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grandson that is set to vote on increasing the retirement age while the country is rocked by waging protests. the 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. one hour to a petrol traffickers in the wrong become the new health powers are heard as the fuel they smuggled spills into reverse poisoning the populations water supplies. and a common goal but no common vision while recognizing afghanistan as the world's greatest drug threat russia and the u.s. can't agree on how to deal with a. bit seven pm in moscow and this is coming to you live first up this hour french police

have broken the blockade of a refinery crucial for the capital's fuel supplies workers union that captured the depot said at least three people were injured in clashes a special operation end of the blockade that had lasted for more than a week causing. forget fuel shortages about twenty percent of fueling stations remain empty across 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 the reason behind the protest. is following the events in paris. the senate is working 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 pensioners 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 to the costs of these

problems protests are also to be taken into account in these current strikes on a missed 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 ninety transport strike across the country four hundred million euros and those are figures that friends cannot afford to be paying right now. well apart from fuel shortages the protests are causing the streets of french cities to spillover with rubbish as waste collectors took part in demonstrations and there were refugees from there piled up in downtown areas of more sinai that resulted in army troops helping to remove the largest objects fuel shortages delayed travel and piled rubbish are causing many in france called for the strikers just stop by and twenty from one of the movement supporting the reforms says it needs to be improved to save the system that the french economy is based on. if there once again as you can protest in the streets about forests as

a reformist is a good scene we have to reform the system has a young student. for my generation for every young reform is really necessary because tomorrow it's all generation going up is a bunch of for our parents our grandparents and you know that today in france one punch in of out of town is paid by. going to have to pay that in the next year. demographic issue. is going to be with us. 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. the united kingdom has also cut its public sector budget to reduce the national deficit it has spiraled out of control so far the response in the u.k. has been far more restrained that in france and sound men head of

a london based economic think tank says the british will not copy what the french protest. 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 that 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 and it had about five hundred people which compared to the protests in france is now huge so i really don't think we're going to 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 air and get back to work business as usual you might say and really their protests are quite a few dition in france whenever there's a government cut some kind it doesn't happen in the u.k. and people really here are just and getting out of their lives and getting back to work and hopefully that's what these cuts well people to do. you're watching our

team live from moscow in a few minutes coming up for you how militants have turned on the line into a group called the super details of a russian forces operation in the russian caucasus targeting militants and a hundred kilometer long abandoned my. washing prosecutors have demanded fourteen year sentences for the jailed oil magnate of course he and his business partner on trial for the second time it's the latest twist in the so-called ucas affair r.t.s. alice hebert for now joins us live hi there alice so what are the prosecution and defense saying in this case. will prosecutors in the case of full of all magnets in you call c.e.o. mitchell hold a whole ski and his business plant on the negative out today almost to drop the challenges of theft in relation to thomson f.e.n. case she says formally uphold all the you can still come to the and they've also

walls for a sentence of some of food t.v. is against the two men this would then mean if it's not held that they would only be released in the twenty seven t.v. noise at seeing the defense of a little husky and then there but if you continue to protest their innocence a little chill just say that they will contest this include next wednesday on october the twenty seventh this is this just good time that both men have a student trial this time they're charged with money laundering at theft and embezzlement that's just the three hundred and fifty million tons of oil from one thousand nine hundred ninety six two thousand and three and embezzlement of laundering of some twenty three billion u.s. dollars what's surprising about the prosecutors announcement today is that only last week we heard that they believed that they had absolutely proven the guilt of both of them but that they would be on seeing who would choose to sentences but having also for a full cine a sentence they've also pretty much the maximum that you can on the challenges of embezzlement and frauds on money to wondering now if. he had been in jail

for years now what's happening with that first sentence. well this is the second time that both men have stood trial that currently call for through an eight year sentence for fraud and tax evasion may come for the whole city was of course once upon a time the richest man in russia not only changed i'll tell you but she doesn't and three when he was arrested in may thirty first two thousand and five both he and got to live it every sentence by a most cases including two nine years imprisonment in a siberian jail all those charges of food and tax evasion. sentence was that reduced to eight years and the later by that mostly sixty cool both men continue to protest there were distance and say there were challenges which against the fall of the city motivated us right from our live from moscow as have heard on the latest

twist in the so-called consequence. 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 that's about it in my reports the house the mine we hoods 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 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 this were true it now because of the color is to do it see people come to use it and. put the money is too tempting for the local smugglers who can run ten thousand jerry cans on an average night for a few hours of work they can make up to six thousand dollars what the smugglers line their pockets downstream fishermen like keeper human mahmoud are watching their livelihood disappear two years ago we could catch a lot more fish. than what your kids twenty kilos a day now it's only five you know margaret 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 companies 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 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 hospital no means daughter is suffering from diarrhea which she contracted after having a bath in the city's. i have water in them i haven't been hospitalized myself but because of my child i come home and i have two other children and they suffering from diarrhea and vomiting as well i told his come to bendigo coma to know we were the best here again a lot on a horse and with the same regularity as no means visits to the hospital the smugglers continue to spill gasoline into debt then becomes water system in this remote and peaceful part of iraq ignorance and greed or is dangerous as in the rest of the country sebastian meyer northern iraq for two. you know obama administration wants to sell sixty billion dollars worth of weapons to saudi arabia congress is

yet to approve what would be one of the largest arms deals in u.s. history and include new fighter 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 deal will improve the defenses of saudi arabia which is one of the u.s. is biggest oil suppliers but liberty campaigner david keyes says it's not unlikely partnership because of the gulf states poaching human rights record. and classic dictatorial fashion the saudi regime does not rely on the consent of its people to be governed and therefore need all the arms that it can acquire simply to maintain its presence in the region there has been unfortunately a lack of concern for human rights in saudi arabia there are elements within the u.s. government that believe that 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'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 peter lavelle's cross talk you can get the full feisty debate in just under twenty minutes here on r.t. . now a militant hideout is being neutralized in a special operation in the russian republic of korea policemen have also found a truck with explosives near a mine where the gunmen are blocked. because in the region at least ten

militants assume golf in the abandoned mine uncovered in the counter-terrorist 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 off police officers income but is integral kyra when we do know is that a car has been found by the mine this car was filled with explosives and it was to mind also several locals collecting scrap metal have been evacuated from the scene so the counterterrorist operation is to go in on a criminal case has been launched and police has already found inside the mine these militants blog in the mine are yet to be identified and. russia and the u.s. both agree afghan terror when 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 controlled poppy fields are you going to can explain why russia insists that's not enough. there is definitely an understanding that drug trafficking from of ghana stan 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 goes somewhere some of it sponsors terrorist experts say if this doesn't evolve the head of forces 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 or 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 worth the whole of that again just productions that says to me that sixty five billion dollars so you can see that the taliban sectors only zero point two percent obviously it's not the main producer whoever international forces say that they will eliminate only do 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 is left to be destroyed by the afghan

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 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 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 and it's you can reporting there from washington you can find more on that story plus the full interview with the head of russia's federal drug control service at r.t.e. dot com. also online for you all of our reports expert analysis

rather blogs and video here are some of the things you can find online right now the ramp up of the kind of star world famous for both her sporting achievements and good logs is getting married log on for a look at a man choice. freshwater is set to become the oil of the new world those reserves run out russia is looking to adopt the exporting the new most valuable resource and find out more of our teeth. russia is counting everyone this week with a nationwide census that aims 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 cosmin arthur answering questions for russia's twenty ten senses your nationality russian elinor's of our sky air has the job of reaching out to orbit in 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 are right here could lead to some answers that could solve some of the nation's biggest problems the questionnaire attempts to probe the issues such as why russia's birth rate is so low and its death rate so high a comparison to european countries data collected is meant to show who makes up

question households learn what their resources are and identify how government can improve their quality of life and with the slogan everyone matters to russia everyone from those serving their country to those serving time are being counted. how else would we know what kind of financial situation rushes and what our social situation is how will we know how many people live in russia they're doing it for us i think it's a necessity and that was why i went to take part in it. and less captivated surroundings people like these young men and women are hoping not to be turned away before the questionnaire is complete. this family of three is doing well but mom and dad are filling out the forms as a form of security. now i feel. maybe i do need help but maybe in future. if i don't have.

the government or will have this information about me but for now it's the government that's counting on the population says he didn't r.t. . well so we're going to focus this hour from our to a business that's coming up after a short break. for the full stop we've got. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. every month we give you the future we help you understand how. to break the best in science and technology from across russia and around the world to join our technology update on our jeep. in indonesia she's available in hotels. resort and spa. resort and spa.

being turned on. sunday a beach hotel the western resort. the ritz carlton hotel grounds many as you call the hotel pool seasons hotel. hotel. to business this week the government provided details of its five year privatization program if all goes to plan it could radically alter the country's financial landscape it will be the second largest selloff of publicly owned russian companies since the end of the soviet union reports. the biggest privatized program since the one nine hundred ninety s. it covers the whole range of the state's involvement in business the government plans to put stakes in one thousand nine hundred state firms up for sale. but the

main goal of the would be to change the investment appeal of these assets to attract private investors and therefore change the structure of ownership of the companies to make them more transparently stable and reliable. the government. hopes to patch the hole in the budget with the sixty billion dollars it expects to raise among the most notable offerings is the sale of shares in v.t. bank to blow controlling the state will reduce its stake to controlling in the country's biggest lenders burbank and in the national airline and afloat the finance minister believes investor dimanche will exceed supply but analysts are more cautious the. larger companies the company perhaps already being traded on the market such as. crossed after this. concerning other companies i'm not sure because it would very much depend on

the investors which in turn would depend on the way the russian and global economies are proceeding bursaries not the first country to undertake widespread privatization indeed it's a common factor among nearly all developed economies since at one time or another they all had extensively publicly owned companies in countries such as the u.k. the process helped turn large numbers of the population into shareholders however analysts are skeptical this will happen in russia my personal take is that most likely as a government might see some company as it can be also wrong. or there are well known names like oil companies to offer these shares to investors how was i seen that was in the six to braun boss prove it is a sure bet that i'm not. the largest part of this placement torelli target as a route to investors if pushed through successfully the program will alter the

financial landscape in russia although it will continue to be a major player in business the government will have less direct involvement. this will usher in an era of greater transparency as companies become more accountable to their new owners but the business. this week stocks have been volatile with news of the privatization program and corporate data supporting the russian markets vice president explains the main trends. markets were very volatile very water and the general trend globally as did the markets expecting the release of information on new what if using it from the state then we we saw very good results on the corporate. third quarter results from the united states most companies about eighty five percent reported two very good results well above expectations and probably the third factor which is very important for russia

is that the announcement of a new approach is ation program. now russia's anti monopoly service is to find the country's big three mobile providers for setting terrorists to high the war stakes n.t.s.b. line and megaphone which have eighty five percent of the mobile services market broken competition law the final total of one percent from their annual turnover that's around three million dollars per company they've already agreed to cut terrorists for regional and international roaming. russia's top precious metals producers polly 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 only five percent the company also saw 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. russia will produce.