it does not mean the end of the rebellion. with civilians in the area putting out buckets to catch snow, there is no running water. there is a humanitarian crisis in syria. >> we call on the syrian authorities to allow immediate, full, and unimpeded access of humanitarian personnel to all populations that need assistance in accordance with international law and the guiding principle of humanitarian systems. >> in homs, it has been a resistance stronghold,

>christine lagarde always on the move. she is back in brussels tonight. 8 u.s. but democracy workers have left egypt after their travel ban was lifted. -- 8 u.s. pro-democracy workers have left egypt. they were accused of working organizations that received illegal foreign funding. passengers of a cruise ship that floated four days in the indian ocean have spoken of their relief after it was towed into port. the ship is from the same line as the costa concordia. the french president has suffered an embarrassing episode while out campaigning. he was forced to take refuge in a cafe, protected by riot police, after being confronted by several hundred protesters. in afghanistan, two more nato soldiers have been killed in the wake of the burning of copies of the quran. one of the attackers is considered to be an afghan soldier. more than 70 trips have been killed by afghan police or soldiers raising questions about the viability of afghan security forces. -- more than 70 troops have been killed by afghan police or soldiers. we have now had six servicemen killed since

christine lagarde. one of the fastest growing economies is e-websites and offer luxury goods and sales and joining me now with the ceo kevin ryan and chairman susan lyne and pleased to have them at the table and participated in a forum and i'm pleased to have people i know and like here to talk about what is a phenomenon on online sales and what was that eureka moment you knew there was a business here? >> i started the business because i could see the concept working in europe and the first time an internet company started in europe but not in the united states. he decided to bring it here and was thinking about the idea and walking by one day and saw 200 women waiting in line for a sample sale. >> rose: marc jacobs. >> and i thought i could bring the passion these women have on line and maybe there are tens or thousands or millions that would love to be in that line. >> rose: so what do you do next? >> i decide to do it i don't do sophisticate the research. i hired engineer to start building the sight

for the warnings that we're hearing from christine lagarde head of the. face a potential. price of oil now what does that mean in dollars and cents where we would see a peril of brant crude rise from one hundred twenty five dollars a barrel as it is right now to one hundred and sixty dollars a barrel now why she said this is the chief he is a potential increase in price could come around a potential huge increase peak increase in price could come around should iran. disrupt the distribution of oil through the strait of hormuz now. if that was to happen she has warned about some serious financial problems for europe and for the rest of the world now should we see a rainy in oil production be disrupted in this way then the saudis have said the saudi arabia of course the largest producer of oil in the world of said they can increase production by twenty five percent we're also hearing from libya that they can chip in and take up some of the slack however guard warning should this happen should we see such a major rise in the price of a barrel of oil then all of the good work

. >>> today's gains in asia are lending more support to what the imf chief, christine lagarde said on sunday. in a the world economy has, quote, stepped back from the bring. at a speech in the chinese capital, she said positive news from the united states and europe, is brightening the outlook. and we've been following this. randy? >> christine lagarde had very strong words of praise for china, for pulling no less than half of its people out of poverty in the past few decades. one eye was firmly on china's future growth because a slowdown in the world's second-biggest economy, would have impacted the region, as well as the world. and lagarde said she had three priorities to see that china keeps it up. >> we think that it's important that china can continue to support growth. and on this score, china is in the invaluable position to have the space to provide fiscal support for its economy. second, to shift the drivers of economy growth away from investment and exports, and towards domestic consumption. third, china could improve the household livelihood, so that chi china's citizens ma

christine lagarde at the same time is praises china's efforts, but says the imf stands on the chinese currency remains unchanged. the yuan is still undervalued and china must liberalize its foreign exchange are a geem. >> let's get more discussion on this particular topic with chief economist asia pacific at ihs global insights. good to have you with us. we hear them saying tough economic reforms needed. what structural reforms do you want to see to ensure that the process is actually continuing? >> it's important to rebalance the economy over the medium to long term. it can't happen overnight. but clearly there's an important priority to increase the share of domestic consumption in gdp and the government is moving forward with reforms to try to boost incomes of factory workers in particular. they're encouraging rapid wages growth. obviously linked to productivity, not just labor costs. but also we've seen other steps such as reducing taxes and also efforts to increase social welfare in the latest budget. and that's important because helps increase consumption. >> the big risk a lot

holng it is a watershed moment in dealing with the eurozone debt is, according to the imf had a christine lagarde. >> i bie tres a way out if everyone does but they need to do. >> although their financial future remains far from ry, thsuess of a bond swap allows that tends to receive a second bailout from the eu and the imf wth 130 million euro. without that money, greece could have defaulted by the end of the month. >> the greek government is breathing a sigh of relief, but what do ordinary citizens think? th ith question i put earlier to our province correspondent, natalie. >> they definitely wco the deal. they understand it is one-third of their debt being written off, essentially. they'reereaulf what will be asked in exchange. they are pounded by two years of very harsh austerity. th he sn ei wages plummeted and austerity grow. the biggest question for them is will the european lde in the international community understand that austerity is no longer the wait to go. we cannot bounceback fromhi cris because we're being asphyxiated from the crushing austerity. that is their main concern. eltisr

christine lagarde made the remarks at an economic forum in beijing. >> the financial market conditionsre more comfortable, and recent economic indicators look a little more upbeat. >> she attributed positive signs to decisions and policy actions by european central bank and others. she added the global economy has stepped back from the brink, and people have reason to be more optimistic. but the imf chief warned against a false sense of security, citing risks like huge public and private debt in many countries and rising crude oil prices. >>> hupds of young people marched through wall street saturday to mark the six month anniversary of the occupy wall street protests against economic disparity. demonstrators shouted 99% of people like themselves have a hard life. some of them continued the demonstration in a park at night and scuffled with police that tried to remove them. there were a number of arrests. protests call for narrowing economic disparity among people, started in new york september last year and spread across the country and to europe and asia. their base on a park near wa

coming up in just a few must not' time, we've got trillion dollar woman, an interview with christine lagarde, but first a look at the weather. >> make sense of international 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. >> at union bank, our relationship managers use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global network to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> bbc world news was presented by kcet los angeles.

and just a couple weeks ago we had christine lagard, the head of the imf in the room, and she confirmed that maybe we did change loan terms. maybe we changed the terms of the loans to prevent defaults in the past, and so maybe that idea that we've never suffered a penny lost is a little bit of a rig game. but we'll leave it the way it is. basically, i'm just seeing that the american taxpayers -- i mean, ireland has already bailed out the banking system,u, bk 11 comment that when we gives the guarantees it encourages investors to believe they're going to bail out bad actions and makes them take risks that maybe they shouldn't be taking. so i'm wondering if we're going to bail out all of jurp, while they're going to take risks. he says in greece it's a birthright not to pay your taxes. why would the american consumer be stuck paying the the bill where it's a birthright not to pay taxes? >> we're not going to put the american taxpayer or american consumer in that position. if they were in the same rules as loan to the small independent payments to mesh. or would the banks holding those be

there's a heavily influenced all i component from mr carrados school that informs people like christine lagarde is now running the i.m.f. there farms the obama administration and it's not identified with milton friedman and neo liberalism so there's a dynamic between these two the free marketers believe that you can't have a free market unless you ban art and ignore and censor all especially of any alternatives so there's no interaction at all by the chicago school of enter the six were actually were the university of missouri at kansas city u m k c and there is a blog if you were to google your own case the economics blog you get the blog you know economic perspectives best at. by stephanie cult and who's the incoming department chairman of the economics department and you'll see we have a regular commentary on what's happening in the economy and an alternative to the austerity and the profane anshul lobby here in the chicago art school doubts we have started so along with me in italy where stephanie help build black was talking about law and another blogger marshall our box so the sort of sor

there's a heavily influenced still component from the cargo school that informs people like christine lagarde is now running the i.m.f. there forms the obama administration and most identified with milton friedman and neo liberalism so there's a dynamic between these two the free marketers believe that you can't have a free market unless you pay on part and ignore and censor all the special of any alternatives so there's no interaction at all by the chicago school of antithesis we're actually where the university of missouri and kansas city u m k c and there's a blog if you were to google your own case the economics blog you get the blog you know egg. mic perspectives this edited by stephanie calton who's the incoming department chairman of the economics department and you'll see we have a regular commentary on what's happening in the economy and an alternative to the austerity and the pro financial lobbying the chicago are still doubts we have spent so long with me in italy where stephanie calton build black was talking about well and another blogger marshall our cock though on the floor of

the weekend speaking at the china economic forum the head of the international monetary fund christine lagarde essentially said that rising oil prices is a threat to global economic recovery and while it very well may be the wall street journal reported on sunday that there are no signs of that yet certainly not in the united states and now want to currencies the dollar is losing against the euro and the russian ruble is gaining both against the dollar and the euro and now russia is. russia's gas giant gazprom is expanding its partnerships with european companies. the gal's giant plans don't share swap it out so its water actually germany's biggest oil and gas company. has all the details. we don't talk about germany its biggest oil deposit on me to plot a plot for me in the north sea the developer of this field is german is leasing all in gas producer winters holds wishes planning to have assets war with russia castro . get up to twenty five per cent share in some of russia's gas projects in the limo putin slow with options for fifty per cent while gastro wire and the. shares in the reserves

remain in europe and that they could prevent the carnage from overcoming the financial crisis christine lagarde was speaking in china where she called the country a bright spot in an uncertain global economy and just as our silly records many analysts now point to beijing as the possible savior of europe. with china's three trillion plus dollars in foreign currency reserves it was only a matter of time before debt laden europe came knocking on its store from chinese side of the leaders always for your case they are willing to show their willingness to our is very good not putting in practice maybe we want some kind of a deal for me well it's not even a maybe now china's clout is clearly on the rise and so is its confidence this time around china has no qualms letting the e.u. know that it is well aware of its truck card and that any help will come at a price top of its list of demands. gaining the status of a full fledged market economy and lifting the one nine hundred eighty nine ban on its purchase of military weapons from the e.u. . and for the first time china has openly used its potential

the weekend speaking at the china economic forum the head of the international monetary fund christine lagarde essentially said rising oil prices can be a threat to global economic growth and can certainly stall economic recovery what wall street journal writes on sunday that has not happened yet certainly not in the united states and that's the good news and now on to currencies the dollar is weakening against the euro this hour as you can see there on friday the russian ruble was gaining against the dollar but was losing value against the european currency and russia's gals giant gazprom is expanding its partnership with european partners it plans an asset swap with germany's that just oil and gas producer went as far as helping a quarter has all the details. big oil deposit i'll miss the plot a lot for me in the north sea the developer of this field is german is a gas producer with his whole wish is planning an asset swap with russia's gas from weeds hole will get up to twenty five per cent share in some of russia's gas projects in the pit insular with options for fifty per cent while castr

christine lagarde that this is one of the primary race for the global economy as the european concerns have now so lightly if we look at the ore prices for this we can see that they are rebounding from the biggest decline in three months after a report showed that crude stockpiles are falling in the u.s. meanwhile the obama administration is trying to cut off from its main source of income oil exports of course as a sanction over its nuclear program the u.s. is calling on a number of nations to cap iranian imports otherwise it threatens to cut that banks off from the u.s. financial system and saudi arabia is ready to boost supplies in order to stem any price rise that could with global economies as i say all eyes will prices up the moment we had on the russian markets and see how they're faring as you can see it's like gains for the russian markets are not on the back of those strong prices we look at the individual news all majors including ross next are heading higher it's no surprise on those crude prices but that's not the case for gas promise trading or flat is now a report says t

you kind of saw a prelude to that with the challenging challenging christine lagarde to be head of the irs. so they want someone that's a little bit immune from a third-world candidate so they thought about names like ruth -- the pepsico chairman. ruth simmons, president of brown university. without a real strong candidate emerging yet from the emerge -- from the developing world, it looks like they're going back to that initial core list which is rice and somers. >> you've been learning more about the world bank, what is its mission statement? what's the objective of the world bank? >> i think they want to provide capital for development projects to alleviate poverty in the developing world. these are loans. the people contribute to the bank and sometimes the loans get paid back and sometimes they aren't. if there's a bring that needs to be put on the zam bezee river. they'll say, what will this do to the economy? so it's public financing for places where there might not be private money and i think poverty alealeve yags and gener economic growth. >> when do you think the white house

chief christine lagarde has warned that escalation of the situation with iran for example could driveoil prices above one hundred sixty dollars a barrel that's got more orders with our peter oliver so what else has all of our been warning well she said that we could see a potential thirty percent spike in the price of oil now to put that in two dollars and cents that would see the price of a barrel of brant crude jumped to one hundred and sixty dollars from the level of one hundred twenty five where we see it at the moment no she's saying that this could happen if iran was to cause problems with the distribution of oil through the straits of a sort of moods now if that was to happen then iran the second largest oil producer in the world that would cause big problems now saudi arabia the largest oil producer in the world has said that they can take up some of the slack saying that they can increase production by twenty five percent also libya saying that they can chime in with some extra production in order to help out should that happen however christine legarde warning that should bo

the firm change and her time there since one nine hundred eighty eight and then i met director christine lagarde had so many positive words for the outlook of the global economy if you consider saying that we move back from the abyss and something that's positive that i'm tired all together well joining me to discuss it is anthony grandad's a director of economic research for the reason foundation i think thanks so much for being here tonight or i would think of a joint i'm going to think i missed one of least one of the references that i like i like the only reference and i think i think the politicians will like it but. it was pretty cute i'm hoping you don't get to leave britney alone but you know i love and her plea hard crying where it was well you know i don't get it. i was joking aside i mean what do you think about kind of a little funny that the federal reserve suddenly wants to join twitter as part of their have to be more transparent and you know although this is this is part of a much longer term i mean the first thing they did was they started hosting press conferences after the fal

imf managing director christine lagarde has said she will back a $36.7 billion loan. but the drama in greece certainly isn't over. both moody's and the international swaps and derivatives association, isda, you've seen that a lot in the headlines of late, they say greece has technically defaulted by effect ofly forcing bond holders to take part of in its debt restructuring deal. let's take a look at how this is playing out on the stock markets. we are seeing more or less what we expected, perhaps more negative than we thought. off by a third of a percent, quarter percent in the case of the dax. the broad picture really is pretty much the same. we were expecting flattish markets. i suspect a lot of this has to do with what has been going on in asia. we'll have more on that from andrew in a moment. we'll have more analysis on where the trading action will be going with our market analyst michael houston. andrew, i think asia isy your big story. >> i think you're right, it is today's story. surprising given the fact we had such strong job numbers on friday out of the u.s

. >> christine lagarde warned last week over in india that oil prices may spike by up to 30% about ifsrupted. martin caught up with first deputy managing director at the imf about this an exclusive interview. and asked him about the probability of this happening. >> i wish i knew. so what i'll say is that it makes sense to be prepared for what might come and so we have -- what we have seen already is that even the perceptions of what might happen have pushed oil up somewhat this year. so the brent oil is in the neighborhood of $124 or so. that's higher than we had anticipated. so we want to help countries react to that and think through what are the appropriate responses on that situation. you may have seen just last week that the saudi oil minister has made a pledge in essence to do just that. so i don't think the world should jump to the conclusion that there's going to be an oil shock beyond what we've seen. but i think it does make sense for us to warn of the risk and consequences, have the discussion right now. >> let me push you harder on this. you're an economist. you have a lo

we've heard different things, the germany fighting with the imf, christine lagarde against merkel.onflate various propos proposals. there's an issue within the eurozone for funding the so-called esm-er. this is a strict tour european issue. there is separately an effort under way to find additional funding for the imf from the imf's broad global membership. >> do you think europe will enter a recession this year and if so, how severe? >> well, the consensus estimates are to are essentially flat or to a small minor recession in europe. the important thing is the current base case, consensus forecast suggests that by the end of 2013, european gdp will be barely higher than it was in 2007, so there's a lot of work to be done to improve the performance of the european economy. >> i would think you would say it's a competitiveness issue, throughout the economy, not just in greece. >> partly competitiveness, partly fiscal balance, partly economic balance but underneath it all is a need for improved productivity performance of the european economy. >> john, somebody's going to write a boo