the french senate is set to vote on the increasing or increasing the retirement age while the country is wound by waging protest. workers say they do not want to be paying for the mistakes of the fact cats while the businesses say it's time to get off the streets and get back to work also on r t petrol traffic girls in iraq become the new health as the fuel a small goal spills into rivers poisoning the populations water supply. and a common goal but no common vision while recognizing afghanistan as the world's greatest drug thread on the u. west camps agree on how to deal with the. still bulk use of just open oh i'm not put she has a role in the world buckle pulls it's a grown more business in twenty minutes.

a warm welcome to you live from our headquarters in central last. this is archie with me and you saw now way at six pm here in the russian capital four pm in paris and french police have broken the blockade of a refinery crucial for the capital's fuel supplies and workers union that captured the depot said at least three people were injured in clashes well special operation ended the blockade that had lasted for more than a week causing significant fuel shortages about twenty percent of fueling stations remain empty or cost the country with no end in sight to the agitation meanwhile the senate is expected to approve president nicolas sarkozy's proposal to raise the retirement age to sixty two that's the reason behind these protests are discussing azar why is following the events in the french capital. the senate is working on pretty much all day every day figuring out the final details fine tuning the

proposed pension reform that will see the 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 student student 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 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 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 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 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 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 transport strike across the country four hundred million euros and those are figures that france cannot afford to be paying right now. well it's one day off from one of the movements supporting the reforms it needs to be approved to save the system about the french economy is based on. if they're ones that can protest in the streets but for us the reform is a is a good thing we have to reforms a punch and system has a young student. for my generation for every young reform is really necessary

because tomorrow it's our generation who got a piece of punch and for our parents our grandparents and you know that today in france one punch in of out of town is paid by by depths so the humans are going to have to pays adapt in the next year and we'll see demographic issue. is going to be with us. in the next year or so we have to reform our pension scheme today we have to work two more years so that we can save the system in the next year. now apart from fuel shortages the protests are causing the streets of french cities to spill over with rubbish as waste collectors took part in demonstrations rubbish piled up in downtown areas of marseilles that resulted in army troops helping to remove the largest objects the situation in france is

a sign protests may spread beyond that's the opinion of brian bakker from the answer coalition who told r.t. that struggling workers won't crash when they see felt financial break. 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 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 restrained than the french and sam bowman head of a london based economic think tank says brits won't follow french men 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 we'll see in the next few weeks there was a protest the other day. by the unions against these cuts that had about five hundred people which compared to the protests in france is huge so i really don't think we should be seeing anything more the british government has a long history of ignoring protesters and british people really are kind of people who want to get on with it and get back to work business as usual you might say really that protest quite a tradition in france whenever there's

a government car some kind it doesn't happen in the u.k. and people really here are interested in getting on with their lives and getting back to work and hopefully that's what these cuts well people to do. there are to live from the russian capital one of few minutes for you how militants have turned a blind into their rule to pursue these tales of a special forces operation of a monster caucasus targeting militants in one hundred kilometer long abandoned mine . but first in peaceful northern 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 buck and it's the best of my reports the health of the livelihoods of the local people 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 leak their contents into the sere one river poisoning the water supply used by the thirty five thousand residents of the city of. thought you know these are the cans do it all it's over use you kill people through therapy and you could use this water with now because of the color is to do it see in 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 you bring 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. 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 going in 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. of any one hospital now means daughter is suffering from diarrhea which she contracted after having a bath in the cities. i have water in them i haven't been hospitalized myself but because of my child i come off and i have two other children and they suffer from time and vomiting as well i told his comes benigno go home but you know we want him

back here again. 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 is dangerous as in the rest of the country sebastian meyer northern iraq forty. the obama administration wants to sell sixty billion dollars worth of weapons to saudi arabia congress is yet to approve what could be one of the largest arms deals u.s. history will include new fighter jets for the copters as well as upgrades for its existing aircraft the saudis also want a wide range of bombs and missiles washington hopes the deal will improve the defense of the radio which is one of the u.s. is biggest oil supplier but liberty campaigner david keene says the. partnership because of the gulf states rights record. 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 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. 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 as

a flash point in the latest edition of our cross talk peter the gas grapple with that and whether iran soft power is driving its influence in the region. so except reality in that in iran you have elections mr ahmadinejad for various reasons is very popular just a couple of days ago when he went to this. he stole the election and you know he stole the election that's why there were rumors about your stereo where you would say that. you are in the political robert robert go right ahead i'm from god go right ahead yeah. ok you let the tide wash over for a second look each truth that most of the arab world is totalitarian saudi arabia jordan egypt because we the west support them we want them to be totalitarian we want them to clearly 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 you know you find me if i lose

your continuing my mates if i made you a continual bit. gentlemen let robert in just a moment. get the full feisty debate next hour here on our t.v. at seven thirty pm time. in the u.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 but washington only wants to focus on targeting taliban control poppy fields are going to can explain why russia insists that's not enough. there is definitely an understanding that drug trafficking from of ghana's then is a common enemy russia and 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 goes somewhere some of it sponsors terrorist experts say it 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 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 but to no avail. do you was congress of alleyways 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 facilities to meet it sixty five billion dollars so you can see that the

taliban sectors 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 the remaining ninety nine point nine percent live to be destroyed by their forces. 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 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 the 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 for the full interview with the head of russia's federal drug control service and for more related news you can log on to our website r.t.e. dot com. and coming your way in a few minutes here on our t.v. russia is counting people to counter problems. you nationality russian follow census takers as far as the international space station. but first militants are militant rather hideout has been neutralized during a special operation in the russian republic of korea policemen have also found a truck with explosives near mind where the gunman are blocked. is in the region.

at least ten militants assume golf in the abandoned mine uncovered in the counterterrorist operation which started on wednesday is under way through militants have been killed one police officer died in the crossfire the federal forces have started this sold on the line after the militants ignored all demands to surrender and opened fire right now they are blocked inside the industrial mine which is approximately one hundred kilometers long these gunmen are involved in the terror attacks and the system nation of police officers in ca but as you know both kyra when we do know is that a car has been found by the mine this guy was filled with explosives and it was it in mind also several locals collecting scrap metal have been evacuated from the scene so the counterterrorist operation is still going on a criminal case has been launched and police has already found inside the mind these militants blogged in the mine are yet to be identified. that's coming up to nineteen minutes past the hour let's take a look at some other world news for you in brief three hundred twenty two in the

third after a hit of the bomb exploded near a sunni morning in pakistan the blast targeted worshipers leaving the mall after friday prayers police say the bomb was placed on the veranda outside and detonated by remote control no group has claimed. a cholera outbreak which killed at least a hundred and forty two people in rural haiti and left more than a thousand people in fact to help workers save a lot more tests confirm the illness doctors at the hospital are struggling to handle the flood of patients and medicine is being rushed in to combat the country's deadliest health problem since january massive quake which killed some three hundred thousand people. everyone this week with a nationwide census to take a snapshot of the ninth most populous and the biggest country in the world census takers are reaching out in all directions to get the information to improve standards of living. the ability to defy gravity is not an

excuse to deny 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 via the ultimate and long distance phone calls. it 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 apply 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 for

us in 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. mierda needs 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 so you didn't r.t. . her father was in the business desk now daniel joins us and a fish all russians pay to watch to use their mobile phones daniel you know as much as russians because i get in trouble every month for my corporate phone bill well you'll be happy to know this from what still gets called dell hauled in the country's big three operators who tell you they're polish when after this break. for the full story we've got it for. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers on.

beasts in which bright. from feinstein. t.v. dot com. welcome to business the european back nobuko a 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 such in is part of a russian delegation. headed by president medvedev it's expected that gas supplies for the russian backed south stream pipeline will form the core of these discussions stream is seen as a direct competitor to the bucco president has said he's keen to export through russia. stay with the sector russia will produce around five hundred million tons

of oil in twenty ten up one percent on the previous year production rose at roughly the same speed as it did during two thousand and nine which still 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 in ten years time because the world's seventh largest oil reserves. let's check out the stock markets and off to a strong start us shares have gotten mixed in the last few. minutes phone joined verizon is one of the top losers down one and a half percent despite third quarter profit beating analysts forecasts. european stocks have slipped back into the red following similar moves in the us but financials are still gaining with lloyds and obvious up over two and a half percent on the footsie that's ahead of an expected optimistic announcement on the world economy from the g twenty finance chiefs. and russian shares are also falling back with my six returning to the negative bank still over one percent

higher however the statement to privatisation within three years. one of russia's top precious metals produces poly metal has posted a fifty five percent boost in gold production for the first nine months of twenty ten year on year however 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 that's up eighty seven percent compared to the previous year. as we've been hearing russia's anti monopoly service is to find three of the biggest national mobile providers for overvalued tariffs the watchdog says m.t.s. the lion and megaphone which totally cover eighty five percent of the russian markets have broken the fair competition law the fine is to be one percent from their annual turnover that's around three million dollars each most of the pub already agreed to decrease tariffs for international and regional really good news for any so that. north nickel shareholders have voted against changing the board of

directors at an extraordinary general meeting in moscow the result appears to favorable to me put on its company interests over all of their pastors roussel in the battle for control of the russian mine up into ross and control twenty five percent of nor nickel earlier strategy director if the route is damaging the. 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 the manner where they'll be known controlling shareholder who are still trying to take this conflict for the for example to the court it's not to fight isn't the wall it goes it's a different story it's about being a shareholder in the us trying to change the situation and so that every single intense billion one plan is implemented 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 either management should come to the board is a proper strategy which would include are gonna 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 her list 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 such as the support of minority shareholders is actually a big victory does russo want to braze north because dividends so it can pay off for so that we are not looking for the rules to pay greater dividends but we are just saying that.