i guess beauty and harmony everyone associates and italy. we want to bring a large paint to san francisco. we want san franciscans to enjoy great art. we would like the theater of naples play with san francisco. it will be200 year of his birth and we want it to be a special moment and the san francisco bay and the other guiding principle is sustainability and also of lifestyle. we are proud to say in a way italy has shaped global life with our consumer goods, fashion, sports car, coffee, also our industrial design, so we will bring for example jewelry from a heritage collection to san francisco. we will have liz tailors jewels exhibited here in the city. we will have of course food -- especially we like the slow food philosophy. we will highlight the achievements in the education system and especiallied connected to the experience of a woman like maria montessori. the third principle is innovation and technology. when i say italy everybody will think of the arts and music. they don't think of technology yet we want to persuade you there are

italy -- why small businesses are protesting against tax collectors. and luxembourg -- why illegal immigrants there want to get registered. children are typically raised by tibia will parents, but does it matter if they are a mother and father, or can two fathers or two mothers do just as well -- children are typically raised by two parents. single-sex families are a controversial issue in europe. the number of so-called rainbow families are on the rise, but their legal status varies from country to country. in germany, gay and lesbian couples cannot jointly adopt a child or a baby. they can only adopt as individuals. in france, when the government announced its intention to give homosexual couples equal adoption rights, large crowds took to the streets in protest. >> for these two little boys, having two mothers is nothing unusual. their parents are a lesbian couple. beatrice, seen here, adopted the boys as a single woman. her partner had no legal say in it, and by french law, singles may adopt, but same-sex couples may not. an initiative is under way

if you look at spain, now more recently in italy, also a lot of demonstrations on the street. so unfortunately, i mean, different countries, people in different countries react different ways. and when people demonstrate too much on the streets, certainly it complicates very, very significantly the job of the government to try to sort out the situation. >> we've seen the same scenes in madrid. we've seen the same scenes in lisbon. essentially what you're seeing is just increasing anger because taxpayers know that they will have to foot the bill for this one. and also they feel that they've been continuously, chronically, criminally misrepresented by their governments. a feeling of frustration that i feel is global and citizens across the world can relate to. (instrumental music) >> describing it as "baptism by fire for a whole generation", today the head of the european commission warned that without greater unification, the e.u. would not be able to face the financial crisis. >> as the e.u. struggles to avoid complete collapse, some advocate a stronger union. >> right now, it

italy -- why small businesses are protesting against tax collectors. and luxembourg -- why illegal immigrants there want to get registered. children are typically raised by tibia will parents, but does it matter if they are a mother and father, or can two fathers or two mothers do just as well -- children are tically raid by two parents. single-sex families are a controversial issue in europe. the number of so-called rainbow families are on the rise, but their legal status varies from country to country. in germany, gay and lesbian couples cannot jointly adopt a child or a baby. they can only adopt as individuals. in france, when the government announced its intention to give homosexual couples equal adoption rights, large crowds took to the streetsn protest. >> for these two little boys, having two mothers is nothing unusual. their parents are a lesbian couple. beatrice, seen here, adopted the boys as a single woman. her partner had no legal say in it, and by french law, singles may adopt, but same-sex couples may not. an initiative is under way to ch

. >> do you think italy is in a better position? >> in the short-term, spain has a more stable government. that's becoming unpopular, but at the moment, there's no threat to the majority of the popular party in spain. >> italy, we have an election coming up and anything could happen. we have a lot of strange things going on. there is a party which is looking like it will get around 15 cents a vote run by a former comedian. there's no clear political agenda, as well. there is a lot of political instability, but i think the long-term economic picture is in less trouble because it has much lower overall debt limits than spain combined. >> and how times have changed on that front. thanks very much for your time this morning. >> thank you. >>> growing market optimism fueled by a string of upbeat earnings has put equity markets on stronger footing. but u.s. budget sequester is supporting cutbacks and it could knock out market euphoria. can washington stop bickering for investors sake? read about that story on our website. a couple of thin

the ftse mib in italy down .4%, as well. yields after falling yesterday, a little higher this morning. u.s. treasuries, a little low. gilt yields in the uk over 2%. so we're up at the high for about eight months in the uk. we've got a five-year auction coming up fairly shortly, as well. on the currency markets, aussie has maintained against the u.s. dollar. sterling/dollar, 1.6214. and the euro/dollar, below 1.32 at 1.3147. that's where we stand right now here in europe. let's recap the asian trading session. li sixuan is with us. >> hi, ross. the japanese and midland markets remain shut for the new year break. but china's latest services pmi for december came out a four-month high. this follows news earlier this week that put factory activity at a new high. the construction sector was a key driver for the pick up. the transportation services showed weakness due to still sluggish -- for china's exports. but on the whole, we have seen more signs that china's recovery is gaining transaction. also a slew of recent promising dat

framed in italy at the moment? because the idea would be if you maintain the monti reforms, which are not very popular, clearly, you may not get the imf. are people having to choose to something they don't like and something that could be a much worse direction? >> i think they're trying to choose, politicians in europe don't have much room to maneuver, so they include a populist phrase on either side, the left or the right. what you see in italy is the tensions between the north and the south. this is going to come down to local and regional politics. we have three bellwether states or reasons to watch in italy. they are all in the richer north. sis lynn and the campangna in the south. these are going to be very south. one of the big questions i have in trying to think about what italians will do is if they'll follow the trend in the other peripheral countries. it's too risky to experiment with political alternatives. >> we've seen yields come down primarily as a response to mario draghi in the program which hasn'

the prosecution -- some cut off of the coast of italy. theoday's events marking first anniversary of the disaster began with the placing of the rocks that ripped open the ship's hull. the victim's families later read -- laid wreath's. a local priest became something of a hero for the way he welcomed in the cold, freezing, and traumatized people and comforted and calmed them. i spoke to a couple who were on their honeymoon with their 10 month old child. they came back to thank the people live up to them in their time of need, who gave them dry clothes and shelter. later, 32 lanterns will be lit in memory of the victims who did not survive. behind me, the salvage operation continues. it is the biggest and most complex the world has ever seen. the timetable for removal has slipped a bit. islanders are hoping the ships will be done by the end of september. >> a court in south africa has approved the acquisition of a local retail giant. the company must set up a fund to help local businesses after the merger. >> he is being mentored. his small

having said that and going back to our brief discussion in italy, the worst of the contractions in italy are probably now behind them. uncertainty can be navigated unsuccessfully. we think the italian economy will begin to stabilize next year. we're a bit pore pessimistic about spain. >> and can you guarantee it's going to come into play? >> yeah. and i think the omt will probably help italy because it won't be a direct beneficiary of it. that will help calm markets, support markets in italy and i'll have italian banks to regain funding. the facts that the ecb made purchases through the banking system that it can't operate directly in markets will to some extent crowd out private sector credit creation in spain. but to your point on france, we don't have a very optimistic view on france. 2013 is a year of stalling nation in france. but having said that, we don't think the financial sector is going to be some of the same tensions we've seen elsewhere. the liquidity situation is so ample. investors have to find some sort of space longer duration assets. >> and the french will provide that.

friend gianluca, our friend gianluca, was born in roseto degli abruzzi, a very beautiful part of central italy. as you know, the three of us met on an italian talent contest that gianluca won, only two years ago. we have been singing together ever since, and tonight gianluca sings "musica proibita" for you. [music playing] gianluca: ♪ogni sera di sotto al mio balcone sento cantar una canzon d'amore piu' volte la ripete un bel garzone e battere mi sento forte il cuore, e battere mi sento forte il cuor oh quanto e' dolce quella melodia, oh com'e' bella quanto m'e' gradita, che io la canti non vuol la mamma mia, vorrei saper perche' me l'ha proibita, ella non c'e' ed io la vo' cantar, la frase che m'ha fatto palpitare. vorrei baciare i tuoi capelli neri, le labbra tue e gli occhi tuoi severi, vorrei morir con te angel di dio, o bella innamorata tesor mio, qui sotto il vidi ieri a passeggiare, e lo sentiva al solito cantar. vidi ieri a passeggiare, e lo sentiva al solito cantar. [music playing] stringimi o cara stringimi al tuo core fammi provar l'ebbrezza dell'amor.♪ fammi provar l'ebbrezza d

now the people who were supposed to be supervising italy's banks are in the firing line. today, italy's economy minister appears before the parliamentary finance committee to pretty much answer the questions about the turmoil behind the spring. alan johnston in rome has more on what the bank bill at this time. >> the bank of italy itself has said managers had details of the risky trades. but you can expect the mta's on the parliamentary committee to have a lot of questions about who knew what, when, what was done and why weren't certain other things done to prevent the scale of the problems you see before us now. >> that is it. i don't know when the day comes when we will not have to talk about a banking scandal. >> absolutely. don't know when that will come. >> don't know, either. >> more coming up on "gmt," including history repeats itself and the netherlands. the moment when queen beatrix from the netherlands took over from her mother in 1980. we will look of the dutch tradition of will succession -- royal succession. the nightclub fire in brazil is one of the worst wo

ok he's one of the great artists in italy sober but you really don't care about politics i don't want to involve myself political for me. an artist must be. must think what if things but i don't want to make both because. my music must speak more than my thoughts ok so so so now that now when mr berlusconi is having all the problems thank you for that with the way with these with these chords and stuff you you don't care what happens to him no i care i read observer i mean what you imagine my obs observation of everything will he go to hear what you think no i want to i want to say that the political situation in all around the world is very complex now it's very difficult something very specially in italy and now it's a mix of things we don't understand what we're really up and it's terrible so. i think old europe is in crisis in crisis and unfortunately we must find a solution everything become more and more financial and i don't know where we are going. during the this process berlusconi said one interesting thing which i wanted you to comment on it's not exactly politics he said t

when it's a holiday in america, he goes to italy to work. saturdays and sundays were just workdays to him and for his whole team. and anybody who signed up with sergio signed up for the program. >> marchionne does have passions besides work. he loves opera and jazz and very fast cars. in turin, he showed us the high end of the fiat automotive line, which includes maserati and ferrari. these are great-looking cars. is there anything here for less than half a million dollars? >> all of them. >> all of them? sergio owns a couple of these, but he has no opportunity to drive them. as head of italy's largest industrial empire, his life is much different here. he's required by the government to travel in bulletproof cars with police escorts and is always surrounded by state security. sergio seemed more than happy to take us to the old test track that still sits atop an old factory for a short spin in this limited edition alfa romeo, a legendary brand that he will reintroduce to the u.s. market in 2014. [car engine revving] but even here he was unab

it makes me very happy because in italy we have been following this path for a very long time. for example in the first six months of this year we installed photovoltaic panels larger than the united states all put together. it shows you the extent of the revolution happening. i am sure italian companies will be happy to work with the local institutions that have started to generate projects that will somehow go in that direction, and also we want to have parties and communication activities to show the people in the street that it is important to have sustainable behaviors and not to leave a carbon footprint behind us. >> [inaudible] >> yeah, if i understand correctly because -- you said about the innovation -- if we? >> [inaudible] >> yeah, okay. well, we're going to have in the museum of computer science in mountain view an exhibition show casing what italians have done to create silicon valley. i mentioned one person but there are many other examples. along with that we will have a big conference with italian innovators and venture capitalists and along with large hi tech c

in world war two but just before the end of that war with the fascists on the ropes in germany and italy the vice president of the united states of that type henry wallace wrote an op ed for the new york times and in it he warned americans about the creeping dangers of fascism or corporate government here in america he defined the fascist says those who pay lip service to democracy in the common welfare in their insatiable greed for money and the power which money gives do not hesitate surreptitiously to of they the law was designed to safeguard the public from monopolistic extortion. that's a fascist than what's so different about those c.e.o.'s who decided to evade obamacare is mandate to provide health insurance for their employees guys like the new york city applebee's franchise owner zane turkle papa john c.e.o. john schneider and the executives at darden restaurants or what about the banks there's a goldman sachs who knowingly evaded laws who knowingly sold investors crappy deals or who knowingly scammed entire cities into bankruptcy who knowingly illegally foreclosed on thousands

friend gianluca, our friend gianluca, was born in roseto degli abruzzi, a very beautiful part of central italy. as you know, the three of us met on an italian talent contest that gianluca won, only two years ago. we have been singing together ever since, and tonight gianluca sings "musica proibita" for you. [music playing] gianluca: ♪ogni sera di sotto al mio balcone sento cantar una canzon d'amore piu' volte la ripete un bel garzone e battere mi sento forte il cuore, e battere mi sento forte il cuor oh quanto e' dolce quella melodia, oh com'e' bella quanto m'e' gradita, che io la canti non vuol la mamma mia, vorrei saper perche' me l'ha proibita, ella non c'e' ed io la vo' cantar, la frase che m'ha fatto palpitare. vorrei baciare i tuoi capelli neri, le labbra tue e gli occhi tuoi severi, vorrei morir con te angel di dio, o bella innamorata tesor mio, qui sotto il vidi ieri a passeggiare, e lo sentiva al solito cantar. vidi ieri a passeggiare, e lo sentiva al solito cantar. [music playing] stringimi o cara stringimi al tuo core fammi provar l'ebbrezza dell'amor.♪ fammi provar l'ebbrezza d

in world war two but just before the end of that war with the fascists on the ropes in germany and italy the vice president of the united states of that type henry wallace wrote an op ed for the new york times and in it he warned americans about the creeping dangers of fascism or corporate government here in america he defined the fascist says those who pay lip service to democracy in the common welfare in their insatiable greed for money and the power which money gives do not hesitate surreptitiously to have they the laws designed to safeguard the public from monopolistic extortion. that's a fascist than what's so different about those c.e.o.'s who decided to evade obamacare is mandate to provide health insurance for their employees guys like the new york city applebee's franchise owner zane turkle papa john c.e.o. john schneider and the executives at darden restaurants or what about the banks through. goldman sachs and knowingly evaded laws who knowingly sold investors crappy deals or who knowingly scammed entire cities in a bankruptcy who knowingly illegally foreclosed on thousands of

italy at 4.17%. bund and gilt seeing are youly the same levels we've seen for the last few trading sessions. >>. >> and on the currency markets, we'll focus again on the yen against the greenback. 89.67% is where we were. euro/dollar holding on to the gains and putting more meat on the bone. 1.3368 is where we stand at the moment. >> now, china investment corp. is reportedly interested in a stake in daimler as the chinese sovereign wealth fund looks to pick up big assets on the cheap. during the financial crisis, the fund made vervel bad bad and has since developed a safer investment strategy. >> the chairman and ceo said the funds recovered last year. >> translator: 2012 was a much easier year than 2011. and the returns are much better. but the final numbers have not come out. the reports for the long-term assets will come out a quarter later, but we are confident our returns will know over 10%. >> how would you describe how the cic changed its investment mentality or methods? in 2012 over previous

paul brennan reports. >> austerity in italy and has hit the young people the hardest. youth unemployment is nearly 84% and rising faster than the national average. -- is nearly 34% and rising faster than the national average. but when it comes to an flouncing national policy, young people feel almost exclusively excluded. they show no signs of stepping aside. >> we have a country very much ruled by clans, by groups, by networks. this is the italian problem. this has to do with the italian mentality. >> the democratic party is the front-runner. he is aged 61. but the leader of the five-star movement is 64. mario monti may very well put himself forward as a candidate. he is 69 years old. and berlusconi is still the leader of the right wing party even though he is 76 years old. they see precious little opportunity. >> the doctor of berlusconi once said that he is so strong he could live to 120 years old. so we're kind of afraid. >> it telling youth are very active in politics. -- italian youth are very active in politics. they are voicing their desire to participate throu

>> italy always. >> big italy fan? >> i'm italian. >> i learn something new every day. >> schiavocampo. >> my irish roots, not the best. >> you can root for italy. >> i'll go for spain, jump on the bandwagon. let me take you through your weekend forecast. looking at nice conditions across the northeast. it will be a little brisk, but at least it's not going to be dry. not many slippery roads, with the exception of cape cod. temperatures where they should be for the most part. i know northern new england, you are pretty chilly this morning. enjoy this warm day while it lasts. chicago, kansas city, st. louis, the great lakes to minneapolis. this is it. the warmest you're probably going to be maybe for another couple weeks. we take the plunge from here. we begin to see signs of it on saturday with a high of 32 in minneapolis. a beautiful weekend day on saturday on the east coast. then as we get into sunday, the cold air really arrives. a high of 5 in minneapolis. chicago at 20 with some snow showers. the great lakes will

of course spain and italy, italy, just can't grow. >> sure. ashley: you're not worried about that scenario, especially a economy the size of italy and spain? >> at the end of the day we're buying companies, we're not buying countries. we own a couple of securities in italy. we have something in spain. ashley: there are consumers in europe, if they're struggling and then by, you know, they will not be able to buy the products? >> you're right. you also have global businesses that are based in europe and so you're not relying only on domestic consumption. ashley: gotcha. >> that creates great opportunity because they're based there but you're getting, really getting business from all over the world and we own some of those in our portfolio today. ashley: with that in mind, who do you like in particular? what companies, what stocks do you like? >> one of our favorite holdings and one of our top 10 holds is vivendi. ashley: okay. >> you have a french conglomerate. they own 62% of the activation the videogame maker. ashley: yeah. >> they have the l

italy near the coastline, around rome, you will see some thunderstorm activity, even into southern italy and off there toward greece. so widespread, rough weather will be persisting throughout the next several days, as these systems continue to run along. at least a little bit of a break in the iberian peninsula. once the next system comes in will bring in even more rainshowers. so one thing you have to look forward to, a little bit of a warmup in london and paris, now hovering at the freezing mark on your thursday. here is a look at your extended forecast. >>> we'll be back in 30 minutes with more news. i'm gene otani in tokyo. \s

and i'm going to be on the stage at the "phantom of the opera." >> reporter: she did make it to italy, then returned to the bay area to teach and perform. she was so inspired by a promising 17-year-old student, stefan, she wrote a musical and cast him as peter pan. months later when he was killed in a car accident, leslie realized the inspiration theater had given them both. >> look at all of the confidence and magic that this boy is letting off into the universe just because he was given the chance to. >> reporter: out of the tragedy came a life-changing decision. leslie let go of her dream to become a broadway star and embraced a new dream inspired by stefan. >> i said, i want to start an organization that helps young people find the biggest and best versions of themselves. going to do the same thing... >> reporter: she founded the peter pan foundation in 2007. today, 500 mostly teenaged performers put on three stage shows a year that raise tens of thousands of dollars each for local charities. it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ [ music ]♪ >> reporter: frank came to mora

the new year brings strugz ldz for italy with the threat of an economic collapse and political uncertainty following the resignation of the prime minister. >>> it could be a small goal. -- the new year brings struggles for italy. >> don't fee pressured by today's date. any time is a good time to start fresh. >> thank you. >> reporter: the relationship between siblings nasin and nas. ira can be a little chilly. >> to get them to get along, i wish. it would be great. they love each other but it is just hard to tell a lot. >> reporter: so the ice rink is the place to be on this break from school. >> they actually get along on the ice though which is why we're here. great picture. when something happens, they're there for each other but otherwise, it is a lot of back and forth. >> reporter: maybe a new year's resolution would help. >> just to try to be better, try to be a better person, nicer to people and kind to strangers and save my money, all that good stuff. >> when the new year comes, it feels like a fresh start. >> it is something that you stick to for the whole year. >> like six months

[ticking] the antinori family of italy has been in the same line of work for six centuries. all the more remarkable since a study found that only 15% of family businesses survive past the second generation. the antinoris make wine. and as we first reported in the fall of 2008, the family story reads like something a wine critic might write about their product: complex, stylish, sophisticated, with a bouquet both elegant and earthy. it's harvest time in the great vineyards of italy, none greater than the 5,000 acres farmed by the antinori family. until recently, italian business, especially the wine business, was pretty much for men only. >> girls, normally, in families like ours, ended up to be married, possibly happily, and that's it. no need to work. but albiera antinori and her two sisters are the first women in 26 generations to play a major role in the family enterprise. allegra antinori: >> i feel part of the land, you know? i think i'm owned by that land. it's something very, very strong. >> from the fields to the cellars, you'll find the antinori women at work, hopin

his personal secretary is promoted not only to archbishop but also to the front page of italy's vanity fair magazine. he is known as gorgeous george. papal assistant's headline says it's not a sin to be beautiful. a spokeswoman says the archbishop did

a five and ten-year out of italy. they're optioning up 6.5 billion. we expect that to go well. >> they've all gone reasonably well this year. not necessarily helping internal financing costs which we'll get into it when it comes to the auto market in particular. interesting to watch gilds moving higher after the somewhat stronger than expected mortgage lending data. >>> turning to south korea, earnings season in full swing. lg electronic profits have taken a tumble. there's good news for the world's second-biggest chipmaker. we have the latest from seoul. hi, sherry. >>> hi, ross. sk heinex and lg reported four quarter profits today. one interesting thing was that shares rose in reaction to earnings even though they both missed market expectations. and then traders lost confidence as they dug deeper and got specific breakdowns of the numbers or 2013 outlook. s.k. hnnix swung back, good news. but the chipmaker said its 2013 investment amount is likely to become smaller, disappointing investors. mobile chips was the main driver of its profit this past y

so spain, italy, a different pattern. italy rallying after selling off earlier in the day. now it's roughly flat, 4.22%. uk yields pretty much unchanged after an increase in government spending or borrowing, i should say, in december from a year earlier. now, forex, this is the big story. as mentioned over here, the yen, look at this. you might expect when a central bank comes out with the aggressive measures like we've seen for the bank of japan today its currency would weaken. but that's not happening. the yen is 1% stronger against the dollar. so what's going on? let's get more on the asian market reaction to the bank of japan's decision from li sixuan. she joins us now from singapore. >> hi. thank you, kelly. some mixed back for asian markets. the nikkei saw profit taking after the boj's announcement doubling inflation targets to 2% and promising open ended asset purchases. as we just mentioned, the yen strengthened after boj governor shirakawa said there is no plan to throw out the floor on china rates. property developers, automakeres and miners were among the worst p

a rock band defies the mafia in italy. croatia -- we take you to an island inhabited by monks. and france -- people are learning german again. people in the czech republic are electing a new president directly for the first time. duringis 10 years in power, klaus often angered his european partners with his euro skeptics commons. now, he is making a final grand gesture. >> watching televised images of amnestied convicts leaving prison as free citizens. the same people he says are responsible for his losing everything he worked so hard for. now he will be in debt for the rest of his life. >> i will tell you quite openly and with some bitterness i'm no friend of amnesty's like this. it is a sweeping amnesty that is not just affect small-time hoods. at least 120 really big fish who have thousands of victims. >> in the late 1990's, he had a house bill. he paid some 100,000 euros but only got a bear shell. the managers took the money out of the construction company and let it go bankrupt. he had to sink another $100,000 into finishing the house. but that was not all. he feels cheate