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find out what's really happening to the global economy in the kinds of reports on our t.v. . it's the secret incursion into the country. it's the invasion by means of. tradition the language until you visit the bestie compete cookie dough. and culture. the thing is that the have the dozens are still unaware of what's going on in their land still ask them i have no idea about stuff like nothing i don't know any but alaska they're great. on our cheap. fast. food.

a million rejections over raising the retirement age of the french protest song vast as the country struggles through to get more crippling strikes. the oil smugglers fueling trouble in the world are wrong and innocent lives are good at risk that's a new term that's a little over. the drugs officials from russia tried to work with the do west to wipe out afghan heroin production but says america's sole focus on taleban is not enough. you're watching r t all the latest news for you twenty four seven welcome to the program and now to war top story there is more protests planned ahead for france strikers committee yet more stoppages to vent their anger over plans to make them

work longer tear gas and water cannon have been used against demonstrators while president sarkozy tries to curry the senate vote on raising the retirement age to sixty two artes got to do you know is in paris for us. young 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 you but i start to see the french president is attempting to push forward in order to try and help the french economy get off its meaning 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 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 in the current financial climate it definitely cannot afford but there are a surprising number of people who actually say that what they're. 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 destructive to their regular day to day lives. while france's 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 their fifty's in their sixty's. more than one jeopardy has increased enormously in france 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 francis' borders brian becker from the answer coalition told r.t. that struggling workers won't rest while they see failed finance shares or 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 small minority movements become massive movements and then later we look back at them in history and say oh that was inevitable that that movement would come but 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. well in the face of wide ranging public sector spending cuts across the continent the european union has voted to increase its spending the move will cost the u.k. alone an additional nine hundred million pounds that's about one point four billion dollars the additional burden comes as the country announced its largest public spending cuts since the second world war thousands of protesters took to the streets of london saying it broken down the u.k. to hears a brutal i'm not point robert oulds director of the bruges group says the e.u.

system means it's unlikely any of the money will be returned to the u.k. . 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 shouldn't be giving this money to the european union contributions are set to revise the e.u. accounts haven't been signed off in over fifteen years so much for waste and mismanagement within the european union we just shouldn't be giving this money until the european union has gone too far in 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're overburdened with regulation as well as handing too much money to brussels really british law in britain should be solved when our own laws own politicians of westminster should have precedence over those in

brussels that's what we want to see we want to see a use of nation states that can work and cooperate together 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 you u. . your rhythm r.t.m. coming your way in a few minutes counting people to counter problems. your nationality russian we'll look at russia's biggest q. and a session at over five years and follow the census takers as far as the international space station. well they say that oil and water don't mix but in northern iraq the greed of gangs of smugglers is bringing the two together with painful results for local people sebastian meyer 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 didn't know if over years ago people. could use this water with now because of the color is to do 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 mikey brahim in my head 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 hundred a second 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 but one of my children get sick listen i was going in so i had to take her to hospital when we dream to daughter and they 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. tap water. i haven't been hospitalized myself but because of my child i come also and i have two other children and they suffer from time and

vomiting as well i told this comes benigno go home but you know we will get back here again a lot and with the same regularity is no means visits to the hospital the smugglers continue to spill gasoline into debt then because water system in this remote and peaceful part of iraq ignorance and greed are as dangerous as in the rest of the country sebastian meyer northern iraq forty. 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 congress is yet to approve the deal put forward by the obama administration now 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 keys says saudi arabia is an awful likely 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 and there has been unfortunately a lack of concern for human rights in saudi arabia there are elements within the us 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 in 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 and american support for the saudi regime is a flashpoint in the latest edition of our t's crossed talk later peter lavelle's guests grapple with that and whether iran soft power is driving its influence in the region. what except reality in that in iran you have elections mr ahmadinejad for various reasons is because very popular just a couple of days ago when he went to this city is still the same you know he stole the election that's why they were able to this is the area where you would say that . we are in the. girl running from the 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 conclude their quote unquote their own people to be on their side. and that's why we hope i was enraged and i'm just going to be you know you find me if i lose your continuing amaze if i made your continual between these gentlemen when robert just any moment. now russia and the us totally agree that the afghan heroin industry needs to be wiped out but what they can't see eye to eye on is how to do it again assad is by far the world's biggest opium producer but america all he wants to focus on it taliban control poppy fields. 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 drug control chiefs of both countries said russian the us

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 its sponsors terrorist experts say it's evolved the head of forces drug control service was also talking about this well known connection between herring and terror now the us and russia perfectly realize the problem but they are on the solution russia suggests eradicating all poppy fields and labs where heroin is produced the us says it's up to the afghan government to make that decision just argument is the afghan government can stand up against a multi billionaire drug monster stronger nations have to put an end to it and russia made that point many times to nato which it actually cooperate with on drug trafficking but but to no avail. do you want congress evaluates the taliban's drug

production to be worth one hundred fifty million dollars however it's not the whole of that again drug production in the sense to me that it's sixty five billion dollars so you can see that the taliban sector is only zero point two percent obviously it's not the main producer however 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 live to be destroyed they are going to force us to do but 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 in his victory of an offset the only ones who benefit from it are the landlords or the drug lords and definitely not afghan peasants and afghan pasand 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 leave presents 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 watch the full interview with russia's viktoria even off on our website r.t. dot com. now central asian gas liveries to europe are at stake as russia's president dmitri medvedev visits turkmenistan leaders of both countries are to discuss the proposed pipeline that will connect caspian gas to the south stream which will then pump the energy under the black sea to italy and other european countries the linking project was proposed in two thousand and seven but is still being negotiated the two presidents are also to talk about security in the region and drug trafficking from afghanistan. and now to some other news

in brief for you at least thirty five people have been killed and hundreds are seriously ill after a suspected cholera outbreak in rural haiti the stream of those needing treatment has evolved hospital staff at the sylvie's 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. four hundred tourists have been stranded in taiwan as typhoon meggie reaches lad a helicopter rescue is underway as the storm triggers heavy rains and walk slides weaving people stuck on the roadside in their vehicles earlier this week maggie battered the philippines killing more than twenty people and is expected to hit china this weekend. now everyone counts 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 as artie's stacey begins found out census takers are reaching out in all directions the ability to defy gravity is not an excuse to deny earthly responsibilities even in space cause minotaur answering questions from russia's twenty ten senses your nationality russian elinor's of our sky has the job of reaching out to orbit the ultimate and long distance phone calls. but 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 to 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 that live here can lead to some answers that could solve some of the nation's

biggest problems the questionnaire attempts to probe is used 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 good. how

but maybe in future. if i don't have. the government or government will have this information about me but for now it's the government that's counting on the population so you didn't r.t. . now with a long russian winter all the way muscovites are looking for ways to entertain themselves inside rather than out artie's martin andrews gets ready to make a splash with some of the best suggestions in his latest program. well the largest water park here in russia located on the outskirts of moscow probably rain or shine who cares if the weather is bad you know printed in november two thousand and six with its many cool slides or more tried true you can see why it's become so popular with family members i guess of all ages this place is what you're.

referring. to as you can find out what else is on offer whatever the weather in moscow out coming up next hour but first it's business news with yulia. has right time to get the latest from the world of business the ruble has falling to its lowest level this year against the euro dollar currency poskitt but as the china pretty quickly reports the central bank's not too concerned about the weakness it's 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 car and say when this happens it will

allow the 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 sounds 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 privatization that inflow of capital prompted by these deals will also have a positive impact on the ruble status on the world market paradoxically the current weakness of the russian ruble contrasts with the problems faced by many other countries struggling to restrain their currencies at the moment that perhaps explains why the russian government is in no hurry to alter its course dramatically that's an article of business r.t. . and in russia there are tears in the minds of so down that some are creating from friday's gains most of the blue chips into red bucking the trend is ross telecom. and moving on to asia stocks are mixed this hour hong kong shares a pulling low as investors lock in profits on property developers and do chores and in turku the nikkei is not going high incautious traders investors and weary heart

of the g. twenty outcome and earnings reports next week begin strength also continue to focus investors' attention as many were reluctant to put money into the market and meet a rising currency. in the rules clinical 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 into it also want to control the soul of the russian mining giant with each owning twenty five percent our correspondent daniel bushell structure director if the dispute could 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 there will be no controlling shareholder who will still try to take this conflict for the for example to the court it's not the fight isn't the wall it goes it's a different story it's about who so being a shareholder in the rules trying to change the situation and so that every single intense value has been planned 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 mind but it has no strategy and it has cash on the bell ship so either management should come to the board with the proper strategy which would include the gunney growth projects and we'll explain that's where this money is have to be spent and they're spending would create additional value to all share this if that's what's happening then it should be paid out as if you believe no nickel mines to shareholders actually support resells bid 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 of such a big supporter of mine those shareholders is actually a big victory does rousselle 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 gunny growth projects or the dividends should be paid out to the shareholders for shareholders effectively to decide what to do business with these funds we are reaping out there way ahead of schedule we do not believe there is dividends doesn't interest also support the. supposal of non core assets here but it's not the sale of what you get from the media it looks like it that they going to be proposing a civil between old u.k. shares in the shares which is effectively in exchange for one caress of for another month for us in our program we have supporting that morning guys in. the bin on

caresses or spinning them off dishonest far as i know from the from the media again they're going to be a one year restriction for the shares not to be sold to the market was resulted in the interests of the media has communication broken down we are talking to each other for why the long period of time since small details 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 and of the minority shareholders . that's your update for that sound but you can get more stories right now from our website r.t. dot com slash business.