thousands of u.s. troops in iraq received one of these drugs a drug called lariam and it may have prevented many soldiers from getting sick the question tonight is whether or not soldiers were adequately warned about its rare side effects serious life changing side effects. wealthy british. it's time to. market why not scandals. find out what's really happening to the global economy is a report on our t.v. .

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a million rejections over raising the retirement age the french protest on mass as the country struggles through yet more crippling strikes. and drugs officials from russia tried to work with the new west wipe out afghan girl when production but says america's sole focus on taliban poppy fields is not enough. and counting everyone north south east west and up russia as a nation wide census reaches all ground to get an up to a portrait of the country's people and needs. you're watching r t coming to you live from the russian capital eight in the morning here welcome to the program and now to our top story there's more protest

in ahead for france as strikers commit to yet more stoppages to vent their anger over plans to make them work a longer tear gas and water gannon have been used against demonstrators while president sarkozy tries to curry beside a vote or raising the retirement age to sixty two party's got that he is in paris. iyanla loud and proud to try and speak for their own country these people might look like they're attending a student party as they're all students and this definitely feels like a party but in fact it's anything but it's yet another day of protests in the heart of the french capital paris these people are nowhere near retirement age yet this is exactly what they're protesting the proposed pension reform that nicolas sarkozy the french president is attempting to push forward in order to try and help the french economy get off its means these people do not want and added two years to their service and they are prepared to take to the streets and disrupt the life of

the country for as long as it's necessary in order to get the job done we're going to try and get over to the french senate where hearings about the pension reform are taking place and see what the people there have to say about the whole thing. only the heavy police presence outside the french senate reminds passers by that the protests that are grappling the country took place here just a few days ago the police of course are standing guard over what is happening in the senate when the real work on the pension reform is currently under place the decision could come as early as today and as late as sunday but the government has already said that they will not back down to public pressure the government and the french president nicolas sarkozy is saying that is not likely how the economy will recover from the current protests however is yet another question economists have not yet had a chance to count would damage has been done by the strikes and protests that have grappled the country for days but just to compare in two thousand and seven a nine day transport strike cost the country four hundred million euros and that is

of course a huge amount of money and it is possible the current strikes may end up costing the country the same amount or even more something that in the current financial climate it definitely cannot afford but there are a surprising number of people who actually say that what they're my. most tired of is the protest according to popular opinion polls nearly forty percent of the country's people say that they're really tired of people protesting of all the violence and chaos that is governing their french cities and specifically in paris young and old people alike are saying this is really disruptive to their regular day to day lives. of francis pension system is decades old which business consultant erich krauss says nowhere near matches today's real world it's vitally necessary if they don't do it the entire system is going to go bankrupt you cannot

spend money you don't have if the system is not reformed people just aren't going to get pensions when the system was developed people died in your fifty's in their sixty's. lunge everything has increased enormously in friends it's got one of the longest lived populations in the world people are dying in their eighty's they simply cannot afford to have a thirty year pension people live longer they're going to have to work longer this is the case throughout the world i don't see why it should be any different in france activists see the protests spreading beyond france's borders brian becker from the answer coalition told r.t. that struggle workers won't rest while they see failed finance shares or rake in rewards. the bankers are making tens of billions of dollars every year in bonuses but they tell the workers you can't afford we can't afford to have you have decent pensions you have to you have to tighten your belt meanwhile the bankers are

tightening their belts so that contradiction is going to lead to class polarization and mass protests not only in europe but i believe in the united states repression leads to a greater radicalization which becomes broader that's how social movements start a small minority movements and become massive movements and then later we look back at them in history and say oh that was inevitable that that movement would come before hand we hardly see it and i think that's what we're seeing in the united states or what we saw in france a few months ago the harbinger smallest things subterranean changes and finally an eruption of a mass movement. in the face of wide ranging public sector spending cuts across the continent the european union has voted to increase its spending now the move will cost the u.k. alone an additional nine hundred million pounds that's about one point four billion dollars and the additional burden comes as the country and now instead of largest public spending cuts since the second world war thousands of protesters took to the streets of london saying the world condemned the years of brutal unemployment

robert also director of think tank the group says the system means it's unlikely any of the money will be returned. but the timing is astounding really when we are making these cuts in britain to pay off the enormous debt that we've been left having to keep more money to the us is money that the british taxpayer the british government cannot afford to give it shouldn't be giving this money to the european union contributions are set to advise the e.u. accounts haven't been signed off in over fifteen years this so much for waste and mismanagement within the european union we just shouldn't be giving this money at all with the european union has gone too far european union laws take supremacies over british law over the laws of every member state within the european union and we've worked out that it causes a lot of damage economically we overburdened with regulation as well as handing too much money to brussels really british law in britain should be solving our own laws

own politicians but westminster should have precedence over those in brussels that's what we want to see we want to see a europe of nation states that can work and cooperate together but not be governed by the institutions of the european union based in brussels which no one has ever elected can force legislation on the citizens of the year you. here with our team and coming your way in a few minutes or oil and trouble out how to block the racket of fuel smuggling in northern iraq is in danger in the lives of thousands of ordinary people plus. the national. russian we'll look at russia's biggest q. and a session in over five years and follow census takers as far as the international space station. russia and the u.s. totally agree that the afghan harewood industry needs to be wiped out but what they

can't see eye to eye is how to do it now afghanistan is by far the world's biggest opium producer but america only wants to focus on taliban controlled poppy fields artie's got an education on explains why russia says that's not enough. there is definitely an understanding that drug trafficking from of ghana's then is a common enemy russia in the us seem to be more than eager to join forces to fight it and they are doing so brought control chiefs of both countries so that russian the u.s. now share a lot of sensitive information in order to crack down on drug trafficking networks in afghanistan and also track down their assets let's not forget the drug business in afghanistan is worth around seventy billion dollars a year if that money goal somewhere some of it sponsors terrorist experts say it evolved they had a force as drug control service was also talking about this well known connection between harry and terror now the u.s. and russia perfectly realized the problem but they for on the solution russia suggest eradicating all poppy fields and labs where heroin is produced the u.s.

says it's up to the afghan government to make that decision russia's argument is the afghan government can stand up against multi multi billionaire drug monster stronger nations have to put an end to it and russia made that point many times to medo which it actually cooperate with on drug trafficking but to no avail. do you want congress evaluated the taliban's drug production to be worth one hundred fifty million dollars however it's not worth the whole of that again drug production to says to me that sixty five billion dollars so we can see that the taliban sectors only zero point two percent obviously it's not the main producer whoever international forces say that they will eliminate only drug production related to the taliban in other words all one hundred fifty thousand personnel will be directed to eliminating just zero point two percent of drug production so the remaining ninety nine point eight percent believed to be destroyed but they are

going to forces that have been the official argument of nato and one of its key members the united states for not eradicating the poppy fields is that they don't want to destroy the only source of income for local populations russia says that. argument doesn't work and his victory of almost said the only ones who benefit from it are the landlords or the drug lords and definitely not afghan peasants and afghan passon household makes seventy dollars a year for growing poppies and this mystery of an offset international forces should be after the landlords in afghanistan because they believe patterns with no choice but growing poppies and in the last nine years of war in afghanistan that policy brought nothing but deaths afghan drugs killed more than a million people worldwide. well america plans to sell some sixty billion dollars worth of weapons to saudi arabia in what's seen as one of the largest arms deals in u.s. history and congress is yet to approve the deal put forward by the obama administration

the saudis want new fighter jets attack helicopters as well as upgrades for its existing aircraft the sale would also include a wide range of bombs and missiles saudi arabia is one of the united states biggest oil suppliers and washington hopes the deal will improve the defenses of the gulf state but liberty campaigner david gies says saudi arabia is an unlikely partner for a country that claims to defend human rights. in the classic dictatorial fashion the saudi regime does not rely on the consent of its people to be governed and therefore needed all the arms that it can acquire simply to maintain its presence in the region there has been unfortunately a lack of concern for human rights in saudi arabia there are elements within the u.s. government that believe that the leadership is moderate and therefore it is an ally of the united states i believe that the saudi regime is in fact quite extremist in

its beliefs and its policies saudi arabia is a country which. prevents women from leaving the their home country without being accompanied by a male model or guardian it is a country which bans the walking of pet cats and dogs in public there is gender apartheid it bans women from driving and i think a lot more can be done to increase american concern and pressure for improvements in saudi human rights well they say oil and water don't mix but in northern iraq the greed of gangs of smugglers is growing in the two together with painful results for local people and sebastian mayer reports their health and livelihoods are under threat. one hundred miles northeast of baghdad a special iraqi police unit makes its way to the iranian border they're hunting a new breed of smuggler who trade not in guns but in gasoline this cache of complicated jerry cans contains thousands of gallons of gasoline that was illegally

trafficked from iran a few days ago smugglers floated these cans down the sewer one river where they were intercepted by the iraqi police but many of the jerrycans didn't make the journey intact punctured by rocks or shot at by the iranian police tens of thousands leak their contents into the sea of one river poisoning the water supply used by the thirty five thousand residents of the city of. saudi or these are the cans do it all it's over use you kill people. could use this water with now because of the color that is to do and people count to use it. again but the money is too tempting for the local smugglers who can run ten thousand jerry cans on an average night for a few hours of work they can make up to six thousand dollars what the smugglers line their pockets downstream fishermen like keeper human mahmoud are watching their livelihood disappear two years ago we could catch a lot more fish. when i'm with your kids twenty kilos

a day now it's only five. in the city families unable to afford their own well have to drink to felpham and water delivered to them by municipal trucks on the outskirts of town he was forced to feed his family this water those who are true is not safe to drink but because we can't afford clean water we have no choice one of my children get sick listen i was vomiting so i had to take her to hospital when we dream through the orchard we get sick according to the recommendations of the american environmental protection agency pollution levels in the water supply are over fifteen times higher than the safe amount. in the benihana hospital now means daughter is suffering from diarrhea which a contract with after having a bath in the city's. tap water. i haven't been hospitalized myself but because of my challenge i come home i have two of the children in this suffer from diarrhea and vomiting as well and always comes back the need to know we will be back here again. and with the same regularity is no means visits to the hospital the

smugglers continue to spill gasoline into dot the new country water system in this remote and peaceful part of iraq it do and think we are as dangerous as in the rest of the country sebastian meyer northern iraq war to. get our top stories in the knowledge says that r d dot com and let's check through some of what we're lining up for you today more than a fashion week concludes in moscow we've got the cream of the catwalk for next season's couture as well as a look backstage. and of prenatal social siblings italian scientists discover on born babies interact as early as four and a half months into pregnancy had to r.t. dot com to discover how humans are hard wired to get along.

so intro asian gasol liveries to europe are at stake as russia's president dmitri medvedev visits to man is stunned leaders of both countries are to discuss the proposed pipeline that will connect caspian gas to the south stream project now this would help bring the rich gas resources of the region to the european market the project was proposed in two thousand and seven but has suffered delays over a number of technicalities. and now to some other news in brief for you at least one hundred thirty five been killed and hundreds are seriously ill after a suspected cholera outbreak in rural haiti the stream of those needing treatment has come to hospital staff and the syllabi doctors are now waiting for test results to confirm the cause of the infections many people are still living in unsanitary conditions after january's devastating earthquake which killed some three hundred

thousand people. and doctors also fear a cholera epidemic and the flood hit west african nation of been unseasonably heavy rains have left some nine hundred thousand homeless people forced to sleep on pavements and makeshift shelters officials say forty three people have been killed in the last two weeks. while iran's nuclear push grabs the headlines its political courting of the wider middle east is largely slipping under the radar later today on our t.v. peter lavelle's crosstalk guest grapple with that and whether i'm a did a job's popularity in some quarters matches his mandate. so except reality in that in iran you have elections misrata might be an issue out for various reasons or because a very popular just a couple of days ago when he went to this city he stole the election and you know we have stole the election that's why they were able i know is that your stereo where you would say that you are you. are in the morning robert

rotberg you know running from the day you go right ahead. ok you let the tides wash over for a second look at each truth that most of the arab world is trying to cherry and saudi arabia jordan egypt because we the west support them we want them to be totalitarian we want them to control over their quote unquote their own people to be on our side. and that's why we hope i was enraged and i'm just going to be interviewed by me if i know you're continuing my maze if i made you a continual between these gentlemen when robert finally if you're going to a moment. well everyone callus in russia this week with

a nationwide sense is now underway it's an effort to better understand today's population from current living standards to improving its future stacie bivins found out the census takers are reaching out in all directions the ability to defy gravity is not an excuse to deny your earthly responsibilities even in space cause menards are answering questions from russia's twenty ten senses your nationality russian elinor's of our sky has the job of reaching out to orbit it being the ultimate and long distance phone calls. when it was my first time i felt more anxious and now maybe because i already know what it's like i'm a little bit less anxious but still i am. this out of this world q. and a is meant to inspire russians a matter how busy or how far away they are to take a moment and fill out the census that's because it's believed that the questions like here could lead to some answers that could solve some of the nation's biggest

problems the questionnaire attempts to probe issues such as why russia's birth rate is so low and its death rate so high a comparison to european countries data collected is meant to show who makes up question households learn what their resources are and identify how government can improve their quality of life and with the slogan everyone matters to russia everyone from those serving their country to those serving time are being counted. how else would we know what kind of financial situation rushes in what our social situation is how will we know how many people live in russia they're doing it for us i think it's a necessity and that was why i went to take part in it. and less captivated surroundings people like these young men and women are hoping not to be turned away before the questionnaire is complete. this family of three is doing well but mom and dad are filling out the forms as a form of security. now i feel. maybe i do need help

but maybe in future. if i don't have. the government or will have this information about me but for now it's the government that's counting on the population so if he didn't r.t. . and in a few moments you're here we'll update you on the business there. hungry for the full story we've got it's. the biggest issues get a human voice ceased to face with the news makers.

hello and a very warm welcome to the business news shareholders have voted against changing the board of directors at an extraordinary general meeting in moscow the vote was called to end debate a battle between its two main stockholders interop central sawant control of the russian mining giant with each owning twenty five percent of all correspondent debbie a bushel last roussel strategy director if the dispute would damage the company. any dispute is affecting the company but the question is whether the dispute leads to any positive trend supportive changes and we believe that the whole idea which we are promoting when we were calling for the c.g.m. is to actually rebalance the board in

a manner where they'll be known come through and shareholder approval so i'll try to take this conflict for example to the court it's not the fight between the wall it goes it's a different story it's about to sell being a shareholder in the us trying to change the situation and so that every single intense billion one plan is implemented the results are in line with international competitors what's wrong with the running of the company it's a really really the best month but it has no strategy and it has cash on the bells so either management should come to the board with the proper strategy which would include the dunny growth projects and we'll explain that's where this money is have to be spent and their spending would create additional value to all shareholders if that smoke happening then it should be paid out as if you believe nickel miners to shareholders actually support resells period absolute majority of independent shareholders have supported the idea for you actually neither of the big

shareholders have ever actually had a dialogue with this is why not if the shareholders such a big support of minority shareholders is actually a big victory does russo want to braze north because dividends so it can pay off or so that we are not looking for the rules to pay greater dividends but we are just saying that the company should either spend money in for a running growth projects or the dividends should be paid out to the shareholders for shareholders effectively to decide what to do this new business funds we are you paying out there way ahead of schedule we do not believe there is dividends doesn't interest also support the display. of course it's here but it's not the sale before you get it from the media it looks like it that they going to be proposing a civil between old u.k. shares in either osha's which is effectively in exchange for one loan caressa for another loan to us in zero program we have supporting that morning tories in. the

bin on caresses or spinning them or dishonest far as i know from the from the media again going to be a one year restriction for the smoke to be sold to the market was resold dealing with interest through the media has communication birth and we talking to each other for why the long period of time since small dolls made we've been trying to implement this program but unfortunately nothing was happening in this particular situation we had no other choice but to go public on top of them in order to shuffle. look at the markets now and in russia the indices rabbit to a six month highs in one thousand days with the r.t.s. closing more than three percent higher costs on the back of gains and persian metals and also the chibi and growth next searched after the government announced it will sell stakes us part of the find here probably ten zation program where bank and feed should be jumped to more than one cent on the mice it. has moved to asia

now where friday is crazy has already started stocks on next this hour hong kong shares are pulling low as investors lost profits on property developers and insurers and in tokyo the nikkei is nothing higher in bushes trade as investors was wary ahead of the g. twenty outcome and earnings reports next week against trying to also continue to focus investors' attention as many who are in luck to put money into the markets a meter and rising currency. the rubble has fallen to its lowest level this year against the euro dollar currency basket but as the corporals the central bank's not too concerned about weakness as it focuses attention on controlling inflation. the government is increasingly perswaded that the rouble can't take care of itself it's inflation it needs to worry about the central bank has widened the exchange corridor as a cautious step towards the free float of the current say well this happens a lot of a central bank to focus on setting policy to control prices this has the ultimate

aim of making russia more in line with the developed economies which offer a stable monetary environment. if we want an investment economy inflation should be around five percent any measure that leads to decreasing inflation is a priority. there is no sense of the panic about the current valuation of the ruble unlike in two thousand and eight when the government broke through a sizable chunk of its reserves to prop it up russia's central bank says the current fundamentals of the russian economy do not support a one way trend indeed officials believe there are a number of factors which will lift the value of the current say in the medium term and. the measures that can prop up the nation or currency on the transfer of some export oil contracts to the ruble and increasing the volume of frugal deals between the c.i.s. countries russia has just announced a large scale prime.