very important for the project of union because without ukraine ich is the biggest after justa the union looks like russia. that's why i think putin who is very interested in increasing his legitimate ma si by names of

foreign policy is so much interested in keeping ukraine. >> it seems like russia has had a series of diplomatic successes in recent months. would you agree, will these be real victories for russia in the long term? >> well, i think that putin is not a strategy gist. and he can win a lot of small battles and he can lose. i would not see russia's vick on in foreign policy toirs due to russia did lose almost all friends and allies. we can see syria and ukraine and are to some extent these short p.r. victories but in the

case of ukraine only if they will be not supported by longer rm efforts and long term failures. > thank you very much. thailand's embattled prime minister survifed a no confidence sflote parliament. but the protest shows no sign of stopping. this is day five of mass protest. dem trait tors have cut power at the police headquarters and a hospital in bangkok. >> with allies holding a comfortable majority in parliament prime minister could hardly envision defeat. in a vote d leader with 270 members supporting her

d only 134 wanting her removal. >> i call all demonstrators to stop their rallies and to leave government buildings so that the government can resume their work. >> despite her call mass demonstrations are still taking place across the country like outside the defense ministry led by the military elite, protest or thes are adamant they will not give up until the prime minister leaves office. >> we created a country that is unable to help the people. the people aren't getting anything from authorities. she's a lie yar, a cheat. she cheelts everyone. it all started with her brother. >> billionaire businessman is a highly devicive figure in tie hand. many of the demonstrators see the former prime minister as

corrupt. protests started weeks ago when the ruling party tried to pass an am northeastty bill to return him from exile. >> the power was cut at police head quarterers in bangkok. >> i just returned from the police headquarters. they cut power to the police headquarters from outside ripping down wires about two hours ago this. is the latest in what seems to a ramming up of the protest seeking to get some kind of reaction from the government which so far has remained reasonably quiet there. she passed a no confidence debate in parliament this morning and then gave a national address to the country n. that she said that they are asking for the protest or thes to talk and they were avoiding confrontation in the hopes of avoiding possible injuries.

the police headquarters is located in the center of the city here separate from the other protests which are in the old town and another group of protest or thes have taken over government buildings. they are in three areas around the city and they are camping in. the police headquarters they say they are going to remain there and in the other sites until the government steps down. the pressure is rising on the prime minister and the dwovement to react. it seems they are losing control of certain areas of the city. >> in egypt nearly two dozen women and girls, some as young as 15 have been handed heavy prison sentences. the women are said to be members of the muslim brotherhood. they were found guilty of multiple charges including belonging to a terrorist group and using force at a protest last month. police bealt and terrorized female activists in a crackdown

linked to a tough new anti-protest law. >> they expected to get a month, instead they got years behind bars. 21 female muslim brotherhood supporters, some as young as 15 the latest example of egyptian government crackdown on protest or thes. the youngest will serve until they turn 18. the next will spend the next 11 years in prison. the group were arrested in ctober for a protest of morsi. the sentences come on the heels of a new law requiring public gathering to be approved by government authorities. it's not justice lamb supporters, on wednesday hundreds of secular activists demonstrated in cairo. a day earlier security forces detained a dozen women dropping them in the desert in the middle of the night.

people olice arrest protesting peacefully and then detained them and then to throw them on the highway or the desert is really inhuman. >> it's an intimidation tactic seen before. activists claim the government's new crackdown is strict of any in place under the ousted president. >> take a look at some other stories for you. iran invited the nuclear watchdog to visit a nuclear plant in just over a week that. would be the first visit to the plant at the iraq site in over two years. it's a first concrete step under an agreement to clear up concerns over their disputed nuclear program. the water reactor iran is building is a worry because they

could extract weapons grade plu tone yum from the spent fuel. >> the three main political parties have won just 16 out of the 147 seats available in the first round. there were over 1,000 candidates in sunday's vote but the turnout was low. they will now vote in a second round december 15. meanwhile the man behind the coup last year is in custody. he was taken by force from his home wednesday after he failed to appear in court. 's been detained and charged with complicity and kidnapping. >> and a french footballer can finally come home after being stuck for 17 months in qatar. he was blocked there after he filed a complaint against his club over a payment dispute. exit visas are usually controlled by employers thaund

controversial sponsor ship system. they would not get the exit permit unless he dropped the case. he was finally able to leave after top intervention from the french president himself. >> today may be just a normal thursday to you but to me and millions of americans it's thanksgiving. that's the busiest travel day of the year in the u.s. and people are getting ready to is it down for that traditional dinner. but those travel plans for many have been hampered by a storm on the east coast. so far it's not the disaster many had feared. there does look to be one victim from the high winds. they could keep the giant balloons at the macy's thanksgiving day parade from flying. it shouldn't keep people from eating their turkey though. 46 million birds are set to be

devoured but two got off the hook. more on a long standing white house tradition. >> it's perhaps one of the toughest decisions the u.s. president has to make, which turkey to pardon for thanksgiving. >> in the office of the presidency, the most powerful position in the world brings with it many awesome and solemn responsibilities. this is not one of them. >> turkeys have long carved a special place in american istory with abe ra hamlin con, it involved into the national thanksgiving presentation. the white house turns to the public inviting people to vote on twitter and instagram. > popcorn and caramel emerged. >> popcorn likes corn and listening to beyonce. caramel as a taste for meal and

lady gaga. >> only popcorn was the face to garner a meeting with the president. >> we wish you well and we're going to give caramel a break as well. >> so caramel and popcorn live a couple more days. not so lucky are the some 46 million other turkeys americans will consume for thanksgiving this year. >> happy thanksgiving if you celebrate it. don't go away.

as austerity bilets in europe they are seeking new opportunities in morocco. many businesses feel their placed to take advantage of this growing market. we'll discuss how they are doing . but first this report >> the workers welding, sanding and asemibling pipe lines work for a month rock con company. all the parts are heading for an african construction site. >> as a firm in morocco that's been in this business 30 years, we've gained experience and expertise particularly through collaborations with european countries doing business in morocco. we thought that we could serve as a conduit for the south and position morocco as a weigh

station to west africa and countries with whom we share a lot like language and our cultural and religious frame of reference. >> the cultural understanding .hat is competitive advantage the company's not caution about doing business with its african neighbors as long as the ground is well prepared. >> we have subsidiaries in various countries that work daily to bring us strategic information. they benefit from expertise as a member of regional business association. information is available everywhere wlrks from institutions or networks in the manufacturing, mining or energy sector so we try to collect information from all points in our network.

>> he also says the morocco government needs to be more engaged. >> can more be done to ackny businesses in morocco? the answer is yes. i think there needs to be an awareness among the relevant ministers of the support companies like ours need. we need to strength of the state to move into these countries because operating in the african export sector takes a lot of energy. >> founder of the insurance group prevers turning to the private sector to gather information. his group employees 6,000 people in 19 countries. >> we use consulting firms that have a presence in morocco and abroad and that have fairly

extensive knowledge and advanced research techniques. that allows us to be on top of everything that happens in the region and have at the tailed information about the sectors we're looking at. >> helping businesses understand the african market, it's opportunities, streppingt and key players is the purpose of their new financial center. it's positions itself as a business you hub for west and east africa. >> the morocco wants to take full advantage of this strategic opportunity. it's position in africa is a gate way to the rest of africa. we want to find the regional opportunities and offer international institutions that want to set up here a business environment that is as reliable and straightforward as possible. this is to allow them to access

the potential of the region. >> to compete in the global market morocco is playing to its strengths. it isn't selling just product, t's selling regional know how. >> as discussed this further we're joining with the partner of global intelligence partners. thanks for being with us. we work with the public and private sectors in morocco. why are we seeing this shift now? >> after the financial crisis morocco had to look out in order to get some growth, some additional growth. europe had major crisis. they are our traditional partners but morocco had to go beyond. morocco knt grow because it has borders that are closed with

algeria so it needed to go to west africa to expand business. >> what business are you working with that want to develop in africa? >> mainly in the services area, financial services and insurance. telecom has five licenses in africa. they are very aggressive when they go towards there and they are not in the mine business. they are in the services where they are strong and have a strong advantage. >> what sort of information are you collecting to help them do business in other african countries? >> we are collecting for them firsthand information that are coming from real people and not analyzed by machines but analyzed by humans. this is the advantage we have. we know how to train people and have people that have skills and that are well formed and provide for them the right training to analyze this information and we understand it better because we

are africa amongst africans, we are in our region and know how to deal with the information we get. >> talk to me about the countries that businesses in morocco are looking to expand in. >> ivory coast is going to be a big player in the next year. all the countries that you will find in the zone are in the greater northwest africa are important. if you put them all together they are the same size as turkey in terms of market. we are talking about $400 billion business. we are talking about co-heent framework, business and countries. >> what obs tacks are these companies facing if they are going to set up there? >> all the obstacles are difficulties reading what the market is doing, what politicians are doing. there is a major lack in

infrastructures. but as you know africa has also big chance that it can go directly to the right technology in order to expand. >> we've seen much from china in this region as well. decpwh there is a slightly different positioning because morocco is very much involved where china is everywhere in africa. it goes towards natural resources where morocco wants to go to the services, financial and soft business. we don't have the same kind of money. china has a government that is strong behind the companies and giving subsidies for those companies to go to africa. they are pumping the soil to preserve their future. we don't need to do that. >> tell me about the advantage that morocco has to invest in these places.

what makes it so special that other neighboring countries can't offer? >> stability. we're talking about 1300 year monarchy that is stable that was resilient to the arab spring. we have a to be down way of changing things with inside negotiations and we have a country that is very much co-heent with the rest of the region. it goes to the south of africa very easily. there are natural framework for morocco to grow in this region. >> what about public policy there? is the government helping invest there and in africa? >> they will never tell you the government is doing nufmenttosk government can improve public policy but there is a clear signal and a signal that has been given by the king of morocco since the end of the 1990's. he travelled throughout africa

and made a lot of partnership and showed that his ambition was to project morocco in africa and right now it's happening. we have the trickle down effect. morocco is at the 70'ser of the conversation on africa decpwfment if you were to bat on a sector that businesses would do well in africa what would it be? >> insurance companies and banks that are expanded very rapidly but we don't know yet what are the businesses. telecom has hit a point and it is now changing. i think there will be something very substantial with the 4 g technology once you get it there. also we need a digital framework for this zone and morocco is capable of bringing this digital framework. >> you talked about that west africa north africa region. what about east africa, is there

business interest there too? >> there is language barrier there. we are arabs and speak french for most of us. this is not an advantage when u want to go to kenya or nigeria. morocco needs now an nishtoif help sbures learn business english to help them be more global and international and go to east afterco-and south africa. >> what about cashing in on this boom, what effect is that going to have on the morocco economy? >> it will change the balance payment which is good because they were importing a lot from other emerging markets and also it will change the way we are doing business. we need to be more global and we need to be where the market is changing. if we go in africa, you will have all the difficulties of the

world to enter the market. but once you are in you are in a place where you can change the way entrepreneurs are dealing with business. >> thank you for joining with

>> today, at my direction, the united states launched a targeted operation