in italy, we are about 6%, so much, much lower. [abrami] i think that as far as the specific aspects of marriage, italy is very different from other european countries, even different from some southern european countries, like portugal, for example. in italy, still 95% of births occurs inside marriage. so the postponement means postponement of marriage and after marriage, perhaps postponement of childbearing. but i mean, marriage is still, for the time being, a must, apparently, for italian couples. [speaking italian] [translator] yes. my priority is to get married and have children, rather than pursue a career. yes, of course, but first i intend to finish my studies, and then i'll be thinking of having a family. i think that, um... the value of the family is something that can't be surpassed and comes probably before everything, even before a career. women students in italy still expect to have children. the reality is that the birth rate is still falling. [montanari] i believe that the italians are still interested in having big

she is in italy.g to try to get her on a plane, whether a commercial aircraft, airliner or private jet, whatever. that is the vehicle, that mercedes sedan following that first vehicle. they now left the prison and they are going somewhere. we don't know where, but a happy moment for this young woman. there is the individual you just spoke to, paula. he is a journalist and he was inside. didn't take very long for her to get her personal possessions, do the paperwork and is now free. she is out of prison for the first time in four years. >> incredible. less than an hour, the man i spoke to was rocco who is an italian parliamentarian who has special access others do not have. what is stunning to me is the fact he, in fact, did not -- she did not see her family. he did not know she was seeing her family. and the fact she was allowed to walk out of here in a car on her own with no support from her family, which had to be tough for her. i think the image of seeing her leave on her own would be incredible to

it's very important in italy.prematurely, he and the whole power stabment of perugia, the chief of police had a press conference in which they announced, case closed, and then they found the real killer. to save face they had to connect amanda and raphael with rudy in order to save face and not to have to admit that they made a terrible mistake. megyn: before we go i want to ask you, because there has been so much media coverage of this in italy and the united states and initially it was all bad for amanda. there was a rush to judgment, a presumption of guilt. now as we watch these crowds gathering outside of the courthouse in italy has the t ide changed in italy as well as the united states and do you believe the court members will be affected by it? >> yes, the tide of public opinion in italy completely changed. the appeals trial showed that the evidence that this prosecutor used to convict her was not just erreo probably fraudulent all ginned up. there has been a big outcry in italy about this. 11 members of pa

abuse of office is a minor crime in italy.orruption, just to be clear. >> but for this proud judicial official of perugia, the public humiliation was humbling. it was during this very time when giuliano mignini was facing embarrassing charges of abusing his office he arrived at the crime scene of meredith kercher's murder. his investigation into kercher's death would not wait for the forensic evidence to be processed. he already had his suspicions. within days he announced the horrific crime was solved. dr. mignini, is it possible that a prosecutor who was facing his own troubles perhaps rushed to judgment to solve a sensational crime? >> translator: i did not take any opportunity because that day i just happened to be on duty. a tour of duty of a week. so i did not take an opportunity. >> reporter: the morning after our interview with giuliano mignini, the prosecutor spots our camera, walks towards me, and off camera asks what i thought of the interview the night before, if i thought he was being truthful. clearly, mignini is

all of the debts of the eurozone and in particular they should become responsible for the debts of italy and portugal and greece and other countries within the euro zone now that just seems to me to be a silly idea or a nonstarter on this any reason why the german should feel that they should have responsibility particular for italian debts that were accumulated from long before the euro even existed all of the schemes are opposed to variants on this theme so the idea of having a huge stability fund of two trillion euros or leveraging the existing much smaller funds up to two trillion or maybe printing loads and loads of new money your robot or all of those four kinds of ideas are variants of the same debt sharing theme so they're a nonstarter the way that you should be going here is first of all to be seeking to address some of the fundamental problems in the euro zone banking sector by imposing losses on the lenders for the banks the people who lent money to the banks particularly in spain and in ireland and then dealing with the problems in portugal and italy by having a system of tra

and nauls -- let's go to italy. italy also up fractionally up eight basis points. that brings the yield down to near 6% which is significant in italy. at the beginning of this year, the yield was at 4.8%. this is a very dangerous level to get near, the 6% level. that's where italy doesn't want to see things go. it needs to stay below 6%. let's go to germany. the reaction there also similarly understandable because we're obviously seeing a positive reaction in the bond market so far. but this isn't a huge move for the bond market. i can show you in perspective what it means for greece. that is coming down ever so slightly at 23.30% but is a reflection of how uncertain the market certainly is about the situation in greece. and a very slight reaction in the uk of a drop of four basis points but that's not a big deal either. very muted reaction. if we take a look at the comparison of how these all look together, things have begun to moderate ever so slightly. it's italy that's of most concern as that edges ever closer to 6%. and that could be a problem if we see that g

in italy, the crisis could force political change. reports in the last hour are saying silvio berlusconi may step down in the new year. more survivors have been pulled from the rubble in eastern turkey, three days after the earthquake. welcome to "bbc world news." i'm peter dobbie. also in the next 30 minutes -- new evidence suggests pakistan has been supporting the insurgency against nato troops in afghanistan. and, the last of america's most powerful cold war-era nuclear bombs, the b53, what are dismantled. >> european leaders are returning to brussels today for the second time in less than a week to try to sort out the debted crisis across the couldn't nenlt. one of the biggest issues for european leaders is how to contain debt in italy. well, it's emerged in the past hour or so that the italian prime minister, silvio berlusconi, is going to the summit with an offer of economic reform, the letter of intent. hammer out a last-minute deal in the italian parliament. there are newspaper reports from italy saying that the deal includes

abuse of office is a minor crime in italy. wasn't corruption, just to be clear. >> but for this proud judicial official of perugia, the public humiliation was humbling. it was during this very time when giuliano mignini was facing embarrassing charges of abusing his office he arrived at the crime scene of meredith kercher's murder. his investigation into kercher's death would not wait for the forensic evidence to be processed. he already had his suspicions. within days, he announced the horrific crime was solved. dr. mignini, is it possible that a prosecutor who was facing his own troubles perhaps rushed to judgment to solve a sensational crime? >> translator: i did not take any opportunity because that day i just happened to be on duty. a tour of duty of a week. so i did not take an opportunity. >> reporter: the morning after our interview with giuliano mignini, the prosecutor spots our camera, walks towards me, and off camera asks what i thought of the interview the night before, if i thought he was being truthful. clearly,

the banks particularly in spain and in ireland and then dealing with the problems in portugal and italy by having a system of transfers every time an extension of an existing system called the e.u. structural funds which would allow you to send money off each year just to raise the growth rates of those countries a little bit and finally accepting that greece really doesn't have a future in the euro zone so greece needs to be out there i mean cyprus leaves you bring up a very good point here and if i go to john here i mean the whole world except for a few leaders in the e.u. and some greek politicians have a long ago agreed that the greece will default on its debts and we still keep kicking the can down the road here i mean why isn't it why is it we just they just take a huge haircut and just move on ok because after two years of this continue down the road everyone just has to pay more and more and more go ahead. well it's not the end prisoners clean new clothes isn't it someone's going to shout out the emperor is naked somebody is going to shout out greece is already in default it is

matthew chance joins us live from perugia, italy. tell us more about what amanda knox said. >> reporter: carol, a very emotional speech indeed. the speech of her life, as we said, the opportunity to stand up in front of this court in perugia, address the judges and the jury and make that personal appeal, in her own words, for her release saying that she was not guilty of killing meredith kercher and she was being held unjustifiably inside the court. a very emotional speech indeed. she'd spent months according to her parents deciding what she would say and how she would say it. she spoke apparent italian and at times could not hold back the tears. at one point the judge said she could sit down, but she didn't. she kept herself together and delivered her plea of innocence. take a listen. >> translator: i am not what they say i am. perversity, violence. i respect life and people, and i haven't done the things that they are suggesting that i've done. i haven't murder. i haven't raped. i haven't stolen. i wasn't there. i wasn't present in

. >> by the fate of italy may prove crucial in the deal to rescue the euro zone.ommunities in mexico's yucatan peninsula are bracing themselves for the arrival of a hurricane. it is supposed to make land fall later this week. more than 100 people were killed in large parts of the region. >> after a days of rain, they're struggling to cope. massive flooding had affected by around 300,000 people, leaving thousands of families homeless and stranded. the people in the region are preparing for the worst. hurricane rena has turned into a category 2 storm. the government in believes -- belize are bracing themselves. in central america, more than 100 have been killed in recent floods and mudslides. regional leaders gathered in a salvador to discuss greater cooperation. the reconstruction efforts in this country alone might cost as much as $1.5 billion. >> it is the industrialized countries which are responsible for climate change. it is a vulnerable countries that deal with the problems. we are the ones to suffer the death and destruction of our infrastructure and or crop

and amanda is free to leave italy as soon as possible. looking at her family reacting after the ruling was read in court. moments ago, her sister spoke about all her family has been through. >> we're thankful that amanda's nightmare is over. she suffered for four years for a crime that she did not commit. we are thankful for our lawyers, carlo dela vida va, luchango, and maria della rosa, and their assistant. not only did they defend her brilliantly, but they also loved her. we are thankful for the support we have received from all over the world. people who took the time to research the case and could see that amanda and raffiale were innocent. lastly, we are thankful for the court for having the truth to look -- the courage to look for the truth and overturn this conviction. >> here's a look outside the courthouse in peruggia, italy, where a big crowd was there earlier. supporters and onlookers were gathered there. mainly, we just see a lot of police at this point. you know, the case made international headlines, has been a huge scandal

for italy itself to service you sound debts or if you can't do that do you have to have the germans take on the italian debts or have the italians default i think it's just a ridiculous idea that germany should accept trillions of years of debts that arose before the euro zone even existed and that's nothing to do with keynesian economics that's like some other country taking on somebody else entirely taking on responsibility for their bets the way of getting back growth within its early is of course partly to do with structural reforms and so on it's also though i think there have to be some transfers some monies will have to be sent from germany to the european union and the european union will then spend those monies in italy italy's fundamental situation isn't that bad it's not that heavily indebted country in the aggregate it has a bit of government debt obviously but in fact even by the middle of the trying to ten's even italian government that is projected to be lower than that in the united states so the united states situation is in many ways actually worse than that of ita

that will mean that it will be taken up to a supreme court in italy. >> that is correct. let me say -- we all feel the tremendous pain and grief for the kercher family. it is overwhelming. it is the worst thing that could happen to parents or siblings. god bless them and i wish them nothing but the best. but yes, the judge has 90 days to write out the logic and motivation behind the decision. the prosecution, after that, has the right to appeal it to the supreme court. i think amanda will appeal, i do not know this but, will appeal the slander charged by patrick. there is still some to play out. i have a feeling that once the document is published in english of the motivations of the trial judge, people will see clearly what was evident and facts and what was false evidence and not fact. what was a miss characterization and demonization of these two innocent kids and mainly, amanda knox. in my opinion, it was a tremendous injustice by a very vengeful and vexatious police department led by monica napolioni that put out to the press lie after lie about amanda knox. >> we ap

the eurozone crisis is exacerbate and italy's local crisis. the political leaders will meet well into the evening. -- the eurozone crisis is exacerbating italy's political crisis. hard numbers indicate that this time a deal is more than sticking fast. >> for the latest from brussels we can go to chris morris who is there now. it looks like you are digging in for a long night. any sign of progress? >> not so far. the main course is that the meeting of the 17 eurozone countries because they are the ones that will have to decide how to spend their own money. there is even a suggestion that a separate negotiation which is taking place across the street from the summit venue, that is where representatives of banks to hold greek that are trying to decide how much of that debt they are willing to write down. they may be joined by senior leaders, angela merkel, nicholas sarkozy, to try to persuade them, but now's the time to make a bold decision on greek doubt. there is also the way you increase the firepower of the rescue fund. the signs are that it

it stands at about 30% in italy. only greece has a higher level of tax evasion, felicia, at 37%. >> oh, those numbers are staggering. of course, that's exactly what his country men, his people, do not want to have happen. and one of his colleagues said, we're not going to raise the pension age just to please the germans. it's a tug-of-war. and you picked that buzz word we've all been talking about, lack of confidence has led to all of this uncertainty. thanks, nina. >>> for europe's leaders, it's the ultimate diplomatic dance, keeping up the appearance of unity while trying to have things their own way. we'll explain the maneuvering in europe in just a minute. okay... uhh. the bad news, it's probably totaled. the good news is, you don't have to pay your deductible. with vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance, you got $100 off for every year of safe driving, so now your deductible is zero. the other good news ? i held on to your coffee. wow. ♪ nationwide is on your side ( laughing ) it's actually a pretty good

the eurozone crisis is exacerbate and italy's local crisis. the political leaders will meet well into the evening. -- the eurozone crisis is exacerbating italy's political crisis. hard numbers indicate that this time a deal is more than sticking fast. >> for the latest from brussels we can go to chris morris who is there now. it looks like you are digging in for a long night. any sign of progress? >> not so far. the main course is that the meeting of the 17 eurozone countries because they are the ones that will have to decide how to spend their own money. there is even a suggestion that a separate negotiation which is taking place across the street from the summit venue, that is where representatives of banks to hold greek that are trying to decide how much of that debt they are willing to write down. they may be joined by senior leaders, angela merkel, nicholas sarkozy, to try to persuade them, but now's the time to make a bold decision on greek doubt. there is also the way you increase the firepower of the rescue fund. the signs are that it

it is 9:00 in perusia, italy. family members and spectators and the media are surrounding the courthouse, awaiting the verdict on whether amanda knox will be free, a verdict we expect within the hour. we are in the final moments of the saga that has been ongoing for almost four years. nbc's lester holt is in perusia and joins us now. >> reporter: good evening. there is the scene in the courtroom about three blocks from where we are. the family got word about an hour ago and should be in court by 9:30. they are already there. they were seen walking hand in hand. they gathered up from a restaurant a few feet from where we are. there were hugs all-around. they walked down to the courthouse and the lawyers i think we are looking at with the prosecution side in that successes. we don't know when court will be called. we were told to begin at 9:30. what will happen is the court, two judges, six jurors had been deliberating since 10:45 our time. they will come back to deliver the verdict. it won't be guilty or not. it wi

fundamentally, look at italy. it's actually not in that bad of economic shape. it has high debt numbers, but japan's got worse, and it borrows at 2%. not that bad. the problem is they don't trust berlusconi or european leaders to shore uppity lee. it's all about restoring confidence. it's all about perception. it's more a political crisis than an economic crisis. and if they could bring confidence back that they're looking to tackle these issues, that in and of itself may reassure the markets. >> it will make the g-20 a little easier. >> yes, i suppose it will, also make it quite exciting. one of the things the eurozone leaders are going to be asking for is a little bit of help from the likes of china, russia, brazil. there will be a delicious air near there. also worth mentioning, the unmentioned actor in all of this is the european central bank. there's an awful lot of people who think that the e.c.b. is the one player that's really capable of bringing the financial firepower to the table. germans hate the idea of it, but one reason they've taken comfort so fa

this case now can be taken to italy's highest court, italy's supreme court.he prosecutor could ask that the appellate court's decision reversing the conviction be changed. and the murder conviction reinstated. i don't think there's really any possibility of that happening. the evidence was so bad in the case. but it's a theoretical possibility. >> could she be extradited in that case back to italy? >> you know what's dangerous? there is an extradition treaty between the united states and italy, and we extradite organized crime figures from time to time and others from italy. so there would be an argument that someone charged with murder should be extradited back to italy. this would be a big, big battle. let me tell you. between the two countries if it ever develops. and i don't think italy would let it develop. that's why i think this is pretty much the end of those murder charges. >> so, does she have any legal recourse? if she wants to say, i spent four years, i was wrongly accused, what does she have? if she chooses to pursue it, what could she do? >> iro

peter van sant is italy this morning. this is a much different amanda knox addressing the court than in the past. >> reporter: this is the day of days for amanda knox. in this courthouse behind me there was high drama today and a lot of tears as amanda spoke from the heart. with her future, her life on the line, a clearly terrified amanda knox. the former student from seattle rose in a courtroom in perugia, italy, this morning, to proclaim her innocence. >> translator: i'm afraid. anywhere i am, i am afraid. >> reporter: amanda gathered her strength and asked the six judges and two jurors for justice. >> translator: i insist i'm innocent and that must be defended. i just want to go home, go back to my life. i don't want to be punished and deprived of life because i am innocent. raffaele is innocent. >> reporter: amanda said she lost a friend and was shocked when her british roommate meredith kercher was murdered on november 2nd, 2007, in the house where the two were roommates. >> translator: i can't explain how i felt whe

will amanda knox have to return to italy? >> new jersey, whether you like it or not, you are stuck with me.  >>> american exchange student amanda knox is on a flight back to seattle right now after four years in an italian police son. she was when an appeals court -- reversed her murder conviction yesterday. the family of her murdered roommate meredith kercher are back to square one. lama hasan has more. >> reporter: these are her first moments of freedom. after four years behind bars amanda and her family, unwavering in their support checked in on a british air ways flight. in seattle, her lawyer spoke to her after the dramatic acquittal. >> he was joyful, thankful and grateful. she could not contain her thanks. >> reporter: it took only 90 minutes for the seattle college student to finalize paperwork, pack up and leave prison. in the verdict amanda and her then boyfriend, raffaele sollecito were acquitted of murdering meredith kercher. he says he just wants to be with his family. his father s

an american woman in italy. but in any event she's now going to -- there will be an appeal by the prosecution, but it's going to be on very narrow grounds. it will be on legal issues. i think her chances of not having this lower court decision reversed are very, very good. and i just hope that she can lead -- she'll lead a different life, a different life than she

italy and the united states. i think what you're going to see here is, if there's an acquittal, of course, she goes home. if she goes to the italian supreme court, it's probably going to be sustained, and, you know, i think today is the big day in the amanda knox case. this is going to dictate what her future will be. not the president of the united states. >> is there any sense of which way it will go? i mean, can you get any sense at all? >> this is the sense i get. lawyers who have been watching the case very closely, american lawyers and to a certain extent italian lawyers, think there's very little or no case against this american student. on the other hand, there is a small number of people who think that italian honor may be at stake. that italian justice may be subject to ridicule if this case is reversed and she is released. so the knox supporters are very worried that the judges and the jurors on this case are going to say, we're going to uphold that verdict, because we don't want italy to look bad to t

there was a mud have swept through northern italy killing at least nine people after drenching rains is the country at least six people are also missing as floodwaters swept away roads and bridges and cut off several towns the most devastated areas on the italian riviera include some of the most picturesque in italy with a number on the unesco world heritage list. i'll recap our top stories coming your way but first our interview and we talked to the british conservative party m.p. douglas carswell the things you membership is really dragging the u.k. economy down. i'm in manchester with douglas cause well he's a conservative member of parliament he said the political system in this country is broken and in urgent need of reform he's also a renowned skeptic douglas carswell thanks for talking to us we use this catch all term skeptic what does that mean old style your skepticism in this country used to be about trying to take this country back it used to be an inherently conservative movement that was about trying to take us back to a sort of one nine hundred fifty s. status quo i don

the eurozone crisis is exacerbating italy's political turmoil. what the markets will be watching over night is not so much political statements but details, hard numbers that indicate that this time, a deal is more likely. >> if a deal is not reached, some analysts say could spell the end of the european currency. others say is too big to fail. and a deal much be -- a deal must be reached at any cost. what are the hurdles they are trying to overcome? stephanie takes a look. >> last month, the world give european leaders a challenge -- save the euro in six weeks. we are into week five. there is still plenty of gaps in the plan. we have that agreement to inject capital into european banks and it will probably be around 100 billion euros. the one-half of the value of the greek government debt held by investors. they want to give the rescue fund more part -- more firepower without putting in any new money. we do not know exactly how they're going to do any of that. officials are suggesting tonight that we may not be a lot wiser when we read the state

will amanda knox have to return to italy? >> new jersey, whether you like it or not, you are stuck with me. >> the race in new jersey governor christie says he's not going to run. >> closed captioning brought to you by mancini sleepworld. >>> american exchange student amanda knox is on a flight back to seattle right now after four years in an italian police son. she was when an appeals court -- reversed her murder conviction yesterday. the family of her murdered roommate meredith kercher are back to square one. lama hasan has more. >> reporter: these are her first moments of freedom. after four years behind bars amanda and her family, unwavering in their support checked in on a british air ways flight. in seattle, her lawyer spoke to her after the dramatic acquittal. >> he was joyful, thankful and grateful. she could not contain her thanks. >> reporter: it took only 90 minutes for the seattle college student to finalize paperwork, pack up and leave prison. in the verdict amanda and her then boyfriend, raffaele sollecito were

accused of murder, kept behind bars in italy for four years. then just yesterday freed in italy. stephanie gosk starts our coverage off tonight. good evening. >> reporter: in less than two hours, amanda knox and her family will arrive here in seattle. the last time she was in this airport four years ago, she was just a student heading off on a school year abroad. now all of that has challenged. there's a throng of media waiting for her. she's expected to say a brief statement and then whisked away. there's a sense of relief and joy in this city that she's been released. there's a hostp challenges. the family has been nearly bankrupted by legal fees. her grandmother has spent $250,000 of her own money and says she's drowning in debt. now the 24-year-old herself has to pick up the pieces and try to move on. she wrote she wants to spend time to help out convicts who have been wrongly imprisoned and she has a dream of being a mother one day. more on the last 24 hows and amanda knox's journey home. >> reporter: amanda knox's long journey home started at rome's international airport wh

the fate of an american jailed in italy could be sealed.knox says: "it is a very stressful time rightean she is 24 years old and she could be looking at the rest of her life behind bars."amanda knox has already spent the last four years jailed...serving a 26 year sentence for the 2007 murder of her british roommate, meredith kercher.knox says: "i find it difficult to believe how you can consider somebody guilty when they are not even in the room where meredith lost her life." knox's ex- boyfriend is also awaiting this appeal verdict...he received a 25 year sentence. during rebuttal on friday, the prosecutor made a jab at the american legal system, saying knox is lucky that italy does not have the death penalty. as the court sees it...there are four options:(fs)one...the court could uphold the conviction, ordering her to serve the remaining 22 years of her sentence.two....the court could áincreaseá knox's sentence to life in prison....italy's toughest sentence.three...amanda knox's sentence could be áreducedá... and of course...the outcome knox and her family are hoping for is exonerat