here is a picture taken in the south of netherlands. here, the layout is so much that you are really regarded as cyclists that they have made space for you. the cars know that cyclists have priority. this is a common roundabout situation in the netherlands, also in the village where i live. so this shows that you go for the cyclists. go for cyclists and realize when someone is saying we were cramped in space like in san francisco, we say, well, you have never been to any dutch town because your roads are so wide. and then they think, yeah, but all these lanes are needed for car traffic. i'll tell you, if you use this traffic model, you should realize that the capacity of your system is not determined by the amount of lanes and the stretches of roads but by the capacity of intersections and you realize that the capacity of these intersections are a lot lower than any capacity of lanes that are on the stretches of roads. so it's only a parking place for cars on to the next traffic light or intersection. so it's only convincing the people

the netherlands.ur economy wil improve only if we stop taking on new debt. he still needs opposition support for spending cuts, but he's not impressed. with fresh elections looming, he has found a way to praise -- placed the blame. the dutch should stop babbling to the dictators in brussels, he said on monday. >> the government is doing anything that can and deteriorating conditions for seniors. >> the eu commission rejected the portrayal of the situation. >> this is basically because it is good for the dutch citizens, and decisions, by the way, have not been taken by brussels. >> the dutch finance minister, for his part, attempted to calm markets ahead of tuesday's bond sale, saying holland could still meet that target next year, despite the failure of earlier talks. >> for more on this, we asked our brussels correspondent about the reaction there to the political crisis in the netherlands. >> there is certainly dismay at what is happening and dismay at what is clearly the perception in some capitals

in the netherlands, people who come to work by bike are more regarded them by car. the people who use the car have to find excuses why they still use the car. they just come and say, i just want to go by car. and the fact is, more and more people -- for instance, in amsterdam, by having this past and so on, 9000 people per day choose not to have their car because there was no more accessibility by car but choose the alternatives. 15% of them stay with the alternatives. they had a car. when they experienced it, it was not so bad commuting by bike or public transport, then there were convinced also. -- then it they were convinced also. if you tell people who drive by cars, and i think american politicians are so afraid they might lose voters, but if you keep telling them the detriment of the effects of using their car every day -- what? but they will not mind losing voters. my friends and the businessmen and area, they don't mind. for the around children, -- for their own children, but is it faster, more convenient, and cheaper? those are the reasons why you will choo

also, in the netherlands, we're not so good with racing cyclists.all the champions from last year are from italy, spain, or your country, never from the netherlands. but cycling is more than racing, it is a way of transport. especially for the first 7 kilometers, in combination with public transport. the last lines are important. for instance, in at the city of amsterdam, 85% of the trips are faster by bike then by car -- then by car. i do everything by bicycle. i am a slow cyclist, and i am still faster through the city. that is why most of the people in amsterdam go by bike. if your interested in funny and nice invidious, go to youtube. but you will see a lot of videos in which the bicycle and the car cooperate. these are some pictures and examples of how the public authorities can invest in cycling. this is a parking space for a cyclist. tend thousand bicycles can be stored there. -- 10,000 bicycles can be stored there. you can build a shelter for about 30,000 bicycles. now, what can employees do? many employees are working on the bicycle program

then we would say in the netherlands, well, you know that's about cycling. so you should reduce your speed when you see the cycling, you just can't drive on with 40 or 45 miles an hour alongside cyclists because there is always the risk that something strange happens so that's important. jurisdiction. there were initiatives to put in a code, but there was large opposition against it, defacto it doesn't make any difference. well, and one of the things is of course and i heard that the system in san francisco of allotting schools to children makes it very difficult, but this is a picture from a primary school, start young so do everything to have children biking. ok. [applause] >> thank you, hans. i see supervisor chiu in the back. we are especially lucky today because supervisor chiu wanted to be here with us and say a few welcoming remarks. he happens to be our own german marshall fellow. honorable davis chiu. [applause] >> good morning. it is a real pleasure for me to be here for a number of reasons. first of all, a couple of years ago i was honored to be p

the netherlands has supported fiscal discipline among eu countries. it is fired the country's turmoil will affect the efforts to deal with the debt problems. they are expected to call snap general elections and the vote is expected to be held as soon as late june. share prices plunged across europe on the back of political uncertainty in the netherlands. as the dutch cabinet looked into resigning, stock prices tumbled on monday, 3.4% as you can see. 1.9% in london. friends also added to the selling pressure. nicholas sarkozy failed to gain a majority in the presidential election. another factor in the plunge is worse than forecast manufacturing data. it damp eped the economic outlook. u.s. markets also fell on mounting concerns over euro zone debt issues. the dow jones industrial average fell 0.8%. the tech-heavy nasdaq was down about 1%. let's see about stocks here. it's a brand-new day at tokyo stock exchange. it seems the euro zone issues are dragging stocks lower. >> as you were mentioning there, it's a big focus for the markets and we'll follow t

elderly people in the netherlands don't go to the hospital. they go to another country because they are afraid because of budget purposes that they will not come out of that hospital if they go in there with a sickness. >> none of those things are true. none of that is true. it should be noted the netherlands is a country. there are hospitals in that country. there are old people in that country. it's true that some can be affixed to his thesis but everything else he said there not true and not that hard to fact check. not that hard to figure out it's not true. you could just find a dutch person and ask them. that's what we did. he said 10% of all deaths in the netherlands are the result of euthanasia. >> not true. >> he said that half those people are being euthanized involuntarily. >> totally not true. >> he said elderly people in the netherlands do go to the hospital because they are afraid of hospital. >> not true. >> they wear specialty bracelets that say don't euthanize me. >> would be cool, but i have not seen one. >> i don't know if he

it should be noted the netherlands is a country. there are hospitals in that country. there are old people in that country. so it's true that some of the nouns can be affixed to mr. santorum's thesis but everything else he said there not true and not that hard to fact check. not hard to figure out that it is not true. for example, you could find dutch person and ask them. that's what we did. he says is 0% of all deaths in the nether lands are the result of euthanasia. >> not true. >> he says half of all of those people are people euthanized involuntarily. >> totally not true. >> he says specifically elderly people in the net lands don't go to the hospital and leave the country because they are afraid of dutch hospitals. >> not true and insulting. >> elderly people wear specialty bracelets in the nether lands that say please do not euthanize me. >> would be with cool but i have not seen one. >> i don't know if rick santorum will apologize for the 100% made up, totally untrue, hysterically wrong thing he said today about the university of california. but when he said tha

netherlands in trouble. >> yeah, absolutely. this is a very interesting development, very risky development for the wider eurozone. let me try and explain. the prime minister of the netherlands and his administration last the majority in parliament over the weekend after talks collapsed. these talks have been going on for some weeks. the talks are all to do with trying to cut around 16 billion euros from the annual budget. the prime minister and his administration were proposing things like increasing sales tax, cutting and freezing public servant pay, etc., but the parties just could not agree. now, this is what it means. it could mean that he may even resign. that would mean an election later in the year. that would just add uncertainty to the picture. got to remind everybody, we're talking about a very stable eurozone partner, the netherlands, one of the core of the eurozone and one of only four countries left in the eurozone that holds on to its a.a.a. credit rating. that could be now in jeopardy. we know the dutch borrowing

the netherlands is looking at early elections. mark rutte tendered his resignation to queen beatrix today. >> the leader of the anti- immigration party said the impact of deficit spending cuts ordered by brussels was too great. new elections will be held, possibly in june. >> it was shortly after 4:00 p.m. when prime minister mark rutte left the royal palace after handing the queen his cabinet's resignation. his government is set to continue its official duties. the premier drove away from the scene without a word to reporters. the cabinet met on monday to draw up its resignation. the minority government has been in crisis since it lost support for is badly-needed budget cuts. -- for its badly-needed budget cuts. >> and a few decades, the netherlands have showed fiscal, solid budgetary policy and this will not change. >> negotiations came to an abrupt halt this weekend after an attack by it are right mean populist leader. he accuses them of doing the bidding of brussels. >> this is basically for the dutch citizens and the decision

the researchers that i refer to based both at arasmus university in the netherlands and the university of wisconsin announced that they were going to publish the results of their studies in the journal "science and nature." this set off what i would call a global ethics debate in the scientific community about whether to publish or not publish these results. and if the experiments which were funded by the nih were undertaken at all. on the one hand, there are those who say getting this information out could help other scientists better understand the mutant strain so they could prepare for a possible pandemic by investigating -- looking for natural mutations and developing vaccines and medications. the fact that these two research teams were able to create this new strain from existing genetic material means that nature could create it as well. in fact, many scientists said that that was quite likely. but given the lethality of the virus, others argued that publishing the results would create a huge security risk because it would offer a blueprint for a deadly biological weapon to rogu

carol in-is in the netherlands. actually, is there any hope of getting any agreement or are we facing the prospect of elections? >> that prospect is very hike willy at this point. new elections will likely take place sometime in september or early october. but there are more ramifications. most importantly, the country will unlikely reach the 3% deficit to gdp target. also very important is this one, the country will likely see its aaa credit rating be down graded even before the budget talks collapsed. finch warned that this might happen possibly in june. and the markets are definitely worried. just this morning, we're seeing yields in the ten year ticking higher. also cds spreads close to record levels now. and what's probably more telling is the fact that the german and dutch ten year spread is now at more than 72 basis points. so is the netherlands still one of the core deficit complying eurozone members. and the government has repeatedly critz sized those countries, specifically greece, which haven't been able

there are around 700 coffee shops in the netherlands. the owners say that the new laws discriminate against eu citizens. some claim that it will cost up to 90% of their business. >> it is important for everyone in holland, we do not have problems with taurus to smoke a joint -- with tourists who smoke a joint. >> some come for the opportunity to smoke cannabis. there are fears this could have a huge impact on tourism. they're looking to negotiate some kind of deal with the government to make sure that tourists that are attracted by the cannabis can keep on coming. >> a wide area of central london was shut down after a man threatened to burn himself up. police evacuated buildings and a close to two stations for several hours. >> central london in broad daylight. police rushed towards the situation. from the fifth floor of this building, computers and office equipment thrown on to the street below. it started at much time when a man entered the offices of a business that offers jobs to lorry drivers. he appeared to have explosives tied to

queen of the netherlands is considering the resignation request of the cabinet. finance minister says holding on to the prize rating is important for the country's image. >> the perception in the financial markets is always important. we do not refer because we do not pay also for our rating, but perception of financial markets is important and that's why also i have the message for financial markets that through decades, the netherlandss always have shown fiscal solid budgetary policy. and this will not change. >> and joining us today is now senior economic adviser at pwc. andrew, good to see you. we had a combination of factors of course during the last 24 hours. more depressing data in terms of eurozone pmis and then the politics coming on not only the french election, but also the dutch cabinet resigning. how much more difficult is the politics making the economics? >> well, i think the financial markets are very nervous about the euro area in any sort of political disturbance i think reinforces that. of courses as you mentioned, we had relatively disappointi

and spain portugal would need a lot more money and germany and the netherlands would end up footing the bill and the party's leader of the dutch freedom party is a euro skeptic to say the least what impact would it have if a country like the netherlands exit in the euro. yeah i think what it's doing is it's highlighting the problems of the euro itself and the way it's been managed you know there's nothing wrong conceptually or in theory with a single currency after all the united states has a single currency and the people in california use the same currency that people in new york do you know throughout the fifty states but what's happened in europe is that people in germany are being forced to bail out people in as a greece you know. governments and banks in greece and it's taken a single currency beyond just the neutral currency that it's supposed to be and this turned into a political currency and whenever you mix politics and money you end up having a lot of problems one of the reasons why the book in this bank was so successful for the one nine hundred fifty until two thousand

why one in the netherlands where i said that. i was on television in the netherlands and i said playboy had been producing child pornography and had then conditioning people based on our research for the doj since at least the 50's depending how you looked at, and playboy sood me for libel. they won't sue me here. if they do give us a jury trial, and the judge looked at all the documentation from the images of the children in bed with daddy or whoever and said she's right and they sold off to me. >> when and where did you get your ph.d.. >> it was from the reserve university in ohio. in 1980i think or 79 -- i'm getting too old to remember these things, and was on the communication with which the mass media affects change in the human brain and the human being and the culture. >> what are you doing here at liberty university? >> i am bringing my knowledge to the faculty and they've taken my archive in the next room and thousands of books and documents so that there will be the, for this material and we will let least be able to ha

there are around 700 coffeeshops in the netherlands. owners fighting the ban say the new law discriminates between eu citizens on the basis of where they live. some claim the new rules will cost up to 90% of their business. >> it is disappointing for everybody. nobody sees the problem. there is no problem. we do not have problems with tourists who smoke a joint and then go to the museum. >> in amsterdam, about one-third of tourists are attracted by the opportunity to be able to smoke cannabis. with new legislation, it could have a huge impact on tourism. the mayor is voting to negotiate some kind of deal with the government to ensure that tourists attracted by cannabis can keep on coming. >> the european football champions, barcelona, are about to lose their coach. he has confirmed that he will be leaving at the end of the current season. >> it seems the pressure of modern-day football can get the better of a man with 13 major trophies in less than four years. after the chevy inslee, playing second fiddle to real madrid at home, he has

marijuana in the netherlands so that you take it out in a more -- because at the moment it's hypocritical. the back door supplied by criminals then decriminalized so-called. but as long as you have the coffee shops operating way they are at the moment, you will just be funding the criminal organizations with money. >> what's your experience of this particular issue living as closely as you do to a couple of these cafes? >> a lot of traffic. from foreign countries. people come and pick up weed to sell in other countries. so actually the coffee shop blows direct traffic and make sure cars don't park double and stuff like that. >> correct me if i'm wrong, the tourists coming in are bringing money in the economy not just the money spevent on the cafes but they are staying in hotels and going to restaurants. so isn't that putting money in the economy? >> yes. but it's not a good way to make money for amsterdam. because a lot of money is going straight back to criminals, of course. and where the amsterdam economy is picking up a little. >> that was john talking to us just a little earlier. >> p

the ruling coalition in the netherlands fell, and the president of france faced an uphill fight in a run-off to retain his job. >> in paris and across europe, all eyes were on francois hollande, now a major step closer to becoming the first socialist president of france since 1995. hollande landed 28% of the vote in sunday's first round election that saw a turnout of more than 80%. he finished ahead of conservative nicolas sarkozy, the incumbent president garnered 27%. the two will meet in a may 6th runoff election. >> i'm going to do exactly as i did in the first round. i'm going to gather all the french people without want change. >> this campaign must be about the truth this is a crucial moment. the french people need to have all the facts so they can choose. and i won't be running away from it or hiding from it. >> reporter: but sarkozy faced deep disconsent-- discontent over frances debt and high unemployment. hollande calls for less austerity and more focus on economic growth. the voter unhappiness fueled the far right voter she won nearly 18% vowing to quit the your owe curren

this year come the netherlands minority coalition was forced to resign. even in wealthier countries, they're becoming frustrated by the never-ending belt- tightening. ireland spent 13% more than they took in last year. in greece, 9%. in spain, 8.5%. voters are losing faith in cutbacks and believe it is not the right way out of the crisis. it looks as if the game of dominoes is set to continue. >> the czech government survived a confidence vote. >> after a nine-hour debate, they back to the prime minister's government with 93 voting against. he had threatened to hold new elections at the end of june. his coalition collapsed last week and days of the biggest anti-government demonstrations in prague since the fall of communism. some governments around germany may be falling, but berlin has vowed come yet again, there's no going back on the tough strategy of cutting back spending. >> chancellor angela merkel says there will be no going back on the fiscal pact. she says it addresses the root cause of the crisis. >> this is a direct challenge to the french pres

. >> alan: a bet of netherlands came to the bay area. the wind mill was fired up as part of the queen's day festival. the festival is a national event in the netherlands honorerring the former queen's birthday. hundreds turned out. captioned by closed captioning services inc.

there are around 700 coffeeshops in the netherlands.wners fighting the ban said the new law discriminates between eu citizens on the basis of where they left. some claimed the new rules will cost of to 90% of their business. >> it is disappointing for everybody involved. there is no problem, we do not have problems with tourists. >>. amsterdam, it is thought that a third of tourists are attracted by the opportunity to smoke cannabis. there are fears it could have a huge impact on tourism. the mayor is hoping to negotiate some kind of deal with the government to ensure that tourists attracted by the cannabis can keep on coming. >> you are watching "bbc world news america." up, up away, could space travel beginning cheaper? -- be getting cheaper? a major security alert close down parts of central london after a man walked into an office allegedly threatening to blow himself up. >> central london in broad daylight, armed police rushed towards the reported hostage situation. from the third floor of this building, computers and office equipm

at risk now for the netherlands is losing its aaa credit rating. it is one of four in the region to still have it. >> we had one of the three main rating agencies already put the aaa rating on a negative outlook for the year. last week, another one made a comment that it was on the edge of some sort of negative action. it depends on what the agencies do. there has always been the political risk with a minority government. it's a question to whether they will be on that and look at the structural strength of the economy. >> george, we've already seen the cost of borrowing for the dutch going up. that is certainly a concern. >> wen jibao is in germany. two of the world's biggest exporters had a meeting. >> chancellor angela merkel and premier wen talking trade. it's all about trying to increase bilateral trade with germany to about $280 billion by 2015. for germany, the relationship and trade with china is much more important. 6% of all german exports go to china. gdp is made up of shipping stuff to china. one concern for investing in china is hangin

the netherlands can still quite clearly borrow relatively cheaply.y of the core of the eurozone, and of course it was one of the big falls that was an advocate of austerity. need to check on where we are with the spanish yield. because of the general concern in europe. we pop back as you can see above 6% there during the course of today's session. that's a two-year chart. we're not back up to where we were at the end of last year but it is a concern that everybody is watching. the spanish market has fallen again today. the big construction companies, you know construction is important in spain, ats for example down 10%. a 3% loss overall. we must be back down more or less to where we were at the lows of march 2009. want to show you the french fallout from the election on that first round of voting. you might say well, look, france hasn't really been badly affected today, disproportionately from the rest of europe. but you've got to consider the way in which some of those government connected companies like electricity de france, huge supplier or fran

also in the program is the netherlands' reputation for cannabis tourism about to go up in smoker. and dumped on the streets targeted by gangs, we look at life for pakistan's street children. it's midday here in london, early afternoon and 7:00 p.m. in beijing where the chinese government is urgently looking for one of the country's best known dissident. the blind lawyer and human rights campaignist chen guangcheng. mr. chen has spent the last 18 months under house arrest but last sunday, he escaped and he released a video from a secret location demanding an investigation into his treatment and end to the persecution of his family and corruption. our correspondent told us more about the video footage. >> that online video posted by chen guangcheng has been released in which he says he confirms the fabblet that he escaped from that house arrest that he was under about eight hours here from beijing and he's made an appeal in that video to china's premier wen jiabao with the three demands. the first one that he was saying that the violence he said that had been inflicted on him and hi

there are around 700 coffeeshops in the netherlands.ers fighting the ban say the new law discriminates between e.u. citizens on the basis of where they live. some claim the new rules will cost to 90% of their business. in amsterdam, about 1/3 of tourists are attracted by the opportunity to smoke. with the new legislation, there are fears it could have a huge impact on tourism. they want to negotiate a deal with the government to ensure tourists attracted by the cannabis can keep on coming. bbc news in amsterdam. >> you are watching a " bbc world news america." up and away. could space travel beginning cheaper? a major security alert closed down parts of central london today after a man walked into an office allegedly threatening to blow himself up. john has the story. >> central london in broad daylight, armed police rushed towards a report to the hostage situation. from the fifth floor of this building, computers and office equipment are thrown onto the street below. it started at lunchtime when a man entered the offices of the company

the netherlands has strongly supported fiscal discipline among eu countries.t's feared the country's political turmoil will affect efforts to deal with europe's debt problems. he's expected to call snap general elections on tuesday. the vote is expected to be held as soon as late june. executives at elpita memory will rebuild their business. they were japan's sole manufacturer of memory chips. they plan to choose a business partner. they went bankrupt in february after losing its competitiveness on the back of the record high yen. three foreign groups have announced they are ready to step in with help. their leading u.s. semiconductor maker micron technology, a consortium of u.s. and chinese investment funds and major south korean chipmaker. japan's electronicsmaker toshiba is planning to join sk heinicks in the bidding. they plan to decide on who they'll work with in may. >>> managers at facebook say they'll list their shares on nasdaq. the initial public offering for shares in the social networking giant is expected to be one of the largest ever by an i.t. f

now, other countries including the netherlands are addressing in a serious way how they are going to approach this. but it's, so we hope and we envision is that as a result of this, there will be a culture responsibility that even though we don't have the carrot in the stick of funding, these principles will be implemented throughout the world. we're all hoping for that and i have confidence that it will. >> good. >> dr. gerstei, i know people in the department are developing relationships with people in comparable departments around the world. is there discussion of this particular concern in those international meetings? >> there is. we have a number of bilaterals. we have 12 nations and we have had these discussions. the nations feel very similar to us. but there is not all good news as far as this is concerned and i would take you back to the biological weapons convention. some interesting things come out when you look at that. there's a london based verification research center and in one analysis they did a couple of years ago, they discovered that very few nations of the 87 th

other countries including the netherlands right now are addressing in a very serious manner how they are going to approach this because it was one of their scientists. there is also going on in the u.k., france, places like that, so what we hope and what we envision is that as a result of this there will be a culture of responsibility that even though we don't have the carrot and the stick of funding and withdrawing funding, that these kinds of principles will actually be implemented throughout the world. we're all hoping for that and i have confidence that it will. >> good. i know that secretary napolitano and people in the department now are developing on going relations with homeland security departments or the comparable departments around the world. is there a discussion of this particular concern in those international meetings? >> senator, there is. we have had a number of -- we have a number of bilaterals for example in s & t. we have 12 nations we do bilateral discussions with and we have had these discussions. the nations feel very similar to us but there is not all good ne

recently, research funded by the national institutes of health and conducted in wisconsin and the netherlands resulted in genetic changes to a strain of avian flu that allowed its airborne transmissibility. the nih-funded researchers planned to publish their full findings in two academic journals. now publication peer review and replication of findings are important steps in a vigorous scientific process. but others have expressed concern that the publication of the methodology and some of the data could help create a road map for terrorists and others seeking to further modify the virus into a bioweapon. that's why a government advisory board, the national science advisory board for biosecurity, recommended in late december that partial information be withheld from publication. late last month, however, the board with some dissenters reversed course and is now advocating for the full publication of the research done in wisconsin and the publication of a revised paper on the research performed in the netherlands. the decision and its reversal have been part of a larger debate within the scien