but among them is one old friend an old reliable friend we trust greatly russia. russian cars are on the streets of vietnam while vietnamese streams are a much loved delicacy on russian dinner tables last year alone the trade turnover between the two countries reached almost two billion dollars with both hoping to increase to ten billion. russian money big companies are flowing to vietnam bringing millions of dollars of investment which is a good sign of healthy relations. but the biggest venture a still had russia is to build vietnam's first atomic power plant it took several years for georgeson environmentalist to find the right place here in vietnam to build the country's first nuclear plant they chose the central province mench on haiti's locals call it the land of sand and so on. there is no rain here now it's raining but it's for the first time in the last few months and as a result few people live in here and that makes it an almost ideal place for

a future project and the plans include a power stations within the next two decades we think the first unit we launched by twenty twenty it will provide us with cheap and safe energy to meet up to fifteen percent of the rise on demand local people welcome the idea of their region which is among the poorest in the country becoming vietnam's energy powerhouse communities here have traditionally been dependent on fishing and dries growing but now the sense of brighter future. infrastructure and give us opportunities i think one day my children could be working at this plant and for this they all work hard who digitization them to be smart it's an honor. to do hungry man admits his knowledge about the biggest country on earth starts and ends with bears and vodka but his sure that the joint enterprise apart from profit will

help forge closer leagues between the two nations it seems that the russian vietnamese friendship that goes back to the vietnam war now works well for peace and prosperity for both but one long reach over the red river north of annoying vietnam the country's longest for years is symbolized a long friendship between vietnam and its strongest ally the big communist brother u.s.s.r. its vietnamese name could be translated as rising dragon and it seems the drug at its tail flying high twenty years on after the collapse of the soviet union russia is among vietnam's closest partners or even ocean r.t. vietnam and on the sidelines of that summit and yet now capital russian foreign minister sergei lavrov has met was the us secretary of state hillary clinton they praised the first joint russian nato. and i drug operation of ghana stand what happened on thursday lavrov said a set an example for others but added it shouldn't

stop there and agreement to share information on drug trafficking and terrorism has been made between moscow and washington and as our teaser in involution reports russia has been trying to bring the scale of the drug problem to u.s. attention for quite some time. in a puff of smoke. for drug producing labs in the mountains on the border between afghanistan and pakistan more than a ton of heroin and morphine destroyed in the process this is rushing nato working together closer than ever before in a first ever joint operation on a grand scale discordant these laboratories were in the mountainous area near the pakistan border we used about seventy special forces units three landing helicopters and six ones we discovered and destroyed for drugs producing labs and seized more than nine hundred kilos of heroin it took russia nato and afghan anti-drug forces three months to organize the joint operation and only three hours

to carried out the estimated value of drugs destroyed a quarter of a billion dollars and about two hundred million single doses of heroin it's a good start i think fight the drug. eradicate the drug problem in afghanistan we should not look at it as an afghan problem it's a global problem russia's too close to get a sense of comfort and has been asking for help from international organizations in fighting drug trafficking across the border an influx of opium leads to an exponential increase in the number of drug users and the profit from the drug trade is said to go to sponsor international terrorists who threaten russia's southern regions. i think it's important to realize the growth of the drug trade has grown to forty four times since the beginning of the u.s. led operation in afghanistan and we must remember that a you. mandate exists which orders coalition forces to counteract drug trafficking . winter may be thoughts approaching but russian leaders relations seem to be only

now heating up officials on both sides said that joint efforts seem to be the truth we want to have relations in action and hope that this is the beginning of the end for outcome drug trafficking in of those guards he moscow and former u.s. drug policy spokesman robert wiener says he can't believe it's taken the u.s. so long to come around to the view of eradication. it's unfortunate that it has taken this long to really come together with you there's going to reluctance in the united states to even go after the drug trade in afghanistan it's been a policy of the military to let it go and that's tragic and it's unbelievable to me that it took russia to tell the united states where the drug labs were when we have a hundred thousand troops we've spent eighty billion dollars on intelligence we have one hundred thousand additional contractors so we had to know were crawling all over every inch of that country but it took you to in fact to out the united

states to force us and to embarrass us to cooperate with you to stop the drug trade which is in the interest of the entire world including the united states. and i was former u.s. drug policy spokesman robert wiener in new york now coming up in just a few minutes here in our exceed zero tolerance russia's new drink driving ban is getting tough as it aims to cut the country's shocking record of road deaths but some say goes too far. to. find out why americans trust a t.v. comedian more than anyone else and much more than the president that's in just a couple of minutes here in r.t. . for that a new spy scandal has flared up between georgia and russia after reports that twenty people have been caught allegedly spying for moscow georgian officials have so far refused to confirm or deny any parts of the story but have said they will

make a statement soon peter all over try to shed more light on the story. well on friday the reuters news agency is reporting that twenty people have been arrested in georgia accused of spying for moscow the report cited a source saying that all twenty were georgian citizens however we're yet to hear any official response from the georgian sides over those arrests now we may not hear until perhaps november the fifth when the georgian foreign ministry has said that they will issue a news conference to talk about the situation at the georges might not have said anything but russian political figures have spoken out on they say they supply scandal if you will saying that they believe that there's no dues no need for russia to have a spy network in georgia and it this is just the georgian side trying to play russia off as the bad guy again. this looks like another of georgia's internal political battles in russia is used as the boogie man as usual russia doesn't need

a spy network in georgia it would be waste of resources russian officials can get all the information in georgia without leaving their desks there is a massive georgian john spirit here in russia was giong toys to homeland's so there's absolutely no need for any old spying methods to gather intelligence it's obviously nothing more than part of george's internal policies twenty thousand and six russian military personnel who were arrested in georgia accused of spying for russia and that resulted in the the temporary terminations of travel and services between the two nations and the relationship between the countries hit its lowest ebb in two thousand and eight following georgian aggression in south ossetia this forced russia to send troops into the region i was altered in the military conflict in august of that year and in march of twenty ten this year we saw two russian citizens and one georgian receiving lengthy prison sentences here in russia on espionage charges so quite

a few incidents over the past few years involving tensions between these two countries paid all of our reporting there comedian jon stewart has more. to america then president barack obama and asked of you voters on an online man's magazine who picked the daily show host as the most influential man of the year in the us as our jesus is here truth in a reports this saturday he's putting his popularity to the test in public. when its own box gets in the way of political promises were promised during the campaign change you're going believe in right it wasn't change you can believe in in eighteen months when the media world is over with fear and anger. and the minds of a population are attacked with misinformation there's such a lack of truth on the airwaves who are being dumbed down by the news business who are americans left to trust according to a poll conducted by an online men's magazine comedian jon stewart is the most

influential man in america after eleven years on the daily show how four million voters bumped him up to the number one spot and i would be concerned if it was they said larry the cable guy was the most trusted man in comerica so i feel like. one way of earning the trust has been confronting the mainstream media we need help from the media and their earning us dissecting the lies being spun by pundits taking over t.v. screens in america i. know you don't think it's going to kill you during the you know how do you word on the board really is doing the learning period. no. no no. no do you think it is dangerous well i wonder what the letter would have to say about that. in the us these days it is taking

a comedian to show that the lack of trust in the media is what's causing programs ratings to crash i have privately amongst my friends and also an occasional newspapers and television shows. mentioned this show as being bad and you made the right choice you are leaving this place you know where you are you the last guy out of a burning building you're on. and you are so up and so comedian jon stewart became the most trusted man in america he calls crap like you sees it and always uses humor humor and simpler reasons to he's just a handsome man he's just a handsome trustworthy fellow but it's far from just the leidy's appreciating the humor for the first time a sitting president has appeared on stewart's show just a couple of days before the midterm election democrats this year she would be running on. please baby one more chance. in the same pool stewart won the number

one spot obama didn't even make the top twenty with tens of thousands of americans if not more headed to jon stewart's rally to restore sanity this weekend the fight for truth in media and in politicians is moving almost right into the homes of the political elite and even though stewart denies being a man of politics there is this idea out there that comedians do not have a personal political agenda but has one i can say that we do if the comedian were to push his agenda forward the most trusted man in america would have his followers join him which should be the scary thought for all those politicians media pundits and the rest of the establishment so far the way to earn trust with their own people once they see it you're going to see who your. people trust john stewart because he questions power and that's what jeff cohen journalism professor at college things but he warns the comedian don't become a politician. you know i don't know that he's the most and but i think one of the

reasons he's so popular is he is program is imbued with the small d democratic spirit that you look at people in power with skepticism you look at. questioning what they're doing you have an attitude about them that's the democratic spirit that our country was founded on that we are all the laurels about the united states is this democratic spirit but when you look at the corporate mainstream media you see a lot of cozying up to power so i think the reason jon stewart in there is they make fun of or they make fun of politicians and were important they make fun of the media elite themselves and still have for us our tank top. take a look they can carry up to ten so does that if you can see that it really does provide a unique opportunity to put the big the best and to say exactly how they.

gets on board the latest polls at the russian military arms expo. russia has a zero tolerance approach to drinking and driving but still alcohol is blamed for around two thousand deaths a year at ponens of the last think it's actually to strick they say breathalyzers are so effective just eating food can push motorists over the limit. operation in the break the driver is in full swing it's the latest attempt to combat russia's drink driving problem one of the worst in the world these offices are equipped with brand new breathalyzers and all those zero tolerance law that allows no alcohol at all and to drive a system. instead of arresting more people who are reckless scene and drop people are deterred by the new laws and the the several dozen drivers stopped by the

police and this night all test clean authorities say that the combination of tougher legislation and more in terms of policing is having the desired effect not everybody agrees drivers' associations have been up in arms they say statistics show the drink driving has been on the wane in recent years regardless of legislation and they claim the new laws are unworkable and discriminatory drinking a small amount of alcohol has no impact on driving licenses being confiscated from those whose ability to drive isn't impaired. it's the same question current through their surrogate do than is asking so for our benefit sergei tries a government sanctioned breathalyzer. after a cup of tea he takes the test again now he's over the legal limit you know i got one of these government sanctioned breathalyzers for my birthday last year when the legislation was introduced i tried it and was surprised to discover alcohol content

can be triggered not just by drinking small amounts of beer but by bread spicy food in milk and now i'm starting a campaign against islam because i am not a criminal with sergei is still driving and hoping his coronary experiences won't cost him his license while the police hope that the number of drink driving related there falls from the two thousand record last year whatever it takes you get over on the party moscow also take a look at some other stories from around the world and president obama said. there's a credible terrorist threat to the american people and for an international security incidents pattern just containing tangibly explosive material hidden in toner cartridges were intercepted on airplanes in the u.k. and divide the flights were on route to chicago from yemen as part of what's thought to have been a test run for a larger terror attack those packages were addressed to u.s. jewish organizations. at least twenty six people have been killed and more than four dozen injured in a suicide attack in central iraq a man blew himself up in

a crowd a cafe in the town of balad seventy kilometers north of baghdad the attack was in an area mostly populated by shia kurds a common target for sunni insurgents. is a dangerous most volatile will cain is erupting again spewing ash from neighboring villages and some schools have become inaccessible and are temporarily closed it follows that tsunami that hit several islands on monday leaving almost fifty thousand people homeless the number of dead from two disasters has reached four hundred forty three but scores are still missing. an exhibition to showcase the latest arms equipment available to military and civilian security forces has taken place in moscow r.t. sarah first went along for a ride on one of the new super vehicles at the front line of the war on terror. making the provision it's

a very curious they're alive demonstrations going on today the maybe we've got the only god there and throughout the day they gave me audience amongst the iraqi officials just not russians poles that they capable of this is a three day event and it combines full connected specialized exhibitions one with the international exhibition of police and defense technology another is the international specialized exhibition of technical systems and facilities the board of this and special life international to. as a medical equipment and technologies in that area is one of the largest offenses kind in russian is a very unique incident with support from the russian government that's the only exhibition in russia that demonstrates in the way it does the technical capabilities that face the full says and the equipment he had a demonstration by the russian in terror and then a stake president of all the combat operations and you can see now that the landing that have also. been the specialist the so-called it'll be going and taking this

building here by still says was a high ranking official says gives all the participants of the exhibition the chance to get up close and personal some of the specialized military equipment like this heavily armored vehicle. take it live they could easily carry up to ten sodas at a time and you can see that it really does provide a unique opportunity took the disappearance of big submission to see exactly how these vehicles were in combat situation. sara for porting there now you know also find more in our reports as well as expert analysis blogs and more on our website which is r t dot com but here's a taste of what's in line for you right now. a rogue spine at under the command of a renegade american officer not a hollywood movie but the details of a real pentagon investigation into one of its own man in afghanistan. and a career marriage for why they were borden's daughter

a solo newspaper reports she's engaged to a retired admiral son check out put his reaction at our t. doc top. news today vorlon shoes once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. trying to corporations rule the day. and next we hear what's going on in the world of business from korea. for the full story we've gone to. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers.

hello and welcome to our weekend program one of the world's top auto parts suppliers has opened its fifth plant in russia canada's magnay is driving up production here as more foreign carmakers are expanding their operations but as i do the question reports the lack of locally produced components is putting the brakes on the russian auto industry. dashboards bomb purse the radiator grills and other components that's what this newly built plan and the cougar region will produce and more importantly that's what the fast recovering russia call market lacks at the moment the kaluga plant is just one of

a serious of russia projects run by magna in late september the canadian company also announced the opening of three plants in st petersburg the total investment into the kaluga project top seventy four million euros the plunge will manufacture components from false fagging school into renal n.p. tryon for certain products. we still have to import. data for example from from from outside. pretty sure that this will change over time experts say this year global cop production could exceed pre-crisis levels with seventy million vehicles rolling off the assembly lines russia will contribute about one point seven million to the total by twenty eleven for many of this as simply a simple han't rather than build from scratch the biggest bottleneck for production in russia is the lack of social components there is plenty of manufacturing plants

but the source of supply of world class quality components is pretty limited and a lot of the plants that are being set up a store importing a vast majority of components so now the big question really to consolidate the restoration of the russian car industry the growth potential of the russian call market is such that x.-prize believe more foreign manufacturers will be looking to set up joint ventures with domestic firms but as the industry here expands some kinks in the manufacturing process need to be are in outside analysts say russia needs to produce more high quality natural. components if it's to fulfill its potential as a base for foreign comic mind in the question of business and region. russia will increase gas supplies to poland by as much as forty percent following the signing of a new agreement they decide to finally seal the deal after nearly two years of negotiations

and legal delays now the outline of the contract was agreed in january but then faced a long process to comply with the european antitrust law deputy prime minister intersection said the talks in warsaw also included agreements in other areas of the energy sector. in the power industry we plan to explode russian electricity to poland we've. used to participate in constructing a baltic nuclear power plant but the shareholders and in other forums. are informed about the privatization of some sets to take place in the near future and we agreed that russian companies would be able to participate in this. national credit markets finished higher friday here in moscow the r.t.s. raised earlier losses and managed to fall into positive territory there was it's also finished more than a percent higher energy majors lead support and banks pared losses otherwise except

spare bank was two percent higher at close. to climbing past the sixteen hundred level of the beginning of the week the r.t.s. couldn't hold on to those gains and despite the rebound on friday both the r.t.s. and the. end of the week below where they started rolling nash the nation's capital explains what cost. quite well earlier in the week and then it came off towards the end of the week and the really big talking point of the stimulus package coming out of the u.s. can pump enough money into the u.s. economy to not only get the u.s. economy back on track track but to get those dollars into global assets one of which is russia is to say the russian companies move to sectors that are really in the public eye right now the first is the banking sector and the second is the utility sector and banks is all about the privatization this announcement that russia is going to be privatizing states inspired by and can be she has got a lot of people pretty excited and you know there's been some pretty positive

changes that have taken place but in the management and in the way in which those banks are being being driven they're looking much more because of the pan russian platform and people are quite enthusiastic about that so the banks have done well and then the utilities side there's a lot of speculation about when tariff reform will actually take place and we had some very good news this morning that finally the markets expectations have been met and tariff reform seems to be on track and so we've got a lot of money coming into the utilities such as well. and russia central bank has left its key refinancing rate unchanged at seven point seven five percent for the fifth straight month bankruptcy said weakening consumer demand and uncertain prospects in the global economy post added risks for growth however alpha bank president got odd and says there was no room to cut rates further. i would support it because a big of very serious years of inflation. the budgetary problems still there. for the budget station the soft i would say. also reported within the

state so i guess they could be here had a clue. that's all we have for you in our weekend program but you can always find more stories if you log on to our web site that's r t dot com slash business that switch on.

the back here with our t. here's a look at the top stories powerplay plans for russia to build the announced first ever nuclear plant fuel closer links and dads as president minivan of hands to not only for a summit of asian nations. reports of a russian spy ring being busted in georgia threaten what's left of relations between the two but experts believe it's just and another it's believed the p.r. stunt. and funny business a poll shows most trusted opinion maker in the u.s. is a t.v. comedian well president obama doesn't even make the top twenty. next martin andrus takes you on a tour of haunted moscow looking for creative ways to celebrate halloween in the

russian capital. this weekend thousands of people will dress up as witches or ghouls and celebrate halloween but when it comes to actual ghosts in the russian capital whether you believe them well there are several famous spooky stories here now this is an old abandoned ferris wheel kind of eerie just like many of the cities around the of this capital has its fair share of creepy locations.