with the asia pacific region countries as very. potential showing and economically developing economies and countries he hopes that that relation between those countries and russia will only grow and prosper if the russian president spoke at length about the importance of the asia pacific region and russia's cooperation with them. the successful completion of the new asia pacific is in the country's interest in. a constructive life i would like to note that russia is akin to this kind of ration especially the creation of alliances course many issues were addressed during the a.c.n. working sessions of for example the issues of natural disasters which of course this region is specifically prone to also various other issues like konami corporation global security dealing with the aftermath of the global financial crisis all those issues were discussed too much satisfaction it seems from the leaders region is a very attractive one primarily because it has

a lot of growing economically growing countries china of course is one of russia's main partners and is of course a part of bric brazil russia india and china says some experts say one of the strongest emerging economies in the world today and those boys are dealing with the effects of the global financial crisis a lot better than the so-called economic giants like the united kingdom the united states and the european union support also its relations with vietnam go back a very long way and they do seem to be very strong ties with russian president dmitry medvedev said in an article published in the newspaper russia stood by the get the news as they fought for their independence and will continue to stand by them as they emerge a strong economy into the twenty first century into the world arena as my calling muddies the notion of found out the economic ties between moscow and how annoyed are growing stronger by the day. you know. in the twenty first century it

might look like a throwback to cool times but it's not the case that vietnam is more than its economy growing at an increasing rate and it's looking to his old allies to help spur the. 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 the had to be vietnam's first atomic power plant it took several years for georgeson environmentalist to find the right place haint vietnam to the country's first nuclear plant they chose the central province one chon 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 living here and that makes it an almost ideal place for future project. plans include stations within the next two decades.

we launch by twenty twenty provide us with cheap and safe energy. since of the rise on demand. people welcome the ideal the 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 bright future and i know you. think one day my children go to work. for this their work. good education to be smart it's an honor. but one long reach over the red river north of annoying vietnam the country's longest for years it symbolized a long friendship between vietnam and its strongest ally communist brother usa saw its vietnamese name could be translated as rising dragon and it seems the drug got

its tail flying high twenty years on after the collapse of the soviet union russia is among vietnam's places. regional. vietnam and on the sidelines of that summit moscow and washington valid to continue talks on the u.s. to missile defense shield program and a new european security plan russian foreign minister sergey lavrov met with the u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton but you also praised the successful joint anti-drug operation in afghanistan and agreed to go on with the fight against the narcotics threat on thursday russian and u.s. special forces conducted the first ever major joint operation against drug producers in the region they destroyed four labs and seized almost a ton of. and still ahead for you this hour. russia's new drinking ban is. shocking. but some say it's going

too far plus. the high ranking officials. will have more from the state of the art security hardware exhibition that's taken place just outside of moscow. georgia and russia might be on the verge of another spy scandal as reports emerge of the detaining twenty people allegedly spying for moscow and with no official word from tbilisi yet observers say it's another sign of a police state. is following the developments. what we do know about this story is that twenty people all of them georgia nationals have been arrested by georgian authorities no other details have been released in fact georgian authorities say that no information will be available and to the end of next week and they're all keeping mum about the details refusing to give out any comments whatsoever and fred

we are from christian science monitor believes this is something to be this is something to pay special attention to when someone is arrested they're entitled to due process that means they can call a lawyer that family members can be contacted therefore arrests are announced and it never happens i can't tell you how bizarre it is to hear a police spokesman say. i can neither confirm nor deny that arrests have taken place secret arrests are the hallmarks of a police state we do have to remember the political situation in the country which has been in place for the past so a year or so a lot of opposition a lot of opposition leaders and members are finding themselves under increasing pressure from the authorities a lot of them are essentially being oppressed and if we listen to one of the opposition leaders. we will find out that in fact you do not have to be a russian spy in order to be suspected by georgian authorities of spying for russia just kind of charges russian russian ties russian experience which is always used

in georgia's police. i do not think these people but i know that it's quite you know to be some whole linked reason russia. spinach may be there but if. business you russia. family in russia and you are with you george it's great enough for george foresman shows to make. in fact a special report published by the u.s. state department in march says that there has been an increase in assaults kidnappings and arrests all of them politically motivated in georgia now many experts believe that this old. so it could be yet another political stunt by president. experts in russia believe that georgian authorities are just looking at their american partners and learning from them of course many of us remember the spy scandal which grows in the united states over the past summer with many juicy

details and interesting personas such as an inch up and rising in the astronaut then of course the some say that we could expect something similar from this is why scandal as well because of course i believe the expertise of the georgian authorities are simply copycats are simply called the god of the american politicians now howard that is still or that still remains to be seen because we do have to understand that the situation the political situation offered in relations between georgia and russia has been somewhat complicated to say the least all of it of course culminated if you could say that in the south the city of georgia war in two thousand and eight but russia's to board the support of the republic of south the city and of. course we still have to wait and see what exactly happens where the spy scandal in georgia the latest by scandal in georgia is going to go from here yet remains to be seen our. reporting from the georgian capital could a comedian in america sway people's opinion it more than the president the majority of voters on an online survey certainly thinks so selecting john stewart who hosts

a national daily talk show as the most influential man of the year in the u.s. and as honest as churkin reports he's now taken that popularity to the streets. when if and box get in the way of political promises he promised during the campaign change you can believe in right it wasn't change you can believe in in eighteen months when the media over with fear and anger. are well in the minds of the population are attacked with misinformation there's such a lack of truth on the airwaves were 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 must trust

a man america so i feel like. one way of earning the trust has been confronting the mainstream media we need help from the media and they're earning us dissecting the lies being spun by pundits taking over t.v. screens in america but i really. don't think it's going to look completely doing are you how do you learn on the border collies doing the learning period. you know do you think is dangerous well i wonder what the letter you would have to say about. the security in the u.s. these days it is taking a comedian to show that the rock of trust in the media is what is causing programs ratings to crowd i have privately amongst my friends and also an occasional

newspapers and television show. mentioned this show as being bad 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 human brain simply he's just a handsome man he's just a handsome trustworthy fellow but it's far from just believing in 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 seem to be running on. please baby one more chance. in the same pool stuart won the number one spot obama didn't even make the top twenty with tens of thousands of americans if not more it's 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 and 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 be awake. with their own people one slice if you're going to park street. don't forget our web site there for you twenty four hours a day that's our dot com online for you right now. vampires are flocking to moscow looking for tricks or treats on the scariest night of the year i wonder how many in the town not just for fun it's also an explicit art show. has all the details.

below moscow's service where you'll find more than just its famous metro the capital has its own underground a river right through the heart of the city why not set sail on the waterway. they claim it's too strict with even. over the limit but. racially me brayed 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 because there are tall and small but allows no alcohol at all and to drive the system. instead of risking more people we're actually seeing a drop people are deterred by the new laws. indeed the several dozen drugs stopped by the police and this night all test 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 minds of alcohol has no impact on driving licenses being confiscated from those whose ability to drive isn't an inherent. it's the same question current through yesterday gave dieudonne is asking. benefits to gay tribes a government sanctioned. after

a cup of tea he takes the test again now he's over the legal limit of zero then i got one of these government sanctioned breathalyzer did my birthday last year when the legislation was introduced i tried it and was surprised to discover alcohol content can be sure not just by drinking small amounts of beer by red spicy food in milk now i'm starting a campaign against islam because i am not a criminal with the sort of gay is still driving and hoping his corner experiences won't cost him his license while the police hope that the number of drink driving racing falls from the two thousand recorded last year whatever it takes you there are on the. moscow. time now for a brief update on some international headlines authorities in yemen have arrested a woman suspected of sending explosive parcels to u.s. synagogues bombs were found on u.s. bound planes in the u.k. and dubai officials in yemen have also seized over twenty suspicious parcels

fingers are pointing towards the country's branch last year it attempted to to blow up a detroit bound airliner. south and north korea are holding reunions for families is separated by the korean war sixty years ago hundreds of south koreans have traveled to a mountain resort in the north for three days to meet their relatives on wednesday north koreans will begin similar reunions with their southern relatives the last time such meetings were held was a year ago there are no mail telephone or e-mail exchanges between citizens across the border. at least twenty six people have been killed and dozens injured in a suicide bombing in iraq the bomber blew himself up inside a busy cafe on friday night in a town north of baghdad is comes during a period of relative calm in iraq the last major attack came on september nineteenth when twin bombings in baghdad killed at least thirty one. an exhibition

to showcase the latest arms equipment available to military and civilian security forces has taken place in the moscow region. went along for a ride on one of the new super vehicles on the front line of the war on terror. as a fourteen inch knife. means the provision of state security say devastation. we call the honor guards a fitting this ceremony and throughout the day they go. amongst the iraqi officials just the russian forces a capable this is a three day event that combines full connected specialized exhibitions one with the international exhibition at police and defense technology another is the international specialist exhibition of technical systems and facilities the board a service and specialized international exhibition at the medical equipment and technologies in that area is one of the largest the kinds of things in russian is

a very unique event with the pull from the russian government it's a mix of this in the rest of the seven states in the way it does the technical capabilities of the full system and the equipment you know devastation by the russian a terrible mistake the call bought up for a set and you can see now that the landing that enabled. the specialist the so-called to be going at it taking this building so this was a high ranking official told the participants of the exhibition the child to get up close and personal to some the specialized military equipment like this heavily armored vehicle. taking live they could easily carry up to ten sodas at a time and you can see that it really does provide a unique opportunity look that says it was a big submission to see exactly how these in combat that you. are to correspondents are first reporting there now the u.s.

overestimates the threat of terrorism and therefore squanders billions of dollars on military operations abroad so says anti-war activist blogger and author tom engelhardt his interview is coming your way in a few moments right here on our two. sir thank you for sitting down with us today good to be here i'd like to start off by

taking a look at the extent of the u.s. military presence throughout the world right now it's global i mean that's the first thing you can say the pentagon is a little hard to tell in detail the pentagon usually at mit's to about yearly to about eight hundred military bases or sites from macro to micro but in their count they don't include anything in a war zone and tom dispatch you know we've done some reporting for instance on the afghan war at the present afghan war zone where we have upwards of four hundred bases again from tiny combat outposts to a normal basically american towns with boardwalks with fast food joints and whatever that we just built more or less from scratch it's an awful lot it's an imperial presence of a kind i don't think we've ever seen in history and it's particularly strange because the base is traditionally base is more or less where the

way you kept colonies now it's very interesting that to draw that dividing line between declared war is an undeclared wars which you raise this point in your work often most americans are aware of declared wars. there are but afghanistan over the last several years what about the un declared wars how come nobody really talks about bad wars skirmishes whatever you know it's hard to know in this country what people know i mean i mean even the wars the afghan war for instance has disappeared more or less disappeared for years at a time from i think from the media well from public consciousness you know it's hard to say with the u.s. media you could always find something i mean there's something there and that is that is it's not there's ever no coverage but you have to be a news jockey like me you have to be reading the inside pages of the papers the war in the pakistani border line and americans obviously know very little about that i mean we are proud of our drones and so we're caught always between calling it a covert war and actually. that actually bragging about it and americans are

remarkably detached from the wars that being are being fought in their names and the various other military positions and so on and so forth on the globe it's one of the things that i focus on as is just the degree to which we are doing things that americans could know about basically don't and i have to ask you do you feel like the media and the military are sort of sleeping in the same bed at this point there's a history with the military of a post vietnam history of trying to put journalists in bed with it when you are embedded with the military there's an element of stockholm syndrome there just has to be with it and you tend to if you're out with american troops in afghanistan you are in the end i mean your life is at stake you are at the end going to a dead a fight with american troops let me ask you this you spent years the ciphering sort of the militarization of the u.s. foreign policy when when when should that line be drawn between you know reasonable national defense and really kind of paranoid extensionality is that line ever drawn

anymore you know that basically it basically is no longer drawn and so what you really get this you get american treasure poor into by the multibillion. and so into you know into into remarkably strange wars abroad i've long been convinced that if osama bin laden you know had a dream for him in a nightmare for us it was to involve us in in inconclusive wars in distant lands that would cost us a fortune there's a kind of intelligence national security bureaucracy that's fed in this country fear and americans are irrationally scared since two thousand and one the number of americans who have been killed by terrorist actions it's above shark attacks but below anything else dangerous in our world and yet the fear level is so remarkably high and everything is justified upon us those lines are drawn and we don't think seriously about what our national interest is and we're paying for it now you've

mentioned money and apparently the pentagon is going to be able to enjoy as much as seven hundred twenty six billion dollars next year or something along those that is that's and i have to ask you i mean it might seem a sort of a naive question but it has to be asked couldn't this money be put to better use and especially now in this economy for of course you know commanders in afghanistan can walk into a village they have they have a fund so they can find an afghan village elder if they want to do a hearts and minds' sort of thing they can see that the infrastructure is weak that they have canals or filled in or whatever they can just pay money to people to start digging out those canals you can't do that in the united states we're a can't do nation here we can't build anything we just we just decided not to build a tunnel between new jersey and new york city where i live because it was too expensive but we can spend billions building these bases very efficiently and they are extraordinary in a way can do x. these huge bases in afghanistan or iraq or wherever else i think it's quite

startling actually and what about the cost of civilians on the ground civilian lives we have piled up many towers in response to the towers that went down a tooth. three we have piled up many towers of dead they don't have memorials nobody thinks about them i mean except obviously their families and their countries we don't know the numbers in iraq or afghanistan but they are they are startling numbers not only has the idea of peace gone just go on the idea really of diplomacy in the normal sense as opposed to a militarized kind of diplomacy but the very idea of victory at the most basic thing to military culture is going on in one of your latest articles you ask this question how old will you be when the american envoy stared state goes down and you often bring up this point of a terror of an internal state of war you know is that essentially america's destiny ended in one war and started i actually think not this can only go on so long all

things of course must end but in the american case you know we cannot simply continue fighting trillion dollars to three whatever it might be trillion dollar wars add in for knighted by this country simply can't afford it and washington thinks that we're in a slow long manageable decline i think this country like the soviet union in an earlier period it's in decline now almost this is what americans know asked the question is this country in decline sixty five percent of americans the most recent poll say yes we are in a state of decline americans feel this washington doesn't fully feel this yet. dear mom i'm sorry that i had to do this i've been in so much pain in the past year that i can't take it anymore

a stomach in chest pain to be getting worse no doctor has been able to help me please know that i'll finally be at peace with no more pain i wish i could have had a wife with elizabeth always pictured her being my wife and mother to my kids. i love you all see you all in heaven when your time i'm going to meet jesus christ. thousands of u.s. troops in iraq received one of these drugs a drug called lariam and it may have prevented many soldiers from getting sick the question is whether or not soldiers were adequately warned about its rare side effects serious life changing side effects. the official. from the. video. feeds.

broadcasting live from our studios in central moscow this is our team have you with us. it's nuclear energy technology is in. vietnam has already signed up for its first nuclear power plant. another spy scandal could be on the horizon with reports claiming georgia has rounded up twenty members. tbilisi is yet to confirm or deny the report but says it will respond in the coming days. and america chooses political satirist jon

stewart as the most influential man of the year putting their trust in comedians politicians for president obama to make it into the top twenty. and taking us up to the next update in thirty minutes we have our interview show spotlight talks with russian film director alexy about his new film the edge and its chances at the oscars.