what chance you have of overturning the telecom italia and board on december 20? at things have changed last month because telecom argentina has been forced to sell and also there is a convertible bond that has been done. some authorities here in italy are investigating. even iss isthat recommending the funds vote against these boards and provoke this ward. everyday passing by better and better. >> how might you think you have in terms of votes at the moment? you're talking about some big investors and funds backing your so-called riots. ef 20% of the votes right now? just give us an idea of how many votes you can muster on your side? >> we didn't raise votes in this, we just educated that parties of the financial situation. regarding what is going on. we will see this assembly on the 20th. what kind of votes against and revoke this vote. i can't tell you actually. we can pass on the brazilian asset docs if you want. >> what is your backup plan for the brazilian asset of telecom italia? shareholderswe as proposed in 2010 a merge between and oi.azil we do know what

>> as you said, there is a mess about how much of telecom italia blackrock owns. a bit of who's on first infusion between new york and milan, i think. blackrock claiming its convertible bond should be included in his total. italian regulator says it should. a sharerock disclosed there was greater than 10% wch is a threshold at which you have to announce a holding in the time markets. with more interesting is that blackrock, the world's largest equity investor, has taken such a large position in telecom italia that it is the second- largest shareholder after the controlling shareholder which is telefonica.ic blackrock is going to have a big role in deciding the future of the company and particularly the business in brazil. >> do we know that it is blackrock? other acting for itself or someone else? that is something we -- >> that is something we don't know. that is not something they are saying quite yet. there is of course a rebel investor that is trying to oust the board of telecom italia. that is something that will be voted on at this meeting on december 20 thi

where it gets tricky, particularly for regulators, is telefonica control telecom italia.he largest shareholder, indirectly. also operates in brazil. you can see how the regulator looks at this, even one that is not too conspiratorially minded and say this is a bit funny. there is a question of how this relationship, come -- can possibly be resolved in a way that can satisfy both shareholders and regulators in brazil and italy. on theave a shareholder program this week, and that was his point. it seems a little unfair to have both guys on the board. so much.nk you just 20 minutes from now, "surveillance" with tom keene. what are we looking at today? >> good morning. it is a monday morning. roger altman will stop by and we will look at the linkage of politics. former deputy treasury secretary. and wall street, the way forward in 2014 for roger altman's wall street. he is with evercore partners. he what time to touch him he volcker rule -- touch on the volcker rule. and kevin roberts will join us, saatchi andondon's saatchi. the controversial theme, the death of marketing. s

blackrock says it has just under eight percent voting shares in telecom italia.ok and walmart companies planning to use facial recognition scans for security or tailored sales pitches. tesco is installing face scanning technology at gasoline stations to tailor advertising. now let's get to international correspondent hans nichols for more on that story. hans, face recognition is going to be our new best friend. >> well, that is one way to put it. the very companies that plan to exploit this technology or use this technology will help draft the rules in meetings today with federal regulators in the states on how these images are stored, how they're used, so companies like walmart, like faith look will be meeting with the department of commerce today in washington. the retailers are saying they don't want to strangle this technology in the crib. they want to give it time to flourish. in the u.k. you have tesco talking about using facial recognition to tailor ads, mostly by age and gender. curacao facial technology works. first of all scanned images and look for dig

telecom italia up 4.5% there. on the bond markets, yields okay.e'll keep our eyes on treasury yields. in the middle of that, 2.7 to 2.9% range that we've been in. much depends on what happens with the fed when it comes out with its decision on whether to taper or not. that's going to shape everybody's thoughts. as far as currency markets are concerned, dollar yen just under that five-year high that we hit on friday. just below 104. coming 103 euro dollar far away, half a percent away from the year's high as well. 137.7 for the year. now 138.30. >>> germany's spd members have voted strongly in favor of grand coalition with angela merkel's conservative block. 24 hours later the coalition has revealed who will take key ministerial posts. most surprising is the former ecb member gaston will leave the role in the labor ministry. annette has been looking at this. annette, what reaction have we got? >> actually, a little bit of a surprise is that angela merkel in a last-minute deal has actually shifted a little bit the personalities and there is more buy

control of italy's biggest telecom continues as shareholders vote on whether to replace the telecom italia's board. >>> if that's not enough, gold is down after the fed's taper announceme announcement, but should you be buying the dip? after a big fall this year of over 25%, we'll get analyst opinions in around 40 minutes. and if you have any thoughts, comments, queries or questions or anything else you want to say, e-mail us, worldwide@cnbc.com. first, japan's central bank says the u.s. fed has acted appropriately by signaling it will taper in january. the fed's move was based on a steady recovery which can accelerate. but he gave no indication that the bank of japan was ready to go the same way. it kept its massive bond buying policy unchanged. joining us is azumi from hsbc. thank you very much for joining us. we've got dollar/yen up to a fresh high, 104.60. with fed tapering, will the yen continue to eat? how is that going to help the country out? >> yeah. i think the yen is not at risk of immediate appreciation. it's very clear that the fed is much farther ahead than the ecb and the bank

the soap opera surrounding italy's biggest telecom italia company, they upped their take to 7.8%.lders in how the company is going to run its future strategy. shareholders are going to vote on whether or not to remove the board on friday. spanish firm, telefonica is the company's biggest shareholder >>> will the big apple soon turn into the green apple? a new proposal could completely legalize and tax marijuana in the state of new york. is legalized pat pot in new york a reality. we will talk to one of the co-sponsors of that bill in a few minutes. [woman]ask me... [announcer]...if you think the best bed for one of you might be a compromise for the other one... [woman]ask me about our tempur-pedic. [announcer] they're sleeping on the newest tempur-pedic bed... the new tempur choice... [man]two people.two remotes. [announcer] firmness settings for the head,legs,and back... and with tempur on top,that famous tempur-pedic comfort comes any way you like it! [woman]ask me about the lumbar button. [man]she's got her side...and i've got my side. [announcer] tempur-pedic.the most highly r

staying in italy as well, telecom italia stock up. biggest gain in europe. is is how they raised their stake in the telecom operator around 10%. it didn't break the rules by not disclosing it earlier. deutsch telecom up 3.8% today. sprint reporting modeling for deutsch telecom's t-mobile. they may make an offer in the first half of the year. they long argued for more consolidation. what the regulator has to say for it will be another matter. that's the update in europe. back to you. >>> okay. thanks, ross. we'll see you coming up. >>> google robots in the news. google is joining a race. why the company is snapping up -- the creator of the world's fastest running robot. that story is next. google also has my guy working there, raymond kerzwall who is working on a few things like curing debt. >>> first squawk news. i watched the first series. i saw all of that. that was beautiful. very first time the bengals get the ball they missed getting the first down by inches. i thought they should go for it. instead they decided to punt it and he snand too far left. can'