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protests in europe as workers say they do not want to be paying for the mistakes or the fact that while the business the say it's time to get off the streets and get back to work. the oil smugglers fueling trouble in northern iraq as innocent lives are put at risk as pollution hits the local river. and and do drugs officials from russia try to work with the u.s. to wipe out afghan heroin production but says america's sole focus on taliban poppy fields is not enough. you're watching r t coming to you live from the russian capital welcome to the program and now to our top story there is more protests today and ahead for france

as strikers commit to 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 herbie the sun a vote on raising the retirement age to sixty two artes got there you know isn't paris for us. the senate is working all pretty much all day every day figuring out the final details fine tuning the proposed pension reform that will see their retirement age rise from the age of sixty to the age of sixty two and the french are definitely not happy about it they've been taking to the streets of the country not just the capital paris making sure that their anger is heard with some protests turning violent and police forces. being forced to use tear gas to disperse angry crowds and of course those protests are ongoing in paris there are dozens of them daily from the students to the tension or so everybody young and old taking to the

streets making sure we're attempting to make sure that their voices are heard and that the government pays attention to their demands but it seems that this is probably the first time in a very long time where the government is not prepared to back down is not prepared to renegotiate with trade unions and is simply staying very firm on its position saying that this pension reform is what is necessary to make sure that the french economy actually gets over the effects of the aftermath of the global financial crisis with the economy of course being strongly hit by it and that the the government proposed pension reform is exactly what is necessary to push the economy forward and to aid the country out of the financial slump that it's currently in so this could well be perhaps the first time in a very long time where the french people and their protests are being ignored with many already saying of course that the people who are protesting basically have

gotten used to nearly blackmailing the government institution in france in order to get their way and this perhaps could be the first time in a long time where the government is not prepared to do that and of course many people in paris according to opinion polls people. paris and in france as a whole over forty percent of the people say that what they are most tired of is the protests and the disruption that they cause their country and of course the costs of these problems protests are also to be taken into account in these current strikes economists have not yet had a chance to count exactly how they will affect the current economy but of course just to compare in two thousand and seven and ninety eight transport strike across the country hundred million euros those are figures that france cannot afford to be paying right now so the government does see the team to be very intent on pushing this pension reform forward but of course it is. many many people's belief that

the people who will be paying for these pension reform and paying for the french economy i not those who caused the collapse in first place but bankers are making tens of billions of dollars every year they tell their 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. that was our. in paris and now for more on the situation in france joy. and economists from the economic and social research institute now thank you very much for joining us now as we can see there are violent protests ongoing strikes and they're not going to help the battered already battered economy now given that the votes likely to be a done deal by the end of friday why are the protesters still on the streets.

protester on the street because they don't want the reform you have to know that in forms we have already formed very much our pension systems and. the consequence is that the pension was will be drastically reduced by as much as in sweden a country which is of unsuited carried out an example where we form of consensus and so to go a month to day wants to go a step further by postponing the retirement age sixty to sixty two and sixty five to sixty seven because if you compare forms to overcome trees the right age is not sixty but sixty five and people don't want it they don't want to pay for the financial crisis which is one of the main reason of the current financial problems pension all right well as we can see that the vote as i said is likely to be passed by the president in the senate now why if the people are so on the streets do you

think that being there being out there is actually going to have any result any practical results for the french economy. yes i think that people are wired to fight because we have over example where the low everything passed and then not being forced so it's possible to make this government project what will be the consequences of the cruel strikes it depends of what president sarkozy will do people are not to worship of the squad pushed by the government who didn't want to hear them for months. asking for negotiations and president sarkozy just refused it that's the reason why people are now protesting. oh i were france is known for its for its generous welfare system and we've also seen the french people come going out into the streets in the

past now don't the french people think and realize that something's got to give that maybe they should just stop protesting at this point. this is not the feeling of the french workers today in the us the vast majority because i think the feeling is that our president. is frightening free from the values of the french society so the diversity equality in democracy today. there is no more financing for pensions and equality. is also evident because it is very in for if we strike the weakest that would be with of the population the most everybody says that it is very unfair and the democratic process by which. we form has been carried out is also will be criticized so the feeling of the population the vast majority of the population is that president

sarkozy has betrayed his fundamental values and thoughts are with them while people are protesting dr not only protesting for their punch and why it's well through protesting for kind of dignity all right having said that president sarkozy doesn't look like he's going to make any concessions and it doesn't look like he's going to back down so what is next can you hear me. mr mccarthy can you hear me. i think we've lost the connection there that was fair conch shell the economists from the economic and social research institute. well whereas the french are still taking to the streets in huge numbers the british government's also proposing austerity measures appear to be taking a more pragmatic approach to the issue evidence of the taxpayers' alliance explains

. i think we did have a few small protests around westminster here the other day mostly led by the unions who have fears about how this will impact on public services and job losses but i think the important things to stress is that mostly broadly speaking people in britain are giving their support to these cops the most recent polling said that you know people are on board people understand that the u.k. has been spending more money than we have running a deficit and every year that we do that our national debt gets bigger and bigger and people understand that there now is a need to cut spending because if we don't do it soon then we're going to be paying more of our debt interest and we'll simply have more pain later here with r.t.m. coming your way in a few minutes counting people to counter problems. russian relook of russia's biggest q.

and a session in over five years and follow the census takers us far as the international space station. how they say that oil and water don't mix but in northern iraq the greed of gas of smugglers is bringing the two together with painful results for local people as a bastard my 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 confiscated 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 with 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 leaked their contents into the sea or one river poisoning the water supply used by the

thirty five thousand residents of the city of. saudi or these are the cans over used to kill people who. could use this were true but 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 my keeper him in my bed watching their livelihood disappear two years ago we could catch a lot more fish. than when they were kids twenty kilos a day and now it's only five hundred a second in the city families unable to afford their own well have to drink the 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 born again so i had to take her to hospital when we dream to 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. of any kind of hospital now means daughter is suffering from diarrhea which she contracted after having a bath in the city's. water. i haven't been hospitalized myself but because of my challenge i come home i have two of the children and they suffer from diarrhea and vomiting as well toby's comes back. we hear again. and with the same regularity is no means visits to the hospital the smugglers continue to spill gasoline into the pentagon's water system in this remote and peaceful part of iraq doing some greegor is dangerous as in the rest of the country the best in my northern iraq or to. america plans to sell some sixty billion dollars worth of

weapons to saudi arabia and 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 all suppliers and washington hopes the deal will improve the defenses of the gulf states but liberty campaigner david keys says saudi arabia is a likely partner for a question that claims to defend human rights and a classic dictatorial fashion the saudi regime does not rely on the consent of its people to be governed and therefore needs 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 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 this 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 artie's cross-talk later peter lavelle's guests grapple with that and whether iran soft power is driving its influence in the region one how six 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 there and you know we're still all the election that's why there were people out there you were you would say. you know if you want to. go running from the day you go right ahead. ok you let the tide wash over for a second look at each truth that most of the arab world is the cerium saudi arabia jordan egypt because we in the west support them we want them to be totalitarian we want them to conclude their quote unquote their own people should be on our side. and that's why we hope i was in the regime and we're going to be interviewed by me if i know you're continuing my maze if i major contributor but. gentlemen when robert if you're going to a moment. how russia and the u.s. 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 now afghanistan is by far the world's biggest opium producer but america only wants to focus on taliban controlled poppy fields artie's going to 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 said russia and 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 its sponsors terrorist experts say if that evolved they had a force as drug control service was also talking about this well known connection between herring 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 just 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 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 them began drug production it's just to me the sixty five billion dollars so we can see that the taliban sector's 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 child down 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 twenty percent live to be destroyed but 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 and 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 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 patents 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 drugs g. victor even off on our website r.t. dot com and now to some other news in brief for

a suspected cholera outbreak in rural haiti has killed at least one hundred thirty five people while hundreds more are seriously ill the stream of those needing treatment is overwhelming hospital staff and facilities doctors are now waiting for test results to confirm the cause of the infections many people still live in unsanitary conditions after january's massive earthquake which killed some three hundred thousand people. typhoon meggie has reached land in taiwan causing widespread destruction heavy rains and flooding left many people stuck on the roadside in their vehicles a search is underway for nineteen chinese tourists whose bus was trapped by massive rockslide a coastal highway earlier this week meghan boucher of the philippines killing more than twenty people and is expected to hit china this weekend. now everyone accounts 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 and as our team stacey bivins 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 owners of our sky are has the job of reaching out to orbit via 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 that live 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 the 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. help

but maybe in future. if i don't have. the government or. have this information about me but for now it's the government that's counting on the population says he didn't r.t. . and it's time now for all the latest business news with the eula. that's right time to bring over latest from the world of business through illustrating near its lowest level this here against the euro dollar currency basket but as the teleplay cool reports the central bank's not too concerned about the weakness as it focuses attention on controlling inflation. the government is increasingly perswaded that the ruble can take care of itself it's inflation it needs to worry about the central bank has widened the exchange corridor as

a cautious tapped was the free float of the currency 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 sense of the panic about the current valuation of the ruble unlike in two thousand and eight when the government burned 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 currency in the medium term. the measures that can prop up the nation or currency are 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 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 contrast with the problems faced by many other contras struggling to restrain their currency at the moment that perhaps explains why the russian government isn't know how to alter its course dramatically the temple of course of business are to. central asian cows deliver is for the south stream pipeline at stake as russia's president dmitry medvedev visits turkmenistan leaders of both countries are to discuss the proposed pipeline that will connect caspian gas to europe much of the planning and financing for sun through is complete construction is due to start in twenty thirteen with consumers starting to receive gas by the end of twenty fifteen. and russia will produce around five

hundred million tons of oil in twenty one percent on the previous year production rose at roughly the same speed as a did during two thousand and nine which saw russia outperform saudi arabia as the world's top exporter but russia is close to its peak and production is expected to decline twenty two percent in ten years time the country has the world's seventh largest oil reserves. on top of the markets and here in russia the r.t.s. and the my six are down this solid most of the blue troops in the red printers was hydro up one point seven percent. and european stocks suffered losses on friday after the previous session speeds led by banks mining and oil sectors as more companies reported results shows of although a dollar two point three cents the from start for sales fell short of expectations almost one two and that profit from a loss in here across. the world's critical shareholders have voted

against changing the board of directors at an extraordinary general meeting in moscow the vote was course to end debate a battle between its two main stockholders interests and who saw want to control the russian mining giant with each only twenty five percent of correspondent done no bushel asked rosol strategy 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 supposed to changes and we believe that the. whole idea which we are promoting when we were calling for the c.g.m. is to actually rebuilds the board in a manner where they'll be no controlling shareholder who tried to take this conflict for the for example to the court it's not the fight isn't the wall it got us it's a different story it's about muso being a shareholder in the us trying to change the situation and so that every single

intense value hence one plan is implemented the results are in line with international competitors what's wrong with the running of the company it's really really the best minds but it has no strategy and it has cash on the bells so either management should come to the board is a proper strategy which would include organic 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 shareholders if that's what's happening then it should be paid out as if you believe no need to shareholders actually support yourselves 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 shareholders such a big supporter when the 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.