grandson it is such a vote on increasing the retirement age while the country is rocked by grating protests workers say they do not want to be paying for the mistakes of the fact cats while the business is say it's time to get off the streets and get back to work. offline or to a petrol trap of course in iraq become the new health hazard as the fuel for a small boat spills into reverse poisoning the populations water supplies. and a common goal but no common vision of wild recognizing afghanistan as the world's greatest drug threat russia and the u.s. can't agree on how to deal with it. or welcome to you live from our headquarters in central moscow and this is our chain with me and he said no way it's four pm here in the russian capital two pm in

paris and french police have broken the blockade of a refinery crucial for the capital still supplies a workers' union that captured the depot said at least three people were injured in clashes a special operation ended the blockade that had lasted for more than a week causing significant fuel shortages about twenty percent of children stations remain empty across the country with no end in sight to the. meanwhile the senate is expected to approve president nicolas sarkozy's proposal to raise the retirement age to sixty two the reason behind all these protests are seen as covering those are of all is following the events in the french capital. the senate. is working all pretty much all day every day figuring out of 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 today and trainers 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 now 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 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 it's vitally necessary if they don't do with 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 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. any france in order to get their way in 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 in 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 they're going to have a voice in the costs of these problems are protests are also to be taken into account in these current strikes iconic 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 transport strike cost the country four hundred million euros and those are figures that france cannot afford to be paying right now. well and one day off from one of the movements supporting the reform says it needs to be approved to save the system that the french economy is based on if there were. protests in the streets but for us the reform is a is a good thing we have to reform the system has a young student. for my generation for every young as a reform is really early because tomorrow it's all generation going up there is a function for our parents our grandparents and you know that today in france one

punch in of out of town is paid by it's so good to have to pay. in the next year with the mcgrath issue. it's going to be. in the next year or so we have to reform our punch and today we have to work two more years so that we can save the system in the next year budget as may spread beyond europe that's the opinion of brian becker from the answer coalition who told archie that struggling workers won't rest well they see found financer has raked in the wards. the bankers are making tens of billions of dollars every year in bonuses but 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 repression leads to a greater radicalization which becomes broader social movements start 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 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 small things subterranean changes and finally an eruption of a mass movement. the united kingdom has also cut its public sector budget to reduce the national deficit that has spiraled out of control so far the british people's response has been far more restraint than the french and as sam bowman head of the london based economic think tank says brants won't follow frenchmen as they are not giving up their jobs it's not really in the british national character to protest we haven't really seen protests any of these cuts in the last year or so and in fact the two biggest protests happened over the last ten years were against fox hunting and the iraq war neither of which had any real effect the british

government doesn't really listen to protesters and i don't expect that there will be any protests that will see the next few weeks there was a protest the other day. by the unions against these cuts that i had about five hundred people which compared to the protests and strikes is huge so i really don't think we should be seeing anything the british government has a long history of ignoring protesters and british people really are kind of people who want to get on with their get back to work business as usual you might say really protest quite a tradition in france whenever there's a some kind it doesn't happen in the u.k. and people really here are interested in getting out of their lives and getting back to work and hopefully that's what these cuts well people to do. well coming your way in a few minutes here in our two a russia is counting people to counter problems. are your nationality russian. who follow census takers as far as the international space station. but first in peaceful order in iraq it's not guns or war that are putting people's

lives at risk the main source of water in the region has been polluted by gangs of petroleum smugglers looking to make a quick walk and sebastian meyer reports the health the livelihoods of the local people are on turf 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 to 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 footed 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 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 these now because of the color

to do and people count to use it. 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 head are watching their livelihood disappear two years ago we could catch a lot more fish. than what 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 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 going in so i had to take her to hospital because 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 never 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 child i come home from work i have to are the children and they suffer from diarrhea and vomiting as well this comes back. to we were back here again. and with the same regularity is no means visits to the hospital the smugglers continue to spill gasoline into don't then becomes a water system in this remote and peaceful part of iraq they do in some greedy or is dangerous as in the rest of the country so best in my northern iraq or to. the obama administration wants to sell sixty billion dollars worth of weapons to saudi arabia congress has yet to approve what would be one of the largest arms deals in u.s. history it will include jets attack helicopters as well as upgrades for its existing

aircraft the saudis also want a wide range of bombs and missiles washington hopes the jewel them for the defenses of saudi arabia which is one of the us is biggest oil suppliers liberty campaigner david kay says it's not unlikely partnership because of the gulf states catching human rights record. 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 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 its policies saudi arabia is a country which. prevents women from leaving the their home country without being

accompanied by a male. or guardian it is a country which bans the walking of pet cats and dogs in public there's 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 archie's cross talk peter the vals gas grapple with that and whether iran soft power is driving its influence in the region. one has to accept reality in that in iran you have elections mr ahmadinejad for various reasons is because a very popular just a couple of days ago when he went to this city store with a legend you know he stole the election that's why they were a little ironic that he was that you were you would say that really large groups and they're not you know if you want to renegotiate or in the political rubber to.

go running and i'm from the day you go right ahead. ok you let the times wash over for a second look at each truth that most of. which saudi arabia jordan egypt because we the west we want them to be totalitarian we want them to quote unquote their own prepaid to be. not imaginary we hope only syrian regime you're going to be me if i lose your continuing my marriage if my major contributor. robert kennedy moment. russia and the q.s. both agree afghan heroin needs to be wiped out but they can't see eye to eye on how to go about it afghanistan is by far the world's biggest opium producer one of washington's only wants to focus on targeting taliban control poppy fields are

going to can explain why russia insists that's not and. 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 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 goes somewhere some of it sponsors terrorist experts say that evolved they had a forces drug control service was also talking about this well known connection between herring and terror now the u.s. and russia perfectly realize 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 monster stronger

nations have to put an end to it and russia made that point many times to nato which is. actually cooperate with on drug trafficking but but to no avail. do you as congress evaluates the taliban's drug production to be worth one hundred fifty million dollars however it's not worth the whole of their began drug production says 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 is left to be destroyed by their forces. but the essential 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 has 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 peasant household makes seventy dollars a year for growing poppies and this mystery of almost that international forces should be after the landlords in afghanistan because they leave passons 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 image can reporting there from washington and you can see the full interview with the head of russia's federal drug control service and more related to that story at r.t. dot com. let's take a look now at some other stories from around the world in brief this hour a small passage very overturned after colliding with a cargo ship in a canal near amsterdam ferry was floating upside down when rescuers arrived in

there are fears the skipper is dead by helicopter divers and a sonar equipment boat or some and search the canal for the ferry captain accident halted about two thousand ships around the scene. protesters have taken to the streets of new delhi after manning a parliamentary investigation into the hosting of the commonwealth games in the series water town and to prevent protesters from marching towards the part of the many demonstrators claim that millions of dollars were siphoned by companies run by the relatives of state officials. infection outbreak has killed at least a hundred and thirty five people in a war central in rural central haiti and left more than one thousand people in fact to health workers suspect of the disease is called the raw but are still awaiting test doctors at the hospital are struggling to handle the flood of patients many people still living on sanitary conditions after january's massive earthquake which killed some three hundred dollars and. now russia is counting everyone this week

with a nationwide census and aims to take a snapshot of the ninth most populist and biggest country in the world with results to be published at the end of twenty thirteen census takers are reaching out in all directions to get the information the government needs. the ability to defy gravity is not an excuse to deny earthly responsibilities even in space cosmonauts are answering questions from russia's twenty ten senses your nationality russian elena's of our skier has the job of reaching out to orbit in 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 are right here could lead to some answers that could solve some of the nation's biggest problems the questionnaire attempts to probe 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 russian 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. that 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 you didn't r.t. . that's the way the news works this hour from our to a we're going to take a short break and my daddy will be here with the latest from the world of business . for the full story we've got it first the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news make us. feel

. welcome to business the ruble is trading near its lowest level this year against the euro dollar currency basket but as to tell a pollock over reports the central bank is not too concerned about the weakness as it focuses attention on controlling inflation. so the government is increasingly perswaded that the ruble can take care of itself its 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 rouble 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 countries struggling to restrain their currency at the moment that perhaps explains

why the russian government is in no hurry to alter its course dramatically but generally of course of business our team. the european back in the buka gas pipeline intended to bring gas from central asia to europe has little prospect of success that's the view of deputy prime minister igor searchin who says dropping demand from the crisis has effectively killed the economic reasons for the project . searchin is part of a russian delegation in turkmenistan headed by president made bed if it's expected that gas supplies for the russian backed south stream pipeline will form the core of the discussions stream was intended to bring gas from central asia to europe bypassing ukraine and it's seen as a direct competitor to nobuko took many stands president has said he is keen to boost exports through russia. staying with the sector russia will produce around five hundred million tons of oil in twenty ten that's up one percent on the

previous year production rose at roughly the same speed as it did during two thousand and nine which saw russia outperform saudi arabia as the world's top oil exporter but russia is close to its peak and production is expected to decline twenty two percent within a decade the country has the world's seventh largest oil reserves. let's check out the markets here in russia the my six has raised the morning's losses within the last hour over a percent of nicholas higher after a shareholder change was blocked yesterday but royal russian mining firms are doing even better as metal prices hold near historic highs. but european stocks are suffering losses on friday after the previous sessions gains led by banks mining and oil as more keep companies report results here's a volvo down one percent firm's third quarter sales fell short of expectations the volvo swung to a net profit from the last year ago. one of russia's top precious metals producers

poly metal has posted a fifty five percent boost in gold production for the first nine months of twenty ten year on year over silver production during the same period increased by only five percent the company also saw its revenue rise to six hundred fifty five million dollars in the first nine months eighty seven percent compared to the previous year. nora's nickel shareholders are voted against changing the board of directors at an extraordinary general meeting in moscow the result appears to favor of limit put on in company interests over all of their puskas roussel in the battle for control of the russian minor interests and result each control blocking stakes in nor nickel earlier roussel strategy director if the dispute is damaging 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 who will sell 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 being a shareholder in the rules trying to change the situation and so that every simple 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 month but it has no strategy and it has cash on the bells so i have a management should come to the board is a proper strategy which would include the gunny 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's what's happening then it should be paid out as if you believe nickel miners to shareholders actually support yourselves period absolute majority of independent shareholders have supported the

idea for you which 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 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 for gunning 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 really putting out there way ahead of schedule we do not believe there is dividends. as you update for this sell more stories on our website dot com slash business news headlines are next with an x. thank you ok thank you.